(no subject)

[truth_is_cold]

[Private to Dylan | Audio]*

[Sent as soon as he returns, though he's not sure when Dylan will get it or what the range of the communicators is.]

I've returned. The Southern City didn't have many resources. The construction of the dome damaged its economy. I suspect most of the fishermen left are generational. The people there were notably friendlier to outsiders than the ones here, but of course their homes are at less risk from air raids from the domes.

[And sent a bit later.]

If you hear reports of fog, stay way until it's cleared. Or purchase the first gas mask you can manage.



[Private to Sma | Audio]

I want to speak with you. In person. [Where the conversation can't be recorded.]



*OOC: Slightly backdated to fog times.

Comments

[diziet_sma]

I'm never going to not be able to think of him as that. We'll be lucky if I don't call him "rabbit" to his face. [She grinned, a joke.]

I agree, though. Even if we try to negotiate, we need to know more about what we're dealing with. I haven't gotten to talk to anyone who used to live in there—that would be a start.

[truth_is_cold]

There must be some here. I have yet to meet one. [But, while Rhade had decent social skills, he was also notably a foreigner.

And then he abruptly smiled, a charming, mischievous thing.] I don't think he'd know what to do if you did.

[diziet_sma]

[That smile gets a bright, shiny one in return.]

I'm sure I could come up with a plausible explanation that didn't sound like an insult.

Rhade will never let Narvin alone ever. This is Narvin's lot in any game.

[truth_is_cold]

He doesn't seem like the sort of man that would take well to the fertility observation. [He squints slightly as he says it.]

XD

[diziet_sma]

Kind of prim, don't you think? [She laughs.] I don't do well with prim. The urge to twit them is way too strong.

And then I had to go upload more icons of smiling.

[truth_is_cold]

Twit is a rather good way of putting it. [He sounds increasingly amused.] He also seems like the type that doesn't like to be questioned. When I wanted to double check the results on his collar investigation, he seemed hesitant and maybe even a little offended.

[diziet_sma]

Nice. We'll see how long that attitude lasts here before someone yells at him. [She shakes her head.] Can't afford to be snotty about things, not under these circumstances.

[She remembers something she wanted to ask him.] Your captain. That's ... Dylan Hunt, am I right?

[She's been slightly off-grid over the last few weeks, but not so much that she's been completely ignorant of comings, goings, and names.]

[truth_is_cold]

Yes, he's a Heavy Gravity Worlder.

[Dylan may not identify as more than human, but Rhade definitely remembers exactly what he is at any given moment.]

[diziet_sma]

How long have you been in his command?

[truth_is_cold]

Over three years now. [He sort of half-smiles, at the wall, this time a little sadly.]

To him, I've not been under his command for over a year. He comes from an alternate timeline where I went through with something I've been planning- and planning against -since the Treaty of Antares. I betrayed him, and I presume I died in the battle or the Commonwealth put me to death. [Dylan never told him what happened. He just knows that he must be dead, that it's 300 years in the future for Dylan, and that his family survived.]

But for now I'll do as I'm ordered. He hasn't specifically ordered me not to do this. Shepherd did, but she's not my commanding officer.

[He's a little surprised Dylan's acknowledging him all, considering that he was planning what he did and has admitted as much.]

[diziet_sma]

[This actually gets a slightly confused blink from Sma; she's still getting the hang of this whole alternate timeline idea—namely that it appears to be actual here, and not merely theoretical. But she listens, and thinks she understands.]

That's ... well, if you don't mind my saying so, it sounds potentially rather awkward. [Then a bit of a smile.] That being said, I'd agree that your official CO from home ranks anyone else.

[truth_is_cold]

Incredibly so. [He agrees about it being awkward. And extremely difficult to accept.]

I simply have to determine how to use myself as bait and not become overwhelmed by enemy forces. Presumably by having an adequate trap in place or more people lying in wait.

[diziet_sma]

Well. You can count on my help, in any case, whatever you decide to do.

[Her mouth goes up in a tiny half-smile.]

Normally, I'd have a friend with me. A somewhat obstreperous and trigger-happy AI by the name of Skaffen-Amtiskaw—an escort drone assigned to me as bodyguard, secretary, personal factotum, et cetera. I've been hoping it might turn out to be hiding in one of the pods, but no luck yet. It'd be invaluable for a plan like this.

[Wishing for what one can't have is pointless, she knows, but she misses the drone, and this is the first time she's been able to talk about it.]

[truth_is_cold]

Unique enough in personality that it couldn't be replicated? ["It" in this case. Rommie identified as female. But that didn't apply to all AI by far.]

[diziet_sma]

No more than you or I could be. Culture AIs have the same level of sophistication and sentience as humans—more so in the cases of the Minds. [A small laugh.] And it's definitely unique.

[Pause, then:] Marain's got a better selection of pronouns. There's the "it" that refers to a non-sentient object, and the "it" that refers to a sentient being without gender. Much more subtle and less prone to misunderstandings.

[truth_is_cold]

Than does too. But the than are also insectoid hermaphrodites and have a broader concept of gender and mating. It's admirable.

[diziet_sma]

Sounds like a mindset I can appreciate. [And now she can't help dropping another bit of Culture information on him.] Culture humans can switch gender. It's a slow process—once initiated, it takes about a year for the transformation to complete. Most people do it at least once in their lifetimes—even if it's for no other reason than to see what sex is like on the other side. [A smirk.] I spent a few years as a man some time ago. Not bad, but I think I just prefer being female, in the end.

[truth_is_cold]

[And his eyebrows shoot right up.]

Like some types of fish.

[He's known it for the purposes of breeding- biologically it makes sense.] Something we're incapable of. Though I've mostly enjoyed being male so I think I would prefer it.

It would make it difficult to tighten current gender roles in my society.

[diziet_sma]

The ability to change gender tends to expose quite a bit about a society. If more people find themselves wanting to be one or the other to the point where there's an imbalance, that usually indicates one is more advantageous somehow, and so the immediate follow-up question is: why? Not to say we've always gotten it right over the millennia, but we've been around long enough that things have evened out amongst the sexes by now.

[She looks at him curiously.] What's your society like?

[truth_is_cold]

We're breeders.

[To put it simply.] We function in large family groups called Prides. We're matriarchal. Men are more competitive than women because they choose who they want to breed with, and they propose. Marriages are entirely based in the union of cells and the raising of children- no land or property is shared and either party can leave when they like. We're individualists with only the most rudimentary sense of government.

Our family is our family. Our people share our genes. And when we compete, we compete to grow. Not to undermine or hate or shame one another. [He looks down at his hands, rubs his thumb along his palm.] I miss it, too.

[He can tell she misses hers.]

[diziet_sma]

[She listens, intrigued.]

I admit, I like the sound of it. Most societies with that much emphasis on offspring and reproduction don't afford so much agency to the women.

Most Culture citizens will have one child in their lifetime—child-rearing tends to be a communal sort of effort, so you grow up with a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins, both blood-related and honorary. I ... never quite got around to it. I suppose I still could, but my current—well, the assignment I was on before I came here doesn't lend itself to raising a family. Someday, maybe.

[truth_is_cold]

It's best done as a family. They survive longer. I had three mothers, twenty some siblings. [Some, not a specific number because more were born after he left home and he doesn't actually know how many he has.]

Honorary aunts and uncles?

[diziet_sma]

You know. Mum's best friend to whom she's not related, but who you grow up calling Aunt Alseyn anyway. I had a lot of those.

[truth_is_cold]

We don't.

[But, he doesn't sound like he would have minded.]

[diziet_sma]

Customs vary, I guess. [A light shrug, unfazed.] You get the idea, though. Family's more than who contributed your genetic material and all that.