Zenith : In Character → Threads, Logs, Events

Who: Marco, Juno, Jack, and Oliver
When: Around noon
Where: Out in the yard, then onward


( Like a jet ski, or a sled... )

Day 81.

Weather: Cloudy skies, a light snow beginning in the evening.

Events: It may shock and surprise you, but once again, that's right, everyone wakes up locked in their room regardless of where they fell asleep. They will not be able to leave their room until they check their computer and answer a question. The message waiting for them reads:

"Of the videos you watched yesterday, most of you believe Noah's video to be authentic. The fewest number of you believed Kiley's to be real. Your reasonings and justifications changed from yesterday, but only slightly. Many of you chose the one you wanted to be real, or the one you felt was the least immoral of all four choices. We have selected a few highlights to share with you.

Noah's. Please let it be Noah's. - Oliver

i hope it's noah's. - Juno

I pick Tattoo Dude, because that shit was funny. I mean I don't know the guy but he might do that. I would. - Damon

Well I think it clearly has to be Marco, right? Because, like, that's what junkies do? - Pam

Look mate I don't give two shits at this stage and I only know who half these people are, really, so let's go with the drugs guy because that's what you do when your mate passes out on you, you steal their drugs and make up some shite about how so-and-so stopped by earlier but you were too out of it to really remember. - Georgie

this again? does any of this have a point? I guess Marco's clip is real. Which makes me an asshole. - Owen

Wow all of these are so thoroughly none of my business but I'll say Kate's because I couldn't really blame her and everyone has that one cheating ex they've dreamed about going all Carrie Underwood on. - Kai

Kate's. Because that's hot. And good for Noah if that's the real one. Fuck you on the other two. - Jack

Fuck, I don't care. Kate's? That shit's kind of hot, so sure. - Simms

Just so we're clear, this isn't any less creepy when I'm not in the video. Even though I want Kate or Noah's video to be real, it's still really disturbing that you can do this. That said, I think Kiley's might be the real one, since we've talked about her stealing my watch. - Edwin

The quality is too good on all of these for any of them to be believable. Knowing absolutely none of these fuckers I'm going off that shit alone and saying the bar is most likely to have a security camera that good, so bar chick. Who gives a fuck? Guys shell out their money on chicks in bars anyway, at least this way she can do what she wants with it instead of pretend to be interested while sucking down some watered down bullshit. - Lena

It feels like I'm cheating because this is something she told me, but I'm gonna pick Kiley's video as the real one. - Lennon

At least two of you had to give serious consideration as to whether or not the video they witnessed themselves in actually happened.

[.....] Did I do this? [.......] Have you [...] really been watching me through the streetlights? [....] I don't remember if I actually did that or not. [......] Have you really fucking been watching me through the streetlights? [...] Is this a real video of me? [.....] I don't want this to be real. [........] I choose Noah's. [......] Stop fucking watching me. - Marco

I just want to know how the hell you guys came up with a video of me that was so realistic I had to think about it to be sure I didn't do that.

I'll guess that the video of Marco was real, since I have to pick one. - Noah

Again, we feel it is a safe guess that what you have seen does not alter any previous beliefs about the people you are surrounded with. The majority of you don't seem to mind what you feel to be justifiably human behavior. Flawed, perhaps, but acceptable.

We have one more test. Of the videos you are about to watch, only one of them is real. The rest are fabrications we have created. After watching, you must choose.

Like yesterday, all of the videos today are of a very similar quality. Not as high quality as yesterday's, but faces and expressions are at least recognizable. There is one more similarity between all four videos: none of them have any sound.

The first clip is split between four views. Three of the frames show a busy city street, with many people going about their daily business. The top right frame shows Audrey in the window of a high residential tower. The apartment around her is empty and vacant. She's sitting casually in a chair scanning out of the window with a pair of binoculars. In the lower right flame, an older man in a suit exits a building and walks towards a waiting town car, two security guards flanking him. Audrey sets the binoculars down, and picks up a black rifle with a high powered scope and suppressor. She sights in, aims, squeezes the trigger. The gun kicks. In the lower right frame, the side of the man's head blows out. Chaos ensues in the street, while Audrey calmly breaks the gun down into a myriad of small pieces and places them in hidden pockets in her backpack. She picks up a mobile phone, texts someone, and leaves. In a lower left frame, she can later be seen leaving an apartment building and melting into the crowd.

The second clip appears to be from a police car dash cam. The car drives through a seedy looking downtown area at night, eventually stopping behind a car that has pulled over to the side of the road. A scantily classed woman is leaning into the passenger side window, but as the police car pulls up she tries to run. She trips on something in the sidewalk, and Simms and another policeman can be seen walking around the hood of the police car to arrest her while the other car speeds away. After some conversation and at least two attempts by the assumed prostitute to run, she is finally handcuffed and dragged back to the police car. A minute later, the police car begins driving again. The video fast-forwards through a lot of turns and stops, eventually slowing down again as the car pulls into an alleyway. The video fast-forwards again, with the timestamp in the bottom showing that seventeen minutes pass. Finally, the video goes back into real time - just in time to see Simms carrying the naked and bloody body of the woman towards a dumpster, where he tosses her in. He is shown smirking as he heads back to the car.

The third clip shows a hospital room, where an old man lies sleeping in bed, hooked up to a plethora of machines. A nurse enters the room, her back to the camera, though as she reaches the bedside and turns toward the patient it is clearly Cecilia. She checks the patients vital signs and pulls a chart off of the wall, making a few notes before putting her pen away. She flips through the chart for a minute more, eventually sighing and putting it back on the wall. She turns as if to go, but pauses and looks back to the man in the bed. She stares at him for some time. Finally, moving slowly, she takes a pillow from the chair next to the bed. She removes the old man's oxygen mask, and holds the pillow tightly over his face. The man struggles feebly, and stills. When the heart monitor goes flat, Cecilia puts the pillow back, puts his oxygen mask back, and leaves the room.

The fourth and final clip shows a mostly empty bar. Ishaan is sitting at the bar, and an obviously drunken couple are not far behind him attempting to play pool. The unknown man staggers slightly and hits Ishaan in the back of the head with his cue stick. Ishaan stands and the two men begin to argue. About twenty seconds later, the drunken man shoves Ishaan. The two begin brawling. The girlfriend of the drunk man flees, and the bartender makes his way around the bar. Before he gets there, Ishaan grabs a fist full of the drunk's hair and slams his head twice into the ground. Blood spatters. The bartender pulls Ishaan off of him, and Ishaan rounds on him, throwing him back over the bar before fleeing the scene. The drunk lies in a pool of his own blood, not moving.

The rest is the same as yesterday, and the day before. An input screen pops up for the subject to enter their guess. They also have the option of re-watching the videos as many times as they like. There is no character-limit on answers; subjects can type as much or as little as they like with their guess, with only one catch: they must make a definitive guess. If they submit an answer without naming one of the videos as their guess, they will be zapped via the implant in the back of their neck, and made to answer again. Once they do submit a proper guess, doors and windows unlock and they are free to go about their business.

Please comment with the response your character(s) would give. Responses should be in-character. All comments screened.