011 ♐ it's easy living in the house of your dreams ♐ ᴏᴘᴇɴ

[geometry]

Characters: Equius Zahhak (AU) and YOU
Setting: Floor 70, the machine.
Format: Starting in action, but I'll do whatever.
Summary: Equius gets his geek on in the worst conceivable way.
Warnings: Possible crushing, burning, or acid corrosion. YAY SCIENCE!


[...Wow.]

[There was no telling how big this floor was. The walls and ceiling were nowhere in sight, because they were completely covered by a massive breathing machine. There was a faint tinge of rust in the air here, and the outer reaches were further obscured by smoke of various colours. Metal parts clunked and ground against one another, making extremely unattractive noises as they did so. A truly staggering amount of the mechanisms here were burned or dented (or maybe they were supposed to be that way, since they were unfamiliar), but they all seemed to be working together towards... something that wasn't immediately clear. There had to be a million different platforms all around the place, but most of them were conveyor belts, carrying scraps of some kind of metal into a huge boiling vat of liquid that sizzled when something dropped in.]

[It was beautiful.]

[Not much to see here, Tower; just a troll, standing next to the staircase, gawking in amazement at the monstrosity in front of him. Judging from the oil streaks that have long since dried on this particular pair of pants, he could feel perfectly at home here... if he got an opportunity to look around. Right now, it's all unfamiliar. And way too big. All Equius can do for quite a long time is stand there and gawk. What could this thing be for?]

[He seems to want to find out, as shortly afterward he's examining the closer and less dangerous metallic innards. And then the slightly further metallic innards. And eventually he's crawling and jumping all over the place, still in view of the staircase, but observing mechanisms that could crush a hand and balancing on things that really ought not to be balanced on, all in the interest of getting just a little closer to that peculiar piece of machinery. It's just so interesting. He seems to be doing pretty well now; one of Equius' few talents is coordination and nimble movement. But who knows how long that'll last if someone startles him...]

Comments

[geometry]

[ !!! ]

Uhm--

[Well, Equius doesn't start off with falling off the platform to his doom, mercifully. But as soon as he turns around and sees a Darkleer just standing there, watching him like the creeper he isn't, Equius suddenly feels much more compelled to get away from all these machines and go back over to where the blueblood is. Presumably to kowtow and beg for his life. But details. Once he arrives, he just kind of stands there in front of Darkleer for a second before actually responding.]

Yes. A lot of it is interesting. But I also can't identify many of the interesting parts, so... there's that.

[Equius. Equius, stahp.]

[disgracedvoid]

[The highblood is in a relatively mellow mood, noticeable because while his expression remains mostly closed off and stern, he's not actively glowering at everything around him. This is clearly improvement and Equius should be very grateful for this miraculous occurance.]

Is it the machine itself you cannot identify, or its function?

[Trust Dadleer to split hairs on stuff like this.]

[geometry]

[Oh, Dadleer.]

Uh, the function, certainly. I can recognize some of the parts, but... not all. [He looks away, over at one of the parts in question.] It shouldn't be a problem if I figure out what they do, though...

[disgracedvoid]

See if you can recognize process queues as well, that will help you map out systemic composition and potential sequences and cycles.

[geometry]

[Hmm.]

Well, yes, of course. There's a number of languages being used here -- which I suppose makes sense, considering this is the Tower we're talking about and not just one localized region-slash-coding language -- but I haven't yet found a master terminal for it. Not to mention that some areas are actually just mechanical, not at all electronic. [He pulls a face.] Somehow.

Really, I just started, so it's just poking around at this stage. I... could go in further and look for that master terminal, but something will probably crawl out from the screen and eat me if I find it.

[disgracedvoid]

That is indeed very likely to happen.

[Darkleer shakes his head.]

Or perhaps it is simply that there is not a single, unified process at work here, and this is merely a conjunction of several independent mechanisms.

[geometry]

[He shrugs.] Or the central control is somewhere else entirely, like in the room the administrators tend to air videos from... [In that case, he's pretty much screwed, but he wants to eliminate all the other possibilities first. Ha, ha. Eliminate possibilities. In the Tower. Oh, Equius, you're so funny.]

Either way, it's... very well put together. I wonder which of them was responsible...

[disgracedvoid]

Do you know much about them?

[Darkleer is genuinely curious, because he doesn't, really. He doesn't ever bother with much of anything, around the tower.]

[geometry]

Not... really. No one does.

Do you want me to... tell you, or...?

[disgracedvoid]

[He arches an eyebrow.]

Yet you know enough to tell me something about them? Go ahead.

[geometry]

Well, I mean, basic jobs... that's about it.

Jason is the one who runs the experiments, Riki is [the worst kind of scum to ever walk the earth] responsible for some of the level designs, maybe all of them. Uhh... Dax does paperwork, I think. Ruana and Zo just kind of... sit there. And have psychic powers.

[He shrugs. Again.] I dunno, it's no that much.

[disgracedvoid]

[Darkleer makes a thoughtful sound, unearthing old - ancient, really -thoughts and memories, as he considers Equius words.]

That's enough for some, I would imagine. Even if it's mostly just a baseless distraction. Much of this place works on that same principle, as it is.

[geometry]

...

[Equius considers this for a moment. He was about to deny that claim and say something along the lines of "this Tower works on the principles of tears and suffering", but...]

It really does... I guess it can't work any other way, with everything they're obviously hiding from us...

[disgracedvoid]

[Don't be a wuss, Equius. You're a Zahhak, tears and suffering are already your lot in life, tower or not.]

For all you know, the facts you've managed to amass so far are merely lies or attempts at misdirection. It certainly would not be outside their power, now would it?

[geometry]

[...But he is a wuss...]

Well, that's true... but it's all we have to go off of, so we can't exactly dismiss it...

[disgracedvoid]

...True enough I suppose. It all depends on how much you care to figure out what is going on, in the end.

[Because Darkleer doesn't really care, honest.]

[geometry]

[Equius semi-does, because it helps him sleep at night. Just not enough to... join a Tower liberation front or something. Didn't everyone who tried that die?]

...I'm guessing you, uh, don't care as much?

[disgracedvoid]

Not one solitary bit.

[Fucks, he has none to give.]

[geometry]

Oh.

[Is he going to apologize? Is he? Is he?????]

[...No!]

...um. Why is that?

[disgracedvoid]

[Darkleer tilts his head slightly to the side, considering his options.]

Because I have spent too much time not caring, to relearn how.

[geometry]

[This earned him a confused look from Equius, but -- unsure if asking would get him killed or not -- he just leaves it at that. And his gaze drops back to the floor.]

I... suppose you can handle it either way.

[disgracedvoid]

There are other ways to handle it, but you should count yourself lucky you don't share my views on them.

[Mostly because being him sucks, but he's not about to explain to Equius exactly how much.]