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

[ 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... ]

Yeah, I'm fine. [ She holds her wrist up as proof, totally healed now aside from some drying blood that she rubs off against her jeans, clearly not too keen on letting it stick around.

Standing, she holds a hand out to Yosuke to help him as she takes a look around the room, seeing the destroyed guard dogbots. She'll help Yosuke once he takes her hand (if he does), but her eyes linger on the defeated robots. ]

We should probably check to see if they have any sort of internal chip that we can take with us for someone to look at. Memory, maybe? It wouldn't hurt to look before we keep going. [ She assumes they're going to continue inside the building, at least. ]

[ He does take her hand, not without leaving some of his dignity on the floor. This was a total mess that could've been avoided, huh? And if her abilities work at all similar to how he's used to that kind of magic working, she's had to give up some heavy spirit points for it. He's sheepish, a little less boisterous than earlier.

Once he's standing, he winces a bit, leg still sore in some parts, numb in others. Yosuke ends up keeping most of his weight on the leg that didn't end up being a dog toy. ]

...Me too, thanks to her. [ Gah, what should he even be calling her now? Something that sounds respectful. He looks down at the pile of what was once a mechanical dog. ] ...Kinda like a "black box" but on robots?

[ Looking back over his shoulder, Yosuke grosses his arms and narrows his eyes on the first robots they encountered. ]

...D'you think they can call anymore of those robo pooches?

It couldn't hurt to look. [He agrees, but he's not exactly sure what to look for, so he'll let someone else do the digging. He turns to Clarke to speak to her, now knowing that she's got some kind of healing ability.] If healing people is draining for you, don't worry about me if I get wounded. [He places a hand over the small bag of ambrosia he always carries in his pocket to make sure it's still there.] I have something I can take that will help me heal. Conserve yourself if you need to.

Edited 2016-05-31 06:07 (UTC)

[ Jaune chimes in with Nico's concerns. ]

Ditto that! I can kinda take a couple of hits, but... I'd rather not at all... h-heh....

[ Boy, does he have a million questions about Personas, fangs and catsuits, but he figures now is not the time. If anything, he's just thankful that this group of strangers he's been kidnapped with are all kind of amazing with what they can do. Yeah, Team Awesome! ]

I'm glad you're okay, Yosuke. And y'know what? If this is the worst that CERES has to throw at us, then we got this thing in the bag.

[ He just had to go and say that... ]

[ Jaune, don't jinx it........ Adrien'll smile in some show of relief to both Yosuke and Clarke's vocal okays, then he shifts to something a little more... sheepish... as the topic shifts into what they can or can't take. He rubs the back of his neck with a hand, and: ]

Er... The suit's kinda indestructible. Don't worry too much about me either.

[ Just a tad bit meekly, as if the explanation isn't something he's too used to giving in these kinds of circumstances (it isn't). Sayonara, super secret identity. He knew ye well. With that comment out of the way, however, he moves to stand and crouch near the nearest destroyed robo-pup, checking its circuity bits for anything useful as stated previously.

It isn't like he's a tech god but he can at least see if anything looks Different than the rest of it... ]

Let's try to find anything fast in case they can get more of these. I don't know about you guys, but Who Let The Dogs Out take two doesn't sound that fun to me.

[ Adrien isn't the first person she's met with some sort of secret or alternate identity; she's pretty unfazed by it, though the catsuit is a development she never saw coming.

When he moves to inspect one of the dogs, Clarke returns to the one whose head she had removed. Picking up said decapitated head, she pries her fingers into the circuitry before essentially pulling it open from the bottom, ripping the head in half as carefully as she possibly can. Granted, she's likely destroying some of the wiring, but at least if she can get a look inside, it means she can see if there's something worth salvaging in the others. ]

I have no idea what to look for. If our devices worked, I'd ask my friend Hiro, but-- [ That doesn't seem to be an option at the moment. Unfortunate.

While she looks through the head of the dog for anything relevant, she takes her device out as well to snap a few pictures on it of the internal wiring of the dog; if she can't manage to take it all back with her, at least she can get a few photos to show the others. ] Can everyone do me a favour and take pictures of the room? Anything that seems like it might be worth remembering.

[ For as grateful as he is for all their concern, Jaune is totally testing their luck with one of the biggest movie tropes ever. He can't help but cringe. ]

Dude, don't say that...

[ The last thing they need is an extra dose of bad luck. Yosuke's counts for at least two of them alone, you know.

He's curious what exactly Nico is hiding in that sack and why, exactly, Adrien's super suit has to make him feel like he's walked into a fetish club, but he's feeling sheepish enough no to be too snarky. At least that works out in everyone else's favor.

When Clarke asks for pictures, though, Yosuke seems to perk up a bit. A way to be useful, maybe? ]

Uh, yeah, sure.

[ He pulls his CereVice out of his pocket, surprised more that it wasn't totally destroyed when he landed on it. Looking around, he snaps a few pictures, making a face at the robots with the stop signs as he walks past them, careful not to test his healed leg too much. Though...he looks towards the direction the dogs had come. ]

You think there's a second wave of security if the first one fails? [ A beat. ] ...And they attacked to kill. What are they hiding that's worth killing someone over? And why put us down here if they don't want anyone to find it?

[ Inside the dog's head is a... brain? Actually, yeah, it's a completely real brain similar to that of a real dog. There are obvious wires threaded throughout the organ and it'll ooze bright blue blood onto Clarke but the answer there is obvious: these were real dogs. Sort of. Good job, you guys! You killed a bunch of puppies!

But Clarke will find, if she digs around a bit, a small chip that is clearly the harddrive embedded deep in the brain. Time to get a bit messy.

As for Yosuke's concerns, while valid they don't seem to be happening yet. The security robots from earlier still hold up their stop signs and watch the group's movements but they haven't called any reinforcements. Yet. Take a breather, everyone. Round two starts later. ]

Auughggaghhh-- that's got to be the grossest thing I've ever seen, i-is that, that's a real-- oh, yeah, nope, that's just-- oh my god, that's disgusting.

[ .........quietly takes a snap of Clarke and robo-dog brains. ]

Yeah, I dunno if Hiro dabbles into... this field.

You know Hiro? [ It's only really said in passing, and there's a sudden lightness to her voice; she's always happy to meet people that know those she feels are important to her.

But she can't linger on that fact for too long because, well, that's disgusting.

Clarke can see the wiring running all throughout the brain, and while it's actually a little bit gross, even by her standards, she knows that the wiring has to go somewhere. So- Digging she goes. The noises are unpleasant as she works her fingers in to rifle around for something that the wiring connects to, and- Ah. There. It's smaller than she was anticipating when she yanks it out from within the brain, but it's something and that's enough for her. At least killing them wasn't all for nothing, right?

With one chip in hand and placed carefully into her bag, she gets up and- Goes for the others? Geeze, Clarke, isn't one enough? The answer is no. She rips open two more for their chips as well, and by the time she finishes, her hands are covered in blue blood and she has three chips safely tucked in her bag.

Manoeuvring a little awkwardly, she pulls her jacket off to wipe her hands off before stuffing it into her bag alongside whatever else it is she keeps in there. ]

At the risk of being morbid, if anything happens to me down here, just take my bag with you as you keep going. These chips need to make it back to the city.

[ When he glances over and sees Clarke's little brain discovery, a hand goes up to cover his mouth, feeling just a little queasy all of a sudden................. Oh god. Just because he's in a cat outfit doesn't mean he wants dead dogs, Cerealia, what the hell.

... He can... do this....! Just so, you know, Clarke has less brain to search through, and he's in front of a dog anyway. The ears on top of his head flatten a tad as he cracks open the skull of robo-pooch just as Clarke searches through the others, finding one (1) chip and tucking that into the pocket of his suit with a wince and taking his own pictures with the baton on his back (which reveals a screen as he slides it open) before he stands.

Mmmmmoving on. ]

Okay... But we're all going to make it out.

[ As he shakes his hands slightly. Look at this (kind of dulled by gross events but still trying sincerely) optimism, even though all the other groups are doing SO WELL!! ]

Maybe whoever put us down here... I mean, whoever made this stuff would be CERES. And there was that robot I think I saw driving the not-candy van... They're not the same, right? [ He shakes his head. ] Er, anyway, time to go deeper in?

[ ROUND TWO!!!

He's going to make his way to whatever opening/door there is present in this big ol' murder building!! While still wiping his hands of the blue blood on his gloves, and keeping his senses very active in preparation for whatever other horror this place feels like throwing at them. AAAHHHH. ]

[There's a problem with the blue blood, admittedly, though it will take a little bit for it to kick in, so they can keep going for now! The robots seem very distressed that they're not obeying the stop signs, but the back up muscle is gone, so there's not a lot they can do about it.

The door Adrien goes to won't be locked, either, so they'll be able to enter the hall and see that it leads to another three doors (one ahead, one to the right, one to the left) before the blue blood problem...well, kicks in.

Clarke and Chat Noir both are going to find that very suddenly, their powers are just...going to go awry. For Chat Noir, it will be his cataclysm -- and it's going to be used on Jaune (because he has terrible luck anyway), whatever that'll do. For Clarke, she'll find that her vampirism is going to kick in in a very strong way, to the point where she'll have trouble retaining her humanity and emotions. ]

[ Boy is it a good thing that he didn't stick his hands in the dog heads. What a weird sentence that is.

Yosuke cast some visible suspicion to the robots as they passed them, but he's glad that they were left alone. The urge to steal one of the signs on a matter of principle is there, but he's learned his lesson.

The new area doesn't look anymore welcoming than the last, and, of course, they're presented with a few options. Standing at the apex, Yosuke crosses his arm with a frown. ]

...Looks like we're gonna have to pick a road or split up.

[ Oh... Lots of routes, huh. With Yosuke's suggestions, Adrien almost raises a hand up to his chin in thought... before he recalls just what that's coated in, and he refrains. With a little jolt and a slight look of "blech", of course. ]

We don't know what's in here... Sticking together's our safest bet.

[ Rule number one of horror movies? Don't split up. And also don't say "we'll be fine!" which they didn't listen to anyway, so why do they even bother. That "we'll be fine!!" is likely why the following is happening: Adrien can't explain it, but when he stops right beside Jaune, he places a totally reassuring bro hand on his shoulder. And he wants to play off that awkwardness with a "so, uh, hey, so what do you think Jaune?" except it's very hard to when the black ring on that hand suddenly pulses with a dark energy, which then seems to move right into McUnfortunate.

Considering the look that crosses Mister Catsuit then, that's not a good thing.

So, enjoy the pain and feelings that come with rotting from the inside out, Jaune! It's as if he's decomposing, like a corpse, but rather quickly—and Adrien jolts back, leaning against the wall with an expression of absolute horror. He looks at his ring, then at the affected Jaune. From his ring: a quiet, high pitched beeeep

Mirroring the flatlining happening in Adrien's head right now, probably. ]

Wait... Wait, I didn't—

[ Hardly audible. ]

Eh, what’re you so worried about? Did you see how we handled that before?

[ They could totally split up if they wanted to. However, before Jaune can say anything else, he begins coughing a little. It seems like nothing at first, but the coughing intensifies as he falls down to his knees and… vomits. Living up to his name as vomit boy, truly. ]

Ughh… s-sorry guys, I think I’m still kinda grossed out by…

[ He looks down at his puke and it’s… red. That’s not good. What follows after isn’t that great either as starts to feel like he has broken glass inside him. ]

A-Ahggh...

[ Her humanity is a switch, you see. One that she can turn on and off if she ever felt the need, and while the temptation had been a big one in the Drabwurld, she always found a reason to keep her humanity in tact, to always want to stay herself; Katherine had given her a warning, that if she ever flipped that switch, it would make her remorseless. She would kill people, she would like it, and when her humanity eventually crept its way back in, she would spend the rest of her immortality with the guilt of it. Ignoring the switch is normal, and she often forgets it exists; it's better that way.

She can't ignore it now.

It feels a little like the tide, barely pushing against the switch, an ebb of her emotions; it feels like numbness, like nothing in the best way. Missing people from the Drabwurld, from home, missing Jason, worrying about Bellamy and how their relationship might turn out, her upset about her immortality: all of it just falls away. It's brief, though, because as quickly as her humanity left, it returns again, like a jolt from too-cold water.

She's okay, she reminds herself, she's okay. Instead of lingering, she forces herself to answer Yosuke's question.

(There's a brief whisper of split up, of take Yosuke with you, you smelled his blood, you know how good it would be-) ]

Adrien's right, we should stay together. [ Her head is swimming in the worst way, and something smells off, smells rotten, like decay, and when Jaune vomits right near them, it's obvious. It's ruining her appetite, and- No, okay, the smell is concerning, not what sort of effect it's having on her. Focus, Clarke.

The panic that's starting to rise in others doesn't actually reach Clarke. In fact, she's eerily calm about it as she steps closer to him, reaching into the bag at her side as she crouches down at his side. She could just bite into her wrist, but she imagines that she'd have to do some compulsion to get him to drink that, and she's not really looking to have to explain that side of her abilities to anyone. Instead, she pulls out a vial of dark red liquid (it's blood, it's definitely blood) from her bag, a cork stopper holding it shut, and holds it out to Jaune once she uncorks it. ]

You smell like death. Drink this. [ Empty. She feels empty. ] It should keep you alive. [ Should. She makes no promises right now, not when she can feel her humanity switch being toyed with. ]

[Nico keeps an eye out for any other trouble while the others poke at the dogs. He grimaces once he gets a glimpse of what's inside of them, but doesn't say anything.

As they move on, he also agrees they should stick together and he's about to voice his support for that, but before he can, he frowns and turns back when he hears Jaune getting sick.

He's about to ask if Jaune is okay, but instead he freezes and stares at the blonde, eyes widening as he's startled by how he can feel Jaune's life aura dimming.

Something is very very wrong but Clarke's picked up on it too and she seems to be the most qualified medic of the group, so Nico just stands back and lets her do her work, apprehensive. What caused Jaune to suddenly get so ill?]

[ Stick together it is. A part of him--a big part of him--wishes Yu were there, even if he wouldn't really want his best friend to have to deal with this. Yu holds up under pressure and makes the best decisions for the team. He'd really like his input right now.

But the next thing he knows Adrien is pulling backwards and Jaune is throwing up. Yosuke jumps a step back. ]

D-Dude, what the hell??

[ What made him spew all of a sudden? Nico maybe be able to sense that something is horribly off, but Yosuke's decidedly in the dark. His gaze snaps back from Jaune to Adrien, who looks pale and..."I didn't" what? And what in the world is Clarke giving him? It's a dark red vial and, maybe because he's seen so much of his recently, his eyes widen when it clicks. ]

--Is that blood?

[ Okay, this just went from "No thank you this place is weird" to "Oh HELL no". Adrien looks shocked and Jaune is sick out of no where and despite her magical healing powers Clarke is turning all occult on them? What is even going on? ~~Everything is happening so much.~~ Yosuke shakes his head and takes a few steps away, holdings his hands in the air as he backs up towards the entrance of the center door, putting some distance between himself and the others for a second. What if Jauen's infected with something?? ]

Okay, hold up! What just happened? [ His gaze shifts to Adrien, frowning. ] You flipped out! You know what's going on, don't you?

[ Whether it's the strange vial or Jaune's unexplored Semblance powers, the feeling like his insides are eating him has subsided for now. Has it stopped completely? He's not sure, but he's not healing as fast as he should and that's worrying enough. How could he have run out of Aura so fast? It's as if he suddenly used every bit he has of it just to survive a mortal blow. Not to mention he feels weirdly different after drinking from that vial, which he's about to thank Clarke for until Yosuke hammers down on Adrien.

Jaune knows that look of guilt that he sees on Adrien, it's the same one Pyrrha had when she lost control of her powers and nearly killed Jaune. Worse yet, she eventually ended someone's life due to outside forces interfering with her mind and abilities. Jaune has to wonder if the same thing is happening here, and if it is, then he needs Adrien (and the group) to know that this isn't the boy's fault. ]

--it's fine. I-I'm fine. I'm not... it's not contagious, so don't worry.

[ That's all he'll say. There's a sharp pain in Jaune's insides as he pushes himself up, quietly realizing that he's probably on borrowed time for the rest of this trip, unless they miraculously find a hospital here. He might not make it out alive, but he's going to make damn sure that his friends do. So, he keeps it to himself as he staggers forward, just sort of choosing the middle door by default. ]

C'mon, we need to keep moving...

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