Adam tried his best to absorb the technoscape around him. Information crashed into him in a huge tide, each cell of his body frantically processing the overly stimulating environment. Adam shook his head and blinked deliberately before fixing a point to stare at, letting his eyes focus on what was in front of him. He found the passing streaks of luminescence he was attempting to focus on were indispherable to him, and so Adam turned away to glance at the buildings surrounding him instead. The towering blinking monstrosities seemed so far removed from even the largest cities Adam had visited during his life, the skyscrapers dwarfing the earthly counterparts of Adams memory. He stood slack jawed with wonder as he started to fully process what it was he was seeing, wondering if this was earth-simply earth much more advanced then when he'd left it. The buildings were ever-stretching in height, large and squat and perfectly uniform like black glittering coffins made to hold the resting bodies of titains-or the frail mummified body of a pharos with a real knack for overcompensation. Larger-no not larger, wider buildings simply took up another cube of space to the side; Adam was able to see their wider bases stretching away from him in clear demarkations due to they're placement in the perfectly ordered grid he stood in the centre of. The constructed monoliths were akin to lego bricks in his curious eyes, uniform in height and extending in length by fixed distances, each block falling within acceptable parameters of mass and scale. Gleaming glass shot up the sides of each glittering chrome block, the bright lights of passing vehicles giving the illusion of colour. Pink and purple lights flashed and splashed against their surfaces amidst prominent greens, blues and reds that came both from and outside the building. Occasionally bright orange flares reflected off the glass, subsuming and reducing all other colours to darker complementary shades-but then those vehicles sped off, projecting a faint tinkling sound in their wake. The kaleidoscope of coloured lights illuminated plants that grew on the corners of each building in rows like great vines, their leaves painted ethereal from the many mingling light projections. Adam realised the loud blaring sounds overwhelming his hearing didn't come from the street ahead, in fact the busy thoroughfare projected low hums and whistles as cars flew by at ridiculous speeds, startlingly silent despite the flurry of movement. Adam turned and faced a screen set into the wall of the low squat building he'd just left, a racing show was broadcasted across the screen. Drivers blared their horns obnoxiously at one another and collided their screaming heavily delineated metal pods. Adam stepped up to the screen and watched, raptly, causing it to begin to dim in response to his presence. He reached forward hesitantly before placing his hand on the screen, perhaps draw in by it's reaction to his proximity. Nothing happened when his palm was rested against it, figuring the screen probably needed a little more to go off he instead pressed his finger against the screen and swiped down. In response the show on the screen shook as if angered and Adam frowned at it's disobedience, confused by it's hot and cold programming to his non verbal demands.
"turn yourself off" He said quietly, more to himself than the inanimate object. To his surprise the screen further reacted to his words, lights briefly erupting from it's surface. The beams landed and wreathed his form. A second past before beeping erupted and the lights shut off as abrubtly as they began, the screen buzzing again in greater intensity before switching off-adhering to his spoken command. Adam took half a step back and shook his head slightly, perplexed by the screens actions. A man that had passed Adam by had turned to watch him fiddle with the fixed broadcast, almost walking into the road as he watched the interaction play out with increasing incredulity. As soon as he began to step out into the elliptic light show he recoiled, halting his march into the bona-fid space way with marked discomfort and curling into himself. He slightly raised one leg as he clamped his hands against his ears, both his thoughts about Adam's actions and his forward momentum halting as he brought his body together into a clump. As Adam turned away from the screen he noted the strange flamingo man painfully contorting before the flow of what was probably high velocity traffic-although it did not seem like traffic to him as much as modern art display-and decided not to approach this particular local or attempt to cross the dangerous speedway in any sort off hury. Screen silenced and ignoring the curling man Adam looked around once again now that his senses were a little less crowded.
In his immediate surroundings he noticed stout shapes with twisting branches surrounding the building he'd just stepped out of, dotting the square that surrounded the building on all sides, apart from the wide path to the space-way, and braking up the monotonous city pattern. The objects were covered in a thick black mesh that drank in outside light. The mesh expanded and contacted minutely, giving glimpses of rough bark underneath, making Adam realise he was looking at some sort of tree. The cloaked 'trees' surrounded the building and the occasional orb of colourless light was hung from their covered branches. The trees were leafless and the ground surrounding him was smooth and clear, the rocky surface unnaturally flat like a large stretch of gravel poured over with resin. Adam walked closer to the trees and choose to well and truly ignore the straightening stranger that had almost got himself killed. He reached out to one of the breathing plant almagamations and lay his palm upon its trunk. He could fell the strange fleshy breathing material and the rare rough texture of tree bark underneath. A circle of loamy soil supplanted the regular floor surface surrounding the trunk of each tree and Adam wondered what sort of minerals and nutrients the techy world had put into it. He knelt and placed his hand in the soil, aiming to feel for its consistancy. There was a brief resistance as a pale blue barrier flickered into view. The resistance was slight in the end though, and Adam's hand passed through based off his initial momentum with a slight hitch. He sunk his hand into the rich dark compost and felt cool soapy earth between his fingers. he lifted his hand back out of the soil circle and felt more strident resistance from the blue field. He tugged his arm back out from the soil as if removing his hand from thick film or a particularly viscous liquid. When he finally yanked his hand free with a pop, he felt dirt leave his palm and fall back to the greater pile of soil. He looked at his hand in wonder, admiring his spotless skin. All dirt that had stuck to his hands had been dislodged, slipping off the skin's surface and returning to its greater pile where it belonged. He shook his head once again in quiet disbelief-the movement fast becoming a new habit. Adam moved father into the simulated woodland and found a bench to sit down upon, occasionally touching upon a trees trunk as he went. The sturdy material of the bench's make felt and looked like wood-and indeed to many of the inhabitants of this world would be regarded as wood-but to Adams sensibilities it registered as a famicile a little off true wooden reality, causing him to catch wise to the synthetic nature of the Bench he sat on. He looked back towards the building he had walked out of and observed some sort of bright green water that had replaced what would otherwise be more concrete walls of the building. He recognised the make/form of the filled glass as one of those liquid trees he had seen once online. He nodded to himself happily at the prospect that the future planet maybe wasn't a desolate wasteland and sat back comfortably on the lightly cushioned bench, enjoying its snug design.
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As he relaxed in his bench a projection rose up out of the ether and played across the bottom of the blocky skyscrapers, projecting the vitas of a deep serene forest. Adam smiled as birdsong erupted quietly out of the near silence, masking the faint humming ambiance of the nearby highway. As he settled into the false forest Adam thought about the little details the designers of this 'park' had worked into is environment-the fact that him sitting in the bench constituted as enough of a reason to simulate the serene sights of a woodland grove. The environment, however false, brought him some peace and Adam was contented by the thoughtfulness the designers had shown. He felt himself become a little weary as he relaxed in the park, his eyelids slowly closing. As the heaviness of rest overtook him he allowed his eyes to close and his head to rest against the top of the soft curve of the faux wooden seat, not putting up a fight. Before he had much given in to his urges he found his body had slipped into slumber, Adam falling asleep in what felt like record time. Adam sook rest to avoid the current torment of his waking hours, and despite the danger he could be in, he didn't hold it against himself.
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Upon waking Adam felt surprisingly rested, managing to hit the sweet spot in napping that came from neither over nor under sleeping. The quiet sounds of the forest played around his ears, greeting him back to the waking world. The sky above the city was still dark, although faint stars could be seen in the depths of the night sky. The projected forest had stayed somewhat bright, displaying the nebulous hour before dawn or after dusk when the world is sufficed by faint seemingly sourceless light, illuminated by vanishing sun-rays. He let himself acclimatise back to the city's sights, looking up at the fathomlessly tall scrapers and the many colours that still refracted off their surfaces. Alertness bled into his post nap fog as he stretched and straightened in his bench perch. While he satisfyingly worked out the kinks in his body he listened to the birds singing in the trees and pretended they were real, pretended for a moment he wasn't here to carry out such an unpleasant murderous task. Almost on cue as his thoughts drifted to the quest at hand Adam heard footsteps, the sound of bare feet slapping against the smooth gravel-like floor somewhere off to his left. Adam sank lower in his seat and tried to look inconspicuous as the feet drew closer to him, attempting to not look out of place in what he just realised was probably centuries old clothing.
A woman stepped out of the woods then from the left of his vision, bare feet still slapping agasint the suspected stone. Her mutterings flew softly to him on the wind, indecipherable, and as she swayed in a strange flowing gate he glimpsed a black bird that stood tamely on her shoulder. Her mutterings turned to whispers as she paused and reached her open hand to one of the surrounding trees gently. Her smooth whispers never halted as the tree shook in response as if also waking from a pleasant snooze, the black wreathed branches leaning towards her and seeking the touch of her outstretched palm. She giggled as the tree swayed it's branches side to side before it placed one thick limb into her grasp. The mesh surrounding the bark sunk to thin black lines, allowing the rough texture of the bark to rest almost unimpeded in her closing hand. She had reached up and trapped the seeking arm as it got closer, easing its journey. She leaned in and whispered to the tree further as she held one of it's branches, pumping her arm up and down as if shaking its wooden hand. She gigged once again as the all the trees branched shook in response to her words or greeting, the one in her hand almost vibrating as she held it. The motion felt foreign without the accompanying rustling of leaves and Adam wondered if it was natural or right for these trees to be so unclothed in the current season-for the air did not carry a winter chill. Interrupting Adam's coherent thought a leaf popped out of the held branch, causing it to to cease it frantic vibrations. The girl swiftly plucked the leaf from the trees surface and released it's branch. She wagged her finger and chastised the tree with mock seriousness, not making much effort to conceal her mirth. She gave the tree a pat and giggled as it shook once more, calling her on her devious bluff not chastened in the slightest. The black mesh had slowly began to climb the trees surface when it's leaf had appeared, and now it fully entombed the organism. It paused there briefly in it's covering of the tree before it retreated and resumed its regular breathing activities, the girls talk with the tree cut off not long after it began . The end of the girl's smile pulled down, and the joyful light in her eyes dimmed. She turned away form the tree with a papable sorrow as the freshness of the encounter faded, and the tree returned to its previous perhaps unnatural state. She began muttering again-maybe to the bird on her shoulder-as she forced more of a smile on her face, walking towards probably her next tree friend in the forest to have another short conversation. That is until she saw Adams slouched form, splayed out on the bench, watching her with half open mouth and wide eyes.
As her eyes fell upon him, her eyes spread with panic and her jaw dropped open far further than Adam's own in stunned silence. The two individuals started at each other in shock of what Adam had seen, the false bird song filling the quiet void between them. Then the bird upon the woman's shoulder chirped and tilted its head as pulled back a little from Adams limp form, eyeing him warily and voicing its light suspicion. The little chirp broke the silent moment and Adam sat straight in his chair, mouth closing. Without hesitation, the woman turned and ran, long blond hair whipping behind her as she went. Adam shot up out of the bench before hoofing it after her.
He wasn't sure what constituted as special powers in this world, but he did know that such individuals usually came to him, and that the tree whispering had certainly seemed like a unique talent. He sprinted after the running woman and didn't worry too much about what he'd do if he caught her, losing himself in the urgency of the chase and letting himself be propelled forward by his task. When considering the vague guiding objectives of his quest Adam was simply happy that he had found his target easily/that his target had stumbled upon him. He hoped that if he managed to actually chase down the woman he could maybe get some concrete answers about the situation he was in. But as his feet pounded after the strange magic woman he couldn't hide from the fact that wether she did have lots of things to tell him or not his goal was not to get chummy enough with her tomes, his goal was to instead kill her. Adam's feet carried him closer and closer to his target and he spent every step thinking about any way around doing what he was supposed to be doing when he met these people, instead fixing this insane blik(belief) in his head that she could aid his quest through the bequeathing of extremely valuable information-and not with just her death.