animus_network | ☿ // 001; [text; dated to 3/17]

Now that I've collected what I'd evaluate as the basics of this place and how it's run, I'm curious enough to ask for a discussion of general opinions rather than concrete facts.

Particularly, regarding the supposedly confirmed ideas revolving around the state of our worlds. While the evidence supporting our homeworlds' destruction is considerable, I'd still like to hear what people think. It initially crossed my mind that it could be a very well-constructed lie, and while that has become a very distant possibility I'm hesitant to discard it altogether. And if it is in fact true, what happens then? Do you think there is a way to restore the places from which we've originated, or are we fighting for a Pyrrhic victory at best?

And that's not yet touching upon the more clearly confirmed matter of our souls and the replica forms we're using in place of our original bodies. I'd imagine this has caused existential crises aplenty, but let's put that aside for the moment. If the administrators possess the technology or magic to create such close copies, how is it they can't simply take out original bodies along with our souls in the first place And if there is a way to restore our worlds, would you logically assume that includes our original selves?

You're free to answer if you like, or ignore me altogether. It's your own choice. I can't really picture this as a simple matter to talk about without inciting a sense of dread and misery, so I'll hardly be offended if everyone shrugs this off and pretends they never saw it.

--Lord El-Melloi II

[Waver, honey. I'm sure signing your name like that is simply habit by now, but you might give your younger self a stroke.]

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It's not a big deal. Give me a few minutes.

[It only took him about as long as one would expect to get from the third to the first floor. Waver walked as though nothing was out of the ordinary at all, and...was that a shifting form of liquid mercury arching up from the ground behind him and acting as a mobile canopy?]

[The fuck, Waver?]

[Kariya's still perched on top of his terminal and draped in jumpsuit, rocking back and forth a little while he tries his best to read the text on the screen upside down.

He's still responding to a few messages before he leaves the terminal (who knows when he'll find another working one? Maybe he should leave the jumpsuit here if Waver has something that works better?), so yeah, big hoppy skeleton insects going on here.

The whole tableau freezes when he looks up and blinks, a little sheepishly but also a lot nonplussed.]

... Ah. Not a bad umbrella.

[He thinks the mercury thing looks weirdly familiar....]

...You know, I should ask about ten different questions, but as someone whose Mystic Code can turn into a maid, I feel I would be in a glass house throwing stones.

[Yep.]

Edited 2013-03-19 00:25 (UTC)

[Chuckling and hopping off his terminal to come over and examine your pet blob. The Blade Wing Worms follow a little raggedly. Rain isn't their favorite weather, even if they're functional.]

I don't think I have ten different questions, but I do wish these made as good an umbrella as yours. You said it's a maid?

[Really.]

Do you think it's so idiotic to be very pessimistic when your soul is bubbling colorfully around your neck in a tower filled with monsters?

Long story, doesn't matter all that much.

[Whatever it was, it didn't seem to take Waver any effort at all to extend the makeshift shelter to cover them both.]

Weren't we going to look for an actual umbrella?

It's not smart, to put things bluntly.

Sounds like a story worth hearing, honestly.

[Once they're better-acquainted he is totally going to ask after it. Or once he remembers exactly where that thing came from. Oh boy.

There's like, water sloshing around on the floor by now, though, from all the damn rain. The Worms would've probably had to swim or something if they couldn't fly.]

... I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't be looking for a storm shelter, instead.

I disagree, but in this case, the worst doesn't seem to be true. Even if our worlds are destroyed, there remain those we can save.

Either they're trying to drown us--which is likely--or there'll be some floors less completely saturated.

All I know is that if this destroys the library I might break something.

Arguing over it like petulant children won't accomplish much, you're right.

Edited 2013-03-19 00:43 (UTC)

Ah. Let's hope there's something left for you to break, then.

[He's not particularly happy about the library, either, but he's probably not as attached to it as Waver. He can always get his information from people.]

So, umbrellas or floors?

We may as well start simple and look for an umbrella. I'll worry when the water level hits somewhere around knee-high.

... We should probably stick to the stairs.

[So, how many people hit the elevator button and got a nice shower trying to get somewhere?

Not this guy. No way.]

On that we're agreed.

It's not surprising that the administrators' powers are limited. They're trifling with true magic here, and I doubt they really understand it. The original ones might have. But I heard once that this Ruana killed them and took over. I can easily believe it now.

What kind of idiot would take an elevator in this weather?

[Waver...]

Second and some Third, at the very least. Limited or not, there's a hell of a lot to deal with.

That's something I hadn't yet heard. Do you know any details on the former administrators or how this takeover occurred?

Edited (I'M REDUNDANT OOPS) 2013-03-19 00:52 (UTC)

Do you usually consider the weather when you take an elevator?

[Just. Going to start toward the stairs, hopefully will be followed because he is not the owner of the mercurybrella.]

...No, upon reflection that's a sentence I never thought I'd have to say.

[He'd just follow right behind, hands in his pockets and nary a fuck to give.]

[ So this "Lord El-Melloi II" is from a world like his own after all. A fact to note for later. ]

Some three months ago or so, files were briefly placed on the network of Ruana being experimented on. She answered questions about the circumstances: her tormenters were the ones in charge, and she lashed out at them.

Any specifics past that? Reasoning, timeframe, details on just what the hell Ruana actually is?

[There may be Worms trying to stick to the underside of your mercury pet. Even mindless horrors need to hang out once in a while in this weather.]

... I guess that's one way of expanding your horizons. Or, ah, learning more about the Tower.

[He's totally not laughing at all. Not even on the inside.]

It was an experiment in "psionics." As for timeframe? I doubt she's sane enough to remember it.

I wonder.

When I asked, Dax said the thing destroying the worlds was something like a virus. Perhaps it escaped from these experiments as well?

That's certainly one way to do it. Did we have a specific destination in mind, by the way? I'm not sure there's an umbrella floor.

I wonder. If there was one experiment in the form of Ruana, I would think it safe to assume there were others just as dangerous. I'd think it a distinct possibility.

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