Working the Long Con, Tuesday, First Period

[talentforlying]

It was a grumpy, rumpled librarian that stomped his way into class after the students had arrived, bonelessly dropping into his chair and kicking his feet up on to his desk as he fished about in his coat for some cigarettes.

The school board might make him teach -- again -- but they couldn't make him behave.

"Right, I'm Constantine, and you're most likely here because you're gullible and thinking this is going to be an easy 'A', a delinquent, or for some strange reason thought this was an academic class with philosophical value," he said, lighting up. "More the fools you, but I can work with it."

"So, let's start with the basics. A con is a game, one where hopefully you're the one writing the rules and the people around you are the pieces you're moving. It's a scam, a grift, a hustle, all those words designed to make it sound as shady as possible, although the number of reasons you could be running a con are infinite, at least when you're justifying it to yourself. It usually just boils down to one, very simple motivation: You want something," he continued bluntly. "So give me your name - or whatever the hell you want to be called for the purposes of this class, I don't care - and tell me one time you ran a scam on someone. Give me an idea of what you already know, kids, then we'll get on to Arts and Crafts."

...yes, that actually was as ominous as it sounded.

[OOC: Wait for the OCD! Up early as I am at a conference all-day Tuesday and will be SP until 6pm CST.]

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[vrajna_kralis]

"Alba," Hyacinthe said, pointing to the entire landmass that this 'Scotland' was on. "And Eire." There, he pointed to the island that Constantine had called Ireland. Across the small band of water that separated Alba from the rest of the continent, he tapped his finger. "Terre D'Ange."

The other countries came fast. Euskerria. That was a tiny country that lay nestled between Terre D'Ange and Aragonia. Off to the east lay Skaldia, and to the south of that, Caedicca Unitas, which once was Tiberium. Further away still was Hellas, the last great civilization before Terre D'Ange, and Bhodistan, where his mother's people had come from.

[talentforlying]

"Right then. Normally the island is here," he said, jabbing his finger in the approximate area of the US East Coast. "--sounds like you're from an alternate timeline of some sort; Tiberium and Hellas were both used as names once-upon-a-time, but I've never seen Terre D'Ange for France, and I read a lot of old books."

[vrajna_kralis]

"My benefactor told me that the island lay here," Hyacinthe said, pointing off the coast of Terre D'Ange. "And--you have never heard of Terre D'Ange? The home of Blessed Elua and his companions?"

Alternate timelines, what?

[talentforlying]

"Not ringing a bell, mate," he said apologetically. "Hang on."

He dug around in his coat pocket and pulled out a trio of lighters. Good enough. "So, here's the thing," he said, laying all three on the table. "There is an infinite number of possible universes, including the universe in which we live right now. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, and the physical laws and constants that describe them."

"Sometimes all that separates these universes is one event. Maybe in one universe a girl became king of Alba one year," he said, holding up the green lighter. "--and in another, that she was a he." That had the yellow lighter. "Maybe in one universe, shrimp never evolved, and so you have one universe without shrimp." Red lighter, of course. "But they're all still real, still 'home' to someone, and all these different places...they connect here. This one island, spanning space and time. It's a trip, that's for sure."

"It's like... all your favorite bedtime stories are true. Just not all true in the same way or in the same place."

[vrajna_kralis]

Hyacinthe reached for the lighters, fascinated both by the technology and the explanation. "So, we have boy-king and girl-king," he said, looking at the yellow and green lighters. A moment of concentration later and he'd figured out how to spark them into flame. At first, he startled, dropping the green one, but he caught it in midair and lit it again. "Then...this is the island?" he asked, holding them together so their flames were as one.

[talentforlying]

Aw, John hadn't even had to do the second half of the metaphor himself! The kid figured it out. "Got it in one, squire," he said. "Welcome to Fandom Island. You found your school-assigned student guide, yet? They'd probably have a whole fancy speech for you."

[vrajna_kralis]

Please. He was the Prince of Travellers. What kind of Tsingani would he be if he had to be led to the obvious conclusion like the most oafish D'Angeline sheepherder?

"I've not," Hyacinthe said. "I do not even know who that might be. Nor that such a one was assigned. I arrived but yesterday and am still feeling my way around."

Probably literally, considering he'd 'befriended' Isabel already and would make Dante's acquaintance next class.