[video :: 001]

[because_its_cool]

[A man appears on screen. He looks startled for a moment before a grin spreads across his face.]

Marvelous! Not nearly as impressive as my transportation here, but nevertheless, Peter never let me near a communications device with this sort of capability. I don't know what he thought I was going to do with it...

[pause]

Oh, yes! My name is Doctor Walter Bishop, and I will be employed in the laboratories in the museum here near the resort establishment. I would be delighted to speak to whomever sees to the manufacture and maintenance of the transporter, as I'd be interested to find out how I was able to move through space/time without my atomic structure resembling a plate of scrambled eggs.

[another pause]

I shall have to make some eggs as soon as I unpack. Perhaps before.

[Oh, how he wants to get his hands on the spawner in his room.]

Comments

[ewestmarch]

What kind of doctor?

[because_its_cool]

[Walter blinks, staring, and then draws the communicator closer so that he's nearly nose-to-screen with it.]

How long have you been in this condition?

[This is 'hello, how do you do?' in Walter-speak.]

[ewestmarch]

[Emilia curls her lip and leans closer in imitation of him, then speaks MUCH LOUDER, as if to someone hard-of-hearing.]

WHAT KIND OF DOC-TOR?

[because_its_cool]

[He startles and nearly drops the communicator.]

[Pause, blink. Wary look.]

I'm a scientist. You shouldn't drink things you find under your sink.

[ewestmarch]

[She sits back, satisfied with the reaction.]

I was deliberately poisoned, but thanks so much for the tip. I can see why they gave you a doctorate.

What kind of scientist?

[because_its_cool]

Three doctorates. Theoretical physics and biochemistry.

[Yes, he realizes he's only mentioned two.]

[He pauses, regaining his focus, and asks again.]

How long have you been in this condition?

[ewestmarch]

Almost seven years. Why?

[because_its_cool]

Y-years?

[He's staring with his mouth hanging open.]

That... no, that's not possible. With this sort of cell degridation you shouldn't be any more than a few days along, perhaps with only several hours to live. Years.

[He interrupts himself with another thought.]

Tell me, are you taking suppliments, having treatments of some sort, eating or drinking anything out of the ordinary--perhaps something from this planet?

[ewestmarch]

[Emilia smiles, sort of venomously.]

I'd say you're not from around here, but it's not here you would have to have been from either.

I am Forsaken. We are a nation of the dead, risen and preserved against our will by magic.

I LIVE... sort of.

[because_its_cool]

[A pause, as he studies her again. He never really stopped.]

Where are you from? As far as I know, the ah... dead don't inhabit my universe. Though I had been compiling my own hypotheses for reanimating the dead. Tricky business. The flesh doesn't stabilize well, even with the most current technology at my disposal.

[Wait. What did he hear and just now realize she said?]

Magic. I was told such energies exist here.

[He doesn't sound as if he's a believer.]

[ewestmarch]

They do.

[She flicks her wrist and a ball of fire rolls off the tip of her longest finger. She catches it. It hovers between her hands, sparking.]

[because_its_cool]

Pyrokinesis, wonderful! One of my closest friends and colleagues can do this, under the right circumstances. You say it's due to certain energies affecting you here?

[Nope, not believing in this 'magic' thing of which you speak. He'll SCIENCE it, pseudo- or otherwise, all the way.]

[ewestmarch]

No, it's because I learned how. It's mana concentration accelerating molecules.

[because_its_cool]

How... interesting. [He peers closely, watching the movement of the fireball in her hands.] Following your logic, most anyone could learn to do this, yes? You'd have to... what did you call it, 'mana'? The only manna I know of has to do with God and the Isrealites, and it certainly wouldn't start fires, unless it was used in a flambé, I suppose.

[ewestmarch]

Not anyone, you need to have half a brain.