Oh Hello Again

[iamnotpolaris]

This isn't Emily's dorm room.
This is Milliways! Awesome.
"Hi, Bar," she says cheerfully. "Looks like I'm the first one in at the moment, huh?" she says, looking around at the otherwise-empty room.

Comments

[middlingalong]

"There's a brain implant people get to partake in more immersive stories than just holos, right? ...Maybe you don't have those yet. I don't remember how old they are. But they exist. So this is about things to do with those that are less fun. For some reason."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Oh, that makes sense. I bet that would make studying things easier, if you didn't have to bring in a real one of everything or rely on pictures."

[middlingalong]

"I don't think they're widely enough adopted to base educational systems on them anywhere. Maybe some planets. That's probably not Linyabel's interest, anyway."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it's productive."

[middlingalong]

"Probably. What kind of medicine do you want to do?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"I haven't decided for sure. Probably a pediatrician or some kind of surgeon."

[middlingalong]

"If you are a pediatrician," says Ivan with mock solemnity, "do not laugh at little boys who come in with dirt all over them and bumps on their heads and laugh at them when they explain that their escape tunnel to get away from Cetagandan invaders - I think it was Cetagandan invaders - collapsed on them because their cousin did inadequate surveying before ordering said tunnel dug."

[iamnotpolaris]

"What?"

[middlingalong]

"I was nine, m'cousin made me and his friend Elena dig an escape tunnel to escape from I think it was fictitious Cetagandan invaders - well, it wasn't real invaders of any kind, at least - and it fell on my head."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Wow. That reminds me of the time when I was seven when my best friend decided we ought to set her dad's hat on fire. I'll spare you the details, but it involved about a gallon of gasoline, an explosion, left a hole in the yard, and we didn't manage to kill the hat."

[middlingalong]

"That sounds like a heck of a hat. I hope the ground's the only thing you left a hole in?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"Yeah, everyone was fine. It's more of a helmet, really, Edie was convinced it was evil."

[middlingalong]

"Is it in terrible taste? Bad color palette?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"She was convinced he stopped having thoughts when he wore it."

[middlingalong]

"What an odd thing to think."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well. We were seven."

[middlingalong]

"This can excuse many oddities. I think I still believed in Father Frost when I was seven."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I'm going to assume that's Barrayaran Santa Claus. Or 2999 Santa Claus."

[middlingalong]

"I think he's a Barrayaran thing, although we may have inherited him from one or another of the colonist sources, probably Russia. Is Santa Claus a fellow who small children believe to be responsible for their winter holiday presents?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"Yep, that's him."

[middlingalong]

"Then yes. I believed he existed until I was seven, and then I received Winterfair socks and realized this was a very human injustice."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Pfffft."

[middlingalong]

"More recently, I only narrowly escaped dressing up as him for a pageant whose originally intended sole cast member over the age of eight fell ill. He got better in plenty of time and his sister did not have to paste a beard on me."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I have never come close to having to dress up as Santa Claus, I'll tell you that."

[middlingalong]

"Really? Santa Claus is not a pretty twentysomething girl?"