ZERO;

[crashout]

Comments

[crashout]

[A lot.]

And yet you came here with that instead of a sword. Are we to believe our captors were kind to let you keep it?

[fleuris]

[ oh no, is it worse than a flower out of the eye ]

What's your problem? It's a pain in the ass to try and get around with one hand.

[crashout]

[Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighs a bit.]

It's not--calm down. [Explain then, Junpei.] I'm looking at what people woke up with to figure out if there's a reason or pattern. And it's not like I'd expect our captors to care if they made things harder.

[fleuris]

[ wow she wasn't even mad? you drop some swear words and accusational questions and people just jump to conclusions. ]

I can't really afford an impromptu vacation, so trust me, this is definitely an inconvenience. And the arm's a joke - if I wanted something really useful, this wouldn't be my first pick.

How do you even know what everyone has?

[crashout]

[He's tired, mildly traumatized all over again and buzzed, he's doing his best.]

You haven't looked at your clamshell, have you. Everything's right there. [Has he been reading everyone's profiles? Yes.] It's not like anyone's happy with what they woke up with. We're trying to locate a storage facility or something our stuff might be held.

[fleuris]

[ now do it uphill both ways, in the snow. ]

Hm. [ she hasn't bothered, tbh, because she's Lazy. ]

Why did you think there's a storage room in the first place? It'd be easier to just chuck anything extra.

[crashout]

[Fine, fine...]

Because they'd want to keep something here to bribe us with, wouldn't they? What's the point of throwing away our stuff when they could use it as leverage?

[fleuris]

What's the point of bribing us when they could just take things away? I'm sure plenty of us would cave when the choice was giving in or starving.

[ why bother with a carrot when you've got a big ass stick, after all. ]

[crashout]

Strategy. You have to give people an incentive to work with you, like...kind of a justification. "If we do this, we'll get that." It means people would be more likely to perform the way they want them to even if the victims don't want to.

[fleuris]

Your "strategy" implies they'd even want to work with us. For all we know, they just want to break us down into good, obedient little dolls.

[ ... ]

Victims, huh...?

[ so he thinks it'll happen too. ]

[crashout]

Then why bring so many of us? That's a lot of people to try and control into obedience. No, no more likely it's something else.

[...but yeah.] Do you have another word you'd like to use for what might be inevitable the longer we're here?

[fleuris]

Brainwashing isn't hard if you've got the right tools.

[ and on that bright note, sure! let's talk about the inevitable ~*murders*~! ]

Poor bastards, maybe? [ ... ] This isn't going to end well.

[crashout]

Never does. [At least they can agree on that.] But at least we're starting to be aware of what we're up again. Should that count as a victory?

[fleuris]

If you want to count it, feel free. [ 'but I don't,' goes unsaid. ]

[crashout]

We'll see. [...but instead, he's going to turn and take the bottle he'd been pouring from and pick it up to take with him.]

I'll see you later, Zero. [No preamble, no explanation, nada. He did what he had to and now it's time to go die elsewhere.]