Meta Runner (RP)

{ @cmdR_Paige )
She wasn't that much afraid of this person as she was before. But the charred sight of her concerned her. What happened? Then she saw the hand, Now she felt the overwhelming need to help ? And to reach out for her.. Hopefully she didn't regret this.
Reaching out she gently grabbed Lucinias hand "are you ok? My friends can help you-" she tested.

{ @Checkmate  }

Lucinia closed her eyes slowly. "I don't-- I don't know how they can help, if at all. Everything just feels... scattered..." She glanced back up at Tari. "I can't remember who I am... can you?" Having another person touch her made her feel real again... like she used to be-- before whatever caused her to be... split apart like this.

{ @cmdR_Paige }

This broke her heart whoever this was needed help. Grabbing her hand with both of her hands , she looked at the persons hair . she remembered seeing some sort of picture... WAIT! "Lucinia! Your names Lucinia - Belle ..she.. Shes your friend. Your hers. She...she misses you. Great!y . Oh my crackerjack! I.. I have to tell her. Not like she'll believe me but oh my-"' she couldn't believe this!

{ @Checkmate }

Lucinia's face took on an expression of confusion, as if she was trying to remember something. "Lucinia...?" She studied Tari's face and the realization hit-- she was seeing her here because... the two of them shared their consciousnesses. "Belle... y-you're right... she was--" She furrowed her brow, as if in pain. "Is she okay? What about the others... Masa, and Sheridan, and..." Her eyes widened. "Sofia." Her stomach pitched-- or at least, in a digital sense-- at the thought of what her sister could be going through. "Do they know where I am?"

{ @cmdR_Paige }
( oh she has trauma but she's fine! XD )
"they're all fine! Safe. .. For now. Unless Lucks goes back on his promise.. Belles.. Um..got some trauma but she's ok. All of them are safe " she said in the best reassuring tone she could have. Wait.. Sheridan? Who's that? "Who's..sheridan?.. Oh you have to meet Skye! Youll like her. [" she said with a bright smile."all of them are safe trust me. "

{ @Checkmate }

"Oh, Belle..." Lucinia looked downward again, voice breaking slightly. "But... Sheridan... he conducted all those experiments and stuff... way back before all this happened. You know... dark hair, total coffee addict... What I don't understand is..." She made eye contact with Tari and grimaced slightly, feeling awful that she couldn't remember much. "I don't understand what he wanted with you." She glanced around the void for a moment. "How long has it been? Since the accident? I can't even remember when it happened..."

{ @cmdR_Paige }

Experiments ? Coffee addict? "I ..dont know who he is.. I don't know where he is... I'm sorry for that." how long? Since the... She flinched at the memory again only to grab her head. " A long while...A few months?...y-you were there too?! I...what happened to the doctor.. " what was going on. "Is sheridan someone I I need to worry about?.. "
On the outside, her neck had these iines that kept on spreading like vines on a building. Indicating that she's been in this state for too long.

{ @cmdR_Paige }

"Now if you'll excuse me, Miss Fontiere, I have a JOB to do!" Skye exclaimed, flustered. She pivoted on her heel and entered the lab, making a beeline for Tari. Hopefully she'd said her goodbyes-- wouldn't want to have a repeat of last time. When she looked, though, Tari didn't seem to be in Theo's "hubworld" at all-- rather floating freely through the server. She glanced over at the blue-haired girl, noticing the circuit-like patterns forming on her skin. On impulse, she tapped them at first, flinching at the aura of electricity that seemed to surround her. "Tari... uh... c-can you hear me? Is everything alright?" The server was no place for a program at this level of complexity-- it would interfere with whatever else was... living there. She turned to Belle again. "Uh... Is this normal?"

"She's been under too long," Belle observed, brow furrowed. "Get her out of there."

Skye began to panic. She tried to run an extraction subroutine-- hopefully that would remove her from the server.

--------------------------

Lucinia blinked a few times, trying to remember. "I don't know... he was never mean to me, or anyone else... he was just... off. A little on the odd side.. I think it was because of his sleeping habits-- or lack thereof. Wait-- Lucks-- does he know about this? Is Tascorp still around?" She was asking way too many questions, but she was just about as clueless as Tari.

{ @cmdR_Paige }

That sounded like Skye... This made her worry. Looks like shed have to keep an eye on her. "Im pretty sure he does..and yes Tascorp is still around. Aside from..the awkwardness of the situation and all, I'm glad I got to see you! -!!!" she felt something try to pull her out of the system. "Hey ! Before I leave , should I tell belle?..even if..she might blow gasket?" this may be worth while. She didn't want to go just yet! So many questions... So many possible answers!

{ @Checkmate }

"If I never get to leave this place... it would just hurt Belle more to know I can't come back." Lucinia whispered, a tear rolling down her face at the thought. "Even if she says she wants to know, and she thinks she can handle the truth..." She shook her head. "I've known her long enough to know it... it would kill her to hear this." She tried her best to smile. "I hope I can see you again sometime. Until then... take care of them for me." With a cloud of static, glowing magenta flashes and violet pixels, the woman was gone.

---------------

"Come on, Tari..." Skye pleaded, watching the Meta Runner intently. She wrung her hands and knitted her brow. "Come back to us..."

{ @cmdR_Paige }

She understood that.. She gave a nod . take care of them? Of course! "Of course! I promise. And you too!! - ..WAIT!" she said before Lucinia vanished. She Needed to know one more thing!
With that she jolted back into the real world with a gasp for air. Eyes flashing a few times she looked back at the screen. Her eyes filled with longing only to look back at her hands what am I?..
"What are you guys doing here?..belle?! Your back already?" she asked . she thought the competition would last longer...

{ @Checkmate }
(Skye, in the spirit of Russel from Up: "Whew! I thought you were DEAD.")

Skye breathed a loud sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay. Does your head feel alright? No pain? How's your pulse?" She took Tari's flesh-and-blood wrist into both hands, counting the beats for a few moments. "I mean, it's a little elevated, but it seems pretty normal..."

"Easy win. Barely took us half an hour," Belle said, folding her arms. "So just to clarify, you and Skye didn't--"

"Not right now, Belle, she's still recovering!" Skye hissed.

{ @cmdR_Paige }

She gave a slight jolt at that "I'm ok! Just.. " c'mon...think of something they'll believe .. "Theo just really missed me is all -" she turned her attention back to the dragon lady. "Oh bummer" even she would be bummed at that. Then she raised a brow "wait what?-----" then she thought of those anime dating sim games. Blushing she shook her head "EW! No! Nonono. All we did is play a horror game and had tea. " she explained. Oh so she can't have close friends!?
Taking a moment or two she calmed herself "speaking of which skye, can we talk?..."

{ @Checkmate }

Belle arched a brow, still feeling suspicious of the two of them, but didn't question them further. Tari wouldn't lie to her... at least it was highly unlikely that she would.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind that... you can tell me whatever. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Her heart began to pound at the thought of making Tari too uncomfortable... a nauseous feeling rose within her... was this the end of their friendship...? It couldn't be! Stupid flame-haired Aussie! Wrecking her relationships with allegations of... of... oh, she didn't even want to think about it.

{ @cmdR_Paige }

Thankfully to Skyes worries it wasn't that at all! But something more serious. Just not that , Smiling at Belle she got up and grabbed Skyes hand only to walk out of the room and head to hers " whatever I tell you, promise to keep this between us? " she asked . She didn't want belle finding out. It would go against Lucinias wishes.

{ @Checkmate }

Tari didn't seem upset... that was a good sign. Skye nodded vigorously, checking for anything that could hear or see what would happen next. They seemed to be completely shut off from the rest of the building, thank goodness. "Yeah... I promise." Who knew what went on in that server a few minutes ago? Maybe she was going to explain what took so long... and why she was wandering the deepest parts of the server, alone...

{ @cmdR_Paige }

That seemed genuine ..and Atleast she could fully trust her..no way would she do this with anyone else. "So.. I saw Lucinia.. It was like she was in my head?..in a way. Poor thing looked so ...damaged-" she knew Lucinia were just fragments now..but she so badly wanted to help! She was debating on telling skye about this Sheridan person.. Shed have to see her reaction to this first.

{ @Checkmate }

Skye's face took on an expression of silent shock. She put a hand on her forehead and paced the floor for a moment, then glanced up at Tari. "You mean you actually saw her. It wasn't like you were dreaming, or seeing a manifestation of your subconscious mind? No, it couldn't be-- you wouldn't have memories of Lucinia... would you?" The last part was less directed at Tari, and more like her thinking aloud. "This is crazy..."

{ @cmdR_Paige }

"no, I actually saw her. She talked to me! Albeit she didn't have much memory.. " she said as she scratched the back of her neck. The next thing caught her interest. So..she thought this was crazy?.. Gulping "she also talked about someone named Sheridan.. He worked on some experiments here. And she was there the day of the accident apparently -" she explained as she layed out the whole situation.

{ @Checkmate }
Skye breathed mindfully for a moment, then returned her gaze to Tari. "I think Lucinia's the one Lucks is trying to pry out of the source code..." Then she thought back a little further. "I remember Lucks saying something about another scientist before me. He... he wanted me to show my prowess in the form of those tests back there, and... I think he was a little impressed by what I could do. I just remember him saying something about me living up to the previous scientist's work... like he wanted to see if I could do better..."

{ @cmdR_Paige }

Tests?! Today?! Then it clicked . Everything just..clicked. She took a few steps back "no wonder why she looked...but ..he wasn't in my memories.. He must've been another helper. I-" she couldn't think straight. Why did Lucks have her do this? What was he gonna do to Lucinia?! " Why did he want you to do that?.. If its to harm her - I won't let that happen. What's going on Skye. " she asked with a small glare. Things were awful awful sus.

{ @Checkmate }

"L-look, I don't know what Lucks is trying to do. Not... completely, anyway," Skye said, voice breaking. "I know he's done terrible things to you guys in the past, but... I don't think he wants to hurt her. If anything... I think he's trying to help her. I know, that must sound insane... and I'm sure Belle won't take something like this easily. But Tari... I think that..." she lowered her voice, despite being in an isolated location. "I think that scientist was a little too ahead of himself for Lucks to feel comfortable about all that. He... he seems like the type to take credit for other peoples' work. Now I haven't seen what you guys keep referring to as the 'accident', nor have I seen Lucinia since she vanished... but... oh, who knows..." She put her face in her hands so that her fingers laid between her glasses and her eyes. "Tari... I just wanna make sure you know that I don't... I don't want to hurt you, or Lucinia, or Theo... but I don't know what to think about Lucks. He's an intimidating guy, I'll give it to him. But... he hasn't done to me... what he's done to you... and I have no idea why."

{ @cmdR_Paige }

Ok that ...hit different . But she can't be too comfortable .. She still has to be skeptical- even though its hard. Tascorp and Lucks were dicey people - and seeing Lucks starting to favor Skye...was unsettling . Who knew what he could get her to do! He could even...use her against them. But hearing the scientist made her shiver " that's very..unsettling .. From the sounds of it ..I think he might be the reason ..why this all happened -" she thought out loud. " perhaps he's using this to frame Tascorp.. Even though Tascorps beyond saving .."

"As long as its to help..then alright, but if its anything different. That's it. " she sighed. She didn't want anyone else getting hurt, her friends were safe. Now she has to keep track with this bunch
Frowning she walked back up to her "hey..I'm..I'm sorry. I..I'm.." please don't be upset in an Attempt to make Skye feel better about all of this, Tari gave the scientist a hug. "I'm sorry for even thinking that -"

{ @Checkmate }

Skye let out a surprised squeak at first and tensed a bit, not expecting the gesture. But a second later, she hugged Tari back, breathed a sigh, and let a tear or two fall. "Thank you..." she managed to whisper. "You have... you have no idea how much that..." She figured it was best not to continue that sentence. Didn't want to embarrass herself, or Tari. "I know we've barely known each other... basically just a couple days now, but... you're probably one of the closest friends I've ever had, Tari..."

{ @cmdR_Paige }

That fast?.. That was.. Surprising! But in a good way. She smiled at that "no problem. And I thought that was Paige? " she said with a chuckle. ! Speaking of which - "I'm probably keeping you from that, if you want to go check up on your fiend by all means. " she just realised that skye probably didn't get a chance at all to chat with her today. Which made her feel a bit bad.. But she didn't let go yet, that was for skye to decide. Besides it was nice to hug someone....with her other friends not here..it was pretty lonesome.