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]

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.

[chiron_survivor]

"Once you have the basics down, it's pretty intuitive," Adia says. "But feel free to ask me anytime. Or, yeah, someone at the front desk. I'm sure they're used to those sorts of questions." How on earth could you stay in business in the Nexus otherwise?

The compliment, coming out of nowhere from Adia's perspective, makes her blush. She'd accept it without argument, but not at the cost of Paladin putting herself down. "Don't be jealous, you have a nice smile, too." If she knew that Paladin saw herself as plain, she'd protest that, too. "I think everyone looks better when they smile."

[i_paladin]

"I feel that it is pretty simple, I don't think I have the hang of the clicking part yet. I suppose that will come in time." And being able to just move the mouse without looking at it and while following it's progress on the screen, other than that it is pretty easy.

In response Paladin will smile, flashing those teeth and giving a nod of thanks. "I would agree with that, well, almost everyone looks better when they smile. Have you ever see a Manticore open their mouth? I suppose they can smile, since they have a human face and all, but they really, really shouldn't."

[chiron_survivor]

"You get used to it," Adia reassures her. "Some computers have other ways of moving the arrow key. They might use a trackpad, or they might have a touchscreen. But the ones around the Nexus seem to favor the mouse."

"I have never seen a manticore at all." And with that description, she's pretty sure she never wants to. "Do you have any sphinxes on your world? They are a popular myth where I'm from, and they also have human faces."

[i_paladin]

Touch screen seems pretty intuitive on what it is, you touch a screen, but trackpad is a little tricker meaning she isn't entirely sure of how she should visualize it. At this moment she isn't going to worry about it. "Oh, well they are a delight," no they aren't the Tiefling is being a bit sarcastic.

"They have three jaws, top and bottom, three of them with rows of razor sharp teeth. It's terrifying, I've seen a lot of awful shit in my day but when you look at something and it's got three jaws and a face of a man? How are you supposed to respond to it?"

By fucking nuking it of course.

"Indeed we have sphinxes, both Andro and Gynosphinxes. They love riddles, and tend to be pretty neutral which is good because, they are a hundred times worse than a Manticore to deal with. It's roars actually kill people."

[chiron_survivor]

Adia smiles a bit in response to the sarcasm. "They are a bit clunky to use, I know..." She pauses thoughtfully, then rises partly out of her seat to look around the lobby, but no one is paying attention to them. Quickly, she sits back down and says in a conspiratorial tone, "Would you like me to take this one apart so you can see how it works?"

That description certainly does not endear the manticore to her. She's assuming that Paladin's question is rhetorical, because Adia's answer would be to get as far away as possible. The sphinxes sound only marginally better. "We have a famous story of a hero named Oedipus who met a sphinx at a crossroads. She asked him a riddle but he was able to answer it, and she killed herself in shame." She frowns a little. "I wouldn't want one to kill itself over me, but I wouldn't want it to eat me, either. I like riddles but I would probably get too flustered to answer."

[i_paladin]

It has been awhile since she hit conspiratorial tone level with someone, this is highly exciting. Paladin leans forward as well and her eyes dart one way and then the other. Who is their enemy? Who cares! This is exciting, Paladin is just utterly down. "The machine?" Wait, take apart the computer? A glance at the box and a quick mental reminder that it will probably not explode, is not booby trapped, and not filled with magic.

"A sphinx killed themselves?" Paladin, for maybe the second time today, is dubious. "If so then this sphinx was not from my world. I cannot imagine such a creature being so distraught over a mortal." Reaching out, Paladin pats Adia's hand with gentle reassurance. "I have heard that as long as you are polite they are fine and I cannot imagine you being rude."

[chiron_survivor]

"Oh... no, no. I meant the mouse." The enemy to Adia is anyone showing disapproval at her taking apart a computer mouse, and as she is always made nervous about that sort of thing, she takes another quick look around before grabbing the mouse and flipping it over to show its underside to Paladin.

"It's a mechanical mouse. See the rubber ball here?" With a practiced turn of her finger and thumb, she rotates the plastic ring at the base and pops it off, making the ball more visible. "Rolling the ball makes the arrow move because...." And then she pops out the rubber ball, revealing two small wheels within the hollow space. "The ball pushes against these wheels, and they send the signal to the computer."

"She was distraught over having her riddle solved," Adia explains, although she, too, seems dubious about that. "Well, it's just a story, anyway... a really messed-up story, now that I think about it. Oedipus had a lot of problems." Paladin's words are reassuring; Adia smiles modestly. "Well, I get a lot of practice meeting all sorts of people here. Maybe meeting one wouldn't be so bad. Have you ever met one?"

[i_paladin]

"Ahhhhh," that is good clarification because Paladin would have hesitated for just a moment before joining in Adia on her caper. The mouse? It's so small, no one will notice. Indeed, she leans forward, head titled slightly to the side as she watches the young woman carefully dissect the mouse.

"It looks so very simple," the Tiefling breathes despite having no clue what those parts are made out of. It's just a ball and some wheels and yet it does so much. "Are you sure there is no magic involved with this? Because it can do some great things but it looks so simple."

A glance up from the mouse Adia is holding and the Tiefling grins. "You are the best welcome Nexus has to offer," as for the sphinx Paladin gives a shake of the head. "No, I have not and I am not sure if I will ever have the occasion to meet one but I think I would like to. I can be very respectful, they like rules, sphinxes."

[chiron_survivor]

"No magic," she assures Paladin. She pops the ball back into place and twists back on the ring that keeps it there. "Computers are actually very simple, at their core. It's the ability to make the parts inside of it smaller and smaller that has let them become more powerful." She wishes she could explain more, but she'd have to get into binary code and microprocessors. Paladin is very bright, but that's a little too much for one afternoon.

Adia smiles modestly at the compliment. Truth be told, this one means a lot more to her than being told she has a pretty smile. It's easier for her to accept graciously, at any rate. "Why do you think you won't meet one? Are they rare?"

[i_paladin]

"That seems very counter intuitive," Paladin remarks. "The smaller the thing the more powerful they are," she considers this quite deeply and decides that it is so. "Granted there are small magic items that are very powerful but that's magic. Generally the bigger something is the more powerful it is. But here you have, something that is small and not magical that can send and receive messages easily. That is very powerful." No one quite understands how powerful communications are until they don't have access to them.

True: anyone can have a pretty smile, it doesn't take much. What is harder is having a pretty insides. A narrow shrug and Paladin sits back in the chair, breaking out of their conspiratorial huddle. "They are extremely rare and I will not say that I am sure I will not meet one, it just seems very unlikely. Of course not that I've said something I will most certainly stumble upon one. Which is dangerous, I do poor with riddles. I wonder if I could send you a message if I do." The thought makes the Tiefling grin.

[chiron_survivor]

"It does," Adia agrees. "But that's how it usually works with electronics. Computers used to be the size of entire rooms, and they still weren't as powerful as one of these."

There's a mental image: Paladin telling a sphinx to "hold on a minute" while she types out a text to Adia. It'd be more amusing to Adia if Paladin's life weren't likely on the line while she was doing it. "I would look up the answer for you and reply right away," she says, more seriously than Paladin's light-hearted tone.

Speaking of looking stuff up, Adia takes a moment to glance at the time on the computer screen. She's reluctant to leave, having what has been a wonderful afternoon, extraordinary even considering her ride on Shadow, but she doesn't want anyone on her world questioning her whereabouts. "I should be getting back soon... do you want to take a quick walk to the vending machines so I can help you pick out a PINpoint?"

[i_paladin]

Aida's reaction is just what Paladin was looking for. "That is why I would contact you above all others," if you're going to phone a friend you phone a friend who knows what is on the line and has their shit together.

"Ah yes," she sighs and stands. "I know you are very busy and you have been very kind: taking your time to help me with everything today. I will not keep you much longer, Adia."