Welcome New Travellers, AMA (a day or so into Newbie Rush)

[otomechapilot]

The voice being telepathically projected is that of a young, bright, cheerful girl of 14.

Hello, everyone new! Welcome to Liminal Space! My name is Sara, and I wanted to welcome you here and answer some of your questions, cause I know I was super confused when I first got here.

I'm gonna start with the obvious questions.

First off, yes, this place is real, you're not dreaming. I, personally, am pretty good at telling when I'm dreaming in particular. This place is a little fuzzy around the edges, but it's not a dream. It's real.

Second, you're pretty safe in Liminal Space and this isn't the afterlife either. There are places to sleep and drink and keep our stuff that are open to anyone, they don't cost anything.

Third, some of us will probably look very weird based on what you know from home, but we're all people here and none of us just randomly attack people for no reason. If something looks like a monster here, iiiits a person and they're probably cool.

Fourth, none of the people who brought you here are here right now, but if you haven't met them yet they'll probably talk to you soon. They're called the Arcana, as in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Yes, that probably sounds super ridiculous to a lot of you, but you don't have to take my word for it - you can ask the Arcana.

There's other important stuff to know, but those are the things everyone needs to know right now.

Ask me anything!

Comments

[whatspringislike]

I hadn't even thought about that!

[otomechapilot]

That tends to come up pretty quickly for some reason. (There's a definite tone of 'actually I don't blame people worried about privacy.')

...there are plenty of ways to amp the privacy, most of which I learned way before I got here. I'm not gonna say they're easy but they are simple.

[whatspringislike]

I think... I want to learn how to do that. If that's okay?

[otomechapilot]

Sure. Hang on.

(And gradually, a sense of pressure or of low feedback sets in - nothing too distracting, but noticeable, as she goes private.)

The way I learned it was to imagine yourself, and a wall around you. And then to add a window to the image, to talk out of. Any shape works if it's clear; I'm imagining a wire and a headset mike for this.

Does it feel different on your end?

[whatspringislike]

Oh.

[There's a great deal of relief in Shinji's tone, and almost immediately the sense of pressure is reciprocated.]

It's like an AT Field. But... with a window in it.

private, psi protection 1

[otomechapilot]

To only let some people listen in, yeah.

Going from all-or-nothing to selective is tricky, but it's easier when you can throw up a mental wall or shield first.

(If a little Concern is creeping into the feel of her messages, an undertone of 'r u ok,' that's cause... well...)

I should probably be more surprised that other worlds have technical terms for this stuff.

private, psi protection 1

[whatspringislike]

It's - you asked earlier if I was a lucid dreamer. Helping generate a strong AT Field is what I can do instead. I mean, it's why I'm a pilot...

Private till lifted, Psi Def. I

[otomechapilot]

(If he's not a lucid dreamer at all...)

...We Pilot two very different things, sounds like.

Does Anchor mean anything to you besides the obvious? Or ANIMa?

Nightmare?

...Bliss?

Re: Private till lifted, Psi Def. I

[whatspringislike]

Um... 'Anchor' is an English translation of my last name. Ikari... I use the character for 'Anchor' to write my name.

But... nothing other than that.

[otomechapilot]

Do you now.

(There's unsupressable giggling glee coming over the channel.)

Well that's an interesting coincidence. But no, we're not remotely from the same world if that's all those bring up.

But those things you had on your head. Those were a pilot thing, right? An interface device?

[whatspringislike]

Well... they're classified Top Secret. But they're called an Interface Headset. I guess it's okay to say that much...

[He sounds even more uncertain, but mostly that's a reaction to the giggling.]

SQUIDs are real, they're sensors used to measure brainwave and other magnetic activity

[otomechapilot]

(Shame that she totally misses that reason he's Uncomfortable.)

I don't have mine - don't need them, here - but my helmet had something we called a SQuID. Superconducting Quantum Interface Device or something. Yours looked like the same sort of thing.

...the person I would have tried to call on them was my Anchor. Like, Anchor was his rank.

[whatspringislike]

I think I heard Doctor Akagi say something about SQuIDs once, so maybe...

The person I was calling was a Captain. I don't think we're coming from the same world... but I guess it could be something similar.

[otomechapilot]

I've been getting the idea that anywhere where someone our age could legit be called a Pilot is in big trouble.

Feels like you've got psychic shields down, from this end, by the way. Which... makes sense.

[whatspringislike]

It seems like we're in more trouble than most people here understand. They've never even heard of... the kind of thing that's happening at home.