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uno » open: accidental video.

[ his broadcast is the result of unintentional button mashing, his face appearing both upside down and too close to the screen when it's first flipped on. then he's lurching away and dropping the device into the grass at his feet, startled by the screen when it lit up. it gives the network a good, unobstructed view of a man in clothing that clearly belongs to another century. heavy fabrics and leathers with ornate patterns stitched and engraved into them, the hilt of a sword with a bright red scarf dangling from the end, and the curved tooth of a pendant dangling from a thin chord around his neck.

it takes a moment for him to step back up to the device, curiosity overriding fear as he kneels next to wear it has fallen. now his image is sideways and remains that way until he reaches down — hesitantly — to grab it, successfully turning his image upright. ]

What is this? [ he holds it up, above his head, as if illuminating the translucent surface with the sun's rays will offer a better explanation. a thick, distinctly italian accent clings to his voice when he speaks. ] Why— I don't understand. What purpose does this serve?

[ marco gives it a good shake in a poor attempt at jostling answers free. had he not ran from the sudden appearance of weiss schnee's hologram or taken a moment to read over the pamphlet he stuffed into his belt, he'd have a better idea of what this was, nevermind how he came to be in this strange, foreign land. alas, he's currently engaged in a losing battle with a smartphone, and if someone doesn't intervene soon, it runs the risk of becoming forever lost to the shallow depths of garden park's duck pond. ]

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[ he can indeed. marco is a very observant person and is often sent on missions by the khan for the sole purpose of reporting back with what he saw, as he saw it. thus, her amusement does not escape him and he gets the distinct feeling that this "phone" is something everyone knows how to use and is comfortable with. (everyone but him.) ]

Yes, the pod and the river. I don't see how I came to be in either. Karakorum is a good ride from the Orkhon.

Edited 2016-07-21 13:37 (UTC)

[She feels bad for laughing but it isn't that he doesn't know what a phone is. It's just the fumbling. When she first arrived she had tripped out of the pod and into the pool of water so she really isn't one to talk about fumbling.]

I don't think anyone is sure of the how's.

[Airy frowns.]

I haven't heard of any of those places.

[A slightly awkward silence falls before Airy quickly speaks again. Her words leaving her lips in a quick rush.]

Not that it means anything I've only traveled a short distance before and I mostly walked and I don't really know a lot about going places... I'm Airy.

Not many of our kind have. [ europeans. the united states doesn't exist yet, the new world still untouched by the threat of european colonization.

he nods to the screen, a polite gesture of acknowledgement. ] I am Marco Polo, an emissary of the great Kublai Khan.

Edited 2016-07-21 13:55 (UTC)

[When he say's 'our kind' Airy flinches. It's the sort of phrasing she's heard before though it rarely has positive connotations with it. She exhales a slow breath and silently reminds herself that she isn't currently in her world and she shouldn't worry about it.

She's going to worry anyway but she'll continue to try not to.]

Wait... Marco? Like the traveler? [Every time someone says Marco she'll softly be whispering Polo in her head.] ...Polo.

Do you like swimming?

[ while he is, unfortunately, a product of his era, he hadn't meant anything negative by his phrasing. merely fact, for there are few europeans that have ventured as far down the silk road as marco has. those who make the journey often do not return. even without whatever sort of displacement is going on here, he would not find it surprising to learn that mongolian cities and rivers were unheard of among those from venice, italy, and other known countries in the west.

and when such unsavory phrasing is spoken, it is often in reference to him. marco is the strange-looking foreigner, not the other way around as one might think. ]

You have heard of me? [ his brows furrow together in open confusion. he jests about being this "great explorer," but that couldn't be far from the truth. he's hardly explored anything since coming into the khan's service. ] I can, but I wouldn't call it an enjoyable activity.

[ swimming usually involved toppling overboard into the frigid waters of the ocean while at sea. he's not fond of it (or proud of how many times his awkward, teenage self went overboard). ]

Edited 2016-07-21 14:53 (UTC)

[Airy feels heat rise to his cheeks when she realizes that she probably sounds very creepy. She can't very well reply with 'yeah, you're a beloved childhood game of mine' and she doubts any way to recover will work.]

Sort of... [Smooth.]

You don't like swimming? I mean for fun not for... other reasons you swim.

[She's pretty sure that she can't possibly sound more awkward than right now.]

Sort of? [ he wonders how, especially when it's him she knows of and not his father or uncle.

marco shakes his head. ] Why would I swim for fun when I am not fond of the activity in the first place?

Ah...

[Airy's lips close and for a second she looks confused.]

I don't know. I've never met anyone who doesn't like swimming. I mean it makes sense but even just sticking your feet in a pool feels nice on hot days.

[This is Airy's amazing skills at changing the subject.]

[ a chuckle. ] I cannot argue with that, but just because I enjoy sticking my feet in a trough does not mean I would like to swim in it.

[ noted, but he doesn't mind the subject change. it's an easier discussion topic at the moment. ]

The horses would not appreciate it.

[Airy smiles when he laughs.]

What if it was a very large trough? The horses can go for a swim too.

[She's only just learning how to ride a horse but they're big and that idea sounds almost scary.]

I assure you, horses enjoy swimming about as much as sailors do. And like sailors, they only do so when absolutely necessary.

[ like river crossings when it's absolutely necessary to get the herd from one side to another. as for riding, marco is an expert. he can ride at full gallop in heavy layers of armor, swinging a sword or shooting a bow. there was a time when he was bad at it and had difficulty remaining in the saddle, but life in the mongol court meant you either found yourself at home in a horse's saddle or got trampled by their hooves. ]

Edited 2016-07-21 17:43 (UTC)

Wouldn't a sailor like swimming? They spend all their time on the water. Also I bet horses are like people and some like to swim and some don't.

[She says that with a tone that suggests that she's very confident and yet has no idea what she's talking about. Airy's always had a unique way of looking at animals.]

[ marco actually laughs. what a remarkable perspective this girl has. ]

I take it you have never been at sea with nothing but the water around you, no land in sight. [ in a wooden vessel that pitched violently with each passing wave. ]

[Airy grimaces slightly.]

No, I haven't. I went to Rome once but that's the further and only time I've traveled over water.

[She isn't mentioning where she traveled from or the fact that it'd been by airplane.]

Would it be weird to ask what it's like on a boat? You can't drink salt water... does it really drive people crazy? Wait, is rum all sailors drink or is that just a pirate's thing? What about oranges at see?

You bring fresh water with you — plenty of supplies. Some have been known to lose their minds during such long, grueling voyages, but it is not the salt in the water that taints their minds. It's the isolation, the confinement. Knowing that you're far from land with nowhere else to go. That is enough to drive a man mad.

[ as for rum, pirates, and oranges: ] I have heard tales of pirates, but nothing of this... rum that you speak of. [ perhaps he sampled some while in tabriz (iran), but it was not called by that name. ] Oranges are eaten to ward off the effects of scurvy.

That sounds intense. I assure you that living underground isn't much better than being at sea. People might need land but you need sun too.

[She frowns slightly though it's only momentarily before she has her usual smiles spread across her lips.]

So hey, if I say Marco when I call you, will you reply with Polo? Just out of curiosity, there is no reason for this question. [Except that Airy is sort of a loser.] I like oranges but I don't know if I can eat them all the time. They're good with breakfast.

Why would anyone respond with their family's name when their given is called?

It'd be like a game. I can do it too.

[Not totally weird and awkward.]

So you'd say Airy and I'd reply with Miller.... okay, that is weird. Sorry I asked.

Say I play this game. What is the intended purpose?

[ very weird, totally awkward, and extremely fishy. marco may be naive at times, but he's not stupid— far from it. ]

Edited 2016-07-26 01:58 (UTC)

To make you smile.

[She isn't even lying.]

It's actually a game I used to play with my little brother. [Mentioning brought a ghost of a frown to her lips though it's quickly covered with a smile. Her family had been killed and while she loves talking about them the words still taste bitter on her lips.]

You'd say first name and reply with the last name. [His name but semantics.]

[ smile. marco thinks back to some of the more ridiculous antics he used to get up to in his youth with the other boys who aimlessly wandered the streets of venice... free of burden and responsibility, able to do whatever they pleased with the wild imaginations they had about them. a lot of those things were silly, foolish things that made no sense to an adult, but meant everything to a carefree youth.

he understands. sort of. even if he suspects that's not all that's to it, but what business is it of his to inquire that far with a new acquaintance? ]

I had no brothers when I was younger, but I suppose... [ a sigh, and he relents: ] Airy?

We usually play in a pool of water. [She begins to explain as if she has to defend her reasoning for bringing it up in the first place. It's only when he says her name that she blinks into the video feed.]

Yes?

[She feels like she's done something wrong, perhaps because people rarely actually call her by her name.]

Why ask me to play a game whose rules you do not follow?

[She blinks again.]

Rules?

[Airy hasn't thought this all the way through. She is impulsive at times and she'll most likely be digging her own grave with this line of inquiry. He looks very serious.]

I don't remember mentioning rules and I don't remember saying that they had to be followed. The point of any game is to have fun, right?

If you are not going to follow the structure of this game as you have outlined it, then neither shall I.

[ so much for getting him to say "polo" in response to his first name being called. you almost had him doing it, airy. almost. ]

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