15strangers week 2 tuesday
[Akane had needed a few moments to gather her strength enough to stand again. She felt hot, like flames were licking at her from another time, so she waited on the floor where she was until Roland had gathered what he wanted before she forced herself up, stumbling slightly as she did.
A part of her wanted to cry. She hated this. She'd always hated it.]
Sorry.
[Her voice is small, soft and low, but she gathers the strength and after a moment of consideration takes him back to her room, then moves the chair in front of the door.
Makima would have to wait a few minutes if she wanted to come back in, but this seemed like the best place for this. Zero already seemed to know, but the rooms were supposed to be soundproof, right?
She showed him in, feeling a little awkward about inviting a boy back into her room like this, no matter what the reason and the necessity for it. There weren't many places to sit in here, so she huddled on the bed, arms wrapped around her knees, looking down at them.]
Sorry, this... I don't want to tell this to everyone. Not right now. But.... But I haven't been honest, I guess.
I told you that I got taken from another Nonary Game, but... this isn't my second game. It's... it's the third.
A part of her wanted to cry. She hated this. She'd always hated it.]
Sorry.
[Her voice is small, soft and low, but she gathers the strength and after a moment of consideration takes him back to her room, then moves the chair in front of the door.
Makima would have to wait a few minutes if she wanted to come back in, but this seemed like the best place for this. Zero already seemed to know, but the rooms were supposed to be soundproof, right?
She showed him in, feeling a little awkward about inviting a boy back into her room like this, no matter what the reason and the necessity for it. There weren't many places to sit in here, so she huddled on the bed, arms wrapped around her knees, looking down at them.]
Sorry, this... I don't want to tell this to everyone. Not right now. But.... But I haven't been honest, I guess.
I told you that I got taken from another Nonary Game, but... this isn't my second game. It's... it's the third.

no subject
[ He couldn't help the small, almost sheepish laugh. ]
Apologies for making you have to explain so much to me, Miss Akane.
no subject
It's all right. Not many people know about this where I come from, either.
A Ganzfeld experiment is a specific test. It requires two participants.
The first subject is placed in a sensory deprivation chamber. Those are areas that are meant to remove, as much as possible, access to any outside information that any of your senses might provide. When you are inside one, you cannot hear, or see, or feel, or taste, or smell anything in particular. It is as though you do not have any of your normal senses, with the idea of strengthening the sixth sense.
In another room, the second subject is presented with a series of objects, or pictures, and are told to examine them closely. The first subject has no way of knowing what these objects or items are. Despite this, some of the participants have been able to accurately describe the objects or scene that they have no access to, because another person has seen it.
There are other examples of similar phenomena. For example, there have been experiments where subjects were shown a puzzle and asked to solve it, after not having encountered it before, and then a separate group were asked to do the same thing after the solution was widely broadcast to a population on the opposite side of the world. The second group were significantly more likely to succeed, even though neither group should have had access to any of this information beforehand. But the number of people who knew the answer in the world as a whole had changed. The knowledge was more commonplace among complete strangers.
That, I suppose, is the best way to describe the morphogenetic field. It is a hypothetical biological and social field that contains the information necessary to shape the exact form of a living thing as part of its epigenetics, as well as its behavior and the way it coordinates with and interacts with other beings.
If we assume that there is a hypothetical pool of the collective thought and knowledge of all of humanity, or even more broadly, for all life in general, then learning more about it, and especially ways to access and influence it, seem... valuable.
And that's what the Nonary Game was about.
no subject
All of that being done in order to learn about, then be able to access and influence this collective thought and knowledge of all life? Cannot say I was quite expecting that.
[ A game filled with murder still never seemed right to him, or why some people would go to such incredible lengths for things like that. ]
no subject
There are two factors which can strengthen ability to access the morphogenetic field. Epiphany, and danger. A brilliant flash of insight when a solution becomes obvious to a complicated problem, as well as being in peril of your life.
So they... they did that to us.
So that the reactions would be... stronger.
no subject
[ A touch of something dark flashed across his face in that moment, as if recalling something inherently unpleasant. ]
I understand there are those who wish to push boundaries in the name of science but to endanger lives like that? Truly unacceptable.
no subject
[She sighs, finally, and curls up slightly.]
Sorry. It's....
I don't talk about any of this very much. It's... it's hard to talk about.
no subject
[ That darkness left his features, softening to a smile as he moved over to put a hand on her shoulder softly. ]
It's fine. You've done great so far, and i'm sorry to have made you relive such awful memories.
no subject
I'm.... worried. About why you saw that. Or how you did. I guess, though, that's just... what you do here, huh? W-what if it.... what if it's some kind of... portent?
no subject
The how...? You'd be correct in thinking it's something I... ah... do here. My title's power is the only reason I've been seeing a lot of strange things since my arrival, I assure you.
[ As that last question was posed, he blinked twice, then shook his head. ]
I don't believe that it is... but why would you think it was?
no subject
Like Futility.