Quixii Live Blogs Parahumans 2

Hi!

Things are going pretty well. I’m sorry I haven’t liveblogged in a bit - just kinda got overwhelmed. I’m 100% planning on doing some soon! I’m really wanting to get to reading Worm 2.

If it makes you feel any better, a couple weekends ago, when I said I was going out of town for the weekend? It was partially to acquire this!

She’s adorable and perfect and I love her. My other/previous cat has also adjusted well to her existence. Working on adjusting my two kitties to eachother and the new one to her new home has been a big focus of my life recently, outside of school!

But yeah, cat pictures make everything better, right?

Anyway: soon.

Hm, okay! To be honest, I don’t really look at Krix’s Table of Contents, so I guess it hadn’t occurred to me. Perhaps this is something I’ll try once I get to actual Parahumans 2, rather than just Glow-Worm. Or sooner! We’ll see. :)

Ha, I knew someone would say that! :p

Also, because I’m going out, I’m not sure I’ll end up doing a session this weekend? Maybe I’ll try to do a couple mini-sessions, depending on how exhausting things like the drive are.

Oh! Yeah, of course, that’s also very possible / more likely.

I guess I just felt like being a spy is something you would put more thought into revealing rather than casually being all, “hey, so earlier you were talking to this person who was Not Me, and I know everything that was said. :D”

But that doesn’t mean that’s the case for H_S_P. It was a weirdly casual blatant reveal.

Well, that was an interesting chapter!

We learned about a character who goes by many names but generally Oddness_Animal. They seem to consider themself an odd animal - perhaps they are a case 53, perhaps they were otherwise distorted by their power, perhaps they just don’t have a good grasp of self. They were looking into the multiverses and where they could possibly set up the groups Planned Something, that still has not been described. Hiring underground mercenaries and discussing with known criminals and worrying about people from the shadows who just don’t want to be the first to break the peace makes me think they’re planning something villainous, but perhaps they’re just trying to set up some kind of society. If that is the plan, perhaps actual Worm 2 will take place there.

Anyway, we also learned that Heart_Shaped_Pupil is probably also a PHO admin named A_real named Sydney. It remains to be seen how that affects their group or their plans. I still like her. ^-^

Did C_C tell them all about the mod conversation, or was H_S_P spying on them, or is H_S_P Sydney?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: You hinted at having a reason for the changing nicks. Heart_Shaped_Pupil: What was it? 

Sounds like specific knowledge from the convo. :/

Curious_Cephalopod: Honestly?… Curious_Cephalopod: …I wanted to see if you’d get curious enough to reveal yourself. 

:O Oh! I guess the implication is that H_S_P is Sydney!

Awww. :( Rough shut down.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Really?  Two hundred?

Curious_Cephalopod: The more I think of it, the more reasons I come up with… Curious_Cephalopod: …no, K.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Can I ask why?

Curious_Cephalopod: because you’re you and I’m me… Curious_Cephalopod: …no and don’t ask again.

Ouch.

That’s rough. I wonder what some of the reasons are? Like, is C_C some kind of not-very-human, at least in appearance? Perhaps a Case 53? Do they just not want any feelings to develop?

I kinda figured their plan involved meeting at some point, so I’m not sure rejecting (harshly) this invitation works long term.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Ok.  🙂 Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Can I ask another question? 

She’s being a good sport about this.

Curious_Cephalopod: will I regret saying yes? 

Would this be your first face-to-face meeting?

If C_C is a bird-bug-something, they probably don’t want to meet in person.

You were talking about logistics and I was thinking about where eveyrone was.  you’re closest to me and we’re the same age I think?   

Sounds like they haven’t met in person before.

So I was thinking we could meet and talk strategy over fast food.  We could even do something after and build team bonds and things like that.  Maybe a movie or arcade.  Whatever you want to do. 

Sounds fun and friendly and not villain-y. Of course, one of the first meetings of the Undersiders with Taylor was bonding over fast food and Boardwalk shopping, so such things are not exclusive with villainy.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: No pressure. Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Sorry.  I wrote and rewrote that three times 

Aww, so nervous! It sounds casual, but if you rewrote it that many times, you’re not feeling at all casual about asking it.

Curious_Cephalopod: You mean a date? 

:o Did she mean a date?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I didn’t say a date. 

Yes, but..

Curious_Cephalopod: But you mean a date.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Maybe.  Sure.

Ooo.

Springtime of youth and all that pizazz. Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Or pre-springtime.  Tweentime of spring?  The thawing of the slush doesn’t have the same conotations 

It’s Heart_Shaped_Pupil! We might get to know her a little better!

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: She said something nice! 

Oops, I think I totally called M_W “he” at one point. I’m sorry.

But seriously, I don’t think it helps to make such a big deal out of this!

Curious_Cephalopod: ?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: A!

Curious_Cephalopod: Ah.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Good things good feelings.  I’m psyched because this all feels positive.

Okay, so at least H_S_P feels like they’re doing something good.

I could be wrong, about them doing some kind of villainous plot. Perhaps they hired an underground mercenary to do something extremely kind, like distributing puppies, and that’s why they were surprised.

Curious_Cephalopod: maybe

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: On the topic of positivity…

Why do I feel like this won’t be super positive?

Curious_Cephalopod: ?  Did you disconnect? 

Oops, long gap in time because of disconnections, business, shyness, long message, dramatic antici

Curious_Cephalopod: [error]! Curious_Cephalopod: [error]! Curious_Cephalopod: [error]! You have disconnected from chat You have reconnected to chat

o,o Well, earlier they said that if their software is interrupted, weird things happen, but I’m not sure what’s supposed to be happening here.

of5: As the person who knows capricorn best, I’m going to step in and say this convo should end.  It’s going to end in hurt feelings. 

I don’t think Cap was the person who was most likely to get hurt feelings, but okay. Unless you know Cap to be a person who will push a person until their feelings are hurt.

Curious_Cephalopod: my feelings are fine.

of5: Ok

Cap: I’m fine.

of5:  Let’s end the convo here.  We’re here to back each other up.  Let’s be more cautious than not.

I feel like I’d be annoyed at someone trying to police a group chat like this, even though I also agree that the conversation wasn’t going great.

Cap: sure. I’m annoyed but I can take a break. Cap has left the conversation. 

Annoyed at how the conversation was going or annoyed at of5 stopping it?

of5: I hope I didn’t make things awkward. 

You did.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: It’s fine.  Made sense.

Curious_Cephalopod: balances to be struck

of5: Yeah

■

Such as ~4 people wanting to kill you?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: your friend 

Is that one of those four people, wanting to kill you? Oh, or the friend of5 was hanging out with during their perspective chapter, and probably not wanting to leave her?

of5: a lot of things.

Curious_Cephalopod:  the megalopolis makes for bad logistics.

Okay, so not wanting to do something in the City.

Cap: I do hope you’ll step out of those shadows more, c. Cap: it’s been interesting talking to you online and seeing how talkative you are here. Cap: I like what you contribute when you speak up 

Why does this feel like so many, “Hey introvert, you should talk more because you’re interesting and I never hear you?” conversation that I’ve endured and have seen many others go through?

Curious_Cephalopod:  that’s me being an introvert.

Cap: that’s fixable

Wow. Uh, no. I mean, I guess C_C could choose to talk more, but that doesn’t mean that introversion can be “fixed,” or should be.

Curious_Cephalopod: I think you badly underestimate my introversion, T…

of5: Okay, hold on.

Why curious as part of the name, or why are you currently logged onto account #17/32, Curious_Cephalopod?

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Doing research? 

Kinda sounded like C_C is perpetually doing research.

Curious_Cephalopod: curious in the british sense… Curious_Cephalopod: …odd, quirky, eccentric… 

I wonder how long they spent looking in thesauruses for all their 32 names. xD

Curious_Cephalopod: …I was doing research, as a matter of fact.

Mangled_Wings: On?

Curious_Cephalopod: figuring out the landscape.  looking at maps.  where we want to set up.

Ooo, bringing back the relevance. So, they’re looking at forming some kind of settlement. We don’t yet know how much they’ve narrowed it down - hoping for a corner settlement? Hoping to take advantage of the disillusionment on Gimmel and set up a competitor city there? Or, perhaps setting up something [nefarious] within one of the existing places.

Cap:  and?

Curious_Cephalopod: and it feels like the A-listers are busy.  everyone else is in the shadows… Curious_Cephalopod: …waiting for someone else to break the peace and take the hate when they get blamed…

And I guess you guys are planning on stepping out of the shadows and breaking the peace? (But why?)

Curious_Cephalopod: …the problem is we’re so geographically spread out.  even if we discount R. 

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: !

!?

of5:  I… really appreciate that, a.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: !!

Is the !! because M_W expressed an emotion? An emotion of good will towards another person?

Curious_Cephalopod: please, K.  Let it be. 

I guess so. But yeah, calling attention to it is a great way to make it not happen.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Ok. 🙂

Cap: C.  good to see you stepping out of the shadows. Cap: I wondered if you would speak up

Ah, yeah, our first comment of any sort from our perspective character since their interaction with the mod.

Curious_Cephalopod: the shadows are where it’s comfortable and safe. 

Feeling a little extra threatened since your exposing conversation with the mod?

Mangled_Wings: The shadows are where the real monsters lurk 

Ouch.

I wanted to make some snippy comment about M_W being one of those, but he’s pretty upfront about who he is, so.. bleh.

Curious_Cephalopod: that too, A… Curious_Cephalopod: …that too. 

There’s something I really like about the phrase “cluster-trigger clusterfuck.”

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Amen.

Mangled_Wings: Agreed.

Hah, true.

I still feel like there’s gotta be something else going on, right? Like, these random people can’t solely want to kill eachother because they triggered near eachother at the same time. Though Flechette was rivals with her cluster-mate, she barely knew he was her cluster-mate, and she left without really getting into any big skirmishes with him. So did this group somehow trigger in a way that made them immediately aware of each other and have reason to kill each other?

of5:  Easiest if I just drop off the radar for a bit.  We can touch base later.  I might check in to see if S showed and we can go from there.   Otherwise I see you in a few days. 

Sounds fair.

Cap: help is available if you need it.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: i was going to say.  i’d ♥love♥ to be of help

<3

of5:  I’m safe where I am for now.  in a sense. 

Doesn’t sound like you’re as safe as you should be, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: With family?

of5:  Mostly.  Obviously not when I’m here.  Hard to strike a balance.  It’s not good times.

Awww, that’s nice of him.

I wonder how much they interact in person. I’d kind of gotten the impression this was mostly an internet relationship, but if they interact enough to offer this, then probably it’s more.

of5:  I appreciate that.

Cap: it could be fun. you’re the closest thing I have to a best friend atm, so we might as well hang at some point.

Aww, best friends! :D

Though tbh, if someone told me “you’re the closest thing I have to a best friend atm,” I’m not sure that would feel much like someone I consider my best friend speaking warmly of our friendship.

of5: Oof.  Yes.  We get along best, out of the group. 

Yeaaah, awk.

It would be good in other times, maybe.  But I don’t know what vectors they can use to attack or track me.  This whole thing is a mess. 

I feel like a lot of the hero teams seemed/felt that way. I imagine it had to be way worse for a sponsored team. Like, can you even leave, join the the PRT or something if you wanted to? They were able to rebrand Skitter/Weaver, but I don’t know if the sponsored team dynamics would let you.

Cap: I didn’t dwell on the ins and outs.  so if you want me to supply info on the ins and outs of how the corporate capes work as a business, I can’t.  I don’t even want to dwell on it.  those were bad times for me.  there’s a reason I left it behind. 

:(

Mangled_Wings: I hope you can share what you do know at some point. 

Mangled_Wings, ever the sensitive one.

Cap: Of course.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Spending a lot of mental energy lately, R?

A-ha, bringing it back to that.

of5: I might have to go to ground.  I may not be able to travel to the next town to use library hookup until our next meeting.  I have some indications that some people are after me.  More than they were the day before yesterday.