⇨ POLARIS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Days 102 - 109
Where: Polaris
What: With the Ringmaster kidnapped and the rest of the carnival imprisoned, characters find themselves at the mercy of a Winter Fae called the Mother of Invention.
Warnings: Graphic experimentation in places.

TRIALS & TRIBULATION↴ After a day of cleansing and processing, where all the belongings and attire of their old lives are stripped away and replaced with something newer and more form fitting, the former members of the carnival will find themselves let loose into the Farm for the first time. A sizable green area, filled with orchards growing inorganic looking fruits and field ready for tending, the Farm is where they will be spending their days for the forseeable future. Food and drink are no longer needed, and so every day is an endless cycle of work. Technicians are seen only when necessary, and when being taken from your place of work to your lonesome cells at night. Every day, there are new postings on the "Production Board", where various dire sound scientific trials ask for subjects. The majority won't be forced, at least not yet, but the system is at work to push its participants to the brink and force their hand. After all, volunteers make the best subjects. ► PRODUCTIVITY: As explained elsewhere, characters will be forced to compete to attain enough Productivity Point to be considered Satisfactory. There are literally not enough points to go around for everyone to attain this, which means that at least some people will be deemed "Below Expectations" by the end of the first four-day cycle. What this means has yet to be discovered, but the Technicians have grimly warned against it. Productivity involves many tasks, including orchard picking, tilling, planting, harvesting, watering, maintenance, and more. Any task you can think of that would take place on a plantation is applicable here. Beyond that, the Production Board awaits you, offering precious Productivity Points in exchange for your cooperation. How you become Satisfactory is up to you, but it's every person for themselves. Only one person can turn in the credit for harvesting or preparing fields, and while you can certainly try to help others by letting them take credit for your work, it's a sure fire way to fall behind the herd, especially if you are already in a low Classification. Fruits and fields will miraculously grow overnight, and will be ready for a new day when you are. You've been told not to eat anything you harvest, but right now you aren't hungry anyway. ► POLARIS BY NIGHT: During the night, you are left alone to your thoughts and maybe an annoying roommate. Solo or in pairs, the entire night will be spent in small sleep pods, as shown on the locations post. Is it possible to sneak out? It doesn't seem like it is, but who is to say? The real question is if you want to dare to try. There is one hour of rest before and after seven hours of darkness. Even if you don't usually have to sleep, you'll find yourself oddly weary and inclined to rest. Supernaturally, almost. ► PARTICIPATION: Sometimes participation in experimental trials is manditory, sometimes it isn't. You are free to handwave your character having been pulled aside for minor examinations, such as blood tests or aura scans. Each time, you will be pulled into a separate part of the station and analyzed by a Technician and heavily automated machinery. Anymore more complex than basic check-up level tests will be posted about in a section called "TRIALS" in the body of the post below.

Comments

[periphrasing]

Wow thanks Lambert! She definitely needed the extra dose of paranoia!

The look she shoots over her shoulder at him definitely conveys as much, at least. The tuft on her tail poofs out momentarily with her alarm, for the split second before she realizes that he's the only present that's doing any messing with people. "I'm not going to sleep," she says stubbornly, looking back at the door. "I refuse to. And if I do fall asleep, I'll just fall asleep here on the floor, and then they'll wake me up if they try to walk in."

[whattaprick]

"I'm pretty sure they could just step over you." And despite the grimness of their situation, and where they've come from, Lambert can't keep the humor out of his voice at imagining that.

[periphrasing]

"My amazing hearing will alert me to their arrival before they can even try!" Peridot hisses. Just let her delude herself into feeling better, OK Lambert?

[whattaprick]

Lambert laughs, quietly. At least Peridot’s fighting instincts seem to be in good shape. More than he can say of some people.

“Hmm, guess I can sleep better knowing you’re on the watch,” he muses.

[periphrasing]

"Tch," is her reply, and she thumps her tail on the floor just once as if to say damn straight.

"Have you gathered any information that might assist us in escaping this pit?" she asks after a moment, still blandly staring at the door.

[whattaprick]

"Nothing you probably haven't already figured out yourself." Lambert shrugs, looking up at the ceiling.

"There isn't actually enough work around the farm for all of us working on it every day, so anyone who's slow is already guaranteed to lose chances to make up productivity. They're obviously doing whatever they can to make us take trials, not interested in actually giving us a chance to prove ourselves. The whole thing's set up so if you're already behind, you're going to fall farther, so they're clearly anticipating some of us to fail." Okay, so it's not exactly a way 'out,' but ... it kind of helps knowing that failure is the expected and even systemically enabled outcome, right?

"The farm replenishes itself every day. But if you modify tools to make them more useful, those modifications stay." And ... he pauses. Quieter. "The place has ventilation, but nothing like a maintenance hatch to get into. You'd have to be an ant or smoke to slip through."

[periphrasing]

"The modifications stay?" Peridot asks, scooting around to face him again. "Why didn't I think of testing that? Do the tools stay in the same place, or does it seem like someone moves them?"

Because if the Technicians leave the Farm mostly untouched, if they can somehow hide or stockpile equipment in there... that would be very good to know.

[whattaprick]

"Seems like they stay in the same place. Haven't tried making anything that wasn't related to the work, though, so I couldn't say." Mostly because he hasn't had time. He gets the gist of what Peridot is thinking, though.

[periphrasing]

"If I could call up my gauntlet for a second," she hisses, low enough so that hopefully the cameras can't hear her. She's staring at her right hand while she says it. "I have so many tools that could break us out of here in a nanosec if I could just access them..."

[whattaprick]

Lambert frowns, crossing his arms. Sure, breaking out would be nice and all that, but he can't say there's a great deal of appeal to it. He stirs himself so he can start padding over to Peridot, hunkering down so he's crouched and at her eye level.

"Do you also know where we're going to go once we're out of here, how you're going to take the rest with us, or how we're going to avoid being captured again?" he wants to know, voice low and serious. "I hate all this as much as you do. But the Ringmaster's not around to help us out of this one. We need a better plan."

[periphrasing]

Peridot flattens her ears back, teal rushing to her cheeks as she frowns uncomfortably. "Well... Not exactly," she admits, swishing her tail back and forth. She looks kind of indignant, quickly changing track back to the defensive. "I'm not an idiot, I wouldn't get my tools out just to rush the first technician I see. But we need to gather information and start planning somehow, don't we?"

[whattaprick]

“Well,” Lambert begins, “You have these things in your head called eyes...”

[periphrasing]

She promptly fixes him with the most unimpressed glare she has ever given him in this life or any other.

"Oh! Sure, yeah, let me just use my eyes to try to see into areas that are off limits! And while I'm at it, I'll also use them to stare through solid metal walls and locate Ignatius, AND record private conversations between technicians! Because that's totally a thing that EVERYONE'S EYES CAN DO, ESPECIALLY MINE!"

The nice thing about being constantly worried about being overheard, is that it means Peridot can't actually yell in her obnoxious voice like she normally would. She's just whisper-shouting, at the moment.

[whattaprick]

You tried, Peridot. Lambert just laughs at her outburst, happy for the much needed distraction from their current woes.

“All right, I guess you’d need ears too.” He shrugs, crossing his arms. “Seems like some people think sucking up to them’s the way to go. Make yourself look good out there on the farm, maybe get a shot at moving up.”

And now a considering glance at Peridot. “They were asking questions when we came in. How’d you do?”

[periphrasing]

Peridot makes a derisive snorting noise, which is a pretty clear indicator of how she feels about the whole 'sucking up' method that some people are using.

"They got as far as asking me where I saw myself in the future. I told them that ideally, I'd like to imagine myself as far away from this place as possible, once I've razed it to the ground and obliterated both the Huntsman and the Mother of Invention from existence," she crisply replies.

[whattaprick]

Lambert can't help but snicker.

"That's a nice fantasy. Hold on to that." Because they have precious little enough to keep them going as it is.

"But you're right," he goes on, a bit more serious. "We need to start thinking about what to do next. We don't even know where this place is ... but we know we can't stay."

[periphrasing]

She nods in agreement. "That's why I want access to my tools. If I can achieve that, I should be able to engineer some sort of device to help gather more data on the layout of this place. We need something that can go beyond the boundaries that hinder us, to collect information on the things they don't want us to see."

[whattaprick]

Lambert's expression suggests he isn't entirely sold on this plan, but he doesn't necessarily have anything better in mind, either.

"The vents are pretty narrow," is what he'll start with, frowning. Constructive advice, at least. "I don't think you'll get far trying to get anything there." More information, though, isn't a bad thing.

"Are you taking any trials?"

[periphrasing]

It's only the second night, so Peridot hasn't had the chance to develop her healthy fear of trials just yet. Even so, she already appears opposed to the idea.

"I'm very good at farming," she says matter-of-factly. "Therefore, I don't imagine that trial participation will be necessary, as long as I focus my efforts accordingly."

[whattaprick]

"Yeah... maybe." Somehow, Lambert really doubts it'll be that easy, but he shrugs.

"I've been through enough trials, so I'm not really looking to sign up for more."