Nexus exploration - Round Two. No questions asked.
He doesn't fall on his face this time. That helps.
A vague fuzziness creeps into an open space in the Nexus and swiftly coheres into a solid, human shape - the monochromatically-clothed form of one Todd Zehner. He looks around and shoves his glasses back up on his nose with a gloved hand. He could feel the forces at play in the construct's fabric - the restrictions, the allowances, the paradoxical order of things combined with the surface chaos.
"Whoever programmed this was a genius," he mumbled to himself, as he stepped into one of the parks, just by the Questioning Section. "It recompiles at random intervals, but it always recompiles the same way - a material engine that precise is fucking mythical - even among the gods, no one's managed that." He reaches out a hand to touch one of the trees, closes his eyes, and his head arches back as if some kind of energy was coursing through his body for a moment.
"Gods, this place is a work of fucking art."
He looks around for something. There. The woods are that way. He takes off at a trot, tugging at the rim of his gloves. If anyone sees him, he doesn't notice.
Once in the woods, he slows his pace to a leisurely walk and puts his hands in his pockets. He keeps going until he's sure no one will see him or could have followed him. He then undresses, taking off jacket, then undershirt, then shoes and socks, and then last the gloves, leaving only his pants. This process of disrobing unveils his chest and back and arms - which he normally keeps covered, for good reason. Starting with a medium-sized ten-ringed circle at the nape of the neck, a delicately crafted pattern of what appears to be pure light branches out from the spinal cords and reaches across his chest and down his arms, terminating in three more ten-ringed circles; one for each hand and one just barely visible above his groin. The pattern continues, concealed by his pants, and the visible lines on his feet gather into two ten-ringed half-circles just before his toes.
A shudder passes through him the moment his unprotected skin brushes against the ground, and he has to restrain himself from screaming - not in agony, but in ecstasy. He's never felt anything quite like this before.
"I - hurkkk - wonder," he spits out between gasps, "if - heaacch - this is my Paradise - after all." He shakes his head. When he opens his eyes again, they're glowing behind the glasses. He takes his glasses off, setting them on top of his shirt. "I need to see," he says.
There's a quiet revving sound, like some process started somewhere, and a pulse runs along the lines of light, the outer circle flaring bright white, the energy traveling across the channels down his arms till it reached the outer ring of the circles on his hands. In rapid succession the ten rings lit up, each brighter than the last, and stayed lit.
Todd claps his hands together - nothing happens. Then he gets to his feet and holds his hands out as if he were adjusting some kind of machinery, grabbing hold of something in the fabric of the Nexus. With a grunt, he pulls on it. Whatever it is seems rooted to the spot, so Todd instead lays his hands flat on the empty air, and a set of ten circles arranged in three columns assembles itself in front of him, 22 connections ripping into place between the circles shortly afterward. Todd pulls his hands back, looking at the sigil he'd just compiled and humming. He taps three of the connections in quick succession, and they flare.
"King's Three, Twenty, Six," he mutters, and places his left hand on the third circle of the left column. "Vau."
The sigil flashes ten times and fades. In his head he hears the reply: You are here. Welcome. Congratulations for registering! A validation message will be rerouted to your secondary account shortly.
Todd grins, and falls back on the grass. He can feel the busy hum of the Nexus still, but suddenly it's a comfortable feeling.
It's as much his world now as it ever will be. He'd requested his own space on the server - and the Nexus sysadmin program had granted his request. He had the password to his new account on Nexus://kether.sabaoth.Jesod tucked into his memory, deep enough that he'd never lose it.
After a quick rest, Todd gets up and goes about putting his clothes back on again, glasses first. He tugs the last glove on, and then he leaves, his outline once again blurring till his image and presence has dispersed completely.
A vague fuzziness creeps into an open space in the Nexus and swiftly coheres into a solid, human shape - the monochromatically-clothed form of one Todd Zehner. He looks around and shoves his glasses back up on his nose with a gloved hand. He could feel the forces at play in the construct's fabric - the restrictions, the allowances, the paradoxical order of things combined with the surface chaos.
"Whoever programmed this was a genius," he mumbled to himself, as he stepped into one of the parks, just by the Questioning Section. "It recompiles at random intervals, but it always recompiles the same way - a material engine that precise is fucking mythical - even among the gods, no one's managed that." He reaches out a hand to touch one of the trees, closes his eyes, and his head arches back as if some kind of energy was coursing through his body for a moment.
"Gods, this place is a work of fucking art."
He looks around for something. There. The woods are that way. He takes off at a trot, tugging at the rim of his gloves. If anyone sees him, he doesn't notice.
Once in the woods, he slows his pace to a leisurely walk and puts his hands in his pockets. He keeps going until he's sure no one will see him or could have followed him. He then undresses, taking off jacket, then undershirt, then shoes and socks, and then last the gloves, leaving only his pants. This process of disrobing unveils his chest and back and arms - which he normally keeps covered, for good reason. Starting with a medium-sized ten-ringed circle at the nape of the neck, a delicately crafted pattern of what appears to be pure light branches out from the spinal cords and reaches across his chest and down his arms, terminating in three more ten-ringed circles; one for each hand and one just barely visible above his groin. The pattern continues, concealed by his pants, and the visible lines on his feet gather into two ten-ringed half-circles just before his toes.
A shudder passes through him the moment his unprotected skin brushes against the ground, and he has to restrain himself from screaming - not in agony, but in ecstasy. He's never felt anything quite like this before.
"I - hurkkk - wonder," he spits out between gasps, "if - heaacch - this is my Paradise - after all." He shakes his head. When he opens his eyes again, they're glowing behind the glasses. He takes his glasses off, setting them on top of his shirt. "I need to see," he says.
There's a quiet revving sound, like some process started somewhere, and a pulse runs along the lines of light, the outer circle flaring bright white, the energy traveling across the channels down his arms till it reached the outer ring of the circles on his hands. In rapid succession the ten rings lit up, each brighter than the last, and stayed lit.
Todd claps his hands together - nothing happens. Then he gets to his feet and holds his hands out as if he were adjusting some kind of machinery, grabbing hold of something in the fabric of the Nexus. With a grunt, he pulls on it. Whatever it is seems rooted to the spot, so Todd instead lays his hands flat on the empty air, and a set of ten circles arranged in three columns assembles itself in front of him, 22 connections ripping into place between the circles shortly afterward. Todd pulls his hands back, looking at the sigil he'd just compiled and humming. He taps three of the connections in quick succession, and they flare.
"King's Three, Twenty, Six," he mutters, and places his left hand on the third circle of the left column. "Vau."
The sigil flashes ten times and fades. In his head he hears the reply: You are here. Welcome. Congratulations for registering! A validation message will be rerouted to your secondary account shortly.
Todd grins, and falls back on the grass. He can feel the busy hum of the Nexus still, but suddenly it's a comfortable feeling.
It's as much his world now as it ever will be. He'd requested his own space on the server - and the Nexus sysadmin program had granted his request. He had the password to his new account on Nexus://kether.sabaoth.Jesod tucked into his memory, deep enough that he'd never lose it.
After a quick rest, Todd gets up and goes about putting his clothes back on again, glasses first. He tugs the last glove on, and then he leaves, his outline once again blurring till his image and presence has dispersed completely.