The Valentian Dinner – The Second One! [IC / CLOSED]

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

"I spend a lot of time gathering and analyzing data, but I do receive a healthy amount of free time. My work itself is very satisfying. I have a sense that I am part of something greater than myself or any individual."

Sakura said "I feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself as well, though definitely to a much lesser extent than you do. There is a difference between my island homeland and your massive network, obviously. That and I haven't been dedicating as much time to Messengers' work as I once did, excepting attending this gathering of course."

Kiri listened. "I probably won't end up doing the sort of traveling and learning you do. I'm not completely sure what I'm going to do for a career, but I think being a journalist or reporter of some kind would be cool."

5474 responded through the drone after a short pause. "Journalism is not entirely different to the transmission of a message. Not unlike myself or your mother, you would be gathering information, and instead of relaying it to a powerful entity such as Inari or the Mainframe, you relay your information to the general public, or to someone who can relay the information to the general public. The roles of journalist, messenger, and ambassador are all based on the principle of communication."

[The Cult of Xil]

The Valentian government detected the IXCS Hopeful Nature entering at the edge of their planetary system. It was beyond colossal, at over two astronomical units from stern to bow. It outweighed the solar system's mass several million times over, and yet it did not produce gravitational effects upon the rest of the system. Some kind of physics-based trickery was at play.

...and then, from an almost comically smaller ship the size of a van, descending into the planet's atmosphere at subsonic speeds and landing without any spectacular effects at all, Sosani Lymarce IV and his two military advisors stepped out to see the titanic building that had been constructed by a sub-planetary civilization. The party already had many guests, from what he could see.

The Hopeful Nature retreated past the Oort cloud, and turned her mighty, interstellar-range, star-snuffing tachyon guns outwards to stand guard over the system, as her captain sipped nanolobotic coffee that stimulated his tastebuds in only the right way.

The three planetbound Voxen walked forward and into the complex, eager to meet with the large fellow that had invited them. Where could he be?...

[Foxfound]

Sakura said "I feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself as well, though definitely to a much lesser extent than you do. There is a difference between my island homeland and your massive network, obviously. That and I haven't been dedicating as much time to Messengers' work as I once did, excepting attending this gathering of course."

Kiri listened. "I probably won't end up doing the sort of traveling and learning you do. I'm not completely sure what I'm going to do for a career, but I think being a journalist or reporter of some kind would be cool."

5474 responded through the drone after a short pause. "Journalism is not entirely different to the transmission of a message. Not unlike myself or your mother, you would be gathering information, and instead of relaying it to a powerful entity such as Inari or the Mainframe, you relay your information to the general public, or to someone who can relay the information to the general public. The roles of journalist, messenger, and ambassador are all based on the principle of communication."

"That's true. And getting information to the public is important, especially with everything going on these days... in any case I have time to think about it and learn more," Kiri said.

The Valentian government detected the IXCS Hopeful Nature entering at the edge of their planetary system. It was beyond colossal, at over two astronomical units from stern to bow. It outweighed the solar system's mass several million times over, and yet it did not produce gravitational effects upon the rest of the system. Some kind of physics-based trickery was at play.

...and then, from an almost comically smaller ship the size of a van, descending into the planet's atmosphere at subsonic speeds and landing without any spectacular effects at all, Sosani Lymarce IV and his two military advisors stepped out to see the titanic building that had been constructed by a sub-planetary civilization. The party already had many guests, from what he could see.

The Hopeful Nature retreated past the Oort cloud, and turned her mighty, interstellar-range, star-snuffing tachyon guns outwards to stand guard over the system, as her captain sipped nanolobotic coffee that stimulated his tastebuds in only the right way.

The three planetbound Voxen walked forward and into the complex, eager to meet with the large fellow that had invited them. Where could he be?...

The young kitsune Ren looked at the newcomers curiously, her head tilted slightly. Even if she probably hadn't seen the gargantuan starship due to the speed of light and all that, she was certainly curious about these new people.

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

5474 responded through the drone after a short pause. "Journalism is not entirely different to the transmission of a message. Not unlike myself or your mother, you would be gathering information, and instead of relaying it to a powerful entity such as Inari or the Mainframe, you relay your information to the general public, or to someone who can relay the information to the general public. The roles of journalist, messenger, and ambassador are all based on the principle of communication."

"That's true. And getting information to the public is important, especially with everything going on these days... in any case I have time to think about it and learn more," Kiri said.

"My record of events for your universe and timeframe are not very detailed. What goings-on do you refer to?" asked 5474.

[Foxfound]

"That's true. And getting information to the public is important, especially with everything going on these days... in any case I have time to think about it and learn more," Kiri said.

"My record of events for your universe and timeframe are not very detailed. What goings-on do you refer to?" asked 5474.

"I guess I wasn't thinking of anything in specific, but things have been a lot more tense, chaotic, uncertain and such in must of the world for the past decade or so. Before that the existence of non-human sapients wasn't widely known, and it took a lot of... catastrophic events to change that. So there's a lot of political instability, and in most places at least some controversy regarding the place of non-humans in society. Pretty important time for the press, though I guess any time is in its own way."

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

"My record of events for your universe and timeframe are not very detailed. What goings-on do you refer to?" asked 5474.

"I guess I wasn't thinking of anything in specific, but things have been a lot more tense, chaotic, uncertain and such in must of the world for the past decade or so. Before that the existence of non-human sapients wasn't widely known, and it took a lot of... catastrophic events to change that. So there's a lot of political instability, and in most places at least some controversy regarding the place of non-humans in society. Pretty important time for the press, though I guess any time is in its own way."

"Yes, communication is always important. Studies into the history of multi-species planets show that any conflicts between species will eventually be resolved. It is a matter of how and when. Communication will ensure an ideal outcome."

[Deltia-]

Alisa was sitting on the plane, looking through the window while while checking her watch. She was exactly an hour later than when she said she would come. The Valentians seemed like nice people, and as much as she didn't care about punctuality, she didn't want to spite them and make them rescind their invite. After all, who declines a dinner when its an excuse for interdimensional travel? Plus, the autopilot had just been installed, so it was safe as well.

"Damn it. When will this plane arrive? It's like I got on the wrong one. Perhaps I should go back to Warzau. I can't stand one more minute with this fool Weiss. I guess I should be happy we have separate quarters. Helps a lot, I must say."

---

- Alisa I

What was this "fool" doing? Oh, simple. Weiss was a bit angry about the failed trade deal negotiations with the British, playing classical music and nursing his scotch as he waited for the flight to land. He was equally worried about the dinner, as the invitation was so sudden and he barely had time to pack his bags. However, that wasn't his main concern, he surely had more than enough clothes for simply a dinner. He was worried about the time, as he had planned to land slightly more than 2 hours ago.

"Why is the damn thing so slow? I guess I ordered the wrong engine. Well maybe I would have the right one if the Brits agreed to the terms of the deal, but why am I ranting? It ought to land soon, no?"

---

- Adam Weiss

There was a screeching sound. The plane had landed on the tarmac. However, the journey wasn't over, there was still the cab ride.

"George! George! Drive us to the dinner, please"

---

- Alisa I

"Yes, my liege!"

---

The car ride was worse than the plane ride. Alisa had the upper half while Weiss had the lower half, but now all that seperated them was a glass window. Luckily for both of them, it was over in virtually no time. For such good service, Alisa gave George a tip of 400 riiksmarks.

"Thank you, George. Here, spoil yourself."

---

- Alisa I

So as to avoid attracting attention of anyone, Alisa and Weiss silently parted and went to their seats.