WEEK 4

[bathymetric]

Another trial, another week, and still you're probably running lower on answers than you'd like. And on people - you lost three since last Sunday. By the end of this week, you'll have been here for nearly a full month, yet still the days crawl on.

You wake up Sunday, again with no memory of Saturday, but this time with a simple message on your devices: You may resume requesting items, if you like. Enjoy. Guess it really was just a stealth motive after all, but at least it's being communicated that it's over! That's something, at least.

And when you leave your rooms on Sunday, there's another new area to explore! This one is... certainly more ambitious in its construction than the last one, to say the least. But hey, you have a pretty neat place to host parties, if you feel so inclined! That's... fun...

Hey, you gotta find the fun in situations like this where you can! Silver linings, right?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Week 4! Remember to turn in AC here, threads for regain coins here, and if you feel so inclined you can visit Angel's office hours over here! ]

Comments

[bathymetric]

[ That is valid and frankly how I should have started!!

So the room is way longer than it is wide, so there's only a couple real "rows" of machines in here, but they're pretty long. They're less grouped together by era than they are by type, tho era does shape that - one of the rows has more physical games like skee-ball and the traditional "throw many balls into/at hoops/bottles/clowns" games, there's a pinball section near the end of that row as well as more ticket-focused games like coin pushers.

The other row is digital, with cabinets for traditional arcade games down one side and shooters down the other. The dance and rhythm games are over in the very back of it. ]

[fivestagegod]

[Okay, so we've got midway games, cabinets and...what the fuck is all that stuff at the end. He is from 1998 and that shit is baffling and if he has to figure out ParaPara Paradise to get at whatever secrets may be in here we're going to be in here for hours dealing with his uncoordinated ass.

Anyway.

To the best that he can figure, the midway games are more likely to have physical triggers and mechanisms in them that can be manipulated, so he'll start there. Are they all set up properly/does anything seem immediately amiss with any of them?]

[bathymetric]

[ The physical games all seem to be set up just fine - they're even plugged into physical outlets in the wall, if you look carefully. There are some general oddities - the machines all still have coin slots and ticket dispensers - but as for mechanisms there doesn't seem to be much.

Except for, and I do hate to make this man do this... there's a slip of paper inside one of the pinball machines, on the board itself. ]

[fivestagegod]

[...is he going to have to go full Pinball Wizard to get at that.]

[bathymetric]

[ ... At least there's no one here to tell him not to tilt the cabinet? ]

[fivestagegod]

[...Okay. Great. This is a thing he's doing today, he supposes.

Fortunately he has all goddamn afternoon and his eye/hand coordination is actually fine. As long as this isn't like...DDR and it's just pinball this shouldn't take forever.

...Also he's competitive and this is just going to make him determined so there's that.

So thankfully we will not be here for hours, he's pretty content to rack up shots and not completely suck at pinball until mission is accomplished here.]

[bathymetric]

[ Well, there he goes. Once he does in fact knock the piece of paper down, it doesn't leave the machine but it does turn so that he can read it through the glass.

CHANNEl 42, 21:49 ]

[fivestagegod]

[...convenient that he's going to be spending time in the lounge this evening, then!

He'll make his way there earlier than the slip tells him to; he'll set the TV to 42, though he's not sure what he's expecting to get out of this.]

[bathymetric]

[ Before the time, the channel is about the same as any channel besides the smooth jazz or infomercial ones - just low static. I assume he sticks around? ]

[fivestagegod]

[Hell yeah he does.]

[bathymetric]

[ Cool! At the appointed time, the static cuts away to a blank light green screen, and The Professor's voice cuts in, though it has the hollow slight distortion of a recording rather than seeming like a live address. ]

Give me good news, agent.

[ Another voice, unfamiliar and much younger, cuts in. ]

We got everything you asked for.

Any resistance?

Few guards. But there's always a few guards.

Any resistance worth mentioning?

... No, sir.

Good. And Subject Delta is prepped?

Yes, sir. Doctor [ There's a burst of static. ] just gave the green light to start mass extraction.

Excellent. Tell her I'll be over to the facility once classes are done for the day. I can't exactly ask any of the other faculty to cover for me - you'll remember, we're covering confidence work, could you imagine [ static ] trying to explain how to talk people out of their money?

... No, sir?

No, you couldn't. Now leave me to continue ensuring the future of [ static ], won't you? Dismissed.

[ Annnnd the channel turns back to static. But this message will repeat every day at this time, should you be so inclined to check. ]