Snek - Chocoro Session 2

[bluediligence]

Everything glitches.

You.

The world.

– fracturing fragmenting unravelling –

and everything is blue

✦

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[bluediligence]

The snowdrops feel like Larkspur blue, and they're very

"oh god oh god oh god aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAAAA" ... but with a dash of grim determination and even when everything is terrible, there's still joy to be found.

Meanwhile, the plum tree! Feels like goldenrod, uncertainty, loneliness, hope, love, and courage.

[othellovonryan]

[Nooooo, why loneliness.]

[...okay]

[Time to]

[Touch a sunflower.]

[bluediligence]

ẃ̶͙̰͇̊͋̈̃r̵̛̭̠̮͍O̴̧͓̰̼̯̚ń̷̮̳̺̾̓̈̚G̵̜̭̒̆͆̑͝ ̷̙̙͈̈̈́̆Ẇ̸̡̪̠̯Ŗ̴̧͚̝̦͗́̓̊O̴̺͓͆̽̅͋̃Ṉ̴̝̦̦̯̋Ĝ̷̯ ̴̛̹̘̓ŵ̷̧̞̥͎̐͋r̷̗̀͆̇ͅ ̵̞̋́͒̎o̵̻͝ ̴̡̺̣̝͗͑̏̀͝ͅN̷͚͚̯͔͔͑͋Ģ̸̧̟͕̣̆̚ ̸̪̄͌W̵̺͖̖̥̿͆̎͠R̵̡͆͜O̴̧̘̱͉̊̃N̴̡͕͙̮̏̃G̸̫̟͐͗͐͝

you feel

everything and N̴̘̿Ȯ̴̤T̷̬̈́H̴̞̊Í̷͍N̴̨̍G̸͕͗

unreal and unravelling and fifteen steps behind ? yourself ? you don't

know you don't know you don't know you know you know too much and

you

can't -

reality glitches like the snap of a static shock against the entirety of who and what you are, and you jolt back to yourself. mostly. it might take a hot fuckin' minute for everything to come back into alignment.

[othellovonryan]

[Yeah, that was gonna be bad.]

[He jerks back and sits in the snow. (Probably a good call on the hoody, actually.)]

[Its not a new feeling, not in this heart, and not for himself, and he knows how it goes. Grab the pieces that aren't pinkblue and put them together again, take all that information, and put it aside, something safer to poke at a distance.]

[He breathes in.]

[Taps his fingers in the cold snow.]

[Takes in the physical data around him.]

[He breathes out.]

I wonder if that means you're the other one. You were hurt pretty badly, huh? [And there is sympathy there. He doesn't know the full deal with this AI.]

[But its a person and he can only imagine what horrors it was subjected to.]

[He pushes himself to his feet, wipes off the snow, and heads into the cottage.]

[bluediligence]

You step inside the cottage … castle … train station?? With cats? Everywhere? There are so many cats in here. So many.

The walls and floor of the common area are cold, bare stone, and the fireplace that dominates the back wall is empty. There's a couch, at least, and … a very, very broken chair.

A cabinet is tucked away into one of the corners, with a set of drawers next to it – there's an old-timey radio on top, and a faded, peeling sheet of paper just barely hanging onto the wall above it. In another corner is a large, strange glass cylinder.

To your left is a wooden door.

[othellovonryan]

[Oh my god. That is a lot of cats.]

[And me without my real phone. I could film SO MANY CATS VERSUS IN HERE.]

[Hmmm]

[Oh radio.]

[Let's go look at that!]

[bluediligence]

The radio blares to life the moment you touch it, voices you don't recognise muttering, whispering, shouting -

Untrustworthy! Pawns! Undeserving! Tools! Who cares what you want? If you’re inconvenient, you’ll be killed. You don’t deserve to be saved. It’s not our fault, it’s your own bad luck; we’re doing what’s best.

… It fades, slowly, leaving your ears ringing.

[othellovonryan]

[....what the fuck.]

[He turns the radio around and sees if he can open the back.]

[bluediligence]

He can do that! It sees like an ordinary radio on the inside.

[othellovonryan]

[We are going to see if this thing is getting signals from somewhere else, or if that audio is just a recording in here.]

[bluediligence]

The former.

[othellovonryan]

[Let's see if we can fuss with this to adjust where the signal is getting information and see if we can get something positive.]

[bluediligence]

"You're a Cat. You're Nyssa's.

"You're the only one allowed at the dorm, anyway."

"Is that Clover over there? The hell is she doing with one of those assholes?"

"All I know about the Cats right now is that they're under Nyssa's rule, that they can be controlled. And that while they're controlled, they might even enjoy some of the work she puts them to--whether they would originally like it or not."

[othellovonryan]

Wow.

Learn how to differentiate from mind control, you assholes.

[Fine, if it's just gonna get worse, we'll go the other way to make the signal incomprehensible.]

[bluediligence]

You tune and retune the radio, and find a nice patch of uncomfortable static.

[othellovonryan]

[Acceptable. No destroyed memories, but lowers the guilt for MIND CONTROL.]

[What's this cabinet?]

[bluediligence]

There's a framed mirror inside. It looks like it was shattered to itty bitty bits once upon a time, with someone having spent a lot of time and energy to fix it back up again as best they possibly could.

The surface ripples gently.

[othellovonryan]

[Oh.]

Okay, look around first. Keys, maybe keys.

[Glass cylinder!]

[bluediligence]

It's big enough for someone to stand in, and, oh, lucky days! The door is open. Less luckily, the inside is spattered with blood. Words have been etched into the glass.

Cat. You’re a Cat. You should feel glad that it was you, and not somebody else. This is what you’re here for. This is your use. Weighed against the wishes of everybody not wearing Cat cream, what are you …? — you’re nothing but fodder.






You’re nothing but a Cat.

my name isnt cat

[othellovonryan]

[.....oh, this is a bad decision cylinder.]

What is wrong with these people?!

[Leans back out and he's got his scratchy rebar staff! Will stick that in and scratch over those words on the glass. Make them less Clear. Still readable, but Less.]

[Except that last line. That's probably fine.]

[bluediligence]

It's going to take him a WHILE to make a dent in this. The glass (or maybe it's the writing itself?) is tough.

[othellovonryan]

[Nggggh.]

[If I wasn't So Close to Eve.]

[Rebar on back.]

[Pick up cat to pet.]

[Check out that broken chair.]

[bluediligence]

One of the cats — a fluffy white one with green eyes — happily allows herself to be scooped.

And when you touch the broken bits of chair …

You experience this memory. Oh, to be a fresh-faced baby amnesiac fielding your first inter-team conflict! As in ... literally, this is your first time stepping outside of your team's dorm.

[othellovonryan]

Oh, yes, because the kidnapped get choices?; What is wrong with these people?!

[You know what, all, but ONE PIECE is going into the fireplace for fuel later. The one piece is to avoid destroying the memory, but fuck this guy.]

[He's gonna find a way to start that fire, watch him.]

[First, checks the couch. Sitting down while petting this cat.]

[bluediligence]

It is an adequate couch. Not super comfy, but not really uncomfy, either. There are a few nice cushions on it, at least ...