First Impressions (Schrodinger)

[10:23] <Sally> [You pay the motorbike taxi far too much for a trip that short, and haul your small pack back onto your shoulder. Turn and look at the resort's entrance. It's much the same as every other high-quality resort you've seen in Thailand- spacious, richly decorated reception. As you move inside, the airconditioning blasts you in an icy wall, beating back the dry outside heat.]
[10:23] <Sally> [Meander up to the front desk, and speak quietly with the receptionist. With gleaming smiles, he nods, and turns to call Terese's room. You move over to the seating area and sit down on a bright yellow-gold couch to wait.]
[10:25] <@Terese> [You get the call and replay that "We'll be right down." and get the same double take and hesitant pause that you always seem to get here. It's almost amusing. You head down to the lobby with your key in your pocket and not much else.]
[10:27] <@Terese> [As you enter the lobby you look around for Sally, you probably should have asked for a picture now that you think about it. You're glad that you sent her a picture at any rate. Be easy enough to pick you out by your hair if nothing else.]
[10:31] <@Terese> [You're in tan shorts and a white t-shirt. You're 5'5" and fairly skinny with waist length blonde and maroon hair. The only other details are  necklace chain around your neck with the pendant in your shirt, and an obsidian and brass bracelet.]
[10:31] <Sally> [Fiddle with the smartphone you bought on your way to the bus station in Phuket, playing solitaire. You brought your computer in your pack, along with a change of clothes and some other bits and pieces, but having something new to play with helped keep you from boredom throughout the waking hours of your trip. Look up now and then, looking for your coplayer.]
[10:32] <Sally> [As she appears, recognisable thanks to the photo she did share, you grin and tuck the phone back in your pocket as you stand. Your own hair, still steel-grey, is mostly tucked up and hidden under your cap, and you've donned jeans and a long-sleeved overshirt to keep off the sun.]
[10:33] <Sally> ["Hey- Terese?" You beam at her- tired, but running on the excited high of being back home, and travelling again. Move towards her, thumbs tucked in jean-pockets.]
[10:36] <@Terese> ["Sally?" You ask hesitantly, smiling. You do remember her saying something about grey hair. You're also wondering how she isn't boiling with jeans and a long sleeved shirt on in this heat.]
[10:37] <Sally> ["Nice t'meet you." You come to a halt in front of her, and rock briefly on your heels. Your grin widens, with excited awkwardness. "Never had a chance to meet a coplayer in the pre before."]
04[10:38] <@Terese> ["Neither have we." You relax, knowing its her and pull her into a hug. "We're so glad to meet you."]
[10:39] <Sally> [Oh, hugs! You're a bit awkward at first, attempting the shoulder-pat response- and then just hug her back properly.]
[10:41] <@Terese> [You break the hug, beaming at her. "Thank you so much for coming here. We're very lost in this world."]
[10:43] <Sally> [Scratch the top of your head through the fabric of your cap. "No problem- I woulda been sneaking off for a road trip at some point anyway, and I'm hardly gonna leave a coplayer in the lurch." You look around the reception. "Well- you had lunch yet?"]
[10:45] <@Terese> ["No we haven't. We were going to have something here, but if you have an idea, we'd be happy to hear it." You really hope she isn't put off by the plurals too. Seems like everyone is.]
[10:47] <Sally> [You recall the reassurances that her pluralising were not indicative of angelic corruption. And at any rate- the Door clears. Hunch your shoulders briefly, thumbs back in pockets. "'s cold-as in here. We could hit the streets, and probably eat at the beach." You'll probably take her to a proper restaurant. Stall-food can wait for another day.]
[10:48] <@Terese> ["Lead the way. We'll probably have a lot of questions if you don't mind answering them." You look around the room. "It is very different to what we know."]
[10:50] <Sally> ["Perfectly happy to do question time." You turn and head back towards the entrance. Moving outside, your shoulder relax as the hot air descends, moving the chill from your bones as you move into the sun and blink until you can see the bright street properly.]
[10:53] <@Terese> [You beam as you walk into the sun. Closing your eyes for a second as you look up to it before turning back to Sally. "We'll give you the money we have if thats alright with you . We...don't really know what to do with it entirely."]
[10:55] <Sally> ["Oh- that works." You pull your bag off your shoulder, unzipping it and dragging out a wallet. "Seems to locals don't have sylladexes," you comment. "Got most of my stuff captchalogged, but it doesn't look good to be travelling without at least something on m'back." Finally dig out a wallet- vinyl and purple batik cloth. "M'kay, give it here."]
[10:57] <@Terese> [You look guilty "We, uh. Left it in the room, along with most of our stuff. If we don't, we start giving it to those who ask for it." You're not sure if you feel alright about that or not. They wouldn't ask if they didn't need it, right?]
[11:01] <Sally> [Pause. Yes, this will be an interesting pre-session. Put the wallet away, saying, "You know, we'll get it later. I got plenty on me already, we'll be good for lunch easily." Bag on back, and you continue along the street. "Though I think we're gonna have to work on that 'leave everything in the room', and 'give stuff to them that ask for it'."]
[11:01] <Sally> [The streets are dusty and noisy and, of course, hot. You move along at a relaxed pace, eyeing restaurants as you pass, and moving slowly in what you're pretty sure is towards the beach.]
[11:05] <@Terese> [Your grin never leaves your face. You enjoy having people around, and the noise and sight of them always makes you smile. With the sun on your face and a new friend, you're quite happy. "Like we said, we have questions. We figured it would be better for us to leave everything until you arrived. We want to make sure people are looked after, but there seems to be so many that aren't."]
[11:08] <Sally> [Tourists and locals bustle past on either side of you, sweat and sunburns a commonality. "Yeah it's... a hard place to live. I don't think there's anywhere in the world which isn't, but it's no exception here." You're a little quiet, a little distracted-sounding. Look over your shoulder at her, with an apologetic grin. "We can talk better when we got somewhere to sit, and probably once I've got some grub in me." Turn forwards once more, and- "Aaand I see a beach!" Forge on.]
[11:10] <@Terese> [You follow after her, weaving through the crowd. "We think thats an excellent idea." You're looking a little red yourself, but thankfully all the time on your very warm and humid Space land in your previous long night means that the temperature isn't anything new to you.]
[11:14] <Sally> [There's some brief hunting, and you peer at a couple menus before making apologetic smiles at hopeful servers and pulling Terese onwards, until the two of you find yourselves sitting in white plastic chairs, out on a concrete platform sticking out onto the beach. The other tables are filled, and it's still a little noisy, but quiet enough that conversation won't be too difficult.]
[11:16] <Sally> [You take the cloudy plastic jug of water and pour a glass for Terese, and then for yourself. The server places a couple laminated menus on the table. "Kap kun kha," you murmur quietly to her, picking up your glass and sipping at the water.]
[11:16] <@Terese> [You let yourself be pulled along without a complaint. You really have no idea, and you figure its better to let the person know what shes doing lead the way. You peer at the menu, but you have /no/ idea what most of it is. You look up at Sally a little nervously. "Could you order for us as well? We're just as lost here."]
[11:18] <Sally> [Glance at her. "Oh- okay." Ponder. "What's your opinion on spicy, greasy, noodles, rice?" Lean your elbows on the table, scratching at your cheek. "Also- what've you been eating until I got here?"]
[11:21] <@Terese> ["Theres not much we have tried that we haven't liked. We rather enjoy spicy food though, its not something we had a lot of before our last long night." You play with your bracelet a little, your face wistful. "The resort has a place where we can get food, we were told it was part of the accommodations."]
[11:22] <Sally> [Nod. "Alright then. Want anything to drink? They'll only have local beers here if you want alcohol, but my dad seemed to thing Singha was inoffensive enough, so-" You shrug.]
[11:25] <@Terese> ["We're not sure what Singha is, but we'd love to try it. We also quite enjoy fruit juice, but we've never been fond of beer." You look out over the beach and smile. This, this is nice. You turn back to her, beaming.]
[11:28] <Sally> [Laugh. "Okay, we'll get you a pineapple juice." Catch the server's attention, and quickly order a few dishes, a coke for yourself, and Terese's pinapple juice. As they move away, taking the menus with them, you pick up your water again, draining it. "So then. Where you wanna start on the questions?" You fiddle idly with some strands of hair that've fallen out from under your hat, poking them back up into hiding.]
[11:32] <@Terese> [You sip at your water before starting. Your questions quick, theres just so many of them "Is the entire world this warm? You said that it was a hard place, but with this much light it'd be so easy to grow food. How come some people aren't looked after? If people don't follow the Way, what do they follow? How come the world is split up into countries?"]
[11:36] <Sally> [Pause. Then you glance around, quietly uncaptchlog a drawing book and pencil, and flip open to about halfway through, at the first unmarked page. Start to draw a circle.]
[11:36] <@Terese> [You shift your chair so you can get a better view, intrigued.]
[11:39] <Sally> [A line across the middle of the circle, slightly bowed towards the bottom. "Thailand is a tropical country, which means it sits around here, on the equator." Sketch a rough indication of Thailand, and the spread of Asia down to Malaysia. "So when you're here-" -jab your pencil at roughly where Pattaya would be on the map- "-it's gonna be hot all year round. It just varies whether it's the wet season, or, like now, the dry season."]
[11:40] <@Terese> [You nod. "How long does each season last?"]
[11:42] <Sally> ["Well here it's six months for each season." Start moving out to sketch towards the top of Asia, and connect on to Europe. "Once you move away from the equator, it gets colder as you go North- and as you go South too. They have four seasons of about three months each- Summer being the hottest, getting colder with Autumn, coldest in Winter, then warming up again in Spring before you loop back around again to repeat."]
[11:43] <@Terese> [You nod thats a bit more familiar. "How warm does it get in those seasons?"]
[11:44] <Sally> ["Well- how do you measure temperature, personally?"]
[11:47] <@Terese> [You take another sip of water. "We didn't really have a system for measuring temperature. It certainly never got this hot. For the warm season, it'd only be warm enough to melt some of the snow and ice. If it was a good year some of the broad-leafed trees would have leaves. The rest of the year it was much colder than that."]
[11:51] <Sally> [The drinks arrive, and you pause, another quiet "kap kun kha" to the server, and they leave. "Well, system I know best is called Celcius." Swirl the straw in your glass, the ice clinking against the sides. "It works primarily on a scale of zero to a hundred- zero is when water freezes, and a hundred is when things boil. Today, I'd say- around twenty eight celcius? But it can get up to forty celcius, so twice as hot as this. That'd be more for desert areas, though."]
[11:53] <Sally> ["That's the peak of summer. Depths of winter, if you go into really cold areas- well, I've had friends talking about up to twenty degrees /below/ zero."]
[11:55] <@Terese> [You try to mentally divide it up in your head using the reference points given. Its hard to get a sense of it though. "Oh, so it isn't always warm. We're trying to get an idea of what the temperatures we had would be, but its...hard to translate."]
[11:57] <@Terese> [You take a sip of your drink and make a very pleased sound. "This is very nice. Thank you Sally."]
[11:57] <Sally> [Grin. "No problem."]
[11:57] <Sally> ["Anyway, the temperature specifics'll be a bit hard to work out, but it's not something you have to figure here and now." You look back at the drawing, and continue sketching out Africa, and then back to add Australia. "So- what was the next question again? One at a time, if you please."]
[11:59] <@Terese> [You think. "Uhm, food. If even a part of the world is like this temperature and light wise, there must be a lot of food. How come people are still asking for help with it? How come they aren't looked after?"]
[12:03] <Sally> [Lean your chin on a hand, letting the pencil rest on the paper. This is a harder one. "Technically, I think there is enough food for everyone. But to get food, you generally need money with which to purchase it. And not everyone will have money." Sip at your drink. "It's... not always a very caring world we live in." Pause. "They live in."]
[12:05] <@Terese> [You look sad. "If people have more than enough for themselves, why wouldn't they make sure others do too? Everyone is in it together, right?" You look for some sort of affirmation, but you're not naïve enough to believe you'll get it.]
[12:08] <Sally> [Shake your head. You don't exactly look sad, but your face is reflective. "People look out for themselves. Even those who can afford to give to those in need- there's a disconnect, often enough. Either they refuse to see those people exist, or they'll look at them and think that they put themselves into this mess. They spent too much money on drink, on drugs- people like beggars, in the eyes of everyone else, stop being people."]
[12:09] <@Terese> [You look around, trying to see something resembling what you know is right, but nothing comes to you. "Is everyone like that?"]
[12:13] <Sally> [You set your drink down, and begin drawing out the condensation left behind into little rivers across the plastic tablecloth. "No. And yes. People buy into the mob mentality, and the ideas of the mob. Most of them, if they can be broken out of those harmful beliefs- they can care. And, if there isn't too much of a risk to themselves, they will try to help. But it's only- only very few who'll put the needs of others above their own wellbeing." Your thoughts drift to Scott briefly.]
[12:16] <@Terese> [You look a little happier at that. "We're glad its not everyone." You think a little bit before speaking again. "Maybe its the differences in our world that is the difference. We had to look out for each other. To stand alone was to bring death on yourself."]
[12:17] <Sally> [You drag your thoughts back to the restaurant, and Terese. "Yeah. Yeah- it sounds like you came from a very different world from this one."]
[12:18] <@Terese> ["We can try and explain it if you like." You take another sip of your drink.]
[12:22] <Sally> [Nod- and the food arrives. A plate of chicken fried rice, with a fried egg atop it, goes in front of Terese, and a plain rice and a bowl of beef massaman curry is set down in front of yourself. You shift your drawing book to the side, and pick up your spoon and fork. "You wanna talk while we eat, or wait til after?"]
04[12:25] <@Terese> [You look at her oddly before smiling. "We keep having to remember. Conversation over food is expected for us, but we aren't the norm here." You taste the food and make several very satisfied sounds. Speaking after swallowing. "This is great Sally, thank you."]
[12:25] <Sally> ["Hehe, no problem." Dig into your own meal.]
[12:27] <@Terese> [You hmm thoughtfully before speaking. "Like we said, our world is...was...much colder. We've been told that the meteors from the Game normally come in a very short period of time. Ours came much slower over a longer period, a hundred years or slightly more than that. The ash and dust from the impacts and the volcanism that the meteors caused meant that it was very dark most of the time."]
[12:31] <@Terese> [You swallow another mouthful before continuing. "Our society, which probably looked very much like this slowly collapsed as crops started to fail and people starved. Life continued of course, we are resourceful and we looked out for each other."]
[12:35] <@Terese> ["Most people stayed where they were, or travelled to places where life was easier. Only those of the Way, the Radiants and the Enlightened that followed them, travelled much. We looked out for people, bringing news and life to the places we visited. And, when it was needed, if people needed help we would bring it. Those who had more than they needed would give it to us, knowing we would bring it where it was needed."]
[12:37] <@Terese> [You look around. "We have never seen more than a few thousand people in one place before we ended up here. And we travelled a lot in our training."]
[12:38] <Sally> ["So here is definitely a bit of a shock."]
[12:39] <@Terese> [You smile. "Yes, very much so. Nor has food been so...readily avaliable." You take another mouthful. "Or so tasty."]
[12:39] <Sally> [Laugh.]
[12:41] <@Terese> ["We hope you can understand though. If people had a bad year and did not work with us, they would likely die. So people wanted to work together with us and others."]
[12:41] <@Terese> ["To see such disunity is...discomforting to us."]
[12:45] <Sally> ["There's 'advantages' to being selfish in this world," you say, spoon clinking against the bowl as you lift a chunk of beef across to the rice, and start pulling it apart with your fork. "If you're not expected to look after anyone not in your immediate family and friends- and even then, that can be a very small group of people- then you have more for yourself."]
[12:46] <Sally> ["For some people, that's a lot more enticing an option than helping others."]
[12:48] <@Terese> [You look like you're going to make a counterpoint, but you close your mouth, looking a little mournful. "We would hope those that feel that way can find their way to the truth, but we have to remember, this world is ending too." You look around and everyone with a pain in your heart. They're all going to die and you can't save them.]
[12:48] <@Terese> ["We hope you don't feel that way Sally."]
[12:55] <Sally> [You shake your head. "I want to help those I can. But those I can't-" Take a breath, resting your cutlery on the plate. "I am a replayer. I am in this world but briefly, before I have duties to fulfill, a Role to adhere to. If I see a kid wandering into traffic here, I'll do what I can to grab them, to get them safe. But I can't save that kid from the meteors, so if it means putting myself in harms way, I can't bring myself to do that."]
[12:59] <@Terese> [Not quite the answer you were looking for, but... "We understand that. There are always those that we can't save from death. But we were asking if, given the choice between taking something to be selfish or helping someone you didn't know, which would you take?"]
[13:05] <Sally> [You think. To answer the 'right answer', without consideration of how you'd /actually/ react, would not be fair to Terese. "I'd help the stranger." Look at her. Your eyes are dark in the shadow of the cap's brim.]
[13:07] <@Terese> [You smile, gold eyes meeting dark ones. "We're glad. People like you make the world brighter for your choices."]
[13:09] <Sally> [You try to smile back. And succeed, even as your heart constricts. "Yeah. I- thanks." Look down at your plate, and pick up your cutlery. "So- uh." Take a slightly over-large bite of rice, and chew on it busily.]
[13:10] <@Terese> [Your face is concerned now. "Is there something wrong?"]
[13:11] <Sally> [Shake your head and swallow. "Just thinking on a thing. Don't worry about it." Look up at her, cheerful again. "What was the next question?"]
[13:15] <@Terese> ["We do worry about it, you're our friend and we want to help you however we can."]
[13:17] <Sally> [Scoop more curry onto your rice. "Nah, it's fine, honestly. Just remembered some things I need to- well, look over a bit."]
[13:18] <@Terese> [You don't look convinced. "If you say so. We do want to help, and we'd love to, but we can't do anything if you say anything. Burdens become easier if they are shared."]
[13:19] <Sally> ["Of course." You grin at her. "Native Ward. I know that one well. If there's anything really worth fussing over, I'll say. Promise."]
[13:19] <Sally> [Liar?]
[13:22] <@Terese> [You smile back. "Thank you Sally. We trust you."]
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