[META] Chittentown Watering Hole/Civisect Eatery

[Micillia]

Chiara needed a moment to get away from the acid, fire, electricity and probing paparazzi questions. So what better time then now to go and check out how the dooms-day plan- er, hypothesis was going. The blueblood saw the table with the space crew and the little orangeblood, and walked over. "Fun stuff out there... Yep, this whole space race thing is just a load of fun..." The blueblood said as she tried once again to flatten her singed hair. The smell of hair burning was the worst, she really needed a haircut after this.

"So whats the scoop?" The blueblood asked, getting comfortable around the large table. A timid little brownblood spoke up and Chiara patted the girl's head. "Yeah, of course its scary. Good little kids like you gotta help, um, save the world or something, right?" Chiara tried an encouraging smile on, it felt weird.

quite uneventful

Sypon

 

[Sypon]

“Yes! Ah, mm. Who has the notes? We should spread them all out here. Based on what I’ve heard it sounds like there’s some kind of fringe group or something at work… But I don’t know. Let’s get a closer look at all of them together, shall we?”

Panili shifted in her seat and looked to the crew. Shenso gave her a small, grim smile. The weight of her visions coming (at least partially) true was haunting.

BRING OUT THE GOODS

 

[Gl!tch~]

Hemera was pleased some trolls from the meeting were showing up of their own accord, even if they were just children so far. A good start, a good start. She was happy to talk and share what she had found and collected from others. And Panili calling an official meeting? Even better. Hemera was actually pretty excited to report to everyone looking to her to pull this all together. Admittedly, it was stressful juggling the actual competition and snooping, even with all the hands on board.

Hopefully the whole lot wouldn't look too out of place with all the space they were taking up.

She smiled pleasantly at Kolako upon arrival, which froze up a little when Chiara had to butt in. She cleared her throat, giving the blueblood a pointed look. She didn't trust either Chiara or Eridia around Kolako right now.

Meanwhile, Mera placed her binder on the table. "I have a collection of what everyone's found so far, including the scraps I found myself. Everyone has worked very hard to follow your hints, Panili, and it's certainly pointing us somewhere." She opened the binder, and tapped her notes. "It sounds like rebels to me. Or, at least, rebel mentality. Look at how they are anti-empire and anti-high blood. Isn't that what rebels basically are?"

She paused. "I will admit, though, 'our kind' sounds unusual. But the rest of it points towards a rebellion."  

[quite uneventful]

Kolako was suddenly patted by a blueblood, eyes glancing up at her with slight blankness before a smile spread across her face, focusing on the 'helping to save the world' part. Her pump biscuit lifted a little, feeling a little more accomplished, being there. She was trying after all! "The scoop!" Kolako exclaimed, more eager-- "Is..." The minute Hemera pulled out her binder, the troll pointed at it, then wiggled her hands like jazz hands. "Tah-dah!" She said, almost too eager. "Yeah, yeah, I helped too! It was really hard, but yo pude hacerlo, I could do it! We all did really awesome, like, really awesome, and I think thats super chulo, so cool!" Kolako was proud of their group!

When Mera mentioned her thoughts, the brownblood tapped her chin, before offering her own two cents. "Pero, what if it's uhh... Not?" Kolako blinked blankly. "If it's the rebellion... Bueno, I dunno. I don't think they'd want to tear the world down? Don't they want to destroy the caste system?" Kolako leaned back in her chair. "Ayy, I thought it was aliens! 'Cause that's a lot cooler and interesting! And explains the 'our kind' thing!" Koko's legs hung off the edge of her chair, holding the edge a little tightly before tilting her head. "Isn't that scarier?"

Gl!tch

waves! o wo/3

Micillia

<3 you're sweet!!

 

[Sypon]

The crew leaned in. Piccal herself took interest in the notes, flipping through the scraps with scarred fingers. “Mellek.” She muttered, and he took a hard look at the binder over his glasses with a nod.

“Good work, Ms. Moachm. You’ve proven very competent.” Piccal adjusted in her chair and palmed the mug of hot black scalding hustle she was holding. Panili nodded enthusiastically.

“OK! Right. Rebel mentality. Gosh, sounds pretty straight forward. Like a manifesto and all.”

Loulah tapped a mechanical finger on the table. “How many rebel groups are there since the Vast Glub? Back in our day there were a few very specific bands of outlaws with specific interests: Killing the Queen’s lusus, killing the queen, flipping the hemospectrum on its head, making greenbloods the new ruling caste, not to mention power-hungry seadwellers looking to sink the land. Seems like these blokes just hate highbloods and want the world leveled. That’s pretty extreme for a group we’ve never heard of.”

Piccal downed another shot of her hustle. “So they’re faking, or they’re hardcore underground.” Shenso cleared his throat, and the Captain looked up to acknowledge him.

“Ohr… Ishf swe wuh ffowlwed. Hchould be tryihng to hnochk out th’ shchpeshe lhadders b’for we schet up schattelihts.” He lowered his bespectacled eyes to the papers.

The Captain raised a hand. “He’s right. You and Shenso could have a point, little girl. Aliens aren’t out of the picture, but an onworld threat is just as likely with how… Vulnerable the government is. What do you think? You know recent Alternian history better than we do.”  

[Gl!tch~]

"Aliens? I...have not considered. We sure haven't seen any. Only trolls, lusii, robots. There hasn't been documented contact of any sort since the Vast Glub, as far as I know." But Hemera had to consider. Trolls were a conquering race; other planets would probably intimidated if the army went into space again. But at the same time, she found it odd. Sudden, really.

"If not rebels, there may be something else. Though I doubt it, but we might as well consider everything. Recently, there was a shipment of robots for trolls to take care of. Did anyone else here get one? They were awful, then left of their own accord. Just...destroyed the hive then went away. Now, if it happened to more than just me, I doubt the empire would do that en masse on purprose. And then, in Chittentown recently, there were 'bureaucratic' robots giving us a hard time. As in, we had to destroy all of them because there was no way to reason with them. I'm not saying the empire is creating faulty robots, but there's something off lately. And if anyone is going to afford personal machines, it would be highbloods. Pay attention to this part- 'we will not be ignored for bigger things'. Is it part of being a decoy, or is it genuine? Just something to consider." Hemera ended with a small shrug. She still felt it might be rebels, but her alternate idea couldn't be anymore ludicrous than aliens, as far as she was concerned.  

[DraconicFeline]

Sephos Arbola - Chittentown Watering Hole

Maku was recovering from the... various robot hells... and Sephos was trying to calm himself down by tending to the plants he'd brought into the dormblock when he heard the little widget device speak of meeting. That it was Panili's voice was the only reason why Sephos didn't throw it across the room and curl up in a corner with his flowers. Still, he was hesitant to consider leaving the room without his lusus handy. He could take care of himself, but after all that had happened, he wasn't so sure.

Finally, he crept out to find Maku. Big white tree monsters were not hard to find, and considering he needed water to help him recover, it wasn't hard to find where he'd gone. Sephos kept to shadows and walls and tried not to be seen or approached or even achknowledged, so nervous was he.

Finally, treebeast with him, he went to the eatery. When he opened the door and stepped into the growing gatheirng, he felt... home. Well, more home than before. Safe...ish. He took a seat and a plate for himself and sat down quietly, munching on a fresh pepper he'd brought with him - one of the last remaining from the ones he'd brought with him.

Things, he was hearing, were grim. Aliens and rebellions and things so far over his head That they're probably gonna come crashing down on my forest. Or something like that. He didn't like any of the options. He didn't like how he didn't really get any of it. What was he supposed to do if he didn't understand?

"What if it's both... or something?" he asked tentatively, fiddling with a stem. Two different groups doing the same thing with each other and then maybe... betraying each other? He rubbed the base of his horn - he was giving himself a headache. Maybe he should just shut up and let the other trolls explain everything...  

[Sypon]

Panili blinked. “Robots, you say?” She balled her little hand into a fist and propped her chin up on it. “Hmm…”

There was a moment of murmuring quiet. Loulah braced her fingers against her forehead.

“So now we’ve got terrestrials, extra-terrestrials, rebels, and robots. Or both. Or all of them.” She rolled her eyes back into her head, crossing her arms as much as she could with one of them being a literal gun.

“Well… It’s a start!” Panili offered. “It just might mean we’ll have to stick together. As a group! Maybe even past the building of the Space Ladders, to figure out what’s going on. Right?”

The space crew was uneasy. Malory put up a cautious hand. “We’ll have to see how your visions play out, kiddo. Not for nothin’, but we’ve all been pulled into this through pretty intense circumstances. I don’t know how many of us or your buddies here will want to stick around.”

Panili’s expression dropped. She thumbed the pages in front of her, out of ideas and leads. Suddenly, her eyebrows shot up. “Hey… What do these numbers mean?”  

[Hobo Pixi]

Eilidh sat in her seat, munching down some grubloaf as she listened to the ideas bantering around. She looked between all the trolls that were there but not seeing Nucleo or Xavier. She sank in her seat, feeling a bit lost. She was pretty sure her jadeblood friend had briefly taken the nap he'd talked to her about earlier as he seemed to hardly ever sleep. That of course left her with just her lusus, and her thoughts besides those gathered.

In truth, the ideas of aliens was rather....unthought of on her part. In reality she didn't know what to make of the concept. What would aliens even look like? Perhaps trolls without horns? The idea was very strange. Though, she supposed it wouldn't be completely unrealistic. They didn't really have a lot to go off. As her legs swung slightly as she ate, the tealblood pondered the possibilities.

Seeing the others looks through the notes they all found, did however make her smile a bit. It had meant that they all did well... it meant she was helpful. Pride swelled in her chest knowing she'd managed to help find some of those very same notes. While she’d only managed to get a few things and it wasn't much, every little bit counted in the grand scheme of things right? At least as far as she was concerned, the tealblood beamed happily just the same. She looked to Sephos with an awed expression as he mentioned it could be both rebels and aliens. Did he really mean that? It seemed more like a wild idea, but who was she to judge.

Her attention was brought back to Panili as she spoke. The tealblood would be willing to stick around with Panili even after this.... but Malory more or less shut that down... at least in her eyes. She looked down as Panili's expression dropped, wondering what would happen next. She still felt loyal to the younger troll, her message of peace had inspired her. Eilidh wanted to see the world as Panili envisioned it even if the road ahead would be rocky.
 

[Gl!tch~]

"No matter who it is, it is someone who has infiltrated both sides and who could potentially harm many trolls for the sake of publicity." Mera pointed out. "If the specifics are getting too ridiculous, perhaps we should focus on process of elimination as we work on this further." She didn't understand the impatience, personally, but wasn't going to snap at a veteran unlike some trolls.

Hemera was admittedly disheartened to see how easily their work might fall apart if it extended beyond the ladders. "I will work with you for as long as you need, Panili. I will always be available for you. We are friends, are we not? I owe you that much." Mera said this rather quietly, personally. Not to make herself look better. She couldn't imagine the child's struggles.

"Ah!" She then perked up at the mention of the numbers. "You mean in the boxes? Yes. I took the liberty to see how they might match up to the Chittentown scraps. There are 23 marked, and 23 letters total. Coming together, they make this color sequence." She reached out and circled it as written in her notes, though could understand that it may look out of place.

"I held off with Civisect; we did not have all the numbers at the time I worked on this last." She looked up at Chiara, and around to see if any other of the Civisect team were coming in. "Unless you have received anymore information since?"  

[Yamashii]

The train ride to Chittentown had been uneventful except for the blunder with the overhead storage compartments. Amonee was just glad to finally be off and walking again after that embarrassment. Chittentown was dusty and sandy which was still strange to him. A majestic rocky mountain or lush vibrant forest were more his speed but this was important and so he had come.

"It's around here somewhere." From what he could see, Chittentown had been working hard on their elevator and it was coming together well. Maybe things were going to be okay? Unless the flaws were somewhere inside where they couldn't be seen. Pulling Nucleo behind himself by the hand, Amonee took comfort in the presence of his friend. If he'd been by himself, dark frightened thoughts would've spiraled out of control.

"Sorry for the wait, we're here now!" He pushed the door open and gave the rest of the team of misfits a bright smile. It didn't look like everyone was there at the moment and his biscuit felt tight and upset that he scanned the crowd but did not see Xavier there. But the cute tealblood that was close with him was present and he made a mental note to talk with Eilidh later and check that she was okay. A friend of the other jadeblood was a friend of his as well.

"You look like you've been working hard. Here's a treat to recharge your energy." The two greenbloods from Civisect parked a picnic basket full of brownies on the table. Not the most nutritious snack but they were racing against some kind of doomsday vision. They were allowed to treat themselves, he thought.

"Hemera, was it? Say aah!" His eyes twinkled as he cluelessly interrupted the girl's serious cipher cracking to hover a tasty brownie, complete with powdered sugar dusted on top, right in front of her mouth.  

[Doutei]

It'd been a while since he'd last visited Chittentown. Watching the landscape as they traveled, Nucleo wondered how hot it got here. The air looked dry and dusty with a sandy sheen. It was so far from his usual setting, he felt uncertain.

'At least Amonee's cheered up.' Glancing at his companion, Nucleo smiled at the jadeblood. He'd been so nervous and embarrassed earlier (with good reason) but it was better when the boy was smiling. From the moment he'd learned of Panili's letter, the jadeblood had been running and rushing around in a panic, it couldn't be good for the troll. Nucleo hoped they'd make it through safe so he could take him to a nice relaxing spring in the woods after this.

"Hey, sorry we took so long." Entering after Amonee, Nucleo surveyed the room to see who all had arrived. He was also sad to see Xavier hadn't made it and tried not to imagine anything bad preventing the other jadeblood. At least Eilidh seemed to have made it, he'd be able to ask her what was going on. She looked uncertain of how to feel and he hoped she wasn't scared. He'd try to catch her after the meeting and check on her.

"Amonee, they're in the middle of the meeting!" The barista laughed and tried to gently pull him to sit down. He didn't know what they might have interrupted but it was pretty clear people had been talking. A bunch of papers on the table caught his attention and the greenblood looked them over. It appeared that their efforts had not been wasted and someone had deciphered quite a few messages.

"Hm, this line about a declaration of war is what stands out to me. It's clear that whoever wrote these is planning to take some sort of action, right? Haven't the rebels already done that?" Nucleo frowned. He wasn't the most knowledgeable about the war with the rebels, most of the information he learned was very second hand and vague. He did feel like the war between the crown and the rebels had already started though.

"What other options have already been suggested? Aliens, robots... what about drones?"  

[Gl!tch~]

"Ah, so almost everyone is here," Hemera commented with a smile as Amonee and Nucleo arrived. She blinked, confused, at the brownie in front of her face, however. "Ah...thank you." she said after a moment. Mera took the brownie and put it on the table on a napkin. "I'll have it in a few minutes, I promise."

Then, she had to wonder: would the establishment be upset that they brough their own food? But then, the motley space crew was probably intimidating enough that they could cater the entire place and the owners might be too scared to complain.

She had to consider Nucleo's comments next. "I'm not sure about drones. They're just trolls. If the drones where you are are anything like ours, I don't think they would be that organized. Look at how much thought has been put into these ciphers! I have to admit, I would consider aliens before I would drones. I appreciate the contrubution." she ended with a nod.

"Ah! But now that you're all here. Have you found anymore scraps? We need at least one more for this last cipher."  

[DraconicFeline]

"I'll stick around." Sephos blurted out. Everything else was too much for him, but that still remained the same. He sure as heck didn't want her to think he was leaving! Nope!

He squinted at Hemera. Color... sequences? Coded letters he could understand... but colors? Huh? He was confused, but clearly this wasn't... what he was here to do. What was he doing here? And what was this about drones?

Sephos reached for a brownie and ate it - tenatively at first, but then with actual relish as he realized it was actually... delicious. "These are really good." He commented, mouth now smeared with chocolate.

He moved his veggies and flowers so that they were a little more prominently displayed...  

[quite uneventful]

Kolako blinked at the suggestions the other trolls offered, looking to the space crew with big eyes. She nodded as she heard them talking about it, her eyes falling on the notes curiously and squinting at them. Mera had already found out the message on Chittentown's side, and Kolako felt a little curious if the colors were the same on the other. When Panili mentioned them sticking together past the Space Ladders being built, Kolako smiled brightly. That was so cool!! New friends, trying to make Alternia peaceful! And she could stick with Mera! "I'll stay! Yo me quedaré!" The troll exclaimed excitedly, gleaming eyes only wanting to help the trolls on this planet and keep them all safe.

The moment Panili mentioned the numbers, Kolako's eyes fell back on the papers, silently eyeing the Civisect side and pulling them over toward her. "I think... Yo creo que we can do it with the ciphers we have now...!" Kolako murmured, beginning to take action and move things around until they began to spell the second row of colors out of the scraps, save for a few letters from a seemingly simple color. Her eyes looked up at the others. "I-I... This is so weird... Tan raro..." Koko murmured, feeling her pump biscuit race with slight fear. She forced herself to breathe, taking one of the brownies and beginning to munch on it in hope that it'd calm her down.