Chapter Text
Meggie brings it up. You know how kids are, you can only keep them away from tech for so long. So, after they've been living with Elinor for a while and it seems that they'll actually settle down in one place this time, she starts complaining that aside from reading there isn't much for them to do in their free time ("'Just reading' used to be good enough for you," Mo counter-argues, and... Does he seem kind of offended?), and also they're always so disconnected from the world and the news ("Which is how I like to be, thank you very much”, Elinor says in a kind of defensive way). But eventually they give in. And that's how it all starts.
Farid becomes obsessed with the thing. Magic, he calls it, and can't (no matter how many times they try to explain) understand the concept of recording moving images and then replaying them at will. But it's TV and it's made to keep your attention, and he falls for it like... Like a baby. It's actually kinda cute...
Dustfinger takes a more cautions approach because his experience with magic has never been very fun. However, like the good dad (that he invariably is), he does find an interest on the news show. It feels productive, you know? And helps him understand the world better. Because, Merlin's beard, this world is big and full of people, and it's so fucking hard to keep track of countries, continents, languages, politics...
So, they're all watching the news show maybe the second or third night after Mo brings home the thing and the weather report comes up, and Dustfinger kind of believes it, kinda not. I mean, he could read the weather back home, but here? It's been a whole decade and every time he feels like he's figuring out the patterns, they get random storms for days in a row and the summer just gets hotter every passing year.
“Maybe you should postpone that trip, Elinor,” Mo says with his eyes glued to a book in his hands, barely paying attention to the TV at all. “Sounds like there’s gonna be a lot of snow next week.”
And sure enough it’s been cold like hell the past month or so, but Dustfinger doesn’t expect snow, not just yet, not based on his experience.
Next week comes. And it snows.
(The Old Witch doesn’t go on said trip.)
He starts giving the tiny TV people a little bit more credit.
“Are they wizards or something?” He asks Silvertongue later, when they’re in bed cuddled close to fight off the cold.
“Who are the wizards now?” There’s a tone of almost laughter in his voice, but Dustfinger doesn’t mind it.
“The, uh. Men. Weather... People.”
“No,” Silvertongue frowns. “Weather forecast is a real science. It’s like how you can tell it’s going to rain after two days of scalding sun.”
But they predicted a whole week ahead, Dustfinger wants to say. Doesn’t, however. Just makes up his mind that only wizards would be able to predict with such perfect accuracy, because if their prediction didn’t come true, they could just... Make it happen.
And yeah... Basically, he gets it in his head that suit-and-tie is just the usual thing wizards wear in this world. Doesn’t help it when Mo brings out his own suit for some special occasion, a certain book launch at the bookstore he’s been doing jobs for.
“Silvertongue, I’ve never seen you in your wizard clothes...” He stops to look the man up and down, and Silvertongue is doing some exasperated thing with his hands, probably wants to say he’s not a wizard as if Dustfinger could be fooled.
He looks good in it, too. Like. The way it hugs his ass--
*
News isn’t all they show on TV, though. Dustfinger soon finds out there’s pretty much something for everyone.
During the day there’s children content: ‘animation’, Silvertongue calls it (don’t ask him what that means). Sometimes he has to keep the TV off because Farid finds the things hilarious, even though he’s probably a little too old for them, and he’ll stop everything to come watch.
Then he finds the theatrical content. Soap operas, movies, sometimes musical concerts even. And Dustfinger’s always been a man of the arts, right? Obviously he’ll want to give it a chance.
“These things have new episodes everyday,” Silvertongue tells him with a bit of a disapproving tone when he finds Dustfinger watching soap operas one afternoon. It’s a rerun, whatever that means. “You gotta tune in on the clock everyday if you don’t want to miss it.”
So, needless to say, the 4PM rerun of Avenida Brasil becomes Dustfinger’s new thing~