destinystrings | [OPEN] Death rays are a girl's best friend....

Who: Agatha Heterodyne and you
Where: Sagittarius Ward
What: A new arrival in the city takes charge of her situation
Warnings: SCIENCE! (Also action brackets because I am the laziest ever.)

[Agatha is blaming the strange dream on a side effect of lack of sleep and suddenly being shoved through Tweedle's ridiculous door. Right now the question is where that door has taken her. And what happened to the other three people who fell through it with her. Tweedle could be lost in time and space forever and she wouldn't care, but Violetta and Krosp she was a little concerned about. Not to mention the state of things in Mechanicsburg. But there wasn't much she could do about that now. First things first though, she needed a weapon....

So people who happen to be near some of the darkened warehouses may hear strange sounds coming from one of the alleyways. Clanking metal, odd whirring noises, crashing sounds. Those that dare to venture closer will find a woman holding what appears to be some sort of gun made from various bits of scrapped machinery. Her back is to the mouth of the alley, so she hasn't noticed anyone yet. She twists a small dial on the side of the gun and fire it at the trash dumpster. The alley is bathed in a bright flash of light, and when it fades the dumpster is nowhere to be found. Agatha nods in satisfaction.]

Could use some work, but it'll do for now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He looks excited, really- hey, fairy tales were his favorite things to listen to and read, even if they were about a place that he knew didn't have any of those cool things.]

Those sound way better than what we actually had. No big ancient creatures...unless you're talking about the dinosaurs, and those died a long time ago. But...what do you mean by the spark?

Ah, sorry. You probably have a different name for it in your world.

[Let's see, what might they call it?]

Um, a gifted scientist? An intuitive mechanic?

A gifted scientist? Um, sure, we have a lot of those. You talk about it as if it's like an ability or something. As far as I know, people just study a lot of science and become one when they're considered good enough at it. It isn't something innate.

No, I mean....

Hmm, what's a nice way to put this? She's suddenly reminded of Dr. Glassvitch. Brilliant, hard working, years of experience, but his career was capped by his lack of the spark. And of course Dr. Merlot. Same situation, but as he was a terrible, jealous, completely insufferable jerk she doesn't feel quite as bad about it.]

Someone who can... go beyond what a person could achieve from just hard work or study.

So...like the gift of genius, right? A prodigy?

[That's the closest he can think of.]

Um... close enough.

[Could it be possible? Could they actually not have sparks in the world he came from? She can't even imagine a world like that.]

Alright. But that still sounds cool, though.

[He looks curious, tilting his head to the side with a questioning expression.]

Hey...you wouldn't happen to have this spark thing, would you? Or are you just a normal person from where you come from?

[She hesitates for a second, but then decides that honesty is best. Mostly because she's terrible liar anyway.]

Yes, I'm a spark. I only found out recently though...

[It suddenly strikes her that less than a year ago, she was still attending classes at Transylvania Polygnostic. Back then, she never would have believed how fast her life could change.]

Wow! That...that's really good for you! How cool...

[This is a really pathetic attempt at a smile here.]

What is it like? Being one. Do you get to do anything that other scientists can't do?

It's really exhilarating! I can do so much more now than I used to, and-

[Suddenly uncomfortable. A part of her wants to brag, because she is proud of how far she's come. But she can also hear Lillith's voice in her head, lecturing her about manners. So she tries to clamp down a little on her enthusiasm.]

Um, in my world, whether you have the spark or not is important.

[The more she talks, the more he's interested- he looks seconds away from just plopping down on some big pillow and looking at her like a child listening to a story read by a teacher.]

Oh? What happens to people who don't have the spark? And is it rare? Like, can you just be born with it, or are you chosen?

Well, nothing bad. It's just... most governments are controlled by sparks. Everyone else just lives normally.

[Well, as normally as you can when your leaders are pitting their armies of intelligent vegetables against their neighbor's deadly land squids.]

Most people think you have to be born with it, and it does run in families, but there are some researchers who think that anyone can have a breakthrough.

Ah. So the ones with the gifts are in charge? Makes sense.

Hmmm. And which one are you? Gifted from birth? Or got it later in life?

[She laughs.]

No one is born a spark. Most people break through in their teens or even later. I do know someone who broke through when he was eight though.

When I said that some people think you need to be born with it, I meant they believe that whether a person can break through is something that's already decided.

Oh! Okay. [Nod nod nod. He gets it now.] I remember reading this series about wizards before- they only showed if they had magic powers and stuff when they hit a certain age.

Still, that's pretty cool. [He gestures to the death ray in her hands.] I guess your gift allows you to create things like that?

Er, yes. But this is really nothing special. I just cobbled this together out of trash.

[People seem so impressed by what is probably the worst death ray she's ever built. It's starting to get embarrassing.]

Trash? [He gives her a look, as if to say ARE YOU CRAZY, WOMAN, THAT I THE MOT AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER HEARD.] You-you're like a regular MacGyver! I mean, that's a character on a TV show who could make invention and stuff from regular ordinary things, but...wow. What a gift. I wish I had that.

MacGyver?

[She has no clue what he's talking about.]

What's a... TV show?

You don't know what television is? Like...when you watch shows and movies on that little box with a screen.

...No?

Sorry, no... We do have shows.

But they're the kind you perform on stage.

Wow.

I mean, you're technologically advanced, but you don't have TV? That's...surprising, to say the least.

Believe me, I find it just as surprising that no one here has heard of revivification.

Reviva-what now?

Revivification.

[He's obviously not familiar with the term, so she clarifies.]

Reviving the dead.

[The most disbelieving of stares.]

Isn't that like...necromancy or something? You don't just go and revive the dead without consequences.

[OPEN] Death rays are a girl's best friend....

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SORRY FOR THE LATE

no worries~

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