Blue Lacuna — 394 of 467

Aaron A. Reed

Release 4

Section - Presence Convo 1

dream1-presence is a dream presence in Dream1Nexus. The icebreaker of dream1-presence is fd_preattention.

FirstDT is a thread.

fd_preattention is an exciting beat in FirstDT. fd_preattention suggests fd_attention. fd_attention replaces fd_preattention.

fd_attention is an exciting repeatable beat in FirstDT with reaction "[d1_attention][unless d1_ctr > 6 and d1_ctr < 11].[end if]". fd_attention summons fd_presence. fd_attention suggests fd_attention. fd_presence replaces fd_attention.

d1_ctr is a number that varies.

To say d1_attention:

increase d1_ctr by 1;

if d1_ctr is 1, now pr-hack is false;

if d1_ctr is 1, say "Something tickles the back of your neck, as if someone stands next to you. When you turn to look there is nothing, but the feeling of [o]presence[x] lingers, strengthens";

if d1_ctr is 2, say "The sensation of [o]presence[x] swells. You can see and hear nothing, but know nonetheless it is there";

if d1_ctr is 3, say "The [o]presence[x] fades, receding like a wave from your consciousness, then seeps and surges back again, as if with great difficulty";

if d1_ctr is 4, say "The strange [o]presence[x] lingers on the edge of your consciousness, fading, like a sound you aren't quite sure comes from the world and not your head";

if d1_ctr is 5, say "The sensation of [o]presence[x] ebbs, fades slowly away till it almost merges with the static of your mind, only a sliver of identity separating the two";

if d1_ctr is 6 begin; say "The presence is gone"; remove a random visible dream presence from play; now pr1-hack is true; end if;

if d1_ctr > 10 begin; say "Slowly, you feel the [o]presence[x] return"; move active presence to location; now active presence is attentive; now tempfuse of icebreaker of active presence is 5; now d1_ctr is 0; end if.

pr1-hack is a truth state that varies.

Every turn when pr1-hack is true:

if active presence is enclosed by location:

now pr1-hack is false;

else if player is in a nexus-room:

say "[d1_attention][unless d1_ctr > 6 and d1_ctr < 11].[end if]";

else if the player is not regionally in Dreamlands:

now pr1-hack is false.

Understand "presence/presences/they/them" as fd_presence. fd_presence is a beat in FirstDT with fuse 99 and reaction "You concentrate on the sensation, probe it delicately, curiously. And feel it probe back.[paragraph break]A [o]mind[x].". fd_minds replaces fd_presence. fd_presence suggests fd_minds.

Understand "mind" as fd_minds when last beat is in FirstDT. fd_minds is a beat in FirstDT. The reaction is "You recognize the mind as such only basely, innately through some whiff, strange but familiar, of consciousness. Overwhelmingly alien currents whirl through it, patterns and structures you have no way of matching to your own mind's contours, but after a moment you detect hints of emotions, faint yet certainly distinct from your own: [t]relief[x], [t]curiosity[x], [t]impatience[x]. You sense you could probe any of these feelings, like memory, but also sense inevitable reciprocity: doing so will reveal more of yourself in return.". fd_minds suggests fd_dreamhint. fd_minds summons fd_relief, fd_curiosity, fd_impatience. fd_dreamhint replaces fd_minds.

fd_dreamhint is a beat in FirstDT with reaction "In a charge of insight you are at once sure, with the surety that comes only in dreams, both that you are dreaming now and that this [o]presence[x] exists outside your dream. It has the same intrusive heaviness of a sound slowly pulling you up to wakefulness, or a light in darkness, flashing against closed lids.". fd_dreamhint suggests fd_minds. fd_dreamhint2 replaces fd_dreamhint.

fd_dreamhint2 is a beat in FirstDT with reaction "You wonder now whether the weave of this dream, its set and props, are not random noise but somehow shaped by this presence, sculpted, as if trying to help you make connections, realizations, come to insights unexplainable in waking language.[paragraph break]You wonder next if that thought was your own.". fd_endyes replaces fd_dreamhint2. fd_dreamhint2 suggests fd_endyes.

Understand "relief" as fd_relief when last beat is in FirstDT. fd_relief is a beat in FirstDT with fuse 9 and reaction "[psychic link line]. The relief, you sense, covers a long feeling of frustration, tempered despair, the impotence of a job almost done but unable to be finished. Now something has changed for the better, sudden, unexpected, trailing long after abandoned hopes. And that change, unsettlingly, is you.". fd_relief suggests fd_dreamhint. fd_dreamhint replaces fd_relief.

Understand "curiosity" as fd_curiosity when last beat is in FirstDT. fd_curiosity is a beat in FirstDT with fuse 9 and reaction "[psychic link line]. The curiosity is intense, as if you're the first of your kind the presence has ever encountered.[paragraph break]But no, that isn't right. You struggle to sieve the alien thoughts, distill them into something you can process. Not the first, you realize after long moments. No. The... fourth?". fd_curiosity suggests fd_dreamhint. fd_dreamhint replaces fd_curiosity.

Understand "impatience" as fd_impatience when last beat is in FirstDT. fd_impatience is a beat in FirstDT with fuse 9 and reaction "[psychic link line]. Impatience, yes; you sense more, much more the presence wants to tell you. But each of you have much to learn about the other before enough understanding has kindled to say it.". fd_impatience suggests fd_dreamhint. fd_dreamhint replaces fd_curiosity.

To say psychic link line: say "[one of]Thoughts trickle into your head as you prod delicately at the emotion, like juice from an overripe fruit[or]More thoughts, more emotion[or]You prod further[summonendyes][stopping]".

To say summonendyes: now fd_endyes is exciting; now tempfuse of fd_endyes is 5.

fd_endyes is a terminal beat in FirstDT. The reaction is "Some current of thought stirs, obscured, and slowly, slowly begins to clear. Finally you think you have it. Sleeping near the tree you painted-- and the others like it-- allow this connection with the presence, this alien mind. As if it is a receiver--? But no, you only speculate; the complexities running under and through this simple message cannot bridge the gap between the differences in your minds.[paragraph break]All you are sure is that it wants you to find them. Find them all.[paragraph break]The presence ebbs away, loses itself in the static of your mind, and is gone.".