Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

[scarefaux]

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he

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[bodhiandspirit]

There was a flicker of annoyance in her expression when Rita looked up at the person who had interrupted her, but it subsided when the stranger stated her purpose. The truth behind the events of the previous night was something Rita wanted to unravel herself, but at a glance, she couldn't tell whether this person was interested in facts, or if she also believed all that supernatural garbage. If it was the latter, then this conversation was going to be a headache.

The mage closed her notebook and set it on her lap, then crossed her arms, sitting perfectly straight in her seat. "That's right. I'm guessing you did, too?" She didn't know whether or not this person would have any worthwhile theories, but getting another account of the events could help to narrow down the possibilities, regardless.

"I'm interested in finding out what kind of trick they used, myself," she went on to add. Knowing how the illusions were made would satisfy her curiosity, and it could also lead to other important breakthroughs. Most importantly, she needed to find out where and how Landel got his information about them.

[witchdetective]

As soon as the word "trick" escaped the girl's lips, it was like Erika's morning was brighter already. It even coaxed a smile from the detective's lips as she made her way around and sat down on the seat next to the girl's, even if she wasn't invited. They had a common goal, so it was best to get comfortable. It would assist her thinking, at any rate.

"< Good! > I would also like to figure out what sort of tricks were used last night. And yes, I experienced the same thing. It seems like others have had too." Of course, her main assumption was that the events last night happened to everyone who was out in the Institute, but perhaps this girl knew of exceptions. Not that Erika was expecting any, but she had to be careful with her assumptions. Without the red and blue truths, she had to make sure to be thorough in her searching and make sure not a single clue was left unexamined.

"Furudo Erika, by the way." And of course, since she wanted full cooperation, that meant formalities had to be exchanged. She had hopes that they would have a good conversation; at this point, the more irritated members of the institute would have told her to go away or something. Hmph, it was like some people were actively trying to keep her from investigating in the first place.

[bodhiandspirit]

'Furudo' seemed like an odd name to Rita, but she supposed she shouldn't be surprised to encounter weird names from time to time. These were technically aliens she was talking to, as bizarre as it was to even think that.

Rita didn't particularly mind that the other girl seated herself nearby; so long as she still had her personal space, she had no objections. She shifted her body a little to face her, though her posture remained mostly unchanged. "Rita Mordio," she responded, feeling it to be practical to give her own name as well.

The announcements over the intercom suggested that a great many patients had experienced the same phenomenon. Fortunately, that meant there could be enough accounts of the experience to reveal some holes in the illusion. A trick that complicated couldn't be completely flawless, could it?

In any case, there was something Rita was curious about. "I don't suppose you've got a working theory at the moment, do you?" Rita had already come up with a few of her own, but she was aware of various problems with each of them. Perhaps a second perspective could help to work those out.

[witchdetective]

Once they were introduced, Erika appreciated how quickly Rita went to the heart of the matter. A theory... She looked a little disgruntled at first, but even though that shadow of hers had attacked her ruthlessly, not even her shadow presented any red or blue truth. In other words, her theories were neither denied nor confirmed. Of course, there were other clues that probably weakened them, but that was just in her case. Right? If other people had experienced the same thing, then each experience might be different... And some parts might be the same. Erika was more than ready to crack open this illusion, by any means necessary.

"Yes, I have a few. I had thought that the ... shadows themselves that we saw were the result of projections. After all, I couldn't touch mine. The problem is that the shadows could still touch us... At least, mine could, and my companion's could as well." As per their agreement, Erika left out the part where Sync was beaten half to death by his. That wasn't really too important since it was established that the shadows could initate physical contact already.

"So I came up with the other theory that the shadows were being projected onto some sort of device that could physically contact with us. Put it simply, because of the projections, we couldn't see what that device was and couldn't make contact with it. It had me pinned in place, so I had limited means to search for it."

Even now, Erika seemed disgusted with her own weak reasoning. It was probably due to the shadow refuting it last night... But she wasn't about to give up. Maybe Rita had some support for that theory, so it was too early to throw it completely out.

[bodhiandspirit]

As Furudo spoke, Rita listened in silence, offering no reactions to her words... until she mentioned the shadows touching people, which caused Rita's eyes to widen. "It touched you? You're sure?" That was unexpected. If true, it would create even more holes in Rita's existing hypotheses. However, if true, it would also bring them closer to the truth. No evidence could go overlooked. "How did it touch you? What did it feel like?"

Rita understood that she was expected to contribute some of her observations as well, though, so she began with what seemed the most relevant. "When I tried to attack the shadow that I encountered, my weapon passed right through it, and it gave no reaction. It didn't make any attempt to touch me," she described in a clinical manner that made no hint to the amount of panic Rita had actually experienced that night.

"I initially thought it had to be a projection of some kind, too. But if that was all it was, it doesn't explain how our own shadows appeared to disappear or become detached from our bodies..." Even Kida had noticed that hole in Rita's theory, frustratingly enough. "An alternative is that there was a much larger-scale illusion, extending beyond the fake shadows and somehow concealing the real shadows."

She gave a long, slow sigh, her shoulders sagging somewhat as she did. "... But I already know how impractical and unlikely that sounds." It still didn't sound as ridiculous as the idea of shadows suddenly getting up and talking by themselves, however. Unlikely theories were still infinitely better than impossible ones.

[witchdetective]

"It was cold. Like metal." Erika stated this quite plainly, believing it to be an important clue. Indeed, it was like metal... though she wasn't able to touch it. Of course, at the time, Erika had thought of another explanation but didn't have the time to propose it before Sync's shadow went berserk. Erika hated to admit that she had lost her cool then... Not that she particularly cared about her companion, but it was a troubling sight. Now that her head was clearer, she was able to form a new theory to explain that little quirk. On top of that, Rita's shadow hadn't bothered to make contact, which meant perhaps the illusion truly remained an illusion to some. First, though, Erika wanted to address Rita's first point about the shadows.

Now, that... That, she had a slightly better explanation for.

"About the shadows... I believe the changes in the lighting was meant to play tricks on us to make it appear as if our shadows were dancing around. After all, depending on where the light is, your shadow would be very small, or very large, or very faint. Combine that with something that looks like your shadow is running from you and most people wouldn't bother checking, or might not even notice their real shadow. I believe your alternative theory is correct if you think about it like that."

Including herself, which Erika didn't bother mentioning. That was because she had thought that her shadow was with her the whole time. Not once would she bother believing that the thing she chased was actually, truly her shadow. To admit such a thing was like admitting that their shadows really did take a life on their own, and that line of reasoning was unacceptable to the detective. It wasn't even proper reasoning!

[bodhiandspirit]

Cold, like metal. Rita nodded, acknowledging that this supported Furudo's theory of projections over a device. Rita's weapon could have passed through hers because she was striking at a non-solid portion of a thoroughly disguised device.

This girl's ideas about the lighting also seemed to make sense. "I suppose that's right," she agreed. "In the dim light, and with the distractions in front of us, it wouldn't be so difficult to obscure the real shadows to the point that we wouldn't see them." Could that really be it, though? It would still be insulting to know that her eyes had been deceived by such a simple trick.

For a short time, Rita's gaze wandered around the room, allowing her to watch some of the nurses as they went about their work. Looking back to Furudo, she asked, "So how often does the Head Doctor here reuse his tricks, anyway?" If at all, that was. Rita wasn't about to give him too much credit, however. "I can't say I want to run into those things again, but it would be easiest if we could just test these theories."

[witchdetective]

Seeing Rita accept her theories so easily did wonders to Erika's bruised ego, and the detective had a look on her face that seemed to scream "well, of course it'd be right." Of course, then Rita had to go and ask her a question that she couldn't really answer, so Erika paused for a moment to think about it. Actually, she had been given a run-down of some recent events by Sync earlier... all of them sounded unique. He had been here much longer than she had, obviously, so while it wasn't the absolute proof that Erika would have wanted, it was an educated guess and that was acceptable enough.

"I haven't been here long enough to see if he does or not," Erika began, wondering herself if Landel-san's fancy tricks really would be reused. "But my companion last night listed several events that happened while he was here and they all seemed to be unique. If we stay here long enough, he may run out of tricks, but..."

It was pretty clear that Erika had no intention of actually staying that long. If the good doctor here was anything like Beatrice, as shabby as she was, Erika at least had to be astonished at the sheer number of stupid tricks the witch came up with to keep up her shoddy illusion. Yet even those were just that, illusions that couldn't hold up to the truth.

"I certainly don't plan on staying here long enough to wait for that. But I'm sure he'll have some more similar tricks to show us later." And if he was anything like Beatrice, there would be some common theme to those tricks that she could use to break them apart. Perhaps she should inquire with Sync or anyone else about those again... If Momo were still here, she might have been useful as well, but her time as a piece on this board had already passed. It was terribly inconvenient for the detective.

"... I do have one more question, but don't misunderstand. I simply want some broad information, not details. Am I right to assume that your shadow was trying to play on your insecurities? That it knew personal information about you that it shouldn't have?"

There was one more thing bugging Erika about this whole ordeal, and it might have supported a thought she had. The information that her shadow and Sync's shadow had... It wasn't something that Landel-san should have known, if he just pulled everyone in from different kakeras like the story was. At least, it shouldn't have been accurate in Erika's case. But it did support another theory that she was thinking of...

[bodhiandspirit]

"So we may not get a chance to test anything," was what Rita was gathering from this. "But it's still possible that some elements of the illusions could be repeated in the future, so it can't hurt to keep our eyes peeled." Rita also didn't plan on staying long enough to see too many patterns take shape, but she was going to at least be prepared for a long term imprisonment, just in case.

Furudo's next question caused Rita's eyes to narrow; she couldn't help but feel apprehensive about discussing that particular aspect of the illusion.

But the actual information that was being sought wasn't anything so personal, so Rita forced away the knee-jerk reaction in order to give a proper answer. "... Yes," she answered succinctly at first, then elaborated after a pause. "Some were things I've never spoken to anyone about. I imagine Landel either has some way to spy on people over a long period without being detected... or he has some kind of technology that allows him to probe one's memories." The latter seemed a bit far-fetched, but Rita wasn't going to dismiss any possibility when she was surrounded by advanced alien technology. If it was conceivable in even the loosest sense, it was worth consideration.