searching [OOC] The Æther Project

[Jack Baker 698]

Sorry, I meant to post yesterday but I got my second covid vaccine and the side effects kicked in like crazy. I'll try to make a post later on in the day.

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

No excuses yuuko... I mean @Jack Baker

Edited April 7, 2021 by Kujamih

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

And make them magics and type!

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

Plein is with Shadow not Windy.

[Blitz Boom 4,619]

@Windy Breeze

I'll fix that. Must've been mixed up in my head. Sorry.

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

3 minutes ago, Blitz Boom said:

@Windy Breeze

I'll fix that. Must've been mixed up in my head. Sorry.

That's okay.

[Illiad Easle 3,126]

@Califorum @Blitz Boom @Courageous Thunder Dash @Jack Baker @Windy Breeze @Kujamih

 

I will post tomorrow evening regardless of if Jack Baker / Windy Breeze posts.

 

Also, I'm getting ready to do the time skip soon. If each of you could post an idea here of how you see your character fitting into the society of the project over the next month, that would give me a good idea of how I can integrate your characters into the major arc and if there are any misconceptions I need to clarify first.

[Illiad Easle 3,126]

@Califorum @Blitz Boom @Courageous Thunder Dash @Jack Baker @Windy Breeze @Kujamih

To clarify, I'll wrap up a number of the present loose ends in the time skip, and the current mini arcs will be terminated before the time skip.

(That is to say Thundy, Light, Raze, and Maud's arcs. The rest of you are in a 'freetime' arc where I'm coming up with things as you guys ask for them to occur.)

[Blitz Boom 4,619]

@Illiad Easle

Essentially, a month there, Briar would do what he have done thus far: Work. Considering he owes the project his life, he'll make sure to give it his all, only interrupted by the occasional day where Brittle have a mental breakdown, and need him there alone for a time. They happen infrequently so let's say it have happened... Twice, over the last month.

As for Brittle, she'd begin to understand that compared to earlier, this place would be safer, but would still not have uttered a word. I wanna save that for an actual post, to make sure there's something to fill it with there. Though she will still look around on others, terrified and expecting them to punish her for no reason. Wilderbeast a little less than the others, as Briar seems to value his company (if they are still working in the same area by then, or meet up otherwise).

I can also imagine that after a month, a draining schedule have been found, and optimized with his diet, through voluntary tests. So whatever you may have thought on the matter, just set that as cannon after the time skip.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

@Illiad Easle

Hopefully I could have Thundy at least be successful in his task before things wrap up...

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

Well I have no idea what's gunna happen next on Light's side XD. I ended up digging the darkside of this place..... help anyone?

[Illiad Easle 3,126]

@Monotonality

Hmm, I can work with that, perhaps she could be a guard in the library? I'll brainstorm on where they put her when she applies to the position.

 

@Blitz Boom

Sounds good. After a month do you think Brittle would be willing to meet with other changelings or be taught? Perhaps an individual tutor coming to try and teach her, steadily gaining her confidence over the course of the month? I suppose she'd be as comfortable with the tutor as Wildebeast, which is to say not overtly fearful, but still not exactly trusting. Would she do homework by herself or with Briar if she were given it?

 

@Courageous Thunder Dash

We'll get that arc finished before the skip of course, and I do intend for you to pass the general's test. So you'll be free to join in the areal defense of the project if you still want it, even training others in air combat if you feel so inclined.

 

@Kujamih

Provided Light is willing to behave, he'll be out of the loony bin shortly and allowed to go back to normal activities.

If Light continues to be difficult, it will depend on how difficult he is for the authorities on the project.

Outside of his current arc, how do you think Light could be integrated into the society of the project?

[Blitz Boom 4,619]

@Illiad Easle

Brittle would do homework if it were given to her, and though Briar cannot see, he does know general math and such, so if she describe it, he would be able to help her. There is no way that she would be able to handle the pressure of a classroom, anytime soon. If there were a tutor, it may eventually work, but it would have to be with Briar present, and would not have happened in as little as a month.

Brittle is not exactly one that change perspective quickly on things. As all she have known, prior to meeting Briar, were cruelty and fear, the whole world feels like a threat to her. Every being just waiting to spew mockery at her, or beat physically hurt her. There is a reason I have her described at times as laying her head low to the ground, and looking up like an abused animal, waiting for it's next beating. Because that is essentially what she is.

Prior to the world going topsy turvy, I had her slowly improving. She still wouldn't wander alone, unless she had no choice, but she were speaking with others now and again, and partaking in conversations. After it happened, everything that she had started to see as good and kind, that were worth trying to reach out to, were destroyed. The calm cities, the few ponies she had started to trust some- All of it gone, from one day to another, and now the world really were chasing them. Way I look on it, she would react to this, by mentally curling herself up, and waiting for all the bad things to be over. Even now that it were safe, she'd constantly be expecting it to end up like down there too, and wouldn't want to connect to anyone in case they would also be taken away suddenly, as well as having even greater issues trying to trust others, as they too could end up being Discord's followers.

A month in, with routines, and Briar's constant reassurances, she'd maybe be ready to try and poke out of her shield a little, and believe that maybe, this place were going to last after all. But in the month itself, she would at best, look at a few less frightened, and if there were outreach from others such as changelings, Briar would respectfully tell them that he would take contact, once she were ready for it, and ask them to please accept that she needed time.

It will start with a word. Where it leads from there, the RP will see, but she may be willing to wander near where the changelings are, with Briar there too, of course. If she'd respond much to them, I can't say, but if not, Briar have been used to - even before the world changing event - speak on her behalf, and tune into the signals she gives off, when he is explaining things she wouldn't want him to at that point.

Building her confidence is a good idea, but a month will not do much for her damages. We're talking years of help, but small improvements here and there, is a start. And provided he can talk for her, perhaps Briar can assist her at a therapy session eventually.

As for a tutor specifically, if you'd want to have one gain some small sliver of trust from Brittle, it would have to be one that showed they respected her boundaries, and didn't put pressure on her. Have them work with Briar, and explain what she'd like for Brittle to do, and then leave them to do this homework in peace. Rinse and repeat in a simple pattern and routine, that she can start to follow and easily adjust to. If there is critique of what she have done, it should also be mentioned softly, as she will hear things worse than what they actually are, as she expects nothing good to come her way.

Briar would work with anyone wanting to try and help Brittle, as he have nothing but her best interests at heart. Yet she is a long term project, with some deep seated memories and fear to confront eventually, to get on a real road to recovery. But still, a month in, I can have her peek out a little bit. Just have to find the right timing for it.

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

@Illiad Easle

I think light is gunna end up on the grey side of all of this. Because he is seeing faults on both sides thanks to the situation.... I mean this base is definitely suspicious.... Surely it's compromised. The enemy is just waiting for the right timing. 

[Illiad Easle 3,126]

@Monotonality

What she wants to guard may not be what they let her guard, but per your latest post I think we'll go with being a library guard.

 

@Blitz Boom

Sounds good and very well thought out, we'll work with that.

 

@Kujamih

Unless you're talking about the loyalists, in which case I wonder what you could possibly see favorable about them, you've only seen one of the sides to this conflict. The other side will not be revealed until after the skip.

I'll let Permu explain to Light all the ways in which my changelings are different from the show's changelings. Mine are far superior in my opinion.

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

@Illiad Easle

Not the loyalist..... I'm pretty sure there's another group hiding from the shadows.... 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

And besides...Light is here to fix dimensions. Not to pick sides.... If this dimension favored discord or is discords dimension.... Why would light stop that? 

Oh and is the Coxa imposter a loyalist?

[Illiad Easle 3,126]

@Kujamih

I don't intend to spoil things, but I'll trust you to not let this OOC information color your in character decisions.

Spoiler

The Coxa imposter is on her own side. She's a blood changeling, one of the last from hive Gelatine. Her queen was known as the Killer Queen whose hive thrived on bloodlust, stoking wars and conflict for their own enjoyment. When Queen Gelatine was murdered by her daughter, Queen Permu, her hive was also hunted to extinction as her changelings could not integrate into peaceful society.

To justify a bit, Hive Gelatine wasn't always bloodthirsty, Queen Gelatine had been corrupted over the centuries by a toxic substance that drove her and her subsequent children mad.

The imposter Coxa has survived so far, and simply wants to see the project burn, stoking small conflicts that she knows will eventually build up into larger ones.

 

19 hours ago, Kujamih said:

Light is here to fix dimensions. Not to pick sides....

I wonder what there is to fix? This dimension is simply being reset, traditions being swept away so new, better civilizations can form from the ashes. Or so Discord believes. Chaos is just another form of entropy, and entropy is another form of change, and change is simply progress in disguise.

The Project sees themselves as the last real bastion of civilization, built to outlast Discord as the prophecy says that he will fall in 25 years. Then they'll set down and build anew, gone are the mistakes of the past and here is the knowledge of the future.

Or something like that, the reality is not so poetic as I make it sound.

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

Oh yeah.... Anything that doesn't flow the same path as the original story/timeline of mlp is considered broken. ( This is my thoughts and whim and what I like to make fail safe plot to flow)

or is controlled by some other writer

( me and you) and usually those writers are gunna make mistakes or completely be "original" and messy things happen.... That's what usually failsafe try to fix... But usually just go by the whim's of the writers....

And you said it yourself that there's some deep and much more powerful being who's actually pulling some strings.... I think we brainstormed it here when you asked about Light.

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

.....or maybe i read something wrong...

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

 I knew she wasn't a loyalist... And this also proved to light that this project is hiding some skeletons aswell.

[Illiad Easle 3,126]

@Kujamih

To get Meta at least, The Author is a character in the universe that can be interacted with. He does pride himself on the internal consistency of his narrative. Things happen because they reasonably would happen, people do things because they have sufficient motivation to do so.

At least, I think so.

As an aside, the changelings I use are largely inspired by those presented in A Novel Tale, which is one of my favorite stories on FimFiction. It first introduced the concept of multiple hives, cooperative changelings, as well as other dynamics that the race has that weren't presented by Chrysalis's army and attack. It also came out long before Thorax was a thing, and my canon strongly diverges around the middle of season 4 (So we don't have a Tirek encounter, we had the Summer War instead) And yeah. Light has his work cut out for him if he wants to somehow change that. It's firmly entrenched in several RPs as well as a published work on FimFiction that I wrote with @Randimaxis 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

Light has problems with authors/writers... He didn't like his faith on his world dimension and his world went crazy lulu. Now he has no dimension to go back to.... Thus he wants it to never happen again. Joined forces with a supreme being.

( Somewhat a higher ranked writer)... So there's a high chance that Light might try to fight this author.

And of course for him too much deviation from the original is bad... But he was proven wrong before.... So he ain't gonna try and jumping to conclusions again... He knows there's good authors/writers his just gunna be cautious, find out about this dimension. Check if there's negligence, is the writer evil or not. Etc..... Actually fixing dimension....is weird.....sometimes just being there and going with the flow fixes it.

[Illiad Easle 3,126]

@Windy Breeze @Jack Baker

Still waiting on you two for a short summary of where you see your characters after a month on the ship. Raze is fairly straightforward, @Jack Baker Are you alright with being an expedition guard? Or would he seek to be reassigned after his experience with Maud?

@Windy Breeze Two of your characters seem fine to be guards, what of Serene?

 

Once those two are decided we'll step forward. I'd like my next post to wrap up where we are and move forward a month.

[Jack Baker 698]

@Illiad Easle

Raze's skills would definitely be more suited to an expeditionary role, though he'd really be fine doing either. During the month, he'd hop jobs between being a guard inside the Project, as well as heading out to drive off enemies threatening the outside. Also, eventually some would see Raze with Thanatos out and about, but probably only for a split second or so before he'd get caught; but be spotted enough so that rumors might spread around the Project about an earth pony guard seen with a mysterious creature surrounding him. He doesn't trust them enough yet to fully have Thanatos out in the open.