What follows is a sudden burst of light and sound: A streak of bright hot light as narrow as the weapon that spawned it races across the water, causing a small parting of the choppier tops of those incoming waves before it vanishes from sight.
"...Whoa."
Manabu has spent a lot of time in basic training, handling and cleaning and dismantling and reconfiguring laser-based weaponry, but he's never had his hands on a gravity saber before, and while he's not the one firing the shot, he still has the same awe as he would as a kid just reading about it.
Varian definitely watches this with unbridled glee. This is way way overkill but also the coolest thing ever. He turns his attention back to the sword gun (thankfully putting the safety on first, a moment of self-awareness he usually lacks, they are both blessed this day) looking at it more critically.
"Oh, wow! That's amazing!! A photo-acoustic wave!! Oh, man, I'd love to take this apart to see what makes it tick!"
He wants to get his grubby little hands on the insides so badly.
Varian's enthusiasm is contagious enough that it elicits a puffed laugh in his breath.
"I-if it's built anything like a standard-issue dragoon, maybe I could help with that sometime." But definitely not on a sand-infested beach! "There's got to be a setting to manage firing intensity, because otherwise, you'd be blowing duel partners away left and right..."
Welcome to the science nerd and his big science excitement, Manabu. Now you've indulged him once, you'll never be rid of him.
"Yeah? I'd like that! Maybe once I get a lab set up here I'd have a better space to work, I'd need all my tools anyway," so fortunate, he doesn't have then on him now. "So people duel with these? Like...proper knight battle kind of things?"
Manabu scratches at the side of his head. What's a proper knight battle look like? Like...the armored warriors of that ice planet?
"It's usually outlaws," he says. "Pirates. I don't know how 'proper' it is, since it's usually just a handful of people with a score to settle one-on-one. It's pretty outdated, which is why I was surprised it's here at all..."
...Jeez. None of those outlaws are actually here, are they? He's not sure how he'd feel about that.
Varian only has the vaguest idea of what a train looks like. He's only ever seen them in books, never in person and now he's trying to imagine them in space.
"How does that even work? I... I can understand jet propulsion to go through space, but I assume this means there was some kind of track maybe?"
Oh, boy. He knows that starry-eyed look...it's the same kind he used to get asking his dad a billion and one questions about space and everything.
Big difference there was young-him was safe at home on Tabito, not washed up on some mystery beach.
Manabu's hand falls away from his neck, mouth tugged weakly on one side.
"Auh, sort of...I mean--once you're off planet, it's gates, not tracks. Hard to build lengths of steel in space and all...it's like, um. Here, can I see that?"
He takes the saber back, hoping whoever the true owner of it won't mind if he uses it to draw in the sand. He makes a series of ellipses in a row, capped on each side by circles. He draws a line through the length of them.
"The trains travel through barrier gates from planet to planet. It makes like, a...a kind of tube of safety. So they don't get hit by any space debris or bothered by pirates."
"Hah- yeah, I guess that makes sense. Not much to structurally attach an actual rail to, huh?"
Varian is just going to file away every snippet of information that Manabu gives him like it's the most precious thing in the entire world. He's hanging on every single word- and is more than happy to give the saber back turning his gaze onto the sand to observe.
"Ohhhh okay. So it's like some sort of forcefield? "
"Yeah, like that." Whew. Manabu's never sure how vast a knowledge gap he's got to bridge between new people, so it's a relief that this kid seems to catch on pretty quick. "After trains launch out of the atmosphere, they are basically moving gate to gate, and there's a whole lot out there to pass through to get to different systems or planets."
Varian is nothing if not a very quick study. Especially when the lesson is something he's interested in anyway. Give him a good slice of science knowledge to bite down on and he's happy.
"That makes sense, given how much...well, space there is between planets. So it protects them as they move to each gate, that's really clever. Man, I'd love to see something like that. "
Manabu's not nearly as technically-minded as someone who has a passion for tinkering like this kid clearly does, but he can at least relate to that childlike interest in something so big and cool-sounding. He was the same way when he was little, waving his dad off at the station after every shore leave. And even riding the rails himself that first time!
It never gets old, honestly.
"We'd be pretty lucky to find a station out here," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "But I'd definitely be happy to see one. Even without my badge, I imagine I could pull a few favors and cut some riding costs."
Varian is still trying to imagine what all of this would look like- ideals and images bouncing about in his big ol noggin as he rocks on his heels a little. He was definitely born in the wrong time period. He's missed out on the coolest stuff ever.
"Man, that would have been awesome. Buuuut yeah, unfortunately, that's...unlikely. This place looks more like my home world than anything else...technology-wise."
"M-maybe not that unfortunate?" Manabu suggests, his voice cracking at the end there without his permission. "That is--to be able to adapt easier to things. If they're familiar and stuff..."
But man. He's gonna be real sad if tech is still baseline Deerington.
"I guess? But there's so much more the future can provide when it comes to technology. Like electricity! That's used for everything in the future, but in my time it's not even been discovered yet, much less put to actual use."
The future is WILD, Manabu, you have no idea.
"But I guess there's no harm in us nudging things along. Making progress happen, you know?"
"Oh, well, if this place doesn't have electricity, please help that one along first." Manabu's mouth twitches into a brief, crooked smile. "Those last few weeks without it back there was...rough. So let's...let's not repeat that if we can help it, yeah?"
Not to put all the responsibility for keeping the lights on upon the shoulders of a kid, but. Hey. Manabu will have no problem nearly getting himself killed stringing up power lines if he's gotta.
"Oh, don't worry, if this place doesn't have electricity, that's gonna be my first port of call. I do nooooot wanna go back to living without that."
He doesn't seem too bothered with the responsibility, he's had worse put on his skinny little shoulders, after all- he sounds like he feels he can deal with such a task. Please don't get yourself killed playing with electricity, Manabu. Don't do that to yourself, buddy.
"Hopefully that won't be the case- guess we'll find out when it gets dark, huh?"
"Already making a plan, huh..." Manabu's expression shifts out of that dubious politeness to something more considerate. "Guess I better start figuring out what I can do, too."
"Oh yeah!" he grins, excited. "I don't do sitting idly really all that great. I gotta be doing something,/i> or I go crazy. And I'm sure there's plenty you can bring to the table."
Manabu lets out a polite, empty laugh in his exhale, expression a little pained at that for a second before he can shake his head of it.
"Ye-yeah, sure." Maybe? But if this is really Deerington 2.0, then...he better not hold his breath.
That's nothing to lay on Varian, so he is quick to push past that. "But you're right. Something's...better than nothing. Auh, may I...have that back...?"
He gestures for the saber back. "If that's okay with you."
Varian glances down at the saber, then clears his throat, handing it back. Maybe a few years ago he would have made a run for it with the thing, but he's trying to be better. He rubs the back of his neck, a little sheepishly.
"Thanks for letting me look at it. And I'm pretty sure it counts as yours even if it's...not really," he shrugs. "I mean- unless someone else from your world shows up and it's theirs. "
"Right." Manabu's mouth twitches, mirroring the sheepish look in his own way. "And if that's true, I hope they're not the sort to hold a grudge."
But it's the weapon of pirates and outlaws, so who even knows! Even so, it's a little something familiar, and Manabu can't help but feel...beholden to it? Or at least responsible for it.
"Still, if it needs finer tuning than what I can figure out...I know at least one person I could go to about it."
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countryclub2021-08-09 05:25 pm
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"...Whoa."
Manabu has spent a lot of time in basic training, handling and cleaning and dismantling and reconfiguring laser-based weaponry, but he's never had his hands on a gravity saber before, and while he's not the one firing the shot, he still has the same awe as he would as a kid just reading about it.
This is way overkill, he thinks.
Still really rad, though.
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"Oh, wow! That's amazing!! A photo-acoustic wave!! Oh, man, I'd love to take this apart to see what makes it tick!"
He wants to get his grubby little hands on the insides so badly.
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"I-if it's built anything like a standard-issue dragoon, maybe I could help with that sometime." But definitely not on a sand-infested beach! "There's got to be a setting to manage firing intensity, because otherwise, you'd be blowing duel partners away left and right..."
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"Yeah? I'd like that! Maybe once I get a lab set up here I'd have a better space to work, I'd need all my tools anyway," so fortunate, he doesn't have then on him now. "So people duel with these? Like...proper knight battle kind of things?"
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Manabu scratches at the side of his head. What's a proper knight battle look like? Like...the armored warriors of that ice planet?
"It's usually outlaws," he says. "Pirates. I don't know how 'proper' it is, since it's usually just a handful of people with a score to settle one-on-one. It's pretty outdated, which is why I was surprised it's here at all..."
...Jeez. None of those outlaws are actually here, are they? He's not sure how he'd feel about that.
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"Oh... like. On the sea pirates? And this sort of technology is outdated? That's wild, this is miles ahead of what I'm used to back home."
They don't need even more to deal with, after all. They just got here!
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"Auh, well...more like...in space," he says. "I don't know if pirates even operate just in oceans anymore where I come from."
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"Oh wow, space!! That's even better! Does that mean you've travelled in space? Is it really common back in your home?"
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He looks skyward, squinting.
"Since I don't think...we'll see any of the Galaxy Railways here..."
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Varian only has the vaguest idea of what a train looks like. He's only ever seen them in books, never in person and now he's trying to imagine them in space.
"How does that even work? I... I can understand jet propulsion to go through space, but I assume this means there was some kind of track maybe?"
Explain EVERYTHING to him, Manabu!!
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Big difference there was young-him was safe at home on Tabito, not washed up on some mystery beach.
Manabu's hand falls away from his neck, mouth tugged weakly on one side.
"Auh, sort of...I mean--once you're off planet, it's gates, not tracks. Hard to build lengths of steel in space and all...it's like, um. Here, can I see that?"
He takes the saber back, hoping whoever the true owner of it won't mind if he uses it to draw in the sand. He makes a series of ellipses in a row, capped on each side by circles. He draws a line through the length of them.
"The trains travel through barrier gates from planet to planet. It makes like, a...a kind of tube of safety. So they don't get hit by any space debris or bothered by pirates."
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Varian is just going to file away every snippet of information that Manabu gives him like it's the most precious thing in the entire world. He's hanging on every single word- and is more than happy to give the saber back turning his gaze onto the sand to observe.
"Ohhhh okay. So it's like some sort of forcefield? "
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"That makes sense, given how much...well, space there is between planets. So it protects them as they move to each gate, that's really clever. Man, I'd love to see something like that. "
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Manabu's not nearly as technically-minded as someone who has a passion for tinkering like this kid clearly does, but he can at least relate to that childlike interest in something so big and cool-sounding. He was the same way when he was little, waving his dad off at the station after every shore leave. And even riding the rails himself that first time!
It never gets old, honestly.
"We'd be pretty lucky to find a station out here," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "But I'd definitely be happy to see one. Even without my badge, I imagine I could pull a few favors and cut some riding costs."
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"Man, that would have been awesome. Buuuut yeah, unfortunately, that's...unlikely. This place looks more like my home world than anything else...technology-wise."
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But man. He's gonna be real sad if tech is still baseline Deerington.
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The future is WILD, Manabu, you have no idea.
"But I guess there's no harm in us nudging things along. Making progress happen, you know?"
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Not to put all the responsibility for keeping the lights on upon the shoulders of a kid, but. Hey. Manabu will have no problem nearly getting himself killed stringing up power lines if he's gotta.
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He doesn't seem too bothered with the responsibility, he's had worse put on his skinny little shoulders, after all- he sounds like he feels he can deal with such a task. Please don't get yourself killed playing with electricity, Manabu. Don't do that to yourself, buddy.
"Hopefully that won't be the case- guess we'll find out when it gets dark, huh?"
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"Ye-yeah, sure." Maybe? But if this is really Deerington 2.0, then...he better not hold his breath.
That's nothing to lay on Varian, so he is quick to push past that. "But you're right. Something's...better than nothing. Auh, may I...have that back...?"
He gestures for the saber back. "If that's okay with you."
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"Thanks for letting me look at it. And I'm pretty sure it counts as yours even if it's...not really," he shrugs. "I mean- unless someone else from your world shows up and it's theirs. "
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But it's the weapon of pirates and outlaws, so who even knows! Even so, it's a little something familiar, and Manabu can't help but feel...beholden to it? Or at least responsible for it.
"Still, if it needs finer tuning than what I can figure out...I know at least one person I could go to about it."
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