Awake in Olaiya Fanfare Forum

The cafeteria in Olaiya, centrally located, serves as a significant communal gathering spot for residents. Its ambiance is tense due to the presence of guards, emphasizing Olaiya's overarching power dynamics. Large tables accommodate residents, fostering interactions under surveillance. The cafeteria is vital for socializing, albeit discreetly due to guards. Symbolically, it's a nexus for daily life, alliances, and vulnerabilities, encapsulating Olaiya's intricate social fabric and surveillance

Purple Pills The metallic purple-tasting pill turns Nat’s stomach. She isn’t sure why, but she can’t help wondering if the pills are harming her. But if they’re harming her, why is she required to take them every night? This community is constantly talking about health, so why would they want to harm the units in Building 8? Nat feels a tremendous amount of anxiety about whether she should take them or not. It’s harder to keep her mouth shut and to keep her feelings from showing on her face when she isn’t taking purple, and it's already hard enough for her to avoid the attention of the guards. How can she manage daily life without them?

The Garden in Building 8 requires both a passcode and a fingerprint scan. But if you can look past the tight security, the multi-floor garden is beautiful, full of light and growing food. Beyond being beautiful and helping to keep the Oliaya community fed, Nat has figured out that if you can find a section where no one else is working, you might be able to talk or ask questions without being overheard by the miniature microphones that most everyday rooms have. Most days it's about as close to the outside as someone from Building 8 can get, and to Nat, that feels a little like freedom.