[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

[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?

[manicurious]

To say the least.

I never knew she could send things flying across a room like that.

[manicurious]

Most likely.

That seems to have been the most important thing all along, but I feel like we haven't come anywhere closer to accomplishing it since this whole fiasco started.

It's terribly frustrating for me, and it must be unbearable for people who don't want to be here no matter what the conditions are.

[manicurious]

I sort of got that impression, yes. Any place which can produce guys who can light a bonfire with their face must be rather fantastical.

Even if it is some weird place in America.

I suppose you're right about the sincerity of the information that I had been providing, but to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't be surprised if people thought that I was intentionally trying to provide false information. It's hardly a secret that I don't look forward to seeing all of you leave since it means that I'll be here all alone again. I've never encountered a more pleasant group of people.

On the other hand, I hate that you're all stuck here when it's like this. It makes me feel like an awful host even though I have no control over any of it.

[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.

[tactilekonesis]

thanks? :/

you can't go back to your world? or to one of ours? i know my earth's no stranger to refugee aliens. i know you wanted to stay in luministi but there's gotta be some kinda compromise

i'd like to go back but i'm not holding my breath either

[manicurious]

I could go back to my world, but I'd rather not. If I go back there I'll die miserably soon after.

I never thought about going to someone else's, though. That's a wonderful idea.

[tactilekonesis]

oh. that sucks.

it should be pretty easy right? i mean if they can get us from our worlds then they can also take us back - and they'd already have the coordinates or locations of our worlds, so it should be easy to plug those in

[desertdaggers]

It seems like it'd be a lot of trouble.

He's been very determined on staying in the shadows.

We just have to take advantage of the opportunities we get. I do hope he realises he's doing himself no favours like this, though.

[manicurious]

I don't know about that. I would have thought that to be true if we knew that machinery was responsible for sending us here, but if it's magic or whatever based on those photos? I can imagine the possibility that passage from one place to another is only a two-way venture.

Not that I know anything about magic.

[luke_triton]

Maybe it's just you. [With the face and the side-eyes and everything.]

I wouldn't mind talking to Miss Sophie, even about this!

[manicurious]

How could you even say something like that???

I'm a perfectly likeable person! Why would it just be me?

[fortune_sought]

[she listens closely, nodding as he explains. it's a relief to hear about technology that actually makes sense]

But then, who has the photos now? Nathan? Or... [she frowns, not liking the other possibilities]

[manicurious]

I think I recall Nathan removing them from their place on the wall, but I don't know if he actually took them with him.

But considering the fact that someone else managed to snatch up his CAT, I'm not feeling very optimistic about the current whereabouts of our pictures even if they were on his person. If they were left in the lab, they were probably stolen when I was here by myself. Or I thought I was here by myself.

I would've just stuffed them under my clothes every day if I had suspected that they were so important. The thought just never crossed my mind before.

[tactilekonesis]

like i'd know either! magic and i aren't friends
i know a magician but she's closer to my dad

doesn't sophie know enough? you could ask her

[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

[fortune_sought]

[her expression sours] Of course we didn't. We saw the machines, and Nathan didn't see fit to tell us! And now we're trapped, here with this... [she trails off, scowling. then her expression becomes curious] Mr Ichijou, where exactly are you?

[manicurious]

I'm in the same place as everyone else. Though I might be a little hard to see because I'm curled up so tightly against the wall.

I don't even know why I bothered coming here. It just seemed really inviting, even though I'm sure I'm going to catch a cold or something from being around everyone like this when it's so chilly.

[manicurious]

I know that feeling all too well.

Miss Sophie might be able to comprehend this more, yes. I don't know if I'll ask her. She was angry with me last time I saw her and I'm a bit nervous about what she might do to me if she isn't over it.

[manicurious]

You think so? I don't know. From the way he addressed me, it seemed like he was doing himself a fair number of favors.

Unless you meant in terms of the relationship between he and us, such as the likelihood that we'll do terrible things to him if we ever catch him. Then I suppose you're right, but even though he's terribly conceited, do you really think he'd become overconfident to the point of letting us be in his physical presence?

[tactilekonesis]

seriously? :/ I'LL ask her if you're too scared to

[manicurious]

Horribly lonely. While it was the lab area that I was supposed to be protecting, really the only reason I visited it on a regular basis after putting up some decorations was to look out into space. Most days I would fall asleep right up against the huge window in the observation deck because I would be looking out and hoping that I would see someone - anyone at all - approaching to visit me.

It was pathetic.

Now that you mention it, Nathan used to have another accomplice who spent quite some time among us. I don't know what happened to that person, but finding them would undoubtedly be useful.

Well, as long as they didn't end up like Proctor, anyway.

[manicurious]

I'm not scared!!

I just enjoy having the ability to breathe.

It's called being reasonably cautious.

[desertdaggers]

The second. Or he might engage us in a game with the prize of finding him. He'll make a mistake eventually, either way.

[tactilekonesis]

what the crap did you do to her? 8/
i've never seen sophie angry before

frustrated and grumpy once but never outright mean