RWBYFanon v5
RPG World of Remnant => Everywhere Else => Topic started by: MAK_Zou on August 04, 2019, 02:00:25 AM
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A few kilometers outside of Atlas stood a sheer cliff. As cliffs go, it was pretty standard. Lots of rock, grass on the top, dust and rubble at the bottom.
The cliff face itself may have garnered slightly more interest, as if one were to stand at a distance and squint, the outcroppings could almost look like a dog. So long as the dog's ears were different shapes and it was missing a leg.
There was in fact, exactly one thing of note about this cliff, and that was the metal door situated roughly in the middle, at the bottom. One would be forgiven for not noticing the door however, as it was right behind a large helipad, and surrounded by small outposts and hastily constructed walls.
There were only three ways that someone would have been able to see the door.
First, they could arrive by Bulwark.
Second, the could break through the walls and outposts.
Third, they could jump off the edge of the cliff and maybe catch a glimpse of it in the split second before they went splat.
Were somebody to have taken option three at this very moment, they might also be lucky enough to have seen Janken Wigheard walk through that door, followed by his assistant and two security personnel.
Janken wasn't exactly what you'd call 'orthodox'. He looked to be somewhere in his mid-fourties, wore a denim jacket covered in patches for various punk, and metal bands, as well as custom stitching for one classical orchestra. He matched his jacket with denim jeans, and switched things up a bit by wearing sneakers with no socks.
All of this was swaddled within a lab coat that was just a little bit too big for him.
If one were to be incredibly lame, they might refer to his overall appearance as 'zany'.
Janken stood with his left hand in his lab coat pocket, and his right hand at his side, staring up at the sky with his electric blue eyes.
It wasn't long before a blast of wind blasted his unkempt hair, somehow managing to make it look a little bit neater.
From over the top of the cliff, a Bulwark dropped into view, slowing it's descent down toward the helipad.
Janken grinned. It had been so long, but now the first steps were finally being taken. The testers were arriving.
The Bulwark came to a stop, and out stepped the four he had selected from the many applicants.
The first that caught his eye was the blonde girl in armour. Helmet clanking against her waist audibly over the sound of the Bulwark powering down.
The second was the rather petite cat Faunus. Contrary to the previous girl, the way she moved gave Jankin the impression that even without the Bulwark to cover the sound, she'd have gone completely unheard.
The third was the girl in the strikingly blue clothing, and made Janken wonder how he'd not seen her immediately.
The last was a guy who, despite his well toned shape, struck Janken as quite an average looking fellow.
'Looks,' Janken thought to himself, 'are most often deceiving.'
Janken raised his arms in welcome to them, beaming.
"Greetings all! I trust your flight over was a smooth and pleasant one?"
-
Nathan had immediately submitted an application when he'd seen the ad. There was no way he was passing up on something so good and, quite frankly, more out there than anything he'd ever done and managed to remember. Maybe that one time where he lucid dreamed, but if this was gonna be as good as he thought, lucid dreaming was a pebble next to this mountain.
Speaking of mountain, the last thing he saw out the window before landing was the ocean. Surprisingly, not frozen over, not even partially. He'd always been told Atlas/Mantle was literally the most unbelievably frigid place on the planet, but the tufts of grass he'd noticed when they went over a cliff at low altitude made him think his winter coat might've been too much for the occasion. Maybe long sleeves and a windbreaker would've sufficed. Hell, even the windbreaker could've been enough.
His suspicions were confirmed when he stepped out of the Bulwark onto the landing pad. His thoughts, however, immediately went to some far more important things, namely 1) that guy wore a denim jacket, which was cool 2) his lab coat was unbuttoned, sign of a less strict hierarchy (probably) 3) the actual facility seemed to be beyond the walls of the cliff. Why 3) was, Nathan did not know; maybe it required no external light, or maybe it was confidential enough to merit an artificial cave, or cave network, instead of a building. Maybe none of those reasons were correct, or maybe they all were. Who knew? Most probably, the guy who welcomed the four testers with enough joy to warm up the already warm exhaust's vicinity.
Out of reflex, Nathan answered "Yes, sir!", though in an informal tone. Years of hammering politeness into his head had paid off.
-
Clara was, admittedly, skeptical when she first read the advertisement. Quite frankly, it sounded like something straight out of a bad sci-fi movie. But, after verifying that it was legit, she couldn't help her curiosity and signed up as soon as she was able. After all, considering how complex the mind was, being able to literally explore it could provide incredibly fascinating insight!
There were a few things that she was curious about, though. Why did the researchers need people with unlocked aura? Why did they need to be unconnected to each other? And why was there so much security if they were advertising to the public? After all, if they could invest this much money into a high security facility, couldn't they just hire Atlesian Specialists to do the work for them? Clara couldn't help but have a few suspicions as to the true nature of this research. Perhaps her brother was rubbing off on her?
Regardless, after being safely delivered to the research site, she was pleasantly surprised to see they weren't greeted by hundreds of armed guards, but instead by a very...eccentric-looking man (albeit still with some security).
As the man in front gave his greetings, Clara responded with a polite bow, "Indeed. My name is Clara Meridiem, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."
-
Isabelle surveyed their surroundings as the group stepped off of the airship. The cool breeze immediately gave her a chill, her standard combat outfit just barely dense enough for the weather here. She folded her arms together, clutching them close to her body while she peered around. This environment reminded her of a couple of missions she had taken part in prior to this one, though the nature of those operations had been entirely different. This job seemed unlike anything she had ever heard of. Taking part in the testing of a new technology didn't sound like something she would be particularly good at-- she could barely even operate her own scroll-- but reading over the requirements several times had been enough to settle her mind. Nearly any student at Beacon could potentially qualify for this, save for when it came to the "positive attitude" bit. That was another attribute about herself where she had some doubts... Up until she realized that questioning it was setting herself up for failure. No, that was no good. She would take the mission, and she would do a damn good job.
'Positivity.'
Perhaps Belle should have been a little more cautious about taking on a task so foreign to her, with so little information provided. Despite the number of worries that clawed at the back of her mind, she had firmly decided that she couldn't let her unrelenting anxiety continue to act as a roadblock. Not anymore.
Their group was soon greeted by the eccentric-looking fellow that had presumably been the one that invited them here. Isabelle turned to face forward again, taking in the sight of him. Definitely a far cry from what she had been expecting, but not nearly enough to alarm her. If anything, his unorthodox appearance made her feel more welcome, as odd as that was. In response to his greeting, she gave a small wave before nodding along with his line of questioning. A moment later, she watched as Clara introduced herself. Suddenly, she wondered if she should have properly introduced herself as well, but now it was too late. Or was it? Her mind danced back and forth between the options before settling on 'do nothing'. Yeah. That was fine too.
-
Abigail had seen the advert entirely by accident. Having been scanning the area, the near illegible colour of the advert had offended her eyes enough that with what words she had worked out, she was intrigued enough to go up to it and actually read it. Intrigued by the prospect, Abigail had signed up for it. Now however, she was regretting wearing her armour or going to somewhere cold enough that the plates ached to touch. Helmet off as she looked over Diligence & Vigilance to ensure they were ready. A glance out the window would've alerted her that they were nearing the landing pad, then a glance at the others who were accepted. A flash of concern crossed her face at the lone faunus, though it vanished when the line about positive attitudes from the ad came back to her.
As the doors opened and disgorged the four of them, Abigail made sure her shield was strapped to her right arm, sword was in its sheath, and her helmet was firmly attached. Of course, the fact that they were heading towards the main objective so to speak, caused Lietmotif to activate, the sounds of cellos and violins ominously playing as her face showed some embarrassment as she quickly succumbed to the cold winds. Reaching up with her left hand, she'd go to move and keep her hair in place over her left ear to keep it from freezing off, or at least feeling like it would. Silence, other than the unhelped and uncontrolled music, was all that she gave to the introductions. Not out of rudeness, but out of the fact she could barely hear over the wind, music and having one ear closed off.
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Janken lowered his hands, placing them on his hips with frankly unnecessary gusto.
"Excellent! And love the enthusiasm!" he stated to Nathan, before turning to his assistant.
"Why don't you ever call me sir? I am in charge here."
His assistant tutted and rolled her eyes.
"I promise, the day you learn to tie your shoelaces without muttering the the process to yourself, I'll consider it" she retorted.
Ignoring her, Janken continued on, speaking now to Clara, and much louder in an attempt to combat the sound of the violins that appeared to be emanating from the armoured girl.
"And a pleasure to meet you too, Clara. No need to be so formal, we like to keep things loose around he- Wow, you weren't joking about the difficulty controlling that, were you?" He finished, turning to Abigail, nearly shouting to be heard over the top of the music, wind, and the last remnants of the Bulwark's engines.
"Not to worry, not enough opportunity to shout in polite company, and it can really be quite fun! You must be Abigail, yes? Pleasure to meet you."
Janken's assistant rolled her eyes again, and checked her watch.
"And that must make you Isabelle, yes? Fantastic. Well, as you may have surmised, I am Janken Wigheard and I run this here little operation. My assistant Christina here put the ad out. I wanted to do it but apparently I'm 'not professional enough' or something ridiculous like that. In any case thank you all for applying. I- what? Ah yes, true enough" Janken was cut off by Christina tapping her watch.
"We'd better be getting a wriggle on then. I'm sure you all will have questions, so why don't we talk as we walk. I'd be happy to answer any and all questions about the project, and once we're inside I'll introduce you to my team. Come along!"
Without waiting for any of the group to reply, Janken was off. Hands in his pockets he walked straight towards the metal door, with his security detail in tow. Christina mouthed "I'm sorry about him", jabbing a thumb in Janken's general direction before gesturing the group to go ahead of her.
-
Nathan listened to the - apparent - project lead, or attempted to do so through music that seemed to emanate from a quite honestly gorgeous blonde test subject. Yes, they were, after all, test subjects.
As he listened, a small shadow of a smile, barely perceptible to an untrained observer, slowly crept across his face. Even though he was still wondering what exactly was in store for them, he couldn't help but take a liking to the disheveled man. In his rather small amount of experience regarding lab workers, the most fun to be around were just like him - positively weird, familiar in speech and just lax enough in regulations to allow for a friendly atmosphere without jeopardizing the experiments' results.
As soon as the man walked off, Nathan followed, albeit he didn't close the gap and merely kept the same distance. This felt like it was gonna be fun.
-
Trying to listen over the invisible instruments, Clara simply responded to Dr. Wigheard's suggestion with a polite smile and nod. She's not really the type to shout, and while uncontrollable music might be a minor, momentary nuisance, she couldn't possibly imagine the struggle of having it follow you where ever one went. Clara wonders if it has done anything to Abigail's patience, considering she has to live with it for her entire life.
In any case, despite the doctor's disarming attitude and appearance, Clara still had a few concerns she'd like addressed. "I do have a few questions, actually," she addressed Dr. Wigheard as the group began moving into the facility. "First of all, why is there so much secrecy? I'm pretty sure the only way to get here safely is through the air, does this project really need that much security? And, if it does, why did you put out a public ad? I can't really find any logical reasoning for that, wouldn't it have made more sense just to hire specialists or use someone more local? Quite frankly, it looks like you'd have the funding for it."
She has a few other concerns as well, but rather than unload all of her questions at once, she decides to give the doctor and his assistant a chance to explain. Perhaps everything will be explained while they're guided through the facility. Or maybe this is all a government conspiracy, and the four of them will have to fight their way out while stopping a maniacal plan to take over the world. Eventually, they'll be overwhelmed, and Clara will have to detonate all the dust in her staff with her semblance, sending literally everything sky high. There would be no survivors, but they'd all go out in a blaze of glory. Truly, a noble sacrifice for the sake of the world.
Focus. Mission, her mind scolds, snapping her out of her delusions and bringing her attention back to the task at hand.
-
The door opened and the group walked through. Inside was a rather beaten looking metal corridor. Some of the lights flickered as if struggling for life, while others shone so bright it was as if they were sapping the light from the others. The walls looked old, too. Certainly sturdy; they could take a hell of a beating yet... However, the paint had long since peeled off, there were cracks here and there, and about a third of the way through the wall almost looked like it was bending inwards. It would have been hard to say for sure without a ruler, or a level.
The facility may have been built to last, but clearly that was a while ago. It likely would not pass an official inspection nowadays.
Seemingly in defiance of this cold, militaristic style, someone had rolled a rug across the entrance and placed a welcome mat right at the door.
The rug barely reached half way, and the mat read "H me Swe t Hom " but it was better than nothing.
Janken wiped his feet on the mat as he passed through, turning his head to face Clara as he walked.
"Ahh, good questions indeed! Not what I expected to be first and foremost on your minds, but then again, Huntsman and Huntresses in training should always be on the lookout for possible danger, eh?"
Janken spun around to face Clara entirely, now walking backwards with his hands in his pockets. He gave the impression that he might have thought this act to be somewhat nonchalant and cool. Christina and the security team, however, gave the impression that they hadn't noticed and didn't care. Nor did they wipe their feet on the mat as they passed.
"Well, as to the secrecy... that's more accidental than anything else. We're all more than happy to discuss our research and development here. We didn't think to broadcast in too much detail, lest another team take up our ideas and finish before we do. We may be trying to help people, but we do also need to eat, and there's not much money in coming second place. Also because we figured that most applicants wouldn't be interested in all the sciencey mumbo jumbo."
Janken turned back to face forward as they neared the end of the corridor. He flashed his ID to a scanner, which opened up into a rather large elevator. He stepped inside while the two security personnel took place either side of the elevator.
"The security, however, has been an issue. Not because of other people, mind you. Our tests are, as I'm sure you've already gathered, very involved with people's mental state. The end goal might be improved ability to help people overcome things like fear and trauma, but we're not quite there yet. In fact, in the earlier stages of development, we made a few missteps resulting in full blown panic attacks over things as minor as dropping food on the floor. As again, I'm sure you're all aware, this kind of negativity is something of an invitation to the Grimm.
We weren't at dangerous levels or anything, but... well, the Kingdom of Atlas wasn't thrilled with the idea of our research adding any strain to the Kingdom's defenses, and that may well be a reasonable concern. You'll understand once you see how the devices we're developing work.
Anywho, that's what the security is for. Also partly why we wanted combat trained testers. We'd have hired actual Hunstmen, or Atlesian specialists, but our budget is already stretched pretty thin just from hiring this place from the Atlesian military. Tight buggers weren't even using it, as you can probably tell.
Anyway, rent costs and refitting and hiring our own security to make sure we don't get killed left little in the way of research funds to pay the full asking rates of fully trained professionals. Public ad for science tests are a lot cheaper, even with all the freebies and transport costs covered. Plus, a lot of them come with baggage from the job, which would only add to the strain on our defenses here."
Janken finished his lengthy explanation, and simply stood in silence, watching the group from within the elevator. After a moment of silence he clicked his tongue.
"Right, well, pile on in. It might be a bit squishy, but we should all fit. Any more questions?"
He leaned against the back wall of the elevator. Once again, he gave off the impression that he seemed to this this behavior was 'cool'
-
As the introductions were done and the eccentric individual had started back inside, the music died down as the tension broke. Her own awkwardness leaving with it, she'd follow silently to let everyone else do the speaking and just relax into listening in to the explanations for the questions. Admittedly, she didn't have any questions, only what they wanted her to do.
That said, she didn't know any of these people. And while it's not as bad for them as it is for the teammates waking up to the sound of horror movie theme song's blasting through the rooms at 3am because of a nightmare. Giving a quick "I apologise for the inconvenience."
As the Doctor finished up and they all had to get in an elevator, she would step inside and bring her equipment as close to herself as possible so people could squeeze in. Though she did have a question pop to her mind. "Have there been any incidents involving the Grimm on the location? Should we keep our gear with us, or put it in storage somewhere to get back later?" After that, she'd adjust the straps on her shield, not wanting them too tight until they had recovered from the cold of the outside world.
-
Janken, reaching over the top of the group, grabbed a pen from Christina's pocket, accidentally bumping Nathan on the head as he did so.
"Bugger, sorry about that Nate.
No, we've not had massive problems with Grimm. At least, none that our security and those shoddy walls you saw earlier couldn't handle. But-"
Janken reached over the group again, pen in his hand, and accidentally caught the clicky bit in Isabelle's human ear as he reached for the elevator buttons, which the pen tip just barely reached. He pressed the button for the bottom floor.
"Dammit! Sorry again. I'll get someone to bring you a cookie from the staff lounge."
"Jank, why didn't you just ask Clara to push the button? She's right there" Christina sighed
"Because that would have been incredibly boring, and I like to press buttons.
But yeah, we've only done surface level dives into the mind. We've run into a few roadblocks that required people with combat experience to allow us to move forward, and we anticipate that the deeper we dive into the subconscious, the greater the attraction from the Grimm. Once again, explaining it might take a while. Happy to do it, lord knows my voice is fun to listen to, but throat gets sore you know? Need water after a while. Hopefully it'll make more sense when you see what we've developed so far. Nearly there!"
Reaching back over everyone's heads, Janken attempted to place the pen in a different pocket than the one he pulled it out of. Chrisina crossed her arms, giving Janken a challenging stare. A silent bet had been made, and Janken wasn't going to lose.
He place the pen in the pocket without any issue, and managed to get his hand back to his side without bumping anyone else. Having clearly won the bet Janken allowed himself a fist pump of victory, elbowing Vigilance rather hard.
"Argh bugger me. Funny bone" He exclaimed, rubbing his elbow. Christina turned her head and struggled to suppress a chuckle
-
'I'm more concerned about this facility falling apart on its own than the possibility of Grimm.'
She didn't say it aloud to the researchers to avoid being rude, though it wouldn't be too hard to read Isabelle's thoughts on her bothered expression. This type of structure was not entirely foreign to her, but as she looked around the interior, she couldn't help but be a little worried by its decrepit state. It was probably sturdy enough if these people were willing to work here... Then again, they didn't exactly seem like an ordinary bunch. As they all stepped into the elevator, she made a mental note to keep an ear out for anything that sounded like failing structural integrity.
Instead of any sounds of that sort, the only thing Isabelle heard was a pen clicking against the inside of her ear as she was accidentally jabbed with it. The girl let out a quiet "Oop," out of surprise, reeling back a tiny bit before her mind registered what exactly had happened. Before she could even offer up some kind of acceptance of his apology, he had moved on to something else. Once again, Isabelle returned to standing in silence, just listening to his response. That pen incident had been such a brief and odd exchange, but at least it had been enough to distract her from her own thoughts.
Isabelle didn't really have any questions other than what flavor that cookie was supposed to be.
-
Janken kept nursing his elbow for a bit, whilst making exaggerated facial expressions of sadness and pain at Christina.
Christina suppressed another chuckle and opted instead to roll her eyes at Janken.
"If you keep that up I'm gonna smack your other elbow"
Janken straightened up, hands clasped politely in front of him, and started looking around the elevator to avoid Christina's gaze. To this, also, she rolled her eyes. If this was the regular conduct in this place, it was a wonder that Christina's eyes hadn't rolled right out of her head.
The elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened up to a large area that was much better maintained than the corridor they entered through
"It was a long journey, but through the genius and masterful navigational skills of their leader, Janken Wigheard, the group managed to make it to the lab." Janken said, in overly done imitation of a narrator as they stepped out of the elevator.
"He does this just about every time." Christina whispered to the group.
The room, as mentioned, was rather large. It was also filled with technical looking machinery and monitoring equipment.
There was a lot to look at in the room, and it would be hard to predict what would be the first thing to catch a visitor's eye.
It could have been the vastness of the room itself, a marvel considering they were deep under a mountain.
Perhaps it might have been the two sections walled off, making two smaller rooms with glass windows. One appeared to be a staff lounge, while the other appeared to be a medical bay.
It may have even been the other room, further to the back, filled with what looked like floating streams of dust swirling around.
Though Janken himself could never stop the habit of glancing over at the weird looking chairs whenever he entered.
There were ten of them in a circle, right out the front of the dust room. They were in the style of a reclining seat, however they were rigid and certainly not going to change position. Each one had an IV drip and other medical equipment sitting right next to it, with vital monitoring machines off to the side. One of them also had a large control panel next to it.
Janken turned away from the seats, and to the first member of staff who passed.
"Manfred! Manny-Wanny, Manny-Moo, could I trouble you to grab Jane, Wilson, Dave, and Grace for me? And also a plate of cookies for the testers on your way back."
"Yeah no worries. Back in a jiff."
"Marvelous. So!" Janken turned to face the testers. "This is where we'll be running the tests. Feel free to look around, have a peek at what's going on. Ask me or my staff any questions while we wait for my associates, and of course, the cookies. Just don't fiddle with the machines. They're doing important stuff, and if they bugger up during the test then we could have a cascade of issues. Seeing as it's my head you'll be running around inside of, I'm not too keen on having a cascade of issues."
-
Nathan was thankful that the music had stopped - or rather, lowered in volume, since he didn't really mind the music that much - since it made it that much easier to listen to the questions being asked by the others. Which, honestly, were all good questions.
While listening to the answers, he chose to mimic the somewhat aloof man and briefly wiped his feet as well. It was there, might as well use it. Though as he looked at him, answering while walking backwards, he felt like... like he was putting effort into this behaviour. Maybe, Nathan was anything but a good judge of character. Still, with the answers he was hearing, it made sense - it might indeed be close to his real personality, but the additional acts may be to nurture the relaxed nature of the environment. No harm will come to you and that kinda stuff, promote a relatively good state of mind for the ensuing tests. Maybe.
He walked into the elevator and stationed himself right besides the, uh, project lead. Of course, he wasn't able to lay his back flat against the wall, instead having to be at a slight angle to accommodate for Ergia in its harness. This didn't mean he was able to avoid the lab-coat clad arm as it bumped against his head. He smiled a kind smile at the man's apology, mildly enjoying his antics. Although, if he really did intend to be the one pressing the button, it was poor planning on his part to post himself at the very back of the elevator. All in all, though, what he'd heard had only made him more curious about the very project, its advancements and its inner workings. Still, as he stepped out of the elevator, he wasn't convinced that part of what he'd seen wasn't an act designed to make participants feel more secure and relaxed. Though now, with the man's self-narration, hw knew his full name - possibly a fake one, but at least he had something to call him.
However, this line of though halted when the lab proper came within sight. Several things came to mind, such as 'why do you need such a ridiculously large room for ten bizarre chairs' until he remembered it was a repurposed place, as well as 'what's that at the back, I wanna see, I really wanna see'. The chairs, at least, he could tell would probably be used to explore the mind in some way, judging by the varied technological apparatuses strapped, wired or screwed to them and the IV drip that came alongside each of the pieces of furniture.
The first thing he did after Janken finished speaking was slowly move forward with his hands clasped behind his back, intently dissecting the machinery and the room in the back with his eyes. He didn't move much, though, and patiently - and politely - waited for somebody to come to him, at which time he'd assault the poor sod with a flurry of questions.
-
Clara was somewhat relieved to hear that the secrecy and security were at least somewhat warranted. It made sense that the research team would need something to protect them from the Grimm, especially if this project had tendencies to increase negativity levels. And, well, it seemed her comment about the budget had came too soon. It only looked fancy from the outside; from the inside the place looked fairly dilapidated, to say the least. Between the peeled paint, the not-quite-even walls, and the flickering lights, Clara was somewhat glad that bringing up money didn't earn the doctor's ire.
As they reached the end of the hallway and started piling into the elevator, Clara found herself next to the control panel. She was about to ask which floor they were going to, only to find Dr. Janken awkwardly trying to reach out with a pen to push the button himself. Too stunned to actually say anything, Clara did her best to keep her and Torchlight, her staff, out of the way of the doctor's clumsy rampage. After watching his interaction with his assistant, Clara cocked her head to the side in bewilderment. Is this guy really the lead researcher?
As the elevator doors opened and Janken gave his narration, Clara gave a slightly concerned, "I see," to Christina as she explained his...shenanigans. However, her expression changed to wonder as she saw the vast room before them. Between all the technological doo-dads and whats-its, she really didn't know what to look at first. However, the thing that finally caught her eye was the stream of dust floating around in one of the back rooms. Fascinated, Clara began absentmindedly making her way towards it, asking aloud, "What's back there?"
-
As Nathan walked around and inspected the room, a rather small mouse Faunus with tousled brown hair and large ears looked up from one of the machines she was analyzing. Seeing the questions forming behind his eyes as he eyed various aspects of his surroundings, she quickly finished what she was doing with the machine and approached Nathan.
"Hey! Having a quick squiz, I see?"
Meanwhile, as Clara made her way towards the room full of dust streams, Christina followed her over, sensing Clara was about to ask pretty much the only question one would think to ask upon seeing it.
"What's back there?"
Yup. That was the one.
Christina approached Clara, stopping right beside her.
"That is one of the more vital parts of our current setup. An old military training module that was in development ages ago. Never made it to mass production due to being too fiddly to operate properly, and a few mishaps lead to some unwanted medical conditions. That dust in there? That's all carbon dust of varying densities. If you look riiight up the back there, those glinting pieces are diamonds. Overall, not exactly safe on the lungs.
Don't worry though, we've made some modifications to it, so breathing in carbon dust would be nigh impossible.
We've not got a name for it yet, so if you think of anything let us know. Otherwise we're going to have to go with Janken's suggestion and I do not want us to reach that level of desperation."
Christina had a brief look around checking to see if anyone else was listening to her explanation.
-
Nathan was rather glad to see the small Faunus come over as quickly as he did, albeit he had absolutely no idea what a squiz was. Sightsee? Quiz? A combination? Add it to the list of questions. For now, he listened to the answer to Clara's - yes, he remembered names - question from one ear while directing his attention to his newfound conversation partner.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I was wondering how the chairs worked exactly, or at least the principle behind them, what's in the IVs and the function and mechanism of the carbon dust storm at the back." Although the questions had been asked in a calm and relaxed tone, the throughput of words was a bit higher than one could've expected from such a tone. A keen observer could've deduced, from the slight widening of Nathan's eyes, the sheer amount of the genuine passion and excitement he felt at discussing technology with an expert.
-
As they entered the main entrance, Abigail would make an active effort to try and not be overwhelmed by the sight of everything, not wanting to bring back the unwanted noises. That, and she had little to no clue as to what the machinery all did, and her interest wasn't towards Technology to such a degree. Instead, she'd just head over to the chairs and go to unclip her helmet from her side and stare at it, letting the other questions be asked before raising her voice to ask "Will I be able to wear headgear while we do this mission? Or will we need to wear something which would make that impossible?"
After the question, Abigail would put it to the side as she pulled her shield onto her lap, then place the helmet atop it. Making sure there were no dents or damage to either, it also served to keep her relaxed in the situation, still feeling rather red about the earlier explosion of sound around a bunch of strangers she'll have to work with for the next however long.
-
Isabelle had her eyes on the odd chairs after they entered the large room. Never had she seen such an apparatus, let alone use anything of the sort. From the way they described it, it would be as easy as sitting down in it, and then they would be inside... However that worked. As she continued to peer around the spacious area, it quickly occured to her that she could hardly name a single object in the room. She would have plenty of questions to ask... if she had any idea where to start. By the time Abigail had asked one of her own, she had thought of something that was at least relevant to their mission.
"If I may ask... How long should we expect to be, uh, hooked up to these machines?" It certainly wasn't the most articulate way she could have phrased it, but it was about the best she could do with her lack of knowledge.
-
The mouse faunus ruffled the hair on the back of her head.
"Well, the function of all of them put together is to create a space in which one can directly interact with a person's psyche." She stated, her speech rather accelerated. She had her hands clasped in front of her, and she was looking around at various parts of their setup.
"This thing is cobbled together in such a makeshift way that trying to explain what any one part of it is for on its own can be a bit difficult. Oh, but don't worry! We've run enough tests to know that it works. At least, with small things it works."
She continued looking at different parts of the lab, trying to decide which part of Nathan's question to start with.
"Okay, well the chairs themselves work by sitting there and not falling over. The principle behind them is comfort. It's the IV drips and the carbon storm there that are the real humdingers. The IV drips are there because you may be there a while, and you'll be unconscious. Well, that's not quite right, but for now, let's just say unconscious. So yeah, if you're there for a long enough amount of time, the IVs and all the other machinery are just to monitor you for any problems, and to make sure you don't wake up dehydrated if it looks like you'll be there for too long. That control panel looking thing over there, that's for Wilson. Janken wanted to do a big dramatic introduction for you guys, so I won't spoil it for him and say what Wilson does just yet, but that's there for him.
The carbon room... that's a bit more difficult. To keep things simple for now, that room is basically going to simulate Janken's mind once we hook him up, and you guys will be going in there... sort of anyway... and you'll be messing around with stuff in there to sort of run a stress test of the system. I'd love to go into more detail, but Janken's spent the last couple of weeks preparing this big bombastic and dramatic speech to give you guys about it, and it's the most excited I've seen him since we managed to get the thing running in the first place." She finished her explanation, and looked around, trying to see if she forgot to mention something. She seemed satisfied she got everything.
Janken had made his way over to the chairs to wait for Jane, Wilson, Dave, and Grace.
"Whatever's most comfortable for you, really. We'll need access to one of your arms so we can monitor your heart rate and such, but no fuss with the headgear. Looks pretty sweet by the way! I wanted to be a knight in a castle when I was a kid. I wanted to fight dragons and stuff." Janken responded to Abigail, miming vaguely as if he was waving a sword around. It was evident he'd never even touched a sword in his life.
"Gave up that dream when I realized that Grimm dragons don't hoard treasure or speak in funny rhymes and riddles like the fairy tale ones do. Nor to they perch on or in castles... unless they're taking a moment's respite from pulling the towers off of said castle."
While Janken was busy waving his pretend sword around Christina answered Isabelle's question, while still standing next to Clara.
"We're... not 100% sure, if we're honest. Maybe about 70%. We're expecting no more than five or six hours at most. We've only ever delved so far, you see... so for what we're looking at doing with this test we're working on a lot of empty holes in our data. But you guys might be in there longer, too. Those IV drips are there to make sure that if something goes wacky and you lot are there for much longer, there won't be any adverse side effects like dehydration or anything like that. If it starts looking like you'll be in there for a lot longer than we expected, we'll check with you and pull out anyone who needs or wants to go."
Just as Christina finished talking, the elevator doors opened, and out stepped five people.
The first was a woman. She was clearly a Huntress judging by her attire and how she carried herself. She had a rippling cloak with an almost ethereal look to it, and straps all across her body with attachments for various pouches and holsters. Most were empty though, and she didn't have a weapon with her.
The second was a sort of seedy looking guy. He was in a ratty hoodie, cargo pants, and sneakers. He walked with a hunch and his hands in his pockets, giving off the impression that he'd respond politely you spoke to him, but he'd really prefer you didn't.
The third was a man in plain clothes and looked like he'd just come from the city himself. Smart-casual and relaxed.
The fourth was a woman who pottered out in pyjamas. It was difficult to tell whether she'd just woken up or was just about to go to bed... or if this was just her normal state of being.
And lastly Manfred, carrying a large plate of... cheese and crackers.
Janken jumped up energetically
"Aha! My associates have arrived! Everyone gather rou- Manfred, where are the cookies?"
"Ahhh, well... I couldn't find em. This is all we had. It's the good cheese, though!"
Janken's arms dropped to his side as he sighed.
"Very well. Pop the plate on the table just there. Feel free to have some cheese and crackers, everyone. I'll see if we can scrounge some cookies for after the test but for now... Manny-boy wasn't lying about that cheese. I'd have blown half our budget on that stuff if Christina hadn't stopped me. Well then, gather round the table everyone, and grab some cheese and crackers, if you like"
-
Nathan intently listened as the Faunus spoke, only briefly distracted by the thought of a Faunus working for Atlas. Not much technical info apart from the IV drips and monitoring equipment, but that was good enough already - besides, he wasn't about to force anyone to spoil things for him. He was patient, he could wait until everyone played their part.
He didn't have the occasion to really be aware of what was being said while he listened to the small-fish woman, but was however aware that something was being said. When she stopped slowly scanning the room and smiled, Nathan understood that that was all for the details - for now, anyway. He courteously thanked her with "Thank you very much for the explanations.", a smile (if you looked hard enough) simultaneously gracing his features. He briefly wondered what her position and/or title was/were before halting his train of thought at the mention of cheese and crackers.
While Janken seemed almost comically disappointed in the lack of sugar, Nathan wasn't one to say no to potentially tasty food. He didn't know what the cheese was, though, which is why he approached 'Manny-boy' to a respectful distance before asking "What kind of cheese is it?", eyeing the small slabs of dairy product on the crackers.
-
Still staring at the floating stream of dust, Clara listened to Christina as she explained the phenomenon. Initially, Clara was equal parts concerned and fascinated at the explanation. On the one hand, she had never even heard of "Carbon Dust", let alone used it, so her curiosity sky-rocketed at the concept of a new, never-before-seen dust type. However, the health-risks that were apparently involved gave her a small bit of apprehension at what the mission might actually be. They weren't actually expected to go in that chamber were they? Christina did say that it was nigh impossible to breathe it in now, but words can only dissuade so many fears.
However, before Clara's concerns could turn into over-rationalizations, she overheard Nathan's conversation with the mouse faunus, and between the extra details and Clara's own logical thought processes, she starts putting the actual pieces together. The first thing she figures out is that the carbon "dust" isn't Dust, but its just actually carbon dust particles. That would explain why the diamonds are there and not dust crystals. Although if she thinks about it, diamonds are a kind of crystal, aren't they? Anyways, from there, a few other pieces start to fall into place: when the faunus mentions simulating Janken's mind in tandem with being hooked up to IV drips and being unconscious on the chairs, Clara starts developing a few ideas in her mind about how the whole process is going to work. Not on a high-technical level, of course, but enough to guess at the processes.
She was about to ask Christina more questions to see if her guesses were correct when the elevator opened once more and five people stepped out. And while people coming and going from the room itself wasn't necessarily odd in and of itself, the appearance of the individuals who stepped out surprised Clara. She was under the impression that the group of students brought in on the bullhead would be the only outsiders on this project, and these people (save for Manfred) didn't look like they were scientists involved in this project. Though, in their defense, Janken didn't really look like a scientist involved with this project, and he's apparently the lead!
Clara gathers with the rest of the group as Janken instructs, tentatively reaching out for some of the cheese and crackers mostly out of politeness than any real hunger.
-
"Hmm." Five or six hours inside of this... thingy. Isabelle wasn't feeling too excited at the prospect. She still tried her best to remain optimistic. At least it sounded safe, to some extent. The option of leaving the test would be available to her. Some of her worries were eased, yet she remained anxious. She continued to inspect the equipment as the elevator opened, only turning around when they started to speak again. There was some slight disappointment felt by her upon hearing that the previously mentioned treats were not coming after all. Surely, the missing cookies were an omen of bad things to come, she joked to herself.
Perfectly fine with the snack that took their place, Isabelle went ahead and helped herself to some of it. Yeah, it was good cheese. Maybe he had talked it up a little, though. "Thank you," she said to the fellow that had brought them food before grabbing another bite. If they were going to be in there for a while, she had to be ready after all.
-
Abigail smiled at Janken as he responded with the anecdote before moving her hair to accommodate for the full plate helmet, and started removing her left arm's armour. Starting with the Gauntlets, the Vambrace and Couter were taken off as well, only to finally after that move her sleeves up to expose the inside of her elbow. Being halfway to just relaxing until the needle arrived, she'd contemplate it for a few seconds before getting back up and leaving her equipment there, though helmet still on so that she didn't have to adjust that again.
Heading over to the table, she'd inspect the cheese and crackers, before taking a single cracker with her ungloved hand and slipping it under the helmet, lifting it just enough to get it in her mouth, before moving her hand away again, "Thank you for the snack." being said in a distracted tone, glancing over the group once again as she tries to identify what styles everyone fought in exclusively by their appearance, which wasn't going well for her.
-
As the group gathered around the table, Janken couldn't hide his exhilaration. He grinned, and jumped up on one of the chairs, so as to look over everyone.
He clapped his hands to get the attention of the rest of his science team and beckoned them over to join the gathering.
"Well now that we're all here, and everything's in place, all that's left before we can begin is to make introductions and give you the general rundown of what we aim to achieve with today's test."
Janken bent down to grab a cracker and some cheese off the plate.
"Mm. Pho, infroducfonf firft... GULP... First cab off the rank is Jane." He gestured towards the Huntress with the cloak.
"Jane is an old friend of mine, and a Huntress with a very unique Semblance. To be honest, I'd very much like to perform some studies on it, but unfortunately the Atlesian government got there first." Janken pulled an exaggerated grumpy face, aimed at Jane. Jane playfully stuck her tongue out in response.
"I heard through the grapevine that they've had some... interesting results, but that's a discussion for another time. Basically, she can safely detach a person's... I guess their soul from their body?" Janken looked quizzically at Jane.
Jane, who picked up on the hint, filled in the blank space Janken had left.
"I won't pretend to be an expert in the science or mysticism behind it, but that's as good an explanation as any. Essentially, once detached, the soul (if indeed that's what it is) creates an ethereal version of the body it left out of Aura. You'll be able to walk, talk, and touch things as per normal. You body will just stay where you left it. Now I'm sure that will bring to mind a lot of questions, such as 'what happens if the Aura in my ethereal form depletes?' or 'what will happen to my ethereal form if my body is hurt?' and the answer to any and all such questions is 'I'd very much prefer to not find out.' Much of the equipment surrounding you is there to specifically make sure that question goes unanswered for today. Janken?"
She offered the metaphorical stage back to the strange head scientist.
"Well, that sums it up nicely. Now, next in line, the man with the hoodie. That'd be Wilson. His Semblance is technopathy. He can control machine with his mind"
Wilson opened his mouth, quite clearly annoyed, but Janken cut him off
"Yes, I know it's more complicated than that, but you use so much jargon that even I fall asleep listening. He controls machines with his mind, end of story." Wilson rolled his eyes and trotted off to take his place in one of the chairs.
"Don't mind him. He's a bit of a grump. This is his community service. Hacked into some pretty important people's scrolls and was found guilty of some... light treason. Anyway, next up is Grace, the sleepy looking girl in pyjamas."
Grace yawned and waved at the group.
"Grace here is a high Telepath. Capable of not just reading minds, but also connecting them, projecting them, and probing the subconscious. Very useful. And don't worry, everyone's got secrets. She's here to connect and project. No reading or probing involved."
"Nnnnnope." Agreed Grace, slurring the N and popping the P.
"And last, but definitely not least, is Dave. Dave here is my shrink. As before mentioned, you'll be running around inside my head. This is the guy who's going to be keeping an eye on things and hopefully making sure that we understand what's actually happening."
"I would just like to state for the record that I don't condone this kind of reckless poking and probing, but seeing as I know Janken's just going to do it anyway, I'm here to make sure he doesn't get himself into too much trouble... again." Dave locked his hands together in front of him, indicating he was done talking.
"Well, that was nice and uplifting. Okay, well, as mentioned before, we're trying to see if we can help people get over things like trauma and such in a more direct way, here. The idea is that if we can interact not with the person, but with their minds, we might be able to help them recover faster. However, in attempting to get funding for our little project, we've hit something of a circular roadblock. We can't get funding to make a device capable of such dives without having proof that it would even work, and we can't prove it works without being capable of making dives.
And so, we've had to improvise, and come up with an absolutely genius solution, if I do say so myself" Janken gave himself a smug grin, and looked at the volunteers.
"Jane was the key to this solution, and being an old friend kindly agreed to help out with the tests for free. Thank you very much, Jane!" Janken bowed, and Jane gave a mocking curtsy.
"Jane here will... look, I'm just going have to say the stupid thing for lack of a better way of putting it. If you are still willing to be a part of our experiment here, Jane will detach your souls, while Grace links all of our minds to Wilson. Wilson will be mentally controlling the room by feeding my unconscious mind into it. Now for the room... It was initially designed as a training tool for Atlas soldiers. The room could be programmed to make a variety of layouts and virtual opponents. That carbon dust swirling around has a bunch of different densities, all the way to the diamonds in the back there. The room controls the dust to create different strengths of stuff. Basically, punch something that's supposed to be a brick wall, and it'll feel like a brick wall. Punch something that's supposed to be a face, it'll... well, probably not feel like a face, but it'll cave in like one anyway. There are also projectors all over the room to project images onto the objects so that they look more or less like what they're supposed to, and not just grey imitations.
Point is, the room couldn't react and reprogram itself based on what the trainees were doing, and humans couldn't program it fast enough. Hence Wilson, who can reprogram it as quick as thinking. Also a bunch of the testers got carbon dust in their lungs which was a problem.... but you lot won't have to deal with that because your physical bodies won't be in there.
So with the room able to create a physical space out of my mind, and you lot able to safely enter without choking to death, we come to the part where I explain why I need combat capable people and... Geez, I need some water"
Janken did not grab any water. He instead stuffed another cracker into his face while one of the scientists got him a glass.
"Gulp.... thank you very much. As I was saying. Combat capable.
So, we've run a few tests before this, and I won't bore you with the details. Just the important stuff.
We found that... Well, let's say for example we plug Manfred into the device, and you're running around Manny's mind. Let's say for the sake of argument that Manny-Boy has a crippling fear of donuts. Should you come across anything that might upset Manny, his mind may manifest some angry donuts that may attack you. This is all funny and silly, but it gets a bit more serious if say, you come across a memory of Grimm, or anything that may cause him to dream up some Grimm." Suddenly, Janken's posture and general demeanor changed. The joviality gone from his face, and his stance was a bit stiffer.
"That's half of why we needed combat trained individuals. I'm personally putting myself at risk being the guinea pig here, but that's because I can't condone using people who may not fully understand the risks. Nor can I condone putting my volunteers at risk any more than is preventable. Just as there's a risk of your ethereal bodies getting hurt in there, there's also the real Grimm outside to worry about. As I mentioned before, previous tests attracted some Grimm attention when we were inside the boundaries of Atlas' protection. This is partly because to the effects of the tests themselves, but also a peculiar side effect of Jane's Semblance. For some reason... which I have my own theories on... the Grimm's sensitivity to negative emotions is heightened by the ethereal bodies. If you think of negative emotions like a Grimm beacon, when you're a detached soul, you'll be attracting Grimm in twice the radius, at double the strength. As you've seen, we have security here, but in the unlikely event of a Grimm breakthrough, I couldn't allow untrained civilians to be put at risk by my experiment. You four, I hope, will at least know how to handle Grimm should the need arise." Janken exhaled deeply, licked his lips, and with a clap of his hands seemed to be back to his normal... well, 'normal' self.
"So, last little thing to mention before we get stuck in, would obviously be what your goal is today. I imagine that would be quite helpful.
We need to prove that diving into the mind like this can actually have some notable effect, so we can get our funding to research a less scrappy way of performing the dives, so we can get funding to research possible psychological applications of the dives.
Our earlier tests showed that at the higher levels of consciousness, we could affect things to about the degree of mild hypnosis. We could, for example, make a person nervous at the sight of donuts" Janken winked at Manfred.
"At the deeper levels, however, people start to resist being affected a bit, and that's where their anxiety and discomfort tends to manifest aggressive nasties. Early attempts at trying to work around this resulted in some... bizarre reactions, like the panic attacks I mentioned before. That's when I realized that it would have to be my mind the testers would run around in... Mitigating risks and all that.
Another interesting detail we discovered was the ability to locate representations of personal metaphor. For example, if you have a happy place you go to in your mind when you need to calm down... well, we could find it in there. The same goes for any... unhappy metaphors. Memories of trauma, or recurring nightmares... anything like that.
So to prove that my device can change things for the better, your task will be to dive deep into my subconscious, find my personal, unhappy metaphor, and... well, do something. Try to change it. However it occurs to you to do so. Dave here will be monitoring me, and will be talking to you through Grace's abilities to keep you updated. He'll also be the person to notify if you decide you want to exist the experiment."
Janken took another breath, and composed himself.
"Now like I said, this is my mind. My memories. My personal metaphor. There's gonna be a lot of personal stuff in there that you're likely to see. You may come across people from my past, you may run into several different versions of me... anything could happen in there, and all of it will be personal. It'll be how I see things.
That, as you can imagine, is a terrifying amount of opening up to do to people you just met. However, someone needs to do it if we wanna get this thing off the ground. So I'll just ask that whatever you see in there... Don't judge me by the things that happened in the past. Judge me by the person they helped me become. And if you could keep those positive attitudes up, that's not just to help deter the Grimm. That's to try and comfort me a little bit. I'm not ashamed to admit that."
Janken stepped down from the chair, and Christina stepped forward.
"Okay, so if anyone doesn't want to take part in this experiment, now's the time to speak up. We can escort you to a spare dorm room, and you can wait there for the test to finish before we fly you back home. That said... we can pull you out any time, so I say why not have a go?
And lastly, if there are any last questions you have before we plug you all in, we better get to them now. If not, make your way over to the chairs please and Jane and Grace will get you set up for our little venture"
-
Nathan considered the morsels of food with an analytical eye - until Janken called everyone's attention to himself, at which time he abandoned his cogitation and walked up to the chair Janken was perched upon.
For the entire length of the (mostly-)monologue, he listened intently and absorbed the information like a good sponge absorbs liquids. There were a few times he was surprised - the carbon room being a definitely-not-safe-for-people universal simulator of sorts and the method with which he'd use it were quite different from what he'd been thinking up so far.
Once all was said, he just approached the chair to the left of the... control seat? Anyway, the equipment bank to the left of that one. He sat down with little ceremony, ready to get going. He wasn't exactly looking forward to having a needle stabbed into his arm, but readied himself to consciously lower his Aura anyway, making sure his right arm was put slightly further forward than his left one.
At that moment, a thought flashed across his conscious. At the earliest opportunity, he asked aloud "Hold on. What about our semblances? How would they work when we're outside our bodies?"
-
While taking a few bites out of the cheese and crackers (Janken was right, the cheese is quite delicious!), Clara listened intently to the briefing. Her curiosity overwhelmed what apprehension she held regarding the whole ordeal, and was pleasantly surprised with how much the actual experiment had lined up with what she thought was going on in her head. Of course, she couldn't exactly predict a semblance that pulls the soul out of her body. That's, uh, well, something she probably shouldn't spend too much time thinking about. Her head would be left spinning for weeks.
Then there's the other two semblances, each bringing with them their own host of questions. The fact that the mind-reading semblance was the one Clara had the easiest time understanding probably just goes to show how specialized this work actually is. And she thought her brother had a complicated semblance...Still, the mentions of "light treason" and the ability to probe her mind set off a few red flags in her head. She's a bit more apprehensive about the whole procedure, but her curiosity still gets the better of her. Besides, it's not like she has anything crazy to hide...right?
Regardless of all that, Clara had a few questions regarding the mission itself. "Um, is there a concrete way to tell what's bad from what's good? Er, I guess, what's not hostile from what is? Like, some people think bears are cute and cuddly, and some people think they're terrifying, right? In the outside world they're the same, but inside someone's head, they'd appear different, right? Am I making any sense? Sorry, a lot of this is kind of high-level for me," she asks a bit sheepishly, not really knowing if her question actually got across or not. She makes her way over to the chairs and lets Jane and Grace do whatever it is that they need to do to strap her in, when she thinks of another question to ask, "Oh, also, will we still be able to use dust when we're, like, ethereal? Because, if not, I won't be able to fight. Like, at all."
-
Isabelle listened intently as the minutes passed. It was a ton of information to take in, and a lot of it worried her. The idea of having her soul taken out of her body was not a pleasant one. Similarly, having someone that was capable of reading minds around made her a bit uncomfortable, even with their assurance that no probing would be done today. Her head was filled with many thoughts that she did not want to share with strangers. Overall, the entire setup seemed slightly unprofessional... Then again, these people were the experts on this, however experimental the 'procedure' was. If things went bad, at least they would have the proper group of individuals to assist them. Hopefully. She didn't believe that she was in a position to doubt them all that much, even if the entire thing made her a little uneasy. Part of her just wanted to get in already so that she could stop anticipating it.
As the others moved into position, Isabelle made her way over to one of the chairs. For a moment, she hesitated, her eyes wandering along the odd-looking seat. With a quiet sigh, she climbed up onto it, taking some deep breaths to try and settle herself. "Stay positive," she reminded herself out loud as her fellow students questioned the staff.
-
Abi had entirely blanked through the entire monologue and information just after Trauma and donuts. Blinking as her semblance made an Exclamation Mark Sound effect as she returned to the land of the living after being told to get in her seat. Doing as she was told, she'd hunker back down into the seat she had claimed before and watch the others get ready. As her brain tried recovering the information about the semblances and what they did she'd turn to look at Jane, "So what happens about our clothes? Is it sort of like that whole voices are mental thing where they come with us?
Wiping her mouth after to make sure any crumbs from the cracker weren't stuck on her face when anyone looked at her for the question. She'd loosen the breastplate to let in some of the air, though wearing metal around her constantly had left her feeling sweaty, another self-conscious aspect for her to try and keep under control. Pulling her shoulders inwards towards her chest as a side effect of trying to keep it from showing.
-
Janken followed the procession towards the chairs, the hint of a smile pulling on his face, and was glad that the volunteers seemed undeterred by the long wait or explanation. Or the general weirdness of what he was proposing.
He swung his legs up onto the chair nearest and waited for his team to get things sorted.
As Nathan did the same and asked his question, Janken wiggled his feet, ever excited to offer an explanation. Clara's question came just before he could answer, and Abigail's followed immediately after.
"Nice practical questions! And with very interesting answers, I feel. You see-"
"I think maybe Jane and Wilson would be better suited to answering this one. More likely to keep it short, I think" Christina cut him off, giving him a glare
"While I'm sure our volunteers would love to get into the nitty gritty behind it all, I think they would also appreciate it if they were allowed to run the experiment and get on home before we all die of old age, yes?"
Janken grumbled a slight agreement as the medical staff started hooking up the monitoring equipment.
Wilson took his place behind the seating area, at a desk with several large monitors and computers. He made no effort to hide his amusement at Christina's polite way of telling Janken to shut it.
"Well, for the stuff I can answer, you won't need to bring Dust in, but you'll still be able to use it. What with Grace's psychic stuff and all, I'll be able to get the room to make a mock of your weapons and armour and stuff, and the psychic link will also give me an instant feed of how you expect things to operate. You expect real Dust to work one way, the computer simulates that happening. Be warned though, the instant nature of the feedback means you can't just make it up. Your weapons and gear will function just the way you remember them, same as clothes and all that jazz. Can we hurry this up now?"
"Yes! Well put Wilson. As for Semblances and such - Ouch!"
Christina was giving Janken another glare, and while it was hard to see, it wouldn't have been hard to imagine that she may have also jabbed him with her pen. Wilson suppressed a laugh.
Jane took the center of the circle of chairs as Grace walked around the circle.
"You might feel a bit of a pressure as I link with you. Don't be alarmed, I do it so you know where I am. You should be able to see what I'm seeing in your head. I'm not going to pry or anything, but if you think I'm going somewhere you don't want me to, just picture a closing door and I won't push any further without express permission."
As she walked around the circle, she placed a hand on each of the volunteer's heads, and true to her word a slight pressure was felt, as though a migraine was building. This quickly receded, until all that could be felt was the pressure of a hand, despite Clara having moved on. She strolled rather leisurely towards Wilson as Jane started to answer the questions that had yet to be answered.
"As far as your Semblances go, they'll function largely as they normally would. Those of you with active Semblances may notice that they're less draining to use, while those with passive Semblances..." she gave an apologetic glance at Abigail "May find them harder to control.
As for how to tell friend from foe... I'm afraid you'll mostly have to just go with your best judgement on that one. Things don't tend to make as much logical sense inside the mind as they do outside, unfortunately. Though do be careful as best you can... we don't want to make a mess of things inside someone else's head."
Jane made her own loop around the circle, placing a hand over the face of each volunteer, hovering just above the skin, before pulling the hand back away. Though... it did not appear to be changing distance. Rather, in turn each volunteer found themselves to be rising off the seat with the hand until they were in a standing position. Examining themselves they would discover a smoothed down image of themselves. The vague approximation of the clothes they had been wearing were there, but the finer details were missing, as though they had been drawn by hand with only a blurry photo for reference. They also noticed a faint tinge the colour of their Aura covering their bodies.
Every motion felt initially as though they had pins and needles in every part of their bodies, but like Grace's psychic pressure, this too faded.
"Remember, you need but say the word and I can return you to normal"
"Right, well now that that's all sorted, Grace, if you would please hook me up. And everyone who's still on board make your way to the Room. Wilson will sort the rest, and I wish you all the best of luck. And myself."
Grace nodded at Janken, and placed her hand on Wilson's head. As she did so, both Janken and Wilson fell asleep. Grace herself seemed to be not far away from following in their footsteps, and indeed only managed to climb onto her seat before unconsciousness took her.
As it did, the volunteers heard a voice in their heads.
"Don't worry! We're still here. I'll be your liaison with everything outside the room while the experiment is going on. Proceed as you would, I'm just a mental tag along!"
In stark contrast to her waking demeanor, Grace seemed to be full of energy.
Jane made her way to the entrance of the Room held the door open. Dave, through all of this, simply stood by the monitors and observed.
-
As Janken got cut off - rather brutally - from explaining details, the keen eye could've observed, for a mere instant, the curious glimmer fade from Nathan's sight. The moment was short, however, and some would've probably pinned the observation onto their imagination.
Still, as short as the answers were, they were indeed answers. Instead of mulling over the unexplained specifics, Nathan concentrated on the ongoing... startup? procedures, albeit clearly suppressing both Aura and awareness when the IV went in. The phantom hand he was distinctly feeling on his forehead after Grace's passage helped in that regard.
When Jane passed afterwards, Nathan rapidly realized that the lack of changing distance as she pulled her hand away, coupled with the lack of proprioception that would indicate he was in the process of standing up, meant his soul was being guided out of its usual dwelling. He quickly got to work on observing his, well, soul - it looked pretty much exactly like the person lying behind him, but blurrier. There was a slight brightness to the surfaces of his astral body, as well, as if they glowed faintly from within. Must've been due to his usually-white Aura colour. As he took... a piece of his soul? off his back, he observed Ergia's misty form, every movement he was making sending ants coursing through nonexistant nerves. He mentally formulated the hypothesis that it was his mind reflexively relaying the complete lack of sensory feedback from his body like this, until it adapted anyway.
He looked up from Ergia's compact form, the experiment's... executors? as they gave further instructions, amongst which Grace did so from within his mind. Felt like having another train of thought running in parallel to the usual conscious one, oddly enough.
He walked towards and into the Room when Jane held its door open, keenly aware that this was, in a way, his first out-of-body experience. He wasn't exactly sure how his semblance would work out, but hopefully Janken would give him no need to test it.
Although he really wanted to test it.