Tourist ROAD TRIP (mingle)

[takingkarabusiness]

Who: Touristas and visitors
Broadcast: as needed
Action: The Tourist!
When: The month of June

[ Get bit by the June Bug and mingle to your heart's content! ]

Comments

[universal_charm]

Why are the sandworms necessary? And what's Spice?

_{[ He was genuinely curious, even as he was happy to give the other something to think on and explain than his lost love, the impossible love. He shifted a bit to be more comfortable and continued his gentle stroking of his friend's hair and temples. ]}

[precedented]

I forget people rarely know of this.

[ He traces a circle in the air. ] The Sandworms are part of the Spice cycle. Spice keeps the empire running. Spaceships need Spice. Politicians, leaders, military men . . . they all hunger for that certainty of Spice. Certainty of the future.

It is a drug no one can escape.

[universal_charm]

So... is it a drug or is it an energy source? Both?

_{[ It sounded so strange, especially since his own ships did not run on Spice, but dilithium crystals and nuclear energy cores. ]}

[precedented]

The navigators need the Spice to chart their course across the stars. No accidents. No mistakes. No losses. It does not power the ships but it helps people make their way through the unknown.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He cocked his head, pursing his lips, trying to make sense of that. ]}

What do you mean? How does Spice - a drug - help?

[precedented]

It has certain properties. Like my ability to see the future is derived from the Spice in my blood.

Think of your ship. A guild navigator could take you anywhere. Any place in the horizon. Any planet you wished to find. They could do that.

[universal_charm]

And if I don't know where I want to go yet? Though we have machines that can do that too - course plots and sensors.

[precedented]

Machines offer data, but not certainty. That is the difference. Space, after all, can be a dangerous place.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He snorts. ]}

I've jumped off so many things and nearly been eaten enough times to know that particular truth, Leto.

[precedented]

[ He clicks his tongue. ]

I do not agree with the Guild Navigators and their ways, but it has been their way for a while now. It'll take time for it to change.

[universal_charm]

Heh, well good. Because if you ask me, I like that little bit of uncertainty. Going through life completely certain of everything... it makes life lost those bits of mystery that make it exciting.

[precedented]

They've lost that spark.

[ He sighs. ] I've lost it too.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He tilts his head, brushing his thumbs along the others' sharp cheek. Suddenly he leaned down and place a peck on his lips, smirking a little. ]}

Did you see that coming? Or even meeting me at all, in fact?

[precedented]

[ Guilelessly.]

Yes. Variation upon variation. We could have met in a pit. In a fighting ring. In a bar.

[universal_charm]

But did you know which one it would be?

[precedented]

[ He blinks. ]

No. I can't know that.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He smiles softly. ]}

So there's still some uncertainty left for you. You might see futures, but the future is never set.

[precedented]

[ He shudders. ]

A horrifying thought. No, in places like these, these universes that draw others in . . . there a margin of error. Which I . . . I need.

[universal_charm]

I know you can't stop looking, that you can't stop seeing these things, but just try and not think about them to much. Life's needs its little surprises.

_{[ He wrapped his arms around his shoulders and leaned down, touching his forehead to Leto's. ]}

[precedented]

What should I think about?

[universal_charm]

Hmm - how about some of your favorite things? Or maybe a dream, some place you'd like to visit someday, about how good a kisser I am...

_{[ The last is said with a little grin, teasing the other. ]}

[precedented]

[ He huffs. ]

Favourite things . . . I've never had favourite things. How do you prefer a thing over another?

[universal_charm]

_{[ Well, that was an interesting question, wasn't it? ]}

You know, I'm not really sure? But I know that I prefer the Enterprise over the Tourist, and that I like history books over fantasy, and that I prefer apples and pancakes over cauliflower and pork chops.

I'm sure you have things like that - things if given a choice you would choose without hesitation.

[precedented]

[ He hums softly, like bells. ]

When the choice presents itself. I can't recall a time when it did. I liked . . . flying. Piloting. My father liked it so I lived vicariously through his skills. I used to terrify my stepmother that way.

[universal_charm]

I don't think we really think about how we came to prefer something. We just... do.

_{[ He laughed at the thought of Leto terrifying his parent, brushing his thumb across the curve of his cheekbone. ]}

I used to do things like that too, to get back at my uncle. I drove a car off a quarry cliff once, actually. I can't imagine what I would have done if I could have piloted something.