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

[emberserker]

If she isn't hungover, then we must. If she is, it's probably time travel.

[bolderfell]

...Logical, I guess. And as good a reason as any to check on her.

[emberserker]

I suppose. If the Professor isn't interested in fighting fair and square, which is understandable, then we ought to use anything we can too.

[bolderfell]

Of course. Even if he wasn't. [Shrug.] I'm not. Interested in fair and square, that is.

[emberserker]

Of course not. After all, someone like him doesn't deserve it.

[anna please stop doing that with your face]

Even if he is bound by rules, he's playing with them anyway -- why not?

[bolderfell]

[That's... not an unfamiliar expression to see on a redhead. Therion pauses, bottles in his arms.]

Think he is? Playing with them.

[emberserker]

That motive hinged on his exact words, didn't it? Implying only the requests from Angel were gone, but saying and meaning that it was all goods asked for, to cut off the blood supply. It's been that way for a lot of things. So it's possible he isn't allowed to lie according to the rules, but lies by omission or implication are allowed. Dr. Birkin brought up something similar.

[bolderfell]

...It's not what I would call playing. It's manipulating. If he wanted to lie, what's to stop him? He's not here. Doubt his sponsors or comrades would stop him if lying got them their results faster.

Whatever it is he wants, he has to stick to the rules to get it. And since they're his, they must be what they are by his design. So, half-truths and missing pieces, but no outright lies. Keys and locks that never match. He makes sure we always have just enough to keep working towards something.

[emberserker]

Do you suppose he left all the clues, then, too, as part of the exercise? Or that it was someone else, but he's aware of it?

[bolderfell]

[Give him a moment to think about this, hand on his chin.]

If he wasn't aware of it, he is now, and he hasn't done anything to stop us from looking for them. And if we're assuming he can't tell a straight lie... then he doesn't know who wrote them.

[He mulls that over a moment longer, then shakes his head and shrugs.]

Unless William--what did you call him, Dr. Birkin?--unless he's lying. He's the one who asked them about it.

[emberserker]

That'd be an option, but the idea that he's telling the truth fits with the rest of it. The only thing to do is analyze the data we have and plan for the rest of it.

[bolderfell]

Yeah. And to stay on our toes. A good plan leaves space for the things we can't prepare for, and we're still in the dark about plenty.

[emberserker]

That won't be a problem. I can plan for anything. He's taken far more than he thinks he's in for.

[bolderfell]

[Why are you so damn scary, child.]

...Right. In the meantime, all we can do is keep searching this place for clues and weak points.

[emberserker]

And if things continue the way they have been, that shouldn't be a problem. This is solvable. It's just that no one has managed it before.

[bolderfell]

...Not any of us, anyway.

[emberserker]

What, do you think someone from a previous test survived?

[bolderfell]

It'd make sense. That letter about other subjects, the notes left behind that would help any set of prisoners as much as they help us... And Della found that, uh, clear pouch that seemed like it was already here for months. We can get those out of that machine. Others may have, too.

[emberserker]

I would have thought they were all dead, if he's still running it. After all, why keep going if you have a winner? But if someone did win, then left these clues...

[bolderfell]

Yeah. Why keep going...

[He trails off, following that thought somewhere that might or might not be relevant, then shakes his head.]

At the very least, we know one "subject" survived. The one from that letter, the one that's stable. Maybe it wasn't this test, but then why leave the letter for us to find? There must be some connection.

[emberserker]

I'm not sure it was the same test, but it probably was some kind of precursor. This might just be the more efficient way to do whatever it is he wants.

[bolderfell]

Too bad that letter reads as garbled nonsense with so much taken out of it. Not that I understand what's in it, either. "Stable exposure"? And what was with the fancy letters?

[emberserker]

They're Greek letters. Common signifiers, especially when a project is being tested and isn't fully ready yet. I assume this one we're in is the full version, hence the insipid titles we got instead.

[bolderfell]

Greek...?

[That's all Hornburgian to him.]

Hold on. If they're commonly used to talk about tests and projects, they're something scholars use as a matter of course, right?

[emberserker]

I suppose it depends on the faculty, but I believe so. I was never one for mundane pursuits. I've always known I was going to become a mage instead, despite what Mother has to say about the matter.