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Kale Hearthward	PREVIOUSLY: There was a train. It was called the Infinity Train, though it wasn't technically infinite (just arbitrarily long in a way that couldn't be counted). It had some strange people on board, and also people that weren't Petra and Kale. The train picked people up, made them do what one person coined as 'forced puzzle therapy', and only let them go home when it deemed them 'fixed'. The elites put a stop to that, and let everyone off board. Along the way they had to deal with Lance, a powerful being from a place called Wonderworld. Wonderworld was run by Balan, who was busy with a client and had shunted off responsibility for Lance to the train's conductor One-One, and One-One fumbled that because he's One-One. By way of apology, Balan invited everyone to Wonderworld (accessible through the Balan Theater) and gave them a Stage (capitalization intentional and mandatory), which was basically a 'creative mode' playground with some constraints - areas built were in a tripartite of 'courtyard', 'tower', and 'crown'. Then Balan finessed everyone into doing him a favor, which was the real reason he invited everyone here and should be understood to be a bit of a dick move. The favor involved inviting another Wonderworld client to the group's Stage, and then calming them down via percussive therapy. The client, a giant cat with a lightbulb, turned into a giant computer, for reasons that weren't adequately explained. Then the giant computer turned out to have a cat in it, Niko (who claims to not actually be a cat). Niko found a lightbulb which is actually the sun, and then the group found themselves here on this dying world, and Niko given a mission to take the new sun to the tower at the center of the world. Also some other strange stuff happened.
Kale Hearthward	NOW: Once again, you feel the call to return to the Theatre. The timing remains... flexible. In real time it's been weeks since this adventure started, that much is true, but it also doesn't feel like Niko's been out here waiting for three whole weeks for the group to come back. Perhaps it's best to just not worry about it too much. 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, an unopened 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 to differentiate it from 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. ... 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.
Kale Hearthward	Kale's inside the Stage already, waiting. "We're finishing this today," he says. "Straight into the city, straight through the city to the tower, up the tower, then we get Niko to put the new sun in place and we're done. It's going to be that simple." "Let's start with everyone in," he adds. "We'll send someone to double back and exit via a terminal if we need to, but I think we need all of us accompanying Niko for this last stretch." Kale doesn't seem to want to take 'no' for an answer here. One at a time, everyone jumps on the keyboard to type in #join (anyone new gets coached through it, with a promise for going over what the heck the giant computer is at a later point)... and then one by one, disappears from reality and appears on the computer screen. "Hi!" Niko's in... decent spirits. They seem a little worn out. Somehow, it's as Kale says - it's a straight shot from where the group is now, up to the foot of the tower, without any hiccups or oddities. Well, mostly without any oddities. There's a robot standing guard near the entrance to the city. It holds out a scroll as people approach. "Signature is required for entry." It's not quite clear what might happen if you don't sign the scroll, but... Niko is watching you. You don't want to set a bad example for Niko, right? Niko signs, but they look troubled. It's not until the group continues on into the city that they speak up, and only then hesitantly. "Hey... did anyone else, um, see that there was another 'Niko' on that scroll?" "I'm sure it's someone else named Niko. Or maybe one of your new friends playing a prank. Let's not waste time worrying about it," says Kale confidently as he pushes the group forward. --- THE CITY Unlike everywhere else in the world, the City is brightly lit - via reservoirs of red phosphor from below and streetlamps from above. Buildings tower overhead at dozens of stories tall or more, and the sounds of industry and commercialism drift through the streets. "Oh, is that a library?" "Straight to the tower, first!" "And that looks like a robot factory over there..." "Straiiiight to the tower." "And there's some people wearing weird hats..." "Tower first!" Via the 'insisting on no distractions, sidequests, or detours' method, the group actually does arrive at the base of the tower, in the center of the city. The tower stretches far into the sky, dwarfing all the other buildings, with a glass top section that resembles a lighthouse's crown. There's a single door at the base of the tower. And inside the door is... ... nothing. Just a large empty room. "... Maybe there's another entrance somewhere here." There isn't another entrance. "Maybe there's a window or something further up?" There isn't a window further up, with the exception of the glass lighthouse crown that probably shouldn't be cracked open. "... Well, I'm out of ideas," says Kale. "... Maybe there's clues somewhere?" suggests Niko. "Here, or out in the city?"
Aidan Proudpick	Much like Sam Reiche, Aidan has been here the whole time, nursing a black eye. Spending part of the time moping, part of the time in a petulant tantrum, part of the time just waiting for Niko to need help again. Reviewing flash cards. Practicing his wind magic. Helping Niko was something he could never worry about. Make a ball of wind and eat it. He only needed a little breath. A simple puff of air and he drags the air around him to his hands, carefully manipulating each finger to get it to the perfect shape. The next part was harder, carefully compressing the ball down to a manageable size. The concept made perfect sense to Aidan. He had already drawn all the Life Breath out of his body once. Ripped every ounce from his blood to cast a shield when his lungs were collapsed. With enough will, enough training, the reverse has to be possible. Having seen Kale do it once- Aidan snapped his hand closed, letting the ball of magic puff away into the breeze. The Wonderworld was quiet. The perfect place to think, and sometimes knock over things when no one is looking. The training ground hadn't seen use since his leg got maimed. No... since he talked to Diane and Elara. A few of the racks were broken to flinders, shields scattered in all directions. A few of the wooden logs have even attempted to be burned, but in a fully half hearted attempt with a bic, incurring only minor scorch marks. The silent staring feminine knight statues continue to stare down, immovable, implacable. They judged without offering comment. He did it. He has been in several battles to save the world now. Madeleine, Hazelthistle, Sarracenia were willing to prop up his dream. He WAS a knight. But those were a quiet voice in the din. The loud disdain of Lilian Rook couldn't help but burrow under his skin. The attempt to recognize of Hearthward's continuing change. Even with that hate, neither bothered to act on it. He wasn't anyone's rival. Even his friends were tired of him talking about the Paladins and Hearthward.     "He's our enemy!" Aidan's voice rose to the others, "I'm doing all this for Quicknest! I'm not obsessed! If I can beat him, that proves we can hold our own. I can hold my own. He threatened to throw me out to the courts after I helped him fight, h-""     "He hasn't been our enemy for a year now, you know that." "He's started a charity." "He captains a medical crew." "He technically saved your life." "I doubt he spends a second of brainpower on us." "You think Hazelthistle is going to sit through that long either?" "He ain't gonna fuck you, squirrel." "You HAVE a wikelite page now, who cares?" "Aidan, please, you will never be him. Nor should you want to."     One fist fight with a blacksmith later, he left in a huff for his Stage. People used to look up to him. So many people have reached down to him in the dirt to help him up. He has to prove them right. Why was THAT the hardest thing to do. He had spent so long trying to just get praise. He could throw himself against a wall of monsters all day. Now what? Deserving respect from those allies and those who only show him contempt seemed like an insurmountable task. Aidan leaves a package on the keyboard before he leaps from key to key. A hand crafted cable knit sweater, marked to Ishirou. Green sleeves, a blue middle. If Ishirou gave a size, it's that size, otherwise, it is made 'tall', slightly baggy and made to reach to one's thighs. The tag on it is a simple hemp paper, with uneven and blocky letters written in pen. 'THANKS FOR BEING A GOOD ALLY.'
Aidan Proudpick	Niko gets a warm smile. Aidan could never and would never heap any of his problems on Niko, waving. He takes the eyeliner pencil wordlessly, considering it. Then he writes A I D A N in a very careful and thoughtful scrawl. THE CITY. The squirrel is warming up to the moment. New stuff is always exciting, and Niko's excitement is setting a slow fire in his heart, rekindling that child-like glee. "They make robots here?!" "And weird hats!" Aidan blinks up at the tower, sticks his head inside, looks around, then back up at the tower. He repeats this process two more times, then turns over with a smile at Niko. "I guess we better go looking around! Hey, let's go talk to the people with weird hats!"
Arcadia	By this point the oddities in timing to answer the attraction of the Theatre and enter to make way to The Stage of Wonderworld have become a familiar routine. No reason to think too hard about it or to worry about how long it may have seemed on one side or the other of the matter. Not when there was the adventure in itself to continue. So we will simply move on to that. "After what has happened before more hands on site is probably not a bad idea." Arcadia actually agrees with Kale, at least to some degree on that matter. At least of simple practicality, there has been less to do observing from the outside, and she doesn't have the skills others do to fiddle with the intricities of the strange world computer. So in we go. Arcadia doesn't have a hard time putting in the command at her turn, since she can hover over the keyboard quickly instead of having to jump from key to key, and in we go. The City is the first sign of vibrance in the world and that is hard to not take note of. As is the remains of the previous civilation, or one assumes it is such. There is a lot one could want to see, but fortunately the sphinx is able to keep her focus on matters at hand. "We should check that Library afterwards though, it could tell us more about this world before..." a vague wave of hand back at the darkened world beyond the city limits that they've traveled through ".. what happened."
Ishirou	Kale makes sure that everyone is inside, and... well without argument Ishirou walks up to the very large Keyboard and makes sure to type in #join as the first thing he does upon entering the room and being zapped into the other side.   Upon entering, he waves hi to Niko, and nods to her about the various sites they see as they pass through on their way to the tower.  Even he can't help but become curious about the sites either.  The robot factory... the library, in particular, has his curiosity sated, but Kale keeps them on track straight to the tower.   With a sigh, Ishirou agrees with Kale.   When they enter it's just a blank room.  Weird, because it feels like something should be here but there is not.  He scans around, attempting to use his various powers to try and see what is not seen, but can't seem to make heads or tales out of anything here.  He frowns, shaking his head at the others.  "There isn't anything here.  I think we should explore the city, maybe someone knows more about the tower.." he offers. He looks back, "Or I can try hacking at the terminal, but I think we all have misgivings about that..." he offers.  "Alternatively, I could just try combing more information from the monitor, maybe that'll give us something."  Ishirou also takes a moment to open the package he got from Aidan, laughing a slight bit nervous when he sees it's a sweater and smiles at him.  "Well... thanks!" he says and puts it on.  He likes sweaters!  However, he isn't sure how he feels bout this given the recent situation and meet up with Aidan recently and him trying to buy him clothes.  He'll have to ask Lilian, he thinks...
Futaba Nuki	There should be little surprise by now when Futaba, as usual, arrives at the big weird computer with her scarf already flapping in the lack-of-wind while she does her little routine of acrobatic flips and jumps to land on each key. It happens regardless of whether anyone's watching or not, too, almost like she's warming herself up ahead of time. Afterwards, she greets Niko with her usual bright grin. "Hey there, Niko! Haven't been waiting too long for us, have you?" She takes a moment to gather her bearings, checking the rest of her gear in her little pouch/fannypack, and making sure her jacket is smoothed out and flared up in the back just enough so her tail doesn't make it bunch up too much in a weird way. Even if she's supposed to look like a ninja, she also needs to look put-together enough to be a good role model, after all! That's also why she signs that scroll without a moment's hesitation. Futaba even has her own pen for it, and her handwriting is much fancier than the way she speaks would imply. When Niko brings up the second Niko, though, she doesn't look too bothered by it and nods after Kale's explanation. "Yeah, I've heard Niko as a name a few times. Didn't notice it 'til you said it, though. Didn't look like your handwriting, did it?" She chuckles lightly, expecting it to just be a coincidence. Why wouldn't it be? IN THE CITY "Wonder what they've got to eat in there..." Like Niko, Futaba's also pretty good at getting sidetracked. Sadly, Kale keeps them aimed at the tower, and the inside of the tower has a great big pile of nothing inside it. That doesn't stop Futaba from snooping around to see if there's anything to poke or prod at, of course, but it takes her a grand total of thirty seconds before she, too, concludes that there's nothing to do in that empty room. "Let's check the city. Maybe someone out there knows another way into the rest of this place." Futaba suggests, looking towards at Niko grinning just a bit more. "You know, like PIs or something. Part of solving mysteries like these is doing legwork and shaking down folks for information, too, you know?" Wait. Is that going to give Niko the wrong idea? "... Figuratively! Asking questions, posing as.. Uh. Visitors. Tourists. Safety inspectors. Stuff like that." Futaba's already headed back out the door as she makes those suggestions, looking to flag down the first person she sees and just asking directly: "You ever see anyone heading into this tower? Or doing stuff upstairs?"
Ru Li Cheng	Well, alright then.      Ru Li Cheng, ninth of the nine Ru Cheng gods, is becoming distressingly accustomed to the Multiverse's habit of simply picking him up and putting him somewhere else. In this particular case he had been walking into a restaurant to enjoy the ambient sensations, sample cuisine both with his mouth and his radial senses, and otherwise indulge his curiosity. He had a very heavy stack of books in his hands, with which he had intended to enjoy a relaxing evening until the manager got tired of the strange ticking noise and threw him out. He had his back turned to the door and pushed it open.      That was two seconds ago.      "Ah!-"      Thud.      "Uuuu..."      The ninth of the nine Ru Cheng gods lays underneath a pile of heavy books, all of which toppled *directly* on top of him. The sheer distortion of space/time/dimensions has apparently left him staggeringly dizzy, to the point where he actually tripped over his own feet.      He's not *damaged*, don't worry, but he is *very* disoriented.      It takes him a good minute or so to reorient and stand up. Carefully, he retracts his senses so he's not overwhelmed by any further spatial nonsense, which is probably for the best considering the Stage itself. His books, unfortunately, lie forgotten (it's fine, they weren't important) as he examines the walls of the Theatre. A bit more physical a road than the Pokemon world, but, nonetheless, the same sort of sudden hijacking.      "I wonder if this is common for others," Ru Li says to himself as he prods a poster, "Do ordinary humans have situations like this thrust upon them out here...?"      Eventually, he arrives at the giant computer, and the rest of the party. He's just in time to see someone type #join and disappear, at which point he runs over and quite rapidly does the same, stamping on the keys hurriedly only to find himself-      -again, falling on his face at the jarring transition (even with his senses retracted), basically right in front of Futaba, because that's the kind of embarassing thing that just happens to the poor god. Falling right in front of the lady he's so taken with and looking mighty undignified in the process.      He sits up and groans. "I really must start figuring out how to recalibrate myself for things like this."      "Um." He tilts his head back to look up at Futaba, his face silver. "Hello."      Then he finally, cautiously, extends his senses, looks around, and-      And a robot tells him to sign for entry.      Aha.      Ru Li stands up and dusts himself off, then walks over to the robot.      "That will not be necessary," Ru Li says, drawing on a lot of impressive knowledge of bureaucracy, "I think you will find," he produces a paper from his coat, which is scrawled with a bunch of his own (extremely elegant) (glowing silver) handwriting (in Yinghua characters), "That this document functions as my personal identification, as a member of the Yinghua Imperial Court and a representative of His Divine Majesty, and, in the process, prevents me from making signatures on unknown documents in the event of potential diplomatic agreements that may cause harm to both nations. As a result," Ru Li continues talking, still holding up the paper for the robot to examine, as he sidles on by, "A signature required by law to entry is simply not applicable, so I will be going about my day, thank you very much, and I will remember to inform your supervisors what a staggeringly excellent job you're doing." He's walking backwards, now, along with the group, before he finally rolls up the parchment and stows it in his jacket.      "Shopping lists," he confides in the party, "Are very useful and persuasive when the other party can't read the language, especially when they've been penned by a god."      Once they're inside the room and have confirmed that there's nothing up there except the glass top, Ru Li puts his hand against the wall thoughtfully before he jumps his way up to get a better look. It's a big jump. He's very strong.
Futaba Nuki	When Ru Li arrives, meanwhile, Futaba hears him coming before she sees him. Perhaps sensing what might have happened and in an effort to help keep attention off that, or just because she's a show-off and wants to flex her neck strength some, she does something a little funky: Futaba crosses her arms over her chest, then swings her entire upper body backwards to make a bridge with her torso while using only her feet and head to push the rest of herself off the ground. "Oh, hey Ru Li! Didn't know you'd be joining us, too. You met Niko here yet?"
Petra Soroka	Petra has left Lobotomy Corporation only twice in the past few days. Once, when she took a trip across Nebraska to get nearly murdered by Liza Grier, and once when drunkenly wandering through the suburbs with Cinder, unaware that she was being spied on. Surely, she thinks upon opening the swinging doors to the cafeteria and seeing the entrance to the Theatre squeezed in between the revolving doors to the kitchen, leaving this third time will be fine. She's probably not risking anything major just by going to the Wonderworld Theatre again, and it's an objectively good thing to help Niko. It'd probably be good for her to get out.     Petra's bomber jacket is sliced from shoulder to hip and stitched up amateurly, like visible sutures (the zipper is uneven now, so she can't zip it up past halfway). She looks exhausted, moves gingerly like she's wounded, and more than just the heavy Eggpack is weighing on her shoulders to hunch them forwards slightly. It's kind of a relief to get one on one time with Angela-- with everything going on with Meika's threat and the upcoming Meltdowns, she hasn't really had an opportunity, but this is a *mission*, and that justifies anything.     "... Sorry the bike you guys got me got destroyed." As is tradition, Petra lights a cigarette, harvests some snacks from the concessions, stares at the staff door before deciding she doesn't have it in her to be adventurous right now, and then completes the trek to the computer. Kale exposits. Petra nods, because she'd have no interest being here without being around Niko and the kids anyways. "Do ordinary humans have situations like this thrust upon them out here...?"     "I-- I mean, it happens to *me* a lot." Petra's actually kind of glad to see Ru Li, walking through the hallway of the Theatre to get to the stage and making some vague gestures towards 'we go in that portal every week or two and it takes us into a computer world, so don't be too worried about all that'. "Lilian thought it was weird how often it happens to me, though. So maybe... a bit less than me is more ordinary? You're probably fine."     "Niko! Hi!" Petra perks up a bit, drawing a juice bottle that she pilfered from concessions and offering it out. "Want one? It's sweet."     When told to sign a form, Petra will sign. This will get her in trouble at some point, but not today. She offers the pen that was buried somewhere in her cavernous pockets to the robo-arm of the Eggpack so that Angela can sign too.     "Another Niko?" Petra thinks for a second. "Niko's not your... last name, right? There's not anyone else you know named Niko?" Petra trails off, muttering nonsense like 'Biko, Qiko' to herself.     "Oh, wow... this place is cool, actually...." Petra is as easily drawn to all the shiny sidequests as Niko, but is also-- *surprisingly*-- as easy to keep in line with a little insistence to stay on task. She seems sort of unfocused overall, really.
Petra Soroka	Inside the tower... Petra looks up. The ceiling of the solitary room wasn't described, and as a lighthouse, she assumes that's the way to go. Is it not just... punchable? Her transteam gun is sitting on Cinder's desk in her dorm room, so regardless, it's not punchable for *Petra*. And for once, Hibiki isn't here.     "Eh. I'm sure there's people out in the city who know something. I mean, there were all those, like, rumors and-- and, like, myths, about Niko coming around with the lightbulb to return the sun and whatever. So someone's got to know something *more*, closer to the tower itself." "You know, like PIs or something. Part of solving mysteries like these is doing legwork and shaking down folks for information, too, you know?"     Petra nods sagely at this. "Ishirou, if you hack this computer, I'm going to hack you into pieces. I feel like the robot factory is a good bet? I mean, that other... uh, ProphetBot, maybe there's more guys like that in there. If not, then we can at least see something pretty big about how this world workds, and who's, you know, *making* these things like ProphetBot."
Ru Li Cheng	"Oh, hello, Miss Petra. I rather meant, erm...non-Elites. I was just wondering if someone sometimes walked directly into a restaurant and came out the other side in another world entirely, or a strange dream, or...what have you."      "...you are...certainly flexible," Ru Li says, his face getting even more silver as Futaba does her fancy motion, "I, I have not met Niko. Um, hello, Niko. I am Ru Li Cheng, ninth of the nine Ru Cheng gods of Yinghua." He's distracted, OK? Poor god's still feeling a little off-balance. "I, ah, I wish I had a more dignified arrival, but..."      "...hello," he concludes lamely.
Aidan Proudpick	Ishirou gets a warm smile. "Of course, I said I would." Aidan leaves it at that. It feels a little better to go mostly uncommented on. The idea Ishirou saw him practicing Future-Kale's techniques, or anyone noticed a trace of tantrum. Just... a normal day of helping Niko. He casts his eyes around slowly towards the red lights, slowly sucking in the air. When Ru Li tumbles in, a wide grin splits Aidan's face. He hasn't seen Ru Li in the actual flesh, just in the godly pokemon flesh. He lifts both his arms up over his head, waving them as one might over a crowd, trying to signal a friend, instead of, you know, someone who just fell three feet. He does walk over to lend a hand, but not to force the help on the god. "Ru Li! Hey, it's good to see you! It's me, Aidan!" He circles his eyes with a finger, then brings them back so as not to bring attention to the black eye. "You know. With the eyes? At the Mystery Dungeon?" Then, Ru Li brings out... THE PAPER. Aidan's pupils dilate as he watches it wave around. "That paper does ALL that? That's amazing! It looks... like magic!" Aidan's face warms up to a full glow, leaving some of the worry behind him. "I knew you were just as awe-inspiring as you sounded like on the radio!"
Angela	Angela feels like saving this (non) cat is important. Why she has any interest in a child trapped in a doomed world and being given strange and occassionally contradictory instructions is unclear with their fate in the hands of probably not the best people for the job. But Angela is at least confident in Petra's ability to save people and she herself is confident in her ability to talk shit at someone until they stammer off the radio and she thinks that ability will be applicable here if it needs to be. She naturally joins with Petra, still connected to the Eggpack. "Hello Niko, My apologies in that we have not been able to return you to your home just yet." ''Hey... did anyone else, um, see that there was another 'Niko' on that scroll?'' ''I'm sure it's someone else named NIko.'' "...That seems doubtful. Perhaps it is a doppleganger. Let us keep in mind the codeword 'Vanilla' just in case." Angela says. She considered using Netzach for 'Safety' but she felt that would A) Be tough for Niko to say and B) Was inviting Disaster considering facility's track record with 'Safety'. She won't think to sign anything unless someone explicitely asks her to though this is less because she doesn't want to sign anything and more beccause she isn't feeling like she's there as a person and thus doesn't have to actually sign in the same way you wouldn't sign in your backpack. She is grateful for this opportunity herself to just... be with Petra. She'd share the cigarette with Petra if the backpack had even a fake mouth. It doesn't. So she does not. "...It's alright. It is more important that you are healthy. Perhaps we can prepare a replacement, if you want." It's possible, she thinks, Petra doesn't want one off the bat but there's still Petra's actual birthday, perhaps? She has time to think about it. She has plenty of time to think about it. And she wants to. So she does. Angela quiets down a bit though she does communicate. "Ru Li, it is good you are here I have been meaning to ask why you did not inform me ahead of time that this pad would cause a stir amongst your people. I was concerned that I could have approached in a less disruptive manner." She does kind of marvel at the City for a moment but as they do not linger, she ends up not dwelling on it. "Mm... If this is our next destination, the puzzle pieces are likely there" She agrees.
Kale Hearthward	NIKO > "Hello Niko, My apologies in that we have not been able to return you to your home just yet." "It's... it's fine, we're all doing our best, right?" Niko tries to perk up. > "Want one? It's sweet." "Yes please!" > "Niko's not your... last name, right? There's not anyone else you know named Niko?" "I'm the only Niko I know about," says Niko. THE ROBOT The robot blinks at Ru Li, and peers at his paper. "This is not within my programming," it states, after several seconds. It doesn't make any move to either bar Ru Li's entry after that. --- Once inside, the team splits - some lingering near the tower, some heading off into town. THE TOWER Petra's investigation of the ceiling reveals that the ceiling looks rather plain. Though while she's looking around, something else can catch her eye... A matching investigation of the floor reveals... scratch marks? Lots of scratch marks, in neat rows- - oh, it's another nonogram grid. This one's 25x25. There don't seem to be any clues nearby. There is, at the very top of the tower, a glass dome... and visible within the dome is a plinth that looks like it'd snugly fit that lightbulb that Niko is carrying around. It gives off major 'finish line' vibes. Near the plinth is a staircase leading down into the tower - suggesting that there's an entrance to that room from somewhere within the tower. "Hmm - not sure if we're going to find too many more clues right here..." ponders Niko. "Maybe the library or the robot factory next?" AROUND TOWN > "You ever see anyone heading into this tower? Or doing stuff upstairs?" The answers seem to be, generally, no. "The tower has been closed off ever since the sun went out," is an answer Futaba eventually gets. "Hey! You! Person with the weird fur outfit!" calls a vendor towards Aidan. "Are you ready for the water shortage? Get your water pills today!" "You here for your photos?" asks a random person to Ishirou, when Ishirou lingers for too long at one point.
Ru Li Cheng	"I-in truth, Miss Angela, I simply did not think about it. I am..." Ru Li purses his lips, "...I was not thinking from the perspective of the Court."      This is a troublesome admission, and he doesn't want to think about this, and thankfully he's distracted by the conversation on the radio, which leaves his entire face not just silver but silver and gold. *Both* sets of coolants are on full flare right now. Is that a little bit of silvery steam coming out of his ears? Is that ambient ticking noise speeding up substantially at being called cute?      Yes, to all of the above.      He finally regains enough of his wits to say, "Ah, actually, there is some sort of...plinth? That appears to fit something at the top of the tower. I imagine it would fit very well with your...with your device."
Ishirou	Ishirou pauses, trying to think about where to go next because they have no clues, This is when someone stops him for a photo.  "Oh, no I'm not here for a photo, but thank you!" he pauses, deciding to talk to the photograph person a bit more.  "Hey, do you know anything about the tower?" he asks, not sure if this is going to go anywhere or not.   "Or do you know anyone who would know anything about the tower?" he asks a second question, wondering if they have a clue to follow.
Arcadia	If only all beaucracy could be dealt with so singularly and efficiently. And divinely enforced. Not that it helps the awkwardly cute moments that follow. Arcadia observes for a moment, but then her attention turns to the Tower and the investigation of it. Not that it seems to be as straight forward as Kale tried to make it sound. The proper means of getting through the Tower doesn't seem to be very evident. "Looking for alternate information would be prudent," she agrees, then perks up. "Exactly what libraries are for!" The sphinx's tail swish sways a few times as the situation shifts somewhere more akin to her own interests.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan DOES almost thinking about stealing the eyeliner pencil, then... no, no that wouldn't be right. He can buy one later. With a tail flick, Aidan splits off from the others to aid Niko. He turns his ears and then the rest of him towards the vendor. "Water shortage?" This causes a frown, then, steps up to the vendor. "Well, we can't get back yet." He rubs through his hair, "Is the water just gone or is there a pump problem?" He asks, direly hoping he gets to show off his intelligence in one field. "I'll take some water pills anyways. Do I need to pay?" He opens up his bag. "I've got... a piece of wool... uh... I have these rubber gloves, I got this bottle of alcohol, here's a stick... I got this bottle of dye... this old sponge..." Aidan winces at the radio, but carries on, muttering, "We are all a little broken, I guess."
Ru Li Cheng	There is a very, very, very long moment as Ru Li stops ticking *entirely*, as if every part of his body just froze up at once. It very probably did, considering his face is quite literally the colour of electrum, one ear is smoking silver, and the other is smoking gold. His coolant-slash-blood is working overtime right now.      As he slowly reassembles his thoughts, he remembers his train of thought. "O-oh, yes," he says, "Th-the staff is primarily mechanical, so..."      "Erm."      Ru Li opens his eyes. He takes a deep breath, pushing thoughts of a more physical nature away.      And then he transforms.      It is...odd, and horrifying, and disturbing, and probably just a little bit fascinating. It's very well-known that Ru Li is flesh and metal, clockwork and skin, but it's entirely different to see it *exposed*. His skin turns over in a ripple of panels flipping to reveal metal. His hair folds inwards, replaced by hanging metal wires. For a few moments everyone gets to glimpse the very complex mess of organs and clockwork, of metal and flesh, that is the god's body. The inscriptions carved on every bit of his metal ribs, which protect a beating flesh heart pumping silver and gold through two sets of clear tubes. The mass of gears and springs that fill his body, acting as joints and muscles while also being bound up with gears and muscles.      Most disturbingly, his actual brain is very briefly on display, which looks an awful lot like what might happen if a grandfather clock and a brain fused into a single thing, with a pendulum underneath the point that connects to the spine.      And then it's over, and a fully robotic Ru Li stands there, with no hint of his previous fleshy bits.      +Excuse me. I will go attempt to...infiltrate the staff and find anything useful. L-like a ninja.+ Even his metallic voice, now much more glorious and much less stammering, has a fumble over that as he attempts to stride off with dignity and impressiveness, doing his best not to think about what was just said on the radio.
Futaba Nuki	EARLIER, BEFORE THE TOWER Futaba seems pretty satisfied at Ru Li's self-introduction to Niko, and she even beams a bit more when he calls her flexible. Sure, she could have cheated with transformation powers, but it's not the same as doing it this way. NOW-ISH, AROUND THE TOWER "Vanilla, vanilla..." Futaba murmurs to herself as she considers the codeword Angela gives to Niko, realizing a moment later that it's supposed to be for Niko's use rather than her own. Shutting up quickly after the fact, she turns to Aidan and Ru Li with a curious raise of her eyebrow. "Mystery Dungeon? Oh, so you two know each other already. Even better!" Before she can do a quick head count or connect the dots as to why Ru Li's face looks that color, though, she actuallyh its on some interesting details from the people she's interrogating. She gets a few interesting ones, too, about the tower being closed for quite some time.  She's tempted to do some sightseeing in the meantime, too, but with Niko still stuck doing things inside... That can wait until after they solve this whole thing. It'd be messed up if she went doing that on her own while they were stuck here, after all. Thus, Futaba returns to the tower, and she takes a quick look around to see what's going on with those strange scratches way over there before spotting Niko and beelining right for them. "Sounds like this place has been closed for a while. As long as the sun went out, even." She reveals, pausing to look up again and exhale lightly. "So whoever used to come in here must've... Only needed to come in because the sun was up? But nobody saw 'em coming in..." She concludes with a confused tone in her voice, stroking her chin after a moment  while also pausing to watch Ru Li's transformation. Perhaps it's that shared nature of being able to transform that keeps the sight from disturbing her at all, as Futaba just watches him curiously. It's a marked difference from her own transformations, after all, so of course she's interested in seeing how it all works. "Cool.. Alright. I'll keep digging around outside!" Without looking like she realizes what she did (she totally did), Futaba starts walking backwards towards the exit again to start to harassing the townspeople with questions. "Do you know why the the tower got closed?" "Did someone ever come by to shut this place down, or did it just kinda happen after the sun went out?"
Petra Soroka	<J-IC-Scene> Ru Li Cheng says, "Trickery and cleverness are virtues, but breaking an agreement, or breaking a vow, or breaking your word... -yes, I-I know what you meant. I was...well, I was just trying to be clever and sound...erm...'cool', I suppose..." "...you are...certainly flexible,"     Petra looks between Ru Li and Futaba, and comes to a conclusion faster than anyone reasonably should. Her eyes light up and she takes in a drawn-out gasp, immediately deciding that she absolutely has to do everything possible to get these two together. It's been so long, since any of the Elites have had a compelling romance. The last pair she was rooting for was *Stanley* and *Charlotte*, and *that's* a clear indication of how starved she's been. <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says to Ru Li, nodding firmly, "So you're one of those types. I understand. I get it. It's totally cool to avoid lying like that." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, with dire unspoken weight, "I'll support you, in this." "Oh, hello, Miss Petra. I rather meant, erm...non-Elites."     "Oh, hmm... you know, you'd think, right?" Puzzles again. Petra stares at the ground resentfully. She doesn't even have Hibiki to yell at as a distraction from the puzzle this time.     "I guess... before I was an Elite, none of this kind of stuff happened to me, and you wouldn't *think* that most of it's even related. Like, I'm falling through portals and shit all the time now, and you'd think that it wouldn't *always* be Elites doing that kind of thing, but it just... never happened? Not to me, not to anyone I know." Says the girl who left Earth, twice, to do psychic mech fights on a terraformed moon. Adventures are relative. "I've got... a piece of wool... uh... I have these rubber gloves, I got this bottle of alcohol, here's a stick... I got this bottle of dye... this old sponge..."     "Broke bitch." Petra offhandedly snipes in Aidan's direction. She's also got practically no money on her-- just a couple days ago she transferred twenty one million credits out of her account, over two billion ahn. "Are water pills related to the lighthouse at all? I could just keep bringing Niko drinks every time we come back and they'd be fine."     "I still want to check out the robot factory..." Petra mutters while trying to ignore the water shortage plot. Partly, mostly, maybe, she's just interested in playing around with the fun tech of the factory, after her own tinkered bike got destroyed by Liza.     Ru Li temporarily pauses her in her journey, though, and she-- recoils, mostly, from his transformation. Various words sit on her tongue, most of them some variation of 'gross' that are constructed entirely of projection, but then when he explains that he's trying to be like a ninja, it all evaporates immediately. Petra holds her fists up in front of her chest and bounces on the balls of her feet, nodding emphatically.     "Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Do you do robot stuff? Hacking? I have a scout, a drone, would you be able to use that?" She lowers her voice conspiratorially, "You know... to be a better ninja?"
Angela	"Mm... We are--at the very least we are consistently making progress, even if it is slow...as opposed to losing progress." This might not be the best way to reassure Niko, but it IS an attempt--then again it is true they haven't exactly had to start from scratch on their journey. ''I simply did not think about it'' "...Is that so, you seemed amused but..." Angela frowns for a moment, closing her eyes as she gets into her deep thought zone. "...It can be difficult to remember how you are supposed to be when you see what is outside of your Small Pond. Or in your case, your Big Pond." She sounds ... sympathetic? "The multiverse changes people, but you can find little ways to remind yourself of the old rules so you do not wholly lose sight of where you came from." Angela glances at Ru Li's transformation, largely curious, she definitely doesn't seem grossed out. It is usually a safe thing to say that she's seen grosser. Not even from Lobotomy Corp alone. The battle against the Queen was so awful that Angela... ...Doesn't think about it! But suffice to say, Ru Li may be disturbing but Angela barely notices, especially through the lens of her screen. She is further distracted by platonic sweater discussion. ''Maybe the library=='' "I would like to see the library." Angela says almost simultaneously with Petra saying she wants to check out the robot factory. "...Naturally, we can visit the Robot Factory." Angela says. "Perhaps we can find something charming to tell the Doctor about." The Doctor in question, of course, is Eggman. Strangely she doesn't glance at Petra as she mentions 'robot stuff' this time.
Ru Li Cheng	+I, er, I do not,+ Ru Li admits meekly, +The only miracle I can perform is the summoning of my pen. It was the only one deemed necessary. I have...I have thought about attempting to...well, petition for something else, but at the moment, I...+      He shifts a little bit on his way out to the city proper, +W-well, I am not a robot, so...I do not have any...robotic...traits. I am still me. This, this is simply my other mien, the one that I wear among the other gods.+      There's a beat.      +-Ah! I, I apologize! N-normally, I would not have done such a transformation in public, it is rude to, I, erm...+      Weakly, he says, +...y-yes. The factory. I will go with you, then.+ Oh, good, something to focus on that isn't either his extreme embarassment. As they walk, he says to Angela, +W-well, it was...somewhat amusing to see the normally-composed Bai Lu Ahan we all admire acting so taken aback. He is, you understand, normally in perfect control of himself...and yet even he and the Emperor broke in the face of your device.+
Petra Soroka	Petra pauses on her way to the robot factory, wheeling around on her heel. "No. You're right, I don't know what I was thinking, Angela. We're going to the library."
Ru Li Cheng	+Oh.+      There's a beat as Ru Li is suddenly taken off-guard by this. Then,      +V-very well, then.+
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan swings his tail and hips at Petra, still shuffling through the bag. It's almost like nothing now. It doesn't grind deep into his heart, rip into his soul, flense open his mind and bare everything to the blasting sand winds. It's... normalcy. He'll never get through, he never NEEDS to. It's almost a rock he can stand on. Petra will always hate him. "Broke, yea, but don't call me bitch, you aren't my type. Look, we might be here for a while. And if they say that water is important, we should be ready. It's like being out in the wilderness." Aidan peers at a camera lens, showing it to the vendor.
Kale Hearthward	THE TOWER > "Ah, actually, there is some sort of...plinth? That appears to fit something at the top of the tower. I imagine it would fit very well with your...with your device." "Oh! That's good... I just need to get up there, then, right?" Ru Li transforming draws a concerned stare from Niko. After Ru Li leaves, they turn to Petra and Angela. "Are... is he okay? Did he hold in a sneeze too long?" AROUND TOWN > "Or do you know anyone who would know anything about the tower?" "The Tower... maybe the Author, if you can find him. Or George, at the library, she handles publishing his books." > "Is the water just gone or is there a pump problem?" "The pumps and filters run on electricity and that's going to be a bit hard to come by eventually," says the water-cooler-hatted-man. "But let's see - sure, I'll take the dye for some pills." > "Did someone ever come by to shut this place down, or did it just kinda happen after the sun went out?" "I mean, there wasn't really a reason to go up into the tower after the sun broke, so... nobody really paid attention to it for a long while. We had other things to focus on." ROBOT FACTORY Ru Li transforms, and goes off. It doesn't take long before he's waved down and pointed towards doors that lead into a maintenance bay, eventually ending up in front of someone with a nametag reading 'Kip'. "Okay, and whose special project are you..." she mutters, looking Ru Li up and down. "We have a standard design for a reason. Just because I made someone special once, everyone's going and trying to break the mold." "Okay, standard checks... recite laws, and then tell me what the color blue tastes like." She goes to dig around in a toolbox as she speaks. THE LIBRARY The library is open. In fact, it doesn't seem to have opening hours posted, suggesting it never closes. The walls are lined with shelves which are lined with books. The amounts aren't notable or awe-inspiring, it all seems appropriately sized for a city library. There's patrons throughout, browsing books or reading or just passing the time. "No no," one patron (in city wear) is telling another (wearing the bird-for-a-hat garb seen in the glen). "You'd want to start with the Author's earlier works. Here." A volume is pressed into the glen-dweller's hands, one embossed with a Å. "Start with this, then pick out a topic that interests you and move onto that stuff." At the back center of the library's main hall, there's a large desk, at which sits a robot - and behind the desk, a door labeled 'Head Librarian's Office'.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan looks at the water pills, squinting. "How do I use these?"
Ru Li Cheng	There's one surefire way to convince people that you belong somewhere.      You say *nothing*.      So when Ru Li is ordered to recite laws, and talk about the colour blue, he does *nothing*. He simply stands there, staring, as if he's too stupid to understand. The less you talk, the less people pay attention to you. Even moreso, if he can convince the woman that he's just outright broken or needs maintenance, well, he'll be shown right in, won't he? Or given very valuable information about the laws.      So, quite heroically, he simply stands there, ticking very quietly, attempting to look slightly confused and exactly like a special project that someone fucked up on.
Arcadia	It is decided to go check out their alternate options, and that is all Arcadia needs to zoom off to the Library. Finding it open, apparently eternally, is a relief. She wouldn't really want to have to break into a depository of knowledge, even if it is for important potential preventing the end of the world scenerios. Folding down her wings and heading inside the sphinx finds it to be a fairly typical city library inside. Hmm. She could just speed through looking for things, but with no real clue where in the place to look that could actually take longer. No, she needs to find something like the directory catalogue... or an actual librarian. Oh, looks like there is indeed one here. Arcadia, in an effort to not look too out of place, forgoes her usual hover and actually sets paws to the floor to walk over to the desk. Nevermind she doesn't look like an inhabitant, but she's trying to at least not make a commotion of her presence. "Excuse me, I am looking for information about the Tower standing in this City."
Petra Soroka	"Are... is he okay? Did he hold in a sneeze too long?"     "Mmmhm!" Petra hums in agreement and crouches down to face Niko. She lays her finger on Niko's snout so they cross their eyes, and her voice takes on that teasing-older-sibling impishness. "You know how they say that if you cross your eyes too long, they'll get stuck like that? It's the same thing. If you hold in your sneeze, then it builds up and up and up, and when it finally comes out, BOOM! You turn inside out!" "Broke, yea, but don't call me bitch, you aren't my type."     "Kill yourself. You're so desperate that you gave *Ishirou* a *hand-knit* sweater. Don't talk back to me until you've got a tenth as much charm as me." The words all flood out of Petra's mouth without her even needing to think about it, and that realization makes her smile-- not smirk, somehow, it's a softly pleased smile rather than smug meanness-- to herself. It sounds like something Lilian would've said to her a long time ago, and look at her now! Just don't look too closely or she'll get self conscious and say a slur.     At the library! Petra's brain was so full of thoughts about cool machines that the library slipped her mind until Angela mentioned it, but her duties to tinkering (and, by extention, Eggman) are lower priority than her duties to Angela. Her primary goal becomes showing Angela around the library, rather than directly progressing the plot.     "Hey, can you tell us more about that Author? Some of his better stuff, some recommendations, I guess?" Petra's first intention when approaching the pair is, genuinely, just to get books for Angela. She doesn't notice the symbol on the book, or at least doesn't make the connection, for a couple minutes. Turning to Niko, she asks them too, "Hey, are there any books you're interested in? How much do you read?"     Now, finally, she looks back at the book cover, hands on her knees from talking to Niko. "Eh... wait, that 'Å' ... wasn't that in one of the computer files?"
Kale Hearthward	> " " "... Recite laws," repeats Kip, leaving out the second command. Then she grabs some scrap paper, writes 'RECITE LAWS', and holds it up in front of Ru Li's face. "Okay, forget checking about if you're tamed, clearly I should be checking if you're working at all." She goes to walk around Ru Li. "Let's see... nonstandard design, but don't see any visible damage... must be something internal," she decides as she completes another circle around Ru Li. "Which means..." She goes back to her toolbox, grabs a screwdriver with one hand, and a crowbar with the other. "Let's get you cracked open and see what we've got." "Kip! You're needed in bay 4! A robot fell in the phosphor again." Calls a voice from outside the room. "Again- ugh, fine, go wait in maintenance," says Kip, putting the crowbar down, and pointing towards another set of doors.
Ishirou	"Thank you!" he says to the poor photograph dealer and is almost immediately on his way from around town towards the library that he saw on the way to the tower.  He lets people know over the radio and heads off there.   By the time he gets there, he notices people are discussing The Author as if he was a writer.  He looks at the books shown and is surprised to find that... well he is.  "Do... you know where the Author is right now?" he asks the two patrons. "Or someone named George?  I am told they both reside here.." he asks hopefully enough to break up the argument before it gets too involved.  He knows arguments about people's favorite entertainers can get pretty heated.
Angela	"Ah, well, then at least something positive came from it." Angela asides to Ru Li. ''Did he hold in a sneeze too long?'' Angela is an AI that can lie ............ Uh to that face, though? She is about to answer but this time stops herself in time when she realizes Petra is about to speak. She can still lie to children, she reassures herself, she just didn't want to this time. And before Angela can protest and insist on the robot factory as part of an eternal recursive loop, the scene transitions to the Library. She takes a long look around the building and its shelves and then her gaze settles on the Head Librarian office. "I suppose we could start there. We are in a hurry so we might not want to start with 'The Basics of the Author'." She collects a couple random books--it's okay so long as she doesn't remove them from the library and takes a look as Petra handles the socializing elements. A perfect team, she decides, despite the fact that she nearly contradicted Petra completely twice today. She intends to keep it to once. "I believe so. Should we seek out this 'George'? Or the Head Librarian?" She brightens at the idea of NIko reading a book they picked out. "Oh, yes, we should check you out something too so you have something to read while we are gone next time."
Ru Li Cheng	Ah, good. Free reign by dint of deus ex machina - which is perfect, as Ru Li is himself a deus ex machina, a joke he would certainly make if he knew Latin at all. Since he doesn't, he instead simply walks, faking a bit of stumbling, towards the maintenance bay. This is for the best. The alternative would've been the poor woman breaking her tools, and then he would've felt compelled to apologize, and that wouldn't be very ninja or hero-like.      Well, maybe hero-like, but not in the middle of cunning trickery.      Ru Li makes his way into maintenance and goes to stand in the place he is probably supposed to stand. It doesn't matter. Now that he's inside, he simply extends his senses outwards. He can see, hear, taste, touch, feel, and smell everything around him through many rooms. While he's at it, he might as well test for ghosts and divine energy, just in case, so he makes sure to click what would normally be his tongue against what would normally be the roof of his mouth, but since he has neither at the moment, it's more like flipping a switch behind his grille.      So what have they got in there that's so interesting it needs all these robots to deal with?
Futaba Nuki	Some leads! Futaba learns that the tower hasn't really been on anyone's mind prior to nor after the sun went out, and Ishirou mentions an author at the library. With little else to go on that she can think of, Futaba wastes little time in making her way to the library. Thanks to actually seeing it on the way through the city, meanwhile, actually finding the library doesn't take as long as it could have! It still takes a bit, though, since Futaba has to retrace the group's steps from the tower back towards the gate. It's at the library, then, that she realizes that the person they're looking for isn't An Author, but The Author. She spies that volume being handed over to the glen-dweller, and then she nonchalantly slides on over towards the city-wear patron. "Hey, where can I get one of those myself?" She asks, already taking a look around to see if she can, in fact, spot a similar volume for her own perusal. If she can, she'll just start looking under S, for sun, and then T, for tower. One of those is bound to give her a lead on this tower business! And while she's doing that... She hears some heated words being exchanged, so of course she's going to eavesdrop on that. Futaba whistles lightly at what's going on between Petra and Aidan, but her attention lingers on the book browsing going on with Petra, Angela, and Niko moments later.  "Might have something here! You guys find anything cool?" She asks, partially to just get closer to whatever's going on, and also so she can look directly at Niko like she's trying to get them to show off their own finds a bit. Something else rings a bell eventually, however, and she starts checking that volume (if she has it) for anything written by The Author about a Hero.
Aidan Proudpick	"Who buys a sweater! People MAKE sweaters." He isn't going to have a discussion with Petra about Ishirou's dateability, or lack thereof. Or his desperation. You don't need EVERYONE'S approval. Aidan puts his bag back to his side. Or some people's approval. Aidan stopped in place, staring out over the city, glancing up at the lights. He can feel pain rising up in his chest. Alright, maybe being alone wasn't the best idea. "It's not wrong to want to be a hero," he whispers at the night air. "To help people. I just need to be better at it." Right, the library, distractions. Aidan hobbles on his boot to the library to join everyone else. Maybe Petra will insult him some more.
Kale Hearthward	> "BOOM! You turn inside out!" > "EEP! I thought mama was kidding!" > "Hey, can you tell us more about that Author? Some of his better stuff, some recommendations, I guess?" "Oh! You'll want 'Train, Stage, Tower, and Neighborhood'. It's one of his best works, I think! It's all about all the crazy things people did to try to save the world. It's, uh, over there on that shelf, I think." Petra gets waved to one of the nonfiction shelves. About two thirds of the books there are credited to The Author. Actually - no, it's not just that shelf. About two thirds of the books in the entire nonfiction section seem to have been written by The Author. Angela, using her top tier librarian skills, has already managed to grab that one as well as a few other key books. "Do... you know where the Author is right now?" "No idea! Clearly still around, since he's still releasing books, though," says the Author Fandom Patron. > "Or someone named George? I am told they both reside here.." "Oh, George is probably in the back office," says the patron, thumbing towards the head librarian's office. "Good luck getting her attention, though." > "Excuse me, I am looking for information about the Tower standing in this City." "Yes," says the robot at the desk. "Information on the Tower is in section two shelf number six, row three." There are indeed books on the tower, but the selection seems more historical than containing any information on secret entrances. It's clear that at one time the entrance to the tower was in fact a normal entrance, though. Petra does find some information about a hero - or really, about the prophecy that talks up Niko, and historical information about that. DID YOU KNOW: Prophetbot is actually the mk. 2 prophet-bot, and nobody knows where mk. 1 ended up? It's not necessarily clear if that has any usefulness to getting into the tower, but - now you know!
Ishirou	George is in the office in the back!  "Thank you," Ishirou says excitedly and walks towards the main desk.  He pivots around the reception desk.  Pauses, and then turns back because the office seems like it's in front of that door and maybe the robot is also a receptionist for George. He pauses, standing next to the counter, and speaks up.   "Excuse me, I am here to see George, it's about the tower?" he asks the robot behind the counter. He's trying to desperately ignore the radio with Aidan and Petra right now because it's both uncomfortable /and/or insulting him at the same time. He's not sure how it's come to this.
Kale Hearthward	> So what have they got in there that's so interesting it needs all these robots to deal with? Ru Li doesn't need to wonder about this for long. Or have to exercise his brain too much, either. Shortly after he makes his way into the maintenance section, a pair of technicians come in, pushing a robot on a gurney. The robot looks... not great. "Looks like we got another one - hit by the squares," says the first technician. "Another one - more of those things popping up every day. Thank goodness one of the human workers didn't get hit instead." "Yeah - but we need the robots to keep the city running. Even before the squares started appearing, between all the evacuees coming in and the power shortage... Everything's falling apart." The conversations elsewhere in the facility support this sentiment - everything being stretched thin, and technicians discussing how to do more with less, and more often how to do 'much more' with 'much less'. Someone mentions that the concentrated phosphor, which is the city's only source of light, will need to be re-concentrated to keep its potency and likely will run out entirely within months at most.
Arcadia	Arcadia turns her head a moment to see the section the robot at the desk is indicating, then turns back and nods. "Thank you very much." And barely restrains herself to moving at 'normal' speed over to the shelves and start browsing through the books there. Turns out the selections are more historical than anything else. Not necessarily helpful to the immeadiate affair, other than confirming at one point the entrance -was- normal. But it's historical. This is exactly the kind of information Arcadia is designed to collect when possible and she grabs a few of the most promising looking volumes off the shelves. It might not help with finding an entrance but it will hopefully help with learning more about the Tower and such in general. She joins the others and gets to reading.
Aidan Proudpick	That was NOT the insulting Aidan was hoping for as he heads back to the tower, looking at the nonogram. 25 by 25? Aidan gently pokes at it, running his fingers across it. It was starting to worm in. Just a bit. A fresh wound opened. "I didn't deserve him anyways," Aidan whispers as he pulls out the flashlight. A survival flashlight, the crank kind, rather than the copper coil one. He starts to crank it, then points it up at the wall, then around, flicking his fingers across the nonogram. He puffs a long breath out. "I was the asshole." The thought that the same could happen with Hazelthistle made him squeeze his eyes and then open them again. And now this is spilling out in front of Ru Li, another person he wants to befriend. Aidan pushes his face sloooowly up against the nonogram, just letting himself stand there as he carefully scours the room, taking a moment to himself. "Stale winds, I'm going to drive everyone away from me."
Futaba Nuki	Although the historical information is dry, Futaba can still use it! Maybe. Guessing that the entrance to the tower is the same one they already tried using, her search instead focuses in on info about the hero. The prophecy is already known enough, but the missing mk. 1 Prophetbot... She's not sure what to do with that information just yet, but she files that away as a maybe-useful but of information to keep in mind for later. It's clear that her own search for information isn't quite turning up what she's looking for, though, so... It's time to follow the lead Ru Li was chasing and Petra's redirecting her towards: The robot factory! Hearing that Ru Li got in as a robot means she can't do that herself, though, since that'd just be copying his thing and also probably kind of suspicious. Instead, she takes on the form of a (probably) innocuous toolbox with a leafy paintjob and a gold ring somehow looped around a handle. As far as actually getting in... She finds the nearest window, then throws herself at it before landing just outside the window. Someone's bound to hear that noise and investigate, and then she can improvise from there, whether it's waiting to get picked up and lugged around, turning into a worm and slipping in that way, or even turning into a chunk of weirdly decorative tape to attach herself to someone's leg or boot until she can find a moment to locate Ru Li.
Petra Soroka	Aidan hobbles on his boot to the library to join everyone else. Maybe Petra will insult him some more. <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka pivots to defending Ishirou, solely for the purpose of mocking Aidan. "Look at him. Look how anxious you've made him. Don't you feel bad at all for being such a creep that you've even made *Ishirou* uncomfortable?" "Oh! You'll want 'Train, Stage, Tower, and Neighborhood'. It's one of his best works, I think! It's all about all the crazy things people did to try to save the world. It's, uh, over there on that shelf, I think."     "Ehhh... huh. Yeah, I think I *will* want that one, yeah." Petra starts wandering over to the section, before Angela shows that she's already got the book. "Oh, shit. You're the best, Ange. Do you think you can read that one super fast? There's probably more fun ones, but that one seems... weirdly relevant? I mean, given the... Train, and Stage, and all." "George" "her"     These can't possibly refer to the same person. It bothers Petra enough that she turns around and confronts the patron about it. "Is he... with the head librarian? George, I mean?"     Petra pauses and taps a finger on her cheek. "Oh, also, do you have, like... poetry selections here? Kids' books? Nonfiction's cool and all, but...."
Ru Li Cheng	It's not hard to find Ru Li, since he's basically standing stock still in a maintenance bay, *listening* and *sensing* and *feeling* out everything. When Futaba arrives, it's noticable, because something new has been added to the building in an unusual manner. He focuses on her as he ambiently listens, and then, once she's in the room, he comes free of the maintenance bay and holds out his hand.      +There is...quite a lot going on. I have learned some things, but it may be prudent to look for their supply of phosphor. And...whatever the Squares are. If you can change into a technician, we should have completely free reign, yes? We may be able to find the blueprints to the custom model, or anything else we may need. And then I can simply follow you and do as you need me to do to fulfill the guise!+
Kale Hearthward	> "Excuse me, I am here to see George, it's about the tower?" "Yes!" says the robot at the desk. "Let me call her for you." He grabs the phone on the desk and dials. Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... "... I am sorry, it seems like she is not picking up right now," says the desk robot. > "Is he... with the head librarian? George, I mean?" "Is who with George? She's usually back there alone, I think?" Petra gets pointed towards the fiction section - which is considerably smaller than the nonfiction section (and nearly entirely devoid of The Author's work.)
Angela	Angela looks at Aidan sternly but seems to be accepting the sweater as a platonic sweater despite Petra insisting it was a romantic gesture. She is already ready to be disappointed in allowing this little bit of faith in Aidan she is entrusting him with. She prepares some insult strings for later in her head just in case she's proven wrong again and she should've been talking shit as well. She frowns thoughtfully going through the books. 'All the sam Author...? They are quite prolific." Since Niko is aching to go home, she opens up one of the books she picked up and asides to Petra, "I will try to get through this quickly as possible rather than just reading to enjoy it for Niko's skae." She brightens at the idea of there being poetry. And kids' books. "Yes, yes, do you haev kids books? Poetry?" She starts flipping through the books she already has. It's like she's spinning the pages in front of her without reading a single word but, well... This is Angela. She can read a full book in about a minute.
Ishirou	Oh George is female!  Good to know!   "Oh... is she back there?" Ishirou asks, "I'll just go back there and talk to her then?" he asks, and if allowed he'll attempt to... well do that!  Walk around the robot and walk back towards George's office.
Petra Soroka	"Is who with George? She's usually back there alone, I think?"     Petra continues insisting. "You mean... George... ia? Georg*ie*?"     In the fiction section, Petra starts collecting any book that Angela seems interested in. Poetry in particular is picked up, as well as any local fairy tales and common culturally relevant stories. If Petra needs to pay to rent them, she will, and if they end up disappear when they leave from the terminal, she's going to come back inside and painstakingly scan each page of the books with Pence to reproduce them in the real world for Angela. It's important.
Kale Hearthward	> "I'll just go back there and talk to her then?" "Please wait. I'll need to call her and get approval for you to go back there." He grabs the phone on the desk and dials. Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... "... I am sorry, it seems like she is not picking up right now," says the desk robot. Angela speed-reads... The Author seems to have been prolifically and exhaustively cataloging an entire world's worth of information. Literally. Books on flora, books on fauna. Books on locales and weather conditions and government civics and crop rotations and everything someone could think of to write about. It's all consistent - it'd be inconceivably harder to write all of this about some place that doesn't exist, some fictional world, and make sure it all meshes together. The book on the 'Train, Stage, Tower, and Neighborhood' is a bit different - and particularly interesting. It describes the last days of the world and four endeavors to save it - the Tower doesn't get much mention, but one of the endeavors was 'a train, infinite in length, to evacuate the populace elsewhere' - and then ' a Stage, upon which miracles and dreams could be spun' - and 'a neighborhood whose dwellers could live forever'. Petra goes to check out some books. "Hello. You need a library card. New library cards need to be approved by the head librarian. Please wait while I call her for you." He grabs the phone on the desk and dials. Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... Ring, ring... "... I am sorry, it seems like she is not picking up right now," says the desk robot.
Petra Soroka	Moreso than the plot, it is being denied a library card that forces Petra's hand.     "Oh, that's okay. I'm just going to talk to-- hhhhher, myself." Petra simply walks towards the door without asking and tries to open it up. If forced, she's going to pull out her lockpicking set despite any complaints about this.
Aidan Proudpick	One can only mope around so much. With nothing from the nonogram reacting to him, Aidan goes into the library, pocketing the flashlight. Just focus. Just focus. No one actually knows about what happened, it's all just conjecture. "Hey! Are there any books about the tower?" Once directed over to the Non-Fiction section, Aidan will start looking for numbers. Anything. Anything to save Niko. He HAS to get out of here. He's about to start scrabbling at the tower.
Ishirou	Ishirou blinks at the robot.  They seem to be stuck here.  He can't get a card, without George.  He can't go back there without a card, or George's permission.  He's stuck about how to get back there and is about to take Ru Li's advice, but then Petra just runs up and starts picking the door's lock. He pauses, looks at her, and shrugs.   Alright, that works.
Angela	Angela is distracted from her reading to watch Petra pick a lock. There's something relaxing about this. "Petra." She says. "...Somehow the Infinity Train is mentioned in this book. And the Wonderworld Stage. The Train was apparently utilized to evacuate the populace. Or at least, that was the idea. I do not know if it actually happened that way." She looks down at it again. "It mentions...a neighborhood whose dwellers will live forever. A forEverhood perhaps, haha." There isn't much humor in the laguh.
Kale Hearthward	Petra goes to open the door, which turns out to not even be locked. "Ah! Please wait! I'll need to call her for permission," says the desk robot, who goes to dial George again. Ring ring, ring ring... A short hallway later, there's a robot sitting at a desk with headphones on. She looks very human, aside from... well, aside from the six-sided die she has for a head - with the 6 pip face forward. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/oneshot/images/4/41/George1.gif "Oh!" She takes the headphones off, and looks at Petra, Ishirou, Angela, and anyone else making their way in. "Well, aren't you just a wild bunch. Ain't seen you cats around before." The phone's ringing off the hook, still, George(?) picks it up and slams the receiver back down. "Sorry about that, was harshing my vibe. So! Let's rap. What brings you all up to my crib?"
Futaba Nuki	Upon finding Ru Li, Futaba waits until the coast is clear before wormifying herself, then doing a distinctly un-wormlike thing and just leaping over to him with a single slightly damp noise. "Yo. Sorry for the wait. Alright, whatcha got?" She asks as she settles in to hear what he has to explain, nodding her tiny worm head in response to each thing he points out. The phosphor supply, and the Squares. "That's one more thing the library team might be able to dig into, then. Uh. The Squares, I mean." She affirms with one more nod, then glances around again to make sure the coast is clear before leaping backwards off Ru Li, and... It's time for another transformation! This time, it's back into her humanoid form, but with a uniform similar to one of the technicians she saw on the way in. Her hair's changed to blend in a bit more, too, opting for that brown-haired look that Ru Li's last seen in Yinghua. Instead of just answering Ru Li about his plan immediately, though, Futaba spies an opportunity! She steps back, then does a quick turn (but her tail is too fat and obscures most of it) before looking back at Ru Li expectantly. "Think this'll work?" She asks with a faux-innocent smile on her face just to see how he reacts to that, but not waiting long enough before just hurrying back over way-too-close to actually do what she came to do: Dragging Ru Li around to continue the double-infiltration and snoop around further. "So! We've got blueprints to look for, info on this phosphor supply to... Hmm. They've gotta have invoices or something lying around a place this big, yeah? Or even... I dunno. Someone talking way too loud about the next shipment or whatever."
Aidan Proudpick	Petra just opens the door. He can hear voices from the other side. Aidan turns around, coming up to the back half of the group. He is taller than just about everyone, so he can push himself up on his toes and wave his hands over at the dice head lady. "Hi! Do you have an-" He stares at her, looking directely at the non-face of pips. "any numbers."
Ishirou	"We're trying to guide Niko to the tower, but the first floor is all... empty and there appears to be no way up," Ishirou says to George the moment she introduces herself to them.  "Oh Sorry, getting ahead of myself, my name is Ishirou and we're here helping Niko, they have the lightbulb that's supposed to go at the top of the tower.." Ishirou says, scratching the back of his head somewhat awkwardly.
Ru Li Cheng	+.......+      Oh. So that's interesting. The mechanical form doesn't *blush*, but the lines on its face do run slightly silver, as if the quicksilver coolant liquid is filling them. +...y-yes-+      And then she's dragging him off. +I, I have been listening to every conversation in the building, and have heard nothing about shipments yet. Be careful, there is someone ahead; turn right.+      Ru Li says, +Invoices are probably a good idea. I cannot directly observe paperwork through walls, or at least, not without more practice if it is possible, so looking for that...+      +...yes. And it may take a bit. So...so we will have to...hold hands for a bit. To stay together.+
Petra Soroka	Petra sullenly puts her lockpicks, which she has managed to use once in the past year, away, and turns the doorknob to walk into the office. The dice-head only takes a second for her to readjust to, after everything else here.     "Yeah, uh, I need a library card?" A few seconds later, "And we also need some information about the lighthouse? We've got a lightbulb and a hero with us, so we're trying to get up there." "...Somehow the Infinity Train is mentioned in this book."     "Uh... huh. Yeah, we saw that Author symbol in one of the files on the computer, remember? So there's clearly... er, this guy, at least, is from the real world too. So all of this... has been connected, and done on purpose, because of someone's plan?"     A slightly guilty look crosses her face. "... We didn't, like, doom this world by destroying the Infinity Train, right?" Angela's joke does get a genuine snort out of her, and a pat on the Eggpack's head. Even if the joke was bad, it makes her happy to hear Angela telling it.
Angela	Angela looks up from her reading and quirks her head at George curiously. She waits a moment and then says, "We are not cats." There is a pause and she adds, "That is...fine. We have come to check out books and ask about the Tower. I am told this is appropriate procedure as we do not have a library card." She isn't sure it's appropriate library procedure to ignore calls while on the job but she likes the cut of this lady's jib anyway because if she were a librarian, she'd get to answer or not answer whatever calls she wanted to. Or didn't want to. "Also," She adds, taking a breath. "May I just say that you have a very nice library, even if the selection is rather focused in some genres. I very much enjoy the ambience and the staff has been quite polite." "...I... would like to believe we did not accidentally create this situation." Angela says. The idea of being responsible for UNINTENTIONALLY harming so many people sits ill with her.... But she does smile at Petra's headpat. It's fine. There's no agents here. And it makes her happy to see Petra happy. Huh, she thinks, it really does.
Kale Hearthward	ROBOT FACTORY The phosphor supply is easy to find first. There's someone testing it, and commenting to themselves about it. "Hmm? Can I help you? Are you the new tech?" he says as Futaba walks in. The disguise seems convincing enough. LIBRARY > "Any numbers" "I've got two digits for you, little buddy!" George holds up one fingergun, and then a second fingergun. "Ayyyy." That is probably not the puzzle solution. "Don't be so tense, little buddy." > "Oh Sorry, getting ahead of myself, my name is Ishirou and we're here helping Niko, they have the lightbulb that's supposed to go at the top of the tower.." "Ahh - talkin' about the savior. I dig it." Fingerguns. "I think there's a thing you gotta do while you're in the room at the base of the tower, but danged if I don't know what it is." > "Yeah, uh, I need a library card?" "Straight on," says George, heading over to a computer terminal in the corner - one that's running World Machine OS. "Or - I would say that, but printer's busted. And there's some file clogging up the print spooler, too. Tried to cancel it from the #print menu, but it sticks in there. Like it's some important thing that shouldn't be cancelled." > "May I just say that you have a very nice library, even if the selection is rather focused in some genres. I very much enjoy the ambience and the staff has been quite polite." "Ayy! Yeah!" Finger guns, and then finger guns again. "Cool of you to say that."
Ishirou	"Oh, well I happen to be an expert when it comes to computers, so let me have a sit at it.." Ishirou says, walking over to the terminal and deciding the best way to start this is to hit #print first.   "Documents waiting in the print queue: 1... attempting to restart print spooler on the local machine..." he pauses, thinking about this.   "We'll need to run this command on a computer with a working printer... so I guess we need a working printer first.  Where do we get a working Printer?" he looks up to ask George.
Aidan Proudpick	"So, we've been to the train," lotus dream, "The Stage," That didn't work great either. "The Tower." "And there's a neighborhood where people live forever?" Aidan counts the last finger. "Is that like Time Travel? If you could live somewhere forever, you could learn a lot of things."
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan very slowly curls the last finger in, whispering, "Could you go in and come out whole?" He turns his head up, "Oh, does the robot factory have one? It's a machine, they make machines, right?"
Petra Soroka	"Or - I would say that, but printer's busted."     Petra frowns, leaning over George's shoulder to poke at the computer like any teenager giving their parents computer help. "Huh. Yeah, needs a functional printer. I don't think we've seen one around, so we'll need to search for another computer... or maybe just a printer sitting alone somewhere? We shouldn't discount that we need to hook it up ourselves."     Petra reaches for the compact mirror on her belt to offer to pull out her tools and fix the printer herself, but then freezes. Qetra's still on time-out for that stunt she pulled with Hibiki, and even though Hibiki's not around right now... who knows what Qetra might do if she comes out.     "Right. Hey, do you think a document written up in an exact copy of the printed library card by a... god of bureaucracy would work? Even just as a temporary one? I'd really like to get the books, like, today." She waits for a few seconds then adds, "You don't need to know what those words mean. Just, I can get a library card without a printer, and I would be using that to take these poetry books today. Thanks."
Futaba Nuki	"At the same time? Whoa. Trying to follow all that stuff at once sounds like..." Futaba pauses, nodding once before taking the cue to turn. She's worried about looking too chipper and upbeat for an employee passing through, though, so she slouches against Ru Li and half-closes her eyes to look more like an tired technician just going through the motions. "Right, then left into... Not enough juice..." She murmurs, perhaps a bit too close to Ru Li's head, then glances back once before straightening up again once the coast is clear. "... Sounds like what I'd be doing at home. I won't blame you if you want to focus on other stuff." Letting out a more relieved chuckle a while later, Futaba keeps wandering based on Ru Li's instructions, and she doesn't even miss a beat before taking his hand. "Good idea. Don't want you getting lost in here and having to deal with getting out without raising any eyebrows." Another laugh, and she brushes her nose with her free hand. "Even if this place /is/ pretty safe." Instead of running across any convenient invoices, however, she instead finds a convenient phosphor tester along with the actual supply! Bringing a screwdriver up to her shoulder that was totally in her hand the whole time and not just transformed from her hand a second ago, Futaba nods at the tester while gesturing at Ru Li. "Got it in one. Chief said to double-check this one after that incident with the squares, but..." An idea occurs. "What am I supposed to be looking for if it's the squares, anyway? Or... I mean, how do we know the phosphor's any good?"
Angela	Angela returns the fingerguns immediately, if awkwardly. It is not a gesture she usually gets to make with her robotic digits here. "You're cool. I hope one day to be a Head Librarian myself. If you have any advice I'd love to ... hear it." She notices at the end there that she's letting herself get distracted from being helpful to Niko. "It is for a child, but perhaps we could ... Did you say hashtag?" She frowns. Did they leave nobody topside today? What a classic blunder!! Maybe they can get Ishirou to do it (Angela is doubtful Aidan can use a Printer). "We might need to go to the terminal topside." She tells Ishirou, suggestively. She worries this might result in hacking.
Ru Li Cheng	Ru Li, for his part, supports Futaba as she slouches. He seems very much like he's playing the role of 'a personal project designed to keep her supported,' and he is definitely trying not to let on that he's enjoying her leaning on him a little more than is *perhaps* entirely seemly and proper. There's something exciting about direct contact that simply having his senses extended doesn't cover - but that's something he can think about later, when they're not in the middle of an investigation, when people *aren't* counting on them.      As Futaba gestures to Ru Li, Ru Li bows his head, looking like a robot acknowledging its master's statement, then straightens and stares at the other tech. He's a good disguise component for now.
Ishirou	Ishirou pauses, considers what Angela says, and nods. He thinks about this for a moment, "Did the outside machine have a Printer?" he asks Angela, not sure if it did or not.
Kale Hearthward	ROBOT FACTORY > "What am I supposed to be looking for if it's the squares, anyway? Or... I mean, how do we know the phosphor's any good?" "It's good if it's bright enough, basically. Get a robot that has a luminance detector in it, make sure it's up to standard. If it's not, it won't recharge solar batteries, won't keep the streetlights bright enough for safety..." "But - here..." he goes over to a terminal and taps on it a few times, bringing up a set of data and a series of charts. Ru Li can crunch the numbers - and if anything, the prognosis of six months of phosphor left is *optimistic*. LIBRARY "If I knew where to get a working printer, I'd have it fixed up right as rain already. Might just need to get gum on your shoes, you dig?" > "Hey, do you think a document written up in an exact copy of the printed library card by a... god of bureaucracy would work?" "Heyyy, why not. That seems groovy. If you've got a god of bureaucracy, I'd love to see him shake his inkwell."
Kale Hearthward	LIBRARY > If you have any advice I'd love to ... hear it." "Definitely - the advice I'd give, stock books that get patrons coming to your door! And remember that everyone's got a story in them - today's patron might result in your best book one day!" The phone in the room starts ringing again. It doesn't get to the second ring before Kale bursts into the room, looking around. "Not here either - was hoping he was with you," he says, slightly out of breath. "I think - I think we lost Niko somewhere."