goneawaymod: (mod icon)
Piper 90: Mods ([personal profile] goneawaymod) wrote in [community profile] goneawayworld2020-05-17 03:11 am

SHIFTING THE PARADIGM - ADVERSE RIG EVENT


SHIFTING THE PARADIGM


PLOT DESCRIPTION
To say that the New Hires are unlucky is something of an understatement. After all, they're here, aren't they? They were the unlucky ones swept out of their worlds, left unconscious for Jorgmund to find, "hired," implanted with shock collars. They were unlucky enough to get caught, and now they're being mega, double, septuple screwed by a casual backhand of fate.

The rig doesn't often face a full breach. It does today.

The announcements start with a tinny warning: "RED ALERT: SEVERE STUFF STORM COALESCING OFF STARBOARD SIDE. PREPARE FOR RIG TO COME TO FULL STOP."

Anyone near windows can see it on the side facing the Wilds, a roiling, thundering mass of gray clouds that look a little more liquid than normal clouds. Lightning crackles, illuminating it from within but the color of the lightning isn't just white or yellow. Each thundering crackle flashes in a prism of unnatural colors.

The rig comes to a stop. Since it was going so slow, there isn't much of a change in momentum but they can feel it in the vibration of the braking mechanisms and creaking and groaning of tons of metal suddenly facing some minor strain. The storm expands up to the top of the atmosphere, anvil-shaped, flattening against the tropopause.

"RED ALERT: SEVERE STUFF STORM COALESCING STARBOARD SIDE. PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE ADVERSE RIG EVENT. SHELTER IN QUARTERS AND OTHER SHIELDED AREAS. CHILD CARE STAFF, RELOCATE YOUR CHARGES TO NEAREST SHIELDED BUNKER. ALL STAFF, REPORT ANY UNREALITY EVENTS TO RIG COMMAND FROM THE NEAREST ALARM PHONE, AND FIND SHELTER UNTIL SECURITY TEAM IS DEPLOYED."

The Stuff storm slams into the rig, making it sway just slightly. The wind pouring through the gaps in the rig structure howls in a way that sounds like inhuman screams. Thanks to the Stuff visibility drops to a very gray 0%.

A prerecorded message now starts playing. Celeste Lillian, with her soothing voice, speaking mantras:

"Staff members and couriers of hope, in this stressful time, I remind you to pause, take a moment, and breathe so deeply your lungs cannot hold any more of our Mother Earth's air. Breathe in, breathe out. The act of breathing is so precious because it's both necessary and voluntary. It is a gift you give yourself. Value yourself enough to give yourself the gift of a full, honest, complete breath."

Super helpful, right?

"Clear your minds, let go of any thoughts. Remember: 'The ocean changes. I can float.'"

But all hell breaks loose and mantras won't do a thing to stop it. The rig's many ventilation shafts have filters and metal covers to help shield against stuff, but they aren't replaced as often as they should be. Inspections are thorough but some material resources are scarce.

Stuff breaks through the covers and ventilation filters, sweeps through the rig, and reality gets less real.

"RED ALERT: FULL BREACH. RED ALERT: FULL BREACH. RED ALERT: FULL BREACH..."

SCENARIO #1 - PRODUCTIVITY

The rig's staff instantly increases by several orders of magnitude. The new employees don't talk and for the most part they don't pay attention to anyone else. They mill through the hallways, gesturing to each other as if they're colleagues walking and talking about the last meeting as they move through the halls.

Most of them are in full professional dress, suits and ties. But sometimes this dress is from a variety of eras, hearkening back to the idea of business. That means a lot of power suits and shoulder pads, and even some old fashioned bow ties, top hats, and glittering gold pocketwatch chains. Here and there, sometimes there's even a glimpse of someone in older merchant's clothing, flashy in a way that suggests "people send me regular complaints on cuneiform tablets about how I sold them inferior copper ingots." The mystery executives despawn and respawn randomly, phasing in and out of existence. Sometimes two will spawn in the same spot, somehow superimposed, like a glitch in a video game, twitching helplessly until reality goes "whoops!" and phases them back out of existence.

They have no faces, but the way they sometimes randomly turn to face the New Hires, staring them down, body language wary, makes it clear they can somehow see or sense without eyes. They sometimes speak with no mouths but the sounds don't sound like real language, and are always muffled.

New office or meeting room doors start flickering in and out of existence. Each time one appears it draws the nearest New Hires in, warping the metal floor in front of them so every step draws them inexorably inward. Inside, the New Hires find themselves pinned by stares from nonexistent eyes, the drones expectant. Maybe even impatient.

They're late.

Each room has a different scenario that must be satisfied to make the room go away, all of them the subconscious corporate imaginings of rig executives and staff, fears and secret wishes and ambitious aspirations all rolled together. The drones watch the New Hires carefully to make sure they follow "corporate policy" and obey the rules of the scenario, their body language growing more and more aggressive and threatening the more they fight it. They will eventually attack if New Hires don't follow through. There's no such thing as simply reporting someone to HR in their (nonexistent) eyes.

When each scenario is forced to completion by the New Hires playing ball until conditions are satisfied, the drones...dissolve. Trees suddenly sprout through their clothes, then flower. The petals scatter through a sudden breeze that always smells of grass and leaves and wet plants and gentle rains.

Finally free.

PROMPTS
a) resource management
The room has a table and chairs at the front. It's stacked with piles of unsharpened pencils and several electric or manual pencil sharpeners. The table looks out on rows of chairs, filled with faceless drones.

Watching... waiting...

Every time you finish sharpening a pencil there's light applause. It's a big pile of pencils, but at least it's an easy task. The drones don't seem to mind if you talk to break up the monotony.

Like so much of corporate life? Thrilling.

b) flipping through the deck
Have you ever had a nightmare where you had to do an oral test in front of the class that you weren't prepared for? Now imagine one where your teacher and classmates will beat you senseless if you get it wrong.

The slideshow being shown on the smartboard is completely nonsensical. That means the presentation can be just as nonsensical. New Hires can work together to bullshit on any topic, or maybe even just spout total nonsense. Either way, the drones around the conference table occasionally offer light applause and then turn to each other to confab in their nonsense mutterings, before turning back to watch once more.

When the meeting is perceived to be over, the drones stand, lightly clap, and flower.

Sometimes in rooms like this the drones hand over a list of corporate buzzwords that must be included, but they don't seem to care if it's in context.

Buzzwords: Break down the silos, tee it up, paradigm shift, low-hanging fruit, move the needle, run it up the flagpole, on the bleeding edge, synergy, core competency, leverage.

c) on the spot improvisation
Similar to the other presentation rooms except...

Oh, these are actual Jorgmund executives. The door sucked you into a normal meeting that they're cheerfully having despite the Stuff breach. They ask you your opinions on improving rig operations and quality of life and expect you to give honest answers.

But not too honest.

d) you've got some splainin' to do
You're handed hair nets and aprons and glared at until you put them on. The room is a small room in a factory line, with a conveyor belt passing through. The drone that henpecked you into putting on the aprons holds up a chocolate, points to the aperture the chocolates go through at the end of the conveyor belt, and shakes her head furiously. Then she wraps the chocolate in one of the wrappers from a stack of them, points back to the aperture and nods.

The garbled nonsense she "says" doesn't communicate it, but the gestures do: Wrapped chocolates go through, unwrapped ones don't.

Once the New Hires are in place in the conveyor line, the drone smacks a hand twice against the wall and the conveyor belt starts. Fortunately the drone leaves, but now the New Hires have chocolates they have to wrap, and they have to wrap them quickly.

The line is fast but not impossible. It's still a scramble and chocolate might have to be shoved in their hats and clothes to keep the drone from coming back and getting angry. Fortunately, you only have to reach a quote of 100 (as stated by a helpful sign on the wall) before the room spits you back out - sticky and smeared with chocolate - and fades away.

One perk: the chocolate won't disappear, but it's definitely some waxy, cheap stuff and sometimes the filling is a flavor that doesn't really pair well with chocolate.

e) the it crowd
You're led to desk with computers that don't actually work. Only nonsense words and memes (and nonsense memes) show up on the screens. That's fine because the people calling in on the phones are real people on the rig, trying to work despite the Stuff storm because of Company Loyalty™, and that means their problems are real stupid. Even laymen might be able to guide them through it.

They may include questions about the "cupholder," them not realizing the monitor has to be turned on, and issues easily resolved by a restart. Since the calls are real, there's a chance you can use some good old fashioned psychological engineering to gain useful things like usernames an passwords.

The drones don't seem to care if you chat among yourselves between calls, confer with one another (or mock the caller) while the phone is on mute, or whether the advice is even good. They only care that it's given. After a seemingly random quota is met, the drones expire, and room spits you back out and disappears. You'll find you have a small rubber duck in your pocket after you're spit back out again.

The ducks seem to not do anything. Yet.

Players can request the mods come up with idiotic IT issues for their thread.

f) breaking the ice
What is with this place's obsession with never-ending icebreakers?

This time it's less optional. You're are forced to sit in chairs across from each other or in a ring if more than two of you are pulled in. A sign on a small table between you says "2 truths, 1 lie" or "Truth or truth" (The drones seem to have forgotten the dare part). But sometimes a different game (of players' choosing) is displayed. The drones can seemingly sense whenever New Hires are lying and their behavior starts to grow hostile if they do, relaxing when they tell the truth.

The room won't release New Hires until there's been enough growth or honesty equivalent to a life-changing field trip.

g) corporate (property) restructuring
The drones are based on the thoughts of employees and that means the things they dream of doing, like taking a bat and going ham on a printer-copier. When you're pulled into a nonexistent department you're handed baseball bats and pointed at various pieces of office equipment.

The hostile language of the suited drones - also with their own baseball bats - means it would be wise for you to direct your un-vented frustrations at the equipment. All of it.

Or the drones might vent their aggression - with bats - at you. At least smashing shit up with a buddy - old or new - is cathartic? And that baseball bat can maybe be tucked away in a hideyhole somewhere for later use.

h) staring at the camera like...
This room is a small office space with chairs against a wall that has a window with closed blinds. The drones have a professional looking camera set up, pointing at the chairs, like it's some kind of confessional. These drones look more like the crew of a documentary than the other office drones, but have the same blank faces.

They gesture for the New Hires to sit down and hold up a paper that says: "Tell us how you really feel about this place and your fellow employees."

It's not like the drones are Jorgmund employees so maybe it's a safe place to let loose and have a vent session with a fellow New Hire? Interacting with each other during the vent gets nods of approval from the directors and crew. Trashing Jorgmund? Gets even more approval. They're loving that chemistry, guys.

i) wild card
Have a scenario idea that we haven't thought of? Go crazy! Pick some weird corporate scenario to play around with. The Stuff has plenty to work with thanks to the anxieties of the real corporate drones working for Jorgmund, and also because of all the office-related TV and movies they consume.

SCENARIO #2 - VIOLENCE
Some beings created by Stuff are alive and/or sentient. These are the New, but the drones are not New. They don't think and are therefore unable to reify the occasional wisp of stuff around the rig. They're more like programs in the computer of reality or like animations set into motion by the minds animating them.

But even if they're not alive, they are dangerous. They have no brains, no vital organs, no easy way to kill them. Since you need a thick skin to survive corporate life, it's very hard to break through their skin. When this finally occurs they start bleeding odd substances and objects. Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black printer ink. Paper clips. Sometimes it's thumb tacks, which makes walking and fighting very fraught. Go down even once and you might have a butt or back full of them.

No matter how much they bleed, however, they don't deflate or bleed to death. Only total destruction or dismemberment can slow them down. Fortunately, how much it takes to damage them seems to always be magically scaled to what the New Hires in the room are capable of.

That means it's somewhat unwise to fight them but it's at least not impossible. New Hires that want to try will be given their weapons and gear if they manage to make their way down to the armory near the training room. While New Hires will be hunted down later if they don't return most weapons and specific gear items, the chaos means some of the more disposable items - grenades, arrows, throwing knives - might possibly be tucked away somewhere without notice. For later. Excuses can be made about their use or loss, after all.

Players that know ahead of a time they want a fight scenario can always list one of the other scenarios above and note their preference for combat.

Since New Hires will have to go to the armory to get equipped, they can also have some threads with weapons and others without, to suit player needs.

OOC DETAILS

Finite threat: While the doors can open anywhere and suck anyone in, the total number of rooms that need to be eliminated is finite. This means the New Hires clearing them out can eventually shut them all to avoid permanent, perilous addition to the rig's reality. They'll notice the number of doors that flash in and out of existence decreasing the more they go through scenarios.

Opt out: Players may opt out of the plot by having it so New Hires mysteriously find their room door locked and impossible to open, even by force. Or players can make use of the "alternate reality" mechanic, where the characters are shifted temporarily into a calmer, alternate version of the timeline where they have a normal, quiet rig day. That band of possible reality will collapse and fold them back into the main rig reality when the event is over. This means if players want to completely ignore the event and work on their old threads, they don't even have to come up with a handwave. Their character might just be a little confused and need to be filled in when the event is over and reality folds them back in.

NPC request: If you'd like the mods to npc a stupid IT call in a thread, hit the thread below and link to where they should come in.

Questions: If you have questions about the event, want to know what your characters can get away with during the chaos, want to know if your characters can squirrel away secure info or grenades etc., feel free to hit the questions comment below to make your requests.
princesspower: (What a time to be alive)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-18 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I - No College Education Here

Adora has no idea what's worse, the fact that she's stuck in a weird meeting room with a bunch of faceless drones or the fact that they apparently expect her to give some sort of presentation on stuff she doesn't understand. She stares down at the notecards she's been given, then out over the faceless audience. OK, this is kind of weird. Scratch that - entirely weird. She frowns and then squints at the cards and then the slide displayed on the screen behind her.

Well.

She should try something. She clears her throat and gives the worlds most awkward, most uncomfortable smile.

"Well, uh, hello. Uh. My name is Adora and I want to welcome you to-"

She glances down at the cards again, hoping there's anything she can read off.

"...to our sem-ee-nar-rr on Retaining Documentation Retention!"

Yeah, that's the ticket.

"As you can see, I am a... uh... expert in this field. I may have triple may-jorred in First One's history, acting, and - uh - Documentation! Yeah!"

Someone save her.

II - Suit Up

OK, Adora knows how to fight things. The problem is she needs a weapon and to get a weapon she has to go to the armory. She's winding her way through the corridors, trying to find the stupid stairwell that will take her down to the right level. She pauses at an intersection (possibly almost running into someone coming the other direction).

"Oh - hey - do you know where the stairs are? I'm trying to get to the armory-"

Please help.

Wildcard

[ ooc: invent your own! ]
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-05-18 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Saturday grabs Adora's arm and yanks her out of the way, just before she smacks into a cluster of drones taking up the entire hall.

"This way, kid. Adora, right? Headed the same place as you, follow me."

She looks disheveled - sweaty, bruised, tired - but there's a shining sword in her hand and big cheerful grin on her face.
princesspower: (I'll be yours if you'll be mine)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-18 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh! Hey! Saturday - nice sword - are you doing OK? You look a little..."

Exhausted? Exhausted is the word she's looking for.
Edited 2020-05-18 23:18 (UTC)
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-05-18 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"Been a long fucking morning. You find Cats? She all right?" Since she escaped her room, Saturday has been roaming the rig looking for trouble, and finding it. And cacheing away some useful items from the armory, but no one needs to know that. "And you? They have a medical station down by the armory."

Saturday is still walking as she talks, expecting that Adora will keep up. No time to hang around in an attack. She'd caught glimpses of the others, here and there, and no one seemed to be really in over their heads so far. Never hurts to ask, though.
princesspower: (Because forever is in your eyes)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-18 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"The last time I saw her she was fine-" There's a spike of panic for a moment; a jolt of fear. What if Catra isn't alright? Should she go find her? But what about everyone else? She can't just drop everything for Catra. Right? She tries to shake the feeling as she breaks into a slightly faster walk to catch up.

"-and I'm fine. Nothing's hurt me yet. I just need a weapon!"
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-05-19 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
"She's probably all right," Saturday assures her. "Armory isn't far, it's just by the gym. Two flights down, left at the third turn, past the showers. They take your gear when got here, then? Sucks."

A drone reaches for them in passing. Saturday severs its hand at the wrist without breaking stride.

"If you're no good at hand to hand then stick close, I can get us through."
princesspower: (So if you're lonely no need to show me)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-19 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
"I didn't really have gear... except for my broken sword, I guess-" Adora shrugs as she follows in Saturday's wake. She tries to put this all on her mental map of the rig.

"I'm great at hand to hand," she continues with a grin, "Maybe I can show off a little."
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-05-19 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Armory's bound to have somethin' that'll suitcha." Saturday turns the corner almost a dead run. "These things have thick skin an' no vitals, but they got somethin' like bones t'break." Which she promptly demonstrates on a Stuff drone menacing an actual office drone. It wails, mouth like a siren, and collapses to the floor on account it's difficult to stand with your knee kicked the wrong way.

"So go t'fucking town!"

It's half a laugh and half a yelp as the drone's wait attracts a few more. The jorgbot gets away free, and without a word of thanks, either.
princesspower: (I've been alone)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-19 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"They definitely don't want to slow down..." Adora replies with a little grunt and then she gets into it. The first drone comes at her and she dodges under a swinging claw-fist-thing and lands a few body blows, followed by a leg sweep and sends it tumbling to the ground. She darts forward toward the next one with a narrowed gaze and simply judo throws it over her shoulder.

Girl knows how to fight, apparently.

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becauseimacoward: (26)

II

[personal profile] becauseimacoward 2020-05-20 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
"You really should learn where's what."

That was uncalled for, Dojima. Still, he looks a bit grouchy -- facing danger is not really something new for him, just uncommon, but when things aren't going right, that does grind his gears.

This isn't going terribly well, really. One of his fists has speckles of cyan and yellow, but he looks a little bit freaked out. Just a bit. Not everyday something you punch leaks what amounts to CMYK ink, after all.

Dojima sighs, shaking a hand apologetically. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. Just follow me"

Time to go to the armory.
princesspower: (scowl)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-20 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"Look, I'm still new-" Adora starts to object and then just sighs and turns to follow. They can be snippy later. For right now she just wants to get her hands on a weapon so she doesn't have to keep fighting drones with her fists.

Which she will, but hey.

"I don't think we've met-!"
becauseimacoward: (38)

[personal profile] becauseimacoward 2020-05-21 05:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Detective Dojima." He sighs wearily. "Although nowadays it's more like administrative grunt Dojima."

Honestly fighting them seems slightly better than having to undergo the chocolate conveyor belt once again!

"I haven't checked the armory stuff lately, but you'll want anything made for piercing tough armor. Those things' skin is tough"

Although fighting with your fists is doing it hard mode, in a way!
princesspower: (About this dream and you)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-21 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"Adora," she replies, still following alongside of him. She seems determined to keep up, no matter what they run into.

"I could go for a sword, honestly. Or just... anything that's not bare hands."

She pauses as they come up to the next intersection.

"Which way?"
becauseimacoward: (38)

[personal profile] becauseimacoward 2020-05-27 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
Dojima looks down the halls. The armory should be nearby, it should...be right that way!

"There"

He says, certain. Hurrying past the corner, he suddenly stops, stepping back. There in the middle of the hallway is one of the drones. Doesn't seem like it has noticed them yet, at least! The armory is on sight, some distance away but it's visible. Passing by unnoticed may be troublesome, though.

Dojima thinks for a moment, looking down the other hallway from the intersection. "There should be another way towards the armory going over there, but it's going to take much longer." And of course, the longer the way, the more chances there are for an encounter. Still, if avoiding the drones is the right course of action, going into the longer routes would have to be done.

It depends on if they want to face a drone or avoid it on their way to the armory, really!
princesspower: (intrigued)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-27 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Adora hurries after him, casting a glance over her shoulder just to make sure she's not being followed and that they're not about to get surprised from behind. Nothing there, so so far, so good. She pauses at the corner and peers around Dojima to get a look. One drone, standing in the middle of the hallway. Is that it?

She purses her lips and then glances up at him with a grin.

"Too much time - let's just handle this one. There's only one-!"

Without much more thought, she goes charging around the corner and straight for her target. When in doubt, get stuck in.
becauseimacoward: (28)

[personal profile] becauseimacoward 2020-05-28 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Someone is eager! Unlike Dojima, apparently. Although he advances too, he doesn't go as fat as Adora -- he's trying to leave behind the cautious way to handle fihts he's used to, and get into a more violent style. It's hard, really, but at least he's trying.

The drone turns around, it has what seems to be a piece of chocolate -- that low-quality chocolate Dojima already wrapped a lot of not too long ago. It drops the chocolate when it realizes it's in danger, charging forward to meet Adora. Dojima throws a hand forward, his skin hardening visibly when he grabs the drone and he tosses it onto the ground skillfully before stepping back. Something comes out of the drone when it crashes -- apparently the way Dojima threw it made a very small fissure somewhere, enough for the contents to start spilling.

"Thumbtacks!"

Indeed, those are thumbtacks. Looks like the more damage is done to this drone, the more thumbtacks are going to spread around.
princesspower: (Love so strong it makes me feel so weak)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-28 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Thumbtacks?" Adora sounds incredulous but, yep, those sure are thumbtacks. What a weird creature. Adora grimaces and follows up Dojima's attach with one of her own, stamping down hard on the thing's head. There's a cracking sound and more thumbtacks for pouring out onto the floor.

At least she's wearing boots.

"These things are weird."

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takenalive: (Default)

i

[personal profile] takenalive 2020-05-20 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[Alloran appears, half-shoved into the room. He surveys the scene, blinking four glazed eyes, and watches Adora try to improvise off the cards for a moment before remembering that he has the ability to butt in.]

<Ah. You know, I think my... esteemed colleague has impressive credentials in this area, and to be sure it is worth a prolonged discussion. Document retention is an ongoing issue that, with the new security protocols, is more important than ever for growing the empire.>

[His 'voice' is non-directional but otherwise feels a lot like sound. ...the thing is, thought-speech doesn't work on everything. The drones don't have enough sentience to experience the symbols he's transmitting as words. There is some reaction, but it's of the suddenly having articulated fingers that begin to tap variety. One makes a pushing-up-sleeve motion and seems to examine its forearm as if there's a watch strapped to it.]

<...and they can't hear me, can they? Yes? Horrible constructs?>
princesspower: (We'll make this dream come true)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-20 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Whoa. Hearing a 'voice' in her head throws her a little at first, but she's used to magic, so she only stumbles a little bit before she tries to catch up again. She shoots Alloran a look - wow, that's a weird looking... person? Still, no weirder than some of the people she's met along the way. Not sure she likes the "empire" talk, but does anyone here really care? She frowns at the negative reaction and then tries to push some words out, mirroring Alloran. ]

SO, documents need to be secure, right? So we're goign to talk about how you can use-

[ She squints at the card. ]

-triple-redundancy firewall technology to keep them safe from, uh, corporate... espionage?

[ She looks at Alloran and shrugs helplessly. ]

I don't know! This place is weird...!
takenalive: (temp2)

[personal profile] takenalive 2020-05-20 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[Adora may have seen Alloran in passing. He stands out a bit, even among the New Hires. Someone tasked with making a version of the standard uniform for him has created a vest with AL OR ANN printed in the name space.

He's not equipped to sigh but there's the impression that he would if he was.]


<It is. I suppose I'll morph human so that they can hear me. Try not to look. It won't hurt anything, but it takes a minute or so and is very unpleasant to watch. Meanwhile - you could bring up past breaches and decry someone or other for letting them happen.>

[Alloran's stalk eyes go limp and start to roll into his head as his whole body starts to shrink. This doesn't get as awful as it can, but he wasn't kidding about it being unpleasant to watch. The drones stop looking his way. It's probably because he's not up at the front and they don't perceive him as speaking so their attention is on Adora again, but it does almost give the impression that they can't stand to look at him.]
princesspower: (The time is right to put my arms around)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-21 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh.

Oh, that's horrifying. Adora keeps trying to talk, but her eyes on locked on Alloran's whole shape-changing thing instead. So she mostly spews gibberish about document retention as she tries to tear her gaze away.

She does not succeed in looking away.

Ew.
]
takenalive: (temp7)

[personal profile] takenalive 2020-05-21 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[It is not good. A couple of times he tries to give Adora a suggestion, and that always means the transformation slowing briefly. He gets there, though.

Instead of the smaller, unremarkable human morph Alloran's been using, he's morphed the man who was the White House chief of protocol when the Yeerks tried taking advantage of an international summit. Honestly, he looks like he'd blend in with the Rig execs. The main difference is one that a few seconds ago he was some kind of writhing nightmare, and two that he's in black socks, a tight gray shirt, and knee-length boxer briefs, showing a great profusion of ginger hair on bared arms and legs.

Alloran adjusts the set of his newly-grown jaw before using it. The voice he uses through this morph speaks with the same cadence as his thought-speech and a similar flat near-monotone, but it sounds different enough to be a little jarring.]


All right. I believe my esteemed colleague, while well-researched and well known in the field, doesn't have my background in security and its pitfalls. It's an acknowledged issue that truly advanced security runs the risk of being user-unfriendly and unwieldy.
princesspower: (What a time to be alive)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-22 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ That is completely different from any shapechanging she's ever seen, so consider Adora a bit floored. She trails off as he finally finishes, her attention entirely on him. Forget talking, this is way too weird for her to ignore. Then he starts talking again and she remembers where they are and what they're supposed to be doing. She clears her throat and steps back a little. ]

Uh, yes. I'll let my - uh - friend? Yes. He'll take over for a bit.
takenalive: (Default)

[personal profile] takenalive 2020-05-24 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you.

[He talks on for a bit - probably not as much jargon as he could use, consequently it's a little more comprehensible as he talks around the countermeasures a base with significant traffic in and out has had to take against infiltrators and saboteurs interested in information. The standards of the Empire and Visserichal mandates come up, and he does stumble over that word.

The drones listen and don't appear impatient, but also not inspired. Alloran pauses, starting to frown. His voice has gotten rougher.]


My throat's starting to register pain. Your bodies are... frustrating.
princesspower: (You're the ground my feet won't reach)

[personal profile] princesspower 2020-05-24 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Adora has no idea what a Visserichal mandate is, but she's glad that someone is talking to the drones, who at least seem attentive. Although she has more experience being the infiltrator and saboteur than the other way around, honestly. Not that she mentions that (yet). ]

Hold on-

[ There's complementary tiny bottles of water. She twists the cap off and offers one to him. ]

Here. You need to drink.

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