Watch Out for Gremlins - RPLOG
From Flexible Survival
Participants
Date
9/7/2023
Log
(Ysadora) Ysadora is waiting for you in the communications center, up to her invisible knees in loose wires and scrap metal. Her shoulders fall with relief as your group enters and she wades over to you. "Thank goodness you're here! I didn't expect so many people to respond to my request. Junes, Narwen, Umeko, and hey Wolfood, I'm guessing Syn brought up you up to speed already?" She greets each of you with a bob of her head and a smile. One of Ysadora's hands then gestures to the room at large. Frankly, it's a mess. One of the integrated monitors has been disemboweled, mechanical guts splayed outside it in a vain attempt to diagnose its failure. Similarly, a panel in the center of the floor has been pulled up and several large wires yanked through. From a glance, it's clear that whoever did this wasn't successful and may have even made things worse. "It seems like the comms equipment is fine, but this room still doesn't have power. We haven't been able to figure out why," Ysadora explains, wiping some grease on her white robe absentmindedly. "The rest of the bunker's got it, and the main breaker's flipped for this place too, but in between, something's wrong. Smarter minds than mine have pointed out that the surrounding rooms are fine so the problem's likely localized. I can go and do something more useful, like standing by the breaker and flipping it for you, unless you've got a better idea." Parting her curtain of hair with her hands, Ysadora looks between the group expectantly.
(Pteryx) Pteryx looks around the room, rather dimly lit with some lamps hangin 'round. "Huey this there place looks like it needs to get ta be dragged ta an emergency room... but I ain't a mechanic." Absolutely nothing of them tech stuff made sense to Pteryx, but even they could tell the stuff here resembled a disembowled corpse!
(Junes) Junes gave a small wave to everybody here and shrugged "not my expertise either but i do have a way to remotely switch off or keep nanites from affecting stuff so hopefully that helps but ill do what i can otherwise" briefly going up to ysadora for a quick hug and letting her go to continue!
(Ysadora) Ysadora returns the hug, careful not to get grease on Junes.
(Narwen) Narwen approaches surprisingly lightly on all four paws, striped tail held high and looking unnecessarily pleased with himself. "Good morning, everyone! I heard there was a technical problem? Comms on the blink or something? Stuff needs hooking up? Well, don't worry, I'm here to help. I don't mean to brag, but this is not the most complicated system I've worked-- er." As the skunk beast squeezes into the room, actually getting a look at the sheer volume of cabling, his eyebrows go up and his strut falters a bit. "Though I was more on the software side than hardware. Also I had thumbs. Still, how hard can it be? Do we have a manual?" He stops to think a moment, and for once actually considers safety. "Also, where's the mains power running? Probably step one is not to fry anything. Or ourselves, I guess." His snout quests around, as though he could smell voltage.
(Umeko) Umeko gave a wave to everyone while looking like she just woke up not too long ago, letting out a little yawn while pouring herself a cup of hot coffee from a thermos and offering some to whoever else wanted some before sipping at it. "Hey there everyone, guess we've got our work cut out for us today... I don't expect much in the way of manuals for old secret cold war military projects, but who knows. Good news is that I have nanomagic to possibly help with repairs and getting things powered, or grounding us for safety purposes... Still, we're gonna have to figure out where exactly the problems are on our own most likely..." she said before giving a little 'hmmm' while staring at the mess of things in the room.
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood looks about with a frown. She loops her fingers over her tool belt as she takes in the task ahead of them. "Honestly, I'll take this old crud over nanites any day. Mmm..." The human purses her lips as she starts to consider the possibilities. "If you ask me, there's a burned out wire between here and the mains...ah! But where are my manners." She smirks at Ysadora and says, "Yeah, Syn brought me to speed. She originally asked me to come down to check if the trucks in the garage are salvageable but this is a pretty good use of my talents too. Luckily for you, I'm pretty sure I have a tool for testing voltage on me."
(Ysadora) For a moment, Ysadora's face is blank. "Uh... Yeah, I turned off the power to the room before I started rummaging around in here. I'm nearly certain of it. As for manuals, there's some documentation on the desks but I think it's all codes and encyrption stuff. Probably not going to help much with the actual machinery." With a nod to Wolfwood, Narwen, and Umeko, she continues, "It's nice to have some expertise on the scene. A burnt-out main wire is definitely probably likely. Then again, this is the Enigma Complex, so who knows what's really going on. If you start seeing any illusions, let me know." Ysadora taps Junes' head with a cheeky grin at this last. She then sidles toward the exit. "I'll leave it in the hands of these professionals then, shall I? And I'll go make absolutely sure the power is off for this room. Call me on the comms if you want me to turn it back on, or if there's something else I can do to help." With that, she slips out the door and is gone.
(Pteryx) Pteryx waves to Ysadora far too late, ghosted, so quickly too. Lookin 'round, he has... no idea what any of this stuff does. "Uh, y'all tech heads can handle this... but if any of y'all get injured in any way guess I've got sum tools hangin round fer that! Hmm, prob'ly electric groundin... might need some rubber..." This was way out of Pteryx's expertise, but he may as well tag along just in case they get stabbed by wires or somethin.
(Junes) Junes gave a wave to the newest arrivals and looked to narwen "ive got hands so you can guide me and, oh like umeko i can ground things too so ill be okay there or medical if someone gets a bad shock but we should be okay, and its good to see you all again!" taking their hoodie off to reveal a sweater with no sleeves and an interesting design "okay and if anyone sees something weird try not to worry about it by the way, id explain but it might be better to focus on this first for now"
(Narwen) Narwen nods to the Termite crew: Pteryx, Junes, and Umeko -- Pteryx looks a little different, but the shirt is a dead giveaway. He shuffles out of the way a bit to make room for Wolfwood as she approaches, looking quietly relieved when she displays signs of actual competence. "Oh -- hello there," he rumbles, offering a forepaw. "I'm Narwen. If you can get the power back -- safely -- I'll start looking over the electronics. In fact, lemme start seeing what looks like it should be networked to what. Probably there's a small, innocuous-looking server that runs the whole show; if we can get a terminal up for that, we'll be halfway there." The skunk beast starts following cables, peering around. "Oh, nice idea, Junes. Say, if you look for network cables, like this..."
(Ysadora) Narwen can tell at a glance that this tech is a solid few decades out of date. Fortunately, whoever designed this room seemed to know what they were doing. Ysadora's invasive exploration doesn't look to have damaged anything critical, and the lines pulled up out of the ground are all clearly coded by color and size to their purpose. That one, the thick yellow cable, is likely a power line. He can concisely explain all this to those present as well, if he so wishes.
(Narwen) Narwen explains this information, using too may words but eventually getting his point across.
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood listens to Narwen intently and goes over the cabling herself. As she makes mental notes of the various colors on the cables, she pulls a multimeter out of a pouch on her belt and uses its probes to start checking if the fault was somewhere between the wall and the computers or if it was somewhere between the mains and the junction into the room.
(Ysadora) Using her tools, Wolfwood is able to determine the fault is somewhere between the this part of the cable and the junction into the room. The connection leading to the computers appears to be functioning, with the interruption is somewhere on the other end. Fortunately, that doesn't leave a lot of area to cover. They'll either need to pull up more floor panels toward the entrance, though, or send someone or something small enough into the hole that already exists to check things out.
(Pteryx) Looks like everything's takin care of! With them tech heads fiddlin round... whatever they're fiddlin with and them nano spell magicky stuff looked like smooth sailin! Overhearin them... short wearin skunk, looks like a funny feller! He... actually seems to understand some stuff... in his own way. "So... them cable's like them heart and brain? Split em apart and it's deadzo!" Pteryx says as he does a slash motion over his neck. "Don't think ya can stich them two back tagether and expect a livin mutant though, not without them magic stuff. Ya just get taxidermy, may as well harvest them parts from the body for other uses!" Making a loud guffaw in what he perceived as a joke, he does a stabbing and slashing motion.
(Narwen) Narwen follows Wolfwod's reading, keeping an eye on the checks she runs and nodding to himself. He thwaps a paw against the ground. "False floor, okay. Hah, should've noticed. Guess we could get that all up to get at the cable runs? But it'll take a while to shift the furniture." He cocks his head a moment. "Think you can squeeze in there, Junes? It'll be a bit tight, but worth a try. Don't poke anything exposed, in case something chewed through cables. You're looking for something like this..." he explains, scratching a crude diagram into the laminate with a claw.
(Junes) Junes took their bag off before stepping closer to double check the wires as they listened, looked at the diagram and once memorized they looked at the hole and nodded "all ears so just tell me where to go and I'll say what im seeing on my comm!" shrinking down to an immensely small size "here goes!" hopping inside they looked around and relay the sights while looking for what was on the diagram...
(Umeko) Umeko nodded over to Narwen and looked over to Junes, "You're probably the best choice to head down yeah, I'll use nanomagic to ground you for now so you can focus on other things while you're down there. Can take turns using it if I need to work on fixing stuff later or something..." she said before focusing on casting the nanomagic, preparing for any potential accidents.
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood goes off to another desk to grab a chair she can drag back over to the others. "Might as well get comfortable while we wait for Junes."
(Ysadora) Junes is able to slip easily into the hole, slipping between wires until they're within what seems like a long gutter in the foundation. It runs from one wall to the other. For now, the insulation around the wires seems to hold, but Umeko's nanomagic provides an extra layer of security. The far side, with the computers, is dark. On the other end, though, almost directly beneath the entrance to the room, is a light? Its source is obscured, but it flickers like a flame and sends shadows dancing back through the cramped space to cavort around Junes' tiny form. The smolbold faithfully relays this to those above.
(Pteryx) Pteryx just shrugs at all the shenanigans, grounding magic, shrinking magic? Magic doodledads and such. Not needing to do anything so far, he also takes a seat on one of them chairs. Or tries to, with his current serpentine lower body.
(Junes) Junes looked around and kept a careful step to make sure they didn't step on anything like wires or anything delicate but seeing the unusual light they added "seeing a weird light so may be a little quiet as i check this out" crouching low and nearly crawling as they use their tails to get lower while moving almost like a spider delicately using the fur to dampen any noise further and watching curiously before coming closer
(Ysadora) Ysadora Junes comes across an opening in the gutter. This looks almost like a little square room, carved into the foundation beneath the cluster of wires. A small candle sits in the center on a dais, its firelight illuminating walls plastered with bizarre posters. Each appears to be a World War II-era propaganda piece. "
(Ysadora) "Gremlins are floor greasers!" one poster declares. Another says, "Gremlins LOVE to pitch things at your EYES!" Little impish men leer at Junes from every angle, engaged in tripping hapless-looking men or shooting slingshots at an innocent woman's eyes. The only surface not covered in this strange collage is a foot-wide tunnel hewn into the concrete foundation on Junes' right. The smolbold's silent approach gives them time to see a pointed tail vanish into the tunnel's darkness as something flees the voices above.
(Junes) Junes quietly adds to the comms "we got some things down here, gremlin posters and something alive with a hard point tail or stinger, bone? but gonna investigate, wish i could...wait" quickly using their tails and a quick application of paint they stuck posters onto their tails... except for one which they would use detachable nanomagic to send up as they quickly said "touch my tail for a view and uhh be careful its sensitive near the top okay? youll see what im seeing" before a tiny fluffy tail floated up and they focused on creating an illusion of a television to broadcast and using the posters as cover while tailing whatever this creature is
(Narwen) Narwen blinks as Junes shrinks, almost missing it when she dives into the hole. "Er, be careful! Keep telling us what you see, please?" The skunk is definitely not in a chair; he's tried that before and it did not end well. Instead, he settles down into a sort of sitting sprawl on the floor, ears cocked and trying to follow Junes's progress by the light pattering of her feet. He grows a little concerned as she goes silent. "Hey, uh Junes? You okay?" he rumbles, in what he clearly intends to be a whisper. When the response comes he looks relieved, worried, and then baffled; the latter continues when a tiny tail pops up, barely visible. He extends a foreleg, resting a claw lightly against it and getting a few flickers of vision, but then shakes his head after a moment. "Someone with smaller hands want to have a go? Looks very weird, definitely something down there. I don't like her going in there alone; they could be friendly but, uh, could also be not, and who knows how many there are?"
(Umeko) Umeko went to give the tail a little poke, observing the strange scene with absolute bewilderment. "What the hell... Alright, I agree, I think I'll head down as some backup in case things start getting weird..." She took a deep breath and focused on shifting her form into that of a small metallic skinned looking imp, leaving behind a pile of clothes and gear as she went to follow the path that Junes wandered through.
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood joins in on holding the tail, but finds that she only really has the top to hold onto. She does try to hold it gingerly, though. "Gremlins? Please don't tell me this place has actual gremlins. I still remember my dad complaining about gremlins keeping his AMC Gremlin from running."
(Ysadora) Umeko ducks into the crawl space beneath the floor. When she reaches the candle room, it's difficult to tell where the posters begin and Junes ends. Fortunately, the onimp's eyes are keen enough to see her companion slipping into the tunnel in the wall. Meanwhile, above, a computer installation on the other side of the room suddenly flares to life. It isn't displaying anything, just casting a blank green glow into the shadowy corners of the room. A second later, the screen goes blank once again. On, then off. On, then off. It seems to stay on a few moments longer the next time before turning off. This pattern repeats a few times until the screen is once again lighting up in short bursts.
(Pteryx) Pteryx just slides off the chair... clearly not built for his current form. Overhearin Narwen he thinks, why the heck not! Slitherin on over, he watches Umeko poof into an... imp? Just... bewildered by everythin goin on he tries to touch Junes tail... hard lowering a serpenting body... Going far too off balance Pteryx just tips over, crashing his hand on to the tail. "Oh crap Junes!" He yells in a panic, lifting the hand off as quickly as possible... "Dag nabbit I was suppose to fix ya'll up not be the reason ya need fixin..."
(Narwen) Narwen watches Umeko follow Junes down into the hole and shakes himself to his feet. He's just trying to figure out how the heck he could follow them down there, when the terminal lights up. He turns and pads up to the blinking screen, staring at the pattern, then edging around to check that the thing isn't any more hooked up than its neighbours. "You guys see this too, right?" he calls. "That's not Morse, is it? S? O? Er, that's about all I know." He squints, circling back around to the screen, and tentatively taps at the spacebar on the nearest keyboard.
(Junes) Junes hears an approach and sees a tiny imp umeko! and with a small nod they looked a little nervous in a way umeko would recognize with how she handled their tails "oh hey good to see you, want me to scout ahead while you look around? or would i be able to-" they seemed to relax a bit but soon a quiet hop as you see one eye close in a quick flinch "yeesh whats going on up there? anyways they have eyes up there and hopefully we can get some input but thanks for helping here and wanna head closer in?" looking to the way the mysterious creature went and ready to move further with a crouch and posters on tails at the ready "oh and maybe i could hand you a tail to see what i scout too, like what im doing up there? but be gentle okay?"
(Ysadora) Umeko notes that the tunnel she and Junes are crawling through is not part of the original construction of this place. It seems to have been built more recently, hewn with tiny and low-quality tools to leave a rough and uneven passage. Narwen, meanwhile, recognizes that the flickering of the computer screen is indeed morse code. It's the same message, the most basic one everyone learns, flashing over and over again. "S O S S O S S O S." The flashing stops when he presses the spacebar a few times, then begins again after a minute with renewed vigor.
(Umeko) Umeko carefully made her way through while keeping the grounding nanomagic up for now to protect them both from any faulty wiring or whatnot. As she caught up to Junes, she gave them a little pat on the back and kept her voice low, "I have no idea what's going on up there, must have been after I started heading down... I'll take the tail and we can see what's going on down here, but be careful since I might have to drop the grounding nanomagic in case something happens or I need to talk to you more silently... I don't have any of my gear after all either, not exactly prepared for doing things at this size..." she said softly, peeking down at her total lack of clothing or anything else useful that wasn't part of her. "What the hell is going on down here though... Something's been digging and it sure wasn't those military guys back in the day, unless they got gremlinified..."
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood upon Narwen indicating it's an SOS, Mads frowns and heads over to the computer. On the way, she grabs an old communications book and, upon finding a page on morse code, cracks her fingers and uses the space bar to try and send a message back.
"Where are you?"
After she finishes, she pulls a notepad and pen from her belt and prepares to jot down the response so she can decode it. "A comms center being used for communication. Who'd have thought..."
(Ysadora) Umeko and Junes creep silently through the tunnel. A dim light eventually begins to build from the other end. The two keep to the shadows in the tunnel, hidden, as they reach a new room carved from the concrete. This one is similarly plastered with Gremlin posters, but is more spacious (relatively) and contains a dizzying array of machinery. It's like a miniature copy of the comms center, a mirror of the room above at one tenth scale and cobbled together out of ramshackle scrap. In the middle of it all, a tiny mutant with feline features and yellow-black striped fur is batting at a red button with its paw. Three quick presses, then three long presses, then three quick presses again. It waits, seeing the screen in front of it flare up, then goes back to batting the button in a different combination. The mutant's stinger-pointed cat tail flicks anxiously behind it and its ears are flattened against its head, but it hasn't noticed the two watching it.
(Ysadora) Ysadora Above, the screen starts flickering in a different combination in response to Wolfwood's question. Using the manual, she's able to record and then decrypt the message: "S H E L T E R STOP W A I T STOP O R D E R S STOP G R E M L I N."
(Pteryx) Before taking off his hand from the tails Pteryx sees what he's pretty sure he isn't. "The heck?" He says aloud. Putting his hand back... trying to be as gentle as possible, he sees more... "Posters? And more uh, tech head stuff..." Feeling a tad playful for whatever reason, he takes a light tug on the tail... and it comes right off. "Uh I didn't do it!" He yelps! Examining the tail closer he notices.. no signs of tears or bleeding... Still seeing visions he doesn't understand he looks to the more knowledgable skunk. "Ey smarty shorts!" He guffaws at his own jokes, pointing out the brightly coloured shorts on Narwen. "Them uh, vision be makin more sense to some like ya?" He slithers towards Narwen, probably getting far too close for comfort. "Can't hit a skunk with glasses!" Lifting those, he places the tail on to Narwen's nose, as white streams out of his fingers. Webbing, forcing the tail stuck to the skunk as Pteryx tries to place the glasses back to their proper position... but he smudges the lenses as he does.
(Narwen) Narwen stares intently at the blinking screen then down at Wolfwood's notebook, probably crowding her a bit too closely as he tries to read it over her shoulder. This means he's not paying enough attention to Pteryx, a grave mistake which means he gets his glasses stolen and then stocky white goop fired onto his nose before he has time to do much about it. (Wouldn't be the first time.) He goes cross-eyed staring at it and starts working up some seriously sarcastic remarks when the images from the tail kick in. A room. A tiny mutant hammering at the button. Morse. The connection hits him at once. "Don't attack it! Don't attack it!" he yells, followed by: "Er, wait, can you two actually hear me? Anyway, I think it's trying to communicate with us, in a very weird and roundabout way." A pause. "Er, actually, yeah, can you hear me? If so then, um, wave two fingers in front of your eyes, Junes. Then, um, please hang on and wait. There's something hinky going on. I think it wants us to wait for instructions?" Of course, if there _are_ more instructions, Narwen can't read 'em now...
(Junes) Junes felt a slight tickle as their tail is flopped between something fuzzy and hard and couldn't help shake it slightly when feeling it but put two fingers and waved it before looking to their comm and typed ( just text so it doesn't hear us, but dont worry i dont like jumping into a fight ) briefly you saw junes hand go over to umeko with a nod before texting more ( maybe we can talk to it? although might be better if you do the chatting so ill keep my eyes open ) hitting send and lifting a hand up to mock telescope and then looking down at the sent message and open their palm and a light shrug realizing they didn't need to send the message as you also hear them speak to umeko quietly "so lets wait and see" before realizing she had a tail as well and spoke through it and subsequently to whoever held a tail as well ( so lets wait and see what it does next...also should i put more tails out? i wont have as much cover but its probably fine ) looking back at their own tails lightly waving with the posters still on
(Umeko) Umeko stared at the strange mutant along with the miniature comms room and wondered if she accidentally put something from her pharmaceutical cabinet in her coffee this morning before looking back to Junes with a nod while holding the tail. She broke the grounding nanomagic for now to use radiotelepathic nanomagic, silently speak to Junes, Narwen, and the others in the team. "I agree with waiting and watching for a moment, I have no clue what it is or wants, but I guess they have some form of communication up there... Speaking of which, what's it saying up there? Not attacking but it'd be nice to know what we're dealing with if possible."
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood taps her foot as she considers her response. The reply doesn't make too much sense, but she can work with it. She thinks. So she tries for a reply.
R E S P O N S E STOP U N C L E A R STOP W H A T STOP I S STOP E M E R G E N C Y FULL STOP
"This is so weird...I wonder what this guy's motivation is. Based on those posters...maybe they think they're military or something?"
(Ysadora) It doesn't take long for the reply to come through. In the tunnels below, Junes and Umeko watch as the catlike mutant grows visibly excited. It hammers away at the button in quick, controlled bursts. I N T R U D E R S STOP B A S E STOP A D V I S E STOP G R E M L I N.
(Pteryx) Pteryx thinks the glasses are set well enough and looks over to Wolfwood's message stuff... "Well, that don't look right. If it's an infestation gotta add it to the pile along with them cumrot... We could fumigate them hole when we get Junes and Umeko out, got a lot of biohazard gumes left over from clearing sum cumrot!"
(Ysadora) Umeko and Junes both recognize this as a Vespikitty, a mutation endemic to the nearby Crawly Creek.
(Junes) Junes was peeking past the posters from on their tails and briefly looked again at the poster and then something clicked as you saw them looking up and down at the poster before mentioning via illusion ( maybe they're worried about being hurt i mean...they probably don't like being depicted as slingshot wielding troublemakers, although no idea if they're feral...but i have an idea because i think i know what this is" shifting you saw junes becoming a vespikitty and carefully they focused on keeping the detachable nanomagic up alongside the illusion before gently putting the papers down and even matching the scent of one before texting to narwen "mind if i chat with the...gremlin?" you could see their hands looked significantly different ( or want me to wait before approaching )
(Narwen) Narwen almost goes to rub his face, but stops himself in time. "No, no, it's not," he begins, then drops his voice somewhat. "It's not an infestation. I think Wolfwood's right, the gremlin thinks it's in the base, running the comms. It might even have been on the staff or something. Imagine the tech skills needed to rebuild a functional system and hook it into this one! So he thinks he's in the real base, that there are intruders -- that's Junes and Umeko -- and that he's contacted the brass for instructions. That's us, or at least we're the ones he thinks are the brass. So, uh, we can tell him to stand down, those are actually reinforcements or something? Or they're his relief? We don't want him to blow the base or wipe the servers or something. Er, crap, speaking of which..." And then he laboriously taps out a short message on comms to the whole group: "Junes, hold on just a moment."
(Umeko) Umeko continued to watch the Vespikitty closely, trying to get a bit of a better view of what they were pressing with her keen vision while continuing to speak to the team with radiotelepathy. "I guess it makes sense, if they think we're the intruders then this shouldn't be too hard to handle once you guys clear it up. Worst case scenario there's something -else- down here too... Anyway, I'd say you should talk first Junes, might be more approachable like that, I kind of like looking like this but I suppose it might not be the most reassuring and diplomatic of forms..." she said, peeking at her own small but demonic features.
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood is looking at Pteryx with a small scowl at his suggestion. "I really hope you aren't being asked to make any meaningful decisions here." She then looks back to the computer and after some thought, starts working on a reply.
U N D E R S T O O D STOP P E R S O N N E L L STOP D E P L O Y E D STOP T O STOP D E B R I E F STOP C O D E STOP P H R A S E STOP H I S S A H FULL STOP
She quickly relays the code phrase to Junes and waits to see if the 'Gremlin' has any reactions. "Seriously, my guy. An *infestation*? You usually randomly gas people you can talk to?"
(Ysadora) Below, the Vespikitty twitches its tail excitedly as Wolfwood's message comes through. It seems to have no problem reading morse code straight from the screen. Umeko and Junes are just close enough to hear a soft sound, like a cross between a purr and a buzz of insect wings, as the mutant taps out a response: R G R STOP W I L L STOP W A I T STOP G R E M L I N With that, the mutant crouches down on its haunches, yellow slitted eyes darting back and forth as it waits. As it does, Junes catches sight of a particularly obtrusive component behind it. It looks just like the piece Narwen diagrammed out earlier. From how it's bolted carelessly onto the wall, it appears to have been moved from its original location.
(Pteryx) Curiosity waxing, Pteryx boops Narwen's snout, or rather the tail attached to it, to have a look at whatever the skunk was talkin 'bout. Eyup, that there looks more advance than sum ferals do. "So... they're sentient, which means I can't use them as lab rats, dag nabbit." He sounds genuinely dissapointed. "Only decisions I've been makin are on shrooms, and they don't talk back when gassed. Maybe I need ta get out more..."
Seeing through Junes, all Pteryx sees are Vespikitties, posters, and a bunch of tech stuff he can't wrap his head around. Hearing a voice in his head... was that normal? Did he get too high last time? Hmm, them voice sounds familiar... Umeko? Listening to Umeko and and seeing through Junes, Pteryx has a dumb idea. "Uh, Umeko? This here thang a two way? Them mutants look like bees... Junes might be able ta dance ta communicate! Dancin's always loads o' fun!"
(Junes) Junes shifted back carefully to keep their tiny size and focusing on the dual nanomagic to stay as whoever was topside could feel the cat tail once again poof out into the fluffy kitsune tail once again hearing the relayed information and spotting the component! pointing to it for umeko "alright lets go introduce ourselves" heading closer to the gremlin with a wave as their tails slowly wave alongside them "hey! sorry about the intrusion but I hope you're doing okay, i know life in a hole aint easy so if you need some time to adjust or space just say the word but, would you mind if we ask about that component?" they sat on the ground in the meantime to show they weren't in any rush or hopefully peaceful "oh and we mean no harm, not sure what the posters are all about though"
(Junes) Junes quickly adding "oh and uhh...hissah?"
(Ysadora) The Vespikitty initially backs away from Junes, hair raised and tail tucked. As soon as they say the word 'hissah,' though, it suddenly perks up. Trotting over, the mutant begins rubbing up against Junes while it buzz-purrs happily. It still doesn't speak so much as a word in response to the smolbold's questions, however.
(Narwen) Narwen bats Pteryx's wing away from his snout with an oversized paw. "Enough out of you for now, please. Wait, what did I miss?" He focuses back on the 'illusion' of the scene from below. "Come on Junes, stick to the script," he murmurs, fur starting to rise along his back -- and then visibly relaxes again, on seeing the gremlin-cat act friendly. "Okay, all good," he says, for the benefit of Wolfwood. "Think it can't talk -- hence the Morse -- but Junes seems to have things under control. Aww, looks like they made a friend. It's, um, sort of buzzing, and... well, I'll let them tell you about it later."
(Umeko) Umeko was a bit concerned hearing some of the assorted chatter from above but focused on the important stuff for now and began shifting her nanites slightly again, mimicking the scent and pheromones of the Vespikitty to help keep things calm and relaxed. "Hello there, as mentioned, we mean no harm! We're from above with the other guys and not gremlins. I'm uh, temporarily an imp so I could get down here, usually bigger... Are you able to speak, or do you have to use the console over there? We're not sure if you mistook us as the intruders or if there's something else down here." she asked softly, reaching out slowly to gently pet the Vespikitty's head if allowed.
(Ysadora) The kitty widens its eyes at Umeko's appearance. It rolls onto its side and bats one of the posters showing an imp-like gremlin, then looks at Umeko again.
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood Watches the happenings with interest but seems to be keeping an eye on Pteryx. "Here's hoping that little thing knows sign language."
(Ysadora) With Junes and Umeko in the room, the mutant's button sits all but ignored. The Vespikitty itself is curled up, getting a healthy dose of pets from both reinforcements and purring away happily. Removed from its post and reassured by a message from "HQ," it doesn't seem inclined to speak, or indeed do anything beyond normal behavior for a cat (or a bee?).
(Pteryx) Pteryx looses the vision with his armwing loosing contact with the tail. so instead he just listens in. "Friend? Junes is purdy good at makin those!" Lookin over the hole, Pteryx nabs another of them tails... why does Junes have so many tails... More tail hugs to give he guesses. At a touch his vision is immedietly bombared by a cute kitty! "Aww! It's so marketably cute when it ain't starin ominously at a screen!" Thoughts of exterminating the thing forgotten, Pteryx just coos at the illusion entranced.
(Junes) Junes happily pet the vespikitty with their tails joining in to rub along their back, head and stomach with their hand under the chin before realizing "oh! sorry about that narwen" they said aloud to him before saying to the kitty "oh right, sorry but do you have a name and maybe we could help you out if you need?" in the meantime they looked to their tails and added "oh and dont mind this, just a weird thing im doing up there" as they took three... but decided on five tails leaving them with one for umeko the last two still on junes to continue petting the vespikitty before large bundle of tails were tossed and kept rolling before turning and going up until going up the hole to join the sixth tail "oh and what were you doing at this station anyways? although i wouldn't mind petting you more too!"
(Narwen) Narwen is looking visibly relaxed at this point. "Take your time, make sure the poor thing's okay with you being there," he broadcasts over comms. "But when you get chance, we do need that module back, please. In the meantime," he continues, switching to just regular out-loud talking, "let's maybe start getting things back into shape up here. Gonna take more than just plugging one more piece in to get this place working again." He pauses, and adds, back on comms: "Though if you can cast an eye over what they did, uh, maybe we could crib some ideas?"
(Umeko) Umeko joined in with giving the Vespikitty lots of pets, relaxing as well as she got rather distracted with that and making sure they were nice and comfortable. Eventually she spoke on the comms, "Ahh, aside from me looking kind of gremlin-esque I think we're fine down here. At least, I sure hope so. I should really do what we should have done in the first place and scan this area to see if we're alone, or if there's some other mysterious mutants in the walls... I think our new friend needs some rest too, so might as well check myself..." With that she decided to focus and use scouting nanomagic to scan the nearby area...
(Ysadora) Umeko's scouting nanomagic doesn't pick up any other signatures within 60 feet, beyond those she'd expect to see. It seems as though this Vespikitty is alone down here.
(Umeko) Umeko adds in, "Not picking up anything after a scan, looks like we're good down here."
(Wolfwood) Wolfwood nods to herself, then steps away to start testing other connections with her multimeter. Might as well make sure that isn't the only thing that's broken.
(Ysadora) With the Gremlin quelled and component secured without a fight, the rest of the job is fairly simple. Between the three of them, Narwen, Umeko, and Wolfwood are easily able to replace the missing component at the room's junction and restore power. Screens boot up to show aged OS screens as the hum of machinery fills the room. The bunker's own eggheads ought to be able to take it from here. There remains one issue, however. What do to with Gremlin? The Vespikitty has curled up and fallen asleep resting against Junes. Its muzzle looks peaceful, perhaps for the first time in a while.
(Pteryx) Pteryx is still entranced by what Junes is seeing, finding his 4 armwings moving to his thoughts. "Could weave it a tiny pillow and a tiny blanket, maybe put em in a tiny outfit..." As he murmurs his wingtips start producing webbin, and Pteryx finds himself weaving rather crude versions of the ideas he's spouting on about. "Well can't leave that critter in them there floor. Could make it a proper area in this tech zone. Maybe a little cat bed? Them critter seems to know tech already!"
(Junes) Junes continues petting the kitty and offered "no idea what your job was here but hopefully we can help out, since things are getting fixed though would you want some food? I have some fresh fish upstairs or other foods or even well chocolate milk on me but besides all that would you want to join us in restoring the place and maybe living here? im sure nobody would mind if you lived here but im sure we could make a spot out there so you can socialize and get some more pets and attention, but for now wanna come upstairs?" they smiled earnestly to the feline as they continue brushing their head and chin
(Narwen) "Well, I think that'll do for today," Narwen says a bit later, from where he has been 'supervising', lying sprawled out on an elevated section of the floor. "Takes it out of you, I gotta say. That lil' guy looks pretty tuckered out too. Junes, looks like you've got 'em taken care of for now, but once they've got some rest and safety and, I dunno, some good food in 'em, we oughta see who we've got that can give them some actual therapy because, hoo boy, they act cute but they seem pretty stressed and smart to me." He shakes his fur out and rolls to all fours, yawning. "Speaking of, is it suppertime? Feels like it's suppertime. You folks want to grab a bite?"
(Pteryx) Pteryx yelps "Yes please!" at Narwen, all the weaving having drained some of their metabolism.
(Umeko) Umeko nodded to Junes, "Yeah, we can see about either refurbishing this place up or setting up a better place to live in the bunker perhaps... Would be good to make sure they're well taken care of here, so cute after all~" she said while continuing to happily pet the Vespikitty.
(Ysadora) Mission complete! The comms center is functioning once again, or will be once a crew gets in here to clean up, and the Bunker has gained a new mascot. Gremlin will no doubt have a comfy, safe place to stay. They might even make an adorable addition to the team! Time will tell.
