006 ✳ day 98 ✳ video/action

[blackmagus]

[Fortescue is sitting in the gazebo as she fiddles with the wrist comm. Jazz is visible in the background, on one of the rails; he has a beetle pinned under one black paw, apparently for his own amusement.

She's staving off a headache by taking a break in her fishing. Using magic has its problems.]

Our worlds seem to share plenty of differences, but the similarities, I think, are just as interesting. Shared ideas amongst the multiverse. So, if you'd care to indulge me, what are some of your favorite things in popular culture?

[private to Donna Noble]

[She schools her expression into a more serious one.]

Given the recent disappearances, I think it would be a good idea to spring our 'list' plan into action. What do you think?

[private to Erik Lehnsherr]

I understand you've been teaching B— Dilandau how to cook? I hope it hasn't been too maddening.

Comments

[purplishgreen]

It is the human colony on Feros where I have been living. Originally, I am from Thessia, the asari homeworld.

[She lets Jazz sniff her fingers, more than a little fascinated by this creature. No doubt he's never smelled anything like her.]

[blackmagus]

Ah, I see. Are there many colonies, then?

[Jazz seems satisfied, even so, and sits down to look up at Shiala intently.]

[purplishgreen]

Yes, many.

[Carefully, Shiala reaches forward to scratch Jazz gently behind the ears.]

Most species do have numerous colonies. Earth perhaps has less than some, but you are new to the galaxy, still.

[blackmagus]

The Earth where I come from doesn't have any ships that can manage space, yet. Though after the War is over, I wouldn't be surprised.

[They go to other universes, so why not their own? Jazz purrs, approving.]

[purplishgreen]

Perhaps so. It's 2185 by your calendar, where I'm from, and humans discovered the mass relays and the galaxy at large thirty years ago. I admit I'm not certain how long you had short-range space flight before that.

[Okay, so she's a little spotty on human history.]

[blackmagus]

[Wow, that... certainly is a long time into the future. She's not even sure if she could think of what technological level her own world might have. It's impressive, and she gives a low whistle.]

It's 1941 where I'm from. My world has inter-dimensional travel and flight, in general, but we've put off the stars, it seems. [She always figured as a child that that would have been priority one, but apparently not. Ever since the first World War...]

[purplishgreen]

[She thinks back, doing some quick math. She would have been only 71 then, young and out on her own for barely more than a decade.]

Interdimensional travel? What... how... if humans were capable of that where I am from, surely we would know. I hope we would know.

[blackmagus]

It's complicated, and classified. And owes no small part to magic. [Fortescue shrugs her shoulders lightly.] I've been trained to travel, but they only let top technicians learn how the Gate functions. [And countries sent spies every day to try and get past security.] My Earth appears to be fairly unique among those represented here.

[purplishgreen]

I would say so.

[Shiala looks up at Fortescue with a spark of renewed interest. Magic seems unlikely, but what might the rules of an entirely different universe be like?]

I wonder what the asari of your dimension might be like.

[blackmagus]

Hard to say. [She smiles.] There's an infinite number of possibilities, I suppose. Imperium seems to be called Britain in most other worlds around my time.

[purplishgreen]

[She considers this a moment.]

I admit that neither of those names mean very much to me. I'm perhaps not as acquainted with human history as would be useful.

[blackmagus]

Oh, that's all right. I'm hardly acquainted with your history, and quite a bit behind it seems.

[purplishgreen]

Then at least we're both at equal disadvantage.

[She smiles a little.]

But I don't mind learning. Tell me about what it's like where you're from.

[blackmagus]

Hm. [She considers, head tilting slightly to the side.] Well, where I come from there are both humans and different Houses of elves. We use both magic and technology. My country, Imperium, invented the 'Angel Gate', which lets us go to other universes. We use it to make advances in science, technology, and culture.

[purplishgreen]

Elves?

[There seems to be a distinction between humans and elves, the way Fortescue speaks of them -- not merely a different race, but something more.]

What are elves? Is this some sort of subspecies of human that exists in your reality?

[blackmagus]

It's inconclusive, at the moment. Some elves would be offended at the idea of being related to humans. Science, at the moment, thinks that it's the other way around. That humans are a strange off-shoot of elves. Elves are taller and more distinctive looking than us. A very long time ago, their race split up to different parts of the world — forming different Houses. Governments, essentially, separate from humans.

[She doesn't mention the fact that elves used to hunt humans and keep them as slaves. That was a long time ago, even if the Elben Mahr and the Inveterates want to revive that way of thinking. She's going to stop them. That's all there is to it.]

Most elves get along with us very well, now. But no House looks exactly alike.

[purplishgreen]

Distinctive?

[A physical difference, then, something distinctive. Humans have a wide variety of skin tones -- but then, so do asari, so do most species, and many have an old cultural holdover from primitive times assigning value to one colour or another. She knows this.]

When you say distintive, what do they look like, then?

[blackmagus]

[Fortescue thinks for a moment.]

Well... Leshsune have very odd skin, like the bark on trees, and are sort of featureless otherwise. Ulacrum look a bit more like humans, but are pure white — skin, hair, everything. Lykos are more like wolves, but their appearance is from magic. They're where our legends of werewolves came from.

[purplishgreen]

[Different skin tones, skin textures, appearances... and yet, a related species? She's no biologist, but if that's true, then that's something she's certainly never heard of.]

And they are also native to Earth?

[She's almost incredulous. Bark-like skin could almost be a primitive's description of a turian. She's not sure what a wolf looks like, though, and she doesn't know a species that might be entirely white.]

[blackmagus]

[She nods.]

Yes. We've both inhabited the planet for as long as we both remember.

[It's a joke, and she smiles. Bones and fossils paint a much better picture than written records.]

Elf physiology is very odd and adaptive. They've been using magic longer than we have, so magic could be the cause for their ability to change so dramatically.

[Fortescue shrugs her shoulders lightly. That's just the popular theory, and it's been a long time since she studied history.]

[purplishgreen]

You keep speaking of magic. Forgive me, but outside old myths and legends, I can't say I know much about that.

[To say the least, she's sceptical.]

What do you mean when you speak of magic?

[blackmagus]

For us, it's a sort of energy that certain people can access. [Fortescue pauses for a moment. Has her headache died down? ...it has.] I can show you, if you like. A little. I've been using it to fish, and using magic too often wears me down.

[purplishgreen]

I would like that very much.

[Magic implies illusion or superstition, but this sort of description implies some law of physics that can be exploited.]

[blackmagus]

[She nods, holding up her right hand so that her index finger is pointed directly into the air - separate from her other fingers. Technically she could just use her whole hand, but she doesn't want to accidentally alarm Shiala. That lesson had been learned with Daneel.

She takes a deep breath, and then her slender finger sparks into flame like a torch - flesh unharmed, but the fire just as harmful as a normal flame.]

This isn't all I can do, but it's the least draining example.

[purplishgreen]

Interesting.

[A form of biotics? Perhaps, in a way, and perhaps not. For all that it's labelled magic, she won't attach supernatural explanations to it. It's... obviously real. It must have some scientific explanation, though perhaps Fortescue, in her time, doesn't have one.]

And magic has changed the elves of your world? The asari are accomplished biotics, and that has shaped our culture to be certain, but our biology is the cause for our skill. Perhaps the biotics are partly the reason for our biology. It's difficult to say.