[text - where the memes at.]

[goldpoints]

[look out cave, someone's excited and painfully new.]

OH MAN A CHARGED PHONE

YIU HAVE INTERNET

CAVE INBTERNET

IM SO HAPPY EVEN IF IT MAKES NO SENSE

[It's been...so long... She's gonna cry. Anyway, there's more than just screaming to do on the internet, even if it's been way more time than any modern eighteen-year-old deserves. Well, for...her, at least. Some of her friends might have been content with screams and memes.]

Wheres the cave news site and a chargrt pls

Comments

[goldpoints]

what about gramps that's cuter

[sweariff]

so now it's about making me look cute?
i'm not your goddamn grandpa
you don't see me calling you kid or kiddo

[goldpoints]

that'd be cute too tbf

[But eh, this is more about messing with him than actually making him cute. Maybe every now and again he'll be Gramps, but for now? Little early.]

so do you get botox or somthing because you rly don't look that old

[sweariff]

...okay, now you're just being weird to get a rise out of me

[It's working!! But lbr, it doesn't take much to do that.]

i think i've aged pretty well
but i guess i'm also speaking technically too. if all this technology is just the natural progression of things and not magic, i think you and i might be from a different generation
literally

[goldpoints]

how could you suggest that? frankly I am insulted.

[Hit the nail on the head.]

probably [Time shenanigans aren't new to her... Her friend that arrived with her is from months before Hotaru's last memory, so intergenerational grumpy gramps isn't the most awkward thing.] you just fumnble w things like a grandpa too

wait you're another one where magic is real??

[sweariff]

not as much as i am

[ICE. COLD.]

oh so asking questions means i'm fumbling? [What a wild ride of hurt feelings and baseless accusations this is turning into.] all this judgment. is this what i have to look forward to when the 90s get here?

[While the first two responses come very quick after one another, the next one takes a few minutes to process, chiefly because Bigby doesn't know how he should answer it.]

another one? in what way?

[goldpoints]

[oh, bigby. you like her. admit it!]

you said you couldn't get picture on yoiur tv mister

[She could correct him on the year, but...honestly, it was like that in the 90s, too, as much as she could remember. Not much.]

couple ppl have mentioned it so far. it doesn't exist for real where I'm from it's just story stuff. one person said they were actually made of magic.

[sweariff]

it's a legitimate problem
i don't know what kind of fancy ones you have in the future, but good luck trying to get ours to work without performing a ritual sacrifice and jiggling the knob ten dozen times

[So overdramatic.]

did any of them say where they were from? did you get a certain impression from any of them?
something that fit the story stuff you're familiar with?

[If there are other Fables here, he has to know.]

[goldpoints]

ok sure [grandpa.]

uh well one said he was from an underground city that wasn't this one? I'm p sure the other one was an alien. he got too annoyed to not be. nothing all that familiar to me. everyone's just kinda weird.

[That's kind of...an odd question? Maybe that's normal for him and she just doesn't know yet. Well:] why?

[sweariff]

nothing, probably

[But he might as well be painting a big read sign on himself saying, 'I'M KING LIAR, PLEASE QUESTION ME AND MY SUSPICIOUS BULLSHIT,' so he might as well keep it simple and (relatively) truthful.]

to answer your question, yeah, i know what magic is
i can't vouch for everyone else, but it's very real where i'm from

[goldpoints]

[She's prodded enough for now. Time for a retreat so she can push for a lot more information < I>later when there's more connection.]

huh. is it cool?

[sweariff]

no
it's the furthest thing from cool
and you might not want my advice, but you're getting it anyhow:
stay away from it

[goldpoints]

[ y i k e s ]

got it

I was feeling iffy about the clinic's "healing" anyway. sounds too unbelievavble.

[sweariff]

[...Well, that was easy.]

i was talking more about the people trying to sell it to you like it's something big and exciting that can take away all your problems and then some
that's rarely the case, especially with dark magic, which this i'm sure this place is swimming with
white magic's different, though. it doesn't come from a bad place.
was someone offering to heal your arm?

[goldpoints]

[Bigby was a good dude, as far as she could tell. Might not know his way around a television, but he was clearly experienced in other matters. That his advice fell in line with her own misgivings was really only a small part of her quick agreement.]

not really? they said the clinic coiuld do it but didn't exactly give me a buncha details

[sweariff]

i'm assuming it's healing magic they're talking about or something similar
that's good; you want that
all i'm saying is to be careful about getting involved with stuff like this
it's okay to trust your gut. if it seems too good to be true, it probably is

[He's never had much love for mundies getting involved magic. He supposes he's never given it much thought, though; as long as it stayed far, far away from Fabletown, it was never really his business anyway. And of course, he's never had any reason, necessary or otherwise, to really talk about it with one face-to-face like this.]

i'd look into that place a little more. see what you can find
no sense in lugging around a broken arm if someone can fix it

[goldpoints]

[nnnnh but magic sounds weird and scaaaary... and what if this place has similarly-manipulative doctor types? Well, she can look, anyway. No need to commit to a decision either way.]

a broken arm can last that long can it?? I'm actually asking

[sweariff]

[Oh no, he just pulled a DARE on her, didn't he? What DARE did to drugs, he just did with magic.]

i dunno, i'm not a doctor
i know they need to be set so they can heal properly and if they aren't that's bad

[goldpoints]

[It's not exactly horrible advice!]

ok so I'm p much alreadfy most of the way there!!

[sweariff]

hotaru, did i scare you?

[goldpoints]

lol?? I'm fine! don't worry old man.

[sweariff]

that's teen speak for yes, isn't it

[goldpoints]

ok here's the thing

ecverything is kinda scary right now? it's not you saying or doing something to scare me it's more like

you're back to being a voice in my heasd telling me what I'm already thinking lol

[sweariff]

[...Oh.]

that wasn't my intention
i mean. sort of.

i guess i thought you'd be more... i'm not sure if overzealous was the right word, but it's the closest that comes to mind
most people seem to have the wrong idea about magic. it gets them in trouble.
but i want to be the one who helps just as much the one who sets the record straight
if that makes sense

[goldpoints]

there's still stuff like

hey it would be pretty cool to fly

you know stuff like that?

but I've been p disillusioned when it comes to sdtuff like this. real life isn't as cool as tv wants you to think.

anyway you rly don't have to feel bad, it's not like I'm crying abouyt it or anything. like I said I was already on thge fence abt the clinic.