Scene Listing

||

Scene Schedule

||

Scene Schedule RSS

Owner	Pose
Kale Hearthward	PREVIOUSLY: There was some stuff about a train. Ask someone about it if you need to know. NOW: Welcome to the Balan Theatre. At the appointed time, the theatre appears somewhere convenient, slotting itself smoothly and retroactively into a population center somewhere near your location. The old run-down theater has always been there, but it also hasn't always been there as of yesterday, and it won't always have been there tomorrow. Once through the front door, everyone ends up in the same place, regardless of where they entered from. Just inside, there's an unmanned concession stand that's restocked (and cleaned) every day. There's a row of movie posters, a door labeled 'STAFF ONLY', and a hallway leading into the theatre proper - and on the back wall of the stage, there's another door, leading to another place... ... The Stage. (Please properly capitalize the Stage.) More generally this is Wonderworld, a land of dreams and healing - more specirically this is the Elites' Stage. It's a few miles of customizable space, generated automatically and then tweaked by hand to suit their desires. There's a few notable regions now - Angela's library, Aidan's training ground, Kale's cityscape, Petra's playground, Futaba's skewed neighborhood - among others... but... ... the autogenerative and tweaking aspects of this world aren't working right now, for whatever reason. No changing wide swathes of terrain with a wave of your hand anymore, or creating entire objects with just a snap of your fingers. Odd. At least what the Elites got to make beforehand is still there, though. Also still here is the train, station, and tracks that appeared last time. None of that's moved. There's no Balan present, oddly. ... Also, and perhaps most importantly, the giant computer is still here. It's an old style all-in-one monitor atop a base with attached keyboard - big enough that a person could comfortably stand on one of the keys. The monitor currently is showing the game world again - with Nico standing in a new location, a long room with rows of broken computer terminals lining the walls, and a bed on one side of the room. There doesn't seem to be any light in the room, save what the lightbulb he's holding is giving off. Exits are: North. (At least, one assumes 'north' is 'up' on the screen.) Visual: https://i.ibb.co/1Q1ySQ9/oneshotawakening.png ... It's also got a Kale Hearthward, who's walking around the room, inspecting each of the computer terminals. "No, not this one either," he says. "Mister Hearthward, maybe you should have checked that there was a working terminal before you did the... join thing?" says Nico. "Well - that's obvious *now*," says Kale. He looks up at what to him is a mundane ceiling, but for those just arriving is looking directly out of the giant computer monitor. "Hey! Anyone else here yet? You're late!" (Actually he's just early.) The terminal is accepting commands once again - with #start being a good initial command for anyone new, and #help for those that just need a refresher. Aside from the two new commands discovered last session being added to the help list, it doesn't look like there's too much new in the system today.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan is prepared for today. On his back is a canvas sack, containing quite a few things. Strapped to him is a wooden ladder. Several objects are sticking out of his sack are several things, like, a metal pipe, a big wrench, a big hammer, a gun, several pieces of wood, a few coils of rope, as well as a bunch of hard loaves of bread and canteens of water. Instead of something nice and casual, he has on his armor, with a thick coat over one shoulder. He is currently at the computer, using his tablet and a picture of a keyboard and a voice to text website to type things out like #removeKalesBeak and #flipKaleupsidedown and #moltKale. "I was busy being prepared for this this time! Google, show me 'Computer Fall On Kale.'"
Arcadia	Not much has visibly changed since their last experience with the computer and it's world within, so Arcadia takes the same spot before, hovering at the ready to help work the oversized keyboard if necessary. Nico is already on the screen... as is Kale, being chiding people about being late, with ruffles her hackles a bit. Like most speedsters she doesn't like being called late, or slow, or anything like that. "No, you just started before everyone showed up" She pauses, squinting at the monitor and the broken terminals clustered in the room displayed. "... and got yourself into a bit of situation because of it by the look of it."
Petra Soroka	<B-anter> Kale Hearthward says, "So... Saturday-ish, is when it'll be done loading."     Saturday comes around, so it's no surprise that when Petra opens the door to her one closet in her studio apartment, there's a second teleportation circle besides the one she had been intending on stepping through. One that looks a little like if theatre doors were transplanted onto cellar doors, and particularly if the now-familiar Balan Theatre doors were transplanted onto cellar doors that looked exactly like the entrance to Balan Theatre if the entrance to Balan Theatre was on the floor of Petra's closet, underneath a beaten up cardboard box she tossed stuff into.     Petra looks regretfully at the circle of runic stones that leads to Lilian's house, then at the doors that instead lead to another day of suffocating discomfort around Hibiki Tachibana. She sighs heavily, turns away from the closet to grab the Eggpack from beside her desk, and then bends down to hop through the Theatre doors.     "Jesus, Kale. After all the nonsense that happened last time, and you still went in without checking?" Petra, for her part, doesn't seem immediately inclined to #join, unless Angela tells her to. "Oh, and hi, Niko. It's Petra again. Have you-- does it feel like we've been gone for days, or did we leave recently, from your perspective?"     Petra says to Angela, both because it's something she imagines that Angela will have a lot of sympathy for and as part of her ongoing feud with the narration, "If she's actually experiencing time while we're away, then I'd rather figure out some way that we can make that less, boring, and lonely, for her. It's just a loading screen, so I imagine she isn't, but still."
UFO Gang	SOMEWHERE THAT MIGHT BE TOKYO OR ANOTHER JAPANESE TOWN: Someone short dutifully walks down an abandoned street. Trailed by her escorts, she is secure; and besides, the modern world isn't that kind of dangerous any more, is it? She turns left, according to the twitching of the thin metal rods she holds in front of her. She turns right. She turns right again. The dowsing-rods cross! And looking up at the sign of the decrepit theater, Nazrin comments, "What a dump." Something in the nearby trash squeaks in agreement. "Still, if it's here, easy-peasy lemon-squeezy, as they say," Nazrin comments, before testing the front door, nodding when it's locked, and approaching the boarded-up box office... SO Nazrin steps onto a train platform. She turns left. She turns right. "Huh..." The mouse-girl ambles up quietly. She remains in Aidan's 'shadow' until abruptly stepping around him and reaching forwards with her dowsing rod's handle end to tonk-tonk against the screen. "Looks like you're stuck in there," Nazrin comments. "You get thrown in box jail?"
Petra Soroka	"I was busy being prepared for this this time! Google, show me 'Computer Fall On Kale.'"     After musing at Angela, Petra finally notices Aidan's existence, having looked directly past him hopping around to talk to the computer screen. "Oh. Proudpick. I didn't even see you all the way down there."     Petra pulls the Ratbot out of her bomber jacket pocket when Nazrin wanders up, and rears her arm back to throw it like a (metal) baseball directly at Aidan. After it hits, it feels like it magnetizes to him, yanking him up into the air off the keyboard. "Fuck off. As funny as it'd be to bully Kale in there, we decided not to do it until after Niko's out. Cut it out or I'm going to forcibly make you join and then find some command to drop a boulder on your head."     Remotely holding Aidan up by his metaphorical scruff with her robot, Petra looks over at Nazrin with mild confusion. "Who're you? Fucked up Wonderworld thing, or here on a job?"
Kale Hearthward	The commands #flipkaleupsidedown and #motlkale do not seem to work. +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +                        Huh? (Type "#help" for help.)                         + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ > "Google, show me 'Computer Fall On Kale.'" Aidan's cell phone starts playing 'Kale Hearthward fan animation Family Guy Hurt Leg (10 hour loop)'. > "No, you just started before everyone showed up ... and got yourself into a bit of situation because of it by the look of it." "Finally someone's here. Arcadia, if that's you, you just stood around and watched last time didn't you? At least I'm trying to solve... fix... um..." Kale turns to Niko. "What are you here to fix?" "I... don't know, Mr. Hearthward? I just woke up here - well in the cabin at least..." > "Jesus, Kale. After all the nonsense that happened last time, and you still went in without checking?" "Have you thought that maybe I was trying to get away from your-" Kale pauses. He looks upwards - in a different direction than towards the monitor. "Really, even here? Ugh, fine." >"Oh, and hi, Niko. It's Petra again. Have you-- does it feel like we've been gone for days, or did we leave recently, from your perspective?" "It's been a few minutes? I put the lightbulb in the slot, then I appeared here, and then... Mr. Hearthward popped in here after a few minutes." > "Looks like you're stuck in there. You get thrown in box jail?" "Box jail- wait, who is that? Someone new?" Kale peers at the screen/ceiling. "Whoever you are, I can't see you from in here. And why did it sound like you're poking the ceiling with something?"
Angela	Angela's thoughts are elsewhere but she does seem pretty comfy on Petra's back there (for our new friends, Angela cannot leave the facility because her life is a living hell! So instead Petra is carrying a backpack that seems to include a video feed to Angela way back across universes. THe backpack has robotic arms that Angela can use to push buttons though since the keys are pretty large she sort of needs Petra's help regardless. ... She also needs her to just sort of be in the approximate vincinity of the terminal but that s unrelated. Angela is inclined to speak to Niko first because Niko is an adorable not-a-cat. "It is us again. Are you alright?" She doesn't just repeat Petra's question but it's pretty clear that she has the same concerns. It IS something Angela has a lot of sympathy for. "Perhaps we could leave a communication device within the system so that they can communicate with us even while we are gone." Angela suggests. Her gaze then settles on Nazrin. ''You get thrown in box jail?'' "...That is a pertinent question. How did you end up in there? Do you remember?" She expects the answer is now.
Hibiki Tachibana	Just as Balan Theatre has always been here, wasn't there yesterday, and won't always have been there soon-- Hibiki Tachibana has been here, just not from the now-quite-distant start of it all, and one can only imagine she'll still be here by the end of it. She probably will be. Maybe. Hopefully. There's at least one person also along for the full ride she's not especially enthused to have to sit next to.     Wonderworld still seems to be the same as ever - minus Balan, which she's still somewhat upset to see - which means naturally, the first thing she focuses in on is the towering computer, which has also become something of a familiar sight already. "Yeah, people are shuffling in now," Hibiki replies evenly back to Kale, speaking straight into the machine's speaker. "And just how the heck can any of /us/ be late when the theatre is the thing that shows up whenever it wants?"     She sighs and shakes her head, taking a hand out of her jacket pockets to rub at her eyes. She looks like she didn't sleep particularly well, but otherwise seems set and ready. When she doesn't think anybody (namely Petra, and maybe Futaba just a little bit) is looking, she even gives herself a few bracing pats on the cheeks as if to force in some more energy. "...You know exactly what you're here for... so..."     After some mostly indistinguisable murmuring that's clearly meant to be her to herself, Hibiki steps away and makes a few hops across the length of the keyboard; entirely aware of the reasonable warning that Niko gave Kale and actively disregarding it, she types in #join one letter at a time--     --and apparates from Wonderworld into the game world, another addition to the monitor's readout as she takes in the new sights from a proper view. That is to say, Niko, Kale, and one real dark room. There's a quick glance around, and then she brings a hand up in a casual wave. "Hey again, Niko. Figured you'd want some more hands in here, instead of just voices."     Another glance around, wherein she takes obvious notice of the fact every single terminal in this room seems to be broken. "No using any of these to get back out even if we wanted to," is the most unnecessary comment of the year, before she turns her attention ceiling-ward.     "It's sort of a box jail," she answers Nazrin through the computer, almost belatedly. "...Well, I think jail isn't really right either. But if it was, I guess that makes this a jailbreak?"     And then said attention goes northward. "If everything's all busted in here... seems like there's only one way to go, right?"
Aidan Proudpick	AH! Aidan is looking at his tablet, a twinge of jealousy crossing his face. People make stupid cartoons of him too?! That is enough to make Aidan jerk backwards as Nazrin appears, "Oh! No, this is-" Aidan IS taller than Petra, but he does jerk again. Less so out of fear, but instead a shamed face at having been caught in such a childish position of bullying. Especially by Petra. His reflexes aren't too bad, and Aidan actually catches the metal ball, blinking at it as it sticks to his fingers. And then he is slowly yanked into the air, his massive canvas backpack weighing him down. He struggles with his legs, flexing easily back and forth, but the huge sack prevents him from actually doing anything particularly acrobatic. "I wouldn't hurt Niko! Okay! Okay! Let me down!"
UFO Gang	Nazrin observes the Ratbot, including, if relevant, her head tilting up to follow where he flies. "I'm on a job," she tells Petra. "First time I've seen this place. If you've got handy tips for new arrivals, I'd love to hear 'em." Nazrin looks towards Angela's feed with its mechadendrites and so forth. The mouse youkai infers a great deal of detail about the nature of the situation from seeing this. "Hm," Nazrin comments. "So the prisoner can't see us but he can hear us. Hey, prisoner," she addresses the screen. "Give us your name." "And just to make things easier on everyone," continues the mouse-girl, "I'm Nazrin." Normally there might be some kind of pleasantry, bow, or more detailed introduction at this point. Instead, Nazrin slides her dowsing rods into what's probably a discreet fabric loop on the back of her blouse. "What're you punching in there?" Nazrin asks Hibiki, standing on the balls of her feet to look at the keyboard.
Futaba Nuki	It's been a while since Futaba's been out to the Balan Theatre, but everything about it still looks as grandiose as she remembered. The region she had contributed to still looks like how she remembered with its too-large-for-humans streets and confusing alleyways, although being gone for so long means... She really can't remember if it was this big last time. She also doesn't remember seeing the game world terminals, so she winds up following the trail over until she sees Kale and several others on a screen. She doesn't answer him when he yells about people being late, of course, simply trying to be discreet and act like she was totally here the whole time. "I was just waiting for everyone else." She lies as badly as she... She sucks at lying. Kale's seen this before. Not knowing what any of these commands and things are, Futaba starts to pore over the #help menu, then starts tapping away at random anyway. She's poking at that #register button and then futzing with the #mute and #unmute buttons a few times while oohing and aahing all the while. "Cool... How'd you even find this thing?" She asks while her tail swishes back and forth idly, eventually turning into a seat for herself just so she can swivel around to greet Nazrin with a hearty salute and laying across her own tail like it's a couch (because it turns into a couch). "Hey there! Oh, you're a new face. Or am I...?" Futaba narrows her eyes as she studies the mouse-girl's appearance. "Anyway. Name's Futaba! Good to meetcha. Searching for something?" A lighthearted chuckle and a wave later, and then Futaba spins herself right back around to finally tap #join. Upon hitting that #join button, she only catches the tail end of that flash, and then she abruptly disappears! And reappears moments later on the monitor, looking mildly flabbergasted. She's not so thrown off that she actually gets up off her ass, though, but she does turn over to try and get a better look at where she ended up. It's a different perspective of the weird room, but now that she's in it... That makes some things easier, at least. For one, she's actually WITH everyone instead of just looking at them! "Whoa... Is this how you all got in? How'd you get out, then? And..." Futaba pauses, tapping her chin with her finger before doing a quick little flip to get back on her feet. "A jailbreak, eh...? Okay! Is this a puzzle jailbreak or a smash jailbreak? Because I could go for either one." She replies to Hibiki with a chuckle, then breaks out into outright laughter when she sees Aidan and Petra going through that height check. Eventually, though, she finally turns to Nico with a curious glint in her eyes. "Oh, you definitely look like you know what's up.. Hi! Name's Futaba." Another salute, and she starts scooching along the wall to see if she can't find any thing to poke at. "Have you been here for long? And.. Got anything to eat?"
Kale Hearthward	> "It is us again. Are you alright?" "Oh yes! I'm doing fine! > "...That is a pertinent question. How did you end up in there? Do you remember?" > #mute and #unmute "Look, I just-" (Kale Icon): got in here and thought I could "-get a head start on things. Since all of you were running late." >"Whoa... Is this how you all got in? How'd you get out, then?" "Need to find a terminal and type pound sign L E A V E, then hit enter," says Kale. "But none of these are working." > "A jailbreak, eh...? Okay! Is this a puzzle jailbreak or a smash jailbreak? Because I could go for either one." Kale takes a step between Futaba and Niko. "Let's... not smash anything. Last time the world ended." > "Sorry, the world ended?" "Nevermind, Niko. It's a long story. Just... be careful with that lightbulb." > "If everything's all busted in here... seems like there's only one way to go, right?" "Yeah. C'mon, Niko." Out they go. The 'camera' follows Niko... and there's a moment of screen transition, before: OUTSIDE Off in the distance, to the east... a city. And a tower. And darkness - with few light sources aside from the lightbulb. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/oneshot/images/e/e5/Cg_blue.png More immediately, the ground. It's a shade of dark purple, and crunches unpleasantly underneath feet. The room that today's session started in turns out to be an entire building - a prefab that looks like it was brought here instead of built here. There's a few others like it throughout the area. https://i.ibb.co/0GM1F1D/purplebarrens.png There's a few more temporary buildings and a boat dock to the north, and what looks like a larger complex to the east.
Petra Soroka	"I wouldn't hurt Niko! Okay! Okay! Let me down!"     "You might *accidentally*. So be *careful*." Petra can't help smugly smiling at Aidan squirming around, a little like a cat batting around its food. She makes the ratbot swing him back and forth in the air, tauntingly. The wheels of the little rat whir against Aidan's hands without going anywhere. "But good. Don't mess around." "It's been a few minutes?"     Petra sighs in a little relief, then says mostly for Angela's benefit, "That's good. That's one problem we don't need to worry about. Means it'll be probably just a day or two from their perspective until they're out." "Really, even here? Ugh, fine."     That *actually* sours Petra's mood, and it shows on her face. She crosses her arms and squints, latent tension returning to her shoulders where it hadn't been earlier. "Congratulations on not calling me a bitch after one sentence, Hearthward. Kore spares your life for another day." "And just how the heck can any of /us/ be late when the theatre is the thing that shows up whenever it wants?"     Now already annoyed, Petra can't help herself from acknowledging Hibiki's presence with a dismissive barb. "I don't know about you, but I stopped by the concessions for a few minutes first. If Balan's going to use us for free fucking labor, then I'll at least get a meal out of it." She sighs immediately after whatever contempt-filled look Hibiki gives her for that is directed away, regretting it but not taking it back. "Figured you'd want some more hands in here, instead of just voices."     Petra clicks her tongue and scowls, and despite her bitching at Kale, immediately follows in after Hibiki. She drops in right before the trio inside heads to the Outside, taking a few loud steps across the floor to announce her presence following behind them.     "It's... dark." Petra squints habitually when exiting the building, expecting light and getting none. "Well, if that's the sun..." Petra looks across the purple landscape. "It's probably dark because it needs to go in that tower, right?"     "It's probably dangerous-- well, we don't know if there's really any danger here at all, do we? Monsters, or whatever? Still... probably look around some, I think." Petra starts to go towards the temporary buildings and boat dock, as long as Niko doesn't display any particular draw to go somewhere else. She wants to stick by the little not-a-cat-girl, though the investigative urge tugs her to the dock.
Hibiki Tachibana	While still mid-keyboarding, Hibiki pauses to give the recently arrived treasure hunter a glance, followed by looking down at the i she's currently standing on to push down. "Ah, well..." She points Nazrin towards the oversized computer's screen. "Pretty much, the code to get into that world from this one. It's good to have some people keeping an eye on things out here-- but that doesn't really suit me as much as getting in there myself and helping that way. You know?"     And another hop to the next one over, with a sigh towards Petra and Aidan's antics. "...We need another one inside to get back out though, so it's a little dangerous to just hop in." She says, while doing exactly that.     ...     Inside, when Futaba joins up with them, Hibiki seems... surprised. Not really for the immediately obvious reason either, but after a few moments of awkwardness, she clears her throat a little bit.     "Puzzle jailbreak," she confirms, nodding as if that truly does explain everything. "...At least if the cabin we were at before is anything to go off of. If it ever comes down to having to fight... ...I kind of hope it doesn't. For Niko's sake, and for what they're carrying..."     Which is a very fragile lightbulb she still feels guilty over letting get broken in the past.     Remembering that, combined with Petra also audibly coming in behind them, casts a dour shade over her face that even the sun itself in the room with them can't quite penetrate as they move on. (The look she gave the other girl before /was/ fairly contempuous.)     Moving on outside, that at least makes way for a time just for surprise at the kind of sights they come out to-- with the sheer amount of darkness being one sign of the kind of ruin she might've expected from the way the world was described to them before. "This place... really is a mess. Is there nobody else around here at all...?"     Petra's comment actually gets her to draw her eyes off towards the east-- the city, and the tower. "...Right. We still don't know anything about this place, so we better be careful." Intentionally or unintentionally, given where Petra decided to go, Hibiki moves a bit off towards the east to look further; not enough to separate from the group, especially given Niko is their light source, but enough that she can try and get a better look at the complex as well as any obstacles towards the city further off.
Arcadia	Arcadia huffs softly, folding her arms. She was trying to be witty, and true to being part cat doesn't take the retort very well. "We are observing for things that you may not be able to see from within the world's POV." Which is true. But doesn't really counter the thing about mainly watching. It is all more or less forgotten a few moments later as a new view is present. "There's a city in the distance, and it looks like it still has lights on." By this point Kale being... well Kale has been forgotten, as it is not really important. Just an annoyance. "But who knows what else might exist within that realm so do be careful."
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan is tremendously pained. He is furiously red, blushing across the ears and face and neck, as Petra basically swings him around like a toy in front of everyone. If he wanted to be seen as a big deal hero, this is going to set it back a few years. Petra seems to forget the actual letting Aidan down part until the ratbot unlatches from the squirrel's hands to go typing across the keyboard. And onto the extremely heavy backpack, sending him struggling even MORE until he can get his feet underneath him. "Hey, wait, no, I wanted to go in, I brought all this stuff!" People keep typing as Aidan struggles up to his feet, looking at the monitor at the versions of everyone moving in. Aidan heaves the pack off to his feet, before turning to Nazrin. "We are trying to save Niko. The only way we can do it is with this keyboard and figuring out how to do it. It isn't really obvious yet."
Futaba Nuki	"Leaving sounds easy enough, then. Eh, but we've got a job to do!" Futaba doesn't fully understand what that job is yet, although she does raise an eyebrow and peers between Kale and Niko when he steps between them. "The.. How? Oh, wow. Alright, alright, we'll behave." She relents without a bit of difficulty, just laughing again and watching the camera briefly before following Niko as well. There's suddenly a lot more stuff to look at. Ooohing and aaahing again, Futaba looks like she's about to run off to check out the stuff to the east, but the crunchy purple ground snags her attention the moment she actually steps onto it.  Slowing down to a stop, Futaba crunches her boots into the purple substance a few more times while peering at the light bulb that should be the sun. Or it the sun that should be a light bulb? "It's pretty weak for the sun, yeah... But if that's the puzzle, then that's the puzzle!" She comments to Petra and considers those temporary buildings again, then turns to Hibiki with a quick nod and an eyebrow raise. "Cabin? Oh, must've been before I got here... Wait. So there /is/ gonna be fighting here? Or... I guess the puzzles and the fights are separated, then." Instead of looking disappointed, Futaba's smile widens. "Great. I'll get to flex both my head and my arms, then! So. Let's go find that first one." Grunting in agreement, Futaba starts to walk along to join them, then pauses to peer back at Niko when Arcadia mentions the world's POV. "... Oh yeah. Let's go that way, then!" And without further elaboration, she starts trying to nudge/pull Niko along, like the direction they'll be heading in is a given.
UFO Gang	"I am," Nazrin answers Futaba. That's not a full answer, Nazrin!! "The trail led me here, but it might be a long road. Sometimes you have to tack around... I'm not too worried." To Aidan, who seems like the biggest pack rat(so to speak), she comments, "You don't have any ceramic stuff in your bag there, do ya?" Of course, they have bigger concerns. Nazrin attends to what Kale is saying, nodding along. "Yup, yup," she says, but then Kale doesn't do what Nazrin was hoping (which will remain a polite mystery, for now). Instead... The world changes. Nazrin pat-pats her little feet on the ground. "Alright," she says. "I'm impressed. Changing the nature of the realm around you this much is some serious skills." AFter this, she looks at the others, and while her voice is still all cool, she seems to be fidgiting notably more. Despite their recent stowing, she redraws her dowsing rods. "So Kale's the prisoner?" she asks Aidan, for confirmation. After this the rods are held steadily, as Nazrin says under her breath, "Find... the prisoner." Something about Petra's remark makes Nazrin regain some smugness. "There's at least one dangerous monster here," she comments. "But if you know how to play the game, passing through ought to be safe." She trundles along after Futaba, though her focus is on the rods.
Angela	Angela nods to Petra, smiling at her. She's on a backpack though so the screen sort of has to flip to the side to make that happen. It's an impressive device as befitting someone with 'Robot' in their name. She does not type at the keyboard right now. She does still seem...distracted? She might have facility work to do today. She mutters something offmic to the effect of 'Manager, it would be problematic if all three birds escape simultaneously.'. The Eggpack is in fact holding a small bag of popcorn. And indeed, when they enter the gang and there is a not-a-cat present, Angela offers Niko some popcorn by wiggling the hand holding the bag of popcorn in Niko's general direction. "I am uncertain if you had the opportunity to eat. Please have some, if you'd like." She pauses a moment. It isn't really HER popcorn since Petra obtained it through lawful employment even if she didn't exchange money for it--but she figures Petra'll be okay with it. They're both reasonable Niko-fans. "Kale's a prisoner of his own ineptitude." Angela mutters to Nasrin.
Petra Soroka	"I'll get to flex both my head and my arms, then!"     With an absolutely unnecessary jab, like Petra is only trying to demonstrate hostility towards the last Elite here (who she knows) who she hasn't antagonized yet, Petra rolls her eyes. "The only way your head flexes is like a rubber band, Nuki." Despite her haughtiness, the fact that everyone else seems to be heading east towards the city makes her waver a bit. "So Kale's the prisoner?"     "If anyone is a prisoner here, then it's me, for being forced to spend so much time in Hearthward's presence over this whole mess with the Theatre and the Infinity Train." Petra walks for a little bit longer, before adding, "Niko is a-- I guess not resident of the world here? She said she just woke up here. But she's stuck in the computer world either way, so our goal is to get her out. ... I'm Petra, by the way." "There's at least one dangerous monster here,"     Another little scoff and roll of her eyes, both hands shoved into her bomber jacket pockets as she strides across the purple ground. "I'm not worried about fighting *myself*-- wait, who did you mean?"     Petra is absolutely delighted at Angela offering Niko snacks. She's careful to walk alongside Niko, just distant enough to not feel pressuring, but close enough to be a physically-present comforting figure, should they get scared or aggressed upon by anything. "If there's anything you need, Niko-- totally just let us know. Like, if you need stuff to sleep if you get tired, or any snacks you might want, or whatever. I can totally bring you it."
Kale Hearthward	The not-cat appreciates offerings of snacks. > "Congratulations on not calling me a bitch after one sentence, Hearthward. Kore spares your life for another day." "I wasn't - hmmph." Kale also looks sour now. > "So Kale's the prisoner?" "Nobody's a prisoner here," says Kale, said in the tone of 'Let's not imply that the cat kid is stuck here, at least not in front of him'. > "Kale's a prisoner of his own ineptitude." Kale gives the Angela-pack a glance, but doesn't comment. NORTH It's dark. PRESUMABLY Petra (and anyone else joining her) gets her cell phone out and uses the flashlight on that, instead of trying to stumble around in near total darkness. Also, for those watching on the monitor: the camera does not follow anyone going north. You don't see them. Note the bright yellow text. Maybe if I add a obnoxious background color you'll pay attention. We understand? We good? Not going to have anyone commenting on what people going north are doing? This is an important plot element for now and later. Okay. I'm choosing to believe we're good. Kale ends up going after Petra. "Look. I wasn't saying - I mean I'm sorry." There's a few prefab buildings to the north, but if Petra's checking out the dock specifically: there's a rowboat! It looks large enough to hold a couple people. (Suspiciously just large enough for the entire adventuring party.) There's a robot holding oars, sitting in the front of the boat - it looks intact, but it's powered down. EAST Niko goes with the group going east. The camera follows Niko, and also since he's holding the lightbulb there's enough light to navigate by. "Oh!" There's another person here. Or - at least another robot. It's got a big boxy head, with one central camera-like eye. "That lightbulb! That must mean... you're the savior!" He runs right up to Niko. "Thank goodness you're here!" "Um..." says Niko, not sure what their social cue is in this situation.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan is stuck outside, with a huge pack, and just a little bit of surl in his tank. He takes out a loaf of bread from the pack, breaking it with a struggle and setting a majority of it on the keyboard for Angela and anyone else stuck outside. Aidan gnaws on his heel of bread, doing more than enough physical labor to not have to worry about carbs, "Ohmph hey," he chokes down a mouthful of bread, "Niko, you might be the savior! Oh, maybe the robut knows what the light is?"
Arcadia	Some of the group in the computer world moves north. The camera doesn't follow. Arcadia hffs, refolding her arms and flicks her tail. "Well that's annoying, now we can't keep track of what they're doing." Meanwhile Niko and others(?) go to the East, which the view does follow. So it's still focuses on Nico as the 'main' character. And that lightbulb helps. So they can see the robot. Look, an NPC(?) Which runs up to Niko and proclaims them a savior. "Okay, that's new." She hmms softly. "Savoir from what? How rough this world looks, or something else?"
Angela	Angela glares back at Kale. She's been pretty sour over the birdman since he called her about Meika's visits. Her expression does soften a little when Kale apologizes but only a little. She busies herself by giving Niko popcorn--at least until Petra heads off to the north. FORTUNATELY, Angela's screen does shed light and Angela turns up the light a bit as they move north. "Mm." Angela says to Kale. "...You can't just apologize and keep doing it the next time you meet up." Oh maybe she does have another reason to be upset. Angela is then distracted by something else! Another AI! How exciting! Angela gets really nervous though. She doesn't have the best fortune when it comes to befriending other AI. "Pardon me are you ... Ah, they appear to be sleeping." Angela looks back to Petra. "It may be helpful to power them on should Niko come by here later."
Futaba Nuki	'But if you know how to play the game, passing through ought to be safe.' "Really? Oh, I guess it won't be too safe, then. What a shame." Futaba doesn't look worried in the slightest about a dangerous passage as she replies to Nazrin, and she even looks excited to see what's coming up on that path. "If anything gets too dicey, though, just leave it to me. I've been out of action for a while, so..." She looks over at Kale, at Angela ver.Eggpack and Petra, then at Aidan, and she slaps her chest once with a resounding clapping noise. "I've got enough energy to spare!" 'The only way your head flexes is like a rubber band, Nuki.' Futaba can't not rise to that bait. It'd go against her code as a proud tanuki! When it feels like Petra's not looking directly at her, Futaba pushes two of her fingers up into her chin, turning her head into a massive rubberband with her eyes all the way in the front as she stretches it out beside Petra. "You bet my head flexes real good! Wanna see what-" She only gets as far as wiggling her eyebrows before her oversized/overstretched head slips past her fingers after a particularly hurried step. Futaba's head snaps back not unlike a rubber band would, then forward, then returns to its normal shape in the span of a few seconds. She swallows once, looking and sounding far less upbeat than before, and then steps offscreen while the camera continues following Niko. Returning to visibility a few moments later, Futaba's considerably more composed as she hurries to catch up with Niko and company. She arrives just in time to see the box-headed robot approaching Niko, glancing between them and quickly realizing Niko's a little out of sorts in this situation. Not missing a beat, Futaba steps right up with an unnecessary pose besides him while nodding at the robot. "That's right! So. What's the situation that needs saving? Someone, something, somewhere?"
UFO Gang	Nazrin keeps on trucking. Her dowsing rods abruptly shift north to point towards Kale, which makes her look briefly incredibly smug, but then she turns her head and literally sees Kale going north. Well, sees is overstating it; she also hears him, which verifies that that shape is him. But he's joining the Birds Going Their Own Way And That Way Is North movement, and Nazrin accepts this. "Tum tum," she mumble-hums to herself. There is talk of a savior. Nazrin looks up from her dowsing rods, focusing on the mobile individual who has come to join them. Or perhaps to greet one of their number. "Yeah," she says. "If you don't have suffering, you can't be liberated from suffering, so what's the deal?" Nazrin regards the monocular robot.
Hibiki Tachibana	"I'm not gonna be surprised if we /have/ to fight sooner or later... but I'm hoping we don't," Hibiki explains to Futaba as their end of things explores easterly. She's not sure what she's /expecting/ to find, really. Monsters? A world full of ruins and darkness seems like it'd be the natural place for them. People? If Niko is here, that should mean that other people have to be here too. Or...     ...nothing at all? She doesn't even want to let that idea linger in her head. If they went all the way to that city, just to find...     Thankfully, that morose thought doesn't last very long, given they actually do find someone who actually speaks to them. It's sure not a human, but at least that part isn't a shock--Niko's some vaguely not-feline creature, after all. Still, her head tilts. "Eh...? The... savior?"     Hibiki blinks, glancing between the boxy machine and Niko, before leaning in a bit in the space between the two of them. While some of the others lean into their charge's savior-ness, she gives the robot a curious kind of look. "Is there some kind of story about a lightbulb and a savior we should know about? We don't actually know anything about this world..."     "...or why it's like this and needing saving in the first place."
Petra Soroka	Rather than simply using her phone light, Petra pulls out a flashlight that's clipped to the back of her jeans (with the quantity of mildly useful items (and cigarettes) she seems to carry on herself at all times, Petra comes across as dressing like a doomsday prepper), and hands it to Angela's Eggpack arm to hold.     "Would you mind lighting the way, Ange? I don't want to risk losing the light if we have to fight." Petra's role is letting Angela feel helpful. As Angela always says, this is what makes Petra useful and tolerable to her. Far too often, it's just small things, but if she can keep up this baseline level of care, then she'll be alright. "Look. I wasn't saying - I mean I'm sorry."     Keeping up a quick enough stride to stay ahead of Kale, Petra doesn't look back at him when responding. "I know what you meant, Hearthward." The motion of sliding a cigarette out of the box in her pocket, clicking the lighter with the other hand, and taking a drag is quick and smooth, seamlessly integrated into her body language. A permanent little addition to her motions and expressions, as much a physical fidget as a chemical one. "It's fine."     Petra puts her hands on her hips, considering the robot in the boat. "... Yeah. We probably want to power them on. The only question is... if they're broken, missing a power source, or if we can just..."     Petra checks first if the robot just needs to be powered on with a button, and if not, flips open her compact mirror to draw out a toolbox filled with various hardware tools and bits and pieces of what went into Pence. If even prodding and poking can't power them on, Petra straightens up and looks around. "The other buildings might have something useful, too. Some kind of... dock, side, building? Where does this boat actually *go* anyways?" Is there anything else along the coast she can see?
Kale Hearthward	NORTH > "...You can't just apologize and keep doing it the next time you meet up." "I know - I'm trying!" > "It's fine." Kale thinks it's probably not fine, but Kale doesn't really have anything he can add to make it less not fine. The robot has... actually it doesn't have a local power source? It has some sort of... remote power hookup. Power over radio waves? There's a generator or battery somewhere that's not being powered. It's also rusty as heck. Even if powered on, it'd need to be cleaned. Kale goes to check out the prefabs to see if there's anything useful. "I found... a metal pipe," he says, holding it up. "And... there might be some other stuff north of here, but there's this smog that's hard to get through." EAST > "So. What's the situation that needs saving?" "The world! The Savior, and their... retinue? The prophecy didn't mention a retinue, but that's fine! The Savior will take the Sun to the tower in the center of the world, and place the Sun at the top!" "This?" says Niko, holding up the lightbulb. "Yes! That is the Sun!" > "If you don't have suffering, you can't be liberated from suffering, so what's the deal?" "I do not have any information about suffering." > "...or why it's like this and needing saving in the first place." "Long ago, the world was lit up by the sun! But then one day, the sun started going out. It was prophesied that a savior would one day arrive, holding a new Sun, and save the world!" "... The prophecy did not give an exact date of when the Savior would arrive. The world was not always this dim, or this broken. It's been many years. The world is, honestly, hanging on by a thread..." "Um-" Niko tries to think of a question to ask. "If the sun's out, then why isn't it... entirely dark?" "This land, the Barrens, contains an element called phosphor. It absorbed some of the light from our old sun - and so it is now our only source of illumination. It used to be mined here - but the mines have since run dry." In addition to Prophetbot, there's a complex nearby. Inside, there's what looks like an unpowered generator, some industrial crushing machinery, and an intact computer terminal (unpowered).
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan is typing different combinations of words in the most hunt and peck look at his tablet then hunt and peck impossibly slow method. "Yea, and they probably still have the moon." Aidan scrambles up the keyboard, bread hanging out of his mouth. He taps the screen where the complex is, "Hey, I see a computer in there!" He looks around the keyboard. "Let's see, there's gotta be some way to help from out here." He starts hoping across the keyboard, staring at his tablet, muttering to it as he tries to think of various combinations.
Angela	Angela is happy to hold onto the flashlight. "Understood. Happy to do so." Her gaze lingers on Petra for a moment. She now has popcorn in her right arm and a flashlight in her left. Her screen is shining brightly. ''I know what you meant, Hearthward. It's fine.'' "...Is it? ... Understood." Angela says. Sometimes she just doesn't really understand. "Maybe it isn't..." Angela pushes the King of Greed out of her head and she instead leaves robotics to Petra. She is the most accomplished roboticist on this side of things, actually. Just because Angela is a robot doesn't mean she knows how to build robots. "There was...a directory. With archived files. It might be something like that." Angela says. "....I think it is smart to try and go off the beaten path here, following where the console seems to send us seems like it will simply lead us to a predictable end." ''I know - I'm trying!'' Angela resists the urge to get on Kale's case about that turn of phrase. ''Trying'' is a word that is starting to drag on her. But she does say, "I wonder if the 'Sun' is actually required." Angela murmurs, tapping her cheek with an index finger. "We could...try removing the oars and paddling ourselves." She glances back to Petra. "We should be off camera as well."
Arcadia	Now they're getting some lore for this world inside the computer, and Arcadia leans a bit closer to the monitor (not hard to do with her ability to hover) to make sure she's getting all the information she can. "... Oh, phosphor. That makes sense." So the lightbulb is a new sun, and it has to go to a tower. Arcadia recalls the ominous message at the beginning about 'you only have one chance', and hmms softly. They should try to be prepared if they can. "Niko, can you ask them if they know of any potential dangers on the path to the tower."
Kale Hearthward	ALSO The boat looks like it'd go across the water towards that city off in the distance.
Angela	"It looks like the boat could take us to that city." Angela adds with immaculate timing.
Futaba Nuki	"Sure would be a pretty nice change of pace, right? But then that's not... Exciting." Futaba replies to Hibiki, seeming to both share in her hopes and also looking forward to said hopes being dashed. Even after that little bit of self-inflicted motion sickness, she's still rather eager to see any kind of action, brain or arm focused or otherwise. It's certainly the easiest explanation for why she was so keen on nudging Niko towards the role of the savior for the robot greeting them. She nods slowly in approval as Niko goes along with the story, too, taking a moment to stare at the lightbulb again before looking up towards the tower in the distance. The way the machine responds to Nazrin's question about suffering does get Futaba's eyebrow raising again, though, but it falls by the wayside in her mind compared to the prophesy being spelled out for the group. "Did anyone else ever try to fix the Sun? Or are we the first ones to show up with a new Sun?" Futaba's curiosity pulls her in a different direction, of course, as the idea of facing off against a Dark Savior is already... No. She has to stop this, or she'll set herself up for disappointment later. A quick smack to both sides of her face later, and her eyes start taking her in another direction when she notices another building nearby. "Think we'll find anything else cool in there?" Futaba asks, partially to try and nudge Niko in that direction like the destination's already been decided, and partially because she hears Aidan and Arcadia mentioning that there's a computer in there and upcoming dangers, respectively. "Who knows? Maybe we'll even find something that'll help us for whatever's coming next."
Petra Soroka	While Kale was away, Petra busied herself with cleaning up the robot in the boat. Various metal scrubbers, sprays, and a dubious handheld electrolysis machine, disintegrating the rust off into drips of brown sludge. When Kale comes back, he sees that Petra apparently has rubber gloves and all these sorts of cleaning supplies stored with Qetra too. Maybe she really *did* win the maid off.     "A metal pipe! Wow! We can use that to solve all kinds of problems. If we find a monster, we can hit it over the head with it. Or if we find a person, we could hit them over the head with the pipe too. Maybe we can blow in it to make music. Or make a very small bridge, if we find some ants that need to cross a chasm." Petra doesn't actually look up at Kale when saying all of that, making a few finishing wipes on the robot with an oily cloth to shine them up.     "Smog that's hard to get through how? Like, is it poisonous, or are you just asthmatic." That might be the equivalent of some kind of slur for disabled people in Kale's world. Petra slips off her gloves and packs all of her stuff back into the mirror, Qetra's head and shoulders poking out of it to reluctantly help her shovel it into a *purpose-made* housecleaning supply bag. She rinses her hands out in the water, then pats them dry on her jeans, tilting her head at Kale when she stands up. "Think we can get through it with a little work, or is this a, find some kind of locally-present solution that'll let us pass through." "I wonder if the 'Sun' is actually required."     Petra nods, receptive to the idea of not following the laid-out path. "Hmmm... required for saving the world, or just getting Niko out? I--" She looks around at the barren landscape, "Gotta say, it looks like a world where nothing's really worth caring about besides Niko herself. If we can find a way to help her without going through the trouble of helping the world, then I've got no problems with it."
Kale Hearthward	NORTH As far as Kale is concerned: that is evidence *against* Petra winning the maid-off, actually! Those thick rubber gloves are entirely uncoordinated to her outfit. And Petra should be keeping perfect poise even while trying to clean an old gunky robot in a rowboat in the dark. "A metal pipe! Wow! We can use that to solve all kinds of problems." "I know!" says Kale, sincerely. "Except for that last one. I don't know if we're all that likely to find ants that need a bridge, though." > "Smog that's hard to get through how? Like, is it poisonous, or are you just asthmatic." "Aside from not being able to breathe in it, it's eye-stinging, which is usually not great? No idea what's in the air up there, don't really want to get a lungful to find out." > "We could...try removing the oars and paddling ourselves." "What, and leave the others behind?" "Yeah, I'm game," says Kale, getting in the boat.
Hibiki Tachibana	The Savior will take the Sun to the tower in the center of the world, and place the Sun at the top! ...It was prophesied that a savior would one day arrive, holding a new Sun, and save the world!     "The savior of the world, huh... like a hero. Prophecy and everything." Hibiki murmurs evenly, almost to herself in thought, even when her gaze falls onto Niko for a few moments from the side. Whatever is going on in her head, she keeps mostly to herself. That explains why it's like this, and why there's still a little bit of light...     But not anything like why this world 'wasn't worth saving', or anything like that. She does know one thing, at the very least.     "...Niko really is your only hope then, aren't they? Then..." Hibiki trails off, giving their favorite (and only) not-cat a look directly after a short time, while the complex itself gets some eyes investigating it. She can leave that for a moment, in favor of hearing something from their companion.     "Do you want to try and save the world, Niko?"     Nevermind that getting this lightbulb to where it needs to go may or may not be what they have to do regardless - she just wants to hear their thoughts after getting this heaped on them suddenly. Simple as that.
Angela	Angela looks down at the robot. So far, despite there being a robot here, Angela is inclined to agree. It is probably a robot that isn't as smart as she is, after all, it's probably a dumb robot. ''I know!...'' Angela stares at Kale. She thinks of Kukuru. Her expression softens again. He must be doing his best, Angela decides, I shouldn't be harsh on someone doing their best even if they fail at easy things. "We already are seperated but we wouldn't be able to move everyone at once with this kind of boat either." Angela murmurs before looking to Petra. "...Perhaps both?" She asks. "Sometimes it is both." She is speaking from experience.
UFO Gang	The talk about light bulbs and saviors makes Nazrin tilt her head. (She hasn't judged the people carrying all their stuff with them. That part she gets. She isn't doing it right now, but it might come up.) "If you ever want to hear about it," Nazrin answers the robot smugly, "I'll be glad to give you a lesson. And don't take it the wrong way, either: I'm kind of an expert on the subject." She rocks back and forth on her heels. "Gotta have something to see the darkness by," Nazrin agrees when the topic of the phosphor comes up. The mouse may have nothin' right now when it comes to addressing lightbulb quests.
Kale Hearthward	EAST > "Did anyone else ever try to fix the Sun? Or are we the first ones to show up with a new Sun?" "I do not have any information on others trying to fix the sun. But as far as a new sun: you are the first!" > "Do you want to try and save the world, Niko?" "It... sounds like a good thing to do? So yes! I want to save the world." Niko smiles. Then the smile slips a bit. "I mean... it'd be nice to have been asked... instead of just waking up here..." "If I'm the only one who can save the world then it doesn't really feel like I have a choice?" asks Niko, sounding a little concerned. Niko picks up on Futaba's prodding. "Right, let's... see what's inside?" Inside, there's also a locked box. If someone had a metal pipe, they could probably use the industrial crushing machine to turn it into a crowbar and break it open, but since nobody here has a metal pipe someone will just have to open it some other way.
Petra Soroka	Kale's assumption that this is Petra's *only* pair of gloves is proof that his idea of maiddom is too rooted in aesthetics to ever really count as anything but cosplay. Of *course* Petra has a proper cleaning outfit. That it's an exact replica of the maid dress that got shredded at the competition, and that it's carefully hung in a closet in Lilian's manor, is not information and Petra deigns to share, and it definitely shouldn't be thought about at all. Though, it's almost stranger that she *does* have the cleaning supplies in addition to that.     Petra stares at Kale clambering into the boat, and inadvertently makes a sound between a snicker and a snort. Despite her needling, Petra fully understands the urge to pick up a stick-like object and get into a boat to figure out where it goes. "Yeah. You know what? Let's go. If we find a computer on the other side, then we could totally dip out without the others having a way to follow."     Petra could figure out a way through the smog, but that doesn't interest her right now. Now that she's reminded that boats can be rowed manually, rather than only by resurrecting the robot she just bathed, she's happy to hop in and grab an oar. She placed the Eggpack on the seat in front of her, both so she can sit comfortably, and so Angela can grab an oar if she wants. She doesn't verbally suggest it, though; asking her to do *manual* labour feels like it could go either way.
Aidan Proudpick	Hop. Hop hop hop. Aidan is getting pretty good at this, and it is helping his reading just a bit! He is starting to really recognize the word 'help'. A lot. He googles for phrases on 'power' and 'computer' and jumps from key to key, mimicking the pattern on his screen. Power on. Turn On. Generator On. Power. Restore Power. Start Generator. Aidan is persistant, humming a pub song thoughtfully to himself as he hops about. Hop. Hop. Ugh. Then, a little text screen pops up, and Aidan leans back. "Okay! So I think the generators run on light? If the light doesn't work, maybe some of that phosphor stuff they have would do it?" Aidan squats in place on the keyboard, tail flicking back and forth just slightly as he stares up at Niko. "Sometimes, yea. Sorry, Niko. But we'll help you do it!"
Arcadia	"That's the spirit!" Arcadia cheers Niko's decision to go ahead with saving the world on. Or at least tries to. "Okay, yeah, it would be nice to be asked, but sometimes Destiny just shoves a McGuffin into your hands and tells you to go do the thing to save the world!" Pause. The sphinx settles down to the ground. "Did that sound okay?" she whispers, looking to the other people still outside the computer. "I'm not use to being the one giving encouragement to someone else."
Kale Hearthward	NORTH "Alright! Let's get going." Kale grabs another oar. "It's been ages since I went rowing, not sure why I haven't been." The boat gets moving. It's manual labor, but slow and steady progress is made. One minute later: "Wait. Why are we rowing? I'm a wind mage. Petra, grab both oars and get ready to steer." Kale moves to the back of the boat, faces to stern, and takes a deep breath... and starts slowly exhaling, letting out the air in a continuous stream. The boat starts moving, and picks up speed quickly, as though it had a high powered fan on it.
Angela	Angela is pretty confident in Petra's ability to maid if only because it seems to have caused a disaster of some kind, one so horrible she still doesn't actually know the details--and probably never will! The ''Maid Off' as it has been described is an event that will forever seperate Angela from the rest of the multiverse, it seems. It might be for the best, Angela would have no idea how to manage a Maid Related Disaster she'd have to outsource that sort of thing to the Sephirah. Angela ends up going along with Petra for the ride. If nothing else, they can always ROW BACK so she isn't too concerned. Angela says, "Understood.". Angela can grab an oar. She is actually curious about this. She has never boated before so she does take the oar and will assist in rowing when Petra is ready. Yeah she'll probably have fun with this. And she seems to be a comfortable backpack right now. This is nice. She likes doing activities with friends. And Kale isn't really that bad, Angela convinces herself now. Just think of him like Kukuru and you'll probably fret about him walking into traps like a reasonable person. It IS pretty dangerous to ask Angela to do manual labor but if you don't ask sometimes it just happens!
Futaba Nuki	Although it takes her a bit, Futaba also ends up having to stop and think when Hibiki asks Niko about what he actually wants to do. She even has to do a slight double take when Niko's smile slips. She doesn't comment on it immediately, though, as she instead turns to Prophetbot with her usual confident grin put on just a little bit more than usual. Not like she's ever seen this Prophetbot before, though, so she can afford to ham it up some more. "There you have it. Rest easy, but... Don't go spreading this around, you hear? There might be..." She leans in close for dramatic effect, spreading her fingers out and making a vague, yet wide gesture to her sides. "... Spies listening. Ne'er-do-wells hanging around. This is the kind of thing that can't be celebrated until it's done, you know?" Afterwards, she rejoins the group inside the strange facility, and the temptation to check out the funky machine is strong. Instead, Futaba approaches Niko directly, stretching her legs just so she can go up and over the not-cat to stare right at him right in his face, but upside-down. "You alright, Niko? If you're not up to this..." She pauses, then lets out a troubled noise while returning to her usual proportions. "Nn. I mean, you can't just bail, but... If you don't want to be the hero they're talking about, then... Rrgh. But if you've got the ability to save this place..." She lets out another frustrated noise, like she can't decide on what to actually say. To distract herself, Futaba winds up checking out the locked box, and she immediately tries to brute force it with her hands. If anyone actually gives her the idea, she'll even turn into a crowbar to help force it open!
Hibiki Tachibana	It... sounds like a good thing to do? So yes! I want to save the world. ...If I'm the only one who can save the world then it doesn't really feel like I have a choice?     Hibiki's own expression falters, just a little. Not that it was particularly upbeat in the first place. "...It would have been nice, yeah. I don't think most people who go around saving worlds asked for it, you know? To have to do it, or to even have the power to do it in the first place. But..." With Futaba prodding them to move further in and make some progress, she straightens back up to a full stand and gets a move on, giving a wave of thanks to the Prophetbot as they go.     Futaba's own efforts ending with frustration get her to pause herself for a few seconds. But only for that long. "I think... you've always got the choice on what you can do, even when it seems like you don't. Even right now, you could still just be worrying about how to get yourself out of here. Right?" Hibiki lets that sit for a moment - and then, despite her generally downcast mood, she gives Niko a small, but definitely genuine smile. It might be a little sad, too.     "Doing that 'good thing' might be kind of rough, but it's like Aidan said. You're not dealing with any of this alone. We'll be helping you out whatever happens, the whole way."     Apparently satisfied with leaving it at that for the moment - mostly because Futaba is over there struggling now - Hibiki steps over and leans into the metaphorical frame while she's trying to manhandle it open. "...Uh... do you want me to, Futaba?" There's still some very notable awkwardness when she's talking to the tanuki. Everything from her tone of voice to the way her eyes can't seem to entirely look straight at her. A beat passes.     "...Or you could at least shift to something a little better for it?" She pantomimes yanking the box open while holding something. Teamwork time?
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan taps the screen. "Hibiki! See if you can find a metal pipe to open that box!"
Petra Soroka	Petra is, at first, excited to do some rowing. She's never done it before either! She takes some time, fumbling as she settles into the rhythm with Angela and Kale, gets the hang of it, and then... there's still quite a lot of water left.     Rowing exercises muscles that Petra never really paid attention to before, and her morning workout routine doesn't address them at all. She's wearing her jacket, still, and that makes it hard to move her arms, and she's *sweating* now, but if she asks to *stop* then that throws off the whole rhythm. And they're *barely* any of the way there, and she's starting to get so resentful of the powered-down robot for not being awake to row them, and then Kale finally realizes.     "Oh, right, obviously. Yeah, that sounds way better. Fuck rowing."
Angela	Angela says. "I am looking at the internet for optimal rowing techniques." as the robot arm continues to spin around with the oar. For some reason, it seems like this isn't making Angela sweaty at all or causing her any sort of muscle strain! ... Yeah she left the rowing arm on 'auto' while she was googling but when Kale has an idea she adds, "Oh, that would be helpful." She continues to hold the oar but does stop rowing.
Futaba Nuki	"I think I almost got it...!" Futaba does not, in fact, got it, but not for a lack of trying. Hibiki's suggestion to shift into something better for opening the box, along with Aidan mentioning a pipe, gets just enough of her brain revving to transform into... A pipe! That's probably not going to work too well, though, so she ends up turning into a crowbar a little while later. Problem solved!
Hibiki Tachibana	Hibiki gives the ceiling (which is to say, Aidan) a thumbs up, before both hands on deck are used to brute force things the /proper/ way.     The teamwork way! Somehow, using Futaba as a crowbar will marginally reduce her awkwardness rather than increase it.
UFO Gang	"Yeah, it's rough," Nazrin tells Niko, folding her hands behind her head. "Lot of pressure..." And then they are faced with: A BOX. Nazrin stares at the box *incredibly* intensely. Her face becomes completely expressionless for several long seconds. When Futaba picks it up, Nazrin's eyes follow it. She is not helping!! What is she, a Replicant?! "Seems like you guys have experience with things like this," Nazrin observes afterwards. Her tail whips the air, slowly. "It'll be easier if one of you holds it. Saves on energy."
Kale Hearthward	NORTH (though kinda northeast by this point) Makeshift hovercraft goes vrrrr. It makes landfall before too long - beaching easily on the shore. The ground here is considerably more alive, and in fact a pleasantly marshy green, and there's rivulets of probably-drinkable water throughout. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/oneshot/images/0/08/Cg_green.png ((Please ignore the Niko in the above image)) "... Hello?" And - there's people. Actual people! Two of them approaching the boat - they look like a young brother and sister pair. They do look a little inhuman, though - human faces, but feathery arms and clawed feet, and hair that looks like a bird. Like an entire bird. Just lying there on top of their heads. Like... You know what, just have a picture. https://i.ibb.co/HnHkhbG/calula.png "I'm Calamus, this is my sister Alula - who are you?" "Did you come from the Barrens? I thought nobody lived there..."
Kale Hearthward	EAST Niko stares back at the upside-down Futaba with glowing yellow eyes. "I... guess? they say noncommittally, at the end, just because they feel like they should say something in response. > "I think... you've always got the choice on what you can do, even when it seems like you don't. Even right now, you could still just be worrying about how to get yourself out of here. Right?" "Right! Um, thank you." Via a timely transformation... The box... is opened! "It's... a jar?" says Niko, going to pull the clear glass jar out of the box. "... Oh! It's like that other person said, maybe we can..." Niko wants to help! They go to solve this next puzzle, which involves going out and finding some phosphor to fill the glass jar with, and putting it next to the generator. Nearly immediately, everything starts turning on. The facility seems to be in low power mode, but the terminal is back on. NORTH "Hmm? What?" says the robot in the rowboat, suddenly turning on. "What's going on? Where am I?"
Arcadia	Arcadia claps her hands as Niko takes the jars and finds a way to get power into that building with some creative use of the previously mentioned phosphor. "Good job! You solved that one on your own! Kind of like the fabled baghdad battery with the jar and what not." She's gone off on a short tangent but quickly gets back on track. "Now there's another terminal that can be accessed."
Petra Soroka	Oh, no, *more* birds. Petra mourns her terrible luck, looking at the distant figures before getting out of the boat. She somehow accidentally stumbled into the *bird* group of this little adventure, and *one* was bad enough already. She sighs and slings the Eggpack onto her back again, trudging onto the marshy ground.     "Oh, wait-- they're cute!" Petra's relieved surprise accidentally slips out of her mouth once they're close enough to see (and certainly hear) clearly. She rubs her knuckles into her mouth, embarrassed, and then tries to start the conversation over.     "Hi. I'm Petra. This, on my back, is Angela. We're actually not local." Petra waves, then thumbs through the straps of the Eggpack, like a backpacking explorer. Then she blinks and shakes her head, elaborating. "We're from, uh, I guess by any definition, offworld. The Barrens are that area back there, with the abandoned buildings? We came in through there. What can you tell us about this city? And, uh," Gesturing vaguely, "I guess anything in general."     Petra is far too accustomed to the multiverse to think of 'offworld' as a term that requires much explanation, even to people who haven't interacted with the multiverse yet. Her 'gentle' attempts mostly manifest in not mentioning that she came in here through a computer, rather than a warpgate. "What's going on? Where am I?"     "Oh! Hey, why'd you suddenly turn back on, *right* after we finished rowing?"
Hibiki Tachibana	"Right," Hibiki agrees with Nazrin, in the process of just belting the box right on open. After the fact, after watching Niko run off with an idea in their head on what to do with the jar and leaving them to it, she rubs at the back of her neck. "Although if we seem /that/ put together, uh. It probably only looks like it."     That's not particularly something she'd like to focus on, at least right this second, so she's glad to look genuinely pleased when Niko gets this generator started up all on their own--honestly, she wouldn't have thought of using the phospor that quickly at all.     "And there's the power...! Now we've got this terminal to get out of here whenever we want, and if it's anything like the cabin, we should be able to go to whatever the next area is. Probably that city in the distance...?" Hibiki folds her arms, then puts a hand up to her chin while doing so. After a moment, she glances around the room.     "... ...Petra and the others must still be looking around the other way, huh. We better go find them and tell them the good news. And they might've found some useful stuff we haven't."
Angela	Angela is surprised by the presence of bird people. She looks to Kale with concern because these people clearly killed Kale's relatives and are wearing their skin. It's normal, of course, where she's from to do that sort of thing (if not LITERALLY that thing) but she imagines Kale will be upset by this. She gives Petra a cautious nod. It would be better if they didn't anger these natives or they'll skin Kale and wear him like a coat. "We are...Outsiders." Angela tells them in a 'we come in peace' tone. They ARE cute. ...Angela looks at Kale again for a long moment, this time more thoughtful than concerned. "We are looking to help this world and also free a child who has been trapped here." She pauses. "We are covering ground efficiently." The robot turns on!! Angela can't turn back to look but she does say, "Ah, we rowed to the ... City. Hello. I am Angela."
UFO Gang	Nazrin does a polite little clap-clap-clap. "Good job," she says to Niko. Her eyes turn towards Arcadia for a moment, before asking her, hands folding behind her back, "Terminal? I've been following along and you've all been doing your thing, but I'm curious." Her tail swishes through the air again. A sign of /authentic/ curiosity. "What exactly is this place? These 'terminals' sound spooky! (Is that the technical term for the jails like that bird guy was in?)"
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan hops down from the keyboard. "Finally, I can try this!" He grabs the huge canvas sack. A hop, a jump, and Aidan is within the computer, in the industrial press room. He is already riding the high of helping Niko figure out the generator puzzle, now if all of his stuff transfers along with him, he'll feel like a genius! "You two did great!" He grins brightly over at Hibiki and Futaba and Nazrin. And then stops. "Uh. Where is everyone else?"
Futaba Nuki	"A few times! Not as a group, but-" Futaba has to hold her response to Nazrin so she can get that box open with her face. The crowbar has a leafy gold motif, of course, instead of the usual red ends that show up on these things sometimes. "-puzzle solving's a natural part of any good hero's toolkit. I just get to be a real toolkit all in one." She explains with a confident laugh while shifting back into her usual form in a somewhat jarring display of body-warping, flicking her bracer once for dramatic effect. She eyes the jar curiously as Niko handles that next puzzle, whistling lightly when they solve it quickly enough. Wisely, she doesn't let it be known that she probably wouldn't have guessed that solution with the phosphor in a while. Instead, she just cheers for Niko and gives them a friendly (and light) clap on the shoulder as things start turning on. She turns back to Nazrin, Hibiki, and Niko (and Aidan and Arcadia, if the wall/ceiling counts. "There we go.. Alright! Now for... Uh." She's not actually sure what to do next. The terminal powering on gives her a clue, though, and she heads over to it while shrugging lightly at Nazrin's question. "This place... Not a clue! Yeah, the terminals are pretty weird, huh? Letting us in and out like this... Um. They're usually just like computers." She explains without explaining a thing. "Things have been pretty straightforward so far, but this one here might have some trickier stuff in it." She guesses while peering at said terminal, giving the screen a nudge and seeing if there's any commands coming up like at the start of this whole thing. "If there's nothing else in here, though.. Yeah, Hibiki's got the right idea. We get our info together, and then we figure out the next step of all this." At Aidan's question, Futaba points vaguely towards... The North? She thinks it's north, but it's hard to tell inside a building and without knowing which way she's even facing at this point. "Over there somewhere. Uh. I think they were following some other trail."
Kale Hearthward	NORTH > "Oh, wait-- they're cute!" "Wait, cute?" says Calamus. "Oh, thank you!" says Alula. Kale looks sullen. "Well, I'm not sure what you mean by, um, offworld, but... welcome!" >"What can you tell us about this city?" "Oh! This is the Glen. If you mean the big city, it's further inland. It's a little hard to get to, though, the way's been blocked for a while. > "Oh! Hey, why'd you suddenly turn back on, *right* after we finished rowing?" > "Ah, we rowed to the ... City. Hello. I am Angela." "Hello! Would you like me to row you somewhere?" says the rowbot, in response to both questions.
Kale Hearthward	EAST Niko did a puzzle solution! Hooray. The group's going to leave, when there's a new arrival. "... Hello?" It's a person! Or, wait, no, it's a robot - but one that's a lot more person-like than all of the other robots here, who have been very boxy. Also distinctly female. https://i.ibb.co/5K1Rc35/silver.png "I heard things turn on, and Prophetbot was looking like-" She looks around. "... Um. Hello. I can... assume one of you is the savior, but I don't think I've seen any of the rest of you before?"
Arcadia	Arcadia knows curiosity tail swishing, as her's does the same thing. "Ah. It seems like while people are able to enter the world from the computer outside, they're only able to leave again if there is an active terminal within the world to do so. That's why they couldn't leave from the room at the start where all the computers were broken," she explains. Pauses. "Kind of like a save point in a video game." That's a close approximation at least. Then rubs the back of her head with one hand. "We're still learning most of the specifics of that world as we go along."
Hibiki Tachibana	With it sounding like they're all in agreement, Hibiki nods along, and prepares to head out with everyone due north so that hey can regroup and get everything back together. As she goes, she follows up after Arcadia's explanation. "And if you don't know what computers are from your world, uh... well, this one is kind of weird, actually," she admits after a second. "Most of them don't have entire worlds like this in them." Pause.     "I think." Like, Forte's world exists and everything...but surely...     "Uh... anyway, there's basically things just like the thing that let us in here... in here. And we can use another code to get out, the same way we got in. But yeah, we're still figuring out most of it as we... go..."     Oh. That sure is a person coming in this way. Hibiki blinks. At the mention of 'savior', she looks towards Niko, then the lightbulb they're carrying, and then back up to the feminine robot. You can practically hear the steam of her brain stalling.     "We're, um... Niko's friends?"
Futaba Nuki	Hearing a mysterious new voice, Futaba crosses her arms as she tilts backwards slowly, only stopping when she's staring right at the source (upside-down) like she's making a bridge with her head and feet planted firmly on the ground. "Hey there! Oh, yeah. That's us, turning everything on. And being the savior.... s?" She's not too sure about, actually, and she looks over at the others for clarification. She's still pretty sure Niko's meant to be the savior according to that prophecy, but- 'If I'm the only one who can save the world then it doesn't really feel like I have a choice?' -she still does't particularly like it. "We've got things handled. Are you looking to come with or something? We'll have to... Figure that out together first.""
Petra Soroka	Kale sulking is an acceptable side effect, and combined with the locals absorbing it as a compliment, rebounds Petra's confidence. Kale being skinned and worn as one of them would-- Petra wants to justify her feeling that it'd be negative just because these cute bird people deserve better ornaments than Hearthward's corpse, but she probably actually would feel a little bad if Kale died. At least in this totally unfulfilling way.     "Oh, it's... blocked? By what? Are there people who live inside it?" Petra hesitates after the flurry of questions, suddenly feeling a little bad about only demanding information and not offering it, so she follows up on Angela's explanation. "We came from a really far away place to help a kid who lives here fix the sun. Since it's, um... dark, here."
Aidan Proudpick	"Uh, we came here through a magic computer to help Niko!" Aidan waves over towards the feminine robot. "Not really because Niko is the savior, we are just here to help Niko. And if Niko wants to be the savior, we will help."
UFO Gang	"I'm not the savior myself," Nazrin tells the approaching fembot, "But I work for 'im, so if you have a question..." She then looks towards Arcadia. "Uh huh... I think I get it. So it's magic boxes and stuff." She doesn't know what a video game is? At least she's catching on quickly. "Sure," Nazrin then agrees, without enthusiasm. "We're here to help."
Angela	Angela eventually nods to Kale, whether this mean that she understands why he'd be sullen, has decided he is okay to skin, or has decided that it's better if they are just nice people with cute outfits that aren't from actual bird people--well it's the last one, but she doesn't actually clarify. "Blocked off? By what?" ANgela asks. Petra is already asking that. Angela rubs at her nose lightly with an index finger. "...Yes. We have seperated from them temporarily in order to get a feel for the surroundings." And, perhaps, find a computer to escape through so they can...abandon the others? Angela wasn't sure on the throughline of that, but they are learning things and making progress!
Kale Hearthward	GLEN >"We came from a really far away place to help a kid who lives here fix the sun. Since it's, um... dark, here." "Fixing the sun... oh, the savior? We'd heard that there would be someone, eventually, but... well, it's kind of hard to keep hope, you know?" "Mhmm... the sun went out before I was born, is what mom and dad told me..." > "Blocked off? By what?" "The grove guardian here... she's been having a bit of a rough time. And doesn't quite have full control anymore, I think..." "She's nice! But she's been sick..." EAST > "We're, um... Niko's friends?" "Hi, I'm Niko," adds Niko. "I didn't think... there'd be friends. Unless Prophetbot has been wrong all this time." > "Uh, we came here through a magic computer to help Niko!" "... Alright." Her mouth says 'alright' but her face says 'I've been alone too long here and I must be hallucinating or hearing things'. Perhaps spurned on by that thought: "Look - do you mind if... you stay and talk for a bit? I haven't really had any sort of conversation in years." This seems like a good stopping point for the adventure, anyway. Settle down, chat with the nice robot lady (and maybe get some answers)...