Fourth Floor Common Room, Sunday evening [4/6]

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

Yesterday had been First Contact Day, which was not a big deal since first contact wouldn't happen for another fifty years or so. Still, it was a holiday back home, and Hoshi felt the need to commemorate it.

So she made cheese and mushroom pierogies and a pitcher of margaritas (non-alcoholic, of course) in case anyone else felt like celebrating with her. There was also a fresh-baked coconut cake and Hoshi was just getting ready to put the icing on it.

[Open, with plenty of food to go around!]

Comments

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy felt the need to socialize this evening so he came into the common room to see if anything was happening. "Well now this looks like a nice spread. What's the occasion?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

Hoshi was in the midst of icing the coconut cake. "Yesterday was a big holiday back home in my world, so I decided to throw a little party," she explained. "Go ahead and dig in. There's plenty of food."

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"Cool thanks. What holiday?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"First Contact Day," replied Hoshi. "It's when Earth first makes contact with aliens from another planet called Vulcan. Or at least, they did in my universe. The time travel and alternate dimensions make things a little screwy, and we have aliens right here in Fandom."

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"Really? So it was a peaceful first contact? Most speculations about that sort of thing where I'm from rarely are."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"It was totally peaceful, but it was the end of the recovery period from the third world war," said Hoshi. "Earth wasn't really in a place to fight back, but the Vulcans were peaceful people. They had been observing the planet for a while but they only make contact with species that achieve faster-than-light space travel on their own."

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"Third world war. You ever hear of Albert Einstein?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I have. He was a 20th century scientist, right?" asked Hoshi.

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"He did. He created the theory of reletivity E=MC2. I'm not sure what it means really, but other scientists used that theory to create the Atom Bomb. Someone asked him once how he thought World War Three would be fought. He said he didn't know. But he knew how World War Four would be fought. With rocks and sticks."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm," said Hoshi. "Well, technically there was the Eugenics War before World War III, but the time line gets confusing there. I was taught that it happened towards the end of the 20th century because Roddenberry didn't think far enough ahead, but not such thing has happened here."

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"Eugenics Wars. War over selective breeding? Sounds like something Hitler tried to do."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Sort of. Some geneticists tried the selecting breeding thing, except they took it to another level. They created these people with superhuman abilities, but then the superhumans also had overly inflated egos," explained Hoshi. "They tried to take over the world and managed to conquer most of Asia before they were overthrown and captured. After that, all types of genetic engineering was banned on Earth."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter noticed folks in the common room. "Hey. How's it going?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Not bad," said Hoshi. "Go ahead and dig in. There's plenty of food."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." Peter took in the spread and then made a guess. "Happy birthday?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Nope, not for a few months," said Hoshi with a smirk. "Back at home, yesterday was First Contact Day. It's the anniversary of Earth's first contact with visitors from another world."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Hey. Cool." After all, some of Peter's best friends were aliens. "I can celebrate that. I'm assuming the first visitors were nice ones."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Well, depending on who you talk to, they were good ones," said Hoshi. "There are some who think that the Vulcans should have been a lot more helpful when it came to building more spaceships, but I think it's good that they were just neutral observers. Other than humanitarian aid, they really stayed out of Earth's affairs."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter snagged a couple of pierogies for himself. "Yeah, I can see how anything more would've come off as more of a world domination gig. Probably for the best they kept it low-key."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Like I was just telling Billy, Earth was in pretty bad shape when the Vulcans arrived. I don't know if we could have handled a hostile encounter," said Hoshi. "Instead, though, it became a major turning point in Earth history, and things just got better from that point."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"I think it's amazing how the inherent goodness of - " Peter made a gesture of frustration as he couldn't think of a better word " - beings crosses all boundaries."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I'd like to think that there's goodness in all beings, if you know where to look." She paused. "Except maybe not in those creepy angel statues."

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Peter said. "There's always that goodness if you look for it. Sometimes all it needs is to be encouraged."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"That can be the tough part with some people," said Hoshi with a chuckle.

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"Hey Peter, how are ya?"