--Hughes Mearns

	--The Postal Service, We Will Become Silhouettes

GrayZero

The appearence of this entity is by now likely familiar to many. The basic form is that of an anthro gray vixen, clad in a simple traditionalist style - hooded black cloak (with hood usually down) over a long dark blue dress; said garb covering all but hands/paws, collarbone and up, and occasionally the tail when it appears under the cloak. The only embellishment to this is a curious pendant around her neck.

The vixen herself looks quite worn; despite evident cosmetic attempts at a youthful appearence, her face clearly reflects a sort of aged tiredness. The expression is quick to vanish when dealing with certain others, but it always comes back. She's evidently running out of steam.

If you focus on that expression, though, every once in a while something odd will happen. Perhaps a flicker about the eye, not apparently caused by any eyelid. Or maybe a slight bit of what looks to be pixelation about the jaw, or a flickering ear, barely visible but still somehow noticed. Objects around her do react as though there is a physical presence, so this must not be some mere painted image. Surely it is representative of a sentient entity; if nothing else, the entity's reputation alone should confirm this. And yet, why the artifice?

A Bit Of Background

From a social perspective, she's very much a mystic, having originated from a world where post-scarcity hadn't really made its way into the social conciousness to start with (to borrow a phrasing suggested by XOR, they'd "gone Amish"), and instead slowly evolved into a religion, revering Puzzlebox as a deity. The eventual disintegration of said religion led to her Upload, which subsequently brought her to the Mess. GrayZero's Purpose in going to her Lady's domain had been thought of/intended as a rejuvinator to her Faith after having had it sorely tested by the spiritual disintegration of her homeworld; she hadn't anticipated that her trip would rapidly become a very heavy Faith field-test. Despite several resulting serious shocks to her system, she's managed quite well, and indeed has settled in quite rapidly.

Well, except for that one time. But there's no need to talk about that right now.

GrayZero's current aims are threefold: defense and support of those she has come to respect, watching over those who show potential to bring great change for good or ill - and rebuilding her old Church on the side. Obstructive interference in any of these Purposes is highly contraindicated.

A Note On Etymology

A Selection Of Notes

GrayZero has a tendency to mutter prayers from time to time. These are represented by [square brackets] - they're not ultimately untranslatable, but they are not immediately comprehensible either. The easiest explanation is that while she works to be understood when talking with others, when she's muttering a prayer she makes no such effort; there should be no distortion of her message for something so important, after all. Lately most of her prayers have been internal and unspoken.

GrayZero is given to letting her mind wander. Occasionally this leads to her literally wandering about the Mess without her quite conciously realizing it, almost completely oblivious to anything around her. She nearly always apologizes to anyone whom she's thusly 'ignored' afterwards, if she gets the opportunity; it's rude to ignore people.

GrayZero has a great deal of respect for the Fourth Wall and tries not to let gaps show. Again, it's impolite to do so.

GrayZero can be rather frequently found in Puzzle Park, leaning against The Cube Tree with her eyes closed. She'll often interact with others present, though only rarely opens her eyes to do so. Most who care enough to be curious about it assume this is her means of communing with Puzzlebox, though this has not been confirmed.

There's a [pendant] that GrayZero constantly wears. It is generally accepted that this is a religious symbol.

Of late, GrayZero has been spending more and more time away from the Mess; presumably she's been visiting other locations within Puzzlebox. (read: the player's been experiencing a lot of downtime lately)

A Series Of Relationships

A Smattering Of OOC Tidbits

Image on this page courtesy of a non-PBX friend (drawing; taken *quite* out of context, by the way ;) ), Zedda's player (transparency work, also originally for something else :) ), and The GIMP (Distortion Filters are love). Yes, it's a [ragged float]. I always wanted to do one.

A Collection Of Comments

• "Twin's approach to life is radically different from her own" - True. [This] might shed some light on why Twin chooses to live the way (she) does; especially the part near the end, starting around where (she) says "I've eaten worlds". (Her) choice of life is as much from penance as hedonism.

• Re: Grey: "...but lately he's been remarkably polite, almost curious." -- Maybe? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how Grey feels about GrayZero, and the fact that his memory's so spotty and unreliable... I think he envies her conviction and serenity.

• "Frostbyte seems to be quite thoroughly insane...in an interesting and sometimes thought-provoking fashion..." Hee hee! I never thought of myself as INSANE, but I suppose some of my actions could be interpreted as such.

• Jeremy is probably going to start refering to Grayzero as "his ghostly mother". The long term possibilities are promising.

• "A thoroughly wrong-headed and tiresome entity. I shall have to study more of her belief-system at a later time, however." - System

• (The words stop for a moment. They bend as if pushed from somewhere ELSE and the hinttastefeeling of Strange comes through: "I will not impede my Lady's lesson to her" and a feeling of really talking to someone, that feeling of instant thereness, of crystal-clear thought, about a mother protecting their children and what that really means followed by a single thoughtburst "Systemchildkiller!" then silence. Before the words continue again.)

• Miss all-razors all-edge looks at GrayZero. "Fuck thou, sanctimonius cunt." She smiles. "Stuck up watching pure can't even let a poor cat out of a box So pure So pristine Fuck thou."