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

[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."

[menphina]

I see.. but don't you think it would be rather redundant if he was the same as Cyrus? And caring for people means being able to get more out of them willingly. Unless you like working under command.

[ Ear flick... ]

And Saturn wouldn't ever stop from doing what's right for the people in his team, no matter what it was. I know that to be true.

[cultfavorite]

"Geez! Do we know the same Saturn?"

But she's musing this over, quieted a bit.

"Is he really like that . . . ? Does he really get anything out of it? Does anyone else?"

[menphina]

Of course!

[ She perks up, clapping her hands together. ]

Saturn has always been so focused and determined to do right by his team. Even when he didn't know me, he'd come and talk to me, and even try to make sense of the things I said!

And even when we disagree, he still hears me out, without taking things in bad faith! Sometimes the choices he wants to make hurt him just as much as us, but in the long run- he's making them to keep us safe, and strong! Him caring for you all- 'tis not a weakness... he's trying so hard to make sure the least harm comes to those in his care, if at all. Because of his direction, we've gotten through things that could have been so much worse.

[cultfavorite]

" . . . Hmph."

Mars looks like she doesn't know what to think of this, but it's hard to argue with it, and it's a lot to think about. She crosses her arms tightly and nods.

"That guy's always been a lot colder than I am. What happened, huh? But I guess I'm happy for him."

[menphina]

[ She looks a bit sheepish. ]


I don't think you're cold, either. Maybe a little nervous? But you want the best, and so does he.

[ She reaches out and touches Mars' shoulder. ]

He'd want you to be happy too. I'm certain of it! I may not know you, but I've got a sense for these things!


[ Wink! ]

[cultfavorite]

"Ha! Hey, thanks. You're not bad for a Grunt! One sec, I'm going to grab something out of the kitchen for you reeeeal quick!"

She flashes a grin and ducks inside. When she comes back, she's holding three things: a Rage Candy Bar (they're all the rage!), a keycard, and a slip of paper with her phone number on it.

"These are for you! Well, the key's just something another Grunt left behind in there, but their loss."

[menphina]

[ She will excuse being called a grunt because Mars is cute, but she blinks at the "gifts" before chuckling and-

She'll just lean in and press a kiss to Mars' cheek. ]

Thank you, lass. Hope we find each other again!

[ Keycard! And candy! And she doesn't know what the numbers are... maybe they'll be useful. ]

Right... I should be off. I can smell more people here!

[cultfavorite]

"You are so weird. Good thing I'm into that!"

She presses a hand to her cheek and winks, and then heads back into the kitchen.

[menphina]

[ Poor girl. She'll just wish her well- mad respect for going into that kitchen, before checking out.. the door on the right! ]

What's behind door number two...

[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.

[menphina]

[ Oh cool this one is clean.

Maybe she can go press some buttons she never gets to press keys on anything when the Ironworks people are working on their techy things!!



But she's going to the fridge instead to see what's inside! ]

[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 . . . you have one of those already. Evidently it's a popular flavor.

[menphina]

[ I'm so sorry Hen she's going to try and taste ALL OF THE CREAMERS because she has to and WoL puts everything in their mouth

At least once she's done that she'll explore around some more! What're these screens, ooo. ]

[cultfavorite]

All of them taste deliciously sweet and creamy. Your HP is restored if you were missing any, and the Rawst Berry and Cream creamer has an interesting cooling effect when you drink it . . . you get the sense that if you put it in a cup of piping hot coffee, it'd protect your tongue from burns.

Just as she's poking around the biggest screen in the room, it suddenly blips to life, a video chat window opening and maximizing on the desktop. 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."