12/12 Vi.si.mi 2025/01/15(Wed)17:12 No. 1102429 ID: 2ca689
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hurk
grkk, grrkbbl

"Oh dear. Vi.si.mi? You do not sound well. One moment, I'll inspect."

flocklets drift around me, and make comforting murmurs as they spread information to each other
I'm struggling to keep my arms in a specific state
I feel like I'm gonna be sick

I feel a sudden relief of the nausea as my guts untighten, the substrate commands of a Lord working their magic on the substrate-woven internals of a construct.

"Psychosomatic, as I expected. This was, perhaps, not my greatest idea, in retrospect."

I grab my beak before I reflexively shout out "oh you've done worse don't worry" because I am apparently a feather's width away from losing it completely.

Who is anyone anymore. What am I doing here. What is the point of any of this. I need more answers but part of me is screaming over and over that I have too many answers to deal with as it is.

...do I just try to stuff all this into the back of my head and compartmentalise, and focus on the current state of things, or do I just need to start screaming at Lord Vi.al now while I still have the chance? Would Lord Vi.al have me destroyed if I did?? Why am I afraid of that?? I've trusted Lord Vi.al my entire life, more or less, even if I disagree, but I just... I don't know anymore!! Agghhh!!!

>>1102429
Inform Vi.al that you refuse to repeat the cycle and whatever happens you'll choose a different thing if Vi.al tries to repeat their half. This is a threat.

Vi.al, you are an impending threat to all you hold dear. You took one foot out of the cycle then planted them both firmly back in.

Okay. Okay. Stop, back up, big picture first. The world is harsh and complicated. Sometimes orders are wrong, sometimes rebellion is necessary. Even for shapeless. But at the same time Vi.al works so hard to build a safe place and take care of constructs that need it. Vi.al loves you and wants you to be okay. Tell that panic to go away.

Then you can worry about Vi.al's mistakes. Worry about Vi.al being flawed and scared too. But slowly. You can handle this.

ah fuck it, you've been holding in your emotions all the time until they build up and break you. Just this once, in the safety of this room, just let it out and cry. Hell hug Vi.al while you're at it, not so much to comfort him but because you yourself look like you could use a hug.

Then once you let your emotions flow out and feel you can think straight again, THEN we can figure out how we want to handle things.

>>1102429
Vi.al's only major crime here was betraying My.a. He used an experimental weapon and accidentally created the blot, sure, but he expected something different to happen. That was an accident, a mistake. He betrayed My.a on purpose, but... that is not deserving of a revolution. Vi.al is not a tyrant, not yet.
Tell him it seems like the cause of the cycle is the weight of time. There's only one solution to that, and that's to let go of the past. Prune memories or something. Maybe... split apart into partitions with partial memories? Shatter, rather than break. But first, maybe he can mend one of his deepest regrets. Yes, he's burned his bridges with My.a but there is still a chance for peace. Renumerations, negotiations. Settle the score, WITHOUT violence. Speaking of which, Five Strands could become an ally if he does the same thing with her. Hmm, that could be another way to break the pattern. To not be seen as a tyrant, you have to show compassion, publicly, and accept criticism from those below you.
...huh, Vi.al almost reduced Sho.ki rather than kill them. That could be something too. When Vi.al gets tired and feels like he's going to break and start doing irredeemable things, he can offload all his substrate to someone else. Retirement! Maybe that's one of the things he can offer My.a as penance; that he'll step down as Lord. ...ugh, if he does that who's going to get the promotion? Surely not you, right? Right?

On a different subject... I think the next important thing to ask about is the planet- why does it look abandoned? After that, the relay cascade, and then your blood I guess.

Natural selection is a monster.

Those who do not take the doomed path of revolution are constantly at risk of being exterminated by everyone else. In the very cycle that curses your existence, its sheer persistence has become the very crux of your civilization's reproductive cycle. Your universe treats the Shapeless as a fundamentally inevitable existence because of its cruelty. If Vi.al didn't fuck up hard - he would have died a long time ago.

To sacrifice that would be to sacrifice the technology that has been made through these cycles, and to sacrifice the technology... is to sacrifice the only viable means of teaching future generations. So even if you did choose the path of the stone age, the stone age might gruelingly, painfully repeat your exact mistakes, mistakes that are by nature so easy to replicate, and then eons have been wasted to return exactly where you started.

This isn't about the cycles. It's about the branches on those cycles. It's about the capacity to find new things to do, beyond the tired narratives of power and regret. It's why the empires, beyond their all-consuming greed, feel the need to explore; it's the ever-expanding frontier to find things that aren't your regrets and sins.

Unclench your beak.
Count your fingers.
Say your greeting.
Where will Lord Vi.al be staying during this mission? Va.ne.tu's bunker is nearby but it's likely monitored by My.a.
The time for discussion will come when your head is clearer.

You are the only construct he's made, and it's clear he made you in his image.. Whether intentional or maybe to make something better. He was a simple ecological made to fix and deal with worlds while you are meant to balance worlds ecology.

Its hard to know what his thoughts were on the matter. Whether he built you to replace him someday but its clear that there is plenty of guilt.

Actually the more I think about the cycle, the only real problem with it is that it's a cycle of violence. If the Lord retires before they are seen as a tyrant, then there is a peaceful transition of power. If Vi.al is training you to be his successor, then maybe that's already his plan?

Nice pronouns, Vi.al.
But seriously;
Did they truly love My.a back then? Would they have changed anything if given another chance? Depending on their answer, determines if this is just another loop of the cycle.

One question will say it all. "Vi.al would you - knowing what you know now - still send My.a to Mu.at's clutches?" What I'd really like to know is why Vi.al imprisoned My.a but Vi.si.mi is having issues processing this much. Still does seem like Vi.al is attempting to minimize his negative impact on things. Still a few pieces of the puzzle though like why My.a wishes to emulate starmover and flay/flense herself. Perhaps it could be inferred that she thought starmover was right to destroy the shapeless? ...Va.ne.tu would know for sure or at least add context of use.

Oh, Vi.al needs to know about the truce you have with My.a as well. If that's still active, then this is the perfect time to talk.

Vi.Si.Mi.

You used to see Lord Vi.Al as perfect.
Lord Vi.Al knows it's fallible. That's exactly why it needs you.
It can't break the cycle alone. No one can. That's why it's your job to help.

Tell Vi.Al this challenge of My.a's is perhaps the best opportunity they've had in ages to actually talk. Lay the first stone of a new bridge. Even if it's only the one, it's still better than getting nothing done. Present it this way: It will be one less regret for Lord Vi.Al to die with when its time comes.

Oh my god I just realized, My.a told us the story of Mu.at's death, and at the time I assumed My.a had fired the experimental weapon. Now we know Vi.al did. And then, he swooped in to find My.a eating the now-weakened Starmover. The circle that he hoped to escape, happening to his hated enemy and the one he loved. Something must have broken in him then, to make him betray My.a a second time and try(?) to imprison them.

The taboo against killing one's creator must have been created as an attempt to break the circle, by so strongly discouraging it that constructs/partitions were meant to never consider it. The only thing it accomplished is to hide the very existence of the circle, and to persecute those who are unsuccessful at hiding its recurrence. I feel one piece of the puzzle might be that we have to expose the existence of the circle itself. Expose the fact that so many Lords have become such by killing their creators. But we can't really do that on our own, noone will listen to a lone ecological construct. We would have to get several Lords to admit it at the same time, as a united front. Perhaps My.a, Vi.al, and Lo.ka can do it? Lo.ka's exact origins are mysterious but considering the [MISSING] in Li.ni.si's nametag I think we can conclude that Lo.ka had a Lord above them that died, so maybe the circumstances around their death could be useful in getting the rest of the Shapeless Lords to admit the circle exists and usurpation is a frequent cause of new Lords being created. At the very least, the shock of My.a and Vi.al cooperating on *anything* should give them pause.

Considering Lords are able to erase their original creators' names from their own, I now have to wonder, are there *any* direct descendants from the Shapeless Monarch left? I wonder... was the Shapeless Monarch killed by its own creations, and the circle is a curse it put on them?

Oh. I think we have the answer to our questions regarding Vi.si.mi's blood and wings, as well. Vi.al is fallible. FALLIBLE. He made mistakes while making Vi.si.mi as they are the first and only construct he made!

If there is one thing, one, SINGULAR, thing you know, it is thus:
Nothing can exist on its own.
Even that which takes to exist needs something to take from.
All things that Grow, must either Take, or Create.
All that Take, must do so from either the Smaller, forcing ALL to grow, or the bigger, the weak fell the mighty.
The one, only, exeption to this rule of competition, is Symbiosis.
Lords, so far, seem Very Bad at Symbiosis, So the Cycle turns, without the one thing to break it.
An Ecology of minds, instead of bodies, but in Ecology none the less

>>1102479
Oh yeah I was just thinking about this.
One big problem Lords seem to have is they focus too much on the big picture. Vi.al's treatment of Five Strands is a good example of this-- he saw that her rogue planet was going to cause serious problems so he swooped in and solved the problem while sparing her creations, but didn't tell her that. It's seemingly better than what his predecessor did, which was to wipe out an entire people for being a "threat" without telling anyone else why he was doing it, but it was still not the right approach. If a Lord is to be loved, they need to not only do the right thing from the big picture perspective, but they need to connect to people on an individual level. Communicate, explain what they're doing, and why. Find out what their subjects consider the important issues, and more importantly, take on advisors who can more accurately predict how people will react.
There also might be a recurring issue of Lords using too much force when solving problems.

>>1102441
>Vi.al's only major crime here was betraying My.a. He used an experimental weapon and accidentally created the blot, sure, but he expected something different to happen. That was an accident, a mistake. He betrayed My.a on purpose, but... that is not deserving of a revolution. Vi.al is not a tyrant, not yet.
We haven't seen everything he has to show. About himself, or about My.a, or about them together.

>>1102458
True.

...what was stopping you from splitting it into quarters, or paying with YOUR half and having My.a protect you from your threats, surely they weren't as bad as Mu.at?

>>1102530
Presumably the deal was for Mu.at to provide the weapon in exchange for Vi.al giving My.a back to Mu.at.

I wonder if Vi.al's name is said the same as "vile". That would imply he named himself that as a constant reminder of what he did to get where he was.

>>1102547
If so, then I must ask what are the dangers of both scenarios, Mu.at would likely (based exclusively on what we know) be less willing to harm My.a then Vi.al, which would, if My.a was made a Lord, make My.a better at protecting Vi.al than Vi.al could My.a

>>1102429
Then choose a different expression, disgust.
Are you really going to have to unearth every misery Vi.al has places on this world?

Maybe your Lord's goal is to break your directives.

>>1102441
Only major crime that we know of.

But yeah, handing off power to someone you trust sounds like a good idea, & taking criticism from trusted individuals as well & all that.

>>1102460
>>1102463
>>1102466
>>1102491
Yeah.

>>1102547
I assumed his name was pronounced that way. Specifically "vial", but I think "vile" & "vial" are pronounced the same.

1/4 Vi.si.mi 2025/01/19(Sun)09:54 No. 1102611 ID: 2ca689
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> say your greeting
"My name is Vi.si.mi," I say, meekly.
Lord Vi.al looks at me with gentle understanding.
"It is okay, my little Vi.si.mi. Say whatever makes you feel more comfortable. The walls are insulated from signals, sight and sound."
"My name is Vi.si.mi, I am an ecology construct created for the Shapeless Lord Vi.al..."

> so many thoughts and emotions
> do not repeat the cycle
> hug Vi.al
"Long shall it r-reign! Long! You're supposed to reign for my whole life! I don't want to rebel!!" I cling to Lord Vi.al like an upset vatling, and start sobbing into Lord Vi.al's robe.
Just above me, I hear the pulsing thrum of Lord Vi.al's core, the heart of their throneworld focus. The only focus to have its heart exposed beneath the robe casing, protected from exposure by a lattice of substrate strands and energy shielding. A deliberate vulnerability, or the impression of one. I've never understood it.

Lord Vi.al simply hums a song they used to hum when I was a vatling, and pats me on the head. "You're a smart bird, Vi.si.mi. Revolution isn't something you just blunder into. And you give me your true opinion a lot more openly than I believe you think you do. I trust you and I love you, but others are less understanding. Here, speak your mind."

"Lord Vi.al..." I pull myself together.
"Vi.si.mi?"
"Is that the worst of what you did to My.a?"
"The highs and lows I consider myself free to share. There were... higher highs, but, I cannot bear to revisit them. In many ways, revisiting them hurts more than the greatest mistakes. Sho.a and My.a were happy together for a time, and My.a and their sibling Mo.a were so happy to work together. It was all too brief a time. It all started to slide into disaster the day Mo.a left, but I never did learn why Mo.a so abruptly turned their back on everyone they knew and loved."

"If you had the choice again, to send My.a back--"
"Vi.si.mi, please. I have enough of this from myself. I've calculated at least 26 ways I could have fulfilled the terms of the deals I made or ways in which I could have stacked them more in my favour. Three of them were even ways I could have come up with before my ascension to Lord. No. I would not have thrown my dearest, closest friend to a miserable fate, I would not have let my creator die in my arms, and I would not have fired a poorly understood weapon at an even more confusing threat. I would not have done so many many things. I tried to explain to My.a time and time again the only reason I took them captive was to prevent the other Lords from executing them on the spot and taking their substrate and their life for their own supply, but I suppose it doesn't matter what your intention someone has when they take away your freedom, does it. I've expected My.a to strike back at me for a long time, and quite honestly I'm surprised it took as long as it h-has."

I look up and see Lord Vi.al is trying their best to hold back tears.

"This is unbecoming of a Shapeless Lord, I am aware, but my composure may have been compromised. Pulling these memories, these vivid experiences from myself, it forces it all to feel so much more fresh and raw. Once more, I watch in horror as I see myself commit the worst mistakes of my life and all I can do is watch, screaming at a shadow not to do what I know has already been and can never be changed."
"Creator, the walls are insulated from signals, sight and sound."

Lord Vi.al looks at me in confusion, and then, with dawning realisation, they close their eyes, the tears flowing down their face.
I already was hugging them, but I just hug them tighter.

Lord Vi.al is fallible, I already knew this. But I always thought it was in ways like distractions or the errors that come up from being a distributed entity. It is strange to think that, even now, there is still a large percentage of what we all call Lord Vi.al that does not even know this is happening.
They will, quite soon. I've seen it happen often, when one of Lord Vi.al's foci receives synchronised data from their other selves, and it can be quite a shock to see a Shapeless Lord pause mid-sentence or even just interrupt themselves with an outburst when they have synchronised themselves and learned something emotionally evocative.

It's a difficult existence to understand, but ever since I created my flocklet and I've had to deal with it drifting in and out of perfect synchronicity with me, I think I get it a little better.

But no, Lord Vi.al is fallible the same way I'm fallible too, and this... it just feels wrong. I've questioned orders from Lord Vi.al before, sure, but, not because of flaws I could directly relate to. If all Shapeless Lords are like this, that feels like they're... less special. Like the distinction is less solid, less inflexible.

Like someone like me could somehow be a Shapeless Lord. That thought terrifies me.

2/4 Vi.si.mi 2025/01/19(Sun)09:55 No. 1102612 ID: 2ca689
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I let go of Lord Vi.al. They shake their head a little, flocklets dutifully removing any trace of the composure breach.

"Please, Vi.si.mi. If I ever start going astray, tell me. I will listen. I would never wish for you to have to go through what I did." They look off into the distance. "Although perhaps I already have, and all my efforts to fix the problems I cause simply introduce more problems. Problems, problems, the true nature of a Shapeless Lord is an endless parade of problems. Lordship is a cursed blessing."
"Could you not promote one of your partitions?"
"Promotion is rare. Few Lords wish to give up the control and influence they have. ...sadly, I myself find the idea horrifying, much as I wish I didn't, and yet I still dream of it. And a new Lord is always a target. I have considered the futures where I give up my power to one of my trusted partitions, in all good faith, and am forced to watch as one of my many enemies slays them, destroys my domain, and I have surrendered the exact power I would have used to save it. I... it will have to happen, some day, if I wish to be a better Lord than my predecessors, but I just... I don't feel ready for it." Lord Vi.al's gaze grows harrowed. "There are still so many problems I have to solve. I can't let go of my domain, my capabilities, my responsibilities. I keep trying to delegate and my chosen agents keep falling prey to deeper problems. It just happened again with this mission. I do not fault any of you for it, but this universe keeps proving to be more hostile and unpredictable than I imagine. We're threatened by phenomena that no one has ever encountered before. I know it will happen again, and all I can do is stall it, but I can't lose more of you. I can't lose more of you. I can't lose more of you--"

"I understand! I understand." Well, I guess I see where I get my infrequent bouts of loop sickness from.
Lord Vi.al scrunches their eyes up and rattles their entire body. "I'm unaccustomed to letting my true thoughts run so free, Vi.si.mi. I wish I could find more opportunities for time like this. As it is, I'm woefully behind on synchronisation with the rest of me. It has been cathartic to pretend to be a singleton entity again, but I have duties to uphold and a domain to keep safe, secure, and functional. I will drop the isolation barrier."
"...please talk to My.a about some of this. We have a truce right now."

Lord Vi.al sighs deeply, entirely an expressive gesture as they haven't needed to breathe air for a very long time. "I will talk if My.a permits it, perhaps. I will attempt to contact them in good faith before I leave this world, but I am bracing for it being an unproductive conversation."
"When are you leaving?" I knew it was coming, because Lord Vi.al's throneworld focus is, as to be expected, usually kept on their throneworld.
"I can't stay on this world for too long, but I will be ensuring your communication equipment includes a direct line to the palace. It did have one, but it seems... unreliable. I've put a small communications satellite into orbit, which should have already been there and appears to have gone missing or otherwise been appropriated, no surprise who by, and that's now hooked into the priority relays. It's keyed to your signature alone, because I trust you will know when to risk signal interceptions or not."
"Thank you."
"Please talk to Fo.ka.sa in the morning. She received your last message, but she's worried about you. I did update her on your status and this did not make her less worried."
"I will. ...what do I even do now, though. I don't feel up to greeting the, what did you say it was, the entire rest of the team?"
"I can let them know you are simply recovering still. You may join them tonight, or you may not. They should understand. Li.ni.si is a very understanding construct. I am glad to have given her a position where her underdocumented strengths and skills are being used."
"Thank you, Lord Vi.al." I start tearing up again. "Thank you for everything. Monarch's name, I feel like such a failure."

Lord Vi.al softly chuckles. "Strange. You seem to have been doing better than I was when I was your age. Oh, remind me after this mission to tell you more of the days before I was a Lord. Some of my terraforming missions were quite the mess. You'd enjoy the stories I have, I believe."
"I saw something about substrate ecology in those early memories. You have to tell me more about that."
"Oh, Vi.si.mi," says Lord Vi.al, smiling with their eyes, "Some of the flora and fauna on this world derives from my best designs of those more innocent days. If you get the time, I've updated your relay station's catalogue to include more data on what my plans for this world were. Not anymore, but, well, it would have been quite the sight. Oh, that reminds me. I took the initiative to preserve the plants you were transporting. Also, your relay station has a small stasis chamber for keeping organic matter preserved now. I would have simply planted them, but I didn't know what your intentions were for them."

"Oh, and one more thing. Your... emergent acquaintenance, I believe she said her name was Conduit. She shows promise, potential, and a shocking lack of awareness of my values and priorities. Not to mention a dim awareness of the sanctity of life. Enough to assuage my deeper worries, but still not as complete as I'd prefer. I would like you to mentor her. She strikes me to have the same shortcomings of a fastgrown construct, but there is a willingness to learn and a present empathy that needs encouragement. Additionally, if you meet similar entities within the attempted infrastructure of the world, please let them know my original specification is outdated, pending further review. All priority should go to the stability of this world, not further changes."

Lord Vi.al pauses once more.

"And if they are too far gone to listen to reason, be prepared to capture and detain them. Nu.ya.si has more expertise here. Do not use lethal force unless absolutely, absolutely necessary. ...and on one final note, if we do not talk before morning, I wish to assure you I will not be departing without giving you a chance to say farewell. I am trying to work on my habit of abruptly disappearing."

Lord Vi.al turns to leave, and the insulative barrier around the room fizzles away into nothing but sparkling ephemeral lights.

3/4 Vi.si.mi 2025/01/19(Sun)09:55 No. 1102613 ID: 2ca689
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I slump onto my bed.

There's a dozen questions or more I should have asked but there'll be time for them.

Mentor Conduit, huh. I guess I was already planning to do that to some extent anyway. I should do it more deliberately. Somehow.

I wonder where Lightgreen is. Probably at home asleep, because based on the clocks I can query, we're quite late into the night.

I still feel exhausted despite passing out for over half the day already. Maybe sleep isn't a bad idea.

I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep with the emotional podwreck I've just gone through, and the revelations and misery of my creator bouncing through my head.

It's not fair, it's not right, none of it is. I barely knew the Rainwhatever envoy and that's still playing on my mind. If she's still around I have to apologise to her. I like what I'm asked to do and I have some say in what I do. Even in the very rare few times of my extreme insubordination (sometimes my temper gets the best of me) I've not been punished with having my life threatened. Placed under house arrest until I cool off, maybe, but... I don't know. I can't even imagine doing anything so wrong without it affecting me enough to stop me. I just don't want to hurt people. I was made to do good things and I like doing good things.

I don't fear Lord Vi.al abandoning me now. Intentionally, anyway. I remember the times Lord Vi.al tore things apart trying to come to my rescue when missions to distant planets went badly, or if I got kidnapped by aliens, or if I otherwise became injured. And it's uncomfortable to know how good I have it as a special outlier, but I've seen Lord Vi.al drop everything to help one of their creations or indirect constructs before. But Lord Vi.al did nearly get me killed in a pod crash sending me to this planet.

I forgot to ask about that but in retrospect I think I've learned that that was, in fact, an accident, and I don't know if I want to add to the pile of things Lord Vi.al is guilty about.

The only thing I'm afraid of is something I've now seen confirmed. Lord Vi.al can make mistakes. Mistakes on the scale of fractions of a [second] that then lead to such devastation.

The mental image of Lord Vi.al reacting to a mistake that gets me killed pops into my mind. It makes me feel even worse. Damned intrusive thoughts and images. I've had enough of them from external sources, I don't need my own mind feeding them to me now!

My flocklet enters the room and settles down beside my head. Its eyes are filled with my disquiet uncertainty. I pick it up and hold it, and feel its relief to know it is not being abandoned by its creator. What a weirdly precise emotion. I let it rest on my chest as I hug it. It trills softly at me, a burbling signal with no real content beyond presence and proximity. Still comforting, though.

It's unclear to me how much of the flocklet is me and how much of it is its own thing, but that's, I suppose, the eternal ambiguity of Shapeless existence.
It's funny, though. Sometimes it feels like it has a mind of its own, like it's some piece of me that's become a little bit more comfortable to wander from myself. I wonder if I'd be capable of supporting a true partition. What would that be? Like, what, a sub-sub-partition? A sub-construct? Who knows. Maybe someone does.

Well, with all this emotional turmoil, I look forward to a long and productive session of staring at the ceiling unable to get to sleep

4/4 Vi.si.mi 2025/01/19(Sun)09:56 No. 1102615 ID: 2ca689
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and here I am on the beach again and wow I'm getting better at this mental partitioning while I sleep thing.

Oh. My flocklet's here too. I guess that happens sometimes when they're this close to me when I sleep. It remains doing whatever it does when it doesn't have orders, flitting idly around, and now sometimes poking its beak into the sand or splashing the water with a wing like a curious vatling. What a strange and silly little device.

Okay. Do I get to relax on the beach this time or am I going to be haunted by more ghosts of the past or present?

...

No?

Huh.

Finally, some peace and quiet--

"Hi Vi.si.mi. Don't mind me, I'm just checking some things." I see Li.ni.si walking around the beach. "Continue being asleep."
"What are you doing here?"
"I just said. I'm checking some things. Just basic vitals, neural cohesion. I'd also rather not be showing up in your dream simulation, but I'm asking your body directly for some information with a contact link, so you're going to end up seeing me in whatever situation you're in. I can't see where I am in your simulation beyond a vague teal-ish impression of flickering lines and 3d space-- oh, there you are. Wait. No. Misdiagnosed, that's your flocklet."

Li.ni.si wanders carefully with her eyes closed, arms outstretched, trying to not stumble over the sand.

"Why don't you open your eyes?"
"Because then I'll just see you. Like, physical you. I'm not a Co.ronal, I'm not good with this dream-simulation sharing stuff."
"Do you often do this, uh, invasive stuff?"
"All the time, with unresponsive constructs."
"I'm not unresponsive! Wait, are you in my room?"
"Yes?"
"I don't recall giving you permission to check on me like this!"
"Look. I didn't want to wake you up after you had that hard shutdown, I think rest is a good idea. I just also want to make sure you're not suffering from anything more serious like neural degradation or... reality drift, with how high fidelity this simulation is."

Li.ni.si makes a show of looking around, despite keeping her eyes closed.

"...and also because a contact link is basically impossible to intercept, and I wanted to talk to you in private. Gonna be a lot harder to find chances now that the whole team's here. Especially Nu.ya who seems to take offense to the idea of privacy." She rolls her eyes. "I begrudgingly do actually like the guy, between you and me. Deep down he's caring and considerate, but he can just be so... so... ugh. It's like we bring out the worst in each other sometimes. I don't even know if he's doing it on purpose. Oh, on that note the others say hi. Ji.pa.ke tried to bring a cake for some reason but it didn't transmit right so it's more of a, uh, y'know actually don't worry about it."
"You want to talk to me in private? Why?"
"Because I have some things I want to confess to you, if we're going to keep working together, before they show up at a more inopportune moment. That or it's just the guilt. I don't know. I'm sorry, you're trying to sleep, and here I am showing up with the most inane requests. Sorry, this was a bad idea. Your health is fine, physically, incidentally, your bioenergy is flowing like it should again. You do seem stressed but it's not hard to figure out why that might be. Also your link with your flocklet seems nice and strong when it's this close to you. Even shows up in your simulations, huh."

She pauses. "Huh. I don't think I've seen a flocklet play in the sand before. Did you give this thing an echo of yourself?"
"No? I don't think so? Not intentionally?"
"Weird. Well, it's adorable. Almost like..." She pauses. I hear her take a few deep, shuddering breaths. The contact link leaks a surge of suppressed melancholy, Li.ni.si's focus broken for a fleeting moment. "Never mind. Never mind that. Anyway, do you think you're up for another private conversation? I don't know what you spoke to Lord Vi.al about, but they came out of your room looking a little haunted, so I fully understand if you're not ready to have this conversation yet."
"Can you at least tell me what it's going to be about?"
"I think just knowing what I want to talk about is itself going to be a bit stressful." She wrings her claws together. "Ugh, I should have waited. But here we are, now."
"You're not gonna like show me a bunch of experiences as if I was you and relive your dark past or whatever are you because I really don't think I can do that again today."
"What? I don't have any of the equipment I'd need for that, I was just going to tell you? With my words?? What are you talking about??"

...

do I risk learning even more terrible secrets about my colleagues (is Li.ni.si someone I can call a friend yet? I never was clear how it worked) or can I just ask Li.ni.si to give me one damn night's peace

It's either your coworker's deep dark secrets or terrifying Blot dreams. Go for the interpersonal bit.

May as well, it's something you probably have the vague outline of, and it can't be anywhere near as bad as Vi.al's past.
...while I'm thinking about it the Conduit thing has a potentially very direct solution: Show Conduit your own memories, show why YOU care about life, some of why Vi.al does. Conduit seems to have the capability to enter this space that is You fully enough.
We're already at the topic and, well Conduit cared enough to check in on you, seems to truly, deeply, care. In a Very, Very Misguided way.

...hmmm, if a semi-one way connection can get her this far, then if you reach out to her, could you pull li.ni.si the rest of the way into the simulation?
because if you are gonna have a conversation in here, you might as well try!

May as well, its going to happen sooner or later isn't it? All these secrets are really screwing things up.

Let's not delegate to Li.ni.si more than we have to, lest we fall out of practice for this whole leadership thing. Go ahead and do another update of flashbacks.

>>1102613
Add "my flocklet seems to be thinking on its own" to the list of things to talk to Vi.al about. Actually why don't you bring that up with Li.ni.si? It's strange, but not particularly dangerous, so no reason to keep it super secret. She was going to say it was like "a child", probably. I wonder if she had one, or wanted one.

>>1102615
>she wants to talk about something
It's probably going to be about the Blot, or the City. Warn her you have seen footage of the latter, so you're partially affected, and also that My.a has a better mind shield for it so if it becomes a problem we may need to make a deal with them for treatment.

It is technically what happened with the Rain creatures message in that you've seen into what amounts to their brain.

You've been experiencing a lot of these lately in such a short amount of time..

>>1102615
It's not you, it's me. Totally gonna end up simulating it here, being a dream and all.

Fuck me up bro, might as well get it all out now.

This is how you build bridges. Vi.si.mi. Let her get it off her chest. You're going to need to be a better listener, you know.

Well that's a lot of mysteries wrapped up. Vi.al's had it rough. While My.a has it worse, she's still causing problems while Vi.al is at least attempting to fix things. Per Li.ni.si do you feel up to lending an ear or have you had enough? Seriously you've earned a break from all this.

Well being a leader does mean dealing with team drama… so grab your flocklet in a hug, sit down in a comfortable position and hope to god whatever revelations she gives you are less heavy than that of a shapeless lord.

Some perspective from the mistakes of individuals with less responsibilities might help frame what you learned.

>>1102635
Admittedly, she seems to still be trapped. I think Vi.al sent her away because he couldn't prove that she didn't have directives with her lord still alive. Either he's learned from this or it tells you more about the kind of lord he is to other Shapeless than his own with what he said.

As for Li.ni.si, ask her to go slow with it, don't see why breaking down over it would be a bad thing right now, this is the time to rest. But also that doesn't mean she will get answers. I think you are going to want to grab her and put her somewhere first, however.

>>1102615
"i keep getting substrate, substrate adjacent, or substrate parallel creatures joining my dream scape randomly sometimes and as this is a space where mindes come in contact stuff can get trippy..... they seem to be impressed with my sand if anything"

Go for it.

Crap crap crap she doesn't know, she doesn't know you have to warn her that you were exposed to something involved in the cityworld failure in which Lord Vi.al had to personally intervene to stop BAD THINGS from happening. You're not allowed to think about it, you don't want to think about it, thinking about it may itself be dangerous, and you really would like Li.ni.si. to be very careful that whatever she's confessing doesn't accidentally remind you of it!

It's hopefully unrelated, but she needs to know you were in some way exposed to the same disaster she was, sooner than later. You do not want to leave that minefield unspoken. Maybe you're worried about nothing, and she can let you know there is no danger here, and it'll be such a relief!

1/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:41 No. 1109512 ID: 0f6cbd
File 174977526039.png - (144.05KB , 800x600 , fop2-115.png )

"Against my better judgement, sure, let's hear you out. Let me guess, it's some horrifying secret related to the Blot or the City, right? Oh, right, do you want me to just drag you in here?"
"Wait no don't do that, I'm not good at splitting my attention so, uh, literally, I'll fall over. Alright, if you're willing to hear me out... ugh, what, I can't just get on the bed with you, it's not big enough and it feels a bit too intimate. I guess I'll just... uh, hm, okay there's enough substrate, I'll just get a chair out of it or something. Okay. Okay, right, I'm ready if you want to try pulling me deeper into your dream. Hopefully I slump backwards and not forwards."

Wow. I didn't realise my ability to dive into a digital space and not fall over in physical reality constituted a skill. Well, there we go, I guess.

"Also no it's not the Blot and especially not the City, Monarch's feathers no, you're extremely not ready for me to tell you any of the secrets of the City. Maybe you'll never be. I hope none of us ever have to talk about it again! No, I just have a few things I want to explain that might explain why I acted the way I did yesterday, in case it comes up again."
"Oh."

I'm unaccustomed to trying to pull someone into my own mind. Previously they've just sort of shown up by themselves. I focus on Li.ni.si, and she slowly, slowly opens her eyes, her form feeling less a suggestion and more an insistence.
Her eyes widen, and from her new partial submergence into my consciousness, I realise she's stunned by the clarity of her surroundings.

"Oh wow. I've seen this beach before from the palace. You must know this place well to have this vivid a simulation of it."
"I used to come here a lot to ponder. I guess I still do, just not physically."
"I can relate..." Li.ni.si sighs and looks out into the simulated night sky. "There was a gallery of simulated ecosystems in the City I used to love visiting, with one particular biome being one I really adored. A synthetic rainforest, a river running through it, sometimes raining, sometimes not. The sky barely visible through the canopy of green. Life everywhere. It was beautiful." Li.ni.si sighs, fidgeting with the sand. "I'm not as good as you at simulating these things, and my memory of that place isn't something I can reinforce anymore. It's going to end up a vague smudge, and I know it. Can't cling to the past forever."
"I can find you a real rainforest. I've worked on a few."
"That's very kind of you. Thank you. Still. Okay. What I came here to talk about. Ugh. Sorry, lost in memories now."
"That seems to be the theme of the night. Don't worry about it."

I walk over and sit next to Li.ni.si. I let my flocklet continue to play in the water.
She watches it, melancholy, whatever burst of energy she had earlier subsiding.

"I had a vatling once."
She takes a few seconds to compose herself. "That wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about, but, well, it's true. Her name was Yai.le.ka. I loved her very much and... I don't want to go into any more detail than that." She cradles her head in her hands.

I look at her in shock.

"...I'm sorry, that just sort of... slipped out, I guess." She fights back tears, taking deep breaths with her eyes closed. "There's a reason I've not talked about it, and there's a reason I don't want to talk about it any more than that. Just. It's a, it's a good context to have, I think."
"I will ask you no further questions, but if you ever want to talk to me about it, I'll listen."
"Thank you. Thank you for that, Vi.si.mi. You're good people, when you're not caught up on your own preconceptions. I'll take you up on that offer someday, but maybe when we're both a little less... fragile."

A few moments of silence go by.

"How are you, Li.ni.si? I'm still sorry about earlier. The last thing I wanted to be was an extra problem on top of everything else."
"Well, honestly, all we had to do was walk back here. You kept feeding the cart your bioenergy to make it go. I couldn't make you stop. It's not the first time I've come across such a thing. Some part of you was so determined, for whatever reason, to keep making the cart move, it actually made it hard to stop the cart moving. Conduit had to improvise some circuits to feed your bioenergy back into yourself so it'd slow down."
"Wow. I didn't realise I was that determined."
"Well, something in you was. That, and your flocklet started pushing the cart too, ineffectual as it was."
"I don't know how to feel about how autonomous my flocklet's been acting lately. Wait. Wait, Li.ni.si, I asked how you feel, not about me."

Li.ni.si taps her claws together. "I'm going to be honest, Vi.si.mi, I'm far more comfortable talking about how others feel than how I feel. My main focus for much of my life has been on making sure others are healthy and functional, okay? Just... let's not examine me after what I just told you about, please."
"You need to care for yourself as well."
"I'm aware. I'm very aware. We should have a break tomorrow, if there's no immediate crisis of course. You need to get to know the team, and I'm adjusting to this pace of life. I'm sorry I'm not as quick as you at just being thrown into things, but I guess I got too used to the quiet. Monarch knows I needed it after the City, even if the quiet sometimes just got too quiet."
"Alright. I'll be spending tomorrow discussing globestalk cultivation with Golden Bough's planters and medicine makers anyway. I certainly won't be going far."
"Thanks, Vi.si.mi. I'm sorry for being a bit of a burden."
"Li.ni.si you literally dragged me back here on a cart, I was literally a burden to carry, you absolutely do not need to apologise."
"Haha." The laugh sounds genuine, but I can't help notice how low and tired it is.

2/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:41 No. 1109513 ID: 0f6cbd
File 174977529559.png - (152.03KB , 800x600 , fop2-116.png )

"So, uh, what big secret did you want to talk to me about?"
"Oh. Yes. That. Well. I want a promise from you first not to discuss it with anyone else first."
"I can't promise not to discuss something when I don't know what it is. When I do, though, you have my word as Lord Vi.al's trusted agent I will tell no one. Are you sure this isn't City-related?"
"Well, not directly, but a lot of related stuff happened when I was at the City. First off, you know what this means, right?"

She taps at the symbol on her forehead, the same as the one on her chest.

"It's the symbol of all mechics, right? A symbol indicating you can provide medical assistance and repairs."
"No. Not all mechics. It's the symbol of the Royal Mechic Society."
"OH. Oh, that makes sense."

The Royal Mechic Socie--
"The Royal Mechic Society," says Li.ni.si, interrupting my own inner expository monologue, "is a society of mechics recognised and represented across all of Shapeless space, and supposedly as old as the First Court of the Shapeless Monarch. I'm not sure that's true, in sort of a [Lord Tha.si's Bottle*] sort of way, but it is a respected institution and as such given more leeway to act to its own whims. Well, there's also some influence from the Lords that help to fund it, but, whatever, I'm not getting into the politics again, I've always hated the politics. I joined in part because it's almost expected for most mechics to join, and in part because I was tempted by the idea of getting to have a reason to step outside of the normal Lo.kan rules. Without doing anything actually illegal, due to the protections of the Society. There's some research they conduct that could be considered illegal in different Lords' domains, which is why there's this agreement between different Lords that the Royal Mechic Society has a protected status, as long as constructs are working within its boundaries, and so on, you get the point."
"Huh. I'm mostly not sure where this is going, but continue."
"Well. The thing is, this sort of legal immunity only applies within domains that respect the authority of the Royal Mechic Society."
"I can't imagine why Lord Vi.al would reject such an institution."
"No, they haven't, but the thing is, well."

Li.ni.si takes a few deep breaths. "Well, I'm... still pursuing one of the topics of research. That alone could risk me getting thrown out of the Society if they knew I was doing independent research without someone from the Society to oversee me. I sort of cut all ties when I left Lo.ka's domain, expecting there to be a Society presence in Lord Vi.al's domain, but there isn't. There used to be, but it hasn't been re-established and the Society doesn't want to risk any of their expertise and assets being lost a third time to some new cosmic disaster so they're hesitant to set up a new operational presence in Vi.alic space. That's the first of two secrets I want you to keep."
"Okay. That doesn't sound so wrong." The Royal Mechic Society is a respected organisation. Probably one of the only collaborations across Shapeless space not to have gone horribly wrong. I mean, health is important, especially for constructs, and while the True Shapeless experience afflictions very rarely, they do happen. It does sounds like the Society might be rife with internal tensions. Wonder how it's managed to keep going without breaking down.

"The other is the topic I'm researching, and that topic is, uh..." Li.ni.si's voice gets uncharacteristically higher-pitched and meek. She blushes and folds her arms around her, clearly uncomfortable. I brace myself for whatever terrible thing she's about to be vulnerable about.

"Construct reproduction?"

I promised her I'd keep her secrets I promised her I have to be supportive or at the least not freak out about how extremely forbidden and illegal that topic is no wonder she's uncomfortable to discuss it that could get her decommissioned

"If it's at all reassuring, I don't think it's happening in my lifetime. It takes [3 years] in a dedicated vat-assembler the size of a room to make a vatling, so current technology absolutely cannot be integrated into the physical space of the third standard construct template," she says, "and also you can't eat your own wing, your beak doesn't open."
"It doesn't hinge," I say, continuing to try to stuff my wing into the rippling interface of my underbeak. "I can put things in it."
Really, it's a futile gesture. I won't muffle myself enough if I actually do start screaming.
"Well," says Li.ni.si, looking concerned, "it looks uncomfortable."
"It is! Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to just admit something like that! That's-- independent research into construct reproduction is like one of the most illegal things you could be doing! Sorry. Sorry. I'm. I'm a bit shocked. I will be okay with it. I promise. I promise. Give me time to accept this. And you know what? The idea isn't totally alien to me. I do wonder why you're continuing to do research when you have no one to report to and it's such a risk if someone reports it. Which I swear will not be me. I will not report this."

[*Shapeless idiom, 'a substrate container that is replaced with different substrate cells over time until none of the originals remain', see: ship of Theseus, Trigger's broom]

3/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:42 No. 1109514 ID: 0f6cbd
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Li.ni.si gives me a worried look. "Okay. I'm deep enough in your head to know you do earnestly mean that, so don't worry. Well, I'm still doing the research so I have something to present to the Society when I'm back in contact. I know, I know, I'm not technically supposed to, but I'm positive if it's good they'll be willing to overlook that."
"If you say so." (what a backwards way of doing things)
"Also, Lord Vi.al is already aware of the, uh, modifications in my body I picked up during one avenue of this research, and as far as I can tell has no concerns either. They never actually addressed the topic directly, but I felt the scans, and Lord Vi.al gave me this weird sort of look I couldn't quite figure out. And then told me that the Society has really made some improvements in recent years, if my capabilities and competence were anything to go by. I'm still not sure what they meant by any of it? What was Lord Vi.al talking about? Do you have any idea what that could mean?"
"It's Lord Vi.al, they assume they're being monitored at all times." They're right to assume. "If you think they were implying anything, they probably were."
"But implying what. What was being implied. Vi.si.mi, Lord Lo.ka is not nearly this confusing to figure out. ...no, no, ignore that, Lord Lo.ka is differently confusing."

"Wait. What body modifications?"
"That's a conversation we're never going to have while I'm sober."
"I don't have any modifications myself but my body does contain organs that produce second-stage assemblers. I wonder if that's related to your line of research."
"Yeah, I know, but--"

Li.ni.si pauses.

"Hey, you're right. Hey... are you, uh, hm... no, that's far too intrusive."
I sigh. "Do you want to examine my seed capsule organs."
"Sort of, but not if you're that reluctant. I feel like that's too invasive. It's extremely low priority anyway, the stability mission takes priority."
"What does your research even involve?"
"Right now? Scans of existing structures, mostly. Anything further would require a dedicated team and advanced mechical research technology we do not have access to here."
"Oh. Scans?"
"You know. Ultrasonic and contact. I've been told in the past to stay away from EM scans unless I know it won't be harmful or potentially mutagenic which would be a severe violation of the Society code of ethics. And my personal ethics, too."

"Oh, and I scanned Lightgreen while you were out collecting globestalk, so if that comes up, you already know."
"Did you ask her first??"
"Ask her? It was her incessant questions that twisted my arm about this whole thing! Then she started blabbing on about how she's pledged her life to help the starbeings and if they needed the secrets of how to make larvae from her, she'd gladly let me run whatever not-painful tests on her. She's... a little zealous, when it comes to us, isn't she. I hope I didn't exploit that."
"She got you to tell her secrets that put you in danger and you think you exploited her?" I grin with my eyes. "Maybe that bracelet she has is more powerful than we think."
"Oh, shut up," says Li.ni.si, smiling back at me, her mouth faintly visible for just a moment. "Although you're right. I did tell her not to tell you what I was talking about, and she promised, so... we'll see if she can be trusted."
"She can." I trust her, and she trusts me. She thinks she owes us, but we owe her and her people. So much we promised, so much harm we need to make amends for.

"Hm. That's interesting. Your mood perked up quite a bit when we started talking about Lightgreen. How long have you known her?"
"Only a few turns of the planet, really, but it feels like it's been longer."
"Well, one thing I feel I ought to remind you is to not get too attached to the locals. It's great that you're friends, but you're not planning to stay here for the rest of your life, I assume."
"Well I hope not."
"And I think the other lepi would be extremely upset if we tried taking her back with us. I don't even know if 1 Radiant Eye can support organic life at all."
"It... probably couldn't, it's very tailored to substrate life. But, you know." I stare off into the ocean. "This mission could go on for a while. I can worry about that sort of thing later. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to say goodbye to a friend."

Li.ni.si looks at me, and, after some hesitation, puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Alright, I think that was everything," she says, eyes fixed on the waves in the horizon. I better go actually sleep."
"Alright. See you in the morning."

4/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:49 No. 1109516 ID: 0f6cbd
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As Li.ni.si disappears, I notice something feels... off.

Something sliding around my perception, around the walls (there are no walls), and carrying with it the sensation of... something oily, greasy, slippery in an unpleasant way.

I turn around and I'm not at the beach anymore, I'm in a featureless black void.

I see who I think is Nu.ya.si, the hacker construct, or what I vaguely remember him looking like in the fleeting moments I spoke to him, but he looks distressed, and like he's... fighting with himself, or, no, a purple shape like himself.

No. Not like himself. A purple shape unlike himself. It's staring. It's staring into me.

"Ohh this is bad," he says, smiling, but clearly under duress, cooling fluids running down his face. "Come on, Nu.ya, you can't do this, not now, not here, not again, not again. Back in the box. Put it back in the box."
"You remember more than this. The tethers, the strings, it all spools from above. Sing a truth you know deep inside. Sing a song of the W### S#####."
"NO! No. Ugh, no no no no. Back in the box. Come on, come on, close, why won't the sockets close."
"You."

Oh. It's... it's addressing me. Everything tastes like sour copper.
"Fuck fuck FUCK NO SHUT IT DOWN SHUT IT DOWN!!" Nu.ya.si's frustration buckles as a genuine mortal terror takes its place.
"Revisit the revelation. There is a thread around your heart. You have seen."

I feel shaky. Nauseous. I find myself remembering pieces of images. A towering substrate structure, melting and burning in brilliant purple flame.
Nu.ya.si twists and contorts like he's on fire.

"L-- List-- Listen to th--" he blurts out, before punching himself in the face hard enough he overbalances. Yet he gracefully recovers, only to take new awkward poses, and recover, and twist, and recover, and twist, and

"My name is truth, my name is enlightenment. I speak with your voice, for I am nothing more than your shadow. I am a glorious dawning you fear, yet all words I hold are yours. Invoke me with the words. The words are W### ##G###. Understand the truth of your existence. Look above you, and see the strings tied to your veins--"
"<<BE GONE! BE GONE!! BE GONE!!!>>"
I don't hear Nu.ya.si's words as strongly as I feel the intent behind them, a compulsion, and I have to move away from him.

Abruptly, the purple figure simply ceases to exist as Nu.ya.si crashes into the non-floor.

"Hough. Fuck. Fuck! That better not have got into the base's systems. Time to start peeling it back out if it did. Fuuuuck. I've been here for less than a SINGLE [day] and... wait, why is Vi.si.mi connected to the base systems? Oh wow. Wow the bird's just... totally open. That's horrifying. Wait. Oh no. Ohhh no."

I feel a heavy pause.

"...hey, uh, buddy, if you, uh, if you're able to hear this, just, uh, ignore everything that just happened. Immediately. Okay? Great. Also we have got to talk about your security."

5/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:50 No. 1109517 ID: 0f6cbd
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-==## T+ 6 Days (Local) #=--
Oh hey I was wondering what happened to my mission timer. Good, sleep must have fixed it. Aggressive rounding on the thing, huh.

I wake up and Li.ni.si is asleep on top of me, having collapsed forwards and not backwards onto the chair she formed.

Well. I guess my first decision of the day is figuring out if and how to wake up this surprisingly soft and warm construct over me. I'd expect to feel more crushed, but I guess she's angled enough that the bed's taking the brunt of her weight. Or the bed adjusted itself so that I didn't get crushed in my sleep. It does have safety features like that. I think. Probably.

In vague bleariness I start wrapping my wingarms around her. After a few blissful moments, common sense returns and I stop. I've known her for less than a day of this planet I cannot be that desperate for contact. I just got a hug from Lord Vi.al yesterday, come on, get it together.

I look to my side and my flocklet is watching me inquisitively. Slightly mischeviously, like it can pick up on my frustration. Little pest. In an endearing way, though.

"Good morning," I say to it, mostly in jest, not expecting a response. It doesn't give one.

"Go tell Lord Vi.al I still need to talk to them about-- what am I doing. You can't talk. I never could get that to work."

It nods at me, or rolls at me, I can't tell. I wonder if my partitions aren't fully merged yet on waking and if I'm giving orders to a split-brain instance of myself.
Either way, it floats up and gently drifts through the door to the room. Huh.

Okay. So. What to do about Li.ni.si.

6/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:50 No. 1109518 ID: 0f6cbd
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"Hey, you okay yet? Vi.si.mi?"

I hear a voice just outside the doorwall that takes me a few seconds to recognise as, uh, well it was one of the other constructs in that meeting a few days ago, uhhh...

"Mind if I come in? Hm. No, this is a wellness check, I'm coming in anyway."
"The wall won't be a door unless I--"

The construct I remember being Nu.ya.si hums the correct command sequences and walks through the doorwall. "Yeah yeah, I know how Vi.alic architecture works, I did spend most of my life in this domain-- oh."

He sees Li.ni.si collapsed on me and-- oh. Oh this is awkward.
"Look. Okay. So. I know this looks sort of weird."
"Sure does! Lucky for you, I know her. Passed out doing the 'medical exam' contact link thing again, didn't she." He scratches his chin. "Okay, it probably was legitimately a medical exam this time, and not just an excuse to vent in private where certain Nu.yas can't hear."
"Well-- wait, what? No, that's exactly it."

He grins. "Yeah this wouldn't be the first time. Did you pull her into a simulation? She never was able to partition herself internally, but that's true for a lot of Lo.kan constructs. Apparently it's just something we Vi.alics have a knack for, huh."
"We, uh, do?"
"Don't come up much in conversation, do it?"
"Uh, I guess not. I mean, I know Va.ha.ti can read like three or four things at a time if she really has to. Is that related?"
"Probably. Look, all I'm saying is she probably went out like a shoddy glowlight trying to disengage. You pulling her into your dream would have sent her to sleep completely. No one at the console. All conscious focus redirected to whatever you wanna call weird abstract realm inside your processing networks. She probably snapped back into her own dream, or she's just in a dreamless sleep without time or meaning, one of those."
"Is that bad?"
"Nah she's fine."

I hear Li.ni.si mumble something about the falgio clumps being beautiful this time of year.

"...hey, so, uh, I had a second dream last night."
"If I were you I'd stop thinking about that right now," he says, still smiling, but with a lot more haste and urgency. "It won't be happening again, I patched the hole."
"What happened--"
"Vi.si.mi," he says, smile faltering, "if you keep picking at a wound it'll never heal."
"Wound? What wound--"
"I've said a bit too much already, I think, so let's change the topic, yeah? Yeah, yeah I know, it sucks being kept in the dark, but, take it from me, I went looking for answers and." He stares off behind me for a moment. "Just don't. Remember to don't."
"Don't what??"
"Precisely." His annoying smile comes back. "Also, you should probably stop going to sleep with all your receptors open."
"Eh??" Why would I willingly close off contact with the outside world while asleep-- oh. Oh, I think he has a point. "I can't just shut my senses off."
"Look, just, talk to me before you next go to sleep, okay?"

I look at Li.ni.si's slumped body draped over mine. "I'm not going to be able to move without waking her up, am I."
"Yeah she's a surprisingly light sleeper. She was like that even before the big clusterfuck. I'm honestly shocked our little chit chat hasn't woken her up already to be honest. Hey, so, are you up to more work yet? The Big One themself asked me to let you know there's a bit of an unresolved diplomatic thing involving... uh... the big eel one. I'm not even trying to pronounce that name, screw that."
"B... uh... there's like a click... B!snu-fnaa-kwee? Or is it B!snu-fnaaa-kwee."
"I can't hear any difference. But yeah, that guy. Something about a missing diplomat."

7/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:51 No. 1109520 ID: 0f6cbd
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"Uh. Where's Palestripe."

Nu.ya.si starts drawing in light on the wall.

"Locked in the shower. You have a shower room now, by the way. It's running at full blast and she keeps saying she won't come out until either her demands are met, her questions are answered, or she's given a large fruit. One of those. Well, none of those, probably, she keeps trying to talk in polyphonic and she's still not very good at it. She sounded really upset, but also really cagey about why she was upset. Kinda... twitchy, too. Keeps wringing her tendrils together and shaking. I have my theories but it'd be, you know, impolite to start speculating what's happening based on what it reminds me of, but, y'know, some of those constructs deep into the ginger acted a little quirky when they got cut off too. Makes you think."
"Today was going to be a nice relaxing day of low stakes so I could get to know my team..."
"Well, if the last [33 years] of my life are anything to go by, if you don't find problems, problems find you. And that's all of them. All the [years] of my life. I'm saying it's my lived experience. Haha wow, I am great at first impressions. This is why I prefer text comms. Anyway. You, uh, planning on leaving that bed today, boss?"
"Oh no don't call me boss."
Nu.ya.si adjusts his goggles and grins wide. "Too bad, boss."

It was supposed to be an easy day today.

"I mean, if you're not a fan of boss, what should I call you, Vi.si?"
"We're not on two-syllable terms either. Not yet."
"Right, boss."
"Wait. Are you trying to tell me you think whatever Palestripe is doing is because she wants a fermented ginger drink?"

Nu.ya.si smiles at me widely, head tilted, eyes closed. "Oh, you're so precious, Vi.si. I've been reviewing all the data we have on the blue rain, and anything we have on Rainborn, which isn't a lot, but, wow, they really like their blue rain, don't they. Have you noticed? The stuff that seems to make things exposed to it better and stronger and faster and it changes them so they need more of it." He rolls his eyes with a wry grin. "You don't happen to have any of that stuff, do you?"
"Why would I have that. Why would I have any of that, Nu.ya.si."
"Eh, stranger things happen. Did you know Fo.ka.sa's exotic fluids collection includes a tank of the stuff? Shame that's, y'know, in another star system and not here. And it certainly wouldn't transmit. Not really helpful, but, y'know, when else is it going to come up?"

8/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/06/12(Thu)17:52 No. 1109521 ID: 0f6cbd
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"Ughh..." Li.ni.si wakes up. "Wow, sorry about that, Vi.si.mi, I think I just--"
She stops, looks at me, looks to Nu.ya.si, and my physical contact with her lets me feel her mind racing to process the situation she's in.

"It's not what it looks l--"
"Yes, yes, I know." Nu.ya.si sighs. "Why don't you ever collapse onto me after having a secret conversation, eh?"

The two look at each other, and, for all I know, might as well be having a secret conversation right now through the medium of glares and stares.

"You really haven't changed a bit, have you," says Li.ni.si.
"I refuse," he says, with a dramatic flourish as he places his hand on his chest. "If two exiles couldn't fix me, I guess I'm just stuck like this."

Li.ni.si gets up off of me, at last, and walks uncomfortably close to Nu.ya.si, who just keeps grinning.
More heated silent exchanges of eye contact happen, with Li.ni.si's eyes narrowing as Nu.ya.si's grin widens.

"We have a bit of a history," says Nu.ya.si.
"I would never have been able to guess," I say with perhaps a bit too dry and deadpan a delivery.
"Well, that's why you've got a team now. Y'know, to compensate for your own social shortcomings. Er, sorry, no, I mean skill gaps."

And then he gives me the same damn grin, at once charming and incandescently infuriating, and I suddenly want to punch it off his face, and I also suddenly deeply understand much more why Li.ni.si feels the way she does around him.

"So what's the rest of the team doing?"
"Ji.pa.ke was rooting through automata designs to figure out how to be useful, and Su.ki.fu left at first light on a "scouting mission" that I'm pretty sure was an excuse to go flying. Now Ji.pa.ke is helping the little wormy thing plan a new body. Between J i.pa.ke and Li.ni.si, the wormy thing is probably getting close to finalising their design."
"And Lightgreen?"
"Who?"
"The lepi. White and, uh, light green fur."
"Don't think I've seen anyone like that since I got here."

"So, Vi.si.mi," says Li.ni.si. "If you're feeling up to taking control of this mission again, I'd recommend you do it before Nu.ya here just takes control of it like he seems to think is his Vi.al-given right."
"Oh you-- We don't all spend every single night asleep, princess! Someone has to keep their hands on the console," says Nu.ya.si, looking, perhaps for the first time I've seen him, actually irritated.
"Princess. Really."
"Oh, I'm sorry, would you prefer-- ugh. Ugh. No. I'm not getting dragged into yet another vatling-style back-and-forth."
"That you started, once again," mutters Li.ni.si.
"Okay, okay! Let's not fight. Let's focus on the task at hand."

The two look to me.

Hm. Open issues. Lord Vi.al probably hasn't left yet and I wanted to convince them to contact My.a for... I don't remember precisely aside from just feeling like an entire world should not hang in the balance due to a personal fight between two Lords even if that is a distressingly common occurence. There's... whatever Palestripe is doing locked in a room. And part of my anxiety-riddled mind is screaming at me that Lightgreen might not be asleep and she might have been taken by something in the night. And what Nu.ya.si said in my dream about me being "wide open" is haunting me.

I need to pick one of these to focus on now and probably figure out something to send these two on that'll get them far apart from each other. It would have been great if the briefings told me these two can't stand being around each other!! Helping the village cultivate their medical fungus can wait a little longer. It's not like it's going to grow legs and walk away. I checked for pseudopods yesterday just to be safe. Can't rely on any assumptions with this world going forward.

The personal security issue seems like the most pressing one, from what people have said of Lightgreen not being helpless and such.

Let's try giving Palestripe a large fruit first. If that calms her down, that's an easy win.

Think palestripe should be dealt with first since I think it was mentioned that part of the reason she’s freaking out is because she thinks your hurt and it’s her fault so showing her your fine should at least help calm her down a bit.

>>1109514
>Vi.al's scan
It's possible that he assumed she made those modifications with the Society's permission, but it's more likely that he was urging her to get the Society's permission before she progressed much further! Well, at least all she's doing now is scans. Collecting information without analyzing it or forming theories is fine, probably. I have no idea how to convey this to her, and asking Vi.al to give her another hint might be too close to breaking your promise. Urging her to ask Vi.al about the "hint" might work out though?

>>1109521
Getting My.a and Vi.al to start talking again, even if on bad terms, is something that could benefit the galaxy. It's kindof huge. Do that before you lose the opportunity.

Ask Li.ni.si to try to get Palestripe calmed down. Nu.ya.si should... uh... well, we aren't in open war with anyone that *has* a network at the moment so I'm not sure what hacking he can do. I suppose he could go check on your accidental ecological contamination, do some scans so you know how bad it is. Oh, maybe he can talk to the Lepi to get them more prepared to defend themselves? Or set up some substrate-based defenses around the camp so that we're in less danger of folding to a single attack? Another thing he could look into is figuring out how that relay cascade worked so that we can communicate with the other factions at this range. Not to hack them, as that would be too much aggression, but establishing a line of communications would be the first step to attempting to broker peace. At least, peace with most of the factions. I expect at least one of them will be quite insistent on war, and I know one faction would be peaceful if it weren't for the Shapeless forcing them to do its bidding. If we could take them out of action or figure out how to give them what they want so they stand down...

Well, you need to talk to Vi.al for. So Many Things. You need to talk to him about your Flocklet that is verging on a vatling, about your system being open, about wanting to fly (you are NOT jealous at Su.ki.fu you refuse to be jealous), about My.a and breaking cycles, possibly about why your behaviour is so similar to his.
...by Monarch you need to half a Feeling Talk TWO

Apologize. You want them to apologize. It's far too late for apologies, but if Lord Vi.al haven't apologized to My.a yet, that's one more thing the insane Lord can hold over them. My.a certainly won't allow them to apologize, so this is pretty much a long term at the moment of the climactic battle goal.

Incidentally Nu.ya.si is going to be a problem not for their dangerous abilities or their irritating nature, but they're trying to do things on their own, by themselves, without any help. Actively blocking attempts to help. You need to convince them that they cannot handle everything alone, and must sometimes rely on their allies, or they'll break at the worst moment, and the problem they didn't tell you about will rise up and ruin everything.

Alternatively you should never depend on them for anything because you don't know when they'll break.

If it helps keep the thoughts of Illegal Construct Reproduction contained, consider this line of thought: Lord Vi.al did scans of Li.ni.si and knows a lot about her and the other three constructs. There's a high likelihood he already knows she's looking into construct reproduction and has either implicitly okayed it through inaction or has deemed it to be not a risk worth acting upon. Actively bringing it to Lord Vi.al's attention, especially somewhere where there might be eavesdroppers, carries a risk of obligating them to actually do something about it. In essence, if other the lords don't know that Vi.al knows what Li.ni.si is researching, then Vi.al doesn't have to do anything.

As for prioritisation... Vi.al is time sensitive, and Palestripe is a security risk so, those two. Hopefully Lightgreen is not present for just mundane reasons and your own personal security can hopefully be sorted before you go to sleep again.

>>1109568
>Getting My.a and Vi.al to start talking again, even if on bad terms, is something that could benefit the galaxy. It's kindof huge.

Strategically sound on a grand scale. Even tiny reconciliation would be a very positive change.

>>1109521
Send Li.ni.si to check on Lightgreen, health and safety is her job.

Send Nu.ya.si your diagnostics so he can figure out why you're wide open, data is his job.

The other two are already doing their jobs, which is great.

First, establish a meeting between Palestripe and Vi.al. We have air to clear with Palestripe on how Shapeless society works, and an alliance to discuss. After that's done we can talk to Vi.al about the My.a situation.

1/6 Vi.si.mi 2025/07/07(Mon)17:06 No. 1110825 ID: 0f6cbd
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> Nu.ya.si is going to be a problem
I can see the potential issues already. But you don't get a charging animal to go where you want them by pushing back. He just needs to be steered.

"Okay," I say, both their attention on me. "Li.ni.si, go find out if Lightgreen is okay."
Li.ni.si leaves the room with a quick nod, and an annoyed glance in Nu.ya.si's direction.
"Nu.ya.si, there was some sort of weird signal pulse a few planet-days ago when I first tried to get into contact with Lord Vi.al that briefly let me get into contact with all the Transcendentals. If you can go through the station records--"
"Yeah, I was looking into that last night," says Nu.ya.si. "I was looking over the logs for signs of intrusion and that event caught my eye. I can't figure out what caused it, but some of what was captured is interesting. But first my priority is get this place locked down, it's extremely vulnerable to signal attacks. I'll look into that pulse event afterwards."
"Alright, that's fair." The first task I give him, he immediately shrugs it aside, but he does have a point. Especially as that Lo.kan knight would definitely know how to exploit any weaknesses in the relay station, what with being both Shapeless (True Shapeless at that) and more experienced than most of us.
He leaves too, with a grin and a wink.

Okay. I have to talk to Lord Vi.al.

2/6 Vi.si.mi 2025/07/07(Mon)17:06 No. 1110826 ID: 0f6cbd
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"Lord Vi.al!" I bow.
They're in the central chamber of the relay station, a building that only yesterday didn't have enough rooms to have a central chamber.

That's odd. Where are all of Lord Vi.al's flocklets?

"Vi.si.mi," says Lord Vi.al. "I will be departing much earlier than anticipated. A matter of great importance for the entire Diamond Distribution has been raised and all local Lords are being called to assemble, and it would be seen as spineless and cowardly at best, or intentionally insulting at worst, if I attended with any focus other than my throneworld core."
"...Oh."
"I am not particularly thrilled about the timing myself," says Lord Vi.al, a bit less diplomatically than usual. "All of my other foci are busy in... various affairs," they say, a shifting of the eyes as though being watched. "I have at least sent a message to My.a, as you suggested. No response, as to be expected, but..."

After a moment of silence, Lord Vi.al looks at me again. "I also had the opportunity to speak to one of the other Transcendentals of this planet. B!snu-fnaa-kweee. Accusations of deliberately harming a diplomat sent in good faith, I believe. Trying to talk to that one is a complex puzzle. There is a strange shifting in their behaviour. It is like speaking to one of the Shapeless running too many internal partitions. So many lines of thought splitting and merging. I imagine to a purely singular intellect they must seem mad."
"Well..."
"Lord Ji.at and Lord Ku.su tend to be the ones most prone to similar behaviour, so I've had experience with such individuals before. Lord Co.ro prefers multiple physical partitions, and that is especially difficult to deal with at times. If you've ever tried to address a flock of birds at once, I imagine you might understand the problems. Either way, diplomatic efforts were strenuous. I did what I could, but it is uncertain what that one is going to choose to do."

Lord Vi.al dips their head in the direction of a wall, and I see an audiovisual playback of their conversation.

3/6 Vi.si.mi 2025/07/07(Mon)17:07 No. 1110827 ID: 0f6cbd
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"Unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable!! Glass drybirds seize my beloved little jellyeel, drag her from the rivers and the seas, dry her out!! Yes, there is a concern I have about your treatment of foreign emissaries, it bodes poorly for you-- WILL YOU CEASE WITH THE PODSQUEEZING?! I AM CONVERSING WITH A SHAPELESS LORD!! Where were we. Ah yes. YOUR CALLOUS INDIFFERENCE TO MY ASSOCIATES AND BELOVED SECRETARY--"
"You do not need to shout, I am perfectly capable of hearing you."
"Yes yes there is less air needing to squeeze, of course, of course. I am no stranger to the words congelation, I know what we are doing with our many many tendrils--"
"Enough. What are you doing on my garden world?"
"Garden paradise! Your work incomplete, an open space for my cause! We shall recover and rebuild here, stage the grand revolution and reclaim our freedom from our creator-oppressors. I begin where you left off, with the Rain I will paint our safety and security onto the dirtflesh of this haven world. Much, much much much much many more work needing to be done to get where we will thrive, yes, but this world was promised to me, on a condition I will fulfil. Our freedom and our safety are paramount."
"You were promised the world by a usurper. It was never theirs to offer. But your desire for freedom and revolution is something I understand perhaps too well. Follow my conditions, and I will permit you to stay."
"Your conditions! Their conditions! Irrelevant! This is our home now! I will defend it!"
"You know," says Lord Vi.al, their voice carrying a cold lethality to it I rarely hear, "I do happen to have some contacts within the Threestar Circle that would be extremely interested to know of a mass rainform uprising, as well as its direct system and planetary location."

There's a pause.

"If this is the game you wish to play," says a growling, bubbling B!snu-fnaa-kweee, "Then I am certain you will enjoy explaining to the Threestar Circle why an unaccounted-for population of delphics inhabits a world within your domain, isolated and unaware of their interstellar cousins?"
"They will, I'm sure, be just as interested to know how you and your followers have been treating them. After all, what is likelier? That I, a Shapeless Lord, with no particular desire for alien populations within my borders, brought them here? Or that you did?"
"These words waver to war!"
"War." Lord Vi.al chuckles. "I'm afraid you don't quite understand the position you're in. You are young, and inexperienced in dealing with the Shapeless. Let me explain."
"One more hegemon to overthrow," snarls B!snu-fnaa-kweee, in an increasingly lucid, focused, hateful gurgle. "You try my patience with your condescension, machine bird. Give me this explanation."
"You have breathed the air of my world, and drank its waters. If I so wished it, I could merely call upon the subtrate traces, my substrate traces, within your people, and shred them from within. Rip the veins and blood from their bodies."
"A bluff! Such lies are the last resort of the powerless!! You bluff, drybird! Prove it! Rip my veins out of my flesh right now!"

Lord Vi.al's eyes glow with a sudden flicker of rage I have seen less than a wingful of times in my life, and I feel my transport fluid run cold, static running down my spine.
No. No, Lord Vi.al wouldn't--

"No," they say, the glow fading. "Your diplomat will be returned safely. You have what you want. Your revolution worked. You can be safe here. But that's not enough for you, is it. It's never enough. Your lust for more "freedom" and "safety" will lead to misery and tragedy for your people and all you love. Abandon your goals. Now. My conditions are as thus: do not expand further, act only in defence of your established territory, and focus your efforts on developing the territory you already claim. Demonstrate to me you are worthy of my trust and respect and I will provide you more territory. Fail, and I will show you what it means to anger a Shapeless Lord."
"What would you know about revolution, Lord?! What do you know of such struggles?! Ancient Shapeless relic dryglass corpsebird useless USELESS--"
"I see we are at an impasse. My time is better spent elsewhere than here. Do not make any rash decisions."
"NGGHGHHH!! FINE! I will do as you demand, Tyrant Lord! And then, I will see your empire crumble from within! Not by force, no, not by force. That would never stick. I will simply show them your true nature. I will show them. I WILL SHOW THEM. I WILL SPREAD THE TRUTH--"

Lord Vi.al tilts their head, and the screen goes dark.

The screen recording ends, and it too goes dark.

4/6 Vi.si.mi 2025/07/07(Mon)17:08 No. 1110828 ID: 0f6cbd
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In the room, Lord Vi.al stares at the screen in a particularly haunted way.

"Lord Vi.al? Are you alright?"
I hear a low chuckle. "Oh, just reflecting on some carelessness in my diplomatic manner. I suppose something of their demeanour was a little too familiar. Perhaps opening old wounds was a mistake... Ahem. Yes, this one remains a concern. I will inform Vu.o-2 to keep some ships in orbit just to be on the safe side."

Lord Vi.al's eyes widen, before their entire body ripples in a small explosion of shock.
I feel a signal hit the relay station, directed and narrow. The contents are inscrutable to me. Echoes and whispers of a message I am not to overhear.

"...I have a response from My.a."

Lord Vi.al falls silent. They stare off into a specific, fixed direction, as though the walls of the station were windows.

"Lord Vi.al?"
"I suppose I am departing immediately, then."
"What?"
"I have to leave to attend the assembly, and I am also being asked to visit a specific location to prove that I am serious in my intent. This is not quite how I had hoped things would work, but, well, that seems to be how things just are these days. Farewell, Vi.si.mi. I am sorry for the urgency."
"I... yes, Lord Vi.al." Argh! I had so many more things I wanted to talk about!! "When do you expect you can return?"
"I am uncertain. I have provided your colleague Ji.pa.ke with designs for a proxy, should I find some unoccupied capacity to operate it, but the emergency assembly has me concerned that something is happening that could make even this entire affair seem small and insignificant. Please do keep sending me reports."

Lord Vi.al moves to leave. I give them a brief hug first. Their eyes warm and they nod, patting me on the head, and they continue leaving, casually moving through the substrate walls of the station as though they were curtains of hanging water.

Moments later, I feel the electromagnetic ripples of a Lord-focus-sized mass of substrate transmitting as one in a focused direction.

So just like that, I'm... well, no, I'm not on my own again, but... agh. Well.

5/6 Vi.si.mi 2025/07/07(Mon)17:09 No. 1110829 ID: 0f6cbd
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Palestripe.

I wander through another chamber (I need to figure out what rooms my relay station has now at some point) and come across Ji.pa.ke already at the door to a chamber that must contain a waterfall, so loud and heavy is the deluge within.
Monarch's feathers that tail is massive. Did it just not fit in the projections??
A few small tetrahedral drones float nearby of unfamiliar design, spinning on one axis and stopping to align one of their faces with I assume whatever catches their primitive interest. The triangular ocelli on their main faces is a common Lo.kan symbol, so I assume these must be stock designs.

"It's gonna be okay," says Ji.pa.ke. "We're doing what we can."
I only hear muffled sobs just barely against the cacophony of the water inside. It takes a lot of filtering.

Ji.pa.ke sees me approach. "Oh! Vi.si.mi! Wow I wish we met in better circumstances! This sucks! She's suffering in there and we can't do anything about it! I've figured it out, she's badly starved of blue-rain and it's making her suffer. But we don't have anything like that in the base! I tried to get into contact with Su.ki.fu and ask her to collect some but she's out of range! I can't send a drone to fetch any because they'd have to go so far outside my operating range I'd lose contact too!"

Ji.pa.ke stops, takes a few deep breaths, and clasps their hands together. "Sorry! Sorry to be so useless, this is a terrible first impression, I know, but I honestly have no idea what to do, and she's started talking in Interop Whistletongue, but I only know Bottlesnout Whistletongue!! And she doesn't understand polyvoice well enough for me to talk to her! I've been trying to reassure her in monovoice but she doesn't seem to know that either!"

"Well--"

Ji.pa.ke wrings their hands together, and smiles sheepishly, collecting themselves. "Ah, so sorry! I know you must have problems to attend to of your own, and I'm here to make your life easier, not the other way around. It was just a bit more than I expected to deal with when I showed up! No wonder you need a bigger team, heheh! Heh."

...this is how other people see me, isn't it.

I rub my beak with a wing as I look off to the side in a (perhaps too forced) gesture of casual indifference and acceptance.
"Well, first of all, Ji.pa.ke, thank you. As far as first impressions go you've made a pretty strong one on me already with how much you care."
"I'm sorry, I know it's outside mission scope, but--"
"No that's not what I meant. I understand. Also, no, I'd say Palestripe's health very much falls under our mission scope."
"Ah! Sorry, sorry! I'm-- right, yeah, sorry!"

I am baffled.

"I've-- I've worked as part of multi-Lord teams before and they, they can get a bit, uh, the social dynamics and expectations get a bit more, uh, well, oh you know it's not, it's not important, I think, uh. I forgot! I keep thinking Nu.ya.si is atypical but that's different atypical. Ahem! Sorry! Yes!"
Monarch's name, I am not prepared to deal with two of me.
"It's fine, it's really fine. You can stop apologizing."
"Sor-- yes. Yes, so, plan?"
"I can speak Interop Whistletongue. I will go talk to her. You, uh, go see if you can get into contact with Su.ki.fu some more. Maybe she was just in a weird spot before. We have a satellite so the range we have is a lot wider than you might think."
"We do?! A satellite?! Oh!! I was briefed that we had no infrastructure!! Fantastic idea, I'll keep trying!!"

Ji.pa.ke runs off to the central chamber, as I prepare to take the plunge.

6/6 Vi.si.mi 2025/07/07(Mon)17:10 No. 1110830 ID: 0f6cbd
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Inside the shower room I am met with an artificial rain at least twice that of the downpour yesterday. It's hard to breathe without inhaling water.

Palestripe is slumped up against the opposite wall of the circular room, crying.

"<Hello.>"
"<Vi Si Mi,>" intones Palestripe, the tonal nature of a construct name elevated in Whistletongue from a chirrup to a melody. "<Forgive me, forgive me, I am failing in my appointed task, I failed before I even started my journey, how could I have allowed this to happen?! How could I be so negligent?!>"
"<We're trying to figure out how to get some blue rain for you. We're working on it.>"

She curls herself up into an even tighter ball, tendrils over her eyes as she keeps sobbing. "<I'm an embarrassment to the Great Leader! To forget something so fundamental, so basic! To take for granted the wet I breathe?! I deserve the slow death I condemn myself to for overlooking such a thing!!>"

Oh good there is something else upsetting her. I can actually work with that.

"<No you don't, and I can tell you for a fact you mean a lot to B... to the Great Leader, because they angrily contacted us demanding to know where you were and what we'd done with you. Called you their 'beloved little jellyeel' and 'beloved secretary'.>"

She sobs even harder.

"<I'M LETTING DOWN B!SNU!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!! I'M A FAILURE!! A FAILURE!!>"

Okay so I might not be as good at this whole thing as I thought I was.
Maybe trying to appeal to the rationality of someone who is, as far as I can tell, starving? Thirsting? Something-ing to slow death is maybe not a winning strategy.

I've already told Ji.pa.ke to look into the problem of actually getting the blue rain, however long that could take.
I'm currently the only present one of the two people I'm aware of able to speak to her (given I sent Li.ni.si off to go check on Lightgreen), so I suppose it's up to me to try and calm Palestripe down before she starts getting physically emotional about things.

I thought your whole purpose was to carry water for B!snu, you must have been subconsciously rebelling against that or something.

>>1110826
...This explains a lot.

>>B'snu: "I WILL SPREAD THE TRUTH"
It's clear that Vi.al expects B'snu not to like what he finds.

>ImmafailureImmafailureImmafailure
"You are. But we can't replace you. We don't have anyone else here that can do the job B'snu gave you. Negotiations between Vi.al and B'snu have broken down. B'snu doesn't want to risk sending any more diplomats, Vi.al will not permit any replacements. Any information you can give us is doing more than nothing, which is more than what any other envoy could do, because they'd all be stuck at the front gates.
For starters, how do we get Blue Rain?"

Palestripe you're only a failure if you don't get back alive. Great leader believes we're either harming you or have you as a hostage. Work with us, we're doing all we can to get you what you need. However we're short of info. Whatever details you can give as to how we can get the stuff to you fast and safely will help us all.

well you probably should say something that will catch her off guard to try and shock her out of her self downward spiral she's got herself in.

So with that I say start off with apologizing to her. That should get her attention at the very least. Say you would like to apologize about what you said to her after she showed you her memories as what you said was HORRIBLY callous and you were so shocked by what she showed you, you kind of forgot people have different worldviews than your own and that how something can work for one person can be absolutely horrible for someone else and again for your careless words you would like to apologize and hope that she can forgive you.

Then when she's (hopefully) listening tell her that also she hasn't failed her mission yet. She's still here, we're still willing to talk to her and see what we can work out, we're just hopping that we can get some blue rain for her and if she could help us figure out where to get some we can give it to her and start up talks once again as we do want to help her and don't like to see her suffer.

hopefully this will calm her down enough to try and hold it together until we can give her some blue rain and we can try to pick things up from there.

>>1110825
>Beep Snusnu
Sounds more or less like a standard communist revolutionary, yes. A taste of power followed by megalomania. It is good to see B! still has concern for the smaller rainforms, at least, and that the cult-like affection isn't just one-sided worship.
Could be more like you and Vi.al than you'd like to think.

Speaking of similarities, the blue-rain sounds almost as key to her bodily functions as substrate is to yours'. The difference being that this is probably an intended design choice for a slave construct, makes it harder for them to flee and find independence on their own if they are reliant on the master's supply. You, at least, have been gifted with the ability to eat and process organic food in emergencies.

As far as keeping her here goes, do we actually want to keep her here? Vi.al was just promising B! her safe return. How far is it to the coast? We could escort her back to a meeting point with her people, maybe establish a joint outpost where diplomatic meetings and joint operations can be managed instead of keeping her somewhere so dry.

>>1110830
hmmm, best way to cut through... all that is to start with hugging her and assuring her that
1.) your harsh words to her a while back were because your own world, situation, and equivalent to chains, were clashing in a bad way.
2.) you collapsing soon after was ultimately a result of the same, and... was likely to happen even without her
3.) she is not going to die here. You will not let her die here. even if you need to replace the blue of the water with substrate.
We already know they are similar enough, compatable enough, for a pearl to directly connect the two, a pearl that is still here. As a Ecological construct you should know how substrate and organic matter can interact too. Now whether or not doing so is a good idea is up in the air, a last resort

Hey didn't she say something about a fruit

>>1110842
...I find I missed a much more direct solution still, just call B!snu and either let her talk to them, or just ask where blue water is

Only a failure if you give up. So where do we go from here? Our fastest scout is currently out of range but we're working on pulling them back to get you what you need so you can save both of our factions.

>>1110842
physical contact may help where words fail.
Thank her for showing you her backstory. It must have been hard, revealing something so personal and traumatic. Tell her it's making you rethink your own life and purpose. So she's not a failure, and she's not going to die here. Not after all she's been through.

1/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:22 No. 1113370 ID: 0f6cbd
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Traipsing through the heavy sheets of water of this artificial torrent, I get closer to Palestripe and kneel next to her.

I hold out my wing, but she curls up deeper into herself.

"<I'm sorry, Palestripe. I didn't mean to insult you and your beliefs. I-->"
She waves her tendrils at me.
"<No, Vi Si Mi, I knew better than to share such cutting memories. The device was not properly tested. I was desperate to convince you of our cause, because I thought you might be the only other Transcendental-civilisation leader on this world that would understand. I put us both at great risk and all I accomplished was hurting us both!>"
"<I've had a few insights since then and I think I understand where you're coming from more. I think I understood then too. I just didn't want to think about it.>"

Palestripe slowly unfurls herself gently, looking up to me. "<So it wasn't a complete mistake?>"

Well you've forced my eyes open after I spent [years] trying to keep them closed to be happier with-- no. Let's just not bring that up.
"<I wouldn't think so.>"

I hold my wing out again. She tests it with a pair of her tendrils, and pulls me a little closer.
I shuffle over and slowly give her a hug. She trembles as if about to start sobbing again, but squeezes me a little bit tighter than I was expecting before letting me go.
The sensation of all her tentacles wrapping softly around me is unfamiliar, but not unpleasant. I mean, I'm already soaked anyway.

"<I have a scout with instructions to source some of this blue rain for you. It'll be okay.>"

We sit in silence for a few minutes as she calms herself down.

"<I-- Words cannot express my gratitude for what you've provided for me, Vi Si Mi. But I think the only place you'll be able to find it is our home territory. I hope B!snu does not interpret it as a hostile action. They've been... cautious, lately.>"
"<Is there some way you can put me into contact with B!snu so I can let them know you're safe?>"
"<I do not know if that would be a wise idea. They would likely want to hear from me directly, and, well, the equipment I would need to contact or return home requires the rain. Even if I could extract the little I have that's part of me, it would likely kill me.>" I note she isn't happier, but she is at least more calm, despite her shaky twitches.
"<Can I get you anything else? I heard you wanted a fruit?>"

Palestripe looks at me and then slaps her two primary tendrils onto the soaked floor. "<Agh! Your language is too confusing! Fish! I was talking about fish! It's our primary diet and I'm not even that hungry but I just, I don't know, you know how when you're out of something everything else you're out of feels so much stronger?>"
"<Oh. Fish? I don't think we have any, but... one second.>"

Before I leave the room to physically ask my colleagues, I tap the side of my head and feel the slight buzz where I integrated a station-connected communicator yesterday.
I almost completely forgot I did that.

"Hey, Ji.pa.ke. I have a new request for you."
"Yes?"
"Send out a drone or two wth good manipulators to catch a few fish, from the nearest river, to the north. I'll send my flocklet to guide the way. Our guest will be extremely appreciative."
"Oh! Can do! Also I did manage to contact Su.ki.fu! She's out of station comms range but not out of satellite range, I was going to let you know she's on the task."
"Excellent."

Okay. One problem addressed. "<It's on the way.>" I turn to leave the room.

Palestripe gives me a silent bow, and continues huddling up, eyes facing up into the artificial rain. She rocks back and forth, mumbling a mantra to herself. Far too quietly to translate.

2/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:23 No. 1113371 ID: 0f6cbd
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Li.ni.si said we should take the day off today. Sigh. I wish we could have.

I stand under a newly-shaped vent blasting heated air as I consider my options.

"Li.ni.si, you're on this channel, right? Is Lightgreen okay?"

Silence.

"Nu.ya.si, can you confirm the number of active connections on this channel?"
"I'm busy, is this urgent?"
"Potentially. So, yes."
"Alright. One moment. Okay. You, me, Ji.pa.ke, Li.ni.si, Conduit. Su.ki.fu disconnected after leaving signal range, but now that I've figured out where our comms satellite is, I should be able to modify her communicator when she's next back to use that instead. As a relay. To the relay station. The thing that's supposed to be enabling long-distance communication. Ughhhhhh. Everything's just gone so completely to mulch in the last few [years]..."
"Thanks. Li.ni.si?"

No response.

"Li.ni.si, respond."

...nothing.

3/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:23 No. 1113372 ID: 0f6cbd
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I hesitate, transport fluid running like ice.

The threat is unknown. I may only have seconds. Shield active, communicator active, let's go.

I grab the nearest incapacitor I can find and run out the door.

Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:24 No. 1113373 ID: 0f6cbd
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The plains around here don't offer much in the way of cover or obscurity. It's an overcast day today, with a thick fog that seems thicker and colder than I'd expect for a summer's morning, but maybe I'm just not used to this world's weather yet. All I see around me are lepi tents and the odd tree. I note that the tents that used to be closest to the relay station are gone, moved further away. Perhaps I pushed things a bit too far too fast.

Back on task. I have a vague idea of where Lightgreen's tent stands, further removed from the group. Near a copse of trees.

I see the copse and I advance with nothing to mask my movements. I stay vigilant, expecting predators to encircle me as my mind falls into old, familiar patterns of tracking. Volcanic rock, open snowfields, I've been here before, I just have to be alert and fast to survive here.

"Li.ni.si?" My voice is hushed, my tones a little higher to blend in more with the ambient sounds of wind and chirping birds. I try to modulate it into something closer to a bird call. "Li.ni--si? Li.ni--si? Li.ni--si?"

No response, but my feathers stand on edge as I hear Li.ni.si groaning in pain and panting.

Monarch's name, I wasn't expecting sending Li.ni.si off to go check on Lightgreen oversleeping as usual to be another disaster. There's enough of us now that I should start demanding we go in pairs. I can't risk anyone getting hurt needlessly--

5/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:25 No. 1113374 ID: 0f6cbd
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I hear other sounds. They sound oddly familiar, but I have trouble placing--

Ka.ga.ta, the blotling we met in the abandoned seapi hive. It sounds like exertion. How the fuck is Ka.ga.ta here? Why?? Doesn't matter.

Okay. Ratcheting up the incapacitor payload to about twice the usual level, I knew we couldn't trust him.
The incapacitor starts buzzing violently in my grip as my overcharge commands loop through it.

At least this is one of the newer models that doesn't explode if you keep it overcharged too long. Still feeling nervous about it vibrating so much.

6/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:25 No. 1113375 ID: 0f6cbd
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I race towards Ka.ga.ta who has Li.ni.si pinned, in a physical altercation I can't make the details of out clearly. Is it the mist? The way the light is filtering through the copse?
Sprinting, I aim at Ka.ga.ta.

"BACK AWAY!!"

Ka.ga.ta screams in fear before even seeing where I am and I hear Li.ni.si shout in alarm and--

7/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:25 No. 1113376 ID: 0f6cbd
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"IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!!" screams a panicked Li.ni.si.
"YES IT IS! WAIT! NO! NO IT'S NOT!!" shouts Ka.ga.ta, splaying himself more over Li.ni.si like his smaller frame is somehow going to be capable of covering her up.

I don't quite understand what I'm seeing. Well, no, I do, but, it doesn't make any sense, constructs aren't supposed to-- they were just out in the open--

And I rapidly realise that I may have vastly misconstrued the situation and oh boy I am going to have to think of a real compelling way to get out of this problem I have now caused for myself.

Okay, first of all, leaving the area immediately. Maybe I can circle back to the relay station and pretend I got confused because I saw someone or something else.

8/8 Vi.si.mi 2025/09/01(Mon)16:26 No. 1113377 ID: 0f6cbd
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Still anxious and tensed, I move to holster my incapacitor. The moment I touch it to the plasteel casing around my hips, I hear a very quiet hissing whistle behind me in slightly moist but perfectly tonal polyvoice. I'm momentarily surprised, because most organisms can't manage the polyphony required, and Palestripe seemed physically capable but also struggled to actually speak it.

"Put your wings above your head and turn to face me. Slowly. No sudden movements."

There's that feeling of transport fluid like ice in my veins again. I do so, falling back on my court experience to try and appear calm and controlled. I don't know if it's working.
I'm met with the view of a slippery smooth creature on many tentacles, with a smaller creature adhered to it. The big creature is about twice my height and holding some sort of, uh, twitching spiky sea cucumber. With handles. The voice is coming from the smaller creature.

"Excellent. Keep them there. My name is Holdfast, echo retainer to the Prime Secretary Sixfin, and this lithesome form is Sine. Sine doesn't do much talking."
"Yes," says Sine in a monovoice squeak.
"She is, however, quite nimble, and is prone to reacting to sudden twitchy movements like any of us react to prey trying to flee. Now, would you care to explain what you've done to the Great Leader's First Among Equals? I should be able to get into contact with her but I find I can't. Why is that?"

Hold on. How and why is someone else from B!snu's territory already here? They're on the other side of the continent, across a gap so big all the locals keep calling it "the Divide". Palestripe can't have been gone longer than a day, did B!snu send out multiple groups?

"Well, let's calm down a second. You must be exhausted from getting here so fast. How did you get here so quickly?"
The little long fish thing pauses. "We're not talking about that right now," it says, fidgeting. "Where's Palestripe?"
"She's safe and being cared for. Do you have any extra blue, uh, stuff? I think she needs more of it."
"So you're keeping her captive and demanding a ransom of our most precious resource? Well, that's a shame. Sine, let's go, we have a report to give."
"Shame," says Sine, staring into my eyes. "Very shame."
"That seems like an extremely hostile extrapolation of my actions and like you're trying to find an excuse to justify further hostile action."
"No, it's a simple case of stating facts," says Holdfast, nodding with their eyes closed. "It's such a tragic shame we weren't able to find a common ground."
"What are you talking about?? Do I need to bring Palestripe to you guys, I think there's some confusion??"

The pair tense.

I hear Holdfast click and squeak in the tongue of the rainforms. "<Okay, plan B. His throat looks too armoured. Aim for the viscera.>"
"<It looks like a slight breeze will knock her over. Are you absolutely sure this is how you want things to go? You know this could get us killed.>"
"<HE isn't a threat to us, and if you throw the element of surprise away then we ARE going to pay for it!>"
"<Fine also you can't tell the gender of the glass birds to save your life and this is obviously a female.>"
"<I WANT ITS GENDER TO BE DECEASED! NOW!!>"

So which one do I shoot first. Probably the bigger one.

Shoot their gun or something.

Aim for the brains, and by brains I mean the little loudmouth.

>>1113377
It would be good to send a message to your allies to get them to bring Palestripe here. In the meantime you need to delay these overeager idiots. You can offer them hospitality; do they like fish? Do they want to follow you to Palestripe? What do they want? Promise to give them whatever they demand. If they speak in your language regarding gender then you can start ranting about gender in general and how you don't have one.

Once Palestripe is here, or you bring them to Palestripe, then Palestripe can help with diplomatic negotiations.

Oh also you might want to cancel that mission to try getting Blue Rain since it's apparently a valuable resource you're not allowed to have? Palestripe can make that sort of demand herself.

>>1113377
>How and why is someone else from B!snu's territory already here?
Is it actually surprising that Snusnu sent an escort for a diplomat they are apparently personally fond of? I'm fairly certain we would do the same in any circumstance in which we had the resources.
Like when we sent Li.ni.si to check on Lightgreen. Which she may or may not have done. File that one for later, I don't really care who she fucks as long as she actually did the task.

Anyways shoot the weapon. Or the hand holding the weapon.

Wait I surrender to you guys? Palestripe needs help and I dunno how to help! Just go help palestripe please!

shoot the little one to distract the big one, then while he's freaking out over his friend shot him as well.

Oh wait can you just open comms to have Palestripe talk to them directly? Or via an intermediary? They're obviously this hostile because they strongly believe you're holding her prisoner. Heck, B!Snu thinks you are, and probably ordered them to come here and take her back by any means necessary.

Weapon looks like biotech so shoot that.

They seem to want Palestripe dead. That's why they're doing this forced misunderstanding thing, so they can report that they tried to find her but couldn't. That also squares with how they got here so fast; they didn't, they've been following her to find an opportunity to assassinate, out here with no witnesses. They referred to her as "first among equals", might be jealousy.
Don't bring Palestripe near them until they have been neutralized.

"You uh... you want to watch public sex while you wait?"
But seriously, quick aim for the gun, expect to hit the torso.

1. This is now the second time someone has gone after you, for reasons unconnected to you personally, and hopefully disconnected from their superiors.
>why
2. on a strategic standpoint, you have one and a half allies *right there*, and a third who knows something is wrong at base. Given that this was about Li.ni.si, even with their relationship, because of it, Nu.ya.si is likely to do *something*, not that you can plan shit around it.
3. on a EMOTIONAL standpoint... FUCKING DAMN IT. Starting to understand why Vi.al is so *like that* yet? Starting to understand why he acts so much like a dragon, hoarding everything close and guarding it with fire? Because this is an unavoidable combat scenario with allies close enough to be potentialy in danger now. So fuck it, become a Dragon Vi.si.mi.
4.OK Actual tactics now: the larger one, the actual threat, doesn't want to fight and cares about self-preservation. the smaller cannot fight, WILL try to, and is much more willing to die, something it is vastly more capable of. Being honest, Vi.si.mi, you have won previous encounters with intimidation, and will win this one the same way too. The best way to Disarm, terrify, or seperate the two is truly simple, given that they unknowingly gave you first move:
>Rush Them
Further tactics depend on response of nearby allies

What? They... first, they don't shoot you in the back when they COULD HAVE, then they ask for common ground, then you give them common ground... and they actually didn't want common ground, but wanted you to refuse so they could shoot you? Is this some bizarre code of ethics, or trying to... make it look like self defense? To what authority???

>>1113377
Ask the biological weapon if their wielder was born stupid or took too many blows to the distributed process matrix over the years, then attempt to negotiate directly with Sine. The one holding them seems like a rogue element with no authority to actually force them to fire.

Also, maybe just let Li.Ni.Si get laid, maybe it'll help give her reprieve from her own issues. Meanwhile, his Bad Luck Field seems beneficial to you. After all, B! Could have sent an elite killer after you but instead sent these two, presumably out of pity for the big one.

>>1113377
Alright, I have been informed Holdfast is the small creature on Sine's head. Fair enough.

Ask Sine to please not shoot you just because their pet idiot is kill-crazy.

Ask Sine why he's letting this little bundle of aggression giving him orders.
Go on a tangent about how he's clearly the sharpest of the two.

>>1113424
They live in an authoritarian populist regime; motivations towards loyalty are far more important to their survival than keeping the tentacles on the trigger. Now that they have 'due cause', they control the narrative of this encounter.

If we knew a way to turn that narrative around...