prismatica | 001

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001 | text

As I believe we should all be more capable of thinking clearly now, I'd like to pose a couple of questions that have been on my mind for a while.

First is the matter of language barriers - or rather, the complete lack of them. Quite aside from meeting an American who admitted to no knowledge of Japanese (and my English certainly isn't good enough to fill in the gaps), I've had perfectly comprehensible conversations with people who aren't from Earth at all. Is it more likely that something about this world is translating for us on an individual basis, or somehow taught us all a common language without us noticing? Either way, can the translation effect be chalked up to Chroma, or is something else at play?

My second question circles back to Chroma itself, building off its local importance as both currency and energy source. We've been told that the locals see Chroma as the solution to their clean-energy woes (if only breaking oil dependency were this simple...). Our hosts believe that higher rates of Chroma generation will permit faster development of their technological capabilities, possibly including a means to return us to our worlds of origin.

How, exactly, do they intend to sustain that technological capability if all of us return to our homes?

I'll grant that that's a rather large assumption; there's a very real chance that this world is preferable to where some of us came from. However, a substantial majority of us refusing to stay here, once the means is in place, could still decimate Chroma production to the point where little to nothing that we help them make can be powered. That could potentially impact the ability to return everyone who wants to leave. If nothing else, it's something those of us who intend to get hands-on with the local technology should keep in mind.

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It's got to be worth a try.

[And even if diplomacy fails, they still have a very powerful non-violent option at their disposal - just stop moonlacing as much as possible. After all, if they control the means of production...]

And the more they tell us about what's going on, the better. Hopefully they realize that.

Given their response to the vine problem, and how quickly they updated us on the nature of the problem once they figured it out for themselves, I think they do. I'm not sure this is territory any of us expected to be dealing with.

Yeah, that's another reason I'm so ready to give them the benefit of the doubt. They've been pretty much nothing but helpful and cooperative so far. There's no reason to be paranoid.

Exactly. The most disquieting stuff so far has been down to different cultural standards, as far as I can tell - that's a hazard anywhere you go. [And not usually one worth starting a war over.]

This would have to be one very elaborate trap, at this point, and if it were a trap at all I find it more likely they would have stuffed us in their underground prison and had done with it.

Right! At this point I think the only way it makes sense for this to be a trap is if they're really all out to lull is into a false sense of security, but if that's the case then the whole rampaging plant-thing was kind of an oversight.

I'm really glad we're on the same page here. After I saw some of the other responses, I was kinda worried.

I've seen the kind of effort it takes to get an entire city to go along with that kind of plan, and even then there are bound to be holes. [Hifumi would know. She was one of them.] It seems highly unlikely that they'd be able to sustain the charade long enough to enact whatever foul scheme was lurking behind it, if only because the ordinary citizens may not all play along.

I'm glad as well. There's nothing wrong with preparing for the worst, but that's very different to assuming we've already reached that point.

Yeah, I wasn't even thinking about that, but you're right. I feel like the only way to make that work would be to have some kind of hive mind or mind-control over the citizens, so none of them could slip up with the masquerade. And I really don't think this place has either.

I could be wrong, sure, but until I see some evidence of it, I'm sticking with believing that's not a thing. Which would mean there's no grand conspiracy. Thank the Light.

Where they do use mind-altering effects, they seem far more interested in encouraging casual physical contact than systematic oppression of any stripe. Nothing anyone mentioned from the festival, for example, was wide-ranging enough to have the kind of effect necessary here - they were all dependent on people interacting with them. A grand conspiracy would require a much bigger imposition of will.

And really, this is all going to be complex enough without either us assuming a grand conspiracy, or them trying to enact one.

No kidding. A whole bunch of people from different worlds shoved in this one? That's just asking for a mess or two.

All things considered, they're adjusting to our presence quite well.

They really are. Then again, in a place like this they'd probably have to learn to be adaptable.

That they would. If this sort of thing is going to happen every month...

Right. Kinda the sort of thing that makes you a little more flexible.

In more ways than one.

[Ah, tentacles.]

So it does, though I didn't experience anything particularly drastic.

[But given Ren's wing difficulties... well, she can appreciate the sentiment.]

Well, my changes weren't as... difficult to deal with as the ones one of my boys went through. But I did need to find new skirts.

Tails are cute, but they're a bit of a pain like that.

I can imagine. If the pattern holds, I won't be faced with that difficulty, but one month is hardly enough to judge things by.

...One of your boys? [Guess who hasn't really encountered polyamory as a thing!]

Yeah. He woke up with a whole bunch of jellyfish parts-

Or was the "one of" part what confused you? You're not the first, but I don't know how to explain it to someone who hasn't seen the three of us together.

That would be the sticking point, yes. The implication I grew up with was that if someone had more than one partner at a time, they were going behind someone's back to do it.

Well that definitely isn't the case. We've been together as long as I remember... it's just recently that we've gone from friendly to romantic.

I see. I'd already suspected the disparagement of same-sex relationships, or expectation that if it's two girls they'll grow out of it eventually, was off-base, but this... hadn't even crossed my mind. [She also hasn't gotten as far as her own possible interest in girls as well as guys, but. One thing at a time. That can come later.]

It seems like it would take considerably more work to make sure everyone's on the same page. Have you found the effort worthwhile so far?

Wait, same-sex relationships are considered wrong in your world? I'm not saying they're common in mine, but... that sounds so weird. [No one in the islands had never felt the need to police other people's feelings like that, as far as she remembered. As for a relationship like hers, well, she's never heard of one before.]

I definitely have. We're... okay, imagine a three-legged stool. Take a leg away, and it falls over, right? But with all three in properly and solidly in place, it's perfectly solid. That's what we're like.

More frowned upon than flat-out considered wrong, and most of the active frowning is when it's men - as I said, there's a tendency not to take attraction between women seriously. How acceptable it is varies between countries.

I can see that. You've found you balance each other better as a unit than you would if any two of you tried to pair off alone.

Exactly. I love them both, and they love each other, but I'm not sure how well things would really work with just one of us and the other. This seems... so much more stable.

Granted, it does mean you need to be really good at communicating so there aren't any misunderstandings, but we've always been pretty good at letting each other know how we're feeling.

I can see where it would take more communication. After all, if you care about everyone involved, you don't want any of them to be hurt by a misunderstanding.

[She's half wondering how well this works when not everyone in a given group is dating each other.]

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