week 6

[airlockedmods]

[Even with three deaths two weeks in a row, life in the Fantasy Sweet returns to some semblance of normalcy come Sunday morning. The messes are cleaned up, the bodies are safe in the morgue (or in Kip's case, still in a liquor bottle in the garden) and with this new week comes a fresh crop of returning memories.

There is no new floor this week.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your activity for week 5, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[desperateprayer]

...

[ A deep, deep breath. ]

...PAL spoke to me yesterday. And it was weird, but... A good weird? I think? He... Seemed like a person. It's... It's a story.

[misanthropicprinciple]

He did? When--where was this? Wait, I should--

[He's reaching for a pencil before he remembers his writing ability is still basically shit. After freezing, he shakes his head and laces his hands together, watching her intently.]

Right, just... tell me what you can.

[desperateprayer]

...I stayed in my room yesterday. I really just needed time to think. And then he... Came to me. At first, he seemed bitter, wanting to know why I offered, so I was... Honest. Because... Mm.

[ ...Right. People might not... Like that... ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

...Because what?

[You know what Junpei likes least of all things, up to and including getting gunned down so hard he turns into Swiss cheese? People not telling him things, Clarith.]

[desperateprayer]

............Do you remember what he said when he took over? That he was... Tired of being abused? ...I... I felt for him. Feel for him. Because... Because even if I never really lashed out, I still had similar thoughts. And I remembered how hard it was to begin to change. Until... Someone helped me. So I offered to talk to him. And I think he was confused. But after awhile, he opened up and... And it was strange.

[ She'll pass him the charts. ]

...He made these. Because he was upset we didn't eat the cake. Not because it was poisoned or anything like that, I don't think. He... He seemed to really just want to make us a cake. And he was really proud of it and upset that we just... Destroyed it. Junpei, he sounded passionate. About a cake.

[ ...She can't help but smile thinking about that conversation. ]

...He was embarrassed when I thanked him for cheering me up, even when he didn't mean to. I think he just wanted to vent. But he said he appreciated me listening, too.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei looks over the charts as he listens, and he actually snort-laughs a little.]

What the hell, PAL. That's almost cute.

[Keyword being almost, of course. He slides the charts back over to her--15 to 100, really?--and rubs his chin thoughtfully.]

I'm not sorry about ruining his birthday party, but that's actually really interesting. It makes me think... I wonder how old he is. I mean, this sounds like something a kid would do, don't you think?

[desperateprayer]

[ AND SINCE APPARENTLY SHE HAS AN AWFUL SPOKEN STATUS EFFECT assume she's writing this all down. ]

He said something else that made me think. Something about how he can't fully escape his shackles. Does he have a choice in any of this Rule 7 thing? I don't know enough about AI or technology to know how much freedom he could have.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Whoops, oh no, poor Clarith. I'll assume by this thread Junpei's heard about the status effect sabotages going around, too.]

Ah, that I'm not sure about. I never really studied AI theory... My understanding is that computers can't do anything that's not in their coding, but I don't know how that fits in when you've got something capable of self-learning. Though, and I mean, it's hard to tell since we don't see him as much as--as we've seen Kip and Cece.

[It still hurts. He was so close. He was right there. Kip...]

But he does seem to be sort of... growing up as we go along, doesn't he? I mean developing a personality. Not getting any more mature, obviously.

[desperateprayer]

[ She thinks for a moment, then pauses and begins writing. ]

Does he ever actually seem to enjoy the trials? Like, he only warns us to no make him bored, but he doesn't say much. But last night, he was really chatty. It was completely different.

And... When something mechanical goes dangerously wrong back home, goes out of control, it would be taken away and replaced. Why hasn't PAL been yet, if they're keeping an eye on us? Unless this is according to plan?

[misanthropicprinciple]

[After reading her questions, Junpei looks away for a moment to consider his answers, tapping one robot finger on the table.]

I think there are two different questions here getting tangled up in each other as one. One is, how much control does PAL have over the situation, and if he would do things differently given the choice, how do we feel about the fact that this is the reality we're given?

The second question is, who is ultimately responsible for everything that's happened here?

[desperateprayer]

If it's a show, is it possible he's just another "actor?"

[ That's the main thing she's driving at, and what she's starting to suspect. ]

Plays have people who never appear on stage, who plan out things. Decide the way things will go, the actors who take which parts... Something like that. They have to exist, right?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Stagehands. Directors. Yeah.

The network--those would be the people you mentioned, the people who put together the show and package it for their audience--they stopped responding to Kip and Cece long before PAL's dramatic face-heel turn. So you might be right.

[There's a 'but' lingering in his tone.]

[desperateprayer]

It might be our only real way out. Why didn't he execute someone, anyway, despite the suicide? Wouldn't an audience want that?

[misanthropicprinciple]

No. I don't think so. If the audience just wanted a fucking bloodbath... there wouldn't be a need for all this.

There needs to be a story. A story has cause and effect, or else... it's meaningless. Executing somebody for something they had nothing to do with, there's no narrative satisfaction in that.

...It's the same as with my arm. There was no reason for that to happen, so... he "fixed" it.

[desperateprayer]

[ ...She frowns, then draws two small pictures. People around a guillotine, and people around a gallows. She then writes under it, "Family Activities." ]

People like seeing people get punished, whether they deserve it or not.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Yeah, but there must be other shows for that. There wouldn't be all these rules, all this... dramatic intrigue, if all we were was gruesome death porn.