[ Midnight keeps pace with Broca easily. Gym rats. (Apologies to the Zalaks, who have done nothing wrong.) (Okay, Gravel may have done a few things wrong.) (And Dorothy.) (But the rest are fine.) ]

Mostly reiterated a few things he'd already said on his network announcements. Confirmations, really. I did get curious about one thing, though... Do you remember a reply he made along the lines of using regrets and despair as bargaining chips? I wondered how literal he was being, so...

[ Midnight shrugs. ]

Mind, he wasn't exactly the sort to answer questions for free — still rather intent on trading secrets for secrets, that one — but I did manage to confirm a few things on that front. He was being very literal, as it turns out.

Mm. No one's perfect.

[ Not that Midnight disagrees, nor does he say it pointedly — it's really just an offhand rejoinder — but aggressively trying to see the good in other people is a habit for him by now. Anyway, he's not interested in being a hypocrite, either. ]

Come to think of it, that things like guilt and regret here hold any material value at all is something that I think is out of his hands. I wasn't able to confirm anything material on this front, but something here needs those things. Whether it's some sort of beast controlling things from behind the scenes or the resort itself, I can't say, but they're being used to sustain this place, somehow.

[ Midnight shakes his head. ]

I kept my mind open walking in, but I found it quite odd that the definition of what he found to be of value included amorphous concepts at all. If sex was the point, what would be the point of using hopes and desires as tokens? One could easily accomplish everything being done here against our will. Sex, mechanically, is a series of physical reactions, after all. It's easy to simply induce, especially with the resources they've employed here.

[ He shrugs. ]

So our choices in this process, whether we're happy about our circumstances or not, also matter. I don't think ethics are a particular sticking point with the house, or else I'd consider that a possible motivator. No, that we are free to play a game at all is important, and I went in with that concept in mind, among other things. It's less about the sex, more about our relationships with sex and each other.

Mm. Well, one thing a game does is divide people. Practicably speaking, that is.

[ Midnight raises a finger, waves it thoughtfully. ]

If "society" is a conglomeration of people, that is simply a mass without a goal. Add a "game" and you now have rules, goals, directives... Friends, enemies. It's a worthy distraction. It lures people away from ideas of unity or trust, at least on a mass scale.

[ Midnight cants his head at Broca. ]

From that perspective, no one and nothing in the world needs enemies at all. And yet, invariably, situations wherein enemies exist flourish.

[ Midnight sticks a hand in his pocket, thinking for a moment. ]

Suppose for a moment that the goal of this game — that is, a part of the main purpose of the game makers — was for no one to make enemies of each other at all. If that is the case, then why make the game a matter of individuals pitted against individuals? It would be much easier to pit us all against a common enemy, for instance. If the house is meant to be that common enemy, then why make a game where colluding with the house is rewarded?

[ Midnight shrugs. ]

The problem lies in your premise, I think. Rather than a situation where the house's goal is to let us win, I believe that the house's goal is to keep the game going indefinitely. Meaning, naturally, that winning the game doesn't necessarily end it. At worst, winning the game means nothing at all.

It would, of course.

[ ... Midnight looks over at Broca. He's grinning slightly. ]

So, of course, if the point is to continue playing the game ad infinitum, there must be a consequence for stopping. A few consequences come to mind for me, Operator. How about you?

[ Suit flares, for one; for another, changes in rank and the changes in one's quality of life with it. ]

It still isn't really about the sex, mind, but the continuation of the game... That certainly is enforced. The game is more of a facade for what is actually coercion.

[ ... Midnight really shouldn't be saying something like that so cheerfully. ]