On the corner of Main Street

[use_everything]

WHO: Aral, DC7, FMAs, RvBs, AND ANY
WHERE: DC7, Lucky Cat, etc
WHEN: All of May
WHAT: Catch all log!
WARNINGS: None! I will edit as needed!

OPEN and directed starters in the comments! Drop me a line if you want something specific!

Comments

[use_everything]

[He glances up towards the counter, the line was... manageable with the staff there. And the mystery mathematician was intriguing.]

I'm overdue a break, as it happens.

... To answer, yes. The world is unsettling in a number of ways. From the concept of magic, to its culture, to the lack of common tech.

[resoundingpledge]

Magic was new to me too. It's really different, isn't it? All of these rules . . . [ She glances down at her notebook, and back up. ] None of them really account for it at all.

What's missing for you? Besides spaceships.

[ She takes a sip of the latte, finally. ]

[use_everything]

Most of the medtech in general, genetic work, uterine replicators, and suchforth. It is different enough that the list could take some time.

Yourself?

[resoundingpledge]

The Earth I'm from . . . it's ten years behind this one. So a lot of the time it's the opposite—medical diagnostics here are a lot further than in our hospitals, and hover tech is really new too. Cellphones and computers can do more . . .

It's strange to be in a world without Air Trek though.

[use_everything]

Air Trek?

[resoundingpledge]

[ She nods over the edge of her cup, and . . . fishes out her comm, actually, rather than answering verbally.

A few clicks and swipes brings her to Yayoi's BlueTube channel. There's videos from their FanPort demonstrations, but she scrolls down a bit instead, hitting 'play' before turning the comm Aral's way, putting it on the table and sliding it over with a fingertip at its edge.

On the small screen, Yayoi races (a very moderately paced, for him) Kazu over Nonah's rooftops, gravity and physics something of an afterthought as they leap through the evening air. ]

[use_everything]

[It's dizzying. The speed, the way rooftops and streetlamps bob and blur by. The way a turn becomes a rolling, incomprehensible spiral.

Dear God it's like the best part of a lightflyer.]

What kind of speed is that?

[resoundingpledge]

[ All the adrenaline rush, none of the safety features.

Her eyes sparkle a bit though, watching him. As impossible as he was to read . . . she knew that expression. ]

I'd need to check . . . probably around 55km/h? More during a straight dash.

They're customized though, so the range is a big one.

[use_everything]

[The whirlwind video ends, and with an incredulous glance at Kururu, he taps the screen to have it replay.]

An engine that size though... with the friction and weight load, it shouldn't be able to manage that... Is it using hover tech?

[resoundingpledge]

Ahh . . . no, it's not. No matter how much we call it 'flying', there's nothing like that; eventually gravity will always pull them down again.

A lot of what you're seeing is skill, too—it takes a lot of practice for a rider to do tricks like that.

[use_everything]

[He's silent for a few long moments, watching the video with more intense scrutiny. The children were athletes, that was indisputable, but some of those impacts should have been impossible with braces...

The kind of use they could get out of those in heavyweight worlds...]

And this is technology that can be reproduced without any magical means?

[resoundingpledge]

Magic . . . ?

You've travelled through space. Through wormholes. Are these . . . really so strange to you?

[ Not that she had anything less than absolute pride in the air trek she'd made, but the scope and scale . . . it really didn't seem like it could compare. ]

[use_everything]

I imagine it is a matter of what one is familiar with.

[resoundingpledge]

Mm. I guess so.

[ Her face softens as she looks down at the comm, the world seeming to tilt on its axis as Yayoi twists during a jump. ]

Back home, Air Trek . . . they're not something everyone has, they're too expensive for that, but they're really common. Like seeing hover boards here. And there's advertising on billboards, parts shops in malls . . .

The only magic they have is how they make people feel.

[use_everything]

Is it something that scales? I imagine a vehicle could be quite... interesting.

[resoundingpledge]

Not really. You'd be dealing with greater weight, and greater wheel diameter—a hub motor isn't really efficient at that large a diameter. And keeping the motor small and spiking the wheel out, like you would with a bicycle . . . you'd loose the speed that way.

It's not impossible, but if you want something like a motorbike, it's probably better just to design an actual motorbike instead.

[use_everything]

Hm. That's a shame.

[resoundingpledge]

[ That's . . . disappointment, isn't it? Maybe? He's so hard to read when all she has are his words and her eyes, but there's something . . . ]

A lot of the power comes from kinetic recovery, too, it wouldn't be the same without your legs.

Is it . . . do you like driving?

[use_everything]

Not.. quite the way vehicles are here. Though some are. I've a fancy for lightflyers. Nothing quite comes close here.

[resoundingpledge]

What do you like about lightflyers?

[ She could just as easily ask 'what is a lightflyer', but this was by far the more interesting question. He liked speed . . . they'd be fast and manoeuvrable, wouldn't they? ]

[use_everything]

[There is a bit of a spark in those grey eyes and he leans back in his chair.]

They are fast, small and can turn as you need it, as quickly as you can direct it. Any direction - a flaw of these hover cars... A skilled pilot can navigate almost anything without needing to throttle back a tick of speed.

[resoundingpledge]

Heeh . . .

And you're a skilled pilot?

[ Innocent curiosity; having an interest didn't always equate with ability. ]