Recruiting Jim
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Date: 03/01/2018 Time: 10:45 CST |
Wayne State a small office |
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Cast: | |
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Jim is a college student, and dressed as one. Just not Wayne State. But he knocks at the door to Alma's office and steps in. Looking around, he nods "Howdy," with a clear Texas accent, when he sees her. Alma looks up from her notebook, "Hi. What do you need?" Jim holds up a little ticket from her flyer and takes it up to her. "Pardon me, ma'am, I saw your flyer about Corvid interdisciplinary research. I'm an Engineering extension student at West Texas A&M, and I thought maybe we could work out a cross-credit effort. And I like corvids." "Oh! Cool cool cool, have a seat. ... Texas A&M? in Detroit?" Alma looks confused Jim nods and lowers himself down. Hands on his knees. "Thank you ma'am. That's right. I'm here in Detroit working with a local youth center, while finishing my degree." He flashes her his Aggie ring. "Corvids, drones, tracking, I reckon all sorts of this stuff interests me." "Awesome. I have this grant and it gives me some latitude on the approaches based on the skills of students I can recruit. first, for a background. I'm interested in how the changing urban environment here in Detroit has affected the corvid population... to start small, I want to do a bird census using traditional techniques to compare with more technologically advanced ones" Jim rubs his ring a moment, then grips his knees again. "That's great. I'm sure we can work out some sort of credit program with A&M." Her words make him pause a moment. "The environment in Detroit is pretty weird. Very dangerous, but also with some wierdly open spaces. I'm sure they can adapt, but you're right, how they're adapting is good to look at. Teach some folks about how smart they really are." "oh my goodness you would not beleive how smart they are!" Alma pauses "but you said you like corvids so maybe you already know! look look look" she pulls over her laptop and starts to tap tap tap Jim can't help but laugh and grin at her comments. Rubbing the back of his neck a bit, as he lenas over to look at her screen. "Here is the University of Aukland page for my lab and" <<OOC>> Jim says, "Implication: stop stop you're embarrassing me" <<OOC>> Alma says, "Alma is very enthusiastic" "have you seen the work on New Caledonian Crows? they are so cool, they.... I don't mean to go on and on. I want to get down to business with the grant work" <<OOC>> Alma says, "Alma will be easy to distract if you talk about tool use in crows" <<OOC>> Alma says, "or other corvids" "There have been studies of social feeding behavior of Ravens in Maine, and of crows in Seattle. We don't have this information for Detroit or Baltimore" both cities are in an economic decline and Detroit in particular has vast areas of the city with fewer humans" Jim blinks, and looks. "My interest has mostly been in the uh, in the corvus corax corax, and cousins. But they're all interesting in their own ways. Are you going to limit to one species here?" You say, "uh no, I don't want to be too specific here. I get kind of focused on New Caledonian Crows because I was doing research on them up until last year. We published a few papers, and I have some stuff in progress. That's too specific for this environment. I'm not even sure you'd find the same type of tool use here" <<OOC>> Jim says, "does she have an accent?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "her accent is a bit mixed. She grew up in Chicago with basically a white dad and a mom who is 3rd gen Guatamalan" <<OOC>> Alma says, "and she's been living in Aukland and doing work in that region of the world" <<OOC>> Alma says, "so her accent will occasionally have phonemes from New Zealand until she has been back a while" <<OOC>> Alma says, "based on my experience of growing up in Texas and then moving around a lot" Jim leans over, and smiles. "I guarantee you, ma'am, that you will find local ravens and crows are up to the task of using tools, just like the ones in New Zealand. I'd even bet on it. Welcome back to America." "oh sure! definitely. they might not fish the same way woodpeckers mostly fill the niche of getting at grubs from trees here" <<OOC>> Alma says, "how much blather do youw ant about ecology stuff and crows and why crows here don't dig around with tools? because I don't want to bore" <<OOC>> Alma says, "and I could end up nerdsplaining because it is cool shit" <<OOC>> Alma says, "anyway...." Alma pauses for a sigh "I miss New Zealand" "what was I saying?" Jim grins. "This is an urban environment. Cracking nuts with cars. Pulling up trash bags. Different needs in different places." He looks at her screen a bit more. "Why don't we talk about the kind of help you need? With tracking and such. Since that's what you need me for, ma'am. Oh I beg your pardon. Name's Jim Gomez." "oh hi! I should have introduced myself. I'm Alma Hunter. Nice to meet you" Jim offers a hand. "Miss Alma. Likewise. I reckon we'll get work done. We might could start with safe electronic tracking." "ok, so, here's an example of what you can get when you have a lot of money to throw at stuff like this" Alma shows Jim a page for a company that sells/leases equipment You say, "but this type of equipment is often too expensive for academics as well as people doing wetland preservation, or monitoring jungles, and so on. see? Jim looks at it a bit, reaching out to scroll it. "We can build things like this ourselves, miss Alma. Cheaper for your budget." "so before you get involved, I'm hoping you understand that anythign I do is going to follow the principles of free/libre open source software AND open hardware, whatever we can do. it means that the work will be accessible to people without a lot of money and without a lot of access to expensive equipment. so, no patents. is that ok?" Jim nods. "That's fine, miss Alma. If it's government funded at all, in my opinion that's fine. And this is a public university, so... Alright." "so, tell me a little about your background? engineering?"
<<OOC>> Alma says, "oh yeah, she thinks to herself, I should interview people" "what are some projects you've done?" Jim sits up and nods. "Well I'm still an undergrad, so, I can only do so much in terms of projects. I've been undecided between electrical engineering and chemical engineering. Some of my recent experiments have been with using infrared light to disrupt night vision recording." "woa! that's so cool." Jim laughs. "Though for this I need the opposite. I need to have safe tracking that isn't so easily disrupted." "speaking of that! I'm interested in monitoring urban noise pollution... and seeing if we can do bird censuses based on calls but I am worried the recordings could be confiscated... I don't know about all this and was wondering if it is easy to make things safe from that?" <<OOC>> Jim says, "do you have awareness?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "she has 1 dot" [Public] Wingyleaks Jim says, "Per news cross awareness2, would using Voice of the Mimic to imitate a sound count as subtle or no?" news cross awareness2 <<OOC>> Alma says, "I don't know what Voice of the Mimic is :(" [Public] Rare Earth says, "Hm. Lemme confer real quick." <<OOC>> Jim says, "go ahead and type this: +roll perception + awareness vs 9" <<OOC>> Jim says, "it's a Corax gift" <<OOC>> Jim says, "that I'm about to invoke" +roll perception + awareness vs 9 <<DICE>> Alma rolls perception + awareness, difficulty 9 <<DICE>> BOTCH (1 2 4 6 6, Specialty: No, Willpower: No) <<OOC>> Jim says, "ok so you don't catch is" <<OOC>> Jim says, "posing :)" Jim smiles. "Oh calls, you mean like this?" He then tilts his head, and does a DEAD ON imitation of a raven clicking out a call to other ravens. You say, "oh gosh, that's adorable. can you do the adorable churr thing?"
To (Alma, Jim), Rare Earth pages: Hello friends. Interesting roll you made there. To (Rare Earth, Alma), Jim pages: I'm voice of the mimicing it up like a big showoff and giving her a chance to pick it up :) You paged (Rare Earth, Jim) with 'yes! cool! hahaha' To (Alma, Jim), Rare Earth pages: Am I correct in presuming that Alma does not yet know what Jim is? To (Rare Earth, Alma), Jim pages: To my knowledge she doesn't. If she's done any spirit/life/whatever scans, I'm not aware. You paged (Rare Earth, Jim) with 'yes, correct. this is the first RP' You paged (Rare Earth, Jim) with 'I'm not sure it would occur to her to do anything to figure it out unless something gives her a weird feeling' [Public] Rare Earth says, "The conferring suggests it probably depends on what you're mimicking. :)" You paged (Rare Earth, Jim) with 'like, if this jim seems scary or offputting' You paged (Rare Earth, Jim) with 'or really weird in some other way' To (Rare Earth, Alma), Jim pages: I thought awareness is automatic, not something you actively search out. So, by botching, she picks up nothing. To (Jim, Alma), Rare Earth pages: Nah, that'd be a failure. Perception botches tend to have you perceiving things that aren't actually there. ;) To (Rare Earth, Alma), Jim pages: So she thinks someone's doing magic in the next room? :) From afar, to (Jim, Alma): Rare Earth will page her. :) To (Jim, Alma), Rare Earth pages: Y'all are outdoors? To (Rare Earth, Alma), Jim pages: In her office To (Rare Earth, Alma), Jim pages: presumably at wayne state Alma is talking about how people do data analysis on bird sounds vs. doing manual counts You paged (Rare Earth, Jim) with 'I haven't worked out school/grant location details but I figured Wayne State is good. check with tut' To (Rare Earth, Alma), Jim pages: We're eating a risk of retcon depending o the fine details that TUT approves Rare Earth pages: There is something distinctly off about Jim. You're getting a weird vibe of Awakened magick from him. You paged (Rare Earth, Jim) with 'btw alma has a crow but I don't think the crow would be inside, but if there is a window it is open' To (Jim, Alma), Rare Earth pages: Alright. Alma has been paged her perception. Carry on. I'm about to head out to lunch. :) You paged Rare Earth with 'he might be the first awakened stranger she has met, she doesn't know. she tries to be aware' Jim sits up, and grins. "If you twist my wing." He winks, and then does a few more sounds. He does that churr, then finishes up with a CAW. "wow, that's really good mimicry. so are you more interested in doing audio analysis? you mentioned drones too. depending on your strengths, we could try to capture visuals too" Alma looks at her coffee cup Jim smiles. "Thank you ma'am. And I could do audio analysis. I have an ear for that sort of thing. I could help with your census first, if that's yoru highest priority." You say, "please pardon me" Jim sits back. "Take your time ma'am." <<OOC>> Alma says, "she is looking for an excuse to interrupt the conversation, and getting more coffee seems plausible" <<OOC>> Jim says, "figured" <<OOC>> Alma says, "she got a weird vibe, how social are you?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "I mean, can you tell if someone is uncomfortable? I don't know how that works" <<OOC>> Alma says, "also, let me review her sheet, sorry" <<DICE>> Jim rolls perception + empathy, difficulty 6 <<DICE>> 3 successes (2 3 5 6 6 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No) <<OOC>> Jim says, "pose the discomfort I guess? what I can pick up?" Alma has a wary look on her face as she checks her coffee Alma her coffee is 1/3rd full Jim coughs. "Something wrong ma'am?" You say, "uh, I'm running low on coffee. maybe we could pick up this conversation in the lounge?" Jim slowly stands. "Alright, no problem miss Alma." He looks at the open window, then at her. "Anything I can help with?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "I'm not sure how to do a magic thing, or how how it would work. is it okay to ask you?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "she's uncomfortable and wants to figure out if there is something off about you" <<OOC>> Jim says, "Jim has no idea if his impressions were just too good, or if something else completely unrelated to him is going on :)" <<OOC>> Alma says, "there are different skills she can use, but I'm not sure how they would look... let's say she wanted to use some entropy and perception to see if Everything thinks it is wise to be around you. like, if you go to continue the conversation and she gets coffee and pours some dots of creamer in it" <<OOC>> Alma says, "she could use that to thing about whether she should reconsider talking to you" "no... I'm okay. I just need more coffee" "it's luke warm" "shall we?" Alma motions you out the door. Jim laughs, and goes on out, holding the door open for her. "Let's get your coffee." <<OOC>> Alma says, "which way does the door swing?" <<OOC>> Jim says, "inward I assume" "no, after you" <<OOC>> Alma says, "strange dude standing behind her holding a door is unsettling" <<OOC>> Jim says, "heh" <<OOC>> Alma says, "if it was the other way then he wouldn't be behind her" Jim nods, and goes on ahead. "Alright." he shrugs, and goes out into the hall to wait. Since he doesn't know where the coffee is. <<OOC>> Alma says, "I don't know game mechianics for how involved magic would be for this, and haven't talked it over with TuT so she might just look at swirls in her coffee before resuming the conversation" <<OOC>> Alma says, "and maybe nothing happens." <<OOC>> Jim says, "if you're invoking an effect, you can just pose how your paradigm would have you behave, then roll it" <<OOC>> Jim says, "what precisely you roll depends on what kind of effect it is" ...
Alma stirs in a few dots of creamer, and watches it settle a little before taking a sip Alma sipps, then sets her coffee cup on the table Alma accidentally spills some coffee <<OOC>> Alma says, "that wasn't an accident. she splashed some coffee on purpose" "oops" Alma looks embarassed Jim follows her into the lounge, and when she spills, he rushes to get her a napkin. "Here you go ma'am." "thanks! I hate it when that happens" Alma mops up the coffee then pulls out a pen to take notes Alma diagrams a really messy sketch of blocks Jim trise to help if she lets him, otherwise he just gets himself a paper cup of black coffee and sits. "So census is the first priority? We can probably come up with a recording tool that will study the specific voices of each animal, and look for repeats." <<OOC>> Alma says, "man, schools are cheap. I bet this napkin tears" Alma tears napkin Alma ughs Alma pulls out notebook to start over You say, "we can get specific voices? I thought maybe we'd just enough information to identify a crow vs say, a pigeon" <<OOC>> Alma says, "no one is around to help with a roll, so I'm going to continue and work something out with tut later" <<OOC>> Jim says, "if you tell me what you're trying ot do I can give you a roll" <<OOC>> Alma says, "she wants to know if you are safe to work with" <<OOC>> Jim says, "so you're trying to read my aura ors omething?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "a weird vibe means you could be someone she wouldn't want to collaborate with" <<OOC>> Jim says, "oh to read my emotions with mind 1 maybe?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "okay? yeah?" <<OOC>> Jim says, "maybe perception + empathy vs 4?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "I used some of her foci to help her think" <<OOC>> Jim says, "not sure the diff" <<OOC>> Jim says, "but we'll just use 4" <<OOC>> Alma says, "okay, what's the command again?" <<OOC>> Jim says, "+roll perception + empathy vs 4" +roll perception + empathy vs 4 <<DICE>> Alma rolls perception + empathy, difficulty 4 <<DICE>> 3 successes (2 3 5 6 10, Specialty: No, Willpower: No) <<OOC>> Jim says, "Alma picks up that Jim has a very positive, friendly emotional state. Upbeat, having fun." <<OOC>> Alma says, "goal is to know if you are an argumentative person, or a creep stalker dude" <<OOC>> Alma says, "kickass!" <<OOC>> Jim says, "there's not a hint of violence or a threat in anything Alma can read from his emotional state" Alma takes another sip of coffee. smiles and relaxes Jim smiles. "You seem to be calming down. I guess the fresh coffee helps." He sips himself. Alma agrees Alma sketches out places where it could be nice to have some listening devices Jim leans forward, hand on his knee, the other holding his cup. Sipping, reading. "Yeah, the biggest question is how big an area do you want to cover?" "let's start a little small at first. my advisor keeps telling me to slow down" Jim laughs. "Maybe just cover the campus. And yes, It hink we could pick up voices of individual birds. Each one makes similar calls, but not identical. Just like people." "I've seen flocks go here and here and I want to do some monitoring in this more vacant area but also in Mexicantown" "oh, campus makes sense. actually, they do that a lot at u dub" "we know some people there that do work on crows" "maybe we could do a field trial on campus, then try it again in one of the more quieter abandoned places" "noise popullation in cities really affects the ability of birds to recognize each other and communicate things" Jim nods. "Yes, do a census here. Do a census in the excluded area. Compare the two. Then do you.. auditory analysis."
"cool, I like this idea. I don't know how to do audio analysis, that might be something you know how to do? I'm also trying to recruit people who are good with data" "where are you from in Texas? say A&M is in College Station?" <<OOC>> Alma says, "she is curious about how much experience you have with people who would be at risk for deportation" <<OOC>> Alma says, "she feels awkward about it, making assumptions" Alma gathers up coffee cup, napkin, notebook "let me get you some paperwork and exchange contact information. if you have a professor or someone who would like to handle the credits for an idependent study I could get in touch with her and we could work things out. or him" Jim gets out his phone, and grabs another napkin to sketch out his phone number and name. He then hands it to her, and gets ready to accept hers. "Thank you ma'am. When you get your grants all settled we can get right to work. And I'll contact A&M to find out what they need." Alma writes down contact info along with email "here's my information. It's easist to get my attention with email or txts." Jim nods. 'Texting is fine miss Alma. Good luck." "I can send you some references for a brief overview of field methods" <<OOC>> Jim says, "oh wait" <<OOC>> Jim says, "I should have rolled to pick up your magic" <<OOC>> Jim says, "let me roll that :)" <<OOC>> Jim says, "subtle, off-race, targeting me" <<DICE>> Jim rolls perception + primal urge, difficulty 8 <<DICE>> FAIL (1 2 2 2 6 7 9, Specialty: No, Willpower: No) Jim nods. "Thanks. I can have my transcript sent if you want." Alma nods "ok, and if you can introduce me to one of your professors that would help" Jim nods. "Sure thing ma'am. I'll get you that email. EVerythong in the extension program is over the Internet, but I know folks back in College Station too." <<OOC>> Alma says, "I think I'll ask tut to have Note follow you out a little bit" | |
