week one

[airlockedmods]

Week 1

[After the initial introduction of the Overseers, the Champions were left to their own devices in investigating the part of the ship they have access to to their hearts' content. However, the doors that Blaze Dudely and Rox came through are locked tight and cannot be unlocked via PIP.

On Wednesday morning, the same voice that awakened them the previous morning chirps at them again from their PIPs at 7 am on the dot.



Enjoy your week, Champions.]

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Comments

[immaculacies]

I don't want to or not want to talk about it. It doesn't feel like anything private to me. It's true that I'm not supposed to discuss it with outsiders, but I don't think that rule matters in our circumstances. The reasons it's meant to be secret will probably never be relevant here.

I only don't understand what you meant when you said it's "bullshit."

[theundertaken]

I mean that it's bullshit and shouldn't be happening?

[immaculacies]

But it doesn't upset me.

[theundertaken]

I mean I guess that's good, but that doesn't make it okay.

[immaculacies]

[Manaka doesn't write back, this time. No matter how hard she tries, she can't understand what it is that Max thinks is a problem. So... She doesn't know what to say, or even how to approach asking for a clarification.]

[theundertaken]

[Aw, hell, did he freak her out?

Max may go looking for Manaka a little later, if she's out and about.]

[immaculacies]

[Manaka more or less lives in the library now—which might not be entirely surprising, given what she's mentioned to him about her previous interactions with books. Max can find her there, engrossed enough in a mystery novel that she doesn't notice anyone's approach.]

[theundertaken]

Uh, hey.

[He raps on the inside of the door, even though he's already pretty much in the library.]

You busy?

[immaculacies]

[At that knock, she glances up and shakes her head.]

No.

[She doesn't...seem upset, but it's hard to tell with her mannerisms.]

[theundertaken]

Cool. [He doesn't actually come closer, just lingers where he is.] Uh, hey, I just wanted to say sorry if that whole...note thing bothered you.

[immaculacies]

No, it didn't. I just didn't understand what bothered you about it, so I didn't know how to answer anymore.

[theundertaken]

Oh. Okay.

[.....awkkkkkkward silence. Does she want him to explain himself, or...]

[immaculacies]

[She watches him with her usual blank-faced expression for a few seconds. When it doesn't look like he's going to say anything, she turns away again, back toward her book. So maybe...not?]

[theundertaken]

[This is a nightmare.]

So, uh. What'cha reading?

[immaculacies]

It's a mystery novel. [She closes it, finger tucked along the page she had been reading, and holds it up for him to see.] I thought it would be fun, to read something like that.

[theundertaken]

Because you don't know who did the murder?

[immaculacies]

That's right. I thought it would be [...] fun to try to figure it out for myself.

[Said like someone who barely understands what the concept of fun is.]

[theundertaken]

That's why people read 'em! Got any theories yet?

[immaculacies]

...The housekeepers should be the most suspicious, shouldn't they? But that seems too obvious. It's hard to tell when something is really a red herring, or when I'm just overthinking the puzzle.

[theundertaken]

That's the sign of a good mystery author! I mean, reading a few and picking up on the genre conventions helps too, but if they're good then you shouldn't be able to figure it all out right away.

[immaculacies]

Mm...

[There's a pause as Manaka considers that. Finally, she replies:]

...Still, it feels strange to me. I'm used to understanding the truth of things right away, or mastering things right away. It's interesting, like this, but I can't tell if I like it or not yet.

[theundertaken]

I'd think it'd be fun! But I mean, I've only ever known it this way. Hey, if you want, maybe you can try something you haven't mastered yet, too?