[magi] Coruscant ship. I'll format it all purty later.
I had this guy show up at the edge of my mind and xe hasn't left since: http://morguefile.com/archive/?display=194249&
Eventually a 9th Doctor showed up and told me what it was:
me: The staring is weird.
2:06 PM foppishtrollop: -nods-
me: Unname shines a light across it and it dances across the surface. That's odd, usually it illuminates that which is within. And it's just •there•, waiting at the threshold.
2:07 PM ...hi, 9th. Haven't seen you in a while.
DOCTORS. HONESTLY.
foppishtrollop: Hmm?
me: You are NOT Daniel Jackson.
2:12 PM It's sitting right at the edge of consciousness, not coming in. 9th walks in. Pokes it. Sinks his hands into it. Pulls his hands back out; they seem fine.
/Walks in./
2:13 PM That's pretty much the Dr. Daniel Jackson school of dealing with things, except in his case, step 2 after "It didn't eat my finger" is "I SHOULD STICK MY FACE IN."
2:14 PM foppishtrollop: Oh, Doctor.
2:15 PM me: •sigh• I wish I had a head!Ein.
He'd be sensible.
2:17 PM [9] •steps out, grinning• Coruscant ship. Haven't seen one of those in a while.
Potentially harmless.
2:18 PM foppishtrollop: "Potentially," he says.
me: Well, I say 'potentially'. What I mean is, we've never been able to prove anything.
2:19 PM Probably just trying to be friendly. For a sort of sense of friendly.
foppishtrollop: You will be elaborating on that, yes?
2:22 PM me: See, long time ago, someone decided that the easiest way to go about the whole business of time travel was just walk from your point A to your point Q. And after that, the coruscant ships came around. Little organic nodules at the crux of the Time Vortex and a few other planes and aspectual wholes you probably wouldn't have hears about. And the coruscant ships just grow along like creeper moss across all those dimensions, finding the shortest path through them.
foppishtrollop: Neat!
2:23 PM me: Call them coruscant ships because you can't really tell much of anything from them, not by sheer sensory input. There's too much of it. You get a mess of colours, mess of sounds, mess of scents, mess of... well, you get the idea. Some say that's why we never hear about them now: all the ones who thought it was a good idea got lost inside or went mad.
2:24 PM foppishtrollop: So you just go and walk into one.
dry applause
me: Well, how else was I to know?
2:26 PM [magi] And you could never •prove• that they were bad.
2:27 PM [9] Well, not me personally. Someone on Gallifrey got it into their heads that it might not be great having creeper moss chewing up the underpinnings of the universe.
foppishtrollop: Yeah, that's generally bad.
2:28 PM me: •shrugs• Didn't seem to have any effect, actually. Centuries of readings, of debates, nothing conclusive.
2:29 PM I say, though, it seems the solution would just be to send something in there with no windows, nicely soundproofed. Give it an autopilot. Coruscant ship would confound sensors. Still, people used them, and I imagine they can still be used.
2:30 PM foppishtrollop: Makes sense.
2:31 PM me: [magi] Well, it is pretty... um, •pretty• creeper moss.
2:32 PM foppishtrollop: Yes.
It's pointy.
I look at it, and that's all I think. POINTY
2:33 PM me: [9] It's your mind trying to rationalise things it can't technically see; all those passages, in all those dimensions. Reaching out into infinity.
foppishtrollop: Right.
11 minutes
2:45 PM foppishtrollop: So, I'm going to take a stab at this and say it's not precisely good.
me: [9] Well, depends on what it's here for.
2:46 PM Wouldn't recommend your friend with the raw mental wounds go traipsing around it, no.
Eventually a 9th Doctor showed up and told me what it was:
me: The staring is weird.
2:06 PM foppishtrollop: -nods-
me: Unname shines a light across it and it dances across the surface. That's odd, usually it illuminates that which is within. And it's just •there•, waiting at the threshold.
2:07 PM ...hi, 9th. Haven't seen you in a while.
DOCTORS. HONESTLY.
foppishtrollop: Hmm?
me: You are NOT Daniel Jackson.
2:12 PM It's sitting right at the edge of consciousness, not coming in. 9th walks in. Pokes it. Sinks his hands into it. Pulls his hands back out; they seem fine.
/Walks in./
2:13 PM That's pretty much the Dr. Daniel Jackson school of dealing with things, except in his case, step 2 after "It didn't eat my finger" is "I SHOULD STICK MY FACE IN."
2:14 PM foppishtrollop: Oh, Doctor.
2:15 PM me: •sigh• I wish I had a head!Ein.
He'd be sensible.
2:17 PM [9] •steps out, grinning• Coruscant ship. Haven't seen one of those in a while.
Potentially harmless.
2:18 PM foppishtrollop: "Potentially," he says.
me: Well, I say 'potentially'. What I mean is, we've never been able to prove anything.
2:19 PM Probably just trying to be friendly. For a sort of sense of friendly.
foppishtrollop: You will be elaborating on that, yes?
2:22 PM me: See, long time ago, someone decided that the easiest way to go about the whole business of time travel was just walk from your point A to your point Q. And after that, the coruscant ships came around. Little organic nodules at the crux of the Time Vortex and a few other planes and aspectual wholes you probably wouldn't have hears about. And the coruscant ships just grow along like creeper moss across all those dimensions, finding the shortest path through them.
foppishtrollop: Neat!
2:23 PM me: Call them coruscant ships because you can't really tell much of anything from them, not by sheer sensory input. There's too much of it. You get a mess of colours, mess of sounds, mess of scents, mess of... well, you get the idea. Some say that's why we never hear about them now: all the ones who thought it was a good idea got lost inside or went mad.
2:24 PM foppishtrollop: So you just go and walk into one.
dry applause
me: Well, how else was I to know?
2:26 PM [magi] And you could never •prove• that they were bad.
2:27 PM [9] Well, not me personally. Someone on Gallifrey got it into their heads that it might not be great having creeper moss chewing up the underpinnings of the universe.
foppishtrollop: Yeah, that's generally bad.
2:28 PM me: •shrugs• Didn't seem to have any effect, actually. Centuries of readings, of debates, nothing conclusive.
2:29 PM I say, though, it seems the solution would just be to send something in there with no windows, nicely soundproofed. Give it an autopilot. Coruscant ship would confound sensors. Still, people used them, and I imagine they can still be used.
2:30 PM foppishtrollop: Makes sense.
2:31 PM me: [magi] Well, it is pretty... um, •pretty• creeper moss.
2:32 PM foppishtrollop: Yes.
It's pointy.
I look at it, and that's all I think. POINTY
2:33 PM me: [9] It's your mind trying to rationalise things it can't technically see; all those passages, in all those dimensions. Reaching out into infinity.
foppishtrollop: Right.
11 minutes
2:45 PM foppishtrollop: So, I'm going to take a stab at this and say it's not precisely good.
me: [9] Well, depends on what it's here for.
2:46 PM Wouldn't recommend your friend with the raw mental wounds go traipsing around it, no.