[Monts nods; she can do that. Weir is lucky she's teaching him with patience because she has two grandparents and everyone knows that one of life's biggest challenges is teaching the elderly how to use their phone.
He should pick up faster than them.]
Okay so let's just get to it starting with video. Think about all the buttons you're pushing as symbols. A lot of them are common across technology from my world and...
[She spends the next hour explaining, demonstrating, and stepping back for Weir to experiment with the video function. Monts also helpfully shows Weir where to delete their practice footage because in her own words, "Make it easy for yourself to look through what you've made. Everything is dated but it starts to get unwieldy when you have too much."]
[He does learn quickly. Weir might have the disadvantage of being a Ye Olde, but he's adaptive, and quick-witted, and intelligent. Something to make up for his terrible people skills. He was the one who taught himself, mostly, how to read -- memorizing all of his letters in his younger days. Just like he was the one who taught himself how to pluck out a melody on a string instrument's hollow body.
He can adapt to this device, to the technologies rife in this city. He just needs time.
And a little bit of instruction now and again. That's what Monts is for.
They manage to get through more than a few demonstrations, to the point where Weir is currently sorting through some very badly-taken selfies. Yeah, he's gonna delete these.]
These are terrible.
[Flatly. At least his criticism doesn't apply just to other people.]
[Monts is deleting pictures off of her own phone while Weir assesses his.]
Well, you don't need to be a photographer with your phone to get by at least. Just remember that it can automatically focus as long as your hands are still.
Things that are worth keeping and recording. Should I have known about this feature before now, I would have taken a "photo" of the map I found earlier, plastered up in City Hall. Instead of needing to...
[Take the phamplet and lose it in a whirlwind inside the bouncy house.]
[Ah, yes the bounce house tragedy. Monts, for once, will not twist that (plastic) knife.]
Then I guess I could give you some tips and tricks to ensure your photos are clear and crisp. You've been doing a decent job at figuring things out as you go.
[There are parts of Weir that remind her of someone else. That someone also had a survivalist mentality, suspicious of the unknown, and ready to fight for his life.]
What was your job back home if you don't mind me asking?
[His lips twist at the assessment. Not because she's wrong, but because it almost sounds like a laughable understatement.]
That name is mine. Weir Dredger, a surname granted to me, destined as I was to plumb the treacherous depths beneath my town. And that's precisely what I did.
Whoa. [Monts is sincerely listening with interest. She pauses so that the espresso beans can be ground up, otherwise, her voice would be drowned out.]
Is it one of those jobs that you did because it's kind of something no one else would do willingly? Cause usually, that's what dangerous jobs tend to fall under.
It was a job for those with nothing to their name to lose if they perished in the depths. For those who do not mind being seen as disposable, it is dangerous work, but there is always work available.
[And a Dredger that managed to survive? Multiple times over? They were taken care of... to an extent. Fed, clothed, provided basic amenities for. Found camaraderie in the company of others who faced the darkness below their world, even if Weir could still only ever feel such things... distantly.]
[Hot water is set to boil in the electric kettle. She pushes the button down and leaves it alone while absorbing his words.]
What kind of things did you encounter when you went below? Was it just monsters or were there other type of dangers?
[Maxim, when he was feeling chatty, told Monts about the monsters he and his traveling party would hunt out in the cold. Those who hunted needed to be strong to deal with the long winter in the first place. If you couldn't deal with the cold winter, you were never going to survive the beasts.
For Monts who has lived humbly, but securely with her grandparents in sunny California, it gives her perspective of how blessed she's been even in the wake of her own tragedy.]
[And if you couldn't survive the environment in the Pit, you could not survive the monsters. The concept is much the same.]
The environment itself was a danger. One wrong misstep, and you could go tumbling down an incline, break your neck on the way down.
[Obviously, it's nothing short of physically demanding work.]
And there are poisonous stretches that go on for miles. "Lakes" of gasses that would kill a man upon inhaling too much. That is where the name "Dredging" comes from.
[Very, considering Dredgers no longer exist. Literally wished out of existence due to the Heart pulsing its influence out in one grand show of world-changing power.]
Though I have no doubt a Dredger would ever turn down a free drink. [Even Weir and his cup of coffee are encapsulated in this one statement.] A year ago is when you met your witch employer?
We get all sorts Weir. People from our side of the grass, adventurers wearing all sorts of whacky equipment, even some creatures that aren't humans, bears...
[the bears again...]
And yeah. I was in a tight spot when I met Iona. She found out about my... Whatever it is. [She makes a dismissive gesture with her hand.]
She didn't want to leave me hanging so she hired me on as a new barista and I've been slowly learning about our own world and bits of others.
[The water finishes boiling but she lets it sit while the bubbles subside.]
It's been fun and it's great not being the strangest person in the room.
[... For the most part. People may not know what she is but most of them haven't treated her poorly. And if they do, Iona and Oren put a stop to it before any escalation can happen save for Maxim that escalated quickly but it got better!!]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
He should pick up faster than them.]
Okay so let's just get to it starting with video. Think about all the buttons you're pushing as symbols. A lot of them are common across technology from my world and...
[She spends the next hour explaining, demonstrating, and stepping back for Weir to experiment with the video function. Monts also helpfully shows Weir where to delete their practice footage because in her own words, "Make it easy for yourself to look through what you've made. Everything is dated but it starts to get unwieldy when you have too much."]
no subject
He can adapt to this device, to the technologies rife in this city. He just needs time.
And a little bit of instruction now and again. That's what Monts is for.
They manage to get through more than a few demonstrations, to the point where Weir is currently sorting through some very badly-taken selfies. Yeah, he's gonna delete these.]
These are terrible.
[Flatly. At least his criticism doesn't apply just to other people.]
no subject
Well, you don't need to be a photographer with your phone to get by at least. Just remember that it can automatically focus as long as your hands are still.
no subject
I see no reason to be abusing this feature, besides.
[He means the forward-facing camera.]
I only wish to observe and record.
no subject
[She could explain it's about vanity but at this point, she knows what kind of remark that would get her.]
What are you going to take pictures of if you don't mind me asking?
no subject
Things that are worth keeping and recording. Should I have known about this feature before now, I would have taken a "photo" of the map I found earlier, plastered up in City Hall. Instead of needing to...
[Take the phamplet and lose it in a whirlwind inside the bouncy house.]
Find another.
no subject
Then I guess I could give you some tips and tricks to ensure your photos are clear and crisp. You've been doing a decent job at figuring things out as you go.
no subject
[He says as he turns on the forward-facing camera again, holding it away and frowning at it.]
I had to be.
no subject
What was your job back home if you don't mind me asking?
no subject
I'm a huntsman for my village.
[The rest, after a half-moment pause, still looking at his phone screen.]
And though I doubt the label will mean anything to you, I used to be a Dredger.
no subject
[Monts doesn't want to have idle hands so she gets to work pouring out a bag of espresso beans into the machine in front of them.]
All I can tell by that name and your usual sparkling personality is that it was probably a tough job.
no subject
That name is mine. Weir Dredger, a surname granted to me, destined as I was to plumb the treacherous depths beneath my town. And that's precisely what I did.
no subject
Is it one of those jobs that you did because it's kind of something no one else would do willingly? Cause usually, that's what dangerous jobs tend to fall under.
no subject
It was a job for those with nothing to their name to lose if they perished in the depths. For those who do not mind being seen as disposable, it is dangerous work, but there is always work available.
[And a Dredger that managed to survive? Multiple times over? They were taken care of... to an extent. Fed, clothed, provided basic amenities for. Found camaraderie in the company of others who faced the darkness below their world, even if Weir could still only ever feel such things... distantly.]
no subject
What kind of things did you encounter when you went below? Was it just monsters or were there other type of dangers?
[Maxim, when he was feeling chatty, told Monts about the monsters he and his traveling party would hunt out in the cold. Those who hunted needed to be strong to deal with the long winter in the first place. If you couldn't deal with the cold winter, you were never going to survive the beasts.
For Monts who has lived humbly, but securely with her grandparents in sunny California, it gives her perspective of how blessed she's been even in the wake of her own tragedy.]
no subject
The environment itself was a danger. One wrong misstep, and you could go tumbling down an incline, break your neck on the way down.
[Obviously, it's nothing short of physically demanding work.]
And there are poisonous stretches that go on for miles. "Lakes" of gasses that would kill a man upon inhaling too much. That is where the name "Dredging" comes from.
no subject
[The neck-breaking that is. She would... Know.]
Sounds kind of crazy that there's just this mysterious hole that has all those things. But I wasn't aware of magic being real until a year ago.
[She looks thoughtful again.]
If I ever return to my world, I guess I could ask Iona or Oren if they ever had Dredgers as customers.
no subject
[Very, considering Dredgers no longer exist. Literally wished out of existence due to the Heart pulsing its influence out in one grand show of world-changing power.]
Though I have no doubt a Dredger would ever turn down a free drink. [Even Weir and his cup of coffee are encapsulated in this one statement.] A year ago is when you met your witch employer?
no subject
[
the bears again...]And yeah. I was in a tight spot when I met Iona. She found out about my... Whatever it is. [She makes a dismissive gesture with her hand.]
She didn't want to leave me hanging so she hired me on as a new barista and I've been slowly learning about our own world and bits of others.
[The water finishes boiling but she lets it sit while the bubbles subside.]
It's been fun and it's great not being the strangest person in the room.
[... For the most part. People may not know what she is but most of them haven't treated her poorly. And if they do, Iona and Oren put a stop to it before any escalation can happen
save for Maxim that escalated quickly but it got better!!]no subject
Far from the strangest person in any universe, given all we've been privy to so far.
[Well, she's left an opening for a question, and he takes it.]
What "tight spot"?
no subject
[His question is denied with a smile.]
That's for me to know and for you to find out some other day.
no subject
As tight-lipped as ever, then.
[Not that he expected much else, given their last interaction. But fine. They'll stick to coffee and phones today.]