[it looks like prompto is about to say something towards the end of the poem, but all that comes from him is a slightly-opened mouth, ready to breathe out words that never come.]
[yeah, he's got nothing on this fucking poem.]
This is just like in school. I'm not good at abstract stuff.
[maths and poems and the like. give him an actual hands-on project and analyzing purely the superficial, and he's pretty much set to succeed. anything else goes past him like it holds no weight.]
It has a nice rhythm to it! You obviously like the stuff a lot.
[leaning back on the chair, the umbrella falls back on the floor and prompto startles—having forgotten it, and decides to leave it where it is, instead, keeping arms crossed.]
[back to v now.] Must have taken you a while to learn it.
It's straightforward enough, Prompto. [It isn't so much criticism, not really. V isn't so arrogant that he would deride someone who shows a sincere interest in a recited poem. Instead, he eases into explanation.] The meaning is in the title, "Infant Joy". The joy of a new life coming into being, and how the outside world might also impress joy upon it.
[There's a subtle sort of enthusiasm that V exudes when he speaks about poetry, hard to pin down. The way his mouth upticks into a different kind of smile, or a different kind of light behind his eyes. Yet V is still all casual demeanor when he leans back in his chair again, though his hand still grips idly at his cane.]
I told you I've been a fan for a while. When I was... younger, I used to read often. Especially poetry.
[It's technically true, at least, if one stretches the truth just a little. But Prompto doesn't have to know that.]
[he's definitely the type of person who, despite being so earnest, doesn't get to see it clearly until someone else spells it out for him. at least he's smart in other subjects.]
Hate to break it to you, but there aren't any books here. There's, uh, [looking through his pocket, he finds some pins—QR codes etched over the cheap metal.] an online archive. [he's reaching over so he can give v the pins] Don't know if it works on your implant yet, but if you take a picture of those codes and scan them, you get like — a 10-day free access to online books you'd have to buy otherwise.
[This far into the future, long past the threshold of stepping into a digital age, the fact that there are no physical books to be found isn't surprising to V. During his time at the station, he noticed a dearth of paperwork passing hands (even if he was not in a position to be dealing with paperwork, he was certain he would've spotted at least one stray document in passing), and there was none to be seen in the safehouse, either.
It was an inevitability even in his own time. But to be living it, with the wide scope of the internet basically existing in his head now, is almost surreal.
It threatens to make him frown; that is, until Prompto fishes out some messily etched pins from his pocket, and V nearly tilts his head, holding out his free hand in a bid to look at a one or two of them.
(What a person eager to help, he thinks. Overly friendly, even to a stranger who had caused more trouble than good.)]
Let me take a look, then?
[He can try to access wherever the QR code leads him, if it'll work with no registered ID. He needs to practice using this invasive thing in his head.]
Not that it'll ever replace the feel of a book in my hands. What a dreary future this is.
[he easily relinquishes them into the ownership of the other.]
If I find more I'll make sure to drop them off with you. They're not that difficult to come by. And, well, the future's not so bad. It's missing a few things, but I'm really into all this tech stuff.
[that being said,] You're still learning to use the implant, right? It'll become second nature soon enough, but lemme know if you have any questions.
[It takes a second or two before he opens up the interface to scan the QR code lying flat in his palm. His implant processes it nigh immediately, but then flickers with an error: ID not found. Please try again.
It’s the same result when he tries the one that lies next to it. Apparently a subscription service, free or otherwise, still requires an account to tie it to — and in consequence, a working ID.
He shakes his head, offering them back.]
Thus far, not being in the system seems to cause more problems than not. But I think once I’m assigned a name, I’ll adapt. And be able to browse an online library more freely.
[He’s always been clever, quick to learn. The tech is advanced, but the user interfaces shouldn’t be too hard to unravel in time.]
[he's crossing his arms, so enjoy keeping shit in your pockets.]
[prompto even raises an eyebrow at the other.]
Yeah, you'll have to come up with a name other than just V. There's a minimum character requirement and all. [a shrug] You'll have a library for years, so at least that's something to look forward to if you're into reading.
As for me, that's three months already. Time feels like it's dragging here.
[V lifts a brow, because he sees it as just that — keeping useless junk in his pockets until his ID is activated, and he assumes that’ll be a few days yet before that happens.
But he relents, curling his fingers inwards to keep the tidbits close, then shifting a little to place them in a pants pocket.]
I’ll think of something clever. [With regards to his name. You know. “Vee” is probably clever, right.] Three months is a long time. Far longer than I feel comfortable staying in this world.
[He had heard tell that time might not move similarly here as compared to home, but without any certainty to this theory, he can’t quite feel at peace with the idea. Obligations hang over his head, the same ones which led him to strike a deal with Riko in the station.]
[can't wait to see what clever shit you come up with, it better be good.]
That's right. You mentioned how you — had to get back.
[everyone has to get back to their own worlds, continue on with whatever it is they were doing; it all mostly falls under the realm of urgent or exceedingly important. prompto understands, having been plucked away halfway through something that had yet to reach a conclusion.]
[not to mention the prophecy ardyn had mentioned...]
Some people have left. Dunno how, they just disappear from one day to the next. We don't know if they actually return to their homes, but... Hopefully you'll get lucky.
I do have to get back. Despite the amount of time I can feasible stay here now, I left something behind unfinished. Incomplete. [A vague statement, but nonetheless true. Somehow, by some impossible means, V's body has halted its degradation, no longer feeling as if it's crawling towards an inevitably slow dissolve. But that didn’t mean that he should enjoy it — it was but a constant reminder of how he had been torn from his own reality and transplanted into this one.]
How close have we come to figuring out why we’ve been brought to this place?
[this is the part where prompto shifts uncomfortably in his chair and looks apologetic, fidgeting away with his hair and pushing back at blond spikes behind his head.]
I don't think we've made a lot of progress in that front. There's a lot that we don't know about yet, and there's a lot of variables, so...
Doesn't help that many of us don't even come from the same planet or universe. Or that the people who come from Earth aren't even from this Earth, or the same Earth as others. A lot doesn't line up.
[ultimately, he shrugs]
Some others are a bit more well-versed in this than I am. Maybe they'll be able to give you a better answer than what I can say for sure.
[Suddenly he’s glad for the deal he made with the detective — if they’re this clueless as a group, even with a cavalcade of personalities and skills originating from various worlds, then they will need all the resources that they can squeeze dry.
Police included.
But that’s a thought for later, he assumes, with nothing to be done about it now. Let it be one more passive stressor in a whole list of them.]
My priority will be adjusting to what this world has to offer, after all. As I understand it, making a temporary life here is unavoidable.
[back to arms crossed in front of him, prompto hums in thought.]
Once you're out of the safehouse you've got to fend for yourself. Get a job, or just find something to do to blend in and appear like a normal citizen of New Amsterdam. Some people get apartments and others have stayed in the safehouse instead, it's all up to personal preference.
It's not hard to get on by, though. Morningstar helps with the initial hurdle a lot.
[glancing up at v, he considers the man for a moment.]
When setting up your ID, El asks about your interests to try and help you land a job so you can go about it as you like. Maybe that's something you could think about in the meantime.
[A job. How utterly mundane and very much human; he supposes it would be fitting for him to try to fill that role now, given both this body and his new circumstances. But for all of his memories, his years of existence if taking that other self of his into account, V has a feeling he'll still be a bit at a disadvantage.
Never has he really lived as a "normal" human before. He knows the irony in that, but keeps these thoughts to himself.]
It's difficult to imagine how my interests might apply to a job in this sci-fi future. [Because it really does seem like they're living in the pages of a sci-fi narrative, something dystopian and raw.] Manual labor isn't much my forte. Is there much of a call for the arts still, in this day and age?
[he starts, sitting up and leaning forward, pulling up a bunch of tabs on his own neural implant to look through the different arts related careers.]
I do photography a lot, and I'm popular enough that I cover a couple of small music events and the like. My friend Markus [whom you will never meet] is an artist, and he's into painting and works at an art gallery. Music and arts in general are a big thing in the city.
[he wishes he could share these tabs, but without v having an actual id, he can't send anything at all.]
Dunno about — literature stuff, in specific. Not sure what to even look for. Do you have any ideas? I could look it up.
[No, he has no bloody idea. V exhales through his nose, then leans back to place his cane across his lap as he crosses a leg. Again he's at a disadvantage, never having to give thought to what his preferred daily grind might be.]
Libraries, I assume, have no use. If the whole world has gone the path of digital.
[Is it all floating around the internet? Is there a curator, born of some necessity that he can't even fathom, being centuries behind the times?]
Writing. Or potentially music. You said your focus is on music photography, right? What sort of events are they?
[Are we talking orchestra hall or rock and roll concert.]
Not— music photography. It's just events I like to go to. [he glances down at his hands for a moment] They're just DJs or bands, usually on the electronica scope. People are a lot into the synthesized music now. I've been trying to get into the other genres but it's been a lot harder in comparison.
[V's look is a steady one, even if he might be math lady meme on the inside.]
Voice work and voice overs?
[He doesn't know how reading poems aloud might constitute as a job. However, idea of narration isn't a bad one, not if he's to truly believe the compliment that was slung his way just minutes prior.]
Yeah, but there's gotta be a market for it. Right? People don't read as much anymore even if there's archives of books and documents online and all over. What better way to read but to listen to things?
[he thinks he's on to something!]
Since you probably wouldn't be able to do a lot of the other stuff... What do you think?
[He makes a vague gesture with his hand at Prompto.]
I think one idea is better than none. So I'm minutely better off than before.
[In other words, he'll think about it.]
Not that I can do anything until I'm- [He picks up his cane and uses it to indicate the whole of the safehouse.] -free of my prison. What a blessed day that should be, able to lose myself in the veins of New Amsterdam. I look forward to it.
[With anxious trepidation and curiosity alike. He sort of looks forward to it.]
I'm feeling much better than before. A day's rest is good for this body of mine, since it's so easily worn down.
[He's also less harried by confusion, which means V's mind is of slightly better ease. That makes all the difference, too.]
A tour guide? Right, I'll look to Prompto Argentum, citywide expert. [Is he a citywide expert? It's a joke, because V sure as heck doesn't know.] I do have a question about our supposed powers, though.
[prompto snorts at the joke, not because he knows it's a joke, but because it seems About Right. that, and, it feels a bit like a compliment.]
Good to hear you're doing okay, dude. Getting sedated and moved around like that on top of the usual poison must have been rough. But, yeah, shoot. [about the powers] That's a new one for all of us.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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But for now, the rest is as easily quoted as the first half.]
‘Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old,
Sweet joy I call thee;
Thou dost smile.
I sing the while
Sweet joy befall thee.’
[The last line stressed and slowed, indicating its end. Only then does Prompto get any kind of thanks for the wayward compliment.]
…I appreciate the compliment.
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[yeah, he's got nothing on this fucking poem.]
This is just like in school. I'm not good at abstract stuff.
[maths and poems and the like. give him an actual hands-on project and analyzing purely the superficial, and he's pretty much set to succeed. anything else goes past him like it holds no weight.]
It has a nice rhythm to it! You obviously like the stuff a lot.
[leaning back on the chair, the umbrella falls back on the floor and prompto startles—having forgotten it, and decides to leave it where it is, instead, keeping arms crossed.]
[back to v now.] Must have taken you a while to learn it.
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[There's a subtle sort of enthusiasm that V exudes when he speaks about poetry, hard to pin down. The way his mouth upticks into a different kind of smile, or a different kind of light behind his eyes. Yet V is still all casual demeanor when he leans back in his chair again, though his hand still grips idly at his cane.]
I told you I've been a fan for a while. When I was... younger, I used to read often. Especially poetry.
[It's technically true, at least, if one stretches the truth just a little. But Prompto doesn't have to know that.]
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[his expression perks up just like that.]
That makes a lot of sense now!
[he's definitely the type of person who, despite being so earnest, doesn't get to see it clearly until someone else spells it out for him. at least he's smart in other subjects.]
Hate to break it to you, but there aren't any books here. There's, uh, [looking through his pocket, he finds some pins—QR codes etched over the cheap metal.] an online archive. [he's reaching over so he can give v the pins] Don't know if it works on your implant yet, but if you take a picture of those codes and scan them, you get like — a 10-day free access to online books you'd have to buy otherwise.
[he's resourceful like that]
Maybe there's some poetry in there.
[here's a friendly smile]
no subject
It was an inevitability even in his own time. But to be living it, with the wide scope of the internet basically existing in his head now, is almost surreal.
It threatens to make him frown; that is, until Prompto fishes out some messily etched pins from his pocket, and V nearly tilts his head, holding out his free hand in a bid to look at a one or two of them.
(What a person eager to help, he thinks. Overly friendly, even to a stranger who had caused more trouble than good.)]
Let me take a look, then?
[He can try to access wherever the QR code leads him, if it'll work with no registered ID. He needs to practice using this invasive thing in his head.]
Not that it'll ever replace the feel of a book in my hands. What a dreary future this is.
no subject
[he easily relinquishes them into the ownership of the other.]
If I find more I'll make sure to drop them off with you. They're not that difficult to come by. And, well, the future's not so bad. It's missing a few things, but I'm really into all this tech stuff.
[that being said,] You're still learning to use the implant, right? It'll become second nature soon enough, but lemme know if you have any questions.
no subject
It’s the same result when he tries the one that lies next to it. Apparently a subscription service, free or otherwise, still requires an account to tie it to — and in consequence, a working ID.
He shakes his head, offering them back.]
Thus far, not being in the system seems to cause more problems than not. But I think once I’m assigned a name, I’ll adapt. And be able to browse an online library more freely.
[He’s always been clever, quick to learn. The tech is advanced, but the user interfaces shouldn’t be too hard to unravel in time.]
You’ve been in this world very long, then?
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[he's crossing his arms, so enjoy keeping shit in your pockets.]
[prompto even raises an eyebrow at the other.]
Yeah, you'll have to come up with a name other than just V. There's a minimum character requirement and all. [a shrug] You'll have a library for years, so at least that's something to look forward to if you're into reading.
As for me, that's three months already. Time feels like it's dragging here.
no subject
But he relents, curling his fingers inwards to keep the tidbits close, then shifting a little to place them in a pants pocket.]
I’ll think of something clever. [With regards to his name. You know. “Vee” is probably clever, right.] Three months is a long time. Far longer than I feel comfortable staying in this world.
[He had heard tell that time might not move similarly here as compared to home, but without any certainty to this theory, he can’t quite feel at peace with the idea. Obligations hang over his head, the same ones which led him to strike a deal with Riko in the station.]
no subject
That's right. You mentioned how you — had to get back.
[everyone has to get back to their own worlds, continue on with whatever it is they were doing; it all mostly falls under the realm of urgent or exceedingly important. prompto understands, having been plucked away halfway through something that had yet to reach a conclusion.]
[not to mention the prophecy ardyn had mentioned...]
Some people have left. Dunno how, they just disappear from one day to the next. We don't know if they actually return to their homes, but... Hopefully you'll get lucky.
no subject
How close have we come to figuring out why we’ve been brought to this place?
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I don't think we've made a lot of progress in that front. There's a lot that we don't know about yet, and there's a lot of variables, so...
Doesn't help that many of us don't even come from the same planet or universe. Or that the people who come from Earth aren't even from this Earth, or the same Earth as others. A lot doesn't line up.
[ultimately, he shrugs]
Some others are a bit more well-versed in this than I am. Maybe they'll be able to give you a better answer than what I can say for sure.
no subject
[Suddenly he’s glad for the deal he made with the detective — if they’re this clueless as a group, even with a cavalcade of personalities and skills originating from various worlds, then they will need all the resources that they can squeeze dry.
Police included.
But that’s a thought for later, he assumes, with nothing to be done about it now. Let it be one more passive stressor in a whole list of them.]
My priority will be adjusting to what this world has to offer, after all. As I understand it, making a temporary life here is unavoidable.
no subject
[back to arms crossed in front of him, prompto hums in thought.]
Once you're out of the safehouse you've got to fend for yourself. Get a job, or just find something to do to blend in and appear like a normal citizen of New Amsterdam. Some people get apartments and others have stayed in the safehouse instead, it's all up to personal preference.
It's not hard to get on by, though. Morningstar helps with the initial hurdle a lot.
[glancing up at v, he considers the man for a moment.]
When setting up your ID, El asks about your interests to try and help you land a job so you can go about it as you like. Maybe that's something you could think about in the meantime.
no subject
Never has he really lived as a "normal" human before. He knows the irony in that, but keeps these thoughts to himself.]
It's difficult to imagine how my interests might apply to a job in this sci-fi future. [Because it really does seem like they're living in the pages of a sci-fi narrative, something dystopian and raw.] Manual labor isn't much my forte. Is there much of a call for the arts still, in this day and age?
no subject
[he starts, sitting up and leaning forward, pulling up a bunch of tabs on his own neural implant to look through the different arts related careers.]
I do photography a lot, and I'm popular enough that I cover a couple of small music events and the like. My friend Markus [whom you will never meet] is an artist, and he's into painting and works at an art gallery. Music and arts in general are a big thing in the city.
[he wishes he could share these tabs, but without v having an actual id, he can't send anything at all.]
Dunno about — literature stuff, in specific. Not sure what to even look for. Do you have any ideas? I could look it up.
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Libraries, I assume, have no use. If the whole world has gone the path of digital.
[Is it all floating around the internet? Is there a curator, born of some necessity that he can't even fathom, being centuries behind the times?]
Writing. Or potentially music. You said your focus is on music photography, right? What sort of events are they?
[Are we talking orchestra hall or rock and roll concert.]
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[he's still searching,] Music and writing... Uh.
[suddenly prompto looks up]
Why don't you narrate things? Or read poems?
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Voice work and voice overs?
[He doesn't know how reading poems aloud might constitute as a job. However, idea of narration isn't a bad one, not if he's to truly believe the compliment that was slung his way just minutes prior.]
That seems... niche.
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Yeah, but there's gotta be a market for it. Right? People don't read as much anymore even if there's archives of books and documents online and all over. What better way to read but to listen to things?
[he thinks he's on to something!]
Since you probably wouldn't be able to do a lot of the other stuff... What do you think?
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I think one idea is better than none. So I'm minutely better off than before.
[In other words, he'll think about it.]
Not that I can do anything until I'm- [He picks up his cane and uses it to indicate the whole of the safehouse.] -free of my prison. What a blessed day that should be, able to lose myself in the veins of New Amsterdam. I look forward to it.
[With anxious trepidation and curiosity alike. He sort of looks forward to it.]
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[this he indicates with a smile, excited at the prospect (simply because halloween is the best).]
And, well, if you got any questions or need a tour guide— [here he points at himself] you know who to look for.
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[He's also less harried by confusion, which means V's mind is of slightly better ease. That makes all the difference, too.]
A tour guide? Right, I'll look to Prompto Argentum, citywide expert. [Is he a citywide expert? It's a joke, because V sure as heck doesn't know.] I do have a question about our supposed powers, though.
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Good to hear you're doing okay, dude. Getting sedated and moved around like that on top of the usual poison must have been rough. But, yeah, shoot. [about the powers] That's a new one for all of us.
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I hear it's accompanied by a glow in our chests. Is that true?
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