File #009; video

[unfringed]

September! This way! Now, you have to read this. It's incredibly important. Everyone, please listen and give your very best advice. I have tried to do what I can, but, well... [He isn't exactly the best person to ask about taking care of themselves. He even forgot to introduce himself-- Oh, he forgot to introduce himself!]

Ah! I'm Walter Bishop. Dr. Walter Bishop, a fellow inmate here. And this is September. No other name. Also a fellow inmate. September?

[September, the rarely seen hairless friend of Walter's joins the slightly taller man.]

Yes, Walter?

We're conducting a survey of the village to help you with the questions I cannot answer. And so I thought it would be best to hear from you, not me. Can you read this card?

[He nods, and reads--] 'Hello. My name is September'.

[Wait a minute.] Walter, you have previously established my name. [Anyway...]

'I have some questions about your personal experiences regarding sensations and things I cannot feel. Would you give me a few moments of your time?'

[There's a list, underneath, but here he stops reading and looks sideways at Walter.]

Go on! [Walter gestures September onward with a wide smile. This is totally the best way to get answers, right?] With so many humans and humanoids from different universes, we should be able to gather a great deal of information for you to choose from.

What is it like to have a family?
How does it feel to drink a milkshake?

Ah-- [Well, he could have answered those, but he'll let the others do it.] Additionally, if you have any other comments regarding what it is to be "human" for my friend, please do share. He's learning how, you see. Being stuck in a single timeline can do that. Oh! And if I might remind people that I am still collecting blood samples! Please do volunteer yours. Thank you.

[ooc; Joint Post with September (quantumtangled)! Walter is blue, September is orange. Specify to whom you're responding in the subject or ask for both!]

Comments

[Written] Either or!

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

1) Having a family is like having a group of people you know you can always count on. That they'll be there to support and love you and being around them makes you feel good. Wanted. This can be either a family you're born or adopted into or a family you end up making yourself.

Not everyone has a good birth family or even has their birth family even more. So a family that's made can be just as important. Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

2) It feels comforting having a milkshake. Cold and creamy treat with a variety of flavors, commonly paired with a hamburger and fries. Summer nights at the diner with a group of friends, quintessential Americana experience.

They also taste really good. I'm partial to a cookies and cream milkshake or a mint and chocolate milkshake myself.

3) What are the blood samples for?

[written]

[quantumtangled]

From you and someone else, it seems that blood family is not just as important, but less important. Is that what you meant to say?

[Milkshakes are irrelevant. He may or may not have feelings, but he doesn't have taste.]

[written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

To a degree. Personally, the family I've made is more important to me than my blood family. [Largely because her parents are dead and her relationship with her brother is estranged at best.] But that doesn't mean I care about my blood family any less. We've just grown apart and started our own lives.

[written]

[quantumtangled]

They care about you and they want you to... exist?

[written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

I would say that's the general characteristic of a good family. People who care and want the best for you.

[written]

[quantumtangled]

[There are gaps in his written replies.]

What do you believe causes this love?

[written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[It's a tough question to answer and there's a very long pause before Ginia begins writing. Love is complicated. How do you explain love to someone who doesn't know feelings? How do you explain the different degrees and types of love, of how good it can be even while it hurts, of how uplifting and how deadly it can be?]

I don't know. Love is something that just happens. There's different degrees of it. The love a parent might feel for their child is very different than love between siblings. Love between siblings is different than love that can be shared between two unrelated individuals.

[Another pause, a new consideration.]

Love is organic. You can't force it to happen, it has to develop naturally.

[written]

[quantumtangled]

[It's all one word, though, which is terribly vague. Someone make up some new words he can use, please.]

Different complex emotions for different relationships, described with one word.

I suspect I do not know the correct questions and neither does Walter.

[written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

The English language is pretty poor in that regard. You describe it as parental love versus sibling love but it still doesn't really capture the whole meaning because there are always different degrees or feelings.

If I remember correctly, the Greek language had four distinct words for love.

Agape for general love. Selfless love, one that didn't expect any love in return.

Eros for passionate, physical love. Sensual, the love felt between two people in an intimate relationship.

Philia, also a general love, but one with give and take. A love between family or friends or a grater whole.

Storge, natural affection such as one between a parent and a child.

[written]

[quantumtangled]

Thank you.

[He's not being polite, that's uncommonly interesting. A major clue in the unending puzzle.]

Natural affection between parents and children. It would be what comes first?

[written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

It's a good starting place. Someone is born or they're adopted. The adult taking care of them would feel love toward them and want to protect them and ensure they can grow up to an adult.

[written]

[quantumtangled]

[That echoes in him, touching something deep inside.]

Once they are an adult, the bond continues, as I have seen.

[written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

A child is always a child in the eye of their parents, no matter how old the child gets. [In the best of situations at least. Ginia wonders if her parents would feel the same if they were still alive.]

[Written]

[unfringed]

2) Perhaps a mint chocolate cookies and cream milkshake? Like a Girl Scout cookie all mixed up.

3) Research.

[Written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

2) That I could go for.

3) That doesn't make me want to donate blood samples any more than before.

[Written]

[unfringed]

2) Perhaps I can make an entire line of Girl Scout cookie shakes.

3) I won't be cloning, if that is what you fear. I need samples for research into what stabilizes this enclosure despite the varying species, worlds, universes and timelines present.

[Written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

2) Do that and I'll be the first customer.

[While cloning wasn't one of her concerns, it's also good to know. She's also given out blood samples before, though that was for a trade, and the person traded with is no longer around.]

3) How much blood do you need?

[Written]

[unfringed]

2) Wonderful! I'll tell Oregon.

3) One vial. Perhaps another in the future if the sample gets too old or something about you changes.

[Written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

2) Oregon?

3) That's reasonable enough. Are you doing the drawings or do you have an arrangement set up with the clinic?

[Written]

[unfringed]

2) The boy at the shop. The one from Britain.

3) I do them. I'm not particularly fond of clinics. They remind me of things.

[Written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Britain boy from the shop, milkshakes...] You mean Eugene? [Hah, Oregon. Makes sense.]

I'm not doing anything at the moment. I can meet you somewhere.

[Written]

[unfringed]

Eugene? The city? No, I mean the boy. Do you know him?

And I'm at our rooms - third floor, room eleven. To aid September.

[Written]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

If we're talking about the guy that works at the coffee shop, yes. We talked about milkshakes awhile ago.

[Normally she'd ask what building, but she remembers the fireworks in July.]

Give me twenty minutes and I'll be over.

[Written]

[unfringed]

Excellent. I'll tell him I spoke with you. [And by him, he means Oregon. He has no idea who the hell Eugene is.]

Twenty minutes then.

[Action]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[And in twenty minutes, there'll be a knock on the door. Ginia waits with cellphone in hand as she waits for a response. Just a routine blood drawing, right? Nothing out of the ordinary at all.]