lostcarnival | ⇨ POLARIS 2.0

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⇨ POLARIS 2.0

Who: Everyone!
When: Days 110 - 114
Where: Polaris
What: After a mysterious explosion shakes the station, the staff of Polaris struggle to maintain order while the test subjects fight for freedom with the aid of hidden allies. Productivity info is here.
Warnings: More graphic experimentation.

THEORY & CONCLUSION↴

At the midnight between Day 109 and Day 110, something happens. For most people, it won't be clear what - yet, they are shaken by it just the same. Violent tremors appear out of nowhere, rattling the entirety of the Polar station, violent enough to throw sleeping test subjects off their bunks. The source is unclear, but there is a sudden flurry of activity from staff as power flickers and is lost in various parts of the facility. Subjects, for the most part, will be left to their cells while they try to sort things out.

The next morning, the staff are late picking people up. It's more like 6:30AM than the usual 6AM when they arrive to take people to the farm, which is a bit of tardiness that is entirely without precedent. Any questions about the incident the previous night will be waved off with the explanation of 'technical difficulties' that have been 'resolved.'

► DELTA: The three new Deltas will be left in their cells for even longer, waiting to be picked up, instructed that they would be escorted elsewhere instead of to the farm. Around 6:45AM some unfamiliar technicians will arrive and tell them that they are here to begin their processing into Delta. They are led into a previously untouched section of the station, where they are invited into a somewhat more intimate medical room to be asked some cursory questions and given a check up. Then, their suits will be removed, and they will be provided with their new uniforms, which they can apply like normal clothes.

Delta life begins there. There will be a top level for the initial parts of their processing to be played out. Ultimately, however, they will end up being given a tour of the new Delta facilities, which amounts to a waterfront area that borders the new apartments they'll be staying in, as well a small supply shop where they can pick up an allotted amount of 'amenities' per day, based on their level of productivity and other achievements. This includes luxury items like food, pleasant smelling soaps, or other hygiene related tools. There are even small things like decorations or pictures of other places available, though they are fairly expensive.

The first day will mostly involve the processing, a tour, and some basic training regarding the new tools they will be using, such as the mandatory visors and basic computer access. The next day, observation shifts in the farm will start, as will participation in trials.

► FARMING: The Farm will continue as normal, though it seems like there are fewer staff observing it at the moment. The ones that are there seem a little bit more tense than usual. Power is still down in some places, but the Farm is thankfully still active. Sometimes the productivity turn-in scanners might be a bit glitchy, so try not to panic if it measures fewer points than you're due.

► TRIALS: Trials are continuing as projected, though with the most broad of experiments already under way, they may be more selective. If you have an idea for a trial you can be sure to share it with the staff, and they will take it under advisement! Any information you want to provide is encouraged, they will say, especially if it involves notable traits about you or your fellow test subjects - or perhaps behavioral patterns you've noticed. You might even be rewarded!

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Excellent- they just need to find a good, monotonous task that doesn't require much thought, and they can settle in. "Auuh...it has simply been a bit tense, I am finding," Gongenzaka coughs, looking for something to do. Let's seeeeee...

Aha, weeding. He gestures toward a nearby field, and starts to slowly make his way over with the other. "So I am checking in with those I know." That's what Gongenzaka says. What it comes with however is a sense of importance, and trust. A small image of himself holding a finger to his mouth in a 'shh' motion- followed by some tin-can telephones.

The feeling of questioning- does what he's 'projecting' make sense?

Strange straight up doesn't let Syrlya take the box from him. He holds on tight to his end and gives Syrlya an entirely different glare when Syrlya tries to take the entire box. Syrlya helping him out is suspicious enough, Syrlya doing his work for him? That's certainly going to make the Technicians pay attention.

Of course, what they start off with is what Strange thinks is the most important thing of all. "Ignatius is hurt—possibly dying. He caused that explosion and gave me some of his power afterwards."

Edited 2018-10-23 01:23 (UTC)

Rita just gives a half-nod of acknowledgment, a sort of go ahead gesture. The petal is now open to be 'written' to; he just needs to focus in order to imbue it himself. Theoretically.

"They did," Strange simply explains. He manages to pick up one of the boxes of fruit. It jostles against his arm awkwardly, Strange winces in pain, then accidentally drops the box. He's keeping his voice low as he bends down to start to pick up the fruit on the floor.

"I did something reckless. It was a good idea: the only problem is that I got caught."

He'll defend the vent plan for the rest of Polaris. What was he supposed to do, simply wait and let Ignatius suffer even more than he was already suffering? That wasn't going to happen.

Syrlya didn't actually mean now. He'd planned to move the box and then get Strange to pursue a task a little further in. But then he starts talking anyway.

Syrlya glances over his shoulder, seeing how distant the Technicians are... and then loosens his hold on the box. He can have it, then. When he lets go, though, he stops and looks at his arm, furrowing his brow.

"I felt it. I meant in your trip Lambert suggested." Which he won't admit yet that he knows what it is, in case there's a fit about that.

Steven is used to doing sort of psychic stuff, so it feels fairly intuitive. Still, he tries to think extra hard when he imagines a little picture of himself nodding and giving a thumbs up.

Meanwhile, he gets busy on pulling some weeds. At least the suit means his hands don't get cut up from doing this.

"Um... yeah, that's good," he says, obviously distracted by the soul chatter part. "I'm okay I guess. How about you?"

Her small voice is familiar along with the patter of her feet as she runs over to him almost enthusiastically. He's grateful she does not immediately hug him as he usually allows as he would've had to step back or to the side to avoid her. He would rather she did not hurt herself or land on her face but it was not his job to antagonize, interact, or even chance the nature of her usual whims.

He doesn't react to seeing her but only looks down when she asks a valid question, "No, Epsilon-709," he responds distantly, already looking over her with his visor to pick up any tests she might've gone through along with any possible scheduled ones. He doesn't comment further, looking away in favor. Her empathy will pick up a slight bored, somewhat tense, and dull mood. He's quite happy to see her but his poker face will remain neutral.

"They did," Strange simply explains. He's keeping quiet about just how his arms got hurt: the bones turned to Mirror in an attempt to find a way to cause Strange to produce more fun Mirrory parts for harvesting...but depending on how chatty Steven's Rose bits are, he might figure it out anyway.

"I'm fine, though," Strange explains, despite the fact that he is very obviously not fine and very obviously gritting his teeth. "I've been through worse."

And he's still got that warm feeling of Ignatius's power in his chest. Strange isn't a quitter to begin with (and is arrogant enough to assume he'll find some way to free himself), he's especially not a quitter when someone he cares about has their life on the line.

Yuya bends over to help immediately, damn whether he's supposed to or not. He worries over his lip--maybe he should have said something to their mystery friend sooner. Strange could have used that help.

"What'd they do to you?" Maybe it's too soon to ask, but Yuya's only worried. They're tearing them apart, here.

"As well as I, the man Gongenzaka, can be considering circumstance. I feel as though perhaps I may have something of an advantage... ...enough to avoid the 'trials' of this place, certainly," he mutters, pulling a few out carefully. For Gongenzaka, distraction via soul chatter means somewhat blank, honest speaking- the sort that trails off in parts with a daze.

In his mind he focuses first on the idea of hope, and escape. Of an unknown source of help 'outside' of where they are. His best attempt at it is the image of themselves, inside some sort of box- a shrouded figure on the outside, waving a golden arrow.

"I, the man Gongenzaka, am remaining optimistic, at least..." More 'on the nose', he displays an image of the first two notes he ever received- complete with the memory of his Dream Thumbs holding each one.

'YOU ARE NOT ALONE'

...

('IN A GOOD WAY')

"Not like I have," Strange clarifies, shaking his head. Because of course Syrlya wouldn't feel Ignatius's power like Strange does. Strange hasn't gotten to explore the full limits of his new firey form yet, but he's downright certain that form has made him closer to Ignatius than almost anyone else in the carnival (with Rita obviously being closer than he is. He's arrogant, not stupid.)

As for the trip, Strange frowns a little.

"He's stored somewhere else—possibly the core, possibly not there because it's damaged. This whole section of the facility is looped in a circle. Other areas can be accessed by...these teleport device things."

Unfortunately, Strange's knowledge of future tech comes from absolutely loathing computers and a few weeks doing the olympics in space. He gives Syrlya a look that plainly states he's got no idea what the hell the teleport device things are before he continues talking.

"You probably need proper clearance to use one."

Syrlya doesn't bother to address that assessment odd what they felt from Ignatius, even though he normally would. Instead he squints at his hand, flexing his fingers before he looks back up at Strange. Damn, it really does feel stronger when he's nearby, like the energy is bouncing off another source.

"Right. It looks to be sectioned, I suppose to keep experiments trapped where they're supposed to be." He lowers his arm. "Did you see anyone use them?"

The answer to the question of trials is absolutely shit all- unless for whatever reason it contains records of miniscule, non-invasive scans as were common for everyone earlier on arrival.

That, and that 'rank up rank down' trial that wasn't really a trial...

As it is. "...Oh." Well, he's not...Sad? So that's something.

She pauses for a moment...And sets her basket down.

"...I'm gonna take my break," she decides abruptly, taking a seat there. "...You're supposed to take small breaks after a few hours of work, so that you don't get too tired to do more." It's paid off just enough to...stay in yellow. So that's a thing.

In any case.

"...I'm glad you're back," she says after a short bit. "...A lot of people keep disappearing. Some came back in 'Theta'," she mutters, frowning. Apparently 'two' is 'some' now.

As it is. "...but... ...Mostly it was everyone who went to Delta. ...And even though they probably don't hurt 'Delta' people, none of you came back, so..."

"You don't understand! They left her like that, they-- mutilated her!" she babbles, pulling at her ears. "It'd be like if they took your face, cut it into quadrants and implanted it in different parts of your body! I can't let them do that to me, I'm too precious!"

Privately, Lambert thinks, there's no guarantee they won't do that to him if they get bored enough, but he decides it's better not to say so out loud. Peridot's freaking out enough as it is.

"So ... don't choose the trials that sound too vague or like they have anything to do with cutting people up?" he suggests. "It's not much control, but it's still better than..." He gestures down at himself. Twenty four hour access, Peridot! Think about that!

Out loud, Lambert huffs, but that note nearly has him dropping the washer. Cue the mental equivalent of a thousand exclamation points and question marks, a flurry of whatwherehow that probably fuzzes out the 'connection' to garbled static before Lambert takes a breath, steadies himself, and shakes his thoughts free of clutter.

It's probably not something Gongenzaka would have expected of the man either, how quickly he's able to drag the scattershot directions of his mind back into order, tamp the surge of the emotion down as though he'd severed it with a knife.

The next vision of parchment comes with a ring of golden arrows, mimicking what Gongezaka showed him, pointedly aimed at the word at the center:

H O W ?

There is the image of Gongenzaka, tiny chibi form, gently....Gently pushing Lambert's face away as he frowns.

Please.

Please be calm.

Anyway.

Chibi Gongenzaka now slumbers, with a cartoonish trail of clouds rising above his head. Inside the clouds, a Tinier Gongenzaka runs around in the summerlands before an arrow shoots in and lands in dream Gon's hand. Dream Gon reads the note, while the Larger Gon continues to snooze.

So he's getting these in dreams.

Anyway, can he continue now, because It's Important!!

He's pretty calm for a man whose spine and most of his ribcage replaced by stone and metal, okay!? Lambert frowns, sends a sense of negation back -- that's not the 'how' he meant -- but there's also a sense of (however fidgety and impatient) 'listening.' Just keep going.

"Was wondering if you needed some help is all," Childermass says from where he is, setting down his own basket, newly gathered and brought in. He's wrapped up skulking around elsewhere as a mouse and is trying to catch up but... this one, this man, his name isn't misplaced in his memory at all. The other magician from England, so frustrating and so brilliant all at once.

"You're the only face I can put a name to without needing reminding, so it seems to me it's the least I can do."

Edited 2018-10-23 01:56 (UTC)

Steven is at least lucky in one fortunate aspect -- although Lambert remembers the sensation of feeling like he's been set on fire, there's no sense-memory of the damage that a real fire would have wrought to go with it. As the flames get extinguished, the fragile thread of the nightmare having little ability to withstand the will of a lucid mind shaping it, it reveals something odd -- from the hip down, the boy's entire lower body seems to have been shaped into smooth metal approximating the form of two legs, shimmering like liquid mercury.

The boy opens his eyes, staring at Steven vaguely, brow furrowed with confusion, and summons enough strength to tug weakly at his bond, lips working around the wooden rod still jammed between them.

Alright. Good. He can sense the irritation about answering the question wrong, so while displaying the note about the Plant he slaps a giant '?' over it again.

They didn't say. The feeling Gongenzaka sends across is that they probably didn't want to blow cover. Lots of care going around here. Lots of danger and urgency. As it is.

He shows off a map. This one was hand drawn- but Lambert might find it familiar.

He also highlights a second note- accompanied by a sense of Need along with that importance.

'WE NEED TO SET A DATE, MOVE AT ONCE' pieced with- 'A PLAN' and 'WE'VE GOT PIECES BUT NO OBJECTIVE'

The idea of pointing at Lambert comes forth- along with a prodding for advice, among other things. They need to connect with the right people here, and they need to gather what they can do, and what they NEED to do, to send that back!

"Nothing I can't handle," Strange responds, pushing past his sheer fury and anger at the entire situation to force something reassuring in his tone of voice. Yuya's still probably lower level: he should focus on himself instead of focusing on Strange.

"They're not going to kill me," he says, in a matter of fact tone of voice. "So it doesn't matter what they do. Worry about Lambert more than me."

Yeah, guess who's managed to pick up on the fact that his bestie is also in Theta.

Steven is fucking stunned. This makes even less sense than the absurdist nonsense that makes up the dreams he's most familiar with. He's glad to see that his legs aren't burnt to a crisp or anything. Just... made of metal? Okay then.

He comes over to the table, using his claws to cut off the gag first and foremost. Then, he starts working on his wrists.

"I just came here to talk to you but this is crazy," he says, sounding thoroughly shook.

His expression shifts from something grumpy to something interested at the drop of a pin.

"I didn't know I was so memorable," Strange teases. If he keeps things light, if he tries to underplay how awful he's feeling, then maybe people will stop doing stupid things like worrying about him and instead focus on what's really important, like worrying about Ignatius.

Strange starts to load the fruit that Childermass brought into a different, bigger basket, one that already has some fruit inside of it. When he speaks again, his voice is low but still trying to sound nonchalant about the whole matter.

"Though what do you mean 'without needing reminding?' I'm certain there are other faces you should remember quicker than mine."

You know, like the dude you're fucking. Come on, Childermass.

Exclamation mark! A sign of recognition. Steven will indicate familiarity with that concept, while imagining an image to Amethyst speaking to him.

He knows what Gon is talking about. In fact...

Steven will imagine the shape of the sigil mark from Gild, and a picture of him and Amethyst holding hands. He's got one of those!

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⇨ POLARIS 2.0

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