ic contact

[14thcommander]

It's Hange, Hange, Hange! Were you looking for me? I'll get back to you posthaste. Or when it's convenient.

[ communicator & actionspam it's all good ]

Comments

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[14thcommander]

im on deck

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[dog_eat_dog]

My favourite. On my way.

[14thcommander]

Hange doesn't bother replying. On the normal barge, she doesn't tend to wear her uniform around, much less the tactical gear; openly carrying a weapon tends to increase tensions and make it harder to talk her way out of things. On the mirrored, hostile barge, carrying weapons is simply good sense.

She turns to look Tess over. Hange tends to keep to herself from the general barge population, and not strike out randomly at inmates, but she does have a bit of a reputation.

Even with that, her tone is eerily polite.

"Did you see something in the mirror?"

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess knows her reputation, and maybe as someone else, as some idealistic moron, she would approach with caution. But Tess knows herself and who she actually is, and she's someone who has tortured. Someone who has killed. Going toe to toe with someone who understands that doesn't bother her.

She holds up the 8-Ball.

"This look like a reflection to you?"

[14thcommander]

Good. They can both be professionals about it.

"Did it, perhaps, come popping out of a mirror?"

[dog_eat_dog]

"Found it on top of a toilet, actually," she replies, smirking. She gestures at the deck around them. "See this? It looks this way now because of me. So I want to know what map you have, and what I'm supposed to do with it."

[14thcommander]

Hange produces the map from an inner jacket pocket, snaps it open for Tess' viewing. It's a map of the ship, and as Hange flips it back and forth, it's apparent that it's double sided. Rooms that are blacked out on one side of the map are clear and labeled on the other.

"I think it shows what hasn't changed."

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess examines it. A fair assessment, she thinks. There’s the deck, and the chapel — Dancy was upset about the chapel. She nods tersely.

“Okay,” she says. “Then we need to find out what to do next. Where to get more keys.”

[14thcommander]

The pool has been changed too. Hange did that one.

"What is that thing you've got? Could it be a key?"

She's never seen a magic eight ball, ok...

[dog_eat_dog]

“It’s a kids’ toy,” she explains. “You’re supposed to ask it a question, shake it, and the part on the bottom shows you the answer... like... what do we do next?”

She shakes it to make a point, flipping it over to show the dice inside.

[14thcommander]

Hange comes over to look, as if there might be an actual answer there. Well, it is the barge... there might be?

[dog_eat_dog]

Ask again later.

Tess breathes out, annoyed. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. Her resolve hasn’t changed, though.

“Figured. I’m going to keep chasing this, though. You in?”

[14thcommander]

"I am." Tess could probably use a warden for reinforcement.

"Well. I saw the mirrors move. It looks like the cybernetics lab still isn't changed." Picked totally arbitrarily. Now, since they can walk and talk: "Let's head that way. How did you change your area?"

[dog_eat_dog]

She's not entirely sure what the cybernetics lab is, but it works. She follows.

"I got this key from a mirror," she replies, fishing it out of her pocket. It's ornate wrought iron. "My reflection wasn't what it was supposed to be. It was like it was talking to me, trying to get out –– and when the mirror cracked, the key was inside."

[14thcommander]

"Mirrors are important, then." It might seem like a jump based on one person's experience, but Hange saw her own reflection distort and change so it's a solid bet.

"Well, I'm sure there'll be something shiny there."

The lab is on the second level, so they're not far. Hange marches them down the two flights of stairs in total work-mode with minimal chatter; she doesn't want to attract too much attention from passers-by while they're doing sensitive stuff. Some people are attached to this barge.

[dog_eat_dog]

"The mirror was the way both times," she replies. "That's how I got the 8-ball, too, just by moving things around until the reflection matched."

Moving around with a warden feels odd; not that Tess doesn't walk around with Arthur a lot, but after a week of ducking and dodging wardens with penchants for torture, it is a little different. Quiet works just fine with her, too.

[14thcommander]

Hange taps on the door of the cybernetics lab and then opens the door without waiting. She is wearing the tactical gear and there is a good chance if they meet with resistance that she'll just slice the person in their way in half, so the knock is... fair warning.

Anyway. The technology the lab boasts is clearer to her than it was when she arrived, but honestly still beyond her, so once they're in she seems slightly at a loss.

"You don't have a trigger item, do you?"

Because she does not. Hange circles the room and picks up a shiny piece of metal when one comes to hand, tilting it to face the light.

[dog_eat_dog]

Being on the Barge often feels like being in a science fiction movie, and the lab feels like that on steroids. Machinery and technology has been so far beyond her grasp that she almost forgot it existed on this level. No time to gawk, though.

"A trigger item?" she replies. "No, I never had one. I just looked for my reflection until I saw something off about it."

[14thcommander]

Hange pivots the metal plate towards Tess.

"See anything?"

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess approaches it with the squared shoulders of someone ready to jump as soon as she sees something; her reflection isn't perfectly clear, but it's enough for her to look around, scope out the differences. She tests movement, lifting one hand and then the other, turning her face side to side, but it's not her that's different.

She glances over her shoulder, looking at the mess, and then back at the sheet, hunting for something different amongst the clutter of machinery. She reaches out to take the plate from Hange, to walk with it backwards.

"It should be something in the room... something that's different. Come around to this side."

[14thcommander]

Hange trails her, reaching out to adjust Tess' hold on the plate so she can study her own reflection. That is where she saw the initial signs. The metal is a little wavy, so her reflection is a bit distorted, but - "Wait! Hold up." Her grip tightens.

With one eye remaining, Hange can no longer wink; her reflection bats its lashes in a way Hange is not causing at all, and points. Hange turns to look over her shoulder at a reflected machine. There's an "out of order" sign haphazardly stuck to it.

[dog_eat_dog]

Tess holds still, looking –– there it is. She smirks.

"It gets easier every time," she remarks. Might as well, seeing as there's a number more rooms to get to. She drops the plate onto a workbench with a clatter, making her way over to it. "I hope we don't have to fix this. I'm handy, but not that handy."

[14thcommander]

"Well, we'll experiment."

There's a big green power button on this baby. Hange, not one to resist a big button, gives it a push.

The machine makes some sad wheezing noises. A loud clunk echoes from inside it. There's a slightly offset panel on it, just set in place, not screwed in... the noises might be coming from there...

[dog_eat_dog]

Sounds like every messed up machine that still sorta-runs in the Quarantine Zone.

"It's not about to get more broken," she remarks, and she grabs a screwdriver to wedge the panel open. It falls open with a metallic clunk, and Tess steps back when a tarry black substance pools out, oozing slow. "Ugh..."

[14thcommander]

"Well, we can clean this up!"

Hange moves to some of the supply tables. There's rags and delicate tissue wipes around, though this is not a job for delicate anything. She returns with a handful of rags and some heavy-duty paper towels, offering the roll to Tess and crouching down to mop up the ooze.