Comments | aternatopia: One rainy street looks much like another

cptn_carrot in aternatopia

One rainy street looks much like another

Aug 26, 2011 00:14

When: Friday night, August 26
Where: Coming into town along Main Street
Who: Carrot Ironfoundersson & OPEN
What: Someone's about to be very, very, very confused
Rating: Depends on who finds him! For Carrot's part, probably no higher than G

( If you could kindly direct me to the Hubwards Gate... )

abraham sapien, !open, !arrival, carrot ironfoundersson

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icthyo_taco August 26 2011, 16:31:22 UTC

This really shouldn't become a habit, Abe thought as he gathered the books he wished to take home into his side bag. Night had fallen fairly quickly outside the library's windows. It was probably because of the encroaching rain that stole the sun too early in the day. He blamed this on the fact that he had now been out of water for over 12 hours and his skin was first to give protest, tightening around his knuckles as he turned another page of another book ( ... )

cptn_carrot August 26 2011, 17:03:17 UTC

When a figure stepped out of the shadows and hailed him, Carrot stopped. He neither ran nor panicked; though he'd never seen anyone like this individual before, most people had never seen anything like Nobby Nobbs before, and that was no reason to panic. (Or maybe it was; people were entitled to their opinions when it came to Corporal Nobbs.)

Nearly as surprising was that Carrot didn't recognize the person. He knew nearly everyone in the City on sight, and he surely wouldn't have forgotten this... man? Based on the voice, he guessed male, although he didn't want to inadvertently cause offense. Female dwarfs were indistinguishable from male dwarfs most of the time.

The other thing he noticed about the voice was that the accent wasn't Morporkian. He wasn't entirely sure where that accent was from ( ... )

icthyo_taco August 26 2011, 18:54:07 UTC

Abe couldn't smile noticeably but he came closer ( ... )

cptn_carrot August 26 2011, 21:12:09 UTC

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sapien." This person's appearance was really quite striking. Carrot wasn't bothered by the lack of a shirt; he himself often went shirtless when he was laboring at something, and maybe Abraham had been trying to keep his shirt dry as he walked home. But he recognized the attempt at courtesy and appreciated it, so he let it pass unremarked-upon. While it was generally acknowledged that men might appear in public sans shirt without causing offense, it was equally understood that on social occasions, shirts were to be worn.

"The Century of the Anchovy," the young man replied, politely refraining from adding 'of course'. Perhaps Abraham, being foreign, used a different calendar, but the centuries were marked the same Disc-wide. "This is the standard Watch uniform." His brow furrowed. "What situation is this, that you're saying I've found myself in? Is this not Ankh-Morpork ( ... )

icthyo_taco August 26 2011, 21:53:28 UTC

"The Century of..." Abe started, then trailed off. At first he thought it might have been a joke on his behalf. He shook his head in honest confusion. He could tell that the captain was being genuine, though, as soon as he met his eyes. You didn't need to be an empath to get a very honest sense from Carrot's face ( ... )

cptn_carrot August 26 2011, 22:33:45 UTC

Abraham's face was very difficult to read, but Carrot would swear that he didn't even recognize the name of the current century. Which, admittedly, was only a few years old, but still. Maybe he lived in a cave - or the ocean, Carrot amended to himself, taking note again of Abe's apparent physiology - and didn't keep up with the times? Then again, he was in the city now, and wearing clothes and all. Perhaps his people came ashore when it rained ( ... )

icthyo_taco August 26 2011, 22:45:03 UTC

"1989...U..." Abraham definitely shook his head this time. "The year here is 2011 B.C. You must come from an entirely different dimension altogether! Fascinating!" Abe's voice became a little higher with excitement. One might expect him to even clap his hands with the realization.

"I shall try to answer them all to the best of my ability. I'm afraid even those who have been here quite a while still do not possess all of the answers to the secrets the town has," Abe said.

"I'm afraid that might not be advisable, no. But I have no qualms against your trying. Though I do insist that you sit down and eat, first. I am very interested in where you came from," Abe said coming next to him and putting a hand softly on his shoulder as a guide. "I suppose a name to this town would help? You're now on Aternaville. I don't suppose you've heard of a place called Canada?" He subtly led the increasingly intriguing man toward the diner.

cptn_carrot August 26 2011, 23:14:42 UTC

A different dimension? The furrow in Carrot's forehead deepened. The only different dimensions he knew of were hardly livable for ordinary species. The Dungeon Dimensions, for one vivid example, or the Castle of Bones - unless - had he somehow slipped sideways into a different leg of the Trousers of Time?

A very, very different leg, if years weren't even reckoned the same. "B.C...." he repeated, slowly, letting all this sink in. "As in... Borogravian Calendar? Only I think they share their calendar with Überwald. All part of the former Dark Empire, you know." He was just sort of letting his mouth go at this point. Reciting interesting (to him, anyway) trivia about various cities and cultures came easily to Carrot, even while his brain was busy puzzling over his current situation, which almost undoubtedly had nothing to do with Borogravia ( ... )

icthyo_taco August 26 2011, 23:50:02 UTC

"Yes, B.C.--er. I believe in my excitement I might have misspoken, captain. How embarrassing!" Abe babbled with a flamboyant flapping of his hands. Not that Carrot would have noticed the difference between B.C. and A.D. anyway. "But actually B.C. stands for the phrase Before Christ," Abe said, his speech getting quicker in attempts to both catch up with the new information he was receiving and rectifying his own error. "Christ being a symbol of a religious institution whose beliefs are shared with an impressive portion of the world. Before Christ refers to the time before this symbol was born." His hands waved emphatically now trying to somehow try to explain an ages old religion in a very simplified way. "A.D. is what era we are in currently. It stands for Anno Domini, loosely translated from Latin to mean 'the year of our Lord' which...is...also a reference to the religion in where the Lord, being represented by Christ, is prevalent and worshiped. And though more people do not follow this religion than do it has become the standard ( ... )

cptn_carrot August 27 2011, 00:35:04 UTC

Carrot listened quietly to the explanation, absorbing everything Abraham was telling him. He was good at that, absorbing new information. He didn't quite know what to do with it yet, but he filed it away for future reference. "So there is one universal calendar, based upon the reckoning of the world's dominant religion, which holds that there is a single god and His representative?" He thought that about summed it up. It was a very peculiar idea, though. Of all the 3000+ gods on the Discworld, only the worshipers of Om ever tried to claim theirs was the One and Only, and nobody ever listened to them. Carrot had met at least a dozen of the gods himself. They weren't particularly impressive up close, and certainly nothing to base a calendar on ( ... )

icthyo_taco August 27 2011, 01:00:30 UTC

"I believe that's a very good summary, captain, yes!" Abe replied enthusiastically ( ... )

cptn_carrot August 27 2011, 02:44:24 UTC

Wait. What?

"A full astronomical year is the time it takes for the Disc to complete one full rotation," Carrot said slowly. Maybe Abraham had misspoken again. Carrot wanted to make sure they were clear. "A half-year is the length of a single orbit of the sun around the Disc. That's the reason most people prefer it. Only four seasons, only four hundred days." For some reason, the throwaway world revolving around the sun comment was more upsetting than anything Abe had said so far. Because... well, it was the world. Religions were one thing, but you couldn't just go around changing how the world worked.

After that, the explanation about the light seemed like nothing. It sounded sort of alchemical, without (he hoped) the explosions. "Harnessing lightning in small glass enclosures, and you say it isn't magic?" he murmured, not really expecting an answer, as he shifted his sword awkwardly to allow him to slide into the booth.

The material of the bench was strange. The material of the table was strange. The material of the floor was ( ... )

icthyo_taco August 27 2011, 03:02:17 UTC

Abe blinked at what the captain had said. He didn't reply as he let it settle in his mind. What was his next comment? The question was did Carrot live on a disc shape world that defied common physics because it was in another dimension or did Carrot not have the knowledge that his world, like the Earth, was round instead of flat. He had a feeling he'd have to implement tact in this. Abe was terrible with tact.

Even more disconcerting was Captain Ironfoundersson's disgruntled reply to electricity. Abe felt Carrot's discontentment from across the table. He was treading on very unsteady floors here. He suddenly found himself in a position where he could likely shake Carrot's concept of reality as he'd known it.

"Sure thing," the waitress replied with a smirk ( ... )

cptn_carrot August 27 2011, 03:41:44 UTC

Carrot wasn't disgruntled, not really. He didn't get disgruntled. He was just... unsettled. More than he was used to. But that wasn't Abraham's fault.

He listened carefully to Abe's explanation, sensing that Abe, too, was trying to make sure they were clear. And there were other worlds. Carrot knew there were other worlds. He'd just never expected to find himself on one.

"A round world." His voice was quiet and thoughtful. "A... round world. The wizards at the University sometimes mention a world like that. I had the impression it was something they'd created in the High Energy Magic Building. A project they used to drain off some of the extra magic buildup. A fully operational Roundworld, they said. I never knew much more about it." Was that where he was? Transported into the wizards' experiment ( ... )

icon for you icthyo_taco August 27 2011, 09:40:08 UTC

"Fascinating," Abe said, "There are several legends about the Earth including animals and desires to explain the existence of the Earth, sun, and moon before space travel was possible. In fact, if I'm not mistaking, the Hindu mythology is nearly identical to your--" Abe stopped with a snap to his mouth. Tact. Right. "Not to imply that-that your view of the world--" Snap again. "It is...that is...Once every eight hundred days, you say? Fascinating!"

He took a breath and clenched and unclenched his fists, embarrassed at implying that Carrot's view of his world could be anything but true. Now was not to time to shake foundations of his own reality of where he originated ( ... )

Re: icon for you cptn_carrot August 27 2011, 16:41:02 UTC

Carrot noticed Abe's discomfort, and guessed at the reason for it. He didn't look offended; rather, he shook his head with a small smile. "It's all right. To be perfectly straight with you, Mr. Sapien, I'm not sure I really believed in it all myself for a long time. Oh, it's what they tell you growing up, and you nod, but it's difficult to get your head around, isn't it? Elephants that size. But I saw it." His eyes grew wistful. "I traveled to the moon in a flying machine and I saw the whole Disc spread out below, and an elephant's head that filled half the sky. It was... Well, I don't have a word to properly describe how it was. But I know it's the truth, because I've seen it."

The numbers Abe was offering clanged awkwardly in his head. The trouble was, not one of those numbers was a multiple of eight. How could one have an ordered world if it wasn't begun on a common base? Where did one get all these numbers? They seemed so arbitrary ( ... )

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