meloncan
Canned Melon
@Rowknan
Lancer (False)
Near the Bell Tower of Xi'an
A clean lens makes for better shots.
Clean your camera lens to keep taking great picture.
"I already did that…"
The tall, dark beauty of a foreign woman with splotchy brown hair frowned from behind her mask at the object in her hand. It was a black tablet that fit in the hand, shaped like a small slate and smooth as if picked out of a river. The front face, she could hardly tell if it was polished stone or glass (apparently it was modern glass) and lit up when pressed in certain places. A transcendentally useful gadget of the modern era that contained the skills and knowledge of the most fabled libraries and an entire retinue of servants and slaves. Including the ability to complain.
"I don't think it is the lens. I think it's just…" she looked up at the bright red, green and yellow Bell Tower of Xi'an, past the buildings that backdropped it, to the foul gray air above, "...China."
It was no wonder that more of the throngs of people around her wore masks over their mouths and noses than not. She also wore one just to fit in. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It was one thing to have cities be greater and taller in this era but she could never have imagined, short of a fire, air so polluted that it cast an oppressive gray mist from the ground to the sky, obscuring the heights of all but the nearest towers.
"Well, this certainly is an awkward setting already. Stuck deep in enemy territory, for sure with less support than anyone else. Welp. May as well enjoy it until we lose. At least the Archer won't be able to see straight in this aerial goop."
Lancer gave up on the lens and just took the picture. It wasn't perfect. Whatever. The mobile phone had other functions as well. Theoretically, it would buzz if someone wanted to contact her and knew her number; almost like the device's True Name. Of course, the only one with that was Master and she would contact her telepathically if needed. In that respect, this thing still fell far short of even basic magecraft, even though that art had itself decayed significantly since her day. The phone could also act as a window to some kind of invisible city - one that put this and all other cities in the material world, now or in the past, to complete shame. And maybe even more amazing than that was the fact everyone around her had one of these tablets. Living in this era for a lifetime must be a strange experience. To have such wealth, yet be stuck in the flesh, able to only see it through this tiny, polished Window to the Otherland.
"So this is the Bell Tower of Xi'an huh…"
According to the library accessed by her phone, this was built over six hundred years ago. Now, all the buildings around it were taller and mightier but the people still prized it because it was old and different. It was an odd sentiment. Actually, to her, the most impressive in sight was neither the 'tower' nor the bigger buildings all around, but the road that circled it, joining the traffic from four great avenues. The flow of cars and trucks was constant. Plenty of rulers in the past had built great edifices of stone and timber, only for them to lie empty save for a few priests and guards. Bustling traffic, on the other hand, was a matter of their subjects' day to day lives. In that way, this era was strange, dystopian, but undeniably prosperous.
Lancer took the last pastry out of a bag, bit off most of it and threw the rest to the ground, where the birds were onto it immediately, before binning the bag. With her other hand, she held the phone and kept reading up on the history.
"They even moved it a kilometer as the city center moved... That's impressive... Legends of the Bell Tower… A dragon huh? Well wouldn't that be a thing. I've half the mind to see if it's true." She paused, half expecting to be interrupted by a telepathic message. Maybe she would be, but until then… Lancer strode towards the entrance. She might as well enjoy the sights before the fighting got out of hand.
Lancer (False)
Near the Bell Tower of Xi'an
A clean lens makes for better shots.
Clean your camera lens to keep taking great picture.
"I already did that…"
The tall, dark beauty of a foreign woman with splotchy brown hair frowned from behind her mask at the object in her hand. It was a black tablet that fit in the hand, shaped like a small slate and smooth as if picked out of a river. The front face, she could hardly tell if it was polished stone or glass (apparently it was modern glass) and lit up when pressed in certain places. A transcendentally useful gadget of the modern era that contained the skills and knowledge of the most fabled libraries and an entire retinue of servants and slaves. Including the ability to complain.
"I don't think it is the lens. I think it's just…" she looked up at the bright red, green and yellow Bell Tower of Xi'an, past the buildings that backdropped it, to the foul gray air above, "...China."
It was no wonder that more of the throngs of people around her wore masks over their mouths and noses than not. She also wore one just to fit in. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It was one thing to have cities be greater and taller in this era but she could never have imagined, short of a fire, air so polluted that it cast an oppressive gray mist from the ground to the sky, obscuring the heights of all but the nearest towers.
"Well, this certainly is an awkward setting already. Stuck deep in enemy territory, for sure with less support than anyone else. Welp. May as well enjoy it until we lose. At least the Archer won't be able to see straight in this aerial goop."
Lancer gave up on the lens and just took the picture. It wasn't perfect. Whatever. The mobile phone had other functions as well. Theoretically, it would buzz if someone wanted to contact her and knew her number; almost like the device's True Name. Of course, the only one with that was Master and she would contact her telepathically if needed. In that respect, this thing still fell far short of even basic magecraft, even though that art had itself decayed significantly since her day. The phone could also act as a window to some kind of invisible city - one that put this and all other cities in the material world, now or in the past, to complete shame. And maybe even more amazing than that was the fact everyone around her had one of these tablets. Living in this era for a lifetime must be a strange experience. To have such wealth, yet be stuck in the flesh, able to only see it through this tiny, polished Window to the Otherland.
"So this is the Bell Tower of Xi'an huh…"
According to the library accessed by her phone, this was built over six hundred years ago. Now, all the buildings around it were taller and mightier but the people still prized it because it was old and different. It was an odd sentiment. Actually, to her, the most impressive in sight was neither the 'tower' nor the bigger buildings all around, but the road that circled it, joining the traffic from four great avenues. The flow of cars and trucks was constant. Plenty of rulers in the past had built great edifices of stone and timber, only for them to lie empty save for a few priests and guards. Bustling traffic, on the other hand, was a matter of their subjects' day to day lives. In that way, this era was strange, dystopian, but undeniably prosperous.
Lancer took the last pastry out of a bag, bit off most of it and threw the rest to the ground, where the birds were onto it immediately, before binning the bag. With her other hand, she held the phone and kept reading up on the history.
"They even moved it a kilometer as the city center moved... That's impressive... Legends of the Bell Tower… A dragon huh? Well wouldn't that be a thing. I've half the mind to see if it's true." She paused, half expecting to be interrupted by a telepathic message. Maybe she would be, but until then… Lancer strode towards the entrance. She might as well enjoy the sights before the fighting got out of hand.
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