<> <> <> (FUCKER.) <> <> Well done, Kat! * Katherine chuckles grimly. "Second nature by now, Ian." She stretches, then eyes her green nails. "Just glad it wasn't Gyor'carl." You seemed to be able to use that suit pretty well. * Katherine snaps, "Yes I can." After a second, she adds in a more calm tone. "For a reason I cannot fathom, it actually plugs into my TCM jack." * Ian raises an eyebrow. < Well, it's not like TCM existed 25 years ago, right? Telling you. Sometimes, nanites are downright creepy. * Fitzroy nods, "got that right." * Ian nods. "Hmm, looks like we're almost there." <> * Katherine has a frown on her face, but manages to bow back anyway. * Katherine mutters to herself, "Just keep her name out of it, lizards." <> <<... into a huge room! Steam, clockwork, analog, digital, melded together into a giant chromed egg-shape.>> * Ian looks around eagerly. Shiny! *_* (All you players have been here before, I'm skimping on desc.) * Katherine frowns. Deeply. And mutters, "Fucking Egg." <> "They grow up so fast. I bet your mother'd be proud." * Katherine rubs her shoulder and winces, then yells at the egg, "Oh, shut up. I'm telling you, Egg, I'm blaming you for this scar. This could have been over a day ago." "You'd never have believed I was telling the truth, then." * Katherine looks at him oddly. * Ian blinks, and bows to the Egg. "Pleased to meet you." "Yeah, whatever. Your last book sucked, by the way." * Katherine smirks. "Wow. Is Ronnie reading you bedtime stories, now?" * Ian blinks, and frowns a bit. "...was it the pacing? I was a little worried about that." <> "God, you don't even take insults well. I want the last ones back." * Fitzroy grins. * Ian grins. "Sorry." * Katherine rolls her eyes and says, "They're busy." She thumbs at Roy. "This is Roy. You probably don't know him unless Ronnie's been trying to keep you up to date, despite going incommunicado." "Shit. Like I want to talk to her now." * Katherine frowns. "Getting vulgar in your old age?' "Depressed." "You're here to figure out why I stopped talking, right?" * Ian nods. "To put it bluntly, yes." * Katherine nods. "And a history lesson, too, but that's Ian's game." She smirks. "I'm just going to be amused that you're in a bad mood too." "I stopped talking because I was depressed. Go home." About what though? Can we help? Depressed...? * Katherine gets a frown again but doesn't speak up. Yet. "You're doing a swell job of helping here, what with the problem back on Mars and all." * Katherine rubs her temples. "We're here to ask you about the damn aliens, you ovoid bastard. Trust me, I'd much rather be on Mars." "Yeah, the aliens. What the hell would I know about them, anyway?" * Katherine looks over at Ian. "Fill the poor thing in." Okay. To make a long, frustrating story short, Vernon sent us to ancient Sleythin, or what looked like it; and we ended up fighting things that looked very much like Sleythin who were possessed by Old Ones. I don't know how close that is to real history, but it seems strange. "... well, fuck. That's more than I'd hoped we'd have to go into." Could you tell us about it? "If I say no, will you go home?" * Ian looks at Kat. "I think that's a 'no.'" * Katherine smirks thinly. "Yeah, but I might relieve a little of your depression with some holes in your damn skin." The smirk fades and now she's just angry. "We've got people DYING on Mars, you fucking AI prick, so snap the fuck out of the self pity and avoidance crap! If I have to do it, so do you." "How pissed would you be if the Cube had released a nanoplague to remove a collective memory?" ... * Katherine narrows her eyes. * Fitzroy frowns. Pretty fucking pissed, Eggy. *smirk* Then again, you're talking to someone who spent half her life wanting to dunk half her brain in acid, so I can relate. "Yeah, thought so. Guess who and what, and you get to compete for bigger fucking prizes." * Katherine sighs and throws up her hands. "I don't think we need to say it. But we do need to know what you made 'em forget." "Go on, guess. I've got all millenia." * Katherine gestures at Roy and Ian. "I already played my game for the day." Are you saying that the Cube made the Sleythin forget about an entire Old One insurgency? (Oh, Ian LOSES. (Ian has CONTRACTS. >_<) "No. _I_ did. Shit, the Cube didn't know a self-replicator from a piezoelectric-charging." * Katherine smirks and nods slightly at the Egg. "I fucked over my people hardcore because they didn't need to remember that shit. Hell, they'd already mostly forgotten. Still, my fucking guilt." "So I'm depressed, because it's back and I got rid of almost everything from then, including the research they did later. You know, the shit to help?" Do you remember any of it? "I wasn't fucking _there_.' * Katherine blinks and then says, "Ah. Ah fuck. Now I get it." "Fuck, I'm gonna keep some shit on dimensional raiders around? Infinite places, who says they're gonna hit this one again?" ...we're screwed, aren't we? * Katherine shakes her head. "The Sleythin made it out, right? There's got to be a way." "They got the light end of it. Killed all the hosts before they could burrow through proper. No way you can do that in time, and no way your Queen'd go for that shit." * Katherine exhales tiredly. "We've got the rings, at least. It's a race of time." "You've got no accurate data on their numbers and you're hesitant to kill them. You're gonna lose." There's no way other than destroying all the hosts? "Told you, I don't have the data." * Katherine rolls her eyes. "And nobody else does? Didn't write it down on a stone slab or anything?" What's to stop them from finding more hosts, anyway? "God damn it, I don't have the data! There are seven Sleythin. Out god knows where. These people lived and slept and breathed and were Old Ones. All the data we had, they knew. You want answers, go find them and stop fucking around with me." What, did you pull a Last Sleythin on them? "They were smart and they had nanoconstructors. They probably did something after I exiled them." * Katherine rubs her temples. "Christ." "Thousand or so years ago, though." * Katherine mutters. "Do you at least know if they left the planet? God." "Yeah. I made them leave. They went somewhere we had a Bowl to." So, we at least have some starting points. "... or was it two thousand?" ... old age indeed. Christ, Egg. "Look, I'm depressed and tired." * Katherine looks over at Roy and Ian, then says, "Yeah, yeah. Do you remember anything about the old Bowls? So we can get out of your hair and leave you to your moping?" "Several hundred of them. Gonna have to narrow it down." <> * Katherine lookks between Roy and Ian again. "Sounds like fuu. You two wanna get the list from him or... uh, hatever?" (Hatever!) (Don't make me smash your flippers.) Sure. Hook me up, Eggy. We'll take the whole list. * Ian sighs. "Well, haven't played Where in the Universe is Sleythin Sandiego in a while." (...) (Death. Painful death.) (It's finals. Death would be preferrable.) "I can help. They had to go someplace hospitable. Hadn't made nanosuits yet." <> (... He picked it up from the Cube. MURDER.) * Katherine mutters and looks impatient. <> "The pruned list. Twenty or so locations." * Katherine nods, and after a second of not seeming indecision, says, "Uh. Thanks, Egg. If Ronnie ever figures out how to simulate alcohol, I'll remind her to ring you up." <> "o/` Fuck off, fuck off, we're all going to die... o/`" * Ian nods. "Thank you. Things may be bad, but this could make the difference." <> "Right. Can you go now?" Sure. *slight smirk* Should we send back an exiled Sleythin or two to you just in case? "God, no." * Fitzroy grins at that, then says "Thanks for cutting the list down for us." * Katherine chuckles. "Yeah. And, uh, nice meeting you, hope to never see you again." * Katherine goes for the walking out. "Leave me to my moping." * Ian shrugs, and follows Kat. "We really do appreciate it. And if we manage to save everyone's lives, will you promise to cheer up?" * Katherine snorts. "No." (I'm Marvin now. Go away.) (Snerk. Yes.) <> <> (Well, the question mentally arises, 'Would the Sleyhin still have these bowls?') (I should haxor him so he sees smiley faces everywhere. I'm sure that'll help!) (Good question. There's no telling if any of them are still active.) (Mutter. So it's basically a random crapshoot on old unused bowls.) (Sounds like it's ATC time, then.) (We can always spend more money and come back!) <> "That didn't take too lo... Kat? What the hell is that you're wearing?" * Katherine smirks. "A prototype of a Sleythin nanosuit. You should pay them. It was actually decently protected for once." She rubs her shoulder. "Get someone to lead me a goddamn nanopak, Ronnie. Roy? Ian? Fill her in." (lead me to.) <> "I can't send you anywhere. God. There's a first aid kit on the wall." <> The Egg is depressed because he made the Sleythin forget the Old One insurrection - which did happen. The data on the research they did, after managing to find and kill the hosts early, is now lost. What we do have is information on several banished Sleythin who were once possessed, and some leads on where we might find them. We've got a list of old bodyslide bowls. <> "Well, fuck." * Katherine goes to the FAK and gets to making her shoulder and hand not feel like they got heavily damaged. There's about twenty of them. Yeah, that was about my reaction, lover. "Well, we can get techs working on that. For now, I need you guys to head to TC. Worried about the others, even though they got Rochelle's mom out safely." <> "After a rest." * Katherine shakes her head. "I'm fresh. The Sleythin fighting champ barely layed a tail on me. Just wanted to get sosmething on the shoulder." TC...well, we really need them back, don't we? <> "TC's where it's happening. The highest concentration of non-crazy possessed, the biggest movements, the dimensional fluctuations." "We're trying to lock down what we can ... the Europa Team is moving there as soon as we can get them." * Katherine walks over to Ronnie and grins. "Hey, did you know the suit have customizable colors? No need to paint it like--aw hell." Frown! Woo Kat. * Katherine bites her lip until it bleeds then mutters, "Well, fuck. No time to waste. You search for Sleythin, we'll help stem the tide." She looks over at Roy and Ian. "Well, I'll stem the tide. I still think you two are fucking nuts." And you'd be right, at least in my case. But if we don't do this, we're all dead anyway, right? Hey, I never said I wanted to be physically stemming the tide. I'll help if I can though. * Katherine frowns then shakes her head with a small chuckle. "Mindless optimism. God save me from idealists." She looks to Ronnie. "Well? Get the lovely Luanne in here and get us going." <> "You're all fucking crazy and I love you all. I'd get fucking drunk with you if I could." After we're done saving the world, we should work on that. It can't be all that difficult. "Yeah, well." <> "You rang, boss?" <> "Time to be the bus, Lu. TC Express. Make it the same alley." <> "I don't know where they were going. They didn't say. The city's in bad shape, though... hope you can find them." * Katherine mutters to herself, "Get me within 20 feet of Thren and we're golden." * Katherine then says more clearly, "We're going to need to get in contact with you when you figure out what's with the Sleythin. And... the Europa Team, although I imagine they'll be fucking obvious." <> "All aboard." <> "Be CAREFUL. There's not much data about the place. We'll be in touch - use your suit comms." * Katherine taps her head. "I'm the only one with a suit comm." Beat. "If they know I have this, they'll probably know how to get in contact anyway." "Probably." (do we have our new suits with us, or anything?) (... new suits? ^^;) (I have a backpack on. That's my new suit.) (Ian's New Camera. *ka-chack*) (Cham mentioned new suits at one point.) (I mentioned the possibility. You've got the CP, and you can cash in any old suit CP to buy the new one.) (Ah, alright. So, no.) * Katherine stretches. "Gotta say. Glad these things have a little storage space." She looks to Luanne and smiles. "So, beautiful, ya ready?" <> "Yeah. Grab on." * Katherine grabs hold and smirks. "Don't worry about my ex." She nods to Ronnie. "She's a real stiff." (Let's move it, geekables.) * Ian grabs hold. Polite-like. * Fitzroy grabs on for teleporting. <> * Katherine takes a deep breath and looks up at the dark sky. "Welcome to TC," she says quietly. "We hope you stay alive for a few minutes." <> "They turned left. Some crazy guy was leading." * Katherine chuckles and checks her guns. "Sounds like everyone here. You'll have to be more specific." * Ian checks his guns as well. He's still wearing his diplomat suit, so the effect is very Reservoir Penguins. "20s, short hair, brown eyes. Nice butt." (will leave search till tomorrow.) (Last poses.) * Katherine smirks. "Probably Roch's brother, Zak." Beat. "Butt cinched it. It'll be fun to see his ass again." She waves to Luanne. "You're probably going to end up searching for Sleythin, so have fun." Good luck, and here goes nothing... <> "Just what I needed. Take care, guys." <> <>