Lán Huàn | Xīchén | Zéwú-jūn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
equivocations) wrote2020-07-22 11:35 am
equivocations) wrote2020-07-22 11:35 am
Info Tracking
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
Xichen
☁️ a long time ago there were multiple kingdoms living in peace (at least Red and White)
☁️ Red King and Queen went all Wen Ruohan
☁️ White Kingdom was wiped out (white kingdom ruins)
☁️ there was (is?) a resistance (talking to staff one and two)
☁️ some staff oppose the resistance, some don't believe it exists, some like the queen?? because she isn't her grandmother
☁️ there are headless ghosts in the hotel, heads chopped off by the old queen? (ghosts)
☁️ apparently the queen's grandmother was worse
☁️ attacking staff gets you put in isolation :|
☁️ the Queen makes passive aggressive comments about making them go on play dates (queen's address)
☁️ Mad March is a jerk who can't be trusted
☁️ he will do any and or all of the following:
🌩️ spy on your private life / listen into your conversations
🌩️ stalk you from a distance
🌩️ refuse to give you his name
🌩️ give you his name immediately
🌩️ imply your head might get cut off for getting into trouble
🌩️ encourage you to get into trouble
🌩️ give you bad info while encouraging trouble
🌩️ make cryptic comments about rules and games
🌩️ invade your campsite
🌩️ try to steal your fiancé
🌩️ drop cryptic comments about your past
🌩️ threaten your loved ones
Sam
🐦 the hotel has a way to pull things from their memories and/or trap them in their own heads (memory room)
🐦 Mad March shows up when you're in trouble and has at least some control over the hotel and its effects on people (first encounter)
🐦 powers gained from teas have no effect on Mad March (what the hell)
🐦 he'll also give you suspect answers for ??? laughs apparently?? is any of that true
Paperman plot results
He, Lan Wangji(s), Wei Wuxian(s), and Meng Yao will also be attempting to make sure they're able to stay in contact. With Lan Xichen being injured, they'll be concerned about being separated on the way back - and will also be concerned that getting taken away for medical attention won't mean anything good. At some point during the night, before everyone falls asleep, Wei Wuxian will quietly slip a paper man to Lan Xichen, who will hide it on his person.
With Wei Wuxian using his paper metamorphosis ability, is there anything they could find out with this?)
Mod response:
They will miss the first part of Lan Xichen being taken away, as it will happen when all the Oysters are asleep, but if Wei Wuxian connects with the paper man some time after he wakes in the hotel, they will be able to pick up on the last part of the journey. A few Order members carry Lan Xichen's unconscious body through one of the lower levels of the hotel to a large room.
Huge metal stills cover the majority of the room, stretching up to the ceiling. Each of them is labeled with some kind of emotion. Here and there are lab tables, some of them empty, some of them covered with glass beakers, vials of colorful liquids, gas burners, scales, computers, piles of circuitry, and other miscellaneous equipment. There are two men in the room wearing clear shirts with a plastic sheen over beige labcoats. One is hunched over a lab table, and the other is inspecting one of the stills.
"We have another one for you, Carpenter!" one of the members of the Order calls.
The man at the lab table jerks up. "Huh? Oh, uh... put him over there. I'll get to it when I get to it."
There's a thud as the Order members drop Lan Xichen's form on an empty metal table, then quickly leave the lab.
The other man approaches the Carpenter, leaning casually against the table he's working at. "That what you're gonna tell the Queen?"
"Ha! It's just an arm, it won't take long. Just make sure he's unconscious."
"You sure we should even fix it? It's not like it was a head. Maybe it'll make the Oysters remember what's out there better."
"She's not going to get much out of him if he's completely broken. He's churning out too much self-loathing and hope to be done."
"Yeah, yeah. She always does put all that guilt to good use." The other man comes over to the table with Lan Xichen, giving him a rough nudge as if to test if he's still unconscious. "He's out."
"Just keep him that way. The last one almost ruined a whole batch of satisfaction when he woke up too soon and started screaming."
There's silence for a time. The Carpenter continues to work on his project, and the other man goes back to inspecting the stills. When Lan Xichen starts to stir, the other man comes over to inject him with something that makes him still again.
Finally, the Carpenter finishes what he's working on and approaches Lan Xichen. "Strap him down."
The other man buckles a series of straps over Lan Xichen, pinning him to the table. Both men put on clear face shields. The Carpenter picks up an electric saw, cutting through whatever flesh and bone may be left of Lan Xichen's arm. Neither of them seem bothered by bits of flying bone or the splatter of blood on them, and it drips smoothly off their clear overshirts to pool on the floor below.
The other man rummages around in a box, pulling out a non-articulated ceramic limb, as though it was pulled from a life size doll. He hands it off to the Carpenter, who switches on what could be a blow torch, if the fire alternated colors and was occasionally replaced with sparks of electricity. Lan Xichen's body convulses when it's first applied to him, then stills as the Carpenter uses it to fasten the arm to his shoulder.
The Carpenter sets it aside and pulls off his face shield. "Call the Suits, tell them he's ready. Have someone bring him back in a week, the flesh one'll be done by then."
The other man goes over to one of the computers, types something in, and returns. "Ready for lunch?"
The Carpenter looks back at one of the tables.
"You can't eat just cookies all day."
The Carpenter waves a hand. "All right, all right."
A few members of the Order come to take Lan Xichen away, leaving the two men in the lab. They walk through the lower level and to the elevator, scanning a key card and punching in a code. The elevator takes them up to the floors with the guest suites, and they wordlessly deposit Lan Xichen in his room and leave.
no subject
At some point after Lan Xichen fell asleep that night, two members of the Order will let themselves into his room. One will inject him with the same substance used to keep him unconscious as last time, and they will load him onto a stretcher. They'll use a key card and input an access code into the panel next to the elevator call button. If Wei Wuxian pays close attention, he will be able to read the code they put in. (Unfortunately, the code will not work without the key card if tried later.)
They will get off on one of the lower levels of the hotel and make their way to the same room as before. The same two men are there. The Carpenter is bent over one of the lab tables, surrounded by wires and pieces of machinery and working on what appears to be a puzzle of circuitry. The other man is seated at another lab table, carefully measuring and weighing different colored liquids.
The Carpenter seems to be expecting them this time. He waves at an empty lab table. The members of the Order deposit Lan Xichen there and leave again without a word. Like last time, the Carpenter will continue to work on his current project for a time.
If Wei Wuxian chooses to utilize this time to explore the lab, he will find that the many stills and equipment make it difficult to cover much ground quickly, but also provide many places to hide. He will find stills labelled with hundreds of kinds of emotions and matching glass vials, what are clearly experiments with the teas in progress, and what appears to be inventions in varying stages of completion. None of these have any kind of physical notes that might explain what they are. There are several computers close by, but none can be accessed easily.
He will also find that there is another body in the lab. If he investigates further, he will recognize it as Mad March. He is laid out on a table in the same manner as Lan Xichen. His ceramic rabbit head is twisted at such an angle that the back of his head is easily accessible. There is a panel missing on the back of his head, and inside is a complicated system of circuitry. Some of the wires seem to be twisted into each other, and there is a blank space where something is clearly missing.
Before long, the Carpenter will push away from what he's doing.
"Done?" the other man asks.
"For now. Let's look at the Oyster."
The Carpenter retrieves something that vaguely resembles a soldering iron, and the other man fetches a disembodied flesh arm from a cooler. They strap Lan Xichen down again. This time neither of them bother with face shields. The other man hands the flesh arm to the Carpenter.
"You're up, Walrus, old friend."
Walrus plants one hand on Lan Xichen's chest and takes hold of the ceramic arm attached to him with the other. He lifts it up and twists it as far as it can go, then yanks back hard enough that the arm detaches with a loud pop. The Carpenter immediately replaces it with the flesh arm. Walrus drops the ceramic arm carelessly and holds the flesh arm against Lan Xichen's shoulder.
The Carpenter traces over the seam where the two meet with the soldering iron. When both men step back, the arm is fully attached with only a thin band of gold to identify where it had been gone in the first place.
The Carpenter sets aside his tools. "Have them come pick him up."
Walrus types something into one of the computers. "Mad March?"
"Wait until after they leave." The Carpenter picks up the circuitry he'd been working on. "Recalibrating him is always a delicate balance with the bio-molecular transdistropia, I don't want them interrupting it."
From here, there are two options! Wei Wuxian can return to Lan Xichen's body to ensure that he's on there when the members of the Order come to retrieve him. They will again return Lan Xichen up to his room, and Wei Wuxian will be able to safely slip away.
Alternatively, Wei Wuxian can remain in the lab to try to observe the recalibration process. This will mean he will miss his chance to ride back with Lan Xichen, and will have to find his own way back. This highly increases his chances of getting caught.
Please let us know which route you'd like to go!
no subject
After the members of the Order leave with Lan Xichen, the Carpenter and Walrus go back to Mad March. Walrus straps him down, and then picks up a shotgun and loads it with ammo that glows a faint red. He points it at Mad March.
The Carpenter raises an eyebrow.
"You weren't the one he choked last time you were off in your recalibration," Walrus retorts.
"My recalibration wasn't off. It was just a little sideways."
"And yet I still ended up with bruises."
The Carpenter waves a hand, conceding the point. He moves a chair up to the table and sits down. The piece of circuitry he'd been working on fits perfectly in the blank space in the back of Mad March's head. He picks up a pair of tweezers and begins delicately untwisting and reattaching the wires.
It's a time consuming process. Walrus holds the shotgun unwaveringly through it. The Carpenter's focus never seems to waver. Finally he sets his tweezers down and closes the panel in the back of Mad March's head.
Mad March jerks to life. He strains against the straps holding him down, then goes still.
"Back with us?" the Carpenter asks.
"Get these off me and piss off," Mad March replies, mechanical voice the same as ever.
Walrus chuckles and puts down his shotgun. He starts unstrapping Mad March. "You almost missed the Queen's games."
"Who gives a shit? They won't let me fight any more anyway." Mad March's head twitches as he sits up, rotating around at all angles as though he's resettling it.
"No one would bet against you," Walrus points out.
"Semantics." Mad March's head snaps back into place, then tilts again. "Shut up. Listen."
"Listen to what?" Walrus asks. "There's nothing-"
"Listen." Mad March interrupts. He's staring directly at where Wei Wuxian is hiding. "There's someone here."
The Carpenter and the Walrus both freeze.
"Call the Order. Have them search everywhere," Walrus says.
"Delicately!" The Carpenter protests. "There's too many things that are sensitive to-"
"Shut. Up." Mad March's robotic voice is short and clipped. He stalks towards where Wei Wuxian was hiding.
If Wei Wuxian is quick, he'll be able to make it out of the lab before the rest of the Order arrives and the hunt begins in earnest. One or two of the Order will see him on his way out, but he will be able to successfully evade them. He will be able to hitch a ride with the hotel cleaning staff back up the elevator.
There be no follow up from the Order, for now. They may not have caught him, but they know he was there, and they will remember it.