text | calling across the cosmos

[genice]

There's quite a few of us who are new arrivals, yeah? I'm told we should make ourselves comfortable and get to know our neighbors. It's been eight months since I last really moved anywhere, so hello! My name is Victor Nikiforov. If any one of you feels like discussing our new location or occupations or anything else, please join me for a drink!

[ He even includes a ping for the bar he's at. Conversations up to this point have been anything but promising. So here he is. In space. Surrounded by space people. Talking to other "we did not want to end up in space, probably" people. ]

Also, three questions! Who is fond of dogs, is there anything like Instagram on these, and who knows anything about figure skating?

Comments

un: longshot

[andreios]

In order? Me. I don't know what that is. I know a little. Wasn't my sport but I know how it's done.

[ Maybe. He knows how it was done on Caprica. ]

[genice]

[ Ah, congratulations, the first reply he gets is a picture of Victor holding Makkachin up and giving a peace sign while a monitor showing S P A C E is behind them. ]

Instagram would be where you post pictures like this, and add hashtags! I'd probably use #poodleinspace for this one.

Ah, thank you for answering. Figure skating doesn't appear to be much of anything here. Not surprising, it's not what I would think of as being a space friendly sport. About dogs, would you ever be up for dog-sitting or dog-walking, if it was needed? I don't think that it will be, but you never know.

[andreios]

Oh. We had something like that where I'm from.

No. Wasn't much of a sport on the last ship I served on either. But yeah, sure. If you need someone to watch your dog, I can do it. Name's Sam.

un: NEKOMARU!!!NIDAI!!!

[nodyinteam]

Ha! I'll gladly tell you my name!

MY NAME IS NEKOMARU NIDAI, AND I'M THE SUPER HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL TEAM MANAGER!!!

As for your questions... I happen to be quite fond of dogs. I don't anything about an 'Instagram', and I'm not too handy with this sort of technology in general. And I do happen to know quite a bit about figure skating! I've coached a skater in the past.

[genice]

[ He did not expect to see so much bold, but hey, he can roll with it! ]

Nice to meet you, Nekomaru Nidai. What a fun coincidence! I was most recently coaching a figure skater as well. What level were you coaching on?

As for the question about dogs, I'll repeat what I asked someone else. Would you ever be up for dog walking or watching if it was needed? I don't think it will, but it's good to know who might be willing in case it ever is.

[nodyinteam]

You are, huh? Now that's great! It's good to meet someone else who knows about handling athletes. All of my managing work is done at the interscholastic level, but those who learn under me quickly surpass me, and that figure skater was no exception!

I'm honored that you'd ask such a question of me, when we've just started knowing each other! [He'll try not to cry on his communicator.] Of course, I would be honored to take on a task like that! In fact, if there were enough dogs involved, I would train them to act as a dog sled team, free of charge!

( un: apollo )

[aploun]

Those are pretty wildly different topics.

I like dogs. Don't know what Instagram is. I know of figure skating but that's about it.

[genice]

Wildly different topics for wildly different times!

[ But of course, when it comes time to explain Instagram, all he does is send a picture of a dog (standard poodle, brown, puppycut and thus in all his glorious fur) standing next to a monitor showing the Great Space Beyond the hull of the ship. It's a fairly neat little snapshot, with the dog looking back at the photographer as is he's curious what's going on. ]

It's a site where you post photos you take from where you are and tag them with hashtags. I'd probably use something like #poodleinspace for this one!

Have you ever been skating, or is it more you've heard of figure skating and know it exists? Talking with the crewmembers here, most don't even seem to think it's something people really do.

Oh! Would you be willing to help dog walk or dog watch sometime if there was a need? Makkachin is well behaved, and I don't see any reason why I'd need help watching him right now, but it doesn't hurt to get an idea before there's a need.

[aploun]

[ Are they wildly different times??? Lee isn't so sure about that. ]

Skating was something people did in rinks or on lakes if it was cold enough. Not something people really do in space.

[ What even is this request... ]

I honestly don't think I'm the right one for the job. Thanks, though. [ ???? ] For asking.

[straycloud]

Hello! It's fun to move around, isn't it?

Dogs are nice. ∪●ᴥ●∪
I've never seen an Instagram.
Ice skating is fun, but it'd be better if you could do it without everything being frozen.

[genice]

When you're choosing where to go, yes.

I don't think it's ice skating anymore when you stop skating on ice. Though it's nicer in a rink thank outdoors. The ice is better maintained for obvious reasons.

[ the joke here about Victor explaining Instagram is he has enough photos already to have, well, posted to instagram. Meaning he treats this new acquaintance with a photo of himself and Makkachin, sitting in front of a fountain with a particularly ornate figure spouting water in the middle. His visible arm is flung over his dog's shoulders, and the poodle is looking pretty happy with the state of affairs. ]

Instagram is a site where you post images of the places you are and tag them with hashtags. I think for this one #arborfountain or #spacegardens would have worked!

On the subject of dogs, would you ever be able or willing to help dog walk or dog watch? I don't think there's a need, but I figured I should ask sooner instead of later on just in case.

[remainingtwin]

I'm not old enough to drink, I'll pass.

[She debates on what else to say, because just saying that sounds rude as hell. She stares at his other questions, stares at a wall for a few seconds to debate her life, then heaves a sigh and continues]

Dogs are cute. I don't know what an instagram is. I've done figure skating before, but it wasn't something I was allowed to really do so I stopped.

[genice]

[ He's glad to hear this person knows their boundaries pretty well. Good on you, person who is most likely a teenager! Given the differences in drinking ages in the countries he remembers the drinking age of, it's... the only presumption he's really willing to make.

Is there a drinking age in space? Huh. Never occurred to him to ask. ]

Why weren't you allowed to figure skate?

[ Sure, it's expensive if one plans on going anywhere significant with it, but that's... not the same as being "allowed" to figure skate. Meaning he's been derailed off the rest of what he's saying, because that is honestly baffling to him. ]

[remainingtwin]

[Well he's not wrong. She's got about 2 years before she hits the drinking age of japan... Who knows what the drinking age in SPACE was. Maybe some crew members would know, but Mio isn't inclined to ask.

She also regrets this conversation already because she knew that question was going to come. This is what she got for trying to be honest.]

My twin sister was hurt when we were little. She couldn't walk very well, let alone skate. I couldn't do anything she couldn't do, not really. I did do ballet though, and she'd do sitting gymnastics... I tried skating, but she didn't like me doing it, so.

[So obviously she had to quit like what else could she do??]

un: aximili

[canadese]

hello victor nikiforov i am axmili esgarrouth isthill i dont understand the rest of your questions

this made me laugh out loud jsyk

[genice]

Nice to meet you, Axmili Esgarrouth Isthill.

[ that's one heck of a name there, friend. ]

Starting from the offer to talk over drinks, or starting from not knowing what dogs are, what Instagram is, or what figure skating is?

I'M HERE 2 SERVE

[canadese]

[all of them except for the dogs. he knows what dogs are.]

i was under the impression it was impossible to talk over drinks as humans only have one mouth was i wrong

[masterstudent]

If you're looking for a mirror I'm sure the fleet can provide. Whether it can stand your ego or not is another question.

[Thinking Victor is a dog fishing for compliments, ugh... Some people.]

As for everything else I am Tigress.

[The rest of that doesn't need to be answered. They sound pretty frivolous!!!]

[genice]

[ He's taken aback, but only for a moment: he... he's not sure why this is about him looking at himself! In fact he's not sure what that means at all. But that's fine! He can roll with it. It's harmless, after all. ]

Ahahaha, well then, Tigress, it is nice to meet you.

[ ... okay so what does he say to someone named after a fierce predator who just said he has a hell of an ego? ]

So that was a no to conversation over drinks, right?

[ ... you know that probably does not make him seem less self involved. Does he care? Glancing down at Makkachin and running his hand over his dog's head, he determines: no. He really, really doesn't care. He does just want to talk about how the crewmembers he's spoken with keep insisting there is no way back, no way home, and the only way off is to leave by choice to some other ship, station, or world, or to die. The glint of gold on his hand is bittersweet, just as the frustration tells him that two days away is two days too long and too late anyway. The immensity of his accidental betrayal of Yuri's trust and faith in him, that he isn't there by his side right now —

Tigress can thing he's egocentric. It's not always wrong, but it's not who he is in this moment. Mostly, he's a guy at a bar with his dog parked under the table, which is a kind of novel experience all on its own. That he's feeling heartbroken and like he's the Worst of the Worst is a personal problem that, apparently, he can do nothing about. ]

[masterstudent]

[...This guy... No, Victor is not endearing himself to Tigress. But neither can it be said sulking in her room is doing her duty to the valley. And, in a place she is loathe to admit, the feeling of being trapped in a room with only her rage for company is not one she had ever wanted to go back to.

She can...do this. Be polite. Courteous. A master.]

The atrium has a peach tree in blossom. If you wish to talk we can find no spot better.

[This is her offer. An olive branch. ...Of sorts.]

TEXT, UN: ░░░░░░

[doxing]

(look at that location pop right up. unsurprisingly, she's nowhere near it, but sombra's due for a wander.)

Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov ... An interesting choice for a space program

[genice]

( he wants OUT OF THIS PROGRAM and yet, here he is, locked into skating it through to the nebulous end, if he doesn't stubbornly keep hope because he's not one for really caving to depression. Makkachin merely rests against his legs under the table, tail thumping as one of the other patrons walks by. )

And to think, there's not even a rink anywhere in sight.

( tragedy. though what else he writes is a nod to absolutely everything he's encountered here so far: )

You'd think the qualification process would be more strenuous.

[doxing]

(dogs don't care if they're in space, they only want pets.

honestly, sombra can see why they'd choose her specifically. she's a genius in her field; she can hack anything she literally puts her mind to and siphon information in seconds. that's perfect for reconnaissance, spy work, double agent bullshit, anything they can possibly dream up. yet they made her a reporter for a gossip mag.)

You'll have to start a petition, amigo, skating is probably a foreign concept to aliens -

Water is a precious element not found often in most systems

un: blackbird

[tenkofan]

I am.
Unknown; unfamiliar.
No. What is it?

[genice]

Would you be willing to help dog watch in the future?

( This is called being shameless because he's sussing things out. We're so sorry... )

Instagram is a website where you make an account and post the pictures you take to it for the people who follow you on that site to see. It's too bad no one seems to have found anything similar here.

Figure skating is a demanding and artistic competitive sport performed on ice. Does "ice skating" sound familiar to you at all?