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

[slaveking]

Sure. [Marcel generally sounds easy unless he's actually trying to be difficult.]

Horseless carriage. Also known as an automobile and a car. Moves on the power of an engine, metal parts and combustion power-- like fire, in a very tightly-controlled compartment. And like fire, it takes fuel. You can get speed out of a thing like that like no train of horses is ever gonna get you.

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty...sort of follows that. Sort of. She expects that someone smith caste would have an easier go of it. ]

How does fire in a controlled compartment move something?

[slaveking]

[He had not really expected to get into a discussion of technology and the sciences on talking crystals in a magical dimension separate from his own, but

it's kind of fun, actually. He likes knowing things. It's way better than banging around in a world threatened by monsters, ancient magisters, et cetera et cetera, ass over tit. Marcel thinks about his answer for a moment.]

You've seen campfires, right? When people throw paper in there, or other stuff that's light-- you see how sometimes it'll move upward. Same with steam coming off boiling water. It doesn't fall like everything else.

[rathercommon]

[ She affirms: ]

I've seen it, yes.

[ And then she waits for him to give her more. ]

[slaveking]

That's because heat causes air, water, and plenty of other things to behave different. One of the most useful is, it'll cause these things to move or expand.

And transport's just movement. Smaller parts moving together cause the bigger ones, like wheels, to turn. There's a lot more that goes into it in the vehicles of my contemporary time, mind you, but those are the basics. [Marcel pauses.] Make sense? I dunno how far-fetched that sounds if you've been here all your life, but I can promise you I'm not making it up.

[rathercommon]

[ She thinks about it a moment. Then, a little hesitantly: ]

That does make sense, yes. How well do you know this technology? Would you be able to - say - provide sketches of it? Or detailed descriptions? To those who might be able to recreate that sort of thing.

lmao i pmed the mods. but here's a tentative/preemptive reply

[slaveking]

[There's a medium-to-longish pause. Marcel takes that question clearly.

Though he kind of feels like he's getting further and further off script a little bit. HOPE WHAT IS HAPPENIng]

I think it's possible. I haven't had a look under a hood in a little, but I got a pretty good memory. Is this a real thing you think we could pull off?

i'm happy

[rathercommon]

[ The shrug might not be visible, but it's quite nearly audible. ]

Who knows? You come from a completely different world, and so maybe fire works differently in your home from how it does here, or maybe your metals are different, or something. There are plenty of ways in which it wouldn't work. But I also know that there are some smiths amongst my people who are beyond clever, and who can take even the most basic ideas and turn them into really amazing things. And we could use some amazing things in our fight against Corypheus, I think.

So it's worth a try, isn't it?

amazing \o/

[slaveking]

Yes, it is.

[By now, he knows the name. Corypheus. Is Thedas prepared for a new level of war? Questions that we might actually have answered. Marcel only wonders about the morality of all this for five seconds before stowing it for some later vampire brooding time.]

Who are your people? Who am I speaking to?

[rathercommon]

Oh. I'm Kitty. I'm a dwarf. So - by my people, I mean the dwarves. Though they wouldn't reciprocate that claim, to be sure.

[ She gives a shrug. ]

Anyway. What about the other things you mentioned? What are they?

[slaveking]

Sounds like a long story. Maybe when you have less to do.

[And when he isn't feeling around a half-dozen Thedosians on these peculiarly superpublic talking crystals.]

Ballet is a form of dance. Requires a Hell of a lot of athleticism, discipline. Usually follows a story, and music's probably the most important piece after the dance itself. Some of those songs are older than I am.

[Pretty fucking old.]

You all have tea here? The kind that can wake you up early mornings?

[rathercommon]

We do have teas, yes. Though I don't know about early mornings, or waking you up. I suppose if you could afford a few luxuries.

[slaveking]

[That takes him back a little. Tea used to be a luxury, it's true.]

Coffee has a similar ingredient in it. Guess you could say the essence is the same. Tastes different, though, and the concentration is a lot stronger because of the way the beans are prepared. Similar principle to drying mushrooms for the taste.

It's a good pick-me-up for some people. Keeps you alert, gives you energy. Most people it lasts a good couple hours.

[rathercommon]

So...What makes it instant? Or what's different about instant coffee?

[slaveking]

Less prep. Comes in powder, you throw some water in, and it's ready to go.

We actually have eggs that way these days too. All kinds of modern conveniences. [A beat.] Probably doesn't sound as fun as a horseless carriage.

[rathercommon]

[ That draws a laugh from her. ]

Believe me, if you spent as long as I spend tending to the stew-pot in the tavern, you'd understand that instant food is actually quite a bit more exciting than fast transportation. Though I'm having trouble imagining instant eggs. It's a powder too? And you throw some water in and it becomes an egg? What sorts of hens produce such things?

[slaveking]

That so? Yeah, all right. I can see where you're coming from.

[He hasn't thought about the earliest human parts of his life for a long time, but this does take him back. Marcel's smile is audible.]

Well they come out scrambled. You know, just kind of a light yellow, like all the whites and the yolks are already mixed in together. You can use 'em for baking and stuff like that too. Great shelf life. Nobody's really in love with eating them compared to fresh, in the time and place I come from, but you're right. The convenience is a luxury. And we still have people starving, other places.

[His voice turns thoughtful.] We've really worked out how to use dehydration in my world and time. I mean I figure you guys have spices and jerky here, but we've started applying it all over in my time. That's technology for you. The things you don't appreciate.

[rathercommon]

Yeah? [ There's a laugh in her voice when she asks: ] What else do you have? Dried soup? Dried water?

[slaveking]

Dried soup.

Dried water. [Marcel's voice grows unmistakably dry at that -- something he's fairly sure she'll catch onto.]

[rathercommon]

[ But don't mistake her: the question was quite facetious. And she continues on, with increasing absurdity: ]

Dried air, dried dirt, dried emotions - oh, do tell me you all have invented instant happiness.

[slaveking]

You don't have that here? [A cherry dose of mock-naivete.] Instant happiness? We call that true love.

Invented it after we realized job promotions didn't last too long, and booze takes awhile if you've been drinking long enough.

[rathercommon]

[ With mock shock: ]

Really? I've always heard that love is pain and misery, not joy.

[slaveking]

[Laughter then, low but bright.]

Didn't say it wasn't. Just that the good part lasts a little bit longer than the gap between wages and bills. And it works faster than booze, even if you've drunk your liver down to a rock. Can't say much for a hard heart, though.

[He figures she knows what a liver is. Before powdered eggs and other nice conveniences, they hadn't wasted any part of an animal.]

[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]

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.