driftfleet | dreams in digital

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dreams in digital

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for A-M characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

A - C

Connor

D - F

G - I

Haggar

J - M

Lup

(last updated: 1/21/19)

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[ She looks up at him, and for a split second, she looks happy to see him! But that's gone pretty quickly, as she throws up her arms and scoffs, glaring upward toward the ceiling. ]

Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding me. [ ... But it's not his fault, so she turns her attention back to him and takes a deep breath to steady herself. She really is glad to see him. Mostly. Atroma just needs to go step on a bunch of Legos, honestly. ]

Right. Well. Welcome to the inside of my head. Let me guess, it's Calibrations time for you guys?

Yup. Stuck on the Marsiva again. [He's been feeling up every inch of the place having remember finding something in the walls last time. So far he hasn't had any luck.]

First time I've seen someone not in the fleet before. [His tone adds that he's worried by this development.] Of course when you say it that way: 'its Calibrations time' it almost makes it sound like a regular yearly check up. [Except Vash knew better. It wasn't yearly at least. His worry about finding her here wasn't going to stop his joking either. It's how he tends to cope with things.]

Yeah, about that. We only got it the once. Don't know if it's because we got away too soon to get another one or what, but I kinda feel like you guys are getting it way more often. It's just supposed to fix some of their system errors. You heroes keep breaking things, or what?

[ She smirks a little when she says it - but she's not entirely joking. Besides, breaking Atroma is a positive. ]

Naw; it's probably just me. I'm not the hero type, [said every hero type ever] but I'm so accident prone that I even have insurance agent stalkers after me back home. [Said with a playful grin. Although now that he's thinking of home.]

I don't want to pry into your head. [It felt wrong and intrusive.] Do you know... can they see this? They're messing with our heads somehow, for some reason, but can they see inside what they're doing?

Do you know what kind of system errors we might be causing?

[ Snort! ] Yeah? Remind me not to let you too close to any of my more expensive toys then. [ If they were ever in the same place, anyway. Maybe one day. ]

Oh, absolutely they can see this. [ She laughs a bit, but it's humorless and dark. ] And if you want my opinion? I'm willing to bet this is some kind of trap. Don't know if it's for you or for me - I'm already stuck in a room somewhere, in reality - but they're definitely up to something. [ A pause... and she shrugs. ] Still, it's Calibrations. Only way out is to pry. Just gotta be careful, I guess.

As for errors? No clue. But if you keep being your stubborn or "accident prone" selves, maybe it'll spell enough trouble for them in the long run.

Aw, but the expensive toys are the fun ones!

[And that's the answer he was worried about. Where? What room? Although Vash doubts she has the answer so he doesn't ask.] Do you remember if you've been able to visit anyone else? If you haven't then my guess is they want me to fish something out of your head more than a trap for myself.

['Careful' she says as Vash looks around the room. He's never been very good at 'careful'.]

[ Yeah, she's not sure exactly where her particular jail of a room is... just knows that she's in it, and she doesn't want to be. ]

If I have, I don't remember it. [ She sighs. ] So I think you might be onto something there.

[ She looks around as well. Her expression remains pretty neutral as she looks at most things - the monitors on the wall, the remote control that's sitting on the floor between them suddenly, and the bright red door - but when she notices the unpainted steel door, her eyes narrow. ]

Look, I know this is my head and all, but even I'm not exactly sure what everything does, or shows, or represents, or whatever. If I had that much control I'd find a way for us to not be here, honestly. But if I had to guess? Well, that door [ She nods at the unpainted one ] looks like something conscious-me would use to lock up the really important stuff. Plain, unassuming... meant to be ignored, and therefore totally booby-trapped.

[ She shrugs??? That's all the guidance she can think to give at the moment. ]

Let's hope conscious you is right. Let's avoid that one. Do you think awake you would make an exit obvious like a different door? One that catches the eye more and could trick people to leave faster?

[He wants to leave before he sees something he shouldn't as he approaches the red door] And, do you know? How many of you did they catch? [How many does this hero type nerd to try to save if he's given a chance to?]

Two of us. They got me, and they got Duo. Don't even know exactly how it happened - we were leaving the planet and I swear to God we were practically halfway back to our fleet, but... here we are.

[ She sighs. It's frustrating - they got away, paid such a high price for it, and they've been so careful... and now this. But she tries not to waste time getting angry about it - better to work toward some kind of solution instead. ]

Of course not, that'd be too easy. [ She gives a rueful little smile. ] I'm too professional for that. But, you know what? I bet I can find the exit, wherever it's gone off to.

[ Because Calibrations suck and of course her supervillain mind would move things around!! Ugh. She stands, picks up the remote control, and turns toward the monitors. With the push of a button, two of them switch to what looks like live CCTV from security cameras in the area. Another button, and the scenes shift - somewhere else in this maze of a headspace. ]

Just give me some time. [ She waves a hand toward the red door. ] Hell, you might find it yourself if you get lucky. Anything in there should be fine, unless Atroma's done more damage that I know about. [ A beat. Then she turns to give him a smirk. ] And try not to break anything in my head, okay, hero type?

[ She trusts you, dude. Besides, you're Angel's friend - that counts for something. ]

[They were leaving the planet and halfway back? So there is a chance the Atroma had heard their messages? Or hopefully they had some other way to know where they were as they were leaving.] Any idea how they knew you were there to begin with?

And I told you; I'm no hero type. Just a fool who doesn't know how to stay out of trouble.

A few. Could be dumb luck on their part, not careful enough on ours, maybe?

[ A pause... then a sigh. She crosses her arms, and suddenly looks vaguely uncomfortable. ]

... Could be the last bit of the augments. Could be... Libuscia IV was a singing planet, right? Maybe Atroma's gotten better at using them for whatever purposes they want. Maybe that helped them somehow. Atroma might be glitching out way more with you guys, but they also might be stronger now - or at least a little more on their toes? Who knows. But something's going on.

[He's hoping for the dumb luck options.]

Mhm. [He decides not to say anymore. Not while they were very likely listening.]

Possibly, but don't you worry we'll figure it out. And we'll get you out of whatever room they stuck you in eventually. I promise. [It's a promise that he means to keep and the first step to that is finding the exit out of here. Before Vash opens the door to take a look he flashes her another smile.] Promise not to break your head! [Hopefully.] See ya~~! [He waves with a playful smile before going through the door in hopes of finding an exit.]

[ She is not one for promises! But if she's learned anything in her time out here, it's that it's the thought that counts. So she just shakes her head, goes back to flipping through security camera feeds...

There is no exit behind the huge red door! At least, not immediately. The hallway is made out of sturdy, dark metal, made at least a little bit "homey" with a runner rug in a soft golden color, and some end tables here or there with various knickknacks on top of them - mostly cups that probably need to be taken back to a kitchen, but also some tools, some toys... a little bit of everything. Through the single window on the left, you can see space. Yep, this is just like an Atroma Fleet ship.

There are two doors. The first one on the right is looks like it had a nameplate on it at one time, but it's been torn off and replaced with a painted butterfly logo. The one at the back is labeled "ENGINEERING".

And sticking out like a sore thumb on one of the tables is a communicator - exactly like the ones issued to everyone in the Fleet - with a notification light blinking red. ]

[Vash nearly heads into the first door, but stops when he spots the communicator. Moving towards it and picking it up.]

[ The display turns on once the device is picked up. A text-only message from an unidentified frequency is open, but the words are that hazy kind of illegible that only comes from dreams -- which is probably a good thing... but it still sparks a memory.

Outside the window, a nebula burns bright - a swirling chaos of colors that the ship appears to be headed right into. Fast. The artificial gravity fluctuates as the ship's course turns into anything but smooth sailing. The lights flicker erratically before snapping off completely. The communicator crackles and buzzes with interference, though beneath the white noise come a few sounds: a panicked scream. A commanding voice telling everyone to hold steady. An angry, pained yell that Vash will probably recognize as Kid.

Down the hallway, Vash can hear more yelling behind closed doors - more panic, uncertainty. But it all stops when Dr. Mrs. The Monarch's voice rises above all of them: "It's gonna get worse before it gets better! So I suggest holding on to something, because we sure as hell won't back down now!"

And then abruptly, the memory ends and everything in the room is back to normal - except for a few knickknacks that have fallen onto the floor.

The communicator has a new unread message, from the same unidentified frequency. This one is marked URGENT. It's probably pretty tempting to open it...

But Dr. Mrs. The Monarch's voice comes over an intercom! ]

I found the exit. It's through Engineering. It's locked with a number code so I'll tell you what it is when you get there.

[Instinctively Vash's head whips towards the sound of Kid's voice. Concerned that she sounds like she might be in pain. What was happening? There was so much happening at once to take in.

He tries to make his way down the hallway. Listening to the panicked yelling as he goes. Even knowing he wasn't really apart of this memory he was seeing his arm still reach out to grab something at Dr. Mrs. The Monarch's command. She really was a natural leader.

Breathing with pent up adrenaline that is left behind with the sudden end of the memory. Almost without thought his thumb starts to move towards the message marked URGENT when the voice snaps him back to the task at hand.]

Ah. I think-- I saw a nebula. You were saying something about it getting worse before better... [He looks down at that urgent message again.] There's an urgent message here now. [He turns towards Engineering even as he speaks.] Should I look at that?

A nebula? And an urgent message? What-- [ Realization! ] Oh my God.

Okay, no, do not open that message. That might be something they want to see. The bastards already knew the nebula was part of how we got away, but there's a good chance that message is linked to how we stayed away. [ Beat. ] Until now. Ugh.

[ Nothing changes - the notification light is still blinking, and that urgent message is still practically begging to be opened. ]

[It's so hard to resist. It's a button. A blinking button. A blinking button that's marked urgent!!! But Vash knows if someone was in his head he wouldn't want someone touching things he told them not to. With great effort he puts the communicator down. The temptation almost too great while he's holding it.]

Okay. Engineering. I'm on my way. [And with his long legs he'll be there soon.]

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