Text || May 2

[3rdbest]

Few announcements and a question.

First, I’m Matt and I have a business called Black Mesa. It's a House Call Technician business, and we fix computers, broadcasting and wireless systems, business equipment and security system. If anyone is interested or just wants a job, call me maybe.

Second, I’m doing missions, have a nice record, and kind of want to keep going. So I’m currently looking for a Meister who would be cool with going on missions. I’m a Weapon, a Portal gun; I shoot regular bullets and also create Portals.

Third, imagine you have raw steaks. How hard it is to cook them? And how do cook them exactly?


[ PRIVATE TO: DUO ]
Duo. I hope you didn’t forget our date tonight.


[ PRIVATE TO: NEAR ]
A word, please.

Comments

[zealous_steiner]

[Okabe scowls. Damn, no answer? That would really be useful for time travel... though hopefully he won't have to time travel again.]

I've been trying to find some answers. About BREW, about Madness and how I can create the necessary interference to counteract it... and I figure it's easier to gather this out in the field than in Shibusen's walls. [His voice takes on a tone of bitterness, perhaps more at his situation than at Shibusen itself. Still, he can't trust them... too many experiences with big organizations hiding things.]

I find, essentially, that experience is much more use than theory. Theories are no more than words if what you observe is different.

[3rdbest]

[ oho. This guy.

Matt was planning on playing dumb, but this- this might be a lot more interesting than he thought. ]

So you need a weapon in case something is lurking out there.

How much experience do you have with the madness wavelength?

the Disco has recovered! sorry it's so late >3>

[zealous_steiner]

[Okabe himself is... interesting. For better or worse.]

Precisely. Good to find someone who's on the same wavelength. [He's not going to openly laugh at his own pun, but believe me when I say he's deriving the utmost joy from it.]

I have little [read: no] experience with the wavelength itself, which is part of why I want to get out there and get some. Besides, I'm told I work well under pressure.

it's ok!

[3rdbest]

[ not minding the pun, but Matt doesn't laugh. Instead he grabs a cigarette again. He doesn't care if he gets an ugly face from the people around ]

Madness isn't about pressure. You lose all kind of control over your actions, and you lose yourself.

If you are hit by madness, it's the same as not having a Weapon with you, because you wouldn't be able to properly think when facing an enemy who isn't affected by it, much less resonate. And there is also a chance your Weapon might give you some trouble, too. [ Oho, Matt remembers madness well. he has a bite on his shoulder and arm to remind him of it ]

But either way, since they recovered the Madness Emitters, it's difficult to actually find a place with madness. Unless you have access to Shibusen intel regarding where to find those areas.

[zealous_steiner]

[More smokes? The second-hand stings, and he winces a bit, but Okabe can't say he minds entirely much - not having lived in Akihabara, going through boxes of parts in clouds of smoke and nerd body odor...]

I find it mildly interesting that people have described Madness to me as "losing inhibition." Considering it throws one's entire soul into dissonance, at least from what I've read, one should think it would make them a different person, or different soul, entirely. Though, I can see how that would affect resonance.

Oh, I know all about partners giving me trouble... I've worked with women. [He gives a light chuckle, and when his ramen arrives he takes his first slurp.]

Ahh, this is good. But no doubt Shibusen's enemies are working on more.

[3rdbest]

It's not about losing inhibition, rather, it's about gaining something it wasn't there and your only response to it is anger.

I don't think it makes you a different person entirely - it just enhances your anger and fear and all the bad shit you don't really pay much attention to normally. But at that time, it's the only thing you can think about, and it's there and no matter how laid back you are, you eventually explode.

[ because a lot of what happened to him wasn't about not being able to hold back. it was about feeling something at the back of his head, a scratch or an itch, and the only thing it calmed him down at the time was... scream at his partner like an asshole ]

I wouldn't know, I usually work alone. [ this is a half lie. ]

The Witches use Madness a lot, but they don't usually use the same tactic. If you go back months on your communicator, you can see different things they used; mind controlling devices, mutation devices, black water, madness emitters. I'm pretty sure they will eventually come up with something new entirely that will also create madness.

[zealous_steiner]

See, that makes more sense to me than what others have said. I picture it something like this.

[He grabs a napkin, slides a pen out of the pocket of his lab coat, and makes a quick sketch.]

[On the paper, he scribbles out two waves: one with relatively even oscillation changing gradually, and one very dissonant. Then, he takes more care drawing their union, paying attention to every small peak and valley even though it's just an example.]

See, when one's wavelength is ordinarily to a certain tune, a palpitation or a stutter could throw one into mental dissonance. In times of stress, those negative emotions are likely to be amplified.

Of course, based on your testimony, it's possible that the emitter or black water or whatever picks up on its target and adjusts its output to reflect that... but are our enemies that nuanced? Painful as it is to admit, I don't know.

[3rdbest]

[ he glances at the quick sketch ]

Madness is a lot more than amplified emotions, though; and I don't think it can be compared to a normal wavelength like you and me have. For example, you can actually measure it, while you can't really measure your own wavelength. [ he doesn't think so, he never heard of that ] And it affects not only humans, but other animals, plants and even fungi. [ giant mushrooms anyone? ] Plants don't really have a wavelength.

There isn't much about the witches. I don't think Shibusen knows that much, either, honestly. [ if they do, they sure seem to be quite good at keeping up appearances ]

[zealous_steiner]

There has to be some way of quantifying a normal wavelength, though, however similar or different it may be from quantifying Madness, and they're called similar things for what I'd gather is a reason-- geh, plants?! This world has to make sense somehow, but... it needs more study. A lot more study.

[He slurps down some more of his ramen; he does need sustenance, after all. When he speaks again it's with his mouth half-full.]

I think Shibusen knows more than they let on. I don't trust them. [I can't trust them, says the unspoken.]

[3rdbest]

Of course it does. But look at us. [ Matt exhales the smoke ] We are "Guests" and by definition, we are here munching from their hospitality. Not even the citizens we are supposed to protect like us anymore and see us as parasites.

And if they do know more than they show - you say you don't trust them. [ he smirks, only a little ] But why should they trust us?

[ He shakes his head, turning to his food ] Don't get me wrong, I do want to know. I want to waltz into their library and go right into the forbidden section. I want to hack into all their files and computers and learn about their lives to detail. [ Matt is a hacker and a spy. This is what he does. ]

But right now, we are strangers. And you don't trust strangers with your secrets. I can give them that much.

[zealous_steiner]

That which you call "hospitality," I call "being ripped from one's normal plane of existence to one with a relatively high chance of premature death."

[He smiles wryly, settles his chin on his hand, and looks into his bowl of ramen. So much was taken from him... Mayuri, Daru, the small remote chance of seeing Kurisu again... One can't blame a man for being bitter, he thinks. Not a man who's seen so many people's dreams destruct.]

It frustrates me, I can't lie. Perhaps it's because I haven't "settled in." If BREW had brought my right arm and super hack with me, I would be able to do it in a heartbeat - find everything they have. We've done it before, my lab and I.

[A deep, discontented sigh.]

I get what you're saying, to some extent, but I'm a man not easily satisfied with that. If I can't go home, on my pride I'll damn well get to the bottom of what's going on here.

[3rdbest]

Aha! I don't think my world wouldn't give a place to stay, free food, free clothes, no questions asked, to people that would randomly pop from different universes. [ they'd probably lock them up and monitor them 24/7 ]

Hey, I'm not stopping you, though. And I live on intel, so it works well with me, too. I'm just not gonna shout "bastards" at Shibusen when they still have a reason to be whatever they see fit.

OH JESUS THIS IS HERE THANKS DREAMWIDTH

[zealous_steiner]

My world's 'Shibusen' would probably use them in time travel experiments and turn them into a jellified mess of goo, too, but to the public they'd be all smiles about their certain death.

I'm not assuming the worst, just being wary. [Except that he kind of is assuming the worst.] "Benevolence" is too often a cover-up. I know too well what it's like to be fooled.

[3rdbest]

Luckily only like two guests died and their partners confirmed their deaths because they were there.

[ 'luckily' in general. Not for them. matt doesn't particularly care for the poor choice of words, though. ]

Yeah, I know. But I don't think going out to the desert would be the best choice. There is still a lot too be done in town.

[ making a mental note to ask about the time traveling business when he can ]

[zealous_steiner]

Only two guests... but then there are the rash of "disappearances."

[He doesn't continue on that line - he knows it's probably paranoia, but... it's still unnerving. They disappear so quickly, no trace left... who's to say they were sent home at all, and not "disappeared"?]

Part of my concern, too, is getting things done around them. You can't fight unless your knowledge is on a similar level; you'll just get steamrolled. Thus, why I want to see what I can see regarding the nature of Madness' effects.

[3rdbest]

[ Matt is kind of proof they are returned. Well, that or they are cloned and all there is here are actual copies of the real deal. he has thought of that before.

Matt nods, though. He understands the sentiment. ]

There were madness emitters but I doubt Shibusen would let any of their guests approach them. Regarding Madness, I think the best people to explain you that are the Witches. [ but no one wants to meet one, right? ]