A Supermagnet, A Doctor, and A Twin Walk Into A Bar

[iamnotpolaris]

Milliways. Oh, bless.
Dr. Xavier could have finished her shift, made it home, and buried her head in a pillow if she had to. But this is much easier.
"Hi, Bar, can I have a stimulant that won't interfere with my judgement or dexterity or anything like that?"

Comments

[iamnotpolaris]

"All four elements? What, you mean like fire, water, earth and air?"

[roc_on]

"Yeah." She pulls a glob of ice slush out of her drink, makes it orbit her hand with flowing gestures, plops it back into the glass.

[iamnotpolaris]

"Cool. I think those are the Greek Classical Elements in my world. I do metal," she adds, the steel bracelet on one wrist deciding to do a mercury impression and twisting off to make a circuit around her arm.

[roc_on]

"Earthbenders on my world can do that if they specially train for it. A lot of cops are metalbenders, especially in Republic City. I haven't picked it up yet, I'm still in firebending my first go-round and then I can go back and learn metal and sand and lightning. But you just do metal?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well, I do magnetism, it's not quite the same thing. The earth is a giant magnet, so I can push off its magnetic field to fly, and I can do some stuff with things that are sensitive to electricity."

[roc_on]

"Ooh, metalbenders can't fly, they mostly vault around or zipline. So that's different too."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Ziplining sounds fun, but not as practical as flying."

[roc_on]

"It really isn't! I love flying."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Sooo...I'm guessing you fly using air? Or do you lift the water in your body or something, I'm guessing the air one would be more practical."

[roc_on]

"...I do not lift the water in my body, no, that would be really uncomfortable. It's air and a glider. Also I have a pet roc."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I thought it might be. What does a pet rock have to do with flying?"

[roc_on]

"...Did whatever weird language aura this place has - do you not have rocs? Giant birds? They eat fish?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"Oh, the birds. We don't have those in real life so far as I know, but we have stories about them. In my language, 'roc' sounds exactly like 'rock' and a 'pet rock' is something you give to kids who want a pet but can't be trusted to take care of a living thing."

[roc_on]

"Oh! That's cute."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I know, right?"

[roc_on]

"Yes. My roc is a bird, though, and I ride around on her. And when I'm not doing that she catches fish in the bay and sits on top of sufficiently large trees."

[iamnotpolaris]

"That makes much more sense in the context of flying. What's her name?"

[roc_on]

"Liqing."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Does that mean something? If it does it isn't translating."

[roc_on]

"No, it's just a name. My name doesn't mean anything either. Well, Beila doesn't, my last name is - do I just mean it differently when I say it and -? Swan-owl."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I heard it differently that time. Swan-owl, that sounds pretty.
...I'd try the experiment with my own name but I don't actually know what it means, etymologically."

[roc_on]

"That's all right. It's a nice name, anyway."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Thanks." Pretzel. Munch munch.

[roc_on]

Slush. Sip sip. "So what do you do?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"I'm a doctor. I was actually at the hospital where I work when Milliways picked me up."