(Untitled)

[lucetimods]

Who: EVERYONE
What: Event stuff happening!
When: RIGHT NOW?? Can be starting on the 27th and onward.
Where: EVERYWHERE
Summary: Creatures and creations and whatnot from the Battle Dome are appearing all over. This is for the sake of having a mass log available for everyone, so have a free-for-all~
Rating: ...Unrated, too many people 8

Comments

Hopefully this is alright? :D;

[semper_cogitans]

[Here's a world that Giles probably doesn't want to get a glance into - and not because it's dangerous. Because it's so very much the opposite.

There's another patch of Terra here. Specifically, it's part of the Randi Institute - one of the sections of the research labs, lined with glowing consoles. It's almost like a section out of one of Robert's many dreams of home, except it's painfully real, painfully solid against his fingertips. He can't help but smile despite the fear and the ache of seeing it all again after so long. He can almost hear the voice of Professor Garcia as she instructs the other scientists on the day's itinerary

Perfect!

[consultmybooks]

[Giles goes through the now habitual motion of giving himself a few seconds to lay and let himself be dazed once he's sure that nothing is going to immediately try and kill him.

...white floor. Mechanical sounds. Did he land in the Battle Dome clinic?

Giles pushes himself into a sitting position, clutching his head, and...freezes.

...his first thought is that he might have landed in the old Initiative base, but...even the Initiative didn't have such, such freakish resources to hand.

...what the hell, Luceti?]

Awesome \o/

[semper_cogitans]

[At first, Robert doesn't notice Giles somewhere behind him - there's a general curvature to the room, and Giles is at the other end of the arc - but as he's walking quietly along the rows of computer consoles, Giles might spot Robert before Robert spots him.

Especially considering as Robert is trying to use one of the consoles now.]

... Ah, if only I could access the databases - then this would be perfect...

*\o/*

[consultmybooks]

[He does indeed notice. It's just...mildly frightening to him just how long it takes for Giles to do so. Robert blends here.]

Robert...

[The next time Giles will sound this nervous? He'll be in the tunnels under Sunnydale trying to stay out of sight of the man that killed him.]

...where the hell are we?

I find it hilarious that THIS scares Giles of all things

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert turns his head at Giles' voice - at the edge of fear in it that even he can pick out - and pauses.

Well, that sort of puts a damper on the beauty of things.]

Ah... this is the Randi Institute of Terra, Giles.

He's seen it all, otherwise.

[consultmybooks]

[Giles will slowly...very slowly...get back to his feet.]

...Terra?

...your home?

But not the computers of doom!

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert nods gently, smiling - a little more awkwardly now - despite the look on Giles' face... he's starting to learn how to read those looks. Barely. This one is probably not a good one.]

Yes.

... It is a section of, er, my workplace. This is... one of the research laboratories. Where I often compiled and reviewed data.

[He runs a hand almost affectionately over the simulated console nearest him.]

[consultmybooks]

[Arms. Folded. It's not a sign of hostility. Just a sign of wariness. Giles looks around carefully, taking in the details. Watching for enemies.]

It's, um...very nice.

Shiny.

Very...clean.

[semper_cogitans]

[There's nothing yet. Though there may be soon...]

I always tried to keep it that way. [Gods, how much he misses this.]

B-Before I was... taken here, this was the only time I really... saw any people face to face. [The smile wavers hesitantly on Robert's lips.] But it is... reassuring to see it again.

Now if only these consoles worked...

[consultmybooks]

Don't they? That's odd. If Luceti can manage this much, I should think it would be able to manage computers.

[Going to look out a window now, taking in those bits and pieces of Terra that have blended in to Luceti.]

[semper_cogitans]

Well, I have never seen quantum computers in Luceti before, with the exception of perhaps the Battle Dome...

[The view out the window gives Giles a better view of the transport tubes - despite them quite visibly stopping in midair when other simulations take over, occasionally a transport pod - smoothly rounded on the end, almost like a medicine capsule, and translucent itself - passes through one of the tunnels in a sleek burst.

There may also be pieces of other tall buildings - like skyscrapers, but even more enormous - with, unusually, flowers and other plants spraying down the sides like living garlands.

But Robert is busying himself more with the console...]

I tried to connect my nanocomputer to one of the ports here, but so far, I keep getting error messages...

[He doesn't notice that the room suddenly has an occupant - though right now, all that's visible is a steady, thrumming reddish glow backlighting the room.]

[consultmybooks]

"Quantum computers"?

[Giles says the word like any normal human being might say the word "vampire" upon hearing it for the first time. He can't stop his knuckles from whitening as he rests them against the window frame.]

...is that light supposed to be there?

[semper_cogitans]

Yes, quantum computers - most computers on Terra are, and...

[Robert cuts himself off, suddenly realizing the glow's presence himself.]

... Light...? [Turning his head, Robert looks behind himself - and there is something completely otherworldly there.

The organism is a roughly ovoid shape, looking a lot like a comb jelly - but unlike a comb jelly, it doesn't appear nearly as delicate. It - or rather, they, for the organism is colonial, akin to siphonophones - floats closer, the ring of short oral tentacles around the pore underneath it twisting. Longer tendrils - arms, covered in sucker pads tipped with what might be nematocysts - writhe in their direction, the ends splitting into feather-thin finger-like cilia a moment as if the conglomerate organism wants to grab Robert.

The whole thing is pulsing rhythmically with intervals of red and yellow lights from organelles inside it, and silvery dots around the edges of the bell glitter dangerously as the organism advances, silent as a ghost.]

Plures mens pseudo-siphonophore...?

[And

[consultmybooks]

[Giles had only just noticed the light reflecting in the window - when Robert goes quiet, he turns sharply around.

And even he is struck dumb and quiet by the sight in front of him...it's beautiful, in a twisted sort of way.]

What on...

[Then it reaches for Robert. Acting more or less on reflex, Giles draws his sword and slashes at the reaching tendril.]

[semper_cogitans]

Aah! [Robert shuts his eyes a second with panic as Giles's sword cleaves off the tendril halfway. As the tendril disconnects from the body, it hits the floor with a sickening wet noise and clear fluid - it glitters with symbiotic bacteria and organelles that were producing light only a second ago.

The lopped-off tentacle writhes a moment before disappearing with a flash of light.]

B-but they're usually c-completely docile...! [Whatever this is, it's not what Robert knows. It can't be the harmless aerial omnivore he's familiar with...

And zie's a sapient, everything in Robert screams not to harm another sapient - even one trying to harm him - and even if it's not real, though the simulation is so painfully accurate it's like Giles just cut the arm off one of his friends.]

Oh gods...

[The dirigible jelly is not deterred by losing a tendril. After all, they grow back (in a few months). Zie pulses twice with an almost mesmerizing purple tone before hovering closer to Giles - not that much closer, but zie's clearly sizing him up

[consultmybooks]

[Giles gets into a fighting stance, anticipating the next attack. His voice is a low murmur, directed entirely at the jelly even though he's not at all certain zie could hear them.]

Come on...come and have a go.