exsilium | one: this one's for you, rain. [video]

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one: this one's for you, rain. [video]

[There is a damp-looking teenager on the screen. One might expect him to be miserable from all that rain and cold, and he was for a while, but there's a look of triumph on his face. The reason for this intrudes into the frame a second later, held up by its inventor.]

Hey. I'm Billy, and I've just arrived. I'm a mechanic wondering how much I'll be able to assist here, so I thought I'd prepare for the local climate as a test project.

[The object of his admiration is an umbrella, pieced together from whatever happened to be in his bag and what parts he could buy or find. The fabric is a patched together blue and gray, obviously taken from different items. It's not going to win any Prettiest Umbrella awards. The folding mechanic works, though it looks a little lopsided due to the lack of perfect tools. He tugs on the runner, folding and unfolding it. It works smoothly enough to pass initial inspection and he places it aside.]

I know materials are in short supply, but I brought my own tools and most of this was mine. I'd be happy to work on things and start trading---electronics, vehicles if we have any, or home supplies. I could even build more umbrellas. Is there a market, or have I just reinvented something I could have bought?

[Not that he particularly cares. The way he's glancing to the side and admiring the ugly but functional umbrella, he probably would have done things himself anyway.]

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Yeah. It took me a little while to sketch out the mechanisms and remember how they fit together, but I took an umbrella apart when I was seven. My parents were baffled, but they gave me my own to experiment with. Then I moved on to the vacuum and there was trouble.

It's strange, how many things we came to rely on that aren't so readily available here.

You remembered how to put an umbrella together because of something you did when you were seven?

[Her opinion of him just sky rocketed even more, because gosh that's way more than she could ever hope to do herself.]

It's not too bad, they do have a lot of stuff here. Sometimes it just takes a while to find it.

I don't have an eidectic memory---it's more that I learned the theory by building lots of things, and that helps me fill in the blanks.

[He's sitting here thinking for a moment.]

Have you filled up your apartment yet? Anything I should be looking to save up for?

It's still way better than anything I could do.

[Oh look, an easy question to answer.]

I've bought a few things, but most of the stuff I bring in gets taken back.

[She spends a lot of her time at the library okay?]

...taken back? Do other people take it, or do you give it back?

[He is trying to see what these items could be, tilting his head left and right.]

I do most of the time, though I'm sure one of my roommates wouldn't mind on occasion.

[Rinoa hadn't meant for this to be a guessing game, but now that it is she might as well just drop a hint.]

It must be popular. Not consumable, not an umbrella...

[What sorts of things does he usually lend? What might she trade?]

Do you test other peoples' weapons?

Popular is right, at least some of them are, some of them? Not so much.

[This is way too much fun.]

Nope! I'm okay with my own weapon, but I'd probably lose an arm or something trying to test out someone else's.

Oh, I see.

[He taps his chin and thinks some more. What is ranked by popularity?]

Movies? I thought our access to media was very limited.

Nope! Though I've never thought to see if they've had movies on any of my trips there. Not that I know what you'd play them on here.

Right. It might be possible to reconstruct a player with the discs or tapes as the base, but there's a supply shortage. It's much easier to keep something that doesn't need special equipment, like...

[He tries again, looking hopeful.]

Books?

They have a really nice library! I go there all the time and so does one of my housemates. I think you can find books on just about anything there.

[Ding, ding, ding we have a winner.]

Oh! That makes sense.

[He laughs.]

Have you read anything particularly interesting lately?

I've been reading a lot of history books lately. I've been trying to study up on some place called Earth, because a lot of people here seem to be from there.

[She wrinkles her nose playfully.]

There's a lot to read about Earth.

You have one more person outnumbering you, then. I'm from Earth too...but it was a much nicer place than this when I lived here.

[He looks even more interested now.]

I'm sure your world's just as interesting. What would you say about it, if you had to describe it quickly?

It's okay, I'm already used to it. I like meeting people from other places anyway. I like finding out what's the same and what's different.

[She's a curious person by nature, so that doesn't even bother her.]

My world doesn't seem too different from most earths. Only mine has more magic and more monsters running around. It's kind of hard to describe quickly, because it's my world and I'm still used to taking it for granted.

No, I understand. My world has so many different places and cultures, it must be a huge project to learn about it from the outside.

We have magic and monsters too---they're easy to take care of when they're small, but they can grow as large as a skyscraper and demolish it.

You're not kidding! Things are a lot simpler where I'm from. I'm not sure I could get used to a place that's so complicated.

There are Earths that do and Earth's that don't have magic. See what I mean about how complicated this is? [She pauses, eyes widening.] Monsters as big as skyscrapers?

We needed mecha as big as skyscrapers to fight them. Well...this group of heroes called the Power Rangers did, anyway. No one knew where they found tanks that big, but without them we'd have all died a long time ago.

I don't think my Earth had magic at first. It might've been brought in by this war with the monsters---we think their leader has it, and the Rangers might as well. But I've always been reluctant to accept magic as an explanation.

[There are a lot of words in his explanation that she doesn't know. While she thinks she can figure out what he's talking about, there will probably be a lot of wrong assumptions that will have to get corrected later.]

Let me guess. You prefer things to be "grounded in science", right?

[She tilts her head, watching him expectantly. This was a guy who'd built his own umbrella from parts after all.]

That's me, yes. Do you know someone else like me?

[There was a time Billy would have been uncomfortable being known as a nerd, but now's not the time. He's satisfied.]

Not really. Magic's always been part of my world even if it's often feared.

[She simply smiles.]

I've been doing a lot of reading.

[History is great, but she crams in plenty of books on other topics. Since magic is a big piece of her life right now it only makes sense that she's looked into how people on earth might react to magic.]

We feared magic too, but great power has also been used to protect the world. I understand that now.

[Billy looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.]

Because you have magic?

Edited 2012-12-19 05:30 (UTC)

Magic users have kind of a bad history where I'm from, so even the good ones are feared. It's kind of sad really.

[Whoa whoa, hey now! No deducing such a thing, that's cheating!]

Because I want to know more about the worlds other people here come from.

Ah. Right, you're a researcher too.

[He sighed.]

Well...there's not really prejudice against other people for quite that reason where I'm from. Very few people have any ability---that I know of. I don't know much because I don't have that power, but they could all be hiding.

That's the trouble with information. it's incomplete.

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unlikelyrebel - 2012-12-21 04:09 (UTC) - Expand

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