⇨ THE MATRIX

[ringleaders]

Who: EVERYONE!
When: S1:D22 - S1:D??
Where: Visiting the Matrix.
What: The carnival arrives at its next location, as outlined here. This is a general mingling log for convenience purposes, but players are welcome to make as many other logs for this purpose as desired.
Warnings: Could be a lot of things.

THE MATRIX↴ "What IS the Matrix? The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it." ► INSIDE: On the inside, it all seems so normal. Beyond what you know of the reality you've stepped in, every bit of this place feels just as real as it did back in the carnival. If you were to forget where you'd just come from, would you know any different? The simulation of Chicago is identical to how it would have been in the early days of the new millenia, to anyone who comes from a similar Earth. Humans bustle around you, oblivious to the world outside of the Matrix that they were born into. One bright side to it all is that this hyper realism means the coffee tastes just as good as it does in real life. Anything you could do in real Chicago you can do here - and perhaps even more. ► WHITE ROOM: But before that, you were here. The White Room is a loading program, intended to port objects and people into the Matrix. You arrive as a reconstruction of your true physical form, but common sense suggests that for some of you, entering the mundane world looking like yourself isn't the best idea. It's in this empty world that you will be able to load in whatever physical objects you are, and change the way you present your own body to the system. Changes can be little, or big, but whatever you do, the body has to be able to function according to Earth's physical laws. Don't forget, if you die here, you die in the carnival too. ► DEJA VU: It doesn't matter what you're doing, but at some point you'll notice it - something around you has repeated itself, like a line on a skipping record. Maybe it's the same person bumping into you twice in a row, or the same cab driver yelling at you to get out of the way. It's like reality has rewound and repeated itself, and after the fact you have no proof of it happening beyond the memory of what you saw. You don't know what it means, but something about it is chilling. It may be a good time to find a buddy. ► THE ONE: It won't necessarily come naturally, but in a moment of need you may find yourself bending the world of the Matrix through sheer belief and force of need. How you bend it will always stay without the rules of the universe, at least for now, but when it comes to enhancing your own physical characteristics, just about anything is possible. It will not be easily reproducible, not now, but it could be your first view into the window of what's possible.

Comments

Greg Universe | OTA

[fragileandsoft]

Character Select

Computers have never exactly been Greg's wheelhouse, especially anything as advanced as this. If there's one thing he has in spades, however, it's creativity. It only takes a few pokes and prods at his jaw line and nose and a fresh head of hair before he figures it to be a suitable disguise. Best of all, it's gloriously free of tusks.

"What's the weather in there like, though? Trenchcoat feels a little heavy. Hey, if this look's in fashion, you think I can go full glam again? It's still in style!"

Sandbox Setting

He's still not sure what exactly he's supposed to do around here when he's not working. Sightseeing? Conspiracy? Rebellion? Backflips? The first option is closest to his comfort zone, at least.

"Is inflation still something they have to worry about, though?" He can't just summon up a bunch of cash in the white room and leave the digital economy to deal with it. These people have enough problems as is. "Feels like performing for tips outside work is cutting in on the boss' time, too. Maybe we can just check out this bean thing, that's free, right?"

SANDBOX SETTING

[osteothropy]

This is all relatively close to their starting point, so Sans is around to hear Greg's musing. He leans against the closest park bench, and starts attempting to smoke the cigar he bought with all that money he spawned in the White Room.

After a lot of hedging about what he'd log into the Matrix as, Sans more or less hit the randomize button, and presently looks and sounds like a particularly short Whoopie Goldberg.

"Unless you were planning on loading in thousands of dollars, can't see it mattering," he says with the cigar between his teeth. Also, I guess, Whoopie Goldberg has a New York accent now. What can you do. "'Sides, isn't that the evil overlord's problem?"

[fragileandsoft]

"I don't think anything is an evil overlord's problem if they can make it the little guys' problems." He folds up his map-pamphlet of tourist hot spots with a sigh.

"Heck, I don't get the feeling those guys give two hoots about money." In fact, the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes money is completely irrelevant to robot overlords. Unless it isn't. Maybe they have a roboconomy. But it's probably in batteries. Which is the people, who need the money, but only inside their digital imagination world, so--

Greg pinches at the bridge of his nose. "Oorgh this is why I didn't make it through college. Can't think through the economics of slavery without a headache. I gotta stick to hot dog-level prices."

[osteothropy]

Sans laughs, in genuinely amusement. He's inhaled some smoke at this point, which burns his lungs a little. It's a weird, foreign feeling, but sort of neat. Breathing being a necessity is weird. He takes out the cigar and holds it idly.

"Point is, the whole scheme of this place is that they have control over all of it. Doubt they want their little ant farm to go to hell any more than you do, pal."

"Place like this," he makes a wispy gesture with the smoke coming off his cigar, "money's justa state of mind."

[fragileandsoft]

Greg has his doubts on that... but he relents with a shake of the head. "I guess... in the end, they're more invested in it than me." It pains him to say, but he's got no real stake in it by comparison. He doesn't see any way to fix it without making things worse.

Cigar smoke tickles his throat before he can keep sighing. He waves off a cloud of it. "At least you're making your own investments there, huh?"

[osteothropy]

"Hey," Sans waves it off, casually. "I don't usually got lungs, man. Let me have this one." Even so, he has to say the burning sensation is putting him off a bit. He may be used to smoking when most of it just floats out of his ribcage, but this is more difficult, when you actually have lung cells to kill, or whatever. Things that you can give 'cancer.'

He coughs.

"Thank god it's temporary, is all I gotta say."

[fragileandsoft]

"All the fun with none of the consequences." Aside from burning discomfort. But if Sans is putting up with it, who's Greg to say anything.

"Well, I can't say it's a perfect system, but the ol' body never let me down. Computer stuff aside, may as well explore it while you've got the chance." He never really thought about how weird it might be for the resident non-humans to get changed like this. Everyone's so warped around already, he assumed they'd be used to it.

Character Select

[waitingforplayer2]

"It's all right. A little chilly, I guess." Chiaki's bundling up with a hoodie tucked underneath her school uniform today. At 4'5", she's short enough to pass for a kid. Her furry ears still twitch above her hair.

"If you try it and don't like it, you can always come back here and change clothes again, right?"

[fragileandsoft]

"Hmm. Wait, I got it!"

Greg's face scrunches up as he thinks, and a rack of clothes wooshes in from the white void. He grabs a large bag from a hook. "Doesn't make sense to keep hopping back and forth just for a costume change. Even if it gets sunny, it'll be good to put our jackets away. You wanna pick out something more casual, just in case?"

[waitingforplayer2]

"You're bringing a whole bag of clothes?"

She reaches up to the tall rack and picks out a nice winter coat. She only has to concentrate a little to shrink it down to her size. "Don't you think that'll look a little strange?"

[fragileandsoft]

"Not just clothes," OBviously, "we can stock up on snacks, too! This place can probably summon up some water bottles, sunscreen... it's good to take whatever you're gonna need on a day trip, no matter where you're headed!" Some people use the White Room to stock up on weapons. Greg uses it to summon fruit leathers and beef jerky.

[waitingforplayer2]

"It's not too bright..." But she grins as she shrugs into her winter coat. It's a pretty good idea.

She concentrates and summons a couple of juice boxes, which she tucks into her pockets, along with a box of Pretz and a couple of buns for later.

[fragileandsoft]

"You can't count on the weather when it comes to burns." She didn't know him too long before his burn-tan got healed up, but he's not keen on the idea of getting it back.

"It's really too bad we can't take any of this stuff back with us, though. Hard to walk away from a resource like this. Heck, I feel bad not paying for any of it."

Re: Greg Universe | OTA

[dorkypantsuit]

It's amusing to watch him manually manipulate his appearance. The Psionic already looks human, though his outfit is highly questionable. The one thing he's kept is his eyes, left red and right blue. Still, if he keeps them behind sunglasses no one will notice, right?

"Full Glam?"

[fragileandsoft]

The outfit is great, what are you talking about. By way of establishing outfit dominance, Greg shakes out the default leather jacket until it mutates into a shiny white skin-tight look, glitter and tassels shining.

"Glam! It used to be big, where I was from." Not big enough that you generally saw everyday people wearing it around, but... "There were a lot of performers who rocked this look. An era of real showmanship."

Sandbox Setting

[fourthscribe]

Tanyuu certainly looks a bit different with a normal amount of eyes and a severe lack of snake tail, but the smile she offers Greg is still the same. Coming up beside him and leaning on her cane, she shrugs offhandedly.

"Probably, but I don't think we could put in nearly enough money to actually affect things. Unless we decided to buy a dozen houses or something ridiculous."

[fragileandsoft]

It takes a second for Greg to recognize her. For all his discomfort over these fae changes, he hadn't thought how weird this change to human-shape might be for others. He offers a small smile back.

"I dunno, we could pay the rent for a load of homeless people or something." Why would they make all this to keep humans tricked, but still leave some homeless? This system of slavery seems pretty unfair. Greg sighs and rolls his neck. "Or we could just go watch a baseball game or something. I don't know."

[fourthscribe]

"Ah...we could, couldn't we?" She really hadn't thought about anything like that, but poverty must still be a problem even in a place like this...Tanyuu frowns, looking concerned. "Though paying for very many people would probably draw attention to us, wouldn't it?"

"...baseball? I think I've heard of that before, but I've never seen it played."

[fragileandsoft]

"I guess so. I dunno what exactly we can do without causing a stink, aside from pretend things are normal." The more he thinks about how this place feels so close to home, the less comfortable he is.

"No? It's pretty popular back home. I could teach you the rules if you wanted to follow along! ...Though we'd have to buy tickets, probably. I dunno if even superpowers can sneak us into those stadiums." He's joking, but also it's very hard for him to figure out what the limits are.

[fourthscribe]

"Unfortunately, we don't have much choice. We don't have much true force behind us, despite everything." She understands Greg's unease--it's much the same one she's felt several times before. The trappings might be different, but people don't usually change all that much.

Joking or not, Tanyuu chuckes and nods. "That sounds rather fun! I don't trust my sneaking abilities, though, so we'll have to pay. How much does it cost to see one of these games?"

Character Select

[pipers_son]

"Well, if anyone asks, ya can always say yer on the way ta a party." Joker is grinning as he watches, however, leaning against a wall and just watching for now instead of changing anything about himself just yet.

"Although ya would have ta tell me what 'full glam' means in yer world first before I can make any judgment calls on that."

[fragileandsoft]

"You haven't heard about glam?" His eyes are gleaming. "It's the ultimate performer's fashion! All about the big looks--the dazzle, the shine, the polyester and glitter, and music to match!"

Greg strikes a pose as emphasis, then pulls back in on himself with a sheepish laugh. "I was a little too young to be around in its heyday, maybe, and it wasn't a look you saw people wear a whole lot outside of concerts and that, but... we are performers, after all."

[pipers_son]

Uh oh. Joker’s eyes are starting to glitter now. “Performers’ fashion, huh?” Immediately he hops from the wall, ears and wings twitching in blatant interest. Well, if that’s the case, with the kind of work he’s taking on… Maybe he should take a little look into this.

“Put me down as wantin’ ta know more! C’mon, let’s have a little fun while we get ta look however we want- where would ya start ta look glam?”

[fragileandsoft]

The shared enthusiasm bolsters him again, and Greg cracks his fingers by way of preparation. "Well, if you want to start with the basics, you can't go wrong with..."

Racks of clothes rush in from the void, the full spectrum of hues all shining and glittering in the white, directionless light of the room. "...body suits!"

[pipers_son]

See that look in his eye? Sparkly, full of joy and almost stars? That is the look of a man who has found something he is in love with and is going to ruin his coworkers lives by chatting at them about. This is either perfectly or horribly timed with his taking on wardrobe duties. Tanyuu is going to have to talk him out of so much.

“It’s amazin’.” Already he’s bounding over and flicking through some of them, sporting the widest grin that can ever be seen on a man’s face. “And are some of these sparklin’?” It’s already decided, he loves glam.