radio / oo3

[dragonaught]

[ That this is over radio is no coincidence. It helps hide the nervousness Casey has about approaching the foreigners for help, and also means this is just for the foreigners. Not that they wouldn't appreciate the help of the kedan, but... well, it's complicated, okay? ]

I have something important to ask, even if it sounds weird. Are there any foreigners here who can fly fair distances, especially in cold climates? I'm not good enough to carry myself at all yet. It's about the rakenga, the draconic-ish creatures on Tavimbi. I don't think they're insentient, at least not to the degree that hunting them simply for food variety is justified at all.

The thing is, nobody else in Hatal seems to have even thought about the possibility, and there's so much documentation in an entire city that I'd never be able to find records of any kind of attempted contact just by myself. Or, if I did, I'd definitely try entering the lottery next.

It's just... [ there's a slight pause, then a tired sigh ] not right. So if anyone wants to help, I'd appreciate it.

Comments

[highprofilerichkid]

I can fly anywhere, and cold's no problem.

What makes you think the rakenga are sentient?

[That's a bold and kind of random claim about some wildlife that they've so far only heard of - and didn't even know existed until last week.}

[dragonaught]

Well, first of all, they're clearly close to draconic in nature.

[ That's an obvious one for them. ]

But also... I was watching them from one of the bridges between the spires, and—one came to me. Just watched. Like it was looking for something, I guess? It was right there and all it wanted to do was look.

[ There's a beat before they continue. ]

How do you fly?

[highprofilerichkid]

So...? [Just because they're big and scaly doesn't mean they're smart. Tony doesn't come from a world where "draconic" automatically equals "sentient."] Maybe it was trying to decide if there was enough of you to be worth eating, [Tony jokes.]

I have a suit of flying power armor. It's designed to tolerate extended high-atmosphere flight [- and sub-orbital flight, though once you enter hard vacuum the problem is actually not freezing but overheating because there's... okay, that's probably not relevant to the current situation -] so it'll handle the mountains just fine.

[dragonaught]

So... [ Casey pauses, realizing it just doesn't mean the same thing, and that is its own type of infuriating. This issue is close to driving them out of their head with how insane it all is to their sensibilities. ] So if they looked like monkeys or humans and you saw everyone here was just killing them for the spice of it, essentially, what would you think then?

[ That is surprisingly cool and more than Casey expected of an answer. ] Is it capable of carrying people?

[shroudofgray]

Be careful. He told me he sometimes drops people on purpose.

[dragonaught]

Wh-what?!

[shroudofgray]

He said.

[dragonaught]

When?

[shroudofgray]

When he took me off the building.

[Yorda hasn't exactly grasped humour yet.]

[dragonaught]

... Huh? What building?

[shroudofgray]

The one I was climbing.

I found a bird.

[dragonaught]

Oh. So he helped.

[ And they're starting to get the picture. ]

[shroudofgray]

Yes.

But he said sometimes he drops people on purpose. Be careful.

[dragonaught]

Right. I will, don't worry.

[highprofilerichkid]

It was a joke...

[highprofilerichkid]

Sure, but if you want me to carry you into the mountains, you're going to freeze, [Tony points out.

Casey's other question is a little more difficult.] Um, I guess that would be kind of... disturbing, yeah. If they looked like people. Monkeys might be okay... [Wait, hold on, he's getting distracted from the bigger point, here:] Are you saying you're a dragon?

[Cuz, no offense, Casey, but you're not really looking the part.]

[dragonaught]

Yeah. I was going to get warmer clothes, obviously.

I'm not! [ ... physically speaking. Look, it's a difficult subject. ] But dragons and draconics are definitely people the same as anyone else.

[ It probably helps that their boyfriend is a dragon insomuch as it helps keeps things in perspective for them. ]

[highprofilerichkid]

I'm not sure warmer clothes are going to cut it, if you want to be out there for a while. I could put you in the suit, but I'd have to remote pilot it with Extremis, and if anything interrupted my connection, you'd crash.

[Okay, so dragons are people in Casey's universe, apparently. Interesting. Tony chuckles.] I only know one guy who's part dragon, and he doesn't look much like the rakenga. [And he will absolutely kick the shit out of you if he hears you calling him "part dragon" in public, Tony.]

[dragonaught]

Huh? What's that mean?

[ Casey doesn't have much problem admitting there's a huge gap between standard vocabulary where they're from and standard vocabulary where everyone else here is concerned. Everything is so weird. ]

Oh... no, rakenga don't look like dragons where I'm from, either, but that's the description everyone keeps using. I imagine their word for dragon is probably just something that they use for all draconics? I don't know. Only part?

[highprofilerichkid]

...It means I pilot it with my mind. [Long story short.] I can do it long-distance. That would mean you wouldn't have to learn how to fly the suit yourself - but if there was an electrical storm, or magnetic interference, or anything like that, I could lose the connection temporarily. You'd crash and be stuck wherever you landed until I was able to reestablish a connection and reboot the suit.

There used to be a normal neural interface chip in it, but I took it out. I didn't think anyone else would need to be flying in it. [Or that he'd ever have Extremis disabled. Wrong on both counts, Tony!]

...So if they don't look like your dragons, why do you think the rakenga are even related? What do dragons look like in your universe? [HE STILL DOESN'T GET IT, CASEY.

(He's leaving the "part dragon" crack alone, because it was in poor taste to begin with and would only get worse if he tried to explain it.)]

[dragonaught]

Or maybe we could just find something they must have around here to endure the kind of colds they get. [ It sounds like Tony is overcomplicating it. ]

They look more like demons or yokai to me, but I think draconics must be all under the same word for most people here or something. Dragons are longer, closer to snakes than to iguanas or anything like that.

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony Stark, overcomplicate things? Never.]

Um, okay. [You know what? He'll leave the dragon taxonomy to you, Casey.]

You could... ask Pepper if she'd let you use her suit. [Tony's reluctant enough to let someone use his suit, even if he'd be in direct control of it the whole time. It doesn't feel right to loan out Pepper's suit for her.

But there's no harm in asking, right? She can always say no. Maybe he'll warn her so she has time to think about it before Casey gets to her.]

[dragonaught]

How many suits do you guys have here?

[ It's not a no. ]

[highprofilerichkid]

[That makes Tony chuckle.] Just the two we came with.

I've got more at home, but Keeliai doesn't really have the technology level I need to make more. Hatal might come close, but they've... gone in sort of a different direction than my world, technologically speaking. Not sure I'd be able to pull together some of the more specialized components. I'd have to re-engineer a lot of things with their tech in mind. [Tony, they didn't even ask. They just want to look at dragons.]

[dragonaught]

[ They didn't ask, but they are interested. ]

Isn't that assuming you'd have to make it exactly as it was before? Why not just... integrate instead of reinvent? Or is that not possible?