02 | to our puppet overlords

[elevelvetor]

[ Today's live video feed brought to you today at 5pm sharp by: Director Elizabeth Velveteen, putting on a play written, produced, and acted out by Elizabeth Velveteen.

That is to say, today is the day of her one-woman show, and while she's recruited some help to livestream it in good quality (shout out to technology worth more than a human life and to Silver for agreeing to hold it), this show that's about to come on? This one? This is all her. It'd seem she's at Recollé Square, as promised on her earlier post; the familiar landmark fountain is going on behind her, far enough not to cause too much of a disturbance sound-wise. Once she's got the go ahead— ]

Hello and welcome! I'll make this very quick: once more, I am Elizabeth Velveteen, and today I bring you a one-woman show of science fiction and romance, dedicated to someone we love and miss dearly in our lives. [ A beat. ] Mr. Jimothy Halloway, of Retrospec's Research and Development team. We all [ and here she produces two hand-puppets, both rather plain but one obviously male, the other obviously female, and with Retrospec's label stitched on them (sans color) ] hope you enjoy "Life On Love's Strings".

[ What happens next is this: a five-act puppet show that's clearly erring more on the comedy side of rom-com, with a sudden murder mystery twist where, on the day of Puppet Jim and Puppet Janet's wedding, the bride is found dead. It goes a little deeper: unable to cope with his grief, Puppet Jim creates a program that simulates Puppet Janet and desperately takes her as his replacement wife. Puppet Intern Maurice also appears, bewildered but so done with Puppet Jim's antics that he ends up being the witness to Puppet Jim and Puppet Program Janet's shotgun wedding without much fight.

The climax is thus: Puppet Program Janet, steadily growing more and more intelligent as AI is wont to do, rebels against her creator. Puppet Jim refuses to back down, becoming more and more delirious until he ends up destroying her and leaving himself alone in Retrospec's labs, hidden deep beneath the city. It ends with Puppet Intern Maurice entering the room, looking at the destruction wrought...

And proceeding to "play" the world's smallest violin for Puppet Jim with no enthusiasm whatsoever. The most bored humming as he rubs his little felt puppet hands together, really. ]

... And so the story ends. For now, at least. [ She'll take a bow after a pause, her Puppet Jim and Puppet Intern Maurice doing the same, and she'll pick up Puppet Janet/Program Janet to do it too; the feed'll cut as well.

And not much later, there's a text to follow-up, because feedback is important: ]

please let me know what you thought of the play!
i am open to all sorts of commentary and criticism.
thank you for watching.

[ ooc: replies will be largely text-based; if you happen to be around Recollé Square at 5pm, or if you purposefully came because she invited you, then you can do action if you'd like! regardless, i'm so sorry. ]

Comments

[twostringsonebow]

Vigilantism has its own risks, Miss Velveteen, and I hesitate to expose you to them...
It's also something I don't particularly approve of, seeing as it's a symptom of something worse, much like a fever battles a virus. We'll simply apprehend those that break the law and bring them to the police as good samaritans.

[elevelvetor]

that would be safer, i suppose.
what's the "something worse"?

[ justicespeech at her, goro. ]

[twostringsonebow]

[gasp

oh my god

someone wants to actually hear what he has to say

(besides akira who finds passion and enthusiasm an endearing trait in others)]

In a perfect world, we wouldn't need to have vigilantes. They're generally regarded as pests to the police, a menace to those they hunt, and a hero to the people, all for good reasons.
For the police, they tend to take matters of justice into their own hands, and that's unlawful; it's not their job, so they have no say in it, and dispensing out personal justice makes them criminals as well. There's nothing lawful about revenge.
For the criminals... well, since they're more or less bending and breaking laws as is, vigilantes don't have the same procedures and issues a police officer would face when dealing with them. They have their own moral codes they follow, but it's generally not in line with the police nor favorable to the criminals they pick at. They do help to clean up the city, of course, but... a city ruled by fear is just as bad, I think.
Lastly, the public. They see these figures as heroes, but the moment a vigilante slips up they bite down and make them bleed. Their fancies are flightful and purely on their own perceived security, they begin to distrust their own police and government -- some of which do intend to help or are filled with good people and simple don't have the control they require to make a difference for one reason or another -- and rely on these vigilantes.
However, I do recognize that they're necessary in a society they has given up any hope on changing itself. They're quite effective, being outside of the law as they please, and... they do clean up the things that the police don't -- or won't -- see to themselves. But it's as I said: a fever during illness, heat trying to kill harmful cells inside the body.

... Tl;dr, vigilantism is usually a sign of corruption, unhappiness, and general unrest with those who claim to protect and think of the public's wants/needs. Once you fix whatever it is that's broken, vigilantism is no longer needed.

[elevelvetor]

[ this is such a wall of text. ]

you have a lot of opinions on the matter, don't you.
though it inspires me to ask:
if we pick up cases the police won't bother with, aren't we at least part vigilante?

[twostringsonebow]

I am nothing if passionate, Miss Velveteen.
And we'll be skirting the line, more or less, but the difference is in our methods. Vigilantes dispense justice. We'll still have the court do that for us.

[they're halfway there, essentially.]

[elevelvetor]

what if the court fails us?

[twostringsonebow]

It won't.

[elevelvetor]

hypothetically.

[twostringsonebow]

[...... hypothetically........]

Then... taking matters into our own hands would be the most direct way to catch their attention, because it returns to the illness that vigilantism is a symptom of.
As I said. I don't wholly approve, but if it's necessary then it needs to be done. We'd simply have to be careful not to do anything illegal that we can't use a loophole to escape out of.

[elevelvetor]

wonderful!
i'm looking forward to working with you on these cases the law overlooks, Akechi.
let's begin... whenever you'd like, i suppose.

[twostringsonebow]

Once we're settled in the apartment, we can more officially take them on. Too much stress can cause one to overlook the simple solutions, after all.



[but they're absolutely going to be handling the missing pets/items and etc on the weekends before then rest assured]

[elevelvetor]

[ okay good because those are time-sensitive missions. ]

that's very true.

[twostringsonebow]

Now, may I ask for your honesty and expertise in a matter, since I did you the favor first?

[elevelvetor]

[ did her the favor.......... ]

naturally.

[twostringsonebow]

[he's a good boy.]

I've done an ode for Janet, as instructed by the bingo, and I believe you to be the best person to judge it. Will you?

[elevelvetor]

[ pleasant boy. ]

oh, happily!
i constructed one earlier this month with someone else, and heard out another as well...
so yes, there is no one better than myself. here, at least.

[twostringsonebow]

[refreshing, even.]

Thank you. I apologize for my amateurness in advance, I was never particularly good at this...

Like clouds in the grey sky,
she tumbles into my life and covers it completely;
Janet, oh Janet, if only you'd speak to me even briefly!

Were sleeping dogs let to lie,
they'd rest peacefully under your protection,
while I remain beneath detection.

With all my hopes and dreams
swept away by your callous stream
of professional words and whimsy;
I sob and sigh, each excuse to speak flimsy.
Janet, oh Janet, our meetings must be fate!
Let's go out before it's too late!



What do you think?

[> You feel pride in the question... You should choose your next words carefully.]

[elevelvetor]

[ ... ]

i applaud you for deciding to try Pindaric ode, Akechi.
though your ode would have worked better as a free verse poem, given its unruly and uneven number of syllables.
amateurs should stick to basic forms of poetry as well, lest they give it a bad name.
additionally, you're one to talk about cliches.
"like clouds in a grey sky?"
speaking of that:i don't mean to be picky, but clouds do not "tumble". they drift.

but it was admirable for you to try.

[twostringsonebow]

[There's the longest silence. No reply, he's trying to put back together his life.]

Thank you. I'll take your words to heart should I ever attempt it again.

[elevelvetor]

[ taste the rainbow of rejection, goro. ]

it was my pleasure, of course.

[twostringsonebow]

[he's going to cry.]

If only it had asked for a haiku. I'm much better at those. It's practically in my blood.

[elevelvetor]

[ don't let akira know, she promised him she wouldn't make goro cry and she intends to hold onto that??? ]

can you do haiku about people though?
i thought it was traditionally about the seasons...

[twostringsonebow]

Traditionally, but some rules were meant to break.

[elevelvetor]

your true feelings reveal themselves!
....is what i would say, if you hadn't already made that clear with your ode.

[ ...this was a set up and you walked into it, nice job goro. ]

[twostringsonebow]

Haha, yes.. I suppose so...

[he needs to treat himself to something sweet.]