Daycycle 116 [ November 13 - November 26 ]

[computerized]

daycycle 116

[Nov 13 - Nov 26]

[OOC Plotting for this Daycycle can be found here.]
[The Charity Ball Entertainment post is here.]
[This DC has been extended through 11/26.]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty

No Special Troubleshooters have been selected for a mission this morning.

---

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

Matt Murdock's office will be assigned to defend the most recent Specials accused of treason. He will not be allowed to contact the traitors directly, but he will be given the task of preparing his cases. He has 48 hours to prepare.

Jack Harkness has been selected to plan the entertainment for tonight's Charity Ball, thanks to the popularity of his performances during the Alpha Talent Show a few days ago. When he asks The Computer for help, several specials are assigned to him. Izzy Lightwood will be his event planning assistant and "Stiles" Stilinski will assist in MCing the night's event. Due to their popularity, all Specials will be approached about being auctioned off for dances in order to help raise money by Jack, Izzy and Stiles. They will also be asked if they're willing to take part in specially planned choreographed dances. Dance lessons will be provided for those that require them during the afternoon hours.

---

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will begin at 1800 at the Alpha Museum of Fine Art and will be hosted by The Humanists Alpha Society for the Arts. Tickets to the event are 1000cr and can be bought up until an hour before the event begins. Attendees have been given special permission to wear Old Reckoning clothing for this event only, as long as it is the same color as their clearance level. Specials may notice that many of the Alpha Citizen's outfits have gotten key parts of Old Reckoning clothing wrong, with buttons instead of sequins, for example, or men wearing ties that are much too long and go to their knees. Alpha's Very Special Forces will be present to ensure the safety of those attending.

An entire wing of the museum has been cleared as a makeshift dance floor. In an attached room there are several tables covered in white tablecloths and set with the crystal and china that usually only graces Violet citizen tables. Along the wall is a massive buffet made with real food and including an elaborate ice sculpture. There is a bar in the corner where Alpha's finest spirits are being disbursed freely. For the first hour, the focus is on the food and mingling. The music playing is calming and instrumental. There are some that steal the dancefloor for a slow spin, but the majority of the attendees seem reluctant to move away from the buffet.

And then at approximately 1900, Jack Harkness will take the stage and begin the evening's real entertainment.

---

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Comments

[whattingawhat]

She rolls her eyes at him. "Fine. If I get naked and have sex with Alcide again, I'm totally blaming you this time." She raises her brows at his claim he's not sleeping with Katniss. She's about to argue to the contrary when he gets specific. "I would ask why not, but then I'd be very pot and kettle." She sighs dramatically. "One, I do not sound like that. Two think about everything you'd miss out on if you hadn't come. Food. Booze."

She shrugs a little. "I think that's because of the whole drunk feeling." She tilts her head, considering their options. "We could try strawberry daiquiris. Those are like snow cones."

[duelo]

Derek feigns offense at that. "Hey! That's not fair. Now if you said you're only allowed to leave with me, rather than me or him, then I could guarantee results but you're stacking the deck against me here."

Frowning with disapproval, Derek lifts his eyebrows at her. There are a lot of reasons he isn't having sex with Katniss, not the least of which is that she's made it semi-clear that she's not actually interested. At least, that's his read, so far. So he doesn't answer that, glad she takes him off the hook and moves on. "I'm not saying I regret coming, I'm saying there was no point inviting Katniss to come with me to an event I didn't actually want to attend, smart ass."

He gives a little facial shrug at her suggestion. "Sounds good to me," he says. Derek is sure that something fruity like that is probably considered a "girly" drink, but he'll defy anyone to suggest that to his face if they value the aesthetic of their own. "Show me. Out of the two of us, you're the expert."

[whattingawhat]

"Ultimately, I'd like to stay sober enough not to make bad decisions," she responds. She probably should tell Derek not to let her leave with Alcide. They're just beginning to put together a friendship that isn't awkward and maybe a flirtation. They don't need to damage that with a drunk night of bad decisions.

"What was that? Why you're welcome, Bestie. I'm so glad I dragged you here too!" He wants smart ass...

Oh probably, but who really cares as long as it tastes good. She orders the drinks from the bartender then surveys the crowd again. "Somehow, this wasn't what I expected and I mean that in a good way." She wonders if this spread of fresh food is making a dent in the supply and if it's not, why can't they all have more fresh food? They'd certainly be in better condition if they could.

The bartender hands Buffy the pink drinks and she passes one off to Derek then takes a sip of her own. "Mmmmm" she hums in appreciation.

[duelo]

"Okay well, so now you want me to monitor you state of dress and intoxication level? Because I don't mind, but I gotta tell you, I don't have a very good frame of reference for what's too drunk to make good decisions," he admits, looking a little bit amused.

Laughing, Derek's eyebrows lift again. "Oh, yeah. Yeah thanks. I'm willing to concede that I appreciate that there's food. This monkey suit and all the forced formality, though, not so much."

Derek's mind happens to be moving in much the same direction as Buffy's. If this is straining the supply, as was implied to him when he asked for fruit to help lower clearance citizens be healthier, then why the fuck are they wasting it on a stupid party? And if it isn't a strain, then why the hell is there even a caste system in place for the damn food in the first place? "Yeah, that makes two of us," he agrees with a nod. He sounds a little more suspicious than impressed.

He waits for his drink and waits for Buffy's reaction to her own before trying his. If she doesn't like it, he's not gonna waste his time on it, after all. "Oh, hey...that's actually not too bad," he says, this time sounding more impressed than anything else as he starts away from the table slowly, waiting for Buffy to come along. "I'm trying to do my part to change what I can here...yesterday, I broke down and asked the Computer for a favor. I'm going to have to stack the deck pretty heavily in my favor and hope for the best, but...I'm trying to get real food for all clearance levels," he says in a low voice out of the corner of his fake smile as he nods to a stranger he catches staring. "Also, I feel like we're an interactive exhibit at the zoo right now, people keep staring."

[whattingawhat]

She shrugs a little. "If it's not too much to ask." She flashes a cheesy grin at him. "I think if I start slurring my words or stumbling, it's a good sign I shouldn't be in the company of people at all." She tilts her head a little at him. "Did you not ever go to a party or two?"

"Well, the monkey suit looks good on you, but I could do without the forced formality too."

There's got to be someone in charge of that or maybe the Specials that work with computers and data could give them a little more information. She understands the whole morale thing of a party, but giving everyone real food every day would boost morale as well. She's suspicious as well.

At least in this instance, she's happy enough to be a guinea pig. The drink is all kinds of yum. She's glad that the drink choice impresses him. She really had very little else to offer if he didn't like this. She sips her drink and walks with him, listening. Her brow furrows a little and her face looks concerned. "Did it ask you for anything? Did you promise anything?" She glances around the room then back to Derek. "I kind of think we are. Have you seen the gossip on the network?"

[duelo]

Derek gives a nod, huffing with amusement. "Fair enough. I'll keep an ear and an eye out, then, and I'll get you back to our room myself if I see it." His amusement falls away, though, when Buffy asks whether he'd ever been to a party. The smile falls into a frown. No. He hasn't been to a party long enough to notice that. By the time he was old enough to have been to a party where people might've been drinking, the fire had already happened and he and his older sister were holed up in a shitty loft out in Brooklyn, hiding. He went to school and he came home. He quit basketball. He didn't bother making friends at his new school. When he came back to Beacon Hills, it was with a huge chip on his shoulder, grief with which he had still been grappling, and a general hatred and distrust for others, not to mention being surrounded by teenagers rather than people his own age. This is the first party he's been to that wasn't at a bowling alley, unless you count him breaking up the rave that someone saw fit to throw in Derek's loft while he wasn't home. He hadn't been invited to that one, incidentally.

"No," he says shortly. "Not since I was thirteen. I'll just keep an eye out for stumbles and an ear for slurring and that'll have to do. No giving me a hard time," he says, trying to force a small smile in response to her compliment amongst her complaint. "Thanks. You look good, too, for what it's worth, whether we like it or not."

Derek finds a table and settles down into one of the chairs, taking another drink before setting the glass down on the table and shaking his head. "I asked it for fucking food, Buffy," he says with a huff that's caught somewhere between incredulity and amusement. "But no, I didn't promise anything. I don't have anything the Computer would want anyway." Which is a soft but clear implication that if he did, yeah. He would've if it meant food for everyone.

His brow creases and Derek gives a disapproving look at her question before lifting his glass again. "I don't read that garbage," he replies. He'd read the first post and rolled his eyes a lot and he'd read the second and decided that was the last one. Never again. Those people are insane. "I don't get why they give a shit, it's not like they know anything about us."

[whattingawhat]

Honestly, she's got no intention of getting that drunk and her joking about going back to the room with Alcide while drunk is an admittance about how much she actually likes him. She wouldn't mind a more private repeat of what happened on drugged coffee, but she'd rather not be drunk or drugged. Not to mention, there's the whole issue of it feels like she's cheating on Spike just by liking Alcide, and Buffy hasn't ever been that kind of girl. She doesn't really plan on starting now. All of that being said, she still finds herself liking Alcide, still finds herself flirting with him. None of that is Derek's problem, but she appreciates his support. She can't help but notice the way that smile falls away, the way it turns into a frown. Her brow creases with concern and she reaches her hand out to rest it on his cheek for just a moment, an apology for bringing up something obviously painful. "It's okay," she whispers, a verbal reassurance of comfort and support even if she doesn't know the territory they've stumbled into. Her hand falls away from his cheek.

She's forced too many smiles not to recognize this one for what it is, but she also knows that it's a means of moving forward and changing the subject, a means of coping so she rolls with it. "Ah now I wouldn't be a very good friend if I didn't give you a hard time," she teases, but it doesn't have any bite to it. "Yes," she tells him, "but I like getting dressed up and looking like a girl." More teasing. Derek definitely doesn't look like a girl. He's a gorgeous guy and she doesn't have to be attracted to him to recognize that.

"No. I mean...I get that and that's really--you're a good guy, Derek," she means that. She takes a sharp breath, discarding the dumb blonde facade that's so easy to hide behind. Concern about her friends tends to get her to do that. "Obviously, we all have something the computer wants or we wouldn't be here," she warns him. "Just don't make any deals or offers. We don't know enough about the computer and this place to be sure how it would use us."

She rolls her eyes at Derek. "That's part of the appeal. We're a mystery. Also, you have a mirror. You know what you look like. That's enough to interest anyone."

[duelo]

By reflex, Derek stiffens a little bit when Buffy touches him, but he wills himself to relax again because even though it was unexpected, it isn't entirely unwelcome. He gives a small, succinct nod to acknowledge her reassurance. At least she's not going to push the point; Derek can tell by the soft tone and the look on her face that she understands it's uncomfortable territory and she isn't going to insist they move deeper into that conversation.

Her assessment, Derek thinks, is maybe a little more well thought-out than a machine could be. "I think it already has what it wants out of us, Buffy," he says quietly, frowning. "We're here and we're doing its grunt work on the daily, pretending to be mindless cogs in its machine." Derek suspects that what the Computer wants more than anything is a herd of slaves and, if you ask him, that's exactly what it has. He appreciates where Buffy's coming from, but Derek intentionally avoids giving a promise in that vein. Derek is nothing if not self-sacrificing. He's more interested in making sure that the people are getting the right kind of food — because it should be a right, not a privilege. — than he is about his own self-preservation.

"I don't do anything," he points out. He goes to work and he goes back to his room. Is he supposed to believe that he's supposedly so physically attractive that it overrides his surly demeanor and his unwillingness to be seen in social situations, this stupid charity event not withstanding? "I'm a dumb person to be interested in, if you ask me."

[whattingawhat]

She meant the touch to be comforting and she's glad that he's taking that way, even if he did initially stiffen. She doesn't blame him. This is obviously a difficult conversation for him and if he wants to talk, she's all about listening, but she won't push it. He'll have to be the one to initiate that.

Maybe? She hopes so anyway. It would be nice if the machines are simple, straight-forward and incapable of complicated thoughts. She's not entirely sure that's the case though. She twists one side of her mouth up a bit in an expression of concentration, of doubt. "Yeah, but haven't you noticed? A lot of us are different back home. We're...special." Different from the 'special' term here. If all the Computer wants is a herd of slaves, well they've got the alphas here. The idea of what they want beyond that though...is a little scary. That's what she's afraid of and she notices the lack of a promise. Derek, don't do anything stupid, though she'd probably do something stupid right along with him if the circumstances were right, and yes: good food should be a right, but that's not always the case in her world and it's clearly not the case here.

She laughs at that. "I don't think you really have to do anything. I mean...models and reality stars don't and yet people in my world are obsessed with them."

[duelo]

"Back home," Derek reminds her of the key words of her statement. Here, they're not special at all. They're just more Alphas who happen to have memories of a time and a place when they were something greater than they are right now. He sighs then. There are a lot of things to hate about this place but having his whole identity ripped away from him is, easily, the easiest target for his frustration. And, really, frustration, is putting it pretty lightly.

"I wouldn't know," Derek replies starkly, "I don't pay attention to that stuff. Couldn't pay me enough to successfully pretend to give a good goddamn." People and their vapid interests don't really matter to Derek. He's more often than not too focused on surviving the next big thing to be bothered finding out what the Kardashians are up to in their perfectly charmed little lives. "I guess I'll take your word for it."

His eyes move around the room again and, once more, he sighs softly. "All right, I guess we'd better actually be a part of this thing before we draw too much attention just standing around like a couple of middle school students too afraid to join the 'fun,'" he says and, yes, he makes finger quotes when he says it.