@ian.fowler | morningstar network

[wittingly]

Hey
Stop me if this is a stupid offer, I'm still trying to figure out how this whole thing works, but
I heard about the whole gate problem, and the whole simulation thing, there's probably more going on too that I don't know about yet
I'm an engineer
You guys might already have a few, but just in case you're shorthanded
If there's anything I can do to help, I want to

I can also apparently do a weird tools thing now so that's
something

edit: if anyone's in the market for crazy experiments in there
you guys glitch the sim when you do your chest thing, right?
anyone tried organizing a group glow-off? overwhelm the system with too much at once, DDOS it into crashing?

Comments

[slavophile]

Because they do his job better than them or because they're corrupt?

But, it also promises the real possibility of being eaten.

[wittingly]

A little of column a, a little of columb b

the POSSIBILITY of being eaten < the extreme likelihood of taking a gelatinous upright form.

[slavophile]

I don't know about Batman. But, in my world there are vigilantes. And superheroes. Metahumans...

Then that settles it. Jello reigns.

[wittingly]

Shit, okay. You're from one of those. Damn it, why is everyone else's world cooler than mine?

I don't think I've ever been able to politically convert someone before... I don't know how I feel about this. I think it's... smug?

[slavophile]

Honestly, I forgot what happened to your world again. Maybe because of my too cool world. Environmental collapse?

Is that what you did? And how you feel? You pulled a fast one on me, Ian. Not that I have anything better to do than being converted politically in here.

[wittingly]

Alien invasion and subsequent apocalypse subjugating mankind and using them for labor as they strip our planet for its natural resources

so in a way, you weren't wrong
I'm also pretty sure the environment was what made them decide we weren't worthy of keeping it

What can I say, I'm kind of a mastermind. Everything is a strategic game of mental 5-D chess.

[slavophile]

Partially environmental. What was your part in it?

So, you let your Earth go and they came to take it away, like you're kids and the Earth was your toy.

5-D?

[wittingly]

My part in the environment slowly degrading and melting the ice caps? I wanna say not huge. Stopped using plastic straws. Recycled. Carpooling. Everyone wanted to blame it on regular people but the truth is large corporations and their irresponsible pollution are really what started amping up global warming.

My part in the apocalypse was mostly "stay alive" until we found a place in the middle of nowhere to settle down. Building things out of anything but metal, because our guests could detect it. Made a PVC pipe shower, that was nice. Occasionally helping strategize and execute supply runs. A lot of late night drinking because we don't have Netflix anymore.

5 dimensional chess is like 3-D chess except it's two layers more complex, you gotta keep up man. You're on 2-D tops right now.

[slavophile]

I stopped saying I don't really drink because now I basically drink.

And yeah, your part in the apocalypse. You survived. Resourcefully. I'm impressed. Plus, the PVC pipe shower.

3-D, usually. But, cut me some slack, I'm working with tech I have no experience with. I'm hands off. I'm not a hands off guy.

[wittingly]

For what it's worth, I think everyone drinks at the end of days. At least, in my experience. It isn't exactly a healthy coping mechanism, but considering none of us were likely to survive the next decade it wasn't really the highest priority concern.

I survived by being careful and staying the fuck away from danger. Resourceful, maybe, but let's go ahead and put it on record that I'm not Vigilante-Brave. More like a 'watch from the trees until the coast is clear'-brave.

So get hands-on, guy.

[slavophile]

How long did you survive? Before coming here?

Does that make me Vigilante-brave? Even though I was on comms a majority of the time?

Other than the training I've been taking part in, there's not much here that I can get hands-on with. But, I will. Goals, right?

[wittingly]

Honestly, we started losing track of time for a while there, in the period between all the devices dying and when we figured out how much metal we could get by with for a generator. I wanna say maybe 18 months?

Yeah, if you're on a vigilante team I'd say you automatically qualify as vigilante brave.

[slavophile]

Who's we?

I'll take it.

[wittingly]

Long story short,'we' was originally me, my TA and his 3 sisters for a while
stuck to the woods, headed north, started taking on a few more people at a time, survival odds go up with numbers
we made it up to Crater Lake and repurposed this area of the national park
eventually 'we' became... I don't know, a few dozen, forty people maybe, give or take

[slavophile]

You're reaching engineer-survivor brave

Same compound then? Or, like, The Waltons and everyone in the house saying goodnight over and over again?

[wittingly]

I'll accept engineer-survivor brave. I just don't want to give you any hot mental images of me fighting aliens doing karate or anything.

definitely the waltons

no, it's definitely a compound. started out with just the old cabins there I guess you could rent out, and then as we took more people on we built a few places, or people put up tents depending on the time of year. Started farming. Got some chickens. One guy got a cow but he won't let anyone come near it

Fucking Ron.

[slavophile]

You don't want to give me hot mental images?

Is he afraid you'll slaughter his cow?

[wittingly]

I want to give you accurate hot mental images.

He is EXTREMELY afraid we'll slaughter his cow, but he SAYS it's because he wants to be the one to eat her. Except we hear him talking to her at night, and once you name it...

[slavophile]

For every record, I don't flirt usually with people I've never met in person. People that are only words and now hot, but accurate, mental images.

A lot of that story is disturbing. And giving me HoloInto the Woods flashbacks.

[wittingly]

I am honored to be an exception. You're gonna be incredibly disappointed when you see me and I have three ears and a hunchback, let me just apologize for that in advance.

HoloInto the Woods?

[slavophile]

There's a man made entirely of burns and bandages. He's nice. Quiet. But, nice. I accept your apology.

Into the Woods. The musical. I'm not into them really, but that one sticks with me. Mostly because everyone still does it. Boarding school. College... And then, the holo version. Hologram?

[wittingly]

That is
an incredibly distressing mental image and I feel somehow guilty

I can't lie to you, I haven't seen it. I'm hit or miss with media, I get a little too wrapped up in work to stay current. Sounds familiar, never seen it.

[slavophile]

Did you ... burn him alive? Or flay him? I never asked what happened. We were only there a week or so before being plunged into this simulation. I should ask more.

Plus, you spent 18 months on your compound. Did the aliens bring with them their own forms of entertainment?

[wittingly]

No, I don't even remotely have the stomach or the nerves for either. It's more of a 'don't make jokes because some people have it worse' kind of guilt, you know? Like the memory of my mom in my head telling me not to be a little asshole.

I guess that depends on your definition of entertainment
If ripping buildings out of the ground is entertaining, yeah, we got a lot of it
aside from that, they weren't interested in cultural exchange. they assessed us, deemed us unfit for what we had, and that was pretty much the end of the conversation

[slavophile]

You're talking to a billionaire genius. People have it worse, but I keep it in perspective. People of all kinds are also assholes. I can be an asshole. I don't think you're an asshole.

That doesn't even sound like a conversation.

We should have a drink. When the safe house is a thing again.