palomacchi kissing booth sept. 2020

[marsascending]

[ did she set up a little booth? maybe.

will she pour you a drink? probably. ]

Hello! Limited-time engagement only, so here's your last chance to get kisses from me before I'm departing for parts unknown!

...some restrictions apply.

Comments

[nihilmancy]

Not having any?

[marsascending]

What? No, I don't care about winning, I'm just here for a good time.

[nihilmancy]

Hmmm, okay.

[Gulping down a purple one!

The word "Wistful" appears over her head.]

Mm.

[marsascending]

Intriguing! Carry on.

[nihilmancy]

It's strange to know you may never see somebody again. We've never been close, but... hm, we could have been, and now that will not happen.

[ the word remains unchanged. ]

[marsascending]

Well, you'll definitely see me again! That you don't have to worry about.

[nihilmancy]

Mm, that's what I thought you meant.

[conflicted]

[marsascending]

I could hardly stay away for long. And, well, that's one of six, so, it's about time to pick another color, isn't it?

[nihilmancy]

Right, but, I have to kiss you first.

[marsascending]

I never said anything about kissing, just drinking all of those delightful concoctions at once.

For science.

[nihilmancy]

[concern


followed by stubbornness]

Science is it?

[one by one, all down the hatch.]

[marsascending]

Science!

How do you feel?

[nihilmancy]

The same.

[ unimpressed ]

[marsascending]

Wah, boring.

...although your hair's fun, now! So there's something.

[nihilmancy]

W-What?!

[ surprised ]

[marsascending]

It's very fetching! Very exciting! Very now!

[nihilmancy]

[brings a lock of hair in front of her eyes—

surprised and delighted ]

Oh, wow, this is really happening, huh!

[marsascending]

Now this is what I call science.

[nihilmancy]

[ she laughs, but there's sadness in it. ]

Ha. I do wish we could have been closer friends.

[ regretful ]

I may have been a better BARiTONE than I thought.

[marsascending]

[ she lets out a brief, short bark of laughter. ]

No, you absolutely wouldn't have been.

Now, one last question, and then go have fun with your sparklehair.

[nihilmancy]

Tell me about a Martian cultural institution that is significantly different from something humans have.

[marsascending]

Hm.

[ she claps a couple times, slowly, and then drums her fingers on the table before beginning to speak. ]

We don't conceive of family the same way you seem to. Perhaps the ul-kiimas have that kind of bond, small as they tend to be, but I'd imagine for a human it would be rather like being born into an apprenticeship.

That said, it still bears some resemblance to human customs of the time, wherein children would take over their parents' trades in due time, or noble children were expected to walk very constrained paths, but for some reason nearly all humans I speak to think it sounds constraining and unbearable.

[nihilmancy]

Oh? Some sort of... heredity occupation system? Ah, no, it doesn't sound like it's linked to parentage at all. No families...

Hmm, well, so much as I do value freedom, it's also not for me to make any sort of broad judgements, especially on something that people find important themselves and form an entire cultural landscape. Er, I think.

[marsascending]

Quite. It's not for you at all.

[ :)))) ]

Do you know why I became an anthropologist, Sekhmet?

[nihilmancy]

To thoroughly dissect the things earth people were saying about you, and turn it against them?