lostnetwork | 001 . video . psa

[The video clicks on to reveal a small, slender, nervous-looking redhead. She has a frilly white blouse on covered with a leather bomber jacket, more stylish than functional, and she's fidgeting in her seat.

She takes a visible breath and says, somewhat stilted,] Hi. Willow. --That's me, Willow, my name, and. You should call me that. And you should email me?

Wait, sorry, I'm doing this in the wrong order. [She looks embarrassed, but then shakes her head and starts over, calmer now that she's getting into the rhythm.]

I'm Willow Rosenberg and I'm the official Darstone liaison to the newcomers. That means you, cause, if you're on this network, you're a newcomer-- a dimensional kidnap-ee. It's probably not government approved to say kidnap-ee, but that's okay because I work for them so I'm allowed to be especially disgruntled. Actually, even though I work for them, I'm in more or less the same position as you, I just got here earlier. When they needed someone for the job about a month ago I said yes.

Anyway... [Pause as she tries to recover her conversational thread.] Being the liaison means you should come to me if you have problems settling into the city, or if you need to talk to someone official and don't know how to reach them. I can get you in touch. I'm not responsible for deciding who gets to go home, so don't bug me about that or you'll make me cranky and mildly disapproving, and I don't like to be cranky.

But you really should email me if you need something. That's what I'm here for. I also do emergency response sometimes if something goes wrong with one of us, and trust me, I can handle it. So don't cause problems or you'll have to deal with me. [This is half bluffing and half honest confidence.] That means whoever sent those shadow things around during the festival, I better not see that happen again or I'm going to track you down, and there will be consequences.

[Her eyebrows go up in open evaluation.] Got it? Oh, and whoever's sending out the spying snakes, that's just creepy, but not illegal. So keep it not illegal or I'll sic the police chief on you, and she's scary.

... Any questions? About me or about what's going on? It's really mostly answered in the guide on your mirror, but I am answer girl if you have something else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Jumping from maths to something as unlogical as magic? Dear lady, you clearly deserve this frown.]

Magic? Fräulein, bitte. Magic is unpredictable and shouldn't be compared to actual sciences that follow laws and rules. If something like that is involved then naturally there can only be chaos.

Besides, Herr Schrödinger never suggested that experiment without a cat involved. There always is supposed to be a cat in that box. The actual question is rather if it's alive or dead. Admittedly, I haven't had the chance to talk to him since he left me as well as Austria, but I doubt he has changed his experiment set-up recently.

Excuse you, but who's the witch here? [she asks tartly.] It's me. I'm not too shabby at science either, though I guess my standards aren't up to perfect literalism.

[Oops, does she sound annoyed? She is. She just spoke to England, for one thing; for another, she's tired of having her points ignored in favor of semantics.]

But I know what I'm talking about with this, and magic does have laws. You just don't understand what they are.

It's not part of my culture, so i assume not.

[As is art. Which is why he understands neither of both. Rather he's a walking textbook about war, science and engineering.]

But what I came to witness of it was nothing but unorganized chaos. If there are actual rules to that, I'm inclined to read them.

[She settles down when he doesn't react to her needling, feeling slightly embarrassed that she can't get a handle on herself. Talking magic research is familiar, and she falls into it gratefully. This whole WW2 situation was making her all jumbled up.]

It's not exactly the thing in 21st century California either, but I had a musty book supplier. There are rules, and if you get musty books of your own from the city library, you can read them. Just don't try any spells without supervision, or you might burn the carpet. Or spontaneously combust, that one happens, too.

Edited 2012-09-03 03:32 (UTC)

[This nation's just as oblivious to her embarrassment as he is about how worked up she truly is. But he responds with a variety of because a lot of this is sort of confusing. Which merely adds to the fact that she's a woman, all together making this a difficult conversation, so Germany's best bet is to focus on facts and staying rational. That's what's expected of him, right?]

I'm not interested in trying anything of that sort, Fräulein Rosenberg. I just need to understand, if that's possible, which is what you say it is, given I find these... Musty books...

[Do they really have to be musty? That sounds unhygienic...

A cough. And he's glancing away from the screen for a moment, trying not to further think about the hygiene of a book. Or to simply avoid looking at her.]

That aside... It was not my intention to question your scientific knowledge earlier. You claim to be a witch, who, by definition at least, are still commonly human. And it's a human thing to miss details or deeming them unimportant after a while. I can't help but notice that. So if you'd rather have me to refrain from correcting you in the future, I shall do so.

That's fine. I'd just as soon you didn't. [She exhales, relieved she won't have to A, deal with a magic-using Nazi Germany, and B, be responsible for someone else getting involved in it. Willow had strongly mixed feelings about magic.] But there's plenty of spell theory that will at least give you some base to understand its limits.

I don't mind being corrected, I just-- semantics are annoying, okay? [Which is a total lie, Willow has always minded being corrected, but she has a hard time admitting that.] If what I got wrong is aside the point, it's better to just go along with the conversation. It's polite.

Hnn. I will look into it. Danke. [He nods. No. The last thing Germany will try is using the same little tricks as England does. He can do much more with his bare hands anyway. Especially damage. But understanding your enemy's weapons is part of understanding your enemy. And that's important.

And then there's this moment when he really just considers her words in silence. Germany isn't quite sure if this is better or worse than having a discussion with Austria...]

Very well. Even though I dislike having to lie to someone merely because it's polite. You humans seem to do it a lot, however, so I may at least try.

[Because nations lie for different reasons most of the time. More often than not to not appear polite even.]

[She can't really fault anyone for wanting to understand magic when it's such a major part of this world.] You're welcome, [she answers by rote.

But she wrinkles her nose at the other part, not enjoying being referenced as "you humans". She's heard that way too many times in her life.] It's not a lie, it's just like, letting something go because the other thing is more important to you. Picking your battles. Does that analogy work better?

[She might be surprised if she knew that he doesn't use the term human in a condescending way but actually values them highly and sometimes even envies them for their uncomplicated lives and simple achievements.]

It gets difficult if both things are equally important, however. [And he pauses, lookng a little uncomfortable actually.] I have to admit that I dislike this particular analogy.

[It just has bad associations for her. In the back of her mind it always has the happy meals with legs undercurrent, but she knows enough aliens now to realize that's not always justified.]

Pick whatever analogy you want, but you might want to be a little less blunt, [she says with a sigh.] Just, um, a helpful suggestion.

That's not exactly precise... But I may try.

[Protip: He will fail. Because being less blunt equals being flexible. And that's all but one of Germany's strong points. He needs strict rules and exact manuals to follow.]

I wish you a good day.

[And the connection gets cut off there.]

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