therookery | crystal;

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Viktor
RECIPIENT: all
NOTES: crowdsourcing ideas For Science. strongly encourage hijacking/chaos/making it weird.

Good afternoon. This is not an urgent message. If you're engaged in anything serious, please accept our apologies for the interruption... and... and be safe, wherever you are.

[This is not a common voice to hear over the crystals—nor does the speaker emerge from Research's rooms very often, at that. In fact, even after a year and a half, there may yet be some people he's never really spoken to. He sounds slightly nervous, somewhat less so as he goes on:]

But those who can spare a moment... you are invited to imagine, [softly clearing his throat,] to imagine a ship... only, unlike the ships you might have seen to date, this one was built to traverse the sky. And this flying ship, it is yours—and now, you must finish outfitting it. Add any contrivance or convenience you might wish, whether practical or extravagant, for personal comfort or professional efficiency. Cost is of trivial concern, and the laws of physics yield to your every whim. Whatever you imagine can be realized.

So... what do you add to it? What does it do?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It does, and yet, I would happily shed that descriptor if we could achieve internal combustion to a functional degree. But, more to the point—you say you're familiar with this type of vessel?

[Tell Him Everything]

Yes! Perhaps not the type of familiar you'd find most immediately useful. I'm no artificer and I don't know very much about how all of it's put together.

[ This qualifier is spoken quickly so as to get to his main and much more interesting point— ]

I was captain of the Queen of Gales for the past several months, before coming here. Meaning, I've travelled about on such a thing and know how to operate it. Highly recommended, as far as travelling in style goes.

Queen of Gales... the name alone conjures an impressive silhouette. A sleek, yet powerful build... strong and quick.

She was very impressive. Still is, I suppose, somewhere out there. You're all looking to build one?

We are indeed. This idea has been in development for some time—since well before I arrived here, at that—and, if all goes well, provided we can get hold of certain supplies, construction will soon be underway.

You'll have to come up with a good name, too, with it being Thedas' first. Equally as important as getting it in the sky.

On that, we agree. Actually... I think it may already have a name.

[Nestled among the notes they've gathered. So far, they haven't discussed calling the ship anything else.]

Is the name a surprise, or can we know?

[After a brief consultation with Wysteria and Jayce, which mostly consists of glancing and nodding at various levels of chill,]

It seems like bad luck to name something officially before its birth, so, we'll save it for the reveal. But feel free to speculate wildly.

I like 'The Stark Offensive'.

( she misses him, too. )

[This takes a moment to come back:]

Tony Junior.

Wait, we have to— it needs to have a little library nook. He wanted to have a pornography section in the library named after him.

( was he serious? wobble hand. is it just like her to remember that, years after the fact? of course. )

[A soft breath, amused. (And those in the room with him will see his posture has begun to sag.)]

I can't promise anything until we know the size of the ship, but there should be room for a few books.

He probably didn't mean it. But I think it'd be —

Not a fitting memorial, exactly. Just one that might have made him laugh.

( it's nice to imagine, for a moment. maybe a laugh through his nose, maybe: hey, this is what you remembered? for real? the sort of memorial that has to be explained, so you find yourself telling someone about him, smiling,

it is, maybe, a silly idea. but she knows more about grief than about airships. )

Yes... very likely so.

[After a moment of staring down at the crystal on his wrist,]

This project is, in large part, a continuation of his work. He'll be present in it—that I can promise you.

I haven't got any doubt of you.

(no subject)

grindset - 2024-02-13 04:01 (UTC) - Expand

elegiaque - 2024-02-13 18:09 (UTC) - Expand

grindset - 2024-02-14 04:35 (UTC) - Expand

elegiaque - 2024-02-14 04:36 (UTC) - Expand

[ !! ]

Are you open to consultation?

Of c—

[ Wait. ]

Well, perhaps that depends. You know, on what I might hope to gain from my invaluable insights.

We will need someone to test how it flies.

[Just kidding, Wysteria is piping up after all—a tinny voice on the background of Viktor's crystal.]

And someone whose operated an airship can give us pointers in designing an intuitive user interface.

And then after, they get to test how it flies, yes?

Can't imagine a better candidate.

Fantastic.

[ What were they asking him? Oh, right— ]

Consultation! It'd be a privilege.

Great. Viktor and Madame de Fonce are the heads of this project. I'm, uh... [ ah ha. ] ... their assistant, Jayce. Availability's pretty open on our end.

[A swift interjection:]

We're colleagues.