[open]

[hasapoint]

Type: Video
Sender ID: hasapoint (Lashan)
To: Public
Subject: waterproofing charms
Warnings: none!

[FIRST: You get a very close shot of Lashan's eye as she squints at her shellphone. We have here that double-doozy of a medieval and an old person and while she's pretty sharp, these devices are not intuitive to her.]

'S it working? The bead's glowing.

[aka 'the light's on'. The video pulls back a bit but like, it's still pretty close and the angle is unflattering. This whole thing feels completely unnatural to her and the lines between her brows are deepened in a frown.]

I'm Sister Lashan. I'm a lay sister, not a nun. I've made some charms for waterproofing. They're not well-tested though. If you help me with that I'll give you one. Want to know their tolerances and if I have to tweak anything before I start selling them. I'm on Elrut.

[yeah this has made her feel ridiculous and stilted. She prods at the phone with a finger.]

...How do I- [she found out how to end message! this was Not guaranteed.]

Comments

video; un:catsgothistongue

[catsgothistongue]

[Oof, he can sympathize with Lashan there. He struggled with figuring out the kinks that is newfangled modern(?) technology his first time getting here. That said, she'll get a near-instant ping on her post by a teen who looks VERY interested in what she was saying.]

By waterproof, you mean whoever's wearin' them'll be dry when they go in and out of the water?

[hasapoint]

[It takes her a minute to get back to him because, while she wouldn't admit it, she was startled by the ping.]

Good question. I've altered it from the original configuration which was for heavy rain, but immersion in salt water's something else. Salt has some wearing properties, you know.

Who are you?

[catsgothistongue]

[Rip granny.]

I'm well aware.

[More than most he'd wanna say.]

Ranma Saotome. You new around here?

[hasapoint]

The rain-charm keeps someone from getting soaked through over a long period. The effect sticks better to clothing in part because that's so much slower to dry.

[She nods curtly.] I am. [No forthcoming details about if she's having trouble or not though, not to a teen.]

test; username: vulturvolans

[indispensable]

[An old lady...

Well now that Alhaitham's seen this there's no way he can ignore it.]

Where precisely on Eltrut are you?

[...if Kaveh sees this he'll never let him live it down, but it won't be the first time that's happened.]

[text]

[hasapoint]

[Ah. Writing. This takes Lashan more than a minute because she feels she should respond in kind. She is literate but it's not fast or fluid for her. On top of that, typing feels completely unnatural as a form of communication.

tbh I should probably also be using ye olde fpellingf too but that's more effort than I feel like getting up to.]

WHO WANTS TO KNOW

text

[indispensable]

[Give him a second to send over A Look to his husband before he responds (still very much in text YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM SENIOR!!)]

Alhaitham. I'm also on Eltrut and am familiar with this place, so just tell me where you are and I'll go to meet you.

[Totally already getting ready as soon as he sends this message... Kaveh you don't get to laugh at him.]

video; un: paradisea

[empyrean_mirror]

[Ah. That's why Alhaitham made a face at his phone.

Here, have a VERY pretty blond man with a sympathetic smile.]

I'd be happy to test them. [...] And to help you with the shellphone. They're quite strange at first, aren't they?

[hasapoint]

[alas, Lashan is completely immune to pretty boys. Not that she dislikes them, either, the 'very' simply doesn't mean anything to her.]

Appreciate that. The only way I know of to talk over a distance instantly like this is very different.

[it's psychic stuff.]

Few can use it, either. I can see the utility.

[she is being neutral and measured deliberately bc her automatic reaction is Don't Like This]

[empyrean_mirror]

[he appreciates you immensely already, Lashan.]

It took me some time to get used to it. Things like this don't really exist where I'm from.

[He tilts his head a little, still smiling.]

Would you like to meet somewhere? I live on Eltrut, and it might be easier to show you some of how the phone works in person.

video; id: ramuhs

[ramuhs]

New to the tech, eh? Takes a bit of getting used to, but it's quite the remarkable device.

I'd also be interested in trying those charms. How effective are they?

[hasapoint]

It's unfamiliar to me. [and her first instinct is Dislike] I can see the utility, though.

That's what I'm looking to find out. They're a version of something developed for heavy rain and incidental stuff but immersion in salt water's not the same thing.

[ramuhs]

Aye, you have a point there. Where are you located? I could even show you a bit about the shellphone—unless you have someone else offering.

text | yuezun

[yuezun]

You are a priestess? A monk?

[hasapoint]

[Lashan squints at the texting apparatus and the text parser.]

LAY SISTER

MAIN JOB NOT PRAYER

text->Video

[yuezun]

[He's frowning at the response. That doesn't really help him since, in his understanding of things, there was no priest or monk whose 'main job' was 'prayer'. Unless she meant leading others in prayer?

He had wanted to keep this to short messages, but her apparent lack of familiarity with the format made him sigh and switch to video as well. He set the device just far enough back on his desk that he could continue his paperwork while speaking.]

Explain your job. This venerable one is not familiar with it.

text; un: multidisciplinary

[multidisciplinary]

[ Oho, someone who needs help testing something? Sounds like the perfect task for a insatiably curious princess dedicated researcher like Zelda. ]

Hello, Sister Lashan. My name is Zelda, and I am a researcher from the kingdom of Hyrule. I would be quite interested in testing your charms. Can you tell me more about them? What specifically does "waterproofing" entail?

[hasapoint]

[Lashan is literate, and reads better than she writes, but it's not second nature to her and texting feels completely unnatural. She is, she reflects, too old for this shit and she's not going to give herself a headache poking out anything lengthy.]

LIKE WAX

[Sorry, Zelda.]

-> video

[multidisciplinary]

[ Well that clarified absolutely nothing. Maybe Lashan isn't adept at using the text feature of the shellphone. Understandable, all things considered. Zelda's tech-savviness is a rarity among folks from vaguely medieval fantasy worlds.

Let's try video instead.

Zelda switches to the video feed and offers her usual polite smile in greeting. ]

My apologies. Will this work better?

[VIDEO] UN:Hammertime

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Charms for waterproofing? How do they work exactly?

[hasapoint]

[She cannot answer "exactly". It's going to be about fifteen hundred years before people start to turn magic into a science.]

You have to activate one and kind of touch it to whatever you want it to work on - not rubbing, exactly, I mean like follow the seams. And you have to give it some time to start to work. But once it does it's like a coat of wax or oil. Water beads and pools but doesn't soak in.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Huh...

Something like that would have some pretty useful applications here. There's a number of underwater ruins and bringing gear down to explore them always runs the risk of them getting wet and damaged.

Well, consider me at your service then, Sister! Name's Darin Altway, Master Blacksmith!

video; un: historiology

[historiology]

Lashan? Hi! It's working, don't worry! I had to have a friend I met here teach me about these. We didn't have anything like this back home, either. Are you new? The charms sound pretty neat! I bet that would help keep my books safe when traveling!

[Or just in general. Ships get wet and all.]

[hasapoint]

...Hi. [She'd rather people thirty and under call her 'Sister Lashan' or just 'Sister' but, whatever, it's not worth it to argue.] Who are you?

[I've had so many characters not exchange names when they meet people and Lashan won't be one of them!]

Yes, I'm new. You just have books? This is that paper stuff again, huh? [There are probably places on Velgarth that are making paper, but her medieval Europe analogue isn't one of them. Parchment takes a lot more effort to make and is very expensive as a consequence.] Keeping items dry that would be stored in one location and should rarely see water, that's easier than clothing or gear.

[historiology]

Ah, right. I'm Sorey! So, Sister is like a title? Should I call you that? Or Sister Lashan? I don't want to be rude. I'm not sure on a lot of this sort of thing. Since I grew up pretty sheltered. Not around any other humans.

[Not until more recently back home and then ending up here that he saw any other humans besides being one himself, surrounded by seraphim, elemental spirits in his village that took him in as a baby. He does smile, though, holding up his copy of a book, the Celestial Record, as one example of a book for her. She seems to have some idea on them at least but he figures to show her.]

But yeah! Books! They have stories, notes, or pictures in them, bound together with usually leather or something similar for a cover to protect them. If your charms could help protect my journal, I'd love one! I could pay you or something. You deserve something for this.