Entry 15: Video

[scentbombed]

I know some of you have been in this place for a very long time, and there are some of you who've gone and come back again, so I thought I might ask: was going home really, really strange for any of you?

It's only, well, chatting with some of the lot from my world, I realized it was a bit difficult to explain a lot of what's gone on here.

I mean, it's definitely a bit of a puzzler, trying to start a conversation with, "Well, there was the time I died," or "once I turned into my brother." And that was only once we'd gotten past things like electrics and undergarments.

Comments

[most_feared]

I generally don't talk about the specifics of it too much. [Though 90% of what he can't talk about is the interpersonal relationships.]

[scentbombed]

That doesn't get a bit...?

[most_feared]

Not that big of a deal. It's sort of a strange thing to bring up in some regards, so why bother explain months that didn't actually happen?

[no_fastolfe]

I have little to no personal communication with other humans on Aurora, and my robots accept what I tell them, but the culture shock was intense and has been no less so at my return.

[scentbombed]

But they did happen for you. What if you've got an opinion that's drastically changed, something like that?

[scentbombed]

Culture shock here or there? Or both?

[most_feared]

Parker told me usually when she goes home, she didn't remember anything specific while she was there. Just those changed feelings.

So I don't know. But I probably wouldn't explain myself if I changed my opinion on something, so I can't say.

[no_fastolfe]

Both. Aurora is a planet of some two-hundred thousand people and it is no smaller than Earth, if you have gained a sense of Earth's size during port?

From total exclusion unless one desires company, which I rarely do, to a population density unheard of on any spacer world-- there is a certain recovery period necessary. And vice versa, once I have become accustomed to continuously being surrounded by others.

[scentbombed]

We don't remember this place when we leave?

[scentbombed]

Something of one, yes. [It's a damn sight bigger than the Disc, that much she's sure of.]

Do you mind if I ask -- have you come to prefer one or the other?

[no_fastolfe]

I have lived almost three centuries on Aurora, from my birth-- I can acclimate to the barge, but do not prefer it.

[Vasilia shrugs awkwardly.]

Unfortunately, most of the genuine personal attachments I have formed are here.

[scentbombed]

And that's why you came back? [It's immediate, almost overeager, the way she asks it.]

[no_fastolfe]

...it is the reason I can tolerate to come back.

I need something from the admiral.

Which said... it has been ... extremely emotionally rewarding to see old friends.

[scentbombed]

[She deflates, very slightly, but there's still something keenly interested in her eyes.]

Would you say you missed it? Being here?

[no_fastolfe]

Yes, despite the knowledge that it was dangerous and frequently unpleasant. I would say that I did.

[scentbombed]

All right. Thanks for the, er. Perspective.

[no_fastolfe]

Certainly, madam-- I'm sorry, I don't recall.

[scentbombed]

Captain, actually. Angua. It's...? sorry, I'm similarly afflicted.

[no_fastolfe]

Aliena; Doctor or Madam as you prefer, Captain.

My first tenure here was as an inmate; my perspective is perhaps not yours.

[scentbombed]

No, no. All views welcome, in this case.

It just... well, it seems to me that there's quite a few of you, aren't there? Inmates who came back. And I know you get deals as well, but I suppose I wonder if there's more to it than that. I mean, ideally, you'll be returning as a very different person, won't you?

[no_fastolfe]

Towards the end I was a great deal more like I am now. Graduation is not an abrupt change; it is a mere increment after a long process.

[scentbombed]

No, sorry -- I meant, returning to your world as a different person from how you left it.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

This "once I turned into my brother" conversation, let's have that. What the hell happened? [B's still having some trouble coming to grips with the quirks of life on the Barge.]

[video]

[scentbombed]

Er, well. Once, I turned into my brother. That was more or less what happened.

Sorry, are you new? I don't recognize you.

[video]

[deadliestviper]

I thought that's what you said.

Yes, hence not answering your question. Adjusting to everything here's hard enough already, going back and forth must be murder. [She lifts her hand and waves a little sheepishly.] Beth. Nice to meet you.