synopsychic | [Open]

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!]

[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?

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.

...Three rounds. [Well you certainly have his attention.]

Tell me, is there usually only one ball in play at a time, or more than one?

Usually only one, but some games have gimmicks where you can get multiple balls if you set off the right thing - three's a standard number for that, too, and they're all in play for as long as you can juggle all of 'em.

Why do you ask?

Nearing the end of stage two.... [It's said so quietly that it might have been meant to be inside his own head instead of projected.]

There has been a discussion in the past of what the Trumps have gathered us here for. Your pardon, my lady, have you been with us long? You have heard of the Trumps marking chosen Travelers with indelible ink?

...I am even less of a lady than Helena. Just gonna put that out there. [She doesn't sound too upset about it, at least, more confused than anything.]

Anyway, yeah, I caught that part of the story. Saw frickin' Doki and the Grid and then apparently spent three months stuck in some shiny gold nonsense.

[That part she is upset about. There are reminders she didn't need in her life, and that was one of them.]

I know about the surprise tattoos, I know about the dead ones, and I apparently missed the fact that the Grid was Trump-palooza, not just SAGE. I'm less sure about where the round business comes into it.

...Actually. Now that I think about it, this isn't the first Liminal I've seen that implies we're being observed, when you take the apparent inside of the hamster balls into account. The zoo, right before the Grid.

If you prefer a different title, you have but to name it. [Can't bow psychically, dang it. Mucking with his whole comportment here.]

[...Also riding right by that palusa word thing. Not familiar with that one, but it sounds like it might refer to there being more than one Trump on the Grid. He loves languages but sometimes their evolution becomes very strange.] If you were present for the Grid, then you may remember the liminal space directly afterward - the prison beneath the gaming parlor? Some Travelers were able to speak with a Trump of their limited choice via the telephone in the parlor. One Traveler was told that this is Stage Two. This last Jaunt split Travelers into two separate places. There has also been discussion of the Trumps potentially splitting Travelers after the marks were discovered. Of Travelers as pieces in a vast game between the Trumps. There was most certainly animosity between The Devil and SAGE on the Grid, and a more-or-less friendly competition between The Sun and The Moon at the Orrery.

Is it not likely that we are constantly observed?

Just Claudia's fine. [No seriously she doesn't need any fancy titles.]

I... think I missed out on that one in favor of the shiny gold nonsense. Too bad, Dial-a-Trump sounds useful, even if it was limited - everyone who'd turned up so far, I'm guessing?

I see the game more than I see trying to split us all up. Why get us used to working together in the first place if that's the end goal?

Oh, it's totally likely, they have to know what passes or fails their little tests some...how...

[There's a few seconds' silence, and then:] Oh goddammit. The hamsterpinballs. Granted, I haven't seen one up close and personal and I don't want to, but from the sound of it, you get sucked in, set a task to complete, and spit back out to where you started when you're done. Sound familiar?

Thank you, Claudia. Please, call me Alcuin. As I understand it, yes and no; I believe the Fool, the Moon, the Sun, the Magician, the Lovers, the Hermit, and the Devil were all available... as well as the High Priestess, whom no one has yet seen and yet has marked at least one individual.

[He remains silent on the subject of the nature of the game - he himself has his doubts about the goal, but that is the predominant theory among Travelers, so he lets it be for now. ...what hamster means he'll have to discover later.]

Ahh. Yes, I see what you mean. I wonder if it would allow for multiple people within one maze, or if each would experience a separate one. Interesting, that the most dangerous time appears to be between these balls, rather than within them, if the hazards are truly so minimal.

...Rood, Priestess, you could at least turn up in person like everyone else. [The inflection suggests 'rude,' even if her pronunciation's slightly different.] Probably trying to keep us on our toes or something.

I wouldn't be surprised if people in the same ball are dealing with the same puzzle. Only so many of those to go around.

...huh. If the metaphor carries, that'd imply someone's more vulnerable in Liminal Space. The question is who - and if it's us, what we can do about it.

I am not as familiar with the symbolism inherent in the tarot cards as I should like, I confess, but I believe the Priestess is one of the more mysterious? As I understand it, thus far they have exhibited traits similar to those the cards are meant to represent. Though I am curious as to whether or not the name given them was first provided by a Traveler or by somewhat else...

...I am uncertain if any Traveler has ever died in Liminal Space. Injury, yes, but death? [There's a pause, like a mental head shake.] If one is killed during a Jaunt, one revives within Liminal Space as yourself, even if you were infiltrating. If the same principle does not hold true within its bounds, perhaps that might account for that vulnerability. In a less dire case, we know that the area within Liminal Space is finite. There are boundaries we cannot escape - not only in this place, but in all of them. Whatever dangers are introduced, we cannot flee them very far.

Tarot's not really my thing. I should probably look into a crash course sometime. As for the name... who knows, but there's obviously something in the imagery they like using.

That's a good point. I mean, they must revive us during jaunts for a reason, but if no one's had to put it to the test in Liminal Space before we don't have all the information we need for that.

Nor would I advise testing it simply for curiosity's sake. [Strangely firm on that for some reason.] There is also the question of the eldritch incursions. After Harrogate there has always been danger in liminal space from those portals.

Don't plan on testing it. There's things you do for information, but suicide really, really isn't one of them.

Yeesh, he's still trying to poke around?

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