Into the tunnels

[lucetimods]

Who: Anyone who saw this.
What: A new section in the tunnels
When: The morning of the 10th onward
Where: Beneath Luceti
Summary: After revealing a new section of the tunnels, the people of Luceti have the freedom to slip in and see what secrets await them.

This is an open log for anyone who would like to thread out checking the tunnels out, observe the wall of memoirs, or just generally poke around at things.

Comments

[chikaidestroyer]

[Albert says nothing when Sheena trails off. Instead, he walks towards the doorway and then glances back at her.]

[corrinesbell]

[She watches him go, genuinely surprised when he looks back. Does he expect her to follow? To leave this place so soon after they found it?

...Fine. She'll go after him.]

[chikaidestroyer]

[He continues walking out of the main control room and into the tunnels, not looking at Sheena as he moves into one of the former experimentation rooms.

Somewhere more private to talk.]

[corrinesbell]

[A room like this. She can't help it, she shudders as she comes through the door. It feels like decades ago they were down here finding these rooms and bits of files and looking for something that could help them.

And here they are again. Same oppressive feeling of powerlessness, same dim lights.]

[chikaidestroyer]

It's hard to look at this place, isn't it? [His voice is somewhat quieter.] Even three years later. Why would you put yourself through having to see rooms like this if the possibility presented itself?

[corrinesbell]

I dunno, Albert, why would you? [That was sharper than she intended. Folding her arms around herself, she tries to back off.] I wouldn't. I couldn't do that, be somewhere like this all the time doing...the kinda stuff that happened, happens, to us unless-

[Unless? She looks just as surprised as she feels.]

Unless it...was so everybody else could get back.

[chikaidestroyer]

[He frowns wryly at how she comes full circle with her answer.]

We do not know much about the Organization, but we know it is large and far from unkind to those outside of the tested enclosures. You may not wish to someday be in their role, but it helps to understand where they are coming from.

It does not excuse what has happened to us. But it would appear to be another cycle that exists in this world.

[corrinesbell]

[It does not excuse what has happened to us. That helps. Sheena swallows hard and finally manages to bring her temper back under control.]

Yeah. ...Sorry. I guess it just really started to all feel pointless.

[[ooc: And then it became its own comment somehow what even, DW.]]

[chikaidestroyer]

[He is quiet for awhile, allowing Sheena to regather her thoughts; he has to think of how to proceed as well.]

Do you recall what ANI told us before, two years ago? In the span of the two years that we have been imprisoned in Luceti, the percentage of success made in the Organization's objective of traveling to other worlds had increased by 250% in comparison to the previous 13 years. And then we have seen what is capable now, even if it is currently imperfect.

Things are changing. Apparently at a very fast rate, for this world.

[corrinesbell]

Did we ever find out what they were really traveling to other worlds for?

[chikaidestroyer]

[He looks at her for a long moment, as if trying to gauge what she's saying.]

You think there is an ulterior motive?

[corrinesbell]

I...I don't know. I don't know what I think anymore, about the Malnosso or Luceti or why we're all really here or any of it. What I remember is that...they're still scientists, right? And they never tell us everything, and they've come up with a lotta great ways to make sure we cooperate and go along with their plan in the interest of "freedom." Or whatever.

I'm just not sure it's our freedom we're dealing with anymore. ...Freedom from this bubble maybe. But from the world?

[chikaidestroyer]

[He suppresses a sigh.] The prevalent belief by the Organization is that the Third Party is what causes issues in this world. There seem to be different opinions on how to deal with them -- somehow attempting to stop the war through peace or eradication, for example.

It seems that Catherine's opinion is that we can be freed from this world by removing everyone from it. This includes the children who were born here. That is why his experiment involved having people from other worlds travel to others.

[corrinesbell]

Yeah, I know that, I just meant...that what I think is that they wanna get away. They've been here longer and they've got more at their disposal and everything, and maybe they're just taking us along for the trip because there's no better way to get us to help.

[chikaidestroyer]

[There is silence for a few seconds.]

They certainly had options. They did not need to allow us to fight. They did not need to allow us to participate in missions. We could have remained here solely as test subjects. Is that what you are referring to?

[corrinesbell]

Yeah. And hating them and trying to escape or kill them or whatever it was we were doing.

But they decided to try to make friends instead. To act like we had choices.

[chikaidestroyer]

Not without effort, you realize. They did not make such a decision without discussion and persuasion.

[corrinesbell]

Yeah, thanks, I was here. It hasn't changed that I still think they're using us, just in different ways so we don't decide to all go against them at once.

[chikaidestroyer]

And you think that going against them would be in our best interests?

[corrinesbell]

[Sigh. Albert keeps giving her words connotations that she doesn't intend for them to have. Sheena rubs her left temple and shakes her head.]

At least not anymore I don't. Things're too different and we've never really had control anyway.

[chikaidestroyer]

[His voice is flat, though his meaning is ultimately flippant.] We have, in our own ways. We could have given up at any point.

[Speeding up the process of being reduced to shells. Or being sacrificed.

...]

What do you want, Sheena? What kind of comfort or hope are you expecting now?

[corrinesbell]

I wanna know that we'll do better than this. That we're gonna...get to something that's not either being a Malnosso or joining their army. That we'll all get what we're hoping for.

...I guess maybe that's a lot to ask for, huh?

[What she doesn't want is to argue with Albert. She wants him to agree with her, mostly, or come to a compromise. Because she sees his point. It was to their benefit to work with the Malnosso instead. She just doesn't think she explained it the way she meant to.]

I'm not giving up.

[chikaidestroyer]

It depends on what you consider better. What you consider progress. What you consider your ideal goal. What I consider progress could mean nothing to you; what I consider a goal could be nothing to another. [He shakes his head, his voice just a touch quieter.]

I do feel that we are better off remaining here than being brought into the Organization. At least, while we are still here, they acknowledge that we meet the criteria of the project.

[corrinesbell]

Yeah. I don't wanna...I really don't wanna turn into them if it means we've got to start being in charge of a new set of us. Or something like that.

[A heavy sigh. It felt like progress for a little while, down here, but they are just as stalled as they ever have been, aren't they?]

[chikaidestroyer]

You are thinking along a narrower path in that regard than I am. [Though what she was saying was certainly a valid fear.] If we are extracted from Luceti, it could very well mean that there is no longer any hope of us leaving this world. Then we are even more exposed to the war and the cultists, without the power and influence Luceti, as a whole, manages to accrue.