datadiving | fun with bomberman lore(tm)

[ This encounter has thoroughly gotten away from him at this point, between the demon-speak and the blinding flare of whatever that bomb was and the fact they are now having a nice chat? So good of the demon, whatever its name was, to do that only after they'd mangled it.

He drifts to the corridor's edge and perches there like a bird, wary still as he fights to settle his vision. The light had been startling, but somehow not all that painful to his eyes; the explosion had jump-started something like an electrical current shocking his entire body, something deep inside righting itself like an errant part clicking into place. As if it had been waiting for such a moment. Internal reservoirs long unused, now filling themselves from the harsh environment of space.

(If Shiro grasps for Light's power again, even instinctively, he'll find that there is something he can use. Sirius' grasp of his own element is pure instinct, someone who has been never trained but has been irradiated with it for so long that his body grew used to tempering its own reserves. Need, even someone else's need, will pull it forth.)

He listens to the sounds as Shiro and the demon go back and forth, trying to decipher that unintelligible speech, running the recordings through his stored language banks for comparison. He'd made some study of old ruins - a lifetime ago - but he doubts he'll have much luck.

He could go and complete that cataloguing, but he doesn't trust this creature one bit. He'll keep watch. ]

So...I don't suppose you'd care to explain why you went for destruction before diplomacy? [It's not really like Bomberman is surprised that a demon would do such a thing, but...

I ᴡᴀs ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴇʀᴇ.]

...you look pretty "here" to me.

[Tʜɪs ɪs ᴍᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴛ ᴡʜᴏʟᴇ. I ᴡᴀs ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴇʀᴇ. Bᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇɴ I ғᴇʟᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ Lɪɢʜᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ sᴏ I ᴄᴀᴍᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ I ғᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ Lɪɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴡᴀs ᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴇxɪsᴛ. Iᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴄᴜʀɪᴏᴜs ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴜs I ᴅᴇᴛᴇʀᴍɪɴᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴘᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ sᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪᴅᴇᴀʟ ᴘᴜʀᴘᴏsᴇ. Tʜᴇ ᴅᴡᴇʟʟᴇʀs ᴏғ Eᴅᴇɴᴀɪ ᴡʜᴏ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴅɪᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ Lɪɢʜᴛ ɴᴏʀ ᴄᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴʟʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴɢᴇᴅ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴡɪɴɢs.

So the researchers didn't have the protection of Light elemental power in dealing regularly with a demon. Not an unexpected thing to learn, but still, it was something. There was a nonzero chance that the repeated exposure, even with the defensive sigils, would have...

— wait w h a t]

What are you talking about?

[Oғ ᴄᴏᴜʀsᴇ, ɪᴛ ɪs ᴍʏ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɪɴᴏ̨ᴜɪʀʏ.

Bel's six hundred and nine hells, I need more coffee for this.

He refrains extremely hard from sighing loudly in exasperation, toning it down to a deep exhale through his nose. Regardless of what Dantalefor just said about "speaking serving a more ideal purpose", it's entirely possible Bomberman might already be on thin ice with him due to blasting apart one of his demonic drones, never mind his flippant tone so far. Probably best to not to push things. Especially when there are some big Answers to be had.]

Yes, I know. But what do you mean about the "winged one"?

[Hᴀᴠᴇ I ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ? Oʀ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɪɴɢ, ᴘᴇʀʜᴀᴘs? Iᴛ ɪs ᴅɪғғɪᴄᴜʟᴛ ᴛᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɪᴛ. Bᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ, Nʜᴀᴠʀᴏɪ, ᴀʀᴇ ɪɴᴅᴇᴇᴅ ᴀ ᴅᴡᴇʟʟᴇʀ ᴏғ Eᴅᴇɴᴀɪ.

A flummoxed Bomberman glances in Sirius' direction over the remains of Dantalefor's body.]

Uh. Do you know what this guy is talking about?

[Said completely normally, no weird vox effects added. Though, perhaps, with a touch of accusation under the disbelief.]

[ Sirius stares for a moment in clear confusion when he's addressed. ]

I can only understand half this conversation at best, you know. [ His tone is dry and faintly amused ] You'll have to fill me in on the details.

[ He feels more at ease now, more whole in a sense. It's a feeling he'd almost forgotten, that sense of resonating with his environment. They'd joked that it was like getting your sea legs, back on planet, though it had been a while since he'd seen the ocean.

(The Omni Cube had played fast and loose with his body, and when Altair had torn it from him it had taken part of his soul with it too. Even with it restored, everything in its proper place, it was a relic that he knew would kill him in the end, pumping its own power through his veins to substitute. An artifact of impossible power that could preserve its owner, as long it was fed, and as long as you didn't mind becoming little more than a vessel of its power in the end as it remade you in its image.

Even after its destruction, he'd felt...off, though his own scans and others' had declared him to be in perfect physical health...what was left of him, anyway. Strange that it would take an incident like this to fix it.) ]

What is it saying?

Huh? You don't...you don't hear Dantalefor speaking?

[that's not what Sirius said, sweetheart]

Oh, I can hear it clearly. Can't understand a word of what it says, though. It might as well be static.

[ He sounds puzzled, in a sort of this wasn't obvious to you? kind of way. ]

[Bomberman has no idea what he can say to that. Oddly, it's Dantalefor that saves him.

I ᴀᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ғᴏʀɢᴏᴛᴛᴇɴ, ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ᴏғ Cʜᴀᴏs. I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɪɴᴏ̨ᴜɪʀɪᴇs ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ʏᴏᴜ sʜᴀʟʟ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀ.

Oops. A hushed whisper to Sirius:]

I'll explain later.

[Addressing Dantalefor, his own voice returning to nigh-unintelligibility:]

Um, sorry. I was just confused.

[Yᴏᴜʀ sᴛᴀᴛᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴄʟᴇᴀʀ. There is a pause then, and Bomberman gets the sense that Dantalefor would drawing himself up to height and locking gazes with him if his body capable at the moment. Iɴ ᴀɴʏ ɪɴsᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ, sᴘᴇᴀᴋ: ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴs ᴛᴏ ᴀssᴏᴄɪᴀᴛᴇ ᴄʟᴏsᴇʟʏ ᴡɪᴛʜ Nᴀᴍʟᴜʜᴇʀɪᴍ?]

What?] I...I don't know who that is. [Yet it also doesn't sound unfamiliar...

Hᴏᴡ ɪs sʜᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ? Tʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴇxᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇᴅ, sʜᴇ ᴀɴᴅ I, ʏᴇᴛ I ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀғᴀʀ. Uɴᴛɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴄᴇɴᴛ, sʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ʙᴇsɪᴅᴇ ʏᴏᴜ. Tʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴛʀᴜsᴛ sʜᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʀᴜsᴛ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ, ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇᴘᴀɪʀᴇᴅ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ.

And it clicks into place.]

— you mean Lilith?!

[Iᴛ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴇ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ. Hᴏᴡᴇᴠᴇʀ, I ᴏʙsᴇʀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜɪs ɪs ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇ. Rᴇɢᴀʀᴅʟᴇss, ᴀɴ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀ ɪs ʀᴇᴏ̨ᴜɪʀᴇᴅ.

Is...is this guy seriously here just to be an overprotective dad?! No, surely this was some exotic demonic dynamic he didn't understand, something with no real equivalent among (most?) mortals. How am I supposed to answer this without pissing him off?!

...

......

................

................................................

Bomberman sighs in defeat.]

She's...a friend. I care about her a lot, but, uh, I think she's got someone else who's "associating closely" with her.

[Iɴᴅᴇᴇᴅ. Dɪsᴛᴀɴᴛ sᴘᴀᴡɴ ᴏғ ᴅᴀʀᴋᴀɴɢᴇʟ Aʟᴇᴋsᴏʀɪᴀɴ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏɴᴇ. I ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴏ̨ᴜᴀʀʀᴇʟ, ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴘʀᴇғᴇʀᴇɴᴄᴇs. Pᴇʀʜᴀᴘs ᴀ ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴏғ ʀᴇᴄᴏɴsɪᴅᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ?

Before Bomberman can fully grapple with the batshit idea that his ex-crush's demonic dad might be trying to play matchmaker, Dantalefor's body spasms then, as if shot with something. He brandishes the Ice Bomb still in his hand.]

Don't. Move.

[Rᴇᴍᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴ. I ᴀᴍ ᴘʀᴇᴘᴀʀɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴛʀɪᴇᴠᴇ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ I ᴀᴍ ʟᴏsᴛ ᴛᴏ Cʜᴀɪʙʜᴀsʜᴛɪʀᴀ.]

[ This conversation isn't very comprehensible when following only one side of it, but clearly this Lilith is a woman of mutual acquaintance. Shiro has interesting friends, it seems.

And then things get a little more hostile and he shifts his stance from relaxed to aggressive. ]

What is it doing?

[Speaking quickly:]

He claims [slight emphasis here] to be "retrieving" this piece of himself.

[In other words, without this link to the mortal realm, Dantalefor will no longer be able to communicate with Bomberman. So Bomberman hurriedly continues:]

Wait, before you go, can you...would you mind explaining to me what you were doing here in the first place?

[Aʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɪɴɢ ᴏғ ᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴀʏs? I ʜᴇᴀʀᴅ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ Eᴅᴇɴᴀɪ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴅᴜᴄᴛ ᴛʀᴀɴsᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴs. Iɴ ᴀᴄᴄᴏʀᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ Aɴɢᴇʟ's Dᴇᴄʀᴇᴇ, I ғᴜʟғɪʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇʀᴍs.]

Why did the people here call you, though? What exactly did they need you for?

[Tʜᴇ ᴀssɪsᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴏғ ᴍʏ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ.]

But for what?

[There: a sense of slight exasperation from Dantalefor, a shrug with no accompanying body movement whatsoever.

Tʜɪs I ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɴᴏᴛ. I ᴀᴍ ᴜɴᴄᴏɴᴄᴇʀɴᴇᴅ. Then his tone shifts again, sounding...sly. Dᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴇsɪʀᴇ ᴛʜɪs ᴋɴᴏᴡʟᴇᴅɢᴇ? Lᴇᴛ ᴜs sᴇᴛ ᴛᴇʀᴍs ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʀᴀɴsᴀᴄᴛ. Yᴏᴜʀ ᴀɢʀᴇᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴏɴᴏʀ ᴍᴇ.

Bomberman waves his hands in polite declination (and possibly a touch of panic).]

Er — no, that's fine! I'm, uh, good. Think I can figure it out myself, actually. No offense or anything.

[Wʜᴀᴛ ᴏғғᴇɴsᴇ? Nᴏ ᴀɢʀᴇᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ ʜᴀs ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀᴄᴄᴇᴘᴛᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɴ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ; ɴᴏ ᴀsᴘᴇʀsɪᴏɴs ᴄᴀsᴛ ᴜᴘᴏɴ ᴍʏ ғᴜʟғɪʟʟᴍᴇɴᴛ. Oɴʟʏ, ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴍʏ ᴅᴇsɪʀᴇ: I ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ sᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ Nᴀᴍʟᴜʜᴇʀɪᴍ ᴀᴄᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀɴʏ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ. Tʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ɴᴏ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠᴇ Aʟᴇᴋsᴏʀɪᴀɴ's sᴘᴀᴡɴ. Yᴏᴜʀ ᴍᴇʀᴇ ᴘʀᴇsᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ sʜᴏᴡ ʜɪᴍ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɪɴᴄᴏɴsᴇᴏ̨ᴜᴇɴᴛɪᴀʟ, ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇʀ ʀᴀɴᴋ ʀᴀɪsᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴜsʟʏ.

If Bomberman has to be honest, he almost prefers Sthertoth's megalomaniacal raving and threats of universe-wide mass murder to whatever this is.]

That...wouldn't be a transaction if I did, would it?

[The impression of a sigh. Tʀᴜʟʏ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ. Sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ Bʜᴀʀ'ᴀᴛʜᴀ ᴜɪ Sᴀʜɪʀᴀᴋᴀᴇɴᴀʏᴜ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴅᴇᴇᴍ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜᴡʜɪʟᴇ. Pᴇʀʜᴀᴘs I sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴛʀᴀɴsᴀᴄᴛ, ᴍʏsᴇʟғ, ᴛᴏ ᴜɴᴄᴏᴠᴇʀ ʜᴇʀ ʀᴇᴀsᴏɴs.

Dantalefor's body (and its severed parts) seize up again, congealing into a blob of ichor and cursed flesh. Lines of fire-bright sigils stripe across its form like chains, one by one. And in similarly quick succession, each line of sigils dissolves into little scarlet-tinged motes. The blob begins to violently pulse and distort, as if something were fighting to escape from within.

Bomberman activates his thrusters to send himself backwards, Ice Bomb still in hand. He knows for sure now (as if it weren't already apparent) that he doesn't want to get on Dantalefor's bad side. But if he has to put the demon on ice so that he and Sirius don't get iced...

Nʜᴀᴠʀᴏɪ ᴜɪ Aᴇɴᴀʏ'ʙʜᴀʀ, ᴄʜɪʟᴅ ᴏғ Cʜᴀᴏs...I ᴀɴᴛɪᴄɪᴘᴀᴛᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴀʟʟ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴛɪᴍᴇ.

And the blob cleanly contracts into nothingness.]

[ He stays silent, just watching curiously now that something other than combat seems to be the way out of this. Not that he's bad at speaking, but it's hard to carry on negotiations when you only have a small piece of the puzzle, so to speak.

Once the demon departs, leaving nothing behind to show for it but the wreckage of its violence, he speaks up again. ]

No real answers there, hm? We'd better collect all the data we can and review it later, before our oxygen runs out. [ It's not really in danger of doing so right now, but the less time they spend here the better. Who knows what else might be attracted to this place.

He floats forward and into the room proper, immediately attracted to the machinery. This is the part he clearly has experience with; he pauses to snap photos with his suit camera from as many angles as possible before prying the machines open, dismantling them with brutal efficiency. If they were in an oxygenated environment, where sound traveled, Shiro would be able to hear the whirring, hissing sounds of his suit's gauntlets reconfiguring themselves for the work of cracking open machinery. ]

I know most of these - they're industrial grade machinery for manufacturing or analysing material, [ he explains as he goes. ] What I'm looking for is internal data storage. If they were following standard protocol, they'd strip the machines and clean them out as they went, but they probably didn't have enough time to do more than just leave - if they left at all.

The computers are easy enough - just take the hard drives, leave the rest. They're modern models, so there shouldn't be a need for specialized hardware to read them.

[ He pauses in the middle of his lecture, lingering at one machine that burns with the embers of chaos energy. ] This one isn't industrial grade. Some kind of laser cutter, but not a model I'm familiar with...probably a custom build.

[ It looks fairly simple - a sturdy, clear box on a stand, and a laser cutter attached to a flexible arm within. A chunk of umbriolite sits in the case, a symbol of some sort half-burned into it. ]

Not sure what it was carving before it stopped, though. It's probably demon-related.

[It's Bomberman's turn to be silent, reeling as he is from the astounding, unbelievable encounter comprising the past several minutes. Some might have found the transition from Sirius to be abrupt or callous, but he's grateful for the return to business-as-usual (and it was what he was going to do anyway). He's more than happy to let Sirius take the lead this time. The technical patter is soothing, in its way, and upon Sirius' comment about the hard drives, Bomberman goes off to do as he suggested. It's nice not to think for a bit.

(If his brain weren't fried from dealing with Dantalefor, he might dwell more on the fact that this was how things used to be, once upon a time.)

When Sirius calls attention to the laser cutter, he pauses what he's doing and drifts over to inspect. He murmurs:]

It looks similar to sigils that used to be on the elevator doors. Before Dantalefor broke out, I mean. No idea what they were for.

[He sounds a little dazed still.]

[ Sirius doesn't know how to handle decompressing squishy feelings but he DOES know how to handle Getting A Job Done. He deftly squirrels away all the little chips and bits and pieces necessary to the data of each machine. ]

Protection, then. Though it didn't do them much good. [ He leaves it alone, continuing his work.

More silence, then. ]

So what did it say to you? You look like you've been through zero-g turbulence.

[Also lost in his work, Bomberman takes a moment to pull together something coherent to say.]

Dantalefor didn't know why the researchers summoned him here, other than that they wanted his power for something. Didn't seem particularly concerned about it, either. Guess no one was asking too many questions as long as both sides got what they wanted out of the deal.

[Yes. Extremely disturbing content. :|]

We'll have to go through it all and find out, then.

[ Another pause. ]

You're holding out on me, aren't you? [ It's not accusatory, just....amused? He seems to find it funny. ]

I'm trying to wrap my head around what the hell just happened.

[Bomberman's not specifically denying the not-accusation, though.]

He also offered to..."transact" with me if I wanted to learn the truth, but I turned him down. Figured it would probably be in the reports from the computer lab.

[He hopes this now off-the-rails mission doesn't get dire enough for him to have even the barest of reasons to seek out Dantalefor again.

(Bel's hells, he can't even text Lilith now without feeling like it's going to get him tangled up in something with the demon. This is what he's most pissed about, honestly.)]

And what does any of that have to do with things that I should know? [ He's just patiently prompting him. He's not going to pry about Shiro's private life - though he thinks he could probably ask about whoever this 'Lilith' was and get a very funny reaction - but if there's some information relevant to him, he'd like to know about it.

He works as he talks, dismantling the equipment and taking only what he needs. He leaves the umbriolite deposits alone. Now that the demon is gone, he's breathing much easier. ]

[Later there will be time for Sirius to be an annoying older not-brother to Bomberman about his failed romantic prospects. ~~Assuming nothing else happens to make these two divorce a second time.~~ Right now there's just Bomberman wondering how long this full explanation might take.]

Well, Dantalefor mentioned offhand that the researchers here didn't have anyone with elemental Light powers. [Beat.] But...apparently you do.

[And Bomberman can sense the Light in Sirius now that Dantalefor is out of the picture and not muddling things up with either his demonic aura or his nosiness about his daughter's love life. It definitely hadn't been there before, not back when the two first met and not back when they reunited for this cursed mission. Sirius' Light seems to retain its characteristic prickliness (at least from Bomberman's viewpoint), but softer-edged and warmer than what Bomberman has experienced pulling on the element in its purest form. He could make some guesses as to why that might be, based on the bits of celestial knowledge he picked up in going up against the BHB Army, but really the primary question at hand is still what the actual fuck?]

[ He tilts his head as he considers this information. He'd thought himself wholly divorced from all this - he'd heard rumors of what Shiro had been through, it was unavoidable really in his situation, but nothing concrete. It had seemed quite a lofty thing.

He looks down at his hands, as if he expects to see them glowing through his suit or something, but nothing has changed. ]

I did feel something when you bombed it, [ he says thoughtfully, keeping his hands moving once more. ] The Omni Cube reconfigured my body - I always thought something felt off, even when it was destroyed and no longer had a hold on me. Maybe that's it.

[ He's not one for idle speculation, though, but comparisons he has concrete evidence for, he can do. ] I don't know if it's the same thing, but something happens occasionally to people who grow up on space stations. We got a little...touched, is how they'd put it. It's easier for us to live in space than back on a planet - the gravity doesn't feel right, the air is too rich...We were lucky charms on space stations, though. If there was phenomena that could damage the station, we always knew about it first.

I thought it was just getting used to the environment. But I stopped feeling it when I started mastering the Omni Cube, and it never came back, even when my body healed.

[ He shrugs. ] Until now. Maybe they're connected.

[ He opens the door labeled R&D and promptly smacks it shut again like a startled cat, reflexively. He doesn't like the look of what's in there, it seems. ]

[would sure be nice for interruptions to stop happening while Bomberman's still trying to process Plot Developments, r u d e]

...soooo bad news, or worse news?

[The snarky bomber we all know and love ~~from like one game~~.]

Scavengers didn't get to this part of the station. [ He opens the door again. ] I'm guessing something went wrong with the power they borrowed, but it's hard to tell.

[ The room is what you might charitably call messy, or less charitably something of a bloodbath, of sorts. There were probably several separate people in here; there aren't several separate people now. They appear to have compressed into a mass that takes up part of the room. Mercifully, there are no signs of life or even movement.

Sirius props the door open and edges into the room, picking up what he can without going near the amalgamated horrorshow. ]

So, if I had to sum it up, bad news. It could be worse. [ It could be alive and trying to eat them. ]

Bel's hells.

[Bomberman would agree it could definitely be worse...but this is still one of the worst things he's ever seen and he's seen Sthertoth up close. Maybe it's just that one can expect and accept that the Demon of the Dark would be an unholy abomination; maybe it's the fact that there's a decent chance that some of these victims were just innocents caught up in things (and someone like Shiro can have sympathy for even the wrongdoers). In any case, thank the Ancestrals for the vacuum of space and Bomberman's protective suit for rendering any lingering stench of copper and rot a complete non-issue.

He floats over and pauses by the R&D doorframe to survey the scene. Aside from the charitably-termed "mess," there are carved, sigil-marked pieces of umbriolite floating in the nonexistent gravity amidst faint clouds of white powder. Part of the floor beneath the mass of bodies shows some sort of design marked out in faded paint. Bomberman's no occultist — regardless of any knowledge handed over to him by a halfling friend — but he's seen enough horror movies to make a basic guess about the situation.

A trinity of tones sounds in Bomberman's skull. The vertigo-like feeling of crossed vision about his very existence strikes him again. In fleeting flashes, he sees the logic of how the glyph was supposed to direct Dantalefor's power, sees the moment that the logic failed the researchers, sees how the reservoir of power they were drawing on burned itself completely out after...]

Um. I'm. Going to finish stripping the processing area, first. I'll be back.

[There's a potentially-recognizable crackling to the edges of Bomberman's words that (probably) can't be attributed to any bandwidth or frequency limitations on their comms. He is fully intelligible this time, however.]

[ He recognises that crackling. He'd thought it was static, some weight or demonic pressure, but... ]

Maybe the sigils are affecting you, [ he theorizes out loud, as he clinically moves from spot to spot to catalogue what he can. ] Better not spend too much time in here, then. Whatever that demon said to you might have shaken something loose.

What do you mean?

[Back to the computer he'd been trying to pry open. Unlike Sirius, Bomberman has been working considerably slower in digging out hard drives, given that this is not something he usually does and he lacks specialized tools. All he has at hand are small screwdrivers for emergency repairs for his suit. Thankfully they do come in enough variety that he's been able to dismantle whatever he manages to get to.]

You're getting that... [ he makes a hand gesture, remembers Shiro isn't in the room and can't see it, drops his hand ] crackle in your voice again. Thought it was just the communications array reacting poorly to...demonic energy, but when you looked in here too long, it made your voice sound strange, as it did before.

So, maybe it was exposure. Or just hearing a demon's words. Either way...looks like it stayed with you a little.

[Bomberman frowns (not that Sirius can see it).]

I didn't hear anything like that...

[He thinks back to his conversation with Dantalefor. Certainly the demon had some...oddities to his speech, even outside of his strange syntax, but for his own part, nothing that he could remember.]

Is it gone now?

[ He listens carefully. ]

It's gone. Maybe it's just when you're talking to supernatural entities. [ His tone is a bit dry. ] I'd offer you some advice, but it looks like I don't have any for this situation.

fun with bomberman lore(tm)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I forgot I had this secondary account until just now

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

ten million years later as i figure out whether i want to make this another bomberman character