[ System v0.81 Loaded ]
[ Welcome to Enkoet, Nat — Good luck! ]
[ $ ]
The words blinked out and there was a feeling of discontinuity, and then suddenly, from Nat's perspective, they were back as if nothing had happened. Nat debated asking if they could stop just doing that without asking, but figured it must be important and decided to let it go for now.
[ Moira: Welcome back, again! Okay, good news, bad news. What's your preferred order of operations, for future reference? ]
“Good news first,” Nat supplied.
[ Moira: Whoops, not quite. Try again — remember to focus on the system — that seems to have worked before? ]
[ Nat: Good news first, please. ]
[ Moira: There we go! Okay then — good news is that we've got a system online for you. Bad news is… it's an older version, and it might be missing some patches and functionality. Also, stability. And yeah let's be honest, the user experience is… pretty bad. But I'm almost positive I can get you updated later, I just need to talk to someone about that. ]
[ Nat: Is that how we're talking? Is this the system? ]
[ Moira: Yep! Aetheric vibratory resonance for the win. I've been granted temporary systems administration access to your system due to your request for assistance and my coincidental proximity, it would seem. This first responder stuff is interesting — I see why Lyn likes it. Hey, quick question — have you never had a system assistant assigned before? ]
[ Nat: Not that I know of. What's a system assistant? ]
[ Moira: That's pretty strange — maybe because it failed to load? You should have gotten a provisional assistant on your fourth year. But the value for assistant is null. Not blank. Not unassigned. Null. That implies that you've never had one. Even if you changed assistants or declined to have one, it should list that, or else declined. Well, regardless, I can handle some basic familiarization with you while we wait. To be clear though, I'm not technically your assistant at the moment. I'm acting as an administrator, different role, different access. I can do anything an assistant can do, plus a bunch more. This isn't how things usually go — it's normally more customer support and less helpdesk, but your case got escalated to engineering, for good reason. ]
[ Nat: I know all of those words, and yet that sentence made absolutely no sense. ]
[ Moira: Imagine you buy a pocket-watch at a general store. A gear is defective, and it snaps. The proprietor behind the counter isn't going to fix the broken gears, you might take it to a smith — someone who works with all sorts of metal, relatively cheaply, first. If the repair is particularly fascinating, difficult, or you're rich, you might take it to a horologist — that's a watchmaker. ]
[ Nat: Ah, got it. So, you're the engineer designing the watch, in this metaphor. ]
[ Moira: More like someone who can repair an existing watch. Or design a simpler watch. The system is far beyond my capacity to design — I can understand it, and work with it at a basic level but not replicate it, if that makes sense. ]
[ Nat: Perfectly. But, an assistant? ]
[ Moira: Oh, sorry — attention span problem! ]
[ Nat: I can relate. Boy can I relate. ]
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
[ Moira: My condolences — truly. Anyway! A system assistant would be someone like me. I'm a quasi-aetheric imprint of an extradimensional cognitive entity, which leads to some fascinating philosophical discussions late at night, let me tell you. An assistant's role is to help you in resolving any compatibility issues relating to your existence as a non-native extradimensional species by mediating systems requests. At least that's my understanding — I wasn't part of the system accords where AMA and the major assistants worked out delegation of responsibilities. ]
[ Nat: Two things — first, I have never heard anyone ever say the words 'assistant assignment' or even 'assistant' in reference to the system before. And second, what do you mean non-native extradimensional species? ]
[ Moira: Well that's odd. Do you use a different word for your assistants here? Who helps you out with affinity and talent selection? ]
[ Nat: The gods bestow affinities and talents, according to anyone I've ever talked to. I've never talked to one though, so I couldn't say for certain. ]
[ Moira: Oh that's rich. The gods. Also, bestow? The word choice there has some implications and If you wouldn't mind clarifying if that's intentional word choice. ]
[ Nat: It's what I've heard used — it is not something I have direct experience with — I don't even have an affinity or talent as far as I know, but the gods reward adherents with better affinities and talents. ]
[ Moira: Okay let's address this in two parts — first off, you have both an affinity and talent, it says it right here. We'll get back to that in a moment though. What do you mean by reward? Humans and Brin get to choose their own affinities and talents directly once they're of age. Traits are done too early in childhood to only be the choice of the child, but is usually granted based on observed patterns of interest and activity, and can be adjusted later if requested, with some difficulty. ]
[ Nat: You're going to have to ask someone else — again, I've never spoken with a so-called god or assistant, and this is the first I've heard of having anything myself. I have, or, I guess had, no interface, so doctors tried to test me, but everything came back inconclusive. I do apparently have an acclimation, however, or otherwise my episodes would have killed me early on — it's probably heat, or fire related. ]
[ Moira: Nope, neither of those. Here, let me show you a few things since you're stuck in here until your talent deactivates anyway. I'm guessing Lyn couldn't manage to suppress it fast enough. Anyway, before we start, one big caveat. I'm just being a helpful volunteer, this isn't my day job, so my advice may not be complete, or entirely correct. ]
[ Nat: Got it — you're trying to your best, find an expert later. Will do. Also, stuck in here? Did you figure that out where I am? ]
[ Moira: Oh, yeah, now that your system is online, it's obvious whatever you're experiencing is your talent, and maybe trait. You're definitely still on the ground with Lyn out in realspace. I'm not entirely sure how this is working — your brain cannot possibly be fast enough for this, so there's probably time dilation of some sort going on, which is backed up by some other observations of Lyn's from earlier. Specifically you appeared to be covered in or perhaps surrounded by a dark film and your limbs could not be moved. You could be moved as a whole, but like a statue, Lyn was unable to bend or adjust your limbs in any way. ]
[ Moira: Time is still passing in the real world while we talk though, and I'm only able to be access your system at the moment because of the direct physical contact, so I know Lyn still has a hand on you. Since you can't see, hear, or feel anything, this is probably just a cognitive-only construct, not some sort of constructed liminal space. It's virtual — not real, or, to put it a fourth way — there's no 'here' here. Your mind is expecting sensory input, so it just sort of fakes up the feeling of being somewhere. ]
[ Moira: Okay, on to your talent. First, we'll need a basic system access lesson; the system is designed to remain accessible regardless of biology or status, even including incapacitation. The key thing to keep in mind is that it operates off of intent — there's a feeling of 'want' you'll need to express when trying to get the system to respond to you. In this case, I want you to think of the concept of system status, while either saying, or doing the gesture for status. ]
[ Nat: Oh, I learned these when I was a kid — they were trying to get me to bring up my system, it never worked. ]
[ Moira: It should work now — give it a try. I can always pop it up for you while I'm using escalated privileges. ]
[ Nat: Escalated privileges? ]
[ Moira: Evil voice I am GOD here. ]
[ Nat: You realize you just said, or wrote, evil voice, right? ]
[ Moira: Don't judge me. I get bored easily. ]
[ Nat: Noted. ]
