lifenet | OTA - Just some random time around now - These Thins Aren't Quite as Nice as Cell Phones

Really? I haven't heard that one.

Hey, is this Muffet?

[Considering she said 'humans' and the voice sounded familiar.]

Hmm, perhaps it's just something the ones in my world say...

[She smiles, pleased by the recognition.]

Yes, I am. And I'm assuming from the voice that I'm speaking to Prompto, correct? I admit, it might be easier if these came with some sort of caller ID, but people seem to be muddling through thus far.

Yeah, I am!

Heh, yeah, this does feel a bit like being back in the stone age.

[See what he did there?! She would have no idea how clever he felt in that moment.]

Maybe someone can make a wish for touch screens.

[Well, it's not like she isn't used to puns by now, having lived in the same kingdom as Sans for years.]

This place does seem to have problems with advanced technology, in particular- even for those of us who didn't arrive completely drenched in seawater. ...I wonder how well the Storyteller might take to computers, if they had the chance to get familiar with them. There are a lot of stories out there online, aren't there?

[Please do not make the Storyteller read fanfiction.]

You know, it is kinda weird how technology glitches around here. There's no reason my camera shouldn't work or my phone shouldn't even turned on... Even if I can't connect to a network, they should still work!

[He had just assumed something happened to his stuff upon arrival but it was a pretty consistent problem now.]

Oh man, you should read all the stories online. There's millions of them!

Hm... you know, a few of us have noticed that certain natural abilities aren't working quite as well as they should be, either. I wonder if there's a connection, somehow?

[At his suggestion, she laughs brightly.]

Oh, I've seen a few- an acquaintance of mine had an irrepressable habit of texting people about her favorite fanfictions, once she got over being too shy to talk about them.

Maybe. I never thought too much about technology and magic being intertwined, but I guess it's possible.

[With a soft snort he started off rather casually.]

I read a story about this guy once who got a roommate when he moved out for school, and this dude was obsessed with that sort of stuff. And video games. I mean, video games are cool, but come on. You gotta have limits.
Anyway, one day he walks into this guy's room and he sees there's like, nine water bottles full of p...

[Wait, Muffet was a lady, wasn't she? A spider lady, but still. Realizing this, he choked a bit and stopped the story in his tracks.]

Aah, I mean... Maybe that story isn't appropriate.

Of... oh, you meant- I keep forgetting humans need to do that sort of thing.

[The thing about being A Lady and also from a species that was more energy than biology is that toilet humor takes a moment to register. She doesn't sound annoyed or embarrassed, though, so it's probably okay?]

That certainly seems a bit rude to his poor roommate, one does expect people to clean up after themselves.

[He was only good at talking to the dudes. And even then, just the ones he knew well. He cleared his throat.]

Ah. Yeah, we do. Do that. ...Spiders don't?

[It's all right. Let's face it: if she hadn't seen worse before getting stuck on a deserted island with a bunch of humans and their fleshy, nonmagical needs, she certainly has by now.]

I suppose ordinary, nonmagical spiders must? Monsters like my people don't need to, though, no. We're really made of more magical energy than actual, physical matter.

Yeah, I guess normal spiders must. I mean, nonmagic ones. Not that you aren't normal. Not that being different would be bad!

[He wasn't the best at dealing with these extreme foreign subjects, but at least there never seemed to be any real malice or dishonesty behind it. Just awkwardness.]

How do you keep up your magical energy, then? Do you absorb it from elemental stashes you find?

[It's sweet that he tries, really, and she can appreciate that. It's certainly far better than the outright malice people have had towards monsters in the past.]

No, it's something our bodies replenish naturally. It isn't that far off from how humans convert the food they eat into energy, I believe- except that for you it's physical energy and for us it's magical energy.

Monster food will have magic infused into it either during the cooking process or while the crops are being grown. We can eat nonmagical food too, but it's... less nutritious, I suppose would be the closest way to put it, because it requires more effort for our bodies to turn it into magic, so we get less energy out of it overall.

That's a bit over my head, but I'll just accept that it works and that's good enough.

[Major questions being, where did magical energy come from? How could it be infused? He was more scientifically minded, even if he believed in magic.]

I guess I'll just consider it like solar energy.

[She gives a rueful little laugh, conceding the point.]

I'm likely not explaining it terribly well, in any case. In my defense, I did major in business and economics, not magical theory.

[You want her to explain how magic affects the stock market, now, she can do that.]

I get you there. I usually leave explaining stuff to Iggy. And planning stuff. And dinner.

[Without Iggy they'd be very scrawny, dirty, dead boys.]

Business and economics? Are there stores where you're from kinda like our shops?

Well, he is a very helpful man.

[Ignis Scientia can handle a lot of things, and she appreciates that.]

Quite exactly like your shops, I suspect, if they're anything like human shops on my world. I myself happen to run a bakery, selling to humans and monsters alike. We've been doing quite well thus far.

[Her business is basically her baby, and if the Storyteller hadn't reassured them all that time ran differently here she'd be panicking about leaving it without anyone to run it this long.]

It'd be really cool to see a shop from your world. I'd love to compare it to the shops in Insomnia.

Say, how has your baking been going?

We'd be delighted to have you visit, dearie. It's always lovely to get new customers. As for my baking here, I still have less to work with than I'd like but things have been improving. For one thing, we've finally found enough other ingredients to grow that I don't have to keep making every single meal out of coconut.

[The last part is said with considerable relief. Muffet had been getting really, really tired of coconut over the last few months.]

Yeah, really gotta work on the farming... I think we're doing pretty good, though! I can't help much with any baking, but I could always taste test for you!

That's always welcome, dearie. If nothing else, it helps to have as many perspectives as possible.

OTA - Just some random time around now - These Thins Aren't Quite as Nice as Cell Phones

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