dizzy_land | Stake out time (Open later)

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Stake out time (Open later)

Setsuna felt it had been enough time for Duck to get settled in, and he was bored, yet again, so the day was deemed perfect for a special stake out attempt. He honestly didn't think they'd find anything, but it would be worth it to try. And still, one could never know.

He left a note for Kira, Sara and Katou to let them know he would be out with a friend and not to worry, then composed a letter to Duck, and another to Cayce.

Duck,

You doing well? Settled in, I hope?

Anyhow, I thought today would be a good day to stake out the mail boxes. I'm gonna send out a letter to Cayce for her to write me back, but not too soon. To wait an hour or so. Then we'll stake out the area near my mailbox. If we don't see anyone by evening, we'll check the mailbox.

I'll even take a pen and write replies from the mailbox if I have to.

You can find me over at Tomorrowland. Do you know where that is? I live at the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience theatre with Kira, Katou and Sara.

See you then.

- Setsuna

Cayce,

Wish I could say I was writing to find out what's going on in your life around here, but...that's not it, though I would like to know.

That aside, Duck and I are going to stake out the mailboxes to see if anyone ever makes deliveries, so if you could just hold off a response for an hour or so? Maybe even two? That would be great. We should be set up by then.

Thanks!

-Setsuna

That done, Setsuna sent off the letters, then waited in front of the theatre.

[ooc: Anyone is welcome to come along and ask what the heck they think they're doing. XD They'll just shush you and try to make you hide with them. Or you could talk sense into them?]

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Setsuna shrugged to Kyouya's response and said, "Well, there's nothing wrong with working alone if you work best that way. But it's good to know you're willing to work with others."

Having already discussed it with her, Setsuna noticed Duck bypassing the country question and smirked a little. Poor girl, must be tough not knowing and then getting asked so much. Quickly, he too focused on the mail instead.

"Guess that answers our questions, huh, Duck? Too bad there's no culprit, though. Would've been nice to have someone to question," Setsuna told them, but walked over to the mailbox to see Cayce's postcard anyway, and laughed.

Duck's reply and her sincerity made Kyouya chuckle. "All right. I'll remember," he said with a smile. "But I think I'm fine for now."

Since she didn't answer the country question, he shrugged it off. "Well, as you're new here, you may not have noticed, but all the park inventory restocks itself automatically and anything that's broken repairs itself. It isn't known how this is done, but whatever accomplishes it isn't visible. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that the same mechanism is responsible for sending mail.

However," he added, adjusting his glasses, "I also have personal confirmation. Shortly after I arrived, I noticed how quickly the mail was processed and came to the conclusion it was not being delivered physically. So I sent a letter to a friend of mine and waited by the mailbox for a short time. The letter vanished almost instantly, and then a reply from my friend appeared in the mailbox before I left the area. The box was closed while I did this, of course, but an invisible mechanism is still the logical explanation." He gave a wry smile. "As odd as it is for anything of the sort to be described as 'logical.'"

He paused. "If you'd like, I could demonstrate it for you again."

Edited 2008-07-05 18:12 (UTC)

"I noticed it happen when I took food," Duck said thoughtfully. "But it must be a weird mechanism. I mean, it doesn't have cogs or anything. Or maybe there are, like, claws that drop down when you're not looking to replace stuff! And!" She waved her hands in her excitement. "Maybe there are, like, invisible tunnels in the mailboxes that send the letters!"

She dashed over to the mailbox (apologising to Setsuna for pushing past him), opened it, and tried to stick her arms inside to find the tunnel. She frowned in annoyance and then sighed when she found none.

"... Well," she mumbled, "was worth a shot."

Duck turned to Kyouya again and with a smile asked, "Could you? So we can be completely sure?"

"It could just be magic," Setsuna suggested with a shrug, showing Duck Cayce's postcard (http://community.livejournal.com/dizzy_land/296127.html?thread=17098687#t17098687), which had shown up while they had been watching the mailbox. He had scowled a bit when Duck pushed past him, but got over it quickly, then shrugged when she couldn't find tunnels either.

Setsuna too gave Kyouya a smile. "I've got a pen and paper here. And I can put it in my mailbox, if you'd rather we not go all of the way to yours."

"Honestly, magic and invisible mechanisms are both so far out of the realm of my experience that I doubt I can offer any useful conjecture," Kyouya admitted, frowning. "If you do find anything more specific, please tell me, though-- I would love to know."

He took the pen and paper from Setsuna, and nodded. "I think that makes most sense." Then, he scribbed a quick note on the paper--

As soon as you get this, please write back and address the letter to Mudou Setsuna. After sending a response, please remain near your mailbox.

- Kyouya

Once that was accomplished, Kyouya folded the letter, wrote Tamaki's name on the outside, put it in the mailbox, and then closed it.

"Hopefully, he'll respond quickly."

Duck stared at Cayce's second postcard with widened eyes. "Who's that? Why has he got fish-bowl on his head?"

She nodded at Kyouya. "If I find anything out, I'll tell you! Also Miss Cayce. Well, not anything, but, y'know, the things to do with the park. If I told you anything you'd probably get annoyed with me for telling you useless stuff," she added with a small giggle.

"Who did you write to, Kyouya?"

Tamaki was, well, kind of confused when he got the letter from Kyouya.

To Kyouya via Setsuna Mudou,

Hi Setsuna! Hey Kyouya, is there something the matter? You're not in some sort of great peril, are you?

Your Friend,
Tamaki

What if Kyouya had been kidnapped by pirates? Or ninjas? Or ninja pirates? And they were forcing him to send strange letters?

"I wrote to my friend Tamaki," Kyouya explained to Duck. After waiting a short time, he opened the mailbox and took out the letter from Tamaki. "There, you see? Too quickly to have been delivered by anything except...well, I suppose 'magic.' Anything else you want to test?" he asked Setsuna and Duck.

Of course, while Tamaki was certain to be obedient whether or not Kyouya explained himself, he sent off a quick reply.

Tamaki,

Don't be stupid. I'm testing something about the mail system with Setsuna and a girl named Duck.

Thank you for the quick response,

Kyouya

Duck beamed at hearing Kyouya had a friend, as if it was by her own doing or something similar. He'd said he preferred to work alone, but he still had someone!

"Huh." She watched the letter as if expecting it to do something special. "I guess you're right, Kyouya! I guess we sort of solved the mystery... Though we've ended up with another one..." She struck a determined pose and added, "But we'll solve that one too! Together!"

Setsuna didn't quite catch Duck's enthusiasm this time as he asked, "But how are we gonna go around figuring this one out? We can't get into the mail boxes. Tempting as that is." He looked at one - it was big enough, probably for him, or Duck to fit inside of, but there was no way INSIDE of that was big enough for them.

Edited 2008-07-06 18:23 (UTC)

Kyouya paused. "Tamaki should have a video option on his cell phone. We could record the mail process if Tamaki was able to send it to us."

He had a video phone too, of course, but he'd rather Tamaki's get broken than his. It might be useful someday, and he had his contacts loaded into it.

"A what on his what?" asked Duck.

"Does delivering stuff work? I mean, we know letters work, but does sending packages work too?"

Kyouya blinked and made a mental note of Duck's ignorance of technology, if that's what this was. "Ah...if there's a language barrier here, I apologize. A cell phone is a portable phone, and many of them come with small recording devices?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I can't see why not. Setsuna, is it all right to have Tamaki send his cell phone here?"

"Of course it's all right. I never thought to try anything like that," Setsuna admitted. "Then again, I don't have a cell phone." Neither did Kira, or he would've bugged him about it. "And they have recording on them now.... What year are you guys from?" Cell phones in Setsuna's time were just a bit different....

"2004," Kyouya replied. "Most people have cell phones by then. Video is fairly new, but I'm sure Tamaki has the option. I'll write him."

He scribbled off another quick letter--

Tamaki,

Can you figure out a way to mail your cell phone to Setsuna without putting it in any sort of envelope? I'm sure you could attach a letter to the back in lieu of an address label in order to do so; just don't obscure the camera.

Please turn your record option on the phone before you send it. When we receive it, we'll hopefully be able to see how the mail system works.

- Kyouya

He folded the letter and handed it to Setsuna for delivery.

Duck shook her head and gave a little embarrassed grin. "No, no language barrier. I just don't have anything like that where I come from. What's a phone? And what kind of recording device? Does it write stuff down?"

"Oh, I see." He smiled. "Don't worry, there are plenty of people from different places here. A phone is--" he paused, and pulled his own phone out of his pocket. "Here, this one is mine. It doesn't work here, but basically it's a device for talking to people who are some distance away. Back at home, the way it would work, is that if I wanted to talk to Tamaki but he wasn't in vocal range, I would dial a number on my phone. Then, using a few electronic signals, my phone would alert his phone, and we would be able to talk. But the devices that let your phones communicate with each other like that don't exist in the park, so here if I want to talk to Tamaki I just send mail." He frowned slightly, unsure if she'd understand that. "Sorry, it's not the easiest thing to explain. It's sort of like sending a letter, but with your voice?"

He opened the phone and selected the camera mode on it. "The recording device is a little easier. It doesn't write things down, it takes pictures. There's a camera, which takes still pictures, and a video recorder, which takes moving pictures." He snapped a picture of Setsuna, and then showed it to Duck. "See? A picture."

2004? Setsuna stared wide-eyed, and watched curiously as Kyouya displayed his phone and even stared transfixed at the picture taking.

"...the cell phones we have back in 1999 are nothing like that. That is so awesome!" Setsuna cheerfully claimed, grinning like mad now. "Can I see the picture too? I want to see how it looks!" He meant quality wise, really.

Duck stared at Kyouya's phone wide-eyed. "Something so little does so much? That's really amazing! Who thought of it? How many people have them? They sound really amazing and rare! Though if only a few people had them there wouldn't be much point, I guess." She looked from the picture of Setsuna to the real Setsuna with even more awe. "It looks so real! But wait," she added, now worried, "does that mean there are no artists in your world? If all you need to do to take a picture is press a little button, does that mean no one draws any more?"

"The phone itself was invented by an American man-- that's a country many of the people here come from-- over a century ago. But a cell phone, that is a phone like this you can carry around with you and doesn't need cables or wires, was invented by a company from my own country, Japan. They've only been around for about 25 years, but in recent years they've becomes very popular. Most people in my country have them, so they're very useful."

He turned the cell phone to Setsuna to let him see the picture-- Kyouya was a rich kid, and his camera phone was much better quality than most, so it was a good picture for a phone. He laughed when Duck spoke.

"No, no, people still draw. A camera takes completely accurate pictures, so it's very useful, but in some ways I think it's been very good for artists. There are plenty of artists who use cameras to create interesting photos as a different kind of art, for one. For another, artists really have a lot more freedom now-- they don't need to try to dry accurate representations, so they can be more creative. You don't see people getting portraits done as often, although it still happens, but you do see a lot of very interesting and unique art being created."

"...that's amazing. S'good as a regular camera," Setsuna commented, then also jumped in the artist conversation. "There are still plenty of artists that draw and paint for the heck of it, too. Not just for portraits. They make cartoons and stuff. You'd probably be interested in a little bit of that, just because it's so different."

Now he realized he'd have to tack Duck to the theatre and introduce her to movies.

Duck sighed in relief; art was something very important to her, and she loved everything from ballet to paintings. To learn of a world where creativity had been forgotten would have probably moved Duck to tears. "Thank goodness," she said softly.

"I'd really like to see some!" Duck nodded eagerly. "They sound really interesting!"

Duck would be utterly fascinated by films. Pictures that move?

"You've already seen cartoons," Kyouya replied. "That mouse and cat at the gate are from cartoons that are popular in our world. Of course, normally cartoons don't walk around like that; they stay in devices meant to show them and are just moving pictures. If you'd like to see a cartoon, though, I can definitely show you them sometime."

He smiled. "You're fond of art, Duck?"

"Oh, those are cartoons?" Suddenly the things she had seen in the shops made a lot more sense, and Duck was a little proud to at last have a name for the funny drawings. "But the Cat looked a bit different to Mr Mouse. Mr Mouse was all... flat. I'd really like to see more cartoons!" Duck's eyes were shining as she looked at Kyouya and she was slightly flushed with the excitement of it all. She'd made so many friends here and learnt so much in such a short amount of time.

She nodded. "I really love it! I like ballet and music best, which is really good, I guess, because I'm a ballet student - not a very good one," she added in a hushed tone, "but it's really great! I love the stories and it's so pretty!"

"We could both show you more movies and stuff, then," Setsuna offered. "There's tons of them here. And we've got some extra ones at the theatre, too." He took in everything else Duck had to say, but was also a bit confused on the Cat.... He recognized Mickey, but not the Cat. Oh well, a problem for another day.

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