3»» Masterly is now known as Lucian
<zoofmeister> Okay, Lucian - you were discharged from the hospital a few hours after the others - around 5 PMish.  You were informed that most the people related to Benedict's lab would be staying at Adrienne's parent's inn that evening, except that bossman himself had head back to his lab already to continue work on trying to triangulate Mario Daria's facility
<Lucian> On Dinosaur Island, right
<zoofmeister> On your way out of the hospital, you see a Watcher humvee blaze on by with its sirens on, going toward the inn
»» Lucian immediately spins on his heels and turns in the exact opposite direction of the inn.
»» Lucian makes it all the way to the end of the block before he crouches down into a ball and runs runs his hand through his hair. "I just got /out/ of the hospital, I don't want to have to go back."
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<Lucian> Finally he scrunches up his eyes and runs toward the inn, cursing under his breath. "Okay if we think about it rationally they're probably not dead. Night is too stupid to die and Adrienne is too bitter, hell would just spit her back out...but that leaves Dann EEUGGH"
»» Lucian texts Tsubasa as he runs [where's your bike]
<zoofmeister> When you get closer to the inn, you obviously notice the onsen that wasn't there before - but more importantly you see Watcher Doyle dashing out of the inn, and over to the doors for the back seat of this vehicle.  He looks hella paniced.
<Lucian> "Doyle! What's going on?"
<Lucian> "Is anyone dead?"
<Lucian> "And is it Dann?"
<zoofmeister> "I wish I fucking knew!  Theo showed up, with a hell of an entourage.  Jackie Serabii, and HER." he swings the door open to reveal M2 - she's bound in a straight jacket and has some sort of half-mask gag over the lower half of her face.
<zoofmeister> "They just barged inside, saying something about a package Benedict had expressed over here, and told me to bring her in."
»» Lucian blinks and waves at the bound girl, "Hello."
<Lucian> And then slams the door in her face as he turns back to Doyle.
<Lucian> "I don't understand."
<zoofmeister> "That makes two of us." He opens the door back up.
<Lucian> "Hello again."
<zoofmeister> You think she's trying to hiss at you, but she's gagged.
<Lucian> "Well, how are you /doing/?"
<Lucian> Is she capable of walking or is she strapped into a chair or something?
<zoofmeister> She's bound up, Doyle has to crawl into undo it - cautiously as he can muster.  "Look I'm as confused as you are, so you can help me or go inside and see what the hell this is about."
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<Lucian> "I'm a bit frazzled at the moment but sure, I've worked with bound patients before. Usually because of burns or bone fractures but that can't be much different from this."
»» Lucian climbs into the car to help Doyle with the restraints. "Is there a chair we need to get her in or do we just lead her and walk?"
<zoofmeister> She's got jeans and tennis shoes on, just a straight jacket on her.  "I dunno - I assume she can walk cause they didn't tell me otherwise."
<Lucian> "Well alright, lead the way."
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<zoofmeister> You two get her out of the back of the humvee with minimal resistance.  She lets you lead her inside without issue.  Once in, you see that Theo and Jackie have pushed all the furniture in the lobby against the walls, to make a lot of room in this main tavern area.
<zoofmeister> They both looked pretty roughed up, with cuts, bruises and bandages.  Jackie's holding what you immediately recognize as a Snag Ball, and Theo's got a light bluish Poke ball that you recall seeing before.  Elan's ball.  The one Rayleigh found.
»» Lucian looks uncomfortable as they enter, "Are you suuure you need my help?"
<zoofmeister> Jackie: "Okay, so, what do we do exactly?" Theo: "Let the bloody thing out, snap the ball in half, then we SHOULD be able to recall it with the original." Jackie: "And if that doesn't work?" Theo shrugs and looks over to the three of you.  "'Ello, might want to stand back for a tic."
<Lucian> "Hey..."
<Lucian> "So what's goin' on here?"
<zoofmeister> They do exactly what Theo suggested.  Jackie triggers the release mechanism on the ball, letting out the Geist (which starts charging at the two of them as soon as it manifests from the energy release).  She snaps the ball in half with her bare hands, and Theo recalls the Geist with the original.  Despite this only taking like 5 seconds to unfold, half the room is already covered in a layer of frost.
<zoofmeister> The two of them collapse into the nearest chairs, like they've been awake for years, and Theo finally answers you.  He crocks a fist and thumb at a couch by the fireplace.  "Just have her sit down there, n' give us a moment."
»» Lucian decides not to question it and takes M2 by the shoulders and walks her over to a couch.
<zoofmeister> Jackie leans forward in her chair, rubbing her hands together and looking you in the eyes.  Her expression's a pained one.  "The mafia attacked Madrona, the hospital.  I'm sorry, they took her.  We were too late."
<Lucian> "...what do you mean?"
<Lucian> "Just say it."
<zoofmeister> Jackie takes a deep breath, and looks down.  "They struck when Kaikan attacked Mt. Starfall.  It was perfectly planned.  They knocked out power in the entire city.  Hit with a pincer attack with gunmen - psionic and aura using mafia soldiers - coming in the front, and an explosion in the middle of the facility letting others in from the outside."
»» Lucian pinches the bridge of his nose and takes in a breath, expelling it only when he storms across the room to kick at the wall. "What the FUCK!? She was supposed to be safe where she was being held."
<zoofmeister> "They let her go -" she points at M2 - "along with that letting that THING loose-" she points at the Pokeball that Theo is holding. "To cause a bigger distraction.  They extracted Sue Daria, marched her right out the front door, into a van, and drove off."
<zoofmeister> Jackie just continues to look down at the floor, defeated.  Theo speaks up. "Aye, we thought so too.  They struck at a bit TOO perfect of a time - most the Region's best were out here.  Guessin' they had a thumb on matters.  That or someone tipped em off."
»» Lucian snaps back to M2, "...you. YOU-" He raises and clenches his fist and tries to calm himself down, "You were talking to her. I know, she told me the two of you were sharing stories. What happened back then?"
<Lucian> there*
<Lucian> "There was only a wall between you two. You must know or have heard something."
<zoofmeister> "Ah?  That might explain why she's been so damned obedient," Theo says.  M2 looks at Doyle, looks down at the gag, and jerks her neck.
<zoofmeister> Doyle looks to Theo for a confirmation.  Theo: "Sure, ungag her."  Doyle does just that.
»» Lucian takes it off himself.
<Lucian> nvm
<zoofmeister> M2 glares at you warily, but speaks.  Her voice is eerily singsongy.  "Another of our sisters broke the door - S13, younger than I.  Scary, metalman was with her.  He and Sue spoke, S13 gave me the ghost.  Told me to clear the path ahead, they would follow, escape together..."
<zoofmeister> "...They never came, tricke me," murmurs.
<zoofmeister> Theo interjects: "Partially her fault, to be fair," he points at Jackie.  "There's a reason we hauled ass out here, though - without even stoppin to drop these two off somewhere else."  Theo looks over to Jackie, "Go on, give em' the thing."
»» Lucian frowns and remarks drily, "Yeah, they've got a habit of doing that..."
<zoofmeister> Jackie looks up, and takes a 3ds out from her jacket pocket.  "Sue was already gone - probably with this S13 chick - by the time I got there...but Nelso- guess you know him by Highlight, was sticking around by her room."
<Lucian> "...and?"
<zoofmeister> "We fought, he kicked my ass, told me to give this back to you.  And you'd need one of these." She kicks over a Santalune box - looks like its unopened, just expressed here. Addressed to Benedict's Aides.
<zoofmeister> "He's got this implant that lets him...plug into things, back of his neck, when I first got there, he was plugged into that," Jackie adds.  Roll me Medical Edu
»» Lucian takes the 3DS and box from her and stares at the two things intensely.
<Lucian> 6d6+2 AP Sci Edu
<CritSenpai> AP Sci Edu: 26 [6d6=1,3,5,6,6,3]
<zoofmeister> Between your looking into him in the past, and his implants, and your own knowledge, you know she's talking about a datalink.  It lets the person its installed on connect directly to a device, just like a usb cord to the brain. It's got a shit ton of potential applications and use cases.
<Lucian> "Got it..."
<zoofmeister> Theo's gotten up at this point to make a phone call, Doyle's staring very warily at M2, and Jackie is just looking at you like she hopes you got an idea what the hell this is about.
<zoofmeister> "This ain't Se7en by the way, we Benedict ordered that," she gazes at the box.  "It's a VR headset."
<Lucian> "...the only thing I can trust Highlight on is how much he cares about Sue. If he left me these things they're going to be important to finding her...I hope."
<Lucian> "Was there anything else? Or just these two things."
<zoofmeister> Jackie shakes her head.  "I've known that guy since before the Daria's turned him into a walking biology experiment, and he's never been subtle.  Whatever he stuck around there for, must be on that device."
<zoofmeister> "Return that to its owner, and tell them they'd need a VR headset.  He didn't even say whose it was, she was the one that told us that," Jackie points at M2.
<Lucian> "Then I guess I should get to it."
<Lucian> "...do you mind making some space for me?"
<zoofmeister> Well, they already shoved most the furniture out of the way in the room, but she shrugs and moves more of it out the way. :P
<Lucian> I meant getting away from his arm space lol
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»» Lucian opens up the box and flips open the 3DS to set things up.
<zoofmeister> When you turn on the 3DS, you notice a new program in front of the game slot.  It's button is just a bunch of coconuts, no text.
»» Lucian groans but taps on the icon anyway, "Ugh."
<zoofmeister> The button actually gives you some instructions on how to set this up, in the form of 8 bit, white text on a black background.  There's a little Porygon cursor flying around.  You know this isn't a normal feature 3DS's supported, after all.
»» Lucian follows whatever directions there are and even sends out Dickbutt in case he needs more hands on support.
<zoofmeister> Once its actually started, and the VR headset flares to life, its like you're looking out someone else's eyes...doesn't look like a game as much as a video feed.  You're a port in a city.  And can see the Space Needle nearby, so you know you're in Dahlia.  "Slammo! This thing working?  What? It's already recording??? Well fuck."  The voice is Highlight's.  "Hooooooly shit kid, you had an analogue that device that old?
<zoofmeister> And gave it to her?  I could fucking kiss ya, you made this so much easier."
<Lucian> "Please don't."
<zoofmeister> "This whole stupid internet of THINGS, and every god damn microwave, bike, cucumber, whatever, having cellular and wifi capability is such a pain.  Mario's got his teeth in fucking every ISP there is in this area, and can snoop all he wants.  Fuck, to record this I had to put make a hat into a faraday cage."
<zoofmeister> You can move around and look around, looks like you're by the shore, and the "beach" in Dahlia.  Dahlia doesn't really have touristy beaches, cause the water never really gets warm enough, but there is sand!
<zoofmeister> "Well, before we get to the good stuff, I gotta do a few security checks to make sure I got the right person.  So!" A hand points out from your peripherals to a big pile of shattered beer bottles, right next to a trashcan bonfire.  There's various colors of glass.  "Which one of these is the color of the dress Sue was wearin' the night you introduced her to your folks?"
»» Lucian looks over at the pile of beer bottles. "You couldn't, I don't know, given me a color swatch or something....?"
<zoofmeister> "Now I know you're bitchin' about the methodology here - wish I could hear ya, but this is a little app my Porygon Slammo! is hackin' out, so I'm not actually able to give a smart ass comeback to your every complaint."
»» Lucian picks up a green beer bottle. "What now?"
<zoofmeister> "Well fuck you DO remember that, that or you're a lucky guesser, or possibly not Lucian.  Let's take a stroll down the beach."
»» Lucian tosses the bottle at the projection of Highlight.
<zoofmeister> Well, to be clear, Lucian, you ARE highlight here
<zoofmeister> You're looking out his first person perspective
<Lucian> Is the voice coming out direction where Lucian is?
<zoofmeister> It's just coming out of the speakers in the VR headset with no directional biase - its like hearing yourself talk, I guess?
<Lucian> Okay
<zoofmeister> "You might be wonderin' how I know that, it ain't cause I was there, I ain't that much a creeper.  It's cause Snapchat helped her pick it.  I don't think those two are that close, but Sue seems to think she's like, a new bodyguard for her or something."
<zoofmeister> You got control to walk around here, he's not walking for ya
»» Lucian walks down the beach but doesn't really take in much of the surroundings, his attention is entirely on the voice.
<zoofmeister> You walk by a few homeless people under a pier, injecting themselves with syringes.  "Dahlia's finest, right here. Heh.  It's all a fuckin' joke, kid."  As you walk past that, "Reminds me of that night in Snowberry, where you, Snappy and I were drinkin' and I did my whole spiel."
<zoofmeister> "I always thought it was weird, how close she got clingy with ya.  That girl is aloof as a Glaceon.  Lot about her I still don't get, or why Mario thrust her on me, so I kept tabs on her own bullshit."
<zoofmeister> Your "hand" reaches out and points at a box under the pier.  "Go check that out."
»» Lucian does just that, setting the box on a bench so he can get a better look at whatever is inside
<zoofmeister> The contents include: A bag big bag of weed, a bunch of condoms, a Pokeball, a gun, a stereotypical robber mask, a bottle of Ratatta poison, poker chips, a big wad of cash, and a coconut.
<zoofmeister> "She asked you to do something, and offered a reward.  Pick the items out that relate to it."
<Lucian> I think it was the Pokeball and cash?
<zoofmeister> Yup, when you pick them up, he speaks. "What, not taking the rubbers?  Well, I guess you didn't need to make a deal for that - girl woulda dropped her panties for ya for free," he laughs at his own joke.
<zoofmeister> "Let's keep walkin', down the beach some more is the final quizzo question."
»» Lucian frowns at the light-hearted jabs during this otherwise tense time. Was this what /he/ sounded like to other people?
<Lucian> Is Dickbutt in here too or just Lucian?
<zoofmeister> Dickbutt is floating around in VR space, yes.
<Lucian> "Dickbutt, am I as douchey as this too?"
<zoofmeister> Dickbutt grins and makes a thumbs up with one of his lightning-arms
<Lucian> "Ugh..."
»» Lucian continues on with the 'game' set up my Highlight.
<zoofmeister> "Gonna tell you a secret, kid.  Just you and me.  I just recently realized how much I too am being fucked with too.  That facility in Hardhack, where you found Sue?  Yeah, literally didn't even see the fucking shrine, just nothing there.  My god damn cognition has been tampered with, at some point."
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<zoofmeister> "Where that Froslass came from after you burnt the deal with Snapchat?  No idea.  Why her sword glows like its out of a fantasy movie?  Got nothin'.  Your buddy Night Shade sent me some texts where I straight up couldn't read some of the words, just fucking blanked out where they were."
<zoofmeister> He pauses in front a tent that's been propped up on the beach.  Isn't one a homeless person owns, looks brand new...and looks a lot like the tent Sue had when you first met her. "I also know a secret of YOURS, one you'd probably wanna take to the grave.  But its just between you and me, eh?  You know what you did, don't ya?"
»» Lucian frowns but opens the tent up regardless, "Is there a point to this? I know you aren't responding to me real time."
<zoofmeister> "...Well, if its really you, you'd know where this is goin'.  But maybe you're not in the position to recreate it here."
<zoofmeister> *POOF* a piece of paper starts floating in front of you, with a pen.  The paper reads. "What did you do?"
»» Lucian groans but writes the answer down, "You're going to be able to access this virtual paper in the real world I just know it, but if it means helping Sue..."
<zoofmeister> "Yup.  That does it - I didn't exactly trust you that first day, so I bugged Sue's tent when I went to fetch a beer.  Didn't really care if you two snogged and got touchy feely, but any further than that and woulda been hell to pay.  What you did instead, HAH!"
<zoofmeister> "I mean it though - not snitchin' on that.  Take a look at the skyline."
»» Lucian looks up. Has the scene changed again?
<zoofmeister> There's now a flag mounted on the top of the Space Needle.  It's got coconuts on it.  "I have something you want, hell something you probably NEED.  Meet here, after midnight.  No textin' or callin' about this or you'll blow the whole thing to SHIT."
<zoofmeister> "Doesn't matter which day, we'll be around."
<zoofmeister> Bzzzt, the "game" ends. Screen goes black.
»» Lucian immediately checks his watch.
»» Lucian tears off the headset and checks his watch*
<zoofmeister> It's only like 6 PM.
»» Lucian looks at Theo and Jackie, "Where are the others?"
<zoofmeister> By now the inn room has...mostly been put back together as normal.  And you can hear the others approaching from the onsen.  At some point, someone let Elan out of the ball and took the straight jacket off M2, but the two of them are just chillin on the couch.
<zoofmeister> You ask that just as the rest of the PC's walk in! We shall resume Sunday :3