April System Mingle

[thespaceopera]

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: Possibly!
Action: April System
When: Month of April!


[Welcome to the Belt, a huge asteroid belt that's been terraformed for life. Here you can explore the different asteroids, become a rock star, race on some ATVs, enjoy not being underwater.

In other words, it's a mingle! Get in everyone!

> System Info ]

Comments

[axiomed]

All right.

[ He wheels his chair towards the pants section. ]

[dancingmd]

[As for Beverly, she disappears into the women's section for the next half hour or so, emerging soon after with a completely new look.]

What do you think?

[axiomed]

[ He grins. ]

You look stunning.

[dancingmd]

[A pleased warmth spreads through her. Honestly, it's not the reaction she was expecting from him, but she'll gladly take it.]

Thank you!

[axiomed]

[ Charles is sporting this ensemble ]

Mine isn't anything special, I'm afraid.

[dancingmd]

No, no! It looks great!

[And the great thing about being a telepath, Charles, is you know she's not just saying that. In fact she's a little dumbfounded that he was so convinced it'd look out of place on him.]

Very cool, as Sokka would say.

[axiomed]

"Cool". All the younger children like to say that.

[ He tugs on the sleeve. ]

I guess we're all set.

[dancingmd]

Hmm speak for yourself. "Cool" is a very old-fashioned term you know.

[axiomed]

Oh? Then what do they say in your century?

[dancingmd]

[She tilts her head thoughtfully.]

I suppose "nova" would come closest in meaning.

[axiomed]

Nova? As in supernova?

[dancingmd]

Mmm. There's a lot more references to space in our slang, as you might imagine.

[axiomed]

Can you tell me more?

[dancingmd]

Well... "stars" is used as sort of... a mild expletive, I guess you would say. Like "stars above!" instead of "heaven above!"

[She pauses to think.]

And warp speed isn't always used literally - sometimes it's an exaggeration, just to say something's going really fast.

[axiomed]

That sounds vaguely Shakespearean in nature.

[ Or at least theatrical. ]

But I should have guessed warp speed would have other implications.

[dancingmd]

I suppose it does. Stat-crossed lovers and all.

[axiomed]

Or galaxy-crossed?

[dancingmd]

And universe-crossed now, it seems.

[She says, thinking of Daneel.]

[axiomed]

That does happen often.

[ He pauses, wondering if Beverly wants to talk about it. ]

[dancingmd]

[She doesn't not want to talk about it, but she doesn't need to either. It's just there will always be things that remind her of him, just as there will always be things that remind her of Jack.]

I never have put much faith in fate anyway.

[axiomed]

I think we can spare our faith to more . . . productive avenues.

[dancingmd]

Mmm. Fate is too easy a thing to fall on, I think. It can create a sort of...inertia. While it's true we have almost no control over what Atroma does with us, we can control how we react - and I am never going to regret what I had with Daneel, even if in hindsight some may say it was doomed.

[axiomed]

I've been to the future. What I've learned of time is that nothing is ever set and everything can be changed with the simplest action.

[dancingmd]

[She blinks. Comparisons between Charles and Jean-Luc come few and far between, now that their friendship has deepened, but this hits a little too close. He sounds almost exactly as Jean-Luc did after his return from his journey with Q.]

So I have been told.

[axiomed]

[ Charles straightens his jacket with a hum. ]

We were on a precipice once. A terrible future marked by one action. I believe we can make the right choices. I still do.