[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]

Would you change it if you had a choice?

[quadrangle]

[... The fuck.]

NO? I MEAN WHAT WOULD BE THE POINT. THAT'S HOW OUR WHOLE SYSTEM WORKS.
UH. REPRODUCTIVELY, TOO.

[bloodbiter]

I don't wish to discuss that last portion any further.

[Her sensibilities!!]

How does that sort of system benefit you. precisely?

[quadrangle]

BECAUSE IT MAKES OUR SPECIES STRONGER GENETICALLY THE BETTER PAIRED WE ARE IN EACH QUADRANT.

[Seriously, why does he have to explain this.]

[bloodbiter]

You equate strength to how hateful or capable of pity you are?

[quadrangle]

NO I MEAN
ARGH. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS IN THE REPRODUCTIVE PART WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT.

[bloodbiter]

Maybe we should talk about who Troll Will Smith is after all.

[quadrangle]

MAYBE.
THERE ARE TWO OTHER QUADRANTS LEFT TOO IF YOU WANTED TO KNOW THEM. OR DID YOU JUST WANT TO ASK ABOUT THE PITY AND HATE THING?

[bloodbiter]

I'd like to know the other two as long as they aren't improper, if I may.

[quadrangle]

THEY'RE NOT IMPROPER, I PROMISE.
OK LET'S START OFF WITH MOIRALLEGIANCE, ALSO KNOWN AS THE PALE QUADRANT. THAT'S THE ♦ IN THE DIAGRAM.
MOIRALLEGIANCE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO TROLLS WHOSE PERSONALITIES COMPLEMENT AND BALANCE EACH OTHER'S OUT. USUALLY ONE HALF OF THE PAIRING IS MORE UNSTABLE AND THE OTHER IS MORE EVEN TEMPERED. WE'RE A VIOLENT RACE, SO THESE RELATIONSHIPS ARE CRUCIAL FOR KEEPING TROLLS FROM HURTING EACH OTHER OR THEMSELVES.
SO MOIRAILS KEEP EACH OTHER SANE AND HELP THEM TO FLOURISH IN OTHER ASPECTS OF THEIR LIVES BY, WELL, BASICALLY BY HELPING THEM TO BE BETTER TROLLS.
ANY QUESTIONS SO FAR?

[bloodbiter]

Yes.

You say your people are violent, but this kind of relationship seems to imply that you also understand violence is counterproductive and undesirable. If you create unions to prevent it, why not work to create a culture where violence isn't common in the first place?

[quadrangle]

[wHAT IS WITH THESE QUESTIONS]

COUNTERPRODUCTIVE AND UNDESIRABLE IN CERTAIN CONTEXTS, NOT OTHERS. AND IT'S BIOLOGICAL? IT'S NOT SOMETHING WE CAN JUST SWITCH OFF, HENCE MOIRALLEGIANCE.

[bloodbiter]

[Look!! His society is weird and she has Concerns.]

All the same, if it's only instinctual to the point that another person can help you control it, I don't see why you cannot do so yourself.

[quadrangle]

LOOK THIS SUBJECT WOULDN'T BE SO FASCINATING IF WE KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. EVEN I DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW PALE ATTRACTION WORKS, IT JUST HAPPENS! I'M ASSUMING THERE'S SOME EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE, LIKE WITH KISMESISSITUDE AND MATESPRITSHIP? WHERE TROLLS THOUSANDS OF SWEEPS AGO FORMED THESE RELATIONSHIPS TO PREVENT WIDESPREAD MASSACRES OR SOMETHING, TO THE POINT WHERE IT BECAME THE NORM, BUT THAT STILL DOESN'T GET TO THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE ISSUE.
JUST. IT WORKS. AND THAT'S HOW WE DO THINGS.

[bloodbiter]

It just seems troublesome that companionship is the only thing stopping people from committing widespread massacres, as you put it.

[quadrangle]

WELL IT'S
PRETTY NORMAL? WHERE I COME FROM. I MEAN NOT MASSACRES SPECIFICALLY BUT PEOPLE DIE ALL THE TIME FROM ALL SORTS OF THINGS, INCLUDING OTHER TROLLS.

[bloodbiter]

That sort of thing absolutely should not be normal.

[quadrangle]

DIFFERENT PLANET, DIFFERENT RULES. THAT'S JUST HOW IT IS.

@jwatson; text; Day 201

[jumpthegun]

[John finds this a few days later when he's not a complete ball of misery, and he is, admittedly, intrigued. A part of him wonders if Moriarty's obsession with Sherlock would fall under the kiss-whatever one - the spades.]

How is this one different from a best friend? That's what I'd call it for humans, at least with some people.

[quadrangle]

[... oh. Oh, god. This is not a subject he'd expected to be revisited.]

HEY. YEAH MOIRALLEGIANCE CAN SEEM A LOT LIKE FRIENDSHIP AND VICE VERSA, BUT YOU'RE MOIRAILS WITH SOMEONE SPECIFICALLY IF YOU HELP CURB THEIR DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS ON TOP OF BALANCING THEM OUT PERSONALITY-WISE. SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS TOO.
IT'S NOT JUST BEING FRIENDS, IT'S CARING DEEPLY ABOUT SOMEONE AND WANTING THE BEST FOR THEM AND STEPPING IN TO KEEP THEM FROM FUCKING EVERYTHING UP BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO AWFUL AT MANAGING THEMSELVES TO DO IT WITHOUT YOU.
LIKE I TOLD ADELINA, PALE ATTRACTION IS A STRANGE THING EVEN FOR TROLLS. IT CAN BE HARD TO PICK APART FROM FRIENDSHIP *AND* FLUSHED RELATIONSHIPS SOMETIMES, BUT OTHER TIMES, IT'S OBVIOUS.

[jumpthegun]

[That's sounding uncomfortably close to his relationship with Sherlock.]

No, well, that's just the difference between mates and your best mate. You do anything for them, including stopping them from doing something that's liable to get them punched.

[quadrangle]

OH OF COURSE, WHAT WAS I THINKING! OBVIOUSLY THE HUMAN WHO DIDN'T GROW UP WITH THESE CONCEPTS HAMMERED INTO HIS THINK PAN AND DIDN'T SPEND LITERAL SWEEPS THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATING THIS AND OTHER ROMANTIC PHENOMENA AND COMPARING AND CONTRASTING THEM WITH THOSE OF AN ALIEN CULTURE WOULD KNOW BETTER THAN I, WHO BOTH HAS *AND* WHO'S HAD A MOIRAIL BEFORE.
IT'S FUCKING DIFFERENT. YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A PUNCH TO THE FACE, NOT LIFE AND DEATH AND STARING THEM IN THE EYES KNOWING YOU'RE THE ONLY THING STOPPING THEM FROM MAKING THE WRONG DECISION. OR THEY'RE THE ONLY THING STOPPING YOU.
AND NO IT ISN'T ALWAYS LIFE AND DEATH BUT YOU'D BE THERE FOR THEM IF IT WAS AND THEY'D BE THERE FOR YOU, LIKE YOU'RE THERE FOR EACH OTHER FOR EVERYTHING ELSE. STOPPING THEM GETTING PUNCHED IS ONLY THE START.
LOOK I KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE FORMAL QUADRANTS ON EARTH BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE ENTIRELY SEPARATE FROM WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW. THERE'S BOUND TO BE SOME OVERLAP IF NOT THINGS THAT ARE COMPLETELY IDENTICAL. AND MAYBE YOU DON'T THINK OF THOSE RELATIONSHIPS IN THOSE TERMS BUT COULD YOU FUCKING NOT TRY AND TELL ME THAT MOIRALLEGIANCE IS JUST A FANCY NAME FOR BEING SOMEONE'S BFF??

[jumpthegun]

That is not romance. You said yourself it's platonic.

[quadrangle]

GUESS WHAT ASSHOLE THE ONLY TIME I USED "PLATONIC" WAS WHEN I WAS TALKING ABOUT ROMANTIC VERSUS PLATONIC PITY AND ROMANTIC VERSUS PLATONIC HATE. *THIS* IS ROMANTIC PITY.

[Although. Wait. Oh my god.]

HOLY FUCK TELL ME YOU AREN'T THIS STUPID. DO YOU MEAN IT ISN'T ROMANCE BECAUSE IT ISN'T CONCUPISCENT? IS THAT SERIOUSLY YOUR SOLE CRITERIA. YOU CAN STILL HAVE A DEEP EMOTIONAL CONNECTION TO SOMEONE WITHOUT WANTING TO FUCK THEM, OR ISN'T THAT HOW YOUR WHOLE "FAMILY" SYSTEM WORKS? OR HOW SOME OF IT WORKS?
JUST TRUST ME IT'S POSSIBLE.

[jumpthegun]

Family members aren't typically romantically involved with each other. If they are, they're either royalty back in the 1800s or they're doing something illegal. Deep emotional connections aren't romance. For humans, that term implies you're physically attracted to someone, as well as any other way you're attracted to them.