audio | @Kromer

[gripper]

( It's everyone's favorite person, Kromer!!! She whistles to announce herself, then more properly introduces herself— )

Been a while, hasn't it? For those who don't know me, the name's Kromer. Pleasure's mine. I posed some questions last time I posted here, but I won't bother repeating them for you—I got the picture the first time. ( She pauses, then laughs shortly. ) Actually, speaking of questions—

I'm sure you've seen them! The kiosks over at the tourist center in city hall. You can ask them questions and you can get mostly useless answers. They've got some interesting ones every so often, though, like how this isn't the first time this has happened.

( She's been thinking on that answer for a while, and now she's just casually dropping it into conversation. Whatever. )

I'm collecting questions and their resulting answers, so if you've posed any, let me know... or you can pass them along to Junpei instead, if you're familiar with him. We're partners. ( in a way. ) It's nice to be able to make sure we're not needlessly going in circles, right? And putting all the information in one place makes it easier to put the pieces together.

( ... )

That's all. Let's do our best to work together and find a way home, alright? Chin up, everyone.

Comments

@DONQUIXOT3, audio

[icanfixer]

[ google how to take away roommate's phone without it being suspicious ]

What doth thee mean, this isn't the first?

[gripper]

( hi don )

Precisely that. It mentioned "past iterations", meaning that this set of circumstances has happened before.

[icanfixer]

Do thee, then, know what they hope to achieve by allowing the same thing to happen again?

[ like some sick play whose curtain never fall ]

[gripper]

No.

( not that she'd tell don if she did. that girl's not the one she made a deal with for information's sake. )

But it's probably not for nothing, considering they've done it multiple times. Who knows. Maybe they're harvesting something, or maybe it's their idea of rehabilitation.

[icanfixer]

Rehabilitation...?

[ ... ]

But there is nothing wrong with me.

[ does she know ]

@star.lord | text

[nostalgiabomb]

is that the exact thing the kiosk said?

that they've done this before?

[gripper]

( more or less. that's the heart of it. )

Yep. They've run past iterations of this type of thing—found that people working together made it work better, hence all the cute make friends ideas that've just sprung up out of nowhere the past month or two.

[nostalgiabomb]

yeah okay that logically follows

[ There's at least a little sense of vindication, at least, that Peter totally called it – but it's one of those things where knowing he was right on that particular front is different from being able to do anything about it. So, predictably, the victory is short-lived. ]

as long as we don't have to do any of those stupid ice breaker games next

like Find Someone Who Speaks Four Languages or whatever

what'd you ask it?

[gripper]

Something about why this city seemed to be pushing us to share things with one another, be friendly, all of that. It's been a little bit since I asked—I wanted to think about what it meant before I presented my findings to the class.

audio; un: louis

[deathoftheauthor]

What was the question that prompted that response?

[gripper]

Hmm... Something about why this city seemed to be pushing us to share things with other people, maybe. My memory's not perfect, Louis, and this was a little bit ago. I've just been thinking about their answer and how best to present it to everyone.

( the best lies have some truth to them, and she has been thinking about it. she just also does remember her question, because it wasn't that many words long. )

@junpei | audio

[coolerjunpei]

[Hi, they're what, help-- but here's user name junpei, mmmostly popping up because she mentioned him and maybe someone out there will indeed want to, hm... pursue the non-Kromer avenue...

And also to comment on the same thing everyone else is commenting on, except:]

Called it. Seriously, who didn't think that?

[gripper]

( her good friend junpei. )

Oh, going by the surprise so far, you might've been the only one! Do you feel vindicated, Junpei? I thought you'd be happy to hear this kind of thing.

[coolerjunpei]

I wouldn't say I'm happy...

[This is definitely one of those "being right sucks actually" moments, but he's still going to told-you-so about it.]

But I knew it. What exactly did it say about the last time this happened?

[gripper]

Just that success rates were better when people worked together, as if that's anything new. Most operations succeed when everyone isn't trying to kill each other.

( so nothing important. she'll get ahead of him also: )

They didn't say what the point of being here was, by the way, or what "success rates" referred to. ( mostly. he doesn't need to know that. ) Let's take our wins where we can get them though, huh?

@weltyang

[indwelt]

[ fascinating ]

Is there any sort of pattern to what kind of question prompts a useful answer rather than a throwaway one?

[gripper]

( good question. )

I just picked out the keywords that were important to me. In this case, it was about getting along, or why we felt like sharing stories, something like that. Pardon my memory.

[indwelt]

No, that's plenty. Thank you for sharing.

[ even if it's only a little to go off of, a little is better than nothing. ]

If you don't mind me asking, has gettling along with others always been important to you?

[gripper]

( haha............. )

Sure has. It'd be nice if we could all live in harmony, wouldn't it? ( all perfectly non-mechanical harmony... ) The group I head's working towards that kind of future, actually. It's a shame that getting there's a little bloody, but I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end.

text; un: shoto

[hairsplit]

I thought it would only have maps or names of restaurants... Interesting.

Do you think it means this isn't the first time it's happened in this place? Or isn't the first time this has happened for some of the people here?

I don't remember anything like this place, although it isn't too different from home.

[gripper]

I think it's the former, but I wouldn't be surprised by the latter, either.

( how else would those items get there...? she's still thinking on that, too. )

They could just be resetting our memories or something, though. That's not that far-fetched.

[hairsplit]

That...isn't far-fetched, no.

Have you experienced that sort of thing before?

[gripper]

Not me in particular, but it's a common procedure back home for people who've seen more than they should've.

( you know as you do )

text ✦ un: scion

[shtola]

( she was thinking something along those lines, actually.. )

A few of my questions yielded some insight, but I would not claim them to be particularly illuminating.

Of the many I posed, one answer inferred that while this access point would not be able to provide me the response I seek, there lies another beyond the boundaries of which we are able to traverse that would.

[gripper]

Wouldn't it be nice if they told you which one so when the chance arose, you could just go right to that one and check it out!

( nice, but too easy. kromer sighs a little. )

I've gotten something similar before last month, but honestly, I haven't seen any new kiosks to ask things at... I'm beginning to wonder if there really are any, or if it's just a stock message to keep us from poking at it too much.