riverview | video. username: ilikehorses

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video. username: ilikehorses

[There is a mildly anxious child on the feed, sitting on the edge of the community building roof as she munches down on some potato chips; this child's diet is 1000% on point. But more importantly, she flashes the video feed several stories below toward some of the trees. The little accent is full of confusion:]

They are dying. What are they sick with?

Shouldn't someone do something to save them? ¿Dónde está el jardinero?

[Seriously, nobody seems concerned about the leaves all falling off. Or them turning odd colors.]

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That's normal for trees. They do it every year and then new leaves grow back in the spring.

Have you ever seen fall before?

[She shakes her head.]

I didn't see a lot of trees.

... Is that what it is called? When trees bald. They call it -- 'fall'?

[Keith nodded.]

Yeah. It's also called 'autumn' by some people. Same season, though. The plants basically all go into a kind of sleep where the leaves all fall off. Then they grow new ones in the spring.

Were you taught about seasons?

[She shakes her head.]

We weren't taught things like that.

Oh.

[Keith was a little surprised, but didn't press.]

Well, there are essentially four seasons. Winter, spring, summer, and fall. Fall is when the plants lose their leaves. Then we have winter, when it snows. Then spring, which is when the plants get their leaves back. And then summer, which is when everything gets really hot outside. There are a few differences depending on where you live [Like where Keith lived in the desert back home.], but it looks like this place has the four seasons that most people are familiar with.

... I didn't realize the world changes so much.

[Every season is the same in Transigen. The walls are all white and overly bright.]

Yeah. It's kind of neat when you think about it.

[He shrugged a little.

Considering for a moment what he had caught her doing unabashedly at that store, he wondered...]

Did you ever go to school?

... Sometimes.

... When I feel like it.

Well, they teach these kinds of things in school. [Keith shrugged.] I was never a fan of it, either, but I did learn some helpful stuff.

Like what?

[Maybe you can make a good case for school, eh?]

Well... I learned how to read. I learned math. I learned about space, and how to fly spaceshuttles when I got older.

[He shrugged.]

It wasn't fun all the time, but it was okay. And it was a place to go when I was alone.

... I don't know.

Sometimes I feel alone when I'm there.

Mm. Yeah. I had those moments, too.

Making friends can be hard. But... It can be worth the effort.

[He had learned that the hard way, too.]

How do you make friends?

[Give me your solid advice, buddy.]

Well, honestly? I'm not all that great at it. I'm kind of a loner. Most of my friends came to me first.

But, it's... it's kind of a give and take. You're nice to them, they're nice to you. And you learn to like each other.

[Keith was terrible at being social... so the idea that someone was asking him how? He was mentally flipping out right now. But, he was going to try. He felt like he should, like it was the right thing to do.]

... Give and take...

[She supposes that makes sense.]

I can try... to give. More. What should I give?

Edited 2017-11-27 08:37 (UTC)

It's not a physical thing.

You give time... effort... trust... [He was apparently good at giving advice, even if he was bad at listening to it. A lot of it was sort of parroting things he'd learned and been told.] You listen to them. And in turn, someone who becomes a friend, will give the same back to you.

... Ah, ya entiendo...

Time... effort, and trust.

[Someone is clearly taking some mental notes here.]

Yeah.

I mean... there's more to it, but that's something people need to figure out with experience.

[And quite a bit of it that he really couldn't figure out how to put in words. It was harder, too, with the trust and abandonment issues he had, but he still tried.]