[OPEN MINGLE]

[justscribing]

WHO: Everyone! It's a mingle!
WHAT: Discussing recent reveals about the simulation
WHERE: Pairidaeza Architectural Studio
WHEN: Feb 3rd morning to evening
WARNINGS: Potential existential crises, discussions of death, memory manipulation, basically everything to do with their actual situation in a simulated environment.




[The actual setup within the garage-turned-studio is away from all the actual workbenches.

On one folding table are copies of multiple documents available around the X: The main document is a summary of a resident from a prior iteration that's clearly been redacted via scanning copies with stuff blocked out. Additionally are copies of the most recent newsletter with the memo on the back and photos of the hotel journal printed in black and white.

Lined up on another folding table away from the one with the documents is an array of finger foods: hummus, chutneys, and yoghurt dips with a variety of sliced vegetables, cheeses, cold cuts, and fresh pita bread. cardamom cookies, panipuri, and both vegetable and chicken samosas take up the other side. Mint water and fresh juice are in pitchers to the center. It's actually a little crowded.

Chairs are set up in small grounds and around the document table. And finally, a whiteboard has been rolled in for people to make use of in group discussions.]



((This is a mingle, so everyone is encouraged to threadjack, make toplevels, etc prior plot mingles have been done. Alhaitham and Kaveh will be around and participating but not taking the lead beyond making sure people stay orderly in the studio and have enough papers.

If you character has discussed the simulation with either Kaveh or Alhaitham, you can also handwave they texted them directly about it.))

Comments

[fauned]

Mm..

( she's here. more out of curiosity than anything helpful, but she has a small pile of panipuri she's picking at alongside the papers everyone seems to be picking apart because she is just shameless like that.

there's some concerns, but, )

So they're just watching us like... Always? ( freaky, thinks the girl who's definitely watched her friends sleep. ) Could you imagine the things they've seen us all do at this point?

( And Then Write About It, )

ota

[wordchain]

[ There are several recognizable names in this file, but most of them are unfamiliar... Once Yesod has read through the document's remaining information, he's quiet for a while to revisit a few points noted down from past discussions for anything to add to the whiteboard. CE-41 came up then, too — Alhaitham mentioned it as the class featured in his dorm room. That iteration's dissolution was evidently the result of running out of supplies altogether.

Real people in real bodies, according to the newest memorandum file. A "decommissioning" procedure intended to erase iteration memories and allow test subjects to be reused repeatedly. ]

...This confirms that they have access to our bodies elsewhere, then.

OTA

[justscribing]

[Alhaitham has had a few days to review this information himself, of course. He doesn't really need to read it again, but it makes him look occupied as he chews through samosas. And when he's not pretending to be busy, he's at the whiteboard jotting down relevant information:

CE-09 - years 2692-2693
CE-41 - years 3021-3025
Dr. Sumalee becomes head researcher of the simulation experiment - year 3054


Residents that disappear during a simulation are "decommissioned" and have their memories erased. This is not infallible. SEE: Ishmael


Iterations of the same people have been reused. Uncertain if these are all potential alternate timelines or if they've somehow discovered how to break the time continuum.


Personal journal entries occurred during CE-47, the same iteration all other redacted memos have come from. Nothing past CE-47 has been found.


Previous iteration data and personal files are all being stored on the same servers as the actual simulation. This is amateur, but the information we've obtained from data crossover has been illuminating.


They're focused on our personal development within the iteration. Likely reason is that we're meant to be a stand-in for a variety of personalities without them experimenting on their own people.


We are not disconnected from our physical bodies.


And then, all the way to the left side a line drawing off the section:

WHAT'S ACTIONABLE:

- Since we're still connected to our physical bodies, is there a way to shield our minds so they can't receive a "neuron wipe" and lose our memories?

- There may still be people on the inside that don't agree with our treatment. See if we can get them to contact us.

- Stress the simulation itself to break further. Remove their control.]

Anything else?

ota

[strongroots]

[ This is a Lot, huh.

Robby doesn't bother with the finger foods (what is with people serving a mini-buffet with these reports, wonders this uncultured swine), but he might later. Way later. A good portion is just him sitting with the copy of everything, from the report to the photos of the hotel journal. He sits with a heavy brow, reading through everything, quiet. Still.

Doesn't even turn to talk to his City Designated Adult (Daniel LaRusso) who, of course, has come along with him. He can be approached while in this quiet state, obviously brooding like a young teen about this information. It takes him a bit to process this information, even if it might confirm things they already figured was true: how closely they're being watched, that privacy was never an option. Well, fuck. Fuckity fuckity fuck.

But after a good sulk, Robby will go to the whiteboard and jot a few questions down. ]

Where was the report found?
Does the diary mean they're in here with us?
Make copies of any photos we find? Keep public? Watch out for faces

[ Robby's no Alhaitham here........really, he's chewing on his inner lip and started to bounce once of his feet as he stands there, staring at the board. Does he want to erase these?

He stands at the whiteboard for a good moment, reading what's been written too, but will eventually go back to sit, taking out a notebook and trying to jot things. Trying to get out of his own head.

But he's still bouncing one of his feet in a nervous tic. ]

OTA!

[fanstheflames]

[ Tsuruno is... oddly quiet. Not that she's being completely antisocial, but she's definitely not as chipper or exuberant or even fiercely determined as she usually is. But she'll make the rounds, read the whiteboard and participate in discussions, grab some pita and hummus and gnaw on it like an anxious gerbil and finally be found hunkered down in an unoccupied corner.

She's twisting the ring on her finger, the only jewelry she's wearing, and looking simultaneously like she's deep in thought but also trying not to hyperventilate.

Very softly, under her breath: ]

You're fine, you're fine, you're fine...

OTA

[nomoresharks]

[Ever wary of delving too deeply into something dangerous when other, far more capable individuals are perfectly ready and willing to do so, Hythlodaeus has avoided attending these meetings until recently. "Until recently" being the operative words.

He would have come regardless, considering his newfound desire to escape with all memories intact, but the information on the back of the newsletter (even redacted as it is) cannot be ignored.]

That these were simulated environs I suspected, but to think that even we were reused.

[A plate of samosas, taken to be polite, sits untouched beside him as he finishes jotting down another note to himself on the notepad he'd grabbed on his way out the door.]

I imagine they must use something similar to that device within the Science Discovery Center to recreate our bodies should anything happen to us or at the start of a new iteration. But to what end? Both the report and all previous actions taken if someone commits some sort of crime imply that the heads of this experiment seek cooperation above all else, but the pressures upon us seem designed to test the limits of this cooperation and trust.

It could be but simple curiosity. And yet there are fifty iterations.

OTA

[immortalpoet]

[Vergilius is ever the wallflower, here, not stepping up to talk or share anything, simply watching. He does move to grab a copy of the documents after some time, and when he reads it...]

[Ishmael.]

[His eyes are certainly glowing here, his face a stern glower.]

....They really need to leave us the fuck alone. [He doesn't know what to think of this, at the moment, but...] They really are just copying the City's nonsense, alright. Can we even influence the damn simulation without them freaking out and shutting it down?

late and ota!

[cupperty]

[ Muriel is sitting off to one side, writing all of this information down in a little spiral-bound notebook. They're looking pretty shellshocked, and frequently stop jotting down notes to stare off into space. If none of this is real, then on some faraway level, they think they should feel glad. It means that they won't get in trouble for acting like a human, sullying their human corporation with food and drink, fraternizing with the enemy. Instead... they just feel sick.

After a moment, they tentatively raise a hand, as if they're asking a question in a school assembly. ]

Um... d'you think that if they've been observing us so closely, they've realized that we know what's going on?