Event Log: Soulmates

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for Soulmates event
Where: All over the city
When: February 14th-February 22nd
Warnings: None

Oh shit, what even happened last night? You're pretty sure you had a normal night, no crazy drunk antics (unless that is your normal night). But this morning you woke up with a brand new tattoo, and it's... a name?

Maybe it's a name you recognize, one of your good friends. Maybe it's a stranger. Maybe it's someone you can barely stand. No matter who it is, you kind of feel like you should look for them and figure out what's going on with this weird tattoo. And when you find them - well, they've got one too, except this one is your name. It would seem weird, except as soon as you see each other you kind of understand. Of course you'd have a tattoo with the name of the person you've found such an amazing connection with. You were meant to be together.

So enjoy your time with your newfound soulmate. Who knows, you might wake up tomorrow with a whole new name on your arm, a new connection, a new love. Make the most of it!

► This log covers February 14th-February 22nd
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you try to pull off a stupid stunt to impress your soulmate and fail so miserably you die, please let us know here.

Comments

[coyoteking]

You want to learn Mandarin? I'm not perfect at the accent, but I've got a good handle on the inflection and everything.

[He may or may not have learned it to deal with Chinese mobsters, but you know.]

[unphase]

Yes, that's it! Mandarin. Sorry, you know I'm not a native Terran. And the infliction is already way ahead of what I can do.

[however he learned it, learning it at all is impressive. she's heard it's difficult]

[coyoteking]

I mean there's also Cantonese, but it's different. And probably some other languages, too. But yeah, you're forgiven, it's a lot to keep track of.

[Every country on Earth has several languages, so.]

So for my part, I want to learn your native language. I have no idea what it even sounds like, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

[unphase]

It really is, especially with the whole thousand year time difference thing. So much can change!

That's fine. Bgztlian is a little rough for non-natives to learn how to speak---there are a lot of consonants where the vowels are kind of assumed, but I think you can do it.

[coyoteking]

It's fine, I like a challenge.

[It's said sort of jokingly, but then, that's true too. Life is boring when everything's easy. Makes him feel nervous, too.]

The main thing to remember about Mandarin is that your tone and pitch matter. A word can have lots of different meanings depending on where you emphasize and how high your voice is.

[And now he's nerding out about languages, excellent work.]

[unphase]

It will definitely be that. So, where do you want to have our lessons? One of our apartments or a corner booth at the Speakeasy?

[she'd be happy with either option, but truth be told is leaning more towards the Speakeasy]

Oh, wow, really? Speaking of challenges! I don't know of any languages other than Durlan that does that. I tried teaching a Durlan teammate Basic. It . . . didn't go well. But Basic is complicated and my old teacher told me that when it came to Basic, the only rule was there were no rules.

But Bgztlian is even harder, thanks to the whole assumed vowels thing. My name back home is actually "Tnya Wzzo."

[coyoteking]

Speakeasy works.

[He doesn't drink much, but he prefers the atmosphere.]

And if Basic is anything like English, that's pretty much true. I've heard it's one of the hardest languages to learn, but I don't know, it's just my native language, so it's hard for me to tell.

[He's basically cheating.]

But hey, if I could do English as a kid, I can do Bgztlian.

[unphase]

Sounds good.

[she doesn't, either, mostly because unless it's the blonde girl behind the bar, they give her a hard time about drinking]

And Basic was based on English, only it has its own alphabet which replaced the English one as people moved away from handwriting anything. That alphabet is called Interlac.

[Basic was her second language and it was weird]

I think you can! The sentence construction isn't that different, it's just all of those consonants.

[coyoteking]

People don't handwrite much in my time, either. The only things I ever handwrite are a signature and some notes to myself. Everything else is typed.

[Which is more convenient, so he's not complaining.]

The consonants sound like they'll take time to get used to, but I think I'll have an easier time speaking it than writing it. But that always seems to be the case. I don't know if I'm just a bad reader, or what.

[unphase]

Same here. Handwriting's so 20th century. [she says in a teasing tone and gives him a friendly nudge.

and she winks] It's not the consonants that'll get you, it's the assumed vowels and knowing which one to assume.

[coyoteking]

[He cracks a smile.]

Careful, I'm only a few years out of the 20th century.

[His tone matches hers.]

So I guess one of our lessons will be what to put where, huh?

[unphase]

[she grins back]

Oh, but how far?

[she loves teasing those who take it good-naturedly and give as good as they get]

Pretty much. When it's an "a" or an "i" or a "y." We don't do much with "e" or "u."

[coyoteking]

I'm from 2010. So technically I spent most of my life in the 20th century.

[He's a relic, practically.]

And see, there's only three vowels to worry about. That's even better.

[unphase]

[at his words, he gets a smile] Oh, wow. So, what was it like, living in a time without Earthnet or--what did they call them back then? Tablets?

[he is! it's adorable!]

Ah, but the fun comes in knowing where to assume and where to let the consonants run on in a stream.

[coyoteking]

Earthnet? I'm guessing that's like, a whole-Earth internet. We don't even have that now where I'm from.

[There's no way that would even work, not with how things are.]

Tablets, though, we've had those since I was a kid, probably.

[They've had them as long as he was aware of the outside world, at least.]

Maybe we're not as backwards as you thought. We've got cellphones and computers and touchscreens and all kinds of shit.

[unphase]

Yeah, pretty much that's what it is.

[Earthgov is united and peaceful in her time. in fact, Earth is a hub for jobs, for growth, for innovation]

Really? How old are you now? And maybe not. You said you're from 2010? The Earth where I'm from, touchscreen technology didn't start gaining popularity until later.

[coyoteking]

I'm 25, give or take.

[He has no idea when his birthday is, so it's anyone's guess.]

And yeah, like I said, my timeline's different. I guess we're more advanced than some others were at this stage. They used to say that back during the War, they could clone soldiers and shit. I don't know if it's true, but I'd buy it.

[unphase]

Really? So you're still a young guy.

[and yes, her voice was a touch flirtatious]

Huh. That's weird. Cloning was possible back during the 20th century, even by my world's measurements, but it was human cloning was outlawed over five hundred years ago.

[coyoteking]

I guess so, yeah.

[His voice falters into awkward for the first time, not entirely sure what to do with the flirty tone. But he regains himself when he changes the subject.]

Yeah, it was outlawed before the War, too. But I guess the laws don't really matter when everything's exploding, so there you go. There was a scramble to find the one thing that would help a country win, and I guess someone thought cloning was it, laws or no laws.

[unphase]

[sorry about her, she's an adult where she's from, so she sees nothing wrong with flirting with a handsome man]

Yeah, I guess they don't. War's weird like that. [a pause] That's how the age of adulthood became fourteen where I'm from. Braal and Titan were in a decades long war and they were. . . running out of people to send to fight.

[coyoteking]

Fourteen? Damn. We still tend toward the idea of eighteen where I'm from, but uring the War, they were drafting teenagers.

[Until everything fell apart and the draft kind of didn't work anymore.]

What were they fighting over, those two places? Decades seems like a long-ass time.

[unphase]

Eighteen sounds like a million years from now. But I'm not surprised they did draft younger people.

[she would be surprised by how everything fell apart]

What most places fight over. Resources. Titan had them. Braal needed them.

[coyoteking]

What do you mean it sounds like a million years from now? How old are you?

[He hopes she's not calling 18 old after hearing that he's 25.]

And I'd ask why they didn't just share, but I'm not that idealistic. That's mostly what we end up fighting for where I'm from, too. Not that we do the all-out war thing.

[unphase]

I'm fifteen, though that's an adult where I'm from.

[what? what's the problem? she can do as she pleases at fifteen]

Probably for the best. Braal and Titan both lost an entire generation. It's going to be a while before both places catch up.

[coyoteking]

Fifteen? God. And you're already like, an ambassador?

[At fifteen he wasn't much of anything yet.]