public + private

[thornsofmalkav]

Hey, guys? I just came back from this weirdass other place. I'm pretty sure it was like that Tree Hotel that Minako went to back in Newport. I couldn't access the Network or anything. It looked like this:

[And Thorne will stream her memory of looking over the room:

The room is small, intimate. There is no sign of a way in or out. Ping-pong balls crunch underfoot, and empty giftboxes, meticulously wrapped and ribboned, are lined up against one wall, while a humming wall of server blades are racked on the opposite wall. A high-backed, gilt chair with red velvet cushions faces an ornate, full-length mirror, and beside the chair is a mug of steaming hot chocolate on a tiny side table, steaming invitingly from beneath a layer of fifteen half-melted marshmallows.

The stream ends.]

So yeah. That was a thing. Also, uh, I Interfaced with the servers there and they had this to say:

Active Liminal Layers: 4.0
Online Travelers: 84
Online Guests: 1
Offline Travelers: 485

So. Uh. I'm guessing that 'offline' Travelers are the ones in dungeons, but wow. That's a lot of us in dungeons.

[Private to Helena and Naoki:]

Hey. So, uh, I'm asking you two because Helena's a scientist and a woman and Naoki has a lot of alchemy bullshit going on and I'm hoping by now that he's heard from, like, Kanji or something what happened in my dungeon.

Anyway. Uh. I don't suppose you could help me when it comes to birth control? I'd rather not end up having to go back to vampire every other day in lieu of a morning after pill.

Sorry, Naoki. But, like, you're chemistry guy now and I figure it'd be a change from having to counteract whatever heavy metal poisoning we might have been exposed to on a Jaunt.

Comments

[seestheworld]

According to Empress, the 'guest' is baby Rose. She was not particularly forthcoming about the rest of it.

[thornsofmalkav]

... wait, really? What makes her a guest and not a Traveler?

[leftbehindagain]

Huh. Interesting. What do they mean by 'guests'?

[private to Helena and Thorne]

...I hadn't heard, actually, but if you need to worry about birth control now, I guess congratulations are in order. [That was also far more than he needed to know about Thorne's private life, but what can you do.]

It's not a problem I've really considered, so I'd definitely need the backup. But you're right that it'd be a change of pace, at least.

[seestheworld]

She's not getting Marked. Unanimous decision, apparently.

[thornsofmalkav]

Minako says it's Rose.

[private to Helena and Naoki]

Well, I mean, it's only a form change and not permanent. But yeah. Thanks.

[SORRY NAOKI BUT SOMETIMES ADULTS IN RELATIONSHIPS DO THESE THINGS.]

Anyway, it would actually be really beneficial to, like, all the women in liminal if you guys came up with something. So. Yeah.

[thornsofmalkav]

Welp. I guess our hosts have, like, some scruples.

[leftbehindagain]

...That makes a sort of sense, I guess. They may not be nearly as prepared for babies as they are for the rest of us.

[same ol' private line]

I figured, since you mentioned having the switch as an option.

[So do teenagers in relationships, it's just that Naoto's been more than happy to be a dude as her Plan B, and besides she has so little body fat it may not stick anyway.]

That is very true. I certainly don't mind taking it on as a project - God knows we have the time right now.

[willyousee]

Offline... What about the ones we keep seeing over and over? The ones who always infiltrate and never investigate? Could they be included in that? Or...

Or is that perhaps the number of those who were once Travelers and have since been turned away. [Dungeoned or no.]

But... liminal layers.

[leftbehindagain]

The familiar faces?

Based on some of what Minako-san uncovered in Newport, I'm beginning to wonder if we haven't been thinking about them completely backwards. If that's the case, they wouldn't be part of that number.

JUST ON THE PRIVATE LINE NOW

[thornsofmalkav]

[... for someone who's supposed to be so smart, Thorne has yet to realize that Doki-itis might be her salvation in this. Give her time.]

Yeah, seriously. I'm pretty sure we're switching over to round three or phase three or whatever now.

PRIVATE 5EVER (incidentally, also double-protected)

[leftbehindagain]

[She could also be a space rock.]

The barrier made that seem likely, really. I'd guess that side room backs it up.

[thornsofmalkav]

Huh. What do you mean?

[Color her super curious.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Maybe layers mean different liminal spaces that are separate. Like Minako's Tree Hotel or the one I went to.

... that I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who went to.

[leftbehindagain]

She Interfaced both of them to see what she could find out.

The scan came back with them as really the rightful rulers of Britain.

PRIVATE 5EVER (oh hell yes double-protected)

[thornsofmalkav]

[FOR SOMEONE WHO IS SMART SHE IS REALLY DUMB SOMETIMES.

... except going rock or dude to deal with this does make her feel weirdly bad, although not in the same way that going vampire would. (It's probably a raised Catholic thing.)

Honestly, she'd just feel better with something preventatives.]

I'm just glad that I'm on the same side as most of my people.

[thornsofmalkav]

... holy shit.

[leftbehindagain]

No kidding. [He hopes for Naoto's sake that Souji, at least, won't be stuck waiting until the end.]

At least rooms and portals and whatnot can get around it, but it's still annoying.

[leftbehindagain]

I know, right?

So what if we have it backwards? What if they're not the same person infiltrating a lot, but a lot of different people who happen to look the same and fill similar roles? Something about them can be used to keep an eye on us, somehow, but I don't think a regular infiltrator would have scanned like that, especially with all the 'possessing spirits' fuss in Newport.

It'd also go a long way toward explaining how Perry and Mina were in both Questing Country and the bunker the walkabout folks were stuck in.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah, seriously.

[willyousee]

....They were also among those in Dolorosa.

[thornsofmalkav]

I figured they were both just ex-Champions that still could go to Questing Country and did... but that makes even more sense, really.

So basically, Familiar Faces are from Inaba. Like, not actually from Inaba, but same principal. A lot of alternate universe counterparts, is what I'm saying.

[seestheworld]

That and I can't imagine any of us reacting well if they did Mark her.

[And they need Travelers.]

[runawaystory]

485 offline? That's...yeah, that's wow.

...I wonder how many of them are from before Moebius.

[brokers]

The numbers are...unsurprising. Particularly if the tally includes those lost before Moebius, or during other rounds of this game.

[leftbehindagain]

Yeah, I think I talked to Mina in Misericordia.

The more interesting part for this theory would be if they turned up in Sarmatia at the same time as that one. On the other hand, she was a baroness there and the queen in Newport, which backs up the 'similar roles' part.

...Naoto's overlay's boss in Newport was one of them, come to think of it. And she aid when they got paranoid enough to start scanning each other he came back clean.