estoria | « 004 ⇢ INTERLUDE004.EXE »

Entry tags:

!event,
!interlude

« 004 ⇢ INTERLUDE004.EXE »

Who: These suckers and E R R O R
When: OOC: 5/29, IC: 7/15
Where: CERES Research Tower and Beyond
What: It seems an old friend has decided the situation is progressing too slowly.
Rating/Warning: PG-13: Violence, injuries and inevitable deaths.

▶ ACTION.EXE | IC: 7/15

For those unlucky saps who disappear today, ranging from early in the morning towards the middle of the afternoon, well...they can't be reached by CereVice.

Any attempt to do so will bounce back the message User Currently Occupied.

It's an odd message, and one that's never been used by the CereVice. How strange. It's probably nothing though, right? No contact can be established between groups or from groups to outside people in Cerealia, whether by technology or magic. You're cut off from everyone but those in your groups, now.

Otherwise, all abilities will remain intact.

As for the people who do disappear, well... things get a little hairy really quickly.

▶ RUN.EXE | MOD NOTES

This is the event log for these sign-ups! Your groups have been sorted below; here are a few handy links for you:

Group 01 | OOC plotting
Group 02 | OOC plotting
Group 03 | OOC plotting
Group 04 | OOC plotting
Group 05 | OOC plotting
Group 06 | OOC plotting
Group 07 | OOC plotting
Group 08 | OOC plotting
Group 09 | OOC plotting
Group 10 | OOC plotting
Group 11 | OOC plotting
Group 12 | OOC plotting
Group 13 | OOC plotting
Group 14 | OOC plotting
There is no tagging order, so feel free to tag in whatever way works best for you as a group.

The characters should not ICly be gone longer than 5 hours -- if they survive, of course. There will be mod involvement in each of the threads.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask them here. Please try to avoid asking hypothetical questions (such as "What will happen if my character does [action]?") as that's part of the fun and risk of the interlude! You are welcome to plot with your groupmates in this post. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Only one way to find out!

[ Jaune kicks the suspected door with much force (he really wants to get in!). Does it break open or did he just embarrass himself? ]

[ He breaks it open! Revel in your victory, Jaune Arc.

The door slams to the ground of its hinges (those hinges must've been pretty old and rusty), stirring up a fine layer of dust, and letting them into the building.

In said building, all of the robots that had once been in standby mode look up at the same time, eyes training on Jaune.

Then they hold up the little stop signs. ]

[ Okay, so much for looking before you leap... Adrien's head is whipping over with Jaune's I'M A COOL GUY kick onto the door, as he flinches slightly in surprise. They were talking about going in, but that's sure... one way to go about it... He can't help the amused: ]

This is how we're going to solve all our problems when they come up, huh? Not that I'm really complaining.

[ God knows he just hits things whenever he's facing a particularly tough opponent. Who's judging? Since they've already come this far, he's making his way over to the now doorless doorway and peeking around the corner. ]

... They're kind of cute. [ He has to say that first, because they are. ] So, I guess we're just ignoring them?

[ This is the mondus operandi of Team Friendship: Weenies and Armories, after all. ]

[ The purple glow around her hand disappears when Clarke lifts her hands to her face, burying it against her palms with a deep breath. Really, she should be used to this, to reckless decisions like kicking down doors -- it reminds her a little too much of Bellamy or Miller, and while she wishes that she had both of them with her, it's a weird sort of comfort that the people with her can be compared to them.

When she hears the door hit the floor, Clarke looks up again, spotting all the robots as they all look at Jaune before lifting their signs. It's... unsettling, to say the least, and her worry creeps in ahead of anything else; their hats look reminiscent of police during her history classes, but they look out of place atop a mechanical head.

Pursing her lips, she looks around to see if there's anything else inside other than the robots. ]

As much as I want to say no and that we should listen to the warning, it's either this or the other tunnels, and we've already knocked the door down.

[ Clarke pauses, clearly considering something, before she calls out into the room -- she isn't sure if the robots are sentient, but- ] We're not here to hurt anyone, we're just looking for supplies or other people.

[ ...Yeah, they are kind of cute. Like, almost too cute not to take seriously, which seems to be what most of them want to do. Clarke's attempt to reach out to the robots seems well-intended, but do they respond?

He's on board with Adrien on this one. ]

They don't look that tough.

[ FAMOUS LAST WORDS? ]

I mean, unless they're hiding weapons underneath those hats or something...This place still looks pretty unused. Maybe it's an old security system.

[ Time for Team Good Ideas! Though it really should be someone else's turn by now. Since the robots don't seem to be antagonizing them further other than trying to stop them with cute little signs, Yosuke walks up to them to see if they react.

No?

Well...

Is it a bad idea to tap one on the head? Because that's what he's doing. Carefully, right? Just...a light tap. A gentle tap. The kind of tap that hopefully wouldn't get one of them to unleash a bazooka or something. But how careful can someone really be? ]

[ Holy shit, Jaune can't believe his kick worked! Though once they're inside, he quickly forgets about looking for certain facilities as he takes note of the robots all locking on to him.

It's a good thing he still has his weapons drawn. ]

Uh..... I dunno about you guys, but I have a bad feeling about this place.

[ Though he remains frozen for now (gotta obey the signs!), Jaune still glances around the room as Yosuke tries interacting with the stop-bots. Did the beeping come from the machines or something else? ]

No humans here, so that probably rules out food...

[ Clarke's words are ignored; it's hard to say if they didn't hear them, didn't process them, or just didn't care. Thankfully for Jaune, their attention shifts from him to the rule-breaker, aka Yosuke, as soon as he starts to walk towards them.

The robot he pokes hits him in the face with the stop sign. It's just a broken nose, it'll be fine. More importantly, the beeping suddenly stops as soon as he moves, and then there's the announcement. ]

Security breach.

[ The robots don't move, but they really don't have to, because that's about when the reinforcements arrive. And they look much less friendly, and they're all completely focused on Yosuke.

Way to not obey the rules of the road!! ]

Edited 2016-05-30 16:01 (UTC)

[Nico follows the group without saying much, looking like he wants to bang his head into the side of the building when Jaune just kicks the door down. Great, now they can't close it. Then Yosuke walks in, pokes one, and gets hit in the face.

The announcement gives him a bad feeling, one that doesn't get any better when the dogs show up.

Nico hasn't ever died here yet, and he's not afraid to because he knows you just come back (and hey, maybe he'll be able to see his father that way, who knows), but he still doesn't have any desire to actually experience it. With this group, he's thinking that it just might be a possibility because of the impulsiveness of a few people.

Since Yosuke doesn't have his summoned... whatever it was anymore, Nico moves forward to step in front of him protectively.]

Get back! [He holds his sword out at the ready, prepared to slash at anything that jumps at the group.]

Nico, no! [ Protective instincts? Yeah they're definitely kicking in now, even more than they had before; this might not be the Nico she knew, but the familiarity has her defenses kicking up higher than they might have been normally. Clarke moves with inhuman speed when she bolts for him, and while she'd like to inspect Yosuke's injury a little more, the addition of their new friends and Nico's own desire to look out for the group does not leave space to do that.

Robots mean electronics, right, and Clarke's never experienced a piece of machinery that likes being overloaded.

Lightning crackles across her fingertips, and while the others might feel the atmosphere in the room changing from the concentration of the electricity, Clarke's fully aware of the places she needs to direct her magic and where to not. The team, she knows, will be safe.

There's a quick mutter of thunder bomb for her required incantation before the lightning surges from her fingertips and towards the mechanical dogs to surround them, a desperate hope to fry their circuitry. ]

Aaaaahhh!!

[ Jaune screams as Yosuke is hit and prepares himself for combat until he hears Nico speak. ]

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

[ Damn it, he forgot that the guy is here with how quiet he's been. ]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHLIGHTNING--

--oh wait, that's from our side.

[ Clarke's correct; electronics don't like being overloaded at all, and a few of the robots go down with a sizzle, no longer functioning. They crumple to the ground with a clatter of metal on the ground, but the remainder lunge forward, and they're still going for the people who are ignoring the stop signs.

So Clarke and Yosuke are the target of the remainder of the dogs, and when they go, they are fast. In fact, unfairly so -- it's almost as if they glitch from one place to the next, and then one is latching onto Yosuke's leg with razor sharp metallic teeth, and the other is grabbing to Clarke's arm, biting into her wrist.

Her magic has taken out the majority of them, but there's a third dog coming towards them as well, the last one -- but this one's zeroing in on Nico. It's further away, though, so he might have just a moment to react. The others who didn't move are perfectly fine though. ]

[ Well, jesus christ, Cerealia sure went Cerealia very quickly. Jaune's screaming and Yosuke's hit in the face and now Adrien's left with the dilemma of: leave the dogs to them, or just respond to danger as he always does, secret identities be damned.

Maybe he would've left it if he had a weapon and the things weren't so fast, but as it stands he's only left to respond as quickly as he can. Plagg, sensing this, comes out of his hoodie and there's a very, very Cool Guy yell of— ]

Plagg, claws out!

[ —before bright light precedes a long silver staff extending to hit the dog latching onto Yosuke's leg (the closest one to Adrien), Mister Regular Weenie turns into Mister Embarrassing Catsuit Superpowered Weenie, holding that extra long staff in two hands. While also ignoring the rules of the road here, fuck your stop signs. ]

Thanks for reminding me why I'm not a dog person, tin cans!

[ It's a good thing that his suit's Very Sturdy, because those teeth look damn sharp. ]

[ Nothing should be just a broken nose. Okay, so it's not the worst thing that's happened to him, but the audible crunch and force of the hit is enough to make Yosuke stumble backwards, clutching his face. ]

Ow! Shit!

[ And there's blood, because faces are full of it! On his hands and probably going to ruin his shirt, too. ]

I thin' 's brok'n...damm't!

[ Well that sucks.

Except you know what sucks more? Mechanical dogs who are clearly there to be the muscle. Shit. Double shit. Yosuke's in a bit of shock when Nico steps forward and is a sword really going to do much damage? Even with its glowy thing? He considers taking a quick moment to cast Diarama on himself and at least stop some of the bleeding, but there doesn't seem to be time for that. Not when there's well-intended sparks in the air and a smell of ozone. Yosuke is, unfortunately Weak to Lightening, so while the attack isn't aimed at him, it definitely makes him a little dizzy, just for a second. A second is long enough. (Jaune's screaming really helps, too.) There's soon relief when the front line of mechanical dobermans goes down, but it lasts just about as long as that buzz from the electricity. ]

Gah!

[ There's no time for anyone who is, unfortunately, human to react to that. Yosuke is pretty fast, but not that fast. No way. So he goes down the second the dog grabs his leg. His shoulder hits the concrete awkwardly, a jolt of pain followed by numbness going into his arm. And those aren't regular dog teeth, either. They're a series of individual blades that go right through the material of his jeans and into his flesh. It hurts. He, understandably, shouts and grits his teeth. He tries to roll onto his back and slams his free foot into the face of the mechanical dog. ]

Dammit--

[ Lesson Learned: Don't hit the robot. Don't even remotely try to hit the robot. Armed with basically nothing, Yosuke tries to summon his Persona and the tarot cards starts to float down from the ceiling.

Then there's a flash of light and he pauses in his struggle long enough to be blinded by it and--

What...just happened...?

...

Is he wearing a catsuit? If he wasn't in so much pain, it would be funny. It would almost be funny. But you know what's not funny? Robo Fido chewing on his leg, he kind of needs that to walk. Here's hoping Adrie--er, Chat Noir's attack is effective. ]

[Nico catches the two dogs latching on to Clarke and Yosuke respectively, but he's a little too focused on the one that's coming at him to really notice what's going on with Adrien. He won't be able to help anyone if he gets taken out, so he stands his ground, looking for a place on the dog that he might be able to stab into and cut wires with since he's not sure how tough the dogs' metal hides are.]

[ It's a combination of things that triggers her often hidden vampirism; the pain of the teeth that latch onto her wrist, the abundance of blood that she can smell from Yosuke now that both his leg and nose are bleeding, and the fact that this is putting her under enough emotional distress to pull the reaction out of her. The veins around her eyes rise up, darkening to black beneath her skin, her eyes joining in the change of colour while her canines elongate themselves. It's almost instantaneous, the change in her face, and Clarke doesn't have any mental space to calm herself down and make it go away.

Instead, she redirects the energy into her hands, the first of which is occupied in the metal dog's mouth; that part is actually almost useful. Dragging it up with sheer force of the inhuman strength at her disposal, she brings the dog closer, one arm lightning quick around its neck before yanking her wrist away from its body; her intention is to take its head along with it. ]

OH MY GOD WHY IS EVERYONE TURNING INTO SOMETHING!!

[ Everyone is pretty fast with their counterattacks, so much that Jaune has confidence that they’ll deal enough damage. Instead, Jaune is prepapred to step in and shield the first person who manages to create distance between themselves and the robots after their attack. ]

[ Clarke's strength rips the dog's head right off; the body twitches for a moment before hitting the ground uselessly, no longer functional.

Adrien's staff hits the dog with a metallic clang, which is enough to get it to let go of Yosuke's leg (the bone is slightly fractured, alongside the lacerations) and turn its attention on Adrien. Fortunately, it's a guard dog. It's not that smart, so immediately it lunges for the staff, teeth latching on.

For Nico, he'll have a precious second to note that the dog's weak point appears to be its joints and neck, and then it's on him, lunging for whatever it can latch on; it'll try to jump and grab for the sword, but its metal teeth just screech right off. ]

[Nico is glad to see those sharp teeth slide off his blade; it's not replaceable if it gets broken somehow here. He pushes back against the dog with all his might to get it away from him, shoving with his foot too, and once it's back enough he has room to maneuver his sword, he's going for the neck, aiming to sever the thing's head from its body.]

Edited 2016-05-31 03:07 (UTC)

O-Okay, I-I can do this, nothing I haven’t done before, h-haha… haa… HAAAAAA—

[ As the dog latches on to Adrien’s staff, Jaune rushes at the creature with his shield, essentially slamming it against the wall. Now while the robo-dog is stunned, Jaune steps back and switches up to his sword, driving his weapon through the dog’s skull. ]

--AAAAHHH!!!

[ Oh. Well. The (apparently) fake ears on the top of his head twitch with the dog's focus now on him; at least its teeth now clenched tightly on Adrien's weapon means it's not munching on poor jrpg leg. Luckily Adrien doesn't have to think too long about how to deal with his Bow-wow accessory; Jaune's taking his worries away along with his staff and the dog when he charges.

and Adrien's yelling over Jaune's yelling: ]

Is it too late to say "Sorry I lied about the something-in-the-pocket thing"?!

[ HE'S SORRY. He'll run over to collect his staff and make sure that that strike of Jaune's finishes the dog and doesn't catch him off-guard, after a second-long glance behind him to check how everyone else is doing.

Everything happens so much. ]

[ Clarke's eyes lower to her wrist, and she's sure that it has a chance of being broken; it hurts like hell, but she can feel it healing itself already, muscle and tendon knitting back together, bone reforming. In comparison to many other things, it doesn't hurt as badly as it could, and with the smell of blood in the air, she imagines that Yosuke is worse off.

She looks over to catch sight of Adrien and Jaune finishing off one beast while Nico slices through the third. It takes her a moment, having to close her eyes and breathe deep through her mouth so that it isn't another deep smell of blood; it takes only two more of those deep breaths before her eyes and teeth return to normal. In the blink of an eye, she's next to Yosuke, her now healed hand on his wrist while the other strokes his hair back from his forehead in a very maternal gesture. ]

It's okay, you're going to be okay. [ The hand on his wrist travels down to his hand, holding it firmly in hers before she closes her eyes. All she can do is hope that the others have them covered while she concentrates hard on healing him, mending the broken bones in his leg and nose, skin sealing itself to be new again, repairing the damage that had been done. The spell will be a warmth that spreads through him, a brief numbness left behind as each part is healed. Only when she's sure that he's okay does she open her eyes to look up at him, smiling tentatively. ] See? Told you.

[ EVERYTHING HAPPENS SO MUCH.

Yosuke sighs in relief and let's his head fall back on the concrete with a THUD when the dog is moved off of him. His leg hurts like hell and he's bleeding and shit it's broken, he knows it is. He sprained his ankle once when he was a kid (he's 17, daddy, he's not a child anymore), and that hurt enough. But this is new and awful. The upside is it's painful in two places, so he can choose between which he wants to focus on. FUN!

But then there's Clarke, who is a literal angel right now. He's not really sure what to expect, though he'd gotten a glimpse of her healing powers earlier. There's surprise when he feels his bones quite literally realigning themselves, snapping back into place. He grits his teeth and bears it, because there's a calming warmth despite the sharp jolts of pain, followed by...well, a lot less pain. Numbness, for the most part, and generally being sore. But that's a helluva lot better than having your leg broken.

And face. That too. ]

...You're amazing.

[ He says with 100% sincerity. She is both the coolest and aweomest girl in the world right now. He winces a little as he moves to sit up, eyes wide. ]

Holy shit...you really did that, huh? [ He bends his previously injured leg, noting the blood soaked and torn jeans, stained on his skin, but...yeah. He can move it. And best of all? No bone poking through. Thank God. ] I'm not sure if "thanks" even covers it.

[ He looks up towards the rest of the group. It seems like they defeated the dogs.

You know. That Yosuke kind of summoned by being a dumbass. ]

...Sorry, guys. That...was totally my fault.

[Once Nico's dealt with the dog that was trying to attack him, he turns back to see if any of the others need help. He's a bit bewildered about why - is that Adrien? It has to be, he doesn't see him anywhere else - Adrien is suddenly in a catsuit, but he brushes it off in stride. That, and the fact that Clarke doesn't appear to be entirely human.

There's more important things to be worrying about, namely surviving.]

Everyone okay...? [Clarke's taking care of Yosuke and everyone else doesn't look like they're hurt, but it can't hurt to check and make sure.]

[ Jaune pulls the sword back out and stumbles a little before regaining his balance. Then he looks at the whole group, some of whom look completely different than how he remembers them from a minute ago. ]

So...... that was a thing.

[ what now? ]

Yyyeah. Turns out they were serious about their traffic safety — but I'm okay over here.

[ And he's still in his catsuit. He could let it drop, but given how unexpectedly they were friggen' mauled here, maybe it'd be better to keep it... considering "letting everyone know you wear a catsuit" isn't exactly a concern anymore. The night vision and animal senses should help him react faster... maybe.

With A Thing done (hopefully?), Adrien picks up his staff off the ground and shrinks it down to a more portable baton-size with a press of a button, clipping that on his lower back. His next steps are to move over to Yosuke and Clarke, kneeling down beside the former. ]

You two good?

[ that's some obvious concern in his voice. he'd caught the edges of clarke's healing (which was really cool, yes), but considering they'd both taken direct shots there... ]

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