WEEK 12

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (12)

monday - thursday (13) survivors Sunday's trial was only mere hours ago, but you find yourself faced with a new week on The Pygmalion. When you awaken, you will find that the ship is still in disarray; there is no robot prepared breakfast, nor has any of the damage been repaired. The ship is mostly cast in darkness, with the exception of a few rooms, though light may flicker in and out in some rooms. Without Alice, you are all on your own. The ominous pressure of the Queen Mother still looms, though you no longer feel Her presence. (OOC: Please submit your murder proposals by 9 PM EST Tuesday.) taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook murder proposals ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

[antagonize]

[SADLY Jason does not have convenient night vision. This means he's just... carefully holding the lightsaber in front of him, mindful not to accidentally cut anything on his way in.]

I'm going to say... probably not. We might need some car fresheners up here in a couple of days.

[Ew.]

[al2955]

[ It's a little difficult to see but the glow from Jason's lightsaber illuminates enough of the room for them to see a naked figure with a goat head

Nah, it's just a bunch of egg shaped pods. They're upright, and it looks like they've got something carved into them. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[he's heading straight for the pods, first to get a better look at the carving, and second to see if he can make out what's in there. is it really corpses or was it ice cream all along. when can we go to space dairy queen]

Suddenly, I'm glad I got my sense of smell taken out.

[antagonize]

Trust me, you don't need a super sniffer to get a whiff of that type of smell.

[But, alright. Egg shaped pods. Jason will let Adrien take the lead, following him and then glancing at whichever pod is closest to the one Adrien is currently looking at. Tell us, mystical meta, what is up with these eggs?]

[al2955]

[ For the record, the electric sheep room is completely devoid of smell. Or maybe there's just shame here. Shame for all the sleep you could be getting instead of wandering around here in the dark.

Adrien will notice that the carving reads EMILY LOWE. Looks like it was etched into the metal of the pod professionally, or maybe it came that way.

Jason will be able to peek into the window, but it's difficult to see inside it. If he tries hard enough, though, he'll definitely be able to make out a figure inside it. Something about it might seem familiar, perhaps it's the way their hair is sheared short. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

Yeah, I know. I've smelled rotting corpse, remember? Way worse with cat senses. [then he sees the writing and. huh. hm.]

Emily...?

[color him intrigued and also creeped out, meta text. He moves to check other pods to see if they have different names or if it's a warning that emily is coming back to kill them all]

[antagonize]

[Well. This sure is uncalled for. He's glancing at the carving immediately, but he gets the feeling he already knows the answer.]

But have you smelled 28 rotting corpses at once? Because I'm thinking the answer is no.

[Regardless of what the carving says, he's... going to glance around the room as well as he can. Mostly in an attempt to distinguish how many pods there are. Are there 28 pods, or will he find 41?]

[al2955]

[ Mind your step, Adrien! It's easy enough to see that there are some pods with plaques over where the carvings should be, and their windows are closed tight, but it might be all too easy to step in glass shards. Hopefully those cat-like reflexes are in full effect?

If Jason expects to see ELIZABETH staring back at him, then his hunch is correct. As he glances around the room, he will notice that there are, indeed, 41 pods. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[he's wearing magic reinforced boots that have like steel tips i think he's fine versus glass shards. but also please let him die from glass shards. is there any writing on the plaques at all he can see? and also where did the glass shards come from??]

Well, I don't know about you, but this entire thing is giving me the heebie-jeebies.

[antagonize]

No. It's not just you.

[That's exactly the name he expected to find, unfortunately. He pointedly ignores that pod because Jason Todd sucks at feelings and then checks out the other pods, presumably heading in the opposite direction as the resident cat.]

There are forty-one pods in here. One for each of us. [A beat. It's not for dramatic effect.] ... Guess we don't have to worry about funeral arrangements next time someone kicks it, huh?

[Speaking of funeral arrangements, do the names on the pods go in alphabetical order? And if it's possible to check behind or around the pods, are they connected to something? Or is there anything else of note about them?]

[al2955]

[ The pods are propped up and attached to metal pillars that extend from top to bottom, possibly built into the pillars. They exist in a circle and in groups of threes and fours. There are thirteen pods without names emblazoned on them, but those whose carvings can be seen are set in alphabetical order.

When Jason joins Adrien, they'll both see that they're in front of dear Calypso Pew's pod -- the glass is shattered, and her pod is presumably empty. There's blood on the floor, to boot.

The plaques are completely blank, functioning more as censors than anything, probably. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[wheRE DOES THE BLOOD LEAD??? TIME TO FOLLOW THAT AND DIE]

Uh. Jason? I think we might have a problem.

[antagonize]

You think?

[Aw, fuck. Time to follow the blood and maybe die. Does it lead towards the door? A vent? Their imminent deaths?]

[al2955]

[ Calisto Yew is standing behind them and covered in blood

Nah, just jokin'. There's tiny splatters of blood on the pod, leading up into it. If they peek inside, they'll see a lot more glass, and it, too, has some splatters of blood. There's a little cushion at the bottom, and...

There's a soft whirring sound, like something is fighting really hard to work now that it's been triggered.

And the back of the pod opens up. Calisto's slid back in? It's a very slow, agonizing process. She looks peaceful, and whole, like she's just napping. The duo are now standing there, staring down at a corpse. Good job, guys. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[??????????????????????????????????????????????????????]

Okay, why is Ca-- I'm not even going to bother trying, why is her corpse doing a jack-in-the-box impression? And tell me I'm not the only one relieved she isn't possessed and attacking us.

[antagonize]

Gotta say, I was expecting a repeat of what happened to Rhys.

[Well. This is fine. He's taking a closer look at the glass, attempting to determine by the position of the broken pieces whether it was broken by something outside of the pod or inside it.]

... What the hell shattered the glass, anyway? Did one of the souvlaki get in here already, or — did one of their attack dogs? [Ugh.] You have better vision than I do right now. See if you can spot anything weird on our dead girl.

[al2955]

[ The glass falls more on the inside than on the outside, so it's easy enough to guess someone broke into the pod. Thing is, there's nothing missing off Calisto, and her body doesn't seem to be disturbed. She really does just seem to be... a body. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

She looks normal. Well, as normal as a corpse looks. There's nothing off about her, so what happened here exactly...?

[quick jason put your detective skills to use]

[antagonize]

[Wait. Are the wounds and bruises she had on her when they found her corpse weeks ago gone? She got stabbed a lot for science, after all.]

Someone broke into the pod, as far as I can tell. More glass inside the pod than out, and— the blood could be from whatever brain donor did it injuring themselves. The pod could have hidden the body as soon as it detected a break-in. [And he pauses, still looking at her body.] ... Or the blood could be from Calypso herself. Elizabeth and Arumat looked pretty fine last week despite having head injuries when they died, didn't they?

[Yeah. He's got a theory here. Spare bodies, maybe?]

[al2955]

[ Nope! Calisto is completely in tact; not a stab or a bruise or anything on her. Her body looks as it should, pre-week 1. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

... Yeah, they all looked intact. Whole. [he puts his hand on the glass as he peers at Pew Pew Cashew once again] But how? I don't think a trip to the corpse spa would've fixed the kind of damage they went through.

[the unnecessary autopsies, for one]

[antagonize]

Exactly. Unless Alice had extremely advanced medical science at her disposal, that shouldn't be possible. So. I'm thinking this... [He gestures at the body.] Isn't her original body at all.

[He lets that sink in before continuing.]

Think about it. Sonya's recording mentioned the "cradle". From how she described it, it sounded like it could scan the brain. If you can scan and upload a human being's brain, and you have the means to create realistic enough bodies... Would it be so hard to duplicate us like this? You saw the readings the thermal imager gave us. Something's wrong with our bodies.

[A beat. And he shrugs.]

Then again, maybe I'm thinking too far out of the box. What do you think?

[And while they're talking, is there anything else of note in the room? Or vents. Gotta find those vents.]

[al2955]

[ The vents don't look to have been disturbed. Actually, there's a hint of dust there, if Adrien cares to notice with his night vision.

Toward a corner, there's a computer, though, and it looks like something's sticking out of it. ]

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[Adrien listens to Jason, but that all sounds... completely fantastical to the cat themed magical girl superhero.]

That's... insane. [but he doesn't have any other explanation for what they're seeing, honestly.] Then again, so is this entire situation. But if these are just copies, what happened to the real corpses? The robots always came to drag them away, so it couldn't have been to just... throw them out, could it?

[he goes towards the vents as he speaks, looking at it]

Whoever came in this room didn't use the vents. [...hmm] If we're thinking of blocking the room off again, should I break this too?

[antagonize]

I don't see any desecrated corpses around here, so disposing of the original bodies somehow seems likely. [Hmm.] Assuming we're not all copies, anyway, regardless of whether we've died or not. The room is labeled as "Electric Sheep". Ever picked up a Philip Dick book?

[Now is not a time to be a nerd, Jason Todd. Or maybe it is? Who knows. Either way, he's squinting at the computer, approaching it while minding his steps.]

... Break it when we're ready to leave. We don't know if you'll need to defend yourself before we're done. [But also—] There's a computer over here. It looks like something's sticking out of it.