#kim kitsuragi understander has logged on

[failchild]

the thing about kim is that he's kind of boring in an average middle-aged guy way. he looks forward to his daily crossword puzzle. he smoked weed over two decades ago and thinks that's cool. he likes cars. he likes machines. he probably eats plain oatmeal every day. he likes being perceived as "normal" ("regular, garden variety revacholiere") and "boring" ("unrepentant spoilsport"). a lot of this has to do with the perpetual foreigner stereotype he's faced his entire life and his moralist beliefs—he also just has very dad-like interests

on the flip side he gets a kick out of being "cool" ("were he to quit [smoking], he would lose the cool factor. this man relishes his cool quite a bit") and rebellious ("this minor act of rebellion is important to the lieutenant's self-construction"). he spends the week in martinaise wandering around in communist revolutionary cosplay, which is kind of an insane thing to do when he's employed by the occupying force that destroyed the revolution. he loves his obnoxious loud ass car and his obnoxious loud ass music.

he highly values both his "normalcy" and his "coolness". his adherence to the rules he makes for himself is important to him. what he considers his acts of rebellion are small but are also important to him. this is a man whose infancy is defined by the stamping out of revolution, who grew up in its graveyard and was raised by the indifferent benevolence of those who killed it.

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

🎵 The Insulindian Miracle

2. "He's a beautiful man. Beautiful and *just*."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Just? Hmm... in what way?"

"In a funky socialist way. He looks out for the people."

"In a nice, crunchy, white working class way of course."

"Yeah, he's not actually just, is he? He's useless."

+1 Communism

JOYCE MESSIER - "Of course. *Some* of them, at least. The ones who work for him -- how else would he have stayed in power all these years... no wait, actually..."

"Corruption! That's how he's done it. Fantastic, würm-like corruption reaching into the bowels of the Earth." She looks at the ground and nods.

KIM KITSURAGI - "The position of my *unusual* colleague does not reflect official policy. I hope you understand -- the RCM does not pick sides."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Of course -- and I don't expect you to share anything he told you with me. I am not a *corrupt würm* myself." She turns to you: "However, if you felt like *discussing* something..."

"...how could I stop you? Are we not human? Are we not *curious* to hear another person's take? It's only natural. We would only be..." she smiles, "gossiping."

VOLITION [Formidable: Success] - Don't fall for it, it's a ploy to get you talking. The honey-mouthed syllables, the smiling, the conspiratorial jokes, all of it!

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Intellectually speaking... it would be quite *interesting* to hear what she has to say about these things...

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - Tell her, she'll *like* you for it.

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - Yes! Your disgusting tie agrees completely. Let's *gossip*.

Sorry, Volition, you're outvoted.

"That money you gave me -- would that make things... *weird*? If I shared information, I mean?"

"Mr. Evrart is helping me find my gun."

"I helped him turn up the heat on the borscht."

"I'd rather talk about something else for now, if you don't mind." (Conclude.)

JOYCE MESSIER - "Weird? Oh no. One of the positive things to come from the Revolution is the *unhindered* exchange of information, you see, even when it comes to *trade secrets*..."

"Which isn't to suggest our talks constitute *corporate espionage*. Even *if* they did -- it would be fine. But they don't, since you logged the money as a donation and this is *clearly* just gossip between friends."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - The lieutenant might have -- but I don't remember you logging anything as anything, Harry.

2. "Mr. Evrart is helping me find my gun."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Oh!" Her eyes become large and round. "That's so *helpful* of him..."

KIM KITSURAGI - The lieutenant looks at you and you can swear his jaw muscle is trembling.

-1 Reputation

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - He's able to contain the anger and surprise.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - When I said *be wacky* I didn't mean *wildly, grossly irresponsible and damaging to the RCM*.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Unconventional police officers sometimes *lose* their guns. They then go around and tell people about this -- to gauge their reactions. It's all part of *detecting*."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Incredible," she shakes her head. "Simply incredible -- and how is it going? Has this *detecting* produced a gun?"

"No."

"Mr. Evrart says it's *almost* ready to be found soon."

"Mr. Evrart is helping me find my gun."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Ah yes. As you said." She looks confused for a moment.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Please don't get him in a loop. If he gets in a loop it will last *forever*. Ask him to say something else please."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - That's wrong! You don't get into loops!

JOYCE MESSIER - "Of course. Thank you for the advice -- I'm glad you were here to assist." She turns to you: "Your *other* dealings with Evrart are still of considerable interest to me..."

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - The lieutenant will be more lenient toward sharing those, hopefully.

3. "I helped him turn up the heat on the borscht."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Did you now?" She's intrigued, if a little confused. "What sort of borscht is he making?"

"Unimportant."

"The cook makes it to keep the strikers drunk. Helps them strike."

JOYCE MESSIER - "The strike brew," she nods. "That's a classic. And by *turn up the heat* I presume you mean *put more alcohol in it*?"

"Yes."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Why, if I may ask? Why make them *more* drunk? Aren't they corked enough already?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Yes, detective -- what *were* you hoping to accomplish with this strange thing?"

"An act born of sympathy for the working man. I set fire to the fumes of struggle."

"I worship Al Gul in many ways."

"It's uninteresting, I thought it would make the broth taste better."

+1 Communism

JOYCE MESSIER - "Very curious." She blinks both eyes. "A very curious thing to do."

+5 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "Truly, but that's how he operates. He just does things, ma'am. And then talks about them -- even if it's inappropriate."

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - A strange equanimity has overtaken the lieutenant. He's just going with the flow now. Easier that way.

JOYCE MESSIER - "What else?"

We don't have anything else on Evrart to tell Joyce just yet.

4. "I'd rather talk about something else for now, if you don't mind." (Conclude.)

JOYCE MESSIER - "Of course, detective," she simmers down. "Should something come up, later down the road -- don't be afraid to drop by for a chat."

"Until then -- is there anything *I* can help *you* with?"

I exited Joyce's dialogue to make a quick save, but talking to her after midnight opened a new topic of conversation.

JOYCE MESSIER - "You're back. Good." She takes a sip from her silvery thermal cup. "What can I help you with -- at this late hour?"

"It's night. Don't you ever sleep?"

"Answer me a question."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Matter of fact, I don't." She takes another sip.

"Why is that?"

(Better not to poke further) "That's good. This way you can answer me some questions."

JOYCE MESSIER - "I have a medical condition of my own -- nothing unusual, though. I'm *old* you see."

"Old, huh? I think I have that too."

"No you're not. You look young."

(Better not to poke further) "That's good. This way you can answer me some questions."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Don't worry. It's curable -- with *questions*. Ask me some, it'll help pass this night."

7. "I've got some more questions about *reality*."

JOYCE MESSIER - "More lessons in basic reality?" She's positively surprised. "My favourite part of the day! Go ahead, ask me anything."

8. [Volition - Medium 10] Ask for Kim to step away while you discuss the pale.

+1 Kim trusts you.

VOLITION [Medium: Success] - Good idea. Just ask him. He won't make a scene.

"Kim, can I talk to the ma'am alone for a second?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Fine." He steps away with his notes.

VOLITION - See? What can he do. You're a grown man.

"Now -- what is the pale?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Are you sure you're sure? Your colleague seemed adamant..."

"Yes -- what is the pale?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Okay." She concedes. "The pale is the most dominant geological feature of the world, detective -- the separative tissue between the isolas. It is the interisolary mass."

"Wait, and what is an isola?"

"Okay... what is the pale *like*?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "*Isola* is a Messinian word for a continent of matter, enveloped on all sides by the pale. Also: isolation, or land mass. We used to believe there was only one. In the last four centuries we have discovered seven..."

"Mundi, Seol, Samara, Iilmaraa, Graad, Katla, and this -- Insulinde."

"And Insulinde is...?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "An oceanic isola. It comprises mostly of water. Mundi is the largest, Katla the coldest, Insulinde the bluest. What can I say..." She stops. "Each is perishing and dear."

"Okay... what is the pale *like*?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Achromatic, odourless, featureless. The pale is the enemy of matter and life. It is not *like* any other -- or *any* thing in the world. It is the transition state of being into nothingness."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - The negation of being.

"The negation of..."

JOYCE MESSIER - "That's right -- the negation of being." She tightens her hood around her neck, it's cold outside.

"Is it... here?" (Look around.)

"What are its physical qualities?"

"If we're surrounded by pale, how do you get from isola to isola?"

"How much pale is there compared to the world?"

"Let's return to reality, please." (Conclude.)

JOYCE MESSIER - "No, detective, we're safe." She points to the sea. "It begins there, 6,000 kilometres to the north, and even more to the south, east, and west. You are in the middle of the isola."

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - As your gaze instinctively turns north, a small black pit opens up in your stomach.

"Six thousand kilometres from the end of the world?"

"And... (point north) ...there?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Yes -- that is enough. Many cities are built *much* closer."

"And… (point north) …there?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "An uproar of matter, darling, *rising* into the pale. Rolling. Evaporating even, a great vision. The area of transition between the world and the pale is called *porch collapse*."

"Imagine a grey coronal mist, cold vapour, marked by spores of an opportunistic microorganism -- a mould that's adapted to grow at the edge of the unrest. It's…"

She closes her eyes and breathes out heavily: "... the most *disco* thing you will ever see."

2. "What are its physical qualities?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "It's difficult to describe -- or even measure -- something whose fundamental property is the suspension of properties: physical, epistemological, linguistic..."

"The further into pale you travel, the steeper the degree of suspension. Right down to the mathematical -- *numbers* stop working. No one has yet passed the number barrier. It may be impossible."

3. "If we're surrounded by pale, how do you get from isola to isola?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Oh, it is..." Her lungs deflate, her words sound like a sigh, "...*so* difficult for us."

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Easy: Success] - A squall of birds, hardware operating in the harbour. Firm, self-evident.

JOYCE MESSIER - "It is possible to force dimensions on the pale -- in modern times we can even compress its latitude, bouncing radio waves from one end to the other. Shortening the path."

"But it is still hard for humans to navigate the pale without getting lost. Or having our minds damaged."

3. "The pale can damage the mind?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Extensively."

"How?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Some say the damage stems from extreme sensory deprivation. Others argue that pale somehow *consists* of past information, that's degrading. That it's rarefied past, not rarefied matter."

"They call it *the blend-over of the self*. The pale does not only suspend the laws of physics, but also the laws of psychology, maybe History, even... The human mind becomes over-radiated by past."

"What does this over-radiation feel like?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "It feels terrible. Absolutely terrible. International standards strictly limit civilian travellers to six days of pale exposure per year..."

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - It's more for her -- way more.

"*You're* not a civilian passenger?"

Let it go.

JOYCE MESSIER - "No, Lieutenant Du Bois. I'm 'Entroponetic Business Class.' I'm cleared -- and trained -- for 22 days of pale transit annually."

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - Perhaps that explains her strange pining after the Revolution? Some degraded early memories...

LOGIC [Easy: Success] - Someone *else* you've met may have been *exposed* as well. The strange grey-haired woman in her lorry.

"Do *lorry drivers* pass the pale?"

"Are *you* over-radiated?"

"*You're* not a civilian passenger?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Yes. Carried in the hulls of airships," she nods. "It's a horrific job. Automation will abolish it, soon."

+5 XP

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - You should ask the Paledriver about this. See what she says.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - That poor woman must have stories to tell like you wouldn't imagine...

2. "*You're* not a civilian passenger?"

JOYCE MESSIER - She's looking out toward the sea, what at, it's hard to say.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - She's over-radiated. And then some.

5. "What is *entroponetic*?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "*Entroponetics*," she corrects, "is the scientific study of the pale. Or a recent iteration of it, by way of Graad. The study of the pale reaches back 6,000 years -- the Perikarnassians called it the Western Plain."

"Did they... cross it? The Western Plain?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "There *are* signs of pretermodern crossings. Successful navigation of the pale relies not just on technical know-how, but intensive psychological preparation. Some of these tactics have been known for thousands of years."

"What has entroponetics changed then?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Nothing. We remain powerless before the pale. The only real advance in pale transit is the speed with which an aerostatic craft can pierce it. Less exposure leads to less... *effects* later."

"Aerostatic craft?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Hybrid airships, detective. Conventional rotors or jet engines no longer add velocity after the point of reference for motion is suspended -- once you've crossed from near pale to far pale..."

"In essence, we throw them in and they come out the other end -- if we throw them precisely."

"If we do not?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "Then they don't."

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - Gone -- like a skipping stone beneath the surface.

6. "How much pale is there compared to the world?"

JOYCE MESSIER - "The pale outweighs reality two to one -- there is more pale than there is matter. And the ratio is slipping."

"Slipping how? To our detriment or…"

JOYCE MESSIER - "What do you think, detective?" She looks you in the eye.

"It's shrinking. There is more and more of the world."

"It's growing. There is more and more of the pale."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Precisely. One of the few measurable effects of the pale is that it is expanding at an unknown rate."

"An intuitive conclusion of that development is that one day the pale will cover everything -- but this sort of talk is mostly left to extremists."

"It's not extreme at all. It's going to happen."

"Cover *everything*? That can't be. Where would we go..."

Stay silent.

JOYCE MESSIER - "Most people -- and indeed most private and government sector organizations; entire civilizations and religions even -- find handy ways to ignore, or downplay that knowledge."

"I suggest you do the same."

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - *Off we go...* you see the hanged man's mouth open.

"Off we go into the wild pale yonder."

JOYCE MESSIER - "One and all," she closes her eyes. "They say pale is death, but for the Universe."

INLAND EMPIRE - Why should we just leave and leave -- and the world get left behind?

7. "Let's return to reality, please." (Conclude.)

JOYCE MESSIER - "Yes, sweet reality," she stomps her foot. "But before we do, tell me detective..."

"Is this the first time you're hearing this? Do you really not remember anything?"

"Nothing. Just alcohol fumes and blackout."

"I sometimes sense vague shadows of a past, and it's not good."

"I'm getting a sense of who I am, but no, I didn't know this."

JOYCE MESSIER - "Then tell me -- what do you *think* of the pale?"