"Clean-up crew!" Mi-ho announced, opened the door to the meeting room and turned on the lights.
"Any messes will surrender or else!" Clarkia added and also stepped in to the room. Both of them wore aprons over their outfits, each pointed their spray bottles ahead.
"If anyone is still here, we need your cooperation!" Mi-ho said.
Shortly before Kiah and Ruby visited Marcia, Clarkia and Mi-ho stepped into a meeting room. They set down their buckets of supplies while they looked around in each direction. They saw that someone was seated and asleep at the table.
"Could you please check on her?" Clarkia asked. "I have unfinished business from last night." She sternly said, looking towards the windows.
"Of course. I'll try not to be too disruptive!" Mi-ho said and chuckled. She walked to the table and kneeled next to the sleeping teammate. "Oh Antares, you still study and focus on writing as hard as ever with habits that rival Marcia's." Mi-ho whispered. She then stood back up and picked up her spray bottle.
Clarkia approached the blinds of the front windows, pulled up the blinds and sprayed the first window. "Just as I thought! The dust was also on this side!" She said.
"Smudges on the table that disrupt its pristine polished surface, I see you!" Mi-ho exclaimed and hissed. She quickly sprayed sections of the table with her spray bottle in one hand, and meticulously wiped the surface with a cloth in the other, careful to not disrupt Antares but also patiently waiting for her to get out of hibernation mode.
That wait didn't take long. "Did you mess with these?" Antares asked, now sitting up straight. She saw that her notes were arranged in a neat stack instead of sprawled across part of the table, and that her tape recorder was also neatly stacked on top of the notes.
"I just quickly put everything in a stack to wipe down that area, but thank you! I can now clean this spot!" Mi-ho cheerfully said. She quickly sprayed the last area of the table, and wiped it down. After she was done with this task, she stepped back and looked at it in admiration. "It's perfectly polished!" She said, but when she looked towards Antares, her tone changed. "Oops-- eheheh--- you still look like you're barely charged."
"Barely, and I heard what you said." Antares flatly said. "So it's morning now. There's still a lot I need to do." She still sounded tired, but walked over to the bench to the side of the table and sat down, placing her tape recorder and stack of notes beside her. The stack was carefully arranged with the notebook at the top. She materialized a chat window and checked for unread messages when she saw one from Marcia.
Mi-ho looked concerned, but nodded. "Would you like for me to get you a snack?" She asked.
"Yes, that'd be nice." Antares said and smiled.
"Sure!" Mi-ho said before she left the room.
"I'll wait for her to return." Clarkia said, looking out the now spotless windows.
This gave Antares enough time to look back at her chat window. She looked at the message and replied "I'm glad that you started back up. I stayed up writing and thinking more about our observations and your notes, but didn't continue listening to the recording without you. I had a bit of an existential crisis. Regina didn't see the notes you told me to read, but she knows from your diagnostics that your exhaustion is worse than usual. There'll be a time we'll need to bring up the dangers that you experienced to her and the other TIMES members. We'll likely need to sooner than later, but we also shouldn't rush if you're still not feeling well."
When Mi-ho was on her way back to the meeting room, she and Kiah crossed paths.
"Howdy, Mi-ho. I'd usually be starting a morning hike now, but I needed to find Antares to ask if she wanted to join Allegro and me on that hike-- and because someone else needed to check on her, but I didn't find her in her room."
"I met her in the conference room and I'm bringing this snack for her since--"
"Oh oh! Let's walk there together!" Kiah immediately cheered up and walked ahead of Mi-ho. "So where are we going?"
Mi-ho kept up her smile. There was no point lying though. "To one of the meeting rooms. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you too!" She cheerfully said. "Oh no-- Clarkia is there too. Is their rivalry going to flare up again?" She thought, but didn't waver in her smile. She walked further ahead, picking up her pace and becoming a few steps ahead of Kiah.
"I'm excited too!" Kiah said.
They kept walking and approached the door. Mi-ho quickly ran in, briefly panicking.
"I brought you something!" She cheerfully said to Antares and tossed the snack to her.
"Thanks!" Antares said. She caught the snack with her hands, but then looked deadpan. "The rivalry between Kiah and Clarkia is going to erupt again, isn't it?" She asked.
Mi-ho nodded and gave an equally deadpan answer. "In three, two, one."
As if perfectly on cue, Kiah entered the room. She greeted Antares first. "Howdy! Someone also wanted to check on you, and so did I!"
"Thank you. I know who and I'll tell her I'm alright."
"Whoops. Sorry for being a nosey ol' fly on the wall, but if you were here all night, I presumed you burnt the midnight oil* on something and didn't refuel." Kiah said in her usual cheerful tone, but with a hint of concern. (*"stayed up late at night studying or working")
During this conversation, Clarkia and Mi-ho tried to continue their focus on tidying up the remaining areas of the room. They checked that everything in the bookshelf was arranged correctly, and pushed the curtains back to clean the back window.
"Kiah should consider herself fortunate that I'm focused on this." Clarkia said.
"Agreed." Mi-ho chuckled. "I'm sorry I underestimated your commitment."
When all was said and done, however, Clarkia and Kiah suddenly locked eyes on each other. "What are you doing here?!" The two rivals asked at the same time. "Hmmmmph!" They huffed, and faced away from each other, also at the same time.
"So, who's going to talk next?" Antares asked in between bites of her snack, watching the stand-off between the two rivals who were now in an awkward silence. The silence was palpable to Kiah and Clarkia, both wanting to get the first word in, but fearing they'd say the same thing again at the same time.
Suddenly, the TV was on, which distracted the two rivals.
"Hahahaha! I am the master of distractions even off stage!" Mi-ho laughed, and set the remote down on the table. "It seems my work is done here!" She said and walked out of the room. Before she left, she waved goodbye.
Antares, Kiah and Clarkia all thanked her. "Aww shoot, she knew us well!" Kiah said. She sounded mildly annoyed, but she focused on the commercial on TV.
"Are we corporate sell-outs for making this commercial for a major TV channel? Can we keep our status as an indie band after all of these cycles?!" The commercial began to play. A heavy rock rift played in the background, and a band of musicians stood in front of a backdrop of a city at night with stylized colors; orange windows and white streetlights stood out from the dark gray buildings and dark blue sky. The band members dressed in punk rock outfits in black with orange and dark blue pieces.
"Wolfgang and his bandmates are returning this soon?" Kiah said in amazement. "Did he tell you when you met him on your last trip?" She asked Antares.
"No, he kept it a secret. This is a surprise to me too!"
The commercial then cut to a mid-level shot of one of the band members; Priscilla had bat wings, deep blue eyes, a pale skintone and chin-length black hair with bangs that were just long enough to cover her eyes, but they were styled to the sides. Her hair was usually straight, but here it was styled and spiky. Her outfit was loosely based on a business suit, with an orange button-down shirt and black tie, but wore faded blue jeans with tears around the knees and wore a black blazer with spikes and rivets on it. "We argue this among ourselves." She said in a deadpan tone and shrugged.
A taller woman with bat ears and wings and similar complexion entered the shot, standing next to Priscilla, but looked more energetic to contrast with Priscilla's deadpan style. That was Marilyn; she had waist-length purple hair with teal streaks and had royal blue eyes. Her hair was usually wavy but here it was crimped.
She wore a blue sweater vest over a black button-down shirt which had its sleeves rolled back enough to show off a pair of black spiked bracelets with a few smaller orange and black bracelets. She wore an orange and black plaid miniskirt, with black faded skinny jeans and blue boots with black straps. "What isn't up for dispute is that we, The Defenestrators, will be performing live!" She energetically said.
"I wonder how they pulled this off at the last minute." Clarkia said, curiously.
"Catch us there tonight!" Arke said; her first shot was her speaking right in front of the camera with a microphone in hand. She waved to the camera and audience before she jumped into the set and stood next to Marilyn. The camera shifted to focus on the two of them. Arke appeared to be around the same height as Marilyn and had a darker skintone with light royal blue hair in a large, wavy and slightly spiky ponytail; her lion ears and tail were light blue, she had metal hoop earrings and had green eyes. She wore a futuristic-looking outfit with a dark blue sleeveless jumpsuit that had light blue glassy buttons on it with black trim down the middle of the suit and along the legs. It also had wide cuffs, and her boots peeked out from underneath them. She was around the same height as Priscilla, but the platforms on her boots added several inches.
The punk rock influences on her outfit were still visible; she wore black fingerless gloves with dark blue fishnets covering her forearms, and with an orange and black motorcycle jacket that had rivets and patches on it, and she wore a metal chain necklace.
"It's been a few cycles but that still takes getting used to seeing a new face of that team." Antares said and chuckled. Kiah and Clarkia agreed.
"Tune in for our classics and a new single in The Orchard at the carnival hosted by the Misfired Circuits Troupe!" Arke eagerly announced in a voice over at the beginning of the next shot, a panoramic view of a carnival with banners and flags fluttering on top of various booths; most of them were in black and chartreuse, but the combinations of some other teams' colors could also be seen. The camera zoomed in on one of the flags; a black flag with the Misfired Ciruits Troupe's insignia in chartreuse; a pair of floppy disks with a pair of crossed wires below it, bearing a resemblance to the Jolly Roger.
It segued into an artsy shot of a CGI marble statue falling in slow motion on a black background. When it fell, a CGI explosion filled the screen, which then cut to a 3D render of The Defenestrators' logo popping up on the screen, and a lens flare shone on the logo. A time, date and location immediately appeared below it.
"It's kind of funny that they keep those renders." Clarkia remarked and chuckled. "However, didn't Arke say she was going to help them keep up with the times?"
"She did, and that's one of the newer renders. It can be considered to have a retro charm." Antares cheerfully said.
"That's how I'd put it too!" Kiah chuckled.
The next scene transitioned from the black background to an unlit outdoor stage with the only light being from the sunset. The stage had a gray wood plank floor with curtains in a gradient of black at the top to blue and orange. A huge flat screen stood at the center of the backdrop, and was surrounded by two large pairs of speakers.
Auriga stood alone on the stage with a wistful expression in front of a black screen, and with her bass guitar strapped in front of her. She had light blue eyes with turquoise highlights, and a tanned skintone. Her slate blue hair was tied into mid knee-length pigtails that fluttered in the breeze. She was wearing a beige helmet with earpieces on the side; it resembled standard issue armor associated with The Orchard, but hers was modified with a row of rivets and an orange stripe painted down the middle, and she wore pieces of shoulder armor.
She was wearing a dark blue riveted vest with a bright turquoise sleeveless shirt and a pair of metal necklaces peeking out from it with black fingerless gloves, black shorts, black thigh-high stockings and dark blue combat boots. Her shorts and the top of her stockings had orange patterned trim, and she wore two belts on her outfit; one was a studded black belt and the other was a black sash with orange pinstripes. The ends of her sash also fluttered.
She started to play a bass melody. The lights on the stage lit up, and the melody continued accompanied by drums, vocals, the lead guitar and keyboard during a brief montage that showed mid-level shots of each of the performers and their instruments, but the behind the scenes members weren't left out of the montage either.
The previously somber shot of Auriga playing her bass alone then became a vibrant shot with a few of her teammates on the stage; Priscilla on drums, Lorraine on keyboard, Arke as the lead singer, Wolfgang as the lead guitarist and Marilyn singing back-up.
Lorraine had long brick red hair tied into a messy bun with a red bow, and had orange fox ears and a tail and wore a black domino mask. She was wearing a black and blue gown with an orange riveted corset; the top layer of her gown was black with dark gray trim and had a red bowtie. The skirt was blue, and she wore a short-sleeved blue jacket with black trim. Across the front of her dress, she wore a rainbow chain that went from blue to green, to yellow, orange and red, and she wore dangling earrings with each of the same colors. A long pair of black gloves with orange studded cuffs and black lace reached to the edges of her jacket.
Wolfgang had mid back-length blue hair and purple eyes with green highlights; he wore a blue vest and culottes with a black button-down shirt, black boots, an orange neckerchief and black spiked collar and a chain necklace. Over his outfit he wore a long black overcoat with an orange flame pattern emblazoned down the front side. His overcoat had an orange collar with rivets along it and had a studded belt along the waist and a pair of studded belts along the upper sleeves. On his forehead he wore a gray headband with darker gray horizontal stripes.
Lastly, the shot faded into the city backdrop in the first scene. Lorraine and Wolfgang appeared again, standing back to back, each looking off to the side. "If you're hyped and ready for the show." Lorraine said before she and Wolfgang turned towards the camera. "Rock on, and throw your expectations out the window!" Both of them exclaimed, and a CGI explosion appeared behind them.
It was the most exciting commercial that the watchers saw in a while; and they were interested in going to the carnival if they didn't have any schedule conflicts."
"Oh-- I forgot it was tonight." Antares said, trying to sound calm.
"I reckon going to it would do you some good after all of that studying!" Kiah cheerfully suggested. "Gosh, I want to suggest the same to Marcia." She added, sounding concerned. "I know from her that you and her studied something very interesting last night. She didn't spill any more details, and only said it was something very interesting to make you want to burn the midnight oil, and somehow she suffered worse than usual exhaustion."
"I... have to agree with that." Clarkia said, almost in disbelief.
Marcia heard another knock on the door. "Who's there?" She asked.
"I brought more notes from last night." Antares said.
"Come in, I'd like to read them!"
Antares entered the room holding a folder and her tape recorder, and handed the folder to Marcia. "After you were taken back to your room, I thought more about what we listened to and took more notes." She said. Marcia smiled, took the notes out of the folder and started to read through them. The notes speculated on who the counterparts are to the other groups that were mentioned in the recording.
"The carnival is tonight, and my counterpart mentioned one in the recording. Heh heh... I had to keep calm and not give that away when I was reminded of tonight's carnival. Is that like what you felt when you saw similarities?" Antares asked.
"Yes! That's like how I had to hold back a lot when I was talking with others yesterday that aren't TIMES members." Marcia said. "You might get used to it." She looked towards Antares again. "Will you be going to the carnival?"
"Yes. Will you?"
"After what happened last night, I don't think I can risk it." Marcia said, and sounded slightly dejected. "When you're there though, you might meet some fellow TIMES members, including the one that made teleporting to another universe possible." She said with a smile and a tone that encouraged a challenge.
"Is this someone I met before?" Antares asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Possibly. I wouldn't want to spoil it."
"Alright! I'll go looking for that person!"
"There's still plenty of time before it starts this afternoon. Do you want to listen to more of the recording?" Marcia asked, cautiously stepping out of bed and sitting down at her desk to pick up her notes.
"Of course!" Antares said. She walked over to the desk, pulled a set of earphones out of her jacket pocket, put the jack in the recorder, and handed Marcia one of the earphones.
"I didn't think I'd do this, but I auditioned to join Five Finger Discount Warez House! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I still can't believe it. This doesn't quite feel real... This feels like the most awesome rebellious thing I ever did in my life and I don't care what management or some of POMME think! They're M*RDE!"
They paused the recording in astonishment and amazement. Was this really spoken by the same person in the earlier parts? Her tone was fiery, overjoyed with a hint of pent-up resentment, but the voice and accent were undoubtedly the same.
"This is a very strong upturn, and it seems your counterpart's-- err... the subject of the recordings who otherwise has a strong sense of duty to POMME has a rebellious side that won out here." Marcia said and then wrote down in her notebook. "Her last remark is surprising, but--" She added, starting to laugh. She tried to suppress her laughter, but ultimately couldn't keep a straight face.
"Yeah. I'm so proud!" Antares cheerfully said.
"The subject of the recordings intended to join Five Finger Discount Warez House. Like with the Misfired Circuits Troupe in our world, this organization hosts carnivals in different areas and might have a membership that isn't entirely lawful. They're hosting this one in POMME's territory; whether this "territory" is akin to a sector or city state or something else is still unclear." She added and wrote down in her own notebook.
"I'll look for a chance to learn more about the world mapping the next time I- and anyone else who might go with me, can get there. I'm writing that down as another objective."
