⇨ POLARIS 3.0

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 115
Where: Polaris
What: On the morning of day 115, a couple hours before the technicians would come to pick up the test subjects, the escape plan will officially come into effect. If your character has been left out of the loop up till this point, feel free that someone hastily explains the plan during the initial phase! The meat of everything else will be played out via megathreads and any private toplevels people want to make.
Warnings: Probably violence.

PEER REVIEW↴ The plan starts with getting everyone out of their cells. Childermass is going to be using his Gilded Mark to enhance his shadow movement abilities, unabling him to teleport himself and other people out of containment. If your character has other ways of escaping they are free to pursue that, but on a base level, it can be assumed that everyone gets out thanks to Childermass. (Thanks Childermass!) Once everyone has been removed from their cells by some means or another, they will be forced to split into teams as swiftly as possible, as the moment people start breaking out, negative attention from the staff will start building. The area is poorly guarded at first, but as people become aware of the breakout, more will arrive. Gild, speaking on behalf of her inside plant, will say that those that 1) want to get their stuff back, 2) want to find Ignatius, should get the assistance of their allied Deltas to access sector A5. From there, they will have to access Polaris's storage in A3, a neighbouring sector, and find access to C2, the station where Ignatius is being held. They should expect to be met with armed resistance, but with any luck allies will be there to assist them. In general, characters will be most effective if they back one of these major objectives: ► TEAM LOOT: This team is trying to get back the items and pets that were confiscated when the group was brought into Polaris. Their objective, according to their allies on the inside, is to get to A5, and then make their way to A3. The important thing is being able to locate their stuff among a sea of other items, and to make it through security in order to reclaim it. Gild's plant has said that they will assist with this. After getting these items, Team Loot may wish to merge with Team Rescue. ► TEAM RESCUE: This team's primary focus is to get to A5 and then make their way to C2. If desired, they may wait for or join with Team Loot, or they may strike out ahead in order to take advantage of the element of surprise. The key factors are obtaining a way to access C2, as well as being prepared for armed conflict with the technicians guarding it, as well as possibly the Mother of Invention herself. Though, the ideal is that Gild will be distracting here at that time. ► TEAM DISTRACTION: This team can do their thing wherever they please, as their main intent is to sew general discord and distract the staff from the teams doing more important things. They should be prepared for armed resistance, but what tactics they pursue beyond that point are highly variable. ► TEAM FORTRESS: This team is attempting to set up a protective base of operations in the original sector in order to survive the conflict and protect their noncombatant comrades. How they accomplish this is also highly variable. Other objectives may exist, of course, and can be made with their own separate top levels. Chunks of these megathreads will have to be played out in summary form, so when characters are simply trying to get from place to place and specifics aren't necessary, feel free to stick to that format. Assume that everyone is already out of their cells for the purpose of the megathreads. Here is a shitty map of how the sectors connect, from a side view of the central Polaris hub.

Comments

[npcarnival]

She's a little disappointed when Papyrus pulls away, but not really. It's still fascinating to watch. There are a complicated series of factors that make this particular interaction so interesting - their relationship, maybe, and their species kindred relationship with the fae. A million other tiny things. It's not something she could replicate, even if she tried, and that's what's amazing about it.

"I do understand," Sans says, taking another step forward to match Papyrus's step back."Beings comprehend things they haven't personally experienced all the time. Like mortals witnessing black holes, so far out in space they could never touch them. Yet, they witness the pull all the same. They may even feel it, in ways incomprehensible. I have a maker, a Court, like we all do. But that's not what I want."

"I want you... to want. I want you to struggle. Sometimes... I may want you to succeed. I want to witness the need I have never felt myself, and to see the battle to have it satisfied. The proof is in the pull."

Something happens in the staff area, and Sans briefly turns his head, looking in that direction. Somewhere else, Ignatius frees Rita from her control. Somewhere else, Ignatius falls to the ground, bested by her trick.

"Even fae are not immune to it," he says. "But I am." He looks back to Papyrus. "I am your impartial witness. Tell me again... what do you want?"

[moonfang]

Wow this is super uncomfortable. On the one hand, Papyrus seems to have the Mother's rapt attention. On the other... Papyrus has the Mother's rapt attention. It's kind of like a horrible train wreck that you can't look away from, and you're not sure if you should call 911 or just stand there, gaping like a fish, watching the world burn.

It's really the sensation of Ignatius taking a hit elsewhere, a shuddering in that poor faerie's very soul, that spurs him to motion. It means that the Mother is better at multitasking than they thought. He locates Tyki from his hiding place and moves to stand behind him. He gestures vaguely to whatever the hell is happening over there with Papyrus and puppet Sans.

"Should we do something?"

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus holds steady as not-quite-Sans advances, recognizing a monologue of a villain's motivations when he hears one - having crafted a few in his time. (Even if they were meant more as menacing, ultimately heroic ones.)

"So you don't mind us trying to fight, trying to escape... trying to free our friends... as long as you can watch," Papyrus echoes after. "Because you want to watch."

It's a sass back that she does too want things, an answer that hints what he wants, and at least a little bit confirmation of the part he understood. The references to black holes and some of the scale of her wants are harder to grasp in this moment, and hopefully less essential. His bones rattle in a slight metallic clinking, as he decides to go for it.

"I... I don't want to fight my brother," he says, considering the bones clutched in his hands. "I want him free, and walking and talking, but... I don't want to use force to stop him."

And he drops the lot to the ground, in an show of surrendering. But one of them's made of dust, and goes ploomph on hitting the ground with force enough to send the dust flying up between them.

[npcarnival]

The dust rises around them, and Sans coughs. Oh, haha! What's this? Unexpected. It seem to catch him a bit by surprise, but not in a bad way. He looks around at the sparkling dust, then looks up at Papyrus, his step wobbling slightly as he bears down on the other skeleton regardless.

"Then it is granted," Sans says, leaning in close even as the dust seems to make his movements slower and sleepier. "Your brother... is yours. And you may perish in this storm together."

Sans will slump forward, his visor dropping from his hand onto his the ground. Still, he manage to keep his eyes upward, even as he stumbles.

"That... is my payment to you."

He collapses, then - either into Papyrus's arms, or onto the floor. The Mother's presence is gone.

[fortuneglass]

Carly didn't completely leave when Papyrus began to speak with the Mother. She couldn't stand to look at Sans in this state of course, and the Mother's continued actions certainly made it worse, but she couldn't leave the area completely. Instead she quietly took to the air, keeping the skeletons in sight.

At one point, the water in the distance seems to be moving- and she almost wants to go in that direction, to see what's happening, how to help.

"Papyrus-!" She doesn't however, and her eyes move from the distraction of the store front fountain in time to see Sans' collapse.

"Sans-!" she adds a millisecond after calling the name of the taller one, floating down with an awkward flap to try and keep from flying too close or crashing. She may fail. But she's trying.

There is a pause...and she swallows, looking over the two.

"...She..." ... "...She's gone..?"

[spaghettimonster]

It's good fortune that they've gone a good several days without any magic; ordinarily, Papyrus would have tried to grab his brother with blue magic. But while it's working, it's not as strong, and it slows Sans' unconscious fall just enough for Papyrus to grab him.

Papyrus looks up at Carly's question with wide, uncertain eyesockets. "I... I don't know, I just put him to sleep. So, she might still..."

He glances around, to the distant explosions and water rising and so forth. "9S is missing, I don't know who else can tell... Rita? Is there anybody else?"

[fortuneglass]

Yes, things do seem like they might be...worrying over there, maybe. But-

"I think I saw her over at the store, but..." She's not really sure what was going on over there?

In a few moments, probably a really intense light show actually.

The woman swallows, crouching down some to stare at Sans. "...I hope she's gone... ...Actually gone, and not just...taking someone else, at least."

[prazerbutterfly]

He's about to answer Zangetsu with a faint I don't know mostly because he was told not to interfere and yet there was a lot of action going on at once. The words barely leave his lips with even Tyki tearing his eyes away to look towards where the others are. Something has caught the Mother of Inventions attention and he is already scanning in that direction even if he can't see that far.

He looks towards Papyrus as he successfully knocks out Sans and Tyki rushes over out of slight concern, keeping his distance so that Papyrus can take care of his brother. Even his hand beckons Zangetsu over so he doesn't have to stand over there by himself.

"Unless she's lurking somewhere nearby she likely has left him. You saw it wasn't the visor that kept her within. He was likely unconscious before she let him go." Unless she was still watching them like a creep through the poor skeleton. Yet that is not what worries him the most as he scans Papyrus slowly for any updated information.

[moonfang]

Good, he doesn't know either. That makes him feel more comfortable! Slightly.

He follows Tyki over, peeking around him to look at Sans and Papyrus.

"Hmm..." he says with a frown, turning his sixth sense on Sans, probing for the Mother of Invention's cold and overwhelming presence. "Whatever just happened, she ain't using him any more. She left -- but she's still over there somewhere," he says, pointing towards the store. "Maybe she jumped bodies? Hard ta say." Maybe she had been in two bodies at once? He couldn't really tell -- the souls of those damn true fae were infuriatingly hard to interpret.

"But... uh.. what was that she said? There at the end? A 'payment'?"

[osteothropy]

Sans is snoozing peacefully, with an expression reading more like 'looking pretty pleased with himself for sneaking in this nap' rather than 'inner turmoil.' If it was a less fraught setting, it would seem like he was doing pretty well for himself.

There's no obvious signs of the Mother's presence, either physically or spiritually. Tyki won't feel anything rising up in him either.

[spaghettimonster]

Tyki's comments and Zan's question inspire a whole host of other questions, but Papyrus shrugs and shifts his sleeping brother around.

"I don't know! Maybe she really liked the conversation. Or one of the experiments she did on me?" But who wants to dwell on that question. "A-anyway, if he's himself, maybe we should try waking him up...? I don't know what's happening with the plan, now, but... I'm sure Sans wouldn't thank me for making him sleep through it."

Big unquestioned meta questions, dodged with skeletal grace.

[fortuneglass]

There's a bit of a stare, when Papyrus says that- but after glancing at the others as well, Carly stands. "...I'm not sure either- normally I would say we could use all the help we can but...how do you normally wake someone after you do that?" Carly asks, blinking. She knew about the cheery dust, but the sleepy dust?

No experience there. She pauses, turning back toward the fountain area. "...We should at least get back to the others, anyway, so..."

[moonfang]

"I don't know, if I could sleep through this whole mess..."

He lets the thought trail off. Still... the Mother's influence is gone from Sans AND gone from over by the store.

"I can't feel her anywhere, now."

[prazerbutterfly]

"Maybe he deserves a little break anyways," though he's not sure how Sans would take to missing out on a whole fight, "Not that I suspect we'll be given much room to breathe for long." Being Warden meant one didn't get breaks often. Taking one risked a lot of things.

"That's good," he says out loud, more for himself, as his hand reaches up towards the side of his head and he scratches again. "We should move him somewhere safer until he wakes up unless we plan on trying that now. It depends on how Papyrus' spell works."

[spaghettimonster]

"Err... Well. I never really tried waking anyone under this?" Papyrus looks to Carly, because she'd been involved with it more times than anyone but Sans.

"I only really put people to sleep as... a Harbinger? And, uh, later tried making people happy. The happy part wore off on its own, I don't know if sleeping people... woke up."

He gives his brother a tentative shake, but looks worried all the while. Anyone who ventured around Wismuth after Harbinger Papyrus had done his thing may have run into his victims, and people even under the intense dust could be woken - with shaking and emotional pleas. This half-powered, creation dust variety, should take a lot less than that.

[osteothropy]

Sans stirs a little when Papyrus shakes him, which seems to imply he'd be receptive to waking up. He's also a stubborn sleeper, though, so he's apparently not keen on waking up quickly either.

"Nnkay..." he says, like he's trying to get whoever is trying to wake him up to leave him alone for five more minutes.

[prazerbutterfly]

"You did good, Papyrus," he says out loud after taking a moment to listen and let Papyrus talk. He stares down at Sans happily snoozing away like nothing in the world was wrong at all.

His body moves down to squat next to him, a hand resting on his cheek as his elbow plops against his bent thighs. Even his tail sways behind him at fond memories of napping next to the usual sleeping skeleton, half tempted to just lie down with him on the cold floor, "He looks content."

[spaghettimonster]

It's true, Sans does. As if he's napping at his desk or station back home, restful and unshadowed by nightmares or job stress. It's comforting to see, after the last several days and the anguished expression earlier.

"...Yeah, I think this worked out okay. But I wonder... Did she leave to go pay attention to something else?"

Papyrus looks around the area they're in for signs that anything new and terribly wrong is about to happen, or signs of continued yelling and clashing and exploding in the distance. After everything that's gone on, he's lost track of what the plan at this point is.

[npcarnival]

There is an eruption of white light from the staff area, and the sound of a lot of people falling into the water. AKA, this is the moment that Ignatius gets healed by Creation.

[moonfang]

"Holy shit!"

The ensuing blast of spiritual energy is enough to send Zangetsu reeling, as if struck by a tangible force. He scrambles to sit back up, claws scraping on the floor.

"What the fuck was that?!"

[fortuneglass]

Ah.

Carly sucks in a breath, panic immediately rising in her chest. Choking, she replies to Zangetsu, immediately turning various shades of anxious blue-green. "Whatever that was, we can't just sit here..! Let's go!"