Vroom Vroom

[dee_lorean81]

[There is a DeLorean, heavily modified, doing laps in an empty, paved part of the Nexus. One might wonder what the driver is doing -- practicing for a race? Working on their turning? Just burning rubber because they're bored?

And then one might get a little closer -- and see that there IS no driver.

. . .perhaps it might be fairer to say that the car is bored.]

Comments

[dee_lorean81]

[Victor can't help a laugh] I'm sure it all makes perfect sense to him.

[Dee] I wouldn't know. Never was a baby. Not even sure what "baby" is for a car.

[palmerthing]

Still for sale, maybe? But hey, no one can really remember being a baby.

Well, I kind of can. But only if an adult mind can be a baby.

[dee_lorean81]

[Doc, tilting his head] I would argue it would be freshly assembled right off the factory floor. That's the earliest point you could consider the whole package a complete car.

[Dee] Heh, yeah, that's probably right. . .and yeah, I guess your kind really doesn't have babies? Unless they take over babies. Which is -- the kind of thing you don't really want to think about.

[palmerthing]

Yeah, sounds about right.

No, it really isn't. It would also be incredibly pointless, you'd have a very confused baby that never grows up. Or maybe tries to eat everything around it.

[dee_lorean81]

[Doc, intrigued] I see -- so you arrest the aging process totally in your host?

[Dee, thoughtful] Well -- given they're kind of a big collection of sentient viruses, Things CAN'T age, can they?

[Doc] Yes, but the creatures they infect should, unless they specifically stop or repair the process.

[palmerthing]

I’m not a biologist or anything, man, I just know that we don’t age. At least not visibly. But then why would a shapeshifter visibly age?

[dee_lorean81]

[Doc, starting to get into this] That really depends on the type of shapeshifter, doesn't it? Whether they have a default form, the limits of their shapeshifting ability -- hell, you might as well pull in the psychological aspect and consider what age the shapeshifter themselves would prefer to look like, their feelings on the aging process --

[Marty, amused] Doc -- probably should remind you you're technically not a biologist either.

[Doc] I've dabbled a little bit! I'm a student of all sciences!

[Dee, snorting] And you wonder why people back home thought you were a little weird.

[palmerthing]

Well I'm getting new cells every time I eat, without needing the whole workaround of digestion, so I don't think aging is likely to apply any time soon.

[dee_lorean81]

[Doc] All new cells? Every time you eat? I know you're a shapeshifter and thus don't need to look heavier, but that does make me wonder how your actual mass works. . .

[Dee] This conversation has taken a weird turn from "would you like to hold the baby."

[palmerthing]

Some new cells, at any rate. I’m not gonna grow huge any more than you are.

Yeah, it really has. *He sort of awkwardly pats the baby’s head.* You definitely have a cute kid here, though.

[dee_lorean81]

[Doc, glancing down at his stomach -- or, rather, at the flesh covering the furnace he currently has in there instead] That's -- a very good point. But it is still interesting to think about.

[Alice nods] Mmm. . . [she chuckles as Palmer pats Chester] Thank you. He can be a little terror sometimes, but he's very well-loved.

[Dee nods] I'm gonna be the best auntie to him I can be!

[palmerthing]

I think all children can be little terrors. After all, adults are often just larger terrors. Have you ever been in a rowdy bar? *He doesn't mention the far worse options available, that's the wrong kind of terror.*

[dee_lorean81]

[Marty, shaking his head] I frequented the cafes when I was back in Hill Valley. Heard some stories about the local bar scene, but never found any before shit went down and I ended up living here.

[Doc, also shaking his head] Interesting family reaction to alcohol that means I can get blackout drunk INCREDIBLY fast, so I avoid the places.

[Dee, also shaking her head] Not sentient until relatively recently, human form ain't old enough to go in.

[Victor, also shaking his head] Burtonsville had a coffee shop, and my parents would have never let me in a common pub.

[Alice, shaking her head] Good portion of my life was spent in a Victorian asylum -- which, granted, is probably MUCH WORSE than any rowdy bar.

[palmerthing]

*A laugh.* Alright, fair. But you get the general idea, I think.

[dee_lorean81]

[Marty] Oh yeah -- like I said, heard some stories about the local bar scene.

[Dee] And while I wasn't really aware at the TIME, I do have memories of a sort of having to deal with rude drivers, which gotta count as well.

[Alice] Basically we're all very well aware of the capacity of human beings to be terrors to their fellow man.

[palmerthing]

I think I prefer the small-child kind of terror. *He bounces the baby playfully once or twice, then offers him back.*

[dee_lorean81]

[Victor accepts Chester, who grabs onto his sleeve with his little hands, making happy noises] Yes, yes, come to Daddy. . .

[Alice nods] I do too, exhausting as it is.

[Dee] Small children you know don't really mean it.

[palmerthing]

And they can't do much really serious, either. Just tire you out.

[dee_lorean81]

[Alice] Or pull down the curtains. [Chester giggles and tugs on Victor's sleeve] No, no, you're not to do that again!

[Dee] We should probably just shorten the curtains so he can't reach.

[palmerthing]

Baby-proofing everything must be hard. You'll always forget something.

[dee_lorean81]

[Victor, bouncing Chester] Or think "there's no way a baby could get into that," only to be immediately proven wrong. One wonders how long we survived as a species if our little ones are THIS capable of getting into trouble.

[Dee] Well, you guys are pretty good at getting yourselves out of trouble too. Even the small fry.

[palmerthing]

It is pretty wild, though. Most species start with a much better sense of danger.

[dee_lorean81]

[Dee] Mm, true. Most species also start out being able to walk a lot faster too.

[Marty] You guys are making me wonder how the hell humans survived this long.

[palmerthing]

With difficulty, I imagine. And a lot of blind luck. You know a bear wandered into a command center during the Cuban Missile Crisis and almost caused WWIII? I read about this stuff, you know.

[dee_lorean81]

[Marty, blinking] I -- must have missed that in history class. A bear did what?

[Dee, incredulous] How the hell did a BEAR get into a COMMAND CENTER?? Why were they building those things in areas with bears?