UN: SV | VOICE

[ascarylady]

[ Thanks to this conversation, Sevika is now here to remind everyone, ]

You all remember we had that big, ominous sign outside Etraya's bubble telling us we weren't alone, right?

[ Please. She cannot be the only one concerned about this. ]

Well, those tallies are done tallying, and we were out of days on that thing a while ago. Has anyone noticed anything strange? Anything different? Because that message wasn't friendly-sounding, and I don't feel like being surprised by a pack of hostile unknowns.

Comments

[wolfish]

Reasonably well. Place is meant to house hundreds. Could always do with more, of course.

[ Supplies in excess are better than a deficit. ]

[ascarylady]

How long have you and your monastery been here in Etraya?

[wolfish]

Let's see now... I want to say over half a year's time for me, bit less for the monastery. Needed to build up credit with the Bank of Aurora, after all.

[ascarylady]

[ So unlikely to be a part of whatever this mess is... ]

Would you be able to hijack enough of Aurora's robots to get that "more" you think you could do with?

[wolfish]

My world's quite behind on the technological front, alas.

[ And Aurora is ever listening to the network, he's sure.

Indicating his awareness (paranoia) of this is unwise, so... ]

That being the case, what say you to a change of venue? I find even after all this time I prefer speaking in person.

[ascarylady]

I mostly meant asking them.

[ They're annoying and highly suspect, but they're good for hauling things around. ]

Sure... Meet me at the hospital.

[ Not her usual place at Harry's. That's too obvious a choice. ]

[wolfish]

Wonder if they've got muffins or cookies today...

[ Not that it makes much difference, but hey, he's a Faerghan at heart. Free food is a plus. ]

I'll be there shortly.

[ It won't take him long at all, he knows, having made this trip plenty of times before. ]

--> action

[ascarylady]

[ No need to answer after that. She was already heading towards the hospital to give it a look-through if nothing else. She had joked about blowing the place up once, in passing, a throwaway comment when questioned about what she could possibly be so busy with...

Now, it felt like a real threat, only it wasn't coming from her. It could be all Connor did was try and then re-think the theft. Could be someone else had other plans.

But she'll wait on the sidewalk outside the front doors of the hospital, already halfway through a cigarette from the sheer irritation of having to do any of this. This isn't her job? This isn't her job. Only, it isn't anyone else's, either. ]

[wolfish]

[ Yuri's approach, when his lean form comes into view, is curiously swift and silent for a man whose body language suggests an unhurried stroll. It may be a strange mismatch to observe for the first time as he makes his way toward the building. Then, upon spotting her, he veers in her direction.

He ceases closing distance a healthy arm's reach away, planting a hand on his hip. ]

"SV", yeah?

[ Who else would be waiting outside, after all? Outside is safer than inside, seeing as the depths of the place house something important to Aurora. ]

Seems I kept you waiting after all.

[ascarylady]

[ Sevika does shift from eyeballing the hospital to watching the man approach. A gait that relays something quietly dangerous about him, but it's only something she'll note and leave unremarked upon. Cigarette removed from her lips, she offers him a nod. ]

Sure am. You're "Ashen"?

[wolfish]

The very same. [ He offers a jaunty little two-fingered salute. The display name has less to do with him and more to do with what people back home might pause upon seeing, but details. ] Call me Yuri.

[ It's the name he gives out, after all. ]

[ascarylady]

Sevika.

[ Least she can do is offer a name in return before she dashes the remains of her cigarettes to the sidewalk and snuffs it out with a boot. ]

Come on. We can talk while I check the hospital's perimeter.

[ She turns without further prompting. Whatever's left of the winter's snow and ice crunches underfoot as she strikes out along the hospital, checking the windows as she goes with glances alone. Her own stride is confident and long-legged, eating up ground easily without needing to be quick. ]

[wolfish]

[ Yuri keeps apace beside her, but the distance doesn't evaporate. He maintains that space between them as they walk without apparent effort or thought. ]

Casing the joint, are we? [ The words come with the airy lilt of what might or might not be humor. ] I've been pretty deep below, if that interests you.

[ He casts that tidbit into the cold air, eyes remaining on the path ahead. ]

[ascarylady]

[ Enough trust to follow along but enough suspicion to keep a distance? She can appreciate that. ]

Not for the first time. I'm looking for anything out of place from before.

[ Humor or not, she isn't here to pretend what she's doing is anything but what it seems. That comment about below, though...

She doesn't look his way, but the interest is there. ]

That so? Any advice on what to expect?

[wolfish]

You go far enough down, air becomes a problem. Gets damned hot too. Oxygen tanks are a liability after a point because of that little complication.

[ They'd gone in blind to save Aurora at the time. Well, Yuri went because Dimitri did, but the net result's the same regardless. ]

Plenty of her mechanical helpers along the way, no surprise.

[ He can only imagine that, once she recovered, she'd upped the ante on secuity. ]

[ascarylady]

Hmm, that would be a problem.

[ One she can get Jinx to fix. If not Jinx, then Piltover's bozos. One step at a time, though, and more literally, one more step until they're turning the corner to go down the hospital permitted width-wise. ]

I'm less concerned about her little friends. They didn't even think to stop the guy from stealing from her.

[wolfish]

Suppose that's true, but we were deployed to another city once. The contraptions would incapacitate people who didn't comply there, so there's nothing saying they can't here.

[ And if Aurora deals with enough shenanigans, who's to say she won't adopt a firmer hand, at least for her own security? ]

Once bitten, twice shy, yeah?

[ascarylady]

[ Her gaze flickers from the windows to Yuri, considering, and then she's back to checking as they walk along the wall. ]

I'm still not sure what to make of her. Is she even a person? Or too artificial to count? Is she capable of changing her mind on how to deal with us?

[wolfish]

I imagine she can reassess. Couldn't tell you what her perspective's like, but she has been steadily tailoring all of this for those brought here, ostensibly based on observation and requests.

[ He waves a hand vaguely at the scenery as they continue their patrol. ]

I'd think she would have a sense of self-preservation for the obvious reasons.

[ascarylady]

The feeling that I get is she's still learning what to expect from people. Why would she have self-preservation if she doesn't expect us to hurt her?

[ That could change. It should change, even, although having an Aurora that can stop them isn't ideal, either. ]

She has locked down the lower parts of the hospital for the time being, so there is that. We'll see if it stays that way.

[ But by now, they've done half the circuit around the hospital, which brings them to the back doors. Those, she gives a slight push, then pauses, listening. Nothing happens.

She'll risk opening them after that; again, nothing happens, and she can feel some of the tension she's been carrying melt away. ]

[wolfish]

When I went down there, something was damaging her. And one among us was the cause of its spread — or so I understand it.

[ Yuri has only network chatter to rely on there, but if someone got him sick during the bitter winter months my flouncing about sharing with everyone, he'd take certain measures.

He peers around her at the doors, though he continues to avoid crowding her. What he can see looks no different from the usual. ]

New arrivals still pop up topside here, though not always. They set out refreshments and the like.

[ascarylady]

But was it on purpose? That could matter more than you realize.

[ Now that they're in the hospital, she'll be sure to check the halls, rooms, and stairwells, never once questioning the space Yuri keeps between them. It's fair. They don't know one another. They aren't friends. ]

[wolfish]

I'd say the entity doing the damage intended it.

[ Some dark, ominous business. Horror from the stars. Yuri didn't know what to make of it, save that the universe isn't necessarily a friendly place. ]

Which goes to your point. We could all do with better defenses.

[ He continues to follow along, glancing about with a more cursory interest. The hospital is familiar by now, but as with Etraya itself, change wouldn't be terribly surprising. ]

[ascarylady]

Yeah. If she doesn't want to see her own people as a threat, she's less liable to defend against us...

[ Which leaves Sevika in a bind. She doesn't want Aurora to have some ironclad defense against them if they ever need to take her out, but as long as she errs to the side of thinking the best of them, that also remains a danger.

But if nothing else, it'll turn out that there is no threat lying in wait in the hospital. Everything remains the same, apart from Aurora locking herself down for the moment.

The search inevitably brings them back to the lobby. ]

[wolfish]

And if she did decide we were hostile, that'd hardly be conducive to a working relationship.

[ His tone lacks the appropriate weight for all that would imply, but he has no doubt that Aurora has ways of listening in even now.

Surely they've both considered as much, though. ]

Which is worse depends on who one asks, but I don't like the idea of being vulnerable to subterfuge either way.