06 - week six

[afflictionmods]

WEEK SIX

Sunday starts with more aches and pains than you might be used to. Florence patched people up after Saturday’s lesson, sure, but it’s not a complete cure - not to mention it doesn’t ease the sting of betrayal. Some classmates that you thought would cooperate wound up breaking your trust in the end, and this week will be interesting with the fallout.

It’s hard to say what this week will have in store otherwise. Things are changing, and it’s not clear what this means for all of you. On the bright side, however, the creatures and places you once knew from home have suddenly disappeared, so that's less that you need to worry about. There are new areas for you to look at as well.

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

FLORENCE / LORELEI

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[exofractured]

[He frowns at her in some confusion before he attempts to go back to his book. It is good and distracting. And he's actually less annoyed by this than if she'd tried to apologize.

...Still a little strange though. When the sweater effects start wearing off and he has to put the book down to take it off and pull it on again, he sighs a little.]

Are you going to explain what you're doing here?

[He does not yet know about Hanging Out.]

[imitationsoul]

[ She is delighted when he goes back to his book and ignores her. It's nice and comfortable to just sit in silence with somebody even if that somebody has absolutely no interest in doing just that.

As he reads, Miach starts folding the table napkins into flowers. ]

Did I need a particular cause to be here?

[ She makes a small gesture at the room, because it is objectively cute and relaxing, she'd say. But then she offers a bit more: ]

I like seeing people read. You can be alone even in the most crowded place if you have a book with you. In my world, paper books are a rarity so I'd be the only one doing it.

[exofractured]

To be here, specifically. There are other places to sit.

[But he can take at face value the fact that she feels no kind of awkwardness approaching him. It's kind of nice, since that would be more of a pain for him to deal with. He watches with (only slightly) grudging interest as she makes flowers.]

I'm not particularly in the mood to agree with you, so I won't. [Except where he just did.] What do you have instead, then? Things like the tablet?

[imitationsoul]

[ She just gives an easy smile at the clarification of Phantom's question, but no answer. ]

Worse, even. You're wearing a monocle, right? There are ways to bring seeing aids even closer to your eyes by putting a small lens directly over your eyeball. In my world, those lenses have been modified from seeing aids to computer screens in their own right. I could pull up a book and read it wherever I am without even moving a muscle.

I think it's a dreadful way of consuming media, personally.

[exofractured]

[Phantom's not clarifying about his monocle, all things considered. But that's fine, he's actually absorbed with that description.]

You can read them at that range? No, I suppose if the display were adapted for the focal length...

[It is, unfortunately, also very cool.]

Hm. It doesn't seem like a fitting replacement for books. But it's fascinating in its own right.

[imitationsoul]

[ Miach nods at the comment about focal length - it's exactly how it works and she's glad he catches on quickly. ]

I agree that the technology itself is intriguing, but I can't call advancement a net benefit when it is inevitably used to whittle down the human experience to be as sterile as possible.

Reading on my AUG lenses always means being connected to the BorgesNet, too. A good old book made from paper allows one to truly engage with the text without distractions.

[exofractured]

That humans choose to apply it that way says something about our nature as a whole, I suspect. It could be as easily utilized... well, in other ways.

[He runs his fingers thoughtfully along the edge of the pages of the book. It's just another educational book, and a new one from the store at that, but it has character.]

BorgesNet? Is that similar to the network they have here?

[imitationsoul]

It is. Except in previous eras, I am sure that something like both the BorgesNet and the AUG lenses would have simply been used to distribute porn.

[ 'Other ways', indeed. ]

[exofractured]

[Miach you can't just say these things???? Good thing Phantom wasn't drinking, though he does manage to fumble his book in surprise and almost drop it on his foot.]

S-surely not just for that!

[imitationsoul]

[ She can't hold back an amused snort at that. Phantom, you're a grown man! And not from puritanical medical heaven!! ]

Well, I hear illegal distribution of non-pornographic movies was also rather popular.

The predecessor to the BorgesNet was a rather lawless land where anyone could just say whatever, even if it was hurtful. Especially if it was hurtful. The network we have here sadly seems to be censored as well, otherwise I would have loved to explore this digital world where people feel secure in committing small time crimes without their names directly attached.

[exofractured]

[A grown shut-in who can blame any and all awkwardness on his creator, thanks! Phantom stops clutching his hypothetical pearls long enough to look indignant at being laughed at ]

I imagine they would. An environment with naturally no consequences to actions?

[Although he has to raise an eyebrow at her for that.]

Although I'm surprised you would let that deter you. I thought you preferred the real world experience to the network one.