Scene #6815: OFF - The Cellar

Owner	Pose
Priscilla	Zone 0, shockingly, yet strangely reassuringly, given all of the bleak surreality that has been going around, looks exactly the same. It'd have been difficult to believe, not very long ago, that an island of yellow metal in a sea of white plastic, arranged like a cat tree of tiered yellow blocky buildings and ladders, echoing with the trickling slosh of liquid plastic for miles, could possibly feel cozy. Downright homey, even. It's unchanged from when it began --that fun little strange adventure with a talking cat, an odd tutorial, baby leagues puzzles, someone with an unpronounceable name, and a quiet man with a baseball bat. That's sort of a problem. People are here on a suggestion of significance basically lifted from Zacharie's subconscious and a vague line the Judge had said about building a cellar to 'forget our woes' when looking for his late brother Valerie. Without an obvious difference in anything around, it's not so easy to make anything useful of that. There's not sight nor sound of a Spectre here either, or any indication that there ever has been one, in all this time, despite this itty bitty Zone having never been bleached in stark white mundanity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqBNchZfVnU
Janine Liberi	Well, that's a relief. No stark white, perfectly purified lands, nor the grungy darkness of Zone 3's sugar factory. Just a small bright land surrounded by plastic seas. Same as it ever was. And honestly, that's a problem. "A place to forget our woes, right? Well... there's only so many places it could be. Unless there's like, an invisible path over the plastic." She strides forward, up the path to the structure of featureless cubes that held. Last time, she leapt right to the top, but this time she takes the door that was blocked, now open. "I hope the Judge is here. Haven't seen that little bastard in a while."
Tina Natsumi	Once again, Tina arrives at Zone 0. If it's the last time she'll ever see this place, it's certainly not going to be a moment too soon, considering just what kinds of confusing and mind-warping things she's seen since that first time she came here and bore witness to all sorts of insane bullshit. Today, she's donning a baseball cap of her own rather than her usual cowboy hat. She's lacking the rest of the uniform in favor of wearing her usual vest and shorts, but it's... Well, she wanted to fit in a little better with the Batter. Plus, caps aren't as catastrophic to lose. "The problem is figuring out where to start searching. With little else to go on besides the cellar and forgetting woes, she starts tracing her first steps through the town. "Maybe a bar or restaurant or somethin'? I don't remember seeing any of those the last time, though..." She suggests to Janine, looking for new openings in the ground outside those blocky buildings that would indicate something opening recently. She can't remember if she had actually seen any restaurants or bars here in the past, but it certainly won't hurt to keep an eye out for them.
Zero Kiryu	There's something sad about this place, Zero thinks upon returning to Zone 0. There's something sad about all of the Zones, but if he had to put his finger on exactly why Zone 0 strikes him in particular it would be the sheer simplicity and innocence of it. It's strange, yes, but not in an especially sinister way. He can't help but wonder if that is because the character of this place is reflected in its own Guardian. He follows after Janine. It's his lead, but she seems to know the way around here better. With his mind's eye, he sweeps the surroundings in search of a ping. Anything at all. There's so little here that surely if anything is present he'll be able to pick up on it. "His brother died." Zero offers as a reminder.
Starbound Flotilla	George is here, though it looks like he was waiting around where the group gets deposited after their excursions to the Map? area. "Gotta admit, I don't know what's here. Zone Zero-- Hell, that's gonna be confusing." He shifts his pronunciation. "Zone 0's Guardian ain't on the cross-off list before we meet up with Big Q or anything." George says, squinting and examining the environment as if for clues. "Do you even need me on this one? Sounds like business you guys can handle yourself." He wanders along with Janine, and plaintively says, "What, you got eyes, don'tcha? We saw him plenty back in Zone Three, remember." Then he does a sort of a wink thing, with a big dumbass grin.
Janine Liberi	"I know, and I'd be torn up too if one of my brothers died," Janine replies to Zero. "But I just hope he's okay, you know? For all his verbage, he was helpful and decent. Something sorely lacking around here." She looks at George, and recalls Zacharie. "Oh shut up. That was really messed up in retrospect. I hope he didn't skin that cat for that mask."
Doctor Strange	The Sorcerer Supreme appears in his usual way, stepping from a burning orange portal. He frowns--as usual. "Then we'll look for them," he says in response to Tina. The zone is small, and it's placid. It'd be the place to look for a place to forget sorrows. It's also quiet. Strange's hands move in complex motions as he traces the workings of a spell. Orange lines of energy follow his movements. In time, there's a glyphic eye burning in the air above him. He nods at George. Yeah, he's got eyes. A flick of his wrist sends the scry spell buzzing through the air, searching for a restaurant or a tavern--some place where a cellar might be found, anyway.
Yuuki Kuran	It's not Purified, it's just empty. A truly 'zero' zone. "Do you think this is necessary?" Yuuki asks, arm braced across her chest and holding her opposite bicep with a spread-fingered grip. "I guess... it always was possible it could be. And moaning about what could, will, or may be is the privelege of an observer, not an actor." Yuuki's face falls as George is here. That seals it, really. "Hello, George." Yuuki greets the goofy-grinning Captain. "And George, of course I need you here." She laughs, despite the emotional tension of the situation. "I'm just terrible at puzzles that aren't people."
Zero Kiryu	"No physical harm has befallen him that I am aware of. But I would not describe him as 'okay'." Zero replies to Janine, flatly. With a little sigh, he adds, "Zacharie didn't hurt him. He's worried, too. I think that all of the ones that are left over from here are worried about each other. They're all... strung together. Connected. And I think all of them are only holding on by a thread."
August Kohler	August is dressed in a thin coat, clearly lost in thought as he travels with the others. He has other things besides a cat to think about, even if he's here to help, ever since last night's discussion with the Nameless gunner. "So, Zone 0 has a guardian too? We didn't deal with one, so I never really thought about it." August replies to George, as he moves to follow after Janine forward, despite their current strife. "Let's get to work finding him, then. Anyone have catnip?"
Priscilla	Janine decides to walk up to the borderline shack in the middle of the mess that they'd skimmed over before. She comes to a tiny little box of a room with the giant black letters stenciled on its back wall: 4 4 8 2 8 7 C. It's exactly the sort of cute little stupid puzzle box meant to goad dumb kids into using their brains that this place had been made out of, instead of the esoteric five step bullshit with bloodied video game controllers not long before. Tina retracing her steps through the place meets mostly just with a painful little bit of nostalgia. All the levels of the 'tutorial tower' are exactly like she left them. None of the blocks or switches have been reset, and all of the yellow plastic chests lie open and empty. It's nice to remember when this was all fun and games, though --when everyone came back excited to talk about the strange little world they'd just found. To Strange's scrying spell, Zone 0 is tiny. Its purpose, compared to the other three, is really unclear. Even if Elsens were to live here, it'd only be a handful of them. It seems to just be a jumble of proof of concept with living arrangements lazily stapled into it like a bachelor who never quite got around to unpacking all the boxes, which have now been sitting on the floor for years. The only particular thing of significance he picks out is that a broader, flatter building, near to the other side where they'd all just find the red cube again, has the lights switched on, glowing out its windows and doors. Zero detects a total of three pings. One is in the lit room, one is moving over to the red cube on the opposite side of the island, and one of them is indeed straight below, a fairly considerable distance. The foremost doesn't seem terribly impressive. The last has a certain ominous quality to it.
Zero Kiryu	Zero glances towards August, but says nothing to him. Three choices are highlighted in his mind. One and two are nearer, while the third is much farther away. If he was forced at gunpoint to make a spot-decision on who to attempt to read with an end goal of reading all of them, the lowest one would be a distant third. It probably isn't going anywhere. But what about the other two? Who is more important, and who isn't likely to depart hastily? He turns about and comes alongside Yuuki, pressing a finger to her arm. A small tangle runs up and down the length of that arm, winding into an unthreatening bit of green decoration that gives easily. No explanation is forthcoming. He stops altogether, and focuses on the ping in motion near the red cube.
Janine Liberi	Janine stares at the puzzle hint emblazoned on the wall, thinking back to their first time here. Too many cooks spoiling the easy puzzle. They've been and gone, and the only clue that they had is the empty chests and opened doors. Nothing concrete, nothing absolute. Nothing real. She walks up to the wall, and draws her sabre. And then, in a flurry of fast cuts, she attempts to carve the wall. Not to cut all the way through, but to add her own message. Something that shows a real person was here, once upon a time. In this empty place, within an even emptier world. JANINE WAS HERE she puts her sword away and goes back outside, looking about. "Ground floor was a wash. Anyone else find anything?"
Yuuki Kuran	Nostalgia is not a very frequent friend of Yuuki Kuran, but it's because she's always doing something new and different... And that she tends to forget hardship easily, as long as it's not embarrasing school drama. Or politics. Mostly embarrasing drama. The boxes, though, she never really paid much attention to. Oh, the block puzzles made sense in the same way one could look at any 'basic adventuring puzzle' and go 'ah, yes, of course'. She had been dreaming before, flickering in and out of this world like a pleasant daytime fantasy. Now things had become far too real, and she felt wide awake. Zero's approach gets a light sigh, as he grants her fancy plantlike jewelry. Janine reports the first floor of the tower is empty. Instead of just wandering off herself, Yuuki finds an EMPTY CHEST and plops down on top of it, a white butterfly displacing and landing on top of her head. "I'll just... Wait here, I think. If there's only three potential places it could be, then, it shouldn't take long. Though, there's no Elsen. Is this some sort of big message? Some sort of existential dread or empty happiness? Am I reading too much into these?" George is given a direct 'I bet you can answer' look and quirk of the eyebrow. "We know Pavo is in the Purified Zone 1, and Biteblade's probably in Zone 4. If there's Zone 1-4 and Zero..." "You're not the one we have to fight here, are you?"
Tina Natsumi	Doesn't even look like there's a Guardian around. Weird. Not a bad thing, but still kinda weird." Tina comments, shrugging lightly at George for a moment before grinning brightly. "Wouldn't hurt to have you on board even if it is kinda quiet, though. Never know when things might go nuts with shrieking babies or whatever." She pauses, then glances around rapidly just to make sure they're not being pursued. It's happened one time too many for Tina not to check. I dunno if we really /need/ to do this, but... Who knows if we'd get the chance to come back once we do finish things? This place could just.. I dunno." Tina starts pushing her thumb into her opposite fist. "Merge into another world and become impossible to find or whatever." She says that completely seriously to Yuuki, too, before resuming her search with Strange. She doesn't catch the building with the lights on, though, instead focused on finding a literal cellar entrance. That doesn't seem to be getting her any results, unfortunately. She makes her way around just admiring the old chests and solved puzzles, eventually coming across Janine carving up a wall. Grinning mischievously, she waits until Janine heads outside before moving over to add a little cartoon facsimile of her and Janine's heads nearby the words. It's in marker rather than carved in, but it's the best she can manage with what she's got. Back out she goes. "Catnip, catnip... Nah, fresh out. Y'think he'll even be affected by the stuff? I mean, he looks like a cat, but... Y'think that'd piss him off?"
Doctor Strange	Strange brings his hands across his chest. Across the area, shimmering screens of immaterial substance stretch into existence before his allies. Each one broadcasts the building his spell located. It lasts only so long as it takes to get the message across--'I'm checking this out.' Then the screens disappear, as does the burning eye in the air. Strange opens a portal. He leaves it open for anyone who also wants to investigate the building, and steps through it. He tries the door, at first. If it doesn't open, he knocks. This is the kind of place where you can get away with knocking. At worst, he suspects there'll be a Burnt on the other side. At best, it's someone more lucid than either a Burnt or an Elsen. "Anyone home?"
August Kohler	As Janine walks up to the wall, August snoops around the puzzle. He's not in the right mindset to actually figure it out, so he doesn't. Once Janine is done with the wall, and then Tina also adds her contribution, August moves up to the wall. Should he add something? No, he decides. He doesn't need to be remembered like that, or leave his contributions in that way, as long as change is actualized. August steps out towards Tina, laughing as she she replies to the catnip thing. "Yeah, you're right. He'll probably bite us. What do you think he's up to, Natsumi?"
Starbound Flotilla	"Every Zone has to have a Guardian, that's the gig, you know? And-- no such thing as Zone 4." George says in an easygoing tone. "Not in the way you're thinking, exactly. It's... more complicated? Less complicated? Whatever." He shrugs. "Messages are for when you want someone to know something. This place isn't trying to say anything, it just... is /this/, you know?" He gestures around. He leans near the same empty chest. "You don't gotta fight me. Only way you'd fight me is if you wanna -- and, between you and me, I'd rather not. I'm on your side, remember? Full support of the Purification mission." But as further investigations go on, he tilts his head, curiously, and frowns. He seems to think, and then light up a cigarette in an uncertain way, only taking light drags of it. He, for his part, doesn't have more to do with this right now.
Tina Natsumi	Another tap of the chin, and Tina nods at August when he comes by. "Well, I got two ideas, and I dunno how far we'd get with either." Tina holds up two fingers, one going down after the first sentence. "One, he's doin' the cliche sad thing and gettin' drunk. Two, he's doin' the other cliche sad thing and holed up in his room or office or wherever." Tina pauses, then crosses her arms while glancing around again. "... Come to think of it, has he ever shown us a room of his? Or maybe his brother's room..."
Yuuki Kuran	With an even, restrained heave, Yuuki slumps her shoulders, half-muttering something that scans as nonsense unbaked words. "George, I know. There's no 'but', after that. I know you're behind this a hundred percent. But I'm not sure I can be. I'm not sure... I can fight Biteblade. And I know they're here. Four and one Grands. Four and one captains. I was just worried..." Yuuki points down, at the 'ground' of Zone 0, as her white butterfly lifts off of her head with a few fluttering wingbeats to transfer to George's lightly-puffed cigarette, landing gently. "That this wasn't necessary for Purification. That you'd have to reveal that we can't get everything we want, and to win, we'd - I'd - have to lose."
Priscilla	Zero makes the fastest pace reasonably possible towards the other end of the island. He arrives just in time to see the Batter walking along the last little spit of land and disappearing from the cube with a harsh distortion noise and a wave of light. It's entirely banal, yet shocking. He'd never really strayed far from the Choir before, so it'd never really been . . . confirmed if he can go around on his own. Or, at least, with only one person directing him. Obviously there was some free time while people investigated the Purified Zone 0, but still. Given the state of everything, he couldn't have been here any longer than a few minutes, and given the lack of Spectres, there probably wasn't anything to do anyways. Odd that he'd show up. Speaking of which, showing up at the building with the lights on, there does, indeed, appear to be someone home. Zacharie is chilling out in the middle of a brightly lit yellow room, in his frog-like mask again, sitting around a little blue (Bismarck blue) bowl of cat food, still full. "As you can see, not at the moment, my good customer." he replies to Strange, but the laugh this time is a little weak. "If you've come to ply your wares door to door, I'll have to see you away. I was here first." Reaching the end of the tutorial tower puts them back at the ground floor with the largest floating block switch puzzle thing of the bunch. The one that'd opened the back door. It occurs now, to look upon its calculator-like shape, that the last time they'd seen this had been Enoch's personal office door keypad. It'd been flipped and mirrored deviously, but it's the exact same proof of concept, found here in Zone 0. The extraneous 'button' corresponding to no number is still yellow and solid, instead of translucent and floating.
Zero Kiryu	Zero tries to wrap his head around the reality of the Batter being here. He can't think of a good reason for the entity -- not a man, he's sure of that at this point -- to be here. Somewhere in a sea of the Batter being escorted by the Choir to his destination and the Batter's personality having the rough quality of a cardboard cut-out of a baseball player who was really just a joyless salaryman's head pasted onto a sketchily drawn body, it simply didn't occur to him that the Batter would just... roam. Or do anything. Instead he can't help but imagine that he was like a thing summoned, lingering in silence in some prepared, otherworldly cell until such time as he was called for to act again. He weighs his options, deposits a tangle of plant matter onto the ground before trailing after the Batter, attempting to see if there is a coherent 'transition' point he can actually follow through.
Doctor Strange	"I haven't," says Strange to Zacharie. "You know why I've come." His tone is without its usual deadpan, but it isn't cheery. It's purposeful; perhaps even a little grave. The sorcerer doesn't bother with any further explanation--Zacharie is pretty obviously Zacharie, and he has a record of knowing just a little more than he lets on. There isn't any point in focusing on the cat food, or on Zacharie's mask. They seem to Strange more like mystic trappings than anything material. "What's the matter?" He can tell that laugh is weaker than usual. The string of discoveries made, the hidden element of Sugar, or perhaps just the crushing grind of all the recent Purification appear to have worn on Zacharie's chipper demeanor, if only a little. Maybe, thinks the sorcerer, he can catch the merchant on his back foot, get him to reveal something of use. "There isn't much time," explains Strange. "But I can listen."
Starbound Flotilla	George follows, and looks around. He chats with Yuuki as he does. "'Course you can fight Biteblade. I wrassle her all the time. She's a roughhouser, you know. I think, after, uh... the last one." He can hardly bring himself to mention Seft. "I don't think she'll be as invested. Never seen her invest much at all, really, the way you or I do, or the way the last Captain did." He looks around, and... frowns a little. "Well, I dunno if this is, what, 'mutually exclusive'? I don't really know what's getting planned to do with any of this. But heck, if all the impure Zones are Purified at the end, that's a win for me and the mission either way. Could be more win, but, ehhh... we'll figure it out." "Where's our other-other cat friend?" He mutters. "Hell, alright, whatever..." He brings out of his matter manipulator... his helmet! He briefly asides to Tina Natsumi, "Man, kiddo, I wish you'da still been streaming. Didn't we see something like this before? Let's see if I got a good look at..." He sets his helmet down, takes a seat next to it, and projects a large but horribly unstable holoscreen into the air from the helmet itself. Fiddling with a smaller control display, he starts scrolling around their adventure, looking for anytime they've seen keypad displays like that. Others are invited to operate it as well. For those who choose to partake in it, they'll find that George has been here for the past 36 or so hours, and that, for him, all of the events that the others have been dropping into or out of have been occurring in sequence with no breaks. Some likely already knew a bit, but hey, now there seems to be some kind of video evidence. If you look /really/ closely, you can be frustrated with the fact that there's still no clear indication of how he got from outside the smokestack to inside the smokestack in Zone 3, the footage just doesn't make sense when you get to it. You know, before anyone asks. Anyway, data's there, for those who need to puzzle out the larger floating block puzzle.
Priscilla	Zero ends up in the Nothingness. This is exactly where he should end up. Surprisingly, it is also where the Batter is. He always seems to be 'already in' the Zones they go to, but in stark opposite to George, the mundanity of it is that he uses the same channels as they do --as mundane as the surreal blackness of competitive whispers, patterned with the semi-invisible text of some long forgotten book. For a split second, he could swear he heard a whisper get out 'it's good that you killed them' before being drowned out by the others. "What do you want?" the Batter says, turning to face him on the non-floor of spacetime. "Oh it's not very complicated." Zacharie sighs to Strange. "Pablo's been gone for a long time. I hope he's fine." He scratches the mask over his face as if it were his actual face. "He'll be back sooner or later. Before it gets any worse. I'm sure. I don't think he really expects to find Valerie. It's one of those 'you have to try' things, I think. Oh well. He can handle himself." He claps his hands to his knees. "So, if I had to guess why you're here, it's to spend some credits with your favourite merchant, isn't it?" This time he manages a laugh that's a little more genuine. "After all, that's my role in all this. I shouldn't pass up an opportunity to make money."
Tina Natsumi	"Really? Hmm... Maybe I'll give it another shot next time we're here." Tina laughs and looks upwards for a long moment, staring at calculator-like block and not really figuring out a thing about it or the sole yellow button. "'course... When there's all sorts of surreal stuff like we got out here, it makes the viewers feel dumb after a while. Stream poison, y'know?" She's not even sure if George is still listening or not, but she's certainly paying attention to what he's doing with the holoscreen. Lacking much else to do herself, she joins him in operating the machine to try searching for clues! She lingers on that weird bit with the smokestack, of course. "... You got noclip in that helmet or somethin'?" She asks as an aside, then gets back to trawling through old footage.
Janine Liberi	Janine looks on at her handiwork and nods with satisfaction before heading out, missing Tina slipping in to add her own handiwork, and August neglecting to do so like the edgelord he is. She looks up at the tower, notices the lights on, and steps into the room to catch the tail end of Strange and Zacharie's conversation, as well at George's playback of the preceding events. Only now, does she notice that final keypad is still active. "Reusing a puzzle... nah. That seems too complicated for things here. I think..." She walks up to that final, active block and gives it a kick to see if that's all there is to it.
Zero Kiryu	"Nothing. Just indulging my curiosity." Zero admits to the Batter, glancing out into the darkness in answer to the 'more' distinct voice amidst the whispers. He's about to go back the way he came, but hesitates. "Were you looking for the Guardian?" He asks.
Yuuki Kuran	When George leaves, Yuuki doens't 'follow', but he can walk and talk just fine. Yuuki's voice - her 'attentiveness' follows with him, as the butterfly transfers to his thinning head of hair. When George reaches where's he's going - joining Tina and Strange - Yuuki is there too, rounding a ben with more than a few butterflies settled on her shoulders. "Even if Biteblade isn't really invested into it, even if it's roughhousing, I don't know if I feel comfortable fighting them. I don't know if..." Brushing butterflies from her arms and shooing the one off of George's head, Yuuki forces a smile. "Well, we'll try to win the most we can. And, if something wrong happens, try to let me know without spinning me around too much." Janine's puzzelry skills are truly impressive. "How do you keep all the solutions in your head?"
Priscilla	Janine gives the solid, calculator button a solid thwack. It does, indeed, reset the entire 'keypad'. It would indeed be far too complicated for the baby tutorial here. It's been repurposed for something that isn't 'helping people learn how to navigate'. The Batter replies to Zero. "Probably." It isn't evasive. "The idea seems to be checking from Zone to Zone. There's no doubt a plan. Checking all the places you've been before heading to the last one is common sense. Perhaps, a little reluctance to leave."
Doctor Strange	The sorcerer nods at Zacharie. "Give him time," he says. "I lost my brother, too. Years ago. I still think about him even now." Zacharie brings up his role as a merchant, which is something Strange expected. It's likely that he's nearing the end of his discussion with the eccentric salesman. But... he might as well try his luck. "I did come here to buy something," admits Strange. That isn't strictly true. "Information." He crosses his arms, furrows his brow. "There's a... place, here. A place someone could go to forget their woes. I want to find it." He looks over his shoulder as if he's worried someone is watching or listening. Then, he looks back. "How much is that worth to you?"
Priscilla	Zacharie, for the first time in his entire existing interactions with the entire group, shakes his head at the mere mention. "It's a bad idea." he says. "For you to go there. I wouldn't."
Zero Kiryu	"I see. The thing piggybacking you had the idea, then." Zero replies, folding his arms across his chest. Was that what had spoken to him just now? "There'll be no more fear in those eyes." He repeats. "You were talking about Hugo." "But," he continues, "the Queen has another angle. You told me yours. What do you know about hers? What does she get if you lose? More of this isn't much of a prize."
Janine Liberi	Janine looks at the puzzle, then back to the screen. "Okay, maybe it does want us to reuse a code? Tina, start at the beginning." With the help of George and Tina, Janine starts trying to crack the code by inputting every code they've seen. If that doesn't work, she tries numerical codes of important words they've come across, substituting the 'numberless' block for the number 0. Things like the names of the Guardians, the elements, Zacharie, 'Queen.' Once she might have been bitching as she did this, but she seems extremely grim and focussed on this. Aside to Zacharie, she says, "I'm gonna brute-force this until I get it, so you may as well save me some effort and tell us."
Doctor Strange	Strange, out of respect for a real, actionable answer, gives one of his own. He drops the mystery, unfolds his arms, and places his scarred hands into the pockets of his leggings. "You're a nice guy, Zacharie, but you're not responsible for anyone's actions but your own. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine, but I need to find where it is. You must've known there was a reason for us coming here instead of the next area." He'll wait, just to see if Zacharie wants to tell him. If there's hesitance to divulge the information, that in itself is still useful info. It's probably considered a bad idea because there's something dangerous there--and dangerous enough for Zacharie to break his cheery facade. A lot of burnt? Something resembling a Guardian? Perhaps... perhaps even a Grand. It may be dangerous, but it certainly isn't a bad idea. Not to him. "There's nothing I can do to get you to tell me where it is?"
Starbound Flotilla	"She's gonna feel comfortable fighting you, so don't be too light-handed with her, you know?" George says, idly waving a hand at the butterfly that is Yuuki Kuran's voice. "She's a fighter, you know. Tribal disputes get settled tribal ways. Hell," He takes a heavier drag of his cigarette now. "She's the one who always insisted we solve three-versus-three votes with duels." He laughs a bit at that. Janine gets plenty of help from George, who works his way backwards. Tina's footage may be incomplete, but it's vastly more /useful/, because George wasn't exactly orienting his helmet-cam for good clarity. Her footage is streaming, his footage is, quite literally, bad found footage cinematography. But it should have the code in it, somewhere, if he glanced right.
Priscilla	"I said at the beginning. can see everything, but she can't speak. Not from where she is." says the Batter. "Faith is believing in what you feel. Going where it takes you. Doing what has to be done. Without revelations, and without faith in them, I wouldn't exist long in this world." "Those words were mine." He shrugs, lifting the bat on his shoulder a little. "The Queen exists because of the same thing I do, but for the other reason. You'll see soon enough." Brute forcing the code would take an awfully long time, save for the fact that hitting the buttons does that translucency thing, and hitting one out of sequence causes the whole thing to reset. It's a long code though. Real long. In George's footage, by the time the code is mostly on lock, part of it can be identified from the weird room in the Purified Zone 1 --the one covered in Spades, with the mysterious note from the 'Tall Mister'. Janine is stuck at it for a while, until she can hear a clunk somewhere else. Zacharie says to Strange, "You don't know the reasons yourselves, do you?" He fixes Strange with a solemn stare through the eyes of his mask, humourless. "I can't stop you, but it's dangerous to go on. Not just for you. No, you least of all."
Tina Natsumi	From the beginning, eh? Alright, we'll figure out this thing sooner or later!" Tina announces with renewed vigor and confidence, adjusting her strategy of going through all that old stuff and checking it with George's footage. Even if her specific footage might not reveal the numbers, bruteforcing it certainly seems like the way to go. At least, if it's at the right angle. "If there's gonna be a fight, I think everyone's ready for it by now. We've been doin' it for a while, and we're in too deep to just back out." Tina chuckles lightly as she turns her phone sideways for a moment. "Hell, I still don't get a good... Forty percent o' this? But I know that y'all know what you're doin', and I'll trust that if I can't trust nothin' else."
Janine Liberi	Kick. Kick. Kick. Thunk. Janine can scarcely believe it when the solution is found. She looks a little winded from running along the rows and columns of the number pad and inputting codes. "Cool, great..." she breathes, looking at Zacharie. "Sorry man, but I decided a while ago that I'm not gonna listen to people who get real vague around here. If this is a bad idea, explain exactly why. Otherwise, I'm going." She waits for him to spill the beans. If he doesn't, she turns heel and marches out of the lit room to try and find what opened. First of all, she checks the nearest area, the room with the old solution and her graffiti printed on the wall.
August Kohler	August has been lingering near the puzzle as they solve it, not having been in the Purified Zone 1 or having footage, so being kind of utterly useless. When they hear a click, though, he's the first out the door, looking for anything that switched open, unlocked, or might let them through. "Sounds like you've found it. Good job." He doesn't take any credit - he knows he didn't do any work. Instead, he's just sort of mulling around, waiting for things to kill. It's kind of sad, really, in his mind. Couldn't he be doing more?
Zero Kiryu	Zero exhales in a long, agitated sigh. He wonders if this is what it's been like for other people to try to communicate with him. He nods, "I look into you, sometimes. It's not like looking into a normal person. I think that a lot of people would die to be as sure as you are about what you're doing, but I think not being that way is what makes them people as I understand it." "Personally, I think you're a tragedy. And I don't mean that as an insult, not that I think you would care if I did." "Well... I should be going." He turns away.
Yuuki Kuran	"Three on three." Yuuki is wistful. "That would have been an odd way to settle disputes. No, George. With me, it's always some absolute thing. Until Zero, I had never really been in a 'fight'. Until the Union, I didn't even know people who'd so much as disagree with me. Now, here we are, and between the two of us..." "I think one of us is more used to having to settle for less. But if you're confident that Biteblade is the sort to handle things that way, you are the expert." Yuuki taps her nose smugly. "But didn't you throw Arthur out an airlock? Or was that Moonfin?" "Was that a disagreement too? Three on three?"
Doctor Strange	Strange shrugs. "I know my personal reasons for coming here," he says. "But if you mean the Reason... no. It's not beyond my grasp, but it is... inconvenient... to get to." He falls silent for a moment. "The danger is inconsequential--even the danger that you're referring to. Not in the immediate sense, but... in a big picture kind of way." It's evident that Zacharie won't divulge it--that it's up to Strange and his allies to find this cellar themselves. "Out of gratitude for your honesty, I won't press the issue. I'll find it without your help." Strange leaves the building and creates a portal. The scenery within the burning ring seems to change, as if someone were changing channels on a television. It flips through several areas, until August is pictured, mulling around and waiting. Strange steps through. August and the others near him will hear the distinctive hissing of the portal opening. "Zacharie's through there," says the sorcerer to no one in particular. "If you wanted to buy something." He gestures to his portal with a thumb.
August Kohler	As Strange makes a portal towards August's general direction, August nods. He considers it for a moment, and then realizes that this might be useful for him. So, he heads over to the shop, and up to Zacharie. "What do you have for sale, Zacharie?" As he looks through Zacharie's wares to see what's for sale, August also asks him a question. "So, why do you do what you do? Any reasons besides profit?"
Starbound Flotilla	"Thaaaaat was..." George sucks a heavy breath in between his clenched teeth. "Before the Flotilla. It's why Moonfin knew I can do what he needed done, s'all. Water under the bridge, you know? Hylotl are great with water under things." Undoubtedly Yuuki gets the idea of ancient history. "But me? Ehhh, I've settled for less. I'd rather not right now though. There's a lot on the line, you know."
Priscilla	"That tragedy happened a long time ago." the Batter says. "I'm only here for a last round. To clean things up. Only the part of me that's necessary to finish the mission is here, though. I was away for too long. That's why there is a Puppeteer. Even a computer can be sure of everything, but useless without someone else." Has . . . there ever been a computer here? Anywhere? Even once? "Bye." is all that remains to be said on the subject. "Maybe it's of no consequence to you personally, but . . ." Zacharie just trails off to Strange. "Oh well. I'll be here as usual for when you inevitably find your purse too heavy. Ha . . ." Returning to where Janine and Tina had scribbled their names finds a hole in the floor, with yellow stairs leading down to a yellow tunnel, fresh supports holding up the ceiling, as it's dug deeper into the earth. How the Judge, a cat, dug a pretty damn substantial square tunnel, going on for long enough for it to get dark, so perfectly square in metal ground is a mystery. By the time you reach the end, all sound of sloshing water and calming echoes has faded into nothing. There's just a tense sort of invisible buzzing. The air is heavy and cold, and little difficult to breathe, like wearing a lead blanket over your head. The tunnel terminates at an arch filled with pitch black shadows, rather than a clear shot into the room beyond. You can smell sugar. It lacks the sickly sweet, chemical sort of tinge you experienced in Zone 3, but it does nothing to quiet the nerves.
Janine Liberi	First try! For once, anyway. Janine puts out the call to tell everyone where the cellar entrance in, and begins to descend into the cool, earthen tunnel. Did the Judge really build this? Or did he have help from the 'we' in the occasion? She treads carefully, whacking the supports with her sword to make sure the place isn't fit to collapse. She also checks every corner. This Zone isn't purified, so there shouldn't be any Secretaries, but she's on edge anyway. The sickly sweet scent of sugar makes her gag, but she presses on.
Zero Kiryu	"I suppose I know what you mean." Zero replies to the Batter. "Bye." He exits the way he came. Despite having set himself up to do so, he doesn't shortcut his way back using Yuuki's murder jewelry, nor does he rush back in general. He takes his own damn time and RE-JOINS the party at the inevitable designated YOU SHOULD GATHER YOUR PARTY BEFORE SETTING FORTH checkpoint, torturously forcing everyone to wait for him to path to the loading zone.
Yuuki Kuran	Pulling off her MURDER JEWELRY and rolling it around in her fingers like a fidgit spinner, Yuuki slowly, ponderously, nods at George. "Alright, George. But, I'm pretty sure Moonfin would say something like 'a sea at peace, calm and still', or something. Then again..." Her laugh is like a windchime, light and twinkling. "You probably know better than me about Moonfin. But you don't seem to understand what I'm about. I was worried about Biteblade, because they helped me. But I'm here to help you. Whatever it takes, I'll be besides you. And I refuse to settle for less." Leaning in to his ear, her voice is as light as a feather. "You wouldn't happen to, um, know how to use a Grand, would you?"
Tina Natsumi	Guess that's that, then. Let's..." Wait. Everyone's already moving. THat'll do, then, as Tina regroups at the graffiti spot and snickers on passing by that little mark that's been left on the way to the cellar entrance. "Didn't figure this place would be here, but if it works. Am I right?" Who's she even talking to? Anyone that's gotten rused into listening. She takes her time getting down there, due in part to the smell of sugar getting a bit too strong for her liking. "Everyone ready for... Whhatever we'll find here? Weapons, snacks, made sure to use the bathroom?"
Starbound Flotilla	"Yeah, Moonie's always saying some dumb shit. As for Biteblade... ehhhhh. Believe me, whatever you owe them, it ain't 'abstaining from a fight', if it comes to it. Not giving her a fight is a total non-gift." George replies to Yuuki, as he descends as well, following along. "Looks like we're forming up." He says. "No idea how to use the Grands. Never really had a reason to ask Zacharie." He answers some of Janine's unspoken questions. "What... the hell? Who made this? This wasn't in any of the data the Queen gave us about what the Guardians were doin'." He tilts his head, and takes a much longer, much deeper drag of his cigarette. "Was this from before her? Was this someone else? Maybe Judge did it with his Guardianness and didn't tell her." He tries to settle on an expression to make, but can't seem to find one. He stops very suddenly, looking at the contours of this space. Something about the architecture, the design, the way it's formed... causes him to widen his eyes and grit his teeth. "Gonna be disappointed, guys, sorry." He mutters, before pressing on... cautiously. He's looking around for something else now.