((Next day - for those that go home, when you come back the next day, expect to see no remnants of what happened the previous night. Offices will be restored. Security will be heightened. Due to previous attacks on the company and the followups that came after them, there are now Xray walkthrough stations when coming in through the building. Like the metal detectors... your whole body is scanned. Thanks to advanced technology, no damage will be done to your bodies, for those concerned. Business as usual for today and at the end, we skip to Christmas Day.
New Day:
Tuesday, Decemeber 19th
High 36F
Low 20F
2 inches of snow overnight/no snow for the day
Cloudy
Wind - From W at 7 mph
Enjoy your day))
((wait wait, by new day do you mean it's now 12:00 A.M. now? It will seriously affect those insomniacs still in the hospital after all...))
Percy's car drove up to the Tharomar Enterprise corporate building. He parked perfectly, as usual. He was about ten minutes early this time. After all, he had to make up for having been late the previous day.
He stepped out, wincing slightly as the morning sunlight hit him. He had never liked the sun quite as much as the moon or the stars. He didn't hate it. . . he just felt. . . nervous. Like it was an old friend that had fallen out of favor.
He walked through the parking lot, leaving footprints in the snow. Anyone who looked at them would see that they were almost perfectly symmetrical. Percy insisted on doing everything well. . . even walking.
The sun washed brightly over the office as Dr. Van Watt stretched out on a chaise, Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' held in his hands.
With a glance at the clock on the wall, he sat up and placed the book face down, taking a moment to stretch before finally standing up.
William made his way back to the elevator descended network of Research labs that honeycombed the sub-basements of Tharomar Enterprise.
His first order of business after stepping off the lift was to fetch a cup of fresh coffee and so he briskly entered a lounge. Through the glass panels of the cupboards, he spotted a mug to his liking and set it beside the percolator as it finished its song and went on to pour himself a cup of the hot liquid while taking in the delicious aroma.
The mug in his hand held a priority to him. He knew that he had plenty of time to later continue his work. For now, it was all about this moment, as if some pagan ritual to greet the day that couldn't be interrupted.
Ernesto Jimenez walked home from the Tharomar building, arms wrapped around his chest and shivering like mad. His jacket was not nearly warm enough, and the fresh snow saturated and numbed his feet through ratty old sneakers.
There was one good thing about the cold; It took his mind off the events of the previous night.
Images of guns and blood haunted Ernesto every time he closed his eyes. The smell of his smoke-laced clothes brought him right back to the building rocking beneath him and the feel... moreso than the sound... of the explosions.
Fortunately, all he knew now was the numb and the cold.
When he finally made it to the top of the stairs in his fifth floor apartment the numb was replaced by sharp pain in his feet, and his hands were shaking so badly that it took him nearly a full minute to turn the key in the lock. He rushed inside, locking the door behind himself and stripping off his wet clothes.
Most days he would make himself some food, but today Ernesto wanted nothing more than the dark and thoughtless embrace of sleep. He flung himself on the mattress in the corner of his one-room apartment, and slipped gratefully away from consciousness.
Dr. McCourd was in an even more sour mood today. He didn't bother sleeping, staying up the whole night pacing. He had cleaned himself up, figuring he might as well look his best before Mr. Tharomar destroyed his career and any chance of him being a respectable scientist, after giving up the Z-Chip prototype to Clarence Thomas.
He walked through the extra security, grumbling through the X-ray scan. He had nothing to hide, and went straight down to R&D. He had heard word that the new head was supposed to be in today, but figured it was some high and mighty corporate know-it-all, who had no real clue about science.
When the elevator opened to the underground area of R&D, he had to stop and look at how much was cleaned. The destruction from only a night before was gone. Some of the machinery had been cleared out, due to damage, but the place was clean.
He walked over to his office, nodding at seeing his windows and door replaced. He walked in, noticing the papers he had thrown all over the place were neatly stacked on his desk. He flipped through them, seeing that all was in order. He walked over to his bookcase, seeing all of his books were returned or replaced in the proper order. He opened the hidden safe, and returned the papers, sealing it immediately.
His anger began to well as the empty space where the Z-Chip was, burned in his mind.
Damn that old man
He began to pace. He had a couple of hours before the demonstration, but had nothing to show.
[ QUOTE ]
((wait wait, by new day do you mean it's now 12:00 A.M. now? It will seriously affect those insomniacs still in the hospital after all...))
[/ QUOTE ]
((Why would it seriously affect you...
First off, I said "next" day, as everyone will not consider the start of their day as 12am. Most times the posting will start back in the office in the morning or just waking up for work or their morning exercise regimen or whatever it may be. If your posting carries on into the next day, then by all means let it. And according to previous posts, a couple of your insomniacs are passed out right now in the hospital.
Stay with the flow of the posters, try to at least. This will prevent you from waiting and wondering/complaining about when the next day is going to start. If you feel that you may end up passing everyone, then add a little detail, give a little color, branch off and do some kind of daydream or flashback to your character. Whatever it may take to keep you with everyone else. However, if you so choose to go way ahead of everyone, then don't rush anyone else's tried perfection. Yes, people can take a while, but that can be for a number of reasons. Everyone does not have the same amount of time opportunities as others to post. I wish there was a "posting period" like a siesta, but there's not (at least not for me). Take that into consideration as well.
Questions/comments, as always, feel free to PM
-Nin))
((And by the way, DV, how could you be waiting on my reply when the only character I have in this thread is asleep? XD;;
...Well, she's not anyMORE, but...))
"Gah!...woah...Guah!"
Penny nearly slammed into Percy from behind.
"[censored] mother [censored] new shoes! No traction, no traction at all!"
New shoes + an overnight coating of ice + Penny's inherent clumsiness = not good.
Penny in particular hated ice. Snow she could deal with, but there was something about winter she couldn't stand. She hated being cold, and she above all hated the feeling of being unsteady on her feet.
"Sorry Percy." she apologized to the programmer with a sheepish smile as she walked through the X-ray thing. "You know me; still learning to walk."
Penny was in a good mood, though. Her arms were full of a large paper bag, her purse dangling from her elbow. Penny loved the Christmas season - as sharp-tempered and snarky as she was, she loved giving presents to people. Even if it was somewhat juvenile.
"Merry Christmas, boys!" she sang as she plopped the bag on the security desk. Shuffling her arm through the contents, she brought out three little neatly wrapped bags, each containing about five homemade chocolate chip cookies.
"I made 'em myself!" she said with a grin. "Stayed up to make this batch so they'd be warm for ya. Figured you guys'd be cold staying by the door all the time."
Glancing at her watch, her eyes widened. "[censored], gotta bail!" she cried, sprinting to the elevator as she always did.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
The director took another sip of his coffee, setting the mug on the table as he looked over the large robotics lab before him.
He looked down at the data terminal and began imputting a series of code like a madman. He reached into his coat and withdrew a disk that he slid into the drive, smiling lightly as the machine read the contents.
There was a sudden roar as the lab became alive, cranes and power loaders began building... assembling various components with the hiss of neumatics and small explosions of sparks that rained down on the deck plating.
The missing compnents would arrive just before Christmas and Dr. Van Watt's project would finally see completion. Something he did require that was still outstanding was a viable, self-replenishing power source. Something that could be replicated.
He left the room as it continued in its fury, noting that Tharomar would likely want a report.
On his way to the elevator, he spotted a man in one of the offices and with coffee cup in hand, rapped lightly on the door before entering. "It is Dr. McCourd, is it not?"
He took a sip of his coffee and looked around briefly before looking back at the man behind a desk. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. William Van Watt. As you have undoubtedly heard, I am the new director."
William leaned against the doorjam, crossing one arm over the other, diliberate and steady as not to spill the remains of his beverage. "What fields of science do you specialize in? If you do not mind my asking, of course."
Percy glanced calmly at Penny as she nearly ran into him.
"Oh, do not concern yourself with that," he said, smiling as she ran off into the building. "As long as you are able to get around."
Following her, he inclined his head in a little bow to the security desk.
"Yes, good morning. Do keep up the good work. . ."
He walked into the elevator at a precisely calculated pace, entering it as the door closed without having to break into a run.
Percy stepped into a corner. "Hmm. Third floor for me," he said to Penny. "So how has your day been? Nice seasonable weather." He said this as though he had said it a thousand times before. It was dubious whether he actually cared, but Percy felt that it was worth something that he asked at all.
((And it is SO hard to stop him from addressing her as "Priestess". I feel so lost. 
))
Penny obligingly hit the third floor button with her elbow, shifting the weight of the large bag.
"Oh, I'm good!" she said. "I'm tired, but good. I got up way early to bake these cookies for everybody. Oh, that reminds me - I guess I spoiled the surprise."
She set the bag down and rifled through it, before producing a little bag and handing it off to Percy.
"Merry Christmas, Percy!" she said with a grin. He was one of the people whose name she actually knew, so she had labelled his - the little gift-bag holding the cookies decorated with little stars. "And you better take it. I put your name on it and everything."
Penny's mother had always nailed one thought into her head - everyone's friends around the dinner table. Her mother was an Italian woman and had taught Penny her cooking secrets - not the least of which was to share whatever it was you were cooking.
Of course, along with the cooking, Penny had also inherited her temper.
"...Though I swear I'm gonna sock someone if it gets much colder." she proclaimed, pulling her jacket tighter around herself with her shoulders. "I freakin' hate being cold."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
"Yes, the cold is truly terrible," Percy replied, taking the cookies and not sounding like he cared remotely about the local temperature. "And my thanks, madam. I am sure I will enjoy these." Percy knew Penny's name perfectly well, but he always called people "sir" and "madam" unless they specifically objected. Many people thought that he did this so he did not forget anyone's name, having never used it in the first place. This was closer to the truth than Percy would like to admit.
Percy frowned to himself. Now he felt ungrateful. . . he had not gotten presents for her or anyone. Quite honestly, he had forgotten all about Christmas. How very embarassing.
*BEEP*
Disgusted moans spilled out of Vanessa's mouth as she rolled over to slap the clock alarm off with her hand. She rolled back onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Christmas was in a few days and her shopping still wasn't done. Normally, she would have been done a month ago, but this year had taken a toll on her. Between work, relationships, and night school three times a week, Vanessa's plate had heaping helping.
The phone broke her concentration and she searched under her pillow where she placed it the night before.
"Mm, hello," she answered weakly.
"Hey sunshine, you ready to get our presents," the voice on the other line was cheery and awake.
"Presents, what, ready for... Monica, what the hell?"
"Come on, bossy-poo gave us the day off."
Vanessa sat straight up in the bed, the blanket slowly falling down her body to her midsection to reveal a tshirt and the waistline of a pair of red and green plaid boxers.
"Thats impossible."
"He called you too, check your messages. Now get ready and meet me at the mall. Christmas rush in the Well is no joke. Come on."
The phone made a short click on the other end and Vanesaa closed her phone as she stifled a yawn and plopped back down on the bed. Something wasn't right. A day off. The fiscal year may have been over, but you couldn't tell that to one of the busiest men that Vanessa ever worked with.
No, something wasn't right at all.
Vanessa picked her phone back up and flipped it open. She pressed two on the speed dial and let it ring.
A voice answered. It was deep, but had a soft context to it.
"Vanessa."
"Hey," Vanessa's reaction was of a sweet familiarity.
"Did you get my message?"
"I got it, but I didn't listen to it. Monica called me about it all. Why the day off? Its not like you," Vanessa swung her feet around to dangle off the side of the bed as overturned her slippers to put them on.
"It was... necessary. You both deserve it."
Vanessa could help but laugh, "Yea well we deserve a lot of things, but when did you ever give them to us."
"Just," Clarence's voice began to raise, but he stopped himself and spoke softly again, "take the day off," Clarence's words implemented that he wasn't going to argue with her.
A moment of silence ensued as Vanessa was taken aback by his forcefulness. Mildly offended, Vanessa still understandably knew that something was going on.
"Daddy..." her voice filled with care and concern as she spoke to Clarence.
"Nessa..." he responded after a long silence.
"Whats going on?"
[ QUOTE ]
William leaned against the doorjam, crossing one arm over the other, diliberate and steady as not to spill the remains of his beverage. "What fields of science do you specialize in? If you do not mind my asking, of course."
[/ QUOTE ]
Dr. McCourd stopped pacing, closing his eyes to get his temper in check. He turned to face Dr. Van Watt, "Morning doctor," his voice was surprisingly calm for someone who was just pacing angrily a second ago.
"Yes, I'm Dr. McCourd. I've got P.H.D.'s in Biotechnology and Electronic Engineering. If you've had a chance to go over some of the more recent projects, I was working on the final piece for Project Forecast."
...until that decrepit old goat took it.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Dr. Van Watt," he extended his arm, to shake the man's hand, his voice completely neutral.
Milly stiffiled a yawn as she truged through the additional security. Having arrived back at her home well past midnight, she managed to get spared from any lectures from either her mother or father. With both of them leaving early, she avoided it even longer.
Deciding to ware pants today, she had chosen a simple pair of light brown slacks to go with another blouse and vest. Throwing a jacket over she had managed to wait for the morning bus moderatly warm.
Giving a friendly, if still slightly tired, wave to the security personal, she opened the mail room door and began sorting out the morning deliveries. A larger package cought her eyes. The box was about the size of a dinner plate and, aside from being addressed to Dr. McChord, was completely unmarked.
Setting the package on her cart, Milly began sorting and gathering the mail for the first run of the day. An hour later she was pushing her cart into the elevator and keying it for the R&D level.
"Dr. McChord? There's another package for you today, sir."
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
"Gawd, you're so formal all the time." Penny joked to Percy, re-lifting the paper bag. "You can just call me Penny, you know."
Just then, the elevator stopped on the second floor, and she nodded. "Here's my stop!" she said. "Have a good one, Percy!"
Trotting into her office, she plopped the bag on the front desk and began distributing bags.
"Merry Christmas, everybody!" she called out cheerfully, passing out the still-warm cookies, the heat preserved via the paper bag.
"What's got you so fired up?" one of her co-workers asked.
"Eh, what, couldn't you finish those yourself?" another laughed. "Better look out or you'll have some 'Penny rolls' to cash in."
This co-worker was greeted with a sharply flung bag of cookies to the face.
Once everything was distributed, Penny sat down to begin work. The good thing about the Christmas season in her division was that most everyone was ramping down for vacation - and that meant a much smaller, more relaxed stream of purchase orders.
"...Awh, I gotta go hunt down Milly." she muttered, remembering another of the bags. "Not like I'm busy."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
[ QUOTE ]
"Dr. McChord? There's another package for you today, sir."
[/ QUOTE ]
Dr. McCourd(after shaking Dr. Van Watts hand) took the package from Milly with a nod and smile, then looked down at the package.
"Thank you, Milly. I appreciate it." His voice was much lighter than when he addressed Dr. Van Watt.
He walked over to his desk, placing the box down. Once Dr. Van Watt had left, he began opening the package. His eyes almost popped out of his head. Then he began to laugh. He reached in, pulling out an exact replica of the Z-Chip prototype.
A piece of paper fell to the floor as he took it out. Placing the chip on his desk, he picked up the paper.
The Lord giveth...
Your Guardian Angel,
C
He walked out of the office, walking over to a shelf. He picked up another clear protector case designed to hold the Z-Chip and walked back into his office. He placed the chip inside the case, then walked over to the safe. He pulled out the control device meant for the chip and attatched it to the new Z-Chip. He sealed the case, and placed the device on top.
"I'd love to see that old man's face when he finds out I'm still here," his eyes sparkled maliciously.
Kara hadn't slept. It wasn't just that she had pulled an all-nighter helping patients and filling out a mountain range worth of paperwork, it's that she didn't feel tired. In fact, she was bursting with energy!
The other doctors and nurses were astonished, especially given she had been up for at least twenty-four hours. She was certainly hungry, however. She made her way to the cafeteria and began looking over the food.
It was...unappetizing. Even more so than usual. Disregarding how unappealing it was, she picked up an apple and sat down at a table.
It was disgusting! She couldn't stand the taste in her mouth! She suddenly felt very queasy, and rushed off to the bathroom. She spent the next ten minutes vomitting up the contents of her stomach. This made her even more hungry!
She stumbled out of the bathroom, and smelled something...delicious. She was far beyond resisting smells like this at this point, and began to follow it. The smell was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it, since it now smelled appealing to her. The smell lead her to...
...the blood bank.
The unbelievably appealing smell was blood. And she had to have some! Fortunately for her, the chaos from the previous night had thrown the blood bank into total disarray, since the glass caused a lot of people to lose a lot of blood and require transfusions. Add to that, civic minded folk had heard about the accident and rushed to donate blood. Needless to say Kara easily scooped up a packet of blood and had a taste.
She was mortified to find it was delicious.
What's happened to me??? she thought to herself.
(OOC: If you're wondering, she's not technically a vampire. Think about how sharks and dogs and such are attracted to victims by the smell of blood.)
"And you," Percy returned as Penny got off.
The elevator came to the third floor, and Percy walked calmly to the programming department, a long, neat, tidy series of identical cubicles stretching down the hall.
And Percy stepped into his own. It was not the first cubicle, or the last, or marked in any way. It was the seventh on the right. No one entering the department would ever guess that he was the head of the department, or indeed that the department had a head at all.
Vasquez was asleep, slumped against the side of his post after the previous night's action.
One merc was kicking at him.
"Sir? Sir?"
"Hruh?"
"Sir, the day's starting."
"Why'm I still here?"
"Sir, you slept here."
"Oops..."
With grumbles and grunts, Vasquez went off to the armory to change body-armors and take a quick shower...
William left the laboratory and returned to his office, passing through the vacant reception area and back again into his sanctum.
He took a seat at his desk and turned on his computer, keying in the required passwords at each of the half-dozen prompts.
Nothing in his lab could go unoticed and Van Watt brought up the internal security feed that was installed in the wake of the attack, passing over them and looking for the specific one he needed.
His machine shop.
Based on his schematics, the various assemblers placed piece after piece together and one shell was already nearing completion. Aeon wanted his designs, but like any good contractor, William was out for the highest bidder.
Any hack with an engineering degree could build functioning automatons... but it took something extra to accomplish what Van Watt was doing and in the short time that had passed.
What Aeon Corp had not counted on was William's desire to complete his project. They didn't have the resources he needed, in spite of the money they threw at him. Of course everything he had designed was under contract with Aeon and if they ever knew how much he had copied and encrypted before leaving, every lawyer in this dimension would be on his trail.
He closed his eyes briefly, shaking away the thought. The new year would change everything.
((Okay, I'm somewhat confused. I think we skipped a significant amount of time here - If I recall correctly the explody goodness was in October, and now it's December 19th. Oo;;; ))
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((For crying out loud, Essex, the answer is obvious. Tears in the fabric of the spacetime flow. Sheesh. ))
(OOC: Ninjin said a couple times it was the week before christmas. Not to mention the dozen or so references to it snowing...but actually didn't he say it was November...? I seem to remember not being able to wrap my brain around the idea of snow in November
Most of the comments about it being in NOVEMBER were in OOC though...)
((Ninjin/Spectral Collabo))
"What are you goin' over there for? Your pet project is in here. You think I'd keep it in a community vault?"
Clarence kept his stride as he approached the main vault in the office, "There is a distinct difference between what you think and what I know. I suggest you learn those differences quickly," he spoke condescendingly.
McCourd shifted aside the fixed books, revealing a smaller vault and after punching in the proper security codes, Ethan opened the vault door. He disconnected the attached device and pulled the Z-chip out, which was held in a transparent box.
"So what do you need this for anyway," Ethan stood up and held the Z-chip in his hand and extended it toward Clarence. He still kept it relatively close to his person, "I plan on giving Tharomar a full demonstration in the morning."
Mr. Thomas' hands were cupped in each other at his back when he turned around with a smile, "My boy, my patience wears thin at this point. As you can imagine, this day did not go exactly according to plan," Clarence started a beeline to Ethan, "However, I have come to welcome the unexpected and be well-prepared. I digress, your concern, at this point, although understandable, is unecessary," Clarence held his hand out in front of him, palm up.
Ethan narrows suspecting eyes at his boss and surrenders the box to Clarence, "And what am I supposed to tell Mr. Tharomar about the demonstration," he asked as Clarence began to walk away.
"Whatever you have to in order to keep your job. And remember," Clarence stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the access button, "there's more than one way to skin a cat."
The elevators doors smoothed open and closed with Mr. Thomas inside.
Ethan rolled his eyes and walked over to his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a recorder, pressing the stop button. He cursed under his breath and placed the tape recorder back into the drawer and walked over to the secret safe. Ethan pulled out the blueprints to the Z-chip and clenched them in his fists. He screamed his frustration and threw the model plans across the room. He plopped down at his desk and opened a third drawer to punch in a new set of codes to a smaller safe that he kept to himself. He spotted the glove's blueprints and started at it for a moment. His eyes took a wicked gleam as he removed them from its holding space.
"Why skin a cat, when you can just blow it up," a sinister smile spread across the doctor's face.