Video, Monday: He never asked to be the Chosen One

[infourbooks]

[A very defeated looking Neville can be seen on the screen. Some people might notice a scar on his forehead when he moves the right way. It's rather... lightning bolt like.]

Guys, I've tried. I really have. But I'm not any closer to figuring out what's going on here than I was when we first started noticing something was wrong with some people. If it's magic, it's not any kind I've ever learned. If it's not... then I really don't know what it is.

[Magic's the only thing he can think of. There should be something. He's supposed to save everyone, right?]

I know people count on me but... I'm pretty stuck right now.

Comments

[Video]

[roddy_reinigen]

What's wrong with people? Sorry, just got here, not all that caught up on anything.

[Video]

[infourbooks]

People aren't acting like themselves. And some of them have turned into children. It happened close together but I really can't think of anything that would do both.

[Video]

[roddy_reinigen]

Oh. [Roddy pauses. He really should be way more weirded out by that than he was. Then again, with everything he'd heard about this place so far, that was actually a little less weird than some of the other things.]

I have no idea of anything that would do either.

[Video]

[infourbooks]

There's plenty of magic that could do either one. Imperius curses, aging potions... usually people are trying to go the other way with those though. It doesn't work as well to go younger.

[Video]

[roddy_reinigen]

I don't really have that much experience with magic. At least, not like...spells. It sounds like something a hex--

[His music was a kind of magic, after all.]

Is that normal, though? Talking about it over the network like this. Where everyone can see it.

[He knew there would be big trouble if he talked about wesen publicly where he was from...which he'd almost just done on the network.]

[Video]

[infourbooks]

It is here.

[It took a lot of getting used to, coming from the wizarding world.]

It's just one of many things that people from the ship can do. It's not a big secret.

[Video]

[roddy_reinigen]

Oh. Okay, then. [Roddy looks a little thrown off by that, but after a few moments he shrugs, and decides to say what he was going to say.] That stuff sounds like the sort of a...[He hesitates again. It's so awkward talking about this openly.]...a hexenbiest would know about, but I don't know for sure. I can't really do spells myself.

[But what he could do was magic. Sort of.]

So I guess I won't be much of a help in that area.

[ video ]

[did_i_say_percy]

[Armand seems to be studying Neville a moment before speaking.]

Are you one of the people who is trying to solve this?

[The reference to magic throws him a little, but he manages to keeps his thoughts in order.]

Who have you seen that is different other than the children? I don't mean to be nosy, but I am worried. For others. I've been watching the children.

Is it safe to talk about this here?

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't say. I'm Armand St. Just. I recently woke up again on the Ship. [He still isn't comfortable calling it Salvation, but then again he's never spoken to the avatar either.]

[ video ]

[infourbooks]

Someone has to, right?

I'm Neville Longbottom.

[And in his world that usually means 'someone' is him.]

It's a little less obvious with the others, but a lot of the other teenagers are... off.

[Also what Inara mentioned about Luke... but he's not discussing that over a public network. He's brave, not stupid.]

[ video ]

[did_i_say_percy]

Oh, yes. I think Todd said something about that. [He knows a little more but since Neville seems aware, there's no use retreading old ground.]

I don't think you have to solve this alone. You said it didn't seem like magic so perhaps it's up to some of the others.

Why would it be your responsibility if it were magic? Are you the only... magician here? [That doesn't sound quite right even to his ears, but he wouldn't stumble on the right term.]

[ video ]

[infourbooks]

Everyone always seems to expect me to solve things. Even if all I ever really did was not die.

[It's a lot of pressure]

[ video ]

[did_i_say_percy]

You seem very nice, and you are probably clever, but isn't that a bit much? [Armand cannot be sure, but Neville seems younger than he is himself, if not by a lot. But to his mind, that error could work either direction.]

[ video ]

[infourbooks]

I never asked for any of it. But everyone expects it and... someone has to, right?

[Video]

[fixstuff]

It's not magic.

[It could be, in theory. She still doesn't know how to measure magic. But it's totally not because she says so, okay.]

[Video]

[infourbooks]

Are you sure?

[It doesn't really seem like it could be anything else]

[Video]

[fixstuff]

Yeah, I'm sure. Transdimensional instability might merit its own corollary of Clarke's third law, but it isn't actually magic.

[Video]

[infourbooks]

There's magic that would do some of this, but not all at once.

[Video]

[fixstuff]

You have magic that can swap someone with a version of themself from a parallel reality? Or from their own past?

[Video]

[infourbooks]

[When she puts it that way]

Well... time turners can move you back. Maybe something else can move you forward.

[video]

[girlworthfighting]

[This doesn't quite sound like the Neville she knows...and yet it does. Mulan makes up her mind to try and reassure first, ask questions later.]

There's nothing to sound so defeated about. You didn't cause this to happen, and you certainly haven't made it any worse. It's noble of you that you tried at all.

[video]

[infourbooks]

I'm not sure how much not having caused it matters. The problem is still here, isn't it?

[He hadn't caused Voldemort either]

[video]

[girlworthfighting]

Perhaps. But I should think it doesn't fall to you to fix everything. At least, not on your own.

[video]

[infourbooks]

No one's ever given me a choice before.

[Which is probably why he's having such a hard time getting his head around the idea of having one.]

Prophecies don't really seem to.

[video]

[girlworthfighting]

I think I missed something, here.

[video]

[infourbooks]

There was a prophecy. About this really nasty wizard. But most of it happened when I was a baby.