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annexedmeme2022-08-25 11:00 pm
modaccount) wrote in annexedmeme2022-08-25 11:00 pm
Entry tags:
The Tether
The Tether App
During the night, everyone's phone or other network device has been updated with a new app - The Tether - intended for helping new arrivals find Tethers.
Unfortunately for those who don't want to participate, the prompt for the application will keep popping up on their screen until they fill out the mandatory fields and post their profile. If you don't want to participate, it might be best to fill in the blanks with prank answers!
Once posted, the app creates a profile that looks like this:
| The Witch | ||||
| « |  | » | ||
| Age: ageless Gender: female Interests: three interests About: 30 words or less | ||||
| base code by photosynthesis | ||||
| Tian | ||||
|
It is a simple swiping type app like many dating apps, swipe left to ignore a profile, swipe right to initiate an instant messenger conversation with the person in question on the app's proprietary chat program, complete with emojis!
NOTE: This meme is game canon.
The Code
no subject
There is truth in your words.
And something to consider besides.
We should be all grateful that you saw fit to warn everyone appropriately.
no subject
no subject
Some I know would even enjoy being viewed as a threat.
[Are you that kind of someone, sir?]
no subject
But my quarrel is with my own kind. The people here are different.
[ More powerful, more like peers. Through gifts granted or brought with them, he's encountering people who live with their magic openly.
It's a lot to process and he's definitely doing Great with that ]
I won't deny I'm self-interested, however. It would be delusional to expect sincere consideration from outside oneself, even if some 'serving' type of person were to manifest themselves, wouldn't it? We are all tools to each other, told to use each other.
But my enemy is the Sylphid.
Have I sated your fears?
no subject
As an ally, perhaps.
But not as a tethermate.
Even if you might be Tian. Which are rare.
[So she suspects some will have no choice, where he will have the pick of whomever he wants.]
no subject
[ He feels rather rueful, writing it that way. "Who he was" was everything that mattered, not too long ago. ]
You aren't human, are you.
Are you a descendent of theirs?
no subject
Pragmatic and practical. [And one she could not agree with, really. It was too... heartless.]
I am not. I am an Octarian. A descendant of octopi.
You are different too. Are you a descendant of something? Cats, perhaps?
no subject
When you strip the emotion from anything, practicality — and memory — is all that remains.
You guess correctly. It's likely that I'm a descendent of the kind of cats you know, along with the last human.
[ It's less weird than it sounds, but not by much. ]
The gods picked an interesting form for you when they lifted you out of the sea. You're the dominant species of your world?
no subject
But we do have cats. Two of them. They are very clever and fuzzy and surprisingly accurate in spatial measurement. You would be in good company to have them as your ancestor.
[And had been doing it for 2,000 years. The same two cats. For hours on end. It's best not to question it.]
We are one of two dominant species, and the one who had met with the lesser of military success.
We are stronger for our perseverance. [She likes to think, at least.]
no subject
Perhaps humans are doomed to die regardless of their world, as they did on ours. Every species has to supersede another for its claim at supremacy. You and I came to be in different ways, but our trajectory is no different.
What sort of strength do you imagine yourself to have for this hardship?
[ He could probably phrase it more nicely, but it's a genuine question. ]
no subject
Is that always how it is supposed to be? Could we not cooperate?
Ah. Well.
I do not especially like to talk about my strengths for fear of being seen as boastful.
But since you asked.
We are quite resourceful and duty focused. We see problems as obstacles to be found and work together to achieve it. We also know the value of duty, and how one person's actions can affect each other. We also know the scarcity of things, and how to extend the longevity of the finite resources we are given. When there is little, you must make the best of everything that you do have.
no subject
Teamwork appears to be all you have at home. But that must be convenient, with how well-equipped you find yourself for the tasks involved here.
[ He doesn't answer her question about cooperation, but perhaps he doesn't have to. His opinions aren't that difficult to intuit with how he's spoken so far. ]
no subject
[The question is... how to state it without shutting down the conversation entirely...]
Do you not have many opportunities to work with others where you came from?
To be a part of a community?
[A little indelicate, but it will do. A descendant of cats and the last human... a union?]
no subject
... But, saying the things they've both been saying, this is an inevitable conclusion for her to come to. He won't run from the subject; there's no need for him to hide his contempt here.
(That, and the bit where she's been quite agreeable might have loosened his tongue somewhat.) ]
You seem to have seen through me. That decision was made for me by the world I was born into.
However, I learned in time, and through various means, that I'd been fortunate to absolve myself of the burden of others. Nothing of any worth can be constructed on such solvent, fragile foundations.
[ ... And a lifetime of experience isn't going to be repaired in a month in a new world, most likely. He's trying to find a tether, but he's not trying to be someone who will tether. ]
Even this society is plagued by petty rituals.
no subject
[And she also knows just how precious those first signs of kindness can be in the darkest and loneliest of places.]
[For the moment, she doesn't say anything, instead letting the action say what she feels:]
✘[And just like that, the ✘ disappears from his screen.]
Consider this gesture no vow of servitude, nor a promise of anything more. You have simply piqued my curiosity. For now.
no subject
Then a much more powerful surge of emotion comes and crushes it, a sudden indignance that turns her gesture to bitterness on his tongue. Drawing out his past to manipulate his emotions like this... how could he be so easily taken in? ]
You seek to humiliate me.
I don't desire your pity.
[ Talk about biting the hand that feeds!! ]
no subject
[If that is what he wants to believe, then she cannot fault him for it. The reaction spoke much of his views.]
[So her reply is simple:]
To what end?
no subject
To what end? The unanswered question teases at various threads in his mind, unpicking little trains of thought and memory. He stares at his pen, thinking.
In the end, there's no answer. ]
no subject
[As time passes she simply stares and waits. As there is no answer to the question, she feels there is no reply that is needed. He had piqued her interest. She stated as such. All that remained was to see what came of it next.]
[She suspected it would be most bothersome, indeed.]