WEEK ZERO: MINGLE

[retellers]

WEEK ZERO: MINGLE (43 remain) Rise and shine, gremlins. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's the start of a new week. Speaking of new, if participants turn on their PHS, they'll notice another section available. There's also an alert for a new message, titled TEAM ASSIGNMENT. Opening it will reveal which Leader they have been assigned to. Furthermore, at the corner of the PHS screen is an icon of an animal, depending on who their Leader is. It is visible only to them and no one else. That's not the only change, though. Participants may not notice at first—or perhaps they will?—but sooner or later, they may realize that they're... missing something? Strange. Three Leaders can be found around the area, open (?) to approach. If participants want to speak to them more privately, or to an absent Leader, it looks like they'll have to go through another channel. Which is to say, the Planetarium is now open! Finally, for the rest of the week, the participants will inexplicably have the urge to be physically affectionate. That person you just met days ago? Time to cuddle! This complete stranger you ran into? It sure is tempting to hold their hand. This urge can range anywhere from minor to impossible to ignore, depending on the situation. Enjoy your bonding!

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

[suddenlybees]

[ Does Kano look like somebody who's ever set foot in a church in his life? Maybe he is the one person in this entire world who needs it. ]

I dunno, that's why I'm asking! I don't think I need to be here? Like, it doesn't matter whether I'm here or not, that sorta of thing.

[ When your existence is flickering in the first place, who cares ]

[robopriest]

[A light huff.]

Well, that's your thoughts. Maybe it's true, you don't need to be here at all. But obviously these masked people want you to be here for their purposes. As far as God...God works in mysterious ways. Maybe He just wants to teach you a lesson.

[suddenlybees]

[ That makes him scoff, bitter and scornful. Teach him a lesson, yeah.

Again: fuck God. ]

[robopriest]

...

[He peers at Kano.]

Tell me. Do you think God has cursed you for something you've done?

[suddenlybees]

I think God made the first move.

[ and then he's just in retaliation ]

[robopriest]

I see.

[He lowers the champagne glass, his full attention on the young man.]

Do you believe that He hates you? Or do you think He's just indifferent?

[suddenlybees]

It's gotta be hate, right? Though, I'm surprised you'd consider him anything but a wonderful, benevolent god or whatever.

[ Are hate and indifferent the only two options? makes sense to Kano, but also, Hansa you're a priest ]

[robopriest]

You don't sound too sure, yourself.

[He laughs at that. Of course anger and indifference aren't the only options, but they're the most common to think about. Why do something against another? Hatred? Indifference? Love? Retribution?]

God was the one who flooded the world, wasn't He? Of course, I follow Him with my whole life, with every breath I have, but its not like I'm going to pretend He's altogether nice and pure.

[After all, to murder in the name of God...that has its own implications as to what God is all about.]

[suddenlybees]

So why follow him if he sucks?

[ He flooded the world? guy sucks, there's no upside to this ]

[robopriest]

Haha, I didn't say He sucks. All I'm saying is that He has many sides. He can be wrathful, but merciful. He can call for righteous justice, but can be gentle and loving. He flooded the world, but let Noah and his family and the animals survive.

...In the end, God stands on the side of humanity. And so do I. And to preserve humanity, I do what I can to stand against its threats.

[suddenlybees]

I'm saying he sucks.

[ The story of Noah's arc is such a big fuck you to humanity? What an example to bring up. ]

As long as the world is good and happy and perfect in the end, it doesn't matter how many innocent people get caught up in all his bullshit, huh? Was that how it was with Noah? God gave up on humanity is what he did. What sort of solution is culling the numbers?

[robopriest]

Indeed. It was a cruel, ruthless thing to do. Thousands upon thousands died in that flood. Animals died in that flood. The earth was cast in a seemingly endless ocean.

[Hansa you are...not making your religion look good here. But perhaps he doesn't exactly care.]

But if He gave up on humanity, then why did He spare some? Why not simply make the world anew? Why preserve some life, and not others? I can't answer that. And I'm not one to defend Him and His actions. If you think I'm here to change your opinion, I'm not.

[suddenlybees]

I guess we both agree God is a psycho.

[ That's what it's sounding like?? ]

Picking and choosing who lives and who dies... Then why do I still have to be alive? He doesn't make sense.

[robopriest]

Mmm, I'm not saying that...

[DON'T CALL GOD A PSYCHOPATH thinks Hansa even though he's also like "God is super ruthless and cruel when He wants to be, yeah]

[He frowns at the other's statement, though.]

Why exactly do you feel like you need to die?

[suddenlybees]

[ gestures vaguely at himself ]

What's the point? How come I'm "Noah"?

[ When so many other people he knows have had to die. ]

[robopriest]

...

[Ah. Something flickers over Hansa's face, and he stares down at his champagne glass for a while.]

You know...I was "Noah", too. And I asked myself that question a lot over the years. And I guess, in the end...personally, I just didn't want their deaths to be in vain. I still carry them with me to this day.

[suddenlybees]

[ That's... spiteful. Absolutely spiteful, the way Kano's been living all these years: in spite of everything. ]

...Noah must've hated it too. All the people he had to leave behind. Man, imagine the survivor's guilt.

[robopriest]

We don't really get a sense of Noah's internal thoughts in the Bible, but...you're right. Any ordinary man, told he's special, and then he has to watch as thousands die? Even if he thought it was justified to kill the evil in the world, it would weigh so heavily on his soul that I would be surprised if he didn't consider just jumping off the Ark at some points to join the rest at times.

[But its only assumptions. Maybe Noah was fine with it all. Somehow.]

[suddenlybees]

Noah was a psycho too.

[ Maybe that's why Kano and Hansa are Noahs. They're all psychos, the only sort of people who would see exactly what God is doing and just bear it. ]

[robopriest]

You really need to stop simplifying things to just "psychos" or not...things are more complicated than that.

[Tsk, tsk. But its true. God is a paradoxical existence. Hansa himself, he knows, is paradoxical. With the role he plays, he carries out terrible things all in the name of the Lord, and he's fine with it. Its just how it is. That paradox he has eternal faith in.]

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano scoffs. ]

Nutcase, then.

[ Both Noah and God and everybody else in this whole damned world. Incomprehensible— complicated, like Hansa said— and everybody has too many faces. ]

[robopriest]

"We're all mad here", said the Cheshire Cat, to Alice. "I'm mad. You're mad."

[Quotes Hansa. He's smiling like a Cheshire Cat himself.]

[suddenlybees]

[ Ha. The scoff this time comes with a grin of his own, lips curling. ]

That's how it is, isn't it? Gotta be a little mad, to survive.

[robopriest]

Indeed.

[He finishes off the rest of his champagne glass.]

Besides, the world's boring if its just black and white.