ataraxion | 003: [video]

[ Instead of the usual stern look of challenge, the face Mattie presents to the network looks young, younger even than her fourteen years, wide-eyed and uncertain. She's had time to recover from the effects of the tear gas, and did so quietly and under the watchful eyes of friends, but it has become clear to her that simple stubborn determination will not send her home again, nor will it make her current surroundings any less foreign. ]

If I am to stay here, and despite my personal feelings about the situation it does seem that I must, then I would endeavor to find something useful with which to fill my time. Regrettably, I know nothing about ships, neither those that go on water or those that go in the air. But I am good at keeping books and have very neat penmanship, I know how to bargain for a good and fair trade, and I can handle horses and livestock, though I have not seen that there are any of either here. I can garden and farm, mend, wash dishes, and cook good plain things.

[ She bites her lip, hesitant and frowning. ] In return I hope someone might teach me better about how to use this communication machine correctly, and about how air-sailing ships work. I am not fond of ignorance, nor of idleness.

Additionally, I do not know how one addresses a message within a message, so I must apologize for making them public instead:

Mister Abernathy, I am sorry for shooting you.

Mister Snape, I would like to arrange for that meeting, if you please.

Bran...have you learned any new stories? I fear I am much in need of a good one.

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[WAIT.

HE TOTALLY HAS

A HEARTFELT, MEANINGFUL RESPONSE TO THIS.]

Huh. So you know my name after all, do you?

[....

I lied.]

I have learned how to use these devices a bit better. I could pass along what I know, if you wish it.

[baby jesus the curiosity is killing him. also haymitch didn't tell him he was shot by a little girl that is some funny ass shit. but he'll try real hard to hide how amused he is.]

You're the one who shot Haymitch?

[ Well, she had intended to try and be a little bit humble about this whole thing, but there's just something about you, Haymitch. Something that makes little girls want to hurt you. ]

I know the name you claim for your own.

[ It should be noted that Mattie is not really very good at this apologizing thing. ]

[GOODNESS LORD WHY ARE THERE KIDS RUNNING AROUND HERE WITH GUNS-- wait never mind. Murphy's going to just try and ignore that.

[But seriously, what the hell.]

Tch. And they usually say that ignorance is bliss. Good to see that people don't always buy into it around these parts.

[He pauses.] What is it 'bout the ships that you wanna know? [Just... curious.]

I would like that, please. I understand the things Mister Tillman showed me but I do not know where to begin in teaching myself more.

There were those upon the Network who had offered help. A woman in armor, named Tali. If you sought her out, I think she would be a better teacher than I.

[ Mattie is uncertain whether shooting Haymitch would be considered a good thing or a bad thing by most people, so she keeps her expression carefully neutral. ]

I was not in my right mind.

I think the people who say that must be dull-witted to begin with.

[ She purses her lips thoughtfully. It's difficult to express what you want to know when you have no knowledge to begin from. ] How they are made to fly, I suppose. And how the workings go together. I imagine it is like a clock?

None of us were.

[Finnick knows allll about that in ways that he would rather forget for the rest of his life. But, he realizes that Mattie is, in fact, a little girl, and that she must have been pretty horrified to go around shooting people during the fear gas times. ... probably. So he'll tone it down and be more somber.]

I wouldn't worry too much. He's pretty tough. ... I don't recommend doing it again, however.

A woman in armor? [ Mattie would consider looking for her just for that fact alone. ]

...I have not much felt like going out as of late.

Yes, armor with many designs upon it. She told me those designs were created by her own hand.

[ a pause. ]

Are you well?

Yeah. They usually are.

[He shrugs.] Sorta, but not really. I mean, it's got gears in some places like clocks do, but it's gotta run on a power source to keep it goin' in the air -- like an engine and generators and whatnot. Y'know what those are? [Maybe not, but he doesn't know what year she's from, sooo...]

[Oh if only Mattie had the excuse of fear gas to explain away all the times she threatened to shoot him... ]

I am not worried that I shot him, only that I did it for the wrong reasons. If he is telling the truth about himself then he will not have to worry.

I would like to see that.

[A pause as well, a long one. ]

Sometimes it is hard to forget things. But I will be all right.

[eyebrow raise.] What gives you reason to doubt him?

I recognize his face.

[ She's still stubbornly clinging to the hope that he's lying, but that possibility seems to be dwindling rapidly, which means Mattie is going to owe an apology for a lot more than just putting a bullet into him. ]

Do you know him?

I've known him for about ten years, [he offers with a small shrug.] Haymitch may act all surly and ornery, but ... well, he really is that surly and ornery. It's only because of circumstances, though.

Like a steam engine? I would think it would take an awful lot of coal to move something so big. How does it steer if there are no tracks for it to travel on? Does it have a rudder like a sailing ship?

[ Imagining the Tranquility to be like a train makes a little more sense to her, although she's still stymied by the idea of how something so heavy manages to fly. ]

Well, it's a start. Means you do listen, occasionally. [He's not particularly bothered. So there's... that. Most men would be angry they got shot. Haymitch is mildly inconvenienced.] Feeling better now, then? Wouldn't mind a little warning before you shoot me again.

[ robb goes quiet. there's a soft whine from grey wind, a prompt for robb to keep speaking. ]

I know. I don't think forgetting ever becomes easy.

That's 'cause it doesn't run on coal -- it needs fuel in order to move. And... yeah, most ships are helped controlled by a rudder, which manages the rotation but, I'm not... sure how it works on a spacecraft, honestly. Was never really my area of expertise. Not like cars, or anything like that. But I'm sure the concept's still roughly the same.

It doesn't need to run on tracks because it's all handled... usually by a wheel, or joystick, or whatever the pilots use to drive this thing. [Assuming there is someone behind the steering here. Murphy isn't too sure of that, yet.]

Aren't you a little young to be worrying about that kind of thing?

[Oh, yes, a student. Stats is letting his schoolship self through.]

I would be happy to teach you. As for messages for some people only, I'm going to be taught soon myself, and I'd be happy to share. I'll also teach you about how ships move in space.

There's nothing to hold to in space. Let's imagine you're in a boat in the middle of a lake, and everything you have is rocks. No sails, no paddle. The only way to go anywhere is to throw rocks in the opposite direction. That's the way ships work in space: they throw gases in the opposite direction to where they want to go.

Have you needle, Mattie? Or thread?

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