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Who: Nightingale, anyone else
Broadcast: Video
Action: Y
When: The 11th, sometime mid-morning.

[The video starts up showing... Well, for most people, it's probably an empty wall, at the end of the dormitory hallway, and there's a crazy person just pawing at the wall. For those who have the lab support or cook augments that are currently glitching, though, you can see the doorway and touchpad. A hand will reach over from outside of the camera's view, touch the touchpad, the digital voice says "Level five access granted", and the door slides open, at which point she pulls a chair from off the camera to wedge it into the doorway so it can't close again. This probably looks very strange to anyone who isn't glitched.

This is when she will finally turn the camera around to show herself.]

This is Nightingale. I've found something weird that definitely wasn't here yesterday, and I'm starting to think this ship isn't as safe as was claimed. I need a party down here to investigate this, as soon as possible. Preferably people that are able to fight in case things get ugly. I haven't gone through here yet, but I think we might be on a time limit.

... And, while I'm making myself sound totally insane, something's wrong with the ship. I've been checking it with my Scan spell for a while now, and it feels more like a monster than a ship to me. Aren't there story books in here about getting swallowed whole by monsters and living in their bellies? Because that seems a little relevant.

Anyway, I'll be going to investigate this room soon. It's at the end of the dorm hallway. Anyone else who wants in, hurry, I'll be here.

[And true to her word, anyone who comes to check it out (or to check if she's completely lost her mind) can find Nightingale standing right where she said, anxiously checking her communicator. The door is still wedged open, too.]

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[Nightingale feels an immediate rush of gratitude towards Mal. And maybe a little guilt, that after she was moved, Mal still rushed to her aid so readily...]

Which part first?

The part that's worrying you most.

[She takes a step forward, two, examining the way the door's been wedged open with the chair.]

We'll handle that first, then move on to whatever the next stupid bollocks happens to be.

[She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, prioritizing. She just has to treat it like a game. Another weird event for her to plan her way through.]

The ship is a single, cohesive unit. I can see an... A sort of aura but not quite from the ship that's...

[She trails off for a minute before resuming.]

It's something hard to explain if you don't have magic sight. Do you? Either way, it feels like it's something alive, but not quite. It's... A ship is supposed to be a part of the environment- It's not something you can target with combat magic. But the Marsiva is targetable, and I've been casting Scan on it, and it's... targeting the whole damn ship as a single unit. Normally a machine-type monster of this size would be broken down into several different targetable pieces- It feels more like it's alive than just a ship.

I realized I could see the not-aura this morning, and I found this door a little later. I haven't ruled out the idea that the augment is making me hallucinate all of this, but I don't know if the augment can change targeting rules like that.

[She listens to all of this carefully, turns it over in her mind before speaking. It's probably a pretty different Mal from what Nightingale's used to, for the most part; keeping quiet is not her strong suit ordinarily. But it's obvious that something's very wrong, and everyone's in danger - and Cassandra told her to prioritize that, but even if she hadn't, Mal still would. These people are hers now, even the ones she doesn't like. That's just how it is.]

I don't have magic sight. But when I haven't - fed, or whatever I happen to be doing for substitute, I can tell if I'm being watched. If there are people close by. If they're friends or enemies. I can't do it now. But I know what you mean, and I trust you.

So you think we're feeding it? Psychically or literally?

[That last bit, when Mal says she trusts Nightingale, causes her to flush just a bit. Now she's determined.]

I don't know. I can't even tell if it's conscious, or anything else. When I try to scan it, all of its stats come up as mysteries- Either it's so alien my spell can't figure it out, or it's got some kind of property to hide its stats, or... Or it's a superboss-tier monster.

It might not even be aware we're here. I can't tell you anything concrete past it being some kind of living unit, and... I don't know if it's a monster in the literal sense, but it definitely seems to be one in some way.

If there's answers, they'll probably be through the door.

Hmm.

[Her first instinct is to wonder how to kill the damn thing. But perhaps not, with all these people on board. Even if it probably deserves it. Instead, she looks at the door, looks at Nightingale, looks back at the door like she's daring it to start shit.]

All right. Then let's go through the door.

[What she is refraining from mentioning is that while she can target it, she totally could try to kill it. But, you know. Bad idea.]

Yeah. ... Be ready for anything. It might be harmless, or we might be about to paint huge targets on ourselves as problems for the Atroma to get rid of.

Mm. I won't be reckless, but I have to be honest with you: I'd rather be a target than let someone else be one in my stead. And I'm getting sick of this anyway.

Shall we?

[Well, that's familiar, and it gets a smile out of her.]

I knew there was a reason I liked you. Let's go.

[And with that, she's going to go venture through the door.]

[Once she's turned, Mal smiles a little too. Well, good. She very much wants to have that in common with Nightingale.]

[And so she follows, ducking under the wedged open door and looking around curiously.]

[In the darkness, it's probably much easier to notice that Nightingale's eyes glow slightly as she enters the room, but the glow fades after a moment.

She'll hit the lights instead, and look around...]

... Well, this is... creepy. What are all of these machines?

[Yep. Creepy is a good word for it. Mal frowns in the dark - and as it happens, her eyes are glowing a little too, tapetum lucidum reflecting in the light from under the door.]

Not sure. Damn, I should've brought my tools.

[She crosses over to them anyway, though, just in case she can figure things out by looking and touching alone.]

[Nightingale's doing the same, staring at the cryobeds.]

Why are there cryobeds here? What could they be used for?

Mmm . . .

[She goes over to one of them. And kicks it.]

Well, not for us, obviously. Does that mean there's someone else here?

... The Atroma did basically admit to me, earlier. The ones who vanish from the fleet aren't sent back where they came from.

[She whips her head around and stares at Nightingale for a second. Then she lets out a long string of . . . well, something foreign and very obviously vulgar. Gross gross gross.]

S- Sorry. Are you okay?

My s--

[Cut off.]

Polly. Is she here?

I- I don't know who that is?

Polly. Polly Perks. She was here for months and then she disappeared. If she's here, I need to get to her.

... I don't know her. But there's no one in here.

If she's on this ship, though... We aren't getting anything here peacefully. You vampires are supposed to be crazy strong, right?

[Fiercely:] I can break whatever you need me to break.

[She points at the walls.]

The ship is a monster anyway. Let's start wrecking the place.

Right.

[Wrecking stuff is something she's very good at. With a grim smile, she starts going at, well, everything. With her fists.]

[It doesn't seem to have much of an effect, for the most part. Small things she's quite capable of destroying, but the paneling doesn't seem to even be dented. She growls in frustration and goes at it double-time, then faster, until she's a blur of activity and the sound of fists on metal is more like machine-gun fire than anything else.]

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