office hours: round 1.

[foo_bar]

office hours daily. i'm here to help... i think.

(screened PCs with han)

Comments

[lovedanime]

Okay...

[When he gets closer and sees Han is in glasses, he blinks. This guy has so many sides Mitarai didn't know about, huh.]

There's something that's been bothering me about this week. How come the hallucinations stopped as soon as a murder was committed, instead of after the trial?

[foo_bar]

... Because, technically, when someone acted on the incentive, it meant they had earned it.

Grantaire only didn't get his, I assume, because he didn't live long enough to take it with him.

[lovedanime]

[Out of all the possible answers, Mitarai had not expected this one, and it's like he's been ignited with a live wire. Indignation? Or desire?]

If Grantaire asked for something more reasonable, like a bottle of wine, he could have it in his pocket right away?

[foo_bar]

... Possibly.

[he exhales.]

[lovedanime]

[This is doing things to him that he never wanted to happen. He feels like spaghetti being twirled on a fork.]

Then... why have the trial? Aren't there plenty of Apprentices who would punish people who killed to get what they want?

[foo_bar]

[he scratches the back of his head, and places a hand on his hip, rocking on his feet for a moment. how to explain...]

The goal is that no one will take the incentive.

[lovedanime]

. . .

[This is also the last thing Mitarai expected to hear.]

Have you considered... not giving us... incentives???????????

[foo_bar]

I have never, in my life, considered that as a possibility, no.

[ask a dumb question, get a PA response back]

[lovedanime]

[Mitarai looks down at his shoes. This was in fact the dumbest question he has ever asked in his life. At the same time though he was asking it in all seriousness.]

Well, how about this? In the outside world... Where you're not trapped in a school... There are other ways you can try to get "whatever the administration can get its hands on"... Why aren't we in a situation where we can just do things those other ways instead?

[foo_bar]

Because this is the program they've chosen to run for some reason.

[he taps his food lightly.]

There's no other option.

[he doesn't sound like he believes it]

[lovedanime]

If - if it's a choice but there's no other option, isn't that a contradiction? There are so many things no other option could mean... There are obviously lots of things you could have done differently! Like give us these fitbits, or, um... Well, something like that isn't important, but...

[foo_bar]

I know what you're saying. I don't know if there really was no other option, or the other options were worse. I'm not actually that high up in the administration-- at all, actually.

[lovedanime]

I do know that... obviously there are even people above Todd... I just... I don't know. You talk with some of the other Apprentices a lot, but I thought it was worth it to try and understand, myself.

Is... is keeping things secret part of the point? Or not?

[foo_bar]

What secrets do you think I'm keeping?

[lovedanime]

[Mitarai has to screw up his face in thought for a second. He didn't think he'd get this far.]

How are they going to observe us? I mean, through the fitbits or something, obviously, but, I mean... Isn't being in a stressful situation very different from being exposed to a virus? I just feel like there's some kind of missing link...

[foo_bar]

I don't think you're wrong. Maybe you should consider that it's not quite a virus.

[lovedanime]

[Mitarai nods slowly.]

It certainly feels different from any cold I ever came down with...

But Connor was very specific. A virus that came from another world.

[foo_bar]

Connor wasn't lying. But it's still not quite a virus, not how we think of it, anyway.

[lovedanime]

[Suddenly very alive as if pursuing a guess in charades]

It's a computer virus! We're all in a virtual reality!

[foo_bar]

[he just.

what.

what?????]

No.

[lovedanime]

Oh...

[he REALLY thought he was on to something]

But it would explain how it could take effect instantly... and even why Connor would simply call it a virus... [because a computer virus, and only a computer virus, is what would affect an android anyway...

but this was a REALLY stupid theory in retrospect]

[foo_bar]

Oswald's said it came from "another world." Isn't that a little more realistic than we're all in virtual reality?

[he feels a little bad for crushing his attempts to make sense of this though... oops.]

1/2

[lovedanime]

No. Virtual reality exists. Enough for immersive sensory experiences, and even something like this where memories and psychological states are also modified significantly.

2/2

[lovedanime]

[He used up all his confidence on that.]

I mean, maybe that's just in my world, and even there it's not a simple or inexpensive proposition, but... Fayflower University's summer school also isn't a simple or inexpensive proposition, so...

[foo_bar]

[1, his worked is fucked up. 2, Han doesn't even know if cost has actually factored into anything going on. once you price out human life, everything else seems cheap in comparison. But also he. feels bad again. OBVIOUSLY HE'S ABUSING HIS BURSTS OF CONFIDENCE]

Maybe it exists for your world, but this is definitely not what's happening here. Trust me, I'm really good at what I do, and what I do is programming. I would have noticed.