[phone calls OTA] Technical Difficulties

[st_abby]

He'd passed by the alien, gleaming thing in his room a hundred times by now, or nearly must've done, and hardly stopped to examine it. It was strange, but so were most other things in this place. A shiny, awkward looking device attached to the wall by means of a long cable, set on one of the little tables that seemed to litter these rooms. It had neat rows of square buttons with numbers etched on, and a handle, so Vax'ildan had supposed it was meant to work some feature of the room in a way he could scarcely imagine. He didn't want to break it, but eventually the boredom and curiosity got the better of him, much like with the door locks. It would probably fix itself, if it came to that.

After the first few moments spent listening to the monotonous warble that came from the handle, Vax'ildan reached to jab a finger into a button. When it beeped but did no more, he pushed another. And a third...

OOC Note: If you would like a thread with Vax, please leave a top-level comment to this post and he will reply! No need to pre-arrange, but as one does when learning new technology, he may disconnect the call etc. accidentally or your character may tell him to leave them alone in very few words if they so choose - most of these threads are likely to be short.

Comments

[st_abby]

"I've known trees and animals and even swords to speak," Vax'ildan returned with cheek. "A mill wouldn't be much stranger than those things." On the whole, he thought she had the right of it - why announce your location at the beginning unless you knew very well whom you were speaking with and actually wanted them to join you there?

And if only she knew him, should would understand how very strange a man he was.

[st_abby]

Vax was relatively certain by now he didn't know this woman already. He always appreciated a well-crafted flirt, for the artistry of it if not in actual pursuit. Which was all good fun, unless, well...

"This isn't one of those adult entertainment services where I'll end up owing you a great deal of money at the end, is it? I really haven't got any here."

[st_eadiesthefour]

Relieved she probably wasn't imagining things, when Vax answered, attempting French even, Constance almost laughed. She had so many questions, but the answers would be beyond her even if she could understand the words. Still, she had to try. "Mais..." She let out a breath, and used one of the English words she'd quickly had to learn. "How?"

[st_unning]

Alcuin was not convinced of this, as it felt awfully rude, and he had difficulty being rude. Though he was also very good at doing what people told him, so...

"Goodbye, Vax," he said pleasantly, and put the handle back onto the device on the table.

Then he looked at himself briefly in the mirror, put some hair back into place... and left his room, walking down the hallway to knock on Vax's door.

[st_reyofsunshine]

"Need to talk to me?" Rey replies, surprised. She presses her lips together, wonderingly. Was this the Force, maybe?

"What do you want to talk about?" she asks, her voice more solid than it had been before.

[st_abby]

It was a very poor effort, as far as purposeful rudeness went. It made Vax smile to himself all the same.

"Hiya," Vax'ildan supplied lightly as he opened the door. He took a step back and gestured for Alcuin to come on in to see his room. "Go on, nose around a bit before the practical lesson," he encouraged without seeming reservation. "They're all different, you know."

[st_udious]

"It's how I was taught to, but as I understand it, more modern people just say hello or something similar." He shifted in his chair, trying to place the man's accent and failing somewhat. It was...almost British, but not quite. Probably that too was just an effect of different worlds. "Normally too you'd be able to call outside of the inn, but that seems to be just as cut off as everything else."

[st_unning]

Alcuin walked in and had a look around the room. "It's not as bad as mine," he said, tone a bit teasing. "Do you have a roommate?" Since there were two beds.

[st_abby]

Vax didn't laugh, but he did grin at the abrupt change in her tone, curious what could have put that seriousness into her of a sudden.

"I'm not sure yet," it was at least an honest reply. "I've only just met you. Are you expert at anything in particular? Do people tend to come to you for something or other?"

[st_abby]

Vax closed the door after his guest, and when he turned around, there was...something that flickered across his expression, like loss or longing. But he didn't indulge it in front of his company, mindfully smoothing his features out again.

"Not exactly," was his answer. "But there is a spirit that comes and goes."

[st_unning]

Having turned to survey the room, Alcuin turned back to him now. "Does it bother you, thinking that someone... could be watching you?"

[st_abby]

He sighed softly against the receiver, not knowing how to begin to try to explain in a way she would understand.

After a quiet moment, Vax shrugged, and gave her the only sort of answer that he had, even if it wouldn't do her any more good than it had done him. "Wires, apparently. In these things, through the walls."

[st_abby]

"Are you not modern?" That didn't seem to add up, as Vax tried to sort it. He was 'modern' enough to know what 'phones' were. But it was interesting if they should be able to makes the phones reach farther, and couldn't.

[st_abby]

"I more or less always assume that I might be watched, no matter where I am." It was said a bit too plainly to be wry.

Yes, okay, Vax did have a slight paranoid streak. A paranoid streak that had helped to keep him alive, and made him very good at his work.

[st_udious]

"Modern enough that little here is completely foreign to me, but not contemporary. I'm a good forty years behind this place," Henry said, fiddling with his pen. "When I'm from, you spoke to a phone operator who connected you to whoever you were trying to call instead of being able to manually push buttons and do it yourself."

[st_abby]

Vax puzzled this out for some long moments, letting the silence grow before finally answering with a revelation in the gibberish of his own idiom.

"Like being able to teleport yourself rather than needing to use the teleportation circle in the Lyceum," he concluded. "Got it."

[st_unning]

Alcuin took this in stride, and only nodded.

"Most people do not think that way," he said. "They do not even see what is right in front of them, let alone what might e hiding."

After all, he'd been a spy. And had been so good at it because he was so overlooked in that regard.

[st_udious]

"Is magic like that common in your world?" Henry asked, suddenly very interested in a conversation that had been rather basic up until now.

[st_oriedqueen]

"What an interesting life you must lead," Regina replied, equally cheeky and sharp with the implication he might be quite mad. That she had known any number of things to speak or people to disguise themselves as any number of such things, she had no intention of revealing over the phone. "Whoever you are."

[st_illunsmeared]

"A what?" The question startled her out of the flirt, but didn't pull rich warmth out of her voice. Fortunately, she wasn't offended, but rather amused. "I don't know whether to be flattered or horrified, darling. I'm quite happy to flirt with you but I'm not interested in being paid for it."

[st_reyofsunshine]

An expert?

"I'm a capable pilot," Rey says into the speaker, though being a good pilot is hardly helpful here, where there are no ships to maneuver. "I'm good at scavenging and fixing things too."

A beat.

"Do you need anything fixed?"

[st_eadiesthefour]

Listening carefully – Constance always had to listen carefully these days, the simplest of mostly one-sided conversations quickly exhausting – Constance reviewed what Vax said in her head until she thought she maybe knew most of the words but she was no closer to understanding the answer.

"Techonology," she decided, lumping it in with the rest of the wonders she didn't understand that were common here under the label she'd learned from River Song.

[st_accato]

Buffy was so relieved it wasn't one of her 'kissing partners' voice that she heard, so she dropped all pretense of being an answering machine. "A machine would take it. It's pretty nifty."

Too bad the hotel didn't have that, well besides the front desk people taking a message.... or maybe it did. It wasn't like she'd tried to leave a message for anyone.

[st_abby]

It was the last part of what Alcuin said that Vax found curious. He tipped his head slightly at the boy. "Do you think that way?"

[st_abby]

"You have machines for that?" Maybe Vax shouldn't sound surprised - they had machines for so many things. Even for conversation. "Does it write out a letter, or capture an echo of your voice?" They sounded equally ridiculous.