003. Text, clearly.

[cephalothorax]

Hello everyone! This is Chrollo, although I expect you could tell from the ID field.

As per a request by Ira Gamagori, imPort Ambassador to Nonah, I'm planning to start a database keeping track of the various abilities here and who has them. The point is to make it easier for people in a bad situation to look up and contact whomever might be able to help them. So, for example, if you come across an injured civilian, it would be easy to look up healers who might be in the area and contact them. Or if, say, you come across a fallen wire, maybe there happens to be someone in the area who's immune to electricity and can move it to a safer position.

We also thought it'd be helpful for the recently completed training facility, and so (as mentioned by the Ambassador) I've volunteered to assist by matching potential students with the trainer of their dreams! Or as close as I can manage, anyway, depending on who signs up.

That said, this is strictly voluntary. Neither I nor the ambassador is looking to make anyone uncomfortable or make them feel watched, especially with the new regulations that have been announced of late. So feel free to flip by if you're not interested.

If, however, you are interested, either in having your abilities recorded or as someone who might reference the database, I'm wondering what you'd find most useful to include. Ability, name (or codename) and location seem obvious, but is there anything else I'm missing? I'm trying to be thorough, I guess, without being invasive, so please share your thoughts if you have any.

When I'm ready to roll forward with this, I'll be setting up a text-based inbox on my communicator for forms, suggestions, requests and training inquiries. But in the meantime, if you have any suggestions, questions or comments now, I'm more than happy to hear them and talk to you about them.

Feel free to use video or voice if you prefer! I'm making use of text for easy reference reasons only.

Comments

[cephalothorax]

I don't really see how it would be any more of a security issue than the way people openly discuss and describe their abilities when someone randomly asks about it on the Network. Or the way they use them in crisis situations. Someone could easily stand back during the next zombie dragon attack and take notes on what everyone is doing rather than helping out.

I won't claim it's impossible that we'd ever have people with ill-intent, of course. But that's the case in any grouping. If we let that dictate our decisions, we're just living in fear and limiting ourselves. And in the end, if someone is interested in randomly killing others, they won't need a list to do it.

And, of course if you're uncomfortable, there's no reason you need to pay any attention to it at all.

[rockpun]

you used like eighty words to tell me to chill but okay. i think i get your point. im just worried that this is going to make things easier for people in some really good ways and some really bad ways. but like, its your idea and im just not going to participate in it, thats cool, whatever. its not like i have any powers worth documenting anyway.

the more important part is that youre telling me there was actually a zombie dragon attack. i saw the damage myself but i was pretty sure people were just being hyperbolic. this place is weird.

[cephalothorax]

I guess I did! I just wanted to be clear, I guess. Besides, there's nothing wrong with reading, I hear it's FUNdemental.

[OH YES HE DID]

About the dragon though... yes, there really was one. I have to admit, that was a little outside my realm of experience as well.

[rockpun]

oh my god that is the daddest joke i have ever heard. amazing.

id be a little freaked out by anybody who actually had a lot of experience fighting the undead, dragons, and combinations of the two, honestly. no judgment here. as long as its un-undead now i think were all good. (thats how it works, right? i dont really get zombie semantics.)

[cephalothorax]

I think I'm too young for very dad-like jokes. So that's a little worrisome.

And you know, I don't have any experience with dragons or zombies but I don't think that's true of everyone here. For example, I'm pretty sure my girlfriend's Great great... great? Grandfather was a professional zombie hunter.

Or something like that. I'm not sure. Probably no dragons, however!

[rockpun]

wow? thats actually really cool. it sounds like its right out of a video game or one of those mangas thats been going on for like 40 years. (not that i read those. theyre for nerds and i am way too cool for that.)

that does mean that zombies exist in your world, though. thats less concerning than it wouldve been a couple minutes ago. kind of comforting to come from a relatively normal universe based on how nuts everyone else gets.

[cephalothorax]

Oh, she and I aren't from the same world - we only met here. My world doesn't have zombies... although we do have building sized carnivorous pigs!

Is that weirder or less weird?

[rockpun]

less, actually. pretty sure some of the jungles back home have those.

maybe not the size of a BUILDING, though. answer me something: are either you or your buildings very tiny. because thats really the critical thing i should be asking here.

[cephalothorax]

Well, not a skyscraper type building. I'd say they're maybe the size of a one story house?

A person could definitely stand inside a life-sized model of such a pig.

[rockpun]

you could make a lot of bacon with that. when theyre not busy making you into bacon, i guess. your world already sounds like some weird mix between terrifying and really interesting. beats the hell out of your everyday normal cities that ive got going for me.

so taking you on good faith that youre not just making things up to mess with me, what else do you have to worry about back home? is it just full of giant animals?

[cephalothorax]

Oh, giant animals and magical beasts, that sort of thing. I'd say the people are more dangerous than the animals, though.

Unless you happen to be a hunter of magical beasts, of course.

[rockpun]

well i guess i just figured out what YOU do for a living. thats cool, though, never talked to a hunter before. with like bows and guns and stuff. ...right? no, wait, let me guess, literally the farthest off i could possibly be. basically just in another galaxy altogether.

[cephalothorax]

Oh, me? I'm a model.

[A SLIGHT PAUSE IN THE RESPONSE.]

Unless you meant before I came here. In which case... almost. I was an art dealer. But that's a lot more exciting in my world than it is here.

[rockpun]

a hot young model, you say. (kidding.) i guess art dealing would have to be more interesting than it is here. your installations could probably kill you without even being designed that way. im a music critic here and a student back home so i guess theres no rationale behind why they give us these jobs here. which makes its own weird kind of sense.

anyway what makes art dealing so exciting in your world? i really hope i was wrong and its not the kind of thing you could literally make a killing in.

[cephalothorax]

Something like that! But I don't like resting on just that. It's not exactly a stimulating position even if it does pay relatively well. (Well enough to let me do things like this in my free time).

And no, you were right. There are dangerous ruins to explore, filled with magical beasts... that kind of thing. I don't think the art itself tends to be deadly, though - it's mostly just the collecting.

But you're a music critic? That's interesting! I'm really only familiar with classical, which I guess makes me a little boring.

[rockpun]

so youre an art dealer like that guy in the cool hat with the whip is an archaeologist. thats actually pretty awesome. i bet youve seen a lot of cool and/or life-threatening and/or mysterious things while you were out spelunking. (i think thats what they do.)

anyway, dont worry about it with the classical music thing! not everybody can be into guitars and screaming. i dont make a habit of listening to a lot of classical myself but i can still totally jam to the winter part of vivaldis four seasons. i mean, its a techno remix that was in a video game, but that totally still counts. the point is that youre a whipcracking art collector and dealer slash hot model and if you think any part of that sentence is boring then youre holding yourself to way higher standards than necessary.

[cephalothorax]

Cool hat and whip? Is that a movie reference?

But yes, it's true, I guess I have. Well, there's a great deal of danger and mystery to be found in any world, I think.

I think I'm distracted by the idea of a techno remix of a classical piece made for the purposes of a video game. But thank you.

[rockpun]

you danced along to it with help from four upward scrolling arrows. it was pretty fun. literally all over the place in arcades where i came from, but it looks like its not nearly as popular anymore. wonder what happened. but anyway, yeah, it was a movie reference, and thats basically as far as i go on movies. havent had a lot of time to watch them lately.

see, thats the real mystery. what good movies are there around here.

[cephalothorax]

A... dancing video game?

Hm. I feel very out of touch right now, but I have to admit I've only seen perhaps three or four movies at all!

[rockpun]

yeah! i was never super good at it but wow were there a lot of really talented people basically everywhere i looked.

that sounds like a huge part of your pop culture assimilation is missing, honestly. what kind of things are you into? probably not fantasy because youd probably end up criticizing it for not being realistic, given what you told me about your world. ive seen a bunch, i can probably recommend some to you.

[cephalothorax]

...wow. I don't even dance, I can't imagine doing something like that. I'm starting to feel incredibly old, as well, now.

But you're right, when it comes to pop culture I'm hopeless. And it's a bit difficult to say what sort of thing I'd like based on what I'm normally into - if it's written I'll read anything, and if it's on television, then. Well, to be honest, I just hooked mine up a few weeks ago after I moved to this house in March.

But I think, when it comes to movies, I would probably enjoy crime thrillers or adventure stories!

[rockpun]

oh come on, you cant be THAT old. you know how to use this thing, that makes you like in your late 20s at the oldest. plenty of people that age dont know a lot about pop culture for various reasons. like being sucked into a world totally different from their own without any warning, for a crazy random example.

back home we just had a huge adventure movie series wrap up i think a few years ago. it basically had everything, because its where everything came from. elves, giant walking trees, evil wizards, good wizards, for some reason i think there was a dude with really bad teeth involved? it was based off a really famous book series too. so if you dont like the movies you can totally read the books. sounds like they might be more your speed anyway, theyre a way more established medium than tv and movies.

[cephalothorax]

I'm 26! I guess that's incredibly old in some sectors of the world? Or err, the technology sector maybe. But you have a good point about the world hopping.

I think I know which series you're referring to! I've heard a few references, anyway - it may be worth looking into in either written or film form. Stories about magic are interesting to me, as well, since my world didn't really have magic, exactly.