Child's Play

[Idran1701]

Sam looks over as Enzo comes out of his second dive, frowning, thoughts of Max and Emily's dream now coming to mind. "...Hey...um...Enzo? Are you okay? Why're you walking like that? What happened to your face?" Stepping back a bit, he keeps his eyes right on Enzo; it was just a dream, after all. Enzo's fine, he just looks rough.

[Besyanteo]

Enzo blinked, and shook his head.

"Eight... hours. Wow. We... we got some stuff done. Uhm. I think... I think I've been awake for about three... uhm."

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Run time error: Page File is Full

His face scrunched up as he tried to tough through the error. Wow that felt weird.

"Thirty... four? Thirty four hours now. About. Equivalent. Kinda. I'm... uh."

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Run time error: Out of Virtual Memory.
Sleep Mode advised.

"I'm gonna pass out now... G'night."

Enzo's eyes glazed over, and he fell to the floor. He began snoring softly. He might be out of it for a while...

[NebulaQueen]

"I think I can- Janet!"

Whatever answer Silvie had in mind was forgotten as soon as her sister nearly collapsed. She rushed to her side and offered her hand, and asked, "Are you okay?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Yeah...Just...Enzo and I...Deep diving....Felt like...Hours. Been up forever. Getting severe erroring." Janet says sleepily. "Going...To sleep."

With that, she fell onto Silvie- Who thankfully is more than strong enough to hold her. ....And she's snoring like a log.

[NebulaQueen]

Silvie frowned at Janet, and readjusted her grip before she looked back at Lauren.

"What should we do with her?"

[Kelne]

"Wow," Emily said, after kneeling down to check Enzo hadn't hurt himself in the fall, "He's totally out of it. I guess that tells us we still need sleep." This was a bit of a setback, really. They weren't about to go anywhere with Enzo unconscious like this. She hadn't really thought in terms of spending a night here. The very idea of what the ruined cityscape might be like after nightfall (if it came) gave her the creeps. Most of which, she would readily admit, was down to the dream.

[Idran1701]

Feeling a little silly now, Sam heads over up to Enzo too. "...Um...should we find a blanket or something for him? It feels kinda funny to just...um...leave him lying there like this. What d'you think he was doing for so long in there, anyway?"

[Animala]

Lauren bit her lip.

"I don't think any of us should be alone right now. So anywhere we go, she goes too. I was thinking we might be able to get in if...hey, maybe I can make Ambassador Leafshade small again, and see if she can find a way through the rubble. If she can, when Janet wakes up we can all go in together. Or...we could try and make Janet comfortable here if your idea will be better? I'm sure Ambassador Leafshade won't mind being a pillow."

Ambassador Leafshade gave a little whine in protest of this suggestion.

"Oh, hush. It'll be fine."

[NebulaQueen]

"Wellll...she can sleep and we can try and get this junk out of the way," she said, "But first, lets see if Leafshade can get under there. If that doesn't work, we can try my idea."

[BrainWalker]

((BLARG, LIFE))

Max gives Alexis a raised eyebrow over the impromptu etiquette lesson, for just a moment, until her smile clued him in. Max chuckles. He wasn't expecting Alexis to have much of a sense of humor.

Max leans out over the edge of the roof, pondering the debris to the south and Alexis's information. While he's thinking... weapons are unlocked? On the one hand, he feels a little safer, but on the other... well, why the heck did they even bother with the vote? Whatever.

"Okay, here's what I'm... wait a sec."

Okay, team, here's what I'm thinking. I'm really not convinced there's a lot of interesting data in most of these other buildings. They all look kinda samey. I'd really like to get into that building past the rubble. If we can't go around it, that only leaves through it or over it. I don't really feel like ferrying everyone over the rubble one by one, considering how much fun it was getting Alex up here...

Max turns to Alexis with a not-entirely-serious look on his face. "No offense."

... Plus that would take forever, even if Emmy helped. So... I guess that leaves us with 'through.' Any sugge-

Suddenly, Max felt Enzo and Janet fall out of the ComLink. They had been non-responsive during their deep dive, but at least they were there. And somehow it was clear that Sylvie's attention had been diverted from team chat. He jogs over to the other side of the building to get a better view of the situation.

Hey, what's going on down there? Did we just lose Janet and Enzo somehow? Talk to me.

He could sort of hear their voices, but it's a bit difficult to carry on vocal conversations with people on the ground when you're on top of a 3-story building unless people agree to raise their voices above a regular conversational tone.

[ChristianC]

Alexis' cheeks grew a little red as Max carried on with the joke, but she nodded after a second and poked out her tongue at him, turning to listen to the rest of what Max was broadcasting. She'd heard perhaps a bit more than Max, but she couldn't make much sense of it. Truth be told, she still had some trouble getting the hang of using computers and coding, but she realized that she needed to catch up with the others... this stuff was important.

If you guys find a way through the rubble, I'll stay here then. I might be able to find a ledge to creep under so I won't make a silhouette against the sky, and then I'll make sure there's nothing coming from outside.

Which, Alex decided after some thinking, would be pretty boring. But hey, that was her job.

[Kelne]

It's okay, Max. They've just crashed for some sleep. Apparently that dive went on for an awfully long time on the inside, and they were working solidly throughout. She considered a moment, Maybe we ought to bring Janet here where it's safe to sleep it off. No sense hauling her aound unconscious while you're checking out that other building.

[Shinigori V2]

The sisters by the rubble sit, and wait as Leafshade deflates back to her normal size, and starts to squirm through the rubble. After a few minutes, Lauren reports that yes, Leafshade has found a path all the way through. A tight fit for a ferret, though.

[NebulaQueen]

"Hmmmn."

Silvie bit her lip and said, "Wellll, at least we know she can scout, if we need her to. But let me try something, first."

With weapon systems unlocked, she closed her eyes, and imagined going through a closet full of swords (hey, she saw it in a movie once, and it looked cool. Okay, so it was a closet full of guns in the movie, but it was the same thing). In her mind's eye blades of all kinds whizzed by, from exotic scimitars to shining sabers, from elegant rapiers to heavy broadswords, until at the very end she saw a tremendously large sword. It was nearly as tall as she was and just as wide, with a serrated edge and strange holes near the base - most people would think it was weird, but their purpose was obvious to her (and probably to anyone who played the same series she did). Yes, this was the sword she wanted, and if she could pull it off, it would be completely sweet. Silvie focused on the sword, it's shape, how much she thought it would weigh, and how she imagined it would feel in her hands.

[Spleen]

Click. "Hehehe." Click.

Click. "Hehehe." Click.

Click. "Hehehe." Click.

Darren looked incredibly pleased to have a rocket launcher appear on each shoulder, and was amusing himself by arming and disarming them, the apertures irising open and closed according to his silent commands. The chuckling may have been getting a little annoying to the rest of them, but Darren was apparently in his own world at the moment.

"Anywhere we need to go, I can just blast us in, you know."

[Shinigori V2]

Lauren watches, as a very, very large sword suddenly materializes into Sylvie's hands. Both get the idea that, in the real world, it's probably not going to be that big, but..Hey, they're digital.

----

Kid frowns, squatting by Enzo. "I got no idea. Somethin' tiring, probably."

[Idran1701]

"Yeah, I guess so. And he said it was thirty hours or something, that's a really long time to be awake." Shrugging off his parka, he lays it across Enzo, and begins staring down the hallway. "Well, we should probably do stuff, right? Enzo'll probably be asleep for a while, I bet." He turns back to the others. "What d'you think we should do now, Emily? Maybe we should start explorin' this place and see if we can find anything that we can't just interface to see?"

[NebulaQueen]

If she had more forethought, Silvie might have been disappointed that she couldn't bring a sword like this into the real world. But right now, the future was the last thing on her mind. The only thing on her mind at the moment was Oh my gooood I have the actual Nimbus sword right here in my haaands oh my god oh my god this is so cool.

Needless to say, she was rather excited. For a moment she stared dumbfounded at hunk of metal in her hands, with a goofy, lopsided grin that spread from ear to ear, until it occurred to her that she could actually do something with the sword.

Somehow, the grin grew even wider.

Soon, her attention turned back to the rubble. She stared at it intently, perfectly still, before she charged forward with a yell and swung her sword at a random piece of dilapidated concrete.

[Shinigori V2]

Silvie strikes out at the rubble with her massive sword; and with a loud "SHA-TING", the stone that she attacks is cleaved almost to it's center.

[NebulaQueen]

Silvie was still. Silvie was silent. Silvie didn't do a thing, other than gape in awe at the stone she just cleaved.

Then, all of a sudden, she shouted, "Did you see that?! Ohmygod, that was AWESOME - oh, oh, check this out!"

Soon she ran off and picked up one of the smaller pieces of rubble in one hand. She tossed it high in the air and, gripping the sword with both hands, she tried to hit it with the flat end of her blade.

[Shinigori V2]

Silvie takes a swing with her massive sword....And misses.

[Kelne]

"We'll need to keep a guard on the door," Emily said seriously, "We'd be silly to take this place's safety for granted. Especially if something wants in badly enough. She frowned consideringly. Sam had a point. They didn't really know if there was anything else in here. Sure, the virus scan said it was safe, but not everything was necessarily a virus. They'd walked in without triggering any alarms, after all. "We probably should take a look around," she said, "But we stay in pairs and keep in contact, alright?"

[Shinigori V2]

Kid thought, looking the group over. "Okay, but who's with who?"

[ChristianC]

Alexis has been busying herself by carving heedlessly into the edge of the roof she's sitting on, watching what's going on down there.

I told you I'll keep watch on the door, I'll let you all know if something changes.

[NebulaQueen]

Silvie pouted for a moment...before she swung low, and attempted to swing the lump off of the ground. If she did it quick enough, maybe it would look like she meant to do that.

[Shinigori V2]

Silvie successfully golfs the rock, and it's awesome! The bowling-ball sized rock flies up into the skyline...Before bouncing off one building, and rocketing even higher. Silvie can't even see it now, but that super strength has paid off!

---

Alexis is doing her scouting and minding her own business...Before a rock the size of a bowling-ball streaks into her view, smashing (And bouncing?!) off of the building across from her own, and heading RIGHT FOR HER!

Before she can dodge it, it smacks her right in the head. It doesn't actually hurt all that much, but it's mass throws her off balance, causing her to stumble off the corner of the building.

She begins to fall, but thankfully Max is on the job, swooping down and grabbing her before she falls too far. Continuing his swoop, he lands by the other two, placing Alexis down next to Silvie and Lauren.

[NebulaQueen]

Silvie pumped her fist up and let out a loud whoop ...before she noticed Max land on the ground with Alexis in his arms. Unaware of her part in this mess, she ran over to them and shouted, "Whoa! Are you guys all right?"

[ChristianC]

Alexis looked up at the rock, reacting to slowly to catch or dodge, and as she falls from the edge her mind goes through literally thousands of outcomes before she tries to vainly twist in the air and reach out for the wall. She's got no hope to reach it, however, but just as she's trying to figure out if she can actually make the fall, Max catches her, and she exhales loudly, purely by instinct, her eyes wide in shock. She squirms, letting out a yell of surprise and... pain? before they land and she quickly struggles out of his grip, her breathing heavy and her eyes still wide.

[BrainWalker]

Max is certainly glad he was able to help, and relieved Alexis is okay, but at the same time, he's glad to be rid of his uncooperative passenger. The struggle was a little irritating.

Max leans up against the wall of the building they just descended and crosses his arms.

"Yeah, you're welcome. You know, you really don't make this passenger flight thing easy."

"So what's the deal, anyway? I heard a thud and suddenly you're falling off a building? Aren't you supposed to be the cyborg ninja recon of the group or something?"

[Idran1701]

At Kid's question, Sam thinks fast; with Darren being even weirder than normal right now, he'd really rather not get stuck with him. And out of the rest of them, Emily can probably handle him better than Kid, so his choice is pretty obvious. "I'll go with Kid! But who's gonna guard and who's gonna go inside?"

[ChristianC]

"JUST..." she exhales, looking really frightened, but then she calms down, and she does some kind of... squeezing motion in the air with her hands, closing her eyes a bit...

Just... I'm... I'm sorry... I d... I don't like touching...

[NebulaQueen]

"You don't have to act so nasty to her," Silvie said, glaring at Max. "Look, I'm sure it was a mistake, okay? Whatever it is that happened to you two - and hey, what did happen, anyway?"

[Kelne]

"We'll handle the scouting," Emily said. True, the scouting hadn't been her idea, but she suspected Darren's attention span was pretty darn short. Sure, he was amusing himself for now (though in rather unsettling fashion), but that wouldn't last forever. And if he acted up anyway, he could darn well stay on guard duty next time.

With that, Emily set out down the corridor, looking for, well, any features at all, really.

[BrainWalker]

((edited to make sense))

Having received plenty of attitude beratement from his biological sister over the years, Max had developed a bit of immunity to it. He ignored Sylvie, and gave Alexis a modest nod. He was relatively satisfied with her response, and glad to get it without a lot of drama.

"Makes sense. You don't strike me as the touchy-feely type."

Pausing to take stock of the situation, Max ponders the next appropriate course of action.

Okay, everyone, I'm calling a group tele-huddle. So we're all on the same page, let me see if I understand our situation: We're in a highly damaged system, Enzo and Janet burned out trying to make it somewhat accessible from the outside, half of us are exploring a largely intact building full of creepy information on Wunderkind that may or may not exist yet, and on the other side of the system we've got another comparatively un-ruined building behind a bigass wall of rubble with who knows what in it. And I guess we're running recon until the brains are back in commission. Is that about right?

From the audience, Max receives a mixture of direct and indirect affirmations and apathy.

So... I'd like to make two suggestions. First, we need to do something about Enzo and Janet. Can we maybe compress them ourselves and get them to the bus? There's proper beds in there, and who knows, with the way time works while we're compressed, they may get back to us faster. Second, given the info we got out of the northern building, I'd really like to get into this one in the south. I'm sure you guys in bravo team are busy, but Emmy and I would clearly have the easiest time getting over there. I don't know if you guys want to work out some kind of alpha/bravo team member transfer or something, but flying would be way faster than trying to muscle our way through this rubble, and I'm sure as heck not going over there by myself.

While waiting for input everyone, Max pauses to consider Sylvie's ridiculously huge sword. It's excessive, sure, but it's also pretty awesome. He addresses his collected alpha team. That's how military units name themselves in the movies, right?

"Umm... so, I guess you two were working on getting through this thing? How's that working out?"

[Animala]

Ambassador Leafshade found a way through the rubble that will work if we're small, but I don't know if it will be faster than cutting a way through with that incredibly cool sword...I could try shrinking down Janet since I have some practice with Ambassador Leafshade, if you want...

Lauren trailed off. She was more than a little nervous about attempting to break the rules like that on an actual person.

[ChristianC]

"T-There was..." Alexis looked between Max, and Silvie, a bit unsettled, "There was a stone... I didn't see it coming, k-knocked me off the r-roof..."

[NebulaQueen]

"A...a stone?"

Silvie had the same look on her face one would expect from someone who just swallowed a frog. Whole. She shuffled her feet, and sputtered, "W-well that was weird but hey! I guess we just have to be careful, right?"

Before anybody could say reply, she quickly turned to Lauren, and said, "Anyway, that's not a bad idea, but it might be safer just to fly her out. Max can take care of that, and we can clear this junk out while he's gone."

[Shinigori V2]

Silvie gets an assuring feeling, like when an adult would give her the nod of a job well done. There's no need to tell them; it was an accident after all.

Further, she also gets..Sort of a mental hint; a quick calculation in her head due to her new computerized nature: It would take hours to clear the rubble. Or even days.

[NebulaQueen]

That was...well, that was just weird. Silvie made another face, this time one of somebody who just smelled something funny without knowing where the odor came from, before she shook her head. Okay, mission. Time to think about the mission.

"Actually, lemme take that back - just getting rid of this crud could take forever. Hey, how about you shrink the both of us down and we ride in on Leafshade, while Max takes care of Janet?"

[ChristianC]

Alexis nodded, looking not a little ashamed of herself as Silvie's reprimand. Yeah, she'd been sloppy, she should've seen that stone coming. She felt a pang of regret that she'd made her sister disappointed.

Should I try to get back up on the roof?