[Visual] the great big city's a wondrous toy

[tinynarcissist]

In the hours since he awakened in a room not his own, in a building definitely not his parents' house, Adrian has quietly gathered as much information as he possibly can. He knows the room belongs to someone older, but a little trial and error shows him how to get clothes his own size from the kind of science-fictiony cupboard. And some time spent

Comments

[imperial_long]

A fourth child. It is a plague. Long hopes the aliens do not glitch him into a younger version of himself, although he briefly wonders how that would work exactly. (Would he perhaps turn into an egg? A horrifying thought.)

He sighs to himself and opens up a visual response to the boy.

"Hello, Adrian; my name is Mayland Long. I dearly wish I could help you-- or anyone-- get back to Manhattan. Unfortunately, Manhattan lies... very far away at the moment. You're in a place known as Taxon, which is not in itself extraordinarily helpful information, I realize."

A beat, and then he asks because he really can't help himself, whenever noticing an accent-- "Ist Deutscher bequemer?"

[trans: Is German more comfortable?]

[tinynarcissist]

Adrian nods as he listens attentively, not exactly happy with the information but not entirely surprised, either.

"Hello, Mr. Long. I noticed the map on this...'tablet' thing? Doesn't show anything beyond the borders of the city. Why doesn't it?"

His eyes widen a little in surprise at the language offer, but he shakes his head. "No, sir, I'm supposed to only speak English when I'm not at home."

why do I always forget to include [Visual]

[imperial_long]

What a delightfully well-mannered child. Long smiles despite himself

[Visual]

[tinynarcissist]

"Impossible to exit." That doesn't bode well at all. Adrian wants to ask what's already been tried, but instead he sits quietly and listens to the man's explanations. (It's nice to be spoken to like an adult for a change.)

Something doesn't fit together quite right, though, and finally he asks, "If it's impossible to leave, how do people come and go regularly? Does someone come and take them? Who does it?"

[Visual]

[imperial_long]

A shrug from the man, one hand gesturing vaguely (the fingers of that hand are oddly long).

"These-- entities-- whom you will likely hear referred to as aliens, or as hamsters although I find the latter designation too silly to regularly employ-- they possess what can only be called considerable power, power beyond anything most of us have experienced, and we are... a diverse bunch. They seem capable of bringing people into and out of the city when it suits them, without actually needing to be visible here to do so.

"I don't have the requisite knowledge of the sciences, myself, but with what little I have read I would posit perhaps some minor folding of space..."

This is said partially to himself; Long thinks Adrian is bright, certainly, but in the sense of bright for a child, and not with any idea that Adrian might, even at this age, be more than bright enough to follow.

[Visual]

[tinynarcissist]

"Aliens is almost as silly as hamsters," Adrian asserts, momentarily coaxed out of his characteristic reserve by the strange but fascinating things the man is telling him. It sounds like science fiction, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Things like that are only fiction until someone smart enough comes along to make them fact.

"Do you mean like an Einstein-Rosen bridge?" None of Adrian's readings on quantum theory have suggested the capability of manufacturing a fold in space, but then he's been mostly interested in electrodynamics lately. Maybe it's time to hit the library and see if anything new has been written.

[Visual]

[imperial_long]

"Almost!" Long says with an appreciative laugh. But his brows arch at young Adrian's next words, and he leans forward slightly with interest.

"You're familiar with Schwarzschild?" he asked, both delighted and impressed. "Good heavens, and here I was under the impression the education system everywhere was in irreparable decline. My reading in the field has been quite limited--" (what Long means by 'limited reading' is not always the same as what most people mean by the phrase) "--but from what I know I think it is possible, yes."

He almost launches into some discourse on what he thinks the aliens might be capable, but reminds himself that he is speaking to a child, however intelligent.

"--forgive me. The theoretical is all very fascinating, but I am sure you have practical concerns at the moment as well, no?"

[Visual]

[tinynarcissist]

"I read Über das Gravitationsfeld eines Massenpunktes nach der Einstein’schen Theorie and Zur Elektrodynamik. On my own, we don't study things like that in school." Which is so much more information than he ought to be giving out, but Adrian's pretty proud of his grasp on scientific theory, and Long seems like the kind of person who'd actually think it was a good thing, not something he needs to be hiding.

Adrian shrugs one shoulder and glances around, half expecting to see one of his parents open the door and ask what he's doing. "I figured out how to get clothes and the man who owns the building said I could stay if I wanted to. I just want to go home before I'm missed. My parents will be worried."

[Visual]

[imperial_long]

Adrian's guess is rewarded- Long only smiles broadly, teeth very white in his dark face, at Adrian's quasi-boast.

"How marvelous! Your initiative is to be commended.

"...ah, as for your parents... Well, from past reports it seems that when people return to their homes there is no missing time-- they go back to when they have left. I can only theorize extraordinarily wildly on the mechanics of how this might be possible, alas."