⇨ 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]

“Like messin’ with the cops?” he says, grinning going from ear to ear. With that tease out of the way, he gives a shrug. “Anyway, games, and things, when I was younger. Makin’ up rhymes, pretend play, ya know.” Joker shrugs and pauses, realizing he’d been trying to include wing muscles that, as of right now, aren’t really an existing thing.

“Me, I could only do so much, so I read fairy tales and the like, ha ha.” Which is quite handy considering his situation. “But then, with kids like me and my family, ya could have given us a stick, and we would have had fun. When ya don’t have nothin’, ya get like that a bit.”

[dorkypantsuit]

His smile fades a bit at that comment. Of course if Joker had asked him what he did for fun as a kid what would he say? Count the cracks in the floor of his owner's courtyard? Step on only the black colored tiles? He probably would have had as much fun with a stick as Joker would have.

"What kinds of fairy tales?"

[pipers_son]

"Ah, lessee... Lots of romantic ones- you know. Poor girl gets a fairy godmother, goes ta a ball, makes a prince fall in love with her and he has ta find out who she really is... That's one." Cinderella, always a classic. He remembers telling Doll that one plenty of times. He taps his fingers again.

"Oh, there's the one about Bluebeard and his wives. I'd say that's a bit more morbid, but, ha." A shrug. "Cinderella's stepsisters' get their eyes pecked out, so." Fairy tales can be dreadfully gory things sometimes.

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi frowns, he didn't think human stories had stuff like that in them. Troll fairy tales weren't super gory, but they did usually talk about things like conformity and obedience. At least a poor girl falling in love with a rich guy was kind of a pleasant thought.

He's been around humans so much, but there was still a lot about them that he didn't understand. Usually he just pretended he knew what the people around him were talking about if he didn't, but he knew Joker wouldn't think any less of him for asking.

"What's a godmother?"

[pipers_son]

Oh, right. Completely foreign race. Joker pauses for a moment, trying to figure out how to describe it. “It’s someone really close ta yer family, a lady, and she promises ta look after ya, especially if anythin’ happens ta yer parents. Well.” An awkward pause. “Not you-you, but… y’know.” In the general sense.

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi laughs. He knew what Joker meant of course, but the awkwardness of his pause is amusing.

"How'd she get poor if she had a fairy for a godmother in the first place?"

Of course, with the fairies they know it isn't too hard to think of a reason.

"Maybe the girl needed to break a carnival game first."

[pipers_son]

An ugly snort bursts out of him, and Joker grins lazily. “Maybe she should have,” he agrees. That would have certainly changed the story around, wouldn’t it? Quite a unique fairy tale. “But that’s just the story how I know it goes.”