Club Bizarre:

The One Who Brings Horizons quickly detached themselves from the jar as the human, or most likely human-base variation being pulled it back refusing their suggestion, although fortunately without hostility, and instead using a leaf to test the disperse intelligence's ability to interact with organic bodies non-destructively. Far from ideal, but apparently enough to prove it was able.

Less worried with the organic's wellbeing now, they turned to the field-based mimic and pondered on their question. Curiosity was good, yes, but it would be better if there was a reciprocal exchange. "Actors not of my kind refer to me by many designators, but most can be summed up as one who brings knowledge of the different, or moves them to seek it. I accepted the mantle of being one who brings horizons.". Their eight head-lights shifted their tone to violet as they spoke, then back to the bluish-white they were before. "My 'native' denominator cannot be properly shared without direct interface, I am afraid."

To Nemaforte they then said "My art is what it needs to be and what it can afford to be in order to entice towards the distance. Few elements capture the mysteries of the Universe like biological organisms do, be them active or silenced."

Starlight Restaurant 1F (Lucina, Emille, [Astaphanos], Phagora, Shireen)

Lucina's brow grew more and more wrinkled the longer she listened to Astaphanos explain the state of affairs in her hometown. "AI" technology? Machines called "drones"? Technology decades beyond the rest of the world? She was almost thankful when Phagora replied to her first, saying that she had apparently come from a long line of chefs.

"Hmm, come to think of it," Lucina replied to her, "your name does contain the Greek root phago, meaning 'eat'." And then her voice shifted to a tone of sudden cheer. "Just like how mine contains the Latin lux, meaning 'light'!" And then she re-assumed the more neutral tone, gesturing to Emille. "And how my princess's name is French for 'Emily the Red'." Which was fitting given Emille's entirely red attire and reddish hair.

Meanwhile, Emille scowled (as best as she could with her porcelain face) when she saw Astaphanos preparing herself a cup of tea. "You're ruining it," she said sharply to her, pointing her parasol directly at her necklace. "It is a cardinal sin to pour a cup of tea before it has finished brewing!"

"I say," said Winky to Astaphanos, "you must be from the future! In our time, North America consists mainly of three countries, each with their own ruler."

Just then, the timer beeped, indicating that the tea had finished brewing. Lucina lifted the lid off of the teapot, and suddenly grew wide-eyed at what she saw. "Teabags!? What are we, peasants? These look like they came from a factory!"

"Well that's what you get for not bothering to ascend several decks to a proper tea parlor," said Emille, pouring a cup of tea. When she tasted it, she gave a look of displeasure. "This tea is bland."

Lucina had just poured a cup for herself and taken a sip out of it. "It tastes fine to me, if a little bitter," she said with a smiling nod to Phagora. "Expectations of tea quality should not be so high in a restaurant as extravagant as this," she said with a curt nod to Emille, before looking again to Astaphanos. "Now where were we-"

Much to her surprise, Astaphanos had left the table, leaving her tea behind. "Now how rude is that, leaving the table unannounced and unnoticed?" In the teen's place, a short distance away in that direction, a young man with braided black hair dressed smartly in a waistcoat and dark blue collared shirt was looking around, as if deciding where to sit. Or was it a man? A good look at his face revealed surprisingly feminine features, not to mention gray-blue eyes that were quite alluring. And then she caught a glimpse of "his" chest... indeed, it was a woman.

Winky apparently noticed this too. "I say, it's not every day you see a woman in masculine attire, or with hair braided back like that."

Lucina rose in her seat, waving to the tomboyish woman who was apparently also alone. "Would you like to come sit with us?" she asked her, glad that she figured out the correct gender before speaking. "We have a cup of tea with your name on it!"

Nebula Lobby 1F (Carlotta, Rebecca, Ryya)

While waiting for the scaly lady to respond, Carlotta turned to Rebecca, as the comment about animating something bigger both interested and annoyed her. "Actually, I'm the only doll the witch who created me animated. She mostly animates human corpses, and um..." Her voice trailed off, as she thought of yet another uncomfortable memory, so she continued with her previous thought. "And she's one herself, just like you - though her soul is actually contained in the walls of an entire house. The zombies are good enough for heavy lifting, though..." she paused, as if to change her train of thought, "...they act mostly like a soulless family."

She turned back to the lizard lady. "None of this is creeping you out, is it?"

[Club Bizarre]

Ethoya nodded and took the mushroom. Then she looked towards the two alien entities, considering their answers. And then, she shook her head. She really wasn't sober enough to do this... but was too stubborn not to try. So, her voice dry, Ethoya said, "you have both told me so very much of what you are." She left them to puzzle out the further meaning for themselves before adding, "and you both dismiss words too easily, given what the masters have done with them..." she paused, rubbing her head. This would normally the point where she would spontaneously compose a poem describing something usually considered indescribable to demonstrate her point, but she could not manage to do it, nor even recall any. That incense was kicking in.

She then considered the mushroom and her card. The card had been easy to carry; slipped between feathers of her outfit, it stayed. But the mushroom wouldn't work. After a few moments of thought, several of the feathers making up her skirt shifted. It was hard to make out the exact motions of her outfit, but the dress went from floor-length to merely ankle-length, revealing bare feet. The feathers previously making up the bottom layer of her dress wove themselves instead into a pouch on her hip, in which she tossed her new acquisition.

If Ethoya was aware of the mortal eying her, she gave no indication of it.

I'll worry about Enkar later today or early tomorrow.

edited 4th Mar '17 7:18:49 PM by KillerClowns

(Nebula Lobby)

Ryya smiled and bowed again to the cloaked woman in respect after she invited her to join them. "Thank you!" She replied brightly, before remembering she hadn't given her name. "Oh, my name is Ryya. What is yours?" The question was directed to both.

Although the doll's question about what she was did confuse her. "What I am? Well, I'm a Senjai, of course. That... probably doesn't tell you much, does it." Ryya answered, adding the last part as she realized they both probably hadn't heard of her kind before. "Don't worry! I'm not dangerous!" She tried to assure them. "I'm just...travelling. And then I came across this place. Not much to say"

With that said, Ryya paid attention to the two's conversation. Which was kind of disturbing. Apparently, whoever had animated the clay doll could also raise the dead. And her soul was contained in a house? Was that even possible? When the doll said the undead acted "like a souless family", the idea of a shambling, half-rotten corpse doing everyday chores seemed just as comical as it was creepy.

"I am fine, thank you." Ryya answered when asked if she was creeped out. In truth she was, but curiosity was stronger. "Although I'm a little curious on what you had mentioned. How does that 'Soul residing in the walls of a house' work, if I may ask?" The idea of a 'soul' was new to Ryya, but if it could be related to what she had been taught about lifeforce, the energy that resided in every living being, the implications were a little disturbing.

Club Bizarre (Nemaforte, Ethoya, Horizons, Technomancer)

None of what this so-called "technomancer" or this so-called "one who brings horizons" was saying made much of any sense to Nemaforte, but in her not-so-logical mind, she thoroughly enjoyed the words they spoke, making a sort of intuitive sense of them regardless. Entering something and emerging shattered... One who moves people to seek knowledge of the different... Enticing towards the distance... though they were spoken amelodically, they carried a ring akin to music.

First she turned to the amorphous form of the technomancer, remembering how the leaf had circled around its form, and how it had done so without any sort of aura, despite the technomancer having something similar to one. When she glanced briefly down at the eldamor leaf, she noticed that its own aura had changed somewhat. A bit more... orderly? Although whatever it was, it didn't seem to affect the inherent magic energies within it. When she picked it up, she felt an electrifying sensation in her fingers, accompanied by the leaf seeming to glow for a bit... though it didn't actually do so, merely an effect of the Spiral of Pleasure herb she had taken.

"Never a technomancer I have ever heard," she finally said to the data being. "But looking more closely at you, you have an appearance of concentrated magisphere. It too is a particle energy field, moving throughout the sky." She even moved a hand all around the air before her as she spoke this, and as she watched it, she (and only she) saw a seafoam green aura trail behind it as it moved. "Though how are you using a form of telekinesis that doesn't use the aura?" As she said it, it seemed to further her suspicions about the being being made of this "magisphere".

And to the celestial being... "What you say about needing to be is as I heard the very definition of art. Do you think that me being purely a sunestre destroys my ability to understand art?^note This comes from the sumiri, the species that dwells mainly on the daylight half of Orenya, being more naturally inclined toward art than the night-dwelling sunestre. Fact is, what kind of art do you make? How usually does it manifest? And what may plants and other life forms have a role in it? Also, mind you do if I call you the name 'Horizons'?"

A glint of gold caught the corner of her eye, and looking aside, she saw Ethoya shifting some of the feathers on her skirt (the table blocked her view of said skirt becoming shorter) so she could stuff the pouch inside of it. As Nemaforte saw it, the feathers seemed to sparkle as Ethoya moved, and in fact she thought she heard a faint jingling noise to accompany it, when it was only a hallucination.

Starlight Restaurant 1F (Lucina, Emille, Winky, Phagora, Shireen)

"How very courteous of you," says Shireen, taking a seat next to Emille. "If the cup of tea with my name on it has hibiscus tea in it, I'll be the happiest girl in the world!" She lets out a small laugh.

She looks each of her newfound companions in the eye, and a small smile crosses her face.

"I couldn't help but overhear the demonstration of your knowledge of etymology, Lucina. Have I found a colleague here? I'm a Professor of Linguistics at Inkar the Great Royal Academy."

Psychopomp is not exactly an official title. Nor is it a well-paid job.

Shireen's gaze follows Astaphanos, and she asks Emille:

"Why's she leaving? Did I say something wrong?"

Starlight Restaurant 2F (The short one, the mute one and the old one)

A man's suit sets certain requirements of classiness to be met by its wearer. And, depending where the man stands relatively to this bar set by his suit, he exudes one of the three P's: Privilege, Professionalism or Pretentiousness. At first glance, with the three men on the second floor of the Starlight Restaurant, sitting at the table near the railings, overlooking the vast and bustling kitchen, guessing which of the "P's" each of them exudes is pretty easy: the young one, all in white, who has the most expensive and fanciest suit is the Privileged; the tall one, in black formal suit and white shirt, the only one of the three who is wearing the universal symbol of strangling responsibilities (a tie), is the Professional; and the old one, whose cream-colored suit with dark blue shirt went out of fashion a couple of decades ago is the Pretentious. True enough. But if one gets to know them closer and learned who they really are, it becomes not so clear: the young one, Albert Frost, a short man with shoulder-length brown hair, white skin and feminine features was the illegitimate son of the head of EcksteinCorp, who rose through ranks in his father's organization without his father's help; the tall one, Aethelweard, a.k.a. Ed, bald, with skin as black as his suit, and green, lively, expressive eyes, was his (rumored to be of divine origin) right hand and bodyguard; and the old one, Karl Hummel, stout, with short gray hair and well-groomed beard was a con man turned gourmet chef in their service.

Karl is looking through opera glasses at the kitchen. Frost, having exchanged glances with Ed, says:

"You know, I'm pretty sure I could get a kitchen tour for you, Hummel. Your soup's getting cold. And where did these glasses come from, anyway?"

"I never leave home without a pair," says Karl without even looking at Frost. "And besides, when studying cooks in their natural habitat, better leave them undisturbed."

Frost and Ed exchange glances again, and return to their meals. After a minute, Hummel tears his gaze away from the kitchen and starts eating, too.

"I imagine, getting the tickets on this ship was pretty hard," says he, and adds, looking at Ed: "Was bone-breaking involved this time?"

"We'd have called you if it was," says Albert. Hummel scowls at him. Frost continues: "It took lots and lots of talking and paperwork, that is all."

"So, we're not on a mission, after all."

"Now you're talking like Ahlstrom."

"He talks about it even in his sleep, what can I do?" says Karl. "While we're at it, can I get a separate room?"

"Only if you'll agree to a less spacious one."

"Forget it. I think I can manage the ramblings of an ex-chiliarchos."

Frost chuckles.

"Now, if you're done studying the cooks, I suggest we do some bar-hopping after we finish eating."

The three men in suits nod in agreement and continue with their dinner.

edited 5th Mar '17 8:24:49 AM by Millership

Club Bizarre:

"I deem the denominator fitting.", they said, still inspecting the collection of plants. "I did not intend to be vague, only to clarify that my works are of diverse types and forms. Currently, I am considering the creation of a garden with species from many planets."

Then to the more humanlike field being, they said with a kix of confusion and amusement "I told what I am know for as an individual, and would have told my native denominator if not for the physical limitations of this medium. Its... 'sonority' would be lost on translation, much like a poem may lose its rhythm."

Proud with their metaphor, Horizons released a high-pitched chirp that may have sounded birdlike to to human ears, and added "And you have yet to reciprocate in this exchange."

[Observation Deck]

"I'll have to take your word on that," Enkar said, eying the beer warily. He didn't seem to disapprove of Proseda drinking, but apparently wasn't the sort to indulge himself, as his non-alcoholic cocktail attested.

He saw no reason to linger on that topic, however, instead saying, "but I digress. Entertainment, you say? Actor, courtesan, musician, something of that sort?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully, adding, "abstractly, of course, you could be a sound technician or some such, but you possess a performer's presence. If your current job is backstage, I imagine it is only as a literal or metaphorical apprenticeship to a more central role."

In truth, Enkar suspected "courtesan"; most who worked in entertainment were eager to specify their precise line of work. Proseda's choice to remain non-specific suggested that he was concerned his line of work could be seen as taboo or otherwise unworthy of respect. If he was an actor or a musician, he would have said that outright. Courtesan thus was the first theory to come to Enkar's mind, although after a moment of reflection, he supposed it was possible he was some sort of esoteric performer whose art was neither popular nor highbrow, deemed obsolete by the cultural establishment. A juggler or some such.

[Club Bizarre]

"A campsite?" said Sakura. "That is strange! Does that mean you don't know..?" Here eyes widened. "Oh! When you asked if I knew what this place was, I thought you were talking about here specifically!" She gestured to the floor. "Which, looking at it now, seems to be some kind of... Odd bar, I suppose..." She cleared her throat, then continued. "Anyway, the broader here is really incredible! We're on a ship," she beamed. "And not just any ship, a ship in space! Isn't that wonderful?"

[Nebula Lobby-Deck 3/Henry and Lauren]

Henry looked at the person he knocked into. "No, I don't know why it was abandoned, but I figured it'd be fun to go look around."

"Yeah exploring a tetanus infested theater, sounds real fun." Lauren said annoyed.

Henry smirked at what she said before turning back to his new friend. "Don't mind her. She's just uptight about everything." He told him before pulling up the map again. "So do you want to come with us?"

[Club Bizarre]

Akira and John's eyes widened in horror.

"...SPACE?!" they said in unison.

"Oh Jesus Fucking Christ..." John muttered, heading back to his stool, "God, what is the strongest drink here?"

Akira blinked several times, before walking over and sitting in one of the bean bangs, not particularly caring that he could feel himself sinking in.

"Well," he said, "That just completely fucked us over, huh? Space. Out of all the answers I expected, that was, by far, the one I was not expecting."

He gave a heavy sigh. Space. Fucking space. If this wasn't a sign that universe really hated his ass, he didn't know what. Now he was unsure what to do, or even say anymore. All he did was sit in that bean bag chair, looking like an idiot in the process.

Deck 1 - Arboretum

As Joshua spoke, Aubrey reached into the inner pocket of his coat and produced a compact vapouriser of Terra Novan manufacture. The cylindrical battery case was made of oiled walnut and featured ornate carvings, the glass tank was encased in a cage of polished brass filigree and the mouthpiece was curved slightly to resemble that of a pipe. He would have preferred a proper cigarette but Wolfe had been insistant that they not bring any.

He took a puff and exhaled a modest cloud of fragrant vapour as he pondered what Joshua had been saying. It was hard to determine if the man was being literal or metaphorical - had the Earth itself actually changed or was he referring to changes in outlook due to gaining a new job? And what sort of "field agent"? Still in pharmaceuticals? Or in what Sir Archibald euphemistically referred to as "Foreign Affairs". Try as he might to understand, Aubrey could not make out whether Joshua was now a travelling salesman or a spy.

Pearl produced her own vapouriser - a slender black affair that resembled a long cigarette holder - from her handbag and took a couple of puffs. "I think you might be misunderstanding me a trifle," she said. "Neither of us were at the start of the colony, we both arrived at different times and the 'colony' was already well established by the time we got there. I vanished from Earth in 1925 and arrived on Terra Nova some eleven years before Aubrey - who vanished from Earth late 1891."

Aubrey nodded. "We don't know how or why, but it seems that flora, fauna and people have been disappearing from Earth and reappearing on Terra Nova for centuries - usually only one at a time, with nothing but what they had on them at the time they vanished from Earth." He took another puff from his vapouriser. "It's quite disconcerting, I can tell you - I vanished from the middle of London, on my way to dinner at the club, and appeared in the middle of a vast wilderness with nothing but the clothes on my back and the contents of my pockets. If I had not, by merest chance, encountered a group of new arrivals with the equipment and skills to survive in that milieu, I undoubtedly would have perished."

Deck 1 - Nebula Lobby.

As Mari, Junko and Ayako headed off to their rooms, Sophia and Wolfe joined Ulf, Teri and Gwion.

Wolfe had been too intent on catching up with Mari to pay much attention to who had bumped into him - even though the man had seemed vaguely familiar. Now, it became clear.

Sophia had heard stories about Ulf from Gwion and was pleased to finally put a face to the name.

Teri gave Ulf a smile. She could understand his sentiment. Earth had been pretty much completely explored by her time - at least as much of it as could be fairly inexpensively explored, anyway - and, once the initial shock had worn off, she had immensely enjoyed exploring "new frontiers" in the wilderness of Terra Nova. It had been a life-transforming experience. "You must be really excited about that."

Gwion looked around then turned back to Ulf. "There's bound to be a bar somewhere around here. Fancy grabbing a drink or three?"

[Observation Deck]

Proseda chuckles, "No no, I'm not backstage lifting set pieces. Might die of boredom honestly. I work in a nightclub, bartend some if business is slow, dance for the most part. Try not to get too wasted in the midst of it all, some guys won't lay off buying me shots." He drinks some more beer, the pint glass continuing to rapidly empty. "Guess I can't really complain though, the drunker I get the more money I've probably earned by the end of the night. Besides, at some point the bar will lay off and just start sending me water with a bit of grenadine in it. Some of the guys do that from the start, but the regulars figure it out soon enough, and they're where you grab most of the cash." He sighs, "Unless of course you do more. I can confess, good money that is."

Proseda decides to leave his description of his job there. There was a pretty decent chance Enkar had him pegged for a prostitute, or courtesan in his words since he was being cute. If he really was that perceptive, Enkar would have found Proseda's answer to that question in his reply. Still, he wasn't about to go blathering on about the money he made from time to time without a serious invitation. Sure, there were stories he could tell, especially given that it was impossible for them to find their way back to his clientele, but unless the other man signaled he wanted to hear it, he didn't particularly think it would be wise to go on about it. The man had spared him a discussion of politics, so at the least he could spare him a description of something unsavory.

edited 6th Mar '17 12:45:19 AM by Aqueos

[Deck 1, Arboretum - Joshua, Aubrey, Pearl]

"Oh how silly of me," Joshua said to laugh off the mistake that Pearl had corrected, "I really should be paying more attention to the details."

"Must be the quite the culture shock though," Joshua said, producing their own smoking device, a curved wooden pipe, seemingly from nowhere, "A 34 year gap sounds pretty intense, since culture seems to change so fast," they said as they striked a wood match to light the pipe, taking a few puffs, "Then again, the 93 year gap between myself and you Pearl is also intense."

Joshua took a few more puffs on the pipe, "London is an okay place in my time period. I've been living there since I started work as a field agent, but the trip from the US was way too long though. I almost didn't want to get into the cab that was waiting for me."

"So do you mind if I ask, what's this Terra Nova like?" Joshua asked, they had been to eager to share and wanted to avoid telling too much, "It sounds interesting."

The Square Root of Pie (Rolph and Glitch, Max, Robin and Cecilia)

A being wandered aimlessly through the corridors of the ship, taking in the sights while discussing something with a tiny, hovering companion.

The being in question moved about on four legs extending symmetrically from beneath a roughly humanoid torso with two thin arms, and examined his surroundings with two large green eyes with enormous diamond-shaped pupils, occasionally making an excited clicking sound or two with the insectoid mandibles on either side of his mouth. His bright green skin, hardened into segmented, carapace-like plates with softer tissue visible in between, completed the insectoid look.

The being, who was known as "Rolph" to most of his friends and colleagues, was currently dressed in a black jumpsuit of sorts that left his limbs bare, with a stylish red tunic with golden trims wrapped around his torso. He also wore black boots shaped to fit around the four large claws or "toes" at the end of each of his legs, a thick leather belt with various pouches and odd-looking gadgets attached to it, and a metallic backpack, as well a strange bracelet of sorts on his left wrist, with different buttons surrounding a large projector lens.

"Fascinating," Rolph said to his hovering companion, a modified scout drone nicknamed "Glitch". "We should try something more complicated next. How about... 'twenty kilometers', 'three years', and 'five kilograms', in Medrekian, using Vesh units of measurement?"

Glitch, who was a light gray, boxy drone roughly the size of a human head, with a large camera lens at the center and two small turbofans on it's sides, moved ahead of Rolph to peek around a corner, emitting a low humming sound as it hovered along. The turbofans looked suspiciously weak compared to it's size, but it seemed to stay aloft just fine anyway.

"Twenty kilometers," Glitch began to say in an androgynous, artificial voice before pausing and spinning around in the air. "Oh, it looks like we've found some more people."

Rolph looked up at a sign marking the place they had found as "The Square Root of Pie", and emitted a few more excited mandible clicks.

"Good," he responded. "Let's find some nice aliens to talk with, shall we?"

Club Bizarre

The brown-skinned woman threw back the last of her tonic, then looked again over to the table where the two incorporeal beings sat and wondered, What could those people possibly be talking about? I can imagine what swapping pleasantries must have been like. How's the weather up there in the fifth dimension? Oh, fine? That's good to hear.

She shook her head. I'm not exactly any kind of expert on personal interaction, but don't you generally need some common basis of experience in order to be able to relate and empathize with someone? It's hard to imagine what those amorphous things could possibly have in common with normal people.

She frowned at herself. Normal? Self-consciously, she reached a hand up and gingerly touched one of the dark, bony protrusions that rose from just above the crown of her head. I'm sure there's some dark irony in that...

After a pause, she waved the android bartender over again. Pointing to her empty drink, she said, "Two more. One for me, the other for that girl over there, in the golden feather dress."

Nodding, the servile machine obligingly refilled her drink, then fixed up another one and walked over to present it to Ethoya. It lowered the glass onto the table in front of her and spoke in a synthesized voice, "Compliments of the customer sitting over there." It indicated the brown-skinned woman sitting at the bar, but she didn't turn to look.

I guess whatever happens, happens, she thought, taking a sip.

edited 6th Mar '17 9:27:24 PM by Gault

Deck 1 - Arboretum

When Joshua produced and lit a pipe, Aubrey felt the lack of cigarettes even more acutely. The vapouriser mimicked the action of smoking - taking a puff, sucking it down into the lungs, feeling the hit at the back of the throat then exhaling a plume of something - and it provided the desired nicotine, but the flavour wasn't right... not unpleasant, but not right. It wasn't quite the same. True, it had its advantages over cigarettes on occasions, but right now he would have killed for a nice unfiltered cigarette from Brunton's, his favourite tobacconist in Hartmouth.

He looked at Pearl - holding her vapouriser as she would one of the elegant cigarette holders she favoured and giving every indication that she was quite content - and wondered how she managed to adapt so well.

What Joshua said provided more clues: 93 years between him and Pearl would put his time around 2018, some four years after Wolfe's time but about fifty-two years before Kris's; moving from the United States to London - that definitely would be a major life change, irrespective of any additional changes in employment.

He gave Joshua a level look. "Yes, culture changes extremely fast, and we get to see that on Terra Nova. We have people who vanished from Earth during the reign of Henry VIII and people arriving from the middle twenty-first century or later, so we have people for whom the Age of Steam was a shocking innovation and those who bewail the fact that their mobile telephones can no longer connect them to an 'internet'."

Pearl took a long draw on her vapouriser and exhaled a plume of vapour with every semblance of delight. "I was astounded by how primitive some aspects, both cultural and technological, of Terra Nova were compared with my own early twentieth century England, but I quickly became amazed at some of the things that came through from Earth as time went on. As a general rule of thumb, for every twelve years that pass on Terra Nova, a full century passes on Earth - so changes are introduced far more quickly than they can possibly develop. There are occasional exceptions, such as Aubrey and James arriving far later than their respective native times would suggest and Kris arriving far earlier, but those are relatively rare. In general, though, you can expect new arrivals to have, if not actual new technologies, new ideals and expectations."

She took another puff on her vapouriser. "As you can imagine, this has caused more than a few problems. I personally encountered a number of people - men and women - who thought my early twentieth century views on sexual equality and the right to vote to be 'too much' and suggested, not too subtly, that I learn 'my place' in society. Those people are still alive and well and now having to contend with women who not only expect to be able to vote but to get equal pay as well and to have the ability to get married to another woman, if they so desire."

Aubrey, as one who had previously espoused strong restrictive views on the roles of the sexes and the "proper" place of women in society, couldn't help but feel somewhat embarrassed and guilty. His horizons had been broadened of late, and his mind with them, and now he felt personal shame for attitudes and beliefs that he once took as perfectly normal.

He took another draw on the nicotine-laced vapour and snapped it back into his lungs. "What Pearl says is perfectly true. Those born on Terra Nova have grown up used to the strangeness, but those transported from Earth as adults can sometimes find it hard to cope with the changes. Technologically, we have wonders beyond our own times but it can seem "backward" to new arrivals, especially those used to what's been called the "Information Age", and there are limitations due to how little local time has elapsed since the introduction of new technologies - there are still areas that aren't on the telephone network as it was only introduced within the last couple of decades... so they use radio instead."

He gave Joshua a smile. "So. What of your life in twenty-first century London?"

edited 6th Mar '17 10:06:59 PM by Wolf1066

[[Nebula Lounge —> Elevators]] (Tigris, Minerva, Gabriel, Anna)

It was ironic, Tigris thought, to have come down here for a map, and yet to be leaving for another place whose location she still had to guess. But these two needed help, and although Gabriel had insisted he and his companion were in good health, he fortunately had still agreed to follow to the sick bay.

She followed Minerva’s instructions: past the giant stairs, to the elevators, up to Deck 2. She would not feel better about Anna’s condition until the girl was formally released by medical staff.

Suddenly, something occurred to her, something Gabriel had mentioned before.

“You said you grew some bone implants for yourself?” she asked, turning back to Gabriel. That won’t cause any trouble for you, will it?" Then, remembering the gynoid beside her, she added, “Sorry if I’m not as informed on the topic as I should be. Genetic alteration isn’t something I have much experience with." Suddenly self-conscious, she scratched at the back of her hand. It was a nervous habit and nothing more, developed when the tattoo had been put there and had briefly pained her years ago.

edited 7th Mar '17 5:38:11 AM by BrainSewage

Nebula Elevators (Tigris, Minerva, Gabriel, Anna)

Mulling over what to say to Minerva, Gabriel decided to follow her and the other woman. "Are her friends, or uh... Colleagues also social outcasts? I would never trust a human with real power after this whole fiasco..." It wasn't long until the other woman spoke up, asking about his 'implants'.

Shrugging his shoulders and keeping Anna aloft, Gabriel replies with a not-entirely-casual dismissive tone. "Hardly the first misunderstanding I've had. Wouldn't believe how many people think I'm Hispanic for starters... Or how awkward it was explaining I'm not a sociopath when a telepath dug too deep."

Flexing and curling his right fingers, the young man speaks more calmly- and with a bit of fondness? "It was my sixteenth birthday when the Eld... Angel known as Skeletal Conqueror attacked my home. I was having a breakdown upon realizing my family didn't love me, so I decided 'Fuck it' and take my chances with getting superpowers."

Letting black material form from underneath the half-mask left, a little horn of black bone juts out through his hair. "I was successful, though I got pulled away before I could reach the extent I wanted. Just... Sholved my right arm into its dead body, and accidentally swiped my face when I got pulled away. My ability is fueled by calcium so... 'Fun' watching people assume I eat folk just because the Skeletal Conqueror did."

Tossing back his head and closing his eyes, Gabriel's tone becomes slightly... Upset? Annoyed? "The eldritchy angels are an unusual species genetically, such that genetic engineering soared leaps & bounds because of them. CACHE especially loved playing with Eldritchian biology, though as for me... Because I became a Fey Touched, I couldn't be further altered, leaving me with just one superpowered limb."

Looking down at Anna's little tightened up face, it would be easy to assume she's having trouble or getting overwhelmed with the unfamiliar technology. Still, done for now with the unnamed lady, Gabriel glances over to Minerva and finally replies to her. "Honestly, I think people are worthless pieces of crap. What I do care about are the individuals, who allow themselves to stand out from society's madness."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Gabriel looks out from the elevator. "The average person, they're convinced they're gods- That everyone else must worship them. They rarely want to do any effort, they love getting to hate others, they want everything to excess... They get pissed when others have what they want, yet in the end couldn't care about anything else if they alone are happy."

With a sad look on his face, Gabriel becomes softer. "So I'm not surprised people want you to be nothing more than a thing. Its the dream of rich bastards everywhere, getting to have 'consenual' slaves. Anna didn't even realize she's organic until I discovered her real self, you know... She's almost like one of those Consensual Pets really, being convinced the insanity they're raised under is okay..."

[Deck 1, Arboretum - Joshua, Aubrey, Pearl]

Joshua took a few puffs on the pipe, exhaling a puff of smoke as they took in all the information Aubrey and Pearl provided. It was a lot to take in.

"I imagine talking to people with older social views can distressing at first. I mean, there are times when it seems that the 21st century hasn't moved past the 1950s," Joshua gave something of a distressed sigh before continuing, "Though it sounds like the interesting technological divide can be a lot to take in."

"Would I be correct in assuming your friends from future time periods have filled you in on the details of the rest of the 20th century?" Joshua asked.

Joshua took another few puffs, "As for 21st century London," they said, "Since I'm a field agent, I'm mostly traveling the world, so I'm never in London for more than a day. I also mostly receive and turn in the details over the phone, so there's no reason to be there for very long. I do get to travel the world a lot though."

"Let's see," Joshua said before taking a puff from the pipe. "I've been to an island off the coast of Maine," Joshua's memories began to play over in their head, mental images of unloading bullets into zombies and demons, exploring a haunted mansion and fighting through a wrecked cargo ship, "I've been to Egypt," More memories flashed, shooting mummies and giant scorpions, meeting someone who Joshua was pretty sure was Moses and fighting cultists on top of a moving train, "I've also been to Transylvania," More memories again, lighting vampires on fire with a flamethrower, surviving an intense snowmobile chase and talking to a really old werewolf, "And after vacation, my next assignments will be in Venice and then Tokyo. I'll probably be in Tokyo for a while."

Joshua took a really long puff on the pipe, "So what do the two of you do for a living on Terra Nova? I imagine there are some interesting career opportunities."

Deck 1 - Arboretum

Pearl puffed quietly on her vapouriser as she listened. There was something odd about Joshua as he recounted the places he had visited as a "Field Agent" - something about his expression or body language or tone of voice or something - that suggested that the memories associated with them were less than trivial. She gave a quick glance at Aubrey; if he'd noticed anything, he wasn't showing it.

"We have heard some things from friends and other new arrivals," she said when Joshua had finished. "A second World War, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, space flight and lunar landings, global communications on an utterly fantastic scale, vast social changes, global climate changes and such. Thanks to Kris arriving so early, we've even heard about things that recent arrivals from the early twenty-first century haven't experienced yet - such as advanced prostheses, polygamous marriages and widespread unemployment due to ubiquitous automation."

Aubrey nodded. "New arrivals are thoroughly questioned about the state of things on the Earth and the Council has a committee dedicated to analysing the information to try to predict what problems are likely to occur and determine what social changes can be safely made - when you consider that conflicts on Earth have spilled through onto Terra Nova via new arrivals with different ideals, it makes a lot of sense to keep a close watch on what is happening on Earth. The last Terra Novan war of note was apparently less than fifty years ago - coinciding with the Great Rebellion in Britain - and no one wants a repeat of that." He gave a grimace. "It's still fresh in the minds of some of our older inhabitants."

Pearl gave a wry smile. "Which is not to say that the average person is automatically tolerant of changes or differences. There are still people who think Scots are their mortal enemies so it'll be a while before there's widespread acceptance of women's suffrage, let alone non-conventional marriages - whatever the Law might say on the matter." She grinned. "As far as career opportunities go, Terra Nova is much like Earth as it was in the early twentieth century; the same sorts of jobs, anyway. Radio, theatre, film, farming, agriculture, retail, banking, manufacturing and so on. I was employed as a secretary on Earth, so it was a fairly easy matter to find similar employment on Terra Nova - there's always work for someone with good typing and organisational skills."

Aubrey took a puff on his vapouriser. "I used to be an investment banker for no less a firm than N M Rothschild & Sons in St Swithin's Lane, but now I'm working for the Hartmouth branch of the Colonial Bank. It's a commercial bank rather than an investment bank, but at least it's a career with good prospects."

He thought on what Joshua had said about his travels around twenty-first century Earth and being able to conduct some of his business by telephone. "So what is it that you do as a Field Agent?"

edited 7th Mar '17 7:35:38 PM by Wolf1066

Square Root of Pie (Rolph and Glitch; Max, Robin and Cecilia)

"So, how did it go?" says Cecilia to Robin, who's taking a seat next to her.

"Well, I've managed to convince the boy that Chief's come to spirit away some other kid."

"Took you long enough."

"Chief wasn't helping," says Robin.

"Tried to smile at him. Didn't work as well as I expected," says Max.

"Ah," says Cecilia.

"And Chief owes me a bottle of beer for that," says Robin. "So, C.B., what this place has to offer?"

"Well, it-" Bergmann's eyes go wide as she looks up at the parlor's entrance and sees the new green-carapaced customer. She says absentmindedly: "A two meter tall bug, it seems..."

She darts to her feet, eyes glowing with beastly curiosity of a naturalist who just set his feet on a deserted island, and, saying "Be right back", moves towards her unsuspecting prey.

"Pfft, adherents. Never off the job." Max picks up a menu. "So, what are you gonna-"

"Is that a turbine-propelled drone?" Suddenly seeing insectoid alien's companion, Robin's gaze becomes exactly the same as Cecilia's. "Hold this table for us, will ya?"

Robin stands up and quickly catches up to Bergmann. Soon both of them stand lined up before Rolph and Glitch, with smiles on their faces that have all the innocence of a serial killer on the death row.

"Hello," says Bergmann.

"That's an interesting device you've got," says Robin, pointing at Glitch.

"My name is Cecilia Bergmann."

"I'm Robin van Segher, pleasetameetcha."

"Would you like to join us at the table?" they say in unison.

edited 8th Mar '17 7:20:52 AM by Millership

Square Root of Pie (Rolph and Glitch; Max, Robin and Cecilia)

"Ooh, hello there," Rolph responded, turning his head towards the two approaching beings while raising his hands in a universal "I-am-not-armed" greeting. His optical implants helpfully labeled both of them as "most likely Human, probably female", but that would have been easy enough to guess anyway, based on the logs from captain Garkin's adventure last year. A third Human, who had apparently gotten some interesting body modifications done, remained at the table from which the others had risen.

"I'd love to," Rolph continued. "I'm... very new to this place actually. Uh, my name is Rr'Lff 713-1701, Urrlna Orbital Command 64." His mandibles twitched slightly. "Or just 'Rolph', really."

Glitch, meanwhile, hovered over to the woman pointing at it and focused it's camera lens on her, face to face so to speak.

"I am Glitch. Modified scout drone. Simulated personality. Nice to meet you."

[Deck 1, Arboretum - Joshua, Aubrey, Pearl]

Joshua puffed on their pipe and listened as Pearl recounted what they had heard of the rest of the 21st century. They figured that the two had received enough info.

Joshua gave a light chuckle, "My preferred ways to deal with people with bigoted views may not work so well on Terra Nova, so I won't suggest it. I'm guessing this 'Council' tries to get pretty in the know about what's happening at the time of a new arrival's time period? How efficient is it?"

Joshua's thoughts wandered to the 'Council' of their own world. What was once a guiding hand that prevented all out war had become a feeble shadow of itself. Joshua's boss knew that and Joshua had come to know that as well. Venice was gonna be a pain.

"The current big bank in my little slice of London is Bartleby & Daughters," Joshua said, specifically addressing Aubrey, "Five out of five rating for good business practices," Joshua trailed off on that bit.

Joshua put away their pipe, seemingly into nowhere, just as they had taken it, "As for my field agent work," Joshua trailed off a bit, deciding to give the 'Official' statements, "On the island off the coast of Maine, there was a viral outbreak," If you could call putting bullets into zombies an official treatment, "I got to work with the CDC," The only CDC official who had survived, "and I was able to work with locals and visitors who were there when the outbreak happened," Blowing up zombies for a drifter was too fun to be work if Joshua was gonna be honest, "Don't worry, my group has top notch medical care, I'm not spreading it to anyone."

Joshua made a visible shudder as they thought of the residents of that island. They were all infected with something worse than any disease, and they couldn't know it. It made Joshua distressed.

They shook it off as they continued, "In Egypt there was political unrest between the local militia of a small town and a cult," A cult who had the upper hand and a struggling militia, "And my group had a hand in arresting one of the cult's 'prophets'," Joshua had killed an ancient mummy with the help of magic statues. Joshua didn't like how the official statements were understatements.

"In Transylvania, there was a group attacking a local village," A group of vampires waging a crusade against the sun and attacking the spirits of the forest while they were at it, "And we had to take out the leader of the group," They killed an ancient vampire with the help of her dead vampire hunter lover, "And we investigated the case of a missing girl. She's okay now."

Joshua frowned at the last part, somewhat out of anger and somewhat out of containing the need to cry from dealing with trauma. Getting to girl to safety had been exhausting, especially with the heartless monster who had cut off Joshua's legs. Thank Gaia that dying meant coming back fully intact. Joshua had been stewing on returning the she-devil the favor.

"But most of that gets over with pretty quickly with other agents on the field. But enough about me, what's life on Terra Nova like? A day to day basis sort of thing."

[Observation Deck]

Enkar gave a nod. "It would appear," he deadpanned, "we are both employed in careers that involve quite a bit of feigning interest in the anodyne tribulations of the wealthy." Then he sighed and added, "...I suspect you have noticed that such persons, perhaps even most of the populace, frequently have ideas about what they think they desire that are not aligned to what they actually desire." He said this and began to absentmindedly swirl his half-finished drink. "It can be difficult to guide persons towards the latter when they are so enamored with the former, as I dare guess you know from personal experience." He left the thought in the air for Proseda to choose to further explore, share some tale about, or to simply brush off with a quip if he did not find the potential avenue of interest.

edited 8th Mar '17 6:39:54 PM by KillerClowns