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Tweak says, "Waited patiently for the Lord"

Tonks, if you please (tonks_please) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-06-13 17:52:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 3, marcus cole, nymphadora tonks

Who: Tonks and Marcus
What: Horseback riding and most likely plotting to escape the planet.
When: Day Three, Morning
Where: The stables
Rating: I'm gonna say PG-13
Status: Complete

During the night, the young witch had had a bit of a brainstorm. Not a useful one, like how to get away from here, but still, one that she awoke eager to try out. Much earlier than was usual for her, the Auror bounced out of bed, wearing her oversized Weird Sisters t-shirt that she usually slept in. Glancing around at her room, she screwed up her face and concentrated. The pink walls turned into an equally brilliant purple, and she grinned in satisfaction. She might not intend to stay here long, but she really was enjoying the ability to change these surroundings at will.

She quickly showered and then changed into her chosen outfit of the day. Jeans, of course, because she pretty much always wore them. But this time, she chose a bright purple pair instead of her normal blue jeans. Pairing it with a black t-shirt, she looked into the mirror and nodded in satisfaction. Her hair, which had faded to it's natural brown hue during the night, took just a second to fix. Soon, it was jet black. An unusual choice for her, but she went with it.

Soon she was ready, and heading to the food area. She didn't stop in the restaurant this time, since she was in a hurry to try out her new idea. She stopped by the kitchen, snagged an apple and a granola bar, and as far as she was concerned, she was ready to go. Munching on her breakfast, the young Auror made her way down to the stables. She looked doubtfully around at the large beasts, and then sort of picked one at random that she thought had nice eyes, and wasn't going to kill her. Then, it was time to see if she was right...

Closing her eyes as she clambered on, she tried to pretend it was a broomstick she was straddling. A few large broomstick. And, this time, she didn't fall off. With a cry of satisfaction, she pressed her heels into the beasts flanks and off it went, like a shot, with Tonks somehow managing to cling to the saddle like a burr.

She didn't know how long it had been when she came riding back, having explored many of the trails around the place. Finally, though, she was tired, and headed back towards the stables. No one seemed to be around, really, which the young witch wondered about. But just as she was thinking that, she saw someone in a dark coat walking by. She was riding pretty fast, so she didn't see who it was. Curious, she turned the horse around and cantered back towards whoever it was.

"Hullo, there!"

She waved in a friendly way, and even managed to stay on the horse at the same time, which was damn impressive considering the last time she'd tried to ride, she hadn't been able to even stay on once the horse started moving.

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tonks_please
2008-06-18 01:21 am UTC (link)

She frowned thoughtfully. Despite her lack of scientific education, she was not a stupid woman, and put the pieces of what he was saying together as well as she could. To be fair, he was doing a really good job of explaining, too, which helped. She was pretty sure she had a basic understanding of the situation.

"Well, with the bubblehead charm, the air instead stays the temperature of the air that's around when you cast the spell, so maybe, if it could be expanded to cover your whole body, if could protect one in space. I think I might work on that."

She took another bite of her lunch and then set the burrito down, licking some sour cream off her fingers with obvious relish. She thought about what he had said for awhile longer, and then finally shrugged, with a grin and a laugh directed his way.

"You know, I hadn't thought of that. I bet I could get a broom. It wouldn't be as good as the specially built ones, but I bet it'd work. Thanks, Marcus! Of course, I still don't know if I could even push through that thing you were talking about before, about um... what did you call it? I forget, but I get the idea you have to go very fast. Anyways, how far is it from planet to planet? They always look so tiny from Earth, just like stars, really."

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marcus_cole
2008-06-18 09:25 am UTC (link)

Marcus was impressed by the young witch's ability to comprehend what he was saying, despite having no real background in such things. She was really a very intelligent woman.

"That sounds like an excellent plan. How long does it last again? And how does the air inside replenish itself? It's no good being trapped in space in a big bubble and running out of oxygen."

He finished his lunch, and ordered a plate of watermelon, just for fun. He was really starting to enjoy this restaurant, now that he was almost certain the food wasn't poisonous or drugged.

"Well, to escape the atmosphere you have to go several times the speed of sound. Do brooms generally break the sound barrier? It's quite a long distance between planets, even planets in the same system. I wonder if this planet has any sentient neighbours."

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tonks_please
2008-06-18 11:32 am UTC (link)

Tonks finished off her burrito and ordered some tea and cookies to finish off her meal. After all, witch or not, she was British. When it came a short time later, it was just as excellent as all the food here seemed to be.

"It lasts until you dispel it, as long as you can concentrate on it. Course, if you get knocked out or something, it ends, too. I don't know how the air inside stays fresh, it just does. Magic, you know? I was under water for hours once, and the air never ran out or anything."

She dunked a cookie into the hot tea and ate it, though she knew that her mother would be horrified by her behavior. But, then, her mother wasn't here, was she? She listened to Marcus' explanation, which went far beyond anything she even remotely could understand. She looked at him blankly.

"Sound has a speed? That's kind of... scary, really. Next, you're going to say that light has weight or something like that."

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marcus_cole
2008-06-18 11:07 pm UTC (link)

Marcus watched Tonks dunk her biscuits, amused that she was taking tea directly after dinner. He admired the charming faith she had in the power of magic, and wondered if magic would even work for him given his natural scepticism. Inspired by her example, he ordered some tea for himself, Minbari tea, just to see how diverse the kitchens' recipe lists were.

"Amazing. Nothing works like that in world of science. You have to cover all the bases, all the time, or something is bound to go wrong. And believe you me, when you're out in space and your ship's onboard computer goes wonky, you are in big trouble."

All in all, it sounded like her bubblehead charm was really useful. He wondered it she could envelope more than one person in the bubble. She might be able to create a bubble craft!

"The speed of sound is about 666 miles per hour. And actually, light does have weight, in a manner of speaking. It's borne by particles called photons, which have mass. It's not very much, of course, but it's weight of a sort."

Marcus sipped his newly arrived tea (perfect!) and waited for the expression on Tonks's face. He wondered if she would catch the reference to Christian mythology in his explanation.

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tonks_please
2008-06-18 11:30 pm UTC (link)

His explanation only had her looking at him blankly, her tea rapidly-cooling and the cookies completely ignored. He had been speaking a little bit above her head the entire time, but she'd been able to understand most of it. Now, everything he said was basically gibberish to her. He might as well have been speaking a completely foreign language for all the understanding she had. She tried going back and picking apart the sentence for words that she knew, hoping to make more sense of things that way.

"I do know what a computer is, a sort of muggle way of trying to do magic, as far as I can tell."

And that was about the limit of what she could understand. Speed of sound, light having weight, it was all too much for her brain to even try to understand, or to make sense of. The number he mentioned didn't have any significance to her in the slightest, and she passed it by without really even thinking much about it.

"I think you'd better stop, Marcus. My head is about to explode."

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marcus_cole
2008-06-19 12:48 am UTC (link)

Marcus realized by the look on Tonks's face that he had completely lost her. He had only been repeating commonly-know scientific beliefs, and hadn't thought they would be above anyone, but it seemed scientific knowledge was stuck at somewhat of a medieval Earth level in Tonks's magic-reliant culture.

"Sorry. Wouldn't want that. I'm sure you think much better with your head in one piece. Don't worry about any of it. None of it seems useful at the moment for getting us out of here."

Finished his tea, he looked to see if Tonks was also done her lunch.

"I don't think a computer is actually magical, but they do sometimes seem like magic to those who don't understand them."

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tonks_please
2008-06-19 12:57 am UTC (link)

Quickly, the young witch drank the rest of her tea and polished off her cookies. She was comfortably full, and ready for more fun, and whatever else her day would bring her. Still feeling slightly naughty that she didn't have to pay, she rose to her feet and looked down at her companion for the day.

"I dunno, Marcus, I think someday I'm gonna have you sit down and explain things from the beginning. Maybe then, you'll make sense every so often."

She smiled at him to show she wasn't really annoyed, and tilted her head to the side. Dark hair flowed over her shoulder as she looked down at him curiously.

"Ready to go? And... what do you want to do now? I dunno, I don't think we've made much progress in the whole 'getting out of here' field, do you? At this rate, the war will be over before I get back."

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marcus_cole
2008-06-19 01:22 am UTC (link)

Marcus smiled, amused by the thought of beginning at the very beginning. Where would that be, exactly? The Big Bang? Quarks? Relativity? Fertilization in the womb? He wondered if she would ever actually ask him for that lesson.

"I'm more than ready. Let's go!"

He also got up from the table, not feeling strange at all about not paying. The Rangers' training facility on Minbar had had a cafeteria, of sorts, in which he hadn't had to pay, but had had to work in the kitchens. In this place he likewise didn't expect to pay, but he always felt a little guilty about not helping with the washing up.

"Well, I figure we would just wander out of the compound again, and see what we come upon. If you think it would be faster, we could attempt to ride those horses."

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tonks_please
2008-06-19 01:43 am UTC (link)

Not getting the joke, she simply smiled back and headed for the door. She, of course, nearly tripped over a table leg, a chair, and her own feet, but made it there safely in the end. She wrinkled up her nose at the mention of the horses.

"Thanks, but I'm sore enough..."

She cut herself off there, because she really didn't want to talk about how her thighs were sore from being clenched around the broad back of the horse she'd ridden. It just wasn't the sort of thing you said to a man, not usually. So she changed the subject.

"Let's just walk, and see where we end up, yeah? Hey, Marcus? When you were on top of me, I felt something poke me. It was hard. What was it?"

What she had felt, of course, had been his fighting pike, but she didn't even know of it's existance at this point. And she didn't realize just how suggestive her comment could have been taken.

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marcus_cole
2008-06-19 09:29 am UTC (link)

Marcus flinched as Tonks stumbled her way to the exit. Apparently resting hadn't calmed her flaring case of clumsiness. It was just the way she was. Interesting that horse-riding made one sore. He wondered where it affected one... oh! Well, he wouldn't pursue that.

"Alright. No horses, then. Yes, we'll walk and see where we end up. Maybe we should just walk in one direction. I wonder what the Planet will do if we attempt to spend a night in the wilderness."

Following her out of the main building, he looked around the yard, trying to decide in which direction to head. Towards the lake, the river, the mountains? The mountains were probably the most promising. He blushed when she asked her question. Luckily, there were two true answers to that, so he could cover one with the other without lying.

"Oh, that was my fighting pike. Here. Let me show you."

He reached into his pocket and drew out the small, grey cylinder. He gave it a quick shake, and it instantly extended into a long, metal pole. He gave it another shake, and it instantly collapsed back into a palm-sized object.

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tonks_please
2008-06-19 11:18 am UTC (link)

Tonks faced the mountains, which seemed to be where he was considering going, since he'd looked in that direction longer than the others. It made sense, she supposed. Actually, any direction was basically as good as any other, as far as she was concerened. It worked for her, though.

As she waited for him to answer, she leaned casually against the side of the building. For once, she actually managed to stay leaning there, and not fall over as had been known to happen. Her eyes widened as he shook the small cylinder. It extended to full length, and then collapsed back on itself.

"I thought you didn't know magic! Hey, can I see? Accio fighting pike!"

Obediently, the pike flew out of his hand and into hers. She held it very still, having not understood that the shaking was a part of the process. When it stayed compact, she frowned.

"Hey, Marcus, it's not working..."

The witch pushed away from the wall and started walking. And, then, of course, predictibly, she tripped. Just a little, but enough to shake her hand. The weapon extended to it's full length. The luck that had kept her alive despite herself up to this point was still with her. The pike didn't smack her full on in the face. Instead, it slammed moderately hard into the far left side of her forehead. Most of the force of the weapon went past her into the air.

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