Fearless' Laboratory [A Morbit Fan Story] [7/8 Slots]

[RedGreenBlue]

Advertisement for a strange-sounding job has spread to the strangest of places. The offer was simple; for a cash reward viable enough for use in starting an entirely new life from the ground up, you and seven other Tiny Cat People would become victims to a series of scientific experiments regarding technology centuries ahead of its time. The invitation comes from an individual named Fearless, a wealthy TCP scientist living deep in the underground city of Burden. They have warned you of the risks, being a very real chance of harm or worse.

---

As you approach the ominous 18 inch steel doors, an imperative thought comes to your mind before you can ring the doorbell. Who are you, and what brought you here? What has caused you to decide to risk everything and travel somewhere new for a chance at a new life?

(You may introduce yourself however you'd like, but name, typing(s), pronouns and some amount of visual description are a must.)

[victorianflorist]

A rafflesia/heartache-hybrid contemplates the doors before him. Their floral printed parts are accented by their polo shirt and shorts. Lovelace is curious, mostly. Life is long, so they figure they might as well live a little. What's a little experimentation in the grand scheme of things?

[Clockwork Citrus]

a sigil type looks around as they approach the door, she wears a flower-crown of what looks like daisy and other small flowers, also wearing a sash around her waist a deep green contrasting her raspberry colored skin the sash had a white rose pattern on it, and was tied on their left side, she wore a few (2 or 4) brackets that jingled when she moved her arms. whym was skeptical but wanted to help what seemed to be a good organization however she could.

[King-Clod]

Stardust, an light blue imaginary friend/illusion type with a glitched anomaly, contemplated the door, and the decision it represented. She wasn't sure if this was the best decision, honestly, or if she'd even be allowed to enter, seeing as it'd be hard to conduct tests on someone who's... intangible. At the very least, she could sneak in if needed. It wasn't like anyone could see her right now anyway.
She conjures up an illusion of a pink chronic ghost type, overclocked. This should do for now.

[Orange Juice Goose]

Orbo, an ice giant(Planet Class) type with a skin anomaly that makes their atmospheric clouds blot and move like a Rorschach painting as they spin with their body. She waddles over to the waiting test subjects and starts staring at the doors.

[cosmo]

The sound of frigid winds howling announces Essence’s arrival. The love/cube type’s chilly and atmospheric anomalies manifest as a mini-blizzard that swirls around them at all times. Naturally, it is bundled up in a scarf, winter jacket, and boots for the purpose of weathering its own personal storm. It stares at the doors intensely, an unreadable expression on its face.

[Azure]

   

A chaos type walked up to the door looming above him. He narrowed his eyespots, this was hopefully going to be full of adventures. His name was Alms, a treasure hunter. He was here for the money, and maybe a few friends if the others were up for that.

[RedGreenBlue]

(Fearless's Laboratory going forward may contain blood, death, substance abuse, violence and other heavy themes and topics. Please keep this in mind before proceeding.)
As you all congregate around the door, a section of the wall beside the door that was previously completely flat steel opens up to a large camera and speaker. A voice begins emitting through the speaker shortly after.
"Apologies for the wait, everyone. I've been busy."
"Regardless, thank you for showing up on time for once, as I've found that to be a surprisingly difficult thing to ask of people."
"Come inside; pardon the mess, an...'unforeseen circumstance' occurred just a few moments prior and I haven't the time to clean up."
The steel doors slide apart, opening into a large, dimly, artificially lit room. The floor is made out of a hard slate, but the room's temperature is  well regulated. The buzz of fluorescent lights and the sound of ventilation are the only things that can be heard in the room.

The voice begins again, now of much higher sound quality and volume inside.
"There is a contract on the front desk that I will need each and every one of you to sign before we can begin."
"Once you have done that, please make yourself comfortable, as we still require two more participants who have sent their contracts in in advance."
"Finally, if you need anything, do not be afraid to ask. I can see and hear you from everywhere in the room, so all you need to do is speak aloud," the voice says, as about ten different cameras on the ceiling rotate a few degrees back and forth to signify their presence.
"Thank you for your cooperation." The voice cuts out, and a quiet, ambient jazz track begins to play throughout the room.
(Feel free to wander around the room and inspect objects and areas, or talk to your testing partners; just remember, you're being watched.)

[victorianflorist]

Lovelace wastes no time moving towards the counter, examining the content of the contract before them.

[RedGreenBlue]

The text on the contract is fairly small, but the terms still manage to take up two full pages; there is a location of signage on the front as well as on the back. It's filled to the brim with legal jargon and "I agree"s.

[victorianflorist]

Lovelace, usually a skeptic, decides to throw caution to the wind for once and signs the contract with a flourish.

[RedGreenBlue]

The pen that Lovelace used to sign the contract leaps out of Lovelace's hands. It snakes towards the contract, separates into a claw, and swiftly and cleanly pulls the contract out of sight before returning to its original position.

[Orange Juice Goose]

Orbo starts to go over to the lab equipment in the top right, not noticing the claw-pen-thing move about.

[King-Clod]

Stardust (and her ghost-tcp illusion) tentatively steps inside, taking it all in. After a quick check around the perimeter, she heads for the contracts in the middle of the room, and... the pen.
...Right.
She just needs to pick it up.
Simple.
She grasps for the pen a few times, but her hand goes straight through every time.
She tries from a different angle.
She tries to pick it up with the crook of her arm.
She manages to pick it up for a few seconds somehow, on her 48th attempt, but not nearly long enough for her to write her name.
"You've got to be KIDDING ME." she shouts in frustration, though she knows no one could hear.
Well, hopefully no one can hear.
...Or maybe they could, she just had to... make them hear.
She makes an auditory illusion, for the chronic ghost type, which she nicknamed "Tito."
"I, uh... this is kind of embarrassing... I don't know how to write? ...E-even my own name. I was never taught. Is there something else I could do?"

[cosmo]

Essence steps into the lab. Immediately, they notice the claw mechanism taking away the contracts and their gaze turns steely. Tucking a contract under their arm without signing, it turns to one of the cameras and signs: “(I want my own copy of the contract to keep before signing.)”

[Clockwork Citrus]

Whym walks in looking at the colorful tcps around her that maybe might be her friend, she adjusts her flower crown and jumps on top of the claw pen to pin it down to get the contracts

[RedGreenBlue]

Several bottles of strange, glowing liquid, an alembic, a syringe, some blueprints for what appears to be a mechanical arm, a wrench and screwdriver, and an actual mechanical arm all lie disorganized on the table. Seems like someone was working on something over here.

---

A small, sleekly designed four-legged robot appears from yet another hidden panel, this time from the side of the desk near where Stardust is standing. It climbs up to the top of the counter and relays, much quieter, the voice once more: "I'll admit I didn't expect this, but there's an easy solution. Can you say your name, and 'I agree to the terms of this contract?' Make sure to look into the camera."

---

A clear plastic tube containing a packet of paper rolls towards Essence silently, seemingly appearing from nowhere.

---

The pen does not resist Whym's grasp, and reacts lifelessly.

[victorianflorist]

Lovelace makes their way to the shattered cube-looking case in the back left of the room and looks around.

[RedGreenBlue]

It's a table; or was a table, anyway. Papers, some with writing and some blank, are scattered along the ground, as well as several pencils and pens. The wall to the left of the table is boarded up with steel sheets. There are burn marks in a few places around the area, most notably on the shattered, three legged table, which also has a few papers, pencils, and a paperweight.

[Clockwork Citrus]

Whym attempts to sign the contract with the now lifeless pen

[RedGreenBlue]

The pen grabs Whym's signed contract swiftly and precisely; the contract disappears and once more the pen returns to its original position.

[cosmo]

Essence opens the tube to check that the spare contract matches the original copy. If it does, they will sign: “(Thank you.)” into the camera and sign the original contract with a quick flourish.

[RedGreenBlue]

The two contracts match in all but signature now. The pen claw rises up, opens up, and points at Essence's signed contract before opening its claw as if expecting something.

[cosmo]

Essence gives it the signed contract.

[RedGreenBlue]

It clamps down on the contract, takes it, and returns with an approximation of a thumbs up before resting back to its original position.

[cosmo]

Essence tucks the spare contract into a messenger bag that I just decided they have because it would be annoying to have them carry around a contract the entire time.

[Orange Juice Goose]

Orbo flicks one of the fluid bottles.

[Pichi2214]

Sincerity, a blue and yellow celestial cleric/pouch/eyeball type floats into the room, not moving its head while looking at every TCP present already with the eye on its collar, while the many eyes on its arms take in the rest of the room.

It flaps with its big feathery wings once before folding them neatly behind its back, causing the TCP to drop back on the floor instead of floating slightly above it. With a very soft and gentle, but for some reason slightly unpleasant (it's the sound from the eyeball type it's hybridized with that's still slightly heard through) voice it says: "Hello, it is very nice to meet you all. My name is Sincerity, Since (pronounced Sin-ce so that it's two syllables) for short." It bows its head slightly as a greeting.

[RedGreenBlue]

A wave of orange washes over the clear liquid from the place Orbo flicked the bottle; though it returns to being clear in just a moment.
"Please don't touch those," the voice rings out from the wall.

[Clockwork Citrus]

“Hello since, I’m whym”

[Orange Juice Goose]

Orbo giggles, flicks another bottle, and waddles back to the front of room.
"Are we saying hi to each other now? I'm Orbo!"

[cosmo]

"(My name is Essence. A pleasure to meet you all, I'm certain.)"

[Clockwork Citrus]

whym smiles, "new friends!!" she has to contain herself she just wants to hug everyone!! but she doesnt know how others would feel about that so she hugs herself

[Pichi2214]

Since chuckles. "A true pleasure to meet you all." It tilts its head a bit. "Has something been announced already in regards to what we should do? I'm sorry if I missed anything since I was a bit late for this."

[victorianflorist]

Lovelace picks up the papers and leafs through them slowly, reading what text they can.

[Orange Juice Goose]

Orbo tries to read over Lovelace's shoulder.

[RedGreenBlue]

The handwriting on the papers is immaculate, to the point of looking like it was produced by a computer, though the occasional unevenness in ink thickness betrays the look.

Prosthetic full-arm replacements work far better than anticipated. No issues with articulation and movement is present, and AL subject claims to be comfortable with their use.
Unfortunately, we will have to pay the price of fixing this wall.
Maybe we could have found a test subject with a little more self-control.

Another paper reads:

Artificial Healing Serum Test Results (Note to self: Come up with a better name)

-Healing aspect works as intended; test subjects report recovery as they would from any food-type.
-Test subjects also describe the taste as unpalatable. Specific descriptions by individual test subjects follow:
 -"Like someone took every single good thing about food and tossed it out the window."
 -"Tastes like sadness and decay."
 -"What did you just feed me?" (Subject left before the test concluded.)
 -"I felt better before you fed me that."
 -"That was so vile that I may not ever eat a single thing ever again in fear that I will associate the taste of food with what you have done the injustice of making me consume."
-It is safe to conclude that the taste needs improving. Further testing will need to be done towards this goal.

Other notes: Shows promise. If we can improve the taste, we may be able to produce this as a cheap and readily available food source for TCPs. At the very least, it can be used to supplement use of our ability.

[Orange Juice Goose]

Orbo swiftly moves from behind Lovelace after skimming the paper, and heads to the front of the desk. The way they have moved over the the upper-right corner, from behind the desk to say hi, over to Lovelace, and back to the front is notably smooth... as if Orbo should have been bobbing up and down more from their walking. They have somehow mastered walking in a way that results in a hover-like appearance, almost as if orbiting through the room.

[victorianflorist]

Lovelace returns the papers to the table and investigates the devices in the back corner.

[Clockwork Citrus]

whym walks around and picks up a bench and flips it over sitting on it while it is upside down. "oh no, im stuck"

[King-Clod]

"Certainly."
The pink ghost illusion turns towards the camera.
"I, Stardust, agree to the terms of this contract."

[cosmo]

Essence glances at Stardust curiously, but doesn't comment.

[King-Clod]

Stardust notices Essence's quizzical look, and gives them a slight wave.

[cosmo]

Essence freezes for a moment over being caught staring. However, Stardust doesn’t seem particularly upset with it over that, so it waves back carefully.

[Orange Juice Goose]

"Wait, where is the contract again? I forgot!" Orbo looks around in a panic.

[Pichi2214]

Since sighs a bit, its question seemingly ignored by the others or they just didn't hear it. Out of its many eyes one each focuses on the other participants, while some others are looking at each wall, for a sign of anyone coming in or, well, just something at all happening.

[Clockwork Citrus]

whym laughs "im still stuck!! see see im stuck!!"

[Orange Juice Goose]

Orbo eventually stops looking around after looking right under their (proverbial) nose. They pick up the contract and sign a gigantic O on the line that overlaps a bit with the text above.

[RedGreenBlue]

The left corner of the room is dominated largely by a large generator. A blank sheet of paper lies on top of it. It doesn't appear to be running.
To its right, a small screen and keyboard sit to the left of a large, cylindrical metal wall; a door? The screen is off, but a small red light is blinking below it.

---

"Thank you." The drone in front of Stardust leaves, swiftly disappearing into the panel from which it came.

---

The pen claw starts to take the contract, before stopping...it hands it back, arching its...string? -backwards, shaking left and right. Seems it's not satisfied.

[Clockwork Citrus]

Whym knocks herself over and wiggles out of the chair they look around and taps the generator