CYOA - Week 5

[afflictionmods]

ic date: thursday, w5

Comments

[cheerfuldays]

( shizuku giggles at fai's shopping antics- the butterbots definitely get approval, but, uh... huh.

what's up with this flower garden beverage aisle? are the pots connected to anything... or is it just to look weird but pretty? )

Mmhm. There should be large doors that push easily, so the staff can bring out lots of stock at once.

[afflictionmods]

[ The pots are just put into the shelves and can be removed again just as easily.

And there is indeed a storage room door at the far end of the store. Wanna open it up? ]

[partymagician]

[ Fai sure does!

He nods at Shizuku. ]

Let’s go find it and see what’s going on back there.

[ He starts to head back to the far end of the store… he thinks he saw some doors back there earlier. As they make their way back, Fai gives the area another look around. If there’s nothing off, he’s making a beeline towards those doors. ]

[cheerfuldays]

( shizuku follows! yaaaay, adventure with dad! )

[afflictionmods]

[ The doors are easy to open-- but the instant they do, something comes flying right towards them. Think fast! Or be hit...? ]

[cheerfuldays]

( shizuku rolled a nat20 for that dodge, holy shit. also WHAT )

[partymagician]

[ He just barely manages to dodge himself, as he was more focused on making sure Shizuku did too.

Now let’s see… what flew at them? ]

[afflictionmods]

[ It was... a can of black beans...? It opened up upon impact and is seeping bean juice all over the floor, rip.

And from inside the darkened storage room, there is a voice: ]

Stay back! The next one won't miss!

[cheerfuldays]

( wow 0/10 customer service.

shizuku frowns, taking a step back. )

Please, we mean no harm.

[partymagician]

[ Fai holds up his hands, ready to dodge at any second or push Shizuku out of the way of any cans. ]

She’s right. We were coming in to look around, that’s all!

[afflictionmods]

This area is off-limits to customers, though!

[ The voice protests from off-screen. Some shuffling can be heard. ]

... then again, I'm not really an employee either, but I think I qualify for some kind of honorary clerk title by now...

[ Half-volume muttering and grumbling as whoever is here rustles with some blankets. At least no more beans are incoming. ]

[cheerfuldays]

... How long have you been here?

( also, how does the voice sound? what can we gauge from it? )

[partymagician]

[ Fai tries to peek in to see if he can catch a glimpse of this person, or at least what their little set up looks like. ]

Are you the only one here?

[afflictionmods]

[ The lights are out in the storage room, but the light shining in from the supermarket proper illuminates it enough that Fai can tell someone has built a pretty intricate blanket fort here. It uses a variety of items you'd find in a supermarket as building parts and is entirely made of Snuggly(TM) Blanket Hoodies.

The voice is male and... just kind of rambly. Soon enough it is joined by a face, as a young man emerges from his blanket castle. ]

Like... a month? More? Dude, how did you guys even get in here? Nobody's come by at all since it got foggy!

[cheerfuldays]

I don't know. We were... the last thing I remember before finding myself here was that I felt dizzy. This seems to happen to people in our group at times, but I couldn't possibly begin to explain what's happening or why.

( shizuku's kind of keeping her distance still, but peeking over fai's shoulder a little to be honest. )

[partymagician]

[ Fai nods along to what Shizuku said. ]

It was as if we were compelled to come inside here. It’s hard to fully explain, but we weren’t really fine to move around on our own until we got to that unfortunate produce aisle.

[afflictionmods]

[ The young man hesitates, but after a moment he seems to relax. He waves both his hands in the air to signify that he is unarmed and then comes to the door and flips on the light switch, finally making himself properly visible.

At the same time as Shizuku and Fai get a good look at him, he is also studying them. Very intently. He looks exhausted, up close, and his clothes are super wrinkled. ]

Wait, wait, wait, wait... You're from that experiment group at the college, aren't you? Gosh, that's been running for quite a bit now, hasn't it?

[cheerfuldays]

Um- yes, actually... but it's been such a ghost town, I wasn't aware many others would be aware of it. I don't believe it intends to go on for too much longer, but...

( she shakes her head and sighs. )

How did you hear about that?

[partymagician]

I’m wondering as well. Is this experiment a well-known thing?

[ Huh! ]

[afflictionmods]

Hah? No way, no way!

[ The guy waves his arms dismissively. ]

I work for the project, man. I was on a food run for you guys. You know, get you some cabbages and stuff. As you can see, it went real well. Had a lovely month in here just kind of talking to myself!

[ He can be grateful it was a supermarket and he didn't just miserably starve.

After taking just one breath, he eyes Fai's filled cart. ]

Looks like you didn't even need anybody doing your shopping for you either!

[cheerfuldays]

Oh!! Thank you so much for that, then!

( shizuku all but beams with her thanks, before humming a little. even if it's a little weird to run into another worker on the project, keeping everyone fed is important! but...

hm.

her expression goes from a bright, sincere smile to a concerned frown. )

That fog... it's very inconvenient, isn't it? I thought maybe it was at the hands of whoever did this, but if it kept you trapped here too....

[partymagician]

[ That comment about Fai's filled cart just makes him laugh. He's taking initiative!

But also... ]

Mm, I thought the same as Shizuku, but it seems like the fog is a much bigger phenomenon. It isn't just us. What a shame we haven't had fresh produce though...

[ Ah well. He can lament about the produce another time.

But he's curious now. ]

Do you work directly under Lorelei?

[afflictionmods]

[ The guy just grimaces at Shizuku's thanks. Evidently he's not sure that five weeks stuck at the grocery store is worth it even if a cute girl is showering him in gratitude. ]

Nah. Not directly. I'm not really, like, part of the research division. I just do logistics stuff. Back-end kinda work! I make sure the pens don't run out, the clipboards are in order, all that reeeaaal important work.

I only know how from running into her at HQ every once in a while.

[partymagician]

Ah, logistics...

[ He agrees that it's important, but he's a little disappointed that he can't get more on Lorelei. ]

So your role would have been to ensure we had food and I assume to ensure that all of our amenities were working too? I'm admittedly curious about how you would have interacted with the project as a whole if you hadn't gotten trapped in the fog.

Other than Lorelei and Florence, we haven't spoken to anyone else directly involved.

[ Like. There's Kyle, but Fai doesn't want to go into that rabbit hole right now. ]

[afflictionmods]

[ There is a big shrug from Logistics Dude. ]

Yeah, sorry, I got nothin'. No idea what's even been going on with you while I was stuck in here. The whole project's been kinda... weird?

Like, Camelia's a big org, you know? Tons of projects - I kinda wander between the research squads, just helping with supplies as needed, and they're not usually so... secretive?

This one's freaky. "Hey, Gregory, go out and buy produce for 30 people to cook for themselves..." What kinda order is that, anyway?

And don't get me started on the Lorelei woman... gives me the creeps whenever I run into her, honestly.