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Featherman Neo Eldorado is a coastside city made of gold. Shining gold streets with silver-painted buildings that stay short but plentiful, coastside residences on the water (where the warpgate is, on the beach itself, heavily guarded by obvious robotic officers but currently allowing transit), everything uniform and equal. Like the HOA on crack.

Eldorado is known as a utopia where everyone is happy, but has no freedom of expression. What exactly this lack of freedom of expression means is hard to tell, as only rumors from anthropologists have made it out. This trade festival, the first time the city's been open to the public, is sure to allow people to understand more. The city is run by the Machine-Mother, with multiple payphone-like boxes set up around the city for people (particularly citizens, but nobody guards them) to communicate with her directly. Nothing more is known about her.

Following the crowds of tourists (who can be made out from the citizens, because every citizen is wearing a gold and silver sash), there's a main city center with a large 'statue', a needle pointing up, in the center of it all. In the center of silver buildings, this massive square has stalls all over selling uniform but valuable rares, minerals, ingredients, relatively tasty dishes, and allowing foreigners to set up stalls to sell their own goods to the citizens.
5rNot a single Eldorado-ran stall has anything that could be called 'art'. Even all the food seems to be made from the same series of recipes. Equally, citizens aren't buying 'art', beyond tasty dishes - they seem to have no interest in it.

The citizens mill around and are polite and helpful if asked for assistance on the way to the square. Far back, further into the city, is a massive central building, but there's no street access to it. What could that be?

----

Payments have been anonymously dispensed into bank accounts (or delivered by courier) to investigate the city and find a peaceful solution for everyone, even if you only spoke up on radio and didn't reach out to the ad. Featherman Neo is standing not far from the central tourist warpgate hub, in that red hero suit, with a large bag of things to possibly sell on his back.

There's a vague feeling of being watched when around him.

But when recognizable faces come into approach, if people haven't decided to ghost him, he waves them down to join him before moving to start walking towards the central hub. "Well, we're all investigating, so might as well coordinate! We could talk to people and get the laydown, we could snoop around, we could do anything. I've heard there's aquatic outposts, but they're probably not public." For his own purposes, Featherman is looking for one of the emptier stall areas near the big needle to start setting up his own stand. It'll let him talk to locals.
Candy Cities 'where the streets are paved with gold' are a popular myth among several types of people. They're used to represent prosperity, the promise of plentiful, untold riches, and yes, sometimes a utopian standard of life.

     Candy is neither tall nor imposing, and certainly neither when surrounded by so much structured, uniform opulence. Despite this, the clap of his hand against Featherman's back is made with absolute confidence. He's used to feeling watched, it seems.

     "What's all the hubbub, ah? That's what I wanna know," he says, pointing a thumb towards a spot he feels would be good for a stall. Candy's dressed in his little longcoat and newsie-cap ensemble, and fidgets with a sleeve as he watches people pass.

     "I look around, I see smiling faces. Not a lot of..." He gestures vaguely with a pinching motion, as if trying to pluck the words from the air. "Variety, -art-, you know," he settles, inclining his head towards one of those samey food stalls, "...but lots of smiling faces. I get a message, and with it, no name, no face, telling me that actually what's going on here is the bullshit," he explains, before shrugging his shoulders.

     "I haven't turned the place upside down, or nothing... but it seems like the bullshit is pretty light here."
Kale Hearthward Extra cash is not really something Kale can easily turn up right now.

... Of course, he's also ending up offsetting what he earns by going and buying things at the festival, but that's not planned or realized, he's just bad with money.

He picks up a few rare items - tailoring materials, for the most part, and picks up some food (several meals' worth) which all gets put effortlessly into his inventory... and then he gets perplexed for a bit by the lack of art.

"Yeah, there's not much self expression, which - is odd," he says, dropping by the group briefly. "Odd but not... out of scope? Sometimes people are just really uncreative. I mean, I thought British food was made under duress the first time I tried it, so maybe these people are just like that, too."

"Anyway. I'm gonna go make a call," he says, deciding to head into one of the 'phone booths' around.
Rita Ma      Rita, having been wholly unsure of the local norms or fashions, opts just to come how she's most comfortable: a subdued blue-and-green jacket-and-skirt combo, a nice white scarf to help with the cooler seaside evening air, and a little hibiscus hair-pin.

     On the other side of the warpgate, her first reaction is- naturally- to shade her eyes with her hand and gawk at the golden streets and silver buildings. She unconsciously rises up onto her tiptoes to get a better look, mouth open and eyes practically gleaming. "I've seen this stuff before in old shipwrecks. But this much of it...!"

     The robot guards in her peripheral vision only catch her attention a moment later, a fact that she seems embarrassed by. They both get a polite, apologetic head-bow from her, and a bright "Thank you for allowing us in!"

     When Featherman comes into view, she gives him a big overenthusiastic wave before jogging over. "Featherman! I was worried I missed you!" Up closer, she nods firmly. "Mmm. I was thinking I'd look at the outskirts of the city. Of course the center is going to be nice, but... a place is only as good as it treats its least fortunate people, right?"

     She glances back over her shoulder after spending a moment around him. Something is tugging at her instincts. But, used to distrusting her gut, she shrugs it off for now.

     "Aquatic outposts. Maybe I'll look at those later," she murmurs halfheartedly, then turns back to nod at Candy. "It seems like a safe place, doesn't it, Mr. Candy? Even if it's all a little... smooth. We were supposed to look for a peaceful ending, but I'm not sure we need to do anything at all to get there."

    She breathes in, eyes shut for a moment, relaxing in the atmosphere of the impromptu marketplace. "I'll be right back, okay?"

     An elegant jump, a wall-run, and a slightly less elegant scrabble carry her to the rooftop of a nearby building. From there, she navigates easily above the streets, looking primarily for any shanties, slums, or lower-quality buildings. Even if there aren't any, other gross urban features are likely to jump out at her in the process.
Hibiki Tachibana     Hibiki, amid her own preparations for a certain something, is naturally going to be on call to help out Featherman Neo out when he needs a hand. She only caught up with his plight laid down over the radio after the fact, but after she did, she let him know ahead of time she'd be there. Though to be honest, her own reasons for wanting to be here are twofold.

    The first is that she's a little interested in Eldorado itself. Everyone is happy but there's no freedom of expression? That's just something she can't wrap her head around very easily. The closest feeling it inspires in her is maybe something very vaguely similar to what she felt during the Lostbelt excursion, but also not really the same - which is reinforced when she actually starts getting her first look at the place. The place is absolutely beautiful, there's no doubting that. The fact there's this much actual gold everywhere really lives up to the name. But...

    Everything looks the same, what they have on display for the festival. And especially after she's had so much great cooking lately, the lack of variety in the food is glaring.

    And the other is, of course, a slight worry that's lingered ever since Featherman mentioned he felt like he was being watched a short while ago. It could just be regular paranoia (as regular as it gets, anyway), sure. She hopes it is. Maybe it's come with the territory of deciding to investigate a city as off from the norm as this one.

    But as she approaches the meeting point, she also can't shake that it feels like there are eyes on her. "Yo," she greets him and the other approach-ees with a wave, her other hand in her jacket pocket. She's not gonna call attention to that herself, at least not right now. "Candy just about said it. The people here look like they're plenty satisfied, and the food isn't half bad either." Blatantly exposing herself as having already tried some on the way, "Still, I'd take Rita or Miku's cooking any day."

    She puts that same hand to her chin right after, looking contemplative as she watches Kale head off towards the booth. "It's true that they could just be really uncreative...I guess if they're happy enough with what they already got, there's not much need to innovate or do anything new. I think everyone knows that feeling just a little bit." Or it could just be her.

    "...If you want help setting up your booth, I'll lend a hand. I figure if we're gonna ask anyone about anything, I think we should learn everything we can about who runs the city."
Tamamo     Tamamo had indicated her interest in coming to see the city, and moreover, had something to talk to Neo about -- but that can wait, she supposes. That micronation isn't getting any less sieged, but it can be difficult to cover serious topics while distracted.

    Judging it appropriate for a city of gold, she's arrived in an outfit of gold, more so than her usual. From tasseled hoop earrings to shoulder and wrist bands, under the sunburst symbol over her chest, down to the heavy-looking belt and wrapping, banded footwear, she's all gold today, worked into circle and wave symbols, stark against white and black cloth. Even her hair ribbons are clear white.

    Not that this place needs any more sun gods. She wouldn't want to fight with that one. Taking on all those security bots would be far preferable. "Oh, but they heed a machine-mother, now, rather than a mother-goddess. I wonder what led to such a thing?"

    Tamamo greets Neo on recognizing him, "Hello. My, but this place is... much as described, in fact. I shall leave that talking to you, for the moment, I think. It seems these tools are able to communicate with their ruler, directly, and I shall see to that, perhaps. Or would you call her a guide, rather than a ruler?"

    As soon as she can take her polite leave, Tamamo goes up to one of the phone booths, and tries connecting. She just has the one question, to start: "What do you suppose a good mother is?"
Staren     Staren is trying to NOT look like an Obvious Elite, although depending on world the ears and tail might be a giveaway anyway. Red shirt, black jacket and long pleated skirt with a red line just above the hem.

    Oh hey, Candy's here! He gets a hug. So does Hibiki! "Candy! Hibiki! Good to see you again."

    Staren nods at the various assessments amounting to 'no art'. "No expression or individuality... Another world of clay dolls." She uses that expression a lot now, apparently. But it tersely communicates a concept that keeps coming up.

    "Are we playing merchant? I've mostly only sold guns, uh... but what do the people *need*? D'you think if I sold them unlocked multiverse-access tablets it'd just bring the cops down on us or would they be cool with that?"
Candy      Candy is visibly heartened to hear Rita's assessment. "Yeah," he says. "I'm, ah, not so sure, neither."

     After a smile and a hug with Staren, he advises her thusly: "Food, clothes, a house that ain't gonna get taken away, uh... safety," listing with his fingers for each one. "Uh... there's other stuff, but it's all up-here stuff and that shit's complicated," he further explains, missing the point entirely. "But--clothes they'd probably like."

     "Hey, me too," says Candy, piping in when Hibiki mentions she'll help Featherman get everything set up. For his part, he ends spot-fabricating simple hand tools for the three of them--measuring tools, a hammer and nails. All the while, his mind turns over angles of approach, brow furrowed in thought. Even Kale don't look so sure. -That- tells me everything I know. Almost. He's gonna get the sales pitch from that Machine lady. If Rita's gonna look for people that got the shit end of the stick, then... I'm gonna talk to the people that didn't. Sometimes they let things slip and don't even realize it.

     "Sure," he eventually says, in response to Hibiki's idea. "I'll ask, ah..." He points. "Them, first. EY! YOU! Hold on a minute, my friend." He's walking over, one hand in his pocket, the other held palm outwards as he flags down the first sadh-wearing person he can find.

     "You got time to answer some questions from an off-worlder? Of course you do, it's a festival," he says with a self-assured smile and a playful nudge of his elbow. "I see a lot of them phones around. The ones you use to call the Machine Mother, yeah? She actually answer? No matter who? Why do people usually call?"
Lilian Rook     "They really went with an actual city of gold? Even if it were just golden looks, what exactly is the point? It can't be for the material itself, right? And it shouldn't be a primitive 'shiny' instinct, if they have computers. Actually, then the gold is more valuable inside the computer, isn't it? What does 'El Dorado' have to do with self-expression?"

    Yes, this is Lilian's current bent of fixation. While she doesn't actually own anything 'golden' in a broad sense to wear, she has exactly the thing to coordinate with Tamamo (specifically, what she claims is her 'other favourite' of Tamamo's ensembles), that being the white and red shinto shrine maiden-inspired action getup that simply happenes to be embroidered and accessorized with a lot of gold, whereupon Lilian has also taken it upon herself to bind her hair up several more degrees than usual as space for extra ornamentation. For once, the lily hairpin is merely a centerpiece.

    She has come prepared with an abnormal number of odds and ends that aren't weapons, mostly carried in two separate bags, one from the shoulder and one at the hip. Some of it definitely has to do with the fact that she won't eat any of the offered food and she drinks exclusively from a water bottle. Also:

    <J-IC-Scene> Candy says, "What's 'duress?'"
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Stress but pointed at you by someone else."
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "A step short of a specific threat."
    <J-IC-Scene> Candy says, "Oh, then, yeah, the limeys are under duress."
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "It's called monarchism, I'm afraid."
    <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "Aww. I'm sorry I didn't bring any snacks this time, Hibiki."
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Ask me nicely, and I might have something."
    <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma !
    <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "Ms. Rook, do you have something?"
    <J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "It's fine, Rita. And hey, I just ate. I'm not so shameless I'm gonna ask for more."
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I always have something for good girls."<Public> 4spooky Trudy Grimm says, "then why are you offering it to them"
    <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, with melancholy: "Oh."
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "R-rita. I meant you."
    <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "Oh!!"

    The specififics of this are left up in the air for just a moment, because she says, first, to Tamamo, "Be careful, okay? I won't go far." and then fortunately doesn't hear what she asks the computer, while she stays as close as possible, grabs someone on the street (metaphorically), and asks them some basic questions, all of them 'how do you feel' in nature. About the festival, about offworlders, about the life they have here, about what they hope to see here.

    The words themselves are almost a formality; Lilian is listening to them, but primarily she is reading deep below the surface, tuned into the secrets instead. What people are hiding. What they don't realize they are. What they don't know. What they initially feel versus what they eventually say.

    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Don't think the 'bullshit' is light just because it's hard to see. The type to be very skilled at abuse is the type who learns to hide it well."
Featherman Neo "Candy. It's good to see you." Featherman says cheerfully, before nodding as he's clapped on the back and gets a fair reaction. "It's true. If there isn't bullshit, there's nothing to worry about and we can report back. But if there is..."

"Well, it could be an Omelas situation - one person suffers for everyone else's utopia, or everyone suffers to be happy, or something like that. I think that's what we're here to find out. And hey, if it's all good, we found a utopia, didn't we?"

As Featherman unpacks his massive bag of wares with Hibiki's help - it's clear he's reselling. Pottery from all over the Multiverse with practical uses, cookware, and similar. "I want to see what the people have to say for themselves."

As the booth is set-up, people, mostly locals, begin to appear. "Oh, this will assist in cooking." A young woman with a sash says. "You have an interesting face." She tells Featherman, who is still wearing his helmet. He scratches the back of it.

A few teenagers flock around her soon, probably her friends or siblings. They're perfect to ask questions of, as Featherman cares more about that than striking a deal. They all seem happy. The oldest one speaks up. "Sister! These foreigners look funny." "Yes, brother. Be polite."

Featherman responds to Staren. "Try selling them tablets! Worst case, they don't buy it."

One of the teenagers then responds. "What tablets? Writing chiselled on stone?"

That feeling of being watched is getting stronger. The people in sashes don't notice it.

----

Candy, after assisting, is approaching a sash-wearer. The young man nods his head in response to the 'you got time', smiling blankly. "Of course she answers. No matter who - the Machine Mother cares about everyone. We ask her for advice on all facets of life. If there is ever a dispute and there is not an officer around, we ask her first."

"She granted us happiness, and we grant her loyalty."

----

Rita goes seeking out slums. She, surprisingly, finds nothing. EVERYTHING is uniform. And everyone is happy(TM). She no longer feels the vague sensation of being watched, though. And things feel...odd. The more she watches people, the more they seem rote. Still like people, but like their every conversation she can hear or see is 'mediocrely mundane'.

But from her vantage point, she'll notice that massive central building is heavily guarded by robotic soldiers. Not just officers, but ones with heavy firearms. Were any Elites try to to storm it during the festival, it'd be a hefty fight.

----

Kale gets a nod as he moves to dial up the Machine-Mother. There is a terminal with a screen. The booth seals (but is easily reopenable, and doesn't appear to be able to lock itself) for privacy, and as he dials, he gets a near-instantaneous reponse. A mechanical eye appears on the screen. The voice that follows is feminine, but distinctly artificial.

"Welcome, outsider. I am the Machine-Mother. How may I help you? Do you seek citizenship, aid in navigation, or questions about Eldorado? I cannot answer everything, but I will do my best."

Tamamo gets the same reply as she dials up in her own booth. When she asks her question, she gets an immediate response. "A good mother is one who will do anything to ensure her children's happiness. No matter what must be sacrificed. Will that be all?" It's said pleasantly - there's no rush to end the conversation.

----

Lilian asks basic questions. She gets very basic answers. The festival is nice. Offworlders are interesting. Their life is peaceful and happy. They hope to see useful things to assist in daily life.

It's the same rote explanation, but the thoughts are much more interesting. First of all, their thoughts are exactly what they say. There is nothing under the surface. Not even unrealized. There is no discontent. No sadness. No anger.

Because, if Lilian looks, they literally do not have the psychic pathways to do so. They are people, but they are dulled, in a way. Blank happiness and a lack of suffering, because they cannot.
Tamamo     A good mother is one who will do anything to ensure her children's happiness. No matter what must be sacrificed. Will that be all?

    "I have one or two more, if you please." Tamamo takes a few moments to consider that first answer before she asks another question. "The first is this: May one allow suffering in the present, if it will result in happiness in the future, as by the giving of bitter medicine? The second is this: Can one feel both pain and happiness, as when one learns the painful lesson of playing with fire, and is afterwards comforted, or do these two conflict?"
Staren > If all's good, we found a utopia, didn't we?

    "All is *not* good, though." Staren asserts. "No individualism... they've lost something, haven't they? Although, I guess if they didn't *look* human, we would just go 'oh, eusocial aliens are fine' and never give it a second thought..."

    People are gathering around. "Uhh... Like, computer tablets." She reaches for her coat pocket... oh right. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a tablet. "See, it takes pictures, records video, acts as a communicator, browses the multiversal internet, plays games..." she starts demonstrating the features, and sells them for a pittance. Say, 5 credits or so? Just so people aren't suspicious of them being 'free'.
Kale Hearthward Kale was all set to go on an intensive investigation to find information, but instead they're just... giving it out.

"Oh, I'd love to know some more, actually," says Kale, getting comfortable within the booth.

"But actually - let's start with navigation, can I get a map and some demographic factsheets or anything like that? Geography is a bit of a hobby of mine." This is not strictly speaking entirely the truth - Kale's just looking for some info he can look through, and run some qualitative comparisons on. But it's sort of a hobby, also.

"And - then after that, starting with you? I haven't had a chance to meet anyone who calls themselves 'Machine Mother'. Can I ask if that's literal?"
Featherman Neo IN THE BOOTHS:
Tamamo asks two more questions. She gets indirect answers. "If the medicine is too bitter, you make it sweeter. Mix it with a dollop of sugar. If the fire is too hot, you teach everyone to avoid, and it never happens again, but comfort is offered in the meantime." The Machine Mother offers her.

Kale asks for a map. Mapping data appears on the terminal, though it's not fully labelled. Demographic factsheets are given for only one reason - there's only one demography, and that's Eldoradan. They don't differentiate on race. The population is rather small for such a large city, surprisingly, but sustainable.

"Yes. I am the Machine-Mother who nurtures and guides the people of this city. My body is steel and electric, and my children flesh, but their mother, I still am."
Rita Ma      No shanties after all. ... At least, not that I can see. The food prices aren't too high and they aren't sold out either, so people must not be hungry. But isn't the way they're acting a little strange? Alone I could ignore it, but for so many of them to be behaving the same way...

     From her perch atop a building's corner, Rita stares at the central tower and its guard robots for a good few moments. She's positioned herself downwind, so breathing in over her tongue filters all the flavors of the air across it. Can scent give her any clues as to the tower's contents?

     Assaulting it directly would be a horrible ordeal. But Rita has no intention of doing that. Instead she shifts her disguise-wrappings from imitation to simple invisibility, waits for the doors to open for a robot, and soundlessly slips in behind it.

     What's so important in here that they'd secure and conceal it so heavily?
Candy      "Loyalty, huh? What's she get out of -that?-" She not getting enough of it from the robot police? "Better yet, what's it look like, to be loyal to the Machine Mother?" That's one that he waits for an answer on--doesn't interrupt. Even if everyone here's thrilled about that Machine Mother--and I ain't yet convinced they are--they might still be getting fucked over. You gotta be thorough.

     "You seem pretty happy," notes Candy with a sunny smile that disguises perfectly his inner suspicion. "Know I'm talkin' your ear off, my friend, but... I gotta know! What's your average day like--what do folks do in the city of gold?"
Tamamo     If Tamamo isn't satisfied with these partial answers, she doesn't show it. She's very good at the polite mask. "Thank you, I believe I may understand, now, if only slightly." She seems about to go, but stops. "One more question, then, should it be possible to answer, as I should quite like to hear your response. What have you sacrificed?"
Hibiki Tachibana     "Yo, Staren." The catgirl gets another trademark quick wave on the approach as she helps get everything unpacked and put up. "I dunno if I'd go that far with it, but I know why you got the same vibes. Nothing for it but to look more into it, like Featherman said." She watches Candy head off for his questioning with a small chuckle at the forwardness, but she goes back to a neutral expression only a couple moments later.

    It comes back before too long though, especially once locals start coming over to look at what they have in stock. Hibiki herself wasn't entirely sure what she should've bought for any trading purposes despite the nature of the festival, since she doesn't have much she'd particularly consider worth bringing. There are a few practical things that'll serve as a nice cross-cultural exchange, at least, like a couple simple wooden bento boxes for storing meals, and some chopstick sets for offering up a different way to eat meals.

    Well, she did also bring along a few CD releases of Japan's ~top idoru~, Tsubasa Kazanari, but she's not sure how much interest those'll get now that she's looking at the place.

    Which is just as fine, given Featherman and Staren are doing most of the peddling. Hibiki herself decides to intone with a curious question in the middle of all the haggling. "Hey, by the way...the Machine-Mother you guys got here. Just how long...has she been here? Has she always been a part of your history?"
Featherman Neo AT THE STALL:
"What would I need to take pictures or video for?" "I can go to my neighbors to communicate." "What's the internet?" "What are games?"

Featherman's reaction is unknowable as they answer Staren, and therefore are waffling on the tablet only because of the incredibly cheap price. The masked hero considers, and then goes back to selling, but he asides something on his communicator in his helmet. <"This is a bit sad...">

Hibiki's question gets a response. "She's been our mother for my whole life. Our parents, too, but nor our grandparents. I don't know the history." The young woman says, with a smile and no apology. She buys a bento box instantly - it's useful!
Featherman Neo CANDY:
"She gets love from her children. It makes her happy." The man tells Candy, before responding to the question. "You are fine. I wake up, have breakfast, get ready for my assigned work of the day, attend to it and have lunch, come home, spend time with my neighbors and my family, eat dinner, and go to bed." He seems thrilled about it, but he seems thrilled about everything.

----

RITA:
Rita infiltrates the central building. The front door is easy with invisibility - but the building is basically a complex, and getting in deeper seems to be difficult - there's laser tripwires, robots all over the place, and other hidden security measures that will require mobility and noise over just sheer invisibility. But...

There's an old navigation terminal. The map is locked (but could be bypassed with hacking), but the directions from the current location aren't. There's a few directions from a mess of hallways forward, past the security mess.

'PROCESSING'
'SCANNING'
'REACTUALIZATION'
'RECOVERY'

There's also a taste and smell of crackling energy in the air. It doesn't taste like anything Rita's tasted before.
Kale Hearthward "... Hmm..."

"Well! So. I'm a little surprised - this seems like such a nice city. I'd think it'd be bursting at the seams, honestly! Is the citizenship application really strict, or something?"
Featherman Neo TAMAMO AND KALE:
Tamamo's next question actually gets a delay from the machine. It's a hard one. But the answer is no less 'honest' for a machine. It's almost sad, despite the lack of inflection.

"Everything I am, and ever will be."

"Will that be all?"

Kale, meanwhile, asks about citizenship. "Consent is required from all citizen candidates. If you seek to consent, I can engage in partial scanning." There is no demand. The door still isn't locked.
Kale Hearthward "... Consent?"

Well, this can't be anything sinister.

"Yeah, sure, partial scan away."
Featherman Neo KALE:
The booth starts to light up. The eye scans. Psychic energy can be felt by any with the ability. And then...

It stops.

"Scan complete. Citizenship denied. I apologize. Please let me know if you have any further questions, though I cannot go further into the citizenship process after this result." The Machine-Mother really sounds apologetic.
Tamamo     "Yes. Once more, I thank you. I shall return, should I have more questions." After accepting whatever goodbyes are offered, Tamamo leaves the booth.

    Subtly keying into the group radio, and less-subtly handing out warm oatmeal cookies with melting chocolate bits to acceptably-good girls, Tamamo quietly explains what she's learned. "The machine-mother considers the assurance of happiness the highest goal, and will make any sacrifice for its attainment, by her own words. This bodes ill, though if the sacrifice has already been made, there may be nothing that can still be done, however grave it may have been. Her wisdom is, in my opinion, hasty though my judgment may be, somewhat lacking. Though she understands specific problems to be solved, the general principles went unaddressed."

    She pauses, still processing that last answer. "She claims to have sacrificed all of her self, and all of her future. It is difficult to criticize such a thing, not because it contains no fault, but because no more than 'everything' can be asked of one." Another pause. "If I were to speculate, she is acceptably concerned for the future, and this, by contrast, bodes well. It is more difficult to worry for the future than it is to find solutions in the present. However, that which was unsaid concerns me. I do not expect a full accounting of what has been sacrificed, in the name of happiness, would be forthcoming, by any means but an independent investigation. I am not certain she would even know, herself, all that has been done."

    Though it isn't much of a conclusion, Tamamo ends with, "Should we find what may be done, we may consider our options. Should we only find what has been done, it may be that all that can be done is to leave these people to their fate. To destroy what they are for the sake of achieving some greater potential is beyond my place to advise."
Candy      "Okay, fair enough," answers Candy, with a conceding nod and shrug. "That makes sense for a mom to want. But, you know," he further probes, "Love is... a lot of things in one word. And some people use it to mean shit it shouldn't mean. How should I explain this..."

     He slaps the back of one hand against the palm of the other. "Assigned work," he decisively announces. That must be how he'll explain the isea. "Guessing you do the work because you love your mom, ah?" He smiles warmly, then innocently poses:

     "Are there jobs people -don't- wanna do? Stuff that's hard, dirty, um... stuff that makes you feel tired and bad? Jobs that feel like a waste of time? Are there jobs that's all of them things rolled into one?"

     Pausing to let it sink, "Does your mom ever ask anybody to do more of that stuff than the next person?" And, importantly, "What happens when somebody messes up?"
Hibiki Tachibana     Hibiki is more than happy to hand over the bento box, and she's not especially picky about the price. When you can buy most of this stuff pretty easily back home, there's no reason to be stingy. The response does get her furrowing her brow a little bit though. "Not your grandparents...I see. Enjoy the box, alright? They can pack in more than you think."

    She glances off to the side, at their confusion towards Staren, and she gives Featherman's unreadable mask a momentary stare. She doesn't betray much of her own feelings on the matter, but she's Hibiki - so the frown is more than evident.

    She pauses for a moment after that though. "I wonder who /would/ know more about the history of this place...maybe those anthropologists you mentioned...?" She speaks quietly with a 'hrmm' sound after. She can't imagine she'd find any of those in the middle of the festival, though.

    ...But the thought sparks something else in her. Lifting her head back up, Hibiki glances past the siblings at the stall to look out in the crowd beyond, doing a once-over look. There should be plenty of locals and tourists both, but would anyone in there look like they're the cause of this feeling she still can't shake...?
Staren     What would I need to take pictures or video for? "Mood." Staren mumbles. "Once you like yourself you start taking a lot of selfies, though..." She speaks up, "The internet is a multiverse-wide network of informa--" she pauses. "Did you say WHAT ARE GAMES?!" Her tail stands out straight, bristling. "What do you do for FUN around here?! What do you do... at all?! And what do those sashes mean, anyway??" Since her tablet demonstration is falling flat, she pulls out a scanner and, per Lilian's suggestion, checks for weird radio transmissions or signs of nanotech.

    Candy gets... part of the answer to Staren's question. She adds: "But what do you DO while spending time with your neighbors?"
Featherman Neo CANDY AND STAREN:

The man really does not seem upset with Candy. But even so, he answers evenly. "Of course not. The unpleasant jobs, such as sewage work and corpse retrieval, are done by machines. Nobody is asked to do more, and if we need help, we get it. And if someone messes up..."

A blank smile. "She will help us rectify it, or learn to do better."

Staren, meanwhile, asks the teenagers a question. "Please don't get upset. Fun isn't necessary. I'm already happy." They basically all say, in different ways. The tablet finds nothing odd like nanotech or radio transmissions. "The sashes are our symbol of being a citizen for this festival. They sort us out from foreigners like yourself." A pause. "We talk about our work schedule for the day and the next. We bask in each other's happiness."
Staren > We talk about our schedule abd bask

    "Holy SHIT that's boring. What has she DONE do you people? Do you even remember what happiness or satisfaction or pride in your work or joy or expression or anything even *are* anymore?!" Staren rants for a bit.
Featherman Neo "Please don't get upset." Is the only reply Staren gets. They don't look...uncomfortable, but they're sorta starting to filter away from the stall.
Lilian Rook     "I refuse to even consider the possibility of this being a 'utopia' by any metric." Lilian says to Featherman in the short time they're still together as a group. It'd normally sound more flippant, coming from her. More dismissively sarcastic. But it doesn't quite work as well this time. "Everyone suffers in the attempt to be happy in all societies. That idea is normal. The usual is that it isn't carefully targeted; whoever is the hardest to make happy will suffer the most for everyone else's benefit. At least, whoever is naturally the least happy will be the earliest written off, and the first that society closes off its heart to. Processor, maybe, in this case."

    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook sighs. "Hey you. Fifth wheel. Worst girl. Why don't you try waving a science wand at this. You're the computer geek aren't you? Has it occurred to you to check the food and water for drugs? Nanites? The airwaves for mind control broadcasts? Those weird sashes"

    Though Lilian allows each polite conversation to conclude uneventfully, and their participants to move on without interference, her building, defensive agitation is abnormal even for her. She stops asking any more questions as soon as she can get away with leaving it.

    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "This isn't cultural. It's not a form of self-control. It's not something that a human being can learn, or even be conditioned into when they're young enough."
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "These people don't feel in any negative sense because they don't know how to. I'm not sure they're even able to. Physically."
    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "It's like an Antegent had their way with them, in such an insidious, long-con fashion that I'd be still trying to figure out why."

    Lilian seizes on something Rita says:

    <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "It doesn't smell like blood or anything in here, though."
    <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "Sort of like... the way it smells after a lightning strike? But different."

    "Don't overlook anything, Rita." Lilian says over the radio. "If something seems out of place, reassess it from the start. If it smells like lightning, a whole lot of electricity has been used all at once. Computers don't run on high voltages like that. They run on huge volumes of very small amounts of electricity."

    With Tamamo rejoining them, Lilian takes hold of her hand, and gently shakes her head. "No more than that could be asked of a person. But . . . I doubt we're dealing with one. Convincing facsimile or not, doesn't it seem obvious? Like a wish made on an apathetic, ignorant, or capricious spirit? These people have placed hopes as lofty as solving 'the meaning of happiness' on a machine, but a machine they made can only be as good as answering it as they are, right?"

    "In other words that might be familiar, with the wish-granter only grants the ability to actualize a wish on a tremendous scale and level of precision. It can only actualize what is already within the wisher's mind to ask, right?"
Lilian Rook     Catching on to something else, she asks (and then begins looking herself), "Grandparents. How many senior citizens have you seen? Can you locate any right now? We're already on the very edge of what generational memory will permit to keep. Without that, we'll have a difficult road ahead of us without a digital access specialist."

    "And Rita, be careful. And entire complex raid at this point may be slightly premature. But you want to know what 'reactualization' means too, don't you? You want to know pretty badly, I'm sure. So try and find out however much is safe. I can be with you shortly if I need to."
Featherman Neo HIBIKI (AND EVERYONE NEARBY):

The feeling is getting worse. Featherman just says. "Yeah. We'll have to meet with-"

And then, something appears behind him. Someone. A silver humanoid with many chiselled faces of fear onto its stone skin. It whispers things into his ear, and he freezes up in shock, before it disappears again.

"Fire."

There's a burst from the distance. A flash from a distant rooftop, right as Hibiki's eyes scan back upwards. A sniper rifle, high-caliber.

The huge bullet impacts with Featherman's torso, sending him backwards against the needle. As he staggers, the needle suddenly detonates, a small explosion that impacts Featherman and anyone who rushes to help him, but does not hurt civilians.

This does not seem to be the city's plan, but it's certainly someone's, as a C4 trigger is detonated. People begin panicking. Those with sashes as well as the robots try to evacuate those without - unable to feel the same fear they are feeling, but knowing what a disaster is.

Featherman is still transformed, but his armor is scorched. He's trying to regain his footing, but he's gonna collapse if he tries too hard. His armor plating stopped the bullet from piercing his heart.
Tamamo     "Should a wish-granter have no greater intellect, itself, then it can do no more than was asked of it." Tamamo takes Lilian's hand, and pulls her in for a cookie. She had said she'd saved plenty. "Chocolate is a tiny piece of happiness, if taken in tiny pieces. Less so, perhaps, were one to wish to live on nothing more than sugar. A dull and unrestrained diet that would be, with every meal like every other. For my own part, I find it difficult to distinguish--"

    Something bizarre appears, there in the periphery of Tamamo's vision. She turns to see it, too late to do anything more than gasp as the sniper fires. It takes until after the explosion before she can properly react. This outfit doesn't have the same long sleeves, but it still hides the usual talismans. Turtles in red ink in her left hand, and many-petaled flowers in her right.

    "I am here, please hold!"

    Her wards flicker to life before fading to invisibility, active shields ready for further appearances of danger, ink turtles fading away with crumbling ash as the magic activates. The other set is for Featherman, and anyone else hurt in his immediate area. The talismans drop to the ground, scattering into eight equidistant points as if pulled by wires. They don't immediately burn away, but instead activate slowly, as Tamamo reads off the eight trigrams in a tongue inhumanly quick for its precision. The healing field, knitting flesh and bone back together even should a body lack the energy to heal itself, is active immediately after.
Staren     "Featherman!" Staren reaches into her bag and pulls on her labcoat, a magic field in the shape of plate armor suddenly appearing over her body and then fading. She looks around for paniccing civilians...

    Oh. Of course. Okay, well, at least that's something they don't have to worry about today.

    Staren warps in some drones and sends them to the air, to watch for... well, anything that stands out from there. After a few seconds of confirming she can't see, say, obvious snipers from the air, Staren rushes to Featherman's side. "Shields up!" She's pulled something that looks kind of like a lantern on an extendable pole from her bag, presses something that makes the pole extend, and then jabs it into the ground next to Featherman, brushing the 'lantern' with her hand before a forcefield is projected around them (it briefly toggles off as Staren lets people in, although it isn't big enough for more than a few unless people get reeeeeal friendly with eachother -- although if that becomes an issue she tweaks a knob on the device and the field gets bigger.

    For now, she kneels by Featherman, examining the place where the bullet hit... Tamamo's on it. "You got him? Alright." Staren stands next to the shield-pole and then has the look of someone who's using their cybernetic headcomputer to focus elsewhere -- specifically, on her drones as she keeps an eye out for trouble.
Staren     Staren sends a drone over to one of the robot police (and, if their answers are useless, to one of the sash-wearers) and asks through it: "What's going on? How do you know where you're taking people is safe?"
Hibiki Tachibana     Hibiki feels a terrible sensation in her gut sourced from directly behind her, right at the moment her eyes shift up--and go wide. She registers the muzzle burst almost in slow motion, and by the time that second passes, it's too late. "Featherma--"

    She turns on her heel and lunges after the masked hero on reflex as he goes flying back after the deafening impact, only for the subsequent and unexpected explosion from the needle to catch her offguard and sent her tumbling backwards off of her feet. By the time she begins forcing herself back to her hands and knees, the entire place is in chaos. Mostly from tourists more than the locals, but the suddenness of everything distracts her from how strange that would otherwise feel.

    "Wh-What the hell--!?" She hurries over towards Featherman as soon as she can, but there's little more than she can do but stare down with apprehension and worry while she works. There's an open heave of relief when she realizes he's still trying to get himself up, but it's followed with her biting her lip and clenching her hands at her sides. "This is the second time..."

    There's the briefest of flashes where she remembers the last time Featherman was floored by a surprise sniper shot, and she /almost/ wonders if it's the same shooter. But...

    "Hey--" Hibiki drops to a knee, but gives Tamamo plenty of space as she speaks with a little - a lot - more haste than usual. "Let Tamamo take care of you, okay? I'm not gonna let whoever it is get away with this..." Her voice drops, and shakes her head before quickly looking up at Staren. "Staren--do you see anything? Anything at all!?"

    She's asking before she just rushes off to the building she saw, despite the fact the sniper would definitely be gone by the time she gets there.
Candy      Candy shudders. Everything seemed more or less normal, until that last answer. God damn. He let it slip, alright. Sometimes, I hate being right.

     "Thanks for your help," he says, and it's all he gets out before disaster strikes.

     "SHIT fire and save matches," he hisses, very familiar with the feeling of an explosion having gone off. As panicked visitors surge past him, time stops.

Panicked faces are frozen all around. They're easy to step between, like this. Despite the chaos that's going to resume the moment time snaps him back into place, Candy's footfalls are deliberately soft and quiet.

Tamamo's wards are observed, from the nearest rooftop, mid-shimmer, like catching the crest of a wave on film.


Time resumes.
-Cards drift down, in the paths of Tamamo and Hibiki. For the former, the Queen of Hearts--she may intuit by Candy's drawing on the back that it will conjure forth a highly pressurized, precise stream of water. For the latter, the Ace of Diamonds, which, by Candy's drawing, appears to allow Hibiki to make explosions (or broccoli? It's not a good drawing) with her fists.
-Candy has taken up a post atop the highest building he could find, a bolt-action rifle shouldered, scanning the skyline for signs of motion.
-Illusory Candies appear at several other vantage points, while the real one keeps as low a profile as possible from his perch. The fakes take pot shots at places of his choosing--places he'd be hiding, if not for his current choice.
Rita Ma <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma uploads a picture of an old terminal. It shows vague directions to 'PROCESSING', 'SCANNING', 'REACTUALIZATION', and 'RECOVERY'.
<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "I'm in the big central building right now. The one with all the armed guards. It has pretty high security. ... I could probably get deeper, but if they catch me, they'll probably kick us all out, so I'll be safe for now."
<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "Still, it's kind of creepy, isn't it? What these things are labeled."
<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "... I think this is where they 'fix' people, so they can't be sad."

     Rita pockets her phone and wobbles, for a moment, between investigating the "Reactualization" area as Lilian asked or simply leaving. On the one hand: the fear of raising an alarm and letting everyone down. On the other: the desire to impress her cool older friend. Tough call!

     Then Featherman Neo is shot in the chest live on radio. The adrenaline jolts through her. She's galloping through the hallways deeper in before she even knows why she's doing it. Her brain catches up to her feet a moment later: With that gunshot, the alarm's going to be raised anyway. In a minute everywhere will be swarming with those guards. There's nothing to lose by doing it now, and everything to lose by waiting!

     Laser tripwires can be avoided by simply running on the walls or ceiling. Stubbornly-positioned guards can be redirected by the illusion of a fellow robot or a hapless wandering citizen. Her chromatophores can't keep up her invisibility in motion forever, so when she's less likely to be seen she shifts into the perfect disguise of a guard robot herself to give them a rest. In a pinch, heavy doors or other obstacles can simply be melted through silently with acid, and then a visually perfect replacement re-sculpted behind her to fill the hole.

     Rita has, in short, an almost incomparable toolkit for getting places people don't want her to be. She may be cutting it close on time, but one way or another, she's getting into Reactualization.
Featherman Neo Tamamo drops her talismans, creating the healing field for Featherman. It stops him from a chance of bleeding out, as his flesh begins to reknit. "I know this feeling..." He mutters, coughing blood inside his helmet. The protective barriers from Staren prevent a followup strike, as a security robot responds. "Please move along swiftly. The Machine-Mother has routed a safe location for the time being."

Hibiki moves up to the building. A note is lying there. Letters swirling on a page, before they cement if she picks it up. 'Why did he trust you and her and the cop and nobody else? Did he tell the truth when he lifted his mask?'. The text fades away after reading.

Candy's illusions take potshots, as he takes position. There's noise from one of the locations, a further out roof, but before he can get a bead, he hears something appear behind him (after it appears behind all the other illusions). It whispers into his ear, voice like chalk.

"Do you know why the Featherman lies to you all?"

He'll have one chance at a strike at the stone figure, before it suddenly moves with a burst of speed to push him away and disappear.

----

Rita gets into Reactualization through her infiltration methods. She doesn't have much time there - security is increasing, not decreasing.

But she has enough to get pictures. The area smells of that same 'lightning'-like energy, and it's more noticeable in the *brain* of all places. It's not affecting her in any special way, but it's definitely psychic energy.

Chairs and medical beds are angled up against walls. Too many to destroy in such a short amount of time, each hooked up to equipment that hooks up to the rest of the complex.

Helmets of sorts are next to each resting place, with various scanners and probes. These are all obviously automated - no human element.

If it's gonna click, it'll click now what this place is. There's only one possibility that fits with the rest of the evidence.

Noise of machines stirs up outside. It's probably time to go.
Staren     Staren nods, and the drone bobs to convey the gesture before rising to maintain area coverage.

    There are more gunshots?! Staren pulls the gyrojet pistol from her bag, but whatever her plan was, she aborts it when she sees it was just Candy. She focuses on trying to see where he's shooting.

    "You feeling okay, Featherman?"
Tamamo     Tamamo picks up a strange card. She has some idea of what it should be for, if mostly only because she has a good sense for the principles of magic in paper stock. Not sure where it came from, she puts it away, for now.

    Restoring people to perfect fighting shape is a field in which Tamamo has few worthy competitors, and though she had a moment of worry over whether she was in time, now that she's with Featherman, and under Staren's shield -- not that she the attention to spare to outwardly acknowledge it -- there's nothing to worry about. Probably. Unless that sniper round, or the explosion, had some very subtle curses wound up inside.

    She's skilled in that field, too, but proper checks take time. On the other hand, there's nothing she can do in regards to chasing down the attacker, and the other people of the festival are staying out of it. They aren't injured, either.

    Hm? "There are no other injuries? How peculiar. One who takes to setting explosives is not usually so discerning in the results, no? You have not only attracted the attention of something strange, but one with a very focused interest on you, Mr. Featherman. Does this help identify the source of that feeling of being haunted under which you suffered?"
Hibiki Tachibana     After her travel time, Hibiki finds what she's looking for - sort of. She should have known there was no chance to catch the sniper, but a note is more than she expected. With Candy's card in hand, she briefly considers punching it and making it explode in a brief moment of frustration (and because the note might be trapped), but she instead slowly bends down to pick it up as the letters begin forming together.

    "Did he tell the truth when he...?" She repeats, trailing off at the very end as the letters disappear. Even after they do, she remains simply standing there for several seconds before crumpling the now-empty note in her hand.

    She wasn't entirely wrong thinking back to when the last time someone took a shot at Featherman, apparently. But this time, it's someone else...and for what seems like much more personal reasons. She might be wrong, but the way that was worded sounded almost...vindictive.

    Whatever the case, she's not going to find anything else or catch anyone up here. She'll hurry back to rejoin the others and make sure Featherman is still doing alright.
Rita Ma      As the door into Reactualization shuts behind her, Rita doubles over with her hands on her knees and catches her breath. The colors of her disguise-wrappings blur a little from chromatophore fatigue; a loose tentacle slow-drips droplets of blue acid onto the floor.

     So when she finally straightens up and takes a look around, she gasps for more reasons than one. So many...! And that buzzing in my head... No, or is it a taste? Even just being near this equipment it's awful.

     Approaching, she gingerly touches one of the many, many helmets, then pulls her hand back immediately as if she expected it to shock her. The sound of movement just outside the door jolts her out of that casual investigation though; she only has a moment or two to spare.

     The phone comes out again- click, click- and then she's turned invisible again, melted a hole through the exterior wall, ducked through, patched it back up with replica material, and sprinted back towards her friends in the central square. Well, not headed towards them exactly- rather, towards the smell of blood from Featherman.

     Does he still need help? With all that noise I heard... besides, I'm starving by now. If he doesn't make it- no, don't be awful! Focus. I've got the bandages, and...

     She stops just shy of running into Staren's forcefield comedically, and then heaves a little sigh of relief and stuffs the gauze back into her bag when she sees him recovering well under Tamamo's care. "Thank you, Ms. Tamamo. Thank you, Ms. Staren. I was really worried for a minute there." To Featherman, only as sternly as his weakened state can tolerate: "You need to find a way to make this stop happening to you, you know. It's awful every time."

     Rita visibly remembers something, and taps the back of her phone with a finger restlessly. "Oh! When we're all settled, there's something I have to show you, too."
Featherman Neo "I'll live." Featherman replies, and just...avoids answering Rita directly. He's a little ashamed it came to this, but also...

Whoever that escaped sniper was, they certainly said something that shook his confidence.

They'll have to laeve, for now, once the festival recovers. Featherman avoids the local hospitals. He'll figure it out.

He hates every part of this. Most of all, the part that hesitates.