002 - Take your protein pills and put your helmet on ; video

[geonomy]

Who: Clay Terran and all of YOU!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Vanquish, bridge
When: 6/29, afternoon

[When the video comes on, Clay's looking at it with a big, excited grin on his face that seems to only increase in wattage once he realizes it's on. He sits back on his heels then, arms wrapped around his knees, though they probably won't stay like that for long.]

I haven't been here very long, but I've still met so many people with such cool powers! [And, indeed, he begins to gesture and lean forward as he describes each power.] Super strength, fighting with magic cards, reality bending, and flight! I never even knew those kinds of things were possible outside of comic books and tv shows!

[He rocks back again, arms winding around his knees once more as he seems to calm just a bit.]

So tell me about your powers. What are they like? Is it natural to you, or do you... I don't know, have to call on something in order to make it happen? And for you people who don't have powers, like me, what kind do you wish you had? [And the thought of it just makes him move once more, arms out and gesturing.] If I could have powers, I'd have flight, the ability to breathe anywhere I wanted, and super durability. Or maybe - maybe adaptability? That way I could go into space any time I wanted without getting into a heavy suit!

[... Aaand calm again.] So, yeah. Powers? I really want to know. It's of astronomical importance.

Comments

[experiencepoints]

It's not like magic makes us less like that. My world's the same in that respect. Or, it was, anyway. We had wards around cities to keep monsters out, and anyone who wanted to could live peacefully. We have inventors and stuff, too. Not just humans- the smartest girl I know is an elf. She loved building machines.

[She doesn't seem to have noticed her tense troubles.]

[geonomy]

Oh, I'm not saying my world's better or anything! I think it's amazing that a world with monsters adapted to them being there by making wards around the cities.

... Are the wards gone now, though? And does your friend not like making machines anymore? [Someone noticed those tense changes.]

[experiencepoints]

[She takes a deep, sharp breath in through her teeth. Clay had reminded her of Rook, and just seemed so easy to talk to, that she'd slipped up.]

It's a long and shitty story. Don't worry about it too much.

[geonomy]

[...]

Well, if you ever do want to talk about it, I'm just a call away. [Or a little trip, if they wanted to meet up face to face or anything. Clay would never push anyone into talking about something like that unless they absolutely needed to, so he'll happily let her do it on her own time.]

So what's your friend like? You said she's really smart; what else has she done?

[experiencepoints]

... I'll remember that. Thanks.

[She almost starts talking- she misses her friends so much, wanting to talk about them is normal, but... no, she shouldn't. That's the sort of thing that can get used against her later, and she doesn't know enough about this place yet.]

Before I tell you about my friend, shouldn't I at least get your name first?

[geonomy]

Oh - Sure, sorry! I'm Clay. Clay Terran. And how about yours?

[experiencepoints]

Weird name. Does everyone have two names, where you come from?

... Gray Nightingale.

[geonomy]

Well, those are two names, right? Or is that all just one?

[experiencepoints]

... Dunno. "Nightingale" is my name, I never asked what was with the colors. Besides, it's a name an idiot came up with.

[geonomy]

Huh. [He can kiiiind of relate to the "idiot" thing, but that's not something he really wants to talk about.]

Well, in some places on my world, the first name is what your parents give you, and that's the one everyone calls you if you want them to. The second one's called the surname, or last name, and that's the one the family shares. It pretty much tells people which family you belong to.

So in other words, you can just call me Clay.

[experiencepoints]

... Nice to meet you, Clay.

My world didn't have anything like that. [Aaaand she's back to past-tense on that.] You get one name your parents gave you, and that's all.

... I guess royalty and shit might have had those family names, too? They were the only ones who really cared, I think.

[geonomy]

[... Yeaaah, definitely picking up on that. And he's starting to get why she didn't want to say anything about it in the first place, but again, he won't push.]

That would make sense in a world where everyone only gets one name. In mine, it really depends on who and where the royals are located. Some of them just abandon the surname altogether and go by "Queen Elizabeth" or "Prince William" or something like that.

[experiencepoints]

I guess it makes sense that all these worlds have such weird differences, but it's still so bizarre to think about.

[geonomy]

It's kind of why I want to learn as much about them as I can! In my career path, it's our job, and our passion, to discover and learn about what's beyond our world. So this is like the biggest opportunity for me!

[experiencepoints]

What kind of a career is that?

[geonomy]

I'm an astronaut! We're trained to explore parts beyond our planet to explore what else might be out there. We still haven't been able to get beyond our neighbor planet and our moon, but the fact that we got that far is amazing on its own! Our space technology is continuously evolving and growing; I've got no doubt that in the next hundred years or so, we'll be able to explore space in ways that scientists can only dream of!

[He would go on, buuut he knows he tends to ramble and ramble about space and his job and what astronomers have discovered thus far if he doesn't stop himself.]

So - Yeah! That's my job.

[experiencepoints]

[His enthusiasm actually gets a small laugh out of her. He sounds like Rook does about flying, or... Well, her about magic. Not that she'll admit that to herself.]

The moon, huh? So you only have one?

[geonomy]

Yeah. Weird, right? Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has just one moon. At least we're not Mercury and Venus! They don't have any at all. Our planet probably couldn't handle more or less than what it has right now.

So what's the most that you've seen, huh?

[experiencepoints]

Let's see... Most, where I'm from, we had two moons, Betyl and Sessho. Then where I was before didn't have any.

[geonomy]

[Excuse him while he reaches over to write that down somewhere and mutter to himself about those two moons. If/When he does go back home, he'd love to take his findings to his captain and show him everything he's discovered.

Once he's done, though, he turns back to the camera with a sheepish smile.]

Sorry about that. Anyway... [And his smile turns more playful now.] That's still not the most I've heard of. One of the planets in our solar system, Saturn? Has sixty-two moons. Sixty-two! Some of them are really small, only ranging to about one kilometer across. But some are massive, one of them being even larger than one of our own planets!

[experiencepoints]

But no one lives there, right?

[geonomy]

As far as we know, no. Nothing on Saturn or its moons are sustainable for human life. It's a gas giant, so it'd be pretty hard to even set foot there to investigate further! Its core is about the only solid thing in it: a rocky surface that's about 2.5 miles long. But the rest of it is all made up of hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia, hydrogen deuteride, and ethane, as well as a large layer of ice made up of water and different types of ammonias. All those gases make it even less dense than water!

[Oop, there he went again, and he knows he's got that bright look in his eyes when he talks about anything astronomical. Let's reel that in again.]

Uh, so, in other words, you're right. Nothing lives there.

[experiencepoints]

[oh my god what a nerd]

Doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me, then... What's the point of having all of those if no one's there to see them?

[geonomy]

[you have no idea]

Moons aren't just about looking cool in the sky. Sometimes they're just, you know, there. They're natural satellites that got caught in a planet's gravitational force, and so they're kept in its orbit forever. But sometimes they're detrimental to a planet! Like ours - I mean, the Earth's moon? If we didn't have that, we wouldn't have our stabilizing force anymore. If the Earth tilted just one degree more to any side, then the seasons we have would be drastically, even catastrophically different. The planet would spin much faster too, so the days would be a lot shorter, and the winds would be so much stronger than they are now. If any life existed after that, they'd be completely different from what we have now!

[experiencepoints]

So, sixty-two moons probably fucks up a planet enough that nothing could ever live there? Definitely seems like a bad thing.

[even if you're talking about a gas giant where nothing could live anyway

shhhh]