o1 ♚ especially coffee

[slaveking]

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Marcel Gerard
RECIPIENT: Public; any and all interested
WHAT: A Rifter would like to futilely inquire as to the incomprehensible physics of Rifting and seek actually unavailable instruction w.r.t. how to get the Hell back home, please and thanks.
WHEN: Timing (backdated, covering a span, etc.)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Maybe P3-13 for language? If somebody gets emotional!

Good morning, Thedas.

[By now, the name of the world sounds comfortable enough in his mouth, but his accent is likely remains somewhat Other, cutting the consonants of his deep voice.] My name is Marcel Gerard. In the world I come from, magic is a secret pretty well-hidden from humans, and the full strength of abominations waits every month on the full moon. [Sorry, werewolves. Somebody hates you.] We also have horseless carriages, ballet, instant coffee, and the Internet. The world is called New Orleans. If you know what any of that means, we should talk.

And if you don't, you might be just the person to help me get home. You got thoughts on how to prolapse a Rift? I want to hear 'em. Talk to me.

Comments

[glandival]

You're probably shit out of luck. Anyone with that sort of power's going be a bit evil.

[ She'll skip the word 'psychopath'. Is that even in Thedosian lexicon? ]

I need to go tend to him in a bit. I'll be in the stables, if you want to pet the ponies. Ehm, my name's Sabine.

[rathercommon]

Unfortunate for us hard-hearted people, then. That sounds easy.

[ She gives a little laugh, like she's joking. She's honestly not sure if she's joking. ]

So - what was that other thing you mentioned? Inner-something.

[slaveking]

Nice to meet you, Sabine. I'll have to swing by.

You know, [he pauses.] in my world we have a country named France. You and your name both sound as if they come from over there.

[slaveking]

It is unfortunate, [Marcel agrees, easily. But it's the kind of joke that's funny precisely because it isn't really a joke.

—inner-something. That takes Marcel a moment. Oh, yeah.]

The Internet? It's-- an information network. You need devices to access it, and people can transmit all kinds of things. Audio, like this. Visuals-- moving pictures, recordings of things. Texts. You can fit a whole library into a device the size of your shoe, if it's done right. Very valuable. People can talk to each other as instantly as you and I now, and from just as far away.

[rathercommon]

[ Oh. That sounds awfully interesting. ]

How does it work? And who runs it?

[glandival]

Yeah?

I was thinking New Orleans sounds like familiar, as I'm from Orlais. Out of Orlais, I'm told me and my name sound Orlesian.

[ She doesn't have an accent, you guys have accents. ]

You don't sound like anything I've heard before. Well. Maybe a little like the dwarves.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Uhhhhh I know of the states. [He especially knows of a few specific states and by states he means super soldiers whose codenames were states.] I'm kind of from waaaay far away from Earth, but humanity's got a pretty far reach by the 2550's.

[foxsays]

I thought things were going to be better since the Mire but I made the mistake of mentioning something home and being called a demon. As the person looked at me as if I was going to eat them or worse.

[Laughable actually given that he was close to a foot taller than her but it’s not as if the sending crystal conveys more than a voice as she sighs, muttering under her breath. It still pisses her off when she thinks about it.]

I think it still depends on the type - if it’s a mage possessed by a demon, abomination, but for instance, a dead body possessed by a spirit? Walking corpse. Or just undead. As for us, I would say that the mages might show more trust because we have magic in our hands. The templars are the ones you have to watch, it was a high-ranking one in the past here who started all the demon talk.

[Also one teenage boy with horns but she’ll let that slide because that’d be mean and she’s not so petty.]

[slaveking]

[It is awfully interesting.]

In my era, we've advanced a lot of important technology. Electrical power is probably one of the biggest. [The absence of fossil fuels from Thedas' economy has yet to occur to him, so hilarity with buggy fish-oil starter vehicles could well soon ensue.] That's what powers the devices I was talking about, and it powers the machines that hold Internet data too. All over the world. A lot of different people run the Internet these days.

It's kind of a problem, some times. Plenty of liars and scam artists-- uh. Do you have scam artists.

[rathercommon]

[ A quick laugh - ]

A couple. A few of them here in Skyhold, actually. They tend to scam for socks, though, so largely they're quite harmless.

So - what's the problem with it?

[slaveking]

I think I sound like the dwarves, myself, [Marcel answers easily. He has an accent.

His French also has an accent.]

Comprenez-vous?

[slaveking]

[A beat.]

What the fuck.

[That apparently catches Marcel off-guard.] Pardon my French. You serious, man?

[slaveking]

...I'll have to keep that in mind.

[For a moment, Marcel wants desperately to ask for names. Also for pics, but you know, that isn't happening anytime soon around here. It's good to know what bears one ought to be poking, or-- not poking, as the case may be for those of us who have any sense of prudence. However, he suspects that it could be incriminating for both of them were he to press the point too hard on these shiny rock communiques.]

That's a solid breakdown. I hope it didn't come to blows, with whoever that was. Who am I thanking?

[slaveking]

With anonymity comes... [a beat. He considers.] A certain lack of accountability.

Means you get away with stuff like theft easier, 'course. But other stuff too. Here you have my tone of voice to go off of, but there's even more separation when I'm reduced to just a couple of words written down on a panel. It's harder to read people. You could say it's harder to care.

[More or less impairing than vampirism? A conversation for another time!]

[glandival]

Oui!

[ Well this is weird. Whether or not she has more complex thoughts on this subject isn't a hint portrayed through sending crystal; her voice is rich with amusement. She continues in Orlesian, which to Marcel's ears, is as French in sound as Fereldan is English; ]

But most in Orlais speak the common tongue.

[foxsays]

We have to tread lighter than most still.

[Normally not a problem but when you don't know what you're stepping in? Much harder. Hopefully it's a youthful mistake and that when things calm down again a lot will get better, or, given the reports coming back, they'll be desperate and grateful for help and the remarks will cease.

At least to her face, she can handle talk behind her back but demon stings like a slap.]

I decided to take the very literal higher ground, they happen to be close to someone I care for and such things can get ugly quickly. And I am Araceli Bonaventura, at your service.

[slaveking]

This is strange for me.

[Marcel's French isn't as strong as his English, but fortunately (??) he's experienced enough weird stuff even in his homeworld that topics such as these come to him easily. The state of the economy, that would be harder.]

I am curious about Orlais. Is it a large nation? Does it happen to be shaped like a teakettle. On the maps.

[slaveking]

[Marcel spares a split-second to appreciate that, indeed, having anybody he cares about here would complicate matters considerably.] Thanks, Araceli, [he says.]

Sounds like you did what was right for you and yours, and I have nothing but respect for that. [it's a hard lesson to learn. pride and wrath have gotten him and his in trouble before. lives ended, lives ruined, that kind of a thing. from the sounds of things, the inter-faction tension out in skyhold is close to what he left behind in new orleans— on a greater scale, even.]

I'm going to do that. Tread lightly. Is there a safe place for us? Anywhere that Rifters tend to come together, something like that.

[rathercommon]

Really? But...You are still talking to people. That's not exactly something you can forget, is it.

[slaveking]

Unfortunately, you'd be surprised. Guess it's the same kind of mind trick as... [he thinks.] Wearing a mask, I guess. We have some real bastards who like to hide behind that kind of a thing.

Guess there's nothing like that here?

[motherfucking_ghost]

Uh, yeah dude. Other worlds, alien war, none of that ring a bell? God damn, am I the only one from the fucking future here?

[slaveking]

[<8/ tbh.]

Sure as shit sounds like you're a little further along than I am. Space travel's easy? Have we moved on to other planets?

[rathercommon]

[ With a little laugh - ]

Nothing like the internet, or nothing like your bastards? Because we've got plenty of bastards.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Oh yeah, man! A shitton of planets! Ships everywhere. Future armor, future guns, future ships, future technology. People are still dumb as a god damn sack of bricks, though, so, that hasn't changed.

[glandival]

I think that is Ferelden. To the west is Orlais. It houses all the Dales, the Arbor Wilds, and in the north, the marshlands, the western deserts. It's very big. Its Empire is greedy.

Is that like France?