[Text/Action (if you wanna)]: It's Business Time

[manicurious]

It's hard to type when I can't feel my fingers so I'll keep this short.

I've been waiting for a good time to announce this but there isn't one.

When we looked at Lab 3 I got this message:

This time, Ichijou Seiya, I do plan to tell you. I have tried the clandestine method under various disguises, but those offer little joy now, not when you all expect it.

No, this time, you get a bit of truth. A truth that, if your so-called saviors had possessed the forethought, you ought to have heard from the beginning. Unfortunately, we all know what is said about truth, especially if it is a truth that has been kept from us for so long.

There is a switch on the wall by the door to that room. Press it and you will see the "machines" you thought were tasked with returning you to your homes. These are but mere illusion, meant to fool you into thinking there was an actual scientific method of man's doing that could send you across worlds and through various dimensions. A clue to it all lies before you.

But the hard truth is: only two beings possess knowledge of the true way home, and neither are in a position to do so. One, quite willingly, will never do so, and the other won't get the chance to. He tried so hard to save you, but his plans have only led to my gaining an ever-increasing amount of strength over this beautiful experiment.

I have said before there is no escape and that, my dear friends, has never been a lie.

Good-bye for now. I eagerly await your screaming messages at me once more.


The part about the switch was accurate.

I was putting together a timeline for someone and realized: Nathan wouldn't tell me to forbid entry into that room for no reason.

If the machines were a ruse, the only other notable things there were pictures of us.

The pictures are what I was supposed to be protecting. The flash we all saw as we arrived here may have been a camera taking a picture like I originally thought.

That's all I have for now.

Find me if you need me.

Comments

text

[champions_legend]

[The only thing Leaf even gets out of this seeing as most of it flies over her head (right now)....] There really is no way to return home?

:(

[manicurious]

He's probably just being arrogant. He delights in making everyone uncomfortable.

[Text]

[terezi_pyrope]

[Seeing/hearing this message again, still never stops making her feel displeased or angry.]

3V3RYT1M3 1 S33 TH3S3 WORDS 1T JUST M4K3S M3 W4NT TO F1ND TH1S GUY F4ST3R 4ND K1LL H1M
OR TORTUR3 H1M FOR HOURS 4T L3NGTHS
1M PR3TTY SUR3 1M NOT TH3 ONLY ON3

3SP3C14LLY WH3N H3S DON3 3NOUGH CR4P TO US 4LR34DY
4ND W3 H4V3NT B33N 4BL3 TO SO MUCH 4S L4Y 4 F1NG3R ON H1M

[manicurious]

You're not.

Even with no desire to go back where I came from, I've had more than enough of his random cruelty.

Not to mention he completely ruined all the months of work and anticipation I put in waiting to be hospitable to anyone who actually wanted to visit me here.

[terezi_pyrope]

Y34H H3S D3F1N1T3LY DO1NG TH1S OUT OF M4L1C1OUS 1NT3NT, TH4TS FOR SUR3

MONTHS HUH?

OH R1GHT YOU W3R3 W41T1NG H3R3 4LL BY YOURS3LF W1TH M1ST3R W4SH1NGTON

4ND 1 H4V3 4 QU3ST1ON
DO YOU KNOW WH4TS UP W1TH N4TH3N?

[manicurious]

Well, I was waiting by myself without Mister Washington for even longer. That's what I was referring to.

What do you mean, what's up with him? The seemingly random bleeding, you mean?

He always seems to be under a lot of physical stress whenever he's here. I don't know why.

[terezi_pyrope]

D1D 1T G3T LON3LY?
OR W3R3 YOU TOO OCCUP13D S3TT1NG UP TH1NGS?

M4YB3 1T H4S TO DO W1TH TH3 3N3MY WORK1NG 4G41NST H1M
1 W1SH H3 WOULD ST4Y W1TH ON3 OF US OR SOM3TH1NG
TH3N M4YB3 W3 COULD F1N4LLY FORM 4 COH3R3NT PL4N

[video]

[luke_triton]

Um...why were you protecting photographs, again?

[Not that Luke thinks he ever knew. Ichijou is great at saying words that don't tell much.]

[manicurious]

[He sure is. :V]

Because Nathan, the young man who helped several people escape this place before, told me to guard the room that contained them.

The only other notable thing in that room was a series of machines, which I had initially thought were responsible for all of this.

But the machines turned out to be fake, so it stands to reason that the pictures must've been what I was supposed to be protecting.

[luke_triton]

Are you sure the machines are fake? Maybe you just didn't understand what you needed to do in order to make them work properly.

[manicurious]

I didn't even touch them, actually, but you can feel free to ask Miss Sophie about that.

Just as long as you don't mind her biting your head off. I thought that she was going to strangle me just for being the bearer of bad news.

[luke_triton]

[Luke does not believe it's possible for Sophie to be mad at him. Maybe that's just a quality of Ichijou.]

Is she also upset that they don't work?

[text]

[desertdaggers]

A camera can do that?

[manicurious]

No.

But it wouldn't be the first time that something was doing what it shouldn't be doing here, would it?

[desertdaggers]

No, that's true.

Maybe it's been empowered to do that.

[manicurious]

It seems like the pictures themselves might be more important than the camera that took them.

I don't know. I'm really trying to grasp for something, here.

[desertdaggers]

Well, I suppose so. Still, you'd have to do that to each individual picture if it was like that, wouldn't you?

I think the important thing for the moment is trying to find this person.

text

[tactilekonesis]

[It's a lot to process, and quite frankly, the news doesn't make Kon feel any easier about the situation.]

they've had pictures of us the whole time?
that's just a little creepy

do you have the pictures with you now? or are they still in the lab?

[manicurious]

Pretty much.

I believe that the pictures were stolen by our captor, as they were no longer in the lab. The frames they used to be in were all that was left of them.

[tactilekonesis]

what does he want with pictures anyways? :/
there aren't tabloids here
we're not famous

it just doesn't make much sense

[manicurious]

Actually... Several of us used to be famous among the people of various surrounding planets.

But I don't think that's related.

I don't understand how exactly, but I think that the photos are used in the process of moving us around somehow.>

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie, as usual, isn't comfortable using text] What exactly is a camera? [her tone is urgent and slightly demanding]

[manicurious]

[Ichijou, not as usual, is a bit afraid to talk to Sophie directly.]

A little device that almost-instantly creates a picture of whatever it's pointed at. I used to like them a lot.

[fortune_sought]

[thankfully, Sophie is too determined to work this out to bother with being mad at Ichijou]

So it made those...pictures? And there's light when it does that? [she frowns, thoughtful] And they could be bespelled to keep us here...

[manicurious]

Most likely.

A camera doesn't always flash when it takes a picture, but it does much of the time. Nearly every camera has a light attached to it since they work best in bright daylight, but obviously there are times when people want to take a picture and the lighting situation isn't ideal.

So the light on the camera is supposed to re-create daylight for the moment that it's making a picture of. A lot of people hate having pictures taken of them because the bright light hurts their eyes.

What you said about the pictures being bespelled - that's what I was thinking, since our mystery person said that the method of moving us around wasn't as scientific or technical as I thought it was. And I don't really understand it, but it's the only idea I have left right now.