[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

[Ryuuzaki's low voice is accented in a way that people from places other than the U.K. might think of as "generically English," and when the message begins, his tones are pleasant and measured without being effusive.]

Hello, everyone.

The Ingress has brought us to the Moira from any number of places. When I meet someone, I can't say whether our similarities will outweigh our differences, or vice-versa... when you're this far from home, even small commonalities can seem important. It's led me to be curious about the broad strokes of everyone's backgrounds.

[A pause, as he approaches his real question.]

What can you tell me about the government in the place you came from before this? Both the form of government and, if possible, specific names of leaders.

If it wasn't your original home, I'd be interested in hearing about that, too, even down to what year it was for you.

If you'd prefer to answer privately, that's all right with me. I can promise you my discretion.

Thank you.

Comments

[ryuuzaki]

A senatorial candidate, if I remember correctly. It's been a few years, and I'm not American to begin with.

Has he done well?

[He won't in L's world.]

[wallcrawls]

reasonably. public opinion's been up and down, but when is it not?

[ryuuzaki]

The prominent American politicians I can remember were David Hope and George Sairas. Are they familiar to you?

[wallcrawls]

they don't ring any bells.

[ryuuzaki]

All right.

What was the last major military conflict the U.S. was involved in as of 2004?

[wallcrawls]

2004 was a decade ago for me, man. 2003 was the start of the second gulf war, though.

[ryuuzaki]

That's a difference for me. Given that the United States still exists, did they win?

Also, was there anything big happening in Europe or Asia, that you're aware of?

[wallcrawls]

no winners or losers in the traditional sense, but ... yeah, the US still exists so point to us, I guess. what happened where you're from?

anything big happening in europe and asia in 2004? [ l he was, like, eight. ] ...SE asia was hit by a massive tsunami over christmas. loads of humanitarian aid etc from across the globe.

[ryuuzaki]

A major multinational war in the 1990s, but things have settled since then.

[Christmas, 2004 is after his time, but the lack of any mention of "and someone was killing all the criminals" leads him to believe that if his conversational partner here isn't deeply glossing over the issue, it's probably not a world where Kira has been an issue yet. Or maybe he was, and the tsunami in question changed something.]

Coming to space from the early twenty-first century... it's a big change?

[OOC: There is absolutely no canon detail on anything related to this war except that it happened and that it was a big deal, so that's why I'm glossing over the details. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Thanks, Death Note.]

[wallcrawls]

with nations being redefined? [ a guess, given the comment about the US. ]

yeah, you could say that. I thought the biggest change I was going to have to adapt to in my near-future was college, but you know... alternate timelines, space travel and aliens add a bit of spice too.

[ryuuzaki]

None of the larger ones. The smaller ones... well, their borders tend to shift, regardless. We're probably lucky that there wasn't more upheaval than there was.

Space isn't like I would have assumed, yet in other ways, it's almost exactly like I would have assumed. Novel, but you can't stand around staring at the stars all day.