{VOICE OTA}

[rootandbranch]

[Today you feel a few strange pulses in your signets before you hear anything over Qri's network. It's fairly pleasant, exactly as the signet communications tend to be, and fortunately doesn't at all resemble the strange fluctuations that plagued everyone back on days 103-105. It's more like someone poking at the network to be sure it's stable and not going to do any more of that before they speak. They seem to conclude it's safe after all.]

Hello? Oh, hi-- hi, everybody. It's Geir. If you don't know me, I'm the dragon.

[He's very matter of fact about it. He's the dragon. You're probably aware, his tone seems to say.]

Listen, I don't actually care if you know me, you should just help me and Nines out! He knows all kinds of technology things, so I asked him what we could find out about the Hub with them. But the question is really, what does everyone want to find out? There's been a lot of weird to chew on!

Chew...on? [9S echoes this thought quizzically, for an instant quite distracted. But right, right, the matter at hand—] Er, anyway, like Geir said we’re lacking data on our surroundings. And to know what we’re dealing with, gathering more would be best, so I was thinking I can probably scrape enough parts together to build a pod for that job, once we know what kind of information it should collect. I mean, unless we want everything...

[Geir's tone is still bright and interested. he loves hearing about this, even if part of him is still skeptical.]

Nines isn't even the only person who knows how to build... robots. I know a bunch of you build stuff. Who wants to help?

[9S clears his throat, quietly tacking a little disclaimer on:]

...Not that pods should be mistaken for machines or anything.

[When your kind’s fought machines for millennia certain lines get drawn. Thin, confusing grey lines. (Geir doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just lets it stand.)]


((both 9S and Geir may reply to your toplevels, and also feel free to jump each other! this is the start of a player plot to get a little more technology on the island. ♥ more details here!))

Comments

voice

[equivalence]

[How about this, now. Quite the collaboration. Edward's is pretty impressed by the whole idea actually.]

I'm no mechanic, but I can do grunt work or anything, if someone can teach it.

[Edward can be a team player.]

And if alchemy ever decides to work, I can get you components. Until then I can lug materials around.

[rootandbranch]

Edward, right? I think Nines has taught Alphonse some stuff about... whatever it is that he is. Androids? So maybe he can get you caught up.

[he thinks about Ed's offer more seriously -- actually, keeping the Hub's lack of resources in mind and getting themselves set up for it on future worlds is a really, really good idea. they should make a note to keep doing that.]

...I don't know if your powers will start working on a "low frequency" world, but I don't see why we couldn't bring the parts back to the Hub after the next time we go out. Assuming powers work wherever we end up, anyway.

[equivalence]

You got it. And that a fact? Al's always been the helpful type.

[His brother is a good kid. Edward certainly thinks so anyway. He's biased, of course, but not wrong.

He manages not to gripe about calling alchemy "powers" because he is growing as a person. Baby steps.]

Whatever is dampening them is doing a hell of a good job, but if we wind up somewhere with a better "frequency" or whatever, can't hurt to try, right.

[rootandbranch]

Exactly!

Nines and Alphonse will have to get you caught up on whatever you can help with, sorry-- I don't get this stuff at all. My world doesn't have technology like this.

[he manages to keep from putting "technology" in quotes, slowly becoming used to the unfamiliar term...]

I'm just here to say it's a good idea! And ask people what about the island they want to find out. Speaking of which, can you think of anything?

[from what Alphonse has said about their alchemy, he has an idea that Edward's ideas won't be the same as his.]

[equivalence]

I'll have to ask them then. So... your world isn't high tech? What's the level of the tech in your world?

[That's all right. Edward puts "magic" in quotes still. Always will. NEVER GONNA STOP. It's a familiar term, he's just personally opposed to it on every conceivable level. And stubborn.]

For one thing, how it even works. It shouldn't be able to exist like it does. And who the hell used to live here, before all us kidnapped refugees wound up colonizing?

[rootandbranch]

How would I know what levels there are?!

["how would you rate your world on x" questions always sort of amuse Geir -- what does he have to compare his own world to, after all?]

It's less than Aimintas -- I don't know how much Alphonse told you about that, but they had strange screens with figures on them. All the complicated works of the dwarves at home were magical, so I don't think that's the same. Their smiths made wonderful swords and armor, too... and strange little devices. I'm not sure what the humans could do.

[equivalence]

[Edward blinks at that, before laughing.] Fair point.

Okay well, this place sucks technologically, as far as I can tell. There's no infrastructure at all. No trains, no electricity. Just... boars and potatoes.

[But yeah okay Aimintas. Al has mentioned that, though mostly in regard to what they were tasked with doing there.]

Sounds like Aimintas would've been way more than what I'm used to anyway.

[rootandbranch]

I don't know what trains are, and I only heard of electricity from Dirk and Nines. So I'm guessing we're boars and potatoes, too.

[Geir gives a little snort of amusement at Edward's dismissal of the Hub's infrastructure. he's never needed technology, and he's fine without it, as far as he's concerned. which doesn't make it uncool, but...]

Aimintas was weird for everybody. But anyway... you're not the first person to say they wanted to know what the people who lived here before were like. I wonder how technology could even find something like that out? That's history, isn't it? And there's no one around to tell it...

[equivalence]

[Sorry, Ed can't help but laugh at that.] No offense. I'm sure your world is better than this one anyway. This one just seems... stuck, somehow. Cut off.

[Eerie in a way that Edward can't put his finger on.]

It's history, but you'd think there'd be some trace of them, right? Some evidence of what happened?

[Maybe? He's no archaeologist but still.]

[rootandbranch]

I'll tell Nines... I can't promise anything but that.

[he realizes that some of the newer arrivals don't know this, though, so it's worth pointing out:]

Everything on the island that you haven't seen people building themselves is from whoever used to be here, though. You're living in all their broken-down stuff.

[Geir is prosaic about it, but that's potentially a very creepy thought in and of itself.]

[equivalence]

Yeah, I guessed as much. And it's broken-down, so it's probably been empty a while. But...

[Where are the builders? There should be some evidence of their passing, right? It's a disturbing thought somehow.]

But hey, before I forget, thanks for looking into all this. You and Nines both.

[rootandbranch]

Oh! Um... sure.

[the pleased embarrassment comes through clearly in Geir's tone. unseen by Edward, he ducks his head, abashed.]

I just said I'd help him talk to people about it. It's really all him... he's the one who knows about this stuff. So...!

[you've managed to thoroughly fluster a dragon, Edward Elric. congratulations.]

[equivalence]

[Even Edward has to admit that reaction is kind of cute. Cute dragons. Sure. Why not?

There's a mental laugh.]

Hey, helping is helping. No matter what part you're playing.

[Edward is apparently in a decent enough mood at the moment -- a rare thing sometimes.]

[deem]

I've got plenty of data, both on the parts and construction. We may have to make do with what we've got here for now, but I can get you plenty of information.

[And just as Geir has said, he's worked with Alphonse on crazy-tier technology data before. Surely one scientist brother will understand as well as another]

And then you'd know the sort of stuff we could ideally use, whenever we've got the opportunity. I sure wouldn't turn down better parts.

[equivalence]

Hey, sounds good to me. The more info the better.

[Ed's a quick study! ...he's always been a bit better at practical applications, but he's got a head for theory and such too. Science is science, man.]

Yeah, if you can lay it all out, when we wind up in the next world -- however the hell that works -- I can definitely keep an eye out for what they might have. Then again, I suppose there's no guessing what we'll find.

[deem]

Yeah, we don't have any way to predict that yet.

[Although considering the fact that humans have quite a few needs of their own, he wishes that wasn't the case]

Next time we're in the same place, I can show you on my monitors. That's what I've done with Alphonse too.

[equivalence]

And no clue about it given by our abductor until we get there?

[A sigh. Ed really is done with Qri and he hasn't even met her.]

Monitors? [Well whatever that means, Edward nods.] But yeah, show me whatever you can.

[deem]

Seems like it so far, at any rate. I sure haven't gotten any mission briefing.

[He can't speak to what people did or didn't get by way of information during their last deployment, since he arrived in Aimintas]

But yeah, I can generate screens to display information on.

[equivalence]

Figures. Too bad. Knowing what we were in for would be pretty useful.

[To say the very least. Edward is a planner, when given the chance. He's also pretty talented at flying by the seat of his pants -- out of necessity. That's how life has gone for him more often than not.]

Huh! Well, now I want to see how that works, on top of what you're gonna show on the monitors.

[deem]

I know I'd prefer it. Being deployed blind isn't something I'm used to.

[And even his tone bespeaks his distaste for how things are run here]

You're in luck though; where my systems are concerned, I've got data on how everything works. Couldn't repair myself otherwise, you know?

[It's not like he's got a problem sharing that information, besides. Alphonse has seen it too]

[equivalence]

Al and I don't always know exactly what we're getting into, but at least we have some idea before we just barrel into a place.

[...they barrel in anyway sometimes. But shh. That's beside the point.]

That makes sense. Gotta know what you're working with to be able to fix it. In that way, you've got a leg up on us flesh and blood folks. Most of us don't know nearly enough to try to heal ourselves of much more than a paper cut. We've got to count on doctors.

[deem]

Well, humans can be good at a variety of things, right?

[9S, he doesn't actually need to be reassured here]

Meanwhile, maintenance is something I was created for. Not my only forte of course, but it's something a Scanner is meant to do, you know? It seems like humans have far more variety in their specializations.

My interests might differ from another Scanner, but...

[equivalence]

True. Depends what you put the time and effort into learning. And what natural abilities you've got to work with.

[9S is a good guy.]

Well, I suppose the difference is we aren't really created to do anything in particular. Some of us get raised with our parents having ideas about what they think we should do with our lives, but that's not really the same thing.

[Though well.] But? If you've got other interests you can pursue them. ...right?

[deem]

It was pretty heavily discouraged, but I still had a hobby.

[Had. Has. 9S is a Scanner through and through, so it may be no surprise—]

I always liked gathering data, including combat data, on machines. Detail work's always interested me. And I like optimizing equipment, too.

[Perhaps more so even than other Scanners]

[equivalence]

Why was it discouraged?

[Edward is still trying to figure out 9S's world from the bits he's gathered from their conversations thus far.]

That's your hobby? That's a pretty useful hobby actually. But I can see the appeal of it. I mean, I always really liked researching.

[He can get lost in alchemy books for days honestly.]