text; un: panoptes

[sisterswitch]

OK, I know I said my offer was one time only the last time we talked, but I’ve been watching all of you for the past few days, and I actually feel sorry for you. So I’m trying this again. Most of your more hostile comrades seem to be among the disappeared, so I hope those of you who are left will be a little more reasonable about this whole thing.

My name is Jack. I am not - repeat, NOT - working with the Head, and I wasn’t a member of the Heart, either. I’m not trying to trick you - my offer to help is genuine. And I even brought an olive branch this time. It’s a video I found, and no, I’m not Rickrolling - click here and watch. I think you’ll find it sheds some pretty interesting light on what happened here, back in the day.

Now, when you’re done watching, you have a decision to make. Do you want my help? Because I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve, and I’m happy to share them - for a price. My going rate is the same as last time - I want a story. A confession, specifically, of something wrong that you did and got away with. As far as what I’m offering? I can set up a secure network for you to communicate with each other, stay in touch, talk out whatever plans you might come up with to escape this hellhole. It’ll be a lot easier than trying to coordinate a dozen people into the same meatspace where yes, Virginia, you’re still being monitored by our evil robot overlord. So that’s one option. The other is that through the power of magick, I can make you invisible to all technological surveillance. Option A, the network, will need to be a group decision. If you pick option B, though, we’ll arrange payment on an individual basis.

Questions are fine, but I’d appreciate a little civility. If you’re only going to yell and be a dick, you can just keep scrolling.

Comments

text | un: silva

[merged]

[ the video does shed some light on a few things and leaves a sour taste in her mouth. ]

Why would you want a confession? [ It seems like a strange exchange. ]

[sisterswitch]

I have special dietary needs. I know it’s weirdly specific, but the confession helps keep my Hunger under control.

[merged]

[ she's not really sure if she believes it or not but given the current circumstances, she can suspend a little bit of her disbelief. ]

All right, then.

So, how do we do this?

[sisterswitch]

That depends. Are you volunteering for the group or for yourself?

[merged]

[ Why would she volunteer for the group?

Still... ]

Probably just myself, but what's needed for both?

text; un: coffeefiend

[ichoosefight]

Unrelated question, are we sure we haven't wandered into the Terminator films?

[sisterswitch]

I have eyes everywhere and I have yet to see Arnold, so I’m pretty sure we haven’t.

[ichoosefight]

Encouraging, but we aren't in LA I assume based purely on city name and blind hope

[sisterswitch]

You know we’re not. Are you trying to pretend you’re new here?

[ichoosefight]

The last time I got kidnapped it turned out we were on a different planet. I don't know what happened between L.A. and Cyberpunk Dystopia.

text; un: shay-la

[uglyminded]

Is that all you wanted? Easy. I broke my friend out of city custody a few months ago.

[sisterswitch]

It needs to be a little more detailed and little less easy than that. Are you volunteering for the entire group, or just yourself?

[uglyminded]

I can't speak for anyone else. I vote we build a network, but I'll settle for invisibility if I have to.

How much detail do you need? Your whole society is built different from ours, you'll need a lot of context.

[sisterswitch]

Only as much as needed for the story to make sense. What do you think is so different about where you’re from?

[uglyminded]

For one thing, there's no such thing as magic. You talk like a Rusty, and I haven't seen a single Pretty since I was brought here. I think it's safe to assume you guys haven't invented the Operation yet. Do they have hoverboards where you come from? Skintenna? Costume surge? Uglies? Pretties? Specials? Do your cities even have magnetic grids?

[firacrux]

You thought we were gone, hah!

Nah, we didn't talk much last time. Your offer came at a time that seemed pretty suspicious, can't blame us for bein' cautious about it.

First thing's first: What's Rickrolling?

[sisterswitch]

There’s a difference between cautious and hostile. Some of you were cautious, others were hostile, and if those in the latter category were still here, I wouldn’t be talking to you again. Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the cop was the worst offender. People who are used to having power over everyone else tend to hate it when you challenge their authority.

As for Rickrolling ... the easiest way to explain it is to say it’s a joke you play on people, sending them a link that you tell them is for something but it’s actually a link to a specific music video. Here, I’ll show you.

Check out this map to the Head’s current location!

[firacrux]

Hyne, if that ain't the truth. They really don't like that shit.

Hah! Shit, that's great. So why that one specifically, any reason? I'm guessing this is one of those Earth things like the movie references and shit you guys like to do.

[He's been given ideas. What have you begun? He's saving that link for later.]

[sisterswitch]

I guess whoever started it just thought it was funny, and it went viral. That’s how memes usually become a thing - people find something funny and it gets passed around the internet until basically everyone’s seen it. We Earth folks are easily amused.

[firacrux]

And what's a meme again?

[Seifer will forever annoy Earth folks with questions about their strange social culture. It sounds fun, he likes it a lot better than where he comes from.]

Also, can I just say wow what the hell? In regards to that video you put out. The hell did you manage to dig that up, even? Holy shit. I didn't realize the tunnels were full of fuckin' magic. Guess it explains a thing or two about...

Fuck it I don't know a Hynedamned thing about this kinda magic.

What were you using a confession for again?

text; un: birdbrain

[mrsarcastic003]

I'm as interested as I was the last time we 'spoke.' In both column A and column B, if that's a choice.

What the hell happened?

[sisterswitch]

Of course it’s an option. The collective option for the network still needs to be a collective decision, though. And if you’re asking me why the city’s deserted, I have no idea. I was unconscious for as long as everyone else, as far as I can tell, and there was no surveillance during that time, so I can’t pull up any past recordings to find answers. Sooo frustrating - I’m not used to being kept out of the loop, and I don’t like it.

[mrsarcastic003]

One sympathizes. I don't like it either--it's extremely unnerving to wake up and find an entire city completely deserted with no explanation.

And missing some friends.

[sisterswitch]

It’s especially unnerving when you’ve taken steps to make sure something like this doesn’t happen to you.

[mrsarcastic003]

[Oh no, he just saw that Steph referred to him as bird brain, and he will never live this down as long as he lives.

Oh, well. That's going to be fun for future Tim to deal with.]

Sounds like you're having just as frustrating a return to consciousness as the rest of us, then. Sorry to hear it.

Anyway, it seems like we're all in agreement regarding your offer. I'm assuming we should get back to you with a volunteer we've all agreed on? And I'm still interested in personal invisibility to technology. It's no fun sneaking around when you're under constant surveillance.