2nd dream layer | text | double-post orz

[angry_salad]

[ Arthur is testing things. It's why there's a few mass texts over the log, though they've all been sent quite late at night (or early in the morning, depending on your point of view. ]

1. Does anyone remember how they got here?
2. Totem
3. The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false.





[Locked to Ashley Magnus, Gwen Raiden, Madelyne Pryor, Mick St. John]
Let me know if you can see this message. Testing encryption.

Comments

[text]

[aintnoconvict]

[ okay, he'll bite. ]

I'm open to that. Time/place?

[text]

[angry_salad]

Your current location. Now.

[text]

[aintnoconvict]

Or how about, since I'm not up for entertaining bossy strangers in my kitchen, we meet at this park in twenty minutes.

[ coordinates included. we'll work you up to the big ice palace thingy, arthur. ]

[text -> action??]

[angry_salad]

Done.

[ And sure enough, Arthur arrives at exactly 20 minutes, no more, no less. It's what's expected of him. Normally he'd be out before, staking territory, but if this guy's the oldest... ]

Glitch?

[ Holy shit that really is a zipper.]

Arthur.

[action!]

[aintnoconvict]

[ yes it is a zipper. and a snazzy Edwardian outfit I don't feel up to describing. ]

Yes, hello Arthur. [ paaaause. ] How...can I help you?

[angry_salad]

[ Huh... It's... Allow Arthur a few moments to get over the distinctly odd appearance of Glitch. ]

...I've heard you're the oldest arrival. In terms of the length of stay.

[aintnoconvict]

[ Glitch is patient, this can work. ]

Two and a half annuals, yes. I wasn't here first, whoever that was is...long gone. Why?

[angry_salad]

I'm trying to figure out questions--I suppose it would be usual questions--about this world versus the one I'm from. You're the most logical choice to talk to.

[ A pause. ]

Do you dream, Mr. Glitch?

[aintnoconvict]

Fair enough. [ that gets one of the little head-bobs Glitch is known for. the question...gives him extensive pause. his dreams lately have sucked more than usual. ]

It's just Glitch and...yeah, I do. Don't always remember 'em but-- yes.

[angry_salad]

So you do.

[ Arthur hesitates for a moment, brows knitting together as he thinks. ]

Lucid?

[aintnoconvict]

[ Arthur you're weird, the zipperheaded guy is giving you a "you're being weird, man" look. ]

Not...that often. And I'm nto sure how it's relevant.

[angry_salad]

Just wondering. [ A small, tight shrug to match tightly pursed lips. ]

Trying to figure things out.

...yeah nearly a week for THIS tag, gj Keri

[aintnoconvict]

And...my dreams are relevant to that?

s'all good

[angry_salad]

Dreams are often solutions for things, even at a subconscious level--ideas, inspiration... that sort of thing has a profound affect on people. It's also possible that the subconscious knows what you can't consciously perceive, too.

[aintnoconvict]

Huh. [ headtilt! ] Yeah, I guess that-- wait, are you still in the "maybe it's all a dream" stage?

[angry_salad]

Stage?

[aintnoconvict]

...well, I mean, after a while you start noticing a pattern to how folks deal with getting kidnapped by aliens to...well, this place. The whole I'm dreaming/it can't be real thing usually comes first, then some folks get angry and try to blow stuff up or whatever, then there's depression with a side of drinking, then...you kind of accept it.

[ and then there's him. ] And if you stick around a really long time the whole it's-not-real thingy comes up again and you stop caring. I don't recommend that.

[angry_salad]

Right, but there are multiple people who enter this world that think they're dreaming at first.

[aintnoconvict]

Sometimes folks wake up here so dreaming's a logical thingy, but that's just one iteration. Some step through a door, some...die. Were you asleep when you came?

[ Glitch stop that. ]

DURRRRR I TOTALLY READ THAT TAG PROPERLY

[angry_salad]

[ Arthur doesn't answer--not at first. Instead he lets out a bit of a laugh, brows raised, shaking his head. ]

Something like that.

TO BE FAIR I WAS SLOSHED WHEN I WROTE IT SO /NO SENSE-MAKING

[aintnoconvict]

Okay. [ hrm. ] It's...disorienting, the first couple months. If you're around longer than that it gets a little better.

[angry_salad]

I intend on figuring this out before that length of time sets in, but I doubt I'm the first one to say that to you.

[aintnoconvict]

Not by a long shot. [ siiiigh. ] And...really, what's to figure out? We've been yanked from our worlds by beings bigger and more powerful than us, they watch our every move for their entertainment, and the only way home is for them to decide they're done with us. Or whatever their reason is, they've not been straightforward about why people vanish.

[angry_salad]

Right, but there's still a bit of specificity needed. [ He's thinking out loud, now--doesn't realize the word doesn't even exist. ]

There's still a small percentage that people from a different world will have different theories--different ways of debunking them--which means there's a slim chance, however improbable, someone will figure it out.

lalala ancient tag

[aintnoconvict]

[ and that...gets a smile. Arthur, you wide-eyed optimist you! ]

You know, that's...we need reminding of that sometimes. After a while you just get in your head that there's no way of winning but that maybe's still out there.