RE: Chiasmata: Familiar (if distant) faces.
08-04-2016, 10:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-20-2017, 02:58 PM by K25fF.)
>Ash: go with David
![[Image: qVkYuNw.png]](https://i.imgur.com/qVkYuNw.png)
Ash joins you over near the tear in the wall.
The air in the other room ripples, and an odd-looking figure steps out of the darkness.
???: "Hello, David. And Ash."
Its voice sounds strange, uninflected. And it's got an odd reverb, like a number of people are talking at once.
DAVID: "Um, hello?"
ASH: "Who are you? And how do you know our names?"
???: "This is... Wait, I am a proxy of the archive. That is, to clarify, the thinking machine that controls the Location. This - I mean I - am a form built of some discarded materials that the fabrication engines discovered. I know your names because they are entries in the memory of the archives."
ASH: Why do you want us to go through this portal?
ARCHIVE: "I am gathering the subjects in the Location, due to a rather energetic altercation between my uncle and... Error, data not found."
DAVID: "And what, now?"
ARCHIVE: "Correct. I am in the process of retrieving two of your fellow subjects, who were dangerously close to the altercation at its beginning, without allowing any of it to spill over into this place of relative safety."
That sounds... really worrying. An "altercation"?
>Meanwhile, somewhere we've already been...
![[Image: Pu0W7GU.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Pu0W7GU.png)
(you idiot)
Siblings dispute things, diplomatically.
~~>
![[Image: MA8e2js.png]](https://i.imgur.com/MA8e2js.png)
(you compressed your mind of twisting light into a brain that operates at the speed of chemical reactions)
(and then you act all shocked when i run rings around you)
(there are things your meat form is for and this is not one of them)
Pleasantries are exchanged, telepathically. It has the benefit of being thousands of times faster than speech.
~~>
![[Image: 7TkwZF8.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/7TkwZF8.gif)
+You're not the only one who can move quickly, you know.+
~~>
![[Image: CBcoUB5.png]](https://i.imgur.com/CBcoUB5.png)
+And you've annoyed me, so I'll just slag your shell and scrub your patterns from the archives+
+Any words before I let this thing go, you tr-+
~~>
![[Image: guy6J9c.png]](https://i.imgur.com/guy6J9c.png)
+-tor...+
+oh no+
The ball is dropped.
>Meanwhile again, back where we were...
![[Image: fdUay3t.png]](https://i.imgur.com/fdUay3t.png)
ASH: "What the hell was that?"
ARCHIVE: "That was the aforementioned energetic altercation. It has become far more energetic, all of a sudden. Due to the dropping integrity of the voidwalls, sound is being transmitted between separated chambers."
ASH: "Any more sudden explosions we should worry about?"
ARCHIVE: "At the moment, one of your fellow subjects is overusing their ability, rendering them exceedingly difficult to apprehend, or to bring here without endangering the rest of the subjects. I am attempting to wake my aunt. Hopefully she will know how to solve this problem."
The archive pauses for a few seconds, as if lost in thought.
ARCHIVE: "Are there any questions I could answer, any reassurances I could give, to make you feel more at ease? I am not well-practiced in communicating with humans."
Ash joins you over near the tear in the wall.
The air in the other room ripples, and an odd-looking figure steps out of the darkness.
???: "Hello, David. And Ash."
Its voice sounds strange, uninflected. And it's got an odd reverb, like a number of people are talking at once.
DAVID: "Um, hello?"
ASH: "Who are you? And how do you know our names?"
???: "This is... Wait, I am a proxy of the archive. That is, to clarify, the thinking machine that controls the Location. This - I mean I - am a form built of some discarded materials that the fabrication engines discovered. I know your names because they are entries in the memory of the archives."
ASH: Why do you want us to go through this portal?
ARCHIVE: "I am gathering the subjects in the Location, due to a rather energetic altercation between my uncle and... Error, data not found."
DAVID: "And what, now?"
ARCHIVE: "Correct. I am in the process of retrieving two of your fellow subjects, who were dangerously close to the altercation at its beginning, without allowing any of it to spill over into this place of relative safety."
That sounds... really worrying. An "altercation"?
>Meanwhile, somewhere we've already been...
(you idiot)
Siblings dispute things, diplomatically.
~~>
(you compressed your mind of twisting light into a brain that operates at the speed of chemical reactions)
(and then you act all shocked when i run rings around you)
(there are things your meat form is for and this is not one of them)
Pleasantries are exchanged, telepathically. It has the benefit of being thousands of times faster than speech.
~~>
+You're not the only one who can move quickly, you know.+
~~>
+And you've annoyed me, so I'll just slag your shell and scrub your patterns from the archives+
+Any words before I let this thing go, you tr-+
~~>
+-tor...+
+oh no+
The ball is dropped.
>Meanwhile again, back where we were...
ASH: "What the hell was that?"
ARCHIVE: "That was the aforementioned energetic altercation. It has become far more energetic, all of a sudden. Due to the dropping integrity of the voidwalls, sound is being transmitted between separated chambers."
ASH: "Any more sudden explosions we should worry about?"
ARCHIVE: "At the moment, one of your fellow subjects is overusing their ability, rendering them exceedingly difficult to apprehend, or to bring here without endangering the rest of the subjects. I am attempting to wake my aunt. Hopefully she will know how to solve this problem."
The archive pauses for a few seconds, as if lost in thought.
ARCHIVE: "Are there any questions I could answer, any reassurances I could give, to make you feel more at ease? I am not well-practiced in communicating with humans."
Footnote: