[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

ota | conspiracy guy moments

[coolerjunpei]

I.
[If it seems like Junpei is a little manic about this event, that's because he is. The advice of a few people to chill out has been accepted, but look, he's found this goddamn personnel file and can anyone blame him now!!!

He might be pacing a bit or he might be sitting there staring at his, um, annotated copy of The Document in deep concentration, but as soon as someone approaches or looks at him long enough he sort of jumps out of concentration, oop—]

Oh, hey! Big stuff, right? You think we can get in touch with these assholes, somehow? Maybe wave a big banner from the top of a building or something, I dunno. They've gotta have cameras everywhere, so let's hit as many spots as we can.

[He has a new mortal enemy and it feels kinda good, although not in a very good way. Ha ha.]


II.
[He has flipped the whiteboard over. It's getting serious now. He's divided it into two halves, one labeled KNOWN and one labeled QUESTIONS. Under KNOWN he has written:

Director Lukrar Tomasso
Assistant Director Kessarin Sumalee
Association for Societal Preservation
Phoenix
approx. 3054
"crisis" -> climate change
for sure being experimented on (knew this)
there are so many goddamn masterminds!!!!! (he circles this last one too, for emphasis)

And under QUESTIONS he has written:

still could be a simulation???
maybe a big bubble like in that movie with the guy whose life was a tv show?
how do we send these 2 a message? would they even care?

And as one last little note:

are you fucking kidding me?

[He stands there tapping the back end of the marker against his chin, nodding and surveying his work, before he turns to whoever's come to see... this.]

So, what else?

i-

[abstractart]

Maybe? Depends who you're dealing with on the monitoring end.

[he is cracking a beer open and handing it to junpei, because of course he brought a few when he decided he was curious, and junpei sure looks like he could use one.]

Could work if anyone of any note's watching. Could get swept under a rug if it's better for whoever's looking out that their boss doesn't know anything is up.

[the thing about being formerly involved in experimentation is you can make a few guesses,]

i.

[featheradrift]

[ He understands Junpei's excitement, he really does. This is some of the first information they're getting about—well, if not their kidnappers, then about the state of the world they're currently in, and who might potentially be involved in their kidnapping.

But— ]

Calm. Down. If that worked, you could have done it before finding this document. How did you get it, anyway?

[ It could just be another planted document—although, it revealed far more than previous planted documents, so he's not sure if this was intentional. ]

[coolerjunpei]

[Junpei takes the beer automatically and does not chug it, but he takes a generous swig. He raises it to Netzach in a little gesture of thanks and then resumes glowering at his printouts. Ough... the mystery...]

This Assistant Director person's gotta be paying attention, right? They're in charge of researching stuff about us. Unless it's some unpaid interns behind all the cameras.

[Which. In fairness. Would explain how he even got this thing, but still.]

[coolerjunpei]

[Let him have his mastermind mania!! No, this is not a great mental state to be in, and on some level he knows that, but on another level: he's been saying since Week 0 that this place has a person in charge waiting to pull the trigger on them all, and then he had to wait like six months for a name?

Well, a few names, but it's been forever!! For a brief moment he looks like he might lose it professionally, before he shuts his eyes and sighs. Loudly. He's fine.]

Found it in that new place that opened up, the science... thing. Center. Somebody must have missed it when they set up in there.

[abstractart]

That's the thing. The higher up you get, the less hands-on you are-- someone on that level is less likely to do any direct work than they are to get reports from the people who're doing the actual day-to-day tasks.

[coolerjunpei]

So... what next? How do you think we get ahold of their dickhead intern and do something with this?

[He waves the papers. He does not need to wave the papers. He takes another gulp of beer, to... relax.]

[abstractart]

[he's got a second beer ready for whenever junpei finishes that one, do not worry. for relaxation purposes.]

Mm... couple options, I think. You could try to bypass them? Cause something that someone on their level can't handle, or something that'd trigger some kind of alert. We usually paid attention to those, employees couldn't really cover up a breach.

But, uh, considering we don't even know what'd do that... maybe use something like you were thinking to see if you can put the message out that you know some things, you wanna talk and you're not gonna get 'em in trouble for it.

[coolerjunpei]

So option one: make a big mess, or option two: invite them to our humble conference room. Huh.

[Wildly different! Much to think about. Junpei, beer, and documents all shift, so Junpei can sit up on the corner of the conference table and reach for one of those pens he just threw out there.]

Think someone's watching right now? Or do you think a computer watches us, and they only look when it beeps at them?

bestiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee 2

[gripper]

( kromer is skimming through the documents, expression reminiscent of a teenager who's just been handed some really boring papers to read and write a DBQ for their advanced placement class.

but she's listening, she's paying attention, she's raising her hand— )

Mr. Junpeeeiii, I have a question. ( like she's a student. smartass. ) Actually, three questions.

( she will helpfully raise a finger every time she asks one! )

One: What's climate change?

Two: How's it a crisis?

Three: What the hell has any of the crap we've already been subjected to have to do with it?

[featheradrift]

[ Ah. He had yet to fully explore the Science Center. So Junpei beat him to the punch then. Well, it doesn't matter who found it, just that it was found and shared. ]

Seems unusually careless of them.

[ He has yet to actually look through the document, but he does so now, his experience as a scholar of Sumeru allowing him to skim over it quickly. That it's regarding the social sciences means this is his Darshan's specialty, though his focus was moreso history. Still, he does know a thing or two about it (especially since other Vahumana scholars loved to bother him about more than just Inazuma's politics, for some Archon forsaken reason), and he frowns as he takes a closer look at the document's contents. ]

Community Stability... If this person's expertise is related to our current situation, then the experiments must be testing various factors impeding or improving the cohesion of a community. Perhaps whether or not forced reciprocal disclosure of personal information improves or weakens bonds, or simply if a novel situation with a forced solution causes people to react differently depending on if they're with a stranger, acquaintance or a friend.

[ He's only been here for a short while, so he's drawing from his experience with the fairy tale scenarios and the art exhibit at the museum. He needs to know more about the previous experiments to try to make sense of it all. ]

[coolerjunpei]

[Junpei knew he shouldn't have texted Kromer personally to come see this... he was a fool... she could have asked him these questions some other time when he wasn't ready to smash his face into the whiteboard, but no--

After he thousand-yard-stares for a solid couple seconds, he gives her a look, brow furrowed.]

What, really? For real, what's climate change? Uh, okay, it's like— we fucked up the atmosphere so bad that the planet is melting now. But it's also even colder in winter. And there are more hurricanes and things like that.

[He makes a point to reach over and tap Phoenix, so he can add,] I drove past there once, so I know it's the same kind of fucked up that they're talking about.

[He's skipping the crisis one because he thinks that Just About Clears It Up, so next,]

That last one's a good question, though, because I have no clue. Do you want to write it on the question board yourself?

[Wiggling the marker at her... play with him in this space you voluntarily came to, Kromer...]

[abstractart]

No telling, man. That one probably depends on how much money and staff they have.

i. & ii, sort of

[fussiest]

[ kaveh, who'd seen the message and had come equipped with a giant tray of cinnamon buns, offers one to junpei.

he is also frowning at the whiteboard on display. you can do both. both fuel and obsession are meant to keep one going; kaveh knows that well enough, and this is the first breakthrough since his arrival here. it bears obsessing about. ]

Well, in essence, everything we've done in this place so far has been one-way communication with them. But what sort of response would you want from 'getting in touch', as it were? Let's start there, then reverse-engineer the message, and then find the appropriate way to connect.

[coolerjunpei]

[Junpei gives him his skimming time, though not without a nonzero amount of fidgeting and generally not calming down like he was supposed to. He's trying! But Holy Shit, right? This thing isn't a smoking gun, not even close-- it's a bullet casing and a dream, at best, and yet...

So give him this: he is hanging on every word, particularly because social sciences are not his field at all.]

Okay... I get that, I think. So what's with all the "our crisis" stuff, you think? Are we their guinea pigs so they can get through whatever's going on out... wherever? In Phoenix?

[coolerjunpei]

That's what Angela was saying about the simulation theory...

[He puts the beer down to lean back on his hand, sighing.]

Well, you wanna help me make a big sign, if it comes to that? You know I'm not gonna be able to let this go.

[abstractart]

Yeah, if you figure out what you wanna say I can probably help paint. That won't drag me away from projects for long.

[maybe it can even be reflective...]

[coolerjunpei]

[hey fancy guy

Junpei is grateful for the cinnamon bun, despite his whole... mood about all of this, or perhaps because of it: it's a delicious distraction, if only for a moment. And he was planning on just eating chips for another day, so.]

I want to know what they want. I mean— [he gestures a bit with the bun,] we know they want our responses to all this shit they put us through, but how is that helping them? If they're having this biiig crisis, aren't the experiment parameters wrong? They should use knowledgeable volunteers.

[coolerjunpei]

[Oh good, his angry banner will look very pretty, that's good. That might even help. He broods about this for another twenty or so seconds.]

I don't want to drag everybody into this if it's going to cause a whole shitshow. You know, if it ends up looking like an option one situation. But if it's option two... thanks.

[He frowns once more at the document.] There's nooo way calling this phone number would work, would it?

[abstractart]

One way to find out, right? See if you can even get it ringing or if you're completely blocked.

[dial that shit my man!!]

[coolerjunpei]

In the middle of my conspiracy party? Maybe later. I don't know what I'd say yet besides "fuck you" a bunch of times.

[and the mods didn't tell me if anything else would happen yet oop]

[abstractart]

-yeah, maybe don't go with that. I mean, fair, but you'd definitely get blocked then.

[coolerjunpei]

You don't think I could sell it as a charming quirk?

[ha ha ha] No, but I have to think about it. It's been six months, and I thought I had everything figured out that I'd want to say, but now we've got actual names and this one person's numbers and I've got... nothing that'll hold water.

[featheradrift]

[ He's looking through the document again and again as he forms his hypothesis. There are so many small, easily missed details that imply something very dire going on in the background. ]

There are some key phrases in this document that tell us more about their situation. Look here, in the Employee Notes. "The Committee for the Continuance of the Species", and in the first recommendation letter, there's mention of "dynamics of social preservation across diverse communities". Lastly, in the second recommendation letter, "environmental upheavals."

[ These three key phrases paint a very damning picture. ]

My current hypothesis is that a sudden change in this world's environment has completely destroyed this world's society, and now whatever remains of it is forced to work together to survive. The second key phrase regarding diverse communities suggests to me that said communities were forced together without the time to naturally acclimate to each other.

It also makes sense why they might be pulling people from completely different worlds into this experiment of theirs. How much more diverse can you get than that?

[fussiest]

[ hey shoes that light up

one cinnamon bun down, kaveh slides the rest of the tray onto the sole corner of the desk that hasn't been entirely covered in paper. he considers this. ]

Oh, I agree. But you also have to see this from the perspective of a research institution. There already is a built-in bias for an information hierarchy, the ones who excel in that environment typically foster a skillset for control, and there is an inherent disparity between research subjects and the researchers involved. Simply put, there isn't just a lack of trust - there isn't an environment that can easily foster that trust.

[ kaveh's fingers skim the edge of the table. they begin to tap. ]

Consider their perspective: they can either bring in a group of disparate individuals from wildly varying worlds and cultures, somehow get them onto the same page, somehow obtain their buy-in, somehow explain and answer all their questions in perpetuity, deal with miscommunication, mismanagement and mistrust, and somehow get them to either generate a new idea or to go along furthering their current idea of how they want things done. Or, they can set up a blind experiment, extract the data and value while operating under their own parameters, testing for the way forward based on hypotheses that is built on hundreds of years of their own research context that they think they understand better than anyone else, with people that they actually do trust. I know what I would choose.