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]

What's a carriage like if it's not got any horses?

[ Sending crystals have no caller ID, and so, the introduction is that of a husky female voice with what a Rifter of New Orleans would association as a French accent. ]

Really slow?

[slaveking]

The opposite. [This is why we need cellphones. And video chat specifically.] Faster than I've ever seen a horse run. Dangerous-- you picture a carriage turning over, add fire to that.

But fun, if you like going fast.

[glandival]

Really.

[ That's the sound of an elf who would like to ride a super fast death fire carriage. ]

If you have Abominations every full moon, I can see why you'd want a carriage like that, with all the running away you'd be doing. Can we make one here?

[rathercommon]

Are you going to explain what any of it means?

[heightens]

New Orleans isn't the whole world, you know.

[ says elena into her crystal, raising an eyebrow even though marcel can't see it. ]

And it's rude to call them abominations, they're perfectly nice! Most of the time. Full moon not withstanding.

[ don't give thedosians a weird view of their world, come on, vampire dad! earth is miles better than this place. for one, it has coffee, something she hadn't thought about and now SORELY MISSES, so thanks for that. and the internet, god, what she wouldn't give to be able to bing everything about this place. ]

[slaveking]

[He makes a vowelish sound. Ehh. Hnnn. Hhh. It sounds thoughtful.]

Not easily. It'd probably be expensive. The quantity of metal we'd need. [He remembers the kind of resources that would go into even the pre-Oldsmobile Oldsmobiles. It took doing. And time.

Time he wants to be home no offense to beautiful but sight-unseen redheads :c] Still, I wouldn't say never. You ride?

[slaveking]

Do you mean about going home, the word 'prolapse,' or the list of sacred treasures from New Orleans?

[Don't ask about prolapse, Kitty! Stay good.]

[slaveking]

[... Elena.

Do you use Bing. Is that real.]

The way your great-great-great-great grandparents talked about it, you'd think it was exactly that.

[The Mikaelsons and New Orleans. Who even knows!]

You ever been? You should come by some time. I might be overselling their monster game a little bit, but I wouldn't describe any of them as 'perfectly nice.'

[heightens]

[ whaaaat who doesn't use bing? it is obviously the best search engine ever! ]

My great-great-great-great grandparents were all from Mystic Falls. I think? If I'm jumping back the generations right.

[ she's not even thinking about klaus as a grandparent of any kind, because wow no. although it is accurate, in a sense. ]

No, I haven't. We had family friends in Denver, but that's about the only place outside of Virginia I've ever been. And if New Orleans is full of our other abominations [ ie the mikaelsons ] I'm not stepping foot in there. Not even if you paid me.

[slaveking]

Wrong set of grandparents.

[Wow yes. In the worst possible way, though, he'd agree on that. Marcel's mellifluous voice is unmistakably dry.]

Not even curious about Mardi Gras? You're what, nineteen-years-old? Most young women your age could at least see the appeal. Pretend we're just talking about the public world.

[heightens]

Wrong set of -- oh, no, it doesn't work like that. They aren't any kind of family to me.

[ anyone who can hear this conversation is probably extremely confused right about now. oops. ]

I'm eighteen, and... I guess if it was just the public world, I might go. Not for Mardi Gras, but for all the history. But if my [ hrgh ] grandfather was there, no way. And since he is, and doesn't seem to want to leave... No thanks.

[rathercommon]

[ 'good' ]

The last one. You haven't got anything you can explain about the first bit, only questions to ask, and I can guess the meaning of prolapse from context. I want to know about the things you've got at home.

[glandival]

[ Talk to some dwarves get back to her, k thank. ]

I'd ride that.

[slaveking]

[Marcel's voice changes slightly.] The history, [he repeats. He lived it, so it means something different to him than it would have someone else, to hear a kid talk about his hometown that way.]

I can understand that. He's an asshole.

[Surely somebody in Thedas understands that sometimes one does not get on with one's family.] But he's-- preoccupied, a lot of the time. Family drama. You come around, I'll show you what you want to see. Fill in what the vodou walking tours leave out.

[heightens]

[ technically you're not really all that much older than her, marcel, she's not a kid.

except she really, really is. ] I guess history's a bad way to put it... The culture, maybe? The food and the jazz and... all that stuff. I don't actually know a lot about New Orleans other than that.

I bet he'd stop being preoccupied real quick if I showed up. He was obsessed with me. [ because she was human and he needed her blood to make more hybrids, but still. elena's not taking any chances with being within one hundred miles of klaus. even so... it'd be cool to see new orleans with someone who was there to see it become what it is. ] If he ever leaves for a weekend, maybe I'll stop by.

[ a pause, and then elena sighs. ] This is all moot if we can't figure out how to go back through the rifts, though.

[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.

[slaveking]

In New Orleans, there are regulations. People even take classes. I'd be pretty irresponsible if I left that part out.

[Do you mean like P Dinklage--

ok no by now he's seen some.]

[slaveking]

Damn right.

[His frustration is audible and mirrors her own, but Marcel defaults easily to public faces as easily as he ascertains the separation between secret and public spheres in New Orleans.] Do you remember much about magic back home? I'm hoping some of the principles apply. I've seen a lot of things, but those Rifts are powerful. If we could find someone to channel the energy of those--

[Which is only maybe a dozen generations of superlative witchcraft, creating and refining spells. That's not as long to a vampire, but still a long shot. He might be hoping she doesn't know much about witches, despite her ring.]

[glandival]

New Orleans.

[ Musing. ]

If your land has no horses, do you not know how to ride them?

[foxsays]

I don't know what any of those things are apart from coffee but not whatever instant is? [Like does someone just appear with coffee before you even ask for it?] Oh and ballet, we have ballet. I came through a rift almost three months ago.

[There's a pause as if she's done but then because it's still freaking her out-]

Abomination is a sensitive word to use right now.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Can't say I've ever been to New Orleans, but, dude, it's definitely not the whole world. You wanna know what feels like an entire planet? Fucking Texas. Why do they make certain states so god damn big?

Anyway, pretty sure nobody knows how to undo the whole being sucked into Dungeons and Dragons here, or they would've undone it already.

[demonicbeauty]

[Ariadne is always on the lookout for other Rifters, especially those who want to go home. And while the description of his world means little to her--although she knows ballet--it's enough to know that he's at least somewhat like her.

Her voice is young and girlish. There's a certain sweetness to it.]

I've been trying to figure out a way to get home too. Although I know of no world where magic is hidden exactly.

[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]

[Good question. By which one means, the answer is attached to centuries of history he's not sure he should be relaying, but certainty seems like a remote and increasingly irrelevant goal to try and achieve.]

Horseless carriages have only been around for a little over a hundred years, [he says.] I come from further back for that. Short answer-- yeah, I can ride a horse. Been awhile, though. And my style might be off, compared to what you do here.

[slaveking]

Hello, stranger, [Marcel says, after only the briefest pause.] Instant works faster. Looks like powder instead of beans. Drop some hot water in, and you got it.

By sensitive, you mean somebody thinks they aren't real? Or that's too hard a word?