wipesfaith | 02 [action/voice]

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02 [action/voice]

[For all his trouble, Jean got a horse. Which is great, because he's curious to explore what lies far beyond the village and he ain't walking all that way. (What can he say? Some losers from back home have gotten into him a little bit.) First, though, he needs to find a saddle and bridle - apparently, he should have made out with a few more people if he wanted riding gear too. But his pride is worth more to him than that anyway, so he doesn't mind searching through the Item Shop for what he needs.

By the afternoon, he can be found at the stables on the east side of the village. He has spent the past few days visiting Benoit, letting the horse grow accustomed to him as he cares for him. Now that he has something more sophisticated than a rope lead, he's willing to take the horse out farther than the immediate vicinity of the stables. It was already obvious to him that Benoit lacked training. Before he can think about riding him anywhere, he'll have to muster up some serious patience and start from scratch. After fitting him with the sadle and bridle, so he can start getting used to the way it feels, Jean will lead him out to a decent-sized clearing in the forest to get down to business.

Toward the evening, after returning Benoit to the stables, he makes his way back to Flame Building. Residents may have noticed a recent addition outside the building, in the form of a small pen that now houses a little lamb. He'll stop by to check on it for Marco - make sure it's not dead, not that he'd be terribly broken up if it were, because he's never indulged in lambchops before - before finally heading in.

Later, he'll flip open his journal to voice a message.]

[Voice]

Hey. I guess I'm still pretty new here, so I'm just wondering...what's worth seeing beyond this village? I've seen a map, but a map can only tell you so much. There's an...ocean out there, right? [He gets the feeling that some might find his next question a little stupid, and he swears he's sane; he just comes from an insane world.] Is there seriously salt in it?

It's weird... This whole place could probably fit inside Wall Rose - that's what's left of human territory back home - but it still seems like so much...more.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What a fucking waste.

Titans. Nearly unstoppable human-eating giants. We don't have time to fight among ourselves if we want to live.

No disagreement here. [Because Ginia knows she isn't any better. She's a dog of war by choice and a load of wasted potential.]

Where did they come from?

Nobody knows. We don't even know why they eat us. They survived for 100 years in an environment devoid of human life, so it's not like the bastards need to eat to live.

That's rough. I'm sorry to hear. So I presume the military fends off the giants and Wall Rose is a literal wall?

Basically. There are three branches of the military: The Garrison guards and maintains the walls, the Military Police maintains order and serves the king, and the Survey Corps goes beyond the walls to research titans and fight them in their own territory. The idea is that we'll eventually be able to recover the land we lost.

[And he still finds it hard to trust this wild hope, even though he decided he would.]

[Garrison, Military Police, Survey Corps. Ginia jots down notes in another notepad. Not that it's helpful here, but information is information. It's always amazing what little things are revealed. Like there's a king.]

Humanity, for all the problems we cause in my world, are resilient and crafty. I think you guys will find a way. I hope you do.

[It's a platitude, but there's truth behind it. It may not be immediately, it may take decades or centuries, but in time humanity will find a way to push back.]

In the country I'm from, there are five branches of military.

Army: Protects the security of the US (United States) and its resources.
Marine Corp: First on ground in combat situations, one of the toughest branches.
Navy: Similar to the army, but covers the ocean. Also defends against pirates.
Air Force: Protects the US and its interests in other countries with air power.
Coast Guard: Protects US waterways and deploys with the Navy during wartime.

Hoping and trying is all we can do, really. [Shit, what a line. He never would've said something like that a year ago. Less than that, even. But the way he sees it now, they don't have a choice: either keep that small flame of hope alive, or follow a self-fulfilling prophecy of demise.

He studies the listed branches and each description for a moment. So they can even carry out battle in the ocean...with boats, he assumes, but then...]

What kind of air power do you have? [If she wasn't familiar with 3D maneuver gear, that means humanity must have devised some other means of travelling through the air.]

Jet planes with missiles, helicopters loaded with turrets, unmanned drones.

[It was the last one that was the game changer for modern warfare. Being able to attack an enemy from hundreds of miles away while a controller sat safely behind a control stick.]

And bombs laced with all sorts of things. Explosives, chemicals.

Explosives I get, but I'm afraid I don't have a clue about any of that other stuff.

Hold on, I have some books, let me see if they have any pictures.

[Ginia flips through her stack of books. She has a few knowledge books from a version of Earth, so it doesn't take long to find some pictures of helicopters.

She'll hold the camera up above the book to get a picture.]

helicopters

[He takes a moment to study the pictures, trying to piece together how these "helicopters" work.]

These are operated by soldiers? Inside of them, it looks like. So they've got to be pretty big.

How do they stay in the air?

Most of them only have one or two pilots, but can fit anywhere from less than ten to almost 40 if the supply load is light. Planes also vary in size from fighter jets that only carry two people to passenger and cargo planes that can fit hundreds.

[Hmm.... how to explain this portion. A few spatters of ink appear on the page as Ginia taps the page.]

Have some free time? I could show you at the Battle Dome.

[Planes must be similar to helicopters...but he can't imagine how something big enough to fit hundreds of people could get up in the air in the first place. Color him curious.]

Right now? [He supposes it's not too late - still before dinnertime.] Sure, I can be there in a few minutes.

I'll be waiting by the console then.

By the way, I'm Ginia.

Jean. Nice to meet you. I'll see you soon.

[He shuts the journal and goes to slip his jacket back on, with his cloak over it. Hat and gloves too, for this freakin' cold weather. After letting his roommate know that he's stepping out, he pauses and decides he might as well strap his 3D maneuver gear to the harness he already has on.

Then it's off to the Battle Dome.]

[Living at Wind Building, Ginia has a much quicker trip to the Battle Dome. She grabs her coat, makes sure she has a notepad and pen on her, then leaves.

By the time Jean arrives, Ginia will be standing at the console, putting the last details on the room. Even though she's spent plenty of time in the Battle Dome, the freedom allowed in each room is still pretty amazing.

When she hears someone approaching, she turns and offers a small wave in greeting.]

[He approaches, pushing the hood of his cloak back to let it fall to his shoulders and pulling his hat off.]

Ginia, right? [The picture provided by the journal is small, so he wants to make sure he's talking to the right person.]

[Ginia nods in affirmation, taking note of the 3D maneuver gear. Very interesting.

She gives a light gesture of her hand to follow as she heads toward the training room. Inside, she's created an airfield complete with several hangers and runways. A lot of it is mostly for decoration and to fill up space, but some of the hangers are exposed, helicopters and plans waiting inside. There's also a helicopter waiting on the runway.

The one thing that sticks out - or at least it would to Ginia - is the presence of a floating orb that drifts down to linger around Ginia.

When she turns to Jean and begins using sign language, the orb helpfully translates in a tinny robotic voice.]

/Ready to look around?/

[He follows her in, and his eyes sweep the generated airfield, widening in awe just a little bit as he tries to take it all in. The movement of the floating orb pulls his attention back to Ginia. He's surprised - he hadn't thought much when she chose to respond in writing rather than just speaking into the journal like most people did, but now he understands why.]

Uh...yeah. [He recovers from his surprise with a little grin.] Let's do this.

[Ginia grins back and begins walking toward one of the hangers. The orb happily floats alongside her, the light flashing as it translates for Ginia.]

/With fair warning, while I've been in planes and helicopters plenty of times, I'm not a pilot or a scientist. You should be able to find books in the library if you want to know more./

[The first hanger has an assortment of planes inside. Fighter aircraft from different points throughout history give a visual view of the evolution of planes over the years. He's free to walk up or around them, some of them even have steps leading up to the cockpit if he wants a closer look.]

/These are all planes used in combat, beginning with the earliest in around 1917 to modern aircraft from my time period, 2017./ [She pauses, realizing the timeline herself.] /A century of changes./

[He moves closer to inspect the nearest plane. Now that he's seeing the aircraft in person, he can see that the large propeller in front - which had appeared as only a flat line in the helicopter illustrations - likely has something to do with how they move.]

This is what pushes it through the air, huh? [He throws her a look over his shoulder, pointing at the propeller on one of the early models.] I don't see how it can get off the ground in the first place, though.

[The fans in the main apparatus of his gear work in a similar fashion, but if not for the steel cables to pull his body upwards, he couldn't ever get into the air.]

/There are four principles at work when it comes to airplanes; thrust, drag, weight, and lift.

The propeller creates thrust as the plane moves forward while drag provides resistance.

Lift is created when air hits the wing. Notice how the wings are curved at the top and flat at the bottom. Air will move underneath as well as moving over. The air going over the top of the wing creates less pressure than the air going over the bottom of the wing, creating lift and pushing the plane up.

Basically when there is more thrust than drag, and lift is able to balance out or be greater than weight, flight occurs.

Does that make sense?/

...I think so. [Sort...of. But he gets the feeling that further clarification isn't going to add much, this technology is so beyond everything he's familiar with.

He now approaches one of the more modern aircraft, wondering where the propeller is on this one - probably hidden somewhere? Deciding to check out what the inside looks like, he climbs up the set of steps leading to the cockpit. That's...a lot of switches and gauges.]

It must take a lot of training to learn how to operate one of these things too.

/A year minimum, and that includes lots of time flying in the air under supervision, tests, and other certifications. Usually several years for military pilots. Lots of aptitude tests, health tests involved./

Wonder if anyone around here is qualified... [A passing thought. He's curious to see what these machines look like in action - maybe not from inside one just yet, but from the ground.

He studies the controls again.]

What kind of weapons are these equipped with anyway?

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