synopsychic | What will become of us now at the end of love, now we've stopped looking up? (early week four)

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What will become of us now at the end of love, now we've stopped looking up? (early week four)

The Conductor Network is gone, shattered. That's what we destroyed with Shacklebreaker. We were aiming for the Memeplex, but...

I don't think our memes are Conductive anymore. I don't think the Conductors, as a Role, exist anymore. We've become something else, something in blue, that resonates in... in...

Ha. Hahahahahah. Cut straight through the illusion, soar right through the confusion, to a sky blue revolution, huh?

Sorry. Think that pataphor is safe, but double check it for Conductivity.

Leah is losing her shit and I'm not much better, what with suddenly feeling fear again. Any info, particularly Oracular info, on what the Conductors have become would be extremely helpful, especially since my plan to bring the people responsible to justice kind of counted on being able to force them into Conducting for long enough for them to be as Orthoprax as they claimed to be, the heteropractic bastards.

[later, but not much, she adds:]

The Conductors were unwittingly and unwillingly indoctrinated into a faith.

I think. Penuel thinks.

These Cantors are what happens when we become what Leah had always thought the Conductors were. Something you can only willingly join, not be converted to at the points of a Bident or by wondering about that thing you heard went down in Samothrace.

Not creations of Faith, but of Trust.

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Do either of you need anything from me?

I mean that in either the Mental or Physical senses. I know I'm real good at hugging.

Not turning down tater tot hugs, no.

Thanks, Pinya.

You want the Pinya Supreme hug now or later?

Look, I just told you I have the capacity to fear again and still you say shit like that.

Speaking of... I guess you’re a Champion or Adversary again?

Edited 2020-10-03 13:22 (UTC)

The hug is inevitable.
All will succumb to my love.

And,ah, actually.

Well. I feel I'm looking kind of blue these days.
[There's clear humor in her mental voice, and not a small amount of curiosity.]

Oh.

That makes Leah feel a lot better, honestly.

Any idea how it feels, what you can do? I...

We need to test our powers. And coordinate with the other people still in blue. Ace is out, free; she's gone Dark Oracle again. But without ConductorNet I don't know who else is or isn't.

AA asked to join so she's likely one of us. Cora - uh, Khora as well. Meg could be either-or, ditto Shinji and Pez; they were turned, but it improved their lives.

Edited 2020-10-03 20:48 (UTC)

I'm not sure, the change happened and then you made your announcement.

It feels. I don't know, lighter, perhaps?

Want to test some things out?

Singing alone doesn’t do anything, but...

“What is faith, when you choose it?”

Penuel asked me that, when I asked them for insight. I think. I agree with their answer.

We need to sing in chorus. Maybe to get a minyan, 10 together in ceremony. I have a hunch.

Well. Let's go find eight others, I suppose?

[Laughing, she livestreams her location...]

What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key...

Edited 2020-10-05 15:06 (UTC)

Pinya laughs. Though she doesn't know the words she's familiar with the tune, and after a stanza or two she feels comfortable enough with some of the verses to sing in harmony with Leah.

She arrives in person a few minutes later on Fenrir's back, strumming and accompanying tune on her lyre as she hums along.

Leah waves, not stopping her song. Experimentally, she sends as she sings:

Hello.

The effect is an echo, reverb as both the thought and the song reach Pinya.

The Echo feels almost warm, thankfully the opposite to her own Echo. She grins, as she continues to strum and sing.

Hi!

So. We do have a network... as long as we sing. That's interesting.

She finishes the song at looks down at Pinya.

"I wonder what happens when we get a big old chorus."

"A really cool network?" Pinya responds with a laugh.

"I wonder if there's anyway to maintain it without actively singing at all..."

Evolution says you've become into something categorically different while otherwise being mostly the same.

Also, Priscilla says to tell you that it's perfectly normal for a newly Created entity to have its qualities unknown. She's not sure that's really helpful to you right now, though.

Maybe not helpful, but definitely reassuring.

But if they've evolved to be something different while being otherwise the same - and the difference is that we destroyed the memeplex along with the Network - that would mean...

...that would mean this new role is the Conductors, except without being infectious. Which means they're what Leah thought they were, and what she hopes they can be.

And... that's good, right?

[Maybe? Possibly?]

...we can still fear. And doubt. And all of those double edged swords. But I bet we’re stronger in chorus than alone, just like the Conductors were.

No fear, no pain... but only as long as we ride down the path of love. Hikaru would be proud.

Yes. Yes, I think Conductors you can only join on purpose with a sense of self-preservation are good for QC.

Some would argue that fear and doubt make one a stronger fighter, or at least a smarter one, but only if they don't paralyze one in turn.

Hikaru?

Conducting blunted our fear in the real world. Leah remembers courage. The other former Conductors should be... better off, if they're whatever we became. Courage, not paralysis or recklessness.

And yeah. Leah used to talk about fearlessness being both our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. But then, the experimenters of the Orthorhombics - the Heteros, ha - wanted us to recklessly spread the word, didn't they? It was a feature, not a bug. To them.

Hikaru is someone from my guild. Pez is... if Pez isn't somehow an infiltration or echo of Hikaru I will be very surprised.

Edited 2020-10-08 04:45 (UTC)

Heteros?

[She's not sure what that means in context.]

I see.

...Hmn. Heteroprax is the Ortho word for someone who's working evil. Same root as "Heretic," I think. Like "Orthoprax" comes from "Orthodox."

Explaining why I shorten it to that is... they remind me of some other religious assholes from home, that's all, and the comparison is a little funny to me.

Oh.

[She's still not quite sure she gets it, but languages, she has found, are tricky, and some aspects are lost when changing from one to another.]

They were more interested in their experiment and how it benefited them than how it benefited those they were experimenting on.

[That, at least, is familiar.]

Yeah. I don't even know if they knew Leah's name. Just fit a... demographic.

She was a resource to be used.

[And isn't that familiar as well.]

Very much looking forward to... introducing them.

You've planned out what you're going to do for that?

Originally I was going to make them Conductive for precisely long enough for them to be as Orthoprax as they claimed to be. So much for that plan.

But then I realized I had a little present from Penuel I used in the Vale, by accident. I think it... makes people believe me when I'm telling the truth.

Starting with "this is objectively evil" and "this is counterproductive."

You think that will work?

[She certainly hopes it does.]

I would rather it work than the alternative.

And I think that pointing to the riots outside and that it's Orthos doing most of the work is going to... do a lot of heavy lifting.

It's risky. It's also less risky than anything else I can think of, and now I have fear and doubt on my side.

I hope you're right.

[She doesn't doubt Deedee, but she can't help but worry nonetheless.]

Be careful about how you phrase that - another Traveler once used that skill on an overlay of mine to break him out of a panic spiral, which led to him believing that specific statement and absolutely nothing else the other Traveler told him, because he didn't know why he believed it and couldn't reconcile the discrepancy.

Edited 2020-10-13 06:25 (UTC)

...so say nothing they can't independently verify, for starters. Phrase things so that they know it's objectively true that I believe things.

Also, for the record, that sounds like you went through hell.

That overlay had a particularly nightmarish background, yes. He's actually here for this Jaunt, but he's been keeping his distance from us.

But yes, you're going to want to plan out your statement carefully, especially if they run towards paranoia and xenophobia.

Hmn.

"Nearly every protester is either Orthoprax, a Synth running your Orthopractic software, or Conditioned. Look it up" seems like a good wham line for this. So does "gone horribly right" in reference to the Synth software.

Using the Conditioned may not be the best idea, given that we're Heteroprax - especially if they're true believers themselves.

I remember enough of the faith from when I was Conductive that I'm pretty sure they're way more heteroprax than the Conditioned, but that's also not an argument I'll want to get into while I'm glowing like Penuel.

Oh, I'm not going to argue the fact, but they might question why they suddenly believe that.

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What will become of us now at the end of love, now we've stopped looking up? (early week four)

Psy prot I

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Psy prot II forever

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Into action in this thread?

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I can read

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