synflux | ( open; ) summer episode part 2?

( open; ) summer episode part 2?

WHO: Any Outsider is more than welcome!
WHAT: Dating shows... I was bullied.
WHERE: Between Okinawa & Neo Tokyo.
WHEN: Throughout the remainder of July (listen, it's a production)!
WARNINGS: Partial nudity, alcohol, potential suggestive topics, and will update 'em as I see 'em!

Throughout the city of Neo Tokyo and even Okinawa, there will be advertisements posted by the hundreds (and spam mail to your oculars by an equal number), desiring candidates for a show. While the aftermath of vegas and other bleak instances might have led way for people practicing some semblance of moderation— opposite to that, the people also need their entertainment, don't they?

Fortunately, there will be an influx of dating shows looking for people to appear. They are offering a fairly decent amount of money and are even offering luxury experiences for free for participants. In this economy and food shortage??? Okay, the food may be lacking, but they do make up for it in various activities they have planned, where people can kick back, relax, and romance?

While there will be any number of shows looking for interested parties, these are the main shows/premises:

SPEED DATING

As the label suggests. People will be expected to sit down and switch through several partners. In their hands will be a card labeling who they encounter and a place to leave a check mark. They will also be given a list of questions that can be answered.

PARTNER SWAP

People can be on a show and swap partners. This doesn't necessarily need to be romantic, either. Have a friend you want to show up with, cool. The only rules are that the pairs who enter together cannot stay together during the duration of the show.

SINGLES INFERNO

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be trapped on a deserted island with other hot singles? Well, now you no longer have to wonder. They will need to cook and fend for themselves here with minimal activities or distraction— but, isn't that the point? All you need to focus on is each other! (* They will be ferried to an outer island by Okinawa). While on the island, which they label as inferno, it's also a rule that one cannot speak about their age, occupation, or any such personal details. All of this will be reserved for "paradise." To go to paradise, two individuals will need to pick one another, and if they do — they are able to go on to completed various luxury experiences together.

For those who would rather find paradise in inferno together, you can presume there are tents that act as shared dormitory quarters where contestants will stay together.

DATE ME

People are free to use this for just general dates. Maybe, you just want to finesse the system and enjoy a fun all-expense-paid for date in which you get to eat like relative kings and enjoy various experiences. Feel free to use anything in the setting to your desire.

SKINSHIP STARTER

... a show where you get paid the more skinship you do. Don't do anything you wouldn't do in a Wendy's though. (That's not how the saying actually goes).

COMMENTARY PANEL

Every good dating show needs those who simply sit and commentate, right?

* It can be assumed any of this is just open to general CR you want to spend time with, too. This is just supposed to be a silly log for chances for characters to get to know one another! Characters are more than welcome to assume they stumble upon this by accident, think it's just a basic job and can't leave, film or unfilmed (minus the commentary prompt), and whatever else! Feel free to tag freely, threadjack, etc!

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[ Stop. ]

We worked together on a show! It was fun, and-- we had some really good chemistry, on and off set.

[ ... ]

There's something else, but you don't want to hear it, so I'll leave it at that.

[ Sometimes you get dragged to a dating show against your will, get headbutted on said dating show, and then be forced into fulfilling your contractual timeslot down to the last second and it saps you of most of your goodwill.

Not that it's an excuse.

He sighs, closing his eyes briefly. ]

Sorry. I shouldn't have questioned you.

[ Time to move on from Elysium. ]

Glad to hear you're having fun though. Which show were you on? I'll have to watch it when it comes out.

[ wow... this trust. she'll pat his arm, all good. ]

Some kind of skit drama they were asking people to do scenes for... What was it called? "Close the Door, You're Letting Love In"? Or something like that. Like a play on rain, and stuff.

[ letting the rain in... and all. many couples, many scenes, bite sized romances. ]

I won't tell you how ours ended, but it's pretty stormy. Felt nice being the one in control though!

[ Dommy mommy Malkuth….no, just kidding. (Or am I?) ]

Wow, really making sure I tune in, huh? [ It's working. ] Although you've always struck me as the type of person used to being in control.

[ It's strange imagining her as not being in control, actually. ]

Thanks, I think... but no, I've pretty much lived my life by someone else, or on someone else's time.

[ she nibbles on her cracker, smile small. not exactly bitter, but... not happy, or wanting to be resigned either. troubled maybe. ]

I had the illusion of it during work, but even that was-- scripted, let's say. This place is more in my control than anywhere else, and also the most free. That's probably why it seems that way.

[ She nibbles on her cracker, he takes another bite of his apple, watching her. ]

It must be a nice change of pace here. [ Had been for him. ] You seem to be making the most of your time here, at the very least, before you have to go back.

[ If any of them even make it back at all. ]

I'm trying! It's the least I can do for the person I was, and the person I am now.

[ for

better and for worse. ]

Getting to experience so much has made me realize how... restrictive the City really was, even for people living in Nests the way I did. Always someone breathing down your neck. Always needing to do better than the person beside you. Never just... for yourself, or what you wanted to do. I guess that's why Carmen drew me in so much -- it was a chance at freedom, and it was to better the lives of the people around me.

[ instead of. crushing them for results that wouldn't matter the next day. ]

[ There's that name again, Carmen. A woman who Netzach had apparently idolized and a woman who had also drawn Malkuth in. The more he hears, the more curious he becomes. ]

Was she your former boss? Carmen.

[ What little details he knows he'd heard from both Netzach and Yesod, but it'd be nice to hear from Malkuth herself. ]

Sort of? She was the one who led our research team, in our very first life together. Carmen... was a warm, charismatic woman who drew your eye without trying.

[ there's affection and admiration in her voice, but also a touch of... resignation, too. ]

Not everyone listened to her talk when they passed by. But most would turn their head for a second, even if they ended up leaving again. She wanted to change the City for the better, and she thought it was possible -- that, more than anything else, was her strength. That she could imagine it, that she could dream it. I followed along because I wanted to see the colors she did.

[ A similar feeling - and similar description - from what he'd gotten from Netzach, though perhaps with a little more nuance this time around. ]

And?

[ It doesn't sound like Malkuth is leading towards a happy ending. ]

I saw them. Literally, too -- where I was from, the world was... colorless, in a way. [ a wave of her hand. ] Unless you could pay a pretty ahn for them.

When the research group she gathered had enough people, we moved outside the City and started to look into how to make her dream, our dream a reality. A substance we eventually called Cogito. It would... awaken the people to their potential, and they wouldn't be shackled by the City anymore.

[ ... this still sounds good, yes. but she sighs, shaking her head. ]

We ended up picking a couple of kids who'd been tossed out there. Carmen took care of them like they were her own, but... it turned out that one of them had a high potential for Cogito studies, and so did Carmen herself. Enoch, the child, apparently wanted to participate, to help out and understand, and... well, it didn't go well. It started falling apart after that. Enoch died, Carmen... lost her spirit, lost her will to live, and eventually died herself.

It was really hard, [ soft, less of a factual tone now, less of "it happened," more of a sincerity, ] watching her burn out like that. Ayin, who believed in her dream more than anyone, continued the project, but... it was pretty quiet and busy after that. It really wasn't the same once her light went out.

[ Colorless? He makes a mental note of that, shuffles it away for later. Keeps listening to the rest of the tale she has to tell. It's a nice-sounding one on the surface, though the end lacks the shine the beginning had started off with. ]

Not exactly a happy tale for anyone involved. [ For Carmen, Ayin, Malkuth herself. ] Were the rest of you who remained ever able to see that dream to completion?

We all ended up dying somehow. I was first to go in the 'new era' of that group, and... then the mechanical bodies came, and we almost managed to complete our goal at that point but we were betrayed by a genuine AI named Angela who'd been suffering from a whole bunch of time stuff like us except she actually remembered it, and that ended up causing a lot of issues in the City and now we're trying to atone by finally, finally, finally seeing our dream through, where we'll at last be put the sleep for... the rest of forever, probably, while everyone else is freed from their fears like Carmen wanted.

[ ...

okay, she can breathe now. ]

So no, not really. Not... yet, and I don't really know for sure if ever we will. [ a soft exhale. ] Gebura says we're outside the City now, so we really don't know what's going on inside it anymore. And interacting with the other City dwellers, who're definitely from the future, hasn't given me much to chew on either.

[ ... so! that is... your lore update, wrio!!! ]

[ Thanks for the lore update, he is so learned now. Lore-ned, even. Was it depressing lore? Absolutely, but knowledge is power, sort of. At least he has a better understanding now of who she is and why she acts the way she does.

His half an apple is long forgotten by now, attention fully on Malkuth. There's a lot to digest in what's been said already but... ]

Put to sleep? Like permanently?

[ Hello?? ]

[ oh.

yeah, wrio gets to learn that-- ]

It's all I wanted before Angela stole our future from us.

[ sincerely. she was completely and utterly content to die. a far cry from the young woman who spends most of her hours trying new hobbies and spending time with friends, and malkuth smiles knowingly. ]

We'd go to sleep, our work complete, and we wouldn't get to enjoy a moment of it -- our roles were done, our jobs complete, and... it's not like we could rejoin the City anyway. With what we'd become. We really fought her on it too, desperate as we were.

[ What a reveal. Give him a couple seconds to chew on that.

It's not really his place to judge what kind of person she was before or what desires she might have had. All he can speculate on in the now, and the person he's gotten to know over the past half a year. ]

I take it you don't feel the same way anymore.

[ Unless she's just really good at faking it. ]

I'm a terrible liar.

[ if it helps any. ]

... I don't. I hated it then, and I still resent Angela for stealing away our work, but... I'm glad she gave us a second chance, too. Even if it was for her own gain at the time -- she's really changed, for the better. It was her second chance, too. I finally got to befriend everyone and feel like... I had a home, for real this time.

[ yeah. so. these crackers are great. love these backstage snacks. ]

I mean, we still can't return to the City and we'll probably be resting eternally anyway when all is said and done, [ like it's nothing, ] all our dreams are just dreams-- but I've been taking full advantage of my freedom here for that reason, for better or worse! Even if it's temporary, I won't take it for granted!

[ Clearly they gotta do this again for round two of backstage snacks (he will not be doing this again). He'll take his another bite of his apple though. ]

Already living more of a life in a few months than most people do in their entire lives. [ He can respect it. ] It's an admirable outlook. More people could afford to take their cues from you.

So you'll join me for a few classes to expand your hobbies?

[ this is what this means right ]

[ Absolutely not. ]

My schedule is quite packed already. [ Said with the most charming smile he can muster. ] But I appreciate the offer.

Darn, and here I thought I'd tricked you into promising me some.

[ little does he know she does it to escape her thoughts. can't think too hard about certain things if you're filling every moment up with something. her and elysium are going to be such a bad couple. ]

I think our teatimes are good enough. It's been really nice tasting different flavors -- definitely makes me understand why Binah likes them it so much, besides that it suits her elegant look.

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( open; ) summer episode part 2?

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lobotomy corp spoilers

grimaces and puts my hand over the timestamp

puts hand over too

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