No, you don't. You're a human measuring instrument, almost entirely intellectual.
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Conversation · Damaged Ledger
Speakers · 29
- Damaged Ledger
You- Visual Calculus
Pain Threshold
Interfacing
Kim Kitsuragi
Inland Empire- Horrific Necktie
Conceptualization
Empathy
Logic
Half Light
Esprit de Corps
Suggestion
Drama
Electrochemistry
Endurance
Reaction Speed
Perception (Smell)
Composure
Hand/Eye Coordination
Volition
Shivers
Authority- Tutorial Agent
Rhetoric- Perception (Sight)
Physical Instrument- Perception (Hearing)
It's going to take an effort to piece these case files together, but it can be done -- later, once you're done inspecting them up close.
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"Huh?" He raises his nose from his notes. "Two complex cases to undertake is a lot, yes. You really have to push yourself. I would not suggest it. Lest you start making mistakes."
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"Two cases a week appears to have been my load, lieutenant. I'm not sure I completed them though."
"Two?" He raises both eyebrows. "That's a lot. I didn't mean to say you're making mistakes, by the way. That was presumptuous of me."
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"That's a lot. This kind of case load would explain your 'solved cases' tally, on the watermark..." He stops. "I didn't mean to say you're making mistakes, by the way. That was presumptuous of me."
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"I prefer a normal case load." He turns back to his own case files. "It's a matter of methods."
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"That's okay." He nods, then turns back to his own case files. "We all do, sooner or later."
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They're not exactly white. They're yellowed in patches by sunlight and alcohol, and covered in dense blue handwriting. Ink escapes into watercolour patterns, reaching its tendrils across entire pages. The paper itself is chequered with faint red lines forming short paragraphs.
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Once in a while there's a red stamp that exclaims: CASE FILES; COMMIT TO PAPER. The CASE FILES themselves are plenty. You count more than a hundred sodden, crumpled up, earmarked pages falling apart in your hands. They appear to be sufficiently organized and extremely dense, if mostly illegible.
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Work. Strife. Poverty. The Jamrock Quarter. These are handwritten logs of investigations dating back to January '51, this year. The exact number is hard to estimate due to missing pages -- and an odd naming convention -- but there are at least twenty, maybe thirty cases. Undertaken, not completed, mind you.
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The acidic stench of rotting food has rubbed off on the cellulose. It now forms the base of the experience. This base surrounded by a faint air of spoiled meat -- the stuff of death itself! -- and then sprinkled liberally with the citrus zest of toilet cleaner.
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You know -- like the bits they put into public piss bowls; probably called Fermi-Discrete or Axel or something. At some point in its journey the ledger has seen the inside of a public toilet.
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- Why yes it is! Among many other things. This cleaning tablet is used by the Whirling-in-Rags -- perhaps that's where the ledger was dropped in the toilet? By you.
- Your nose does not understand what it did wrong.
- Maybe you should pay more attention then? Anyway, what your nose is trying tell you is -- the ledger was dropped into a toilet in the Whirling-in-Rags, by you. The toilet cleaner in your room smells exactly the same.
- Continue
- Your nose is somewhere between grateful and resentful.
- Yeah, turns out your nose doesn't like self-indulgent literal-shit huffing. Quelle fuckin' surprise. Come on, no more -- the ledger is going back down, away from your nose now.
- Which? You're not sure you've smelled this one yet, or worse... you have the nagging feeling you might have missed it.
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The lieutenant observes you raising and lowering the toilet-water-logged mass under your nose, trying to get a good whiff. A good analytical whiff.
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After a while he can't take it anymore. "Excuse me, I just have to ask again -- how did it get in the trash?"
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After a while he can't take it anymore. "Excuse me, I just have to ask again -- how could you have let this get tossed out?"
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- "It must have been cramping my style."Remembered · 1
- "Someone from the Whirling threw it in the trash? I don't know. I'm boring."Remembered · 1
- "I think I didn't want to be a cop anymore."Remembered · 1
- "It has a.. foreboding quality to it. Maybe I needed to lose it, for the great bloodletting to begin..."Remembered · 1
- "It has a.. foreboding quality to it. I'm picking up dark vibes. Maybe I had to lose it?"Remembered · 2
- "I'm pretty sure I -- or someone else -- dropped it into the toilet in my hostel room bathroom. The tablet's the same." (Tap on your nose.)
- "Yeah, I still don't want to discuss it."Remembered · 1
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"Officer, however damaged -- that..." he points to it, "...is still an official piece of paperwork. It probably contains notes on numerous ongoing investigations. It could even list undercover operatives. Certainly informants. I suggest integrating it into your style. For all our sakes."
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Easier said than done -- how could this pathetic mess of copy paper and plastic ever become très disco?"
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Challenge accepted. You should be on the lookout for stylistic elements that elevate this cabbage to heights unforeseeable.
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I don't know... have you seen how basic that thing is? Basic clip, unglamorous toilet-smelling papers. It could've done with some pizzazzo! Anyway, go on. Sorry I said anything.
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- I don't know... have you seen how basic that thing is? Basic clip, unglamorous toilet-smelling papers. It could've done with some pizzazzo! Anyway, go on. Sorry I said anything.
- It is -- look at how basic that thing is! Basic clip, unglamorous toilet-smelling papers. It could do with some pizzazzo" Cheer you right up.
I don't know, it seems foreboding to me somehow. Like there's something in there that's out to get me.
Conditional
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What are you talking about? No one's out to get you -- get real man! Upgrade that cop-ledger!
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It is -- look at how basic that thing is! Basic clip, unglamorous toilet-smelling papers. It could do with some pizzazzo" Cheer you right up.
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- Continue
- Continue
- "Boring? Try dangerous. You should do a thorough inventory of that -- make sure some has not fallen into the hands of the RCM's enemies: organized crime, or worse... Official notes sometimes contain informants' names, even undercover operatives."
- "I don't know either..." He points to the ruined notes. "You should take stock of those, make sure it's all there. Official notes contain informants' names, undercover operatives even. If some of it has fallen into the hands of the RCM's adversaries, bloodletting may well ensue."
- "In any case, we're lucky you found it. Make sure it's all in there. Official notes are... well they're dangerous, they contain confidentialities."
- "Do-eth thou also thorough inventories?" He points to the ruined notes. "You should take stock of those. Official notes contain informants' names, undercover operatives even. If some of it has fallen into the hands of the RCM's adversaries, bloodletting may well ensue."
"Now, if you'll excuse me..." He reopens his own pristine blue notebook. "That thing has filled me with the sudden urge to make sure mine is in perfect order."
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Needless. It looks great. Unlike yours, which is an unholy mass dripping with excrement.
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"Boring? Try dangerous. You should do a thorough inventory of that -- make sure some has not fallen into the hands of the RCM's enemies: organized crime, or worse... Official notes sometimes contain informants' names, even undercover operatives."
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"I think I didn't want to be a cop anymore -- so I flushed my career down the toilet, literally."
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"In any case, we're lucky you found it. Make sure it's all in there. Official notes are... well they're dangerous, they contain confidentialities."
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"It has a.. foreboding quality to it. Maybe I needed to lose it, for the great bloodletting to begin..."
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- "I speaketh the tongue."Remembered · 1
- "I don't know."
"Do-eth thou also thorough inventories?" He points to the ruined notes. "You should take stock of those. Official notes contain informants' names, undercover operatives even. If some of it has fallen into the hands of the RCM's adversaries, bloodletting may well ensue."
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"Do-eth thou also thorough inventories?" He points to the ruined notes. "You should take stock of those. Official notes contain informants' names, undercover operatives even. If some of it has fallen into the hands of the RCM's adversaries, dark vibes may well ensue."
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"I don't know either..." He points to the ruined notes. "You should take stock of those, make sure it's all there. Official notes contain informants' names, undercover operatives even. If some of it has fallen into the hands of the RCM's adversaries, bloodletting may well ensue."
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"I don't know either..." He points to the ruined notes. "You should take stock of those, make sure it's all there. Official notes contain informants' names, undercover operatives even. If some of it has fallen into the hands of the RCM's adversaries, dark vibes may well ensue."
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"It has a.. foreboding quality to it. I'm picking up dark vibes. Maybe I had to lose it?"
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- "I speaketh the tongue."Remembered · 1
- "I don't know."
"I'm pretty sure I -- or someone else -- dropped it into the toilet in my hostel room bathroom. The tablet's the same." (Tap on your nose.)
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"Sylvie found my papers clogging the toilet, so she threw them away."
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"Okay, good." There is a moment's silence. "But why were they there in the first place?"
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- "It must have been cramping my style."Remembered · 1
- "Someone from the Whirling threw it in the trash? I don't know. I'm boring."Remembered · 1
- "I think I didn't want to be a cop anymore."Remembered · 1
- "It has a.. foreboding quality to it. Maybe I needed to lose it, for the great bloodletting to begin..."Remembered · 1
- "It has a.. foreboding quality to it. I'm picking up dark vibes. Maybe I had to lose it?"Remembered · 2
- "Yeah, I still don't want to discuss it."Remembered · 1
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"Okay, no problem." He turns away to start organizing his own notes -- leaving you with yours.