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

[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...?

[cozen]

From here, ouais. We are a little touchy about the—you know. The fairy tale world business, from rifters. [ Kinder than outright labelling it condescension? ] But now I have seen some of what your worlds are like, with the enormous towers and the lights and Wiki-pedia.

[ Beneath the extremely fantasy-French accent, there's also a touch of someone pronouncing an unfamiliar word they only read rather than heard. ]

I understand better that it must be a big adjustment. And I would like to know anything. What does a civil engineer do? Were you involved in your war? What do you mean by projection?

[undergrunn]

Hmm?

( She'd forgotten she'd even said that, and there's an audible oh of horror. )

Oh, Alll-mer help me. ( Sounds like: I am an idiot. )

I've-- I didn't mean it dismissively, I've only just started to realise how many fairy tales are far more true and alive at home than I knew. Magic here is known by everyone, it seems, so it felt--

( A little sigh. They didn't know what it meant, only felt the insult of how it must have been used many times over. )

I'm sorry, that was rude, especially when I am a guest here.

As for your questions... are you at the Gallows, Bastien? I could explain better in person.

[cozen]

Do not worry about it. Like I said, you have a lot to deal with already. If you are still saying it in a few months, then we can have a problem and you can apologize.

[ Among them: the fact that she is likely not a guest here and will never truly go home. But his personal preference would be for that to come from another rifter, or at least someone who understands the Fade better. ]

I'm not in the Gallows, but I am due to stop by. Save me a spot on your schedule after lunch?

[undergrunn]

I'll set a deadline for getting it all out of my system.

( She's imagining a calendar with unfortunate comment purge quotas. Say everything awkward or terrible now, and then never again. If only it were so simple, right? )

Well, I'm very busy and in demand, ( so essential to the running of the place, you see ) but I'll clear some time for you.

What's a good spot with dry dirt, or sand, or sketching something out with a stick? I'll meet you there.