video | un: plushiesidequest (in which she talks about an NPC visitor)

[reincarnesiac]

( Oh look! It's that same person who melted a radio tower about two weeks ago? Alex waves to the camera, flashes a smile, then sits down on a plush chair in her apartment and leans forward, planting her elbows on her knees. )

Hey, everyone. I know more of you look at stuff here than comment, but think about doing some commenting this time, you know?

( She breathes in, then out in a sigh. )

So I sent out that signal a few weeks ago. I heard back this morning from a guy outside the barrier that goes by Scylla. He confirmed the multiverse is unraveling. He wasn't happy about it.

( Her hands lay over each other, one holding the other at her wrist. )

He also confirmed this pocket dimension of Echo's we're in has a lot of bubble cities trying to solve the problem through point based reality television style game-show setups. But Echo isn't the only one working to try and save the concept of existence. There are other people out there with other ideas. Scylla didn't know if any of them show any more promise than Echo's way, because no one's had confirmed results or failures based on attempts.

( She opens her hands, staring at the camera. )

He said he'll help us figure out how to close the tear after it's open, because that's when he can get in here. Shout out to Aurora for her work keeping us safe until Echo demands otherwise.

( Sitting back, she frowns at the camera. )

I can sum up what else we talked about if people ask, but this seemed important to get out first. He said I probably won't see him for a bit when he arrives, but anyone who does run into him, he's a guy... fairly handsome? Taller than I am, shorter than Gorgug. Paler than me too. Reddish-brown hair with waves that he wears neatly cut but not close shaven. He was scruffy. Had one of those friendly faces you know likes to tease people until he was getting more serious. I don't know, ( she sighs ) it's been a surreal morning.

Comments

Voice

[shadowsincryo]

I see. So he confirmed that worlds are indeed dying. And he couldn’t say why because either didn’t know, or?

text | un: bahamut

[oblige]

Had this Scylla any way to prove the veracity of his claims?

[reincarnesiac]

My guess is didn't know, but it also wasn't a long conversation. I won't even say just trust him — he's got his own goals, his own person he's hunting answers down for — but the dying worlds? That's not the part that felt uncertain.

( She sighs again. )

Sorry, but I am not the smartest person in the room, and I know it. So I'm telling you gut instincts, this stuff is real.

[reincarnesiac]

Can you disprove any of his claims? That's the problem. We can't do either. But this is the first time that I know of any outside voice saying, yeah, those things Aurora told you that Echo says are true? Are true. While also disagreeing with Echo.

The guy really did not care for Echo, it was pretty obvious.

voice; un: Odin

[odinpusrex]

He has confirmed little beyond that which was already verified—should one believe aught that escaped his lips.

[Well, save for Echo not acting alone, but that too could be inferred by being here long enough, by his measure.

Barnabas has experienced Moorecroft, and there is of course Solmara as well, so other bubble cities are known to him. Aphaia presented them with one such planet—universe, perhaps—that was in active decay. Its last fibers barely holding on as the world ran on gleeful and violent chaos to welcome their inevitable end...]

Have you reason to trust him?

text | un: tsundoku

[welcome_summer]

Scylla? Like the rock and a hard place monster from mythology Scylla?

I guess it... still fits the naming theme....

[oblige]

Therein lies the trouble: we are limited to words and judgement still yet.

Please, exercise caution should you choose to meet directly. Even if his assertions prove true, we know not his intentions.

[reincarnesiac]

Maybe for the folks here longer. Been kind of hard to know when you're newer, yeah?

( She's not arguing, considering she sighs again after saying this. The other city known, but the numbers was a question; no one told her about they dying world. )

His goals. The ones he was up front about. Echo has someone he loves in one of the bubble cities. That was believable, the way he talked about them. He wants answers much like we do, only he's not coming from inside one of these places. He's starting on the outside, wanting to know what's in here.

[reincarnesiac]

What mythology? What naming scheme?

[reincarnesiac]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

No way to know all of anyone's intentions, but shutting down the option of talking to him at all is asking to sit here never knowing anything but what we're guessing about what's going on. Echo still won't talk to us directly. Scylla might not know everything about anything, but he knows different things than we do.

Besides, pretty sure people would kick my butt if I were outright careless anymore.

[oblige]

You mistake my meaning. As I see it, the course was already set. Is that not so?

I advise only that you arm yourself, or ideally, bring a companion you trust to any such encounter.

[reincarnesiac]

Glad to if we can plan it, the problem might be how we handle what psychological effects the space radiation is going to leave us with in the meantime. I'd have to go out with someone as willing and capable of taking me down as me taking them down, if things go real bad real fast.

Just on a purely physical level. Kind of like what I said on the post up earlier, any of us with martial training is a danger to anyone else once that tear opens up.

[odinpusrex]

All one must do is ask.

[He is making this her fault, somehow.]

Believe you that he will not bring ruin should the one he loves proves absent? One should be wary when welcoming a wanderer.

[If Echo is a kidnapper—which he is—why wouldn't this Scylla take any opportunity to strike back at him? Destroy his project and his efforts.]

[oblige]

Alas, precisely why I would hesitate to volunteer my aid to others during that period. Nigh half my life has been spent in military service. I could prove one such danger.

[ He has been one before, and not of his choosing. It haunts him still. The last thing he wishes some manner of repeat performance.

Even without his Eikon, lives are alarmingly fragile. ]

It is my hope that you can find someone suitable, despite the limitations of our circumstances.

[reincarnesiac]

What makes you think he believes that person is here? I said he's looking for them, but not that he thought they were in here with us. Pretty sure it'd be faster for him to pass along a name for that than break in with help and Aurora knowing he's coming.

[reincarnesiac]

I'm military adjacent myself. There's too many of us who could take each other out, and that's just the ones willing to admit it.

Now I hope we can manage to work through things and not leap to violence, because tamping down on everything that feels like we should be reacting to it is going to be very, very important... along with knowing that nothing we're seeing can be real. Not even a real animal. All that's going to be gone, protected by Aurora. We're the only thing left to go after each other, and that's only when we're distracted from fixing the tear.

[welcome_summer]

Greek mythology? From Earth. Although the Romans calling Odysseus Ulysses might just be them importing the story....

Scylla is a monster paired with a second monster Charibdis(spelling?) that menaced sailors in a narrow passage. One was a monster perched on rocks that would pull sailors off the boats to eat them, the other was a massive whirlpool that would crush the ships. And there was no other way through, in the story, so you had to pick which of the evils you sailed closer to.

Aurora is a goddess of the dawn, Echo is a nymph and the mythological explanation for why there are echoes in the world. I think the other AIs fit too, but I'd have to read back for their names.

[odinpusrex]

If that person is not here, there is scant reason for him to care what becomes of us. Do not be foolish to believe he means aught more than that which services him.

[It does not escape him that this unknown man is choosing to infiltrate while a mission that will debilitate them is happening.]

[reincarnesiac]

Not familiar with it. Might not be part of what they teach in future China.

Here I just wondered why she and her brother were named for the atmospheric light shows on either of the Earth's poles.

[reincarnesiac]

Yeah, of course he benefits. If he's on the inside, he learns something more about how it works. Or he can try to learn, and we can be on standby for Aurora if things deteriorate rapidly.

But if we assume malicious intent from everything, we're setting ourselves back every time. So I can't. I'm already aware how much people can suck. I'll just keep learning how each individual person sucks firsthand, I guess.

[oblige]

It does seem many of us are skilled combatants. I worry for those who are not, or whose conditions may render them especially vulnerable without their usual abilities.

[ He worries for the Phoenix, afflicted with chronic illness, suddenly not having his restorative power to combat it. ]

I'm no expert in such matters, but might there be a way to restore focus, should it be lost? If we could devise some provision, it may aid us in seeing the task completed.

[reincarnesiac]

Works out great for us if we have something we're supposed to fight. Less great when we don't. As far as people being in poor condition without their usual abilities... they might want to hole up at the hospital. Effects are still there, but so are the bots, and the companion bots aren't going to be affected.

Uhm... yes? I'd think so. For one, sleeping in shifts and using sedatives if we can't sleep. You always do better when you're better rested. Eating and drinking regularly, so your body's in top form. Sitting and doing breathing exercises, and checking in with others to verify what is or isn't real. Ideally, we'd have partners for this, but it's... complicated with how we all do or don't trust each other. I'm not the only one flying solo from any one world, but I think those of us who do feel it a lot more keenly than the ones who have people, even enemies, that know them from home.

[shadowsincryo]

I believe you. It's something I was sure was likely true. I suppose we will see others aside from this individual over time. At least, we have some other perspectives to see if we can find what is true.

[Whether they speak truth or not.]

Text: Username: LaFleurDeParis

[repaintress]

Charybdis. Scylla is the monster who devours men. Given the naming for Echo, I believe it may be worth noting that some sources consider Scylla to have originally been a nymph as well.

[odinpusrex]

You alone will not pay for your naivety.