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

[screwattack]

The Galactic Federation, the ones who I not only served under in the military but who are also my current employers, held much the same views on Phazon. While their intentions were perhaps pure, and in the name of peace, their experiments with the substance have proven to be more and more dangerous.

They weren't even previously aware of the side effect of corruption until my body nearly succumbed to it. [And the Aurora Unit she'd been linked to had apologized profusely for it.] The threat of Metroids was also caused by the failure of Federation research teams to contain the species, and they were stolen by Pirates, now posing a great threat to most of the galaxy.

[She has nothing against the Federation. Far from it, she actually supports the Federation and holds a deep respect for them. However, they've made grave mistakes in the past regarding research, and she wasn't about to let it happen again.]

[universebeware]

Well, you do realize that I would have an edge over them in knowing what sort of dangers to prep for, yes? Just because dangers exist does not mean they cannot be worked around - and because your Federation has so kindly worked out some of the more obvious kinks in the utilization of the substance, then that would make my attempt go that much smoother.

[Probably not the best way to make his point, but it is Brainstorm...]

[screwattack]

That is assuming your intents don't become malicious. I've seen the devastation Phazon causes when used as an energy source and a weapon. My enemies use it in vast quantities as well. There's a reason it's been called a Poison by some.

The fact of the matter is, I don't trust scientists.

[Meaning she really doesn't trust you.]

[universebeware]

[Brainstorm sighs, then shakes his head before giving a small shrug.]

And I thought the Ethics Committee could be a stick in the mud about this kind of thing... Never thought I'd see someone out-caution them.

[screwattack]

I'm a protector. I can't afford to take any chances. It's completely unreasonable to think that I would take any kind of risk when it's my sole responsibility to make sure I protect others from Phazon's menace.

[universebeware]

[There's another sigh, this one full of frustration.]

Spare me the bleeding fuel pump spiel, would you? Being denied is frustrating enough without the altruistic guilt-tripping. You wanna be a 'protector', then help us out by finding someone who needs protecting. If this trip was anything like my last one, we've probably wound up in some horrible situation and there's bound to be someone that came along that could use it.

[screwattack]

[Fine, Samus is going to switch the topic... It's probably for the best. There was something he said that caught her attention more, anyway.]

Your last one...? You took a trip like this before, then? It would be beneficial to the rest of those who have ended up in this place for you to explain what happened in great detail, then...

[universebeware]

Yes. A short time prior to this, when a few of the Seven disappeared, I was among their number.

We woke up in some other world in the midst of some sort of crisis. Assistance was lent to the locals, and shortly afterward we found ourselves back within Hinoto-Ri with passengers in tow.

Rather straightforward.

[screwattack]

Perhaps something similar to this, then...

Was the being that we were told about when we came to this place also mentioned there? Nyarlathotep. Perhaps this mission is a follow-up from your previous one, if you had failed to neutralize him there.

[Oops was that an almost condescending tone in her voice?]

[universebeware]

[Gurl oh no you didn't.]

We did what was necessary to stop the immediate crisis in that world, and then we found ourselves back inside that cave in a heap - if he was involved in that, we didn't have a chance to deal with him thanks to that blasted stone.

[screwattack]

Well supposedly we have a chance now. Unfortunately we were given little to no information about our target. I hadn't even learned of his name until one of the other visitors informed me. You've been working in Hinoto-Ri longer, though, and you have much deeper connections... what can you tell me about him?