lostcarnival | ⇨ POLARIS 3.0

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⇨ POLARIS 3.0

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Miss Beauregard, ugh. Beau's expression twists at the unexpectedly mannerly greeting, from this guy who's probably concussed... Maybe that's it, maybe he's just concussed, because she sure hasn't done anything to make herself look ladylike today.

"You look pretty pummeled, man, but if you want to stick around..."

She helps haul him to his feet, glancing back towards the dwindling sounds. It looks like the Mother's down after all, some kind of bullshit winning strategy pulled out of their collective asses. Maybe it's safe for this guy to sit against a wall and watch, waiting comfortably for help to come to him instead.

"Yeah, okay. If you don't mind being where more enemies might come out, I can haul you to that brand new door to the farm. Or we can sit you against that piece of broken sky bridge over there. Just, don't take too long to decide, or I'll pick where to haul you."

The lizard boy and his dragon are here. It's pretty unsettling that fae murder has to turn out this way, but the two help with blasting the soul fragments as well- letting loose twin beams of plasma.

(Meanwhile the dragon actually has a cool new gem stuck to their sternum. It starts blinking in a countdown sort of manner.)

Now that the darkness effects are fading, Sans will let his aura die down to something more manageable. More specifically, he's looking for Papyrus in the crowd, trying to visually confirm that he's okay. He ends up spotting him tugging people out of the way of the Mother, and drifts down closer to meet the group.

Fire guys says to destroy the body, and Sans is completely willing to help. He summons up three of his blasters and channels his angelic and monster magic through them, blasting the spaces where souls bits seem to be emerging. Funny, seeing something like this on a bigger scale. Yet, no matter how much razing they do, it doesn't feel like this could be fully over.

He doesn't specifically enjoy the process, nor does it bother him. Really, he just feels sort of numb. What goes around comes around, he guesses.

Ignatius said to hit the body with everything they have, that's what Strange is focusing on. He focuses his magic on the already burning chassis, keeping the fire burning hot and adding his own flames to the mix.

For all that he wanted to wanted to kill the Mother and get the hell out of here, Strange is oddly quiet during this endeavor.

"You're not the boss of me," Lambert tells Syrlya, in a low rumble. As the Mother of Invention starts to flail around, thankfully, they're not in the immediate radius. Peridot is, though, and it's a good long worried moment for Lambert until he sees Papyrus's magic whisk her safely away.

There are probably others who can help Syrlya more than Lambert can right now, largely on account of having opposable thumbs and shit. Ignatius probably has the right idea, though as Lambert scans the field, his eye catches on the rabbit and he frowns.

"No sign of Gild," he tells Syrlya for his benefit, since his line of sight on the ground is all of jack and shit right now. "Try not to die until we take care of this, will you?"

With that, off he goes, waddling and tail swinging. He pours as much of his dragon breath over the Mother of Invention's chassis as he can to support Rita's magical attacks, focusing particularly on areas with ripped-off limbs and other damage in the hope of weakening the structure further with heat.

"The broken section is fine," he says outloud, trying to move a little to lean his back against something. He has to see this to the end. With that he'll mostly be quiet for the rest of the time to observe.

His hand opens to allow a few hundred Tease to flit into the air mostly to rush off in the direction of the soul fragments, firing large bursts of Dark Matter through them. Unlike his Noah body, they aren't affected by any light aura or song. They are just here to destroy with large bursts of energy.

"Ha." Syrlya's expression twists into a crooked smirk, which is about the most motion he can manage without causing more pain. While Lambert scans the field he tests his body again and flinches.

"I'm--not dying," he hisses between teeth. "It's fine."

And when Lambert turns to go, he closes his eyes and lets out a weary breath. Okay, it's not really fine, but he'd rather they not fail to kill the Mother of Invention worrying about bones they can't fix immediately anyway.

Peridot will be grateful for the save whenever she manages to regain her senses. For right now though, she doesn't look so hot. She basically ragdolls for the whole distance over to Papyrus, a pained expression marring her features. She isn't unconscious but she doesn't seem particularly aware of her surroundings either, and just lays in a limp heap wherever she happens to get pulled to, the edges of her form flickering occasionally.

Just as Peridot flickers, Gongenzaka isn't entirely doing the best either. He was sitting with her through the entire STAB STAB STAB after all, urging her on until his own voice faded under strain. It might not be his body, but it was certainly his own soul still exposed to the iron, the Mother, and so on.

His strain and injury differs of course- he wasn't the one personally handling iron at the end of the day. But as weariness takes hold he has to remind himself that getting to his body is important as well. Dimly he can hear something about striking the Mother as she dies- and the screams echo painfully in his mind. And...he supposes there must be danger around them, then..? He...

"Peridot," he says quietly, uncertain of if she will even hear him. "I, the man Gongenzaka, feel I may need to stay with you until the chaos quiets a little more..."

He sort of wishes he could just sleep honestly. But he's pretty sure that would be as unwise as trying to track his body during an all out attack.

Wail on it.

Well. Carly can certainly deliver. Drawing her bow, she aims at what she can pretty well guess is the Mother's body, forming an arrow of that persisting burning flame. She draws, and she fires- landing the shots best she can toward where the screaming had been and toward what few details of machine she can tell apart, Carly's own face marred by rage and exhaustion both.

It takes her energy to burn this fire after all.

Eventually she starts running out of steam however- finally collapsing to the ground and. "A-AAAHCK-!"

Annnnd she's discovered the broken leg.

Edited 2018-11-12 13:52 (UTC)

He'll get to that.

For now, Yuusei, having retrieved Steven's gem by this point, bounds through what remains of the Mother's mist around her fallen chassis, spotting where Syrlia's been set on the ground out of her grasp. He doesn't want to waste time dawdling and telling Steven things he doesn't know, though for a moment he does wonder if Steven will be alright so close to the Mother. Either way, he returns his gem after setting him by Syr, murmuring a brief "You're doing great," before racing off again.

He undoubtedly passed Carly on his way to Syr, and for that he feels kind of bad, hoping she didn't see him and wonder why he didn't stop or acknowledge her. Soon, though, he's at her side, kneeling to examine her legs.

"...this is going to hurt," he tells her, as if she wasn't already in pain and wouldn't continue to be regardless of whatever he does next.

Which, he decides to lift her off the ground, starting his arm under her good leg first before taking the other. He tries to be gentle, but how gentle can one really be with a broken leg like this? Either way, he heads back toward the tuck shop where he hopes Herbert is still waiting, his pace slower than it was with Steven on account of Carly's limb.

He's maybe a little impersonal at first; there's no attempt at conversation or even a friendlier gesture (though he can't do much right now), but truthfully he feels there will be a time for that, after the Mother of Invention and after Polaris.

Everyone will be busy with destroying the remains of the Mother a while and generally getting themselves together. After several minutes pass, however, they will be met without another violent shake in the station - just in time for a huge beam of light to tear out a portion of the ceiling right out, at the far side of the room. Some debris fall, but the blast moves at an upwards trajectory, knocking most of the remains to some unseen place outside.

The rip in the ceiling exposes a pure blue sky, followed by the arrival of something that looks like an airship hovering into view. There is a gate at the ship's bottom, hanging open, with a few different people hanging off of it like the immediate plant was to dismount. There is some hesitation, though, when they see that the Mother is torn open like a tin can and lying dead on the ground.

"You finished her without me?" an unfamiliar voice calls. It appears to be a fiery fae with blazing hair and charcoal skin, with golden marks inscribed all over her body. She laughs, grimly. "Crying shame."

To anyone who has felt her magical touch, it seems obvious that this new arrival is Gild, as she stands on the airship platform, her golden bow at the ready. She looks like she's taken a fair number of wounds, black holes against her skin. Alongside her is Scald and a white furred fox, who raises a paw to wave.

"Samyaza!" Kerubi calls out. "You survived, then?" Then she looks to the others. "No escape plan needed, I see." Meanwhile, Scald is quietly scouting the area, most likely looking for his sister.

Edited 2018-11-12 18:44 (UTC)

It's around this point that Rita finally decides to get off Lambert's back, jumping down and landing with a wince as her broken wing flops about behind her.

"I was starting to think you'd never show up," she calls back, drawing closer to the airship to get a better look at the fiery woman. "So you're the Gilded Mark. Thanks for the help."

She speaks casually, but her gaze soon drifts to Ignatius, curious about how he's going to handle this reunion.

With the adrenaline of the fight wearing off, Lambert can’t maintain the dragon form much longer anyway. With Rita off him, he’ll shift back into being a man, of a particularly worn, bruised-looking one.

While the new arrivals have his attention, he’ll also glance to Syrlya to see how he’s holding up. He saw someone take Steven over there, but with the general cathartic feeling of letting all that fire loose...

“Maybe you shouldn’t be greeting a fae with an iron weapon,” he’ll murmur quietly as he follows after Rita.

Misunderstandings can happen, and all that. He’ll draw up beside her and hold out a hand for the knife, evidently prepared to take it back.

The Gilded Mark leaps from the ceiling entrance, hitting the floor gracefully - through she stumbles a bit after landing, as if still whoozy and exhausted. She holds one arm around her side, like she's clasping a wound. As she moves closer, they'll be able to see some blackened veins lifted against her charcoal skin.

She comes forward, glancing at Rita and seeming to recognize something about the way she feels, before looking forward in search of something else. She doesn't know for sure how all of this played out, but she feels... up ahead...

Oh.

Ignatius turns around to the sound, having been blasting the last bits of the Mother's chassis. He's caught off guard when he sees her, his eyes going wide. He immediately wants to go somewhere else.

"Did you..." Gild begins, only half processing the thought before looking utterly confused. "What...? Ignatius...?" She knows it's him. The golden mark on his face tells her as much. She takes a step towards him, reaching out a hand uncertainly, and Ignatius takes a step back. In a rash decision, Ignatius poofs himself into white flames, zipping off somewhere else that Gild isn't looking at him.

"Hey! Don't you dare, you-" Gild shouts after him, starting to run and then noting that he's already gone. He stops near Rita, looking at her with a flash of anger and confusion. "What happened to him?"

Then, before she even waits for an answer, she shouts after Ignatius again.

"Get back here, Ignatius! Don't act like a child!"

Rita hands the knife back to Lambert, then watches, eyes wide with bewilderment, as Ignatius just takes off as soon as he's faced with Gild. She finds herself freezing up for a moment as Gild turns to her with that question... then sighs.

She might as well try to fill her in. Not just Gild's sake, either... There are a lot of people here who didn't see what happened to Ignatius and might appreciate an explanation.

"It's complicated," Rita begins, her arms folded. "The short of it is... the Mother of Invention poisoned him with ice magic. One of our people tried to cure him by calling on Creation, and... the result was some kind of synthesis. Instead of purging the ice from his body, it fused it with his domain... or something like that."

It's a phenomenon Rita would love to study, given the chance, but there hasn't exactly been time to figure out even the basics of what happened back there.

Gild furrows her brow. She was expecting him to be mutilated, traumatized, changed... but not quite like that. He's both more healthy and more messed up than she was expecting and she isn't sure how to deal with that.

It would probably be easier to deal with him if he was more hurt.

She crosses his arms, frowning, but right now she isn't going to dignify his reaction by chasing after him. Instead, she looks at Rita, and then the rest of the group. Meanwhile, some of the people from the airship start dropping into the room by rope ladder.

"...Right," she says, carefully. She looks at Rita. "Well, I'm the Gilded Mark. I think we met." Though, she pauses there. "Are you his...? Uh..."

She had no idea that Ignatius had children, what the fuck.

As Rita goes and explains Ignatius's everything, Strange gives her a look like she's a total idiot.

"What happened to Ignatius is a private matter that's possibly very embarrassing," he hisses, slightly under his breath. And then, in full voice, he turns towards Gild and gives her an accusatory glare. "And honestly, considering that I've no idea just who the hell you are or how the hell you found us, you're the one who should be answering the questions in the first place!"

Fun fact: not everybody knows who Gild is. Sure Rita said 'Gilded Mark' but that name means absolutely nothing to Strange. Fill up the rest of the crew on the plot, please.

The Gilded Mark's lip presses into a firm line as she turns to face Strange with a similar amount of force and accusation. She is actually quite tall, much like Ignatius is, so she has the advantage of glaring down her nose at him.

"I'm his sister," she says. Then, all in one moment, her severity melds away as her shoulders sink. She sighs. "...Though I'm sure he wouldn't have told you that."

Strange glares up at her with the force of someone who is absolutely not impressed by how tall and impressive she is. They murdered one fae already today and Ignatius's entire friggen domain changed, this day can't get any more chaotic than it already is!

"That doesn't answer my second question. How did you find us?"

Rita looks a bit uncomfortable as Gild trails off, but is immediately thrown off by Strange's scolding. She answers him with an irritated scoff and a roll of her eyes.

Fortunately, Gild steps in to introduce herself, and Rita's content to leave her to dropping that bomb on the group. There's little change in her own expression, having heard this much from Shimmer already, though it's still pretty damn weird to imagine.

At last, she'll answer Gild's question to her. "My name's Rita," she says plainly. "I'm not his..." And there's a pause, as she tries to actually think of what she is to him, and frankly, she has no clue. She shakes her head. "...Ugh, I don't know. Whatever we are, that's complicated too."

Gild glances at Rita uncertainly, but she'll take her word for it. She's not sure how you can be sort of someone's child, but alright. She assumes there is a lot to catch up on. So, she answers Strange first.

"I'm the Gilded Mark. My domain is that of... well, Marks." She gestures at the golden tattoos on her body. "Anyone who bears my Mark, I can find anywhere. Did you ever notice the tattoos Ignatius has?"

At the tattoos question, Strange nods, quickly putting together what she's implying. He's certainly not going to admit it out loud, but he's seen Ignatius shirtless a few times, he's pretty aware of those tattoos on his dumb pretty ripped abs. So if a tattoo is her Mark, then she should be able to find him no matter where he is. Strange hems and haws as he tries to find a nice way to say 'so you stalked your brother across the multiverse, do you not realize how absolutely creepy that is.'

"Well no wonder he doesn't want to see you," Strange simply remarks, raising a wry eyebrow at Gild. "Nobody likes unexpected visits from family, least of all after something like this." Said with a vague hand gesture to encompass all of Polaris's everything.

Still, he got what he needed to know, so he'll finally back down a little bit and let someone else take the floor...though he's still watching Gild a little too intently.

Gild looks a bit shocked, but not in a 'the audacity of this mortal, questioning a fae', so much as just a regular 'wow this dude is an asshole.' In fact, she gives him a middle finger.

"I came here to get him out when I heard he'd been captured, but you know? I don't actually care if he wants to see me. I fought that robo-bitch for him, and if that's all he wants out of me, then that's just fine." She narrows her eyes. "But you're not the one that gets to tell me that."

Edited 2018-11-13 03:34 (UTC)

Well wow-wee, look at Ignatius go. Lambert doesn't think he's ever seen him peel out that fast.

"I'm Lambert," Lambert raises the hand not holding an iron knife. "The one who was with Steven. Marks worked like a charm, far as I could tell." Even if he ultimately ended up using his on something relatively smaller in the grand scheme of things, it did do its job, and for Childermass too. So, the backup's much appreciated.

Though given the present situation and the current mood of the conversation, he debates whether or not to 'fess up, and finally ruefully settles on, "And I might've had something to do with Ignatius getting caught in the first place." He looks at her a little warily, still bleeding and slightly singed, scratching at a cheek. "So, if that's an issue..."

He trails off. He did expect someone to show up for Ignatius eventually, for all the Ringmaster's worrying about it, but not like this.

⇨ POLARIS 3.0

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