Week 2

[airlockedmods]

[Other than the reappearance of the Overseer, there's no real change in the routine. PAL still makes the morning and night time announcements through the PIP on each Champion's arm, and still the Champion unitards are freshly laundered and re-hung each morning in their closets.

No other floors unlock, but Cece and Kip will still be appearing randomly to chit-chat.

All you know is... something has to change soon.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your AC for week 1 and submit your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Oh... she's so sweet... he grabs the whiskey on his way up to a proper sitting position and smiles at her.]

Claaariissuu, you're so nice... I know you're gay so 'sokay, 'mnot hitting on you. You wanna drink?

[He offers the bottle up.]

[desperateprayer]

[ ...What. WHAT. She is going to go bright red and hide her face in her hands. ]

Wh-What!? I-I'm not... S-Sure what you're t-talking about...!

[ Listen she's been told it's shameless and disgusting for someone like her to be in love okay ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

'S whiskey. Uhhh... they make it out of different kinds of grain. It's good!

[Because that's what she meant, right?]

[desperateprayer]

[ ......You're not going to leave her alone until she drinks it, are you. She'll hesitantly reach out, because it's a change of subject. ]

...I-I... Don't think I've ever had alcohol... I-I know my village makes wine, but...

[misanthropicprinciple]

'S better than wine. And waaaaay better than nothing.

[He smiles when she takes it, an open boyish smile, and makes himself comfortable against the wall.]

Nobody's nice t'me anymore... 's my own fault, but still sucks...

[desperateprayer]

[ Well. She gets drunk easily. So she's going to take a drink and-- Cough a bit because that is far more burn than anything else she could or has drunk that she remembers. ]

...I-I... Don't mind being around you...

[misanthropicprinciple]

'S all right. I don't like people.

[...After a moment, he looks at her again, as if afraid she'll take that badly.]

Uh, you're nice though. You're... you're a good people. People should be nicer t'you.

[desperateprayer]

...I'm... Not sure I agree. I'm still... Getting used to the idea that... I don't deserve the situation I find myself in...

[misanthropicprinciple]

...That's 'cause... that's, that's how they do it to you. I seen... I've seen that a lot. People who got hurt for a long time.

[He stares at the floor for a while, then waggles his fingers to request the return of his bottle. He wants more drink if this is what they're going to talk about.]

It's okay. You can take your time thinkin' about it. Or not. ...I'm not good at the talk.

[desperateprayer]

...

[ She'll hand it back. There's that at least. ]

...Other people keep saying that. I'm... Not sure who to believe...

[misanthropicprinciple]

Don't believe us.

[He downs a heavy swig of whiskey with a quiet "ahh" and wipes his face with the back of his hand.]

Listen, and learn. But... but don't believe anything you haven't judged with your own powers.

[desperateprayer]

...Don't believe, but... Confirm something as the truth... Not an act of faith?

[ Is that what he's saying? ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Faith, hope, love, and luck... they're all things that can let you down.

[Drunk like this, he sounds... tired.]

If you keep... keep asking questions, eventually, you find the truth. And the truth's the only key to get out of a place like this.

[desperateprayer]

........I just... Want to go back to my mother. With Miss Mikaela... I... Know I won't be that happy, but... If Mikaela is there, I... Think I'll be all right.

[ ...She doesn't blame him for sounding tired tho. ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

That's your goal. Find a way to do it. All the facts--the questions--use them to get there. Don't look off that one path.

[desperateprayer]

...Junpei. ...Do you think we'll actually be able to escape?

[ ...She's never really had faith in things. ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Yes.

[And for all Junpei's cynicism, that is one thing he can state with firm belief.]

...There was... this experiment. With rats. To see if they could escape a tube 'fore they drowned.

[desperateprayer]

...And...?

[ ...She's almost scared to hear the outcome. ]

CW: Animal cruelty

[misanthropicprinciple]

The tube was shaped like a U. [He draws a U in the air.] One end had light 'n not the other. So the rats were more likely to swim to that end, right?

But that end was electrified--like, like if you try to take the PIP off. [AKA Ouch City. He swings his finger back to the other side of the U.] The exit was at the other end--the dark one. So only the rats who explored that end got out.

The weird thing... the weird thing was that, those rats who got out? They multiplied. And generations and generations of rats later, they did the saaaame thing to the rats' descendants. None of them had ever been put in the tube before, they never saw anything like it. But still, more of those rats chose the right end of the tube and survived--like somehow, they remembered.

And the weirdest thing. A different group of scientists performed the same experiment... a million miles away, with rats that didn't have any relation at all to the first group. They never met or anything.

And those rats, who didn't know anything about the first or the second group of rats... They did better at surviving, too.

[desperateprayer]

........So we're the rats?

[ ...But which group? ]

[misanthropicprinciple]

We're better off than the rats were. We're human. We can communicate; we don't need to pass our lessons on through genes.

But I brought the experiment up 'cause... 'cause this isn't the first time something like this has happened. So the information... it's out there.

[desperateprayer]

...

[ She nods. ]

...I'm not very helpful, but... I think if we work together, we might... Be able to get out.

[misanthropicprinciple]

We'll have to.

[He's looking off into space, eyes distant and heavy with alcohol and exhaustion.]

It's about... bonds. We don't know which kind. But last time... last time, every participant had a role. Even if they didn't know it.

[desperateprayer]

...Then I'll... Do the best I can to fulfill mine.

[ Even if it's as a sacrifice. ]