TEST 7.

[azumods]

TIME. Seeing as it's probably not the best idea to kick down the front doors and immediately announce your presence to the entire base as a whole, a more delicate touch is probably what's needed here when it comes to infiltrating the base; the warehouses near the main building, then, seem to be an acceptable place to start looking for another entrance. It isn't difficult to find - the buildings are largely unlocked for the time being (possibly for ease of access, possibly because no one is capable of caring if they aren't locked right now) and enough exploration and shuffling boxes around will grant you access to a door at the back, leading to an underground passage seeming to lead you in the general direction of the main base. At the very least it's well-lit, the corridor leading to what seems to be a large basement that's both spacious and completely, unsettlingly devoid of people; there's no security posted down here, though it seems as though there really should be, and at the far side of the basement there's a staircase waiting for you, leading to a set of metal doors at the top that seem designed to slide open as soon as you approach them. Before you can do so, there's another one of those odd pulses, signaling that another temporal disturbance has occurred; nothing looks different down here, however...

Comments

[eudaimonikos]

We're good.

[He says, gesturing to Cat Janet.]

Janet, be ready to use Protect.

[discutio]

I’m ready.

[hemera is here to be a crit machine]

[hyruglyphics]

[ I mean battle ready might be a bit much but there's people beside her who are more than willing to protect everyone and Vah Daroh isn't incapable. And so perhaps it's with a little bit of impetuousness that Zelda just goes to push the door open.

Yep. ]

[eudaimonikos]

[son of a bitch, Zelda]

[greydients]

[Well someone had to! Rey and Lucario will stay close by Zelda's side as she opens the door.]

[azumods]

[And the door is open!

It opens up into one of the back areas of the first floor, somewhere that wasn't accessible to you the first time you came through here; there's a small seating area nearby - nothing elaborate, just somewhere to take a break or something when people are off-shift.

It does look like there's someone sitting there, dressed in the standard grunt uniform; they're facing you, but they don't seem to notice you? Even though you're right there and obviously in their line of sight, they...literally don't seem to see you at all.

Weird.]

[hyruglyphics]

[ she does tense for a long moment as she first sees this... but then there's no reaction. To be fair, there had been a minimal reaction last time too, but this is... different?

In her uniform, she step into the room, Daroh following behind her, floating and bobbing his head. There's a bit of wonder in her steps. ]

[greydients]

[....right. That doesn't bode well.]

...Lucario.

[Her Pokemon will slowly approach the grunt, arms (paws...?) raised in a defensive position. Is there any reaction?]

[azumods]

[There is not.]

[enjoymyatelier]

[...

He's going to head over and wave his hand in front of the grunt's face.]

[azumods]

[If you're that close, you'll notice that the grunt in question actually looks familiar - it might take a moment for it to click, because of the wig and the...everything, but the facial features are kind of...

...Is that Ari?]

[enjoymyatelier]

Erm.

Actually, this is one of ours.

...

Was one of ours.

[greydients]

[Lucario hasn't recognised Ari as quickly as Kayneth, so Rey can't help but make a small, surprised noise as she too realises just who this is.]

What....is this some sort of message...?!

[hyruglyphics]

A very elaborate one if so.

[ She's narrowing her eyes, an idea forming for her as she sort of glances between double Ari All the Way. ]

[eudaimonikos]

Oh. Huh.

[.....]

Well, I hate this. Wanna move on?

[enjoymyatelier]

Yes, let's just get moving and see who else they've left out for us.

[euuuughhhhh someone with more empathy can take care of ari]

[azumods]

[I mean, Ari is presumably still with you.

And is also here? It's. Undeniably Ari. Who is both with you and not brainwashed and also...uh, there and brainwashed and life is just kind of a mess right now isn't it.]

[hyruglyphics]

[ Ari? ... Zelda actually has to toss her head back to confirm that Ari is, indeed, with them as she looks at the grunt in some amount of apprehensive horror. But then an idea clicks for her, and she ... well.

She's going to go try to confirm who someone else in the building is.

so let's. march ahead. yes. ]

[eudaimonikos]

...will be one of ours?

[He's leaning back to try to verify that Ari is, in fact, still present.]

[greydients]

...

...are we sure this is actually a person? I mean...

[...surely this is some horrible trick, right? If she touches....Ari's face, does it feel...

...okay does it feel like human skin and not like. plastic or something]

[thunderwolf]

What...

[Give him a second, he's processing the two Aris.]

This has to be like the rest of the city.

[There's an implied, "Right?" at the end there. Weird shit's been going on already, but this...is getting WAY up there on the weird scale.]

[greydients]

[...reaching out to gently touch the grunt's arm, then.]

[azumods]

[Well, uh.]

[eudaimonikos]

[..........yep okay Michael's coming over]

Hey. Buddy. [He's gonna snap his fingers in this dude's face like an asshole] Anyone home?

[azumods]

[Doesn't seem to be, but...]