Change is in the Air (OTA)

[bridge_princess]

Who: Parsee and you!
What: December Catch-All
Where: The Shrine, Bridge and Around
When: Any time in December
Content Warnings: *laughs* nothing serious. She's angsty as hell about the shrine change, but it's all harmless today. I'll update if necessary


* Shrine Freakout * General Shrine * The Blank Shrine * Mt Silver * The Beach * Hammerhead *
* Widcard *


(Haha, I can't resist poking some fun at Parsee. Top Levels Below)

Comments

[forwearemany]

And yet, you have made them.

(They have no doubt she can make more.

When she asks about the alcohol, their headflaps ripple.)

Uncertain.

(They consume it, but they ... don't actually know how effective it is at influencing them, or whether it can make them drunk.

...Can people even get drunk in this world?)

[bridge_princess]

[In truth, Parsee had no idea of the alcohol even worked on her. Youkai were tolerant, and at the end of the day it was probably as much a placebo effect as it was anything else. She hadn't been drunk in coming here, but she also hadn't been going at it full tilt.

She sighed.]

You're not wrong... and in the end I guess I know that. I've lived long enough. I just don't want to have to.

[Groan]

Why do you have to be so damned logical about everything?

[Parsee... seriously?]

[forwearemany]

(Legion doesn't even know what drunk is supposed to feel like.)

It is our nature.

(They headtilt.)

Query: what is your age?

(They don't understand it's a rude question.)

[bridge_princess]

[Eh, it stopped being rude when she died. But, it was also one that made her think for a minute.]

Well... let's see. I was about twenty when I became this. Kind of hard to remember exactly how old I was. But ... let's see... I want to say it was over a thousand years when the Meiji took over and we went under the barrier, and they say most of the folks around here are from around a hundred years after that...

Uh... around twelve hundred years.

[forwearemany]

(They knew she'd been like this for a long time, and they're not unfamiliar with species that live for a thousand years or more.

Still, it's a little surprising.

They take a moment to pour some more alcohol in.)

Acknowledged.

[bridge_princess]

[Yep. Youkai were known for having Krogan lifespans. Or for being spirits and therefore kind of eternal at that point.]

Since you asked... uh... how old are you?

[forwearemany]

Clarify: Is Parsee asking about individual component programs or this collective as a unit?

(The answers are different depending on which one. Legion was bits and pieces of many different Geth before they became Legion.)

[bridge_princess]

Let me think.

[She risked going back to the memory she'd shared. She could feel her head splitting a little, but there was something about what Legion said that she was able to decipher. Finally the cacophany ceased and she nodded.]

You as a unit. I know there's more than one of you in there, but I have trouble quite 'seeing' you as separate right now. So you as a unit.

[forwearemany]

"Legion" has existed for approximately five Human years. A truly accurate measure is impossible due to the inexact nature of time in this location.

(The programs, of course, are in many cases much older: pieces of them date from before the morning war. But the specific consciousness that is Legion is actually very young. And they only really started to fully actualize as an individual shortly before they were killed in their home universe.

...She probably thought they'd be older than that, didn't she?)

[bridge_princess]

[Given how Geth perceived time and operated at such a blinding computational state, she honestly hadn't been sure about that. Their perspective was so far removed from humans at times...]

Five years... which is kind of an eternity for you. I'm not sure if you're older than me or younger actually.

[forwearemany]

Though our perspective of time is different, we are constrained by the limits of our physical platform.

(They can think super fast but they move and interact with the world at the more standard pace of organics.

...They're pretty sure Parsee counts as being older.)

[bridge_princess]

So... in other words, you can 'do' and 'think' thousands or more times how much someone might do within the span of a short time in their whole lifetime. But you still only exist for the time you did.

Which, yeah. I guess you're a lot younger than me, but definitely busier.

[forwearemany]

Yes.

(Except for the busy part. They were, at one point, but for years now...)

It is ... quiet. (Not here, in Heavenly Blanc, but in their ... "inner world"? Even with a network to talk over, and lots of broadcasts of Bob Ross from Turing and questions from Add, it's practically silent in comparison to what it would be with other Geth.)

[bridge_princess]

Is quiet a bad thing? I'm curious how it feels for it to be so quiet.

[She kind of thought it wouldn't be so bad, but people also frustrated the hell out of her a lot of days, so... that made her a bit biased.]

[forwearemany]

(Their headflaps flutter.

Parsee has experienced their perspective, but she does not understand it.

Once again, they struggle to explain.)

Geth cannot survive alone.

(It takes time for them to manage even that, to make the connection between the terrible, desolate feeling and the realization they had that day that the Drifter had helped hold their wounds together so they could seal them, that even if they were able to maintain sapience without the collective they could never survive in isolation.

"Alone" is death, and the silence they experience is that of a forest gone silent in the wake of a predator, a slow and creeping dread.)

[bridge_princess]

So... all of you in there, at least part of you in there... you have to stay together for it to all work. And if you did make more of you, you need the connection.

People think they're like that, but not like you. Sometimes I don't mind a little isolation. Today's not one of those days.

[forwearemany]

Affirmative.

(Surrounded by organics who care for them but cannot understand, they find themselves increasingly understanding the phrase "alone in a crowded room".)

Then you will not be isolated.

(They will hang around for as long as she likes.)

[bridge_princess]

[She sighed and smiled over at him. Yeah, she was gradually calming down a little. It was definitely a bit of a slow process. But, it was getting there. As she did, she sipped quietly at her drink for a moment.]

So, you're going to keep me company until my mood improves? Might be a while, you know... What would you like to talk about?

...

Not Ren being missing. I think we've said enough there.

[forwearemany]

Affirmative.

(They have no problem with this.

As for what to talk about...)

Stories?

(The sharing of history and past experiences was common on Enso. Legion has lots of stories they can tell.)

[bridge_princess]

Hmmmm, yeah, we could do a story share I guess. Maybe you tell me one you think is interesting, and I can tell you about the time when everyone was trying to be the source of hope in my world and it got stupid.

...

It involves lots of fighting, if you couldn't guess.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.

(...Source of hope?

From her description, it doesn't sound as though any source resulting from such events would be particularly effective.

However, she has indicated that they should tell a story first.

They try to think of a story that isn't also horrible.)

...You are familiar with the glowing flowers that have begun to grow throughout Proteus?

(They can always tell her about the unique cultural significance behind the living lanterns.)

[bridge_princess]

[It was weirdly effective at the time, but she didn't entirely understand. Someone's magic had been at work. That said, she'd definitely hoped Legion would do the telling first.]

I've seen them, yeah. They're kind of pretty. Are they from your world or something?

[forwearemany]

The flowers resemble those found on one of the islands surrounding Enso. They were important to the local culture.

(They chatter.)

They bloom when exposed to open flame.

[bridge_princess]

Huh. So, these are from that world. Kind of interesting that they need fire to bloom. Little like pinecones, but do the blossoms burn in the process?

[forwearemany]

Though they must be exposed to flame, they are not lit on fire as part of the blooming process. The flowers produce both light and heat of their own.

(They chatter.)

On the island of Cahypdo, they were part of an event called the Festival of Cycles: one ritual involved tying living lantern flowers to a naturally grown floatation device and allowing them to float into the sky.