AKA Nixer
Derran's Lounge (Rooftop)
"So. You can't even perform a civil service, huh...?" Kloë murmured beneath her breath, following 129 closely behind as she clambered down from the roof. Having had a rather risky idea, she waited until they were hidden from any back-alley onlookers before suddenly clamping her hand tightly over 129's mouth and simultaneously grabbing at the implant on her ear with her cybernetic limb—swiftly ripping the thing away from her ear as quickly as she could muster without damaging it too much. Still, it'd be agonizingly painful since she'd still torn off a good chunk of 129's ear, which was why she'd thought ahead to gag her using her other hand while she did the deed. Once the implant was in her grasp, Kloë would quickly crush it in her palm; discarding the pieces before snatching some hyperfluid from a bag on her hip and swiftly injecting it into 129's neck.
"I'm sorry! I know- I know that hurt! But I can't watch you be trapped by some corpo and not do something about it...!" she hissed, still attempting to keep 129 quiet in case she made noise while the painkillers were setting in. "Trust me. It's not as bad as it feels...! That thing's gone. You can think again. You're free."
Once she was sure the hyperfluid had made it into 129's system, she finally released her before ushering her desperately towards the back door, opening it and beckoning her inside with a clear expression of worry on her face.
"Listen, you're still bleeding right now...! I think there was a doctor inside. Do you trust me? 129...?"
She wasn't sure if a trust exercise was wise after physically injuring someone and only giving them painkillers after the fact. But if 129 wanted to flee somewhere else to tend to her wounds or bite the bullet and keep trusting the Grimer, this was to be her decision. Kloë had already asserted herself more than enough into her life. If she was truly going to be free, she had to forge her own path.
Derran's Lounge
"H-He's right. The Interior..." Nikki nodded in confirmation, wincing slightly at Mara's repeating of her words before nodding once again in agreement. "I... y-yes. Handlers. I can explain... but I'd really like to take you up on that offer. I... do need a place to stay. Don't really have accomodations right now..."
Cëll's words impacted the biohybrid severely, and she gulped quietly as she nodded again for the third time in a much more rapid fashion than before. Her neck muscles were getting a workout, that was for sure. Assuming a synthetic being could have a workout.
"...I chose to come here. M-My handlers... just make sure I'm okay..." she whispered, somewhat intimidated by the cyborg in front of her. "I don't mind... wait..."
Her big eyes widened, and there was a slight buzzing from inside her skull. Feedback. She was receiving something, and it was interfering with some of the other electronics in the room. Which was... strange. This kind of thing only really happened in older forms of communication.
Why was it happening with this clearly hyper-advanced biohybrid gynoid?
"...I-I don't know about becoming a... a nobody. What if I get hurt...? My handlers won't be able to find me..." she murmured anxiously. "And... those cybernetics. I don't know if my... if my body's even compatible with..."
Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 25th 2022 at 10:35:21 AM
bork
Stuck being sane.
Aleace, Derran's Lounge
And yet again, a sorrow has been sighted? If that's the case, not unusual. Did her gear pick up something? She heard the alert from her headset. She is glad today out of all days she brought her anti sorrow kinetic rifle with her (Currently on her back and in a compact setting, blending in with her exoskeleton). Maybe she could take aim and shoot it if she saw a sorrow. The range of this rifle is impressive, and ideal for taking out sorrows from afar.
She listened to her surroundings (heard nothing unusual) and then put her VR goggles on to check for other sorrows nearby. None as far as she can tell. But her system picked something up? A single signal from nearby? Hard to tell with this current prototype program. Cue her taking the VR goggles off and put back into position not covering her eyes. ... Wait what DID her scanners pick up?
"Huh, though I heard something out there."
Edited by sci300768 on Mar 25th 2022 at 4:06:41 AM
I have no idea what to put here, oh well!
129
"ALERTALERTALERT—!!"
Those were the last words she ever heard from her monitor. Hell, if she didn't have her sound detectors sitting pretty, those could have been the last words she ever heard. She barely bled, her cybernetic body containing more oil than organic fluids.
But she could feel. One of the perks of her model, now a painful liability. If Monitor were her, they would have shut off the pain like turning off a faucet.
But they weren't here. They should have been screaming. They were screaming, before Kloe went and yanked it off— wait, she yanked it off...?!
"...where..."
She couldn't hear them. She was in pain and alone and she couldn't hear them. Kloe was there, but she was still alone and couldn't hear them...
"...i cannot hear them... where did they..."
She fell to her knees. She was holding her head, blood and oil spilling through her fingers, waiting for instructions. But they wouldn't come. She was on the floor and in pain and scared and bleeding and empty and she couldn't hear them!
"...why can't I hear them? Why can't I hear them?! What did you—?!"
And then came the painkillers. She wasn't in a state to resist, much less complain. The pain began to fade, but the reality of her situation only became clearer. She only half-listened to Kloe, head throbbing as her thoughts continued to race. She couldn't remember the last time they had. But she was in pain and scared and bleeding and empty and...
"...-free..."
The pain was dying down. She didn't want to remove her hand, but it was becoming bearable. It was getting easier to think. It was possible to think. And standing before her, pushing her along was her saviour. Or her tormentor. She wasn't sure which.
"i don't... i can't..."
She wanted to cry. She wanted to cry so much. But the best she could manage was a trickle of hyperfluid down her check. She wasn't sure if her body or herself was to blame. She stumbled down the steps, landing on the first floor and hitting the wall with a groan.
"...what have you done to me?"
Edited by kkhohoho on Mar 25th 2022 at 9:10:06 AM
Cëll - Derran's Lounge
He sighed almost imperceptibly; people who were rattled were hard for him to deal with. "I... didn't mean it like that. Just... if you need to keep yourself safe—if there's something you need to keep yourself safe from—it's not too hard to create a new identity, or go underground entirely." Cëll's fingers twitched, itching for another cigarette, but he stilled himself. "And you're in the right place if you need somewhere to stay. If you ask around—"
A sound. An aborted scream, from outside, picked up by his enhanced hearing.
Cëll was already rising to his feet, his eyes darting around wildly. His voice was firm, just barely managing a veneer of calm. "There's something—goddamnit—something's happening outside. Give me a second." And off he stalked, not quickly, but not particularly slowly either, rolling up his right sleeve.
"...What the hell are you doing?"
Edited by Palindromee on Mar 26th 2022 at 1:00:10 PM
Trope-tan is here! ➯ my pronouns are ze/hir
AKA Nixer
Derran's Lounge
"God damn it..." Kloë exclaimed as 129 practically fell down the stairs, moving to hoist her back up onto her feet and hooking her arm around her shoulders so that the injured cyborg could lean on her. "It's okay... it's okay. Just— one thing at a time! You want an objective, right? Well we gotta stop the bleeding first off. There was that— there was that guy inside. Dr. Ehdmund...? Maybe he can help...! Come on—"
She stopped in her tracks as Cëll stormed into view, and she paled considerably as she backpedalled a little before remembering that she needed to keep 129 balanced. Trying to hide her fear, she settled an urgent glare onto her face as she drew in a deep breath and made to continue on helping 129 inside.
"Accident. Tried to help her, made it worse. She needs patching up. There's that doctor inside—I need to get her to him. Her ear's busted," she explained in brief, though frowned at her own dishonest retelling of the situation. It was hardly an accident, she'd just underestimated how extreme of a reaction 129 would have. She wasn't exactly one for foresight. "There's a Sorrow in the building opposite too, looking at us. Don't know how long it'll take for it to aggro. Needs reporting in..."
She was muttering now, whistling as she passed through the door and beckoning for Derran to help. In response, he spat out an expletive before taking 129 off her hands; and Kloë cautiously moved away as Derran searched for a first aid kit behind the bar.
"Anyone here a doctor...?" he called out with surprising calm in his voice; he must've been used to this kind of thing happening in this establishment. If anything he sounded more frustrated than disturbed. "A medical one? Don't need no sass, she's bleeding everywhere..."
"I gave her some hyperfluid, if that helps..." Kloë muttered, though wilted under Derran's expression upon overhearing this statement.
"That was a stupid idea. Falcar's is better for this kinda s***. Should've just taken her straight in..."
"Maybe..."
Nikki, meanwhile, had essentially been interrupted by this turn of events before she could respond verbally to Cëll's elaboration, but she'd nodded in agreement at least before turning towards Mara. Once the situation with 129 became clear, however, she fell silent, visibly horrified by the sight of blood yet simultaneously seeming fascinated by it.
Outside, the Sorrow had moved to the ground floor of the building it was trapped in. Already, it was now attempting to pry off the planks from the boarded windowframe with a broken piece of wood, and had managed to completely remove one while the conversation inside the Lounge was going on. If it hadn't been reported by now, it'd soon be outside before the NMCT could swoop in. These undead weren't always slow, after all.
bork
Stuck being sane.
Aleace, Derran's lounge
A sorrow?! She checked the audio of her headset, yes someone did mention a sorrow being sighted!
"Oh no, we need to stop it now."
She puts her VR headset on over her eyes, and she looks around though that. A part on her back (a node) moves along her exoskeleton and is now on her right forearm. That's her anti sorrow rifle. Now she is running the sorrow program, in an attempt to find the sorrow using the last known location according to someone else. Where would it go...
On her left arm, another node moves into place on her wrist (on the exoskeleton), ready to be used if needed. That's a pistol in case she needs that. She's now standing up and waiting to see if her gear picks up anything.
"What is the shape of the building that you saw it in?"
Edited by sci300768 on Mar 27th 2022 at 3:00:08 AM
I have no idea what to put here, oh well!Cëll - Derran's Lounge
A Sorrow to his right, a person bleeding out to his left. He took a split second to pinpoint the location of the Sorrow—39 degrees from his right eye, approximately 16 meters out, one of the faster ones, roughly 40 seconds on the approach—and then a woman approached the door with a rifle, and he contented himself with the reassuring weight of the pistol on his hip, heading back inside.
"Idiot," Cëll muttered to Kloë, somehow making it sound more gentle than an insult; it helped that he looked like his thoughts were elsewhere. "Severance from an ingrained neural connection is going to send her into shock, you're risking brain damage, loss of senses..." As he spoke, he extended a cable from his left wrist, pulling back 129's hair to search for a port—there, at the base of the neck. "You two worry about the bleeding, I'll worry about keeping her brain from collapsing on itself. Keep pressure on the wound and don't disturb the cable." He had a medical database, but it was by no means exhaustive; besides, he needed to focus on what he was about to do. With a smooth motion, Cëll jacked in, his eyes glowing faintly as he looked down at her and extended the connection.
"..."
"..."
"You're online." A voice, abstracted, projected directly into the neurotransmitters, inaudible to anyone other than 129. His systems synced with hers, regulated them, carried them through the sudden absence of a component.
"Keep your eyes on me."
"Breathe."
"This is a safe location. These people do not want to cause you harm."
"You are performing your task well."
"Relax your muscles and keep your eyes open."
"Breathe."
"Breathe."
Edited by Palindromee on Mar 27th 2022 at 8:21:42 AM
Trope-tan is here! ➯ my pronouns are ze/hir
Breath of the Sun
Derran's Lounge
On instinct, Ehdmund was already moving as the injured person was brought in. It took him less than half a second to pinpoint the source of the bleeding and realize what Kloë had done.
"Yes, yes, I'm a doctor." He announced, stepping forward to attend to 129. "Let me have a look."
He took a few napkins from the bar, and withdrew a small roll of gauze and a bottle of antiseptic from his pocket - things he'd learned were surprisingly useful to carry with him after years in the Outskirts - and set about dressing the wound even as the others tended to the poor girl's mental state.
"General rule of thumb: ripping something out of a person's ear is a good way to damage their hearing." Ehdmund noted, pouring some sanitizer on a napkin and gently cleaning her ear with it. "Fortunately, it appears the wound wasn't deep enough to damage the ossicle, so she shouldn't have any permanent damage. Well, physically, anyway. I'm afraid I'm not a psychiatrist, so I couldn't tell you about any emotional trauma."
His hands moved with care and precision, and he had the wound cleaned, disinfected, and expertly dressed in under a minute. A testament to his years of experience. "And, voila. Clean as a whistle. Shouldn't take more than a week for such a little cut to heal up. Might hurt to sleep on that ear, though."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
129
129 didn't resist. She was being poked and prodded, jacked into and operated on, but she didn't raise a single objection. How could she? Part of her ear had been torn off and a piece of herself went with it. The good news was the pain didn't last long. Her ear had been swiftly repaired, and the nature of her mechanical body meant any damage already been reduced. But as miserable as the Monitor had made her, it had been a part of her. Telling her where to go, what to do, who to be.
But it wasn't there.
Where am I?
Who' am I?
Where have they gone?
Why are they not speaking to me?
Why am I in pain?
Why am I in
Why am I
Even as she stayed connected, her mind was racing with questions, asking them as they came. But somewhere in the middle of it all, it occurred to her. She'd been so scared, so madly in pain that she only asked it once, and she had soon forgotten she'd asked it. But now, the pain subsiding and her thoughts beginning to clear, came a moment of clarity.
am I
am I free?
AKA Nixer
Derran's Lounge
"Sort of a squat building. Condemned one; across the street. It's probably pried open the window by now," Kloë responded to Aleace, momentarily glancing down at her own kinetipistol for safety before tightly pressing her lips together and looking over at 129. The criticism she was receiving from both Cëll and Ehdmund was deserved, and she flicked her gaze downward ashamedly. Still, she hardly regretted her decision. At least, at the moment.
Unless 129 decided to turn on her, that is.
"Look, put it this way. I either did that and risked her hating me, or never see her again or be always under C.C.C's watch even if I did. This is our turf, right...? They can't do s***..." she murmured half to herself, though it was hard to marry her reasoning with what was being displayed in front of her. "I'm... ugh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to... be this bad. I just couldn't stand seeing her so... just... given up. You know...?"
"Don't be surprised if you get NMCT breathing down your neck after this. C.C.C. too. You know how these corpos get when they lose 'property'..." Derran warned, having backed off to let the professionals handle their work.
Kloë meanwhile only bit her lip, refusing to respond to this as she stared down at her own feet. Elsewhere in the lounge, Nikki had ventured out the back door; kinetipistol in hand.
Outside with the Sorrow.
She'd barely even said a word. Just left. If that wasn't bad enough, there was a familiar creaking sound from in the distance. The old Rot klaxon, beginning to warm itself up again. Another Rotfall was imminent, just to make everything a tiny bit worse overall. At the very least Derran's Lounge had those anti-Rot shawls stationed in their dispensors near the door. Though one would hope that 129's recent fix would prove to hold up against the corrosive qualities of the infamous Black Rain.
borkCëll - Derran's Lounge
"...I get it." Cëll sighed quietly, staring off into the middle distance. His eyes continued to glow dimly as his system regulated 129's; she was stabilized to the point that he didn't need to send verbal input anymore, and so he could focus on speaking (and his ever-present background analysis). "Would've done the same if I got a safe chance to do it. Still a dumbass move."
At the mention of the NMCT, his lips parted in a downplayed scowl. "I'm good at getting those bastards off my trail, but I'm treading on thin ice lately. Running out of favors to call in, can't afford more eyes on my back."
Then—the sirens. Cëll's head snapped up, running calculations, pinpointing the source, surveying the room once more. "Has someone dealt with that Sorrow yet? They need to get their ass back inside."
Trope-tan is here! ➯ my pronouns are ze/hir
Stuck being sane.
Aleace, Derran's Lounge
She goes to the nearest window that looks at the direction of the building of the sorrow's last known location.
The node on her right arm becomes a kinetic rifle and she through the window as her gear locates the Sorrow. And she did load the rifle... looks like the magazine holds multiple rounds.
"The sorrow will probably go to where there are the most people, but I'm guessing this is the most likely way it will go."
Her sorrow program is running, tracking the most likely locations for a Sorrow to be/show up at and any possible paths it could take from the last stated location she knows of.
"Where would most people be right now?"
Edited by sci300768 on Mar 28th 2022 at 10:41:14 AM
I have no idea what to put here, oh well!
AKA Nixer
Derran's Lounge (Outside)
Nikki was careful as she manoeuvred around the wandering Sorrow, having remembered something about reporting the creature into the authorities yet finding herself puzzling over the ancient telephone system. Deciding against it, she instead frowned and snuck past the undead; using the junk and jutting architecture of Grimestown to her advantage as she targeted a particular item on the ground.
The piece of cybernetic that had once belonged to 129. Kloë hadn't taken it with her, and after overhearing what had happened Nikki had decided to go and pick it up. The klaxon was blaring, but she ignored it. Along with the Rot as it finally fell from the red sky above; quickly intensifying and soon drenching her in Black Rain.
It slid off her form, but it didn't stop it coming. She finally found the broken piece she was searching for, and peered at it curiously. The Sorrow was being drawn towards her now, eager to slay her and make her like itself. Nikki searched for the port on her neck, ignoring the approaching undead, and soon slotted 129's earpiece into it using an adapter cable.
The Sorrow was in Aleace's sights. Nikki had inadvertently drawn it out into the open. But for all intents and purposes, the strange woman was willingly letting herself be covered in the Rot.
"...Adam...? where... the children, Adam. Where are the children...?" murmured the Sorrow in a distorted tone as it staggered closer, covering its face as black tears slid down its cheeks. It was almost upon Nikki now. "...where did you take them? Adam...?"
Edited by Enirboreh on Apr 1st 2022 at 12:55:54 PM
bork
Stuck being sane.
Derran's Lounge, Aleace
She saw it and aimed at the sorrow's chest. Upon confirming her aim she shoots twice. Hopefully this brings it down for now.
"I shot it! Keep aim at it in case it still gets back up!"
The noise of the shots would also attract attention to the Lounge, but Aleace's aim is well practiced. She's shot guns for as long as she could remember.
She still is aiming her gun at the sorrow in case it gets back up from the shots. But this rifle is reliable.
I have no idea what to put here, oh well!
Mara
Mara readily agreed to let Nikki take one of the bunks at the Outpost, and had stepped away to the bar to grab a pen and paper to write directions on—she tried to avoid leaving a digital footprint when she had guests who seemed like they could use some anonymity. She was there when the sirens went off, and when an injured woman was brought into the bar.
Out of habit, Mara surveyed the exits and the roof for potential Rot leaks—satisfied that there were none, she scanned the crowd. Though most people knew better than to go outside once the sirens had started, large groups like the one in the Lounge could get irrational in their panic, and she usually made it a priority to placate anybody nearby during a Rotfall.
During this sweep, though, she spotted Nikki moving silently out the back door. Hurriedly, she turned back to Derran. "Put a round for the house on my tab, might keep the mood light," she said, then strode after the wayward girl.
Navigating the crowd was tricky, and Mara made it to the doorway right as several gunshots rang out. Getting much closer to the Rotfall than the average person might be comfortable with, Mara whistled sharply to get Nikki's attention.
"Nikki, come here! NOW!"
Cëll - Derran's Lounge
"What the fuck are you doing?" With 129 stabilized, Cëll fixed his gaze outside, with perhaps a little less gusto than one would expect. The Sorrow was downed. Good. He jacked out, appeared to space out for a long moment, then muttered shortly: "NMCT will be on us any second and she's clearly lost it—that or she's got some form of immunity, her body's..."He trailed off. "Don't risk yourself."
His eyes remained on Mara and Nikki, but he spoke directly to 129. The bleeding was beginning to ebb; his eyes flicked to her face for a moment, flashing in analysis. "Are you well? Do we need to hide you?"
If he was being honest, Cëll wasn't sure himself if he should be out in the open. He had an uneasy peace with the NMCT because his brand of (well-paying) vigilante justice saved them some work, but his disdain for them wasn't a secret, and his other jobs danced on the edge of legality. He could hide himself, but there was too much going on to know if he should. Maintaining focus on all three scenarios and all their possibilities at once, he outwardly seemed as if he'd checked out completely. Trope-tan is here! ➯ my pronouns are ze/hir
Breath of the Sun
Derran's Lounge
Edhmund responded to Kloe's explanation with a bemused smile. "You did the right thing, my dear. I'm not criticizing your choice, just telling you to be a bit more careful, in the future."
He slipped his bandages and disinfectant back into his pocket, then grabbed his cane as the sirens went off. Unsurprisingly, gunshots went off not long later; someone dealing with a Sorrow, no doubt. Poor creatures.
Rotfall started not long afterward. So he wasn't leaving at the moment, it seemed. Which was fine, as the ongoing conversation had intrigued him.
"If the NMCT come knocking, I can talk to them." Ehdmund interjected. "Some of them might know me from my clinic. And I'm not a ne'er-do-well, unlike you kids, so I suspect they would ask me fewer questions. Assuming they come at all; it's not like gunshots are uncommon around here."
The smile was still on his face. "In any case, what she needs right now is someone to be there for her. To help her work her way out of her own head. I'd offer, but I doubt she'd respond well to a silly old man like me."
He strode over to the door, peering out as he leaned on his cane. "That being the case, I'll keep watch while you tend to her. I'll give you a holler if you need to run."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
129
Am I free?
free
freeEEE333eerEeeE3e
And then she was awake.
She sat up. She blinked, scanning the room as she turned her head . She was like a newborn babe, seeing the world for the first time.
But the voice. The voice was gone. She spun her head towards Kloe, her body perfectly still, holding her hand to her ear.
"You..."
She didn't know whether to hug or strangle her. Didn't know if she should be happy or sad. But she knew one thing. The voice was gone. "They were gone.
"I..."
She was free.
She turned to Cell. "...i do not know. I do not know anything. The Company was my family. The Company was me. They told me everything I needed to know. But now I cannot hear them. The Company is... is..."
...oh God. The Company. She had completely forgotten. But if her Monitor was gone, then...
"...the company... 'the company is your family, the company is you..' they tracked me. They placed it within my ear. They monitored me constantly. If my monitor were disabled for a single second, they would know. And if it is not there, then..."
She tore out the jack, shooting up out of her seat. Her voicebox remained stilted, but there was the slightest touch of urgency.
"We need to go! Now!"
Edited by kkhohoho on Apr 6th 2022 at 8:16:04 AM
AKA Nixer
Derran's Lounge
Nikki only registered the Sorrow's presence once Aleace's shot blasted right through its skull; prompting her to gasp in surprise as the undead staggered before collapsing in a heap. Remembering that they were unkillable, she paled and fled to Mara moreso because of it than the Rot, to which she still seemed uncaring of.
...Unaffected, too. This much Rot on a person would surely be corroding their flesh by now. But Nikki only absentmindedly wiped off some of the worst of it before making to go inside again, eager to obey Mara's call and looking down at her feet shamefully as she approached.
She was absolutely caked in the stuff still. Upon seeing this, Derran grimaced and gestured for Nikki and Mara to duck into the back rooms of the lounge before anyone else saw them; tossing them a Rotproof shawl to help dry Nikki off as he followed Mara's advice in giving everyone another round on her tab. It distracted the patrons there, and if anything they drank harder now that the Rotfall was battering the freshly-repaired roof.
Kloë meanwhile smiled tersely at Ehdmund, nodding in agreement to his offer to talk to the NMCT if they came around before she turned her attention back to 129. In response to her panicked declaration, Kloë chose to interject—firmly clutching the cyborg's shoulders in an effort to get her to focus.
"We can't go now, 129! Rotfall's going on, and it's heavy. Chances are they won't risk sending a full squad out with Rot this bad. Relax. We can hide you here. Derran's... got his backups in this place."
"Damn right I do. This lounge is popular for a reason. This place has layers," Derran smirked as he gave 129 an assuring grin. "If it all goes to s***, we can hide you down in the basement."
As he spoke, the sounds of Levi engines were audible. NMCT transports; though it only sounded like two. Heavy footsteps thundered outside, though they were muffled by the torrential acidic rain. To those watching the downed Sorrow, they'd see the silhouettes of NMCT officers extracting the undead body into one of the transports using a gurney; which they securely restrained the creature on. Because of the heavy Rotfall, they'd likely imprison it somewhere near the Wall so that they could transport it out safely once the weather cleared up.
Though most piled into one transport Levi and took off again, the other transport remained and two armoured officers walked up to the door of the bar where Ehdmund was situated. They didn't flash I.D.s, as they didn't need them. It was obvious by their large kinetirifles and their bulky powered suits that they were typical Blues.
"Dr. Ehdmund, right? We have you on file," one of them informed as they strolled up to greet him. "We saw a rifle round in the corpse that seemed to come from this building. Anyone in here responsible for that?"
"You folks ain't in trouble, by the way. Saves us the bullets," added the second officer quickly, before any ideas could formulate in anyone who was eavesdropping on this conversation. "Just want to get some kind of eyewitness testimony; see if it's worth upping our patrols in this area, yada yada yada. I'm guessing you know the drill..."
No mention of 129 or the C.C.C. Which was... strange. It surely would've flagged up by now if the ear monitor had indeed triggered.
Which was why Nikki smiled to Mara from their spot hiding away from the rest of the bar, proudly removing 129's ear monitor from the socket on her neck and revealing it to her. It was beeping in what sounded like spurts of code, and was seemingly still in the green despite being somewhat damaged thanks to Kloë crushing it beforehand. Whatever Nikki had done, she'd made sure that it wasn't tripping anything so far.
"I-I noticed that woman didn't take it back in with her. So I went out to get it," she explained. "I'm... sorry I went outside on my own. I shouldn't have stayed out that long with one of those things outside..."
Edited by Enirboreh on Apr 6th 2022 at 3:05:33 PM
bork
Stuck being sane.
Aleace, Derran's lounge.
She did not have enough time to compact her Rifle before the NMCT arrived so it's obvious that she's the only one with the rifle and shot the sorrow. Now she is compacting it back into its node mode and is now stuck on her exoskeleton again.
So she glances at Khoe who spotted the Sorrow first. Her expression says "Hey you found the sorrow first, not me. What are you going to do?"
It's not a hostile look, but more of wondering of what her next actions will be. She otherwise stays quiet and does not bring up the other events.
I have no idea what to put here, oh well!Cëll - Derran's Lounge
Sentimentality—not his strong suit. Normally (and were it not for the Rotfall), Cëll would be making himself scarce right about now. He stayed quietly by her side, a source of calm next to her panic, until the NMCT showed up—and then something in his posture shifted. In apprehension, sure, but also in understanding.
"They would know if CCC had it out for you," he murmured, his tone even. "You're safe for the time being. Derran's right, this place makes it easy to disappear." He met her eyes directly, his expression serious. "And I'm good at getting people off my trail, believe me. I'll work something out for you."
Cëll's posture was stiff, making himself part of the scenery yet poised to flee. He kept one wary eye on the NMCT, again analyzing weak points, formulating escape plans—and one on Nikki, who he'd assumed had some form of immunity to the Rot, but he hadn't expected this. It was uncanny. Inhuman, which was a lot coming from him.
He didn't answer the NMCT's question—indeed, it was as if he wasn't present at all. His eyes flashed to Aleace, though, while still keeping tabs on the multitude of situations inside. Looking at him as an outsider, he seemed completely checked out from reality; with this much to pay attention to, his relentless analytic impulses were finally sated for the time being.
Trope-tan is here! ➯ my pronouns are ze/hir
129
Rotfall? 129 knew she had been out of it fora bit, but she didn't think she'd miss something so important.
But her scans matched up with their warnings. Her outer layer could resist rotfall for a few minutes, but after that, she'd melt away like the rest. Going out there now would be suicide, even if wasn't sure what she had to live for.
"...I see. I am grateful to all of you. There are many who would not display such consideration. There is a medium probability that they would use my arm as a wrench and sell the rest for scrap. But there is also a 91.2% chance you are severely underestimating the company. They may not come now, but they will come, and we will all be at risk of—"
She stopped as soon as they approached. She didn't have to see or hear them. Her sensors detected them a mile off. She sat perfectly still, blending in with the furniture. She was a living prop, with only a tilt of her head towards the door to betray her.
But they weren't asking about her. Either they were feigning ignorance to draw her out or they must not have known yet. But she couldn't be sure. So she waited. Waited for them to leave.if they were lucky enough, she could figure things out from there.
If there was such a thing as luck.
Breath of the Sun
Derran's Lounge
Edhmund nodded in greeting. "Indeed, I am Dr. Ehdmund Jekil. Pleasure. And yes, I know how your business goes."
He gestured over to where Aleace had gone. "I believe a young lady with a rifle walked out to take care of the Sorrow a minute or two ago. Most folks here carry something for self defense, you know? Kind of a necessity, in these parts."
He shifted a bit on his cane. "But I'm sure you can tell that just by looking at the place, eh? Fortunately, we rarely get more than one Sorrow in a blue moon. Easy enough for us to take care of, so I doubt you'd need to send any more people out here. I'm sure there's other places that need the reinforcements more than us."
He'd kept a smile on his face the whole time, kind and genuine, and his voice was utterly calm. Ehdmund had not so much as glanced back at the bar, giving no indication that anything of import was inside. The kind of confident omission that could only be done by a doctor with years of bedside experience.
"Was there anything else you needed, officer?"
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Mara
Mara brushed off Cëll's concern as she and Nikki ducked into the back room. "The NMCT can go fuck itself off the edge of a cliff, for all I care. Be a doll and don't tell them we're in here, okay?"
Once they were safely sequestered from the rest of the bar, Mara took the Rot-shawl in hand and began to brusquely and thoroughly scrub the Rot off Nikki's form. "Well, if I didn't already know you were from the Interior, these clothes sure would've convinced me," she commented distractedly as she worked. "Not many folks in the Outskirts can afford Rot-proof threads."
Inwardly, Mara was shocked at how unscathed Nikki appeared in general. She'd seen the effects of Rot on the human body first hand, and the damage that was normally evident was nowhere to be seen on this girl. Still, she stayed quiet about it for now—they were in a bit of an emergency situation at the moment, and besides, Nikki was coming to stay at The Outpost for the foreseeable future. Her guests usually tended to open up sooner or later.
Eventually, Mara stepped back, satisfied with her work so far, and moved to the door to eavesdrop on the conversations happening outside. There was a faint scowl on her face, but it morphed into a smirk when Nikki revealed what she'd done.
"That looks pretty damn illegal, doll—I approve. And you don't need to apologize to me; you were the one in danger."
Derran's Lounge
The girl was tense, it seemed. Playing things close to the chest. Understandable, out here.
"Pleasure meeting you, Aleace." Ehdmund nodded again, before strolling back to the bar and addressing Derran.
"Yes, the clinic 'round the corner from here. I was going to call it Jekil's Hideaway, but I didn't think anyone would get the reference." He smiled at his own joke. "Feel free to put an advertisement up, if you want. Always glad to help those in need."
Then his face fell into quiet contemplation. "If only I could help the Sorrows in the same way. Can't imagine it's pleasant to be turned into a zombie."
Edited by kagescorpionakki on Mar 25th 2022 at 4:40:44 AM
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?