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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: Back into the theatre, past the ever-refreshed concession stand, past the hallway with the 'STAFF ONLY' door that nobody's tried to open yet, through the theatre proper and up onto the stage, through the door into the Stage, and here at the center of the Stage with the giant computer. You still gotta jump from key to key to put in the #join command, that hasn't changed. Everyone who's jumping back in is back at where they logged out - which is to say, at the terminal in the Barrens manufacturing facility, since that's the only terminal the group's found. Niko's here waiting along with Silver and Prophetbot, the former two sitting at a table and playing chess, while the latter one just stands nearby idly. "Oh, I... didn't see your knight there," says Niko, as they watch their pieces get ruthlessly decimated by Silver. "Um - I don't mean to be rude, Miss Silver, but I've lost the last six games - are you sure this is fun for you?" "It's still the best chess I've had in years," says Silver, staring at the board. "Your move." Not too far away, there's a boat, with a rowing robot (Rowbot) in it, ready to take the group further inland - closer to the tower. Silver's indicated she needs to remain here (Prophetbot hasn't indicated much of anything) so this is the last chance to ask questions and explore. Of course, the terminal's there too, both the one in world and the giant computer in Wonderworld. The list of commands can still be pulled up via #help - and it looks like there's a few new ones. Some of these look like they're a bit more involved and might take up some or all of your attention to execute, though.
Aidan Proudpick	It hasn't been as bad as going through the lotus dream. That moment that everyone could see Aidan happily trapped in a world where he could be the hero, that wanted him to be the hero, to appear brave, beautiful, and knightly, a chosen one. Aidan is serious, determined, but not as morose. The fact that people, people Aidan assumed would never break from Lillian, would always back her up, made overtures to verify his attempts. That has stuck with Aidan. Still, words lodge in. They burrow into one's mind, especially when those words are close to the ones that your mind already tells you. And without Balan around to remind Aidan he needs to actually leave, to go out into the world, to go back home, he has been here for two days, training, resting, and training again. Agility training, lifting, climbing, combat training. Pushing himself until his claws bleed and he can barely move. No one has taught him about proper workout health, unfortunately. When the computer blips on once more, the squirrel is ragged. Rigged care for fleas keeps him from having gym funk on him, but he is not as well groomed as he usually is, fur sticking out in some places, stuck and wet in others. It takes some time for the sound of chess to reach him, and more time for him to grab his explorer's bag, and then a brush. Others will be summoned. He furiously combs at his tail as he staggers over, trying to make himself presentable before people flood the Stage. "A knight has to be presentable," he mutters to himself.
Ishirou	Once more, Ishirou shows up to find that they have progressed!  That's good, and that Niko and Silver were playing chess.  That was... pretty adorable, even if Silver was beating Niko, and Niko wasn't very good at chess.  It's okay, she'll get to learn more in the future, he thinks to himself.   Ishirou himself is still dressed in baggy clothing, an oversized hoodie, and has the hood up so that it covers himself.  He looks around with a slightly nervous energy to him, not sure of something. "I can stay out here and look at things from this perspective again.  I can start doing research out here," he says, stamping #help to remind himself of the commands again.  "I could also try hacking, but I am not sure what would happen... I can be gentle as such an attempt can be, to not endanger anyone inside, but I wouldn't object to /not/ doing that..." he says, with a shrug. "Otherwise, I can start looking around without hacking and see if I can't find any files that might provide more helpful.." he says, but he hesitates on doing either action.  After all, it's their potential lives he could be messing with if they are inside.
Arcadia	Arcadia arrives on the stage, a familiar location by this point, and settles into her usual position nearby. By this point the sphinx is primarily here to observe and document the ongoing efforts with Wonderworld and the various things that have branched off from it, to sate the ever-curious nature of the Scholars and Elders that rule Argo Alexandria. Any information is valuable, but they have a particular perchant towards worlds suffering apocolypses and facing destruction, and preserving what can be learned should the worst befall it. A list the world within the computer definitely ticks off. Not the most glamourous roll for the Guardian, but duty must be done, lest important knowledge be lost.
Futaba Nuki	Futaba could skip the jumping part. She's able to transform, after all, and she could just stretch her limbs around or make herself big enough to type on the keyboard like a normal person. She's a ninja, though, so of course she's going to jump. She's going to jump more times than she needs to, even, flipping all over the place and doing mid-air somersaults to land on each key she needs a single time while landing on the space between keys and those little gaps between different rows several more times. It'll help perk her up for when she shows back up at the terminal, greeting Niko, Silver, and Prophetbot with her usual brand of dramatic posing and unnecessary scarf flapping. "Hey there! Miss us?" She greets the trio and those other Elites coming in to aid with giant cat computer's internal problems. "What's our destination today? You know, as a reminder for... Whoever else forgot?" She asks, totally not trying to make it sound like she's asking for someone else's benefit instead of her own. She also turns to Silver in particular. "Oh. Since you're staying here, anyway. Is there anything you want us to keep an eye out for out there? And... You got a way for us to keep in touch about...?" She asks, tapping her chin a moment later. "I dunno. Whatever things that we find on the way that you might need to know about?"
Hibiki Tachibana	Back to Balan's Wonderworld yet again, and in a way, it's nice to know that things here never change all that much while they're gone. In a way, it's sort of become like a bit of stability in a world where there's some sort of drama or massive change in relationships every other week. The theater appearing wherever it pleases, the inside of the building and the showroom beyond, the Wonderworld itself...     "...Aidan, you look like crap," is the first thing that Hibiki plainly says to the tuckered-out squirrel, stepping up to the computer as the group filters in. There's a frown on her face, and for once it's more than just her passive expression--it's definitely because it's not hard for anyone to tell how much he's pushed himself. She'd be pretty good at telling, even if he wasn't in a rush to put himself together before anyone could see.     She's at least lowered her voice enough to not make it audible to everyone, speaking only when close to him with more than a little concern. "Don't-- ...push it too hard, alright? I know you always feel like you got something to prove - I get that. But you can't help anyone if you're out of it, can you?" Hibiki Tachibana, the master of giving advice she doesn't follow herself. It's what she does.     Although any more of that will have to wait for a bit, since it's time for another hop across the keys and log back into the terminal, apparating back into the world within the computer - just in time to raise an eyebrow at the chess game that's in the process of (once again) not going in Niko's favor.     "Hey, guys. Sorry to hop in unannounced. ...You enjoying yourselves?" It hits her that it doesn't seem like there's been any 'loading' like there was on their first trip inside, and time has progressed as normal. That's... a good feeling, sort of. Hibiki's eyes (admittedly a bit tired herself, but when /aren't/ they) drift across the chess board, fail to take in the state of the game, and moves on. "And, uh... could I ask how much you know about the city off in the distance? Pretty sure our eventual goal is gonna be that way..."
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan gets a little smile at Hibiki's concern, then a grimace at being so easy to read that he needs to prove something, "Thanks. Don't worry. I only threw up twice today."
Petra Soroka	As has become tradition, Petra stuffs her pockets with food from concessions before entering. District 12 doesn't have much in the way of Americanized snack foods, and neither do the vending machines in the facility, so Petra has been deprived of this kind of thing in her day-to-day doings. Now that Tamamo has provided her clothes that she's supposed to wear, though, she's not equipped with her overalls' dozen pockets anymore, reducing the quantity of candy she can scavenge. For this, of all things, Tamamo is slightly resented.     Petra has the Eggpack on her back, as usual, because the events of the Wonderworld have become too routine to justify sending out agents other than her. Other agents would need to be paid-- Petra comes here of her own volition, so she both provides a record to Lobotomy Corporation, and does it for free! Truly, a model employee.     Outside the computer, she gives Ishirou a derisive look, entirely unchanged in intensity despite having gone weeks without seeing him. "God, you dress yourself so badly that you make me want to gag." Of course, her cute-and-somewhat-uncharacteristic blouse and billowy pants were chosen out for her, but Ishirou doesn't need to know that. "Aren't you ever going to grow out of it?"     Then, to actually answer his question, "Don't hack it. Not while I'm inside, and not while Niko's inside, which means never. Whatever information you get out of it, I don't want you having."     She turns to Aidan, with some amount of exasperation, "And you, too, what the hell. You look like roadkill. Why are you two so gross?" Hibiki saying something similar, and Hibiki existing in the abstract, makes Petra purse her lips and turn away from Aidan, rather than following up on bullying him for the knight thing. Maybe she forgot about it. "Isn't there a single guy here who can groom himself? Where's Kale, at least he can be counted on for that." > #join     The city-side of the computer exploration last time wasn't where she was, until Rowbot took her to the monitor to get out, which means she isn't familiar with either Silver or Prophetbot. She goes up to pet Niko's hat, drawn towards them automatically to look over the chess set and greet them. "Hey, Niko, having a good time? Everything's been alright?"     Still loitering beside Niko, Petra looks up at Prophetbot and Silver, shifting so that Angela's in arm-range of them should she choose to interact at all. "We didn't meet last time. Do you have anything we need to know about the sun, or that tower?"
Touta Konoe	As far as things have gone previously, Touta's involvement includes that of dealing with some level of the Infinity Train (a small amount) and appearing at the apology tour through that of the Balan Theater (which didn't feel like much of an apology with the events that transpired). Even now, he's pretty sure he still needs to have Hibiki elaborate on the cat and the lightbulb, and why it all ended up turning into that large computer. But for the time being he's at least received some semblance of what's going on with regards to a dying world.     As for now though, the return to the theater is a little less odd than the first time around at least. Everything's clearly still a bit of an anomaly, but simply getting accustomed is perhaps a good thing. Though as he's about to reach the overgrown computer, he swears he saw someone at it, typing...Jumping on it...All before a flash of light happens. Then...Nothing. There's no trace of the person, just an empty keyboard and the monitor displaying a certain command in a command prompt. [ansi(160,"Alright, I'll bite...")]     It takes a moment to try and perform the command on such a large keyboard, especially when trying to figure out how he's going to press down the two keys to get '#' going. Though once 'enter' inputs the command, there's that momentary flash of light that takes up not just the screen but the surroundings of the theater. The blackness that takes grasp of the world for a moment feels eerily familiar to when the appearance of the computer had first transpired.     When his eyes adjust to the scenery before him, the view does feel familiar, like that which was in the background behind the command prompt. Though it seems this is nothing new at this point. Cause as the moment he steps in, he can already see a few familiar faces and hoodies walking around beginning to ask their questions. At first, Touta just finds himself making his way over to the chess game, noting a few people already starting to crowd in that area. Hibiki and Ishirou get a brief wave and smirk but let them get back to their conversations.     Thanks. Don't worry. I only threw up twice today.     "Think that's twice more than you should be, don't you...?"     Hibiki, might be trying to respect Aidan's physical fatigue, but if he seems to let it show all on his own well. "Might want to take it slow there, man. You expecting to be able to give your best if you have to stop to keep yourself from...Ya know?" Heaving.     At this point though, he's sitting on his crouched knees to watch the game proper between Silver and Niko. "Hey sorry to interrupt the game, name's Touta. Looks like I might be joining along for the ride this time. Though, figured before everyone gets rolling I should ask you guys to make sure there wasn't any info I didn't get? I was around for the lightbulb, though didn't realize it was a sun...Still...If there's something you guys wanna give the heads up on, let me know."     If he needs to ask for some catch up from a few of the other Elites that's fine, but otherwise he figures it might just be good to get first hand information regarding the situation. He's learned a bit about the 'mission' objective. But not if there's anything about the trip they're going to be taking that they need to watch out for.
Angela	Angela is invested in Niko because some creatures are too charming to not return to their own world. She is far less invested in the inhabitants of the world itself. Angela is still trapped in a backpack and being trapped in a backpack means she can still function--as a backpack. This time she has told Petra that she is bringing some supplies for Niko herself as well witin her backpack. There seem to be BEDS so she hasn't put away a sleeping bag or anything but she has brought other items! Such as... a) A toothbrush (and toothpaste) b) A sweater of punishing bird. c) three water bottles d) a lunchables-esque food container And e) a notepad and pen. 5rAngela, as usual, doesn't get much of a chance to investigate the commands because Petra is jumping in immediately to the world with Petra and--as you might expect--she is totally fine with this. But before that she agrees with Petra, "Exercise caution." She says to Ishirou which is a subtler way of saying no hacking though, to be honest, ANgela's experiences with Ishirou hacking has mostly been harmful to Ishirou so she is fine with leaving it at that. tTo Aidan--she just stares at silently, she bobs her head at Futaba, she pays little mind to ARcadia, and she frowns uncertainly at HIbiki. Touta she doesn't know what to do with right now. She's not in a great mood still. ''Isn't there a single guy here who can groom himself?'' "Uncertain." She says. But now that she's in, her arm reaches back and opens up ... her backpack, pulling out the above mentioned items. "Petra and I have brought supplies." Angela says. "It seems you've been taking care of yourself and exercising your mind. Good work, Niko."
Kale Hearthward	Kale arrives as well. He gives Aidan a glance in passing, but if he notices any difference he doesn't comment. He also doesn't offer any grooming advice. He jumps from J to O to I to N, and then a slightly lengthier hop to the enter key. "Oh! Miss Nuki! Hello! I think we're heading towards the tower?" > "You got a way for us to keep in touch about...?" "I don't really have anything like that," says Silver, as she moves her rook into check. "No radio or anything of that sort." > "Could I ask how much you know about the city off in the distance?" "Was built there. Then I got shipped off here after... things happened," says Silver. "Then everyone moved back to the city once the sun went out. I got left here to keep watch in case, quote, 'anything strange happened'. Checkmate." "Already...? There's nowhere I can move?" Niko begins the process of looking at each of their pieces in turn and figuring out how it can't save their king. "This game feels like it's unwinnable..." "You're getting better. Not that we'll have a chance to prove that out..." Silver starts picking up the pieces and resetting the board. "You ought to get moving with the whole quest thing, so you can go home. Thank you, though. It's lonely out here, and I don't have anyone to talk to." > "Hey, Niko, having a good time? Everything's been alright?" "Mhm, Miss Petra! It's been quiet. I took a nap, and just woke up a bit ago. "We didn't meet last time. Do you have anything we need to know about the sun, or that tower?" "Well I-" Silver starts to say. "Yes!" says Prophetbot, interrupting her. "The savior Niko needs to take the sun to the top of the tower, and place it there to save the world!" "That's... the only thing he talks about," grumbles Silver as she finishes resetting the board. Niko goes to put the Punishing Bird sweater on. It's clearly a little bit big for them, but they politely say "Thank you Miss Angela, it's a perfect fit," anyway. "Here, as promised," says Silver, pulling a glowing piece of amber out of her pocket and handing it to Niko. "Show this to the Rowbot and he'll take you to the Glen. There should be an entrance to the City there."
Arcadia	"Deeper and deeper, curiouser and curiouser," Arcadia murmurs as the activities of the session begin to unfold once the usual people have ventured into the computer world. But Niko has her quest/prophecy, they have a goal, they have a location, and a means to at least begin getting there to do the things that must be done. So far, so good. Right? Right?.... "You learn more from chess losing than you do winning," she notes to no one in particular. Just another idle observation for the most part.
Ishirou	Nobody says anything to him about what he should or shouldn't do with the hacking... but to be fair he wanted to err on the side of caution with that.  Petra lets her desires known, but he almost immediately dismisses them out of hand because of how she presents them.  Even if a moment later he /almost/ agrees with her after giving it a second to settle.   Angela has a better way of saying things and does remind him that hacking doesn't /typically/ go to plan.  Sometimes it does, but when he messes with things of this complexity... Okay, hacking is off the table unless it's an emergency.  Instead, while others are getting together to move on to the Rowbot, he decides to root around in the system files.  This might give him some information that they otherwise wouldn't have access to, or at least shine some more information on the world.   Aidan provides some advice, and so does Futaba.  He takes a breath and holds his hands up even though they can't see him due to still being on the other side.  His wardrobe isn't what is important right now.  It's helping Niko.  Besides... he's not necessarily disagreeing with Petra about the choices Aidan is making.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan looks at Petra, a clear look on his face of going down several trains of thought, how Petra might react, and starting from zero. Finally, he just shrugs. Some confidence has seeped back in, courtesy of finding out the whole multiverse doesn't think he's shit. At Touta, he frowns, "When am I supposed to have time then? I know I need to be vigilant but..." He gestures at himself. He has been gaining SOME muscle mass. But he also looks like a wreck. But, his shoulders straighten, his mein lifts. He doesn't feel quite so invisible. Quite so out of place. It is the most he has ever felt like an Elite. Except for being really dehydrated. Aidan guzzles from some water and casts a glance over at Ishirou. "You know," Aidan taps his own face, then smiling, "the blue lips ARE very fetching." A mighty leap, then Aidan is on the keyboard. He stares intently at the screen, leaping over to the well practiced 'HELP' and then stares up at the screen. He types a few other things, going over old commands, just to be sure, then squints at the screen. Damn that's a big word. The dunce and the hacker stare up at the system files. What does Sherlock always say? You need someone there to be wrong all the time so you can find what is correct?
Futaba Nuki	'...Aidan, you look like crap,' "That's the workout getting to him! Hmm. But if you're looking that bad..." Futaba looks from Hibiki to Aidan as her attention is drawn that-a-way, furrowing her brow for a moment before clapping a hand lightly against the squirrel's shoulder and staring off into the distance dramatically. "... You really got take a shower, man. Especially if you threw up." Futaba adds, nodding in agreement with Touta when he too comments on that. She, in comparison, looks as well groomed as she usually does: Very! Even though her general look is still meant to be as casual as ever with the track jacket and shorts and big dumb scarf, it's clear that she's cleaned up very recently. Habits like that are hard to break, after all, even when she wants to look anything but fancy. 'Isn't there a single guy here who can groom himself?' Spotting Petra and Angela forma Eggpack, Futaba greets them both with a light wave, laughing outright after the question and shrugging her shoulders dramatically. "I'll have to drag 'em around sometime. Dad or... No. My brother'll know how to really clean these guys up. Or... Hm." She pauses to stroke her chin again. "Dad for one, bro for the other...?" Another shrug. She'll need to think about that one. Silver reveals that there's no way to keep in touch, and Futaba snaps her fingers lightly despite not looking too bothered. "Damn. Well... We'll be in and out, so I don't think you'll be floating blind out here for too long. Once we make some real progress, the news might reach you even before we do!" Brimming with confidence again, she only raises an eyebrow briefly when Silver mentions that 'things happened'. Instead of dwelling on that, she opts not to press her further about that and picks up on something els instead. "We'll get you a phone next time. Something with a big network, too, since..." She has to wonder if this place would even get service from the usual carriers. Prophetbot's proclamations have Futaba snickering lightly at the loudness of it all, of course. "Keep it up, PB. We'll make sure this world's saved, alright!" She declares, then joins Niko to get a better look at that Amber. "Sounds like a plan. Alright, we got everyone? Oh, hey Mister Kale! Just in time. We've got a boat to catch!" She peers outside, then back in at the group and starts counting heads. "Are we gonna have enough room for everyone in that...? Oh. Wait. I've got a solution if it ain't." Grinning again, Futaba holds her hand out, and it transforms into.. A boat! A small scale boat, anyway, but her intent is probably clear enough.
Hibiki Tachibana	...makes Petra purse her lips and turn away from Aidan, rather than following up on bullying him for the knight thing.     ". . ." Hibiki patently stays out of the conversation about Ishirou's clothing, eyes closing and hands in her pockets, when Aidan gets caught in the crossfire too. Her general bearing seems to imply letting things ride themselves out, and they mostly do - after which she follows up to the squirrel, after Touta gives his own comment. "Just remember that resting is just as important as getting the training in, alright? If you're here doin' it all by yourself, you don't have anyone to let you know when enough is enough."     She'll leave more on that for another time.     Then everyone moved back to the city once the sun went out. I got left here to keep watch in case, quote, 'anything strange happened'.     "I guess that makes us 'something strange'", Hibiki notes. Makes sense to her, although she has the impression Silver would rather not talk about the 'things' that happened. If it's whatever left this world in the state it's in... well, understandable. "I half thought that place would be abandoned, like out here - but I'm sorta glad to know it'll have people. One step at a time, right, Niko?"     Though, figured before everyone gets rolling I should ask you guys to make sure there wasn't any info I didn't get?     Hibiki rubs at the back of her neck. "...Yeah, sorry. I was supposed to fill you in, wasn't I, Touta?" She sounds quietly apologetic, before the hand she used to do so retreats back to her pocket. With Niko having the amber, she'll be ready to go when they are. A nod of her head to Prophetbot. "That's the idea, at least. I dunno about any of the savior or chosen one stuff, but..."     Her eyes drift in the direction of the still-distant city. "...If Niko wants to save the world, I wanna help. That's all there is to it for me, anyway. This place seems like it could really use some sun again."
Touta Konoe	Aidan asks his question with a frown, even trying to show off his muscle mass he's built up. Touta on the other hand starts smiling at him getting the idea. Though before he can even say anything it seems that Futaba and Hibiki both are starting to give their advice. To which as Hibiki adds her own, does he follow it up.     "Definitely more than what you had at the library, but...You know that if you were resting you'd probably have a bit more by now, right? One thing to work your muscles with training, but if you're not letting them rest and rebuild. You're only doing half the work. Even less if you're getting sick and coughing up what your body would be using to build more muscle right?"     He's not sure if he'll pick up on all that before he starts focusing on the others and starts inputting more content into the computer. Something Touta's peeping over from the side to try and catch what pops up from the Help screen, the display of commands becoming more apparent.     As for the wardrobe situation, he's not trying to but heads with that either. As far as he's concerned he's fine with what everyone's wearing for the most part, albeit there is one person he'd question but gives the benefit of the doubt given he's been pretty sleep deprived apparently. That said, while it keeps him out of Petra's hair, it doesn't have him greeting Angela as he usually would. It's not as though he's not noting the situation from before either, and if there is a greeting in the chance that their eyes meet...For him, it's just a momentary glance before his eyes almost attempt to pull away. For her, it's probably more than that...Still, there's a light nod, but it's not as carefree, or glimmering as he tries to make it usually when giving even the most basic of greetings.     Things are already moving fast though, and with it he figures before they head off he probably should at least register, maybe even try to follow Ishirou's example and look a the directory since it seems like that's a thing. Though before he can...     "...Yeah, sorry. I was supposed to fill you in, wasn't I, Touta?"     That's something that he finds himself getting a little smile at seeing. Even if she looks apologetic, he finds himself lighting nudging her shoulder. "Hey, hey, it was the holidays. Everybody gets busy around this time. It's no sweat. If anything, I'm just glad I finally get to say Happy New Year to you. Speaking of, next time you and Miku are available let me know. Got something I gotta give you two."     With the little reassurance tried to be provided, he starts heading to Ishirou near the console, "So, anything specific you're trying to find in here?"
Petra Soroka	"Then I got shipped off here after... things happened,"     "After... things, happened? But before the sun went out? What was happening before the sun went out, was it something that *led* to that?" Petra's interest is piqued, even though a moment ago she had absolutely zero interest in who Silver was, just what she could do for Petra. That still doesn't change much-- but now 'telling Petra about Silver' becomes a thing that Silver can do for Petra.     "Well, we count as 'something strange', don't we? Is there anything you're supposed to do about that? Someone you should tell?" No one gets stationed to look out for something weird without an 'and then,' following it. The robot doesn't have any pathos generated with Petra for her to express interest in her *emotional* wellbeing, though. "Petra and I have brought supplies."     Petra reaches over her shoulder and pats the Eggpack as if it's Angela's head, before helping the extendo-arms with the more delicate tasks of distributing the smaller supplies. "It was really such a good idea, Angela, thanks." On top of the lunch container, Petra adds a couple bags of chips and candy, with a little conspiratorial pat on top like 'I know you're not supposed to have this, but it can be a treat anyways', except that she doesn't actually know what Niko's treat-related expectations might be. Of course she didn't grab the snacks from the concessions with this in mind-- but she can pretend she did.     The urge to fuss over Niko, seeing them in the oversized sweater trying so hard at chess, is a little overwhelming. Petra considers the conversation about having and caring for children that happened in the broadband recently, and how she feels whenever she's given an opportunity to care for them, like with Touta's orphanage. Remembering that, she falls quiet, with her hand laid on Niko's head, giving Touta a semi-hostile side-eye. "You know, the blue lips ARE very fetching."     Raw, unfiltered disgust, far out of proportion for even her earlier bullying of the two guys. Petra's lip curls up, like Aidan's compliment was somehow something so repulsive that she's recoiling from it. All that she says, though, is, "Gross."     At Aidan, surprisingly-- not Ishirou, the subject of the 'blue lips'.     "No way in hell that I'm taking the Futaba flesh boat. I'm with you, RB." She does, automatically, pick up the nicknaming scheme, despite her continued refusing to take advantage of Futaba's shapeshifting.     "Glen means it's back to, uh--" Of course Petra wouldn't remember the names of these two, fairly insignificant faces she bumped into for just a few minutes, weeks ago. She doesn't remember people's names two days in a row, sometimes, so it's no surprise that-- "Calamus and Alula, right? That's where RB and I came down from last time. They said that the city was blocked off by a 'grove guardian', so, probably expect a fight, I guess."     Petra hops into the rowboat, along with Niko and the amber. Angela is unequipped and sat to the side, taking up a second seat in the boat, but making it so Petra isn't struggling to balance on the bench. And it means that Petra gets to sit beside Angela! "Hey, hey, it was the holidays. Everybody gets busy around this time."     Something about what Touta says makes Petra's attention snap directly onto Hibiki finally. Staring at her, her lips twist into a sideways little scowl, irritated but a slightly different expression than she usually has when 'angry'. Unlike usual, too, the stare doesn't break the moment Hibiki notices it.
Angela	Angela mentally reminds herself to chastize Hod for not following the specific measurements she had provided her. Hod will cry and apologize and nobody will admit that Angela underjudged things a bit because she's trapped on a viewscreen so everything is a little bit off. "You're welcome, Niko. It is important to stay warm." She says, neutrally refusing to show anything but the most neutral expressions. Her gaze settles on Silver uncomprehendingly--she actually hand't met either of these bots. "We met...bird people across the river." The headpatting on ANgela's backpack is something she stoically endures but is completely adorable and may diminish some of the gravitas Angela tries to carry herself with but she seems content to power through this rather than argue it, which probably wouldn't help with the gravitas anyway--you can't really desperately grab onto gravity it doesn't work that way. "I was actually unclear if he ..required such sustenance or what he has been eating while we are gone but if we need to bring more, we can." ''The urge to fuss over Niko ... is a little overwhelming'' Angela bites at her lip as she resists the urge. She mimics the Petra side-eye towards Touta, though it's really a quarter-hostile to Petra's semi-hostile. She mostly is just ... down, really, Angela considers Niko's lightbulb. She considers a tower. She considers taking a lightbulb to a ... ...Is this just ... screwing in a lightbulb, she thinks to herself, somehow for the first time. Angela is a little lost on the matter of the fleshboat. "Isn't it just a boat...--" She sees Futaba's handboat. "I am electing to take the boat." She adds, unneccessarily, because she's stuck to Petra as is--assuming she picks her back up anyway. She tilts her screen up to look to PEtra and sees she's staring at HIbiki. Loyally, Angela starts staring at HIbiki too. She doesn't break the stare because she can't see where Petra is looking and stare at Hibiki at the same time.
Petra Soroka	"I was actually unclear if he ..required such sustenance or what he has been eating while we are gone but if we need to bring more, we can."     "You mean 'she'." Kale is here. Petra can't afford to lose any points in this argument.
Kale Hearthward	Aidan and Ishirou go to poke through the system files. There's a lot of them, the naming and folder system they use is indecipherable... ... but there's some small nuggets of info to be found. Comments made in the code (tagged with a -Å) Dynamic function calls that can't be traced but that do offer some insights into how the world works. Little things that might add up to a big realization, at an opportune moment. They might want to do more than just dig around system files, though. There's other things to be found. > "You mean 'she'." "You mean 'he'," pipes in Kale, who can't afford losing points even moreso than Petra. "Um, sorry, who are we talking about?" asks Niko, looking confused. On the topic of reporting in, Silver shakes her head. "Didn't leave me any way of getting in contact. It... kind of took me a few years to realize that if something strange did happen, I wouldn't actually be able to report it. That's how important this posting is." "Yeah," she adds, a second later, glancing to the side. > "If Niko wants to save the world, I wanna help." "Well, might as well since we're here, right?" says Niko. "Though I'm starting to get homesick..." Niko shows Rowbot the amber, and the voyage gets going. The rowboat is a little bit crowded, even with Kale flying and Futaba being a backup boat, but thankfully the journey isn't too long. The lights of the city grow closer, but first... the Glen. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/oneshot/images/0/08/Cg_green.png "Rowing complete," announces Rowbot. "Please let me know how I can be of further assistance." Further assistance that involves rowing, he means. And... there's bird people. The same two that met Kale, Petra, and Angela last time. https://i.ibb.co/HnHkhbG/calula.png
Kale Hearthward	"Oh! Hello again!" says Alula. "Oh! The Savior! You really brought the Savior, with the Sun. Calamus thought you were playing a prank." "No I didn't," protests Calamus, crossing his arms. "Um - hello," says Niko awkwardly, briefly shifting their grip on the lightbulb to rub the back of their head. "Oh, you're... about our age, right?" says Calamus, looking surprised. "I thought the Savior would be an adult..." "Hey, if you're a kid, then you like playing hide and seek, right?" says Alula, armed with the certain knowledge that all kids like playing hide and seek. "Yeah! I love hide and seek!" Niko perks up. "The ruins here have some great hiding spots! Let's go!" Alula and Niko run off, heading into a tunnel... ... and a moment after they do, a bunch of weird flashing squares appear in the tunnel entrance, blocking them from view. It's not a huge leap of logic to conclude that, given you're in a computer, the squares are some sort of glitch. "Wait - oh no... don't touch those," says Calula, looking alarmed. "They mess you up..." Ishirou and Aidan can't see the rest of the group - they can only see Niko and Alula running off into the ruins now, the two kids unaware that their exit has been cut off. "... This isn't good..." says Calula. "I know there's another entrance nearby, but nobody's ever been able to figure out how to open it... there's some sort of key pad next to it."
Futaba Nuki	Both Petra and Angela deny rides upon Futaba's flesh boat, and she sighs a little in disappointment. "Oh, come on. It sounds gross when you say it like that!" She can't help but snicker a bit after the fact, though, as she heads over to join those heading onto the boat. Thankfully, she doesn't subject anyone to actually looking at her turning herself into a similar boat, and she even makes a point to dive into the water first before transforming into rowboat ver.wet! Mostly because she has to transform underwater, surface, then let the excess water out. Thankfully, the Futaboat is made of solid wood and not weird flesh gunk, complete with a gold-trim along the edges and leaves scattered all along the bottom. Once everyone's on the other side, Futaba sinks back into the water, transforms back into herself, then resurfaces and wrings out her clothes on the way to meet the unfamiliar bird people that she hasn't had a chance to meet before. "Again?" She looks over at Kale, Petra, and Angela for confirmation, then greets the bird pair with a light wave and laughs when they invite Niko to play. "Hmm... We've got time, yeah. Don't get too lost in there!" Should Futaba be worried about them getting lost in there? Probably. She doesn't try to stop them, though, and instead follows after the three, nearly colliding with one of those weird flashing squares once they pop up. "Whoa! H-hey! Niko! Other kid!" She calls out to Niko and Alula, then looks around rapidly to see if there's any obvious gaps in the flashing squares before just turning to Calula. "Which way? We'll figure it out, or we'll smash through it if we need to!"
Hibiki Tachibana	Though I'm starting to get homesick...     "...Hm." Hibiki lets out a slightly concerned sound, taking a seat on the boat as they prepare to go. She tosses around words in her head a little, then promptly stops doing that annoying thing called 'thinking' and just comes out with what she wants to say.     "You said the cabin wasn't your house, right? You just woke up there without knowing a thing." She shuffles a bit in her seat. "...What was your actual home like? How long has it been?" They're phrased like harmless questions, although her tone is quieter and gentler than normal.     Unlike usual, too, the stare doesn't break the moment Hibiki notices it.     ...And upon picking up on that, and seeing that the other girl is keeping up the look straight at her, Hibiki shifts her eyes even if not her entire head back to Petra herself. One second. Two. Three. Seconds pass without either of them saying a thing, until picking up Angela's eyes on her too seems to elicit her finally speaking up.     "...What're you looking at me like that for, Petra?" The statement is delivered flat, maybe with a slight twinge of annoyance and a furrow of her brow at not being able to piece together exactly why she's being stared at so intently like this. "I wasn't gonna /not/ spend at least Christmas at home, after all the crap I've put Miku through. Or is it something else? I can't read your mind."     The stare is held a second more before she exhales through her nose and shuts her eyes again, murmuring to Touta with a little bit of lethargy seeping into her voice. "...Happy New Years, Touta," she says back to him. "She's back from visiting family, so anytime. ...Thanks."     They make landfall, and Hibiki has to put her gameface back on--honestly, being surprised at bird people would be a bit disingenuous given she knows Kale Hearthward. The exchange is given a raise of her eyebrow, considering a bit of playing around harmless before they actually get a move on again, until--     "What--" She knew there'd be puzzles, but not glitches, and the realization those could exist gets her eyes widening... before the second realization of Niko and Alula being on the other side hits her, and she immediately whirls towards Calula. There's zero hesitation in her voice when she quickly says, "Just showing us where it is is fine! Ishirou, Aidan!" Pause.     Right. The 'camera' follows Niko. She remembers that from her own time serving as mission control, and lets out a frustrated hiss through her teeth. "Let's hope whatever this setup is won't need help from the outside this time..."
Kale Hearthward	> "Let's hope whatever this setup is won't need help from the outside this time..." Kale gives Hibiki a look. Then he grabs his radio. "Hey, Ishirou, you can still hear this, right?"
Petra Soroka	"Though I'm starting to get homesick..."     The urge to fuss can't be entirely ignored. Petra sits down beside Niko in the boat and nods sympathetically, chatting a bit during the boat ride over, to help them vent some of that homesickness. "What's your home like, Niko? Do you live with your mom and dad?" "Oh! The Savior! You really brought the Savior, with the Sun. Calamus thought you were playing a prank."     Petra lights up again at the sight of the other kids, instantly willing to play the role of doting older sister again, and she clambers out of the boat to stand closer to the bird-children, between them and Niko. Seeing that Niko seems a bit too self-conscious to make an introduction of their own, Petra does it for them, like she's introducing them for a playdate.     "Yup! This is Niko, and Niko, this is Calamus and Alula." This has the convenient side-effect of giving all the *others* their names, too. "I guess you guys *are* about the same age, huh. How old is th-- oh, there they go."     Petra watches them go with her arms crossed, completely content with the delay to the mission so that the kids can play-- she doesn't care *that* much about the fate of the world, after all. Then when the glitch effects appear, she's startled out of her brief fond reverie, looking at Calamus with alarm.     "They f-- mess you up? How bad?" Then she flips open her compact mirror, pulling Qetra out and dropping her to her side. "Qetra, go jump into it, see what happens. This is what you get for taking my radio."     Qetra just sticks her tongue out, but doesn't argue. She waves happily at Angela, then calls out before sticking her hand in the glitch, "Biiikkiii! Make sure you look away if I get electrocuted! Unless you want to watch, ahaha!"     With zero expectation that'll work, Petra crouches down to get on eye-level with Calamus. "We've got a bunch of smart people here with us, so if anyone can figure it out, it'll be us. Well--" She looks behind herself at the others, counting under her breath. "We've got one smart person here, but that's enough."
Ishirou	The comment about his lips gets a blush, but he pushes it aside.  "T-thank you.." he starts, but when Petra comments about it being gross, he stares at her for a moment, only to get that she is referring to, specifically, Aidan making the comment which... confuses him a little.  Was there something about Aidan?  I mean, besides him looking rough which... well, when hasn't one of them looked rough at some point in the last year?   Comments about keeping himself kempt cause him to frown.  He keeps himself groomed just fine!  Just... maybe he likes baggy clothes too much because he's ashamed of his looks right now.  He... shouldn't be like this, he has come to realize, but getting to what he wants to look like isn't as easy.  He sighs and just lets the talk fly over him.   Watching things from afar lets Ishirou appreciate the landscape from a top-down view.  He listens as the kids decide to play hide and go seek... which causes Ishirou to watch as they run into the ruins.  He pauses, "Well, wait... should we separate from everyone else so quickly..." he says, but they already are gone.  Well, not for him, but everyone else is gone.   Mmm.  Well, they'll have to find the kids, he guesses.
Touta Konoe	Petra's gaze is noted towards him, somehow and someway he's received that look. He's not sure why he's receiving the look, but he's not paying it too much mind. At this point he just assumes that any time the two lock eyes in any capacity that it's the default expression. For a moment, it looks like he's about to give a look of some kind back to her, but before he can he notices the quarter-hostile look that Angela adds and well...Somehow that hits him harder. A reluctance to meet her gaze, which in turn honestly looks like Petra's got a win given their general proximity. Though it appears that it's not just him receiving the stares this time as he hears Hibiki call out Petra on it. He however, doesn't give another look instead...She finds that Touta starts to position himself within the boat so that Petra and Bikki are less in sight of each other. There's a gap sure, but if either needs to cut eye-contact it's apparent it's there. Though whether it's intentional or not is hard to tell, as he only does it in the moment that Hibiki gives her remarks to him.     "That so? Well, hopefully you caught up with a few people too. Also if that's the case I'll try to check a few dates and make sure I'm not coming in at a bad time. I know holidays are busy but know that hasn't made it calm down still. If worst comes to worst I can try to ship it your way if it's easier." It's all the sudden sounding like there's something he got for them.     The ride comes and goes with the little conversation and the awkward looks, though as everyone's allowed to disembark, a new conversation arrives that fills in a few blanks for Touta. Up to this point, Touta wasn't actually aware of Niko's age. But the indication was clearly coming off that this was just a kid...That was basically carrying the fate of their world on their back...? "Calling'em Savior huh...?" It's a remark that has him expressing a sigh. Not at Niko, but the situation this kid is apparently being put through.     And being a kid it makes sense that kids want to play, to do normal kid things, and at first he doesn't seem too against it...At least until they start heading towards the tunnels. "Hey, you guys be care--" That wasn't even before the glitching started to happen. Hibiki's remarks ring about the severity of the situation and while he's not one-hundred on it still or what the full situation is, and who Petra pulls out Qetra...Speaking of...     "Wait, that's..."     Despite probably being on a few missions since /that/ time it's one of the actual times he can see Qetra in person, being used as a test dummy for the bounds of the game. To which, he can't argue with the idea...     In the meanwhile, he finds himself tagging for the ride simply nodding along with Hibiki towards Calula to get them to where they need to be. "Definitely going to need a damn rundown of all this!"
Angela	Angela keeps staring at Hibiki. She's not entirely sure what this is about but staring is something she can do easily. She can stare at Hibiki for a very long time. The trouble is, of course, is that for Angela she's already stared at Hibiki for hours between this pose and the last and Hibiki isn't bad to look at or anything but staring at one Hibiki and nothing else for a long time leads her to have plenty of time to wonder why Petra started staring at the first place. Once Hibiki actually asks Petra about what she's staring at, it is a bit of a relief actually. Despite being an AI, she doesn't particularly enjoy hacking or computer tech so she's grateful to be on the inside. She'd be so bored waiting for instructions to put in a command, after all. "Good work," She tells Rowbot, without looking at him. "Please wait for us in case we need to return." ''Um, sorry, who are we talkign about?'' "Don't worry about it," She would say. Nevertheless, she waves a mechanical backpack limb to the birdkids, still without looking at them, focusing on Hibiki with growing despair. Petra asks what NIko's home is like and Angela isn't sure what to ask Niko about Niko's home. She doesn't know what a normal homelife is like. All her friends have fucked up home lives. It's easier to see what's broken than imagine what's not. Angela breaks the stare to look to Qetra, smile, and wave to Qetra. The smile will instantly vanish once Qetra turns aroudn and jumps in, instead turning back to stare back at Hibiki, reluctantly. "...You have Christmas too, then. Did someone try to make a gift out of you?" The source of her misery is a bit more aimless right now--or maybe ... she just is still feeling miserable about the Refulgence girls. She sighs.
Aidan Proudpick	"Gross." "This is guy stuff!" He calls out to Petra as she jumps in. "You know that if you were resting you'd probably have a bit more by now, right?" "Just remember that resting is just as important as getting the training in, alright?" Aidan glances up and down Touta. He's not exactly a TWINK he has some a swimmer's build, but he is supposed to be a fast guy, not a strong guy. Aidan sighs. The sigh of someone who has been told he is wrong, and then told the thing he is trying to do to correct it is ALSO wrong. Resignation. "T-thank you.." Aidan's smile is more geniune than flirty. "You look good, Ishirou, alright?" BACK IN THE ACTION. Aidan types #open, following the guide on screen. #dir... There's new something under the thing he tried to do last time. The hopping is very slow, constrained, having to look over the keyboard, up at the monitor, then hop across the keyboard. It takes an agonizingly long time before Aidan gets two sets of numbers up on the screen. One horizontal, one vertical. He starts mouthing sums outloud. "9, 6, 6, 6, 9, 9, 6, 6, 6, 9." He scratches through the tuft of extra fur at his head that one might call hair. "What does THAT mean."
Petra Soroka	"...What're you looking at me like that for, Petra?"     When Calamus starts to lead them to the alternative entrance, Petra finally returns to Hibiki, with fewer people now to listen in. Angela, of course, on Petra's back, is privy to all of it.     "Why the fuck would I have a problem with you spending Christmas with Miku, Tachibana?" Her scrunched-up expression, walking in step beside Hibiki, flickers for a moment, considering saying she hopes that Miku had an alright holiday season. She doesn't end up saying anything.     "No, I was just thinking about all the other shit you apparently got up to during the holidays. Hanging out with some people who were making plans to murder me, and getting all worked up about not wanting it to happen?" There's a few seconds of silence, where it seems like Petra might actually get indignant that Hibiki wasn't on the side advocating for her death. Without Niko around right now, Petra takes out a cigarette, filling the silence with a lighter click and a stream of exhaled smoke.     "I bet you would've been real fucked up about it if I'd been murdered by Grier weeks ago. But you still didn't do anything about it. That was always your problem. Bitching so much about what you think is right, and sometimes, maybe it even *is*! And then you just can't follow through on it. Even when fucking lives are at stake."     Petra's head slowly turns away from Hibiki, looking out and away from her, over the Glen. She droops, a bit, and it's hard to tell whether it's from the nicotine, from disappointment, catharsis, or something else. "So all I mean is, don't bother. Trying or caring. I already have it handled, and you apparently can't and won't do anything yourself. I don't want you coming in and fucking things up, or making some worthless gesture near the finish line and taking credit."     The way it sounds, she seems to be implying that she... fought off Liza already. But this is Petra Soroka, and that's Liza Grier, so there's no way that happened, right? Either way, she flicks her cigarette away and it sinks into the muddy ground, and she walks away from Hibiki. <J-IC-Scene> Kale Hearthward says, "Hey, Ishirou, you can still hear this, right?"     Abruptly, Petra adds, talking into her radio so the ones outside hear her too. "Don't tell us Niko's hiding place unless she's in danger. That'd be breaking the rules. Don't tell us anything unless we *really* need to know."
Kale Hearthward	PREVIOUSLY: > Various questions about Niko's home "Well, uh, we lived in a little village, with only a couple of people... and the biggest building was only about two stories tall..." "I lived with Mom and Mama, I don't have a dad... The kid next door had a dad, though... I miss them too, we used to play tag in the big wheat field..." "... I miss Mom's pancakes, too... I want to hurry back so I can have them again. I hope they're not too worried." Niko seems to be in somewhat better spirits after talking about their home. NOW: Qetra runs in. The process is not immediately fatal, so that's good. It is, however, unpleasant. One of the flashing squares pops into existence while she's going through, intersecting with her shoulder. It's not a binary 'suddenly telefragged' type of cut, there's some resistance as if the square coming into existence is pushing her out of that space - but the appearing square cuts deeply into Qetra's shoulder none the less. "I would rather not try to take the kids through that thing," observes Kale, stating the obvious. "The other entrance is over here..." says Calamus. A few minutes later, the group reaches another tunnel... this one with a sealed, and a modern looking 0-9 keypad. There's something else, scratched on the entrance to the tunnel... a set of straight lines, some vertical and some horizontal.      | | | | | | | | | | | |      | | | | | | | | | | | |      | | | | | | | | | | | |      | | | | | | | | | | | | _____| | | | | | | | | | | | _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ ((For best results, view in a fixed width font.))
Kale Hearthward	A bit of searching, for anyone not focusing on the gitches or door, yields a seperate set of ruins with another computer terminal in it.
Ishirou	Initially, Ishirou was just going to take a seat and wait, right now there wasn't anything to do but wait for them to catch up.  Until some trap was triggered at the entrance. He takes a look at the numbers, and following what Futaba said, subtracting a row because she might have miscounted or added a row by accident, he places the numbers side by side in his head.   He runs the numbers through some programs, trying to figure out what the solution is.  "POD, analyze the pattern and see if you can determine a pattern."
Aidan Proudpick	I'll admit I was a bit worried, that either nobody would find this program or that it'd be ignored. But if you're reading this, you're progressing. Keep going. This world is worth saving. I may not be there to witness it myself, but from the distant past, I'm rooting for you. -Å Aidan is going about his other business as he types. Anyone on the outside can see the first comment pop up. "Hey, there's that Weird A guy again." He pulls up his tablet to flash it at the screen and let it read out so Aidan can actually understand what it says. A few moments later, as he is typing in another command, his tablet goes off. "you shouldn't be messing with the ghosts here. remember: your job here is to get Niko home. nothing else. this world is not worth saving." "Hello!" Aidan realizes he has to enable voice to text. "Hello!!" Aidan scowls at the tablet, then sighs. He grabs his pack and pulls out paper and charcoal. MATH is something Aidan can do. It just doesn't come up very much in being heroic. You don't need to know the volume of a room, the amount that a pipe can pump within a certain amount of time. So he usually feels dumb. Aidan slowly waggles his butt in the air, tongue sticking out, tail flipping back and forth as he scrawls numbers on the piece of paper. He is using ALL of his neurons. "Okay! Try... 1 5 8 4, or 5 1 8 4 on the keypad!"
Petra Soroka	"I would rather not try to take the kids through that thing,"     Qetra looks down at her sliced-through shoulder with a softly ditzy smile, just like usual. She backs up a bit away from the glitch barrier, just as blood starts to pour out of-- not pour, actually. Despite the inches-deep gouge through her body, through where muscle and bone should be, only a beading trickle of blood comes out of either side of the wound, and only from the skin layer of it.     Everything below the skin is just featureless, blurry red, like a child scribbling in the stump of a severed arm. Qetra examines this herself with some interest, craning her neck around to stare at her own shoulder as best as she can. With the arm now limply useless, she lifts up her wrist with her other hand, opening and closing the gouge like a puppet's mouth. "Yeowch! Hahaha. Ow. That hurts a bunch! Looks like that way's a nooooo~ go!"     Unlike Petra, Qetra wears her jacket tied around her waist, so it's still whole and unsliced. She tugs the wrapped arms apart, then begins the arduous process of trying to put the jacket on one-handed, struggling comically to cover up the wound with the sleeve. Eventually, she gets too frustrated with this, and wanders over to Hibiki after Petra's finished bitching at her. Hibiki Tachibana truly is having a terrible day: that's two Petra's! In a row! "Biiiikki~? Could you give me a hand putting this on?"
Kale Hearthward	Entering in either 1584 or 5184 on the keypad result in an error noise. "At least we know it's four digits," says Kale.
Futaba Nuki	"It's probably gonna need some help." Futaba replies to Hibiki and Kale, soon realizing she might be more right than expected when Qetra's charge reveals that the squares are actually dangerous to touch! "Y.. Yeah, definitely ain't forcing them through that. Other way!" Once Calamus leads the group to the keypad, she stares at it blankly for several moments before starting to look around the rest of the tunnel to see if she can't find something else that might be helpful. Seeing that pile of lines, she stares at that next while relaying her findings to the outside-computer group. She's sure as hell not going to figure this one out herself, after all. That won't stop her from trying, of course, as she recalls all those nines and sixes Aidan had brought up earlier. "9, 6, 6, 6, 9, 9, 6, 6, 6, 9. Uhh..." What's it mean? She has no idea. She'll just try that on the pad. She's about to start hitting in all those nines and sixes in sequence, too, but Aidan's instruction and Kale's attempt come in just in time for her not to do that! She waits with bated breath, hoping one of those will work... And they don't. "Hmm. Alright, how about..." She just goes for 9669, then 9666. Futaba's not expecting either of them to work anyway, but at least she can try and not remember those numbers if it doesn't.
Kale Hearthward	Neither 9669 nor 9666 work. Kale, for his part, has tried 1234, without any success.
Kale Hearthward	Aidan texts photos of the computer's output. Kale brings them up on his phone, and then frowns at them for a second. "There's twelve lines on the door... but there's ten sets of numbers in these images. Or... ten sets of numbers, and one space." "... What if... it's not lines we should be reading those as. What if there's not twelve lines on the door but eleven spaces? That'd match up with the sets of numbers in the images..."
Kale Hearthward	Kale goes ahead and transcribes the numbers onto the lines on the door, using an eyeliner pencil he keeps on hand.      |5|1|1|1|5| |5|1|1|1|1|      |3|1|1|1|1| |3|1|1|1|3|      |1|1|1|1|3| |1|1|1|1|5|      | |1|1|1| | | |1|1|1| | _____| |1|1|1| | | |1|1|1| | 55___ 111__ 55___ 1111_ 55___ _____ 55___ 111__ 55___ 11___ 55___
Futaba Nuki	New pictures come in! With no other ideas beyond Kale's idea coming in and the pencil that gets Futaba to give him a thumbs up for with no other elaboration, she starts squinting at the lines... No, the spaces. It's still not making much sense to her even with that, though, so on a whim, she tests two more series of numbers (after punching a bunch of them into her phone's calculator): 1387 and 1100. And then she goes right back to staring at all those 5s, 3s, and 1s.
Kale Hearthward	1387 and 1100 also don't work. "I think I've seen something like this before," says Calamus, staring at the grid. "It's... one of those puzzles, like the folks in the city have in their newspaper." "The numbers mean you have to fill in... something."
Hibiki Tachibana	If worst comes to worst I can try to ship it your way if it's easier.     ...You have Christmas too, then. Did someone try to make a gift out of you?     "It's fine, Touta. You know you're welcome. I..." Hibiki stops, blinking at Angela's screen. It's clear she needs a moment to process that. "Make a gift... out of me? You mean make one for me?" She doesn't sound entirely sure that's what she heard, but wants to believe it was. Even so, she carefully speaks up after. "I don't... think so?"     No, I was just thinking about all the other shit you apparently got up to during the holidays.     "What...?" In the middle of moving, Hibiki slows to a stop, her stiff expression making way for complete confusion-- and then, a mix of emotions ranging from muted shock to bewilderment to maybe just a little bit of the indignance that Petra herself lacked before. The only movement out of her is her head, still following the other girl's own even as she turns away. Her jaw is slack, like it's stuck mid-trying to speak, all the way until Petra starts walking away.     At which point, a second passes before Hibiki's hands curl up at her side, and she trudges forward to catch back up with grit teeth. "Hey! /Hey!/ What the hell!? How do you even know anything about all of that? What happened!?" Her posture and tone makes it seem like she might grab Petra by the arm and force her to face her again at any second, but she doesn't. It's just near shoulder to shoulder. "What do you /mean/ you have it handled!? What do you think I--"     Her sentence cuts off as they come up on the second entrance, reuniting with the group proper and the radio chatter about the current situation filling the air. Head dropping, her hands come up to her face and grip tight, before slowly dragging down, husky voice muffled into her palm and vision trembling. "Liza...? Or someone else? I swear, I'll..."     Qetra gets a little unfairly whirled on, with the look on her face still off-kilter, but the whiplash of realizing its her and not Petra is like a splash of cold water. Almost dumbfounded, she looks at the sliced arm and then back to her eyes, slowly closing her gaping mouth.     Letting out a strained exhale through her nose, she wordlessly steps around to firmly grip onto her opposite shoulder to hold her steady, then carefully hauls the sleeve up onto her limp limb. "You could have asked anyone to do this," Hikibi says roughly, despite doing it anyway. "...Or not gotten hurt in the first place."     Offhandedly, she glances at Kale's writing while stepping back after. "--I don't see how knowing that is supposed to help. I still can't tell what we're supposed to fill in there. The only thing I can see is the vertical set doesn't have any threes." Complains the local girl who's (in her current mood) just as likely to try and punch the keypad in if this takes too long.
Kale Hearthward	"Well, maybe if the first row is 5 and 5, that means draw five squares and five squares?" suggests Kale, trying to remember if he's seen this sort of puzzle before. Kale gets the pencil back out and draws on the grid...      |5|1|1|1|5| |5|1|1|1|1|      |3|1|1|1|1| |3|1|1|1|3|      |1|1|1|1|3| |1|1|1|1|5|      | |1|1|1| | | |1|1|1| | _____| |1|1|1| | | |1|1|1| | 55___ x x x x x o x x x x x 111__ 55___ 1111_ 55___ _____ 55___ 111__ 55___ 11___ 55___
Angela	Angela doesn't mind the puzzle this time. She enjoys puzzles, but she seems to be thinking inward right now. She says, "Mm." in agreement. She doesn't want to break any rules. She listens to information about Niko's home. It's strange, she thinks, to hear about ... a kid and their mom and their mama and it's...good. She feels someting else, in her gut. Not homesickness, exactly. Maybe it's more a Homestuckness since she has never actually left home, but in practice it's a Sickhomeness. She wants to get out of here and never see her parents, even the ones who aren't Ayin, ever ever again. She doesn't honestly even see any of them as 'parents' anymore, does she? Maybe Benjamin? But there's an ocean outside, there's Nikos outside. She can feel things with her own two hands instead of a simulated approximation of it. She watches the puzzle solving dispassionately. She is jarred out of it by Qetra getting hurt, she turns to look at her and says, apologetically, "Ah, my apologies. You do not have any permanent injuries?" She exhales slowly, again.
Ishirou	Ishirou, working with Aidan, works on the puzzle.  It takes some time for Ishirou to get his response from POD back, but once they realize it's a specific type of puzzle, he leans back and starts directing.  Eventually... He stares at it a little more, how does this equate to a number..?  That was until he caught the edges of the number drawn out on the puzzle itself.   "Hey guys, try... 8659."
Aidan Proudpick	There's a huge pile of paper around the keyboard and Aidan has charcoal in his hair and around his mouth and face. "You have to say it into the radio, they can't hear us."
Kale Hearthward	When Ishirou does say it into the radio... 8659 does indeed open the door, with the grinding of ancient machinery. "... Oh! Oh, I see, if you fill in the puzzle..." Kale draws the rest of the grid in. xxxxxoxxxxx xoooxoxoooo xxxxxoxxxxx xoooxoxooox xxxxxoxxxxx ooooooooooo xxxxxoxxxxx xoooooxooox xxxxxoxxxxx ooooxooooox xxxxxoxxxxx
Futaba Nuki	Kale's suggestion starts to clue Futaba into things finally! She starts adding her own 'solutions' by copying the lines with the 55 in them, and she ends up getting stuck again. She's staring at those rows of 1s intently, but it doesn't quite click for her before Ishirou radios in that solution. There's a questioning look on Futaba's face as she hears it at first, then shrugs and punches it in! "Oh.. Whoa. That did work! But... Huh." She keeps staring at the columns of 1s for a little while longer, then remembers that they need to make sure Niko and Alula are safe! Remembering what Petra said earlier about not giving away the hiding place, though, means she'll need a more subtle approach to not startle any of them and to blend into the scenery. Thus, Futaba turns into a tiny beetle (with a gold-ringed horn and a leafy pattern), and she's ready to bolt on in the moment the door opens. She'll worry about other traps after she's already rushing right into them!
Petra Soroka	"You could have asked anyone to do this," "But I wanted you to! Ob~viously!" Now that Hibiki's helping her with the jacket, Qetra seems to have forgotten all about the wound. With the bare minimum amount of justification, Qetra leans back into Hibiki while she tugs the sleeve over her arm, pressing her back against her chest. Tilting her head sideways to practically lay it on Hibiki's shoulder, Qetra clings to her while dazedly murmuring. "Hahaaa... that's right, you don't like when I get hurt, right? Even if you complain, you still want to help, you can't stop yourself. Would you care if Petra got her shoulder sliced open? She'd bleed a loootttt more than this, you know." "What if Liza came for her, even if she didn't die? What if she somehow got away, and she was full of bullets, or crushed underneath that mech of hers? What about radiation poisoning, ahaha... would you still hate her even if she could never be an Elite again? It all seems so pointless when you think about it like that, right? Especially since you know how close she was to--"     A sheet of morphmetal smacks down onto Qetra's head from the air, and she vanishes into it, cut off mid-sentence. Petra herself is standing there, flushed pink with, probably, indignation, and the Silver FullBottle flipped open in her hand. The shimmering quicksilver flows back into the bottle, and she clicks it shut with her thumb.     "... Don't listen to her. I'd think you know better than that, but really, I shouldn't fucking assume anything." It's always the carrot and the stick with her. Petra doesn't even seem interested in the puzzle, while everyone else is hemming and hawing over it. She leans against the tunnel wall, kicking her foot back against it to balance, and half-lids her eyes in a glare that mostly ends up directed at the ground instead of Hibiki.     Despite walking away, she was apparently immediately willing to re-engage. It's a little silly, actually, when realizing that. "... What do you even care, anyways? Whether it was Grier, how I know, what I'm doing to handle it-- why do you care? You didn't enough to do anything *before* now, so you're just-- just trying to score points, still, aren't you?" "--And to do that, she tangles herself up in everyone else's lives, gets involved, gets people to care, makes herself impossible to yank out without it hurting someone or something even when she's making it worse, /exactly/ like goddamn shrapnel!"     Words Petra wasn't privy to, but is still so repeatedly familiar with regardless. She almost seems to respond directly to them, like she somehow got a transcript of the entire meeting-- or that she's thinking the exact same thing to herself, more often than Hibiki says it about her.     "I know I don't have any friends in the Watch anymore." Petra doesn't like thinking about how Rita is in the Watch. "But I have friends everywhere else. And they, unlike you, are actually willing to help me if I need it. So you don't need to pretend to care if I live or die. Hell, fucking join the people hunting me down if you want. I can take care of myself, with just me and us."
Angela	Angela isn't sure what to say about the Hibiki argument. It scarcely feels entirely real. This is as much an obligation to Lilian, she knows well, as it is about anything real. She is sympathetic to Hibiki--but it's true, isn't it? She isn't a 'like us' and since she isn't a like us, it isn't real. This idea has been reinforced on her again and again. But it's hard to think 'Hibiki isn't real' when she is here and saying things she sounds like she wholeheartedly believes. Angela doesn't like saying 'Tachibana' either. But she has her own obligations. She's the villain after all, and she should just accept that. She probably shouldn't say anything, though...Liza Grier is a familiar name. Is Liza Grier trying to murder Petra? She can't disagree that hibiki's weakness seems to be the followthrough. She responds, after a moment, "No," to Hibiki. "I don't mean that." ''How do you even know anything about all that?'' "...You...were not intending to speak on a murder attempt, Hibiki?" She says, like it's being dragged out of her by hooks. "...Hanhh..." She doesn't sound angry, maybe a bit disappointed. "Bikki, you are like a song that builds up triumphantly only to cut off before the final chord." She says. "...Sorry, Tachibana I guess." The backpack shrugs. "I see why Hod has cottoned onto you. You want to be liked by everyone, but you are too frightened when it is between two friends to act because you do not peresonally have a strong conception of what is right, you simply wish to be cared for." She doesn't add anything else, as she's pulled away by Petra here and there. "I do not enjoy this." She tells her, leaving it at that. ''You don't need to pretend to care'' "I do not see Hibiki as one who pretends to care but simply does not know how to and therein lies the tragedy that springs forth."
Kale Hearthward	In the group goes. Finishing the hide and seek is not actually much of a challenge, since... Calamus knows all of Alula's hiding spots, but... well... there's also... ... Okay so the bigger problem is that Niko's got the lightbulb with them. They've taken off the Punishing Bird sweater and wrapped it around the lightbulb but it's still shining brightly and visible from several corridors away. MORAL CHOICE TIME: DO YOU ACT LIKE YOU DON'T INSTANTLY SPOT NIKO'S HIDING SPOT YES/NO CHOOSE WISELY, THIS WILL AFFECT YOUR ENDING For those that aren't going off to do hide and seek, Kale's managed to find another terminal that seems responsive to commands.
Futaba Nuki	Given the choice, of course Futaba won't give away the hiding spot! She's pretty sure they'll be spotted pretty easily with the lightbulb in the sweater, anyway, but kids need to be kids. Luckily, being a beetle in a weird cave means she can watch over Niko and the others from the visual safety of some dusty crevice!
Ishirou	Ishirou sighs a breath of relief when they get the puzzle right.  Sitting back down he looks at Aidan again.  "Uh... sorry I didn't respond earlier.  Thank you for the compliment.  But right now I... don't feel... like me.  This is something I'm working through." He takes a breath and reclines watching the screen.  He is amused at how people treat Niko, he finds it cute.  Especially if people pretend to have a hard time finding them and Alula.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan starts scooping paper up, folding it haphazardly to shove in his pack. "Don't worry about it. I ge-" Aidan pauses, considering his words, "No, you've gone through a lot that I don't know everything about. So I don't REALLY get it. I don't know what kind of stuff you are working through, and I don't want to pretend I do. You'll figure out how you want to be. Just don't let anyone else get in the way of it."
Touta Konoe	The display of what happens to Qetra is obvious enough. It almost looks like something that he could manage to slip through if he could manage to outpace the squares pushing into existence, but, it's just as Kale says. That might have been a path forward, but no longer a path out. So the only obvious choice is following Calamus. In that time, more conversations follow at least with Hibiki at least.     "Yeah, I know, but even if I am I'd like to make it easier not tougher you know?"     It's not like he doesn't understand what it takes to entertain guests, but more than that she's still handling S.O.N.G., the Watch, and God knows how many other dramas. Even now as they go the conversation's cut short as Hibiki ends up caught in another conversation with Petra, at this point the two are far enough away to just see their expressions alone, but it's clear that whatever's going on, that as Hibiki's grip tightens.     As the group finds the next entrance, Touta finds himself trying to step in a tad as Hibiki's made to help with that arm. To which, if he's allowed he'd try to help. Not like he wouldn't be used to these kinds of injuries, albeit for much less time. So the graphic nature of it all is sort of lost on him at this point.     At least he intended to as Qetra was hit with that morphmetal that seems to be sponged up by it. At this point, Touta questions if stepping in is the right choice. He feels a certain obligation to his promises, but knows that Hibiki wouldn't want him stepping in if something's to be said. Still...Even from a distance, it's hard to watch. Worse, it's an inaction...As this all goes on though, there's the sound of the door finally opening, the solution being resolved by the rest of the Elites. And with it...     "Oi! Door's open. Can we please make sure that Niko doesn't end up running near another glitch?"     Whether it's a call out to the three so they can actually get to Niko now that the path has opened, or just an excuse to let them step away from the conversation it doesn't matter. Ultimately the choice for them is made by them. As far as Touta's leaving it, he's stepping through regardless.     When it comes to instantly spotting Niko, it frankly is easy to find given the light. But nothing's said towards it. He gets wanting to let a kid have a proper childhood, and thus he's not trying to spot Niko. If anything, if it seems like it might start looking like he's not trying hard enough, or might be getting in the way of the game...There's this fog that just so happens to pull up really making it seem like he wasn't even there to begin with.
Hibiki Tachibana	". . ." Hibiki doesn't say anything to Qetra, even while she's leaning against her, although the look on her face says enough. The more she talks, the more her expression tightens up, her lips press together, and her grip gets a little tighter than it should--     Until she disappears, once again shifting her back to muted surprise, before she stiffens back up and swallows as she glances back to Petra. It seems like she might be at risk of raising her voice for a moment, but all she does is shove her hands back in her jacket pockets. "...Why do I even still care. Yeah. I wonder that same exact thing." Her eyes fall off to the side. "You're right. You've got better ones, so you shouldn't be worrying about what I do or don't do. It won't matter either way, will it? Save yourself the trouble."     She takes a step forward, then stops when Angela speaks up. Maybe more than any one part, it's the disappointment in her voice and bringing up how she views her and Hod's similarities that gets Hibiki to tense her arms and grimace--until it all loosens up at once, when Touta interjects and tries to move things along, breaking up the building tension for a second time. She exhales, and shakes her head.     "...It's not like I enjoy any of this either... if this was just about wanting to be cared about or winning points, it wouldn't feel this bad."     She trudges off after, on Touta's trail, and she'd have to be blind to not see the blindingly bright light (sun) practically pointing out their position. She considers for a second, then drags her hands back out of her jacket and heaves out a sigh, before cupping both of them around her mouth. "Niiiii~koooooo! Where the heck are you hiding!? C'mon, it's all dark and everything in here!"     Playing along and forcing some energy back into her voice won't make her feel that much better, but it'll at least be a /little/ bit better. Maybe it'll be a good thing for Niko to enjoy themselves while they can - it's only going to get harder and harder the longer they're at this.
Kale Hearthward	You have chosen to LIE TO NIKO. Niko will remember this. One reasonably long game of hide and seek later, Niko exits the ruins. "That was fun... but we should get going. Which way to the city?" "Oh-" Calamus says. "It's blocked right now... the grove guardian has vines overgrowing it. We, uh, think she's having a bad time." "It's been a couple years since she's seen sunlight," comments Alula. "She's... not doing well. Being a plant lady, and all. Phosphor and firefly light isn't really doing enough for her, we think." "Oh..." Niko glances at their burden. "This feels... heavier, now."