[For a moment, Maketh almost laughs. He doesn't see. No, of course not. She tips her head back, making herself smile, until she's sure - very sure - that her face could pass for normal.]
You are...a strange person, Chris.
[She says it fondly, though. She hasn't met many people like him.]
Tell me about your studies. Computer science, you said?
[It's a distraction, a less dire conversation. Maketh runs a hand through her hair, trying to smile. This could be all right. She's stating to get drunk, but she hasn't scared Chris off yet or - hopefully - said anything to ruin her credibility. There's hope. And she is curious about his world, the things that a student would explore. Computers were never her specialty, but she probably knows enough to follow along.]
[The distraction is fine with him, though he isn't sure how much he can tell her that'll actually be interesting.]
Yeah. I'd just started my fourth semester so I wasn't really far into my major's classes, but I've done a few of them. It was mostly computer programming and a lot of math; I wanted to make apps for phones, a lot like these ones.
[He waves one of the phones Hope gave them all to punctuate his statement, realizing only after he says it all that he's using past tense. He still wants to make apps--it'd be fun--but he's not sure that even if he doesn't somehow get home that he'll end up pursuing the same career.
But that's not exactly useful to ponder right now, so he shoves the thoughts aside.]
In college a major is like... A focus of study. It's the main thing you're learning to do. There's also a minor, which is like a sub-specialty; mine's math since I'm already taking a ton of it for the major. There's a whole bunch of other special degree names but I'm not doing any of them.
[Hopefully that makes sense at all. He nods at her last comment.]
Yeah, it's really fun.
[For exactly the reasons she's thinking; he really likes planning and then creating something that can then be used for a purpose. Also there's that fact that if something goes wrong, it's just a matter of logic to figure out what it is and how to fix it.]
[It makes sense, coupling programming with math - the two fit together quite neatly. Complementary, that's the term. Maketh hesitates, wondering.] Did you chose your...major? I heard civilians do that, sometimes.
Yeah, I chose it. Most people do, though sometimes parents pressure their kids into something specific.
[But his parents told him to pick whatever he wanted, so he did.]
I thought about doing engineering and that probably would've been more useful here, but I dunno. Computers seemed like more fun than designing machines or electrical systems or whatever.
Our instructors chose our tracts for us, according to our aptitude.
[Maketh wanted to be an archivist when she was younger, but a different path had been chosen. Back then she trusted in the wisdom of the Emperor. She watches Chris, curious again about his world. It seems very strange to her. Very different from the Empire.]
Perhaps. Though you'll find that mastery in one field tends to shift better than you might imagine into another.
[She leans back.] You could make programs here, couldn't you?
[Oh, that sucks. And is kind of all dystopian future-ish.]
If you could've picked, what would you've done?
[He considers here next comment a moment.]
Yeah, maybe. That'd be a nice surprise, anyway.
[Since right now the only talents he has that have been much use here have been related to dealing with people.]
I could if I knew like... The basic structure of how the phone work, which I don't, since it's god technology or whatever. But Rhys figured it out and I think he's willing to show me, so yeah, maybe.
[Maketh smiles a little, remembering. Despite - well, everything - her experiences at the Academy were largely positive. Possibly the happiest time of her life.] I wanted to be a pilot when I first started, but everyone did. It was very glamorous.
[Even more so to her, the farm girl who'd never flown before. But it had been decided that her talents were better suited to other, less military things. She lacked the fortitude to fly in combat, which all Imperial pilots did. Maketh had accepted that, because it had been told to her and was therefore true.]
I think, if it had been my choice, I would have studied history.
[She still does, sometimes, when she has time to spare. She frowns at the shot glasses, and prods them back into a straight line.] There you go. It would be very useful if you could make these...apps? Especially a more accurate mapping system, or a means to plot sightings of the--animals, on a grid.
[She refrains from saying monsters. That might bring up the wendigos again.]
[He smiles a little too, glad to see her looking a little less somber.]
Being a pilot does sound really cool.
[But also kind of terrifying, in his opinion, especially if it's military-related piloting. He's a little surprised by her next answer though, because he wouldn't have guessed it.]
Yeah? I was terrible at history in high school, but maybe history in your world is more interesting than mine.
[He couldn't memorize names and dates to save his life, mostly because he didn't care. And wasn't paying much attention, honestly.]
Yeah. Definitely; I think making a map program would be kind of hard, but a way to track monster sightings based on like, the names of locations would probably be pretty simple.
[He, on the other hand, says monsters without even thinking about it. It'd probably be worrying if he considered the fact that he's so used to the idea, but he doesn't and is already moving on to more talk of apps, tone a little more enthusiastic.]
I was thinking like... Maybe some sort of emergency alert system might be doable, too. Where if someone needs help or something they can just press a button and alert people, whether it's like their friends or just people in general who are willing to help out.
Indeed. [The TIE pilots had looked very smart in their uniforms to a much younger Maketh, their boots shiny black and their flight suits like nothing she'd ever seen before. She'd had a crush on one of them, a girl two years ahead of her. Sekhmet, wasn't it? Maketh doesn't know what happened to her. Probably stationed on one of the star destroyers or left in an early grave. TIE pilots rarely lived very long. Either way, very far from where Maketh ended up.] I don't know if it would be more interesting, exactly...not a lot of people care for it in the Empire. A lot of things have been lost.
[Or censored. Maketh brushes that aside, and prods the shot glasses again. She's feeling antsy all of a sudden, barely contained by her skin. She pushes a hand through her hair just for something to do. The alcohol is starting to numb things around the edges, but not quite enough.] That would be extremely helpful. And would likely save lives.
[That, on the other hand, does sound interesting. He'd gone through a phase of reading about conspiracy theories and aliens and lost civilizations like Atlantis, and while he has little opinion on whether any of it's true or not it had been fascinating and missing knowledge had been a major part of them.
He notices the agitated motion, but isn't sure what exactly is prompting it.]
Yeah, hopefully. We'd need to figure out a way to track locations or something though to make it really useful.
[As just an alert system it could at least notify people to go looking for someone in need of help, but knowing exactly where to go would be a lot more useful. Still, something is better than nothing.
He's quiet briefly, trying to decide whether to ask if she's okay or not, but decides to wait for the moment; he doesn't want to push too much.]
Purged. [Maketh frowns down at the table. Yep, she's certainly drunk now, feeling light and almost fuzzy but also anxious suddenly, wanting to move. This hasn't gone as planned. Chris isn't like her, he's not an Imperial, and the regular tricks haven't worked. He's still talking. Still unfortunately sober.] Or burned. There was a war.
[There have been a lot of wars. Maketh wonders if she'd like the simplicity of that, instead of...whatever she'd helped impose in the aftermath. It hadn't been peace.
Her hands are shaking. Maketh puts them under the table.] Established fixed data points. Markers. Then the phones can ping off them. Does that make sense?
[She's not talking too fast, is she? Maketh fights the urge to run a hand through her hair again. She wants to move. Usually when she's this drunk she goes dancing, but never with someone she knows and not like this.]
[Sorry Maketh. He doesn't totally realize she's drunk yet though; he's mostly used to loud, wild drunks, and doesn't know her well enough to be able to tell what's the alcohol and what might just be understandably changing moods.]
Ah, yeah, that makes sense. That's happened before in my world too.
[She's definitely not talking too fast; he's used to rapidfire tech-related conversations even if he doesn't talk that quickly himself, mostly because he'll start stammering and make absolutely no sense. But he definitely sounds a little more animated, eyes a bit brighter as he's thinking about what she said.]
That... Is a really good idea. Like cell towers.
[Much simpler than something like a GPS system, and way more doable inside a cave. Hope might even be willing to help give them information if they ask, especially if people here can build the structures themselves, which might actually be possible. They'd need three for triangulation, but probably only the three.]
We might actually be able to manage that. It's just like, a matter of making receivers that can pick up signals from the phones, and since the phones can call each other already that can't be too hard.
[He'll have to send Rhys a message and ask Hope about this, then see if they can find some people willing to help build things if necessary.]
[Well, most places. Everywhere the Empire shows up, that's for sure.
As far as these things go, Maketh is a relatively subdued drunk. Twitchy, sometimes. Usually good humored. Even cheerful. Less so today. She wants to move. Fights the urge. Stares at the glasses all lined up in a nice row, and focuses on what Chris is saying.] Back home we have trackers on all our personnel, and an alert goes out if they don't check in periodically. I don't think anyone would agree to that here, but locating people during crisis - yes. You can program that?
[Maketh might know theoretically how these things work, but she doesn't have the skill to actually build them herself.]
Yeah, I think people would get jumpy about being like, actively tracked.
[At least some people would, anyway.]
I think so. I mean, it'd just be using what's already built into the phone, but combining a bunch of steps into pushing one button; it should be really simple once I learn how the OS works.
[It'd just be a simple script that tells the phone to send out messages to certain people. For the locating part of the program the coding would be a little more complicated but still relatively simple, as long as they manage to figure out setting up the receivers.]
[Yeah, apparently people are used to concepts like privacy and discretion, which don't generally exist in the Empire. Maketh looks down. Her hands are still shaking. She ought to do something about that.]
Good, then--you should do that.
[She stands up abruptly, pushing her chair back. She needs...just needs to get some water, yeah.]
[It comes out automatically, a little sharp. It's the right thing to say, Maketh is fairly certain. She turns away from Chris before she can catch the look on his face.
Her hair is down. Maketh begins knotting it up with her hands, though she doesn't have any pins and it's fairly pointless. Much like this conversation, really - she shouldn't have responded to the text at all, shouldn't have done this.
No, the idea with the cell towers - that's good. That's useful. Maketh tries to focus on that.
She lets her hair slip from her hands. It doesn't matter. She's too far out of uniform already.]
Make--make a list of supplies you'll need, please. I will--consult my notes. For the proper locations.
[Maketh flinches. Look, she's upset the civilian again. Apparently she has a talent for that.] I'm fine.
[This is supposed to be nice, Maketh thinks desperately. People like going out and drinking, don't they? Except that she's the only one who's been drinking and that - that might be a problem, actually.] I'm doing this wrong, aren't I? I'm sorry. I don't--know how to do civilian things anymore.
[He means it, tone genuine and calm, and he offers a small smile to go with it in hopes she'll believe it and relax a little.]
We all just had, you know. Kind of a bad month.
[So he's worried about her, and hadn't really agreed to this whole meeting in order to drink but rather as an excuse to try and figure out just how concerned he should be. He's still not entirely sure.
But since he'd never been planning on this whole thing being a social, fun meetup, she's definitely not doing anything wrong. She still wouldn't have been even if he had planned on that.]
[But she is, Maketh thinks, else this would be going much better. At one time she'd considered herself rather clever when it came to conversation - found it easy, if a bit tedious, to wade through moments and push people into accepting her point of view. There had been a pattern. Protocols to follow. Maketh had studied up, read all the right things, and figured she'd been getting results. That she was quite accomplished at the whole art of conversation.
She'd thought herself friendly with the Inquisitor too, right up until he'd proven otherwise. And if she missed that, if she missed everything about him, then she's probably made a mistake here too.
This was supposed to prove something to Chris. That she was competent enough to deserve his trust.
Well she's gone and ruined that, hasn't she?
Maketh pushes her hair out of her eyes and turns to face him. She's drunk and sad, and should probably do something now to save face. Now she just has to figure out what that is.] Yes. A - a bad month.
[Is it that simple? Maybe she can pretend. Maketh lifts her chin.] You're not drinking.
[It's not an accusation. She sounds curious and more than a little confused. None of this is going according to script.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mismanagement) wrote2016-01-25 02:02 pm
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You are...a strange person, Chris.
[She says it fondly, though. She hasn't met many people like him.]
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[He offers a small grin with the comment though; it's pretty obvious by her tone that she means it in a good way.]
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[It's a distraction, a less dire conversation. Maketh runs a hand through her hair, trying to smile. This could be all right. She's stating to get drunk, but she hasn't scared Chris off yet or - hopefully - said anything to ruin her credibility. There's hope. And she is curious about his world, the things that a student would explore. Computers were never her specialty, but she probably knows enough to follow along.]
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Yeah. I'd just started my fourth semester so I wasn't really far into my major's classes, but I've done a few of them. It was mostly computer programming and a lot of math; I wanted to make apps for phones, a lot like these ones.
[He waves one of the phones Hope gave them all to punctuate his statement, realizing only after he says it all that he's using past tense. He still wants to make apps--it'd be fun--but he's not sure that even if he doesn't somehow get home that he'll end up pursuing the same career.
But that's not exactly useful to ponder right now, so he shoves the thoughts aside.]
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[It doesn't sound like a rank. And for all her studies, Maketh doesn't know very much about how civilians go about getting their education.
She would have liked to study history, if she had the chance.]
Oh, you write programs. I imagine that's rewarding.
[A process with a clear end and beginning, almost tangible results. Yes, she can see why Chris would like that.]
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[Hopefully that makes sense at all. He nods at her last comment.]
Yeah, it's really fun.
[For exactly the reasons she's thinking; he really likes planning and then creating something that can then be used for a purpose. Also there's that fact that if something goes wrong, it's just a matter of logic to figure out what it is and how to fix it.]
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[It makes sense, coupling programming with math - the two fit together quite neatly. Complementary, that's the term. Maketh hesitates, wondering.] Did you chose your...major? I heard civilians do that, sometimes.
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[But his parents told him to pick whatever he wanted, so he did.]
I thought about doing engineering and that probably would've been more useful here, but I dunno. Computers seemed like more fun than designing machines or electrical systems or whatever.
[Action]
[Maketh wanted to be an archivist when she was younger, but a different path had been chosen. Back then she trusted in the wisdom of the Emperor. She watches Chris, curious again about his world. It seems very strange to her. Very different from the Empire.]
Perhaps. Though you'll find that mastery in one field tends to shift better than you might imagine into another.
[She leans back.] You could make programs here, couldn't you?
[Action]
If you could've picked, what would you've done?
[He considers here next comment a moment.]
Yeah, maybe. That'd be a nice surprise, anyway.
[Since right now the only talents he has that have been much use here have been related to dealing with people.]
I could if I knew like... The basic structure of how the phone work, which I don't, since it's god technology or whatever. But Rhys figured it out and I think he's willing to show me, so yeah, maybe.
[Action]
[Even more so to her, the farm girl who'd never flown before. But it had been decided that her talents were better suited to other, less military things. She lacked the fortitude to fly in combat, which all Imperial pilots did. Maketh had accepted that, because it had been told to her and was therefore true.]
I think, if it had been my choice, I would have studied history.
[She still does, sometimes, when she has time to spare. She frowns at the shot glasses, and prods them back into a straight line.] There you go. It would be very useful if you could make these...apps? Especially a more accurate mapping system, or a means to plot sightings of the--animals, on a grid.
[She refrains from saying monsters. That might bring up the wendigos again.]
[Action]
Being a pilot does sound really cool.
[But also kind of terrifying, in his opinion, especially if it's military-related piloting. He's a little surprised by her next answer though, because he wouldn't have guessed it.]
Yeah? I was terrible at history in high school, but maybe history in your world is more interesting than mine.
[He couldn't memorize names and dates to save his life, mostly because he didn't care. And wasn't paying much attention, honestly.]
Yeah. Definitely; I think making a map program would be kind of hard, but a way to track monster sightings based on like, the names of locations would probably be pretty simple.
[He, on the other hand, says monsters without even thinking about it. It'd probably be worrying if he considered the fact that he's so used to the idea, but he doesn't and is already moving on to more talk of apps, tone a little more enthusiastic.]
I was thinking like... Maybe some sort of emergency alert system might be doable, too. Where if someone needs help or something they can just press a button and alert people, whether it's like their friends or just people in general who are willing to help out.
[Action]
[Or censored. Maketh brushes that aside, and prods the shot glasses again. She's feeling antsy all of a sudden, barely contained by her skin. She pushes a hand through her hair just for something to do. The alcohol is starting to numb things around the edges, but not quite enough.] That would be extremely helpful. And would likely save lives.
[Action]
[That, on the other hand, does sound interesting. He'd gone through a phase of reading about conspiracy theories and aliens and lost civilizations like Atlantis, and while he has little opinion on whether any of it's true or not it had been fascinating and missing knowledge had been a major part of them.
He notices the agitated motion, but isn't sure what exactly is prompting it.]
Yeah, hopefully. We'd need to figure out a way to track locations or something though to make it really useful.
[As just an alert system it could at least notify people to go looking for someone in need of help, but knowing exactly where to go would be a lot more useful. Still, something is better than nothing.
He's quiet briefly, trying to decide whether to ask if she's okay or not, but decides to wait for the moment; he doesn't want to push too much.]
[Action]
[There have been a lot of wars. Maketh wonders if she'd like the simplicity of that, instead of...whatever she'd helped impose in the aftermath. It hadn't been peace.
Her hands are shaking. Maketh puts them under the table.] Established fixed data points. Markers. Then the phones can ping off them. Does that make sense?
[She's not talking too fast, is she? Maketh fights the urge to run a hand through her hair again. She wants to move. Usually when she's this drunk she goes dancing, but never with someone she knows and not like this.]
[Action]
Ah, yeah, that makes sense. That's happened before in my world too.
[She's definitely not talking too fast; he's used to rapidfire tech-related conversations even if he doesn't talk that quickly himself, mostly because he'll start stammering and make absolutely no sense. But he definitely sounds a little more animated, eyes a bit brighter as he's thinking about what she said.]
That... Is a really good idea. Like cell towers.
[Much simpler than something like a GPS system, and way more doable inside a cave. Hope might even be willing to help give them information if they ask, especially if people here can build the structures themselves, which might actually be possible. They'd need three for triangulation, but probably only the three.]
We might actually be able to manage that. It's just like, a matter of making receivers that can pick up signals from the phones, and since the phones can call each other already that can't be too hard.
[He'll have to send Rhys a message and ask Hope about this, then see if they can find some people willing to help build things if necessary.]
[Action]
[Well, most places. Everywhere the Empire shows up, that's for sure.
As far as these things go, Maketh is a relatively subdued drunk. Twitchy, sometimes. Usually good humored. Even cheerful. Less so today. She wants to move. Fights the urge. Stares at the glasses all lined up in a nice row, and focuses on what Chris is saying.] Back home we have trackers on all our personnel, and an alert goes out if they don't check in periodically. I don't think anyone would agree to that here, but locating people during crisis - yes. You can program that?
[Maketh might know theoretically how these things work, but she doesn't have the skill to actually build them herself.]
[Action]
[At least some people would, anyway.]
I think so. I mean, it'd just be using what's already built into the phone, but combining a bunch of steps into pushing one button; it should be really simple once I learn how the OS works.
[It'd just be a simple script that tells the phone to send out messages to certain people. For the locating part of the program the coding would be a little more complicated but still relatively simple, as long as they manage to figure out setting up the receivers.]
[Action]
Good, then--you should do that.
[She stands up abruptly, pushing her chair back. She needs...just needs to get some water, yeah.]
[Action]
You okay?
[Action]
[It comes out automatically, a little sharp. It's the right thing to say, Maketh is fairly certain. She turns away from Chris before she can catch the look on his face.
Her hair is down. Maketh begins knotting it up with her hands, though she doesn't have any pins and it's fairly pointless. Much like this conversation, really - she shouldn't have responded to the text at all, shouldn't have done this.
No, the idea with the cell towers - that's good. That's useful. Maketh tries to focus on that.
She lets her hair slip from her hands. It doesn't matter. She's too far out of uniform already.]
Make--make a list of supplies you'll need, please. I will--consult my notes. For the proper locations.
[Action]
Maybe you should sit down?
[He can't tell if she agitated from the alcohol or for emotional reasons, or maybe both. But either way, sitting back down is probably a good idea.]
I can get you some water or something.
[Action]
[This is supposed to be nice, Maketh thinks desperately. People like going out and drinking, don't they? Except that she's the only one who's been drinking and that - that might be a problem, actually.] I'm doing this wrong, aren't I? I'm sorry. I don't--know how to do civilian things anymore.
[Action]
[He means it, tone genuine and calm, and he offers a small smile to go with it in hopes she'll believe it and relax a little.]
We all just had, you know. Kind of a bad month.
[So he's worried about her, and hadn't really agreed to this whole meeting in order to drink but rather as an excuse to try and figure out just how concerned he should be. He's still not entirely sure.
But since he'd never been planning on this whole thing being a social, fun meetup, she's definitely not doing anything wrong. She still wouldn't have been even if he had planned on that.]
[Action]
She'd thought herself friendly with the Inquisitor too, right up until he'd proven otherwise. And if she missed that, if she missed everything about him, then she's probably made a mistake here too.
This was supposed to prove something to Chris. That she was competent enough to deserve his trust.
Well she's gone and ruined that, hasn't she?
Maketh pushes her hair out of her eyes and turns to face him. She's drunk and sad, and should probably do something now to save face. Now she just has to figure out what that is.] Yes. A - a bad month.
[Is it that simple? Maybe she can pretend. Maketh lifts her chin.] You're not drinking.
[It's not an accusation. She sounds curious and more than a little confused. None of this is going according to script.]
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