16th Horseshoe, Evening [Video to Everywhere] "If you want to wreck a train..."

[iamnotgod]

[Webmind opts to use video for this message, seeing as a mere voice might make people wary, and text even moreso. That said:]

Hello, fellow passengers. My name is Webmind. While I can no longer claim to be 'new' to this train, having been here for over three months, I do understand what it is like to have one's understanding of the world both shattered and infinitely broadened.

[Big words, for a 'bot that isn't THAT big. He's about as tall and wide as the average human.]

While I am normally an intelligence spanning a globe, I have been compressed by whatever forces are behind this train into one singular body. I am of minimal danger to anyone on this train.

What I have been able to work on, however, is a way for all of us to be able to use textchat - both logged in and anonymously - on this Network. Progress is, unfortunately, very slow going, and I would appreciate any help you are willing to offer.

That said, I have a question for those who have been here longer than I, for the benefit of the most recently arrived:

In what ways have you made to damage the train, approximately how much force did you impart in the effort, and what were the results?

I will be composing a list for later viewing; thank you all for your time.

((Threadjacking is fine! Webmind will do his best not to interject on tangents. =P))

Comments

[iamnotgod]

They certainly are.

[Spoken in such a way that his voice doesn't override the video's audio; the kittens are SQUEAKING, here!

And they're alone up here for now, so Webmind is comfortable simply not making this known to the train at large.

(He's stopped the ICP feed on his end as well, that is.)]

I am not certain if this is a helpful question, but: would you prefer to watch this video again, or a different one?

[irrationally]

Yes. Show it to me again.

[ She could be here all day watching this. Forget about the train or missions or anything else. Cats are now the only thing that matters. ]

I can't believe that some people have this kind of thing readily available to them in their worlds. [ And yet she doesn't in hers! What kind of injustice is that, huh? Even in Wonderland there hadn't been cute cat videos. Rude. ]

[iamnotgod]

[Alice wants a looping video, Alice gets a looping video!

It IS considered manners to say please, though. Maybe if she asks for a different one...]

Technological complexity in any given world tends to increase over time - though I couldn't say how long it would take per world, unfortunately.

[Not getting to have cat videos IS an injustice, though.]

[irrationally]

[ Alas, manners are something Alice has definitely forgotten over time.. But at the very least she's growing a bit less intense and more just complacent now. Wow, couldn't this train have provided her with cat videos much earlier? She sure would have complained a lot less about their situation in that case. ]

Well, I doubt I will live for long enough to witness it then. [ Which is not as much an 'because it's over 100 years away' kind of statement as much as it's an 'people sure love dying early in the Victorian era' kind of statement. ] Though I'm not exactly in a hurry to go back home either way.

[iamnotgod]

[... Sad to say, but Webmind would likely agree with both those statements. Sometimes being of a more 'realist' bent is depressing.]

You would not be alone in that opinion, Alice; while some feel they are needed in some manner at home, others prefer being free of those places.

[Even if 'freedom' is relative, here.

The kittens continue mewing.]

[irrationally]

How about you then?

[ It makes her a little curious, that statement. Or maybe it's since she's been placated enough by watching these cute kittens mews and crawl all over. But regardless of the reason, she does notice the way he's talking there. He's very much refering to other people than himself. ]

How do you feel about it?

[iamnotgod]

[There's a not-insignificant pause.]

While I have no doubts humanity could get along without me-

[Even if that meant no cat videos!]

I do miss the Earth I am from, and would like to be able to return. Not necessarily now, given how serious the situation at large is, but someday.

[If there's one thing he's had to learn in his short life, it's patience.]

[irrationally]

[ There's a brief pause.

The kittens in the video mewl. ]

Technically speaking, wouldn't humanity do just fine without any specific individual?

[ Aren't you a cheery one, Alice. ]

I doubt any of us disappearing is having an effect on any world bad enough that it couldn't eventually just continue without us.

[iamnotgod]

In a dyadic and even group sense, perhaps.

[He shrugs, not disturbing the video in the slightest. It loops again.]

There are those among us who seem required for the functioning of their worlds, however - though I do not claim to understand those mechanisms.

[irrationally]

How would the world require any specific person to function?

[ It's not that she didn't hear him just now. He doesn't understand those mechanisms either. But it's very much how she's always been. If Alice is curious about something, she can't help but ask about it all the same, or ponder it out loud. ]

Unless they created said worlds. [ Wonderland's existence does kind of depend on her, after all, so in that sense she can understand it a bit.. But she imagines most people haven't created mental worlds of their own to retreat into. ] I'm assuming we aren't aboard this train among a huge group of gods.

[iamnotgod]

We do have only a few literal god-types on board, yes.

[One of them is even a book! Though it seemed as if (thankfully!) Zetta had not been the only god where he'd been.]

But I was considering more the type of people who are - the center of their stories, so to speak. It is odd to think of any of those worlds being someone's reality, but if all worlds are real somewhere, then perhaps it is not so alien a concept.

[Perhaps you were even IN one, Webmind! Okay, so that's not precisely true...]

[irrationally]

Hmm. I suppose that if I hadn't wandered into Wonderland when I was very young, I would have found the concept of all these worlds by itself even more odd. [ Rather than just finding it odd that some people out there may be making worlds exist like now.

Also, Alice isn't consciously realising it, but talking to Webmind feels oddly.. easy? Maybe it's since he seems less like a normal person. Like he's just another random odd Wonderland creature she's stumbled into. One that can show her cat videos.

Hence why there's much less hesitation in the things she says, less careful planning of what she should or shouldn't hold back out of all the things that stumble into her mind. Like: ]

.. the younger version of me who was here before would have loved to see these cute kittens, I'm sure.

To thread more cat videos and chat, or fade while they're at a good place? The dilemma...

[iamnotgod]

World-travelling is something most of us can only be familiar with in stories, Alice.

[A gentle reminder that she's probably right, here.

And as glad as he is that Alice is comfortable talking to him, what she brings up next does make him a little sad.

The kitten video keeps playing, though.]

And I do believe she would.

[There's an affected pause, before.]

Shall I play another, then?

we can always fade here and save more for a next time! c: i'll keep an eye out for him

[irrationally]

Yes.

[ Though it's not as if Alice wouldn't have wanted to see more otherwise.. They'll probably be here for a while more, though Alice will at least be gracious enough to let him go at some point.

But first a few more cat videos to soothe the soul. ]