18104/How do sea creatures make calls

How do sea creatures make calls
Date of Scene:	29 May 2024
Location:	Ruby Cove
Synopsis:	Eddie designs custom clothing and a waterproof cell phone for Elas! The friendship between the two deepens. Oh, and did you know that there are sea witches???
Cast of Characters:	Kid Devil, Elas

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Kid Devil has posed:
    It's another lovely afternoon on this quiet stretch of Happy Harbor's beach. The mid-day tide is rolling out in between the lapping of waves across the shore.
    The air rips open suddenly, a flaming ring almost three meters above the sand, and a red shape comes tumbling out. Kid Devil yelps as he tries to correct his course in mid-air only to end up face-down, ass-up in the sand. The tail flicks with very evident agitation.
    Slowly Eddie pulls himself out and tries to dust off, hopefully before anyone notices. Beside him a crate has landed, about the size of a picnic basket.

Elas has posed:
Despite the mildly chilly afternoon air Elas is sitting cross-legged in the sand wearing only a pair of shorts (no blood smears this time). He seems unfazed by the temperature, which tracks because Atlantis is in the North Atlantic, and the North Atlantic is cold.

Probably unseen by Eddie, when the flaming portal appears a broad smile crosses Elas' face, making his eyes sparkle energetically. And when the devil boy plops face down in the sand, the Atlantean rolls backwards and starts full-on laughing. Apparently slapstick is a universal form of comedy.

Finally, the young noble stands and moves toward his friend. "Edward, you have powers that are magical, like a sorcerer. You should visit my home city of Poseidonis. Our Conservatory of Sorcery is considered the best in the world."

Kid Devil has posed:
    Kid Devil is mildly vexed to have been spotted in his distress, but the luminous blush is fleeting this time. Soon he grins instead, flashing fang with a merry ease. "Hi!" he calls. "I wasn't sure if you'd make it." He carries on dusting off, ruffling his hair to loosen more particles, even jostling a finger in one pointed ear to nudge out a little more sand. Finally he thrashes his tail once or twice to fling the remaining gritty residue off.
    Once he's finished all this odd sort of ritual he gathers up the box and starts coming closer. "I would love to see it some time! But I'm not a sorcerer, not really. These are technically Einstein-Rosen bridges induced by the thermal hyper-excitation of entangled quarks. Sometimes the targeting is a little off; this is farther than I usually go, to somewhere I'm not too familiar with." He shrugs-- hah-- amiably. "How're you doing? Traumatized anymore crabs lately?"

Elas has posed:
When Eddie goes into his brief explanation of how he teleports, Elas' eyes sort of glaze. He blinks a few times. "Oh," is all he can manage. He didn't understand a word of it. "Well maybe they can help you untangle the quarks?" he suggests.

"I do not traumatize crabs," he objects mildly. "Crabs are small and delicious and they are for eating. There are frightening beasts in the deep places of the sea that would eat me if they could. But I am too smart and fast for them." His eyes glitter. He likes the idea of being smart and fast and a difficult meal to catch. He sits back down in the sand. "Will you tell me about your journeys since we last spoke, Edward?" His voice is crisp and gentle.

Kid Devil has posed:
    "They're entangled on purpose. It's like, a mirror? You want your reflection to move a certain way, so you turn the other way, right?" Kid Devil really tries, mainly because he can't help himself. "But I'd love to meet them! There's no telling what I might learn, and your culture is so interesting..."
    The mention of things in the ocean depths is indeed worrying. But intriguing. "Now there's something I could do some research on. Like, how many of those are mythological influences? That's more anthropology and stuff than I normally do, but wow! So neat. And benthic biology has so many inspirations for material science, too. The heat and pressure they can take, it's amazing!"
    "But, still, I'm glad you're so quick. I'd hate for you to get bitten."
    He doesn't even blush when he says it, as if he couldn't possibly have meant anything indecent.
    Eddie comes over to the designated spot and plonks the box down onto the sand. It opens at the tap of a few controls, the lid sliding open from a hidden seam and folding down the sides. The chilly inside is lined with red and white gingham fabric and several smaller containers of ingredients and spices.
    But first, Kid Devil grabs two other objects out and moves them hastily behind his back. "*My* journeys have been several hours of designing and printing. It took seven prototypes and half a vat of print fluid, but I think I got it. Oh! I should have wrapped them," he thinks. "Do you wrap gifts, where you're from? It actually is a bit wasteful now that I think about it. And you guys have enough problems with all *our* litter down there, I can see why you wouldn't want to make more..." He only lets himself get distracted by this for a few moments before swinging his hands out in front. On one palm rests a small, neatly-folded rectangle of black fabric with a strange texture very similar to his own knee-length trousers.
    The other palm holds another rectangle, this one a round-cornered frame of black metallic substance wrapped around the edges of a hard, transparent sheet. It's the general size and shape of phones the other teenagers in town have, except it looks more like a framed sheet of glass.

Elas has posed:
Elas watches with interest as Eddie opens up the box. His eyes follow the teen devil's fingers as he open the container. Clearly he is utterly unused to this sort of device and it intrigue him to watch. "Wrap presents?" he queries. "I do not understand what that means, Edward. We give presents to our friends and family. I assume you do the same in your world."

The phone seems to be less interesting of the items to Elas. That tracks because he has literally never owned one before, or probably even known someone who has owned one. He picks up the black fabric and unfolds the shorts. His face lights up with undisguised enthusiasm. "Edward, these are wonderful." He rolls the cloth around in his fingers and hands. "It is so soft but so strong. You made these, yes?"

Kid Devil has posed:
    "Wrap, like, in paper? Fancy paper, to make it more of a surp--" But Eddie halts himself. "Not important. It's sort of a. A ceremonial thing. I'll do one later so you can see. But for now!" He jostles his hands to make his offering to the boy from under the waves.
    The fabric unfurls easily as it's picked up, spreading into-- of course-- a pair of shorts. The material has a kind of stretch without being like spandex; a firmness and support without being confining; a resilience of silk, while being waterproof (and fireproof, of course). And! There are pockets, both front and back.
    "Uh huh! I had to develop a material I could make my own clothes out of," he explains, "because everything kept-- uhh--" He blushes again for just a moment, then waves the memory aside. "Anyway, yes! I can print up basically anything with it. It's carbon, alloyed with a few metals, in a fluid substrate. Should be very breathable, it'll feel... feel like you're... uh..."
    Eddie purses his lips and puffs his cheeks out as he slowly exhales.
    Calm blue ocean.
    Everything's fine.

Elas has posed:
Keeping telling your self that Eddie.

"I love these!" Elas exclaims as he leaps happily to his feet. Standing right there on a public -- though, thankfully, secluded -- beach, the free-spirited Atlantean noble tugs off his shorts without a shred of modesty, momentarily in his birthday suit, before tugging on these wondrous new shorts. He twists and tugs them in a few different directions for a moment, each move inadvertently highlighting various...attributes. Finally he finds a comfortable fit and he beams at his friend. "Edward, they are wonderful! I cannot believe you made these for me! They are my favorite clothes!" He peers down at his trim, toned form. "How do they look?"

Kid Devil has posed:
    Eddie grins with undisguised delight that his gift was so well received. "Oh, good," he starts to say, "I was *pretty* sure I got your measurements right when I was, um, well anyway, the material should have some adaptive flexion and contraction to optimize... heywhatareyoudoingElas--"
    And before he can even look away it's all happening, his eyes going SO WIDE. And, maybe it's some trick of the light, but this time when he blushes it's almost like his *eyes* get brighter too. For an instant he loses all control of his temperature and... is he getting... shorter? No, he's just melting the sand under his feet and slowly sinking, a millimeter at a time.
    Fortunately he snaps out of it before he plunges too far. Though maybe diving entirely into the Earth wouldn't be the worst thing right now.
    With his eyes flickering like disco strobelights he shakes his head clear. "Uhhh, y-yeah, they look. Good. Great." *gulp*. "I think I got the fit pretty... pretty good."
    With his heartbeat thudding wildly in his ears Eddie forces himself to look back up with a broad, nervous grin. "I'm so glad you like them! I can, uh, I can make more stuff any time, if you'd like, but that seemed like something that was especially bothering you, so..."
    In his other hand the phone is still being subjected to a forceful grip. It's a good thing Eddie made it, because any *other* phone would probably have been crushed to powder just now.

Elas has posed:
When Eddie heats up enough to start literally melting his way toward the center of the Earth, Elas /has/ to back up. He is very sensitive to heat and he instinctively takes several backward steps to open up space between him and the furnace.

"Edward, you are melting all of the sand around you all of a sudden. And your heart is beating so fast and loud." Oh, is this a bad time to mention that Atlanteans have greatly enhanced senses? "Are you angry about something? I do not want to offend you. Whatever I did I am sorry."

Kid Devil has posed:
    "Huh?" Eddie mumbles.
    He glances down, yelping and backing away as he reasserts that control. The glass footprints remain, smoldering and steaming. "S-sorry, sorry, that, um..." Then he looks up again, aghast. "No! No, no, you didn't do anything wrong at all. Please. I just. I'm not used to some things, is all. It's not you! I promise." He even smiles, still nervous but entirely sincere.
    "Oh!" Kid Devil remembers distantly he has another gift to offer. He holds out the phone, a fairly odd slab of seemingly solid crystal wrapped around the edges with a seamless strip of grip-textured black metal. "It'll work with any wireless charger. I decided against any plugs, to keep it totally waterproof. Oh, I made some earbuds to go with it... did I forget to bring those? Dang it. Well, next time. Anyway! So the whole body is a synthetic diamond compound, wrapped with one of my alloy blends. Should survive depths up to, I don't know, several kilometers at least? I pressure tested it to the maximum my test chamber could do. It's got radios for every network, plus satellite, but if you're in *really deep* water you'll only be able to text since the shorter wavelengths don't penetrate down there."
    No, it's not a pun.
    He offers it, holding it by the edge so Elas can take it without making dangerous contact, and with his other hand he taps a button to turn it on.
    The transparent brick turns opaque black as a tiny cartoon demon scrambles across the screen, pitchfork and all, to pose in the middle and turn into the DevilOS logo. A few seconds later it fades into a typical mobile phone screen layout.
    He tilts his head to one side, finding his gaze pulled to the new shorts again. Must be a loose thread or something.

Elas has posed:
For the first time since they met, Elas is a bit uncertain. He watches Eddie carefully as he reaches out to accept the device. He is a stranger in a strange land right now, and perhaps one can sense that he doesn't know if he has made an error in judgement. But his natural state is to trust and show warmth. It's also why he is such a bad noble from a city as politically charged as Poseidonis.

"Thank you, Edward," he says more gently now, trying not to show any aggression. Still confused. "Will this phone let me send messages to you?" He turns it around and around in his hands, having not the slightest idea how to operate it.

Kid Devil has posed:
    Kid Devil is also anxious, in much the same way he has been in their last encounter but somewhat amplified. He breathes carefully, huffing out bursts of nervous, air-boiling steam while he tries to steady himself.
    Talking about gadgets is certainly helping! He looks up and grins that warm grin again, guilelessly letting his little demonic fangs show. "Of course! I hope you don't mind, I put myself in the contacts. And I added a button right on that screen for you to contact me-- the red circle with the horns, yeah? If you hit that... it should ask if you want to, um, text, or call, or video chat. And the question mark thing on the right side, that has a bunch of tutorials to show you how it works." Tutorials including videos, hours of videos he shot and edited... last night?
    He gnaws on his lip, wrestling with another impulse. Before he can stop himself he adds, "You can call any time, day or night."
    Mentally he's kicking himself for being so pushy but instead he puts on a smile again and says with sudden cheer, "That's what friends are for, right?"

Elas has posed:
The Atlantean's body language starts to soften again, becoming increasingly more relaxed. He was quite tense and stressed there for a moment, perhaps fearing that he misread this creature he met only recently. But now he is returning to baseline. He smiles at Eddie. "There are no classes until the autumn time so I can use this new phone whenever I wish. But during the school hours they are not allowed."

He gives the phone a squeeze as he peers warmly at the devil. "I like your pointed teeth," he comments. He reaches out to tap one of Eddie's fangs with one fingertip when the teen devil smiles, forgetting about the importance that top-worlders place on personal space. "They are very cute."

Kid Devil has posed:
    Eddie finally cools himself down and relaxes as well, with his tail swaying behind him in lazy whirls. "Well when you turn it off it doesn't really look like a phone anymore. But still, yeah, it's best to focus on school. And, hey, if you need help studying I can-- I can tutor some things. I assume Atlantis must even teach math a little differently, even if the underlying concepts are the same..."
    He rambles a bit as he looks away, only for his vision to catch that movement. He goes still, and lowers his heat as much as he can, to let Elas do whatever he's trying to do. "Hnngh? Mrgh tnngh?"
    The fangs are small enough to only really be noticeable when he grins, which he does a lot. They're maybe a little sharper than they appear.
    Predictably his cheeks light up with a yellow glow as Kid Devil replies, "Um, thanks, they're kinda... impractical sometimes. My tail, at least, can hold stuff." But still he manages another smile at the unexpected-- probably very unusual-- compliment.

Elas has posed:
Elas is much like a golden retriever both in his boundless energy and enthusiasm, and in the way he responds to other people's states. The mutual calming of energies has a noticeable effect on him. He taps on the phone to wake it up. He peers at Eddie with glittering, mischievous eyes, then back down at the phone. He presses the little devil icon and selects text message: "Thank you for this wonderful gift, Edward. I am grateful for your thoughtfulness and kindness." His texting is a bit like his spoken English: somewhat stiff, a little bit formal. He doesn't text like a top-worlder teenager. No 'lol' or 'wtf' of 'omg' or heart emojis.

He presses send.

Beaming and with eyes glittering he says, "I have sent my first phone message!"

Kid Devil has posed:
    Slowly, Eddie relaxes from the sharpest edge of his... let's call it 'agitation.' He looks on with delight while Elas works the device; an easy enough thing to do if one has seen other kids around with them. He doesn't guess, or pretends not to, what's happening exactly, and he looks properly surprised with he hears a flurry of bloops like a bubbly cartoon sound.
    So he peels open the pocket of his trousers and draws his phone out-- unsurprisingly a twin to the one he gave Elas-- and taps it to life. "Oh, I got a message!" he says with a laugh. "And it's from *you*. Well!"
    He even winks as he machineguns his thumbs across the phone to reply. << I never thought I would have a friend from underwater! This is going to be so much fun. >> and of course there's a whole set of custom emojis, the one attached here of a pixelated cartoon devil hugging a... merman.
    When he sends it, Elas' phone emits a fiery, crackling sound, because of course Eddie customized the notification noises.

Elas has posed:
The Atlantean watches Eddie check his phone with the sort of pride of someone who might have just cured cancer. This is a big deal for him! And when the teen devil says 'And it's from *you*' he bounces on the balls of his feet and lets out a childlike giggle. It's pure delight.

Then Eddie sends a message back. The noise his phone makes causes Elas to jump with startled mirth. His eyes go wide at the sight of the custom emoji and he laughs. "Many advisors in the Court told me to beware of the air breathers, that you were all ignorant and manipulative. I think that they were very wrong." Then he adds with a laugh, "My mother will be horrified to learn that I made friends with a devil!"

Kid Devil has posed:
    "Well, to be fair, some of us aren't so great," Eddie allows. "Buuuut I like to do what I can to make up for it. We're not all bad! And some of us are just drawn that way." He even strikes an ingenue pose, tail curled over his shoulder all shy-like. He holds it for all of five seconds before bursting into a laugh.
    He snickers at Elas and replies, "Hey, I'm sure she's met worse people from up here! And I can't be as bad as whatever devils you have down there, right? Besides, I have a feeling if I cause too much trouble she'll call *my* mom and then I'll never hear the end of it."

Elas has posed:
Elas returns to his sitting position in the sand. And he doesn't fidget in the least bit like he seemed to always be doing in the now-discarded pair of shorts he was previously wearing. A+ on the new pants!

"The sea witches of the sahuagin our some of the most evil creatures I know of," he intones with a voice that lowers in volume. "They perform experiments on living subjects and are hunted by all Atlanteans." He flashes a (fangless) grin at Eddie. "You are nothing like them, Edward."

At the mention of mothers calling mothers, Elas tips his head curiously to one side. "Is your mother pleased with you?" he inquires. "Is she proud of the inventions that you make?"

Kid Devil has posed:
    Eddie lifts a brow up. "Sea witches, now that does sound serious. Experiments... on people?" He squints, but drops down to sit comfortably enough. He has to sit straighter, or even a little forward, to adjust for his tail, but he manages. "Well, yeah, I don't experiment on *people*. That's wrong. Other than myself, but I'm pretty durable."
    He grins though at the twist in the conversation. "I think so? She complains, but I think she means well. Why don't I go get another degree. Why don't I start my own company. She always says I can do better, but it's... it's her way of making a compliment, you know? Being encouraging."