Open Broadcast

[sombercomedienne]

[It's been something like a few days since she arrived, and between the current glass-based nature of Liminal Space and, well, the thing she's decided she needs to ask about, Lydain has had just little enough sleep to swallow her pride and send out a general question on the telepathic network.]

I realize this may be kind of a long shot, but does anyone here have the capacity to make sopor slime?

Comments

[brokers]

What is sopor slime?

[sombercomedienne]

It's a topical sleep aid and a mild psionsuppressant. I don't know if aliens use it at all. Most trolls do, though.

[brokers]

None of the species I'm familiar with do. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to recreate it without a sample or a chemical formula, if it's specific to your species' worlds. You may find that your psionic abilities are already suppressed, however.

[sombercomedienne]

Not so much suppressed as... altered? I can't do most of the emotion-based psychic work I could at home, but the full-blown telepathy is new. And not very restful.

[brokers]

You do get accustomed to it. And it isn't usually this chaotic - typically only when we have a crop of new Travelers learning the basics, or when there are important developments to discuss.

[sombercomedienne]

Most learning curves look steep from the bottom, I guess.

Thanks. I don't think we've met face-to-face? I'm Lydain.

[brokers]

We haven't. The population here is overwhelmingly human - I would remember meeting another person who isn't.

I'm Liara T'Soni.

[sombercomedienne]

Haha yeah, there are a lot of them around, aren't there.

I'm the one with the facepaint and the axe-shaped horns. An Alternian troll, if that means anything to you.

[brokers]

As little as "asari" likely means to you, I'm afraid. Although...there.

[An image of Liara, hairless and earless and covered in fine blue scales, tentacle-like crest sweeping back from her head, appears across from Lydain. She smiles a little sheepishly.]

It isn't quite a face-to-face meeting in the traditional sense, but at least we will recognize one another in the future.

[sombercomedienne]

Oh, that's a cool trick.

Nice to meet you, Liara. Us not-earthtoned types have to stick together, right? [There's a bit of a laugh in her voice. She's joking. Mostly.]

[brokers]

Of course. If we don't look out for one another, who will?

[She's likewise not entirely serious - but there's enough of her that's guiltily relieved to meet someone else who isn't human or near enough that it's 'not entirely' rather than 'not at all'.]

As for this... [The projection gestures along the length of her body] It comes in handy. You can pick the trick up, if you're interested in focusing on manipulation of the psychic network. It just takes a little practice.

[sombercomedienne]

I think I've figured out "showing things I'm looking at" but I haven't got "showing myself" yet. I'm not used to psychic stuff that's this... concrete, I guess.

[brokers]

I suppose you wouldn't be - you said you worked primarily with emotions before being transported here?

[sombercomedienne]

Yeah. Mostly fear, stress, that sort of thing? Although you'd be surprised just how much of a person's emotional makeup gets tied into their fight or flight response.

[detectivewonder]

Do you know what the chemical composition of it is? Molecularly?

[sombercomedienne]

I... feel like that was in one of my schoolfeeds at some point, but I can't remember, no. Damnit.

[detectivewonder]

Then you're probably out of luck. Don't suppose you have a sample with you?

[sombercomedienne]

Let me check my sylladex again... nah. Nothing.

I kind of figured it was a long shot when I asked. Sorry to have bothered you.

[detectivewonder]

I'm not bothered. I could try to figure out an equivalent and have someone mix some up, but I wouldn't want to poison you by mistake. Do you know anything about your - sorry, I know this is an important subject for trolls - your blood chemistry?

[sombercomedienne]

I'm hemospectrally indigo, and I don't have any major allergies that are unusual for my species? I've been careful about food since I got here, but from what I've had that other people made, nothing's made me sick or anything.

[detectivewonder]

Do you know what your blood uses to bond to oxygen? Iron, copper, vanadium? Or what the basic molecular chain of your biological makeup is?

[sombercomedienne]

Iron I think. I'm not sure. I'm not a mediliquidator or a scienterrorist.

[detectivewonder]

... Okay. That's promising, anyway. The more similar our biologies are, the more likely the same substances will have similar effects.

Oh. Before I forget. Humans are a universally red-blooded species. But it's not a social signifier for us, and if you interpret it that way, you're likely to get a hostile reaction. Just a friendly heads-up.

[sombercomedienne]

Thanks. I'd kind of figured your pigmentation worked differently from ours, anyway. You've got a lot more variation in skin and hair color.

[detectivewonder]

We do. Those are also not acceptable as caste markers.

-> Private

[sombercomedienne]

Look I know you're trying to be helpful and I appreciate it but I really could not care less what you folks use to mark whatever intrahuman sociopolitical associations you might have.

The Alternian Empire might not play particularly nicely with alien populations but we're evenhanded about it. If I'm going to accept any of you are worth dealing with as people I might as well extend that to all of you. I'm not looking for visual cues to exclude or cull people, ok?

Private

[detectivewonder]

Thanks.

[nicotinized]

Dunno how much it'll help, but I can give you the chemical formulas for human sleep meds. I don't have the chemistry background to try making them myself, though.

[detectivewonder]

I've got the know-how, but not the equipment. And I know more about tranquilizers than mild sedatives.

[nicotinized]

I can maybe do the equipment, if you're good at descriptions. I think I've got more info on the illegal shit than the legal, but the Nexus archive dumps I have are pretty expansive.

[leftbehindagain]

[After listening in on everything else, Naoki speaks up.]

I'm working on some sleep aids right now, actually, but I don't know how well they'd work on a non-human metabolism. If you want to try one you're welcome to. Otherwise, it'll probably be faster to talk to someone who can make edible food - they'll have the best luck reconstructing it, if you can describe its makeup.

[sombercomedienne]

The problem is I can't describe its makeup, I don't have the chemistry background to know it. I was hoping since there seem to be a fair amount of parallels between my culture and some of the human cultures people come from someone else might know or have a source.

Apparently not.

I could try the medicine you're working on. Maybe a smaller dose first.

[leftbehindagain]

Topical sleep aids are a new one by me, and I can guarantee this won't do the other thing. But I can try to come up with something that does. [With the whole alchemy thing, it isn't entirely out of the question.]

All right. I'll set some aside for you.

[sombercomedienne]

Just letting me sleep is probably the more important part with how this place changed my powers. At least I don't think I've been giving anyone else nightmares when I do get to sleep?

But yeah. Thanks. Where can I find you?

[leftbehindagain]

...Yeah, someone probably would've mentioned that by now.

I have a room in Leonardo-sensei's workshop. The door's open, and I have some stuff in process, so it should be pretty easy to find.

I'm Naoki, by the way. [Names. Those will help.]

oh look what I never tagged back on, sorry about that...

[sombercomedienne]

I don't know, this environment might be enough to raise some questions where the nightmares were coming from. But no one's been complaining, so I'll assume I'm not dreamworking without meaning to.

I'm Lydain.

It happens!

[leftbehindagain]

Good to meet you.

[neverfeltthatway]

Umm. I don't know anything about the chemistry of sleep aids, but I have a spell that can help you sleep.

At least... it works on humans. I don't know if spells are species specific. But it's worth a shot.

[sombercomedienne]

Thanks. I think I'll try and see if the medicines some of the others are making work, first? That way I can keep a sample that can be replicated.

If it doesn't work, I might try, uh, magic.

[neverfeltthatway]

Okay. Just let me know.

I'm Armin, by the way.

[sombercomedienne]

I'm Lydain.

And I mean really, thanks. I do appreciate it.

[neverfeltthatway]

Of course.

It's nice to meet you, Lydian. Psychically, at least.

[sombercomedienne]

Yeah. If you see me around, I'm the one with the axe-shaped horns and the clown paint. There don't seem to be a lot of other circus folk around, I'm not too hard to spot.

-> [Video]

[neverfeltthatway]

Good to know. [He pauses, and when he continues, it's with his actual voice and image. It's as if he were video chatting with her - only, he's streaming it into her head.] This is what I look like.

whoops look who's picking up old tags it's me

[sombercomedienne]

I have got to figure out that trick. And last week I thought I was pretty good at psychic stuff...

Nice to meet you, though.

[neverfeltthatway]

Nice to meet you too.

I could try and teach you, if you like.

[sombercomedienne]

If you don't mind? That'd be really nice of you. I'm usually a pretty quick study on this sort of thing, but I haven't been able to work it out for myself.

[neverfeltthatway]

Broadcasting what you see and hear to the network is pretty easy, so you can talk with your own voice that way. Projecting your image to other people is harder.