⇨ 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

[moonfang]

Poor Peridot. Zangetsu feels very guilty about what had happened to her, even if it really wasn't his fault. Like Syrlya, it had been his duty to protect her, and he hadn't exactly succeeded with flying colors.

He crouches next to the resting fluffbat and tilts his head.

"Oi, stringbean. How're ya feelin'?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot cracks a weary eye, and makes a weird gurgling noise before she finds her voice to respond.

"Tired," she grunts. "I haven't felt this bad since they had to stab me in the soul for that ritual."

[moonfang]

He hums thoughtfully, examining her soul a bit with his sixth sense.

"Yeah. You're pretty roughed up. Nothing that won't heal, but it'll take some time. Souls are amazingly resilient things!"

He fidgets for a moment before continuing.

"Look. I... apologize, Peridot. I said I would protect you, and Syrlya, and I didn't do so hot on that front." Especially considering he came out fairly unscathed and both Peridot and Syr took heavy damage.

[periphrasing]

She almost questions how he can even tell that, but-- right. Soul sense. They've been over this.

At that admission, she cocks her head slightly, and then changes back to normal, sitting up and crossing her legs stiffly.

"It's fine," Peridot says with a slight shrug. "I mean. That is true, you didn't do a very good job covering for me. But it's alright. I'm not mad about it or anything. Besides, the soul injuries are honestly my own fault. I should have anticipated that mingling my raw spiritual energy with something as powerful as a true fae would cause me significant damage."

[moonfang]

When she changes back to normal, he moves to sit instead of crouch, crossing his legs himself.

"I'll do better next time. And it wasn't a terrible idea. In any other situation, it probably would have worked. ...That said, I have something that can make up for it. Maybe."

He has a bag slung over his shoulder, and he brings it into his lap. It's... honestly so cute?? It has cartoon cats with big sparkly eyes and colorful stars and cat toys printed on it. Very not Zangetsu. He opens it up and digs around before taking out what appears to be some sort of rainbow-colored hard candy.

".... Wait. You CAN eat, right?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot leans forward with interest when he takes the bag out, peering curiously at the bag. She leans back again and regards the candy with a slight frown, cocking her head to one side.

"Uhhh... I can if I turn back into a bat," she says. "Why? What is that?"

[moonfang]

"Candy! From the Ringmaster," he says, scoring the piece with his claw so he can snap it in half. He puts one half in his mouth and keeps the other. "It helps keep my hunger in check, because it's packed full of pure reishi... ah, soul energy."

He hands the half to her, somewhat reluctantly. He only has so many... but he does feel like he owes her.

"... I don't know if it will help restore your spirit faster, but it's worth a shot? If nothin' else, they have a good flavor -- kinda like honey."

[periphrasing]

That definitely has her attention. Soul damage is such a pain to get over that she'll try just about anything at this point, even if it means eating weird food offered by friendly murder ghosts.

"...Huh. Okay," Peridot says, and reaches out to take the offered piece. She holds it delicately between two claws, giving it a more up close inspection. "Sssso... Am I just supposed to swallow it, or..."

She's still kind of a food newbie.

[moonfang]

Peridot probably won't understand how significant this gesture is to him, but he also doesn't really care. It's something he feels like he should at least offer.

"I usually suck on it until it dissolves, but you can just swallow it whole, I guess..." he frowns a little, "Maybe do it as a bat, though? In your normal form, I'm not sure it'll work. Or... maybe it will?"

He scratches his head, looking confused. "I'll be honest, I ain't 100% sure how you gemfolk work. I've never really had a chance to investigate."

[periphrasing]

"Well... Gems don't generally have organs to eat food with, unless they shapeshift them for themselves," she explains nonchalantly. She changes back into the bat again, clutching the candy between her thumb claws. "Our bodies are made of hard light projected from our gemstones."

She sticks her tongue out and gives the candy a tentative lick. It... tastes pretty good, actually?

[moonfang]

"I guess that makes sense. It explains why yer soul is completely in that gem on your head and nowhere else in your body."

An interesting species, at any rate. And when she shifts into a bat, her soul distributes evenly around the body.

"I ain't gonna poison ya, just put it in your mouth."

[periphrasing]

"I know that, I just wanted to taste it first!" she replies, bristling defensively. She still doesn't put it in her mouth yet, though. She just starts licking it more rapidly? And her ears wiggle while she's doing it.

OH NO. CUTENESS. HIS ONLY WEAKNESS.

[moonfang]

"Fine, fine!"

... Oh good lord what is she doing.

Holy shit.

It's the cutest thing he's ever seen.

He covers his mouth to try and stifle the small squealing noise he makes.

[periphrasing]

Zan can try to stifle his squeals all he wants; it's not going to save him. Peridot has a bat's hearing at the moment, it's like those big yellow ears of hers are automatically keyed onto high pitched noises. She stops eating her candy and glances up at him, an extremely concerned look on her face.

"What the heck was that?" she asks, snout crinkled in perplexity.

[moonfang]

His cheeks flush bright blue -- he's been caught.

"N-nothing!! Nothing at all! Quit looking at me like that and just hurry up and eat."

[periphrasing]

Didn't sound like 'nothing' to her, but whatever. Peridot gives him an unimpressed look and then goes back to munching on her candy, switching up to take the occasional bite. It's only half a piece, so it doesn't take her super long to finish it, but by the time she is done? She does actually look like she's perked up a juuuusst a little bit.

"...How do I look now?" she asks, basically inviting Zan to x-ray her soul again.

[moonfang]

Zangetsu watches and... yeah, he's already x-raying her soul, permission granted or not.

"Actually, it seems a bit better. Good to know that these things can be used in an emergency. But I only got so many of these -- so don't go tellin' everyone about 'em!"