melodiesofeternity | Nerds of a Feather Learn Together

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." )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hunk was a bit engrossed in his reading, but Red carries a bit of a unique visual profile, since he's a caninu. So he knew the moment his friend walked in the door. And upon seeing that Red found his way to The Garbage Book of Mistakes, Hunk just rolled his eyes and scoffed, but that scoff broke into a wry little chuckle. ]

Yeah, it's... not good. I learned more about the Dream Width on the first day. It... [ He trails off, scratching at the back of his neck. ] ...might help that I'm highly trained spacefaring engineer, but I didn't get much out of it. [ And then his eyes scan the rest of the room real quick. ]

Plus, the rest of these nerds are reading stuff way more in-depth.

[Well, Red WOULD take a moment to see if a quick flip through its pages would yield anything promising or informative; who knows? There might be a snippet about lost items or how to return back to one's own world... but after eyeballing three chapters on profiling and two on checking for activity, he was convinced he'd seen enough and set the book back down with a grimace.]

Ugh. No kiddin'. This is half nonsense and half bad opinions.

So what'd'ja find in the good books? I'm waitin' my turn for a copy of the Pilot's Handbook to turn up.

The Handbook? [ Hunk absentmindedly poked a a few buttons on his slate while scanning the books Red had picked out. Vaikunthan armaments and an airship encyclopedia? Clever. A ping on Red's slate comes with a notification of a new message- Hunk sent him some handwritten notes from the Pilot's Handbook! With a smiley face, of course. ] Eh, you'll manage.

The one book was nothing but rules, which is great for my nerves. [ He laughs gesturing to a book with enough tabs to crash an internet browser. ] And MDMA-3 just has me ecstatic. Did you know that hulls made of an alloy combining iron, mythril, and darksteel are almost as sturdy as adamantine, but provide more defense to magical and elemental attacks? Cheaper too.

But some monsters know where to aim on an airship to take it out, no matter how hard you defend. [ And then he sighs. ] Still, learn something new every day.

Really? I'd have thought somethin' called 'Darksteel' would be indestructible. Does that mean we're gonna hafta plan all our routes and flights around monster attacks? Or does everyone strap a set of cannons onto the hull just in case?

...Or do they have airships that are are used specifically for hunting monsters? [Because if they do, Red... would probably be up for taking a shot at that.]

Well... [ Hunk pauses for just a moment, glancing towards the book he's reading. This conversation was more interesting, so he yoinks the pamphlet from his headband and uses it to bookmark his page. ]

The countries have been at this for years, so their flight routes do a good job of avoiding where the nastier monsters hunt. [ He smiles. One less thing to worry about. ] Some airships have cannons on the side, and some get energy shield modules so the hull doesn't have to do all the work.

[ And then he grins, shooting a mischievous look at Red. ] And some have both. They're probably the ones that fight monsters, if anyone's that crazy.

[Buddy, you're LOOKING at him.]

...You gotta give me that book when you're done with it. Now all I can think about is whether or not they'll let me bring Magitek Armor onto an airship!

Any big names in the monster huntin' business you picked up? Any famous pilots?

[...Because if there aren't, he just might try and become the first.]

Consider it yours when I'm done, then! [ Hunk smiles, and closes the book. No way he's getting any reading done, and that's a-okay with him. ] I think if an airship can carry all those giant guns and a bunch of passengers, you should be fine!

[ He doesn't want to mention the military-grade airships that are prevalent throughout all of Vaikuntha, because then Hunk starts thinking about war. And that's not a good train of thought for this conversation. There is a hint of discomfort and an awkward chuckle, though- Hunk's not that good at hiding his emotions. ]

Hopefully they aren't puttin' those passengers on the monster-fighting ships...

[Thankfully, Red is VERY good at ignoring discomfort.]

That the kinda license you're goin' for?... Is there even a different process for becoming an monster-hunting-airship pilot?

Well... [ His mood darkens, and he can't really push aside the horrors of Vaikuntha anymore. ] If a bigger monster tries to hunt somewhere else, even the safe routes could be dangerous.

[ His shoulders shift, and a frown grows clear. ] Evasive maneuvers look like they're part of getting the permit. [ But he smiles, albeit an uneasy one, and gives a thumbs-up. ]

But the airships wouldn't be cleared to transport things if they crumpled like tissue paper the moment something happened. It should be fine. [ He does not sound like he thinks it's fine. ]

[And from the look on Red's face, he's not having any trouble at all spying Hunk's heart on his sleeve.] Huh. Y'know, if all that talk about huge dragons and wyverns and stuff is true, That's actually a good call. [Imagine that.] Not gonna make getting that license any easier, though.

What do they use on 'em, harpoons?

I mean, they could use harpoons, but that'd be stupid. [ He says it matter of fact, not paying any mind to the idea. See, he's got a little grin, because he's been researching airship defenses. ]

There's stuff like machine guns, heat lasers, torpedoes, and magitek beams. [ And he lets out a maniacal little cackle. ] These are so much cooler than harpoons! Absolutely amazerbeams.

Hey!! I used to fish for flying monsters with a h--

[Hold on. That all sounded a heck of a lot better than his old skyfishing harpoon. Probably could fit on a mecha too-- He WAS looking for a way to get DAHAK back up to speed...]

--oookay never mind those sound a LOT better. When do we get the training for those??

I dunno! [ Hunk shrugs, and is still grinning. ] I mean from what I was reading, the good ones should be automatic, just lock-on with the targeting system and fire! Pa-kow!

[ And then he does a little bit of jazz hands, imitating a small explosion. ] It makes sense, because if the guns were manned, a monster could take 'em out and kill someone.

[ Hunk winces, looking down for a moment. ] We don't wanna deal with that. [ Have an awkward chuckle! Death is terrifying. ]

Nerds of a Feather Learn Together

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