First Crash [Voice]

[broji]

Hello everyone. For those I haven't gotten the chance to meet yet, I'm Ginji. I wanted to apologize for the trouble I've caused this past week, and to thank you all for looking after my sister and me. We're grateful for your help.

[A thoughtful pause, and what sounds like pages being flipped through.] So I've been wondering, are there any other craftsmen or engineers in Luceti? Pilots? I figure if our worlds are different, then our technologies must be too. There's a lot we could learn from each other.

Comments

[i_speak_softly]

[Another prospective recruit for his science club? Don will certainly answer this. Anyway, it will be nice to have some conversation while he works on recovering all the computer files he deleted last week.]

I do a little engineering.

[broji]

[Ginji sounds interested at least. He's always enjoyed listening to people talk about what they're involved in and sharing his own ideas.] In what area? Back home we had people working on all sorts of different projects.

My own specialty is airships.

[i_speak_softly]

Well, I built a submarine - [Said as though this were an accomplishment of no particular merit.] - but what do you mean by an airship?

[broji]

Flying machines based on records from the Dawn Age. The ones we've been working on are 24 meters long by eight with a passenger capacity of about 20. I could get into specifics if you want.

[Curiosity.] So, what's a "submarine"?

[i_speak_softly]

Can you draw a picture? [Visual aids are always good!]

A submarine is kind of like a boat, but it's enclosed and pressurized and can go underwater.

Voice > Text > Voice

[broji]

Hm. I might be able to do that.

[Ginji switches to the text function on the journal and attempts to sketch out the Albiore within the printed square for writing messages. The result is something like this. (Original here.)]

So you're saying a submarine's a vehicle with underwater capabilities... [He's tapping the end of the pencil against his chin as he mulls this over.] Only it's pressurized to withstand high water pressure at low depths as opposed to how an airship would be pressured so its passengers can cope with low air pressure at high altitudes.

Voice

[i_speak_softly]

[That looks like a shelltastic otherworldly fighter jet. Don wants one.]

[He's also impressed at how quickly you grasped the principles of an invention you had apparently never heard of before.]

Exactly. Some submarines - submersibles - can go all the way down into deep-ocean trenches. [He laughs self-consciously.] Not mine, though...

Re: Voice

[broji]

[Unfortunately it has no ammunition, but it is capable of vertical takeoffs and landings, and it's surprisingly agile!]

[Ginji's never heard of a submarine, no, but he understands about pressure! The team once had to devise a way to lower a ship (and a plane) into their planet's core without it and its passengers being crushed. They sort of cheated and made use of their world's pseudoscience magic to achieve that, but hey.]

It's still quite a feat. We haven't really done much with underwater exploration yet. [Would it be possible to create something like that to study the planet's crust? The miasma? Hmn.] Besides, there's just something about working on and completing a project with your own hands that makes it worthwhile.

All our machines have been a team effort, but once I get back, I think I'd like to start working on plans for my own Albiore.

Voice

[i_speak_softly]

[ADD MISSILES. This makes everything better.]

[Ah, yes. Don remembers how much fun it was when his whole family pitched in to build the first Battle Shell.]

Your ship is the Albiore? Mine is the Shell Sub.

Voice

[broji]

[SOUNDS COOL. Only problem is they're trying to help promote peace, not start yet another war.]

[Yes! Family bonding at its greatest.]

Well, all three of them so far have been called the Albiore. It was Grandfather's idea.

[Have a note of approval.] The Shell Sub, huh? It's a good name.

Voice

[i_speak_softly]

[Sometimes the best defense is some serious heavy artillery.]

All of my vans are called the Battle Shell.

[... No, he doesn't notice that he is quite terrible at naming things.]

Does your Grandfather... build things with you?

Voice

[broji]

[Well, this is true. Anyone would hesitate if some old lady came at them with a flamethrower slung over her shoulder, right? Right? ...These are the sorts of people he grew up around.]

It sounds like your vehicles all share a strong outer body.

As for my grandfather, when he was younger he rounded up his classmates from the Royal Academy and some others who were interested and formed "Class M". Since our parents were always worrying about him doing something crazy, they'd drop my sister and me off at the Town Hall. But Noelle and I ended up helping out instead.

Grandfather always did like to be the one in charge, but it'd usually take all of us to finish the job. He's gone now, though.

Voice

[i_speak_softly]

[Right!]

I have a thing for armor. [And that's all he'll say about that.]

Oh... I'm sorry to hear that...

[broji]

It's never a bad thing to favor. [Lots of people make their livings designing and crafting armor.]

Yes, but I don't think Grandfather would be. He lived his dream, and he stood firm until the end. That's why I plan to help keep that dream alive for as long as I can.

[i_speak_softly]

[Don has something like that, though less directly.]

I'm Donatello. Will I see you around the smithy?

[broji]

It's good to meet you, Donatello.

And probably! A few days ago I was talking to Sokka about the possibility of helping out there.