Video

[hotheadwarmheart]

[Lea seems to be working on something in the kitchen when he pops on the network, though his message has nothing to do with food.]

Anybody else notice that the names of the months here seem to go in alphabetical order? When I got here it was 'Fiddlesticks', then we had 'Grasshopper', and now we're in 'Horseshoe'. And I bet it goes farther back than that too.

Wonder if there's any particular reason for that? And what the next one might be called, assuming the pattern holds. Igloo? Ice cream? Inchworm? 

Comments

[mtsilver_conquor]

Alphabetical order? Interesting. I had wondered.

Apple, Basson, Catfish, Domino, and Egret. These all came before Fiddlesticks. Apple was the first month.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Ah, thanks.

Though that makes me wonder something else. Did the first bunch of people just get lucky enough to show up at the beginning of the first month, or did the train deliberately wait for the start of a new month to bring people here? Or did it maybe just not count months when there wasn't anybody on board?

[mtsilver_conquor]

I can't say and I wish I could, though I don't think it was deliberate, as we get people on the 1st and the 16th of each month and it's possible this is all a coincidence.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Yeah. It could all be a coincidence, but people love to find patterns in stuff.

Even if it started on a random day, the train has kept to a pretty regular schedule since then, like you said, so that at least seems deliberate. Whether that's how it would work normally or not is anyone's guess, but stopping every two weeks is pretty handy for making sure that the food on board doesn't go bad.

[Video]

[unfavorableinstigation]

'Alphabet' seems pretty straightforward, yeah. Not sure if it'll have all the letters in the standard English alphabet...

[But then, that'd mean hanging around here for 26 months, and she's not sure who all wants that.]

As for guessing the next one, what about Ingot?

Re: [Video]

[hotheadwarmheart]

Yeah, I don't know either. It seems to be heading that way, but who knows?

[And yeah, he's not looking to hang around that long either, assuming he has a choice.]

Ingot might work. Or maybe Inkwell? Or would that maybe be too old a reference for a flying space train to make?

[Video] This tag took a turn on me as I was writing it. XD

[unfavorableinstigation]

No older than Ingot.

[Nita shrugs.]

Not sure how long this train's been running around, but if it's long enough for it to still be called 'legendary' even after its legitimacy gets questioned... I'm guessing centuries.

Not all civilizations develop ink, but I'm willing to bet at least a few were around to start with.

Re: [Video] This tag took a turn on me as I was writing it. XD

[hotheadwarmheart]

Well metal ingots tend to be useful for a lot longer than inkwells, so...

[He shrugs too.]

Anyway, yeah, it probably has been around for awhile before we showed up; we know now that we're not the first people to have been on board, at least.

Still, we've got no way of knowing how long ago all that stuff you saw happened. Or if the train keeps time the same way now as it did then.

[Video]

[unfavorableinstigation]

If we end up dealing with this long enough to make it to S-month, we'll know for sure.

['Starshine'. Whatever else the banter had implied - what was Sien supposed to be? - that had fit the month-name formula better.]

Video

[sos_pilot]

Well, hey, you're right! I wonder what happens once we go past Z?

Re: Video

[hotheadwarmheart]

Well if it works like a regular year, it'd start back over again with A. But this place? Who knows? We might end up with number months, or ones named after symbols, or just about anything.

Re: Video

[sos_pilot]

This is so fascinating! I wish it was Z already and we could see the results!

Re: Video

[hotheadwarmheart]

Would be nice if we could just skip to that and find out, yeah. Though as it is, if we want to find out, we'll have to get there the long way.

[goingthroughaphase]

Huh...that's interesting.

I wonder if there's some other theme for the months, besides just the alphabet. [ With Fiddlesticks, Grasshopper, and Horseshoe, she couldn't see any immediate connection. ]

[hotheadwarmheart]

I don't know. If there is, I haven't noticed one. They seem to just be random words.

[goingthroughaphase]

Yeah. I remember talking about it with someone once, that maybe the months are translated from a different language, and there's more of a connection that way.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Maybe. Given what someone else told me, it seems like ever other one is a plant or an animal, so I guess Apple, Catfish, Egret, and Grasshopper could be some kind of alien fruit or animal that we just don't have an exact word for.

[10billionpercent]

That's kind of interesting, does that mean there are twenty-six months in a year?

[hotheadwarmheart]

Maybe? Could be more; we could end up getting months named after numbers or symbols or something after we get past Z. No real way to tell unless we're still here when that happens. Or unless we find some kind of official void calendar.

[10billionpercent]

A void calendar, huh? Sounds fascinating. As it is, time is off day to day, so the mystery is just exhilarating.

[hotheadwarmheart]

I dunno; the length of days seems pretty consistent to me. Or did you mean something else by 'time being off'?

Video

[wizard_redfive]

Nice catch. Looks like they're also all nouns.

I'd guess that means the train's on a 26 month cycle. Though who knows... maybe it'll cycle back to the start sooner than that.

I vote Icicle.

Re: Video

[hotheadwarmheart]

I dunno... is Fiddlesticks a noun? I always just thought it was an exclamation, like 'Oh darn' or something. But yeah, the only real way to know how long the pattern'll hold is if we're all still here when it gets to Z, or if it resets before then.

And Icicle is another good one. Anything ice-related really could work.

Re: Video

[wizard_redfive]

I think it still is? Most exclamations came from some pre-existing word at some point. And it contains 'fiddle' and 'sticks' which are both nouns.

Not sure how good our chances are of that. 26 months is almost 4 years by my world's standards. One or two of us might stick around that long, but I doubt the majority of us will.

[Thank goodness for that. Three years was long enough in Paradisa.]

Ice feels pretty appropriate after that last platform's weather, don't ya think?

Re: Video

[hotheadwarmheart]

Huh... your world must have fairly short years then, since 26 months is just a little over two years where I'm from. Though yeah, I somehow doubt all of us will be here to see month 26 or what comes after it. At least I kinda hope not; I bet I'm not the only one with important stuff going on back home.

And yeah it is. Though that brings up another thing I've been wondering. Namely, why the platforms even have weather at all? Whether they're on some world or are they just part of the void that's been sealed off, you'd think they'd be climate controlled.