World Tree MUSH

    Salem, Massachussetts on the world Pandemonium is... A little behind the times. Though the world is well into the year 1800, and other cities are sufficiently advanced in the use of steam, coal, and magic based technologies, this particular section of Massachussets is still stuck in the era of candle light and horse drawn buggies from the looks of things. At least the world ending black hole isn't visible from here.
    Though the combined region of Salem town and Salem village's population is somewhere around 2000, it was the smaller village, populated by roughly 500 terrified folk that have been desperate enough to try reaching out to offworlders for help with their current problem.
    By the time people begin to arrive, the sun is already setting and a chill mist lingers low to the ground. Doors close and windows shutter in passing, children are pulled off the streets hastily by hurried parents, and the village quickly becomes an almost unwelcome feeling ghost town.
    Governor Phipps awaits outside the town hall, a nervous looking high elf of indeterminate age, his dark hair left free to his shoulders, and dressed in a fine black suit, tapping his foot as the designated briefing time draws close.

    "Yo! You put out this Job Ad?" 

    A pink-haired young man is holding up a job posting in one hand, written on parchment paper directing him to this world. In the other hand is an apple that he is munching on idly. Clinging to his back by the collar of his vest is a blue cat that seems content to just dangle there for now. 

    "If you did, I'm here to make some cash. I dunno how much the money works between worlds, but I figure I should pick some up if I'm gonna need to travel around." 

    He stuffs the apple core into his mouth and starts munching on it, "But yeah. Yo. Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail Wizard. Here to help ya out."

It's time for Holly to go on a field trip, of course she might not warmly welcomed in Salem herself. Common sense is overrated. Still when she heard talk of other witches it had got her attention on the same world she's going to college it got her attention. Hearing what had been going on, she can't help but to wonder if Salome is behind it. She's heard a fair of share of what the witch was capable from the school. She approaches the mayor on foot accompanied by her ghostly pals Servis and Lavaux close behind.

    Without the Schnee fortune backing her, Weiss has to take jobs too. Besides, this is something that might interest her. The snow-haired fencer is dressed as normal, blade at her side, and trying to see who has showed up. "Oh, a new guy, huh?" Natsu that is. Holly arriving gets her to look that way, wondering about the girl's arrival and how many answered.

    "Weiss Schnee, Huntress in Training," says the heiress-in-exile. "What exactly is the problem here?"

A staticky portal opens up, and Emily floats out. This isn't the first time Emily Nyx has visited Pandemonium, and she's taking a completely different form from the one she had before. She looks like a woman with brilliant golden hair in a ponytail, glowing purple eyes, and four arms; she's dressed in a black leather mini-jacket, a gray tank top, and black leather booty shorts and combat boots.

She smiles and waves to Holly, and raises her eyebrows as she comes up behind Natsu and Weiss. "Typically, there are money changing centers," she says to the former, and she has the exact same voice she usually does. "If not here, then elsewhere. Hello, I'm Emily Nyx."

  A woman arrives slowly by way of the road that leads out of town. Her boots stir up slight puffs of dust with every stride. She's in her fifties, middle to late, and her stature is less than impressive; slightly short of average, with the glass-smooth stride of a predator and the taut alertness of prey. Light blonde hair, blue eyes, hollows under the eyes and a vague gauntness; the subtly haunted gaze of a veteran.

  A strange thing walks next to her: A machine in the shape of a gaunt, skeletal man. PROXY must be a funny sight to the people here, with the servomotors of his joints making a thin whine with every movement of every limb, and his bizarrely polite mannerisms. He's saying something to the woman as they approach the governor.

  "...nd anyway, even if you were successful in commandeering that shipment, General Eclipse, there is no guarantee that High Command would not offer criticism to--"

  "Enough, PROXY. It's too late to stop it. Someone's eventually going to respond to that bill, and then we've got a chance to do something against the Imperials. We have to strike while the iron's hot!"

  "That is certainly true, but--"

  Juno slows to a halt before the elfin man, looking him up and down with some surprise at finding he isn't human; and also appraises him with the cool eye of a soldier. "Governor," she says. Her posture is a degree or two of military-straight; she's almost, but not quite, standing to attention. "I am here to respond to the bill that was posted. I have a copy, if you require."

  An eye is cast to the pink-haired young man, brows furrowing slightly. Hey, wasn't that the loud fellow at that camp? Oh well. Hopefully his bravado won't attract any trouble that might impact the other respondants.

  "You can call me Blackout," she adds, gaze flicking back to the elfin governor, straight in the eye.

     Diantha has seen plenty of destruction in her lifetime, so news of trouble on a world that is slowly being devoured by a sort of black hole is more than enough to get her to pay a visit and see if there is anything she can do to help. The dryad arrives in the town holding her staff and dressed in a cornflower blue blouse with a bit of a tail that drapes over the back of her lower half and stitched floral accents of various colors. 

     She eventually makes her way up to the town hall, taking her time a bit as she makes her way through town as she looks and feels out for any signs of trouble or magical corruption. Once there she greets Holly, Weiss, Juno, Natsu, and Emily with a nod and a wave, remembering seeing or working with each of them in the recent past. She then turns her attention to the Governor. "Hello, I am Diantha. Are you the one who requested help here?"

    "... Wizard...?" Governor Phipps asks, tone dry and probing at Natsu's introduction. "I never thought your kind would turn on one another so easily." The elf mutters as he drums fingers on the handle of the ornate cane in his grasp, he damn-near boggles when he takes one good look at Holly.
    "... And a witch." Uttered as he rubs his temples. But then more start to arrive. Weiss says 'huntress' and an edge of relief crosses the man's features- even if she is just 'in training'. Although Emily's arrival results in something of a start.
    Then enter Blackout and Diantha. The human woman is regarded in silence for a moment, the Governor meeting her appraisal with a probing stare of his own before Diantha introduces herself and his attention turns to the Dryad next, brow knotting but seeming perhaps less perplexed at the sight of her than he had been looking at ordinary humans.
    A strange and motley crew if ever there was one, but he clears his throat.
    "Yes... I see... I see. Thank you, thank you all for coming at our request." He starts to speak. "Salem is not by any means a rich village but you will all be compensated for your work here today. If you can find and eliminate the cause of of our blight." The Governor says, motioning towards the nearby forest at the edge of the village with his cane.
    "Abigail and Mary, two young girls from our village, were found in the woods telling fortunes with divination spells. And when pressed on where they had learned it, they claimed they had been taught by the witches of the forest. Three terrible hags from out of state who have settled in and have been plaguing us ever since. We are currently at war with the native Wood Elves of the region and to have our town come under hexes and curses now would be the death of us. Eliminate or chase off the hags and their curses should be lifted as well."

Holly smiles at Emily and looks a bit disappointed upon see Diantha, it looks like her spell had already worn off. Then again the centaur was a much more capable mage than her. That and she had used her staff when casting it. "Hey, not all witches are bad!"

 Hearing the what the mayor said Servis can't help but to respond, "Have the hags come into town and personally attacked?" He can't figure out why the witches would be teaching the residents magic if they were terriorizing them.

The easily distracted young woman can't help but to notice Weiss, "Are you a white lady?" She can't help but to wonder if Servis and Lavaux aren't the only ghost here.

    "I completely understand!" Natsu says, not understanding for the most part. But he managed to clean out the important parts. Like 'Woods' and 'Trouble' and 'Evil Magic Users'. The kind of stuff that really catches Natsu's attention. 

    He waves his hand a bit, "You don't need to pay me that much. Food and a place to sleep is all!" He grins and gives a thumbs up before looking around, "Oh. Money changing service! Handy!" He nods his head a few times and then looks back towards the old man, "Turn on my own kind? I mean. It's a paying contract. Wizards will fight eachother for money all the time! It's a competitive profession." 

    He punches his fist into his palm and then heads off towards the forest, "Back in a few hours. I'll fix your problem."

    Huntress in training, yep! Weiss surveys who she will be working with, some recognition there. "Emily again?" That's kind of a hello, right? By now she's less startled by things like Diantha, especially since she met her not so long ago, if briefly. Juno looks pretty normal, to her... so there's nothing to do there but nod to the woman, trying to be professional.

    "Well I'm not so sure it's that easy, kids can be mistaken you know," Weiss points out. "But I'm sure we'll see what we can do about it." Even Weiss can tell there's some hesitation about the wizard and witch though, and feels horribly compelled to point out, "One of my instructors at Beacon went by the name of Goodwitch, I'm sure she's here to help." Gesturing to Holly.

    And... what? Weiss stares at Holly. "White Lady? No, I'm a Huntress, my hair just runs in the fam- HEY! WAIT!" She huffs at Natsu just running off to try to handle it all himself. "We need a plan or something! Do you even know where you're going?" She's sort of forced to run along after him though.

  The woman with the strange jacket and tunic and the blasters folds her arms, narrowing her eyes slightly when the elfin governor stares right back at her. Maybe 'Blackout' expected less of him with such a nervous appearance. Not bad; not bad.

  She folds her arms as she listens to the story.

  "Sounds simple enough." Juno sighs, resignedly. What's the catch? There's always a catch. "Have these witches had any contact with the Wood Elves of the region?" Should she be worrying about having to watch her six for pointy-eared snipers?

  PROXY's photoreceptors flicker, and then turn. "I will wait here," he says to Juno. She nods, once, turning on her heel and stalking toward the woods.

  Anybody close to her can hear her muttering. "...hate forests. Whenever there's something unpleasant happening, it's always in a bloody forest..." 'Blackout' shakes her head as she stalks off, more or less with the others also headed that way.

Emily gives Diantha and Blackout a wave. "Yeah, Holly's totally okay," she says in response to the governor's concerns. "I've worked with her before." No comment on her actual level of skill, of course.

She listens intently to the governor. Slowly, her expression turns into a thin-lipped smile which looks amused and faintly smug. She puts her lower hands on her hips, and taps her chin thoughtfully with her upper left hand. "I'd like to hear a bit more detail about the problems the witches have caused, too," she says. "But I think I can tentatively say that this is gonna be a lot like the last incident I helped to resolve on this world." She shoots Holly a wink.

And then Natsu runs off, and she sighs, rising off the ground. "Ah, one of those heroes!" she says, flying after Weiss, Natsu, and Blackout, before giving the governor a wave. "Be back later!"

She also radios PROXY with a communications-handshake -- more or less as one droid to another.

     Indeed the spell had worn off, though honestly in hindsight Diantha was somewhat surprised it had worked on her at all, but wrote it off that perhaps Holly used some strange form of magic unknown to her world, or since the spell wasn't technically harmful she didn't resist it. 

     Her attention is mostly upon the governor though, and she would agree with Holly that it was odd that the witches would be teaching the townsfolk in addition to hexing them. "This is a strange situation indeed. I wonder if perhaps these witches are trying to train the young of the town into joining their ranks? As for the hexes and curses, I will do my best to help remove them, it is a skill I have not yet attempted in other worlds as yet. As for the witches themselves, do you have any more information about them? Could they perhaps be working with these wood elves?..." She ends her questioning as Natsu suddenly starts heading off to the woods to solve this on his own. "Hey, Weiss is right, we should work together here." She offers as she also runs ahead to try and stop the man from leaving on his own.

    Of all the places Natsu is asking for food and a place to stay, a magic hating and heavily religious community is probably not the best one, but off he goes headed for the forest before Governor Phipps can say anything further on the matter, with Weiss following after him to boot. "Goodwitch. I'm sure." He mutters in their wake.
    Being pressed on whether or not the witches have actually come to town though, he frowns. "They came into town when they first arrived." He admits. "But we told them there was no place for their kind of learning here and to leave. The mark of the Black Hand has been appearing on our townsfolk ever since, sapping our very lives away. If they are working in tandem with the Wood Elves I would not be surprised."
    That should be enough to answer questions all around he hopes. It really does sound simple enough. But it looks like the general concencus of the group, in the end, is to head into the 'bloody forest'.
    "Heretics hunting heretics. I never thought I'd see the day." Phipps spits once the group is out of earshot.
    And into the bloody damned forest they go... Almost immediately as soon as the trees are passed a heavy mist rolls in from out of nowhere, obscuring vision and wreaking havoc on even the best senses of direction. Diantha will likely be able to tell that this is no natural mist-- not of the forest anyway. And anyone else with even the remotest skill in magic will be able to tell the obscuring spell for what it is. If not careful, the magic of the mists will return any unwelcome parties right back to the edge of the treeline from whence they came, and drop them off harmlessly back in town.
    But everyone here is of sturdier stuff than that, and should be able to forge on without getting dumped back in town, if they work together or are sufficiently willful enough to brute force through the enchantment.
    It is quite a hike though. By the time any sign of habitation can be found the sun has already fully set and the woods are bathed in almost pitch blackness. But eventually the small campfire with a cauldron hanging over it gives way to the first sign of any possible witches in the area, and the smell coming from the cauldron is utterly horrid.

Lavaux laughs as Natsu goes running into the forest, "I like the kid's idea. Let's go punch some squishy mages!"

 "Maybe you can go help him and leave us with functioning brains to come with a plan?" Servis suggests.

 "Maybe we should try talking to them first? Could the be animals in danger here too like in New York?" Holly brushes off more disappointment about Weiss not being a ghost and remembers what Salome said about the wood elves. That wouldn't explain the hags or the hexes though. The mist certainly isn't enough to detour her or the two ghost from the forest.

    "We can work together! You just need to keep up with me!" Natsu says with a grin as he gives both Weiss and Diantha a thumbs up. And then he looks to Emily, "Not a hero! Just a wizard." 

    When he reaches the edge of the forest and the mist rolls in, Natsu stops, "Ha! If you think this can stop me..." He tilts his head back and sniffs the air a few times. Sniff sniff. That draconic sense of smell the young man has pulls at the air for a few moments. 

    "And yes I know where I'm going!" He says to Weiss after a few moments. He points firmly in a direction, "I can smell something magical that way. Smells like it doesn't fit in with the forest." 

    He starts marching in that direction, confident he knows where he wants to be going, "We can try talkin'." He eventually relents to Holly, "But if they start trouble, I'm not gonna hesitate to blow them away."

>> SUMMARY[Natsu Dragneel] >> Using dragon smell to track witches.

Emily stays close; she has some affinity for magic, and she's able to help keep the group on track and avoid the misdirection-spell. "Yeah, I agree with Holly," she says. "The last time I accepted help from the high-and-mighty elves here, the Wood Elves were actually the good guys, trying to keep the animals safe from a destructive spell that opened up in a nearby city." She smiles. "I can't help but feel like this is gonna be a similar situation."

She nods to Natsu. "Well, obviously," she says. "If it doesn't work out ..." She shrugs. "Well, uh, releasing capacitor seals three and two." She's surrounded by three distinct auras, one gold, one silver, and one pearlescent; the first two shatter, and the third simply fades away. Those who can detect magic would sense a significantly-increased output ...

She sniffs the air. "... Wow," she says. "Now that's what I call an incredible smell!"

    "Oh come on," Weiss rolls her eyes at Natsu, but her nose wrinkles too. More to the point, she doesn't want to just get left behind to lose her way, so a shimmer of white glows, both as a beacon and to speed her along with a dart over the ground, skating over the glyphs of white.

    Huff huff. "I do think we should get an idea of this," Weiss says, as the campfire nears. "I don't really like fighting other humans, it's... not really what I'm trained for." Even though sparring happens ALL THE TIME.

  Blackout dips her chin to Emily and Diantha, 

  PROXY's head briefly turns in Emily's direction, before turning back to the governor. "I suppose it's back to the ship, then." He goes ambling down the road they'd walked in on.

  Juno, meanwhile, folds her hands behind her back, eyes hooding. "That sounds like it's the case." Her expression sours even further as the fog begins to roll in, and soon it becomes wading through entire clouds of the stuff. "Oh. Excellent," she comments, sourly. "What's a little mood-setting weather, yes?"

  By now she's drawn one blaster, and with her other hand she holds a small narrow-band flashlight to try and pierce the gloom.

  Hours of marching later Juno is definitely scowling, and she's relaxed her stance with both blaster and flashlight. Her arms are tired and her calves are aching and her right knee is inexplicably screaming at her. She pales and gags at the stench wafting from that cauldron. Gross.

  Still, she doesn't have a better plan than Natsu, and so she trudges after him at a brisk march to keep up with his enthusiasm, trying to ignore her tired arms, her aching calves, her screaming right knee, and her aching back. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

  "I'll cover you. I won't shoot first, but if they decide to turn violent, I'll shoot to protect myself," Juno comments. "If it should come to that."

     Natsu may not think he's a hero, but in Diantha's opinion, he definitely embodies the gung ho heroics of rushing headfirst into a problem without discussing any sort of plan with your allies, an attitude she's seen get more than a few people killed, so hopefully that could be avoided tonight. 

     In any case, it seems they're all off on this mission now, and as the mist closes in, Diantha indeed gets the feeling that it is not normal, but dispelling it without knowing the source was easier said than done. 

     "Well, someone doesn't want to have visitors, makes me wonder how those girls found these witches, perhaps the witches found them..." Diantha comments as they continue on, her night vision was pretty good so even in the darkened forest she was able to see somewhat well, and it sounded like Natsu did at least know where he was going. 

     Indeed eventually she also picks up on the smell coming from the cauldron ahead well before it can be seen, wrinkling her nose a bit at the stench of foul magic and alchemy. "Well Natsu, I think I can smell what you smell at this point, but the question is, where are the witches?" She asks, then after listening to Emily, she nods and adds. 

     "Also, I agree we should at least try to talk this out. This whole situation just reeks of cultural misunderstanding. If you've had good relations with the elves here, I'm even more inclined to think our employer is just the leader of a town of anti-magic xenophobes."

    Coming upon the cauldron, there seems to be no one around. Though the fire is well fed and the bubbling contents reek to high heaven, there seems to be no one around at first, as Natsu and Diantha lead the pack. And for a long moment there is only the shrill cry of a night bird, the roaring crackle of the fire, and the soft bubbling of the cauldron as it simmers away.
    At least before a voice breaks the monotony and the gloom.
    "Round about the cauldron go; in the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone days and nights has thirty-one swelter'd venom sleeping got, boil thou first i' the charmed pot. Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bub... ble..."
    It's a young girl, maybe sixteen or seventeen tops, her blonde hair done back in a braid to reveal similarly elven ears of the local populace. In her arms is a basket of dried plants and animal matter, but she stumbles to a halt, wide-eyed as she sees... Everyone in the clearing. The girl practically squawks, dropping her basket and wheeling right around with a cry of "Mother! GRANDMOTHER!" as she darts into the gloom.
    Well that was odd, but it's another moment before she returns, motioning at the group of offworlders with a pointed finger, two other figures emerging; an older elven woman, and an utterly ancient woman, hobbling with a cane in hand.
    "Ah. Visitors." The Crone murmurs.
    "Welcome, welcome." Greets the Mother.
    "Now what do you want?!" The Maiden demands.

    Before Weiss can realize it, Natsu is almost directly face to face with her. There's barely an inch between them as Natsu sniffs at her a few times, appraising the Huntress and tilting his head, "You remind me of Lucy. She's bigger, though." Natsu comments before turning away from Weiss and then turns back around towards the Cauldron. 

    When Diantha asks where the Witches are, Natsu points at them when they appear. 

    But he seems more interested in the cauldron, continuing to sniff at it despite how bad it tastes, "Deer liver, boar bladder... sage... corpse lily... carrion flower..." He looks up at them and says, "You're brew wizards, right?" He seems curious about it more than hostile, "Here, lemme help." 

    Natsu reaches into the fire and grabs the underside of the cauldron. As his hand cups the underside, almost immediately it starts to glow a cherry red and the boiling increases by a fairly large amount, "Watcha cookin'? Smells real bad!"

    "W-what? I'm a perfectly normal height for my age!" Weiss protests to Natsu! Best not to tell her what you really meant, Natsu. The flustering fencer scowls, now distracted from her goal. This is good though, because it gives her a chance to regroup with the others. "Oh good, someone else has a ranged weapon!"

    Juno's offer to cover her relieves the summoner, but she doesn't summon this time! Myrtenaster comes out, and when the others catch up, she glances around. "All right, care to explain what you're... HEY!" Natsu is somehow MORE impulsive than she is! This is really making Weiss throw off her groove. She looks helplessly at Emily and Diantha and Holly. "I am trying."

Holly smiles upon hearing the trio, "Hi there, the people in town says there's been some magical activity that's been going on. I'm guessing you aren't the ones hexing the people in town so what's been going on?" They seem friendly enough but Holly isn't the best judge of character.

Emily bursts out laughing when Natsu's first move is to help with the cauldron. "Hey, now, watch out, that might have already been at the optimal temperature for ... whatever it is they're brewing!" she says. "You can't just brute force 'as hot as possible' for everything!"

She floats forward and lands, patting Weiss's shoulder. She grins widely as she looks the trio of witches up and down. "So, the anti-magic xenophobe Phipps back out there wants us to do something about you guys," she says derisively, using the exact phrase Diantha had to describe him. She glances around. "Also, I'm pretty sure every one of us has some degree of magic or other except Blackout and Weiss over there, and Weiss kind of has a question mark over her as far as His Nibs would be able to tell." She still hasn't gotten over the time Weiss summoned a warrior of light which somehow wasn't magic.

She shrugs. Using all four of her arms. "Anyway, I'm kinda feeling like asking questions first and shooting never, what about you guys?"

     Diantha blinks as she watches Natsu rush up and offer to 'help' with the cauldron and seems to work at heating it further, which she has to agree with Emily, could certainly end badly if his seemingly educated guess on what they were brewing was even slightly wrong. Her focus remains more on the witches though as they appear with the returning young witch. 

     "What Emily says is true, but I am always one to hear both sides of a story in matters like this, especially if I don't know the parties involved. They claim in addition to the curses, that you taught divination to a couple of young girls. They wish for the curses and magical involvement with the town to cease."

    "Ah! Wait! What are you DOING?!" The Maiden squeals as Natsu helps. Only to have a hand rest gently on her shoulder.
    "He's helping, dear young one." The Mother says matter of factly.
    But then come the questions, and the three are silent for a long beat.
    "We are the ones cursing the town." The Crone admits with a gentle honesty.
    "We came to them and offered our services, but they turned us away." The Mother adds on while the Maiden scuffs her toes in the grass.
    "When the Wood Elves told us that the townsfolk had been trespassing on their borders and attacking them, the natural course was to curse the high elves." The Mother explains more fully.
    "Hmph. I tried to make friends with the local girls, but those puritan fools won't let me see Abigail and Mary anymore." The Maiden adds in. Before the three glance towards one another.
    "We will not stop the curses." The Mother says firmly at Diantha's relaying the villager's wishes.
    "That would upset the Crone in Red." The Maiden says with a shudder.

    "Duh. If you want it to be more potent, you need to boil the excess water out. You can't do that with a normal fire. Fire solves everything!" Natsu chides the girl as she squeals at him. 

    He is sitting cross-legged in front of the fire as he cradles the cauldron in one hand, "So it seems like both sides kinda suck here. You're cursing them, they're racist against you. Pretty lame on both sides." 

    Natsu sighs, a couple licks of flame exiting his mouth as he thinks about it, "I'm doing way too many jobs that don't involve punching the past few days! BUT!" He thinks about it, "The Crone in Red won't let you stop cursing? Would you stop if she let you and a deal could get worked out?"

"The crone in red, she wouldn't happen to have mismatched eyes, long white hair, guns and a living hat?" Holly has a feeling about this one but she wants to make sure before they go any further. She rather not fight Salome but it's beginning to sound like she might be behind this. Of course the witch is certainly in over her head if she's going to take her on.

     Diantha nods, though the witches don't seem interested in negotiating to let up on the curses, she can understand their stance at this point. "I understand how they are treating you and the wood elves is wrong, and being a creature of the wood I'd probably be on their side if I knew them, but I'm pretty sure if we don't work out a mutual deal the town will just send more off worlders, and the next group might not be so understanding of your position..." Diantha states rather matter of factly to the matron, but hearing Holly turns to her with a curious expression as the witch guesses at the appearance of 'the crone in red'. 

     "You think you know their leader?" She asks as she glances back to the other witches to see if they state Holly's guess to be true or not.

Emily crosses her upper arms and puts her lower hands on her hips, and shoots Holly a grin. "Salome was my first thought, too," she says. "But she isn't a crone by any stretch of the imagination." She pauses. "On the other hand, she's been wanting a showdown with me since forever, so. Shrug."

She nods to Diantha. "Also a good point," she says. "The next group of offworlders might be more interested in the exact opposite of my earlier 'ask questions first, shoot never.'"

    "In fairness, he is reaching temperatures our campfire could not." The Crone says in regards to Natsu superheating their brew.
    "It is a very complex situation." The Mother says to Diantha. Let us table it for now. Return to us in the week and--..." She trails off as Holly begins describing a certain other hag.
    "Mn."
    "Mmmmmm..."
    "M-mmf..."
    All three hush up very quickly, before heaving heavy sighs all at the same time.
    That's as good of an answer as any, when dealing with that witch.