Nerds of a Feather Learn Together

[chefbayardee]

Who: Open to everyone!
When: Consistently in the evenings of May 9th-12th
Where: Curti Center Library, a larger conference room.
What: The howling hordes of airship pilot- and engineer-wannabes gather in one poor, poor place. And other nerds could probably study there, too.
Warnings/Notes: Feel free to write your own top-levels like with Makoto's birthday.

Wholly out of the blue, a message pings into your iMog slate, through the Kali Shashidhwaja Linkshell. When you open the notification, a horrible sound plays, and the text message's contents burst onto the screen in an explosion of confetti.

So I might've raided the Curti Center's library for everything on space, airships, piloting, and magitek. I also might have conquered conference room 3A in the library for the next few evenings. Come keep me company!

Please. It's quiet and lonely and I'm scared to leave by myself.
And I have cookies! ლ(❛ω❛ლ)

For whatever reason, you decide to head on over to the Curti Center, and you're met with a large conference room, with piles of books on the table divided by a few trays of cookies, and a few dry-erase boards because chalk is for bohemians. One, clearly at Hunk's corner of the table, has a sketch of an airship with arrows and chicken-scratched notes pointing to seemingly-random areas, as well as a blue-marker doodle of a bizarre creature circled multiple times and surrounded by question marks.

Another board across the room is partially taken up by a chart titled SKILLS! and broken into three columns: PILOT, MECHANIC, SCHOLAR. Hunk's name is written beneath each, but maybe you should write your own- there's a reason you're here, after all! And resting in the marker tray are about seven pamphlets on the Vaikuntha Pilot License Examination.

Oh, and there's a moogle sitting sternly upon the lectern next to the door, munching on a kupo nut as he gestures towards the bowl next to him, with "Donations" scribbled onto a piece of paper taped to the side.

Go wild, but shhhh! You're in a library!

( Potential baby top-level ideas include "asking your study neighbor what in the world something means," bellowing "HELLO YES I AM PILOT," and "I wandered in because free cookies but I don't want to be here and can't leave without causing a scene, help." )

Comments

2

[conniemaheswaran]

When Connie had arrived in Von Oktavia for the World Tour, she had tried every legal means available to her to get at the very least an appointment with the Linkshell Director at MogNet Central. Attempts at scheduling, wheedling, bluster, and even kupo nut bribes had all been met with polite indifference at best and scorn at worst. It had become incredibly obvious that she wouldn't be able to get any information through legitimate means. And as much as a prodigy that Connie was, she wasn't the right kind of genius to hack MogNet in the space of a month. However... one of her new friends might have that kind of completely ludicrous talent at hacking.

When Futaba takes a stretch break, Connie herself gets up and surreptitiously bumps into Futaba. "Um, hey!" she says, smiling ever so slightly fakely before whispering (genuinely whispering, not stage whispering), "How's progress on the crack? Couldn't get any info on my end from MogNet Central. I might be getting paranoid, but they've got to be hiding something considering the name of our linkshell and the level of bureaucratic security preventing anybody from getting any information whatsoever."

[promiselisting]

"Yeah, they gave me the runaround too," she admitted. She probably hadn't visited as long as Connie, but she'd also probably come to the conclusion that the straightforward method wasn't worth the effort a lot sooner (and she's lazy in that regard).

In any case... Even a month is kind of pushing it for her, to tell the truth. Oh she'd get there! There were just... wrinkles, along the way. "I'm getting closer, but it's been taking a while for me to figure out this new code. It's pretty different from anything I've ever seen before."

Idly she starts poking at it out of the corner of her eye as they keep talking.

Strength Confidant Rank 3: Can unlock rune-secured chests and disable magic security systems.

[conniemaheswaran]

"Yeah, that makes sense. I'm half convinced that MogNet runs on some unholy hybrid of kupo nut-flavored bubblegum, duct tape, wishes, and a sprinkling of actual code," Connie says, peeking over Futaba's shoulder at the display. Considering how it seemed to break at least twice every month, Connie was fairly certain that the moogles--or whoever was really running MogNet if it wasn't them--only knew what they were doing 20% of the time.

"Speaking of, I might be able to help out. Kinda. Even with Von Oktavia's technology, there has to be at least some kind of magical component in these things. I've gotten a headache from memorizing runes and runic syntax, if you need any advice for that stuff I can lend a hand."

[promiselisting]

"Pretty much where I'm at too," she sighs, pulling her hand away a moment to crawl underneath her glassess and rub at her eyes. Maybe she needs a bit longer of a break. Her eyes are at the stingy phase of 'staring too long at a screen.'

"That might be why it's taking so long though... If I had to guess, there's probably a lot of weird stuff from trying to translate something that's logicless - or at least has a really really different logic - into code logic." Goodness knew how many forms magic probably took across fiction. It might be worth it to try to see if she can find out all of the intricacies of this world's magic so she could figure out how it translated, but uh. That'd take more time than just trying to figure out the code.

[conniemaheswaran]

"I mean, when in Rome..." Connie shrugs. Then again, it was difficult to just adjust her cognition to the point where she could accept that crystals could supply near-unlimited energy all on their own and create streams of elemental energy with the right adjustments, and she had been friends with the Gems for years. "...act like the crazy people who somehow make things blow up by dramatically yelling the names of their spells and making weird-looking gestures. Seriously though, I've already been doing some research on what exactly makes magic work here. It's been slow going, but there might be some useful tidbits in there. I'll scan the journals anyways and DM the findings to you. Maybe you'll see something I don't."

Connie gives Futaba an appraising look. Oh, yes, she knew that expression all to well. She had worn it innumerable times herself. "Alright, c'mon. Time to take a break. I'm enough of a nerd to recognize the signs of mental overexertion."

[promiselisting]

She doesn't actually... say anything to that per se. Just makes a whiny sort of groan and slumps forward. C'mon she's on a roooooll (except not really), don't drag her out to do like. Social things. Or outside things. Or non-tech-related things. Breaks are for the weak.

She leaves her tablet where it is though, which is enough of an indication that yeah, she's taking Connie seriously. She's just being a whiny butt about it.

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie takes her by the hand and leads her out of the study room, going out into the Curti Center campus. Human geniuses tended to forget that they were, well, human, and thus needed fuel. "Food?" she asks.

[promiselisting]

"Sure," she sighs.

Okay no not just sure because wow she hadn't even noticed her stomach felt hollow? But she can't actually let on that she's realized this is in fact a good idea. That'd ruin the fun of it.

Also the comparatively noisy Curti Center cafeteria does sound less fun, hungry or not, but oh well. Sacrifices and all that.

[conniemaheswaran]

Thankfully, this late at night, the cafeteria is relatively quiet. As they line up to get their food, Connie asks, "Soooo, did this happen a lot back where you're from? The, um, forgetting you're a human that needs sustenance to survive part."

[promiselisting]

"Sometimes..." she replies vaguely, "Usually it was sleep."

Especially when she'd been affected by her Palace, she'd tended to oscillate wildly, between going days with barely any sleep, scouring the internet for her mom's research, to spending a week or so barely able to stay up long for Sojiro to get her to eat something. And sometimes a few days after that too, when she'd fall back asleep repeatedly because dreams were easier to deal with than reality.

Futaba's side of this confidant link was a little low for her to be going into that, though.


"They got any curry tonight?" she asks. Might as well see if this place's is worth its salt.

[conniemaheswaran]

"Looks like it." Thankfully, the line was nonexistent due to the time, and Connie's mouth waters at the selection of curries that were available. Unfortunately, all of them are Indian-style rather than Japanese-style, and while Connie doesn't care one whit, Futaba might.

[promiselisting]

She does, in fact. She makes a disappointed whining sound. Okay true, the biggest difference between Japanese and Indian curry is that the former tends to be served more as a stew but still.

"So uh. You're gonna have to tell me which ones are good," she mumbles dejectedly. None of these look at all familiar. Woe is her life. Maybe they have ramen at least, if nothing else?

[conniemaheswaran]

"Hmmm, well, it depends on what you like!" Connie says, as she takes a few dollops from one of the tubs of curry. "If you like it spicy, I'd recommend the madras," Connie points to appropriate tub with her ladle, "but fair warning, it tends to vary depending on where it's served, and considering that I have no idea how curry recipes even got on Vaikuntha in the first place it might be really different than what I'm used to. I'm personally partial to saag, but it's super thick and the amount of spinach in it can be a bit offputting to some people. Oh, and you can't go wrong with tikka masala!"

[promiselisting]

"I guess... I'll start with that, then..."

She wasn't sure about the idea of super-thick curry, and while she liked some spice, she liked the savory flavors just as much, if not more. Not to mention she's already had a too-spicy curry lately.

So she loads some of the tikka masala onto a plate. Thankfully they do happen to have rice as well. And then tables! And chairs, and sitting. All that good stuff.

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie sits down and digs in to her own meal, stifling a yawn here and there. Okay, okay, she might not be practicing what she preached to Futaba. In fact, she might stay up for more than a day straight working to squeeze more efficiency out of her devices, a fact evidenced by the deep bags under her eyes.

[promiselisting]

Yeah, now that she's getting a moment to look at Connie, she can tell. "Y'know you kinda look like the dead walking yourself."

She doesn't comment on much other than that since... again, no position to really talk. Instead she digs into her food. Mn... it's not LeBlanc curry, but it isn't bad. It'll do.

[conniemaheswaran]

Connie chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of her head. Okay, Futaba might have a point. Maybe. She probably did. "Yeah, I, um... miiiight be stretching myself a bit thin. I know, I know, practicing what I preach, but there's school and grinding and experiments and investigating and occasionally I lose track of time and obsessively work on a thing for like more than a day straight and then collapse for longer than that and so uh yeah."