welcome to the mansion

[airlockedmods]

[The Champions wake up not in a bed, but alone on a plush, velvet seat. Some may recognize the backseat of a limousine, while some may not, but the windows are tinted black inside and out, and there's no chauffeur. All are wearing expensive formalwear, no matter what they thought they were wearing before.

The door opens by an unseen hand and reveals a gravel drive with a red carpet and a lavish fountain. Others are already there, and more limousines continue to pull up afterward. The front doors are locked, and overhead curls a large protective glass dome, keeping the cold void of space at bay, but hey, there's also an unparalleled view of the stars.]

Hey there, Champions, welcome to the IGS Fantasy Sweet. I'm PAL, your onboard maintenance system for this location. Your Overseer will arrive shortly. Please be patient.

Comments

[brokencode]

[Hello, stranger. This fountain is very pretty and Angel really wants to touch the water. In fact, she doesn't even realize he's there until she's bent over it and has her left hand elbow deep in the water. Aaat which point, her skin goes red and she stares rather wide-eyed at the man.]

Oh. Hello.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Before he even decides to respond, Junpei glances up at her, takes a measuring look, then refocuses on his PIP.]

Hey.

[Scroll, scroll. Maybe he isn't going to speak further at all. But then:]

Angel, right?

[brokencode]

[It doesn't take a siren with a brain the size of a planet to figure out how he found out that information. It does, however, inspire Angel to finally sift through her own PIP.]

[She intended to find the man's picture, but instead found her own name and -- ]

[Traitor.]

U-um. Yes. That's... [She brought her right wrist closer to her face, as if it might make the words change.] That's me.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei watches her expression for a moment to see how she takes it, then shrugs.]

Yeah. You know, I'd say it's nice to meet you, but, uh...

[He taps the screen of his PIP by way of explanation.]

That's some title you got there, huh?

[brokencode]

Yeah.

[She knew the plan. She and her father would find four vault hunters, and through them they would open the vault. Simple. That she would be branded a traitor made sense but... in theory no one would get hurt, right? They just needed a little extra firepower to take on the monster inside the vault.]

You would not believe me if I told you I didn't know where it came from, would you?

[misanthropicprinciple]

I don't know. Maybe.

[He stops fiddling with his PIP, but only so he can cross his arms.]

Are you suffering from amnesia?

[brokencode]

[What kind of question...]

No? [There were a few things out of place, the purple tinge to her skin being the main one, but she could think of a number of conditions that could attribute to something like that.]

Why?

[misanthropicprinciple]

It's been known to happen. Erasing someone's memories, I mean, so that they can't explain why they're there or what the connections might be.

[He says it casually. Like it's normal.]

[brokencode]

I can't... say that's happened, no. [She was 99 percent sure that her memories were 100 percent in tact.] </small. Why? Are you suffering from amnesia?

[misanthropicprinciple]

I wouldn't know if I were, would I?

[Then why did you ask--God, Junpei.]

But I remember who I am and what I was doing, so. You know, all that's missing is how the hell I got in the back of a limo. And why these clothes fit so well.

[brokencode]

Well. No.

[Her brows drew together. What was the point in asking these questions then?]

Unless you simply don't remember what you forgot. That could stand for any of us, though. [Angel plucked at her own dress, then frowned. He made a good point about sizing.]

Perhaps they've been observing us. Pulled the info from our records? [Though how they managed to dredge up her records was something of a mystery.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Yeah, that's another thing.

[He waves vaguely at his PIP.]

I mean, why do they know what underwear I wear? They got a peek at one pair, clearly, but, y'know, probably some people sample different brands, and there's no way my college transcript would have a record of that.

[brokencode]

[Angel once again found herself squinting at the PIP, scrutinizing her own information. The sight of traitor had put her off for a time, but now she had to know what other nonsense was on there.]

All of this is just... bizarre. [If only by virtue of it being correct, if twisted in perverse ways. Daddy issues? Really?]

I know that most A.I. are capable of deep cover surveillance but this is... extreme, even for that.

[misanthropicprinciple]

A.I. surveillance...

[That he doesn't throw that notion right out the window probably says a lot about Junpei's life to this point.]

But--I mean, okay, I get spying on kings or whatever, even if that seems kind of like a huge anachronism. But... okay, comparatively, I'm no big fish. And there are files on NEETs and high school girls, too.

[brokencode]

We all have those titles, do we not? Perhaps they selected the best of the best. The champions of each trait?

[But that... didn't make sense, either. She might have been planning on duping the Vault Hunters, but that hardly made her a master traitor. Some of the Hyperion higher ups had done worse in a single week.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

What, across the whole planet? I don't know what a "Champion Challenger" is supposed to be, but I'm sure it's not some punk detective with less than a year on the job.

[brokencode]

So... [A sardonic smile crossed her lips.] We have a challenger who doesn't know what he's challenging and a traitor that does not know who she betrayed.

[How odd.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

...Heh. Yeah, I guess so.

[Fine. She's all right. Maybe. She has a sense of humor, at least.]

Like rebels without a cause, right? I hope you've got a better James Dean impression than I do.

[brokencode]

I probably do not, seeing as how I am not familiar with this James Dean. [Sorry, Junpei.] I have been working on my Claptrap impersonations though.

[Angel, no.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Claptrap? What is that, some slapstick routine?

[Angel, yes.]

[brokencode]

No! Well -- maybe. They would probably like that form of comedy. [Nevertheless, she shook her head.] They are little robots that exist all over the planet I work on. They're very funny, and they dance, too!

[misanthropicprinciple]

Dancing robots?

[Okay, Junpei might be trying to hold back a smile, here.]

Now this I have to see.

[brokencode]

Yeah! Like this. [Yeah, she's proceeding to wriggle her arms about, a bit like this. At least she's relaxing a bit?]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Oh, dammit, he's snickering in spite of himself.]

Yeah, get down with your bad self, girl! Boogie all night!

[brokencode]

[Good. Angel relaxed a little, now that Junpei appeared to be in better spirits.]

It is far more fun to watch when the robot itself does it, of course. But you get the gist of it.