Pasha, an Avatar story.

[Toliman]

Good next piece

[archaic]

Part 76

(this ended up shorter than intended)

Spoiler: Eywa Evengians.

"We can't actually go back to last night, but if we had a time machine we could."
"And change things."
"Bt ìf wi cheyng thìngz thät lrdi häpn, häw wìl wi now wi stl nid tu km bäk?"
"Now you understand time travel."
"Ìì ..... Ay n't n'tx'stänt."
"Which is why we know you do."
"Ìì ..... "
"Nobody understands time travel. It's too easy to muck things up in the past that menas the future is altered in a way that means you never get to go back and muck things  up, which means that now they're not mucked up, so now you can, and the they are, so you can't. And so on, and so on, and so on."
"Ìì, ay ke n'tx'stänt nìtxan! Nìtxan nìtxan!"
"That's time travel!"
"No on understands what would happen if you really could, no one."
"Seriously. No one."
"Ìì ..... fr ril?
"Yeah, 'fraid so."
Pasha considered this for some time.
Two mugs of tea arrived on the table, and had been sipped down to the bottom before Pasha spoke again.
"Kehe, ìt nt meyk sns tu mi."
"Time travel?"
"Mmm." Pasha confirmed, in a very human sounding way.
"So, that makes three of us."
"Plus another ninety odd billion other humans out there."
"I don't 'spose the people on Pandora understand it either."
"Well, they're 'Out There' aren't they?"
"Bit further than the humans."
"Yeah, but 'Out There' is still 'Out There', however far 'Out There' they are."
"Meh."
"How many of you are there on Pandora? Err, Eywa eveng, even."
"Ay n'tx n'w."
"Not as many as humans, that's for sure."
"Nah, well, we have so many that there isn't enough space left to grow food. So I say that's one to the Eywa Evengians."
"Ayoe lu Na'vi."
"Huh?"
"Oe, mi. Ayoe, us. Na'vi, ìt min th pipl."
"Na'vi, the people. Gotcha."
"Makes sense. From the view point of a race what's unaware of people from other worlds."
"Err, I guess? Maybe?"

[Toliman]

Good

(this ended up shorter than intended)

That is ok, I appreciate each new piece

[archaic]

Part 77

Spoiler: Ur.

"So, that's time travel done and dusted, what next?"
"What was it we were gonna do before we ended up side tracked and doing tie travel."
"Stuffed if I know."
"Err ..... hmm."
"Yeah, err-mmm."
"Nah, I said err ..... hmm. With an haitch."
"Ver soz. I'll try 'n' pay closer attention to your non-words."
"That'd be great."
"So, err ..... "
" 'Hmm'? "
"Mmm."
"No, hmm."
"No, I was agreeing with you, not misquoting."
"Oh, sorry, my bad, will you forgive me?"
"Hmm."
"Was that an mmm of agreement, or a hmm of notification of a current nonspecific general consideration of the possibility of agreement or otherwise?"
"Somewhere in between, a serious contemplation with a tendency toward an affirmative leaning, but nothing as yet carved in stone."
"Transistor Punk."
"Bless you."
"Nah, it was Transistor Punk we were talking about before we got on to time travel."
"Err-no. Transistor punk was what Back to the Future was, and that was just the second movie we used to show what time travel was."
"Err ..... oh yeah."
"I got nothing."
"Apart from the halitosis."
"Yeah, well, there's that."
"Err?"
"UR, Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located on the banks of the Euphrates river, present day Iraq. The earliest finds date to the early to mid seventh millennia BC. Ur flourished during the Early Bronze Age, third millennium BC, through the early Iron age, entering a decline during the sixth century BC, and is understood to have been abandoned early in the fifth century BC. The Famous Ziggurat of Ur, originally constructed during the Early Bronze Age, it had become ruinous by the sixth century BC, at which point" it was restored under King Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire."
Chris raised an eyebrow suspiciously, Dino wasn't that smart.
Dino lifted his viewscreen above the table, it had a page about Ur on screen.
Pasha was smiling to herself, Humans could quite amusing sometimes, even if accidentally.
"Well, I'm glad you find it entertaining." Dino, to Pasha, but with good humor.
"That's it! Entertainment!"

[Toliman]

Read, again good

[archaic]

Part 78

Spoiler: Beyond Ur.

"Umm."
"So, what do the Eywa Eveng, err, Na'vi do when they're not hunting, gathering, sleeping, eating or making fire?"
"Ìì, meykìng thìngz, meyking brkn thingz nt brkn."
"Repairing things?"
"Ìì, srane?"
"So you don't do anything else?"
"Meyk fud rdy fr kuking?"
"Preperation, anything else?"
"Ìì ..... "
"You never just sit and do nothing?"
"Yu min weyting?"
"Err, I don't think 'just chilling' translates very well."
"Ìì ..... Ay thìnk yu min tìsyor."
"I stand corrected."
"Sit."
"I sit corrected, mister picky."
"Whatever."
"OK, so what do you do when you're tìsyoring?"
Pasha sniggered.
"Ìì, ìt nt häpen 'fen."
"No?"
"Kehe."
"What do other people do when they are tìsyoring?"
Pasha sniggered again.
"Tìsyoring is wrong, isn't it?"
"Sran."
"So, technically, this is progress?"
" 'Progress' is that a female proger?" Dino, tongue in cheek.
Chris tried to give him a filthy look, but was struggling to suppress a smile, which ruined the effect, and ended up just looking mildly deranged.
"I'll take that as a 'No Comment' then, shall I?"
"Mmm. So, working with your usual colleague, it's left you with a little mark?"
"Not anywhere visible."
"I'm not going to ask."
"Would you like to see it?"
"Err, no, I don't think there's enough psychiatry out there, to get me over something like that."
"You don't know what your missing."
"No! Ignorance is bliss!"
"Suit yourself."
"Right, so, err ..... oh yeah, entertainment."
"Pasha seems to be finding the two of us quite entertaining."
Pasha was leaning back into the seat back, smiling.
"Srane, yu tu m'ch betr thän sìt ìn vìveri'm."

[Toliman]

Again good reading, good work!

[archaic]

Part 79

Spoiler: Rainy season.

"So, hanging out with us is better than sitting in a bare stainless steel box, twenty four seven. Err, I mean all day, every day."
"Twentì fr seven?"
"Oh, yeah, you remember we break up the day and night in to hours?"
"Sran, ther twentì fr häwrz in wn dey änd nayt."
"Yeah."
"Ìì ..... Seven?"
"Yeah there's seven days in a week. Twenty four seven, it just means all the time, without a change, ever."
"Frakrr."
"Fracker."
"Frakrr. Frakrr."
"Frackrr."
"Srane, frakrr."
"Frackrr?"
"Sran, sìltsan nìtxan."
"That means 'Very Good'. "
"Awesome!"
"Ìì, sw, wik?"
"Yeah, a week is seven days."
"It can either be any seven consecutive days, or for somethings, it can mean Sunday to the following Saturday."
"And historically, it used to be used for Monday to the following Sunday."
"That's true. But people haven't used that for donkey's years."
"Oh, yeah, donkey's years, that's just something people say when it's a very long time ago."
"Yeah, realistically probably more than ten years ago, but I guess, probably, less than a thousand. I think."
"Sounds right kinda ball park."
Pasha still looked a little confused.
"Still confused?"
"Knfyuzd?"
"Err, confused, it means 'don't understand'."
"Srane, litl knfyuzd."
"Look, I know, English is a total mess of a language, it is, and we know it, but it's the most commonly spoken language on Earth. So, it's the most useful to learn. Sorry it's such a filthy b**** b', err, I mean, it's real difficult to lean. Not nice, not easy."
"I thought Chinese was more widely spoken?"
"As a first language, then yeah ..... But, when you take into account second language and multilingual, it's English."
"I never knew that."
"Yeah, so there's a lot more who speak English as a second language than Chinese as a second language. There's quite a lot of people out there who have Chinese as a first language and English as a second language."
"Oh."
"Plus fair chunk of India speaks English as typically one of several languages they speak."
"I had no idea you were so learned on the subject."
"I watched a video on it, on the train home over Christmas."
"Sounds exciting."
"You have no idea!"
" 'Ere, speaking of entertainment, you 'in' on Thursday night?"
"Err, why?"
"Poker night."
"Well. yeah, Thursday night, poker night."
"Well? Are you?"
" 'In'? "
"Yeah."
"I hadn't planned to be. Why?"
"Just wondering."
"Ah."
"Midnight doesn't seam to be in a hurry this year."
"Nah, well, err, hang on, Pahsa, has anyone explained New year to you?"
"Nyu yìir?"
"Yeah."
"Ìì kehe?"
"OK, so, New year ..... Err, do you know what a year is?"
Pasha's expression suggested that she didn't.
"Oh boy." Chris put his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling for several moments. "A year is spring, summer, fall and winter. Four seasons."
Pasha's blank look remained.
"OK, right now it is winter, it's real cold out side, and the days are shorter than the nights. As we move towards summer the days get longer, and because the Sun gets more time heating up the place, it get's warmer, until mid summer ..... "
"Summer solstice, or longest day of the year, June 21, this year, which is a ..... Saturday. It can be on June 20 or June 22, Depending, but it's doesn't explain what and why, not on this page." Dino, lifting his Viewscreen up from bellow the table.
" ...... Thank you mister smart Alec. Err, so, after the Summer Solstice, the days get shorter again, and we head towards winter and the Winter solstice, the shortest Night of the year. And I can tell Dino is about to tell us when that is."
"December ..... "
"Wi have taym wen ìt rain , all taym. Twentì fr seven. 'lmost. Tompa zìsìkrr."
"Towmper ..... "
"Tompa.
"Tompar?"
"Sran. Zìsìkrr."
"Err, Zisikrr?"
"Srane! Sìltsan, nìtxan."
"So, I guess that'd be a 'rainy season' then."

[Toliman]

Read, again good

[archaic]

Part 80

Spoiler: Light show.

"Wanna watch the light show?"
"On screen? Or d'you wanna go up to the top of a tower and watch from there?"
"If we leave the suite, what happens if we get a call? Or a security breach, come to that."
"Unexpectedly, turns out that's covered."
"Go on, I'm all ears."
"Well, I thought your nose looked funny.
Chris gave Dino a nasty look.
"I stumbled on a site that had the original promo stuff for this exact security system. Turns out it can link up to a viewscreen."
"Just any old viewscreen?" Chris, holding his up and looking unconvinced.
"Err, no, for obvious reasons it needs to be one supplied by the security company."
"Ah, it did sound rather too convenient."
"I found one for sale on line."
"OK, so it's broken?"
"Well, yeah, but after watching a how too video, I took it to some one who repairs 'em."
"And he fixed it?"
"Nah, he said it was beyond repair, total scrap. But if I wanted a paper weight, or a shelf filler, it was absolutely perfect!"
"So, we don't have the special magic viewscreen."
"He had one. In stock, on the shelf."
"Also broken, I'm guessing."
"Brand new."
"It can't be that easy. What's the catch?"
"There's software, that's pretty much unobtainable now."
"And you somehow managed to get hold of it?"
"Already pre-installed on the screen. Then there's a physical plug in device to synch up."
"He had one of them?"
"Nah, they come with the system, otherwise they're not synched up. Otherwise it would be a colossal security risk."
"What happens if you lost them?"
"Yeah, I asked that, apparently it's a whole world of pain and expense to get new ones synched up."
"So, dead end then."
"Well it would've been, but inquiring minds wondered what happened to the two original synch devices, what came with this particular system, when it was originally supplied new to it's original owner."
"And?"
"One was kept by their IT Department, the other went walkies when it was torn out."
"Didn't they go bust?"
"They did, all the old stuff was sold at auction a few years back. Now, you think you're clever, and admittedly, none of us actually expected Pasha's re-breather to work, but, an' much as it pains me to say this, it does ....."
"Thanks." Chris sounded hurt.
" ..... You're welcome. So I managed to track down the company who purchased most of the IT stuff."
"And they still had it?"
"Nope, they had a very extensive inventory, and it wasn't in the inventory."
"You could've just said it's long gone, never to be seen ever again. And saved us all from a long and very predictable disappointing, pointless story."
"When they installed it, there was a load of stuff left over, some damaged cables, a load of manuals in a selection of languages that don't include English."
"No, I'm pretty sure the English manuals are in with our IT department."
"I 'spect so. But, dumped down the back of Maintenance's store room, there's a good few boxes full of about a ton 'n' 'alf of surplus cra' err, stuff. And, down the bottom of one of 'em ...... " Dino held up a small gadget " ..... I found it." he said with a smile.
"After all that, you know it's never gonna work, doncha?"
"Worked fine before Christmas."
"You've tried it?"
"Yup."
"Anyone else know about it?"
"Only Mark. And Pasha now, obviously."
"That's massive! How long do you think you can keep it secret?"
"So, I know you're not daft enough to muck it up for us all by blabbing, and everyone knows Pasha can't speak a word of English."
"Kehe. Ìn fäct they thìnk Ay knt spìk ät l, Na'vi häv onli voklizeyshnz, nt ril lnkwìch."
"Seriously?"
"Srane."
"Well I'll be darned!"
"Yeah, science pukes, what can you do with 'em? Hang on, what about Mark? He can be a bit of a loose cannon at times, not worried about 'im letting the cat out of the bag?"
"Nah, 'e's not that silly. Besides, Mark goes around telling anyone, I've got a remote for the security system. Who's going to believe a word of it?"
"Err ..... No one."
"And now you know why I wanted to work with 'im. I do anything 'frowned upon' and he grasses me up, they'll just put it down as one of Mark's tall stories."
"Sneaky! Like it!"
"Cheers. Not that I've got 'im down as a snitch, mind."
"Reassuring. So, any particular tower? They've all got some kind of viewin' area near the top. Any idea which one'll have the best view?"
"Yeah, well, funny you should ask, it's tower 'S' one."
"Did you take this set of nights, just so you could watch the light show from the top of 'S' one?"
"Yeah, pretty much. And it's always good to hang out with Pash. Mind you, it's probly no bad thing to spend a bit of time away from Mark occasionally, you know, just for a bit of variety, now and again."
"Yeah, I can see that."
"How d'ya fancy going up there now, setting up some comfy chairs ready for twelve o'clock?"
"Go on then, I've heard worse ideas."

[Toliman]

Txantsana pamrel

Spoiler

Good writing

[archaic]

Part 81

Spoiler: Foot warmer.

"Well, that didn't take long."
"No."
"Time now?"
"Err ..... eleven ten."
"Fifty minutes."
"I am truly in awe of your subtractive skills." Chris, apparently in awe.
Dino gave Chris a long hard look before he replied "Funny."
"Equipment check?"
"Not a bad Idea ..... Yep, looking good."
"Any new years resolutions?"
"Not working with anyone who takes the mick."
"And Mark doesn't?"
"Err, apart from Mark."
"Round here, 'nobody who takes the mick, apart from Mark', that basically leaves ..... Mark!"
"Hmm, that's true. OK, no one who makes D I Y rebreathers, then."
"Cheers!"
"You're colossally welcome mate."
"You sure find out who your friends are round here!"
"Yep! No one!"
"Yeah, I noticed!"
"Time now?"
"Err ..... eleven eleven."
"Wow, a whole minute closer to twenty one twenty seven. Awesome." Dino sounded disappointed.
"We could ague some more, pass the time?"
"No we couldn't. That's a ridiculous idea." Dino, tongue in cheek.
"No it isn't! Arguing is an activity that occupies time! And I'd like point out that we have a pre-existing track record for holding opposing views on a wide range of topics!" Chris, also tongue in cheek.
"No we don't! I can't recall ever holding a significantly divergent view from you!" Dino folded his arms, and stood nose to nose with Chris "I find that you invariably form well considered an' intelligent viewpoints!!!!" Dino, jabbing Chris in the chest with his finger on the beat of  every word, and genuinely struggling not to laugh.
They stopped and turned to Pasha, she was sniggering loudly.
"Yu tu f'ni lu. Ìììììì ..... 'r?"
" 'You two are funny.' "
"Ììì, yu tu ar f'ni."
"Yeah, that's it."
"Time now?"
"Err ..... eleven thir ..... no, fourteen now."
"Another argument?"
"You call that an argument!?"
"Well I weren't going to call it 'Henry', now was I!?!?"
"Yeah? Well we ought to have some fizz to celebrate the new year!"
"Yeah? Well that's not a bad idea!"
"Think we've got time to nip to the store and back?"
"No! And not only do I not think we've got time to nip to the store and back, but I just so happen to have a bottle in me locker!"
"Oh have you now?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! So what are you gonna do about it?"
"Well, I'll just have to think that's some remarkably forward thinking, won't I!"
"Yu tu 'r rili kreyzi. Yu nw thätx?"
"She's got a point."
"Yeah, but what are we gonna do about it?"
"Meh."
"What's time is it now?"
"Err ..... still eleven fourteen."
"Disappointing. I think I'll go fetch tonight's supplies. If you need me I'll be just down stairs." Dino, heading toward the elevators.
"See you in a while!"
"Srane. Wt hi sed."
"So ..... err ..... "
"Yu tu n'tz. Kreyzi. Kehe, yu 'l ar kreyzi."
" 'Yu are all crazy.' "
"Irayo, yu 'r 'l kreyzi."
"Sad, but true. I blame the parents."
"Ìììì ..... "
"Don't worry about it."
"Wtx 'r nu yirz rezolutinz?"
"Oh ..... OK ..... err ..... "
"Ìf ìt tu hrd?"
"Nah, well, kinda, err, so, it's a new year, and you decide what you really want to do this year, or it could be what you did wrong last year and don't want to do this year, or know you really shouldn't do. And you make a resolution, which is like a decision, only more so. And you decide you're going to quit smoking, or lose a few kilos, or work hard for a promotion, or visit you're mom more often, or take up swimming regularly, or learning Klingon or Elvish or Swahili or ..... whatever!"
"Ììììììì?"
"And most people break most if not all of them before the end of January."
"Chänyuäri?"
"Yeah, January! Pathetic isn't it!? We're pathetic. We are, aren't we. All this technology, scientific breakthroughs, it's, well, we've come so far, in so many ways. And most of us have broken all of our new years resolutions in less that one month. To be honest, a lot of us break a lot of out resolutions in less than a week ..... That really does sound pathetic when you say it out loud like that. Utterly utterly pathetic. I'm sorry we dragged you to our pathetic little home world. So full of pollution, and so little hope. We've messed it up. Earth. We've done so much damage, and so many politicians, leaders and business types say it's not to late to fix it, and that every effort is being made. But they would say that, wouldn't they. No, we've sailed our ship right up poo-poo creak, just as far as it's possible to go, and didn't even bother to think about a paddle. Not till it was far, far too late. Still, at least we're not making it worse like we used to. Well, not worse anything like as quickly as we used to, anyways."
Chris sat on the floor, his back against the comfy chair, he drew his knees up under his chin. Pasha sat down beside him, drew her knees under her chin too, and curled her tail round, the tuft at the end resting on her feet. The two of them sat in silence for some time.

[Toliman]

Txantsana pamrel nìmun

Spoiler

Good writing again

[archaic]

Part 82

Spoiler: Viagra factory.

"Hello?" Dino whispered.
Chris gave a half nod in recognition.
"You two are quiet?" Dino, still whispering.
"Mmm." Chris, softly.
"Any particular reason?"
"We were just taking a moment to remember how crummy humans are, what a crummy mess we've left our home world in, and what a massively crummy thing we've done to 'Pasha', who's real name in her own language is unpronounceable by humans. Or at least me, at any rate." was what he almost certainly should have said, it was what he was thinking, but "Just felt right." was what he actually said.
"Whatever. Oh, got a projector for the occasion."
"Nice."
"But they didn't supply a battery, so it's a paperweight."
"Typical."
"Mmm. But what can you do?"
"Send 'em a snotty email, and tell 'em you wan't a refund."
"Which, was the next thing on my to-do list."
"Tonight?"
"Before midnight. Time now?"
"Err, eleven twenty eight."
"Right, on it. Actually, I'll go sit in the lobby."
"Seats out there, are way less comfy."
"Precisely, I'll be quicker."
"Can't argue with that."
"Just call me before Auld Lang Syne time."
"Sure."
"See ya' in a bit."
A sudden damp rattle on the window interrupted.
"It's raining again."
"The Great British weather."
"Mmm."
Dino left, the door swung back on it's self closer, and Chris looked out into the night.
"What do you see?"
"Reyn. Layts änd 's."
"Yeah, rain, it does that a lot."
"Eywa Eveng nìteng."
"Err, nìteng, 'very'?"
Pasha laughed.
"Kehe, nìtxan lu 'veri'. Nìteng lu ''lsow'."
"Oh, nittan, very ..... "
"Nìtxan, nìtxan."
"Nittan loo 'very', nitteng loo 'also'."
Pasha sighed deeply.
"Nìtxan lu 'veri'. Nìteng lu ''lsow'."
"Nittan loo 'very', nitteng loo 'also'."
"Srane. Veri gd. Yu lrn, slow, bt yu lrn."
"I admit it, you're better at this than me."
"Änd powkr, änd gtìng äwt 'v pleys's."
"And you've only been here three weeks. What's it going to be like when you've been here a year?"
Pasha looked at her feet for some time.
"Meybi ay g't hom?" Pasha said, but there was no hint that she believed she really would.
It was Chris's turn to sigh deeply.
"It takes most six years on an ISV, and that travels at nine tenths of the speed of light. Well, that's cruise speed, it takes a while to get to that speed and slow down again at the other end. Maybe in a year, I will have learned to speak ..... err, "
"NìNa'vi?"
"Yeah, err, srane."
"Oe."
"Huh?"
"No, 'Oe'."
"Oh."
"Oe?"
"Oweh."
"Clows 'nf. Oe plltxe ...."
"Err, Oweh pullteh."
"Plltxe."
"Pullteh."
"Pll ..... txe."
"Pullteh. I'm not going to get my tongue around that, err, other thing."
"Ìì, wn yir n't 'nf."
Chris sighed.
"No, you're probably right."
"Oe p'ltxe nìNa'vi."
"Oweh pullteh ninna'vi."
"Sìltsan. Veri gud fr yu."
"So, what you're saying is, I suck."
"Ìììì, lìtl."
The door opened, Dino rejoined them.
"I'm back."
"How do I know you're real, and not a figment of my imagination?"
"Nah, I'm real."
"Well, you would say that, or at least the figment of my imagination that appears to be you would say that, wouldn't you. Err, it. Err ..... You?"
Pasha walked over to the almost certainly figment of Chris's imagination, and poked it.
"Ow!"
"Hi ril."
"Oh, well, that's a disappointment."
"I see ..... So, anywho, what time is it now?"
"Eleven thirty six."
"The suspense is killing me."
"I 'spose I'd better arrange an alibi, then."
"It'll never stand up in court."
"Yeah, it will. I was at the Viagra factory when it happened. When the alleged incident is allegedly said to have taken place, even."
"I see. So, I put it you, mister Bongalides, that that is what is technically referred to in the legal profession as a 'Fib'."
"It's a fair cop, I'll come quietly."

Edit: Minor mistake fix.

[Toliman]

Read, good

[archaic]

Irayo!
 

[Toliman]

Kea tìkin

[archaic]

Part 83

Spoiler: Villa in the Spanish Alps.

"Time now?"
"Thirteen and a half seconds after the last time you asked."
Dino gave Chris a withering look.
"Eleven thirty s, err, eight!"
"Bleedin' Nora, at this rate it's gonna take till flippin' midnight!"
"Yeah, so, I think you may've left it fractionally too late to get away from Mark?"
"Meh."
"Still eleven thirty eight, before you ask!"
Dino sighed.
"Any New Years resolutions?"
"More Na'vi."
"Mr ìnglìsh."
"And what's Dino's?"
"Work a bit of overtime and save up for a holiday."
"As New Years resolutions go, that's a bit of a cop out."
"Yeah, well,I meant to last year, didn't come together."
"Oh."
"And the year before too."
"Oh."
"And this year was pretty lame, as it goes."
"Oh?"
"Tagged along with a mate to his villa."
"Spain?"
"Yeah, north end of the alps."
"Pyrenees?"
"Err, maybe? It was mountains, we were a long way up, I know that, views were sensational, when the cloud cover permitted."
"So, I'm guessing there was a certain amount of alcohol consumed?"
"It was his stag do."
"And how is married bliss treating them?"
"Divorced."
"Didn't mess around then, no mucking about with counseling, or marriage guidance, that kinda malarky?"
"Nah, it was basically over before they got to the end of the honeymoon."
"Oh."
"Filed for divorce on line while sat in the airport, waiting for the flight home."
"Remind me never to get married."
"I don't think I need to."
"Too smart to make that mistake?"
"Err, well, something like that, yeah."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"This isn't exactly a job where you get to meet members of the female portion of the human race."
"We meet 'undreds of 'em, have you not been payin' attention to who's comin' 'n' going with lost property?"
"Yeah, OK, there's them, but it's not like you're going to move in together after, is it?"
"True."
"It's just a sea of faces mate, sea of faces."
"Some of 'em are quite pretty, mind you."
"Can't argue with you there, I've seen a couple of absolute stunners, but it's not like I'm ever going to get anywhere with any of 'em. They're punters, and off limits, company policy, quite apart from anything else."
"Yep, that's what it is."
"What's that?"
"The reason were not fighting off an unending hoards of stunners ..... "
"What's that then?"
" ..... It's company policy that's keeping us safe from 'em."
"I reckon you've cracked it, if it wasn't for company policy keepin' us safe, we'd be torn apart by a huge mob of insatiable nymphomaniac professional models."
"Yep. That's what it is. The only reason."
"The only reason."
"We're not fooling no one, are we."
"Not for an instant."
Dino sighed deeply.
"Time now?"
"Eleven forty."
"I'm going to the loo, I don't actually need to go, but , I'm going to do somethin' to pass the time."
"You're not going to ..... "
"I'm going to see if I can make paper planes out of loo roll."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say someone was bored."
"What gave it away?"
"The fact that you've asked what the time is, on average, once every twelve point seven three seconds."
"I hadn't realized I'd been leaving it so long."

[Toliman]

Oe olinan, txantsana pamrel

Spoiler

I read, excellent writing

[archaic]

Part 84

Spoiler: Origami lesson.

"Should old acquaintance be forgot, for the sake, of I can't remember what 'n' never brought to mind."
"You're too early, you've still got another nineteen minutes. And might I suggest you take a moment to actually look up the lyrics?"
"Everyone's a critic."
"So, have you ever considered a change of career?"
"To become a pro singer?"
"Mmm."
"Well, no, actually ..... "
"Thank Christ for that!" Chris interrupted.
" ..... Well, thanks for the vote of support. Mate."
"No problem."
"Uh-huh."
"Wt tim ìz ìt näw?"
"Err, eleven forty three."
"Seventeen minutes.
"Well duh."
"So what we gonna do for the next sixteen and a bit minutes?"
"Looking up the lyrics to ..... err, the, err, the new years song."
"Mmm."
There was a tense and expectant moment.
"Auld Lang Syne, got it."
"Fourteen minutes to go. So, how did the loo roll paper planes go?"
"To my suprize, they work suprizingly well!"
Dino held up a very small paper plane.
"Reminds me of my first apartment, tiny."
Dino launched it, it flew better than Chris expected.
"Well, I'll be, it flies better than ..... "
Pasha went and picked it up, she tried throwing it, but this was her first encounter with paper planes, and the technique eluded her. It went about six feet and fell to floor like a rock.
"Any landing you walk away form."
"Mmm."
"Häw thr'w?"
"Yeah, there's a trick to it, hold it like this ..... err ..... Have you got another one Dino."
"No, but I can get some more folded up." With that Dino trudged off for some more raw materials.
He returned a few moments later with a large amount wound round his hand.
"Went a bit mad there Dino?"
"Meh." Dino, unwinding his haul.
Chris interrupted Dino's unwinding to take a sheet off the loose end, and folded up a plane of his own.
"Yeah, need winglets, very important, they give it some structure and rigidity."
"OK ..... " Chris folded up the wing tips " ..... there you go, defloppyfying winglets. Good for boundary separation too."
"Huh?"
"The high pressure on the top of the wing can't slide off and get sucked into the low pressure bit below it."
Dino looked at Chris blankly.
"Which makes it lift more efficiently."
Dino was still none the wiser.
"Or is it the other way round?"
"How should I bleeding know?"
"It was a rhet' ..... yeah, never mind. So, hold it in your fingers like this ..... "
"First thing you've said that makes sense."
"Thank you Dino."
Pasha took a good look at how Chris was holding it, and held hers the same way.
"Bring your arm up, elbow bent, and start with your hand here, near your shoulder. Err ..... "
" 'etnaw."
"Etnahwuh."
"Klews in'f."
"Launch it gently, and move your fingers like that, so as to keep the plane level."
"Otherwise it nose dives into the floor."
"Yeah, that."
"Here goes mine." Dino launched his, it made it almost half way across the observation gallery.
"Not bad, that must be at least ten meters."
Chris launched his, it made it almost as far as Dino's.
"Not too bad either."
Pasha launched her's, it made it about half as far as Chris's. Pasha looked disappointed.
"Given they're not the best paper planes ..... "
"Nah, they're a bit small."
" ..... and loo roll, 's'not the best thing for paper planes neither. That ain't too bad for a first attempt."
"Shall we retrieve 'em, and 'ave another go?"
Dino held up the paper he'd fetched.
"Nah, sharp end gets blunt pretty quick, if it hits anything, an' what with the tables 'n' chairs in 'ere. it's what you could call a target rich environmen'. You wanna teach the lady how to fold one up?"
"Oh boy, origami lessons now!"
"Looks like it."
" 'rìkami?"
"O."
"Ììììììì ..... "
"Folding first, phonetics later, midnight's gettin' close."
" 'E's right."
Chris took a sheet, made the first fold, and waited while Pasha copied. Chris made the second fold diagonally, and again waited as Pasha copied. Chris made the third fold, a mirror image of the second.
"Need to be careful here, the fold goes right to the tip at the front, and lines up along it's tail edge." Chris did his best to point out the relevant places, but it was a bit small for this to be all that precise.
It took a while, but finally Pasha had completed her first paper plane, winglets included.
Without a word, three paper planes were launched in something vaguely like synchrony, and all three made it to somewhere near half way across the gallery.
They made tree more, launched them, again all three ended up somewhere around half way.
More followed. Dino's alarm sounded.
"One minute. Bye bye twenty one twenty six, you were, err, well, full of surprizes."
"Yeah, not what I expected, this time twelve moths ago."
"M'nths?"
"Oh god. Yeah. I'll explain it later, and it's not gonna make a lot of sense."
"Thirty days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have thirty one, 'cept February, which has twenty eight days clear, and twenty nine each leap year."
"Eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, err, myrrh, sing, pay, myoon, arwuh ..... "
"Kew" Pasha said, and as she did, the whole sky seamed to light up, she turned to the window in wonder and looked out on the spectacle.
"Tewti." Pasha, in awe.
"Simulated fireworks."
"Mmm. And a good show 'n' all."