⇨ 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

Re: susan yes

[mylastchance]

Lauren laughs, letting his brother pull him along.

"What kind of place?"

[wild_magic]

"A place to get food! It looked good, and so I thought maybe you'd wanna go and try it with me. I got money, even!"

[mylastchance]

He just shakes his head, confused.

"We have food at the carnival.

[wild_magic]

"But it's different to get food here, and that makes it interesting." Obviously.

[mylastchance]

"It does?"

[wild_magic]

"Yeah, why wouldn't it? It's cool to see different things, right?"

[mylastchance]

"It's just food..."

[wild_magic]

"But there's other people there and you can see them and the food is probably different from what we've had before, and it's just cool!"

[mylastchance]

"Okay okay we'll get food!"

[wild_magic]

"Good." He didn't think Lauren would really object, but he's still glad that it's working out. It doesn't take too much longer for them to get to the restaurant, some obviously fancy place with little romantic tables and candles and the whole bit, with other couples also there eating.

[mylastchance]

Lauren just looks around, getting more confused.

"This is where you wanted to eat?"

[wild_magic]

"Don't you think it looks good?" He knows he can't keep this up for too long, but he's hoping that Carly got the letter and shows up soon... Otherwise he's going to have to actually eat here with Lauren, and it looks boring to him.

[insidescoop]

[WELL she came. She got dressed up in the white room with a dress that actually fits, and a rather cute (in her opinion at least) jacket to go with. She even got a purse, not that she thinks she needs one in this place.]

MmmmmMmm... [Time to find Lauren now though-she's looking, she's looking...]

Where is he...

[wild_magic]

Since Susan, unlike Lauren, is actually looking for Carly, it doesn't take long for him to spot her, and he immediately waves when he does.

"Look, Carly's here too!" He says it like it's surprising, but Lauren might be able to pick up on the fact that he's only pretending to be surprised. Not that it isn't a good attempt, but Lauren knows him well enough to pick up on it. But it doesn't matter, because he's going to try and drag Lauren over anyway before he gets a chance to object.

[mylastchance]

It doesn't look good, it looks weird, but Lauren doesn't have time to say that before he's being pulled in another direction. He blinks, looking around in confusion as Susan mentions Carly before he spots her.

What?

The odds that she would be here were ridiculously small. And she was dressed weird. And Susan was being, well, Susan. Lauren was starting to get a sinking feeling about all this.

"Susan, stop!" Lauren hisses, but is of course ignored. Carly must have seen them by now. Lauren sees her approaching and smiles, but it's clearly forced.

"Uh... Hey."

[insidescoop]

HEH!?

[What what what, what's going on-] Susan, you're here too?! [She's not very surprised to see Lauren, evidently. And yet...] And you..!

...I can't believe you were actually serious, I thought I was going to get stood up you know... [She says this with a frown-but it quickly becomes sputtering panic again.] N-Not that I'm here for a date anyway!! I have someone waiting for me at home, I definitely plan on going back to them!

[mylastchance]

WHAT!? A DATE?! Why would she even think that?! The things she's saying just don't make sense. She'd been expecting him? She thought he wouldn't show? Something weird was definitely going on, and Lauren intended to figure out what. This whole time, Susan has been pulling Lauren around, but now Lauren grabs Susan's arm and holds onto it tightly. There's no way he's letting his little brother sneak off after something like this!

"Sorry, you were expecting us?" No, not them, him. Lauren tries very hard to suppress the anger at Susan that's swelling up inside him.

[insidescoop]

Of course I was! You only wrote me a letter and told me not to reply, after all..!

[HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES???]

[wild_magic]

Okay, well, he wasn't expecting Lauren to grab him like that, but he doesn't say anything about it, not yet. Right now he needs to stop this from blowing up before it even starts. He pulls at his arm to try and get it away from Lauren's grip, at least a little bit, before just starting to talk.

"We should get something to eat, that's the best way to talk about things, right? Over food?"

[mylastchance]

When Lauren speaks next it's in Elven, a language it's very unlikely that Carly would be able to understand.

"What is she talking about?" It's a question, but the way he says it almost makes it sound like a threat. He isn't even looking at Susan as he demands an answer, simply staring forward instead.

[wild_magic]

"Well you're supposed to be making friends and you don't have a lot yet so I thought you should try to talk to her more!"

He turns to Carly after, switching back to... whatever language they normally all speak.

"Come on, we should get a table..."

[insidescoop]

[Well she definitely doesn't understand it, but THAT'S SUPER RUDE!]

Hey!! Don't go starting conversations in different languages!!

[insidescoop]

And I want to know what's going on..! [She protests from there, balling her fists.] Why did you ask me on a date..!

[mylastchance]

He frowns, looking back to Carly. He feels bad. Did she want to go on a date? Did she like him? He blushes bright red at the thought looking down at the ground again. She said she had someone back home though. Had she just been saying that because she was embarrassed?

"You have to tell her." he says, in common now again, though his sentence is still clearly directed at Susan.

[wild_magic]

Why couldn't Lauren just go along with it and pretend he'd done it? His brother was so stupid sometimes. He isn't happy about it, but he guesses he has to explain anyway.

"I just thought you guys should talk more and be friends. 'Cause Lauren doesn't have a lot of friends and you seem nice and you talk to him and stuff. So... I wrote that letter so you guys would both come here and you were supposed to sit and start eating and then I could leave but... I guess that won't work."