zerotohiro | Some Legends Are Told, Some Turn To Dust Or To Gold [CEREALIA INBOX]

Don't freak out, okay? But what you wanna do to really make it work? ...turn it the other way.

[You're still upside down, Korra. And it's still hilarious.]

[At first it doesn't make sense, and then--lkasdjdkl]

I've been using this upside down the whole time, haven't I? [Korra quickly flips it right side up, torn between scowling and looking embarrassed. In the end she just goes with an embarrassed scowl, best of both worlds.] Why didn't you say something earlier??

Yeah, pretty much. [At least he's not laughing (much) when she finally turns the device around, grinning right into the camera.] I kinda thought you would have noticed, but maybe it doesn't really work that way. [A beat.] And also just because it was funny.

[Sorry Korra.] Anyway, you know how phones work, don't you?

[Hey! She sees you laughing over there.

A beat of silence as she puts two and two together.]

You're saying this is a phone? It doesn't look anything like the ones we have back home.

[He's squinting a bit. This answer's going to scare him, isn't it?]

What do the ones back home look like for you?

[Maybe just a little.]

The ones I've seen are all in two parts. There's this one thing you hold up to your ear so you can hear what the other person's saying. [Korra even provides Hiro with a demonstration.]

Um the other piece is the mic that you speak into. It looks like a long stick sometimes. They're all connected with a wire.

[Sounds so advanced, doesn't it.]

[It's like something out of a horror movie, honestly.]

Okay. Phones have advanced a lot since then. For one thing, they're in one piece now and they're mobile, just like the CereVice. The ones we have back home are capable of calls and video and games and music and all sorts of stuff. They're called smartphones. You can use them almost anywhere in the world.

If you didn't think this was a phone, what did you think it really was?

Smart phones... sounds like an appropriate name for them.

[She smiles sheepishly.]

I guesssss something like a tiny radio? We have radio sets that can be carried around, but they're way bigger than these things. I thought phones had to be connected to these wires in the ground to work.

You mean like walkie-talkies? Those are really...really outdated. [Like really outdated, Korra, jeeze.] Phones used to have to be connected that way but with the advancement of satellites and cell phone towers people are a lot more mobile now. Cell phones contain little tiny antennas in them so they can pick up signals and send them back to the towers. I'm not sure how they're connected in the CereVices though, that's what I've gotta look at.

[Not her fault! It's what happens when you live in another world's equivalent of the 1920's, apparently.]

Uhh... [Korra bites her lip.] You lost me at satellites. But we can pretend I understood most of that, and you can just show me how this thing actually works?

[Hopeful smile??]

[He's just laughing again, shaking his head.] Okay, okay. What's the first thing you wanna know about the CereVice? Obviously you know how to make video calls and voice calls. Do you know how to text?

[She doesn't tell him to stop laughing at her, but she does pout a him through the screen. It's not her fault she's technologically challenged!]

I just want to know what else you can do with it. Like the text thing you were just talking about.

Here, lay the device flat? Unfold it all the way and leave it flat on any surface and tell me if a keyboard pops up for you. It should...holographs I think are probably way, way way after your time, but it'll kinda look like...sorta glowy and you can't pick it up. Try that for me.

[She follows his instructions, almost comically intent on her task. She definitely doesn't flinch with surprise when the keyboard shows up--definitely not.]

It looks like a bunch of letters. So that was supposed to happen?

Yup! It's called a keyboard. The letters displayed are there for you to press so that you can send messages with words. Here, look at this.

[Give him a moment, he's setting up his own device for a text. Soon Korra's CereVice will receive a message that simply says Like this.]

Texts are sometimes easier to work with than calling a person, especially when you only need to say one quick thing. In my world there's also instant-messaging but that's through computers, usually.

[She stares down at the keyboard with a dubious expression. She isn't too sure about the easier part, but she'll take his word for it...mostly.]

Oh, wait. It's like print! [The characters aren't at all like the ones they use at home, but somehow she knows them as well as if she had grown up using this system.] I think I get it...sort of.

[Hesitantly, she types out a message and sends it to Hiro.]

Is this right?

Yeah, exactly! [He's not sending one back and that was via video, but he's pretty pleased she picked up on it so fast.] Texting's just easier sometimes if you're busy or you just can't talk to people. There once was a time where people didn't have video calling on their phones. It's really weird to think about. The more you do it the faster you'll get with it. It's pretty essential.

If you say so. [This time, Korra doesn't sound as skeptical, and she's even fiddling with the keyboard with an expression that is way less confused than before.]

Didn't think something like this would need a lot of practicing to get.

That's because you don't know all about emoticons and shorthand and that kinda stuff. But you've got time to learn. [Sorry, still finding it funny.] Don't worry about that yet though.

What other things do you wanna learn right now?

[Give her a second to think about it.]

I was going to ask if there's some way to track friends down, but... I guess the list I used to find your name is it, huh? Whoever's not on there isn't in the colony.

[He can sympathize with that. But he thinks, humming before he snaps his fingers.]

You can try asking Tadashi if he knows another way to find people. He's been creating devices to track who comes in and out of the colony so he might know something. [As much as it pains him not to have an answer...Tadashi has been here longer.]

Tadashi? I'll ask him about it later.

[She smiles at him after a second.]

Anyway... thanks. I think that's most of it for now... I don't think I'll ever get really fancy with my messages, but at least I know how to use it.

That's pretty much the important part. I'm gonna look at upgrading the thing and see if I can make it better. I'll let you know if I can make it work. [He flashes his own smile at her.]

Anyway...if you have questions about anything else, just ask me. A lot of this stuff is stuff I'm used to.

So you're not getting sick of me yet? [She grins at him.]

Anyway, I might be kind of bad at anything technology [just "kind of bad"??] but if you need help with anything, you let me know, okay?

Figured we could both use a friend here, don't you think? [Please let him down gently if you have to, Korra, he doesn't throw around the f-word lightly.] We can help each other. It'll be a lot easier to figure everything out about Cerealia as a team.

Some Legends Are Told, Some Turn To Dust Or To Gold [CEREALIA INBOX]

<3?

<3... I guess

:3 good.

<3!!

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