PALACE GAME: Round 3

[cultfavorite]

You open your eyes—

You're standing in the vast lobby of a corporate building, facing the reception desk, where a Team Galactic Grunt is stationed—she's currently on the phone, though, and occupied. A few other grunts move through the lobby, looking as if they're on their way to their next assignment. All of them look identical. And if you watch their paths for a while, none of them actually end up leaving the room.

The walls are a bright, metallic, sterile blue with white, and the floor is made up of gleaming silver metal tiles emblazoned here and there with a gold logo. The reception desk is slightly to your right, and to the left of that there are three doors in the far wall in front of you.

To the right of the reception desk, there's a little area with a vending machine, a large ottoman to sit on, a potted plant, and . . . a dotaku? With a face? It's sitting resting on the floor next to the vending machine, and it's staring right at you with those red eyes.

Directly to your right, closer to the front door, there is a glowing green circle on the floor with a sign on the wall next to it.

What will you d—

Wait. Your phone is buzzing. Whether or not you had it with you back in the prison, you do now, whether in your pocket, in your hand, whatever. It's on your person, and it's vibrating demandingly for attention. If you choose to ignore it, a mechanical voice emanating from it begins literally saying the word buzz! buzzzzzz! buuuzzzzzz! in an increasingly irritated tone.

Check your phone?

Comments

THE PATH OF WISDOM: TEAM GALACTIC VEILSTONE BUILDING

[cultfavorite]

The door slides open for you, and you step through it into . . .

Nothing exciting. It's a hallway in the same building you were just in; there's no incongruity at all. As if you really are just going about your day in the life of a corporate lab worker. The vibe here is the same metallic, futuristic, sterile vibe the lobby had, with its white, blue, and silver theme and its gold Team Galactic logo tiles here and there on the floor.

This is a very small wing, though: in this hallway, there is one door to your left, one door to your right, and at the end of the hallway in front of you, a yellow glowing circle of light installed in the floor. There's a sign posted on the wall next to that circle, and a sensor next to it on the wall.

[peacetalks]

[let's go look at the yellow circle and the sign first]

[cultfavorite]

It's a warp pad! The sign posted next to it reads:

Know your warp pads! Yellow means two-way transportation!

The sensor is a small black box mounted on the wall with a signal light, currently red, and a sensor to scan . . . whatever you're supposed to scan here.

[peacetalks]

[quietly to himself:] Like an aether current... I wonder where this one leads.

[but before he can test the pad, he wants to explore the rooms first. he goes back to try opening the first room on the RIGHT]

[cultfavorite]

The door slides open into a spacious conference room. There's a large oval table surrounded by chairs, a water cooler, a little coffee maker, a mini-fridge . . . not a bad place to have a meeting. At the head of the room there's a large wall-mounted monitor hooked up to a laptop for remote conferencing. Currently it's displaying someone's unremarkable desktop, emblazoned with the Team Galactic logo.

I'm so glad Aymeric went right for this spot.

[peacetalks]

[aymeric may be from Fantasy McMedieval Land, but he knows a conference room when he sees one.

unfortunately he's not laptop-savvy, so as soon as he looks it over he's pulling out his phone]

Master Rotoron? Can you tell me what this device is meant to do?

[cultfavorite]

The app buzzes smugly to life.

Bzzt! That there is your connection to the outside world! I'd go snooping in it, but that's just me. It's probably not worth learning to use a laptop just to get under Commander Saturn's skin.

[peacetalks]

Perhaps 'tis best to leave it be, then.

[what's in the mini-fridge tho]

[cultfavorite]

It's a selection of different fancy coffee creamers to go with the coffee machine. There are all kinds of flavors for people who don't like their coffee to taste like coffee! Rawst Berry and Cream, Moomoo Caramel, something called Rage Candy Bar . . .

Suddenly, the large monitor in the room makes a ping! sound. A video chat window pops up, and you're being addressed by a Team Galactic Grunt—a nervous-looking young man. From the background, he's clearly sitting in another conference room somewhere in the HQ. Why didn't you just meet in the same room . . . ? But he clears his throat and begins to speak:

"Boss? Uh . . . thanks for agreeing to meet with me today."

[peacetalks]

[aymeric, ever the sweet tooth, is about to grab the moomoo caramel, when he hears the video and whirls around]

--Hello there. I must apologize, I did not realize I would be interrupting. It seems as though your superior has not yet arrived, however, ser...?

[cultfavorite]

"Oh man . . . really?"

The young man hangs his head, but he looks unsurprised.

"I thought maybe Commander Saturn was finally back from his mission. But this kind of thing is exactly why I need to talk to him . . . "

[peacetalks]

Saturn and I are acquainted. If there is aught you wish to tell him, I can convey a message when next I see him.

[cultfavorite]

"You know him? Are you friends? I didn't think that guy had any friends."

He doesn't even say it in a mean way. He's just musing aloud.

"Hey . . . hey, maybe this works out for me! You mind if I vent a little at you? The thing is, I'm just not sure I can trust Commander Saturn as a leader!"

[menphina]

This isn't familiar at all...


[ Ah, Omega and dear friend Omicrons. Thanks for getting her used to this. She's checking the door to the left. ]

Knock knock...?

[cultfavorite]

There's no one in here right now, but the door is unlocked. And it opens into a kitchen nightmare.

This is a modern kitchen, equipped with the latest tech and no different aesthetically from the rest of the futuristic building—but rather than looking clean and sterile, it's the exact opposite situation here. It would seem no one in Team Galactic knows how to clean up after themselves. The tables to eat at are scattered with crumbs and drips of unidentifiable substances; the refrigerator is stained; the sink is full of dishes. Hey, at least you can say this place is definitely lived in! In fact, the only area that seems untouched by human hands is the open cabinet under the sink with the cleaning supplies. Wonder why that might be.

[menphina]

[ Stares and. Shuts the door. ]

No.

[cultfavorite]

When she turns around, she bumps into a woman who was headed down the hall on her way into the kitchen.

"Hey, watch it! Geez . . . not that I blame you. I feel the same way every time I walk into this dump."

[menphina]

[ Oh hello... ]

Cute...!


[ GIVE HER A MOMENT. ]

I'd ask what happened in there, but I feel like I don't want to know! Who are you, lass?

[cultfavorite]

Oh, she likes that. The woman winks and poses with an arm behind her head.

"None other than the gorgeous Commander Mars! Heeeey, wait a second here. You don't know me? I'm the second-most senior commander in this joint!"

[menphina]

'Tis a shame, I know. To not know such an adorable lass is a commander! I'm Megumi, Matriarch of the Utakata clan! You're pretty!

[ Sparkle sparkle— ]

But I'm in a hurry- do you know Saturn?

[cultfavorite]

"Are you kidding? Of course I do! I'm only just barely his junior, you know! Not that he doesn't lord it over me anyway. But what do you want with that guy? I'm much more fun than he is, gorgeous!"

You are firmly on Mars' good side.

"Did you check the kitchen? Maybe he's in there trying to get people to clean things up again. I don't know why he even bothers."

[menphina]

I'm a little biased, I suppose. But I could be swayed to a pretty lass like yourself.


[ She winks, but the thought of going back into the kitchen makes her shudder. ]

I didn't smell him in there- but I didn't smell past the stench. Why's it such a mess, anyroad?

[cultfavorite]

She's happy to dish, groaning and leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed.

"Weeeeell, it's not like Master Cyrus gave a crap what the grunts were doing with themselves as long as they were loyal to him. And what point is there in a Commander doing piddly little work like cleaning? That's how it's always been! And it's been fine! But now Saturn's been on this whoooole kick of wanting to take better care of people, and as you can see, it's not quite working out for him yet."

[menphina]

[ Oh Saturn... ]


'tis not as though he'd mean badly. Does he not get along with those under him? I know transition between leaders can be a difficult to subordinates...

[cultfavorite]

"Master Cyrus's shoes are impossible to fill! And he's clearly not even going to try, if he's going around caring about people and junk. Team Galactic's never been about that. It's a waste of time, if you ask me."