𝚂𝚢𝚗𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚡 𝙼𝚘𝚍𝚜 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
synfluxmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sinfucks2024-05-06 10:41 am
synfluxmods) wrote in sinfucks2024-05-06 10:41 am
Entry tags:
▶ TDM #4 OVERFLOW
TEST DRIVE & SIMULATION #4
▶ 001. ARRIVAL / CAFETERIA.
It happens in the blink of an eye -- a dash of time. You're taken from where you were. What you were doing.. it isn't important anymore, and slowly, you give up to desire your normal life. When you awake, figures are looking down on you from a surgical table.
"Yeah, this one will do; let's take them to the rest," That's all you see before losing consciousness again, only to wake up in a pod with many others.
"Your questions will be answered soon enough as I'm sure you will have many," a female, robotic voice says.
Just then, your pod opens in a dim corridor with many others. Your new life is about to begin... whether you like it or not.
The pods drain their stasis fluid which wakens each Outsider. When Outsiders emerge from their pod in only their undergarments which have been supplied to them and head to a locker room in the medical bay, to find a towel to dry off with, a set of gray loungewear to wear as LILITH makes the final decision in organizing the Outsider to their rightful teams. If a character has any accessibility needs, they will be found here. It's about then they will feel a sharp pain at the back of their eyes, almost like there’s a foreign body lodged on the inside of their head. This pain will subside quickly as their body adapts to the changes, but there will always be a sensation of something being not quite right. That their bodies have been changed forever. They would be correct in thinking that. In the pod, all Outsiders have been surgically fitted with ocular and brain implants that will enable them to communicate with LILITH and the rest of the crew, and feed them the information they require. Almost like a computer screen has been loaded into their brains, they will see a loading screen as the implant completes its download. A questionnaire will then pop up, waiting for their answer. A voice, robotic and feminine, will also read along in their brain for them.
█ █ █ LOADING COMPLETE … BEGIN ORIENTATION …
The system will give Outsiders one chance to provide a truthful answer and choose their username and civilian identity. Should they refuse to cooperate, the implant will download the answer directly from their brain (and give them a username or civilian name against their will). This questionnaire will then be posted on the network for all to view and reply to. Almost like an ice-breaker, if you will. LILITH wants all their newest recruits to learn about each other!
Outsiders will receive a quick brief about their situation: They will be told that the year is 2278, and they have been taken to Neo Tokyo, one of the last bastions of mankind in a world terrorized by various Kaiju and monsters. Only a third of the population remains, and LILITH has gathered talented people from other dimensions here as a last ditch effort to save humanity. Outsiders are free to continue asking LILITH questions through their implant, but there’s no guarantee they will provide them with a straight answer …
Outsiders will also notice an implant in their dominant wrist. This implant has a barcode in it that will enable them to purchase goods from the local stores in Neo Tokyo. They will receive a starting balance of 10,000 KRYPTOS (about USD 66), which is barely enough for a few good meals, groceries and supplies. They can view their current balance through a hologram window projected by their ocular implant.
Once they leave the medical bay, they’ll be able to grab a quick meal in the cafeteria and mingle with the other Outsiders just waking up. Today’s menu is creamy crab onigiri & ginger salad, all packed neatly in a food ration tray.
That familiar, robotic voice is heard again:
"Yeah, this one will do; let's take them to the rest," That's all you see before losing consciousness again, only to wake up in a pod with many others.
"Your questions will be answered soon enough as I'm sure you will have many," a female, robotic voice says.
Just then, your pod opens in a dim corridor with many others. Your new life is about to begin... whether you like it or not.
The pods drain their stasis fluid which wakens each Outsider. When Outsiders emerge from their pod in only their undergarments which have been supplied to them and head to a locker room in the medical bay, to find a towel to dry off with, a set of gray loungewear to wear as LILITH makes the final decision in organizing the Outsider to their rightful teams. If a character has any accessibility needs, they will be found here. It's about then they will feel a sharp pain at the back of their eyes, almost like there’s a foreign body lodged on the inside of their head. This pain will subside quickly as their body adapts to the changes, but there will always be a sensation of something being not quite right. That their bodies have been changed forever. They would be correct in thinking that. In the pod, all Outsiders have been surgically fitted with ocular and brain implants that will enable them to communicate with LILITH and the rest of the crew, and feed them the information they require. Almost like a computer screen has been loaded into their brains, they will see a loading screen as the implant completes its download. A questionnaire will then pop up, waiting for their answer. A voice, robotic and feminine, will also read along in their brain for them.
█ █ █ LOADING COMPLETE … BEGIN ORIENTATION …
Name:
Username:
Civilian Identity:
Age:
Species:
Origin:
What is your fantasy?
The system will give Outsiders one chance to provide a truthful answer and choose their username and civilian identity. Should they refuse to cooperate, the implant will download the answer directly from their brain (and give them a username or civilian name against their will). This questionnaire will then be posted on the network for all to view and reply to. Almost like an ice-breaker, if you will. LILITH wants all their newest recruits to learn about each other!
Outsiders will receive a quick brief about their situation: They will be told that the year is 2278, and they have been taken to Neo Tokyo, one of the last bastions of mankind in a world terrorized by various Kaiju and monsters. Only a third of the population remains, and LILITH has gathered talented people from other dimensions here as a last ditch effort to save humanity. Outsiders are free to continue asking LILITH questions through their implant, but there’s no guarantee they will provide them with a straight answer …
Outsiders will also notice an implant in their dominant wrist. This implant has a barcode in it that will enable them to purchase goods from the local stores in Neo Tokyo. They will receive a starting balance of 10,000 KRYPTOS (about USD 66), which is barely enough for a few good meals, groceries and supplies. They can view their current balance through a hologram window projected by their ocular implant.
Once they leave the medical bay, they’ll be able to grab a quick meal in the cafeteria and mingle with the other Outsiders just waking up. Today’s menu is creamy crab onigiri & ginger salad, all packed neatly in a food ration tray.
That familiar, robotic voice is heard again:
"Greetings, my name is SYNTHIA and I will be taking care of you today while the rest of the crew is busy handling a recent issue. Worry not, my children. You are in safe hands."
▶ 002. CLEAN UP THE LAND OF DREAMS.
After nearly a month of investigation and monitoring everyone’s health, Tokyo Disney is finally cleared. Outsiders will be sent back to Tokyo Disneyland to resume their work. LILITH will order them to go collect the rotting remains of the Yamadenki and any bodies that were left behind from the battle.
When they return, they will find the park is still left in ruin from the battle and the air smells horrible. They will have to sift through the rubble for the remains of Yamadenki, rift mutated corpses, hybrids, and fallen scientists and mercenaries. It’s dirty work but someone has to do it. Luckily, LILITH has provided a sanitation suit that some Outsiders may remember. There are only a few in various colors, and those who reject the sanitation suit will be provided with gloves and encouraged to activate their plugsuit instead. After they’ve removed the bodies, they will be told to help clean up the park. The park has always been a popular place for teenagers to sneak off to and while they can keep the area closed off for the safety of the majority, there’s no way to keep out the most dedicated troublemakers. Some of the rides have some residual charge in their engines and can be ridden.. maybe test drive them for a spin? Nobody has to know you're doing it, right?
Furthermore, LILITH is interested in what remains of the secret labs. Most of the computer hardware and records have already been confiscated but considering how they’ve had almost a whole month to rest, they should be fit and ready to do some heavy lifting, surely. Most notably, LILITH will task the Outsiders with moving and transporting heavy machinery such as the electric generators, refrigerators, freezers, incubators, water distillers, and all sorts of fancy equipment. They will have to find a way to drag all of this out of the tunnels, up to the surface, and to the transport vehicles waiting to take them back to LILITH. If they look around, they may find a few golf carts in the tunnels but whether or not they have keys or even work is to be determined.
Observant Outsiders will spot some men in suits appraising the park and nodding their heads. Could there be plans for a revival of Tokyo Disneyland?
When they return, they will find the park is still left in ruin from the battle and the air smells horrible. They will have to sift through the rubble for the remains of Yamadenki, rift mutated corpses, hybrids, and fallen scientists and mercenaries. It’s dirty work but someone has to do it. Luckily, LILITH has provided a sanitation suit that some Outsiders may remember. There are only a few in various colors, and those who reject the sanitation suit will be provided with gloves and encouraged to activate their plugsuit instead. After they’ve removed the bodies, they will be told to help clean up the park. The park has always been a popular place for teenagers to sneak off to and while they can keep the area closed off for the safety of the majority, there’s no way to keep out the most dedicated troublemakers. Some of the rides have some residual charge in their engines and can be ridden.. maybe test drive them for a spin? Nobody has to know you're doing it, right?
Furthermore, LILITH is interested in what remains of the secret labs. Most of the computer hardware and records have already been confiscated but considering how they’ve had almost a whole month to rest, they should be fit and ready to do some heavy lifting, surely. Most notably, LILITH will task the Outsiders with moving and transporting heavy machinery such as the electric generators, refrigerators, freezers, incubators, water distillers, and all sorts of fancy equipment. They will have to find a way to drag all of this out of the tunnels, up to the surface, and to the transport vehicles waiting to take them back to LILITH. If they look around, they may find a few golf carts in the tunnels but whether or not they have keys or even work is to be determined.
Observant Outsiders will spot some men in suits appraising the park and nodding their heads. Could there be plans for a revival of Tokyo Disneyland?
▶ 003. DATAPORTAL TESTING.
Following the clean up efforts at Disney, things begin to happen at LILITH. The engineering department gets to work and it isn’t long until they announce they’ve finally managed to get some of the dataportals running. It seems the Yamadenki remains had some special properties that they could use to stabilize and power the right technology. This is excellent news or LILITH and the administrators get to work communicating with other organizations around the world.
In the meantime, these dataportals need to be tested and Outsiders will be asked to volunteer. Should they agree, the engineers and technicians will explain that they’re going to try a short-distance test first. They still have access to their old base in Kyoto. It was abandoned years ago after a particularly devastating kaiju attack. While they were able to secure most items of importance in their evacuation, it wouldn’t hurt to go back and do another sweep for things that may have been left behind like medical supplies, tools, technology, and food/drink supplies.
Characters will be able to travel back and forth between Kyoto and Tokyo while they test the portals. There are some known effects of portal jumping but whether they start to take effect on the first jump or after a certain amount depends on the person. Symptoms include nausea, headaches, dizziness, and a loss of spatial awareness so they may get into people’s spaces, bump into things, miss targets, or get lost easily.
In the meantime, these dataportals need to be tested and Outsiders will be asked to volunteer. Should they agree, the engineers and technicians will explain that they’re going to try a short-distance test first. They still have access to their old base in Kyoto. It was abandoned years ago after a particularly devastating kaiju attack. While they were able to secure most items of importance in their evacuation, it wouldn’t hurt to go back and do another sweep for things that may have been left behind like medical supplies, tools, technology, and food/drink supplies.
Characters will be able to travel back and forth between Kyoto and Tokyo while they test the portals. There are some known effects of portal jumping but whether they start to take effect on the first jump or after a certain amount depends on the person. Symptoms include nausea, headaches, dizziness, and a loss of spatial awareness so they may get into people’s spaces, bump into things, miss targets, or get lost easily.
▶ 004. KYOTO & KAIJU.
Outsiders will be transported to the Old Kyoto Base with a small team of operatives. In terms of structure, the Kyoto Base looks similar to that of Neo Tokyo, with the remnants of a training ground, research labs and dormitories free to explore. Once upon a time, this base was filled with LILITH personnel. What had happened to them, along with all the other residents of Kyoto, is anyone’s guess.
With some work, they’ll be able to kickstart the emergency generators which will be enough to provide the power needed to search parts of the base. Characters can also leave the base and explore what remains of Kyoto. The streets are empty and the city has been abandoned since the attack. The Imperial Palace is still standing, albeit in decrepit conditions from years of neglect, and the once picturesque, historical streets now sit in ruin. Keep searching, and you will see the scars left behind from the attack - monstrous claw marks against a building wall, and forgotten human remains.
With the lack of human interference, Kyoto has become overrun with wild animals such as macaques, deer, foxes and tanuki. A herd of boar-like Kaiju have also taken their place at the top of the ecosystem. This Kaiju, the Yama-Kujira, is of special interest to LILITH.
█ █ █ MONSTER DEBRIEF SHEET
NAME: Yama-Kujira
HEIGHT: 10 meters (adult), 2 meters (infant)
WEIGHT: 200 kg (adult), 60kg (infant)
CLASS: Piglets are harmless, Adults are a moderate threat
LOCATION: Kyoto, Japan
ABILITIES: The adult Yama-Kujira compensate for their terrible eyesight with a vicious attitude. They will charge at everything and everyone at the slightest disturbance, be it the sound of footsteps or even a bird flapping its wings. They have a keen sense of smell and hearing, and sharp tusks that they use to maul their prey. Fiercely territorial, especially near to their nests. Hates loud noises and the colour red. In groups, they have the ability to cause a minor earthquake by stomping into the ground. The Yama-Kujira piglets, on the other hand, are blind, harmless, docile and do not have tusks. May charge ineffectively to practice their skills and are strong enough to knock a person over. They enjoy fruit, nuts and milk.
WEAKNESS: They are virtually blind and rely on their smell/hearing, so taking those senses out will disorientate them. Otherwise weak to being flipped over and has a soft underbelly. Getting their tusks trapped in something will temporarily immobilize them as well.
EXTRA NOTES: Eats primarily vegetation and local wildlife but the adults will kill anything that moves.
█ █ █ MISSION OBJECTIVE:
✖ Eliminate all adult Yama-Kujira within the area.
✖ Lure in and capture infants to surrender to LILITH.
✖ Bring back Yama-Kujira specimens, alive or dead.
✖ Scavenge for useful technology or supplies from around Kyoto and the Kyoto base.
█ █ █ ATTACHED PHOTO:
With some work, they’ll be able to kickstart the emergency generators which will be enough to provide the power needed to search parts of the base. Characters can also leave the base and explore what remains of Kyoto. The streets are empty and the city has been abandoned since the attack. The Imperial Palace is still standing, albeit in decrepit conditions from years of neglect, and the once picturesque, historical streets now sit in ruin. Keep searching, and you will see the scars left behind from the attack - monstrous claw marks against a building wall, and forgotten human remains.
With the lack of human interference, Kyoto has become overrun with wild animals such as macaques, deer, foxes and tanuki. A herd of boar-like Kaiju have also taken their place at the top of the ecosystem. This Kaiju, the Yama-Kujira, is of special interest to LILITH.
█ █ █ MONSTER DEBRIEF SHEET
NAME: Yama-Kujira
HEIGHT: 10 meters (adult), 2 meters (infant)
WEIGHT: 200 kg (adult), 60kg (infant)
CLASS: Piglets are harmless, Adults are a moderate threat
LOCATION: Kyoto, Japan
ABILITIES: The adult Yama-Kujira compensate for their terrible eyesight with a vicious attitude. They will charge at everything and everyone at the slightest disturbance, be it the sound of footsteps or even a bird flapping its wings. They have a keen sense of smell and hearing, and sharp tusks that they use to maul their prey. Fiercely territorial, especially near to their nests. Hates loud noises and the colour red. In groups, they have the ability to cause a minor earthquake by stomping into the ground. The Yama-Kujira piglets, on the other hand, are blind, harmless, docile and do not have tusks. May charge ineffectively to practice their skills and are strong enough to knock a person over. They enjoy fruit, nuts and milk.
WEAKNESS: They are virtually blind and rely on their smell/hearing, so taking those senses out will disorientate them. Otherwise weak to being flipped over and has a soft underbelly. Getting their tusks trapped in something will temporarily immobilize them as well.
EXTRA NOTES: Eats primarily vegetation and local wildlife but the adults will kill anything that moves.
█ █ █ MISSION OBJECTIVE:
✖ Eliminate all adult Yama-Kujira within the area.
✖ Lure in and capture infants to surrender to LILITH.
✖ Bring back Yama-Kujira specimens, alive or dead.
✖ Scavenge for useful technology or supplies from around Kyoto and the Kyoto base.
█ █ █ ATTACHED PHOTO:
▶ 005. MAID DAY.
While Outsiders test out the portal technology and the engineers make adjustments to make traveling more stable, the administrators will announce they’ve touched base with other organizations around the world and have begun to process travel documents for everyone.
In the meantime, they will have to help do paperwork which includes repeatedly confirming details like their birthdays, hair color, age, blood types, and so on. They will have to fill out multiple forms again and again for administration, insurance, and passport reasons, as well as reasons that just don’t make sense. The paperwork is endless and it’s a lot to keep track of but everything is due on May 10th. To make matters worse, there is the longest line at the immigration office that does not seem to be moving at all. For some reason, paperwork submission needs to be done in person, even with all the advances in technology.
On the day of the deadline, something bizarre happens. Those with style upgrades should be familiar with LILITH’s state-of-the-art clothing-changing technology. On May 10th, nanobots will engulf some Outsiders and overwrite their clothing, forcing them into a maid outfit (or butler outfit, depending on player preference). Seok Dang’s back from his suspension (is that why he’s been so quiet and nobody has seen him around base?), and he was given the task to encourage all the Outsiders to finish their paperwork.
Outsiders will find themselves dressed in maid costumes until everyone has completed their paperwork, so LILITH is heavily encouraging you to persuade your friends! Once everyone has submitted their paperwork, they’ll be able to uninstall the maid upgrade… but they can keep it as a gift! Those who would like to opt-out can simply have their clothing not be effected, and this prank works with those who have a style upgrade or are in their LILITH given attire (plugsuit or loungewear.)
In the meantime, they will have to help do paperwork which includes repeatedly confirming details like their birthdays, hair color, age, blood types, and so on. They will have to fill out multiple forms again and again for administration, insurance, and passport reasons, as well as reasons that just don’t make sense. The paperwork is endless and it’s a lot to keep track of but everything is due on May 10th. To make matters worse, there is the longest line at the immigration office that does not seem to be moving at all. For some reason, paperwork submission needs to be done in person, even with all the advances in technology.
On the day of the deadline, something bizarre happens. Those with style upgrades should be familiar with LILITH’s state-of-the-art clothing-changing technology. On May 10th, nanobots will engulf some Outsiders and overwrite their clothing, forcing them into a maid outfit (or butler outfit, depending on player preference). Seok Dang’s back from his suspension (is that why he’s been so quiet and nobody has seen him around base?), and he was given the task to encourage all the Outsiders to finish their paperwork.
“I’m back, baby! Daddy’s hoooome!! Did you like the frills? Enjoying them? Everyone say ‘thank you Seokdang-oppaaaaa!’. The Captain says you gotta do your paperwork, and some lazy bastards haven’t turned theirs in yet. Unless you wanna be in that cute lacy skirt forever, let’s encourage everyone to do their homework, okay? Well, if you guys decide to just stay like this forever, I ain’t complaining. It’s pretty easy on the eyes. Next time, maybe I'll put you hot kittens in some tight leather. Who knows!”
Outsiders will find themselves dressed in maid costumes until everyone has completed their paperwork, so LILITH is heavily encouraging you to persuade your friends! Once everyone has submitted their paperwork, they’ll be able to uninstall the maid upgrade… but they can keep it as a gift! Those who would like to opt-out can simply have their clothing not be effected, and this prank works with those who have a style upgrade or are in their LILITH given attire (plugsuit or loungewear.)
▶ 006. AFTERWORD.
Welcome to our fourth TDM! All TDM threads are game canon; characters who don't app will be glitched out of this world. As TDM will act as the event, existing characters are heavily encouraged to participate. We encourage this format for top levels: CHARACTER | CANON | CURRENT / NEW CHARACTER. '
There are currently 16 available player slots. New players are welcome to use this TDM to get samples for when APPLICATIONS open.
None of the prompts suit your fancy? Feel free to check out our main base and locations page and make up your own prompts!
Use the code provided in the ARRIVAL prompt if you'd like to participate in the ice breaker and place it in your top level along with your other prompts. Anything such as civilian name or username can be marked as UNDECIDED if you're unsure of what you'd like your character to have for now. Though it says 'Orientation', existing characters can still participate in the ice-breaker.
Please note that all tags in this log will count for 2 reward points each and will count towards May AC.
There are currently 16 available player slots. New players are welcome to use this TDM to get samples for when APPLICATIONS open.
None of the prompts suit your fancy? Feel free to check out our main base and locations page and make up your own prompts!
Use the code provided in the ARRIVAL prompt if you'd like to participate in the ice breaker and place it in your top level along with your other prompts. Anything such as civilian name or username can be marked as UNDECIDED if you're unsure of what you'd like your character to have for now. Though it says 'Orientation', existing characters can still participate in the ice-breaker.
Please note that all tags in this log will count for 2 reward points each and will count towards May AC.
TDM #4 BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)
1. ARRIVAL PROMPT: Newcomers arrive with ocular and brain implants and told a breakdown of the premise with an icebreaker orientation to fill out. Their first cafeteria meal is crab onigiri & ginger salad. Newcomers are placed in gray loungewear while they are being sorted into teams.
2. TOKYO DISNEYLAND CLEAN UP: Outsiders are sent back to Tokyo Disney to gather resources from the Yamadenki attack. Outsiders may wear a sanitation suit or use gloves. Some rides have residual energy should anyone want to try and take them for a spin.
3. DATAPORTAL TESTING: Resources gained from the Yamadenki creature have supplied LILITH with enough energy to use the dataportal to teleport outsiders to a former base location in Kyoto. Using the dataportal may give Outsiders limited side effects.
4. KYOTO & KAIJU: In lieu of a Simulation in Seok Dang's absence, Outsiders who teleport to Kyoto will be given the task to fight and clear out the Yama-Kujira, a boar like creature.
5. MAID DAY: Outsiders must fill out repetitive paperwork, which foreshadows travel in the future, and threatening not to will result in a forced maid outfit, courtesy of Seok Dang and his return.
netzach
[ Dr. Ratio comes from a universe where artificial intelligence is treated like any other individual, so nope, sorry Netzach. You don't get a free pass.
Ratio's eyes narrow for a moment. Netzach's appearance belied his true identity as artificial intelligence. Most inorganic lifeforms did not look human, in his universe. Ah, but Herta's puppets would, if she bothered to hide the joints and install proper programming into them. It wasn't impossible. ]
Your inorganic constitution has no bearing on your intelligence, nor your rights as a living being. If you are capable of sapience, than you are capable of thinking for yourself.
no subject
[he admits to it easily enough, at least, with a shrug and a wave of one hand.]
Trying to make use of any of the knowledge we have... it never actually made any difference. Nothing in the place we were made for would ever change. So putting things into action like that...
It doesn't matter.
no subject
[ Yep, Ratio is displeased by that answer. And the defeatist attitude Netzach seems to bear. As a man who has always been passionately motivated by his thirst for knowledge, and then his desire to better humanity, he cannot truly understand the attitudes that nihilists take. ]
You simply did not think enough. There are few situations in which you are truly out of options.
[ Callous, maybe, but a truth that Ratio wholeheartedly believes in. It's the optimism of a person who has never truly suffered. ]
Regardless, those were your past circumstances. Do you intend on adopting that same attitude here as well?
no subject
netzach's quiet for a moment.]
Well, I guess maybe you're one too.
[another lazy shrug, a brief pause where it looks at first like he's not going to bother explaining why he'd say so, but-]
For a guy who likes learning so much, you sure don't do a lot of it before just confidently saying things like that.
[maybe that's why he doesn't bother answering the last question just yet.]
no subject
Would you care to enlighten me then? I am always open to being educated on subjects I lack knowledge in.
[ This quiet anger, or perhaps just annoyance, from Netzach, is better than the flippant nihilism from earlier. ]
no subject
[he props both elbows on the tabletop, chin resting in his hands. not gendo ikari style, more of the hands-on-cheeks sort of slouch here.]
So, all right: what would you have done in my place? The facility's underground and locked down, so nobody can leave. The company only cares about productivity and results, and accepts sacrificing lives if it means better energy output-- sometimes the creatures that energy got extracted from required sacrifices to keep 'em satisfied. Every effort I ever made to actually improve employees' safety either got denied or overridden. Every life I ever saved would just get lost another day. It only ever... extended the amount of time they had to spend risking that life, before they finally had to give it up.
You know the worst part, though?
[a little shake of his head.]
The worst part is that I'd do my best to keep them alive, and then the manager would decide productivity was bad that day in another department. Set time back and give riskier orders. I'd lose them to those creatures, and everything would continue on that way. Or... or, on another day I'd fail them, and they'd die. Then the manager would turn things back for some other reason. They'd be okay the second time. Saved by total coincidence, because something besides their deaths didn't go the way management wanted. Living or dying at the whims of the ones in charge.
They can keep everyone alive, if they want to. They can keep trying. I withheld our research on upgrades to the healing regenerators until they proved they could keep people safe, so I know that they can.
They just don't, and we can't change it. Not when anything we can do can be undone just like that.
no subject
But not like this. ]
Is there no governmental oversight? That is beyond inhumane!
—No, do not answer that. If there was, you and your subordinates would not have suffered so.
[ As much as he wanted to express his outrage for the existence of such a company, that valued its employees so little, that would not solve anything. So he closes his eyes to think. Time manipulation was involved somehow—but that was not a pertinent detail. From the situation described, it's clear that the man before him felt that none of his efforts mattered. ]
...Was it possible to encourage employees to quit? Was there someone further up the corporation's chain of command that would have been concerned by the circumstances and intervened?
Normally, I wouldn't suggest this [ because, judging by the circumstances Netzach outlined, this would end in violence and deaths, ] but... would it have been possible to rally like-minded subordinates and colleagues to rebel against upper management?
no subject
[there's a fun little infrastructure fact for you! sometimes, energy supply literally runs on suffering.
the guy gets points though, netzach supposes, for actually thinking about it in return. having questions, ideas, instead of something flippant like "well obviously i didn't mean it in THAT case".]
Pretty sure the employees couldn't terminate their contracts, and anyway, they still technically belong with the company after death. Anyone higher up in the company... would've been involved in making everything this way to begin with.
[so both of those are going to be a 'nope' from him.]
Far as rebellion goes... wish I could tell you I thought that could work. I'd love nothing more than to see the entire place torn apart, personally. But taking the violent route's a bad idea, and nonviolent rebellion...
I'm basically on strike already, man, they don't care. Won't even bother crushing me into scrap and replacing me.
no subject
Even though it seemed he was rejecting violent rebellion out of personal choice, Ratio does not call him out on it. It is far too easy to tout violence as an option in a debate, but if he were truly in the same position, he thinks he would not choose to make that call, even if it doomed him. A little physical scuffle over a disagreement is not the same as condemning another to death.
He closes his eyes again in a grimace, before giving Netzach a pained look. It is not the look of a man who is swallowing his pride to apologize. He is truly ashamed of himself. ]
It seems my naivety has caused me to make a fool of myself. I spoke without basis.
no subject
[no digging in or doubling down about it... yeah, he can respect that. the pained look on his face seems pretty genuine; this man doesn't read as the type to feign it.]
That's why none of it ever mattered before. Don't really know how things are gonna be here, either... it feels different, I haven't seen anybody die and get written off, but I'm not dumb, either. Every organization like this has a point where people become expendable.
no subject
We have been summoned here to help a planet in crisis. Perhaps there may be little we can do to influence the way we are treated, but their cause is just, and the impact we will have on this planet's people is priceless. That is something I believe is worth my time and effort. I... will not presume the same for you, but I do hope you understand my perspective. Your contributions will surely be valued here.
no subject
[...it's something to consider, especially for someone like him, who's been prevented for so long from having any impact at all on the lives of those around him. from doing anything that would matter or have any sort of lasting impact.]
Mm. There's not a lot that I can really contribute.
[he hears so often from his colleagues that he's not much use, after all. tiphereth's always clamoring for him to be scrapped.]
But I'd like to see... just one thing get better, if it can. Even one's enough.
[one is more than he ever had before.]
no subject
If LILITH is not selecting at random, then you have been brought here because you are capable of contributing.
[ He says this gently, trying his best not to sound patronizing or harsh. It's not easy. He is far too used to delivering his words without tact. ]
If that is where you would like to start, then it would be best to pick an objective and create a plan for success. Often times, breaking down a goal into smaller, easily achievable steps makes it far likelier that you will accomplish what you have set out to do.
no subject
[he gives his head a little shake, disrupting the fall of his hair over his shoulders.]
And I don't... know what kinda steps to even set for something like that.
no subject
[ This is one of his fundamental ideals, a belief that he will uphold until his dying breath. All life is worth living. Every soul is valuable, and every person is capable of learning, growing, and bettering themselves, should they choose it.
Under normal circumstances, Ratio would tell Netzach to think for himself. But if one doesn't have the tools needed to solve the problem, he can hardly expect them to provide a solution. Netzach has had his tools taken away—no, rather, they've been hidden from sight. He is in need of some guidance to unearth them again. ]
You are getting ahead of yourself. First: what would you like to accomplish?