Visiting post for Autor

[guppy_sandhu]

Because someone took a twenty foot tumble off a flying carpet, Autor has been in overnight for head injury observation.

Feel free to come pester him when he wakes up. Or draw on his face while he sleeps, whatever works.

Comments

[herr_bookman]

Autor hesitates. He told Guppy because he felt he had to. He doesn't have to tell Enzo. "I... fell off my flying carpet," he says, shrugging without aggravating his sore arm. He holds the pack against his cheek with his good hand. "Thanks for the ice."

[a1enzo]

"Doesn't it have anything to prevent that? Like a seatbelt spell or something? Or were you knocked off?"

[herr_bookman]

"Seatbelt?" Autor says, blinking. He glances away. "And no, I wasn't. I, ah, fell asleep. So the carpet fell. One moment I was flying and the next I was on the ground."

[a1enzo]

Enzo rolls his eyes and mouths 'augh.' "Well... don't do that! Lesson 0 of BASIC flight safety, dude: don't fly tired."

[herr_bookman]

"I am aware of that," Autor says quietly. He doesn't add 'now'; there's no need. This reaction is precisely why he didn't want to tell Enzo.

[a1enzo]

Enzo sighs and takes a deep breath. "Sorry. I've had this stuff drilled into me when I was little. Even then you don't really get it until you have an accident."

[herr_bookman]

"Well, yes and no," Autor says, furrowing his brow. "It's not the first time I've fallen off. I should know better than that. But what's done is done, and thankfully the consequences will only last a week or so."

Annoying, but impermanent, and not overwhelming. Autor will take it.

[a1enzo]

"Yeah, it could be a lot worse. Still, maybe you should have a seatbelt spell. There's gotta be something someone can do."

[herr_bookman]

"Yeah, what is a seatbelt? I assume it's a belt that goes over the seat, but I'm getting this from context, so..."

Truthfully, he's only been in a car once, and that when it wasn't moving.

[a1enzo]

"It's a standard safety feature in cars. It's a belt that's attached to the car and you buckle it across your lap, and there's usually another one that goes like this." He gestures diagonally down his chest. "So if you crash or stop really suddenly, you don't go flying forward and smash into the windshield."

[herr_bookman]

"Huh. That would be rather useful on the carpet," Autor says, thinking of how that might work. "Thanks for the suggestion, Enzo. I'll look into that. I'll have to write Mia."

[a1enzo]

Enzo nods. "There's also airbags. That's like a big balloon that if there's an impact, it inflates really fast in front of you to cushion you. Maybe something like that. A fall-breaking spell."

[herr_bookman]

"That would be useful," Autor says, furrowing his brow. "I have a floatatation potion in my sylladex, but that would require my being awake enough to pull it out, uncork it, and drink it--and I may not have that much time, either."

[a1enzo]

"Yeah, the whole point of safety features is they're automatic. Even if you're not asleep, things happen fast in an accident."

[herr_bookman]

Autor nods. "Makes sense. I bet I can calculate how fast it took me to fall from twenty feet up. An automatic safety feature would be nice."

[a1enzo]

"1.115 seconds in free fall. Longer if you and the carpet fell together, but I don't have a formula for that."

[herr_bookman]

Autor blinks. "Shiva wept, that was fast! How did you get that? I'd have to look up the formula."

[a1enzo]

"I already knew it, √(2d/g). And I'm a computer program. Math's an automatic function for me, like breathing."

[herr_bookman]

"That is so neat," Autor breathes. He raises his right arm to adjust his glasses, but then regrets it mightily. "Ah! Ow. So you can just... do whatever math problem you have the formula for? How do you get new ones?"

[a1enzo]

"Learn them, same as you." Though it's very possible sprites have an easier time remembering them.

[herr_bookman]

"Good point," Autor says, nodding. "But I wouldn't be able to go through a formula like that in my head. That's really impressive--and useful, I bet. If you had watched my fall, would you be able to calculate it then, or--wait, well, you'd probably have other things on your mind."

[a1enzo]

"Probably."

[herr_bookman]

Autor shrugs with his good arm. "Anyway, thanks for visiting, Enzo."

[a1enzo]

"You're welcome."

Visiting, doing his job, haranguing... you say potato...