(It all goes over Gela's head a little bit, for sure, but there's something so intriguing about watching someone speak on a subject they are interested in, or know a lot about, and she gets to observe Cosima in this way right now. A payoff, for now knowing much more about cows and deer.)
Yes. A bit —
If you weren't working on this, the deer and cows, what were you working on?
You've seen our microscope, right? Lets you see things you couldn't see without help. My world has a bunch of tools that lets me see into the building blocks that make up animals, and I try to ... Basically my field is trying to solve the mystery of whether different kinds of animals used to be the same kind of animals, thousands of years ago. And we do that by looking at how they develop. How is it the same, how is it different.
[She flashes a little smile.] Sorry if I'm nerding out on you too hard, it's like ... it was sometimes tricky to explain to people at home, and here I've got a bunch of extra context to add. But even if I can't do it here, it's been useful with like ... trying to understand how the Fade affects plants and animals near a rift. Thinking about whether those effects will pass down to their offspring.
Anything changes over that amount of time. Doesn't it? (Gela smiles back automatically, a little nervous, eager to be a good audience but the phrase 'nerding out' pops that, makes her laugh and shake her head.)
No — please, it's fine. I like hearing you talk about it even if I don't completely understand it. It makes you interested and happy. (And that's quite nice.) Besides, I honestly have no idea what Research are doing at any time. Is this an ongoing project? Monitoring rifts?
Most things change, yeah. Especially anything that's alive. But look, I'm very happy to keep explaining, I just don't want you to have to humor me. Though if you teach me to knit, that'll probably be pretty humbling, so at least there's that.
[This last with a little grin.]
But yeah, Research tends to have a lot on its plate. But rift-monitoring is one of our longest-running projects. In part because, like, it's a new field and there's not really a lot of other sources we can rely on besides observing things ourselves. And partly because every time we go to close a rift, people want to know what the long-term effects will be, and it would be nice to give them an idea.
(Gela smiles, nudging into Cosima with her shoulder.) I'm not humouring you, I promise.
That makes sense. I suppose, with rifters come out of them all the time, you're plotting where those are to see if there's a pattern to it. Is that right? Or is the place always the same?
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no subject
Yes. A bit —
If you weren't working on this, the deer and cows, what were you working on?
no subject
[She flashes a little smile.] Sorry if I'm nerding out on you too hard, it's like ... it was sometimes tricky to explain to people at home, and here I've got a bunch of extra context to add. But even if I can't do it here, it's been useful with like ... trying to understand how the Fade affects plants and animals near a rift. Thinking about whether those effects will pass down to their offspring.
no subject
No — please, it's fine. I like hearing you talk about it even if I don't completely understand it. It makes you interested and happy. (And that's quite nice.) Besides, I honestly have no idea what Research are doing at any time. Is this an ongoing project? Monitoring rifts?
no subject
[This last with a little grin.]
But yeah, Research tends to have a lot on its plate. But rift-monitoring is one of our longest-running projects. In part because, like, it's a new field and there's not really a lot of other sources we can rely on besides observing things ourselves. And partly because every time we go to close a rift, people want to know what the long-term effects will be, and it would be nice to give them an idea.
no subject
That makes sense. I suppose, with rifters come out of them all the time, you're plotting where those are to see if there's a pattern to it. Is that right? Or is the place always the same?