lostcarnival | ⇨ POLARIS 3.0

Entry tags:

⇨ 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.

Threaded | Flat

Any last minute questions about what's going on?

Edited 2018-10-29 00:23 (UTC)

Syrlya hasn't slept heavily tonight. As the darkness dragged on he's instead sitting on the edge of the bed, arms folded as he stares across at the wall.

Once chance, and it is chance. He takes s deep breath, reminding himself he's been part of more poorly executed plans before and succeeded.

They just couldn't let him get through this without absolutely testing his limits, could they?

He started off alone. As the first test subject to arrive in Delta, the process of receiving his implant was done privately, and his training was done mostly with strangers whose real names he'd never know. He ended up back in one of those pacifying little apartment spaces that staff were apparently granted, wondering what he was supposed to do now.

He spent most of his free time reading anything the higher ups would let him, trying to familiarize himself with every drop of information that was now at his disposal. What machinery he had access to. The layout of key features on the map. The basics of the Mother's technology, and the way it was interfacing with the test subjects that had only recently been his companions. He didn't know that any of this would ever pay off, but he was cornered, and his brain was the only thing he could count on. Without his magic, he felt like he had nothing.

And then it got worse. First, it was taking people's Names. It was no one very familiar, no one he had a personal connection with, but he could feel the absence of it in his mind, and he was asked to write note about the subjects distress. He did, but he felt that he was biased. He couldn't really write what he was seeing when all he could think of was the harsh memories of what that lost absence of himself had felt all those months before.

But, he persevered. He was good at being inscrutable. The memories stung and paralyzed, just like they had during the Wyld Hunt, but he was starting to understand the nature of the beast. As Papyrus had said, it was reasonable to be afraid of such difficult things.

Then came the thing he really couldn't deal with, though. When he saw his brother's subject number come up as a mandatory trial.

He already knew about the death trial - he now had access to Papyrus's trial history, much like everyone else in the test group. The idea that they'd bring him in again, after all that... he doesn't know what it's going to involve at first, but he finds out. Mostly because the other technicians ask him a bunch of questions about monster physiology, and he's forced to just nod his head and comply, pretending like there's nothing wrong. Always trying to pretend like this is fine, like there's nothing wrong. Nothing's ever wrong.

He doesn't get the full picture of the process, but he knows knows enough to feel sick. They ask for his contributions to the magical science of it, because he knows way more about monsters than the Mother did at this point. So, he finds himself with two options: play dumb and try to stay uninvolved for his own sake, or go all in and try to save Papyrus from one of the 'unsuccessful' modifications he's seen so much about.

He ends up doing the latter. He shares the practical knowledge he has, knowledge that might spare them from pushing too hard. They ask him to observe the trial as it goes, to watch for signs of the new 'defenses' being rejected. He does that too. He feels completely disassociated. He says things reflexively, moves mechanically, and is more stuck in his own head than he's ever been. Mind control has nothing on the sheer weight of contextual duress. At least if it was mind control it wouldn't be his choice.

After that trial, he nearly loses it in the not-quite safety of his own living space. When it ends up being only a few days before the breakout attempt goes into action, he can't help but feel it's unbearably cruel. So close to being spared of this. It had been so damn close.

When the first signs of unrest start, he leaves his Delta living space, and walks straight for where he knows the cells are. People are going to be getting out, and he's one of the only people that can get access to where they need to go. But, there's something he needs to do first.

He sees Papyrus among them and he stops all together, just staring through his visor, the black devices covering all of his eyes, the Delta uniform unsuited to him. He saw him before, on the field, but there may as well have been a glass wall between them. Now... there isn't. But he kind of wishes there was.

Reira doesn't exactly have a lot to contribute to the team, but then again most of the people on the 'team' are like that. The few who can contribute do so immediately- and it's only a little bit after they're all lectured and told to sit tight that anything happens at all. Suddenly unconscious bodies are being dragged in, with a small number of pilfered sheets and blankets, with some very unique instructions.

'Cut these into strips, take off their clothes, and tie their wrists and feet'.

Cutting sheets is easy- Reira does so while other people handle the clothes and bodies deal, simply handing long strips of sheet over as she shears the fabric with her teeth. It's not long after this that Joker is getting people gathered about to hack at them with a sword of all things.

Apparently it's the only thing that's worked on these suits. Or. Well. Was. At one point, more people arrive- through the teleporter even, rather than the water. Ignatius, and a few of those who saved him, come to try and recover. Certain bundles of magic are given back, and Reira quietly feels her own sense of the emotions around her fade, before another sword is brought forward for the task of cutting suits free.

Which is exactly how she ends up with a bunch of chunks off the top and the arms in particular, before she's handed a stolen set of leggings and a long robe-like vest (from the 'normal' technicians, best she can tell), and told to...

Do her best.

She has to cut the shirt sleeves a bit so she can get her arms in. Well. A lot actually, but over all it's rather like a dress. A spare sheet strip is in the set of clothes she's handed, and she uses that to tie the leggings about her waist before rolling the cuffs up.

...Rolling them...about as far as the knees could be, on the original owner.

It's the best anyone can do after all.

It's when she's finally getting that suit off in the first place, peeling it down like a soaked wet-suit (except tighter, more like being stuck in something perhaps), that she sees... That.

The screen goes a little dull and orange with the mild alarm and confusion. The colours shift slowly, as do her emotions. She pokes at it, feels about the frame, and stares some more.

And quietly, setting the shirt back down, notes that even with this there's a faint glow to be seen from under the fabric.

So that's what they did, she thinks dully.

She walks back out in her temporary 'new clothes', and takes a seat on a bench to sit. Not moving until someone comes perhaps a bit too close to ignore.

The screen never changes in response to other's emotions, notably.

Her empathy was blocked, after all. Right now it's only showing her feelings.

[[OOC - For those on other teams regrouping here, make sure to note about how long in the escape is when you tag- I just want to make sure to keep track of that kind of thing...]]

Edited 2018-11-05 22:43 (UTC)

It's a heck of a load off, when everyone arrives via the teleporter after rescuing Ignatius. Obviously there is other stuff going on, and other people still out there- but the fact is, they've already succeeded at a good chunk of the goal. Medical recovery can be attended to (with or without pilfered beds from the apartments), there's a number of technicians of varying rank being tied up and tucked under blankets while clothes are sorted, and most importantly, he's finally gotten rid of that stupid suit he was wearing.

Thank you, swords and care.

Now, he sits near the entrance to the store front area. Just as before, their guard must be kept up- but with those from Team Rescue around, they have a far tighter guard again. Not to mention, it doesn't really feel like any technicians are actually planning to come after them anymore...possibly because of the fire in the farm.

Not that he expects that to go out of control.

Having passed Ignatius' power back to the fae, he simply closes his eyes and breathes. In, and out...the leaves on his back rustling with every breath to frame what almost seems like a carving in his bark.

...In fact, there is one- like a roaring tiger, swatting at the hole through his chest.

It's rather beautiful, except. Well.

Since when did Gongenzaka have that?? (Since Shabon, is when.)

Edited 2018-11-05 22:43 (UTC)

With Iggy retrieved and the rescue team back at base, Peridot is now (briefly) available for pestering. If anyone needs access to the pocket dimension, or needs something cut with a magical sword, she's your gal.

If you don't need any of those things, she may approach you and ask if you happened to notice what direction Steven went in. She's getting noticeably antsy about his absence.

About twenty minutes after the breakout, the Rescue Team returns to B7's Delta zone, rushing through the transporter with a weak and somewhat purple-looking Ignatius in tow. Once the fae's gotten settled in this relatively safe shop area, Rita starts wandering around, checking on the others in the vicinity. She's still wearing her Delta uniform and visor, but with her red-black wings and the red glow coming from her chest, she still looks plenty distinct from any Technicians.

[a - observation]

After getting herself oriented here, Rita might be seen just standing around, seemingly looking at something through her visor. If she's especially occupied, she might not notice someone approaching. It may not even be the visor distracting her; she may also be found standing alone, staring at a group of bound and visorless Technicians from a distance with a ponderous frown. Or, she may be watching Ignatius as he rests from a distance, with a similar-looking ponderous frown.

[b - acquisition]

At some point, one might notice Rita interact with a device in the shop they're holed up in, causing a slot to open and a plain-looking box of chocolates to slide out. Rita takes the box and finds a spot against the wall to lean, where she loiters for a while, occasionally popping chocolates into her mouth. If she's stuck waiting around until the next phase of their plan, then she might as well make the most of it.

As soon as the break out starts happening, Steven's got one thing on his mind. His missing something that he needs, and he has to get it back - if they make a run for it, and he doesn't have it back, he'll be in real trouble.

He has a bit of his power and the two Pokemon that Peridot lent him - Stumpy and Noodle. Of course, he doesn't have a great idea of where his gem is, at all, besides a knowledge of where it was taken in the first place. He heads in that direction as soon as he's swapped items with Peridot, starting with the two Pokemon in their balls.

Once he's among the rows of labs however, and finds himself a bit lost... he tosses the pokeballs to the ground, setting them free.

"Noodle - Stumpy - I choose you!" he says in a hush, trying to hide behind a corner.

It's around the fifty minute mark from when the escape attempt began, and everyone has mostly collected back in the former staff area of B7. The Farm is still on fire, but contained to its zone, and Team Fortress has set up a protected area in what used to be the staff tuck shop.

There was a series of explosions, not long ago, that rattled the entire station. Now, something more insidious is happening. It will happen at the same time, to two individuals, in two different places: Yukio, set up in the staff area with his sniper gun, and Sans, collecting supplies from various labs rooms.

If anyone is there to see them, there will be a brief moment where their bodies seem to go rigid, and they grab at the implant on the backs of their necks. Then, just as suddenly, their bodies relax - perhaps falling into a posture that looks unfamiliar. They stop whatever it was they were doing and survey the immediate area, the look in their eyes blocked by visors. If they had removed theirs, they will quietly reapply it.

They will spend about a minute, heading to the nearest populated area and looking around, as distant as an impartial survey bot. They will ignore all distractions, unless they threaten to harm them. Then, they will speak.

[ Continued from here. ]

Lambert lacks the advantage of a magic eye to tell what exactly has happened to Ignatius, and in any case, he rapidly has more pressing concerns than whatever new suffering being with the Carnival has inflicted on the fae now. Caught off guard, he doesn't even manage a shout before he's yanked through the water after Strange, spat out onto some other part of the sector's clean, sharp architecture.

Not that it remains clean for long when Lambert heaves himself onto it, coughing water. He's still wearing the Gamma's illusion, at first, but as soon as he can push himself to his feet he'll drop it, whirling to face Strange.

"Really?" he demands. "You're doing this now?" He's bleeding freely from where Strange's claws dug into him, the water sluicing off his body diluting the blood as it spatters to the ground. The reason for the illusion, or at least part of it, might also be a bit more obvious now: Lambert's naked, bolt-studded body and flesh-stripped tail on full display, though the most obvious change is the angular horns that look affixed to his head, less like horns and more like scrap metal and circuitry shaped to resemble them.

It's not long after Ignatius's transformation that everything starts to happen. The station will shake with the arrival of something massive, crashing sounds coming from the Farm next door. A chill spreads through the air like the rapid coming of night. For anyone near enough to see the farm, they will see a cloud of mist overtaking it, slowly smothering what flames remain.

It's only when that is complete that something will start burning its way through the wall connecting the Farm and the staff area. A long line is cut down through the metal, as trivially as a knife tearing through a curtain. More lines join it, cutting out patterns from the material, which yields under its touch - it's like the work of some kind of laser, except it bears no heat, and the glow it leaves is blue. Once it's done, several giant, mechanical arms will push the metal apart, as easily as pushing open a door.

Behind it is a massive robotic figure, easily thirty feet tall and with several external limbs applied to its chassis through a connection in its back, mostly in the form of a number of claw-like arms, more or less like a giant Dr Octopus. In the center, the is the artificial shape of a women, wearing a set of giant horn-like antenna.

She spreads her arms, holding herself aloft on her extra legs. She opens them in welcome to those that have performed so admirable. Smoke and steam from the farm pours in behind her, clouding the floor and partially obscuring her form.

"You've come so far, haven't you?" she says. "I think you've earned... my personal attention."

[Yukio looks like hell, there's blood on his tattered Delta uniform and he's still kind of scraped raw and limping, but he's not bleeding everywhere and he's focused on emergency treatment.

West is starting to work on Yuya, and Yukio's taking a look at Gon, but if anyone else shows up they'll get treated as well.]

[Immediate Aftermath]

Yuya doesn't rouse for a bit, until after the battle is over and the Mother of Invention is truly shattered. He starts to rouse in the makeshift medical area by the shop, which is basically just lying on the floor in one of the rooms with his shoulder and chest under bandages and bolts.

He stirs with a faint groan, immediately regretting when he tries to move and pain shoots through him. He yelps, his eyes snapping open as he cringes and tenses for a long second before settling back down. Tilting his head is... not great, his focus is a little dizzy, but it doesn't send agony through his body so he settles for just looking around the place.

He's alive. But it's gotten quieter.

[The Next Day]

Thankfully the combination of Herbert and Steven puts Yuya back on his feet a little faster, so by the next day he's slipped out to putter around the secured Delta area sluggishly with his arm in a sling. He's hoping to check on people in the wake of the remaining carnage he missed.

He gets a little distracted starting into one of the vending machines though, pressing his face to it as he stares at the snacks forlornly. He's supposed to be gentle on himself, but maybe if he shakes it...

[Closed to Steven]

By the time Yuusei brings Steven to Syrlya, he's fallen quite still, almost deathly so with his eyes closed. He tries to focus just on breathing through the pain, taking short, faint breaths against his broken ribs.

But when he gets a sense from his arm of him closing in, he opens his eyes and tilts his head to look at him.

"Ah, Steven," Syrlya offers him a strained smile. "Did you ever find your gem?"

[Bedrest]

For the rest of the day, and the day after, Syrlya will be stuck laying with the other injured, maybe (hopefully) with a blanket. Steven's plant and healing magic, and Syrlya's biology being quite predisposed to magic, mean that the worst of the internal damage--broken ribs and spine--are mending without leaving him physically crippled. It's still inadvised for him to be up and about, though, given the weakness of recent damage to his bones on top of bruising and mild bleeding. And as much as he hates to admit it, it still hurts to try and stand up anyway.

But he's not good at rest, and often when someone stops by the room or walks too close to the door he lifts his head to call out. "How are things out there?"

Childermass... hid. Throughout the entire fight, he hid, after Ignatius's explosive transformation knocked him back through the shadows. It isn't a fact he's proud of. One of many, unfortunately, right now, and it's enough that he isn't inclined to reveal himself to anyone even as the dust settles and their ride out of here arrives.

It had been a miracle at all that Lambert had shaken him out of his useless cowering to hand over the remaining iron knife and it'll still be some time yet before he really wants to go back among them, even if he doubts anyone will blame him. He's never been a fighter, all his triumphs tricks up his sleeve and last-minute escapes, and yet knocked aside and memories rushing back in a sickening jumble as he fled where Creation stepped...

It isn't a great feeling. He can still feel iron burning in his arm, the pressure of a scalpel cutting through is back, and the Void, which is the one he can't escape. He knew when the Mother of Invention had darkened the battlefield even when he hadn't been looking and it's at that edge -- one that no longer actually exists -- that he's perching as a crow, small as he can be.

After the Mother went down and Papyrus pulled Peridot's ass out of the metaphorical fire, Zan had scooped her up and brought her to wherever the injured were being gathered and treated. Problem is, there's not a whole hell of a lot that doctors can do for soul damage. It's pretty much just bedrest or nothing.

In the immediate aftermath, she can be found near the tuck shop, resting in her bat form. Being smaller and fluffier makes it easier to get comfy. She's at least more responsive now, enough to check in on, but she looks gotdamn exhausted.

Ignatius ends up sitting in pile of dirt and ash, somewhere inside of the still smoldering Farm. It’s an unwelcoming enough locale that he doesn’t expect anyone to follow him for a while, which is really the ideal. After being alone for days, outside of spurts of being sadistically tormented, the return of company already feels like too much. Especially with a certain relative showing up out of basically nowhere, as far as he understands it.

He never had any time to come to terms with things before the fight broke out, and now that the adrenaline is fading, he’s beginning to re-experience the sickening dysphoria that this new form is causing. It just isn’t right, and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to make it right. It felt off that entire battle, and even though it probably saved him from some of the Mother’s attacks...

It doesn’t seem worth it. He wonders if any of this was worth it.

If he could trade what understanding he’s gained for the life he had before, would he? He’s not sure. The fact that he isn’t sure makes him feel both a powerful longing and also an element of self disgust. Of course he’d just go for whatever was easier. Not like Gild. Not like Gild who made this choice forever ago, and has been living in this world without him. How dare she come taunt him now? To rub it in that he was wrong, that she was right?

It’s a while before Gild comes to find him. She emerges from the lingering smoke, having taken some time to calm herself and answer the crowd’s questions. This time Ignatius doesn’t run, but the way he sits there so brokenly doesn’t feel much better.

“Can we talk, now?” she asks. Ignatius doesn’t look at her. So many things are lingering in his mind, thoughts of the last few months, of how many times he believed he’d never see his family again. Yet, it ends of being her to come. The one that left him behind.

“Why did you come here?” he asks, stiffly. She makes a quiet, frustrated sound.

“Because I heard you were in trouble,” she says. “I know it’s been a while, and I know things are different, but...”

“But what?” Ignatius snaps, turning to look at her from his place on the ground. “I didn’t see you running back to aid me when we were in Winter’s damned prison. Torch died and you probably thought she deserved it for staying with me-“

“Don’t put words in my mouth, or thoughts in my head,” Gild says, in the kind of strained voice one uses when trying very hard to stay calm.

“I know that I was wrong,” he cuts in, no longer looking at her. “I was wrong to leave these mortals to such torture. To... To quietly let this go on. I know that now. But what was I supposed to do? Can you even tell me? To go, while not betraying everything... everything they...”

“I don’t know,” Gild says, wrapping her arms around herself, her voice soft. “I don’t want to fight you, Ignatius. That’s... why I came here.”

“Nothing I do will ever be enough,” he says hollowly. “You don’t have to tell me. I already know that I deserve this.”

Gild trails off then, not knowing what to say. She crouches down, her arms still wrapped around her, and waits, hoping that something will let her know how to go on. Maybe he’ll tell her to leave, maybe he’ll leave himself. She doesn’t know.

The silence presses on.

There's about ten billion questions in Strange's mind as he goes to seek out Lambert. Did you talk to Gild? Why do you keep putting me in these situations where you know I'll be hurt? Do you even value my opinion in the first place or am I just a convenient font of magic to shove off at whatever problem you want solved? Ten billion questions and he doesn't have a damn clue where to start.

No matter where Lambert is, Strange finds him because he's a goddamn creep with no problem scrying for his friends. The arm that was splinted is now hanging stiffly at Strange's side. He approaches, lets out a little cough to tell Lambert that he's here, and then starts with the most innocuous question out the ten billion questions he's thinking of.

"Do you have enough power to open the egg storage area? There's something I need to retrieve."

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.

Edited 2018-11-14 06:37 (UTC)

[It's Really Just A Flesh Wound | YUUSEI]

Being transported in Yuusei's arms is far easier on Carly than being transported on his back at the moment- largely because of her leg. One was snapped like a twig, and the other is at the very least heavily bruised with her tail, which means she's not going to be walking for a while.

At least not until some magic is employed. Normally she'd just float- but she's exhausted now, and reached her limit, which means dealing with the consequences of flying in a field of debris.

It leaves her a bit to think about.

It leaves her a lot to think about.

"...Yuusei?" she starts, but she stops just as quickly.

She's not sure what to say here, after all.

[Rest, Bed Rest, | OTA, IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH]

In the immediate aftermath of everything, Carly's on strict 'no moving' rules from the Doctor. Herbert's examination was about as quickly as he could afford, and when the verdict was in it meant splinting the broken leg while supporting the limbs that were otherwise incredibly tender.

She's pretty sure there was muttering about not being a vet at least once, but she's not paying it any mind. Instead, she looks out from the makeshift bed that's been set up at the storefront area, her alolan marowak finally released to join her at her side while she sighs.

...

She sort of wishes they had paperbacks here. "Hahhhh..."

At least the pilfered couch cushions and mattresses from the apartments are comfortable.

[WILDCARD | She'll be dealing with a broken leg for most of the time in Polaris, but shoot!]

Threaded | Flat

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