Scene #5682: In the Screen

Owner	Pose
Count Kord	Aepicus had waited until Emblem had calmed down before following up on anything he had seen before. The individual in the hood, the oddity in the screen... these were questions he was seeking answers to, and the first person he would go to for that would be Gil. So he tracked the man down on the street, trying to catch him before he hurries off somewhere else. "Excuse me!" he calls over, his voice crisp and calm. "I would speak with you, on a number of scholarly topics!" he elaborates as he approaches, his pace hurried but not TOO hurried. He glances around with idle interest, simply casing his surroundings for any of those damned Selenes. They were all so incredibly creepy.
Dorian Pavus	Gil, said other scholar, is actually on his way back to the billboard, with a more powerful diagnostic unit than the pocket one he'd been carrying before. He hadn't seen that strange hooded figure before. And how had it managed to get past all the Selenes to tamper with the billboard. How? What was it trying to show the people here? Perhaps if he found out... ...He could prevent any such further disruptions. They couldn't have that. Paradise would be lost. And then no one would have anything. They'd be left only with regrets... The voice behind Gil startles him a bit, and he jumps a little. Though as he turns, he offers a polite smile. "Hello," he greets. "Terribly sorry, I was lost in thought. Is there something I can help you with?" he inquires.
Count Kord	"How, exactly, did the billboard get altered?" Aepicus smiles wanly, and points his gloved hand up to the floating billboard. He indicates for long enough for Gil to look at it. "I know the oddity in the hood altered it," he explains, "They never glitch like that. What do you think they were trying to do?" His mellow smile is patient and cordial but nothing more. "I wouldn't want our cozy afterlife to get undone... how did they even slip under the radar...?" He lifts his gaze and reaches up to rub at his jaw thoughtfully. He isn't the most subtle of social manipulators, mostly just prompting Gil for his input without being direct about his intent.
Dorian Pavus	Gil does look up at the billboard, and frowns a bit. Though it's more of a thoughtful look than displeased. Or the displeasure isn't aimed at Aepicus. "That I'm not sure of," he admits. "Any of those things. I expect whoever it was, was trying to show us something. That's obvious, I think. But I have no idea what it was. I intended to look and see if anything had been left in the program itself, or if it was just a mechanical altering." But he does nod, agreeing, "That's what bothers me more -- whoever this was managed to get here without anyone seeing him. Or her. The damage was minor, and easily fixed, but I doubt just causing a minor inconvenience was the intention." He has other concerns as well... like why did the Selenes stop them from trying to apprehend the hooded stranger? Why -- how -- could they not do so themselves...? These he leaves unsaid for now, though. But the frown of thought remains; one can almost see the gears in his mind turning.
Count Kord	Aepicus considers Gil's words. He frowns, too, and looks up at the billboard. His brow knits, and his tail -- a peculiar alteration, for someone normally as serious as he is -- sways behind him in a feline show of curiosity or agitation. He looks at the board, and around at the others, and back to the board again. "The billboard is the way we get our daily updates," he thinks aloud, "So it would be the easiest way to catch our attention. But in the same vein, it was too obvious, and the Selenes saw through it immediately." He points up to it. "Anyone and anything in Emblem could see it. Which... isn't the best way to get a message across, when the city is full of things trying to protect the sanctity of our afterlife." "The Selenes only reacted to them after we spotted them. Maybe they couldn't see them until we started to react to them." He lifts his brow and looks to Gil, smiling searchingly.
Dorian Pavus	"That is true," Gil agrees. "It would be better to try and contact people on a personal level before trying something so brazen." Pause. "Not that I condone any of that, mind. Most of us here have worked for comfort, and it's most rude to interrupt it. Whatever reason there is, it can't be anything but a selfish one." Then Aepicus suggests that the Selenes might not have been able to see the person. This draws a surprised blink from Gil. "Such an eventuality never occurred to me. Perhaps they just didn't register the person as a threat until it tampered with the billboard?" Half to himself, he muses, "Then again they had a devil of a time trying to catch up, too... and that eventuality never occurred to me either..."
Count Kord	Aepicus lets out a sigh and crosses his arms when Gil makes an assertion about that individual. "I like a little spice to existence, so I didn't mind it at all," he tells Gil, "This place is dull, Gil. Maybe they were being selfish, or maybe it's the opposite. You can't expect all of us to be okay with this place. It's..." He pauses, and looks aside, as a Selene shuffles by, giving him a little smile. He fell quiet when he noticed, and breathed a shaky sigh when they left. He's obviously uneasy around the Selenes, and always has been as far as anyone else is concerned. The reason for that is unclear... they've never done anything to warrant it. He's always tried to avoid getting snapped up for the usual attitude adjustment. But... they freak him out, and the look on his face is one of someone trying not to let a ravenous animal see he's afraid. "They want to do something here. They just didn't do it right the first time around," he continues, once he's calmed down a little, "And they're going to try again. I know it. Anyone that doesn't get caught always tries it again to see if they can get away with it."
Dorian Pavus	Gil is also smart enough not to say anything about the world itself while the Selene is in earshot. Sure he doesn't agree, but if he's found talking about such things, he might end up getting in trouble as well. And he really doesn't want Aepicus in trouble either. So he waits until the Selene has passed before answering. "Dull? Perhaps. But it's also safe," he counters quietly. "We don't have to worry about our actions, or lack thereof, destroying any delicate balance. These were the safety nets we didn't have in life. Perhaps when we live again, we'll know better. It's a learning experience, being here." Though he does have to agree with that last part. "And that is what worries me," he notes, to the mention of trying it again. "Whoever this person is, will keep trying until whatever aim is accomplished. They might get hurt. They're placing themselves in danger for nothing."
Count Kord	Aepicus looks at Gil with a mixture of conflicting emotions. None of them is anger... part of it looks like disappointment. "If this place is safe, why would they be in danger for poking around? Why is it that they can disrupt it at all? Why are we afraid of getting 'corrected' in the first place? This heaven /blows/." He points up at the sign with an aggressive emphasis and a big, meaningful frown. "You're ignoring the cracks, Gil." And then he turns to leave and find someone else to talk to, for that very reason.
Dorian Pavus	Gil almost looks as though he'd been physically struck. They're very good points, and there's nothing he can really say to refute them. Nobody ever remembered being taken away to 'have their temperament soothed'. Gil kept telling himself it was just because they didn't know what it involved, that the mystery made it scary. But for all they knew it could involve something horrible being done to them, some form of torture until the mind breaks. Maybe that's why they were afraid of it. He frowns at those words, 'ignoring the cracks'. "I'm not ignoring them. I'm trying to '''patch''' them. Some of you want to fight and escape. I don't. I had enough of that life. I spent years wishing I hadn't had to make a single decision that cost me everything that mattered. I'm perfectly happy to remain here, where there's no danger of that happening again." That's... a lot from Gil. He doesn't talk about his life much; all he's really said is that he was a scientist in life. Maybe that's why he doesn't talk about it, because it was so unpleasant.
Count Kord	"Now who's being selfish?" Aepicus replies as he continues to walk off, and rounds a corner, clearly not interested in pursuing this topic any further after this initial disruption.
Dorian Pavus	Gil doesn't try to catch up. In fact, he starts to get angry. But he just... doesn't get much past 'irritated'. Is that from being 'soothed' so many times? Maybe his emotions are just malfunctioning because they've been 'reset' so many times that he doesn't really know HOW to get angry anymore. Or maybe it's because he realizes Aepicus has a point. Gil wants to stay here, sure. But what right does that give him to try to keep others here? Just because he'd be lonely alone...? Was that right? He waves the thought away. Of course it is. It's not him that he's serving. It's those who made this place. They've given the people here everything, and trying to destroy it all would be poor payment for everything the Makers have done for all of the souls here. ''('That's right,')'' he decides. ''('The Makers of this place deserve our compliance. After everything they've done, fixing the cracks is the least I can do.')'' So it's back to the billboard for him with the diagnostic device. He needs to stamp this out, and fast, before that strange hooded figure starts to destroy everything...