trustfell | Looks like this will be a weekly thing

Looks like this will be a weekly thing

[This whole week has been awful. This whole experience has been awful. Mordecai wants to go straight to his room and deal with his frustrations, but that's not what a mayor does. A mayor takes charge, a mayor fixes what's wrong, a mayor makes things better. Even if he can't do everything on his own, he's has to do something.

Two hours after the end of the trial, the living will find another note slipped underneath their doors.]

There's cookies in the kitchen. The dining room is ready for anyone who needs a quiet place to talk it out. I'll be in the bar if you need a drink, alcoholic or something more appropriate for the underage crowd.

-Mordecai Benmont Jiminy

[There's a pile of warm chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. Two more candles are lit at the memorial - one for the victim, one for the culprit - and Mordecai has left a pile of blankets from the storage room on one of the dining room tables.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Your world sounds so...American western.

[That's just ridiculous. He lives on Mars, how are they still operating things like that?]

Wait. What powers?

...Well, we are called America's newest frontier, after all. It's mostly a coincidence Mars is in the western sector of space.

[Fashion comes around in cycles. In a thousand years, the Cowboy Western aesthetic becomes popular again. Apparently.]

Oh. Right. See, there's these cosmic beings that form the Galaxium in my universe. The Force Galactic is what they call the omnipotent power they wield. Remember that time I talked about an evil version of the mayor of Mars killin' a bunch of people that were sent to fight it? One of those cosmic space beings was the one who picked them. Only instead of usin' his powers to save the universe, he expected us to do all the world while he - the one guy who could fix it all - stood back and watched.

...Much like the Conductor. Always the neutral party, no interferin', just observin'. That's the role he's been given in this experiment, though I'm not sure if he gave it to himself or someone else did.

[V'Stalu is a jerk. The Conductor is even worse, having been the one to create this scenario in the first place.]

Where was I? Space powers, yeah. This week I dreamed about a day where I was mayor while zippin' around to faraway moons, freezin' time, alternin' the timeline, and fixin' weather with those powers. I have no idea how I went from witnessin' the end of the universe to that.

[There's another thing he wants to add, but he stops himself when he opens his mouth and looks away. He holds a fist to his lips as his eyes stop focusing on what's in the room, but instead to the memory.]

[...well that is a dramatic reaction. Susan sits in silence for a second, watching him as if she expects the flow of mostly inexplicable words to start up again. When it doesn't, she glances around for a second, finds no one to help, and decides she had better say something herself.]

Well...I imagine you should be able to take people around after here if you like, then. If only we could figure out how he's suppressing people's abilities.

[Mordecai nods slowly.] Yeah. Yeah, that's what I was thinkin'.

[Get his powers back, get everyone out, find a way to travel to other universes, and fix everything. Everything.]

I also brought someone back to life. [He was so sure Felton was dead on Mars. His strange dream went from another adventure to a nightmare for a few minutes.] I...I might be able to bring back Luna, and Ashley and...well, anyone we want to come back.

.....anyone from here, you mean?

I'm sure I could, unless there's some restriction as to which universe the person I'm revivin' is from. Which I do not hope exists.

[And whether being dead for weeks would nullify his attempts. Felton had been dead for a mere minute, but then again, gunshot wounds were hard to fix no matter how long he was dead.]

But at least I now know why the Conductor calls me Universal and why he thought I was interestin' enough to take. But this also means that once we all get our powers back, there's no way he's gonna get away with all this.

Right...

[That's not exactly what she meant to ask.]

He has to know that. I think quite a few people here could be dangerous to him. Maybe that's what he meant when he said we'd get our chance to hold him accountable.

You know, I asked him about that rule about explicit permission to hurt him, and he made it sound like it was some kinda precaution, like he was expectin' for us to kill him eventually. Makes me wonder just how much he really wants to do this.

We might have to kill him.

[And Susan really won't care. Not if it means everyone finally getting out, and especially not if getting out means Mordecai can help ~~Ashley~~ the dead too.]

But he's survived doing this to other groups before. If he expects people to kill him to escape, that doesn't mean he'll make it easy. It just means he's prepared.

[He's taken aback and how easily Susan says that. As if killing someone is the first answer to all solutions. Shoot first, talk later. That never ends up good.]

No, there's always a way to solve problems that don't involve killin' someone. If it's a method he ain't expectin', all the better for us.

Who knows, killin' him might make things worse. What if those shadows try to avenge him?

Honestly? I think if it came right down to it, those shadows would kill us all before we got within a metre of him anyway.

[She thinks it might be necessary, not that it's an easy solution. They still haven't figured out a way past the shadows.]

But you can't possibly think he's just going to let us go.

'Course he ain't, but he seems to stick to the rules as much as he can, so we can't think it's impossible just yet. Outlaws never prevail in the end, and once we find a way to stop this experiment of his, that'll fix things.

[Now he's starting to sound more like Sparks Nevada. Of course justice will prevail. Villains lose in the end. If Mordecai can run a town successfully, he might be able to figure out something.]

There's somethin' about all this that makes me wonder if the Conductor is behind everythin'. He talks more about this experiment like a job instead of a hobby, which ain't how most mad scientists operate. He apologized for gettin' too into Asuka's execution when I asked him about Ashley.

...he told me it was human error. Something he's apparently unaccustomed to.

[Mordecai, you are hideously naive]

We talked about something like that. It's certainly not a job. He said... [She pauses for a second, looking past Mordecai as if recalling the specific wording.] ..."if anything, getting to do this is the payment."

So he ain't used to emotions, apparently.

[His guess with him being an AI wasn't too far off.]

He has a history of takin' opportunities he likes, this experiment included. Said it was payment for his service to the company that took care of him, which most likely ain't the sort of organization you want to exist in the first place. And now he's gettin' attached to us instead of treatin' us like subjects, which he doesn't like.

...Reckon he was one of the lower rank scientists before moving up to his current position.

I don't think he's getting attached to all of us. [Dryly, because we all know exactly who he got attached to, and it isn't going to happen again.]

He mentioned he became involved with them because he had some very specific things they wanted. And in return, he gets his very own little murder dollhouse. It certainly sounds like this whole thing is his pet project.

Which means we have a whole group of scientists that don't think twice about encouragin' folks to murder each other. Even if we stop the Conductor, we won't be done stampin' out all these experiments.

[But that's how the universe works, doesn't it? Trouble never goes away.]

There might be another session like this goin' on right now, in another place.

I don't know. It sounded like he came up with the setup on his own. But I do agree that they should be dealt with, too - if nothing else, they did provide the means and they would again.

[Mordecai, you...you know this just sounds like they're going to have to kill more people to end all this. And maybe a god.]

[Who said anything about murder? There's always a non-violent method to dealing with problems. If he had the Force Galactic, he could figure out another way. Probably.]

This is why we need our powers back. We gotta track 'em down and shut down the facilities. Get word out. Have them stand trial. There's no way the USSA will look away from a large group of mad scientists runnin' experiments this size and scope.

.....you really think so?

[That is a shocking amount of trust in the authorities.]

Of course. We have an epidemic of mad scientists in my time, and the law will never stand for someone potentially destroyin'! The galaxy!

[He has a lot of faith in them.]

Don't worry, Susan. I know the local Marshal, and he ain't one to let any lawbreakers get away free. He has a history of dealin' with these types.

I'm not sure this place is really in the jurisdiction of the local marshal.

[She also quietly doubts the ability of a local marshal to deal with something on this level, but if mad scientists are so terribly common on Mars maybe he'd do alright.]

Naw, but he's enough of a busybody to get all antsy about this. Heck, his parents are in the military; they'd do somethin'!

[Susan shakes her head.]

Your police are very different from ours.

How do you mean?

I called them once, after some psychopaths kidnapped me and locked me in their basement? They called me a loony. Wouldn't send any help at all.

[wow why is susan such a bitter person obviously there's no reasons]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject