piper90npcs: (Richard Washburn)
[personal profile] piper90npcs
[In the middle of the night, when even the night watch shifts should be pacing through the dorm area, there’s a peal of noise from the communicators impossible to ignore or sleep through. It’s clearly an alarm of some sort, like tornado alerts back on Earth. It goes on for solid three minutes, long enough for everyone to move on from being woken by it to loathing it, before a message shows up on the communicators-

-and the doorways out of each of the dorms are sealed with a semi-translucent forcefield.

On the communicator screen, Richard Washburn shows up and straightens his tie.
]

Hello, employees. Believe me, I’m not any happier about this midnight interruption than you are, but we’re currently in a state of – mild – emergency. I don’t want anyone to get overly excited, but until the situation is resolved, you will remain in your dorms. Depending on how long this takes, all activities scheduled for tomorrow morning have been suspended.

The reason for this is that we have an intruder in your living quarters. We have this footage from a few weeks ago.

[A new image shows up on the communicator: a security camera video of a Santa Claus with a line of the highest executive-level parents and their small children waiting to tell him their wishlist. A little girl in pigtails and a sparkly t-shirt of a Christmas tree hops up onto his lap.

“Ho, ho, ho!” Santa says, and he boops her nose. “Aren’t you a peach? Tell me, little one. What would you like for Christmas?”

“I want a big plastic spider!” the girl says excitedly.

“A creepy little child, aren’t you? Well, that’s just swell, because that’s my favorite flavor,” Santa says, and then – blurry on the security camera footage – transforms into a mass of black goo, latching onto the little girl’s face and suctioning to stay on. The child’s mother screams and yanks her daughter away, and the footage shows pure pandemonium as some parents lunge forward to help the mother with her daughter while other parents snatch their own children and start running. In all the chaos, the black goo vanishes.

Washburn flicks the footage away and reappears on the screen.
]

Thankfully, there were no fatalities in this incident, and after we couldn’t find any evidence of the attacker, we assumed that it was a freak incident of the Stuff. However, there was recently another unsuccessful attack on a teenager by this same creature posing as one of the tutors on the Rig, and then again on another thankfully unharmed child disguised as another child, and then on another child under the guise of a children’s television show host named “Mr. Rogers”, and tonight-

[He takes a deep breath, annoyed, as if this is somehow the Hires’ faults.]

-tonight we found a security breach to your floor, and we have good reason to believe that the shapeshifter is posing as one of you.

We know this: we know it poses as figures appealing to children, so for obvious reasons, you won’t be allowed anywhere near any Jorgmund staff whatsoever until this is resolved. We know that its ability to disguise itself is relatively seamless. And we know that it preys on minors.

If you can determine who among you isn’t at all appealing to children, we can consider releasing you from your dorm and discussing next steps to search out whoever’s been replaced.

If this starts taking long enough that it jeopardizes the Jorgmund’s mission, we may start taking more drastic measures to ensure that we aren’t harboring any imposters.

I’ll keep you updated if you keep me updated.
tarnishedavenger: (Default)
[personal profile] tarnishedavenger
So, we've got a load of new people, and that means it's time for me to do the only thing it feels like I get on these comms to do anymore: AMAs.

For you new people, I find it helps when we get together and explain a little bit about ourselves, any powers we have, and our skillsets. That way we know what we're starting with and what we can build off of. So, please, come and introduce yourselves and be willing to answer questions.
tarnishedavenger: (Default)
[personal profile] tarnishedavenger
[Armstrong hates to do this after so many people have introduced themselves in locked channels, but they at least need to put on a show of meeting for Jorgmund's sake.]

So, we've got a few new people here since the last time we did something like this. Time to get introductions done and over with. Just list your name, powers, if any, relevant facts, and, if you feel like it, answer reasonable questions that people have. We'll be able to function together more effectively if we know more about each other. Keep it sensible and try not to wheedle out any dark secrets.

Or, you know, old people can tell people why Taco Tuesday is the best.
parannoyed: (012)
[personal profile] parannoyed
[Wash is quickly learning that Jorgmund isn't the hardest to lie to. One of the benefits of working with middle management in a corporation instead of army leadership, he supposes. They bought that the egg stasis containers Wash tampered with were hit by acid spray during battle, and they even bought his excuse for why they failed the mission objective, why he hadn't acted as a "corrector."]

[Nobody died, after all. Wash pointed out that he'd gone into a conflict where they hadn't even assigned a field leader and walked out with everyone alive. And aren't the New Hires a very expensive and difficult to replace asset, as well? Or else they wouldn't have the shock collars to ensure their compliance.]

[Jorgmund had agreed with his assessment and told him his performance was adequate, and that his assessment of the situation was correct.]

[Then they'd shocked him, told him they expected better than "adequate" in the future and that he wasn't supposed to follow through on a correct tactical assessment unless they told him to.]

[Wash can tell they're trying to soften all they're doing with faux benevolence and nice words with everyone else - why call them "New Hires" if not to make what they're doing seem normal and reasonable? He wonders if they're dispensing with that faux softness with him because they know he's competent enough to see right through it - and because they have an extra bit of leverage to ensure his total obedience regardless of what they do to him. It's a daunting prospect, having to work with people that think there's nothing he'll say no to and who know there's more of chance he'll never fight back than some of the other New Hires.]

[But for now, at the very least he gets to keep both his life and the implant, and now he has to focus on continuing to keep them. To do that, he needs this group to be able to meet their mission objectives (and he doesn't dare risk sabotaging that again). And to do that they need to get their act together. It's not their fault that last mission was disorganized and sloppy, it was Jorgmund's for sending a bunch of brand new agents out there with the regulars, with unfamiliar equipment, and having not even met yet.]

[But it's still a problem that needs to be resolved.]

[It'll also be a lot easier to perform to expectations when they're not randomly getting almost-murdered.]

[After the self-executing encrypted code executes (something he won't tell Jorgmund about on the off chance the resistance here is effective enough to actually get them all out, but will keep in his back pocket if needs it) he gathers intel first, quietly lurking and reading.]

[Then he introduces himself like someone who's used to walking into different situations and immediately bossing everyone around, as ones does (if you're a Freelancer, at least). His voice is clipped and a little stiff, but occasionally dips into dry and sardonic.]

I'm Agent Washington. I may have run into some of you on that mission with the aliens...

[A pause.]

From Aliens.

But otherwise I'm new here. I need a sitrep and an overview of your defense plans so I can recommended improvements.

Also, who's in charge here? I know Jorgmund hasn't appointed anyone formally - because I asked - but you had to have made some kind of decision informally.

[Because the alternative is total anarchy and who lives like that??]

Then again, that mission in Pilton was a disaster, so if you haven't chosen a leader internally, why not?

[Look at Judge Judy all up in here.]
tarnishedavenger: (Default)
[personal profile] tarnishedavenger
[Yup. No teenagers allowed in this filter. Mac is only included after a very, very long and intense mental debate. The toys and the Easter Bunny, as odd as they are, are also in on it.]

So, I've been thinking. Jorgmund's doing a... job of getting everyone some sort of physical training, and there's some of us who don't mind getting a little bit of an extra hand. But we're going to be here for longer than I think any one of us anticipated.

One of the things Jorgmund isn't touching on, though, is education for anything that doesn't apply to missions. Some of these kids and, yes, some of the adults, have serious knowledge gaps.

This is going to be an unpopular idea for some of them, but I think they, and we, would benefit from setting up some sort of lesson plan, get some schooling going. Obviously not history or anything tied so closely to our worlds, but universal things like physics, math, computer skills, locksmithing, other things that could serve them later.

Any opinions? I should probably say that I'm not the most experienced when working with and educating young teens, my only experience is a few guest talks and 'field trips' with the kids at the Ravenswood Academy (I don't think Rowan's desire for secrecy there applies when there's no one from my world here) and Generation VIPER.
tarnishedavenger: (Default)
[personal profile] tarnishedavenger
I didn't exactly get a good count before we snapped back. Is everyone who went on that mission here? Are we missing anyone? Have you, personally, laid eyes on them?

I already know Ms. Green's been missing for a little while. Management simply says that she's been 'transferred', which sounds better than being 'let go.'
rootinest: (002)
[personal profile] rootinest
[It's taken some time for him to sit down and actually try this because every instinct he has is screaming at him that it's not allowed. The rules toys follow aren't just something they choose to follow, they're instinct. Instinct they can fight, certainly - like when he and Sid's toys had scared Sid - but instinct nevertheless.]

[But this is a special circumstance and maybe Buzz has the right idea. One of the big people had been nice to him, sabotaging his back switch so it didn't actually change anything when switched to demo mode.]

[This situation is so much bigger than them, bigger than any other chaotic situation they've ever faced, bigger even than their little prison break at Sunnyside. What's an escape from a daycare compared to an otherdimensional...whatever? A place where magical shock devices have been put inside them and now they're being expected to, what, go on missions? His only job is being huggable and good for playing pretend. How that's supposed to translate to "missions" is beyond him.]

[In any case, it's so big that maybe he and Buzz need a little help from the big people. Or at least for them to know the two toys hanging around are actually alive.]

[But that doesn't mean it's easy to talk to them. He decides to do it first over text. And decides to maybe test the waters a little instead of launching right into "Hi I'm woody, I'm a talking rag doll."]

[The comm is almost as big as he is, so he has to rely on the voice-to-text to type anything because it's so much work hitting all the buttons.]

Hi. Hello. So.

How nonhuman would someone have to be for you all to think they were too weird for you to want to deal with? Asking for a friend.
tarnishedavenger: (04)
[personal profile] tarnishedavenger
For those of you who couldn't complete the last puzzle, I've asked around. The staff has offered me enough baking soda and soap for everyone. Alia's volunteered to make a heated tub using scraps from the machine shop. We're going to set things up in the shower areas.

We should have everything set up in half an hour or so. When that happens, just gather up.


[Please do that. Now. He rarely has a reason to hate his enhanced senses, but you guys are really, really giving him reason today.]

I'm told that the tub will only fit two people at a time, so it'll take a while. Don't just shower, that makes the smell worse. Soak in the mix for about fifteen minutes, then shower. And if you hang out in your rooms, the smell might linger in there.

The staff has asked me to pass on a request that you stay in the New Hire areas and out of any of our shared spaces, such as the cafeteria or the library, until this is handled.
wheyoftheadept: (Default)
[personal profile] wheyoftheadept
[Anon text, under the name "Quaestor."]

Hey. I can't be the only person who didn't give my full attention to the briefing when I got here; since some information has been recieved recently via a local source about what exactly the fuck is happening in this place, I thought I would compile what I learned here, and people could chime in? Just seems sensible to swap notes; not on our secret squirrel shit but in the general "what is happening and why is it happening to us?" sense.

Locked because my source wasn't supposed to be talking to me about some of these things.

In bullet points, what I've learned:

Read more... )

Sorry if this is old news or difficult to understand. I'm not great at organizing my thoughts, and I figured even if a lot of people know this already, this could be a place to start figuring out what this place's deal is. I have some experience being forcibly bounced around different realities, and the local rules and politics always end up more important than you'd think.

Sorry about the cat.

[So far, everything has gone smoothly, except. Right here, at the bottom. There's a little animated gif of a startled cartoon cat that keeps jumping and rolling backwards, in an endless loop. If she tries to delete it, the program crashes.]

[video]

May. 7th, 2020 02:06 am
greyaria: (047)
[personal profile] greyaria
[Emily isn't wearing the ugly blue jumpsuit. She is instead wearing ugly blue scrubs, and judging by the background, she's in the Infirmary. And she's smiling. Emily is always. Smiling.]

Is there anyone out there with an injury or chronic medical condition that was untreatable in your home universe? I have robotics lab and medical access now. Come on by and we'll see about sorting that out! Or just come by for a checkup! I don't discriminate!

[She should probably set expectations properly, huh? Her good cheer goes from disconcerting to almost normal as she adds her caveat.]

The equipment is, hmm, vintage and I don't promise I can fix everything, especially if your biochemistry is out there compared to humans, but it seems like I'm from the future [she makes wiggly finger gestures, which are apparently supposed to signal...something] relative to quite a few of you, so that's an extra few centuries of medical knowledge. Might as well put it to good use!
tarnishedavenger: (Default)
[personal profile] tarnishedavenger
I'm noticing a few of you are having trouble with Planker's combat training. And, all due respect to Lubitsch, but he's a little too distracted and has too little time with us to do more than give pointers.

[That's about as close as Armstrong's going to come to saying that he thinks Lubitsch is about as useful as tits on a bull.]

With that in mind, I'm willing to teach some of you.

Read more... )
partiallysquirrelblood: (Default)
[personal profile] partiallysquirrelblood
Hey pals, Doreen here. I noticed a little confusion about some parts of the situation? Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of confusion to go around, but in this case, I think at least a few of us know what's going on? We just thought everyone else had figured it out by this point.

Sorry about that, but I'm going to try to make up for it.

[She picks up one of the paper plates.]

Pretend this is the world we're on.

[She puts the plate on the table, moving the camera around so it's facing it.]

Now, if anything we've told about this place is true, this is probably Earth.

Robbie and I? We're from Earth. [Another plate on the table.]

Sticky Ben? Yep, Earth. [Third plate on the table.]

Phosphophyllite, Armstrong, Kevin, Gadget? Earth, Earth, Earth, Earth. And another bunch of Earths for most of the rest of us, too. <[Plates just go all over the table.]

I know some of you are from other worlds. They're important, they're where you live, after all, but they're not super-relevant to my point right now. You might want to pay attention just in case, though.

Now, you're thinking, dang, Doreen, that's a lot of people from Earth. You might be wondering why I used so many plates if we're all from the same place.

The thing is while we might all be from Earth, we're not all from the same Earth. Hence all the plates.

See, everything, Earth, the sun, the stars, and other planets? They occupy a thing called the universe. But? There's more than one universe. Universes where life didn't develop, where it developed differently, where the laws of physics have ceased to make any sort of sense, where none of us have powers, where all of us have powers, where our moralities have been entirely flipped, where you decided not to have that donut last week...etcetera.

And in each of them, Earth, or whatever planet you're from, does or doesn't exist. This is what we call a multiverse. And in some cases, it's possible to visit or even be stuck in one of these alternate universes. Which is pretty much what happened here.

I hoped that cleared some things up. If it didn't, I'll try to answer any questions you have. Can't promise I'll be able to answer all of them, though. I'm not an expert in multiverse theory or anything, this is basically just stuff you pick up when you become a superhero.
tarnishedavenger: (08)
[personal profile] tarnishedavenger
[During a lull in the party, Armstrong taps out a quick message to the network. Not that private one, he doesn't trust it. They can answer whenever they like, so long as he gets an answer. The trick would be wording it.]

So, we're all in this for now. You've had your welcome cake, but you can't meet everyone in a party, no matter how hard you try. But, since we've all been encouraged to sign up with Jorgmund, I figured now would be a good time to get some introductions done. Talk about any specialties we might have.

Share information that we feel comfortable sharing. This isn't to pressure anyone or to force out any dark secrets.

[Not where watchful eyes can see, at least.]

Besides, I prefer doing this to making a cute information sharing game.

So, please, make your own threads within this post to keep everything organized.
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