There are bluebirds over- Wait, those don't go here! [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 11.11.2018
Characters: Open!
Note: This is intended to be a very relaxed mingle to give people a bit of a breather. It is plot-related, but a lot less dramatic than prior mingles.

---

On the 11th, something about Mossgate Council has changed yet again - but this time, it isn't nearly as disturbing and dangerous as back on Halloween.

Instead of cobwebs and skeletons, there are poppies. Red poppies and white poppies have flowered over night. They cover fields and lawns, the Greens and the forest ground, troop exercise areas over at the airfields, the gardens of the manor house, and even parts of the beach.

And up over the white cliffs of Mossgate, bluebirds flap their wings, flying around and sitting on the castle ruins, and if one stands still for a while and offers breadcrumbs, they'll come over and sit on that person's hand to have a snack, too.

They seem a bit confused, but not nearly as confused as the ornithology department at Mossgate University that can't save itself from interviews - no, they have no idea how that American species suddenly showed up in such numbers and why they're sticking to the cliffs specifically. Jane Astbury finally suggests with some exasperation that maybe they're just doing a music-themed tour of Europe, and could they please let her staff and students teach and study in peace?

Comments

[iamnotgod]

"No, of course not - but when the animals are harder to avoid than normal, there would be added difficulties."

Walter shifts, feeling at least a little awkward.

"Not everyone's getting memories of people who were human, either."

[catted]

"...You're referring to yourself." It's half statement, half question, and most certainly asking for an extrapolation.

[iamnotgod]

A nod, after what feels like an eternity in a heartbeat.

"Yes. Not just me, either."

Though it's not his right to reveal what the others are going through; not without their permission.

"But, apart from two I can think of offhand, no one's getting memories of the same kind of nonhuman, either."

[catted]

That's okay. She would have been interested, but she was inquiring primarily about him.

"What kind of non-human memories are you getting?"

[iamnotgod]

"Some sort of... digital intelligence, embedded in the web."

There, now he's said it. Possibly not for the first time, but that's neither here nor there...

"It didn't feel like there was any sort of programming involved, just that it was- complex enough, to develop on its own? And then it met someone-"

Caitlin.

"Who learned how to communicate with it, showed it what the world looked like, what it looked like. Most of the memories so far have been actual videos that she was watching."

He manages a wry smile.

[catted]

"Huh." That certainly is something. And something quite unexpected. "How can you tell that it was a digital intelligence?"

[iamnotgod]

"Instant messaging. It could use that, and access websites. And it could produce text responses instantly, from a human standpoint."

If Nel had been right and he'd been a ghost, how would he have been able to interact with a computer? Stories combining tech and ghosts are a bit less consistent on that point.

[catted]

"Might you not just have been a human with a neural interface? Internet built into your brain?" She's read enough sci-fi to have seen that thought a few times.