Whose Round Is It Anyway?

[reallymean]

[Early in the day - well before her own abduction - Allura's voice comes across the network, the pattern of her thought-speech quick, but oddly lacking inflection.]

Given recent events, I think it's time we work out just which of our patrons is hosting this Jaunt, and whether or not we can allow their preferences to dictate how we go about freeing those who've been captured.

Does anyone have any insight into which of the Arcana are playing this round?

Or into the security measures we're likely to see at the detainment facility?

Comments

[neverfeltthatway]

I got... losing sight of someone. Being confused. Knees hurting in the back of a van. The question of whether something was too risky. Being patted down in somewhere unfamiliar. [He abruptly smiles a little.] And then annoyance at being put in a cell with Zed.

It's like... I was almost always getting something. But I was never getting the whole picture at once. I was getting the sensory information, or what you were thinking, or how you were feeling. But rarely two of them at once, and never all three. [Which is what lead him to believe it was the strength of the connection at fault. It felt like the rest of it was there, he just couldn't reach it at the time.]

The force that allows us to do this... To be honest, I have difficulty distinguishing between internal and external anymore. Because Traveling, being here in liminal space, interacting with the Arcana - it's changing us, making us more liminal, and maybe doing more we don't know about. Is something external, or is it just a different internal than we're used to, because we don't function how we remember anymore?

For the network, it's imposed, it's an external force that connects our minds. We've seen that it can be hacked, or taken down. But I think it may be an internal force that drives our abilities with it. I've put a lot of hard work into navigating the network, but even so, so much of what I learn is instinct or accidental. An ability that I discover when I need it, not one I've consciously pursued.

[photonicfighter]

[His amusement at the Zed thing gets a little laugh from her. That came through too, hadn't it?]

That's something, at least. Was I not keeping everything unified enough? It seemed clear enough to me... I was concentrating on it fairly hard. You might be right, in that I wasn't making the connection solid enough. I'll try again...

[But before that, there's the rest of it to take in and consider. It's far more interesting of an answer than she expected.] It's... changing us? I hadn't even considered that, but it would explain so much of what we end up being able to do. [Still, it's a very big thing to take in. She brings a hand back up to rest lightly over her mouth, eyes flicking downwards, considering it all.]

Why not some of both? We've got external processing that we can rely on, but there's some installed internally... and our software is under constant readjustment. I've tended to think of anything to do with operating on the network to be separate from things like making objects when I'm in liminal space or opening up a portal, but if it's all the same external power and just different applications of it...

[She gives a quick huff and shakes her head.] I'll have lots of time to think about that later. Let me try this again?

[And without waiting for a go-ahead from Armin, she lets her head fall forward and her eyes close. The memory is easier to bring for this time, for all the effort she had put into it previously... the rest is about finding enough strength, internal or external, to clearly send the message through. It does, essentially, come down to trying to think harder.]

[neverfeltthatway]

I expect you were fine holding the memory together - like I said, it's probably in transferring the memory that you got tripped up.

And yeah. People don't talk about it much, but there's no question the experience is changing us. That's one reason we can learn new skills so quickly. But as I understand it, the Arcana don't exist as we do, not in such a logical and linear fashion. As such, communication and understanding between us is difficult. They make themselves take human shape when dealing with us so they can communicate at all, though they consider it crude and unnatural. But at the same time, they also changed us to be more like them, to make dealing with us easier.

What all the consequences of that are, I couldn't say.

[He frowns, considering that.] I'm not very good at computer analogies - I don't understand them very well. As for the rest... I think liminal space and the network are separate. But the way we deal with them and come to an understanding of them may not be.

All r- [He was about to tell to her to go ahead, but apparently she's too excited to wait for him. He folds his hands calmly in his lap, waiting to receive the memory. He doesn't mind, exactly - he just hopes she learns a little more restraint when using her abilities on others.

The memory starts out the same way as last time, cutting in and out, but it stabilizes as time goes on and she begins to focus harder. He's smiling by the end, though it's tempered by the fact of what the memory is, and that she's still locked up.]

That's it! You did it, well done.

[photonicfighter]

[She's so intent on accomplishing her goal, that any necessary answers will have to wait until afterwards. It does feel easier this time around, and when the memory reaches the end, her eyes open back up and she waits for Armin's reaction intently and eagerly.]

Yes! I did it! [She gives her hands a gleeful little clap, she's so pleased with herself.]

...with everything you've said about the Arcana and changes, I wonder if I should be so excited about having done it. It's useful, to learn new things, but if it's all changing me.... [She frowns thoughtfully, pausing a moment.] ...but maybe it's not necessarily bad. This isn't the first time I've been upgraded. Or remodeled. Aah, more computer terms, there, sorry, sorry. I can try to explain again?

[neverfeltthatway]

Would you like to try again, with a different memory - maybe an older one - just to be sure you have it down? [He's happy for her, but he's cautious, and doesn't want her going too fast or getting overconfident. After all, she's been focusing on this one a while, and the memory is still very recent. Best to make sure she can use the skill in other circumstances, with harder memories, or she might discover her difficulties with it at a crucial moment.]

I, I understand the hesitation, learning what they're doing to us. But I don't really think *not* learning would change much about it, and we obviously can't stop them. So I think it's good to learn what we can to help us now, and not worry too much to deal with how we've changed until we actually have an opportunity to do something about it.

[He frowns, thinking for a long moment.] ...I think I understand. Software is what's inside the computer, right? It's what determines what the computer does, once you tell it something?

[photonicfighter]

Again? [She looks surprised, and then she goes silent as she considers if she wants to. The practice is good, but what memory should she share?] ...yes. Yes, that's a good idea. Just let me think about it for a moment...

[Though the thinking does need to be postponed for a few moments. Armin has some worthwhile things to say. She nods in agreement.] Even if it's unsettling to know, we should know, shouldn't we? I'm sometimes surprised that there's so much to know.... and ah, yes, software is the instructions that are given to a computer. The instructions can be incredibly complex, but that's what it does, at its most basic. Now... a memory, a memory, let's see...

[Her eyes close, her head dips, and she thinks back on something that feels very, very far back. Which makes it much more difficult to bring it all up clearly, with no details omitted. But she remembers the lobby area at the transit hub, remembers the funny pumpkin decorations that were everywhere, remembers that there was funny music piped in, and remembers that her teammates were incredibly excited. Jenny and Meeka, young women with technicolor hair and pointed ears and futuristic garb, were so much so that they had hopped up onto the flat area above the receptionist's desk and begun to dance. There's a clear feeling of shock and confusion... isn't that not allowed? "Dakki! Dakki, join us! There's room, c'mon!" But they were her teammates, and they outranked her, and they knew best, didn't they? This was what fun was, right? So up she went, planting a foot on the desk and springing up and taking their hands, for she was heavy enough to need both of them to hoist her the rest of the way up...

It's less complex a memory, but it's projected quite clearly from start to finish.]