⇨ 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

Truck

[waitingforplayer2]

You did it!! [ Chiaki, who saw the event from a block over, hurries up to him. She's wearing a green trenchcoat dress and frankly beaming. Also, somehow even shorter than when John saw her the last time. ]

You figured it out! I mean... you did, right? [ Unless she saw things. But... she thinks she wasn't. ]

[atouts]

It missed me, that's all.

[ Which is the simplest answer there is, though even he doesn't sound so convinced by that. No, it may not have been magic, but it had felt close enough to it, or so that's how his own mind is translating it. He glances down at Chiaki, brow momentarily furrowed as he realizes that, yes, she is shorter, but he won't comment on it this time around. Instead, he'll open his mouth to say something else, only to look up at the sound of frantic honking and then move to grab her by the collar of her coat, to move them both out of the way of yet more oncoming traffic.

Just because he avoided being run over the first time doesn't mean he's going to chance a second. ]

[waitingforplayer2]

Wait, wait!!

[ She's excited enough about this to hold back, resist against the tug of his coat, stay right in the middle of traffic. ]

John, watch!

[ If he doesn't take care of it, she will. She faces down the van with the enthusiasm of a beast trainer approaching a wild lion. ]

[atouts]

Miss Nanami, we have to move!

[ What is she doing?!

Telling him to wait while something that big and that fast bears down on them is absolutely the most insane thing he has heard today, so, congratulations on that one, Chiaki. When she refuses to move, the next step is for him to try and haul her up right off of her feet and then move, only doing that takes the precious seconds they had to get out of the way.

Sorry, but messing around with the Matrix takes a little more concentration than Childermass has right now, distracted by how they're about to be run over. ]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Chiaki was all set to divert the van, but then Childermass picks her up - quite easily, actually - and it breaks her attention.

The van bears down on them, and the driver swerves - and with a little concentration, Chiaki's just able to help push it into the next lane over. Crisis averted--

Except the van driver screeches to a halt at the next intersection, mad as hell. As he gets out of the car, Chiaki, dangling from John's arms, quietly advises: ]

Run!

[atouts]

[ First world, he has to run from nightmares. Second world, an angry driver. Was this going to become a bad habit?

Though the driver is hardly as intimidating as the nightmares and he's pretty sure he could take the man in a fight, it's best not to call even more attention to themselves. He'll take her advice this time, since the advice has nothing to do with standing still in front of a van. He'll run the first few yards for both of them before finding a stretch of sidewalk to set Chiaki down on her own two feet, hoping she'll hit the ground running when he does. ]

Cut down the first alley you see.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Chiaki nods and tears ahead. She doesn't run fast, but she runs hard, not bothering to look behind her for John and their pursuer - her ears, swiveled backwards, are doing all the work. She turns right at the first cross-street they find, and then right again into a darker alley flanked by fire exits. Only then does she begin to slow her pace. ]

[atouts]

[ And she'll find herself alone for the next ten or so minutes, as John hasn't followed her. He'd kept going, past the point she'd turned at, though not without making a note of it. There's only so far the driver was willing to chase, since now he's left an open van unattended, so once outpaced, that's the end of it, and outpacing someone like that is no great feat for John Childermass.

He'll loop back around eventually, just give him a moment. ]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Neither John nor the driver follows her. She waits for a bit, then shrinks back into the shadows when she hears the driver coming back the other way for his unsupervised vehicle. She crouches in the darkest corner of the alley, making herself very small and trying not to breathe as she listens for any approachers. ]

[atouts]

[ Most of the sounds are more cars going by, people going by, but soon enough there's someone turning into the same alley she's hidden away in. He'll go in a few steps, just enough to put some distance between himself and the sidewalk, then stop. There's a minute there where he'll just wait and see if she doesn't show up on her own, but when no tiny, cat-earred teen comes out of hiding, he'll ask aloud, ]

Miss Nanami? Are you here?

[ He's sure he has the right alley. ]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Oh thank God. Chiaki peers out from her hiding spot and sees the familiar silhouette standing a little ways down the street. ] I'm here!

[ Her call is more of a whisper, and she emerges, hand over her beating heart in an attempt to still it. ] The driver went back. I heard his keys as he walked...

[atouts]

[ There she is. Well, at least everyone's in one piece. Still, he honestly has to ask, after taking a few steps closer to loom over Chiaki (which, really, isn't hard to do at this point), ]

And just what madness was that, back there? Those things would have no trouble running us both over.

[ He's not one to yell, but he can certainly sound very disapproving. ]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ She pulls her hoodie back up, hiding her ears again. She was sure of herself, but now she isn't. ]

I thought you'd figured it out... you did see what happened, right?

[ It's hard to explain, but she works it out in her head. ] Things are different here. You don't have to be afraid of the same things, exactly. You know?

-- I mean, the van didn't hit us either! [ Even if they did cause some property damage. ]

[atouts]

They missed us. [ That's what he saw, but apparently there's more. Still frowning, he thinks on it. ] You think we moved them?

[ That's the best guess he can muster. He had noticed something strange the first time around. ]

And even if that thing didn't hit us, you were inviting trouble. That isn't fear, that's being sensible.

[waitingforplayer2]

We did!

[ First him, and then her. But her ears wilt and she looks down. ]

I guess so. Sorry.

[atouts]

Try not to do it again.

[ No pity for sad cat girls, sorry, Chiaki, though that will be the end of the scolding for now. It may have been reckless, but it had still proven something. ]

How is that meant to work, anyhow? Just waving your hand at it? There must be more to it than that.

[waitingforplayer2]

There... yeah, there is. [ She frowns, thinking. ]

It doesn't always work perfectly. You have to want it, but I don't think that's all there is to it.

[atouts]

That's never all there is to it. [ If it's at all like using magic... but different? He has to think about it for a few seconds, brow furrowed in thought before he adds, ] Maybe something like having a conversation? Asking the world to act in a different way?

[waitingforplayer2]

... How do you do it? Back home.

[ He's mentioned magic. Surely that's similar? ]

[atouts]

Just like that. Listening for something just behind the rest of the world and asking it to do what you want, in a way.

[ Some might describe it as a song or something similar to that, but that always seemed like a terribly romantic notion to him. ]

There's a matter of wanting it to be, as you said, but it's not going to do anything unless you ask or have the will to make it do so regardless.

[waitingforplayer2]

Asking...

[ That's a very polite way to change the world. Chiaki thinks. ] You make it sound like a conversation in a RPG.

[atouts]

[ Well, it asking isn't required so much as the will to part, but... ]

A what?

[ Okay, Chiaki. You lost him at RPG. ]

[waitingforplayer2]

It's a... kind of game. [ She has got to remember to be more careful about when she uses game metaphors! ]

But-- a conversation, right?

[atouts]

[ He's not a hip kid with the video games, Chiaki! Or really much technology at all, actually. ]

Yes. Something like that. You couldn't have moved that vehicle without the world itself deciding to help a little, I imagine.

[waitingforplayer2]

Hmm.

[ She looks up, tapping her chin and thinking. As she does, she happens to notice the wide gap between one building and another. Her eyes flick from one to another. And then she smiles. ]

I gotta try something. But-- first I gotta find a friend. I'll see you later, John, okay?