citylogs | (OPEN) Gregor Samsa's no good, very bad week.

Ah--

[Now that, all of that, that cuts right through Gregor's stupor! Mostly because it's so familiar by now that it's reassuring to feel, and he whips around with a sheepish grimace, placation in his every move.]

...Don't know. This place. But I'm trying to figure out what a guy on the internet did here to get himself in cuffs.

That's what they do. They put us in cuffs. No one's noticed who or anything, and Wings know we're all on watch for it, but it just happens. Force of nature kind of thing. But the guy thinks he didn't commit any crime, so I was going over what he said he did that day, here. If he got cuffed for messing around here without doing anything worth punishing, then they're hiding something here, right?

...Excuse me.

[He's actually holding up a hand as if to stop the man from rambling more, his eyebrows knitting together with a curious sort of confusion.]

Someone got handcuffed? Who?

[Ah, ok. Hint taken. He grunts, rubbing at the elbow of his claw.]

Yeah. Cuffed. Some guy on the internet, uh...Rico Dot Dredd. Think it's his name. He signed the post like that, too. And I think others have been cuffed, though I can't recall who.

[Don and Sinclair, but he's no snitch!]

And what are these cuffs, like...regular handcuffs?

[Just imagining handcuffs appearing out of nowhere, but...that can't be likely, right...]

Who cuffs them? Did this Dredd say?

He said they're standard issue, but he tried everything to get them off himself bar the brute force of another party, which is how we all got to hear about it. And he also said he knows no one came in while he slept, which is when they appeared.

Said he came here, scaled the walls, looked around on the roof to see if there was anything new, used a toilet on the way out. [Punctuated by a prolonged suck of the teeth.] I can't really risk scaling the walls myself, since that's going to get me cuffed without a doubt.

Hm.

[He tilts his head, red eyes flickering upward to the building. While he slept....he doesn't like the feeling of that.]

Did he lock the door or something? Its possible someone entered a different way when he wasn't aware. And....on the roof, huh. [Something comes to mind - his mouth moves a little into a tiny little smirk.] Maybe I should just toss you up there. Say you flew there and got stuck by accident, hrm.

I don't know. That's just what he said. And that his place was as secure as he could make it.

[DAMN IT VERG. That's enough to get a real grimace, nose wrinkled and all!]

...What, like I'd try and say no if you really want to go throwing me around? My transformation works slower, though, so I can't actually go flying. Not that I really sprouted wings before, but. You know. Death's way more likely.

We'll have to get more information. Maybe even test the limits of how much we can beef up security.

[Aw look, Bug Guy's not happy about a little catapult action.]

Relax. It was a joke, Gregor. I hardly want you going splat over this place's nice building. But it looks like "private property" really can be an issue for our captors.

You're not hearing me, boss. I doubt that anything we could do is going to stop us from getting cuffed. If we haven't seen anyone restocking the bare essentials, we're not about to catch anyone cuffing us for misbehaving.

...It's just figuring out what's so damn private that we're not allowed to go near it, if we're allowed to roam free and sleep in beds that aren't ours.

[It's fucking nothing, of course. The crime of hoarding was committed, not Invading City Hall, but Greg doesn't know that, so his piss experiment starts today!]

You give up rather easily, Gregor. But fine. I concede the point.

[A little up and down of the shoulders in a semblance of a shrug.]

Well, its like a building that has certain rooms off limits, right? Usually that's where the secret stuff is stored. Maybe we do need to risk a break-in at some point on a grander scale if we want to get any kind of clues.

[He opens his mouth with some smartass comment about 'easy??? it's been a month plus, damb', but

closes it. Grunts.]

Mm...Finding what'd break down the doors is the real sticking point. You think it'll give us weapons that'd work against its own defences? [Anyway. Enough chitchat on the front doorstep. He takes a few steps forward, then half turns back to Verg and shrugs in mimicry.]

Maybe a Colour is just what it needs, though. Who knows.

[Vergilius eyes narrow, as if he can somehow detect the smack talk Gregor is tempted to reply with.]

Well, it wouldn't allow anything too drastic. But ingenuity is not something left for big flashy things. Even small tools might do the job.

[The next statement makes him tilt his head, a mild little half-smile to match his dry tone.]

Hrm. I could always punch into a door and unlock it that way. You wouldn't think me a brute for it, would you, Gregor?

Honestly, seeing you punch a door down when the locked doors in this city defeat even Don...That's just a cool story to brag about later. 'Hey guys, totally got to see Vergilius bust down a door no one else could, I know I shouldn't be surprised yet I was, it was very awesome'. That sort of thing.

[Ah-- wait, he should probably defer when it comes to actual choices. Time to stop in front of the elevator, and turn back.]

D'you think the city'd count 'taking the stairs' as scaling walls? I could do with some exercise, but I'm not about to go assuming authority here.

Ah. Something to lighten the days, I suppose. Though don't go too overboard with your crowing. I might have to put you in the same category as Don Quixote.

[He's really just following along here, like a drifting, but altogether passive ghost. He's more curious about what Gregor is doing, after all.]

...I don't think so. Go for it.

Give me credit, I have some dignity, and I'd like to let you keep yours. Can't be cool and mysterious if your employees are just gushing over you all the time, right?

[Embarrassing..........

But the decree's been given! Or justified. Stairs it is. He's been sedentary of late anyway, doomscrolling over a bag of popcorn and way too many cigarettes to dampen his appetite, so this is going to be good for him. (Especially if he's already wheezing by the time they hit the first floor.)]

--whew. So. Uh...You hoping to find anything here today? Obviously it's not my business so you don't have to answer, but. [Making conversation with the big scary Red Gaze is hard.....]

That's right. They pay me a lot to be this vague and aloof, you know.

[As sarcastic as ever.]

[He glances up as they start to move up the stairs, already giving a bit of a judging look when he hears that characteristic sound of lack of breath by the first floor.]

For all your fights, you really don't seem to be the best in shape there. [Mm.] And of course I am. Whatever I can. I don't want to stick around here if I can help it.

Egh-- 's been a month or more off work, with absolutely nothing to fight. I'm done with doing drills for nothing.

[The Chain Smoking Isn't Helping, Gregor!!!

No use getting defensive over it, is there...Vergilius is right, and maybe he should do some drills, just to keep his lung capacity solid. (And get rid of any popcorn and salmon-induced flab. What the fuck is his diet here.)] ...Point taken, though. I'll start doing more laps so I'm back in peak form when we get out of here.

...There's not going to be anything here, though. Not apart from whatever happened to get the internet guy locked up. You're welcome to look, and maybe there's something new as of today, but. [Cue him gesturing at the identical cubicles spread out on this floor, nose crinkling with disgust for them. Fuck this place.] Everything was blank before, and I doubt it won't be now.

A month trapped in a place like this, and you think drills are for nothing. If they dropped an Abnormality in here for fun, sure would be a whole lot of "nothing", huh.

[Perhaps its digging at a sore spot here, but Vergilius doesn't care. The last thing he needs is for one of his company like this to be inefficient, for the Company's sake. For his sake.]

[As Gregor speaks, he's moving between the cubicles, curious, but of course, finding nothing lf note.]

Still. You might have seen this. I haven't. Don't be presumptuous. [And his red gaze shifts as he glances over his shoulder.] It's not a good look on you.

[MAN.......HE'S SO RIGHT, AND GREGOR CAN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING IN HIS OWN DEFENCE.......just gotta stand there uselessly, sulking, watching Vergilius look.

Then he grunts softly and joins in on the search. Not that there are many left by the time he pulls his finger out of his ass and starts looking, but the thought's there.] Heard, bossman. Heard.

...You know, they didn't just take everyone's weapons away. They slowed my transformation down. 24 hours for any change to finish happening, instead of immediately.

[At least he's no longer sulking; it's almost a relief to actually say that to someone and not feel like he's letting them down quite so much. Verg is still strong with or without weapons. Don and Sinclair are, too, but-- he feels more responsibility towards them, of course.]

It's capable of physically changing me in ways not even old G Corp could, hah. I hate it here.

....Did they now.

[That's news. Good to have new information, but this information isn't.........good at all. Vergilius finally fixes the whole of his attention back onto the man.]

[The mention of G Corp makes his brows furrow.]

How odd. If they had that power, why not remove the bug aspect entirely? Why leave you with a little?

Because it'd just come back, no matter what they took out of me. [The thought of this place managing to stop his Samsa Moments altogether doesn't even occur to Gregor, really. Even now, Hermann's ownership and dominance of his personhood is so complete that he knows she'd win, even against an eldritch city.] If they can't keep us from killing each other, then there's no way they could completely erase the only weapon I have.

Slowing it down is probably all they can do. Keeps me from being as efficient as I was before, at any rate. Makes me less of a threat to those around me. Pretty effective.

Have you noticed anything different about yourself? Bar-- being here, I guess.

You think it's that ingrained into you? That even that DNA in you can't be quelled?

[Like it's some kind of force, rather than a biological part of him. He thinks on that for a moment. To slow down processes like that...but then again, it isn't just the physical. Others complained of abilities not working, right?]

[He shakes his head, getting more and more annoyed.]

Me? The gaze is still red. But as far as... [He lets out a low noise, disgruntled.] Well, my strength? I don't know. Likely diminished. Do you think they'd let a Color be at his maximum power?

(OPEN) Gregor Samsa's no good, very bad week.

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