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[usedtoknow]

OMG IT'S A SLUMBER PARTY MEME.


You are in a vast room, vast enough so that what happens over here won't necessarily disturb what's happening over there, with a couple of semi-screened areas for semi-privacy and all the pillows and blankets and soft (or bouncy) sleeping surfaces you could ever want. Refreshments and entertainments provided by your dear friends at End of Line and Alan's popcorn machine. A movie screen or two. Stuffed animals (what is that one with all the tentacles anyway?). Your choice of sleepwear. Whatever else you'd take with you to a slumber party. And you get to share all of this with everyone else on the Grid.

Clearly this will be the best night EVER.

~Rules!~

When starting a thread, put what you're doing, who's involved, and any warnings in the subject line (e.g. 'Pillow fortress || OTA || tooth-rotting fluff'.) Also use the subject line in case a thread develops in such a way that new warnings are needed.

Within an open-to-all context, threadjacking and multiplayer threads are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED.~~ Threads locked to a few characters are allowed too.

Continuity is variable, and likely unique to each thread. What happens in-meme stays in-meme unless you want it to apply somewhere else, and falling asleep in the Rinzlerpile doesn't mean you can't also fall asleep in the Userpile somewhere else.

This meme is safe. Like, really safe. Highest level of physical harm that can happen in this area is shoving someone or getting whacked with a pillow; anyone who attempts harmful physical contact (including unwanted disc meddling, I'M LOOKIN' AT YOU, CLU~) is quantum-teleported out of reach before the harm can happen, ~as many times as it takes~ for the message to sink in, and everyone goes in fully aware of this. Viruses and glitches are contained in a hamster ball quantum sphere which suppresses their infectious capabilities; such spheres can merge with other spheres, and non-viruses can go in and out of them at will (and only perceive a mild static sensation if a virus tries to infect them).

Which makes this a good place to thread with folks your characters don't often get an IC chance to thread with.

No pressure. This meme isn't expiring any time soon. Feel free to take your time!

Of course common rp courtesy applies here -- no godmodding, be mindful of one anothers' comfort levels, warn as needed, ask if uncertain of something, etc. Which we all do because we're awesome.~~

Other than that, HAVE FUN! |D /turns off notifs and waits for the tide to roll in<3

Comments

[coadminclu]

Clu noticed the pink-haired woman when he returned to the projection room, and offered a friendly if uncertain smile.

"Did you want to watch a different movie? The ones I have don't take long, but there's plenty of room around here if you don't want to wait."

He waved at the dark room with its projector. "This one uses true digital 3D, so you don't actually need glasses for it. Quite popular inside systems, back where I'm from."

Things usually went better if he didn't say his name right off, around here.

[butterfly_fx]

Now that she was inside a little more, she could see what he meant-- the projection was like a hologram out of a scifi flick.

"This is astronomy, right? Space porn is awesome. Especially with these graphics," Livian said, grinning as she looked around. She had to resist the urge to reach out and try to touch the projection.

"I'm Livian," she said after a moment, since apparently they hadn't met.

[coadminclu]

"Yes, I brought some astronomy vids from home. Most programs here don't know anything about Earth, much less space." Clu wasn't familiar with the compound term she'd used and deemed it too awkward to touch. "I take it you're not a program, then?"

He offered his palm for a handshake. "Pleased to meet you, Livian. My name is Clu, but if you've heard stories of my alternate I hope you won't hold them against me."

[butterfly_fx]

"Nope, though a lot of people seem to think I am," Livian said, returning the handshake with enthusiasm. "Astronomy's not actually my field, but I've had to write enough software for astronomers and physicists to know way more than I might have wanted to." It beat the other part-time jobs she could have held.

"Clu... you're a system administrator, then? I met an alternate of you. Though if I hadn't read the logfiles later, well.." she trailed off and shrugged. He'd been downright personable to her. Which was even creepier given what she'd learned later.

"Since you're into teaching programs about space, I'm guessing you aren't like him anyway."

[coadminclu]

"System co-admin, these days," he agreed. "Jalen covers for me when I'm Earth-side. I'm also CEO of Encom since Flynn retired, and some things can't be handled from the Grid."

He offered a tired shrug. "I don't know all the differences, but they must have started early. Encom went public with the laser in the late eighties in my world, and there's massive traffic between Earth and all the various systems by this point, whatever company built them. But there aren't many Earth-born on the Free Grid, even now. After what he did to the Isos--"

Clu broke off, shook his head, tried to refocus. Not the place or time.

"I'm not much like him, anymore, no."

[butterfly_fx]

"It sounds amazing," Livian said, a look of wide-eyed wonder on her face as Clu described his home. "The Singularity happening in the eighties? Crazy."

She frowned as he continued on, and finally leaned in to hug him. He looked like he needed it.

"My dad likes to say that we become our choices. You chose differently," she said firmly.

((The Singularity is a thing.))

[coadminclu]

"As I understand things, our Earth is very unlike yours by now." He blinked, startled, at the impulsive hug, but smiled and patted her shoulder gently in thanks.

Thinking of his alternate never failed to darken his mood. "It's a wise saying, that. I'm just--not sure our choices were ever presented the same way. If I'd been that desperate, and had no outside resources...I don't know what I would have chosen."

Except that he had much too vivid an example.


(Tron-wise, the MCP in '82 or before was closest to being such a thing. Which is rather fascinating.)

[butterfly_fx]

Impulsive hugs were the best hugs.

"We'll never know," she said, shrugging a little. "Everybody always says that they'll do this-or-that when the chips are down, but it's really impossible to tell ahead of time. Worrying about what you might have done just keeps you from going forward."

[coadminclu]

He smiled ruefully. "It's more worry about what everyone else is going to think of what I might have done, to be honest. This is a massive discovery, potentially as big as going public the first time. I'm not sure I should keep it a secret, after what happened with Flynn here. I'm not sure I even can. I vanished mid-transit. That's a big deal." Panic and instant news.

"I think you can understand how I really don't want my friends and family to look at me and...wonder. And I trust them. It's the competitors and the anti-program lobby I don't trust at all."

Oddly easy to talk to this young lady, not of his world and yet not affected by his alternate except by absence.

[butterfly_fx]

"Yeah, but you're assuming nobody ever saw Star Trek. Evil doubles from alternate universes isn't a new idea. I mean, it would probably help if your alternate had a goatee or something, but c'mon."

Livian ran her hands back through her hair and sighed. "It does suck, though."