Sunder

"I trust you're comfortable." It was not a question. "Your supervisor should be here, of course, but she's otherwise unavailable. And so, well, I'm told we're still to go ahead with your live test." The administrator begin strapping me in. I've used the simulator many times, but the real thing feels heavier somehow. "Not that I'm in a position to suggest otherwise." He winches me down into the antechamber and releases the hooks. "I don't even have your paperwork. You're all well prepared, I'm told." [["I'm not at all prepared..."->Not Prepared]] [["Yes, we're ready"->Prepared]]

"Everyone thinks that even if they don't say it," he tells me, flat-toned. "But you'd do well to remember your lessons. Did I truly strike you as someone to humour? A little joke before expiring one of my Fragments, that's how you read this situation, then?" I'd never met the Administrator before, though I knew of him. "Look, if you want my advice; forget everything except they told you except this," he almost whispers through the intercom. "Since they seem to know about us now, you have to //be one of them//. Do you understand? Belong there! Of course, if you find yourself alone in this Fragment you can gather data to your heart's content and make our so-called superiors very happy." He concludes at full voice: "Oh, and don't try to speak to them... If you go in and come back before I've had time to make my drink, so help me..." [["I'm ready"->I'm Ready]]

"Yes..." He closes the hatch. "I see too many candidates waste my Fragments with their over-confidence. This is not one of your simulations, you know," his voice crackles over the speaker. "Remember your training, give yourself time to become acclimatized, and... just remember what they taught you." The first siren sounds, the sign that the systems have begun to ignite. "And whatever you do, don't waste my Fragement!" [["I'll try not to, Sir"->I'm Ready]]

You close your eyes and listen to the sounds of machines spinning, circuits radiating, and reality bending. Oh, now count backwards... "10" [["9"->The Beginning]]

You feel her jostle beside you before she lifts her body over the side of the bed, causing it to rock a little. You watch as she walks across the room, light-footed and graceful, and with a sway all her own. Her wings leave you breathless -- running the length of her body and covered in a diaphanous velvet, they cross just below where her waist must be and even appear to conjoin at times. [[Watch her->Watch Her]] [[Examine yourself->Examine Self]] [[Examine the room->Examine Room]]

You watch as she flutters back and forth, adding to some manner of sokoban'esque floral arrangement that hangs from the center of this spheroidal space. Her furtive glances suggest she's putting on a show for your benefit. Her face is long, almost serpentine, and of a dark skin clear of the velvet of her wings, however the tell-tale sheen quickens again at the extremes of her limbs. Particularly, around her surprisingly long fingers: or, are those nails? [[Continue to watch her->Continue To Watch Her]] [[Glance around the room->Glance Around Room]] [[Climb out of the bed->Get Out Of Bed]]

Holding your hand up, you marvel at how these fantasticlly long fingers blend smoothly from velvetine sheen to onyx claw, chipped and warn at the ends yet edged and strong. The weaved flesh is deep green on sight, but irradencent with reds and the deepest of deep blues. The velvet weave dissolves to soft flesh mid-way down your forearm: my flesh, a tone or two lighter than hers, spotted in a pale orange thistledown. Do I molt? [[Continue to watch her->Continue To Watch Her]] [[Glance around the room->Her Surprise]]

You take the opportunity of her distraction to survey your surroundings: an ovaloid space framing a large opening at the opposite end. Storage appears to blend with the room's surface, leaving only an arrangment of floral cubes free-hanging. The disappointment your wandering gaze has marked her with leaves you heartbroken. "Pil aken troo?" "Pil aken atrible atroo?" I don't know what to say. [[Try to say something->She Jumps Out Window]] [[Just smile->She's Frightened (In Bed)]]

A sparse ovaloid space, the hanging floral structures providing the only detail. She halts, breaking step and flow, her head cocked and now turned quickly to the other side as she studies your relationship to her world. [[Just smile->She's Frightened (In Bed)]] [[Cover yourself->Cover Yourself]]

Climbing from the bed you only now feel the fullness of your musculature. Long and heavy, awkward... Your wings stretch instinctively, left then right in turn, and you shudder at the realization of the power they hold. [[Examine your body->Examine Yourself Closely]] [[Browse the room->Examine Room Closely]] [[Approach her->Approach Her (Early)]]

Your hands like green velvet gloves, long fingers that are also black stone blades, mirrored by feet that could grasp a lamb. Sinews as thick as a finger drawn behind each limb, terminating at a thick bulb of muscle before the next joint. I can fly! Can I fly?? Can I move- I waved an arm, then tried to touch my fingers together. The nails made this awkward, confusing. I needed practice. Somewhere between what you think of as your thumbs and your third finger nails you see her -- your partner -- watching you. "Jumm roil saa trioe?", she seems to ask. [[Stand quietly->Say Nothing (Standing)]] [[Examine the room->She's Frightened]]

The bed you entered this world from extrudes from the pinched end of this ovaloid space, a construction seemingly entirely without joins or edges. Storage melts into the walls, framing a large octagonal opening that is all of a window, entrance, and light source. The soft floral boxes hang from the ceiling, a sparse voxel landscape of pure colour. And there she stands, watching you, her head slight cocked. [[Feel yourself->She's Frightened]] [[Perform your own dance->Dance]]

Daringly, lightly, you brush her arm with the top of your hand allowing the textures to intereact. The sensation is otherworldly. She takes your hand and brings it to her face, placing her hand on your face where the velours mesh to become one. Each movement of her hand and yours excites a vibration through your wings, generating a soft hum that soon resonates through the space. [[Feel yourself->Touch Yourself]] [[Dance with her->Dance With Her]]

I'm flying! Or falling...? Frames of reference are distant and difficult to read. I master the basics quickly and I am flying. Just to //beat my wings// is to wave arms I never knew I had. I swim through the air, feeling every element of wind as it brushes past my body. It takes time to gather all my senses, to read distance and size, even left from right, but all the while I know that something isn't right... The very air itself begins to rumble... [[Look around->Flying Disconnected]]

"Jumm roil..." Her eyes dart. "JUMM ROIL SAAAAAAAAH TRIOE!?", she asks, or accuses, as he backs away. "Jumm roil nayh o.. whantrioe." I decern no question. She grasps a flower box from the air and, with a practiced twist, retrieves it from the sculpture leaving the others to oscillate harmonically. [[Approach her->Approach Her]] [[Jump out the window->Flying]] [[Stand quiet and still->Lost Her Trust]]

=><= ]disconnected[

You make a tentative approach, to both gauge her reaction and experience bipedal control of this body. Both could have gone better. It is perhaps the latter that prompts her to toss the floral cube out the window and look ready to throw herself out next. She pauses, her entire frame tense and poised. [[Perform your own dance->Dance]] [[Hug her->She Jumps Out Window]] [[Jump out the window->Flying]] [["10", "9"...->Flying Disconnected]]

I'm flying! Or falling...? Frames of reference are distant and difficult to read. I master the basics quickly and I am flying. Just to //beat my wings// is to wave arms I never knew I had. I swim through the air, feeling every element of wind as it brushes past my body. She's here, slightly above me and then below as she playfully spins and dives. I'm joyous. And yet, something doesn't feel quite right... The very air itself begins to rumble... [[Look around->Flying Disconnected]]

And so you dance. Recalling the movements you saw her perform earlier, you do your best to imitate them in this unfamiliar vessel. Her face alights with joy as she begins to parody my movements. Whether by luck or by charm I brought sunlight into this chamber and for that I am rewarded. [[Embrace her->Hug Successfully]] [[Flap your wings->Flap Your Wings]]

Her leap is graceful, like her dance. She's out the window and out of view before I can entirely appreciate the finality of her decision. I'll never hear her voice again. [[Follow her!->Flying After Her]] [[Take one last look at the room->Examine Room Closely (She's Gone)]] [[Make one last examination of yourself->Examine Yourself Closely (She's Gone)]] [[Look out the window->Witness Event]]

I'm flying! Or falling...? Frames of reference are distant and difficult to read. I //beat my wings// like I'm waving a pair of vestigial arms. Thoughts of following her seem naive as all I can do is spin, my options collapsed by gymbal-lock. I dive through the air, feeling every element of wind as it brushes past my body. Yet, even through this turmoil I sense that something isn't right... The very air itself begins to rumble... [[Tumble and drift->Flying Disconnected]]

She brings the full thrust of her wings down creating winds that force you back a step. She's in the air now, I watch as her wings upstroke in a ripple of muscle movement that surges the length of her body. And then ''down'' they slam again, harder and in anger. But then she halts... [[Stop and listen->Maybe Feel Tremor (Lost Trust)]]

You take a step towards her -- a tenatative one, unsteady but hopefully playful enough to not feel discordant, or even threatening. It feels like you're a puppeteer, puppeting from within the very puppet you're trying to breathe life into. Whatever it looks like, it's enough to bring an end to her performance. [[Touch her->Touch Her]] [[Examine the room->Examine Room Closely]] [[Examine your body->Examine Yourself Closely]]

The bed has the fragrance and texture of a thick, pale cotton candy. Surfaces have no apparently edge -- soft, like a cloud -- and there are no corners or joins. Wonderous. "Yeal?" she calls. "//Yeal?//" [[Stay under the covers->Stay Under Covers]] [[Make an attempt to communicate->Maybe Feel Tremor (Lost Trust)]]

You take the opportunity of her distraction to survey your surroundings: an ovaloid space framing a large opening at the opposite end. Storage appears to blend with the room's surface, leaving only an arrangment of floral cubes free-hanging. The disappointment your wandering gaze has marked her with leaves you heartbroken. [[Climb out of the bed->Get Out Of Bed]] [[Hide under the covers->Hide Under Covers]]

=><= ]disconnected[

Hugging the cube, she backs towards the room's opening, taking her eyes off you only once to glance at the remaining florals. [[Climb out of the bed->She Jumps Out Window]] [[Examine the bed->Examine Bed]]

If I were to lose connection now, how much could I remember, I wondered. So engaging, so captivating my companion was that I never once thought to collect more than cursory data. A window, perhaps, far from where I arrived. Something pleasant in the air. Would they let me enter //pleasant// in my report? You begin to feel a shaking sensation... [[Sit up...->Disconnected (Shockwave)]]

The embrace sways, becomes a slow rhythm and you bring a hand to your own face in search of the alien responces which promptly flood your body. "..loooooma... loooooma.." she purs softly, her eyes closed as she submerges in the affection. [[Embrace her->Hug Successfully]] [[Quickly examine the room->Lost Her Trust]]

A tremor takes hold of our home and shakes it like a rattle-- --no, not a tremor! The very air itself resonates, disintegrates! [[//Brace//->Brace]] [[Look out the window->Look Out Window (Tremor)]]

The bed is where your life began and will be where your life ends. You nestle deep and try to remember her. [[Close Your Eyes->Disconnected (Shockwave)]]

The dust plume, of particulates once of this civilization and its people, forms a wall across the world. Its approach is in the wind. [[//Brace//->Disconnected (Shockwave)]]

=><= ]disconnected[

My bed has the fragrance and texture of a thick, pale cotton candy. Surfaces have no apparently edge -- soft, like a cloud -- and there are no corners or joins. Wonderous. I resolve to peep over the covers, and discover that she's gone. I'll never see her again. [[Climb out of the bed->Get Out Of Bed (She's Gone)]]

The world is big from up here. Other pods hang in the air, above and below, seemingly unarranged, untethered. The landscape is autumnal and all encompassing. The sky, darker and greener than I expected. The horizon is difficult to understand: a large diamond silhouette looms at the edge of the sky, tilted ever so slighly, and all-but touching the horizon. And then it touches the horizon. A flash of light -- a pulse of a colour I haven't seen before?? -- emits from the point of contact, between tip of diamond and edge of planet. The impact lifts the world into the air where it hangs... [[Cover your face->Feel Tremor]]

I notice a satisfied smile the moment that she sees that she has your audience. Her construction efforts turn to movements of pure dance, involving the delicate use of her wings such that she appeared to defy gravity -- was able to //toy// with gravity, to use it as an invisible dance partner. [[Climb out of the bed->Get Out Of Bed]] [[Hide under the covers->Hide Under Covers]] [[Glance around the room->Glance Around Room]]

You roll down into the center of the bed, allowing the covers to drift back down over you. --with a thrust of air and an unexpected howl, she lands atop you, her strong legs viced around your thighs as she tears at the covers. [[Release your grasp->Let Her Remove Covers]] [[Hold firm->Resist Cover Removal]]

The covers whirl through the air, a ballet of cloud in mathematical forms. She stands there, posing, somehow satisfied with this blustery resolution, now perhaps considering her next move. A flash of light makes us both pause our levities. [[Sit up->Feel Tremor]]

You hold the covers with all your strength, your long nails sunk deep into the delicate web. Now unleashing the full turn of her wings the winds pour around the bed, through the covers, creating eddies and lift that hoist the covers into the air where they wave about, anchored only by your grasp. At last, she ends the torrent, collapsing beside me, laughing. //What was that...// [[Sit up->Maybe Feel Tremor]]

"Thlaarn harl mej meo?" I understand what that means immediately. We both sit up as our home begins to shake; gently at first but then so violently that we tumble and contort, bounce into the air. [[Look out the window->Look Out Window (Tremor)]] [[Pull the bed covers over you->Pull Covers Back Over->Disconnected (Shockwave)]]

Climbing from the bed you only now feel the fullness of your musculature. Long and heavy, awkward... Your wings stretch instinctively, left then right in turn, and you shudder at the realization of the power they hold. [[Take one last look at the room->Examine Room Closely (She's Gone)]] [[Make one last examination of yourself->Examine Yourself Closely (She's Gone)]] [[Look out the window->Look Out Window->Witness Event]]

The room is empty without her. I am the cuckoo that has ruined a home. I walk to the window on unsteady feet, past a display of hanging flowers that sway lightly. [[Fly after her!->Flying]] [[Feel a floral cube->Alone Disconnected]] [[Look out the window->Look Out Window (Tremor)]]

Your own body is much like hers, and its only now that you wonder whether human pronouns made sense to bring here. Had my training been deliberately secretive, or had no one crossed paths with these beings before? These thoughts and others came and went as I began to lose a sense of my body... "10" [["9"->Alone Disconnected]]

The touch becomes rhythmic, back and forth at first and then in light spiral motions. Remembering her movements from earlier I begin to dance -- just the suggestion of a step or two and then I wait for the return. It's a pattern we refine with repetition. I'm the puppet master. [[Embrace her->Hug Successfully]]

The embrace is brief. She looks into your eyes, beyond you almost, and with little more than a smile she leaps out the window. She flies! [[Follow Her->Flying Together]] [[Look Out Window->Witness Event]]

I can't help but breathe life into my wings; first lifting them high above me before bringing them down with almost unimaginable force! This was taken as a sign, or a signal, apparently, that we should fly, because with that she took two weightless steps to the window and launched effortlessly into the sky beyond. [[Follow her->Flying Together]]

Would it be better to speak nonsense or let the silence linger? I know which I prefer, yet here, now, I searched desperately for a third choice. I'd think of three more choices later, probably, when it didn't matter, but right now I could only think of how much I wanted to feel the texures of my false hand with my real one. [[Touch your face->Lost Her Trust]] [[Look out the window->Witness Event]]

"Thlaarn harl mej meo?" For the first time, I understand her words. Her home begins to shake; gently at first but then so violently that we tumble and contort. [[Look out the window->Look Out Window (Tremor)]] [[//Brace//->Disconnected (Shockwave)]]

=><= #]SUNDER[ #####A Twine jam by Rowan Crawford ######<a href="http://twitter.com/Sumaleth">@Sumaleth</a> ######Jan 2016 [[Begin...->Lab]]