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[Setting/Cafe] Caramel Anne 2
| >NaVi occupied a seat at the counter, still savoring on her special, non-alcoholic Late Valentine, surrounded by three combat-grade Lilim she'd bring along with her. Things have been set in motion, she's been waiting on her new acquitances to arrive, meanwhile struggling with figuring out the location of XNBC.
| (I was about to reopen this myself. Thanks! -Gespent)
| "Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Love you."
> The sole waitress put down her phone, finishing a quick call to a particular someone. The phone left a loud hangup tone as she pockets it.
"Vee will be here soon. She has one of those VR headmount you wanted. You got her, uh, XNBC in the thread?"
| "I... think i am about to get a hold of where she is. Also - i've got a couple of concerned individuals coming this way. They'll sure be of help... "
>The girl spoke as she kept nervously tapping on the keyboard, operating the Spyglass remotely to try and locate the missing Lilim.
"The messages she's sending is the key. With a tiny bit of luck, that is..."
| >>531265
"Listen, I know I'm just asking. But she's not the only victim. I'm fearing more that the rest of the fanclub is AWOL. Not the good kind."
> She faces the customer with concern, more pronounced than ever. The sharp gaze she possesses shows, but it's clear what she conveys.
"Miki and the rest. Hell, even Cogito. I reckon this is getting in me, these worries."
| "All of them were Lilim?"
>The gingerhead asks, entirely focused on extracting the necessary data from the thread posts, with drops of sweat on her forehead she'd be occasionally wiping with the back of her palm and her lower lip bit.
"Or were there humans, too?"
>Even with her attention stuck elsewhere, NaVi seems to be set on discovering all the crucial details.
| "All of them are human. Thread's in /u/. Miki got me into all this to be precise."
> Going back to her zone, from behind the counter, Alice pulled a container — plastic, but the chrome can mislead. She pours a clear liquid into a glass, letting herself treat her shaky voice.
"Is XNBC what she is now because she is a Lilim?"
| >A brown van arrived with a screeching brake in front of the cafe, the door was flung opened by a Ginger Lilim holding a calico kitten under his arm.
"Navi?! I'm Dice!"
> he called out the kitten also mowed in response.
| "Hallelujah. Another costumer."
> Letting the glass down, she met the customer — accepting the panic in a thorough nod. She tries to, from what she appear, recognise the new entry to her cafe.
"Suppose the party's all full to search her, huh?"
| "That's what i'd believe."
>The ginger head spoke, turned towards the entrance, and nodded.
"That'd be me."
>Then, she turned to Gespent, resuming her original speech.
"We've been tracking a group doing memory transplantation experiments until Glitch city. This isn't exactly the safest experiment for humans, so they needed some more reliable objects for their job. Obviously, it is illegal and all the victims were kidnapped."
| "These experiments are both illegal and dangerous."
>NaVi took a short pause.
"Generic human brain can only house roughly 3.7 terabytes of data - an amount that exactly one set of memories is occupying. Exceeding that amount, as well as having more than one set of memories is not recommended. Consequences are unpredictable, but i'd expect it starting with headaches and general incosustencies... To one of the personalities being completely wiped. So..."
| "...they had to seek for better guinea pigs. The most obvious choice was Lilim. But, since their research is illegal - they had to get them through illegal means and keep a low profile. Apparently, XNBC have been tricked, lured and is now held captive within a virtual reality of a fake Glitch city - while they are doing their experiments..."
>The girl quickly gazed at the screen, frustrated.
"Damn, is this thing done yet?!..."
| >>b9b9f6
"So.... I got a gun and a truck....what can I do?"
> Dice said taking a seat at the table.
| "It seems like that the reality she's in got no direct Network access, and that was predictable, but there also seems to be a weird glitch that connected her phone in the VR to her real one..."
>She showed Spyglass running some sort of sequence, and it being almost completed.
"So it was working if like she'd be sending all of them from her real phone. And thus i was able to... track it. Sanada! Stenn! Augustine! It is time - we've got our location."
| >NaVi watched the three of them go, and then turned to Dice.
"We're going to need your ride. It's in the basement of Impressionism Arts College in the Uptown north. Intetesting choice..."
| >>531307
"You can order a drink or two."
> The waitress smiled, obvious to what she meant by those words. She snuck a scoff, then fell her attention towards NaVi again.
>>531316
"T-that fast? On a scale of zero to one, how confident are we on this fact?"
| ”It's not zero."
>The gingerhead exhaled, leaving her concerns of the question offering just two choices to herself.
"We'll get your friend back in a blink of an eye."
| "That is.. oddly good to hear."
> Her words regain its lost strut. Not all, but they were less worn down. Accompanying that, a slight exhale.
"Good luck, I 'spose."
| >>c0ce3c
"Maybe later."
>>b9b9f6
"You three get in the back then, mind the crates. Navi your sitting shotgun with me."
>The Irish lilim took a step towards the door back to his truck he held the door open waiting for the others.
| > Before the group was able to go, a bruised, bleeding man bursts into the cafe. Gasping for air, he hacks blood from his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot, translating fear directly by his gaze.
"G-GESPENT!"
> He doesn't seem to take notice of the customers. All of them, he ignored. He walked slow, limping to meet the waitress.
"YOU… CAN'T!"
> He fell before reaching the counter, hitting a chair and slid over the wooden floor. His appearance is not at all spelling good news.
| "M-Miki?! Holy shit! Pause, everyone. Fucking pause!"
> The waitress hurried, attention locked to the man. She brushed over the blood on his forehead, having bleached his hair with crimson.
"Miki! Speak!"
> Terror loudly proclaimed. Her hands were trembling, breath irregular. This was someone she knew.
"SPEAK I SAY!"
| >NaVi, who was still inside thr cafe, couldn't help but stare at the scene in terror - it caught her completely terrified, and took her a few minutes to actually get a hold of herself, and turn to Gespent, her face still pale, fitting perfectly what she'd just withness.
"W-what is that..."
| > The man stayed silent. Eyes closed, he too, is trembling. By the looks of it, pain is the word that can only describe his expression. He doesn't speak a word, but his mere presence voiced a louder concern.
> Both of his hands are a bruised. A clear colour of blue fills instead of the usual pink or red. Nails chipped, and fingers abused for uses unknown.
| "Shit!"
> The waitress left Miki, stepping out to the staff area for a numerable seconds. There were loud sounds of shuffling and banging, then she drove out with a box. White box, and a red cross.
"What in heaven's name did you fucking go through?!"
> Although the tools were in her hands, she froze. Perhaps not knowing what to heal, or where to heal. The box is as useless to her as any.
"Anyone? Can anyone do first-aid?!"
| >>c0ce3c
>Dice remained calm through it all, he stepped towards Miki with a grim face.
"I've stitched people up in the past. "
| "S-sorry, i... i can't. But i've sent a call to the emergency through the Spyglass. Dice, we got to go, now! We've delayed it enough."
>With this, she'd slap her cheeks to restore at least a degree of sanity, and rushed for the van, with her combat Lilim already occupying the back seats. She felt bad about leaving Gespent like this, but there was little she'd do.
| "MIKI'S RIGHT HERE. HE CAN GIVE ANSWERS!"
> The waitress loudly exclaimed. That is a piece of someone who doesn't want their friend to die like so, but her anger was almost unwarranted.
"Help me out here! This isn't just about her!"
> She opened the first-aid kit, revealing what basics there are inside. One can expect to do something with them, but her hands were less accustomed to dealing with wounds of this caliber.
| "Even if we give Miki the basic treatment - he'll have to go to the emergency right away. Questioning won't happen anytime soon..."
>NaVi returned, with her face still pale, the gingerhead turned to Dice.
"If you can do something about this... please, help."
| "It's going to be better than shooting in the dark."
> Once again, the waitress said with an unstably shaking voice. It was one pitch at first, then another next. She kept a close look on Miki, not letting him go one bit.
| >>c0ce3c >>b9b9f6 >>b9b9f6
"Give me 5 minutes. Waitress did Miki have any prior medical conditions?"
>the Lilim knelt down by his side and proceeded to check his injuries to gauge what needed to be done. Unbeknownst to everyone he actually started a 5 minute timer in his head and left it running.
| >>531362
> Miki has wounds everywhere exposed. Some flesh-deep, some shallow. Bruises too. Whenever there is skin visible, there is a good chance wounds and dried blood have populated the surface.
> His breathing increases in rate. His mouth takes in air now. His heart rate may have followed an uptick.
| >>531362
"I.. don't know."
> The waitress responded a quick and hopeless reply. She tries to reassure herself, but regardless, she shook her head in acknowledgment of the facts she doesn't know.
| >>184b58
> Dice disinfected his hands before going to work. Patiently and quickly he began the process of cleaning and stitching wounds.
"He must be bleeding internally...."
| "Should we call an ambulance?"
> Giving Dice time to work, she hasn't phoned any hospital. Neither that nor anything she would commonly do. She tidied herself, trying to put back her professional look. There were little she did however.
"And thanks."
> She quickly said, letting Dice do what help he can.
| >>531424
"Already done a while ago. It'll be there any minute. It has to..."
>NaVi did observe the whole thing from the beginning to the end; with her first aid capabilitiies there was no way she'd be able to treat such wounds, so it was good that Dice was around and knew how to deal with them.
"...i assume we'd get going now."
| >>531440 >>531381 >>531424
>The sound of sirens approach from a distance, rapidly drawing closer to the cafe until the ambulance is visible outside-- flashing lights and all. Two medics enter, and very quickly try to make an assessment of the situation they've landed themselves in.
"Hey, we got a call to this location for injury with suspected internal hemorrhage-- where's the patient?!"
| >>531460
"HERE!"
> The waitress waved, not standing and keeping through with her resolve. Her voice shrieked, unnecessarily so.
"He's here! Hurry!"
| >Dice got up after stabilizing Miki, his time was 4:54 on his timer. The second thing he did was head towards the medics to give them a quick brief on the situation. Lastly he headed back to the door and motioned Navi to follow.
"Thanks. Let's go get X out."
| "I'm right back at you."
>She'd follow him without delay, walking to the opposite side of the van and hopping on the front passenger seat, pulling out her smartphone and quickly recovering all the data acquired on the laptop - device synchronisation allowed that.
"Time is short, let's ride. Uptown north, Impressionism Arts College, remember?"
|
| >Dice got into the van's driver seat, then did something strange. As a Lilim he had two visible ports above his eyebrows, he flipped one open and extended a cable from his forehead plugging it into a usb port on a console near the rearview mirror.
"Not really but I have a GPS in this thing. What's the address?"
| >The tall lady with the glowing eyes looms over d
Dice suddenly, its almost as if she had disappeared during that whole conversation and incident.
"Interesting talks you all were having there"
>She turns to the tender
"I know I said I wouldnt really listen, but I just so happen to have a good ear"
>She says calmly with a smile
"I'm sure I could be of help, and I already know much of what is happening"
| >>4aee0d
[Dice has a truck actually, my mistake there, it's like a mover's truck but painted brown with a yellow stripe.
>>f3452f
Also Dice went off to the parking lot.]
-Dice
| "Hm, the address... here, it's on Uptown Central 141-2.Doesn't seem to be too far."
>In a blink of an eye, she'd share the location of their end goal with Dice, with the designated building appearing on his GPS screen.
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| > Through the many tall buildings and long alleyways, a crisscross of stores, bars, and the likes decorate a particular lane in Uptown.
> Hidden between those, a small cafe with timid neon-lit sign, 'Caramel Anne', has its lights in warm white.
> The insides of the cafe pleases with the smell of chocolate, dairy, and coffee. Warm.