video & voice; Story-time for All

[abracafcku]

[The video opens on a bare wall and to the sound of very, very corny fanfare. Then Taako's voice cuts in with the sound of applause.]

Yes, yes, welcome one and all to the greatest day of your lives. Today we have a real treat for you folks, so pull up a chair, take a load off and enjoy this banned text we've managed to procure.

[He clears his throat and a puppet appears on the screen - a non-descript looking human priest wearing dark robes and a blue sash around his neck. The voices that read the following lines are similar, but not the same and anyone who knows both Lup and Taako can probably tell it's the twins taking turns to read the passages. People who don't, however, might have a hard time telling them apart.]

"I used to have a lady love,
she journeyed through the sea,"

[A new puppet appears - a beautiful female mermaid with hair that falls just past her breasts. She slides up from the bottom of the screen and the priest turns to her, fawning all over her.]

"Her fins were as the mourning dove,
a mated pair were we.
Our bodies tangled, hand in glove,
a queen and devotee,"

[As the poem progresses, the priest does some...very not PG-13 things to the mermaid puppet. Eventually, the mermaid pushes the priest away, looking tired.]

"But she was called to rise above,
our bond not meant to be."

[Here the mermaid "puppet" flips a double middle finger at the priest and backflips into the sea, leaving him drenched in water.]

"Though I endure, bereft, belove,
I have her guarantee,
I'll be the one she's thinking of,
a little dove told me."

[The priest pines and waits by the water, pantomiming the lament of a forlorn lover as a bird lands next to him, rolling its eyes. The puppet show ends with a curtain drawing across the screen and then the video shuts off. Taako's voice cuts back in once the video is gone.]

Yeah, so the people here? Raunchy as hell. I love it. But then some people were, y'know, boring and said things like--

[Lup's voice takes over smoothly like they're still the same person talking.]

"If any other colonies can hear this message, please respond. This is Havenwell. We're still alive. The city is safe. We will come get you, no matter how far you are. This is not an automated message. Please respond." That there's a radio transmission from "Colony #56'07'4TM", which, obviously, is home sweet home. Not the most interesting, but I won't deny that the archive visits have been… informative.

Anyone else get something fun?

[OOC: It's a joint post! Replies here can be from Taako, Lup, or both of them. If you have a preference, just let us know in the title of your comment or it'll be a roulette of which twin you'll get.

Feel free to use this post to stir up discussion amongst yourselves regarding the lore contributions!]

Comments

[necromanswers]

Huh. Guess pobody's nerfect.

[It was intended as a joke, but nerf is awfully appropriate in this case. And she's not surprised to hear there are others.]

Some say that brains are big computers themselves, and I may not be a techie, but I know enough about souls to recognize that you accumulate a lot of life experience over hundreds of years. Even without knowing how long they've been like this, it's fair to assume they've filled those memory banks a few times over.

[necromanswers]

Ehhh, magic, science. Two sides of the same coin in my corner of the world.

Anyway, I try not to come up with too many theories until I have enough information for a starting point. That's why I'm here trying to accumulate more of it. Still letting it all percolate in my noggin.

[necromanswers]

A classic story of the public sheeple being led astray by the wrong person in charge. I can imagine it going that way. And if the world was already struggling, it must've looked like a miracle fix to some.

[this_loser]

Aww! You got a fun one. All I got was something about eating and taste buds.

[It read like one of Verstael's logs in the production facility, too. So weird. He taps up what he found.]

Log of [NAME REDACTED] RE: Experiment 73
Log #94

Without taste buds, this seems like a lost cause. And honestly, do we even need to eat or is it just to keep up the appearance of normalcy? Is it simply a programmed instinct that remains within our souls despite no longer having a physical requirement? More study is required. However, I believe I am very close to breaking the code necessary to give us the ability to "taste" in a fashion. I will keep you updated.

[shroudedsecrets]

... Indeed. And we do not know how long it took them to achieve what they considered to be a successful transfer process, given the degradation that their souls would endure for it. They could have obscured such facts from the public, or taken on volunteers for some time, and concealed those results. Given what we've already witnessed about this society, perhaps there are facilities hidden somewhere.

[original_is_best]

There can be overlap on mine, but not always. Magiteknology is it's own branch.

[He had his doubts. She was likely keeping her thoughts to herself.]

Hopefully many more have found some pieces.

video

[sweetlies]

[Can you imagine how red his face is?

No?

Well good, no one has to. He has his communicator set to video and his face is crimson.]

That's positively vulgar!

[To his victorian sensibilities.]

text>video

[betheirwayfinder]

Log of [NAME REDACTED] RE: Experiment 1 Aftermath
Log #600321
We were wrong.

Oh Gods, forgive us. We were wrong. But we can fix this. I can- We can fix this. We just need to reverse the process. It can't be that hard, right? We could create metal bodies, so flesh should be simple. We just need to find some original genetic material. There still must be some in the archives somewhere.

[She sends the text first and then activates a video.]

I... think all the, uh, 'fun' ones ran out.

text

[astralera]

Then I will leave you to laugh over your porn.

[astralera]

It is also possible they regretted the change so deeply that they purposefully forgot what life was before. Who is to say? All I know for certain is that I trust naught about this city, nor its deities, nor the automatons that dwell within it.

[postocular]

[ He sighs. ]

Sure.

[necromanswers]

No reason to doubt that. I mean, they've already got facilities hidden in plain sight, and the only reason I'm not gung-ho to kick the doors down is because I'm not afraid to play the long game.

[The perks of living for a very long time.]

[shroudedsecrets]

Sometimes you just have to wait for the right circumstances before taking action. Though I wonder how 'long' this game will actually be for us.

They seem so disconnected from their past...

[unsunderworld]

I disagree so very fundamentally that I see no point in continuing the discussion.

[The video shuts off so suddenly that it's almost audible.]

[unsunderworld]

Until we get someone outside, we cannot be sure that it is not.

[A dome of protection, or one large, advanced screen, showing a projection? Given the state of the virtual reality technology, something like that wouldn't be at all beyond their means. Therefore, he remains suspicious.]

And even if it is so dangerous, there are surely those among our number capable of taking appropriate precautions. To not allow even a single investigation stinks of them not wanting us to know what we would find.

[necromanswers]

Magitek, huh? That's a useful term.

[And he can think what he likes, but she's not lying... yet.]

[necromanswers]

[She offers no response, just a sudden burst of helpless giggles.

She's almost three centuries old, and yet.]

[necromanswers]

I'll be sure to stick my head out the next chance I get.

[Though maybe not in her fleshy body. Those are in short supply around here, and from the sound of things, they can't just grow a new one for her.]

Not sure how far I'd be willing to go, though, even if I got out. I'd hate to have the door shut on my ass before we understand this place.

[necromanswers]

Yeah, that's one concern I'm holding on to. Not, like, super high priority? Because it's only been a handful of months so far.

Even so- most folks here can't live for hundreds or thousands of years waiting around for the world to fix itself.

[pinkmin]

[Don't mind her. Taking notes.]

[necromanswers]

shit man that's a good theory too

some people are def under the belief that forgetting would be better than living with the consequences

and if they forget we can't really ask them about it either, who knows if they're lying or not

[necromanswers]

[There's just no account for taste...]

woof, that's a grim one

the perils of exploration!

[shroudedsecrets]

We also do not know for certain if our... summoning has been the first they have attempted, of this kind.

[As much as it had been made to seem that way. Perhaps there were other records yet to be found.]

Or if stabilization can be achieved even with the resources they have now. Other worlds have fallen for less.

[necromanswers]

Hey, every little bit helps! Though with that one, maybe less than others. I'd guess that has something to do with the VR machines?

[Not a great stretch by any means, considering that was how the robots had introduced it as a concept.]

[necromanswers]

[Have a wild, unhelpful giggle in response. That's precisely the kind of reaction they were looking for, thanks!]