Welcome.

[trustfellowship]

The last thing you remember hearing is static. There were words in there, perhaps, quiet whispers like the rustling of leaves, like the crinkling of paper, like rust being scraped off a knife. The words aren't anything you'll remember, but they're there, and there are a lot of them washing over you, and it might be concerning if it weren't so warm where you're lying. You wake feeling disoriented, like you've been asleep for a long time. Of course, it's probably odd that you're waking up just now - perhaps you were in the middle of something important, perhaps you were waiting for something, or maybe you were just going about your day, but even before the whispering came you can clearly remember doing something back home. Can't you? Something else. Something that wasn't looking around the room you've found yourself in. It's not your room, either. Not the one you're used to. The room here is grey and white and tile; even if the bed is nice (and the bed is nice, it feels like it's been designed to cater just to you, maybe if you keep your eyes closed you can pretend it's a favor), the room itself is spartan and oppressing. The walls are cracked and the floors are in disrepair, but despite that there's not enough noise - it's silent, the quietness of it pressing in on you, and even if you can't see any cameras you get the distinct feeling that for good or ill, someone is watching over you as you get up. That might be enough to make you move, to make you not want to stay there. But even if you stick around for a while to look around in there, the walls hold firm despite their decrepit state and the pervasive silence isn't going away - if anyone's in the rooms near you, you can't hear them. If you want answers, you're going to have to leave. Be sure you grab the key sitting on your desk on the way out. Once you step out of the room into the hallway you'll most likely find yourself face-to-face with other confused people who feel as though they don't belong here either. Maybe you'll find something if you explore together; maybe it's safer in numbers. Wherever you end up going - and there are several places to go - you might want to check the large room toward the center of the communal area of the building. A subdivided foyer is here; at first glance, it even seems to offer you a look at the outside. Of course, once you've gotten over that particular disappointment, you might want to check out the walls, where you'll find some very interesting information about yourselves hanging on the walls. There's some other framed information that you'll most likely want to get a look at as well, seeing as how it could be the key to escaping this place. Although, speaking of keys... Despite your best efforts, you won't find any doors. The windows you find here and there are far more durable than they should be as well, and any attempts to break out won't work. It seems you're stuck here for the time being. Maybe your fellow captives have some thoughts on all of this. Welcome to Beacon General Hospital.

Comments

[carnivorously]

[Waking up in a different place doesn’t surprise Kogami. In fact, he’s completely expecting to wake up in a hospital, however, there’s no IV hookups and he’s not feeling the pain of surgery of having bullets removed from his abdomen. This sets off red flags immediately. Even more so when he’s not wearing the typical hospital wear of a patient, but instead his usual work uniform. White shirt, black tie, black suit. He’s up almost immediately grabbing the key to his room and exiting room 8.

He spends some time going through the hallways and notes there’s 30 rooms altogether, almost set up like some kind of hotel—some kind of dorm. He doesn’t even know where to begin in this thought process without more information. Just that it’s all weird. Off. He’d initially thought it was an isolation facility and after his last stunt and maybe he was discarded by Gino and Tsunemori, but that’s definitely not looking like the case.

Kogami heads to the inner foyer where he finds the profiles at first. His own profile is the first time people likely see genuine emotion from him as he scowls. ‘Unemployed’, huh? Well, perhaps he really has been discarded. The likes and dislikes really get to him as well. Some of them seem a little off, but it’s so detailed that it’s disconcerting. He’ll look to the person also scanning the profiles.]

Hey, your information—does it seem right to you?

[Next is the rules. Reading through them, it all clicks. Suddenly, his scowl turns upside down, in almost a smirk.]

We’re in a game, aren’t we? And these rules are our fighting chance.

[The murder part doesn’t even get to him. He just figures they’re rules and one must follow them to win. Perhaps his lack of disconcerted response should be disconcerting to others…

Kogami then heads to the outer foyer, not to investigate, but he was planning on smoking. At least until he reached into his pocket inside his blazer and there’s nothing. Ugh the fuck?! This is bullshit.]

Hey, anyone know where I can buy cigarettes?

[His voice is calm despite the fact that he’s freaking out on the inside without his cigarettes. He hasn’t checked the vending machine yet so maybe one could point him in that direction.]

profiles

[brushworks]

Aside from the "phantom thief" part, the information on mine is accurate.

[ Well, the phantom thief thing is correct too, but he isn't going to admit that. ]

[carnivorously]

Phantom thief, like the ones in those books?

[Arsene Lupin definitely comes to mind. That's a really old book. Though that does earn the other a chuckle.]

Though that's good to know.

[Though phantom thieves... he truly has to wonder if this may be an isolation facility. Maybe a new kind of one where latent criminals can walk freely kind of like how he can at the MWPSB building.]

[brushworks]

Yes. Like Arsène Lupin.

[ ...Huh. It's odd that this person thinks of phantom thieves in fiction instead of the ones people are talking about on TV and the internet, especially when the name on his profile suggests he's Japanese. ]

How accurate is your profile?

[carnivorously]

[An odd occupation, but he won't comment on it too much. If they were on TV and the internet, they'd probably be there for information. Not to rile up the population or anything of the like. Stressing the population out is not a thing that's allowed in his society.]

My profile isn't accurate to my knowledge. But that's just the thing. I have no idea if it's my knowledge that's inaccurate or this information.

Profiles

[georgeous]

We might be better off not revealing as much to each other, but fine. It's not as though anything on my profile is sensitive information.

It's all accurate.

[ Well, what may well be sensitive is the part about his sister. That whoever kidnapped them knows of her is troubling and he'd rather not talk about it. Not think about the danger his job may have put her in now. ]

[carnivorously]

[You are one fashion disaster, dude, but Kogami doesn't make a remark on that. Just something he keeps to himself. He imagines this man must be pretty eccentric with how he's dressed, but also someone he's best not to mess with until he has more information.]

Is that so. I suppose a lot of mine is accurate, in fact, I imagine all of it is, but it's disconcerting nonetheless.

[georgeous]

Certainly. As trivial as some of the information is, I hardly go around announcing my favourite foods to the world at large.

And some of the others' seem even more private. Whatever did this might have watched us for a long time.

[ Ooooooor have mind reading power but honestly? That thought sucks so badly, he'll just keep it to himself for now. ]

[carnivorously]

I'm rather curious how they found out mine. I live in a building that has very high security.

[Or he lived. He's really confused about that now and it's going to eat at him.]

[georgeous]

The same can be said for me, yes.

[ This guy has clearly never heard of D.U.C.K. before and that's fine by him, but he'd still like to have him know he was very well protected as a boss of said organization. ]

Your profile is rather interesting though - why is someone described as latent criminal so concerned with justice?

[carnivorously]

The system decided I was a criminal even though I hadn't done anything. [At least nothing physically. He's not sure if he wants to explain what a latent criminal is.] That doesn't mean I won't work to solve cases.

[He shrugs, but that's all he's saying.]

I'm more curious as to what D.U.C.K. is. Is it an acronym for something?

[He's probably not going to get an answer, but it's worth trying to ask.]

[georgeous]

[ George tilts his head at that. 'Latent criminals' are not a function of any earthly legal system so he had initially assumed it to be a figure of speech only... The man in front of him seems human if nothing else. Of course, that can't be trusted. Strange...

But for the question... ]

Defensive Universal Confidential Keepers. In short, DUCK.

[ That last word is said with emphasis as he... strikes a pose. He really wishes he had his card on him though - where did that go?

After a short triumphant smile, he lowers his arms again and goes on normally. ]

An alien monitoring organization for the protection of human civilians.

rules

[halleberry]

I think you're absolutely correct on that one. While I think calling it a "game" might be treating the matter a bit insensitively...

[ Though, she does agree with the sentiment, entirely. ]

Recognizing what we can't do in this situation, and what we can do, is probably the best first step towards getting more information.

[carnivorously]

[It's a game to Kogami. A fucked up game, but it's a game. There are rules that state a way out, a way to win.

To someone, this is a game. And he knows there's fucked up people out there that would sit back and watch amusedly while said game goes on. It's starting to make sense-- and he's not liking the conclusion he's drawing.]

I can't say I'm a big fan of these rules, but you're right. They're also telling us what to do to get out. It doesn't seem like a pretty thing, but someone's going to be desperate enough to try.

[halleberry]

...So you think so, too, then.

[ She was wondering if it was just her being pessimistic, but, the conditions seem poised for someone to make the attempt. To kill a stranger for a chance to survive...if someone wants to get out badly enough, if they have a reason to escape urgently, they'll act on their own. The life of someone they don't know is worth the risk. ]

With the way this is structured to be a stay with "no time limit," I do think it's only a matter of time before an attempt is made, if we don't take the proper precautions. That's not to say that it's impossible for the "exercise" to end without bloodshed...after all, the rules do say that rule 7 is a way to terminate the course early. But without any definitive knowledge of how long the exercise is set to run, someone is bound to react. That's what I believe, as sad as it is.

[carnivorously]

People are bound to act. Knowing that's a way of escaping, someone's going to attempt to murder someone else. I don't know who it will be. It could be you-- it could be me. Someone here may have a reason to get out that's worth killing someone over.

[There's a rare smile on his face like he finds this amusing. Then a derisive chortle.]

All I can say is be on your guard.

[halleberry]

...Of course I will. I'm certainly not audacious enough to assume that my life is worth more than anyone else's here. I'm just a high school girl, after all, so there's no way that my freedom is more important than anyone else's here.

[ Not that she's being self-deprecating, here; just realistic.

But judging from this man's profile, he's seen quite a lot, and been through more. What a "latent criminal" is, she can only assume from the name, but...criminality is hardly something like a disease, right? She has enough knowledge of sociology to know that. ]

There must be a way to prevent it, though. To stay in pairs, or to keep inventory of anything that could be used as a weapon...

[carnivorously]

[If only 'criminality' wasn't a disease. Still, it doesn't bother him that people can surmise that he is a latent criminal based on his profile. It's who he is, and perhaps he's ashamed, but there's no use fighting it.]

Even if there's ways to prevent anything, nothing is foolproof. Given a pair, one decides they want to get out and murder their partner-- we're in danger no matter what.

[A simple truth stated so matter-of-factly.]

[halleberry]

They couldn't do that unless they were incredibly slick about it. They'd have to kill in such a way that they wouldn't be discovered, right? If they were to kill their partner, and we all knew they were supposed to be together at the time of the murder, and they have no alibi...well, that wouldn't do anything to terminate the experiment, judging by these rules.

[ It's not a perfect plan, but, it would at least be safer. ]

Though, that said, I do think that these rules paint an incomplete picture of the scenario. Think of it this way: let's say a murder were to happen. I'd imagine that after someone dies, we as a collective need to determine who the guilty party is, correct? But if we're all trying to end the experiment early, why would we do that? I don't believe anyone wants to be here any longer than they have to, even if they wouldn't resort to murder. What's stopping us from collectively turning a blind eye to discovering the guilty party, other than, say, our personal sense of justice? Logically, there must be some sort of incentive for us to find the culprit and continue the exercise, versus letting the culprit get away with murder to end it.

outer foyer

[doctorize]

I'm afraid not, though given our current setting, I would be surprised if there were any cigarettes here.

[It has the look of a hospital, so unless the people who worked here heavily smoked and hid them somewhere...]

[carnivorously]

[Fucking kill him now if there's no cigarettes here.]

Well, if they're going to make me stay here against my will, they should give me cigarettes at the very least. Even criminals locked in isolation still get their hard drugs given to them. It can't be that hard to ask for cigarettes.

[Sibyl isn't that cruel to people, as cruel as they are.]

[doctorize]

It is certainly the least they could do, if they're going to lock us up in here like criminals.

[Given the morning we're having he's almost wishing for a cigarette, or at least a good drink.]

But until our... host decides to grace us with their presence, I suppose we'll have to look around and see if we can find any on our own.

[carnivorously]

That's what I was planning on doing while looking around the rest of the facility. I'm really wanting one right now and it's going to drive me nuts until I have a cigarette.

[doctorize]

Would you mind a helping hand? I could honestly use one myself, now that I think about it.

[And since Cathy isn't here he doesn't have to care about her making comments about smoking being a filthy pass time for a doctor to engage in or whatever.]

[carnivorously]

I wouldn't mind at all. I'd normally put investigating first, but my need for nicotine is taking over my mind right now.

[Where's his endless supply of cigarettes, he's actually kind of getting upset right now.]