[The walk a few blocks down the street and Rhonda cautiously opens the door with her key, glancing at her two companions to make sure they aren't doing something particularly odd. Then she leads them up two flights of stairs to her apartment.]
Rhonda [as she unlocks the door]: Sarah, we have guests, you'd better put your clothes on. [Opening the door and glancing around] She must not be here, her key is gone [pointing to one of the hooks on the wall by the door and then placing her key chain on the other hook]. Well, make yourselves at home, I guess. What to wizards from other lands like to eat?
Brock: Pigs mostly [glancing at Vasuvius who glares at him a bit]
Rhonda: Don't let Sarah hear you say that. In addition to her obvious strange behavior, she's also a vegetarian.
Brock [sitting on the couch and giving a surprised look at its softness]: Vegetarian?
Rhonda: Yeah, she doesn't eat any meat. Ever.
Brock: How strange.
Rhonda: Something we agree on at least. I mean, not eating meat isn't always that strange, but Sarah makes it strange, and sometimes awkward.
Brock: Why do you live here with her if you do not like her?
Rhonda: I didn't say I didn't like her. She's just different. Like you two.
[Brock nods a little and then looks ahead of him. His eyes grow wide as he notices the large flat screen television on the wall]
Brock: What is the purpose of that giant black box?
Rhonda: Wow you guys are either really good actors or you really aren't from this planet. That's a television.
[Vasuvius approaches and looks at the edge of the television, poking it just a little with his wand]
Vasuvius: The paintings I have seen of this device are quite different.
Rhonda: You've seen paintings of televisions? I'm not even sure I've seen paintings of televisions.
Vasuvius: Yes, in some of the books I've seen about your planet. The televisions were much more cubical.
Rhonda: Those books are out of date then. This is a flat screen.
Brock: A screen? Like netting? A screen?
Rhonda [smiling a little]: Not quite. [She picks up the remote and turns the television on. Brock nearly falls of the couch in shock. Vasuvius takes a couple steps back and seems mildly surprised.]
Brock: What kind of magic is this? There are people and animals trapped inside!
Rhonda: Electricity.
Brock: I do not understand.
Vasuvius [walking over to the couch]: It's like the horseless carriages, Brock. Really if you want to think of it like magic, perhaps that would help. I believe in this world they would call it science, but the two are really not so different. [Sitting down] Oh, comfy.
Rhonda [walking over to where she can look at Vasuvius]: What do you mean they're not that different? That crap you did to me outside sure wasn't science.
Vasuvius: Not as you know it, but it still follows certain rules, and one must study it for many years to truly master and understand it. The more you understand of magic, the better you will be at performing it.
Brock: That's probably I'm so bad at it. I understand very little about any of this.
Rhonda: So you can't do any of the things he can do [pointing to Vasuvius].
Brock: Oh, I can do few things. Parlor tricks. [He snaps his fingers and a tiny flame appears hovering above them. Rhonda jumps back a step or two.]
Rhonda: Now don't burn my apartment down.
Brock: Oh I doubt I could if I tried. [He shakes his hand and the flame vanishes]. Vasuvius on the other hand...
Rhonda [glancing at Vasuvius]: That's certainly reassuring.
Vasuvius: We mean you no harm, my Lady. I suspect Brock only means to inform you that I am more than capable of protecting you from danger.
Rhonda: What danger though? I'm not even sure why you're here in my apartment, other than the fact that I couldn't imagine just letting you go on your way after what I saw and heard down on the street. I mean, I'm still not even sure this is all really happening. But what is it you imagine you'll protect me from. A dragon or something?
Brock [eyes lighting up even more than when she turned on the TV] There are dragons in this city?
Rhonda [laughing nervously] Not that I'm aware of. But that's my point. You seem to come from a land of dungeons and dragons and adventure. Sure this is a big city, but there's no danger like what you're apparently used to.
Brock: I've never seen a dragon before in my life. They are the stuff of legends and fables much like, well, I suppose, this place.
Rhonda [smiling more sincerely]: Well I'm glad you're impressed, I suppose, but still, what are you going to do for me besides show me some tricks.
Brock [pointing to the television]: Well if you don't need any assistance, what about them.
Rhonda: Oh I can free them quite easily [she turns off the television]
Brock [standing up]: Free them?! Where did they go? To some other plane?
Rhonda: No. They were never there to begin with.
Brock: I don't understand any of this.
Rhonda: Imagine how I feel.
Brock: You live here. Surely it makes sense to you.
Vasuvius: I think she was referring to her encounter of us.
Brock: Oh.
Vasuvius: But as for that device [pointing to TV] if I recall correctly, it's some sort of image transmitter or amplified, perhaps like a telescope, except that it also splits the image so that many people in many different places can view it at once. It sounded rather fascinating and I must admit it is even more impressive to see one in person. But basically, if I understand correctly, there are no people in the device itself, but rather the image of them is taken down somehow, much as one would paint a painting or write down a spell, and transferred through some sort of tubes to the screen, as Rhonda called it.
Rhonda: I couldn't have described it better. At least not in a way you would understand.
Brock: I suppose it makes a little sense. At least as much as magic does.
Vasuvius: I must admit, I had not given sufficient thought to all there is to learn of this world. I do find it all quite fascinating. Though I'm still not sure that this gathering of knowledge will serve in accomplishing much of anything unless we can find a way home.
Rhonda: You mean you can't be back to where you came from?
Vasuvius: Indeed. We have suffered a bit of a mishap from a back-firing spell.
Brock: That's an understatement.
Vasuvius [looking at Rhonda]: Yes, but if anyone can help us, I think it might be you.
Rhonda: Me?
Vasuvius: Yes. You've seen a taste of what we can do, and yet you are still here, welcoming us into your home even, something that is unheard of for a woman who lives alone to do where we are from.
Brock: That's because most women who live alone where we are from do so because they are grotesquely ugly. That's certainly not the case here.
Rhonda: I'll bet you say that to all the girls.
Vasuvius: Anyway, if you are able to trust us in your home, I feel you may also be willing to help us get back to ours.
Rhonda: I'm listening, but suggest I do something inappropriate and you're back out on the street.
Vasuvius [looking mildly confused]: I do not think it is inappropriate. I was only wondering if you know where I could find a library. Preferably one with very, very old books.
Rhonda: A library? Is that really all you need? Sure, I think there's a small one about a mile from here and a big one in the heart of downtown, maybe seven miles away?
Vasuvius: Wonderful. If you could give me more precise directions, I'm sure I can manage to find my way.
Rhonda: Are you sure about that, other worldly adventurer?
Vasuvius: Oh, quite sure. [He snaps his fingers and vanishes]
Rhonda: Holy! [She spins a circle and then looks back at Brock] I think your friend may have gone home without you!
Brock [smiling a little] Oh I doubt that. [There is a knock at the door] I'll bet that's him now.
[Rhonda opens the door to find Vasuvius waving and smiling at her]
Vasuvius: If I have precise coordinates within a certain distance, I am able to teleport quite readily. I believe your seven miles is just on the edge of the distance I can travel.
Rhonda [glancing up and down the hall] But what if someone had seen you?
Vasuvius: I can see where I'm going before I arrive. If anyone had been there, I would have simply returned here. [He walks back over to the couch and sits down again]
Rhonda: But then would you even have vanished at all? Wouldn't you have just snapped your fingers and stayed there or something?
Vasuvius: Teleportation isn't instantaneous. Much faster than traveling by foot, naturally, but it still takes time for the soul and body to travel to the intended location.
Rhonda: It does?
Vasuvius: Yes, of course. Though it does fascinate me that you would think otherwise. You seemed to have no opinions on our other "magic tricks" as I believe you had wanted to call them.
Rhonda: Yeah, well, teleportation is one I actually know. At least from movies and such. Stuff that was just made up. But I've always seen it portrayed as basically instantaneous.
Vasuvius: Fascinating. Another oddity of your world that might be worth investigating. But first to the library, if you could just show me on a map where we are and where I am going.
Rhonda: Yeah, sure, just let me pull it up on my computer.
Brock: Computer? Why would one who computes have a map? To measure distances?
Rhonda [smiling]: Oh are you in for a surprise on this one, magic boy.
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