Audience: Sheila Hammond

[probe]

Comments

[toesies]

[She clicks her tongue.]

Now it's should? Come on, tell me about your resume.

[probe]

Ever played ten fingers?

[toesies]

I don't think so. Why?

[probe]

It's a game, of sorts.

You place your hands out palm down on the table. I ask you ten questions. For every answer I don't like, I take a finger.

[... that's their resume, ig.]

[toesies]

Whoa!

[LEANING BACK A LITTLE.]

So you have work experience with the mafia. Got it! [Pride???] What's next? The floor is lava but you need to swim out of a pool filled with concrete?

[probe]

I'm not sure what concrete is.

[hm]

[toesies]

... Ohh...

[Slowly.]

Question. Do you, or do you not know, what a waffle is?

[probe]

I know what a waffle is.

[they say, flatly. this does not mean they necessarily have always known what a waffle is, though.]

[toesies]

But concrete is older than waffles?

[probe]

I've had waffles here. [:unamused:]

[toesies]

And not before. [:thinking:] There are so many people like that here, huh.

[probe]

Mm.

[another sip.]

People have told me I'm from "pre-modern" times.

[toesies]

Makes sense. Waffles and concrete are modern, after all. [...] Modern-ish.

[She says, like concrete isn't 3000 years old.]

What kind of set up are you used to, then?

[probe]

Lanterns. Cobblestone roads. [they shrug.] Magic also exists. Which I gather is not common.

[toesies]

You gather correctly. The most magical place in my world is a theme park, and even that gets boring after a while.

[D*sney.........]

Can you use magic yourself?

[probe]

No. [they say that so, so firmly and quickly.] And I don't want to.

[toesies]

... Oh. Sorry. Sore spot?

[probe]

Not a fan. I don't know the limits of what it can do. So I don't like it.

[toesies]

No offense, but isn't that something you would normally solve by— you know, studying up on it?

[probe]

Not many people can do it. It's not easy to study.

[toesies]

[......... pride are you bitter you can't use magic is that it

she does not say that.]

Makes sense. I can't imagine magic is the kind of thing you'd want in many people's hands, anyway.

[probe]

[they are scowling, not that she can see it. just, big scowl energy.]

No. It isn't. It can boil blood and bring people back from the brink of death. Something that powerful is something I want far, far away from me.

[toesies]

[BIG SCOWL ENERGY FROM SUCH A TINY BODY...]

Oh, my god. While the blood is still inside you?

[probe]

Yes.

[do you see why they don't like it.]

[toesies]

Yikes. I see why you are not a fan.