The Piano Knows Something I Don't [Open]

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie's lair is much as it has been, though there have been a few changes. With the girl's paranoia inducing the place to run at half-alert status, the runes across the outside walls stand out in softly-glowing dark-edged curlicue, and odd posts topped with silver-chrome metal orbs stand out at odd angles from the building, humming softly. On the edges of the roof perch things like small birds carved out of bits of ivory and fragments of office supplies.

On a level past the physical, the entire building glows with a soft supernatural aura—practically broadcasting that it's at weapons-readied status.

But the door is open, as it long has been, and there is no impediment to entering. Won't you come in?

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[in-venting.livejournal.com]

She'd had a couple of days to think it over, really. She'd slept, and eaten properly, and studied, but in the end Sherry couldn't get over what Roxie had said. It was stupid to dwell on that. She knew it was dumb, and that it was just another tick on the boxes of how people let her down personally.

If anything, Sherry really didn't want to believe that Roxie had meant what she'd said.

So, there she stood at the door of Roxie's building, hesitating at the entrance. "Roxie?" she shifted her weight and walked in. There was a sense care that overtook the little girl. As though she might want to be careful. "Where are you? I need to talk to you. It's important."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick, goes something inside. The little entrance room is much as it has been, suspiciously like the waiting room for a doctor's office, though the lighting is dimmer.

Ding. The little bell on the counter rings itself.

"Down the hall," comes Roxie's voice, from some indeterminate non-point source. "Last door on the left."

[in-venting.livejournal.com]

"You know, that's really creepy," Sherry muttered to the air and started down the hallway. It was do or die now, and now that she was actually facing the doorway, Sherry wondered how fast she could make it back to the front door before Roxie noticed.

But then this would never get resolved, and she would just seethe at Roxie forever until she finally screamed. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it quickly to open it. "I'm coming in," she announced without preamble.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"It's more practical to delocalize it," comes Roxie's voice, though now it's coming from somewhere—from Roxie herself, in fact. The lights in the room are off completely, but the light from the hall is enough to see the couch laid out in the small, somewhat messy room, a stack of datapads from the Media Library to one side, a mishmash of clothing to the other, ninety percent of the floor space taken up by one accoutrement or another...

...and over there, Roxie herself, laid out on the couch that Sherry helped get for her. Her breathing is slow and regular, almost too slow to be healthy, and she's wrapped herself in a window curtain turned into a rough bedsheet. Her skin is deathly pale but unblemished, but her eyes—her eyes are glowing a soft red. She stares up at the ceiling, as if it's easier to tap into however she's controlling than building than to just look over at Sherry.

Whatever's going on, it certainly doesn't seem healthy.

[in-venting.livejournal.com]

Sherry wrinkled her nose; messes were a pet peeve (and being Vega's chemistry partner had not helped to heal it). "You look sick," Sherry said after a silent few seconds.

"And also, I'm annoyed with you. So, eyes on me, please."

[redeyes_andblue]

True to her word, Zelda shows up at Roxie's lair as soon as she can get down there (indeed, she had started walking as soon as her message had come up). Now, though, she hesitates briefly before entering - there's something very odd going on.

No time like the present, and who better to know that than the Sage of Time. Stepping through the door, she calls out softly, "Roxie?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

The little bell on the counter goes ding, all on its own.

Something like a cat, with a body made out of old bits of wood and eyes of white pearls, slinks out from behind a corner to peer up at Zelda.

[redeyes_andblue]

Zelda blinks, peering down at it. Then, her lips shift into a smile as she crouches to touch it gently. "Are you one of Roxie's creations, then?" she asks curiously.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

The cat-thing tilts its head and lets itself be touched. The wood, at least, has been well-sanded—no risk of splinters here.

But then it turns and stalks away from Zelda, heading down the back hallway.

[redeyes_andblue]

That was a clear enough indication, at least. Zelda nods once, following the cat down the hallway.

[lilyofthedrills.livejournal.com]

Yuri paused in front of the office. ROXIE'S: freelance monster removal & artifact creation it certainly did say on that sign so this must have been the place, and even just being outside it gave her the shivers. But friendship conquered all, or at least that's what manga taught her, so she arrived there bearing a plain looking cardboard box and rang the bell.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Come in," says Roxie's voice from inside the building, though it's not at all clear exactly where.

As Yuri steps over the threshold, the little bell on the front counter rings by itself, once.

[lilyofthedrills.livejournal.com]

Yuri stepped through into formerly sterile hallways, now scrawled with eldritch signs. Inside it was even creepier, but she forced herself to shoulder on. Borg, however, liked the smells at least and seemed comfortable enough. Roxie was sprawled on the couch and didn't look so good. She practically dropped the package on seeing her, in fact.

"Hi Roxie-ch-chan..."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Yuri," Roxie says, holding up a hand in a limp welcoming gesture, though her eyes remain focused on the ceiling for the moment. "Thank you for visiting."

Her expression is—not a smile, exactly, but it is certainly nice to have someone around who she knows appreciates her.

[lilyofthedrills.livejournal.com]

Yuri set the box down next to her and tried not to let her worry show. Roxie is fine. She can recover from things like this. It's just like Kumi and her cell gel. She told herself but the fidgeting gave her away.

She pulled the lid back to reveal a small but lovingly made cake with chocolate frosting. Fruit slices were embedded in it and the whole thing was slightly uneven. "W-we baked you this. All of us."

[captain-jtk.livejournal.com]

This was probably a bad idea, but Kirk had never been one to do things halfway. He paused outside of the lair for a moment, eying the sign. With a shrug, he walked through the open door and for a moment stood in the empty 'waiting room'.

"Miss Schreiber," he called out into the gloom, "Are you here? I'd like to speak with you."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

As Kirk steps inside, the little bell on the counter goes ding by itself.

Ding. Ding. Ding ding ding dingdingdingdingdingdonk, as the noisy little thing finally gets stuck at a half-rung setting.

Something like a little animate spider-thing made entirely out of folded-together paperclips scuttles out from a corner, tilts up at Kirk, and then slowly starts down the back hallway.

[captain-jtk.livejournal.com]

Kirk quirks a brow. Interesting. He's seen stranger, but not by much. After only a brief moment of hesitation he follows the little construction down the hallway, peering into the murky gloom.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

The spider-thing moves up to a door at the end of the hall, and stops. To open the door and look inside would reveal a dark, cluttered room (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_9/323228.html?thread=24655772#t24655772)—and Roxie herself, staring quietly up at the ceiling with inhumanly red eyes.

[captain-jtk.livejournal.com]

Kirk gives the room a look over - how can it possibly be healthy to live like this? Then again, he's no doctor. He takes a few steps inside, brow furrowing in a frown as he spots Roxie.

"Miss Schreiber? Are you doing alright in here?"

[demon-alessa.livejournal.com]

Alessa stepped into the place, noting the supernatural energy swarming all over the place. She was not blind: she had seen the signs that had come up on the network about needing a healer. She was far from that, of course, but she was curious about seeing Roxie anyway. She walked into the place and without taking a moment's notice, dinged the bell.

Her limp was getting visibly better, though not enough that she could disappear and reappear at a moment's notice right now. Instead, she would just walk for now.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

As Alessa steps inside the flowing energy patterns change, but—not offensively. Almost a sign of respect... 'I could have put up defenses, but I didn't.'

"Down the hall," comes Roxie's voice, from some unknown and unclear source. "Last door on the left."

[demon-alessa.livejournal.com]

Alessa was appreciative in the gesture. She was well aware when wards were up (like in the Seer's domain, which hurt like a bitch after leaving but Alessa would never admit to that) so she knew it was possible to be hurt even here. Some on the ship, at least, knew their stuff.

She walked over to the last door and opened it, peaking inside. She didn't bother with a "hello" as Roxie obviously knew who was in her lair.

"You are feeling...better," she remarked, sounding uncertain.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Not entirely," Roxie counters. Or not at all, by some standards. There is some sickness within her, thick and phlegmatic, that she hasn't been able to fix herself. And whether it's an internal issue or some infection that's slipped past her defenses—she has no idea.

[demon-alessa.livejournal.com]

"I never said entirely," Alessa replied. "You still look horrible." At least, Roxie didn't look like she normally did, at full strength. She could tell there was something that seemed to be blocking her from her full recovery too. Alessa would know.

"So that explains the message," Alessa said aloud. "You're being plugged up."