Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part I

[mouthy-merc.livejournal.com]

Well.

It was raining popsicles and suntan lotion today. Because Fandom liked to make the newbies cry sometimes. Yes, the island had a sense of humor about these things.

We've all learned to accept that and move on with our lives. Well, all of us except for Britta. But she's the worst.

[Please wait for OCD is up! This is part one of the picnic, specifically for meeting siblings, roommates, and teachers. The rest of the picnic is happening here and here, in an effort to keep browsers from breaking for as long as possible.]

Comments

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"2183," Kaidan offered. "Heard you were on a different calendar."

Possibly Alliance command hadn't completely gotten the gist of the island.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan shook his head. "Not... exactly a different calendar," he explained. "Remember when I said that this island crosses times, too?"

He'll give that one a second to sink in.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"Yes," Kaidan said. "How does that work? I mean... I'm thinking about mass effect fields-- they really do tweak the curvature of space a little, so maybe... what were you saying about this magic of yours again? If it's got laws, it has to be based in something... right?"

Clinging onto the unexplained phenomenon like a tech-geeky lifeline? Oh, hell yes.

In fact, he was reaching for his arm, activating his omni-tool to take some readings.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan nodded. Really, he was just as happy to geek out about stuff. "I mean, wizardry is about bending the universe's laws -- if not outright breaking them -- but it's a case of having to know the way things work before figuring out how to bend them. Like, okay, so -- a couple of friends of mine was stuck facing these aliens who'd taken over one of the galaxy's major world-gating facilities? And they'd managed to get behind a shield -- tech-based, but they were bolstering it with wizardry, too. Anyway, the aliens they were fighting had nuclear-core driven weaponry that was going to take the shield down... faster than they'd have liked? So one of my friends, she got this brilliant idea to actually tighten the magnetic containment on the core of one of the weapons, so she figured out how to describe what she wanted, and then did the spell. This... concentrated the fusion reaction? And then she told the containment to buckle, which it did, to... rather explosive results."

Callahan's Unfavorable Instigation. Wasn't every wizard who had a spell named after them before they could legally drive.

"... And that is so cool." Yes, Ronan was just noticing the omni-tool. "Holographic computer? The Rirhait are working on some of those for the Crossings, and I've seen a few other planets who have tech like it, too."

[Aaand I have to run to work. SP? I'll ping if/when I can from work, but at this point probably won't be around much 'til after 10 or so my time!]

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"I think we could actually manage something similar with mass effect fields," Kaidan mused. "I mean... we'd have to understand the general layout of the weapon as well. But biotics is mostly about firing off the right muscle groups."

He quickly waved away the analysis screen, so only the basic tool itself was showing. "It's an omni-tool," he offered, "Diagnostics and manufacturing-- I really did wind up a long way from home..."

[[ sp is awesome! ]]

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

"Yeah, I forget the specifics -- this was several years ago, now -- but Nita definitely would have had to have had some way to get ahold of specs, if not outright schematics," Ronan explained. "To know what kind of core she was working with, at the very least."

He was eyeing the omni-tool even closer -- hope you don't mind him leaning in, Kaidan, although he's not about to touch without permission. "You know, it's actually kind of similar to some of the Manual interfaces I've seen," Ronan mused. "That's -- the Manual is the source of our wizardry. Combination instruction manual, spellbook, messaging system, newsfeed... It's, uh, versatile. Kind of does whatever we need it to, when we need it, at least within reason. Unfortunately, my variant doesn't have a physical form or I'd show you."

It made the messaging functions a bitch to work with, too. Ronan was still wondering if there was a way to petition for an upgrade. Not that he'd admit to tech envy, but Darryl's WizPhone was a sleek piece of equipment.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"It's not human technology," Kaidan offered. "Though we've done our fair share of updates, I guess." He threw Ronan a mildly quizzical look. "No physical form, huh? So it's... what. Telepathic?"

That was. Uh. Weird.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan screwed up his face, trying to think of the best way to explain it. "Not... exactly? But sure, we'll go with that, it's probably the easiest way to describe it."

Sometimes he just knew things he hadn't known a few seconds previous, that's all.

"Looks like you've adapted them pretty well for human use," Ronan added. "Or do you have a lot of humanoid aliens in your universe? It seems to vary a lot; there's a pretty solid mix of humanoid-ish species and ones that really aren't. One of my best friends is a Demisiv. They look like Christmas trees."

No, really, they do.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan laughed softly, though he still looked a little puzzled. "Christmas trees?" he said. "Now I'm trying to picture it."

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan reached sideways into... nothing, in fact, his hand disappearing up to about mid-forearm before he pulled out a small photo album. "Here," he said, flipping through until he got to a picture of a group of... beings, all gathered in a forest clearing. "This is me and some of my friends -- most of them wizards, although a few of them are just associates."

Carmela would probably argue that she isn't just anything, thank you.

"That's Filif there." Ronan pointed out a conifer-like tree covered in red berries, a New York Giants ball-cap sitting at a jaunty angle on his top. "And the giant centipede is my friend Sker'ret."

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"...Huh."

That was to both the act of making the photo album appear to begin with and the picture itself. Very eloquent, Alenko.

"That's something all right," he added a beat later. "Uh. The asari and the quarians are fairly humanoid-- as are the batarians. That's about it. No sentient trees, though... as far as I know."

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

"Ah, okay, so they'd be pretty much ready for human use right away, then."

Ronan glanced around the picnic, sighing a bit at the weather. "Did you have any other particular questions yet?" he asked. "I'll be around to help all you need. Oh, you... probably don't have a mobile." Ronan pulled his own out of his pocket, holding it out for Kaidan to see. "What kind of tech do you use for communicating over distance? Does the omni-tool cover that?"

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"Yeah, it's used for long-distance communications," Kaidan said. "I can make a few tweaks, fit it into the local communications system...? But I'd have to take a look at that."

He reached for the phone.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan passed it over without hesitation.

What? If it got screwed up, Ronan was pretty sure that Dairine could get it fixed, if no one on the island could.

"You may need to speak to a local carrier about a number," he suggested, "if your omni-tool can't set one up for you. Ten digits, at least around here, that identify you on the network. It's what people use to call you."

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"I thought it'd be something like that," Kaidan replied. He waved his omni-tool over the phone, took a few readings. "Shouldn't be too hard. It's mostly a matter of frequencies and... setting up a decent pass-code for the network..."

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan nodded. "If there's anything you can't get off the phone itself, I'll ask a couple of friends who have experience interfacing tech and wizardry -- they'd probably at least know where to look for system specs, that kind of thing."

Dairine'd probably be the most helpful, or Darryl. And a few of the younger wizards from home had tech-Manuals now, too...

"Anyway," he continued, pulling a pen and a notepad out of his pocketspace, "this is my phone number, email address, and my address here in town." He tilted his head for a moment, considering. "Yeah, school will have an email address for you, you'll just need to tap into the internet. So if you have any questions about settling in here, or getting ready for classes, anything like that, feel free to let me know."

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan switched off the omni-tool with a flick of his fingers. "I think I'm good," he noted. "Alliance has me stationed at the local hotel, I think-- that's on the way up, right?"

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan turned around, orienting himself. "Over that way," he said, pointing. "... Which is probably not helpful. Go out the north gate, head left onto Loon Drive, then right onto Griffin Way, and the Arms is just down Thunderbird Lane.

"That said, if you want to find something a little more permanent, I've got a couple of rooms available. Two other roommates, if you don't mind sharing space, but I cook, usually in large quantities."

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_a_whiner]

"I'm used to bunking in tighter quarters, but--" Kaidan said. "Uh, I mean-- I'm grateful for the offer. I'll think about it. My superiors have to vet housing."

Whatever way it went, it was going to be strange-- had been strange, bunking planetside instead of on an Alliance vessel.

Re: Meet Your Teachers (Summer 2012)

[not_in_the_book]

"Let me know!" Ronan assured him. "Either way, and no rush. If they need any other information on me, I can get ahold of that, too."

... And probably fake something up to cover Jack and Emma, since he wasn't entirely certain any military organisation, future or not, would be entirely okay with a werewolf and... an Emma.