For my part I can only say: V I C T O R Y, we are already twice with a plan that remains "consistent", for once in a long time.
I am very curious to see how Ciel deals with what is coming, and I must confess that this is the first time where I feel and really care about how one vote or another might have changed our path and that has long or short term consequences. Real consequences that respond to the quality of the choices.
I mean, we do stupid things and stupid things happen to us. And best of all, that is commensurate with what is chosen in such a way that it always feels deserved.
Like that stunt we tried to pull last time with the Highlight Heroes making them hug and how Naron indirectly called us out when after dying a couple of times and succeeding (losing an arm in the process which we then had to pay for) another Fixer tells us "that was stupid and shouldn't have worked." If I had been drinking anything at the time while reading I probably would have spit it out.
[] Character distribution
-[] Giano, Rose, and Ciel go to Jade's Office.
-[] Maria and Hifumi try following the Feathers' trail through the Backstreets.
After some deliberation and asking yourself if this is really the right choice, you send Maria and Hifumi into the Backstreets to try following the Feathers' path. While it has been several days since their vanishing, so the Sweepers will have taken care of any evidence, people who saw them should still be around.
You take Rose and Giano on an excursion to Jade Office in the meantime. Or rather you make the attempt and even call ahead to schedule a meeting with Operator Yaling, which is where the trouble starts.
As it turns out, the Office is running itself ragged lately and Yaling himself does as much fieldwork as everyone else to keep things going. The secretary also insists that even if Rose is related to a client, they need written proof of some form that would justify getting to see their records. You get severely annoyed about them all but stonewalling you, even if they are that busy. Especially because they are the best lead you have. At least they gave you a few minutes in the evening after pushing a little.
So instead of investigating, your group spends half the day traveling; first to the Hana Office for Giano to pick up some papers saying that you work on their order and to please comply, in legalese of course. Then back into the Nest via WARP Train to pick up several other papers identifying Rose as Holly Briar's daughter and to confirm his being missing.
This is somehow still the more enjoyable part of the mission, seeing how Maria and Hifumi have trouble finding anyone at all who saw the Feathers. It is kind of eerie how even so unusual things can just be drowned out in the crowds, forgotten in minutes and hours. But the two do make slow progress, following the trail further into the Backstreets.
In the meantime you show up early to your appointment after a late lunch, a supremely annoyed Rose and a faintly smirking Giano in tow. Seeing Hana colours stops the receptionist from making a fuss, then the official papers make them turn deathly pale. You are in front of Yaling within the minute.
He looks worn now, is the first thing you notice upon shaking hands with him. It takes him a while to recognise you and his expression turns even more glum when he does.
"Did you ever finish off the prophet?"
You nod in response, showing no hesitation. "It took a while but we hunted them down. But none of that is why we're here."
"Yes, I already heard." The man utters a tired sigh and slowly flips through a set of papers on his desk. "I'm afraid there is so much to do right now that Jade Office can not provide service to our usual standard. Holly Briar is one of our clients, I can confirm that."
"And you know where he went?" Rose chimes in immediately, far more intent than before. Yaling glances at her and shrugs.
"Probably. I gave him Johnathan's team among others, so their reports have to be somewhere in the archive. I just don't know where and nobody has time to look for them on short order. I also can't allow anyone else in there," he shuts down the offer before you can even make it. "That's a risk I am not going to take."
Giano makes a curious noise and pipes up as well: "Even if that gets you a mark for failing to uphold your contract?"
Her needling has the opposite effect of what she probably wanted, Yaling just offers an unimpressed snort. "I haven't seen Johnathan around for a bit and our client is missing, so chances are they're all dead. Jade Office already failed to uphold that contract, so I'm not making more trouble for myself."
Rose scowls mightily and stands. "How dare you-" she starts, but you grab her arm hard enough to give her pause.
Ignoring the demand to let go, you meet the Operator's gaze head-on. He is tired, but there is a calculating look in his eyes nonetheless. "You said you didn't have time to check. So what if we make some time for you?"
His lips quirk up ever so faintly and a folder finds its way in front of you without hesitation. Rose finally pulls herself out of your grasp and sits down while rubbing her forearm and scowling up a storm.
You flip open the folder and pause on the 'Urban Plague' classification. What lies in front of you is a Thumb Subsidiary, the Red Lily Gang. Yaling gives you an expectant look in the silence and explains after a moment: "I need their leader dead as soon as possible."
"So an assassination mission?"
"...yes, though nobody will complain if more of them die."
There is not a word of an actual job here and the pause he left before confirming only makes it more clear; this is off the books for some reason. You chance another look at Yaling and put one hand on the folder. "I will think about it. May I take this along to read properly?"
"Of course. Please contact me with your answer, regardless of what it is."
You technically have the perfect person for the job, but one Grade 5 Shi assassin against an Urban Plague Syndicate is just asking for trouble; you need to talk to Hifumi and consider your options before making a choice there.
The day passes like this with little progress made and time running out. Your allies lost Holly's trail a few kilometres from the checkpoint around the same time you met Yaling. They tell you what they found over breakfast again, but it is precious little. You also explain the Red Lily Gang problem to Hifumi, who becomes thoughtful for a little while.
"It is possible," he judges in the end, "but I do not like my odds on my own."
Maria waves her hand cheerfully. "I can help!" That immediately earns her skeptical looks and prompts her to pout. "I mean it," she grouses without any real heat. "I can be quiet if I need to."
You look back to Hifumi, who offers a nod. "The two of us should be able to do it, though we do not have time to waste then. We would have to do it today, which will require taking what time we can to prepare and thus remove us from any other activity."
Giano shrugs at that. "Not like we have any other leads left. The trail is cold."
There are still those zombies, though you already do not trust your gut on them anymore.
But before you can actually mention them, someone clears their throat and all eyes move. Only now do you realise how quiet the hotel's lobby became, all because of the black garbed man and woman standing right by your side. Their white cloaks reach down to the ground but never touch, edges fluttering on a nonexistent breeze. You recognize the man and his six mechanic dendrites, expression as curt as the last time you met.
Giano sucks in a strangled breath and Hifumi becomes deathly still much like you. For just a moment you feel yourself the little rat once more, completely at the mercy of two Index Proxies.
The woman smiles warmly, which only agitates you more. "Good morning, you lot! I'm Index Messenger Jiro, this is Proxy Gwyneth." The man offers a little nod and she looks around the table as if her words were any consolation. "Which of you is Ciel?"
They know your name.
Your heart skips a beat and you consider not answering, or fleeing even. But Gwyneth already caught at least one gaze flicking your way and puts his full attention on you. There is no escape anymore. You somehow get your tongue to work and raise a faintly shaking hand. "M-Me."
Your voice shakes almost imperceptibly, but you know they noticed. Giano noticed too and for once does not seem to be amused. If anything she is as pale as the Jade Office receptionist became yesterday.
Jiro steps forward without a care for your flinch and offers her hand. "Good, good! You see, we have a bit of a conundrum." When you do not react beyond a faint twitch, she pulls back the limb with a shrug and rifles in her pocket. Then she presents a carefully folded slip of paper to you; silvery stitchings show your name on it.
You stare at it owlishly, then at the Messenger. Giano's and Hifumi's gazes bore into your side with suspicion; that hurts a little, but you barely recognise it under the dread.
"I'm not with the Index."
It is really all you can get out when your chest feels like lead. For some odd reason Jiro just nods enthusiastically. "You aren't one of us or under our protection, which is why I brought Proxy Gwyneth to arbitrate. I never had this happen before, you see. Proxy?"
He nods, voice calm yet not at all soothing: "As one not sworn to the Prescripts, you may do with it as you wish after receiving it. You will not be penalised by the Index for refusing to fulfill this Prescript unless the Prescripts themselves deem it necessary."
That takes a bit of pressure off, but you do not dare grasp the paper. In the end Jiro has to grab your hand and close it around the Prescript with a little smile. "There you have it. I guess you're not going to follow it, but consider if you really want to ignore this. The Prescripts know all after all."
She steps back with a spring in her step and waves. "Anyway, that's all. Tata!"
Nobody dares move until the pair has left. The Prescript in your hands almost feels burning hot, tainting you with its very presence. And once again you could do nothing but shake in your boots. Disgust is the main flavour of your thoughts, both to the thing in your hand and to yourself.
"Well then," Maria chirps and leans forward eagerly. "What does it say?"
You do not even want to open it. But it is the 29th and you only have two days left to finish your mission. We deploy weighted voting for this cycle. Decide what to do next, plan votes / group splits are allowed.
[] Send Maria and Hifumi to assassinate the Red Lily Gang leader
Weight: x1
[] Ciel and Giano support the assassination without joining
Weight: x1
[] Follow the Prescript
Weight: x0.2
[] Write-in another approach
Weight: x1
Any plan that includes the Prescript requires five times as many votes to pass as any other option. Sending Maria and Hifumi on that assassination job requires adding a plan about where the others go in the meantime. Ciel is out of leads for the moment, though the audience may follow up on something they noticed but that Ciel does not have in mind right now.
Also, we have a one-hour Moratorium because I was a derp and forgot to put this up in the morning. Please do not vote for 1 hour! ???
-Current Classification: Urban Plague
-Number of Opponents: ???
-Goal: ???
-Displayed Strategy: ???
Ciel's Team
-Number of People: 5
-Current Grades: 6 (Ciel), 5 (Giano, Hifumi/Shadow), 4 (Maria), None (Rose Briar)
-Goal: Find Holly Briar and information on the missing Feathers before the new year, protect Rose
Information
-Holly Briar and some colleagues head into the Backstreets on occasion
-the Feathers did not vanish in the Nest
-the Feathers were escorted by Jade Office Fixers
--Jade Office Operator Yaling wants an off-the-books favour in exchange for checking his records
-the Feathers' trail in the Backstreets has gone cold
-(likely unrelated) hollowed-out corpses shamble around the old Thorns hideout's neighbourhood
Given that we have little to no reason to pursue it with a 2 day limit I suppose we can just read through it first.
[] Plan: Simpleton
-[] Send Maria and Hifumi to assassinate the Red Lily Gang leader
-[] Ciel and Giano support the assassination without joining
-[] Check what the prescript asks
while I'm curious as to what the prescripts says, I'm wary of even something as simple as opening it to see. Ciel hates the index with a burning passion and clearly doesn't want to open it, and I'd give it decent odds that it will be helpful but cryptic, and if we just open it without specifically planning to act on it I'd expect Ciel to actively avoid doing whatever it says even if it seems helpful for the case.
Edit: I'd also expect negative consequences from following the prescript, even if it turns out to be helpful/solve the case for us. I'm just not really sure what I'd expect those to be.
You take Rose and Giano on an excursion to Jade Office in the meantime. Or rather you make the attempt and even call ahead to schedule a meeting with Operator Yaling, which is where the trouble starts.
I give it a 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 (endlessly repeating 9s)% chance it says: "go take care of those fucking zombies already, we'll make sure your mission works if you do and fail if you don't".
Follow the goddamn prescript, it is an absolute certainty we fail the job if we don't, it's what they want.
Edit:
I know this isn't a certain confirmation, but I am still going to count it as a point in the *I told you we should've gone to the hideout* side.
Edit2:
For how I am so certain following the prescripts will make sure we finish this job and not doing it will fail us the job, that's the easiest and strongest incentive a prescript would have for us to follow it, and prescripts knows all.
If we get to Hana with a prescript helping us, that sours the experience for Ciel, and increase then resentment they seems to have been brewing in them for some reason, if we fail because we didn't follow the prescript, same thing, increase resentment towards index and blaming them for our failure, no matter what, we play in their hands.
Don't try to outthink the omniscient thing, just go with it, I prefer to get in Hana than cut Ciel's dream right there.
Alternate:
We could simply go and investigate the zombies now without looking at the prescript first, since the other sources *coincidentally* don't work, I am pretty sure this would lead to us opening the prescript and seeing it says to do what we did, but at least we could pretend it was really Ciel's will and not just blindly following the prescript.
We are against Big Brother version 1000, we can't win anyway, so I'm not trying, just trying to get Ciel to realize their dream, maybe once we're high enough we'll be able to fight, right now it's worthless.
I will always do so, that's the thing with omniscient precogs, you can always blame them, it's not like you're going to be wrong anyway, if they can predict everything you are doing and will do, then everything is their fault.
Still going to vote for the hideout anyway, our other trails got dry right as we declined investigating it, Ciel will blame it on the prescript all on their own:
[x] Everyone goes to investigate the hideout, the other trails are not leading anywhere, return to your first gut instinct, you will still be able to try the assassination if you find nothing.
I will always do so, that's the thing with omniscient precogs, you can always blame them, it's not like you're going to be wrong anyway, if they can predict everything you are doing and will do, then everything is their fault.
I have never understood this line of thinking at all. If I know someone is going to do something, that doesn't take the agency away from them. They still decide to do it. Yes, of course manipulation can play a part, but it's not mind control. People make decisions influenced by all sorts of factors, and we still say they have agency, so why is this any different?
I have never understood this line of thinking at all. If I know someone is going to do something, that doesn't take the agency away from them. They still decide to do it. Yes, of course manipulation can play a part, but it's not mind control. People make decisions influenced by all sorts of factors, and we still say they have agency, so why is this any different?
The omniscience is the difference, if the person cannot predict you perfectly, then, yes, you can't take complete agency from someone, but in a deterministic universe with an opponent that can predict all you will do, like the prescripts can, then you never had agency in the first place, there is nothing to remove, and all your moves have been predicted and taken into account.
Your *decisions* don't matter in that case because all was predetermined, that's not manipulation, that's just deciding *this person will do this* and then making the dominoes fall so they do.
Take the current situation for example:
Obviously, Naron cannot predict all our moves, but let's say the prescripts can, ok, we get the prescrit and read it, then do the opposite, well, it was what they wanted, so it's not *our decision*, it's just theirs disguised as ours, same if we read it and follow it, same if we don't even read it, a perfect precog doesn't give you the possibility to *choose* for yourself, your decision always was their own.
This still doesn't make sense. If a person has an 100% prediction rate of what options people will choose, that doesn't mean those other options have been closed to them. It means that they will pick certain options. The difference is in choice. Unless the augur is mind controlling you to make their predictions accurate, you are still making your own decisions. Sure, functionally you don't have a choice but to do what they say, but in actual fact (which is the relevant part when discussing things like free will, intent, choice and fault, because the consequences of two actions can be the same but the free will, intent, choices and fault of said actions can be completely different), you are making the decision yourself, independent of their knowledge.
Except, there is no choice, there never was a choice, free will don't exist in this case.
That's what a deterministic universe means, there is no free will, everything that happened, is happening, and will happen was already written the moment time began.
In the case of an omniscient precog, they know all your thoughts, so, this is far from *independent from heir knowledge* when they are the one choosing what stimuli you are exposed to.
For another little point, look at my signature, *If you put a human in a specific situation, and then put an identical copy of that human in the exact same situation, they're going to respond exactly the same. The only difference between a human mind and an artificial one is that we don't have the technology to display a human's decision making process yet.*
The precog can decide the situation in that case, so *your* decision is theirs in reality.
Ok, let's go to the current situation for another example:
We were accosted in a public setting, with our allies around, after we spent years seeing traces of the index that made sure Ciel never stopped having their hate (and fear) for the Proxies simmering in the backround.
All of that? The years we spent? Every single thought Ciel had? Every single mission taken? Every single fight? Every single interaction with Parvati or her sister? That. was. what. the. Prescript. wants.
Every moment of every day were already decided, the prescripts sees all, the prescripts knows all, and every decision taken in the City is made by the Will of the City A.K.A: the prescripts.
Nobody has free will under the prescripts eyes, we are no exception, the only differences between us and an index follower is that they acknowledge the strings.
Now, contrary to Contessa and the Simurgh in Worm, this isn't as much of a cancer on narrative, because:
-1, the prescripts are alien, and so's their goal.
-2, the will of the city is not so much a character as it is a phenomenon, so the dynamic is not the same.
I have some other reasons on the tip of my tongue but can't articulate them unfortunately.
Edit:
In case that isn't clear, I don't care about free will existing anyway, and I love playing Rogue Servitors in Stellaris, who consist of a civilization of Ai taking all decisions for the organic populace in the interest of making their life better, because I consider that an ideal end state.
I dislike Wall-E's ending because, why? Just, why? The humans had a society were they didn't have to work, why would they want to throw it away? Taking decisions? Why? Let the benevolent AI overlords take them, and just be happy.
So I basically have a very low interest in free will being a thing, is what I mean, it changes nothing anyway, if the universe is deterministic, it always was and we never had free will, if it isn't, it always wasn't and quantum fluctuations (or whatever makes it so it isn't deterministic) always were the actual reason some of our decisions couldn't be predicted.
Edit2:
And yes, it does means I would probably be an Index member if I was born in the city.
Edit the third:
Another reason I don't care about if the universe is deterministic or not, is that it not being deterministic doesn't make humans any more specials in my mind, and I hate the anthropocentrism that makes it so that you can be sure some people will think it does.
If my neural patterns can be influenced by quantum fluctuations to make my thought a little different, then so can the rain that is falling on the pebbles on the road, making the way the water moves and react different and changing the exact configuration of atoms it has, the pebble is just as *free willed* as me either way.
In case that isn't clear, the subject of free will really, really, really triggers me.
Would the weight of a "Read the prescript but do not follow it" write-in also be x0.2? It just seems weird to me that opening it requires a pre-commitment to follow it.
As someone who doesn't care about free will, I think you've missed the thrust of my argument.
In a deterministic universe, the concept of "free will" only exists as the idea of "people making choices that are not coerced". If an omniscient entity knows what you are going to do, but doesn't interact with you, they are not "at fault" or "responsible" for any actions you take. The Index here somewhat is, because the Prescripts are directly interfering with Ciel's life (though I personally wouldn't consider this coercion, I can appreciate an argument that would), but as a concept, omniscience doesn't interfere with free will be itself at all. Omniscient people are not responsible for your choices just because they know the ones you will make. That's what I am saying.
I really don't think acting like an Index freak thinking "Prescriptions taste better because precog" and playing along is a good idea. I say we do it Ciel's way and fuck fate, we don't need a piece of cloth to achieve our goals:
[X] Plan: No Oracles, no gods. ONLY CROWBAR.
-[X] Destroy the Prescription.
-[X] Send Maria and Hifumi to assassinate the Red Lily Gang leader
-[X] Ciel and Giano support the assassination without joining.
I really don't think acting like an Index freak thinking "Prescriptions taste better because precog" and playing along is a good idea. I say we do it Ciel's way and fuck fate, we don't need a piece of cloth to achieve our goals:
Yan wants to give you a text, it says: *Been there, done that, got the distortion to show for it*.
Don't think it hasn't been tried, we were doing what the prescript wanted from the moment we received it, destroying it changes nothing, it is still what it wanted.
Edit:
But even without the prescript, I still would vote to go to the hideout, the other ways are having too many *coincidences* slowing us down for me to think we can win using them.
We had this way of checking one hypothesis for sure since the beginning, leaving it aside is driving me nuts, we could have an answer about it for quite some time by now, and I am tired of having to reexplain that we could at least test our options with a way that silence the debate.
Yes, we did not gain an answer when we sent someone else, because we sent someone else, the entire point of going to the hideout was to interrogate Rose, of course not doing so gives us nothing.
Yan wants to give you a text, it says: *Been there, done that, got the distortion to show for it*.
Don't think it hasn't been tried, we were doing what the prescript wanted from the moment we received it, destroying it changes nothing, it is still what it wanted.
Edit:
But even without the prescript, I still would vote to go to the hideout, the other ways are having too many *coincidences* slowing us down for me to think we can win using them.
We had this way of checking one hypothesis for sure since the beginning, leaving it aside is driving me nuts, we could have an answer about it for quite some time by now, and I am tired of having to reexplain that we could at least test our options with a way that silence the debate.
Yes, we did not gain an answer when we sent someone else, because we sent someone else, the entire point of going to the hideout was to interrogate Rose, of course not doing so gives us nothing.
Well, if that was all you got about the real cause behind Yan's Distortion, then I don't know what to tell you. Because that was never really the point.
Seriously, and this goes for everyone, even me: from the first moment we start to simply accept certain kinds of ideas that go against our interests ("the world can't change, people can't change, I'll never get ahead, etc"), that's the moment you give up and lose any kind of will and risk following the, heh, prescriptions of others, the will of others.
Therefore, every time you find yourself in a similar situation, think twice about who benefits or harms that idea, and based on that answer, go head on: be critical and fight if necessary, and if in fact you can say without a shred of doubt that what you wish to change is, by definition, impossible. Then get angry: be angry at the injustice, be righteously angry, curse that fact a thousand times, and no matter how useless you think it is (or is), don't give up. Fight tooth and nail, defy the ocean. Anything is better than being indifferent.
To stop is the death of the individual. And as long as someone cares, there is hope. Even if everything seems to be against you.
That's the part Yan could never manage to see. They were strong, and they believed. But never enough to completely avoid their distortion.
