video; un: laurea

[wearingguess]

[ thunder crashes. the wind howls. a blond youth wearing an enormous cable-knit sweater over a dress shirt with the collar popped places his palms flat on the counter of a starter-apartment kitchen and earnestly addresses the camera. ]

Hello! The current circumstances are less than ideal, but I can put this off no longer.

Whether you know me or not, I am Titus Alexius, formerly of the Reim empire. It is more or less accurate to say that I am sixteen years old. I have been conducting research with the Lunar Scientia for the past several months, and I have also had more than I can stand of living alone. Therefore, I have prepared a simple twenty-question survey!

Anyone and everyone is welcome to submit a response, and there is no need to answer every question. But to show my appreciation, I shall provide all those who complete at least the identifying information with a code redeemable for one free empanada from the stall by the fountain at the northern end of Greatmoon Groves. [ he pauses thoughtfully and then leans in further. ]

...And if you do not care for empanadas, let me know and I will arrange an alternative.

...Also, I am reasonably certain everything in that marketplace is currently closed due to the inclement weather and invisible tentacle attacks. And a number of the survey questions, too, posit situations or activities that are momentarily, if not impossible, then inadvisable. But, well. We must believe these hardships will be temporary, mustn't we?... [ he shrugs helplessly and grimaces! ]

Thank you for your attention!

[ and underneath the prismagram video is the survey in question, along with a few additional links. ]

Survey Form
Name: Moonblessing: Approximate length of tenure on Prismatica: 1. Are we friends?  —If yes, hello! —If no or unsure, would you like to be friends? 2. Are you satisfied with your current living situation? —If yes, might you also be satisfied with a different living situation? 3. Do you have any roommates? —If no, would you like one? —If yes, would you like another one? ——If yes, would your roommate(s) also like another one? 4. Would you like to live on Level 2 of Lunatia in a cottage with a small garden? —If yes, are you open to sharing a room? ——If yes, are you open to sharing a bed?  5. Do you like cats? —If yes, would you like to have a(nother) cat? ——If yes, would you like to have this cat (SEE SUPPLEMENT A)? 6. Do you have any aversions or preferences when it comes to fragrance (both in general, and with regard to Cordis pheromones)? —If yes, please elaborate: 7. Would you consider the recurring presence of Cordis pheromones in a shared living space to be a benefit, a drawback, or neither? 8. Are you comfortable with moths and butterflies of various sizes? 9. Do you have any strong feelings regarding magic or mages? —If yes, please elaborate: 10. Do you like to stay up late? 11. Can you fly? —If no, would you like to? 12.  Do you like to cook? —If yes, would you like to cook for me? ——If no, would you like me to cook for you? 13. Do you like to go out to eat? —If yes, would you like to go out to eat with me? ——For fried noodles? ——For waffles? ——For seafood curry? ——Other (please specify): 14. Do you like to go shopping? —If yes, would you like to go shopping with me? ——For snacks? ——For clothes? ——Other (please specify): 15. Do you wish to obtain more possessions? —If yes, would you like some of mine?  ——If yes, please visit my current home (SEE SUPPLEMENT B) to make your selections (the Lost Orrery and leatherbound treasury of Prismatican myth are off limits).  16. Do you like hugging? —If yes, would you like to hug me? 17. Do you like kissing? —If yes, would you like to kiss me? 18. Are you a member of the Lunar Scientia or the Moon Knights? —If yes, would you like to join me for lunch in one of the commissaries sometime? 19. Do you have any strong feelings regarding the Lunar Scientia or the Moon Knights? —If yes, please elaborate: 20. Would you like to register a grievance or complaint of any kind against the Lunar Scientia (e.g., for leadership's continued reckless rush to reawaken anything and everything, no matter how poorly understood and potentially cursed)? —If yes, please elaborate (indicate whether you wish your response to be anonymized):  ***Please submit this survey to receive your coupon code. For directions to the empanada stand, see supplement C.***

Supplemental Survey Materials
A. file: phix.image
B. location: apartmentL2U128.nav 
C. location: EmpanadaEmpusa.nav

Comments

[bolderfell]

Since I'm obviously not going to be your new roommate, I figured my name didn't matter.

[And here's where he'd stop--he's already earned himself his pastry prize--but one of Titus's responses to his answers intrigues him somewhat. Sighing, he types out more answers.]

5. Don't particularly dislike them, either. I don't have strong feelings about most animals unless they try to rip my arm off.

7. I am, and if I smell weird when the moon's up or give off those pheromone things, no one's complained to me about it yet. If I do, I feel like that'd make the situation worse. Two of us going around stinking up the place? No thanks.

8. Then I don't care. See 5.

9. What do you mean, racially?

[wearingguess]

Well, all of that is fair enough

7. It can be very difficult to tell, but if you are interested, try paying attention to whether people you don't know seem unusually intrigued by / favorably disposed toward you. I often get all kinds of amazing freebies when Cordis is active!

9. Perhaps "racially" is the wrong term. Certainly, mages may come from any nation, and it's not as though they aren't human. But in old Musta'sim they were seen as a different species entirely, and I believe things are scarcely better in the eastern tribes...
No doubt the history and power dynamics differ in your world, but it seemed a troubling generalization
(However, you may certainly feel free to find me annoying, personally)

[bolderfell]

Something's definitely different.

What makes a mage a mage, where you're from?

[wearingguess]

Well, at its most basic, it is the ability to perceive and communicate with the rukh.
(Rukh are the omnipresent source of all life, energy, and natural phenomena)

[bolderfell]

And not everyone can do that.

[wearingguess]

The vast majority cannot.

Ah, but of course, only non-mages are ever able to channel the power of a Djinn. On the other hand, dungeon conquerors and their households are far, far rarer even than mages, so that is not necessarily much of a tradeoff...

[bolderfell]

Didn't understand any of that last part, but I get the size of what you're saying.

Where I'm from, with talent and study, anyone can do magic. Scholars -- and those who can afford the scholarly life -- are just the ones who make a big damn pompous deal out of it.

[wearingguess]

Anyone can?? How wonderful!
Does that also mean there is no oppression or discrimination based around magic?

[bolderfell]

If there is, it's not something commonfolk see on our side of those fancy academy walls. We poor, uneducated masses have to get our oppression and discrimination elsewhere.

[wearingguess]

?
Did you want to attend the magic academy?

[bolderfell]

Not that it was ever an option, but no. Not my thing, book learning. My grievance is with the people the school turns out, not the school itself.

[wearingguess]

Ah! I couldn't tell if it was "sour grape"
But that makes sense as well. May I ask what your thing is? Since it's not book learning.

[bolderfell]

What, with learning? Or in general.

[wearingguess]

Both! Or either.

[bolderfell]

Rather learn by doing. More practical that way.

[wearingguess]

That is an excellent way to learn! I wonder if I would also have preferred that, given the opportunity.

Do more abstract/theoretical pursuits hold no particular interest for you, then? Or are they simply not a priority?

[bolderfell]

Nothing puts me to sleep faster. I don't understand the point of it all.

[wearingguess]

Well, the practical often arises from the theoretical. We may well learn how to use devices like the ones we are texting on, but whoever invented them to begin with had to conceive of how such things might be used before they existed.

[bolderfell]

Huh. What do you know, that actually makes sense. Guess I get so tired of hearing scholars yammer on about nothing, I forget they have their uses, too.

You win this one.

[wearingguess]

My never-losing streak continues!!