citylogs | [open mingle] I do my crosswords in pen

WHO: Constantine (

keepgodwaiting) & you!

WHAT: Metaplot deciphering!

WHERE: The Welcome Diner

WHEN: Early December

WARNINGS: Probable discussion of human experimentation

Another month, another weird new building, and Johanna has been thinking. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then they ought to try some new things, right?

Trying to stay away from the dorms at Halloween didn't work. Trying to escape the mall had mixed results. So maybe it's time to abandon the avoidant strategy and see what happens if they approach things a bit more head-on. Starting, in her case, with investigating every open door she could find in the Science Center until she found the director's office.

(Yes, she did just get told off by several friends for running into potentially dangerous situations with no backup; no, she did not alert anybody that she was going to do this; but hey, it was completely uneventful and therefore she has not broken any promises to anyone!)

The most interesting thing in there, by far, is the unlocked computer, and with a little digging she found a very interesting email. More carefully redacted notes. And she wonders ...

So one evening -- around dinner time, after sunset, in the hopes of being available to the most residents -- Johanna posts up in the welcome diner with a stack of notebooks, pens, and her phone. She's hand-copying the redacted file from her phone onto paper, with XXXXXs to indicate the number of characters in the redacted words. It's an arduous process, and every so often she straightens up from the work with a groan to crack her back. After she gets the whole thing copied down, she picks up her phone to make a network post:

Anyone good at crossword puzzles? I've got a doozy of one I'm working on in the diner and could use some help.

Anyone who cares to join her and try to decipher the redacted words, or make additional hard copies of the file to share out, is more than welcome to do so. Or just grab a cup of coffee and share theories with each other.

[ ooc: Feel free to treat this like an open mingle, converse with other characters, hop around, etc! I'll be making a top level with the text of the two redacted files from the newsletter, in which we can crowdsource guesses about what the missing words might be!

ETA: Feel free to put guesses in this document! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No one individually has been able to do anything about it. But if all or almost everyone tried to get out as a coordinated effort, maybe we'd have better results.

[There has to be a limit to the power containing them. Otherwise, why else take measures reduce the powers of everyone here who has them?]

Basically, try to overload the simulation and its ability to contain us all.

We're gonna need some good ideas how we're gonna do that. Have a reason to think it'll work--if it gets too obvious what we're doing if we're all doing the same thing, the people in charge are gonna catch on too. And I don't care, 'cept they're the ones with the controls.

We should find out if there's anywhere here that doesn't trigger a response from their problem. If a place has fucked up, something getting screwed over time.

Good point. Before trying anything big, we'll need to store some food and have as much information as possible.

[So a series of micro tests to begin with. Hm.]

They probably won't be too worried if it's just one or two people messing around. For the people who have some kind of powers, tests could be masked as training and target practice in an area that won't hurt anybody. Plus, regular curiousity can explain a little tinkering from just about anyone.

'Pends on what you break. Things that fix themselves are good targets, but I don't know what it takes 'til you start getting handcuffed. Not that I mind finding out; we take it easy to begin with, a couple bad apples isn't gonna lead to a wider punishment. Like you said.

[ ... ] But I'm interested in the rooms with files, too... reports can be in there, but not visible yet. A lot can be possible.

[ So Robby is hoping. ]

With the way that we're getting this information, I'm almost wondering if there's someone among them that doesn't agree with all of this. Definitely not someone with the highest clearance considering all the redacted stuff. And they're sneaking out bits and pieces at a time.

[That's one of the better options. An insider ally. But she's not going to rule out the other possibilities.]

If not, revealing all of this to us might be an experiment on its own. See who acts on it, versus who ignores it.

Could be. [ He's thinking, a frown on his face. ] The first time we found a report, the newsletter we got helped lead us to it. A sign-up on the newsletter and then that added message on the back--you remember it?

But the newsletter we got this month... it knew about the parties people were holding. But it had another message on the back, right? If it's someone on the outside... is it whoever's making the newsletters?

Most likely. Who knows, they might even have an accomplice. That email doesn't exactly seem like everyone's professional and on the same page.

[At the very least, it suggests that they're not infallible. While she doesn't know what exactly they need to do to exploit that just yet, it's something to mentally file away.]

But if they were trying to help, volunteering to write up a newsletter does seem like a good opportunity to slip in a few extras.

Everyone's got a job, too. Keeping track of everything we're doing--the network's the easiest way. You can set up programs to punish people or track what we do, but talking?

[ He sighs, makes a face. ] Then again, I never dealt with real people simulations. Who the hell knows how much control they have?

[ And how the fuck did he become a Sim. ]

Whoever wants us to get some information is probably one of the people involved in updating the new environments we have access to, too. Like when you found the files at the university.

[Behavioural research. It had probably seemed innocuous enough to slip through. Or perhaps these reveals are all part of an experiment.]

I know I want to make more attempts to communicate with them, too. Oh! I know. Since we're being troublemakers anyway, how about we put in some messages like "Why are you doing this?" and "Free us" into our acts of vandalism?

We can put them up, but I don't know how much we'd want them paying too much attention to the places we break up in case we do find something. Not that I know it'll make a difference--anything we break or write on's probably set to an auto fix.

[ It's difficult to know how much attention is spent on them. ]

But I guess writing 'Why?' isn't gonna get us into any bigger trouble. If we wanna find out.

Yeah. That's why I wanted to put something that's simple that could just look like us taking out our frustrations on the landscape.

[Just in case someone IS there helping them.]

I don't mind getting in some trouble. I'll just stash some snacks in my clothes just in case I'm cuffed for a while.

[open mingle] I do my crosswords in pen

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject