Mass texting

[imsorey]

[Early in the morning, maybe too early for some people, there's a very important mass text being sent out:]

HEY EVERYONE IT'S SOREY

AND MIKLEO

WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK IF YOU CAN SHARE SOME MEMORIES OF YOUR HOME, SO THAT WE CAN SHARE THEM WITH URSULA

IT WOULD MAKE HER HAPPY

SHE CAN READ ALL OF THIS THOUGH SO COME TO THE LABS WHEN YOU'RE FREE SO IT'S A SURPRISE FOR HER

NO PEAKING URSULA

[Sure enough, if you venture over to the labs anytime today, you'll find Sorey and/or Mikleo waiting around for people and multitasking at running a few tests.]

[[OOC: You will get Sorey or Mikleo tagging you, feel free to have characters talk to each other to brainstorm memories if needed too!! Please also fill out the OOC post over HERE for organizational convenience <3]]

Comments

[imsorey]

[He doesn't have to close his eyes to see the picture, but it helps him to focus so he does anyways. But No Face is surprising enough to see that he isn't sure if that was her intention or not.]

It looks like...a big black thing?

[onethousen]

[ She smiles, keeping her concentration for just the few seconds following. ]

With a mask on? Yes, that's No Face. He's pretty different looking.

[ An understatement, but it's why he was both an easy memory to pull up, and a striking one to share. Probably people haven't met too many people like him. ]

[imsorey]

That's the one! Is he a friend from back home?

[They have a few interesting-looking characters on base, so it isn't too shocking, but No Face definitely leaves an impression.]

[onethousen]

From the Spirit World, yes.

[ Not home, but home is what's separated from the spirit world. Close enough to being a part of home. ]

He lives with Granny Zeniba now. He was a lonely spirit for a while. Anyway, it worked! We can share images we think about with each other. That could be useful, right?

[imsorey]

[He perks up at the mention of the spirit world, but mentally sets it aside to ask about later. Too many things to juggle at once could leave both of them confused.]

--You're right! If someone gets lost they could send an image of where they are. And tons of other stuff. That was some great thinking.

[onethousen]

[ She smiles after a moment, glad that something like this is helpful...! ]

I don't know how far it'll work, but it helps, and that's good to know. Um... how far can we talk and send each other brain pictures?

[imsorey]

I don't know the exact range because I haven't tested it, but it's a few miles. A safe guess would be about five, so if you're worried then try not to go too far from the base.

[URSULA likely has a more accurate range than he does, but usually whoever he wants to telepathically talk to is within range so it's a non-issue for him.]

It might help if we wrote all of this stuff down for newbies, huh.

[onethousen]

[ Chihiro offers a more wan smile. ]

It might help, yeah. It's a lot to absorb, and people all tell you different things. It's okay, though. You keep learning.

[ She shrugs her shoulders, setting her hands firmly in her lap. ]

What else can you do?

[imsorey]

Then I'll start writing something up as soon as I have it all pulled together.

[[He'll need to look for paper, but Hajime will know where to find some.]

That's a broad question, though. I can do a lot of things, just not a lot with technology.

[onethousen]

[ She blinks... then she smiles, laughing spontaneously in spite of herself. Ah... apparently she needed that kind of unexpected release. ]

No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I meant — [ She claps her hands over her mouth, still smiling. Thus the rest is rather muffled: ] I meant what can you do except keep learning when you come across things you don't know?

[imsorey]

--Oh! Sorry. I guess I should be learning to pay more attention.

[She seems a little happier though, so he doesn't mind if it was at the expense of his inattentiveness.]

You're pretty sharp for a kid you're age, you know that?

[onethousen]

[ She looks a little surprised, then a little pleased. It means her eyes drop down to her lap and she looks at her fingers, cheeks a little ruddier than usual. ]

Mm, thank you for saying so. I'm trying my hardest. I don't know if that means I'm always 'sharp' or not, but... I'm learning.

[imsorey]

That's probably part of it, you know? The fact that you're always working hard. It just shines through.

[He doesn't want to embarrass her, so he leaves it at that.]

[onethousen]

Um... then the same is true for you, too. I mean, you're doing all of this, with Mikleo-san too. That shines through.

[ The hard work all around. It at least lets her look back up, offering him a tentative smile. Compliments can be difficult to accept... but they feel nice. ]

[imsorey]

We're just a bunch of hard-working people! But I can't say with certainty that I was as dedicated at your age. Unless it came to exploring ruins. That's still pretty different from this.

[His tone makes it sound like "exploring ruins" was the equivalent of goofing off all day.]

[onethousen]

[ EXPLORING RUINS sounds way more exciting than it should, but forgive her, ruins weren't really around for her to explore where she was from. ]

Wow, you were exploring ruins? What kinds of ruins? That's really cool! Oh — do you think you could share an image of one you really liked with me? Brain to brain, like I did with No Face.

[imsorey]

--I bet I could! Let me try.

[He focuses and closes his eyes to concentrate, but he keeps talking as he tries to dig up an image to send her.]

They're all from past civilizations where I'm from--old buildings that no one has lived in for hundreds or thousands of years. The ones closest to where I grew up would have to be the Mount Mabinogio ruins--that's these ones.

[After another few seconds he shares an image of a ruin on the side of a cliff, with a great view out.]

[onethousen]

[ Her indrawn breath communicates some of her wonder as the image appears in her head. It's weird, really really weird to have an image show up there that isn't from her own memory or what she's seeing now, but that's why they're doing this, right? Her smile and the look she turns toward Sorey is excited, pleased by the discovery as much as she is by the sight itself. ]

That's incredible! You were in such a beautiful place? Those ruins are so well preserved... do people take care of them at all?

[imsorey]

[The question gives him a little pause; preservation isn't something that Glenwood has mastered yet, with its limited technology, and his thought is to explore rather than restore.]

We try not to break anything, but there isn't anyone who takes care of ruins like that. But a lot of the ruins with seraphic artes infused in them stand the test of time better than others. I wouldn't be surprised if there were seraphim who looked after them, but that particular one was empty.

[onethousen]

[ Her own society is so far on the preservation side, so it's an interesting and natural point of contrast between both their homes. ]

Oh... Where I'm from, we do have a lot of places of historic stuff we keep preserved and keep safe. The government is responsible for that, I think.

[ She's not sure. She honestly paid not too much attention before, outside of what was mentioned in school because They Should Know about their cultural history. ]

That anyone can keep a place intact for so long feels magical. We can't do that without a lot of work over the years. At least, I don't think we can.

[imsorey]

Being able to preserve them without the use of seraphic artes sounds just as impressive! It must take a lot of dedication to keep it up. I didn't realize that was something a government had the resources to do.

[The magic of technology is on the same level as seraphic artes!!!]

[onethousen]

... Yours doesn't?

[ She comes from a privileged time in many ways. Her initial impulse is to believe that something's up to keep that from happening. ]

Are you guys at war a lot or something?

[imsorey]

Ah...you could say that.

[He's a little hesitant to get into details--talking about war is always a downer. But since she asked he doesn't mind sharing a bit, trying to keep it brief.]

There's a lot of tension between countries right now because of limited resources. It's a little hard for me to judge since I haven't lived most of my life with humans, but there's a lot of emphasis on the military and obtaining sustainable resources. Keeping people healthy and fed comes first, after all.

[onethousen]

[ From what little she understands, that's not so different from other wars even in recent times. Well, the idea of arguing over who gets what for which reason.

So while she nods, she also wants to move a bit beyond thinking too hard on the bad things people can willingly choose to get into. ]

Mm... that sounds like war. Though people can go hungry and not be fed when they keep going on.

[ War breeds a different kind of hell than some of the impetus behind war, after all. ]

Though who did you grow up with, if it wasn't around humans?

[imsorey]

I grew up in a village full of seraphim. They're sort of like spirits that are invisible to most humans.

[The definition still sounds odd to him, but he's learned it's the easiest way to describe them to others.]

My friend Mikleo is a seraphim--not everyone here can see him, but because of the nanites everyone can hear him.