ceiling_cat | [006. video]

[Hanekoma's grinning as casually as ever, but he looks a little flushed, and are those dark circles under his eyes?

That's definitely a drippy-looking nose. Maybe he shouldn't have been running around in short sleeves and sandals after all.]

Heyyyy! Had fun with your party?

I was just wonderin' if anybody out there's got tea leaves they're willin' ta trade. I prefer green, but I'll take black or herbal if that's what you've got.

[Thoughtful.] I can trade ya fresh eggs, meat, or --

[He turns the camera to display a half-finished tempera mural in black and white covering one wall of his room -- it's a boldly outlined forest of graffiti-style skyscrapers seen from above, dwindling down to tiny streets under a brilliant sky.] --we can work out a trade for some wall art.

[He pauses to stifle a hacking cough.] Speak up quick, just in case goin' out gets tricky again in a day or two!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

fruitcup

[Shrug. If you can get away with it, why not?]

I just went to observe.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

Hey, I hear the food was good, at least.

From:

fruitcup

Passable, for post-apocalyptic fare.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

Which is about all ya get around here. [Amused.]

From:

fruitcup

It's a shame, really. I could go for something with a taste of home.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

All these people they dragged here and no Higashizawa to do the cookin'.

[Frankly, he would've preferred that to Sho. Much less dangerous.]

From:

fruitcup

[Funny, he feels the same way.]

Just our luck, I suppose.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

Wonder what the pattern is. Can't be power levels. Maybe it's built on association.

[With Joshua, or - since Minamimoto is here now, and Kitaniji isn't - with Hanekoma. He shrugs, and coughs into his sleeve.]

From:

fruitcup

I've heard theories that one person can act as a sort of magnet to another. If we break it down, Raimu arrived first, followed by you some time later. I followed soon after, and later that day, Neku and Daisukenojo showed up, with Minamimoto following a month after.

It also makes me wonder, though, why some leave and others stay.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

If it's built on association... her bond to her brother is the most powerful, but her memories of him were gone. As the one who altered her Soul into a pin, it's reasonable that I'd be on the list.

[Pause, and a slightly lopsided grin.] 'Course, there's also no reason ta think any of this's linear. They pick us out from points all over the timeline, so who's ta say the times when we arrive mean much?

Could be the magnet effect's based around somebody who got here in the middle of a group, or somebody who isn't even here yet.

From:

fruitcup

Well, obviously Neku and Daisukenojo were linked somehow. They both came together, from nearly the same point.

[A slight little shrug.] Maybe there are a variety of reasons. There doesn't have to be one set rule.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

Partners at the point when they arrived?

You're right, though. There seems ta be plenty of randomness in it, too.

Here. [He pulls up Raven's report (http://feel-nevermore.livejournal.com/4878.html), handing the PCD over.] That's what everybody's got here so far.

From:

leggierissimo

Exactly.

[Joshua spends a moment looking over the file, concentrating on committing the words on the screen to memory.]

It's a little surprising how much the Animus' abilities sound like a Composer's.

But they're also looking for a way out. I wonder if we could offer them a way?

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

Isn't it? I'd love ta figure out exactly how that works.

[He tilts his head thoughtfully.] Ya know... this place is breakin' so many rules it's a wonder nobody's descended on it already with a cleanup crew.

I could promise ta get them out by kickin' the info up the ladder if I get out with my memory intact.

From:

fruitcup

It's a wonder no one has attempted a coup, either, though I'm not sure if that's for lack of trying or just because no one has been powerful enough to attempt to take control. And knowing the nature of this place, I'm not entirely sure that anyone could come in from the outside to clean this place up anyway.

That's a reasonable offer. If only they'll trust us enough to accept it.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

You got any ideas for backup if they don't take that one?

[He shrugs.] The way they limit everybody but the Animus around here, I'd be surprised if a coup was even possible for the powerful.

From:

leggierissimo

If they aren't going to give us a way out, the least they could do is restore some of our missing abilities so that we could look ourselves.

[A little smirk behind his fingers, though.]

Now that's a survival tactic if I've ever seen one. I wonder if they're really that afraid of some of us?

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

Maybe they're just the paranoid sort.

I wouldn't mind bargainin' for some of our proper abilities back, though. It'd make things simpler.

From:

fruitcup

Once bitten, twice shy?

I wonder if there's a way we could work that into our current bargain.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

Their paranoia, or our powers? I'd rather focus on us gettin' out, myself.

From:

leggierissimo

Either one, really. But our powers are more likely to go over well. And there's nothing wrong in having a back-up plan.

From:

greatcuppajoe.livejournal.com

I can agree with that.

[He pauses, coughing into his sleeve, then glances back up at Joshua.] Plan A, bargain for us gettin' out, plan B, bargain for doin' our best to find a way out for them and us in return for gettin' some power back?