Happy Halloween!

[mosaic_archive]

It might be a good idea to carry an umbrella when walking in the open area of the Nexus today. Not because of rain, however, but because of a light shower of wrapped fun-sized candies that started when a threshold number of portals reached midnight on October 30th (or the first second of the 31st, depending on how you look at it) and will continue until the same conditions for midnight October 31st.

The free candy is perfectly safe. The ground fog playing over the grassy field, however, carries an LOL with the following effects: If someone is not in costume they suddenly will be (mun's choice), and may have abilities to match whatever they're costumed as. An example would be someone in a ghost costume gaining the temporary ability to float or walk through walls. If someone is already in a costume they might get related abilities, but will otherwise be partly immune. All effects will wear off at the same time as the end of the candy shower.

In other words: Happy Halloween, everyone.

Comments

[pogo_boy]

That sounded a bit scary. "I don't want anything to be stuck." Learning to chew will be tricky enough.

Quint nods. Enker had made sure he was one of the few let in on the whole content of the games, and Zero had let a few others know when it was all over... "And not just to win. If Zero hadn't known he'd need to have a way to survive a fall out of orbit after dealing with Weil..."

And the mention of the films makes Quint briefly look embarrassed. "I, um, I've seen those, but I know how different things can be. But... I spent most of the third film wanting to smack your alternate," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck and looking very sheepish. "Leaving that woman there was the one thing they couldn't do, because she wasn't supposed to be there any more. They had to take her with them because she couldn't be anywhere in their relative past, because she already wasn't. But the movie kept playing it as completely the other way around."

[dee_lorean81]

"This doesn't stick," Dee assures him. "Here, lemme show you." She opens up the Kit-Kat and breaks off a stick, then pops it into her mouth and chews for a bit. Once she swallows, she opens her mouth so Blaine can see her teeth. "See? All good!"

"A fall out of orbit?" Marty repeats, appropriately stunned. "Sheesh, that's pretty hardcore. Yeah, something you wanna be warned about beforehand."

Doc chuckles. "Very different in our case -- Marty and I never actually lived any of the events of the movies, thanks to the Fae. But it's fine -- I myself was pretty frustrated with my screen counterpart. First he ends up madly in love with a woman after a mere three days -- granted, after saving her life, and she did seem like the sort of woman I'd want a relationship with -- and then, upon realizing he's spared her when she should have died, his reaction is to stay in the past with her instead of explaining properly about the time machine and taking her with him. I was honestly shocked the movie Marty didn't spend more time trying to convince the movie Doc bringing her to the future was the best course of action."

"Eh, movie me didn't seem to like Clara much," Marty admits with a shrug. "Plus he was dealing with that shit with Buford. . .I think he was just done with all the time travel crap and just wanted to get home."

[pogo_boy]

Little Blaine tries to mimic what he just saw with his piece of Kit-Kat, blinking in surprise at the taste. (After all, he's never actually tasted anything before.) He's relieved to find that the same basic reploid 'driver software' that covered the very basics of walking also covers how to swallow.

Quint nods. "It's like the writers spontaneously forgot what can cause a paradox, just to pad out the film. Things like that almost make me glad all my family ever got was dumb platformer games. And apparently this cartoon show that's very way off from us... though I met some people from it here a long time ago."

[dee_lorean81]

Dee watches him as he masticates. At least he seems to come to grips with chewing fairly quickly. "Whatcha think?" she asks once he's swallowed. "Good?"

"I think it's more like they didn't define what could cause a paradox clearly enough," Doc says. "The rules of time travel are a little inconsistent through the series -- which I can understand, given the sequels were apparently initially unplanned and came along a few years later. But still -- it does lead to some dumb behavior for the sake of drama."

"Oh, you guys have a shitty cartoon too?" Marty says. "Great. . .I hope I never meet the Animated Series version of me. I'd probably try to punch him, anti-violence field or no."

"He wasn't that bad," Alice says, shaking her head.

"He didn't get how a tuning fork or sound waves worked. I play the guitar."

[pogo_boy]

He has to think about that. "I like it. Does that mean it's good?" Because he's seen ample evidence, even among his few remaining memories, that just because someone likes something does not make it good. Or bad, just because they dislike it.

"The poeple I met from ours weren't that bad. Just... really different. Their Mega was even more of a rockhead than ours, despite never being named Rock, and their Blues... actually went by Proto and was on Dr. Wily's side instead of... well, Blues is kind of hard to tell when it comes to things like that. And then there were still other alternates who were all computer programs and no one was related - not even Rock, Roll, and Blues - and that Blues had really long silver hair. It was just... weird. But I guess we would have seemed weird to them, too.

[dee_lorean81]

The pause makes Dee worry for a moment -- then he says he liked it, and she relaxes. "Yeah -- it's supposed to taste good. That's why humans make it. Wanna try another piece?"

"Sounds like things were really different," Marty notes, whistling. "Guessing it was made by somebody who knew the games but not much of the story behind them. Still, as long as it wasn't as bad as ours. . ."

"You are taking this very personally," Alice notes, as Victor hides a laugh.

"Look, the guy who wrote the original movies worked on the series. You'd think he of all people would get us right."

[pogo_boy]

Little Blaine smiles, though it can't be seen under the bedsheet - he had to pull the candy under the sheet to eat it before. "Yes, please."

"8-bit platformer games," Quint says. "The early ones didn't really mention what was going on, just had a menu screen for which of my siblings you wanted to beat up next..."

Quint nods. "Yeah, and not realizing a musician would know what a tuning fork is... that's just dumb. It'd be like if someone did a cartoon or comic strip where someone had to explain how a pogo stick works to me... I probably be tempted to show them Sakugarne up close."

[dee_lorean81]

Even if Dee can't see the smile, she can kind of hear it in his voice. She finds another piece of candy, this one a mini Crunch bar. "It's kind of like a Kit-Kat, only the crunchy bits are all through the chocolate."

"Okay, yeah, fair enough," Marty says. "Suppose there are worse alternate realities."

He grins, vindicated as Quint agrees with him about the tuning fork thing. "I know, right? And don't get me started on how that version of me treated his girlfriend." He shakes his head. "Saturday Morning cartoons, man. They're just -- not good."

[pogo_boy]

A little tan hand appears from the hiked-up bedsheet and disappears with the candy. Crunch. After a few moments, he says "I like this one, too."

Quint nods, and then belatedly realizes that one bit of what he'd said might not make sense. "Um, Sakugarne is my primary weapon. It's kind of... well, it's a pogo stick, sort of... mixed with a jackhammer."

[dee_lorean81]

Dee grins. "Awesome! Food's pretty cool once you get used to it." She locates a couple of lollipops among the scattered sweets. "Okay, these are a little different -- you unwrap 'em and then just suck on them, and they get smaller and smaller before dissolving entirely. You can bite 'em, but they're not like chocolate bars." After a moment, she adds (because he is brand new to this), "And you don't eat the stick."

There's a few raised eyebrows at that. "How does that work?" Alice asks.

"I'm thinking -- you jump on something, and it kind of drills down?" Marty says, trying to demonstrate with appropriate hand motions. "Or, uh, hammers down, I guess. . .doesn't sound fun to be on the other side of, anyway."

[pogo_boy]

Little Blaine will accept a lollipop - and then there is no more comment from him for a while, because he has a lollipop in his mouth.

"Um, more like just crushes what I land on, or makes huge holes in the ground... which, no, I don't really understand how it does that, because I know me and Sakugarne together don't have enough actual mass to flatten small tanks, but..," he sighs, "An alternate of one of my brothers once said that Dr. Wily would break the laws of physics just to one-up Dr. Light, and then stuff it in a robot." That comment of the other Forte's had gotten spread around after Zero had repeated it.

"I don't know if this will help, but..," It only takes a split second of concentration to make Sakugarne appear from his weapons datastorage. He doesn't hop on it, though... but instead holds it in a way that might remind some of a child with a teddy bear. "It can work as a regular pogo stick, too... only bouncier." Normal pogo sticks didn't bounce as high as small buildings, after all.

[dee_lorean81]

That's all right, because Dee happily sucking away on a lollipop herself. And making plans on talking her dad into bringing some of this candy home with them.

Doc frowns. "Hmmmm -- there must be something about the weapon that amplifies the force it exerts on whatever it lands on. . .though I'm admittedly not sure how. Particularly with the force you're talking about -- small tanks? Really?"

"I'd blame video game logic," Marty says, snorting at the comment about Dr. Wily. "Well, good for him, I suppose. Less everybody else, but yeah."

Doc leans in for a closer look once the weapon is summoned. "Interesting. . .though it makes its ability to crush things even more confusing. It looks more like it would pierce whatever it landed on."

"How high can it go?" Alice asks, curious.

[pogo_boy]

"I've bounced as high as some of the big Transformers that used to come here," Quint replies. "So... about the same as a two-story building."

"I'd do a demonstration, but I don't want to bury a bunch of candy in dirt or have it fall in a crater... that would just be a waste of good candy."

[dee_lorean81]

Marty whistles. "Holy crap. Doc and I met one of those guys -- well, girl in our case -- before, and -- yeah. That's pretty freaking high."

"I should say," Alice agrees, eyes wide. "And I thought I could get some good height on my jumps when I visit Wonderland. . ."

Dee, overhearing the bit about wasting good candy, shakes her head and pops her lollipop out of her mouth. "Yeah, no. That would be about as bad as just leaving it here all over the ground."

Doc tries not to smile. "Dee, we can't take all of it back with us."

"I'm not saying we don't share," Dee replies, gesturing to Quint, Blaine, and the others.

[pogo_boy]

"It's still going to take a long time to clean up," Quint says, looking around at all the scattered candy. "But it wouldn't be good to just leave it littered either." He frowns slightly, thinking it over. "Maybe I could request some drones to help gather it up at least. Not Metools... they don't have hands. And not Magflies either... candy isn't magnetic... maybe Battons. They don't actually have hands either, but they do have a retractable pincher they usually use when hanging upside down/" A chuckle, and he adds, "They'd even fit the Halloween theme."

[museicalmarty]

"That's for sure," Marty says, looking around with him. "I don't think the anti-violence field protects against tripping on a Snickers." He grins as Quint mentions the Batton drones. "Retractable pincer? Makes 'em sound like a crane game. Hopefully they're better at grabbing stuff."

"I suppose we could go find some shovels, if you think it would help," Victor comments.

"I'm not entirely convinced the Nexus doesn't clean itself up," Alice admits. "I still remember the time I got splatted by strawberry tarts thanks to some cartoon bomb. No sign of it the next time I came for a visit."

[pogo_boy]

"If this place cleans itself up," Little Blaine decides to ask, even though it means taking the lollipop out of his mouth, "then would all the candy disappear?" Because that would be a bad thing, he thinks.

"I know I haven't been cleaning all of it," Quint semi-jokes, though most outside of his family wouldn't know about his sometimes compulsive cleaning habits. "I think it would make the extra candy disappear, so if we want to claim any of it, it needs to be gathered up. I'm calling Wood for some Battons... They can at least get it all together, and maybe sorted into piles by what it is, and then we just have to carry off what we wanted."

[clockwork_doc]

"That sounds logical," Doc agrees. "Anything someone's put a claim on stays -- anything extra eventually gets vanished. By what, I don't know, but I think trying to figure out the inner workings of the Nexus is an exercise in futility."

"Sorted by kind of candy or brand?" Alice says, picking up a piece. "Because this particular wrapper is written in a language I haven't seen before."

"Multiversal Nexus, multiversal candy," Doc theorizes. "If we can find a way to check any of it for additional LOLs, or other magical effects, that might be a good idea too." So far it looks like the candy storm is the extent of the strangeness, but -- better safe than sorry, right?

https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Batton

[pogo_boy]

Quint looks at the wrapper and frowns slightly. He doesn't know that one, either... which means more portal investigation might be in his near future. "I was thinking by kind of candy, but it depends on what I can get the Battons to understand. They're just drones, after all."

And flying in overhead is a fairly decent swarm of round bat-like robots.

[museicalmarty]

"Maybe we could have an 'other' pile for stuff we don't know," Marty suggests, before looking up as said drones fly in. "Oh! Yeah, definitely appropriate for the holiday."

[pogo_boy]

"Maybe," Quint says. "Like I said, it'll depend on what I can get the Battons to understand. Drones are kind of... turtles all the way down." He chirps something up at them in an encoded compressed binary message that totally ruins the illusion of being a human child. The Battons circle in a sort of holding pattern and approach Quint one at a time.

With each one, he finds the nearest different piece of candy, shows it to the Batton for identification, places it as the start of a pile, and then has them start a grid search of the area for any matches still lying on the ground - a quick addendum he made when he realized he didn't want them stealing any candy someone had already picked up - and to bring it and add it to the pile before resuming the search where they left off. He'll have to explain it to each one individually, assigning each to a different candy.

There were reasons humans got so frustrated at working with drones that they came up with Robot Masters in the first place. Luckily, the compressed binary message is a lot faster than using English... or German.

Little Blaine watches this, going back to his lollipop for a bit.

[museicalmarty]

"They're -- what?" Marty asks -- but it seems the question will have to wait a moment, as Quint starts instructing the Battons in their task. Despite knowing very well that Quint and his compatriots are mechanical, the fact that they look so much like flesh-and-blood humans means it's still weird for the group to see him chatting with the drones in binary. It cna't be be denied that it's efficient, though -- he seems to be going through the group pretty quickly with those chirps.

Dee sucks on her lollipop as well, watching, before looking over at Doc. "So when are you going to learn how to speak Car?"

"Give me some common words and grammar rules and I'll give it a shot," Doc replies. "Though I imagine I'll have a terrible accent, given I have vocal cords and not an engine."

[pogo_boy]

Quint looks a little embarrassed once he's got all the Battons set on their assignments. "Sorry. That's kind of a common phrase back home. It means 'dumb', but in a certain simple AI way. You see, there used to be this program over a century ago called the Logo Turtle. It drew pictures, but you had to tell it how exactly. Like, to draw a square with sides fourty turtle-steps long would be 'forward 40, right 90," and you have to repeat that four times."

"Some drones seem smarter on the surface, and I've even seen some where their AI has developed to where they're more like pets... and a few extremely rare cases that are like people. But most of them? It's turtles, all the way down." His siblings have tried to weed the 'special' ones out of the general drone groups, and find them names and homes, so when sending for a batch like this he doesn't expect to find any smart ones here.

And he might be right... as the drones each start piling up their assigned candies, he notices a Batton contentedly piling up every kind of M&M mixed with Skittles and a few other kinds that are essentially the same shape and sold in a packet. Even though he had them go by visual identification and tried to instruct enough to search for 'variants' to keep from having to have a separate pile for every flavor of lollipop... Oh well. He had to admit they did look the same. "Maybe I should have done searches by printed names on the labels, but then there's the language issue..." He picks up what might be an M&M packet that seems to be labeled in Tolkien Elvish.

[museicalmarty]

"Oh, jeez, that thing," Marty says with a laugh. "Yeah, I actually got to play with one of those in school once. It was kind of a pain in the butt to make it do exactly what you wanted it to. Could make some cool patterns, though. But yeah, now I get what you're saying. You gotta be super exact, or. . ."

"Or you get M&Ms and Skittles grouped together," Doc says, having noticed the same drone that Quint has. "Which, admittedly, is a pretty easy mistake to make if you're going strictly by visual similarities rather than something like flavor."

"Mmmm," Alice says, tossing and catching her own mysteriously-labeled piece of chocolate. "Well, we already know that we can't save all of it. And we can help correct the mistakes the drones make. They won't try to group them together again if we start moving Skittles to a separate pile, will they?"

[pogo_boy]

Quint nods. "And most drones only eat e-tanks. It's not something they'd understand."

"That's sad," Little Blaine comments quietly, taking a brief break from his lollipop. "I like tasting things... at least the things I've tasted so far."

Quint shakes his head. "I told them to pick up candy on the ground, within the borders of the field, and that wasn't already in a pile. Otherwise they'd keep picking up the same items they already sorted."

Little Blaine is giving curious looks to the M&M and Skittles pile. He remembers the other wrappers - the Kit Kat and the Crunch Bar had mentioned chocolate too. "I like chocolate. What do Skittles taste like?"