Conversation Space II.

[powersthatbe]

As Thorne shared with the network, Travelers who vanish find themselves alone in a small room. But it doesn’t look quite as described last time. Paper lanterns hang in the corners, and a lemniscate of live, spicily scented blue roses traces a figure eight on the floor. A little marble plinth sits beside the looping roses, with a champagne flute balanced on it, pink, fizzy liquid quietly effervescing within. In place of the throne that was there before, each half of the loop holds a brown leather sphere - a yoga meditation-ball chair. They’re a little tricky to balance on.


The walls, floors, and ceiling are tiled, a prismatic fade from one color to another, each tile unique, just slightly different in hue than those around it, each colored line giving a sense that it belongs to a bigger pattern, but never revealing enough to allow anyone certainty about what that pattern might be. It is only a glimpse of a larger world… in this small, quiet space.

Comments

[powersthatare]

This time, the answer is the intersection of multiple systems. It is obvious, quickly, that one gear represents each of the Arcana. There are already three gaps in the system - Hierophant, Temperance, Fortune. And when Hermit, turning a flywheel that brakes the others, is removed - Lovers and Devil grind on one another, overheating, deforming, falling out of synch with the others.

What happens to the Arcana representing connection, when the Arcana representing solitude achieves its goal and leaves the network they form together?

[solvethepuzzle]

Near observes it all carefully, patiently. He notes what they must represent, sees the gaps where the dead Arcana would have been. And he watches as the simulation plays out, throwing Lovers and Devil highly out of sync.

So if Hermit were to leave, it would disrupt the balance of the system. This is a concern, though less so than he would have thought back when he'd been Indigo. He has little care for the overall fate of their hosts, however. He simply wishes to understand all the factors at play. Lovers and Devil seek to preserve themselves; it's a natural enough motivation.

How would such a thing affect those that have been drawn here?

The question is more for his own sake than that of any other Traveler, but it's an important one regardless of his own motive. And he has difficulty surviving without aid, besides.

[powersthatare]

Gears begin to assemble again as the logic of the answer plays out. This time, they are translucent, speculative, overlapping one another in constantly vibrating superpositions, unrealized possibilities. The longer the calculation proceeds, the bigger the whorl of gears, the more lit with pure, tooth-aching light it is, the more closely it resembles the shape behind the emerald wall.

The possibilities are vast, though not endless, and the weight of them, all of them being held simultaneously in a single consciousness, grows exponentially with each second. The human brain, sophisticated a computer as it is, possesses only so much processing power, and one threaded calculation becomes clear among the rest: waiting for the answer will see it exceed the space the brain alots for thoughts, and begin occupying other areas. Memory. Personality. Breath. How much of himself is Near willing to give, to grasp the enormity of all possible ramifications of that choice?

[solvethepuzzle]

... Damn.

Near is, at the heart of it, a selfish, risk-averse person. He gives as little of himself as possible in order to achieve a result. Even to gain knowledge, sacrificing his very sense of self and essential functions is something that he cannot do. Especially after an overlay that had foolishly done something similar, something he still regards as a mistake.

He terminates the connection, pulling back his hand. His arm drops limply, his head bows, the strain of maintaining an Interface taking a toll on his body.

[powersthatare]

Slowly, energy will flow back into him, a sense of physical and psychic wholeness perceptibly flowing across his body from a single spot - the place where, even now, a Mark is glowing into being on his skin.

[solvethepuzzle]

It doesn't feel unnatural at first, just something to be expected from taking a moment to rest. But as his head clears, it becomes apparent that the effect is flowing from an odd place -- his left foot. So he rolls down his sock briefly to check, and is frankly unsurprised to find the mark.

And so he rolls the sock back up. He'd wanted to avoid being marked for as long as possible, or at least until he'd understood more about what the marks could do. Considering the situation, he's probably achieved the former, even if the latter would be preferable. He will need to review what he knows.

"Hardly unexpected." He may be marked, but that does not necessarily mean he will follow through with the Hermit's agenda. That remains to be seen -- and will be his own choice if he can help it. "Has our current business concluded, then?"

He doesn't expect a verbal answer, of course. But there are other ways.

[powersthatare]

The wolf looks at him consideringly, then bows its head, and Conversation Space vanishes, leaving Near back in Liminal Space once more.

[solvethepuzzle]

Finished, then. Alright.

The space around him shifts back to the garden, where he'd been before being pulled into the conversation space. Without missing a beat, he pulls a deck of cards out of his satchel, and carefully begins to build as is his habit. And all the while, his mind is working. He has much to think about.