itscurtains | Week Three

Entry tags:

act 3,
week 3

Week Three

[Last week, some shit went down! Salieri's scene went off without a hitch, but the good mood didn't last. The first motive was a bit of a doozy, and yet it didn't even have anything to do with the eventual accidental death of Mumble Happyfeet! At least Sissi was already pretty much dating Death anyway, right? She's probably fine, wherever she is.

This week, new menus have been posted in the cafeteria. But, more importantly, it seems that other new information has emerged. Everyone wakes on Sunday with some new memories - or are they old ones? - floating around in their heads. Maybe there was something to your discussions of time travel after all. Maybe there was someting to the Wizard's knowledge of the future.

Regardless, you're still stuck in here. At least there's some new places to explore this week. Maybe you'll find something helpful.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Be sure to submit your memory regains and your AC for this week! Hester's office hours and the merch booth also remain available! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Orpheus wanders by as he and Eurydice are headed to the kitchen to take stock and eat breakfast per their usual routine, slowing to a stop as Varian picks up the staff with the vials tied to the end. That looks... interesting? Maybe a little dangerous? Varian seems happy about it, though, so it's probably a good thing. Letting Eurydice know what he's up to, he steps away and heads over. ]

What do they do? [ he asks, gesturing to the staff. ] Is that something you made?

Orpheus!

[Varian's grinning, genuinely, for possibly the first time since Sunday as he holds up his staff for him to see.]

Yeah, this is probably the closest thing I'm going to get to getting any of my alchemy back, that's for sure!

[He gives the staff a little shake...and the agitation of the vials causes their light to grow brighter.]

All they do is put off light, but it's still cool, huh?

Oh, definitely! I've never seen anything quite like it. [ He pauses, thinking, and adds; ] Except maybe the way fireflies glow? Is it kind of like that?

[ It had never really occurred to him to wonder how fireflies lit up like that before, but it would make a lot of sense if they had some kind of fluid inside of them that gave off light. ]

That's exactly what it is, actually! See-

[Varian reaches up to hold the staff a little closer to the top so he can bring the vials closer into view, tapping them gently with his finger.]

It's because of the different compounds I put in here! Oxygen combines with calcium, adenosine triphosphate and luciferin in the presence of luciferase, which is a kind of a bioluminescent enzyme-

So, a chemical reaction between those elements makes them glow, basically!

[ Well that sure was a lot of words that Orpheus didn't understand, with his three years of formal education and all. The summary helps a lot, though. ]

Oh. So are they all different colors because there's different elements in them?

[ See he can follow along, sort of. ]

Yup! I could have probably made a bunch of these, but I guess I must have been strapped for time.

[He still doesn't quite remember the circumstances behind making this...just that he has it.]

If we ever end up having access to chemicals like those here, I'll make one for you.

[ He guesses? That's a little bit strange, not remembering the specifics of making something like this, but Orpheus guesses that if Varian is an alchemist he probably does much more exciting things all the time. So he just shrugs it off. ]

Oh, that could be really useful! Electric lights are nice, but they have to be connected to a power source by wires. [ At least in Orpheus's experience. ] Do these glow bright enough to see by, do you think?

Oh yeah, definitely! Probably not enough if you only had one or two...but if I could rig a bunch to the ceiling, it would work in a pinch.

[So there's that if the power ever goes out for a motive or something.]

Plus we have a lot of these...individually powered torches, just in case.

[He'll show Orpheus what he means as he pulls one of the maglites from his belt, switching it on.]

Oh! That's a flashlight. [ says Orpheus, and we're going to pretend I didn't forget those existed during the Dustbowl until too late to edit my previous tag. ] But the power in those doesn't usually last very long, right? Though I guess the ones here might work better. It sure does seem brighter than the ones I've seen before, at least.

[IT'S FINE I WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN KNOWN TO CORRECT YOU TBH]

You know, I'm not sure? These don't exist back home...but it seems to have kept working so far. I mean, I have two since Salieri gave me his other one, so it should be fine for a while.

They're pretty new where I come from. I don't really know how they work? I guess they must hold the power without wires somehow. But either this or your vials would be really useful in case we need to do something in the dark at some point!

[ Forrrrr totally innocent reasons. ]

[TOTALLY INNOCENT]

I've taken one of them apart since I got it, and it has two little cells inside a lot like those things I pulled out of that alarm when we first met. You know, the one that went off in the kitchen? So I think those are what's powering it.

[They're called batteries, boys.]

Huh. I wonder how that works.

[ Though he knows he probably wouldn't understand it if someone tried to explain it to him. ]

It's really great that you can make things like this, though. How'd you learn? Did you apprentice with someone, or go to school for it, or something?

Oh, me? Oh no...I learned by myself. I'm all self taught.

[Which is...insanely impressive, more than Varian realizes given how casually he says that.]

Wow, really? [ That is insanely impressive, and it's clear from Orpheus's expression that he thinks so. ] We don't really have alchemists where I come from, but most scientists and engineers have to go to school for years and years to do what they do. I don't think I've really heard of anyone studying it by themselves, these days.

I like the sound of that, because it means maybe in the future for my world, it will actually be a more common profession. I'd love to be able to go to a school like that...

[He looks wistful as he thinks about it.]

A place full of like-minded individuals...it'd be amazing.

Right? I don't really understand what's going on here with time and different worlds, but there are definitely a lot of scientists and chemists and engineers where I come from, and they're all really well respected and important for keeping society running.

[ Orpheus pauses, thinking. ]

I mean, it's also kind of complicated, because we've gotten to the point where machines can do a lot of the jobs that people can do, but faster, and better, and you'd think that would be a good thing? Because then people would be free to do as they wanted. But mostly it's meant their bosses replace them and they don't have a way to make money anymore.

[ Another pause, as Orpheus realizes that was a HUGE DOWNER. ]

But that's not the engineers' and inventors' faults! It's just, um. You know. [ He waves a hand, vaguely. Industrialization!! ]

[There's this emote on plurk- This one. That's what Varian's face did just then as Orpheus kept talking.]

O...oh! Oh.

[INDUSTRIALIZATION]

Well that's, uh...really great! And impressive...that technology has advanced so much...

[He blinks, shaking his head a little.]

Maybe there's just...gonna be a sort of growth period? It'll take a while for people to get adjusted to all the new machines that exist so...surely it'll balance out.

[SURELY]

[ Orpheus nods. That's the spirit! ]

It's just a matter of the people in charge learning to value the work that people can do, and making adjustments. There's always work that needs to be done! Like maintaining the machines, or inspecting what's been made for quality. But people need to be trained for those jobs, and paid a fair amount for the more complicated work, and right now the ones in charge of the factories aren't willing to do that.

[ His expression sours a bit, not quite into a scowl, but he clearly disapproves. It only lasts a moment, though, before he smiles again. ]

Someday, though! There are people fighting for it now, and it'd be impossible to ignore them forever.

[Somehow, when Orpheus explains it, Varian believes him genuinely. He's right...there have to be workers to maintain those machines. How do they expect them to keep working otherwise?]

Yeah, you're right! Otherwise they aren't going to be getting more machines to do the work.

Right! And if a company keeps focusing on profits and cost-cutting measures over treating its workers right, then people won't be willing to work for them any more, and they'll have to either shut down or make concessions to their demands for fair treatment.

[ That's... the ideal case, at least. ]

It's all kind of complicated, and there's some natural disasters going on that are also making it hard for people to find work? So people are more desperate and will do even more for even less than they would otherwise. But something will have to give, probably sooner rather than later.

Natural disasters, huh...yeah, I imagine that complicates things...

[He's not sure he'd call it "natural" in the case of his own home, but he can...relate. There sure is a disaster in progress, that's for sure.]

I hope the people in your world are as optimistic about the future as you, Orpheus.

It's a hard world to live in? But things will get better. We'll make them better.

[ He smiles, confident in this, though after a moment it falters as he remembers the photo of Eurydice in the midst of that winter storm. His expression darkens, going haunted and determined. ]

We have to.

I believe you will. Just like I'm going to fix things back home for my village.

[He sounds determined enough in that, even though the only reminder of it he has now is the staff he now holds.]

[ Orpheus shakes off the grim reminder of what might be waiting for them back home and smiles again, nodding. ]

I'm sure you will, too. What's wrong there, though?

Week Three

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