Welcome, Participants

[mockmods]

Good morning, Participants. The time is now 7:30 AM.

[Where were you before this? Doesn’t matter, you’re here now, in an unfamiliar bed, surrounded by unfamiliar people, with a slightly-too-cheerful automated voiced chiming over a PA system to wake you up. Your pockets are empty, save for an unfamiliar smartphone type of device that comes alive under your touch, displaying, among other things, a map, a series of profiles, and a list of rules.]

It is understood that you may have questions; please be patient, and gather back in the Common Room in one hour. The Assistant will be present at this time to answer your questions. In the meantime, please feel free to explore the Facility at your leisure.

[The doors to the dorm areas are freely open from the inside, though you’ll find that it takes your electronic id to regain entry once you’ve left. Otherwise, it’s as the voice says, and you’ve got an hour to explore your new surroundings and get to know your fellow kidnappees.]

[Welcome to the Facility.]

Comments

before assistant intro

[windowsexplorer]

[Meredith wakes up in A1 a little surprised by... everything, really, but surprisingly not upset about any of it. You'd think being kidnapped was her birthday present or something. She looks over the phone thing, fascinated, taking in the rules and the profiles but actually skipping the map for now. She'd rather explore on her own!

And explore she does, for a while, until she gets waylaid in the computer lab. She's never seen computers quite like these before, and she wants to see what games they can play... and The Oregon Trail proves to be the "time-consuming" kind. So that's where she is until their hour is up, because what is time management?]

computer lab

[maxout]

[Electro was a little... nervous about coming into this room. Hell, the second he does, he's anxiously eyeing all the computers. But nothing seems to be short circuiting, so he's probably good?

He almost doesn't notice the girl there until he's right there.]

...Are you really playing a game right now?

[windowsexplorer]

Yep!

[No shame of any kind.]

It's called The Oregon Trail, and it's all about--oh!

[Right now it's all about deciding what to do at this river.]

[maxout]

[Oh, actually, he feels like he... vaguely remembers this one. He points at one of the options.]

You should just ford the river. That's quicker, right?

[Don't listen to him, he was bad at this one.]

[windowsexplorer]

[Listen. She isn't just going to dismiss his advice out of hand. She needs to work out that it's consistently bad first.]

It's faster, but it's dangerous. If the river is too deep...

[She decides to caulk the wagon and float it across, instead.]

[maxout]

[What, is "fast but dangerous" not just how everyone does everything? Psh. Seems fake.]

Huh. I always just did the same thing every time.

...I never really got all that far.

[windowsexplorer]

[Listen. Some of us have to worry about other people sometimes.]

That's why you have to try different things, so you can vary your approach depending on the situation.

[maxout]

[Seems even faker.]

Yeah, I'm none too good at that. I just do a few things-- [...] --one thing real well and I stick with it.

...Think your wagon's going to make it all the way?

[windowsexplorer]

Doesn't it get boring?

[meredith not everyone is compelled to seek out new experiences]

I think I have a good chance. I hope so, I want to see the whole game.

[maxout]

...I don't exactly got a lot of options. I don't have the luxury to worry about boredom.

[tfw the thing you hate that defines your life is also your greatest strength]

Think you'll make it before it's time?

[windowsexplorer]

It's not really a luxury for me.

[That's a useful and descriptive statement.]

I don't know. I'm making good progress so far, but there might be something ahead that'll make it take longer.

computer lab

[eudaimonikos]

Hey, you're one of the ones in my room, right?

[He's not really asking, he definitely saw her there earlier and just ignored her. But now he's ready to pay attention!]

So what's your species about? [And cut directly to the chase, apparently]

[windowsexplorer]

Yes!

[She's sorry for not talking to him then, she was getting into conversations with other people already.]

You don't know? You must be from pretty far away.

[eudaimonikos]

You could say that, sure.

[windowsexplorer]

Hm... yeah, I guess that's what you'd expect from a demon.

[Super casual about that.]

Anyway, we're robots built to protect Earth as magical girls.

[And why not, she'll drop that like it's nothing, too.]

[eudaimonikos]

News to me! Must be two different Earths. Magical girl, that's...?

[The demon doesn't watch anime, pity him]

Computer Lab

[mockmods]

[So how's the road to Oregon, Meredith? Manage to make it all the way to the end?]

[windowsexplorer]

[She's sure as heck trying! And eventually she makes it with three surviving members of her party (Blue, PinkstHrt, and Indigo). She'll do better next time!]

[mockmods]

[And for the purposes of this thread, that's enough to make it onto the lower parts of the High Score board, congrats!]

[Does Oregon Trail even have a high score system, or scores at all? Too bad, it does now.]

[Go ahead and put in three initials of your choice, Meredith.]

[windowsexplorer]

[Oregon Trail definitely has scores! You get points for every extra wagon wheel you manage to carry all the way across the country!

She enters MTB, which stands for "Meredith, Type: Blue" and is not foreshadowing of any kind I swear.]

[mockmods]

[And the screen proudly displays:]

018. M.T.B. - 000007324 - 18024369

[....and that's it. Nothing else to see here.]

[Unless Meredith wants to look at the rest of the high scores, of course.]

[windowsexplorer]

[Meredith always wants to look at everything at all times!]

[mockmods]

[Well, for one thing, not one person has entered the initials A.S.S., that's pretty weird.]

[Looks like a couple people have been playing a lot, though - most of the rest of the scores are taken up by someone who entered the initials M.H.S. In fact, they're who you apparently beat out to take the number eighteen spot, so good work.]

[Looks like they had some competition, though. Specifically, the top of the list-]

01. 02. H.D.P. - 999999999 - 15024369
02. H.D.P. - 087654321 - 15024369
03. H.D.P. - 082769045 - 15024369
04. H.D.P. - 082769042 - 15024369
05. M.H.S. - 082769041 - 14024369

[windowsexplorer]

[...huh. She wouldn't have thought it was actually possible to get 999999999 points. Now she's gonna have to search extra thoroughly on her next playthrough to try to figure out how that happened. More to the point, those two players sure played a lot! And it's interesting that they're in blocks like that, with the scores being so close togeth--

Wait, that one says 87654321. That's... really specific, to be a coincidence. Casts some doubt on the 999999999, when she thinks about it. Maybe H.D.P. is a cheater.

She's pretty sure she has time to play again, and she does. This time she makes it with Blue, PinkstHrtm Red, and Indigo. (White is just bad at living, apparently.)]

[mockmods]

[HDP WOULD NEVER, HOW DARE. Maybe they're just inhumanly good at games, ever think of that?]

[But yeah, that's all there is to see here.]