[open] plot clue club meeting

[coolerjunpei]

WHO: Junpei coolerjunpei and You
WHAT: Secret Info Club Meeting and general Plot Clue mingling
WHERE: a conference room. with snacks!
WHEN: roughly DECEMBER!!! 12 this never once said nov
WARNINGS: tba

network preamble

[Having come into some fascinating information, Junpei—

obsessively studies it for a solid day

—and then un: junpei posts something very short and simple to the network for once:]

hey, it's junpei. i'm in the 5th floor conference room in the district 2 building by the bowling alley if anybody wants to know some *big names* and read some pages that aren't half blacked out. you know, for fun.

i've got some chips too. come check it out if you want.

log part

[The conference room is all decked out for some frantic information sharing, or rather:

Junpei has hastily set out some snacks, that is: some bags of chips and a few soda bottles, mostly what he could grab as quickly as possible from the nearest convenience store. He's also tossed some pens and notepads kind of randomly onto the table.

On the wheely whiteboard he's pushed up to the end of the room, the head of the conference table, he's written in big ol' letters:

INFO CLUB MEETING
TAKE A DOCUMENT SHARE A DOCUMENT
IDEAS???

DON'T SPREAD IT AROUND TOO MUCH YET, WE MIGHT GET PHANTOM ARRESTED OR WHATEVER

The most orderly thing here is the stack of ✨✨Documents✨✨ up by the whiteboard. These, he has put in the effort to not make a frantic mess of. Welcome to the club.]

OOC: this is a mingle for the ✨plot clue✨ junpei has received and it is open to anyone who might be interested in the information! if you have cr with junpei or have talked to him even once about The Mysteries, you're welcome to handwave that he sent your character a personal cryptic text about something important, come see. otherwise, seeing his network message and showing up is just fine too.

Comments

[justscribing]

[That nod of conformation at his understanding is all the affirmation he needs to continue, extremely attentive which is basically his version of perking up.

Alhaitham does jot the welcoming party into benign and adds the carnival and bowling alley under it. The shadowy figures, or illusions of, seem too small in influence] What about the bank do you consider a test of our resilience?

[He considered putting it under cooperation only, but he's open to other ideas.]

[justscribing]

[The incremental raise of a brow. That is the "you just answered your own question by reiterating the evidence that backs my implication" eyebrow raise.

Anyway.] Have you already read through the documents once?

[coolerjunpei]

Hmm... Like, the stress part, I guess? I know I spent a while trying to resist the whole sharing part, unless that doesn't count. Stress tests should count, though, yeah?

[He shrugs; he doesn't want to throw everything into every category, so...]

Do you think it should just be cooperation?

[justscribing]

Everything would fall into the category of a stress test. While it was likely valuable data to see how far some people would go to resist sharing personal details [him, he went far] I don't believe that was an intentional goal. Much like the tea and the haunted house, it seems to be a tool to force participation.

[The garden is a good contrasting experience.] However, I would consider the tea in the greenhouse a test of resilience and cooperation. The effects of the tea itself caused stressful physical afflictions, some of which made it impossible for the person affected to consume the cure for themselves. Thus they were reliant on the assistance of other people to resolve the problem they were being forced to cope with.

[justscribing]

Do you usually learn new words this loudly?

[Hello. He's tilting his head to look at the copy of the record and sneak a peek at Johanna's journal.]

[limbical]

Perhaps. I'm not sure if there's much of a pattern to speak of, but I suppose we can't completely refute the possibility.

It's exhausting shit for me, though.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Without looking up: ] Do you usually read over people's shoulders?

[justscribing]

Only if it's something of interest to me. [Manners, who are they.] Is it the document from the science center?

[coolerjunpei]

Maybe they don't have a lot of doctors in Phoenix anymore. We're more accurate with just two of you.

You could always ask someone to be your, you know... apprentice or whatever.

[coolerjunpei]

I pretended my bank prize was something else, [he says, so yeah, he knows that one. Going real far, although-] I just folded the bad shit into the decoy story so nobody would ask too many questions.

[He does a... folding hand motion, to accompany this. Somewhere between folding and kneading dough. Regardless: it worked, people cared way more about the decoy shell than the traumatic center.

But anyway.]

Think I'm obligated to admit I didn't go to the greenhouse... I believe it, though. So that's cooperation for the bank, and both for the tea? What do you think about the mall? I'm in for both again, for the mall.

[Will there ever be a benign one again...]

[coolerjunpei]

[Junpei leans over to peer at the notebook, skimming - oh, yes, this other thing he completely blanked on once he found the files on Sumalee. These. First:]

Well, we know who L and K are, now, so you can add those.

[He's helped!!]

As for giving them what they want... We could. You think that would make them want to keep us around longer? Like, we're the most well-behaved lab rats, so it would be a real shame to get rid of us?

[coolerjunpei]

[Ah, regrettably, he agrees with this, tapping the marker on the board with Emphasis a bunch of times about it.]

That's what I've been saying! Or, you know— back then. We could have been out of here months ago if they just told us what they want us to do.

[And he does not mean because they'd have politely obeyed directives, of course. Maybe they would go on an elaborate closed-room adventure to escape only to find out that they were acting in the mastermind's real interest all along!! But that's not the point.]

Now it's probably too late for some of us. Not— I mean, like, they're not going to care that we've got names now, you know?

[coolerjunpei]

I thought my answers were worth more points than half...

[grumble mumble. also:] Apparently the supplies are coming back slower. Just so you know.

[And then he will hush and stop interrupting, for the rest of this college lecture. Will there be a quiz. Shall he take more notes.]

If you think about it in terms of pure data, I guess it's fine that we're from all over the place... Let's say that they're thinking, oh, okay, these guys from all over can work together, so us psychos in Phoenix who aren't total strangers will be completely fine! Something about that still sounds like crappy science to me, but whatever—I'll go with it.

How important do you think those surveys really are? For our "success"?

[fussiest]

[ UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. ]

[ 1/2 ]

[fussiest]

Hah! I'll let you have that crown until then. [ then, with a thoughtful beat. ] I don't know any three-hundred-year-old eldritch beings, do I?

[ ... ] Right?

[ .................. ]

[ 2/2 ]

[fussiest]

... oh, no, I do know people who are about a thousand, don't I.

[coolerjunpei]

["Myriad scribbles," hey— Junpei looks at his whiteboard like, he's not scribbling... hurtful...

But okay, a question! Let him attempt to tackle this.]

To me? Me, Junpei, personally? I don't think we're doing that bad at stability, actually... besides the couple of murders.

[He thinks about it again. Okay.]

Well, there's got to be a baseline level of stuff that all comes together to count as "stable," right? So if it were me, I'd pick... productivity, comfort, and cooperation. If any of those exceed or fail to meet the baseline in a certain amount, and for too long, like, here— [he turns back to the board for a moment to draw. a quick little graph.] Like that, then—we fail.

So, uh, I just figure that... if we go too wild, it's over, but if we just sit around twiddling our thumbs, it's also over. A bunch of people doing nothing in the same place isn't a community, it's a zoo exhibit.

[coolerjunpei]

[........cool, they need to talk about literally anything else. cool cool cool.]

Okay then... alright.

[couldn't they just not go where the cyborgs are-- no, no, he shan't ask, he is stalwart.]

Did you ever think about finding something to do here, just to keep busy? Like how they set up that diner...

[gripper]

( wdym junpei don't you want to hear how she's purifying the city? ridding it of filth? consecrating with blood, ash, and fire to make it a truly holy land? )

Not really. It'd feel like I was settling down—I'm too young for that. ( ...well. she sips her water. ) Well, now I'm dead, so maybe I should give it a little more thought! No idea what I'd run, though.

( fight club but you can bring weapons. )

And yourself, little man?

[limbical]

Could be, I suppose. You think it's really about accuracy though?

[The suggestion earns a heavy sigh.] Yeah, you wouldn't be the first to suggest that. I'm not sure how many people really want to learn, but I suppose it's something I should consider.

...After all, I could end up injured myself. Then that really puts everyone else in a fix, doesn't it.

[featheradrift]

[ A new ping, a new image. This time, it's Alhaitham in a princess dress. ]

[coolerjunpei]

[he's good, thanks, he might be put off his soda if he has to hear about that stuff....]

Maybe you can do an advice column.

[he pauses, for the imaginary audience laughter. okay.]

I'm helping Midnight with his flirting club thing now, I guess... Uh, only at the bar. With the drinks.

[gripper]

( ...an advice column... theonewhosuggests— )

...Pfft. ( she's turning away, ahem. AHEM. ) Good. You'd be a waste of someone's free time otherwise... I couldn't see you putting on that kind of fanservice.

( maybe she should join though indulge in the human experie Just Kidding ! )

[coolerjunpei]

[see, why should the whole city miss out on these great kromer moments... theonewhocriticizes......]

Yeah, yeah... You don't know, maybe I've got core appeal.

[ha ha he's putting her name on a list of banned people to keep behind the bar. for himself.]

[gripper]

( core appeal........


okay then. she points her cup at him. )

Show me some then, hot stuff.

( LOL!!! LMAO, EVEN!!! )