[Video]

[ufo_fanboy]

[Things have settled down. Between experiments, amusement parks, abductions and drafts, this is the first nice calm stretch of time he's had in a while. So Mulder's hanging out in the Battle Dome. He's been coming there a lot more lately. The new features interest him, and there are places from home he can't help revisiting. Not always to fight,

Comments

[talontrot]

What's the big deal about dying? I've died a bunch of times!

[Kazooie has yet to understand the difference between a cartoon's death and the death of the fleshy organics around her.]

Don't we just come back anyway?

[talontrot]

[Ironically, Kazooie is closer to the mark than most people, but not for the reasons she thinks she is.]

Well, I dunno. It sounds weird, to be outside a game. Never been outside of one, you know?

... Just makes more sense that this is another game I gotta be awesome in. [And this is Kazooie's version of deductive reasoning.]

[ufo_fanboy]

Well, I've never been in one, though I wonder whether we'd be able to distinguish it from reality if we were. It's one more thing to gather evidence for...

[Which means more work. But Mulder is all excitement at the prospect of more work.]

[talontrot]

[This is getting pretty philosophical for Kazooie...] Reality... the stuff outside a game? And... you don't think this is a game?

... I dunno how you can tell. I mean... I just know I'm in a game. Always have.

Never thought of anything else... [There's an uncertainty in her voice.]

[ufo_fanboy]

I'm pretty sure there's a lot about Luceti that most people haven't thought of before they ended up here.

[Even for Mulder, who prides himself on keeping an open mind.]

[talontrot]

That's for sure. I never had to think about all this weird and crazy stuff before!

[For Kazooie, it's a little mind-boggling to ask questions you don't have to.]

But you must like asking about it. You ask lotsa questions, don't you?

[ufo_fanboy]

Asking questions is my job. Too bad I'm not getting paid for it anymore. [But he isn't acting too serious about that, really he's all into this with or without a paycheck.] And actually, 'weird and crazy' fits into that job description, too.

[talontrot]

You said you got chased a lot, right? By weird stuff? Ghosts and all that?

... [She hums thoughtfully a second - it's a little raucous.] How does asking questions help with that?

[ufo_fanboy]

Ghosts, aliens, all kinds of things that defy conventional explanation. [He thinks something over.] I was even held captive by an AI once, which... was kind of like being in a game-world of sorts. [Though not a pleasant simulation, in that case.]

As for asking questions... it's to gather information. The more perspectives I can gain on something, the better idea I'll have of the big picture here... and maybe, just maybe, I'll find enough answers about this place to find a way out.

[talontrot]

I always thought you had to do stuff to solve puzzles... [She's much more of a doer than a thinker, which is pretty obvious.] That's how I solved them before. But I guess this is a different puzzle. I mean, there aren't any buttons to hit or anything...

[ufo_fanboy]

No, no buttons, and no special codes to input or anything like that. [Of course, it'd be nice if it were as easy as a game.] Though there's a lot of running around and investigating, breaking into places that are restricted, and so on...

[talontrot]

... You break into restricted places? Awesome! Do you use Grenade Eggs or something like them? [Blowing up a wall counts as breaching security, right?]

[ufo_fanboy]

I don't usually use grenades... [But it's obvious in the way he thinks about it that he would consider it, if the situation called for it.] Most of the time, I'm trying to operate in a stealthy manner, so that means no flashy... anything, really. Just good old lock picking.

[...So he's an officer of the law and he knows his way around a lock to pick it! >.> He always has good reason.]

[talontrot]

Normally I don't get to do any combination breaking or anything like that. Closest I ever got was getting the code to that one talking safe guy.

So I'm usually blowing stuff up! Or hitting buttons, either works. [She grins a little.] Still, that sounds pretty cool! I bet that must be fun, going to all kinds of awesome places...

[Morality? What morality?]

[ufo_fanboy]

It can be, at times. It's not everyday you get to raid the restricted areas of top secret facilities. Uncovering the truth is that important, that a little breaking and entering is worth it... I've seen a lot of unusual things that way. Alien things.

[It's always worth breaking the rules to get at something more important.]

[talontrot]

[This is something Kazooie totally agrees with.]

Aliens, huh? I met a couple of those! [... And watched a few of them die. And get revived again. Mumbo's magic sure was helpful there...] They were gray and had big eyes and laser guns and a flying UFO thing that ran on Ice Eggs.