( open ) our ag wing's back and you're gonna be in trouble (hey now! hey now! our ag wing's back)

[initiates]

Date & Time: October 31st, 3313, 11:59PM - November 3rd, 3313, ????
Location: Agriculture Wing, Moon Base to start. Cafeteria, warehouse, docking bay, VR rooms, Transport Pad, or Observatory later on.
Characters: Any & all!
Summary: Space Zombies are allowed out of the Agriculture Wing, slowly revving up their systems to try and infect and absorb as many of the Transports (or 12 Initiative Members) as possible.
Warnings: Log will be locked for potentially graphic violence. Please warn in threads should the violence or gore become graphic.
Notes: Specify a date and location in your top comment. You may specify multiple dates/locations. Specify a time if you wish as well.

Everything is a success at first, from the cool rush of air out of the Agriculture Wing once the doors are fully unlocked, to the heady sense of accomplishment for finally moving forward on something good for the long-term usability of the Moon Base. It's intended to remain a resource, after all, but not be a permanent home. Fraying tempers and the sense of cabin fever descending on Transports continues to showcase how important it is to get back down on Earth to regain some breathing room.

There's little enough dust between all the unmoving, unlit structures, many even supporting the barest dried husks of what once grew there. Upon the lightest touch, they disintegrate, turning into a dust that falls to the ground. The silent rows will be reclaimed and turned into functioning units, based on Transport efforts, and Transport time invested in the project.

There's just one problem. Something stirs in the reclaimed wing, among tangles of hosing and wiring. Skitterings and movements that make no sense for a long abandoned Moon Base. The further in Transports go, relying on magic or technology to generate light past the bare minimum maintained by the base, the more disturbing sights they may run into.

Of course, the most disturbing of all might be lying just around the far corner -- but don't worry, it's only a flesh wound. Try not to get surprised in the machinery, caught suffering from not looking up or caught making out with anything unsavory this holiday season, Transports. We need all of you to stay alive!

We can't bring you back right now!

Comments

[inhumanity]

[Who needs personal space? Christopher doesn't. That unease that Elaine causes crawls closer. Madness reaches into his thoughts and wraps around his brain.

But then, didn't he go mad a long, long time ago? Christopher smiles at Elaine. It's good to be in friendly company, after all.]

Not even one? [He gives a low whistle.] I'm very proud of you, Elaine.

[affectate]

Not a single one!

[A smile sort of finds its way onto her face at the compliment -- she doesn't remember the last time someone said they were proud. She's pleased and proud of herself to get a compliment from a friend and she beams. It's genuine, but a totally different kind of genuine smile from the one she gave Shintaro that one time.

And she has no idea her face can do that and probably never will.]

Thank you very much, Mr Chareau de Red!

I LOST THIS NOW IT IS FOUND

[inhumanity]

[It's a really nice smile. It makes him truly happy to see it. And while Christopher is no Elmer C Albatross, he can tell that this smile is a real one.]

Tell me, then, if you aren't an alchemist, what are you?

[affectate]

I am a student of mathematical physics.

[There's a beat while she realizes, ah yes, that just might not be the answer he was looking for. Or a good one at all.]

I enjoy reading.

[inhumanity]

[nailed it, Elaine]

Hm, if you're an undergraduate, I don't think you get to really call yourself a student.

[He knows, ok. He knows.]

[affectate]

That is hardly the case, Mr Chareau de Red! The initial meaning of the word "student" is "one who studies an academic subject." I am certainly studying at all times, for study is an action which one never truly completes. Every living creature with a biological brain goes on in such a state -- absorbing information constantly, all for the sake of their continued existence. Plants, while not possessing brains, do react to stimuli in such a manner that the same could be said for them. Therefore:

Are we not all students, Mr Chareau de Red, regardless of age, species, social class, or level of academic accomplishment?

[inhumanity]

[considers for a moment

considering

considering.................]

Nope!

[affectate]

[B-But

But!!!]

-- Why not?

[inhumanity]

[He shrugs.]

I didn't really think about that part.

[affectate]

Why would you so adamantly disagree with me if you have no reason to do so, Mr Chareau de Red?

[inhumanity]

[Carelessly]

Why wouldn't I?

[affectate]

It is exceedingly rude, Mr Chareau de Red.

[inhumanity]

Haha, well . . . that must be another one of my charming quirks of character.

[affectate]

Regardless -- I must say that you are simply incorrect.

You, in a state of absorbing knowledge about this place, also bear the title of "student." Every time that you befriend a new person or come across a flower that you've yet to meet, you find yourself with more knowledge than you held previously. You actively seek out friends and flowers, Mr Chareau de Red. You are, as a result of this, someone that could be referred to as a student of friendship and flowers.

You are a student, and I am a student as well, even in my first year of university!

[inhumanity]

[Christopher doesn't even consider it this time.] Bored! [And he throws the knife at her throat in the interests of severing her wind pipe.

No more talking about students!]

[affectate]

[Second verse, same as the first. She either doesn't bother dodging or just completely neglects to do it right because she's too stupid -- so she goes down a second time. That feeling rises up again like bile in the throat, but never actually reaches a 'peak' like vomiting. It hits a certain point and then dissipates like smoke, wound probably mostly healed underneath the blood.

And she just kind of rolls over on her side and grumbles a little in some language or another. Probably French. Nothing impolite, just effectively "booooooooooooooooooooooooooo"]

... If I have done something to offend you, Mr Chareau de Red, then you should simply tell me so.

[inhumanity]

[This time, he giggles and stoops to take the knife away himself.] You've done something truly heinous, friend. It's a crime that only my magnanimity allows me to overlook.

You bored me.

[And with a cheerful laugh, he helps her up by yanking her to her feet.] Worry not! I can look past it because the affection that I hold for you runs as deep as our friendship. Hold on, that's pretty shallow. I shan't let the truth deter me! I can forgive you because I want to believe our affection runs that deep.

[affectate]

[She's pulled up pretty effortlessly, not really putting up any resistance herself -- but he'll also probably notice she's not that heavy to begin with.]

You should inform me of these things prior to making the choice to kill me. Furthermore... is our relationship truly that shallow? I suppose that's certainly true. While you do take precedence over many others in this place as a person so thoroughly like myself, I could not honestly say that I would consider our friendship a deep one.

I look forward to developing a more intimate bond, however!

[inhumanity]

[He smiles gently at her.] It's shallow by necessity. Didn't you know? Monsters like us can't form bonds like that.

[And then he laughs again and pats her on the head.] Don't worry! Regardless of our monstrosity, we can emulate friendship together.

[affectate]

[Meanwhile, her smile just kind of. It doesn't disappear or fall so much as it dies and immediately starts to rot and fester right on her face. The upturning of the corners of her mouth could technically be called a smile.

And I mean. It's genuine. It's more genuine than that usual blithe not-all-there expression on her face, but it's not the genuinely happy smile he saw earlier, either.]

Yes, that's right. I'd nearly forgotten.

However, Mr Chareau de Red -- for you and I, the very bottom of the pit we've chosen to call "friendship" is far off even still. We may become far better friends, if only to a certain extent.

[inhumanity]

[Christopher puts his hand on her head and pats her.]

My apologies. I didn't realize that you had forgotten.

[affectate]

It's far simpler to forget than you would imagine.

[It doesn't take a lot, honestly. Just some kindnesses here and there from humans similar enough to you in experience. Imagine. Her, being just as human as anyone else. Next they'd tell her she can feel love like them. She's human and has worth and emotions like humans and there's a bridge they'd like to sell her, too.

She leans into his hand a little. As much as she can, anyway.]

[inhumanity]

I think it's something that I'd say is impossible for me to forget, so . . . I suppose I forgot that other people forget to remember? [He laughs a little, patting her hair. He really didn't mean to hurt this girl like this. He was just putting shoring his ruined walls with fragments. He'd like to make Elaine feel a little better for a moment, if he could.]

[affectate]

[And she just goes quiet for a while. No talking, no noise or anything, she just sort of stands and lets him pat her head. Her hair feels nice.

After a few minutes:]

... Forgetting wasn't quite so bad as I had thought it to be. Have you made any attempt to do so?

[inhumanity]

I think I must have, a long time ago. [Christopher smiles softly, and his mind calls up the feel of a flower stem in his hands, the faint fragrance of a daisy, five petals and frozen muscles and pain in his hands.

His mind stops and turns another path. He laughs.] Perhaps I forgot about that instead!