A Few Minutes After Returning to Liminal Space

[naturaltwohands]

[Drizzt's flat annoyance filters through slightly despite his attempts to contain it.]

You must be joking.

[He lets out the equivalent of a sigh.]

How does one return to their true form after they have "received" one from the previous Jaunt?

Comments

[senpaidol]

Oh my gosh this was the best Jaunt I've ever been on without getting proposed to.

[naturaltwohands]

It was pleasant compared to some of the others, despite my apparent size and age during it. I only wish I was back in my true form now.

[Look he can handle this for a little while but he wants his body back.]

[senpaidol]

Right, yeah, that's annoying...even if it's really cute too.

Okay, so the way I turned back from being a Synth way back was I focused on what was different between me as a human vs. me as a crystal robot girl.

[naturaltwohands]

[Record scratch.]

... A crystal robot girl.

[senpaidol]

What, you thought cats were the weirdest things people have become here? Actually, I wouldn't even call Citrine that weird except she's from another planet, considering apparently my version of Earth also has robot girls...

[naturaltwohands]

Oh, no. It's the crystal part that confuses me.

[He's used to robots; one of his best friends is a robot.]

[senpaidol]

Oh, well, Citrine is a Synthetic Hecatite. They usually use lab-grown crystals instead of metal like humans do, although sometimes it's a mix.

[naturaltwohands]

I suppose it isn't too terribly different than a rock element, just a robot.

[senpaidol]

Yeah, Hecatites in general are...human-shaped, just made out of minerals instead of flesh and blood. Is that what an elemental is?

[naturaltwohands]

Yes--although we usually only have elementals of earth, fire, water, and air. They are magical beings from other planes, often summoned for combat. ... although I suspect Synthetic Hecatites look far different than our earth elementals, made out of rock.

[senpaidol]

Yeah, I wouldn't call them just rock. Hecatites in general look a little more human than that and are almost always crystalline gemstones. Synthetic Hecatites usually look pretty much the same to other species, but there's differences in clarity and stuff that Hecatites can usually notice right off.

[naturaltwohands]

Synthetic? You mean that some Hecatites are made?

[Drizzt doens't know how to feel about that.]

[senpaidol]

Oh! Yeah. Citrine - my Overlay - was a Synthetic. Most spacefaring species all had their own different kinds of Synthetic. They weren't always treated how I think they should have been treated, but Citrine at least put that down to people like the Hecatite government. Very rigid and structured and "why are you reading sociology books if you're a therapist? Why are you going to meetings in your free time? Why do you have free time, you're a machine?"

[Mental sigh.]

Yeah she loved everyone on Gehenna but she was sent there on purpose.

[naturaltwohands]

I would have gone verily insane in such an environment. But it is my wish that all robots--Synthetics--be treated well. They are, in the end, still people.

[senpaidol]

The good thing about being a Synthetic is you have a lot of time to be patient and try to persuade people that you're actually a person.

There was another Synth there who was more aggressive about it, though. I'm not sure if he was an Infiltrator or not. He wound up on the other ship, and I didn't see him around Liminal Space afterward.

[naturaltwohands]

Indeed.

Sometimes Travelers only stay with us for a short time. Perhaps that was his fate?

[senpaidol]

Maybe. I do kinda wonder about it, though. And what happened to the actual Synth after we left. I hope he survived that mess...

[naturaltwohands]

"That mess"?

[senpaidol]

Space was pretty chaotic, even for a Jaunt. "We evacuated a whole planet, and then a bunch of incredibly weird stuff happened, and then I helped deliver an energy-being baby out of the ship's guns" is probably the least confusing summary.

[naturaltwohands]

... That is the least confusing summary?

[There's a hint of amusement in that awe.]

[senpaidol]

~Spaaaaaaaaaace~

[She'll project a quick image of herself waving her hands spookily to get the tone across.]

[naturaltwohands]

[Drizzt chuckles... or the psychic equivalent of it, anyway.]

I have yet to experience space myself. It certainly sounds interesting, to say the least.