+ The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to You +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE!
Where: EVERYWHERE!
When: Saturday, May 19th - Wednesday, May 23rd.
Rating: PG-13, warn if you're gonna go higher!
Summary: A catch-all for the Kyln / Sierra Madre event!
The Story:

For the duration of this event, the entire mansion will be part space jail, part apocalyptic wasteland desert with an abandoned hotel/casino. On the third day an escape route not previously discovered in the Kyln appears and breakouts can be planned...

...Only for everyone to find themselves walking through a large glass prison toward the toxic gas filled wasteland of a desert, the Sierra Madre. Does the prison look better than the toxic cloud outside? If you're stuck in the prison after dark beyond day 3, you'll be forced into and locked in your cell for the night. But at least locked away, nothing from the outside can hurt you. If you try to brave the actual elements in the desert it might be a little hard to breathe. The air has pockets of toxic gas and even a few seconds of exposure could prove deadly. And watch out for the Ghost People.

Inside the abandoned hotel/casino you'll find shelter from the gas and ghosts, but beware the holograms that are 50/50 with their attitude. Prison beatings, a beating from the holograms, which one Would You Rather? And whatever you do, don't try on the collars lying around unless you like to explode. Literally.

[ This is a catch-all for all your prison/desert needs! Please mark your threads clearly in the subject line with your character's name and either a cell number or just a location if you didn't feel like randomizing it or you're making a top level for a public place (like the dining hall or wandering the hotel/casino). Here's the plot post if you need it!

Have fun! ]

Comments

ii.

[mucked]

-- This is you, isn't it?

[ nevermind that rocket appears deep in the throes of recollection. nevermind that 'somewhere near the showers' is a miserable place to hold a conversation. nevermind a lot of things, frankly, that probably should have better informed her choice to approach and speak.

except these are strange circumstances and there is camaraderie, here, in not knowing what they've forgotten but knowing that they've forgotten it together. ]

Because I felt like shite when I woke up. [ one word for it. ] And no one else from home has told me any stores that quite fit with this particular brand of awful.

[ space-prison. honestly. ]

[beatupgrass]

Now you know how I feel every time one of you has some craziness I can't place. [Rocket growls so low that his shoulders tense as he rips apart another battery casing, unable to trigger an exact memory of the precise inner components he needs. At the very least, he is going to have a sizable collection of explosives.]

It's the Kyln. The most maximum security prison in the galaxy. I escaped it in less than 24 hours. I had a plan within thirty minutes.

[And given how annoyed he gets the more he talks about it, that's clearly the issue here.]

[mucked]

Oi, now, [ she protests -- but only mildly, ] it was the same ruddy thing for me last time. The one with all the gravitational anomalies. Wasn't a lick of familiar to me.

[ but it hardly matters, doesn't it? she and rocket have already staked their places as outsiders: either by time or by distance. splitting hairs about it now won't do either of them any good.

so -- and in part because she's bearing witness to his frustration -- she relents. ]

Something in your mood tells me it won't be such a simple feat this time 'round. [ she stands with her hands on her hips. the prison uniform isn't flattering, but she doesn't seem to care. ] What's the obstacle?

[ it doesn't occur to her it might be the word. ]

[beatupgrass]

[She's right and he really should be nicer- he's just impatient because of course he'd get an event and he can't even make himself look smarter than everyone. The Kyln has more positive memories than it does negative ones for him, but it's also hard to be here without his family- the ones he met here.

He needs a lot more than just a battery, but he can't say that.]

I need a specific type of battery. The whole krutackin' plan revolved around it. [He gestures to his pile of collected batteries.] D'you how, on average, how many different batteries are in a place like this?

[mucked]

I don't. [ she owns her ignorance. why shouldn't she? there's no reason she should know how many batteries populate a space prison. the whole concept of batteries, of how far they've come from how she knows them, could fill a rather niche book.

but then again, there's his pile. peggy crouches and picks one up. curious. ] But I imagine you can provide something of a ballpark figure.

[ she still doesn't quite realize what the problem is. surely, it'll come to her in a moment. ]

[beatupgrass]

A lot. [He gestures again, this time grander.] And it ain't a single one of these, which were just the ones that were easy to steal. And the bitch of it is it's right on the tip of my tongue.

[He mimes strangling with his hands and growls.] I can't get out of this place without it.

[mucked]

Christ. [ she breathes a bit of salty language of her own -- drawing a hand across her chin as she studies one of the considerably less useful batteries. ] And that's what you've forgotten, is it?

[ a battery. a particular battery. maybe the word he's missing is something that describes it, or its function, peggy can't be certain -- but she's heard enough to suss the circumstances. ]

Helluva sticky wicket. [ ... ] Is the battery all you need?

[beatupgrass]

I need an armband from one of the guards, too, but that might be risky unless you know how to stash a body.

[He runs his hands over the fur of his face, tugging down his eyelids.] And then maybe, just maybe, I can try every combination of battery there is and get us out probably about a second before the event ends.

[mucked]

-- What's stashing a body got to do with taking an armband?

[ she doesn't understand why what should be (to her mind) a simple theft might require quite so much violence. but she asks the question with an open mind, as someone keen to understand the pitfalls rather than one who's trying to poke holes. ]

[beatupgrass]

They're internally wired. [He finally turns around just enough to give her the full weight of his very serious stare and taps his arm.]

He'll survive it, but the yellin' and the screamin' might make things iffy for us.

[mucked]

-- Christ.

[ peggy is far from sympathetic towards the guards. after all, they've proven themselves to be massive knobheads already. beyond that -- she's not even certain they count as real people given the nature of wonderland's events. constructs, all of them, and yet something very human in her still tries to figure out how rocket's goal might be accomplished without too much unnecessary goring.

she tells herself it's for the sake of staying stealthy. ]

Got to love a job that comes with perks. [ the sarcasm coats her words like marmite -- bitter, and certainly not to everyone's taste. ] Don't tell me they have it done willingly.

[ careful where you step, now, carter. ]

[beatupgrass]

[Yeah, that's a landmine waiting to happen. Rocket's ears flick down slightly, his face twisting into an animal grimace that looks more like the beginning of a snarl.]

People don't typically get augmentations like that unless it's by choice. The Nova Corpsmen who take this job are a special kind of nasty and they're in it for the long haul. What's a little mutilation for a job that lets 'em do whatever they want basically?

[mucked]

[ reading and interpreting body language is something of an art even when your conversational partner shares your species. even so, there's no mistaking the prickle peggy finds in the look rocket gives her. she hesitates -- visibly -- and she betrays a look of her own: quiet calculation, wondering where she went wrong. ]

It takes a special sort of someone, doesn't it. [ but now her tone is measured. careful. ] What are the chances that getting an armband will actually make a difference this time around?

[ because the price has to be weighed, doesn't it? the trouble versus the potential gain. events are slippery things. ]

[beatupgrass]

They control the ins and outs of the whole place. Any plan anyone could have would start there. [He relaxes a bit, though he's still on guard, waiting for the topic to come up again.] You'd still need somethin' to wire it to since they're bio-electrical, and that's where the battery comes in.

[mucked]

The battery you can't remember.

[ and so they come full circle! peggy huffs. ]

Why won't any other battery suffice? Or did Wonderland steal that from you, too?

[beatupgrass]

It's the most powerful one in the prison. It'd have to be to work as well as a body's natural neurotransmitters, on top of being powerful enough to hack the entire grid. Anything else and it'd just short out.

[mucked]

[ peg rubs at the the back of her neck -- fussing briefly over the straight hair falling over her shoulders. her characteristic curls aren't natural ones, it seems, and there's no point in putting in the effort while they're in a prison. ]

Perhaps we can work backwards.

[ she puffs out a breath. she thinks. ]

What's in here, I wonder, that would drain the most power just to function? We could start looking there.

[beatupgrass]

After the life support? The watchtower, probably. [He scratches underneath his neck.] It's where I gotta break into, so draining all the power from that would negate the plan though. Um... maybe the main security systems.

[mucked]

[ life support can't be compromised. peggy understands that much, at least, if only due to explanations given to her by someone else. besides! the name makes it rather self explanatory, doesn't it? life support. ]

Alright. It's a start. [ her attention drifts down the hallway. she's itching to do something -- that much is obvious. ] Although I imagine the security systems aren't going to be all that accessible to inmates like us.

[beatupgrass]

We gotta get the battery last, I know that much. [He thunks a tiny fist against his forehead, still racking his brain.] I remember Groot yanked it out too early and threw the whole place into chaos.