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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

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.

"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.

"I can worry about both of you." There's a bit of edge in his voice. He doesn't want to hear how he shouldn't be worrying about Strange right now. Why do he and Gongenzaka have to share this same trait? It doesn't actually make him feel better.

He won't push for details, but his expression doesn't ease at all. And he's not going to stop helping collect fruit.

"... Did you find hin?"

In his one track mind glory, Strange is assuming by 'him,' Yuya means 'Ignatius.' This is the part where he lets his feelings shine through: Strange shakes his head, looking intensely disappointed in himself. He should have done better.

"He's hurting," Strange murmurs, obviously trying his best to keep a level tone in his voice. "I can't reach out to him, I don't even know if he's alive...he caused that explosion a few nights ago. It damn near took everything out of him but the Mother of Invention's still standing." Strange opens his mouth like he's about to say something, but catches himself at the last minute.

Luckily Strange is 100% right there. Because Yuya knows what he was looking for, and knows that Strange regards Ignatius as a friend. Of course Yuya expects to save him--but he understands when it's more personal.

"... I know," he starts softly. Because he tried to reach him too, after that. Because they're all hurting, and Ignatius has the least freedom (and that says a lot given how they have no freedom). He reaches to Strange's arm, but stops before actually touching it, unsure what exactly they did to him. Maybe it's better he doesn't accidentally hit bruises and wounds.

"He tried to save us, so we'll definitely save him. Can you believe we'll all get out of here?"

Leave no one behind, and certainly not Ignatius.

Here's the problem: Strange doesn't really believe they'll all get out of here. His one-track mind is focused squarely on Ignatius at the moment. It would be nice if everyone managed to get out. But the only two people who he'll fight tooth and nail to get out are himself and Ignatius. Thankfully, he's smart enough not to vocalize that.

"I can hope," Strange simply responds, with a little shrug. It's a technical truth. "But I hope you understand me when I say that at the moment, my attention is focused squarely on him. I'm sure you'd react the same way if Gongenzaka was in danger."

Fun fact: Strange isn't aware that Yuya and Gon are together.

"Eh?" Yuya looks up, suddenly confused. There's a definite discrepancy in priorities here.

"Of course I would. But I wouldn't take him and leave everyone." He's not sure where caring more about someone else conflicts with them being in this together and scrambling out of here. Especially with help he's told Strange about. It never occurred to him that he'd have any opportunity where he'd just leave everyone else.

Or that Strange would just leave him. He came to save him when the Fae had kidnapped him, hadn't he? And doesn't he have other friends here?

Strange kind of would. He frowns, choosing his words carefully as he continues to talk.

"That might be what needs to happen. Whatever the Mother of Invention is doing to him, it's practically killing him. Ignatius is the only one who can travel through realms: we can't all get out of here unless he does. And if he's too weak to bring all of us to a different realm at once, then we should let him leave first so he can regain his strength."

Strange's expression is a little concerned. He doesn't really like how mercenary he's being, but personal biases are mixing right up with the little bits of strategy that Strange occasionally focuses on. Even if he hated Ignatius, the answer would be clear: prioritize saving him over everyone else.

"He'll come back for us," Strange quickly tacks on as a reassurance. At least, he'll come back for Strange.

Yuya's brow furrows. It isn't that he wants Ignatius to stay and suffer with them, and if he had a way out--even if it was the Summer Court coming to pick him up and deciding to leave the rest of them, Yuya wouldn't blame him. There's just something that doesn't quite line up with strictly kindness, that he can't quite put his finger on.

But he disregards it, mostly because a has a more definite counter to that. "He's not the only one who can travel through realms."

Yuya puts a hand to his chest. "Remember? There's someone out there who reached in... and they haven't left." That much, he trusts. "If Ignatius is even worse after what he did, he might not even be able to get himself out. He needs us as much as we need him right now, and we should work together to get out."

Given how unresponsive he's been since giving them power, Yuya has a feeling Ignatius needs them more than he needs them right now.

Unsurprisingly, Yuya has more faith in his mystery people than Strange does.

"Do have any proof that person is here to begin with? I'm not trying to accuse you or kill your hopes or anything like that, but traveling through realms is damn powerful magic. Even someone like me can only travel if the realms are closely linked—you'd have to have immense levels of power to get someone into the Mother's realm from the outside without her noticing."

There were roads between England and Faerie in Strange's world. If the roads weren't there, Strange is fairly certain he wouldn't be able to travel to Faerie in the first place. He finishes picking up the fruit and bites down another lecture on the powers of the threshold or magical properties or things like that.

"In comparison, there's plenty of people who can do magic along the lines of mental manipulation, hallucinations, or dreamwalking. All I'm saying is that there's a possibility whoever this is might have enough power to say they're here, but not have enough power to actually show up."

"The rabbit. Remember?" The truth is that rabbit feels fuzzy and hard to place, but Yuya's not going to admit that when he's trying to defend his fragile faith. It's the best he has in an otherwise hopeless situation.

He scrunches his face in concentration, trying to pull up more proof. "Besides, they asked us to find Ignatius, and they'd save us too."

He hadn't really put this together until he really stopped to explain it, but... "He's who they're really looking for, so it has to be someone he knows."

Like another fae who were powerful. And possibly in numbers. Ignatius was the goal anyway. Him being here is why anyone even noticed or cared enough to get them out, too. But they could all leave this way.

His expression deflates a little. He wishes he'd been able to tell Ignatius someone out there was looking for him before they lost contact.

To his credit, Strange doesn't say 'right, that rabbit that only you saw and I honestly don't know how it could have gotten in Polaris in the first place. That mythical rabbit.' But a part of his brain sure is thinking it.

Still, someone who knows Ignatius and is powerful enough to send Yuya a message from a different realm entirely. He can work with this. Signs point to fae. The problem is, Strange has no idea what fae it might even be and what their intentions to the carnival would be either.

"Ignatius never told me about his personal life," Strange admits, with a little shrug. He gets up as he talks: he's got to at least look like he's continuing to work. "It's possible that one of the Summer Court could have notice when his Heart was returned, but that was a brief window of time. And even so, they might view abandoning him as more useful than rescuing him."

"... He told me a little." Because Yuya asked. Granted, he asked the angtsy and overly open half of Ignatius, but he might have been willing to talk about them, any. "He has... family. Friends, it's not just like that."

Makers was probably some sort of family relationship. He felt too passionate about Gild, about Torch... Yuya's sure that doesn't match. He looks at Strange firmly. "Someone who cares about Ignatius found him. He's not alone either."

Strange can't help it: he's obviously a little shocked that Yuya knows this sort of thing. He can't help but give a little bitter scowl at the fact that Yuya knows this and he doesn't...before the tiny little rational part of his brain points out that Strange never asked in the first place. After all, it seemed cruel to talk about all the people someone was missing while they were being kept prisoner.

"Then we'll just have to hope it's someone who cares about Ignatius personally and not someone who wants him back solely for the Court or only cares about what an asset he'd be."

Strange isn't ruling out the Summer Court just yet. Yuya's the sort of person who believes the best in everyone: on the one hand, that's really good but on the other hand, it wouldn't surprise Strange if this was someone trying to take advantage of Yuya seeing the best in people.

Yuya honestly figures it probably is someone in the Summer Court, until he learns her true identity, but he's also choosing to have faith in their word. Just like he's had faith in Ignatius.

Even if Strange agrees, though, it's not very satisfying. Normally they would feed into each othe until their optimism kept their heads up, but right now it feels more like an acquiesce. Even Yuya doesn't find himself able to believe as much, in this situation.

He looks down as he puts the last fruit in the box, and then grips the hedge. There's a long pause before he sucks in a deep breath and looks up at him.

"I promise you're going to get out of here." And he says it with as much conviction as he can, because they both need to believe it right now. "I won't give up until that happens."

As Yuya gives his pep talk, Strange looks down at him with a little confused frown. Duh? He kind of knew that already.

"Of course I'm getting out of here," Strange says, as if it's obvious. Whether everybody else gets out of here...that's a different story. But he's filled with spite, anger, and determination at this whole thing. He's getting out of here no matter what (he just doesn't know if Yuya's mystery dream person would be any help in the getting out of here scenario).

"I have to return home to Arabella. I don't care what I have to do in order to do it, but I am leaving this place."

Yuya stares blankly at him. Was he misheard?

"I said, I'm not giving up until that happens." And all the implication in Yuya taking responsibility for it that Strange doesn't have to act alone. They can do this together and get out together.

He leans over the basket a little, mustering up the strongest expression he can. "You're not alone, Mr. Strange. You're my friend, and you'll always have me."

Part of Strange just wants to tell Yuya to focus on Gongenzaka or on Lambert, focus on someone else weaker than he is with a lower chance of getting out. But he knows that would end up with a very intense conversation and Strange honestly doesn't want to air out all his issues right now, while he's in Theta, and while they're probably being magically monitored.

"Thank you," Strange simply says. There's honest sincerity in his voice because this is nice. Having someone who cares about you like this is nice. Strange can probably count the number of actual, true friends he has on one hand (maybe two), so hearing this verbal confirmation is just plain nice.

He doesn't want to let the moment get too sappy though, so he starts to tease Yuya a little. "I'd still rather you worry more about others than me, though. I've survived worse than this. And I don't think the Technicians have realized exactly how I managed to escape from the farm."

Does Yuya know that Strange actually succeeded in his vent plans? Well surprise, he does now.

Yuya smiles a little. "I have enough worrying to go around for everyone, trust me."

He's in an almost constant state of stress because of it. But Strange is a close friend, and so of course to Yuya he's among those he always worried the most about. Like Gongenzaka, Lambert... Rita actually doesn't usually cause him a lot of worrying, but when she does her too. "And surviving doesn't change that it hurts."

He's hurt, isn't he? That's why he's closing in on himself, so that's why Yuya's going to push a little harder.

"Is that why you're in Theta now?"

"It is," Strange admits. "It was a good idea." Strange will be further validated that it was a good idea when/if he learns that other people did exploring via the ventilation shafts as well. "The problem is simply that I got caught."

Strange is still trying to keep up his strategy of lightening the mood. Theta's awful, there's no doubt about it, and his arms still hurt from the experiment. But when Yuya says that he's got enough worrying to go around, Strange makes the quick and solid decision that from now on, he's going to try and make it so he isn't one of the people Yuya worries about in the first place.

"Though the main problem was how many damn fire extinguishers this place has." His tone is lightening a bit: Strange is obviously bitching for the sake of bitching. He picks up the box and starts to move towards a different area of the farm, wincing slightly as he does so. "And some of them are mobile! The Mother of Invention has magic, use that to put out a fire instead of some stupid mobile robot thing!"

Because seriously: fuck roombas.

It's way too late for Yuya to not worry about Strange.

When Strange winces, Yuya scrambles to help steady the box as he listens to him. It takes a moment, but when he clicks Strange's fire to an extinguisher...

He bites his lip as he tries to strangle a laugh, eyes widening. The mental picture of that is funny, and it catches him off guard and makes him giggle before he can totally stop himself.

As soon as Strange hears that giggle, he makes the quick, executive decision to continue to shittalk robots. Lord knows he hasn't heard someone laugh in...what, a week or so? This is good, keep this up. There's a mischievous grin on Strange's face as he continues to talk.

"The worst part is that the robot's adorable. It's small, around the size of a pie tin, and makes this precious little whirring noise. As soon as it spotted my flames, it tried to spray me with this odd foam sort of material then proceeded to chase me for ten or so minutes."

Yuya doesn't know what the exact robot was, but the description brings to mind similar vacuums from home.

He covers his mouth with the back of his hand as he sucks in a sharp breath against, honestly, how hilarious is it to imagine usual flaming Strange running around trying to escape a tiny roomba. Normally he'd probably find someone laughing at his efforts offensive, which is the biggest reason Yuya is trying not to be obvious.

But he's still kind of obvious. "Is--is that how you got caught?"

Strange shakes his head. He doesn't mind saying this part out loud, just because it's where the technicians found him. There's no need to be cagey about his final location like he is about his smoke form.

"I got caught because some odd teleport pad thing recognized me as a security threat. It shut down, the room that I was in started to fill up with some smoke, I passed out."

As he talks, the box jostles against his arm a little bit: Strange can't help but wince when the impact happens. Still, he tries to steel his expression back into a little smile as they carry the box over towards some others.

⇨ POLARIS 2.0

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