@all | before the event

[industries]

> ts@abraxas-proxy:~$ wall "People's memories of this place"

[ Anyone unfamiliar with computer terminals might be taken aback at the mechanical font that scrolls across their vision, though the jumps and starts in typing speed leave no doubt that a very human brain is behind the text. ]

> Broadcast message from ts@abraxas-proxy (tty/1) :
> People's memories of this place
>
> Don't normally crowdsource, but
> has anyone out there ever heard of someone who got home and actually
> remembered their days here at the renfaire?
>
> Not looking for peer-reviewed analysis.
> I'll take crumbs
> or
> whatever else we've got here on Mind-Reddit.

Comments

[industries]

> Yeah. Your deal.
> Like, do you shuck clams for a living or invest in aerospace stock futures, this
> isn't a hard question.
>
> Unless you're a space marine from the planet Zenga or something, which
> I guess is about as likely as the other ones.

[aquilus]

[Altaïr is starting to get the sense that not understanding the meaning of a third of this man's words will be a constant in conversation with him.]

I am a mapmaker from the Holy Land.
Several other Summoned hail from the same world but none from the same time.
Virtually all consider me to be from long in the past so it is unlikely we'd have points of commonality.

[industries]

> Holy Land.
>
> Wouldn't suppose that's out in the desert somewhere?
> Possibly between a Mediterranean sea and a Dead one?

[aquilus]

Precisely that.
I spent some time in Jerusalem recently.

[Stabbin' people.]

[industries]

> So you're from Earth, or at least
> a version of it.
>
> How long in the past?
> Guessing from the name and location that we're talking at least seventh century, unless you
> happen to know a carpenter with twelve overinvested friends.

[aquilus]

[He understood that reference.]

By the Christian calendar it was the year 1191.

[industries]

> Huh. And I thought 50 years was the biggest timeline gap here.
> Must be really luxuriating in the, uh
> indoor plumbing.

[aquilus]

It's a small consolation for being brought here against my will.
Personal comforts are enjoyable but it's not as though I thought them lacking before.
I'm more interested in what I can learn from the other Summoned as well as the local people.
The libraries and museums are very impressive.

[industries]

> I feel like as far as "lacking," flushing toilets is a pretty big one, but
> you do you, buddy.
> Hey, don't normally get the chance to chat with a living time capsule, so
> you want to grab a drink sometime?
> If you think this place is impressive, you should see my imaginary skyscraper.
>
> Like, literal skyscraper, not
>
> anyway.

[aquilus]

[The toilets are nice but not required when one has spent a lifetime without them. Everyone here is a weak baby when it comes to their tolerance for bathroom discomforts.]

If you keep in mind the 'living' aspect and not think of me as an object, certainly.
Name the place and time.

[...okay he can tell this is some manner of slang but he does not have the context to guess what it refers to.]

[industries]

> Don't worry, my objectification days are long behind me.
> Just ask my wife.
> And uh
> just look for the giant tower with the big "A" on it.
> It's covered in one-way glass and steel girders and other things you definitely haven't seen before, it's
> fine – if a red-and-gold man flies around looking for you, that's just me.
> Don't sweat it.

[aquilus]

[Ah, that sounds familiar.]

I've seen it.
It's extremely ostentatious.
But impressively constructed.

[industries]

> Yeah, like me.
> Cool – it's a date.
> See you there, Al.

[aquilus]

[He could kill you in a second, Stark.]

[industries]

[ Why do you think he's meeting you in the Matrix, knife boy? ]