Are you serious?! [AHHHH] No wonder Carlos told me to ask around. [I'm glad he asked people and the people he asked flat-out just didn't have anything.]
Is...that going to be something you do every week? [Can he get more free stuff?]
Promise. We don't know who we can trust right now, but...I'm glad it was you. And that's one more thing off my mind. [The ring goes back into his pocket.] I kind of hope that you can tell me stuff like this in the future. We might be able to help everybody else if we're working together.
[Carlos. Definitely kind of made him really think hard on this friendship and teamwork thing. Please love him again, Beck, he's trying to do his best.]
No, it's...[God. Explaining it somehow feels a little more exhausting.] When I first got it, it felt like...I don't know, a sign that I was really screwing things up here. The only way to get anywhere is to sleep with people, earn tokens, and find the demons that're out there. But it still feels like I'm forgetting about her or something when I do that, or when I'm enjoying it or whatever. I think about her every day and wonder what she'd think if she knew have of the things I've done here.
[But...] But on the other hand, it reminds me why I'm doing this in the first place. Carlos and I have to get back to her. Not doing anything is almost worse than what I've been doing.
So I guess what I'm saying is...don't worry about it. I think I'm okay with it.
Kinda have to be if I'm marrying her someday. [There's a light grin, but...he stares at the water and looks thoughtful.]
I've known Akane since we were six. We met in elementary school when we both lived in Japan. When we were kids, I always used to see her sitting alone curled up away from everyone. People thought she was strange and most people didn't want to be friends. It...didn't feel right. Back then, I wanted to protect her and always be with her so she wouldn't have anything to be afraid of and she wouldn't be alone. [He shakes his head.] We had these pet rabbits in our class, and Akane was pretty attached to them. One day, she was at their hutch and...these middle school kids had come by and killed the rabbits in the hutch. She just kept crying and apologizing to them and...I didn't want to see her hurt like that ever again. She got kind of mad when I found those kids and fought them, but it was worth it. [He grins again, almost fondly.] We were best friends for years, but at the end of elementary school I had to leave. We had one last day together, and then after that I didn't see her for a really, really long time.
[But...okay. The hard part.] ...did I ever tell you about what happened before I dropped out of school and started my detective job?
It was last year during the fall. I was still in school and things were, you know, normal. I came home from work pretty late one night and when I got to my apartment, someone was waiting for me. A guy in a mask who unleashed some white smoke that knocked me out, and when I woke up next I was on a ship with a weird bracelet attached to my wrist. It was bracelet number five. I was locked in a third-class cabin on one of the lower decks, and when the room started flooding with water I had to figure out a way to escape the room. Solve a puzzle, find the key card, and get out of there alive to reach the hallway. By the time I got there, the hall was full of water. D Deck was flooding fast, but I ran up the stairs and got to B Deck and found out I wasn't alone. There were seven other people there on the staircases, and I don't know if any of us really expected to see each other. Most of us were strangers. But before I could ask...a girl came down the stairs.
It was Akane. [And here he looks a bit contemplative.] We hadn't spoken or even seen each other since the end of elementary school, but here she was on this ship. All nine of us learned that we had the same experience before this. We were kidnapped from our homes, knocked out by a guy in a mask and woke up on this ship locked in a room we had to escape. Once we were all together, a speaker in the corner started playing a broadcast.
[He sounds a little tired.] "Welcome aboard. I welcome you all, from the bottom of my heart, to this, my vessel. I am Zero, the captain of this ship. I am also the person who invited you here. I mean to have you participate in a game. Some of you, I know, are familiar with this game. The Nonary Game. It is a game where you will put your life on the line. The rules of the Nonary Game can be found upon your persons. The purpose of the game is simple. Leave this ship alive. It is hidden, but an exit can be found. Seek a way out. Seek a door that carries a 9. There is one last thing I must tell you. As you have no doubt surmised, this ship has begun to sink. On April 14th, 1912, the famous ocean liner Titanic crashed into an iceberg. After remaining afloat for 2 hours and 40 minutes, it sank beneath the waters of the North Atlantic. I will give you more time. 9 hours. That is the time you will be given to make your escape."
The windows wouldn't open and a lot of the doors were locked. There wasn't any way out of the ship right away, so we split up and started looking around. The entirety of D Deck was underwater, but we found an elevator and rooms and doors to pass through. The game functioned on a system where we had to use our bracelet numbers to get a digital root that equaled the number on each locked door. Each bracelet would be scanned in, and each person who entered the room needed to contribute to solving the puzzle. No less than three and no more than five people could enter the room, and if we broke that rule, or we didn't activate the sensor inside to scan in...a bomb inside of us would explode. That happened to the Ninth Man.
So...we played along. We didn't have a choice but to go through these rooms and risk our lives trusting each other and finding a way out. We lost some people on the way, and we realized there was something bigger that happened.
[He knows he's talking a lot, but he's going to get all of this out as soon as possible.] Nine years before the Nonary Game I played in, the first Nonary Game was run. It was an experiment run by a company called Cradle Pharmaceuticals. Nine people were put on a ship that was starting to sink, and nine others were in the building that looked identical to the inside of the ship. It was nine pairs of siblings, all kids. The purpose of the Nonary Game was to test for telepathy using the Morphogenic Field...the field Carlos and I told you about. You need two factors in order to access the field. The first is epiphany and the second is danger. The game itself was meant to introduce danger and force these kids to access the field to save themselves, to see how easily it could be done to transfer information between pairs. It was life or death, and according to Clover who told me this story, a girl died during the experiment.
[...there's a breath.] Nine years later, we played the same game. Zero kidnapped us and put our lives in danger. The killings started not long after we got there, and that's about the time we realized Zero was among us. It was revenge for what had happened all those years ago. People were killed and punished for their role in the initial game, even if we didn't know it.
The purpose of the game was for me to save her. That girl. Nine years before our game, she saw a timeline where everything went a certain way, but it was a timeline in her future and my present. In the present, that girl existed almost like a paradox and she was able to orchestrate the entire game, recreate everything she saw and altering rules as she needed to enact her revenge and get us to play along, and get me to play the game. This girl was Zero, and she brought all of us to that building to help save herself and make sure she would exist instead of burning alive in an incinerator nine years in the past.
...I saved her. There was something there that connected us in the Morphogenetic Field, so she could guide me to help me save her. Even though she died in that timeline, I was able to help her get out of that room and escape from the ship before it sank. Saving her meant that she could exist in the current timeline. But by the time we figured out how to escape ourselves and we learned we were inside a building instead of a ship...Akane was already gone.
[Haha. He's quiet again.] ...I dropped out and joined my firm to find her. A year in the underground, dealing with religious cults, organ trafficking, all of the dirty jobs and ugly side of humanity and compromising everything just to find her. I didn't hear anything for a year no matter what I did, but when I finally got a lead...it led me to Dcom. I had to do some things to get my name on the list for the mission site, but...I had to see her.
We fought, of course. I realized she wasn't the girl I thought she was back then, and she was angry I changed and wasn't the boy she remembered. But I wanted to get to know her. I had to. I didn't want to lose her again, even though I was so mad at her for leaving in the first place. And then we were kidnapped to the bomb shelter and the Decision Game started. We both made some pretty messed up choices...there's a timeline where I killed Carlos to save Akane, and there's another timeline she erased my memories so I'd forget I ever saw her ever again. The timeline I was going to before I got here was the one we could still be together. [...] So would Akane be mad at me for doing what it took to survive? I don't think so, but there are definitely things she might not be happy with if I don't try to save other people, too.
[She looks alarmed from the moment he mentions someone breaking into his apartment and drugging him, and that doesn't really fade until the story is done. Slowly, as she tries to gather her thoughts about all of that:]
...So, you've been through a lot together. I mean, understatement of the year, like - wow.
[There's a half-grin.] Even Carlos doesn't know all of that. We never told him everything, but he knows some of the details.
[But yeah, it's a lot.] ...because of her, I can tap into the Morphogenetic Field and we were able to save her. If we hadn't, the Akane I know now wouldn't really exist. But...I dunno. There are some things I'm still not sure I can forgive her for for a long time, if ever.
...I love her though. So maybe that says something about me, too. [He looks at the water again.] And then there's this place.
[...he gently kicks water toward Beck.] Sorry to kind of dump all of that on you. I didn't know how else to explain it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
uncurtained) wrote2019-10-04 08:24 am
no subject
Is...that going to be something you do every week? [Can he get more free stuff?]
no subject
Maybe not the exact same thing, but... Yeah.
no subject
no subject
[She tilts her head.]
I just pick between a few different choices I'm given.
no subject
no subject
[She sighs.]
This time, I had to choose between three options that looked exactly the same.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
[But.]
I'm glad you asked. It was tough, keeping it to myself. But - do me a favor and don't tell anyone until I know it's safe for you to do that...?
no subject
Promise. We don't know who we can trust right now, but...I'm glad it was you. And that's one more thing off my mind. [The ring goes back into his pocket.] I kind of hope that you can tell me stuff like this in the future. We might be able to help everybody else if we're working together.
[Carlos. Definitely kind of made him really think hard on this friendship and teamwork thing. Please love him again, Beck, he's trying to do his best.]
no subject
[But she sighs, before:]
And - again, I'm sorry about the ring...
no subject
[But...] But on the other hand, it reminds me why I'm doing this in the first place. Carlos and I have to get back to her. Not doing anything is almost worse than what I've been doing.
So I guess what I'm saying is...don't worry about it. I think I'm okay with it.
no subject
[She isn't sure whether this is going too far, but:]
Is she the type to be angry at you for doing what you need to do to survive?
no subject
...not to totally make this weird, but is it okay if I talk about her? The answer to that question is kind of complicated.
no subject
If you're okay with it.
no subject
I've known Akane since we were six. We met in elementary school when we both lived in Japan. When we were kids, I always used to see her sitting alone curled up away from everyone. People thought she was strange and most people didn't want to be friends. It...didn't feel right. Back then, I wanted to protect her and always be with her so she wouldn't have anything to be afraid of and she wouldn't be alone. [He shakes his head.] We had these pet rabbits in our class, and Akane was pretty attached to them. One day, she was at their hutch and...these middle school kids had come by and killed the rabbits in the hutch. She just kept crying and apologizing to them and...I didn't want to see her hurt like that ever again. She got kind of mad when I found those kids and fought them, but it was worth it. [He grins again, almost fondly.] We were best friends for years, but at the end of elementary school I had to leave. We had one last day together, and then after that I didn't see her for a really, really long time.
[But...okay. The hard part.] ...did I ever tell you about what happened before I dropped out of school and started my detective job?
no subject
[When he asks, though, she shakes her head.]
No, I don’t think you did. Just that you got a job offer you couldn’t refuse.
no subject
It was last year during the fall. I was still in school and things were, you know, normal. I came home from work pretty late one night and when I got to my apartment, someone was waiting for me. A guy in a mask who unleashed some white smoke that knocked me out, and when I woke up next I was on a ship with a weird bracelet attached to my wrist. It was bracelet number five. I was locked in a third-class cabin on one of the lower decks, and when the room started flooding with water I had to figure out a way to escape the room. Solve a puzzle, find the key card, and get out of there alive to reach the hallway. By the time I got there, the hall was full of water. D Deck was flooding fast, but I ran up the stairs and got to B Deck and found out I wasn't alone. There were seven other people there on the staircases, and I don't know if any of us really expected to see each other. Most of us were strangers. But before I could ask...a girl came down the stairs.
It was Akane. [And here he looks a bit contemplative.] We hadn't spoken or even seen each other since the end of elementary school, but here she was on this ship. All nine of us learned that we had the same experience before this. We were kidnapped from our homes, knocked out by a guy in a mask and woke up on this ship locked in a room we had to escape. Once we were all together, a speaker in the corner started playing a broadcast.
[He sounds a little tired.] "Welcome aboard. I welcome you all, from the bottom of my heart, to this, my vessel. I am Zero, the captain of this ship. I am also the person who invited you here. I mean to have you participate in a game. Some of you, I know, are familiar with this game. The Nonary Game. It is a game where you will put your life on the line. The rules of the Nonary Game can be found upon your persons. The purpose of the game is simple. Leave this ship alive. It is hidden, but an exit can be found. Seek a way out. Seek a door that carries a 9. There is one last thing I must tell you. As you have no doubt surmised, this ship has begun to sink. On April 14th, 1912, the famous ocean liner Titanic crashed into an iceberg. After remaining afloat for 2 hours and 40 minutes, it sank beneath the waters of the North Atlantic. I will give you more time. 9 hours. That is the time you will be given to make your escape."
The windows wouldn't open and a lot of the doors were locked. There wasn't any way out of the ship right away, so we split up and started looking around. The entirety of D Deck was underwater, but we found an elevator and rooms and doors to pass through. The game functioned on a system where we had to use our bracelet numbers to get a digital root that equaled the number on each locked door. Each bracelet would be scanned in, and each person who entered the room needed to contribute to solving the puzzle. No less than three and no more than five people could enter the room, and if we broke that rule, or we didn't activate the sensor inside to scan in...a bomb inside of us would explode. That happened to the Ninth Man.
So...we played along. We didn't have a choice but to go through these rooms and risk our lives trusting each other and finding a way out. We lost some people on the way, and we realized there was something bigger that happened.
[He knows he's talking a lot, but he's going to get all of this out as soon as possible.] Nine years before the Nonary Game I played in, the first Nonary Game was run. It was an experiment run by a company called Cradle Pharmaceuticals. Nine people were put on a ship that was starting to sink, and nine others were in the building that looked identical to the inside of the ship. It was nine pairs of siblings, all kids. The purpose of the Nonary Game was to test for telepathy using the Morphogenic Field...the field Carlos and I told you about. You need two factors in order to access the field. The first is epiphany and the second is danger. The game itself was meant to introduce danger and force these kids to access the field to save themselves, to see how easily it could be done to transfer information between pairs. It was life or death, and according to Clover who told me this story, a girl died during the experiment.
[...there's a breath.] Nine years later, we played the same game. Zero kidnapped us and put our lives in danger. The killings started not long after we got there, and that's about the time we realized Zero was among us. It was revenge for what had happened all those years ago. People were killed and punished for their role in the initial game, even if we didn't know it.
The purpose of the game was for me to save her. That girl. Nine years before our game, she saw a timeline where everything went a certain way, but it was a timeline in her future and my present. In the present, that girl existed almost like a paradox and she was able to orchestrate the entire game, recreate everything she saw and altering rules as she needed to enact her revenge and get us to play along, and get me to play the game. This girl was Zero, and she brought all of us to that building to help save herself and make sure she would exist instead of burning alive in an incinerator nine years in the past.
...I saved her. There was something there that connected us in the Morphogenetic Field, so she could guide me to help me save her. Even though she died in that timeline, I was able to help her get out of that room and escape from the ship before it sank. Saving her meant that she could exist in the current timeline. But by the time we figured out how to escape ourselves and we learned we were inside a building instead of a ship...Akane was already gone.
[Haha. He's quiet again.] ...I dropped out and joined my firm to find her. A year in the underground, dealing with religious cults, organ trafficking, all of the dirty jobs and ugly side of humanity and compromising everything just to find her. I didn't hear anything for a year no matter what I did, but when I finally got a lead...it led me to Dcom. I had to do some things to get my name on the list for the mission site, but...I had to see her.
We fought, of course. I realized she wasn't the girl I thought she was back then, and she was angry I changed and wasn't the boy she remembered. But I wanted to get to know her. I had to. I didn't want to lose her again, even though I was so mad at her for leaving in the first place. And then we were kidnapped to the bomb shelter and the Decision Game started. We both made some pretty messed up choices...there's a timeline where I killed Carlos to save Akane, and there's another timeline she erased my memories so I'd forget I ever saw her ever again. The timeline I was going to before I got here was the one we could still be together. [...] So would Akane be mad at me for doing what it took to survive? I don't think so, but there are definitely things she might not be happy with if I don't try to save other people, too.
no subject
...So, you've been through a lot together. I mean, understatement of the year, like - wow.
no subject
[But yeah, it's a lot.] ...because of her, I can tap into the Morphogenetic Field and we were able to save her. If we hadn't, the Akane I know now wouldn't really exist. But...I dunno. There are some things I'm still not sure I can forgive her for for a long time, if ever.
...I love her though. So maybe that says something about me, too. [He looks at the water again.] And then there's this place.
[...he gently kicks water toward Beck.] Sorry to kind of dump all of that on you. I didn't know how else to explain it.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)