thespherelogs | Fourth Wall Month!

Entry tags:

Fourth Wall Month!

Who: Everyone and visiting Characters!
What: The Fourth Wall log!
When: The month of September!.
Where: All over.
Notes: If you have any questions about how this all works, please head over here to the Fourth Wall info post!.

Fourth Wall Log!

Company's coming!

So the Sphere is malfunctioning and there’s new arrivals here. In order to give them somewhere to sleep and rest, the Sphere has given them all temporary housing in dorm dome number two! That means sunken beds, three squares a day that are already prepared for you and clothing in the closets that just happen to be to your character’s taste. (And you know if they happen to die then you’ve got a nice space to Rez.) All and all it’s a nice little home base for people to have. There’s several common areas for mingling, and all though there aren’t individual rooms for the characters who are staying there, the domes also provide screens for privacy. Don’t worry, no one’s spying on you or something. Probably.

John (one of our resident NPCs here, who is a doctor and also a ghost but shush) knows the importance of family, and she knows how tough it can be when people arrive in a place they don’t know. The visitors haven’t really had the same experience as people brought in the traditional way, so John has stationed herself in the dorms with a sort of ipad thing, and she’s offering to take people’s information and to show them how things like the network work. She’s also there to hold hands and deal with any medical issues that these new arrivals may just happen to have. If people don’t want to talk to her, that’s totally fine! She won’t push. But she’ll also provide directions to places if people need them. Or at least point them in the general places that they need to go.

Speaking things out into the void.

This is a prompt for visiting characters to be able to put out a network post without actually joining the network community! Upon waking in The Sphere, each character (even temporary ones!) are fitted with a small golden circle behind their right ear. This is how they are connected to the network through a neural link. Touch and hold the button to create a broadcast of one of three types:

Audio. Your character thinks audible words onto the network.
Writing: Your character thinks text into the network.
Video. Your character projects a broadcast of a video of themselves onto the network.

Replies are determined by the player. The network needs to be accessed by choice, so character broadcasts are not automatically beamed directly into people’s heads. The Sphere isn’t that rude.

Private messages are allowed by pressing and holding and pressing and holding again as you picture the person in your mind. This can be an image or a name, err more on the side of things being more accessible than less.

God let people have their pumpkin spice lattes, Karen!

It’s September, and that means that fall has hit the Sphere hard. Well, as hard as any place can be without having actual seasons or sunlight. So, in the artificial sun of the Sphere, what there is instead of colder weather and leaves changing is a new festival. The festival, which if you ask someone who’s been there for a while is in celebration of the most fall thing in the entire world: pumpkin spice. That’s right, there’s an entire festival just centered around pumpkin spice flavored things! Of course, the people of the Sphere do try and make an effort to invoke the spirit of the season, with large garlands of fake brightly colored leaves lining the street. The scents of pumpkin spice fill the air and there are small fire pits near Adirondack chairs that are clustered together with all the things to make s’mores.

For those not pumpkin minded, there are also a fair amount of apples picked from the Sphere orchards, and a few small knives. Some older women promise that if people can peel the apples in a long spiral and throw them behind them, then the peel will form the initial of the person that the thrower is destined to marry. Of course there is also bobbing for apples and pumpkin carving.

In both the merchant dome and the agricultural dome there’s massive tables brimming with enough pumpkin foods to make Harry Potter jealous. There’s all sorts of pumpkin baked goods, pumpkin ravioli, roasted pumpkin and vegetables and there’s even roasted meats with pumpkin sauce! There's also drinks of both the alcoholic and non alcoholic sort: pumpkin beer, pumpkin spice wine, pumpkin spice vodka, apple spiced whiskey and so on! At each place is a coffee cart with a poor overworked barista who is doling out every sort of pumpkin coffee, hot chocolate and tea imaginable including yes pumpkin spice lattes.

We're waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

There’s even a pumpkin carving contest in the agricultural dome! Pumpkins of different sizes ranging from small sugar ones to ones that could comfortably form a children’s fort are stacked around, and there are picnic tables set in newspaper and with things like knives and scoopers and nails and even drills for those people who want to remove the pumpkin guts or use them to do some carving. Everyone who participates receives a ribbon as well as a bag of toasted pumpkin seeds to take home.

They hope you really like pumpkin seeds. There’s a ton of them.

When the dark comes, people hunker down between the false stars above, with blankets all around them, the scent of pumpkin in the air. Flashlights and small lanterns are distributed by people, and when asked what’s going on, they’ll say that they’re waiting for The Great Pumpkin. Children whisper the name excitedly, and even some of the more inebriated adults do the same. Either way, at midnight the largest pumpkin rises above the crowd to gasps of shock and awe before it just magically changes into the types of candy and small toys that one would expect to come from an excellently stocked pinata.

The color of magical bounty.

In the rec dome, some magically gifted people have conjured up massive piles of dried leaves for people to frolic in. And when I say massive, I mean massive. It’s almost like an entire forest of leaves that’s thankfully free of all of the problems that come with jumping in leaves. With no animals in the Sphere, there’s not any of their presents hiding in the leaves and anything sharp hasn’t been created! Which means that it’s great for things like jumping in, burying things in and of course leaf fights.

If your character is missing nature, the area smells exactly how one would expect a late September walk in the woods to smell: it’s almost as if you’re there! The sunlight in the dome has also been altered a bit where the leaves are located, so it’s cooler, and a slight wind seems to be in the air, stirring the leaves every so often. It’s enough to encourage sweaters and scarves, that have been provided by people if they’d like them. The scarves and sweaters all seem to be of the handmade variety, and just the tiniest bit irregular, with one sleeve longer than the other, or the fringe on a scarf being slightly askew, that sort of thing. But they’re still lovely and soft and warm and smell of dryer sheets and leaves.

And we're flying, flying far beyond...

So the Sphere saw that everyone just loved the fireflies last month so this month it decided that what the city needs is to fly for real! So in the Rec dome, there’s a marked pad that people can step on that lets people fly around this particular dome for 30 minutes at a go using the same sort of controls that the communications behind your ear has! Press quickly once to go up and twice to go down. The clearance in the dome clocks in somewhere around 400 feet so there’s plenty of room for flying and even going up and touching the top of the dome and staring out into the abyss of water.

Be careful though because sometimes if you stare too long into the abyss, things just happen to stare back at you and then there are things in the deep water that you may not expect. Or that you might. Giant fish and squid may just find all this unusual activity quite interesting. But don’t worry the dome won’t crack. Guess what! You are now the fish in the aquarium for them! Or you know the bird flying past the cat in the window.

Wanna go to a real party? (CW: Mentions of drugs and alcohol.)

If people are looking for more illicit entertainment, and discreet inquiries are made, a passcode to the Black Market hidden behind some of the stalls is offered. The entrance is hidden enough that someone needs to be looking for it, and there is a rather large bouncer guarding the door and asking for the proper passcode. The passcode of the day happens to be I hate pumpkin.

Inside the black market is large, but much more dimly lit than the regular market dome. There are various pockets of people clustered under bright neon lights. The lights, someone confides to you, are code for what they’re offering. And nearly everything is on offer if a person has the ability to make a trade. Things from home, character skills and even favors tend to be the currency here, but watch out: the hawkers within are shrewd and sharp. If they make a deal with someone, it’s nearly always going to favor them. Eventually.

There’s also a large and loud party happening inside. Think of a rave with a large amount of people who happened to be a bit out of their minds. Drugs aren’t given freely here, they’re too valuable, but should someone want to figure out what they’re rolling on, eventually someone will ask or offer. The drug that they are currently using is called ‘self’ and it’s something that affects your character in an intensely personal way. For some, it’s an experience like your favorite cocktail mixed with vicodin, and for others it’s just like being drunk. For still more people, it’s like ecstasy without the side effects.

The drug has no physically addictive properties. It does however cause a hangover. The Sphere doesn't want to take all the fun out of imbibing too much.

photo inspiration

main navigation

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He completely deserves that, but dammit that is frustrating.]

Dude, some of us literally need caffeine to make it through the day. Don't, man. Just don't. Please. I'm begging you.

[ She rolls her eyes. ]

Just choose to be slow for a bit. I'll be done in no time.

[ She turns back to the barista. ]

So what's those sorts with all the layers? Can I have pumpkin in that?

[He can't choose be slow. The kid is about vibrating in annoyance now. Seriously, listen hard enough and you might hear a hum.]

We've already been here, like, hours.

[Waiting sucks when you perceive time differently.]

Don't be so dramatic. It's only been a few minutes.

[ Laica comes from a time before clocks, so her perception of time is a little less precise than average. "A few minutes" translates to "It hasn't felt like much time to me" mixed with "I'm not hungry after my last meal yet, it couldn't have been very long."

She turns back to the barista who just told her something utterly astounding. ]

What do you mean there's no pumpkin in the pumpkin spice?

[Yeah, but even three minutes would be 1.8e+8 microseconds. Which is a LOT. A HELL of a lot when Tommy's keyed up and having speed focusing issues.]

No. There is no pumpkin in pumpkin spice. It's a spice combination that we put into pumpkin pies and pumpkin rolls and other things with pumpkin IN it. It's cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves and other stuff.

[Oh well, at least he can do ONE thing. Which is run to the food table, grab a slice of pumpkin roll, and come back into line. Without even appearing to leave. At least he can have FOOD while he waits.]

Then why call it pumpkin spice and not just spice.

[ She narrows her eyes as the breeze from his movement causes her hair to waft gently. ]

Should I try to go fast the way you do? There's nothing special to it, after all.

[Seriously she’s maddening. Tommy glowers at the mage and he frankly feels justified.]

Why do humans always have to be so racist and casually flippant about other species? Seriously. So what if I was born like this? Doesn’t mean it’s all sugar and flowers and rainbows. Is it a bit annoying for me to be impatient? Yes, probably, almost definitely. But being in a slow line is like a guy who lost both his legs being told he has to climb stairs.

[No one considers the handicaps that come with being his speed. He’s used to it. But she seems to be drawing this out deliberately because she didn’t like his last explanation.]

And caffeine helps my brain deal with the sensory overload. Otherwise it gets a little prone to shutting down when things are as busy as they are right now.

[ Laica rolls her eyes. ]

What are you talking about. You do know that if you convert it doesn't actually make you a Qunari. You're still human. Or an elf or whatever.

[ She double-checks his ears. Nope. But what he says about caffeine piques her healer's instincts. She distractedly finishes ordering and steps to the side to wait for the other barista to make it. ]

What do you mean by sensory overload? And why does caffeine help?

What the everliving fuck is a Qunatkey?

[Yes he deliberately garbles the word to try and reinforce that he doesn’t know what she is talking about. Because now she’s frustrating him. At least, though, finished her order. And Tommy waits until he gets the okay to rattle his own off. The baristas are at least used to him.]

I’m not a Human. I’m a Mutant. Different race, lady, so yeah, you’re being racist. That’s why i can do what a I do. The speed. The stupid ass metabolism. The explosions. What I do isn’t special to me because I was born this way. Denser muscles, stronger bones, the ability to go from a few thousand miles an hour to zero in three steps without killing myself from the force of it.

And my brain goes just as fast. More than that fast. You count seconds? I can count a millionth of a second. Or smaller units. My brain is that fast. Caffeine? Doesn’t affect me the way it does humans. Its chemistry is slower. Sure it fuels me, well, the sugar does, but the caffeine focuses my brain so I’m not consciously putting up with all it sees all the damn time.

[ She sighs. Maker, it's like trying to reason with Carver. ]

Qunari. There's no T's or K's in it. And it's not racist if I don't know you're not human. I asked you. You said there was nothing different about you. Which clearly isn't true. Just try telling the truth from the beginning next time if it bothers you so much when people get the wrong impression. Being a mage is normal to me but that doesn't mean it's normal for anybody else.

[ She purses her lips as she mulls over his descriptions. ]

Wonder if I could do something like that with magic...

[Tommy rolls his eyes. He hadn't lied once to her. Hell, he even mentioned being a mutant at their first meeting, but whatever. She can be as little minded as she felt. Humans were always like that. She's so impossible.]

Listen, I'm used to really weird things from witches and the like, but whatever.

What I do? It's not something magic can do unless you've got a spell to slow time for you. Which is silly. Because this sucks.

[But he would never give it up.]

Edited 2019-09-22 02:45 (UTC)

I'm not a witch. Now who's the bigot.

[ She throws up her hands. ]

Fine. Suffer.

[ She's not going to waste her time with somebody who refuses what she has to offer. She takes her drink and turns to go. ]

[Tommy's hand shoots out, intending to grab her arm.]

Is witch a bad word in your world? I used it because my brother is a witch. It's the word he likes to use. If you're not that, are you a Sorcerer? Or would it be Sorceress? Those are most of the words we use for it. Wizard too, but I think that's supposed to be a guy witch. Which is weird because Billy still insists he's a witch. He says I can't use Warlock because it means oathbreaker and it's super offensive. Is witch offensive in your world?

[Dude, he is NOT a bigot. He's just not sure what word to use.]

[ Laica's expression turns icy when he grabs her arm. She glances at his hand without tilting her face, then slowly pulls out of his grip. She's a viscountess, betrothed to a prince. One doesn't just touch her. (Anymore.) ]

A witch is uneducated, and frequently a maleficar. [ She stops herself, because he probably doesn't know that, either. ] Somebody who practices forbidden magic. They are unpredictable at best. Accusing others of intentional malice when they are merely ignorant is a petty thing to do. We all have different experiences, all valid. None universal.

[ Anyway. ]

I am a healer. I use my magic to work with the body and put it to rights. Commune with spirits to do so if it's particularly bad.

You know, now you're accusing me of intentional malice when I don't know your world. While also being actively insulting toward my brother because I already told you he was a witch.

[She's just not a nice person. Repeatedly. Like, superior and super rude.]

Healing is cool though.

[He's trying. One last attempt to reach out because his brother says he has to be nice to magic users. He's not buying it.]

Oh, that's upsetting? I thought it was normal where you're from.

[ Her tone is overly solicitous because she didn't really think that. But turning his own behavior back on him seemed to be the only way to get through. Maybe it has. Maybe not. Either way he left her an opening to actually help so she's going to try. So long as he doesn't try to mislead her or call her names again. ]

Healing isn't just broken arms and concussions. It's all sorts of medicine. If I can figure out why this [ She waggles her cup ] makes you feel slow, I could try to replicate it. Maybe even improve the process.

[See? They can both try to be adults here. It's a fair thing.]

Huh, when Billy does magic he doesn't do it like that. I mean, not medicine. He mostly just makes the wounds go away by force of will. But he's not a traditional magic user, even back home. He sorta just... wills reality to fit his command.

[ Laica's lips screw to the side and her eyes narrow as he describes this. It sounds like no magic she's ever even read about. ]

That's not... really how it works for most of us. At least not where I'm from. You have to have the ability to wield magic at all, to tear the Veil and touch the Fade to work your will upon the world. But one has to study and practice and work very hard to do much of anything. Usually one specializes in one thing or another. Generalists are exceedingly rare.

My native magic is fire, so I studied healing to try to make up for that.

[Yeah, well, it magic unique to his brother pretty much.]

Billy's unique. So people in our world can't really do that. Just, you know, him. Because, well, he's a god or something. He's also able to control electricity. But his healing sorta sucks.

[Because it's complicated.]

[ Laica blinks as he describes what, exactly, this Billy person can do. ]

I should say so.

[ She says, laughing a little as she can't even imagine a single mage being able to do what Tommy has described. What wonders the Maker has wrought! ]

I'm actually a very good healer. [ She fluffs her hair. There isn't much in her life that she is absolutely confident of, but that is one of them. ] If you ever want to let me see what I can do, just give me a call.

[TECHNICALLY, Lacia, Billy is the equivalent of the Maker, for human in Tommy's dimension and a few adjacent to it.]

I try not to get hurt. I'm fast, I'm strong, but I'm only durable against crashes. But if I get hurt, I'll look you up.

[ She's not going to even entertain such blasphemy. Her faith isn't really the sort to allow a lot of wiggle room or argument.

He seems to have forgotten the topic already and she once again is unimpressed. ]

That's not what I was talking about. You said the drinks make you feel slower, or like everybody's moving at your speed. Whichever. I can try to figure out why, then use magic to get the same effect without all the need for waiting around for the questionable service such places have to offer.

[Short attention spans, what are you going to do about it? Other than down more coffee, clearly.]

I think it's more like, they make me focus better? Like, normally the medications they use for that don't work for me because they burn through my body too fast. But this I can take a lot of? It's weird. But if you wanna try, that's cool. Just no needles. You gotta promise no needles. Though I'd probably still drink caffeine. And the service here is great. I like Freddie. Or was the name May? Shoot.

[ She's so confused by his demanded promise that it takes her a moment to respond. She just can't figure out why he would even need her to promise "no needles". She's also not planning to use any hair ribbons or tent poles or cart wheels. There's only one thing she can think of needing needles for in medicine: stitching up wounds. And she doesn't even do that. ]

No, I... I can't think of any reason I might need needles. I'm sure if you have some lacerations and want them stitched there's more practiced physicians who can take care of that.

[Lucky her, never knowing the horror of needles for medication. Or what people can do to you with them. And at first he seems happy at the promise. Then his face falls. Right. Magic.]

In my world, people use them to put things into you. Or take blood out. Or other things. Lots of needles. There's terrible. But if you don't use them, then you're definitely better than literally any doctor ever.

Fourth Wall Month!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)