⇨ POLARIS 2.0

[ringleaders]

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!

Comments

[kingsroads]

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.

[atouts]

Well, he knows there's someone from the carnival he's fucking, but who even knows which. No one's thrown a fit over their lover forgetting their name just yet and he hasn't quite decided how to begin asking that question. Normally he wouldn't care if he offended but this isn't exactly normal.

He'll wave Strange away some and hand the fruit piece by piece to him instead, so he doesn't have to bend as low to get at the basket. Not that he's doing all that better with the studs sticking out along his spine. If it weren't for the suit, they might not have been noticeable, but...

"I imagine I know yours because I've known you the longest," he answers just as quietly, "But something happened two nights ago. I don't know what, only that the technicians say something damaged my soul. Whatever it was wasn't too kind to my memories."

[kingsroads]

Considering that he's had less than a week to adjust to one working eyeball, Strange occasionally misses Childermass's hand entirely when the other magician offers him some fruit. Despite the fact that he's gotten better at hiding his emotions, his annoyance at his lack of a working eyeball is palpable.

Two nights ago... "That was the night Ignatius caused that explosion," Strange murmurs, after some quick mental math. Probably a coincidence, but it's nice to have these things in order. "Though soul damage and memory loss..." Strange trails off a little, frowning to himself, before he admits,

"I think something like that might have happened to me as well. But mine involved the Mirror, which obviously can't have been used on you."

He still doesn't know what the hell the Ringmaster did to get him out of the Mirror. But considering that it's been a few weeks since then, Strange has pieced out one very large hole in his memories that he can't explain.

[atouts]

"There was an explosion?" Childermass asks, honestly surprised. No one's bothered to mention it yet thus far. He holds out another fruit, patiently waiting for Strange to find it and take it. Ignatius is a name that someone has already attached to the Summer faerie they'd had with them, at least, so he isn't stuck asking who that is.

"And no, I don't believe they've used any mirrors on me, much less the Mirror. They shouldn't have it, in any case."

[kingsroads]

Strange is surprised that Childermass is surprised. It's an explosion! Why wouldn't someone mention it?

"They don't have the Mirror." Strange says that with utter certainty. Aside from the fact that it's shattered to hell, the Mother of Invention is an idiot and didn't even listen to Strange's offer of the artifact's location (did she just have a fetish for torture or something, why ignore the supremely powerful fae-killing artifact for a halfway broken Court fae).

"But yes, there was an explosion. Ignatius caused it, though I don't know the specifics or what he did." Considering that the fae is the Conflagration, Strange is guessing 'shitton of fire'. "Just that it was powerful enough to severely damage part of the building's structure, but not powerful enough to kill the Mother of Invention outright."

when u realize wait the random npc techs mentioned it

[atouts]

"Ignatius caused it..." Childermass echoes quietly to himself, frowning and looking down to pick up the next fruit. He doesn't hand it over immediately, adding it all up. What he had heard the technicians talking about this morning, what they were preparing.

"He blew up A-2," he says, under his breath, before looking up at Strange again. He holds out the fruit, though this time he leans closer as he does it to grab his hand and put it right into it, all under the guise of helping the poor, damaged Theta. "He blew up where they had him. They were talking about an Omicron class prisoner. I wasn't sure who exactly they meant then but... They were moving him to C-2 instead. It has to be that."

something something amnesia fog

[kingsroads]

"I can't do much right now," Strange admits. He's got no idea if Childermass remembers the classification system or not but honestly, it's far too complicated to try to explain to an amnesiac. Talking vaguely about things it is. "If I do anything, it will be very big, very loud, and quite possibly bring more Technicians down on my head."

He tried Lambert's way of sneaking around. But the fire licks at his heart and at the back of his brain. Strange just wants to watch this whole place burn, and he thinks he might have enough power to help do so.

"I don't know where C-2 is, but I doubt it's on this floor."

amnesia dust amnesia dust

[atouts]

"You're not the only one I've told, I just realized who they'd meant now," Childermass adds, letting go of the fruit and leaning away some to reach for the next. "It's through the transit pad they have. I could get a shadow through."

[kingsroads]

"That's probably the same thing I managed to slip through," Strange admits. "Or at least, something like it." Transit pads are dumb, why can't this place use reflections, that's a much less convoluted way of doing magic.

He continues to put away fruit as he thinks to himself.

"If you can get a shadow through to that pad, then you can get one down to where I am. Send one over to me when you want me to do something." Because Strange worries that if anybody comes up with a plan, it might ignore the people in Theta...which honestly, is a little dumb. He can do magic and Lambert can punch. They're being tortured, not rendered utterly helpless.

[atouts]

"I'll try," Childermass can offer that much, along with, hooray, yet another awful geometrically shaped fruit. "I've no way to speak through them, though, so I would prefer you not begin setting anything on fire the first time you see one. I want to know which labs hold Thetas."

[kingsroads]

"Then the second time I see one, I'll set things on fire." It's said with a wry expression and an ironic little smile. Glad to see that everyone's on the same wavelength with regards to Strange and what he plans to do. Even in England he never was one for 'subtlety' or 'the small details.' Lord knows the only reason Lambert suggested the stealth mission for Strange was because he was literally one of the few people who could do that.

[atouts]

"Then I'll have to try and not visit you twice just to check on you," Childermass says after a bit of a stare as though he can't really find the humor in Strange burning things down. Considering where they are, though, he won't even try to stop him if he ends up doing so, just this once.

That said, he hands off the last fruit from the basket and hefts it back up.

"Well, I've got to get back to it..."

[kingsroads]

Strange knows that pretty much a solid 90% of the carnival would be happy if Polaris mysteriously found itself on fire: which is entirely the reason why he's fine and happy to joke about it a little, even in these awful times.

Still, Childermass is right. It's probably not a good sign to bug someone in Theta for too long. He gives the other man a nod before he takes the basket...and Strange almost instantly winces when the basket touches his arms. Yep. These still hurt like hell.

"Best of luck with the whole memory thing."