A fine day for horseback riding. ((For i_paladin))

[chiron_survivor]

Adia is full of nervous energy as she waits outside of the Nexus inn for Paladin. She is mostly excited, but it has been a long time since she has ridden a horse. Her riding boots and helmet are long gone, lost along with everything else when Leonis was destroyed. She is wearing her regular boots and jeans, along with a sweater and her heavy wool coat. She didn't bother with a scarf, worried the fluttering might startle or distract the horse. Paladin did say that he was sassy.

Shifting her weight from foot to foot, she pulls out her PINpoint for the hundredth time and checks for messages. The innkeeper was happy enough to play go-between, printing out Adia's electronic messages and transcribing anything that Paladin wanted to write back in return. It's how they were able to plan their get-together. But Adia checks anyway. Plans can change, after all.

Comments

[i_paladin]

If Paladin knew Adia's fear, she would reassure the woman fully that it was neither racist or inappropriate to find the tail thing cute. At least not in Paladin's mind and the tail does belong to her.

All these words, all this information! Internet browser, yes, yes, all you need to do is type in what you want to know. Interesting. "It would be very helpful if you could just speak to it and it would speak back, like you do with people." It would also be more familiar to the technologically illiterate. It doesn't seem as intimidating as it was before with proper coaching and encouragement.

Looking down at the keyboard Paladin's eyebrows raise, that's a lot of stuff right there. Pressing lips together Paladin clicks in the search bar and then looks down at the keyboard. With infinite care and slowness the Tiefling hunts and pecks like every single over 50 on the planet.

P-A-L-A-D-I-N

Then reads, as slowly as the pecking: "any of the twelve peers of..." and this is a word that Paladin must concentrate and stumble over as she sounds it out. "Charlemagne's court, of whom the count palatine was the chief. A knight renowned for heroism and chivalry. Ha!" A tail flick.

"Who is Ch-ar-lee-main? I have not heard of this person." A look at the woman sitting next to her and then at the computer screen. "What if this is not correct? I feel very strongly about this, Adia."

[chiron_survivor]

"You can do that with some computers. I had something like that on my phone. Um, that's a communications device, but it has a tiny screen, too. Like a miniature version of this. I haven't figured out if the computers here can do that or not. I prefer to type, anyway." You never know when you might need to ask something embarrassing.

It's interesting that Paladin's first internet search was Paladin. Adia has been tempted to search her name, on occasion, but she always chickens out at the last second, not sure she wants to know what she'll find. "Oh..." She reads over the description herself and frowns thoughtfully. "They're probably someone from Earth history. The internet searches tend to default to information about Earth. But the knight part sounds like you. It must mean the same thing."

[i_paladin]

"It seems like a reasonable thing to learn, typing, I mean, it just might mean that I take longer to ask a question. Can I ask any question?" Because that's kind of exciting, except when the realization comes based on Adia's next comment.

"Ah, yes," that's a little disappointing but not unexpected. "It makes sense that it should default to information not found in my world but in the world for which it is based. This of course means that it might not be terribly helpful for the things that are relevant to my world." Frowning slightly, Paladin rubs at her chin reading the blue words on the page and then carefully moves the arrow to the Wikipedia page and misclicks like before but fixes it easily enough to actually open the link.

Her teacher explained on clicking links, Paladin remembers these things.

"What else can I do? May I add information to this technology?"

[chiron_survivor]

Adia is relieved that she doesn't have to explain to Paladin the limitations of the search browser, although she feels bad that her friend won't be able to look up information about her own world. "It is a little annoying... for a place that is a crossroads for all realities, Earth seems to be the predominant one. But at least you'll be able to learn about the technology you find here."

"Um... in theory? Anyone can create content for the internet. I'm not sure how to go about that, though." The colonies had something similar to Wikipedia, but Adia never tried editing an article. Anything that Paladin adds about her world would likely get her banned for trolling, sadly. "Close out of the browser by clicking on that little red x there in the corner and I can show you what some of the other programs do."

[i_paladin]

Alternative reality theory: all the banned content on Wikipedia is actually beings from a different plane trying to fix what they see as complete inaccuracies.

Nodding, Paladin inches the arrow to the little X and closes out the program so the original background screen with all the icons comes back up. Taking her hand from the mouse, Paladin leans back slightly so Adia can take control if she wishes to.

[chiron_survivor]

Alternate reality theory accepted and approved!

Adia hesitates a moment before reaching across Paladin and taking control of the mouse. Paladin has already shown competence at moving the arrow key and clicking, it'll be faster for Adia to open the other important programs herself. "This one is called email. That's electronic mail. You can write letters and send them to anyone else who has an email account. This one is a chat program. It's a little like email, except you are sending short messages back and forth. It's more useful when both you and the other person are on a computer at the same time. You can get these messages on your PINpoint, too. You'll need a user name and password for both programs, and you'll sign in and out of them each time that you use them."

She looks over the other programs, to see if there are any worth noting. "This one is if you want to draw anything, or change something on a photograph, and this one is a card game." She squints at the screen. "I think the rest of these are games, actually."

[i_paladin]

Excellent!

That makes sense, it's like sending letters or quick magical messages but without the magic. This isn't wizardry this is technology! "How long does it take for the letters to get to their recipient? It looks fast..." But that's not to say there isn't some delay in getting a message to a person.

"Can I make a username and password now? I do not know how good I will be at giving myself a username." Paladin is fully aware that her naming abilities are - well lacking. "Once I get a username and password," a phrase the Tiefling appears to enjoy saying a lot. "I will get a PINpoint."

A card game? All of a sudden Paladin is very interested, Paladin is all about the card games. "Oh, it is solitaire," the disappointment is obvious. "For a number of years I made my living playing cards, I'm quite good at it." Playing might be a loose interpretation of what the Tiefling was doing with those cards.

[chiron_survivor]

"It's not instantaneous, but it's fast enough that it seems that way. The other person has to check their email to read what you wrote, though. The chat messages are more or less in real time."

"Sure, we can get you set up. You can even make one account for everything, so you don't have to memorize a bunch of passwords." She looks at Paladin thoughtfully. "Well, you want something you can remember, for both the username and password. It helps if you choose a descriptive username so people know who is emailing them. Mine is my name, but, um... well, you can try Paladin and see if it's taken. The computer will tell you if that name is already taken by someone else."

"You can find other card games online... I don't play games on the Nexus terminals, but I used to play some games at work, to kill time while I was waiting for an analysis to finish."

[i_paladin]

"Wow," the implications and the utility of this is not lost on Paladin who is familiar with a system that has a week (if not more) turn around system. Where everything is delivered on horseback and magical messages are usually one way. This communication system is just stunning. Almost instant back and forth dialog? Amazing.

Reaching out, Paladin sort of strokes the side of the monitor like it was a good horse or a mythical creature.

Still touching the screen the Tiefling responds: "Paladin of Rensford might work, surely that can't be taken." It better not be fucking taken otherwise there will be words and probably a duel. Blue eyes dart over the screen looking for where the computer will tell her if the name is taken. "Where should we start?"

Also, the idea of playing games on this thing does sound appealing. "I will have to explore that option, I tend to enjoy face to face interaction when it comes to card games."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia cannot take personal credit for email, or the internet, but it does please her that Paladin is appreciating the technology of her world. It makes bridging any cultural gaps between them so much easier, that they are both interested in each other's worlds.

"No, you're probably safe with that one. Let's see... click open the email program again?" She'll wait until the login window pops open before she starts pointing at the screen. "Do you see there, you can click on New Account and it will have you create a username, and then it will ask for a password. Then every time after that, you can just sign in."

She smiles at Paladin. "I'll bet you can find a place that has card games around here. Or we could play sometime." It might not be as much fun playing with Adia as she doesn't gamble, but at least she won't be a sore loser, either.

[i_paladin]

It is certainly much easier to be in a world foreign from your own when you're interested in it andddddd: you have someone to help you navigate. That is really, really important. Paladin might have figured out some things on her own but not nearly as much as she has through Adia's help.

There are nods and soft 'uh-huh' as they navigate through this entire process. It's rather intuitive but the mouse is mildly problematic, Paladin keeps clicking the wrong button (left and right being an issue apparently) but there is a lot less clicking when she sets up her account. Unsurprisingly PaladinofRensford is not taken and so she takes it. Last name? Well that ends up just being a X.

"Ohhh," narrow shoulders shake in silent amusement. "Do not think I will go on easy on you, Adia dear! It will be all in good fun though."

[chiron_survivor]

"Great choice," Adia says when Paladin is done selecting her username, not at all patronizing. "People will recognize that it's you emailing them. You need to pick a password now. The trick isn't making it too difficult for others to guess, but too difficult for you to remember later. My trick is to think of a sentence and then use the first letter of each word, so that the password itself is nonsense to anyone else."

"I would expect nothing less," she replies with equal amusement. "Do you have a favorite game? I know how to play Triad, but I'm not very good at it. I'm bad at bluffing, and when I get a good hand, everyone knows it."

[i_paladin]

A slight head tilt for some thought, a password, the concept is even found in her world so it's not foreign to her. The choice of word or words was. That being said there are a great many things this place didn't have like her world did.

A moment later Paladin hunt and pecks out the final decision, easy enough for her to remember. Then she clicks finish. Bingo. Welcome to the 21st(??) century, Paladin.

"Indeed I do, it is a card game easy enough for anyone to pick up. Highest card ranking wins, I have found it or a variation of it in almost every culture and small town I have visited." The Nexus has to have it and almost every culture that passes through it. Turning slightly towards Adia, Paladin chuckles: "then you are the perfect person to play with."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia politely does not look at the keyboard when Paladin pecks in her password. "Congratulations, you have an online account," she tells Paladin with a warm smile. She points to the window that replaces the login screen. "This is where you can send and receive emails. You click on the little pencil icon and a new window will open that you can type in. I'll give you my email address and you can send me something. And that way you'll have my email address, too."

"Ah, okay. Triad is like that, too. Well, highest combination of cards in your hand." Adia laughs and shakes her head. "No, I'm terrible. The only time I ever won a hand was because I thought I had something good. I didn't really, but everyone saw the look on my face and folded."

[i_paladin]

"I feel connected to this world already," and Paladin is most certainly pleased by that. It will really be official when she received her first email but for now, she is pleased that this is set up and she will have better ways to communicate with the people of this world. Following Adia's command a new email window pops open. "What is your email address? Shall I type it in or you?" Undoubtedly it will be faster when Adia does it than Paladin.

The Tiefling returns the laughs: "well when I said you would be the perfect player to play against, I didn't mean that it would be perfect for you. More like perfect for me." Truth be told Paladin would never take money from Adia or anyone like her: kind, with only small amounts of money.

[chiron_survivor]

"I'll type it in." With the ease that comes with typing lessons at a formative age, Adia speedily types in her email address: adiacostas@nexus.org. (The Nexus is a non-profit, who knew?) "It's pronounced 'Adia Costas at nexus dot org'. You get the 'at' symbol by holding down the shift key and pressing the number 2." She points out the appropriate keys. "The period is down there. That, by the way, is the caps locks key. It will capitalize all of your letters, but I don't recommend using it, because it will make it seem like you are yelling in your email."

"I won't be much of an opponent then," Adia points out. That can't be much fun, especially if they aren't playing for money. "If it gets boring, we can find another competitive game. Our rec room had a foosball table, I logged a lot of hours on that."

[i_paladin]

Oh they profit enough. Profit from our shenanigans!

Paladin's head remains bowed, eyes flicking between the keys that she is pressing and the screen to see them appear there as if by magic. There is a lot to remember going on here, but the important thing is the @ symbol which is easy enough to add to the growing list of information she has in her head. "We certainly do not want that," no caps locks key: got it.

Well, that's a whole head-full, Paladin looks back up at the screen again. The email address, where it's located and how the rest of the email template looks. Subject is easy enough and then big empty space is where you write the letter.

"Foosball. What a fantastic word," the Foos part is the best part to say. "What is a Foosball game?"

[chiron_survivor]

It's kind of amazing, how much needs to be explained to someone who has never sent an email. But everyone has to learn at some point, and Paladin is doing remarkably well. At some point, she may want to yell at someone via email, in which case the caps lock will save her weary finger from holding down the shift key through the entirety of her tirade. "You don't have to write anything in the subject line, but it's all someone sees -- well, that and your email address -- before they open the email, so it's a good place to give someone a preview about what you want to discuss. You can just type 'test' in the body of your email if you want." It's not like she isn't standing right here, anyway.

Adia grins. "It is, isn't it? It's like... mmm, a little table version of a game that people usually play on a big field. There are wooden figures attached to poles about this long," she spreads her arms. "You can move them back and forth or spin them, and your opponent has their own set. You score points by getting the figures to kick a little ball into your opponent's goal. It's such a fun game, I got really good at it." In fact, the only person who could reliably beat her was Caspar, but the thought does not put a smile on her face. Maybe that's why she hadn't bothered to seek out a foosball table the entire time she's been in the Nexus. "It's a fast-paced game, but it takes a lot of patience, too... um, anyway. Go ahead and hit send when you're done typing."

[i_paladin]

Nothing needed in the subject line? Fine with her. The subject line is skipped and then she clicks into the subject of the email and looks at the blank box. 'Test' is the suggested word to send but, truth be told, Paladin isn't entirely sure how to spell it. There are lots of other words she can spell but it was never a strength so it will be avoided. Finally Paladin settles on: 'hi adia.' And then looks up at the screen before finding the button at the bottom that is marked 'send.' "That means the same thing in this case as it would with any other letter?"

Apparently and so she does. Click on the little send word and the thing disappears. Magic. Adia might say it's technology but it really is magic, there is nothing else like it.

"You game sounds very, very interesting I am good with my hands and always up for a challenge." Good in some ways, but does that extend to Foosball? They shall see. Those good hands fall into her lap and she smiles at the dark haired woman who is as close as they have ever been thus far. It is a good opportunity to study her. "Thank you, Adia, you have been so kind."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia smiles at the message; she'd probably type something like that, too. (Or maybe "hello world!" if she was feeling particularly geeky.) After Paladin hits the send button, Adia pulls out her PINpoint and shows Paladin the tiny screen. "Let's make sure it worked. This button here lets me check for email..." She presses it, and a little envelope icon appears with a 1 on it. Adia presses the button again, and Paladin's email appears. "It worked, great! Although if you want to get in touch with me, it's better to use the chat function. The screen on here is so small, it makes reading long emails a little difficult." Other, newer PINpoint models might have larger screens, but Adia's is barely the size of a pager. At least it makes the PINpoint easier to conceal.

"I bet you'd be really good at it." Superhumanly good, probably. Adia (perhaps erroneously) assumes that non-human humanoids are naturally faster and stronger than her. She smiles back, looking as relaxed as Paladin has probably seen her so far. Not the same kind of relaxed as when she was riding Shadow, caught up in her nostalgia, but the kind of relaxed that comes from being in the presence of a friend.

[i_paladin]

Has Paladin ever seen a PINpoint? It's an interesting device from what the horned creature can see as it leans forward to look a the small machine and its even smaller window. Which is currently holding her words on it and Paladin finds that absolutely amazing. "It's so small! Wait, where do I go to chat?" Leaning back in her seat Paladin looks toward the screen again to see if there is anything there that will help with all this chat stuff.

"It depends on what skills are involved with it, I am not very strong." Fast and dexterous that's for sure, but not strong at all. "Of this I am confident: that you will best me in this game." And Paladin is alright with that, and the smile she offers to Adia should be sufficient proof of that.

[chiron_survivor]

Adia showed Paladin her PINpoint when they first met, but only briefly. She lets Paladin get a better look at it this time. "Oh, that's a separate program... that one there." She points to a different icon. "I don't think you need to log in again. I'll send you a contact request so you'll at least have me on your list of people you can chat with." She taps a number of buttons on her PINpoint. "It is small... it took me a while to get a handle on the keys."

"No strength required," Adia assures her. "You just have to be quick moving the little wooden figures around. It's also a great distraction technique while your opponent is trying to line up a shot." She smiles easily in return. "Well, I'm sure I will until you get the hang of it. Then we'll see." Adia has no delusions about being the best at anything. There is always someone better out there. She only tries to be the best version of herself that she can.

[i_paladin]

It takes a moment to figure out where Adia is pointing but in the end it's not to hard to figure out. There is a small picture of two people in profile with a speech bubble between them: clearly this is chat. Indeed Paladin clicks on it and another screen comes up and there is a single name on top: Adia's. Another click and Paladin reads a prompt screen: would she like to add Adia to her friends list and receive messages? Yes, yes she would.

So she clicks yes.

The more the Tiefling hears about this game the more exciting it gets. There is speed involved and strategy! Now that's exciting! "You are going to get me in front of this game," Paladin laughs, "and you are going to be very humble until you kick my ass. It will be fantastic, I am looking forward to it."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia is not the type of person who judges her self-worth on how many contacts she has in her chat program, but she does feel a small burst of pride when Paladin adds her to her friends list. She feels very special to have Paladin as a friend. "I think that's about it. The chat program is pretty intuitive... did you have any other questions?" Specifically about things related to the computer, but Adia would answer off-topic questions as well.

"I'll see if I can find one," Adia says with small grin, neither confirming nor denying Paladin's prediction. The truth is, she's as gracious a winner as she is a loser, which oftentimes drove her opponents up the wall. Hearing, "You really tried your best!" from someone who just handed you your ass seven ways to Sunday can feel patronizing, even if you know the woman saying it is sincere. (And because maybe secretly she was being just a little patronizing, but Adia didn't feel bad taking some of her colleagues down a peg or two if they were bragging too much beforehand. All in good fun!)

[i_paladin]

The horned creature would be incredibly touched to hear Adia think so highly of her, to be so happy that Paladin has added her to her friends list. After listening to how to send an email, Paladin is pretty confident in her ability to use the messenger service, she just needs to read and pay attention. "I think I have it, if I have questions I will ask someone at the desk, or you." But probably someone at the desk because she will probably be trying to get in touch with Adia.

"You have a very lovely smile," Paladin suddenly remarks with a tilt of her head. "It lights up your whole face, it really gives a new depth to your beauty. I am quite jealous," but then again she is always jealous of beautiful men and women, she is stuck in the middle, absolutely plain by both male and female standards.