I'm excited! There's a note from Alyssa! She says she has a surprise for me in the afternoon! I wonder what it is. She's been away on her vacation, so things were kind of slow. Still, it's a sweet kind of slow. I can finally go on proper dates with Edward! Well, uh... Kinda-sorta. I always wanted to go on a date to the mall, but malls aren't a thing yet! Maybe Alyssa will invent one. Good gods, she's awesome. She's glorious. She's the coffee-bringer. Seriously enough, coffee, pizza, affordable sweets... I guess I'm lucky she's a kind person deep down. I was kind of a jerk to her at first. And at second, too, come to think of it. It took a while for me to pull my head out of my ass. We're totes cool now, best friends even. Maybe even a little more than that. Edward's a sweetie, but if I remember the hints from the game right, he's kinda maybe... Well. The thing was mostly glossed over in the official western version, but I remember reading on the internet that in the original, Ed was kinda pervy and cool with swinger stuff. Not hurrying there, NTR is a trash fetish, but if Ed is cool with it, I totally wanna jump Alyssa's bones. Or, heh, tentacles. Sheesh, I can't believe she just... casually goes "yeah, I haz tentacles and know how to put them on schoolgirls".
Aaanyway, I'm cool, I'm cool. This thing with her isn't a certain bet yet, and won't be on the table for a while anyways... And I still need to talk to her girls and ask them for permission too... I'll get there, I guess. One day at a time, Selene, one day at a time. I wonder what kind of surprise Alyssa has for me... What's that scraping sound?
"...eee..." - I squeal as it rounds the corner. Angly harsh black iron thing, pointy and rusty, a pyramid atop the muscular torso dressed in a bloodstained apron, a huge knife making that scraping noise...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEIII OH GODS HOLY FUCKING WHY?" - and I'm running down the corridor as the fucking Pyramidhead walks after me. Oh gods oh gods oh gods what the everloving fuck is going on, where is everyone, what is going on, where did THIS unholy bastard come from and WHYYYY! I slam the door shut, smack the deadbolt into place and continue running toward the window. This is beyond fucked up, oh gods, what the fuck. Aaand that's where I run face-first into tits.
"GBAH!... Oh gods what, Alyssa whatthefuckishappeningthereisfuckingpyramidheadafterme!" - I babble as I bounce off from her. Ow. Her tits are hard... And her eyes are just empty bloody holes AAAAAAAAAAAH!... No, wait, this...
"Pffhahaha, got you!" - she chortles, slapping her knee with her palm, as her face suddenly reverts to her normal look. I look around in panic, squeak as Pyramidhead just casually steps out from the bathroom opposite to the door I just slammed shut... and morphs into another Alyssa, who comes up to high-five the first one. Two Alyssas turn to me, and with absolutely insufferable identical smirks, say "Surprise?!"
I, uh... beat on both of them and called them every bad word I knew in every language. That was fucking rough prank. A really neat one, I admit, but holy shit why, I just about shat myself.
"Come on. I was sitting on that joke ever since I've transmigrated." - she objects - "I mean, my name is Alyssa Gillespie, for crying out loud. How could I not do a Silent Hill gag? And you're just about the only person who'd get it, too. I mean, maybe Jeannette-Thereze would too, but I barely know her yet. Oh, speaking of which, she's like us and I told her about you, so she just might come up sometime to shoot air. Just keep in mind she's been here for a while, first thing she asked me is who won, Obama or McCain, so, yeah. Fifteen years is my educated guess, give or take. Better start brushing up on the stuff you watched, she was really curious about animes for some reason. Also, heads up, she's actually two people in one body. One's Jeanette and the other's Thereze. They're sisters, and yes, they're just like in the game, except not vampire."
"Why there are two of you." - I ask dumbly. I know, I know, but... like.. just... how? I mean, I, uh, well... Alyssa sort of DOES that thing. That's her schtick, even. Doing impo.. no. Not impossible. Inconceivable. Still, just.. AAAAAGH! Why does she have all the best ideas? Soooo jelly.
"Oh, yeah, remember me mentioning extreme bioplasticity? Turns out I don't actually need to be physically connected. Multitasking is a bitch, though, the more instances I try to run, the easier it is to screw something up." - she quips back happily. SOOO JELLY. And a little bit uncomfortably aroused, seeing her just...meld together into a single figure. Goodness golly gracious, a LOT little bit uncomfortably aroused. NNgh. Ditto ain't got shit on her.
"Anyway, I'm still on vacation, I just realized I should warn you about Jeannette-Thereze since I told her about you and all that... Oh, and here, have a tablet." - aand she gives me yet another thing I thought I've left behind in other life - "I've populated a contact list for you with some mutual acquaintances, but the rest is all on you. I've made sure there were enough tablets delivered to his majesty to be sure everyone in the royal family has their own, so, yeah. Might want to exchange contacts with Jeannette-Thereze if she comes around. Toodles, see you in the spring. Or sooner if you decide to videocall, I guess."
___
Aaaa! Eeee! OOoh!
...Why yes, I have taken a leave of my senses, to borrow some sarcasm from Alyssa. I mean, I had good reason to! But... just... Agh. The tablet. Somehow. Has internet. Granted, it's not obvious. The browser is stuck out of the way in the "experimental" menu. I only turned it on out of curiosity. And promptly lost my marbles when I saw Google prompt asking if I'm feeling lucky. Good gods, I can't believe I can catch up on everything... And I do mean everything. My old accounts are all closed down, it looks like. And, morbidly enough, I actually read my own obituary. Apparently, I just fell asleep one evening and just... never woke up again. Man, it was crazy waking up here. Took me a couple days to really believe I transmigrated somewhere. A couple weeks to truly believe I am now ablebodied.
I thought about posting, but... yeah, well, no. I'm dead and gone, trying to pull off communication from beyond the grave is just gonna make things awkward for everyone. Besides, I'm pretty sure my folks are low-key relieved I've finally croaked. No need to rain on their parade. Yeah, I know, kinda morbid to think of myself like this, but let's be honest - I was always a burden in the last life. Being born with a degenerative neural disorder will do that. This, well, is why I am more or less permanently in a "drunk on life" mood, to be honest - because I kinda am. Being ablebodied will do that to a person. Last life, I only ever was truly mobile until I was like... nine. After that? Well, motor skills are one of the first things impacted by Batten disease. The last few years were nothing but bed rest. Still counting myself lucky I didn't lose vision almost until the end. Internet was my isekai before I got isekai'd for real, heh.
So yeah, I'mma lurk. Not sure if I even can post anything from here, or this thing is one way onl... wait, no, stupid idea. Internet is never one-way only. Still, gonna lurk. And read some stuff. Not sure what kind of bandwidth Alyssa can put on these, or how it even works, so I'mma be cautious about it. Don't want to find out I used up all the internet I'll ever have in this new life of mine in a one-night cat videos binge.
...Or not. That was an Academy footman right now. Apparently, I'm expected at the palace. Wonder why. Ed would just come over, I doubt the king would bother summoning me like this, no real reason for him to do that right now, so... Wait, I have an invitation, I don't actually need to guess... Oh. Ooh. Good grief, Alyssa's timing is... Actually, come to think of it, she always has this insane timing. Because I'm invited by Jeannette-Thereze. The official reason being that me being Ed's putative fiancee means we might be in-laws in the future, hence some getting to know each other. And, for everyone else, she's also "doublechecking if she's suitable for his excellency Edward" behind the lines. So glad this is not the setting like one of those gritty medieval fantasies with a super-formal court. I'd never get through one of those safely.
___
Jeannette is so much easier to talk to than Thereze. I mean, don't get me wrong, Thereze is cool. But she's just so... PRIM. Not "passively-aggressively in your face" prim, too. I could deal with that. No, her deal is "prim because she was born a lady" kinda prim. Still, now that Alyssa clued me in they're actually different people sharing one body, it started making a lot of sense. I used to think Jeannette-Thereze is bipolar or something before. Not really much of a reason for me to hang out with crownprincess to begin with, to be honest, but... yeah, I had opinions. Impressions, even.
"...Jeebus. No wonder you're larking about. Your last life was balls to the wall awful." - Jeannette commiserates. Somehow, they wormed the whole story out of me. Man, their social-fu is on a whole different level. I never even told Alyssa that, and she's my BFF in this life, I guess. Then again, Alyssa never asked, and I have this distinct feeling her own previous life wasn't something she likes to think back to much, same as me.
"Yeah well, I like this one way better." - I agree with a van smile, sipping my coffee. Jeannette copies me, wrinkles her nose and stirs yet another spoonful of sugar in.
"Gah. Still not... quite it." - she grumbles - "Like, can you believe? No one knows what cocoa is. Like... not even in theory."
"I had no idea coffee is called cava around here until Alyssa clued me in. Maybe there is cocoa, just called something different?" - I suggest.
"If only." - Thereze replies, making me twitch. The way they shift back and forth is innerving. Not uncomfortably hot like what Alyssa does with her randomly being maybe liquid, but... Like, everything stays the same, but also changes. The expression, the pose, the tilt of brow, lip, cheek... Little things, but the overall effect is quite jarring. Aanyway, she is saying something... "...No cocoa equivalent. Then again, the maps I have seen strongly suggest there might be undiscovered lands across the ocean, so... Entirely possible there is a local analogue of New World. Weirdly, some things like potato are already known, though. Not sure how. Might be the divergence or there were people who did find the way across the ocean in the past."
"Wait, idea!" - Jeanette suddenly comes to the surface forcefully - "Selene, your dad is like... a ship captain, right? Why can't we hire him to discover us our own America?"
"Maybe because discoveries like that are expensive and dangerous endeavours?" - Thereze comes up again - "Still, the idea DOES have a certain merit, and I do believe we could devote some funds towards financing geographic discovery, if opportunity exists. Selene, what do you think? Would your father be even interested in trying to sail across the ocean?"
I have to chuckle. "Technically, yeah, but Alyssa already called dibs on him." - I reply cheerfully - "She is giving dad a whole lot of moolah to build up a trade fleet and new ship designs too, so, yeah. He's probably gonna be working with her for a while."
"New designs, really?" - Thereze muses - "Do you happen to remember any details about those, perchance? That is, if saying something to us is not betraying anyone's confidences, of course."
"Alyssa gave us like a presentation a while ago. So yeah, probably fine." - I wave the concern off - "Dad used to have a pair of cogs. Basically big boats, rather then ships. Since he stuck to jobs around Haver or just sailed out to fish most of the time, it was fine. He'd like to have something bigger, but karrack is just too expensive for him. Then Alyssa came along, and now my dad sold the cogs and instead had a pair of sloops built. I THINK they're a bit bigger and have fancy triangular sails instead of dinky square ones."
"Schooner rigging? Ok, but still small boats only?" - Thereze apparently is interested.
"So far?" - I shrug - "They were the simplest to build. Right now, dad is using these two to do what he did with cogs, and waiting on brigantines. Alyssa gave him schematics and money to build two and hire them up. She also said once he gets the brigantines on the water and starts working them for good, she will give him cash to build a clipper. Dad's kinda obsessed with ships going fast, there's no way he would pass up on owning a clipper, you know? Oh and Alyssa said something about giving him two galleons for the trade fleet once he has the rest of ships built and tested. Something something rebuilding old karracks to better standards, I think."
"Ohhh. So a diverse trading fleet, I see. Sloops for local jobs, brigantines for short distance trading, galleons for heavy loads and clippers for luxury wares. Alyssa thinks big, have to give her that." - she muses - "Goodness, I need to get in on that. That promises to be lucrative."
"Windjammers were also mentioned as future option, along with steamboats." - I poke. It's weird seeing Thereze so animated. Guess business talk really gets her going.
"Wait, wait, timeout. Windjammers, as in like those humongous fuck-off big huge ships with like seven masts or something?" - Jeannette pipes up - "Wow, that sounds cool. Think she'll invite us for the inaugural cruise?"
"..Uh, probably? I mean, if she does the cruise thing at all, yeah, I think. Maybe? Better ask her, I think. Oh, speaking of Alyssa, did you see the latest crazy thing she pulled off?" - I retort.
"Do tell." - Thereze answers for both of them, looking strangely intent.
"Check this out. Past life internet!" - I gleefully inform them, poking the relevant icon on the tablet.
"...Tusk and Horny?" - Jeannette muses - "Plundering dungeons for their tight sheaths and girthy swords? Oh, my. That sounds... raunchy."
I... probably should have closed the last page viewed. So mortified!
"Internet, and first thing you did was to look up some smut to read?" - Thereze muses incredulously - "Seriously, Selene? Seriously?"
"Aw come off it." - Jeannette pipes up - "So she likes some futanari words, what of it? We don't kinkshame in this reality, sis."
"I mean, was it truly the most important thing to look up?" - Thereze defends her stance - "I do not know about you, but first thing I'd look up would be what happened to our past family."
I sigh. "In my defence, I did find my own obituary." - I offer quietly - "Decided to just lurk and read raunchy stuff after seeing it. I'm pretty sure communicating from beyond the grave would give my folks nothing but grief."
She puts her hand on my shoulder. "...I am sorry." - they say in a rare moment of complete unity.
"Skipping that, lemme see that story!" - Jeanette suddenly snatches up the tablet - "OOh, oh my, sounds like the hero is about to get FUCKED."
"Ee! Don't spoil me, please! I still haven't read that chapter!" - I object, chuckling.
Does the internet cause defilement? It is inherently extra dimensional, on the same note are the isekai'd already defiled because they are in an extra dimensional space from where they should naturally exist?
Technically speaking, any contact with higher order reality does. So only transmigrators get the internet browser app until Alyssa gets enough infrastructure to make local internet.
I would assume it doesn't. It is merely information of extradimensional origin. In the same way Alyssa's music doesn't cause Defilement if the knowledge itself is extradimensional but has been processed and shared via in-world means (air vibrations, tablet illusions) it seems to be safe
@Nahmate it is connected to the original reality because unless Alyssa downloaded the entirety of the internet I would think she missed something like Selene's obituary. I assume the connection is maintained by I assume a flake of Alyssa acting as the reciever because she has a multipetabite connection.
@Cytotoxin defilement? HAHAHAHAHA, more like forceful enlightenment.
@Nicolae In-setting, defilement is a term that refers to exposure to outworldly elements and it is not a negative term, nor does it implies being tainted. It does acknowledge the considerable danger in gaining defilement, though.
@Gizmo_The_Assassin I presume Alyssa works like a router for the internet. That is irrelevant to my point since Selene isn't viewing the data Alyssa receives from Earth she views a projection of it on a tablet that is made via in-world magic, just like when Alyssa receives a song and plays it she receives data (Defilement risk) uses magic to turn it into Air vibration (possibly still a risk) and people hear the vibrations (no risk)
@Nahmate that's a good point, but I would imagine the internet is the still a risk, about as dangerous as a rock from the next reality over, so still f*cking dangerous but the as dangerous as looking outside of reality or when Alyssa really relaxes.
@Gizmo_The_Assassin that is the thing it isn't from another world. It is a recreation of something from another world in this world. Just like Alyssa taking pattern-steel schematics and what not and remaking it in this world it possesses no inherent Defilement property
@Nahmate agree to disagree, I agree that taking stuff like schematics and stuff actually like drawing them out is extremely unlucky to cause defilement but I think any Alyssa makes has a small chance of causing defilement because a shoggoth made it, and a shoggoth will subconsciously f*ck with reality to perfect it. For the internet itself though? It's the act of accessing it itself that is defiling, not the content or how it's accessed, that is interacting with a higher order of reality. It would be different if Alyssa was consciously receiving the information for them, but I am pretty sure she gave them access so she wouldn't have to consciously do that and I am fairly she is you said acting like a router for them and nothing more.
@Gizmo_The_Assassin do you not see how widespread Alyssa's stuff is? If it has a small chance of Defiling there would be cases where it already happened and people take that stuff very seriously in this world
@Nahmate it's the stuff she personally makes, not the stuff she causes the creation of, which I image is not that numerous. Being MADE by a shoggoth and being DESIGNED by a shoggoth is very different. I imagine that the stuff that Alyssa hand makes has a small chance of defilement if you look really closely into, instead you know just reading the schematics because realistically most things Alyssa makes it's easier finding the schematics than the stuff she handmade.
@Gizmo_The_Assassin remember the giant f*ck off organs she made in the biggest temple in one of the biggest cities in the world?
@Nahmate it's an artifact, people know you can't replicate those so no need to look too closely and people who do look too closely and end up defiled it can be passed off as 1) it was made by someone personally told to keep up the good work by a god, it was made in a divine rite, and the gods might have influenced somewhat, 2) Alyssa is known as being so defiled that her act as person is but a thin veneer and thus might have accidentally introduced something extra dimensional in the creation of the artifact, 3) as long as it isn't driving people insane and intentional people might actually be glad.
@Gizmo_The_Assassin I would assume that if there was a Defiling musical instrument hearing it would be enough to risk it. Even if people were to pardon the organs Defiling people Alyssa would still have been notified of that, she wasn't hence this creation of hers, with additional factors to make it more otherworldly, isn't Defiling
@Nahmate I would unless the music it makes is otherworldly it wouldn't defile people. Just because an instrument is PERFECTLY crafted does not mean the music played on it is PERFECTLY played, which I imagine is what would cause the kind of defilement you are talking about using the instrument, and honestly I would think one non perfect performance would get it out of tune enough to make nigh impossible to PERFECTLY perform on it afterwards.
@Gizmo_The_Assassin Defilement has little to do with PERFECTION it is to do with sensing things outside the world such as Shogoth, the Void when teleporting or a dream of another world
I think context is also very important for defilement. If Selene were to show the internet off, and by "internet" I mean "cat videos", to Ed, he'd probably be confused and either ask about it or just chock it up to Elyssa stuff with minimal to no defilement. But if he were shown a strategy guide or walkthrough to get all the endings in the game this world is a setting for? Potential defilement because precognition stuff is defiling.
@Nahmate @Gizmo_The_Assassin
OK, let me settle things for you two.
How defiling something is depends on how much it challenges your current comprehension of the world and natural sciences. Something perfect but made in understandable ways from known materials is awe-inspiring but not defiling. A random piece of trash made out of alien material - mildly defiling. A structure made out of known materials but defying the way you believe mechanics should be working - middlingly defying. An eldritch artifact with unknown structure, materials, principles and effects - very defiling.
@Cytotoxin so a known illusion, projected on a "mundane" enchanted metal tablet would be fine. On the other hand reading about Quantum Mechanics would Defile people despite that. I would presume Fiction for example is safe even if it is beyond people's comprehension. In other words some internet usage would be safe and some very unsafe
@Nahmate If the reader believed that book on Quantum Mechanics explained actual state of the things, rather than assumed it to be random scribbles of a lunatic? Yes, it would be defiling.
Alyssa is not going to let anyone other then actual transmigrators access the internet of Ur-World. It`s reincarnie-only secret and it will remain so. If someone unauthorized picked up Selene`s tablet, that browser icon would be missing.
@Cytotoxin I would be very surprised if she allowed people to access the Internet even if it weren't possible to Defile with it. People just reading the World History would probably end up in a LOT of chaos
Alyssa is known as being so defiled that her act as person is but a thin veneer
@Gizmo_The_Assassin I'm pretty sure there's only like 3-5 people who know that. I don't think her /parents/ know it.
How defiling something is depends on how much it challenges your current comprehension of the world and natural sciences.
@Cytotoxin So how about that poor fool who took an orbit? Was he a flat-earther or something?
@Russels_Silverware the mere insanity of the scale of space is probably more than enough to thoroughly defile people
@Russels_Silverware He basically saw a lot more than he thought is out there. Technically speaking, it is a sort of defilement, but with considerably less of a chance to really go insane, due to all of it being from local universe.
Also, Alyssa is not really quite as good at feigning normalcy as she likes to think. A LOT of people have the notion Alyssa is weird and most of them attribute that much to her high defilement.
@Russels_Silverware Ohmygosh, your name is Russels_Silverware and you asked about the man thrown into orbit. Would you sign my teapot?
@Citotoxina Antes mencionaste que lo 1ro que buscaría Selene sería el "Rick Roll", bueno tal vez más tarde lo haga xD
@Yuena1 Selene is planning on it, but a good Rick Roll can not be hurried. She needs an opportune moment to spring it. And I think you confused something. Selene is well aware what Rick Roll is, she is planning on doing a live one at some point. Preferably, to Alyssa, as a bit of revenge for the Pyramidhead prank.
@Citotoxina lo estaré esperando , espero no ponerme al día antes de ese suceso
@Yuena1