Right after entering liminal

[wolvering]

By the Crone's saggy, dessicated paps! Those mangy, fly-struck, thrush-footed, worm-begot sons of dungheaps! To Gifnu's deepest hells with you, Trumps. You--

[The tirade continues with more creative swearing and cursing, even slipping into different languages a time or two, for a solid minute more. But eventually Pod runs out of steam, and there's a moment of silence before she addresses the network with more calm.]

So do these Trumps mock everyone with their overlays or am I just that unlucky?

Comments

[solvethepuzzle]

[Hm. That's quite a lot of anger.]

What is it that's made you feel mocked?

[awitchdidit]

It's pretty much everyone.

Also, do you mind if I use some of those profanities later? Some of those were quite excellent.

[comebewe]

...We don't know those languages!

[and if they could convey tone over the network, they would sound amazed. They're not used to not knowing languages]

[wolvering]

What hasn't?

[The lack of tone might make it a little harder to determine exactly how sincere she's being, but she does continue.]

One of my overlays grew up despised as a bad omen just because she was-- an orphan.

[There's a little bit of a pause there, like she was going to say something else and changed her mind.]

Another was a noble of all things! And a priestess to a goddess I've never heard of.

[wolvering]

Um, they aren't anything special but you're welcome to them.

[She's not sure whether she should be flattered--actually she'll go with that. The other part is a relief too.]

Without rhyme nor reason, I'd wager. What fine personalities our hosts have.

[Okay, so it's not very easy to convey sarcasm without tone. Hrm.]

[wolvering]

No one here does.

[Nothing like a little homesickness, but maybe talking about it will be better.]

Mostly it was Kelnethi, but I've picked up quite a bit of Yerrin and Cassorin cursing in my time.

[awitchdidit]

[Don't worry, she got it.]

I'm sure there's a pattern to it. They're juggling multiple peoples' hearts here, and likely take what stabs they are able to at them whenever it doesn't interfere with their greater agenda. Most likely, they think of upsetting us as a motivational tool.

[solvethepuzzle]

[He's familiar with a lack of tone blurring sincerity, since he speaks tonelessly himself. (He is capable of broadcasting tone on the network, but his natural way of speaking is flat.)]

What were you going to say instead of orphan? [Yes, he caught that pause. He's good at things like that. But things like tact? Not his strong point.]

[comebewe]

They remind us a little of some languages we know, but they're definitely not the same.

[pseudologist]

No, they pretty much mock all of us. It's just the frequency and severity that varies.

Are you all right?

[leftbehindagain]

[Naoki opts not to say anything about the tirade. There are more pressing things to be getting on with - and he half wants to ask what was so bad about Rome, of all things.]

The information Naoto got once was that you end up with the overlay that resonates best with you. Unfortunately, that means they can end up hitting too close to home for anyone's comfort more often than not.

[fridgeninja]

It's something they do to all of us. I'm not sure it's on purpose.

...

... Gifnu?

[forcechanic]

They seem to have certain things they latch onto.

[truerevelation]

...That was impressive. Damn.

I'm pretty sure one of 'em was screwin' around with me for my last one... [Thanks, Chariot.]

[darkhourdear]

Sometimes, yeah. [sorry. :(]

You ok?

[wolvering]

There was no way to know if she really was a bastard.

[That comes out quickly, almost defensive.]

Her father could have died while they were forced to make the trip to Bando.

[wolvering]

[Pod snorts, although she doesn't have the necessary skill to convey that either.]

They know people so well, don't they. Seems to me like it would make us more likely to rebel, or take the first chance of leaving them and their agenda behind.

[wolvering]

What languages do they remind you of?

[Pod is genuinely curious. After all, even when people have different names for things, sometimes those things are really the same, or nearly so, underneath the name.]

[wolvering]

I'm just frustrated.

[And bound to have nightmares for a while, although she stops herself from thinking that particular thought at anybody. She hopes.]

It feels like they're laughing at me specifically, and I don't like it. It's almost worse than the questions at home.

[wolvering]

Resonates... But then that really doesn't make sense!

[Because she'd looked like Queen Rani. Exactly. And then without even a breather she was a bastard noble sent off to serve a god and avoid disgrace to the family. How do those things resonate?]

[wolvering]

I'm not sure how it can't be.

[But it doesn't look like they'd get further on that, so topic shift. Useful question for it too!]

Gifnu is the Yerrin god of the underworld and judgement. Those who do bad things in life get punished down in his hells.

[wolvering]

I hope they give up in my case, really. It's getting very frustrating.

[wolvering]

Of course, because why stop at one? Or three or a hundred!

[Pod takes a moment to sigh heavily.]

What were you on the last one?

[wolvering]

I'm fine, just frustrated. They just keep after the same thing; it's like picking at a scab.

[leftbehindagain]

How so?