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enodia_gpsl2024-04-23 03:29 pm
enodiajj) wrote in enodia_gpsl2024-04-23 03:29 pm
Entry tags:
⚡️ January 30th to February 9th
RECAP
In January, after another bout of unusual readings from the Enodia rift, a mysterious prop plane crashed off the station's dome into the Riftlands. Its pilot, apparently a staff member from Terminus Station in Antarctica, was unconscious. The only passenger of the plane appeared to have taken a parachute and was never located.
Twelve hours after the plane crash, everything and everyone from the plane inexplicably vanished. Station residents came to around 6AM with no memory of the last six hours. All data readings and security footage from this time were also scrambled.
About a week later, two FBI agents arrived in Colchester with the intention to stay for at least a month.
Twelve hours after the plane crash, everything and everyone from the plane inexplicably vanished. Station residents came to around 6AM with no memory of the last six hours. All data readings and security footage from this time were also scrambled.
About a week later, two FBI agents arrived in Colchester with the intention to stay for at least a month.
THE INTERROGATION
On 1/30, the FBI agents who have posted up at the Water Lily arrive unannounced at Enodia Station to perform "preliminary interviews" with select staff members. They meet briefly with Director Riddle before posting up in the Security building to conduct their interviews. At about 10AM, a mass email from Riddle's office goes out to the staff to alert them to the interview process. This email implies that the interviews will be ongoing throughout the week.
Early in the day, Agent Leonello is taken aback to discover that one resident of the station (Zeke Zelizer) is a former high school classmate of hers. While waiting to be interviewed, Spirit Moneypenny overhears Lundy and Leonello arguing about her degree of acquaintance with him and how the potential conflict of interest should be handled. Spirit relays the information back to Zeke himself, because they’re a good friend, but also Eureka Castillo and Shannon Wan, because the gossip is pretty juicy.
After about ten employees have been interviewed, mid-morning gossip around the station is that the FBI agents seem to be primarily interested in technology augmented by liminal abilities, and vice versa. After an unnamed source tips them off, they are particularly thorough in cross-examining Enoch and Crysta Waldinger (as well as Doc Yowell) about their masquerade masks, how they work, and what they intend to do with the technology, spending about an hour with each of them.
Zeke Zelizer is the last Enodia employee called for the day, and he is interviewed by just Agent Lundy. After taking a detailed history of his acquaintance with Agent Leonello, Lundy also questions Zeke about his liminal abilities as well as his glasses and any other assitive devices he uses. This all takes about 20 minutes.
Although no Explorers were interviewed and nobody was asked about the plane crash, Thornton's assistant Yana Dworak calls a meeting towards the end of the day informing them that anyone who was sent into the Riftlands to investigate the plane crash needs to submit a written statement about their recollections of that day. Thornton and Dworak deny that this has anything to do with the FBI interviews if pressed.
Early in the day, Agent Leonello is taken aback to discover that one resident of the station (Zeke Zelizer) is a former high school classmate of hers. While waiting to be interviewed, Spirit Moneypenny overhears Lundy and Leonello arguing about her degree of acquaintance with him and how the potential conflict of interest should be handled. Spirit relays the information back to Zeke himself, because they’re a good friend, but also Eureka Castillo and Shannon Wan, because the gossip is pretty juicy.
After about ten employees have been interviewed, mid-morning gossip around the station is that the FBI agents seem to be primarily interested in technology augmented by liminal abilities, and vice versa. After an unnamed source tips them off, they are particularly thorough in cross-examining Enoch and Crysta Waldinger (as well as Doc Yowell) about their masquerade masks, how they work, and what they intend to do with the technology, spending about an hour with each of them.
Zeke Zelizer is the last Enodia employee called for the day, and he is interviewed by just Agent Lundy. After taking a detailed history of his acquaintance with Agent Leonello, Lundy also questions Zeke about his liminal abilities as well as his glasses and any other assitive devices he uses. This all takes about 20 minutes.
Although no Explorers were interviewed and nobody was asked about the plane crash, Thornton's assistant Yana Dworak calls a meeting towards the end of the day informing them that anyone who was sent into the Riftlands to investigate the plane crash needs to submit a written statement about their recollections of that day. Thornton and Dworak deny that this has anything to do with the FBI interviews if pressed.
THE AGENTS
CALENDAR
1/30
Enoch's Birthday.
Agents Lundy & Leonello arrive at Enodia Station and interview select staff.
1/31
Ernestine reports that Agent Leonello has gone to NYC on urgent business, leaving Agent Lundy in town with no vehicle. Further interviews at the station are postponed.
2/5
Norton Jacoby, the chief of police in Colchester, drops by Enodia Station for a lunch meeting with Director Thornton.
2/9
After working on it for several weeks, Shannon Wan is able to unscramble some of the security footage from the missing 6-hour gap the evening of the plane crash.
1/30: Interviews
For these instead of actual scenes I was thinking you guys could give me more of a summary of how your characters behaved while being interviewed, what they were willing to share with the agents vs what they weren't, & if they were trying to achieve anything else in their interactions with the agents.
In general the tone of these interviews was steered by Lundy, who was casual and conversational, and focused largely on the work the Research and Medical teams do, especially in regards to combining liminal powers with technology. Crysta and Enoch received a slightly colder and more formal treatment, were subjected to thorough cross-examination about their illusory masks by Leonello, and were made to repeat themselves several times before they were released.
1/30: Zeke's Interview
Anyway!!! He is not super forthcoming about his history with Agent Leonello. Oh... they went to high school together, but he dropped out in senior year and then moved away. He didn't even know what her bones looked like until now (awkward sweaty laugh)!!! One time she and some of her friends shoved him in the school's walk-in freezer and jammed the door closed, but that was ages ago, and who in 2007 didn't want to bully the scrawny gay weirdo
who has never had impure thoughts about a single member of the Leonello family??? (More awkward sweaty laughter as Zeke waits for Jessica to jump out from behind a door and accuse him of lying.)When it comes to his glasses/assistive devices, Zeke is more willing to be open, but he doesn't know a lot. He knows they had to be inspected before he took his GED and there's a folder in his locker with all the reports and forms about them, it's just so full of technobabble he doesn't know what the fuck most of them mean. If Lundy wants, he can inspect the glasses himself, as long as he gives them back and please don't break them unless he wants to see Zeke cry. For anyone without x-ray vision, putting them on is basically like putting on a blindfold, but there's probably some interesting things for him to poke at.
Zeke spends the remainder of the day just waiting to be accosted by Leonello. Oh god, she's here and she knows he lied and she's gonna tell everyone and they're gonna be like "that's hilarious" and move on and yet he will still be anxious about it.
1/30: Zeke's Interview
Once that's done with, the interaction becomes much more conversational. He seems empathetic to Zeke's anxiety, and does his best to set him at ease before getting into the nitty-gritty of the glasses, which he seems genuinely quite fascinated by. After about five minutes of fidgeting with the device, he acknowledges that it's not really relevant to his current investigation and returns them to Zeke.
Zeke can spot Leonello lurking in the hallway as he's being dismissed, and while she does toss him a sour glare (easily apparent via her generally hostile body language), she will not pursue a conversation with him unless he approaches her first.
1/30: Crysta's Interview
Calm and conversational, Crysta accurately but nonspecifically describes the tech behind the transmitters. She lets herself use distraction as a technique by describing the cool costumes and party. Do they want to hear the best one? Too bad. They're hearing. She plays up the (true) fact that she and Enoch had to configure each by hand. It's not a true recreation of Enoch's powers, it's just a way to sustain something already there, and therefore it wouldn't be feasible to market or replicate on a larger scale than they had already. She also exaggerates the bugginess of the few malfunctioning devices at the party. She does not, this time, diminish her intellectual capacity or involvement in any way, as that would functionally throw Enoch under the bus which is, while often tempting, something she doesn't want to do on his birthday. Also she's sure to call the particles that make this possible The Waldinger Particles in a clear enough voice to suggest they'd patented this term so please don't steal their particle.
As far as secondary motivations, once she's worked the room a little, Crysta would like to try to figure out what they might be using all of this information for. She does not figure she'll get very far but one must Try.
1/30: Crysta's Interview
Lundy is an easier touch, and quickly sets about friendly chatter, asking her where she's from and disclosing that he also used to live in London. Although Leonello oftentimes cuts him off when Crysta is close to getting some kind of interesting information out of him, he does at one point imply that they're looking for a specific liminally augmented device (although they do not actually seem to think that the Waldingers' mask is the device they're looking for).
1/30: Crysta's Interview
But she's so nice to Lundy. After asking his favorite spots in London, she also asks what kind of thing they're looking for, and appears really open to help them find it. She can always say she doesn't know again, even if she does, she's sure.
1/30: Shannon's Interview
1/30: Shannon's Interview
1/30: Enoch's Interview
This is... half-true. He, Crysta and Doc have made notable improvements to stability and longevity since October, and it's only a matter of time before they crack the code on how to configure illusions without Enoch or Crysta's involvement at all. (Arguably, they should've shelved the project if they had serious concerns about government and military misuse of the technology, but... Well.) Enoch lies his way through the interview as best he can; friends would've known his tells, but Leonello and Lundy appear unaware of Enoch's truth powers.
Clocking Leonello's bad mood, Enoch leans into seeming impatient and irritated over being forced to explain a "failed" experiment that's easily canceled and useful for little more than party tricks. If the tech worked, which it doesn't, he intended it to supplant currently existing light hologram technology. He makes it sound ego-motivated, just one scientist wanting to outdo another scientist. Enoch presses the agents about why they're here and what they're really looking for, and takes note of Leonello's evasiveness. He tests them to see if they know about "what happened in January"; if they admit to knowledge about the plane crash, then he wants to know if they believe someone in Enodia is responsible for what occurred twelve hours later.
1/30: Enoch's Interview
It is after this time-out that Enoch has the opportunity to sway the conversation in his favor. She admits they know about the plane crash (true) and that while it isn't unrelated to what brought them there, they aren't actually concerned about it (true). She also says she has no reason to suspect that sabotage is at play with regards to the missing hours (technically true, with a slippery veneer of falsehood over it that plagues many of Leonello's statements; with a deft application of his liminal abilities, Enoch may be able to intuit that she actually knows for certain that sabotage isn't at play).
1/30-2/8: Scenes
1/30: Leonello and Lundy, leaving the Station
“I hate IRIS people,” Jess says to him as the security gate to Enodia Station swings shut behind their SUV.
“They’re not all like that,” he replies.
“Enough of them, though,” she says. Sometime during the Waldinger interviews she’d ditched her suit jacket, and now she has the sleeves of her blouse rolled up as well, even as the still-frigid air in the car reveals their breath.
“At least I don’t have to worry about you transferring on me,” he says as he turns the heater up. The engine is barely warmed even as he pulls down the long drive to the intersection that joins the main road, and the fan blows tepid air at them. Jess winces away from it like it hurts her. She leans her head back against the headrest and sets her jaw before continuing.
“Not until we find this thing, anyway,” she says, eyes closed.
“Let’s not talk about it until we’re out of the Riftlands,” he suggests.
“You’re superstitious,” she chides without looking at him.
That’s true, so he doesn’t argue. Even though Jess defies the laws of physics daily, she’s by far the more practical one between the two of them. She’s also shockingly indulgent of his rituals and routines, and though he knows that she has no suspicion of being observed by an outside force in the Riftlands, she seems content to the let the topic lie. For a moment as he waits for the light to turn green, the only sound in the car is the gentle ticking of his turn signal.
“I didn’t realize you were a high school bully,” he says at length.
She lets out a low rattling groan of complaint. Obviously, this is a topic she’d prefer not to discuss. Her head lolls towards the passenger window dramatically as he makes the turn onto the highway.
“And by some accounts, homophobic?”
That finally makes her lift her head to glare at him. “Shut up.”
“I was just a little taken aback, is all,” he tries again.
“You’re surprised I was an angry child?” she retorts.
“I’m surprised you locked someone in a freezer and decided not to tell me about it,” he says. “You’re lucky he didn’t press charges.”
“He’s lucky I didn’t do worse to him,” she says in a muttered aside, low enough that it takes him a second to process exactly what she said.
Two cars pass them in the opposite lane as they sit in silence. He risks a glance at her just as a set of hi-beam headlights illuminates the stony profile of her face, sees how her lips are pressed into a strained line, and returns his attention to the road.
“Are you good for this, Jess?” he asks.
“I’m fine,” she says. “I’m not a teenager anymore. I have a decade of therapy and a thousand hours of stress training behind me. And I’ve never accidentally hurt anyone. You know that.”
“I didn’t mean to imply you’d lose control of yourself,” he says, a slow measured response to her rising temper. Her head thumps emphatically against the headrest again and she crosses her arms over her chest. “But we don’t have to be the ones to do this. Someone else can do this.”
“If I got you kicked off this case after three years, you’d never forgive me,” she says as she stares out the passenger window.
That’s true, too. He doesn’t say anything, and they don’t speak again until they’re back in the familiar suburban safety of Colchester.
1/30: Raine & Enoch, after the party
"Weird day," he remarks, settling down to sit cross-legged on the foot of Enoch's bed. He's too tired for anything but drastic understatement. Still, it's been a considerable effort to put the FBI agents and their interest in Enoch out of his mind for the evening, and he quickly returns to the topic. "Do you think they're going to call you back tomorrow?"
1/30: Raine & Enoch, after the party
"No," he finally decides. "They were looking for someone's Liminal-augmented tech, but not mine. Interesting, though, that they weren't sure about that until they interrogated us." Enoch taps a pen against his palm, thinking hard. "They must believe some sort of classified or dangerous technology is on the loose, but they don't know exactly what it is. Something from Terminus Station?"
1/30: Raine & Enoch, after the party
It's rare for Raine to have the opportunity to spectate on Enoch applying his intense focus to something other than Raine himself, and he lets him think about this all for a good long minute before he lets out a shallow sigh. The next time Enoch paces past him, Raine hooks a finger through his belt to tug him towards the bed instead. "I got you a present," he says.
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
The door to the roof creaks open, and Zeke hears the cadence of familiar footsteps. He tries to take a drag on his cigarette, but the cherry had already gone out, leaving him to inhale wisps of stale smoke and ash.
"Wait, hold on," he coughs out as the cigarette falls to the ground. "If you have a hot dad you have to tell me now."
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
Crysta grins, a little too amused by this situation to be kind. She does feel a little bad for Zeke. One should not be held so directly responsible for horny teenage impulses a decade and a half later. She doesn't wait, after all, and instead sits down beside him on the roof, placing a paper plate with a large piece of Enoch's birthday cake beside him as greeting. Mostly in case he has been too full of regret for food, today.
"But he's like. Way stupid. He still thinks Enoch's gonna marry a girl. And he only has one private jet. Looks aren't everything."
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
"Did the cops try to crash the party?" He lowers his glasses, turning the world to bones so he can quirk his eyebrows like an 80s protagonist. "Tryna catch y'all lying about your illicit experiments?"
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
"They weren't there, no. We did lie, of course." Crysta leans up to smirk in a scene-partner befitting femme fatale way and ends up looking a little too evil, "But they didn't catch us...and I don't think they're interested in us, anyway."
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
"I think they were tryna honeypot me." Zeke grins, more impish than evil, and plops another sploop of frosting in his mouth. "Think I should go for it?"
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
"I don't know." She muses, leaning back in to steal just a little frosting from his lips, "Like, to a third party, or would you have to sleep with one of them because with Agent Jessica I'm anticipating that could be like. Dicey."
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
And it's the opposite of how he'll feel when he leaves this bubble of safety on the roof and sees one of the agents again, or his phone rings, or he remembers another embarrassing thing he did more than a decade ago.
"Unless you're more her type," he breathes out, clinging to the moment a second longer. "Then I'd say a threesome's the only fair option there."
1/30: Zeke & Crysta, late
"Oh. Babe." She pulls back a little to share more good data, "I'm obviously more her type like. Have you even seen her. You can join in. But if you're planning to like, say her dad's name for revenge or something, you gotta warn me first."
OOC: GM Requests
Re: OOC: GM Requests
Re: OOC: GM Requests
2/1: Boys' Brunch Date
They'll try to treat Lundy to lunch, or at minimum just get him into conversation for long enough to learn more about WHY the agents are here and what they're looking for.
(Sal and Zeke are also seen buying a dozen Valiant Vidalias to take back to the station.)
2/1: Boys' Brunch Date
He is very slippery about what official business he’s here on, and doesn’t hesitate to laughing telling them that he can’t really talk about ongoing investigations. At one point, however, he does accidentally let it slip that they last time he and Leonello were investigating abnormal happenings at a Rift (located in Taos, NM) it was also because a plane crashed nearby.
While they’re waiting for their large takeout order to be prepared, Lundy pivots into pestering Zeke about his relationship with Leonello again. Sal notes that his curiosity on this topic seems more personal than professional.
1/31: Waldinger interviews
1/31: Waldinger interviews
Most relevantly to her investigation, she discovers that two of Cairo’s friends were interrogated by the FBI agents on the 30th: the first is Tulip Xanthopoulos, whose liminal ability allows her to “awaken” inanimate objects and give them personalities, like the furniture from Beauty and the Beast; the second is Derek Drexel, who is working on what he describes as a “telepathic livestreaming device” which allows two wearers to see through each other’s eyes.
Additionally, name searching herself and Enoch reveals that this entire groupchat seems to have a fairly positive opinion of the Waldingers. Cairo semi-regularly asks everyone else if they think Enoch hates him, which they always assure him he does not. Tulip appears to thinks she’s friends with Crysta. They’re all a little puzzled about what happened with Enoch's birthday party the other day, but chalk it up to the FBI interruption.
Enoch notes that even though Dr. Raleigh Huff tells him she isn’t working on anything particularly interesting, she is in fact lying to him. She truthfully admits that the FBI agents did not interrogate her or show any particular interest in her.
OOC: Anything Else
Re: OOC: Anything Else
Re: OOC: Anything Else
Re: OOC: Anything Else