WEEK 13 - 01010000 01000001 01011001 00100000 01011001 01001111 01010101 01010010 00100000 01010010

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (13)

saturday (10) survivors Something is different. You can feel it in the air: an ominous presence that weighs down the ship like it's underwater. Try as you might, you can't escape the feeling that you're being watched, the sensation of someone just out of view tailing you. Tensions are high, and paranoia grows with it. You feel it more than see it, and that's what warps your perception of the ship. Is it darker? Are the lights dimming? Who is it that calls out to you? Why is it so cold? Who can you trust? The distinct sensation of not knowing who your back is to wraps around you. There is one thing you can trust in, however; though you feel exposed, you are not alone. Mother is here for you. taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

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the bridge

[al2955]

[As the ship drifts nearer the Queen, a constant buzzing drone begins to thrum in everyone's heads, subtle yet pervasive. The walls seem to warp and pulse, shadows flickering just there at the edge of your vision and yet gone the second you twist to look at it. Every now and then, the layout of the ship itself seems to somehow be off, hallways suddenly infinitely long and rooms nowhere near where you remembered them to be. Skittering and rattling noises echo in the vents, intermingled every so often with the rasp of someone breathing two inches away from your ear.

Amidst all this, the final locked door on the top level slides open, revealing an enormous area that could easily hold all of the original forty-one players, let alone the last remaining survivors. This is undoubtedly the ship's command center. The room is surrounded by glass, giving a perfect view of the vast expanse of space the ship is currently facing. Rows of seats have been set up in front of intricate panels of blinking lights (or they would be if they were powered on, as is they are simply many tiny dark bulbs) and switches. If you're familiar with starships or aircraft, it will look familiar - it's all obviously navigational equipment.

To the right is what appears to be a complex communications system, though like the navigational system, it's also mostly powered down. To the left are three large screens set up above an enormous supercomputer. Only one of the screens is on, displaying what appears to be a dilapidated shed full of machinery...and quite a few of the people you've lost on this ship. These are not the Furry Passing avatars you've come to know - they're very much as realistic as it gets, and they seem to be looking right back at you. Perhaps you can even speak to them?

Before you get the chance though, clouds begin pouring out of the usual statue in the alcove. Lin appears once more - but her voice is distorted, dropping to a low hellish tone every few seconds, drifting into an unrecognizable hiss, all while the screams of your loved ones on the Nuwa can be heard in the background. The clouds drift to reveal the usual sunny sky - but if you stare hard enough, you may catch the flicker of a massive eye, so quick that you may have simply imagined it.]

--energy readings are off the charts. I may [...] convert it as you get closer, but it could also [...] back wrong wrong WRONG WRONG.

[A low laugh echoes from her hologram, sibilant and amused.]

Go, ye heroes, go and die.

[Lin vanishes. Looks like you may be on your own for now.]

[tevinteriscoming]

[Watching all of this shit happening, with his staff at the ready. He still wants to get out of the ship and fight that thing, but barriers don't work in space, so what can he do.]

Well. If you insist.

[monsieurchatastrophe]

[he's already transformed, grasping his staff with BOTH ARMS!!! THAT HE DEFINITELY HAS NOW!!!! THANK GOD!! who is a teenager girl. he's been quiet and tense and shaking with jitters the whole time, but that might be because he's got a personal connection to the queen. either way, he still stands at the ready watching the whole thing... and then just laughs, nervous]

... As if this entire scenario wasn't messed up enough.

[erythristic]

[waking up with the creeping feeling that something is wrong has always meant that they have to see what's happening. the paranoia feels like that week again, and breathe, breathe and trust in small things like each step landing on solid ground, that they wouldn't be finding another dead body but something else.

(it's not real it's not real it's not real, fingers into fists, nails biting into palms so the pain can be grounding.)

the top level is where Grell ends up, the door that had not yielded to them before doing so, and the expanse of the stars is enough to steal words while the equipment is a mystery. Lin is gone before she shows up, she doesn't hear the ominous warning, but the psychic pressure remains.

one thing is important. everyone there. if they could speak, maybe they could fight with them?]

Can you hear us?

[please respond. be real. are they safe from the eye's presence?]

deda 2: electric boogaloo

[al2955]

[ You can hear every beat of your heart rattling through your chest, sour breath entering and leaving your mouth as you struggle for new air. Breathing through a heavy fog. Everything seems far more solid, your body is heavy - almost impossible to move. The sound of static buzzes through your head, constant. You are alive?

You open your eyes in a dark, dank space. Wherever and however you may have been standing before, your position has suddenly shifted; it seems like you're being held tightly, upright against something that doesn’t wish to let go. It presses against your skin, constant and clammy, claws tense against the thin barrier of your body. You are awake. Or you were already awake, and have been laying here for hours, waiting in the darkness. It might take a while to recollect, as it's been several months for many of you, but the position is familiar; it's exactly the same as when you first awoke in your pods when you arrived onboard. You are waiting. Maybe for days. If you wait here, maybe you will sink back into the familiar warmth eventually and you will be free of the static in your head, constant. She is not unkind. She does not want you to suffer. Why are you fighting this? The sound of many skittering legs taps along the outside of the glass, as the pod unseals with a hiss. Like a beast waiting for you in the dark.

You are free. Tiny pinpricks skitter along the inside of your skin. Your body doesn’t seem to move correctly - as if it always two seconds behind your brain, the static interference weighs heavily against your skull, constant.. Maybe, if you move your arms (they are heavy, leaden) you can reach up to free it. Free the noise trapped behind your thin, thin layers of skin. Perhaps you’ll save that for later. This resurrection is imperfect, but it will have to do for now. You have been here for years, useless thing, what are you waiting on? You should find your friends. They may need help. ]

[bloodbiter]

[by now, she was expecting to be brought back to the ship, but she certainly didn't expect it to happen in such a way. she takes a few moments to try and collect herself before deciding the hesitation won't serve her well.

she pulls herself out of the pod with clumsy, shaky hands and starts to walk as quickly as she can manage towards the door.]

[baptizer]

[ At first, she thought it was sparks of electricity. They zap at her skin and instead, she doesn't recall what she was doing prior to this moment, but now as she sees the glass creak open, her form shuddering as every pinprick and goosebump assaults her body. Elizabeth enters this world as she did upon arrival: a scream, a tired and panicked scream.

Her knees crash into the floor and her hands at the back of her neck soon after, doubled over as she is revived the fourth time on this ship.

A girl must learn to crawl before she can walk, after all. So soon, the woman stands and holds herself against the pod. ]

[jackhole]

[ remember how, when rhys first arrived on the pygmalion, he punched through his pod and got stuck in the door? something similar happens here where there's a shout from rhys' pod, the door swings open and --

and rhys immediately falls out, lands smack dab on his face. he's missing a few things -- namely, an arm, the pupil of one of his eyes, and the dataport in his head. there's a groan from the ground and he pushes himself up, blinking blearily at the rest of the room before narrowing his eyes. he can't... see, he realizes after a few seconds and his one good eye looks down to his right arm to see that it's just not there, frowning at the empty yellow sleeve.

he'll start trying to push himself up then, shakily and with lack of balance here and if you approach, you'll probably hear him swearing under his breath. ]

Not... supposed to be here. Freggin' shitty ass AIs, can't do anything right. Where is my arm.

[muties]

[ what the fuck. what the fuck? is nothing easy. she wasn't prepared for this.

sort of just. falls out of the pod, onto the floor. stays on the floor. she's fine just give her a century. ]

BIO LAB - DORIAN

[tevinteriscoming]

[Once the dead arrive, Dorian is nowhere to be found. However, as you approach the bio lab, something is clearly amiss - terror hangs in the air in a low purple cloud, and there's the sound of fire crackling from inside the room.]

((OOC: Will be organizing this on plurk. Let me know if you'd like to jump in; no particular limit to the number of people who can show.

Nightmare will involve both myster/puzzle solving element and fighting element, depending on what you prefer. No serious injuries unless you specifically would like it.))

[qundercover]

[ Bull is still recovering from the rather rude awakening, but he's a man on a mission. A mission for the best ass on this damn ship. You can't judge him he's been dead for a month and no Alien Queen and her fucked up illusions are going to stand between him and this.

Still, he does pause at the door to the Bio Lab, head still ringing and becoming more and more conscious of the way his movement feels slow. Leaden. This whole thing stinks of demons (as much as they claim they don't exist here there is only so many explanations for a tormented world like this) and he knows he's not at full strength. A dangerous mistake, to face demons without being able to fully trust your own body.

He steps inside anyway.]

1.

[tevinteriscoming]

[There's a wall of flame as you enter the bio lab, smoke and heat curling into the air, but you'll be able to slip in to the room just past it. When you enter the bio lab, judging from the noise and the wisps of magic in the air, you may be expecting a fight. But what's inside is different.

You're standing in a beautiful seaside town on a sunny day. The air is warm but mild, and the streets are crowded. The buildings around are large and ornate; one of them a tall tower, with steps leading out into a plaza.

Dorian is in the center of the plaza, his staff in hand, executing something in the way of a complicated movement. His footsteps are fluid and precise, as is the movements of his staff, as he surrounds himself with brilliant flames, twisting around him like snakes. He's laughing in that cocky, confident way he has when he's showing off. The plaza is packed with onlookers; they're ostensibly watching a duel take place, but the young man Dorian is sparring against is so clearly outmatched. Instead, they're watching him use his magic, thrilled and applauding as a cry of "I could do this all day!" rings out to taunt his dueling partner.

At the top of the steps, two men are watching, a little concerned, a little amused, but certainly impressed.

It turns out this might not be a nightmare after all...?]

2.

[tevinteriscoming]

[The door, once broken down by Arumat, leads into a dark room, with a winding staircase leading down into the dark. The door slams behind you, repaired - the dream hadn't expected it to break rather than be broken into, so it closes solidly, locked. No matter; you can tell, somehow, that the person you're looking for is this way.

As your eyes adjust, you can tell the decor has changed - you're in what looks to be a dingy, stone dungeon, with cells for storing prisoners. Once you reach the bottom of the steps, you'll find you'll find yourself in a long, empty corridor, lit by the glow of red lyrium crystals lodged into the stone walls and growing out of the floor. You should probably avoid touching them. The floor of the corridor is flooded, about at knee height.

At the end of the corridor is an iron door; this one looks a little too solid to knock down or slide through easily. The lock on this door has four triangular spaces; it looks like something might fit inside.

Coincidentally, there are four cells with iron bar doors in the room. Something small and shiny glints in the water within each cell. The doors are locked, but can be opened either by using magic on the lock or by simply breaking it down.]

3.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Through the door is a tavern, that for once should be familiar not only to Bull, but anyone who watched the confrontation that took place in Dorian's secret. It's empty, but also filled with dust and cobwebs. On the ground, stashed under tables, are corpses - a few townspeople, a few apostate mages, who seem to have taken shelter here.

The downstairs is empty, but a red glow thrums from upstairs; there seems to be movement or life up there.]

4.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Bull, Adelina, and Adam can follow their instincts to find the most ominous part of the landscape - here, it's clearly that darkened stairway, where Judar and Arumat are busy fighting. But once the current batch of corpses has been cleared away, they can ascend the staircase.

At the end of the hallway is a chamber, one that, while it still has the red lyrium lighting and dingy stonework of Redcliffe castle, looks similar to the room in Dorian's memories earlier. Dorian is laid out in the center of the room, still as though dead, the red lines of the tattoos on his arms unnaturally bright - a red much brighter than blood. The scars form a tattoo, a great serpent on his chest, encircling the rotten core of his heart, which is also now glowing red. His body is soaked in blood, but the lines of the tattoo absorb it, healing the rot.

At each corner of the room, the body of a mage in Venatori robes is sprawled out, dead, runes written on the floor in their blood, knives in their hearts. A massive red lyrium crystal has grown around their bodies.

At the back of the room, Gereon Alexius is mumbling an incantation over Dorian. He looks up when he sees them emerge, and smiles. A wall of fire blocks them from coming any closer.]

You're too late! The ritual is complete - the final step to create the magister who will restore Tevinter. Dorian, won't you show your friends how well we've fixed you?

[Dorian stands, his eyes blank like they were in the earlier duel. With careful grace, he pulls his black cloak over the still bleeding wound of his chest, and his lips curl into a smile.

From all around you, the dead are approaching.]

ILLUSIONS - ALL OVER THE SHIP

[al2955]

[As time passes and the ship drifts ever closer into the Queen, the ominous pressure around the ship only intensifies. The illusions come more frequently now, playing to all five senses - scurrying cockroaches against your skin, screams and whispers in your ears, the stench of decay in your nose, the taste of blood in your mouth. Still, while certainly aggravating and perhaps even frightening, they're not that hard to ignore...right?

You may find yourself regretting those words as there's a sensation of something rifling through your head...before something else appears.]

(OOC: Feel free to tag this top level if you would like your character to be affected by illusions on the ship!)

ADELINA

[al2955]

[ Adelina, wherever she may be, will hear a voice cutting through the static in her mind. Gentle, soft. Like rain. Almost a caring presence, that as it whispers sweet things into her ear, seems to be leading her down near endless hallways (or she is simply standing still, as the hallway grows longer and longer). Further and further into the bowels of the ship, the voice always just out of reach. She will have a feeling of running out of time, always, she’s just one step behind the voice. It grows less comforting, more pleading as Adelina spends hours, days chasing it through labyrinthine corridors. Please, Adelina. Keep up. She is running out of time, she is going to be too late.

The ceiling begins to loom overhead and the corridors grow darker. Larger. The temperature drops. She can no longer hear the static but the voice is gone too. There is only silence. The pounding of her own heart. The cave is damp and the feeling of lateness is overwhelming. In front of her, there is stone. Behind her, stone. She is going to be too late. ]

[erythristic]

[after the earlier encounter, she was in no mood to stand around and stay in that room for too long. moving, stay moving, and maybe there will be a place of peace to be in.

of course, only a fool thinks there can be any sanctuary to be found. in a place like this? in a creature like this? there is not.]

Get off of me.

[it's a whisper, only directed to one and one alone.]

[antietam]

[ Nowhere is safe anymore. He knows that, and he tries to avoid the rooms directly, wandering the halls instead. But no matter where he goes, he can't escape these horrible feelings.

He closes his eyes, stopping in place, and tries to use the psychic techniques he was taught to push it all out of his mind. ]

[socloverit]

[When the nightmare is over and she realizes her friends have come back to her, whole and breathing and alive, Clover, some fanfare later, makes a break for it. Her brother is somewhere on this ship. If Arumat and Machias are alive, Light is alive, her brother is alive, and she sends rapid-fire morphogenetic pings of desperation and searching and uncertain hope while she sprints through the ship, stumbling over each step, the scythe returned but the meat cleaver tight in her fist because she'll never feel safe without a weapon, and knowing he's here somewhere fills her head with thunder.

Running like this, ready to rip the ship apart if it means finding where he's been left, she hasn't enough breath in her to cry out—regardless, she doesn't know what she'd do if she did and was answered with silence.]

engineering dock - luke's nightmare cradle

[chiseler]

[There are far too many things happening all at once. The dead are back, people are running around on the ship, and Luke…has somehow been caught up and seemingly disappeared. Way to abandon your team in a time of crisis, asshole.

But in all seriousness, it’s fairly quiet downstairs for a while until you step away from the elevator toward the engineering dock. Huh. That’s strange. Why does it sound like there’s the sound of heavy city traffic coming from behind the door? Horns blare and a crash or two is heard. That sounds ominous. Might be worth checking out.]

[antietam]

[ Adam can't find Luke. That's basically the worst thing that could happen at the moment so he's going all over the ship to find him. When he gets to the engineering dock, he knows it's too late. He has to do something.

He rushes off to the pool to start scrying, not bothering to find someone to watch him. Let's just hope this doesn't take too long.

Before long, he finds himself inside the engineering room but not really. He isn't physically there, just an image of him and his mind is stretched between his body and the room so it's difficult. He has to remember what he came here for. ]

Luke? I'm here.

gaea room - grell.

[erythristic]

[on the top deck, the Gaea room has its door restored. wait, it's not a door - it's a curtain of fog that matches the color of the walls, blocking the interior of the room from view. all is silent, save the faintest murmur coming from inside. no words are discernible, it's too soft, but it's almost like the fog is breathing. it's far from solid, and poking it to see if things can go through will give no harm.

traverse the gate?]

[thanatosincarnate]

{ Arumat's finally making his way up here—of course there's a certain individual in mind he's looking for somewhere on the top deck. }

Grell?

{ He'll pause, albeit apprehensive, but the moment is minute if anything, and he'll venture right on through into the fog. The Eldarian will be listening in closely, and holding his weapon close to him as he does so... }

elizabeth ( viewport )

[baptizer]

[ The viewport was just as beautiful as it always was - wasn't it? The expanse of space was taken for granted by the people who were captured inside of the futuristic ship. Somehow upon entering, you feel that the viewport is much larger than you remember. The sound of electricity fills the room and the sparking blue was distracting from the view - yes, off in the distance in the corner was a odd looking device. Upon radiating hues of blue and sparks of electricity, you find a figure tapped inside of it. Strapped to a chair, biting her lip til the point of blood dripping down her chin, Elizabeth is quite literally plugged up.

If you can keep your view elsewhere, you'd notice a flicker of movement in the viewport. From the darkness, a bright yellow eye sticks out. The figure is that of Songbird, the man-made protector that soars through the skies of Columbia to keep Elizabeth safe in her tower. Instead, it prowls outside of the viewport window.

It isn't until you approach Elizabeth that the siphon gives off a whistle in the distance. Elizabeth's pleading for you to stop, to run away but no - the bird in the distance immediately shoots at the ship and attacks the glass, slamming it's fist onto the window. Nothing breaks, but the room is cast in a red hue from it's everwatching eye. It seems distressed, but...

Why? ]

[bloodbiter]

[she enters the viewport warily, looking around and keeping a hand on the hilt of the sword that she'd retrieved from adam earlier. her first priority here is, of course, elizabeth, and so she moves forward without much concern as to the luminous eye staring at them all from outside the window.

she does give pause as the whistle blows, though, startled as the bird hits the ship. alarmed, she draws her sword, looking around in the red toned room to see if anything else has changed. she takes a few steps more towards her friend.]

Elizabeth, we need to leave now.

garbage disposal: LET'S PLAY SUDOKU

[socloverit]

[Did...did the door to the garbage disposal always have that big red "9" painted over it? No? No, definitely not, this is definitely new, and so is the scanner panel beside it. What kind of chaos are we causing in Kazuma's room today.

It doesn't look like there's the option of leaving this bullshit for another time, though—those bracelets on your wrists are new, too, aren't they? Each has a different number: Arumat's reads 3, Jason's reads 7, Judar's reads 8, and Machias's reads 9. Despite not looking all that special, no matter how much effort is put into it, they don't budge at all, much less make any indication of coming apart or off. The hallway around the area has already closed in; there's a rusted metal door on one side and a dead end down the other, similar but unfamiliar. There's no way else to go.

There's a crackling sound, a speaker coming to life, and if they look they'll find it set in the ceiling. The voice comes cold and distorted, almost mechanical sounding:

Consider this a privilege. You have been chosen.

You are going to participate in a game. The Nonary Game.

It is a game where you will put your life on the line.


fuckin goin right for the dramatics aren't we]

[douchemag]

[Okay yeah, he has to laugh after hearing that message over the speakers.]

Oh no, a game where we have to put our lives on the line? Well, I'm terrified. Can't imagine what that's like at all. [He tilts his head up and just shouts at the sky.] Hey Clover, if you can hear me, at least send us a cool dragon we can fight or something!

Also, what the fuck am I wearing. [His dumb bangles already cover his wrists, so the bracelet is just attached to his upper arm like a fucking douchebag.]

Shelley Winters' Nightmare Cradle - Recreation Room

[tacklefordwhimsy]

[Some people got a taste of a paradise in Tackleford. It wasn't...really a paradise. Now it's time for a nightmare.

If you enter the Recreation Room you're going to find it's night, and rather dark. There's a full moon in the distance, and there's a constant current of wind everywhere, carrying dry leaves. There doesn't seem to be anyone else in Tackleford, no civilians or anything.

It seems...desolate. Not a good omen, eh?

Walk in if you dare, but it doesn't take long for you to feel there's something deeply wrong. There are puddles of dry blood on the pavement, and after a while you feel you're being constantly watched.

You should be on guard. Things are bound to happen]

[deformity]

[ UM.

He's terrified actually. Don't tell him it's vampires?! What's with all this blood!! ]

Er, hello?

[ He's not shaking, really -- it's just cold here. Check out that chilling wind. ]