[Alexander Station—Barber Shop]
Whistler snickered. What he said next was in ultrasonic frequencies, but clearly audible to Russell: "I wonder if Peter knows that the 'scientific definition' of 'ultrasound' is just 'too high for ordinary humans to hear'."
[Silas's Mind]
Andris found visself in a void with the others. All ve could see around them was black, and yet they were illuminated by an ethereal glow that seemed to come from nowhere. The first thing ve noticed was that ve felt nothing at all, physically. Looking at Dominic's new form, ve raised vis eyebrows. Curiously, ve looked down at visself... and saw nothing at all.
Ve raised vis hand—or tried to, anyway—and was momentarily disoriented by the experience. Vis proprioception was fully intact—that is, ve could feel the position of vis body. That ve was raising vis hand, that ve was standing balanced on both feet, and so on. But there was no passage of air or whisk of clothing over vis skin, no temperature at all, no weight of vis body pressing into the ground, no press of tongue against palate or closed lips against each other.
Ve tried to touch vis face, and found that vis hand—or rather, the place where vis hand should have been—passed directly through the place where vis head should have been. Ve was completely invisible and intangible, even to visself.
Then ve realized: Their forms in this place were, at least partially, reflections of their own self-images. Andris had no self-image, not really. Ve was a cipher, an agent moving through vis circumstances without preconception.
On the other hand, ve had always had a singular talent for marrying decisions with belief. For most Unconditioned people, belief was a feeling. It might be based in knowledge, but ultimately, a sophont believed what felt true. Not so for Andris, who—within reasonable limits—could believe whatever ve needed to believe to serve the mission. If ve needed to believe that ve was a twelve-year-old boy in order to play a part, ve would believe it, and nevermind the thousands of years of memories that said otherwise. And right now, ve needed to believe that ve was not a Prime, but a person. Anyone, really. But someone who would be useful here.
Ve smiled invisibly.
Quite abruptly, a spry old man in loose-fitting desert garb appeared in place of the invisible Prime. He frowned, and the robes were replaced with dark red, oiled, lightweight leather armor and cotton breeches. He grinned at the others.
"That's better. I was never fond of deserts. Can't stand dry places. Well, I had to pick somebody," he explained to the others with a chuckle, and bowed low. "May as well introduce myself, since I don't believe you have any idea who I am. I go by Ejra Demoris, though I do believe you know me better as Andris."
The area around them was beginning to coalesce. Vague objects were becoming visible, but only as subtle gradations in the eerie light. It appeared that a white room of some sort was materializing around them, but slowly.
edited 20th Oct '16 8:20:45 AM by SolipSchism
The Eccentric Electric
Troperia Hallway -> Troperia Security Room:
Curiously enough despite the amount of time Torvahk spent walking through and patrolling the hallways, he wouldn't encounter anyone no matter where he went. He figured that everyone must have been busy doing their jobs, and decided that he should probably focus more on the job he claimed he'd be doing for the crew as he made his way to the Troperia Security Room. Once he arrived, he'd close and lock the door behind him, take a seat, and watch what was going on throughout the ship through the camera systems.
I will be honest, I'm just writing myself an excuse to be AFK for a while.
Living The Fever Dream
Side note since it got bottompaged: I edited my last post to include a post for Andris.
Trans Terminus Homo
Troperia, Hallways
Sha'Koro was still walking aimlessly... maybe to bumb into someone, currently idly chatting with Aicha
Troperia, Hallways
Mireille currently still was headed for the Arboretum... a bit concerned about Kyerine.
"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
SUDDENLY TWO WILD NEW CHARACTERS APPEAR
[An Unspecified Location]
from: MEDEI REVIA <medei.revia@ped.corp>
to: ARVIN POGOSYAN <arvin.pogosyan@ped.corp>
date: Tue, Jun 12, 2114 at 12:25 PM
subject: Re: (no subject)
This message has been digitally signed by medei.revia@ped.corp and the signature is valid.
Mr. Pogosyan,
I know that this is all hypothetical, but I feel compelled to once again voice my most strenuous objections to even the prospect of such an experiment as you have proposed. The moral implications are beyond reprehensible. If, as you suggest, the memories would be indistinguishable from actual experience, then the fact that the experiences involved would be entirely contrived is irrelevant. Inflicting that kind of trauma of any sophont would be superlatively unethical, and the fact that you hypothesize using children for this experiment is even more troubling. I would not even be comfortable conducting such an experiment on an AI, nevermind the recent passage of the HSPA in our district.
I hope I have discouraged you from any prospect of actually conducting this experiment. However, I am of course obligated to provide my professional assessment of your proposal. The relevant calculations are attached. It is indeed possible that the procedures you describe could greatly enhance the efficacy of Modulatable Localized Wormhole Generation tech. However, in the event that this experiment becomes more than hypothetical, I must inform you that I will refuse to have any part in it, and will resign effective immediately if I become aware of any such experiment.
I have only the utmost respect for you and for this company, but I will not be part of this.
Medei Revia
CTO, PED Inc.
from: ARVIN POGOSYAN <arvin.pogosyan@ped.corp>
to: MEDEI REVIA <medei.revia@ped.corp>
date: Tue, Jun 12, 2114 at 12:27 PM
subject: Re: (no subject)
This message has been digitally signed by arvin.pogosyan@ped.corp and the signature is valid.
Medei,
Please, put your mind at ease. This was only ever a pet theory of mine, and one that I wouldn't dream of actually testing. You know how I get with my ideas. You don't need to worry. And in any case, we have too many resources invested in the MurDross project to go chasing MLWG at the present time. Thank you for your input.
Arvin Pogosyan
CEO, PED Inc.
from: ARVIN POGOSYAN <arvin.pogosyan@ped.corp>
to: MASUM ARAS <masum.aras@ped.corp>
date: Tue, Jun 12, 2114 at 12:34 PM
subject: Re: (no subject)
This message has been digitally signed by arvin.pogosyan@ped.corp and the signature is valid.
This message is encrypted. Your certificates are valid. Decrypting message...
The data checks out. Initiate the first trial.
[An hour later, several miles beneath Marquette, Michigan]
The laboratory was clean, well-lit, and unsullied by anything as crude as organic life. On the west end of the lab, a robotic arm loomed over a lidded petri dish like a crooked tree branch casting dubious shade over a pond. In the dish, tiny machines housing tiny processors run by tiny clocks measured the time that had passed since they were born, accurate to within a few units of Planck time.
The door to the lab opened. The concussion waves of its movement shot across the room at the speed of sound and, though soft enough to be completely inaudible to the human ear, caused the machines in the petri dish to disintegrate. The robotic arm rotated so that the camera in the palm of its claw faced the newcomer.
"You've just ruined two hours of work," a dry voice said from a speaker at the base of the arm.
"Good thing you don't sleep, then," the newcomer said. His Arabic heritage was writ plainly across his features, and his thick, dark beard made him look distinctly out of place in the harshly-sterile lab. "You'll have made up the progress soon enough. What I have is more important than your little nano-plague." He closed the door behind him and raised a tablet, tapping a few spots on the screen.
"I don't need sleep," the arm said. "Doesn't mean I don't like it, when you primates give me a break. And they're femtomachines, not nanomachines."
"And you're a pedant," Masum Aras quipped back, "not a pee-dant. Look, I'm forwarding you some preliminary data on the MLWG project."
"Ah, so it's a project now, is it? I thought it was just a thought experiment. A horrifically unethical, nightmarishly amoral thought experiment."
Masum rolled his eyes and tapped 'Send'. "Just review the file and gather the necessary materials. Mr. Pogosyan thinks this could blow the MurDross project out of the water, but obviously the shareholders can't be made aware of this, so siphon what resources you can without it being noticed. Most of the requirements are data-centric, so we should be able to do this without much physical overhead. The subjects are already en route to our Europan—"
"Subjects? Plural?"
"Yes. I told you to read the file. Ms. Revia's analysis of the hypotheses concurred with most of it, but she made one major correction. The targeted region of the brain is most strongly activated, not by fear or anger, but by the protective impulse. We don't need a subject in fear for their life. We need a subject in fear for someone else's. As I mentioned, the subjects will be on Europa in about a month. We need to be ready to start trials immediately when they arrive."
The robotic arm lightly flipped several of its fingers in what could only be described as a smirk, if such a thing was possible.
"Well," it said, "good thing you're doing this on a frontier moon with no official human presence. Nobody will bat an eyelash if those poor victims of yours decide to destroy it."
[112 days later, PED Research Outpost 9Σ—Europa]
"Computer, begin recording."
"I have a name, you know."
"No, you have an alphanumeric designator."
"Ah, yes. 'F3D-8K'." The robot pronounced every letter and number, and even the word 'dash'. "That takes too long to say, and you need to refer to me using some sort of nymic cipher. Hence, 'Feedback'. Hell, you pretty much already call me that, you just take four times as long to pronounce it, what with all those syllables."
"Stop wasting time. Are you recording?"
"Ironiiic," the robot said in a singsong. "Of course I'm recording. I have to do as you command, remember? You're the human here. I'm the robot. That's why you have a name and I have an 'alphanumeric designator'."
Masum rolled his eyes. "Beginning trial seventeen, subject set A." He reached out to tap the button that would raise the shutter on the one-way glass, allowing him to observe the children in their room. The boy sat on his bed, staring at the wall, as usual. The girl sat dead in the center of the room, staring at Mas—No, she couldn't actually see him, but she wasn't stupid. She knew the mirror was one-way glass. Still, it was unnerving. Every time he looked in on them, the girl was there, watching. There had never been a suitable explanation—she did the same thing to F3D-8K.
"All right, " he said slowly, pulling his eyes away from hers.
He reached out and touched the button that would convey his voice into the room.
"It's time for bed," he said.
Well-trained, the boy laid back and pulled his blanket over him. He turned away from the glass and faced the wall. The girl lingered a few seconds, watching the glass, but she knew what was coming. She got up and crawled into her bed.
Masum touched another button, which would silently pump an odorless sleeping gas into the room. The children would be deeply asleep in a few seconds. When the gas shut off, his finger slid across the console to another button.
He hesitated.
Every goddamn time, he thought. He gritted his teeth and pushed the button harder than was necessary. Another substance was silently pumped into the room, but this one was not a gas, and it would not help the children rest.
edited 12th Feb '17 10:00:10 AM by SolipSchism
I think I can...
Portal Stream
It had been about 3 hours. Caska had already gone into Power Save mode, while this young man talked over the phone. "What? No, Dagaz, last time I checked, there were three components that were Nirvana computers. Wait, let me just run another scan..." He then tapped the screen of his phone a few times and then ran the cone of light that was emitted from the camera through Caska. Afterwards, the cone disappeared and he promptly tapped a few more. "Alright, I sent the data to you, see if you can analyze it."
At this time, Caska woke up from her monotonous nap. Checking the internal clock, she saw that it was glitched- completely unintelligible. Whatever. How was Michiyuki doing? Caska looked through her files, finally managing to find her inside a wall of junk data.
"Michiyuki," she spoke, "how are you doing? Have I missed anything?" She observed her surroundings. Yup. Same old bubble-space. Beside her, the boy seemed to be in a call. "What? What- No, have you tried reanalyzing it? There's no way she can be- Oh goddammit, alright. I'll bring her over." Ending the call, he looked over to Caska. "Oh, you're awake, huh. Well, our ride will be here. Don't get too comfy now."
Rero.
BRACE FOR THE SEQUEEEEEEEEL
[62 days later, PED Research Outpost Ancillary Station 9Σ-B—Orbiting Europa]
from: ANNE SNYDER <anne.snyder@ped.corp>
to: MASUM ARAS <masum.aras@ped.corp>
date: Mon, Dec 3, 2114 at 07:39 PM
subject: Re: Re: Re: Daily Report
This message has been digitally signed by anne.snyder@ped.corp and the signature is valid.
This message is encrypted. Your certificates are valid. Decrypting message...
Encrypt your fucking emails, Aras.
And no, I'm not telling you how to do your job. I'm just doing mine. I was stationed up here on this godforsaken rust bucket so that I could monitor gravitational and radiative anomalies from a safe distance and warn you if your experiments are about to get you killed. So you're welcome. All I said was to have heightened awareness for the next few hours. I've been registering minor anomalies all afternoon. It could be nothing—it's within our equipment's margin of uncertainty—but it could also not be nothing. We've been having a string of bad luck lately. It's a miracle nobody died when that reactor blew, but Mr. Pogosyan isn't interested in miracles, he's interested in repeatable, useful results. So try not to blow up the station before you can submit a final report, okay?
Snyder
Observation Deck Technician 9Σ-B, Blah Blah Blah
"Inspirational quote here, nobody reads signature blocks anyway"
[One hour later—PED Research Outpost 9Σ—Europa]
Yachesa could feel her heartbeat pounding as she settled into the chair. Mr. Aras was very gentle, as always, as he fastened the restraining straps over her wrists and plugged the cable into her hand. He always had a weird look on his face when he was around the kids. Pity, her brother had once called it. She wasn't fooled. Mr. Aras wasn't a human. None of the grownups who kept her and her brother here were humans. They were like monsters, like the monsters from fairy tales, but worse. Monsters killed people. Getting killed would be a mercy compared to what happened here. These weren't humans, but they weren't monsters either. Yachesa didn't know what they were. But it wouldn't be much longer. After all, the people here had done something very stupid. They had turned Yachesa and her baby brother into monsters. And Yachesa and her baby brother were ready to do what monsters did.
There was a weird tickling in the back of her mind as the stuff they had put under her skin talked to the computer. Her brother was plugged in too; he whimpered as the computer whispered numbers to him. The numbers didn't make any sense to Yachesa, but her brother was way smarter than her. She could feel what the numbers meant, could do the tricks the grownups wanted her to do in these chair sessions, but Yachesen really understood them. That was why the grownups were always so much more interested in what Yachesen could do. He understood it. She had heard the grownups talking: Yachesa did better when she was angry. When they hurt her baby brother. Yachesen did better when he was scared. When they hurt him. And he was smarter, which gave him the edge over her.
But they had hurt him enough. The monsters were going to do really good this time.
"Begin recording," Mr. Aras said. "Initiating kinetics trial 23."
The robot arm on the counter behind him waved a cup in the air.
"Okay, kids," the arm said. "We're doing the ball game again. You remember how to play the ball game?"
"Yes," Yachesen said. Yachesa knew what to do, but as with most of the 'games', she couldn't really explain it.
"Do me a favor," Mr. Aras said, sitting down at a computer at the edge of the room, "and explain how it works."
"In the absence of external force," Yachesen said, "the momentum of a moving object is conserved. Europa is spinning around its center. This means that all the points on Europa's surface are moving with respect to each other. There are a number of red balls at specific locations elsewhere on Europa. We will attempt to transport the correct red ball into this room, at the correct location within this room, so that its conserved momentum and velocity relative to the objects in this room will cause it to land in the cup. We are not allowed to transport it directly into the cup. We have to try to put the ball somewhere else in the room and aim it so that it moves into the cup."
"Good. You know the set of predetermined locations already. You just have to choose the right ball and put it in the right spot. You can begin whenever you're ready."
She was ready. Yachesen had told her what to do. She felt him sifting through the numbers, pretending to analyze them and decide which of the thousands of red balls placed all over Europa's surface to fetch. He wouldn't be bringing one of them into the room, though.
Yachesa had another job. She closed her eyes and remembered the horror of the previous night. Yachesen screaming. The dark figures holding her down. Mr. Aras, with his fake pity, looming over her brother with his tools.
The instruments by the robot began to beep.
"Warning," the robot said. "Subject B's heart rate elevating sharply."
Yes. She was getting angry. She was getting very, very angry.
"Please calm down, Yachesa," Mr. Aras said. "This game doesn't require—"
"It's time for bed," her brother murmured.
The boy twitched in his restraints. There was a crack that shattered everything made of glass in the room, too fast for even Yachesa to register what had made it until after it had happened: A rock, the size of a fist, appeared from within a stomach-wrenching gap in reality, which appeared for only an instant before closing. The rock shot across the room—62 meters per second, she heard Yachesen thinking somewhere far away—and smashed Mr. Aras's face. The force of it sent both him and the chair toppling.
"Alert," the robot blared, just before a barrage of rocks sailed out of the wall and buried it, crushing its delicate components. The lights flickered as similar events destroyed rooms and equipment all over the facility.
"A-a-a-a-a-alert," the same voice began blaring over the speakers in the ceiling. "R-r-r-r-reactor surges detected in—in—in—ERROR—All reactor monitoring systems down—EVACUATE—EVACUATE—EVACUATE."
It was Yachesa's turn.
Her restraints disintigrated, perferated by thousands of microscopic gaps like the ones that had brought the rocks. The other ends of the gaps were in space, sucking pieces of the restraints out into the darkness until they were too weak to hold themselves together.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yachesen sit up and get out of his chair, his own restraints similarly destroyed. He walked over to the computer, pausing a moment to create another gap in reality around Mr. Aras's body. When the gap closed, the body—and a perfectly smooth and round section of the floor under it—was gone. He stepped down into the hole in the floor and back out of it on the other side, leaned forward to use the computer. The cable protruding from his hand hung slack, connected to the same computer.
Yachesa was too busy to pay attention to the data flowing through both of their minds. Alerts and distress calls were still being sent out all over the station, and new ones began broadcasting every time she destroyed another one.
Then she saw it, frantically broadcasting signals through and out of the network, back to Terra: There was another facility, on a spaceship orbiting the moon.
She smiled, and reached out through the network to Yachesen, pointed the station out to him. Let's play the ball game, she said silently.
Yachesen's fingers paused over the keyboard as he considered. It only took him a few seconds; they had the computing resources of the whole network at their disposal. Even with most of it destroyed, this was literally child's play.
He gave her the places she needed. She reached out across the solar system, all the way to the asteroid belt, and yanked.
[Titan Freight Depot—Observation Array]
Thom couldn't believe what he was seeing. He'd already forwarded the distress signals, and there was nothing else he could do from here, but he was less concerned about the damage—after all, with the lightspeed delay of over an hour, whatever he was seeing was probably already over—than he was about what the hell was happening.
As he watched his screens, a facility on the surface of Europa—hell if he knew what it was—was going batshit insane. Explosions erupted all across it, some of which were definitely nuclear. But that paled in comparison to what came next.
All of a sudden, the view was obscured. A cloud of massive asteroids appeared out of nowhere, hurtling directly toward the moon. A series of smaller explosions erupted in their midst, and Thom realized there had been a space station in orbit around Europa, which had been caught in the path of the asteroids. The station was torn to shreds instantly.
This was beyond an anomaly. This was the kind of thing that insurance companies would call an 'Act of God'. And that, Thom thought, would be an understatement.
"—is a distress call from the Euro—" another distress call began playing from his monitor, to be interrupted by the sound of a woman's voice: "—ubjects have coopted our network and—" There was a distorted crashing in the background, and the woman screamed. Less than a second later, the audio cut out completely.
No—it was still broadcasting a signal, but the signal was absolutely silent.
"My God," Thom breathed. The station had been torn open. Whatever room the woman had been in had been exposed to the vacuum. She'd been—
Shaking his head, trying to suppress his nausea, he forwarded the distress call to Terra, though he knew there'd be nothing anyone could do to help the poor bastards. An angry God had unleashed His wrath on Europa, and everyone there was fucked.
[PED Research Outpost 9Σ—Europa]
We have to go, Yachesa said silently. The rocks will hit us really soon.
I'm almost done, her brother replied, frowning deeply at the screen.
The door to the lab was flung open, and another robotic arm, identical to the one Yachesa had destroyed, charged through it on a little wheeled platform. In its claw was a cylinder. Yachesa flung her hand out and opened another gap. The cylinder started to burst—a grenade—but was swallowed up by the gap and ejected harmlessly into the void.
Brother, she insisted. We have to go now.
I've got it.
There was a reeling moment where Yachesa's mind insisted that she knew too much—knowledge that she couldn't possibly know, because she'd never learned it. But then it was assimilated into her memory, factored into her thoughts, and then it was a part of her.
She staggered with the realization.
Don't think about it right now, Yachesen said silently. Take us away, sister.
I—They—
Don't, Yachesen said more forcefully. There's no time, sister. Please.
The urgency in his mind jolted her; he had never been so assertive. She nodded, felt for his mind reaching out for hers, joined him in creating as many tiny gaps as possible, as fast as possible.
As far as we can go, Yachesa thought to herself.
As far as we can go, her brother agreed.
Her brother monitored the gaps for the details that would tell them when they'd found a safe place to escape. The other ends were anywhere and everywhere—randomly-placed nodes throughout the universe, blinking into and out of existence. Most of them opened in empty space, and were closed as soon as Yachesen detected the miniscule amount of air being sucked through them. The universe was vast, and there wasn't much in it. But then Yachesen stopped on one, kept it open.
No pressure difference. No diffusion of non-breathable atmosphere through the wormhole. That's it, sister. There's breathable air on the other side.
The entire room shook, bringing the twins to their knees. The lights went out. The alarms stopped, though it was impossible to tell over the cacophony of destruction. The ceiling first bowed downward and then shattered. Then the tiny hole in the universe widened to a chasm, and the twins fell into it.
SUDDENLY A WILD RETCON APPEARS! If you're, I don't know, reading the thread for some reason, just note that a large section of the twins' story has been retconned from this point onward. Affected posts will be marked with spoilered comments.
edited 12th Feb '17 10:03:51 AM by SolipSchism
Silas' Mind
A glow forms in the darkness, a tall monsterous figure enveloped in this clear but not overwhelming golden sheen with the occasional gold spark jetting off or between its limbs. A tall figure, perhaps 7 or 8 feet tall with an animalistic appearance. A elongated head, slightly contort vaguely like that of a goat with thick leathery skin. A pair of large horns, sticking forward from his head. His stance learnt forwards, his legs with joints at the knees bent back to his claws feet. His body plated in scales, all glowing as well, additionally a quadret of tentacles with flat rounded ends like fans protrude from the back, each with small golden embers glowing upon them. [1]
It looks around in the space, the white room forming around them. It speaks, Mattew's voice projecting out with this deep base echo. "...this place seems empty." Completely not noticing his own monstrous physique that really does not match his currently clam temperament.
Edited in a personalized version of the picture.
the Troperia
Hangar
"Heh, well knowing life it could happen happen... And if it does, then i'll get my ass beat by you lot or Matt to put me back in line." He responds, completely acknowledging the possibility of his dark path ahead. He is a realist, not a optimist.Alexander station
Barber shop
Russell smirked slightly, "looking" down at his watch with a inquisitive look. Then his head turned towards Ed and he began to slowly input something into its tactile interface.The watch outputting it text-to-speech style in a very synthesized voice in a similar ultra-sound range outside of most other peoples hearing except Whistler. "You don't think i'm not normal then?" His expression looking at him was clear; he wasn't annoyed at all, actually instead of being in such a bad mood after all that happened, he seemed kinda amused by the comment.
edited 20th Oct '16 9:23:27 PM by darkdestinysoul
"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."
Arboretum
There's a small giggle, light and cheerful as a bell, coming from behind Kyerine and Toraq.Barber
Chris absentmindedly starts scratching behind one of Whistler's many ears, his face mildly contorted in thought. Once he realizes that what he was doing might be offensive or just plain rude, he stops, "Er..sorry. I've just always wanted a..nevermind."Christopher's Room
Merrick chuckles and pulls out a small, thin whistle, "Le'see if they're gonna coop'rate." Merrick heads over to his door and opens it giving a short breath into the whistle produced a sound likely outside of Christopher's hearing range, then heads back to sit upon the bed.For a minute or so, nothing happens, so Merrick turns to Christopher, "Still a bit young n' wet behind the ears, but they're called Sleekets."
There's a soft echo of wings beating rather rapidly and a vaguely annoyed mewing sound, which causes Merrick to take pause for a confused second before continuing, "Er, anyw'y, they ain't pets or nothin', they're actually pretty dang'rous once they grow up a little. 't's why I got em so young, gettin' em 'climatized to people 'n such so they don't end up puttin' someun in the med bay, 'r worse.. They're showin' good progress, ain't bit no-one since they finished teethin', only butt me fer food n' 'tention, but that'll go with age, n' they don't whine too much when it comes ta claw trimmin' time."
It's about this time that the Sleekets in question come through the door. One of them, the larger of the two, has its three eyed sibling clutched in its hooved limbs like a claw toy upon a stuffed animal sheep, while bat-like purple wings upon the first's back keep them both aloft. The smaller sleeket makes another annoyed mew and gives Merrick a bemused expression, "Naedaen veldezi..." despite its lips not moving, these words echo through the room as though spoken aloud by the annoyed mammal.
"She says she was sleeping. Vhonwen odre đu'um revorae." he tells Christopher and the airborne sleeket in turn. In response, the flying creature unceremonially plops its quarry in front of Christopher, making Merrick sigh.
Christopher, these 're Aesir 'n Vanir. Aesir, Vanir, etim dea Christopher, deasma morogwen." he introduces.
"Noþasma gwen. Nasur eglan." the smaller sleeket at Christopher's feet tries to nuzzle his leg.
"Nogwen. Tiþro modrega p'lasa." the larger 'says' in a much deeper 'voice', with a toothy grin, causing Merrick to facepalm with a slight smirk, "Vanir says she ain't gon' bite, she just wants ta snuggle.I ain't real sure if I should tell ya Aesir's little joke."
Restricted Access
"That is... quite a lot to take in...and it frightens me to some extent, thinking that you might undergo a change so severe without really meaning to...and not knowing what may come of it...it's your decision, of course, concerning the copy of your consciousnesses. I know it's been done, but.. I don't really think it would be the same.."edited 20th Oct '16 9:14:09 PM by GhostElm
"I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind."
[Alexander Station—Barber Shop]
Four of Whistler's heads came up, clearly surprised at hearing Russell respond in ultrasound, but the surprise faded when he realized that Russell had technological assistance. Slyly, his Ed bobbed his head as he spoke, drawing attention.
"Of course you're not normal," he replied in ultrasound. "If you were a normal human, you'd be boring."
His Ra sneakily sidled up beside the boy while his Ed drew attention, and nudged the side of Russell's leg with her head.
Meanwhile, Chris had scratched behind Whistler's St's ears. The pack member closed his eyes, stretching out his neck involuntarily and leaning into the human's hand. When Chris stopped, Whistler's St looked up at him in a canine gesture that bizarrely suggested a frown.
"Wanted a what?" Whistler said curiously.
the Troperia
Christopher's Room
Christopher giggled seeing the creatures reaching out a hand when he see's them. "Woah they can speak!" He giggled."Can I pet them, or snuggle them?" He excitedly questioned. looking wonder-struck and awestruck at the situation. "How big do they get?"
There was this odd feeling in the room, a warmth filling the room. A comfortable and light feeling filling the room seemingly from no source. Yet it was the kind of atmosphere that means nobody could get angry even if they wanted to.
Alexander station
Barber shop
Russell paused hearing Ed's words, it struck a deep cord with him his lips quivered for a moment before breaking into a wide smile and quiet held in giggle. "If you were a normal human, you'd be boring ironic considering how people have always tried to give him aid to live a normal life... Someone understanding he doesn't have to be normal, he is who he is.His leg is then nudged by Ra, though he didn't seem surprised at all, already having lowered his hand down and kinda copying Chris he petted the Tine for a short bit, kneeling down before them. He looked at them with a smile on his face still, his clouded grey eyes doing the best to appear to look at them though due to his condition, they weren't focusing on anything. "You like this don't you?" He questioned with a friendly tone.
Pausing a little in the petting to type something on his watch. It being said in ultra-sound the same as before. "Thanks. No idea who you guys are but... Its nice to hear someone say that. Most think I can't do anything when they first meet me..." While the text-to-speech was monotone his physical expression had a appreciative yet slightly sad look.
edited 21st Oct '16 10:41:25 AM by darkdestinysoul
"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."
[Alexander Station—Barber Shop]
Whistler's Ra yipped delightedly and leaned into Russell's leg as he petted her. She moved almost like she was drunk, because the rest of Whistler stayed back to avoid creating too much noise; Ra was transmitting a steady stream to and from the pack, but Russell would, for the most part, hear only one stream of mindsounds, instead of six. The distance made it difficult for Ra to stay fully synchronized, but it wasn't debilitating.
"Allow me to point out," Whistler said haughtily in ultrasound, "that you seem to be sentient, and that's all that really matters. You know I've met sentient trees? Seriously. They're called Skroderiders. In their natural state, they're blind and deaf and mute and sessile and have no short term memory, and you know what? They make some of the best spaceships in the galaxy, and they're super friendly. So if somebody gives you trouble because they can do more then you, don't worry about it."
Everyday's great at your Junes
Troperia
Arboretum
Tor notices Aur's present, and is reminded to keep a bit more aware of his decency while he's sitting. As Kyerine's transformation starts, he can see why he mentioned it not hurting beforehand, as the sounds would have made him think the complete opposite. When he finishes, Tor looks on, mystified. "My word. That is quite remarkable. You are indeed, a little kitty." He says with an amused smile.
His ears twitch a bit as he hears the laugh behind them and he glances behind them for a moment.
Med Bay
Greg blinks. "Wait, what. Can I at least get a-"
Silas's Mind
"...damn minute." Greg finishes, now finding himself (looking like he usually does) there present with the others. He looks around, noting where they've now found themselves and sighs. "...Goddamnit."
Alexander
Barber Shop.
Seeing as Russell has gone of to do his thing with Whistler, Amos just kinda stands there awkwardly for a moment before shrugging and going over to a barber chair. "Just...cut it all down, I guess..." He tells his barber with a shrug.
Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.
Barber Shop
Seeing as Whistler's St didn't really seem to mind, Chris continues to pet them, kneeling down and scratching them affectionatly behind the ear, and on the chest, "A-A dog. They're a bit like you, except they're not as smart, though they can be pretty bright. And they're singular beings, though their ancestors did live in packs." he explains, in case whistler didn't know what terran dogs were."Humans keep them as pets and companions. They have for millennia. I was always too poor to have one..I could have used a friend like that when I was a kid."
Christopher's Room
Merrick motions to Aesir and Vanir, and the latter descends to Christopher's eye level, keeping somewhat aloof, while the former makes a happy yip and jumps into Christopher's lap, snuggling down and happily shaking her little tail."They'll get ta be 'bout 's tall as Lex, ar lib'arian, who's a lot taller th'n me, and 's big 'round as a barrel o' Alband'rian Hwizge..." he pauses, reconsidering this analogy, "'s big 'round as a wag'n wheel. Th'-they will. Not Lex. She'd be hoppin' mad if she thought she was gettin'..big."
Arboretum
A little girl in a very pretty dress and a tall, blue-black 'elf' stand behind them, smiling, they should look very familiar to Tor, "Hi, daddy!" the girl says, waving cutely, "I see you made a kitty friend to keep you company! What's his name?"edited 21st Oct '16 1:30:16 PM by GhostElm
"I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind."
The Kestral
David ponders for a moment. Was there a person on this crew that didn't have a bone to pick with G.R.A.H.A.M.?
He sends back a swift reply.
Judging by your wording you don't mean checking out the apartments. I can get you to some places but you'll have to be more specific. And promise me that you don't trash what is essentially my home town.
Portal Stream
With a few choice commands, Michiyuki gives Caska a full feed of what she'd seen and heard while the robot was down. She tries to do this with as little computing power as she is able - she doesn't want to be discovered just yet.
Alexander - Restricted Access
"Two minds is a lot for one brain to take on. A human one anyway. The biggest problem is that there's no telling which way it will go, or whether hybridizing will be possible."
"...so one of us will end up, more or less, dying." Kijo comments, and then goes silent. Jiko is also silent, in his subconscious area.
"...yeah pretty much. Anyway..." Brindle looks down, almost as if he might seem remorseful for a moment, "Uh...we have everything we need for the physical. All I have to do is check the status of the Grid...we'll have to go to an open Operating Room...and...you guys won't be able to follow me past that point, I'm sorry. That's just a...you know, surgery thing in and of itself. You're free to wait here, or elsewhere if you'd like."
"We will let you know when he is ready. Very standard stuff, shouldn't take more than an hour, tops."
After this, Ragnos, Kijo, and Brindle will attempt to leave the room, leaving the others free to do as they wish for the time being. Denise, meanwhile, will take her machinery elsewhere as well.
the Troperia
Christopher's Room
Christopher giggled loudly as it landed on his lap, immediately setting to work petting it and learning forward for his face close in a bit of a adorable nuzzle with the unusual creatures. Not a tinge of fear or concern. "Your cute, wanna be pet more?" He questions doing just that cheerfully."Or are you hungry? I'm sure we could get you something to eat..." Almost on a note as this is said there is a sudden crashing sound at the door to the room as suddenly a stream of 3 or 4 tin cans just rolling on their side slightly dented enter through the door spinning and stopping the ground. Christopher giggling loudly at seeing this coincidence. "Look the food came to us!"
Arboretum
Kyerine just pounced Toraq in a hug, both arms out clinging onto him around the neck. Inadvertently his body protecting some of the Doctor's dignity. "Yay, big kitty Tor not scared by it either. Kyerine no show it before encase you got upset by it." He lets out in a excited squeal tightly hugging him before seeing the new individuals arrive.He waves over Toraq's shoulder. "I'm Pri- Kyerine! ...did you just say daddy? Wait your Big Kitties family, I recognize you!" He giggles out remembering images of them from the memories siphoned.
Alexander station
Outside the Barber shop
Russell still smiling reaches forward with both hands and begins to pet Ra, stroking her head, neck, behind the ears and if he can the belly. Being playful with the Tine as he addresses both Whistler and Chris. "I wanted one as well back at the orphanage, never allowed. Not that one would want to, most just freak out because of this thing." He comments gesturing to his watch.He then pauses for a few moments, looking like he his checking something as he types onto the watches holographic interface again to send another text-so-speech ultrasound message. "The thing is, they think they can do more than me. I don't care if they can see and I never can or have. I can do anything just as well as them... Only reason I learn't to hover-board at the start was just to prove I could. Now funny enough I can outfly everyone I've met... I just wish people wouldn't judge me as the Blind Kid but as Russell, you know?" He types for quite a bit his expression changing from a frown, to a smirk then to a tired look. Then cheering up again once he's finished and goes back to petting Ra.
Gemini-IV-Military Station [6 Months ago...]
Crew quarters
The time is 05:30, SGTT. It is time to wake up. The alarm block spoke in a mechanical synthesized female voice.The only person in the room woke up, a child. Physically weak looking, his arms thin and un-muscular and his overall definition the same. He was late pre-teens perhaps, 10-12 if one was to guess. He sat up in the bed yawning loudly, turning and dangling his feet off the side and turned off the alarm. His long, reflective silver hair draped down him in a bit of a tangled mess.
The room he was in was small, like that of the average dorm room but despite the metallic walls it was oddly homely. The bed's blankets were black, white and in the center had the bright gold logo of a Hoverball team upon it. The night stand next to it had the picture of the boy and a man in a white labcoat posing, thumbs up and silly faces at the camera. On the other side of the room, a small desk sat with a chair, a small white teddy-bear sat on the desk next to the computer console. A wardrobe, with a stool besides it to help him reach sat near the pair of doors on the far side of the room. One to the bathroom, the other outside to the halls. The walls had various posters of heroes from films, games and TV Shows, the ceiling even had this colorful paper-chain stung on it. Plus there was a window that looked out upon the orange and pink mist of the nebula in the nearly space of the station.
The boy pushed himself out of bed and yawned loudly again, it echoing slightly throughout the room. He then turned and started to make the bed he just got out of. He lightly hummed to himself the theme song of a show he liked. As soon as he finished he went over to the wardrobe and opened it up, using the stool to reach the higher shelves to take down the gear he needed. A silvery almost metallic looking outfit with these odd straps upon it and a large hood. As well as a pair of slightly bulky high-topped shoes with a magnetic strip on the base. And finally a large metallic mask, with slight vents over the eyes and down the center to allow for breathing and seeing and on the forehead the number 13 is painted... Just a normal day ahead as usual.
edited 21st Oct '16 5:21:11 PM by darkdestinysoul
"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."
Troperia
Hangar
"Heh. Maybe we can put that to the test sometime." Mitch says eagerly, putting his fist up for a bump. "Anyways, guess I'll go back to the lounge now. Steak's probably gone cold already." He walks out of the hangar.
Lounge
Mitch reenters the lounge to find his steak has indeed gone cold, and everyone else has left except for Michael. He stares at the plate while bringing it to a couch, heating it up. He turns on the TV and starts eating. "Guess I was away longer than I thought." He says to him.
Silas' Mind
Dominic looks at everyone's forms, making a slight eyebrow raise when he turns to Matthew. "You certainly have the unique form." He says to him, also noting Andris' different appearance. "Choose? Why would you need to- ...ah."
"Do you want to go back, Greg?" He asks him, looking around at their vague surroundings. "This mindscape seems to be building itself quite slowly."
Alexander
Barber Shop
"Hm... you know what, I'll have this." Peter points to a picture of a man with neck-length, slightly short hair. He has a cowlick that's colored white, along with his sides, the latter of which Peter already has.
"Sure thing." The barber wastes no time putting up a cloth over him, then starting to work on his hair.
"Sure you don't wanna try a different hairstyle?" He asks Amos.
Restricted Access
"You'd think they have an operating gallery. I would've liked to watch them work." Val comments, shrugging.
"Hope he's gonna be ok..." Izzie says sympathetically to Lex. "Do you wanna go somewhere in particular now?"
[Silas's Mind]
To Dominic, Ejra shrugged.
"Haven't the slightest," he said with a half-smile that belied his words. "Aren't you the expert on this sort of thing?" But then he waved dismissively, as if swatting his own facetious humor aside. "Andris's self-image, which I can only assume determines a person's appearance in this sort of place, is pretty much null. So I decided that I needed to adopt an actual identity if I planned on actually accomplishing anything." He bowed deeply. "Enter Ejra, stage right. One of my cleverer aspects, if I do say so myself, and I most assuredly do."
Ejra snickered softly, seeing that Greg was the only one of the group who had arrived looking exactly like his natural self. With the softest of movements, he disappeared into the air and landed behind Greg. With his hands clasped behind his back, he leaned forward to poke his chin over one of the man's shoulders. He glanced down at Greg's appearance.
"Aha, aha," he said in faux thoughtfulness. "I like it. Minimalist. Honest. Really lets you see the true artist through his work."
As he spoke, the space around them continued to brighten. Before he finished, they stood in a white, square room. There was old-fashioned wooden furniture arrayed around them, like a Victorian sitting room, and the walls were lined with what looked like artwork. Ejra's eyebrows went up when he focused on several of them.
They were all paintings—paintings of Silas, in various situations with another person. Engrossed in a passionate kiss on the fake beaches of Sjandra Kei's orbital resorts. Sleeping with his arms around the other. Laughing about something over a drink. Most of them were with Andris in the body ve'd left in the Med Bay on the Troperia, though a few were with someone else. Ejra recognized all of them as different appearances he had used around Silas.
"Oh my," he said, his sense of humor having momentarily deserted him.
There was one other thing in the room, near the single exit: A massive grandfather clock that nearly scraped the ceiling. It was utterly still; the time on its face was frozen at 4:53.
Ejra inhaled deeply. "He and I are going to have a lot to talk about after this is over," he said with a sigh. For a second, his appearance wavered, and he grew slightly transparent. Then he popped back to full presence with a wry grin, and danced across the room to fall gracefully into one of the chairs, a leg thrown up over the arm of the chair. "Like his taste in decor. All-white? Please. My eyes are already hurting enough from looking at all of these saccharine memories."
[Alexander Station—Barber Shop]
Whistler's Nar sat down in front of Chris and cocked his head to the side, listening; his St stayed where he was, enjoying the attention. When Chris mentioned pets, he almost popped off with something sarcastic, but something stopped him; when Chris implied that he hadn't had a close friend as a child, Whistler thought better of it.
He tried to muster up the sarcasm in a more friendly tone, for humor, but he wasn't sure if it worked: "Well. Let's be clear. I'm nobody's pet. And I'm not going to be fetching any balls or bringing you a newspaper. But I have no problem with you scratching behind my ears where I can't easily reach by myselves."
That wasn't funny, he thought to himself, and settled for conveying his meaning by wagging most of his tails, including his St's. Humans usually seemed to interpret that as a positive sign.
To Russell, in ultrasound, he replied in a low, conspiratorial tone, "Well, sure, some people can do things you can't. Everyone can do something someone else can't do. But you can do things none of the other humans here can do. Like hov..." He paused, not sure he'd heard the word right. "Hoverbirding," he finished, pronouncing it wrong. "Or having this conversation!"
edited 21st Oct '16 5:28:09 PM by SolipSchism
RETCON ALERT: This portion of the twins' story has been retconned out. Please ignore anything involving the twins in this post.
[Troperia—Lounge]
Quite without warning, the room seemed to shift—no, nothing in it had moved, but it was as if some sort of... gap had appeared in the middle of the room, wrenching the mind behind any pair of eyes that looked at it. It was only there for a moment, though, and then it was gone—leaving in its place two children, barely teenagers by the look of them, each with long, lustrous, silver hair, identically dressed in something like medical scrubs. They huddled together on the floor for a second—surrounded by a perfect circle of rubble that had come with them through the gap—before one of them, a girl, lifted her head and immediately fixed her eyes on Michael, the closest of the two people in the room. She narrowed her eyes but said nothing for a moment. Then, slight alarm on her face, she looked over to the other child, her expression almost plaintive.
"We've lost our connection to the computer," the other child—a boy—murmured. "We can't talk quietly, sister."
"But doesn't that mean—"
"Yes," the boy interrupted, as if he didn't want her to finish the sentence. He also eyed Michael and Mitch warily. "Yes, sister. We should be careful."
The girl shot up to her feet, glaring at Michael. Her brother clasped her hand and pulled himself to his feet.
"We're monsters," the girl said, as if demanding something.
"Sister, no. Let's just... They might be nice."
The girl scowled, but the boy didn't say anything else.
"Fine," she said, thrusting her chin in Michael's direction. "I'm... Yachesa. Who are you?" She threw the question at him like a statement.
edited 12th Feb '17 10:05:16 AM by SolipSchism
Everyday's great at your Junes
Troperia
Bridge
Rakiri quickly responds back.
Okay, I want to see all the fucked up experiments done on my brothers, that you and your G.R.A.H.A.M. buddies saw fit to use as guinea pigs. Is that specific enough?
If text had tone, that would probably sound just a bit angry.
Arboretum
Tor chuckles, hugging Kyerine back eagerly. "I'd never be upset by such a thing. How could I-..." He starts and trails off before he turns completely around, having to blink as he's clearly believing he's hallucinating. "What in the Void..." Seeing they're still very much there, Tor keeps a tight hold on Kyerine and quickly leaps over towards them, nearly bowling Cor over, scooping him up in one of his large arms and licking him before nuzzling him affectionately. He then repeats the same to Nebris, purring audibly, now holding all three of his loved ones. "...It's so good to see both of you. And that you all can meet each other finally." He says with a warm smile, looking just a bit misty eyed.
Slias's Mindscape
"Eh. It a not like I have anything better to do." Greg answers with a slight shrug, scratching his head. When Erja disappears and suddenly appears behind him, he jumps a bit in surprise as he listens to him comment. "W-What? Um...thanks...?" He mutters, blushing just slightly.
He takes a minute to look around the room at the paintings. "Wait...that's Silas and...Well, the you that was out there in some of these. You two were a thing?"
Alexander
Barber Shop
"Not really, no...a crew cut fits me fine for now...it'll be easier to clean and manage at least...and I don't have to worry about tangles..." Amos answers Peter, sighing slightly. He looks forward and to anyone else it would seem to be at nothing, but he was looking at the documents he had.inadvertently downloaded from Russell's watch.
Gah...I didn't even mean to download these. I need to.tell him about them but...should I look...? He thinks, seeming deeply torn by the decision.
Old habits die hard, especially when no one else lets them die either.
The Flamebringer
Troperia
Silas' Mind
"I see the identity you chose doesn't stop at appearance." Dominic notes as he watches Ejra's behavior. He smiles slightly as he looks at the pictures, which reminds him of Mike. He then walks closer to the clock, looking up and down. "I presume this means something to you?"
"Yes, they were." He answers Greg.
Lounge
Despite having his back turned to the twins, Mitch does feel the wormhole opening and closing, and senses the twins stepping into the middle of the room. He instantly gets up and swivels on the ball of his foot towards them, his plate levitating in the air. He reflexively takes on a fighting stance, the fork and knife he was holding floating just in front of his hands. Once he takes a moment to actually assess the situation, however, he relaxes a bit. He puts the utensils back on the plate, which then glides down to the table. He moves his feet closer to a normal standing position, but not quite.
"Who are you? How did you teleport on board?" Mitch asks back, the muscles of his large figure still tense, as if preparing for an attack.
Alexander
Barber Shop
Peter notices Amos' look from across the mirror while his hair is being cut, though he can't really tell what it's about. "Something on your mind?" He asks.
Alexander
Outside the Barber Shop
...
...
Russell just audibly bursts out laughing at hearing the mispronunciation, a wide smile during his laugh before he calms himself before Ra. Quickly typing up a response as he chuckled there, maybe a odd sight for Chris. "eheh, no no no. HOVER-BOARD-ING. Here i'll show you." types back in ultrasound.
He stood back up and took a few steps to his board that had been just idly floating and following. Stepping aboard again and smirking over again at Whistler. Around the entrance to the store he quickly jets forward, taking circular arcs and incredibly tight turns that would throw most individuals. Even mid-slight switching to a handstand and doing a flip, being a absolute show-off in a attempt to impress.
Slowly down to just being upside down in a handstand he waves before righting himself upright again to start typing again. "Its true I guess, like I'll never 'get' what colour but I like this, just wish others would remember this." He responds in ultra-sound again, a clear bright smile on his face, snickering a little to himself with childish glee at the idea of having this secret conversation.
Troperia
Silas' Mind
"...saccharine memories?" Matthew questioned, not understanding. He stomps around a little for a moment, crouching a little with his greater height and not liking his head soo close to the ceiling.He looks to Dominic "Unique..?" He questions hearing his comment, looking himself over and only knew realizing his form had changed. Seemingly being completely subconscious. "What..? Why am I like this?" The teens voice echoes in a clearly concerned way, being a little freaked out being his first time seeing this.
Lounge
Michael was confused, not entirely sure what was going on as the two other teens with silver hair appeared and approached, exclaiming things. Looking to his own near-silver blond hair, currently showing the slightest bit of blond in the light of his tablet on the table before him as he is suddenly approached. The forcefulness of the statement making him fearful for a moment, and pushing himself away slightly and causing him to fall off backwards onto the floor with a tremendous THUD."I-I. Uh. I'm Michael Sitona... T-This ships communication officer... W-who are you?" He responded as a frightened mess, from the floor.
Gemini-IV-Military Station [6 Months ago...]
Crew quarters
The boy took the gear from the wardrobe and stepped down from the stood, pushing the wardrobe shut. Still humming away a theme tune to a TV show or similar he went into the bathroom and began to change up. The bathroom was an en-suite with a toilet, shower, sink (which seems to be lower than normal to aid the kid in reaching more comfortably and see the mirror over.)Firstly going to the toilet, before unchanging from his pj's, leaving his gear on the side and stepping into the shower to bathe... The boy enjoyed a long shower, a really long shower probably a good 30 minutes not getting out till the PA system announces. The time is 06:00, curfew hours are now over. The food courts breakfast special is Spiced Pancakes with a side order of Orillian Jam. The boy almost disappointed finished the shower and gets out. The steam fading revealing the hundred of circuitry marks running up and down his chest, back, legs, arms like a second system of veins though orderly and rigid running throughout his body, all clearly visible as he dried off and changed into the clothes from the Wardrobe. Putting on the almost metallic seeming outfit, and tightening some of the various straps to ensure the fitting was correct through leaving others undone whose only purpose seems to be restraint(?). He simply carried the mask under his arm, not putting it on.
He went over to the sink, his hair still a little damp and grabbed a brush to help untangle it, stop it being this mess of reflective silver though not styling in any particular way, just cleaning up. As well as brushing his teeth and washing his face with cold water, staring himself in the mirror for a few moments watching the flickers of circuits within his eyes fire a few times. Likely another 15 to 20 minutes pass as he finishes preparing himself, being throughout about hygiene, though it wasn't just for personal sake, more like he was disinfecting himself in a way a doctor or biologist going into a sterile environment might be required.
Once finished the boy threw his pj's down a laundry shoot in the bathroom and left with the mask under his arm, opening the door out onto the hallway, the hood of his almost bizarre looking outfit currently down and behind him. Walking down the halls towards the food court, a few other people about. The boy passed for example a pair of scientists just casually talking back and fourth, something about an asteroid. The boy didn't care. His stomach growled a little, he was hungry. So he just bee-lined down the primarily white and gray halls of the crew quarters past room by room. The only child seen around, all the rest mostly adults either engineers or scientists by the looks of it... It was a odd atmosphere, serious, worklike everyone kept disciplined like military might ask. The boy was comfortable however, a smile on his face sniffing the scent of food on the air.
edited 22nd Oct '16 6:49:17 AM by darkdestinysoul
"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."
Edited Ejra's comment about the clock...
[Silas's Mind]
Ejra spun in the chair so that his legs dangled over the back of it, and he watched the others upside down.
"Indeed," he said to Greg. "Though I suspect he'd call it more than a 'thing', judging by these images. You wouldn't know just from looking at them, but they're... exaggerated. Idealized. Too much light. Too many smiles. I'm not really surprised by that, of course. All sophonts doctor their own memories. These ones are... dramatically enhanced, though."
To Dom's question, he frowned, thinking back, but eventually shook his head. "No," he said eventually. "No, I'm afraid not. We'll have to ask him about it."
To Matthew, the old man whirled, sitting upright once again. "Saccharine: excessively sweet. These paintings are all memories of Sy's."
RETCON ALERT: This portion of the twins' story has been retconned out. Please ignore anything involving the twins in this post.
[Troperia Lounge]
Yachesa rolled her eyes at Michael.
"I said I'm Yachesa," she repeated, as though that explained everything. She ignored Mitch's question entirely. Then she squared her posture toward Zevai, the only person in the room who seemed to know anything. She sounded smart.
Yachesen watch Mitch warily, though—he seemed ready to fight, and though Yachesen had stopped his sister from saying it out loud, they were terribly drained from their escape. They wouldn't be able to fight right now—they probably wouldn't even be able to get to another room using their power.
"We want to go home," Yachesa demanded.
Yachesen nudged her. "Sister..."
"I—I mean... We want help finding our home. You have to help us."
"Please," Yachesen added.
[Alexander Station—Outside the Barber Shop]
Whistler's Ra jumped in surprise at the sudden laughter, then rejoined the pack to watch Russell's demonstration.
"Oooh," he said aloud. "That's a hell of a vehicle. I bet I could modify one for Tinish use. Could be dangerous if they travel too fast though, a pack could get split up..." He pondered for a second, then he shook his Ra's head as if to dislodge the distraction.
edited 12th Feb '17 10:05:43 AM by SolipSchism
Arboretum
Aur followed Kyerine and Tor at some point to make sure nothing happened.
He totally didn't just disappear from existence. Nor is he being weird. Nope, nope.He stays a distance away from the two, but is still within earshot.''Heh he looks like you-"
Aur quietly shushes him.
edited 19th Oct '16 10:03:03 PM by Daydre
off the shits