Vivian cautiously looks around as they walk through the bunker. It's still creepy, even with the light. She misses home. It's only been about an hour since she woke up here but the feeling of dread that she's had has yet to go away. There must be a reason for that.
Following Nils' gaze, she takes note of the sign that gives directions to the dinning room. It's nice to now that they're making some process.
"Lead the way."
Nils nodded, walking towards the room. It was clean, mostly. No one was really in here as far as he was aware besides them, but he also recalled they really liked to keep this place clean. The dining room was somewhat big, built more like a cafeteria if anything. There were a lot of workers around here, so they needed enough space. Or there were a lot.
Connected to it was the kitchen, where hopefully he could find something to eat. Silently, he walked in, heading for the door to the kitchen to hopefully take a look around.
Vivian pauses and studies the dining room. There are a lot of tables and chairs. It reminds her of a cafeteria. Why is there so much space? There must have been other people here. But where are they now? She frowns at the though. What if something bad happened? That thought just makes her all the more nervous. Now her mind is running wild with all of the possibilities.
She shutters before following Nils into the kitchen. It's big as well. Hopefully it'll be well stocked with food. Who knows how long they'll be stuck here?
Nils began to search, but he didn’t need to for very long when he came across some meat. It was only a little bit, which was enough for him. Raw, too, but he seemed to not care. Well, he didn’t care too much.
He glanced around. It seemed that in the kitchen the lights were a bit duller, which caused the pale ‘mushrooms’ on his right shoulder to slightly glow a faint blue. On his left shoulder was a ragged brown cloth that he’d fastened to himself earlier, probably for a reason. That reason was revealed when he lifted the cloth to show a long tongue which was connected to a mouth..on his left shoulder. Around that area, anyways. He seemed to give the food to the mouth, just staying silent.
Nils was feeling a bit awkward at the moment.
Vivian eyes the mushrooms on his shoulder warily. That's definitely not normal. She takes a small step back and blinks several times to make sure that they're glowing and that she's not just seeing things. Nope, they're definitely glowing.
The mushrooms dull in comparison to the mouth on his shoulder. What the fuck? She rarely curses, even in her head, but this is just too crazy for her. Opening and closing her mouth several times but no noise comes out. What is she supposed to say? She quickly closes her mouth and forces herself not to stare. That would be rude and she doesn't want to upset him. It's not like he can help the fact that he has a mouth on his shoulder. She offers a slight reassuring smile.
Nils ‘finished’ moments later by taking what was left - a bone, completely cleaned off. It was rather small. He covered back up his shoulder and set the bone down with a sigh.
“Did you need anything?” He asked, not bothering to comment on what had just happened. He wasn’t sure what their current plan was - maybe to see what happened or to get out of here.
Vivian averts her eyes and decides to just finish looking around. That had been……interesting and now she's left wondering what else is different about him. For instance, is that his only mouth? It's odd to think about.
"No, I'm not hungry." Shaking her head, she riffles through the cabinets. There are a few items that interest here but she's not really wanting food at the moment. She wants a plan.
Nils turns away again. “Alright.” He kind of just walks around, like he’s unsure what to do right now. Which he sort of is. He’s also currently trying to figure out what he exactly is. There’s no way he’s no longer a human. But his mind keeps on denying that part, for some odd reason.
He seems to be looking around again. Nils walks towards the sink in the kitchen - there’s a mirror above it, which he seems to be interested in. While his vision is blurry, he’s able to see himself in this mirror, which seems appealing to him.
“There’s probably some gear we can pick up in the transmissions room. I think it’s near the stairs, though.”
Vivian places a few times of food and some water bottles in her bag. She doesn't know how long they'll be stuck here so she figures that it's better to be safe than sorry. The food that she took will only last a few days if rationed properly so if she leaves the bunker she'll have to be careful.
Once more, she trails after him. This place is like a maze to her and she'd rather not get lost. In order to achieve a sense of direction, she sticks close to Nils. She is now long past being scared of him. If he wanted to hurt or kill her than he would've done it already.
"Let's go check it out. You know how to use the gear, right? Because I probably won't."
Nils began to go on the direction of the transmission room. “Yes. I just hope I have a good enough memory to remember where it everything is, seeing as my vision isn’t the best right now.”
It would be some time before they arrived, since the stairs were a bit of ways away. Nils observed the hallways. Some of them were familiar, but at the same time, so far away, like a distant memory.
“I’m still having trouble realizing I’m no longer my normal self,” Nils muttered, mostly to himself.
Vivian nods her head to show that she's acknowledging what he's saying. After a few moments of thinking, she decides that it might just be best for her to directly ask the questions. She'll be very polite and hope it doesn't upset him.
"I hate to pry but do you mind if I ask what happened to you?"
The words sounded much more polite in her head. Now that she's said them, she feels pretty bad for asking. What happened is really none of her business.
Nils didn’t look at her as he answered. He kept his focus straight ahead, sparing a little bit to answer. “I don’t know exactly what happened. All I remember is being sent down here..to the lower levels of the bunker to fix a leakage of..something.” He then proceeded to add on, “Then the walls fell down..I think it was an earthquake of some sorts? We were getting smaller ones that day, but nothing that bad. I tried to leave, but I guess I got knocked out.”
He looked down. “I woke up like this, under some rubble. I don’t think it was life threatening, and I was able to dig myself out. I don’t know where anyone else is. This place used to be stocked with people, believe me.”
Vivian frowns slightly, feeling very guilty for asking. The answer she receives doesn't really make sense. How could a bunch of people just disappeared? She shakes her head lightly to clear her thoughts. There's bound to be a reason for this. Everyone might have just evacuated when the earthquake hit. They'll come back. They have to. Taking a deep breath, she quickens her pace so that she's walking side by side with Neils.
"I'm really sorry that I asked," She says quietly, looking up at him. "Maybe everyone is going to come back. They could have just left to find a safer place during the earthquakes. It's only been a few hours, right? They could definitely still come back."
“It’s fine. I’m sort of numb to it.” Numb to a lot of things, actually.
He pauses to think a little bit. “I’m sure the transmission room has..like a calendar of some sorts. It updates each day, and with the power turned on, it should have updated itself to the current time. We can at least figure out what day it is.” For some reason, Nils has a sinking feeling.
They’re approaching the transmission room. There’s a slightly dusty label, TRANSMISSION ROOM, as well as a closed door. “We’re here.”
"It would be nice to know what day it is." She knows that it's unlikely but she's beginning to think that she's been here for a lot longer than just a couple of hours. Things just seem……off. She doesn't know why and she can't explain it. One piece of information that's 100% accurate would be great.
Vivian brushes the dust off the label, concerned by it. There's no damage in this part of the bunker so it can't be dirt because of that. Dust means that no one has been here in awhile.
Nils looked back around momentarily, before moving his arms towards the door. Apparently, while the power was turned on, these doors didn’t seem to want to open. Nils did his best by moving his hands to where the two parts of the door met - typically the doors would slide open when walked towards. Automatic doors, which didn’t seem to work. Which was good. If the room hadn’t been accessed, it should be safe.
Nils seemed to have no trouble in prying the doors open. They gave in with a screech, Nils momentarily wincing at the noise. His ears rung slightly, his hearing sensitive. He entered the room, the edges of the doors now slightly dented. Nils didn’t recall having that sort of strength as his former self. But he supposed it was one of the pluses. He just wasn’t sure what limits he had.
He entered the room. The Transmission Room was a fair place, filled with screens and chairs and desks. There were papers too, mostly just recordings of transmissions and such. Most of the screens were off, but there was one - or two. One of the screens seemed to be from a camera outside, displaying the dull surface of Utheon, while the other was..probably somewhere even further down in the bunker. It was hard to see from that camera. There were also radios, and some bags with some supplies.
Nils scanned the room before spotting the familiar shape of the ‘calendar.’ He zeroed in on it, nearly running towards it, but then realized he wasn’t able to see what was displayed on there. “Erm..” he started.
“Can you read what’s on there?” The screen was lightly dusted, slightly cracked - but visible. The date displayed it as June 23rd..the year was missing.
Vivian, knowing that she won't be able to help, steps back to get out of the way while Nils pries the doors open. Based off of the look, the doors are supposed to be automatic. The fact that the don't work is worrying. To be fair, everything is worrying at this point. She's drifted into the phase of freaking out so much that she's calm about it. That's probably not good.
Once the door have been successfully open, she steps into the room. Everything is covered in dust. The screens to almost everything are black and the chairs look as though they haven't been used in years. The amount of dust causes her to sneeze. This place could really use a good cleaning.
The sharp sound makes her wince and automatically cover her ears. It's far from pleasant. She slowly uncovers her ears when she thinks that the noise is over. "What was that?" Was that normal? It didn't sound normal. She studies the computers for a moment before looking around. There are all sorts of supplies in the room. She has no idea how most of them work.
To her delight, Nils seems to figure out the computer. At his request, she steps over and looks at the screen. "It's June 23rd," She announces before leaning forward to look for the year. It's missing. That can't be a good sign. "There's no year shown on the screen."
“That,” Nils answered, “was the sound of the doors being forcefully opened.” He backed up slightly, letting Vivian read the computer. When he heard the date, his arms dropped to his sides.
“That’s.. not possible.” He mumbled. “It was January 22nd when I went down there. It must be some sort of glitch, right?”
Vivian lightly smacks the computer a few times, hoping for a change. The computer shakes but the screen remains the same. June 23rd but no year. She really really doesn't like this. It's creepy.
"Maybe the computer is broken. There's no way it's June 23rd." She shakes her head. Nothing about this is right. The system could just very well be outdated.
Nils sighed. Crossing his arms, he responded. “Yeah. It just doesn’t break almost ever. It’s been tested in situations similar to this, and it’s been fine. But maybe you’re right. Mayb..” he drifted off catching sight of a different screen. It seemed to be a list of some of the bunker personnel. On the side, there was a scroll bar, but Nils didn’t need to scroll to see what he saw.
On the screen were several names, each with statuses. A lot of the statuses were either unconfirmed or deceased.
One of them was Nils Aaby; status: deceased.
“I..” he turned back. “This isn’t a dream, is it?”
Vivian blinks when he suddenly just stops talking. Following his gaze to the screen, she looks to see what it is he's looking at. A list of bunker personnel. Okay, that seems normal enough. Her eyes scan the screen, taking in the different names listed. She pauses upon spotting Nils Aaby. The next few moments consist of her glancing from him to the screen.
"Um….no, it's not a dream." Oh, but she wishes that it was. Everyone apparently thinks that Nils is dead. But what does that have to do with her? Why is she here?
“Then why..why does it say I’m dead? I’m here, aren’t I?” Nils voice was on edge. Uneasy, even. He knew this computer. It didn’t make mistakes. But Nils was here, in the flesh - walking around and even talking. He was pretty sure he wasn’t a ghost or zombie.
One of the cameras; one of two of the screens still own showed slight movement, like a red glow, only for about a second before vanishing. It was the screen connected to a camera further into the bunker, most likely in the collapsed wing.
“At..at least not everyone’s status is dead..huh.” There was the possibility that many of the personnel had fled, after all.
"I don't know…….I'm sorry, I don't know." Vivian shakes her head, uncertain about this. She has no idea what she's supposed to say. The screen says that he's dead but he's very clearly not. "This is just a mistake. We just need to get into contact with someone from your unit."
She stiffens when she sees the brief red glow on the screen. "What was that?" The creepy horror movie vibes that she felt earlier quickly return. Something very wrong is going on here. There might be a chance that they're not entirely along. A shiver runs down her spine at the thought.
"Niels, we need to check and make sure the radios work." The sooner they get out of here, the better.
“My unit..” Oh, of course! He was a pilot of one of the mechs and there was quite a few of those guys around. There had to be at least a few of them alive! He search for the unit.
“Right! Uh, they’re pretty easy to run. They should already be on the frequency to Terra- er, Earth..” What Nils saw was not good news. All of the Dominator pilots; his unit, were classified as deceased, minus about 2 of them, which were unconfirmed. He kept silent, at least two of them were probably still around. Maybe they could meet up..
Nils moved over to the radio stations, before glancing back over at her. “You saw something?” He asked, as he began to check some of the radios.
She remains patient, though strongly cautious as he seems to process her words. Despite the confidence he exerts when it comes to finding his unit, she's still worried that that thing from the screen will come for them before help does.
"Yes, there was this red….thing on the screen. It looked like a human or maybe some sort of creature? I don't really know. Either way, I have a bad feeling about it."
The amount of good things that have happened in the last hour are very miserably low so she's expecting more bad things to happen. It's a pessimistic outlook but also a very realistic one. She drums her fingers nervously on the counter as she watches the monitors closely, almost as though she's expecting something to just jump out at them.