[Video] 29th of Imagination - Library to all cars

[unfavorableinstigation]

[After the spark of an idea settles in - and after Nita's discussed it with a few trusted people - and giving the train a heads' up - Nita finds herself making a post in the early afternoon, two days before the turn of the month.]

Hello, everyone. This is Nita Callahan again, and I've got both an idea, and a request.

We've learned the train can communicate with us more directly - but it has trouble doing so. As in, energy troubles, not just the social aspect.

[Which, frankly, she can relate to... and which often made that sense of disconnect, or missed connection, worse.

No matter.]

So I'd like to get as many of those with abilities that can bridge that gap - psychic, technological, whatever you've got - as want to participate, and this next platform day we can spend some time seeing how they fit together.

I'll admit, I haven't had much success in being close - but mostly I was acting alone, and the few times I did joint-work with people were mixed at best. But if we can make a channel, even if it's just through group meditation or similar, then maybe we'll all have less of an uphill battle.

Shared burdens are lessened; we have to remember that.

Nita, out. And... thank you, for listening.

[Because listening counts for a lot, even when it doesn't always feel like it.]

Comments

[blitzcheer]

So, uh... you wanna shove energy into the train?

[ ... ]

Have you ever done that before?

[ Save the time she tried attacking the train... ]

[unfavorableinstigation]

Not so much shoving as- making a sort of downhill channel?

Since it sure feels like it's working uphill to understand our issues.

[Understatement? Probably. But still valid!]

[blitzcheer]

Uh... huh.

[ He sounds dubious, but after a beat- ]

But, I mean... making a channel and giving it power... You think that's the kind of energy it needs? You ever tried giving it a little?

[ A little energy?? ]

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Nita snorts.]

Wizardry makes a distinction between 'giving power' and 'facilitating conversations,' I'm sure on that.

It's a difference between energy and - like vocabulary. Lived experience; if all this train has ever been is just a train, and no one bothered to program in 'here's what consent looks like across species, and what to do in an emergency where you can't account for that from the start-'

[But then, most worlds definitely didn't plan on being eaten by shadow creatures.

Nita scowls, then sighs.]

I've tried chatting with it before, though, if that's what you mean. At the engine wall, and from outside when we're on platforms. Pressing in, sometimes, to see what's there to sense.

[blitzcheer]

[ It takes him a second, brow stuck in a line of confusion, except- ]

I was asking about the power thing. You said it had energy troubles, didn't you? So I figured that was what you were asking about. Making the channel, but also giving it power?

I know you try talking with it. [ Though- ] Is there a difference between outside and in?

[unfavorableinstigation]

They're not exactly the same thing, where I'm from, but - for this, I'm going to try treating it like a radio, where what we're looking to alter is the signal strength, if not type. We've got different kinds of communication methods, so this would be about seeing which ones 'click' together best, and then from there to the train.

And it's easier to do a gathering in a place that feels 'outside' at this point.

[Some carriages are big but they're not big big, or so Nita sees it.]

[blitzcheer]

Oh, I see. [ He thinks? Kinda. Maybe. ]

Well, I can't really do anything with that, but - doesn't hurt to try, I guess.

You sure you're gonna have enough time on the platform for that? All those different...powers, or ways of communicatin' coming together. Sounds like it can get messy.

[ At least to align, or something. ]

[unfavorableinstigation]

[This question, at least, Nita is Prepared for.]

I've done time dilation before - giving those participating more time subjectively for the duration, without us risking missing out on the time-to-go mark or anything.

[Making a sort of liminal space, in other words. And seeing as some train stations have that rep already...]

[blitzcheer]

Eh?

[ Wait... ]

So you... put them in a time bubble? Huh?

[ What the what the? Time dilation?? He might compare this to Haste if the way Nita described that didn't totally throw Tidus off. ]

[unfavorableinstigation]

Effectively.

[Nita shrugs.]

I can't stop time, and it wouldn't be wise to try, but changing how much of it we experience per second is more, well, doable, and less risky.

[blitzcheer]

...Magic is weird.

[ Or a kinder word might be amazing, or astonishing, but!! Tidus is going with what he knows in the moment. ]

Can you still move around? Do you look like you're moving fast to other people?

[unfavorableinstigation]

[Nita gives a brief, bemused smile.]

That it is, Tidus; I'll give you that one.

[Then it's back to business.]

Well, I'd have to be running it manually to some degree - so people can get out if they overload, or if people arrive late - so I'd probably opt for an intent-driven barrier: if you walk at it with the intent to get in, or out, you're there, so there's not much to see. The barrier itself would end up some level of opaque.

[While not blocking mental perception, of course.]

[blitzcheer]

Oh, wait, so- it is like a bubble? Huh!

[ Look, he knows he said that and she confirmed it earlier, but that didn't make him any more sure. ]

Hey though, you're not going to overload, are you? Doing all this? If you're doing this magic with time and trying to add to this connection too-

[ Is she going to be alright? ]

Action

[guru_clef]

He set his book down. "You know that I will help however I can. What do you wish from me?"

Before or after the thread with Tidus, for this convo?

[unfavorableinstigation]

"We're going to make a more concerted attempt at communicating with the train. Not just the two of us."

That was the crux of the matter, anyway.

"Also to try and see how many different worlds' techniques of communicating mentally will work with each other."

Let's say after since I was late in.

[guru_clef]

"Alright. I presume your sister will be helping, who else do you think will join us? Do you think Zelda would be interested?"

Okay!

[unfavorableinstigation]

"She might - depends on if she notices the post, or shows up on the platform. You want to follow up with her and come together, maybe?"

That'd be just fine with Nita.

"And- Tidus mentioned Lea talking with someone else about alchemy sets and gemstones; was that you?"

Re: Okay!

[guru_clef]

"I wouldn't know where to find her," he pointed out. "And.. I spoke to a few people at the meetings about gem stones. They are useful when making armor and weapons since they can double as storage."

Re: Okay!

[unfavorableinstigation]

"You... haven't asked her if she has a schedule? I know I've run across her in the Training Gym in the mornings."

As for the gems, that made sense - though when she thought about it, most of the uses she was familiar with 'back home' were more about crystals than gemstones.

"I can get you more of those, then, no problem."

Re: Okay!

[guru_clef]

Which her? Well... either way, the answer was the same.

"Unless someone comes into the library, I rarely speak with them. I do wish that Zelda would come in here more often," he added softly.

Sorry, Nita, but this is Clef without places to practice and without a son to push him into life and living.

"That would be helpful. Thank you. Do you want to work on the gauntlet now?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"You... could ask her about that as well," Nita said. "I'm sure she'd listen."

As to the offer, she smiled.

"I'm happy to do that, yeah - though I'll have to leave the ICP on, in case someone else calls."

She couldn't get her Manual to forward messages from this Network, alas.

[guru_clef]

"She... seems... uncomfortable.... with me..." he mumbled. "I don't want to upset her."

But he nodded to her condition. That made sense. "Bring it out, then?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Then that means you have to get to know what this Zelda does like."

Her voice was some combination of gentle and stern; she knew what it was like for it to be hard to make friends... particularly when they had previously been friends.

"You have to start somewhere, and I can't do that for you."

She fetched out the gem - it was one of those things, like her Manual, that she'd had no trouble carrying around regardless of whether she thought she'd need it - and held it in her palm.

"Anything in particular I need to do with it, or picture in my mind?"

A sort-of shot in the dark, that.

[guru_clef]

"To store anything in it, focus on the item and the desire for it to go in. To take it back out, focus on the gem and what you want from within it and how you want it to appear. It is a little like Bending, all the magic of Ceiphro is. Will, focus, practice, and imagination. Though in this case it is more recall."

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita nodded, classifying it as about as useful as the Arms Bands (which, even though she didn't have one, meant she saw them as quite useful indeed).

"I can handle that no trouble. And... shaping the weapon form?"

Assuming she was phrasing the matter at all correctly.