Apriltober 2022 21 Salsa pt 2 (Roo, Rina, Dr. Karen OCs)

a/n: Three OCs discuss not being able to remember things and the social difficulties this causes.

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft. Is your BLADE a J-body or not?

Rina flagged down the server that had been ignoring Dr. Karen, ordered for the group and added a healthy preliminary tip. They toasted before testing the latest beer, with additional chips and salsa. Once this was well in process, Rina spoke again. "See, that's one reason that stasis amnesia is a bitch sometimes. I can't come up with small talk. How can I talk about movies or school or roommates when I can't remember anything earlier than landing here?"

Roo nodded politely and kept his thoughts to himself. That was fine with the other two.

"There's certainly plenty of things to talk about on this planet," Dr. Karen said with rising fervor.

Roo looked at Rina in panic. When Dr. Karen warmed to a topic, it usually resulted in a full lecture complete with reading list and problem set. Rina moved the conversation along quickly. "Sure, we can talk work, like your rocks." She postponed taking a sip in order to talk faster. "Or Pathfinding, or drama at the repair center. But sometimes you want to leave work behind." Noting that Dr. Karen had been forestalled, she risked raising her beer bottle.

Roo wasn't as sure they had avoided a presentation on geology, and so he made the effort to speak. "I'm always putting my foot in it, saying something that brings up bad memories for people that, you know, have them."

"Yeah, that's another thing!" Rina agreed. "It isn't even other people's memories I have to be sensitive of. My own brain is convinced that I should have more memories than I do and that maybe that's a bad thing. I'm going along, minding my business, and suddenly I get this creepy crawly feeling. Like I should know something but I don't, and any minute it's gonna jump out from behind a skell and say BOO! I don't like having to look over my shoulder all the time."

For very different reasons, Dr. Karen and Roo nodded in sympathy. Rina went back to picking at the label off the newest sample. "Worst thing ... worst thing is: you start keeping yourself from thinking too hard, you know?"

Dr. Karen frowned. "I can't say that I do." She looked at Roo, but he was suddenly very focused on his own beer. This was not a topic he wanted to explore, at least not in himself. He had his suspicions about why his brain fluttered from interest to interest, but nothing good would come of asking anyone in the murky depths of the Mim Maintenance Center. "Then again, I'm always most interested in what is in front of me. I suppose I also try not to dwell on the past. If you look too long you'll find more pain than comfort," she finished quietly.

Roo pushed the bowl of chips towards Dr. Karen, and Rina pushed the salsa her way as well. Rina took a quick swig of her beer and tried to be more positive. "I wish I could focus on the present as easily as you two can. I start thinking about things and then suddenly I get creeped out. Like I said, there's this weird feeling: what if I remember something? What if it's bad? So I stop thinking and move on. But it lingers. There's stuff out there that I want to figure out."

Dr. Karen perked up. "Like what?"

Rina searched the hazy air over the table. "So, I've been stationed in Oblivia for the past few weeks, and I wish I could just drill down on everything there is to see there. The gap in Oblivia and the rings and whether those inscriptions form a language."

Roo echoed her instantly. "What the wiring on the rings connected to."

"Why water is pouring out of one of them!" Rina added.

Roo thumped the table. "Why are some of them buried!"

"Were they really a weapon!" Rina practically shouted.

"Who made them!" they said almost in unison.

"How much impact does nonisothermal vapor transport have on the clearly vadose zone around the river!" Dr. Karen added one beat later, radiating joy.

Rina and Roo stared at her in silence.

"What?"

a/n: Dr. Karen's contribution lifted wholesale from "Deep arid system hydrodynamics", Michelle A. Walvoord et al.

Next up: More beer with these dorks, because life is busy.