text | un: vaquero

[quinientos]

how do you switch this thing to spanish?

[Nothing should be said about the embarrassing amount of time it's taken him to type up that message, but suffice to say, meals could be had (with dessert), flowers might wilt, and mayflys inched stoically to death. Maybe it's an exaggeration, but it doesn't really feel that much of one to him]

Comments

[acuerdo]

un: reyes

no sé, dude. but you might want to try the speech to text option.
or maybe use the assistant.
it's no siri but it works alright.

[though robbie's on the far end of the scale as far as millennials go and at least mildly averse to the trappings of modern technology, he's not that clueless when it comes to tech.]

[quinientos]

speech to text? siri?
how do I make it talk?

[What do any of those words even mean? What the hell kind of place did Vasquez find and did he not suffer enough in his life to avoid it?]

[acuerdo]

hold the button down.
the phone will chime and you can ask it a question.

you could say "hey phone: como sé dice... en inglés" it will give you a translation. i use it all the time back home when i can't remember a word.

or you could just say "hey phone: text robbie that i want dinner and drinks."

[this is clearly going swimmingly. look at him trying and failing to teach an old cowboy new tricks.]

text → voice

[quinientos]

Who is a Robbie? What is a Robbie?

[He's taking small victories in the fact that he'd eventually mashed some buttons and the little device started to yell at him that he could talk over a network, but more importantly, he knows enough to have read the most important part of Robbie's text]

I need a drink. More than one, if I have to keep dealing with this demon box.

[acuerdo]

I'm Robbie. Robbie Reyes. It's nice to meet you.

[well would ya look at that. guess mr. cowboy's managed to figure out the phone with a little help. robbie's happy to offer up his assistance in person. seems like a nice thing to do.]

Hate to break it to you, but the phone's the wave of the future. You're probably gonna be real drunk before long. How's about we meet up and I give you a few tips in person?

Tell me where you're at and I'll meet you. It'll be easier than trying to explain the GPS.

[quinientos]

Reyes?

[Why is that so comforting, strangely? Vasquez isn't exactly that desperate to hear a familiar name, but he has been surrounded by a lot of annoying white men these last few years]

I would be happy to be very, very drunk. I don't know where I am, it all looks confusing and very strange

[Probably doesn't help that he's still coming off the high of adrenaline from the battle and being shot, but he squints into the little "phone" as he angles it around like he's trying to do something with it, but when he does, he sees a building]

Gamma building? Is that something you know?

[acuerdo]

That's the name. Don't wear it out.

[it's probably not the smartest move to use a statement that vasquez clearly won't have any frame of reference for, but it's already done and gone before robbie can think better of it.

he's about to ask vasquez to take a picture if he can't figure out exactly where he is, but then he realizes it's probably asking a whole lot from someone who called their devices the demon box. someone must be looking out for them both because he mentions gamma specifically. that? he can do.]

yeah. it's a building over from me. just head to the lobby. i'll meet you there.

[quinientos]

Haven't met a Reyes in years.

[It's all Smiths and Faradays and Does, names that you could find in any city whatsoever, which is irritable to begin with. Worse, though, is being in some strange city with a voice coming out of a box telling him that he's going to come and meet him. Cursing under his breath, he's grateful at least that apparently he's not going to suffer alone]

Lobby. There's a lot of people in the lobby.

[Could be that Vasquez might just be a little too jumpy around people, still, but he's not intending to say that so loudly]

[acuerdo]

it's not as common as rodriguez in los angeles, but there's hardly a shortage.

[he hasn't checked the census data, but robbie's pretty sure he's not the only reyes in either los angeles or orange county. vasquez's comment is a tad disconcerting. he doesn't love crowds either but to make it a point to say that there's lots of people in the lobby. hmm.]

you worried you won't be able to figure out which of them is me? here. i'll send you a picture. swear i'm not catfishing.

[attached img]

text | un: trenton

[inshallah]

Were you able to figure this out yet?

[quinientos]

[In the process of opening up the picture, Vasquez also opens the maps function, accidentally misdails a bunch of mismashed numbers, and takes a confused picture of himself in the process. Then, he opens it to squint at a too-fresh face of someone who clearly hasn't been in a fight, not today at least]

maybe instead, we meet outside the lobby

[Easier for him to run, if it comes to that. He hangs up, probably rudely, but it had been an accident when he tries to close the picture and instead ends the call, ending up standing outside the lobby, as promised, wondering if this is some very elaborate trap]

[quinientos]

A something called Siri is helping me. I don't understand why a voice is inside a box and can translate for me. How is this possible?

[inshallah]

Yes, Siri can be quite helpful. Technology is very helpful. It's possible because... well, people have learned how to pool information and then -- well, computers are much better at processing information than we are.

[quinientos]

Computers? Is a computer something like a phone? Why is this all so complicated?

[What happened to the good old days where you lived and died by natural causes, no phones or computers, just the good hard life of guns and danger and disease. Okay, well, that right there could be a good explanation why things have changed]

[inshallah]

Yes. A phone is a miniaturization of a computer,
basically.

[acuerdo]

[he reads that last message from vasquez and shakes his head with a quiet laugh.

robbie heads outside, zipping up his jacket as he exits. a cursory glance and he spots vasquez looking clearly out of sorts, dressed like he just stepped out of a john wayne film.]

Hey man. Nice hat. Let's go get some drinks. I'll show you how to work that phone.

audio; UN: forthedefense

[fightlikehell]

I hope you've found your answer, friend.

[Audio message from a lightly accented speaker in Español.]

[quinientos]

Anyone ever told you that you use too many big words?

[quinientos]

[The trouble with being a six-foot-four cowboy in the middle of a strange place, with a bloody shirt is that it's hard not to call attention to yourself. Not to mention, Vasquez still isn't sure that people here aren't just waiting for the right moment to haul him in. Hand on his lasso, the only reason Reyes isn't tied up is because he'd seen the picture. Apparently the little devil box is worth some good]

I'm glad you said plural drinks. I've had the kind of day where you need more than one.

[Does everyone here get so eager to help? Or is he just in a city of naive, determined do-gooders, like they bled over from Rose Creek]

[quinientos]

There is a woman who lives in my phone who will translate for me. This is not normal.

[He really shouldn't be rude, the man is taking care to speak Spanish, and yet...]

How often do you speak Spanish?

[inshallah]

Not really.

[fightlikehell]

[He laughs a little because, well, in the grand scheme of things the man is right.]

Yes. It's true. You're doing well enough all the same.

[They're talking right? The rest will come. It's clear this is not a typical technology.]

Not as often as I had in school. I learned some as a boy and studied the language in college. I have a good ear. My slang and informal Spanish is not good at all. Apologies ahead of time.

[acuerdo]

[if it's any consolation, robbie's really not all that phased by the bloody shirt or even the fact that he's the shorter one in this little encounter. seeing vasquez with his lasso makes him sorely miss his chain, but there's not really a need for it around here and the one time he'd taken it around with him people had looked at him like he was a thug or something.]

No point to going out for just one drink. My car's just across the way. [robbie points toward the charger, currently illegally parked under two oak trees about thirty feet from where they're standing. he moves toward said vehicle but not before a pointed look back at vasquez and a question that's been nagging him since he first spotted the man.]

So... is this cowboy get up the real deal?

[quinientos]

Then I can be the first. Maybe for men like me, you go slower?

[quinientos]

Only because I spent hours staring at it and others have helped.

[He's not bad, not really, and it's not like any of the Rose Creek men had even bothered to speak decent Spanish to him, with the abysmal exception of the mockery of hearing them butcher it. Sam even bothered to speak Comanche with Red, he's wondering if he should be insulted]

College? I don't know what college is. We could also speak English. Mine's not so bad, have to learn it when you're surrounded by people who refuse to learn any Spanish.