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[bit_impossible]

[sitting up in the slowly turning ferris wheel, a huge bag of candy floss at his feet, the Doctor is just chilling and contemplating while the nightly fireworks show has begun. he keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something terrible to happen.

nearly an entire week and it's been utterly peaceful. what is this madness?

at least in the ferris wheel, he can survey the town from a better vantage point than he would else where. with everything that has gone on recently, one would think a break would be a welcome thing, but no, not for him. the activity keeps him busy and distracted from the fact that he's still trapped with no true idea of how to get out.

when the ferris wheel descends, will anyone join him in the empty seat beside him? or perhaps get on in another one of the empty cars going around? his CAT is off unless someone calls him with it.]

Comments

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[A dry laugh]
'Supposedly'.

I guess there is no reason to believe this festival is for the reason they say, is there? For all we know, they could have been built this town the day before we came.

[bit_impossible]

Oh, now that's where I disagree. Someone went through an awful lot of trouble to set this up--and nothing terrible has happened during it. Not once. It's almost disappointing, in a way...

As for how long this town has been here for, I can tell you that all the flora and fauna around here are genuine. Can't knock over the trees, so they weren't recently planted. [of course, there is the terraforming option, but he can always tell. there's a bit of a tang in the air, and he didn't taste that his first day.]

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Disappointing? The Doctor seemed to have a deep love of adventure and danger! All the same, his discourse makes her smile.]

All right, so it's been here certainly more than one day!

[She leans back in the seat a bit and looks off into the night sky.]

Ahh, but that 'history' is so full of holes... it's almost like we have to be equally as suspicious of what's not there as what is there. Which is to say, everything! It's hard to find good, helpful clues like this.

[bit_impossible]

[disappointing because of the lack of danger and running around opportunities. makes him antsy.]

History is always full of holes, Fuu! Always leaves out the other side, leaves in the "winning" side's biases regarding a situation--conveniently leaves out details about a situation or four.

But trying to fill in the holes for this place might prove a little difficult. It mentioned a historical building, yet I haven't seen anything of the kind, not even that sign, have you? The residents aren't exactly forthcoming with details either.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[oh, yes, because if there is danger missing, clearly something must be wrong! XD]

[Fuu nods consideringly to that. It's very true - all through history the winning side did tend to spin, or conveniently forget, things. She'd read that there were whole epic, ancient battles not recorded in Egypt because they'd lost.]

I guess we'd need the other side of the story for this - like the 'urban metropolises' that the original families fled from. But seeing as Luministi purposefully cut themselves off, I don't think we'll be hearing from them.

But no, not a trace. Not of even where it could have been. Disappearing buildings seem to be a specialty here though. I could have sworn that there was no building where the greenhouse now is when we first got here. Yet they said that it was re-opening!

As for the residents... [hopeless NPCs, the lot of them.] Who knows. Do they truly not know? Are they being forced or bullied into forgetting, or not saying anything?

[bit_impossible]

Ohhh, noticed that too, did you? There had been a nice grassy field there, but well, I don't really mind the gardens taking its place. You know what was interesting though? When that weather glitch had been going on, I'd been caught in a bit of a dodgy thunderstorm and in that empty field--since it was still empty at the time--I caught the outline of a building for a split second when lightning crashed overhead. That building later turned out to have the exact shape as the greenhouse that's standing in the botanical gardens now.

As for the residents, I've tried speaking with them on several occasions and I've never felt there was any malice or fear behind their words. I believe they genuinely don't know what's going on. Unless they're incredibly skilled liars, but a town filled with liars like that is quite extraordinary.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu is quite surprised by that!]

Only seen in lightning, yet there was an empty field there until the re-opening?

I was at the library when we started getting those weather bubbles. The first time I went out, the town seemed to have become a desert. Completely transformed, eroded by dunes of sand and lifeless. Then I went inside and out again, and got lightning. When the lightning flashed, the stature of the Neptune sundial... moved. And not just a little bit.

[Shakes her head] It's crazy. Completely incomprehensible. Is this all illusion too? Maybe we really aren't riding a ferris wheel, and none of these buildings are as they seem. Yet... all of my senses tell me that this is as true as anything.


[Sighs] If they truly don't know what's going on, then they're as mixed up in this as we are. Maybe even worse because this is their reality, and we might have to break it to find the truth.


...What could possibly be the big picture out of all this?

[bit_impossible]

[he'd heard about the statue moving and might've gone to see it for himself during that event] Now, I'm not entirely sure everything is an illusion. The botanical gardens and the greenhouse very well could have been hidden with some sort of cloaking technology and what I saw was the result of a glitch in the device used to cloak it.

But I think the bigger picture here is someone or some group of people has us at their mercy, and they think that they can simply get away with spoiling us with all this extravagant wealth. We've just got to figure out why we're so interesting to them in the first place.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Cloaking? Man, this place is more like 'Star Trek' every day.

[A shiver runs up her back at the reminder of being at the observer's mercy.]

No, they can't get away with this. But... what could they possibly be after? Everyone here is interesting in their own way - able to do magic, amazing knowledge of science, whatever. Could they be after our talents? Maybe they want to know about our experiences from our diverse worlds? After all, we're a pretty eclectic bunch - only a few of us have previous connections with others.
Besides, the town's pretty eclectic itself. Must be a trend.

[bit_impossible]

It could simply be a study. Or a simulation. Or an elaborate trap of some kind that has yet to be sprung. Anything, really. Even the options are eclectic. [he smiles at her though, hoping that'll reassure her a bit]

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

A little from column 'A', a bit from column 'B', and maybe all of column 'C'!

[Fuu smiles back, but she's not feeling particularly reassured. Order and a reason would make her feel so much better.]

Like you say, it could be anything, really. Stuff I can't even imagine... [She's just a child. There's a nearly infinite amount of things she'd never imagined. Museum collections on an asteroid by Vega and a magic that can talk life into things, for just starters.]

Any way you cut it, for whatever reason that seems good to them, they have us trapped and under observation. I really had no desire to know how a lab rat feels! I have new-found sympathy for them. Good thing I want to be in computers and not medicine, ne?

[Oh, but the thought of being observed makes her nervous. She sighs again, leaning back in the car slowly as to not swing it.]

Ah, but speaking of computers. [Lowers her voice] I don't suppose you've been tempted to hack into the CAT?

[bit_impossible]

[he just keeps on smiling while Fuu talks, listening to her theories.]

Actually, that's the first thing I tried. Hacking into my CAT, I mean. Couldn't get it to open no matter what I tried--and I'm very, very skilled with hacking into things. The only things I can't get into a deadlocked sealed--and the CAT is just that. What I wouldn't give to have a peek inside...

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Really! It's an essential piece of whatever's going on here, though. You weren't worried about breaking it?

But... that's almost eerie. If you can hack into 99% of things, how would they know to protect the CAT with the one thing you can't?

[bit_impossible]

Nope! I would've been able to put it right back together as easy as pie.

And it's more like 99.9% of things. I don't run into that sort of thing all the time, but the seal itself isn't as rare as I'm making it sound. With the right know-how and technology, you can create one. You can even deadlock seal a takeaway carton if you really didn't want anyone touching your mugu gai pan. [of course, he may be exaggerating]

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

['Easy as pie'? Goodness, but he is confident of that for something he hadn't laid eyes on. Yet somehow, she totally believes it.]

That's amazing! I'd certainly like to try that- making a seal, that is.

So... if they managed to lock you out of the CAT, I suppose they've locked you out of other places as well?

[Seriously, if she had a key that could undo 99.9% of locks, she'd have a few places she'd like to try it out.]

[bit_impossible]

Surprisingly, I can get everywhere here if I wished. The only places I can't get to lies down the roads leading out of town. Listening to the people talk, it sounds as though there is more to the town than what we're seeing.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Just like how there is a whole world beyond the lab rat's cage!

[He can get everywhere? Fuu perks up at that.]

Normally I wouldn't recommend it, but I don't suppose you've used your skill to try and get into the Mayor's office? Even if it was after hours so neither the Mayor nor Miss Osculia were there, there's bound to be interesting information in those offices.

[bit_impossible]

[casually] Actually, I didn't need any skill to go in there the first time.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

The first time? What do you mean?

[bit_impossible]

When I first arrived in town, I marched right over to the town hall, burst in on Miss Osculia, and went straight into the Mayor's office. Well, after a quick fiddle with the lock, anyway.

And can you guess what I saw?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[She's on the edge of her seat!]

Oh, hardly! A 'normal' guess would be that you saw the Mayor, but this place is very abnormal.

Do tell!

[bit_impossible]

Oh, if I saw the Mayor, I would've said so long ago! No, what I was exactly what we see in the broadcasts. The drapes, the desk, the chair, even filming equipment in a corner alongside a wall filled with bookshelves and books upon them. But no Mayor. Miss Osculia then told me he'd stepped out, but I would have seen him, don't you think? I even checked the back windows, but those didn't open. There were no latches.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu nods absently to the Doctor's rhetorical question, her eyes distant as she tries to imagine the scene.]

[Musingly] That's weird that they would keep filming equipment in his room. It's not like he's broadcast that many messages, so you'd think it'd be just clutter - all the cords and stuff.

Then how did Miss Osculia react? Did she try to rush you out of the room? Was she upset?

[bit_impossible]

Well, I doubt there's enough cause for a separate press room for a town this small, so why not keep it there?

[he laughs] Oh, she was livid. If she had a broom, she might have chased after me and waved it about angrily.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Grins and shrugs] Well, that's true, but he's the Mayor. Surely they could keep it somewhere other than his office when they aren't using it.

[But maybe that's just her. Tidiness is important, especially for people who have an impression to make. ...Not that the Mayor is accepting people into his office, so making a good impression is probably a moot point.]

[Fuu laughs at well at that, just imagining it.]
That's too bad! If you want to try a softer approach next time, I think she might like creme-filled chocolates.

Oh, but you did say that was the first time. You tried going back?