the way the board speaks allows a lot of meta commentary about the game because of the use of constant alternatives as it tries to define undefinable things. it's cool, but it's also just genuinely funny because it lets the game instruct you directly in a way that would normally come off as "cringe video game speak" but in context perfectly fits in with the world
fighting through a maze of liminal spaces mixed with doctor strange-esque geometric collision effects with metal blasting in the background makes for a fucking excellent gameplay sequence. remedy you are genius
ptsd makes me super scared of the dark like an absolute child so the AWE dlc is scaring me pretty badly!!!!! yet i feel like an absolute dumbfuck for being scared of what is essentially slenderman with scoliosis
There is a cat in the Panopticon control room. This is not the actual problem; the department heads aren't living at the Oldest House since the Hiss were finally cleared out, but they're still on-site enough that Jesse finally told Langston to bring in Alfred. She knows, vaguely, that therapy pets are a thing and is considering if having a companion who won't judge him for anything but forgetting mealtimes might be good for Dylan. Neither of them has ever had a pet before, but maybe she can get Langston to bring Alfred to the executive sector for an introduction.
No, the problem is not that there's a cat. The problem is that there are two cats and they look exactly the same.
"Hey, Langston, Alfred is only one cat, right?"
Langston looks up from the monitors with confused frown.
"Of course there's only one Alfred. He's a very special cat, you know—"
"Paranatural entity special? Because this is definitely two cats."
His eyes land on the pair of cats curled together in a furry ball on a chair and he pauses. Both cats are sleek shorthairs, mostly black with white patches in their fur.
"Alfred?"
Both cats meow.
"Oh dear."
"I was, uh, going to ask if you'd mind bringing Alfred up to meet Dylan. Might get him a cat if he likes it?"
"Sure," Langston agrees faintly. "It'd probably be good for him to have a friend that can't understand the rumors."
"That's what I was thinking. Find out if he likes cats and then...."
Langston nods in understanding. He's focusing on Dylan's situation to avoid thinking about the cats. Jesse suspects he might be in shock a little bit; no matter how much he sees as supervisor of the Panopticon and acting head of Containment Langston is also a very doting cat dad.
As much as he protests formally taking the position, filling all the lower level positions is hard enough without trying to find someone qualified to take over for the last guy—Jesse never got their name and, like Darling, they never appeared as a Hiss abomination. Unlike Darling there aren't a dozen after school specials laying around the Oldest House to tell her anything. No one talks about the former head of Containment, so presumably their death was a messy one. They still haven't replaced Marshall either, so Arish is acting head of Operations on top of being the new head of Security. Raya is perfectly happy to be left alone in her threshold doing research now that she doesn't have to deal with Darling's condescending memos and they didn't find any other scientists competent enough to challenge Emily's appointment as head of Research. All told, Jesse has appointed half of her command staff by now and they've actually cleared out the Hiss well enough to start hiring. That would be easier if they hadn't lost the vast majority of HR as well.
In all honesty, their cat situation is much easier to deal with: introduce Dylan to Alfred the Cats and go from there. Langston holds out his arms and one of the Alfreds jumps into them; Jesse picks up the other Alfred.
