⇨ 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

[pipers_son]

It’d probably help a little more if Chicago wasn’t a city of skyscrapers, but it’s definitely possible to see the tower from here. Joker’s heading right for it, at any rate, practically bouncing on the way there. Really, he’s probably way too excited for this; this isn’t the first city he’s been to that’s like this. Still, every new place is exciting to him.

“Yup! That’s what I got told. And sounds like there’s a- well, s’basically a tiny little room that moves when ya get in it, and it’ll take ya all the way ta the top quick as anythin’. Faster than some birds can fly, probably.”

[wild_magic]

It doesn't even matter to Susan if he can't tell which one it is among all the tall buildings, because they're all so tall that it's cool enough already. His excitement is just as palpable as Joker's as they walk, although when he hears about that he somehow gets even more excited than before.

"That's a real thing? And we get to go in it?" It sounds as cool as the ferris wheel and roller coaster back at the Carnival, and he can hardly wait to see it.

[pipers_son]

"Yep~. They're called elevators, and it's not weird ta find 'em in worlds like this- ones where they ain't much on magic, so they get ta tinkerin' instead."

It's a thing Joker has always found to be interesting. His world was just close enough to have a lot of interesting technological breakthroughs going on, industrial era as it was. Of course, nothing as impressive as all this, but... Sometimes, he can see bits and pieces of what his world could be, might be, in the future.

Almost a pity he wants to ditch it more than anything.

[wild_magic]

Worlds without magic... It's still something that doesn't make sense to Susan, even people on his own world who don't or can't use magic hardly make sense to him. The thought of a whole world not using it is completely foreign. But if it lets them make cool things like that, then at least it isn't all bad, and he can still enjoy it.

"So, do worlds without magic all have tall buildings like this? That's pretty weird, for them to spend time building them instead of doing something else..." Not that they don't have any tall buildings where he's from, but nothing on this level - or this amount of them so close together.

[pipers_son]

“Well, some do, and some don’t. It depends on where ya go. Some places are more-” He waves a hand idly in some sort of vague gesture. “It’s a lot like the country side, where folks still have ta focus on their farms and everythin’. You’ll see a lot, the longer ya stay with the carnival.” Crossing a street, he double checks to make sure they’re headed in the right direction before chuckling.

“Although it’s not for everyone.”

[wild_magic]

"Oh, that makes sense..." He's been to a few little villages before, and they were pretty different from the big cities he's been to - even though in comparison to this city, even Phlan seemed like a tiny village.

"Have you been lots of different places with the carnival?"

[pipers_son]

“Huh? Oh, yeah, plenty. Been here for two years now, and that’s been…” He starts to count them off in his head, and finds himself surprised at just how many he’s visited. Has he really seen so many different worlds when some of the people he can remember back home have only ever seen the one they’ve lived in? A disbelieving laugh leaves him.

“I think I’ve seen around twenty, now, although the first one I ever saw is a bit of a blur.” Blood loss and smoke inhalation, you know. “Bunch of different worlds, bunch of different people. It’s fun.” The novelty of it all keeps him going, he has to admit.

[wild_magic]

"Wow... That's a ton! I wanna see that many places, too... I think it's really cool that we get to visit everywhere and explore and stuff. I don't think Lauren likes being stuck here, though." Not that Lauren shows it, since he doesn't want Susan to feel bad, but still, he knows. It's hard not to, when it's his own brother.

[pipers_son]

“Ah, well…” He’s not surprised to hear that. After all, him and more than a few other people might have signed a contract willingly, but he’s seen more than his fair share who were deceived into it all. Hell- he’s deceived people into it, although usually only those he doesn’t like and thinks don’t deserve the honesty. Still. It’s not a fun position to be in, even if just for a year.

“Maybe he’ll turn around. Some folks do, after a couple of stops, and there’s a lot the Ringmaster can give ya if ya decide ta make a deal with her yerself. She can even teach magic, if yer inta that kind of thing.” Ah, here it is- turning into a building, he holds open a door for Susan.

[wild_magic]

"She's supposed to be helping Lauren, for his deal, but he isn't very good at following directions I think." Not that he is either, but still. Only his brother's shortcomings are relevant right now. The mention of magic catches his attention again, but before he can pursue that one they're going in, and he gets distracted by looking around at everything excitedly. It doesn't matter that from here he can't see anything particularly exciting, just being inside a modern building is apparently exciting enough to him.

[pipers_son]

“Ha, he wouldn’t be the first…” But stories like that aren’t really important right now. Joker just watches Susan’s excitement, grinning at the boy’s enthusiasm. Yeah, he knows this. Was he really all that different, when he first started getting onto the worlds that were so strange? Probably not.

“Yer gonna have the time of her life in this world. I can tell- we haven't even gotten ta the top yet.”

[wild_magic]

"If just the inside is this cool, I can't wait to see the top... Does the inside look cool up there too, or just the view? 'Cause I wanna see the view, for sure, but I hope the whole thing looks cool. I thought it would be like this one tower we went in but that was all stone and didn't look anything like this."

[pipers_son]

“Probably,” he says glibly as he escorts the kid to where the elevators are waiting, large metal doors sliding open after only a moment. Oh good, they didn’t have to wait. Getting in with a couple of other people, he hits the button for the top and grins down to him. “Some buildings like this, they’re normal ta people, so they just make studies and things like that at the top. But others, well, they’re filled with colors and people, and sometimes parties happen at ‘em. There’s a whole lot of worlds out there, after all.”

[wild_magic]

He looks curiously at the inside of the elevator when the doors open, but follows Joker in without a second thought.

"Even just a study would be neat, if you could look out and see a whole city. But a whole room for parties sounds even better, I hope it's like that."

[pipers_son]

“For a place like this, I think it’s just a whole floor where they let folks look out into the city,” Joker says thoughtfully. “Cities like this like it when people visit, and they now where they like to go.” And- there goes the elevator. Don’t mind that lurch in your stomach, Susan.

[wild_magic]

He honestly wasn't expecting the way it feels when the elevator suddenly goes up, but his wide-eyed look around the elevator shows that no one else is worried, so it must be how it's supposed to be.

"This is so cool... How long does it take to go up?" He knows it must take forever to walk, so it must still take forever in this weird room...

[pipers_son]

Chuckling, he considers the idea. “Can’t rightly say. Math isn’t somethin’ I’d say is my strong suit, and some folks might stop for the other parts of the tower, too. But…” He considers the buttons which are lit up. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that. It’ll probably only take us a couple of minutes.”

[wild_magic]

"Only a couple minutes to get to the very top? That's so fast!" He grins as he thinks about it, wishing he could watch as they go up or something instead of just seeing these walls and the other people in it.

"What's in the other parts of the tower? Why wouldn't you just go to the top?"

[pipers_son]

Another laugh, and he reaches over to ruffle Susan’s hair. “People aren’t just gonna leave all that space inbetween the bottom and the top empty! Probably things like… businesses, I’d guess. The way folks do business in places like this is loads different than how yer familiar with, I’d wager.” He knows because it had been a little different to him, too. Sure, he could see how it was familiar, in ways, but with how different technology is in different worlds…

[wild_magic]

"Oh... I thought they used it for storage, or something. Like to keep wood or hay or something in. Oh, what if people live in it? That's even better than a business. Not that I'd mind going to a shop in a tower like this." Because obviously business=shop of some sort. Even with Joker saying business is different here, he can't imagine what other kinds of things it could be.

[pipers_son]

Susan’s not actually wrong there, and Joker’s wide grin hints at it. “Y’know, there are buildings big as this that people live in… I’ll have ta take ya ta a mall, some day- they’re huge indoor markets with all sorts of things. Clothes, trinkets, even little places like our cookhouse sometimes. Ah-” But that’s enough about that. After a few stops, the elevator is finally hitting its last one, and Joker waits for the doors to open to the observation platform. “Go on, take a gander outside~.”