Employment AMA; text: Graced

[miss_brilliant]

EMPLOYMENT AMA
Preferred Alias: Amanda Perry

Worst Job(s) Held: Every bit of consulting work I did before I was discovered by the military for businesses and projects I had absolutely no interest in. They all sort of blurred together.
Best Job(s) Held: Consulting software engineer for a project designing a new generation of FTL drives.
Fantasy Job(s): I guess probably still an astronaut.

Current Job(s): Nothing here yet, the last job I had was a consultant and show designer at a planetarium.

Ask Me Anything!

Comments

[miss_brilliant]

It's perfectly fine. I've worked a bit with people from other worlds before, so I sort of figured it was something like that.

Well, usually if you're actually working in your field it's more or less understood. But if for example you're writing a letter or something, someone with my non-medical training would sign with PhD after their name, instead of putting Dr. before. I'm not sure who exactly worked out that designation in the first place.

That's sort of funny, a similar thing happened on my world. Another race that sort of helped us along centuries ago travel led all through the galaxy, but buried the technology they used for it and it took us quite awhile to uncover and learn how to use it, so we only just got off planet ourselves a little while ago comparatively.

[astralera]

That is fascinating.

Are these astronauts the only ones permitted to travel in space?

[miss_brilliant]

There are some people without traditional astronaut training who do get to go to space where I'm from in a very unique program, although they do get a crash course in a lot of things when they join up. I would have probably gone up there, actually, if I'd been physically able to.

But outside of the program I worked for, yes. Although there is talk of letting very rich untrained civilians go up on visits. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet.

[astralera]

Are you not physically able to? If it is too personal of a question please do not feel obligated to answer.

Those of high status and wealth do often get away with ignoring protocol. I suppose it must be the same in most worlds.

[miss_brilliant]

It's fine, it's something I'm still adjusting to realizing people don't just know now, since I'm used to it being obvious when people looked at me. I used to be disabled. I was in an accident when I was a child, it injured part of my neck so I couldn't walk or breathe on my own anymore. I was healed when I went somewhere else just before I came here, but until then I was...restricted in a lot of ways.

Indeed. That's one of the many things I wish wasn't quite so universal.

[astralera]

I have never heard of such a thing happening before. Mayhap not the accident itself, but surviving such an injury in the first place. The healing doctors were unable to help you?

Regardless, I am content to know that you're no longer limited by such a thing. Now that you are physically able, what training must you do in the future to become an astronaut?

Perhaps when one becomes a casualty of their own hubris they will think before forcing others' hands.

[miss_brilliant]

No, medicine and technology weren't that advanced in my world yet. But I was still lucky that they were advanced enough to keep me alive, that might not have been the case if I'd been born a few decades before. And I was lucky that society started realizing people like me were people around the time of my accident so I could continue my education like I did. But part of why I got into the field I did was the hope that some other world might have a cure for me. And that did happen, although not quite in the way I expected it to.

I don't know if I actually would now, but if I did want to I would have to at the very least go through quite a lot of physical training to make up for all the years my muscles deteriorated from disuse. I think I'm actually happy working where I am now, and I did get to see the stars in a rather unconventional way still.

[astralera]

That isn't so surprising. I don't believe even the white magic of my world would be able to reverse damage so severe. Full glad am I that you had the chance to be healed.

What is this unconventional way you saw the stars?

[miss_brilliant]

Yeah. I guess I always thought it was impossible there wasn't a cure out there somewhere. I still can't decide if that was optimistic or foolish, some days.

We had access to something that let people...swap bodies simplifies it a little, but it comes close. And some of my colleagues needed assistance when they couldn't come back to Earth, so I switched placed with another woman on board for several weeks. It wasn't ideal in a lot of ways, but it was still amazing.

[astralera]

I have heard of something similar happening in my world - a soul possessing a body not its own. I imagine it must have been easier to switch with someone of the same gender. The example I know of is a man co-inhabiting the body of a woman.

This other woman was traveling among the stars?

[miss_brilliant]

Yeah, god I can't imagine how bizarre that would be. When we use the communication stones, we always try to match people to others of their gender for that reason. It's difficult enough adjusting to the weight and appearance of a new body, without having new...parts.

Yeah. She and about eighty others got stranded a long way from home as a result of an experiment gone wrong. But they got stranded on the most amazing old ship. Even if it wasn't the most ideal situation for a number of reasons, and I was only there because I was needed to help keep them afloat, I was incredibly grateful for that chance.

[astralera]

I can't imagine what it would be like if I were stuck in the body of someone with ears and no tail. Do you have to adjust for things like that as well, or is your world one with humans as the only race?

What was it like?

[miss_brilliant]

Right now humans are the only sapient beings on Earth, and the only people on that ship were human, too. We have some relations with other races, but we're nowhere close to them settling on Earth yet.

It was beautiful. And terrifying, because if we didn't complete the repairs I was there to do the crew would have died since the ship wouldn't have been able to stop for supplies or fuel. And we were attacked once. And I did get thrown back into my body a couple times when the technology we were using lost connection momentarily, which was unsettling. But it was still the most wonderful thing I've ever done. Of course I guess I could be seeing things through rose tinted glasses since someone I love was up there.

[astralera]

My world has many. Au Ra, Elezen, Miqo'te, Hyur, Roegadyn, and Lalafell. There are the Padjal, but they are outliers and a rarity. We also have the Dravanians - you would likely know them as dragons - Moogles, Amalj'aa, Sahagin, Sylphs, Kobolds, and many other beast tribes who are not 'human' but I have not yet met.

To have seen so few other races here has been odd to say the least.

It sounds wonderful. Did you find your way back to your someone after you were returned to your body?

[miss_brilliant]

Wow. Yeah. If it's strange for me knowing other races exist but not being able to tell anyone who doesn't have the security clearance, I can't imagine what that must be like.

No. He and the rest of the crew still haven't found a way to return to Earth, so when the work was done I went back home and the woman I'd switched places with was back on the ship. I keep telling myself it just means we'll have a whole lot of stories to share when we do see each other again.

[astralera]

Au Ra were not common in Eorzea for quite a while - we originate from the Far East - and so I grew accustomed to unwanted stares. I have been lucky and only encountered a handful of exceptionally rude people here.

I think a situation of knowing but being unable to share knowledge sounds much worse, regardless of what knowledge it may be. Will you have to keep silent for your lifetime?

If you are meant to meet again you will. If you aren't, you will at least have those sweet memories to hold on to.

Sometimes I find myself wondering if it is better to remember or forget.

[miss_brilliant]

I don't know if I'll need to keep my lips sealed about what I know for the rest of my life. I hope not. I hope that it won't be that much longer, relatively, before we're able to share our knowledge with the whole of humanity. But that's mostly out of my hands.

Yeah. Considering that even if this entire situation weren't happening, I don't know if we would ever be what I want us to be, I was trying to prepare myself to just have those memories as that for the rest of my life. But that was better than having the chance to see him and tell him the truth and not doing it. At least I know that he knows how much I'm worried about him, so hopefully he'll take care of himself.

I've wondered that myself. Not...about him, exactly, other things. I think I prefer to remember, even the bad things. Because they make us who we are.

[astralera]

If he knows you're worried I am sure he will take care. I find myself more careful than I would be otherwise if only to keep my friends from fretting.

From experience, I think you would be surprised at how concrete one's self is even without memories. Though it is my opinion that having memories is always preferable, even if they are unhappy.

[miss_brilliant]

Hopefully. I know it's been a long time since he's had anyone worry about him, so I don't know if he'll actually keep it in mind, especially when we're so far apart. But I know even if he's in danger sometimes, he's finding purpose up there, and I know he's needed that for a long time, so I can't be too upset at him for maybe taking some foolhardy risks for it.

That's an interesting idea. I'd sort of been pondering it a little, before I came here. The...place that cured me, before all of this happened, I had option of going home without the memory of ever having been injured. And I'd been debating the merits of that. It's moot now, but I think I would have chosen to keep all those memories.