(Open) - Research and Plans

[true_noir]

WHO: Chloe and whoever stops by
WHERE: The public library
WHEN: 6/3-6/10
WHAT: Researching blueprints, discussing plans to investigate further, plotting of a more clandestine nature.
WARNINGS: N/A

Chloe, as she had told a few people, was easily found during her off hours at the public library in Recolle. She wasn't hard to find, though she'd backed herself in against a wall, so that she could see anyone who happened to be approaching and conceal some of the things that she was looking at if she didn't know them for certain.

Anyone happening across her was going to find architectural books and drafting books around her (two of them at least yellow-bound and labeled 'for Dummies.'). She seemed to be looking over a set of blueprints, though only two of the documents were really of importance to her, both hidden until she was sure someone was a person she knew as they approached. The rest were there for practice.

She was doing a lot of frowning today, but didn't seem to be in too bad of a mood, just very busy, and a little cagey. Thankfully it was a quiet enough part of the library that a low whisper could be heard without bothering any patrons. It was a beautiful, gray day outside. People weren't usually in the library on days like this.

Comments

[okitactless]

There really aren't many people in the library today, which is why Yamato's been pulled from the children's section to help out here and there. He's taking his time meandering from one area to the next, and since they aren't busy, he doesn't feel guilty about wandering over in her direction.

"That looks pretty complicated," he comments, nodding towards the blueprints--and the entire stack of books she's got, really. "Are you studying for a test?"

[true_noir]

She looked up at him for a moment, before blinking and remembering that face just slightly. Yes, she'd spoken to this one at least once. The hand that had been shifting a photocopy of a fragment out of sight stopped and left it out where it could be seen.

She shook her head and smiled, all too innocently. "No, I'm not really an architect, but I'm trying to understand a piece of an old blueprint I found." She tapped the corner of the fragment, right where the photocopy of the retrospec symbol was visible. "Hard to find civil engineers after all, no?"

[appraiser]

[ Every time he sees the grey sky outside, he keeps forgetting and thinking it's about to rain; when he was a child, the library was where he ducked in to pass the rainy spell, so despite the clear skies, he's drawn inside today.

Not really looking for any books in particular, he finds Chloe, silently approaching as he turns his head to read the title off the cover. ]

...for dummies... I guess you couldn't find anybody to read them?

[darkinferno]

[It's about 2:00 when Dante stops by the library, just as he'd promised he would over the network. After everything that's happened through the past month, he figures it's about time the two of them compare notes again.

It takes him a couple minutes to find her, seemingly walled in with her books and the wall at her back, but once Dante sees the familiar purple hair he'll be making his way over, not waiting to be asked before he pulls up a chair.]

Chloe.

Good to see you again. You look like you're pretty busy.

[tokencanadian]

Victoria tended to visit the library more these days, or less depending on when you ask her. It seems like her mind is preoccupied whenever she visits, even as she's pouring through materials for a project... or in effort to learn more about the city.

But this time, she notices Chloe. And, being too curious for her own good, she wanders over.

"Hi, Chloe?" She peers over all the literature Chloe has enclosed herself in. Yellow books, and... Her eyes widen a bit at the blueprints. "Is this for an essay? Or...?"

[megabond]

As he promised on Retrospec, Augustine arrived at the library two days after their network chat. And not only he brought his bag that contains his journal and everything he needs for research, but also the picture of the maps he took on his phone.

Once he sees her looking over the blueprints, he notices that she's somehow frowning for some reason. This made him wonder what happened to her recently. "Hello there. Hope I didn't take your time away from reading," he quietly said as he slowly approaches her.

[true_noir]

Oh, hello Ryoji. No, not yet. Actual architects aren't on the app, so I'm having to make do. It's... oddly simpler than I thought it was. Some of this feels a little familiar to me.

[She motioned for him to join her and smiled warmly. Was she immediately admitting why this felt familiar? No, but building layouts were kind of valuable if you were going to break in and stab some dignitary in the face with minimal fuss from guards. So, while she wasn't understanding all of this, it was coming to her a bit quicker than she'd expected.]

I think... I might know something about this fragment, though. It looks like the building was supposed to be a lot bigger than what we see today.

[true_noir]

I try to keep my nose to the proverbial grindstone, Dante. It's a little hard with how little we have, but it's a start.

[She motioned to a seat next to her, paused and glanced at him for a second.]

Remind me, did I give you a decoder ring yet? I've been handing them out. More to give people the idea than because they're actually that useful.

[She wanted the idea of speaking in code to sort of begin instilling itself in people's heads. They were going to use the app. She knew that now, and it wasn't something that they were about to stop doing. It was the fastest way to communicate, but at the same time, there was a part of her that was getting a whole hell of a lot more familiar with being stealthy and careful, and she didn't like handing Retrospec any freebies.]

[true_noir]

"Research into Retrospec." She said it without looking up at first. Victoria's voice was familiar, which meant that it was safe to assume she could be trusted. Admittedly, the paranoid voice of someone else in her head said not everyone on the app could be trusted, but she wasn't willing to be that way. They were all in this together, damnit, so she was going to trust all of them until proven otherwise.

Slidiing a photocopy of a blueprint fragment out, she showed it to Victoria when she finally looked up and smiled at the gray-eyed girl, doing her best not to wince at that sight. They really were pretty green eyes normally. "I found this... somewhere I'd rather not say, and I'm trying to figure out what little I can. It's just a corner, but the retrospec logo's on it."

[true_noir]

She glanced up and smiled, shaking her head and motioning to the seat next to her. "Not at all, Professor. I'm glad we can have the chance to talk," she said, shifting what looked like a piece of a blueprint on a photocopied page. It was a corner, the rest torn off. The Retrospec symbol was there, prominently. "It just doesn't match with the building we see... and I am pretty sure that these are the approved plans."

She tapped it. "The building should be ... well, bigger, for lack of a better word. A lot bigger." And the fact that its inside kept changing... was it becoming the building it was supposed to have been?

[prometheanflame]

After work, Mohammed changes his usual trip to the bus stop and walks to the public library. Normally, if he wanted to do some serious research or find a good novel, he would go to the university library, but he had known of Chloe's plans of researching further into the city. Togusa had asked about looking into historical maps of the center of the city

After greeting the librarian at the front desk, he headed to the history shelves.

Chloe would have been overlooked if Mohammed didn't know her well.

"Chloe?" He looked at the books surrounding her.

[true_noir]

She blinked and looked up at Mohammed before smiling and motioning to a nearby seat. "Mohammed, it's good to see you. Thanks for stopping by," she said, shifting. She wasn't bothering to hide the blueprints she was working on, one of which had the Retrospec logo on it, even if it was only the corner fragment of a torn paper, photocopied so the real one was still tucked away safely.

"I hope the colors haven't been getting to you too much."

[appraiser]

[ Is architecture part of business? he doesn't know, but it'd be useful to study, going into the field. Ryoji makes the trip around the table so he can sit next to Chloe instead of across from her so that he doesn't block her view of anybody approaching, and so he can take another look at those books with her without having to turn his head to read upside down. ]

How can you tell...? Unless some doors have been turned into walls or something...

[ Even with a reference book in front of him to compare, he can't tell, looking at the fragment of the blueprint. ]

[true_noir]

Well, for one, this is just the corner of the building, and this...

[She pointed to one of the bracketed lines with a figure on it. The distance measured by it was presumably the length of one of the exterior walls, if someone were familiar with such things.]

This exterior wall is much larger than the building that we see. I don't quite know for sure how much larger it was, since we only have the fragment, but what was approved by the city was a lot bigger. Or at least, what was in the city's records.

[appraiser]

That's strange. Size is what's usually determined first, with the details of design made to match, isn't it? So even if this weren't the final draft, the foundation shouldn't have been changed...

[ He doesn't need to be an architect to find it weird, tracing a finger along the length of that wall. ]

[true_noir]

Considering all of the things that they've changed, and how the interior has shifted each time we visit? I don't know that I'm surprised. In theory? You're right.

But a lot of theories don't hold up right now, do they? Nothing about Retrospec really adds up.

[appraiser]

The interior? Do you mean the Retrospec building? Is it different now? I haven't been there since... Founders Day, I think it was. Akira and I were locked inside, until the door opened, suddenly.

[ They never figured out why, and Ryoji never cared to go inside again, even four months after the fact. ]

[true_noir]

It was different every time I've managed to get inside. [She shook her head.] It changes around in ways that make me think it isn't a normal or natural building at all.

And we can only get inside sometimes. [A frown.] I only really visit to keep up appearances.

[appraiser]

[ That's sort of hard to imagine, but considering Retrospec, not really... ]

Maybe I should go back to see for myself; I have so many questions. [ And here they are, in rapid fire: ] What do you mean by getting inside "sometimes"? What changes are there, and what's abnormal about them? What appearances are you trying to keep?

[prometheanflame]

He approached the table, eyeing the logo. That said a lot about her research.

"As long as I stay indoors, I don't notice it." If he felt really terrible, he would look in a mirror to reassure that nothing about his own appearance had changed. "What are you looking at here?"

[true_noir]

"This," she said, tabling the worries about the colors for another day and pointing to the logo. "Is something that I found while we were small. It was in a place I was not supposed to be, so I can't be too public about having it, but someone tore the rest out of the filing cabinet and missed this part, probably a long while ago.

"I believe it is their headquarters' original floorplan. Or a fragment of it at least."

[true_noir]

If the door is open, expect to be confused and frustrated. Just fair warning. [She shrugged. It always was.]

Well, the second time I was there, the desk and everything inside was gone and there were glass tubes with colored rocks... and then the next we could sneak into rooms along the side with maps everywhere.

[She smiled over at him.] Why, that I'm just angry and trying to bludgeon my answers out of their home offices like an idiot, so they can ignore me as I actually learn something?

[megabond]

Augustine becomes surprised at what Chloe found during her investigations, which makes him remember about his past investigations in the building. "Now that you've mentioned it, the interior of the lobby seems to change in most of my visits. I haven't been on other floors though, but I did found two rooms nearby as well."

[true_noir]

"Yes, I recall this, that the interior is never the same. It makes me wonder if one day it will be like this," she said, tapping the page and shaking her head. "This, however, does not feel like one of their ruses. It could be, just another elaborate way to keep us busy, but at a certain point it defies the imagination."

There was a pause and then she added. "Besides, Jim mentioned the QR Codes specifically. He didn't mention what I and others did. I don't know that he knows this still exists."

[megabond]

"Which makes me wonder about something," he said as he looks at his phone, which has a QR reader installed since he felt he might need it after that Retrospec post.

"Last month, we were given a link to a Wikihow page about how to read a map. And during that shrinking incident, Ainsley and I found a room full of maps inside the Retrospec building. I don't know if this will happen again with the QR Codes, but I know that this is not a coincidence."