journal 🔶 goodnight sweet prince

[noblegarnet]

Sender: Ferran

[After about a day or two of dealing with the entire town changing suddenly and a little bit of anxiety regarding the following subject...]

So this is the second time I've found somebody in a dead sleep I can't get them out of, and I was wondering if anybody else has seen it happen? It doesn't seem like it hurts them or they need anything special, but it can be kind of alarming to come visit a friend and they're just lying there and won't wake up for days. For the record, the last time it happened, my friend came out of it fine as far as I know, but she's not here anymore, so I can't ask her more about it.

[It's probably a good thing he already went through this or the panic might have had... a very bad effect on him, as he is now. Anyway...!]

I guess if anybody needs Prince Hans, they'll have to take a rain check. I can take any messages for him.

And if someone could let me know how to take care of a horse, that would be great. I'd like him to not have to worry about his poor animal when he wakes up.

Comments

[noblegarnet]

[Even better! Ferran's got the whole charming aura and Eustace has the benefit of at least partial familiarity.]

Boarding?

[Eustace mentioned this earlier, and Ferran had already dismissed the idea in his head while not clarifying on paper. Well, he's sure they'll work it out, anyway.]

I just want to learn how to do it myself, honestly. Hans keeps him in his own space, so it feels better to try and keep things as normal as possible, you know?

[flamekthunder]

[...........Oh. Well then. There's a small look of surprise as he realizes his mistake, but he can quickly amend things.]

My mistake, I thought you would need him to be looked after by someone else. But this should still work out as they should be able to show you what to do and provide any supplies you might need. Even if Hans has some stock, without knowing how long he could be asleep it would be better to be prepared.

[noblegarnet]

I have way too much time on my hands to not feel bad about getting someone else to do it.

[Really, he has absolutely nothing to do day to day except bother his friends and walk around town. At least this will give him something to work towards.]

But yeah, we'll figure it out. [He sounds confident enough in the proclamation. After a second, he turns his gaze to Eustace.] Have you done much with horses before?

[flamekthunder]

Not extensively, but enough to know the basics.

[noblegarnet]

So I guess you've ridden before, huh?

[What with Eustace's growing canine army, he can imagine the guy riding forward as some kind of weird magical cavalry.]

[flamekthunder]

Aside from walking, wagons, and airships, it's the main method of transportation in my world. Even then it's dependent on the island as not all of them have horses or comparable steeds. Regardless, it's a skill that I knew I would need so I saw no reason to not learn.

[noblegarnet]

[Though Ferran nods in response to the reasonable answer, his attention is caught by another detail entirely, drawn away from the horse-related issues of present.]

What are your airships like? I mean—what are they made of, and how do they fly?

[flamekthunder]

The materials vary depending on the type of ship. Most common ships are made of wood with reinforced steel, but more modern ships particularly the military and speedships will be constructed mostly of steel and other stronger materials.

As for how they fly, they were historically made based of Astral engineering requiring though there have been modern advancements. I don't know the full specifics, but it's the technology and magic used in the engine that powers the ship and keeps it airborne.

[noblegarnet]

Wood, huh...

[And magic. So there's the potential that what he has in his head is accurate. He must know.]

So do they have, like, decks outside that you can stand on while they're flying?

[flamekthunder]

[A small nod.]

They do.

[noblegarnet]

That must be interesting.

[He's certainly been on boats before, but that's an entirely different experience from being in the air.]

Where I'm from, the only "airships" around are ones where you have to stay inside the whole time, because they move too fast. They used to have slower ones where you could stand outside as it moved, but... there was a disaster and they got a lot less popular.

[Which is a shame, if you ask him.]

[flamekthunder]

If a ship reaches a certain speed and height it's also advised to stay inside, but there's some magic to help shield against the windows and atmosphere.

What kind of disaster was it?

[Given the number of disasters that can happen he can take a few guesses.]

[noblegarnet]

Magic makes everything more convenient, it seems...

[And more confusing. But to answer Eustace's question:]

Well, the way it managed to stay in the air was using a specific kind of gas. Unfortunately, that gas was pretty flammable, and there was an accident where one of them ended up exploding. You can imagine how people would react to hearing about that.

[flamekthunder]

[There's just a high raise of his brows at that.]

...There are risks and sometimes catastrophic failures, but I've never heard of an airship made with flammable gas. That seems...unwise.

[To put it nicely.]

[noblegarnet]

[He shrugs.]

Eh, well. I think you could say that about a lot of history. Sometimes you don't know how badly things can turn out until they happen.

[flamekthunder]

Makes sense. So what are your airships like, then?

[noblegarnet]

Well, they're mostly made of metal with a flat pair of wings near the middle, and a T-shaped tail. The engine just uses fuel for combustion, and the shape of everything plus the speed keep it in the air. There's no magic to it.

[Ferran still appreciates a good bit of engineering, despite having magic.]

Because it has to go so fast, though, everybody has to stay inside. It's pretty rare to see the view. [Oh, right.] We call them airplanes.

[flamekthunder]

[......Huh.]

I've never heard of such a thing. You say they move fast... How fast?

[noblegarnet]

Uhh...

[Hm. He doesn't know the exact number or anything... but he does have a fun bit of trivia?]

The fastest ones can go three times the speed of sound? That's military only, though.

[flamekthunder]

[Eustace just stares at him in disbelief.]

Sorry, that's...hard to comprehend.

[Speedships can go fast, but faster than sound?]

[noblegarnet]

It does sound crazy, huh?

[Ferran can acknowledge that! But it does make him feel a little proud of where he's from.]

Most planes normal people fly in don't break the sound barrier, but they're definitely fast.

[flamekthunder]

If it's military, I can see some the necessity in speed. For long distance the fastest fleet would be military, but for shorter distance we have smaller speedships that are faster. They're mostly used for races or for emergency messages between islands.

[noblegarnet]

Interesting.

[Really, Ferran enjoys hearing about other worlds... at least, ones that aren't on the verge of destruction.]

So where you live, it's mostly islands?

[flamekthunder]

Floating islands.

There's some evidence that ancient civilization once lived on the surface, but that is no longer the case now as it has become desolate and inhospitable. We can't even see it from how high in the skies we are, and any airship that goes below a certain altitude will lose buoyancy and be unable to fly back up.

[noblegarnet]

[...... what was that he just thought about not being on the verge of destruction? He lets out a sigh.]

Why is every world facing some kind of apocalypse?