trans_9 | Newbie Meet n' Greet

Entry tags:

Newbie Meet n' Greet

For the newbies, there are people waiting for them in the Obs Deck. A whole gaggle of people. Behind them is the nasty statue, and the beautiful sight through the windows of the stars streaming past and the swirling vortex of collars that was interdimensional travel.

There are more questions than answers, but the crew is willing to help, especially the Command Staff and greeters.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Perhaps Wyn and Yoshimi could empathize with one another about their traumatic dating experiences over tea. Except that Yoshimi considers tea to be silly. "Yeah, well, the Luddite organization is pretty serious about their anti-technology stuff. Hence the label 'Luddite'. They all just wish they were born in 1980. Truthfully, I agree with them, but that's beside the point." She shakes her head, cutting her babbling off forcefully. "If I could hand you a processor unit, I would. Unfortunately, they're all back in 2083, so... that's not really going to work. Logic will have to do."

"No one liked the eighties. The economy was horrible, Thatcher was PM, and mesh shirts were in fashion." Wyn says, shuddering slightly. "I don't mind the rest of the fashion, provided I can pick and choose from somewhere safely in the future, but my hair doesn't perm well and I don't really feel like killing the ozone layer with hairspray. The music was mostly crap, and the revolution failed as well." And now that she's been derailed on her rant about the 1980s...

Yoshimi arches an eyebrow. "My point was the lack of dependence on technology. People actually did things instead of having robots to do them for them, and they still spoke face to face or over the phone. Yeah, the fashion wasn't great, the music was questionable and all that, but the technology was perfect."

"... oh. Well, that makes a bit more sense, but still, no one in their right mind wants the eighties back." Wyn says a bit sheepishly.

If Yoshimi had spunk, she would have grinned and said something along the lines of 'Well, who said that I'm in my right mind?' However, Yoshimi does not have spunk, or at least not that kind, so she merely shrugs. "Hey, they were better than the 2000's."

"... yeah, the late naughts kind of suck." Wyn says, nodding in agreement. "Except we have the Nexus, which to be fair mostly contains porn and illegal filesharing, but lets people communicate over long distances not-face-to-face."

"What's the Nexus?" she wonders aloud, having not heard of it before. She's not particularly compelled by the porn, but the illegal filesharing sounds right up her alley, as she is quite adept at flouting the system and downloading music. If she had ever seen a CD, she would have missed them greatly, but she barely knows what they are, so she sticks to music files.

"Um... non-techie answer? Worldwide network of computers which can display hypertext documents and files" Wyn says after a moment, trying to come up with a not-jargon-filled explanation. "That's about as basic as it gets without actually getting into ones and zeroes."

She blinks. "You still use binary?" is all she can say on the matter, catching the 'ones and zeroes' comment and storing the rest of Wyn's words for later processing. "Binary became obsolete in 2014! Man. I do not envy you your technology. Not that I ever envy anyone their technology... just... binary..." And then she sobers up and gets over it. "Anyway, that just sounds like the Internet. You know, where I come from, we each have the Internet in our heads. Connective chips are inserted into our brains at birth."

Wyn blinks, torn between saying 'you have viable affordable quantum computing take me to your future nao' and 'hey, leave my binary system alone!' Scientific curiosity wins out. "Hey, so, um... that means your future's got quantum computing, right?" she asks, trying to sound nonchalant (and failing miserably).

"... I dunno, maybe that's what you call it. Alternate universes, et cetera. Also, the chip-in-the-head thing is kind of cool if you like bio-mods, which I do not. Too squishy." Many, many things are 'too squishy' for mechanical-engineer-mad-scientists. "And besides, what happens when you want to turn the Nexus off?"

Though it is an odd expression for her, Yoshimi finds herself grinning smugly. "Yeah. It makes the world about eighteen times easier, and you get to brag about it to all of your alternate-dimension friends. Binary is so last century." Fortunately, her last statement is said in a tone intended to mock the stereotypical teenage girl, only a stereotypical teenage girl would probably say something more along the lines of 'That skirt is so last week.'

She shrugs. "You kind of don't; it becomes natural to ignore it, and you get over the creepy possibility of being hacked at any second. The government uses the connection to spy on people that need spying upon. Like me."

"Well, all my alternate-dimension friends are from worlds where they still use Babbage's Difference Engine system, so I get to brag to them about our fancy binary." Wyn says, also adopting the tone of the cooler-snobbier-and-bitchier-than-thou stereotypical teenage girl. Wyn would give her right arm for a look at one of those quantum computers-- well, someone's right arm, anyway. Maybe not hers, even if she is left-handed.

"... oh. Well, that sounds like the government."

"Well... I don't have any friends!" Apparently, Yoshimi feels that she has won the contest, despite the fact that her lack of friends is highly, highly depressing. It wasn't her fault, though; she just doesn't like people, and people don't like her. Her tendency to glare at them is a bit off-putting.

She grimaces. "Our government is pretty typical. Sleazy, loop-hole-finding, privacy-invading megalomaniacs in three-piece suits. So it goes."

"You win!" Wyn says cheerfully, throwing her hands up in almost-entirely-sarcastic surrender. Wyn will just ignore you and keep talking if you try to glare at her, Yoshimi, so rejoice in the fact that you do so have a friend!

"Add in some conquering of neighboring countries and then not letting them go ever and you've basically got our government. The king has a very shiny crown for state occasions, though, which makes up for more than you'd think." she continues, smile turning slightly brittle and remarkably unamused. Wyn has... issues with her government.

"Glee. I now have something to tell my non-existent friends when I get back." Yoshimi would be happy if she actually understood the concept of friendship. The only organic being she has ever 'befriended' is her cat, and no one is really sure whether or not that counts.

"... That sounds a lot like the United Kingdom government in my dimension. The king still flaunts his crown despite the fact that he's basically become an artifact from time gone by."

"At least you're not subscribing to all of this 'oh, well, if we get back' nonsense. We'll get back." Wyn says, relentlessly looking on the bright side as always. (She will drag Yoshimi into the world of people-with-friends through sheer force of will, and Yoshimi's opinion on the matter will be thoroughly ignored.)

"... it should. I'm from-- well, the polite term is the United Kingdom. British Empire's more accurate." Wyn says with a shrug.

"I was about twenty seconds ago, but apparently I've decided that optimism is the best course. Stacy's even less likely to put us back in our little lives if we complain about it." This is very true. The deciding about it twenty seconds ago, not the bit about Stacy. (Yoshimi will grimace and say nothing; she usually practices the protocol 'suffer in silence'.)

"Oh, well... that explains the accent, I guess. Though it's a bit more Irish than British. I'm guessing that means you're from Ireland."

"... I'll spare you the lecture, but there's not actually a British accent. Anyway, yeah, I'm Irish, just not from Ireland. I'm from the Gaeltacht Quarter of London, which is basically a chunk of Dublin that got picked up and dropped in the middle of London." Wyn says with a shrug. This is not a metaphor, by the way; druids can do insane things when they put their minds to it.

"Ah, I see," she says simply, nodding. "Sounds like you're obstinate about your heritage, though. That's new to me. We don't really care about nationalities and whatnot. It's all the same to us."

Wyn blinks. "Well, to be fair, we probably wouldn't be as attached as we are without centuries of being conquered and pillaged and whatnot. There's a reason most people speak Gaelic, and it's not because the government's made it the official language." she says, giving the pink-haired girl a slightly sad look.

Yoshimi looks a little confused. "Wait, so... oh, you still teach national history? We stopped that a while ago; wars have been abolished, so there's all this stuff about not wanting our children to learn about that kind of violence. It's kind of silly; if they happened back then, they can happen again now. Not that I would know; I'm part of the group that didn't learn about them. Still, pillaging and being conquered doesn't sound fun. My condolences?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Newbie Meet n' Greet

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject