Collar Checkup Boycott

[animusmods]

Characters: open to all
Setting: infirmary; around the Tower in general
Format: party-style all week; please note the date your post is taking place in the subject line
Summary: The results of the collar boycott slowly become clear...
Warnings: standard Tower warnings
Note: You may NPC your own retrieval units.

The results don't begin to become clear until Tuesday--Monday passes more or less without incident, except for the number of orange-collared residents who miss their checks. And on Tuesday, the retrieval units are out to search for them. It doesn't seem like they were meant to recover so many, though: a clever resident will be able to avoid their retrieval unit entirely. And so, some oranges continue to have escaped their collar checkup today.

It's worse on Wednesday. Retrieval units are out and about again, but this time to try and search for the yellow-collared residents who skipped the day before. No orange-collared residents are searched out at all, and even then there seems to be enough confusion in the programming of the retrieval units any boycotting yellows can run off and hide if they're careful about it.

By the time Thursday arrives, there's a general, obvious level of confusion in the retrieval units' retrieval programming. They were obviously not programmed to be searching for so many colors at once. Some residents may find themselves being dragged in for a second collar check this week, even if they went to theirs, and the infirmary seems to be working at double time. No one even bothers to search for the two wayward greens.

By Friday the retrieval units are out in a number that seems more fitting for a small militia than anything else. Still, they seem more intent on tracking down the greens--their programming still telling them to retrieve those who were missed the day before--but they don't seem to know which greens they're looking for. Anyone with a green collar may be dragged in for a collar check, possibly multiple times today.

Saturday is chaos in the infirmary. The retrieval units seem to have entirely lost sight of who they're actually searching for, and anyone brought into the checkup room will be able to see how messy and confused it looks, with no real time to clean it and orange through violet collar fluid all lined up at once where normally only the color of the day and of the day before would be out at all. Again people may be brought in for multiple checks while those intent on evading capture can remain elusive.

But Sunday--on Sunday the entire process breaks down. There's too much volume for the retrieval units to handle, and they scatter about in a strange catch and release program, dragging anyone they catch to random places around the Tower before letting them go. They don't seem to be entirely certain of what they're supposed to be doing.

Something else happens on Sunday, as well...

Comments

[undefines]

[Slowly and more carefully, she attempts a second time. When it produces the same results, she decides the best course of action is to book it.]

[animusnpcs]

[Nue will be able to leave with the clear container, and may do as she pleases with it. If she attempts to go back to the infirmary, she will find the door is now locked.]

[pinnaculum]

[Before Nue is able to leave the room, Sephiroth suddenly appears, having moved in rather unexpectedly fast. He studies the room, taking in its contents, and Nue, in a glance, and offering his usual polite greeting.]

Hello.

[undefines]

[Nue squawks and actually leaps up and back, like a startled animal. Her wings flare and curve, not unlike something puffing up in an attempt to appear larger.]

[It takes her a second to realize it's a child.]

[A weird, silver-haired child with strange eyes.]

Hey, you're—!

[pinnaculum]

[Sephiroth takes this reaction calmly. He's more concerned by the fact that this person, somehow, doesn't look like anything at all. Yet they seem to be a Tower resident. He can see the collar he expects to find there.]

I am Sephiroth.

[He wonders if this person is familiar with the other Sephiroth, who does not seem to be particularly popular with other residents of the Tower lately.]

[undefines]

You killed me!

[She sounds indignant more than anything, which maybe sounds at odds with the severity of the accusation.]

[pinnaculum]

I did?

[Sephiroth is honestly surprised, not that his surprise registers as anything but mild, considering his blunted affect.]

I apologize.

[Because that's what you do when you kill someone, right? Politely apologize. He doesn't seem to feel particularly bad about it, however. Why would he? He doesn't remember attacking anyone unprovoked.]

[undefines]

You— You apologize? [She sputters that, disbelieving. Her wings lash behind her back in agitation.]

Listen, you! Just— Just take one of those and come with me! [She jabs a finger behind herself at the containers, and that movement is plainly agitated as well. She almost moves to stomp out ahead of him—but then she stops, suddenly curious if the same paralyzing effect will occur if he attempts to take one. The motions of her wings slow just slightly.]

[pinnaculum]

Yes, I did not intend to kill you.

[He doesn't wish to kill collared Tower residents. He only kills monsters. And a lot of them. Although sometimes it seems like it's only the collar that sets some of the people apart from the monsters. Not that this troubles him too much.

Maybe it should, but it doesn't. He only finds it interesting.

Seeing no reason not to pick up a container, he does so. He is curious about them.]