Mistiel

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

Does anybody have any inspirations or ideas for art for an initial picture of the city? If a gracious Photoshop owner is willing to like...swap the Seattle Columbia Tower and the Space Needle (optional) into the middle of a bunch of farms (with a couple of apartment high rises clustered around the Columbia Tower {also optional but would be more realistic}). I really only need/want the one picture for the beginning of the RP, like most RPs seem to have. Would it be easier to swap in a bunch of farms around the Seattle cityscape?

Oh, and I'd need like a pink forcefield-esque filter over the sky. Either that, or just take a zoomed out shot and put a translucent pink bubble over the city (not stopping for water?).

I don't know if you'd expect RL money as payment, but I have a $10 iTunes gift card I haven't used yet. Could give you the code for that I suppose. :/

Camp Castaway

@KatherinWinter

Okay, finally, we're getting somewhere, Lin thought as she walked side-by-side with the younger girl. The firepit's pillar of smoke was just visible through the trees. She could almost make out the flames, but it was mid-morning by now, so it was bright and hard to see. "Ivy, we're here!" she said, looking next to her. Her roving peepers only found empty space. "WHAT? She was right next to me! How does she DO that?" Lin exclaimed aloud, exasperated as she spun in a circle.

Thankfully, a set of still smoking footprints led a ways off to her left and back. Lin had no trouble following them, jogging to keep up. She was going to find that girl and bring her back to the firepit if it gave her third-degree burns. Oddly enough, the prospect of Ivy burning her didn't bother her that much. Lin always was the type of person who had to stick her hand in the soup kettle before she would believe it was hot. Then again, the memory of just putting a hand on the girl's back as she smoldered didn't seem so bad in retrospect. She could totally do this. She'd show Kyle.

Ivy was heard before she was spotted. Increasing her speed, Lin followed the sound of thumping footsteps. Sighing, she thought as she observed the younger girl from about fifteen meters away chasing a butterfly. See Kyle? She's harmless. You just need to find the right way to reach her. Even as she said that, when Ivy ran too close to a rhubarb plant, its big paddle leaves had wisps of smoke curling up from them. It was then that Lin realized her mistake. They were currently surrounded almost entirely by flammable vegetation...with an easily distracted fire girl. She could almost see Kyle's smug expression. Then a possible future flashed before her eyes.

Ivy, a whirling tornado of fiery destruction spinning out from under the forest canopy, gleefully unaware. Lin crawling out on all fours, severely burned. Kyle standing over her with an angry expression, water puddling at his feet. "Water..." Dream Lin croaked, but none was forthcoming. Instead, Kyle merely looked at her with pity...and walked away. It was Lin's worst nightmare all over again, being left alone.

She snapped out of her reverie, remembering she needed to keep a constant watch on Ivy.

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

@TheUnknowable As I explained in my original post, sign language is impossible because of a genetic defect in that everyone has the same level of juvenile arthritis, developed from birth (just one more reason for an astute character to be a teency bit suspicious of the Progenitors as time goes on). As for the body language thing, the Progenitors preach that actions speak louder than words. (Gee, I wonder where we've all heard THAT before? ^.-)

"Actions speak louder than words" is the basis for the entire roleplay, really. Except that words do have value and that they should always be used with care (hence my signature quote).

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

@Mistiel But would they not still engage in sex as a primary means of bonding? Without verbal intimacy, phsyical intimacy is really all you have left, and if there was no more sex, due to test tube babies, and such, I feel like the suicide rates would skyrocket due to neurotransmitter imbalances causing severe depression and anxiety without a cure, and due to the isolation, Seattle would be hard pressed to aquire a number of pharmaceutical ingredients.

EDIT: Unless you continued Seattle's trend of marijuana usage.

@PrivateVentures

You make an excellent point. Viviparous births it is! This brings a whole new meaning to Fluttershy's lullaby LOL!

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

@Mistiel So let's say we have a character who holds the last copy of the Kama Sutra...

@PrivateVentures

That depends on my earlier comment replying to @Lady Selune:

I didn't think of the consequences of people being BORN. Should they be grown in test tubes Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) style? Or should they have normal viviparous births, with young infants and children using up a good portion of their word count as they mature?

EDIT: Is this also more of a nation RP? This went from me taking a cutesie one liner "words are oxygen" and creating an entire society based off that premise. This is turning into Divergent in my head. :/

@Mistiel

EDIT x 2: The Progenitor teachers either require or strongly encourage students to speak at times, BTW. This is a bit unfair considering that the teachers get to teach via Powerpoint and specially written textbooks.

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

@PrivateVentures

Oh yes, especially anything that predates the Progenitors! Those books would be viewed as dangerous, borderline sacrilege to some. As a matter of fact, the Tacuit Autem burn any books that they find that predate the Progenitors. (The Tacuit Autem are basically tacit - hehe - supporters of not speaking at all. They're colossal pussies, for lack of more eloquent phrasing.) Reading provokes discussion, which would be taboo to them.

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

@Mistiel I didn't google it yet. Is it a thing?

I like the idea, but I have to wonder- why don't they communicate via written or digital means?

@PrivateVentures

The digital means can be explained by the Progenitors not making cellphones, laptops and the like publicly available. Writing brings on pain and swelling from the juvenile arthritis everyone was born with since birth. However, it stands to reason that maybe some character discovers a laptop of say, a former University of Washington medical student, and somehow happens upon knowledge that answers the question of "why are we the way we are?" Although if holding a pen brings on swelling, perhaps typing does as well. Hard to say....that seems like a topic for a consensus vote.

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

I knew I should've Googled to see if this was a thing. Of course I'm not the first one to think of this! Why would I be? Waaah ;-;

Seriously, that is some sexy verse though. The tingles!

Change A Single Word

Circus act

Words Are Oxygen [Hardcore]

@Lady Selune

Yes, but words are considered as precious. If you speak, it's the one way people in this society know you truly mean what you say. However, you can still deceive....for the price of your vitality.

I didn't think of the consequences of people being BORN. Should they be grown in test tubes Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) style? Or should they have normal viviparous births, with young infants and children using up a good portion of their word count as they mature?

EDIT: Is this also more of a nation RP? This went from me taking a cutesie one liner "words are oxygen" and creating an entire society based off that premise. This is turning into Divergent in my head. :/