Rose 7
My eyes are sore, from struggling with too many footnotes. I hear a slight pinging sound, turn to see Xar.
In sympathetic tone, she says, "you people have way more footnotes than us and in smaller print. Do your eyes feel waxy?"
"Oh you bet."
"Well then, take a break and chat with me."
"Xar, could I offer you tea, coffee, maybe orange juice? Sorry, can't offer any alcohol, don't own any."
"Coffee would be great, yours is better than ours."
We do small talk as it brews. She raises her cup theatrically, takes a sip, "ah, pure heaven, dark roast. An Earthling after my own heart. Now Rose, I realize I did a lousy job of explaining last time. Musta left you with the impression I'd be hounding you over everything from acid rock music to Icelandic Parliament."
We both laugh.
"It's not like that at all. I have about 100 people I visit regularly, plus my duty roster of media watch. And of course, I tend to ask these people about stuff in their own fields of interest."
"I'm relieved to hear that."
"Now Rose, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not here to chat about Japanese literature. Not yet anyhow, it'll come up over time. For now, I'm trying to understand university life in general, to be able to intelligently compare it to ours."
"Sounds like a rather open ended topic."
"Rose, I don't mean the stuff like electives and prerequisites. I'm perfectly capable of reading a calendar. I need help on the informal side of life."
"Such as?"
Goofy grin, "for starters, everything written formally at a university encounters some degree of censorship, though they don't call it that. However, there is one avenue of totally uninhibited free speech."
"You ah don't mean ah?"
"Yes Rose, bathroom graffitti. Now I got about 100 things here which simply defy belief and credibility. It would be really helpful chatting with you."
"You realize of course I won't know all the answers. Some will be inside jokes."
"Doesn't matter, shall we start?"
By now I'm even starting to think of her as a friend. And it's not like she's demanding rocket science answers. I smile, "shall I pour us more coffee before we begin?"
"That would be wonderful Rose. I rather suspect some of this is anatomically impossible even for you Earthlings, being more agile and flexible than us. In fact, some of it couldn't be done in zero gravity. And it does seem your politicians have rather kinky fetishes. Wierd stuff."
We both laugh.
In sympathetic tone, she says, "you people have way more footnotes than us and in smaller print. Do your eyes feel waxy?"
"Oh you bet."
"Well then, take a break and chat with me."
"Xar, could I offer you tea, coffee, maybe orange juice? Sorry, can't offer any alcohol, don't own any."
"Coffee would be great, yours is better than ours."
We do small talk as it brews. She raises her cup theatrically, takes a sip, "ah, pure heaven, dark roast. An Earthling after my own heart. Now Rose, I realize I did a lousy job of explaining last time. Musta left you with the impression I'd be hounding you over everything from acid rock music to Icelandic Parliament."
We both laugh.
"It's not like that at all. I have about 100 people I visit regularly, plus my duty roster of media watch. And of course, I tend to ask these people about stuff in their own fields of interest."
"I'm relieved to hear that."
"Now Rose, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not here to chat about Japanese literature. Not yet anyhow, it'll come up over time. For now, I'm trying to understand university life in general, to be able to intelligently compare it to ours."
"Sounds like a rather open ended topic."
"Rose, I don't mean the stuff like electives and prerequisites. I'm perfectly capable of reading a calendar. I need help on the informal side of life."
"Such as?"
Goofy grin, "for starters, everything written formally at a university encounters some degree of censorship, though they don't call it that. However, there is one avenue of totally uninhibited free speech."
"You ah don't mean ah?"
"Yes Rose, bathroom graffitti. Now I got about 100 things here which simply defy belief and credibility. It would be really helpful chatting with you."
"You realize of course I won't know all the answers. Some will be inside jokes."
"Doesn't matter, shall we start?"
By now I'm even starting to think of her as a friend. And it's not like she's demanding rocket science answers. I smile, "shall I pour us more coffee before we begin?"
"That would be wonderful Rose. I rather suspect some of this is anatomically impossible even for you Earthlings, being more agile and flexible than us. In fact, some of it couldn't be done in zero gravity. And it does seem your politicians have rather kinky fetishes. Wierd stuff."
We both laugh.
posted by afghangirlscifi @ 6:03 AM
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