[Open]

[willyousee]

Forgive me, but I am unfamiliar with what liminal space has become this time. Can anyone tell me what it is? What the cultural significance of it is? Are there usually balls of mice which try to run you down? There must be some reason it is what it is this time.

Comments

[upcard]

Oh... It's a pinball machine, Alcuin-san.

[This response comes after Mai has tucked herself away in a safe corner to breathe.]

It's...a game. A-and there definitely aren't mice--um, usually!

[willyousee]

Ah... Thank you Mai-chan. I see the reasoning behind the name and yet... A game? What is the goal, if I may ask?

[upcard]

You can play them at arcades and things, and...you try to get the highest score! You can get points by hitting things in the pinball machine with the ball--which, um... I guess the balls filled with mice represent... for some reason.

[Weird as hell, Liminal Space.]

But I don't know why we're inside one now... it's kind of scary.

[claudiometer]

It's a game, and no, it doesn't usually come with hamster balls full of rats. [The voice might be vaguely familiar, from sulky avoidance of the Host Club in Doki or last-minute communications on the Grid - but then again, maybe not.]

Pinball's better viewed from the outside - this is the inside of one of the damn things. The idea's to bounce a metal ball around the obstacles and off things, without letting it fall out the bottom. It's encased in a giant table that you can wiggle around a little to try to game where the ball's going, but if you do that too much it locks up.

[If he doesn't know what pinball is, now's not the time for a Tommy reference. See, Claudia does know some restraint!]

[willyousee]

[Vaguely familiar.... but he can't quite place it. Interesting.]

Then the Trumps have inserted creatures where there ought not to be, just as they always do... but in a much more active part of the situation. I wonder why. But then, you do not play this game against an opponent?

[claudiometer]

It can be competitive, but two people can't generally play it at once. You have to take turns, and whoever gets the higher score is the winner. Different obstacles have different point values, and obviously the longer you can keep the ball in the game the more chances you have to hit those up. Usually you get three rounds before the game's over.

[detectivewonder]

It might just be me, but I think the tune is the Smashing Pumpkins, distorted and filtered into arcade music.

I'm not sure if it's culturally significant, but it might be kind of a pointed message.

[thornsofmalkav]

[Jesus fuck, if that's true, she's going to stick her head out again to see what song it is...]

... oh my fucking god, is it 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings?'

[detectivewonder]

Despite all my rage...

[willyousee]

...Smashing pumpkins? Why would someone make the destruction of vegetables into music?

[detectivewonder]

Sorry. It's the name of the group that performs the song. It's either a tribute or mockery of a, uh, local holiday tradition, or it's a joke about the lead singer's head.

Anyway, it sounds similar to a song of theirs with a repeated line about trapped rats.

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh, no, no, Alcuin, they don't actually smash pumpkins.

Okay, um, do D'Angelines have people who regularly play music together? And do it for money? Because where I come from and where I guess that guy comes from, people do that sometimes. And there's enough of those that they pick out names for their groups of musicians so they can tell them apart. Some of them can get kind of weird.

And the name of the group of musicians who wrote and first performed that song was 'Smashing Pumpkins.'

[timelessinventor]

Thank you for asking that, darling. I had the same question.

[shiroganeheir]

I thought it might be The Who.

[detectivewonder]

That'd be a nicer sense of humor.

[shiroganeheir]

The Trumps might be sending a message this time. What we are in is called a pinball machine. It is usually a game with a small metal ball that flies around hazards.

The rest, however, is likely a reference to the fact that many scientists use rats in mazes for science experiments.

We are being watched, and we are being tested.

[wholeheaded]

...I said about as much when our little group went back to Nibiru. Lots of little challenges, and I guess the cheese was getting back with the rest of you.

[shiroganeheir]

... Interesting. Now that I think about it, that was the way Questing Country was as well. There were four different challenges, each with rewards, up to the biggest reward in the end.

So to what end are we being tested? Is there a reason, or is it a part of the game?

[willyousee]

.....what are they testing that a rat would be more useful than a human being?

[brokers]

I am not familiar with the greater structure, but the subdomains encountered when the balls break closely resemble a form of behavioral study.

[willyousee]

I have not encountered one of these myself - would you mind elaborating on what you found?

[bypartisan]

We don't have it on my planet either, but as everyone else has already chimed in and as someone so graciously told me before, we're stuck in some kind of game for children--I hope it's for children--called pinball and the balls of mice are definite not the standard--nor are the obnoxious mazes that exist in the balls.

[willyousee]

On your planet! Are you not from Earth, my lord? [...what? Priorities, okay?]

[loyalrebel]

Whatever it is; it is ungodly noisy and far too bright. Like when we left The Grid.

Only worse, because at least those things just yelled at you if you got too close as opposed to trapping you in a maze.

[willyousee]

It is certainly overwhelming, I agree. And distracting! If there is a message here, it is lost on me for the light and sound.

I gather that the mazes are not usual for these sorts of games. How did you get free of it again? [Because honestly, the man is a cartographer and wound his way through Ezio's dungeon faster than any of them. If anyone needs assistance out of one of those mazes, it's not Malik.]