had enough

[rustyhonesty]

I... I've had enough.

[Jean's voice come across the network as very quiet and rather weak. He's back from the death again, this time remaining in liminal space.]

I was killed. Again. What sort of a person gets killed twice in the same jaunt? It's ridiculous. [There's a forced, nervous laugh.] On top of that this time it was... it was... more painful, both mentally and... becausewhydidIrunintothemjustwhy-

[The way he talks is more panicky at the end before an abrupt pause. He's quiet for quite a long time before gathering himself and continuing.]

I'll be staying in Liminal Space. I don't think I would be useful anymore even if I came back.

Well you could probably use me as a shield.

[Ha ha. Ha..... ]

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

Well, that's easy enough. The Grid was a good one anyway - probably my favorite.

...Actually, I could show you some of it.

[rustyhonesty]

You could? I wouldn't mind seeing it.

[leftbehindagain]

Yeah. It's one of the skills from the Grid, actually - I didn't pick it up until later, but still.

I'll need your hand. It works based on touch.

[rustyhonesty]

Oh. Sure.

[Jean holds out his hand for Naoki. It's also a sign of trusting him, even if he'd be very unsure of something like this with anyone else right now.]

[leftbehindagain]

[Well, that's something, right?

The Interface begins almost as soon as Naoki touches Jean's hand. It's mainly visuals of the Grid - a very dark place, with groups of people apparently designated by the lights on their outfits. To start, those colors are red, blue, and white, with a little green, but some of the later visuals have an ever-increasing amount of yellow.

And because Naoki has yet to pull off an Interface that doesn't include something he wasn't necessarily intending, Jean gets to see the moment the yellow faction was created for himself.]

[rustyhonesty]

[The increasing amount of yellow reminds him of Naoki telling about the rebellion, so it's easy to come to the conclusion the color increase has something to do with that, but instead of actually making a question out of that, he gets to see the moment the yellow ones started to form.

Of course, all the code and program things don't make any sense to him, but it does make him smile. Somehow, he can sense how happy SHIRO is.]

[leftbehindagain]

[Interface is a bit tiring, off the Grid, but right now it's nothing Naoki can't work around. He does raise an eyebrow at Jean's smile, though.]

Well, at least that was a good extra bit. I have yet to get through one of these things without extra information getting in there somehow.

[rustyhonesty]

It was. Naoto's overlay really looked happy for what you two did. [It must have been really important for them.]

It's impressive you can show something like that.

[leftbehindagain]

Yeah. That was... a really good jaunt. Pretty chaotic near the end, but still my favorite. [The rebellion was just... really, really good for him.]

It was extra helpful as a way to pass on information there. You might be able to do the thing now too, it usually seems to work like that.

[rustyhonesty]

Is it a world you'd like to go back to? To see how things are going?

[A good jaunt might have meant you wanted to go back, but also that the story had a good end that you don't want to go there again.]

Really? Maybe I'll try it out, sometime.

[leftbehindagain]

Oh, absolutely. Things were still kind of chaotic when we left, and I want to know if they actually pulled through or not. It helps that I'd have a built-in place to go, too.

[rustyhonesty]

Yeah, that definitely helps. I think... even if Samartia was a bit of a mess, I'd want to go see how my overlay is doing. He'd just joined a family, so I'm curious to know how well he adapted.