🌹 OPEN

[recluserose]

WHO: Amelia Steinbeck (recluserose) and Others
WHERE: Throughout the hotel.
WHEN: October 25th-26this, varying times of the day.
WHAT: Acclimating to the hotel and floor explorations.
WARNINGS: N/A for now, also prompts in comments.



(X)

Comments

[recluserose]

[Cute (adult) child... Amelia tries not to smile when Sumina reads off of the screen. She succeeds. Sumina Heartleaf keeps her dignity for another day.

And like the practiced teacher she is, Amelia just sits back and lets her figure out the keyboard, with an uncharacteristic patience that she hasn't exhibited much since checking into the hotel. But she's in her element of being an instructor, even for something as small as this.

So when Sumina is able to type out a phrase, she finally gives the young woman an appraising smile and a nod.]

Good job, Sumina. It feels strange, doesn't it? It's not like ink on paper; when you become more skilled, you're able to memorize where all the letters are and how to keep track of the shortcuts and symbols.

That should be for another day though. Play around some more if you'd like.

[airdnd]

[ Thank you for letting her keep her dignity, grangran...

That patience is appreciated, especially since Sumina knows well that espressogate really has thrown them all for a loop... Personally, she's struggled a bit with doing her work for the past few days, so she finds it particularly admirable that Amelia is keeping on.

Though she's encouraged to, however, she does pull her hands away from the keyboard. ]

It's alright, I'm glad I got to try it. I wonder if it's only a matter of practice, or maybe I'm being stubborn, but I do find myself missing that tactile feeling of writing with a pen or quill whenever I have to send messages on the... ah, "server."

[recluserose]

The instantaneous nature of sending messages is very overwhelming, isn't it? I saw the rise of technology and its lightning-quick development in our everyday lives. I was thrown for a loop several times whenever a new tool was introduced that improved upon a previous one.

[Amelia was released back into the normal world in the 80s, a prime time for computers and the internet to evolve. She's got a unique perspective as a result.]

Typing is its own tactile sensation that some people find comforting nowadays, especially when you customize the keys to create different sounds.

[airdnd]

[ Quirking a brow, Sumina can't help but chuckle at what Amelia first says. The whole key customization thing is lost on her, anyway. She's not ready to learn about mechanical keyboards and switches... ]

Witnessing technological advancements in your lifetime...? You sound like my grandmother, Amelia. She's always going on about everything she's seen in her...

[ oh gods. How old is grangran... ]

Six hundred or so years...?

[recluserose]

Six hundred? That's very impressive.

[Berna's only 400 and based on what she's told Amelia, any witches that are past that number are very rare or asleep.]

I'm only in my 70s myself. It's not too surprising that I sound like a grandmother; I get that a lot from my students and coworkers who are understandably unaware.

[airdnd]

[ Sumina must remind herself that despite her human appearance, Amelia isn't entirely human, and besides that, that she comes from a world governed by different rules. It isn't entirely unheard of, too, for individuals to gain a longer lifespan because of something like magic... ]

Ah, that makes perfect sense, of course...! I'm sure you've heard it more than enough times, haha.

[ She will make sure not to point it out again in case it is a sensitive topic... ]

I'm twenty-eight, but because I'm only half-elven, I won't live for quite as long as my fully-elven relatives.

[recluserose]

Huh. [So Sumina does look her age but that's not a comment Amelia will make. Instead...]

Would it be too much to assume you have a notable amount of family members? If your grandmother is 600 years old, I'd imagine that's more than enough time to build up several generations.

[... In the case of witches in her world, it varies. You'd think there'd be more clans and more community, but those were rare. Berna only had two grandchildren after all.]

[airdnd]

[ Sumina shakes her head. ]

It isn't too much to assume, but I suppose that depends on your definition of "notable." Elven births can be... rare. Many only have one child.

By the grace of the stars, perhaps, my grandparents had two daughters, and then their eldest - my aunt - had twins. My mother had a son by her first marriage to another elf, and then had my sister and I, but because our father is human, the likelihood of having us was... more. So my generation and that of my parents' certainly made our family larger, but elven longevity is not the reason that my family would be considered larger than other elven families.

[recluserose]

[Amelia slowly nods as Sumina gives her the detailed history of her family tree. Elves are proving to be a fascinating topic, but she wants to approach it as organically as possible. Whatever she's freely told is a valuable treasure in itself and she wants to respect that.]

I see... Thank you for the explanation.

[It's only fair if she gives something in return. She closes her documents and fully shuts down her laptop before speaking.]

Witches are generally scattered and few have large clans. It isn't really in our nature to create family lines or any kind of legacy.

[Because the Witch King keeps a very close eye on his children and their children...]

I have theorized that it wouldn't make sense to have many of us. Our magic is great and even unfathomable at times. You don't want the world to be too crowded with our sort, should one of us let it get to our head.

[And it's happened more than once, let's just say.]

So I guess what I'm saying is that... There's value in being able to know and understand your family line.

[airdnd]

[ Sumina's lips draw into a thin line as Amelia shuts her laptop... She can't help but feel that she's fully derailed the other woman from her work. Still, she idly picks at the flaky crust of one of the pastries she'd piled onto a plate for the two of them, and listens dutifully.

As someone whose family is rather tightly knit, even given their jointly chaotic lives (perhaps especially because of their jointly chaotic lives) what Amelia describes of witches and clans seems quite... sad. It hardly feels like the time to dig into it deeper, however, or to ask Amelia about her own family, especially when she considers how Amelia had been reluctant to speak of the plight of witches in her world before.

Moreover, Sumina simply must wonder... how does Ms. Amelia feel about being a witch? Perhaps it's the almost all-too-composed way that she speaks of her own kind, but... ]

I can see where you're coming from, I think. Perhaps... your theory and the outlook of many elves where I'm from aren't so dissimilar, Ms. Amelia.