Time for family movie night on the Windrose!

[pain_train]

Who: Crew of the Windrose
Broadcast: Nope
Action: On the Windrose, mingle time!
When: 11/25 and onward

[Wow, the ship's a little smaller, but lookit that view! Let's talk awkwardly about it and mingle!]

Comments

[pain_train]

You won't know til you try. It's not about like... how much you know or whatever. It's about sharing something with other people, right? Talking to them in a different way. And the thing is, you have a completely different viewpoint from everyone else. That's what makes what you can share important. Even if you're not very old, you have stories inside you that no one else knows.

Best way to learn things is by doing them.

[unbearablynaive]

[That's a fair point, and he nods. Even so--]

Perhaps it's that writing a play might not be the best form such art could take for me. I find myself drawn more to arts that are--pardon me for the pun--visual.

[pain_train]

Oh! Well that's okay too. I don't really write stuff myself because I paint. People totally have different kinds of art that speak to them. Though I do make up stories sometimes, that's kind of fun. Keep branching out!

[unbearablynaive]

Have you been able to acquire any painting supplies at the planets we've visited?

[pain_train]

Yeah, I have! And Beverly helped me get some too, which was really nice of her. And drawing supplies. So if you want to try any out, you definitely can. I'm still working on the mural, but I don't think I'd run out before we got to another station.

[unbearablynaive]

I'm very glad to hear that. I'll save the supplies for you - a digital medium would work just as well for a beginner, I think.

[He might ask her for some basics, though. Having a teacher there to help generally does encourage someone.]

[pain_train]

It kind of depends, you know? On what speaks to you. I've done a lot with digital, and it is really good for some things. But paint's got a whole different feel. Like... they can be close, but they'll never be exactly the same. There's a lot more texture to the real paint.

Though one thing digital is super good for is that I think it makes people less afraid of making mistakes, you know? Since you don't have to like... throw away flimsies or canvas.

[unbearablynaive]

Hm. I suppose if one became desperate for supplies, they could even use the protein gels. [They do come in different colors, after all.] That could get messy, however.

Yes, I could see how physical paint would be different to an artist. It's like how some prefer physical books to the digital copies.

[pain_train]

True, but I don't think it's going to get that desperate. And there is always digital, since we're better off eating the protein. Wasting food is bad for morale anyway.

Oh yeah. Rich people.

[unbearablynaive]

Oh, certainly. One can never tell if our unlimited supply only seems it because we've not reached the limit.

[He can't help a chuckle.] In my own time that's not the case; print books are available cheaply, especially used, and not everyone has access to digital readers or the Internet. Digital books are the product of the past few decades alone.

[pain_train]

Everything's always limited. We should be better about recycling too, but we haven't had to yet, I guess.

Wow... I can't even imagine that. Like. Are there that many trees? How do you have so many trees that you can waste them like that?

[unbearablynaive]

Yes, we should. The algae may work for a time as a backup air recycling system, but not sustainably. With materials there is little I discard, even when broken.

According to the most recent studies, there are around 3 trillion trees on Earth. Many books are printed on recycled paper, however.

[pain_train]

Oh my gosh, that's so many trees. I can't even imagine that many. That's way more trees than people!

[unbearablynaive]

It is, yes. Quite a change from how things are out here, isn't it?

[Asteffiel has a little apple tree, he thinks, but anything larger than a bonsai isn't exactly efficient to have out in space.]

That doesn't mean the supply is unlimited, but a surplus of resources does make one less conscious of recycling or alternate methods than they might otherwise be.

[pain_train]

A big change from how things are at home, too. I can't even imagine it. You could like... walk around the trees. And. Look at them. Wow.

That's kind of a weird thought too, not recycling everything.

[unbearablynaive]

I hope you'll have that chance when we come upon another planet. A forest has a beauty unlike any other landscape. [Well, and so do they all, but that's the point.]

Pure waste, yes. It's difficult for people to see the consequences of their actions when they're in such a large environment, especially when education is lacking.

[pain_train]

And mountains. I'd really love to see mountains. I kind of... kind of remember them. Maybe a forest on a mountain, that would be really pretty. Plants do things with light that man-made stuff doesn't do.

Is that a big problem where you're from?

[unbearablynaive]

And mountains, yes. Perhaps a new planet will have features not even found on Earth. [There's so much variety in the universe that most humans have no idea about. He hopes they'll visit at least a few on their journey.]

It will be. It's not hit a crisis scenario yet, but without serious change it will.

[pain_train]

Oh, that would be so neat. Like... what kind of thing, do you think? Upside-down hills? Lakes made out of flowers? [Ice cream needs to figure in to this somehow.]

That sounds really sad. Hopefully people can get better about things and work together. I mean, we learned how to recycle everything when the dome closed. [Though she's well aware that there are all kinds of problems inside the city, even if she can't quite list them easily.]

[unbearablynaive]

Geysers that shoot so high they pierce the atmosphere. Seas of every liquid that exists, and the most spectacular sunsets--sometimes with three suns. [He remembers she likes sunsets.] And why not lakes of flowers and upside-down hills?

It will take that kind of awareness, either through a limitation or a general crisis, I'm afraid. Refusing to acknowledge the facts in front of oneself isn't by any means limited to humanity.

[pain_train]

Three suns... I would love to see a sunset like that! Or a bunch of moons in the sky. I'd love to see all those things and paint them.

People do that so much, though. Well, and not say what they mean. Maybe that's part of the problem too. Just too much lying in general.

[unbearablynaive]

I'd like to see your paintings of them. I think they'd be very good.

[He nods. Even when he can tell people are lying, it doesn't seem to change how they act.] It's rooted in self-interest, which is a survival instinct. Short-term survival and long-term are very different behavior patterns, though.

[pain_train]

Well, I'll show you when they're done, then. I'll probably just do some digital stuff to start, just so I can experiment with the color a little faster.

Living day to day is a habit when you don't have a future.

[unbearablynaive]

I'll look forward to it.

[He nods again.] Or when you perceive that you don't have a future, whether or not it's reality. Once the basic needs are addressed - safety, food, shelter - can one focus on the higher needs, and thinking about the consequences of one's actions is certainly categorized into the latter rather than the former.