festival day!

[thespaceopera]

Who: EVERYONE
Broadcast: Up to you
Action: Everywhere in the Yadrolla system!
When: 5/30

[At last, the day has come: Festival Day! Once again, the Starstrikers have taken the trophy this year. But that doesn't mean members of other teams, or those who didn't play, can't celebrate with the rest of them!

There are parties everywhere. Ribbons, streamers, and confetti litter every major street in the system. (Remember what they say about glitter...) There is food on every block, and people cramming into shops to get in on the merch.

Don't forget about the reason for the festival-- the pet adoption drive! A large playground-type area has been set up on the Starstrikers' desert moon where people can play and interact with the lovable creatures needing new homes. Whether you're looking for companionship or just something to do, there's plenty to coo over! Every pet comes with an info card listing a fanciful name and a general description of their age and temperament. Maybe Sir Pringle the puppy or Marquess Mariana the fish can become your new best friend.

Sadly, the Fleet will be drifting in about a week... but feel free to party until then!]

Comments

[axi]

It is my home now as well. I got lucky that way. [Kaname smiles.] Then you know the feeling. I won't say the ships here are cramped, but they're certainly smaller than what the Elysion had to offer.

That was the main Macross class ship we had. When standing, it's about 800 meters high. More, I think.

[candothat]

800 meters? Kljovo! [No translation is provided for the interjection, but he's clearly impressed.] Our Constitution-class starships are only 365 meters long. The propulsion systems in your world must be more advanced than ours to make a ship of that size a viable option.

[Hope you wanted to talk about spaceships.]

[axi]

I did mention when standing. The Macross class means it changes forms-- one's more of a ship type, the other is a humanoid shaped mecha. The left and right arms serve as flight decks for the fighter planes and pilots I talked about. They can also separate and serve as smaller ships if need be.

[Drink now gone, Kaname places the glass on the tray of a waitress passing by.]

The propulsion systems, the ships themselves, and the valkyries-- the planes, were all developed from technology reverse engineered from an alien ship that landed on Earth about seventy years ago. It was turned into the first Macross class.

[candothat]

Oh, well. That's far more reasonable. [His smile says that it is not, that's kind of ridiculous. And cool. And ridiculous.]

Were humans space-faring before that? And how did this begin, this singing to cure a disease?

[axi]

[His expression gets a laugh. She understands it well by now.] I think you'd be one of the few who don't ask me to repeat myself on it.

[She stops to think.] Sure they were. Went into orbit, landed on the moon... But nothing as major as we're talking now. What was learned from that ship allows untrained civilians to live in space fleets with ease. Some people are born there without having set foot on a habitable planet for years.

Hm, the simplest explanation would be to say the members of my group possess a factor that renders us immune to the Var as well as grants us the ability to contain and prevent it. We can access that through song.

[And the rest is anime science.]

[candothat]

I have been told stranger things.

[He listens intently. Space travel and how it came to be in other universes is endlessly interesting, to say nothing of the singing.] It was a rapid technological advancement? On my world, it took nearly two centuries for space travel to become accessible to civilians. But there was also the war, and no alien races contacted us until we had independently developed faster-than-light capabilities.

The singing, I admit, is beyond me. [A sheepish smile.] I have never heard of anything like it. It's remarkable.

[axi]

Comparatively rapid, yes. It took around ten years for humanity to refit the ship for travel again. Unfortunately, most advancement takes place in times of conflict, and it was clear from the outset it was a war ship. Earth learned it wasn't alone, so they had to catch up. [She gives a solemn smile at that. Some things never changed.]

I wouldn't go so far as remarkable, but thank you. [Kaname grins, and feeling in the spirit, she does sing a few lines.] It's what I love doing.

((ooc; until 52s))

[candothat]

[He nods, familiar enough with history (some of it very recent) to know what powerful motivation the threat of war can be.] If your universe is like mine, things will change. Given a chance, human curiosity can inspire even more innovation and progress than fear can.

[Is it okay to applaud? Hopefully because he goes for it.] I stand by my initial assessment. [Remarkable, that is.] You have a beautiful voice. Do you sing often here, even though there isn't a disease to fight?

[axi]

[Kaname grins sheepishly, addressing his first point before the singing.] Mm, I know. It's a large part of why humanity ended up leaving Earth and spreading across the galaxy. There've been some wonderful discoveries.

[Now, she nods, smiling settling into one less bashful.] Thank you, I'm glad to hear it. I do. I joined Walkure because I love to sing and perform. I don't need a reason to sing other than wanting to.

[candothat]

[It's good to know that war hasn't been the sole factor influencing space travel. Pavel makes no attempt to hide a pleased smile.]

Ah, then being able to save the day with singing is only a bonus. [He gets that, doing something entirely out of love for it. That's what took him to space in the first place.] I would like to hear you perform, if you do that sometimes.

[axi]

A very, very nice bonus. [She grins, appreciating his way of phrasing it.] I did some competitions during the season, actually. Talent and singing... It was fun, and I actually won a couple.

[Kaname still sounds sort of surprised about that.] But I practice on the Isklaulit often, if you'd like to stop by at some point.

[candothat]

I don't find that at all surprising. [Kaname's voice is pretty, of course she won some things.] If you wouldn't mind? As someone with no singing talent, I'm very impressed by people like you who can sing so well.

[axi]

Thank you. [She chuckles, shaking her head.] No, I wouldn't mind at all.

[Kaname looks at him and raises her brows.] I'm sure you're good at many other things.

[candothat]

Then I will do that.

I'm good at being smart. [This is presented as a fact.] Beyond that, no, I'm strictly mediocre at most things.

[axi]

[Well, that's pretty straight forward.]

How so?

[candothat]

[That's how he does! It tends to minimize confusion, but not so much in this case.]

How so what?

[axi]

What sort of smart? [Like he didn't know the lady was flirting with him.] I'm sure it translates into other skills as well.

[candothat]

Academically. Not in a way that's useful off of the bridge of a starship. [Unless someone needs a navigator, tactician, theoretical physicist, engineer, mathematician, or computer programmer, but when do those skills come in handy?] It's kind of you to think that, thank you.

[axi]

I don't know about that. [She looks at him, grinning.] For some reason, I find it hard to believe.

[If he's as smart as he seems to carry himself, there has to be something.]

Regardless, what's something you've learned in the fleet? Like a skill you didn't have before.

[candothat]

I should leave now while you still believe that.

[That was clearly meant to be a joke. He's rather earnest about everything else.]

A skill? [He frowns thoughtfully.] I learned how to operate a cash register... and, in the process, learned what a cash register is. That was enlightening.

[axi]

Please don't. I'm finding that you're good company. [Even though he's joking, she does mean what she says.

And that answer makes her laugh. Good job.]

Really? That's a strange thing to learn here. How did that happen?

[candothat]

That's fortunate since I would rather not leave.

[Between being deemed good company and getting a laugh, he couldn't be more pleased.]

It was suggested to me that I learn skills that would be useful on the planets that we visit, and customer service was recommended. Not a common profession where I come from.

[axi]

It works out for both of us.

[She leans back in her seat, glancing around for a snack. Drinking on an empty stomach is bad.]

No, not in the fleet either it looks like. What do you do in times between systems?

[candothat]

[As if he has the power of reading brackets (or wants food himself, which is always true), Pavel requests whatever their most popular snack. That turns out to be something that resembles fries and onion rings with, surprise, more Starstrikers flags poked in at random.]

I do the usual things. [He can't actually think of anything that doesn't sound boring. Maybe she won't notice that he didn't answer.] And you? You must have things that you like doing other than singing.

[axi]

[Kaname eyes the food for a moment, then grins at his reply. Good try.]

I do. I'll answer after you give me a proper one.

[Oh, why not.] Mind if I have a bite?