savetheearth | 02 ☄ video

02 ☄ video

[Kara's staring seriously into the camera when it clicks on, hair pulled up into a messy bun and arms spread business-like across her desk. on her left is an impressive stack of children's valentines (you know the kind, the ones with cartoon characters you buy in boxes for the class party) and on her right is an equally impressive bag of fun size chocolate.]

Greetings, fellow clubmates! I am sorry to be taking up your attention like this, but considering the date I am afraid that it cannot be avoided.

[the way she's speaking makes it seem like this is a life or death scenario, but then she keeps going and...]

In only a few days' time the Day of Valentines will be upon us! We do not celebrate such a holiday at home, but I have done the research on it and know very well that not receiving an affectionate greeting card can cause irreparable damage to one's soul and ruin lives!

[that's how it seemed in the many, many movies she watched that touched on the subject, at least]

I do not wish for my dear Numbered friends to suffer such a tragic fate! There were a great deal of charming cards and sweets on sale which I have taken the liberty of purchasing, and I implore you to allow me to write you at least one of them!

We may arrange for a drop-off point if you are leery of having your identity revealed, but please do not let pride keep you from accepting it! There is only so much time in which I can make these deliveries. I promise that my penmanship is excellent and any good tidings I write will stave off the horrible life-crushing feelings!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

thank you for that, it is very kind. :)

send them home to my family and friends at my old university, i think. they should hopefully find them charming.

why'd you come here
sounds like you have a lot

to study astrophysics. my instructors at home were very intelligent, but we did not possess the facilities and equipment to truly learn everything we could. so i came here.

[ Wow. No offense, but astrophysics was the last thing he would have expected. Hidden depths and how. ]

how long ago was that?

the middle of august. i arrived a little bit before the beginning of the last semester, although at times it feels as though i have been here a much smaller amount of time.

still feeling pretty new huh
this whole network thing must've made things really weird at the beginning

not particularly! i did not access it until several months after receiving the numbers in my mind, so it was more of a new wrinkling than an overwhelming event.

in many ways it was very reassuring to find a place where the people were as lost feeling as i was. :)

well
that's one way to make friends

sucks that you had to come to locke at a bad time
it was normal here a year back i swear

there is nothing to be apologizing for! i have found everything that has happened to be very thrilling - like a chapter from a fantastical story.

so you're enjoying all of this is what you're saying

most of it, yes! obviously the portions which result in people being injured are not enjoyable, but i think that goes without the saying.

can't say i'm with you on all of that
but i'm not judging how you get your kicks

[ He's sort of past arguing his point anyway. ]

hope you get through this ok
those astrophysics aren't gonna study themselves

do not worry! i am much more durable than i first appear, so it will be fairly difficult for me to be damaged beyond recovery. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

and with so many of the people using the network being the down and dour, there must be someone to balance them out with a sunnier view. :)

[ Lucky break on both the echo front and attitude fronts. Huh. ]

like i said as long as you're having fun
just don't expect a lot of help coming

i do not usually do things with the expectation that others will swoop in to aid me. if my friends wish to give me help, i am eternally grateful, but it is rather selfish to begin tasks one does not believe themselves capable of finishing alone.

[ ... the word that Skyler is looking for here is "profound". He's not gonna find it. Still, his respect for her just shot up like whoa. ]

makes sense
did you do a lot of stuff like this with your friends at home?

a little bit, with the ones i made at university! before that there was less time for the socializing - i had a great deal of work to do at home, and there were not very many people my own age constantly nearby.

[ a pause before he suddenly switches to voice posts. ]

Texting was getting kind of annoying. Anyway, why not? Did you live in a small town or something?

[there's a pause and then a little bit of fumbling as Kara works to turn her laptop's mic on. a few seconds of video flash and then disappear before she gets it, although if it weren't for courtesy matching she'd leave it on. tech goddess she is not.]

Ah, my apologies - not quite, although that is close! We lived on a farm, so there were not very many people in the immediate vicinity who were not my family. The nearest town was not particularly large, though, so I suppose it would count for that as well.

[ Skyler laughs a little at the fumbling. Sorry! He's a rude ass. ]

It's fine. You lived on a farm? That must've been kind of hard, not having a lot of kids around your age and all.

Not at all, really! I have nine brothers, you see, so even when we were not doing the work or attending school there was always something occurring.

[she laughs]

My mother would tell you it was too much for one place to hold, but I enjoyed it greatly. Even the times when one of them would toss me off the hayloft.

That... is a lot of brothers. [ He thought he had a pretty big family, but that takes the cake. No sisters, either? ] It couldn't have been all that fun all the time, especially if you were the only girl.

I do not quite understand why you would say such a thing! We were all able to give each other the same amount of trouble, and with so many of us running about there was no shortage of adventures to be getting into.

[you can hear the fondness in her tone, and it's pretty obvious that if this were visible she'd be jokingly flexing at this point]

And it was not as if my mother was not with us as well. Whenever we needed some space for the breathing, we would simply go to her.

[ That sounds nice. ] Adventures, huh... And you've been away from home for a year. When was the last time you say them? Do you skype?

We skype every day, unless something comes up on either end! It is a little hectic, with my having to be up either very early or late to catch them and all of them trying to crowd in at once. But it is always good to see their faces, so I do not mind.

I have not seen them in person since I came here, though. We do not have the money for me to be flying back and forth all the time. But I am going to go home when the school year ends for most of the summer!

...or, I was supposed to. With the network and all of the things that come with it I am not certain if that is possible now.

[her voice, initially cheerful, trails off into a sort of pensive tone at the end. it's the first time that Kara's really thought about the implications of her newfound memories in regards to her family.]

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