(hat)

[splinten]

Who: Akira and Dirk
Where:Palai Party!
When: The Day Of Togetherness
Open/Closed: Closed



[It looks like he and Akira were assigned the arts and crafts table here. Flower, fabric, ribbons, ornaments, various trinkets, for making elaborate headgear. Apparently, they were to go to the Palai unification dance.

Dirk, who is a consummate craftsman both in robot parts and puppet-construction, is not totally sure how to approach this.]

Do you have any experience making hats?

Comments

[actus]

No. I can't say I'm a big hat fan.

[ given his mop of hair? a hat would just ruin his natural look. obviously.

akira is a bit intrigued as to why he would be slated for the arts and craft portion of the events, but he can't really complain. he's had to do a lot stranger things with the people he's met back home. this is just mindless and almost childish in an endearing sort of way. ]

I guess we just string things together and hope for the best? [ someone save them. ]

[splinten]

[someone save the PALAI]

We should probably sew some things on, too.

[Dirk agrees about hats, in that he loves them, but also hats would ruin his excellent hair. He grabs a little bead and sees about threading it on.]

Maybe make designs in the headbands. Like bead mosaics telling stories of events.

[Stupid events, preferably.]

[actus]

[ those poor, poor people. ]

I see... a memorable and moving mosaic.

[ it's said in deadpan, a hand gently clasped on his chin as he eyes the materials and then watches dirk thread the bead. ]

Why not flower crowns?

[ ... akira. ]

[splinten]

Sure. Let's share with Palai the full culture of 2013.

[He is pretty sure that's when flower crowns were in. Sometimes his history gets shaky.

He starts planning out a design for a bead flower.]

[actus]

[ akira watches him with interest. ]

...Huh. You're actually pretty good at that. Guess robot skills carry cover.

[ akira is... sort of just putting beads on a thread, himself, looking for the most absurdly colored ones. ]

[splinten]

I also sewed things. Mainly puppets.

[At least Akira is having a fun time with colours? Dirk is going for 8bit style flower beads.]

[actus]

Puppets. Do you do shows?

[ this is getting better and better. ]

[splinten]

I've made the occasional cinematographic production with the assistance of the Felt Folk.

[He was a REALLY bored kid]

In a way, robotics strikes me as the natural extension of puppetry. Both are founded on the use of inorganic materials to animate the inanimate.

[actus]

And then there's animatronics. That's kinda like middle ground, right? Combining technology and puppetry.

[ he holds up his strand of beads, eying it with amusement. ]

....This is terrible.

[splinten]

That sounds right. And that's the kind of practical work that makes the special effects in Jurassic Park stand up long after Cameron's Avatar started looking like garbage, which is to say in 2009.

[Fuck that movie.

Akira's construction is... hilarious though? Dirk doesn't smile, but his tone indicates amusement.]

Nah, dude. This expresses togetherness.

[actus]

Plus, dinosaurs are way cooler.

[ he's grinning, eyes twinkling in utter mischief. why did the palai let them do this together? ]

Togetherness. Unity. One strand representing society.

Mine's the down and dirty representation of life.

[splinten]

Fuckin' absolutely.

[DINOS OVER BLUE TAILSEX PEOPLE sorry Jake. (Not sorry.)

The Palai didn't know what they were permitting.]

Mine represents the artificial constructions that we use to try to facilitate the complicated psychological efforts that create emotional connections.

[actus]

[ .... whoa. that was deep. akira blinks a few times. ]

So the system. Yeah. Screw that.

[ who allowed these bitter-ass boys to make arts and crafts and trash on society?

puh-lease. ]

[splinten]

[The Palai made a terrible mistake.]

Indicating an interest in robotics, dinosaurs, and telling various institutions to go fuck themselves.

[Like, he agrees, but.]

What year are you from?

[actus]

[ but what. but what. ]

...Ah. 2016. Why?

[ is this a test. ]

[splinten]

Just curious about the institutions that you're telling to go fuck themselves.

[Is it the cops. is it the CLOWN cops]

I'm from way later on, but most people likely aren't from my universe.

[actus]

[ WHAT CLOWN COPS... ]

Ah. The system, mostly.

[ how vague? so cops and the government? sure. ]

How much later on?

[splinten]

About four hundred years after that.

[so. those clown cops? he figures Akira's general anti-establishment attitude will come out more as they talk.

And make togetherness headbands. You two, why.]

[actus]

[ anti-establishment and togetherness. sounds legit. ]

That long?

[ akira wrinkles his nose, and he has to ask, in utter deadpan... ]

Does the internet survive?

[ THAT'S ALL YOU WANT TO KNOW? ]

[splinten]

[see Dirk agrees that this is Super Important]

Yeah, its archives were basically what I grew up on.

[actus]

Good.

[ akira: king of the memes is thrilled with this knowledge. ]

I can rest easy knowing cat pictures persist in the future.

[splinten]

[Dirk must comfort Akira with the fact that]

Long cat outlived humanity itself.

[actus]

[ he takes a dramatic sigh of relief, wiping off the nonexistent sweat from his brow. ]

But what about piano cat?

[ AKIRA THAT HASN'T BEEN COOL IN YEARS? ]

[splinten]

[straight-faced]

Almost lost in the great meme purges of 2234, but rescued by the quick intervention of a teenager's shitposting account.

[actus]

[ deadpan as well... ]

And spongegar?

[ he's okay if that one died. ]

[splinten]

[Dirk takes off his glasses and flips them around so Akira can see the shades:

They're actually a screen, and it's showing a Spongegar meme about... juggalos? Weird but apparently relevant.]

Produced in 2121.

[actus]

[ akira is fascinated by the glasses more so than the weird juggalos. but thanks, man! ]

... So that's why you wear them all the time. I'm kind of jealous.

[splinten]

[He puts them back on.]

Plus, they look cool.

[No they don't.]

An offer to modify your glasses would be empty given that the technological level here doesn't allow for that. If we hit up a world advanced past this place, just hand them over and I'll give you computing shades.