TEXT. | un: parkour

[webdesigned]

yo, okay, so: hear me out

maybe i am going way too west side story with this, but i've really been thinking about it and does anyone think we could make a good show of family loyalty by some kind of stand against an opposing one???

obviously we don't have to REALLY hurt each other or anything, just, kinda, make it look like it. like a flash mob only with less dancing. unless you wanna dance and i guess then i wouldn't stop you i am just not sure how many points you'd get with the big guns with dance moves. unless they're really good dance moves. or the other families seem more into that sort of thing but lionetta is kinda not that vibe just saying wait what was i saying

right. flash mob. that's like, more of an actual mob. only with fake fighting. like wwe. just maybe don't hit anybody with chairs. or maybe you can, just ask first?

y/n/peter that is a seriously terrible idea? i dunno it was just a thought and i guess now that i thought it with my earpiece in all of you have to hear it sorry about that

oh yeah my name is peter, so, uh, hi i guess.

( and with that, Peter either physically took out his ear piece or spontaneously managed to stop thinking. I don't know about you, but I'm really guessing it wasn't the second one. )

Comments

[callada]

Maybe. Those archives are awfully sparse. I haven't had as much time with them as I'd like, though.

I don't know for sure, but it's a guess. If they've had it as long as they've had the mine, they've had plenty of time to learn how dangerous it can be. I do wonder why they aren't clearly more powerful than the other families, though. Or why Cheri seems to hold them all in check.

[webdesigned]

sparse? i find it the opposite of sparse. like, three week logs of how much cream a politician was using is hard to wade through for things that are relevant & valuable

they are the head family though, right? maybe they've been using the power in subtle ways. can you give me intel on the orbs as a power source, period? is it just like a huge battery or what?

[callada]

No, you're right, but in terms of useful info. They leave a lot to be desired while flooding you with details that might be interesting to a historian, but not for our purposes. It's almost as if it's designed to keep you occupied forever without making any headway.

The orbs are... Intelligent. They're part of a larger whole, as it was explained to me. They make deals with people, lend their power but take more than they give, supposedly with no aim but to increase the net amount of chaos and suffering in the universe. The last one we ran across was used by the ruler of his kingdom, who asked it for wealth and power, and in exchange it cursed the lower classes of people in the kingdom and turned them monstrous.

So if the Lionettas have it as we've been told, they might be using it carefully. Might have asked for something more subtle. But you should know, we're not just looking for some obvious flashy power - the downsides to its use should be just as helpful a clue, if we can find a trace of them.

[webdesigned]

they could definitely benefit from a ctrl f to those archives. sometimes i wonder if the high ranking members are just the ones that keep up with most of the info flooding into lionetta, more so than getting tasks done. lots of requests seem pretty banal in the scheme of things

wow. that sounds... weird and creepy. is it possible to handle it without it communicating, you think? or is it a forgone conclusion that it is being used somehow?

yeah, it helps to know to look small, so thanks. even small tells could still help, though, you're right. so i'll keep eye out, as is the lionetta way 👍

[callada]

I don't know enough to say, when it comes to what's possible when handling them and what isn't. And I'm guessing most people who come into contact with them don't realize it's the orb itself talking when they hear those voices. It's easy to agree, to make wishes, when you just hear questions asking what you want and are eager to say yes to all of it.

Kind of like we all did when we got here.

[webdesigned]

is it though because nondescript voices promising you everything you could ever want sounds super sus to me. and YEAH i get that i went along with this whole mission thing bc of a voice in my head but let's be honest that was kind of suspect too it's just that all of us probably want something so badly that we don't care how suspect it is we had to take the chance we could actually fix things.

( there's a small break in the flurry of consciousness, like Peter had to pause and train his thoughts in a less manic (and personal) order. )

i dunno. you'd think that sort of thing would give people pause, is all i'm saying

[callada]

It should. But the people with the greed to use these things probably don't care.

That said, if we ever run across someone who has an orb and is hiding it and refuses to use it, we might have a very hard time working out where it is.

[Oh, to live in a world where everyone is concerned for others' safety and well-being rather than jumping on an opportunity to profit, though. Maybe he's gotten too jaded. People are largely good, he really does believe that, but there sure are a lot of bad apples, and even the good ones, the well-meaning ones, can end up on the wrong path when nudged toward it.]

[webdesigned]

absolute power corrupts absolutely, huh? you've got a point though so i guess we are lucky they tend to fall into hands willing to use them

well calling powerful objects falling into hands greedy and cruel enough to use them lucky feels a bit callous but you know what i mean probably

[callada]

I do.

It also makes me a little worried about bringing these things on board, even if Viveca says they're safely isolated and no harm to anyone once we have them. She does that a lot, have you noticed? States things to be facts that just don't feel like facts.

[Or maybe that's just his paranoia showing.]

[webdesigned]

( well, maybe it's their shared paranoia showing. Peter has talked a bit about orb containment on the ship with Bucky a little, and while he's not ready to try and poke a hornets nest, it is a little suspect. )

the idea of housing them all in one place seems a little suspect for sure, what if the containment gets compromised and the wrong person gets a hold of all of them?

and yes, i've noticed, but maybe the fact she's ai means she can't help but be slightly ominous. uncanny valley and all that.

( or she was programmed to be vague, and then the question is: who programmed her? )

[callada]

Got to admit, I have no idea what you mean by that. I'm still getting a handle on what an AI is. I get that she's basically a robot, but one that doesn't have a real body, just a human-like mind. Not sure why being ominous is a given in that situation, but maybe you come from a place these are more common.

[And what do valleys have to do with this??]

[webdesigned]

oh. uh... that's kinda a high concept idea to explain? but i guess i'll try

the more a artificial intelligence (or human likeness, i guess, it extends to robots and dolls and stuff) can replicate humanity, the more unsettling it is for a human. and there's a lot of philosophical thinking behind why that is but uh, i don't think i want to let my brain loose on that tangent right now. who knows when it'd stop and i'd get to use my device again

[callada]

Strong start.

[He's not above teasing, but seriously, that message headed off in its own direction, didn't it? Oh well. Either it's a really good ruse, or this guy's messages are always going to be pretty damn trustworthy when it comes to portraying his actual thoughts.]

But, all right. You have lots of those where you're from? AI and robots and stuff, I mean.

[webdesigned]

( yeah, if you want to get Peter's immediate and instant opinions on something, ask him over brain meld, it'll be all out there in long paragraph format... )

yeah, tons. though, not many as complex as viveca seems to be. a lot of our ais are bots that we train to complete certain tasks like, being really good at chess or counting things or automatically sending funny messages on reddit. an intelligence comparable to human understanding wasn't really in reach yet, though some attempts at replicating human communication have been tried

the sort of tech on the ship seems a lot outside of what earth circa 2014 was capable of, though

[callada]

And well outside my home world circa 1511. Most of it, anyway. If I remember any of this when I get back, nobody will believe a word of it.

[webdesigned]

holy guacamole. wow. uh, yeah, i bet the technology was different back then

is it a real culture shock to jump into things with artificial intelligence and spaceships and brain communication? you doing ok with all that?

[callada]

Slowly but surely. The first month was hard. Now I'm used to not understanding what's going on, but so far nobody's gotten sick of all the questions I have to ask. This city is a lot more overwhelming than the station, though. Hell, Clara even had to show me how to cross the street. I thought for sure all those fast things were going to kill me.

Also I did get to ride in a car for the first time ever. Somehow both less and more terrifying than expected.

[webdesigned]

well, count me as a +1 for questions if you ever have any. there's people from further in the future than me but i'll still help out if i can

it went pretty fast considering it looks like a model-t. if you thought that was wild, you should try a bullet train. until you're used to it, it feels like you left your internal organs at your first stop and they just catch up to you later

( that's really gonna make the guy want to try it, Peter. )

[callada]

That doesn't sound like a recommendation to me. How long does it take to get used to it?

[webdesigned]

i've only been on a couple so i guess i don't really know?

but subways are pretty normal speed and i got used to those as a baby. if you're exposed to it enough you can get used to anything. which sounds kinda ominous when i put it that way.

[callada]

And yet you're not wrong, I would bet.

I'm guessing "subway" is a different type of train, then?

[webdesigned]

yeah. underground railways. not as fast as billet trains but still convenient for getting across a metro quickly.

maybe we will end up somewhere with a subway system someday and you can try it out yourself.

[callada]

Where I come from there's talk of a sea train. Hasn't been built yet though and I guess a lot of people think it never will be. How do you get sails big enough to pull that many boats so fast? Or if it's pulled by an engine instead, how do you keep the fuel dry?

So, yeah, sure. Guess I'll look forward to your kinds of trains, since someone figured those out, and that's pretty cool.