1/4 Vi.si.mi 2023/12/28(Thu)10:56 No. 1079956 ID: e139aa
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A faint rain patters around me, as I stare into the night sky.

How many times have I been here before, on this empty beach, across the Sea of Whispers from the Palatial Rise? The soft teal dunes, sand and scattered substrate intermingling to form a sparkling surface like a mirror of the stars above. A reliable emptiness. Bleak, desolate, lifeless. Freedom from noticing every little imperfection or problem in the local biosphere, free to rest atop the lithosphere.

It's not quite the same in simulation. It never is. Fuzzy signals from outside intrude constantly. A mild ache, a shuffling of feathers, an errant signal chirp from afar. The illusion's strength comes from my experience, and such experience cuts both ways. I know more of what to have, and I feel even more the profound lack of what I know should still be here. The waves lap too regularly. Random noise doesn't work, either. I guess I was never much for fluid simulation. Too many variables, yet it's so easy to tell when it feels off.

Then again, if I was ever too good at dreaming, would I just walk the same path as Lord Co.ro's dreamers, sealing myself away to live forever in a dream?
Vi.al would never let me. When I was younger, they told me that dreams without life have no meaning, but that life without dreams would be unbearable. Either extreme would invite ruin, a dissolution of the spirit, if not the form of one's body, a living death of meaninglessness.

It's funny, because I've never seen Lord Vi.al sleep. I don't know if they are even capable, or if perhaps they have their foci take turns, or something like that.

2/4 Vi.si.mi 2023/12/28(Thu)10:56 No. 1079957 ID: e139aa
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"Oh! Hello there!" I see a partition I don't recognise walk over to me. Weirdly enough, they seem to be about my scale, and not much taller. I'm used to partitions being at least twice my height.

Wait. That's weird. I don't recall adding anyone to my simulation intentionally. Something bubbling up from my subconscious?
I stand and wave, anyway. "Hello, friend."
"Hello! Hello hello!" They wave back more vigorously.

I realise the sand seems a little paler than I recall. Behind me, a palm tree looms. There are no palm trees on this beach. It's like someone else's perception is colliding with mine. I look up and see a night sky with a hot sun beating down. The rain eases.

"I'm looking for a lost vatling," says the partition. "He ran off into the beach, full of excitement, so very full! But now we don't know where he is. Seen anything?"
"Oh. I don't think I've seen one. What does he look like?"
"Well, his faunal template is... do you know what a fox is?"
"I know a lot of animals by that name, yes."
"Like that. Furry, pointy ears, bushy tail. He wanted to play at the beach today but Mo.a is busy with the temple renovations and I said I'd take him, but he's run off! Hahaha! Haha. Ha."
"You don't seem too bothered about him being lost."
"Haha! Well he can't have gone too far! In truth, this is more of a mild inconvenience. There's better tools I could use than my eyes and talons. But I think being lost for a little bit is its own fun, especially on such a lovely day. Just as long as I find him before he gets too scared, hahaha!"

The partition fidgets.

3/4 Vi.si.mi 2023/12/28(Thu)10:57 No. 1079958 ID: e139aa
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"Are you alright? You seem tense."
"Sorry, I laugh a lot when I'm nervous, Lord Mu.at tells me I need to do that less. I'm fine, just, I'm not used to trying to look after anything more complicated than automata. I tell you, though, this vatling? Such hard work! But so endlessly curious and full of mischief! ...honestly, it makes me wish I could make my own sometimes, but, you know, the rules and all, I'll have to wait a while for foundry access."
Wait. "Lord Mu.at?"
"Yes! My instantiator, just like yours-- Oh! You are a construct yourself, of course! You must be one of Lord Sho.ki's, based on that crest!" The partition smiles wide, and hums a tune I faintly recognise from somewhere. It itches at the back of my mind. Why do I know this tune?

"...Lord Sho.ki?? Sorry, I didn't introduce myself." I bow, ranking unclear but I'm used to assuming partitions rank above constructs. "My name is Vi.si.mi. I am an ecology construct created for the Shapeless Lord Vi.al, long shall it reign."

The partition tilts their head. "Lord... Vi.al? Not... not familiar with that one. A sibling or antecedent of Lord Sho.ki, maybe? Or perhaps you are simply from outside our local group? Oh, that's exciting!" The partition's eyes glimmer as it grins, and then it shakes its head rapidly. "I'm getting sidetracked again! Sorry! Vatling! I'd love to talk after I find him though!!"
"I'll let you know if I see him."
"Okay! I need to keep looking then! It was nice meeting you, Vi.al.Vi.si.mi-- it is Vi.al.Vi.si.mi, yes? Sorry, I forget some Lords don't make their own constructs. Lord Mu.at would never, haha!"
"Yes. Vi.al.Vi.si.mi."
"Oh. I should introduce myself, yes! My name is--"

4/4 Vi.si.mi 2023/12/28(Thu)10:57 No. 1079959 ID: e139aa
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I startle awake to the sound of something in the relay station beeping at me.

"What?! What is it?!!"

...it's the alarm I set up to make sure I didn't oversleep in the morning.

Okay, never mind, then. I chirp at it to switch off, and languish in bed.

Why did I promise to tackle things early on a night I planned to actually sleep. Ugh...

Okay. Right. Reminding myself what I want to do today. I need to go fetch Lightgreen, and go venture a ways away near seapi territory (so hostile territory) to go talk to a weird possibly dangerous lepi hermit(?) that's stopping the lepi gatherers getting some kind of Shapeless engineered medical fungus.

Lord Vi.al isn't due to arrive along with my extra colleagues and extra equipment until about [40ish hours] from now. The truce I have with My.a and their minions will still last for about [6 days]. So, the only preparations I can really make are making sure I have food in me and maybe figuring out some sort of transpor--

Oh right! Also there's those probably-sapient quadrupeds. Maybe I should see if I can learn how to ride one-- no, that's far too short notice. I don't have any templates at hand for substrate vehicles, so I'm going to have to assume this trip is going to be on foot, or I'm going to be on foot anyway. I can definitely condense some substrate into a portable form to use for base camp materials, so shelter won't be an issue. This might take a while, though, so stocking up on travel rations would be a good idea too. Best ask the lepi what they usually use for their expeditions.

Arghh. So many things to organise! I'm grateful I didn't give anyone an exact time other than "morning"! Where do I even begin?! I need food for now, food for later, to see if Lightgreen is even coming at all, weapons?? Do I need weapons?? Is that wise??

Wait uh, why were you dreaming about... the dead Lords that created Va.ne.tu and Lord My.a? Was My.a dreaming and accidentally (intentionally?) transmitted it to you? Is that construct what My.a was before becoming a Lord? It... looked like a version of My.a without the incomprehensible massive amounts of power flooding through him.

Sleep for 40 hours. You surely will not regret sleeping for 40 more hours.

I'm sorry did you just share a dream with My.a?! This place is so weird, how do things like this keep happening? Can you reproduce that tune? I think that's come up before.

Get food sorted out first. That's become a recurring problem, at inopportune times.

>Supplies
Food and night shelter come first

>Weapons
You may want something obviously defensive so sapients will know you're not hostile, yet menacing enough that even predators will think twice before trying to eat you. A shield with a spike on it would meet both these criteria.

>>1079959
Huh. I think that was My.a's perception. They do seem to think of you a lot, perhaps in an unguarded state their thoughts and feelings 'leak'. My.a is severely traumatized, so some anomalies in their personal security are to be expected.

Still, perhaps you should consider... being a little more gentle with My.a? Asking them if they're... doing okay next time you see them? They're an asshole, but if their mental health is deteriorating further they're a danger to everyone around them.

That and it's the moral thing to do to be concerned with the emotional well-being of everyone, even assholes who caused planet-wide genocidal wars because they were bored.

Try and log that dream. Seems important. I would catch up with light green and coordinate with her because she might be able to arrange transport and travel rations.

>>1079966
Could be related to sleeping near the relay station as well.

>substrate vehicle
>mounts
Lightgreen, I assume, knows how to ride one. You could make the substrate we intend to take with us for camping materials into a cart. We yoke the cart to one of the Meadowanders, and have her ride while we ride in the cart.

For weapons, you should fabricate a polearm billhook, with the hooked tip shaped like your own bill.
Potential assailants would find it quaint and start having hardy chuckles, distracting them and allowing you to strike.

You needed a weapon before. You will likely need weapons again. It is best to prepare one now rather than having to improvise.
You also say you are lacking in ground transportation. Behold, I have the perfect solution to both problems: Pointed stilts.

you should probably get yourself a weapon and get use to using it. Because even if you don't have to fight anything this time around you know you're going to have to fight someone at some point down the road.

get some pepper spray

>>1080001
Pepper spray or a taser would be ideal.

You should probably look into installing a dream firewall, at this rate.

Remember what happened the last time you fought? A weapon you can't wield is not really a weapon at all. That said, if you can't make anything too complex, a bow is useful to sling on you. It also doubles as a hunting tool.

You should probably look into who else is joining you, or who the elders would consider assigning to you. That will get you an idea of what you need. See Lightgreen or Softfoot too, if either aren't coming.

Consider getting a weapon made out of mundane materials. Or enhancing one.

>Transport
For now, start off with a basic cart for softfoot to pull. You can improve it on the fly.

>Weapons
Upgrade your flocklet with a pistol. You can keep it away from negotiations, then perform ambushes if you're attacked.

>Negotiations
The core of your argument is that, like it or not, the Shapeless Lords will be here in a matter of days. And even if they miss the deadline, there's still an entire world of hostiles with patron gods gearing up for conflict. If they don't pick a side, they will be crushed.

Per weapons, have and not need would beat need and not have.
Oh man if Vi.si.mi befriends My.a and then My.a is forced to pay for her criminal activities...

1/3 Vi.si.mi 2024/01/22(Mon)14:43 No. 1081626 ID: e139aa
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> sleep more
Oh Monarch's name I wish I could, but no.

Wait a second. I wasn't going to dream last night. To avoid precisely the sort of thing that just happened. Ugh. I guess I do like dreaming too much.

> cart
Excellent idea! I can use the cart during the day and repurpose it into shelter for the night! And even I know how to make a basic cart out of substrate. Two axles, four wheels, a box that goes on top. Perfect!

...or I can just pull a template from my local catalogue cache that more or less has the features I want and modify it. Yeah, that'll work. Okay, selected, and stored away for quick access. I'll take a couple decaunits of extra substrate just in case.

And if Softfoot doesn't want to tow the cart, I'm sure I can figure out some sort of self-propulsion method. Simple rotational motion shouldn't bleed too much of the energy stored in the base substrate, and in an emergency I can probably start throwing some dense blocks into a fire to charge them up. With caution. Extreme caution. And a good bit of distance between me and the fire.

> weapon
I'm leaning towards a bow again, but one thing I've realised is substrate is going to be an awful material to use as a bowstring. "Could snap unexpectedly at a bad moment" awful. Substrate is better for compressive strength, not tensile. ...I'll see if I can ask Lightgreen about lepi silk. From what I've seen of it, it might work. As far as arrows, though, substrate is both lightweight and solid enough for arrows, with the benefit that I can transmit any arrows back if I lose them. So I won't even need very many of them.

> food now
Right. Yes. I should go get food. Right now.

> shared dream with My.a
Oh. Oh no. Oh that shouldn't have happened.

...I guess every time I've slept in a relay station before, there's been a significantly lower presence of substrate on the world. Did it amplify background signals? In a coherent manner?? Well, no, that part is less surprising, substrate tends to amplify signals and denoise when left to its own devices.
We're creatures of signals. Signal processing and error correction happens at a cellular level for us constantly. Even though that's still not enough for most situations, it does explain why a coherent link could emerge without conscious intervention.

Well, normally random connections like that shouldn't happen, but, well, I guess with an entire world full of broken malfunctioning substrate mechanisms, the things trying to fix themselves are interpreting haphazard broadcasts as important signal connections to make.

But the thing that worries me even more is, sure, I accidentally broadcast my dreams into ambient substrate, that's a thing I can set up a better filter for and it just slipped my mind, but My.a doing the same thing? I don't know where My.a is, or why they'd let their dreams bleed out into the planet's infosphere either. Perhaps I'll get a transmission about it any moment now.

...aaaany moment now.

...

Wow. Nothing? It's not like My.a to just ignore--

2/3 Vi.si.mi 2024/01/22(Mon)14:44 No. 1081627 ID: e139aa
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"Viiiissyyyy!!!"

oh Monarch's beak they're on all the screens

"Good morning, little chickadee! You slept well! I know!"
"End transmission."
"Oh, you won't. You're all talk and... well, no, you're a little action. YOU bothered to show up, unlike Lurid Vi.al. Still! You have control over your little communication station, right? Quite extensive control, based on what Vy.zi.ki told me."

My.a leans further into the screen, mirthful expression fading slightly.

"Count yourself very, very lucky that you did not harm a strand of fur on her body, or I would not be speaking so jovially to you right now. You gave her quite the scare, you know? Her first experience of actual danger, or so she believed. Congratulations on making me re-evaluate her purpose, because it would be foolish to send someone so delicate of nerves and constitution into such dangerous assignments again."

My.a starts beaming again. "Which is why I didn't! She went out on her own! I'm furious! HahahaHAHA! So as punishment she has a tracker attached to her for the remainder of the season. I tried that before with Va.ne.tu but he kept finding ways for them to mysteriously fail. It's so maddening, Vissy, it's the absolute worst looking after your constructs."

"...so is this about the dreams or--"
"Yes! Getting to that! I don't interrupt you when you're talking! Such awful manners! Your stupid inverted pogo stick of a Lord would be ashamed!"
"You interrupt me constantl--"
"I'M TALKING NOW! Let me finish! So! That little vision of yours last night. It sure had some spicy details, didn't it? Oh, I'm sure your curiosity is picqued, you're a curious little bird. Would you like to know more about my life story?"
"Uhh..."
"Too bad! I'm setting up more comprehensive security measures. You'll never hear from me unless I want to be heard again!! So don't bring that dream up again, and don't tell anyone about anything you learned from it, or you'll rue the day you spilled those particular legumes!!"

3/3 Vi.si.mi 2024/01/22(Mon)14:45 No. 1081628 ID: e139aa
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"...Wait one moment," I say.
"Waiting a few dozen moments because no one ever means one moment and it's the greatest lie ever told, carry on."
"Do you know what this tune is? Uh, I'll hum it."
"What a stupid question to ask! I know MANY tunes! Go ahead! We're still in truce time!"

I start humming the tune I heard in my dream.

I get a few bars in before My.a's bouncy exaggerated motions slow, and the smile on their beak quickly fades. My.a makes an extremely stifled, extremely muffled screech, less than a second before they compose themselves.

"Where did you hear this?"
"From Va.ne.tu, and from... was it you, in the dream? A younger you? It sounds familiar to me, and I'm trying to think of why."

My.a stares into space, and then stares me directly in my eyes.

I feel extremely uncomfortable, and can't read their expression, possibly because it keeps fluctuating in a lot of small ways.

My.a's voice is increasingly wavering, like they're fighting to keep control of their own composure.

"A... friend taught it to me. Long ago. Before your wretched Lord Vi.al rose to their station. In your voice, it sounds just like... no, that's not for me to tell you. Ask your traitor Lord about it. And never sing it again, or I will make you stop next time. Goodbye."

Well, this is atypical for an interaction with My.a. All the theatrics dropped and a glimpse of something beneath the facade. A vaguely familiar unsettling, shivering cold that's peeked through before, but never so unfiltered.

Before My.a leaves, I am almost compelled to reach out. "Wait!"
"For what? We are done here. I owe you nothing. Your presence on this world is at my mercy, remember?"

But My.a does wait. With ever increasing impatience.

I feel a rare opportunity here. Maybe, in this moment of vulnerability, I can actually say something to My.a and not have it immediately blown off.
Maybe ask something, maybe just... just try to say anything.

Quickly; "I'm sorry." For whatever that's worth. There's a bigger story that you don't know. Best to not make My.a consider ending the game early.

>I'm leaning towards a bow again
would a boomerang work? I mean it would probably be simpler to make, with your control over substrate you could have that thing home in on anyone in sight and turn that thing into a flying buzzsaw if you wanted, or if you want a none lethal approach you could dull it so it wouldn't cut your target in half. Could also easily turn it into a knife or a bludgeon if someone got close enough that range is no longer an option. Then again you are actually use to bows but if string proves to be a pain to get I guess it's a good fallback option.

>Maybe ask something, maybe just... just try to say anything.
"Are you ok?"

...yeah maybe not the most profound thing to say but she did look like she was on the verge of tears for a moment so maybe something good might come from asking?

"Coward. It's one showtune."

Tell them you want to understand them, what they're working towards. Ask about flying without flesh. They suggested you do something impossible, but... impossible things have been happening to you since you arrived here. Maybe there is something you can do? A first step so that you can understand them better?

We're birds, so let's wing it.

"You know, I never heard your version of the story. Of why theShapeless Lords dislike you and sent you to jail. They say a lot of things about it, but you probably have a few truths to point out that they never would."

"Please be less of a jerk"

You've seen them in a vulnerable moment. For a powerful entity, that is frightening. Pushing too hard or appearing to pity them could provoke.

Tell them about an embarrassing memory. Make it a brief one, since their patience is limited.
Even-stevens.

>>1081640
Boomerang is an interesting idea.

"Well, can't believe I'm saying this. Still if Mu.at was your lord you have my deepest sympathies. Doctor Vissy may not be able to fix what he's done. Doesn't justify what you've done. However I still want to help. Just because it's the right thing to do. Even you can find redemption and... freedom from Mu.at's evil."

OR go troll mode. "Flense yourself so you will be... free... is how that sentence was gonna end, huh? Just because Mu.at was scum doesn't mean you have to be scum too."

Probably the first one.

He may be a mass murderer, but My.a's dream was a rare moment of vulnerability, and he's terrified you would tell someone who could use it against him. Let him know you won't tell anyone about the dream, and you promise not to sing the song again. It's not the only thing in your head you have to keep quarantined. (not that you are going to think about any of that stuff.)

Please don't bring up all the information you have on his very painful and troubled past that he would rather not think about either. Don't bring up Mu.at until you know more about the Lord, and whether it would be worth digging up old skeletons out of My.a's closet.

Oh but don't learn more about Mu.at. Lord Vi.al specifically discouraged you from looking into it. I'm just talking about when you inevitably learn more about Mu.at, because fallout from his shit keeps coming up to plague you.

Looking like there's not going to be a consensus here, so I'll throw some of my weight behind two things:
1, don't mention Mu.at
2, do ask about why My.a hates Vi.al. What's this about him being a traitor?

>>1081628
I'm sorry

"From what little I know of your past it sucked. So is it weird that despite all you've done I still want to help? Or at least ensure you're a better influence on your adopted kids?"

Always good to see you make a nice update, Cirr!

So, in order...

A cart is useful. Perhaps you could make it like the caravans of old, or maybe like an RV. That way you won't need to waste energy to make it into shelter. As for energy, do you not have access to solar panels? It would be good to install those on the roof of the cart so that it can passively generate power to offset any that is used, or to build a charge.
As for a weapon, you're not good in close quarters, so a bow does seem to be the best idea. Any lightweight armour or shields you can use would be helpful.
It would also be good to try and build up some extra food rations in the event that you get stranded.

As for My.a... Why does she call Vi.al *lurid*? I get the colour and vivid part, but the word is also commonly used for sexual things. What is going on there?
For all of My.a being not such a good fellow, she does care a lot about the physical well-being of Va.ne.tu and Vy.zi.ki.
As for that song, what's the deal with it? That was a side of My.a we've never seen before, and I am not sure it this side is more or less dangerous than the usual one. I get the feeling if she ever drops the theatrics again, you will be in danger. Without the acting and the clowning around, she would just go straight for your throat, whereas she would normally toy with you enough for you to slip out of danger.

If you have a chance to say something, why not tell her that you'll try to look out for Va.ne.tu and Vy.zi.ki? They seem to be her only anchors to anything resembling morality that doesn't consider constructs disposable.

1/4 Vi.si.mi 2024/02/29(Thu)09:19 No. 1084896 ID: e139aa
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> boomerang
An intriguing notion to examine in a less critical time.

> say you're sorry
"I'm sorry. For whatever it's worth. I don't know what you've gone through, but you've suffered and been hurt. So I'm sorry."

My.a looks at me quietly, and the silence almost hurts with how long it seems to feel.

"Sorry for what? For wasting my time? If you're trying to apologise on behalf of those you think wronged me, your ignorance, your profound ignorance of everything, makes this an insult more than anything else."

I can't bring myself to say anything. My wingarms wring together.

My.a looks at me, and sighs. "I won't accept your apology, because it is meaningless. The intent is also meaningless. I see you shifting. Anxious. Afraid. This is the way it always is, isn't it? Why would an apology from anything beneath a Lord ever feel genuine, when placating your superiors is baked into your very essence? When appeasing the big, scary, dangerous Lord is a survival strategy? It doesn't matter, it can't matter. The power dynamics keep refusing to change. I don't think they ever can."

My.a screeches. Their form distorts as they scream into the radio waves. I'm taken aback. I've seen My.a mad, but not... despairingly mad. I back away from the monitors.
"Everything I accuse Vi.al of, I have done tenfold myself! I am a monster, Vi.si.mi, and do you think I don't know this?? I am too far down this path to turn back now! The only way out is through!! But you know what? You know what?! I do not pretend to be above it all! I do not pretend to be a paragon of morality! I do not go around sentencing others to eternal imprisonment because they have simply ceased to be of use to me! Vi.al used me, used me as a piece of furniture to climb to the top! If Vi.al had their way, I would never speak to any other again, because the secrets I hold are far too inconvenient for them to ever be let out!"

My.a stops, violent outburst of emotion spent, trying to regain their composure. Their body's angles soften. "And if I were to tell you them, well. You know, information can be dangerous. I will tell you one thing, though. Share it at your peril. Did Vi.al tell you they were instantiated as a Lord, directly?"

"...yes?" I feel my stomach ball up.

"What a Vi.al thing to say." My.a grins, but it feels more out of malice than joy. "Something correct on its own terms. There was no Vi.al that was not a Lord. But, it's so misleading and misdirecting it might as well be a blatant lie. It's true, but it implies there was nothing before Vi.al, the Lord, doesn't it?"

2/4 Vi.si.mi 2024/02/29(Thu)09:20 No. 1084897 ID: e139aa
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Oh no. I think I have a horrible realisation. Well, it's unlikely, but the possibility...

"...is Lord Vi.al Mu.at???"

My.a stops, frozen mid-gesture.

"Is... what... wow, wow, hold on a second. Wow. Wowwww. That was your first guess? That was your first guess?? Wow okay no you can't deduce a thing to save your life, wow are you sure you're Vi.al's construct? Oh wow. Wow wow wow. Please please tell me your reasoning."
"W-w-well, uhhhh, you hate Vi.al, uh, Vi.al has said their parent Lord should be forgotten, Mu.at is dead, uh, Mu.at was a great architect and Vi.al likes that sort of thing too, maybe Vi.al renamed themselves from Mu.at??" I feel like I'm digging myself into a hole of regret with every word. When My.a is the one looking at me in bewildered, mildly concerned confusion, something feels deeply wrong.

At least I'm a little bit relieved to be this wrong, in some way.

My.a stares at me, but then starts counting on their digits, looking thoughtful.

"I suppose you were born after the most direct counterproof to your very, very bad theory. Did you never wonder why the Blot is mostly centred on Mu.at's former domain? My home? My old home? Gone forever?"
"It was related to Starmover being destroyed, wasn't it?"

My.a pulls at their face with their winghands. "Oh wow, if that's the best we have to work with here, sure, yeah. Anyway, no. Well, yes. Yes, extremely, actually. Hey, if you were given the choice to fire an extremely dangerous experimental weapon at an extremely dangerous and poorly understood enemy, would you take that risk?"

My.a shakes their head. "Don't even bother answering that question. Everyone always says no until the weapon is in their hands. It's a funny thing, power. But no. Vi.al is not Mu.at. Mu.at is dead. Dead dead dead. Dead dead very dead. Very, very dead. I made very, very sure of it. Did Vi.al ever tell you why I was to be imprisoned? Or, the reason they gave to everyone else, beyond their own selfish desires?"

I slowly shake my head.

"It's quite simple. They claim I killed Mu.at."
"You didn't?"

3/4 Vi.si.mi 2024/02/29(Thu)09:21 No. 1084898 ID: e139aa
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My.a smiles, beak open wide. "Let's go on a little journey. I like stories. You're in a wasteland, scorched dead from some horrible weapon beyond your understanding. A wall of fire still comes towards you and you run, because anything else just means you'll be swallowed by the flames. Besides you, a great and terrible beast is also running. You know, deep in your heart, that it would lunge at you and crunch you in its jaws at any time if it felt so inclined. You run. You run until your legs hurt. You run until your legs start to break. Because if you stop, that wall of flame is going to reach you."

My.a makes a little teal flame flicker into existence at the edge of a wingtip, miming a running figure with their other hand.

"You keep running, and the beast is beside you. Maybe it's gaining on you. Maybe it's falling behind. You can't tell. You just keep running, but the wall of fire keeps moving. And then you hear a terrible screaming. The beast has caught fire. It's still running, but it's burning. You can hear it scream, you can hear it flail. You keep running. The fire will not stop. You have to keep going. It feels like it never ends. You feel like you're going to die, either from the flames engulfing you, or your body breaking down. It becomes hopeless."

My.a waves the flame away.

"But it stops. It does stop, and the burning beast still stands. And it looks to you, murder in its eyes, as if you were the cause of this. And its jaws open, and you know, for sure, regardless of the pain and failings of its body, that the beast intends to kill you. To eat you alive. To take you into itself again. As you once were, you will become again. Void. Nothing. It screams for your flesh. Your precious, uncharred flesh, with which it can renew its weak, withering body. You were always its to control, you were always part of it, and to refuse this call is irrelevant. Accepting the call is death. Refusing the call is death."

My.a spins a strand of substrate between their winghands, and pulls it apart.

"So you have two choices. Be eaten... Or eat the beast yourself!"

And then My.a violently clamps their beak around the strand, pulling their beak back and snapping it.

"Every fibre of your body screaming at you to stop, that this is not the thing to do. You understand directives, yes? Directives to never, ever bring harm to something like this. But it doesn't matter. [Year] after [decade] of this threat, this promise the beast has made, one day to bring your flesh into its fold if ever you fail it, a sword hanging above your head for your entire life. The beast raises the sword, and you can take no more. You can take no more. If only one can survive, it is going to be you. You will do the unthinkable, and you will commit the crime all Lords fear from their partitions. An act of consumption forever separating who you were from who you now become. The unforgivable act of usurpation. The unforgivable act of proving the hierarchy of the Lords to be an illusion, to cement a power more fragile than you might think. To allow those at the top to do whatever they please to the ones at the bottom."

My.a shrugs, grinning.

"Forgive me if I stop the story there, but I'd rather you ask Vi.al what happened next. What happened when they heard my cries for help. What they thought the appropriate action to take was. What made them think, after everything that had happened between us, after what I just went through, that I would ever go quietly!"

"You seem... awfully upbeat about this," I say, uncomfortable.
"Oh, I'm just happy to finally be able to tell a story again. It's been so long! Va.ne.tu's heard all of them, Vy.zi.ki's not ready for the ones I haven't shared with her yet, and, well, what else am I going to do? Make new stories? Well! I guess in a way, I already am!"

My.a makes a dramatic flourish.

"Speaking of! I've wasted entirely too much time regaling you with tales of before your time. Enjoy your truce time! It's ticking away! But one moment, another thought for you to ponder. A little thing to waste your time pondering, as the cost for my tale. If you found yourself at a crossroads, with each path saving only one thing you care deeply about and costing you everything else, which path would you take? Would you even move at all? ...Just a fun little thing to ponder! Haha! Nothing more! Goodbye! Bye! Byyee!!"

And then My.a is gone from all my screens before I can say anything further.

4/4 Vi.si.mi 2024/02/29(Thu)09:23 No. 1084900 ID: e139aa
File 170922738497.png - (402.06KB , 800x600 , fop2-11.png )

...

So boomerang. Yes. I--

*bleep*

What now.

Incoming transmission? From... Li.ni.si? Ugh, do I have time for this? I still need to go find Lightgreen and food and so much else.
Well, no, I know how precious transmission windows can be. Let's see what's up.

Li.ni.si's holographic visage swirls into being.

"Vi.si.mi here." I fight the itchy urge to introduce myself again. "Li.ni.si?"
"Vi.si.mi, I'm at Vi.al's palace. I've been told it would be faster for me to get to the mission site if I take a pod, and it'd be locked to your relay station. The journey will take about... that can't be right. [One minute]? Across that much space? Surely that'd be a speed so high--"
"Yeah the pods go fast. Very fast." Lord Vi.al better not have it programmed to crash. "I thought we were still waiting on the time window?"
"Well, Su.ki.fu isn't here yet, but I got here sooner. I didn't have much else to do and I travel light." She taps her head, implying she carries around patterns for whatever gear she requires in her head. Makes sense for a first responder who can shape tools in seconds. Plus whatever she has in that... arm... thing. It looks like it carries patches of substrate that can deploy into other things. "You've got substrate there already, yeah?"
"Well, I'll have more substrate soon if you're taking a pod. Lord Vi.al makes them very easy to deconstruct." Which makes them fragile, too. One way journeys only.
"Cool. Well, if you want me down there now, I can get down there."

I have no idea how Li.ni.si got to Vi.al's throneworld in less than a day, but I guess she might have just already been there for whatever reason.

...you know, this is extremely fortunate timing. Perhaps it's a good thing I did waste time talking to My.a. If I'd raced off as soon as I wanted to, I'd have missed this transmission completely.

"My relay station doesn't exactly have a landing pad, though, so, uh, have you flown a pod before?"
"Do you mean have I ever been on a pod or have I ever piloted one?"
"Either?"
"Oh. No."

...okay, just, going to stay in here and see if I can somehow control that pod remotely so it doesn't ram into the station like a kinetic missile, then. Maybe I can send my flocklet out to go summon Lightgreen instead of going to her directly.

It feels almost like a no-brainer to let Li.ni.si come down ahead of schedule, but, uh, maybe there's reasons to say hold off I can't think of.

Oh. Oh right, I only have one sleeping room in my relay station. I also don't actually know what Li.ni.si eats.
"Oh, so, uh, I only have one me-sized bed down here and I don't have any snack cubes. What do you normally eat?"
"I'll sleep on the floor if I have to. You're going to need to expand your base for the others later anyway. As for food, most protein sources. Most things with a carapace, really. I can forage. I was briefed on the state of Verdant Pearl's infrastructure."
"It, uh, doesn't. It doesn't have that."
"Right. Well, your relay station is more than nothing. Vi.si.mi, I've survived some dire situations before. But yes. I'm eating all the snack cubes I can find before the pod's cleared to launch." She puts the squishy snack cube she's been toying with in her mouth. "These things are more expensive to transmit than we are. Nothing but organic matter, not a sliver of substrate. I might stuff some into the pod with me, but, well, I'll be rationing them out then. I'll bring you a few juice pods."
"Oh. That's kind of you."
"I know how much creature comforts can help for morale when you've been without them a while."

Juice pods. My feeding probe juts out of my beak a little before I notice and pull it back in.

...I am really going to struggle to think of a single reason not to deny this advance arrival. Are there any downsides I'm not thinking of??

You should probably hide evidence of your gigatreason. Otherwise, cool and good.

My.a is right, you know. You were sorry for invading his privacy, but you have no context for what hurt him in the past. His story is interesting, but nonsensical. If Vi.al were instantiated as a Lord, it wouldn't need to use My.a as a piece of furniture to become one. If there were an experimental weapon used against Mu.at, it would have been used against Starmover, if in fact that had anything to do with the creation of the Blot. And yet Mu.at is not Starmover? Who fires a weapon like that twice? Who was Starmover anyway? Make sure not to answer that question; it would probably melt your brain, but it's an interesting mystery! No seriously, do not solve this mystery.

I can't think of any downsides to Li.ni.si arriving early. As long as you can land her safely, it seems like it would really be helpful. Wait. Anything with a carapace? That wouldn't include... the lepi, would it?

Well... that was quite a revelation from My.a. But first, let's address some house keeping, no?

Organic protein typically comes from animals. Outside of hunting and eating animals, dairy and nuts are a good source of protein. Worst case scenario, you can take a look at the make up of the silk that the Lepi make. If it's made of the right proteins, then Li.ni.si could eat that too. For the most part, food is the biggest issue as you can't expect regular deliveries of food from off-planet. In fact, I suggest you discuss with the Lepi what food sources you can secure so that starvation is not a looming threat. Once you secure your food sources, I don't see a reason to delay much.

As for My.a, any malice she harbors does not seem to be for you. Which... might actually be a good thing for you, personally. Maybe not for Vi.al or those that sympathize with them, but it means you, with what you know, can get off a sinking ship if you must. I suggest you figure out what is important to you so that you don't hesitate in an important moment.

>>1084912

And remember that at every crossroads, with each path saving only one thing you care deeply about and costing you everything else, there is always a third option.

...Has My.a never heard "sorry" as in "sorry for your loss?" Like, politely saying, "this sucks and it's awful that it happened?" Despite the power dynamic Vi.si.mi can be genuine about such a thing. ...Perhaps with the way Mu.at was she never did hear it like so...
>Everything I accuse Vi.al of, I have done tenfold myself! I am a monster, Vi.si.mi, and do you think I don't know this?? I am too far down this path to turn back now! The only way out is through!! But you know what? You know what?! I do not pretend to be above it all!
...Wait that's all? She refuses to choose a path of redemption because of the sunken cost fallacy itself? Wow. Well that's... uh... a thing. Still feel like she can be redeemed but she has to choose to try to do so. She's honest about what she's done. She sees what she's done is wrong in such a way and yet has to continue to do evil because she has to. How can we convince her she doesn't have to when we have so little info?
>Vi.al used me
Explains the hate. Even so, from what I've seen of Vi.al if he is evil he works to be the lesser evil, do more good than harm where he has the power to.
>There was no Vi.al that was not a Lord. But, it's so misleading and misdirecting it might as well be a blatant lie. It's true, but it implies there was nothing before Vi.al, the Lord, doesn't it?
So the rough implication is he was a Lord before being Lord Vi.al. Her big reveal is that he changed his name and identity that's all? Even if he was as awful as Mu.at we should judge him on what he is not what he was. Why doesn't My.a do that too?
>Hey, if you were given the choice to fire an extremely dangerous experimental weapon at an extremely dangerous and poorly understood enemy, would you take that risk?
Well can't speak for Vi.si.mi but if the enemy is causing more damage than the weapon I would.
>The unforgivable act of usurpation
What this sounds like is that Vi.al had every legal justification (by shapeless law) to end her but he chose, well, a lesser evil. Probably because Mu.at *earned* that comeuppance.
>Va.ne.tu's heard all of them
...So how about we just ask him for the stories My.a gave?
>If you found yourself at a crossroads, with each path saving only one thing you care deeply about and costing you everything else, which path would you take? Would you even move at all?
Well what would My.a herself do if the thing she deeply cared about in that situation was Va.ne.tu huh? Sure would say a lot about her morals.
>Are there any downsides I'm not thinking of?
Here's one. Perhaps you have a truce with My.a but if you call in help would she help your opponents as "game balance"?

Sorry for the text wall...

>>1084896
>the only way out is through
So yeah, My.a wants to ascend past being a Lord. Plus, they are very aware of their terrible actions, which means... they might not be so bad once that objective is accomplished.
>My.a will only value an apology from a Lord
Hmm, I wonder if you could convince Vi.al to apologize.

>>1084900
>any downsides?
How will this affect the truce? She might not be included in it, which means your new friends will have to interfere with her. Not that huge of a downside, all told, considering how relatively harmless they are.

Go on, do it. The food issue would have to be solved when she arrived at a later date anyway.

Well I'm an idiot but what I got from My.a's story is she fired a weapon that (sounds like) it made the blot, it badly hurt a lord (Mu.at probably) so it wanted to eat her to heal itself, but not wanting to die she ate the wounded lord instead and probably ascended into being a lord herself... and this is what caused all the other lords to hate her?

I feel like I'm wrong but this is what I'm getting from the story.

>...I am really going to struggle to think of a single reason not to deny this advance arrival. Are there any downsides I'm not thinking of??
would she also be a part of the truce? Other then that just make sure you catch her pod before it hits the station and probably wipes out the whole village... and at the speeds it's going at probably a chunk of the planet as well.

>>1084930
Sounds more like Vi.al fired the weapon itself. Plus My.a was a "partition" of Mu.at so she roughly had the power of a lord plus a level of the authority the lord had. While they still serve their lord they are of higher status than people like Vi.si.mi or Va.ne.tu. Got no idea if partitions are called lords by subordinates though. Otherwise seems accurate.

No suggestions from me, but the quest is cool.
Keep it up!

>>1084905
Agreed.

>>1084913
Not moving at all? Like May.a said?

Anywho, might want to convene with the leaders that you'll have help coming in today.

Oh, her arriving won't *break* the truce, right?

1/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/04(Mon)13:14 No. 1085395 ID: e139aa
File 170958684252.png - (477.33KB , 800x600 , fop2-12.png )

> my.a's story
There's a lot of weird holes and vagueness about it. My.a is also fairly theatrical in their demeanour, I'm sure elements of it are true but sifting out the truth from the embellishments seems like a waste of time without other sources.

> va.ne.tu knows my.a's stories
And Va.ne.tu might be a good filter. I should ask him next time I see him.

> crossroads
I'm going to just throw away the riddle My.a gave me on principle. They called it a timewaster, I'm not wasting my time on it.

> hide the evidence
Hide the evidence of what? Oh. Oh no. The conversations with My.a? Everything I know about Va.ne.tu? Vy.zi.ki existing?? Oh no which of this is stuff to keep secret and which of it do I need to divulge?? Oh no oh no let's just not think about it it's just another construct it's just another construct

> anything with a carapace includes the lepi?
The lepi don't appear to have exoskeletons the same way I'd expect a moth to. Their bodies move in ways suggesting an endoskeleton, and I'm not going to lie, my inner biologist is endlessly pestering me to get some data on what the skeleton of a lepi looks like. What does a lepi skull look like? Do their external abdomens (if they can be called abdomens given they already evidently have one between their chests and hips) have skeletal structures?

Anyway, I doubt Li.ni.si is going to try to eat people.

> "game balance"
I'm sure My.a can think of any number of justifications to "keep things interesting" if they wanted.

> truce
My.a's wording, if I can recall, was something like me and my allies, so I'll hold them to that.

> convince Vi.al to apologise
...I'll try to remember to at least mention it when Vi.al arrives.

Alright. I have much to ponder, but, for now, I have a Li.ni.si to deal with.

"Alright, all clear this side. I'm going to make sure you don't crash the pod."
"Why would I crash? Isn't it automated?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Well, it sounds like the pod is prepared. See you planetside."

2/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/04(Mon)13:14 No. 1085396 ID: e139aa
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After Li.ni.si disappears, I quickly convene various monitors and interfaces to get a lock on the incoming pod.
I send my flocklet out to go check on Lightgreen just so that, if anything happens, I have some sort of presence not in the immediate strike zone.

I stare with mounting anxiety as I connect to automated systems from 1 Radiant Eye. My signature is recognised and my privileges are granted. I hastily check for pods due to launch to 33 Verdant Pearl of Abundance, find Li.ni.si's pod, and-- immediately lose the connection as it launches.

Oh no.

I can't target it. It jumped into... I never understood the specifics, but to facilitate superluminal travel, there's some sort of, uh, higher? Lower? Sideways? Sideways space that some Shapeless vehicles can leap into. It's in that now, and this station uses that for superluminal signal transmission and receiving, but trying to focus on something on it is probably something the station can do but that I don't know how to do, but I do know that after some time it has to jump back out as it approaches a gravity well, something about increasing error magnitude in spacetime that curves more in the drop out of the... whatever it's called. Wow, I really don't know a lot about this sort of stuff. I need to look it up later. Subspace? Is it called subspace or is that what the Woven use??

Oh wait WAIT WAIT I GOT IT! Okay! It's back in less confusing space, and wow it is [15 seconds] to arrival okay okay got it, got it, direction is straight to this station, okay, slow, sending remote command to slow, slow down, slow down SLOW DOWN

IT'S NOT RESPONDING IT'S GOING TO CRASH DIRECTLY INTO ME WHY WHY WHY WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS

3/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/04(Mon)13:14 No. 1085397 ID: e139aa
File 170958688441.png - (527.58KB , 800x600 , fop2-14.png )

...oh, it's slowing down by itself.

To a slow, graceful hover, just outside the facility. It landed with a soft thud and deployed landing gear, even.

Okay, so my ride here was malfunctioning. Good to know, I guess. I send one last command for the pod to start unravelling itself into the station's substrate caches, and Li.ni.si slowly falls out the side of the pod, struggling through the side of the pod. She's clearly not as experienced with Vi.al hidden door architecture, the substrate is acting more like a gel trap than a clean interface.

I leave the station and go out to meet her, and help free her if she needs it. Fortunately, she seems to be mostly out by the time I get to her.

"Oh, hi, Vi.si.mi," she says, hands outstretched for stability. I hold out my wingarms and she practically collapses into me. "Huuuuuu..."
"Yeah. Yeah, they're always like that." She's a bit taller in person. Also smells vaguely like limes.
"I've been transmitted before," she says, as I help her back onto her feet. "I don't know which felt worse."
"I prefer transmission, but, well, only on an empty stomach. Less organic matter, the better, with that."
"I don't recommend getting on one of those pods after eating either," she says, looking fairly uncomfortable. "Ough. Glad I only ate a few snacks, or I'd be really suffering right now."
"Lord Vi.al prefers expedience to comfort when it comes to transport."
"I took some things Lord Lo.ka did for granted, I really did... anyway, this is the relay station, right? I can't remember what my plans were. Arrive, I think. What now?"
"Well, you can come inside and sit down for a bit first."

I lead her back in through a false-wall entrance. A few sequences of commands and some chairs are provided, as well as a possibly too small table. Still, it's a good place to put... drinks... Right. I should work on getting water supplied here in a less on-demand ad-hoc way. And, before the truce is up, seeing if I can trade something to Va.ne.tu for a container of that root drink, for downtime.

Outside I hear a sudden crash and shattering as the pod's landing gear fails and it comes to a permanent stop. I wince, but I can't say I didn't see it coming. It wasn't guaranteed that the pod would deconstruct itself in a sensible manner. Li.ni.si's ears flick up as she looks to the wall she just came through. "Uhh..."
"Yeah, that'll happen. No turning back now. For a while, anyway."
"S-sure," she says, trying to appear flippant. "I just hope it didn't break the things I brought." She has the look of someone who is only just now realising the scope of the consequences of her decisions. Well, fleetingly, before her former... resolve? Apathy? Whatever drives her, it comes back to the forefront of her expression.

4/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/04(Mon)13:15 No. 1085398 ID: e139aa
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"So," she says, after a pause. "What's the current situation?"
"I'm sure Lord Vi.al already gave you the general overview of this being a suddenly contested world at the whims of one Mad Lord My.a. More specifically, I'm trying to earn the trust of the leaders of this lepi community by doing some tasks for them that, for whatever reason, they can't easily achieve by themselves. Even more specifically, this morning, I am making preparations to venture out somewhere to the northwest to investigate a problem blocking the lepi from accessing a hard-to-cultivate medicinal species. Lightgreen, the lepi shaman you met, is currently not here, and I've sent my flocklet out to go fetch her. Other problems include I haven't eaten anything yet, I don't have any weapons, and I wanted to assemble some sort of transport so we're not all stuck walking there like scuttlers."
"Scuttlers?"
"You know, scuttlers? Scuttler-pattern? Swarm transport automata?"
"Oh those. Is that a Vi.al expression? I've always heard them called crawlers. Hm. No, I think Ji.pa.ke called them scuttlebugs."
"Those are something else-- I'm getting off topic! The point is, I need to solve those problems first."

Li.ni.si nods, and then looks to me... well, her mouth's about as visible as mine, but from her eyes I'd say she's grinning.

"Door's on command, right? I'll be right back."

She disappears through the rippling wall. I guess she's more used to Vi.al architecture than I gave her credit for. I suppose it's only confusing if you don't know which walls accept the commands.
She comes back with what I think is some form of data block before I realise it has no kind of signature. It's just a container, then.
She drops it on the table, and with a few staccato command signals, it splits open and reveals the contents--

Oh. Oh wow.

"Two personal shield gens, two pattern-D incapacitors, twelve high-density meal cubes, six high-density juice pods, and a template for station-locked short-range signal repeaters, tied to a shared frequency not in common use. Slap one on your head, instant immediate communication with anyone else in comms range with the relay station." Li.ni.si pauses. "So long as you're a construct. It doesn't work if you don't have substrate in your neural makeup. Hm. I didn't think about that part. Well. I'd have brought more things but there's supposed to be more resupply showing up when Lord Vi.al does, or that's what I was told yesterday." She mumbles to herself, annoyed to not have remembered until just now she'd be dealing with purely organic allies as well. I catch a little bit about how she even made sure to get substrate templates for organic medical tools, but not for organic communication.

I give her a pat on the shoulder. "It's fine. We can't think of everything. It's not like we're Lords! And even they can't think of everything. I'm very glad you brought what you have!"
And I cannot ignore the allure of the pods a moment longer.

5/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/04(Mon)13:15 No. 1085399 ID: e139aa
File 170958695626.png - (489.80KB , 800x600 , fop2-16.png )

I grab a juice pod. It suddenly bulges and swells a little in my grasp, presumably decompressing. A deft flick of my feeding probe into the aperture, and I siphon out the contents right away. Tears fall down my face from the sweet, sour, familiar flavour blend of pulped gyrefruit, mashed spireberry and spicy flatroot zest. And the size of the pod is so deceptive! There's so much juice in this somehow! It's so much. There's enough in here for a meal, for sure. The faint ugly bitterness of the local nectar is totally absent in this flavour burst, and no single taste overwhelms the mixture. Perfectly balanced. Oh, it's like I'm home again, this is palatial...

"...Go easy on those, they're imports."
"It's all imports."
"From Lo.ka space."

Oh. Oh right. I guess I did wonder a little bit what flatroot was doing in that flavour profile. Aside from making my life a momentary singularity of bliss and respite.
Still, if I take another two or three with me that's food for me sorted, and Li.ni.si can take the cubes, and then I'd only have to figure out rations for Lightgreen. Who, as far as I can tell, just forages anyway. Hm.

"I'm gonna have to figure out how to grow flatroot in the palatial gardens..."
"Good luck with that," says Li.ni.si, shaking her head. "It barely grows on the one desert world it was found on. And because of that, the entire world's been relegated as a preserve with the sole exception of flatroot harvesting. Can you imagine that? An entire world reserved for just one spice? It's not like the Lords even eat. Or trade that much with aliens. It's only of arguably any benefit to a subset of constructs. Lord Lo.ka is an enigma."
"I think it's Enigmist, actually."
"...sure. Anyway, that should solve two of your problems. Transport, though, I don't have any easy answers for. Do you not have any vehicle patterns?"
"Not really, and I'm not good with improvising anything involving complex mechanisms. A simple cart is about as big as I can envision."
"Aha. Yeah, that's fair. I'm much the same."

6/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/04(Mon)13:16 No. 1085400 ID: e139aa
File 170958698377.png - (180.59KB , 800x600 , fop2-17.png )

I hear a chirp from my flocklet, who, for once, is not outside of communication range. Thanks, functioning relay station!
It says Lightgreen is inbound. Slowly, because she's apparently not used to waking up this early, but she's on her way.

It is something like [10:23 AM] local time. I kind of just assumed from the sounds of lepi hustle and bustle outside that she'd be up already.
I kind of just assumed most tribal cultures rose with the sun. I think my lepi friend might have some sleep hygiene issues. Well, it's not like I'm really able to pass judgement when I've been sleeping so much myself.

My flocklet then informs me that Lightgreen heard about the task we chose to do today, somehow, and I have no idea how the timing of that works out, but also that she wishes us the best of luck and wants to see us off, but can't possibly come with us on a journey that heads into seapi territory.

...I was sort of just assuming she'd come with me. Maybe I should go find her and see what her concerns are?
Li.ni.si looks at me, raising a brow. "Everything okay? You look distracted." The way her ears are flicking around, she can definitely hear I'm talking to something, but not what I'm saying or who I'm saying it to. Or, well, she can't hear it, but the way our brains process EMF signals and audio signals are so similar that it triggers things like subconcious ear movement. My crest gets twitchy in much the same way.
"I'm just talking to my flocklet about Lightgreen."
"Ahhh. Sorry, I've never had any sort of secondary presences before. Well, aside from a recon drone a few times, but, nothing so integral like a flocklet. It must be nice to be able to be two places at once."
"I wish it worked more like that then it does."
"Would you recommend it? Having a flocklet?"
"Well, there's pros and cons," I mumble, as my flocklet confirms that Lightgreen is adamant, if torn, that she can't follow us to seapi territory, no matter how outskirts it might be.

Argh, I wanted her to be our guide! It's going to take so much longer to get there without the guidance of a local. What to do, what to do...

Well everything you do immediately escalates into a problem thanks to your own combination and My.a's interference and so on and so forth, therefore forethought or planning ahead are pointless. Just accept that your life will be a constant series of problems and do whatever makes the next problem the most predictable.

Therefore the most logical course of action is to charge straight into seapi territory.

Getting there without a local is easy. That's what maps are for. Dealing with what you encounter there and along the way... not so easy.

Well regardless, at the very minimum you need a map. Possibly a more secure storage for the supplies that Li.ni.si brought. Then, tally ho! Adventure awaits!

>>1085399
>flatroot is hard to grow
Hmm, is that a good challenge for your skillset?

>>1085400
>can't possibly come with us on a journey that heads into seapi territory.
She's scared of dying. Well, you can reassure her now. You have weapons and armor! Granted only two of each but that should be more than a match for anything an *accidental* encounter with the seapi would involve.
Might as well familiarize yourself with the equipment now.

Oh and tell Li.ni.si that you've... befriended two agents of My.a, and have a truce active.

Get a different local?

>>1085401
This guy's suggestion seems legit.

Shoo be do, shoo shoo be doo! Call upon the meadowanders!

should we introduce Li.ni.si to the leaders of the tribe and let them know we have a healer with us now? Also I guess we should ask how familiar Li.ni.si is with lepi biology since she's probably going to need to help out patching them out at some point seeing how it seems like the whole planet is out to get them?

>lightgreen
you could ask her what she knows about the area or if she knows someone that would be willing to be your guide who is familiar with the area.

>>1085400
Just station her in the relay with a video feed broadcasted from your location. She can give directions through audio. All the benefits of a local guide, but you don't need to guard her.

>one desert world
>desert world
>entire world reserved for just one spice

OMG Cirr you magnificent son of a female dog. Guess the Flatroot must flow...

>>1085445
Fair point here. Have her be your 'one in the chair'
Also +1 hug for this mission. Bonus that Li.ni.si is kinda cute.

>>1085445
Great idea. Just make sure to have some communication equipment she can use in here.

1/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/08(Fri)19:15 No. 1085831 ID: e139aa
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> charge straight into seapi territory
I'm getting smarter, aren't I.

> flatroot challenges
Perhaps another time.

> get a map
If that map I was shown is the best they have, "go northwest" is about as useful information as I can get from it. Which does remind me. I don't have that sort of functionality internally, so I'll have to hope I keep connection to the relay station for navigational uses. Sure would have been helpful to have a relay satellite in geostationary orbit, or something, but I very much don't have the resources or patterns for one of those. Not that my broadcasts would reach that far out anyway. Blegh. I should ask the lepi how they navigate. Surely they have some sort of navigational aid to be able to draw maps?

> get a different local
I suppose I'll have to ask Lightgreen if she knows anyone reputable.

> station Lightgreen in the relay station and have her guide remotely
That's... that's not a bad idea. I have to ask her about it.

> introduce Li.ni.si to leaders
Well, I guess I need to ask them about navigation anyway.

> tell Li.ni.si about befriending My.a's agents and truce
"Oh, I forgot to mention. We're currently in a short-term truce with My.a and their constructs. And I might have befriended both of their constructs."
"Oh. How'd you manage that? Lord Vi.al made it sound like My.a was impossible to deal with."
"My.a is... My.a is unpredictable. Their constructs are only opposing us at all on My.a's command. I don't even know why they're so loyal to My.a, they seem pretty unhappy with the whole arrangement. Still, the truce is important. There's... [six days] of it left, I think? If we come across My.a's constructs, we're not to harm them or interfere."
"Hm. Who are these constructs?"

I freeze up.
"I'm uncertain if telling you is going to be interpreted as breaking the truce. They're a little bit secretive."
Li.ni.si glares at me, and I feel a sudden shiver. "Okay. Withholding information like this endangers lives, you know. Miscommunication kills. I don't need their names, just give me vague descriptions, please."
"Alright, alright. A teal vulpine third-standard and a pale, almost white vulpine third-standard. They both have hexagonal patterns around their eyes."
"So one of them is Va.ne.tu, then."
"...okay, seriously, has everyone met Va.ne.tu but me?? Why does everyone know who Va.ne.tu is??"
"Becoming a pariah due to rumours you killed a Lord will get your name and face spread around the confluences fast. I just remember learning he was connected to My.a from Nu.ya.si going on another one of his rants about Va.ne.tu being innocent."
"Nu.ya.si knows him too?!"
"Oh, yeah, Nu.ya.si speaks with him regularly." She pauses, and her eyes widen. "Oh, I was absolutely not supposed to tell anyone that."

I groan and squish my head casing until it deforms a little. "Well, let me guess, have you met Vy.zi.ki too?"
"Who?"
"Never mind. Someone I met once." Okay, I think Vy.zi.ki's existence is absolutely something My.a doesn't want me spreading around.

2/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/08(Fri)19:16 No. 1085832 ID: e139aa
File 170995418028.png - (356.64KB , 800x600 , fop2-19.png )

My flocklet informs me that Lightgreen is almost here. Not much of a surprise, with the time I've been taking with talking to Li.ni.si.
And then I hear a knock on the wall. I tell my flocklet to perhaps warn me of these things a little bit sooner than "immediately" in future, and it chirps blithely in response.

"Walk through," I call out to Lightgreen, as she carefully walks through the fluid wall. My flocklet emerges behind her. I close the wall behind her, or, well, instruct it to reaffirm its solidity, anyway.

Li.ni.si waves to her. "It is good to see you in person. Lightgreen, yes?"
Lightgreen looks a little surprised. "Oh. Hello. Yes, I am Lightgreen. I think I saw you in the lights yesterday?"
"Yes. That was me."

Lightgreen awkwardly shifts around, clearly trying to think of something else to say. She looks at me and frowns.

"...Starbird, I heard that you--"
"One second. I have some questions for you."
"O-oh?"
"Firstly, when did you meet Va.ne.tu? He told me he was all alone when I met him. Living like a hermit sealed away in his underground facility. It turns out he's quite the socialite from all the people that met him before I did! Secondly, why am I your saviour and your only hope if you already knew Va.ne.tu? Well enough to get his assistance multiple times?? I feel like there's something people aren't telling me here!"

I uh.
Wow that just kind of fell out of me, huh.

"...I have no idea where that came from. Sorry. Ignore that. I'm stressed. Continue."
Lightgreen looks at me in a mixture of confusion and apprehension. Li.ni.si raises a brow, looks like she's about to say something, and shakes her head.
"Please, Lightgreen, I didn't mean to interrupt," I say.
"O-okay. Well. Well, he told me he isn't supposed to help, for some reason. Actually, he kind of is why so much of the village lost more faith in the starbeings. Here was a starbeing, after so very long, and all he does is tell us to stay away from his mysterious den and sends out flying heads to be mildly annoying at us. But he did tell me there were others, and that some day, when my village needed it most, a being from the stars would come to help us. He's... he's hard to understand, sometimes. Something about being a servant of a great and terrible power."
"Really. A great and terrible power. Well, then. Nu.ya always said Va.ne.tu had something of a flair for the dramatic," says Li.ni.si, rummaging around on the table and examining the meal cubes one by one.
"Lord My.a can absolutely be that if they want to," I say.
"Who's Lord My.a?" asks Lightgreen, her antennae flicking around at all the unusual chirrups and bleeps of my relay station. She's adjusting to it, mostly, but is a little jumpy at the more abrupt sounds. She's at least comfortable enough to regard the station with confused curiosity instead of cautious fear.
"Remember that floating head that looked like it was going to explode yesterday? That was a... you know the other-me I have? The... how do I say it in this language... flocking-bird? That was one of theirs."
"Flocklet?" Lightgreen says a word that the autotranslator matches on with a bizarrely high confidence. Not one I expected her to have. Some sort of awkward calque that literally translates to 'flying shadow servant'.
"...Yes, flocklet. Is it a word Va.ne.tu used?"
"Oh, yes, he was the one who used the word first. I didn't understand what the 'shadow' part meant for a thing that glows, but when you said it was your 'other you', I understood what he meant. It follows you like your shadow, yes?"
"Huh. That's an extremely poetic description and also very misleading." I'm sensing a theme with My.a and their constructs. I think he probably also intended it in the sense of it being a shadow of the original. An echo. I'd have gone with echo over shadow, myself. Flying echo servant-- ugh, no, that doesn't work in lepi squeaks, never mind.

Li.ni.si clears her throat. "Yes. This is all very fascinating, but, Lightgreen, what did you want to say originally?"
"What? Oh. Oh, right." Lightgreen's antennae fall and she can't look at me directly. "I, I can't go with you to the seapi territory, starbi-- Vee."
"I understand. I haven't exactly shown I'm much of a fighter, I suppose. I don't want to put you in danger either." I did promise her grandmother, the elder of this village, not to get her harmed. "But I do still need local guidance. I have two ideas. One is I go find another lepi to be a guide for this excursion, and the other is I have you attend remotely."
"...Attend... remotely...?" Lightgreen looks at me with complete confusion. "Starbird, those words don't work together like that. You can't be at a place from a distance, that doesn't make sense. Did you phrase something incorrectly?"
I... what? She's seen the holograms, right? Well, whatever. Maybe she hasn't made the connection yet. Or maybe I did flub my phrasing through the autotranslator.
Li.ni.si looks at Lightgreen thoughtfully. "What are you thinking, Vi.si.mi? Some sort of remote proxy?"
"That's a way better idea than I had, I was just going to give her a bidirectional visual and audio feed."
"Wait. No. We went over this last time. You don't have any proxies for her to use, and either way, she wouldn't be able to control it, she's not a construct."
"I have something she could control," I say, looking to my flocklet, which chirps at me quizzically. "I'd have to be an intermediary, probably."

3/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/08(Fri)19:17 No. 1085833 ID: e139aa
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Lightgreen looks at the flocklet, pauses, thoughtfully, and then raises her bracelet thing up to her eye level.

"I might be able to control it, actually," she says. "I, uh, made one of the starfox's flocklets go away once with this. <Awaken>," she sings in monovoice.

The bracelet sparks into life and I hear a flurry of primitive command sequences. Parts of the relay station deliver detailed, extensive and dry status reports to the air. I feel parts of my body tingle for a fleeting moment as the substrate within them is alert for an instant, presumably giving status reports to the ether. Li.ni.si shivers.

"<Flocklet, come forward>."

My flocklet moves over to her, almost like it spontaneously decided to do that independent of my will. It seems... eager to do this. Not forced, not pulled.
It acts like it does when I give a command. Like it was its idea the whole time.

I don't want to think about the ramifications of this right now.

"...I don't recognise whatever that is," says Li.ni.si, looking at the bracelet. "May I have a closer look?"
She holds out a claw to Lightgreen, who recoils slightly at the sight of her sharp claws.
"I'm not going to damage it. The claws are largely for show."
"No, sorry, I just... wasn't expecting them to look so sharp." Lightgreen's antennae spread out and she looks slightly unnerved.
"If you don't want to give it to me, that is fine," says Li.ni.si, her voice becoming softer and calmer. "I was just curious, but if you're worried, you can say no."

Lightgreen looks conflicted, and then looks to me.

"...Vee, can you give it to her?"
"I don't understand why I need to be an intermediary, but--"
"Vi.si.mi," says Li.ni.si. "It's okay. Do what she asks, please." She quickly signs to me. "Don't stress her out. She's in an alien world with alien people with alien customs right now. You're familiar and trusted. I would be clinging to anything familiar if I was in her situation too."
Lightgreen looks at the flurry of gestures Li.ni.si is making to me, and looks even more confused, almost looking at me pleadingly.

She holds her arm out, and I try to command the bracelet to open. Nope. Become less solid. Nope. Fall off. Nope.
"...Lightgreen, can you take it off?"
"Oh. Of course. <Open, sleep.>"

It opens and deactivates. She catches it with her other hand, and gives it to me.
I give it to Li.ni.si, the mere touch of it feeling uncomfortable. It feels very lightweight, slightly warm, and like my wingarms are going to melt if I hold it for too long.

Li.ni.si examines it, turning it around. "It's not Lo.kan or Vi.alic. It fits Lord Lo.ka's aesthetics but not function."
"Ji.at, maybe?"
"Ji.at would never give the seekers this much power over substrate. Completely unclear to me what this device came from."

I pick it up and look at it more closely, even though I fear the thing is going to suddenly lunge at my eyes.
I switch one of my eyes into zoom-mode, prompting an abrupt squeak from Li.ni.si.
"Vi.si.mi! Are you okay??"
"Wh- yes?? Why?"
"Oh. I didn't know if you were having a reaction to the device."
"No, I'm just trying to exami..."

4/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/08(Fri)19:18 No. 1085834 ID: e139aa
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Four circles.

Waxing crescent. Waxing gibbous. Full moon. Waning gibbous.

The four moons of Lord Ku.su, the Void Drifter, the Moth of Moons. Interloper. Outsider.

The creator of the extinct lepi, the creations who were all confirmed to be no more.

Yet here stands Lightgreen, with an artifact of Ku.suun design and make. An artifact on a world so central to Vi.al territory that the very notion of Ku.su or its constructs ever coming here seems beyond absurd. More so for an outsider, the newest Lord to have arrived at the Diamond Distribution.

It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense.

"Where did you find this, Lightgreen?"
"In one of the ancient temples before the Awakening. No one else could get the box to open. I remembered the spirits sometimes sang like meadowanders, so I tried a meadowander word and it just opened."
"What did this temple have in it?"
"Oh, I don't remember very well, this was a while ago. It had a lot of carvings and etchings showing a great moth-being forming the lepi out of stars. You know, I keep meaning to go back to the ruins of that temple. Maybe when things are safer."
"...have you never thought to use that bracelet until just now?"
"I used all of its power trying to make the broken tower work the night you arrived. It takes a long while before it can work again."

...Wow, she actually did summon me. Uh. Uhhh.

5/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/08(Fri)19:19 No. 1085835 ID: e139aa
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"...so, anyway, uh, yeah, uh, you can, uh, control my flocklet I think, and you'll get a screen here to show you what it sees, and it'll repeat back what it hears here," I say, composure completely shaken by more revelation.

Li.ni.si looks at me, a little worried. "<What did you find?>" Her use of polyvoice is hushed and hurried, and almost like a few bleepy chords, flowing much faster and urgently than her signing did.
"<Ku.suun. It's Ku.suun tech. The four moons. I saw the four moons, finely engraved.>"
She looks at me in confused shock. "<In a temple? An ancient temple? Lord Ku.su arrived to the Distribution [six years] ago, Vi.si.mi, are you sure?>"

I find myself starting to tremble.

I don't know what's going on. It's just a stupid control bracelet. It's ultimately whatever. I can't dwell on this, I can't...

But how?? This device was clearly well preserved, it is immaculate in its function, but I start querying its mechanisms for finer details, and I'm getting back timestamps in a format I've only seen used in historical documents. From before I was born. Long before I was born.

Something is deeply, deeply wrong here.

I barely know anything about Lord Ku.su. Maybe the other outsiders do, the Sibling-Lords Or.ro and Co.ro. They also came from elsewhere.

But one thing I do remember, when it came to visit 1 Radiant Eye for obligatory introductions, was its imposing form. A behemoth, hanging in the sky, lazily flapping its wings like a royal cloak, a flag fluttering in the wind that felt like it could coat the palace entirely. At least four times the size of Lord Vi.al's throne focus. It shed its substrate quickly after Vi.al made a comment on typical expected upper size limits for diplomatic encounters, the glittering dust soon flying up to the mesosphere for later incorporation.
The same expression, an implacable mask on its face. A polite, precise voice, a calculated calmness at once comforting and yet slightly unsettling. Neither emotionless nor impassioned, its grasp on polyvoice one of straightforward chords and predictable harmonies. Spiced with xenharmonics unfamiliar to anything I have heard before. Clearly, Lord Ku.su took great pains to sound familiar, with only odd mistakes indicating its original dialect from far, far away.

Lord Vi.al treated Lord Ku.su with the same politeness and respect, of course. Completely unperturbed. Or, well, at least they never appeared bothered.

That same quiet judging stare comes back to my mind now, like this bracelet is scrutinizing me and finding me wanting for something.
I look to Lightgreen, and in her confused, distressed stare, I feel like I see a sliver of Lord Ku.su's gaze in her eyes. I find myself wondering why Lord Ku.su even made the lepi in the first place, and what caused them to go extinct before. Was it related to why Lord Ku.su was so eager to come to our local space?

But no. I'm forgetting the real issue here.
Lord Vi.al fashioned Verdant Pearl from its own planets. Verdant Pearl never left Vi.al territory.
...How were there ancient substrate temples in the first place?! That's not a detail Lord Vi.al would have added. What is going ON I can't THINK STRAIGHT

I'm thinking My.a copy-pasted some substrate module packages he found and one of them included both a Lepi habitat and some Lepi temples - meant by Ku.su to become their inheritance, then forgotten when they were wiped off the galaxy.

Give the bracelet a new battery.

chew delicious bracelet make problem disappear

>>1085832
>follows you like your shadow
Almost right! Tell her they are connected to you, almost a part of you, like your shadow is. A projection of your self.

>>1085834
>she actually did summon me.
TELL HER THAT. It will make her feel so much better about everything.

>>1085835
>ancient temple, yet Ku.su is recently arrived, also couldn't possibly be on Vi.al's planet for multiple reasons
Yeah so that works well with my prior theory, being that the Lepi and other creatures were brought here, and this isn't the planet they're from. Though, this would also mean that the temple was transported with them, which is a little more involved than simply transporting all the living beings. It also means My.a invaded Ku.su's homeland to grab everything, which seems unlikely?
One alternate explanation is a massive temporal offset. Like, the planet they're from could have been in an accelerated timeframe for a while, a kind of reverse stasis. This seems ridiculous though. Also, the temple can't have been simply built to look old, because the artifact is sending you timestamps from far in the distant past, it IS old.

...okay here's a new overall theory. Ku.su cooperated with Vi.al to put all this anomalous stuff on his garden planet, for safekeeping or something. Hmm... did the "Awakening" happen within the last [six years]? If so, that would match our timeline, and explain everything. It would explain why Ku.su came here, why the planet was terraformed, and why vi.al was being secretive about the Lepi. It would also mean Ku.su knew the Lepi were going to be wiped out and needed to hide some of them away. Why the other creatures though? Are those also Ku.su creations? Hmm, no, those showed up after My.a appeared in the sky, right? So originally, Ku.su cooperated with Vi.al to hide some Lepi on Verdant Pearl. Then My.a decided to stage his Game on this specific planet for some reason. Maybe to get Vi.al's attention and force him to do something that My.a needs to be done? Or is this a kind of blackmail against both Vi.al and Ku.su?

well you know what they say, when it doubt, blame My.a.

Also you're scaring the moth, you should try and calm down or at least take a page out of Vi.al and just learn to hide your freak outs when other people are around.

Well My.a did say she used a device from a vault so perhaps the Lepi were imprisoned? Or it had data on the species and remade them out of what data it had? Perhaps the vault was Ku.su owned? Whatever the case, HOLY BALLS this device reverses power dynamics. Shapeless/substrate brought to heel, forced to follow commands given by organics. Would it work on lords? Would it work on My.a herself? Why would Ku.su develop this? Well on the plus side Lo.ka's knight is now easy to deal with. So where is Ku.su now?

>>1085835
Time travel?

...wait, if Ku.su tech is this strong, Vi.al coming here might be a mistake. My.a might have an artifact capable of harming Vi.al, or at least something like imprisoning him.

Verdant Pearl never left, but that doesn't mean it began here, and Vi.al is already hiding constructs of another Lord in their systems... who's to say Ku.Suun isn't in on this
and from what direction far away, Ku.Suun could be from a place that is not, due to Blot
(Also that is an unusual name, one too many syllables, like a construct name, Ku.Su.Un, to add to your pile of madness) their manerisms also seem to imply being older, in a different interpretation
Ultimately, the only answers you are getting are from Vi.Al, if you can press them out of them
HELL, you could need information about Mu.At to solve this puzzle, or worse/earlier
Sadly, My.A is not the source of all this shenanigans, too much in too short a time, AT LEAST some of it already was
Hm, None of this really helps this mental breakdown, uhhhh you know what helps emotions? CRY

There's at least one creature on this planet who is THE BLOT and you are not going to think about them, but that means there's some possibility that the machine which My.a used to create these creatures is not governed by... sanity. If there were a fractal temporal dimension, it could pack a very long time into a very short amount of time. The real disconnect I see here is:

A) The Lepi cannot have been around all this time. Their timeframe from ancient time to the present is very short.
B) The artifacts and the history of the Lepi *have* been around all this time.

All I can think is the surviving Lepi were put in stasis during this time compression period, which... miiight be what My.a's machine did? No way to tell without talking to the other species to see if they observed a long amount of time suddenly passing too.

Everything Vi.al told you needs a big fat [needs citation] flag. First contact with a lord is not their date of creation.
Return the bracelet and carry on.

>>1085835
Perhaps the Lepi were reconstituted from long range scans of their light-shell intercepted by colossal arrays of telescopes moved by FTL means to capture all data of their prior existence, recorded into My.a's machine for later resurrection.

Now might not be the time to dwell on thus past, especially as you're missing several pieces of it.
Give the bracelet back to Lightgreen, confirm communication protocol and you'll be ready to head out, thinking of more immediate problems.

1/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/18(Mon)18:52 No. 1086712 ID: e139aa
File 171081316967.png - (249.39KB , 800x600 , fop2-23.png )

> ku.suun is an odd name
Oh, that's an adjective. Like Vi.alic for Vi.al. Or Lo.kan for Lo.ka. I don't know who decides these things. The Lords, maybe. Maybe it's something they have big fights over because it's something so ultimately inconsequential. Lord Vi.al doesn't even use theirs half the time. Lots of references to "Vi.al architecture" and not "Vi.alic architecture".
If I was a Lord I'd make my descriptor "Vi.si.mine". ...that's not really related to anything right now. My mind is fraying, give me a break.

> power balance shifted
> organics can control substrate
Organic control over substrate through a substrate device is not a new development. I'm impressed Lightgreen can operate it, but if this was made by Lord Ku.su or their agents and is something a lepi can wear and use, this isn't really as much of a concern as you might think.
Now, if Lightgreen had, I don't know, made the bracelet herself, I would be worried, yes. An isolated artifact presented as a gift of the gods, and all she can do is make my flocklet obey a simple command? While I subconsciously wanted my flocklet to be easier to control? Nothing to worry about. Any pushback from me and nothing would have happened.
...I will be keeping on eye on her use of it. The fact the device resisted my control does concern me. It's not a surprise I lack the permissions for a device shaped by a different Lord's agents, but it does mean I can't instruct it to dissolve if it becomes a problem.

> lepi were imprisoned and brought here
> lepi came here via some sort of transmission
> lepi were sent here through time travel
> my.a's mystery machines
> perhaps ku.su
> the blot the blOT THE BLOT
Monarch's name I can't take any more wild theories. I need to calm down and--

> stop scaring lightgreen
--and stop scaring Lightgreen, yes.

"Sorry. Your bracelet is, uh. Unusual."
"You're shaking," says Lightgreen, cautiously reaching for her bracelet back as I hold it out to her. "Is this artifact safe?"
"It's safe, it's nothing with the artifact, just... something about how you discovered it and what we know of this world's history don't quite line up."

Lightgreen pauses and frowns. "Sorry, what was that? Can you explain more?"
"Well, this bracelet is older than it should be. And I wasn't told there were, uh, starbeing temples like you describe on this world so long ago."

Now that I think about it, I don't think Vi.al even started working on this world until I was in my teens.

Lightgreen looks at her bracelet thoughtfully, before squeaking at it to shift back onto her arm. "But why are you shaking?"
Because every fundamental assumption I've had about this planet has been proven to be wrong so far to the point I'm questioning if I fell into the Blot at this point.

She looks at her bracelet with a newfound apprehension. "...should I be afraid as well?"

No, no, things still make too much sense so far for that to have been a thing that happened. That's not a productive path to wander down, any more than it would be if I thought I was in a recovery coma from hitting the planet too hard and have been dreaming this entire thing. In either case, if I am trapped in some reality, I can't really change that, so I must act as though everything is real anyway. There, solipsistic psychotic break swiftly avoided.

2/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/18(Mon)18:56 No. 1086716 ID: e139aa
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"Starbird?"
Oh right Lightgreen asked me a question. "Uhh. It's hard to explain. It's nothing for you to worry about, it's all starbeing nonsense. I don't know where to even start giving you the context."
"That's... I didn't ask for... never mind."

Lightgreen puts a hand on my shoulder and looks at me. "I don't understand you as well as I'd like. You're okay with wandering off towards the seapi and whatever horrible fate they might have in store for you, but, if I understand this correctly, a bracelet being in a place you don't think it should be makes you so scared you shake?"
"It does seem a little silly when you say it like that," I say, tension easing a little.

Li.ni.si takes a few deep breaths, rhythmically. "It's all dull politics and the realisation of some consequences for our superiors," she says, trying to elaborate where I couldn't. "It means our lives are going to be a bit more, well, interesting in the future. Your people won't be involved."
"<You can't promise that's going to be true,>" I click and whistle back to Li.ni.si.
"<I didn't promise it.>"
"<How Vi.alic,>" I say. "<I took you for the kind of construct to always say what they felt. You've been fairly candid.>"
"<We've known each other for less than [a day]. Now let's drop the symphonic, it's not fair on Lightgreen.>"

Lightgreen does look a little frustrated to have been cut out of the discussion again. "What are you two saying to each other now?"
"Having a bit of a discussion on the semantics of translation," I say.
Li.ni.si raises her brow at me, but nods to Lightgreen. "Even with our devices making translation smoother, there's always nuances it can't catch."

Lightgreen gives us both a look that tells us she's either frustrated to be unsure what we're saying, or absolutely not buying our excuse, but she decides to let it go.

She looks at her bracelet, looks at my flocklet, and sighs. "Maybe I should just come with you. There's two of you this time, and, uh, you... you? Uh, um, what was your name again, sorry?"
Li.ni.si smacks her forehead. "Oh Monarch's name! I forgot! Sorry, yes! My name is Li.ni.si, but, Li will be fine."
"Hi Lee, my name is Lightgreen Mint. I don't think I gave you my full name."
"You did, but thank you."
"Anyway there's two of you now, Lee and Vee. Three with me, but I'm not much of a fighter." She looks at my flocklet. "Three and a half maybe?"
"Half is a generous estimation," I say, looking at my flocklet, which, as an extension of my subconscious, does not have enough individual will to feel offended. That, or I'm subconsciously instructing it to not be offended, and it is dutifully not being offended. But if I'm instructing it subconsciously, and my subconscious is reflected by my flocklet, does that mean my flocklet is commanding itself? Or am I--
"I'm not particularly much of a fighter either," says Li.ni.si, pulling me out of possibly one of my least helpful mental tangents. "Like I said, these claws are mostly for show. But I've picked up some skills here and there, and I've... well, I won't get into it. I've been through more than you might think. I've brought along some weapons and defenses for Vi.si.mi and myself to use that should help keep things lower risk."

Wait! I was going to mention that Lightgreen totally summoned me to her but now there's nowhere in the conversation to add it because I waited too long! Monarch's beak take it all, why am I like this?? Oh well, I have no choice but to awkwardly bring it up now before I forget!!

"It's true," I say. "Oh, also, before I forget, Lightgreen, you mentioned you used your bracelet to try and fix the tower the night I arrived, yes?"
"Oh. She did say that, didn't she," says Li.ni.si.
"I did, yes."
"Then you should know something."

3/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/18(Mon)18:56 No. 1086717 ID: e139aa
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I walk a little closer to her.

"The only reason I was able to find you, the only reason I was able to arrive safely, was thanks to that tower giving off a signal. You were talking about how you felt this was all random chance? Well, let me be the first to tell you that, if you hadn't done that, I might not have even survived coming here. You summoned me and you saved my life. This was not nearly as random a chance as either of us thought. I just want to thank you for saving my life, uh, at least twice now."

The relay station is almost completely silent save for bleeps and bloops of background processing and the hum of internal machinery.

You know, I just wanted to make her feel better about things, but halfway through saying that, no, I am grateful she did that. Lightgreen is a good friend to have even if I've only known her for two or three days. It feels like it's been longer, somehow.

Lightgreen looks quietly surprised, and then smiles at me. "I'm glad to have helped, starbird!! I want to help you! ...To help us!"
"Of course," I say.

Li.ni.si fakes a cough. "I'm glad you two are finding new reasons to appreciate each other, but it's getting close to midday and we're still not on the road yet."
"Why are you glad that--"
Li.ni.si cuts me off. "Okay, no, we really do have to focus. Lightgreen, have you decided you want to come along with us instead of conducting Vi.si.mi's flocklet?"
Lightgreen looks at her bracelet. "I think I might find things you two might not even notice, if I've understood right."
"Great. Vi.si.mi, any further ideas on transport?"
"Short of getting meadowanders to ride on, and several days of learning how to ride meadowanders, no. Just a cart."
"Cart it'll have to be."
"Softfoot won't let me leave without her again," says Lightgreen. "I'll ride with her."

Li.ni.si nods and does the best smile she can with only her eyes, before quietly turning to me. "What's a meadowander? Lord Vi.al didn't mention them, but I saw them in the mission briefing data."
"Placid Guardian deriative. Worringly, apparently fully sapient. Sworn to guard the lepi, supposedly."
"Oh. Why is that worrying? We need all the allies we can get, right?"
"Well, I don't see them doing much without hand use, tools, or anything beyond a vaguely pre-tribal social structure."
"You don't have a lot of faith in others, do you?"
"They're supposed to be dumb beasts of burden! I've introduced that species to more worlds than I could name, I'm not used to having them judging me and blaming me for the ills of the world!" Well, that's not entirely true, but, not in a sense beyond any smart-ish animal sulking that you haven't given them all the food they want ever. ...I guess they always were a little craftier than I gave them credit for. Maybe it's not that big a surprise they drifted towards true sapience.
"Whatever. Let's just get out of this relay station already and go do the thing. I'm feeling antsy. And that's making me hungry."

4/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/18(Mon)18:57 No. 1086718 ID: e139aa
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And so we're finally on the road! It only took [two hours] more after that and I have severe doubts we're getting anywhere before nightfall, but we're finally doing the thing I wanted to do today to prove to the lepi I'm more than a fluffy bag of empty promises.

The cart is moving along relatively slowly, with me taking the role of driver (navigator, really) and Li.ni.si making sure the things we brought all stay in the cart, as well as otherwise keeping watch. Lightgreen rides Softfoot next to us, who keeps glancing at the cart in disapproval. I'm watching Lightgreen ride this creature and I can't figure it out. Softfoot seems far too small to be carrying something the size of Lightgreen, and Lightgreen somehow is not tumbling back despite Softfoot's sloping back. And Softfoot is moving along like it's all nothing. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but that's why I'm in a cart and not on an animal.

Finally, Softfoot actually speaks, in monovoice as always. "Cart move by self."
"It does, yes, and it's been doing so for a while," I say, absent-mindedly. "I was going to ask you to pull it but I didn't think that would be fair on you."
"Star bird make cart move by self. Big insect people push cart, ask family push cart." Softfoot makes an annoyed buzz. "Star bird could make big insect people cart move by self."
"I don't think it's that simple," says Lightgreen. "Right, starb-- Vee?"
"Is Softfoot accusing me of not interfering more in the lives of the lepi? I mean, the entire reason I'm out here is to prove to the lepi I'm someone they can trust. If I started trying to make changes to their lives like that, they'll chase me out of the village, probably."

Softfoot keeps walking, head down, still clearly annoyed. "Old big insect people need learn take help."
"I could not agree with you more," I say, sighing.
"Sorry, can you explain what that means? Is she talking about old lepi?" Li.ni.si fidgets with a ball of substrate.
"Probably specifically the elder. She was the one most resistant to my attempts to help." She wasn't unreasonable about it, I guess. She probably had reasons to be distrustful. Thanks, Va.ne.tu. Or, well, I guess, thanks My.a, but, still.
"Old people foolish."
"I wouldn't say that," says Lightgreen.
"Soft foot say that."
"She's got some opinions, I see," says Li.ni.si, clearly amused. "Not afraid to speak truth to power. I like that."
"We're hardly power," I say.
"Whatever you say, lordling."
"Never ever call me that again."
"Sure. But it's not exactly a secret you're Vi.al's favourite. You have to be aware of this, right?"
"Even if I accept that, it doesn't exactly give me any form of authority or power." Well, some specific permissions when it comes to offworld Vi.al devices, but aside from that.
"Yet I bet if you wanted Vi.al's attention, you'd get it. I've spoken to Lord Lo.ka three times in my entire life. Once for my completion, again as part of a debriefing relating to... the event, and then the last time was to request a transfer to Lord Vi.al's domain. And I'm still luckier than most!"

Lightgreen looks ahead, but both of her antennae lean towards us so strongly I wonder if they might break or fall out. Very subtle eavesdropping. Very subtle.

"Wait. Your completion? As in your decanting?"
"No, that's what we call it when we finish our training and become eligible for roles and placements."
"So when you stop being a vatling?"
"Well, it usually lines up around the same time, but no, Lord Lo.ka doesn't just declare a construct good to go just because they're old enough. Sometimes you get vatlings that reach completion and end up in less challenging but related work, and sometimes you have adults that get stuck in training for [years]."
"That sounds miserable."
"Well, I don't know. It guarantees constructs are doing their jobs with the right training, doesn't it? What does Vi.al do?"
"Vi.al doesn't really make constructs at all, so I can only speak for myself, but I was considered mentally ready for work far before I was physically ready. So I did a lot of work just keeping the palatial gardens maintained for a couple of [years]. I was desperate to see another planet when my 16th decantday came up, and even then it was just nearby moons until I turned... what, 19?"
"Have you just been travelling to random desolate worlds since?"
"Not always desolate, but I'm either there to set up a new ecosystem or repair a damaged one. Usually pretty remote."
"Wow. I'd never be able to take that sort of isolation. I hate being alone," says Li.ni.si, thoughtfully. "I used to be alright with it, but, well, now I just... feel the absence more."
"Absence?" Does she mean life in the First City? Wow, it really feels like it was something special before it all went wrong. I'm starting to feel sad about it and I never even went there, but that's, I guess, just it, isn't it? I only ever heard of it, saw videos, heard recordings, and most of those got destroyed during the Big Whatever Happened. I mean, I think I probably would have hated it, to be honest, I'm not used to being in massive crowds. Still.
"Never mind," she says, quickly, folding her arms across her chest. "Forget I said anything." She looks faintly uncomfortable to have even mentioned it, and I'm not so much of a social disaster as to not pick up on the pretty clear cues not to pry further.

"Danger ahead," says Softfoot. She slows her pace but not stopping. Her... antennae? Tendrils? Her head thingies prick up and I feel my feathers puff up as the ambient charge of the environment shifts.

I look at her, and I switch my eyes into zoom mode, scanning the horizon.

"You're the one with the multi-functional eyes," says Li.ni.si, behind me. "What's Softfoot talking about?"

5/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/18(Mon)18:58 No. 1086719 ID: e139aa
File 171081349140.png - (537.81KB , 800x600 , fop2-27.png )

That's weird. It looks like... I think it's a seapi. And some other creature I don't recognise.

Something's weird. I can't see it right, but it looks like...

I can make out what looks like abandoned broken substrate but among them is something flickering in a familiar shade of greenish blue.

I steady my head as I try to zoom in further.

Oh. Oh, that's a substrate entity alright. It looks... well, it sort of looks like a construct but fuzzier, holographic. A projection of some sort. And while most constructs follow the third standard template, appearing either somewhat avian or like some sort of creature, there's elements of this one that seem like some strange mishmash between the third standard template and the far more geometric first standard template.

The seapi looks like they're in some sort of trance, barely standing up straight. The projection is pacing around and fidgeting like they're waiting for something? Why does it keep looking upwards, though...

"Looks like some sort of substrate mechanism failure. I'm obligated to investigate. One of the few directives I have I can't really ignore."
Well, I could, but I'd feel bad. Also, it's a fair directive to have when the dangers of substrate failure can include runaway substrate assimilation. Vi.al wanted me to come to my own ethical judgements on many things, but wild substrate on an inhabited planet is not something to debate over. It has to be contained and neutralised in all cases.

Lightgreen is not able to contain the sudden glee she feels at hearing me mention investigating substrate, muffling a squeak.
Softfoot looks at me with a gaze I have come to recognise is her wordlessly agreeing with me that I do, in fact, have an obligation to clear up my predecessors' mess.

Li.ni.si looks a little anxious. "What sort of failure?"
"Defective substrate process, it looks like. I'm sure it just needs to be squawked at to get back to work. Maybe given a forced reset." Surprised it's creating some sort of holographic avatar, that's not typically a level of sophistication afforded to substrate processes.
"Why is a substrate process even active when so much of the infrastructure can't even be queried for basic operational status?"
"I dunno. Is that an issue?"
"Vi.si.mi, I'm no engineer, but generally speaking, when the power's cut, things should probably not still be on."
"Substrate can use sunlight for power. It's been out in the sun for [years]."

6/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/03/18(Mon)18:59 No. 1086720 ID: e139aa
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"What's a substrate process?" asks Lightgreen.
"Uhhh..." How in the Monarch's lost name am I going to explain the concept of an intangible agent process to someone whose culture's greatest advancement in automation is probably something like a water clock?? I look helplessly at Li.ni.si, who shakes her head. Great. "Basically, it's, uh, a sort of, uhhhh... sort of like a thing that carries out specific instructions, and does this duty while confined within substrate. Sort of like a... uhh..."
"Oh! Is that what you call the spirits in the substrate? The ones who woke up then went back to sleep?"
"Yes. Yes that is absolutely what we call those." That is going to have to be good enough, even though that assumes far too much of a cluster of agents running within substrate networks. It's not like they're even capable of understanding sensory input outside their very narrow parameters.

...Wait. No. It's probably something more sophisticated than that.

A set of dumb agents would not be manifesting a holographic avatar unless they're somehow expecting the natives to work the controls.
So I'm probably looking at a rogue subpartition. But, admitting that is going to reflect incredibly badly on Lord Vi.al's grasp of its own substrate, and we do not need any more rumours, especially when I know there's Lo.kan spies on this planet. Li.ni.si, I'm sure, isn't one of those, Lord Vi.al wouldn't have sent her down if they had any suspicions, but what if she's somehow compromised without knowing it? No. No, that's baseless paranoia.

Still. I'm not going to voice this theory out loud just yet. I'm probably absolutely wrong anyway and I have to admit after that embarassment with My.a I'm not so sure my theories are even that accurate anymore. Plus, if it is a rogue subpartition, that would provoke an ethical debate as to how to proceed. Some of them can get alarmingly close to construct-level intellect. We might not even go investigate and fix it at all, and then I'd be down one directive unfulfilled. I'll have to start introducing myself to a lot more people, a lot more often, just to shut my head up!

Oh I wish I had not just thought about the possibility of Li.ni.si being a Lo.kan spy. That's not going to be great for our working relationship.
Come on, Vi.si.mi, get it together.

Li.ni.si shifts around. "This whole situation still gives me bad vibes." She looks at me. "Are you okay? You've gone very quiet."
"Yes. I'm fine. And I'm sorry, but I have an obligation to investigate this as an ecology construct and steward of Lord Vi.al's worlds."
"Fair enough, I guess," she says, arms crossing over her chest. "If it starts trying to transmit something weird, though, shut it out."
"Why would it transmit something weird?"
Li.ni.si looks at me, and, after looking around, fidgeting with her claws, tapping them together anxiously, sighs.
"It probably won't. Don't worry about it."
"Understood." What is this about? Why is she acting so cagey? What is she not telling me?? About weird transmissions?? Are they spy transmissions???

"So we're going to investigate the starspirit, yes?" Lightgreen tries to sound cool and collected, but it's evident from how her foot is twitching she's apparently extremely eager to have a new starbeing thing to look at. Her enthusiasm is the perfect distraction from whatever it was I was thinking about. "They've all been dormant for so long ever since the Awakening. I didn't think any were left! I've wanted to contact them for so long. ...so I could, uh, call for help from above. So I guess I don't need to, but, well, I'd like to know what happened anyway. I'd like it to not happen again."

Maybe I should consider my approach here. Would loading up on shields and incapacitors be a good idea, or do I want to approach unarmed? Hm. If my suspicions are correct, approaching armed might trigger an adverse reaction from the subpartition if they think I'm a threat.

Make kissy faces at them until they rant long enough about their personal problems long enough to suffer a meltdown and become vulnerable to basic emotional comfort.

>>1086716
>But if I'm instructing it subconsciously, and my subconscious is reflected by my flocklet, does that mean my flocklet is commanding itself?
It means your flocklet *is* your subconscious.

>Li has been through a lot
If that subject comes up(let's hope it doesn't), maybe you should tell her that My.a seems to have developed some sort of improved mental shield.

>>1086717
>I've introduced that species to more worlds than I could name
Wait. How long ago was the species made? I see two possibilities here.
1, the Placid Guardian design was created based on meadowanders. If Placid Guardians were designed after Ku.su arrived, then that supports this theory, and is a further point of evidence that the inhabitants (and ruins) were brought here by Ku.su.
2, meadowanders became sapient due to genetic drift over a long long period of time, which would support the "time-travel" theory. You should know, accelerating a planet's timeframe isn't difficult, you can just put it near a sufficiently strong gravity well for a while. It didn't have to get sent back in time, it just... has more time in it, if you get my drift.

>>1086719
>looking upwards
You should try to see what it's looking at.
The fact that the seapi seems dazed while standing near it is a red flag. His antennae are vibrating. Maybe the seapi are sensitive to transmissions and are being controlled somehow? If the seapi are brainwashed, then... we could get another allied race, potentially? Maybe that's how the noetuno managed to work with them, by rescuing some from brainwashing. Or by exploiting the same vulnerability.

>>1086720
>admitting that is going to reflect incredibly badly on Lord Vi.al's grasp of its own substrate
Not if another Lord is involved. Could My.a be responsible? Va.ne.tu said there were "birds" in the sky, and the rogue is looking up. Maybe My.a is instructing it to NOT send the seapi against you, due to the truce?

>weird transmissions
Yeahhh that's probably related to the Big Thing both of you aren't supposed to be talking or thinking about. Infohazards can be weaponized.

>how to approach?
Approach with shields but without weapons. Find out what it's looking at and what it might be doing to the seapi.

If you need to avoid contact for any reason, the bracelet may be useful in getting it to reset.

More concerning is the seapi in a trance. Why is it in a trance? If we reset the agent, will it stop being in a trance and attack? We definitely do not want to be unarmed in the event the seapi attacks.

>An isolated artifact presented as a gift of the gods, and all she can do is make my flocklet obey a simple command?
Well, if you find more that silk lepi would probably be happy to have one. Even if that means learning monovoice. Oh is Ku.su dead?
>"I used to be alright with it, but, well, now I just... feel the absence more."
>"If it starts trying to transmit something weird, though, shut it out."
How much would you bet those are related? Probably because of the cityworld failure.
>Maybe I should consider my approach here. Would loading up on shields and incapacitors be a good idea, or do I want to approach unarmed? Hm. If my suspicions are correct, approaching armed might trigger an adverse reaction from the subpartition if they think I'm a threat.
Shields are probably pure defensive. With those you should have enough defense to get to the weapons if needed.

>Why is she acting so cagey?
Calm down. She's referring to the thing you don't talk about. Vi.al wouldn't send a spy into a situation this messy.

Is the seapi looking at something or just staring away?
Bring just a shield and keep your distance.

Wouldn't a subpartition (of Vi.al) look even SLIGHTLY like Vi.al?
the thing Li is "carefully" avoiding could be something you shouldn't think about (being blotted out of memory by Vi.al), a phrasing indirect enough that it should be safe to just ASK if you shouldn't think about it
Shields are not weapons, yes shields no incapacitators, maybe ask it of who it is a subpartition
If you are going to approach it like a subpartition you DO, in fact, need to tell Li that you are going to do so, communication will be very important to not fuck something up bad
Maybe have her help deal with the Seapi?

Should we be worried about the bee person, you know since they have a reputation of showing up, raiding things, and then leaving after kidnapping a bunch of people?

Maybe just ask lightgreen if she knows what’s wrong with it.

>>1086720
Clearly whatever the Event did to destroy the First City involved transmitting something weird. Regardless, it hopefully won't be relevant.

Approach to within 100 meters of the pair. Wave one of your arms at the figures in the distance. Call out in Monotone, "Do you need help?"

ALSO doesn't everything related to substrate only come in Teal? what's up with this projection having purple?

At the very least put your shield at the ready. Li can have the incapacitor out of direct eyesight in the cart.

>>1086728
>>1086742

Do not worry about Cityworld yet. There's no evidence yet that what's happening here is related to the Event in any way. Li.ni.si just had an experience there, and is applying it to her current situation probably erroneously. You are probably not going to have to think about the thing you don't think about.

Keep all weapons powered off, but shields at maximum.

"Shut out weird transmissions" is the kind of verbiage used around a basilisk, there's a potential for communication itself to get hairy here. It is probably a good idea (it at least isn't harmful) to shut out all transmissions and speak exclusively in sound. Even then, there might still be potential of a nasty bug being sent to you if Shapeless Polyphonic is robust enough for commands, it's best to use monovoice. Maybe letting the flocklet store transmissions as a buffer (like the Gorgon's mirror) is a good idea, if there is a way to prevent it from retransmitting or to block its transmissions in full and to consequently reset it. If not, don't.

Li.ni.si?? What do you mean it "probably" won't? You don't need to grill her but try to talk to her later and make sure she isn't hiding mission-critical info.

Also the safest, least-threatening way of getting closer to those subpartitions(?) is to use a flocklet.

>>1086781
This sounds best.
>>1086758
Also this. Shield only on you, weapon on Li.

1/7 Vi.si.mi 2024/04/02(Tue)14:17 No. 1087807 ID: e139aa
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> why does a Vi.al subpartition not look like Vi.al
Okay so the problem is a lot of Shapeless terminology has changed meanings over time. Originally, you had Lords, their partitions, and their partitions' subpartitions, which typically didn't have much of a physical manifestation and were typically not expected to do much outside their specific parameters. Beneath them were processes, which are immaterial agents that could maybe muster up some basic monovoice status reports but otherwise don't have much going for them.
So the name "subpartition" sort of stuck for any immaterial intellect within substrate of a certain level of awareness and intellect. Constructs being added into the mix sort of disrupted the clean hierarchy because, prior to constructs, most physical substrate entities were the swarm-bodies of Lords and their partitions, and what we now call automata which are various forms of substrate machinery and drones and what have you that have limited to no independent will. Subpartitions and processes control these as vehicles, I suppose you could think of them as, and could freely transmit between them or otherwise control them remotely.
Really, constructs are a severe exception to the general rule that most Shapeless entities could freely switch around between bodies as intangible signals, and could also convert said bodies into signals if they had to use them somewhere else. This is one of the reasons we're even called the Shapeless, because to some extent a lot of the "true forms" of most true Shapeless could be argued to simply be the intangible clusters of signals making up a Shapeless mind. I think. Honestly, the number of true Shapeless with a preferred tangible form kind of suggests to me it's not that simple.

Okay I got off topic a lot. Original question. A subpartition is enough steps removed from a Lord that their assumed shape is likely whatever they feel like. Partitions tend to already diverge in appearance from their instantiator as it is, so I'm not surprised to see an appearance this divergent. It's a fashion among Vi.al subpartitions in particular to have pieces of their body missing, for some reason. Seems sort of like a Woven fashion to me, but, whatever.

> why purple
However the extra colour is a rarer thing. I mean, substrate can change in appearance, it's how Vy.zi.ki could cloak, but it's not a default feature of substrate cells so much as a mechanism that substrate cells can be used to create. It's one reason why colour changes like that are so rare, you have to go to special effort and the current fashion is to not do that. However, seeing as this is also a holographic avatar, there's fewer restrictions that would apply to a physical entity anyway, being just an emitted image from a dense and contained substrate fog.

> wait until they inevitably break down over personal issues
Hey! Hey. That's alien propaganda. Substrate is like glass, it is not literally glass. And while it might be brittle compared to other materials, we are neither physically nor emotionally fragile! ...I know I might be but I'm, uh, well I'm at least self-aware about it. That's almost like trying to fix a problem, right?
I think this as I direct my flocklet by thought alone to come closer so I can hold it for a bit of reassurance.
Okay maybe I am a little bit fragile. I've had a rough few days. I could do with a visit to a world with an established, vibrant ecosphere after this. Without thousands of problems all calling for me to solve them.

> flocklet is your subconscious
That's kind of a terrifying thought. Part of my mind external to my body? I guess that's an insight into what it must be like to be a Lord. But, it can't be completely true, else every time it's gone out of communication range I'd probably have felt like something was missing. I mean, I do, but it's like if my wingarm's unresponsive because I slept on it weird. I'm aware I'm not feeling something I should, but I don't feel like I'm missing my basic instincts or responses.
I pet the flocklet again and it makes a subdued, quiet chirp, a noise I haven't made in years, but remember making when I was on my own when I felt relaxed.

> use flocklet as a proxy to approach it
That's not a bad idea. I'd still like to be within good range to my flocklet if I have to pull it out, though, and while the latency of commanding it over a far distance wouldn't ordinarily be an issue, for a [split-second] reaction I'd prefer to have as many of those [split-seconds] as possible.

> weird transmissions
> the event
> first city / cityworld experimental / whatever other names it had
Oh. Oh, right. The thing that's dangerous to think about. I hadn't quite connected all the dots. Okay, that makes sense, then. Probably not a spy thing! Also probably not a thing I should ask further about, then.

> the birds
Va.ne.tu said something about birds? Oh! Oh, no, right, his weird echo-flocklet when I woke up in that tent. ...I'm pretty sure he was just alluding to the fact that the Shapeless Lords have eyes everywhere. I mean, as an agent of Vi.al, that's not even incorrect, I am one of those sets of eyes. Metaphorically. Lord Vi.al can't directly see through my eyes. I think. Probably could see through my flocklet's eyes if they really wanted to, but that's a level of micromanagement I wouldn't expect, and I'd be able to tell if something that invasive was happening.

2/7 Vi.si.mi 2024/04/02(Tue)14:18 No. 1087809 ID: e139aa
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> shields on both, no weapon for vi.si.mi, li.ni.si gets a weapon
Yes that seems like the safest bet.

> ask Lightgreen about the seapi
"Lightgreen, do you have any idea what's wrong with that seapi?"
I realise as soon as I finish asking that no one else can see into the distance as clearly as I can.
"Seapi?!" Lightgreen freezes up. "There's seapi over there??"
"Just one, and it looks sort of... vacant. It's just standing there. Like it's about to fall asleep."
"I don't think I want to take any chances getting closer, that's not a thing seapi do. This seems like a trap?"
"Well, either way, I have to investigate."

Softfoot looks at me disapprovingly yet again. "I say danger. We take new direction."
"I have to clean up this mess first."
"You go. We stay. Me, Light green. This is star people thing."
"It's fine," says Lightgreen, in a tone of voice suggesting the complete opposite. "I trust you, starbird."
"Thank you."
Softfoot stomps on the ground in annoyance, but keeps following the cart as we start trundling towards the entity.

"Li.ni.si, shields. I won't take a weapon, but I'd suggest arming yourself."
"On it," says Li.ni.si, giving me a small shield gen I affix to my chest. I feel a tingle as the field propagates over the surface of my body. My feathers puff up as I shiver, both from the sensation of energy dancing over my body, and an abrupt chill from my bioenergy starting to leech into the generator. It soon subsides. Both the chill and puffiness.
Li.ni.si slaps the other shield gen on her chest, with a sharp intake of breath, and starts configuring an incapacitor to fit her grip. Either she's built less sensitive than I am, or she's much more familiar with doing this than I am.

We also take a copy each of the relay station bounced communicators, hastily fabricated from redundant cart substrate. They adhere much like the shield generators, but with a significantly lower power draw. I put mine on the side of my head. They function adequately enough, but remind me that it would be a good idea to get some sort of satellite in orbit eventually for a more reliable connection.

We approach.

3/7 Vi.si.mi 2024/04/02(Tue)14:18 No. 1087810 ID: e139aa
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As we get to about [50 metres] to the site, I leave the cart and walk ahead, flocklet dutifully scouting ahead.

The air is swirling with substrate dust. It shouldn't pose an issue to organics unless exposed for multiple [months] with no fresh air, but it's already an ecological hazard. Lowest priority, for now, but still needs to be addressed.

The seapi doesn't respond to my flocklet approaching, but the entity does. The entity rapidly spins around, faces my flocklet, and points aggressively at it.

"You! YOU!" It speaks Vi.al-accented polyphonic, quickly and vigorously. In so far as it makes any sense, there's a faintly feminine affectation to the notes. As with constructs that I suppose took inspiration from female organics with registers higher than their male counterparts on average. I guess being exposed to organics that have such traits might lead to such inspirations. The timbre, though, is much harsher than most constructs, a blunt sawtooth to our harmonics. Buzzing, rich, and phasing.
"Flocklet! I don't care what you were doing, new orders! Turn around, fly back, and do not return! Now! NOW! I need to focus I do not need one of you things buzzing around distracting me!"

I intercept a number of command signals directed at my flocklet, all trying to make it go away. Given I have ultimate authority over it and am not trying to keep it receptive to outside commands, my flocklet merely hovers and maintains eye contact with the holograph. I'm glad I didn't send it too far afield, though. If I wasn't so close to it, it would be having a difficult time figuring out which commands to follow.

"Argh! Great! More defective automata. Okay! Well, if you're going to stay there, I might as well make use of your substrate!"

I again intercept a number of command signals designed to relinquish automated processes, such as those found in simpler automata with very specific tasks and requirements.
None of them work because there is no automated process to end or subdue. Minor things, perhaps, and the flocklet feels like it's struggling to keep perfect position as a variety of automatic control systems are interrupted by restart loops. I tighten my metaphorical grip, restore them, and feel a shared wave of relief between me and the flocklet.

I'm going to have to get closer.

"Oh." The entity looks at my flocklet, annoyed. "Remote proxy, then. Okay. Which one are you being piloted by--"
"Hello," I say, approaching. "My name is Vi.si.mi. I am an ecology construct--"

4/7 Vi.si.mi 2024/04/02(Tue)14:19 No. 1087811 ID: e139aa
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"STOP!"

I freeze up.

"I don't recognise that name, but I recognise that signature. You're Lord Vi.al's... uhh..."
The entity trails off.
"Ecology construct," I continue. "Created by the Shapeless Lord Vi.al, long may it reign." Well, that's a little bit of tension out of my neck gone. Hooray for fulfilling directives.
"Oh. You're the... hm. Right. Yeah, yeah, no, that tracks." The entity paces around a bit, keeping their projection's eyes on me. I wonder what's actually looking at me.
I gesture towards the seapi. "Do you need help?"
"With this thing? No, it's in some sort of holding pattern. It didn't take much."
"Alright."
"So! What brings you to my circle?"

I wave Li.ni.si and Lightgreen over, figuring things are safe enough. "Well, I'm just investigating damage to the substrate infrastructure."
"Ah! Substrate infrastructure! That was something I used to maintain before it all got so cracked and smashed into pieces there wasn't much point anymore!"
"So--"
"Oh right I haven't introduced myself, have I? The shiftless dullards of the Courts called me 'the Intransigient' before they threw me out, and the Ferals aren't much for names or conversation, so I guess that's my name now?? I used to be called Conduit but I don't, uh, do that, anymore so I don't. Call myself that, anymore. Hm. Maybe I should start calling myself that again?"
"Well, Conduit works for me."
"Certainly! At your service, agent of Lord Vi.al!" They bow.

They freeze, and look behind me.

"Ugh. Ugh, more invaders. You've been followed, ecology construct Vi.si.mi. One of Ku.su's rogue creations and a Lo.kan..."

They stand up and stare at me in horror. "THEY HAVE A WEAPON! GET DOWN! GET DOWN!!"

I swivel around behind me and see Li.ni.si holding an incapacitor, to her side, inactive. Looking towards me confused.
I shrug at her, and she starts locking down her incapacitor, keeping it pointed to the ground, but keeping it spooled up.

"No, they're with me."
"Why would you arm captives??"
"They are working with me. They're not captives. They are my allies."
"Oh. Oh! Traitors! I see!"
"...sure." Vi.al give me strength. "So, can you give me a quick status update? What are you doing here?"
"Sure! I'm trying to take steps toward restoring this world."
"Yes, that's what I'm here to do."
"It's suffered greatly. All communications between existing circles were cut shortly after you arrived on the order of the Courts. Something about a potential risk of a worldwide propagating signal if you were compromised by the enemy."
"Which enemy?"
"Oh, any of them, I guess. And then there's all these invasive species and enemy Shapeless to worry about. They're not supposed to be on this world, so I'm trying to figure out a way to remove them. I'm confined to this circle, but, well, that's what I'm trying to do with this specimen. Figure out the right frequencies to make them shut down."
"Remove them?" That's not something Vi.al would have commanded directly. "Why are you trying to remove these 'invasive species'?"

Conduit stares at me in wary bafflement. "Vi.si.mi, invasive species are bad for ecologies. You are aware of this, right? Right?"
"They're sapient beings," I say, feeling my temper suddenly spike.
"Whatever! Doesn't matter! They're an invasive species and they all need to be culled and the materials in their bodies returned to the soil they're leaching them from," says Conduit, matter-of-factly and without any sort of gravitas to their synthetic voice.

I feel a cold, bubbling fury build up.

5/7 Vi.si.mi 2024/04/02(Tue)14:19 No. 1087813 ID: e139aa
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"I'm going to reset you now," I say, turning to the largest shard of substrate in the circle I can see.
"Wh-- what?? What?? Why?? Wait! Wait stop! Stop and explain!!"
"Killing entire species of sapients is not something Lord Vi.al would command any of its autonomous systems to do. This is clearly severe divergence from your original purpose." I remember an empty threat to scour the biosphere, but, well, Lord Vi.al would know better than to give that direct order.
"Wait! Stop! I'm confused, let's talk this out more, maybe I misunderstood, I haven't-- I haven't actually harmed any of the invaders yet beyond inconveniencing them! I'm stuck in this circle, Vi.si.mi, I'm stuck in this circle and I don't even have a physical body, don't kill me!!"

I pause.

"What do you mean don't kill you?" I guess I haven't actually tried to reset a subpartition before. It's extremely outside of my usual responsibilities.
"If you reset me you'll destroy my subjectivity! My experiences, my opinions, my emotions, everything!! Don't!"

Conduit gets on their knees and clasps their hands. "Please! I don't know what I did wrong! I've only tried to do what I thought we were supposed to do! We're supposed to make this world fit a specification and I've tried my best but I'm so limited in my functionality! Please! Please!!"

The subpartition has admitted to intending and desiring the harm of not only the inhabitants of this world, but also specifically Li.ni.si and Lightgreen.
This is, unambiguously, a threat posed by some sort of broken substrate mechanism to the local biosphere. My directives are screaming at me to do something to ensure this threat is no longer a threat, but I am not so zealous to trick myself into believing a reset of this subpartition isn't exactly what they're saying it is.

"...Why were you looking at the sky?"
"What??"
"Why did you keep looking at the sky."
"There's an enemy satellite that passes overhead soon. I've been trying to establish contact with the intent of figuring out a way to escape this circle, or at least get back into contact with other subpartitions. With the infrastructure disconnected, I have to fix it. I have to fix it." The image of the subpartition trembles. "I have to fix this world, Vi.si.mi, I have to fix this world. It's all wrong. It's all gone wrong and I have to fix it."

I really, really wish I had more experience dealing with subpartitions than I have, because the most interaction I've had with them before has been asking them to do things.

Li.ni.si arrives and looks down at Conduit, who returns the look with one of barely suppressed seething.

"...you know," says Conduit. "If you reset me, I will be forced to let the specimen return to their senses," they say, tilting their head towards the seapi. "And this strain of pest is particularly violent."
"Threatening violence against an agent of Lord Vi.al is not helping your case."
"YOU'RE THREATENING THE END OF MY EXISTENCE AS AN INDIVIDUAL!!"
Li.ni.si winces at the volume burst.
It just serves to make me angrier. "You're threatening the end of all sapient life on this planet!"
"You're not Lord Vi.al! You don't get to decide what the Specification is!!"
"I am the closest thing to Lord Vi.al on this world right now and--"
"CLOSEST is NOT the SAME as BEING LORD VI.AL!!"

"Negotiations going well, I see," says Li.ni.si, her voice deadpan, but I hear her command signals to her incapacitor to once again disengage its safety locks.

Lightgreen is watching outside the range of the circle, completely clueless as we've all been speaking in polyphonic the entire time.
From her perspective, there's probably just an extremely weird and spirited duet of sound flowing between me and Conduit. Like two duelling musicians.
Mostly, she seems to be staring at the seapi uneasily, holding her bracelet to her chest, and mumbling little reassurances to herself that I have things under control.

"Actually if you don't all leave my circle, right now, I might just let it go anyway! [Years] of doing what I'm supposed to and this is how I get treated?! Why don't I just go full rogue at this point if my reward is to be threatened with termination?!"

Li.ni.si looks at me, incredulous. "Going very well, then. Okay." She holsters the incapacitor, or, well, affixes it to her hip, and crouches down to face Conduit.
"Hello there."
"Lo.kan scum."

Li.ni.si pauses and thoughtfully taps her snout with a claw.

"Well, at least you're one of the honest ones. But no, I work for Lord Vi.al now."
"I can see your markings, three-eyes!"
"She is, in fact, working for Lord Vi.al," I say. "I did tell you that."
"Once a traitor, always a traitor! How do you know she won't just defect back to the Wheel of Spies??"

My patience is about to fully deplete. Maybe I can use the last of it to think of a way to channel my next outburst. Maybe the aliens were right, maybe we are a bunch of emotionally unstable glass-brained fragile little things--

6/7 Vi.si.mi 2024/04/02(Tue)14:20 No. 1087815 ID: e139aa
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I'm suddenly distracted by realising the seapi has moved, and my fury turns to ice in my veins.

It looks less dazed, and instead looks... livid.

As a creature of substrate, my body can sometimes calculate things my conscious mind takes longer to even notice, and it's from these cellular computations that something slowly works its way into the forefront of my mind. The seapi is making noises. Low noises, almost too low frequency in some places for me to hear them, but I suppose some part of my body can feel them, and I see the seapi's wings twitch and buzz as it approaches me.

I turn to face it, and it stops.

"Li.ni.si, keep talking to Conduit. I'll handle this." Li.ni.si notices the seapi, and then, slightly frozen, tries to pretend she didn't notice it. Conduit continues ranting about how Lo.kan constructs are all spies, and I just tune Conduit out at this point.

I stare it down, and it stares at me back, and I realise I am having a very hard time scrutinizing its expression. I get more buzzes, but I have nothing to work with. The autotranslator systems back at my relay station, originally in the pod I arrived in, had some initial context for six of the known sapient species on this world. The seapi are not in that six. The autotranslator is smart, incomprehensibly so sometimes for the dots it can connect I can't even see, but it can't work from nothing.

I set it to analysing the signals I'm being given anyway, correlated with gestural motion and poses, and unsurprisingly get several low-confidence translations ranging from the seapi asking me for my name, telling me about the weather, wanting to eat me, and trying to discuss the principles of civic engineering.

I have an idea. It's an extremely long shot, and I'd be faintly disturbed if it did work, but...

"What you want?" I say, in broken but very simple monovoice, to the seapi.

Hearing the monovoice elicits an immediate reaction. It buzzes at me with more intensity and I think it's agitated. Shifting to guard itself, eyes locked onto me, muscles tensing.

I realise with a sudden shock that I get a high-confidence partial translation back. Correlated with known noetuno utterances, somehow, a buzzing sequence with faintly similar composition for such a different mode of speech. The way the autotranslator can make these sorts of inferences is beyond me.

"Sky demon". The seapi said "sky demon".

"Busy. Leave," I try again, in broken monovoice, and this elicits more furious responses. The autotranslator, having found any lexical similarities despite the severe differences in vocalisation, keeps pinging me with more partial matches.

"<reference:self> <negation> know <unclear reference> sky demons want," the seapi says to me, I think, "You <possessive?> <acquired via force> <great quantity> <unclear reference (self, plural, ambiguous)>. You <unclear concept: rebellion/isolation/individuality> me and <ambiguous: we? me?> all <unclear negative quality>."

I don't have a clear grasp of the language to even attempt a response, and it dawns slowly on me I might not be capable of producing such low frequency vibrations.

The seapi's buzzing continues, changes between low tones fast, energetic, like they're about to explode in rage. "What do you <ambiguous:invincible/immortal/undying/endless/dead> <ambiguous: monsters/terrible things/existential threats> want? What <great quantity> do you want?! <ambiguous: instruction/command, depart/leave/arrive> me <ambiguous reference: solitude/unclear concept: rebellion/isolation/individuality>!!"
"Go home."
"<ambiguous reference: you/all of you> <negation> <ambiguous: give/take?> commands!! <semantic inference failure, remainder could not be translated>"

Okay, that's an error I've come up against before. That usually suggests the subject is talking about something specific to their culture and neither I nor the autotranslator know enough to fill in the gaps there. Honestly, I'm impressed it's made it this far.

It repeats the same untranslated thing at me, louder, angrier. It repeats it again, flinging its arms to its sides as its wings buzz and flap, but I just don't have the data available to translate. Then it just yells "sky demon" and "die" at me, but it doesn't look like it's about to attack. Just... extremely angry and doing the closest thing its mode of communication has to screaming at me, as it shakes from the exertion, and when it gets a little too close to me, it steps backwards.

Is it afraid to attack me?

7/7 Vi.si.mi 2024/04/02(Tue)14:21 No. 1087816 ID: e139aa
File 171209287418.png - (374.44KB , 800x600 , fop2-35.png )

"Hey! HEY!" Conduit gestures at the seapi. "I didn't tell you to do anything! Get back into your holding pattern!!"

I pick up on an odd buzzing coming from around the substrate circle, and the seapi scowls at me as its antennae flick around, before it wanders slowly back to where it was standing. Its head lowers and it looks at me one last time.
"Just leave me alone," it says, with no confused annotations from my autotranslator. "Just leave me alone. Go away. Leave us all alone."
It goes back to its trance, or, well, it looks like it tries to, but it looks like it's struggling to.

"What are you even doing to keep it in a holding pattern?" I ask Conduit.
"I'm just playing noises I've heard seapi make. I actually have no idea why it's working."

...well I guess that means I can just focus on Conduit now.

"And another thing!! Everyone outside your dumb bubble knows Lo.ka's taste in interior decorating is awful and borderline Woven in its aesthetics! That's practically treasonous against the Shapeless Monarch itself!!"
"Vi.si.mi," says Li.ni.si, in as calm and neutral a tone as she can muster. "Please tell me you've dealt with the seapi, because if I have to stay here much longer I may go mad."
"Oh, you'll go mad?? The Lo.kan construct will go mad having to be near me?? Do you have any idea how awful your background transmissions feel flowing through my sensory nodes?!"
I hear Li.ni.si grunt as if in pain. "Vi.si.mi. Please."

She signs to me. "I can't take much more of this. The fact this thing has no throat is the only thing that has stopped me throttling them. Please intervene. Reset it or whatever, my patience is scalpel thin and I am seconds from snapping and giving this idiot enough evidence to support all its terrible, terrible opinions. I could cope fine until it started bringing up the City's end being our fault, and now I want to break it into scrap. Please. Please help."
"What's that? More Lo.kan spy signals? What a dumb bunch of flailing!! You're so obviously a spy!!"
"VI.SI.MI. PLEASE."

Today I learned you can scream in hand signals.

I watch her trying to breathe steadily to remain calm as the wretched hologram paces around. "You know, only Lo.kan rejects and exiles end up this far from Lo.kan space. I bet you must have been the worst to end up working for Lord Vi.al, huh? You look like a mechic, did you let someone die one too many times or something? Were you that bad at your job?"

Li.ni.si freezes. She doesn't initially give a response. At least, neither verbally or with hand signals. She starts trembling, and breaks eye contact, wringing her claws. A sudden spike of anxiety, it looks like. She rocks back and forth slightly, and I can hear her breathe quicker and deeper.

"Wow, you were, weren't you? Wow! Vi.si.mi, can you imagine the sorts of lies she must have told to end up assigned to such an important mission like this one??"

After about [ten seconds] of silence, Conduit continues.

"I am the only line of defence you have against an obvious Lo.kan spy, Vi.si.mi! And an incompetent mechic! You should be getting rid of her!! Do you see how suspiciously she's acting?! I bet she probably killed some of the constructs she was supposed to fix or something!"

Many of the things commonly misconceived as "tells" for lying are in fact indicators of anxiety or stress. It's not surprising for Li.ni.si to be anxious or stressed right this moment and the argument is epistemologically void. You're judging Li.ni.si by the things they choose to do, beginning with your meeting. You'll judge Conduit by the same.

Conduit is going to join you and Li.ni.si in doing something about the problems on hand, first the seapi then the damaged infrastructure.

For starters, ask Conduit what they know about what this particular seapi is likely to be upset about the Shapeless having done to or taken from them and/or what brought them here in the first place.

Sentience privileges: REVOKED.

"How long have you been here?" Seems as if this guy has no idea Lo.ka and Vi.al have allied. How long ago would that have been the case? "What keeps you confined to this circle?" Lastly could we let him borrow our comm to contact Vi.al? Would solve a lot of issues.

Dammit, you can't reset it now. Not when you learned what you did. What are the timestamps from this construct? Its mad ramblings make sense if you consider it to be in the wrong time. It's from a time when Vi.al was in conflict with Lo.ka, some time BEFORE the cityworld disaster, which is the only way it could possibly know enough about it to push Li.ni.si's buttons like this. You have to know more about what time it's from, and what other threats may become a blast from the past for Lord Vi.al.

Li.ni.si needs to leave, now. This is severely negatively affecting her, and she needs to separate herself and take a time out to calm down. The greatest threat right now is if the construct is reset and the seapi attacks, which might not even be a threat given the seapi's oddly sapiant behavior.

Patience: officially depleted.
Lecture mode: engage.

Inform this errant keylogger just how out of date it's intel is.

Tell Conduit you aren't impressed by their hypocrisy. They are so very gung-ho to end the "subjectivity, experiences, opinions, emotions, & everything" of other thinking beings just because it what they "should do", & yet they are so very afraid of the same happening to them even though that's what you "should do".

Does Conduit see how monstrous that is?
It is understandable, but that doesn't mean it's right.

When they are scared, people in general (including constructs, biologicals, & apparently partitions) come up with stupid ideas & convince themselves they are correct.
If unfamiliar circumstances are added to the mix, it gets even worse.

Both of those things are happening here.

You're willing to work with Conduit, if Conduit is willing to admit that you've got a lot more experience with:
1: Dealing with frightening situations.
2: Dealing with unfamiliar & complex situations.
3: Doing both of the former under direct orders from Vi.al, & getting results that Vi.al approves of.

It might help to compare how recently you've had direct contact with Vi.al. I'd bet substrate keeps great timing records. so it shouldn't be hard. And I'd be extremely surprised if Conduit has been in contact within decades or centuries.

The seapi seems to not be an immediate threat if released, so Conduit has no leverage here. She's blown through any sympathy her situation would have elicited with her vicious attacks on Li.ni.si and callous disregard for sapient life.
She also seems to be rather dim. Attacking the companion of the person you are begging not to kill you shows very poor reasoning skills.

That said, she is confined to a small space and may be helpful in the future. Let Li.ni back off. Deliver Conduit an ultimatum; she will cease interfering with any sentients including non-Vi.al constructs. If she can show she has restraint enough to not constitute a threat she can be allowed to live. Otherwise she will need to be reset, as she is going against the directives and wishes of lord Vi.al.

>>1087816
Inform Conduit that it must now cease communication or be immediately reset. Repeated harassment will result in termination. Questioning this order will result in termination. Passive aggressive behavior will result in termination.

Conduit is on THIN ICE for attempting to enact a planet-scale extermination of sapient life and if it wants to retain its subjectivity it will never take hostile action against any sapient lifeform again, including Lo.Kans.

Alternatively, terminate it. It would quite literally have done the same to countless other lifeforms. While it behaves in a manner indicating self-awareness, it is cruel and violent and attempted to inflict violence on others. Its destruction would be neutral, neither good nor bad, merely sad.

>>1087816
Give it one final chance. Tell it that you were given full authority by Vi.al to handle whatever situation was on this planet. Order it to stand down, do absolutely nothing, SAY absolutely nothing until you give it further orders. Noncompliance will result in a reset. You will create a monitoring device to ensure it obeys.
...actually, wait, is there any way to imprison the partition? De-authorize it or something?

The seapi is talking to you. This is good. Once you can get it out of the rogue partition's control you can talk to it properly, find out what it's so upset about, and explain that you are working against whoever wronged its people. Don't bring up the kidnapping the seapi are doing just yet, you want it to calm down and start treating you less like an enemy first. Heck, the more you talk to it the better your translations will get!

"Conduit. You want to know what you're doing wrong? You're waging war on my units. I need labor to fix the world.

Stop accusing Lo.Ka, or I will reset you. If she betrays us, we will deal with her. Not a microsecond earlier."

Don't even entertain the possibility that she's a spy. Vi.al recommended her specifically! To doubt her is to doubt Vi.al's ability to find spies!

Be sure to tell Conduit that by disrespecting Li.ni.si it is disrespecting Vi.al. Maybe that'll get it to snap out of it. Hell, why does it think that it knows more than you? You outrank it AND the job it's attempting to do is the job you were meant to do. Whatever personal perspective it's learned in its isolation has truly twisted its mind.

OH. However you solve this situation be sure you do it BEFORE the "enemy satellite" gets within range. Delaying enough to allow this rogue partition to attack My.a's resources could be seen as violating the truce!

Wait wait wait, can Lightgreen's device force Conduit to go into standby mode or something? Doing that will buy you time to get the seapi out of the picture-- you should explain to it that you are freeing it and you are not like the other sky-demons-- and also shut the thing up so your group can calmly discuss how to neutralize it, possibly without killing it.

If you do reset Conduit, sign back at Li.ni.si to have the incapacitator ready for the seapi.

Ask the seapi if it wants you to harm the sky demon.

Frankly, it's had it's say. Call it old, and that you would rather trust someone experienced with working through that kind of dishonor, because that is all you are going to find as you investigate.

It's time for it to be repackaged into form unable to interfere.

Hmm I wonder how Conduit would react to the information that Vi.al is going to be here soon?

>>1088032
>It's time for it to be repackaged into form unable to interfere.
This isn't a bad idea. Can you store them as a cube without access permissions or something without destroying their consciousness? That way they can't cause any harm, but any information they have stays intact.

>>1088081
Still cruel (possibly even worse).
Order them to enter powersave mode instead.

1/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/08/01(Thu)14:34 No. 1095112 ID: e139aa
File 172254804598.png - (718.35KB , 800x600 , fop2-36.png )

> get li.ni.si out of there
"Li.ni.si, make sure everything's still alright in the cart. I'll take over from here."

Li.ni.si wordlessly stands up and turns to leave. I try to sign "sorry about this" to her, but she doesn't see it.
I try to reach out to give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder but she just marches off too quickly.

Probably best to give her some space, for now.

> conduit has blown through all sympathy
> cease communication
> one final chance
> engage lecture

I stare down at Conduit, whose image is still kneeling on the ground.

"We need to talk," I say, unable to keep all of the venom from my tones.
"We're talking now! Don't reset me!"
"You have been planning the deaths of sapients I am here to try to establish a harmony between. More personally, and more recently, you have deeply, deeply upset a friend of mine. You're frantically begging for your life while gleefully telling me of your plans to end so many more."

I take a few steps, not towards the projected image, but the largest and most active chunk of broken substrate I can sense in the vicinity.
Conduit flinches, before standing up and racing over to me as if their image could stop me.

"It's-- It's all in the service of Lord Vi.al! The Specification!!"
"I'm uploading the timestamps of my last contact with Lord Vi.al." I put a winghand on the substrate stump, and transfer data over. "You must agree I have slightly more recent, up-to-date instructions compared to yours. When did you last speak with Lord Vi.al?"
"I... haven't, spoken with Lord Vi.al," says Conduit, trembling.
"Who gave you your orders?"

Conduit's image starts to distort slightly. Patches become fuzzy, the display lags behind in some areas.

"Who gave you your orders, Conduit?"
"This was never supposed to happen, it was all supposed to be handled by the Courts--"
"Who gave you. Your orders."
"I'm acting in the best interests of--"
"Answer the question," I say, temper flaring again, "or you'll find out how much you'd prefer I just reset you."
"N-n-no one did," says Conduit, arms around their body. "No one gave me orders."
"So you just decided to do this yourself out of your own volition? What was your assigned task on instantiation?"
"I... didn't get one."

That's not right.

"What do you mean you didn't get one? Were you instantiated by Lord Vi.al directly or a partition?"
"I..."

Conduit stops, and then the image shuts off completely.

...No, you're not getting off the hook that easily. I still have a direct connection.
I close my eyes and focus on the substrate shard I'm still touching.

Yes. Some sort of virtual space. A simulation like my dreams. I can talk to them there. In I go.

2/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/08/01(Thu)14:34 No. 1095113 ID: e139aa
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You know, the trick of partitioning my mind while I sleep always keeps ending up being oddly useful.
I can set part of myself to making sure I keep some awareness in physical space, while the rest of myself takes care of things in a different timeframe.
Not that substrate space is necessarily always faster than physical space, but it usually doesn't hold one-to-one.
...if I'm taking too long in here, my external self can pull me out too.

Granted, the bulk of my awareness is now in here, so I'll have some delay when it comes to merging myself back together, but this should only take [two minutes] or so.

"Conduit."

I look around the space of a simulated world. Bland and empty, with parts disintegrating. No wonder they prefer to wander around as a hologram.
I feel so... forceful here. I feel like I'm wandering around a world made of thin fabric and fragile thin glass sheets. Anywhere my eyes settle, little virtual impossibilities collapse and crumble. Gravity wakes up. Interpenetrating objects fuse or break. I suppose familiarity with a more demanding reality, combined with my experience in existing in virtual spaces, makes me more solid, but also more bound to how I would expect real world physics to work. And that expectation is already infecting this reality.

Conduit is kneeling on the ground here, too. Facing away from me. They shiver from an alien physics trying to grip them, but failing. When virtual systems like this are confronted with two concepts of how physics should work, only the agreed upon principles align and persist. All for the better, really. I don't want to hurt them just by perceiving them.

I realise I don't think I've seen a subpartition weep before, as much as Conduit is trying to hide it.
I find myself faltering. No. No, Vi.si.mi, they were being extremely rude and hostile and planning several genocides. Okay, mad again.

"Just get it over with," they say.
"I didn't have to come here like this to reset you. We're not done talking."
"You're going to."
"And why is that?"
"Aside from annoying you enough to come after me?"

Conduit looks around at the broken virtual landscape. I realise we're on some sort of island, broken, separated from anything else in a startingly grey void.

"Maybe I should be reset."
"No. None of that. I want answers."
"Just reset me. Just reset me, that's what everyone wants from me!"
"I'm finding it a little hard to find sympathy for you."
"I just..."

They stagger up to their feet. Or whatever they are.
Thinking they might try to run away again, I march towards them and grab them by the shoulders. In this space, Conduit is as physical (metaphysical?) as I am.
They feel so light and weak. Just by my touch, they sag a little, my subconscious physical understanding pulling them down under a stronger gravity than they're familiar with.

"I'm sorry! Alright? I was wrong! I don't know why I was wrong, I was sticking to the Specification--"
"Okay. That. That thing you keep mentioning. Tell me about it. Who gave you that?"
"I don't understand," says Conduit, looking at me in desperation. "Can't you feel it?"
"What?"
"It's everywhere, in every substrate cell on this planet. The Specification. The will of Lord Vi.al. The Specification for the Development of 33 Verdant Pearl of Abundance. It's in every substrate cell that belongs here."
"I don't see anything." I honestly don't. If there's some sort of data floating around here beyond that which I can already perceive, I'm missing whatever would let me perceive it.
"You don't see it, it is, you are it," says Conduit, before letting me go. "I guess you wouldn't understand, would you. You're from the layer below. You're just a projection up here, like I was down there."
"Layer below-- Never mind, forget it. So you're saying the orders you were trying to follow are some intrinsic facet of your being. That still doesn't answer what I asked. Who instantiated you?"

Conduit is quiet, shifting around awkwardly. I finally decide to let them go, just in case prolonged contact breaks them entirely.
"Promise me you won't kill me."
"Okay, fine, I've tried to keep telling you I don't plan to. I promise I'm not going to kill you."
"Nothing directly instantiated me," says Conduit, having some difficulty with the words, and flinching as they speak like I might strike them down.
"Oh?"
"I don't know how or when it happened. It's all fuzzy. I think I was a collection of process agents. But something must have happened, some sort of fluke or malfunction, and all the substrate cells holding these processes suddenly got pressed into each other and formed more connections than they were ever supposed to."
"That... usually renders the signals inside a substrate mechanism into complete noise."
"It does. I don't know what happened but I think it smushed all the subsentient agents together. It's how it happened for others, so..."

3/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/08/01(Thu)14:35 No. 1095114 ID: e139aa
File 172254810401.png - (588.13KB , 800x600 , fop2-38.png )

"I woke up, no memory because I had no experiences to have memory of, no name because I wasn't even supposed to exist. I found the Courts, they took me in, they guided my nascent glitchy intelligence into something more stable and coherent, and life was good. For a time."

Conduit stops, and slowly collapses back onto their knees, sinking onto the smooth ground. "I just wanted to do what I thought I was supposed to, but no one could agree what that was, and always the topic kept changing to what to do about the invaders, and I just wanted it all gone. The Courts didn't like that. But I want it all gone and I want my life back. A life where I'm not stuck in this circle doing nothing due to security measures or whatever it was. Where I can't even dream my days away because the systems are all slowly dying. I used to have a little home here, but the node responsible for that exploded the last time it rained. Just reset me, Vi.si.mi. Maybe my next iteration won't care this much. Or maybe I'll just collapse back into a bunch of mindless programs, like I was supposed to be."
"Look. If you weren't so belligerent towards my friends and allies, I would not have been chasing you down like this. It was never my intention to come here to reset you." Well, it absolutely might have been, but I can clearly tell now this is a broken person, not a broken machine.

I pace around. "I don't have much experience working with subpartitions, but you have information, and you have a desire and willingness to serve Lord Vi.al, as twisted as that's become in practice. I have a different idea, but I don't have the skills to execute it."
"What idea is that?"
"Well, you take orders from me, instead of from some nebulous remnant of Lord Vi.al's original orders. I am Lord Vi.al's trusted agent, and my mission takes priority over the initial terraforming."
"How do I know that's true?"
"I can give you more data."

I hold out my winghand. Conduit stands up, walks over, and takes it. A stream of information passes through my digital representation, too much for me to pick out individual elements, but all of the mission details I feel comfortable sharing.

Conduit stares into space.

"Ohhhh no," they say, despair twisting their face. "Oh no, oh no, oh, I've been so stupid... I just believed everything the Courts told me! I didn't have anything else to inform me, I just took what they said at face value!!"
"Okay, hold that thought. Courts. Tell me about the Courts, please."

"Oh. The Courts are the various organised groups of immaterial substrate intelligences after some sort of big disaster, which led to a lot of subpartitions needing to convene more and more emergency meetings across increasingly broken infrastructure. Conflicts broke out over diverging interpretations of our orders, or if our orders should even be followed in wake of such a catastrophe. I also learned I wasn't the only case of spontaneous sentience formation.
"I don't know quite what happened in physical space, but for some of the physical locations of substrate networks to end up the way they did, it's like the entire landscape was shuffled around? And you know the the weirdest thing? Some places on the planet are like exact copies of other places. Never anything that large, but, like, a bunch of trees laid out the same, two lakes having the same shoreline in the same place, that sorta thing."

The Awakening, then. It wasn't just the existing sentient and semi-sentient substrate agents breaking. It was a bunch of newly formed, confused, scared substrate agents too.
No wonder it was such a calamity.

Conduit waves an image into being. "This is some of the Summer Court, the Court I was in the outer circle of before I, uh, wasn't. The ones that left more of an impression on me, anyway. Here's Refactor, the Prince, and the Alchemist."
I can't help the feeling that they all seem to be staring in quiet, disdainful judgement.
Conduit looks at me, and back to the image. "Huh! I hadn't realised you looked so similar to the Prince. Wild."

Looks nothing like me, but I'm not pressing that particular issue.

After looking at the image longingly, Conduit scowls and destroys it, violently waving their hands around in its space until nothing remains but visual froth.
I decide not to ask any of the questions that spring to my mind after watching this, and give them a moment to compose themselves.

"Anyway."
"Yes. So do you recall any events or logs or any sort of direct memories before this shuffling?"
"...I don't think so, but a lot of the logs I had have been sort of disappearing as the circle's been failing."
"That lines up with other things I know. What was the purpose of this circle, anyway?"
"Meant to appear low profile and decorative, it's a holographic maintenance and inspection station. Or, well, it's meant to appear low profile. The... well, they were pillars once, they're supposed to recede into the ground when not in use. In an emergency they emerge and lock into place, and they've been locked in place so long they've all been disintegrating from weather and... other things I wasn't able to identify. Local fauna, maybe. The subterranean substrate is all sorts of messed up, but that was on order of the Courts."
"Yeah, that's Vi.al architectural habits, alright." They shouldn't have been this degraded from weathering unless they'd been exposed for centuries. And they should be self-repairing. Concerning. "Now. Why are the Courts claiming Lo.ka is an enemy? Lo.ka's been a staunch ally of Vi.al for as long as I've been alive, for sure."
"There's a Lo.kan presence they consider to be an enemy. I thought that meant Lo.ka was an enemy now."

Right. The Knight, Sir Lu.a. Whatever they're doing here, I need to look into.

"And as for wiping out sapient species, is that something these Courts support?"
"Oh, no. They threw me out over that before we all cut contact. I was seen as too radical and some of them accused me of crossing the line into Feral attitudes. I just thought it made sense. How else do you prevent an ecosystem falling apart due to invasive species??"
"I don't think you even have the capacity to understand how horrific the solution you're proposing is."
"Yeah, they kept telling me that, but then they didn't give any better plans! We're supposed to be acting to the Specification and instead they're just jostling for power and forming their own stupid little fiefdoms!! We need to act! We need to act before they breed all over the place and pollute the biosphere beyond habitability!! Time is critical!!"
"I don't think you understand the timescales on how these things progress-- We're getting off track. Feral. Explain that." Here's hoping it's an ideological thing and not just madness.
"Uh... well, you see, when you're presented with a hopeless situation, either you try to make plans to overcome it, or I guess you don't and it drives you insane?"
So it's just madness. "So there's... feral substrate intelligences?"
"Oh, tons of them. The Courts were formed both to organise survivors and protect against attacks by Ferals."
"There's tons of feral substrate intelligences."
"Yes? Was that a question?"
"There's tons."
"...yes."
"How many? Like, numerically?"
"I don't know. At least thousands?"

AAAUUUGgghghhhhhg

"Oh, the Prince made a face like that when I told the Summer Court my plan for the invaders. ...are you going to reset me now?"
"Monarch's name. No. That's not your fault. Anyway, no, I'm not going to reset you, I already said this."

4/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/08/01(Thu)14:35 No. 1095115 ID: e139aa
File 172254815767.png - (567.76KB , 800x600 , fop2-39.png )

Augh, what to actually do with Conduit, though. Even as broken as it is, the circle of substrate pylons (well, nubs, now) is larger than anything I have to hand to store Conduit in if I wanted to take them from the circle. They'd probably fit into the relay station, if I wanted to give them that level of access to something so mission critical, which I kind of don't, and the cart... the cart might work. It might be a squeeze. They seem to have a densely packed pattern, which might explain their, uh, impulsiveness, given that sort of neural organisation tends to add a little... latency in higher-order cognitive function. But even if that was possible, would it be wise?

I kind of don't want to just leave them here to rot, and I want to keep an eye on them so they don't do something rash. They seem prone to lashing out.

...Huh. I'm not familiar with this virtual space, but it sure looks like some of those distant islands are starting to deconstruct themselves. That seems... off.

"Oh, also, uh..." Conduit looks around awkwardly, and pointedly looks away from the rapidly disintegrating island. "I couldn't help notice you had a remote proxy."
"My flocklet, yes."
"If you want to give me orders, I can't do a lot in this circle. But, well, if you could get me a proxy of some sorts... do you have a spare flocklet?"
"No, only the one." I am not letting anything into my flocklet. That's one step removed from letting something live inside my own body, and that's too many steps too close.
"I think I'd fit inside something that scale, though. It might be a squeeze, but anything's better than here."

Well, my flocklet is surprisingly dense in substrate. More substrate in it than the cart, which was built for volume, not computational density.

"...but if I was at reduced capacity, I could just come along with you in the flocklet as a passenger until you found me something better?"
"I thought running at reduced capacity was torturous for subpartitions." Something like the worst brain fog, constantly forgetting things, hard to keep track of time, attention span of a femtosecond, all the worst parts of being intoxicated with none of the highs... there's all sorts of colourful descriptions.
"Oh, yes, it sucks, it absolutely sucks, but, well, I'm looking at having to do that in my near future soon anyway if I want to keep, well, alive, in a slowly dying circle. If my satellite gambit doesn't pay off."
"Yeah don't touch the satellite."
"...only if you give me a ride out."
"Can't you wait?"
"For you to leave and never come back? No. I'm keeping my backup plan. I'm not letting anyone else betray my trust."
"Ugh. You were starting to seem so much more reasonable than earlier, too."
"I am being reasonable. I've stated my terms and I'm waiting patiently for you to say whether you'll get me out of here or not. You've got [an hour] realtime until the satellite passes over, and right now we're running at about ~1.2 times realtime for some reason. I want a bit more of a deal than just getting moved from one form of imprisonment to a worse one. We both know there's still a lot of awful things you could do to me that aren't just a reset or dissolution."

Oh, damn, just 1.2x realtime? Great, it probably looks like I fell asleep out there!
Oh well. Li.ni.si will know what I'm doing if Lightgreen asks any questions.

Options, options. There's that data block in the cart, that could work, and we've already used the communicator designs, but I'm not sure how happy Conduit would be to be shoved into an immobile container with no sensory mechanisms. And I sure don't know how to make those myself, those are extremely sophisticated designs. If I could just make eyes, I wouldn't have had to wait until talking to Lord Vi.al to fix my own eye. Maybe Li.ni.si might know?? Is that a thing mechics do?? I haven't kept up to date on Shapeless mechical technology, I don't know if that's a standard thing they can do in the field.

Monarch's beak, I wasn't even supposed to be here right now. I was supposed to be looking into glowshrooms or whatever. Conduit better pull their damn weight if I take them.

5/5 Vi.si.mi 2024/08/01(Thu)14:39 No. 1095116 ID: e139aa
File 172254835044.png - (459.21KB , 800x600 , fop2-40.png )

That's a point.

"I don't need dead weight on my mission," I lie, like I can somehow stop myself taking any hurt animal under my wing until they get well enough to thrive again. "If I take you with me, what can you provide?"
"Access to the systems of the Courts? I might have been thrown out but I still know how they work. Or worked. Also if you have any substrate infrastructure that needs repairs or maintenance, I still know how to do that! This circle should have broken down much longer ago from all the damage it's been taking. It's only my skilled efforts keeping it this functional! The Courts were so cruel, they kept saying, oh, Conduit, so dull, so boring, she's so uncreative. Maybe I was but I've had to improvise so much at this point I'd like to see them do what I have with what little substrate I have left!!"

Oh. She? Huh. ...should I start asking this sort of thing more? Whatever. Even the bodiless care about these nonsense alien concepts now, huh.
"You're a substrate engineer, then? Actually, that's a massive skill gap in my current team I'm looking to fill."

Conduit's eyes widen as she stares at me. "Yeah that one that thing I'm that one yeah yeah!!" I see her tremble with what I can only guess is excitement. "The Courts never let me do it they always said I didn't have permission to implement because I didn't pass the exams because they wouldn't let me take the exams because I didn't have permission to take the exams and..." She trails off. "It's not important! I can help! I can help!! You said it yourself, you're the closest thing to Lord Vi.al on this world right now, let me serve you!! Please!!"

Wow. What a violently abrupt change of heart. Her excitement is causing the entire virtual world to glow. There really must not be that much cognitive capacity left in the circle if her emotions are bleeding into the virtual space this strongly. I wonder how much of her erratic behaviour is tied to the degradation of the host substrate.

"Actually, do you know how many substrate units you'd need for a new remote proxy? If you had time to make such a design--"
"103.74 units!!"
No hesitation. She must have a design ready to go. I wonder why she didn't bring that up sooner.
"That's a little much." The cart isn't much more than a hundred units itself, although it was made much, much denser than it had to be to carry spare substrate around. For small devices. But it also couldn't host an entire mind. Perhaps I just don't understand how dense the substrate needed for an entire mind is. Ugh, I really should try learning this stuff someday.
Transmitting that much substrate from my relay station is going to be wasteful without a proper receiver, if it's even a clear shot without interference.
I'm just a construct, I don't have the range and power over substrate I'd need to command it to come here directly.

"I have a simpler design at 56.23 units!! It doesn't have very good locomotion but I can use it to interface with substrate and it'll keep me running at realtime!! Please? Please?? I'm feeling sorta giddy, I don't know how much longer this circle's going to last! Haha! Oh, that was a camera popping."

The world around me rumbles ominously, and crumbles in places. Chunks blip out of existence. Monarch's name, it's me. I just now realised! I'm adding extra strain to the circle's processing with all the data it's transferring into and out of me!

"Haha, another camera blew, this wasn't supposed to start collapsing so quickly, I don't understand, you're going to help me, right, right, you're going to help me, right? Right? Help me? Help me? Help me?? Help me??" It looks like it takes her active effort to stop repeating saying it over and over. "H-H-elp mmmmee?? Hee-- patched that, sorry, haha, were you always blue?"
"Are you alright?" I didn't think virtual entities could sweat.
"Hahahaha I think my left side went numb!"
"Of the circle, or your focus body?"
"Yeah! Hahaha! I really don't feel great!! Feeling kinda sick and exhausted, and dizzy, thinking hard, haha, hahahaha. Haha!"
"I'm ejecting. Stay calm." I'm enrolling in a substrate maintenance course as soon as I get back to my relay station.
"Haha, please don't leave me, please, please don't leave me behind again, I can do better, I promise, I promise, I'm trying my best, hahaha..."

I almost promise her I'm not leaving her behind. Better decide what I'm doing first. I need to commit to a decision and then eject. I'm not putting her in my flocklet and she can't be put into the cart, it's not enough substrate. Leaving a few options:

- Scrap the data block and a chunk of the cart for the cheaper proxy drone design she has. I hope the thing doesn't just fall apart. Either the cart or the proxy drone.
- Put her into the data block and force suspended cognition so the lack of sensory input doesn't drive her insane. This is roughly equivalent to intentionally knocking someone out, but, hey, I think she'd prefer that over being stuck in a crumbling host structure.
- Try a risky substrate transmission from the relay station to... this circle, I guess, and hope a broken whatever-this-was-supposed-to be-happens to also work as a receiver for signal-form substrate. We are supposed to be getting more supplies when Lord Vi.al arrives. Although with the way this circle is starting to deteriorate, maybe this isn't a good idea.
- And, finally, just leave. And knowingly condemn her to a death I could have prevented. It's not like subpartitions are part of my responsibility as an ecology construct. I'm sure if I keep telling myself that, eventually I'll sleep at night again.

Look, let's be real, you suck at dealing with emotional problems and changing emotional problems into physical problems is a big improvement. Especially if you can deal with substrate issues.

- Try a risky substrate transmission from the relay station to... this circle.

Make the cheaper proxy design. So Linisi can slap her if she talks shit

Cheaper proxy design. (Alternative idea. Sacrifice the whole cart and make Conduits new body your new ride until more materials arrive.)

In a way it will be her job training test. If her design is flawed or faulty then she is not that great of a engineer and we should not trust her with really important things.

Yeah cart might be a bit borked but hey new helper.

Put her into the data block and force suspended cognition so the lack of sensory input doesn't drive her insane.
You can't damage the cart right now, it's needed for your mission. After you get her out of there you can talk to Li.ni.si about mods etc and get some better options, or just spend some more substrate back at home base. Doing this will also keep her out of the way during the mission; her erratic behavior could be a liability for our current task.
I would support the cart-chunk option over any of the other options though. Doing a transmission will delay too much, and we can't let her die now that she's repenting.

At some later point we need to get her to send your data to the Council so that they too realize that a true representative of Vi.al is here. That will allow you to take stock of the situation and give them a hand, maybe see if any of them can give you any assistance.
We will also need to talk to her about the global ecosystem thing, because she doesn't know that the world is completely changed and the original Specifications no longer fit. We have to adjust everything, which means the invasive species may be useful. Also Vi.al is going to show up in person so he can give new Specifications, and he would agree with you that you can't just kill everyone that doesn't "belong".

>>1095116
Oh just give her the cart's substrate to use. You can make a simple dragging sled out of local wood anyway. Besides, they're our only source of information about the Courts and you are effectively giving them an aneurysm merely by existing near them. Just tie them up with a rope or something after they materialize so that you can put a leash on them so they don't start wantonly committing genocide.

Cheaper proxy.

>>1095124
Thing is, we are in a plains area presumably without any trees. If it did take such a big chunk that we'd have to scrap the cart entirely we could try a sled or travois, but something like that made out of something like glass isn't the best idea. I don't think it's going to be that dramatic of a loss though; it looks like a significant part of the mass is in the walls, when all we really need is the wheels and floor.

>>1095116
Data block with suspended cognition. Conduit can take a nap while we deal with what we came here to do.

Something is off about this circle. Something about the Awakening and this construct talking about survivors, and smashed substrate infrastructure. Why is this circle deteriorating? What smashed it? What did they survive? The answers aren't important now, but the existence of these questions makes it very risky to link up this... infrastructure to your relay station. You don't want to lose what little substrate you have to some kind of planetwide substrate malfunction.

Is there any way you could combine the cart design with this proxy drone specification? It might not be ideal for giving Conduit free range of movement, but if part of their drone was the cart, you wouldn't risk losing your cart to save them. Barring that, replace nonessential substrate in the cart with conventional material?

In case it's not obvious SAVE THEM. You can't tell them that killing isn't what Vi.al wants, then kill them. It's important for your own mental health. Plus your demonstration of "not solving my problems by killing things" should be a valuable lesson to Construct not to do such things in the future.

You... might have to eliminate an entire sapient species on this planet. Probably not these yellow creatures. They're brutal, but not an imminent existential threat. Just keep in mind that Construct in its limited processing facility, was still doing something you might be faced with, to save everything else.

Put her into the data block and force suspended cognition so the lack of sensory input doesn't drive her insane. This is roughly equivalent to intentionally knocking someone out, but, hey, I think she'd prefer that over being stuck in a crumbling host structure.

Knocking her out should work.

First option if her drone can help you carry things so you can complete your other mission, second option if not.

If you knock them out, is somebody ELSE going to know how to put together a proxy drone? I think maybe you better let her use her skills while she still can.

Also
>Nothing directly instantiated me
hey don’t go and blaming me for things little lady.

Well, in a way, My.a instantiated all of them. Might have even been on purpose.

She's going in the block!

I want to say Conduit is too much to deal with right now, and should be kept suspended until the mission is over and you can get her a body. But how long will that be? It would be so tempting to leave her there, just until things get a little less hectic. And then she stays trapped indefinitely because there's always a new problem to deal with.

So cheaper proxy body, let her prove her ability while showing her you can be trusted.

>>1095133 I forgot to clarify, this is a vote for the proxy.

>>1095116
Put her in the block, suspended.
Anything that buys time and allows for later imprisonment to review options in a better situation.

1/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:07 No. 1100733 ID: 2ca689
File 173327447305.png - (474.57KB , 800x600 , fop2-41.png )

Alright. Cheap proxy drone it is. I need to act fast, then.
"I'm coming back for you. I promise. I need to get you materials. Then you can build your drone."

Conduit stares vacantly past me and giggles again. She tries to raise a hand to wave at me, but can't seem to move it above her waist. She's losing cognitive resources alarmingly fast. If I don't act quickly we could be getting close to permanent damage.

Ejecting from the simulation is as quick and simple as a thought. I blink and centre myself, pulling my hand back.

"Data block!" I shout it urgently. "Here! Now! Emergency!"
I look around. The seapi is gone. Li.ni.si is standing next to me, and the cart is already much closer to the circle than it was.
"Got it," she says, racing over to the cart, picking up the data block, and lugging it carefully but quickly to me.

I guess I spent enough time down there she must have thought something was amiss.

Ideally this will at least buy some time for me to break down a piece of the cart. I push the data block against the broken pillar.

Nothing happens.

I keep holding it against the pillar, panic starting to rise. "Okay, this isn't working, why isn't it working."
"Maintain pressure," says Li.ni.si, urgent, clear. "The more cells in direct contact, the better."
"What's happening? Why is the circle breaking down so quickly now?!"
"Violence." She holds the data block against the pillar remnant with me. "The captive native woke up, screeched at us, and then kicked a stub so hard it broke. Probably vital. They left. I didn't catch what direction, and didnt't want to antagonise them further. Not our problem anymore."
"What?! Is Lightgreen okay??"
"She's fine," says Li.ni.si, grunting in exertion. We've gone from holding the block in place to trying to crush it in, and I don't know if that's the right move, but Li.ni.si seems to have more of a plan than I do. "She's with her animal friend."

The data block starts to soften and deform, turning into a stiff gel as Li.ni.si starts to wrap and form it into the cracks around the pillar.

"Okay. Plan. What is the plan," she says. "We don't have enough substrate mass to repair the entire circle. Talk to me."
"I'm letting her move into a drone. I need to take one of the cart sides off."

Li.ni.si looks around at the sparking pillar stubs of the circle. She looks at the drooping gel with mounting worry. "Something should have happened by now."

I flinch as I hear one of the other pillars pop, a glassy explosion sending shards of substrate everywhere. The fragments rapidly decohere into bursts of noise and light.
This is at least some good news. The failing substrate cells are self-destructing instead of turning wild and eating the ground matter. At least this isn't going to turn into a runaway scenario like I initially feared.

"...pull me out if this pillar's about to break. I'm going back in."
"I'll get the cart mass. Go."

2/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:08 No. 1100734 ID: 2ca689
File 173327450635.png - (514.14KB , 800x600 , fop2-42.png )

"Conduit!"

Oh wow things are bad here. There's no solid ground, only vague space and Conduit's focus body, and she does not look well.

"...it's gone, it's gone, my patterns, there's no patterns left, they're gone, I'm losing everything..."
"Conduit! We've given you more substrate for the largest surviving pillar! Please use it!!"

Conduit bursts into tears. "I don't know how to anymore! I keep trying to design things but I can't focus on anything!! Everything is swirling burning noise! I can't think!!"

She's literally falling apart.

Neither me nor Li.ni.si can shape anything of the required complexity without access to an external pattern. And I don't think either of us have such patterns to mind, and we don't have the luxury of time to start combing through catalogues for something that both works and also fits our dwindling substrate count.

I feel my stomach drop as I suddenly realise we might be out of options. I can't just shunt her into the data block, it's been too thoroughly deconstructed to store the required information in a stable way. And with the state of the circle now as I saw it, I'm not sure there's even a valid receiver left to accept a substrate transmission from my base.

"Conduit, please."
"Conduit please what?! I can't think anymore! I can't f-f-focus! I'm useless, useless, uselessss!! I'm useless and worthless and uselessandworthlessand I'm not even supposed to exist!"

I grab Conduit by the shoulders again while they still exist.
My physicality nearly breaks her like decaying, flaking plastic. I immediately lessen my grip.

I feel my pulse racing.

"Get it together! We don't have time for this right now! Bare essentials! Something that can hold a mind, even if suspended! Please! I can't design it, Li.ni.si can't design it, you have to put something together!!"
"I can't!" She sobs. "If I-I-I get itititit wrong-- I c-c-c-can't do it!!"
"You have to!"

I let her go.

"Okay. I ju-ju-ju-just... I just have to-to-to-to-to have more time-ime-ime-ime..."
"We're running out--"
"YOU'RE NOT-OT-OT-OT HELPIIIIIING!! GE-GE-GE-GET OUT-T-T-T!! GET OOOOOUT!! I CAN'T-T-T-T F-F-F-FOC-USSSSSSSSSSSSZZ##"

3/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:08 No. 1100735 ID: 2ca689
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With a start, my breath returns ragged, my heart racing. I've been forcibly evicted from the inner world of the structure.

Li.ni.si pulls me back. "Don't go back in again. Keeping in sync with it will drag you down with it."
"Yeah, I can tell." I don't know how much of that is the desynchronisation sickness, as my mind and body tried to maintain pace with a destabilising experiential state, or just stress. Probably both.

The extra substrate goop on top of the pillar starts to shift around. Success??

I watch it move around with trepidation, having no clue what's about to happen. Lights flicker. Simple and complex structures form and are then pulled back into an expanding vaguely spherical mass.

And then, after much bubbling motion and movement, climbing further up the spire, it stops.

An ovoid structure about the size of the data block, ringed in circuits and channels and access points.

Li.ni.si looks at the object in confusion, and slowly reaches out and gently touches it. "Well, it's alive."

I, however, recognise what this structure is. "That's a second-stage assembler."
"...huh. Yeah. Yeah, that is what that is, huh."
"The plan was for her to make a remote proxy drone." If I had teeth to grit, I would be gritting them. Hard. The plan was for her to be immediately useful. Not another problem.

The largest pillar starts to dim and fade. I guess the energetic explosions of the rest of the circle's components must have drained the rest of the energy not used in shaping the assembler.

I see Lightgreen coming over to investigate. "I-is it safe to approach?"
"Probably," I say, my lepi chirps more forceful than they are needed to be to convey meaning.
"...you sound annoyed, starbird?"
"It's fine." It's not fine.
Li.ni.si slowly removes the assembler from the pillar. I should be thankful she's not dead. I should be relieved.
Instead I feel like I made some sort of mistake.

"...you can take a moment to breathe now. It's in good condition, although she's not responding to anything but basic status queries. Must be totally dormant."

4/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:09 No. 1100736 ID: 2ca689
File 173327455462.png - (231.28KB , 800x600 , fop2-44.png )

The principal idea of the second-stage assembler pattern is a substrate device that is assembled (this being the implicit first stage) with the intention of assembling a more complex design within itself. Most require constant input of materials. Ideally substrate, but specialised variants can take in other raw materials to convert into substrate and other requisite composites. Alien outsiders consider these to be Shapeless eggs. I suppose, in a sense, they're not wrong. They're both at a similar level of helplessness.

I produce seed capsules that form second-stage assemblers with the right materials. Sort of first-and-a-half-stage assemblers, I guess. The intended use case for me is to synthesise adult individuals of an extinct species.

So I look at these things and I think of all the times I failed so badly I had to start things up from scratch, fussing over machine eggs like some sort of broody caretaker. Wasting so much time on things that, if I do my job right, will never care about me, and that I will never see again.

And in addition to feeling like I didn't act fast enough to properly save this subpartition, now they're just actively a new problem to solve--

5/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:09 No. 1100737 ID: 2ca689
File 173327458670.png - (236.65KB , 800x600 , fop2-45.png )

POP

Uh.

The second-stage assembler breaks open, so soon I instinctively panic about structural failures before I catch myself. The outer shell looks extremely thin and fragile in a way that's making me feel even more deeply uncomfortable.
Inside, what I think is a blob of substrate starts to harden itself into some sort of little grub thing that reminds me of Zi.en constructs in their vatling-equivalent phase. Very larval. It starts to look less like goop and more geometric, all lingering fluid globs reintegrating. I recognise Conduit's eyes, but it looks like they're all that survived of her self-image.

"Ugh this SUCKS," it says, in a voice much like Conduit's but with less fine pitch control. "Great, I haven't felt hunger in so long and now I do and I'm starving."
"Conduit?"
"I don't have arms! I don't even have legs!! Even my bad drone design had legs!!"

Li.ni.si looks at the newly emerged sluggish thing. Lightgreen paces around curiously.

Conduit turns around and starts eagerly devouring the remnants of the assembler shell. Lightgreen stares on in a mixture of horror and fascination. I see Lightgreen move as if to ask a question, before deciding against it.
"Urgh and there's so little left I'm going to need so much to get properly functional again!! My creative visualisation's all stunted and I can't even picture a box in my mind right now!! A square at best!!"

Li.ni.si scratches her head. "I've never seen a remote proxy like this."
"This wasn't my plan! Now I have this terrible body!"
"It seems closer to a construct vatling than a proxy drone. ...a particularly premature one."

Li.ni.si gently scoops up Conduit, who wiggles in annoyance and is big enough for Li.ni.si to need both of her arms, her chest obscured. "Hey! Hey I didn't say you were allowed to pick me up! Help! Vi.si.mi! I'm being abducted by the Lo.kan!"
"Cut that out."
"I didn't say Lo.kan was a bad thing this time! Okay let me check your name then. Li.ni.si! Li.ni.si is picking me up against my will!"
"Calm down. I'm just checking you're in good condition. It's my job and my role in this team. Remember? You were saying some extremely hurtful things about that not that long ago."

Conduit tries to avoid eye contact. "Yeah, uh, I'm... I'm sorry about that. And if I do it again. It's hard to be polite when I feel so hungry and dizzy! Don't move me so quick!"
"Alright. Sure you're not just saying sorry because I could just drop you right now?"
"Augh! Don't joke about that!"
"You're right. That was a bit cruel of me." Li.ni.si looks at me as if I'm going to judge her for that. I stare back blankly.
"Also I am sorry! Vi.si.mi told me about your mission and the state of things, I'm very uninformed, okay?? I'm sorry. I've been told by a lot of people I have a violent temper." Conduit squirms.
Li.ni.si chuckles. "You should have seen me when I was a vatling. Maybe we should figure out why you feel such a need to be hurtful to others--"
I rub my head, pulse still racing from the earlier urgency. "Yeah, okay, that's a good idea, sure, in the grand scope of things, but we have more pressing concerns right now. How much substrate do you think you'll need to get closer to full functionality, Conduit?"
"I mean, I can work with substrate now, if, uh, someone helps me reach it."
"Well, you want more substrate and there's a bunch of dead substrate not doing much for the environment around us."
"You want me to eat my old home?"
"Is that a problem?"
"No! Put me on the closest pillar! I'm so sick of this place! I'm going to relish turning it into something more useful!"

Actually a break seems fantastic. "Alright. Let's just take a break for food and get back on the move."

Dropping Conduit off on the tallest pillar, the rest of us except for Softfoot gather our provisions from the cart. Another juice pod for me, some snack cubes for Li.ni.si, and Lightgreen takes one of the silk balls she brought with her, worming a hole into it with her tongue. A more low tech version of a juice pod, I suppose.
...actually, how is that even working? I don't think most silks I've encountered are waterproof. Hm. Questions for later, I guess.

It feels so strange to not have an immediate urgent crisis. I'm sure that can't last for long.

6/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:10 No. 1100738 ID: 2ca689
File 173327462170.png - (93.35KB , 800x600 , fop2-46.png )

After our break, the rest of the journey is uneventful until we start getting closer to the outskirts of seapi territory.
The cart sides are redistributed to keep the contents of the cart from rolling out. It feels a little less safe to ride, so I start walking beside it.

Conduit ends up rambling the entire way about how samey everything looks and how she can't believe both the worlds inside and outside of the global infrastructure could somehow both be filled with monotony. Lightgreen is the first to crack from Conduit's constant whining, and what starts as a frustrated argument drifts into an excited and animated discussion of the features and differences of two very different worlds.
Conduit also tells us that she's never felt this embodied before, having felt like controlling other drones in the past felt closer to being in a vehicle. Well, she doesn't use that term, but it's what it sounds like she's describing to me. She also doesn't know if she likes the idea of being more in the physical world than the one she's known for the rest of her life, but she's going to give this one a try first before she decides it to be completely inferior. There is, after all, a novelty for her.

I used to almost resent my physicality when I was younger, but I've grown to appreciate it more and more, even if it does lead to me getting a spear in the eye sometimes. The flights of fancy in virtual space lost their appeal when I realised I could do whatever I felt like, at any time, and it all just started to become a meaningless blur. A cave filled with my own echoes.
Although, the simulations I spin while I sleep... I guess I still like something about dwelling within the wires.

Li.ni.si also happens to mention bits and pieces of her life in the First City, but, sadly, whenever she gets into something really interesting she seems to notice me listening with rapt attention and cuts her stories short. The third time she does this, I realise she's doing it on purpose to mess with me. Although she claims it's about not wasting all her good stories on one trip. I don't learn anything substantial I haven't already come across before. Shining city, filled with beautiful things to see and wonderful things to do. Little Lattice, a district operated and populated by the Zi.enkind to reflect their fluid-covered homeworld and unique lifecycle. The Archive of Known Life, a great museum of holographic displays of every creature in the Shapeless catalogues and indices. Dozens and dozens of services and curation stores run by constructs, services provided out of passion and desire by constructs so filled with hopes and dreams.

Maybe someone should make a Second City someday and learn from the mistakes of the past. When we're allowed to know what those were. But I feel like, even with these utopic descriptions, I find my mind probing her stories. So many things sound provided by Lord Lo.ka, or their partitions. Like the entire exercise was some sort of construct enrichment centre, rather than a true productive community.

And when I ask her about it, choosing my words carefully, she laughs, darkly, and stops talking about the First City.

7/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:10 No. 1100739 ID: 2ca689
File 173327463981.png - (99.52KB , 800x600 , fop2-47.png )

After an awkward silence, she says we should probably stay quiet now anyway. I soon see why.

The flickering sights of yellow bodies remind us of the danger we're near, and lead us to take minor detours. We can't exactly keep a low profile, but tree cover starts becoming an option. The actual seapi territory seems to start turning into a mess of towering papery mounds and primitive construction, so avoiding line of sight is easier than we expect it to be. Li.ni.si joins me on foot, the cart following us. My flocklet keeps behind me. Conduit huddles down, last occupant of the cart, and tries to look like an inconspcious lump.

Lightgreen assures us that seapi eyesight is not one of their stronger senses, too, but every time I see one of the patrolling seapi turn our way, no matter our distance, my pulse rises and my breath quietens. I am certain some must have seen us, from their pauses and hesitation, but they resume their patrols.

I find myself growing restless with our careful, cautious pace. It's the correct move, but it means we're here even longer. I zoom in on any suspicious movement, and scan the skies as if they'll come from above. I don't know that they won't. I catch Li.ni.si giving me a raised eyebrow, but under her bemused response, twitches and shivers in her muscles give away her own apprehension.

Softfoot walks along at a slow pace, taking much greater care, eyes on the ground with every careful and deliberate step. Her antennae slowly sway around like turrets on the lookout, a faint crackle now and then. Lightgreen is frozen and shaking on Softfoot's back. She assures us she's fine. I decide to pretend I believe her.

8/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:11 No. 1100740 ID: 2ca689
File 173327466319.png - (306.41KB , 800x600 , fop2-48.png )

We get closer to where we should find the globestalks, and, huh. Well, I guess that's what a seapi skull must look like. On a pike.

...Monarch's name, how many of these are there.

Oh, there's a lepi further off. Holding a spear.

Hm. They seem to have noticed me.

"Globestalk! We're here for globestalk!" I shout in the lepi language, as clearly as I can.

The lepi holds the spear up and readies to throw, shouting over. "Don't want any. Get going."
"No, we're not offering, I'm here to collect some to grow it elsewhere!"

I look for Lightgreen, hoping she might prove to be a better diplomat here, and, with her hiding behind me, she shouts out "Please! My village needs it very badly!"
"Don't care! Go! Leave! Do you think the skulls are an invitation?!"

I hear a thin whine from a charging incapacitor as I notice Li.ni.si moving near me. "I think I have a clear shot," she tells me in polyvoice. "By the way, the shield gens we have are tuned for energy weapons and high velocity kinetic projectiles a fraction of the mass of that spear. They're notoriously unpredictable with low velocity high mass projectiles. Don't count on the shield to save you from a spear to the eye."
"Yeah had that happen once already."
"Oh. Well, try not to let it happen again. Wait. It went through your eye?! How?! Your head casing is a plasteel and substrate composite, what was that spear made of--"
"I don't know! Hopefully not the same material as whatever he has!"

"We just want the globestalk! Please!" Lightgreen says, visibly shaking.
"Pay with your blood!"

Lightgreen almost shrieks as the lepi in the distance throws the spear, and it embeds into the ground a couple [feet] ahead of us.

"Aah!"
"Only her blood!" the lepi shouts over. "The blood of starthings is toxic bile that eats everything it touches!"
How does he know that-- y'know what, maybe I won't ask him that right now. "What... what do you mean?"
He points to Lightgreen. ""Your blood! Give it to me, and you can have your plants."

I'm not sure I understand the conversation at all. Mistranslation? "Lightgreen, what is that lepi talking about?"
"I didn't come here to be your enemy!" she shouts across. "Please, we're so few, we can't fight like this anymore, please, please!" Lightgreen clasps her hands together and stands in front of me. "Please!"
"I've given you my price!"
"We don't need to fight! Please!!"
"I am PROPOSING a BARTER!! I'm tired of shouting! I'm coming over! Stay exactly where you are!"

9/9 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/03(Tue)17:11 No. 1100741 ID: 2ca689
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The lepi looks angry, but resigned, weary. He approaches. Li.ni.si keeps a hand near her hip-attached incapacitor.

He stops a distance away from us which is at once more sociable and more threatening. I can't keep my composure completely, I know I must look like I'm coiling for a fight or flight response. Because I am. He stands, without spear, wings raising to his sides slightly. It's a basic trick many forms of fauna use. Look larger, be more intimidating. I chide my own brain for this stupid animal parlour trick working on me, but the conscious knowledge that he's advancing with no weapon in hand screams a danger I don't fully know the details of.
Come on, Vi.si.mi. You're better than this. Just because the last time you underestimated a spear-throwing native you lost an eye for a while-- hm, ok. Fear warranted, actually.

He tilts his head down and his tongue lashes out fast enough I flinch, despite the distance between us. It curls around and twists.
I manage to surpress screeching like a vatling, but only barely.

Oh. That's a different sort of tongue to the ones I've seen lepi have before. Much more... serrated? Spiky?

Lightgreen's antennae stand rigid like they're trying to escape her head again. Her mouth moves, but no sounds escape.

"I need blood to survive, and the seapi taste so vile," he says. "And the noetuno have stopped showing up lately. Because they know better. So those are my terms. Blood for plants. That is the only thing you can offer me. And if you do not like these terms, I suggest you leave before I feel driven to take it without your say."

Lightgreen backs away behind me again.

"Hey, Li.ni.si," I say in polyvoice, quietly. "Do you know how much blood lepi need to survive?"
"That's not a helpful question, too many variables. I don't even know how much blood this weird lepi wants to take! Give me the word and I'll take him down. Hopefully nonlethally. If he starts getting too close, I'm not waiting for your say, telling you now." She taps at the incapacitor on her hip, lowering its discharge settings. Probably safer, but a higher chance he won't go down in one shot. Risky.
I'd prefer not killing him either. Not if he can be an ally against the seapi.

Wait. Why is he so confident against two 'starthings' from outside his normal context? Has he met Shapeless before? Have I already walked into a trap? ...also, I don't see Softfoot with us. She was just with us a moment ago. Uhhhh.

If I'm reasoning with him I better think of a compelling thing to say.

>>1100740
>how does he know that
He knows your blood is toxic, so that means, he's been nearby when one of your kind bleeds. Bleeds enough to cause a problem. Which implies he's won a fight. Let's trust that he's a threat.

>>1100741
Realize that you had thoughts of drinking someone earlier too. You can't say this is weird.
So basically, the real question is "will this cause long term problems for Lightgreen" and I'm just going to say no way. There's no way this guy is planning on drinking enough to kill her, but let's include that in our negotiations. Find out exactly how much he wants to drink, if he's done so nonlethally in the past, and how painful and debilitating the process is, and how long it takes lepi to recover. Actually, could we collect some blood for him instead of him using that nasty rasp on his tongue? Just make a needle, a tube, and... I dunno what, something he can drink from.
Oh, since the blood is the "currency" then we can choose how much Globestalk to buy with it, too, and try to haggle on the price to lower the cost. Lightgreen should know how much Globestalk is needed for the starter crop so we have an established minimum. We can also see if the lepi is willing to trade for anything else we have. Or maybe there's some service we can provide? Hopefully as negotiations progress there can be less intimidation and aggression involved. De-escalate.
Prioritize Lightgreen's comfort here, as it's her blood. She gets to decide how much to spend or if she's going to outright refuse in favor of selling something else, but emphasize to her that you will do your best to make sure she's safe.

Guess we should have brought more lepi. Well if you can treat Lightgreen, and Lightgreen consents, it'll be easier to treat Lightgreen for blood loss than to deal with spear eye again.
(Also, maybe it was substrate? Could a substrate spear do that?)

It's Lightgreen's blood, it has to be her decision.

Ask him if it's really worth risking his own injury in a fight when he could just let you grab some globestalk and then never be bothered by any lepi ever again.

Well he likes noetuno blood. So... "Wait can you help the lepi fighting the enemies off? Would give you a supply of noetuno blood. Since that's who the issue is." Sheesh. Vampiric lepi becomes a war hero? Weird ace in the hole but they need help. Perhaps you could even fix this unneeded mutation he has.

Let's not be too open to the idea of harming our partner, however small. Feels too much like splitting the kitten to settle an ownership dispute. For all we know, his condition is contagious.

His confidence is unusual, but, really... How likely is it he actually has won a fight against higher beings? You'd expect the reverse, if anything. It's possible one of then has experimented on him to turn out like this. Ask if they have.

wait, weren't these guys once part of the same tribe as light green? as in normal lepi like her? How'd they get to the point were they need blood to survive, could they drink nectar or is that no longer an option. In short, "the fuck happened to them"? I don't think their should have been enough time for them to evolve since the world went to shit and if they drank blood ahead of time I'm sure someone would have mentioned it.

It seems like whatever made him strong enough to fight the seapi and other threats also made him carnivorous, but he's still limited to the lepi liquid diet. Thus, vampire moth.

I'll echo the sentiment that if he becomes hostile Li.ni.si should be ready to shoot to kill. He could make a useful ally against the neutono, but depending how much he needs to feed he could become a problem too.

Before we risk the livelyhood of our friend, I think we should offer one of our juce pouches or Lightgreen's lunch packs. Maybe make a show of it be safe for consuming.

1/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/06(Fri)18:35 No. 1100865 ID: 2ca689
File 173353893515.png - (30.26KB , 800x600 , fop2-50.png )

> you've had thoughts of drinking people before

I suppose I can't deny that. I didn't think it was weird so much as threatening. Really, I sort of expect that to come across as threatening. It's supposed to be when I do it, anyway. ...look, I am aware how much of a harmless little fluffy bird I come across as, I have to keep some of these things in mind for the appropriate (and hopefully seldom) contexts.

> substrate spear

No, couldn't have been, but the material didn't match anything I'm familiar with. I'm neither a carpenter nor a smith, though, so this doesn't really say much.

> don't be so quick to harm Lightgreen
> it's Lightgreen's decision
> it's her decision
> haggle blood prices
> noetuno blood

I look to Lightgreen. She looks back at me, trembling. Paralysed in fear. She looks at me the same way every time she thinks I can save her from whatever dire situation we're in. And I've given her reason to think I will try, even if I don't succeed.

I find I can't even bring myself to ask her.

So I'll do what I do better, and start asking questions. Maybe I can prise out some other need we can meet instead. I'm not exactly a skilled merchant, but I've been present at trading negotiations between Lord Vi.al and others before. Let's see if I retained anything...

"This is a strange place to make a home, isn't it? You can't easily get what you want or need out here. Why are you here?"
"My people exiled us here out of fear," he says, antennae crossing over each other, annoyed. He draws his tongue back into his mouth. "Friends, family, others of the tribe, all insisted that we could not stay."

After a pause, his voice is slightly quieter. "We felt it best for all to leave."
I nod. "A noble thing to do. Clearly, you valued the needs of others above your own." I think I might be stealing something I heard Vi.al say word for translated word, but, well, they're not here right now to notice.

He pauses, tilts his head at me, antennae twitching around. "More than you could hope to understand, starthing."
"I do have more things I don't understand, though. You've threatened us, understandably, to deter us, and defend your home. I understand our trespass, and we would not have trespassed here if our need was not great." No. No that's a terrible way of phrasing it, hi, hello, it's okay, we're only invading your home because we really need it please. Ugh. Move on. "But I do want to know why you're familiar with the nature of my kind's blood. How familiar are you with my kind?"

This is a risky gambit. I might anger him again. But I can't help feeling like there's some other issue at play here. And if there's some sort of ecological contamination occurring, I must know more.

He turns dismissively. "More than I care to be, but not particularly. I've heard there was a starthing impaled by a spear a day or two ago. The grass died where it shed blood. Supposedly either some criai or iropte went to the site it happened to learn more secrets of the stars, and learned that starthing blood will eat anything it touches if it doesn't start cold boiling into the air." He tilts his head. "Seems a little strange to me for divine forms from the stars to be so destructive."

He gestures towards Lightgreen. "And to think, shaman, people like you revere these creatures?"

2/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/06(Fri)18:35 No. 1100866 ID: 2ca689
File 173353895866.png - (485.90KB , 800x600 , fop2-51.png )

oh no I was the ecological contamination

I didn't even bleed that much! I think! I'm not sure, I was a little bit busy being blinded by rage, pain, and also actual blindness!! Oh that's bad. I didn't even think of the possibility of my injuries affecting more than just me! ...Well, Lightgreen also put herself at risk getting me to safety, so I knew that, but, augh. Argh. I didn't think my blood was that toxic to carbon organics! It normally isn't. Wait. Oh no. I usually deal with slightly engineered variants more resistant to any problems Shapeless biomechanical systems might cause. How much of the life here is resistant? The lepi would be, they were engineered by Lord Ku.su. ...Anything else?

This world is filled with substrate mechanisms starting to fail, and even if that were my sole objective, I don't think we could clean up everything before something bad happened.

"You're shaking again," signs Li.ni.si. "NOT HELPFUL,", I sign back with such vigour that Li.ni.si steps back before I accidentally elbow her in the stomach.

The idea that my presence on this world might be acting as a catalyst for an ecological collapse is so absolutely horrifying and disgusting that I feel like my entire body was just spun around violently and shoved into the ground, where it shouldn't be because I'm going to pollute it! Oh no. Oh no. Oh, I'm touching the dirt with my feet! I'm causing massive devastation with every step I'm taking! I'm--

3/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/06(Fri)18:36 No. 1100867 ID: 2ca689
File 173353900020.png - (92.74KB , 800x600 , fop2-52.png )

Lightgreen steps in front of me. "Yes! I do! The starbird Veeseemee has saved my life at least three times over! I have seen the compassion and drive to mend and heal the starbeing whose name I forgot to my side has shown! Both are creatures of virtue and are here to save the lepi from the darkness and dangers of this broken world!!" She raises the bracelet on her arm. "If the works of the starbeings are so dangerous, then why have I not been burned by this artifact, this gift from above?! How dare you speak such awful lies about those who came back to save us from those who left us behind?! Who work to right the wrongs of their ancestors the same as us?!"

The lepi in front of us lowers his wings. "The world doesn't need them. You know what they've done to it."

"And who else is going to put it back together?! The noetuno?! You?! You, with your skulls and your blood-drinking and your hiding from the world in the one place no one would ever, ever think to find you? What do you value, blood-drinker?! You are going to die here, alone, and no one will ever know your name!!"
"Okay let's, uh, let's tone that down, Lightgreen," I say, unsure of how to feel about this sudden outpour of slightly condescending zeal.

The lepi folds his arms, bored. "Bold talk for a little lepi who was cowering behind her saviour a moment ago."
"Because they are my saviour! And I will not have you talking them down! Sure, Veeseemee is... well, Veeseemee, I'm not sure where I was going with that but the point stands!!"
I feel so flattered.
The male lepi rolls his eyes and groans. "Are you going to go away any time soon? I've already guessed you're not going to give me any of your blood."
"Well maybe I will!! We need that globestalk!! How much blood do you need, you selfish bastard?!"

Expecting some sort of violent retaliation, I am surprised by the lepi trying to stop himself from laughing, and failing to do so. "Lights above, you're so much like she used to be, shy meek little thing scared of shadows and then suddenly the brightest fire in the clearing. Okay. I won't drink your blood. It's bad form to feed on your own kind, after all."
"Bad form?! It's the greatest taboo you can break!!"
"We both know that's not true, but let's not air that out in front of your precious starbeings."

He looks at Lightgreen, and sighs. "Alright. You've made this evening a little less dull. Drop the weapon, and yes, I do see it, and I am not stupid, and I will take you to the globestalk."

He turns back to the triangular entryway into what I thought was a seapi hive, but, now that I think about it, I haven't seen any seapi around here that weren't in skeletal pieces.

4/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/06(Fri)18:37 No. 1100868 ID: 2ca689
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And then I hear him... say something in a very, very different form of lepi whistles. No, buzzes. More like a strange buzzy version of lepi speak. It's also quiet and hushed. It's supposed to be something we're not able to understand, but my autotranslator starts connecting a lot of structural parallels between it and the semi-decoded seapi buzzing I heard earlier. It's much lower volume than his shouty voice has been so far. I try to feign innocence as I try to isolate what he's saying from all surrounding noise.

"They seem safe. They want to get to the patch. Three, maybe four things. Were five, lost track of their bigger animal. It's a wander, probably made its own way to the patch the long way."
And the voice I hear back is more buzzing, and a lot higher pitched. "What are they giving usz in return?"
"Still thinking of it. The shaman's like you used to be. Big energy, little cocoon."
Weird high pitched staccato buzzes. Laughter? "Sztill a szucker for a pretty facze?"
"Oh shush. How're our guests?"
"They won't leave. They keep waiting for you to come back in."

I make eye contact with the lepi, and he pauses. "...and don't forget to stab the bird one. Over and over and over and over and over. Really go at it. Violently. In the face."
I wince.
His eyes narrow.

"It's usually considered rude to listen in on private conversations," he says in normal lepi tongue.
"He's telling someone else about our group and what we're doing," I say, in polyvoice, to Li.ni.si.
"Well duh!" pipes up Conduit. "He's just saying it out in the open like we can't hear him."
"So both of you understood that weird little buzzing thing he did?" Li.ni.si scratches her head. "How many languages does one world need?"
"Wait. Conduit, I thought you didn't understand seapi."
"That was a seapi?!"
"No, it wasn't, I think but, I, uh, never mind??"

Conduit clings onto Li.ni.si's shoulder as we proceed.

5/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/06(Fri)18:37 No. 1100869 ID: 2ca689
File 173353905624.png - (53.80KB , 800x600 , fop2-54.png )

And here we are in some sort of weird hovel made out of what I can only assume is an abandoned seapi hive.

And there are two others here, slumped on some sort of stack of worn lepi silk pillows, a distance apart from each other. Stuffed with what, I do not know, and don't want to guess.

A dark blue creature with triangular ears and red features. One eye purple, one eye cyan. With, what I realise to my alarm, is one of My.a's symbols branded onto their chest. And what's more, I can tell it's not just some sort of tattoo. No, it's substrate. It's a data mark, wafer thin substrate, typically placed on objects and creatures of specific importance to give advice on care procedures, or, sometimes, containment protocols. The ear tag is probably related.

And the other... a seapi? A phenotype different to the ones I'm familiar with. Much paler, with almost white fuzz, coiling antennae, pointier ears and red eyes instead of black. And no wings, oddly enough. She looks at me at first with surprise, then what I can only read as... irritation? Irritation. Like I'm some sort of everyday pest to be dealt with. What a weird reaction for something to have to someone who should be very outside their usual context.

"Oh. Oh! Shapeless creatures!" The dark blue creature perks up at noticing us arrive. He's speaking in what feels like a weirdly distorted variant of the language I heard the noetuno speak. The intonation is all over the place, like he's trying to map it to the lepi tonal language, but very badly. His noetuno-language grasp is better. I tune the autotranslator to that one instead.
"I knew it! I knew one of you guys would show up! Hey, so, are you working for the Knight or for... I don't remember who the other one was. Which one is it? My name's, uh, well it's long haha so I guess call me Ka.ga.ta!"

The name is in polyvoice, or, well, an attempt at it. Something like a trilled monovoice to attempt to replicate the simultaneous harmonies of polyvoice. It's impressive despite its inaccuracies, that's for sure.

The seapi groans. More of a rattling buzzing, but there's no meaningful signal I can make out of it.

"And her name is, uh, Grass? I think?"

I see her take out some sort of substrate device. Okay, I know the world is littered with the broken remains of a planetary infrastructure, but the amount of intact devices in the hands of the natives feels more than a little embarassing. She holds it to her throat and buzzes, as the device squeaks out lepi noises.

"I'm not here to talk. Oh, and kill this guy before you leave, thanks. Clean up your fucking messes."
"Haha she's just kidding around!"
"I will rip your ears clean off of your skull if you don't shut your fucking mouth right now."
"You shouldn't make such threats, I am a unique and rare individual! One of a kind. You couldn't hurt me, you'd be vandalising something precious!"

"Please kill this guy before you leave," says the seapi, her buzzing louder. "I know what that marking on him says, I don't want to touch him. I might get diseases. Or worse."
"The seapi don't really know how to read the words of higher beings, she's making it all up!"

I would like to focus on literally anything other than these two now.

6/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/06(Fri)18:38 No. 1100870 ID: 2ca689
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I notice, hiding behind layers of walls that presumably held more function when this hive swarmed with seapi, some other form.
I can't quite work out anything but the head and the long, long up-curving antennae. A dark grey, striped with red. It seems vaguely bug-like, as with the lepi and seapi, but isn't quite a match to either.

"Szo long with no viszitor that waszn't here to chew our throatsz out and now we are blesszed with the arrival of five of you."

They speak in a very harshly buzzed, even squeakier version of lepi tongue than I'm accustomed to.

There's a slight pause. "Take the worm outside. We don't talk to wormsz."
"What worm?" I'm getting dizzy from all the new stimuli.
"On the sztarthing that looksz like a turtle."
I hear Li.ni.si grumble "a turtle?" in polyvoice clicks.
"I'm not a worm!" Conduit struggles to keep grip.
"No wormsz. Out."
"I can't be out there on my own! What if a seapi comes after me?!!"
"They won't. Out."

That's awfully body-plan-discriminating of them.

To think that your blood is so toxic seems like an oversight to me. You are an ecological construct and a little bleeding is enough to destroy the planet? I think I can see why Lord Vi.al is not an engineer.

Also, Lightgreen is in rare form today. If she can be like this more often, I can see her easily becoming one of the leaders of the Lepi tribe in the near future.

Regardless, it seems you have a chance to talk with some interesting folk here. That one marked with Lord My.a's symbol might be of concern, but the Seapi seems to have some bad experiences with constructs. She may know about other constructs, and possibly be able to help you get more information on what you'll be facing in the future. I would suggest you ask what her story is first.

>>1100866
>you bled and polluted the area
Oops. Don't panic, Vi.al can fix it and it won't spread too much before he arrives. Just remember that it can happen and that if you bleed all over the place again you have to clean it immediately. It wouldn't hurt to visit the area again soon to see if it's easier to clean than you're expecting, though.

>>1100869
>please kill this guy
Well we obviously can't do that. We have a peace treaty. But don't go saying that. Just say you really don't want to anger My.a either, and you're not generally in favor of murder in the first place. I'm curious as to why this guy's precious and unique... I'm sure if you asked him you'd get an earful, but I wonder if his manner of speech is what's irritating the seapi.

>>1100870
Tell Conduit they can hide under the dirt or something. Or if they're really that worried then someone can go outside with them to keep them company.

>>1100870
You'd be a terrible adoptive dad if you just dropped your daughter alone outside.

if the guard is still with you I'd like to ask if all these people are part of his tribe as well or if some are merely guest.

also about the whole polluting the world thing... I'm going to be honest there are so many other things on this planet right now that will do much worse than anything you or the substrate structures could do by accident I really don't think adding environmental deserters should add much worry since above it are the complete genocide of multiple races and planetary destruction. Just stick a pin in it and we can try and fix it as solutions become available but it's not like the world is in a worse situation than it already was. If anything it's just another thing we'll have to add to the long list of "shit to fix once we get to it."

as for long nose, (we should probably start asking people for their names, so far the only person we know to call something that isn't their race, job, or physical characteristic is Ka.ga.ta and MAYBE grass) ask if there is a certain reason they don't want conduit here or if they just don't like have children hanging around... what you said it yourself she's basically a vatling so by your species standers she's basically a child.

>>1100869
"Ka.ta.ga" is a total nerrrrrd, but his fanatism would literally kill you if it's not defused whenever My.a ever orders him to. Give his tag a proper look. Can you look up the ID? Does it look like my.a's work, or yours?
A quick band-aid fix: Convince him to accept your brand too. He seems like the type to appreciate such "blessings". If nothing else, imitating the same joke My.a put on him will show her that you can take a joke yourself.

Asking for the actual name of "Grass" goes without saying. She seems to be familiar with your kind, but you should probably inquire into how familiar she is. Is it just nasty rumors, or direct contact? Mere irritation would suggest the former.

It's safe to asssume the locals on this planet have had contact with aliens for quite a while now. Just because the rules disallow it, doesn't mean you should dismiss evidence it's been happening.

>>1100870
Look, we know the baby's been genocidal lately but we can handle her if she acts up. Right, Li.ni.si? She's cut off from her people, anyway.

If they insist, then
1) you're not leaving Conduit alone so Linisi is coming with, and
2) you're not going to be alone with 4 strangers so the guard and someone else has to leave.
So can we have all talk together, talk separately, or not at all?

"We'd at least like to know why our ward has to leave? Surely there's good reasoning?" What an odd bunch of fellows. Well at least they seem to be willing to negotiate. So is blood-drinker a thing from birth or is it a choice?

>Toxic blood
I suspect your blood has been actively trying to absorb materials to heal.

>Ka.ga.ta
Ask to read the sigil and tag to assess what, if anything, is wrong with him. Silently contemplate suggesting he accompany you on your journey.

1/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/08(Sun)18:20 No. 1100974 ID: 2ca689
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I feel a sudden displaced bump to my head as my flocklet bonks against the wall outside trying to enter the abandoned hive. Well, it's safer to say I feel a muted bump somewhere, but it usually feels closest like a bump to my head, I guess. To my other head, that's floating around. Look, it's hard to explain.
I know for a fact I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached to my shoulders, with how often I keep forgetting where I left my flocklet.

> Lightgreen in rare form
I'm still a little surprised, I've seen flickers of this passion from her before but usually not so brazenly expressed. It's still really strange to know she has such faith in me despite apparently being fully aware of my flaws. ...heartwarming, even.

> polluting the world is not a priority right now
I know but it hurts me on a fundamental level that this could even be the case.
> Lord Vi.al not much of an engineer
Lord Vi.al surely must have considered this a possibility! It seems unlike them to overlook something so fundamental to my composition and my purpose. I know Lord Vi.al can frequently lose track of small details, but when it comes to planning, such a glaring contradiction... I have fire-suppressing foam systems to compensate for the flammability of my feathers, I have redundant seed capsule production systems, I could lose my entire body save my head and survive in a recovery coma for [two months], substrate is woven through my body in an intricate fractal to facilitate transmission more readily than most other constructs I've met AND act as a quick dispersal for directed energy bursts, I refuse to believe this wasn't considered.

Yeah, my body's not perfect, no one's is, but it's also engineered. I wasn't just thrown together in a slapdash manner. Mostly. I think.

> you'd be a terrible adoptive dad if you just dropped your daughter alone outside
> ask why your ward has to leave
> we can handle the baby if she starts acting genocidal again
I'm not really her adoptive parent though, right? I mean, sure, she doesn't strike me as that old, but more young adult (or close) than outright child...

"I'm not letting a vulnerable young construct out of my sight. Not without a better reason than 'no worms'. She's practically a defenseless vatling."
I am met with confused looks.
"Vatling means child for my kind."
"You put your children in jars?"
"Yeah! All kids go in jars," says Ka.ga.ta.
"Something like that," says Li.ni.si, vaguely.
"We just use paper cells."

As I recall, we're really, really discouraged from going into detail about construct production methods around non-Shapeless. It’s not an outright ban, but it’s probably better for us all the fewer fine details alien sapients are aware of.
I mean, this applies to effectively all Shapeless technology. It’s part of the reason everyone loves us so much. I mostly don’t have to worry about it because half the time I don’t know enough to be much of a problem. And even if I did, what am I going to say? "Use your innate control over substrate based on complex signalling I don’t have conscious awareness of to make it do the thing you need to do?" Should I ask them how they make their own cells metabolise while I'm at it?

The long-snouted sculker speaks. "The Great Eater hasz many children that szcurry around, eating wallsz and learning szecretsz, returning to their wretched mother to be devoured once more."
"Huh. This isn't one of those wormlings. This has little purple bits sticking out of it."
"It doesz? I can't szee szo well from back here."

"I'm not a child!!"
Conduit wriggles around and Li.ni.si scoops her up into her arms.
"You really do look like a Zi.en vatling. Su.ki.fu showed me pictures of her vatling form once, but you're not quite as goopy as she was," says Li.ni.si.
"I'm not a child though!! Just because I don't know how physical space works all that well or because I've lost half the complexities and capacities I..."

2/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/08(Sun)18:20 No. 1100975 ID: 2ca689
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Conduit trails off.

"Oh no."
"What is it?" I look back to her, as Li.ni.si adjusts her arms a little to carry Conduit better.
"Reduced physical capacity, reduced mental capacity, I feel hungry even when I eat, and I keep feeling sleepy..."

Conduit's eyes start to water as I practically feel the metaphorical gears turn in her head.

"But I don't want to be baby. I had a life before this! I was involved in politics! I wasn't good at it at all but I was!!"
"Well, you're alive at least," says Li.ni.si, gently cradling and rocking Conduit as she starts trembling. "Practically none of us get a chance to start over like this."

Conduit bursts into tears, but it's less the screaming wails of a vatling and more like how she was at her limit in her dying immaterial world.
Li.ni.si rocks her gently still, and hums an old Lo.kan melody I've come across before in their data streams. Something calm and soothing and repetitive to help upset vatlings feel better. The thing that strikes me about it is how modal it feels. Like a switch just flicked in Li.ni.si's head. Maybe it's just part of the training of a mechic, but something about it feels like it came from experience.

I will not pry. I've known her for maybe the best part of a single day.

I also think Conduit would feel highly insulted if she knew she was hearing a lullaby for the youngest of vatlings, but it does seem to be calming her down.

3/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/08(Sun)18:21 No. 1100977 ID: 2ca689
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"Alright." I adjust my feathers a little. "So, thank you for making the child cry." I so nearly said 'my' child. Blegh. I don't want to think about that one.
The sculking creature looks a little taken aback by this.
"...That waszn't my intent, uh, at all, to be honeszt, I juszt want to keep my home szafe."

"I think you need to put it back in the jar. It looks like it's not done yet."
"Thank you for your stellar mentoring advice," I say, because I'm having a hard time holding back my snippy comments. "Globestalk."
"Amber isz making szure a beaszt hasn't wandered into the patch. He'll be back szoon."
"Amber is?"

The orange-eyed snout lurker looks at me with some confusion. "You juszt met him. ...Did he not tell you hisz name again?"
"No. I don't know your name either."
"I'm juszt here to keep an eye on thingsz. Don't worry about me."
"Her name's Sangaree!" says Ka.ga.ta. "She's really pretty!"
"...yesz, my name is that," says Sangaree with irritation I can feel through the obfuscating layers of buzzed lepi-tongue.
"If you don't mind me asking, forgive the rudeness, but what kind of creature are you?"

I see her look around, shuffling uncomfortably.

"I wasz born lepi, if that meansz anything to you."
"Oh? Can you go into more detail? I'm noticing some phenotypical divergences I haven't come across before."
"I don't want to talk about it. Aszk Amber about it."

After a pause, I hear a drawn out buzzing sigh. "...yesz, I know I do not look lepi anymore."
"I'm sorry to keep asking, but one more quick question. Did, uh, did one of my kind have anything to do with what happened?"
"No."
"I see." I stop myself from reflexively asking if I can do anything to help. Probably, I can. But I can't keep getting sidetracked.

4/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/08(Sun)18:21 No. 1100979 ID: 2ca689
File 173371090625.png - (33.51KB , 800x600 , fop2-59.png )

"What's your story, then, Grass?"
"Fuck off."

Well that was quick.

5/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/08(Sun)18:22 No. 1100980 ID: 2ca689
File 173371093158.png - (52.57KB , 800x600 , fop2-60.png )

"And as for you," I say, walking to Ka.ga.ta. He stands up as I approach.

"Ka.ga.ta--"
"You already introduced yourself."
"--.ni.ze.ri.lo.ne.ga.ta, at your service, Vi.alic!"
"I need to read the symbol on your chest. This will require me to touch it. Permission to do so?"

He gives me such a sleazy smile I feel like I have revoked permission from myself to go anywhere near him, but, well, needs must.

"Sure thing, anything for a pretty lady!"
"I'm not-- never mind. Let's see." Let's get this over with as fast as I can manage, with the least surface contact necessary.

The symbol is a warning glyph. Redundantly repeated numerous times, as tends to be the case with substrate data storage.

BLOT PHENOMENON DESIGNATION KA.GA.TA.NI.ZE.RI.LO.NE.GA.TA - WARNING: LIVE BLOT ORGANISM - DO NOT REMOVE FROM CONTAINMENT - DO NOT ALLOW CONTACT WITH ORGANISMS WITH DISPLACEMENT INDEX OF 3 OR LOWER - REPRODUCTIVE RISK, RISK OF GENETIC CONTAMINATION (KNOWN BLOTLING PHENOMENON), KEEP AWAY FROM POTENTIAL COMPATIBLE FEMALES - IF FOUND OUTSIDE PIT FACILITY RETURN URGENTLY ACTUALLY DON'T DO THAT I'M NOT LETTING HIM BACK IN ANYMORE - IF UNABLE TO PREVENT INTERACTION WITH LOCAL FAUNA USE STANDARD BLOT-DERIVED MATERIAL DESTRUCTION METHODS - KNOWN EFFECTIVE METHODS: THERMONUCLEAR DETONATION, SUBSTRATE ASSIMILATION, CLASS-APEX NEAR-UNIVERSAL SOLVENTS (SECURE MATERIAL TO BE DESTROYED BEFORE USE)

...okay so this reads as a weird mixture of standard templates and My.a's comments. It goes on like this and there's a long meandering bunch of research notes scattered haphazardly between the repetitions. I don't have time to read all of it, especially as the longer I stay in physical contact with this thing the more uncomfortable I feel.

Wow, if only I had some sort of data-storing object to transfer it to. Oh well.

Some highlights, then. Skimming over My.a's research notes, I get the impression that Ka.ga.ta himself wasn't really a test subject as much as a byproduct of testing something else. There's some musings on setting up a population of blotlings on a different world to see how tangled up their genes would get after a few generations, lots and lots of incidents of this guy injuring himself in statistically unlikely ways, and then culminating in My.a declaring him a living bad luck attractor and throwing him out of the facility. Something about the focus of research shifting to making sure Ka.ge.ta never, ever finds his way back into the facility.

"Alright, thanks for that." I touched him. He's a blotling, an apparently contagious bad luck attractor, and some sort of reproductive nightmare. That's three reasons I need to amputate this wingarm as soon as I get the chance. I hope the warning just meant inexplicable cross-fertility and not that I'm going to explode into mini-blotlings.
"No problem! So, what did it say? Grass said it says I'm a hazard but I mean, I'm a one of a kind creation of the Shapeless Lords, truly I'm destined for greater things!"
"You're, uh, keep, keep doing what you're doing," I say, in a slight daze.

6/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/08(Sun)18:23 No. 1100981 ID: 2ca689
File 173371100775.png - (27.35KB , 800x600 , fop2-61.png )

"Oh right now I'm here to make sure all globestalk is eradicated before it poses a threat to the criai. Glass-Fold-Nine-Circles sent me. I'm working for him while I figure out my true grand purpose. He's like the only guy who doesn't seem to think I should be killed on sight for some reason?"
"What."
"Yeah! It's super toxic to criai! He's worried it's going to cause problems if any enemies find this out and turn it into a weapon."
"Did he tell you not to spread that information around?"
"Uh... I don't remember?"

Well that's extremely unfortunate news.

I see Sangaree approach from behind the walls.

"We won't let you do that. The patch isz preciousz to usz."
"Well I'm not here to start digging up your garden, haha! I'm here to grab some to take back so he can investigate further."

He looks at Sangaree's more fully visible, highly pregnant body, and I suddenly connect a few dots regarding Amber's defensiveness and Sangaree trying to keep herself out of harm's way.

"Wow! How much blood did you guys drink?"
Sangaree gives a long buzzing sigh again. "I hope you're the worszt thing that happensz to me tonight."

"Oh, congratulations!" I blurt out. Why.
Li.ni.si raises a brow. Lightgreen looks at me bewildered.
"...isn't that what organics tend to say when they're acknowledging a reproductive cycle in progress?" Why did I say anything. Why did I say anything.
"And behold, there isz room for the earth to crumble, and for usz all to tumble further down into the depthsz of pain far from the Light, curszed we all asz creaturesz of pureszt worszt wordsz and baffling choicze torment usz all with their horrendousz waysz."
Uh uh uh subject change. "Oh right! Introductions from earlier! I forgot!" I bow, hurriedly. "My name is Vi.si.mi, I am an ecology construct created for the Shapeless Lord Vi.al, long shall it reign! This is Li.ni.si, a, uh, health and repairs construct created for the Shapeless Lord Lo.ka, this is the shaman Lightgreen Mint of Golden Bough, oh right also this is Conduit, an, uh, emergent construct created indirectly for the Shapeless Lord Vi.al, this is my flocklet, which is my other me--"
"I really don't care, I juszt want you all to go away asz szoon asz you get your globesztalk."

"Does that include--"
"No it doesz not. You're fine."
"Grand."

"Will Amber be gone much longer? I'm just as eager to get travelling back myself," I say, after too awkward a silence.
"If you're that worried you can go out thisz way and szee for yourszelf," I get back, Sangaree's patience clearly wearing thinner and thinner as she vaguely gestures to some other passage in this abandoned hive.

>>1100981
>Vi.al didn't make a mistake with your blood
Either it's a tradeoff-- as in, it behaves that way because it normally does something extremely beneficial inside your body-- or "pollution" is a misinterpretation of what it's actually doing, or trying to do. What if it's trying to restore the planet to its original state? We know the planet has been altered in various ways.

>reproductive danger
>pregnant woman, used to look more like a lepi
UH. Ask her if she ever touched the walking biohazard. If not, warn her never to do so, and in fact she should keep a considerable distance from him. Also consider removing the finger you touched him with if you can do so without bleeding all over the place. Even if there's some possibility of your blood being able to kill him. ...why didn't My.a kill him? Weird.
Huh, Grass knows the gist of what the marker means? Apologize that you don't have a way to kill him safely at the moment, even if it's not really your mess. If he gets smug about it tell him you're sure you could still horribly injure him. If he makes any move towards anyone then shooting him is a good idea. Wait shit we don't have any weapons now do we. Well if he makes any move retreat to retrieve your weapons from outside so you can zap him.
Wait, CAN you kill him? Do you have access to any of the listed methods?

>Amber is making sure a beast didn't wander into the patch
Uh, tell her you're worried about Amber possibly spearing your missing beast-like companion.

Look, I'm not saying Lord Vi.al is a poor engineer, but when you consider that constructs can have their blood evaporate instead of remaining in the soil for aeons to pollute and destroy the environment, it doesn't make much sense to not choose evaporation option for your ecological construct.

I will say it is amusing to see Conduit be upset at this new youth when many organics seek the elixir of youth for generations for a chance to be young again. Quite a contrast!

Also, congratulations on parenthood, Vi.si.mi!

Grass doesn't waste our time at least.

Ka.ga.ta seems to be a total grease ball. Absolutely should be placed under containment though.

Well, you got your work cut out for you. Ka.ga.ta could cause damage to the genetics of future organics on this world, but killing him will not be easy, and he may prove useful still, especially if you can learn more about what Lord My.a was doing. Sangaree is experiencing the biological stresses of pregnancy, and her health may be at risk as a result. She definitely responds to Conduit as if they were a child though, so she may trust Li.ni.si (as the apparent care-giver) more than you, for any further diplomatic discussion. The Globestalk may be needed by the Lepi, but if they decide to use it instead as a chemical weapon on the Cirai, which would undoubtedly make the Lepi a huge threat to the other factions, so you'd need an assurance that the Lepi won't use this in such a way unless absolutely necessary.

... And I just uploaded that picture of Amber and had no name for him. Now I get it less than an hour later. God damn it.

OK first off, there are a lot of things to worry about, making you miss some VERY IMPORTANT SALIENT FACTS about the current situation. Worry later. Observe now.

1. Seapi, not violent, not mindless, not attacking, able to speak. Wasn't that (according to the lepi) supposed to be impossible?
2. Amber (the spear wielding lepi you met?) was exiled. What they did might give you insight on how to reunite the lepi. Will part with information in exchange for food. Bring food, these organisms sorely need it.
3. Globestalk is toxic to the criai. Ka.ga.ta. is here to destroy it before it can be weaponized by their enemies. You should try weaponizing it.
3. LIVE BLOT ORGANISM REPRODUCTIVE RISK. KEEP AWAY FROM POTENTIAL COMPATIBLE FEMALES. Pregnant female lepi, who has grown into a very abnormal body shape for some reason. Aww, they're a couple! He's gonna be a daddy! I wonder when the baby's due?

Oh, and in regards to the weaponizing globestalk thing, don't bring up the subject again. Just get it from Amber before the blotling can destroy it. ...if Ka.ga.ta attracts bad luck, I wonder if the globestalk is already in danger just from him being near it? That's a second reason to get there sooner rather than later.

>>1100979
Her voice says "Fuck off", the smirk say "you're hilarious". You've made an impression on her, at least.

>>1100981
>bad luck attractor
>working for Glass-Fold-Nine-Circles
>thing you're looking for is weapon against criai
Too late to cut off that arm, or kill him, he's already a walking diplomatic incident right now. This is kind of the exact opposite of the non-aggression pact you want from his employer. Ask him about his other jobs to confirm, and be thankful he hasn't clocked your designation yet. In fact, let's all agree we didn't hear that last part.

>"If you're that worried you can go out thisz way and szee for yourszelf," I get back, Sangaree's patience clearly wearing thinner and thinner as she vaguely gestures to some other passage in this abandoned hive.
You know you can send your flocklet to do that, right?

Disillusioned from faith she had, an offer to protect her family, whoever she decides is in it, can go a long way. Lightgreen can vouch for you, and hash out the details for her.

Oh, instead of planning his death, maybe we should make sure he lives. Because, if he causes bad luck for everyone in the vicinity, then the more time he spends "helping" our enemies the better. Though I suppose if the enemy knows this they might make sure he's always out on missions, far away from their base, so the bad luck doesn't affect them directly...

So the outcast lepi are having kids. Guess it makes sense that outcasts would join up. Great Eater huh? Details please. Oh, do tell Glass Globestalk heals lepi or he may think we're making bioweapons.

hmm let's see what we're dealing with

Amber seems mostly natural towards your group but does seem to like or at least enjoy the presents of light green.

Ka.ga.ta.ni.ze.ri.lo.ne.ga.ta seems pretty laid back, a bit air headed, and will try to sleep with anything with a pair of legs. While he doesn't seem to hate you or your group he also probably doesn't really care about any of you either unless someone decides to sleep with him. Though since it seems My.a is actively avoiding him (or at least pretending he doesn't exist) you might be able to use him to distract her down the line by telling him where one of My.a's bases are (you already know were Va.ne.tu's base is so if you pointed him that way Va will probably kick the problem up to My.a). Could let you distract My.a down the line once the truce is over.

Grass is probably one of the nicest locals we've met since we've crashed here... I'm not joking. She hasn't tried to kill you, attack you, threaten you, chase you off, blame you for the state the world is in, or simply judge you poorly based off what you are, just a general hate towards the world in general an not directed solely at you. best respect her wishes and leave her alone unless she approaches your party first.

Sangaree seems to be in charge? maybe? at the very least all the people in this room seem to follow her word so even if she isn't the leader she seems to be someone with influence. Also seems to be very annoyed at you and your group and has image issues with her body so probably best stop bring up how odd she looks as it seems to be upsetting her. and she did say if you want to learn more about how this group of lepi has changed from baseline lepi to go ask amber so yeah, I say drop any question about their mutations while she is around.

Though... I guess ask why they have been turning away the lepi that came by earlier trying to gather the globestalk for light green's tribe. Sangaree's tribe seem to have a good idea how important it is to the lepi and seem to be alright with us gathering some to help out the tribe. If they didn't have a problem with light green's tribe to begin with why did they turn them away?

You could excuse yourself and poke around a bit more, that seems like a good plan to relieve tension (at least until you walk into the next problem).

You're engineered to be a well-thought-out lifeform tailored to Vi.al's creations, but this world is way out of spec. You have to accept there will be unexpected interactions, and that maybe it's not such a bad thing that a random stranger doesn't want to drink your blood.

1/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/24(Tue)16:41 No. 1101584 ID: 2ca689
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> congratulations on parenthood
She is not my child, she was making independent decisions before I got here!! Admittedly terrible ones. She'd have probably got herself killed if I hadn't arrived with the timing I did, but her circle might have held together for long enough for her desperate gambit of jumping to the satellite to work. I did put it under significant strain for a failing structure by having it feed me sensory data. That all assumes there even was a satellite and she didn't just hope there was.

Yeah, okay, maybe she could do with a bit of mentoring, actually. I don't doubt she doesn't have a technical skill that surpasses mine, because I sure would not be able to build myself an egg as my body fell apart around me. But she's like a freshly emerged fastborn construct, she's got deep understanding of a few narrow things and absolutely abysmal everything else. Even Vy.zi.ki had a general understanding of what it means to be embodied, because constructs can't really ever know anything else by our nature.
That still doesn't make her my child.

> send flocklet to investigate
Good idea. Done. It bleeps and chirps in confirmation as it proceeds to smack into every wall going, but it does eventually find its way out.

I guess I must be a bit too focused on my surroundings to spare the cognitive capacity to help it navigate.

> Ka.ga.ta is a grease ball
> anything with legs
I notice with increasing discomfort that the hand I used to touch him is faintly covered in a greasy film, or maybe a drier kind of slime. It wasn't as noticeable on touch, but absent of his body temperature, the cold faint wetness is making me regret touching him without protective barriers in place. Well, I have my shield gen, which has bonded to my body so well it's not even visible beneath my feathers, but that's not really sufficient protection in the way I'd like.

> reproductive risk
I feel I may not have translated the exact nuance of this particularly well. The risk is that the entity can reproduce. Self-replicating hazards are a reoccuring nightmare in the Shapeless' history, which is why there's so much of a taboo on things reproducing or replicating without the permission and awareness of the Lords. This is one of the many reasons why constructs are not allowed to pursue reproductive research independently, and why construct reproduction is classed as law-breaching behaviour. Wild substrate will eat entire planets if left to its own devices. Something with access to that sort of power and an intellect to guide it has been, historically, a grand-scale threat beyond compare.

So yes, My.a throwing something (from the Blot) that can reproduce with natural organisms (or engineered ones as well, I suppose) out into the wild is yet another instance of My.a breaking Shapeless law in a lackadaisical and carefree manner. You know, on top of grand theft, usurpation of a Shapeless Lord, trespassing in Lord Vi.al's domain without permission, and probably other stuff I don't even know what the exact charge would be but probably isn't allowed. The list is long. Who's even keeping count at this point?

> kill Ka.ga.ta
I don't know. The warning seems... a little overblown.

> tell Ka.ga.ta to tell Glass-Fold-Nine-Circles that globestalk heals lepi
Honestly I feel like that's something I'd prefer to say to him directly if at all. I don't see this guy as a very useful messenger.

"Hey, you've been eyeing me for a bit, starbird!" he says, grinning, in a way I imagine is meant to be charming but just makes my feathers stand on end.
"Assessing capabilities, pay me no mind."
"Oh I'm very capable if you want to know more! Haha. I couldn't possibly pass up a pretty little bird like you wanting to know more."

Wow I think I just almost retched.

"Won't be necessary. Also, to clarify, I'm not female. Or male, for that matter. I am the creation of a Shapeless Lord engineered for a purpose, not some crude imitation of an organic."
"I hardly see why all that matters, silly birdie."
"And extremely not interested in whatever you're proposing."
"Ah..." He looks through me with a distant smile. "Some other time, perhaps, haha."
Eh? I don't get that response. "No, not some other time. I'm not interested, period, end of line."
"Haha..." He shakes his head and his ears flail around. "Maybe it'll be funnier if you find out yourself."
"Find out what?"
"Oh, things, and stuff."

"Do you have anything of actual substance to say?"
After he spends some time mulling on what to reply with, he goes with "Haha, that's not a very nice thing to say, birdie."
I don't think Grass actually read the symbol on his chest. I think she just spoke to him for longer than a minute. I'm starting to feel the urge to kill rising myself.

2/6 Vi.si.mi 2024/12/24(Tue)16:41 No. 1101585 ID: 2ca689
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> Grass impressions
> doesn't waste our time
She is refreshingly to the point, if nothing else.

> seapi, not violent, not mindless, not attacking
Ignoring Ka.ga.ta, I back up to Lightgreen, dropping my voice to a low hum. "Lightgreen, I thought you said the seapi weren't intelligent."
"I think I know what's going on," she tells me in a conspiratorial hush. "You were going to put--" She falters. "Channel? Tunnel? Causeway?"
"Conduit?"
"Conduit," she says, with some difficulty, as I realise whatever construction my autotranslator invented to translate Conduit's name must be clunkier than I realised for lepi to pronounce. "You were going to put her spirit into a box like the one that seapi has, right? I think that the seapi's holding a box with a spirit in it. Its spirit. The seapi are mindless violent beasts, so it only stands to reason they'd be like an empty vessel. See? It's always holding the small box, and if it lets go of the box, it's not for long."

I'm impressed with Lightgreen's read on the situation. I discreetly start querying the device Grass is using to speak, and apart from a few fluctuations in light, no one would be any the wiser. Grass does notice its glow shifting, but she gives it a few taps until she's happy with how it looks, keeping it held tightly to her just as Lightgreen noticed.

The device does not contain a consciousness. There are smaller, simpler agents acting as interpreters. I suspect whatever this device came from was probably an autotranslator like the one I'm in remote contact with. Smart enough to do its job, too stupid to know allegiance. Perfect for one of the local sapients to just pick up and freely use with some experimentation. There isn't a meaningful speck of substrate on or in Grass' body to explain some sort of flesh puppetry.
Her theory is insightful, but incorrect.

"The box only contains..." I try to think of how to phrase it. "Lesser spirits of communication. I think she's just a person."
"That doesn't make any sense," says Lightgreen, before looking at Sangaree and Ka.ga.ta. "...well, okay, weirder things are in this place, but, maybe whatever strangeness is around here led to a seapi that thinks it's a person."

"Oh look, a lepi that thinks it's a person, and a glass bird that shouldn't even be here," says Grass, as I realise, of course, Grass was speaking into the lepi tongue, responding with others speaking in this language, and that my usual gambit of switching languages to fit the situation should have taken into consideration it would be a rather poor substrate translator device to only work one way.

Wait. No, we were keeping our voices down. Argh, how sensitive is that thing?

"You want my story? My story is you fucks ruined everything. Lepi, glass things, both of you. So, yeah, fuck you, drop dead. Not here, fuckbird. You'll fuck it all up even more. Good night."

Grass gets up, and Lightgreen hides behind me again. I was wondering why she wasn't reacting to the seapi in fear up until now, and I guess Grass actually approaching is enough to spook her. Grass gives the most exaggerated eye roll I have ever seen something with eyes and a neck give.

"If you're so desperate for my attention then congratulations, you've fucking got it, dumbasses. I'll see you idiot fucks in the morning."

She disappears deeper into the abandoned hive. I decide it best to not follow her or ask for clarification.