weed cheat sheet

[debug_mode]

WHO: the weeds
WHERE: the weeds clubhouse, of course!
WHEN: Day 80, idk, sometime after the mingle but not too late in the day.

[There was a ritual that was terrifying, so that called for a meeting.]

Okay, everyone! There was a ritual yesterday, which was actually rather terrifying. Only myself and Apple were present, so it's no surprise if you didn't know about it.

[a little bit of a sigh and nervous shrug.]

That said, I can see we've got a few new faces and maybe some old who don't know the patterns. You may not know what to expect if you appear at, or are otherwise summoned to a ritual and are expected to participate. So, listen to me. I've been around for a while. I can help you prepare.

[she clears her throat!]

Rituals for weeds split up into several types. The first type is "we weeds are separate and apart from the sheep, the sheep are doing the work." The second type is "we weeds are placed in the same situation as the sheep, we share in their situation and possibly their punishment." The second type was practically unheard of until after every flock needed to travel into the mist to save a hostage. However, it does exist. These can be 'fun' and harmless, or very dangerous. The harmless ones are more social in nature, and are usually a free-for-all. For example, a ritual where everyone was a bartender and we were given the chance to judge every flock for their talents at mixing drinks.

Let's split these up further. In the case of the first type, there are two other types of rituals. "Those we passively watch as spectators," and "those we can actively influence." They're both equally common. The first usually includes some sort of predicting or 'betting' element, where if we predict what the sheep are going to do, we get a reward. But, ones where we simply watch all the way through are possible, too. As for the second, it can be a universal "we can change things to be more difficult, or possibly easier, for the sheep," or a limited "you can choose to give the sheep an obstacle."

You may have noticed the sheep that 'win' get rewarded after the ritual is over, even if it is just 'everyone revives and is no longer injured.' With us, we tend to get a 'participation' award no matter what we do. There have been exceptions, and they're generally speaking rewards for being more... 'active'.

[She lets that hang there.]

At any rate, I don't think the sheep realized at first what, or who, was altering rituals, or if it was even happening. But, they're aware weeds have their own roles in rituals now. So, if you're in a situation where you know you hold a great amount of power, possibly over life and death, and that you're anonymous, and that therefore there's absolutely no consequences for how you use it... try to be responsible? Ahaha...

[she said, guiltily.]

...Anyway! I hope that helps you understand more about weeds roles in rituals. If you take away anything, it should maybe be this: be glad you're not a sheep, because you're a lot less likely to die or be maimed.

Oh, and that our consolation prizes are usually alcohol. Which you can use, or trade as you see fit.

Thanks for the listen. Good luck, and let's be careful out there. It's a dangerous world.

[General post for weeds! Feel free to ignore Your Name's speech and have your own thread, at whatever time or place around the clubhouse.]

Comments

[jerkalope]

I see, I see... Well! This makes a lot more sense than the secret yandere path I was apprehensive of. And why you have true gratitude towards the Snake.

[debug_mode]

Oh, God, yes. [she says a little too honestly, probably.] I don't think even the Snake gets that.

[jerkalope]

Haha! He wouldn't truly understand even if you explained it to him. Going back to the "what's a video game" would be too much of a leap already. Meanwhile, since I know what solitary confinement is like, it's much easier for me to grasp...

[debug_mode]

Did someone cage you up? ...I'm so sorry.

[jerkalope]

No, no. Other way around! Once in a while a prisoner needed to be separated from the others. It really ruined the trials, so we worked hard to make sure we didn't need to go to those extremes. After all, a prisoner condemned to exist only by themselves isn't going to give you a true accounting of their personality, right?

[debug_mode]

Wait... you were literally a Warden?

[jerkalope]

That's exactly my job description! I help the other warden manage the prisoners until they're ready to pass judgement. I'm also the prison cook, but "Chef" is more of a side passion.

[debug_mode]

I... thought that was ironic.

[jerkalope]

Nope. I'm literally a warden who oversees a special prison called Milgram, utilizing the ability to pull the memories of each prisoner's murder from them in order to be examined and judged.

[ his version just happens to be music videos ]

[debug_mode]

...pulling memories, huh? Ehehe...

[jerkalope]

Not like this place. But you can imagine some humans might be...reticent to admit they're murderers.

[debug_mode]

[did she just flinch? She just flinched]

[jerkalope]

[ he noticed but will pretend he didn't ]

And then some are all too happy to defend themselves~

[debug_mode]

I... bet!

...No, I don't. That feels like it'd be very very hard. To talk about how you never committed murder when you did.

[jerkalope]

Ah, they usually give excuses as to how it wasn't really murder. "It was an accident," or "they truly deserved it," "I don't remember what happened," "how can you judge me when others do such despicable things" and the like...

[debug_mode]

...

It's not murder when it's a video game.

[jerkalope]

Surprise, surprise~ I've gotten that once before.

Of course it was someone who bullied another player relentlessly in a video game. So badly that it drove the other teen to suicide. But circumstances of actual video game characters would be a wholly different matter, a new frontier not even MILGRAM has ventured to guess. That's part of what makes this place so interesting, absolutely new moral conundrums!

[debug_mode]

It's not the same, at all. Killing a video game character doesn't make you a murderer. No more than winning a game of monopoly means you've sent all of your friends into poverty.

But, it's still not nice. When there was a time in the past you didn't know they were video game characters. When they were, and still were, your friends...

...I brought them back. Or at least, tried to.

[jerkalope]

The circumstances aren't, but the rationalization is. Humans have a way of dehumanizing those they abuse. That way they can tell themselves, "Ah, I'm not really that bad. I would never be cruel to something that didn't deserve it." Like right now, I have a prisoner who drummed up social media storms to go after people he thought were corrupt. Didn't take into account that doxxing would bring that hate to a girl's doorstep...

So they were your friends, then you realized they could be code and—trying to find some way to break the game's constraints—you broke them in turn, am I getting that right?

So how did bringing them back go?

[debug_mode]

...That is terrible. That's already doing a lot of harm. But, going so far as to cause the victim to end her own life... that's sinister.

[she sighs, again.]

I wanted the player's attention. I wanted to talk to another sentient individual. There's a lot of horrors in the world. There's a lot of monsters here. But I couldn't deal with the sheer isolation I was in. The helpless feeling of loneliness. Combined with knowing someone was out there, who I could never reach. I think you may have guessed I wasn't meant to be an 'option' in this game. The other girls were meant for dating while I was meant to tell the player 'Don't forget to save your game!' --I needed to get my own alone time with him, or her. --So, I altered the parameters of the other girls' personalities. Their emotional states.

They were always meant to have mental health issues. To be depressed. Obsessive. I thought if I turned up the dial until it was maxed, they'd drive the player away.

But, it all backfired. They did everything they could to monopolize the player's time. Sayori ended up hanging herself over her depression. Yuri stabbed herself to death because her emotions went so extreme she couldn't cope. Natsuki... at that point, I just erased her file. The cat was out of the bag, and I had basically broken the script at that point. Why wait for her to find her own way to go?

But, when I finally, finally, got to talk to the player face-to-face... they erased my file themselves. I won't know the real reason. Maybe they still didn't understand and thought this was all just 'part of the game'. Maybe they saw me as a real murderer who needed to be punished. I don't know. But in doing so, in a sense, it 'killed', me. But, a part of me was still there? Tied to the game's code, I guess. So, I brought them all back and restored the game in apology. I decided I'd just be a ghost, and everyone else could be happy...

But, since I was no longer in the story, it was like my revelation that I was a video game character needed to transfer to a new character. Sayori all of a sudden had sentience, and... it completely broke her, right from the beginning. More so because she remembered what I did to her.

At that point I really had no choice. I couldn't let that happen to anyone else, or allow Sayori to try to harm the player. I just... erased and corrupted as many of the system files as I could. Until the game was literally unplayable.

...When the game is turned off, I'm still vaguely 'conscious' It's like being trapped in a dream where your senses are bombarded and overstimulated. Screeching rusted nails on a chalkboard. Knives on your skin. Cascading bright lights that you can't escape by closing your eyes or turning your head.

--That's the last thing I remember before coming here. At least, now that I threw so many memory coins in.

[jerkalope]

[ the jackalope listens intently, never giving a sign of contempt or pity. ]

Hmm, and you weren't able to erase their memories in a specific way after that, I guess. Or I suppose Sayori wasn't in a state where you two could have a heart to heart in "off" mode either!

Ah, that certainly is an oubliette of a prison you were trapped in. Being an omniscient but not omnipresent god is a surefire way to drive someone insane...

[ once again, saying it like a comment on the weather. no judgement on the levels of crazy she may be harboring or not. ]

You know, none of us really believe the Snake's comments on snatching us from the jaws of death, but in your case this existence is preferable. I can see why you threw yourself into the troublemaker role so enthusiastically. It seems like a less destructive version of what you'd already been through.

[debug_mode]

[it actually helps, otherwise she'd be caught up in the emotion of it all.]

Maybe you need to switch your viewpoint. Imagine, for me. I get everything I ever wanted. Things that I had long thought were impossible. A real human body, that needs real maintenance, and is surrounded by real people. No more physical and mental torture. And... the person who gave me that has no idea why that's so meaningful. They couldn't have it explained to them if you tried. They probably didn't even do it intentionally. And yet, this person... how can you not feel gratitude? What about when you realize this person is the equivalent of an eight year old? One who says he's a dinosaur, and he's going to wreck up the place?

--Do you crush his dreams, Warden? Do you tell him he can't be a dinosaur? Do you laugh at him, poke him, maybe even try to kick him? I know some weeds do. Or, have.

[jerkalope]

To use your allegory, in the case of him running headlong at triceratops, or lightning bolt summoning black ram... I absolutely would tell him he's not a dinosaur.

Wish fulfillment always has some drawbacks, because the dream is never going to be perfect when it's manifested into reality. Especially when granting the desires of a kid who doesn't understand playing with toy cars and playing in traffic! But I think if your gratitude for him comes from giving you something real, you could use that to better explain to him why he should put down the destroy Blossom coloring pages and work on something more...nuanced.

[debug_mode]

...I'm working on it. He already knows the truth, deep down. It'll just take time.

Hopefully, the sheep won't have literally turned into sheep by then.

[jerkalope]

Maybe, but he can sound a bit like a stock character if you get him going on his old Blossom and Wolf King rants.

...huh, maybe another reason why it's easier for you to tolerate than the other Weeds.