DAY 00

[thecomputer]

[Good afternoon, Citizens!

Your consciousness blurrily returns as the transport tube your comatose body was stored in opens up, admitting you access to an unfamiliar room. One wall is covered by vertical tubes, one occasionally sliding open to admit another confused person. The wall across from you has a sign saying "PROCEED TO CENTRAL HUB", with an arrow pointing at a red doorway in the corner. The wall to your right contains an unlabeled, dusty, and poorly-lit hallway with blue walls, floor, and ceiling. You can't see the end from here.

Somewhere on your person, you will find a thin, smartphone-sized object that wasn't there before. One side of it is lit up with a red background and a number of disabled menu items. Most of the screen is taken up by another message saying "PROCEED TO CENTRAL HUB".

What is this place, anyway? And who are these people stumbling in through the transport tube array?]

[[Beyond the three prompts below, anyone may start their own prompts to mingle or go off and do their own thing or whatever else they want!]]

Comments

Food Sector

[stinkingdeadendjob]

[A defeated Clay kneels down on his knees in front of the panels, his hands over the machine. His head hangs down and his eyes, if anyone can see them, are empty and void of color. His fists shake.]

Tell me how to make pruno out of this stuff, robot!!

[The man lies down in fetal position, hyperventilating. He's surrounded by packets of FunFoods and the man has no idea what to do with any of them.]

At least give me that...

[respring]

[ ........um. she knew the food blocks were shitty but is he having a food breakdown??? ]

...sir? Are you alright? If you're looking for something better to eat, I can try to help.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

It's not the eating that I'm worried about! ... young lady.

[Calm down, Clay. Just calm down. He comes to his senses and tries to pick himself up from the ground. He's still holding himself up on the counter.]

That robot... [He points over at the direction of the Central Hub.] ... is unjustly separating me from my precious alcoholic beverages. I mean, you'd think just knowing how to make wine out of random fruits and pieces of bread would be enough, but what's a guy supposed to do with.. with...

[He picks up the packet of FunFood and holds it up to Sakura.]

Algae?? The little green muck! Liquid carpeting.

[respring]

[ oh lord he's crying about booze. um. SHE DOESN'T KNOW TO DEAL WITH ALCOHOLICS SOMEONE HELP HER ]

Er, well, it is a bit gross, to say the least. I think the rules say something about our clearance levels being related to the sort of foods we have access to, so. You'll probably be able to get some of it back once we start cooperating in this experiment.

[stinkingdeadendjob]

Sure, that's what the robot says, but who knows how long that'll take. And heck, why not, with the rate my luck has been going, it'll probably just be beer waiting for me.

[He sighs heavily. Clay picks himself up, regaining just enough energy to endure a bit longer.]

... Might as well eat if I can't drink. Have you even tried this stuff? It looks... questionable.

[respring]

Isn't that better than nothing at all?

[ .... ] It's efficient to keep your strength up in mentally taxing situations like this, yes. But it tastes a bit like grass. [ wrinkling up her nose in displeasure ]

[stinkingdeadendjob]

[He gives the package of algae a whiff.]

Smells like grass too! [He takes a bite... and gives a nod and a 'hm'.] Alright. [Another bite. And another.]

Yeah, I think I can eat this grassy deer food for a little while now. Gotta keep our strengths up before we hunt for those dirty commies, right? [And he just keeps eating, but given his cringing facial expression... he doesn't seem to like it, in spite of the relative ease at scarfing them down.]

The trick to eating this wretched stuff is to pretend to like it all along.