outer_divide | Video: Late Wednesday

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Video: Late Wednesday

[The video turns on to a very bedraggled, dusty Thero with a torn tunic and several nasty bruises, scowling and pressing buttons with an expression that makes it clear he might as well be poking a dead rat for all he approves of this little device. Eventually, he decides to accept that it's working. His expression lightens some, all the way to formality with an overlay of confusion.]

Third damn time... Ahem. This is L- This is Thero i Procepios. Most of you don't know me, but I've been given to understand this is an open-ended means of communication. As well as a monitored one, so I'll be brief. In the wake of the sky practically falling in the moment I... arrived and my lack of a stomach for battles, I've met very few of you, and I wouldn't blame anyone for distrusting me. However, when it comes to recovery, I may be able to make myself useful. I've been hesitant to explore even now that things seem to be quiet. I'm unfamiliar with this kind of combat and I suspect I'd only get in the way or get myself killed if things were to resurge, but if someone can direct me, I'm entirely willing to venture out again. I have some basic training as a healer, but I'd be best suited to removal of rubble or even assisting with reconstruction. And, frankly, if anything specific, especially anything odd, needs doing, there's every likelihood I could find a way to assist.

[Is that a good way to suggest magical help without outright saying it? He's never had to try that before. Close enough. For another minute he struggles with the device, scowling, until it finally shuts off.]

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[Here Thero, have a somewhat suspicious-looking, messy-haired teenager looking at you from the other end of the network.]

Hey. Uh. You tryin' to say what I think you're tryin' to say?

[He doesn't look like a mutant. But people don't, always. That Jean Gray sure don't look like a mutant, after all.]

[And he looks a bit young for a wizard, but it happens, and it's entirely possible he's simply an acolyte or an interested party, or, given the circumstances, entirely misunderstanding.]

I apparently should have practiced my encoded dissembling a bit more.

[As a rule, it helps to know exactly who you're trying to communicate with and be confident that they have some idea what you might be getting at.]

What do you think I'm trying to say? Because at this point I think I may have confused myself.

If I was gonna come out and say it, then what's the point of talkin' around it? If there's people monitorin' our every conversation on these things, and all.

[Todd looks less than impressed by the idea that he should spill the "secret", first, if anyone's going to be spilling. He's not the smartest kid there is, but he's not that dumb.]

[To Thero's credit, he's more frazzled than trying to get out of being the one who's first revealed.]

True. Fair, even. My mistake. I'm just at a bit of a loss for how to discuss... anything, when nondescript and incomprehensible enemies may be watching at any time.

[Which is, admittedly, a point, though Todd still thinks someone who's a mutant themselves would guess it. He scratches his head with another frown.]

Guess you do it in person? I dunno, I ain't been here long, and nobody's been goin' on 'bout what they can do on these things since I showed up. But people're sure bein' careful what they do say.

What I wouldn't give for spies who had to be present enough to listen or leave themselves open to magical detection at the very least, and had to pass messages back and forth the reasonable way. Seems luxurious, now.

In person would probably make more sense, assuming they don't have other ways to monitor the situation. Which is an assumption I'd rather not make...

Nobody else thinks they are, I guess, so that's somethin'.

[He eyes Thero in the video feed warily. Hey, he usually minds his own business, but he's curious, and it's getting kind of boring and lonely with nobody to talk to about anything important. So he adds, reluctantly,]

Guess I could go run into you somewhere, and we could talk. Or somethin'.

[Thero doesn't generally take common knowledge as truth, but he'll work with only minimal caution for the time being.]

That does seem like the practical way to go, though I'm not sure I know my way around to the extent that I could suggest a meeting place. I'm lingering about in... The Flop, I think is the local name?

Oh, hey, that's where I'm stayin' at, too.

[Mostly because it's free. And marginally in better shape than the Brotherhood manor. But still.]

Guess I can meetcha downstairs?

[If there's one advantage to this infernal device, it's that it mimics all the handiest aspects of the window-style messenger spell. At least there's no danger of not knowing who he's looking for. The young man is rather... distinctive.]

I'll head in that direction, yes.

[Apparently, some things can still be simple.]

Sure thing. See ya in a few.

[And off goes the phone, and off goes the Toad, hopping out of his little room and down the single staircase. He'd been "lucky" enough to wind up stuffed on the second floor, in one of the rooms that actually has roof on it. Reminds him of home.

Even so, he probably beats Thero there by a few seconds, at least, since he took the trip at a bound rather than a walk. So he's hanging out by the door when Thero shows up.]

[Considerably relieved by not having to deal with that awful little thing anymore, Thero heads up the stairs. He doesn't walk quickly, still worn out and a bit battered, so Toad has to wait a minute.]

Ah, there you are.

[Alright, maybe that stupid little device has some uses. No trouble recognizing the kid. Seeing him in person does confirm how young he seemed to be.]

So I suppose it'd be only fair that I demonstrate first?

[Trying to look unconcerned-- and mostly failing-- Todd says,]

Sure, go for it, bro.

[Even if he's watching sidelong with definite interest.]

[Thero's come prepared. He won't be demonstrating anything technically or visually spectacular, after all, and all he needs for a simple bit of spellwork is a knot of gathered power and some ideas. And this doesn't seem the time or place for showmanship, exactly, just a straightforward presentation of basic abilities.]

Right, then.

[He draws a little piece of scrap wood, slightly singed at one end, from his pocket. With a look of concentration, he guides the block into the shape of an otter--just for his own satisfaction, that--and then a ball, levitates it a few inches above his hand, whirls it through the air in a figure-eight pattern, makes it glow slightly, and immolates it with a sudden flash of blue flames. The entire display only lasts about half a minute and then ashes drift to the floor.]

Oof. I've been better prepared. Mental or intangible disciplines are much harder to show off, obviously, and almost no one likes having their mind touched, in any case.

Whoah!

[Giving up on all pretext of not being interested, Todd stares in something kind of like awe. That's just a little bit amazing, not gonna lie.]

That's some mutation, bro. You can do all that? For serious?

[His seems kind of lame, next to that... not that he'd ever admit it. But still.]

[Well, that answers that question.]

Mu- Well, no, we weren't talking about the same thing. I haven't even heard the word.

[Genetics are a long way off in Thero's world.]

I'm a wizard.

A whaaaat? Like, with wands and robes and crap?

[Yeah, the only exposure this kid's had to wizards is Disney's Sword in the Stone and maybe a little Harry Potter, though not much since he's never been a reader or anything. He looks skeptical.]

You sure that ain't jest some weird way of sayin' mutant?

Wands under specific circumstances, robes for some formal occasions...

[Still, that part's not too strange to hear from someone not used to wizards, say a Mycenian.]

And I still don't know what a mutant is. An Oreska wizard is a human with some Aurenfaie ancestry who manifests magic young and trains properly. There are other schools and sorts that I don't know anything much about.

Mutant. Next stage of evolution, or whatever. Comes down to really somebody with a power. Like this.

[Todd snaps his tongue out, catching a fly out of the air near the door. He tries to look proud of it-- usually he is, but next to all that stuff he feels decidedly "behind" in terms of coolness, right now.]

I can jump an' stick to walls, too. It's pretty cool stuff.

[More words he has no context for. Maybe just ignore that bit for now, come back later. He does seem to be close to making another ally, and that's worth playing along for a bit.]

Seems... practical.

[Considering the circles Thero runs in? This one would be a godsend. And while he could probably figure out some kind of spell to mimic the climbing and sticking, and probably the tongue, too, this is far more straighforward.]

There are compatriots of mine who'd be quite interested in the potential...

Yeah?

[Todd looks skeptical. Nobody really wants to hang with him, do they? Really? Everybody else thinks he's kind of a wimp, but hey, if somebody does want to, he's not about to say no. Well, not before finding out more, anyway.]

Who's that? And how come? Cuz I can climb things?

[Watcher business is a deep secret at home, but no one here seems to have heard of Skala or the Oreska, let alone have any interest in their proceedings. Besides, he doesn't have to elaborate too much to begin with, does he? Espionage seems to be a universal constant.]

No one here, or at least I've seen no evidence of any of them. But going over walls and in windows and chased by the armed and enraged seems to get them nearly killed about twice a month. On the occasion I had to loan Seregil my body, I certainly got it back battered and bruised.

[That's a weird story even for a wizard, but it does seem pertinent.]

Oh, uh. Well, that's kinda normal for the Brotherhood, too, with all the trouble we got from the goodie-goods and stuff.

[Which is even kind of true. They do tend to get themselves into a lot of scrapes. In all fairness, though, he adds:]

Ain't never been stuck in nobody's else's body, though. That's just weird, yo.

Yes, very, but he was in the tower for treason at the time, and we needed to operate without attracting suspicion or getting him in trouble we couldn't get him out of, as jailbreaks tend to do.

[Not the best solution to his mind, but it had worked, to whatever degree it had needed to.]

But, I should note, the thing about the Watchers is we are the... goody-goods. We just operate outside of official channels. A few burglaries and stolen documents in pursuit of the greater good.

Oh. Okay.

[Todd wasn't quite sure how to take that. He looked at Thero sidelong for a moment. Well, really, Mystique and Magneto had their own "greater good", didn't they? They just weren't all stupid about it, like the X-men. No, they were just mean about it, but at least they let him get away with having a little fun.]

So what's your "greater good", then?

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