[network] @genresavvy; video; night 199 [open]

[theurgy]

Hey.

[Cassel gives his tablet an exaggerated wave.]

So I was talking to Winter earlier, and she agreed to make an app for me. Whatever it is will interface with the technology around town wirelessly, or so she says, so we can use it on the servers in town hall. You know, assuming we ever get there. Anyway, she didn't actually give it to me yet, but I'll keep you all updated.

[A shining beacon of positivity. He sighs, raking his hand through his hair.]

In other news, my feet are fucking freezing, because no one gave me the heads up that I'd be taking the vacation from hell in the middle of Bumfuck, Alaska, so I need some shoes. Or socks, whatever, I'm not picky. I'll trade for them, but don't waste my time and try to scalp me. [There's the slightest pause.] Uh, thanks.

Comments

[bloodbiter]

But if nobody has a pair available, at least think about it before your feet are seriously injured.

[She will fuss forever.]

[theurgy]

Okay, okay, I'll think about it. I promise.

[No he won't.]

[bloodbiter]

[And then...]

I understand very little of what this person is saying. Who is Will Smith?

[theurgy]

I don't either. Will Smith is an actor. He's pretty famous where I'm from.

[bloodbiter]

[She pauses.]

He's a performer, not a blacksmith? What a strange name.

[Smith is misleading, or something.]

[theurgy]

Yeah, like... plays, I guess, but recorded the way we record things with the tablets, so more people can watch them. A lot of family names are like relics where I'm from, and they change a lot over time.

[bloodbiter]

Oh, you're talking about a movie! Someone explained those to me. They sound fascinating.

[Interesting.]

What does yours mean?

[theurgy]

Sharpe? I don't know. It was my dad's name. My mom's name was Singer, but I always figured that came from Singh. Sometimes when people move from place to place on Earth they change their names to fit in better.

[bloodbiter]

I see.

[And then, because she's curious:]

Where did they travel from?

[theurgy]

[Cassel smiles a little.]

I don't know that, either. We're Italian or Indian or a million other things depending on when you ask my grandpa, as long as he can spin some crazy story out of it.

[bloodbiter]

Was there a reason they didn't give you a concrete answer about where they were from?

[theurgy]

[He shrugs.]

I don't even know if my grandpa knows. There's a lot about my family we don't talk about.

[That's weird, Cassel. Also, more accurately, there's a lot his family refuses to tell him specifically. Oops.]

[bloodbiter]

[It's not really surprising to her - she still remembers what he told her. Con artists and criminals.]

Have you been to either place?

[theurgy]

Nope. I've never been outside of the U.S. Sometimes I get people talking to me in random languages I don't understand, though. That's weird.

[bloodbiter]

[That's not something she expected to hear, and it gives her pause.]

...How strange. Do you know why they do so?

[theurgy]

Because I look like I should understand them, I guess.

[bloodbiter]

How can you look like you should speak a certain language?

[theurgy]

Uh. Stereotypes?

[Adelina, stop asking deep questions!]

[bloodbiter]

[It's not her fault she has ten thousand questions!!]

Because of where you might be from, or another reason?

[theurgy]

Yeah, and because of what I look like.

[Shrugs!]

I don't know, it's not a big deal.

[bloodbiter]

We needn't speak about it if you don't want to. It just seems very strange to me.

[theurgy]

No, it doesn't bother me to talk about, I just don't think about it much.

[bloodbiter]

[Prejudice isn't something foreign to her home, of course, but it's not brought about by the things he's talking about.]

What do you mean by the way you look?

[theurgy]

My skin's brown, so people think I should be speaking... I don't know. Spanish or Hindi or something.

[bloodbiter]

Do most people with your skin tone know how to speak both?