the_isle | Daycare Attendant intro

Open/locked?: Open!
Who: Whoever wants to investigate
What: The daycare attendant's inglorious intro
Where: Inside the building
Why: Because his player is terrible?
Warnings: Moon being Moon. Yep. (More seriously, nothing just yet past possible violence. Let's see if anyone can get Sun to spill to them, first.)
Extra info: this bot is kinda tall. And if anyone wants to know what they sound like... :D

In one of the lower levels -- not so low as to still be flooded, but unused enough for no one to have turned the lights on lately... there was a crash, and a screech.

It wasn't the biggest crash; someone had just dropped a box of something. But the screeching... that sounded like genuine distress. It was a higher-pitched voice, probably not one anyone would have found all that immediately familiar. "No" could be made out clearly enough at first, repeated, louder and more frantically, until after a few seconds, it sounded strangled... and then it was quiet.

Dare someone investigate?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"To my knowledge, no, no one was hurt," he said. "I certainly wasn't. Your agility would be the envy of many an acrobat, but your moon-faced alter ego has clearly never dealt with a trained fighter before."

"And what of you? I was hardly gentle when I forced you into this room, after all. I admittedly know very little of mechanical things, but those... mechanisms on the back of your head don't look as though they're meant to be exposed. Was a piece knocked off when you fell?"

Sun looked down a little at first, seeming to relax a bit... or maybe just deflate? It was hard to tell if this was relief, or merely guilt over the whole situation. Those points were extended around his round head, if that were some sort of clue... But they pulled in a little, slowly, at the last question.

He looked back up, quiet, and put a hand up, fingers curling in around the now-fully-retracted points on the side, though he didn't actually seem to touch the components or back of the plate itself. "No... no, it's fine. I'm okay without it! I don't need it. I'm... I'm kinda used to not having it any more...." Something, something, protest too much?

Foulques frowned, though it was thoughtful rather than disapproving. "Perhaps," he said, "but the weather here is rather damp at the best of times, which does no favors to most anything made of metal. The next time we have contact with the mainland, I'll ask if any among them knows how to craft something suitable. In the meantime, I can at least mend your pants; I know that's where I caught you, and no amount of flexibility makes sewing pants while you're wearing them any easier."

With that decided, and another thing added to his growing list of requests for those from the mainland when next he saw them, he stood back up. "Remain here for a moment. I'll locate the hallway's light switch so that I can lead you upstairs safely; far better that you stay up there than in these seldom-used rooms." Seldom used rooms that were prone to flooding in heavy rains. Not good for anything mechanical.

"But...." He wanted to protest, it was obvious, but he was a touch caught as to what to say in doing so. "But you don't-- I can't just-- Wh--" He started to get up again too, rocking back and pushing himself up without either hand ever touching the floor. "But... But I'm supposed to help you!"

Foulques quirked an eyebrow. "I'm sure you will," he said. "But we are all of us essentially strangers in a strange land here." Some far stranger than others. "And while this Isle's normal inhabitants may have been content to let it and each other fall to ruin, I am not. If there is aught I can do to improve the state of affairs here, I'll do so. Gods know there's much that needs improving."

"If you truly don't want your pants repaired or your missing piece replaced, then I won't force such things on you. But if you're only refusing because you think yourself undeserving of such basic consideration or you fear that accepting will warrant some future punishment, neither is the case. You wish to help, and you will do so far better if you are in good repair, just as a man would when he is healthy and well fed. It's merely common sense."

And it had absolutely nothing to do with him wanting to help someone else who was almost certainly from a mistreated minority. Not at all. He was just being practical.

Absolutely nothing, sure.

"But... but you don't have to fuss about me! I'm not supposed to be the problem!" There was something fearful in his tone again, even as he took a cautious step after him, fingers twitching very subtly. "I'm supposed to be the one doing things! You-- you can sit down and be on your phone! And play computer games! I'll-- I'll--" He'll what? He didn't seem to know what all else he was supposedly going to do, honestly. "I do the work!

"That's how it's supposed to be!"

"I don't have a 'phone', nor have I ever played 'computer games'," he said. "And while I need rest from time to time as much as any man, I prefer to have things to do rather than sitting idle." Far better to have things to do and focus on than to sit around and let his thoughts wander, after all. In his experience, such wandering led them to dark places.

"The fact that your previous masters were apparently lazy louts who couldn't even be bothered to maintain you properly is entirely a reflection on them, not on you. And while that may well have been how it was, it's certainly not how it's supposed to be. Rest assured that I don't find it troublesome to do things like make a request on you behalf or do a bit of sewing." He gave a slight, amused smirk. "Though if you're adamant about me playing games, perhaps we could play a game of chess while I sew your pants."

"But-- Wh--" There were a few other half-begun sounds, but it amounted to more or less nothing; he'd stumped the mechanical jester rather thoroughly with that. It took him a good second or two to manage anything intelligible, really.

"You... you really want me to... play chess with you?"

Edited Date: 2024-11-11 08:24 am (UTC)

"Assuming you know the game," he said. "We were snowed in not especially long ago, and I put a set together to pass the time, but there are few people here who I find pleasant enough company to wish to play with them." And one of those people currently wasn't in any condition to do so, but that was nothing Sun needed to worry about.

"In any case, I still must find the hallway's light switch if you're to safely leave this room. Wait here a moment; I shouldn't be long." He started to leave, then paused, recalling something and turning back to Sun. "I don't suppose you had any belongings with you when you arrived? Your moon-faced alter-ego certainly wasn't carrying anything, but that may simply be because he didn't seem to have the presence of mind to do so. If you had anything with you when you arrived, it was likely left behind."

Edited Date: 2024-11-11 08:51 pm (UTC)

Well, that... certainly made sense. If he wanted to play chess with him, he could do that! He knew how! But the other part....

"...I don't know," he admitted. "I was cleaning up, at the daycare.... and then the power went out... and... then I was here...."

"Hmm... if you remember whereabouts you arrived, I could look and see if there's anything out of the ordinary." Because anything belonging to Sun would almost certainly look out of the ordinary for the Isle. "Or alternately, once I've found the light switch, we could attempt to retrace your steps."

A bit of a fidget, just more of those subtle little finger-twitches, looking down as he thought about it for a moment. "I... can't really remember well enough," he said.

So, confirmed memory issues related to being Moon, check. On the bright side, as he suspected... it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out?

Somewhere, in a room not too far away, was a plastic crate with mostly children's arts and crafts supplies, lying half-spilled on the middle of the floor, just waiting to be discovered.

"The latter option it is then," he said. "Luckily, since you didn't come upstairs, it's likely not far. I'll go and find the light switch and we can continue from there."

With that he left the room, leaving Sun alone for a few moments. It didn't take long for the lights in the hallway to come on though, revealing the rows of lockers in all their graffiti-ridden glory. At least some of it was reasonably well done and artistic, and not just randomly scrawled names and insults, though ironically the one Moon had leapt from bore a crude drawing of someone giving the... other sort of moon. It was now safe for Sun to venture out into the hallway if he wanted, though if not Foulques would be back soon.

Edited Date: 2024-11-11 11:15 pm (UTC)

Sun had stepped out, by the time Foulques returned. He was still standing at a bit of a crouch, but could easily enough be spotted at one of the doorways to a classroom a little way down the hall, peeking in cautiously. He'd reached a hand inside, trying to feel for the light switch, and for the moment he was doing that, it was a little more obvious there against the background of the darkness within, that his arm was glowing just faintly. He found it; the lights flickered on inside, and he stepped further into the doorway to see around better... and then after a minute, he stepped back out empty-handed, turning off the light behind him, and headed across the hall to the next room to peek in and feel for its light switch.

So, no luck just yet. But he was daring to try being proactive, at least? So there was that!

Edited Date: 2024-11-12 12:11 am (UTC)

Foulques did indeed spot Sun as he came around a corner a little further down the hall. "No luck yet, I take it?", he said. "Perhaps a bit further on then."

The next few rooms proved equally lacking in anything that may have belonged to Sun, though they did discover a few oddities. Including what was apparently some sort of cross between an office and a weight-room, with a large cracked mirror and a ratty taxidermized deer head on the far wall, and classroom that apparently taught Fraud and Fencing 101, with the diagram on the crooked chalkboard having far more to do with pawnbrokers than swords.

Soon though, a flick of the light switch revealed a partly spilled plastic crate of various small items, all too clean and colorful to have been there long. "I believe we've found your belongings," he said. "At least I assume so." He really couldn't tell what half of those things were mean to be for. They looked like little pieces of... something, but with nothing to really attach them to. And were those little fake eyes in that pouch?

"Oh... yeah... that's... part of what I was cleaning up, all right." He'd crouched lower to peek in better beside him, rather than stand up taller to see over his shoulder, and... there were those little, somewhat twitchy, finger movements again as he regarded it. Quieter, "I'm gonna be in so much trouble....."

Foulques snorted. "I doubt it," he said, stepping into the room and turning on the lights so Sun could retrieve the crate and its contents. "Even should one of your former masters arrive here, which is highly unlikely, they'd have far greater concerns to deal with than some spilled brick-a-brack. And me to contend with, should they attempt to forego them." Translation: if they know what's good for them, they'll leave Sun alone.

Edited Date: 2024-11-12 03:22 am (UTC)

"But I didn't finish cleaning, and it was only an hour before we opened! There's gonna be kids there, and I'm not, and-- and--!" Crouched over the crate, he turned it back upright and started putting the stuff back into it. Quiet as his protests were getting, they were seeming more now like fussing to himself than anything... until he found the charger, and paused there, eyeing it. "...Where's the trash? I'm not keeping the staff's left-behind--"

He stopped again, catching sight of the sticker on the bottom of it. It looked like it was starting to peel up a bit, and showed glitter underneath. Cue a moment of him setting everything aside to very carefully pick that apparently-normal-looking printed label off of the small black brick, revealing a tiny mural in glitter glue that'd been hidden under it.

"...My charger," Sun said, more to himself than anything. "But... but they told me they hadn't seen it...!"

"As I understand, while we are here, time doesn't pass in our own worlds," he said. "So you needn't fear for the safety of your young charges. Though even if I was misinformed, I doubt they would truly be left unattended, even if your former masters were forced to do some actual work in the interim."

He smirked a bit at that, which only grew at Sun's apparent desire to throw away some random item that one of them had apparently left behind. "The trash is far too many places around here, as you'll soon see," he said, stepping up to get a closer look at what he was holding. "But if you're looking for an actual rubbish bin, I believe we can-"

But he paused abruptly when he noticed how carefully Sun was handling the little thing now. He stepped up nearby crouching down to get a closer look himself. "Given what you've said of them thusfar, I'd find it hardly surprising if they had hidden your things and then claimed to have lost them. But what exactly is this used for? It seems rather precious to you."

It... made sense. It really did. He just couldn't shake the feeling that it would lead to worse treatment for him later, if they did have to do actual work themselves. If he weren't so sure of that, the thought would've probably cheered him up a whole lot more than it currently seemed to.

Sun actually let the big sticker he'd peeled off -- well, more of a printed bit of paper with packing tape over it to hold it down -- fall from his hand unattended as he focused on the glittery, dried goop all over the surface of it. It looked like it was supposed to be a picture of some sort: light blue glitter on one end, dark blue on the other, purple swirled around in between as though by a finger... and what wasn't too far off from a kiddish depiction of a sunshine on the light side, and a crescent moon on the darker one. On one hand, someone might've just been working with entirely the wrong medium. On the other hand... honestly, it was pretty clear who'd done it, wasn't it?

"It's... how I get more energy," he said. "Everyone else eats and drinks stuff... But... I...." He was fiddling with one of the cords, finding the smaller end of it, the little oval plug. With that in hand, he pulled up some of the ruffles on his hip, showing a little gap in the vinyl up under his sash, and turned so that Foulques could see what he was doing. A tiny golden panel was barely visible through the spot, notable only for how it moved away to reveal the same silvery tone of his joints, a spot with what looked like a deeply-recessed little oval inside, little tab sticking up in its center. Sun took the end with the plug and stuck it into the port, where it fit snugly. He grabbed up the other end, with its two flat prongs, to show that to Foulques. "....I put this part in a wall outlet. And... then I have to stay within reach for a while.

"And people have these for their computers and stuff, too." Demonstration over, he pulled it back out of his hip, and the bit clicked closed after it, ruffles falling to cover the area again. Quieter, "Saw this on their laptop a few times, and I thought-- I mean, I was sure it was, but...."

In other words, it was pretty crucial that he have it, and have it in working order.

Edited Date: 2024-11-12 02:29 pm (UTC)

He nodded thoughtfully at Sun's explanation. "I understand the concept, if not precisely the mechanism," he said. "Mammets in my own world are powered differently, either by their owners infusing them with aether directly, or more commonly, via the use of crystal shards. Even a small one can power an average mammet for quite some time. Though you would be considered far from average by any estimation."

Though the implications of what had been said registered a moment later and the frown turned somewhat darker. "Though do you mean to tell me that by keeping this from you, your former masters were essentially starving you?" Because that was definitely what it sounded like...

"Uh...." He seemed to sink just a little more at that. ".....No?" A pause; he really was being bad about being convincing, when he wasn't certain himself. "There's other chargers... I kept a shorter one in my room upstairs. In the board with all the other... kinda similar looking things. I don't think they noticed it, since they don't go up there any more anyways. I think Moon scared them away...." He sounded a bit like he was trying to make something like a joke, with that last tidbit... but....

Foulques frown lost only a little of its edge at that news. "While it's fortunate that that was not the result of their actions, I can't believe that even they would be so incompetent as to not realize that was a likely outcome if such things are as common as you say in your world," he said.

After a moment though, he gave an irritated huff and relaxed somewhat. "Not that there is aught to be done about it now, I suppose, especially so long as you are here and they remain there." But if any of them ever did turn up, someone would be having a serious conversation with them. At spearpoint. "What matters is that you've retrieved it. There's what I believe is a wall outlet in the room I've claimed for myself that you may use to recharge yourself if you wish; I myself have little use for it. And your rest is far less likely to be disturbed there than most other places you might take it." Mostly because the local villains knew that trying to sneak in and mess with his stuff was to risk being speared.

Edited Date: 2024-11-14 02:08 am (UTC)

"....Yeah?" He was quiet a moment, and looked back down to the charger, running his thumb over the glittery side of the brick again, thinking about it. "...It... wouldn't bother you, to keep the lights on?"

Foulques shook his head. "I often do so in any case," he said. "This Isle is perpetually gloomy and is even more so at this time of the year than it was in warmer months. The light is a welcome respite, even if it is artificial."

"Come, now that we've located your things, I'll show you where it is. Conveniently enough, both the chessboard and needle and thread with which to repair you pants are there as well."