video;

[whatsupcroc]

[ The video starts black. Light cuts through in sharp lines, edging in around blades of grass. No, make that fur.

Fur that gains color into browns as it shifts away from blocking the camera's eye. The rabbit hops away down the table, disappearing for a minute. Two. When it comes back in view, it appears to be wearing tiny, lens-free glasses perched precariously on its twitching nose.

The rabbit sits back on its hind legs, ears swiveling forward and paws tucking close to its chest. When it glances toward the camera, it's almost like the rabbit winks. But it couldn't have.

Could it? ]

Comments

[bratworth]

[ He scoffs slightly, still looking at the floor. ]

Indeed, but I still don't think I've heard anyone refer to it quite like that since I was in elementary school.

[whatsupcroc]

( She laughs, pleased he understands the acronym. )

Do you know you're the first person to have any idea what I mean when I talk about the KISS principle?

[bratworth]

Considering that there's people here who have never seen a microwave, I'm not surprised.

[whatsupcroc]

Yeah, I can only imagine how weird everything here is for them when technology isn't something they've got back home.

... Miles? How would you explain a nuclear bomb to someone who has no idea what nuclear is?

[bratworth]

[ The question is disarming enough that he answers it instead of wondering why Collette had been attempting to explain a nuclear bomb. ]

In such a situation, I would focus on the results.

[whatsupcroc]

Yeah, but how do you like... explain nuclear radiation to someone who doesn't understand what a microwave does?

( She appears to be seriously trying to figure this out. God help the both of them, neither being scientists. )

[bratworth]

Tell them not to stick their head in it. [ A beat. ] But I gather that this isn't about microwaves.

[whatsupcroc]

( She groans. )

No, it's about nuclear radiation. I mean, about the history here, and trying to explain how it causes mutations but isn't going to kill him if he eats things that are grown or raised here.

[bratworth]

Won't kill him immediately, you mean. Can't you just say it like that?

[whatsupcroc]

Yeah, but I bet he'd argue, "other poisons don't kill you right away either, it doesn't mean I go out of my way to eat things with that trace amount of poison in it anyway." Do any of us who know about nuclear radiation live like we're paranoid? Nope!

[bratworth]

Tell him that the alternative is starvation.

[whatsupcroc]

You know, that still doesn't explain anything. And he knows that much!

[bratworth]

[ He sighs, shakily pushing himself up into a kneeling position. ]

Then I don't know. What do you want from me, Collette?

[whatsupcroc]

Answers, duh. I was hoping you'd be the guy to know everything!

( A half grin. She's teasing: in reality, she doesn't know. She'd just needed something as a distraction. )

It's better that you're not though.

[bratworth]

[ And now standing! Wow, he's good at this. He nods. ]

Nuclear radiation was scarcely touched upon throughout my education.

[whatsupcroc]

Funny, I think we mostly left it out of my highschool education too. Why isn't someone from the 50's around? They had to know all about it!

( What with those bomb shelters and all. )

[bratworth]

There might be. Perhaps you ought to redirect your enquiries to the network.

[whatsupcroc]

... You're brilliant! Thanks so much Miles!

[bratworth]

... I merely stated the obvious.

[whatsupcroc]

If you knew the internet when I was from? That so wouldn't be the obvious answer.

[bratworth]

Meaning what, precisely?

[whatsupcroc]

I dunno, you were like five during the 90's! It's hard to explain what you never really knew.

what is the internet teaching children these days...

[bratworth]

Are you referring to the lack of search engines?

porn

[whatsupcroc]

Ask Jeeves!

but you're a minor, collette ;(

[bratworth]

... That was around back then?