Lain

Comment on my roleplay, ask about my character, conspire to create a plot together, criticize my canon, point out my inconsistencies, plan my future, make fun of me, flame me, make me sad, make me mad, make me feel alight?

[Lain still bears the bandage encircling her cranium]

It still aches occasionally.
It conducts the ticking deeper.
It reminds me of my body, of my death.

Carmine, what you told me, that I must be dead since my heart isn't beating....

It seems true, or at least that's the consensus of knowledge within the City. But-

-I don't remember how I died. I have no memories that seem to be those of just before I arrived here. So, even though everyone says so, I can't help but doubt.

Maybe this place is flat before another dimension, like my home was before the Wired. Maybe when viewed with another dimension, this place is just an optical illusion....

( Private: Lain's Diary )

[Location:] 2.718

[Lain looks ashamed] ...
I'm back.

( What happened )

[a sullen expression comes across Lain's face]

I'll be wearing this bandage around my head for awhile. I'll also be scavenging for discarded hardware instead of trying to afford it new, for awhile. It's rather interesting, cobbling different parts together into a working whole. It's slow going, though.

[Lain perks up and looks attentive]

Ed: Contact me when you see this and don't do any work on Tomato until we talk! Tomato is now a lucky, spoiled computer, and I will show you why! [grin]
Thanks for your help in the maze!

Carmine: If you're still not sure of where to stay, maybe you could try my floor! There's almost no one around for adverse curse effects to... complicate, and the curses don't seem to affect me much.
Also, the- the ticking-, I liked it at first, but now it's just-, well, bothersome.

Maybe I'll find some discarded furniture as well.

[Location:] Unknown floor, not in Building 2 anymore

Somebody help me!

I was wandering the halls of building 2 again at night, when I felt a strange breeze. When I continued down the hall, I fell down a hole in the floor! Now I'm in a strange dark place, and my handy-navi can't tell me where I am!

This place has long straight halls like building 2, but there are no doors anywhere. I'm at a 4-way intersection, and the hole I came in through from about has vanished. It's dark here... all the ways look the same and I can't see to the end of any of them. I'll arbitrarily call them north, south, east, and west.

I-I'm okay from the fall, but... I think there's a monster here. I heard sounds in the distance, that... I can't describe. It's like an echo chamber and I can't tell where it came from. I- I have a gun. Don't ask. But- I'm afraid that because of the darkness I won't be able to see the monster until it's too late.

Please help me find my way out! Which way should I go? Anyone? I hope anyone can actually receive this...

( OOC Info on what's going on )

( Private: Lain's Diary )

[Location:] Wandering the 7th floor of the 2nd building

I've been sleeping a lot. Like I hadn't slept in a long time.

I am without purpose.
Things without purpose need not be.
Just standing takes most of my motivation to do.

The only thing I've accomplished is to connect my Handy-Navi to the local network wirelessly. This could be done entirely on the software side. I now carry the toy.

I wander the endless halls of my empty floor at night.
This has become almost a hobby.
The ticking follows me.
I feel unreal.

( Private: Lain's Diary )

[Location:] Building 2

I've taken up residence in Building 2, room 718.

I chose it because it's . [silly grin]
2.718 == number_format(M_E, 3)
This serves no purpose but to amuse me, and M_E, too. (笑) [more silly grin]

Rent was very inexpensive, probably due to the market effects of 12 competing firms, each with an infinite supply and a finite demand. I paid for it by pawning one of the guns some stuff from the backpack that I arrived with.

It's unfurnished, but relieving to have a safe place to sleep. I'm all alone on this floor so it's nice and private.

( Private Recollection )

[Location:] Cybernetics → near the fountain → the City → (unknown)

It is day now. The light is blinding.

I connected if one could call it that at a local internet cafe called Cybernetics.
As I had feared There is no IPv7+ here, and thus no Wired.
I have no power here, I am not omnipresent.
Though there is a network, I feel terribly disconnected without the Wired.

I am only an individual, tied to a physical body subject to death.
Being physical is so tenuous, as though my existence could simply vanish at any moment, like a faint candle flame.

This body comes with maintenance that I had once advanced beyond: weariness, hunger, sleepiness.
How to be able to fulfill these remains unknown, cannot remain so for long.

...I'm hungry.

[I'm including this because it is relevant and accurate to Lain's in-character story. Consider it Private]

"Where am I?" Lain thought as a terrible realization slowly came over her. She sensed... nothing: no Wired, not even a satellite signal. The Schumann resonance was so faint. How could any place be untouched by the ubiquitous computer network known as the Wired? It was so deafeningly quiet without the Wired, and at the same so piercingly loud, as locals passed by around her in the bustle of the City at evening.

Even the cool breeze was overwhelming, as she had not been confined to a physical body in so long. Her senses were out of tune. There was no safety of the Wired to escape or distract her mind to. No database to draw needed information from, no community to gain support and solace from. Only the worrisome feeling of being lost, alone in a place entirely foreign to her.

So, if only to avoid drawing attention to herself, she began to walk. It didn't matter where, just until her mind was clear. Her legs were stiff and wobbly and frail. It quickly became clear that she was malnourished, and even walking was taxing. Nevertheless, she plodded along into the city night.

When she dared look up, the people were all faceless and the same, moving almost in unison in a tide against her. She needed help, but could not bare to ask. So she wandered, disconnected, through the blinding hazy lights and surreal crowd, as the night slowly grew darker.