thenearshore | [OPEN] Blue Dragon goes to town

Who: Shin-ah and you!
What: Shin-ah exploring the Near Shore and experiencing massive technology shock
Where: The streets and a subway at The Near Shore.
When: May 11th
Warnings: Nothing right now.

[Shin-ah has done an awful lot of sticking close to his god ever since he arrived, and maybe because of that, he hasn't explored much. This seems like a problem, because there are all kinds of curious places and things that don't resemble anything he thinks he knows.

So today, he ventures out to The Near Shore to learn more about all of these new curiosities. As a tall guy in a skull mask, it's perhaps a good thing that most residents don't even really notice him.]

A) Smile: you're on camera!
[The residents aren't noticing him much, but the security cameras are. And as he walks into the view of one with a live display mounted to the wall, Shin-ah freezes and looks warily at the monitor.

Why is he on the wall.

He turns to walk closer—and the figure on the wall moves too! This is legitimately the most disturbing thing he's ever seen, and with his eyes, he's seen a lot, he's quite sure. Like a perfect reflection. Shin-ah squints at the wall, and suddenly shoots his left arm up. Up it goes too. Right leg out. Same with the wall. Shin-ah frowns deeply and shakes his head at the Shin-ah on the wall frowning deeply and shaking his head right back.

Right, this is war.

Shin-ah draws his sword, intent to put an end to this wicked sorcery...]

B) Subway Stowaway

[The ground had a cavernous hole in the middle of the paving. Shin-ah follows the steps down to a row of short shiny walls with three thick shiny prongs poking into each one. Beyond that is a massive chamber with people and columns and it's loud. And there's something coming, it's gigantic and going so fast and there's a single light shining from the front of it. It's full of people.

It slows and stops, and many people get off. Many different people then get on. Then it leaves again. What...just happened? It takes some fighting, but Shin-ah manages to get past the pronged monsters and joins the throngs of people at the platform, wanting a closer look at what's going on as another one approaches and stops at the station like the last one.

He didn't mean to get eaten by it.

But the crowd was tight, and Shin-ah found himself swept along with them as though trapped in a river current. The door shuts, and he panics a little—this is scary! It's loud, it's packed, he doesn't know what it is or where it's going. He looks around the crowd with an expression of clear distress.

Help?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Why do the strangest things always happen to him when he's out shopping for parts?

Leave it to Eno to walk by with a small bag of spare computer parts. He's taken to collecting them for some reason, like a magpie. As he walks past one electronics store, he pauses just in time to catch sight of this... stranger... about to draw his sword.

Judging by the fact that no one seems to notice what he's doing, this guy's probably one of them.

So he's just going to rush over, attempting to get between this guy and -- well... attempting to get in front of this guy and his sword. ]

E... excuse me! Don't draw your sword!

[Shin-ah abruptly stops when someone appears in front of him, as he certainly doesn't want to hurt anyone. It's a somewhat confusing order, but for now, he'll listen, and lets his sword go back to rest against his back.

But the illusion on the wall still makes him rather uncomfortable. He points to it, wanting to know why this is an okay thing.]

[ Well that's a relief. He deflates slightly, his shoulders slumping as the sword goes back against the man's back.

When he points at the screen though, it takes Eno a half second to make the connection. A man of few words, huh? ]

I... it's okay! It's just a monitor! They're connected to the camera over there.

[ And pointing out that camera now. ]

I'm... guessing you've never seen a camera before.

[Shin-ah can only shake his head at that observation. He's never heard of a camera before, nor a monitor. But he follows the other's point to the object overhead. Shin-ah saw it before, but with no awareness it was responsible for this mysterious illusion.]

What is it doing?

[Because seeing it there doesn't explain how his image is appearing on the wall. The light and the picture isn't coming from it.]

It's... hm....

[ Oh. He's one of these types. No, he'll try to explain best as possible. ]

It's kind of like an eye. That [ pointing at the camera ] is what sees and what it sees [ pointing at the monitor ] is what shows up there.

It's all done with machines so there isn't any living thing behind it.

An eye...?

[How can anything that isn't alive see?

Then, just a moment later, he thinks about himself. More specifically, the form he takes when Zeno calls his name. As a mask, he has no physical eye; he is an inanimate object. Yet his vision is as strong as ever, and moreover, he has the ability to pass that sight on to Zeno.

He doesn't know how this works between them, but he knows that it does. It must be possible then, that something else can do the same. It sounds as though that is what is happening here.]

How do you know this?

Kind of like an eye. It isn't an eye exactly just has the same idea behind it.

[ There's a small sheepish grin there as he lightly rubs the back of his neck. It's a little tough explaining things to the technologically uneducated.

And a modest little grin back at his question. ]

I kind of like to tinker with mechanics in my spare time. But cameras like that aren't really a rare sight in this day and age.

[There are more things like this to tinker with? Shin-ah's curiosity is piqued, and that camera thing is suddenly far less interesting. Now it's all eyes and ears on Eno.]

What do you... tinker with?

Computers, actually! I've kind of been putting together one in my spare time.

[ He's brightened up, talking about his little hobby. ]

It's kind of why I'm here in the first place. I was shopping for spare parts when I bumped into you.

[Oh, computers. Shin-ah actually (sort of) knows what those are now because of the BBS. He's still woefully inept at using them, but at least the terminology isn't lost on him.

He notices the enthusiasm from the other person, too. It's weirdly gratifying. He'd like to see more of that kind of interest when he talks with people.]

You build them?

[This man must be incredibly smart. Shin-ah can't imagine what a complicated task it must be to make something so advanced work.]

Well, yeah. Just... on the side.

[ He's a modest thing, lightly rubbing the back of his neck and fighting off the faintest flush. ]

Once you figure out how things fit together and what goes where, it's pretty gratifying.

[Any display of modesty isn't dampening Shin-ah's admiration. He's still at a loss how a box with a bunch of cables and a rectangle on a stand does so many complicated things. It doesn't seem like it should be possible.]

How did you figure that out?

[ Help he's turning red. All this attention isn't something he's used to... ]

Um... study, mostly. And kind of instinct. I don't remember anything but I've always kind of been drawn to computer parts and stuff.

[OPEN] Blue Dragon goes to town

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