[Text] (Voice replies are also fine!) (A day or so after Jayce's post)

[constantvrunning]

If you touched anything in the shrines - why?

[Sure, the messages were informative - in terms of explaining how some of the people from this world think, if nothing else - but:]

We've run into how many traps, now? Of course the shrines themselves are rigged.

I do have pictures of the contents of one of them, though. And another of those strange messages, besides.

[They'd have shared with Jayce by this point, but they do want to know if Jayce intends on sharing the results first. In the meantime, V has their own two cents to offer.]

Comments

voice

[thetatters]

[ John heaves an exasperated sigh in his deep, oddly distorted voice. ]

Let me guess. It says something about cult worship and the gods of this world? We would be better off without it.

Text for V, voice for John?

[constantvrunning]

Gods, no; worship, yes.

[V has to do some fiddling, but they do manage to transmit a temporary secured text file through the network: I will not be constrained by family, nations, or even the material world. I shall look to the moon, and understand how far that reach truly extends. I can become so much more, if I do not tie myself down.

Yeah, they're not keen on saying that aloud.]

Faith has never been part of my world experience, but having lived with an oppressive government before, it does strike me as similar to that.

[The Red Empire never fixated on the moon, though. They were insidious in other ways, usually not magical ones.]

voice!

[thetatters]

[ John has no experience with a typing interface, his hunt-and-peck game is pitiful, and no one has ever told him not to text and drive. He irritably reads whatever is sent to him, and there is an unsettling familiarity to the imagery. It wakes a flash of memory— city spires rising impossibly behind strange moons— to which John grits his teeth and responds by radio. ]

You presume there is a difference between the two. Those who demand faith are often asking for obedience. Or perhaps those who wish to pledge themselves in one way are easily manipulated into more.

Re: voice!

[constantvrunning]

It sounds like you have experience, and I'm willing to defer to you that much.

Do you also have a sigil? It seems we all woke up with one, in the garage. Whatever is running this seems perfectly willing to make the first move.

[Which, while it doesn't mean they should just give up and become - what's the word, heralds? V is not certain - does mean they're playing with loaded dice, so to speak. Some options are harder to achieve than others.]

[thetatters]

[ John doesn't want to talk about his experience. There is an awkward pause, then: ]

Yes, I have a sigil. [ Admitted in impatient tones. Whoever stamped this mark upon his face was making a cruel joke: it is a mark John has been trying to avoid for months now. ] Currently I assume it to be a side-effect of whatever summoning brought us here.

[ That's mostly a lie. John thinks he knows who brought him here, and that bastard is powerful enough not to need written magic as a crutch. ]

[constantvrunning]

[Not knowing why John is reluctant, V chalks it up to 'probably similar to why they dislike brands', and figures it's a bad idea to push either way.]

Seeing as we arrived with them, rather than them only appearing afterwards, that's a reasonable assumption.

[But the fact remains that, for all of the Drifters, they simply don't know what they don't know. And that bothers V in its own way.]

They somehow provide information on the monsters we fight. I would like a way to stop that. It doesn't act like a proper database.

[On that particular matter, letting something have access to their mind in that way, without permission... V would 100% agree with John's stated preference.

Just, if it turns out to be feasible.]

[thetatters]

[ John has no idea what 'a proper database' may be, but he can agree with the sentiment. ]

Perhaps that knowledge stems from a connection with the person or entity that drew us here. Such ties may not be easily broken.

[ But he sounds uncertain, thoughtful. He... he truly doesn't know what the cause might be. It's unsettling. ]

[constantvrunning]

Up until this point, the bulk of my experience with mystical beings was on a much smaller scale. And none of them had paid enough attention to me to mark me.

[V hadn't been their problem and - mostly - vice-versa.]

Back where I am from, certain of my teammates were better suited to understanding how to work with them, when the matter came up at all.

[Which wasn't always.]

[thetatters]

Some can withstand the knowledge better than others. As for whether the same holds true here... I suppose we will find out.

[ Said grimly. He's used to gods being fundamentally dangerous to comprehend. ]

[constantvrunning]

It is not as if we have been given a choice in coming here.

[Or in being marked.]

I am in the black Dodge Charger, if there is anything about this you would prefer not to talk on this network for. I'm usually near the front.

[But not the MOST in the front - that honor goes to the motorcycle riders.]

[thetatters]

[ Interesting. John has not been offered such discretion before. He takes it as a gesture of respect, and appreciates it. ]

Thank you. If you ever wish to find me, I am in the... black truck.

[ it's a 1930's Ford pickup ]

And here's a hat to future threads!

[constantvrunning]

Understood.

[... John isn't the ONLY one with a black truck, is he?? V will figure it out.]