⇨ THE MATRIX: Kidnapping Update and Plotting Post

[ringleaders]

AFTERMATH↴ As of D30, it will be clear that Childermass, Carly, and Tamaki haven't returned from their trip into the Matrix - and in the case of Tamaki, there was a witness to his capture by Agents, the Matrix's AI police force. What exactly happened after they were taken away won't be clear, but there were three more cases of attempted kidnappings. Peridot and Steven Universe were attacked while in the Matrix, resulting in Steven taking a bullet wound. Lauren and Susan were attacked while touring the zoo, leaving Susan with some mild injuries. Sherlock was attacked by an Agent while chasing down a burglar. All three of these attacks were narrowly averted by the arrival of members of the Resistance, who brought the tourists back to a phone they could disconnect from after asking them some questions. The Resistance members will not try to hold any of the carnival visitors against their will, though they will have asked questions about their origins and capabilities. They will also as for them to stay and help fight against the machines if they are able, or to at least return to the Matrix and speak with them after they have had a chance to recover. Whether or not your character takes them up on that meeting is up to them. There will be a section below to have your characters ask the Resistance members questions, and also to clarify what they would be telling them in return. The Resistance is very confused by the carnival's impact on the Matrix, and are most interested in allying with them, due to their innate talents in controlling the system. KIDNAPPEES↴ In the case of those that were captured, there are multiple options for how we can proceed. On a base level, they will all be held for a few days. They will be interrogated by Agents and bugged with robotic creatures similar to the ones seen in the linked video. (Warning: sort of disturbing body horror.) The machines inserted into them will seem to give the Agents some kind of control over their bodies, and will allow them to do things like the mouth melting shut and other generally horrifying Agent stuff. Depending on your tastes, you can have this interrogation be fairly brutal, or you can have your character gives stuff away more easily and have them spend most of the intervening time unconscious. (You can pick how much you want to torture your character as long as it makes sense with the Agent's agenda.) After the first couple days, you have two options for how to resolve this situation: ► BUGGED: Your character will be inexplicably released back into the Matrix and allowed to return to the carnival. Of course, they'll be bringing that parasitic bug with them. The bug will cause the carrier to psychologically resist paths of action that will lead to it getting removed, but generally speaking they will be themselves except for the fact that they won't remember being injected with it in the first place, until the point that it's removed or provoked via some psychological/magical means. This, of course, is going to serve to lead the Agents to the carnival's location during performance week if it isn't caught immediately. (Yes, the bug will manifest physically along with their real bodies. Ew.) ► HOSTAGE: Your character will be kept as a hostage and used to try to draw other carnival members out to save them. Presumably the Agents will release some kind of message in the Matrix to draw carnival visitors and Resistance members toward the situation. The benefit is that it will cause additional drama. The downside is that your character will be out of casual play for a bit longer. This is a rescue mission that the Nightrunners will be primarily in charge of, though the Ringmaster will intervene if she has to. If your character is kidnapped, give us an idea of what you'd like to do below. Also, let us know how easily your character would have leaked information. The Agents will get stuff out of them regardless, but how much will depend on whether or not they just spill all their info straight from the start.

Comments

⇨ RESISTANCE QUESTIONS

[ringleaders]

For Peridot, Sherlock, and Susan/Lauren. What questions will they ask of the Resistance members while they communicate? Will they stay to talk or return home immediately? What will they tell them in return? Will they agree to meet with them again?

[wild_magic]

Susan will (for once) let Lauren take the lead on the talking. Lauren of course is going to ask about who the hell that guy was who attacked them, as well as asking about who these guys are that are saving them. He doesn't really have any other questions right now, and neither are going to volunteer a lot of info, but they would definitely agree to come back later to talk. For now though Lauren wants to get Susan back and safe.

Re: ⇨ RESISTANCE QUESTIONS

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock would be adamant about finding out exactly what's going on here. He'll offer up information about the Carnival easily, in return for details about the Agents, who the Agents and the Resistance are, how everything works, why can people jump really far if they concentrate hard enough, why the Agents seem more than human, and so forth.

He would be fairly neutral about the fight/war against the machines, he finds it a fairly logical arrangement, he wouldn't be against the Resistance or anything but he wouldn't necessarily offer his help unless he saw firsthand an actual injustice, but most of all he'd want to study the Agents and explore the One powers a bit more so he'd agree to meet again.

⇨ AGENT INTERROGATIONS

[ringleaders]

For Tamaki, Carly, and Childermass. Which option would you like to take for your character returning to the carnival? How easily will they give up information? Do you have any questions about what will happen to them while being interrogated? Do you have any other plot ideas for this situation?

[insidescoop]

SO SUFFICE TO SAY, by the time they got to the interrogation room, Carly realized 'oh this isn't....the rebellion'

And promptly cried. She cried everywhere. Even when she felt scared enough to answer tiny things like being undead and being named Carly, there was just Too Much Crying. Torturing, most likely, was flat ruled out for the most part.

It's just a pain and really probably easier toooOOOO BUG HER (Yayyyyyy). Especially since she sort of awkwardly kept trying to cry even after they melted her mouth. And eyes. And nose!!?!? ('so she doesn't need oxygen', was determined)

And that's about why Carly's likely coming back in and becoming a sudden medi-phobe.

WHAT, A CHECK UP, PSSSSHHHHH SHE DOESN'T NEED ONE OF THOSE honestly I wouldn't be surprised if enough people dragged her there kicking right off the bat though sob

Over all, they figured 'ok well she'll be going back for sure probably so we'll just Use That then And not deal with her weird crying through the melty face deal'

[atouts]

I'll opt for bugged.

Regarding interrogation, he's a very stoic sort of guy, so while torture sucks, it's going to be a long, hard road to getting him to talk. At some point, he'll start making up answers that obviously aren't true, which I'm sure the agents won't appreciate.

Being set loose back into the Matrix suddenly will be pretty suspicious to him, but I'm going to assume dwelling on that too much falls under "avoiding paths of action that threaten the parasite".

[puddingemote]

I was also going to go for bugged (unless we need a hostage). Tamaki would try to hold out at first against the agents, because he's figured out these are Bad Guys, but he'll start giving up information after a little torture. He doesn't know a lot, but he can tell them what the carnival is and what kind of people on there. He might incur additional damage by virtue of being shit at explaining and wasting the agents time lol.

[atouts]

I just have a few questions before I settle on what happens re: Childermass here. If someone picks the hostage option, is there a general idea of how much longer a character would be out of casual play? And regarding the bugged option, how extreme does 'psychologically resist paths of action' go (just casually avoid or does it get worse than that)?

[ringleaders]

Prrrobably like a week OOC? That's what I would estimate, along with the inherent complications of Christmas happening soon. As for the bugged option, they wouldn't want to go to the doctor, and might fight somebody that tried to make them. (As in, physically resisting, not necessarily getting magic involved or trying to off anybody.) It'd just be like the person had a normal but fairly intense aversion to interacting with doctors.