[nobilis] PerrySimm says, "Log on."

Thalia arrives, looking for booty.

[nobilis] Thalia says, "apologies. couldn't get computer to boot up"

GM says, "No problem! I was just saying that what I'd like to do is pass some time in this game."

Nathan says, "right, let's do it"

Nathan says, "keep on passing on"

Nathan says, "time rolls on like a river"

GM says, "Oh, and also, now's a good time to spend xp. I suspect I owe you some more."

Pete says, "Mmm, XP."

Thalia asks, "any chance you've kept track?"

Nathan says, "we're currently at 2, unless we get another one now"

GM says, "Another 2, even."

Nathan says, "yow"

Pete asks, "Stats cost 3, right?"

GM says, "Yep."

GM wants to keep things moving character-growth-wise even if play is sometimes kind of slow.

Pete says, "I'd like to graduate from pawn, then."

GM notes that down.

Nathan says, "I'd like to bump my domain to 4"

Thalia says, "i have been reading a lot of fantasy when I am not looking at my Alchemy books"

GM asks, "Would you like to take Alchemy: 1?"

GM says, "It costs 3, just like any other stat"

Thalia says, "sure"

Thalia says, "and can translocation be a gift? (since i am guessing i have 4 to play with?)"

GM says, "You do, but didnt you spend one on Shapeshifting? And gimme a description of translocation"

Dara back.

Thalia says, "jyst moving stuff from one location to the other"

Thalia says, "both within range of vision"

GM prices it out!

Thalia says, "but oh right. forgot i used sapeshifting"

GM prices it out anyhow, for later!

Thalia says, "in that case, yeah"

Dara asks, "4 points?"

GM says, "As a simple miracle, local effects, one-trick-pony, that's 1 point, yeah."

GM says, "Yep, Dara."

Dara says, "W00t"

Dara asks, "5 is the max level of any stat?"

GM says, "The passage of time means that the chancel science projects are all usable-accessible. Nathan's college can be gearing up to accept applications for a summer quarter, probably."

GM says, "Yes."

GM says, "Though you can buy more MP."

[nobilis] Dara nods.

Dara nods.

GM is curious what Pete wants to do with his construction company.

Thalia sits down with her alchemy text under the magic tree in the rural chancel. If you look closely however, you will notice that there is a magazine hidden in the pages.

Nathan says, "hee hee"

Pete asks, "I assume we've finished the college project. How about we start an aerospace center?"

Nathan says, "an excellent idea"

GM asks, "Okay. Are you interested in doing projects outside the chancel as well as inside?"

Dara says, "As far as time passing goes, I'll be investing in the nanobot factory, and in getting gargoyle-esque communication set-up."

Pete says, "I'm interested in getting some ChancelNet satellites in orbit. Which is sort of outside."

GM says, "Oh, and Thalia: the magic tree is definitely not an Earth tree. It has leaves of increasing complexity on it, ranging from leaves with a single point to leaves with six points."

Pete says, "And yeah, I'd like to try my hand at a bit of self-surgery as well."

Dara says, "And doing some crystal harvesting, though that might be fun to RP for the first time, at least."

GM asks, "Where do yuou plan on going to harvest crystals?"

Xaylia arrives, looking for booty.

[nobilis] Xaylia says, "(whoops)"

Dara says, "Chicago first."

GM asks, "But where in specific?"

Thalia looks up at the tree.

GM says, "The mall, the library... that sort of thing."

Thalia asks, "do we have any leaves falling, acorns, anything?"

GM says, "Hi, X! We're zooming into the new year today."

Xaylia says, "ooh"

Dara says, "Er, I dunno. The hospital."

GM says (to Thalia), "Nope, not yet. There are some blossoms though, which are a silvery blue."

GM says, "Oooh, good choice."

Dara says, "I'll guise as an intern."

Dara says, "And I think I'll spend my XP to up Aspect to 3."

Dara says, "Which I thought I had anyway until I just checked, so that syncs reality with perception ;-)"

GM says, "Oh, and also, you have a total of 4 xp to spend, X."

GM refreshes her memory of what you're looking for.

GM | people who are in the process of giving up on ever getting anything better than what they have now, and at the moment they finally do give up, you can see a little crystal fall out of them. Your job, and the job of your Familia, is to catch these crystals and bring them back to the chancel. If they hit the ground, they shatter and all the potential energy crawls away into the sewers. Literally."

Thalia looks around for the ghost

GM says, "So, at first you're hanging around waiting rooms and stuff but it doesn't seem like you see that there. There are glimmers of hope and despair, but not Jeheila's particular flavor."

Thalia says, "sort of want to know whether there is anything *wrong* with picking some of those flowers"

GM says (to Thalia), "Ri comes out of the air when you call her name, and doesn't think there's anything wrong with taking samples from the tree as long as you don't take too much."

Thalia says, "oh yeah"

Thalia asks, "is there a lab anywhere?"

Dara walks back into the patient area, instead.

Thalia asks, "like where i can try to do alchemy?"

Thalia asks, "or at least, can i build one?"

GM says, "There are alchemy labs in the wizard's college, and science labs on the urban side."

Thalia picks two blossoms, one for her hair, one to experiment with, and walks over to the alchemy lab

GM says, "The wards themselves are mostly full of people waiting. You catch a glimpse of a woman and a small child being escorted into the doctor's office. A nurse actually takes the child, who has that Down's Syndrome look, off with her, while the woman talks with the doctor."

Dara goes into a supply closet, *shifts* into a gnat, then flies out.

Dara tries to sense if the child or the child's mother look more like they're about to give up.

Dara . o O ( Probably the mom. )

[nobilis] Thalia says, "i want ChancelVision"

GM says, "The mom is clearly running on a crystalline hope. You can circle into the office with here, and hear, in big voices, the doctor gently explaining to her that her child is unlikely to ever advance further than he has now, that he'll always need the kind of care he has now."

[nobilis] Thalia says, "basically, a tv set you turn on and set the channel, and you can see what your members of the family are doing. so if I set it to channel 1, i can *see* Dara being a gnat and hanging out in the hospital"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Hmm, we might be able to set up some nanobots for that."

[nobilis] Dara says, "Though they'd have to fight to keep up sometimes ;-)"

GM says, "Maybe it's something about the day, something about the particular combination of events, or maybe it's even just because Jeheila's sick, but hope, normally so elastic, simply shatters. A light dims in her eyes. Her shoulders slump."

[nobilis] Thalia says, "sort of like the reflecting pool from previous games"

Dara circles in underneath the mother.

Pete meanwhile reserves an operating room (complete with attendant physicians), procures some recently developed cybertech, and sets up a camera-monitor system.

GM exclaims, "A crystal slides out of her ring finger, and trembles there like a tear... and another, and another. Then, *ting* it falls! Others fall!"

Dara . o O ( Ack! )

GM exclaims (at Pete), "Woohoo!"

Dara *shifts into a translucent spider web, spread out a couple inches over the floor.

[nobilis] Dara says, "(but stronger than normal web, natch)"

Pete has been studying _Surgery For Highly Motivated Laypeople_ for a couple weeks now, and feels ready.

[nobilis] GM tries vaguely to find the relevant self-surgery bits to refresh her memory. Anybody remember where it was?

[nobilis] Nathan says (to Pete), "ha ha ha"

[nobilis] Dara asks, "I can grep. 'self-surgery'?"

[nobilis] Pete says, "I think you said it'd be an Aspect N miracle, where N was 1 + whatever Aspect I had."

[nobilis] Pete says, "(And I appear to have Aspect 3.)"

GM asks, "What's the spiderweb anchored to, Dara, out of curiousity?"

[nobilis] GM says, "Hmm."

Dara says, "Whatever's 2 inches off the floor ;-) The desk, the wall, the chair. In the suddenness of the shift, I attach to the people, too, but disconnect from them when I have a chance and/or they shift."

[nobilis] GM pokes through the logs for a minute, searching on 'cyber' and 'install' and 'surgery', in vain.

GM asks, "Okey. Crystals land on you and bounce, and settle. The woman shifts her leg a bit, but you're prepared. So now, you're a collection of sticky filaments holding some spiritual crystals. What next?"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Grep on 'implants' in http://bioc.rice.edu/~lpsmith/IF/7thSea/chrysoula/nobchrys0.html"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Is all I can find."

[nobilis] Pete says, "http://nobilis.dreamfarmer.net/chancel-notes.txt"

[nobilis] GM exclaims, "OH well, I gues oh aha, heheheh. My own notes!"

[nobilis] GM says, "Aha, it's that Weird Science doesn't work in Auctoritus. I was trying to remember why a random mundane doctor couldn't install it for you."

Dara settles to the floor, holding the crystals carefully, then rolls up from the outside into a ball of sticky filaments holding some spiritual crystals, and rolls under the doctor's desk.

[nobilis] Dara says, "Heh."

GM exclaims (at Pete), "So! Aspect 4 miracle! That's 1 MP from you!"

GM asks (of You), "have the little drills and the bandages, and the Aspect 4 miracle doesn't include the doctors helping you out going OhMyGod, but patients conscious during brain surgery is normal! And this is just one step away, right?"

Dara laughs.

Pete says (to Doctor), "Don't worry, I've studied this extensively."

Pete . o O ( For a week. )

GM exclaims, "I've seen this in movies! But not on brains! I'm sure the principle is the same!"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Hmm. With all the shifting I do, I suppose the implant would keep falling out if I used it."

GM says, "Mirrors are very useful, for example. And extra pairs of hands, which the doctors provide."

Pete runs diagnostics on each connection as it links up. Oh, is that you, Ren?

GM exclaims, "But soon enough, you manage to link of the whatsit to the bit of tissue over there, and spray on the molecular wiring stuff there, and hook in the port to the wiring spray and stitch up your skin and there you go!"

GM says, "Except there's a lot of data coming in, so as soon as you recover from this, you'll need a (free for you) Aspect 2 miracle to process it all."

Pete takes a few swigs of whiskey before attacking the data stream.

GM says, "So. You've got a port in your skull. It has wireless connections, of course, but not everything is available via the wireless, and the data transfer is faster with a direct hookup. You never thought you'd care about the difference between the speed of wireless vs. wired but one of the first things you learn is to spot the wireless delay. It's not much, but it's there."

Pete . o O ( I probably wouldn't even notice if I were a normal mortal. But then, I'd probably have just lost 98% of my marbles just trying to listen to this thing. )

GM says (to Thalia), "You poke at the flower with your alchemical tools, and you discover that flowers from the same tree are linked-- you can communicate through them. You also confirm they're not from earth. There are memories in the structure of the flowers of cliffs overlooking the sea."

GM says, "Plus, it really is USB-compatible, so you can access random mundane data streams. :-)"

Pete scans the different channels -- the nanite surveillence, Noble private chat, network control traffic, hey is that cable TV?

GM says, "It's a big ghostly empty cyberspace out there, just you and Ren and a few partially there scientists doing it the hard way. There are lots of lights of computers, which are like windows to the people on the otherside, and that's connected to the real internet..."

GM asks, "What do you change into to get the crystals home, Dara?"

[Crows-Nest] Thalia says, "my god we are geeks"

Pete says (to Ren), "Hey there -- nice place you've got here. Really roomy."

[Crows-Nest] GM exclaims, "I can't help it!"

Pete says, "Could probably use some furniture, though."

Xaylia says (to GM), "if she turns into a container, I'll carry her home"

(From GM) Ren says, "You'd better behave here or I'll boot you off! I'm the sysadmin here! Muahahhaha! Ahem, sorry, Pete.

[Crows-Nest] Nathan says, "hee hee"

Pete says, "Hey, no problem. I'll respect your territory."

GM says (to Xaylia), "Sounds like a plan."

Pete asks, "Mind if I play with some of the toys?"

(From GM) Ren says curiously, "Which ones?"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Bah, disconnected again."

Pete says, "I was thinking of checking out the real world telecom nets, and probably some of the nanite systems as well."

[nobilis] GM wonders if Xaylia could even self-surgery on herself, with Immortal.

[nobilis] Xaylia says, "hmm, maybe"

[nobilis] Xaylia says, "but she's not going to :)"

(From GM) Ren says, "Oh that, sure. Be careful, though. Try not to mess up what the mundanes see. And the resolution on those nets is terrible. Not a rich data stream, if you get my drift."

Dara waits until the doctor leaves the room, then shifts back into an intern with the crystals in her pocket, walks purposefully out of the hospital.

Thalia talks into the flowers

[Crows-Nest] Dara says, "I like this bit:"

[Crows-Nest] Dara | GM says (to Thalia), "You poke at the flower with your alchemical tools, and

[Crows-Nest] Dara | you discover that flowers from the same tree are linked-- you can communicate

[Crows-Nest] Dara | through them. You also confirm they're not from earth. There are memories in

[Crows-Nest] Dara | the structure of the flowers of cliffs overlooking the sea."

[Crows-Nest] Dara | GM says, "Plus, it really is USB-compatible, so you can access random mundane

[Crows-Nest] Dara | data streams. :-)"

[Crows-Nest] Dara exclaims, "Woo USB-compatible flowers!"

GM says, "It seems, Thalia, that if somebody holds a matching flower, and concentrates on it, they can sense what you're saying. It's a lot easier for nobles, but you discover that you can make a potion from a flower and give it to a mundane and they have a limited, short-term connection to the 'flower net'."

[Crows-Nest] Whizzard boggles a bit.

Pete dips into the telephone system and dials Nathan.

GM says, "The leaves of the tree are strange. There's a lot of alchemical data packed into them, more than any normal tree would have. It's kind of overwhelming on a cursory inspection."

Dara takes the crystals to the factory.

Dara asks, "Hello? Anyone know what I can do with these?"

GM says, "Somebody shows you the reaction chamber, where the crystals are placed and then subjected to Cosmic Rays until their energy is released and absorbed by the chamber itself. Though it seems like there are a number of... strange ways of feeding the crystals to Jeheila."

Nathan says, "Anyway, and so you can see that the drag force on the --"

GM says, "Sometimes you dump them into a slot in the wall. Sometimes you feed them into a disk drive, and Ren snatches up the energy packets inside the cybernet and vanishes with them for a while."

Nathan says, "er, sorry, I'll be right back"

Nathan walks out into the hall. "Hello?"

Pete tries to make Tron-like pictures appear on Nathan's phone's display.

Pete says (to Nathan), "WooOoOOoo... I am the Master Control Program..."

Nathan asks, "Hey, what is this, some kind of prank call from a lightcycle?"

[nobilis] GM says, "Heh. Cool things in cyberspace is an Aspect miracle. That's pretty neat."

Thalia joyfully pounds the flowers into a potion and places them in bottles

Pete says, "Just kidding. The MCP's actually over there, looking at me funny. Guess where I'm calling from."

Thalia does the same with some of the leaves too

[Crows-Nest] Thalia says, "and of course, brain needs to be told MCPs have nothing to do with mcp or his football/baseball games"

Nathan asks, "uh .. Chicago?"

Pete says, "Nope. Take a peek at this:"

Pete transmits a visual pseudo-rendition of the 'environment' to the phone.

Nathan says, "wow, not bad"

Pete says, "Yup. The inside of our computer network. You should get online -- it's quite an experience."

[nobilis] GM says, "Alchemical Miracles use Aspect Miracle points, for reference. This is Alchemy 1 (Alchemical Trivia) (making the potions I mean), so that's not relevant, but you can make more powerful things from these and other flowers as well by spending Aspect points to do so (as well as raising your Alchemy score eventually)."

Nathan says, "interesting -- I bet this could seriously improve some modelling and simulation I've been thinking about"

[nobilis] Thalia says, "woo"

[nobilis] Thalia asks, "can i make money?"

GM says, "Xaylia, your mother occasionally writes you letters. I don't know that these letters get to you, but there it is."

Pete says (to Nathan), "I'll let you go for now -- I'm off to practice my surfing."

[nobilis] GM says, "You can make mildly magical perfumes without any expenditure of points, pretty trivially, and dyes, and so forth."

Nathan says, "right -- I've got to get back to lecture; but let's talk more about this later"

Xaylia asks (of GM), "uh, really?"

Xaylia says, "but, um, er, that seems unlikely, somehow"

[nobilis] GM says, "Alchemical manufacturing is the production of mundane or unusual substances, either by creating them in a lab or by transmuting lesser substances. The results are a minor Earthly magic; Extrapolative Technology does about as well for creating drugs, chemicals, and metals"

Nathan snaps phone shut and walks back into class, where the students are all staring at him. "Right, sorry, where were we?"

Pete tries to code up a surfboard. That is to say, some sort of client software to facilitate navigating individual datastreams more fluidly. Which jus happens to look like a surfboard.

[nobilis] Dara says, "Heh."

GM says, "Well, technically, they're addressed to your aunt. But I'm not sure that the adults in your chancel would even see that they were delivered."

Dara runs into Pete. "Hey, you got something on your ear."

Thalia finishes making leaf and flower potions and begins working on a bunch of dyes

Pete says (to Dara), "I'm sorry, what did you say? I've got something in my ear."

Dara asks, "A banana?"

Pete says, "Nah. A USB port. Behold, the digital age."

Dara says, "Oooh, excellent."

Dara asks, "Have a spare?"

Pete says, "Yup. I asked the lab boys to put together enough for all of us."

Dara says, "Oh, hey, there they are."

Dara picks one up.

Dara peers at all the odd dangly bits.

Pete says, "It's a bit tricky to get them installed, but nothing you can't handle, I'm sure."

Dara asks, "These go, where, into your brain?"

[nobilis] Xaylia idles briefly

GM says, "There's an interesting thing in the cybernet... a ghostly shape, without the digital kind of structure everything else seems to have. Ren says, "Oh, that's Ri.""

Pete says, "Right. The connectors here interface with the fifth sensory sector of the subcortex left, and this part jabs down into the hindbrain to assimilate data directly and subconsiously..."

Dara listens carefully.

Pete (to Dara)

Dara says, "OK, got it."

Pete asks (of Ri), "Oh, hey, Ri. So you can log on as well?"

Pete says (to Dara), "Oh, and page 357 of this book has pictures with labels."

Dara grows a couple spindly little claws from her head which reach out, grab the appropriate leads, and pulls the connections into place.

Dara jiggles her head, taps the port.

(From GM) Ri explains, "Ren's home is just another place. I'm dead, after all. My lady and yours are connected and that provides a path."

Dara says, "There we go. Arr, lag. Oh, well."

GM asks, "The holidays eventually arrive. Does the chancel celebrate Christmas, out of curiousity?"

Pete asks, "Wow... is it a path that only you can follow?"

[nobilis] Pete says (to GM), "I don't see why not."

Dara will.

(From GM) Ri says, "I imagine any ghost could do it."

Pete asks, "Hmm. Is there any danger of the ghosts who were taking people away to the dead chancel might pass through?"

Thalia asks, "sure. can we celebrate kwanzaa too?"

Thalia says, "i like the candles"

Pete says, "I'm in favor of having as many holidays as are available."

Pete says, "And maybe declaring some new ones if we run out."

Thalia says, "A centaur day"

Thalia says, "a genie day"

Thalia says, "Blame Somebody Else Day"

Thalia says, "(real holiday)"

Dara practices shifting back and forth around the USB port.

GM says, "Yasmina and Jeheila both emerge around the holidays. Jeheila dressed as a petite Santa and mostly hanging around chancel children. Yasmina mostly stands around glowering."

Dara asks (of Thalia), "What bright lad thought up *that* holiday?"

(From GM) Ri says, "They're not really dead the same way I am. I don't think they know how to find it."

[nobilis] Dara says, "Oh, there was something we were supposed to ask you from last time."

Thalia says (to Dara), "I like it, but it was probably that kid over there playing with Jeheila's fault"

[nobilis] Dara says, "That's right--I had sent a prayer to J about the cult folks."

(From GM) Jeheila looks pained. "There have been children worshipping me for two thousand years. They served me well, once, long ago. After the invasion, though, they were mated with a darkness that eats away at the future. Now... they no longer hear me. But they still seek me. They'd turn me into their shadow instead of their brightness, inside out.

Pete asks, "What is this darkness?"

Dara asks, "Two thousand years? Did that have anything to do with another religious movement that started up about then?"

(From GM) Jeheila continues..."Like a pair of shadows, what is there to see of each other? We can't release ourselves, can't destroy ourselves--" here a look tossed in Yasmina's direction-- "can't twist around. So they follow and I always find bits of myself."

(From GM) Jeheila shrugs. "Two thousand years ago was a popular time for faith."

[nobilis] Pete asks, "How long ago was the invasion?"

Thalia asks, "do the other movements affect Jeheila or Yasmina? Like sapping of energy or like that?"

Dara asks, "Er, I know you're probably being as clear as you can for our poor understanding, but I don't suppose you could simplify that any?"

[nobilis] GM says, "3000 years ago :-) Well, as Heaven number years."

[nobilis] Dara says, "Waaaaait a minute ;-)"

Jeheila asks, "What could be more simple? If your head is twisted around backwards, how can you see where you are going?"

[nobilis] Pete asks, "So, objectively speaking, it's been longer since they stopped worshipping him than it then had been since they started?"

Dara says, "How true that is."

Dara says, "You could walk backwards."

Pete asks, "And if you pass through each other?"

[nobilis] Jeheila says, "Oh, but Heaven has renumbered its years. So possibly the invasion actually began, oh, 5000 years ago? Heavenly years, of course."

[nobilis] Jeheila says, "Let's see. The Excrucians kill Heaven's gatekeeper in 1999 AF (After the Fall)."

[nobilis] Jeheila says, "In 3680 AF, Heaven decides they'd rather make it be 1680 AP, or Age of Pain."

[nobilis] Jeheila says, "Which is, of course, 1680 years after the Excucian assault. Christ is born in 3000 AP. It's now 4999 AP."

[nobilis] Jeheila asks, "Man, those wacky talented Excrucians, they get around, huh?"

[nobilis] Pete asks, "Should Ren be preparing our systems for y5k?"

Jeheila points a red glove at Pete. "Exactly! Your little link makes it so visible, eh? We pass through each other."

[nobilis] Jeheila coughs, ahem. We'll get to that in a minute. :-)

[nobilis] Dara asks, "Or 6999 AF?"

[nobilis] Dara says, "That's a lot of years."

[nobilis] Pete recalculates. "So Jeheila was actually worshipped in The Beginning, but has been Failing since the Excrucians arrived five thousand years ago?"

[nobilis] Dara says, "I now have an image of a 2001/Nobilis crossover with the monolith being a noble or a noble creation."

Jeheila says, "So, the holidays are spent with Jeheila cheerfully giving /bizarre/ gifts to the chancel children-- one is turned into a serpent, for example, and another is given a titanium skeleton, while a third gets a perfectly normal bouquet of daisies."

[nobilis] Jeheila says, "Nope, the cult was corrupted when the Excrucians arrived."

[nobilis] Jeheila says, "The Failing thing happened sometime after that."

[nobilis] Dara asks, "Arrived on earth?"

[nobilis] Pete nods.

[nobilis] Jeheila says, "And had a difference source than the cult corruption"

[nobilis] Pete says, "Interesting."

Jeheila says, "But here's where it gets interesting. The year turns. And eventually people notice something."

GM says, "It was 1999 last year. And now, it's still 1999."

Dara yells out, "Hey, who forgot to get a new calendar?

GM says, "Oh, technology has moved on. There wasn't a reset or anything. People are getting older. But it's somehow still 1999 on all the calendars and all the computers."

Thalia says, "what a coincidence. I am listing to "party like it's 1999" on my ipod!"

GM says, "Even getting new calendars inside the chancel doesn't do anything to how, outside the chancel, it's simply still 1999."

[nobilis] Thalia says, "so no need for y2k"

[nobilis] Thalia says, "i like"

GM says, "It's also still 4999 in the spiritual world and so forth, but that's less of a big deal, because, well, heavenly years don't match up to earth years all the time anyhow."

[nobilis] Pete says, "Clearly, they're waiting for us to invent our rocket pants and flying cars."

GM says, "Possibly this isn't even a big deal either."

[nobilis] Dara exclaims, "Let's get crackin'!"

GM asks, "I mean-- wasn't Xaylia born in 1998 or so?"

GM asks, "Hasn't this been going on for... a while?"

Pete asks, "Hmm. Was that Christmas party this year or last year?"

Dara says, "That's... odd."

Dara checks the days of the week, to see if January 1st still falls on the same day of the week it did 'last year'.

GM says, "Yep."

GM says, "Well, it falls on the same day every 1999."

GM says, "And now that you're noble, you're SURE last year was 1999."

Nathan says, "think of how much more productive we can be"

Thalia says, "huh"

Pete says, "But is this the same 1999, or... so it's a new 1999."

Thalia asks, "how long has this been going on?"

Dara asks, "Since 1999?"

Pete goes out on the 'Net to research that. Counting 1999's...

Dara asks (of X), "How old are you?"

GM says, "But-- random people accosted in Chicago point out, quite logically, that if it's 1999 now, surely last year was 1998. Look, their prosaic reality documents all support this."

GM says (to Dara), "Good answer :-)"

[nobilis] Dara grins.

Xaylia says (to Dara), "Seven! I'll be 8 in a few months!"

Dara asks (of X), "And you were born in 1988?"

[nobilis] Pete asks, "Hmm. Does X's prosaic birth certificate say 1998, or is it retconned as each new unyear washes over?"

[nobilis] GM says, "It gets retconned."

Xaylia says, "1988 is *ages* ago"

Dara says, "Er, I mean 1998."

Xaylia says, "I was born seven and a bit years ago"

GM exclaims (at xaylia), "Good answer!"

Thalia asks, "wait, how about the rest of us?"

Pete says, "Hmm. I wonder if this is why scholars claim there was a mistake in calculating when Year 1 should be."

Thalia asks, "were we born before the loop started?"

Dara says, "Maybe the world really does end in 2000."

Dara says, "And someone's delaying that."

GM says (to Thalia), "You... don't think you were."

[nobilis] Dara asks, "Wait, so we all think we were born in 1999?"

[nobilis] Pete says, "No, we all think we were born in <date of ennoblement> - <our perceived age at the time>."

[nobilis] Dara says, "But that wouldn't wash with X being born in 1998."

[nobilis] GM says, "Thalia, at least, when examining her life through the lens of a Noble, can recognize the blurriness that suggests this has been going on her whole life. Like... the rate of change."

Nathan asks (of Dara), "well, should we really mess with it, then?"

[nobilis] Pete says, "X is a Weird Kid, though."

Dara says, "If I'm right, then, yeah, no, we shouldn't."

[nobilis] Pete says, "She didn't exactly have your typical mundane upbringing."

Dara says, "Though we may want to help. Who knows how long this can keep up."

Pete says, "Or who's doing it."

Pete says, "If we can figure out when it started, maybe we can figure out what caused it."

Dara also tries to remember what year people thought it was when she was a kid.

Pete does some research on online historical documents, looking for the sorts of little inconsistencies and oddities that'd suggest drawn out time, to try to figure out the last year that this *didn't* happen.

[nobilis] Thalia says, "someone's been watching Dark City"

[nobilis] Dara grins.

[nobilis] GM says, "as an FYI, this is something Rebecca and I discussed for actual inclusion into supplements: that the year never progresses past 1999, but technology and the like keep up to date with real world norms."

[nobilis] Dara says, "If we see Jennifer Connely on a beach, we'll know for sure."

[nobilis] GM asks, "How old are you, Dara?"

[nobilis] Dara says, "30's."

[nobilis] (from Pete) Dara sobs. "I don't know anymore!"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Lemme see if I have it specifically."

[nobilis] Dara says, "Yeah, I have 'mid-30's' on my charsheet."

[nobilis] Dara says, "Let's say 37."

[nobilis] GM says, "Hmm"

Nathan says, "I'm not really sure how time works, if it comes to that"

Nathan asks, "is there just a big clock?"

[nobilis] GM says, "You first remember hearing about the Y2K bug when you were five years old. And you used computers in grade school. When you examine your memories, there are a lot of... things that stack up. Suddenly five different things were invented in one year, rather than across five."

Dara says, "Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana."

Pete says (to Nathan), "I thought that that'd be part of your business."

Pete says, "Spinning solar systems and all that."

Pete says, "Mrm. Although I guess those don't really exist, do they."

Nathan says, "it depends what you mean by really, I guess"

Nathan says, "it seems like the light from distant stars would be coming in faster if time was slowing, but maybe that's all taken care of behind the scenes"

Nathan says, "anyway, maybe we can look up who the person is who's in charge of Time or Clocks or something"

Thalia asks, "wait, wouldn't this time thing wreak havoc with astronomy? nathan's domain?"

[nobilis] Pete asks, "Any return on the research? Or should that be a longer-term thing?"

[nobilis] GM asks, "You get the same kind of results as Dara... there's suggestions that it's been going on 32 years or so...?"

[nobilis] Pete asks, "32 of which kind of year?"

(From GM) Ren buzzes in, "Guys, I thought you might want to know..."

[nobilis] GM says, "Earth."

Pete says, "Hmm. Looks like it started around 1967, give or take."

(From GM) "There's somebody new in the cybernet... it's not any of you, it's not the chancelfolk, it's not Ri, and I'm right here... It's pretty far off, but it's there."

Dara says (to Pete), "Well, what it really means is that it should be 2031 right now."

Pete says, "Better go check it out, then."

Dara ticks her head, checks out cyberspace.

[nobilis] Pete asks, "Did I misunderstand what 'Earth years' means?"

Pete heads where Ren points.

(From GM) Ren sounds horrified. "Alone? No way. What if it's a monster?" Then he shushes as people join him.

[nobilis] GM asks, "I dont know?"

Pete says (to Ren), "We're in this together."

[nobilis] Dara says, "I think it started in actual 1999, and then just kept looping for 31 years."

[nobilis] Pete asks, "Did it start 32 calendar years ago, or have 32 years' worth of advancement been going on in far fewer calendar years?"

(From GM) There's a twinkle in the far distance of cyberspace, a flashing light. As you approach closer, it's.

[nobilis] GM says, "The latter."

[Crows-Nest] Dara exclaims (at Monty), "Python's Flying Circus!"

[Crows-Nest] Dara says, "er, ...Monty."

GM says, "It's a column of whirling packets, with little sparks coming off."

[nobilis] Pete says, "Aha. I was trying to figure out how many calendar years ago it was that things were 'normal'."

[nobilis] Pete asks, "Would that be 1998?"

[nobilis] GM says, "The answer's 'one', for calendar years. Yes."

[Crows-Nest] Dara laughs.

[nobilis] GM exclaims, "oh, and I have to end nowish!"

Dara asks (of packets), "Hello?"

[nobilis] GM says, "I love ending with hooks for next time :->"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Heh."

[nobilis] Dara asks, "That's a wrap, then?"

[nobilis] Dara asks, "Bueller?"

[nobilis] Pete says, "I'm suspecting that's a yes."

[nobilis] Dara says, "Seems a logical conclusion ;-)"

[nobilis] Nathan says, "nice"

[nobilis] GM asks, "yay. On for next week?"

[nobilis] Dara says, "Sounds good to me."

[nobilis] Nathan says, "vool"

[nobilis] Nathan says, "er, cool"

Eolo has disconnected.

[nobilis] Dara asks (of Nathan), "Are you the gatekeeper?"

[nobilis] inky says, "that's zool"

[nobilis] GM exclaims, "Yay!"

GM has disconnected.

[nobilis] * NewsBoy hollers, "Extra! Extra! Chrysoula has posted message 61, about 'Game on for May 8', to the bulletin board! Alex likes a monkey!"