« 004 ⇢ INTERLUDE004.EXE »

[reparator]

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!

Comments

[reparator]

[ With Athena not suplexing or shoving it away, the poor robot is finally able to finish its designated task.

It plucks the books from her arms and shuffles off to put them away.

Yeah that's all it's for. ]

[psycholawgy]

[ ... it's. ]

It's a librarian? [ she blinks curiously, following the thing. ] H- Hey! We wanna borrow some books! [ in fact, she goes to grab another now and waves it in front of the robot's face. then she opens it up to a random page, points at it, then points to her eyes.

maybe it understands actions more than words. because if it doesn't lbr she'd just grab a ton again and run off.

(sorry in advance.) ]

[feytality]

[Okay but did the robot notice Maya totally shoved books in her kimono too...]

[But she feels a little silly now that they realized what the robot is actually for.]

Whew.... I guess it just wanted its books back. Maybe we need to get a robo card!

[Maya mostly just watches to see how it responds to Athena, now]

[unpreparer]

[You know... he's tempted to just kill the thing on principle now.

But, he refrains, simply watching. Totally going to wipe the thing from existence before they leave though.]

[reparator]

[ The robot seems very unhappy when Athena grabs another book, reaching for it to try to put it back.

It's single-minded here! ]

[psycholawgy]

[ damn you, robot!!! athena takes a few steps back before she decides to just bonk the stupid robot on the head.

hard. ]

What's the point of putting things on display if you can't touch them?! Stupid thing! I thought you were cute, too!

[ to her group, she nods towards the door. maybe lillydan can blow it up. ]

Grab as many as you can and head over there! [ and make sure you're fast, because athena sure is grabbing a couple more books now and then cheesing it. ]

[feytality]

[Well....... Maya's going to stuff as many books as she can in her kimono, carry a bunch in her arms, and takes off after Athena, running]

Sounds like a plan! Let's hoof it before we get get shushed to death!

[get it... because it's a library...]

[unpreparer]

[Nope. Illidan is not running from some malformed hunk of twisted metal. Instead he takes his glaive and slams it down ontop of the thing's head, seeing if he could manage to cleave the stupid robot in two.

Yeah, see what happens when you ignore him. Stupid robot.]

[reparator]

[ Rude.

The glaive sure does cut it in half! It lets out a horrible, high-pitched shriek when that happens too, before crumpling to the ground in a pile of twisted metal.

And then the doors slam shut. Throwing everything they've got at them, but those doors aren't going to open now. ]

[psycholawgy]

Eek!

[ she manages to stop in her tracks before the doors slam on her. it doesn't help that she's in a lot of pain from that robot screech, too. ugh...

she looks back at the group. ]

Uh oh. . . D- Don't worry! With the robot out of the way, we can keep looking around and take as much as we can! [ yeah!!! gotta keep positive here. they're not stuck!!!

she tucks the books back in her court record (wherever that is. thanks hammerspace.) and walks around to try and find another exit. that's when she notices the desk. it's definitely clean, and not dusty... and she only proves this when she traces a finger on its surface.

somebody else has been here before they have. ]

1/2

[feytality]

Oooh...

[HER EARS!!! OW!!]

2/3 I lied

[feytality]

[and then she's rounding on Mr. Tall Dark and Slicey]

Hey! What did you do that for? [HUFFS AT LILLYDAN!!!] The robot was just doing its job! It didn't do anything wrong!

[robot activist Maya Fey]

[feytality]

[And the doors are slamming shut.... She's got a bad feeling about this]

O-Oh... there's gotta be another way out...

[making her way over to the desk, but she's going to actually start flipping through a flamine book to see what it says]

[unpreparer]

[The robot clearly started it, he simply finished it. He is unrepentant.

Even with the high pitched screeching he doesn't outwardly show it bothered him at all, really he's been in a lot worse pain than that before, this was simply an annoyance.

Even when all the doors slam shut he doesn't seem bothered at all.]

If you think it would let us out of here without becoming hostile you are incredibly naive.

[And just the sheer amount of how much he did not care about that robot's right to exist...]

[reparator]

[ That sure is an un-dusty desk, Athena's right. The drawer's locked, but only with a simple, easy to break into lock, if she wants to go that way.

Otherwise, it's a pretty unremarkable desk. If anyone was doing any work there, they seem to have taken it home with them. ]

[psycholawgy]

[ athena's never picked a lock before. it's definitely not something you study as a lawyer, which is why she turns to the rest. ]

I smell something important in here...

[ no time like the present, anyway!!! if she learned how to pick locks, maybe phoenix would be prouder of her and even give her a raise!!! this is the worst kind of logic. no lawyer should learn how to pick locks. look for a key like a proper citizen, athena.

she unpins her attorney's badge from her lapel and inserts the pointy part into the keyhole and starts wiggling it. but if that doesn't work, then she moves to the side to give the others a chance at it. ]

[feytality]

[Maya gives another huff at Lillydan, but she's quickly distracted by breaking into things. Luckily (??), Maya does know how to pick locks, (the little degenerate) so if Athena can't manage it, she'll take a good crack at it herself.]

If it's locked up, it's gotta be important! Maybe it'll even get out of here! Lesee....

[With any luck, this thing will get open]

[And hopefully nothing else shady is going on in the background]

[unpreparer]

[Illidan heaved a sigh and began to pace, nine steps one way, then turning to pace nine steps back. He was never one for being patient, and now the idea of being captive was getting to him.

Well, might as well initiate productive conversation.]

You two have been reading the books have you not? What did you discover?

[reparator]

[ Athena, please, what do you think this is, a movie?

That sure doesn't work, but Maya's attempts are slightly more successful.

And what's locked up in there is a small, slim book. Opening it up will show that it appears to be a ledger.

Also, as soon as that drawer is opened, something happens to their code. It's subtle, at first -- just the slightest of blips, a moment in which their vision tilts and their fingers go a little fuzzy, and then they're back to normal. ]

[psycholawgy]

[ she's defended an orca with the legendary phoenix wright!!! at this point, anything is possible!!

but woah-- that sure was weird??? it's like she's on a boat that started rocking. she places a palm on her forehead quickly, trying to gather her bearings. ]

Ugh... What was that? [ a beat, and she blinks again. everything seems normal now. ] Did you guys say something?

[ because she clearly missed it. ]

[feytality]

Ah....

[That is definitely odd, and Maya blinks rapidly, bracing herself on the desk.]

I... just felt weird all of a sudden....

[In dazed response to Athena. Maya also seems a little out of it.]

[But, as her senses come back to her, she suddenly jolts upright and makes a snatch for the ledger, to take a better look at it, and anything else inside the drawer]

Got it! Whatever this is!

[unpreparer]

[He was distracted from his initial question by the odd fluctuation, then by the little one's... absolutely useless proclamation. "Whatever this is". Really. He wanted to know whoever it was that forced him to work with these tiny abominations and shake them.]

Adjectives are not your strong suit are they?

[He shook his head and glanced around.]

Regardless I suggest we find a way out. With whatever security measures they have activated I suspect it is not long until something is sent to "take care" of us.

[notsosolo]

Sudden vertigo.

[Something isn't right about that.]

A financial ledger could tell us more than you'd think... but let's look at it elsewhere.

[He does know when it's time to come up with a plan for getting back out]

[reparator]

[ As the one holding onto said ledger, Maya's going to have the worst of the symptoms; for a moment, she'll be fine, and then the vertigo strikes again, and she glitches again --

And then she's not there anymore.

The ledger clatters to the ground in that room, but Maya is glitched out for a full ten minutes. She'll be stuck in the Nexus Code for that period of time, before she glitches back into Cerealia proper.

She's alive, at least! But she will have some major issues with vertigo for the next 2 IC days, as well as seeing everything in the colony occasionally fade out into code before fixing itself properly.

The others are left with that ledger on the floor. ]

[psycholawgy]

Eeeeek! [ it's an even louder screech from before, too. sorry, illidan. sorry, han.

athena covers her mouth for a moment as she kneels down on the floor next to the ledger. haunted ledeger? DEFINITELY. or at least, that's what she thinks, anyway. this is terrible, though! her imagination is vivid as it is, and it's definitely going places, thinking about what could have happened to maya. they're all not very good thoughts, either.

she thinks maya's dead.

fuck! not that she thinks of that word exactly, but her hands are shaking as one makes its way to touch the ledger, but her courage is interrupted by another thought. ]

Miss Maya wouldn't want us to go the way she did... [ her voice is weak, but only grows stronger by the second. ] We have to get out of here alive. All three of us, together. Nothing will be able to stop us if we all put our brains and will-power together.

[ her hand that was about to touch the ledger makes way for her necklace instead, clicking on it once before it flashes once. she's definitely not going to touch the haunted ledger, but at least she's able to take a picture of the page and whatever numbers are on it. ]