[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?

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.]

[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?

[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

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]

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.]

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.]

[catsgothistongue]

So you know it works for rain, that's guaranteed? [It's just large bodies of water she's unsure of, that's how it sounds to him.] I can help test it, where in Eltrut are ya' at?

[The charm reminded him of the waterproof soap Shampoo ordered once. He was never able to get where she got it out of her or the old mummy. Having a substitute for a stave against his curse would be a godsend.]

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?

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

[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.

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.

[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.

[hasapoint]

[There's another, longer pause because Lashan, after surviving her tempestuous youth, is a cautious soul. She also has to find a public place that isn't crowded, let's see, I'll make up a small open statue garden.]

FIRST LANTERN MEMORIAL

YOU KNOW IT

[there's too much punctuation here, she's just going to assume he can infer the question mark.]

[hasapoint]

I don't give a lot of guarantees, kid. [Overpromising is bad business sense!] As I've used it, it's kept my skin and inner layers dry and my hair has gotten wet, but sometimes these things take a little differently to different people. Also I had much longer hair at the time.

[Magic can be made into an exact science, but it won't be for a thousand years or so.]

There's a sculpture garden pretty quiet right now - First Lantern Memorial. It's not all that far from, mmm, that bird woman's herbal shop.

[hasapoint]

[Lashan's glad. If she has to give a long response by poking this thing she will refuse. She raises her eyebrows at 'venerable', though, and does not joke, 'if you're venerable I'm ancient'.]

It's got to do with the structure of the institution I joined. The orders they split off from are hierarchical and tiered while the Sisterhood's a little more fluid, but there's remnants of the old structure there. "Nuns" take some complicated vows and can rise in the ranks, "Priestesses" are a step above that and have more a leadership role. Most of what they do is in the temple or related to blessing and warding.

I took vows, but they're simple ones that don't bind me as tightly and I renew them every year. If I lead prayer or I'm up front ghost-warding, and I do sometimes, it's more as a favor. Mostly I make things we can sell to help keep Irminsul going.

Who are you?

[catsgothistongue]

[As to be expected. He appreciates her being upfront about it rather than making empty promises. It helps temper his expectations and keeps him from letting himself down.]

Think I've passed by there before. Give me a sec, I'll be over there.

[Presuming Lashan's already at the meeting point, it'll be a good five or so minutes before she can spot the raven-haired teen from the post. Ranma walked in with casual swagger, arms crossed behind his head as he waltzed up to the older lady.]

Yo.

[hasapoint]

[She exhales through her nose, a huff that is some cousin to a laugh.] It'll take me longer. I'm too old to keep my footing with every change.

You know the First Lantern Memorial garden?

[A little sculpture garden set up by the loved ones of a ship that vanished years ago. I am making up a place bc she prefers something public, but not crowded or popular.]

[yuezun]

[He set his brush down and turned to face the camera, shoulders and back straight. Sitting at his desk like a king on a throne and directing his full attention to her for a moment as the exchange of introductions should be given a certain amount of respect.]

This venerable one is Dongfang Qingcang, Moon Supreme of the Moon Tribe, Ruler of Cangyanhai, of the world known as the Three Realms. In this world, this venerable one is the captain of the Phantom Moon and leader of the Raiders of the Lost Arts.

[He inclined his head in polite greeting.]

This venerable one knows of mortal priests, priestesses, nuns, and monks. Some of whom create talismans and charms and various other spiritual items and will lead prayers to the gods. He has never heard the term 'lay sister' before. But, this venerable one admits, he has not spent a significant time in the mortal realm - any mortal realm - before coming to this world so that may be something he has missed. More likely, however, is that your institution is not of his world and entirely foreign.

However, this venerable one finds himself interested, since you placed such a division on lay sister and nun. That you expected it to be immediately understood. You are relatively new?

[empyrean_mirror]

Oh, yes! That's not far. I can be there soon.

[Though he will dawdle so we don't ambush you with both genshins in one thread immediately so his husband can have a soft spot for old ladies in peace. For not.]

[indispensable]

[That's a good thing to do, honestly. Alhaitham would have suggested the same if she hadn't done it herself.]

I do. [A pause as he takes a moment to figure out the time...] I should be there in about twenty minutes.

[hasapoint]

[First Lantern is a quiet little park set up by the families and loved ones of a ship that vanished some years ago, long enough back by now that it's become more casual, though still not a place where a lot of youths go. The most prominent sculpture is a replica of First Lantern's figurehead, who holds out a lantern and has a carved look of intense blankness.

Lashan is on a bench, wrapping braided wool threads around a piece of wire. She looks up appraisingly, black eyes steady. Ranma's got some strange magic to him, but she's getting used to that. Everything's strange here.]

Yo yourself. You'd be Ranma Saotome?

[two-named people aren't that common in her day to day life and she has no idea which name to use if it's just one.]