phonypizza

[phonypizza]

"................."

Normal thing to do, eating a sandwich and writing a book. Nothing wrong there.

[phonypizza]

... something stirs.

Dust and cobwebs brushed aside.

Books are set down on an unused desk. (Real ones.)

Someone sneezes and dusts their gloved hands.

Somewhere else, an oven is preheated. A sign is flipped.

Somewhere else, a guitar plays out of tune.

[phonypizza]

Welcome to the internet

[phonypizza]

"... I'm starting to feel worse and worse about whatever's going on out there."

[phonypizza]

Day 2 of the seminar, and things are looking dire for the trio (or rather. duo but Pasta is also there).

Speaking of Pasta...

This normal human who's always been human (promise!) steps up and...!

"Grooooohoohoohoo." Oh, someone's happy that they've suddenly developed the ability to join a circus! Maybe Pasta will try seeing one, someday.

"Okay, so, see what he... they? Did. Just gotta do that," Konin advises his coworker. "Not too much force. Just keep them all up in the air. Like multitasking with pizzas."

"Just like that! See? You try!"

Heathcliff picks up his bat (!!!)

There is no more Waddle Dee. That Waddle Dee is now in low orbit.

"I deserve a prize for that. Don't care if that wasn't the way it's supposed to go."

[phonypizza]

Konin has decided to go to the seminar this year! Let's see how he does. Looks like he dragged along his fellow coworker, too--

"So it's like that! Go ahead, try it."

"No way am I gonna be able to make that, I'm not... whatever the hell you are!" Heathcliff stretches his legs before taking the jump!

"Gah... see?! What's the point of any of this, anyway??"

Meanwhile... some distance away...

"... SsssSUCKs."

dwai zucchini nobody will mistake them for you i'm sure

[phonypizza]

Uhhhhhh Chai? You there? Uh... You're not alone in that place, you know. You'll be out soon, just... just hold on-

"........"

Down for maintenance, please try again soon! Vandelay Technologies values your time and patronage.

[phonypizza]

... another doseage today.

he can only watch. his body chews on itself. aching for nourishment. for healing.

it's stretched him so thin.

nobody was coming...

dana didn't even know where he was...

... and she couldn't help him anyway.

[phonypizza]

"It shouldn't be too long." Peppermint sighs. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind some tea, actually. You're gonna laugh, but some peppermint tea would be really nice right now." Her hand once again moves to pet 808. "... I just don't want to cause a blackout by putting a big strain on the building's power. She's charged enough to wake up and boot in debug, but we don't have time to let her get back to 95% just yet."

She puts her tools away before standing up with a slight inhale. "Ow, my leg... I'm gonna need to foam roll it so bad once I'm back home." Oh, right. Prosthetic leg. That's a normal sight though! Really, nothing special when compared to kitty. Speaking of.

808's eyes slowly open up, her optics glowing a dim blue...

Phoenix lets out a small sigh of relief- both for the cat being okay (what? Robot or not, he still likes animals), and that Chai's location would be found easily... at least, it sounded like it would. If he could still put off a signal, then it meant he would still be alive. Which was great! He hoped he was alive, at least-

He lights up as 808's little legs shift. Kitty.

"Good thing she's so reliable then, huh? Both of you, really. Sounds like we'll be able to find your buddy pretty quickly!"

Well, he guesses he can tell Crimson the good news later. Poor kid was worried about the cat, after all. Come to think of it... hmm. Maybe he should ask if she saw anything else. She said that the alley seemed like a struggle happened, but maybe there's more?

That alley was about ten minutes from here. He could go check it out, but... he also wants to be present when 808 wakes up, in case she has anything important show them both. He adds it to his mental to-do list.

"How long do you think she'll take to boot back up? Do you want a cup of tea from the kitchen while we wait?" Hey, might as well offer. Shinto had plenty of different teas. She might not miss a teabag or three.

[phonypizza]

“N-no, I’m ok, Zio ‘Pino. Honest.”

Is Omino really, after all that? Probably not, but he’s also a Spaghetti, meaning he’s going to insist he’s fine, even though he’s usually going through something or another. He isn’t even allowed out of sight, yet — he’s calling ‘Pino over the phone, now — and no doubt when Omino hands that phone back to his Papa, ‘Pino’s gonna hear the full extent of the matter.

For now, though…

“What about you? Has everything been ok at your pizzeria?”

He’s gonna hear the same exact Spaghetti answer thrown right back at him, isn’t he.

"If you're okay, then I'm fine too. See, I'm gonna worry even if you tell me you're doing fine. I was mad enough coming to work this morning that even the new hire asked me if he did something wrong. Course not. But you know I ain't gonna just sit down and say it's all 'okay'."

Pino sighs, drumming his fingers against the desk. Stellina trills quietly in the background, and Swoosh can be heard playing. There's also the sound of Konin talking to someone... Hm.

"Been quiet lately. I guess that's the best we can hope for with everything. If you ever feel like you gotta go somewhere you can lie low, my place is always open, yeah? I know Pep is gonna fuss but it don't have to be long."

[phonypizza]

Hi, Pino. Wesker from Resident Evil™️ just called Omino a creature and threatened to cut him open

"Ahh. I see. Another stupid jerk who thinks he can just go around saying threats. But, it is fine. We do the same to him. I've got plenty of sharp things I know how to use."

Stellina, meanwhile, is taking in this information. He'll just tuck that away in the back of his head!

[phonypizza]

Oh, something happened, huh

[phonypizza]

[phonypizza]

"Yeah. I... I wanted something who'd be able to stick around for a long time." Peppermint gives 808's body a few pets, some scritches under the chin, and starts to put the cat back together again. "She was my pet project... emphasis on 'pet', heh. ... Ugh, I think Chai's rubbed off on me."

A quick test with a volt meter and she nods to herself. "Everything looks mostly good to go. Most of 808's damage looks cosmetic right now, she had some stuff knocked out of alignment but I built her right. What a relief... if I need anything else I'll ask Isabelle, thanks for the heads-up." Phoenix gets a grateful smile out of the engineer.

"Once 808 boots back up, she should be able to tell me where Chai last was and where he is now through coordinates that she'll print to my work phone. I figured it might be for the best if she could send things silently, since she's, y'know, built originally for espionage. As for the signal, it pretty much is like a limited GPS - in that it'll only tell me where specific people who are synced up to 808 are. I basically register them with her, and then I can figure out where they are."

There's a little mrrp from 808, as her legs unconsciously kick out. As if she were just sleeping...

Phoenix watches her work. Wow, that cat really is a robot, huh? She looked so... alive. Not like the robots he was used to, by any chance. Not that he knows much about robotics, anyhow...

"That sounds pretty advanced, you put a lot of work into her, huh? Re-locking onto Chai, from... wherever he is."

O-oh. Sounds like she was really designed to be durable, huh? Good lord, he hopes Chai is okay. Phoenix watches her plug the cat into the wall (not a sentence he ever imagined using) and assumes that she needs to recharge.

"Uh... Isabelle, the manager here, she's got a lot of other tools if you need. She apparently does a lot of engineering-type stuff, too. She might have some wires too-" He's trying to be helpful, at least.

"So, when she comes back... does she need something to plug into, to display a picture...? Or is it something else entirely?" He kind of wished he could be chatting with her about this under different circumstances. She seemed like she really knew her way around robotics. "How is she gonna lock onto his signal? Is it similar to GPS?"

[phonypizza]

"B-boss... you're looking kind of..."

"... This is becoming normal for me now. I gotta just sit in the freezer and, ah. Wait. To get more solid again. Then I'll put it back. 'S gonna be fine... can you run the register."

"WHAT THE FUCK"

[phonypizza]

[phonypizza]

"Yeah, it'll give me something to focus on while I fix up 808." She sighs, retrieving some tools and starting to open up her cat. "She's my cat companion and also my eyes and ears in the field. I built her myself for sabotage and espionage. If someone attacked 808, especially while Chai was with her... no, they would've gone after him first, because he's the fighter."

"Whoever did this, if they left her in this condition, must've really messed Chai up. I'm hoping I can salvage something from her event logs, maybe be able to lock onto his signal since 808 can re-sync with him, but..."

Peppermint reconnects some loose wires in 808's body cavity before glancing around for an outlet. It takes her a second to fumble with a plug before she... plugs her cat into the wall.

"Yeah, it really isn't looking good. If... if you have any other questions, I mean, I'm basically an open book right now."

Phoenix nods in deep understanding as she explains. Ah, he's had plenty of long, unpleasant walks to his crime scenes before. He understands, Peppermint. He really does.

But back to the matter at hand: The kitty.

Heavy damage... de-synced... he thinks he gets the gist. The cat was connected to Chai, somehow. Well, Chai was... a cyborg, right? So it checked out somewhat in his head.

"So, uh... I think I get most of what you're saying, but could you explain about Chai and 808 a bit more? You said they were synced, so I get that they're connected in some way. You think the damage is directly connected to Chai's disappearance?"

'It's not looking good, everyone...'

"If you could get her working again, would she be able to explain what happened? Or maybe... find him? Sorry for all the questions, but it doesn't look good for your friend the more you explain..." He is concerned, but he's also not sure what he's looking at, either. Help him out, Peppermint...