thestormishere | ☈ strike #18 (video/...action?)

ARIES
- You'll get 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' stuck in your head for the next week.
- You will find a turtle in your laundry.
- Just go sleep on the couch tonight. You don't want to know why.
- Hide it, no one saw!

[ Like everyone else, Lightning wasn't really sure what to think about the odd message that showed up at the front of her journal recently, but it's fairly late in the evening before she makes an appearance on there too-- publicly, without even any filters in place to exclude certain people! An unusual decision perhaps, but... here she is anyway, looking as mildly annoyed as ever as she brushes hair from her face and frowns deeply. Her words are clipped and serious. ]

A few things.

Anyone care to explain the reasoning - if any - of this experiment? [ A beat. ] Actually, I'd just like to know if there's a pattern between the words listed at the top and the sort of guidelines everyone's getting beneath them. Is there anyone looking into this?

[ No, she doesn't understand the concept of a zodiac or the point of astrological horoscopes, shut up. Something like that is a little difficult when nobody else from your world has seen stars or even the real sun in five centuries, you know!

But in any case. ]

Second, does anyone have information on something that's called... [ Another slight pause, this one perhaps a bit embarrassed? Naaaah. ] 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'?

... Third, this creature...

[ And here is where she leans aside slightly, rustling in what's apparently an 'off-screen' cardboard box a moment before she lifts this handsome beastie up- just long enough for the journal to capture the slow, cautious paddle of its legs in the air, as well as the pink-haired woman's dubious expression as she stares at it.

Then-- nothing, save for a soft sigh. Even though something's obviously eating at her about this, apparently that's all she can think of to say on the matter before giving up and just setting her journal aside to wait for any responses.

Also, to continue moping on the couch, with roughly half a dozen blankets around her. ]

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[As much as Robert is busy with... various baking things, an appearance of a chelonian tends to grab his attention.

So have a bright-eyed, more confident - and much dirtier - scientist peering over at your journal, Lightning.]

... A testudine...? H-How did that happen, Sergeant Farron...?

[He doesn't sound quite as awkward as usual, either!]

[ Robert. You are weird. ]

... 'Testudine?'

[ Funny... that doesn't sound like tortoise or turtle. ]

It is the... s-scientific name for the order that encompasses turtles and tortoises...

[In other words, it's a general-purpose term. Though he would not have identified this particular individual as a turtle. There's a pretty clear difference!]

[ There isn't really much of an answer from Lightning for that right off, though perhaps if Robert listens particularly close he might catch a soft "Right" muttered in exasperation under her breath. By now she's pretty acclimated to the eclectic variation in viewpoints and such of the other residents... so she doesn't even think twice about the fact that she has very little idea what the heck he means there before just disregarding it for the moment. ]

This one is a tortoise.

[ He knows, Lightning, he knows. But. It had to be said. ]

Yes, though... the e-exact species I am uncertain about.

... I am, er, m-more familiar with turtles... [For several reasons.]

[ Yes, yes, she remembers that-- er, person she'd met hanging out with him some time ago, and chances are she's seen the Turtles numerous times since then, too...

She falls silent. This isn't really a conversation she'd normally be having, so... suddenly, she's not sure where to go from there, regardless of the fact that he'd asked a question that she left unanswered. ]

[His increased confidence means that Robert isn't entirely shut down by the prospect of dealing with Lightning's silence. In fact, he's bold enough to venture...]

... As for... o-one of your other questions... I have been trying to discern a pattern, when I have not been... o-otherwise preoccupied. But... so far, I cannot see any obvious ones...

[~~Probably because the generator uses the same things for every category.~~]

I see... [ A soft but obviously exasperated sigh. ] And chances are getting everyone to cough up enough information to pinpoint anything has to be next to impossible anyway.

[ Kinda bitter? Yep, though she doesn't have too much room to talk. It's remarkable she made this inquiry to the journals at large in the first place, given that natural reticence over exposing any weaknesses. ]

Likely, yes... a-as it is, organized information gathering is... d-difficult in Luceti. Added to the fact we are all... affected, and... it becomes nigh-impossible...

[He can't blame her for being bitter, actually. Knowing there's a pattern that could be found but not being able to find it is patently annoying for him.]

[ She's shaking her head at this for sure, but doesn't make a verbal response for the journal to pick up- nothing there she doesn't already know, and nothing immediately comes to mind to add. ]

Still... [He adds this almost musingly.] ... I-If perhaps we could... e-encourage villagers to record their experiences, then we could... d-develop a sort of database on experiments...

[It might be useful in the long-run?]

As far as I can tell, effects between experiments tends to be pretty random.

[ Except for the part where they often seem aimed to specifically torment one's weaknesses and such. He's welcome to prove her wrong, though.

Even if her hard tone seems to imply differently. ]

... One w-wonders about that. Oftentimes, they seem... t-targeted.

Though I am uncertain wh-why that is... [At first, he'd wondered if the Malnosso could simply pick through all their thoughts. But then when he'd realized that the villagers could communicate about things the Malnosso didn't know... well, then it made that obvious that that wasn't it then.

But then where do the strongly ironic (or cruelly pointed) experiments come from...?]

... We're experimental subjects. Stirring us up and seeing what happens is the point.

[ Like, duh. Wow she's bitter. ]

Yes, but... the sheer... c-calculatedness of some of the... e-experimental procedures... it, it simply makes one... wonder.

[Or makes him wonder, at least.]

Like I said, they're trying to stir us up. If it's targeted, then it's more effective.

... That is... of c-course valid.

[His concern is more the how than the why...]

... Interesting to n-note how much... information they have access to, sometimes...

I guess.

[ Sounds like, in a way, she's pretty much already given up trying to worm out an answer to the deal behind that, unless more evidence for one thing or another appears somehow. She really doesn't need one more ultimmately-useless thing to go worrying about when there's already so much, after all. ]

[Unfortunately for Lightning, Robert has made something of a career of worrying about things she'd probably find ultimately-useless. Especially in Luceti, where there's so little information to begin with, and every single bit of it is precious to him when he's trying desperately to piece together an explanation for the place.]

...

D-Do you not... ever wonder...?

... I'm not discussing this with you.

[ And that's that, unfortunately. Yes she wonders, and worries, and gets pissed off about it, but... sometimes it's hard enough to get her to talk to her friends about that kind of thing. Never mind this guy.

Basically, she just proved the futility of trying to gather up information. She just ~doesn't want to talk about it~ with people she hasn't yet come to trust. ]

☈ strike #18 (video/...action?)

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