WEEK 1

[bathymetric]

Well, you've now met the brains of the operation, as well as the shockingly nice-looking young lady in charge of day-to-day business. Now all that's left is to get used to your accommodations - there's 24 other people in similar shoes to yours to meet in this building, you know! And who knows how much longer you might have them...

The daily routine in the facility quickly becomes obvious - the only way to tell time moment to moment is to check the strange device The Professor gave you, but at the same time every day the lights in and out of the facility go up, and at the same time every night they go down. Otherwise, it's almost maddening sometimes, how little happens in here. At least you have a few rooms with enough to hopefully keep you occupied. Who knows what secrets they might hold? And there's always that vending machine, if you can find something that fits in the coin slot...





MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
FRIDAY | SATURDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Peace Week! Enjoy it while it lasts. Remember, office hours for The Professor's Assistant are over here if you're interested, while regains can be deposited over here! ]

Comments

laundry

[hardnosed]

[ From her position in the doorframe: ]

What are you doing.

[ So, you know, it's Nira's comment, but shittier. ]

[bolderfell]

[Hope she's happy with a shittier answer.]

Skulking, probably.

[It's a good word. He doesn't mind stealing it from Anna.]

Is that a problem?

[hardnosed]

[ Joke's on him she's never happy!!! She rolls her shoulders, and somehow makes the gesture dismissive. ]

I don't care what you do. [ A beat. ] Someone else might.

[ Speaking of Anna... ]

[bolderfell]

Can't say I care what "someone else" does, either.

[He picks up a box of something to look at what's in it.]

Are you from a world with machines like these?

[hardnosed]

No idea. [ That odd-looking one (Lif, she's thinking of Lif) asked the Professor something about the machines for washing clothes, and she's got to assume that's what's in this room, if only by process of elimination. ] This is all earth technology — it wouldn't have a purpose anywhere else.

[ Okay, it would have a purpose anywhere people's clothes aren't just part of a hard light projection, but she's not getting hung up on the specifics! ]

[bolderfell]

So your world doesn't use machines at all? Or they do different things.

[He turns to look at her, and the box disappears inside his cloak.]

[hardnosed]

[ Oh, she's watching that! And saying nothing, but her process of noticing definitely isn't subtle. ]

The latter. We don't have any need for clothing, so this entire room would be unnecessary.

[bolderfell]

[He notices her noticing him, but doesn't seem real fussed about it. Instead, he raises his eyebrows and then pointedly looks down at what she's wearing. Or... not wearing? Is it part of her?]

Really.

[hardnosed]

What.

[ wait. ]

Oh, right — I forget nobody here actually knows anything. That's part of my physical form.

[bolderfell]

[Whatever. Therion has had to achieve some zen about not knowing anything.]

...As opposed to something magical?

[hardnosed]

What? No.

[ ALSO YES ]

It's a hard light projection. [ this is helpful, she's helping ]

[bolderfell]

...What?

[He is so helped.]

[hardnosed]

Ugh — forget it. It's magic.

[bolderfell]

...Fine. So you have a form that isn't...

[He waves his hand at her.]

That?

[hardnosed]

[ Very deliberately casual: ]

If I wanted. [ Given the circumstances, even with some puny human, she's not about to out-and-out say "yeah it's my nose lol", but alluding to shapeshifting isn't nearly as dangerous. ] Not that it means anything in this hole. This "Professor" made sure of that.

[bolderfell]

What does that mean? [Wait.] Oh. Is it because there's no magic in this world? That extends to your... projection, too?

[He may be starting from zero, here, knowledge-wise, but at least he can pick up some of the things people put down.

Also things people don't put down. Sometimes he'll "pick up" things that are still in their pockets, but hey. It's a skill!]

[hardnosed]

Did the brat scream that at you too?

[ Hey, he's getting it! ]

I don't know what makes her so certain that's what's behind it all. If her body was altered, she probably just can't see it. He gets the same results either way.

[bolderfell]

Altered. [Wow, okay.] That's not worrying. You think that's what happened to us?

[hardnosed]

He said as much on the first day. [ to the extremely normal and human Alice, actually! which is something she's not thought about in real detail before, hmmmmmmmm ] Gems are magic. If it were just a matter of the world around us, nothing would have changed. I'd still be able to shapeshift.

[bolderfell]

[Gross. Gross and icky.]

Right. He said he did it to... even things out, right? But it's still not as though we're all reduced to the same level of capability.

[hardnosed]

Obviously not. If he wanted an even playing field, he crafted it wrong — most of you lot wouldn't even be interesting for me to demolish.

[ Maybe that's why she and Rose are both here, as countermeasures to each other. She really doesn't like that idea! ]

So it's got to be something else.

[bolderfell]

...It'd have to be whatever he couldn't deal with, if we were to turn it against him. Spells or abilities that would upset his experiment. He must be reasonably sure he can counter or withstand anything we're left with, and we're free to pit our remaining skills against one another.

[He plays absently with his scarf as he thinks.]

So he can't fight magic. Or... shape-shifting.

[hardnosed]

Or it's his way of going easy on us. If he can make us this weak, who says this is the worst he can do?

[bolderfell]

Going easy on us... Guess the point of that would be to scare us. Get us to do what he wants before we lose more than we already have.

[hardnosed]

Well, we'll know for certain the second someone breaks one of his precious rules. He wasn't too happy about the windows, but those already have safeguards. Attacking his assistant, though...