In Which A Private Discussion Between Siblings Is Cut Short

(5:09:47 PM) ***speNih|Online PMs "ross": (hi)
(5:10:29 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter PMs "Skye" ( Hello! )
(5:10:47 PM) speNih|Online: how are you?
(5:12:03 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Better! I'm talking to you.
(5:12:20 PM) speNih|Online: something's going badly?
(5:12:22 PM) speNih|Online: :<
(5:12:25 PM) speNih|Online: can she help?
(5:13:59 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I'm not sure; I'm trying to find the town a co-player is in. Vilegi's under siege of some sort of slime plague.
(5:14:47 PM) speNih|Online: have you stopped at a gas station and asked for directions?
(5:15:08 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Three times!
(5:15:17 PM) ventricularPipefitter: The same gas station more than once, even.
(5:15:45 PM) speNih|Online: and it didn't help?
(5:15:46 PM) speNih|Online: :<
(5:17:45 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Well, they seemed helpful, when we were looking at the map. The one guy. The other girl, I mention the name of the town and she grabs at the little rosary bracelet around her wrist with pictures of saintly icons on it. "You don't want to go there," she said. "It's cursed."
(5:17:54 PM) speNih|Online: oh
(5:17:55 PM) speNih|Online: well
(5:18:10 PM) speNih|Online: um
(5:18:11 PM) speNih|Online: hm
(5:18:18 PM) speNih|Online: what directions did you get?
(5:21:05 PM) ventricularPipefitter: "About an hour from here heading south, turn right onto Route 800 and keep going on through the sand wastes and past the Desert Bluffs Windmill Farm. You'll see signs. You can't miss it."
(5:21:24 PM) speNih|Online: did you turn right on route 800?
(5:21:33 PM) speNih|Online: and make sure it was route 800 and not road 800?
(5:22:58 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I'm /on/ road 800. And I've driven about an hour and a half in /both/ directions to make /sure/ I haven't missed it. And checked on the /left/ when I turned around.
(5:23:19 PM) ventricularPipefitter: There's no road. If Vilegi wasn't there, I'd strongly suspect this place of not existing at all.
(5:24:27 PM) speNih|Online: then
(5:24:36 PM) speNih|Online: drive in the place that doesn't have a road where the road should be
(5:25:20 PM) ventricularPipefitter: And how do I know where the road /isn't/? 'Drive for an hour' is pretty damn subjective! She probably meant at, you know, the speed limit? Or a bit above.
(5:25:54 PM) speNih|Online: so drive at five above the speed limit and turn after an hour
(5:26:02 PM) speNih|Online: think of it like the [mag cant]
(5:26:11 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter sighs.
(5:26:21 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I'm going to get lost, off-road, in the middle of the desert.
(5:26:36 PM) speNih|Online: make sure you have plenty of gas and water then
(5:26:43 PM) speNih|Online: but you'll make it there
(5:26:48 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I do.
(5:26:50 PM) speNih|Online: uwu
(5:27:07 PM) ventricularPipefitter: coooooowoooooo
(5:27:15 PM) speNih|Online: no
(5:27:15 PM) speNih|Online: stop that
(5:27:19 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter coos.
(5:27:20 PM) speNih|Online: she is not cooing
(5:27:24 PM) speNih|Online: stop!
(5:27:36 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Were you cooing over Harris earlier, when you and he were talkin'?
(5:27:42 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I bet you were.
(5:27:52 PM) speNih|Online: wh
(5:27:52 PM) speNih|Online: you
(5:27:56 PM) speNih|Online: you can't prove anything
(5:28:01 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I can't!
(5:28:04 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Can Echo?
(5:28:22 PM) speNih|Online: she was asleep
(5:28:33 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Well
(5:28:37 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I know you /very/ well.
(5:28:44 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter grins.
(5:28:47 PM) speNih|Online: she doesn't coo
(5:29:12 PM) ventricularPipefitter: uh-huh.
(5:29:16 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I'll ask Mornei.
(5:29:26 PM) speNih|Online: no
(5:29:26 PM) speNih|Online: she doesn't
(5:29:27 PM) speNih|Online: and don't you ask
(5:29:43 PM) ventricularPipefitter: [>Ross: Cackle!]
(5:30:18 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter PMs "Echo, Mornei, Harris" ( Skye coos when she's with someone she loves and feeling particularly affectionate. )
(5:30:31 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter PMs "Echo, Mornei, Harris" ( Confirm or deny? )
(5:31:22 PM) ventricularPipefitter: ...how's the hospital?
(5:31:43 PM) speNih|Online: white and smells antisepticky and she wants to go out for a walk and they won't let her
(5:32:25 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Seriously? Not even with, like, a wheelchair?
(5:32:37 PM) ventricularPipefitter: They could wheel the IV bags along behind.
(5:33:01 PM) speNih|Online: sitting in a wheelchair is not a walk
(5:33:13 PM) ventricularPipefitter: This, I will concede, is true.
(5:33:56 PM) ventricularPipefitter: So, you can walk? I know...I know your arm and your eye are pretty messed up, but-
(5:34:37 PM) speNih|Online: she's sure she could if they would let her get up
(5:35:32 PM) ventricularPipefitter: 'Cho doesn't let you get up either, huh?
(5:35:54 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Do you have physical therapy?
(5:36:11 PM) speNih|Online: her ribs are only a little twingy they're not bad enough to keep her in bed
(5:36:20 PM) speNih|Online: and she doesn't like the iv either
(5:38:29 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Do you get solid food?
(5:38:49 PM) speNih|Online: yes
(5:38:57 PM) speNih|Online: she doesn't like it though
(5:39:30 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Do you get drugs through the IV, then? Seems like you could take then orally...
(5:46:09 PM) speNih|Online: iv
(5:46:25 PM) speNih|Online: they kick in faster?
(5:46:45 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Mm. And they can more precisely regulate things.
(5:51:48 PM) speNih|Online: something like that
(5:51:58 PM) speNih|Online: i'm bored and my book won't load fast enough
(5:52:43 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Hospital's messing up the wi-fi?
(5:53:11 PM) speNih|Online: either that or pits is being dumb
(5:57:53 PM) OJ [[email protected]] entered the room.
(5:59:29 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Probably dumb pits. When they get too big and don't have enough people on a server-launching drive, or setting aside space and processing power on ther computers, well...
(5:59:37 PM) ventricularPipefitter: What were you reading?
(6:02:02 PM) speNih|Online: she's trying to download 'in which something strange happens and lawtrack has to deal with it again'
(6:02:34 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Ohh, a crime novel?
(6:02:59 PM) speNih|Online: a detective story that makes fun of detective stories
(6:03:28 PM) speNih|Online: harris recommended it
(6:03:29 PM) speNih|Online: uwu
(6:03:37 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Oooh. He's a reader, too?
(6:03:42 PM) speNih|Online: yes!
(6:03:54 PM) speNih|Online: her harris recommended a bunch of books for her
(6:03:57 PM) speNih|Online: but pits is being slow
(6:04:53 PM) ventricularPipefitter: [>Cue up a download yourself.]
(6:04:57 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Shit, you're right.
(6:05:30 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I could get you some LoA stuff. Or...let me see what the Library has, if they've got a copy or something by the same author?
(6:05:41 PM) ventricularPipefitter: 'Cho's got all the LoA though, nevermind.
(6:06:58 PM) speNih|Online: library?
(6:10:12 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Oh! This is something cool that happened a little while ago.
(6:11:27 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Do you remember when I would tell about the woman from my third session, who taught me how to move my entry location?
(6:11:41 PM) ventricularPipefitter: And we jacked my first library?
(6:11:58 PM) speNih|Online: oh
(6:11:59 PM) speNih|Online: oh yes!
(6:13:19 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Andria had been keeping her own private server(s) and gradually building it up into a collection of things from universes: mostly specifically books and media. But it's a lot smaller and more...discriminatory than Pits. In a good way. Quality.
(6:13:59 PM) ventricularPipefitter: And apparently I was the first person who'd ever gotten involved in the project to help, back then. And she knew about the networks, and I didn't, then.
(6:14:30 PM) ventricularPipefitter: She....came back a little bit before the Library went public, with an apology, and a Library Card for me. (userid 000001)
(6:15:16 PM) ventricularPipefitter: So I've been trying to gradually add stuff: from the mixed Beforan/human earth I was on last time, Abel's music, recipes, the Heart Guide I'm working on...
(6:16:01 PM) speNih|Online: oh
(6:16:01 PM) speNih|Online: okay
(6:20:26 PM) ventricularPipefitter: [...now she feels out-of-touch. You'd better change the topic.]
(6:20:49 PM) ventricularPipefitter: So I'll check and see for the book. Did he reccomend anything else?
(6:21:23 PM) speNih|Online: 'In Whhichh An Empirre Led By An Emperrorr Instead Of Thhe Emprress But Othherrwise Identical To Thhe Trrue Empirre Appears In Thhe Skies Above Alterrnia'
(6:21:41 PM) speNih|Online: 'In Whhich A Subjugglatorr Novitiate Is Conscrripted Whhile Hhiding A Cullworrthhy Mutation And Forrms A Kismesisitude Withh Thhe One Whho Discoverred It'
(6:21:52 PM) speNih|Online: 'In Whhichh Thhe Sky Burrns Grreen'
(6:22:27 PM) speNih|Online: so she's going to try to read those three and see if the lawtrack series is good
(6:22:32 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Huh. Interesting.
(6:22:46 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I haven't read much Alternian popular fiction yet. some, but...
(6:22:54 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Let me know about the Lawtrack stuff!
(6:23:23 PM) speNih|Online: she's enjoyed it so far
(6:23:51 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Hmm.
(6:23:54 PM) speNih|Online: and she hopes if they're in alternian and she has trouble he can help her with some of her vocabulary
(6:24:25 PM) speNih|Online: [>Skye:  Sigh happily and smile at your phone.]
(6:24:26 PM) speNih|Online: sigh
(6:24:35 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter nods. 'Cho could help you also, but....well. That's not quality time with your sweetheart.
(6:24:49 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter smiles slyly.
(6:25:00 PM) speNih|Online: afdsasd
(6:25:05 PM) speNih|Online: ross!
(6:25:09 PM) ventricularPipefitter: What?
(6:26:09 PM) speNih|Online: she
(6:26:13 PM) speNih|Online: okay maybe you're right
(6:26:20 PM) speNih|Online: you are right
(6:26:24 PM) speNih|Online: she likes spending time with him
(6:26:34 PM) speNih|Online: he's really sweet and nice and she likes him and he likes her and we pity each other
(6:30:17 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Aw.
(6:30:28 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I'll have to get to know him better.
(6:30:34 PM) ventricularPipefitter: But he's long seemed like a good man.
(6:30:40 PM) speNih|Online: you
(6:30:40 PM) speNih|Online: will?
(6:31:04 PM) speNih|Online: [>Skye:  Be a little surprised.  You... weren't expecting Ross to be on board this quickly.]
(6:33:56 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Well
(6:34:02 PM) ventricularPipefitter: He's going to be family.
(6:34:10 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I /still/ don't feel like I know Mornei very well.
(6:35:13 PM) speNih|Online: he remembered things he'd forgotten so
(6:35:23 PM) speNih|Online: she doesn't think she knows him as well as she could right now
(6:35:36 PM) speNih|Online: but harris is really really really nice ross he really is and people misunderstand because he's formal
(6:35:43 PM) speNih|Online: he's not bad and not mean
(6:37:50 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Were you around when he rolled heart and put all that time in effort into helping to keep his human co-player safe with the other trolls had it out for her?
(6:38:48 PM) speNih|Online: yes!
(6:38:59 PM) speNih|Online: she remembers that
(6:39:59 PM) ventricularPipefitter: It's interesting, how he keeps to that formality.
(6:40:13 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I bet you like it. Gives him a polished or dignified side.
(6:40:29 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Or does he get awkward and flustered in private?
(6:40:56 PM) speNih|Online: he is adorable in private
(6:51:22 PM) speNih|Online: he's also adorable when he's being dignified and formal
(6:51:27 PM) speNih|Online: he's just adorable all the time
(6:51:33 PM) ventricularPipefitter: You've got it /bad/
(6:52:14 PM) ventricularPipefitter: ....Skye? Suddenly I'm driving on a two-lane highway. I don't know how long I've been doing that.
(6:52:33 PM) speNih|Online: she told you!
(6:52:38 PM) speNih|Online: go to where it should be but isn't
(6:52:40 PM) speNih|Online: it works every time
(6:52:41 PM) speNih|Online: uwu
(6:53:00 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Roads don't just appear out of nowhere!
(6:53:09 PM) speNih|Online: sometimes they do
(6:53:11 PM) ventricularPipefitter: This isn't the Medium, Skye. I'm on /Earth/.
(6:53:15 PM) ventricularPipefitter: It's not a hidden dungeon.
(6:53:58 PM) speNih|Online: maybe it was just covered by sand
(6:54:08 PM) speNih|Online: or maybe she did the [      ] thing and now you have a road
(6:56:18 PM) speNih|Online: [>Skye:  Hesitate.]
(6:56:29 PM) speNih|Online: can she babble about harris?
(6:57:03 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Yes.
(6:57:05 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Absolutely.
(6:57:44 PM) ventricularPipefitter: [You're not sure you can talk about the lights in the sky and how they're so much prettier and more vivid than stars seem like they should be, than the watching eyes of terrors ever are, but there's still something...unreal about them. Maybe too-real.]
(6:59:01 PM) speNih|Online: he's sweet
(7:00:06 PM) speNih|Online: and he likes to cook too
(7:01:27 PM) speNih|Online: and he let her sleep with him all cuddled up
(7:01:31 PM) speNih|Online: and he likes hugs
(7:02:13 PM) speNih|Online: and he's just a little taller than she is
(7:02:39 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Really?
(7:03:17 PM) speNih|Online: really!
(7:03:25 PM) speNih|Online: only he has another foot or two of horns
(7:04:10 PM) ventricularPipefitter: haha!
(7:04:24 PM) speNih|Online: they're tall and mostly straight and they curve slightly at the tips
(7:04:45 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Sounds handsome.
(7:05:03 PM) speNih|Online: he is!
(7:06:40 PM) speNih|Online: and he's really nice
(7:06:59 PM) ventricularPipefitter: So I hear.
(7:07:10 PM) ventricularPipefitter: ...and there are the windmill farms.
(7:07:28 PM) speNih|Online: and was always kind to her and looked out for her and gave her help and wanted to spend time with her and showed her the baby serpents and he's a good hugger
(7:07:43 PM) speNih|Online: windmill farms?
(7:13:24 PM) ventricularPipefitter: John, you know, the guy at the gas station, said there'd be wind farms on the way down.
(7:14:32 PM) speNih|Online: oh
(7:14:42 PM) speNih|Online: she sees
(7:18:54 PM) speNih|Online: are they neat?
(7:19:09 PM) tenThe|Away is now known as tenaciousTheseus
(7:20:01 PM) ventricularPipefitter: I...guess? It's dark out, and the moon's /so/ bright--they look like weird silvery pin-wheels sticking up out of the the baked-flat earth.
(7:23:12 PM) speNih|Online: oh
(7:23:19 PM) speNih|Online: that must be really interesting to see
(7:23:23 PM) speNih|Online: maybe you can take pictures for her?
(7:24:24 PM) ventricularPipefitter: Yeah, just...
(7:24:27 PM) ventricularPipefitter: let me pull over and
(7:24:51 PM) ***ventricularPipefitter has disconnected from the memo!
(7:24:57 PM) speNih|Online: ross?
(7:26:10 PM) speNih|Online: ross?
(7:27:34 PM) speNih|Online: ross?
(7:27:39 PM) speNih|Online: :<