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

[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...

[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.

[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]

...Haha, fuck, what if we're part of some horrible experiment and they're building our new robot bodies as we speak? Wouldn't that be a grand kicker.

[Is this funny ha-ha or funny oh-shit?]

[shroudedsecrets]

All things considered, I would not discount any possibility. We are already a resource to them, after all.

[Not helping.]

[necromanswers]

[This PSA started out as puppet porn, what help are you hoping for, here.]

Oooh, or maybe we've been brought in to become eventual baby factories. The more fleshy folk, the better! First we hold hands, then we hug, next thing you know we're shoved tit-first into the bone zone.

[shroudedsecrets]

There is perhaps a realm in which that possibility also exists.

[ :| ]

[necromanswers]

Joke's on them anyway, dead people can't get knocked up.

[Don't make faces at her!!]

[shroudedsecrets]

[ :| ]

They do not seem to have much choice over the initial selection process as a whole.

[necromanswers]

[ :D ]

Yeah, that part is kinda weirding me out. If they had control over it, wouldn't they be picking more, uh, affectionate folks? Nothing against you guys, but you and Taako aren't exactly cuddle bugs.

[Pot calling the kettle black there, even if she ends up more often initiating it in their little circle.]

[shroudedsecrets]

With that being the case, there also seem to be contrived measures for initiating contact as well. Even if one is unused to it or normally resistant to wanting it, it provides a ... sense of ease, when we are experiencing... distraction. Loss of color, lack of sleep, our subconscious, haunted.

Where do these instances all tie in together, I wonder? If such things had been haunting them to begin with, did they come to view the dependency on such a sensation as a weakness...?

[necromanswers]

That's a good point. I've been keeping an eye out for any records that might show that they had the same kind of weird quirks happening to them, but no dice so far. Plus, half the time they don't know what's going on- they're as confused as we are. But then there's stuff like the colour-changing fireworks, remember how they had those platforms all built and ready to go? So that must've happened before.

Either these changes are a new thing or no one remembers this shit.

[shroudedsecrets]

Any amount of time may have passed since they have been like this. These archives have not been tended to for some time, either. And have you ever come across any images that depict what their natural forms may have been? They could purposefully have been hiding such things from themselves.

[necromanswers]

...Y'know, I don't think I've seen a single picture book? Kinda weird in retrospect. Wonder what the kids read?

That, or they didn't seem worth archiving, which is also weird to me.

[shroudedsecrets]

Perhaps it did not. They chose to become immortal, and no longer had a reason for ... children to exist. It may not have occurred to them to preserve anything related to them. Perhaps to... downsize or to make it easier to live with themselves by purging reminders after they had changed and were... trapped with their decision.

[Given how even clothes were difficult to procure here, the state of the food replicators, and even finding items like incense.]

[necromanswers]

Shitty as it sounds, it might be reassuring, in a sense, that kids've been brought here lately.

[If all they want to do is steal bodies or grow some fresh ones, then unless someone's got a powerful urge to relive their pint-sized years, kids aren't the optimal choice for that.]

[shroudedsecrets]

Is it?

[She's not certain what's positive about all that.]

It only seems to highlight that their selection process... is not ideal. Though having children present would likely still produce that desired "comforting" energy, so it may not be considered a waste.

[necromanswers]

[You gotta take the good with the bad, sometimes.]

Kids are easier about this kind of thing. They don't usually judge you if you want to hold hands or hug 'em.

[shroudedsecrets]

... Are they? You would have more experience than I in such a regard.

[And there it was, the sting of the reminder that she's never held her own child, or could ever provide anything to him that mattered.]

[necromanswers]

[Ah, yeah. RIP. When Lup speaks again her tone is a smidge more gentle.]

Y'know, there's some good kids here. You could work on that.

[shroudedsecrets]

On gaining experience?

[She had been quiet, wrestling with the dark thought before Lup had spoken up again and helped ease it somewhat.]

It does... sound nice. Though it will be a lot of work to get that far.

[necromanswers]

Yeah, but we've got time. I think it'd be good for you.

[And they're nice kids, that part's important.]

[shroudedsecrets]

... Good thing I have you to practice with, then.

[She had spoken to a couple of them, but she'd felt so ill-equipped, with her lack of experience even speaking to them and not being certain how to relate to them, either.]

[necromanswers]

Hah! Go practice with Carl if you want to know how to talk to kids.

[She teases, she teases.]

I guess we can have a go at it once in a while, though.

[shroudedsecrets]

You understand that the trouble is not so much as being able to speak to children than... being able to speak to others about topics at any length beyond anything that is... currently relevant to our more immediate circumstances.