ǂ 003 -- blood (phone/action)

[teh_sword]

[There's a bit of quiet breathing over the phone early this morning, like someone picked it up and then lost track of themselves for a bit. When he speaks, anyone who knows his voice will guess that he's exhausted and unhappy, which is weird for Mr Chipper. Spoiler alert: he is rather exhausted and unhappy.It's... really hard to keep track of these

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[someday_a_queen]

[Electronic things? Odd. Elizabeth is walking by the Church on the way to school when she spots him.]

Ren?

[teh_sword]

[Time to think and being in such a contemplative place--as well as the quasi-comforting quasi-distressing phone conversations--might have made Ren less completely demoralized, but he's certainly not the same smiley guy who met the future queen in the library. He tries for a smile but it's rather shaky.]

...hey, Princess. D'you get my message...?

[someday_a_queen]

Yes I did.

Is there something you know about the technology here?

[teh_sword]

...maybe. It's... not as straightforward as I thought. Things here are just starting to remind me a lot more of home than I'd like.

[someday_a_queen]

And at your home technology causes people of a certain age to act as though they have lost their manners?

[teh_sword]

[That gets a slightly better smile.]

Y-yeah. Basically.

[someday_a_queen]

How odd. Is there a reason behind this?

[teh_sword]

Well... yeah. It's not a very nice reason, though.

[someday_a_queen]

Might I hear it anyway?

[teh_sword]

...y'sure you want to?

[someday_a_queen]

I would be most interested.

[teh_sword]

[A deep breath and quiet tone it is, then. This is not particularly Ren's favourite story, but he'll do his best.]

So... in the future I'm from, right? Technology gets really widespread. Literally everywhere. People carry it around with them, it's just about in every inch of our homes, it... it's comparatively cheap and easy to be constantly networked in to some piece of tech. And... around the time I left home, things had started to... well, mm. Things had started to get possessed. A lot. And then those things would possess people who were seventeen.

[someday_a_queen]

[And she's listening intently]

Was there something special about the age seventeen?

[teh_sword]

It's the... it's the entry into the age of temptation. When people fall most easily. It's true most places--I mean, that's what all the "my teenager's gone crazy" shows are about, just... it got real bad back home.

[someday_a_queen]

.....Teenagers?

Odd. Things must change a great deal in the future. Most people by my age are generally married with children. Hardly insanity material.

[teh_sword]

[Trip? No, he didn't trip. He just sort of... stumbled and went a little slack-jawed.]

R-really? People our age?