Conversation Space: The Ultimax

[powersthatbe]

You feel as if you've stepped through a door.

Comments

[capital_asset]

That had in fact been one of the questions Raidou had very much wanted an answer to; in fact, it had been one of the main ones. Until they'd been sent to the ZODIAC system, he'd been worried about the Cryptos actually being altered Travelers. And both of the IOUHEIs, he knows, had had doubts about the reasons behind their own creation (or repurposing, in IOUHEI 1.0's case), and those doubts had also stuck with him. "I can think of a few who had... uncertainties in that direction," he says slowly, "but those uncertainties were on a more personal level, and in any case 'two' is not 'all.'" He shakes his head. "And they're not here to hear this, anyway.

"Was the Automata virus meant to wipe them out as well as infecting Hermit, or were the Cryptos just... I think the phrase is 'collateral damage'?" He can't quite stop the slight curling of his lip as he utters the phrase in question. He suspects the question itself might be better directed to Lovers and/or Devil, but frankly he's not sure he's up to dealing with either one of them at present.

[rosewater_path]

"You'd have to ask PSYCHE and the other guy about that to be sure," she says, shaking her head, a look of dismay crossing her face. "Based on what I saw... I can guess. The answer is sort of both - they were collateral damage, but if the virus had wiped them out, and not SAGE, he wouldn't have had any reason to stick around on the Grid any more, and they'd call that a win, too."

[capital_asset]

That raises a number of questions; unfortunately, the majority of those questions relate more or less directly to Hermit-slash-SAGE, and they've already established that questions about him are off-limits. "And since they weren't wiped out, he wouldn't have come back willingly." He frowns. "Was that part of what the virus was for?" he asks, and he can't help but look more than a little disturbed at the thought. As unhappy as he is about the Cryptos having been repurposed, he doesn't particularly like the idea of anyone - even an Arcanum - being subjected to something similar.

[rosewater_path]

"I didn't design it, and I wasn't in the room. But would I bet money on it? I absolutely would."

[breakaleginhalf]

"So... you guys are allowed to hurt each other, as long as it's not an official round of play?" Does that count as a game question or a sibling question.

[rosewater_path]

"No," she says, simply. "But when he walked out on us, he broke the rules - which made him fair game."

[capital_asset]

Raidou now has even more questions about what happened to Hierophant.

"If the virus had been allowed to infect him fully, could that have altered his current haecceity?" Or gone beyond that, for that matter, and isn't that a charming thought.

[rosewater_path]

"... Dangerous territory, Slick. Yeah. I think it might have."

[capital_asset]

Raidou nods, taking the warning for what it is. "Would they have been punished in turn for that?"

[rosewater_path]

"If it was part of the game. But like I said - Sage had left the game. That's never happened before. I mean, never never, not just mortal-never."

[breakaleginhalf]

"How many times have you guys played this, that makes literally-never never so significant?"

[rosewater_path]

She shrugs. "I don't know. Numbers... aren't as simple as you guys think they are. Just like I can't tell you how old I am, and have it mean anything. We've pretty much always played it. Like, always-always. Since we realized you were real."

[capital_asset]

"How did that happen? Realizing we were real, I mean."

[rosewater_path]

"Trial and error, Slick. It took us a long, long time to figure out. And, honestly, it was an accident. We weren't looking for you."

[breakaleginhalf]

Gil frowns slightly. "How did you guys go affecting places before you had us?"

[rosewater_path]

"The way you mean 'affect' and 'places?' We didn't."

She does the fingerquotes.

[breakaleginhalf]

"Okay, uh. Did you guys have other pieces that represented your hac... haecceity, in your rounds? Before us?"

[rosewater_path]

"Not the way you mean."

[capital_asset]

"What were you doing when you found us?"

[rosewater_path]

"... Yeah, sorry Champ. If I talk too much about stuff like that, I could get DQed so hard I bounce. I think we better wrap this up. Unless you've got one for the road?"