WHO: Ash and Presto WHAT: Technology help WHEN: recently WARNINGS: n/a STATUS: Complete.
Presto swore as he stared at the laptop, confusion written all over his face. He was slowly catching up to modern times, but a lot of things still confused him. And seemed far too complicated.
“Come on! What are you doing now, you spawn of Satan?” His tone was as much frustration as it was actual anger. His computer was doing something involving updates, and restarts, and malware, and he had no clue what half the things it was doing were.
Who designed these things, anyway? “I bet some minor functionary of Hell designed you, didn’t he? Someone with a really nasty sense of humor. Argh!”
He dropped his face into his hands at the table he was sitting at. He was on one of the main roads at the outside portion of a cafe, and he was pretty sure he might have to take this whole computer back and get a new one.
Or just become a monk. That part sounded better and better all the time.
***
While Ash wasn't a computer geek by any stretch of the imagination, he'd grown up in a time when laptops and phones were commonplace. When he spotted Presto yelling at a laptop that seemed to be going through the Windows 10th anniversary update, he cleared his throat.
“I’m pretty sure some minor functionary of Hell did design that, but if you wait long enough, it'll finish the update. It's just a really big one this time.”
***
Presto’s head snapped around and he blinked, staring. He cocked his head to the side. “This is an update causing this?” He headthunked against the table. “Figures. And yeah, Bill Gates is a demon, so that makes sense.” He said that last part matter-of-factly.
“Thanks. I’m trying to catch up on 30 years of computer advancement.”
***
He sounded so matter-of-fact, in fact, that Ash paused, trying to figure out if this was indeed true and whether the young man in front of him knew something he didn’t.
Finally he decided that whatever the case, it wouldn’t matter - Bill Gates wasn’t actually under the dome.
His technology, however, was, and it was obviously causing trouble for this guy. “I guess 30 years of computer advancement isn’t as bad as some of the people who’ve come here from the 1800s,” he said. “But it’s still a lot to take in. You need any help? I’m not a computer expert, but I’ve been using them all my life.”
***
Presto nodded. “I’m sure there are other people who have it worse. I’m not sure half the time if I am using the thing right.” he poked the laptop, then sighed, turning away from it completely.
“Well, if it’s an update, I suppose I need to just wait. But after that, if you’re still up to help out, yeah, please. I could like find you or call you. This seems to be taking it’s time.” Presto smiled, and offered his hand. “I’m Presto. Resident teen wizard.”
***
Ash lifted an eyebrow, but he took Presto’s hand in a firm grip. He had a good, practiced handshake for someone so young. Then again, when you were Robert and Lillian Lynburn’s only child, you learned the social graces at a very early age.
“Ash,” he replied. “I thought we had more than one teen wizard. What kind of magic do you do?”
***
“I’m sure we do.” Presto grinned. “Spells. All kinds of spells.” He shrugged. “I don’t really know what to say other than that. There are multiple schools of magic where I come from, and I can do them all. Some specialists are better at their one thing. I’m… a generalist.”
He nodded.
***
A school for magic. That sounded familiar. “Did you go to Hogwarts?” That was the only school Ash knew about. Well, that and the other schools from one of the books. He didn't remember a Presto from the books, but hey, there were all kinds of background characters. Of course, there could be all kinds of other magical schools from different books too, but if he was wrong, he was pretty sure Presto would correct him.
***
“What? What do you… Ohhh! No, you misunderstand. “ He chuckled. “Or I mis-stated. In the Realm, where I learned magic, the different foci of magic, the different specializations, were called Schools. There was no formal school, sadly.” he shook his head.
“That would have been far too convenient.”
***
“Yeah, I know how that is,” Ash said sympathetically. He hadn’t gone to school for his magic either; he’d just had a homicidal father and an ice-cold mother to walk him through it.
“So you’re a generalist. You can hit up all the elements? Transfigure things?” He racked his brain for other magical skills. “Teleport?”
***
“Yeah, all of that, really. Uhm, if I get what you’re asking right, we call Transfiguring things Altering or Polymorphing them, and yes, i can do both. Again, not as good as maybe a specialist in those areas could, but I manage to get by.” He smiled.
“These days, here, I’m studying mind magic and beast magic more than anything else.”
***
“How are you studying?” Ash asked curiously. He himself was working on his magic, and although he knew there were other magic users here, there weren’t any other sorcerers whose magic worked the same way as his. He and Kami had just been experimenting. “Is there someone here who’s working it through with you, or are you just going at it alone?”
***
“From my books, and by trying new things.” Presto grinned. “I read and re-read them, over and over. Looking for new clues. They’re designed, I think, to be like that, so that the more you know, the more you learn.” He liked that.
“I haven’t found any other wizards like me.” He paused. “I haven’t really been looking.”:
***
“You have books?” Now Ash was jealous. He’d never had books. He just had instinct and a homicidal father. “That’s useful, if they could help you develop.”
He paused, still a little leery about revealing what he was. Secrecy and discretion had been drilled into him for so long that he still automatically clung to it - even if there was no need for it here.
“I haven’t found anyone like me either.”
***
“I do. Mostly ones I’ve already read a hundred times, but, well, studying yields new things, if you do it over and over.” He nodded. Or so he believed.
Presto scratched his chin. His life was an odd one.
***
“If you get bored of your magic books, there are a few books you could probably read to catch up on technology,” Ash suggested. This guy might like that; he seemed like the scholarly type.
***
“Yeah? “ Presto perked up. “That makes sense. But… hmmm, would the library have those?” He was the curious sort, and he wanted to know, all he could, really. Magic and science converged, he felt.
***
“Probably,” Ash said, although he’d never been the library-going type. “There are probably some people here who can tell you more about it. And if all else fails, Google is your friend.”
As a child of the new millennium, Ash tended to turn straight to the internet for information himself.
***
“Google. That search bar thing?” Presto was really, really not sure how those things worked, other than, well, them obviously being search bars.
He pointed to the screen, half-obscured with all sorts of errors, and to the bar that had a space, with the word ‘Google’ to the left of it.
***
“...yeah. That one.” Ash couldn’t help but wince at all the warning signs and spam boxes that cluttered up the screen. “But you might want to have that looked at and cleaned up by a professional first, man. That looks kind of...dangerous.”
***
Presto headdesked. “Right. I can do that.” He sighed and closed the laptop, and pushed it away,
“So, what made you get into tech?” In his time, most kids who were into computers were different.
***
“I’m not,” Ash said, surprised that Presto would make that assumption. Computers were just so widely used these days that he just knew how to use them. “I think most people who’ve grown up around them know a little bit about them.”
He glanced at the time; he was running late. “Anyway, I gotta go. Are you going to be okay here?”
***
“Oh… another thing didn’t know.” He sighed, then nodded, rising. “I’ll be fine. I’ll take this to a computer place, then head home. And thanks, again.” He offered a wave, then headed off himself.