(2022-10-11) Fluid Dynamics and Fish of the Air

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Author:	inkie
Summary:	Following her introductory physics lecture, Jocoza meets up with Ben in the Blade's Edge Mountains. They do some science (with violence).
Rating:	M for Mature 17+

Ben salutes Jocoza with respect.

Jocoza waves at Ben. "Hello! Isn't this place just lovely? A little bit of hominess in the wasteland."

[Ben]: It is — uh, something, yes'm.

[Ben]: Pretty clever, I guess.

Station Technician says: YEOW!!

Ben tries not to flinch at the Station Technician's scream.

[Jocoza]: Yeah, the ambiance is just… just perfect. *Jo beams.*

Station Technician says: I'M ON FIRE!!!

[Jocoza]: Alright, so they asked me to try to get some tech from the ogres up north. Want to come along? Then you can ask any more questions you had about the science club.

[Ben]: Sure, yes'm, I can do that.

They mount up and fly north. As they land outside the ogre camp, Maggoc, Son of Gruul, goes lumbering by on the other side of the ridge.

Ben eyes Maggoc up and down.

[Ben]: I will never get over them things.

[Jocoza]: The gronns? Yeah, wild creatures.

[Jocoza]: Did you hear about them and the dragons?

[Ben]: No?

Bladespire Crusher says: Raaar!!! Me smash Human!

(They have begun fighting ogres. Any smashing going on is decidedly not in the ogres’ favor.)

[Jocoza]: The dragons impaled on the spikes, I guess that was them. The black flight tried to come here.

Bladespire Crusher goes into a frenzy!

[Ben]: No sh*t?

[Jocoza]: Those are some serious monsters, the gronn.

[Ben]: … I guess so.

[Ben]: What are these things? That we're gettin'?

[Jocoza]: Electromentals. This is getting a bit far from today's topics…

[Ben]: Okay. Too advance for me, huh? *Ben smiles crookedly.*

[Jocoza]: It's more of an electromagnetism thing. Keep coming to the club, we'll get there!

[Ben]: I hope so. I got a lot to learn, clearly.

[Jocoza]: But for now, kind of like elementals. But like… a bit more mechanical.

[Ben]: Mechanical elementals. Okay.

[Jocoza]: Um, gosh now we're getting into shaman territory, and no Nunuzac or Azizia.

[Ben]: I have to say that a mechanical elemental sounds to me a little like fluid air.

Jocoza giggles.

[Jocoza]: They aren't exactly naturally occuring from the land, like lightning elementals. I think.

[Ben]: Can you explain that? I am not bein' on purpose obtuse or tryin' to be contrary. Just, like — fluid means liquid, I thought.

[Ben]: Explain the fluid air I mean, not the elementals.

[Jocoza]: Fluid can mean a number of things.

[Jocoza]: Objects can move through it, it flows out to fill available containers…

[Jocoza]: Those are both true of air and water, right?

[Jocoza]: That's probably enough of them for now.

[Ben]: I guess? About fluid I mean?

[Jocoza]: There is a thing you can do to make there be no fluid around you.

[Ben]: What's that?

[Jocoza]: That's what I was getting at for maybe next time.

[Jocoza]: Um… have you ever sealed a wine bottle?

[Ben]: I cannot say that I have, ma'am.

Jocoza turns to Toshley for the moment. "Sure, what more do you need?"

Toshley says: Think you could do the same thing and get us some cheap fuel from lightning breathing serpents?

Jocoza blinks. "Oookay. Why not?"

To be clear, Toshley wants them to collect “cheap fuel” in the form of activating a shield he’s developed and then allowing themselves to be struck by serpent lightning a whole bunch.

[Ben]: Uh.

Ben follows Jo's lead gamely.

Jocoza shrugs. "The principle behind the shield sounded sound."

[Ben]: If you say so, ma'am. *Ben does not sound skeptical. He means it: If Jo says so, he will go with it.*

[Jocoza]: So what I was getting at…

[Jocoza]: If you've got a sealed container and like… a certain sort of plunger…

[Jocoza]: You can remove the air from a place.

[Ben]: With a plunger, ma'am?

[Jocoza]: Yes. *Jo nods: a perfectly ordinary thing to do.*

[Ben]: … okay.

[Jocoza]: And then what's left behind is… nothing.

[Ben]: So but if you take all the air out, an' you are left with… nothing, I mean.

[Ben]: I kind of thought air was nothing.

[Jocoza]: Exactly. So if you were in there, you couldn't breathe.

[Jocoza]: Because there's no fluid.

[Ben]: So air is not nothing. It is a fluid.

[Jocoza]: Right, and it's one we need, because it's the environment we're designed to live in. By titans or whoever.

[Ben]: We are like air-fish. Do fish not know they are in the water?

[Jocoza]: I'd imagine it's the same!

[Jocoza]: They might look at air and be like, "gosh that is not a fluid at all, how can anything live in that?"

Ben scoffs. F*cken fish, man.

[Ben]: And you can know if a thing is a fluid because it pushes back?

[Jocoza]: Yes! It has a viscosity.

[Ben]: Okay see, I thought that was a thing just for liquids too. Or, like, not even liquids. Just sticky ones.

[Jocoza]: Every fluid has a viscosity. It might just be, you know, a low one.

[Ben]: This is so f*cken weird to get my head around. Pardon my sayin'.

[Ben]: We are air-fish. Air is a liquid.

Jocoza giggles.

[Jocoza]: Humans and gnomes, fish of the air.

Ben shakes his head. What will gnomes think of next?

[Ben]: So why the ball falls faster than the feather is the feather kind of floats in the air-liquid, like a person in water, an' the ball just drops more in it, like a rock in water.

[Jocoza]: Yeah, that's pretty much it.

[Jocoza]: So if we were to take the air out…

[Jocoza]: …then they would fall at the same speed. Which is really weird to watch.

[Ben]: I bet. Wouldn't mind seein' it, though.

[Jocoza]: It's just so off from our usual world that watching it feels wrong.

[Ben]: I mean, I have seen a share of wrong sh*t this last year, ma'am.

[Jocoza]: Yeah, okay. Point taken. This is more the "Wow, neato!" kind of wrong.

[Jocoza]: Not the "Obliterate it with fire!" kind of wrong.

[Jocoza]: Got your lightning, Toshley! Anything else?

Toshley says: Hah, I can't believe it actually worked.

Jocoza eyes Toshley. "I did look it over before we used it. It was fine. Do you need me to check your work more often?"

Ben looks from Jo to Toshley a little smugly.

Toshley says: Well, one more thing. The Razaani up north have these little pink light balls I'd like to get a closer look at.

Toshley says: Can you trap a few?

[Jocoza]: Sure, don't see why not!

[Ben]: Light balls.

They head north again, in search of light balls.

[Jocoza]: Speaking of sh*t we've seen… Sil told you he's backing off for a while?

[Ben]: … he did, yeah. I am a little worried about him. Just– I mean, personal. Not in a job way.

[Jocoza]: Yeah, I know. I am too, a little. Did you see him after Light's Hope Battle? I know that was a while back now.

[Ben]: But I am a little worried about a few folk recently, since, y'know.

Jocoza nods at Ben. "Plenty of worry to go around."

[Ben]: I did, ma'am. He did not… I mean. It was his first big battle, y'know?

Ben pauses, weighing something, and then admits to Jo, "I am writin' a book, ma'am."

[Jocoza]: Oh? What kind of a book?

[Ben]: A history one? Or, I mean.

[Ben]: It is too recent to be history yet.

[Ben]: But about the battle.

[Jocoza]: Oh, like a record?

[Jocoza]: I used to keep a journal, but… so much paperwork now…

[Ben]: Yeah. I just was thinkin', like, how many people in history do sh*t and do not get their names in books.

[Ben]: So I wanted to just write up about the battle with as many names in it as I can.

[Ben]: So people know.

Ben watches a glowing orb leave the Ethereal's corpse.

[Ben]: … the hell's that?

[Jocoza]: I don't know. I try to zap-extract it, but it doesn't work.

[Jocoza]: Is that… the etheral?

[Ben]: The ones in Terokkar did not do that.

[Ben]: The fellow said we are lookin' for pink lights.

[Ben]: I thought?

[Ben]: But I do not see any.

[Jocoza]: So not these… hmmm…

[Jocoza]: But that's a good idea, a book about the battle.

[Ben]: Thank you, ma'am. I ain't much a writer, but.

[Jocoza]: It might seem silly, but it meant a lot to me, to be there.

[Ben]: Yeah. I reckon it meant a lot to a lot of people who was there. An' the ones who died– oh, hey!

[Jocoza]: Pink lights!

[Jocoza]: Coming to Sil, I've seen people like that after a battle before. You maybe don't need to mention that part, in the book, right?

[Ben]: No, ma'am, I for sure will not.

[Ben]: Is that fifteen?

[Jocoza]: Yeah, if I counted right.

[Ben]: Okay.

They head south again, having trapped the requisite number of pink light balls.

[Jocoza]: I think he'll come out of it okay. Just takes longer than some people think it ought to, reading books.

[Jocoza]: And I know human boys… or, well, men… might beat themselves up a little.

[Ben]: You think that is what rattled him? I was thinkin' it was rough on him but it was the thing with his family shook him up hard. But maybe it was the one right after the other, or –

[Ben]: Yes'm. That is true.

[Jocoza]: Probably a lot of things.

[Jocoza]: I think that was definitely part of it, and then his brother…

Ben nods gravely.

Jo delivers the contained pink lights to Toshley.

[Jocoza]: They didn't seem to mind us collecting a few! I mean, a few minded, but those ones aren't around anymore.

Ben grins at Jo.

Toshley says: Wait a minute! These are made of nether energy and GNOME SOULS! They've been killing our people!

[Ben]: … sorry, they f*cken what?

Jocoza 's face pales. "They… there's so few of us left!"

Toshley says: You need to put an end to this, before they kill again! Take out their leader!

[Jocoza]: Absolutely! Right Away!

Ben looks grimly from Toshley to Jo. He nods.

[Jocoza]: Well, this is grimmer than I thought.

[Ben]: I am sorry, ma'am. That's f*cked up.

[Jocoza]: Yes, well, they won't be getting this gnome soul. It's going to stay well attached thankyouverymuch.

[Ben]: The Ethereals are collectin'– you know? They was down in the catacombs in Auchindoun an' whatnot collectin' up purple energies.

[Ben]: I thought it was just… weird energy. Arcane, like?

[Jocoza]: Draenei souls, probably.

[Ben]: But yeah, if they are f*cken soul thieves…

[Jocoza]: That's just wrong.

[Ben]: It is disrespectful in the eyes of the Light, *says Ben dutifully, in a way that distinctly telegraphs it's just occurred to him he should maybe say something paladinish.*

[Jocoza]: I should probably mention Sandy's going to be off squad as well.

[Ben]: Wait, he is?

[Jocoza]: Yep, *Jo says firmly.*

[Ben]: Ma'am. I have got no qualm with that decision. He okay about it?

[Jocoza]: I think after we talked a while, he was.

[Ben]: Okay.

[Ben]: Well I hope he will learn from it.

[Jocoza]: I just… don't like the idea of him wandering around so much fel and Legion and stuff. The way he's going.

[Ben]: I concur, ma'am.

They are interrupted by Nexus-Prince Razaan, who is irate at their disruption of his soul-harvesting operation. They show him what irate really looks like. (It looks like he is dead.)

Jocoza spits on the ground.

Ben also spits on the ground, because that's his usual move. Good one, Cap'n.

[Jocoza]: This won't bring the gnomes back, but they won't be using our spirits as energy.

[Ben]: Damn right.

They return once more to Toshley.

[Jocoza]: He's dealt with.

Toshley says: Good riddance! Thank you for putting an end to their macabre twisting of magic and technology.

Gnome Spirit says: Thank you, strangers, for saving us from a fate worse than death. You have our eternal gratitude.

Ben glances at Jo, just to check that she also sees the dancing gnome ghosts.

[Jocoza]: Anytime, Toshley. Though also, I hope never again.

Ben nods firmly. As Jo does not mention the dancing gnome ghosts, he does not remark on them.

[Jocoza]: Thanks for helping today, Ben. And I'm glad we got to talk more about fluids!

Ben keeps a straight face, admirably.

[Ben]: … me too, ma'am.

[Ben]: I got some more questions for you, probably, but I 'preciate you. I got some stuff to rethink now, too.

[Jocoza]: Okay! Anytime, I love talking about science and magic! When it doesn't involve souls.

[Ben]: Yes'm. Me, too. I look forward to learnin' more.

[Ben]: See you around, ma'am.

Ben salutes Jocoza with respect.

Jocoza salutes Ben with respect.