十 - shí

Nov. 30th, 2010 12:01 am
getsomesleep: (I don't even)
[personal profile] getsomesleep
[The words appear is the quick, delicate scrawl that characterizes Huo's writing when he's distracted. Long moments pass between sentences.]


This is very unusual.


And violent.


I'm reasonably sure that a feather fan can't do that.



Is anyone else in the Wilderness at the moment? I require some assistance.

-- 火

Date: 2010-11-29 10:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
I'm down here. What do you need?

Date: 2010-11-29 10:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
A very minor service: to observe a machine and copy down some words.

Date: 2010-11-29 10:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
One of the gaming machines?

All right. Where is this? Any landmarks? [Like the prizes station, a pizza place, etc]

Date: 2010-11-29 10:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
Near the furthest corner of the main hall, to your right. I will wait there.


[OOC: Gotta get offline now, but wouldn't mind a quicklog ^^]

Date: 2010-11-30 01:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
Give me a few minutes.

[It doesn't take long to clear with her supervisor. A Wilderness without nasty surprises, one that's already been mapped and measured, doesn't have much left for Adventurers to do.]

[Mindelan appears with a midsized, ugly dog trotting jauntily alongside. She's got some ear piercings, a nose ring like you'd give a bull, there is eyeliner, and she's dressed largely in black; the Sphere's put her into the outfit of some generically Goth musician.]


Huo?

Date: 2010-12-01 08:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
Mindelan-nushi. Thank you for coming.

[Huo gives his usual bow of greeting, though it looks a bit weird from a man who's currently dressed like a 1920s blues singer, suit, tie and fedora and all. He's as serene and casual as ever, though there's something just a bit off about it as he gestures toward the machine he's been closely observing.

The machine is cycling between sample gameplay, and is currently playing this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LIoAyLtX7M). Yeeeaah.]


What do you make of this?

Date: 2010-12-01 02:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
Of course. [She bows back to the exact same depth, palms on her thighs.]

[The first time she'd seen a video screen it had been cause for some staring. Rock Band. When this Wilderness had coalesced, and she'd seen the various games involving real-looking people as opposed to stylized ones, there'd been some more. Min hadn't entirely followed Compass's rambling explanation involving liquid crystals, lightning, manufactured intelligence, and puppetry. She could accept, a bit reluctantly, that it was human-made without mage help, and it could show whatever its maker wanted it to show, but these things would always have a whiff of the strange.]

[But she knows that's not why he wanted someone.]


They're not very organized. [There's a faint trace of disapproval seeping past her stoic mask. If a single being is massacring you, you change tactics. This manufactured intelligence must not care much for these puppets.]

[Sidelong look.]
He looks something like you.

Date: 2010-12-02 08:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
[Huo quirks a small smile at her disapproval, his first response was very much the same before it occurred to him that the small soldiers must have been instructed - or rather, that the machine must have been instructed to make the game easy. The local who explained the game machines to him couldn't explain their inner workings, but still gave him a reasonable idea of their concept and purpose. And then he ran into this particular machine: the puzzle's now taken an unexpected and stupefying turn.

He nods, frowning slightly at the face that flashes at the bottom of the screen.]
There is some resemblance. [But it isn't the face that he lingers on. Rather, he waits until another message appears, one with a different face, and indicates that with one hand, the true source of his uncertainty.]

I can read this man's name - I assume it is his name, as it accompanies his portrait - and those of several others. But his name, the fan-wielding general... [He hesitates; he knows the implications.] The characters shift and blur before my eyes.

Date: 2010-12-02 10:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
[She doesn't catch the smile, but it would've been cause for a raised eyebrow.]

The same thing happens to me sometimes. There is a word I can only see as dei, but I'm told that that isn't it at all.

[Assuming that these are Chinese characters... Japanese writing deriving from those and Yamani writing being an expy of Japanese, they aren't entirely opaque to her, but they're a general mismash, with a bit here and there that seems to make sense.] You'd like me to copy this name, then. Any others?

Date: 2010-12-02 10:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
It isn't an uncommon occurrence, I hear. [His voice is mostly neutral, but just mostly: he's confused and letting it show.] Though I thought it had to do with the words being familiar to us from our former lives. This doesn't align too well with that theory.

[He nods again with approval at her suggestion.] I would greatly appreciate that. [The question makes him pause to think, then shake his head.]</small No - he is the one who catches my eye, though I cannot tell you why.

Date: 2010-12-02 10:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
No, it doesn't. [She doesn't take a considering-difficult-things pose. Her stance doesn't change at all. Still, after finding her journal in her pack she ventures] But it might. This could be an interpretation of someone from legend or history that was important to you. I don't know.

[When she's at rest, Mindelan writes with a brush and ink. In the field, she puts down map lines with a small compressed-charcoal stick. She uses that now on a canvas scrap that was between the pages of her journal, copying the characters carefully.]

I should wait to put this in ink. It's going to smear off left like this.

[The demo now involves sheets of fire. She raises her eyebrows, a very mild and understated expression.] Have you tried to work it? [She's tried out fighting games, and isn't great at buttonmashing.]

Date: 2010-12-04 10:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
[A legend... he considers this, but it doesn't feel right; and though he doesn't let it show, that irritates him. He dislikes having to rely so much on feelings, and for the length of his life in Edensphere, he has been forced to do it left and right.

Watching her copy down the characters, his eyes follow the movement of her hand closely, trying to form a picture in his mind. The task does not seem as though it should be difficult, but he only becomes confused, and the marks on the canvas are still only smeared patches.]
Do you by any chance recognize the writing style? [His mind is racing with possibilities to test, to unlock the secret of the words. Read them out loud, code them in numbers, trace them on skin...

Her question causes him to smile sheepishly.]
I do not think I'll be very good at it. [He has no idea if that's true, but it's his default answer to such questions.]

Date: 2010-12-04 11:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
Jump. [Her ugly dog, who'd wandered off to sniff things, comes back and looks expectantly up at her.] Can you remember what a pen or pencil is? [The dog nods, a sharp but weirdly human gesture.] Can you bring one of either to me? [Another nod, and the dog trots off.]

[Mindelan shakes her head.] I recognize the characters, but they're not Common letters, they're kanji in a language I don't understand. I can't sound it out. [She wraps the charcoal stick back in the dirty bit of cloth it had been in before and stows it.] I could say what each character means, but they probably have different meanings in different languages. [Such are the issues with lographic writing. ...And mun has no idea what the meanings would be.]

I don't think it would play like Street Fighter. [Well, she's waiting for Jump anyway. A bit warily, Min touches something on the console, and the Start Menu comes up.]

Date: 2010-12-06 08:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
[He watches the dog with some amusement, but it isn't any stranger than everything else around them, really.] That's an intelligent pet you're acquired, [he comments absently, still considering the greater riddle. Kanji, Common - neither of it means anything to him, and he knows enough of how languages work in Edensphere, by now, to know that meanings would be nothing to go by. But another option occurs to him, and not a positive one.[

Please forgive me for imposing so much. [His voice is low when he finally speaks.] But I should appreciate if the copy remained with me. It may be precious information. [And he knows of at least two people who may be able to read it. And one of them is unthinkable.]

You seem to have more experience than me, [he comments as she brings up the menu. His hands brush one of two sets of controls, testing the joystick.] This is... not intuitive.

Date: 2010-12-06 09:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
He's a friend.

[The dog comes back with something in his axelike jaws. Min steps away from the console, takes it, notices the stickiness and the sweet smell, and shakes her head. It's a stick of candy.] Jump, this is some kind of food. Right shape, wrong matter. I want a pen or a pencil. [Jump's ears flatten against his head, and he trots away again. Min sets the stick on one of the consoles and cleans her hand with some water and a kerchief. Dog saliva, she has no problem with, but sugar is sticky]

I'll give it to you once I've retraced it. As it is, the charcoal will smudge off. [There's no reprimand in her voice. At some point in her life, Mindelan has mastered the art of calmly telling people to be patient.]

I have a little. [She has no idea what the menu is saying and is hitting "A". Fortunately nothing in this Wilderness actually needs coins or tokens. ...and she would pick Pang De (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dynasty_Warriors_characters#Pang_De_.28.E9.BE.90.E5.BE.B3.29), because vaguely medievally.] It's fairly simple. Make the figure move with the stick and do... various things with the other buttons. Sometimes he ignores you, and you have to hit the console.

[...yes, she learned from someone who's not as patient.]

Date: 2010-12-06 10:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
Of course. I will wait. [Huo nods, she is right after all. And he is cautious, but he has already decided to trust her, in the very act of revealing the mystery to her in the first place. Even if, speaking frankly, he feels a little bit relieved that she cannot read the unknown words. Their origin might be... unusual, but they are still his. He knows that. Somehow.

He can read the menu, but it means very little to him; instead, he follows her hands on the controls and tests his own until he also gets a response from the machine. The character portraits cause him to stop and stare: bar one or two, he can read none of the names. All of them smudge in the same way, though the faces they accompany are utterly unfamiliar. It's a lapse he cannot and does not attempt to hide. The machine seems to almost be mocking him.

Unwilling to be shaken, he ends up settling on the character that attracted his attention in the first place, the fan-wielding general with his loose hair and cunning eyes.]
There is some resemblance, [he mutters again, studying the man's elaborate headgear and the yin-yang on his robes, before glancing at Mindelan.] But what is the purpose of the game?

Date: 2010-12-06 10:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] of-mindelan.livejournal.com
[Min gets a hint of his displeasure, but politely pretends that she hasn't seen it.]

The same as any of them, I'd guess. Probably not any kind of training, but amusement. [She has little idea about what she's doing, but it's an arcade game. Things will work out tolerably as long as she doesn't accidentally select "quit".]

Date: 2010-11-29 10:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] feathered-earth.livejournal.com
Can't do what?

Date: 2010-12-01 09:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
Be swung around like a club; that is, of course it can do that, but the results would not normally be so destructive, nor include strange light effects.

Date: 2010-12-02 05:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] feathered-earth.livejournal.com
Gosh, yeah. It doesn't sound like a normal fan. Maybe it's a magic weapon?

Date: 2010-12-02 09:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
If so, it's a very puzzling choice of one.

Date: 2010-11-30 03:25 am (UTC)
lingeringlegacy: (my angry face)
From: [personal profile] lingeringlegacy
Don't go into dangerous things alone. What are you doing?

[Yeah, you're too cryptic.]

Date: 2010-12-01 09:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
Please don't be concerned; I'm in no danger, except perhaps from the noise.

Date: 2010-12-01 10:20 am (UTC)
lingeringlegacy: (amused)
From: [personal profile] lingeringlegacy
[After reading other posts about the Wilderness.]

Ah, so you are playing electronic games. If you would share your impressions later, I would hear it.

Date: 2010-12-01 10:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
Gladly. And perhaps you could shed some light on the workings of these machines: the explanation I received left me with more questions than answers.

Date: 2010-12-01 10:37 am (UTC)
lingeringlegacy: (nice)
From: [personal profile] lingeringlegacy
Really? What explanation did you get?

Perhaps after work I could join you there.

Date: 2010-12-02 09:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
I gathered that the moving images are not real, but are like painted pictures brought to life; and that the machine allows one to control one of these images according to an arbitrary set of rules that replaces the ordinary laws of nature. But I have not found one who could explain how those images can move. The best theory I thought of is that some mechanical artist is erasing then re-drawing them with inhuman speed, but I admit, that sounds faintly ridiculous.

Your presence is always welcome, and your wisdom equally so.

Date: 2010-12-03 08:47 am (UTC)
lingeringlegacy: (i c what u did thar)
From: [personal profile] lingeringlegacy
[Reading this, half amused, half bemused.]

We probably need to begin with the basic theory of atoms and electrons before going to how monitors work. Unless you had gone through that with Miss Sumi. But definitely no high-speed artists are involved.

[ooc:ql or handwave? but first I need to read up on arcade monitors asdafjkl]

Date: 2010-12-04 10:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
I've encountered the concept of atoms and particles, but only in passing. My ignorance shames me - there is so much knowledge, and only so many hours in a day.

[OOC: Could maybe have a threeway log with Youth? Shenanigans!]

Date: 2010-11-30 10:46 am (UTC)
spandexisyouth: (...)
From: [personal profile] spandexisyouth
Feather fans fan! What is this one doing?

Date: 2010-12-01 09:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
This one is being used as a weapon. Quite effectively, I might add.

Date: 2010-12-01 09:28 am (UTC)
spandexisyouth: (This seems suspicious to me)
From: [personal profile] spandexisyouth
[Pentaps.] And it has feathers? I would think other fans would be for fighting and that feathers would get in the way. But I am not sure about that.

Date: 2010-12-01 09:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
It appears to be an ordinary, if somewhat large feather fan, yes. Except of course that it creates bright lights and bursts of wind that knock men off their feet.

[Finding this hilarious? Why, yes he is.]

Date: 2010-12-01 11:20 pm (UTC)
spandexisyouth: (...)
From: [personal profile] spandexisyouth
I think that I want to see this.

Date: 2010-12-02 09:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
You are welcome to join me: the Wilderness is noisy, but very interesting.

Date: 2010-12-03 10:03 pm (UTC)
spandexisyouth: (confident)
From: [personal profile] spandexisyouth
I shall! It sounds like it is!

OOC

Date: 2010-12-04 10:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] getsome-sleep.livejournal.com
Threeway log with Stellaris too maybe? <3

OOC

Date: 2010-12-05 11:46 pm (UTC)
spandexisyouth: (Gai is love)
From: [personal profile] spandexisyouth
That works for me! Sorry about the delay, struggling with a cold.

Profile

getsomesleep: (Default)
Huo [Zhuge Liang, styled Kongming]

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