Meeting Time!

[hotpaprika]

[On Wednesday morning, all the suites will find another note slid under their door. It seems much less formal this time, but the handwriting is still very distinct.]

I am holding another meeting today, at 5 o'clock. I am terribly sorry for the the location this time, but it will be in the dressing rooms at the department store, as that is one of the few places I could find that we would not be watched.

I ask, however, that you don't all come in at once, because I fear that otherwise, it could catch Fontaine's attention and may add further security measures.

I will be providing refreshments, although I welcome any additional help.

J. Harker

[The dressing rooms are, obviously, a very not ideal place to hold a meeting, but Jonathan had somewhat set things up so that they could at least talk to each other, with all the curtains pulled back and one stall reserved for some cakes and sandwiches. He politely greets everyone who enters but it's clear that he's somewhat wary from the motive.

When everyone arrives, he once again addresses the group.]

Good evening. I am sure last week was an icy shock to everyone that Fontaine is not content to let us live about in harmony. However, it is vital that we do not give up hope that we can find a way out of here, because when we do, Fontaine will have already won.

[He's trying to convince himself this as much as he's trying to convince everyone else.]

[ INFORMATION IDEAS GENERAL CHATTER ]

Comments

this is going to make my head hurt; MAJOR SPOILERS FOR S2 OF SPACE DANDY, ep 11 and beyond

[bootyhunter]

Whoaaaa, hey, hey!

[Dandy sighs, smiling in a half-hearted manner.]

Agree to disagree! Warpin' doesn't work like that, not for me, anyway. Actually, it's kinda the opposite.

I'll get into the thick of it if I've gotta, but it's a duh-huh-hoozy!

[visiblepattern]

If it's relevant, then I'd think it would be best to get into it, wouldn't it?

[bootyhunter]

[...He doesn't really know if it is, and in some ways, is afraid of what this discussion may uncover.]

So... One thing I can get behind is that, hell to the yeah there's alternate universes! There's alternate universes out the wazoo! And outta the wazoo's big, gapin' other wazoo...

But they're supposed to be separate.

Uh...

[Dandy takes a deep breath.]

Let's say, there's me, Dandy! Standin' in a room on the Aloha Oe, which is... My spaceship? For reference.

[He holds up another finger.]

And then there's another Dandy! He looks pretty similar, and he's standing in the same spot- On a different Aloha Oe, in a whole 'nother stream of time, runnin' parallel to mine.

Me, as in the first guy? Closes his eyes and thinks this is me. And then the other Dandy blinks at just the same second and thinks-

[He raises the same finger on the opposite hand, wriggling it to illustrate as best as he can.]

This is me. But if you try to merge the two, you can't.

The one on the other end just gets a headache. There's no way to bridge the gap between 'em, or at least, there shouldn't be.

[To Joy, specifically:]

It sounds like you have.

[visiblepattern]

[..........................this is so far above his pay grade]

[bootyhunter]

I think what Joy' gettin' at is- Don't do it, 'cause it's all the same either way, right?

[He's doing his best to discourage other people from pulling stupid shit!]

And what I'm gettin' at, is... Don't do it! 'Cause you won't ever make the jump. You'll either end up right back where ya started, or worse.

[Dandy exhales sharply.]

You'll just disappear.

Sorry. This BS makes my head hurt, too.

[sixthnonsense]

[Hagakure's been trying to follow along and uh.]

You guys ain't the only ones, holy cow. Have you ever actually tried that, Dee?

[bootyhunter]

...Huh.

[There's warping into another dimension or universe, aka really warping, and then there's warping to save time when zipping through the cosmos.]

I guess that depends on how you look at it.

Can't say I'm a big fan! Warpin', or I guess I should say, tryin' to warp...

It'll just make you lose all your hair.

[After a beat, he falters, in a near-whisper:]

And drive you nuts.

[sixthnonsense]

[Dandy can probably see the wheels turning in Hagakure's head, and his eyes widen when there's a click.]

Yeah...I remember you sayin' that about losin' hair, but...I'm guessing you didn't mean it as literally as it sounded.

[bootyhunter]

It works both ways, if we wanna get real down and dirty!

[It makes you crazy and bald, is what he means.]

Well, into the dirty little details, I mean.

[sixthnonsense]

[SOUNDS HORRIBLE.]

Man, I dunno why anyone would wanna go for the motive knowin' this. Whether it's your version or Joy's, it sucks all around.

[bootyhunter]

[That's right.

That's exactly right.]

That's 'cause the "shoulda-coulda-woulda's" are a freakin' disease! You spend so much time thinkin' about the past, you get stuck in it.

[Sometimes quite literally.]

But you're not really there! You're in a made-up crazy-town box ya cooked up in your own damn mind.

[sastruga]

["You'll just disappear."]

Is that so... [So that's how it is. Mafuyu nods a little, acknowledging Dandy's points.] ...It definitely sounds like no one should even think about trying it, then. That's pretty scary.

[bootyhunter]

Pretty much! Take it from somebody who kinda knows- It's no fun!

[sastruga]

It might not be enough to discourage everyone, however. Even if both you and Joy-san are bringing up good points, some people might consider the risk worth it.

So, we should all still be careful regardless.

[bootyhunter]

Right.

It would be nice if we could all just lean on each other.

[Dandy's shoulders heave as he sighs.]

But I get why everybody's so spooked.

[None of them know each other that well.]

[sastruga]

It's what we should be doing, right? Relying on each other. But we're all still basically strangers to each other -- some of us may be a little closer, but for the most part, we don't know each other too well.

Perhaps if we changed that...

[hotpaprika]

I suppose the smartest solution in that case is to have no one leave their rooms at night. That way there would be no risk of anyone making a horrible mistake.

[sastruga]

I agree. That would be wise.

...But will everyone really agree to that?

cw: emotional abuse

[allatonce]

[Anyone who's happened upon Joy fiddling with her radio will know the clip that plays on a loop:

Try harder, Joy.
I can't.
Try harder.
I can't!

It ends in her screaming. Apparently, she's not going to be able to get through the week without explaining:]

Technically I didn't bridge the gap. I burned them all to the fucking ground.

1/2

[bootyhunter]

Oh.

[Surprisingly, he thinks he gets it.]

So you-

[Up until a certain point. He blurts out his own interpretation:]

All of you, are ya one...?

2/2 more spoilers for space dandy ahoy!; cw maybe minor body horror

[bootyhunter]

[Dandy is, unknowingly, a victim with the same fate, although for somewhat different reasons. His own understanding of things is only half-correct, as the dim-witted fellow is missing some very important pieces of information.

Instead of being forced to navigate those spaces and consequently burning them all to the ground, he is the bridge itself. Dandy currently occupies a human body, or more accurately, a human-shaped vessel that craves sustenance and supposedly bleeds, but contains not a single trace of DNA. There are other tells, sure, like the lack of a regular heartbeat or sometimes the absence of one altogether.]

It's okay, Joy.

[Thankfully, nobody is close enough to him to know.

And they never will be. Not as long as he's kept guessing.

Joy's apparent heartbreak is what affects him most, not the metaphysics of the space time continuum. For all his biological anomalies, emotionally, Dandy is actually fairly simple. He hurts when others do, and even moreso when he can't do anything to stop it.]

...This stuff's fucking psycho! There's no way it could actually be your fault.

It's... A lot.

[To say the least.]

[allatonce]

This is the first time in I don't know how long that I'm here and only here.

[Which is both an explanation for why she sometimes says things and can't follow up on them, the other half of a rabbit hole stored in a distant and unreachable place she can't reach right now, and a confirmation of what he's asking.]

It's kind of weird. I don't actually love it, if I'm being honest.

[Sometimes your movie is about having unmedicated ADHD and you're going through a med adjustment period.]

[bootyhunter]

[He nods quaintly at that. It’s an oddly subtle and downright courteous movement, especially coming from the likes of him.]

Were you hoping that you would?

[allatonce]

[She thinks about the Everything Bagel. About the pleasant blankness of nothing mattering. About the hollow empty feeling of being everywhere and nowhere all at once.]

... No, I just thought it would be nice to feel anything at all.

[bootyhunter]

[He allows a moment of silence to past between them, mostly giving himself some time to adopt a cheerier tone. Dandy whistles softly before continuing to speak.]

H'okay, come on now! I'm pretty sure we can guarantee you've been pissed at me, like, a bajillion times since we've got here.

That's a feeling, right?

[Even if it's not a very pleasant one.]

Or didja want it to be more like butterflies...?

[The particular feeling in question.]

Y'know, the kind that flit around in your tummy when someone cute happens to be passing by?