⇨ 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

[whattaprick]

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 ?

[betheman]

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!!

[whattaprick]

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.

[betheman]

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!

[whattaprick]

There's a flicker of recognition when Lambert sees the map, hand drawn or not, and he presses an image back eagerly, overlaying the hand-drawn map with his own memory of a technician's screen.

Notably, his version is animated -- the red core and a green dot blinking -- and he tries to convey the sense of destruction and death that went with it. The map does clarify one thing -- he alters the image in his memory, makes the sector labeled 'Ignatius' blink briefly.

The image fades once he gets the sense that Gongenzaka is apparently looking to him for ... something Lambert frowns, both in his head and visibly. No immediate message forthcoming after that. He has to think.

[betheman]

Briefly, his own thoughts overlay- the image of the core exploding, an indicator line moving Ignatius from 'CORE' to the other square...

But yes. Silence.

While Lambert thinks, Gongenzaka creates the image of a tiny him holding a list, ready to write; there is a mild sense of expectation- but mostly questioning again. Or more specifically the question of...

What can he do?

The list so far has himself on it, Yuuya, Syrlya...beside himself, 'Daemon' 'Soul Connect' '??'s Boon'...or image equivalents any how, with a tiny, ghostly Marishi face followed by the tin-can telephones, followed from there by the golden arrow. These are the things he 'can do'. The others (save Yuuya, who has the same 'arrow') have empty blanks beside them.

Hopefully the idea of 'collecting skills' is there. They'll be able to make a plan easier if they know what they can all do.

[whattaprick]

Does 'not being dead' count for anything? Because that's the best Lambert has got right now. The first name to add is obvious: he pushes over the idea of Rita. Delta. An impression of the beads Sans carried for information transfer in Eden (even in nonverbal communication, Rita will always be bead girl), words spilling from her mind into her hand. Flame -- she made a contract with Ignatius, and that means she's got some of his power to bear right now, same as Gongenzaka does. But also, he places the idea of negation, hands over her mouth. She can do things, but she can't talk about them out loud, something Gongenzaka might already be aware of if he's encountered her.

After a moment's hesitation, he adds Childermass's face to the list. He places a flame by him, then tries to convey shadows shaping the dark forms into an eye and an ear, and a doorway with a person stepping through. Peridot, with the same flame, and also a glove with compartments that open up out of it like drawers as the fingers flex. After a moment of thought, he adds a brief image of the sigil the Ringmaster granted them beside both of them, the memory of Lambert opening a door and placing something inside.

Besides his own face, he only puts eyes and ears. Listen and watch. It's all he can do. All this visualizing is hard, so after a moment, he grunts, rolling his shoulders back and shaking his head.

[betheman]

There is a sort of pause in the feelings, quietly overlayed with the sense of things being alright- or...adequate at least. There is also an edge of excitement. He'd suspected the contracts could be why power had returned slightly- and quickly he conveys the image of when Ignatius made his declaration in Shabon- the sheer number of those who chose to takr the contract. He can't remember everyone obviously but it's a big hope!

Especially with that pocket space. He projects the idea of their missing items, elsewhere in Polaris and surrounded by question marks. The items are moved through that dimension sigil, and then over to a group of caricaturized carnival members. If they can just locate where everything is held, they could get that back!

And that would be a +1 for them. As it is- Gongenzaka conveys the idea of a string of words between himself and Lambert- and then from Lambert to Childermass and Peridot. A line moves from himself to Rita...it doesn't take a genius to guess what that means.

He has no clue that Syrlya will be speaking to Childermass and Peridot himself of course but hey.

The point, as felt with a sense of affirmation and hope, is that they're on the right track. "Saah," he abruptly announces, not yet breaking connection. "I, the man Gongenzaka, believe I have everything I need...unless you would recommend something else?" He asks, looking over the tools.

Anything else before the line cuts, Lambert?

[whattaprick]

Yeah, locating their stuff is something Lambert is pretty damn interested in, and he communicates as much. A Pokeball and an extremely idealized image of Pig (much, much smaller and cuter than the monster horse she is), a bunch of healing draughts, weapons ... and who knows what else people shoved in there.

But further questions? Yeah, actually, he has a few, and they're detailed. He shoves the idea of a list at Gon, then starts off.

The first: an image of eyes around the facility, lining the walls and the ceiling, bright with cold light as Gon and Lambert stand frozen -- and then, as one, they close, the facility goes dark, and they move. There's an inquiry tied to that.

[betheman]

Woah.

And he thought his symbolism got weird. Thought is all there is on Gongenzaka's end- but then, he sends something back; the image of a spinning siren light, cable along the floor- and a pair of scissors cutting it.

Is Lambert asking if there's a way to cut the security?

[whattaprick]

Ding, he's got it! But also, Lambert should probably actually answer his question, which he does after fumbling for a moment to recall what was asked.

"Do I look like I know anything about this stuff? If you need advice on what to do... you should ask someone who actually knows their shit."

Hopefully, Gon gets what he's getting at here, right?

A second question: a cartoonish Gon and Lambert scampering down a hallway, aimlessly running in circles, then opening a hatch -- and falling down, tiny limbs flailing. Rewind. Gon and Lambert run out the hatch again and incongruously sprout wings and fly. Rewind. Gon and Lambert running out and stepping into something that crudely resembles the rocket rides they had in the Space Olympics and they zoom off into an improbable sunset, cheering. In real life and over the tenuous connection, Lambert raises his brows.

[betheman]

"Hmn! One never knows, where advice may come from," he snorts in reply- though he does stare a bit for. A moment.

He. He knows what you're saying, but it's the most hesitant 'understood' feeling he's ever sent. He'll briefly emphasize the image of strings connecting themselves to others- before the image is cartoonishly abandoned to dust, replaced instead with the image of a table for war-plans. A number of them gathered around, seemingly coordinating.

He knows they can't go in blind- they'll be working together for a reason. As it is.

"But very well- thank you for the company at the very least."

[whattaprick]

That one was probably a bit hard to get, so Lambert's going to make an effort to verbalize what he's getting at, shrugging.

"It's not like we're going anywhere," he says, lazily. "And even if we could get out of here, we'd just fall, wouldn't we? It's not like we have wings or whatever they brought us in on."

He presses the query again, an image of a note hastily wrapped around an arrow. Splatting to his death is a very real concern, Gon!

[betheman]

Hahhh.

"...Understood."

There's an image of him rubbing his face and drawing a lifeboat on a note before shooting it off. FINE HE'LL ASK ABOUT ESCAPE ROUTES GEEZE,

[whattaprick]

Lambert smirks. "So long as we're on the same page."

And there's a sense of finality on the last image he sends over: the map with Lambert (carrying a bag of loot), Gon (carrying a flame over his head), and what might vaguely look like a beansprout with legs (holding a sword) superimposed on it. They seem to be wandering aimlessly within their respective sectors -- Gon, naturally, is in the one that was helpfully labeled Ignatius. Then a gold arrow gets planted at a random part of the map and both of them jump and orient themselves towards it, taking off like a shot. Lambert shifts the arrow jumps to another place, and the versions of themselves follow. Then the gold arrow is lifted off the map, another question tied to it as it spins like a compass trying to find true north.

[betheman]

Ah. Yes, good idea. "Hmn..." He sends an idea over- the image of the flame in Gongenzaka's hand; he crushes it, and it becomes an arrow pointing them toward somewhere on the map. Somewhere that isn't Ignatius. Briefly, 'somewhere' is a question mark. But then it becomes their things. And then it becomes a lifeboat. And then, it becomes that siren with the wire cut.

They can't necessarily find everything this way, but the point is that they can likely use that boon to find something...worst case.

"Well- I, the man Gongenzaka, shall see you at another time, hm?" The connection holds, just in case there is more for whatever reason.

[whattaprick]

Lambert affirms the image Gon sends, tail lashing behind him. But he also emphasizes the idea of coming together ... and shows the map again.

"Sure," he waves him off, lazily. "But who knows where we'll meet again? You might not even see me tomorrow, for all I know."

The last part is a tasteless but not unfounded joke ... and as a last, fleeting image? He hands Gon a four-leafed clover in his mind. As luck goes, it's not really substantial, but they'll all probably need it.

[betheman]

"...Indeed." He nods, sending one last wash of understanding, and moves to leave.

"...I, the man Gongenzaka, will have to see then." Have to make it happen, more like.