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(no subject)

Who: Paisley crew & visitors
Broadcast: Only when specified
Action: Paisley!
When: Whenever!

It's been a while, so ship mingle for the Paisley!

Residents of the Paisley can potentially be affected by the glitches described here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Tina paused to look over at Kirito and smiled apologetically.]

Sorry. Normally I'm not nearly this energetic, especially not about... [She looked down at the cloth in her hand.] ... cleaning, of all things. Are you okay? You look exhausted.

I am most definitely that.

[Exhausted, that is. He has no excuse, he's slept like twelve hours today already.]

Maybe there's something in the air today.

I think it's those chips in our brains, maybe they're [she gestures vaguely towards the walls, since she has no idea where the supposed cameras actually are] doing it to us on purpose. I mean, why else would someone want to put a chip in your brain except to mess with you?

Yeaaaah... that sounds legit, I guess.

[Kirito tilts his head to rest facedown on the table. Ugh, thinking is hard.]

They do weird stuff sometimes. People start acting weird, or they suddenly get younger for some reason...

[OK, that actually got Tina to pause, and she froze.]

Wait. Wait. Wait. You said we can get younger? [She makes a small, uncertain groaning noise.]

[His response is probably uncomfortably casual.]

Yeah, that ones pretty popular. I've known a few people to wake up looking ten years younger than they're supposed to. It usually lasts a week or two.

[Tina begins making a little panicked gasping noise in response.]

Hah! Hah! Hah! I need to get this chip out of my brain! Hah! Hah! Hah!

Um...

[That sounds bad. He should... probably say something.]

...Relax? Uh, it's only temporary, I think...

[THAT'S HELPFUL, RIGHT]

Hah! Hah! I'm not sure that helps or just makes me feel worse because at least I won't permanently be a little kid again but I'm not really sure about the fact that they can just do this to us at all...

[She reaches up to touch her augment, but then pulls her hand away with a grunt, as though she got a static shock from it.]

I CAN take it out, right? Hah! Hah!

No, you can't, so stop trying or you'll hurt yourself.

[Normally he'd feel a lot less indifferent about this, but... nope. Can't be bothered.]

You'll get used to it. It's not even guaranteed, anyway.

I don't WANT to get used to this! I never asked to be on this stupid show or have my brain messed with in the first place! [She seems to calm down a little from her spike in energy.] ... I just want to go home to my family and not have to worry about suddenly changing in age.

Most people don't want to be here... we just have to work with the hand we're dealt, you know?

[He can sympathize with that, though.]

And I'm sure everyone here misses their family. You're not alone.

Yeah... [She looks pretty deflated now.] I guess that's why I hid in my room so much. I thought... I thought if I was boring and unobtrusive, they'd HAVE to send me home. Maybe this was their way of trying to get a performance out of me. Or at least try to fit in with all of you.

Yeah, I hear you. I tried that for a while, too, but it never worked. Here I am, a year and a half later.

[Tina slides into a bar stool, setting her cleaning supplies down.]

A year and a half seems like an awfully long length of time for ONE show. Don't they ever give any hints about when we're going to be sent back?

You're lucky if they ever talk to you at all. In this whole time I've had maybe one or two conversations with them, and even direct messages are pretty rare. We get those sponsor drops sometimes, but those are only from fans, supposedly.

Supposedly... [She echoes that last word.] Do you think the audience is real? Sokka thinks Atroma is lying about the whole reality show thing, but I'm not so sure...

Honestly... I'm inclined to agree. We don't really have any proof that anybody's watching.

But if we're not here for a reality show... what DO they want from us?

That's the big unsolved mystery. Truth is, we don't know enough about any of this.

[Tina sighs.]

So, if I have this right, we're just left to our own devices most of the time, because our hosts don't talk to us, and meanwhile day to day we don't know what kinds of crazy things might happen. This sounds fine.

Oh yeah, totally fine.

[Sounds like neither of them are really buying it.]

Look, it's not ideal, but hang in there. We'll figure something out eventually. What's important is surviving until then.

Okay. [Tina handwrings a little.] They don't... they don't try to hurt us, do they?

Not... that I've seen. Not in ways that seem, uh, intentional...

[That sounds a bit vague. Crap, how does he explain.]

Sometimes they send us to dangerous places, and it's up to us to keep ourselves safe. That's about it.