⇨ 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

closed to rita

[whattaprick]

Lambert's just spent a good few days not having any actual food but experiencing the pangs of simulated, debilitating hunger. Once he realized there was actual food in the same place everyone else was going for food, well, naturally that's where he's going to end up.

At a quieter hour of whatever passes for Polaris' day cycle, Rita's going to come across a Gamma sitting at one of the tables, steadily working on wolfing down a loaf of bread -- seriously, they're just holding it to their mouth and steadily chewing through it -- and alternating it with swigs from what's evidently a bottle of some kind of juice.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita returns to the shop after some time, now with her broken wing bandaged and splinted. She seems to be looking for something, but is immediately distracted by the Gamma stuffing their face in a very un-Gamma-like manner. Actually, it's not a manner like anything she's seen before.

So instead of continuing on, she just sort of ends up stopping and staring at the spectacle.

[whattaprick]

The Gamma doesn't appear to notice her at first, but when they eventually finish chewing and swallowing their current mouthful of food, they look over at her and raise their brows.

"What, you hungry too? There's plenty more where that came from."

[anti_nonsense]

"Yeah, no... I'm not hungry," Rita mutters in reply, looking unimpressed. "I didn't think anyone here was, actually."

This Gamma's still wearing their uniform and everything, too. Wasn't that supposed to sustain them? ...Actually, isn't that some kind of magic she's seeing, too? Rita inches a little closer, her brow furrowed, to see if she can identify it.

[whattaprick]

“Suit yourself. More for me.” Lambert could just tell her, but where’s the fun in that? While the illusion is good enough to not immediately set off alarms at first glance, but on closer inspection, the interwoven magic that comprises the facade built over a humanoid form is evident. Lambert’s slight magical signature is buried underneath, nearly overwritten but still present.

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you it’s rude to stare?” He tsks. “Were you raised by wolves?”

[anti_nonsense]

"What did you say!? You've got some nerve, you...!"

Flustered and irritated, Rita looks like she's about to fight the Technician, but something else seems to give her pause, even as her temper flares.

"...An illusion spell? Just what are you trying to pull here!?"

[whattaprick]

Just like that, Ignatius is sitting at the table — Ignatius as he once was and never will be again, thanks to the Carnival and Creation’s intercession.

“Me? I was just trying to enjoy my first meal in a week until someone decided to start staring at me.”

[anti_nonsense]

That transformation gets a distinctly weirded out look from Rita, but at least now, it's not too hard to figure out who's doing it. She saw the same illusion back when she snapped out of the Mother's control, after all.

"Well, maybe if you didn't make such a spectacle of yourself...! How are you even doing that, anyway?"

[whattaprick]

‘Ignatius’ shoots Rita a faux-wounded look, which is pretty bizarre to see on someone with fire for eyes.

“I’m not the one yelling while people are probably sleeping,” he points out wth dignity, though he can’t hold the serious expression for long before it melts into a cocksure smirk.

“A gift from the Ringmaster during Solstice. Never really seemed necessary before, but it’s come in handy this trip.”

[anti_nonsense]

Rita scrunches her face at the weird expression being made by 'Ignatius'.

"Has it? Because from here, it just looks like you're fooling around," she says dryly. Then, she seems to weigh a few options in her head (that is, whether to keep dealing with Lambert, or to move on and go ask Herbert or something), and asks after a pause, "Could you open that egg dimension for a second? I need to grab something."

[whattaprick]

“Why can’t it be both?” Lambert laughs. “Don’t tell me you’ve never mixed work and pleasure.”

Because he’s pretty sure Rita can’t honestly say that. That being said, he’ll take this chance to slide off his seat, wipe crumbs from his mouth, and open the door in eggspace in a smooth, well-practiced motion, holding it open with an exaggerated bow.

“M’lady, your door to another dimension awaits.”

Okay, he really is just fooling around now.

[anti_nonsense]

"Ugh. You really think you're funny, don't you?" Rita groans, looking mostly annoyed at the theatrics.

She won't delay, however. Rita steps into the dimension, quickly finds what she's looking for, and comes back out with her dueling armor cradled in her arms. "That's all I need. You can go back to eating, or... whatever you're doing." Rita, apparently, is ready to go change her clothes.

[whattaprick]

“I know I’m funny,” Lambert grins.

Tragically for Lambert, all he packed was a warm blanket. Great for cuddling under, not so great for wearing.

“I’ve been hungry for a week,” Lambert says, matter-of-fact. “Letting you feel hunger that weakened you but couldn’t be satisfied was part of the punishment for being ‘below expectations.’”

[anti_nonsense]

Rita turns, seemingly planning on going into a back room of the shop to change, but Lambert’s words make her pause, instead stopping to give him a wide-eyed stare.

She might have heard something about hunger, but this is the first time she’s heard the facts laid out plainly like this. Lambert, and some of the others... they’ve been feeling like they’re starving, all this time?

She swallows, and in a mumble, admits, “...I didn’t know. I only had access to a basic overview of your trials, not...” She trails off, frowning.

[whattaprick]

All the sensation of discomfort and none of the actual bodily functions to go with it. It was bizarre. Lambert’s actually experienced that kind of hunger, real hunger, before and he could probably pinpoint the difference if he felt like he cared enough to describe it — though it wasn’t any less shitty.

“It stopped whenever they were doing trials,” Lambert supplies. “That was kind of the point, I think. Get you to the point you’d do anything to make it stop, or make you so weak you’d drop and they could do what they wanted anyway.”

But the mention of the basic overview of their trials has him sitting up, suddenly attentive.

“You saw it through the visor?” he guesses, then frowns, more hesitantly. It feels wrong to ask this as Ignatius, so his form collapses, turning back into the Gamma from before. “Did you see what they did to Childermass? They put something in him, but I don’t know what. Not the iron ... something else.”

[anti_nonsense]

Rita nods to confirm it was indeed through the visor. Her eyes narrow as he changes his form again... not to himself, but back to the Technician. He's hiding something.

"I checked his file, back when you were badgering me about his memory loss. I don't know the details... just that it looked like something to do with the Void." Does that help? As far as information goes, that's still pretty vague. "Um... How is he, by the way?"

[whattaprick]

Something to do with the Void, huh? Even on the Gamma’s noticeably more neutral features, it’s obvious he’s troubled by that.

“He’s Childermass,” he says, which is a shorthand for ‘not saying much of anything’ and ‘probably wouldn’t appreciate it if I told you directly’ that he’s sure Rita would understand. “Could you, uh, try to look him over with the lens the Ringmaster gave you when you get a chance?”

He folds his hands together, looking her over. In the dimmed lights of the room, that heart catches attention readily, a glow of energy that’s hard to miss.

“Though I guess you’ve got your own problems. How are you doing? Between your head and that?”

[anti_nonsense]

Rita frowns at the vague answer, but answers, "Yeah. I should probably talk to him, anyway." She never really got a chance to say anything to him after he took that blow to his soul. While Rita's sure Childermass had his own reasons for doing it, there's a part of her that can't help but feel like he made that sacrifice in her stead.

The topic turns to her own health, and she gazes downward at the red glow shining through the opening in her uniform. "My head's fine now. My heart feels... normal, I guess. Which is pretty weird in itself. I felt something change in me when Ignatius did, but I don't exactly know what it was."

[whattaprick]

"Guess that's going to be something you have to figure out," Lambert shrugs, resting his elbows on the edge of the table he's sat at.

"Since you're his faeblood now and everything." He pauses. "Did you know that, before?"

[anti_nonsense]

"Wh..."

Rita's eyes widen. It's not just what he's saying, but the matter-of-fact way he's saying it. Rita suspected it was possible, but she didn't think she had enough information to draw a conclusion just yet. Maybe it's because she hardly knows anything about faebloods to begin with, but still...!

"How come you're so sure of that!?" she sputters.

[whattaprick]

“You don’t remember anything before Ignatius got the Mother of Invention out of you?” Lambert looks her over thoughtfully.

“He wasn’t sure himself, but she was shouting about how he should impressedwith what she’d done. And he said if you were really his faeblood now, he should be able to have more control over you than the Mother did. You know how that turned out.”

[anti_nonsense]

Some of the color drains from Rita's face, and she opts to sit down at the table, setting the armor on a seat beside her.

"...I'd considered the possibility," she says, staring down at the table's surface. "So it's really true." The connection between them, the way Gild reacted when she saw her... it makes sense.

"...Still can't believe he took the bait," she adds, still looking distracted.

[whattaprick]

“I did try to get him to come with me and Childermass,” Lambert admits. “But I guess he took it differently.”

Though in the end, it didn’t exactly turn out badly, he supposes. It would have been a pain to deal with a possessed Rita on top of everything else in that fight.

“Guess you really do mean something to him.” His smirk as he says that suggests he has an idea exactly how she’ll take that.

[anti_nonsense]

"D... don't be stupid!" Rita blurts out at that, practically out of reflex.

But she knows he's not wrong. Rita doesn't understand exactly when or how it happened, but it's clear that their relationship has done a complete 180. Ignatius put himself at risk to save her, even though there was nothing in it for him. People only do that sort of thing when they care, don't they?

She scoffs, seemingly trying to discourage any argument on that front (because she knows she'll lose), and voices a different concern. "Ugh... In the end, I don't really know what it means to be faeblooded. If it means I'll be able to live with this heart without it suddenly giving out on me, I'll take it, but..." It definitely seems like there's a lot to it, and Rita's starting to seriously regret not doing any in-depth research into the subject sooner.

[whattaprick]

“I don’t know either,” Lambert admits. What little he knows about being a faeblood comes from Childermass, which largely seems to be all of the shit and none of the perks.

“There’s something between a fae and their faeblood called a bloodbond. At least that’s what the Rose Queen called it. She tried to make the Count use it to give her Childermass.”