animus_network | [Text] [Locked selectively (see OOC text) and Hackable]

[Text] [Locked selectively (see OOC text) and Hackable]

[OOC: This post is locked to each individual that Signless has ever met or spoken to, even for a short time. He also has locked it to each of the rest of the trolls, and anyone he's ever seen talking on networks. Basically, while it is locked, if you want your character to see it, you can assume Signless has seen you posting around. Or you're welcome to hack it, because Signless is pretty shitty with computers, anyway.

He's trying to make it open to as many of the prisoners as possible in the tower, without leaving it open to the administrators of the tower - though with his current paranoia, he's pretty sure that they'll find out, from the spies who will certainly see it]

ALL RIGHT, ALL OF YOU FUCKASSES LISTEN UP.
TODAY WE GOT OUR MISSING FRIENDS AND COMRADES BACK, AND FOUND THEM HORRIBLY CHANGED.
OUR FRIENDS WERE TORTURED AND EXPERIMENTED ON BY EVIL PEOPLE, AND TURNED INTO MONSTERS. DON'T SAY IT ISN'T TRUE, BECAUSE YOU ALL KNOW THAT IT IS.
NOT ONLY THAT, BUT WE RECEIVED NOTES TODAY INFORMING US THAT IT ISN'T JUST THESE UNFORTUNATE *FIRST VICTIMS* BUT ALL OF US WHO ARE PART OF THIS EXPERIMENT.
AS IF WE DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW THAT.

THE TIME HAS COME TO TO ACCEPT THAT THIS IS NO REFUGEE CAMP.
MAYBE OUR WORLDS ARE DESTROYED, MAYBE NOT, BUT THAT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER, ANYMORE.
ARE WE GOING TO SIT BY AND WAIT WHILE WE'RE TAKEN ONE BY ONE, HAVE OUR HORNS SHORN OFF AND OUR BODIES CORRUPTED FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF A BUNCH OF PSYCHOTIC SCIENTISTS?
I SAY, NO.

THERE ARE A LOT OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE HERE, WITH DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES - MAGICAL AND OTHERWISE.
WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER, PUT ASIDE OUR DIFFERENCES, AND WORK TO FIND THE PEOPLE WHO'VE BROUGHT US HERE AND DESTROY THEM.
IF WE HAVE TO STAY IN THE TOWER FOREVER BECAUSE THERE'S NOWHERE FOR US TO GO, SO BE IT.
BUT WE WON'T BE PUPPETS, DANCING AND SHAKING OUR PLUSH RUMPS FOR THEIR AMUSEMENT.
I KNOW THIS POST WILL PROBABLY ATTRACT THEIR ATTENTION TOWARDS ME, BUT I'M WILLING TO ACCEPT THAT RISK.
IF THEY TAKE ME NEXT, PLEASE, ALL I ASK IS THAT YOU MEET WITH ONE ANOTHER, IN PERSON, IN SECRET IF YOU CAN, AND TRY TO FIND A WAY TO FIND ME.
LET'S WORK TOGETHER, ALL OF US, ALIEN AND TROLL, LOWBLOOD AND HIGH, TO STOP THESE PEOPLE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She watches the gesture impassively, eyelids lowering slightly. Well, he made an effort, that's something, but she's still pretty unamused by the whole thing.]

I suggest you save your thanks. This is only temporary.

[He flashes her a grin]

That's the way I want it.

[So he shifts now, moving to sit in a chair at a nearby console and bringing up the conversations he's been having on the screen]

We've got a couple of ideas going so far. One is to try to find how they're watching us. Another is to try to figure out what it is about that big open level with no walls that cancels out flying powers. The third is to try to rappel down, either below the service elevator we can't use, or outside the tower. My theory is that our captors use levels in the tower below the cafeteria level.

A couple of people have offered various skills to the cause. The one I see as being most useful right now is a kid who claims to be an alchemist. He can apparently create any object, using other objects, through some kind of magic, instantly.

If you're going to rappel down, I'd suggest someone who is accustomed to climbing without assistance, should something go wrong.

[She turns to stare at the monitor, speaking in a low monotone.]

Are any of the latest victims aware of where their surgery took place? They all seemed to be awake through it.

Problem is, they have the ability to turn off powers. Psi said he was awake during the surgery, but he couldn't fight back, from the moment they came to take him. So being able to fly could result in a quick, messy death if you rely on it.

[Headshake] They don't know where. They were knocked out and transported. It could be a few feet below the cafeteria, or an entirely different building. The surgery was done by robotic drones. No interaction with our captors at all, for the whole thing.

Perhaps just a good climber, then. Assuming there are windows that low.

[Her brow furrows in thought.]

I would be at loathe to leave this in the hands of a wriggler, but perhaps they can stow themselves away with one of the native staff wandering about the Tower. I'm not entirely certain they make use of the inaccessible elevator.

And I do so doubt that ... [There's a long pause. She can't quite bring herself to call Psiioniic by his calling, so she simply shakes her head and continues with her statement using different words.] ... anyone with measurable psychic ability could pry the doors open.

Unless nobody has truly attempted yet, to which I would cry stupidity.

Yeah, a good climber. [He's thinking hard and sort of getting excited. He grins up at her] There's someone who can walk through walls. Think we can make use of that?

You've seen staff wandering the tower? Living people? Maybe we should start by talking to them.

I know for a fact they've tried and failed. Force won't do it, though I don't think Psi's tried himself.

[She's still not smiling, though whether its because she's working with Signless or its because she's thinking is unclear.]

Perhaps they should try walking through the elevator, first.

They don't talk very much. That would be far too easy.

Yeah, I was thinking we could organize a small strike team. Some good climbers, with harnesses, and some other skills. Get some cutting tools and other useful things from the alchemist, and try to get into the elevator, then either operate it or sabotage it and climb the shaft. The one who can walk through walls could try to get in and open it from the inside.

[The part of him that's really pissed off about Psiioniic wants to say "maybe they'll talk if we make them" but he doesn't advocate torture, so he thinks a little harder]

Yeah, it would be too easy. I wonder what they'd do if we held one of them captive for a bit, maybe made noises about hurting them. Their staff could be more important than their prisoners, even if death isn't permanent.

That doesn't sound all that far-fetched.

[Now she's grinning.]

If it were a manner of making them talk, that wouldn't be difficult, but speaking from personal experience, conversational speech seems to be physically beyond them.

Conditioned, even.

Glad you agree. [He's still grinning. This is almost fun] I'll put a team together.

[He sobers, but isn't surprised by her words. Maybe she's trying to hurt him with them, but he's thinking about those people, not about Psi and what she did to his moirail.]

Even if they're just slaves to these assholes, maybe they won't want them captured and held. It could prompt a response from their handlers.

[She looks at him down the bridge of her nose, in her typical condescending fashion. She didn't get that title from nowhere, after all.]

Your own beliefs are clouding your judgment, boy. They'll take a handful of their so-called refugees and dismember or disfigure them, and you think they would lose sleep over a couple of mindless peons with not an original thought in their pan.

Use your own thinkpan, will you?

[He scowls] I know that. But we don't know for sure. For all we know, they think of us as animals, because we're not one of THEM. But if the rat in the cage kidnaps one of your interns and holds him hostage, you'll start wondering what's going on with the rat, even if you don't give two shits about the intern.

All I'm saying is, kidnapping a few of the staff might tell us something about their attitude, regardless of whether they react or not. If we kidnap enough of them, maybe they'll take notice.

[Her expression hardens a bit. She knew this was a bad idea.]

And it will also be a waste of time, not to mention the possibility of damage to our own forces if they decide to retaliate once they take notice of what's been done. We do not have the element of surprise. They do.

They know very well what we're capable of. That is why they didn't take chances and halted their victims from striking back in terms of psionics, strength, and confidence. They simply proceeded.

[She pauses for a minute and folds her arms, looking at Signless a little more plainly.]

I recall you asking for my leadership, did you not?

[She makes a good point, and mostly he'd be inclined to argue simply because he's used to being in charge, but she does have a good point, and he's also used to letting his friends rein him in when he's running off in the wrong direction.

He straightens a little]

I remember. What do you think we should do?

Give them no quarter. Gather their minions, give them a short period to offer information. If they fail to deliver, they die.

[She counts off her fingers for him.]

One. By. One.

It weakens their numbers and gives us a chance to gather information. Alternatively, we can observe them to see if they make use of the elevator. If they do, then we find a way to travel with them to the levels below.

[He bites his lip. It's not that he's squeamish. He just doesn't like the idea of killing if it's not necessary.]

If the staff are just conditioned slaves, without minds of their own, what's the point in killing them? They don't deserve that. It's their leaders who are hurting us, not the drones. They might have been the last batch of prisoners for all we know, and it's possible we might be able to reverse the conditioning, or whatever it is that makes them this way. Then they'd be allies, rather than enemies.

[SHE CANNOT HANDLE YOU.....]

I'm not going to play this back and forth with you, so I'm going to say this once.

[She begins to gesture with both hands -- elegant, though very obviously frustrated with his pacifism.]

There is a point in the process of conditioning called acceptance -- that is when you forgo whoever you were before in favor of what you're intended to become. The point of no return, if you will. That is why the methods work, and that is why you won't be gaining these folk as allies.

Unless you would also suggest to spare enemy programmed robots while we're busy trying to liberate ourselves. Its a waste of time and resources.

If you would like any say at all, chose from the two options given, or I will.

[He curls his fingers around the arms of his chair, eyes narrowing as she lectures him on a subject that literally turns his stomach. He can feel a throb in his jaw as he clenches it so tightly.

Is this going to work? He wanted her help, felt like he needed it, but their philosophies are so different.

On the other hand. She's fucking right.

He drops his gaze first, and he breaths in deeply, then lets it out hard. Know which fights to win, and which ones to concede. That's what Dolorosa always said.]

All right. We'll do it your way. But if we discover that there might be a way to save them, we'll re-evaluate.

[That calms her down at least.]

Good. As thrilled as I am to discover you're not a complete incompetent, I'm going to advise against your decision.

[Her eyelids lower a bit, folding her arms again.]

The espionage method has a greater chance of wielding more results. Clipping their numbers is something I would fall back upon, considering we appear to outnumber them for the moment.

So...you will build another team to track their activities and follow them to the lower chambers, if possible. Perhaps there are carts some of our smaller members can stow away in.

[He lifts his eyes to hers again, blinking. He had forgotten she offered that option, and it takes him a moment to realize what she was saying before. Then he realizes that she actually is telling him to do what he would do if given a choice.

He trusted her to lead him down the right path, and she actually did.

He grins and gets to his feet.]

As you command, or whatever I'm supposed to say. I think this might work, after all.

[Her lips curl into a smirk of delight, two fangs poking out from her upper lip.]

Good. Don't make me regret this, and don't disappoint me.

[She turns to leave, sweeping the long trail of hair out of her way as she does so.]

[He smirks back, hiding his slight flash of irritation. She thinks she's won, though he's pretty sure he has, and she's taking his dramatic exit, too.]

Back at you, Empress.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Text] [Locked selectively (see OOC text) and Hackable]

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[Action] WOW, somehow this tag ended up at the bottom of the entry???

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