citylogs | [open] plot clue club meeting

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[open] plot clue club meeting

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Now this is all very interesting. Alhaitham is here, going through the information methodically and modifying his own conspiracy theories accordingly.

He glances up from the paper in his hand.] They certainly have some way of monitoring us, but likely the minutia is being handled by researchers far below the directors in status who then report the results up the chain. If we want their direct attention, it should be something exceptional that whoever is actually tasked with watching us doesn't know how to handle.

[Start a proverbial fire, if you will.] Where did you find these documents? This room?

People keep saying that... Business-oriented masterminds are way more hands-off than solo masterminds, I guess.

[He shrugs, like, that's really unfortunate! Because he only knows how to deal with the up close and personal, actually-in-the-room-with-you-the-whole-time brand of mastermind, and not Doctors and Researchers.]

It was in the office in that science center place. Like, really crammed back there in a cabinet. Somebody must have missed it when they set up. Doesn't feel like it was on purpose, after this long...

[Unless they have a mole, but god, he can't add more layers right this second. One at a time.]

How exceptional are we talking, though? For the thing.

[The office, huh? Looks like he'll be continuing to dig into every possible filing cabinet and unlocked computer in this place. If they missed it once, they'll have missed it other times.]

No, if this document is correct it confirms we are dealing with other humans, and that leaves room for human error. As for exceptional... I'm sure breaking one of their experiments would be beyond what a low-level researcher is prepared to handle.

So, we aim for the little guy? If someone decides to work with us just because he doesn't want to get fired...

[....well, job security is trash. Junpei can't really blame that hypothetical guy in this hypothetical scenario. He shrugs.]

How do we break something they're trying to test, though? Didn't that other Halloween party thing get weird for the people who went? I wasn't there, so...

That's right. Those who supported the counter party were afflicted with compulsions and disorientation that directed them to the experiment proper. They clearly had something in place for a simple resistance like that. We would need a more complicated plan than simple refusal. Something more destructive to the testing area itself, or a better way to ensure people afflicted with compulsions are kept away from the test. If we better understand what data they're looking for in the experiment, we can modify our behavior to disrupt their findings as well.

[Alhaitham pauses, humming to himself in thought.] The experiments change so wildly, so this would be at least partially improvised.

Huh, I can get behind that. They can't get all of us, right, that kind of thing? If we make a big enough mess, at least a few of us should be able to get away with it.

Hang on— Kromer made a list of what's happened to us so far, come and look. We can... make a Venn diagram of what they do to us, for starters.

[Come with him to the beloved whiteboard... gaze upon this List...]

[Hell yeah whiteboards. Alhaitham walks over, and though he remembers most of this he still gives the summary a review.

And then he grabs a marker.] On its face, none of these seem to have anything to do with "climate change". I'm not familiar with that as a term but based on the last page I assume it's an environmental shift sudden and severe enough that it would be difficult for existing communities to survive. Like turning a rainforest into a desert.

Though the experiments haven't been related to the weather they have been forms of environmental change concentrated to specific areas. And based on Dr. Sumalee's expertise, these seem to be stress tests on resilience and cooperation. They're looking at how we cope in simulated crises, most likely so they can apply that data to their own climate crisis.

[So Alhaitham draws out a three circle Venn diagram: benign, resilience, cooperation.]

[Whiteboards, fuck... yes. Junpei nods, first - yeah, that's basically climate change, thank god he doesn't have to muddle through explaining all that again. He's not sure if the kind of climate change he's broadly familiar with is the same as their city here's "environmental changes," but maybe he's not thinking metaphorically enough...

He'll ruminate on it. Hmm.]

I guess wrecking this place with a hurricane or something every other month would be too much, even for this place. Stress tests... yeah, definitely.

[And now, ooh, categories!! To say he perks up at the categories is kind of an understatement - he is nearly thrilled to Sort Local Happenings.]

Hey, these are great. Let's see... The party way back in June was benign, I think. The bank I'd put under resilience, maybe resilience and cooperation, since we had to talk to each other about it?

[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.]

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?

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.

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...]

[Alhaitham adds the bank and tea to the Venn diagram. Why is Google slides a struggle in every conceivable way.]

I would agree. Being near someone who was caught resulted in experiencing the same vision of death. I believe that was the cooperative aspect, to foster a sympathy towards one other's pain while testing the degree that we could avoid the threat chasing us. [Adding... that...

So long as they continue to pick things out of order.] Separate from the tea party, the flowers that whispered secrets would be silenced by holding hands. That's clearly for cooperation. I haven't spent any time around the swimming pool, was there anything else to it?

(no subject)

coolerjunpei - 2023-12-15 02:59 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

justscribing - 2023-12-15 20:22 (UTC) - Expand

Oh, you're here. [ kaveh doesn't even bother looking up from where he had been pouring over the documents. he's never needed to. he wouldn't mistake the cadence of alhaitham's footfalls for anything.

his hand beckons. ] Did you bring our notebooks? And the good pens. I think I lost all of mine at the gala.

Yours and at least two of mine. [But Alhaitham comes up beside him, giving the document a quick skim as he unloads two notebooks and pens from his belt pouch.]

Which two were yours? I thought the very smooth ballpoint and the one with the little chip to the top were both mine.

The smooth ballpoint was mine, you just take it all the time. [Which is why he keeps his other two hidden.] And I can't find my green click pen.

[Unsaid but highly implied: he doesn't lose his things all the time line someone.]

[ kaveh scowls. ]

Why is it that the implication there is that I've lost it on your behalf? If you have an accusation, at least have the decency to say it aloud. [ ... ] Though I suppose I did have a green click pen in my hair at some point in time.

[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?

[ the furrow of kaveh's brows. it is the "shut up" eyebrow furrow. ]

I have. It's sparse, but it's also far more than what we've had for months, now. I don't believe that they simply left this lying around in the science centre; they must've meant for it to be found. The timing is suspicious; why not, and what will come from this?

It was deep in the back of a filing cabinet apparently. [Alhaitham slides in the seat beside Kaveh.] What reason would they have to reveal the identity and credentials of one of their directors?

[ kaveh considers this. then: ]

Shall we play that game that we always do?

[ it had been like this - whenever there was information to be gleaned, and yet it was the researcher's motivations that were suspect, they would take on roles. kaveh looks. ] I'll play the role of the researcher. You be the devil's advocate.

[Alhaitham realizes he's getting the devil's advocate role because he asked the question. If the situation weren't serious he'd argue about it.

But as it'stheir freedom on the line:]

Alright. [Alhaitham gestures.] Make your case as the researcher.

[ kaveh brightens. that red glint sparks in the corner of his eyes as he turns his chair just enough to face alhaitham. he considers this. where to start? ]

I am a researcher for an experiment meant to test human nature to destruction. This is ostensibly so we can have data to figure out how to stave off the apocalypse as described in the changing of the climate. I have a team, and a budget, and a supervisor above me - or the technology has grown so advanced that I am the only one needed to monitor the data, but I must submit progress reports above.

I am accountable for the experimentees being none the wiser to the experiment at hand for the purest possible permutation of the data. The behaviour of particles change when they are observed; so, too, do the behaviours of people in an experiment when they know they are observed. I have no incentive for giving them the information, until I do. The reason is that I need to provide them with a goal to move forward together, on the basis of collaboration, as previous experiments have all failed to achieve that goal.

You position that giving them a specific enemy to unite against will encourage that cooperation that has failed in ease prior experiment. But in that regard, you have absolute control of the environment. You could make anything the new reality of your test subjects. Why would you need to release your own or your supervisor's personal information?