[video]

[highprofilerichkid]

[A dark-haired kid who seems to be in his late teens appears on screen. He smiles, but it looks a bit forced.]

Hey. Tony Stark. [He gives a small wave.] I just... got here, I guess, and got the rundown on the whole scary death chaos monster situation. And all the giant magic turtle stuff. Sounds like a good time. [He laughs awkwardly, and rubs the back of his neck.] Better than centipede monster void dimensions, at least, [he mutters. This is not the first time he’s been suddenly yanked into a different dimension, evidently.]

Anyway, uh, if anyone needs some tech stuff or heavy lifting done, hit me up. I haven’t had a chance to take a close look at the tech here yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. [He seems to brighten a little at the prospect of new alien technology to play with.

He looks like he’s about to cut the feed, but then he hesitates. There’s a couple seconds of anxious silence, and he fidgets, his cheerful demeanor faltering even more.] And, um, just out of curiosity... When they send us back home, there’s... There is something to go back to, isn’t there? [He laughs, but it’s nervous, like he’s not sure he wants to know the answer.] Nobody would really give me a straight answer, but... They’re not going to send us back if we’re just about to... Well, you know, get blown up or something. Right? I mean, that would be pretty messed up.

Comments

[skeletonenigma]

[Dryly:] Very exciting, I imagine.

[Valkyrie's mentioned something of the sort several times, anyway.]

I'll bet. I can guarantee you, though, that this - [he points to his own false face] - is not a hard light hologram. [And he knows for a fact that the magic's creator would take very hard offence to the suggestion that she had used anything but pure magic. Especially technology of any kind. Artists were strange that way.] It's magic.

[highprofilerichkid]

Sure. Same principle, though. [Hard light is hard light, no matter how it's generated. Whether you call it a sologram or a tangible illusion, the end result is the same.

But Skeleton Man is very insistent about the magic. Is he actually serious...? People keep mentioning magic in this offhand way, like Harry Potter wand-waving is a fact of everyday life here.

He's going to ask Aya about this. She seems to be the tech-savviest foreigner he's met so far. Surely she'll be able to tell him how much of this "magic" is just very advanced technology and how much of it is... something else.]

[skeletonenigma]

Same principle? [His head tilts.] Are you trying to claim that solid light holograms and magic are the same thing?

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony shrugs.] Different mechanisms, maybe. But light behaving a certain way is what it is, even if you can get it to act that way through a bunch of different methods. A holographic projector and... magic are still producing the same image, right? It's not like you're using an entirely different kind of photon or something.

[Magic. It's going to be very frustrating if people around here wave their hands and say "magic!" at anything unusual or unexplained. That sounds way too much like, "it's too complicated, you wouldn't understand." Whenever anybody had said that to Tony in the past, they'd invariably been wrong.]

[skeletonenigma]

[He inclines his head, visibly impressed. Skulduggery doesn't know very much about physics in general, but he knows enough to understand what Tony is talking about - particularly since sorcerers have become more and more interested lately in trying to answer those very same questions.]

True. There's a very good chance the sort of magic I use has a firm basis in what we know about the natural world. [He clicks his fingers to summon a flame into his palm.] Magic provides the energy, but I can't do this from nothing. I need heat, or a spark.

[highprofilerichkid]

Unless you're in a universe without causality or physical constants, everything has to follow natural laws. If something doesn't seem like it's following the rules, it just means you don't know all the rules yet.

[Tony's eyes widen at the fireball, and he gets a thoughtful look on his face.] "Magic" must just be a different way to naturally manipulate physical forces. There are people in my universe who can do things like that without technology because of their biology, so... maybe in some universes that's easier, or there are different ways to access that type of ability.

[Okay, magic's not so hard to wrap his head around when he frames it like that.]

[skeletonenigma]

[He shrugs.] I don't claim to know all the rules. I only know what I'm capable of doing, and that if a scientist were to get a hold of it back in my world, I'd be locked away for study.

[At least until his friends broke him out.]

Do you have an explanation for my being dead, then?

[highprofilerichkid]

Man, [Tony chuckles,] I still don't have an explanation for how a skeleton can have a consciousness without a brain. Don't ask me how death works in your crazy skeleton universe. There are enough wacky rules about death in this universe that I still have to figure out. Get back to me in a few weeks and maybe I'll have some theories for you.

[skeletonenigma]

[He's a young and slightly less crotchety version of Kenspeckle Grouse. It's almost adorable. It certainly makes Skulduggery chuckle.] In that case, I'll get back to you in a few weeks. Glad I could be of service.

[highprofilerichkid]

['Scuze u Skul, he is an eighteen-year old billionaire genius superhero adult, he is not "adorable." Yes he is, he's such an adorkable little nerd boy, bless him.]

Sure thing, Skeleton Man. Thanks for the, uh... "Magic 101" lesson. I guess I'll see you around. [It's not a very big city, and a dapper-suited animate skeleton isn't exactly easy to overlook.]