crystal

[undergrunn]

( Behold, a new voice on the crystals. Soft, good-humoured, with an accent that sounds Scandinavian / relative equivalent. The crystal catches a quiet breath of laughter before she speaks. )

I don’t know if you’re really lucky to have an engineer turn up, or if I’m really unlucky that I need to figure out the machinery.

I mean, learning about the infrastructure of a city in a whole different world isn’t even a “once in a lifetime” kind of opportunity, and pretending I’m some sort of genius at kinetic motion just because I know some mechanisms from home would be pretty fun, but…

Wow.

( Maybe that sounds a little weightier than her first "wow.")

Oh, I'm Abella. Riftwatch, you’re gonna have to have a lot more ramps by the time I’m done with you. Somewhere has to accommodate wheelchair users, even if it’s some kind of fairy tale world.

( Hmmm. )

Wait, can you just make them float, here? (More softly, ) Flying wheelchairs would explain the lack of ramps. I mean, this crystal thing is remarkable, so... let me know if I don't need to think about the ramps.

Comments

[laruetheday]

Don't know if you've seen the giant rock pile near the harbor, but one of our towers is a total loss and another one is non-usable. There's an elevator in the central tower that works if you can't handle stairs. Right now we need the Eyrie fully repaired and a functional residential tower so we're not all freezing our asses off in a couple months.

[ "Before anybody even thinks about adding ramps" is not said out loud but definitely implied in her tone. ]

[elegiaque]

( gwenaëlle has never been good at implication, )

Please don't waste our resources on irrelevant vanity projects for things that can't currently reach the island in the first place while the bulk of our force is living in barely defensible tents.

[laruetheday]

[ as long as one of them said it ]

[undergrunn]

( Well. Her tone was all friendliness before, and that’s not gone, but she does sound rather more serious. )

The war that’s just ended in my home world, and the one before it, sent many men home with their bodies permanently changed, and injuries can make mobility harder even in the short term. It’s not a vanity project to ensure all necessary parts of a facility are accessible for people in mobility devices, or wheeled vehicles, in some instances. I also made no reference to the order or prioritisation of projects. I won’t waste your time or resources, but please don’t dismiss me, or make assumptions about my intelligence and the reasons why accessibility was on my mind.

[undergrunn]

Would you like to ask me about my experience and past work, or would you prefer to continue to make assumptions and be dismissive?

[laruetheday]

Assumptions? I responded directly to what you said and I'm telling you what the priority is.

[grindset]

A civil engineer? That would be a first... and unusually well timed, at that.

[undergrunn]

Engineer and mechanic. I’ve done some stuff with electronics, but it wasn’t my specialisation and I don’t think it’ll have much relevance here.

[dissolving]

Make hauling a bit easier,

[ does he agree with clarisse? yes. does he feel a little compelled to stick up for the new guy? also yes. it'd be handy to bring handcarts down the occasional, interior steps. and they're already rebuilding —

(one more wish for their infinite list. what's the harm in that? gotta have something to get you through.) ]

What brings it to mind?

[undergrunn]

I just came from a place where I saw a woman strap a wheelchair to her back and drag herself up stairs and ladders, in a… combat context, and a world with a lot of disfigured soldiers returning to civilian life. Making a facility easier to navigate is beneficial in emergencies, including times when elevators are unsafe to use.

In practical terms, I’d need to see schematics for the keep if we have them, assess damage, find out what the goals and priorities are. Ramps can be useful for ensuring accessibility for horse-drawn vehicles, or large objects being moved by manpower, so there are some that might merit prioritisation during earlier stages.

This was just an attempt to put myself out there and thinking of something to say that happened to draw on recent experience.

[succise]

Is there something in the rift you come through that makes you all act like this?

[undergrunn]

It was meant to come across as good-humoured, but I can definitely see how it landed as ignorant and presumptuous. ( There’s a brief, sheepish breath of laughter. ) Sorry. I’m working on it.

[rowancrowned]

This is chronic?

[ pot, very forgetful kettle. ]

public > private

[youwonscience]

Hey, I'm Cosima. I head up the Research Division; I'm the provost, if you hear anyone referring to me that way, but Cosima is fine. Sounds like you've got a lot of ideas and energy, which is great. Stop by my office when you can, we'll talk.

[An addition, private, after a moment of thought:]

Everyone here's been through a lot, in general but especially recently. Easy to get their backs up, you know? For what it's worth, the Gallows is so cheerfully named because it used to be a prison. So like, everything we've been able to add to make it more livable, from the elevator down, has been retrofitted to a place actively hostile to accessibility. Maybe helpful context for making sense of the parts that aren't rubble.

[Her tone is businesslike, but not unkind. She genuinely thinks it might be helpful for Abella to know.]

private

[undergrunn]

Hello, Cosima.

( Her tone is still friendly, but less light-hearted than the original post. Faintly guarded, perhaps. )

I understand.

( She... does not know that disclosing anything of home has a place, here. Not when they have their own war, and she's already started off on so poor a foot.

There's a wry tone to her voice as she goes on, )

It's placement in the bay made me wonder. Either you're keeping people out, or locking them in. When I am able to have more of a look around, I can see if my knowledge of buildings from home and adapting them has relevance.

( There's a brief pause. )

I didn't mean to condescend by talking about wheelchairs or ramps. It's just been on my mind because I only just started to understand how bad things are at home for a friend who uses a wheelchair. Even saying that-- I know I'm here now, and home doesn't matter to the people here, especially with everything going on. I was just excited to try out the crystal.

[cozen]

Hello, Abella. I’m Bastien.

What is your world like? Is it one of the ones with the computers?

[undergrunn]

Hello, Bastien.

Yes. I've done a little work with them, but only more broadly, as part of electronics. They're fascinating, I'm-- I'd been excited to see how they can be used for projections and improving safety in engineering. They've... made things more complicated and dangerous in the Second Great War, but all great inventions have their good and dark sides.

What would you like to know about home? Are you from here, or...?

[thereneverwas]

No, no, think about ramps. By all means think about ramps.

[wheelchair schmeelchair, let's talk trebuchets]

[undergrunn]

( There's a pause. Cautiously, just because she really managed to put her foot in it already: )

Is that... a genuine point of interest, or are you another person who's annoyed?

[brennvin]

( The vaguely happenstantially-familiar accent has Astrid perk up a little when she first hears this voice over the crystals… until it becomes exceedingly clear that this is in fact a rifter, not someone from the Frostbacks, and Astrid has no idea what they’re all talking about (schematics? engineering? what). But she barrels cheerfully into the conversation regardless: )

Heyo Abella, I’m Astrid.

I’ve not seen a wheeled-chair before but it sounds like an interesting idea, for the folks who need it. In the mountains, if a bear chews off your legs then you’re just sort of— Not fucked, the community takes care of you obviously, but it would have been nice. If they could get around on their own instead of always needing a stretcher or carrier. There was one fellow we called the Boneless and he could still fuck you right up with a sword but it must’ve been hard, most days.

don't mind my narrative tldr in response to Astrid casually existing

[undergrunn]

( The familiarity of the accent catches her. It feels like a regional variation, the sort of thing that immediately breeds solidarity when thrust into a situation where that aspect of yourself has an element of "the other."

It's arguably grasping at straws. There are plenty of accents here that are reminiscent of home, and yet she's not jumping up to think people are from Rondon. The brief hope of someone from Bohemia or the Eastern Union was efficiently brushed away.

But 'Astrid' is a name from home, has a voice from home, and even speaks of mountains. The relief is like pulling yourself into a lifeboat from roiling seas.

She's been sounding progressively more serious and reserved across her responses. Her tone warms, now. )

It's nice to meet you, Astrid. And mountains present a whole different set of obstacles.

( Ramps that could send you flying out into the air if not designed and traversed with particular care? Not ideal. )

It is hard to know what is the best course of action. How much help do people want, how much help do they need, who are the people who want less help than they need, how do you figure out the right thing to do without focusing on it so much you miss the rest of who they are? And that's before you even get to the logistics. I mean, the things that might work in the Gallows are going to be more easily implemented than trying to make more changes to Kirkwall. ( Kirk-wall? hitched on her uncertainty )

I joked about the mountains, but if yours here are anything like home, you would need to ensure the mechanisms don't get locked up in ice and it can cross snow, at the bare minimum. But maybe it needs to be able to cross uneven terrain, or be light enough that climbing with it strapped to you is sustainable, depending on what they need to be able to do.

( It's both immense enthusiasm for the subject and an element of "now I am aware of this, yikes." )

Maybe it'd be easier to breed very big, strong goats that can be housetrained.

[allthatgleamsisgold]

Such floating devices are not uncommon in my original world, and that sort of magitech could, theoretically, be adapted here.

I don't think it something unwise to consider, given the protracted nature of this war.

[undergrunn]

Magitech. That's a surprisingly straightforward name.

( Which is a relief, honestly. )

We-- my world is just emerging from a war that felt like it pulled in every country, and we had another one that was the same maybe twenty years ago. I didn't think we had magic, but I know technology has gotten to a place where just... in some villages in my homeland, none of the young men who were conscripted came back. Others that do might not be able to walk any more. They should at least be able to move around the towns and the country they went through hell for. I don't know anything about this war, yet, but there's always going to be people don't come back the same.

( Hmm. )

I'm sorry. I went on a bit.

[bouchonne]

I've a deadly important question for you.

[ This voice sounds very much like it's coming from a man who has never asked an important question in his life. ]

If we build these ramps, and have chairs with wheels on them, can we then ride those wheeled chairs down the ramps for fun.

[undergrunn]

( This is amazing. )

Yes. ( "so long as we aren't taking chairs from people who rely on them," bllah blah, the responsible things that she'd personally assume was a given. )

But if we are using the ramps for fun, we should become more ambitious and see what is possible when we become airborne.

( And thusly the half-pipe was borne unto Thedas. )