"Mn, im glad too…" he agreed, thinking back on the previous night, revisiting the first moments he had with her. In doing so, he reminded himself that he was a bit hungry, and a small snack would not be bad at all.
Her words confused him, as he did not know the language, like she'd guessed.
"Uh, what does that mean?" he asked, curiously, though his gaze had already moved towards the bag again, captivated by its contents. He instantly went for the books, opening them and flipping through the pages, stopping at the first picture he came across. With his lifestyle, he was used to the books having few to no pictures at all, and those that had, were usually drawings made in ink; seeing a modern picture for the first time was stunning, because it resembled nothing he knew until now, especially since it was a picture of a real place, not a drawing.
He didnt yet inquire about the photos however, as he redirected his attention to the CD-player. Unlike books with real pictures, this one was 100% foreign to him.
"How does it work?"
Mari smiled a little, blushing faintly at his question. ”Uhh, it means ”you’re welcome” in Spanish. Sorry. I tend to slip into that language on occasion.” she explained, watching him as he started looking at the books. She wanted to be as fluent as possible and usually took as many opportunities to practice as she could. She had even been considering going to Mexico for a trip at some point.
“It plays music.” she told him, opening the small device. ”You just pick an album that you want to hear, put the disk right here, close the lid, and hit play.” she explained as she went through the motions to show him. ”Oh, and you'll need to put the headphones on.” she pointed out handing him the older model of headphones, the ones that go over your ears rather than inside.
"Ah, no, its fine" he reasurred her. "Its just, i never heard of that language before. I've only ever encountered other english speakers, but i did find some books in other languages down in the library. Cant say which ones those are but definitely not Spanish"
Damien watched curiously her every move, trying to make sense of the strange device. He'd rarely heard music before, only performed by some musicians for hire that he'd seen in his days outside, but other than that, he was used to just the chirp of birds.
"How does it do that tho?" he inquired as he shyly accepted the headphones, while paying attention to the way Mari handled the disk - she was holding it in a certain way so he assumed it was supposed to be held like that.
"How can these small 'disks' make music? is it some kind of magic, like the one your phone did?"
He'd gotten very curious about the contraption, partially because it reminded him of the girl's phone from the other day, and how it was able to show moving images all on its own.
”Oh. Okay, then.” she nodded a little. ”Is… Is English the only language you know?” she asked, just to make sure. She didn't want to assume anything.
Mari bit her lip to keep from laughing, though a smile was still visible, as she shook her head. ”No. It's not magic. It's technology… Science.” she told him. ”It’s similar to a record player or a phonograph. I think there might be something about those in the history books. Back then, sound was recorded on a material called vinyl using a needle. And you could play it back using… a horn, I think. Like the bell of a trumpet.” she tried to explain, though she didn't really know much more beyond that.
"In speaking, yes. Reading wise, i'd have to see some books in the library to check the names, tho i think i know about 3" he responded, counting them down on his fingers.
"Oh, i see. Though that phonograph thing looks nothing like this thing" Damien observed, pointing at the cd player. Tho im assuming its because things changed so much over the years, no?"***
She smiled at him, impressed by that skill. ”That’s amazing! Honestly, reading a different language is the hard part for me. I can read Spanish but I always have some trouble translating.” she clarified.
”Yes. Things have changed… A lot really.” Mari nodded. ”The phonograph was just the first version. The more time went by, the more advanced technology became. Most people just have their music on their phones now but before that was possible, the CD player was the best way to do that.” she told him.
Mari paused for a moment before letting out a small groan. ”I almost forgot…” she said as she reached into her bag again. ”I brought back your umbrella too. And a modern cookbook. I thought you might like to try some of them out.”
He smiled a little in return before averting his gaze downwards.
"All i know i learned from the books ive read, i cant speak a single word, to be fair" he admitted, playing with his sleeves.
He examined the cd player carefully, trying not to drop it by accident. It was very new to him and didnt really know how to handle it without the fear he might break something accidentally.
How exactly does one have music in their phone? This device needs disks to work, but your phone is much smaller than it. No way a disk can fit inside that"
"Ah, you shouldnt have…" he spoke gently, receiving the umbrella. But Damien's reluctancy all evaporated when she whipped out the cookbook - now that had peaked his interest.
”That’s still very cool.” she smiled at him, giving his shoulder a friendly gentle bump with her own.
She hummed a little and shook her head. ”No, the disks don't go into the phones. It's from internet access. You can download stuff, like music, to a computer and transfer it or purchase certain things directly to your phone.” she tried to explain, but feeling like she was failing. ”A lot of stuff can be done using computers or phones now.” Mari ended a little lamely. Maybe she could try to show him… in a little bit.
”Hey, I told you that I would bring it back.” she chuckled lightly. Her smile grew when she saw his reaction to the cookbook before handing it over to him. ”It’s got some pretty basic recipes but if you want to make any of them I can get you whatever you don't have.” she offered.
The boy's lips extended into a shy smile as he was being praised. He didnt flinch when she lightly bumped into him with her shoulder. The gesture was small enough for Damien to see it as friendly, so he rolled with it calmly.
"The internet… Whats that?" he asked, trying to make some sense of her words; though he understood the logic in her arguments, he didnt fully grasp the whole thing. Like he understood that the gramophone was probably the ancestor of the objects he was looking at now, but how exactly it functioned, he had no idea. Guess he really did miss out on a lot of things while he was living alone.
The umbrella was put aside, hanging by the back rest of the couch while Damien focused his whole attention on the book. He carefully but happily flipped through the pages, once again looking at some of the pictures he found. They all looked like the real thing, and that only perplexed the boy further as he could not touch them.
"Wow… Thank you very much!" he smiled at her whole heartedly, joyful of all the new things he'd been brought. It truly was a wonderful gift.
Searching each and every page, he didnt recognize a lot of the dishes presented there, therefore he pointed them out to Mari.
She blushed a little when she realized her action. She had completely forgotten that he wasn't ready for a lot of physical contact yet… But he didn't seem to mind. Maybe it was small enough to be ok this time.
“Oh, boy…” she muttered as she tried to figure out how to explain what the Internet is. ”Umm, the internet is what allows us to look up all kinds of information on our phones and computers. You can put pictures, music, and facts or opinions on the internet and everyone can see them.” she told him as best she could.
The smile he gave her made her heart feel like it was about to burst at seeing how much he enjoyed the book. ”You’re welcome.” she smiled back, taking the time to answer his questions on the recipes he asked about to the best of her ability.
Without having seen it himself, Damien could make little sense of what Mari told him. He had already been extremely sheltered back in his time, so no wonder he didnt comprehend most stuff from the modern age.
"Hmmm… So, its this thing that allows something to be public, sort of like a library where everyone can borrow stuff from, but its not just books, its anything and everything?" he attempted to summarize the whole thing as best he could. ***"And it works from that tiny device of yours? Wow"
Out of all the book, several recipes attracted the boy's attention, four of them being desserts - pictures apparently played a very big role in his decisions, given until now he could only read about food and imagine its taste/appearance. Thing was, out of all the ingredient list, he was missing more than half actually, most being stuff like spices or specific things one wouldnt normally own in a home.
”Yeah. That's pretty much it.” she said, nodding a little. She really couldn't think of any other way to explain it. Even though it didn't really from her phone, just with it… Though she wasn't sure how to clarify how that worked so Mari decided to leave it alone for now.
”What do you think?” she asked, when he came to the dessert section. ”Do you like your new cookbook?” she smiled at him.
Satisfied his comparison hit pretty close to home, Damien considered it a victory and rolled with it. At the very least he was one step closer to learning more about the new world outside of the mansion walls.
"Mhm! I love it!" he chirped, more than happy with the new cookbook. "Its just that some things mentioned here dont sound familiar at all to me, like some of these ingredients and tools. Like, what's a blender?"
Mari was caught between amusement at his question and embarrassment that she forgot he didn't have some of the kitchen supplies that she considered to be a household standard. ”A blender is usually an electric… pitcher with a motor and a couple of small blades inside to mix and chop foods quickly.” she told him, hopeful that he would be able to understand. Though she figured she’d have to explain electricity pretty soon.
"That sounds kinda cool actually. And does it work with absolutely anything you put in it?" he asked, finding the said contraption kinda interesting in a way despite having no idea what it looked like. Most of the time he did all the cooking by hand, so having something that did some of the work for him sounded intriguing.
With the cookbook still on his lap, Damien peeked over at the bag Mari brought, wondering what else was left in it that she brought along
“Food wise, yes. But don’t put anything metal, wood, or generally inedible in it.” she warned, even though he didn't own one… yet. Then again she wasn't even sure if this old house had electricity. ”Oh, and absolutely never put your hand in there. It's a pretty powerful little machine.”
Mari followed his gaze back to her bag and smirked. The bag was mostly empty except for one more thing. Something that she couldn't imagine any kid growing up not trying at least once. She reached in and pulled out a small mix bag of candy. It was one of those little bags that had a couple of each kind of candy and chocolate, similar to what you would buy for Halloween. She smiled at him and placed the bag on top of his book.
"I see." he nodded, processing her information. "So its a device meant for food only, right? Cuz the whole metal, wood thing would be sorta silly. Also, no hands in it, gotcha"
If it had blades that moved really fast, Damien understood enough to know things could go south really fast and last time he checked, he didnt perform too well when it came to lacerations of any kind, therefore, he would keep the warning in mind.
He studied the bag a little bit, admiring the brightly colored packaging before lightly touching it with one finger.
"What's this?" the boy asked, turning the package on all its sides
”Yeah, that's right.” she smiled. Last thing she wanted was for her newest friend to get hurt by something modern. She would honestly feel like it was her fault for not preparing him better.
Mari chuckled a little when he poked the plastic bag. ”It’s candy. Open it.” she encouraged him. ”Actually, a variety pack of popular candies and chocolates. Each one is individually wrapped. Just I wouldn't recommend eating all of them in one sitting.”
"But uh, just how big is it? Would it fit something like a cabbage in it? Or is it used just for some types of food only?" he probed, after reading some more lines in the cookbook and finding it was mentioned alongside fruit and relatively small sized items, usually cut down into pieces.
Damien fiddled with the bag for a little, trying to figure out a way to find it - he'd never seen a plastic bag such as this, therefore he wasnt sure how he should handle it. In the end, with a little bit of help, he pried open the bag and carefully grabbed one of the candy inside, bringing it to eye level.
"Is this what sweets look like now?" he asked, once again, trying to figure out how to unwrap the piece of chocolate.
Having learned from his previous attempt, he quickly claimed his sweet prize and reluctantly took a bite out of it, to try it out
"Wow, its so sweet!" he exclaimed after a few moments, eating the rest of the candy. "What do you call this?"
She shrugged a little. ”It varies in size. If you were to put a cabbage in it, it would have to be cut… at least in fourths.” she suggested. ”And the same with fruits. They don't have to be cut that small but, depending on what you're making, you should usually peel them and remove the seeds.”
Mari should have realized that even the bags would be different from what he was used to. For crying out loud, they definitely didn't have vacuum sealing hundreds of years ago. She gently showed him the little ”trick” to opening it. ”Yeah. Most candies do. There are some differences but for the most part…” she nodded.
”Chocolate.” she smiled, looking at the wrapper. ”That particular piece is called a Tootsie Roll. As you can tell, it's very soft but a lot of people like it.”
Damien nodded, semi satisfied with the answer. If a cabbage could fit inside a blender cut in fourths, then it was decently sized, sorta.
"And you dont own one yet? Is it like expensive or something?"
He was intrigued by the new packaging, mostly because of the very bright coloring, which he did not remember seeing while outside - in fact, most of the stuff Mari had brought back held so much more color in them than he recalled ever being in objects, stuff was just a lot duller the way he remembered it.
"Thats a neat little package. And much nicer too. I like it. But what is it made of tho? I dont think i ever met something so… rustley sounding"
Still very excited about the new taste, he checked the package, finding the name she'd mentioned on it, on a very peculiar font as well.
"Tootsie roll…. It tastes awesome! The name is a little funny, but i like it!" he smiled, checking the insides of the bag for more interesting content. "I see theres a few more in here, but a bunch of others as well. Are they all like that?"
Mari shook her head a little. ”I don't own my own house yet, so I don't need one personally. My parents have one and I’m allowed to use it.” she explained. ”I don't think they're very expensive. Pretty sure that most everyone has one.”
”It’s made of plastic.” she told him. ”A lot of things are. It's a pretty common material actually. Almost as common as wood and metal, nowadays.” Maybe more so? I wouldn't be surprised…
She chuckled, nodding. ”Yeah, it is a funny name. I think it was to make people smile even before they ate the candy.” she shrugged, unable to think of a better explanation.
"Oooh, so you have one, just arent allowed to use it, i get it… " he corrected himself. "Do they not allow you to use it cuz you might get hurt? From the blades or something?"
After being told the name, Damien continued to rustle the bag, in search of another candy he could try next.
"Plastic? Never heard of it. Its a thing that got invented relatively recently, no?"
He took one more glance at the chocolate wrapping with a small smile on his lips before opening another one and tasting the candy.
"Well, i think its done its job. It does make me a bit happy to see it."
“Oh, I can use it.” she corrected gently. ”My parents just have to supervise so I don't mess up somehow… Or, yeah, get hurt.” she nodded at the last part.
Mari hummed a little. ”I’m not sure when it first started getting used… but I'm sure it's been around for a while. Maybe a couple decades… could be a century but I don't really know.” she admitted with a brief shrug.
”Yeah? Well, I'm glad you like it.” she chuckled. ”You know, you ask a lot of questions that make me think about the world differently. There's nothing wrong with that but it's an interesting perspective.” she told him with a gentle smile.
"Is it complicated to use?" he continued to ask, still very curious about the odd machine that they were talking about.
"Hmm, i thought so… What other stuff is new out there? Aside from plastic, and blenders and phones, and books with colorful real pictures?"
The boy was munching on a different candy as he listed all the things he knew about, moving his legs a little bit so they would not fall asleep under him. All the talk about what lay outside his little nest made him want to just go out there and see it for himself, even for just one day. But could he do it though? He wasnt sure he had the courage to.
He smiled at her statement, lightly swinging back and forth, with the vandy still in hand.
"Oh… Well, you do live surrounded by all these things every day, so perhaps you're not used to paying them much attention." he dared speak, carefully putting a stretched out candy wrapper aside, like it was an important object. Honestly, everything felt pretty new to him, even stuff that would have been considered normal back in his day and age - of course, most of his inexperience could be explained away by his very sheltered life style, which he'd most likely kept since he was a very small kid.
”I don't think so. I have had a little trouble with it before but nothing serious.” she shrugged a little. ”My parents just worry.”
Mari leaned back as she thought about how to answer that question. ”I’m not sure… I guess… Medicine has probably changed a lot but it really depends on what you remember from before.” she explained before chuckling briefly. ”I didn't think about the pictures.” she admitted, glancing at his book. ”What’s something you knew about or enjoyed? Maybe I know something about it.”
She nodded thoughtfully at his surprisingly insightful response. ”That… That makes sense. I guess there is something to be said about being desensitized to stuff.”
Damien switched his attention back to his sleeves, slowly twisting the fabric in his hands.
"Well, they probably worry because they care about you, and want to know you safe…" he said softly, remembering what he had been told back when he was small - he liked to remember those small quotes, even to just relieve his loneliness at times.
"Hmm, the only thing that would come to mind right now would probably be books." he admitted after a brief pause in which he reviewed his interests. "I rarely left the house when i was still with my mom, but she always brought me something when she went out. I kinda used to just play around the house as a kid, but after i got here, books were pretty much the only thing i held an interest in, because i could visit so many worlds without actually leaving"
He nodded slowly with a smile, putting the third candy wrapper next to him and moving the bag aside. Its contents were really good, but Mari had warned him not to eat the whole thing in one sitting, so thats what he decided to do. Besides, they would last him longer that way
Marissa nodded with a smile. ”I know they do. All parents do.” At least, the good ones… she added mentally. She knew there were a fair amount of neglectful parents out there but there was no reason to mention that fact to Damien yet.
”I can understand that. Books are always a great escape.” she sighed softly. ”I lost track of the times I pretended to be the hero in a book I just read. Umm, let's see… Obviously, there is a lot more books that have been written over the years. And probably a few new genres would have been introduced, like young adult and historical fiction. Not to mention magazines.” she told him.
She chuckled a little as she watched him unwrap one of those suckers with the bubble gum center. That would be an interesting surprise for him. ”I know your mother kept you pretty sheltered but, umm, I have a couple questions about you. Well, one about you and one for you.” she clarified. ”Have you ever heard of or tried sports?”
"Mhm.." he approved, lost in thought. This discussion had unwillingly driven him to attempt remembering what it was like to have someone to care for him. Despite it being so long ago, he could vaguely remember a warm sensation, that put him at ease when he felt alone. He didnt miss it as much as he did back when its absence was still a fresh wound in his soul, but he did start wondering if a lot of the things he remembered were still accurate or his mind had deformed them over time. Either way, he felt Mari was a very lucky girl, to have a caring family.
"Genres? Like, types of books?" he suddenly perked up again, interested in the subject. Most of the books in the mansion's library were either classics or various book of multiple different genres which he read one by one in the other they were placed on the shelves. That way he'd discovered what he liked and did not like - exploration and biology books were his best friends when he wanted to know more about the outer world, political and historical books were pretty heavy and took longer to read, but at least he had caught glimpses of the human world and thought process, while fantastic books offered a whole world just for him to explore and sink in. He'd managed to dig up several tales about vampire slayers, and while they left a small bitter taste in his mouth, he rarely associated with the creatures described in it - for one, the vampires in books were usually feral and really ugly - but at the same time he kinda learned what exactly was it that humans found scary about him and did his best to not replicate them.
"Do you have any favorites?" he asked, eager to know more about new literature.
"Sports?" he asked, his mouth full. "I think i heard about them, probably from one of the books here but i dont think i ever tried any. I wouldnt know how."
He made a little face as he was munching on the candy, seemingly confused as to why the thing in his mouth had turned rubbery instead of melting like all the others did
"Uh, Mari? i think this one's gone bad or something. Its rubbery…"
”Yeah, there's a lot of different types too.” she nodded again. ”My favorite genre would have to be a tie between detective novels and fantasy or sci-fi… Umm, science fiction.” she clarified since he probably wasn't familiar with the nickname for that genre.
”That’s ok. I was just wondering.” Mari assured him. ”If you're ever interested, I don't really play a lot of sports but I know a lot about them.” she offered even though she was unsure if he was actually into sports… But it didn't hurt to ask. ”Well, maybe ”a lot” is overstating it a little… I’m not an expert but I enjoy playing.”
She chuckled as she watched his face, shaking her head at the question. ”No, there's nothing wrong with that one, Damien. That's just the bubble gum center of the sucker. You can chew on it for a while.” she explained, pointing at the wrapper.
