Week 5

[bathymetric]

Good morning, New Rapture. A new day is dawning.

Another week, another motive, another trial. Even without a literal time loop, it's easy to start to feel stuck in something of a rut. Though vandalism parties and the like can help shake the feeling somewhat, it's only natural to start going a little... stir-crazy, don't you think?

Fortunately for you, another week brings another new section of New Rapture to investigate. This one is the biggest yet! And look at that fun theme park. And a bar!

Seven of you are dead, but eighteen of you remain. What you do to try to escape is up to you, but at least following :)'s advice gets you coins for stuff, you know?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to the fifth week of Unknown Seas Round 3! Please make sure to mark any investigation toplevels accordingly, post your ac, and you can reach either Mayor Fontaine or Eleanor for conversations! ]

Comments

[pairtner]

It's been a month and I haven't been able to accept most of what Joy has told me. I just can't accept anything without seeing it myself!

[Hilariously enough it really seems like the AIs in her canon are the most staunch advocates for reality, denying the outlandish explanations others consider and talk about -- and since it's a Kotaru Uchikoshi canon, creator of Zero Escape and what not, there's a ton of those]

I'm...not sure, to be frank with you. I suppose I was looking for some sort of consolation...

[What the Mayor showed her really, really bothered her. Part of her wondered if maybe trying to frame it as an alternate timeline she didn't come from will make her feel better]

[inaclearing]

Well, we know we're all here from different dimensions, right? So I don't know why some of them wouldn't be alternate timelines. It just makes sense.

[He's the Token Normie here, how is he rolling better with this?]

[pairtner]

[Maybe being outrageously normal makes it easier to face abnormalities! Sometimes!]

Do you believe that may be what the Mayor showed us on Tuesday? An alternate timeline, instead of something that just might happen?

[inaclearing]

If we're considering alternate universes, I think everything that could've happened has happened, somewhere out there. So - yes, it could be.

[pairtner]

........

[Aiba frowns pretty deeply. Oh, oh that's a horrible thought...she absolutely hated what the Mayor showed, and the thought it did happen somewhere...it's enough to depress her.

Is it better or worse to think it might be a different timeline to the one she came from? She's not sure]

Brett, make a choice: if someone you know were to do something that will harm others, would you try to stop them, or let it happen and deal with the fallout?

[inaclearing]

[Well, hey - logically every awful thing has happened everywhere, so why worry about it unless it's in your timeline?]

I -

[He opens his mouth, hesitates.]

Well...I guess it depends. On the situation, what I know...I don' think I'm very good at making decisions like that. I spend too much time thinking it through.

[pairtner]

There might be such a thing as overthinking it. I try to stick with logic and reasoning, but it feels like it's leading me in circles.

[Maybe what she lacks and what people in general do have in spades is that they have a little thing called 'intuition', she thinks. It's not something she puts much stock on, but maybe that's...what makes some be able to reach a decision in the end]

[inaclearing]

The last few times something like that happened, I just spent so long trying to figure out what I should do that it just...went on without me.

[He'd never quite made the decision not to say anything - but it basically ended up there anyhow.]

I still don't know if I could have changed anything.

[pairtner]

...in the end it seems that no matter what, regret is the only certainty awaiting in the end.

[Regret for not doing something, or regret for doing something and it not helping or not leading to the result you hoped for. Apparently Brett has gone through something like that before, poor guy]

Thank you for your opinion. I wouldn't say it has clarified much for me, but that was to be expected -- that I asked you perhaps was not right of me. I am supposed to be able to handle conundrums on my own.

[Because hey, she's one's AI assistant, not someone who should have conundrums. She is supposed to solve problems, not have them!]

[inaclearing]

[Brett honestly isn't sure it would have changed anything. Kathy and the others found out about the Final without him. And Howl...it feels nigh impossible to stop anything that man had set his mind on. Maybe he's just mythologizing him, who knows.]

No, it's okay. No one's supposed to handle everything entirely by themselves.

[pairtner]

I suppose I'm used to being the one who helps someone else with this kind of situation, instead of having to rely on someone else to do the same for me.

[When it's her advising other people, it works well, but it's like she can't use the same advice in her own situation. Oh well, that's one of the ironic things in life, she supposes]

Thank you for listening.

[At least she should be glad he did, even if she doesn't feel any closer to having reached a decision yet]

[inaclearing]

Yeah, of course. I'm always around, if that's what you need. I'm a good listener.

[Not always that great an advice-giver...but he thinks he has his moments.]

[pairtner]

In a place like this one that might be a good trait to have. I do not mean to make it sound like many are at their wits' end, but someone who listens would do them good.

[Forrest immediately comes to mind. She has seen him have such a hard time]

[inaclearing]

Oh - no, I think we're all at our wits' end.

[He says it like he's joking but he absolutely is not!]

[pairtner]

[This is when Aiba would say she would do all she could to help, and add if he or anyone felt like they needed help at such a rough time they could come to her.

But it's pointless to do that. Aiba already has an inkling of what she will end doing in a few days. She decides not to say that, in case she decides to kill]

Humanity is weak. However, banding together to overcome that weakness is what makes you strong. At this point I do not know how many will be alive at the end, but I do think any survivors, regardless of the number, will overcome it all. In a way that's the one thing AI such as myself cannot replicate.

At wits' end or not, I do think everybody has the capacity to overcome this.

[Well, Misfire and nonhumans in this cast are included too, even though she didn't make asides for them]

[inaclearing]

I think that's reductive. You're a person just like any of us.

[Brett doesn't really know anything about A.I. - the real kind, not in stories - but it seems true enough just from having lived around a couple.]

But... [He lets out a huff of breath.] Yeah. I hope they do.

[He doesn't even think about excluding himself from the list of possible survivors.]