144.98750: PUBLIC CHANNEL, D90 (evening)

[whattaprick]

[ Hey, guess who has his voice back? Turns out traveling to Mainframe gives you plenty of voices to hear. But is he actually going to report back with anything useful? ]

"All of Man’s works, all his cities, all his empires, all his monuments will one day crumble to dust. Even the houses of my own dear readers must – though it be for just one day, one hour be ruined and become houses where the stones are mortared with moonlight, windowed with starlight and furnished with the dusty wind. It is said that in that day, in that hour, our houses become the possessions of the Raven King."

[ For once, his voice isn't carrying that edge of mocking, actually managing to sound solemn and thoughtful -- not that it lasts. There's the sound of a book being snapped shut, and Lambert resumes the rest of the radio post speaking in his normal tone of voice: just a touch insufferably smug. ]

Maybe Master Strange should consider becoming a poet, if he ever gets bored of being a magician.

[ And then, as an off-handed follow-up to that: ]

All scouts and nightrunners, report in. Let 'em know what they're in for.

Comments

[anti_nonsense]

Sure. I've written and published a few things myself, so I have some experience in the matter.

[It's probably not the same kind of thing, though...]

[kingsroads]

Really? What have you published?

[ LET'S TALK SHOP. ]

[anti_nonsense]

Academic papers on a number of topics, most relating to blastia and their formulas. Formulas for improving energy efficiency, for my original spells, and... right, I was working on that anima formula... never got to finish it. [She sounds disappointed about that.]

[kingsroads]

You know, apparently you can ask the Ringmaster for things from your world or others. [ That's the only explanation of how Lambert got the book, after all. ]

If you have any free time, why not try to recreate what you had back home?

[anti_nonsense]

That's right... I did hear something like that. [Which was also in the context of magic texts, because what else would you use that for?]

But... even if I got everything back, or reproduced it perfectly, I don't think I'd be able to continue my anima research. Not without starting over from the beginning.

[kingsroads]

And starting over from the beginning simply sounds atrocious, [ says the man who barely has enough of an attention span to keep things going as is. ]

I suppose the only thing to do is start new research, though whether on anima or not, I'm not so sure.

[whattaprick]

[ To which he'll chime in: ]

Just don't start it on witchers.

[ A population of one makes a poor sample size anyway. ]

[anti_nonsense]

Don't tell me what to do. [...is her knee-jerk response to that.]

Why not?

[whattaprick]

[ He'd mostly meant it as a joke for Strange, but hey, since she's responding: ]

Because it would be a waste of time, and I'd rather not play a mage's lab rat while I'm here.

[anti_nonsense]

Well now you're just making me curious. What makes you so sure it'd be a waste of time?

[whattaprick]

Because mages are only ever interested in how they're made ... and none of that shit's here.

[anti_nonsense]

[There's a pause. He's giving her enough to put some of the pieces together, but it's not enough to see the full picture. Anyway, it's probably pointless to insist she isn't like those other mages. With so little information, a promise like that would probably just ring hollow.]

What are witchers?

[whattaprick]

[ That, at least, has a ready answer. ]

Magic-mutated monster killers. You've already met one.

[anti_nonsense]

[She met one? How would he know that? Rita's only met a few people since coming here, and narrowing it down from there... oh. There's one possibility.]

... You're that guy with the horns. [He did give her his name, but... well, she'd probably remember it if she saw it again.]

[whattaprick]

That's me. Lambert. Mordio, right?

[ Continuing the grand tradition of only calling mages by their last names ... ]

Thanks for the help, by the way.

[anti_nonsense]

Yeah, that's me. [It's what people in Aspio normally called her, so she's fine with it.]

It was nothing. I'm just glad that crap's over and done with.

[whattaprick]

[ At that, he scowls-- it's audible in his voice, even if he isn't visible. ]

So am I.

[ He'd say he hopes it doesn't happen again, but he knows that's just begging for trouble. ]

[anti_nonsense]

Right. [It breaks her heart to abandon her half-finished research, but Rita knew for a while that it was going to turn out this way. All things considered, it's better this way.] I can't complain too much. That's the whole reason I came here in the first place, after all.

[kingsroads]

On the contrary, I think you can still complain! After all, agreeing to serve in a faerie carnival doesn't change the fact that all your work's back in your world.

[anti_nonsense]

[There's a light snort, as if she saw some humor in that.]

I suppose so. But being away isn't the only problem. Even when I go back... I'll have to start over. So for now, I'm giving myself a head start, so I'll be prepared when that time comes.

[kingsroads]

At least with the head start, this year won't be entirely to waste. You're still gaining something!

[anti_nonsense]

That's the plan. [She hopes it won't be a waste, anyway.] If you happen to find any leads that can help with learning about new magic systems, send them my way.

[kingsroads]

I shall do so post-haste! [ said with a little smile in his voice. ]