Meanwhile on the loveboat (mingle log)

[destinyembrace]

Who: Crew of the Blue Fish, anyone who's been invited, and any visitors! So basically everyone
Broadcast: Nope
Action: On the Blue Fish, mostly probably in the kitchen and the mess hall because PARTY
When: Today~

[If there's anything this freaking ship loves, it's food. Somehow, a dinner got planned to welcome the new member. And then other people got invited. And then the dinner pretty much turned into a party with a lot of food. Needless to say, Kairi has been very busy preparing food all the day for this.

There's a lot of meat, per the captain's request. But there's also veggies, some fruit, pasta, and even brownies! There are also two pizza pies. Basically, Kairi just cooked a bunch of food and hoped it would be enough, as she had no idea how many people were coming.

SO DIG IN, BLUE FISH AND GUESTS. Also mingle and be social and all that jazz!]

Comments

[alwayscomeback]

So, what sort of stuff do you have to do in the Academy? [Look, he's interested. He knows he already has a path set for him, but hey, it's nice to think about other options once in a while. ]

[dancingmd]

It somewhat depends on what your focus is. Since I was in medicine and wanted to be a surgeon, I was in school for longer than usual - eight years. Most cadets are there for four years and there are any number of majors you can go into: engineering, linguistics, anthropology, physics. Starfleet needs all sorts of people. So you'd have classes related to your major, but everyone takes general education courses as well. Thus, why I know the basics of stellar cartography, even though astronomy is not my specialty. That way, I'm not at a total loss if ... well, if a situation like this arises, where I am without access to the specialists. And of course, every cadet is trained in basic ship's operations, combat, survival skills, and the like.

[alwayscomeback]

[He listens, rapt, taking in ever detail she has to offer. ]

Man, that sounds so cool. We don't have anything like that where I come from. ...Not in the Water Tribe, anyway.

[dancingmd]

No universities even?

[alwayscomeback]

Maybe in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom? But the Water Tribe is made up of little villages. You hunt, you raise a family, that's...pretty much it. There's no real call for a lot of schools when you're living at the frozen edges of the world.

[dancingmd]

If you find out there are universities in those places, would you want to go?

[alwayscomeback]

I- don't know.

I belong back home, with my tribe. My father's the chief, and one day that'll be my place. My family and tribe have always gotta come first.

[dancingmd]

[She nods understandingly then reaches out to squeeze his hand. It makes her a little sad, because she truly does think he would blossom with an opportunity like the one Starfleet gave her, but:]

Family is one of the most important things in the world.

[Especially when you have so little of it, like she does.]

I would do anything for my son.

[alwayscomeback]

[He gives a weak smile, returning the hand squeeze. Yue was ultimately right. Their positions ultimately meant sacrifice, that their own desires would always, always have to come after their duty. ]

Yeah? You don't talk a lot about him. What's he like?

[Casually steering the conversation from the future already planned out for him, yep. ]

[dancingmd]

[Smart boy. You can almost always derail a conversation with Beverly if you get her to talk about Wesley. The intense love she bears for her son is evident in her smile as she talks about him.]

Wesley is so much like his father was: honest, determined, devoted. He's so earnest in everything he does... [she chuckles softly] it used to worry me when he was younger, that he was too serious, too focused. But he's found his own way now, and I think he's exactly where he needs to be.

[Wherever that is at the moment. Who knows, with The Traveler?]

I think you two would get along well. Ever since he was little, he's loved to tinker with stuff. I don't think there was a thing in our quarters that hadn't been taken apart and put back together again by him, usually with some improvements. Usually.

[alwayscomeback]

[He smiles softly, listening and not interrupting. He knows how important family is. How he feels when he thinks about Katara, and how horribly lonely it was here before she arrived. They may squabble a lot of the time, but she is absolutely without a shadow of a doubt, his entire world. ]

Sounds like me. I mean, once I got to a place I could tinker, anyway. I bet he'd really dig all the tech we've got to play with, here.

[dancingmd]

[She tilts her head curiously. Time for another historical slang lesson with Beverly. Sorry, Sokka.]

"Dig" all the tech? Does that mean he'd be interested in it?

[alwayscomeback]

[Nothing like getting historical lessons from a teenager who has no place knowing this slang, yet does anyway.]

Yeah, it means he'd really like it.

[dancingmd]

[She says it again, testing out the sound of it. Then laughing, she shakes her head.]

That makes no sense! How does digging equate to liking something? It's it... some connection to buried treasure or something?

[alwayscomeback]

I don't know, I think it came from the Earth Kingdom? They love digging.

[dancingmd]

They dig digging, huh?

[Beverly wipe that stupid smirk off your face you dork.]

[alwayscomeback]

I think so. They love Earth. Earth benders....and everything. Toph rolls around in the dirt all the freaking time.

[He's being serious. ]

[dancingmd]

Toph? Is she another one of your friends?

[alwayscomeback]

[He smiles, nodding. ]

Yeah, she's my best friend. She's blind, but you could never tell. She's an earthbender, so she uses the ground to see. She also invented metalbending which is pretty darn awesome.

[dancingmd]

[She considers this a moment, trying to work out how one would use the ground to see. Maybe it is a bit like echolocation for dolphins.]

How exactly does that work? Her using the ground to see I mean? I'm just curious as one of my friends is also blind, but he uses a special device that allows him to see in infrared and ultraviolet instead.

[alwayscomeback]

Oh, she...uh. [He taps his foot on the ground. ]

She can see like...vibrations? I guess? I don't really understand it all that well, I just make sure I'm there for her when she can't see.

[dancingmd]

[She nods.] No, that makes some sense. Other species feel the vibrations in their environment, so why not humans, when they have abilities such as the ones some in your world possess?

[alwayscomeback]

Yeah, the badgermoles can do it. That's where they say people first learned earthbending.

[dancingmd]

Badgermoles? What do they look like?

[alwayscomeback]

They're really big. Brown. They got these massive claws and they live underground. They have striped faces, too.

[Basically what would happen if you crosses a badger and a mole and made it HUGE. ]

Some nearly ate me, once.