The passage of time in this place is not easily tracked, not without a clock of some sort, anyway. The days may even begin to blend together, only occasionally interrupted by confrontations with the robot spiders or discussion with whoever is on the other end of that terminal.
It seems like things won't change any time soon. But something is off today, and some of you may notice it sooner than others.
The mind-numbing drone of the nearby builder going about its work has been with you from the very start. Located behind the terminal and far down below, it was the first sound you heard upon arriving here. It has been arranging walkways in increasingly complicated and baffling designs, extending them ever outwards into space. This much has not changed at all during your time here; the drone of the machinery moving and metal being slotted into place may even have become somewhat comforting background noise.
It is completely silent today.
The skittering of spider robots through the vents or patrolling the area is not heard either, and though the atmosphere remains as gloomy as ever, the lack of sound will undoubtedly be noticeable to some of you. Thankfully, you can still hear; it's simply that the machines have stopped their usual tasks, for whatever reason.
[Dorothy comes back into herself slow but sure, Vakama's words...not getting a response but echoing in her mind. She looks around, finally aware of everything and looks at the state of...everyone...
...She failed. Again. She--]
Do we--do we have anyone with a healing ability at all?!
[YEAH UH, DOROTHY IS KIND OF SHRIEKING A BIT DON'T MIND HER--]
[The second she starts to squirm for purchase, he'll let her go, pushing back to his feet with a wary glance back around into the weight of the darkness, as though more of those things could jump out at any second while they're distracted with the wounded.]
[It's always good to keep an eye out, just in case. But for now you really can breathe a sigh of relief; aside from your discussions and the drone of the builder, there's no other sound and no other robots to look out for.]
[ He really does not want to be asking someone clearly distressed right now but he doesn't know who else here has been keeping tracking of their inventory, so: ]
We should. Last I checked we weren't in any danger of running out entirely but that's definitely going to change--
[Dorothy looks at her fucked up right arm and some of herself--her arm got the worse of it with exposed wiring and stuff and it looks like straining it isn't the best idea, but...
[Dorothy looks to Michael when he says that before finally taking stock of herself--her right arm is pretty fucked right now with exposed wiring and it even looks like some blood and coolant are leaking onto the ground from it. The rest may just be internal damage, though Dorothy can see her dress is a little torn and her legs got a lil crunchy...]
...Likely just my arm, but I'll have to see if anything's gone wrong internally and with my leg as well. At the very least my arm just took the brunt of it, so that's the priority.
[It could be worse! But it also could be a lot better right now. It's just more concerning because nobody seems to know how to repair things other than the terminal friend.]
Janet's my best friend. Been with her for centuries.
[So let's get that straight, though like there's no bite to it. Might have been, if it were anyone else.]
She's an artificial being. They're made to operate the different afterlife neighborhoods humans go in, and to act as repositories of all the knowledge in the universe. No actual wires in there, though, just sort of...you know, like the sun.
Something about that word gets Dorothy's shock for a brief moment, but...it's strange. Her expression almost seems to warm briefly as she listens to him talk about Janet, and it at least makes sense.]
So in a sense, she's more like...a cosmic being, or something like that? She sounds like she does an incredible job of her work, regardless. She certainly must, to have your approval.
[...]
She sounds like a lovely person. What is she like?
I suppose, but she's artificially created. All the Janets are.
[Though really, Michael doesn't actually know a lot about that. He knows enough to have helped Janet troubleshoot problems she's had before, but he's not actually an afterlife engineer or whatever.]
Oh, she's great. Brilliant, very cool under pressure - good in a fight too, she would've been useful here. I've seen her kick the crap out of like ten demons at once. One time my boss tried to kill me and she picked him up by the throat and threw him into a wall.
[She's definitely the heavy in the team, not Michael. Shame he's the one who's here now, really.]
[Dorothy finds herself smiling at the explanation, honestly.]
Really? My, we really are alike in some ways, then. I used to be able to do such things with my own strength too...she sounds positively lovely, Michael. A truly stalwart ally, and strong too. Goodness, I certainly think she'd excel in a place like this.
[But still, wait, she can't just bury the lede--]
But your boss tried to kill you? I assume for what you about prior to me, or was this something different...?
[Michael clearly can't help here, but he'll stand aside and keep up some chatter while other people get assessed and maybe Viktor makes his way over.]
It happened when I was first trying to leave Hell. I got the humans out, but I ended up getting caught, and that was the first time Shawn realized everything I'd been doing. I'd been lying to him for a good three hundred years already, and then I turned on everyone and smuggled a bunch of humans out. The only reason he didn't retire me right then is that retirement's a pretty public thing. He'd have to say why he was doing it. And if his higher-ups found out everything that happened under his nose, he'd have been just as hosed as I was. So he was gonna lock me up for a while, then kill me.
I actually thought he'd caught and killed Janet already, but she'd been running around in disguise. Came and got me, and we got out together.
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...She failed. Again. She--]
Do we--do we have anyone with a healing ability at all?!
[YEAH UH, DOROTHY IS KIND OF SHRIEKING A BIT DON'T MIND HER--]
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[ She touches her left eye, no longer black since the mysterious drive-by healer. ]
Someone can, b-but I don't know who!
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Do we have medical supplies?
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[Dorothy looks at her fucked up right arm and some of herself--her arm got the worse of it with exposed wiring and stuff and it looks like straining it isn't the best idea, but...
...She can't break herself entirely--]
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I'll grab them, then.
[ If nothing else, Lark sure can zip off fast when he's making an effort to. ]
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[Michael is still actively bleeding black ooze from several places himself, but seems to be planning on walking it off.]
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...Likely just my arm, but I'll have to see if anything's gone wrong internally and with my leg as well. At the very least my arm just took the brunt of it, so that's the priority.
[It could be worse! But it also could be a lot better right now. It's just more concerning because nobody seems to know how to repair things other than the terminal friend.]
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Janet's insides aren’t anything like this...
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[does. does hell have their own personal androids???]
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[So let's get that straight, though like there's no bite to it. Might have been, if it were anyone else.]
She's an artificial being. They're made to operate the different afterlife neighborhoods humans go in, and to act as repositories of all the knowledge in the universe. No actual wires in there, though, just sort of...you know, like the sun.
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Something about that word gets Dorothy's shock for a brief moment, but...it's strange. Her expression almost seems to warm briefly as she listens to him talk about Janet, and it at least makes sense.]
So in a sense, she's more like...a cosmic being, or something like that? She sounds like she does an incredible job of her work, regardless. She certainly must, to have your approval.
[...]
She sounds like a lovely person. What is she like?
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[Though really, Michael doesn't actually know a lot about that. He knows enough to have helped Janet troubleshoot problems she's had before, but he's not actually an afterlife engineer or whatever.]
Oh, she's great. Brilliant, very cool under pressure - good in a fight too, she would've been useful here. I've seen her kick the crap out of like ten demons at once. One time my boss tried to kill me and she picked him up by the throat and threw him into a wall.
[She's definitely the heavy in the team, not Michael. Shame he's the one who's here now, really.]
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Really? My, we really are alike in some ways, then. I used to be able to do such things with my own strength too...she sounds positively lovely, Michael. A truly stalwart ally, and strong too. Goodness, I certainly think she'd excel in a place like this.
[But still, wait, she can't just bury the lede--]
But your boss tried to kill you? I assume for what you about prior to me, or was this something different...?
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[Michael clearly can't help here, but he'll stand aside and keep up some chatter while other people get assessed and maybe Viktor makes his way over.]
It happened when I was first trying to leave Hell. I got the humans out, but I ended up getting caught, and that was the first time Shawn realized everything I'd been doing. I'd been lying to him for a good three hundred years already, and then I turned on everyone and smuggled a bunch of humans out. The only reason he didn't retire me right then is that retirement's a pretty public thing. He'd have to say why he was doing it. And if his higher-ups found out everything that happened under his nose, he'd have been just as hosed as I was. So he was gonna lock me up for a while, then kill me.
I actually thought he'd caught and killed Janet already, but she'd been running around in disguise. Came and got me, and we got out together.