Comments | citheronia: [COMMENTLOG] 002 [w a t e r]

citheronia

[COMMENTLOG] 002 [w a t e r]

Jul 27, 2009 14:44

[After a couple days hiding out and listening to the posts on ShipNET, Moth has decided to go out into the boat! He is currently sitting on the edge of the Thunderball Pool on Deck 3; his cloak is folded up on the floor next to him and he has his vest off, pantlegs rolled up, and feet in the water ( Read more... )

new here, moth loev water, !open commentlog, intro

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yousoundblue July 28 2009, 19:23:02 UTC

[At first, Lika had avoided the forest. Unmanaged forests have animals and their germs, and with how haphazardly this ship was run, she couldn't be sure their greenhouses had properly-maintained ecosystems.

But then she'd realized there were no animals, anywhere, and she'd started to like the forest. It's only one deck up from her room, so the punishing gravity in't much of a problem.

The forest reminds her of the oxygen greenhouses back home. They're utterly unnecessary when her people can just crack water to liberate the oxygen, but are kept functioning out of a sense of tradition, and because, whether her civilization of spacefaring technophiles likes to admit it or not, green spaces are good for the human soul.

There are often people there, and Lika's nervous about meeting new people in person--everyone seems so violent here ( ... )

citheronia July 28 2009, 20:18:32 UTC

[Moth turns at the greeting and--that's a very tall woman. Beautiful, but tall. He's never seen a woman so close to his height before, Thought or person or anything inbetween.

It's a novelty, and his ears perk slightly as he smiles up at her. He's holding his comm in his lap for communication purposes, seeing as most people here don't seem to know hand-speak at all.

For the moment, though, he just waves--note the webbed fingers, Lika--in a simple greeting of his own, and continues to kick his feet in the water.]

yousoundblue July 28 2009, 20:36:43 UTC

[The slight uptick in...his? She thinks he's presenting as male. Argh, thinking rationally in English is so difficult. What was she thinking about?

Mood, right. He seems happy enough to see her.

Ooh, webbed hands. Europan, maybe?

She asks in System Basic:]

Sorry to be so informal, but you're not from Europa, are you?

citheronia July 28 2009, 20:42:29 UTC

[He blinks and shakes his head, once again folding his hands in his lap with his comm. Europa, Europa, he's heard that before. In his creator's lessons. He just can't remember what it was.

He starts to sign out a question for elaboration on that, then stops with a silent sigh and types it into his comm, then holds it up for Lika to read.]

DO YOU KNOW HAND-SPEAK? I CAN'T SPEAK ALOUD.

yousoundblue July 28 2009, 20:48:29 UTC

[He understood System Basic! He really was from home!

...So why couldn't he talk? That was a very strange modification to get.

But she's perfectly happy to continue speaking her native language to the person she assumes is a countryman.]

No, I'm sorry. Is that a subcultural language?

Oh! And I'm being rude. I'm Lika Huygens-3 Katrin-Kaius.

[She plops gracelessly to the ground next to him. Stupid unreasonable gravity.]

citheronia July 28 2009, 21:01:50 UTC

[Oh, poor Lika, you're totally misunderstanding that. Moth just understands EVERY LANGUAGE EVER--the fact that you don't understand hand-speak proves that you aren't a Thought. Oh well. It was a rarity back home too, he finds other ways of communicating.

Like...typing into his comm and holding it up again.]

IT'S A FORM OF SPEECH THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE VOCAL CORDS. IT'S MADE OF HAND GESTURES. MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW IT, THOUGH, SO THAT'S FINE!

[He smiles and adds:]

MY NAME IS MOTH.

[He points to himself and makes the sign for "butterfly," (lol see icon) because it really amounts to the same thing.]

yousoundblue July 28 2009, 21:06:29 UTC

[Darn it, Moth, crush the poor woman's joy, why don't you?]

Oh.

[A pause before her manners kick back in. She's gotten rusty.]

Pleased to meet you, Moth.

Is your helpmate set to deaf mode? It would be much faster to go direct-neural than you having to type everything.

[The realization will hit eventually. Lika's just really thick for someone so smart.]

citheronia July 28 2009, 21:15:44 UTC

[That's a work Moth doesn't know. Not exactly. He mouths it to himself (lips still work, if you can read those that might work) then blinks and looks down at Lika curiously.]

GOOD TO MEET YOU TOO, LIKA. I'M SORRY, I DON'T KNOW WHAT A HELP-MATE IS.

yousoundblue July 28 2009, 21:23:03 UTC

[The hell? Even if he's from some isolate subculture that rejects reality augmentation, if he speaks System Basic, he should know what a helpmate is.]

Moth, I don't mean to be rude, but how can you speak System Basic and not know what a helpmate is?

[She holds up her left hand, which is bedecked in something that looks like a cross between a gauntlet and a piece of masterfully-crafted jewelry.]

citheronia July 28 2009, 21:37:58 UTC

[Oh. OH. That explains--well, it's not a surprise for him, but it's probably going to be a letdown for Lika. He almost winces as he types.]

I AM A THOUGHT, SO I DON'T HAVE LANGUAGE BARRIERS LIKE PEOPLE DO. LANGUAGE DOESN'T REALLY APPLY TO THINKING, SO IT DOESN'T APPLY TO THOUGHTS EITHER.

[He pauses for a moment, then tacks on something else as an afterthought before holding it up for Lika to read.]

I AM VERY SORRY.

yousoundblue July 29 2009, 04:40:08 UTC

[What. He's so wrong that she hasn't got room for disappointment.]

But higher-order thought requires language! Abstraction isn't possible in the absence of symbols!

[Lika is gearing up for a nice long argument when the rest of Moth's explanation sinks in, and promptly fails to make sense.]

"A thought?" What do you mean? Are you an augmented reality construct?

citheronia July 29 2009, 15:58:07 UTC

[Your reality is disappointing, Lika. Who the hell decided thinking is restrained by language? Moth rolls his eyes because clearly this lovely woman doesn't understand a word he's typing, and it's going to take a minute to explain it properly.]

LANGUAGE APPLIES TO THINKING THE WAY NOTES APPLY TO MUSIC. THERE IS FEELING AND MEANING AND EVEN WORDS IN MUSIC IF YOU KNOW THE NOTES IT TOOK TO MAKE IT OR NOT. THINKING IS THE SAME. YOU DON'T NEED LANGUAGE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT A PERSON IS THINKING, SO THINGS LIKE ME DON'T NEED LANGUAGE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY'RE SAYING.

THINGS LIKE ME ARE MANIFESTATIONS OF HUMAN THOUGHT, LIVING CREATURES MADE FROM A PERSON'S MINDPOWER AND WILL AND NEEDS AND DESIRES. WHY WOULD SOMETHING LIKE THAT HAVE LANGUAGE BARRIERS? I WASN'T MADE FROM ANYTHING COMPLETELY SOLID OR SPECIFIC TO LANGUAGE, THERE IS NO REASON FOR ANY KIND OF BARRIER BASED ON THAT TO BE ERECTED AFTER MY CREATION.

[Hands her the comm to read, because she's probably going to have to scroll a little to get all that. To Moth, this is child's ( ... )

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