SUBDUED ULTRAMARINE: SUB-LEVEL OBSERVED WITHIN THE BACKROOMS, HENCEFORTH REFERENCED TO AS LEVEL 6.4 N. THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER ALONG WITH JJ HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN THIS SPACE FOLLOWING LOCATIONAL EXCHANGE DURING A STORM IN PREVIOUS LEVEL, UNOBSERVED BY THE ROTWATCHER.
LEVEL STRUCTURE CONSISTS OF A LARGE BODY OF FRESHWATER SURROUNDED BY BRIGHT-GROUND STALKS AND NUMEROUS WATER-FARING VESSELS FLOATING ON ITS SURFACE. TEMPORAL FIXATION AT THE END OF A BRIGHT-CYCLE IS NOTED, SEEMINGLY JUST AFTER THE BRIGHT IS CONCLUDED. FAINT-ORANGE CLOUDS CAN BE FOUND NEAR THE LAKE IN THE OTHERWISE BLACK SKY. NO CELESTIAL BODIES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED. TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY LEVELS ARE SOMEWHAT HIGH, THOUGH AN OCCASIONAL LIGHT AIR MOVEMENT CAN AID IN COOLING PRESENT WANDERERS.
it's a nice breeze. feels like it's summer, just as the night is about to begin.
NUMEROUS WATER-FARING VESSELS, HENCEFORTH REFERENCED TO AS UNMANNED VESSELS, ARE COLLECTIVELY SEEN AS BOTH ENTITIES AND ITEMS NATIVE TO THIS LEVEL. UNMANNED VESSELS ARE OBSERVED TO FLOAT RANDOMLY ON THE WATER'S SURFACE, THOUGH THEY USUALLY ARE ABLE TO TRANSPORT WANDERERS IN A STRAIGHT LINE. DUE TO THEIR INABILITY TO BE CONTROLLED OR STEERED, UNMANNED VESSELS ARE USUALLY FORCED TO TRAVEL IN ONE DIRECTION. CERTAIN THEORIES SUGGEST UNMANNED VESSELS ARE DELIBERATELY AVOIDING THOSE WITH ABOARD WANDERERS, HENCE THEIR ENTITY CLASSIFICATION.
CERTAIN UNMANNED VESSELS HAVE BEEN OBSERVED ENGAGING IN ODD BEHAVIORS. EXAMPLES INCLUDE: VESSEL CONGLOMERATION INTO A SEEMINGLY STABLE STACKED PILE; FORMATION OF A CIRCULAR RING, SURROUNDING AN AREA OF WATER IN WHICH SWIRLING MOVEMENT CAN BE OBSERVED; ILLUMINATION OF LIGHT SOURCES ON UNMANNED VESSELS DURING A PERIOD IN WHICH LEVEL ENVIRONMENT GRADUALLY GREW DARKER.
about the swirling water thing: i swear there's something in the vortex of it. it's brown, and it looks like a... tree? hard to tell from here.
BASED ON ITS TRAJECTORY, THE VESSEL IN WHICH THE CURRENT ROTWATCHER AND JJ ARE LOCATED WILL EVENTUALLY TRAVEL AT THE SUPPOSED EDGE OF THIS LEVEL. SINCE THE VESSEL IS UNABLE TO BE CONTROLLED, THE MOST EFFICIENT PLAN IN THIS CURRENT SITUATION IS TO WAIT UNTIL THE VESSEL COMES TO A STOP.
another waiting game, huh?
JJ IS OBSERVED TO APPROACH THE DECK RAILINGS, LEANING FORWARD ON THE STRUCTURE TO VIEW THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT. THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER IS OBSERVED TO JOIN THIS VIEWING.
hey, did you know i didn't know how to swim? and i still don't know how to, not in my... my 'human' form, i guess we can call it.
not only that: i've never actually been to the ocean before! at least, as far as i remember.
JJ IS OBSERVED TO LACK THE ABILITY TO SWIM IN WATER. HOWEVER, THE PRESENCE OF THEIR WATER-FORM SEEMINGLY PROVIDES FUNCTIONALITY TO MOVE AROUND IN LARGE WATER ENVIRONMENTS, MAKING SWIMMING LESSONS CURRENTLY UNNECESSARY.
you're probably right.
...
actually, the level right before this one- level 6, you called it?
that was the very first level i ended up in, when i first found myself in the backrooms.
one moment i was in the real world, and the next... the next, i woke up to find myself in an endless ocean, in that water-form.
except- i wasn't in the ocean. not the ocean i- they know. every molecule that made up form i was in, it was screaming to me that fact.
THE ROTWATCHER HAS OBSERVED IN PREVIOUS LEVEL THAT THE WATER-FORM JJ WAS IN HAD NOT SEEMED TO DIFFUSE ENTIRELY INTO THE SURROUNDING WATERS. THIS IS POSSIBLY CONNECTED TO THE SECONDARY CONSCIOUSNESS' REJECTION OF OCEANIC LEVELS WITHIN THE BACKROOMS.
yeah, exactly.
in a way, i'm kinda grateful that whatever's in me is so annoyed with the oceans here, that they don't like it.
it reminds me that this world i lived in had existed, that it isn't a dream.
i- i've been kind of getting that feeling, lately. that everything i've done until coming here was a dream.very molecule that made up form i was in, it was screaming to me that fact.
have you ever gotten that feeling, rotwatcher?
THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER IS ABLE TO RECALL PAST EXPERIENCES DURING ITS TIME IN ITS ORIGINAL GRAND STAGE. RECOLLECTION IS OBSERVED TO BE FUZZY IN CERTAIN AREAS. THIS EXPERIENCE IS OBSERVED TO SHARE SIMILARITIES WITH JJ'S OWN MEMORY RECOLLECTION EXPERIENCE.
hm... you know, you never actually told me what you are.
i remember your introduction when we first met, you called yourself a 'thoughtform'. i'm still not exactly sure what that means.
THOUGHTFORM: CLASSIFICATION FOR ORGANISMS RESIDING WITHIN CORRUCYSTIC STRUCTURES. A SINGLE CORRUCYSTIC INSTANCE TENDS TO INHABIT MULTIPLE THOUGHTFORMS, WHO SERVE VARIOUS ROLES RELATED TO THE CORRYCYSTIC STRUCTURE'S FUNCTION. THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER IS OBSERVED TO BE CLASSIFIED AS A THOUGHTFORM, HAVING PREVIOUSLY RESIDES WITHIN THE GRAND STAGE AS A 'LESSER' THOUGHTFORM.
GRAND STAGE: DESIGNATION FOR CORRUCYSTIC STRUCTURE, PREVIOUSLY RESIDING IN THE HEART OF THE LOST PROGENITOR'S BODY. FOLLOWING THE LOST PROGENITOR'S APPARENT DISAPPEARANCE, THE GRAND STAGE WAS OBSERVED TO UNDERGO STARVATION BEFORE ENTERING STASIS. IT THEN EXPERIENCED REVIVAL THROUGH AN EXTERNAL ARRIVAL OF RESOURCES ALONG WITH THE CUSTODIAN'S RESUMATION OF ACTIVITY.
w-woah. that's a lot to take in, honestly.
i'm guessing your 'lost progenitor' is some kind of alien, then... do you miss them?
DUE TO HAVING NEVER DIRECTLY INTERACTED WITH THOUGHTFORM INSTANCES OF THE LOST PROGENITOR BACK IN THE GRAND STAGE, THE CURRENT ROTWATCHER IS OBSERVED TO LACK A COMPLETE ANSWER ON ITS THOUGHTS IN RELATION TO THEM. IN ADDITION, THE LOST PROGENITOR'S DISAPPEARANCE PREDATES THE CURRENT ROTWATCHER'S DEVELOPMENT AND RESULTING AWARENESS. HOWEVER: IT IS ALSO OBSERVED TO OCCASIONALLY PONDER ON THE LOST PROGENITOR'S CURRENT STATUS.
wait, so, if you came from a corrucystic structure, whatever that is- how did you end up out of it? how did you end up here?
THE MECHANISM IN WHICH THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER HAS TRANSFERRED FROM ITS ORIGINAL GRAND STAGE AND ITS CURRENT LOCATION OF THE BACKROOMS REMAINS UNKNOWN. THE ROTWATCHER THEORIZES IT COULD BE DUE TO AN EXTERNAL FORCE MANAGING TO EXTRACT THE ROTWATCHER FROM THE GRAND STAGE, THOUGH THIS THEORY LACKS ANY SORT OF EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT ITSELF.
weird. oh, hold up- i think i see something.
FOLLOWING THE CONVERSATION HELD BY THE PRESENT ROTWATCHER AND JJ, THE LATTER OBSERVES SOMETHING IN THE DISTANCE. THIS TURNS OUT TO BE THE PRESENCE OF A LANDSCAPE SURROUNDING THE LARGE BODY OF WATER, POPULATED BY BRIGHT-GROUND STALKS. A SIMPLE HOUSING STRUCTURE CAN BE OBSERVED, ILLUMINATED BY LIGHTS SURROUNDING THE BUILDING.
and there's someone there! with tattoos-! do you think-
A BRIGHT COUSIN CAN BE OBSERVED IN FRONT OF THE HOUSING STRUCTURE. BASED ON THE UNUSUAL MARKINGS COVERING THE ENTIRETY OF THEIR VISIBLE BODY, IT IS ASSUMED THIS COUSIN'S IDENTITY IS THAT OF THE ARCHITECT. FURTHER STUDY IS REQUESTED.
yeah- hey! architect guy! can you- oh, shit-!
JJ'S ATTEMPTS TO GAIN THE ARCHITECT'S ATTENTIONS ARE OBSERVED TO BE HALTED BY A LOUD CRASHING SOUND. SOURCE OF THIS NOISE IS ASSUMED TO BE DUE TO AN UNMANNED VESSEL PRESENT IN THE MANNED VESSEL'S PATH, CAUSING A COLLISION TO OCCUR. DAMAGE CAN BRIEFLY BE OBSERVED ON THE UNMANNED VESSEL, RIGHT BEFORE SUDDEN LOCATIONAL EXCHANGE OCCURS FOR THE SUBJECTED ROTWATCHER AND JJ. THE TWO ARE OBSERVED TO FIND THEMSELVES ON A STAIRCASE IN A NEW LEVEL.