4703/System Tower Floor 31: 5 Hours At Patty's

System Tower Floor 31: 5 Hours At Patty's
Date of Scene:	20 October 2016
Location:	The System <TS>
Synopsis:	The System Tower returns to Britannica with a super creepy floor, just in time for Halloween.
Cast of Characters:	Lexicon, 675, 571, 619, 1028

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Lexicon has posed:
    In the mountainous wilderness around Britannica, covered in snow and woodlands, there has appeared a massive tower of blackened metal protruding far into the sky. It disappears into the clouds, seemingly impossibly tall, tough there are features that denote individual floors-- and only serve to make its sheer size more daunting as dozens, possibly hundreds of floors can be seen. Near the base is a large set of double doors, with metallic plaques on either side embossed with the number: 31

    Standing beside this door, an obvious recent arrival, is the Drive Core Controller of Britannica herself: Lexicon. Her arms folded inside her bulky sleeves, the girl stares up the face of the tower witha small frown on her face. A holographic screen floats beside her elbow, displaying a constantly-shifting graph and a pulsing number: 31%.

    She's in her standard outfit, a white dress under a bulky, fur-lined coat. It's pretty hard to miss her even in all this snow.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra Cosntaintine counts as an 'Adventure Type' since she went to school for it and all. The Judge walks up to the tower along the path through the wilderness. She glances up at it occasionaly, as the structure is easily spotted from a mile away.

    Stopping a dozen meters aways from LExicon and her brooding, the Judge lifts a hand to her helmeted head and coughs into it. "This is the tower plagued by monsters and that would make you Lexicon the... DCC? Of this nation?" The titles around here are strange.

    "Judge Cirra Constantine of Ramuh." she nods her head and horned helmet.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka doesn't so much arrive here as she pops into existence, her residual self-image taking the form of herself in BDUs and her armor-lined coat. She totes a Benelli shotgun in her hands as she approaches, throwing Lexicon a salute when she draws near. It reminds her of when she visited Switzerland that one time for that thing. That thing she doesn't speak of for reasons.

    "Surprised this actually worked, took me a while to get a system together for interacting with worlds like this digitally. I'd say today's good as any a day for giving the program a field test, given the hardware in my head." She taps the side of her head gently to emphasize, before she glances at the tower. "31. That's not at all ominous." Maaka observes dryly, before she looks to Lexicon again. "Sooooo, I take it antivirus software won't do the trick with these things? Let's hope double-aught buck works."

    She nods to Judge Cirra when she arrives, giving the Judgey sort a salute. "Ensign Maaka, don't think we met back when I was with the Union the first time." She introduces herself.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
The green-haired wind priestess, Sanae Kochiya, had answered the System's call once before. Provided, it was different circumstances, and occurred in a different space altogether. For that matter, she also had a different contact. Novel experiences are welcome, though, and after flying in under her own power, she comes in for a landing nearby, with a wave of one of her own voluminous sleeved arms, "Hello! This is the place, right? For adventurers?" She's dressed in her usual ceremonial robes, the only addition being a warmly knit muffler wrapped around her shoulders. Probably something one of the youkai or minor gods of the mountain made for her.

    "This reminds me of a story where men tried to create a tower to heaven, and the gods punished them for their hubris," she figures, inspecting the unimaginable vastness of the structures. She apparently has also misremembered some slight details about it. Regardless of corrections, she presses on, "So, how can this priestess of the Moriya Shrine perform the miracle of assistance for you, today?"

    To Cirra's figuring it's plagued by monsters, she thinks back to the Duty Space. "If so, then hopefully they're as cute as they were last time. Though, maybe a bit less annoying." She may have snuck one of the smaller poochooze out and domesticated it. Maybe. Maaka, meanwhile, receives an appreciative and drawn out 'ooooh'. "Neat! You're so digital!" That's what she imagines the 'radical' analog (heh) being here, anyway.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Mashu owes Lexicon some help, and that was reason enough to visit. She's also not really seen a digital world yet, at least not a complete one. Simulations don't count.

    Wearing a grey sweater over that one-piece black dress with a red tie attached, Mashu, with glasses on, which is how you know she's in woobie mode, wanders along eventually, having been delayed by a high number of pauses to look at the scenery, take pictures, and generally just be impressed by everything.

    Eventually she stops, finally spotting the tower's entrance, and more importantly, Lexicon! And you know, other people. She stutters, fidgets a bit uncomfortably, but manages a wave. "H-Hi! Sorry, I, um, navigating h-here was a bit... I-I kinda did a lot of stops w-without intending to..." At least she's not SUPER late, so it could be a lot worse.

Lexicon has posed:
    Crunching snow is what draws Lexicon's attention and she glances, then turns fully around, "Kochiya Sanae. Stylono told me you helped with Great Poochooze. Welcome back to the System." Eyes wander towards Shielder and she grins, "Oh? Lots of sight-seeing? Help yourself! I'm pretty proud of Britannica's scenery, so I'll take that as a compliment. Once we're done here, I could even show you around, there's lots of libraries you could explore."

    A digital arrival gets her attention next and Lexicon squints at Maaka's avatar for a long moment. Realization lands, and those eyes close, "I see. You almost had me fooled but you're not even a real program. Welcome. In fact, you seem familiar, weren't you assisting Stylono with the Malvader nest a few Gigacycles ago?" And to Cirra, a polite nod, "As I recall you were involved in that, as well. Some of you are at least returning to the System but this would be your first time meeting me." She raises a hand to indicate herself.

    "I am Lexicon, the Drive Core Controller and patron guardian of this Drive, the Silver City of Knowledge, Britannica." That same hand is raised to gesture behind her, "I am personally overseeing the resolution of this. The System Tower. Each time a floor is cleared, it disappears and moves to another location-- usually another Drive entirely-- where it sucks down that Drive's System Resources until the next floor is cleared." She gestures and her screen floats forward, then expands, "You can see here, right now the Tower is consuming 31% of the resources alotted to my Drive. That's unacceptable. It has to go and be someone else's problem for a while."

    Arms folding, she closes her eyes, "Nobody's gone in yet. I have no idea what to expect, but the Floors that manifest in Britannica tend to not be combat-focused, so it might take a while but it shouldn't be too dangerous." Eye opening, she asks, "Any questions?"

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra turns salutes Maaka right back. "No, I don't think we've met. I have however heard you on the radio just now. Welcome back to the Union." Turning back to Lexicon, she nods. "Yes, I was there for that."

5tHer player completely forgot she was there for that.

    Cirra looks up at the tower again, hands on her hips. "So A maze, or a puzzel room or riddles is it?"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Almost. I'm a cyborg, around eighty-three percent of me is cybernetic and synthetic parts." Maaka says, before she nods. "I was here then, yeah. Bit of a nasty business, but nothing I can't handle." She says, before she regards Sanae and Shielder for a moment. Should be a good enough group for this one.

    "We're expecting puzzles and the odd monster, right? No problems here. Let's go." She says, confident as she tips her beret.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
"That's right," Sanae confirms. "Miss Stylono was very helpful on getting us started." And adorable. "I suppose that saves me a more individual introduction, then. Pleased to meet you, Miss Lexicon." However, she does give out more smiles, including to the not-that-latecomer, while she once again regards the tower itself, during the operational explanations. So it's some kind of strange, digital world variation of hot potato, huh? And the way the tower itself is described, it almost sounds like Yggdrasil might be a more apt comparison than Babil.

    Once the details soak in, though, she does look a bit curious. "Libraries, and not combat-focused. I suppose that makes sense. You're supposed to use your brain, then." If the last encounter was an action RPG, then this is probably more of a puzzle game, is how she's reading that. Puzzlers aren't her strongest genre. Nonetheless, by showing up here, she did agree to help, "Well, whether it's puzzles, moving blocks or even playing the right notes on a guitar, I'm ready to try!" Rhythm puzzle? Don't be silly, Sanae. That's another drive and level of the tower entirely.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    "S-So, wait... e-everytime someone clears the tower, i-it becomes someone else's problem? And it has to be cleared one floor highr, s-so... doesn't that mean it'll keep getting harder until..." Until it's totally cleared? Until the difficulty is so high no one can do it? Take your pick. Mashu's new here, she doesn't know how this works.

    She has yet to realize everyone but her introduced themselves. Give her a few moments to get over absolutely everything, it's all still a bit much for her.

    "I-I can handle puzzles though! I think I c-can anyway." Now that she's said it out loud she's not sure anymore. That's how these things go with her.

Lexicon has posed:
    "That's the basics, yes," Lexicon nods to Shielder once, "It hasn't been around long enough to gauge how the difficulty changes, but it is definitely eating more resources now than it was last time it was in Britannica."

    To Sanae, she tilts her head thoughtfully, "Stylono's very dependable, I'm glad she was helpful for that venture as well. As for the Tower-- that's my theory. It seems to base its floors on the theme of the Drive it appears in." A shrug, "I could be wrong, though."

    She glances between Maaka and Cirra, then turns around, "Well, we don't know what this floor looks like. Time to find out." With both hands, she leans on the door and presses it open with some effort, then steps into the waiting darkness.

    Entering after her has a feeling like stepping through something other than a door, and on the other side things change. From outside it seemed like a featureless black void. Inside...

    It's at least a building interior this time, though it has a look like nobody has been here in ages. The floor of the entryway is black and white checker-style tile, spreading from the entrance to another set of doors on the opposite end. Flickering flourescent lights illuminate from the ceiling, which looks dirtier than it probably should. The walls may have been festive at one point, but colors have darkened with age, moisture, and mold. Paint peels and faded posters are impossible to make out beyond a few lines and single words.

    The entryway is not, however, empty.

    On either side of the inner doors, on rounded pedestals, stand two figures. On the left, a red and white cat with the appearance of a female cartoon character-- the slight figure, eyelashes, and a large blue bow between her ears, and a blue dress made out of cracked plastic. On the other side, a similarly cartoony male rat in a plastic suit and tie, wearing sunglasses. One lens is missing and the eye behind it is also missing.

    Either one looks to be covered in a thick, high-impact plastic, though cracked in places. Their limbs and torsoes have obvious joint points as well, suggesting articulation, though both figures are inanimate. On the base of either pedestal are names: PATTY CAT and RODNEY RAT

    Above the door in rainbow font, likewise, rests a slightly off-kilter sign: PATTY'S PLAY PALACE

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    There's a frickin' mascot restaurant.

    Maaka seems to regard the animatronic figures like they're live claymores, her shotgun pointed at the cat warily. "The hell is this? Some sort of gimmick funhouse?" She doesn't touch, but she definitely keeps the weapon trained on the mascot before she starts to secure the immediate area, heading through the inner doorway first with shotgun in hand. "We'd better stick together, no point getting split up and separate if we can't find our way out."

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Stepping lightly into the entry way, Cirra looks up at the sign hanging above them, then down at the two statues of the cat and rat. The horned helm of the Judge turns to look at Lexicon.

    "This is within the theme of your ...Drive?" she asks, then begins walking around the room, examining the statues and walls.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
Now we're getting into the good part! The thrill of the unknown. Sanae isn't certain what to expect of this floor of the tower, maybe it'll involve stepping on floor tiles to connect colors. Instead, the floor tiles on the other side are monochromatic and arranged in that distinctive, alternating pattern. And they look like they haven't had a good mopping in a long time. The previously cheerful walls and even the ceiling look to have similarly seen better days. And there are, of course, those figures. She studies them for a good long time, rubbing at her chin thoughtfully, "Robots? No...with this kind of atmosphere, they must be..." She trails off. It'd been a long time since she'd gone to an amusement park that had these kinds of things.

    "Ah, come on now. Animatronic installations are subject to numerous health and safety regulations," she says, trying to downplay Maaka's wariness. Though shortly after, she does allow, "Though, it seems this place may have fallen out of code a while ago." Cirra does bring up a good point, though. What does a novelty facility have to do with the pursuit of knowledge? "I think...maybe, it's not so much the danger, as how this place is so disorienting. We're like maze rats in here." She performs a minor miracle with the gesture of a hand, much like a D&D Wizard might use a cantrip, forming a slight glowing area to illuminate things more steadily than the flickering bulbs can.

    "I love the haunted house vibe, though," she says, seemingly completely honest about her enthusiasm.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    "I-I see..." She guessed it right! Right-ish.
    Time to head in.

    Mashu follows, remaining unarmed and stuttery. It's a weird feeling, but not bad-weird, just different. They go from entering a tower to... entering a restaurant? A 'funhouse' maybe, like Alexis suggests? It doesn't seem to matter, as Mashu, lacking judgment, immediatly heads closer to PATTY CAT to admire the work.

    She's never seen something like this before. Certainly not in history and mythology books, and Chaldea didn't exactly have robots or automatons running around, much less ones made for entertainment.

    "I-It looks pretty cool! Are these kinds of things c-common? I wonder if there's an on switch s-somewhere..." She inspects, curious.

Lexicon has posed:
    As various sorts start moving through the foyer, there's a sudden click and rattle from inside the cat. Lurching into motion, she twists and raises a hand in a friendly wave, "Hey, everyone! Welcome to Patty's Play Palace!" There's a disconnect in the recording, which causes an unnatural warble in the otherwise cheerful girl's voice projecting from the machine.

    The sound triggers the rat, who lurches upright and twists similarly. A hand raises as if to move a cigar, though no such prop exists anymore, "A fun-loving gang is arriving, Patty! Look at those happy faces."

    "That's r-right, Rodney. Do you know what time it is?"

    "Time to par-arty!" Both robots twist at the same time, 'presenting' the sign mounted between them as the doors swing open. There's a clicking, and then tinny party music, while both machines remain stationary after their self-introduction.

    To Lexicon's credit, she's already got her hammer out, clasped in both hands and aimed DIRECTLY at the now-stationary Patty Cat animatronic. She'd produced it the second the thing started moving, after Maaka's reaction to their mere presence put her on edge.

    With a huffing sound, she brings her weapon down, resting it on the floor, "Jeez.. startled me." Eyes closing, she dismisses her hammer and brings up the rear of the group, "Nothing like this in Britannica. I've stopped trying to make sense out of the design aesthetics the Tower comes up with. Maybe it's a holdover from another Drive entirely, or something brand new? There's a lot of stuff about the Tower we don't know at all." She pauses by the door, glowering up at the eyeless figure of Rodney Rat, still as a statue. Turning, she props her hands on her hips, "I can't help but feel like I've seen them /somewhere/ before... But whatever it is, isn't from Britannica. At least they seem harmless enough."

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Mashu is startled, but only because she got too close and was about to look for an on switch when the routine started. It's a good surprise, though! She watches the two figures play out their little speech and introduction, not fazed in the slightest, more fascinated. The look of a child seeing such a thing for the first time. And not being offput by it.

    "W-Well, even if it isn't from here, i-isn't it kind of cool?" She asks Lexicon, before returning her eyes to Patty Cat. "I wish I'd been taken to places like this growing up... do you think there's more than two? A-Ah, come on! Let's go find out! We can't just stay at the entrance, r-right?" As excitement takes over, she stutters less and less. Probably the only positive thing to be said about her insistance to explore this place.

    "A map! We need a map. T-These place usually have maps on the walls!" Or she recalls reading so. Modern world convenience thing, big buildings have maps. But maybe there's signs instead, and so she looks for anything that could be useful in picking a direction.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
"Haha, that was pretty good," Sanae has a laugh over the whole thing, especially the unintentionally comical, missing cigar. If necessary, she'll reach over a hand to prop up the startled Mashu, if she was about to stumble back from it. Regardless, she doesn't seem to be as bothered by them as Maaka, and now Lexicon. Perhaps it comes from living in a place where haunted objects coming to life is an everyday thing, and seeing these isn't provoking as much of a gut reaction. Or maybe she's just really enjoying it. "Last time I saw something like these was years ago. Weird, though...usually there's more cables." Maybe they're just carefully hidden, or even better, wireless!

    After that, she shares in Mashu's enthusiasm, even if she's a bit less hurried all the same. She lifts her mote of light a bit higher, so that's hovering next to her, as she continues walking, gesturing it closer to the walls if there's anything the stuttering girl might wish to inspect. "I guess it's normal to be freaked out by them, though," she figures. "I mean, anything that moves like that trips up all the uncanny valley synapses. And this place just looks ready for a ghost to move in." Knowing a few ghosts, herself, she has a pretty good eye for ideal haunting vacation homes.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "GAH!" Maaka almost actually begins going shotgun happy when the animatronics react to everyone wandering in. "Fuck me, these things are gonna get us jumpier than a junkie in detox." She grouses, doing her best to get as far away from those two machines as possible while she heads down the hallway.

    "If it's any consolation, I don't exactly mean to make us all jumpy..." She mutters, before she nods to Mashu. She's right, the map should be somewhere, and Maaka's eyes begin to scan the walls.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    As the animatronics move Cirra draws her sword out from thin air, pointing it at the moving machines, and only slowly lowers her weapon as she realizes they're just automated. The judge sighs as they enter deeper into the restraunt. "Try to keep track of which way you turn in order. Getting lost in here could be a problem."

Lexicon has posed:
    Past the entrance is a short hall, more steadily lit-- but still somewhat dim-- thanks to Sanae's miracle. Some large vents sit near the ceiling on either side, but are out of easy reach. The walls are decorated with what look like faded scenes from a cartoon show, faded ink showing various bits of Patty and Rodney interacting, laughing, or pranking each other. This is furthered by less faded versions of the earlier promotional posters, depicting Patty's face over PARTY and Rodney's face over PLAY, the ink run out and leaving the images in stark blue and red contrast like some kind of political advertisement.

    Past the vents and posters are two offshoots, leading into large, darkened rooms. Something set into the frames of either door suggests they can be closed and it looks quite solid by the doorframe and the gate recessed into the wall itself. Unfortunately, the hallway ends here as the ceiling has collapsed, forcing a decision: Left, indicated to be the SHOW STAGE, or right, PARTY ROOM 1.

    Next to the entrance to Party Room 1 is a Fire Evacuation Route map, small and photocopied, faded in places, but intact enough to give a general layout of the building. It's obvious there are at least 4 more large rooms past this collapse in the ceiling, maybe going through the side rooms can bypass the rubble, or someone could find a way to move it, though that might take a while.

    Lexicon remains in the entryway, squinting up at Rodney Rat with intense thought. Where /has/ she seen this before? Definitely not in person. Some old cartoon when she was a young DCC, still being raised by Stylono? No, that can't be it either. She recalls all the shows she watched pretty clearly... With a shrug, she turns away.

    The door closes, cutting her off from Mashu, Maaka, Sanae, and Cirra. There's a squawk of surprise, the DCC stumbling back. Realizing she's been locked out, the girl snorts, glancing from Rat to Cat and back, then waving her arms, "Hey, let me in, damnit!"

    "Hello, lonely child," Patty's head swivels downward.

    "Where do you think you're going?" Rodney's swings the same, fixing an eyeless gaze on the DCC. Through the windows in the doors from the corridor, the entryway lights suddenly go out.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
The map is quite useful! Since the collapse, well...there's no telling how long it would take to actually try and clear it away, or if it's even possible in this kind of space, even if she were to attempt a miracle to do so. Miracles are like salt. A little bit for flavor is nice, but too much and you're going to feel miserable. ...hmm, have to work on that analogy. "There's no telling if there are going to be further blockages, though," Sanae figures, scratching a cheek lightly with the tip of her finger. "Maybe we should still stick close enough to communicate, but split up enough to exlore the different routes through." She's about to volunteer to take Mashu with her, as they pace along at the entrance of "Party Room 1", when suddenly the sounds of doors shuttering can be heard from behind.

    "What!? Hey, Lexicon," she calls out, simultaneously with her outside voice and her local communicator. "Well, we didn't close it...huh? Hmmm, that's strange." It's definitely worth being a bit more wary, but for all she knows the animatronics activated some simple bouncer protocol and just tossed Lexicon back out the front door. They certainly aren't going to attempt to do something terrible to her, right? That would be a lawsuit, for certain! "I'm certain she's fine," she dismisses, reassuringly, before anyone gets too worried, "Anyhow, I'm heading on into the Party Room. Because it's on the right, and I like the name."

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    A map! Faded, but better than nothing. Thanks to Sanae's light, Mashu memorizes the layout of the place. She's still not sure if it's a restaurant or some sort of place you bring your kids to party. If they find a kitchen or a menu it'll help shed some light on that question.

    "Oh? Where else did you see this sort of place? You've got to take me!" Mashu demands of Sanae, forgetting her manners in her discovery of party-themed places. Ghosts, though? She frowns, brought back to reality. "W-Wait, ghosts? You think this place is... h-haunted?" That is way less fun! And then the door shuts behind them, and the lights in the other room went out. Why oh why did Sanae have to talk about ghosts?

    Surely Lexicon is alright though, it's no reason to stop.

    Now hesitant, Mashu follows Sanae, because she agrees PARTY ROOM sounds like a great place to be.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Wait, we-!" Maaka sighs angrily, just as Sanae and Mashu walk off towards the party room. Maaka knows for a fact this is a bad idea just going into ANY place called 'party room' in a situation like this.

    He motions of Cirra to follow, before she reluctantly goes towards the Party Room as well. "Might as well get this over with." She mutters, following Sanae with her shotgun close in hand.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra pauses to look at the collapse. "This speaks of age even more advanced then those automatons." She glances to either side, a stage or a party room. "This place has the most bizzar atmosphere."

    THe door slams shut at Cirra spins around sword up and ready again, only to see LExicon be locked out. "Blast it-!" She starts backing down the hallway to the party room. "Moving towards the party room. Every stick together."

Lexicon has posed:
Party Room 1

    Rather large and spacious, the Party Room is largely home to lots of long tables line with chairs, each spot marked with a faded paper plate and part hat. Despite the age of the place, the chairs are meticulously in place, as if someone cleaned the place up one night and then never bothered to come back. The lighting here is extremely dim, Sanae's light orb providing most of it, with a single flickering light against the far wall highlighting clouds and a cartoon sun painted on the wall, over a short secondary stage.

    There are two doors here. A small metal door marked Employees Only and a larger, open door in the north wall by the secondary show stage, with a sign reading GAME ROOM. Mashu's map shows nothing behind the employee door, while the Game Room is one of the more clearly marked large spaces on the other side of the roof collapse. All three doors have a small panel with glowing buttons beside it. The open door into the central corridor's button is GREEN and marked OPEN. The other two door panels are RED and marked CLOSED.

    Something loud bangs in the prior corridor, metal on metal, followed by the screech of objecting door hinges. Heavy steps announce an approach, but they're not the quick, soft steps of Lexicon's shoes. Heavy, plodding, mechanized footsteps. The lonely plucking of a music box fades in, and Patty Cat's voice comes in more clearly than during her pre-recorded introduction.

    "Crank those gears, the music is in me.
    Been a real long day and we're dieing to be free.
    Don't stop now 'cuz I can guarantee,
    When the silence drops we're the last thing that you'll see."

    As the last line completes, a dark shape leans into the dimly lit doorway, only easily noticeable due to the glowing silver points where eyes would be in better lighting.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
"Ah, before I lived in Gensokyo, I lived on Earth." She pauses her explanation to Mashu, as if remembering to specify, "An Earth. We had these kinds of places, usually better maintained, though. The idea was everyone'd get to eat pizza and those things out front would entertain the kids. Sometimes, there was a separate lounge area for the adults to watch television, or an attached arcade." She closes her eyes for a moment, smiling at the pleasant memories. Those were truly the days, before the drudgery of expectations and everyday life had ruined everything. "Compared to that, though, this place has really let itself go."

    She gives a slight nod to Cirra, and at this point, even Maaka might have the right idea to be at the ready. Accordingly, while she was slow to do so, Sanae withdraws the wand she had kept at her side. Just in case these poorly maintained robots have acccumulated software glitches over the years. "We'll just be careful. Even if I'm more worried about the ceiling in some places, than getting grabbed by those things," she smiles, trying to keep spirits up with everyone a bit jumpy. "I just meant, if I were a ghost, this would be a pretty prime location. I don't think ghosts live in computer programs, though."

    She gives a good glance over of the Party Room. It's about what she'd have expected from the name, one of the areas she'd said was mostly for the kids. The glowing buttons are a curious addition, though. Usually you'd be free to roam. "...hmm. Maybe we're supposed to be able to open and shut these doors. Maybe we can only have a certain number open and shut at the same time?" That's when the sounds begin. And that music. "Hmm, not the kid friendliness I was expecting." She's not quite rattled by the appearance of the figure, either, though she'd be lying if she didn't find it positively spooky! "Hey, you're not supposed to be moving on your own!" We have rules here! Leaning over, she reaches out to try pushing the button adjacent to the door the figure was leaning into. Maybe this will close it.

Lexicon has posed:
    When Sanae hits the button beside the door with Patty Cat leaning into the doorframe, there's a metallic clunking sound as a heavy, reinforced door with a thick window slides out of the frame and crosses it, pushing the robot back into the corridor. The button beside the door turns from Green to Red, displaying CLOSED.

    Beeps sound from the other two doors as they shift to green, OPEN, and their respective doors slide open.

Only one door can be closed at a time in this room, it seems. But this put the cat off the chase, at least. Silver eyes stare through the window for several long seconds before the robot turns around, plodding away into the darkness.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka trails her shotgun towards where the sounds of banging comes from. She approaches the Employees Only room, narrowing her brow as she heads towards the opening. "Let me go in first." She says to Sanae, when the girl presses the button, just in time for the Employees Room to open up.

    She sweeps and clears the room. "Okay, we need to not touch anything unless we're in the same room. Don't press that door until I'm out, clear?" She asks, entering the staff room cautiously.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    "Ooooh," Mashu says, as Sanae explains what she knows of large chain restaurants marketed for kids. Now she wants to visit one even more. It's true, this one is... well, it's missing people, and food, and music!

    No wait, it's not missing music anymore. PATTY CAT is here, with a music box tune and singing! Mashu cheers up, until Sanae is a rude person and shuts the poor robot out of the room. The uh, kind of spooky robot, now that she sees it in a poorly lit doorframe and all.

    "U-Um, do you think... that they feel sad when people do that?" Mashu wonders if these are so advanced as to be people, or just glorified music boxes. It could be either! This is a digital world after all, and judging by Lexicon alone, it seems very complex.

    The other rooms did open though, so that's... good? Probably? Mashu tails Alexis, to see what's in the employee's room. She's a lot less subtle than her, though. "Helloooooo? Is anyone here?"

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra has her sword up, pointing at Patty just as Sanae closes the door. The Judge lowers her blade and turns to look at the other two doors as they open. "The otheres automatically unlock when this one closes..."

    "If I didn't know this was a strange dungeon before I stepped in here, I'd ask who designed this place, and what they were thinking."

Lexicon has posed:
    STAFF ROOM
    Maaka finds an office. A security office, to be precise. Immediately of note is an identical Open/Close door panel beside the door, meaning she can open or close this door from inside the office as well. So being locked in here shouldn't be an issue. And even if it did happen there's a vent near the ceiling large enough for a person to squeeze through, with relatively easy access if she climbed up onto that desk.

    There are two desks. The one under the vent is covered in papers, mostly nonsensical numbers and drawings of various characters including Patty Cat and Rodney Rat. Nothing of any real value. The other desk, though...

    A single lightbulb dangles above a mass of security monitors arranged in front of a swivel chair, showing various rooms. On two of them, both labeled PARTY ROOM 1, Maaka can make out Sanae, Mashu, and Cirra from two different angles, their bodies pale green-white while Sanae's lightball creates a blinding sphere above her. Night vision CCTV.

    On another screen, labeled GAME ROOM, there appears to be nothing of note. Big physical kid's games, like Tic Tac Throw. A carousel. A ball bit and a tramoline fitted into the floor. Nothing moving.

    On SHOW STAGE, however, all Maaka can see is an uncomfortable close up of Rodney Rat's face, his empty socket peering into the camera for several long, uncomfortable seconds before he lowers out of frame, showing Patty Cat staggering in from the entryway.

PARTY ROOM 1
    The tinkling music box of Patty Cat fades out of earshot, through the heavy door. Whatever threat there might have been has been dissuaded by the armored door. But if another door is closed, that one will open again. If the robots come from two directions at once, only one could be stopped with the doors... Solving the floor would be a better option than trying to hole up, even for a well-organized group.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka slings her shotgun as she enters the camera room. "Huh." She rubs her chin, approaching the console as she tries to inspects all the camera feeds. The way Rodney stares into the camera on the show stage is fucking creepy, no questioning that.

    "Heads up, the Rat's moving from the stage. He's headed for you guys." she says, maintaining some calm as she checks the other camera feeds.

    All this time, she keeps her shotgun close, drawing it again once she notices the vents. Those would be a good place for some sort of freaky robot to crawl out to eat her face off...

    Either she'll disconnect when that happens, or try and blow it apart upon entry.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    As the animatronic nightmare retreats fromt he closed door, Cirra looks around the room to see if theres anything other then old wasted paperplates. "Looks like we'll have to move through the rooms one at a time, blocking the routes where the automatons are coming from. But with two of them..." She motions to Sanae "Lets see the map." She turns her head to the security room, "Maaka, confirm their positions. Are they headed towards the game room?"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka shrugs. "I'd guess so. Be ready. I might be able to do more good here guiding you guys. Get ready to run once the door opens up." She says calmly, before she takes a moment to approach the button, giving it a firm press before the door shuts.

    Here we go...

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Peeking in from behind Alexis, Mashu looks at the monitors and paperwork, pondering. "I don't see anything that looks like a puzzle on these screens though... i-is it normal for this place to have p-puzzles without instructions?" She doesn't seem THAT creeped out by the animatronics, but let's be honest, it's because the obvious facts haven't hit her in the face yet.

    At Cirra's request she emerges from the employee's room (before Alexis closes the door) and hands Cirra the fire escape map she found earlier, for the Judge's analysis. "Do you think that's the puzzle? Reaching the end without meeting those mascots? That's too bad, I kind of like t-them..." Well, it's one guess, certainly. "But which room's the end? Do we have to find something...?" No, for that matter... "H-How do they know where we are, anyway?" Could be noise... their voice probably echoes a fair bit around here. They DID activate when she got close to them, while talking...?

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
Sanae audibly exhales once the door shuts. She wasn't panicking, honest! Mashu's odd appraisal earns her a look for a moment, and then a laugh, "Well, maybe. If I were a robot in this place, I probably would want the company. We can't take any chances, though; this is still ultimately a job we're doing for Miss Lexicon." That's right, she's not here to have fun, as amazing as it would be to fit in a few rounds of skee ball in the Game Room. Leaving the vicinity of the door, she begins moving in that direction, all the same. On a closer look, her feet are more floating just above the floor than actually walking on it, which leaves her without audible footsteps. She's ready to move fast if she needs to.

    For a moment, she pauses to move her ball of light back over to the map, since Cirra wanted another good look at it. She was going to depend on Mashu to get a good fix on the place, but having another set of eyes on it is probably a good idea. She calls into the local radio, once she does cross the threshold, "Okay, I'm through!" What? She doesn't *know* for certain that Maaka can just see them on the monitors. Provided everyone else has the same plan, "Thanks, Miss. We'll do our best to press through. Hopefully that'll be enough." There's still three of them, and at least two combatants among them. What could a poorly coordinated and broken down animatronic hope to do?

    "That's a good question," she ponders, drifting slightly around the new room, and trying to not succumb to a nostalgia overload in the process. "It could be some kind of sensors on them. Or they could be linked into the system in that Employees Only room. I guess we could try some controls to find out..." With this, she brings the ball of light down to a dim level, still controllable by her and floating about, but around the same level as the other ambient lighting.

Lexicon has posed:
    The Office door closes. With a clunk, the Party Room door opens, leaving both open now. And without the metal in the way, Patty Cat's music box is vaguely audible across the hallway. For now she doesn't seem to be getting closer.

CAMERAS:
    Show Stage - Patty Cat stalks across the room, eyes showing bright white in the night-vision spectrum. When she reaches middle frame, she pauses and turns, staring directly at the camera. After several long seconds of this, the cat-robot resumes her trek across the show stage room.

    PARTY ROOM 2-1 now displays a hunched, ragged figure crossing from one door towards another. It pauses, then rises up and--

    PARTY ROOM 2-2 is suddenly dominated by Rodney Rat's eyeless face, glowering into the camera.

    A closer look at the map in better light shows the entryway and a central hallway, where the roof collapse had been. This is Party Room 1, and across the hall is Show Stage. Right adjacent to Party Room 1 is Game Room, lining up with the signage. And across the hall from Game Room, adjacent to Show Stage, is Party Room 2. It's faded, but the two rooms further down appear to be 'something' Corner and Arcade. Some scratchy worn-off ink suggests more rooms and another corridor past the arcade, and a sharpie red line traces a route past the arcade, then down along the outer walls of the Game Room and Party Room to create an arrow past a disembodied word that appears to be STORAGE.

    The map is incomplete but gives them the route, at least.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka thinks, noting Patty Cat's movements across the stage for a moment. She tries to keep the creepy staring out of her mind, as she focuses on guiding the others.

    "Something's in Party Room 2-1. Wait for-" Pause. "Okay, Rat's in 2-2. Stay away from either of those rooms. Go past the arcade, then down the outer walls of the game and party room. There's what looks like a storage room if you follow the arrow pointing in that direction." She says calmly.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Alexis' directions are pretty straightforward, and the music box, distant as it is, still gives them a vague idea of where Patty Cat is. So, the rat is... two rooms ahead? The cat is two rooms back. Ish. Not an exact science. Though 'back' and 'ahead' are odd notions when you don't actually know where your distation is supposed to be. Storage sounds as good as any other place to check.

    Mashu whispers, as Sanae dims her light. "M-Maybe we should try not making any noise, and not being seen...?" Is their objective really to dodge the robots, though? The friendly, partying robots? She'll forever be letdown over it. And a bit sad there weren't even more of them.

    "O-Or we could try to lure them into other rooms... s-see what kind of activity they r-respond to..." In either case, if the group moves towards the second party room and the arcade, she'll definitely follow. Staying still won't solve the puzzle, that's for sure.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra nods at Maaka instructions. "THe Arcade should make plenty of noise to mask out movements if we have too." She moves with Sanae and Mushu into the game room, moving as softly - but steadily as she can. She keeps to the outer walls as she moves ahead. She pauses, and picks up a beanbag from tic-tac-throw, keeping it in her hand as she creeps ahead.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
Sound activation, huh? While it's still something of a guess, it does make sense, and fits with the sensor hypothesis. Since they didn't have cables, it fits. "Understood," she confirms. Though it seems she didn't have to will the light to be dimmed, after all, at this point, it's probably better to avoid standing out against the scenery where they can. Wordlessly, she considers this notion of making less noise, and meaningfully gestures at her own subtly hovering feet, then at Cirra and Mashu's, as though offering the same. It wouldn't be true flight, more like a Float spell, as someone from Cirra's world might know it, but it would certainly cut down on the noise.

    With this, and after extending that mastery over air pressure to anyone else that wanted it, she begins to drift with those air-cushioned footsteps in the directions that Maaka had noted would avoid the current activity. Just ahead through the door, there is that bend, and then the mentioned parts and service room, and she simply can't help herself; she'll will the light ball over there for just a peek at the contents. She's totally just scouting for something that might leap out at them and not fulfilling her own curiosity, honest. "I always wondered what the dark underbelly of one of these places was like," she admits, even though this whole place looks like a dark underbelly. "Setting up lures for them...hmm. I'm not sure what I've got on me that could do it, though."

Lexicon has posed:
    In Party Room 1, Patty Cat's music starts getting louder again, and her footsteps are steadily approaching the re-opened door. How fortunate that everyone has moved on to the next room. Maaka can easily see Sanae, Cirra, and Mashu in the dimly lit GAME ROOM.

    The space is cluttered but about the same size as the previous party room. It just has a lot of STUFF in it. Two entire corners are taken up by an enormous trampouline and an equally enormous ball pit with netted walls. Several skee-ball ramps are set up, though one has collapsed and its wooden balls are scattered hither and yon as a result. The middle of the room has a small coin-operated carousel with wooden horses sized for kids, and of course the tic-tac-throw game that Cirra just pinched a beanbag from. It feels old, like it might explode into pellets if it hits something, but at the very least would serve a good distraction.

    The Game Room only has two doors. The one that the trio just game through, leading back to PARTY ROOM 1, and a wider exit into the main corridor. Like the Party Room, this room has door controls as well, but neither door is closed right now.

On Cameras:
    PARTY ROOM 2-2 shows Rodney suddenly turn, 'looking' to his left despite having no eyes, his ears wiggling for several seconds. After that hesitation, he lowers out of sight.

PARTY ROOM 1-1 shows Patty Cat entering the previous Party Room 1, glowing eyes panning from side to side. When she starts moving again, it's not towards the Game Room door, but towards the little mini-stage opposite the entrance she just came through. After a few moments, she steps out of frame and cannot be seen by either of the Party Room 1 cameras.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Cat's near game room. Better move fast." Maaka comments idly. She remains watching, sometimes glancing to the vents out of habit. Any second now, something could come out and surprise her, better be prepared.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
It's probably a good thing that Sanae was floating. With all this clutter, including spherical skee-balls, around the Game Room, it's frankly a bit hazardous for footing. That does gives her an idea, though, as she gathers up several of the scattered balls and stows them into her ceremonial robe. It's got plenty of room. Thankfully, she really didn't give in to the temptation to play a round, since she doesn't immediately turn to the still-intact cabinet. Her thought processes remain mysterious for the moment, however.

    On the other end of things, drawing the ball of light back, she begins looking for a token or coin that some irresponsible, imaginary kid may have dropped closeby. Provided she can't fine one, she'll just have to hope one of the coins people use in Gensokyo, or the Kappa's fledgeling economy, will work in this strange virtual space. Regardless, she goes over her plan. "I'm going to hope this carousel works. Hopefully they'll be attracted to it while it's running, and we can hide and move past them once they're in here. Sound good?" She's going to go through with it, it's just a matter of the timing.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Looking at Sanae as she indicates her feet, Cirra nods her agreement. Maaka's report on the radio is worrying though.

    "Do it. But be carefull. Attracting one could attract the other."

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Mashu is very careful not to trip on anything, which is a feat considering she stops to take a look at several of the old games they pass, curious. She's used to digital games, really-- phone and PC games for the most part, and even then nothing fancy. Chaldea frowned on their hardware being used for anything but study of humanity, and that didn't really include their gaming history.

    Alexis warns the cat is incoming, but looking back, Mashu can't see it. The music is also not coming from directly behind them anymore, which is unusual. From another angle, then? What about the rat?

    "W-Wait! Let's-- w-we need to hide, right? If they come in from e-either door, they'll see us, s-so, we should hide in a corner out of the light, and then sneak behind them when they come in to investigate the noisy, flashy carousel!"

    It's an idea. Could be dangerous, but could pay off.

    She's still whispering, by the way.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
That was the thought, anyway, even if the placement is a bit different than Sanae expected. A corner, no...that would be way too obvious! Instead, Sanae looks around the room itself and then gestures toward -- the BALL PIT. Perfect! With this and time running low regardless of their actions, she drops whatever coin or coin-like object she could find into the activation slot, and then with the expectation that it's going to somehow be as flashy as a New Year fireworks show, she hurls herself into the ball pit, soon being concealed beneath a thin layer of cheap plastic orbs. Well, except a few glimpses of blue and green, here and there.

Lexicon has posed:
    Something glitters on the floor near the carousel and Sanae acquires 1x Patty Play Palace Game Token. It's a collectible item! Or it's a key item, maybe. Closer inspections would turn up a few more here and there, usually out of sight under machines that tend to use them. Its a fairly nondescript token, with a cute cartoony Patty Cat face on one side and Rodney Rat on the other, brass in color and roughly the size of a quarter.

    Finding this and hatching that plan is good timing because in having to watch so many screens at once Maaka failed to alert the party to the movements of Rodney Rat, who is no longer visible on Party Room 2-2.

    Which is why the Rat, in his shiny black plastic suit, suddenly appears in the Game Room doorway. Faint clicks and wirrs herald his head turning and ears swaying and swivelling towards the whispered voices. His posture changes, hunching, predatory as he stalks into the room, and a music box clicks to life inside him. The tune is the same as Patty Cat's, though more labored. His voice sounds out, a pleasing baritone.

    "Won't you agree that this feeling's awful?
    To be all on your own, deep in your bones.
    Soon enough you'll know exactly how it feels.
    Karma can be cruel with hands dealt."

    He stalks towards the ruckus in the ball bit, as all those little cheap plastic balls (as fun as they are) make a hideous amount of noise when entered.

    And then, clicking to life, the carousel at last labors to life with a faint screeching sound. Music begins to play and lights start flashing on it as the horses start circling their little track, bobbing up and down. This immediately draws Rodney's attention, and he homes in on the carousel instead.

    "Springs recoil, your time is nearly out.
    You've got one last chance and no one can hear you shout.
    All goes black. You hear our motors roar.
    It's been a real fun game but we're breaking down that door."

    In the last verse Rodney collides with the carousel, then starts ripping it apart in showers of sparks and parts. The music dies pitifully, the game room now filled only with the screeching of metal and clatter of parts scattering across the floor. Every few seconds there's a pause, Rodney lifting up and swivelling his ears before he resumes his mechanically grisley task of utterly murdering a coin-operated carousel.

Lexicon has posed:
CAMERAS
    Game Room gives Maaka a good view of Rodney utterly destroying the carousel with extreme prejudice. For a robotic cartoon character designed to appeal to kids, he's not exactly pulling his punches.

    Kitchen 2 suddenly shows Patty Cat walking into frame. When the hell did she get way over there?! As she walks across the frame, she disappears, and soon can be seen walking on-frame in Kitchen 1's camera, moving at a leisurely stroll, though her motions are jerky and inhuman.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka's eyes peel to the screen of the Game Room, where she notices the Rat at last. "Oh shit, sneaky little fucker." She growls under her breath, before she accesses comms again.

    "Guys, Rat's in the Game Room. Whatever you're doing, do it fast. Get out of there while the carousel's active!" She says, with some alarm as she watches Rodney go to town on that carousel.
"Cat's in the kitchen, might wanna stay clear of that place for the moment."

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Mashu does not have the spine (or time) to question if the ball pit is the best corner to hide in. And so the purple-haired girl dives into it with the others, taking a moment to consider that it could be fun to play in this thing. You know, if they weren't hiding, and trying to solve an unknown puzzle.

    The rat comes in! Mashu almost speaks up, but it begins 'singing', and then she finds it awfully depressing for a kids' song. These things WERE made to entertain kids, right?

    Then it turns out that rat is superhumanly strong and angrily tearing the carousel apart. Mashu's face changes to a very vivid D: as she watches, and then realizes that with so much noise being made maybe it's time to leave. You know, and follow the plan SHE suggested, and then forgot about.

    Awkwardly she shuffles out of the ball pit, trying to minimize the noise she makes. This is a lot harder than it looks, but she manages without causing a mess. Not a single ball falsl out of the pit, even!

    Time to head for that main corridor. On the tip of her toes.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra watches as Sanae starts up the carousel and dives into the ball pit and screws her eyes tightly shut. How is she going to get out of there without making noise?

    Then Rodney descends on the carousel like a an insane woodchipper, shredding it to pieces. Cirra presses her back to the wall as she stares for a moment, then begins moving slowly, carefull away from the rat-machine as it performs it's grizzly task.

    Sliding up to the door and carefully manuvering around the door frame. She lets out a slow breath.

    Even she was spooked by that.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
Okay, so it turns out leaping into the ball pit may have been completely unnecessary, and in fact would have been a terrible liability if not for the carousel actually working. All's well that ends well, unless you're the poor carousel. Seeing enough of what's going on now, and after Maaka's radio transmission confirms it, Sanae comes up for air, as it were. With Mashu finding her footing, the priestess helps steady her before emerging around the same time, and making her way quickly but carefully out, while the animatronic goes berserk on the carousel, which shortly before the music cuts out probably has that disrepaired ice cream truck musical effect going on. Eesh.

    She leaves out into that hallway, and the service room Maaka had pointed out and she herself had semi-scouted before. Nothing had leaped out at her ball of light, so it must be safe, right? And it's not like many other better opportunities are presenting themselves, with the kitchen off limits. With that rampage still going on relatively closeby, she ducks inside to take a more personal look around, slowly and carefully allowing the ball of light to brighten. If nothing else, it'd be a moment for everyone to catch their breath, and to close the door behind them if they have to. "Phew...okay, so maybe that could have gone better. But we made it." Complete with some souvenir coins that, for all Sanae knows, will vanish the moment they leave the tower. IF they make it out...!

    "I'm sure they didn't do that kind of thing to Miss Lexicon. It just doesn't like other machines." Ever the optimist.

Lexicon has posed:
    So distracted by the sound he himself is making, Rodney Rat fails to notice the group sneaking out while he's busy wrecking the game room's centerpiece. It's especially important to avoid making noise when he pauses, as there's no ambiant sound to conceal other noises. Thankfully Sanae's spell makes footsteps less of an issue, it's mostly exiting the ball pit that presents a challenge.

    In the corridor there's more breathing room, especially the ability to put walls between the party and Rodney, though Patty Cat's whearabouts are still mysterious as the location of the kitchen isn't clearly shown on the old, worn out evacuation map Mashu found.

    From here there is Party Room 2 across the hall from the Game Room. Rodney came from there, and chances are it just leads back to the entrance. IMMEDIATELY south of here, in the corridor, is collapsed ceiling. The other side of the collapse seen when the four first came into the System Tower. A bit further is another open double-door with a sign reading PRIZE CORNER, while the corridor itself takes a sharp bend to follow the outer side of the game room's wall. A sign hanging from the ceiling some distance down reads ARCADE, pointing deeper into the building.

    And at the far end, two small points of silver light glowing in the darkness somewhere behind the Arcade sign's single, unsteady light.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Mashu is glad she has yet to choose to transform at all. Her heavy boots would have turned those footsteps into plate mail clanging, and that's not to mention her gigantic shield, if it gets stuck in every door frame or hits table corners. She's not totally used to it, no.

    The hallway now gives them multiple choices. Eyes visible towards the arcade-- that gives Mashu an idea. She whispers, quickly.

    "M-Miss Cirra, miss Sanae, if you can make something flashy and throw it into the prize corner, m-maybe it'll lure the cat! Then we run behind it, close the door to lock it in there, and sprint through the arcade! The rat m-might hear us, but as long as we're f-faster than it is..."

    Maybe not the best idea, but there are worse ones.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    A Glance as Mashu and Cirra shakes her head, "I don't have that kind of magic." She looks at Sanae to see if she does. Then makes sure the door to the game room is currently locked so Rodney can't attack them from behind. "If it comes by here we'll have to be out of sight as well. We don't know how sophisticated it's sensors are."

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
Arcade, as well as how far it is into the building itself, seems inviting on many levels. What is significantly less so are those points of light staring from some uncertain depth beyond it. Mashu also notices them, apparently, and seems to have much the same idea, and worry. This causes Sanae to pause and consider. Making a racket is out of the question, but with Cirra's glance, she'd see that something does eventually come to mind. "It'd mean giving up our light source for a while, but let me try something. Get up against the wall around the corner, just in case this goes *terribly* wrong."

    That ball of light she'd been using, she seems to be able to control it to some degree, perhaps since it's a will o' wisp that she can float around on unseen and barely felt air currents. Shifting to be just around the corner from that long hallway, she wills it to drift within easy sight of whatever is lurking down the long hallway to the Arcade, and then begins withdrawing it to move around into the Prize Corner. That is, unless it's immediately and more aggressively seized upon than she expected, which is entirely possible. "We still have the service room, if we have to hide," she whispers in return. "But let's see what happens."

Lexicon has posed:
    The clattering of Rodney Rat destroying the carousel goes silent in the game room. However, as Maaka can see from the camera, the Rat does not return to the corridor where the others are hiding. Rather, he turns and stalks to the ball pit, leaning in and running his hand over the surface. When he finds nothing, he turns and exits the Game Room into Party Room 1, stalking across and towards the initial entrance. It's almost as if Rodney is returning to his starting position in the entryway. He's completely visible on the cameras and currently of no concern.

    He wanders out of the camera's field of view. There's a beep inside the Office and the armored door opens.

    The room suddenly fills with Rodney's worn-out music box. His shape fills the doorway, ducking to enter as his song sounds out.

    "Oh what a shame that things turned out this way.
    Forgive me but you've really got to
    Pay up for the suffering you've caused us.
    Join into this robot's chorus."

    As the final line ends, the office's interior goes black, blocking out Alexis' vision. And then quite suddenly Rodney is there, filling her field of vision, grabbing on to her and roaring into her face with a hideous, jarring metallic screech, his sunglasses disjointed to show both empty eyesockets.

    All goes black. And then white, as Maaka is uncerimonously ejected into the snow outside the System Tower. Sitting in the snow beside where she lands is Lexicon, arms folded and glowering furiously at the System Tower like it just insulted her mother.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka's eyes glance to the camera just as she sees Rodney disappear from the feed. "Let's hope they can't open doors." She says, just as she hears something from the vents.

    Then the song is enough for Maaka to draw her shotgun, aiming it at the vent just in time to see the office go dark. And then Rodney is in front of her, screeching loudly enough for Maaka's blood to go cold.

    It's not cold enough for her to issue a defiant headbutt as she snarls. "OH SHUT UP-WAH!" There's some struggle and shotgun fire before everything goes dark, and then Maaka winds out kicked right out of the tower, dumped onto the snow with an unceremonious thud.

    "Oof!" She tries to pick herself up, only to spy Lexicon right next to her. "...so. You too, huh?"

Lexicon has posed:
MEANWHILE, INSIDE
    Those silver eyes in the corridor past the arcade continue to approach, until Patty Cat can be seen in the light that makes the Arcade sign readable. A few paces more and she exits that cone of light, becoming a sinister black shadow with glowing white eyes. She has no purpose in her movement, she's not pursuing. She is for all intents and purposes strolling along unaware of Rodney's actions or the trio around the hallway bend in front of her.

    A light flits into her view and Patty Cat stops, eyes following the mote's movement across the hall and into the Prize Corner. There's a clicking sound and then Patty Cat's music box starts up again. She starts walking again, her footsteps adding a cadence as her song resumes.

    "Don't look at us as though we're the devil.
    You really ought to know we're being level.
    This was never our intended pass-time
    But how could we forget that dark crime?"

    The song plays as she passes the trio, oblivious to them and drawn to the dancing lightball. Close enough that Mashu could reach out and touch that plastic dress. And here she stops, right at the corner, and sweeps her glowing silver gaze from side to side. Even though she looks directly at the three girls crouched in the hallway, so long as they don't /move/, she doesn't seem to notice them.

    After several agonizing seconds, Patty Cat turns away and resumes her pursuit of the fluttering mote of light, and soon disappears into the Prize Corner room.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    A tense several seconds. Mashu has to resist poking the cat very, very much, and manages only because in this lighting and in these conditions the animatronics have gone from cool and friendly to kind of creepy. Not quite scary, yet, but the situation itself certainly is uncomfortable.

    She fidgets, and eventually the cat leaves, drawn to the prize corner. Mashu follows after, very, very quietly, and carefully. As soon as Patty Cat is inside the prize corner, she hits the button next to the door to close it, hopefully without getting spotted first.

    If that can work, all they have left is to cross the arcade. Hypothetically. They still don't really know WHERE they're going, besides 'that way, probably?' do they?

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
Not really, no. Especially with their wide areas eyes and ears gone. "They got her," Sanae can be heard to whisper, before she quiets and stills when those heavy, mechanical footsteps, now a bit more purposeful, approach ever closer. The tension reaches a fever pitch when the animatronic figure, now much more mobile and sinister than either seemed at the entrance hall, approaches within easy breathing distance. Sanae quietly thanks the minor god of allergies that she doesn't succumb to having to sneeze from all the dust in just that moment, and only when Patty Cat seems satisfied with her scans and begins moving down toward the lured Prize Corner, does she even actually stop holding her breath. Phew...

    "Let's get going," Sanae whispers, beginning to walk-glide toward the hallway and the 'Arcade' at the end of it, still sticking close to the wall just in case Patty Cat stops being interested in her poor light ball. They *know* of two, but for all they know there could still be another lurking around. As for the Arcade, it just made the most spatial sense to her. They need a way to load and unload arcade cabinets, right? There might be some kind of cargo doors in the back of it. Or at least an emergency fire exit. Plus, ARCADE. Maybe they still have some of her favorites here.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra holds still as Patty ambles past them, she lifts a head and slowly points in the direction of the arcade. She steps out from where she's crouching and quickly moves down the hall... Then pauses at the arcade door. "...We've just lost our InfoSec support."

    The Judge moves into the arcade, they'll have to be mroe carefull from now on.

Lexicon has posed:
    The Prize Corner is a room that is probably bigger than it needs to be. There's a long glass display case counter and lots and lots of stuffies, t-shirts, and other prizes here with various ticket values applied to them. Despite the run-down nature of the establishment, these actually seem to be in pretty good, almost-new condition. There's plushies of a much cuter Rodney Rat and Patty Cat, in sharp suit and cute red dress respectively, there's even versions of Patty wearing different outfits! Hanging up in long strings, heaped in boxes, there's a pile of them off to the side, even. All kinds of Patty Cats. Here's one of her dressed like Silver Soul with a tiny plasma axe, here's her as a police cat, here's her as a knight, here's her as a shrine maiden... wait, what?

    There's the main door that Shielder just closed, but a smaller door leading to the Party Room 2. There's also a rather large vent near the floor, its grillwork removed and resting beside it as if someone had removed it to do maintenence before the place was theoretically closed.
    Clearly a place to raid for treasures if it wasn't occupied by Patty Cat herself.

    The door closes, but Patty Cat does not respond to it. She sways in place, head following the mote of light as it moves around. She reaches out to grab it, and once she finds she cannot, Patty Cat loses interest. She turns in place, glowing silver eyes sweeping the Prize Corner from one side to the other, checking for anything out of place. And by out of place, that would be 'moving'. The fact that the door was shut on her is meaningless to Patty Cat.

ARCADE
    Slipping down the hallway is a simple task now, with Patty Cat taken care of and Rodney Rat near the monitor room, there's no robots nearby to hinder progress. The arcade itself is actually carpetted in that thin, 'you see this in every public building' sort of carpet as opposed to the checkered tile floor everywhere else. Just as Sanae hoped, it's filled with arcade cabinets! Dashing those hopes however, they're all without power and not functioning. There might be some familiar titles on the faded headerboards, at least.

    here's also no exit. Only a small vent leading back towards the Prize Corner where Patty Cat just got lured with Mashu. The Arcade, while a fun nostalgia dive and a possible escape route for the brave Shielder, appears to be a red herring for the way out of this place.

    The good news is that there's more hallway past the entry to the Arcade, where Patty Cat had originally come from. Didn't Maaka say the cat was wandering through the kitchens, before? And wouldn't kitchens have to store things?

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    This plan seemed like a good idea until Mashu realized she was on the wrong side of the door when it closed, by necessity. Sanae and Cirra are on their own now!

    Sadly, there's no time for the Demi-Servant to admire all of the merchandise here, as much as her eyes are drawn to the colorful figures, dolls and toys. Patty Cat must have been a really popular character to have all these things dedicated to her!

    Wait, nevermind that. No time to admire. Mashu dives into a pile of plush toys, hiding in the most comfortable place in the world from the eyes of the animatronic. It looks so lonely though! It really must just be looking for company...

    She fidgets, again. Can't quite stay still. A plush falls from the top of the pile, onto the floor. Quiet, but visible! In an attempt to fix this mistake, Mashu reaches out to grab it off the floor before Patty Cat can notice it. Maybe not the best idea. It's a Silver Soul Patty Cat plush, though, which she'll elect to keep if she can even carry it out of here. Odds are not looking like they're in her favor right now sadly.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Looking in the Arcade, Cirra sighs, "Dead end." She looks at the removed cover and frowns. "Wait..." She leans out of the door frame, "Where's Mashu--.." The closed door. "Blast." She whispers and slides itno the vent without any other hesistation, crawling back towards where the Prize Room should be.

    The Judge crawls arm over arm, military style.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
The Arcade is a big nothing. Of course virtual abandoned ones don't really need to obey the laws of physics, unless they remove parts of the wall eveytime they need to add or remove one. Seeing some old favorites, or at least reasonable, non-copyright-infringing facsimiles does give her a moment of happiness, despite how run down the place is overall. With Mashu having sealed herself into the prize room, and now Cirra beginning to crawl through to her, Sanae eyes that opening, as well as the door and hallway. "I'll just head toward the kitchen area," she mumbles. If this is even the way... Very carefully, she steps back to the door, giving a glance just outside the door frame.

    Whether or not she sees something looking back at her in the process, she begins drift-floating further down the hallway. A presence mostly just determines what speed and with what level of concern she's going to do so with. Maaka speaking after being taken away at least shows they aren't dangerous in the bodily sense, but the goal is still to get the job done! And no one wants to live these five hours again, most certainly, especially not for five days in a row.

Lexicon has posed:
    Patty Cat's back is turned when the plush falls from the pile and does not notice it. However, as Mashu fidgets and tries to fix the situation, the animatronic slowly turns around while examining the room contents. It's just out of reach, fingertips tapping the plushie's leg, it wiggles a few times until Mashu stretches enough to pinch that foot and pull the doll back into the pile. But for some reason it's gotten really bright in this pile of plush toys.

    Patty Cat's glowing silver eyes loom in Mashu's field of vision, staring down the heap of toys. One arm reaches out, sweeping toys aside to uncover the concealed Servant. Patty Cat leans down, grabbing the girl, mouth opening and unleashing a hideous, metallic screeching sound like tortured metal in a grinder.

    Everything goes black.

    And then white, as Mashu is uncerimoniously tossed out of the System Tower and into the snow. Maaka either left or might be taking a nap. Lexicon still sits in the snow, glowering at the structure, unphased by Mashu's ejection or even the collection of stuffed toys that seemed to have been tossed out with her. She doesn't even flinch when a plushie Rodney Rat bounces off her hat, then comes to rest in her lap like this was where it always belonged.

    Various-dressed Patty Cats paff into the snow here and there around where Mashu lands, but she's still got the one she grabbed onto! Patty Cat didn't even try to take it away.

Lexicon has posed:
    Cirra may not /see/ what happened but the room on the other end turns black for a moment when that hideous screech hits her ears. When the lighting returns to normal, Patty Cat's bulky plastic-covered feet move into view, wandering around the Prize Corner seemingly aimlessly. Her back is to the vent, but proceeding might not be the best idea.

    There's nothing in the hallway outside the arcade, though footsteps in the distance indicate an animatronic moving around somewhere far away. Perhaps Rodney moving through the Game Room again, crunching on Carousel parts now and then. Turning left out of the arcade leads to another 90-degree bend in the hallway and... the familiar swinging silver doors of a kitchen, though it's dark inside, Sanae's knowledge of where the animatronics are may serve her well now.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    Mess averted!
    ... why's it so bright?
    OHGODDONTEATMEIDONTTASTEGOODIMSUREOFIT--

    Booted out like dirty laundry.
    Mashu hits the snow with the collection of plush toys, which do a passable job to keep her from curling up into a ball. The sight of Lexicon and Alexis is also a bit comforting. Guess failing the puzzle can't hurt you, but it does disqualify you. Come to think of it that would make fixing the problem of the tower being present kind of hard if you're never allowed a second shot and people keep failing.

    At least Mashu has the prized Silver Soul Patty Cat plush! ... which she hesitates to stare into the eyes of anymore. Well that's THAT child-like wonder dead in the snow, pun intended.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
There's no time to be afraid of the dark, especially with eveything that's behind her at this point. While she doesn't have the benefit of Maaka, or the map, at this point, and she's separated from Cirra, the places an exit could be are rapidly being exhausted. There's nothing left but to continue on. Pressing the double doors open carefully but quickly, she gives a few moments to try and let her eyes adjust. Kitchens are full of all kinds of dangerous things, usually, so it's probably best to not be stumbling around in the near total darkness. Doing her best to concentrate, despite the distant sounds and clatter, she works her way around the perimeter of it. Every door handle along the way is tried, whether it be refrigerator, freezer, or sweet freedom.

    Here's hoping they don't have a door animatronic, too. Failing that, well, she'll cross that bridge when it comes to it. Every so often she glances back to the double doors, just to try and not focus single-minded on what she's doing.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Patty walks past the vent and Cirra stops, just as the room goes black. "What..." Mashu is gone, how does that even work? she considers. But it's probably not safe to remain. She starts backing up through the ventback towards the Arcade room. She pauses to listen for any sound of footsteps and works her way out of the arcade, better make it to the kitchen swiftly if these things have some other means of moving around.

Lexicon has posed:
KITCHEN
    In the gloom it's hard to make out, but there's another set of silver double doors opposite the pair that Sanae entered into-- Two side-by-side kitchens, probably repurposed from other rooms. In here though it's clearly a pizzaria. Large wood-fired ovens, cold and disused. A freezer that unleashes a mind-bending aroma when opened even a crack-- best to close that right away. Sinks, counters, workstations, dishes and silverware and more dangerous things.

    As it turns out, even checking those other doors shows a completely identical room, just mirrored. With one crucial difference. There's a single door at the end of the second kitchen, its label unreadable in the dark.

    Cirra's backing up is unhindered, though it's pretty awkward to do that in a vent, sometimes it's the only way. Especially when those feet turn around and start walking towards the vent's opening in the Prize Corner. After a hesitation, the legs kneel down and Patty's hand lowers. Moments later, the animatronic's backlit face and glowing silver eyes fill the vent's exit, staring at Cirra as the knight retreats.

    With a click, her music box starts playing again. Can the robot even fit? Probably best not to stick around and find out.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
It's an odd setup, but...sort of makes sense, for this kind of establishment, or what it was modelled after. Pizza is what people will be expecting in bulk, but you still have to be able to provide other things, like birthday cakes. Sanae almost gets bowled over by the stench, quickly shutting the door to the freezer, before she carefully but expediently continues her investigation of the kitchen. It's hard to see in the dark what the other door might lead to. For all she knows it's just another part of the labyrinth of a building, but this much is certain: It's moving in that direction, and the bulk of the badness is in the other direction. It's an easy decision to make.

    She walk-floats over to it, giving a few spare glances back again. Should she try to wait for Cirra, or would finding the way out just solve everything, if this is even what it is? It's probably better to err on the side of 'just GO', though she does take just a moment to describe what she's doing over the comm, in case the thing doesn't automatically end and Cirra still needs to follow her -- or avoid whatever tragic fate is about to befall her. With that, no more hesitation. She opens the single door!

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Looking up as the light blocks from the vent again, Cirra scowls behind her helmet.

    "Your maker needs to give you better warenty service." She starts backing otu faster, getting up to the exit to to the Arcade and shimmying out of the vent and rolling out on to the ground. Hoping up to her feet she turns around the door... Sanae is in the kitchen. She needs to lead the robot away. She leans her head into the vent again. "Hurry it up, you're making other insane robots look bad."

    The Judge turns down the corridor and towards party room 2.

Lexicon has posed:
STORAGE
    Sanae finds herself ... in a small, well-lit room full of cardboard boxes in various stages of intact. Some are even open, and despite this being adjacent to the kitchen the boxes are full of merchandise rather than food or ingredients (mercifully or the stench would be so bad it'd warp dimensions). T-shirts featuring cuter, cartoony Patty and Rodney, rolled up posters, even cellphone straps and keychains. No stuffies, though.

    The Patty Plushies were the secret reward for entering the Prize Corner, naturally.

    The biggest reward the Storage room offers, however, is another door. A metal door with a one-way pushbar latch. And right above it, glowing in familiar and welcome green, are four letters in a particularly attractive arrangement.

    EXIT

ARCADE
    It's unsure if the taunt worked or if Patty Cat intended to do this anyway, but as Cirra dashes away from the vent there's a scraping sound, the robot hauling itself into the tight space and crawling through in pursuit, her music box playing that ominous tune.

    In the hallway, a quick turn to avoid the blocked Prize Corner door and enter Party Room 2 is all that's needed. And this is much like Party Room 1-- Long tables lined with chairs, decorated with paper plates and party hats and HAPPY BIRTHDAY banners hanging here and there.

    From across the hall in the Game Corner, a new sound starts playing for Cirra Contantine: The same music box tune she's heard Patty Cat playing before. Only more worn, tired, and labored.

    Rodney Rat steps out of the Game Room, half of his plastic face missing with ragged edges suggesting an introduction to a close-range shotgun. This exposes his misshapen robotic skull and the empty eyesocket behind the formerly intact sunglass lens. His ear on that side is completely gone, and his teeth are visible even when his mouth is closed.

    This mangled nightmare approaches Cirra in that hunched, predatory stance he displayed when he attacked the carousel.

Sanae Kochiya (619) has posed:
Wow, look at all this STUFF. It's almost like some kind of comedically last ditch effort to distract somebody before they were able to leave, right? On one hand, there's an unseen timer that she's working under. On the other...well, there's been no cries for help or pinpricks of light stalking her into this room, so maybe there's just a few moments to look around. 'Now they're both here.' ...curses! With no time to lose, Sanae scoops a few of the poster tubes and bundles of T-shirts under her arms, and maybe something in her teeth if she can manage it, and then nudges forward through the clutter, pushing the bar to forcefully open the door. She still has the instinctive need for souvenirs!

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra slows to a stop as mangled mechanical monstroscity lurches through the game room door. "Hmn." She turns back to look at where Patty should be coming from. Back to the rat...

    The Judge moves to the side and crouches down, stoop-walking underneath one of the long lines of tables and across the aisle to the next, trying to keep silent as she tries to get around Rodney Rat. She just needs to avoid being mulched (or black roomed) by him for a few minutes, buy Sanae some time.

    She knows Patty is only seconds behind her in that hallway. The last time they saw these two together they avoided each other, probably able to tell where each other is. She crouch-walks along the entire line of tables and exits the other end.

    Standing up, Cirra takes that rotting bean bag and tosses to hit the wall just above the door, and let the contents explode over it.

Lexicon has posed:
PARTY ROOM 2
    Unperturbed, Rodney Rat stalks after Cirra, following the sounds of her armor and footsteps, tough his movements aren't as swift as hers and she's able to keep distance, especially once she puts tables and chairs in the way. Going still causes the animatronic to pause, his remaining ear lifting up, swiveling around. And then the beanbag strikes, and explodes into plastic pellets. This instantly draws Rodney's attention and he turns towards it, moving away.

    Patty Cat passes Rodney in the doorway, glowing eyes surveying the room. Seemingly not noticing Rodney at all, she steps further into the room, but her pace slows to a more leisurely walk. Now Cirra is in a room with both robots. This could get tense.

    Then Sanae pushes open the EXIT door and departs the floor.

    Everything goes white for both remaining girls. Moments later, they are deposited neatly on their feet in the snow of Britannica, the tower is nowhere to be seen. In the snow, Lexicon's Glower Power fades and she perks up, "--Oh. You finished it!"

    Only now does she notice the Rodney Rat stuffie sitting in her lap. With an annoyed noise she bumps it into the snow, then stands up and spreads her arms, "You've done me a good service, thanks a lot. I couldn't get back in after those things threw me out."

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Just as Patty rushes her, The Judge holds up her sword...

    And the room turns white as she's deposited back in the front of the tower...

    And lets out a long, slow breath she didn't know she was holding in.

    "Yes, we're back. Thankfully..." she looks down at the pile of plushies, then back at LExicon. "Did you ever figure out why that looked familier?"

Lexicon has posed:
    "No idea," Lexicon shakes her head, eyes closed, "They sure seemed familiar but I'll have to research it because I can't place it at all. But that's for later." Waving a hand, she gestures, "Take whatever you like that Sanae and Mashu brought out, if they're willing to share. Myself, I'll give all of you one of these."

    Code dances above Lexicon's hand, then forms a box shape. This is offered to Cirra, and new ones are created and handed to Sanae and Mashu as well. Alexis will have to get one later.

    "It's a Britannica Care Package," the DCC explains, "My standard reward for assistance. It's full of useful restorative items and some currency native to the System. I'm not sure how useful the coin is but at least the restoratives should be handy. So take these for helping me out."