Introducing Benvolio

[keep_the_peace]

Waking up in a strange bedroom, in a strange house, was bad enough, but then when Benvolio finally made his way to the front door he was greeted by snow outside. Summer might be coming to an end, but it definitely is not snow weather yet, nor is Benvolio dressed for such, in his black silk doublet, black and blue trimmed trunk hose, and black stockings. He does have shoes on, thankfully, though he can't imagine how he would have fallen asleep wearing shoes. It's not like he's had much opportunity to celebrate to the point of blacking out lately, after all.

Regardless, he takes one look at the snow outside and decides to shut the door and instead turn his attention to the table covered in different pamphlets and papers. He has many questions.

Comments

[keep_the_peace]

Benvolio's not familiar with that phrasing, but he can put together context clues and assume the meaning. "Do you know what they are made of? I've never seen anything like them."

[kadewest]

"Now," Kade warns, "I know next to nothing about European history, so I don't have any idea whatsoever about the kinds of trade goods you might be familiar with. But I imagine it's a synthetic--that means manmade--approximation of rubber."

[keep_the_peace]

“Rubber…” he repeats, looking at the bracelets. So no, he’s not familiar with it¹.


1. Look I did some googling and got some slightly confusing answers but I feel confident in the assumption that it is perfectly logical for him to NOT know what rubber is. If I’m wrong we can just blame the translator or something.

[kadewest]

"It's stretchy," says Kade, taking a cat-shaped silly band and giving it an exemplar tweak.

[keep_the_peace]

"I can see that!" He laughs. "I like it."

[kadewest]

"I'm glad," Kade grins. "They are fun, aren't they? Bit different from the things you'd find in--Verona, was it?"

[keep_the_peace]

“Ay, Verona. There are many things here we did not possess back home.”

[kadewest]

"Tell me about it. It's very technologically eclectic here. I'd say most resources are concentrated from the twentieth century, but those Silly Bandz are from the twenty-first, and I've seen a hoverboard that's from centuries after my time, too."

[keep_the_peace]

"Twenty-first?! No wonder I have not seen most of what exists here! -- Pray tell, what is a -- a hoverboard, you said?"

[kadewest]

"You'd have to ask--" Oh, God, which one of the growing youth population is the one who loves hoverboarding? Right. "--Tally for details, but essentially it's a flat surface that you can stand on, and that... hovers. In midair. I would not be able to successfully tell you how or why, I'm afraid. It looks like magic to me, but I've been assured it's science."

[keep_the_peace]

Benvolio really wants to see one. “There is much here that seems magic to me, and much that is magic, and I fear I might never know which is which.”

[kadewest]

"Now, I wouldn't want to piss off the scientists and magicians among us," says Kade, with a wink and a silent apology to Jack, "but honestly I'm not certain there's a huge difference between the two. What's magic in one World could very well be science in another, so I think you could very well arbitrarily decide one or the other and still be right."

[keep_the_peace]

Benvolio does not blush when Kade winks at him, despite the fact that Kade is a very handsome older gentleman, because Benvolio is very good at not blushing. It's an important skill to learn. "'Tis good advice, I'm sure," he says with a laugh. "I shall be sure to never use the correct term on principle now."

[kadewest]

"That's just what I like to hear," says Kade, jovially, and gestures. "On to the coats? --Do you have other questions?"

[keep_the_peace]

"Oh, ay, I must confess the coats had slipped my mind by now." Silly bandz are distracting, clearly.

[kadewest]

Kade's grin grows a gentle edge. "The first day can be pretty overwhelming," he says. "I had it easy; it wasn't my first time. Most people here are like you: new to alternate Worlds."

[keep_the_peace]

“How often has this happened to you?”

[kadewest]

"This is the second World that I've gotten a personal Door to, but I've visited well over a dozen other Worlds besides."

[keep_the_peace]

"...Was I supposed to have a door?" He definitely didn't have a door. He had a bed.

[kadewest]

Kade smiles at him. "I've found that, for the residents here, the Door is often metaphorical."

[keep_the_peace]

"Were the other Worlds," he tries to give the word as much importance as he heard Kade give it, "you went to much the same as this? Fantastical, and full of magic?"

[kadewest]

"Essentially? Yes. Worlds tend to be uniquely well-suited to the people they call to them. I have one friend who went to what we call a Drowned World--meaning most of its action was below the surface of the sea. She turned into a mermaid there. I have another friend who went to a World of monsters, with a huge, sinister red moon, where she does mad science with lightning, and she's happy as a clam. One of my best friends went to a World where every other living thing was a skeleton, and one who went to a World made entirely from sugar, and--I could keep going. Suffice to say I've visited several of those Worlds, and could see precisely why they were suited to my friends, even though they were not suited to me."

[keep_the_peace]

"That is... considerably more variety than I was expecting..." He's a little overwhelmed by information right now, to tell the truth.

[kadewest]

Kade is, ultimately, highly observant, especially of teenagers' emotional states. "It's a lot, I know," he says. "I do have a tendency to go on about it, too, but I can cut it out. I only mean to say that I'm sure you'll find a way in which this World is suited to your needs."

[keep_the_peace]

"It hath already supplied me with silly bandz," he says holding up his wrist and aiming for some amount of levity. He pronounces 'silly bandz' exactly as awkwardly as you'd expect any Italian Renaissance guy to mispronounce it. "What more could any man need?"