⇨ 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

[hippocarnival]

Yuya shoots the Technicians a look. Maybe they're here unwillingly too, but still, screw them.

"You'll definitely get out of there." Because they'll all get out of here. That's what Yuya wants to cling to, because otherwise he doesn't know what else to do. He's dangerously close to the fall himself.

[whattaprick]

“I’m planning on it,” Lambert answers grimly, “But in the meantime, the rest of you need to look after yourselves, too. Think you can try to do that?”

He looks at Yuya sternly.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya purses his lips. "I'm not going to do anything that I won't be able to help."

Giving his mark to Rita is totally under the definition of helping.

[whattaprick]

"Good," Lambert grins, flashing a smirk at Yuya. He straightens -- not without a touch of a wince.

"Now get back to it."

That, for better or worse, will be the last Yuya sees of Lambert directly for a while. He'll probably hear about the witcher from Gongenzaka, how he'll have been filled in on what's going on. The next time he sees him on Day 113, though, the witcher's in worse shape. He's draped over a fence meant to partition different fields, and at first he seems like he's leaning -- but when Yuya steps closer, he'll easily hear the witcher cursing under his breath, and see his legs shaking as they fight to keep him upright.

"Not now, you piece of shit," Lambert grumbles, under his breath. Someone's having technical difficulties.

[hippocarnival]

After Strange explained the stress test, it makes more sense to Yuya and also makes his chest tighter when he sees Lambert hanging off the railing, legs shaking. He abandons the shovel (he wasn't doing much with it anyway) to come closer, hesitant to hold him up only because he doesn't know how much just touching Lambert might hurt him.

"You should sit down if they're hurting."

[whattaprick]

Being approached so suddenly makes Lambert wrench his head around to look at Yuya, which is, naturally, a terrible idea. He grunts, getting his elbows under him so he's leaning on those instead, and gets out the words stiltedly.

"S'not just my legs. Think they swapped out my whole damn pelvis." It certainly doesn't feel like his own, right now.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya cringes sympathetically. "Are they just--replacing your bones?"

Like they were replacing Strange's insides with more mirrors. It'a that what Theta tests are, turning all of you into something else?

[whattaprick]

"Seems like it, yeah," Lambert exhales. His ears flick tiredly, and he glances at Yuya, giving him a grimace that's probably intended to be a reassuring grin.

"Least they didn't do it all at once."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya wonders if extending the pain piece by piece is really better. His hands extend like he wants to help steady Lambert, but... he doesn't quite reach him.

They need to get out sooner, not later. "If you have to stop working..."

Is it back to experiments?

[whattaprick]

Lambert shakes his head.

"This isn't really work. It's just them making sure what they put in is functioning the way it's supposed to." Ergo, if it doesn't work the way it's supposed to, presumably it's touchup time. Hard to say what else might be going on under that suit, but it doesn't look good.

Despite all that, though, Lambert doesn't look beaten. If anything, he looks more determined, even if it's kind of in a grim, powering through shit kind of way, as his gaze sharpens and he focuses on Yuya.

"But it doesn't matter. We've got a plan, don't we?" He just has to, well, be able to walk by the time it happens.

[hippocarnival]

"I--I guess?" Do they have a plan? They have pieces of a plan, but Gongenzaka's the one doing the deeper organizing. Yuya just passed on his mark, taking the advice from Strange to not try and solve this problem on his own... so he's overlooked a lot of context and planning.

Basically he looks just a little lost at Lambert's question, but his expression is trying not to give that away.

[whattaprick]

Lambert looks at Yuya, a bit impatient.

“Gongenzaka showed me,” he says, keeping his voice low and expression neutral. “You have a mark, don’t you?”

[hippocarnival]

"Oh--" He should probably get caught up with Gon, he's been kinda running around coordinating with everyone else that Yuya's hardly seeing him today.

He looks sideways, before leaning on closer to whisper to Lambert. "I gave it to Rita. Since she's in Delta, she can do more than I can..."