[Jaunt Week 2]

[dragoonrouge]

Well, I am going to add to the headache that is this Jaunt and for that I apologise. I was able to corner Cain and catch him with Justice's Aura though I feel like he would have disclosed a lot if the information to my without it. But he definitely one of the actors and certainly not by choice so I am certain that he will help us get back at the 'gods'. It did not sound that what happened to those is pleasant at all, perhaps why many have no memory?

[There is a long, tired sigh.]

Speaking of how best to help Home and get back at the gods, well, I shall just show you.

[Q'uila shares the majority of her conversation with the Network.]

Fucking space. The gods are humans in space and we are both entertainment and an experiment. There is a lot to discuss here so any thoughts on courses of action from any of you. Also we should have a constant watch on not-Jackie.

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

Oh, this bodes well.

We need to see if there's anyone up there worth contacting first. Really, we probably should have tried that before now, but the last week's been kind of busy. [To say the least. This has been up there with Bando and Nova Venezia in terms of near-immediate crisis points.]

If there's some of us there, maybe they can help.

[dragoonrouge]

This all has the potential to be a shag wanking disaster.

'Tis a good idea to try contacting them, may that be a skill you possess or do you know any here who does?

[leftbehindagain]

I can, Thorne-san can... everyone else I know of who can is either infiltrating or not here, I think.

I can get around a dozen of us on the line for twenty minutes or so, or just me patching through for forty.

[keepcalmcookon]

I also can communicate across divides, although I cannot do so for long or bring many with me.

[leftbehindagain]

That's good to know, if we need a short message relayed.

[keepcalmcookon]

Emergency messages, too, as events continue to unfold.

[itsananimalthing]

We're workin' on getting some of the camera drones hacked. Talk to Jim and Sento about that. Maybe we can use 'em to get to the network up there and poke around.

Also, if we can find a ship, I can probably fly it.

[Okay, so he's kind of missed space and familiar technology.]

[dragoonrouge]

That would be very helpful! Turning the ever-present bane of the midges to our advantage shall make things far easier.

[Her next words are wry and full of good-natured teasing.] Am I to put your name on the list for punching space humans then?

[itsananimalthing]

If you wanna be technical about it, I am a space human. Spent pretty much my whole life on space stations and ships until I escaped from prison.

So sure. I'll punch some space humans. I know the type.

[dragoonrouge]

[There is a very inelegant amused snort.]

Brilliant, it shall be the one fun thing to happen this Jaunt.

[itsananimalthing]

Speak for yourself, I'm hunting a big genetically mutated predator. This is gonna be great.

[dragoonrouge]

That actually does sound fun, I am rather jealous.

[itsananimalthing]

Sorry, sister. I'd invite you along, but we already left and you'd have a hard time catching up in time to do anything.

[helborn]

[Casper just sounds... exhausted when he speaks.]

I got some information out of Branch.

[He just plays the conversation on the Network.]

For the record that's a song from a musical theater performance about the French Revolution, a famously violent and bloody revolution in my world. I swapped out the line identifying France since I wasn't sure if it was a country in this world.

[thornsofmalkav]

Um. It's not actually about the French Revolution? Like, they're definitely all French and they're trying to have a revolution, but that part takes place in the early 1830s, not the 1790s.

All that said, this definitely explains the Insight I got last week. Jesus.

[helborn]

Granted I never saw it, I just assumed. I know things about it because...

[There's the mental equivalent of a handwave. Required gay knowledge or something.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Cultural osmosis?

[helborn]

Especially among people of a certain group.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yep.

[Her big brother's gay. She knows.]

[carbonatedscientist]

Just when I thought the cameras were bad enough on there own, we've got this unforgivable development...

I may be able to get up there. Build handled the environment on Mars well enough.

[levelthreehooligan]

I'm not sure how well sending only one of us up there would work, but it's good to know you have the ability. If we can pinpoint where they are, we might be able to open a portal to them - just in case you need the backup.

[carbonatedscientist]

I'd mostly be relying on the element of surprise--the Build system's flexible enough that I could likely take care of myself before portaling back to Liminal in a worst-case scenario.

And it might give them something else to worry about as well, giving us an edge down here.

[keepcalmcookon]

[Ignis only replies to this after he calms the hell down.]

Likely something was done to erase their memories or at least prevent access to them. Perhaps we might even have the means to reverse it--but we must take care not to break the mind of whomever we choose to do that on.

[Also he hates to add this, but.]

Also, the midges will not leave during... private moments. Please keep that in mind if such things make you uncomfortable.

[thornsofmalkav]

So. Who'd you bang to find out?

[prince_of_pain]

Ignis.

[thornsofmalkav]

So the gods watched him beat off?

[keepcalmcookon]

Make love. And please, I'm already on the verge of breaking his brain as it is.

[keepcalmcookon]

[Ignis entirely ignores Noct.]

Firo. Felih will be amused and entertained by it since it's him.

[thornsofmalkav]

Oooooh, good choice.

[keepcalmcookon]

I thought so, too. It certainly kept the midges' interest.

It also raises the question... if we are entertainment, then we have a 'fandom'. Perhaps we should make ourselves too interesting to 'cancel' while we work out what to do more permanently.

[That probably means more time with Firo. Sorry, Noct.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh man, yeah. I wonder if the gods cosplay?

[keepcalmcookon]

Potentially. But for now, we need a way to tell how the 'gods' get their media about us and how the fans are. What they like. What they hate. Then do things to boost our ratings. Also, if the video is live or on a delay. How many people watch it live....

I could showcase recipes I've come up with--it won't seem interesting immediately until they start trying what I'm making. Then tease them continually with what I plan to make the next day.

[thornsofmalkav]

[That gets the mental equivalent of a startled laugh.] I mean, everyone loves cooking shows.

[keepcalmcookon]

Almost as much as they love eating.

[dragoonrouge]

[Q'uila's voice is pained as she pipes up.]

Can we please stop discussing my brother's sex life and the sex life of his overlays? 'Tis bad enough that I can smell it.

[keepcalmcookon]

[Oops.]

I didn't... plan on giving any details beyond that.

[dragoonrouge]

Any detail is far too much detail, Ignis.

[keepcalmcookon]

Precisely.

[haveabiscuit]

I suspect that whatever anyone in space used in no way resembles my world's memory charms, but I can try to examine someone from that perspective all the same.

That last tells us a great deal about them.

[Not that she's in any hurry to have that sort of private moment]

[keepcalmcookon]

A potential route. We might even be able to discover the route they use and reverse it with their own machines.

Yes: that much of humanity is made of perverts, fandoms included. But perversion aside... Noct and Prompto both have experience with fandoms. I know there are others. I mostly stayed on the outskirts, although I was dragged deeper into some of them by their fanaticism for certain series.

[Congrats, Noct, he might have just found a task to occupy you with.]

[haveabiscuit]

The more options we have, the better.

I deal with teenagers at home. I've confiscated my share of... unusual material.

[keepcalmcookon]

Precisely. If Felih was himself... we would have even more.

Ha. The teenagers I'm used to dealing with are now the age of adults, so I can no longer do that myself.

[haveabiscuit]

Has he ever expressed an opinion on being de-infiltrated?

[She can't do it, but it's an option that may be out there]

I teach, so there's always new teenagers who think they've invented every trick.

[keepcalmcookon]

No, he has not. We may have to consider doing so if the situation calls for it.

[Someone has to have the ability, likely.]

Ah, yes. I was a bit of a know-it-all myself. Thankfully that wore off years ago.

[haveabiscuit]

We should at least find out who's investigating that can.

[There seems to be a smile in the words]

Most people do grow out of it. Or they go work for the Ministry.

[prince_of_pain]

Okay but now can I electrocute the midges?

[dragoonrouge]

Can you do it discreetly?