Private Clueless in Manta Carlos

Briar often found himself with an abundance of free time. Though school and work took their own chunks, he often had plenty left over which he filled with various volunteer work. Such as at the hospital where he could help others rest or offer his sleep powder to put restless patients to sleep. Other times he helped out at the school library. It was nice, quiet work, though today showed it's more perplexing side. He was to assist the librarian in "digitizing" some ancient tomes, by using a little machine called a scanner.

Briar stood before the plain looking machine, opening and closing it's lid. He knew to put pages face down and to close the lid. That much he's figured out. What wasn't so readily apparent was how to activate the machine and make it do the scans. Would it be one of the buttons? Or the flat screen part that was dark and blank? Briar pressed a button experimentally but nothing happened. The machine wasn't even plugged in, but he didn't know that. "Is there some kind of manual for this?" He called back to Vindivir. "Or someone who can explain this?"

@Yung Draco

"Great minds are for great problems." Briar chuckled, remembering the old saying. "The common man solves common problems." Who had said that? He couldn't remember, maybe it was a king. Briar hovered to the side as Vindivir studied the scanner.

"What a shame." Briar said with a sad shake of his head. He didn't know of this House of Wisdom, but he knew a thing or two about buildings and monuments lost to war. "Perhaps we could ask. . . Eye-Tee? I remember a conversation I had with a nurse at the hospital. She said her computer was acting up and had to call the Eye-Tee to help fix the solution.

"If we ask one the library staff, perhaps they could provide us with a number?" Briar knew how to operate a phone. He spent nearly two weeks mastering his own, was pleased to say he could make and receive calls, even check his voice mail.

Briar waited by the machine as Vindivir talked to Ms. May. When the other dragon returned, Briar chuckled at his comment. "It's funny in a way. I never really concerned myself with the technology of humans. I thought it was wonderful how inventive they were, but as a dragon I never had need of their inventions. Now, I find myself in position to use all sorts of, ah, gadgets.

"Cooking appliances for instnace! Quite handy they are. And I think I'm starting to master them. Especially the thing they call a crockpot. Many of my classmates have sworn by theres and I'm starting to see the appeal." Briar moved to lean against a table, settling in to wait for their Eye-Tee call. "Though, I must say I do love how wide-spread books are now."

Briar nodded along, similarlly impressed by the printing press, and somewhat less so than airplanes. His home dimension had plenty of magic that was often used for long-distance transportation. Books, however, were very much something only for the wealthy or religious when he was active.

"Evolutionary advantage?" Briar repeated, puzzling over Vindivir's meaning. Then it hit him, "Oh, you mean my dragon form." He chuckled, "Actually, my species was created by wizards long ago. Dragons like you, ones made of flesh and bone actually do not exist in my home dimension. It's quite fascinating really, dragons did not exist, but people imagined them. The ancient wizards drew upon that imagination and brought to life the dragons crafted on quilts.

The quilt dragons were made to be protectors of royal families. Over time, the wizards gave us the ability to shift between dragon and human. It was a quite handy ability to have really." It allowed his kind to move among humans and learn more about them. The quilt dragons learned and grew to love their wards even more. Then people advanced, and slowly but surely the quilt dragons were needed less and less.

"Sleep." Briar answered Vindivir's question, but before he could explain, their ITperson entered. Briar greeted them with a cheery smile that was not returned. Ah well, poor guy looked tired, was he sleeping well enough? He joined Vindivir in watching the IT guy fix their scanner. "Yes, I'm rather curious as to what we were missing." Briar solemnly agreed.

After sighing, their IT guy went under the table and plugged the scanner in. Back on his feet, he pressed the power button and the screen lit up, outlining various touch buttons and options. "Ah! So that was the reason." The scanner did not have a source of power, and must needs be connected to the wall to work. "Thank you very much," Briar said to the young man. "We were quite stumped."