Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
Thanks, I think I fixed most of them? Was pretty tired when writing this.
Thaumaturgy Restarted: Second time's a charm
[X] Void, beckoning with knowledge of secrets.
Part 6 - Void Man, Take Me By The Hand
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
{You gained +5 Void.}
You feel it, or, at the very least, you think you feel it. Behind the door was the Void, the lack of Light, unbreakable darkness from the beginning of time and space, filled with secrets, hidden and long forgotten. Feeling soon subsides, \ as the person behind the door start banging harder and louder, clearly impatient. For a moment you consider, as a friendly jest, to just wait until they figure out that the door is actually open, it just merely turns to the outside, not inside. But that feeling sparked your curiosity. Whoever this visitor is, they clearly someone very, very interesting. So you open the door for them.
The man who steps through the door loos, quite honestly, like a weird middle-aged man. He is wearing white striped blue pajamas with a clown-like cap a top his head, with the puffy thing. You have no idea how it is called, but it is the puffy thing. His hair is predominantly dark brown, although you can also spot some stray grey color there. He closes his dark blue eyes and... You suddenly feel dizzy, as if contents of your head were replaced with vacuum. You try to focus, only for the man to say:
- Your name is Vanessa Fatum, correct? - which, quite honestly, throws you off balance. It was awhile since you have been called that. As of late, everyone simply calls you…
- Then dementia hasn't set in yet and I have not messed up with the destination. Good. I have a fairly important message to deliver to your father that, unfortunately, cannot just bring it to him due to… Interferences. But also, I need to give you this - he starts looking around the room, looking for something. You want to ask him the meaning of all this bullshit, but before you can do that, the man picks up the book you have been reading. He holds it in his hands, turning it around as if appraising a statuette, before throwing it back to you.
- Consider this a tutorial for something that will be fairly important to you in the relatively close future. No, that is not quite right. It is something that is important to you now, but you aren't quite aware of it. Normally you would remain ignorant for much more, but, well, the circumstances force my hand. Them the breaks, I guess. - you catch the book. It appears to have ceased being an adventure book and have become something called: "The fundamental archetypes of soul and how to unlock their secrets: a manual by A. Stein". In doing so, it also turned heavier, much heavier, gaining probably a good few hundred pages. You, again, open your mouth in order to ask "what in the actual fuck do you mean, strange old man". You, once again, are interrupted. You start getting annoyed at this bullshit.
- It will probably take you awhile to finish it and, while i wouldn't recommend on slacking off on it, young lady, it would be best to be read at your own pace. The knowledge within is known to cause existential dread in some and the resulting revelations can be fairly upsetting. Although, of course, that depends on...
- Ok, stop right there. I demand explanations. Who the fuck are you? Why can't I remember your appearance? What the fuck is this? - you wave the book in your hand in front of him, - To whom am I supposed to send a message and why would I do that? Answer before I throw you out of this room down the fucking stairs, weirdo.
Even though you can't quite focus on his face without getting dizzy, you get the feeling that he is raising his eyebrow now in a manner you judge to be condescending. Which is annoying. Then he start to talk in a slow way, indicating that either he is choosing his words very carefully, or is assuming very unflattering things about your intelligence:
- My name is Albert Stein. The reason why you can't remember my appearance is partially cause I don't want you to, partially because I am ████-bound and partially due to interference from some passive information veiling spells, which are annoying to say the least.. The person to whom you are supposed to send the message is called Terrence Fatum. Unless I am horribly misinformed, he is your father in the waking world. You need to deliver him my message because of the so called Stabilization event, which can become quite troublesome if not handled with care. I personally believe that it is already too late to prevent the event from happening, even if we could ever stop it, but, well, what can you do? As for the book in your hands… Didn't I already say that it is a tutorial? Cause that is all it is.
- That didn't explain anything! If anything, I am more fucking confused! The fuck is a Stabilization event? - you are getting really frustrated at all this bullshit. And your headache just gets worse, you already have problems remembering some things he said, this fuckery really doesn't help.
- Stabilization event is ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ rebalancing itself into a more stable, lower energy state. That will probably cause ███ ████████ to █████████ with ███████ ██████, █████ ████ probably lead to quite a lot of chaos if left uncontrolled. It might also cause the formation of ███████ ████████ out of ██████'s ██████ due to ███████ █████ █████████ █████ ██████ by the neosphere. ████ ██████ being a █████████ of ████ makes him a very important piece of the puzzle. Knower of Rage such as you can also be very, very useful. Wait... You didn't hear the important parts, did you? - as the stranger speaks, your headache reaches a new entire plane of pain you were unfamiliar with due to your somewhat sheltered life. You start massaging your temples. It doesn't help much.
- Well, either way… I suspect that this dream will end soon, so I guess I might as well just leave this here, - he pulls out a letter seemingly out of thin air and puts it on your bed, - It is up to you to whether to deliver it or not. And I can understand if you don't want to do that, given how shady I am, both literally and metaphorically. But I and quite a few people would prefer for you not to do that.
You aren't really focusing on what he is talking about, mostly due to your headache, which is so bad you gain sufficient lucidity realize that this is, in fact, a dream, and that you are not a jester-mage, but a thaumaturgist who goes by the name of Vanessa Fatum. You can try to push through it and try ask more of this antimemetic fucker, but you are afraid that you might just damage your mind if you were to do that. Or you can simply end the dream and let the secrets be secrets. What shall you do?
[]Push through the pain and ask the man questions. He clearly knows a lot, and even though him talking is causing you a headache, your curiosity can not allow such an opportunity to go to waste.
-[]Write-in question.
{Gain +3 Light for each question. For each question, roll a d100 with -10 modifier. Each time you roll <50, lose 3 Mind. If you lose more than 10 Mind, end the dream and ???.}
[]Wake up. You doubt that whatever secrets this man has are worth the pain. Sometimes some knowledge just has to remain a mystery.
{Gain +5 Void.}
You feel it, or, at the very least, you think you feel it. Behind the door was the Void, the lack of Light, unbreakable darkness from the beginning of time and space, filled with secrets, hidden and long forgotten. Feeling soon subsides, \ as the person behind the door start banging harder and louder, clearly impatient. For a moment you consider, as a friendly jest, to just wait until they figure out that the door is actually open, it just merely turns to the outside, not inside. But that feeling sparked your curiosity. Whoever this visitor is, they clearly someone very, very interesting. So you open the door for them.
The man who steps through the door loos, quite honestly, like a weird middle-aged man. He is wearing white striped blue pajamas with a clown-like cap a top his head, with the puffy thing. You have no idea how it is called, but it is the puffy thing. His hair is predominantly dark brown, although you can also spot some stray grey color there. He closes his dark blue eyes and... You suddenly feel dizzy, as if contents of your head were replaced with vacuum. You try to focus, only for the man to say:
- Your name is Vanessa Fatum, correct? - which, quite honestly, throws you off balance. It was awhile since you have been called that. As of late, everyone simply calls you…
- Then dementia hasn't set in yet and I have not messed up with the destination. Good. I have a fairly important message to deliver to your father that, unfortunately, cannot just bring it to him due to… Interferences. But also, I need to give you this - he starts looking around the room, looking for something. You want to ask him the meaning of all this bullshit, but before you can do that, the man picks up the book you have been reading. He holds it in his hands, turning it around as if appraising a statuette, before throwing it back to you.
- Consider this a tutorial for something that will be fairly important to you in the relatively close future. No, that is not quite right. It is something that is important to you now, but you aren't quite aware of it. Normally you would remain ignorant for much more, but, well, the circumstances force my hand. Them the breaks, I guess. - you catch the book. It appears to have ceased being an adventure book and have become something called: "The fundamental archetypes of soul and how to unlock their secrets: a manual by A. Stein". In doing so, it also turned heavier, much heavier, gaining probably a good few hundred pages. You, again, open your mouth in order to ask "what in the actual fuck do you mean, strange old man". You, once again, are interrupted. You start getting annoyed at this bullshit.
- It will probably take you awhile to finish it and, while i wouldn't recommend on slacking off on it, young lady, it would be best to be read at your own pace. The knowledge within is known to cause existential dread in some and the resulting revelations can be fairly upsetting. Although, of course, that depends on...
- Ok, stop right there. I demand explanations. Who the fuck are you? Why can't I remember your appearance? What the fuck is this? - you wave the book in your hand in front of him, - To whom am I supposed to send a message and why would I do that? Answer before I throw you out of this room down the fucking stairs, weirdo.
Even though you can't quite focus on his face without getting dizzy, you get the feeling that he is raising his eyebrow now in a manner you judge to be condescending. Which is annoying. Then he start to talk in a slow way, indicating that either he is choosing his words very carefully, or is assuming very unflattering things about your intelligence:
- My name is Albert Stein. The reason why you can't remember my appearance is partially cause I don't want you to, partially because I am ████-bound and partially due to interference from some passive information veiling spells, which are annoying to say the least.. The person to whom you are supposed to send the message is called Terrence Fatum. Unless I am horribly misinformed, he is your father in the waking world. You need to deliver him my message because of the so called Stabilization event, which can become quite troublesome if not handled with care. I personally believe that it is already too late to prevent the event from happening, even if we could ever stop it, but, well, what can you do? As for the book in your hands… Didn't I already say that it is a tutorial? Cause that is all it is.
- That didn't explain anything! If anything, I am more fucking confused! The fuck is a Stabilization event? - you are getting really frustrated at all this bullshit. And your headache just gets worse, you already have problems remembering some things he said, this fuckery really doesn't help.
- Stabilization event is ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ rebalancing itself into a more stable, lower energy state. That will probably cause ███ ████████ to █████████ with ███████ ██████, █████ ████ probably lead to quite a lot of chaos if left uncontrolled. It might also cause the formation of ███████ ████████ out of ██████'s ██████ due to ███████ █████ █████████ █████ ██████ by the neosphere. ████ ██████ being a █████████ of ████ makes him a very important piece of the puzzle. Knower of Rage such as you can also be very, very useful. Wait... You didn't hear the important parts, did you? - as the stranger speaks, your headache reaches a new entire plane of pain you were unfamiliar with due to your somewhat sheltered life. You start massaging your temples. It doesn't help much.
- Well, either way… I suspect that this dream will end soon, so I guess I might as well just leave this here, - he pulls out a letter seemingly out of thin air and puts it on your bed, - It is up to you to whether to deliver it or not. And I can understand if you don't want to do that, given how shady I am, both literally and metaphorically. But I and quite a few people would prefer for you not to do that.
You aren't really focusing on what he is talking about, mostly due to your headache, which is so bad you gain sufficient lucidity realize that this is, in fact, a dream, and that you are not a jester-mage, but a thaumaturgist who goes by the name of Vanessa Fatum. You can try to push through it and try ask more of this antimemetic fucker, but you are afraid that you might just damage your mind if you were to do that. Or you can simply end the dream and let the secrets be secrets. What shall you do?
[]Push through the pain and ask the man questions. He clearly knows a lot, and even though him talking is causing you a headache, your curiosity can not allow such an opportunity to go to waste.
-[]Write-in question.
{Gain +3 Light for each question. For each question, roll a d100 with -10 modifier. Each time you roll <50, lose 3 Mind. If you lose more than 10 Mind, end the dream and ???.}
[]Wake up. You doubt that whatever secrets this man has are worth the pain. Sometimes some knowledge just has to remain a mystery.
{Gain +5 Void.}
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[X]Push through the pain and ask the man questions. He clearly knows a lot, and even though him talking is causing you a headache, your curiosity can not allow such an opportunity to go to waste.
-[X] If information from him is redacted, what alternative sources can he point you to.
-[X] If information from him is redacted, what alternative sources can he point you to.
Part 7 - So, Now What?
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
The man, apparently having finished whatever he fuck he came here for, turns to the door and tries to leave. Before that can occur, however, you stop him:
- Dude. Weirdo. Stop right there. I have a question I want to ask.
- Oh? Well, ask away. I will try to answer it to the best of my abilities. - he turns back to you, sounding slightly surprised at the question. Did he really think you are just going to let him go like that?
- Given that half of the seemingly important information you told me I literally can't remember right now due to some antimeme auto-censor or whatever, who can I talk to learn all that stuff without this shit getting in the way? - information gathering is always important. Knowing is half the battle, after all.
- Hmm. There is a surprising amount of people who know this, but of those who are willing to divulge the knowledge to others when it is not strictly necessary are rare. I believe that your father might be aware of the most of this information, although I do not think that he quite connected the dots yet. At least, I don't think he did. Of course, he is bound both by the various NDA, which forbid him from sharing such secrets, and his unconditional parental love for you, which will drive him towards keeping you safe through ignorance, so that path will require some… Social skills. Another useful source would be your friends. Everyone has secrets, and your associates have more than most. I do not know how you all stumbled onto each other: fate, coincidence or for some other bizarre reason, but it would be unwise to think of them as ignorant, even if they don't have all of the parts of. But, of course, the most important source is, not to be overly cheesy, within you, - he points at the book he has transformed, which is currently appears to be lying on your bed, - There are a few things that would evade a fully developed Knower of Rage. Everyone has potential for greatness within their souls. Very few have a privilege of having a sliver of that potential being realized. Rejects the lies that will try to blind you and reach out for truth, no matter how much it hurts. Do not waste your chance.
{Roll: 1d100 - 10 = -6. You lost 3 Mind. You gained +3 Light.}
You would have normally said thank you to the stranger for fucking finally answering you, but, unfortunately, the wave of pain washes over you. Not quite enough to wake you up by itself, but, given that stranger has already turned around to leave and you have no more questions to ask, you see very little reason to continue dreaming if all it nets is more headaches. So you wake up.
You raise your head of your pillow with a groan. Your head hurts like a bitch. And while the pain is slowly fading, it surely isn't slow enough for your taste. Urgh. Headaches suck. 0/10, would not recommend. Huh. As you get up from your bed, you notice that your smartphone appeared to have been in your hand while you were sleeping. Strange. You certainly remember leaving it at the table, plugged into the charger. Hmm. It says that it has finished downloading a two text files onto itself. That is weird. Once you see the names of the files, however, it suddenly makes much more sense.
"MessageToTerenceFatumFromA█████" and "TheTutorial". You have no idea how the fuck shit that happened in your dream led to this, but you know. You will temporarily roll with it until you stop doing that. A sort of Schrodinger patience, where the state of being done with this bullshit and the state of being okay with the events currently unfolding are in superposition until the situation develops further.
While all of this is fascinating, you are not going to tolerate the feel of unwashed teeth any longer. So you proceed to go with every day self maintenance rituals in order to wash away the feeling of… Wait. You literally just washed it away. Did you just pun on accident? Gooood dammit! Urghh. Accidental puns are the worst, only beaten in awfulness by the fully intentional puns.
Finishing that, you decide to transfer the files onto your laptop since you have severe doubt that anyone would do that weird dream walking gimmick in order to make you install a bitcoin miner or whatever. And if they did, well, you fucking did it. Instead of patenting whatever allows you to travel through dreams in a semi-casual matter, you used to infect a single laptop. Congratulations, you fucking morons.
But it does not turn out that way, just as you expected. Once you open the second file in your laptop's pdf file reader and quickly scroll through the first few pages, you realize that it is… A textbook. An actual legit textbook. Well, a "legit" textbook of sorts, legitness of its contents is to be determined. And there is a lot of content. Like, a good few hundred pages long. You decide that before you are going to actually dive into the files, however, you are going to have a breakfast. So you descended from your room to the kitchen.
"Vanessa! Busy at work, don't go cave troll on me while I am there and not at home to make you actually spend your time productively, alright? Breakfast is on the table. Have a good day!" Oh, dad. Both sweet and eye roll worthy. OK, maybe not eye roll worthy. You cannot eye roll someone who made you a bitching omelette. That is just bad manners.
While eating, you begin contemplating your situation. While the strange man from your dream warned you that not sending a message to your father will be bad, you are not entirely sure you should trust him. Like, quite honestly, why should you? Even if the tutorial he gave you is legit and will help you with whatever the fuck, that doesn't prove anything necessarily. For all you know, it is just a trap for your dad. He is a semi-famous researcher, a government worker and sustains himself on a diet of NDAs. Pulling all the dream stuff would be too much to trick you, a fairly normal and relatively "small", so to speak, person, into downloading a virus or something; it was a significantly less of a ridiculous effort in order to influence a fairly important scientist in some way. He will not come back home for at least… 7 hours more, probably (you have never quite realized until now that he works some insane hours during the "crunches"). You have some time to do stuff before coming to a decision.
[] Consult with your friends. You need a second opinion on all of this shit and, well, the stranger said that you friends have some secrets and are more aware of the situation than they appear to be. Having a second opinion never hurts.
-[]But who, exactly, will you call?
{Spend ½*X hours, where X is the number of friends you called. Depending on a friend, might also gain some other bonus or suffer a malus. Might change you social status with the selected friend.}
[] Just actually read the message the dude intends to reach your dad. He sure didn't say anything about you not reading. Knowing the contents of the letter probably will help you judge whether or not it something you want your dad to see.
{Spend ¼ of an hour. ???}
[] Leave this decision to your dad after revealing everything to him. He is the one to whom the message is addressed - he is the one who should judge it. This is clearly above your pay grade, especially given you are not being paid. And, plus, it is a bit cynical thing to say, but no matter what decision you come to, your father will definitely decide his plan of actions regarding this whole scene with very little care for your input. Not because he doesn't care about you, but because it is obviously something big. Big enough that he stops being Terrence Fatum, a loving father of Vanessa Fatum, and becomes Terrence Fatum, government worker.
{Gain +2 Rage (not including the bonus) and +2 Doom. Automatically surrender the decision to your father. No hours spent. Automatically cancels out all other actions regarding the decision.}
[] Read the tutorial thingy the stranger provided. You are not entirely sure whether it will help you come to a conclusion, but he gave you it for a presumably a good reason, so you should probably at least spend an hour on it.
{Spend 4 hours. Learn how to unlock Knower of Rage abilities.}
[] Study. It will not help with the decision, but, quite honestly, you are not gonna spend all 7 hours agonising over it. You can do something productive in the meantime.
{Pick a skill. Spend X hours. Roll X times with the corresponding skill. For each roll >=50, gain 10 SP in that skill. Otherwise, gain 5 SP in that skill.}
[] Train. Being a cave troll might be comfy, but sure as hell ain't healthy. Time to do some exercises.
{Pick an ability. Spend X hours. Roll X times with the corresponding ability X Times. For each roll >=50, gain 10 AP in that ability. Otherwise, gain 5 AP in that ability.}
[] Goof off. Just relax, my dude, homie, bread slice, etc. You have plenty off time to come to a decision! No need to worsen your headache or even upgrading to a full blown migraine over this bullshit.
{Spend 2*X hours. Restore X Mind.}
[] Make a spell. You consider spellmaking and enchanting to be fairly relaxing and productive activities, so perhaps you should do just that.
{Spend ¼*X hours. Create X spells.}
- Dude. Weirdo. Stop right there. I have a question I want to ask.
- Oh? Well, ask away. I will try to answer it to the best of my abilities. - he turns back to you, sounding slightly surprised at the question. Did he really think you are just going to let him go like that?
- Given that half of the seemingly important information you told me I literally can't remember right now due to some antimeme auto-censor or whatever, who can I talk to learn all that stuff without this shit getting in the way? - information gathering is always important. Knowing is half the battle, after all.
- Hmm. There is a surprising amount of people who know this, but of those who are willing to divulge the knowledge to others when it is not strictly necessary are rare. I believe that your father might be aware of the most of this information, although I do not think that he quite connected the dots yet. At least, I don't think he did. Of course, he is bound both by the various NDA, which forbid him from sharing such secrets, and his unconditional parental love for you, which will drive him towards keeping you safe through ignorance, so that path will require some… Social skills. Another useful source would be your friends. Everyone has secrets, and your associates have more than most. I do not know how you all stumbled onto each other: fate, coincidence or for some other bizarre reason, but it would be unwise to think of them as ignorant, even if they don't have all of the parts of. But, of course, the most important source is, not to be overly cheesy, within you, - he points at the book he has transformed, which is currently appears to be lying on your bed, - There are a few things that would evade a fully developed Knower of Rage. Everyone has potential for greatness within their souls. Very few have a privilege of having a sliver of that potential being realized. Rejects the lies that will try to blind you and reach out for truth, no matter how much it hurts. Do not waste your chance.
{Roll: 1d100 - 10 = -6. You lost 3 Mind. You gained +3 Light.}
You would have normally said thank you to the stranger for fucking finally answering you, but, unfortunately, the wave of pain washes over you. Not quite enough to wake you up by itself, but, given that stranger has already turned around to leave and you have no more questions to ask, you see very little reason to continue dreaming if all it nets is more headaches. So you wake up.
You raise your head of your pillow with a groan. Your head hurts like a bitch. And while the pain is slowly fading, it surely isn't slow enough for your taste. Urgh. Headaches suck. 0/10, would not recommend. Huh. As you get up from your bed, you notice that your smartphone appeared to have been in your hand while you were sleeping. Strange. You certainly remember leaving it at the table, plugged into the charger. Hmm. It says that it has finished downloading a two text files onto itself. That is weird. Once you see the names of the files, however, it suddenly makes much more sense.
"MessageToTerenceFatumFromA█████" and "TheTutorial". You have no idea how the fuck shit that happened in your dream led to this, but you know. You will temporarily roll with it until you stop doing that. A sort of Schrodinger patience, where the state of being done with this bullshit and the state of being okay with the events currently unfolding are in superposition until the situation develops further.
While all of this is fascinating, you are not going to tolerate the feel of unwashed teeth any longer. So you proceed to go with every day self maintenance rituals in order to wash away the feeling of… Wait. You literally just washed it away. Did you just pun on accident? Gooood dammit! Urghh. Accidental puns are the worst, only beaten in awfulness by the fully intentional puns.
Finishing that, you decide to transfer the files onto your laptop since you have severe doubt that anyone would do that weird dream walking gimmick in order to make you install a bitcoin miner or whatever. And if they did, well, you fucking did it. Instead of patenting whatever allows you to travel through dreams in a semi-casual matter, you used to infect a single laptop. Congratulations, you fucking morons.
But it does not turn out that way, just as you expected. Once you open the second file in your laptop's pdf file reader and quickly scroll through the first few pages, you realize that it is… A textbook. An actual legit textbook. Well, a "legit" textbook of sorts, legitness of its contents is to be determined. And there is a lot of content. Like, a good few hundred pages long. You decide that before you are going to actually dive into the files, however, you are going to have a breakfast. So you descended from your room to the kitchen.
"Vanessa! Busy at work, don't go cave troll on me while I am there and not at home to make you actually spend your time productively, alright? Breakfast is on the table. Have a good day!" Oh, dad. Both sweet and eye roll worthy. OK, maybe not eye roll worthy. You cannot eye roll someone who made you a bitching omelette. That is just bad manners.
While eating, you begin contemplating your situation. While the strange man from your dream warned you that not sending a message to your father will be bad, you are not entirely sure you should trust him. Like, quite honestly, why should you? Even if the tutorial he gave you is legit and will help you with whatever the fuck, that doesn't prove anything necessarily. For all you know, it is just a trap for your dad. He is a semi-famous researcher, a government worker and sustains himself on a diet of NDAs. Pulling all the dream stuff would be too much to trick you, a fairly normal and relatively "small", so to speak, person, into downloading a virus or something; it was a significantly less of a ridiculous effort in order to influence a fairly important scientist in some way. He will not come back home for at least… 7 hours more, probably (you have never quite realized until now that he works some insane hours during the "crunches"). You have some time to do stuff before coming to a decision.
[] Consult with your friends. You need a second opinion on all of this shit and, well, the stranger said that you friends have some secrets and are more aware of the situation than they appear to be. Having a second opinion never hurts.
-[]But who, exactly, will you call?
{Spend ½*X hours, where X is the number of friends you called. Depending on a friend, might also gain some other bonus or suffer a malus. Might change you social status with the selected friend.}
[] Just actually read the message the dude intends to reach your dad. He sure didn't say anything about you not reading. Knowing the contents of the letter probably will help you judge whether or not it something you want your dad to see.
{Spend ¼ of an hour. ???}
[] Leave this decision to your dad after revealing everything to him. He is the one to whom the message is addressed - he is the one who should judge it. This is clearly above your pay grade, especially given you are not being paid. And, plus, it is a bit cynical thing to say, but no matter what decision you come to, your father will definitely decide his plan of actions regarding this whole scene with very little care for your input. Not because he doesn't care about you, but because it is obviously something big. Big enough that he stops being Terrence Fatum, a loving father of Vanessa Fatum, and becomes Terrence Fatum, government worker.
{Gain +2 Rage (not including the bonus) and +2 Doom. Automatically surrender the decision to your father. No hours spent. Automatically cancels out all other actions regarding the decision.}
[] Read the tutorial thingy the stranger provided. You are not entirely sure whether it will help you come to a conclusion, but he gave you it for a presumably a good reason, so you should probably at least spend an hour on it.
{Spend 4 hours. Learn how to unlock Knower of Rage abilities.}
[] Study. It will not help with the decision, but, quite honestly, you are not gonna spend all 7 hours agonising over it. You can do something productive in the meantime.
{Pick a skill. Spend X hours. Roll X times with the corresponding skill. For each roll >=50, gain 10 SP in that skill. Otherwise, gain 5 SP in that skill.}
[] Train. Being a cave troll might be comfy, but sure as hell ain't healthy. Time to do some exercises.
{Pick an ability. Spend X hours. Roll X times with the corresponding ability X Times. For each roll >=50, gain 10 AP in that ability. Otherwise, gain 5 AP in that ability.}
[] Goof off. Just relax, my dude, homie, bread slice, etc. You have plenty off time to come to a decision! No need to worsen your headache or even upgrading to a full blown migraine over this bullshit.
{Spend 2*X hours. Restore X Mind.}
[] Make a spell. You consider spellmaking and enchanting to be fairly relaxing and productive activities, so perhaps you should do just that.
{Spend ¼*X hours. Create X spells.}
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[X] Read the tutorial thingy the stranger provided. You are not entirely sure whether it will help you come to a conclusion, but he gave you it for a presumably a good reason, so you should probably at least spend an hour on it.
{Spend 4 hours. Learn how to unlock Knower of Rage abilities.}
[X] Just actually read the message the dude intends to reach your dad. He sure didn't say anything about you not reading. Knowing the contents of the letter probably will help you judge whether or not it something you want your dad to see.
{Spend ¼ of an hour. ???}
[X] Goof off. Just relax, my dude, homie, bread slice, etc. You have plenty off time to come to a decision! No need to worsen your headache or even upgrading to a full blow migraine over this bullshit.
-[X] 2 hours
Well, RTFM
{Spend 4 hours. Learn how to unlock Knower of Rage abilities.}
[X] Just actually read the message the dude intends to reach your dad. He sure didn't say anything about you not reading. Knowing the contents of the letter probably will help you judge whether or not it something you want your dad to see.
{Spend ¼ of an hour. ???}
[X] Goof off. Just relax, my dude, homie, bread slice, etc. You have plenty off time to come to a decision! No need to worsen your headache or even upgrading to a full blow migraine over this bullshit.
-[X] 2 hours
Well, RTFM
[X] Read the tutorial thingy the stranger provided. You are not entirely sure whether it will help you come to a conclusion, but he gave you it for a presumably a good reason, so you should probably at least spend an hour on it.
{Spend 4 hours. Learn how to unlock Knower of Rage abilities.}
[X] Just actually read the message the dude intends to reach your dad. He sure didn't say anything about you not reading. Knowing the contents of the letter probably will help you judge whether or not it something you want your dad to see.
{Spend ¼ of an hour. ???}
[X] Goof off. Just relax, my dude, homie, bread slice, etc. You have plenty off time to come to a decision! No need to worsen your headache or even upgrading to a full blow migraine over this bullshit.
-[X] 2 hours
{Spend 4 hours. Learn how to unlock Knower of Rage abilities.}
[X] Just actually read the message the dude intends to reach your dad. He sure didn't say anything about you not reading. Knowing the contents of the letter probably will help you judge whether or not it something you want your dad to see.
{Spend ¼ of an hour. ???}
[X] Goof off. Just relax, my dude, homie, bread slice, etc. You have plenty off time to come to a decision! No need to worsen your headache or even upgrading to a full blow migraine over this bullshit.
-[X] 2 hours
Part 8 - Implications
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
Well... There was one advice that always works out. The best advice when it comes to such situation, in a way. RTFM. Read The Fucking Manual. When in doubt, read the instructions lead out by the various nice people who probably know more than you on the topic. So you decide to do just that. Now, the question is… Which text should you read first? The message or the manual. After some thinking, you decide on reading the manual first. The message will quite likely require at least some context in order to be understood, and you have very little doubt that this manual will provide at least some of the context. So you decide to dive into the "textbook".
You, of course, decide to do this completely seriously. The situation clearly treats itself seriously and you have very little reason to believe to doubt it's seriousness. So you pull out all stops. You make yourself some tea and pour it into the thermos. You pull out a clean notebook. You set your music streaming app to a mix of some shill studying songs. after finishing the preparations, you plop down your ass on the chair before your table, where the laptop, a thermos full of tea, writing supplies and one clean notebook sat. You crack your neck. Time to properly investigate this shit. You open the file and start reading.
The book, according to its contents, consists of several parts, each of which is divided into several chapters. The first part is titled "The Basics". You decide to start on it…
You lean back on your chair. Wow. You wrote a lot. And have actually drunk all of the tea. Impressive, in some way. You decide to read through the notes you have written, in order to truly remember the information you got.
So, pretty much every living being with anything above the most basic requirement of sentience, possess a soul. That you knew. Depending on the level of consciousness and some biological factors, the soul of a creature could fit certain amount of energy. This is also something you are aware of. The current research, justifiably, believes the soul to be a chaotic, unpredictable system that possess a degree of true randomness due to quantum effects. As a result, researchers are forced to use indirect methods of studying the nature of the soul. Not the stranger from your dreams, however. He appears to have discovered some way to study the structure of the soul directly, without using destructive analysis, which would be hyper unethical. You are… Somewhat skeptical, since the book so far hasn't listed the way he did it, but it also does list of verifiable predictions so checking those will probably be what you will be doing tomorrow. After studying its structure, he found certain patterns, structures that are not quite unique to an individual people, but are not present in everyone - the thing he calls archetypes. Archetypes themselves divided into two halves: the base and the expression. According to him, even though it was not immediately obvious, people with the same archetype or the similar archetype were more similar than they may appear. This was not something crazy even of itself. What is crazy, however, is the fact that, according to the book, the archetypes could be "awakened" and that gave you various abilities. It sounds like a an internet scam or something. The difference, however, is that there is a serious list of instructions on how to do so. You needed to use a certain spell on yourself before going to sleep. The spell appears to be fairly complex and you are not sure about using anything on yourself you are not 100% sure in. You are definitely need to reverse engineer it. And you are going to need help with if you want to accomplish it in a reasonable time frame. This is where the crazy part is replaced with creepy: the strange man apparently knew that you will have such a reaction and highlighted various portions of the spell with the names of your friends who might know a thing or two about the functions of the spell. Beyond the over all creepiness of it, it appeared to be useful advice. Okay, who you need to contact… Myla, Alykbek, Jeanne and Bozhidar. Also called by the "book" as "Life, Mind, Heart and Void", respectively. Probably the base part of their "archetypes".
Well, You guess you are done with that. Now, onto the message!
"To Terrence Fatum.
Mister Fatum! It has come to my attention that you and your colleagues are part of the little project trying to prevent the event of a universe-wide scale. I have to inform you that, from my limited understanding of your work, solution you and your colleagues found during a more local analogue of the event is extremely unlikely to work this time, simply due to sheer scale. At best, it will delay the inevitable. Still, delaying the inevitable is very useful when all you need is time. As you might have guessed, you are not the only group working on trying to stop the event or, at the very least, make it significantly more tame. I cannot reveal much details in this message, but I possess knowledge of such groups and I believe that cooperation between them and you will be helpful, even if to be able to remove some of the unknowns. I have little doubt that cooperation will prevail in this case. Unfortunately, I cannot clearly state how to contact me or who I am. I have zero doubts that, at the very least, your daughter has already read this letter, and there are people for whom that would be sufficient to learn who I am if I am not careful. But I have little doubt that you can find me, Terrence. Fighting the unbeatable, reaching the unreachable, doing the impossible was always your forte. No doubt finding something that doesn't hide itself very well will be any challenge.
From agnosticallyKnowledgeable."
Well then. This letter sure doesn't reveal a lot, but it sure does call you out! Also, implications. Lots of implications. But you can't really make judgments on implications, right? There is just… Not quite enough information. Well, you can draw out that there us some kind of event that will happen in the future, several groups, including your father and his coworkers are trying to stop it, the mysterious stranger is trying to make them work together, since he is skeptical of any individual methods working out. He also mentions that your dad is someone who is good at coming out on top in seemingly hopeless situations. And he also calls himself agnosticallyKnowledgeable, which sounds like a chat handle. Also, apparently either stranger is paranoid or there are some people for whom someone reading something is sufficient to learn something. Both options are freaky.
That is more than it seemed on the first glance, but still not a lot. You need to let all of that flow through you, let the information settle a bit. So you decide to just relax for two hours. To let go of your worries, to give into the simple pleasure of online streaming services and videogames, of books and music. Two hours go by surprisingly fast. Soon, you have less than an hour before your father arrives and you have to decide. Still you can probably call your friend, or make some spells. Will you do that?
{Restored +1 Mind.}
[]Call one of your friends. You still have some time to discuss something with them.
-[]Which friend?
--[]What is the topic of the discussion?
{Spend ½ of an hour. Talk with your friend. This may affect your social standing with them}
[] Make a spell. You consider spellmaking and enchanting to be fairly relaxing and productive activities, so perhaps you should do just that.
{Spend ¼*X hours. Create X spells.}
Either way, you need to plan out what you are going to say to your father. Just how do you want to reveal?
[] Lie Nah.
[]Tell him everything. The dream with the stranger. The manual. The message. Your father probably needs to know what the fuck is going on, giving how big the implications are.
{Gain +3 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
[] Reveal some things. You probably are going to need to reveal some things to him, but you have no reason to mention the manual. That is something intended for you, after all.
{Gain +1 Void and +2 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that. Although, not telling your father anything might make this position more shaky.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
[]You don't have to tell him anything, honestly. Simply say that someone sent a message to him through you and that is it. He will probably respect your privacy.
{Gain +2 Void. ???}
-------------------------------------------------------------------
You, of course, decide to do this completely seriously. The situation clearly treats itself seriously and you have very little reason to believe to doubt it's seriousness. So you pull out all stops. You make yourself some tea and pour it into the thermos. You pull out a clean notebook. You set your music streaming app to a mix of some shill studying songs. after finishing the preparations, you plop down your ass on the chair before your table, where the laptop, a thermos full of tea, writing supplies and one clean notebook sat. You crack your neck. Time to properly investigate this shit. You open the file and start reading.
The book, according to its contents, consists of several parts, each of which is divided into several chapters. The first part is titled "The Basics". You decide to start on it…
You lean back on your chair. Wow. You wrote a lot. And have actually drunk all of the tea. Impressive, in some way. You decide to read through the notes you have written, in order to truly remember the information you got.
So, pretty much every living being with anything above the most basic requirement of sentience, possess a soul. That you knew. Depending on the level of consciousness and some biological factors, the soul of a creature could fit certain amount of energy. This is also something you are aware of. The current research, justifiably, believes the soul to be a chaotic, unpredictable system that possess a degree of true randomness due to quantum effects. As a result, researchers are forced to use indirect methods of studying the nature of the soul. Not the stranger from your dreams, however. He appears to have discovered some way to study the structure of the soul directly, without using destructive analysis, which would be hyper unethical. You are… Somewhat skeptical, since the book so far hasn't listed the way he did it, but it also does list of verifiable predictions so checking those will probably be what you will be doing tomorrow. After studying its structure, he found certain patterns, structures that are not quite unique to an individual people, but are not present in everyone - the thing he calls archetypes. Archetypes themselves divided into two halves: the base and the expression. According to him, even though it was not immediately obvious, people with the same archetype or the similar archetype were more similar than they may appear. This was not something crazy even of itself. What is crazy, however, is the fact that, according to the book, the archetypes could be "awakened" and that gave you various abilities. It sounds like a an internet scam or something. The difference, however, is that there is a serious list of instructions on how to do so. You needed to use a certain spell on yourself before going to sleep. The spell appears to be fairly complex and you are not sure about using anything on yourself you are not 100% sure in. You are definitely need to reverse engineer it. And you are going to need help with if you want to accomplish it in a reasonable time frame. This is where the crazy part is replaced with creepy: the strange man apparently knew that you will have such a reaction and highlighted various portions of the spell with the names of your friends who might know a thing or two about the functions of the spell. Beyond the over all creepiness of it, it appeared to be useful advice. Okay, who you need to contact… Myla, Alykbek, Jeanne and Bozhidar. Also called by the "book" as "Life, Mind, Heart and Void", respectively. Probably the base part of their "archetypes".
Well, You guess you are done with that. Now, onto the message!
"To Terrence Fatum.
Mister Fatum! It has come to my attention that you and your colleagues are part of the little project trying to prevent the event of a universe-wide scale. I have to inform you that, from my limited understanding of your work, solution you and your colleagues found during a more local analogue of the event is extremely unlikely to work this time, simply due to sheer scale. At best, it will delay the inevitable. Still, delaying the inevitable is very useful when all you need is time. As you might have guessed, you are not the only group working on trying to stop the event or, at the very least, make it significantly more tame. I cannot reveal much details in this message, but I possess knowledge of such groups and I believe that cooperation between them and you will be helpful, even if to be able to remove some of the unknowns. I have little doubt that cooperation will prevail in this case. Unfortunately, I cannot clearly state how to contact me or who I am. I have zero doubts that, at the very least, your daughter has already read this letter, and there are people for whom that would be sufficient to learn who I am if I am not careful. But I have little doubt that you can find me, Terrence. Fighting the unbeatable, reaching the unreachable, doing the impossible was always your forte. No doubt finding something that doesn't hide itself very well will be any challenge.
From agnosticallyKnowledgeable."
Well then. This letter sure doesn't reveal a lot, but it sure does call you out! Also, implications. Lots of implications. But you can't really make judgments on implications, right? There is just… Not quite enough information. Well, you can draw out that there us some kind of event that will happen in the future, several groups, including your father and his coworkers are trying to stop it, the mysterious stranger is trying to make them work together, since he is skeptical of any individual methods working out. He also mentions that your dad is someone who is good at coming out on top in seemingly hopeless situations. And he also calls himself agnosticallyKnowledgeable, which sounds like a chat handle. Also, apparently either stranger is paranoid or there are some people for whom someone reading something is sufficient to learn something. Both options are freaky.
That is more than it seemed on the first glance, but still not a lot. You need to let all of that flow through you, let the information settle a bit. So you decide to just relax for two hours. To let go of your worries, to give into the simple pleasure of online streaming services and videogames, of books and music. Two hours go by surprisingly fast. Soon, you have less than an hour before your father arrives and you have to decide. Still you can probably call your friend, or make some spells. Will you do that?
{Restored +1 Mind.}
[]Call one of your friends. You still have some time to discuss something with them.
-[]Which friend?
--[]What is the topic of the discussion?
{Spend ½ of an hour. Talk with your friend. This may affect your social standing with them}
[] Make a spell. You consider spellmaking and enchanting to be fairly relaxing and productive activities, so perhaps you should do just that.
{Spend ¼*X hours. Create X spells.}
Either way, you need to plan out what you are going to say to your father. Just how do you want to reveal?
[]Tell him everything. The dream with the stranger. The manual. The message. Your father probably needs to know what the fuck is going on, giving how big the implications are.
{Gain +3 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
[] Reveal some things. You probably are going to need to reveal some things to him, but you have no reason to mention the manual. That is something intended for you, after all.
{Gain +1 Void and +2 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that. Although, not telling your father anything might make this position more shaky.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
[]You don't have to tell him anything, honestly. Simply say that someone sent a message to him through you and that is it. He will probably respect your privacy.
{Gain +2 Void. ???}
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I have improved the informational post about the aspects, check it out!
[X]Call one of your friends. You still have some time to discuss something with them.
-[X]Alykbek
--[X] The Awakening spell
[X]Tell him everything. The dream with the stranger. The manual. The message. Your father probably needs to know what the fuck is going on, giving how big the implications are.
{Gain +3 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[X]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
-[X]Alykbek
--[X] The Awakening spell
[X]Tell him everything. The dream with the stranger. The manual. The message. Your father probably needs to know what the fuck is going on, giving how big the implications are.
{Gain +3 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[X]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
[X]Call one of your friends. You still have some time to discuss something with them.
-[X]Alykbek
--[X] The Awakening spell
[X]Tell him everything. The dream with the stranger. The manual. The message. Your father probably needs to know what the fuck is going on, giving how big the implications are.
{Gain +3 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[X]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
Just got busy and didn't notice this updated. Might want to advertise a bit?
-[X]Alykbek
--[X] The Awakening spell
[X]Tell him everything. The dream with the stranger. The manual. The message. Your father probably needs to know what the fuck is going on, giving how big the implications are.
{Gain +3 Rage, not counting the bonus.}
-[X]Confront him about it. You have the right to know. Whatever is gonna affect him is going to hit you to, whether intentionally or as a collateral. You ain't gonna just lie down and accept that.
{Gain +2 Light. ???}
Just got busy and didn't notice this updated. Might want to advertise a bit?
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
First thing first, the vote is closed. You will contact one of your friends about the spell contained in the book. You will reveal everything to your father and press for truth, for better or worse.
Second,
Second,
But what do I advertise and how? What are the strengths, weaknesses, etc of this quest? I do not know that. And even if I knew how to advertise something properly, I do not what to advertise a bad product or advertise falsely.
Maybe more line breaks and slightly shorter, more frequent updates? Its a lot to read at one go.
Part 9 - Well, that went well
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
You get up from the couch on which you were performing a potato cosplay for the last two hours. It is time to do some socialising! You pull out your phone and tap in Alykbek's number. You have decided to call him first. He is probably one of the best in your circles of friends/acquaintances when it comes to math problems and just general logic puzzles, plus, he prefers to avoid conflicts. You can probably rely on him for this particular problem. Although it does take him some time to respond...
- Hello? Vanessa, is that you? - a sleepy, unsure voice flows through the dynamics of the phone. It is definitely Alykbek.
- Yea, it is me. So, I have a spell here that I think you should look over, if you have some free time? I am going to send you the file right now. - you tap the icon and the pdf file with the spell starts its journey to Alykbek.
- You do realise that it is currently early morning here, right? So early, in fact, that I redact my previous statement on time and will instead substitute it with "very late into the night". What kind of emergency is this, anyway? - his voice acquires some grumpy and, somehow, even more tired properties. You are surprised he isn't yawning at this rate.
- Just give it a quick look, alright? I promise it's worth your time. - you feel slightly guilty at waking him up, but you need his advice and you are 100% certain that he will be interested in the spell.
The boy makes some unileggible grumbling noises, but complies with your request. You can hear as he puts down his phone on what probably is a wooden counter near his bed, pulls out his laptop from somewhere cose and turns it on. There is a bit of awkward silence as you listen to bhim searching for his mouse. You hear clicks of his mouse as he opens up his internet browser. You start tapping your fingers on you leg as his internet appears to lag. This is hell of your own making. After 15 seconds of waiting, however, you hear a faint "Что за..." and Alykbek picks up his phone.
- Where did you find this spell? One of yours dad secret government projects? Some spooky book you randomly srtumbeled upon? Some other horror movie cliche? - his voice has the unmistakable quality of being both very concerned and very excited, which is exactly what you want to hear.
- Believe it or ot, in my dreams. In Mendeleev sense, not eldritch being sense. I have marked the spot I need help with… Deciphering. Can you help me with that? - you say to him with a mildly smug voice. He does not appear to notice.
- Well, I am too tired to give you anything in-depth, but from just looking at it… This part of the spells refines an already existing connection to, erm… Something, using some sort of automatic statistical analysis of the potential outcomes in an idealised conditions to filter out all the noise. I can't really say much more now, but I think I can help you with this part. It is conceptually similar to the anti white noise spell, but more complicated, with higher efficiency and for something, erm… Different. - he says, and then yawns, - Still, I can't say much more right now. Give me, like, 4 more hours, and I should have a completed analysis ready for you.
- Thanks, that way more than I could ask for. - you say to him. That is one out of 4, now just need to convince others.
- Still, I have to say… If I were you, once the whole thing is complete, I would organize like a… Group chat or something. I am not sure that using a combination of spells like this without some cross referencing for proper examination using combined expertise would be extremely unwise. Of course, a bunch of undergrads aren't exactly something I'll normally call experts, but I doubt you can find someone who will give you actual expertise without some sharp questions about where the hell did you stumble upon this thaumaturgical formula. - you take his comment seriously. You most certainly don't want to use something this complex and esoteric without some brainstorming first.
- Erm, also, - Alykbek continues, - While it is not necessarily a deal breaker for me and I know for a fact that some shit better remain unknown… But where the hell did you find this? No, "in my dreams" is not an answer. You don't have to tell me now, but I would like at least a bit of a reassurance that helping out you with this won't result in me dying from cerebral lead poisoning, if you know what I mean. So when I contact you next time, or you contact someone else regarding this spell... Please, have a good answer to this question? Ok, need to pass out now, bye. - he hangs up before you can answer, which definitely annoys you, but you can't really stay mad at him for too long about it. You are the one who woke him up in the middle of the night after all. He did, however, raise a good point. What the hell are you going to tell him? And others, for that matter. "In my dreams" really does not sound good as an answer.
Well, you are not going to think about it now. Your dad is about to come home.
He arrives as a passenger of the same car that took him to work and probably also drove him to work today, while you were asleep. He looks… Tired, but also sporting a satisfied smirk, like a cat that managed to catch a particularly big and tasty rat.
- Hey sleepy head! Still up, I see. Waiting for your old man to arrive? Sweet, but unnecessary. I am not quite old enough to require assistance yet. Maybe in a few years, though. - you and your father snort. He is only 50. And he is fit as hell for his age. He takes the whole healthy living
- Nah, we all know I'll just dump you in old people's caring house or whatever they are called when you become inconvenient. - you say, rolling your eyes, and them smirk, as your father performs the "The Young have zero respect" bit in an overly theatrical fashion. Shaking your head, you change your expression towards a more serious one.
- Kay, jokes be jokes, but… I actually need to talk with you about something, dad. Something serious. - your dad cocks his head a bit, raising his left eyebrow in a process. He then says:
- Do I need to sit down for this one, or is it not that serious?
Your flat stare makes him shrug.
- What? If it is something truly serious, sitting down is absolutely required. It is just a thing you do. That way you are much more inclined to think through things. When you are standing… You are inclined to rush off and do something dumb. Believe me, I have experience from both scenarios. - he says somewhat melancholically, as he usually gets when remembering something from the personal past. You sigh and respond:
- Probably would be best if we sit down while discussing.
- Okay. Then… We should talk about it in my study. Give me 20 minutes, I am real hungry. - he turns around to start taking off his shoes, conversation over. It leaves you a bit miffed, but your dad can be very asocial when he is tired, and he probably is, so you decide to not take it too personally. Instead, you proceed to go to your dad's study.
The study is the most minimalistic room in the house: a bookshelf, two chairs, a wall lamp and a ceiling lighting, a cheap IKEA-like table. It is minimalistic even when it comes to colors: everything is soft and light orange, with a bit off metallic grey as the only distraction. Dad really likes this room. You sort of can get it. It is really… Calm here? No windows from the outside world to reach you. Good sound isolation so that noises can't disturb you. Simple color palette allows the mind to focus on the tasks at hand. Pretty much a perfect meditation chamber here.
Your father arrives right on time: according to your phone, it really did take him only 20 minutes. He is carrying a… Notebook? Well, your dad's a smart man, but he does not have the greatest memory, so it makes sense. He sits down in the chair across the table from yours. And then says, looking you in the eyes:
- Well… Let's start, shall we?
You take a deep breath and begin from the strange visit in a dream…
It takes you awhile. Mostly transcribing information from the book the odd man gave you. From time to time, your father would ask small questions here and there and make notes in the small notebook, his chicken scratch unintelligible to you. Once you finish, your dad hums.
- That is all? The message is here, right? - he looks at the flashcard where you copied both files to.
- Yeah. I know that you have a bunch of NDAs and such and that if you break them you will get into a ton of trouble, but I need to know what the fuck is happening. I want to know the truth. - you answer. Your dad scratches his left eyebrow with the card, and then picks up the notebook, making another note there... He suddenly turns the page face first towards you, mouthing word "Activate" and taping it hard with his finger, his expression gaining unreadable steely look. The chicken scratch starts to glow and weave pattern of technicolored spirographic fractals, weaving themselves into your brain, overwriting your vision, as you now realize that these are not notes - they are thaumaturgic formulas. You feel as if death itself passes through your mind, searching for something. No, not death necessarily: it was the concept of inevitability flowing through you, with the death part being merely your reflection on the idea. This thought does not stop you from hyperventilating as something seemingly out of a bad sci-fi movie - a self sustaining semi-sapient meme complex, works its way through your mind, searching for… Whatever it is searching for, turning you mental palace upside down.
You feel like you are going to die.
{Lost 3 Mind.}
And then it ends as it has started - suddenly, as the infohazardous agent self destructs inside your mind, not finding whatever it was searching for, and the pattern on the paper disappears, leaving only blank page behind. Blank also goes your face, as your father slides down and says "oh thank god", with his hands hanging in the air and the steely look melting into one of relief. It takes you a bit to assess your feelings about the situation, but the conclusion is really obvious. You are fucking pissed.
- WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING FUCK?!?! - your voice booms through the room, as you stand up so fast chair you were sitting one dramatically falls back.
Okay, honey, I know that using an infohazard might seem a bit crazy, but I needed to check whether someone planted activation codes and other such nastiness through the dream channel and that was the only way to be sure that does not involve some highly intrusive, extremely damaging methods. - he puts up his hands before him in a defensive "palm facing outwards" position with an apologetic smile on his face. You look straight into his eyes to find any hints of insincerity. Your father for what it is worth, is telling truth. Still…
- If this wasn't "highly intrusive", than what the fuck is? - you have a bunch of questions on your mind, and you still want a decent explanation for the situation at hand, but you are also genuinely curious about other "methods" your dad mentioned.
- Well, while the agent most definitely reached into a fairly deep corners of your mind, it didn't send information outside of it… Or modify it in anyway your natural memory recalling mechanisms don't. So while it ain't a pleasant experience, it sure beats someone directly prodding your mind. Believe, I have had both options happen, this one is the least sucky. - he switches from being defensive to being teaching instantly, which does not surprise, cause you have seen him switch from all sorts of different moods into a lecture mode for the most of your life, which isn't surprising, cause he is your dad.
- Ok, fine, but you could have warned me, you know? - while the fact that your father actually has a very compelling reason for his action soothes your anger somewhat, saying you are nettled would be an understatement. You are still super nettled.
- Could not, - dad shakes his head, - If I told you about the agent, you would subconsciously try to put up defences against it and that… Eh… Would not be good, to say the least. Plus, if someone did embedded mental trigger commands into your mind, they probably would have included: "Resist any attempts to get rid of the commands". Unless they got sloppy, but dreamwalking and mental trigger commands are not something sloppy people do. They would probably just kidnap you with intent of threatening me or something else equally stupid. Most definitely not perform an extremely tough feat of thaumaturgy.
You clench your fists and then unclench them.
- Fine. Still. You haven't answered my original question. What the fuck is going on? I want some concrete information, some hard facts, not a weirdo dropping into my dreams, talking about something I can't remember and then fucking off, leaving only stuff that carries only implications, shadows of the real deal. So please, tell me. - you look straight into your dad's eyes.
{This was supposed to be a roll, but since I was gone for awhile due to exams, consider this a freebie to advance the plot.}
You can see in your fathers eyes a mix of hesitation, born out of responsibility and paranoia, and desire to tell you everything he knows and suspects. You can see him debating himself inside of his own mind, with both sides providing an argument after argument. And, at the end, you see and you know that the side you were on won.
- You… Probably will be disappointed with how little I know, and how little of what I do know can be explained without some very complex specialised knowledge you do not possess, but in short… There will probably be an event in the future that you could probably live long enough to "experience" that is somewhat analogous to False Vacuum Collapse, but it is not quite that, and it is purely about thaumaturgical field. As a result, the amount of ambient soul will increase in an extreme fashion. I would argue that it will simply kill everyone - like a FVC - but there are some people with better understanding who argue that it won't necessarily lead to mass death on an universal scale. Either way, I do not think it is unfair to call the event an existential threat. - he says in a hushed tone, - That is all I can say definitively. I can infer that we are not the only group working on preventing it from happening, which is not something surprising, quite honestly. We do not possess monopoly on knowledgeable scientists. I won't and can't say anything more about this however. And I strictly forbid you from willingly further involving yourself in this particular mess.
When you start to protest, he holds up his hand face forward towards you, his face, again, gaining steely look:
- Look, you are my daughter. I love you with all my heart, am extremely proud of your achievements and believe that you will become the smartest person on Earth. But you simply do not have the knowledge to help anyone to tackle this problem. ANd this not the type of easily obtainable knowledge. I mean the type of knowledge and experience you get after studying and working on a bleeding edge of research for a decade at least. In 10 years, I believe you will be capable of solving all issues my team is currently facing. But… Not now.
You sigh.
- Fine. As long as you promise to teach me a way to protect myself against weird cognitoharazardous bullshit.
- Deal! - he raises his hand again, but this time for high five, his face losing "steely" quality and gaining "cheeky" quality, signified by a smirk on his face.
After that the conversation sort of dies. Your father says that the cognitohazard defence will start tomorrow evening, when he comes back from work. Until then, you are free to do whatever you want. As long as it is not something related to the problem, that is.
Well, tomorrow is tomorrow. For now you decide to go to sleep. Today has been a long day. You are not sure how to feel about it. Many things happened, some of which were very surprising in a very much not nice way. Still. You… Succeeded? You certainly have met all of the objectives you wanted for today. And while conversation with your father started of somewhat disastrously, it ended… Well? You think it ended well. You got free lessons about a subject you have severe doubts anyone would normally teach a student like you in exchange for a promise that is just common sense. Of course you should not involve yourself in something so world shattering. And yet… You feel as if you won't necessarily have a choice in that.
As you drift off to sleep, you don't find yourself being visited by any strangers. Instead, you see…
[]A boy trying to improve a program.
{Interlude, POV: Alykbek Aliuly.}
[]A girl fishing in the middle of the night.
{Interlude, POV: Jeanne Bisset.}
[]A boy studying some secret documents.
{Interlude, POV: Bozhidar Balik.}
[]A girl looking herself over in a mirror.
{Interlude, POV: Mila Mayer.}
___________________________________________________
- Hello? Vanessa, is that you? - a sleepy, unsure voice flows through the dynamics of the phone. It is definitely Alykbek.
- Yea, it is me. So, I have a spell here that I think you should look over, if you have some free time? I am going to send you the file right now. - you tap the icon and the pdf file with the spell starts its journey to Alykbek.
- You do realise that it is currently early morning here, right? So early, in fact, that I redact my previous statement on time and will instead substitute it with "very late into the night". What kind of emergency is this, anyway? - his voice acquires some grumpy and, somehow, even more tired properties. You are surprised he isn't yawning at this rate.
- Just give it a quick look, alright? I promise it's worth your time. - you feel slightly guilty at waking him up, but you need his advice and you are 100% certain that he will be interested in the spell.
The boy makes some unileggible grumbling noises, but complies with your request. You can hear as he puts down his phone on what probably is a wooden counter near his bed, pulls out his laptop from somewhere cose and turns it on. There is a bit of awkward silence as you listen to bhim searching for his mouse. You hear clicks of his mouse as he opens up his internet browser. You start tapping your fingers on you leg as his internet appears to lag. This is hell of your own making. After 15 seconds of waiting, however, you hear a faint "Что за..." and Alykbek picks up his phone.
- Where did you find this spell? One of yours dad secret government projects? Some spooky book you randomly srtumbeled upon? Some other horror movie cliche? - his voice has the unmistakable quality of being both very concerned and very excited, which is exactly what you want to hear.
- Believe it or ot, in my dreams. In Mendeleev sense, not eldritch being sense. I have marked the spot I need help with… Deciphering. Can you help me with that? - you say to him with a mildly smug voice. He does not appear to notice.
- Well, I am too tired to give you anything in-depth, but from just looking at it… This part of the spells refines an already existing connection to, erm… Something, using some sort of automatic statistical analysis of the potential outcomes in an idealised conditions to filter out all the noise. I can't really say much more now, but I think I can help you with this part. It is conceptually similar to the anti white noise spell, but more complicated, with higher efficiency and for something, erm… Different. - he says, and then yawns, - Still, I can't say much more right now. Give me, like, 4 more hours, and I should have a completed analysis ready for you.
- Thanks, that way more than I could ask for. - you say to him. That is one out of 4, now just need to convince others.
- Still, I have to say… If I were you, once the whole thing is complete, I would organize like a… Group chat or something. I am not sure that using a combination of spells like this without some cross referencing for proper examination using combined expertise would be extremely unwise. Of course, a bunch of undergrads aren't exactly something I'll normally call experts, but I doubt you can find someone who will give you actual expertise without some sharp questions about where the hell did you stumble upon this thaumaturgical formula. - you take his comment seriously. You most certainly don't want to use something this complex and esoteric without some brainstorming first.
- Erm, also, - Alykbek continues, - While it is not necessarily a deal breaker for me and I know for a fact that some shit better remain unknown… But where the hell did you find this? No, "in my dreams" is not an answer. You don't have to tell me now, but I would like at least a bit of a reassurance that helping out you with this won't result in me dying from cerebral lead poisoning, if you know what I mean. So when I contact you next time, or you contact someone else regarding this spell... Please, have a good answer to this question? Ok, need to pass out now, bye. - he hangs up before you can answer, which definitely annoys you, but you can't really stay mad at him for too long about it. You are the one who woke him up in the middle of the night after all. He did, however, raise a good point. What the hell are you going to tell him? And others, for that matter. "In my dreams" really does not sound good as an answer.
Well, you are not going to think about it now. Your dad is about to come home.
He arrives as a passenger of the same car that took him to work and probably also drove him to work today, while you were asleep. He looks… Tired, but also sporting a satisfied smirk, like a cat that managed to catch a particularly big and tasty rat.
- Hey sleepy head! Still up, I see. Waiting for your old man to arrive? Sweet, but unnecessary. I am not quite old enough to require assistance yet. Maybe in a few years, though. - you and your father snort. He is only 50. And he is fit as hell for his age. He takes the whole healthy living
- Nah, we all know I'll just dump you in old people's caring house or whatever they are called when you become inconvenient. - you say, rolling your eyes, and them smirk, as your father performs the "The Young have zero respect" bit in an overly theatrical fashion. Shaking your head, you change your expression towards a more serious one.
- Kay, jokes be jokes, but… I actually need to talk with you about something, dad. Something serious. - your dad cocks his head a bit, raising his left eyebrow in a process. He then says:
- Do I need to sit down for this one, or is it not that serious?
Your flat stare makes him shrug.
- What? If it is something truly serious, sitting down is absolutely required. It is just a thing you do. That way you are much more inclined to think through things. When you are standing… You are inclined to rush off and do something dumb. Believe me, I have experience from both scenarios. - he says somewhat melancholically, as he usually gets when remembering something from the personal past. You sigh and respond:
- Probably would be best if we sit down while discussing.
- Okay. Then… We should talk about it in my study. Give me 20 minutes, I am real hungry. - he turns around to start taking off his shoes, conversation over. It leaves you a bit miffed, but your dad can be very asocial when he is tired, and he probably is, so you decide to not take it too personally. Instead, you proceed to go to your dad's study.
The study is the most minimalistic room in the house: a bookshelf, two chairs, a wall lamp and a ceiling lighting, a cheap IKEA-like table. It is minimalistic even when it comes to colors: everything is soft and light orange, with a bit off metallic grey as the only distraction. Dad really likes this room. You sort of can get it. It is really… Calm here? No windows from the outside world to reach you. Good sound isolation so that noises can't disturb you. Simple color palette allows the mind to focus on the tasks at hand. Pretty much a perfect meditation chamber here.
Your father arrives right on time: according to your phone, it really did take him only 20 minutes. He is carrying a… Notebook? Well, your dad's a smart man, but he does not have the greatest memory, so it makes sense. He sits down in the chair across the table from yours. And then says, looking you in the eyes:
- Well… Let's start, shall we?
You take a deep breath and begin from the strange visit in a dream…
It takes you awhile. Mostly transcribing information from the book the odd man gave you. From time to time, your father would ask small questions here and there and make notes in the small notebook, his chicken scratch unintelligible to you. Once you finish, your dad hums.
- That is all? The message is here, right? - he looks at the flashcard where you copied both files to.
- Yeah. I know that you have a bunch of NDAs and such and that if you break them you will get into a ton of trouble, but I need to know what the fuck is happening. I want to know the truth. - you answer. Your dad scratches his left eyebrow with the card, and then picks up the notebook, making another note there... He suddenly turns the page face first towards you, mouthing word "Activate" and taping it hard with his finger, his expression gaining unreadable steely look. The chicken scratch starts to glow and weave pattern of technicolored spirographic fractals, weaving themselves into your brain, overwriting your vision, as you now realize that these are not notes - they are thaumaturgic formulas. You feel as if death itself passes through your mind, searching for something. No, not death necessarily: it was the concept of inevitability flowing through you, with the death part being merely your reflection on the idea. This thought does not stop you from hyperventilating as something seemingly out of a bad sci-fi movie - a self sustaining semi-sapient meme complex, works its way through your mind, searching for… Whatever it is searching for, turning you mental palace upside down.
You feel like you are going to die.
{Lost 3 Mind.}
And then it ends as it has started - suddenly, as the infohazardous agent self destructs inside your mind, not finding whatever it was searching for, and the pattern on the paper disappears, leaving only blank page behind. Blank also goes your face, as your father slides down and says "oh thank god", with his hands hanging in the air and the steely look melting into one of relief. It takes you a bit to assess your feelings about the situation, but the conclusion is really obvious. You are fucking pissed.
- WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING FUCK?!?! - your voice booms through the room, as you stand up so fast chair you were sitting one dramatically falls back.
Okay, honey, I know that using an infohazard might seem a bit crazy, but I needed to check whether someone planted activation codes and other such nastiness through the dream channel and that was the only way to be sure that does not involve some highly intrusive, extremely damaging methods. - he puts up his hands before him in a defensive "palm facing outwards" position with an apologetic smile on his face. You look straight into his eyes to find any hints of insincerity. Your father for what it is worth, is telling truth. Still…
- If this wasn't "highly intrusive", than what the fuck is? - you have a bunch of questions on your mind, and you still want a decent explanation for the situation at hand, but you are also genuinely curious about other "methods" your dad mentioned.
- Well, while the agent most definitely reached into a fairly deep corners of your mind, it didn't send information outside of it… Or modify it in anyway your natural memory recalling mechanisms don't. So while it ain't a pleasant experience, it sure beats someone directly prodding your mind. Believe, I have had both options happen, this one is the least sucky. - he switches from being defensive to being teaching instantly, which does not surprise, cause you have seen him switch from all sorts of different moods into a lecture mode for the most of your life, which isn't surprising, cause he is your dad.
- Ok, fine, but you could have warned me, you know? - while the fact that your father actually has a very compelling reason for his action soothes your anger somewhat, saying you are nettled would be an understatement. You are still super nettled.
- Could not, - dad shakes his head, - If I told you about the agent, you would subconsciously try to put up defences against it and that… Eh… Would not be good, to say the least. Plus, if someone did embedded mental trigger commands into your mind, they probably would have included: "Resist any attempts to get rid of the commands". Unless they got sloppy, but dreamwalking and mental trigger commands are not something sloppy people do. They would probably just kidnap you with intent of threatening me or something else equally stupid. Most definitely not perform an extremely tough feat of thaumaturgy.
You clench your fists and then unclench them.
- Fine. Still. You haven't answered my original question. What the fuck is going on? I want some concrete information, some hard facts, not a weirdo dropping into my dreams, talking about something I can't remember and then fucking off, leaving only stuff that carries only implications, shadows of the real deal. So please, tell me. - you look straight into your dad's eyes.
{This was supposed to be a roll, but since I was gone for awhile due to exams, consider this a freebie to advance the plot.}
You can see in your fathers eyes a mix of hesitation, born out of responsibility and paranoia, and desire to tell you everything he knows and suspects. You can see him debating himself inside of his own mind, with both sides providing an argument after argument. And, at the end, you see and you know that the side you were on won.
- You… Probably will be disappointed with how little I know, and how little of what I do know can be explained without some very complex specialised knowledge you do not possess, but in short… There will probably be an event in the future that you could probably live long enough to "experience" that is somewhat analogous to False Vacuum Collapse, but it is not quite that, and it is purely about thaumaturgical field. As a result, the amount of ambient soul will increase in an extreme fashion. I would argue that it will simply kill everyone - like a FVC - but there are some people with better understanding who argue that it won't necessarily lead to mass death on an universal scale. Either way, I do not think it is unfair to call the event an existential threat. - he says in a hushed tone, - That is all I can say definitively. I can infer that we are not the only group working on preventing it from happening, which is not something surprising, quite honestly. We do not possess monopoly on knowledgeable scientists. I won't and can't say anything more about this however. And I strictly forbid you from willingly further involving yourself in this particular mess.
When you start to protest, he holds up his hand face forward towards you, his face, again, gaining steely look:
- Look, you are my daughter. I love you with all my heart, am extremely proud of your achievements and believe that you will become the smartest person on Earth. But you simply do not have the knowledge to help anyone to tackle this problem. ANd this not the type of easily obtainable knowledge. I mean the type of knowledge and experience you get after studying and working on a bleeding edge of research for a decade at least. In 10 years, I believe you will be capable of solving all issues my team is currently facing. But… Not now.
You sigh.
- Fine. As long as you promise to teach me a way to protect myself against weird cognitoharazardous bullshit.
- Deal! - he raises his hand again, but this time for high five, his face losing "steely" quality and gaining "cheeky" quality, signified by a smirk on his face.
After that the conversation sort of dies. Your father says that the cognitohazard defence will start tomorrow evening, when he comes back from work. Until then, you are free to do whatever you want. As long as it is not something related to the problem, that is.
Well, tomorrow is tomorrow. For now you decide to go to sleep. Today has been a long day. You are not sure how to feel about it. Many things happened, some of which were very surprising in a very much not nice way. Still. You… Succeeded? You certainly have met all of the objectives you wanted for today. And while conversation with your father started of somewhat disastrously, it ended… Well? You think it ended well. You got free lessons about a subject you have severe doubts anyone would normally teach a student like you in exchange for a promise that is just common sense. Of course you should not involve yourself in something so world shattering. And yet… You feel as if you won't necessarily have a choice in that.
As you drift off to sleep, you don't find yourself being visited by any strangers. Instead, you see…
[]A boy trying to improve a program.
{Interlude, POV: Alykbek Aliuly.}
[]A girl fishing in the middle of the night.
{Interlude, POV: Jeanne Bisset.}
[]A boy studying some secret documents.
{Interlude, POV: Bozhidar Balik.}
[]A girl looking herself over in a mirror.
{Interlude, POV: Mila Mayer.}
___________________________________________________
This took way longer than I expected. I apologize. Next updates shouldn't take this long.
Last edited:
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
And hopefully will continue to do so.
Also, if anyone has any questions, critique, suggestions or advice moving forward, you are welcome to give them to me. I like discussions of works of fiction, I imagine discussion of my work will be no different.
[X]A girl looking herself over in a mirror.
Update more!
Update more!