"I don't see why I have to learn to use a new orb. What was wrong with the old one?"
Vragnor Fear-Bringer nods politely. "It's because the way the old ones connect to the wizard is being phased out," he recites — a touch wearily, as though he's had this conversation a lot. "Technical limitations of Regular Solid-232; all the new ones are Universal Solid Block. Can't hardly buy the old ones any more, so they're migrating before they get stuck trying to even find replacements when they break."
Rekk'a Ear-Biter scowls at her desk, with its newly added cross-legged figure, lost in eye-glazed and tattoo-geased contemplation of the orb in its lap. "Why's it got START scarified on its forehead?" she says.
"You boop it when you want it to do something," Vragnor says. "It's sort of cute, innit?" and pokes the wizard in the head. "Spreadsheet," he tells it in a loud talking-to-idiots-or-foreigners voice, and the familiar grid bubbles up within the orb.
"It takes up a lot of room," Rekk'a grumbles, and hesitates. "Is it — you know. Are they even humanely sourced?"
"You just preferred it when we had 'em all mounted on racks in the server dungeon where you didn't have to see 'em," Vragnor says loftily.
