the-clocktower

[the-clocktower]

Daniel. If you wanted to talk, you could have just come to my house, you know you’re welcome. You didn’t have to send an ask while anonymous like some illicit gremlin. The answer is yes.

But if that question wasn’t from you, Danny, I have a few questions.

-CW

___

((OOC: This is a reply to an ask I got from, I’m told/my friend guesses, probably a Danny RP blog. Anon Friendo, I love you, but I have a Plot going on and CW isn’t gonna directly answer anon asks that he’d have to post publicly if they include personal info, like ref’s to his powers or the Observants. I have an Asthetique.

for now lol

But I mean, if you’re okay with this sort of reply, go right ahead!

-Mod

Ask: 

[the-clocktower]

Your employers stole and destroyed your personal property? man, that HAS to be illegal! Have you contacted the police or a lawyer?

I got some similar questions, so I’ll answer them together.

Let’s just say, all possible measures of every sort have been taken regarding the laptop incident. It won’t do very much. Also, the American government wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway. I wouldn’t want them to.

I can’t really go into the legality/politics at play, but rest assured, they’re an absolute migraine. I can handle it, though.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

OH MY DIDDLES PIDDLES! C-DUBS! YOU’RE BACK! What’s the hip hop haps with you, my guy? Also! Tell me more about time dilation! And other cool time things! Hey, maybe you can do, like, a fact about time every day!

I honestly didn’t expect this much enthusiasm just because I posted something again. At least you’re happy, I suppose. Other than the laptop incident, nothing much has really changed.

As for time dilation... hm. Well, gravity effects how fast time passes. In places of high gravity, such as the center of the Earth or, more moderately, deep valleys, time passes slower. In places farther from centers of high gravity, such as in space or on top of Mt. Everest, time moves faster. This means that, minutely, people who climb mountains age faster than those that live, say, in flood plains. Even more minutely, while standing, your feet age slower than your head, since they’re closer to Earth’s center of gravity. Nobody really notices either in practice, though.

If I can learn to be brief, maybe I’ll take you up on your suggestion. Enough people seem interested.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

Approximation of question by unknown: Why don’t you just... murder your employers? This is not legal or moral advice, just pointing out it is something physically possible.

Don't tempt me... 

In all seriousness, no, that is not on the table for a variety or reasons- and not just the ethical ones. I don’t condone murder in general. 

If I or my family were to take any purposefully harmful action- legal, physical, or otherwise- against them, or convince someone else to do so, I would then come under breach of contract. I admit I was probably rather rash when I did agree to this contract, so I do not have a copy or even know many of the finer details, but I do know coming under breach of it would put me and those I care about under heavy penalties and difficulty that we might never recover from.

It would be different if they were to breach the contract, of course, but that doesn't seem probable at this point in time. I think the conditions for them to come under breach are similar to mine but more lax, and anyway they have no reason to try to do anything other than annoying me into listening to them better. They do not want to do anything to put the contract in danger.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

Approximation of question by unknown: What are your favorite pieces of fictional media? Books, movies, podcasts? 

I'm familiar with many popular fiction stories, though I didn't spend a lot of time engaging with it. Danny has gotten me to have occasional movie nights with him whenever I tell happen to mention that I haven't seen a movie or show he adores. This has led me to seeing most classic Disney movies, and some other well known movies or cult classics. Danny got quite a kick out of showing me Beetlejuice. It was interesting to say the least. He has a friend rather like Lydia in many ways. The two of them went as Lydia and Beetlejuice for last Halloween, in fact. It was cute. 

My friend and I have taken to reading together in between our travels, trading books and such. I never read Harry Potter, but after an... Incident with him, he insisted I familiarize myself with it. I've also recently found I like the late Sir Terry Pratchett's work, it is rather engaging satire and amusing as well. 

As for podcasts, I'm sorry to say I haven't listened to any at this point. I have heard there are some rather good ones and the medium is making a fairly quick comeback after radio-casts died. It may warrant a look into the field, but I don’t spend extensive time consuming media often, so it may take a while for me to actually get to it.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

Approximation of missing ask by unknown: If you could have one power, what would it be?

I do like the ability to pause time. It's useful in many situations

Aside from that... I think it'd ease my mind a bit if I had the power to heal people's injuries. Both Danny and my friend have a habit of getting hurt fairly often, and though I'm somewhat capable of first aid and its rarely dangerous, it’d be so much easier to just heal them outright. Especially if I could heal someone's scars...

-CW

[the-clocktower]

Return

I have been forcefully gifted a new laptop after the one that I was using previously was... confiscated. I’m not entirely sure if that laptop is even still intact. Either way, that was the cause for my rather abrupt and extended disappearance.

To make a long story short, my employers invaded my privacy, took the laptop, and no doubt have been trying to destroy/delete any evidence of my existence on the internet. Fortunately, they are idiots that barely know how a light bulb works, let alone a modern laptop and the intricacies of the internet. They might honestly think smashing it to pieces will do the job. I’m almost positive they can’t and have not read any of these posts, and they only know it exists by the few moments the laptop was open before they took it, and spying/word of mouth. 

Either way, the old laptop is gone. Danny had given it to me when he came up with this idea. Some non-essential part of it was running out and it wouldn’t run his DOOM game anymore, so that was enough reason for his parents to get him a new laptop and not question where the old one went. He has reminded me many times since that ‘you should be lucky I had backed up my data off of it before I gave it to you’. He apparently almost didn’t, trusting me not to misuse it. It wasn’t really me he needed to worry about, of course.

A friend of his has more money to waste on random things than he does, so apparently he convinced her to get a new laptop to give to me. I wasn’t going to go out of my way to get one myself, I didn’t use it outside of this, and the loss was honestly not that worrisome. I told him it wasn’t that worth it, but Danny and both his friends insisted and, well, here we are.

Nothing much has changed as far as any of you should be concerned. I’m just going to keep a closer eye on my possessions, I suppose. And my employers.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

(Blank asks)

Ooc, Mod here. I've realised the last couple posts were somehow crunched by Tumblr and dont show the text of the ask for me or my friend, but DO show the response. Is this the same for everyone? I'll go back and edit in what I remember of the questions when I get time, but if anyone can see the texts or remembers their message they think was answered, feel free to send it in. I honestly dont know what happened!

Sorry for the issue tho. And thanks for the continued support.

-Mod

[the-clocktower]

I never explicitly said he was small. But, he's never convinced me to make anything before. To do small things or favors, yes. He also helped endear me to the idea of traveling occasionally when my friend first proposed the idea, since I was a bit reluctant then. Making things, though, I’ve only helped him make things for school before. 

-CW

[the-clocktower]

Of course, I don't see any harm in that sort of thing. I admit I am somewhat curious about what you will draw. Feel free to share when you get done, and I appreciate you asking beforehand.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

you mentioned employers at some point ...? what do you do for a living, CW? I get the impression that you're unhappy with your job :(

I believe I did mention what I did before, called it ‘general management and oversight’. It’s not quite accurate, but the name is nothing more than a formality. I keep an eye on things under my responsibility, and step in if something important comes up, or if I can tell someone is going to do something that will end up causing a lot of trouble. And I fix whatever trouble does happen, somehow. Usually I have to find someone qualified to do specific things, but sometimes I get my own hands dirty.

I’m not exactly unhappy with my job, per se. It takes up a lot of time and can be frustrating sometimes, but it’s generally fulfilling. What I am unhappy with and have no qualms over complaining about it, is my employers sticking their noses into my business and telling me how to do my job. They frequently give me things to do and then became furious when I complete them in a way they had not foreseen. Usually my way ends up with less complications too, so I don’t think that helps their temper. Not to mention they try to give me frequent busy work,or sometimes tell me to do things that will just cause even more problems than it’d solve, and then refuse to listen to me when I tell them so.

I can’t quit for various reasons and, no, before you ask, they are not going to fire me. Believe me, I’ve tried. They need me a lot more than I need them, but... I’m under contract, and can’t get out of it. No need to try to offer legal advice either, I assure you I’ve got it covered.

It is just something I will have to live with for a little while yet. I wouldn’t call myself unhappy overall, at least. And besides, don’t most people hate their employers? Thank you for the concern, though.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

A tourist trap?? You two go to disney world?

Oh goodness, no. I have no interest in going to one of those things, but I’m sure saying so will get me an earful from Danny. Aside from their predatory capitalistic policies, he of course still loves Disney since he grew up with them. Then again, he hasn’t been to one of those parks either, so he really has no room to argue. He’ll probably try to convince me we should go to one.

No, we went to one of those ‘largest crater’ or ‘largest tree’ type places, I can’t actually remember what it was exactly. We got too distracted by the local flora and fauna- he wanted to get a better look, and I was trying to make sure he didn’t get eaten. Needless to say, I don’t think we’re going to be able to go back to that particular spot any time soon.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

in your info dump you were like "humans do this, humans do that" as if you're not one of us lmao what are you a grandfather clock? Real talk the infodump was a good read you should write a book!

Well, I say ‘humans’ because I like to consider how differently other organisms would have come about a process to measure time as a concept, and the only ideas we have available currently are those for humans. For all you know, aliens could have a vastly different understanding of time, with a different format or set of laws. Even other earth organisms might have very different perceptions of time that we’ll never understand unless meaningful communication is established.

Thank you for the compliment, by the way. I highly doubt I’ll ever actually pursue writing a book, since it holds many complications for myself specifically. The idea is amusing, though.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

!!! CW, just want to say, while a reasonable awareness of your audience and ability to adapt to it is admirable, please don't ever feel bad for explaining a subject you enjoy in whatever manner you feel like. This is your blog, not a press release; you can say whatever the heck you want here. I could tell you're passionate and/or excited about time, and I'd hate for you to stifle something that you like so much. It's ok to infodump! (Also personally I was enthralled by your explanation

Well, thank you very much. I will keep that in mind. I don’t find the urge to ‘infodump’ often, but there’s rarely a context to provoke it anyway.

I admit I don’t talk about the details much simply because it tends to get the same dazed response, but I do seem to fare a little better in text. At least I don’t have to repeat something multiple times because I lost the listener. Text really is a wonderful medium. I am glad you enjoyed it, at least.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

Addressing Anonymous

I have recently gotten a few anonymous messages that have content referencing personal matters I have not explicitly provided on this blog. Meaning, said messenger knows who I am. So, I want to make some things very clear.

First of all, I don’t know how you figured it out, but I do not appreciate the intrusion. I have been upfront with my attempts to hide my identity because of security and safety reasons, but also for this exact sort of thing. I don’t want the sort of questions people would ask if they know who I am. i don’t want the sort of attention that would bring.

Second of all, regarding your statement of ‘The anonymous nature of the asks is a blessing.‘ vis-a-vis the people you are asking about not knowing who asked the question, you are right. They would not know the anonymous person who asked the question. But they would know I’m the only one who could answer that. They would know it was my by the details you included in your question. One of them, specifically, I do not want knowing I am alive let alone that I have an easily accessible internet blog. The anonymous function may protect you, yes, but that does not mean I will put my own safety and sanity on the line to answer your curious whims.

Last of all, whoever you are that you have enough knowledge of that subject to even ask that question, I should know you in real life. I highly doubt there is anybody that knows about that incident that I am not at least associated with. If you were really so curious, I could have made it just as safe and secure to come to me in person and discuss your questions as such, rather than resorting to an insecure public blog ask box.

Your action was not just cowardly, but also moronically short-sighted. And you know exactly who you are.

There were others that were... slightly less obvious and extreme in their questions that seem to have at least a guess as to my identity, but I had simply ignored their questions for the time being. I would ask you to refrain from being so obvious in your questions in the future.

To most other anonymous messengers, the rest of you have been very polite and understanding for the most part, if a little silly at times. It is for this reason I won’t close the anonymous function. There is no harm in that sort of behavior. I will simply delete future problematic messages rather than acknowledge them, and try to confront the possible individuals in my life that might have sent the ask in question.

-CW

((OOC Author’s Note:

The above is an in-character post to a real life ask I got that references canon events that are not public knowledge to the canon of this blog. I didn’t make this to shoot down the anon who sent the ask, and a couple different ones before this- In fact I appreciate them! I just saw it as a good opportunity to create some tension and pace to the story. I do not actually dislike or totally discourage this kind of thing. It’s just that, up until the blog’s story and whatnot unfold more, Clockwork will not answer those sort of questions because he’s worried about getting hounded for favors or getting into more trouble with the Observants, among other things. I just wanted to add this note because CW’s being rather vitriolic, and I didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings for sending an ask! 

Also, this blog recently reached 21 followers, and I wanted to say thank you all for the overwhelming support! I never thought I’d get this many follows/asks/likes when I started, and it’s only been, what, a week? Two? You guys are all amazing. I hope you enjoy sending asks and reading this grumpy old man’s replies as we continue in the future.

-Love, the Mod PS, for those curious, here’s a copy/paste of the ask in question’s contents: Anonymous said: Dan was made of Plasmius and Phantom. Currently present day Phantom is your responsibility. Does that mean you have to babysit Plasmius? Don't ask how I know how all of this, please. The anonymous nature of the asks is a blessing. (Meaning neither Phantom nor Plasmius have no proof of who really asked this.) (I’m sure y’all can see why CW would be a bit freaked about this ask showing up lol) ))

[the-clocktower]

can i give you a nickname or do you still prefer just going by your initials?

The initials are a sure way to avoid confusion, but I don’t mind if you want to give me a nickname within reason. Obviously I’m not going to respond if everyone just starts calling me something ridiculous like ‘cheese whiz’, but it’s not like I don’t have nicknames in reality.

For example, I have a younger friend that mostly calls me ‘old man’, and I typically call him ‘dramatic bastard’. Or ‘idiot’, but frankly I find myself calling many people that throughout my day. Like my employers.

-CW

[the-clocktower]

You are a sarcastic nerd... which isn’t a bad thing! Sarcasm and nerds are great, even more so when put together! But it got me thinking... wizards are definitely nerds, and sarcasm and cynicism aren’t so far apart. Does CW stand for Cynical Wizard?

It does not, but that is certainly more apt than ‘cheese whiz’.

I realize you chose ‘cynical’ mostly for the purpose of the joke, but I do try my best not to be like that. I’ve lived too long and it’d be too easy to make myself miserable having no hope or trust in anyone or anything. But the sarcasm can’t be helped at this point.

I think Danny is going to try to press the validity of the ‘wizard’ part, though. He already makes enough Merlin and Gandalf jokes.

-CW