TT: This will at least buy you some time. TT: If you stay calm, and we work together, we can get you out of this. TT: I'm practically an expert at escaping fires by now. EB: ok, thank you rose. EB: hey, how do you know these things anyway? EB: can you see me somehow? TT: Yes. TT: I have a crystal ball. EB: oh man, really? TT: Yes. EB: like a magic one? TT: I think so. EB: can it show you the future? EB: is that how you know what's going to happen? TT: No, it can only show me various locations in the present moment, as far as I can tell. TT: My perception of the future has been informed by other sources. EB: like what? TT: Informants. EB: durrrrr. TT: Whispering gods, memories sifted from dreams, cryptic readings from unearthed talismans, conclusions drawn from riddles deciphered - every gambit you'd expect a quest to extend to an emerging seer. TT: Just as I presume an heir would be supplied with what's needed for his maturation, assuming he's looking for it. EB: oh... yeah. EB: point taken. i guess i should be looking, huh? TT: You should probably be doing what you're doing. EB: okay, so... EB: with what you've learned from your dreams and gods and magic and stuff... EB: do you have it all mapped out now? do you know everything? TT: I didn't know why you were asleep, did I? EB: yeah, but... EB: neither did i! TT: I have more pedestrian sources too, you know. TT: Sometimes trolls blither tidbits about the future, and I can't help but take note of it. TT: Just as they do with you. TT: You also have access to the oracle clouds in Skaia, whereas I do not. EB: oh yeah. TT: Knowing the future is no remarkable feat here. TT: It appears to be a fact of life. TT: I'm not all that special, John. EB: ok, buuuuuut... EB: i guess that's not all i'm talking about. EB: you seem a little different. EB: kind of, um... spooky? TT: Really? EB: i just mean that before, it felt like we were in this adventure together, figuring stuff out as we went along. EB: and now you have all the answers! because of magic, and other mysterious reasons! EB: and you want to use your powers to break the game, and i still don't really understand why, and... EB: bluh. TT: I'm not actually trying to caricaturize a grim sorcerer. TT: There's still a perfectly intact piece of my mind which realizes how ridiculous it is to be flying across rainbow oceans with a couple of magic wands and a salamander in a little cowl. TT: And it wasn't without swallowing a little embarrassment that I revealed I was using a crystal ball just now. TT: It's all pretty absurd. TT: And yet, TT: It's been fun, and above all, practical. TT: For solving our problems. EB: ok, yeah, you're right. EB: i guess i just started worryin'... EB: that you are getting away from us! EB: because you know everything, and you're magic, and you have a crystal ball, and a salamander, and you are basically a wizard. EB: and that's cool, and it sure does sound fun... EB: but i kinda think it was more fun when you just did things like read books, and tell jokes. TT: I still read books and tell jokes. EB: BA-DUM PSHHH! TT: John, TT: That was mean. EB: sorry. :(