synopsychic | [Open Broadcast + Sensory Livestream & Memory Sharing]

[Tim's voice starts talking against a blank, black viseal, and then he projects himself, picture-in-picture, as a talking head in the lower right corner of the "screen" as images start to play across it.]

Hi. I'm know I'm not always the most social Traveler, so let me take a minute to introduce myself. Tim Drake. Vigilante, barista, accredited forensic technician. I've got a decade-long background in criminology and investigative science, a lot of it based in computers and media.

I'm giving you the resume because I've been working on a project for a while now, with Mai. And she doesn't seem to be around right now. So, just in case I vanish too, I wanted to bring you up to speed, because it could be important. Watch this now, or don't, but at least it'll be archived on the network.

[The first image that pops up is a computer screen, glowing green against a dark backdrop - a cave of some kind? - with a series of stylized images on it.

A valentine heart, a kneeling statue with hands cupped in supplication, a pair of easter island heads, facing one another, mouths open; a conspicuous blank space, a theatrical mask with an almost comic expression of alarm, and finally, a rosebush sporting a damask rose over a spray of red berries and pale blossoms. Both types of flower called May Roses.

The images vanish, replaced one at a time with words framed in brackets.

[PSYCHE/LOVERS][WANT][TALK/CONVERSATION][YOU OKAY?][WORRIED][MAI]

Mai's voice speaks, replacing his for a moment.]

I really want to talk to you again. I want to know if you're okay. I've been worried.

[Tim's voice cuts back in, and he re-appears in the corner of the screen, which is now filled with a four-by-four grid of images, mobile Liminal Space 'videos' seen from a Robin's-eye view. Flying between dark spheres in white colored space; hanging like a gargoyle over a sinister highway full of angry, animate cars; flopped in a giant marshmallow like it was a beanbag; using gummi worms and licorice to catch gummi fish out of a ballpit moat... the playback continues on a loop.]

Mai and I believe that the Trumps communicate with us through Liminal Space, constantly, using symbolic communication and archetypal imagery. We were looking for a way to talk back. Her messages are... probably a little friendlier than mine. But as hostages, striking up a dialogue is the first step to negotiation, and that's the first step towards release. Or... the first step towards building a good, predictive profile of what the Trumps want from us. Either way.

I'm looking for people to review images with me, and try to puzzle out what their messages have been, as specifically as we can.

And I want for people with a good grip on Liminal Space, who can help me sculpt a few responses, just in case they're paying attention - our own little message in a bottle.

Anyone interested?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I can't speak to that personally, but I heard that.

[ Scrupulously careful in his recounting of evidence. ]

If so, the 'pawn' metaphor speaks for itself. Unless we're talking about a Go board.

And the others? The people who didn't stay turbed and got their heads covered? Is that saying if we let our emotions get the better of us, we're their pieces too? Or it might be more than that...

If individual Trumps are responsible for individual Liminal Spaces, that one belonged to ROSE.

She was also in Liminal Space just before that. At the airport terminal.

That one, I still can't explain. Maybe it's related to her actively stealing us from the other Trumps. She had to be on-site to tinker?

Going straight for the mainframe instead of dealing with the operating system? Maybe... But then, not all the Trumps we met were physically human, were they? Maybe they've each been present in 'their' respective Liminal Spaces and we just haven't noticed.

Maybe. Would they have been part of the terrain? Telepathic or empathic presences only?

It's a cool theory, but let's see if we can find something supporting it.

Not exactly easy when nothing stays constant here. What else have we got?

I have livestreams of sixteen Liminal Spaces.

Hmm... maybe we should take a look at the casino, since that came right after we left the Grid?

[The picture moves fast - not elapsed time, but Tim using liminal gravity to create downslopes, slaloming quickly through the crowd. This was the first Liminal Space that had Cass and Steph in it, so he's scanning the casino floor, past the jury box with a bank of slot machines, conference rooms holding poker and blackjack tables, and the full bar behind the bench.

Other amusements are compressed wherever they fit along broad marble halls, which pass in a blur, pausing only to thread through gold-wire cages and over polished mahogany banisters.

The jangle of noise sets the pace, and then he's skidding down the stairs past one jail cell after another, until there's a flash of familiar faces picking the locks of their cell. He rushes up to Cass, reaches out to grip her arms, and -

Cut.]

I can play that back if you need me to, but I was kind of in a hurry at the time. Or I can make a mind palace reproduction, do a slower walkthrough of it, and stream that.

[There's a flicker of surprise at the abrupt end, especially when it's right as Tim caught up with Steph and Cass, and... it's as if Dick's completely cut off all emotion through the mental connection in an instant. It feels too much like when the Batman firmly dismissed the entire team to speak to Aqualad alone.

His 'voice' is lets out a thoughtful hum and he focuses instead on the what he saw of the casino through Tim's eyes and he responds:] Nah, I think that's enough... A big gamble paying off, I'm guessing. ROSE made a point of saying she'd won that Jaunt, which must have been by her managing to save SAGE.

And stealing us would be a gamble. Right.

The courthouse could represent the judgment on the other Trumps. Or SAGE, getting out of jail. That could tie back to the zoo.

Edited 2015-11-05 19:28 (UTC)

He ended up as a dog, too. A bit of foreshadowing from ROSE?

Maybe. If she had it gamed out to that degree... do we know why he wound up a dog?

From what I saw there, the dog was a new body the Cryptos made to get rid of the corruption from him, but I'm not sure why a dog specifically, or if he was meant to be downloaded to the dog or if the virus was meant to be moved. Some of the corrupted programs showed up right when they were trying to do the transfer and one of them cut off his head? But it looks like they were too late anyway.

It's a lead to follow. Do you have a list of which Travelers were Cryptos?

Sort... of? I don't know all of their names but I know their faces. Leonardo, Riddick, Phillip were, and that one blond guy who's from the same place as Alcuin? I saw someone who looked a lot like Alcuin as well, but... not. I think they were related somehow.

I'll start with Leonardo - he's always well-informed.

Thanks.

Don't mention it.

[Open Broadcast + Sensory Livestream & Memory Sharing]

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