Ad Visitatores

[animusmods]

Characters: anyone participating in the event
Setting: floor 56 and eventually other areas of the Tower
Format: either
Summary: Welcome to the Tower.
Warnings: horror/creepiness/potential danger/generally unfortunate things all possible
Notes: PLEASE GO HERE TO MAKE NEW POSTS.

A few minutes before anything happens, Ruana's voice rings out over the Tower's intercom--it manages to be louder than anything the residents happen to be doing. "Hey, everyone, there's something exciting going on at floor fifty-six! Go make sure they don't get themselves killed!"


You arrive, stepping or tumbling, in a surgical suite. It looks abandoned, with dust collecting on the table and floors. The lights flicker, and for a moment blood dripping off the table, puddling on the floor--but no, the lights are back, and surely that was your imagination. It's quiet, eerily so, but nothing hinders you, and you're free to spread out and explore. There are multiple rooms here, like in any hospital, and it's all a bit confusing. Occasionally the lights flicker, and it's a bit frightening as Things appear that shouldn't exist. Shadowy creatures stitched together and reaching for you, doctors brandishing phantom surgical tools, blood splattering the walls or floor or ceiling, how did it get there--but none are real, and all of them vanish when the lights return. Eventually you find the staircase, spiraling up and down into darkness. Approach it, though, and the thing glitters with a barrier that will push back any attempts at climbing the thing.

A girl, a teenager dressed in red and black, appears. And she does simply appear, inserting herself into the space, nearly pushing it aside to make room in it for where she is now. Her face beams with unconcealed excitement, and her words tumble out on top of themselves. "You can't go there! Yet, I mean. You'd all die!"

The girl steps onto the staircase, passing through the barrier as if it weren't there, and sits on the steps to address everyone. "Hi! I'm Ruana. You didn't show up the normal way, so the Tower can't support you yet. We got this one floor ready when I saw you were coming but, well, the Tower's kind've big, so getting all of them set up is taking a little longer than I thought." She smiles, sheepishly apologetic in a carefree sort of way. "I've got everyone coming here to visit you--or at least they know they can visit you--and I'll have someone bring food up for you. It'll be oatmeal, and oatmeal is super boring, but you have to eat it, okay? Then you can have whatever you want! The cafeteria's down on the first floor if you get hungry. We should have everything ready in a few hours. I've gotta go help with that, so you guys wait here.

"Don't worry, the monsters can't get to this floor as long as that barrier is up."

And then she's gone, blinking out of existence. The barrier will remain for three hours.

Comments

[greyerrant]

I haven't tried them yet, honestly. I've been depending on my augmitter and my armor for the most part. I try to avoid using the COMP under most circumstances where I can.

[ Mostly because he's mildly distrustful of it. ]

I'll have Ferrus look into it. If anyone can manage it, the techpriest can.

[screwattack]

Techpriest? [Interesting word to describe someone. She wasn't sure if he meant that literally or figuratively.] It would be advantageous to have a network among the Visitors, especially since we should all have those glasses, or our watches.

[Holding out her cannon parallel to her body, the armor retracts and disappears, revealing the watch still on her wrist.]

Cerberus, do you recognize our location? I've never been here before.

[greyerrant]

Yes, a Martian adept. They are the keepers of the secrets of technology.

[ He shakes his head. ] I've never been here before myself. That said, it isn't the worst place I've been.

[screwattack]

[Ah so he meant that literally then, interesting.]

My foster race, the Chozo, were similar in nature. They would often mix technology with spirituality, and spread their findings and advancements to other races as one would spread their beliefs and spiritual virtues.

[She trusts that this techpriest would be able to get them online, then, if it was at all possible.] That has yet to be seen for me... I won't know until I've explored this entire place. It is giving me a bad feeling, however.

[greyerrant]

[ He stiffens on hearing the words foster race. ]

You did not grow up amongst humans, then?

[ He almost radiates mistrust. ]

And what spirituality is that?

[screwattack]

[Samus notices that, but she's not going to lie. She isn't ashamed of her past, and she isn't scared of it either.]

No. I was born to humans on the Earth colony K-2L, which was attacked and destroyed by Space Pirates when I was three. I was the only survivor.

The Chozo found me in the wreckage and raised me under their teachings. I took on their culture and learned much about their technology. My current suit is a modified version of Chozo technology.

Their culture is an interesting one. The Chozo used to be a race of warriors and conquerors, but as time passed, their lifespans grew to hundreds of years, and their bodies grew older while their ability to reproduce died out altogether. Because of this, they shifted their views on technology to that of tools of peace and prosperity for civilizations, and have spread this among many growing civilizations across the galaxy. They helped found the Galactic Federation.

Many of them even broke away from those previously stationed on the planet Zebes and gave up technology as a way to reach a state of spiritual enlightenment. Many of them are prophetic, their minds breaking away from a linear view of time and space, and I believe even some of them have been able to transcend this dimension into the next.

[You're probably hearing a decent amount of awe coming from her. Even having grown up for them for a good sixteen years, Samus was still amazed by the Chozo and their legacy.]

[greyerrant]

[ So much is explained. Why her armor looked human-like, but not terran made. They sound much like the Eldar. The ones that tried to warn them. The ones he'd destroyed with his own hands, in wars across the galaxy. Or perhaps more like the Kinebrach. ]

Hmh. I have little trust of those that claim to see beyond this time and space. And the question of who is warning you, and who is lying to you is always open. I once had an enemy tell the truth, and one I considered a friend deceive me, to the grief of us all.

[screwattack]

[Samus gives a slight nod in return. There's a reason she isn't quick to trust others...]

Having those you trust turn against you is a terrible tragedy. I'm sorry. Hopefully in this place we're surrounded by loyal allies, though I would remain on my guard.

We don't know who reside in this place... To be honest I'm still wary of those in Hinoto-Ri. I assure you, though, you'll find an ally in me for as long as you uphold a moral code dedicated to peace and protection of innocents.

[greyerrant]

It matters little who resides here. The undertaking must succeed. [ Or they'll all be stuck, or so it would seem. ]

[ The question of his own code gives him pause. Once he'd have easily agreed to such a thing, for that was his code, his belief. But of late he's been forced to confront the truth that for him, some innocents may die to save the greater whole, simply out of.... necessity. How he hates that word. The fact that Qurze used it so easily always saddened him. Finally, he just nods. ]

[screwattack]

[Samus understands his hesitation. There were times in the Galactic Federation where she had been forced to compromise her own principles.

However, under no circumstances would she ever allow that to happen again. She gives him a smirk, mostly unseen under her helmet, but present in her eyes.]

It's an honor to fight beside you, Cerberus.

[greyerrant]

In the end, Honor is all we can cling to. [ His own helm, more opaque than hers and with no human aspect to its visor shows nothing. His voice, filtered though it is through his voxcaster, sounds inhuman, but is given something of a melancholy note by interference. He is like a ghost inside his armored shell, a being that no longer stands in the light, even as it avoids the darkness. The only road he can walk is that in between, the road of Malcador and Garro. There will be no glory to it, only duty and honor. And perhaps, in the end, a destiny. ]

... Samus. I think you and I should have a long discussion about our worlds once we return to Hinoto-Ri. I would like to be as honest as I can with you. Honor demands no less.

[ She may hate him. She probably will hate him. He understands, even as it saddens him. Loken remembers the Interex, and how the best hopes of humanity turned to darkness in the course of a single night. He foresees this playing out once more, and the taste of that thought is bitter indeed. ]

[screwattack]

I agree. Honorable actions and deeds beget honorable outcomes. This of course depends on the definition of what is right and what is honorable, but I do all I can to maintain it.

[Samus pauses and gives him a curious look, tilting her head to one side.]

You'll find I tend not to be the greatest conversationalist, but if you believe it's necessary to our future cooperation, then by all means I welcome such a meeting.

[She reaches out her hand for him to shake.]

[greyerrant]

[ Garviel seems to hesitate, then the war-clad giant takes Samus' hand in his own. Armor on armor, as green visor meets red. The shining bounty hunter and the grey, silent wolf. He doesn't quite shake her hand, but clasps her forearm, and rumbles sincerely. ]

Until the end, then.