therookery | OTA | Sending Crystal

Entry tags:

OTA | Sending Crystal

FORM: Sending Crystal
SENDER: Alan
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Maybe y'all should keep closer track of your crystals
WHEN: Waves hands vaguely
WHERE: Everywhere
NOTES: Jack away...I'm sure there's a better way to phrase that

Hello, little rock.

You ask so many questions. All day, all night, and in all voices. What's worse than dying? Who are elves? How do you kiss one?

Listen to me: I can ask questions too. What are stars made of? Who put them there? Do you think they must have been very, very tall?

And — Who do you belong to?

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Not everyone can learn how to cast spells and wave magic sticks. And they especially can't if the world they come from doesn't have magic.

Yes. The unknown might look like magic, but so does magic.

...I mean. Magic's nnnnot technology though. Unless you can conjure up a spaceship and some awesome space-age armor with a fully functioning HUD and a sniper rifle with electronic sights.

Wait are we having an argument or are we agreeing on a point? I-I honestly can't tell here.

I think we're agreeing.

[ He laughs, then. It's — weird. It sounds like parrots sound, when they imitate a voice. Still, after that, something in the patter of his voice shifts. More human. Less... that. ]

Would you explain those words? HUD? Sniper rifle? Electronic?

Ummmm, okay. Electronic--so um. Electricity! Like from lightning. Imagine bottling that up and being able to use that to power things. Like instead of lighting a lantern, you push a button and there's light whenever you want it. A HUD is a heads up display, which is powered by electricity that gives me vital statistics about things around me and about me in front of my face but in a way that doesn't obstruct my vision.

Aaand a sniper rifle is a type of, um, gun, which, shit, you guys don't have those either. Well it's like a sniper with a bow and arrow, except instead of a bow it's a thin metal barrel and instead of an arrow it's a small bit of metal, and it comes out even faster than anyone can shoot.

I've been trying to learn a crossbow. Those are the closest you guys have to guns here. [Trying. It's still on the backburner. But there's um. A reason he mains a sword right now.]

[ Yeah, now he gets why people would think of that as magic — at least, people who don't understand magic, who use it as a catchall for mystery. It never occurs to him that this domain includes most people. Alan sits awestruck for a moment or two, trying to visualize the purpose, the use of it all.

Finally, he seizes on a point that nags: ]

What would you need to see that wasn’t there?

[ A blind man shooting a crossbow, now that'd be magic. ]

Maybe instead of learning ours, you could rebuild them here.

[ He doesn’t have the slightest idea how to hammer a sword, but then, he’s never really worked with those. For everything he owns now (what little of it), there's an understanding. Even the farm tools growing up, they made any repairs that didn't require Brother Abrams' forge.

Why wouldn't someone who relied on such wonders know how to care for them? Even if he’d rather Church didn’t figure out “guns”. They sound too much like bombs for his liking. ]

Enemies in hidden positions. Heart rate. Oxygen levels. Ammunition count. Time, temperature, date. I dunno, all kinds of useful stuff.

And, man, trust me, if I knew how to make any of this stuff, I'd be doing that. Not exactly an engineer here.

A soldier, then?

[ Enemies, ammunition. A preoccupation with — well, guns. ]

Why would you need to know the date during battle? It all sounds very distracting.

Damn right I'm a soldier. A pretty good one in my world, too. [There is no one here who can dispute that thanks.]

Well maybe not the date, but the time, like, if you're timing things. You get used to ignoring information you don't need or bringing up stuff you do, but it's all hella advanced crazy bullshit that will probably take several hundred years to develop anything like it here.

Do you think you'll ever be a good soldier here? Would you want to be? You said that this isn't your world.

It's not, but I'm trying to learn to fight here. Be a soldier. I don't know that I'll ever be good, but if it protects me and people around me? Eh, I'll give it a try.

Does protection always mean fighting?

[ Twenty questions, over here, but he's serious about this one. Alan doesn't intend to run from one war, straight into another, without room to breathe. ]

No, cuz I've got a shard in my hand and I can make a glowy pain shield out of it! It's pretty badass.

Glowy...pain...shield.

[ He almost sounds like he's taking notes. ]

Maybe I ought to find a shard.

Edited 2016-11-17 03:27 (UTC)

Some people shoot pain lasers instead. I don't know why people can't seem to do both.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend it unless you came with one. They really are painful. Aaand people get really wary about it.

Life is painful, [ watch out church we're getting deep into emo band territory here ] And people will always be wary. Have you tried it with both hands? To do both.

Wwwwow, yeah, okay Gerard Way.

I only have a shard in one hand. I don't think I could do both at the same time. It sorta happened spontaneously as it was...

Catching one-handed is difficult, [ He agrees. ] But with practice, you could manage.

I'm not Gerard, though. I'm Alan.

...I mean I literally don't think I'm capable of doing anything shardy with my other, non-sharded hand, but eh, won't hurt to try to make something happen.

Sup Alan. I'm Church. Youuuu're not from around here, are ya?

I'm from many places. Is here the Skyhold?

I guess that's what I mean, yeah. Skyhold, and the surrounding area. Or even this world, but if you weren't, you'd have a shard.

I’m familiar with the Frostbacks, [ In a way he's certain few in the fortress are. ] Demons aren't of this world, have they been manifesting with shards also?

[ Since evidently, these speakers aren’t all demons. ]

...I mean, I'm pretty sure not. I haven't seen any with shards. We mostly just kill 'em and then close rifts, though. Don't, uh, don't start going on about the idea of Rifters being demons, because, been there and done that song and dance, really not interested in the sequel.

No key closes a lock that it can't also open.

[ Demons are likely a symptom of the Rifts, not the cause. Still, it's a blessing none have been tossed out with a handful of their own pain lasers. ]

Does anyone know why they form where they do?

Rifters, or anyone with a shard, it's not just Rifters, can open rifts. It's, uh. Definitely looked down on. Since rifts mean demons, generally speaking.

Um, so we had someone who could predict where they would show up? I didn't ask how. I doubt I'd understand it. I don't know if that means there's a reason or if it's just a spike in some kind of energy.

(no subject)

alankazam - 2016-12-04 06:42 (UTC) - Expand

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