( To hell with Batman! )


((ooc: One thread would be nice so that Dustin doesn't have to explain and/or experience the same things more than once.))

Thaddos hadn't accepted his predicament yet, refusing to believe that all he held sacred and dear was gone. So, to lessen the, for a lack of better word, ache in his bionic heart, he had done something foolish, something organic.

He had made his way to the sensoriums, and called up something that reminded him of home. A titan of the Legio Victorum. An Imperator Titan, foe slayer, a god amongst mere men.

He stroked the dented metal of the titan reverently, his mechadendrites being for once still.

Rein was very hungry when the Meet and Greet had separated, and found her way to the cafeteria. Taking up a tray twice her size with considerable effort, she floated over, hoping to get something like a cherry tomato or maybe some pasta.

SPLORCH

Staring at the goop, she tentatively poked it. It had the consistency of jello mixed with gravy. "This is it? This is food desu?"

The device started to tear up. "This is food?! NOOOOOO DESU!"

Sadly, Rein floated her tray back to the table and poked it with a fork.

She could have sworn it moved.

Thaddos was doing nothing more than milling around. He could hear the Machine Spirits wailing in his head, and he hated it. So, that was the reason he was doing nothing at all. He couldn't find the machines.

What a Tech Priest he turned out to be!

His mechadendrites twitched anxiously, the only outward signs of his distress. His vox unit spit out rapid sentences of Machine Cant, which might mean everything from 'where are you, honourable Machine Spirits?' or 'Skak this.'

Something...odd is happening on the ship. Plant-like protrusions are occasionally sprouting in places throughout the ship.

They look like mistletoe, but this is purely coincidental. It's not like it's the holidays on the ship, right? It might be for some people, back home (if they still had a home), but others were grabbed from different times. No, it's just coincidence that these little devices look vaguely like mistletoe, and coincidence what they're being used for.

For you see, when this "mistletoe" is overhead, a crew member will be trapped in an invisible forcefield, and won't be able to escape until someone has kissed them or otherwise showed them some equivalent of affection. (Cheek kisses and sloppy puppy kisses from the canine crew members count). The "mistletoe" spring itself is shielded itself and can't be destroyed, the only way out is a kiss.

Why is this all happening? GLaDoS is performing whacky behavioral experiments, that's why. Each time, it happens, she intones messages like the following.

"Please express affection for your fellow crewmate to free them."

"This is of the utmost importance, and part of ongoing Crew Coherency and Cooperation Studies."

"Please do not attempt to leave the vicinity until you have participated."

"Participation is required. Why wouldn't you want to participate?"

"The Transmigration9 AI Complex thanks you for your participation in important research. Unless you don't want to participate, but not participating would make me disappointed. I suppose you just want to disappoint me."

And of course, sometimes she even outright lies.

"There will be cake."