Time passed as the assassin fell into himself, following the flow of chi through his body; Sending it outwards and then back in in gentle waves. His mind grew still, though still aware. As the sun set he stayed like this, until the sound of new voices drew him back. Wang surfaced and opened his eyes. He grunted when he spotted them, neither of them the Annas. Instead it was some big kid, towering over Wang, and some young woman with some of the ugliest hair he'd seen. Like she'd decided that mustard and ketchup were good inspirations for style. The temptation to just leave the two ladies to whatever they were doing was starting to get more and more tempting. He'd been sitting in the dull place all day and still nothing.
Standing, and still wearing nothing but his pants and sword, Wang wandered back towards the group. "Hey, Librarian. Is there any other ways besides the radio to get a message out into the city?"
THE SLORG!
"Over a whole day, basically" Dave answered Curly simply, with a slight shrug.
Silanea let the shield slowly dissipate, but still kept the same enthusiastic expression. "I, I feel great! Better than in years, really" Silanea said, then looked over towards Sans and Rex and had her expression fall a little. "Oh Sans, let him go. It's thanks to him that this happened" the lamia requested, keeping her tone kind as she slithered over towards them.
Nails and Phillip listened in on the conversation, though they didn't have the full context of the situation, so they looked at Fastanook with somewhat questioning expressions. "Alright, that should do" Fastanook said simply, stepping back slightly and folding his arms.
Shrugging, Nails looked back to Ben and the robot. "No worries about suicide. The prison keeps people from doing that; it's kind of like the peaceful days in that way" Nails said to Ben.
"They can still hurt other people though..." Phillip muttered, sounding like he was speaking from personal, bitter experience.
"Just put him down in the cell, and we'll deal with him" Nails added, pointing to the open cell and then walking over into it.
"... Aaand there" Miss Tairee said idly, tapping a last few buttons. Sunset blurred, and though she stayed at the same shrunken proportion, she was now a unicorn, her clothes gone. Then Miss Tairee looked back up to Cole, frowning slightly in worry again.
"Cole... The right thing would be that people only expect you to have the responsibilities of a normal three year old. You shouldn't have to worry about having to help people like that yet. You should be having fun and learning, like other kids your age would" Miss Tairee told Cole.
Then Wang wandered over, getting Miss Tairee to lift her lensless glasses up to pinch her the bridge of her nose for a moment. Then she turned to him with a fairly displeased, 'now is not a good time' expression. "You could make a poster and I could place copies of it around the city at random" Miss Tairee answered him, sounding a little frustrated. "Other than that, word of mouth" the librarian added.
edited 21st Sep '17 11:00:28 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.
I just want to help!
Cole looked at the newcomer who approached them, raising his head enough to study the stranger a moment, sniffling a bit, then looked back at Sunset when she was transformed into a...a unicorn? He took a slight step back, but studied her a moment, apparently rather curious despite his low mood.
Miss Tairee's concern did seem to be cracking his facade a little, seemingly wearing out his streak of determination to flee, and he just let out a tiny bit of a sigh.
"...can I...can I at least be small like everyone else too? I don't want to keep being so much bigger than everyone...I...I want to be able to hug people again..."
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
...Okay, one more picture. There we go, now Rex will have to deal with sans messing with him being frozen in time for as long as digital information exists.
Anyway.
"Um, right." I was fairly suspicious Ben was exaggerating just a bit, and still put off by the unexpected topic change. Not that I was in a rush to rerail things, "So...does the militia need to ask me anything else...?"
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Lizard Metabolism
Two, Gay Tuna Sandwich
"It's like Yuna said!" Really, Two was happy that in their duo at least one of them had good ideas. She was good at fighting and at cooking, but thinking wasn't really her strong suit. Not that she was dumb! She just felt more comfortable with going with others. "It's certainly possible, it must be."
"Please, don't concern yourself. Even if we were to fall, we can summon others in our place to help you. Like Cole did." She smiled as she rubbed Arcade's head comfortingly, still keeping him close in a hug together with her pink partner in crime.
How do lizards fly?
someone
Sunset Shimmer | Library | "You also have a horn."
Sunset blinked and swayed on her newly regained four feet. The unicorn
◊ stumbled, trying desperately to keep herself upright until she realised that she had four hooves, and landed, taking a deep breath. Sadly, she wasn't any larger. She pawed at her guitar, trying to pick it up. She ran a hoof over the strings, creating a truly terrible chord that made her wince. "Okay. Never doing that again....Wait a sec..." she said quietly. She had a horn now. She was a unicorn. She focused, and a red corona surrounded the horn and the guitar, lifting the guitar to levitate in front of her. "Been a while since I've done this...." she said to herself, and began to pluck at the guitar strings with her mouth.
This also failed.
"Okay, this isn't working. I was hoping I'd be big enough to hug you Cole, but no. Miss Tairee, would you mind turning me back to human. I miss my hands," she said defeatedly.
edited 22nd Sep '17 2:39:46 AM by secretlyasuperhero
[TOP SECRET]
THE SLORG!
Miss Tairee frowned in an apologetic way, and let out a sigh. "No Cole, I'm sorry. If you just wait and sleep, it should be tomorrow by the time you wake up, and you won't be larger than other people like today anymore" Miss Tairee suggested to him. After Sunset's request, Miss Tairee glanced over, and tapped a few buttons on the holographic screen. With another blur, Sunset was back to her human form, with her clothes returned as well.
You are reading this.
Construction site
"Say, you don't have the time to stay and help a bit, do you?" Garrett asked Spiderbee.
He then turned towards Ant-Man and asked: "So... while we wait, I might as well learn something more about this challenge. Are there any specific rules, or what? Are we supposed to build the tower from these blocks only, or can we use other stuff?" And are we allowed to damage your tower?... was a question he left unasked because he wasn't stupid.
I just want to help!
Sunset had apparently tried to make herself big enough to hug him, but Miss Tairee made it clear she couldn't really alter them much from the day if the day made them how they were. He didn't like that at all, but...she had been willing to give Sunset's request a try, so it was clear enough that Miss Tairee would help if she could.
He let out a near whine of a sigh, but he finally, clearly reluctantly, made his way back to the couch, stepping cautiously to avoid any of the tiny people on the floor, and clambered back onto the couch, whumping his head against the cushions in somewhat dramatic fashion, and just laying there with his face hidden.
Annoyed Mode: ON
Ah, so that was another thing that troubled him. He was afraid others would suffer if he tried to get close to them, and he didn't want that to happen. In a way, that was why he was so hesitant to let them do the challenge: he was afraid that Two and her would be hurt if they got involved, and he believed it would be his fault. That was silly, though. Hadn't that been the whole point of Silanea's mindscape? Making her understand that what other people did was not her fault? Clearly some reassurance was needed... which is why Yuna decided to point out something important.
"Well, we're already hugging you, so... we're already very close, aren't we?"
Still, she made no movements to let go, but she did change the tone of her voice to emphasize just how serious she would be from that point on.
"I don't like it when people suffer, you know," she stated openly. "It makes my heart ache every time I see it, so... whenever I have the chance to do something about it, I make sure to do everything I can do make things better." She brought her face up to look at Arcade, still with a smile on her face. "I choose to help because I can, not because I need to. Because I can, and I want to. Because I'm a hero that fights to protect the world. I can handle a challenge or two, and I don't really mind the pain if it helps someone. And I want to help you."
She paused for a brief moment while she pondered something else, and then looked back at Arcade.
"Plus, if what I heard about this place is right, then that means things will be hard here anyway, so why not make it worth the pain and help someone out while I'm at it?"
edited 22nd Sep '17 2:33:49 PM by Katarsus
Yuna's words of encouragement did not get the response she intended. Arcade realized that she was right, and weakly began to struggle against the hug. He stopped moving at all when Yuna looked up at him.
After some thought he said, "I-I don't want to let people suffer either. I tried to fight back when an entire army of horrible people tried to take over. I wanted it all to be better. It could've been, if I wasn't one of the ones helping decide its fate. I made things better for other people, but I ended up getting hurt. I don't want anyone to do that for me. I know how bad it can hurt."
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
feeling blue
Upon hearing Rex speak, Sans could only snicker as he listened to his high-pitched voice. "wow, you sound so squeaky like this, it's even harder to take you seriously this way."
Then Silanea started asking him to let Rex go since he was the one responsible for her current happiness. Well, it was hard to say no and spoil her mood after she finally got everything she wanted, so he simply dropped Rex onto the mattress, though not from very high up just to be safe. It would still be a somewhat rough landing outside of the fact it was a mattress though.
"c'mon, boss, i'm just messin' around, don't take things so seriously." He shrugged.
"In that case... The next break day should be the day after tomorrow? Good to know" Curly said with a nod to the miniature troll. "Thanks for keeping an eye on things out here for us"
Sans immediately tried to take advantage of Rex's size. Curly just shook her head at this since he was already dropping the tiny teen, then started internally tuning her antenna ears through a few stations to try and catch up on what was going on, particularly the NHA channel.
Though, the tiny Arcade seemed to still be doing poorly... But others seemed to have a handle on that for now, and probably better than she could at the moment.
Sans wasn't all that gentle with putting Rex down but at least he was doing so. All Rex had to do was stop his fall by building his wings—which he did—and then unceremoniously fell again when they collapsed thanks to his exhaustion. On the bright side, the fall stopped feeling of numbness in Rex's body—and he landed right where Silanea was talking about how glad she was about the help, so that was a plus.
"We only went inside your head, literally fought our way through your guilt and brought your whole village back. You are making it sound like a big deal" he joked.
THE SLORG!
"Well... I suppose I could" Little Spiderbee said, giving a slight shrug.
Ant Man looked down at Garrett, crouching down a bit to more easily communicate. "It's just whoever has a higher tower once the day switches over. You can use anything, but only whatever's inside the designated square counts; you can't pile some stuff on a building nearby and call that your tower" Ant Man said to Garrett. He then looked past the master thief, seeing that the SCVs had started picking up blocks from their designated pile and stacking them on top of the supply depos that they had made as a base. "It looks like you guys have already started, so I'll get to it too" the comic book hero added, then turned and moved towards the other pile.
Ant Man picked up a few of the larger pieces and put them down in the square, as the ants all around suddenly started to move to the blocks in an organized fashion; using their numbers, they started to pick up several of the blocks at the same time and move them towards the base that Ant Man was setting up. Though the speed wasn't too impressive, since they were still just ants, with so many moving at once and Ant Man grabbing the blocks to place them as the ants brought them over, together they were starting to get something set up faster than the SCVs were.
"Oh, I guess we're starting? Okay" Little Spiderbee said, and moved over to the stack the SCVs were making. Looking towards Ant Man and thinking for a moment, Little Spiderbee decided to start doing pretty much the same thing; picking up the blocks from the SCVs and using her larger size to put the blocks straight up onto the top of the pile.
"Not what I had in mind!" one of the SCVs commented as Spiderbee briefly lifted him off the ground while taking the block he was carrying.
"But this is serious, Sans" Silanea replied, her tone still rather calm and relaxed though. Once Rex was back down at the same level as her, Silanea turned towards him, folding her hands in front of herself.
"Rex, back in my world... The only thing that would come close to repaying what you've done is an oath of lifetime servitude and loyalty. Though we're not even going to be here for two weeks now, it's only right that I still offer that regardless" Silanea said to Rex, her tone more serious now, but still overall friendly.
Meanwhile, Curly would be hearing chatter on the militia channel about the prisoners and their other guest staying for the night, though it wasn't easy to get all the details from just overhearing the channel at this point. The NHA channel was actually mostly silent, as the group overall was settling down for the night, preparing to sleep and setting up night watches and such.
You are reading this.
Lizard Metabolism
Two, Healing The Doctor
Yuna was definitely a spokesman for their partnership; of that there was no question. "If being hurt repelled us from helping others, we would not be here with you, Mr. Arcade." Two offered a counterpoint when Arcade said he'd rather not have anyone get hurt because of him.
"If one suffers, another should help him. There's no obligation in it." She smiled as she maintained her hug on the good doctor. "We want to help."
How do lizards fly?
Wang met Tairee's displeased look with an uncaring, even mildly amused, one of his own. "Posters? Really?" He shrugged and crossed his arms. "Alright, well have you got anything I could use to make something then? Or can you make one for me?"
Annoyed Mode: ON
"I know."
The more time Yuna spent talking to Arcade, the more she realized just how badly hurt he'd been in the past. Not just from what he said, but from how he said it. He spoke about his own attempts to help people, and about how much it had hurt him. But she was a stubborn girl, and she would not be intimidated by the prospect of pain. In fact... she was exposed to pain every time she fought the Vertex. She could handle it, and she was sure of that.
"I don't mind the pain," she stated. "It's like Two says. We help because we want to. And I do get hurt all the time, but each time it gets a bit easier. I just think about the reasons why I help people, and I just power through it!" It was at that point that she finally let go of Arcade... mostly. She still held his hand, and still stuck besides him. "And you even helped with that too just now, you know!"
Nothing was stopping Two and Yuna from trying to help. Every argument Arcade made, they insisted on helping. If the fact that Two and Yuna could suffer his existence was the only reason he was unsure, he would've agreed, but there was something else.
The challenge Caro described back on the day he'd called Daisy was horrible. The conditions all involved hurting someone, even for something better. Just foisting off such a choice wasn't right.
But God, did he want to.
"Ca-can... can I think about it?" he finally asked. After a few seconds of staring at Yuna's hand covering his own, he added, "thank you... for trying to help. I haven't really talked to... anyone for years before I got here. It's been hard to really... think straight after that."
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
Silanea was more than happy about what the mindscape group had done for her—and especially with Rex. A reward sounded pretty good after getting insulted, stabbed, and generally humiliated for the better part of a day but 'a lifetime of servitude and loyalty' didn't exactly feel like a suitable prize.
"Well, I... don't even know what to say"
Obviously, he was really starting to reconsider his stance on her hugs—at least they were short. Rex really tried his hardest not to spill the beans because that carried the serious risk of harming Silanea and undoing all their hard work. Since this was the happiest she had been in years, it was better to continue playing the cocky hero role.
"Seriously, it wasn't that hard. We had backup right when we needed it" he started walking near to where Sans and Curly were "Besides, I didn't do it alone. I had help" he said, motioning to both giants and then the rest of the group "I'm sure they deserve like... thirty percent of the credit" he joked, leaning on Curly's leg in a lame attempt to appear calm and collected.
What was actually going on is that Rex had used the opportunity to make his nanites and start a 'conversation' with Curly about the state of Silanea's village. And who better to discuss it with the person that was literally how the lamia's friendship presented itself?
"Please don't freak out, I'm talking to you through my nanites. Tester told me Silanea's village can still get destroyed and we can fix that but he didn't say how. I don't want to make Silanea feel like she's always going to suffer. You are her best friend, do you think we should tell her?"
Curly blinked in surprise at the offered reward, and sat down on the bed near the tiny people "That's quite an offer-"
"Gah!"
Rex leaning against her earned an eye twitch as she quickly looked to the teen in reaction to the sudden communication. Though she managed to, if not relax, at least not freak out once she realized what he was doing. "But, uh, would that conflict with the whole NHA thing...?" Curly asked as she focused on Silanea again.
Meanwhile, internally. Rex (or his nanites) would probably be keenly aware of the initial panic the sudden interface caused. "Geeze... Of course they're still in danger, Sir Tristen, and more importantly the king of Vusluora who ordered the genocide, are probably still alive and well in her world. I could have told you that on the contest day". Even after relaxing enough to allow Rex to continue his stealth communication, her security protocols were on alert on the off chance the teen attempted to access anything beyond her internal radio systems "The writer said her village should be safe until Silanea gets home at least, but it's only a matter of time before they find out about the Lamia's revival. We need to tell Silanea... But let's at least try and confirm what the danger is first"
feeling blue
So apparently there was some kind of thing in lamia culture where one could swear servitude and eternal loyalty towards people who have really helped them. Thankfully Rex wasn't trying to exploit it, yet. He did however joke about the contributions Sans and Curly had on the mindscape.
"yea, 30% for each of us, sounds fair," said Sans, glancing at Curly and shrugging, "then 20% to rex and 20% to the rest, sounds pretty good to me."
Construction site
So, they could use anything at all to build the tower? That sounded like it could be easily exploited with a little creativity... And the rules apparently didn't say anything about sabotaging the ant-man's work, either, so this ace was still up their sleeve if things don't go so well.
Garrett took his phone and called Ben's number.
"Ben? If you're done with whatever business you had in prison, kid, the day's challenge has already started... we're supposed to stack up blocks to build the highest tower possible. There's one girl and a bunch of some tiny vehicles working on it, but we sure could use more help. How about you direct some people to the construction lot... and maybe check if the people from the hospital have woken up yet. Or you can come here and provide some help yourself."
edited 23rd Sep '17 4:13:46 PM by Korodzik
Happy Box Hater
Meditation Room
Caboose was spacing out for a fair bit while trying to eat his inedible visor. When he finally snapped out of it, he responded to Dave. "Oh," he said. "That explains my birthday candles. I wished to be a M-O-O-N, that spells dragon! That was a good birthday."
Then, rudely interrupting a moment by complete accident, Caboose went up to bluenette friend and heroic friend talking to the depressed doctor and said "Hello! What are we talking about?"
Why is a yam attacking me?
Larry didn't see much of a point in having Rex start working while the day conditions would undermine his efforts. It was nice seeing a reasonable response—which Rex was about to answer to with a thanks—when a giant skeleton decided to mess with him and pick him up.
"Yeah, I guess it must be nice being tall for once. Now put me down" Rex crossed his arms after Sans threw around an inevitable joke about his new size. But there was at least a good thing about Sans being conscious again and enjoying the benefits of being roughly 50 feet tall: Silanea was back, too. And she seemed to have gotten the handle of her magic. That was good enough to replace a psychological test but it never hurt to ask.
"Hey, you ok?!"