Difference between revisions of "378/Pure Node"

Revision as of 07:19, 10 August 2014

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    THE WHITE WING.

    It is exactly like usual.
    Mr. Welcomes' booth, Abby in the display case, the broken pod, the stage, the door leading to the Fragment simulation room. The only unusual thing today, is that Homura has invited Psyber, Ariel and SAMAEL for some extremely, extremely dumb science. Samael has been promised food and social if she shows up, as well as getting to witness something very very dumb herself. She may be required to provide a SPEECH, though.

    There's a few pizza boxes on Welcomes' counter. He's welcome to help himself to some too.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is here. Psyber doesn't have much to say, as this is mostly Homura's project and he is along for the ride at the moment. Psyber DID bring the food to Samael's party along with Homura's pizzas. The half-angel has a big tray of crabcakes, being a Bostonian, and they smell really good. They're placed next to the pizza boxes. Otherwise, not much going on from him.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Mr. Welcomes is, unfortunately, technically incorporeal in this context! How he's gotten gifts so far is sort of a mystery. Regardless, the gesture of the pizza is appreciated. Nobody's really told him what to expect today, so the guy's just expecting one of the group to ask for one... Though nobody here who he'd expect to ask doesn't already have a Node. Ah well!

Ariel (219) has posed:
"Hi, Mister Welcomes!" Ariel chirps that cheerily enough. Evidently her earlier disgruntlement over the Homeworld doesn't always extend to the Operators... or she's just decided not to let it bother her until she can get more information.

Nothing really special to report with her at the moment... she's wearing Diea, has a small bandage around one wrist, and is otherwise just... Ariel! Not a whole lot to talk about.

Samael (455) has posed:
    A split second blur appears in the middle of the room, and it just so happens that like always, Samael herself appears, popping into existance with little to no fanfare. Having been promised the opportunity to talk to people (and food! How wonderful!) she wove at everyone, beaming as was her usual custom at impromptu appearences, violent or not.

    "Hello, everyone!" she said, before sauntering over to Homura. "You didn't tell me what the occasion was!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I didn't?"

    Homura is getting used to it. Well, not entirely, but it's somewhat less surprising when Samael shows up now. "Ah. How clumsy. Well, now that you are here, I can fill you and Welcomes in at the same time, then."

    The Puella Magi (dressed in formal black pants with a white dress shirt) smiles, if only a little bit, before saying: "Right. Mister Welcomes. Samael here would like a Node!" Then to Samael: "Would you not? I think it would be very interesting to see what happens. You'll have to give Welcomes a dramatic speech, though."

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel /still/ thinks this is a bad idea, but she's given up on trying to argue against it. She can appreciate the SCIENCE bit, even if she herself is too cautious to try it. "Well, you do need something conceptually important to you, but I guess you can use yourself if you don't have anything like that."

Samael (455) has posed:
    "A dramatic speech? Oh, those are fun to do! But making a node..." Samael shrugged helpelessly, spinning in place on a toe. "I don't know! I've never tried it, and I havn't had a reason to!" she said, before flicking open a pizza box with the tip of her a finger.

    "Something conceptually important? Well...I don't know. Well. Maybe. Nah. You say I can use myself? That..."

    Samael pointed to herself. "What else better expresses a concept than myself? Let's go with that, hmm?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber thinks Homura would have done better to ask one of the weaker Pures, but he also is curious how this plays out. When Samael appears, he gives her a slight wave and then says, "Hey." As a greeting. Aside from that, he's pretty quiet. When Samael says she could use herself, he does suggest, "You could use the necklace, too. You seemed to like it a lot when you got it as a gift."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Mr. Welcomes gives a friendly greeting to Ariel when she first says hello, "Hi there, Miss Ariel!" And then a greeting back to Samael when she walks in. "And hello to you too!"

    Then Homura drops a bit of a bomb. Mr. Welcomes goes just slightly pale, but he doesn't really falter. "Goodness, really? That's what you'd like to try? That's..." He takes a deep breath. "Well! I can't say I won't give it a shot! It's way out of protocol, but it might help you out, who knows!" A grinning shrug.

    A hand goes up. "But yes! That's not a very dramatic way of asking for the Node, you know! And who knows, this could turn out to be quite a big deal! You should make sure to treat this with all the drama it deserves, you know. Now, you don't terribly mind, ask me... With DRAMA!" He doesn't really expect a speech, but that seems to be what people like to give him! So he awaits whatever dramatic gesture Samael might use here.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura would agree with people's worries if they were stated. This is, possibly, an awful idea, and going with a lesser Pure might be better.

    Sadly, the way she sees it...

    They know none of the other Pures well enough to ask, except Yui. And she'd rather not stress Yuri out with this. So that leaves... well, Samael. Tough choices.

    "You can use yourself, yes. At any rate, the floor is yours, Samael. Hopefully you can impress some color back into Welcomes."

Samael (455) has posed:
    "Dramatic, huh?"

    Samael closed her eyes for a moment, stretching once again. As she opened them again, however, the atmosphere of the room somewhat...changed. Her normally greyish eyes turned red, and her head tilted as she considered Welcomes. She opened her mouth, and spoke.

    "#### # ####."

    What was actually said would be almost unlistenable as instead of words, everyone would hear a massive burst of static, as if it came from within their ears instead of from Samael herself. A second later though, and everything was back to normal. Samael's eyes were their normal color, and that odd pressure in the air was gone.

Ariel (219) has posed:
One loppy ear perks and twitches slightly, then folds back with a flinch. The burst of static is... strange. Unnatural. It kind of makes Ariel's head throb. "Ah... what was that? Nevermind, maybe you shouldn't answer yet."

Yet?

Well, maybe Welcomes can make something of it. Ariel fidgets nervously, making it more obvious that she thinks this is a bad idea, but she's also very, very curious and watching closely.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber winces a bit at the static noise that emerges from Samael's mouth, rubbing at his ear, "God damnit."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura winces, and attempts to get something other than static out of that. Unfortunately this is just like when they were told what Their true name is. It's gibberish-- it's nothing. A bit louder than nothing, this time, admittedly, but still.

    She frowns a bit, because that is cheating.
    And yet, appropriate. And dramatic.
    So also legit.

    She wonders if Welcomes actually caught anything from that.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Mr. Welcomes gets a little more pale, and then... Grins. He seems to actually be getting into the whole process, even with how it's seeming dangerous! He rubs his hands together, taking another deep breath. "Well," He says. "How can I say no to /that/?" He works each shoulder briefly. "So, I suppose it's time to ind out what happens if I do this." He pulls both hands back, ready to slam them forward against the glass of his booth.

    "LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS THIS TIME!!"

    The hands slam forward into the glass, just as they do when other Nodes are created. But there's a sudden silence. No gush of light, no shattering of perception. Huh, did something go wrong?

Ariel (219) has posed:
The enthusiasm is there at least! Ariel blinks, "Huh... it worked?" She tenses up, clasping Diea with a nervous fidget as she stares at the glass wall, watching Welcomes slam his hands forward to create...

Nothing? Is that it? Ariel's ears twitch and her tail flags a little. Contrary to disappointment, she's looking more worried now.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    The half-angel looks anxious as it gets underway. Who knows what could happen? What if this experiment broke the entire system. The half-angel shifts awkwardly on his feet.

    And then looks quite puzzled when there seems to be nothing happening.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "THIS TIME!! THIS TIME!! THIS TIME!! THIS TIME!!"

    Mr. Welcomes seems to jitter, and distort, parts of his body suddenly visually displaced, bits of the booth behind him suddenly disappearing and reappearing in brief flashes, his voice stuck in some kind of loop. The glass itself seems to crack, spiderweb lines coming out from his palms gradually and with an erratic, painfully forced sort of pace. There's an ominous, halting sort of feeling to what's going on, with the audio cycling shorter and shorter and the strange glitching getting more and more intense by the se<span class="underline bold_fg_c bg_n ++ ond.

    "chu">TIME!! TIME TIME TIME TIME IME IME IMMMMMMMMMMM###########</span>"

    And then something happens.

Ariel (219) has posed:
The... the glass is starting to crack? Ariel's eyes go wide, and she whispers, "Diea, Barrier and Mystic Drivers, please." Both of them, apparently, are an important thing to do. That's because she quickly steps in front of... well, as many as she can. Knowing the others are pretty strong, though, she chooses to guard the equipment, most especially Burden's dead Abstractum. She does this by summoning up a barrier of her own, with Sorcery, right before her.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    The lack of anything happening, and then bad things happening, has Homura on edge. Nothing is blowing up, at least not dangerously, but Welcomes apparently getting damaged, or at least oddly looped, by the Node creation attempted is probably a bad sign.

    On the other hand it kind of pays for Samael's presence.
    So that's something they won't have to worry about.

    "I'm starting to think I really should have asked Yui instead."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    There is an abrupt cessation of what the group traditionally perceives to be reality. Unlike the rest of the Node creations, this one comes without exclusivity of the viewer. The Node creator role does not receive absolute privacy in their vision in this case, and it seems as though the

Thank you for visiting.

Please end them soon.

*********** D I S C O N N E C T E D ***********



This world is Burden 0.9 Enhanced.
Abstractum Crisis MUSH

When * They * Return * Together * We'll * End * Them
Multitheme MUSHing to prevent the end of the world.
Abstractum Procurement by invitation or application.

ConceptNet
Abstractum.Net:####
Story
narrative://www.abstractum.net

================================================================
'connect guest guest' - connect as a guest.
'connect <name> <password>' - connect to an existing Precursor.
'ch <name> <password>' - connect hidden (Burden only).
================================================================
Welcome to PennMUSH!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yell at Them to personalize this file

Last connect was from ::ffff:127.0.0.1 on Sat Aug 09 19:29:21 -9999999999

MAIL: 0 messages in folder 0 INBOX (0 unread, 0 <span class=" fg_m bg_n ++ leared).
cm">===================<</span>* Secluded Alleyway - Roussean City *>====================
    You are currently present in an alleyway. The harsh winter and recent breakdown in public services has rendered snow-clearing efforts completely moot. Huge piles of snow mount against doors and the aged brick walls. There is no audible indication of any other human life nearby, presumably all of it is snowed in.

    Samael will recall this particular environment with much clarity. There is something important to find lodged in the pile of snow that lies under a darkened neon sign.
---------------------------------- Players -----------------------------------
Name Faction Desc PL Health Idle
Samael Unaffiliated Homeless 8 100 8h
----------------------------------- Things -----------------------------------
Name Owner Enter
###### Samael can't

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber draws Adjudicator out, gripping the sword in both hands from where it was on his back a moment ago, "Ariel, please stand behind me." Psyber says in a fairly commanding voice. It's not STERN, but it has a lot of urgency behind it. So much so that he's already moving to position his meat-shield-tastic self between her and danger anyway.

    "If her Node kills us all, remind me to haunt the same place you're haunti-"

    Psyber cuts off as the entire world seems to shift around them, disconnecting them from reality and shunting them into a new set of visions.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "If it kills us I'll make sure you can haunt me as payment," Homura tells Psyber before reality apparently decides it wants nothing to do with this anymore and just quits. And then... they're watchers? Ghosts?

    And is that Samael?

    The Puella stays quiet.
    Better watch and not disrupt.
    She can worry about this not being a vision once it's over, but for now this may be more than she thought they would gain from this.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel fully expected something to explode.

In a way, something does explode, causing her to lose her grip on her sorcery and stop in wonder, staring at the results of the Node Creation.

Ariel being who she is, she's going to pay rapt attention here.

Samael (455) has posed:
    If anyone was looking for the Samael that everyone was familiar with, she's gone for the time being. Or at least, not around to say anything.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber looks around the snow-filled alleyway that they have found themselves in.

    Zero unread mail, though? Maybe he had something in his inventory. He examines himself in the context of this new world.

    'brief me'

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
===================<* Secluded Alleyway - Roussean City *>====================
    The others are not present. After all, none tend to be during Node Visions. Self-examination reveals nothing; they are an invalid element in the structure of this world. But they can still see something of note.

    A young girl with a nice hat is present here. She wanders into the alleyway, her face deeply frostbitten and her young body shivering from the cold. The neon sign flickers a few times as electricity erratically attempts to kick in. The young girl's attention seems attracted to it, moving over to the small pile of snow below it.

    There's an intense, ominous feeling. One can feel the pressure of this situation. It is the start of something awful. There is a baleful influence saturating the entire environment. The girl seems interested in something she can see, gleaming just below the snow, something rounded and black. Numb hands ruined by the cold pull clumps of snow aside. Maybe something valuable to pawn off, to get a bit of <span class=" bold_fg_m bg_n ++ ash?
cm">---------------------------------- Players -----------------------------------</span>
Name Faction Desc PL Health Idle
Samael Unaffiliated Homeless 8 54 8h
----------------------------------- Things -----------------------------------
Name Owner Enter
###### Samael can't

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber figures he wouldn't be so lucky as to have that work. Instead, Psyber notices something else about this Node. Or rather, about this vision, "She's dying."

    Yes, Psyber managed to catch a glimpse of the dwindling health of the young girl (both literally in numbers and obviously in terms of frostbite) and he heaves a heavy sigh. This is truly a sad sight to watch.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel can tell that the girl is dying, too. She frets a little, but keeps quiet about that... her empathy is practically palpable, as it is. She is... also not surprised. For some reason, shock isn't something she's expressing here.

"Mn. I wonder if this is like a Fragment...?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I don't know. This is the first Node I'm aware of that seems to give a direct glimpse into the past rather than a new world. Almost makes you forget she's a sociopathic murderer, doesn't it?" Homura says, idly, as she watches.

    The sight doesn't bother her too much, but then that's the kind of person she is. When you've seen that sort of stuff a hundred times, you kind of stop being (visibly) disturbed by it.

    "I'm not sure this is how I pictured it, I admit."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
===================<* Secluded Alleyway - Roussean City *>====================
    For a moment, it looks like she's found something of incredible value. There's a brief light that reflects off of the neon sign that sputters one last time, and it looks like she didn't just find something valuable but something powerful.

    And then the sign sputters its last. The young girl digs out what she thought might be something valuable lost. It was just some glassy piece of junk, some trashy-looking bit of blackened glass from something or another. There was nothing there.

    This will be in blatant defiance of the expectations of one particular observer, who will not recall the despairing expression, the slow process of giving up that the girl visibly goes through before she just tiredly sits down, breathing heavily on her hands to try to warm the numb digits and redirect it to her face, and slowly beginning to nod off in a sleepy way.
---------------------------------- Players -----------------------------------
Name Faction Desc PL Health Idle
Samael Unaffiliated Homeless 8 14 8h
----------------------------------- Things -----------------------------------
Name Owner Enter

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber KNOWS he can't affect this vision, can't sway this world. And the logical part of him tells him that what he does as he watches the girl begin to nod off is stupid. And that he will look dumb. But the other part of him would never forgive himself if he just watched a girl die.

    And that is why the Psyber-Who-Isn't-There takes off his jacket as the girl sits back down and tries to toss it at or over her. In all likelihood it is futile, but he would hate himself if he didn't try.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Like Psyber, Ariel knows she can't affect this. She tries to think of any warming spells or the like she can give... nobody should freeze to death like this. Even if she can't do anything, it's in her nature to TRY, somehow, and consequences be damned.

It wasn't a Pure, huh? Well... she won't last much longer at this rate. Might as well... try something. Maybe it's a might-have-been.

Ariel approaches, her 'self' invisible to the girl, perhaps, but the others might notice she's on all fours again. She approaches, dips her head, and touches her horn to the girl's shoulder with a flare of light and a sputtering spark.

Ariel doesn't have her mother's Wish Engine, but it doesn't stop her from attempting to give one anyway.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    All the while Homura does absolutely nothing.
    Maybe she's already made up her mind it's not like anything she can do here would matter, anyway. If this is just a vision or a memory, and they're not even actors, she'd rather watch and learn than interfere.

    Not that she minds Psyber and Ariel being sentimental.
    She'll stay the odd one out though.

========================<* Abstractum.Net has posed  *>=========================

===================<* Secluded Alleyway - Roussean City *>====================
        It's not clear if Ariel affected this situation. But it IS clear that
 Ariel gets a flash of her wish. Survive. Survive, ust survive. Survive in some
 way and somehow. The reason it's not clear if Ariel affected things is because
 Psyber managed to affect the situation. A coat is cast over the girl, and she
 stirs, barely. Where Psyber is, in this recreation of the past, there is a
 man. He crouches down and makes a silent, gentle shushing motion to her. Over
 one shoulder, he has a heavy sword, familiar both to Psyber and to Samael.
---------------------------------- Players -----------------------------------
Name                Faction                Desc               PL Health  Idle
Samael              Unaffiliated           Homeless           8  3       8h
Mr. Speaks          Roussean Federation    Abstractum User    34 100     1m
----------------------------------- Things -----------------------------------
Name                                       Owner                      Enter   
================================================================================

Mr. Speaks says, "You want to survive. Good."
Mr. Speaks says, "No need to move or keep fighting."
Mr. Speaks says, "I will speak and you will answer."

        The vision, whatever it was, collapses.

======================<* End of Abstractum.Net's pose  *>=======================

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Son of a bitch..." Is all Psyber can say, watching the coat fall over Samael. And watching the flash from Ariel. Psyber clenches his hand, "Him." That's all he can really say about the situation as he clenches his hand while the vision collapses.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Is it that surprising?"

    The fact they were able to alter the vision kind of is, but Speaks' presence... "We already knew the Roussean had something to do with Samael. I... admit I prefered thinking that it might not be this kind of situation."

    It would have been hard to really guess this much.

    "I wonder if Samael remembers this at all."

Ariel (219) has posed:
"Mn." Ariel is strangely quiet... and deep, very deep in thought. At least until something snaps her out of it.

Samael (455) has posed:
    Samael is still nowhere to be seen. Maybe she got bored and left halfway through. Who knows? In any case, she won't be around to comment.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Can you guys meet me here next Sunday?" Psyber asks to Ariel and Homura specifically, though others will probably be brought along for posterity.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Probably," Homura says, before glancing around. "Where did Samael go? Don't tell me she just walked off on her own flashback."

    Although, speaking of that...

    The Puella goes to check on Welcomes and his booth.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel looks up when the question is asked. "Yeah." She looks distracted, pondering... and possibly upset, but only mildly so if it's the latter.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber looks over to Ariel and asks pretty seriously, "What's on your mind, kiddo?" He takes out a cigarette and puts it in his mouth.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Looking up again swiftly, Ariel trots over to check on Welcomes as well. The unicorn answers Psyber, though. "Thoughts. Stuff. A saying that you probably know. Questions."

She shakes her head to clear it, then smiles a little wanly. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber frowns and then nods his head at her, "You're right. It is." Psyber rubs the back of his head, "But never let that deter you from good deeds. You can save someone you never expect to. Or at least I hope. I've yet to... do it." He waves his hand vaguely and then goes into his own thoughts.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Over in his booth, Mr. Welcomes is in a bad way. He's on the ground, leaning against the wall of the booth and holding his head, making pained noises. Infrequently he does something like a vomiting gesture, making even more pained noises and vomiting what looks like some kind of glitched-out black slimey mass. There's a quick wave to Ariel though.

    "H-hey kiddo. Brrrr... Node recursion paradigm error, had to do a memory dump and-- blrrrghh..." He waves her away. "Just gimmie a few hours, gotta clean the gunk data. I'll be fine." Mr. Welcomes does not look fine, but he looks like he WILL BE, maybe.

    Looks like there wasn't a new Node made, though. UNFORTUNATE.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Or make it worse trying," Homura chips in, apparently the god damn life of the party suddenly. "Though I think that's less of a risk for you than us, Ariel."

    Homura glances at Welcomes, cringing a bit. "Erm. I apologize that did that to you. To be honest I suspected it might do something like damage the Homeworld, or damage our Nodes, or create a very dangerous Node, but... I did not really think about the person generating the Nodes at all. If it makes it a little bit better we saw something fairly interesting. Speaking of, I don't suppose you saw where Samael went before hunching over and being sick?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    here's a thumbs up from Mr. Welcomes. "Not a problem! Good to hear it was interestbllreeeerhgh." He says, articularly. "Not sure where she went. She kinda disappears a lot, I can't tell if it's time stuff or what. It probably doesn't matter much. She looked a lot like she needed some private time."

    He goes back to nursing his aching head.