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Characters: Moby, Reby, a bunch of confused Nasod Scouts, and everyone but Eve herself.
Setting: Room 1-11 / Floor 15 / Various
Format: Opening with brackets, but if you feel like prosing it's no big difference to me.
Summary: Eve has been taken by the retrieval units, leaving behind a small army of extremely confused robotic servants.
Warnings: None

[Room 1-11]
[Though it's not unusual for Eve to not return to her room for a day or two, she's always accompanied by those armored black and white drones of hers. Except for today, it seems. The white one of the pair is currently hovering over her bed, unsupervised.

It's hard to tell what it's up to, considering it's incapable of expressing any apparent emotion, but if anyone passes by they'll find a tiny little hand pulling on their sleeve.]

[Floor 15: Workshop]
[On most days, Eve can be found sitting at the exact same workstation, tinkering away at her assortment of complex machinery. Still not today, though. Instead her station is being manned by the second of her two drone assistants, the black one.

And... well. A growing pile of mechanical Scouts. There's about a dozen or so, some in various states of disrepair—bumping into objects with cracked optics, dragging themselves along with broken or missing legs, sparking and twitching dangerously from exposed circuitry, and couple with multiple symptoms. They horde of them are clustered around Eve's workstation, with Moby sitting up top, trying hopelessly to sort them all out.

It's enough of a scene to draw attention, at least. Try not to trip over the wandering drones.]

[Various Floors, day/night]
[Normally Eve's Scouts follow a strict schedule that doesn't permit much dawdling or bugging passers-by. When the Queen isn't around to collect their reports, however, it tends to ruin the whole routine.

The Nasod Scouts that are still mobile can be found wandering the floors of the tower—daytime, nighttime, halls and staircases, following random people around and generally making pests of themselves. They'll shoot a stunning electric shock ball if they feel threatened, for whatever reason. Sadly, it works poorly on most monsters, so it's not unusual to see damaged or destroyed drones, either. Still, they don't seem to be deterred from wandering around at night even after seeing their fallen brethren... What could be motivating them to do this?]

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[Kain was awfully hard on spears, and found himself frequently needing to return to the workshop to craft himself another one. His skill was in using weapons, not making them... they couldn't hold up well to the kind of abuse his particular style of aerial combat put them through. What he wouldn't give for a proper weapon...

But he soon found himself distracted from his task by all that clattering and crackling. He had just retrieved a promising length of wood when it caught his attention. And so he was still holding it as he strode over, curious and cautious and no small amount confused.

Machines were Cid's thing, not his. Maybe he shouldn't touch them. Maybe they were some kind of hostile tower-thing. His approach slowed, and he readied himself to have to attack, if needed.]

[Luckily for Kain, this mess of drones is far too busy trying to synchronize data to go on the defensive, especially considering a good chunk of them are in no condition to try and attack anyone anyway. A couple wander into his legs, buzzing annoyed cries of -ERROR UNKNOWN OBSTACLE DETECTED-. There's at least one that's currently upsidedown and flailing its legs wildly like a hapless turtle.

Yeah, these guys aren't much of a threat.

Eventually, the little round guy at the front notices the human. It waves its tiny arms at him, trying its best to speak over the rest of the drones in the same electronic voice.] APOLOGIES, THIS WORKSTATION HAS BEEN RESERVED. PLEASE STAY CLEAR OF THIS AREA UNTIL THE QUEEN HAS BEEN LOCATED.

[When the first drone bumps against his legs and chirps an error message, Kain jumps back. The next one gets a much less startled reaction. And he's wondering if he should flip the overturned one right-side-up or not... Thank goodness one of them makes an effort to address him in short order. Too much more of this and he might have fled.]

...the Queen? Who would that be? [He frowns, curious and concerned.] Are you expecting her?

RESPONSE TO QUERY: EVE IS THE QUEEN OF NASOD. EVE IS DUE TO ARRIVE IN [processing...] 7.62 HOURS AGO.

[It pauses, staring down in a way that makes it seem like it's sulking. That's a lot of hours for someone to be late.]

[He made a small sound, indicating understanding... and then indicating worry. Over seven hours late? Were women going missing from the tower?]

That's concerning. I've already been searching for someone else that seems to have disappeared. Your Queen, Eve, what does she look like?

[Hey, if he's already helping, might as well try to help some more.]

[The response makes him perk up a little (maybe...? faceless robots, man).] IS THIS PERHAPS A WIDESPREAD PHENOMENON? INSUFFICIENT DATA.

QUEEN EVE IS A HUMANOID MODEL WITH SILVER HAIR AND A BLUE CRANIAL REACTOR. ANY INFORMATION YOU ARE ABLE TO FIND ABOUT HER LOCATION WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

It seems that it might be... which is concerning.

[He... wasn't sure if it had perked up or not. Without a face, it was kind of hard to read. But it had body language, and he was alright with animals, so...]

I see. I can't say that I've seen a woman that matches her description. But I'll be on the watch for your Queen, as well, as I search. Shall I...er, tell her that you're awaiting her here, if I find her?

[No vocal tone, either. It's somewhat obvious that this little guy wasn't meant for human interactions. At least it's trying?]

YES, PLEASE INFORM HER THAT WE ARE WAITING ON STANDBY FOR HER RETURN.

[It pauses.] YOU ARE ALSO SEARCHING FOR SOMEONE. IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE, I WILL PASS THEIR DESCRIPTION ONTO THE SCOUTING PATROLS.

[...]

THE... ACTIVE SCOUTING PATROLS. [who is anyone kidding here, these guys are useless]

[One could always make an effort. Kain was a bit awkward at this stuff, himself. Too much time on mountains ~~sulking~~ off finding himself...]

I am. Her name is Tohko Amano. She has dark brown hair, worn in braids, and can usually be found among books. Or so goes the description that I was given.

[...that little machine had just expressed awkwardness, of some sort, hadn't it? That would have been funny, if it wasn't so odd. For the sake of politeness, he refrained from smiling.]

Do what you can, and I shall do what I can, as well.

[ Loken was seeking the workshop, after learning of its existence. As such, he lumbers into it and spots... strange little mechanical things, like small servitors or servo-skulls. He's not to sure what he thinks of them. Are they abominable intelligences? He doesn't know, they aren't obvious drones, not like the Tau's stuff, so he just follows them and stares. Which is notable, given he's an 8 foot tall armored being that looks vaguely like a cross between a giant man and a tank. ]

[Considering how chaotic the bunch is right now, it takes a minute or two before any of them Scouts seem to notice the big hulking man-tank there. When they do, their only reaction is to part away from him (with varying results, since not all of these things have legs right now).

The spherical black drone sitting on the table only stops for a few seconds to acknowledge him before going back to waving its tiny spear around in a sad attempt to organize everyone.] THE QUEEN IS NOT HERE. IF YOU ARE UNDAMAGED THEN RETURN TO YOUR ASSIGNED DUTIES. IF YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE PLEASE STAND BY WHILE YOUR REQUEST IS PROCESSED.

[Spacemarine is close enough to a Nasod, apparently.]

Assigned duties? Well, they involve me being here. [ Which is true. He's trying to procure a weapon, and he's more a less a free agent in absence of orders from Malcador. ]

... At any rate, Servitor, I require a sword. Query: Do you know any active weaponsmiths or techpriests?

[—oh, well that properly catches its attention this time. Moby spends a little bit longer inspecting the large "Nasod".]

YOU ARE NOT NASOD. APOLOGIES! [Is it possible for a robotic sphere to sound flustered? Apparently so.] RESPONSE TO QUERY: OUR QUEEN SPECIALIZES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ADVANCED NASOD WEAPONRY AND MUNITIONS. HOWEVER, SHE IS NOT HERE RIGHT NOW.

Then I shall wait for her. Does she frequent this place?

AFFIRMATIVE. AN AUDIENCE CAN BE ARRANGED WHEN SHE IS LOCATED, AT YOUR REQUEST. [Moby is a good secretary like that.

Although... "located" doesn't have too many positive implications at the moment. It hesitates for a moment.] ... UNFORTUNATELY, WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO ORGANIZE A PROPER SEARCH PARTY AS OF YET. QUEEN EVE IS A HUMANOID MODEL WITH SILVER HAIR AND A BLUE CRANIAL REACTOR. IF YOU ARE ABLE TO LOCATE HER, YOUR ASSISTANCE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Cranial reactor? [ The face behind the helm takes on a confused cast, and there is a certain degree of uncertainty in the body language as well, given the revelation. What kind of servitors are these? ]

THAT IS CORRECT. I BELIEVE THE HUMAN TERM IS "BLUE FOREHEAD GEM THINGY". [human term courtesy of Els, most likely.]

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO FIND ANYTHING, PLEASE DIRECT YOUR REPORT TO THIS LOCATION. THANK YOU.

Very well. If you'll excuse me then.

*The floor for sewing was guaranteed to have cloth, but its consistently low quality and the eerie-looking mannequins had him always checking this floor first if he was in need of fabric.

He didn't expect to see a pile of machines. Moby will have to deal with yet another stranger staring. Enoch is unsure how to act. He hasn't had the best history with machines, aside from the one named Legion that had once been here...

He is aware that they were...injured, but he has no idea if he should offer his help or not...*

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Floor 15 - Workshop

Re: Floor 15 - Workshop

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this is stupidly late and I am sorry for that, herp (if you wanna handwave the rest that's fine)

No problem! I have been enjoying the thread. We can find a way to tie it up shortly?

can do! o7

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[Floor 15: Workshop]

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this is stupidly late and I am sorry for that, herp (if you wanna handwave the rest that's fine)

no worries

Workshop