New Girl: The Memo

20:34	Ruth	[You wake, before dawn. The Alternian sun hasn't yet risen, but it will in a few hours, from the way the horizon is glowing an angry red. With Bel helping tug the covers free, you get up, holding your head. Stupid sleeping cycles. Why is it so hard to change them? Bluuuh. A mere zombie of your former self, and relishing it, you stumble out of your room.]
20:34	Ruth	 [Neph should be up soon, if he isn't already. You have no idea where Varexx went, but you suspect he hasn't gone far. You trust him to stay safe. After getting yourself a glass of water, you walk up to the top level, Bel taking the chance to check your pesterchum reel for any new arrivals.]
20:35	Neph	["Hey." You gesture at Ruth from your position, leaning over the balcony.]
20:40	Ruth	["Good morning." you mumble sleepily, blinking owlishly towards your co-player - but you waken slightly as Bel taps over the reel to see a new face: elisionField. "Can I get you breakfast?" you ask Neph, as Bel shifts to a form more suited for typing. "You were asleep, but our other co-player, er... Varexx, visited. He'll be around."]
20:40		Ruth PM's elisionField: (<Good morning. :)> )
20:42	elisionField	[You are hunched up on the weird stool-thing in this weird grey tall cabin, hands grubby from trying to garden in blasted and dead soil. There are no plants here, and it makes you feel incredibly anxious, for reasons you cannot articulate.]
20:43	elisionField	[The only greenery is your saptop, which you have, perhaps, over-watered out of concern-- you don't want it to die-- so when you hear rustling leaves, you know it is it, not anything outside.]
20:44		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (Who are you, under this star that shines and burns the ground?)
20:47	Neph	["Yes, that would be very nice, thank you. I've never been much of a cook, personally." The sun of this planet seems significantly warmer than that of Earth. Will it exceed your heat-tolerances, as a human, you wonder?]
20:48	Neph	[You consider that, for a moment, before adding that as a question. "What, do you think, is the highest heat that the surface of this planet will reach by midday? Will we humans be able to move freely about outside the shade of the forest?"]
20:55	Ruth	[You smile, nod, and beckon him downstairs so you can answer his question properly. "I've been told that not even the trolls can handle the light of the sun directly. It's too bright, and too hot. Short amounts of time should be fine though, especially if we have parasols or other items to help protect us." and, feeling more awake, you start gathering breakfast materials.]
20:56		Ruth PM's elisionField: (<That's a somewhat tricky question to answer. :) But not through malice. My name is Bel, but our name is Ruth. But just call me Bel.>)
20:56		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (Uh.)
20:58		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (Pardon, but do you need to water your saptop, starlit Bel? Your words make as much sense as a fish in a tree; have you been tending its leaves correctly?)
21:02	Neph	["I see. To put it bluntly, we're going to have to get me a house to perform entry, once we get our hands on our Sburb discs. If all the Trolls are asleep at dawn, this would make a good time for us to steal a house, for future planning." You look around and notice something missing. "By the way, where's Bel?"]
21:05	Ruth	[You pause for a moment, your eyes glazing over as Bel types, the frying pan moving very slowly from cupboard to stove. A moment, and you return. "What? Oh. Uh. Upstairs. He's talking to one or our co-players for me. ElisonField." you trip slightly over the unfamiliar word. "She just asked us to water our saptop." and indeed, you do seem slightly dazed.]
21:06		Ruth PM's elisionField: (<I'm afraid we don't understand your meaning. What's a saptop? But yes, we understand that my words might be a little confusing. :) Give us some time to get breakfast sorted, and we'll explain things properly.>)
21:08		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (Your computer? Does your computer need watering, Bel who under this star prepares food?)
21:09		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (Forgive me. That was impolite.)
21:09		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (There is nothing here to garden, and my hands itch for living dirt.)
21:09	Neph	["You're sure it's safe for you to multitask like this? What if you dropped an object or spilled hot fluids?" You've seen it happen more than once, before. People drunk on neural implants, thinking that their new processing power lets them do whatever it is they want at all-]
21:10	Neph	[- and then they clip a dampener zone while driving a car and their brain freaks out at the overload and they crash.]
21:10	Neph	["I could take over cooking, if necessary. I can probably carry out the rote physical motions of frying an object, I suppose?", you suggest as helpfully as you can.]
21:16	Ruth	["We've done it before." you answer, though you don't add that there wasn't distance between you complicating matters. Though, with a quick, repremanding thought from your daemon, you desist. "But... you are correct, I suppose. Here," you walk over to the cooling machine, and take out some strips of what could be alien bacon.]
21:16	Ruth	 ["Just cook that, try not to let it burn, ok? Or... actually, how about we all leave it for the moment and you come upstairs." you offer, your eyes glazing over again. You should be better at this, but the distance is distracting you both. Without waiting for an answer, you start heading upstairs again.]
21:17		Ruth PM's elisionField: (<No reason to ask for forgiveness. :) I'm sorry you're feeling restless. Ruth is coming up now, so we'll be able to talk properly soon. What's your name?>)
21:20		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (I am Kybele, who under my star pulled weeds and plucked fruit; but I do not think this is my star anymore.)
21:20	Neph	[You follow Ruth upstairs. If a coplayer has been found, there are more important tasks at hand than eating. When you see Bel, its form comes as something of a shock to you. But, of course Daemons can use computers. It's not as if the devices are encoded to exclusive human usage, or anything. Why shouldn't Daemons be able to take forms with nimble fingers?]
21:21	Neph	["I don't suppose there's a computer here I could use?" You ask.]
21:27		*** Chroniker joined #thenewgirl
21:27	Ruth	[You nod absently, then sharpen. "You don't have your own? Er... yes, actually. It's in my room, down the stairs 'til the second floor, then down the hall on the right. Opposite the bathroom. Should be on the bedside table." Bel is currently in the form of a ferret, his little paws nimble as they press the keys, one by one.]
21:28	Ruth	[You settle down on the chair and lift your daemon up with the laptop, settling down and putting both on your lap. Bel curls up around your shoulders.]
21:29		Ruth PM's elisionField: (right, that was an adventure :) it's a pleasure to meet you, kybele. i'm sorry for being confusing earlier.)
21:32		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (only earlier? the sky moves, and i am still confused, with questions clutched in my hands and dripping off my elbows. i clutch a spring of bubbling questions, and cannot find a bowl to hold them.)
21:33		elisionField PMs abjectRevelation: (Are you star-lit Ruth, who was coming, or star-lit Bel, waiting for Ruth?)
21:40	Neph	[You're a little disappointed that you climbed up all those stairs for nothing, but nevertheless you nod and head down anyways. The laptop is exactly where you expected, and thankfully this one is actually unlocked and open for your usage.]
21:40		Neph PMs elisionField: (Hey. Am I correct in assuming that you are our newest coplayer?)
21:45		Ruth starts a memo with elisionField and nephriteCabochon: (i think it'd be easier to talk like this. :) i'm sorry kybele. to answer your question, yes, i am ruth, but i am also bel. we're one and the same, but before i get into it, may i ask, are you human?)
21:47	elisionField	Oh.
21:48		*** Neph is now known as nephriteCabochon
21:48		--- berylMalachite is away (stuff)
21:48	elisionField	Why do you ask me anything, nephriteCabochon? I have questions spilling across the floor and wetting my feet, and as many answers as a worm has legs.
21:48		*** Ruth is now known as abjectRevelation
21:49	elisionField	One of the questions, dripping from my fingertip: what is a human, Ruth and Bel both starlit?
21:52	nephriteCabochon	A human is a bipedal, two-armed, one-headed species, with skin color varying from very light peach to dark brown. Humans sense stimuli primarily through taking in environmental photons, vibrations in the atmosphere, floating particulate matter in the atmosphere, and pressure and friction on the body.
21:52	abjectRevelation	...
21:52	abjectRevelation	neph what
21:53	nephriteCabochon	I'm trying not to assume anything.
21:53	nephriteCabochon	In cases of first contact, it's useful to make sure that the other side knows how we communicate. In case they communicate by firing pulsed laser beams at each other or somesuch.
21:53	nephriteCabochon	By the way, if you do communicate with pulsed laser beams, humans will go blind if you try to communicate with them in that way.
21:54	abjectRevelation	i... was just going to offer kybele a picture. :)
21:54	abjectRevelation	would that be acceptable to you both?
21:54	nephriteCabochon	This device has a camera?
21:54	nephriteCabochon	I suppose that might be more straightforward in some ways.
21:56	elisionField	I do not communicate by pulsed beams of concentrated light; what these words mean is strange to me. I have eyes, which see the movement of leaves, and ears, to hear voices, and a voice, to be heard by others.
21:57	elisionField	I have a pool, a pond, a lake of questions, and a river pours into it. Why would you ask this thing? Why would I be this human, who is like me in that it has arms and two legs and a head and skin?
21:58		abjectRevelation transfers elisionField a file: [thisisus.jpeg]
21:59	nephriteCabochon	You do have a concept of clothing, I hope?
21:59	elisionField	[Your saptop shudders and a distressed flutter runs along the leaves on the side.]
21:59	abjectRevelation	[The picture is of a teenage girl, with long blond hair and light blue eyes, dressed in a purple V-neck top. On her shoulder is a small fuzzy mouse, with eyes that look exactly like the girl's.]
21:59	elisionField	(The file transfer was denied)
21:59	abjectRevelation	oh
21:59	elisionField	[Leaves can't make pictures!]
21:59	nephriteCabochon	Oh?
22:00	abjectRevelation	the picture transfer didn't work.
22:00	elisionField	I know of coverings. I had some, but they are gone now.
22:00	abjectRevelation	hm...
22:01	nephriteCabochon	Is this a license for me to return to my description of human physiology?
22:01	abjectRevelation	i suspect you'll only confuse her, neph.
22:01	abjectRevelation	what can you tell us about your surroundings, kybele? :)
22:02	abjectRevelation	perhaps we can arrange a meeting? it seems that all the players are gathered close together.
22:03	elisionField	The dirt is dead and baked and burnt, and there is no grass that is not brown and dry, dryer than dust and death. There are mountains a day's run away, and the air smells of fungus, and there are tall grey cabins, smooth walled, in strange shapes. I am in one.
22:04	abjectRevelation	[You get out your well beaten map, and peer over it.]
22:05	abjectRevelation	hm...
22:05	abjectRevelation	ah. before i forget :)
22:05	elisionField	It is like the breath of the Fire-tamer smothered the Leaf-shaker's, instead of pushing along at her side.
22:05	abjectRevelation	will you tell us your native, and your session count?
22:05	nephriteCabochon	I'd suggest you avoid leaving the house, for the moment. This is not your planet, and the natives of this world are antagonistic to beings not of their kind, which I must presume includes you.
22:06	abjectRevelation	and neph, did you pass an area like that while you were leaving your cave?
22:06	elisionField	My...? You ask for an answer, and I have answers like worms have legs, even now.
22:07	abjectRevelation	...ah... have you only played the game once?
22:08	elisionField	Yes. It feels it has lied to me.
22:08	abjectRevelation	it has, and i am deeply sorry.
22:08	elisionField	I have no power. I can feel and sculpt no glass and etch no lines and my goddess promise has no prayers up to me.
22:09	nephriteCabochon	["Hmm. A multi-gendered species without the male-female binary divide? I suppose one had to show up at some point. How does Sburb's preferential class assignation system deal with this? I should take notes, when we enter the medium," you mutter to yourself absentmindedly.]
22:09	nephriteCabochon	Dream, then, I believe.
22:09		--- berylMalachite is back
22:10	nephriteCabochon	The glass part is something of a giveaway, obviously.
22:11	elisionField	Oh. Are you asking what I, who under my star pulled weeds and plucked berries, was titled and godded?
22:11	abjectRevelation	yes :)
22:12	elisionField	I scribed, and wrote, and kept close the dreams of ordered lines and well-grown trees.
22:13	elisionField	((STRIKE THAT FROM THE RECORD I'M DUMB AND SHOULD TAKE A NAP))
22:14	nephriteCabochon	You'd like this place. There are a lot of trees here.
22:14	abjectRevelation	a chair of dreams. :) my co-player last session told me about chairs.
22:14	abjectRevelation	in before neph asked what on earth a chair is.
22:14	abjectRevelation	i know you're typing it.
22:14	nephriteCabochon	What on e-
22:14	abjectRevelation	mhm
22:14	nephriteCabochon	[You're fuming at this point.]
22:15	nephriteCabochon	Alright, I admit you've gotten the best of me there. My question remains.
22:15	nephriteCabochon	What on earth is a Chair?
22:15	nephriteCabochon	This was distinctly not covered in the FAQ.
22:15	elisionField	((assume i wrote "i sat and spoke of the dreams..."))
22:15	elisionField	I yearn for trees.
22:16	abjectRevelation	i suspect kybele would be able to answer better than i :)
22:16	abjectRevelation	i'm looking at my map, kybele, and it seems that there's a desert to the south. if you'd like to visit, you're more than welcome to stay for as long as you wish.
22:16	abjectRevelation	my hive is densely forested, it will be more comfortable for you.
22:17	elisionField	I was made to speak by the tasks given me. I liked to not, to let things slide in the silences, and was told to raise my voice in poetry and debate, to draw plans and sestinas.
22:18	nephriteCabochon	So, you're saying that you were shy but the Chair class forced you to talk.
22:19	abjectRevelation	[You raise an eyebrow. You'd forgotten that Neph catches onto things quickly. You return to your map.]
22:19	elisionField	I did not fear contact?
22:19	elisionField	Who would fear contact?
22:19	elisionField	Having contact is having a cabin made of love.
22:20	elisionField	I don't understand those words.
22:20	nephriteCabochon	...Right, amend that to 'quiet'.
22:20	elisionField	Yes.
22:21	nephriteCabochon	Let's get to business. Do you think you will be heading north to our forest-home? If so, do you require assistance in crossing the desert or in other tasks? Do you have any plans or suggestions for our next move?
22:21	nephriteCabochon	Crossing the desert would be safer in the sense that the natives of this planet sleep during the day, but the heat of the sun would provide difficulties in and of itself.
22:22	elisionField	If north is where there is life, then I must cross this land of the Goddess of Fire to reach the Goddess of Rain.
22:22	elisionField	I cannot live without at least some breath of the coolness and rest of the Spring.
22:22	abjectRevelation	would you like us to meet you halfway?
22:23	elisionField	If you know where that is, I will not stop you.
22:24	abjectRevelation	this is going to be difficult if you don't have a copy of the map... mm... can you tell which direction is north?
22:24	nephriteCabochon	Ruth, you're sure that this desert is... crossable? Does the map have a guide with regards to distances, convertible into metric units?
22:24	elisionField	Yes. I saw the sun set.
22:24	nephriteCabochon	We have no guarantee that this planet orbits the sun with the same frequency or direction as any other planet we've been on before, remember.
22:25	nephriteCabochon	For all we know, the sun rises in the northwest and sets in the southeast.
22:25	abjectRevelation	neph does have a point.
22:25	elisionField	North is the direction right of where the sun sets. That is what it means.
22:26	abjectRevelation	what neph means is that this planet, alternia, is different from the planet you were born on. the sun may go in a different direction to what we're used to.
22:26	elisionField	And north is the point where the stars spin fastest, while the south holds them steady.
22:27	nephriteCabochon	Ah, those two phenomenon are actually caused by different things. While this may have been true for your planet, the planet we humans come from has the sun rise in the east and set in the west.
22:27	nephriteCabochon	I'm assuming that Alternia does have a geomagnetic spin, so if we had compasses we could rely on that. But I haven't see anything like that around this house.
22:27	abjectRevelation	[Bel slips off your lap, and starts gathering some of your belongings.]
22:27	abjectRevelation	there is an easy way to solve this problem.
22:28	abjectRevelation	neph and i come to you, and bring you back here. :) we have the map, so we won't get lost.
22:28	abjectRevelation	[You shudder to think of what would happen if Neph hadn't come across the map at all.]
22:29	elisionField	All right.
22:30	elisionField	[You have a vast ocean of questions, but WHATEVER YOU DON'T EVEN CARE. If they will bring you to a land where the breath of the leaf-shaker can be felt in your wool, you'll be happy enough.)
22:30	nephriteCabochon	Fantastic. It's an adventure, then.
22:30	nephriteCabochon	[In reality, you don't feel fantastic at all. You ascribe this to the fact that you haven't eaten anything yet.]
22:30	abjectRevelation	(and hopefully neph will be able to avoid the giant killer foxes this time around)
22:31	abjectRevelation	we won't be long, kybele. :) the trip seems to be short, perhaps... half a day until we reach the desert proper. hopefully your hive will be visible from the desert edge.
22:32	abjectRevelation	if not, we're both flow natives. we can handle the heat. :)
22:32	nephriteCabochon	Kybele... Hmm. Expressing length units will be challenging, I think.
22:32	nephriteCabochon	I'd prefer to find way to express the distance we are from Kybele's position, so that we can hazard a guess at an approximate ETA.
22:32	elisionField	I have so many questions that there is an ocean between me and understanding.
22:32	nephriteCabochon	But I can't think of any object of universal similar length that we can use as a method of comparison. Most living, natural things have variance in size.
22:32	nephriteCabochon	Any ideas, Ruth?
22:33	elisionField	Are you in a cabin like mine?
22:33	elisionField	The cabins I can see all seem built to the same measure, if strangely.
22:33	abjectRevelation	oh sweet mary
22:33	nephriteCabochon	Oh, I know. Give me a measure of the length of a door, from bottom to top!
22:33	abjectRevelation	come upstairs and get the map, neph
22:33	nephriteCabochon	In any one of your native units, Kybele.
22:33	abjectRevelation	then you two can work it out while i get things ready.
22:33	nephriteCabochon	If we can assume the doors are sized similarly, then we can use that as a basic unit of measurement.
22:34	nephriteCabochon	Right, yes, the map.
22:34		--- Chroniker is away (Auto away)
22:34	nephriteCabochon	[You climb upstairs. Again. You're starting to rather tire of the prodigious number of stairs present in this domicile. Nevertheless, you pass Ruth- she's on the way down the stairs- before you acquire the map.]
22:35	nephriteCabochon	[Nope. Still can't read this thing. You return to the laptop downstairs.]
22:35	elisionField	Let me lay my hands upon it.
22:36	nephriteCabochon	By it, you mean the map? I'm not sure how I'd do that.
22:36	nephriteCabochon	If, on the other hand, you mean the door, feel free to go measure it.
22:36	abjectRevelation	[You set about gathering some helpful things into your sylladex, remembering halfway through that you never got around to making breakfast. Sheepishly, you make your apologies to Neph, and set about doing so. The map has a circle on it, written in ink, with English letters - 'WE ARE HERE'. A few other places are circled also.]
22:37	elisionField	It is about eight spitame
22:38	nephriteCabochon	[Relative distance is such a pain to gauge. It took you several hours to walk from the cave-house, and if you're guessing that you could walk 2.5 miles per hour, that translates to the distance being perhaps 7.5 miles or so...]
22:38	nephriteCabochon	[You make the marking on the map, distracted from the computer monitor. So, if that line is equivalent to... let's round it up to 8 miles, round, and it takes that many lines to make that distance from the forest across the desert...]
22:38	elisionField	That is the spread of both my hands, thumb to third
22:39	nephriteCabochon	[You remind yourself to look at the laptop, again.]
22:39	nephriteCabochon	Ah, excellent. So... if the door is 8 spitame high, that means each spitame is a little less than a foot, of our measurements.
22:40	nephriteCabochon	In our system of measurement, we can add up 5,280 feet to get a mile.
22:40	nephriteCabochon	We can walk at a leisurely pace and travel approximately 2.5 miles in an hour.
22:41	nephriteCabochon	...Wait, I don't think the word 'hour' means anything to you, either.
22:41	abjectRevelation	<You want to put it in terms of days, Neph.>
22:41	nephriteCabochon	This is problematic, again. And I can't recall the atomic-definition of a second off the top of my head.
22:41	elisionField	Of course it does.
22:41	elisionField	I know how to tell the hours.
22:41	elisionField	Do not be rude.
22:41	nephriteCabochon	Days probably differ in length of time across plan- really?
22:42	nephriteCabochon	Um. Just for reference... That's, 24 hours in a day?
22:42	nephriteCabochon	And, by extension... 7 days in a week, approximately 4 weeks in a month, 12 months in a year?
22:42	abjectRevelation	[You put a beanbag into your sylladex. Couldn't hurt. Then you have an idea. You grin at Bel, who grins back.]
22:42	abjectRevelation	<We're going outside for a moment, we won't be long.>
22:43		--- Chroniker is back
22:43	nephriteCabochon	["Right," you yell back, distractedly.]
22:43	nephriteCabochon	Kybele, you're telling me that your world uses the same units of measurement of time as we do?
22:44	nephriteCabochon	On the one hand, this is convenient. On the other hand, it's also quite improbable. But improbability can be dealt with, later.
22:44	elisionField	Not... not all of those?
22:45		*** Keleviel joined #thenewgirl
22:45	elisionField	Four and twenty hours in a day, and many days a season, and four hundred and ten days in a year.
22:46	abjectRevelation	[You duck outside, gathering up some herbs and natural items, hoping it will help tide Kybele over as they walk back. The lusus by the roots growls lightly as you pass, but does not intervene. You and she have an understanding at this point, it seems. By the time you get back, the bacon is done, so you slip into Neph's room to hand over his plate.]
22:47	nephriteCabochon	[Alright, so... Honestly, you're kind of tired of thinking in terms of unit conversions. You're probably just going to accept that hours are shared and write off inaccuracies as inherent in the fermi-like method you're using- is that FOOD?]
22:47	nephriteCabochon	[You dig in immediately.]
22:48	nephriteCabochon	[As you eat with one hand, you try and multitask by typing on the keyboard with the other hand.]
22:48	nephriteCabochon	Right, I'm just going to assume our hours are the same, Kybele.
22:48	abjectRevelation	[You watch for a moment with amusement, and disappear to continue preparing.]
22:49	nephriteCabochon	So, we can walk about 2.5 miles in an hour, and based on my estimation on this map we've got about 30 miles between our locations.
22:49	elisionField	So five of these 'miles' in two hours... six hours?
22:49	nephriteCabochon	Which means that we'd probably be able to reach your location after a 12-hour walk. If we wanted, we could march to get there faster at the cost of physical exhaustion.
22:49	elisionField	Twelve hours.
22:50	elisionField	Yes, I knew that was the number all along.
22:50	elisionField	[you are bad at math.]
22:50	nephriteCabochon	[You shake your head, partially in amusement.]
22:51	nephriteCabochon	We can't go today, though. It's been three hours since sunrise; there's not enough time in the day for us to make it there all the way, I believe. The Trolls would come out before we arrived, and we wouldn't even be able to get near your location without being spotted and attacked.
22:52	nephriteCabochon	I hope this isn't incredibly disappointing, for you.