[log] Noisy Black, Part One [closed]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: anyone who signed up for the Noisy Black event
Location: an office building
Date: Morning and Day 260
Summary: You wake up in a room.
Warnings: nothing of note for this part, please note any specific things that happen in the comment sections of your posts

Sinners Top Level
Converted Top Level

Comments

[fanboyascended]

Listen -

[ Billy knows he's not the greatest at calming people down. He's usually the one on the other side of this equation. But this is the worst possible time for someone to be having a freak-out, and he can't just leave it alone. ]

- We're in surgical gowns. Something's going to happen, probably soon, and you've got to be ready for it.

[quadrangle]

[That's basically the opposite of reassuring, and Karkat swears under his breath because of it, his eyes darting to what little he can see of the hall between their cells. Fuck. Fuck, how is he supposed to get ready for that?]

Like what?

["Surgical gowns" leads fairly obviously to surgery, but he wants to believe he's wrong.]

[fanboyascended]

[ Billy doesn't think Karkat wants comforting, so he's working with what they have. Maybe he's the kind of guy who does better with a distraction. ]

No idea. But whatever it is, they're going to have to open the door to do it. So if we focus...

[ Maybe at least one of them will get the chance to run. ]

[quadrangle]

[The prospect is tantalizing enough to get Karkat to lift his head a little, so yes, a distraction might be just the thing. He's just as quickly disheartened, though, and he swears under his breath before pointing out the exact flaw in this stranger's plan.]

They'll have someone guarding the exit. Or the nanomachines will shut us down again.

[Like how they'd fallen asleep before being taken here or like what had happened to those trying to snatch up tablet fragments several days ago. Neither paralysis nor unconsciousness would help, but it might still give them something? Maybe. He isn't sure.]

[fanboyascended]

Yeah, probably.

[ If Karkat's looking for optimism, he chose the wrong superhero to be harassed by. ]

But nothing's infallible and the only way any of us are ever going to get out of here is if we find whatever tiny opening they slip up and give.

[quadrangle]

[He'd tear it up any case. Pessimism is more useful right now.]

The nanomachines have been pretty fucking infallible so far. Why would that be different here?

[fanboyascended]

Because nothing's infallible, there's no such thing as a system without a little entropy in it. Maybe it won't be this time, but they're going to screw up eventually and we've got to be ready for it.

[quadrangle]

[He goes quiet at that, but it doesn't last for long.]

So we keep testing them. For as long as we can.

[fanboyascended]

Until they break.

[ The or we do goes unvoiced. ]

They made the mistake of kidnapping a bunch of people who've gone through some seriously intense stuff before they got here. We can handle this.

[quadrangle]

[Seriously intense stuff, he says. Sgrub qualifies, Karkat supposes, but it had never involved anything like this. Maybe whoever the fuck is talking had been through something similar, but where does that leave him? And what about Davesprite?]

[He's quiet for a moment, then takes a deep breath.]

What's your name?

[fanboyascended]

Billy.

What's yours?

[quadrangle]

[Billy. It's a... normal sort of name for humans, isn't it? Fuck, he doesn't know. He'd have to ask, but he's sure he's seen it before. Somewhere.]

Karkat.

[More importantly, it's a normal conversation. He needs something normal.]

I'm carcinoGeneticist, the asshole who uses all gray caps on the network. I don't think we've spoken.

[fanboyascended]

No, but Davesprite mentioned you.

[ Easy explanation - alien - and that makes sense now. ]

Probably should've guessed. Nice to meet you... kinda.

[quadrangle]

[Probably should have guessed? The fuck is that supposed to mean? Then again, gray skin, horns... yeah, nevermind.]

Same. This is objectively the worst way to meet people, but since when has that fucking mattered? Recreational shitting on the populace is Norfinbury's favorite pastime.

[fanboyascended]

Right up there with snowing and trans-dimensional kidnapping. It really needs to find a healthier outlet.