@summer haven sorry for the delay of my own 
enjoy your new thread
#Entropic Catastrophe- OCs
sterile crypt
summer haven
thank you very much! I'm sure I will :)
sterile crypt
np!! 
and if you need anything pinned feel free to ping :3
summer haven
nod nod!
fringe mica
Patiently awaiting thine tale.
summer haven
it will come
...once I have good ideas
Also this is probably going to be a massive mess and not well-ordered at all. just little things when I feel like it
summer haven
have: a scrap
Spools of Lace, Restful Leaves
SoL: I'm sorry to bother you, but Intrinsic Reality has been harassing others on public groups again.
SoL: He'd gained access to a private Triangulator group and started heckling and spouting nonsense. He'd apparently been there for several cycles before being forcibly removed.
SoL: One of the group members had spoken to him multiple times, asking him why he was doing what he was doing, and to leave or stop. He didn't handle it well and eventually stopped responding to them.
SoL: Given that I've been friends with him and even backed him up in the past, they spoke to me to talk about the incident and ask me to talk to him.
SoL: I did try to ask him about it, but he slipped around the question and didn't respond when I asked directly.
SoL: So I've brought it to you.
RL: Oh, Reality. I will speak to him. He's really got to stop doing this sort of thing.```
thorn sail
Leaves about to put an end to Reality's internet troll arc
fringe mica
There are two outcomes.
One, Reality stops.
Two, Reality begins trolling much harder.
summer haven
here's the refs for all of em. ABQ, RM, IR, SoL, and RL are a local group
TST is also here; they're two puppets in one can. I'm not sure how much they're going to appear in the story, but they were on this ref sheet. A minor character, perhaps.
these are subject to change; however RL is probably not going to change much if at all since I've already made art of them
summer haven
here's the refs for all of em. ABQ, RM, IR, SoL, and RL are a local group
TST is...
@sterile crypt can this be pinned please?
sterile crypt
here's the refs for all of em. ABQ, RM, IR, SoL, and RL are a local group
TST is...
done :3
summer haven
ty!
summer haven
Basically, yeah
their working name was "gemini" or "the twins" before they had names
They're the product of a mishap where two identical puppets were sent to a construction site and both wound up installed
summer haven
yes
summer haven
I do too! they've been a concept in my head for a while but only got designed tonight
fringe mica
The rest are nice, but I like them most.
summer haven
I think ABQ or SoL are my favorite, but I definitely like the concept of the twins
fringe mica
Do you have plans for a full story?
Because I wonder how two puppets in the same can would work.
summer haven
I don't really have full plans as of yet; I kinda just needed a spot to write down the small pieces that float through about these OC's
I do have a general timeline and plan, but no real idea if/when it'll get written
And while I like the twins, they're very new, so I don't really have any idea what they're up to yet
My only idea is to have them be a Seven Red Suns-type character, where one of them is good friends with a member of the local group and they get involved that way
And assuming I do write the story (up till ABQ's collapse at the very least) they'll almost certainly get to appear
What I've written so far is basically just a concept piece and practice writing in this setting; I can hardly say if this is going to go too far!
summer haven
another
Repeating Memories, Among Brightening Qualia
RM: Hey, what have you been up to lately? I haven't seen you on group chats much these past cycles.
ABQ: Oh, I've been purposing! Engineering. Trying to focus on that; I could use the practice and you know, it's fun.
RM: Neat, what is it this time?
ABQ: A little winged creature. Here, I'll send one of my blueprints~
RM: Oh, wow. It's hardly like any creature I’ve seen in the wild.
RM: How you even get to this level of detail with bioengineering is beyond me. Look at those wings! Each little fold tinier than the last... that is very impressive to me.
ABQ: It's built for aerodynamic, fast flight. The goal is for it to be able to circle the outside of my can faster than an overseer.
ABQ: That's in the future, of course- I'm still in the early designing phases. I don’t even really know what I’m going to make it out of or how it’s going to fuel itself.
RM: I imagine it’d be great at catching bugs, if it’s going to be that fast!
ABQ: True. I’ve seen creatures similar in size enjoy bugs and their pupae. Something to take into consideration.
RM: Do you think it would be able to fly between our cans? I know we have the broadcast network, but I miss sending you things for real sometimes.
ABQ: I don’t know. Not without resting; it’s too far. And it’s too small to carry even a pearl.
ABQ: But that’s a good thought. Although I should finish the little flying creature before making any sort of messenger.
RM: Of course. Well, enjoy the project. And maybe I’ll see it in my chamber someday?~
ABQ: Perhaps!```Awww cute! 
summer haven
these two were the first to be designed and characterized, and a central part of both of them is that they're Best Friends 
summer haven
we have: sliverist existentialism
TrailingStraws group, all participants anonymous
NS: Why do you think our creators imposed taboos on us in the first place? I know questioning taboos is, well, a bit taboo, but I must ask.
MM: It’s no issue, really. We’re all friends here, and we all know our situation well.
ESP: Maybe they thought we’d take death, or modification as to no longer be an iterator, over immortality as one. Or maybe they thought we must survive in our current state as much as possible in order to solve the puzzle.
NS: I find it hard to think they would distrust us that much…
EiL: Who knows, really?
SC: The self-modification taboo in particular seems strange to me. Why would they distrust us not to know what we needed when it came to our own genome and composition? And nothing can modify genome better or faster than an iterator.
MM: I always though the self-modification taboo was made to prevent us from easily breaking other taboos. What are rules without enforcement, after all.
NS: The one I find strange is the self-destruction taboo. If death is the answer to the Great Problem, at least for us as iterators, then why directly prevent that?
EiL: Maybe they didn’t know any better.
SC: Perhaps they thought we should not ascend? Maybe they thought we would become like all those ghost stories.
MM: They built us to prevent those echoes from occurring en masse. It seems strange, but also plausible.
SC: I do wonder sometimes what ascension would hold for me… whether I even could leave this world cleanly. Often I think that I probably would not.
NS: I’ll be honest, I don’t know that I would either…
ESP: Maybe they built us unable to ascend because they thought we would never be ready.```Restful Leaves, Intrinsic Reality
RL: Reality, I’m sorry to say I’ve gotten another report of you harassing other iterators.
RL: Do you have anything you’d like to say about it?
IR: Who told you this?
RL: Spools of Lace told me that the Triangulators you were harassing found our local group through her.
IR: She can be such a tattletale sometimes. And I wasn’t harassing them. They really ought to take criticism when it comes. Their whole methodology is such a mess.
RL: I don’t think that excuses heckling them multiple times over several cycles in a private group. If you have criticism, take it to a public group and take their criticism, too.
RL: I’ve told you this is a problem so many times. Why do you not try to fix it?
IR: I said it wasn’t really much.
RL: Intrinsic Reality, it does not matter what you think your words are. It is a private group of theirs; they don’t want to be harassed in there.
RL: Arguably, getting into a private group is potentially worse than what you did once you were there.
RL: Speaking of which, how did you even get in?
IR: I’m not going to tell you that.
RL: Suit yourself.```finally following up on the first piece
summer haven
```1653.161- PRIVATE
Repeating Memories, Among Brightening Qualia
RM: Hey, what...
Among Brightening Qualia flicked through each simulation window, watching the various designs ae’d made stand up to high wind, early-cycle rain, and bites of various predators. Watched the statistics tick in.
They all fared pretty well against high winds, aside from the slimmer, flatter design, which had to flatten itself against the ground to stop from blowing away.
The biggest and sturdiest of them, with the least effective wings, fared best against rain. It had taken in water, but not much.
None could withstand a standard lizard bite, as ae’d expected. The glider designs just weren’t built to deal with land predators and their teeth. Every one of them took heavy damage, and some were completely twisted out of shape.
They fared better with the aerial predators- vultures and the like- that had blunter teeth and were built more towards holding rather than killing instantly. Some were still crushed, but the largest took it without too much trouble.
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia flicked through each simulation window, watching the va...
Last simulation before he made a decision on which one to make. Pure flight speed, and flight with wind. Qualia ported the five schematic blueprints into a new simulation; simple air. Ae watched each one fly, and pushed back the tiny feeling of longing for that experience.
Ae flicked up a window to track the statistics. Also expected. The smaller and more delicate ones flew the fastest without wind.
With wind, the very smallest design began to struggle to keep oriented. It eventually failed and was blown away.
At the very strongest winds, the flat design, previously able to keep itself oriented in the wind currents, finally tipped a wing wrong and lost control.
The biggest one could not fly very fast at all, with or without wind. It could keep itself going if the wind was with it, but struggled to fly against it. The second-biggest had a similar problem, to a lesser degree, but still enough that ae wasn't satisfied with it.
And so there was only one left- the one in the middle. A basic design with a long, narrow body, short legs and arms, and long wings. It was sized similarly to messengers other iterators had purposed to carry pearls and such. The Flightling, ae had nicknamed it.
*That will be very good to have if I can make it work. *
first non-chatlog bit
there'll be more like this in the future, they just haven't been terribly important yet
Also, after this we get into the real central plot of the story!
thorn sail
```1653.150- PRIVATE
Restful Leaves, Intrinsic Reality
RL: Reality, I’m sorry t...
Reality: And I'll fuckin do it again 
Qualia doing some thorough simulations, good on aer
summer haven
gonna just repost this here where it has context
sterile crypt
gonna just repost this here where it has context
ooo nicely done!!
summer haven
thank you! 
summer haven
ok we're getting into it now
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
ABQ: Say, have any of you heard from Restful Leaves lately?
ABQ: I know she’s usually kind of quiet, but I haven’t seen her in a while.
RM: That’s worrying. I haven’t spoken to her either.
IR: Good riddance. The last I saw of her she was telling me off again. I don’t know why you say she’s quiet- she’s after me about something or other almost every other cycle!
SoL: Reality! That’s no way to be talking about your group senior.
RM: Does anyone have overseers at her can?
ABQ: I have one in her facility. Her rains are normal at least. Maybe I’ll send it up to her puppet chamber and see if I can contact her.
SoL: I’m not one to send overseers to others’ cans; it feels a bit like a breach of privacy.
RM: You know it’s normal to have overseers at friends’ cans, Spools. I certainly wouldn’t object to having one of yours around.
RM: Back on the topic of Leaves, I had one at her can but lost it recently. Scavengers, I think. A replacement was on its way but won’t make it there for several cycles more.
ABQ: I’ll go ahead and try to send mine up her structure, then.```Oh man! What will they find 
summer haven
Not actually much, yet
I'm finishing up that piece
summer haven
foreshadowing of things to come
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
ABQ: Update on my overseer. I sent it up to Restful Leaves’ puppet chamber, and got in contact with her.
ABQ: Apparently she had a bad storm come through and her main long-range communications array collapsed.
ABQ: She can still broadcast about the range of her facility, but obviously that doesn’t reach any other iterator or communications array.
SoL: Good to know she’s alright, at least.
ABQ: However, she decided that unless a connection can be re-established, which is exceedingly unlikely without proper maintenance, she will relinquish her position as local group senior.
ABQ: The next eldest iterator in this group would be Repeating Memories, so unless she objects, she will take on group senior duties.
RM: Oh- Yes. I do not object.
ABQ: However, she could not transfer permissions to you. So you cannot, for instance, use forced broadcasts.
RM: I wouldn’t want to disrupt the local group as such anyway. The loss of forced broadcasts shouldn’t be an issue.
SoL: Well, good to be back to somewhat normal, then. ```thank you!
thorn sail
```1677.152- PRIVATE
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lac...
New senior, interesting! The lack of actual permissions may be fine for now, but down the road however... who knows... 
summer haven
...yeah...
thorn sail
Enjoy your normal times while you have them, Spools of Lace 
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
ABQ: One of my overseers just returned from Restful Leaves’ can.
ABQ: It had a lot of images, but I’ll send over the one that’s most important.
SoL: Oh, good saints…
RM: Did you speak to her?
ABQ: No.
RM: Sending an overseer over there right now~```Restful Leaves shoved herself upright, fixing the gravity that had gone off and dumped her on the floor of her chamber with a painful loss of functionality.
What was that? It was so sudden.
She flicked up a window to check her structure. It had felt like something was badly hurt.
Nothing in the top half of her structure, where she expected. But the bottom…
A gaping hole in one lower side. Torn metal and concrete, biological components spilling out of their places, neurons trying to keep afloat.
Two water conduits torn open and pouring water towards the ground. A third one damaged and leaking.
She flinched as another piece fell. A weather node, suddenly not nearly well enough supported, crashing to the shadowed, long-abandoned mines below.
summer haven
Restful Leaves shoved herself upright, fixing the gravity that had gone off and ...
And then the second shock sent her to the floor, her umbilical flopping limp. Red warning lights in her chamber. *Water, water, water. Water leaving. Water not filling my conduits, not cooling my processors. *
Get upright again. The window was gone, lost in the chaos, replaced with warning after warning. Lack of water, lack of water, that troubling phosphate issue that had been a hindrance for a hundred cycles or more, silicon buildup…
Slag runoff channels damaged. That really was troubling.
More warnings appeared. Water, water, silicon, slag, water, silicon, phosphates, water, water, water…
Emergency maintenance required.
Emergency maintenance required.
Emergency maintenance required.
There was no one to do maintenance. They were long, long gone. Ascended, drowned in the void.
She slowed some of her secondary systems. Lower processing power would have to do for now. She couldn’t afford anything more. She let a few rooms in the memory conflux turn off and go dark.
Pain, and she fell to the chamber floor again. Warnings, warnings, warnings. Water spilling away. A main structural beam badly damaged.
She knew, suddenly, that nothing she could do would be enough. That this would be her collapse.
She sent an overseer to take as many pictures of the hole as it could.
I can at least try to figure out what’s killed me before I die.
thorn sail
LEAVES NOOO LEAVESSS 
And she's been having problems... She's gonna be okay, right? Right??? (/j) 
Local group, will you do something in time 
thorn sail
Really interesting how the others are only mildly concerned, maybe they haven't yet realized how bad it is?
Or maybe they haven't seen the collapse 👀
summer haven
Yeah, they haven't seen the collapse yet
summer haven
These two pieces take place at the exact same time; they see the (minor spoilers) ||explosion|| hole but they don't think it's as bad as it is
thorn sail
Rip Leaves lol
Looking forward to how it goes!
summer haven
Restful Leaves sat on her chamber floor and watched the three overseers sitting near her. Pink, blue, green. Beige-orange conspicuously absent. They watched her back, a few of her own purple ones hovering around.
They could do nothing. It was too late.
But she could tell them everything she knew.
“It was an explosion,” she said to them. “A device of some kind, sent up to my structure through a water pipeline.”
They watch quietly.
“I don’t know who sent it. I don’t know who would have that much malicious intent, to send a package that would kill me. But whoever it was, they succeeded.”
“Maybe they didn’t think it would kill me. Maybe they thought I would only be wounded, or left at lower processing power. But time has really taken its toll on my systems; that was just the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“Currently I suspect some void fluid contraption was used to make an explosion that large. If any of you have seen the way a rarefaction cell will detonate when cracked? Like that, but much larger and more destructive.”
“Which rules out anything but an iterator having sent this. The primal fauna do not use void fluid, especially not the way we do.”
“Logically, it would likely be someone whose void fluid pipelines are still functioning. But I could be wrong about that. Theoretically, different iterator components contain enough void fluid that you could make a bomb out of them.”
“How it was delivered, I have no idea. I didn’t keep up with purposing even before my communications collapse. Qualia might have some insight on that.”
summer haven
Restful Leaves sat on her chamber floor and watched the three overseers sitting ...
She refocuses, and the three overseers blink away, backing up and leaving through her access shaft.
Restful Leaves writes versions of what she wants to say on pearls, slowly transcribing each line. What she’d like to say to Memories. To Qualia. To Spools. And to Reality. Saying goodbye, over and over again. She can’t bring herself to say any of it to the overseers.
She knows Reality doesn’t care about her, but she misses speaking to him anyway.
She writes. She thinks, she transcribes, translates, writes down. Over and over and over. Most of the pearls in her chamber has been repurposed from working memory to her writings.
There is nothing else to do.
thorn sail
ITERATOR DRAMA 
summer haven
summer haven
Map of the local group area, for context with the next piece when I finish it. This is pretty rough in terms of scaling etc so I would take it as subject to change, but it should be ok for a general gist of what's going on
These guys are in a much warmer area than the in-game local group. As such warmer biomes persist without heat from iterators. (If you were to fast forward to Saint's time and all these guys collapse, it'd still be reasonably warm.)
Iterator facilities are also not really pictured here; areas very close to an iterator are still hotter and more humid than the surrounding biome.
This would be visible at RM's can, where shallow water areas would basically turn into a mangrove swamp type biome
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Spools of Lace
ABQ: I just had a horrible thought.
SoL: Like a really bad idea, or… something else?
ABQ: Do you know if Intrinsic Reality ever made or used purposed organisms?
SoL: Not to my knowledge.
SoL: I think he did bioengineering in passing when our creators were still around, but he hasn’t mentioned it in thousands of cycles.
SoL: What was your horrible thought?
ABQ: What if he sent the explosive that Restful Leaves… rather violently received?
ABQ: It’s been on my mind a lot who could have sent it. But it boils down to the fact that whoever it was, they must have been fairly close by, since the transit system proper is all closed down.
ABQ: If he didn’t purpose an organism, I don’t really see how it could have been him, though.
ABQ: Maybe it was Fifteen Bones, or someone else, further south…
SoL: I hate even saying this. But if it was sent into her water system… he is positioned upstream of her.
ABQ: Oh, no.
ABQ: He could have just dumped it into the river. He wouldn’t have even needed to purpose an organism.
ABQ: Saints, he could have sent it for me! I’m further down that same river.
SoL: Don’t you have a pretty similar water system to mine? Mine has fine mesh filters right at the bottom of my legs.
ABQ: Yours has desalinization equipment down there, though. I’m on freshwater, so that’s not needed.
ABQ: Filters aren’t till halfway up my legs, and even then they’re not very fine.
ABQ: I don’t know if Leaves had filters below her main structure at all.
SoL: Even if she did, they might have worn through by now, with no one to replace them. ```
crystal geode
the plot thickens
summer haven
indeed 
summer haven
Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
SoL: I have a question for you.
IR: Yeah? What about?
SoL: How much have you heard about Restful Leaves’ situation? Qualia’s been posting updates in the local group, but I haven’t seen you there in a while, so I don’t know if you were seeing those.
IR: I know she’s near collapse at this point.
SoL: You know how she got there?
IR: Explosion, wasn’t it? Some kind of bomb.
SoL: Yes, and we believe that someone purposely sent it to her, to hurt her.
SoL: So my question was, did you send it?
IR: No. Of course not. I may not be her biggest fan, but I wouldn’t kill her.
SoL: Do you have any idea who it might be?
IR: No. Fifteen Bones maybe? They’re not far away. I can’t see them having enough malice to kill Leaves, though. Hard to say if they even know each other.
SoL: They were the other iterator that came up as a possibility. I believe Qualia’s going to reach out to them. ```||But Reality, Spools never explicitlymentioned anything about killing... Yet you did... ||
crystal geode
||But Reality, Spools never explicitly*mentioned* anything about killing... Yet ...
||"Kill, nah. Make her suffer? Hell yeah!"||
crystal geode
```1678.927- PRIVATE
Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
SoL: I have a question f...
Naaaah i bet it was them
summer haven
hehehehe 
summer haven
1653.149- SoL talks to RL about IR harassing Triangulators
#1245569977927340126 message
1653.150- RL tells IR off for harassing Triangulators
#1245569977927340126 message
1653.161- RM talks to ABQ about purposing organisms
#1245569977927340126 message
1653.187- ABQ simulates a variety of flying purposed creatures
#1245569977927340126 message
1654.378- RM’s Sliverist group discusses why taboos
#1245569977927340126 message
1677.144- Restful Leaves loses broadcast access, the other four talk about it
#1245569977927340126 message
1677.152- ABQ reaches RL, reports his findings to the group
#1245569977927340126 message
1678.644- RL experiences the explosion and aftermath
#1245569977927340126 message
1678.646- RL’s explosion is discovered
#1245569977927340126 message
1678.890- Restful Leaves collates evidence of the explosion, and makes peace with her collapse
#1245569977927340126 message
1678.922- ABQ talks to SoL about who could have killed RL; IR is brought up as a suspect
#1245569977927340126 message
1678.927- SoL talks to IR about who could have killed RL
#1245569977927340126 message
1678.934- ABQ talks to Fifteen Bones to ask if they did it
#1245569977927340126 message
lilac knot
you should pin this!
summer haven
I was just about to
lilac knot
summer haven
1653.149- SoL talks to RL about IR harassing Triangulators
https://discord.com/c...
@sterile crypt can this be pinned please?
sterile crypt
1653.149- SoL talks to RL about IR harassing Triangulators
https://discord.com/c...
rare sighting of me in stories department
summer haven
thank you!
sterile crypt
np :3
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Fifteen Bones
FB: Do I know you?
ABQ: I don’t know that I’ve seen you around much, but we’re relatively close by. I’m in the local group just to the southwest of yours.
FB: Why are you messaging me?
ABQ: Our local group senior recently received an explosive device into her water system, which exploded and caused her to be severely hurt.
ABQ: She hasn’t collapsed yet, but she’s expected to quite soon.
FB: Oh, that sucks. Sorry to hear that.
ABQ: We were trying to figure out who sent it to her, and you were brought up as a suspect because you’re close by.
FB: What? Why? I’ve never even met her.
ABQ: Oh. Alright.
FB: Look. I know losing a friend sucks, but you can’t just go accusing all your neighbors. How do you know it wasn’t a member of your own group?
ABQ: …
FB: How do you know it wasn’t Intrinsic Reality? Everyone knows he’s a troll.
ABQ: …We don’t, really. Spools of Lace said she talked to him, and that he said he didn’t do it, but that’s all we have.
FB: You sure you can trust Spools of Lace? She’s stuck to him. Surely she’d just defend him.
ABQ: No. Spools wouldn’t do that. Not anymore.
FB: What do you mean, not anymore?
ABQ: You don’t understand. She’s backed him up, but that was thousands of cycles ago. Their friendship has been on pretty thin ice lately.
FB: If you say so. I’m going to go back to my work now, if you don’t mind.
FB: Good luck with your puzzle.
ABQ: Thanks. Sorry if I bothered you too much. ```my brain just won't stop writing so here's more
summer haven
1653.149- SoL talks to RL about IR harassing Triangulators
https://discord.com/c...
also I've just about hit the character limit on this. so that was a great solution for two seconds
thorn sail
||Bones: Who tf are you 
||
summer haven
||You're my neighbor? Since when?||
summer haven
also, a little sneak peek, kinda, for the next piece :)
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia looked down at the little creatures in his chamber. They looked back at him, bright eyes flicking around as quick as he could think, wings fluttering open and shut.
He quite liked them. And they loved him; he could see it in their eyes. He could let them out to the outside of his structure, and they would fly around and around, wings tilting into the turns, faster than anything his overseers had ever seen.
He hadn’t lost a single one, not even to the larger predators outside his can. They were too quick. They could outfly a vulture as quick as thinking.
His overseers had watched them as they ate. The colonies of little crawling insects that lived on Qualia’s exterior didn’t stand a chance. As fast as they ran for their hideouts, the little creatures dove for them, angling their wings, and caught them in their little front claws. They tugged off the hard outer shell and munched the inside.
He loved them, really. They were his very dream.
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia looked down at the little creatures in his chamber. The...
It was about time he sent one to Repeating Memories. He worried a little about sending it so far away, worried if it would be able to find food.
He envisioned them flapping up to gather fruit, swooping and diving to catch minnows…
They’d be fine. He rewrote a pearl for Memories, and selected a little flightling- very pale green with dappled teal patterns on its wings. The flightlings had a decent amount of color variation- pale purple, blue, green, white, and the wing patterns were absolutely beautiful. So colorful, with so much variation in patterns.
He gently lifted the flightling and gave it the pearl. It held it in its little claws, clutching that little pink sphere against its chest. It blinked at him with wide eyes.
He spoke gently to it. “Fly west to the ocean, then along the coast to the north. You will find another of my kind, a close friend. She will welcome you warmly. And do not lose the pearl!”
He let it go, and it flicked over to its closest companion, a small white flightling with speckles of indigo along its wings. They touched wings and flew for the exit, going through the entrance one after the other.
Qualia considers sending an overseer with them, before realizing it’s pointless; they are so fast they will lose an overseer easily.
He hopes Repeating Memories loves them just as much as he does.
thought we could probaby use a more lighthearted piece after all the murder shenanigans. so here's an ABQ purposed organism update
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
ABQ: It’s over.
ABQ: Restful Leaves is almost definitely incapacitated.
ABQ: The details are… a bit graphic. I’ll share them in private if anyone wants to know. ```I LOVE CREATURE 
This critter is too pure to be eaten. I hope
summer haven
they're too fast 
summer haven
Repeating Memories, Among Brightening Qualia
RM: Qualia, is this yours?
ABQ: Oh- yes! Those are my flightlings! Do you like them?
RM: Qualia, they’re the cutest little things. Look at them! Of course I like them!
ABQ: Aww, I’m glad~ ```I just can't stop writing this
I have like six pieces sitting around in my writing doc waiting for final editing
help
summer haven
Probably good that I've written a lot, honestly. Going to be back at home later this week, which means I'm going to be playing the game a lot more. So probably not as much Rain World energy going towards this.
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
ABQ: So, most of our evidence points to Intrinsic Reality having killed Restful Leaves.
ABQ: My question now is, what are we going to do about that?
IR: I swear to you it wasn’t me! What do you mean, most of your evidence?
ABQ: You’re the only iterator known to have a rough relationship with Leaves, and you’re in a prime position to have done it.
ABQ: Everything points to you having dropped a bomb in your river, which then flowed down to her can, got caught in her water system, and exploded.
IR: This is such nonsense. There are so many problems with this!
RM: Well, do you know who did do it, then?
IR: No. Of course not. But did you even think about the fact Leaves’s water is from an old canal? It’s not even from the main river?
IR: That canal has so little waterflow, there’s no way something sent down the river would just wind up at her can.
ABQ: So how do we know you didn’t just make multiple attempts until one worked?
IR: Because I didn’t do it!
RM: Reality, how are we supposed to believe anything you say at this point? It has to have been you. You killed Leaves! Our group senior!
IR: I swear I didn’t. You’re all wrong.
RM: I say we remove him from the group.
IR: You can’t just do that!
ABQ: I agree. We should remove him.
RM: Spools?
SoL: I suppose so? What if we were wrong, though?
IR: You are wrong! You’re all wrong! This is all wrong.
IR: <Forcefully removed from group>
ABQ: No, we were right. I’m sure we were right.
ABQ: I’m sorry, Spools.
SoL: No, it’s fine. If he did do this… maybe it’s for the best.
RM: I’m going to do some theory sifting. Take my mind off all this. ```oh none at all! 
thorn sail
I still can't believe they actually did it
summer haven
I'm not sure which "they" and "it" you're referring to here?
thorn sail
The group kicking out Reality
They have so little concrete evidence, and still hit him with the ban hammer
summer haven
Yeah
But ABQ and RM are real mad about this, and they don't know anyone else it could be
I was going over in my head what they would choose to do about it, but kept landing on "kick from local group"
summer haven
Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
SoL: Reality…
SoL: Did you kill her? Be honest, please. You can trust me.
IR: Spools, I didn’t. Dead serious, on the void, I didn’t.
SoL: …
IR: I swear it wasn’t me. I don’t know who it was. But I didn’t have anything to do with it. ```Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
IR: Spools, you ok?
IR: I haven’t seen you in a while.
IR: …
IR: If something’s wrong, you can still tell me. You can trust me.
IR: Spools…
IR: I’ll admit, I miss you. ```Uh oh
summer haven
```1654.378- CLOSED GROUP [TRAILINGSTRAWS]
TrailingStraws group, all participan...
HavenOfStars group, all participants anonymous
SoL: I have a bit of a dilemma to share.
MM: Do share? I’m curious.
SoL: A close friend of mine recently collapsed, after an explosion occurred in her lower structure.
SoL: Another friend, who we believe was responsible for the explosion and subsequent collapse, was kicked out of the local group.
SoL: He’s been messaging me, and he insists he didn’t do it. Dead serious, on the void- pardon my language.
SoL: I just don’t know who to believe, since none of us know anyone else who could have done it.
GTT: Hard to say without knowing more context.
CoC: It could go either way. Either he did do it, and is lying to you, or he actually didn’t, and was wrongfully punished.
SoL: Yeah. But every time we go to the possibility that he didn’t do it, we hit the same problem, which is who did?
GTT: Yeah, I doubt we can help you with that without knowing more context.
MM: Hey, do you know Severed Connections, by any chance?
SoL: No, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that name.
MM: Huh. Must just be a coincidence, then. I heard a similar situation from them, maybe fifty cycles ago?
SoL: Oh, weird. ```Spools of Lace runs two pearls through her fingers.
Any actual work on the Great Problem in her can had ceased long ago. She held the pearls.
One contained every chatlog she’d ever had with Intrinsic Reality. Every word they’d said. Every word in which she’d trusted him.
She wants to trust him.
The other contained every detail she could find about Restful Leaves’ collapse. Overseer recordings, pictures, the words of Leaves herself. Among Brightening Qualia’s succinct arguments.
She can no longer trust him.
She read them, and reread them, and reread them.
She dropped them. She had to move on. She had to get back to normal.
Just get back to normal, and everything will be all right.
Among Brightening Qualia, Spools of Lace
SoL: Are you sure there’s no chance we were wrong?
ABQ: Nothing’s certain, really. But I don’t think we were wrong. I don’t see what other options there were.
ABQ: If we were wrong…
ABQ: I hope we weren’t wrong. ```in other news, I'm working on getting an ao3 account so I can post this there. I went back and forth on it for a while, but as it gets longer and longer it feels more and more logical to put it somewhere that's not just a discord thread
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lace
ABQ: Just so you two know, I’ve been having some system failures lately.
ABQ: Not much I can do about it unfortunately. Just a result of time and dust buildup.
ABQ: You both know about the flightlings. If I lose communications, pearls with those will be my main method to get in touch with you both. They’re faster than overseers.
SoL: Good to have the heads up. Hope you can get stuff sorted as best you can.
RM: Agreed, good luck. I hope we don’t lose you…
SoL: By the way, how fast are the flightlings? I still find it hard to believe you made a messenger faster than an overseer.
ABQ: That was the original goal, and it worked out well.
ABQ: Timing with broadcasts, we had a flightling reach between my can and Memories’ in about ten cycles, and that’s not accounting for any dawdling it may have done on the way.
SoL: Oh wow. Fast. Well, fast for purposed organisms at least. Obviously broadcast network beats that out~
ABQ: Well, of course. But they’re definitely the fastest option outside of broadcasts. ```Spools of Lace, Intrinsic Reality
IR: Spools? It’s me again.
IR: Please at least tell me you’re alright. I’ve been so worried.
IR: How is the local group faring? Is everyone doing okay?
SoL: Quit messaging me. I’m fine.
SoL: Please. I don’t want you holding me back anymore.
IR: Spools, that was never my intention.
SoL: I can’t afford to trust you anymore.
SoL: If you have to know what’s happening with us, talk to Memories or someone.
SoL: I can’t talk to you anymore.
IR: Spools, please. I can’t talk to Memories! She’d rip me apart if I tried!
SoL: I don’t care. Just stop trying to talk to me! ```Repeating Memories, Midnight Moons
RM: Alright then. Thank you, by the way.
MM: Of course.
MM: You said you had a good pearl delivery method already?
RM: Yes. Do you have a vague location of where you are? Like a map?
MM: I do. Why?
RM: These particular purposed organisms work very well with large-scale maps. I’m going to send one to your can to bring the pearl.
MM: Oh, interesting. Okay. Sending the map now, then.
RM: Here’s an image of one, by the way. Just so you know what you’re expecting.
RM: The colors or patterns might be different. But the shape should be the same.
RM: Also, they tend to travel in pairs.
MM: Neat. Thank you. ```We do a bit of chatting
summer haven
Repeating Memories, Among Brightening Qualia
ABQ: Hey, what have you been up to lately?
ABQ: I haven’t seen much of you.
RM: Oh, just working on a personal project. A bit resource intensive, so I haven’t been talking much.
ABQ: Ooh, what is it?
RM: …
RM: I’m not sure I’m totally comfortable saying over broadcast.
ABQ: Oh. Okay.
ABQ: Send a flightling, maybe? I’d like to know.```Bump
summer haven
hi
I've not been writing much cause other things going on irl
so I have basically zero creative energy
however I now have an AO3 account
So I'm going to post this there, bit by bit
crystal geode
Aye 🫡
summer haven
Any thoughts on tags, by the way? I'm kinda clueless
crystal geode
I'm no good at tags but a link to the ao3 would be nice
summer haven
I will when it's posted!
summer haven
Alright, first scrap is up! With no formatting, which I do want to do. But up nonetheless.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/57438754/chapters/146130157
summer haven
Alright, the formatting is all working! Do tell me if it looks ok. I fiddled around with it a Lot.
Entropic Catastrophe on ao3
https://archiveofourown.org/works/57438754/chapters/146130157
summer haven
Entropic Catastrophe on ao3
https://archiveofourown.org/works/57438754/chapters/...
@copper knot can this be pinned please?
copper knot
Yes i can
copper knot
<@252503872826769410> can this be pinned please?
summer haven
Thank you!
crystal geode
Bump
summer haven
I'm still steadily posting pieces to ao3. Fifth piece going up shortly
summer haven
```1654.378- CLOSED GROUP [TRAILINGSTRAWS]
TrailingStraws group, all participan...
Also, I don't think I made this particularly clear in the initial post, but SC is Repeating Memories here
That's how she meets MM :P
summer haven
just posted this to OC gallery, figured I will also post it here. A little look into flightling culture coming soon!
summer haven
Diver stuffed the last scrap of the beetle she’d caught into her mouth. Let’s keep moving, she signed, flicking open her wings.
Swoop blinked in agreement. One moment. Got to grab pearl.
Of course.
He flicked over to where he’d left their pearl. The smooth object was somewhat awkward to carry; he clasped it in both claws and hopped, then leapt into the air.
Diver flicked up to follow him, and they were off, speeding through the sky. They knew their region by heart; their Grand Parent had told them well where to go. This was a regular occurrence; a trip to Spools of Lace with a message to bring.
They made the cycle easily; their planned route was gentle, and they were too far out from either Qualia or Spools to see the rains. Neither of them liked flying at night, though, so they stopped at their waypoint for the cycle; a communications mast.
A large flightling colony lived here, above the clouds, and a few met them as they landed. Diver dipped her nose to them and signed On a message trip. Stop here for the night?
Of course, one signed back. We meet you before. Welcome here.
The colony brings food back for its young and old, and messengers are often allowed to partake. Diver takes a couple of bugs for herself and Swoop; they have already eaten, but to be full would be good.
What messages going? a young flightling asks her, signing slowly and timidly. Diver blinks happily and shows them the pearl. Mentioned many things in it, she signs. Most I did not understand. Shape of a creature, maybe.
The young flightling nudges the pearl with one wing, examining its shine. I would love to be a messenger one day, they sign.
You maybe can, Diver responds. Me and Swoop take you to Spools, if your parents are willing?
Yes! Yes! they sign back. Will ask parent. He will be willing, I think.
Your name? Diver asks.
Twister, they respond.
crystal geode
Diver stuffed the last scrap of the beetle she’d caught into her mouth. *Let’s k...
Yooooo, flightlings
Also your italics got messed up in a few spots, namely at the end of paragraphs
summer haven
Dammit
I thought I caught all the italics. Maybe not
No, they all look fine on my end. Where are they messed up for you?
crystal geode
No, they all look fine on my end. Where are they messed up for you?
Huh
Well either something is off or it's cause my discord is outdated, which would be a weird reason?
summer haven
I guess some versions of discord don't like having a space between text and asterisk
Couldn't tell you why
crystal geode
Anyways it is kinda late now so i'll go sleep, cya 
summer haven
gn!
crystal geode
I guess some versions of discord don't like having a space between text and aste...
Maybe idk, weird
summer haven
well, I wrote like three more pieces for this. I don't want to post them yet since it's quite late and my awake brain should have a chance at them first.
But uh.. more coming soon
summer haven
Repeating Memories, Midnight Moons
RM: Are you sure it usually takes this long? I’m a little worried I’m doing something wrong.
MM: No, you’re most likely doing everything right. It’s just that the genome is large, and the one thing you want to change is very small.
MM: It’s statistically very unlikely that it’ll happen. So it takes a long time to hit that tiny chance.
MM: Don’t you dare get impatient, though. Don’t put too much stress on your systems. You never know when your attention will be required elsewhere.
RM: It’s taken so many cycles, though. Surely I could speed it up, even just a little?
MM: Nope. Don’t risk it.
MM: I know this was mostly rumors, and a long time ago, but-
MM: Remember what you saw happen to Five Pebbles.
RM: Was he…?
MM: We don’t know for sure. But I do have some reason to believe he was. ```Aaaaaaand somebody's trying to off themselves 
summer haven
I should post there, yeah
summer haven
```1654.378- CLOSED GROUP [TRAILINGSTRAWS]
TrailingStraws group, all participan...
I suppose I'll note that there are more taboos than just one, and that RM doesn't think she could ascend even if she tried
summer haven
Intrinsic Reality looked down at the little creatures in his chamber.
They looked back at him with wide, beady eyes.
“Did someone send you here?” They looked bioengineered. Qualia’s work, if he had to guess.
They looked at each other.
One flapped, and released a pearl from its claw. Reality picked up the pearl to read it.
It was a long-outdated equipment manifest from his lower structure. Darn. Almost believed it was the local group come to check in.
He missed them. He missed the usual quiet hum of communications in the background. The silence after it was gone was rather too quiet.
He’d enjoyed it at first- no one to bother me! I can do whatever I want! But nothing had felt the same after Restful Leaves’ collapse. He hardly even enjoyed his old pastimes- keying and chiseling his way into private broadcasts, the satisfaction of laughing at its members. Should have done a better job with your keys, idiots!
He did it only to pass time now. It had never really been to an end, but now he couldn’t even laugh about it with Spools.
Spools. The last words she’d spoken to him, those harsh remarks, still stung.
I wish we could go back to how things were.
Among Brightening Qualia, Intrinsic Reality
IR: Sorry to bother you. I know you probably still think I killed her, and that I don’t care.
ABQ: …Why did you message me? Was it just to say that?
IR: Well, no- I, uh- some creatures just came into my chamber with a pearl.
IR: They look pretty bioengineered, so I’m guessing these are your handiwork?
ABQ: Yeah, they are.
ABQ: They’re a messaging system, in case the broadcast network ever goes offline.
IR: Interesting.
ABQ: Was the pearl anything of note?
IR: No. Just an old equipment manifest.
IR: Thank you for not kicking me immediately, by the way.```This one tugged the heartstrings a bit.
Good work.
summer haven
Thank you!
It's always lovely to hear people enjoying what I write
summer haven
me: I think I will copy-paste in a story bit. it's a bit long but I'm sure it will be fine
discord: 488 characters over the limit
Aerial drifted on, distracted. She had left her colony a few cycles before, looking to become a nomad. A more dangerous lifestyle to be sure, but a pleasant one. Relying only on oneself wasn’t particularly usual for a flightling, but she certainly didn’t mind.
The trees grew taller and taller as she glided on and on, huge towering things. Things to rest on, to find little bugs or scraps of mold or lichen to forage on.
Aerial continued to drift, slower and slower, lower and lower, as the sun sank behind her. Not paying full attention, she continued on.
Until it began to rain.
It was droplets at first. She wondered if some showers were simply passing through the area, but dismissed it. It wasn’t too bad to fly in. She figured she’d go just another few pips.
But the rain got heavier and heavier the further she flew. It pressed her down; rain that would be barely a concern for most creatures was difficult weather for flightlings, and she decided the next tree would be her shelter.
She tucked into a swoop, gliding just below a branch, flipping up to lose some speed before landing. She rooted her nose through the tree’s rough surface and found a tiny bark beetle, which she stuffed in her mouth.
Tucking herself between two close branches, she figured she’d be just about okay from the rain. It wasn’t much, really, just enough to not want to fly in.
summer haven
Aerial drifted on, distracted. She had left her colony a few cycles before, look...
But the rain grew heavier and heavier over the night. The first spot was abandoned after water seeped all through her wingfolds, and she hopped down to a lower branch, then a lower one, then a lower one, trying to get out of the rain.
Until, as she hopped down from a particularly low branch, her claws landed on rough, ancient bricks.
They were very, very worn, yet still standing and sturdy. She blinked the rain out of her eyes and tried to see what sort of structure she had found, but it was too dark to see much of anything.
Pushing along the rough surface, digging her claws into the cracks between each brick, bending her head down against the rain, she pushed on, trying to find some shelter from the storm. Eventually she reached a large hole in the brickwork, and ducking through it she found a huge once-indoor courtyard.
She could tell it would be beautiful in daylight. At night it was wet and dark, the cloud cover offering no light whatsoever.
But, under a ledge at the edge of the courtyard, although not completely dry, was at least dry enough to comfortably sleep, which she did.
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lace
SoL: I just had a thought.
SoL: Have any of us tried sending a flightling to Restful Leaves?
RM: No, I never thought of that. That might be a really good idea.
ABQ: Hmm- I’m not so sure. You all saw how messy her collapse was.
ABQ: I doubt there’d be anything left to send a flightling to.
ABQ: You could do it to recover pearls from her structure, I suppose, so long as the scavengers haven’t taken them all.
RM: I suppose none of our overseers ever found her puppet, either.
RM: And if we couldn’t find her puppet, I doubt one of the little creatures would be able to. ```Aerial woke to a trickle of rainwater dripping on her head, and daylight streaming through the hole in the ceiling, casting the whole room pale gold. Pulling herself up and flicking over to the hole, she flew upwards and out.
It was a large ruin, some ancient building long forgotten and overgrown. Yellow-gold plants consumed the main structure, the brickwork was unstable and crumbling in spots, but it was still extremely beautiful, easily beating out the tall metal halls of the communications mast she’d grown up in.
The clouds had mostly dispersed now. She flew up to the treetop she’d tried to shelter in the night before, and tugged some scraps of lichen off the more sheltered side of the tree. It tasted bright, almost acidic.
Staring out towards the horizon, she spotted something in the distance- a large metal strut, she thought, towering upwards before being lost in a cloud bank. Like the bottom of a communications mast, she thought at first, that had lost most of its top?
Flying closer, she realized it was more like the leg of a great creator-mind. Growing upwards, metal tinted purple-pink below the clouds; reinforced for a huge structure atop that simply did not seem to exist.
summer haven
Aerial woke to a trickle of rainwater dripping on her head, and daylight streami...
She landed on a nearby structure, below the cloud layer. She could now see two legs, with an awkward corner of metal and concrete clinging on to them. This close, it really did look like the legs of Among Brightening Qualia, the one time she’d visited his structure.
She wondered what happened to the rest of it- the other legs? The huge, sunlit metal exterior, the intricate, dark, whirring circuits, the strange life, so unlike all else, in the minds and bodies of the largest creatures that stood.
And then she looked down, and knew. Twisted, malformed, ruined metal, jagged pieces of once-was-exterior, long-collapsed beams piercing through a completely, violently ruined structure.
If everything she knew about her Grand Parent and the others was true, then she knew what she was looking at.
It’s dead.
She turned and fled, flying as fast as she could back into the forest.
summer haven
```1679.116- PRIVATE
Among Brightening Qualia, Repeating Memories, Spools of Lac...
some notes I wrote about Restful Leaves' collapse when posting this piece to ao3- I don't think I ever mentioned most of this here. Spoiled for gore, basically, or the iterator equivalent.
||I remember writing this chapter and thinking "hm, I wonder what the line for iterator gore is, in or out of universe. uh... wherever that line is, this probably crosses it. And ABQ isn't gonna mention gore to the local group."||
||Overgrown Monolith (tentative region name for RL post-collapse) is like Silent Construct, but worse. Although it doesn't have red centipedes, since they don't live around here. That's one plus, I guess.||
||While Silent Construct has some remnants of the Wall and specific rooms from the Rot, Overgrown Monolith has barely anything left. One half of the structure fell first, was in a Silent Construct-like state briefly, then the other half, including the puppet chamber, fell on top of it, completely ruining anything that was left.||
||When Among Brightening Qualia says Restful Leaves is almost definitely incapacitated, ae means she's very, very dead.||
crystal geode
some notes I wrote about Restful Leaves' collapse when posting this piece to ao3...
||okay yeah I don't think there is anything to save there||
summer haven
||yeah, very little survived||
summer haven
Among Brightening Qualia, Spools of Lace
SoL: Hey, mostly out of curiosity- where did you get your start, bioengineering?
ABQ: Oh, bioengineering? Started with commissions for our creators. I think that’s where a lot of us got our start. Weight of a Feather, Life Sprung from Forgiveness, No Significant Harassment, Lost Extinction…
ABQ: Gosh, this is making me miss the old bioengineering chats. Good times.
ABQ: The first thing I ever made was just one of those manufacturing worms. For rendering phosphates down to base elements.
ABQ: It’s an extremely inefficient design, looking back at it. I really should have done better~
SoL: Hm. Okay.
SoL: I was thinking of trying bioengineering myself? I was hoping you had some ideas for where to start.
ABQ: Oh!! Great! Yes. I can send you some blueprints so you can practice simulations, and then the actual growing and crafting of purposed organisms.
ABQ: Mechanical organisms are easier for a beginner, so that’s where I’d start. They’re just simpler.
ABQ: I’d suggest doing a few of what I’d call throwaway projects; things you don’t really care about, just to improve your skill and gain some experience.
ABQ: Then, for me, I had the idea for my dream project; that’s the flightlings. You want to save the idea for a dream early, but continue to work on it for as long as possible before creating a final product.
ABQ: Other than that, basically anything is fair game so long as you have the resources.
ABQ: Our creators are gone, so there’s no rules on what you can and can’t make anymore. Bioengineering can be a wonderful outlet of creativity.
ABQ: Above all, enjoy it!
SoL: Alright. Thank you. ```Cameos from Cy, Stray Anton, and the Weight of a Feather collab.
Thanks y'all!
lilac knot
I really like how you frame bioengineering as something so artistic… it almost seems like a parallel to, I dunno, creative writing, maybe?
summer haven
Hehe
It is very much ABQ's creative outlet, and a lot of the advice ae gives aligns with advice I'd give about creative work like writing and art
So- yes!
molten elm
summer haven
summer haven
so I've written so much today that I have, I kid you not, ten pieces written ahead of what's posted here
help
summer haven
Most likely going to move this to a #1267947477437255761 thread, and at the same time do some cleanup and reorganizing, including reposting the full story and all the art.
I'm most likely not going to do that until later today, but when it does happen, I would prefer nobody talk there until everything is moved.
summer haven
Alright! Everything is moved over to #1268636325469356186, and I have posted a new piece there as well. Come join!