COMMENCE EXPERIMENT

[bathymetric]

Fun fact: Did you know that the Pacific Ocean has a surface area of 62.46 million miles? That's not even accounting for depth.

You awaken to a sharp jolt, like you've just hit the drop on a roller coaster. Then it passes, and you're in a bed, suddenly very clearly awake. Is that right? Were you asleep? Your memory is a little fuzzy as you come down off the adrenaline, but it puts itself into place soon enough. This is not, as one might say, your beautiful house. If you have a beautiful wife, she sure isn't here.

The positioning of the bed inside your new room gives you a very clear indication of where you are - or at least, where the building is. Above you is a decent-sized window looking out on... well, the ocean. But not in a fun beachside resort way, to say the least. Fish swim by pretty frequently, here to keep you company - but they cannot hear your screams, and do not seem particularly bothered if you tap on the glass unless they're right by it. It's thick, man.

On the bedside table, you'll find two things: a key card with a number between 1 and 25 on it (no points for guessing which one is on whose, unfortunately), and a small handheld device, a little like a smartphone but mostly like a blackberry? Remember those? Anyway, accessing it will reveal only a scarce few functions: a list of profiles, a map of the building, and a very ominous set of rules. You might try to ignore that last one! Unfortunately, you'll find them in a frame by your door. And in a frame somewhere in every room of the place, if you go out exploring at all. The tablet also has a message for you when you open it:

Greetings. Please take an hour to become accustomed to the facilities, then proceed to the meeting room north of your dormitories. Attendance is mandatory. - The Professor

But hey, it... it also lets you play Snake! Who doesn't love Snake, huh?

Anyway, head out into the halls! Make some new friends - or maybe enemies, wouldn't that be exciting? Look around a little! Just make sure to be back for whatever this meeting is - after all, you want a chance to face off with your captor, right?

Comments

howdy neighbor, now on your actual toplevel

[precognit]

[From the door to room 22 steps...the actual physical opposite of Jasper, actually, it's quite comedic. But even though she's so perilously outmatched, physically speaking, Alice doesn't cringe away from Jasper, just inclines her face upward and blinks a few times.]

No need to shout. I'm in just as much a predicament as you are, so I'm afraid I can't answer that.

listen she sparkles in the sun too, you just have to hit the right angle

[hardnosed]

I'm not shouting, [ she says, like a liar. There is, to be fair, a lessening in the volume of her voice as she stares down, though she makes no effort to be any less herself otherwise! Jasper isn't used to her mere presence not cowing gems, let alone what she can only assume is a human being. It both galls and interests her, as any show of backbone does. ] But fine — you don't know anything either. Is that right?

g a s p

[precognit]

[You kind of were, Jasper, but that's okay. Alice appreciates the lowered volume nonetheless, and even smiles! She holds up the crappy blackberry to show Jasper.]

Only what I've read on this. There are profiles of everyone, and a map, and some rules.

[and time to engage f r i e n d s h i p.]

My name's Alice. What's yours?

[hardnosed]

[ She regards both Alice's smile and her device with the same level of general confusion, like the friendliness itself is discomfiting, before responding. ]

Jasper. [ womp womp womp ] Profiles — you're saying someone's been gathering a database on us?

[precognit]

Ja—?

[Alice's eyes grow round with surprise, and then she laughs at the coincidence. Oh, she wishes her Jasper were here right now. She could use the calm, artificial or not.]

Seems like it. You should give them a read. You, uh...need me to show you how?

[hardnosed]

[ Jasper's own eyes narrow suspiciously — for someone like her, it's hard not to read mockery into every little reaction — but she only really reacts, a little too emphatically, once she hears the offer of assistance. ]

I don't need any help. [ Which she may or may not have interpreted as a suggestion that she can't read. Why else would she need a hand with something this analog? As if to prove the point, she gets her own out and starts going through it right in front of Alice, which is deeply rude. ] Huh — there's yours.

[ Her followup question has absolutely nothing to do with the totally normal age listed therein. Who knows what a natural human lifespan is outside the context of a planetary war, anyway? ]

Is it accurate?

[precognit]

[Alice realizes a moment too late that the woman might think she's mocking her. She holds up a hand, belatedly.]

—I wasn't laughing at you, I promise. It's that...Jasper is the name of someone very dear to me.

[Is that weird to say? Probably, but Alice has never been a good metric for what is a weird thing to say.

She watches her scroll through the profile, and prickles of danger hit her right around her collar.]

Yes...what makes you ask that?

[hardnosed]

[ She looks away from her device and back down at Alice, her yellow eyes confused and, perhaps, mistrustful. ]

Don't forget who wrote these.

[ But it seems like she's willing to accept the confirmation and leave it at that, so it can't be the profile itself that's keeping her skeptical. ]

I'm not about to trust the word of the scum holding us here that easily. Not by itself. [ ... ] Humans name themselves after us?

[ Not a fan of this concept! Not a fan at all! ]

[precognit]

Fair point.

[Alice already has her own device out and is scrolling through it again, looking for Jasper's profile. She...pauses, both at the age and at Jasper's question about 'humans'.]

I...this is terribly rude, I know, but what exactly are you?

[hardnosed]

Be ruder if you assumed I was human.

[ She shrugs, evidently unbothered, and lifts one hand to face height. One finger indicates her nose. ]

I'm a Gem. It's not just a name — it's what I am.

[precognit]

I totally understand.

[A gem. Okay. So she's...a rock, but anthropomorphized? Alice leans up on her tippy-toes to look at Jasper's gem.

Huh.]

Okay. I think I understand. In that case...yes, my Jasper was named after your stone. There are other names like that...Ruby, Diamond, Opal...

[hardnosed]

[ oh no, she said the magic word ]

Diamond?

[ Likes: Pink Diamond. Dislikes: Pink Diamond. ]

You humans would even name yourselves after the Diamonds?!

[precognit]

[Oh No

Alice can tell, almost immediately, that she's said something...wrong, somehow. She shrugs her slim shoulders, trying to play it off.]

I wouldn't, but there are some who think it sounds...fancy, I suppose.

[hardnosed]

Fancy? It's obscene. [ HERE IT COMES ] It's one thing to call yourself the same thing as a common foot soldier, but Diamonds are flawless beings! They outshine us all!

[ While she'd never take this well, the fact that she's already so on edge, surrounded by humans and divested of half the qualities she uses to differentiate herself from humans, makes it infinitely worse. That a Diamond hasn't set foot on earth in five thousand years doesn't occur to her. That Alice doesn't know what a capital-G Gem is, really, and has no context for the magnitude of this insult, doesn't either. She just zeroes in on the insult by itself. ]

No gem would have the audacity to pass themselves off as one — and if they did, they'd be shattered.

[precognit]

[Despite being a little caught off-guard at how this talking, walking rock is handling the news that some people name their kids 'Diamond', Alice stands her ground with surprising ease. She spent the last 70-odd years with Emmett, and routinely takes down full-sized grizzly bears. This is fine.]

I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so insulting...if it makes you feel any better, I personally have not named any children after gems.

[hardnosed]

[ She's winding up for more of a tirade, but it's hard to miss the lack of intimidation. Jasper's not sure how she feels about that — like the bully she is, she doesn't like any self-designated inferiors failing to react to her in the appropriate way — but Alice staying calm and measured in her response is pretty effective in not inciting further escalation on her part. Besides, while she's thinking about that, she's not thinking about what she was just yelling about! So there's a substantial pause before she just responds with: ]

... good. When we get out of here, you should tell someone. It's disrespectful.

[ Renesmee, on the other hand, is great. ]

What's an Alice?

[precognit]

I'll definitely make sure to alert everyone. I'm sure none of them realized they were being disrespectful.

[d o n ' t]

Um—

[That question actually seems to stump Alice for a moment.]

I think it means 'noble'? But that's all. Otherwise it's just a name.

[hardnosed]

[ Well, at least it's a virtue she can understand. But seriously: ]

... this planet really makes no sense. [ And she hasn't even delved into the parents part yet! God help us all. ] It's like nobody exists for a reason.

[ The tantrum abandoned, she goes through a few more profiles quickly until she finds her own. Almost immediately, she says: ]

This is wrong.

[precognit]

That depends on who you ask. Some people feel very strongly that they were born for a reason. But usually their parents aren't aware of that when they're born...

[Alice's brow furrows.]

What's wrong?

[hardnosed]

Just look at it. [ And she will helpfully (?) hold out her own shitty blackberry directly in front of Alice's face, screen facing her, as if she hasn't got her own on hand. ] Half the likes and the dislikes are the same. And Pink Diamond — that's just a lie.

[ And a cruel one. What are they playing at? ]

[precognit]

Oh. Maybe...whoever wrote these was trying to be clever.

[Like the allusion to her baseball pitch. That's just rude. They weren't even trying to be subtle.]

What about it? That you like her, or that you don't?

[hardnosed]

She was the reason I existed.

[ As simple as that. ]

But maybe you're right. If that's what they were trying to do, their sense of humor is sick.

[precognit]

Oh.

[It sounds...romantic? Or sad? Alice can't tell which.]

Well, at least if we know that and acknowledge it, we can keep it from getting to us.

[hardnosed]

Wasn't planning on it. [ haha yeah whatever ] Anyway. The age is right. Height and weight... I don't know how you humans measure things.

[precognit]

[Alice furrows her brow.]

...how would you measure them?