kitty

[winkieprince]

...

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[incorporealkpryde]

“And you’ve just… stayed with random people? This is absolutely not the place for me to explain why there are serious risks doing that but remind me to do that at some point.” Which of course makes what he’s about to say more awkward but what kind of person would he be if he just left Fiyero to keep couch surfing?

“That won’t do. So we have two options. We can get you a hotel or you can come back to the Mansion and take one of those rooms until you find something more permanent. Or as long as you want. Whichever.”

[winkieprince]

"Not random! Just people I haven't known long." Specifically a bunch of drunk college boys who found him delightful and were a lot of fun to party with.

Fiyero has no money to steal, and he can in fact fight. He's tall and can be imposing. He's more of a threat to most people than the opposite, probably, right?

"The people at the Mansion, they're... strange, right?" he asks, not sure how to phrase that exactly.

[incorporealkpryde]

“Fiyero, you have no way of knowing who those people are. People here… sometimes they have really bad intentions.”

It’s not that Kitty doesn’t think Fiyero could handle himself, but in a world he doesn’t know, the level of trust he’s displaying is somewhat frightening.

“Mutants, yeah. People with a mutated gene that has resulted in the development of powers. We’re sometimes referred to as homosuperior.”

[winkieprince]

Fiyero is well aware that Kitty is probably right, and that he's got Fiyero's best intentions in mind, yet it's like a primal instinct of 'whatever, man' - the 'mindless and careless' mask being really ingrained in him - that forces Fiyero to roll his eyes just a little bit.

It's not like he hasn't thought the exact same thing, but then, what were his options? Acknowledging that Kitty's right would require acknowledging it's something he himself has been worried about, and he's been trying very hard not to worry, or share the worry.

He doesn't know what 'mutated genes' or 'homosuperior' means, but whatever. Also not worrying about that.

"Well, a hotel sounds comfortable and all, but it might be nice to be around people who won't be that surprised by.. You know, my lack of familiarity with this place."

[incorporealkpryde]

Kitty rolls his eyes in response to Fiyero’s eye roll, brushing his fingers over the side of his glass to collect condensation that he then flicks at the prince.

“Here I am, just worrying about your safety and you roll your eyes. You’re a menace, you know that?”

Finishing off his drink, Kitty flags down a passing server and requests another round.

“Well, we have plenty of room. We can look at getting you some more clothes as well. Try and figure out the ID thing. And you’ll be in a safe environment, while you figure this world out.

“The younger kids may still be baffled by you’re lack of knowledge of this place but Gen Alpha are wild.”

[winkieprince]

Fiyero flinches and holds up his arm as a shield at the flicked water, but the playful response at least makes him grin, like it's all a fun joke and something he was just doing to mess with Kitty in a childish, friendly way. "Oh, my apologies, gentle protector," he teases.

But at least it's looking like he's got a bit of a plan going forward. And not having to worry about the basics.

"You know, you act as if I say the must surreal things, but you say a lot of weird shit too," he points out with a grin, finishing off his drink - though he takes advantage of the server being present to ask for something else this time.

[incorporealkpryde]

“Yeah. You should be sorry. I’m like your knight in incorporeal armour.” Kitty laughs at the ridiculousness of his own words and shakes his head.

Kitty can also definitely concede that plenty of what he says would be super weird to the other man in the same way some of the things he says is super weird to Kitty. “I guess that’s what happens when you travel through dimensions. You can always ask if you don’t understand. I’m not gonna judge.”

[winkieprince]

Fiyero laughs too, actually understanding the incorporeal joke after Kitty has explained his abilities. The alcohol has also made that loose, relaxed attitude come a lot easier to him, for which he's grateful.

"Oh, I try to prioritise the questions where I think I'll actually be interested in the answers," he answers with a cheeky smile. Kitty hasn't judged him yet. He's been baffled and confused, but that's fine.

[incorporealkpryde]

One drink isn’t enough to do a whole lot to Kitty but the good company and easy conversation has him relaxed in the booth as if he’s just sprawled out across the couch at home with his friends, gossiping and playing video games.

“Maybe if you were more interested in answers, you’d know what the heck I’m talking about all the time.”

[winkieprince]

"You say that as if every answer doesn't spawn four or five new questions," Fiyero points out. "It's like a spiderweb of infinite confusing words. We'd never get anywhere if I asked more than a couple."

He'll figure it out. Prioritising doesn't mean not asking at all, it just means he wants to talk about more than New York 101.

[incorporealkpryde]

“Okay, valid. I’d set you loose on the internet but I’m pretty sure you’d fall down a rabbit hole of something more interesting and not actually learn anything helpful.” He realises there’s probably more confusing words in that sentence as well.

[winkieprince]

"Well, first you gotta tell me what 'the internet' is," he counters, grinning. He's relatively sure he understands 'rabbit hole' as a metaphor, but he could be wrong. It seems pretty self-explanatory with the context though.

[incorporealkpryde]

“I knew you were going to ask that. It’s a global network that allows for the sharing of data and information. And in simpler terms, it’s this really cool technology thing that allows us to talk to people all over the world, shop, read, watch movies and tv and look up pretty much anything you could ever dream of.” Kitty smiles at the server who brings them their new drinks and pulls out his phone once she’s left.

“It used to only be on computers.” He pulls up an image of an older model computer and shows Fiyero. “But now we can use it on our phones or tablets - which is essentially just a big phone by designed for games and internet and not phone calls - and tvs.”

[winkieprince]

As Kitty talks, Fiyero's got his hands under the table, counting on his fingers. Once Kitty's done talking, Fiyero holds up his hands, displaying seven fingers. "That's how many of those words mean nothing to me in that context," he says, giving Kitty a cheerful grin.

[incorporealkpryde]

“Okay. That’s less than I expected. What do words didn’t you know and I can try and make it make more sense.” Kitty was starting to understand why Jubilee had sent Fiyero to him. She wasn’t likely to be as patient as Kitty and patience was what Fiyero needed if he had any hope surviving -and thriving - here and Kitty was prepared to help as best he could to make sure Fiyero was okay.

[winkieprince]

"I've already forgotten half of them," Fiyero answers. "Teevee, I guess, that's the last one you said."

One good thing comes from him (pretending he's) not caring about things. He's not bothered about admitting he doesn't understand something. He might be annoyed at how confusing everything is, but at least he doesn't need to hide it.

[incorporealkpryde]

Kitty pulls up a picture of an older model TV and shows it to Fiyero. “So this is what they used to look like. They’ve evolved over the years as technology has gotten better and so now, they look more like,” he pulls up a modern flat screen tv, “this. We use them for watching shows and movies, which are like... Do you have plays in Oz?”

[winkieprince]

Fiyero leans forward, both elbows planted on the table between them as he looks at the phone.

He knows what a 'show' is in his own context, so when Kitty asks about plays, he figures it's pretty much the same thing. "Ah! Yes, so you have people perform stories, and you show it on that thing," he answers, nodding. He already knows about the concept of screens, after all. He has one in his pocket, and they're all around him in this city. He just needs to learn the words, in a lot of cases. "We don't have screens like that. We do have illusifiers and projectioners."

[incorporealkpryde]

“Basically yeah. Sometimes it’s just things like news reports or various reality shows which are non-fiction and then there’s fictional shows too, which are more like plays but on film.”

Kitty smiles. “We also have projectors. Usually for the actual movie theatre, which is where we go and watch movies on big screens.”

[winkieprince]

"Oh, they don't move. I assume that's what 'movies' means, right, they move?" he asks, sipping his drink - a Long Island ice tea this time. "They like, use light to put small drawings up big on a sheet," he describes, gesturing as he does to explain it with his hands. "Oh, and I don't know what film is," he adds as an afterthought.

[incorporealkpryde]

“Yeah, movies move. The same as a play. We can also project still images like drawings or photos.” Pausing, Kitty’s brow furrows again, trying to think of the best way to explain what film is. “I don’t know how to explain film. Sometimes movies are called films but yeah, I can’t explain film. I’ll just show you when we’re back at the Mansion.”

[winkieprince]

"Fair enough," Fiyero answers with a laugh as he drops back against the seat. His posture is getting worse as the night goes on. "Can you do the thing where you show a moving picture sort of, in the air? So you can see it from all sides?"

[incorporealkpryde]

“What do you mean? Like a hologram?” Kitty watches with amusement as Fiyero slouches further and further down in the booth seat. No royalty Kitty knows of would ever get away with sitting like that in public and here Fiyero is, sprawled out like he owns the place.

[winkieprince]

That's one benefit of no one knowing he's royalty. Well, that and he wasn't much better in Oz either. Not until he became Captain, at least. He'd occasionally take that seriously.

He just shrugs at the question, not knowing what a hologram, but then he takes out his phone and types hologram into the search, looking at the results.

It takes a while and his brow is wrinkled in concentration. It's like watching a grandma use a smartphone. At least now it makes sense why his messages took a while too.

"Yeah. I guess like that. That's an illusifier. We have that in the Emerald City," he says finally.

[incorporealkpryde]

Kitty watches Fiyero pull out his phone, typing slow enough that he has to stop himself from laughing out loud at the ridiculousness of it. It’s not his fault, of course but dang it’s still funny.

“Lookit you, using the internet already.” Kitty smirks and takes a large swallow of his drink. “So if you don’t have phones and tvs and whatnot, what do you have? Just the illusifier and the projectors?”