[He lets Leo inspect the array, wondering not for the first time if anyone here would be capable of learning alchemy the way he knows it. He doubts it - alchemy draws on aura, and he's not much of a teacher as it is - but it's still an idea.]
[And then Leo offers his opinion. Huvrye gives him a flat look and pulls on the edge of the circle, dispersing the array.]
Alchemy is less of a security nightmare.
[The internet may be capable of more overall, but alchemy is a lot less vulnerable when it comes to private conversations. (Which isn't exactly useful when nobody else can use it, but the point still stands as far as he's concerned.)]
There’s more to life than military efficiency, Huv.
[He rolls his eyes, just to complete the gesture, even though it doesn’t have any heat.]
What do people in your world do for fun? Read books? Cool alchemy sports? Mid-air jousting?
[Huvrye doesn’t talk that much about his home world, other than occasional references, especially to this Yin kid he’s heard about. So Leo is genuinely curious.
(And also starting to reach his limit of focus on the whole internet explainer thing. This is his bid for a break.)]
[Huvrye raises an eyebrow but says nothing. Leo's been through a lot, but he's still a civ and a kid; he's allowed to think like that.]
[(Leo still thinks he's talking to a person, after all, and not a weapon designed and built with military efficiency in mind, and Huvrye isn't planning on disillusioning him anytime soon. Or ever.)]
[Leo changes the subject, and Huvrye follows it. He's got enough to go on for now; he can do his own research when Leo's asleep tonight, or follow up with someone else if need be.]
Cool flying sports.
[The correction comes with the edges of a grin that settle into a smile.]
We have movies, though they look a lot different from the ones here and they're only in theaters - I think it's mostly just rich civs who have TVs. There's always books and the radio, though.
[He doesn't talk much about his world because it's a nightmare, and the more he talks about it, the clearer it'll be that he was never a civ and didn't have the sorts of experiences a normal person would have. Leo's not an idiot; Huvrye's pretty sure Leo can put the pieces together if he has enough of them, so he hasn't been providing many of them.]
Flying sports? Okay, you gotta tell me about that.
[Thankfully for Huvrye's cover, nothing he says that time tips Leo off to anything amiss. He's fully distracted by wondering what flying sports look like; is it like basketball in the air, or something else entirely?
Books and the radio are things he can imagine without Huvrye's help so he doesn't ask about them yet.]
[What follows is an explanation of several flight-based sports, provided by someone who gets the idea of all of them but isn't really into the details. It's clear he knows them, in the way a human from Earth might know baseball or basketball or soccer, but he doesn't really play.]
I'd offer to show you, but I don't think we could find the right space around here, and also you don't fly.
[Leo listens with interest - even if Huvrye doesn't have much first hand experience, it's still fun for him to hear about them. Leo likes sports, after all.
He smirks at the end.]
Hey you don't know, maybe I've been holding out on you.
[He hasn't, but he says it anyway.]
Was that Yin guy you've mentioned into sports?
[It's a little bit of a non sequitur, but Leo is interested, since he's pretty sure they're around the same age. And Huvrye doesn't talk about home a lot, and he's nosy.]
Oh, I'm pretty sure you would've shown it off by now if you could.
[It's easy ribbing, delivered with a grin, though it fades a bit with the followup question. It's not that he hasn't thought about Yin - he misses the kid like a hole in his heart - but he definitely hasn't talked about him as much. How does he explain that he'd known Yin for two years but only really known him for two days? How does he describe that dizzying depth of connection? How does he talk about anything specific without explaining what a construct is? What is world is like? How much he's responsible for, in the greater scheme of things?]
[He doesn't know, so he's mostly avoided it. There are a handful of people here who know bits and pieces, but Leo sure doesn't. He'd mentioned Yin in passing, as a friend and a good kid, but not much else.]
[And now here Leo is, putting him on the spot. He can try, at least.]
[Leo does catch how Huvrye’s mood shifts at the question. Maybe this isn’t something he should be poking around in. He can’t guess at much with so few details, but with how little Huvrye talks about his life before this place, he knows a lot is being hidden from him.
Not maliciously, at least Leo doesn’t think so. He hasn’t sensed any ill intent from Huvrye, and if he truly wanted to hurt him he was playing a really long con - he’d had a million chances now that Leo felt safe enough to share a roof with him, doubly so now that he knew the kind of fears that haunted his dreams at night.
But there are other reasons to hide things. Leo hasn’t brought up the fight with the Shredder and who knows when he will, because talking about the Shredder means talking about Gram-Gram. Maybe it’s similar.
Though he said “is,” so that’s a good sign.]
Oh yeah? [Leo keeps his tone light despite it all.] Guess you probably had different books than we do here.
[He sees the out, but doesn't quite take it; not entirely, at least. Leo doesn't know, and he doesn't want to just shut him down. There's something to be said for trust going both ways, even if most of Huvrye's life is still a closely-guarded secret.]
Yeah. Frankenstein sure didn't exist in Lasardhi.
[Sympathy for a manmade being? It never would've been published; it probably wouldn't have even been written.]
I know you're not really a book guy, but if you come across one called The Day the Stars Roared, can you let me know?
[The Day the Stars Roared. He isn't a book guy at all, but he commits it to memory anyway. It's something important to someone important, that's all Leo needs to know to remember it.
Saying that is sappy, though, so he just shrugs.]
Sure, if I'm forced to go into a library anytime soon I'll keep an eye out. Is that your favorite book or something?
Yeah, I finished it the other day. Mark told me I should read it, and he was right - it's really good.
[He can't go into the details - why Mark assigned him that particular homework, or why it'd resonated with him - so the conversation needs to stay surface level.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Okay, that’s cool, and something we didn’t have [Well maybe Yokai do, but Leo doesn’t know.], but radios are pretty old-school for my world.
[Leo isn’t even sure he’s ever seen one. Maybe a walkie talkie at best.]
Sounds kinda lame. No offense. [He adds that quickly.] I’m just glad I was born when the internet was already invented back home.
no subject
[And then Leo offers his opinion. Huvrye gives him a flat look and pulls on the edge of the circle, dispersing the array.]
Alchemy is less of a security nightmare.
[The internet may be capable of more overall, but alchemy is a lot less vulnerable when it comes to private conversations. (Which isn't exactly useful when nobody else can use it, but the point still stands as far as he's concerned.)]
no subject
[He rolls his eyes, just to complete the gesture, even though it doesn’t have any heat.]
What do people in your world do for fun? Read books? Cool alchemy sports? Mid-air jousting?
[Huvrye doesn’t talk that much about his home world, other than occasional references, especially to this Yin kid he’s heard about. So Leo is genuinely curious.
(And also starting to reach his limit of focus on the whole internet explainer thing. This is his bid for a break.)]
no subject
[(Leo still thinks he's talking to a person, after all, and not a weapon designed and built with military efficiency in mind, and Huvrye isn't planning on disillusioning him anytime soon. Or ever.)]
[Leo changes the subject, and Huvrye follows it. He's got enough to go on for now; he can do his own research when Leo's asleep tonight, or follow up with someone else if need be.]
Cool flying sports.
[The correction comes with the edges of a grin that settle into a smile.]
We have movies, though they look a lot different from the ones here and they're only in theaters - I think it's mostly just rich civs who have TVs. There's always books and the radio, though.
[He doesn't talk much about his world because it's a nightmare, and the more he talks about it, the clearer it'll be that he was never a civ and didn't have the sorts of experiences a normal person would have. Leo's not an idiot; Huvrye's pretty sure Leo can put the pieces together if he has enough of them, so he hasn't been providing many of them.]
no subject
[Thankfully for Huvrye's cover, nothing he says that time tips Leo off to anything amiss. He's fully distracted by wondering what flying sports look like; is it like basketball in the air, or something else entirely?
Books and the radio are things he can imagine without Huvrye's help so he doesn't ask about them yet.]
brb punting
[What follows is an explanation of several flight-based sports, provided by someone who gets the idea of all of them but isn't really into the details. It's clear he knows them, in the way a human from Earth might know baseball or basketball or soccer, but he doesn't really play.]
I'd offer to show you, but I don't think we could find the right space around here, and also you don't fly.
fitting sports terminology
He smirks at the end.]
Hey you don't know, maybe I've been holding out on you.
[He hasn't, but he says it anyway.]
Was that Yin guy you've mentioned into sports?
[It's a little bit of a non sequitur, but Leo is interested, since he's pretty sure they're around the same age. And Huvrye doesn't talk about home a lot, and he's nosy.]
...I didn't even think about that
[It's easy ribbing, delivered with a grin, though it fades a bit with the followup question. It's not that he hasn't thought about Yin - he misses the kid like a hole in his heart - but he definitely hasn't talked about him as much. How does he explain that he'd known Yin for two years but only really known him for two days? How does he describe that dizzying depth of connection? How does he talk about anything specific without explaining what a construct is? What is world is like? How much he's responsible for, in the greater scheme of things?]
[He doesn't know, so he's mostly avoided it. There are a handful of people here who know bits and pieces, but Leo sure doesn't. He'd mentioned Yin in passing, as a friend and a good kid, but not much else.]
[And now here Leo is, putting him on the spot. He can try, at least.]
I don't think so - he's more of a bookworm.
no subject
Not maliciously, at least Leo doesn’t think so. He hasn’t sensed any ill intent from Huvrye, and if he truly wanted to hurt him he was playing a really long con - he’d had a million chances now that Leo felt safe enough to share a roof with him, doubly so now that he knew the kind of fears that haunted his dreams at night.
But there are other reasons to hide things. Leo hasn’t brought up the fight with the Shredder and who knows when he will, because talking about the Shredder means talking about Gram-Gram. Maybe it’s similar.
Though he said “is,” so that’s a good sign.]
Oh yeah? [Leo keeps his tone light despite it all.] Guess you probably had different books than we do here.
[It’s an out if he wants it.]
no subject
Yeah. Frankenstein sure didn't exist in Lasardhi.
[Sympathy for a manmade being? It never would've been published; it probably wouldn't have even been written.]
I know you're not really a book guy, but if you come across one called The Day the Stars Roared, can you let me know?
no subject
Saying that is sappy, though, so he just shrugs.]
Sure, if I'm forced to go into a library anytime soon I'll keep an eye out. Is that your favorite book or something?
no subject
[Why yes, Huvrye will call every single one of Leo's bluffs, as he makes them, in real time.]
[He softens a bit and shakes his head.]
Not mine - Yin's. I never got a chance to read it.
no subject
[Does he look like a nerd? Please!
Though he softens, too, at the explanation.]
Ah. Gotcha. Yeah, I’ll watch out for it - it’d be cool if you could read it too.
no subject
[He's not above the redirect, or being a smartass.]
no subject
Fiiiiine, I’ll go in the library just for you. But only once! Any more than that and I’ll get infected by some terrible nerd virus.
no subject
[He can lay off on the sass - Leo is agreeing to help him, after all.]
Thanks, though.
no subject
Yeah, no problem.
[Leo settles back, turning the conversation over in his head.]
You've been really into Frankenstein though, huh?
[Leo's never read it, unsurprisingly. He mostly knows about it through references in other things.]
no subject
[He can't go into the details - why Mark assigned him that particular homework, or why it'd resonated with him - so the conversation needs to stay surface level.]
no subject
[For Leo, reading anything written before color television is nearly impossible.]
no subject
no subject
[He reads a lot (of comics), maybe he can do it!]
no subject
[He's absolutely heard a thing or two about Jupiter Jim by this point, even though that doesn't seem to exist in this dimension.]
no subject
[There's several even in this world, he's guessing.]
Or we could find a different movie and watch it together!
no subject
no subject
Man, why is it so important to everybody that I read?
[He means his teachers, too.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)