!IMPORTANT! video; username: 82736775

[ricksybusiness]

[The video is from everyone's favorite camera-shy mad scientist, 82736775. This time, he's not even present in a carefully-framed way; he appears to just be using his jewellery as a Go-Pro.

The view is a large machine in the middle of the woods. It's crudely constructed, with loud, grinding gears and exhaust tubes belching smoke. There are three figures scurrying about -- Dipper, Shiki, and Hide, for those of you who would recognize them -- pulling levers and turning cranks and struggling to hear each other over the machine's groaning. Jars of fairy goop hang off the thing like lanterns in a coal mine.]

Listen uuuup, bitcheesss!

[The view jerks, then readjusts as the sky comes into focus.]

Thanks to my genius and everybody else's scrappy, can-do attitude, we're about to make scientific history. By which I mean w-we're about to blow this bullshit away.

[His hand enters the frame. He is flipping off the sky.]

Engage Operation: Fuck You, Magic!

[The frame stays centered on the sky, though the machine's groaning reaches almost deafening levels. Above the cacophony, there's a high-pitched whining: something is warming up. All over Chantes, the ground shakes.

Then bright green fills the screen and everything is so loud that it's almost silent. Those of you who are at a distance may see a gigantic green beam shooting into the sky just before everything turns bright white for a few long seconds.

And suddenly, there is light. Stars. Two moons. The sky is back.

82736775 is laughing maniacally. He swings the frame around to the giant machine, which has blasted wide open: smoking panels have fallen to the ground, exposing frayed wires. His assistants are also on the ground, looking dazed.]

Suck my dick, Narnia! Haha, yeah!

Now let's figure out what to do and get the hell off this rock! Team science, ouuuut!

[ ooc. IMPORTANT! the sun is now returned. from this point on, there are normal day-night cycles in chantes! be aware there are two moons, and the sun rises in the west. use this post to discuss what to do now! threadjacking encouraged. thank you to my fellow players and our modteam for making this plot so successful! i love you all.

UPDATE! check this thread for conversation on a peaceful option. ]

Comments

[adlantisag]

[ When they met, they were both stuck under a kissing plant, and then he comforted her over the death of her mother and the sundering of her people. But he doesn't believe in magic? Sure. ]

I see. What do you believe in?

[headlining]

[Not at all. It's not like it's a big part of his life or anything like that.]

Logic. Reason. The natural scientific rules of the world. Things like that.

[adlantisag]

How are these 'natural scientific laws' established?

[headlining]

Through scientific experiments and investigations, of course. They test the boundaries of the world and see what can or cannot be accomplished.

[adlantisag]

I...see. [ But does she really? Scientific experimentation is hardly an Atlantean pastime. ] How did Michel block the sun, then? According to your laws.

[headlining]

Generating some kind of smog through some kind of mechanism to hide it from the city, I presume. As Rick just displayed here, all it needed was something to blow it away to reveal it.

[adlantisag]

Would we not have smelled it, if it were smoke? Or seen it rise?

And a beam of light would not have caused it to dissipate, nor the lightning from the storm.

[ She remembers looking through Julius' telescope and thinking to herself--surely there can't be stars in a storm? ]

[headlining]

Some types of gas and smog are odorless. And who knows, it may have been thick enough to see it stay in the same place, like fog.

[Keats is the type of guy who brings out the weather balloon theory every time someone sees a UFO. Seriously.]

Well, the lightning isn't exactly just light, you see. And what that scientist did, that wasn't exactly light, either. Lightning has certain charged particles in it that may have affected the particles in the smog. The scientist may have taken advantage of that for his own invention, just at a higher power.

[adlantisag]

[ It all flies far overhead, but her initial skepticism has actually shifted to fascination. ]

You are very learned. Are you a scientist?

[headlining]

Oh, me? No, no, I'm a writer. [He shakes his head.] I do have to do a lot of research for my work, though.

[adlantisag]

A writer? What do you write?

[headlining]

Editorials, mostly. I work for a magazine called Unknown Realms that reports on occult and supernatural phenomena from around the globe.

[adlantisag]

[ Words in that sentence that made sense: zero. ]

Edit...orial? [ But sure, whatever, rolling with it. ] I would like to read what you write, one day, Keats.

[headlining]

Oh, you don't know the word? It refers to when a writer composes an article featuring their opinion on the subject they are writing about. So, regular articles may just report on news that occurs, while editorials are more like reflections of how the writer feels about said news.

[Oh, well, that's a nice thing to say.] You may get that chance sooner than you think. I'm aiming on writing a few articles while I'm here.

[adlantisag]

[ He says that as if the word 'article' really helps her along, but she can mostly grasps what he means from context--short pieces of writing, rather than books. Which is to her advantage, in any case. ]

Will you? I have just learned—I am still learning—so it will be good to practice.

[headlining]

Wait, learning? [A pause.] As in, learning how to read?

[adlantisag]

Yes! I have been learning since I came here. It is difficult, but also interesting.

[headlining]

[He's silent for a moment, because honestly, he doesn't know quite how to react.]

Well, it's harder than it seems, but if you do the work...it's worth it. [Another pause.] So, sure, I'll give you some things to practice with.

Do you own a dictionary?

[adlantisag]

A book with the meaning of words, yes? I do not.

[ Where would she find such a thing in Chantes? And would it even be useful... ]

[headlining]

Ah, well, finding one would help. Don't know if anything would have that, though, bit it's good to keep in mind.

Other than that, maybe a tutor would help? Just having someone go over it with you could be beneficial.

[adlantisag]

My tutors are many.

[ She's been lucky--there's no shortage of people willing to help. Even ALASTAIR itself has given her aid in her endeavour. ]

Are you volunteering, Keats?

[headlining]

I, uh...well, if you wanted to read my articles, you'd need to learn how to read, right?

[That's a "yes, possibly" in Keatsspeak.]

[adlantisag]

I do know! It is just.

[ A pause. Telling. ]

Slow.