hey mom, dead mom, i need a little help here

[nothingcanstop]

[ ...All of that happened, huh. That's the sentiment each and every week, and it's no different this time. Except, this time they've lost more people than before. Five.

The gathering invitation is slipped under everyone's doors, but it specifies something a little different. ]



[ That's a good two hours or so of difference. Enough time to wander around, for sure.

But, in the garden, at the appointed time, there's a variable arrangement of fresh-cooked food. A good amount of beef stew, some Chinese hot pot, and...watermelon? Just, an absurd amount of watermelon, cut up and set on plates. All the food's set on tables that seem to have been moved from the library, and the ground is littered with blankets, for those who don't want to sit on the grass.

And yes, she did not lie. There is, indeed, a variable fuckton of alcohol. (And coffee, for our underaged.)

This has become routine. But, we're still here. We're still alive. ]

Comments

[mouflon]

Not like that would have stopped me from voting. [ Un...fortunately... Rin is entirely willing to consider Mira to be guilty by association at this point, in the way she thought of Seteth. ] Really, anything she did would have just been prolonging the inevitable. So I guess it's good that she decided to keep a little dignity and go quietly.

[ladygeryon]

Yeah. It doesn't seem to matter how hard they fight in the end, does it? [Only Nova was spared, and even that was only temporarily and because of some mysterious ally of theirs.]

[mouflon]

I'd almost wonder if they were really there, but I guess things going wrong puts an end to that question. Still... It begs the question of how and why the executions work the way they do.

[ladygeryon]

I'd thought about the whole thing being some spectacle as well, but according to Ghostworth they ended up dead either way.

Perhaps it has something to do with the emotion-harvesting we found those papers about. They're all situations familiar to the culprits, right? Maybe those are best for creating the proper emotions in them or something like that.

[mouflon]

Yeah, I have no doubt of that part.

From us too, right? But that's only one half of the question. I almost wonder if it's some sort of virtual reality environment... The people and places we see can't really be there, and that would be the easiest way to recreate them on short notice.

[ ...Unless there's... one preprepared for everyone? Yikes, she only just had that thought and she hates it. ]

[ladygeryon]

It can't be completely virtual, since the executioner was able to enter Nova's execution, and it seems she does exist in reality. But that could definitely be the case for the scenery and any of the people who don't actually perform the execution.

[mouflon]

I don't know about that. Who's to say she didn't just enter the environment when she was needed? And who's to say the people who perform the kill haven't just painted over their natural appearance within that digital space?

[ladygeryon]

That could be...but that would mean the Professor had several other trained combatants among his staff to accomplish that, wouldn't it? Would he actually need to use someone from a previous experiment as backup, if that was the case?

[mouflon]

Hey, you're the one that said the people who perform the execution have to be "real" in some way. Or do you think the Professor actually has Ernesta sitting around somewhere?

[ladygeryon]

Oh, definitely not. [A long sigh as she looks up at the ceiling.] I don't know much about virtual reality at all, so I'm just throwing ideas around to see which one sticks.

[mouflon]

Another option is that it isn't VR at all, but instead a projected illusion. If Angel has some sort of superhuman ability that he can access, maybe he has another person over there beside the failsafe, taking care of that aspect of the execution.

[ladygeryon]

Could be that, too. Guess we won't know unless we can find that room while it's inactive.

[mouflon]

We know he can transport us in pretty fantastical ways, so... Do you think that room is actually somewhere we can find? Or is it in another facility somewhere else?

[ladygeryon]

Depends on how instantaneous his method is. [Nira taps her fingers on the table.] But still, the transport mechanism would be somewhere in here, even if the actual location is somewhere separate. Though I suppose there's currently no real reason to go out of her way to hunt that room down. [If they find an escape route they should just take it.]

[mouflon]

Didn't Therion say that Cullen was gone as soon as the lights went out? Either way, if any part of this facility is meant for transport, I'd imagine it'd have to be that "courtroom."

[ Man, Rin has hardly any respect for the law, and she still looks like it pains her to call it that. ]

Something under the floor, maybe.

[ladygeryon]

Under the floor, and capable of aiming. It doesn't require the target to still be at their podium, after all.

[A pause.] Wonder if it'd still work if someone tried climbing onto one of the podiums.

[mouflon]

Or if they moved to stand with someone else, first. Would whatever it is be able to select only the right person?

Another possibility we have to consider is that the podiums are only a beacon. We know our bodies have been tampered with, so it's a possibility that we've been tagged in some way.

[ladygeryon]

...that could also be it. The x-ray machine actually seems to work now-I suppose we could check to see if it could pick up anything.

[mouflon]

Huh, that's true. We do have that thing, and Birkin knows how to work it...

[ladygeryon]

Yeah, I suggested using it just to get a sense of if anything about our bodies in general has changed. And he's offered to teach me how to work it as well so he doesn't have to be the sole handler.