Chapter 2.7

[yhlee]

[Jedao]
When Seyli and Reshad open the door to the room where Jedao is being held, they find him calmly putting his spider restraints back on. Which implies that he had them off, however briefly. "I was losing circulation in one leg," he says, his voice calm, "so I fixed that."

[Fluffy]
Fluffy cheeps weakly and crawls into Gerae's arms, where she apparently conks out. The hatchlings have glutted themselves on the tuna-banana mixture and most of them appear to be drowsy and happy to snuggle with their chosen humans--for the moment. Gerae strokes Fluffy and says, "She probably should have assistance at all times, at least for the first couple weeks. I'm happy to volunteer..."

[Cantata]
The Cantata is happy to continue songsharing with anyone with musical inclinations (and even those without). The mothlings in Remi's room tend to imitate it whenever they hear the adult moth singing. For his part, Remi has been drawing up a list of cognitive tests in an attempt to nail down the mothlings' intelligence and sensory modes.

Comments

Captured Fox (Paging Jedao and Seyli)

[hoardingpearls]

Reshad can't help but smile at that very deliberate show. Jedao could've been beside the door, ready to ambush them; he's clearly not.

She places a hand on Seyli's arm and murmurs 'a moment' before proceeding in; the moment is to look around, and make sure nothing else has been placed where the prime comedy of Jedao restraining himself can pull eyes away.

"I am sorry for the wait," she says, by way of greeting. "But we came in to release you. I see no reason to get all the way back into that. Your leg's all right now?"

active surveillance

[zuhrovet]

[How long did it take Jedao to remove the restraints? Did he set off any of the grid alarms, or did he manage to trick the algorithms into thinking he was just fidgeting?]

Re: active surveillance

[yhlee]

[He finessed the restraints gradually, under cover of the fidgeting he was doing earlier.]

Re: Captured Fox (Paging Jedao and Seyli)

[kese_seyli]

Seyli's eyes immediately go to sweep the room, when they realize what's going on. They don't even need the hand on their arm to know not to move until they get a feel for the space. They're not surprised and they don't bother to try hide anything on their face.

Re: Captured Fox (Paging Jedao and Seyli)

[yhlee]

Jedao is watching Seyli carefully. "My leg's fine," he agrees, and holds the restraints out at a point midway between Reshad and Seyli. "What now?"

Nothing else in the room has been interfered with that either of them can see.

Moth Jam Band

[kese_seyli]

Seyli, at some point, has the matter printer spit out a small drum. They've not been particularly sociable with anyone, but the moths seem interesting. Seyli can't sing and assumes drums are going to be the right kind of music for them, but wants to try anyway. Making his way toward where they're kept, they sit down and start drumming, waiting to see if anything happens.

Re: Moth Jam Band

[yhlee]

The mothlings are immediately attracted to the drumming sound, humming and singing chaotically. The Cantata hums reassuringly as the little creatures float around the drum, reaching out toward it with their tentacles. Remi emerges from his room and watches from the doorway, smiling. "That got a reaction," he remarks. He's taking notes on his slate.

Re: Moth Jam Band

[kese_seyli]

"I couldn't carry a tune if my life depended on it, so I can't sing to them like everyone else seems to be doing." As the moths float closer to the drum, Seyli lays their hand flat and taps their fingers before offering the drum to see if they want to tap it themselves.

Mothling Matters

[hoardingpearls]

Reshad has a tendency to mimic Cantata when she hears it singing, although the possibility that she may be behaving like one of the mothlings has occurred.

Thus, she finds herself helping Remi with cognitive batteries. She took psychology, like any Shuos, but considers it inarguable that he knows more. She asks questions, all the way from 'what's that' to suggesting tests for other sensory modes.

Re: Mothling Matters

[yhlee]

"Your help is much appreciated," Remi murmurs during the testing. The mothlings appear to think the tests are all some sort of game, and are generally cooperative, modulo attempts to get Reshad to play finger/tentacle-tag with them.

Among other things, the tests confirm that the mothlings are pretty good at arithmetic, have difficulty distinguishing things written on surfaces (they can't tell jeng-zai cards apart at all), but can distinguish cut-out shapes and polyhedra even through increasingly thick barriers.

Re: Mothling Matters

[zuhrovet]

"Have you tried just asking the Cantata? They told me they can hear the colors of stars, but struggle to resolve colors from less intense energy sources. Hells, I have no objection to the scientific method. But this seems really roundabout?"

At this point, Sasha realizes that the summary she overheard Remi giving was specifically directed at Reshad. She nods to her, and takes her hands out of her pockets, as if that makes a fucking difference. Sasha has thought this over several times, and the very best-case scenario is that she is on notice, and the next time she interferes with one of Reshad's plans, it's going to hurt.

The more realistic scenarios omit "next", of course. In which case, Sasha will just have to deal with whatever is coming, when it hits her. She supposes that's a flavor of trust.

assisted moth communication - paging the Cantata

[zuhrovet]

[Picking up from this thread.]

"The grid can convert human speech to text," Sasha points out. "I can give you access to the text of our public conversations, if you want? And also, I can set things up so the grid will read anything you wish to communicate aloud. But you should say something, if you are paying attention to a particular conversation. Or I can create a visual alert, if you prefer. The grid observes every vocalization and gesture, so I don't think this is very logical, but people do not like having their conversations monitored without warning."

Sasha is fairly sure that the Cantata can hear anything said on the ship already, even if they don't understand it. It's going to take a while to work through all of the possible implications.

Re: assisted moth communication - paging the Cantata

[yhlee]

[will reply to this properly tomorrow, but yes, Sasha is correct--moth communication is public by its very nature, and they can perceive mass-distributions through things because such is the nature of gravity waves. Cantata is literally not going to have the concept of privacy as a default thing.]

Re: assisted moth communication - paging the Cantata

[zuhrovet]

[So would other moths in the vicinity have been able to overhear Jedao 2's telepathic conversations with his rides?]

Re: assisted moth communication - paging the Cantata

[yhlee]

The Cantata pauses. "You can't hear everything all the time? Is this normal among your people?"

Re: assisted moth communication - paging the Cantata

[zuhrovet]

"Yes, I am typical in this regard. Walls block sound fairly effectively. If some people are in the next room with the door closed, I can hear if they are having a conversation, but I might not understand the details unless they are speaking unusually loudly or I pay very close attention. If they are multiple rooms away, I probably will not notice the conversation at all. Of course, I can ask the grid for help, just as it helps me speak to you."

Sasha ponders for a moment, then asks, "Are you able to recognize and remember the details of multiple sound-streams simultaneously? Most humans also struggle to follow more than one conversation at once, even when we can physically hear them."

Sulen check-ins

[venndaai]

Sulen is taking their job as HR officer seriously and will want to check on crew members one on one when they don't seem to be otherwise occupied.

[Respond to chat with an anxious wolf?]

Re: Sulen check-ins

[hoardingpearls]

Reshad can be found in her quarters, arranging a series of elaborate hairpins on a stand. Holography produces the image of a hair style similar to those she wears, and she seems to be decorating it, trying various combinations and placements. One particular pin, its top appearing to be a folded-metal mantis of nearly life size, is proving difficult to place. Its mesh wings flicker as she moves the pin.

She greets Sulen, sets the pin down - the mantis folds up as it turns horizontal - and waves them in. "I'm glad you visited. I do have a question or two."

Several, maybe.

Re: Sulen check-ins

[venndaai]

"I'll do my best to provide answers." They also do their best not to stare too obviously. Fashion is an utterly alien world to Sulen, both incomprehensible and extremely fascinating, particularly when colorful and intricate.

Re: Sulen check-ins

[yhlee]

Gerae slips off to see Sulen when Fluffy is napping, exhausted after another round of hatchling care. "You wanted to see me?" he asks, flushing. "I'm not an exemplary wolf, or even an exemplary corrupt wolf. But I don't want to be dead weight, either."

Re: Sulen check-ins

[venndaai]

If I were cutting crew members your name would not be first on my list passes through Sulen's mind, but is not a statement likely to improve crew cohesion. "From a certain angle, you're less corrupt than the rest," they say. "I'm working on seeing things from that perspective. I actually wanted to know if there was anything I could do for you."

Re: Sulen check-ins

[bariolage]

Ione's quarters are never open to anyone else, but she's easy to find when she's not hiding in them. She's in the common area sipping a cup of tea mindlessly while a silver-flecked pseudo-dragon hatchling lies in her lap and attempts suckling from a bottle she's holding in her other hand. Other than periodically looking at her tiny friend before she has to return them to their mother [how DO we sex these creatures, anyway, how old are they when you can tell] she is definitely not doing anything of particular import.

Unless staring at the wall is a new form of meditation she doesn't know about.

Re: Sulen check-ins

[venndaai]

Sulen clears their throat. "May I join you?" They have their own cup of tea, which had 'rose' in the name but doesn't smell as floral as they'd hoped. "How is the hatchling doing?"

all the fault lines - paging Ione, Reshad, Seyli, and Jedao

[zuhrovet]

[Picking up from this thread, since we had gone very far sideways.]

The stars are knots in hell, each and every one.

"You may play what games you like with your own life," Sasha tells Jedao, "but you may not touch my people. Am I understood?"

Re: all the fault lines - paging Ione, Reshad, Seyli, and Jedao

[yhlee]

"You are perfectly clear," Jedao says. He's regained his composure. "Is there anything else you would have me swear to, while I am under your command?"

[It will be evident to Reshad and Seyli, if not necessarily Sasha, that Jedao is going Very Formal Kel Officer here.

Ione can sense that he is deathly serious. This is a statement of allegiance.]