text ↪ un: dostoevsky

[dissemblance]

Can we all take a moment to admire the fact that 2801 technology still supports emoji functionality? 🤩 👍 🕷 💁 🩰 💫 🍆 🧊 💅 👁‍🗨 🎯 🤡 🔋 🐈 💲 🧙‍♀️ 🐦💋 🐜 👽 🕶 ⚡ 🕵🏻‍♀️ 💦 💦 💦

It seems like they're pretty set on calling us 'Hatchlings', so... hello, fellow Hatchlings, I'd like to play a game.

Two truths and a lie. I'll start.

  ① Starbucks makes the best lattes.
  ② I've never watched All Dogs Go To Heaven all the way through.
  ③ My birthdate is May 21st. What year? Every year. 😉😉😉 But my party in 2018 was 🔥🔥🔥.

Comments

[neversmall]

[ OK, the best thing about this is that Nina doesn't need an exact translation of any of those things to get the feeling behind it. This is fun!

It's nice to be able to have fun, people rarely indulge her silliness this long. ]

😁🤸‍♀️🤸🏾‍♂️💥🎉🎊🎇😁

[unclesam]

[ This is just utterly delightful. And if they can indulge each other, all the better. ]

🤣🤹🏾‍♂️🤹🏻‍♀️🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇✨

[ oh look, he found the waffles for her ]

[neversmall]

Waffles!

[ Her FAVORITE.

You're gonna make her break out her first heart emojis, Sam. ]

😍💞💞💞🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇🧇❣

[ ...yup, there they were. Matthias loses to waffles once again, he'll just have to deal. ]

[unclesam]

[ He actually puts a hand on his chest and has a moment to lean back and just laugh. Way to brighten his day, Nina. ]

🤩🐦💌🎁🧇🎁🧇🎁🧇🤩

[neversmall]

[ ...the bird... sends the present of the waffles?

Oooooooooooooooooh man, she *wishes*. She somehow doubts there's even a waffle-*maker* in this world.

That's okay, though (it is not okay. it will never be okay. she misses real food So Much.), this has been so much fun. ]

‼😍😂🤣🙏💭🧇💭💌💭💞💃😃

[unclesam]

[ he sends her a picture now, an actual one. It shows Redwing, his drone, hovering mid-air in the basecamp. So the message reads as follows: ]

[ picture ] = 🐦
👨🏿‍🦲🧇➡🐦🧇➡👩🧇=❌😭 ➡ 🐉🧇❌
👨🏿‍🦲🎁➡🐦🎁➡👩🎁=✅🥳
👨🏿‍🦲💌➡🐦💌➡👩💌=❌😭 ➡ 💭🤫

[ let her puzzle that one out. He can't give waffles to Redwing to send to her, because the dragon camp doesn't have waffles. He can give Redwing other items to send to her. He can't send her messages through Redwing, but he has secret plans and thoughts regarding that. ]

1/2

[neversmall]

[ uM?!?!?!?!?!?! ]

[neversmall]

[ Okay, so that strange... flying thing - goodness, the Shu Han would eat their own eyeballs to have technology like that - equals the bird. Simple enough.

So Sam would send waffles via the strange flying thing so that she wouldn't have to be sad, but unfortunately the dragon... has no waffles.

Got that.

Next line seems... like she's not sure she's reading it right, because honestly, why would he, but... it seems like he's saying he can send her other things through the strange flying thing so that she can...

...honestly, so that she can be happy? Just for fun? Something. Strange, but it makes sense.

The envelopes confuse her for a moment, but they're clearly not presents because the present was a present so... sending a message with the strange flying thing... except they can't or equals not being sad, but... thoughts of... something?

She stares down at the machine and laughs again, shaking her head. If she's reading it right, this man is unbelievably kind. That kindness fits into her framework of how the world works with less precision than taking shelter in a a giant dragon carcass. ]

🐉➡😁😮➡👨🏿🤜🏿✨🤛👩

[ This dragon camp has lead to a happy surprise of meeting him. It feels strange to say that, not as part of a ploy; Nina's learned to keep any such vulnerabilities quite close. But she'd be downright ungrateful if she didn't thank Sam for enabling her further with these emojis and, regardless of anything else, that's enough to take the risk.

... ]

💓🎁💓💌

[ She also loves presents and messages, so she'll... take them. ]

[unclesam]

[ He can't quite tell her that as he doesn't know what's going on in her head, but damn if he wouldn't be proud of her for figuring it out to that extend.

Still, Sam's absolutely liberating some paper to scribble a small note. He has Redwing pinch it carefully with his little grappling cuff, and then sends the drone scurrying off. ]

🐦➡➡➡🐦💌👩

[ And shortly after, a soft whirr and chirping sound will alert Nina to Redwing's arrival - once the drone manages to find her, that is.

The note delivered reads:

'Hey Nina, this is Redwing. He's cute! If he sees you, I can see you. Redwing can't make waffles, so have a bad drawing of waffles instead. You're doing amazing with the pictures! Sam'

And under that message is a... questionable waffle doodle. An attempt was made. ]

[neversmall]

[ ...the flying machine is going to find her now, is that it?

Well. Let's not think too much of the military applications of this sort of technology, and how difficult it would be to hide from something that can see you from the air and report back to someone beyond your range.

...nope. She's thinking about it. She's definitely... thinking about it. And as she's curious to determine the type of abilities the flying machine has, she doesn't leave the theater to make it easier for it to find her.

It manages to find her anyway. Through the wall.

Well.

That's something.

Nina's very glad they're not fighting a war here.

Redwing hovers around her with the note between its... feet? Hands? ...metal brackets? What a fascinating thing! And Nina can't help but - somewhat ludicrously, since she did just see the drone fly through the doors, wave her hand slowly above it as if checking for strings. No strings. Okay.

A little cautiously, Nina reaches out to take the note. She sees the doodle of the waffle first and smiles at it. Then the whatever-it-is-that's-in-their-head-that-translates-words works its magic and she reads Sam's message.

Oh, he can see her? She looks up, smiles, and waves at Redwing.

Fortunately, there are some pencils involved with the whole set-building thing she's doing, so she snags one, flips the paper over, and writes:

'Hello, Sam! Redwing is very cute. I have never seen anything like him before. The pictures are very fun. Thank you for sharing with me all the ways they can be used! - Nina.' There is a small :) to accompany it, as she is just basically copying from the emojis she sees on the phone. The note is then placed in Redwings... metal... pinions... what? and Nina returns her attention to the children who want very badly to touch the drone but are not tall enough. ]

[unclesam]

[ Yeah, Redwing is a bit of a walking privacy violating if Sam wants to abuse him. But Nina's also got the right idea - after all, Sam mainly uses the drone as mission backup. Incredibly helpful to figure out how many people are gonna be shooting at you before you walk into the room.

For now, Redwing flies a fast circle around Nina and the kids, does a looping, and then zooms off as fast as he'd appeared, tracking back to Sam to deliver the response.

Redwing doesn't return, but Sam laughs reading the message, and immediately texts Nina: ]

alright, you are officially my favorite person on this planet
🤩💐🧇👸

[neversmall]

[ Saints, what an (unmerited?) compliment! Sam's enthusiasm is so genuine and appealing, and it's so strange to be Received as she is by... anyone, but especially by someone who is not a Grisha. Granted, she is still curating the Nina Experience (tm) carefully, and she usually uses honey rather than vinegar, but this is still... she's not sure how to deal with this, exactly? It's so foreign to her experience?

So she just shakes her head and responds with gleeful acceptance: Yes, she is the winner, and yes, so is he for having the good taste to proclaim that she is the winner; also, he's pretty neat himself. ]

🥇🏆👧😂😀👨🏾‍🦲🏆🥇