Apocalypse Junction

Locales abroad of the city centers, from out of doors to the outer planes.
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Shadowcaller
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Petrified forest]

Sounded more like a dog feeding off accidental table-scraps than proper stealing to her. Were they even going to miss it?
But saying that would probably take away from the achievement so instead she's just going to into a barrage of pointy stabs at the creature. Almost looking like she's at several places at once as she tries to use the length of the spear to be capable of staying just out of the reach of the creature while delivering jab after jab at the creature.
"Cool." She eventually comments in the middle of the attack. "But I don't think my gods have any loose change."
Last edited by Shadowcaller on Jan 26, 2023 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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Ruined Motorway

Mist draws his sword to defend against the plants!
Mist's sword is made from sunbeams. It's pretty light. Hard light, in fact.
He swings said sword as he steps backwards, slicing at the very dangerous flowers with his very shiny sword.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Ruined Motorway]

Plants?

Oh no.

These aren't plants.

These are pedicelaria- stabbin' feet! For all your stabbing and pinching needs.

The zombie seems undeterred by the sword! Probably because it can't really see anything? It's flailing around awkwardly like a blind beast, operating purely through its sense of scent. It can tell approximately where its prey is, but it has to rely on its tendrils and sense of touch for the final assault.

So easy solution?

Don't let it touch you!

That's easier said than done, though. There are a LOT of pedicelaria and they're whipping wildly at Mist in spite of chopping a few of them off! The woman, meanwhile, turns around and bolts away from the fight. She isn't going to stand around here and maybe get grabbed by one of those deadly blooms!


[Petrified forest]

"They probably do. You just have to be in the right place at the right time," Glycon says as he smacks his bardiche into the monster in a devastating overhead chop while the OTHER pointy stick user just stabs the absolute heck out of the monster. Apparently this is all the thing can take, because it finally slumps over and begins turning to stone.

Which...

Cool?

Kicking at the 'body' a few times, the scavenger frowns. "No loot? Disappointing."

Glycon's summoned snake finishes crushing the pinned zombie and slithers around aimlessly for a few seconds before just sort of... dissipating in a swirl of wind and a crackle of lighting. Weird.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Petrified forest]

Raheeda sure didn't seem to want to touch the thing now but apparently Glycon had no such calms the way he was kicking it.
She only prods the petri-
Petrifying?
Petrifiying?

-the stone-fying body with her spear.
"-does everything have pockets where you're from?" She inquires once he expresses his disappointment at the lack of STUFF.
"The gods, the frogmonsathings..." She gives the corpse an extra hard prod. "Since I'm not even sure it has a butt to keep stuff in." Though why a monster would be hiding things up its butt is probably more of a philosophical debate.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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Ruined Motorway

The weird not-flowers snap at Mist, but I am already on the other side of the creature, having slid around it in a way horses can definitely do.
Mist lunges, thrusting the sword directly at the creature, hoping he doesn't have to incinerate all of it to get all these appendages to stop moving.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Petrified forest]

Honestly poking the monster with a spear is probably a better plan than poking it with your foot.

Because you don't want to lose your foot!

Let it be said, though, that Scavengers have a slightly less robust sense of self preservation than most people. It probably has something to do with the fact that they don't really stay dead. If you didn't have to worry about injury, death, or even particularly bad pain, what sorts of risks would you be willing to take?

"Pockets- no? That was an analogy for the gods. Monsters though... sometimes they just have stuff? Look, I don't pretend to know how it works. I just know that every once in a while a monster has useful loot for some reason."

Why would a horrible snake beast have a sweet pair of magical boots?

Glycon has no idea.

He just rolls with it.

Anyway! Disappointing monsters aside Glycon gives a little shrug and shoulders his bardiche. "I had heard there were monsters around here so I decided to take a look, but so far this trip has been really disappointing. No loot, no one in need of help, not even any Riftgates anywhere. It's like this place is a sloughed off snake-skin of a place instead of an actual place."


[Ruined Motorway]

Mist's sword transfixes the monster! It feels almost like stabbing a bag of gravel, honestly. The creature's skin is made of innumerable tiny bony plates all held together with muscle. And there seems to be quite a bit of 'skin' in it. Water begins leaking from the wound thanks to its hydraulic system getting ruptured.

...

How much does Mist know about starfish?

In spite of the hole through its torso the thing is still moving. Specifically trying to hug him and attack with its awful pedicelaria.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Petrified forest]

"Probably the gods emptying their analog pockets onto them." Raheeda proposes after a moment of thought. "Gods want bloodshed and stuff, right? So they encourage that by hiding cool stuff inside living things- so people are encouraged to kill one another! Since if monsters have invisible pockets so might anything else, right?" She nods.

"Total jerk move, or should I say god move." She sounds oddly proud of that one.
"A-anyway, that's- I mean, shedding skin is- uh... nevermind that. Let's go somewhere else then if this place sucks so much. Like, maybe a town or something? Are there any of those out here? I'm just glad I found anyone. It's been, uh, pretty lonely for like forever now."

A beat.

"So what's a 'riftgate'? Is it like a castle?"
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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Ruined Motorway

Mist skips back, his hooves not quite matching the distance he's moving.
It seems like conventional weapons...don't really work on this thing. And he doesn't really have much else.
Mist points up at the sky with a yell, and from a previously calm cloud comes a bolt of lightning upon the horror!
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Petrified forest]

"That's a good idea, that may be right," Glycon muses. "Why else would a giant snake be carrying a pair of magical boots?"

That really IS the question for the ages, isn't it?

He begins heading off through the woods, using his giant axe like a walking stick since he doesn't have to hit anything with it at the moment. Thankfully as they get further away from the watch tower the level of weird blue tentacle infection gradually decreases.

"I never DID figure out what's causing the stone monsters. If it's a curse or... something else? Maybe it doesn't really matter all that much. Can't solve ALL the problems after all," he muses aloud. "Have you just been wandering around aimlessly? No partners or missions or anything? No communities you're fighting for? No family?"

That DOES sound pretty lonely.

"A gate? It's... a shortcut. That a good word for it. A shortcut. Sort of skims across the surface of the realm of the gods to pop up to another gate. Like skipping a stone across a river. You never go below the surface, just kind of bounce across it."

Sounds like a strange method of travel. Probably magical nonsense.


[Ruined Motorway]

HOLY FREAKING SMITE!

While conventional weapons aren't super great against these annoying resilient undead it turns out that GIANT BOLTS OF LIGHTNING called down from the sky are VERY effective against them!

Who would have guessed?

The zombie is absolutely crispified and slain on the spot.

The loud boom gets Tristan's attention, too. He's thinned out the mob of undead pretty solidly already and now breaks into a run, dodging between the lurchers and occasionally lashing out with his burning spear whenever one of them gets too close. He gets... gooped. At least twice. But his skin burns where the stuff touches him and it doesn't seem to be able to really soak in and do its job.

"HEY!" he calls out as he jogs in closer. "Did you find just the one guy in there?"

He gestures at the man draped across Mist's back. The woman is hiding nearby, watching to make sure it's safe to come out.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Petrified forest]

"Oh- I've had plenty of allies and stuff. Just not for about four days now 'cause of god-stuff. It's like a pilgrim thing, or that's what they called it at least." Raheeda rubs her chin thoughtfully. "But no family- I mean, my people don't really have families. We just got that community-thing."

His explanation of gates makes her nod however. "Oh yeah, that sort of thing. They're pretty freaky y'know? Being turned into magic so you can go elsewhere. Or skipping I guess which is totally more terrifying!"

As they're speaking they have reached the woodland edge and as they look across the horizon of the desert before them they can see something approaching in the distance. This is not something Raheeda would recognize but Glycon peers closely at what must be a towering vehicle of some sort he might eventually realize what it is even if it might be hard to believe at first.

It's a cruise ship which is somehow moving across the desert sands.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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Ruined Motorway

Mist waves Tristan over.
"You're clear, get on the bike." Mist calls to the lady, unseen. He takes a moment to make sure his gear is in order.

"No, we've got two. Third guy refused to budge. Can't force him to save himself." Mist says with a shrug.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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Off to one side of the ruined motorway, on a side-road is a dedicated service area. All the buildings were sleek and elegant, coated with solar panels with two small-ish wind turbines providing further power. One of the turbines has fallen over, crashing down onto what was the hotel, and the other doesn't turn. The restaurant once had a glass front, but it has been gutted by fire. A small shop selling snacks and drinks still stands, as does the toilet building with its coating of faded murals. The car parking area is deserted, with weeds pushing their way through the tarmac. There's only one vehicle here, although it's quite an odd-looking thing. symmetrical to hide the front and back; it's the size of a luxury sedan, the top covered in more solar panels, with no windscreen or windows. The sides have been painted silver, and it has a wheel at each corner. It's sat in the charging court, lowered over a large rectangular slab in the tarmac, one of five in a row each marked with a large electric bolt symbol but otherwise resembling a parking space, with another five opposite. The vehicle is battered, but seems mostly intact.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[Petrified forest ==> The Desolate Desert?]

"Oh, I get it, you got separated,"
Glycon replies with a knowing nod. People still went on pilgrimages sometimes.

Usually they were CRAZY people since the world was wrecked, but those fanatic types were always just a little kooky in his opinion to begin with. The end of the world just made everything WORSE. Like those crazies that worship Hyperion and want him to cleanse the world with fire or whatever. They know they're going to get toasted too, right?

"I'm not going to pretend I know how riftgates work but I don't think you get turned into magic. It's more like a shortcut. Like a door that goes right through a huge wall instead of having to go all the way around the wa-"

Now they're in a desert.

The transition was both fast and jarring.

"Never get used to that..." Glycon mutters as he shields his eyes against the blowing sands.

...

"...is that a boat?"

That is totally a boat.


[Ruined Motorway]

"Okay, well, forcing the guy isn't going to help so lets make like a tree and get the heck out of here," Tristan says as he retrieves his bike and- "Hey we're leaving! Hop on and lets go!"

That manages to get the woman's attention.

She slinks out of hiding and hops onto the rather long banana style seat Tristan's bike has for exactly this purpose. Then it's just a matter of fleeing!

FLEEEE!

Thankfully bikes and centaurs are WAY faster than zombies.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

"Oh, was that a riftgate?" Raheeda inquires as she turns back to look.
Yep, the stone trees were still behind them. They had just ended rather abruptly.
Weird.

She turns back as Glycon had a question.
Not that she was good with questions but it was the principle of the thing.

The wanderer peers at the same approaching vehicle as he is.
"Nah, boats aren't that big." They were tiny little vessels really. "Has to be one of those living buildings thingies."

But this is a cruise liner and as it gets up on one up the desert dunes Glycon will notice that some madman has installed giant wheels on it. Eight of them in total, which are now transporting it across the desert.
At this point it will also be clear that it's less of a ship and more of a rusty wreck. At one point the ship was probably white judging by the small pieces of color that haven't been overtaken by the rust. It's still maintained though judging by the multiple holes which have been covered up by new metal plates.

There has also been an addition to what looks to have once been the conning tower of the ship. A giant rotating neon sign have been mounted on it reading "NON'S EMPORIUM". At night time that would probably be seen far and wide. But right now it just looks a bit off-putting.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

"No, you can see them. They look like big magical whirlpools," Glycon helpfully points out. Definitely way different from abrupt biome transitions. They could probably stand to make the transition a little more subtle so it isn't completely jarring. Or at least have some sort of big building you have to travel through so it's like 'oh I'm in a new place now!'

SOMETHING.

"Maybe it's just a big boat?" Glycon reasons as he begins sliding down a sand-dune to get closer. Yep. Definitely big. With wheels! Which makes more sense than a big boat without wheels on land. How would it even move through the sand without wheels? "Oh! I bet it's a giant traveling shop! This might actually be really useful I've got a bunch of junk I can offload in spite of that last trip being a complete bust."

It wasn't a COMPLETE bust.

He got to see some new locations! Exploration is its own reward sometimes.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

"A 'pool'? Isn't that just a tiny lake?" She knew what lakes were but not any of this 'pool' business. As far she was concerned they were all just varying amounts of water anyway.

She gives the approaching 'boat' a skeptical look. "And that's totally not a boat. Can't fit into a river or lake and it has wheels." Boats didn't have wheels! Glycon was just one of those crazy people from up north. Now he was even claiming it was a shop too. They go out five minutes into a desert and suddenly there was lakes and shops everywhere. Barely any heat resistance at all.

Raheeda shakes her head at these crazy ideas but she was willing to entertain them for now as she couldn't give her own explanation for this mysterious vehicle. However, as she goes sliding down the dune after him she suddenly freezes as there's a loud thundering sound coming from the giant machine.

HONKHONK!!!

Glycon might recognize it as a horn but the next moment Raheeda is attempting to tackle him to the ground.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

"A pool's a small like yeah but a WHIRLpool is what you get when there's a hole in a lake and the water is draining out. It gets all twisty," Glycon explains, making visually helpful twisting motions with one hand. Unfortunately he has no particularly great visual aids apart from said twisty motions.

And then there come some LOUD SOUNDS!

Glycon recognizes that as a ship's horn. People where JUST starting to figure out ocean steamers when the end of the world happened and he had lived in a coastal city, so the big luxury steamers where a sight he knew well. He's about to comment on it but then-!

"OOF!"

Great now he's all covered in radioactive sand.


[Calladon Car Charging Services]


Choir has found these desolate places to be invigorating. The hidden fire is plentiful here; more than she could ever need. And while the poison is thick in the air here, as it is everywhere else, she has learned to endure it from the songs of others. She has found many treasures in her travels. Things that are beautiful and strange. And when she has met and taken communion with others of choir she has learned of wonders and terrors she can scarcely grasp.

She's found that it is of vital importance to shape herself akin to the 'humans' and the other creatures like them. Singular, lonely creatures. Each a world all their own. She pities them, unable to take communion as they are. Ever perched on the yawning precipice of oblivion. But they fiercely guard themselves. They have no desire to join her in her song. Choir is glad she learned this. It finally makes sense, now. Why they were so hostile to her before the black blot threw her here. They were fighting to prevent their voice from being extinguished, just as she would if the whole of herself were threatened.

Clad in bright yellow false skins she had gathered to keep in the hidden fire from leaking out of her, Choir walks the road carrying a bag over her shoulder full of the treasures she's found along the way. Her flesh is a simulation of the soft, pliable meat of the humans, so the tough yellow skins help protect it. She isn't alone, of course. Others of her choir travel with her. Small in mind and small in body, they scurry around her carrying out small tasks. Searching for food. Searching for power. Searching for treasures. Searching for danger. They're close enough that they can communicate with Choir's larger aggregate through scent.

The machines in the distance catch her attention, a glint of glass in the sun. Where there are machines there are often treasures. Wonders to experience. New things to share. She moves toward this sight, her dozen or so less aggregates fanning out to pick through the rubble.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

"GET DOWN!" Raheeda shouts in hopes that she just managed to save Glycon from the beasts wrath.
Laying on top of him with her desert colored outfit covering them both perhaps it wouldn't notice them and just move on.

Except it doesn't.

But neither does it attack them as she had expected.

Instead the land-bound ship simply stops some distance away from them and let's out another bellow.

HONKHONK!!!

"...it might be trying to lure us into a false sense of security." Raheeda remarks quietly as she spares a glance at the machine-creature.
If Glycon also decides to look at the ship he might notice that a lifeboat decorated with christmas tree lighting (if he's familiar with that) is slowly being lowered down to the ground by a group of figures.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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The air here is unusually clean; the only radiation and pollution here has been brought in by wind and the occasional very rare traveller. This society, before the end, had transitioned to renewable energy and worked hard at fixing the issues caused by rampant industrialisation and the mass combustion of hydrocarbons. And whilst nuclear weapons were used, they were singularly ill suited to the task of defending human society from the end.

The restaurant's a burnt-out ruin, with a pile of charred human skeletons in the middle of what was the eating area. There's a walk-in freezer, but it's been blocked with rubble; getting in may prove tricky. There's rails in the floor of the kitchen, and a broken machine with multiple limbs is slumped against the ovens.

The hotel's a pile of rubble, collapsed around the aluminium frame of the wind turbine; there's bodies in there, but all died to violence long before the turbine fell over. The toilet building is long abandoned, and there's no water in it any more. It was fed by a water tank on the hotel, which no longer remains.

Unusually, the snack shop is still well-stocked, rather than looted bare; anyone visiting for supplies have been far more interested in the displays of batteries and cables than crisp packets and chocolate bars. The symmetrical vehicle is stationary and sealed, almost entirely airtight. It's also emitting radar waves, if Choir can hear them.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

"Get off me you idiot it's just a steamer," Glycon says, shoving at the pointy stick wielder. "I don't know how they managed to get it to roll around on wheels but it's a machine; something people ride on. See, there, look!"

He points at the lowering dingy.

"They're lowering that down so we can board, everything is fine."

...probably.

It MIGHT be a trap to rob them.

But Glycon is pretty confident in his ability to not be robbed. He rises to his feet again, and waves one arm at the ship.


[Calladon Car Charging Services]

Radar is not, in fact, a thing Choir is able to detect. She never had a need to. The only radio-waves that existed when she began to be were the ones streaming in from space. And while she DOES know the wonder of gazing at the stars radio telescopy is a bit beyond her.

The smaller aggregates are busy picking through the rubble as Choir approaches the strange, smooth machine. She approaches cautiously, running her yellow-clad fingers across it. The yellow skin makes it hard to touch things. To feel. She carefully removes the glove from her hand, tracing the machine's curves. It's one of the things the humans ride in. Of this she's sure. But she hasn't seen one quite like this before. Strange. Perhaps the occupants are inside?

"Hello," she calls out. "Are you here? I mean no harm."

Then, diffusing through the air, she catches a chemical whiff.

A food signal from one of her choir. The others, finding little of interest, begin converging on the snacks.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

Raheeda reluctantly gets off as she's shoved back and then starts dusting her robes off while grumbling about how she could have known that.
Like, a steamer? What kind of people named a machine after a fart?

One of the people in the dingy turns and waves back to Glycon.
"Board that thing? I dunno, why would we want to do that?" The wanderer gestures at the boat. "What kind of stuff would people living on a big machine even sell?"
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

Post by Earl of Purple »

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The food is mostly still sealed in its original packaging, despite being over fifty years out of date.

The vehicle is quite smooth, but this close some damage is visible. There's a row of pockmarks in the side where the solar panels have received damage and small dents underneath. It's also covered in dust and sand, which isn't going to be great for the solar generation. There's no audible reply, but the clamshell doors swing open, revealing the inside of the vehicle. There's a pair of benches facing each other with black vinyl seating, a central pillar supporting the roof with some sockets in its surface, and a pair of large screens above and behind the seating. The floor and internal panelling is walnut, polished to a high standard, though the air inside smells stale and musty.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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[The Desolate Desert]

This is one of the hazards of being wildly outside of your own setting.

Glycon, at least, is from a setting that corresponded more or less to the mid to late 1800s. So he has understanding of SOME technology. The use of fuels was common and people were really getting proficient with electricity. Modern digital tools would be wondrous to him, sure, but they wouldn't seem like something outside the realm of possibility after seeing steam engines and factory machines.

But poor Raheeda... She seems more or less limited to pointy sticks.

"MOST merchants move their goods around by boats. It's cheaper than carrying it overland. But it looks like these guys were ingenious enough to make the best of both worlds," Glycon says as he approaches the dingy. "So who knows? You never know until you look. That's why I'm out here to begin with."

To the boat!


[Calladon Car Charging Services]

Having found food supplies, the rat sized alien arthropods begin tearing the wrappers apart and eating the food. And in many cases the wrappers, too. Choir's ability to learn from the lifesongs of other creatures, especially bacteria, has taught her how to make food of a wide variety of things other organisms find inedible. Plastics and wood are both viable sources of carbohydrates to her. As the organisms eat they all slowly grow. And once they grow large enough they form a membranous cocoon around themselves hatch into more, smaller individuals. The whole fission process takes ten minutes or so, so depending on what happens outside the swarm may still be busy eating.

Speaking of outside!

This is a machine.

Choir is familiar with human machines. Both the sort that have tried to harm her in the past and the sort that have been benign. They're rarely useful for food. But they ARE useful to the humans. For protection. For transportation. For the creation of beauty and pleasure. These are all desirable things. This one, Choir suspects, is for allowing humans to move without having to tax their fragile forms.

But...

None appear to be inside.

Perhaps it is lost?

Many things in this place are lost and dead.

Choir leans inside of the machine for a better look, running her hand along the interior seating. But she doesn't climb inside. It might close on her and she isn't certain how she would open again. It would be unfortunate if she had to damage this beautiful object to escape.

"Do you respond to my voice? My touch? My presence?" she asks the machine, uncertain if it can hear her.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

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One of the screens flickers to life, and a man's bust is displayed. They're a young-looking chap, with pale skin, black hair and green eyes that look a little odd- his face was generated by an AI, rather than produced naturally. It's wearing a peaked cap and a blue suit jacket. The face turns to look at Choir and begins to speak. "I respond to you, my dear. It's been a long time since I've seen a human; I thought you were extinct. My name's Bentley, it's a pleasure to meet you." The voice doesn't come from the mouth, but a speaker built into the bottom of the screen.

Nothing will disturb the swarmlings as they feed, so they can continue stripping the snack shop bare. It's all stale and old, but that probably won't stop them.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

Post by Rebonack »

[Calladon Car Charging Services]

Depending on Bentley's ability to pick out context, it may strike him as odd that Choir is wearing a yellow radiation suit. She doesn't NEED to, strictly speaking. She's able to create a simulation of clothing out of carapace to make her appearance acceptable to humans and other organisms that value such things. She has even tried making shapes that are pleasing to look at. But, generally speaking, she'll use human-made clothing when available. And the radiation suit was the only thing nearby when last she split herself to create this body.

Her shape is human, certainly. She's learned from their lifesongs. She knows how they're assembled. But there are limits to the shapes and textures her bodies can take when forming an aggregate. Her skin is the wrong color and texture. To rough and granular. It might not be obvious, though, depending on the resolution of Bentley's cameras.

Choir's day-glow orange eyes are definitely strange, though.

"I was uncertain. I have not encountered a machine like yourself before," Choir replies. This isn't the first talking machine she's met. There was another at Glog. Like her in its organization, but different. A single mind with many bodies rather than many minds with a single self. But now Choir faces a choice which she finds somewhat daunting. This machine has mistaken her for a human. This is an understandable mistake. This aggregate is human-shaped to make her less distressing to humans and human-like organisms. Shapes that feel more 'natural' to her are often unwelcome when humans see them. She does this both for her own safety and the safety of the others she encounters.

If forced to defend herself she would likely cause the extinction of their self.

This is undesirable to her.

If she reveals that she is not human would the machine respond with hostility? If she confirms that she is human that would be...

A lie.

To use words to deceive.

This concept causes a distressing sensation that Choir is unequipped to understand. Patterning herself after humans has caused her to have many human thoughts and emotions that she's unfamiliar with. This is the sort of challenge where she would prefer to find some of her other selves and take communion with them, to reach concordance upon this question of whether or not to lie is a best course of action. But she has neither the time nor the opportunity to do this.

So.

She must decide for herself.

"Humans are not extinct; there are still many," Choir replies, having settled on neither confirming nor denying the machine's mistake. "But not near here. This location is largely desolate. I have not encountered anyone recently."
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

Post by Shadowcaller »

[The Desolate Desert]

"Fine, fine, let's go to it and see if there's anything worth-uh-"

She reaches into her robes as they start to approach the boat. Seemingly not finding whatever she was looking for.

"-what do people use for money around here, anyway?"

Well, they shall soon find out.

The people on the boat are short and green.
Well, 'short' doesn't really do it justice. They're barely up to Glycon's waist yet still all seem like adults. That or the entire crew consist of children which would be rather concerning.

"Hello friends!" One of the green men dressed in a wifebeater and a pair of faded purple pants greets them as he gives them another wave. "Prospecting customers are you?" He gives them a wide smile as the other green men (well, half of them seem to be women actually now that they get closer) are sort of just standing around. "Well, you've come to the right place! This might be the only shop these forsaken wastes have to offer! Of course, given the, ah, declining value of shiny things out here we do prefer trade before banter if you, eh, catch my drift?"

Raheeda waves back but still doesn't seem too sure about this. Trading stuff? She only carried what was absolutely necessary with her so what she would want to trade away?
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

Post by Rebonack »

[The Desolate Desert]

"Back home we used iron, mostly. Or traded," Glycon says. "Gold and silver weren't too useful. Can't really do anything with them. But iron? You can use that for making tools. Surviving has been more important than luxuries for a while now."

But then up to the boat!

And would you look at that.

Grobbles!

Or people vaguely like grobbles, anyway. The facial features are wildly different, though. And these ones seem wildly less hostile than the ones back home. They tended to be the sort of folks that would kill anyone on sight who wasn't part of their tribe. Made it really hard to have any sort of peaceful coexistence with them.

But these folk?

They seem fine enough. If people are willing to trade rather than sticking you full of holes and taking your stuff, well, that was just great by Glycon's estimation.

"Well I think I can manage trade. What sorts of goods are you looking for?" Glycon replies. "I've got a whole heap of junk that I would love to get rid of and if you want to take it off my hands I would be happy to oblige you for some food and water. Maybe a few nice trinkets if you have them."
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

Post by Shadowcaller »

[The Desolate Desert]

"Ehh... what sort of junk do you have, pal? We could take a look at it and make an... estimate." The merchant suggests. "But we don't really sell water specifically. Got plenty of milk though if its food and water you're here for."

Just the mention of the word 'milk' makes Raheeda make a face of disgust behind her mask. "I'd rather drink poison." She declares
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

Post by Earl of Purple »

Calladon Car Charging Services

Bentley isn't fitted with a Geiger counter, as radiation is far less a threat to him than it would be to potential occupants, and he was not designed or intended to convey people through irradiated areas. He could be surrounded by radiation right now and not know it. The external cameras he's got are fitted with facial recognition software, but are concentrated at either end. The fisheye lenses covering his internal space distort things quite heavily, and he's got no frame of reference of people other than 'human' and 'robot'- and most robots prefer clothing far less bulky than radiation suits, which provide them no benefit besides. Unless they can't find a diving suit and need to recover something from underwater, at least. And the eyes could be contact lenses, though why she'd choose to wear them is beyond Bentley's ability to understand.

"I haven't either. Not since my GPS stopped working. I thought it odd, but this service station has always been quite out-of-the-way. A miracle the induction system still works; I was growing desperate, I must admit. I don't suppose you know if any of the humans are mechanics, do you? It has been years since I had a proper service. I'd say it's a miracle everything still works, but frankly it doesn't. Solar collection's down to 60% efficacy, one of my batteries doesn't hold a charge, the break mechanism on one of my wheels sticks and another refuses to turn, my suspension is rough, and I'm down to one LED hi-beam, to say nothing about the state of my tyres." All of which likely means very little to Choir. "I do believe my aircon, entertainment systems, heated seats, and other passenger comfort devices are still fully operational, though I haven't used any of them for ten years so I may be mistaken." Although given concerns about power consumption, he might avoid operating any of them purely for comfort if Choir did choose to have a ride.
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Re: Apocalypse Junction

Post by Rebonack »

[The Desolate Desert]

"Weapons, armor, trinkets, odds and ins, herbs, monster bits, some old stone tablets that may or may not contain ancient bad poetry," Glycon rattles off. Then talk of milk! He raises and eyebrow at Raheeda. "You'll have to excuse my companion I'm starting to suspect she has disdain for anything she can't stab."

What does she have against milk of all things?

How else are you supposed to make cheese?


[Calladon Car Charging Services]

Bentley has issues with context, much as Choir does. There are a range of things he needs to know and that's what he knows. Choir, though, has found her expanded thoughts to be interesting things and worth pursuing. This is resulting in her steadily expanding her horizons beyond 'eat and grow'. Eating and growing is still important to her, but she's realized there are other things that are greater than this. Growing has become a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself. If there are more of her she can gather more experiences and find most lost, precious things. She can learn new songs and dances. She can witness more beautiful things.

She wonders if, perhaps, she may eventually understand these things enough that she might create beautiful things herself.

So the machine say many words. As before, Choir is finding that she understands the intent behind these words. This is still a strange thing to her, a thing she has thought on. She never understood human language before she came to this place, but now she does. The machine intended to destroy her did not do this, certainly. It must have been something else. Whatever it was that ensured enough of her would survive to begin again here. Whatever that something was, it must have wanted her to better understand these creatures so she wouldn't merely treat them as a source of food.

If she had she suspects it would have lead to her extinction. She has witnessed many strange and powerful things here, things that she doesn't understand.

But she DOES understand words.

Words about... parts... of the machine. Parts that are damaged and worn.

"There may be some who can repair you, but I am uncertain. I have not made an attempt to learn of such things yet, to my knowledge," Choir replies as she continues the task of examining the insides of the machine. It's possible one herself HAS gained that knowledge, but without taking communion with herself she presently lacks it. "You appear capable of carrying many objects. I have a desire to gather the precious things the people who are gone have left behind so someone might remember them. Would you be able to carry these things for me? My capacity is limited."

She briefly glances back toward the minimart where the chemical signals for finding food continue apace. There might be enough there that she can create another human-like body. This would be desirable, especially if she were to direct Bentley to a place that is safe. One of her could remain and continue to search this new area.

"Do you know what caused the death of the... people... here? There is no-" she wrinkles her nose in thought. The word for it was, "-radiation in the air or earth or water, as there have been in many of the desolate places I have visited. I have seen no creatures or machines that appear dangerous. I am puzzled over the nature of the calamity that claimed the lives here."
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