The Longest Thread (Misadventures)

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

1 minute ago, Through The Living Glass said:

She made a quiet, distressed noise.

Oh okay

I'm sorta regretting intervening but at the same time I'm intrigued about where it's going now

 

Just now, NameIess said:

I don't know. Let me go see if her Author will tell me anything.

Hey @Through The Living Glass, for what specific reason is Tam distressed? Authorial intervention getting to her?

Oh, gosh, thanks so much. 

He pulled a small flower out of his satchel and cupped it in both hands, trying to calm his breathing. 

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

Just now, NameIess said:

I don't know. Let me go see if her Author will tell me anything.

Hey @Through The Living Glass, for what specific reason is Tam distressed? Authorial intervention getting to her?

Yeah, basically. She has problems with the whole free will situation.

Which . . . is an interesting topic, actually.

[Through the Living Heir he/him]

21 minutes ago, SpiritOfWrath said:

Afterimage grinned. “The Scribe is great at names. Wait..”

"That's good, I suppose. My Author will consider any suggestions in the morning." 

2 minutes ago, Halcyon The Only said:

He tore his hands through his hair. I’m such an idiot. I shouldn’t have said anything. How do I fix it? You know her Author, right? How do I help her? 

Well... You can try talking to her. Part of the issue is that the Authors are sidestepping the role of Narrators. Rebus is... not a great messenger, but Narrators in general exist to be an avatar for their Author. Tam suppressing her Narration, and then discovering her Author is talking to people on her own... I think she's afraid. And also blatant reminders of fictionality are pretty jarring for half of people, though reassuring for the other half. Anyway, I can get you to Tam so you can try to talk - more Authorial interference would probably make it worse, and I should go to sleep anyway. Say @Dragonheir if you ever need me - I shall see you later. A Rebusnet teleportation node conveniently happens to be near Tam, and Bat's teleportation beacon has received a firmware update to link to the network and use it for free. 

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, Halcyon The Only said:

Oh, gosh, thanks so much. 

He pulled a small flower out of his satchel and cupped it in both hands, trying to calm his breathing. 

Good news and bad news. I'm going to assume you want both. Good news is, I know what's wrong. Bad news, Tam's struggling with the realization that she may not have free will. But hey! Plenty of people in the real world believe they don't have free will either, so I'm sure she'll be able to get past it!

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

7 minutes ago, Dragonheir said:

"That's good, I suppose. My Author will consider any suggestions in the morning." 

Well... You can try talking to her. Part of the issue is that the Authors are sidestepping the role of Narrators. Rebus is... not a great messenger, but Narrators in general exist to be an avatar for their Author. Tam suppressing her Narration, and then discovering her Author is talking to people on her own... I think she's afraid. And also blatant reminders of fictionality are pretty jarring for half of people, though reassuring for the other half. Anyway, I can get you to Tam so you can try to talk - more Authorial interference would probably make it worse, and I should go to sleep anyway. Say @Dragonheir if you ever need me - I shall see you later. A Rebusnet teleportation node conveniently happens to be near Tam, and Bat's teleportation beacon has received a firmware update to link to the network and use it for free. 

Thank you. Thank you so much. 

5 minutes ago, NameIess said:

Good news and bad news. I'm going to assume you want both. Good news is, I know what's wrong. Bad news, Tam's struggling with the realization that she may not have free will. But hey! Plenty of people in the real world believe they don't have free will either, so I'm sure she'll be able to get past it!

…oh. I… thanks. 

He hesitated. He should probably give her a couple minutes before showing up out of nowhere. 

Right? Or would it be better to just go and be there for her quietly while she had her mental breakdown?

[NameIess]

2 minutes ago, Halcyon The Only said:

…oh. I… thanks. 

He hesitated. He should probably give her a couple minutes before showing up out of nowhere. 

Right? Or would it be better to just go and be there for her quietly while she had her mental breakdown?

If you want my advice, it would be best to let her come back on her own time. Any further Authorial intervention would just mess with her more. Talk to her when she comes back, if she wants to talk about it.

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

Just now, NameIess said:

If you want my advice, it would be best to let her come back on her own time. Any further Authorial intervention would just mess with her more. Talk to her when she comes back, if she wants to talk about it.

He jumped. Authors were freaky. 

“Nobody should be alone with something like that,” he said softly. “Not for very long.”

[NameIess]

Just now, Halcyon The Only said:

He jumped. Authors were freaky. 

“Nobody should be alone with something like that,” he said softly. “Not for very long.”

But if we teleport you to her, will she see it as you being kind and wanting to support her, or as us playing games with the two of you? She already didn't like us speaking to you. I feel that this would be worse.

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

3 minutes ago, NameIess said:

But if we teleport you to her, will she see it as you being kind and wanting to support her, or as us playing games with the two of you? She already didn't like us speaking to you. I feel that this would be worse.

He sighed. “This is getting ridiculous. What do you mean, playing games?”

Edited January 17, 2025 by Halcyon The Only

[NameIess]

Just now, Halcyon The Only said:

He sighed. “This is getting ridiculous.”

Fine. I'll stop breaking the rules then. The voice vanished.

Malevolence looked very confused. "Hey!" He called. "What's going on? Why did Tam leave so suddenly? Who are you talking to?"

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

17 minutes ago, NameIess said:

Fine. I'll stop breaking the rules then. The voice vanished.

Malevolence looked very confused. "Hey!" He called. "What's going on? Why did Tam leave so suddenly? Who are you talking to?"

“It’s… nothing.” He curled up tighter. Maybe the Author was right. Maybe he just needed to leave her alone. 

Oh, gosh, he’d talked to an actual Author. No— three  of them. And… they’d just sounded like normal people, deeply involved in something. Involved in creating something he was a part of. His fate was entirely in their hands  

But something else bothered him, too. And he couldn’t quite tell what it was. 

“What do you know about Authors?” He asked Malevolence. 

“Authors?” Rose asked. 

He ignored her. 

@NameIess sry abt the edit : P

Edited January 17, 2025 by Halcyon The Only

[Aeoryi she/her]

1 hour ago, Dragonheir said:

Rebus nods, intrigued. "I meant the spontaneous intelligence aspect. I tried to do some experiments with Nullite, and made some sort of Ennuller emulation that has developed a mind. It does need a name, but my Author has a lot of other stuff fleshed out." 

Don't worry. I meant out of your head gone, not like leaving the Thread gone. Although I should go to sleep soon... 

Rebus (prime) looks around with awe. "I assume these dice are part of it - the darkness and light." 

She's teleported away to go have a mental breakdown, which is probably our fault. You were wondering about if we qualified as deities, earlier. I'd say no, but we are directly responsible for your existence, so... Many Authors are religious, to answer your question earlier. But yeah, having three arguable deities bypass the people intended to serve as their heralds and speak directly to you is not a common occurrence. 

"Correct." Desolation said, "It was a reference to the Liar's Paradox." 

Desolation pointed to the white die. While the black one had dots, the white one was engraved with strange foreign sigils. 

"You are... In trouble." Desolation motioned towards the die. "You face the final issue, the last thing stopping you from discovering the truth of Narration." 

His inky figure wiped away the spots that the dice were. There were two small holes, both the exact same size as either die. 

"Those dice must be put in the slots in a way that adds up to four." Desolation motioned at the white die with strange symbols. "You must, of course, use both dice available."

 

[NameIess]

Just now, Halcyon The Only said:

“It’s… nothing.” He curled up tighter. Maybe the Author was right. Maybe he just needed to leave her alone. 

Oh, gosh, he’d talked to an actual Author. No— three  of them. And… they’d just sounded like normal people, deeply involved in something. Involved in creating something he was a part of. His fate was entirely in their hands 

But something else bothered him, too. And he couldn’t quite tell what it was. 

"Hm." A small drone appeared next to Malevolence and quickly cut him free. "So, what will it take to convince her I'm not trying to kill any of you any more?"

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

7 minutes ago, NameIess said:

"Hm." A small drone appeared next to Malevolence and quickly cut him free. "So, what will it take to convince her I'm not trying to kill any of you any more?"

Bat jumped and scrambled to his feet. “I, uh… maybe if you hadn’t tried to kill us earlier…”

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, Halcyon The Only said:

Bat jumped and scrambled to his feet. “I, uh… maybe if you hadn’t tried to kill us earlier…”

Malevolence frowned, making no move towards Bat. "From what I've read on the subject, Narrators aren't affected by time travel like normal people. So I doubt I can undo my actions." He sighed, stretched his arms, then sat down on the ground. "Perhaps I will simply have to wait for Cricket to return to consciousness."

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

Just now, NameIess said:

Malevolence frowned, making no move towards Bat. "From what I've read on the subject, Narrators aren't affected by time travel like normal people. So I doubt I can undo my actions." He sighed, stretched his arms, then sat down on the ground. "Perhaps I will simply have to wait for Cricket to return to consciousness."

Cricket! Right. He obviously couldn’t leave Cricket alone. 

He’d reach out mentally for her in a couple of minutes, though. 

Bat sat back down, watching Malevolence. “So… where do you come from?”

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Cricket blinked. The last few days had felt like a haze to him. He could barely remember anything. "Wha..what happened?" he mumbled.

@Through The Living Glass @Halcyon The Only

heeheehee i back

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

Just now, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

Cricket blinked. The last few days had felt like a haze to him. He could barely remember anything. "Wha..what happened?" he mumbled.

@Through The Living Glass @Halcyon The Only

heeheehee i back

YAY YOU'RE BACK :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Tam's sad tho

wheeeee

[TwinStorm He/Him]

Just now, Through The Living Glass said:

YAY YOU'RE BACK :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Tam's sad tho

wheeeee

oh joy

Cricket has to do things  *sigh*

ok where are we?

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

Just now, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

oh joy

Cricket has to do things  *sigh*

ok where are we?

In an undefined location with the real Rose, Cricket, and NOT Tam because she left.

Also, Malevolence broke out of his cage just a few posts ago, in case Cricket wants to react to him.

[TwinStorm He/Him]

1 minute ago, Through The Living Glass said:

In an undefined location with the real Rose, Cricket, and NOT Tam because she left.

Also, Malevolence broke out of his cage just a few posts ago, in case Cricket wants to react to him.

like trying to attack?

50 minutes ago, NameIess said:

Malevolence frowned, making no move towards Bat. "From what I've read on the subject, Narrators aren't affected by time travel like normal people. So I doubt I can undo my actions." He sighed, stretched his arms, then sat down on the ground. "Perhaps I will simply have to wait for Cricket to return to consciousness."

Cricket gasped, scrambling to his feet, unsheathing his knives. Why couldn't he remember anything? "Don't...don't move."

[Through The Living Glass She/They]

Just now, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

like trying to attack?

Cricket gasped, scrambling to his feet, unsheathing his knives. Why couldn't he remember anything? "Don't...don't move."

No. Just sitting and talking with Bat.

Tam doesn't trust him still.

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

6 minutes ago, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

Cricket blinked. The last few days had felt like a haze to him. He could barely remember anything. "Wha..what happened?" he mumbled.

@Through The Living Glass @Halcyon The Only

heeheehee i back

 

Just now, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

like trying to attack?

Cricket gasped, scrambling to his feet, unsheathing his knives. Why couldn't he remember anything? "Don't...don't move."

“CRICKET!” Bat lounged forward and squeezed Cricket very tightly, grinning. “I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU WERE GONE FOREVER.”

[TwinStorm He/Him]

4 minutes ago, Through The Living Glass said:

No. Just sitting and talking with Bat.

Tam doesn't trust him still.

gotcha

4 minutes ago, Halcyon The Only said:

 

“CRICKET!” Bat lounged forward and squeezed Cricket very tightly, grinning. “I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU WERE GONE FOREVER.”

Cricket smiled weakly, patting him on the back. "Yeah... something happened. Something to do with my... Author? I don't know. I'm back though."

[Bird Furious she/her/un/important]

Just now, Ookla the Irreplaceable said:

gotcha

Cricket smiled weakly, patting him on the back. "Yeah... something happened. Something to do with my... Author? I don't know. I'm back though."

“You’re back,” he agreed, tightening his grip to an almost dangerous level before letting go. He kept hold of Cricket’s shoulders, beaming. “So we got out of yhe cage with Rose—“ Rose waved at this point— “And apparently Second Rose is Ruia or something, and I think she’s suspicious but she can’t find us here, and Rose has special powers that may or may not start mind controlling her, and Malevolence said he wants to help us, and all the Authors started talking to me, and Tam vanished… and… we gotta give her space.” He frowned. “I don’t like leaving her alone, but… I’ll contact her soon.”