Last Christmas

Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. The low-income borough of Lambeth has been largely taken over by London's mutant population and is now known as Mutant Town.

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Sat Jan 06, 2018 8:06 am

Will gasped as Miriam drank her fill. And, being new at this and hungry, Miriam's fill was more than most. Will at first found it hard, then impossible to stand, as Miriam drank ever deeper, trying to quench her unquenchable first.

Like a slowly deflating balloon, Will began to collapse in on himself. First his fingers and toes, moving up to his arms and legs and spreading up his torso, seemed to 'empty', as if she was somehow drinking up any and all of the structure inside. Torn between two worlds as she was, she might not notice as Will shriveled up like a drained Capri Sun packet, folding over himself as he ended up, floppy and empty, on the floor.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Sun Jan 07, 2018 2:08 am

It's a rush. Like the warm embrace of alcohol but without any of the impairment. If she'd had an hors d'oeuvre or two this was a banquet. Her head swims with intoxication and satisfaction. With a sober mind she might have realized this wouldn't be the best time to start changing connections in someone's mind, but right now she feels like she can do no wrong. Especially when she's just trying to make things better.

In Will's mind Miriam's avatar's robes take on a distinctly dark-red hue with an almost moist sheen, as if they're soaked in blood. She doesn't seem to pay it much mind as she gently traces the connection of 'being bitten by a vampire' back to the large switchboard and yanks it out of the 'pain' connector. Running a finger over the countless connections she reaches out to feel them out until she finds ones that are pleasant, intimate, sensual almost.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:01 am

There were about a dozen different flavors of 'intimate' feelings Miriam could plug into, and so finding one wouldn't end up too difficult, and she could have somewhat of her pick of the litter.


Her actions now were beginning to draw the attention of some of the attendants wandering the room, as they looked up at her almost in unison.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:05 am

As long as they aren't interfering Miriam doesn't pay them too much mind, but she does keep an eye on them in case they decide that Miriam shouldn't be doing what she's doing. After taking care of the biggest adjustment she looks around to try and find the terminal with the familiar necklace again. She remembers picking up a feeling of almost proud satisfaction from Will at the time and she's curious how that is coming together. And if the configuration on it differs from any of the other ones.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:06 pm

She definitely has an audience now, as they follow her around the room. A little eerie, that.

The more time she spent in here, the easier it was to find her way around, so she was able to find the necklace switchboard fairly quickly, and examined it.

The configuration was a little different than what she thought of as the "Will" shape. After...some rather extensive searching, there was a nest...a network of wires that seemed to work somewhat in concert, linking to a number of positive sensations on the main switchboard -- feelings of pride, of contentment, and one just labeled '"purpose". They were a complicated systems of connections and splits, tying into four dozen spots on the small switchboard, a mind-boggling level of complexity.


Miriam's best guess would be that these worked somehow to define the object's function, and reward Will when that function was being used. She could find similar patterns on most of the objects around -- the necklace tied in to being worn and matching other articles of clothing; the luxury car to transporting people and looking expensive, and so on. On the "Will" form, at least, that network was...not as clear.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:44 am

This is obviously more complex than something she'll figure out at a cursory inspection, but she does try to get a decent feel for the composition of tangled cables. Finally she settles on just connecting 'contentment' and 'purpose' to the now identified sensation of being bitten. It's a bit more simplistic, but hopefully it'd at least change Will's perspective on it away from being a dull chore. Once she's put down this basic framework she takes a step back and looks at it, contemplating. This isn't the only shape of his she might want to drink from, but she also doesn't want to go around and painstakingly recreate whatever switchboard-pattern she comes up with on every humanoid shape in the seemingly endless room.

Finally she leans down and places her hands on the floor before beginning to pull out a brand-new switchboard. In the middle of this one sits a globe that is filled with a thick, crimson liquid and she goes to connects it to all the humanoid-representing switchboards she can find. An addition of sorts. A modifier, so she has a more convenient station to work with regarding all things blood.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:18 am

There were far, far more humanoid shapes than Miriam had seen Will been in before -- dozens of them. Hundreds, maybe. But, with time and effort, she could jury-rig her new addition in there just right. It should hold, at least for now -- and who knows, by the time it fails, maybe it'd be integrated in naturally, thanks to Will actively wanting to be there? That was a nice lie she could tell herself, at any rate.

She probably would have gone faster if it wasn't for the crowd of people surrounding her, staring at her as she worked.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:48 am

She's tried to ignore the crowd gathering around her as long as possible, but eventually their presence becomes too much to dismiss.

"What?" she rudely spins around to face them, their silent observing kind of unnerving her. "Don't you have a job to do?"
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Tue Jan 09, 2018 3:53 am

"We are performing our task," several of them said in unison. "We observe. We record. And we seek to understand."

Creepy.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Jan 09, 2018 5:45 pm

"Great. You wouldn't happen to have a map of the place, do you?" she quips, not really expecting an answer.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:41 pm

"We strive to understand, and we have spent our lives seeking to better comprehend this room. What is it you seek?"
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:24 pm

"How to make use of this room to... make Will happier, I suppose."
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:16 am

"That is not the purpose of this room.

Happiness is not something that can be plugged in and applied. Happiness is a way of being; a way of carrying oneself. Happiness is about fulfillment and peace."
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:44 am

"And this room doesn't play into that at all?" she scoffs sarcastically.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:56 am

"We hope to one day fully understand everything there is to know about this room. But this is much to explore, and much to learn.

That is our purpose."

By now, they were all speaking as one. THAT's creepy.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:18 pm

"That's actually rather useful to know. But if you are just observers then who is in charge? What determines which one of these switchboards are active?"
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:28 pm

That shut them up for a minute, awkwardly looking at one another and shuffling around.

It seems Miriam's...shall we say, 'renovation' of Will's mindscape had left a power void at the top.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:10 pm

"That's less than ideal. Go and built a control panel next to the main switchboard. Make sure it has shifting controls and a desk for reviewing designs while I figure out who to best put in charge." she instructs them.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:58 pm

There were some grumbles of discontent, but they started to walk off, gesturing at one another, to fulfill whatever it was Miriam had in mind.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:33 am

Miriam follows them to oversee the construction, occasionally stepping in to adjust things a little. Maybe letting Will's internal processes do most of the actual shaping would help the changes be smoother, more in line with the rest of his mind. The desk that takes shape still generally follows the way the rest of the room looks, kind of old-timey and wooden, but it has a more modern shape, curving into a half-circle around a cushioned seat. On one side it has what looks like pottery tools and a couple half spheres made of glass, like the ones embedded in the switchboards. On the other side is a currently empty switchboard without a slot for a globe that seems like it can override the one that would be otherwise active for testing purposes.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Fri Jan 12, 2018 2:33 am

There were elements of construction that Miriam had not seen before -- surely, most modern decks were not, in fact, composed of hardened fondant -- but the little mindlings were quick to pick up on her plans, altering and adjusting their standard blueprints to meet what Miriam had in find. It was remarkably easy, actually -- very easy to shift things just so, here and there, to match what she had in mind.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Fri Jan 12, 2018 5:43 pm

Once she's done she let's herself drop into the chair, the shrouds of black cloth around her avatar dissipating as she does. She's laid some groundwork, but now she needs to put it to the test. She pulls up a chunk of clay and starts idly molding it. Not that she'd be particularly adept at literal pottery, but this is just a metaphor and she can leave all the actual shaping and shifting to Will while her mind works at forming concepts. Having just eaten her fill for the first time she's brimming with energy, bordering on restless. She has to blow off some steam, especially after all this mental work.

The obvious things would be jewelry or maybe shoes, but that's almost a waste of potential when the options are almost limitless. And she wants Will to want to stick with her, understand her a little better. Slowly the clay on the metaphorical workbench starts taking shape. A pair of long, elegant gloves in a faintly shimmering velvet, almost impossibly thin. She puts the simulacrum in one of the glass spheres and swivels in the chair to place it in the experimental switchboard. She starts by mimicking the pattern that she saw on the necklace, contentment, pride and purpose. But then she adds a couple more. Curiosity and empathy in an intertwined connection as well the sensation of touch. She ponders for a moment but finally decides to skip sight and instead connects sound and touch to it out of sheer curiosity.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Fri Jan 12, 2018 8:00 pm

It takes some time for her to get everything hooked up, being a very complicated system and everything, but she thinks she finally has it all right and hooked up properly. Not having experienced the effects of the switchboard herself, she only has the vaguest idea of what removing sight will do -- limiting Will to two senses might make those two senses all the more vital and intense, perhaps!

After all, what's the worst that could happen?
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Fri Jan 12, 2018 8:46 pm

Only one way to find out. She activates the switchboard to prompt Will to shift.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Sat Jan 13, 2018 3:20 am

And then everything around her...shook slightly. But not...physically shook. More like...everything attenuated for just a moment, becoming sharper and clearer and just...simultaneously closer and further away.

It was really hard to put into words, and nothing quite like Miriam had ever experienced before. And now...

The air felt different. The floor under her feet felt different. The people walking by moved at a different rate -- or something, at least. It was like waking up with the knowledge that the room you were in was not the one you fell asleep in -- only everything you expected to be there was there. A strange feeling of displacement, perhaps.

But underneath it, she could feel, emanating around her, those connections she had carefully plugged in. Contentment, pride, purpose. Curiosity, empathy. Without her own mental shields, they'd probably overwhelm her, as well.

Note to self: dangerous being inside a shifter when they shift.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Sat Jan 13, 2018 8:02 pm

It's disorienting to say the least, but at the same time fascinating. A completely different sense of being and the feelings accompanying it only reinforce the allure of the idea of being able to change. Become someone different at will. It conveys an odd sense of freedom, at least from her point of view.

Once she recovers her bearing a little she withdraws from Will's mind to pick up the gloves now sitting in front of her and carefully, almost gently pulls them on.
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Will Stanton » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:50 am

The gloves had fallen where Will fell when she had drained him dry. The mind and physical whammies had taken a lot out of him.

The gloves were...alright. To be honest, Miriam has felt better before, but she could chalk that up to her inexperience at creating things . Whatever Will's mental shifting processes involved, they clearly hadn't quite taken over and upgraded her model to something perfect -- not yet, at least. The fabric wasn't quite as high quality as she'd normally prefer, nor were they quite as soft as she had hoped for. But they would do, for now -- relatively comfortable, and they fit like a...well. You know.

Nnnnn the gloves thought, recovering from their ordeal.
Image
User avatar
Will Stanton
Student
 
High Concept: Pillsbury Clayboy
Aspect: Needs to be Useful/Used
Aspect: Out of Place, Out of Time
Aspect: Unique Worldview
Aspect: Big Ball of Trauma
Aspect: Open-Hearted

Re: Last Christmas

Postby Miriam Bell » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:32 pm

Baby-steps. she tells herself. And she'd have to figure out how Will recovered best. But that was for later, right now she needs to let out some of that excess energy, that swelling feeling in her chest that she could lift a truck. She knows she can't, but she still has that restless feeling of wanting to try. To go and do. She goes to gather the rest of her outfit and heads out the door...
Image
User avatar
Miriam Bell
Student
 
High Concept: Sorrowful Telepath
Aspect: Powerful Enemies
Aspect: Structural Shadow

Previous


Topic attributes:

Return to London

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests