sixthiterationlogs | [EVENT] The Simulation Ends

[EVENT] The Simulation Ends

WHERE: 6I Fountain Park & Elsewhere
WHEN: April 1
OPEN TO: ALL - Mingle
WARNINGS: N/A

In the snug circle of an old park, a fountain sits burbling beneath a broad, midday sky.

Once-neat paving stones have buckled and cracked from the slow nudge of wayward roots. Benches stand covered in lichen and rust. Three paths push into the underbrush like the spokes on a wheel, the encroaching forest creating lush tunnels through the dark.

But the fountain stands singular and pristine, brightly splashing in open rebellion of the deep, muffled sounds of a place long ago gone to seed. A vibration hums through the ground, there and quickly gone, and the water in the fountain trembles, lapping against the high walls of its cool, pale reservoir.

Far, far away, in a place that isn't really there, people begin to blink out of existance.

It is the first of April.

It is precisely ten o'clock in the morning.

[Please see event details and guidelines here.]

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At first, Picard doesn't think much of the fact that there seem to be somewhat fewer people in the village than there might have otherwise been. After all, he knows quite well that he's spent a not insignificant amount of the previous month stuck in what certainly seems to have amounted to the approximate equivalent of a holodeck program, and it certainly wouldn't be too surprising if other people had been pulled into something similar.

But as the population starts to dwindle more and more, even he starts to worry. Admittedly, he doesn't really know how many people had been pulled off into different holodeck simulations, but even despite that he has to admit it feels excessive. Especially once his housemates start disappearing as well, and that has him more than a little concerned. Enough to head out into the much-diminished village to make sure that they aren't somewhere he's missed.

And then he finds himself underwater again, for the second time; there's a brief spike of panic and then he's struggling his way up out of the water. He breaks the surface with a gasp, and then, after looking around and realizing that this looks very much like the fountain in the middle of village speaks up; apparently unaware of the fact that between his customary lack of hair and the bread he's arrived with he looks a little like an aging Santa Claus.

"I would have thought that once would have been enough."

The fact that he doesn't seem to be alone in the fountain is also unexpected, but assuming no one else needs immediate assistance, he starts making his way to the edge of the fountain.

---

Later, once he's managed to make it back to his house, changed into dry clothes, and trimmed back at least the worst of his beard, he heads back to the fountain. Given that there had still been people in the village when he'd been pulled into the fountain, he can't imagine that there aren't still people who will be coming through. And it's never been in his nature to not help, if it's within his power to do so.

"Do you need a hand?"

This is offered to the latest arrival; while he's well aware that the answer might be 'no', the least he can do is offer.

Beverly isn't close enough to help Jean-Luc out of the fountain, but she's close enough to notice when he pulls himself out. Relief washes over her and she doesn't waste time getting to him. Ignoring the fact that he's still soaking wet, she hurries over and throws her arms around him, careful at least not to knock him down. The important thing is that he's here and he wasn't left behind. They haven't been separated.

"Jean-Luc. You made it."

She's still got a towel thrown over a shoulder and she'll take him back to the house in a minute or two so he can dry off. Right now, the important thing is having a nice reunion. They can deal with a lot of other things later on.

The relief is absolutely mutual, and the fact that he's still soaking wet from having been in the fountain doesn't at all stop a genuine smile from spreading across her face at the sight of her. Nor does it stop him from returning her embrace gladly. It might mean that she'll need to find another dry shirt somewhere, yes. But just at the moment that takes a far distant second place to the fact that Beverly is alright.

"Beverly." Even her name is halfway to a sigh of relief, and he makes not even the slightest attempt to hide it. "I'm glad you're alright."

He isn't going to directly come out and say that he'd been worrying ever since she'd vanished, but to someone who knows him as well as she does, the fact is most likely blatantly obvious.

She absolutely will need a new dry shirt and she'll add that to the list of things to look for, right alongside finding someone to cut some of her hair off so the line of color across it isn't so drastic. But right now, she's more concerned with the idea that he's actually here and in her arms and they haven't been split up. It wouldn't be the first time they have been, but she's glad that isn't the case now.

Still, it's very cold outside and she doesn't want either of them to catch cold over it. So reluctantly, she pulls back after a few moments of holding each other tightly. She can tell that he's been as worried about her as she has been about him and it makes her smile in her own way.

"I'm glad you're all right, too," she says softly. "I was mostly worried that we would be separated. I know we could have survived, but... I knew I would worry about you constantly if I couldn't find you."

They'll both need to put in certain amount of work before they're back to looking their usual selves, it's true. But that's definitely something that can wait. Partly because it's not as if everyone else isn't also looking similar shades of unkempt, but also simply because it means that he doesn't have to worry anymore.

"I agree," he answers with a nod. "It certainly wouldn't have been the first time the Observers had separated people? But it seemed... more widespread, also."

Perhaps not worryingly so, but enough to be concerning all the same. Not so much fo the fact that it had left the village looking more than a little barren besides, but for the question of just where everyone else had happened to end up - and what the Observers might have been up to besides. Admittedly, he's still not entirely sure of what to make of matters, but at the very least he knows that Beverly is alright, now, and that's enough for now.

They do need to get dry again before one or the other of them catches cold. She knows this and it's on her mind, but just at the moment, the thought that's at the forefront is the idea of showing him just how happy she is to see him. Despite how many people are around, despite how many could be watching at any given moment and might see, she leans in to press a tiny kiss against the corner of his lips before shifting to fully press her lips to his. It's a brief kiss, but very pointed.

And it's technically the first that they both have really had as themselves, that they will both remember, that wasn't just a farewell.

She pulls away a few seconds later, turning in the direction of their house. "Come on. Let's get you into something dry. There's no sense in either one of us catching cold out here, especially when I don't have a hypospray to fix it."

For all that it's a brief kiss, and something of a surprise besides, he absolutely knows what she's saying with it. And there's only the briefest of moments before he returns it. There are, admittedly, more than a few people who could catch them at it just at the moment. But even with that it's worth it to know how she feels - and to tells her how glad he is to see her in return. The fact that it is brief is less important. Especially when they are still figuring out their relationship.

But it's still very much he means to enjoy, and there's still a smile lingering on his face when she pulls away.

"That sounds perfectly reasonable. I wouldn't want to be responsible for you catching cold as well."

Plus wearing clothes as soaked as the ones he's currently wearing isn't exactly the most comfortable. Even if he'd have been more than willing to put up with it, had that been the only option available to him.

The smile on her face is fond, if more than a little relieved, though she steps back and turns to head back towards the house so she can fill him in on what she's discovered.

"Let's go back to the house and get you dried off again. As far as I can tell, everything there is normal. It's just... dusty again, like all the houses were before they were occupied. All of our belongings are in the house, right where we left them, as far as I can tell." She pauses for a few seconds before adding on, "Doesn't help the holodeck theory, does it?"

There's a nod at both her suggestion at the explanation that follows. Not that it's terribly comforting to know that one of their primary theories about the nature of the village had been right, admittedly, but it does lend that particular theory a certain amount of credence besides.

"It doesn't, no. Although it would suggest that they have the capability to add things into a holo-projection relatively seamlessly. Especially given that they would have had to convert anything of ours to a projected version thereof before sending them on their way."

And the fact that the first village had been something akin to a holodeck doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of their new surroundings also being virtual. But for the time being that isn't something that he particularly cares to think about. Especially when they've only just escaped the one simulated reality.

"So does the Federation," she points out, though they both know the merits of that. Starfleet holodeck technology can do a lot of things, but even it would have begun to show the strain after so much time running straight. Which brings up another thought.

"It does make you wonder, though... How much of our time was spent in that simulation and how much wasn't? Would we have been able to tell if the simulation paused or was turned off, if the simulation itself was located right on top of the area it was an exact copy of?"

It's something to think about and though they might wonder if this is another simulation, it feels different having come back through the fountain. Of course, her most recently-spoken theory would war a bit with this feeling, but at this point, she's willing to entertain just about anything. And she wouldn't put anything past the Observers, either.

"After a while, we would have begun to notice... discrepancies, if it had been turned off, briefly. Even if only in something as simple as the relative lengths of our hair."

And between his beard and the way that her hair has grown out, it's clear enough in his mind that they have been stuck in the simulation for some time. And possibly not even physically there, besides, although the question of where they might have been otherwise is another matter entirely. Another question to put to the Observers, no doubt, assuming they ever do manage to meet them. But for the time being there are more important matters at hand.

"If it were paused, though... we might not have noticed at all. Not if we were inside it at the time."

Not if they'd ended up paused too.

The relative lengths of their hair would have been noticeable, especially given the two-toned look to hers. She nods in response, relenting that point to him. The idea of being paused, though, is also a good point, even as it makes her sigh wearily again.

"And they could have easily changed our models to match whatever's been happening to our actual bodies so that when we pulled ourselves out of the fountain just now we think we're out of the simulation, but in reality we're still in," she huffs out with a tone of frustration as she finally pulls open the door to the house and lets them both in. "It's enough to give you a headache."

"I would like to hope that they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of simply arranging another simulation, just for the sake of making us believe we'd left. Not when they could just have easily reset the initial simulation."

Whether or not that means they've actually left is still another question entirely, yes. But he'd certainly like to believe that the Observers wouldn't have gone so far, and that the reality that they're standing in is genuine. It might be hard to prove, unfortunately. But that doesn't mean that there's something about the idea that feels right.

"But I agree. It is enough to give someone a headache."

"I would hope not, too, but it's something to consider," she points out. "We shouldn't blindly assume anything, not where these 'Observers' are concerned."

Not when too much of what they've been through reminds her of Q or a bunch of Cardassians trying to break them. There are too many possibilities and she doesn't want to risk anything.

"I guess we'll have plenty of time to decide if we believe it or not. Come on. Let's get you dry and warm. I'll feel better when there's not as much of a risk of you catching cold out there."

And she might be willing to pick up on that relieved kiss from earlier once they're both a little more dry and warm.

"We absolutely shouldn't," he agrees with a nod. "Much less let ourselves believe that we have a complete understanding of what they might be up to."

He won't deny that assuming them to be at least loosely similar to Q has helped explain a great deal. But at the same time, he's not going to deny the possibility that something might break even that pattern, sooner or later. It's just that he's not going to spend forever waiting for that shift either. If it happens, it happens, and besides, he has a sneaking suspicion that dwelling too long on the nature of the Observers and their decisions is to invite madness.

Plus, there are far more interesting - if more mundane - things to turn his mind to just at the moment. Even if it is nothing more than the prospect of spending some time cuddled up with her.

"Of course," he answers with a nod, as he turns towards their house. If she wants to take point, he'll gladly let her, but if not, he's just as glad to walk at her side as well.

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[EVENT] The Simulation Ends

Jean-Luc Picard | Group 12 | OTA

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