Intro Shenanigans

[pleiade]

WHO: Asterope and y'all
WHERE: Whale Comb Sent Her, the Bishop, Wildcard her
WHAT: Introductory nonsuch
WHEN: Late August
WARNINGS: None explicit yet, but Asti is a genetically modified human who had a Bad Upbringing


1. Whale Comb Sent Her
Whether one's here to make a Soup Lies request or use the replicator, it's likely you'll run into Asterope, who's found a place to sit (or possibly perch, up on a counter or table with legs dangling) as she works out the specifics of the shape of what she's requesting from the replicator. She's working with a chunky piece of charcoal on a large sketchbook, trying to map and math the curves of a violin, before she tries to spend one of her replicator uses on it. Lots of curves, a couple spirals...for someone who's working from memory, she seems to have a good start on it.

As she works, she's humming, not really paying attention to anyone else in the room, yet.

2. White Pawn Takes Bishop
Asterope seems a little awed by the ship. She's been told most people don't live on their ships, and in truth she doesn't understand why. Sure, it might be cramped quarters, but she's used to kind of being in small, institutional spaces.

The other members of the crew can find her settling in, either in the kitchen acquainting herself with the protein dispenser, or picking out a bunk to take a nap in.

3. Wildcard
Find Asti anywhere else learning the lay of the land. She's more active at night, and spends a lot of time stargazing (sketching it all out in her sketchbook), if you want an excuse to run into her.

Comments

[silenziobruno]

"You...bow, to the violin?" Her explanation was a good one, but still confusing to a sea monster. He gets that it is a different instrument than a guitar, but not how it is supposed to be played.

"It's trenette al pesto! The best kind of food ever made. Want some?" He's not selfish when it comes to food, and he thinks that the joy of pasta should be share with everyone. Alberto is holding up the bowl to her, but there are no visible forks of spoons in it, as if he's just expecting her to grab a handful of pasta and put it in her mouth.

[pleiade]

"You play it with a bow. You hold the violin here. It rests on the shoulder and under the chin, and you draw the bow against the strings, and it makes music."

She mimes it, before looking down at the pasta. With the hand that hasn't been holding the charcoal (she's not a complete barbarian), she reaches in and takes just a couple of noodles to taste. Not too much, she doesn't want to be greedy.

[silenziobruno]

"That makes more sense. I've never seen anybody play before." She clearly knows what she's doing, and Alberto wonders what a violin sounds like. If the replicator can make it for her, maybe she won't mind playing a bit for him.

"That's barely enough to get a good taste." The boy says, giving her a softer smile to encourage her to take more food if she wants. There's a lot of people he still has to met, so it's not a surprise that he doesn't remember seeing her before. Time for introductions. "I'm Alberto Scorfano, nice to meet you."

[pleiade]

"Asterope Glass. Still new here, still getting used to everyone."

She takes a slightly larger handful. The fact that Alberto is a kid goes a long way toward making her feel at-ease, or as at-ease as she ever gets. She seems timid, uncertain. But she's eating the pasta, and that helps.

"So...you're Italian, then?"

[silenziobruno]

"Hi, Asterope. I only got here a month ago or so, but if you have questions, you can ask me." the quality of said questions might vary due to his own limited knowledge of modern tech but he will answer truthfully.

Pasta makes everything better, at least in his opinion. He's as harmless as it gets, even if he has little issue defending himself if needed, and likes to make new friends so he won't be giving her a hard time. The question earns her a sheepish smile.

"Yeah...kind of. I lived in the coast of Italy. Have you heard of Portorosso? It's a fishing town, very pretty."

[pleiade]

"Never been. Grew up in Greece, though, not far from Hania. So...you're practically a childhood neighbor."

Of course, her value of 'growing up' means being trained in a lab facility and never going anywhere off the property until she was a teenager, but still, there's something nice about knowing he's from the same continent as her.

[silenziobruno]

"Oh! We are. Greece is a very pretty place too, I've heard." He had never traveled that far away, but he's heard stories from other sea monsters and sea creatures that visited his side of the coast.

That's awful, Asterope. He would be properly horrified if he knew what they did to her. And if someone explained to him what scientists are. The only one he knows in Temba is Drake, and he's kind of funny in an 'always looking like he's about to lose his marbles' kind of way. "What's Hania like?"

[pleiade]

The question makes her pause, as she tries to decide how honestly to answer. "Don't really remember much about it. Sorry."

That's honest enough, right?

[silenziobruno]

"It's all right, don't worry about it." He was curious, but everyone here has subjects they'd rather avoid talking about. Besides, Alberto's a kid with the attention span of a hyperactive ferret, he bounces from one subject of conversation to another.

"Soooo... you like music."

[pleiade]

"Yes! Listening and playing. Suppose there's probably not a good way to listen to digital music files here, huh? But playing live is bound to be worth something." Her smile blossoms again.

[silenziobruno]

"Digital music files?" If the confused blinking is anything to go by, it's clear that he's not familiar with the concept. Not only because sea monsters don't know all that much about music, but because he comes from decades before those were invented.

"I'm not sure, sorry. Maybe there's an option in the communicator too?" He hasn't checked if there was a program that could play music, but no one ever brought it up either. "But I'd like to hear your play live. I do have a magic singing box...wait, no, Massimo said it was called a gramophone. I have that here, and it plays really pretty music too. Opera, I think it's called."

[pleiade]

"You have a gramophone here? That's pretty old technology. What year was it, before you came here?" Timey-wimey shit could definitely be a thing, especially if he doesn't know digital music at all.

[silenziobruno]

"I do. I left it in my workshop, so I can listen to music while I work on making new crystals." It makes the task more entertaining, even if he only has one vinyl to listen to.

"Old? But it looks all new." The question has him trying to remember the exact year, since sea monster didn't exactly keep calendars around. Alberto rubbed at the back of his head with his free hand."Uhm...1968? I think? Or 1969...."

[pleiade]

"Oh. Oh, wow. That's...long before...uh. More than a century back from...wow."

While she knew multiverse theory meant the possibility of people coming from different points in time, she hadn't actually thought anyone from over 100 years before she was created born would be here.

[silenziobruno]

"Ah...you're from the future? A lot of people here seem to be from far away in time. Some even have spaceships in their worlds too and traveled to the Moon. Isn't that amazing?"

Alberto doesn't seem too bothered by the revelation It was shocking when he fist learned about it form others but the surprise back then also didn't last long. He was easy to accept things and move on. "Do you still have vespas in the future?"

[pleiade]

"Like...the motorized scooters? They're seen as vintage. Antique. But there's still some around."

She thinks a moment, before deciding to share a little more about her time. "People have traveled much further than the moon, actually. All the stars in the sky are potential suns, and some have planets people can live on. By 2080, ships are being sent out with people in cryogenic suspension, to colonize those planets. Those who have no hope left for life on earth leave to seek something elsewhere."

[silenziobruno]

"Exactly like those! But they're not old in my world, they come in very different colors, and they all look shiny and amazing."

Yes, even the old green scooter Luca and Alberto set their eyes on back in Portorosso that had no doubt seen better days. Or better decades. But it was still a vespa and, therefore, part of their dream.

As Asterope goes on about the planets and stars, he can't help but think of how much Luca would have liked to talk to her and no doubt would have asked a million questions. Alberto is happy to listen, big eyes widening and posture showing his interest. He doesn't get all the words -cryogenic, what?- but what he gets, it's enough to impress him.

"2080! Woah, that's so far away. Technology there sounds incredible, you must find the one here boring. Everything is mostly in ruins. Do you have a favorite planet or star?"

[pleiade]

She nods immediately at the question, a slow smile forming on her face--but a real one. "Two stars, but they count together because they're a binary star system, stellar dance partners. Are you familiar with the big dipper?"

[silenziobruno]

It's a very pretty smile! Alberto likes shy people, more so when they start coming out of their shell. He doesn't really know much about real stars, so he shakes his head, but looks interested in knowing more.

"Two stars, like...they're good friends? That's why they stay close, all up in there? I like that idea, it's nice. And no, what it is?"

[pleiade]

She flips to a fresh page of her sketchbook, and begins to draw the dipper from memory; she's got the proportions down easily. "The big dipper is a constellation that's visible in the sky all year round, at least in the right parts of the world. If you follow these two stars forward, there's another star, Polaris, that can help you if you get lost, because it's always in the north. But these aren't the ones that are the favorite."

She circles the second star from the end on the handle. "If the night is very, very dark and quiet, you can see that there's not just one star here, but two. One's a lot fainter than the other, and it's hard to see sometimes, to where they used to use it as a vision test. Mizar and Alcor. Out in space, they're a binary star system, they revolve around one another, like they're holding hands and spinning in a circle together up in the sky."

[silenziobruno]

All his attention lands immediately on the sketchbook because it's rare to see paper on this planet. Alberto misses using them, he has to make do with drawing on wood planks, walls, and the like.

"You draw very well." He recognizes the figures of the constellations from what he's seen in Giulia's books, or at least the points and lines that represent stars. "I don't think I've seen those stars in the sky at night here. Maybe we need to be on the other side of the planet to spot them?"

There's an easy smile forming on his lips at the mention of the two stars and Alberto looks from the paper to her, eyes bright. "That's fantastic! If we were a star, I'd like to play with my friend Luca up there too, for as long as we could."