-4° | anywhen (text)

[catchacold]

We're already in some magical land that makes our dreams come true - mostly the bad ones - so let's think about the impossible some more.

[Leonard may be calling it "impossible" mostly to heckle one specific Brit, given he's travelled through time himself, but maybe it will also flush out other time travellers. May be interesting.]

If you could travel to any point in history, where and when would you go, and why?

Also, if you could travel to any point in your own personal history, your lifetime... Same questions.

Would you try to change anything?

[He has experience with trying and the resulting failure too.]

Comments

text;

[agentxthirteen]

Clearly you're used to more advanced means of communication than texting.

[ She's partly teasing, but also not, because she really hadn't understood to what he was referring. ]

You're welcome to explain it to me. Though so far all I've learned is that you don't think highly of people who are limited by the technology and understandings of both their universe and time. Still, I'm willing to actually learn if you're willing to actually teach.

[ Instead of cop an attitude that is so shitty it seems to have come straight from his ass.

... An assitude. ]

Re: text;

[directed]

Yes, as a matter of fact.

[Was she teasing? Rip honestly can't tell.]

Quite to the contrary; the limitations of understanding based on one's time of origin are nothing to hold against a person. [Problematic at times, sure. But Rip hardly begrudges anyone for that. Under normal circumstances, in fact, he loves a bit of appropriate showing off when it comes to future tech.

And yet.] Rather, it's the close-mindedness required to pass blanket judgment on a practice you don't understand, condemning it as something "idiotic" regardless of the reasons for its undertaking, or assuming that those who have must all be fools who move through time without a single damn regard for the potential impact of their actions, both in regards to the timeline and their own personal lives.

That is what I take issue with.

text;

[agentxthirteen]

[ Oh, man. If she could do eyerolls over text... ]

Yes, I was close-minded because I had bad intel, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to learn from my mistakes. If you're so upset about it, rec a book or something, but don't cut into a conversation I'm having with someone else to throw a hissy fit and waste both of our time. Or MY time, I guess, since YOU can just go back in time and get a redo or something.

When I was a kid, I didn't think dinosaurs had fur or feathers because scientists didn't know about that yet. They found evidence of it when I got older and I accepted that dinosaurs had fur and feathers. There's a difference between telling people and being an ass. And so far, you've been a bit of an ass.

[ And if Rip ever visits Sharon's younger self, Sharon hopes her younger self bites him. ]

Re: text;

[directed]

You had no intel but your own assumptions, point of fact. And as for cutting into the conversation, I'll once more reiterate that I'm the one who brought the original speaker into the time-travelling fold, as it were. That ultimately makes the responsibility mine.

[And not just for answering questions related to the practice—which is so much the source of Rip's ire, and his reason for stepping in.

She can't hear it, but there's a sigh on Rip's end.]

One, we've got no access to time travel here, at least not by the methods used to do so in my world. Two, I wouldn't be replacing my younger self; I as the traveler would be present alongside him, and if I were going to do so, it'd be for a damn better reason than convincing him to avoid one particularly troublesome discussion. Three, there's an incredible risk of paradox when it comes to such meetings, not to mention that traveling back along your own personal timeline to events you've already participated in runs the risk of time literally folding in on itself, and while we may be in fact operating within a world where time has a completely different "flow" or none at all, I'd really rather not take the risk of wrecking what limited rules of reality this dimension seems to abide by.

Oh, and for the record? I've apparently got a bit of a reputation for being a dick already, so it's not really news to me.

text;

[agentxthirteen]

[ Some of that was actually helpful. It's the most informative he's been since this discussion started. ]

I'm glad you're satisfied with your reputation. I almost hate to tell you that your last text was borderline educational. I hope that's not going to feed your ego too much.

Re: text;

[directed]

I'm quite aware of what I'm knowledgeable in without any platitudes.

Coincidentally, I'm also of the opinion that it's better to be aware of one's more "dickish" tendencies than utterly blind to them, even when it's been pointed out.

Because you truly still don't see it, do you? You think your earlier comments were entirely justified and fair, simply because you didn't know any better.

text;

[agentxthirteen]

Jesus Christ. I just wasn't expecting you to be helpful given the rest of this conversation.

No, I think I took it for granted that my world and time would apply to other people's and let my ignorance show instead of considering that someone else might have had experiences that I had previously thought to be impossible. To most, time travel isn't an every day occurrence. Do you want an apology? A gift basket?

[ A SURGERY TO GET THAT STICK OUT OF YOUR ASS? ]

Re: text;

[directed]

Letting your ignorance show is putting it rather mildly. People have devoted their entire lives for what you deemed idiotic, lives which are then so often filled with tremendous sacrifice--up to and including their deaths.

So to be blunt, yes; I do think an apology is rather owed. Though whether you care to give one to me is truly something I'm not bothered about. My colleague, on the other hand? Certainly deserves it.

text;

[agentxthirteen]

If you're following our conversation still, you probably noticed that he took it in stride and we both moved on.

Maybe it's time for you to move on, too. Our therapists seem to have left, but maybe you can take a walk or a nap and see if you feel better after.

Re: text;

[directed]

Well, there is one point on which we do seemingly agree:

There's clearly little good one might expect to come from this conversation continuing further.

[And that's the last message she'll receive.]

[agentxthirteen]

[ Probably for the best. She was only going to mock him from that point forward anyway.

As it is, she reads the message, mimics him a little and sets her phone switches back to a message from someone who isn't an unmitigated asshole.

Nyah nyah, Rip. ]