Something Unexpected

[animusmods]

Characters: characters selected to go into the elevator
Setting: the admin levels
Format: any
Summary: The admin elevator has been left open, its destination preprogrammed. Where is it going to take you?
Warnings: general horror warnings for now

The elevator doesn't announce itself when its doors slide open. There's no alarm, no message to be found about it. It sits open and waits for anyone curious enough to enter. There's a barrier on it that locks out anyone without a collar, and it isn't going to stay long, but aside from that there appears to be no security. There's nothing stopping someone--or multiple someones--from climbing into the elevator and going down.

Where's it going? Who knows.

Hub Area
A lounge area with sofas and chairs. It's large enough to hold the entire group, constructed similarly to the dorm rooms, and is connected to five doors.

Door One
???

Door Two
???

Door Three
???

Door Four
???

Door Five
???

Comments

[lighthousediving]

[Felix frowns at the sight of what clearly isn't a processing room. He's really not willing to put up with any tricks at this point.]

It's just another hallway. Or is this necessary before getting to the real room?

[warriorscribe]

This tower is built very oddly.

*Strange architecture isn't new to him by any means, thank you Watchers. He just crosses the room to open the second one. Why not?*

[animusnpcs]

[The door opens to catwalks above a large room. There's a machine in the center, and they're just in time to witness this, though they miss the part where the retrieval unit was walking up the machine with the body.

They have a much closer view of the rest, though, being so high above everything.]

[lighthousediving]

[Felix watches the entire process in silent shock. That side of him that's given him such brilliant ideas as "jumping off the top of a lighthouse" is telling him to try to take that shining object from them, though if that was what he was suspecting it to be, he should probably just leave it if he really wanted to "save" her.]

They...

[Any other words that were going to be in that sentence don't come out, and he instead ends up clenching his fists and scowling at the scene.]

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch, meanwhile, seems...stunned, and then in awe. He kneels down as if to watch more closely, a hand gripping the edge of the catwalk.*

...only have our souls. I was right...

[lighthousediving]

But...how? And why?

[Felix did have a good reason to ask this and still seem as upset as he did. That note he had seen when he first woke up here...maybe all of them really had died after Mars Lighthouse was lit. In which case, he really had killed everyone. Maybe this was his punishment. Why did Sheba have to get dragged into it too, though?]

[warriorscribe]

I don't know how. That much, we must ask Zo. But...our worlds truly are destroyed. Sometimes...the tower loses people. Their souls slip away, back to their original bodies.

*That hand leaves the catwalk and Enoch's gaze takes on a distressed look as he folds his arms, hands gripping his sides.*

...I was one of them.

[animusnpcs]

[The retrieval units have closed Sheba's soul away in an office--it's just visible from their location, though from this distance it's impossible to see what's going on inside. They may be able to see others from different groups from their vantage point as well.]

[lighthousediving]

Who's Zo? And...you mean you went back to your world?

[His mood didn't have much farther to drop, but somehow he was discovering he hadn't been at rock bottom. Weyard was really destroyed. And he had been the one to do it...

But finally spotting he office catches his attention, and Felix tries to crane his neck to get a better view.]

Do you think we can make it down there? Or contact the others?

[warriorscribe]

Zo is the boy who brings us here...who saves us from an eternity of our worlds' ruins.

*After all, if Zo only took people from worlds that were about to face destruction...would Heaven be a target if it wasn't, itself...

...Enoch lets out a short huff of breath, keeping himself from thinking further on it. The fact that there were angels here meant there was nowhere for his soul to go when his body died, that's all he needed to know.*

...Let's see where this path may take us.

*He stands, carefully, picking up the staff he'd dropped beside him, and begins walking along the catwalk.*

[animusnpcs]

[The catwalk passes over top of the machine, providing a look at both sides of the office--both the group hiding by one door and the group pounding on the other can be seen as they pass. The catwalk continues to the other side of the room, if they wish to continue.]

[uzuki]

[Shion had remained quiet for some time. She was upset by Sheba's death... But she was upset by all of it, really. Why hadn't they been forthright with the processes in the tower? Why treat them all like prisoners if their stories were true?

After taking a moment to survey what they could actually see from their spot, she clenched her fist and marched across, continuing on.]

[lighthousediving]

[Felix could see the others below them, but getting their attention didn't seem like it would help any of them much at the moment. They weren't in immediate danger and he couldn't get down there anyway. So he continues across as well, taking note that the place where they had taken what remained of Sheba seemed to have two doors, both of which were possibly locked. It would be easier if they could communicate easily with the others...]

[warriorscribe]

*Like telling that group pounding on the door to stop...*

...They'll be killed...

*Enoch's voice is hardly above a whisper.

But Shion seems to be moving on and Enoch doesn't want to separate any more. He moves along with her.*

[animusnpcs]

[As they pass over the machine, they'll see the other side of the conveyor belt that carries used bodies--it goes into a room on this side of the machine. There's a staircase that leads down to the floor, next to the door in question.]

[uzuki]

[Shion didn't even hear Enoch, and she continued on, down the stairs and to the door. Where she would try to enter it.]

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch attempts to catch up to Shion - what's she doing, they all knew they were intruders here and, well...

He puts a hand on her shoulder.*

Wait. Be more cautious. We're intruding here, and...I'd expect their 'retrieval units' to be fully rested here.

[uzuki]

[She kept her volume low, but her voice was still urgent, and a little angry.]

Sneaking around didn't really help us the first time, did it? Besides, I'm tired of all this. We shouldn't have to be sneaking around here in the first place. If this is all for out benefit, or to save us, they should have been open with all of this in the first place!

[warriorscribe]

Clearly, someone on this side thinks the same, and he cannot reveal it normally. We must have been invited down here to see this. We can't put our host's invitation to waste - remember that they can tamper with our memories. If we're caught...

[uzuki]

...Fine.

[She sighed, but she didn't make a move to rush at the door again, at least.]

But if there are more of what we faced before, taking it slow isn't going to help anything.

[warriorscribe]

Right. If we're caught, we'll run. But for now...let's open the door slowly so as not to alarm anyone.

*Not that they can outrun retrieval units; they moved quickly even when woken early, but...it was worth at least trying to outwit them if it came to that.*

[animusnpcs]

[There are only worker units inside, and as they remain unstartled by any sudden intrusions, they don't deviate from their task. Their task is simple: they are taking the bodies apart, sorting out the pieces into various bins. Skin shaved off, limbs dropped inside one place whole or a multitude of places in pieces.

There is a label inside stating this room's function: recycling center.]

[lighthousediving]

They're...

[Felix was suddenly very uncomfortable in his own body, but he wasn't too keen on figuring out the method to get out of this.]

How can they do this?

[uzuki]

[When she realized what was going on in front of them, Shion clamped her hand over her mouth. More out of surprise, and maybe to stop herself from making a sound, than anything else. She looked away quickly, and after a moment she spoke quietly.]

I don't know, but we should keep going.

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch rubbed his arm a little self consciously, though he doesn't seem nearly as uncomfortable as Felix does. Shock, perhaps, or the calm afforded by reasonable foreknowledge because of his little guess. Honestly, Jason had hinted at this in the little gathering after the visitors from Hinoto-Ri had arrived, but...seeing it was something else entirely.*

...These bodies are constructs. Golems of flesh and bone instead of mud and clay. *That much had been obvious after seeing the soul extraction, but...the soul extraction tied everything together. They were still themselves.*

...I don't think they can rescue our original bodies - or for that matter, revive them should they die.

*A hand on each of his companion's shoulders (Felix's was a little odd because Enoch was holding Sheba's staff in that hand).*

Our souls are true. We are ourselves, and they go to the effort of crafting these bodies to look and feel like our own.

*At Shion's suggestion, he nodded.* I think we've seen enough here. Should we return and wait for the rest?

*The rest that weren't the group that was trying to break down that door, at least...*