Physical.
(Yes, this log is five days old by now. Yes, it took me that long to get the time and energy to edit and post it. It’s the High Holidays and I work for my synagogue, though, so I have a valid excuse.)
This is... a complex issue, and one in which I think my records would speak better for me than I could.
J.G. Ballard Memorial Freeway(#633RLJ)
You stand on a ribbon of cracked and broken asphalt, a boneyard of broken machines, the grave of a mad dream of speed. The freeway’s twenty crumbling lanes are littered with the metal carcasses of a myriad crashed and burned vehicles, the debris of some unthinkable catastrophe -- thousands of cars, trucks, motor vehicles of all kinds from a hundred ages and technologies; even, incomprehensibly, the enormous hulks of aircraft and spacecraft, their wings broken, silver skin gone dull with rust and age. Fragments of broken glass, plastic and metal litter the road, and various fuels and lubricants have run like blood from ruptured tanks and engines, pooling in the potholes in the blacktop, and sometimes reacting with one another -- which explains the occasional plumes of yellowish, acrid vapor.
The highway signs, bold white sans serif on dark green, are riddled with bullet holes. You still manage to make out most of the text, but instead of locations, strange slogans are printed, along with numbers for nonexistent exits.
6A - Put A Tiger In Your Tank. N32 - Better Living Through Chemistry. FF - The Ultimate Driving Machine. 12.5 - Quality Is Job One.
A descends from the right side of the freeway, and a from the left.
passes through the tarnished gold needle of Active. There seems to be a functional in one derelict chunk of hullmetal.
Stat Name____________________ Gender_____ Species___________________________ GrayZero female illusory gray fox Darkon[asleep] female bald jaguar Roque[19m idle] female rabbit Galahad[6m idle] male Android Jini[asleep] female rabbit Lysette[24m idle] Female Striped Hyena Torque[asleep] Male Czech Wolfdog ojou[5m idle] male metamorph ---( DownWarp )------------------------( 5/8 J.G. Ballard Memorial Freeway )---
Contents:
Darkon
Roque
Galahad
Jini
Lysette
Torque
ojou
Noise Machine
Grand Museum Gateway - Downwarp Variant
+++++ Galahad just looked at you!
GrayZero hrms, waves to folks, moving to just sort of stare over the edge of the freeway.
Galahad is lying back on a pair of seats wrenched out of one of the old vehicle chassis. He looks up when GrayZero enters, and he waves.
ojou waves back, leaning on a wrecked car, minus seat. Oddly enough, the seat Galahad happens to be sitting on.
GrayZero continues to just stare off for several moments, then sighs a bit to herself, turns and seems to take genuine notice of other entities present for the first time. “Ah. Hello. Am I intruding?”
ojou shakes his head. “Naw. Just tryin’ to think up a small craft project.”
GrayZero raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Galahad also shakes his head. “Not at all. It’s good to see you again.”
GrayZero smiles a bit. A little less than usual, but it’s still there.
ojou finishes, “Yeah. Y’know. Somethin’ small an’ easy for someone t’do for their first try. Not like th’ noise machine.”
Noise Machine
A large, metal and more metal monstrosity, counterweights and pulleys, engines connected with chains and chains and large iron girders and sheet metal. Connected with a switch. Scraps of bright fabric (mostly neon animal prints and bits of macrame with beads), fuzzy dice, air fresheners, and tatters of tire-rubber decorate it. A small sign is near the switch. “Be kind, refuel.” When turned on, it’s a rhythmic cacophony, engines rising and falling, counterweights clanging and banging, and something rattling. It’s quite easily danced to, actually.
GrayZero hrms. “A tutorial project, in other words.”
ojou finishes, “Yeah.”
Galahad listens, still trying to think of something he has a use for.
GrayZero nods. “Interesting. I certainly hope for your success, then.” Her attention drifts back toward... elsewhere.
Galahad watches GrayZero’s face. “Is there something you’re looking for? Anything amiss we could help you with?”
GrayZero frowns a bit, pondering that. “I’m honestly not sure. Things are... unusually complicated right now, and I have to sort them out.”
Galahad frowns in sympathy and nods. “Yes, things are. If you wish to talk, I’m willing to listen,” he offers.
GrayZero hrms, thinks for a moment, then shakes her head and smiles a bit weakly. “No, it’s okay. I need to learn to fully overcome self-doubt. The occasional test is necessary.”
ojou stares at Galahad pointedly, suppressing a snicker.
GrayZero raises an eyebrow, but otherwise gives no indication of having noticed anything.
Galahad gazes askance at ojou, as if to ask ‘what?’ He smiles a bit at GrayZero. “If you learn how, will you give lessons?”
ojou scratches his head, sighing. “Y’know... People with self-doubt always try to deal with it on their own, as if they can’t do anythin’ different. Fact is... Everybody else is goin’ through it, and everybody needs help.”
GrayZero hrms, ‘leans’ against a vehicle. “Mm. What I’ve had to learn and retell myself is that I have to accept that I am not perfect and I will make mistakes, even in the most important of matters. I have usually been able to take solace in the knowledge that She would not guide me astray.”
You say, “However, this assumes that She Herself has already attained perfection.”
ojou snorts. “Ain’t nothin’ perfect.”
Galahad tilts his head. “What is perfection?”
GrayZero answers decisively. “Wisdom in all things, such that mistakes are impossible.”
You say, “At least, this is what I have known it to be.”
ojou opens his mouth, but shuts it again, running his hand through his hair. Again.
GrayZero hrms, attention seeming to drift off, but still speaking. “I know I can still rely on my Lady to be wiser than I. She has demonstrated it so many times before. However... lately, I have wondered if perhaps even Her knowledge has limits.”
GrayZero adds, “What especially disturbs me is that She has not yet sought to contradict me on this. Normally She does so through some device, but now...” She trails off.
ojou finishes, “What’s been goin’ on t’give you that kinda’ crisis of faith?”
GrayZero says simply, “I remain alone.”
ojou blinks.
GrayZero hrms. “Perhaps I should explain...”
ojou finishes, “Yeah.”
You say, “I have been here for quite some time, and in all this time, I have discovered literally nobody who shares the same Faith as I.”
GrayZero adds, “Theoretically speaking, this wasn’t supposed to be possible.” A rueful smile.
You say, “Normally this is an indication that we have made a mistake in our own interpretations, and She guides us so. But this time... ...she has not.”
ojou pauses, blinking. “Lady... No offense, but... Ever since I got here, ain’t no two people had the same faith, even if they share the same faction. An’ I grew up here.”
Galahad murmurs, “Is a person’s faith determined by their doctrines, the names the know perfection by...?”
GrayZero nods. “I have observed as much during my time here. It’s been unusually disconcerting.”
ojou finishes, “I’d fin’ it strange any other way.”
GrayZero hrms at Galahad. “I did not believe so, but those names seem to be important in actually communicating one’s Faith.”
You say, “They may not be required for the beliefs, but they do seem necessary tools to be able to accomplish anything.”
ojou finishes, “Check out a guy named Kalki. Maybe he can help some...?”
GrayZero raises an eyebrow. “Hrm. I have not heard the name.”
Galahad smiles wryly. “May he be more generous answering your questions than he’s been with me. I was only able to find his name over the datalinks.”
ojou waves his hand dismissively. “Some kinda’ avatar of destruction. Nice guy. Real tight with Puzzlebox.”
GrayZero looks suprised. “I see.” Then, “Though, I’ve already met several who know Her well, but do not see Her with anything like the same perspective.”
ojou shrugs. “Dunno’ his perspective, but he’s got a good hang on that kinda’ thing.”
GrayZero hrms, nods.
Galahad murmurs, “Do beliefs really isolate you so much?”
ojou seems a little surprised at the question, blinking, and then smiling softly.
GrayZero looks distant. “To be honest, I’m not sure. Certainly one decision based on such beliefs does isolate me.” She punctuates that by putting her hand through the roof of the car she’s against - smoothly, with no damage to the car.
Galahad’s eyes widen slightly, and he shakes his head. “Why have you chosen to be insubstantial?”
GrayZero hrms. “It wasn’t really a choice to begin with...”
GrayZero then shakes her head. “No, no, that’s being dishonest.”
ojou scratches his head, half-squinting. “Y’know... I know some people that could make you more physical if you really wanted...”
GrayZero sighs. “I didn’t really try very hard to be substantial.”
You say, “After the Upload... all I had left to me were my Soul and Spirit. I felt as though I might be risking some mischance if I attempted to bring a body back into that.”
Galahad looks up at GrayZero, listening. “You do not seem happy with it now, and I can understand why...” He glances at one of his own metal-cased hands. “Maybe. A body is more than a shell, though I think there would be ways to minimize its impact on you.”
GrayZero looks a little... penitent? Apologetic? “And, to be truly honest, if I remain nothing more than an idea, nothing beyond Spirit and Soul, then that would be the only ways I could be... injured again.”
You say, “I have more faith in my Soul than I do my ability to physically defend myself from... outside stimuli.”
ojou just remains quiet, listening, thoughtful.
GrayZero glances to Galahad. “But that’s just the issue. There is an unhappiness there... but it has so far been easier than allowing myself the possibilty of physical effect.”
Galahad nods. “That’s a choice everyone faces spiritually as well. But it seems you’ve been able to choose to feel.”
Lysette sneaks out for a bit!
Lysette walks down the stairs towards Downwarp.
Lysette has left.
GrayZero nods quietly.
Galahad smiles faintly. “I am remembering some past conversations. You are unhappy to an extent, but you are comfortable with the way you are. Change would be upsetting your current status, and you know this status, if not optimal, is at least tolerable to you. shinsei would be a good person to ask for advice,” he muses.
ojou snickers.
GrayZero hrms.
You say, “What I fear is that it seems to be slowly becoming less tolerable.”
Galahad smiles gently. “Then change yourself before unhappiness changes you.”
GrayZero smiles. Then the smile slowly becomes a chuckle. “A definite point...”
ojou smirks, crossing his arms slowly. “That’s about my sister’d say, yeah. She’d be more in-depth, though.”
Galahad’s smile widens. “There are some things I know about why I was dreamed this way.” He holds up his hands, metal glinting faintly. “Touch is important. My limbs are like this so I am compelled to do it -right-.”
GrayZero hrms, nods, ponders that.
Galahad murmurs, “Your life will become less safe, but even in that, there are things you can gain. With fear, one can attain courage. With pain, sympathy and forbearance. So long as you don’t let it turn you away from life.”
ojou smiles softly, closing his eyes with an immensely satisfied look.
GrayZero nods quietly, glancing ‘upward’ for a few moments.
[OOC] Galahad says, “Ah, finally dinnertime. I gotta vanish for a few hours.”
[OOC] GrayZero waves.
[OOC] ojou says, “Catch you later.”
[OOC] Galahad says, “Thanks for coming by.”
Galahad has disconnected.
[OOC] ojou has to go and deal with getting fed.
[OOC] GrayZero says, “Food is a noble Purpose to seek. *nod* ;)”
[OOC] ojou says, “I’ll catch you later. ^_^;”
ojou has disconnected.
(I just wandered for a few moments after this, considering what I’d heard.)
You head up the freeway towards Big Active...
Tower Tunnel(#688RLJ)
The J.G. Ballard’s twenty lanes roll through a landscape of shattered skyscrapers, vast, weather-scoured hoodoos of the urban badlands. Ramps split off in bewildering knots of elevated roadway, weaving crazily through the maze of buildings. The tallest of these, the golden bank tower now known as Big Active, stands directly in the Ballard’s path, but the freeway rolls straight through with barely a thought. Its lanes merely spread out slightly, with the six innermost of them driving straight through the heart of bank tower, around the tenth floor.
The resulting thirty-meter-long tunnel is garishly lit along its length by sodium lights that turn everything a monochromatic yellow. The blacktop is cracked but otherwise in surprisingly good shape. Along one side of the tunnel the walls are bare concrete, the floors on this side of the building housing ventilation and other vital systems. On the other side is a row of five gigantic doors that open into a . Above the doors - and above the tunnel entrance at either end, white and purple neon spells out the words “JG’s TORQUE-N-TANK”.
Away to the , where the lanes of the Bal converge again, the twisted hulks of several wrecked vehicles litter the roadway. From this vantage point it’s hard to tell how many, but it could be in the dozens.
You enter through one of the doors.
JG’s Torque-N-Tank
The smell of oil and ozone and unspeakable solvents hangs thick, and the air is filled with the whine of servos, the hiss of pressurized air, the purr and roar of combustion engines. Vivid yellow sodium light spills in from the highway tunnel outside through the wide garage doors, mingling with the mercury lamps above. The Torque is a row of five yawning repair bays, two of them big enough to handle a small airplane. Each bay is fitted with microgravity generators and all manner of vehicular restraints - magnetic grapples, tractor beams and good old-fashioned chains and cables. Multi-jointed robot arms and tangled black hoses hang from the walls, bristling with fittings for washing, painting, sandblasting and fueling.
Drones of all sizes with a dozen segmented tentacles apiece skip and swing baboon-like from any convenient pivot, whirling through the air in a chaotic dance. Their spherical bodies are dented and grimy, and often bear multicoloured stripes of misfired spraypaint. Now and again two collide in midair with a clang, but more often they grapple and shoot past one another as though exchanging secret greasebot handshakes.
An office takes up one corner of the garage, its walls papered with faded parts ads and calendars featuring vehicles and robots in provocative poses. Papers and tools spill from the shelves and across a rusted desk, and pyramids of empties are stacked in the corners. A door leads from here to the tunnel. At the back, a hallway leads to the .
You summon an elevator.
Elevator(#682RLJ)
The mirrors and wood paneling have long since been lifted, leaving the walls of this elevator bare. The tough plastic panels are dented and scraped, and decorated by countless riders using everything from knives and lighters to holographic smart paint. The left-hand wall, in particular, bears a skewed rectangle that acts just like a mirror - except for the fact that everything it shows is rendered in glowing, high-contrast colour, like a deliberately misadjusted television.
The buttons beside the door are arranged in dizzying ranks, their numbers long since worn off. Beside them, helpful signs have been posted - some on brass plates, some on adhesive labels. Near the bottom is a hunk of old circuit board bearing the name “Big ”. A few buttons up from that is “-N-Tank”; above that, around the 13th floor, is “Tiny ”. And at the very top, the word “” has been cut right out of the metal.
Contents:
Sign - Units Available [Fake]
You ride the elevator all the way to the top.
The Tude
The Tude - short for Altitude - is just your average eighteen-story high arena, nestled between the terraced spires of the former Xodonbank tower. The 100th-floor courtyard and observation deck has now become the arena floor, with a dizzying drop on either side, and the outer walls of the two spires have been blown out, each providing a sort of terraced spectator gallery with fine views of the performances and contests that go on here nightly.
As well, huge girders and overhead catwalks have been added, surrounding the stage. To these have been lashed and epoxied a fearsome arsenal of lights, speakers and holoprojectors. Combined, they’re capable of causing severe damage to those not equipped to handle the punishing sound-wattage and radiation.
Much the same could be said, in fact, of the boisterous crowds that usually attend. Spectators enter very much at their own risk. Hawkers, mostly dented-up former service robots, hover and clamber over the stands, offering food, drink, souvenirs and, depending on the event, objects to hurl at the stage. The noise level rarely drops below deafening.
Behind the spectator galleries, the inner portions of the spires are a little quieter, offering lounges and bars. A bank of about a dozen provide express and local service to the rest of the building.
Contents:
Lightning Cannon
(I spent some time up there, just seeing the world; I don’t recally really taking notice of any activity whatsoever. It just proved a... vantage point, of sorts. Sometimes a grander view is necessary.)
(I confess I am unsure as to whether or not I’d made up my mind at this point. It is likely that I had, but I have no way of confirming this.)
You summon an elevator.
Elevator(#682RLJ)
The mirrors and wood paneling have long since been lifted, leaving the walls of this elevator bare. The tough plastic panels are dented and scraped, and decorated by countless riders using everything from knives and lighters to holographic smart paint. The left-hand wall, in particular, bears a skewed rectangle that acts just like a mirror - except for the fact that everything it shows is rendered in glowing, high-contrast colour, like a deliberately misadjusted television.
The buttons beside the door are arranged in dizzying ranks, their numbers long since worn off. Beside them, helpful signs have been posted - some on brass plates, some on adhesive labels. Near the bottom is a hunk of old circuit board bearing the name “Big ”. A few buttons up from that is “-N-Tank”; above that, around the 13th floor, is “Tiny ”. And at the very top, the word “” has been cut right out of the metal.
Contents:
Sign - Units Available [Fake]
You get off the elevator at the Big Active.
Big Active
The cavernous atrium of a financial building yawns some ten stories above you. Its once-glittering glass windows are dingy and cracked now, and the huge frosted globes that make up its grand chandelier are cobwebbed and dark. The aluminum Xodonbank logo still hangs across the wall facing the entrance, bristling with the nests of an entire colony of pigeons.
The entire atrium is occupied by row upon row of tables and cheap shelving, spilling over with cables, machine parts, old hard media, and bins of miscellaneous debris. The Big Active, they call it - widely known as the best place to find those rare parts for obsolete machinery, whether mechanical, electro, bio or nano. It’s constantly abuzz with tinkerers and collectors, bargaining intently with sellers over heaps of tangled components and crates of unmarked bottles. Ladders and makeshift stairs have been raised in a dozen places, affording the staff access to the upper storage floors.
At the front, a row of eight doorways lead to the windswept plaza outside, its original doors long since gone. On either side of the atrium stands a row of about two dozen .
You step through one of the doorways, heading outside.
DownWarp(#220RLJ)
You stand on a platform of corrugated metal the size of a city block adorned with hazard stripes, rivets, and glass shards. Sagging pipes and bundles of black wire criscross the platform between crumbling buildings of dirty concrete and rusted metal, and broken machines, some the size of houses, are scattered randomly. Looming above you is a massive skeleton of steel girders with half-completed walls and floors. Everything is covered with graffiti, but the designs are artful -- even civic-minded. A constant ripe gust rustles the trash under your feet, swirling paper chad, leaflets, and food wrappers over sleeping bodies covered in dingy tarps. Looks like there was a party last night.
Or maybe it’s still night. The sky is orange-grey and impenetrable. The only lights come from sodium lamps and neon overhead; a distant thump and clack of machinery comes from there as well. The closest building is an office of perhaps 120 stories, with two pyramid-shaped peaks. Its walls of gold-tinted glass are broken and stained.
A few meters away across the rusted plain, there’s a big, battered cargo container that seems to have been converted into a bar. Loud music and multicolored light spills from its open .
Some distance away, there seems to be an elevated highway running across the metal plain. A rusty leads up to it.
A few hundred meters away, orange-white steam billows from a in the asphalt, surrounded by decrepit buildings.
Nearby, surrounded by the rubble that was a building, is a .
A flattened ovoid blob of liquid floats here, lazily oozing in midair.
Stat Name____________________ Gender_____ Species___________________________ GrayZero female illusory gray fox Lysette[5m idle] Female Striped Hyena Kehari[4m idle] Female Black vixen shinsei[asleep] female blueman Induction-Coil male Coyote Trilogee[asleep] female humanoid Kaye[asleep] female Wah Wah Mosfet[asleep] Male Junkyard Angel ---( DownWarp )---------------------------------------------( 4/8 DownWarp )---
Contents:
Lysette
Kehari
shinsei
Induction-Coil
Trilogee
Kaye
Mosfet
Deer Statue [Fake]
Message [Fake]
GrayZero arrives mostly lost in her own thoughts, but that changes once she sees others. She waves.
Induction-Coil waves back, tiredly.
[OOC] Induction-Coil mrfs, I should just go for a while, I think.. *waves* Seeyas.
Induction-Coil goes home.
Induction-Coil has left.
Kehari waves to GrayZero from where she stands next to a floatyena. “Hey, long time no see.”
GrayZero smiles. “I suppose so. I take it you are well?”
Kehari grins and nods. “I am, thankfully. Things have been relatively quiet and positive. How’ve you been?”
GrayZero hrms. “Not as well as I might have hoped, though that may change soon.”
Lysette eventually drifts down to Kehari. She quietly wraps her arms around her before slowly closing her eyes..
Kehari hugs Lysette’s arms to her and tips her head slightly. “Mmm, I’m sorry to hear that,” she says to G-0. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
GrayZero hrms. “I’ve already had one conversation about it tonight, but I thank you for the offer.” She glances towards the Freeway briefly.
Kehari nods and dips her muzzle to kiss Lysette’s hand. “All right. If you ever need to get ahold of me though, I’m on the infonet...”
Lysette rubs her muzzle slowly under Kehari’s cheek, yawwning softly.. Her tail clicks, a little to GrayZero too..
GrayZero nods. “My thanks.” She glances ‘upward’ for a few moments.
Kehari smiles a little and shrugs. “Hey, no problem. I’m just happy to help.”
The mirror-blob swells into a pregnant sphere and then bursts to release Camilla.
Camilla says, “Hello.”
GrayZero waves distractedly to the dragoness.
Darkon walks down from the elevated freeway and towards the main area of Downwarp.
Darkon has arrived.
Darkon comes falling off the freeway, and stops about two inches above the ground.
GrayZero raises an eyebrow.
Lysette’s head cants to the side a bit, her tail clicking.. “No gravity as well?” she asks, curiously.
Darkon drops to the ground, and says, “Not when I don’t feel like it.”
Lysette turns her head to the side.. “Through what mechanism?” she asks, her tail clicking slowly..
Darkon says, “Through the simple expedient of relative physics. I’m high enough, at the moment, that I can convince myself that gravity doesn’t have to have any hold on me.”
Lysette blinks.. and grins broadly.. “When I get high, it seems that I convince the world _around_ me that there’s no gravity..” she giggles..
GrayZero raises an eyebrow.
Kehari smiles to herself as she remembers that time in the Heliquary...
Darkon nods, and says, “That happens, too. It all depends on what you’re used to.”
Lysette giggles.. “Well. It just seems to bleed and spread from me. I’ve tried something by Trilogee, and one thing by Diafeara.. both have been something else..” she sighs warmly.
Trilogee has connected.
Darkon smiles at Lysette, and says, “‘s ’cause you’re used to null gravity,” as she leans sideways, almost parallel to the ground by the time she stops.
GrayZero just watches and listens, curious.
Trilogee clatters out from under a small pile of rubble, yawning.
GrayZero glances over, waves to Trilogee.
Kehari grins at Trilogee’s “entrance”, oddly amused. “Fall into a pile of debris?”
Trilogee nods, stretching. “Surprisingly comfortable, so I slept there.”
Lysette giggles.. “Well, I guess so.. But I know that I’m utterly separate from the field of gravity.. So anything else would just be a false effect, a mimic..” she coos. She blinks, and peeks over to Trilogee.. “Oh.. Oh, I think there’s a better place for you to sleep, maybe..” she considers..
Trilogee raises an eyebrow. “The sidewalks are fine.”
Darkon giggles a bit, and says, “That’s just because you think you are. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be.”
(This was about the point at which I simply no longer attempted to continue to pay attention. I continued to stand there for a few moments, then... something in me felt that I should head for the Park. I have recordings of what was said around me, but they’re not of much importance. I don’t recall being much aware of anything, really.
I’m only marginally suprised by what was recorded in the Park - but marginal is enough to want to have it on record, so...)
Puzzle Park
You are standing on a ring of holofinished chrome, part of a huge orrery model. The orrery, a hundred meters across, is a stylized representation of the Puzzlebox structure itself, in a chaotic state of perpetual construction. The web of broad orbital rings, arcing topopolitic strands and slender orbital towers turns in a slow, stately orbit, making perhaps one full revolution an hour. At the center of the orrery is the sun, a hemisphere of sun-yellow translucent plastic that serves as a stage. Fluorescent gas filling the hemisphere glows bright and warm. At the edges of the structure are soft but impregnable wallfields.
The orrery hangs suspended inside a sphere, on whose inner surface is projected a swirling mass of color and form. Rainbow fractals melt against sheets of pink flame, liquid copper circuits wriggle and swarm over blooming electric flowers.
Ascending from the center of the sun-hemisphere is... something like a tree, only its trunk and branches are gleaming rectilinear chrome, and its leaves slowly turning cubes of holographic foil that dazzle any onlooker with bright flashes of reflected color.
At the base of the “tree” there’s a dark circular . Installed inside is a disc-shaped lift that raises and lowers at resident’s will, to carry passengers to and from the Transit Nexus below.
Contents:
Leviathan-chan
Forrest
Metasphere Terminal
Gender Catalog
Infosprite [Fake]
Puzzlebox Message Board [Fake]
Forrest says, “greetings”
GrayZero doesn’t take notice of anyone present; she just heads right for the Cube Tree and climbs up, occasionally going right through a branch or two.
Forrest emits suprise, “that is, odd..”
+++++ Leviathan-chan just looked at you!
GrayZero (before)
The first impression that reaches your mind is that you’ve just seen an anthro gray vixen. Few details to really notice. Clad in a simple-looking hooded brown robe that somehow lets her tail through, with the hood down most of the time. A curious pendant around her neck. An almost constant look of calm serenity, even when amused. Aside from all the apparent traditionalist simplicity, nothing that might seem exceptional per se.
If you take a closer look, though, there’s just something unusual that strikes your mind. First a intuition, somehow, that something isn’t quite right with this picture. And then there’s something a little more concrete; maybe an occasional flicker, or a hint of pixelation around the muzzle. It’s as though your senses, your brain... they’re being told there’s a vixen there, and it’s a really convincing story, but ultimately... there really isn’t. Interesting.
GrayZero reaches the top, closes her eyes, and... stands there.
Forrest watches, curious as to the very strange actions of GreyZero.
GrayZero appears to take no further action whatsoever.
Forrest watches GrayZero whilst studying Leviathan-chan, “so, you are according to standard operational parameters this cycle?”
Leviathan-chan turns around. “Hmm? Which one of us are you talking about?”
Forrest says, “I guess either of the two of you, however, the vixen appears to not be responding, so I would guess the question befalls yourself”
Leviathan-chan shrugs. “I’m hale and hearty. Jus’ waiting for a friend, this fine night.” She leans back against the Cube Tree, idly paging through a multilingual copy of Sashimi Illustrated.
Forrest says, “it is good to hear this. it would be most unfortunate were you to not be at peak”
GrayZero rather suddenly vanishes.
(I don’t recall implementing the experiment to take all that long. Indeed, one of the larger holdups I can recall was selecting an appropriate wardrobe. I’m uncertain as to what precisely I was doing during this time, though; I can only assume that She guided me further as She had before. In any case...)
(I eventually found myself in the Storage Facility afterward, with a certain feeling that a test was necessary. I’d already had one offer of help earlier that evening, so...)
DownWarp(#220RLJ)
Stat Name____________________ Gender_____ Species___________________________ GrayZero female gray fox software construct Darkon female bald jaguar Camilla female dragon chameleon (green) Lysette Female Striped Hyena Kehari[3m idle] Female Black vixen shinsei[asleep] female blueman Trilogee[4m idle] female humanoid Kaye[asleep] female Wah Wah Mosfet[asleep] Male Junkyard Angel ---( DownWarp )---------------------------------------------( 6/9 DownWarp )---
Contents:
Darkon
Camilla
Lysette
Kehari
shinsei
Trilogee
Kaye
Mosfet
Deer Statue [Fake]
Message [Fake]
Trilogee chortles softly, touching her chest gently. “The world has touched me... Every day something makes me look at everything else in a different light. I’m constantly changing and growing... I want to leave that for everybody else, too.”
GrayZero steps back in, looks around for a bit, locates another vixen. “Kehari? Might I take you up on that offer of a brief favor? I have something I need to test.”
Lysette leans back, smiling.. “This is very much the same for me, too.. But I think everyone can kind of do that.. But I guess you mean.. you want to help people to look at things in these new ways, and grow?”
Kehari turns a hand. “Yeah, but you’re not Priestess anymore,” she says to Darkon before looking up when addressed. “Hmm? Oh sure!” She stands and nods to Camilla and Darkon. “Excuse me.”
Trilogee nods softly. “Yeah... Like that. I want to help the world... See things in a different, or maybe better light. I wish people could get along, and I want to make it so they can.”
GrayZero smiles. “It’s rather simple, and a little silly, but I want to be sure. If you could just instantiate a rubber ball and toss it to me, I’d appreciate it.”
Darkon giggles a little. “Sure I am! I’m just Darky, too.”
Lysette nods warmly, leaning forward to touch her cool nose to Trilogee’s.. “If it helps, you’ve helped me see the world in different and better lights time and time again. I get along with everyone, though.. so maybe I can help in that way..!”
Kehari quirks an eyebrow. “Uh? Sure...” The vixen shrugs and *poof* has a rubber ball in her hand. “Catch” she calls, and tosses it at GrayZero’s chest.
Trilogee smiles meekly, antennae perking slightly. “Really...?”
GrayZero darts out to attempt to catch it, ends up bouncing it off her muzzle, causing a bit of a *yip* of suprise. She recovers quickly, though, and snatches it out of the air before it hits the ground.
Darkon giggles, and decides to help the experiment, as well. Unfortunately, she’s stoned enough that, although she instantiates things just fine, she instantiates too many, ending up with a rainbow of rubber balls piled up on top of her.
GrayZero then tosses the ball back, grinning.
Lysette smiles brightly, nodding, “Even just seeing how you and Galahad have grown together has been something to watch and make me think.. Let alone insights about the realities here, or the bit of a smoke you shared with me..” she giggles.. “You’ve been a wonderful friend, wether or not you’re feeling down yourself.. Its wonderful to have found that in you!”
Kehari reaches out and catches the ball with laser precision and a laugh. “Hey, you’re solid!” She giggles at the sudden pyramid of rubber balls where Darkon used to be and adds hers on top like a cherry atop a sundae.
+++++ Kehari just looked at you!
GrayZero (after)
Surely what you’re looking at is simply an anthro gray vixen. Wearing a hooded black cloak (hood usually down) over a long dark blue dress - collarbone and up visible, and nothing else, except occasionally her tail under the cloak, and her hands/paws. A curious pendant around her neck. An almost constant look of calm serenity, even when amused. Aside from all the apparent traditionalist simplicity, nothing that might seem exceptional per se.
There’s something else there, though, and it’s difficult to pin down just what that is. Sometimes there’s a hint of pixelation about the muzzle, as though this appearence is being electronically painted onto your senses. An occasional flicker; a temporary accident in the painting? Certainly there’s someone or something actually there. Regardless of what you’re seeing may actually be, though, this certainly represents a sentient entity, and she appears untroubled by this dichotomy of maybe-actuality.
Darkon eeps, and giggles more, squirming up out of the pile.
GrayZero smiles. “A bit of a roundabout method for it, but it seems to work.”
Trilogee smiles meekly, running a hand through her hair. “Thank you... That helps.”
The mirror-blob swells into a pregnant sphere and then bursts to release Biros.
Biros drifts in.
Lysette smiles broadly. “The truth tends to help in the end, you know? I mean what I’m saying, that is to say..” she giggles, her arms hooking behind her as she drifts before Trilogee. She peeks behind her at all the balls, her eyes brightening up a little.. “What on the mess is that?..”
Trilogee glances. “If I were to venture a guess, I’d say they were rubber balls.”
Kehari grins and hugs GrayZero. “I’m glad, hon. Glad I could help too, for what it’s worth.” She chuckles and steps away. “I’ve got to run and take care of something, I’ll see you all later!”
GrayZero returns the hug, smiling.
Darkon waves to Kehari. “Bye!”
Kehari waves to everyone, blows a kiss to Lysette, and hops through the mirror.
Kehari touches the transit mirror and vanishes.
GrayZero then picks up three of the rubber balls, glances to Lysette. “I would say they’re an overly enthusiastic attempt to provide tools for a test.” She attempts to juggle the balls, meeting with... oh, perhaps about two seconds of success before she manages to drop all three.
Darkon giggles a little, then burrows back down into the pile.
Lysette catches the kiss, and sighs happily..
Trilogee watches the rubber ball commotion, and blinks. “Um... You... Picked up the balls.”
Lysette blinks, and smiles.. “I meant, more.. why.. so many?”
GrayZero nods, picks up another, tosses it to Trilogee.
GrayZero returns her attention to Lysette. “As I said. An overly enthusiastic attempt.” She grins.
Biros lifts straight up in midair, and floats over to bump Lysette with a wing experimentally. “no current, no drag, yet you alight on winds!”
Darkon waves to Biros, then licks the cheese off of her face.
Trilogee catches the ball, blinking. “How?”
Biros spirals, sending warm wavelengths to Darkon.
GrayZero smiles. “An experiment I had not been willing to attempt before, to be honest. The Instantiator is not naturally limited to illusions and/or holograms. So...”
Lysette yips at the touch, and begins to drift off! “Hi!” she chirps, and blinks.. “I have no gravity! I’m estranged from the whole plain of it!”
GrayZero trails off.
Trilogee blinks, staring at GrayZero.
Darkon purrs.
Lysette drifts..?
GrayZero hrms. “I may have to explain later. Suffice to say that Galahad indirectly convinced me to try.”
Biros twists and watches Lysette slide away from it. It follows and swims around Lysette quickly, and gives her a nudge in the opposite direction, a ripple of colour rushing down its spine. “estranged! how unique. no others estranged as you are. yet.”
Trilogee giggles softly, wings fluttering briefly. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that you did try... And succeeded!”
GrayZero smiles, picks up one of the rubber balls, tosses it up and down absentmindedly.
(Further conversation was unrelated. Perhaps to be posted later, someday.)