Character Development - I - Factory - Arc I

After a while everyone would be led back to the factory's computer room; Odd and William, as well as Ulrich and Aelita, would have been stripped of their Lyoko forms for the time being, Jeremie's ties severed so he could save his energy and use it towards recovering his data. The factory had been cleaned out after Fief had been defeated, making it once more a rather safe place despite the mess; in fact, some of it had even been cleaned up, somehow - the blood that had been along the floor panels was gone; no evidence of violence was left whatsoever...

Once everyone was accounted for, the screen of the supercomputer leaped to life, opening a familiar window, except instead of Aelita within the transmission, it was Jeremie; luckily the boy still had a grasp on his communication skills despite his shakeup.

"Well, this is ironic, isn't it?" He said with a smile, adjusting his glasses as he looked at Aelita. "You're all back here because we need to get a few things ironed out; I'm going to be stuck here longer than expected thanks to another being similar to Fief who took it upon himself to remove any traces of my physical existence off of Earth; body included." He rubbed one of his long ears. "So as you can imagine this might take longer than expected and I might need guarded a bit longer. I apologize for the inconvenience," he said a bit bitterly. "Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita saw the... uh, thing in question; care to explain? I would but I'm still file patching and mapping out Lyoko's new terrain and naming new files I discover!" He sounded too excited for his own good.

[[ Post Objective: The point of a CD [character development] thread is to interact with your fellow characters without the immediate demands of an ongoing plot. It is a much more lax environment but may require more thought in some areas as your actions mean much more. You may not introduce more plot details [such as introducing a new antagonist, ect] in a CD period. This is the cap of our first arc, so it will pretty much allow the characters to take in their situation and apply their thoughts instead of doing what comes naturally. CD is so you can learn your character better and your fellows can learn what to expect out of yours. If you have any questions regarding CD arcs or anything please contact either Jeremie or Ulrich. ]]

[[ Turn Order: Jeremie // Dunbar // Yumi // Ulrich // Aelita // Odd ]]

"No big deal" William replied gruffly, knowing the others would agree-no one here saw Jeremie as an inconvienence. "But what I would like to know is what are plan is to get your body back" he said adressing Jeremie "That is ofcourse, if we have one"

"There is a plan, actually," Yumi spoke up rather loudly, looking at Jeremie; she'd had time to think about what happened but it didn't make actually seeing him inside the monitor any less... startling. "But we need to discuss it before we take a course of action." She looked at William and Odd, offering a heartfelt smile and a little wave - too bad now wasn't the time for a reunion...

"Jeremie's body was taken by a monster," she wasn't sure what to call it at this time. "His name is Pyrrus and he claims to be XANA's one true heir; he says if we destroy something known as 'Fief' and give him proof, he'll return the body." She visibly retched a slight; it was odd to speak of it so casually. "Can we really trust him, though?" She rubbed at her arms; it would be nice to see Jeremie again but what were the possible ramifications to helping another XANA?

Ulrich stepped toward her, his hand finding her shoulder as if by instinct. He let it linger there for a moment before stepping back, realizing this was perhaps not the best time for that, but unwilling to leave her completely alone either. At the mention of Fief, however, he folded his arms in grim thought in front of his chest. "Hrm...well, he's telling the truth about Fief, at least," he said. "Odd, William, and I had a nasty run-in with her ourselves while we were trying to clear out the Factory."

He began to pace a little bit, brow furrowed in thought. "Still, if he IS some kind of...'descendant' of XANA's or whatever, I don't think it's a good idea to trust that he'll honor his word."

"But from the sounds of it, we'd need to fight and defeat this Fief anyway," Aelita argued, stroking Maya Figaro's back to keep herself calm (and listening to her gentle purring). "And Pyrrus is our only chance of getting Jeremie back. It seems to me whether we trust him or not doesn't really matter; if we're going to have to beat Fief anyway, we may as well try to deliver Pyrrus a piece of her like he asked us to, and see if he'll give Jeremie's body back."

Even in her own mind, of course, she knew that was a risk. Pyrrus himself had already said that consuming Fief's body would increase his own power...if he was lying, they'd be helping an enemy as bad as Fief become even worse, potentially for no benefit. But she still believed it was worth the try. For Jeremie....

Odd blinked a few times listening to Yumi, then made a small smile back to her as she waved. He was in la la land for a bit, and his head began to spin. When he heard Fief's name, his eyes lit up. "Yeah, look what that thing did too my arm!" the whole thing was ripped up, it looked purple and infected even. He wondered why, did their lyoko form effect their human form on earth? He shrugged it off for a moment there was more important things to think about. Odd listened to Aelita's suggestion and then spoke, "well, i think it's worth a shot, I mean, we could just kick his ass either way." a big smile came across his face as he tried to lighten the mood.

"or at least, maybe we could learn more about our situation, if we pretend to help this Pyrrus." he was never a good plan maker, but this sounded alright to him. He made a face and sat down on the floor.

Jeremie lost his tact for a moment. "... The fuck is wrong with your arm?" Then he looked at Aelita. "... The hell is my cat doing here?" He shook his head and gestured a 'come here' at Odd with a clawed finger, pointing to the seat. "I'm going to have a look at that; it'll give me something else to focus on for a while." He grumbled; for him, it was cut and dry - getting off of Lyoko was priority one for him, regardless of the cost. In a tower or not he was terrified of every sound and every sight.

"I'm pretty sure I can weaken anything from here once I get the hang of it... going to be kind of hard without the computer's interface - I've figured out a few of my Lyoko abilities but not enough of them to defend myself, so I'm staying put until you guys decide on something." He looked at everyone one by one, once more focusing on Odd, pointing at the computer seat.

"Sit. I want to look at that... uh, wound," he sounded a little grossed out. "Maybe I can fix it."

William reacted with about as much tact as Jeremie, silently thanking whatever god or luck that kept him from getting a wound like that-it was a miracle he hadn't lost his vision from Fiefs poisones gases. "That's so gross" He looked at the ground hoping Yumi didn't think he was weak for saying so-all these years and all it took was the sight of her to turn him back into an imature preteen vying for her affections.

"No big deal though..." William added in what was meant to be a smooth way.

Seeing Odd wounded kind of reminded her how serious this was, as if she needed a reminder. She rubbed her temples a bit, frustrated. "Jeremie, you can't keep pretending like you have control," she looked at Odd after Jeremie ordered him, rolling her eyes a bit. "What were you planning on doing for him from where you are?" She decided it was best to make sure Jeremie kept himself as uninvolved as possible - she stepped forward and sat right down in the seat he was intending to Odd. "His opinion will likely be biased. Kind of like when Aelita was in his situation. Ring any bells?" Like nuclear sabotage? ... Though Odd's arm was kind of serious - okay, very serious. "... Once we figure out a plan I also suggest we take Odd to the emergency room."

Ulrich smiled wryly, quirking a brow in mild amusement at Yumi's take charge attitude. He knew it really wasn't particularly funny, given the situation, and he also could sense the extent to which it was fueled by some fairly serious motives, but given that he and the rest of the gang had more or less coasted along with Jeremie's half-sketched plans up until now, the irony that Yumi the "Straggler" would so bluntly defy him was not lost. He followed her to the chair, though he remained standing, arms still folded seriously and thoughtfully in front of his chest. "I don't know if an Emergency Room can really help, seeing as how I don't think there are Doctors trained in dealing with...Whatever-The-Hell-That-Isitis," he said, "but I think Yumi makes a good point, Jeremie. We can't just keep assuming you being in Lyoko means you've got a perfect grasp on the situation. We need time to think this through, all of us, before we start running around barking out orders this time."

There was no chance for her to give Jeremie an answer before the conversation began moving to more serious territory, but Aelita had brought Maya Figaro along because she did not feel comfortable leaving her behind at the apartment. Not when Pyrrus had been there...not when there was a good chance he...IT would come back.

As for this argument over Jeremie's ability to control things (or lack thereof), she was as conflicted about it as much as she was about...well, about almost everything ELSE to do with Jeremie's situation at the moment. On the one hand, she indeed wanted Jeremie to relax...take some time to decompress rather than obsess over everything. At the same time, though, she DID believe in his ability to lead, and wanted him to keep his confidence. "For what it's worth," she piped up mildly, "I think Jeremie's done a good job leading us through this so far. But...well...maybe you COULD use a little rest, Jeremie. Time to get used to this new situation."

"yeah Einstine, we an't expecting you to do everything." he smiled at the man, sitting down ontop of Yumi anyway, then with a laugh getting to his feet. " I mean, it doesn't hurt really, just looks gross." he turned to the rest of them, " I don't really want it to get any worse though." he frowned and found a seat on the floor. He wanted what was best for every one, " I agree with Ulrich, we all need to figure thisout before we jump to conclusions."

He huffed a bit and laid back his arms behind his head. He began to think, trying to process eveything that just happened. Sadly he lied a bit about his arm, it was making his head spin. He closed his eyes for a second, and ended up falling asleep, snoring a bit loud.

"B-but -!" Jeremie looked at Yumi like she was committing high treason, tilting his head, brows quirking as Ulrich predictably took her side. Childish as it was he reclined a bit on his tail, crossing his arms and biting his lip to keep himself quiet, closing his eyes and letting out a rather dramatic sigh. "I g-guess you're right," he breathed, defeated, slowly realizing the others were correct indeed. "As far as Odd's concerned it looks like a physical wound but considering Fief did it there's a chance it's a XANA infection," he threw in. "Can't really be too careful, yeah?" He rubbed his forehead. He decided it would be better if he listened to his friends - after all, he needed them in his current situation regardless of his own 'skill'.

[[ Player Dunbar is currently away - 24 hours after my latest post I've given Yumi permission to post and skip their turn. This will only continue until Dunbar's situation clears up, this post not included. ]]

Yumi couldn't help but smile - without his title as 'leader' Jeremie never really knew what to do with himself; she looked at the group and took in an inhale and an exhale - Ulrich would agree with anything she said, as would William, which she assumed made her the next in line as both were too pigheaded to make decisions on their own, at least, in her memory.

"Alright, then. Let's do this like we used to when we were kids. All in favor of helping Pyrrus in exchange, raise your hand." She looked over her shoulder at the screen. "Jeremie, you don't count." She added wryly, pointing a finger at him before turning back to the group. "Odd, use your good arm." Knowing damn well he'd forget he was wounded, of course.

Ulrich kept his arms folded solemnly across his chest, moving away from Yumi once he felt the situation was stable enough. Odd's snoring caught his attention, and so he gave his friend a good smack on the shoulder (the one on the uninjured arm, he made sure). "Wake up, pal, Serious Business time," he whispered sharply (but playfully) to him as he passed.

He kept his arms pointedly down as the question of whether to trust Pyrrus or not came up, though. Aelita made a good point, to be sure, but as far as he was concerned, they'd find a way to get Jeremie's body back without helping this freak. Better that than trade in one threat for another, for a reward they couldn't even trust him to deliver on.

Aelita, by contrast, raised her hand quickly. The risk was worth the reward to her; she didn't know much about this "Fief", but she had actively injured Odd. If Pyrrus had wanted to harm her or Yumi, he would have back at the apartment. That put them at an advantage, she felt; once they beat Fief, they'd have something HE wanted, and would outnumber him strongly. It was, again, a risk, but one worth taking. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit despite the situation, however, at Odd's rudely-interrupted nap. "Go and give him a little help," she whispered to Maya Figaro, releasing her and watching happily as the kitten did indeed make a beeline for Odd.

Odd's eyes opened slighty, "Ughh, I'm so tired Ulrich, can't i just sleep?"It was like when they were young, Ulrich would try and pry Odd out of bed. He laughed a bit and stretched out, then grunting when Miss Maya Figaro jumped roughly on his stomach. "Hey, i'm up, i'm up!" He sat up with the cat on his lap, looking up at his friends. He missed out on the small conversation, "So, what did i miss?"He laughed some more and gave a smile, his arm still sore, "Ya know, i think this thing is hurting worse.."He frowned and fell back onto his back.

This time he didn't fall asleep, he just laid there and thought a moment, "So, lemme guess, Ulrich doesn't trust Pyrrus, not that any of us really do, and we're trying to figure out a way that we all agree on?" Odd did smarten up a bit since their time at the Academy, or rather he actually thought about things.

Jeremie would be the one to voice Aelita's thoughts if only because he wasn't allowed to vote; he grumbled loudly to get some attention.

"He didn't hurt them at all. He could have. I suspect based on Fief these XANA clones control bodies and, if needed, can definitely transform them into their true forms. Fief did it at the drop of the hat, as you'll recall," he looked at his screens again in a pause before looking back outward. "Aelita was in her Lyoko form but honestly if he wanted to he could have taken her out," he admitted. "Because your transfers weren't fueled by the Carthage, but by me, they were noticeably weaker, so says my data. Pyrrus would have known that, I'm guessing, and he didn't take the opportunity."

"Look, I understand the concern but... we fought XANA himself, remember? We know she's stronger than these 'heirs', first hand, considering all of the damage she's done to us and those around us when we were younger. The sooner we nip them the less time they have to get acquainted with Earth. I for one think that matters."

[[ Apologies for the long pause - been up to my arms in work. <3 ]]

"Yes, Odd," Yumi answered simply; the vote would be indecisive, but it was worth a try, at its core. "We need a compromise; Pyrrus has Jeremie's only means of escape." She rubbed her brow, silently scolding him for not paying attention, wounded or not. "We need a course of action - and Jeremie, like it or not, we're not who we used to be, alright?" Being realistic was one of the things she'd kept herself well-versed in. "We can't pretend like we're kids with nothing to lose with no consequence anymore. We're adults, we know how the world works, and we can't just plunge into Lyoko as recklessly as we used to. Fief had something to do with the government - this is bigger than just Kadic, Sceuax, Paris - it's bigger than France now, okay? It's not contained and our actions could put the world at war. Did you think about that at all?" She looked over her shoulder to the boy in the computer. "You can't apply logic to this and pretend it makes the consequences go away."

She stood up out of the chair, crossing her arms; it was up to them to decide who was right - the historic, factual backing or the world-view she was presenting. She looked at Ulrich especially, knowing he'd follow her if she needed backup in her argument.

"Some of us have families," she said quietly, quite possibly colder than intended. "We have a lot to lose, now, Jeremie..."

Ulrich sighed a bit; between Yumi and Jeremie, he suspected this conversation was going to get tenser before it got better. "I think we need to remember that we don't know a whole lot about these things right now," he spoke up, still looking very serious, "And it's dangerous to assume too much of anything right now."

It had certainly come as a shock when Fief had transformed; who knew what other secrets she might still be keeping hidden? "We're not saying we don't want to deal with both of these creatures," he continued, "or at least I'm not. But I don't feel comfortable with the idea of assuming that if Pyrrus does try to double-cross us instead of give us Jer's body back, that we'll be ready for whatever he tries to pull. Better, I think, to figure out some way of taking Jer' body without having to give him anything in exchange."

Aelita wasn't very fond of the creeping tension in the air either, but she was less fond still of Ulrich's "suggestion". "Only how do we go about doing that?" she asked. "You said yourself we don't know enough about these beings, so how can we even start thinking of ways to free Jeremie's body without damaging it? At least if we go along with Pyrrus to a point, we have some kind of base-line plan to start with. Better that than hit our heads against the wall and hope an idea pops out...."

Maya Figaro, meanwhile, had begun gently kneading its claws in Odd's leg....

Odd sat there a dazed look on his face staring at the cat. He didn't make a noise as the cats claws hit his leg..infant he couldn't even feel it. He looked up a moment, but felt that he wasn't the most important thing at the moment, this situation was. "I..agree with Aelita...well..for the most part...I don't know how we can just take Einstine's body...." he was so out of it, his words were spaced out and it was taking him a while to get his sentences out, "I don't think we should just trust the guy...but I don't know if we have much of a choice...either way..I feel like we need to trust him somewhat...at least to get close enough...."

He blinked a few times, looking down at Maya Figaro.

Jeremie was silent for a musing moment, biting his lip as he thought all of this over; everyone had a valid point, honestly, but where did that leave him? He had to find a logical middle ground before Yumi called a course of action - more importantly for his own peace of mind, make his own course.

"... I'm with Ulrich." He managed, his tail curling itself into a knot as he thought it over. "We don't know enough about Pyrrus to trust him; as much as it'd be helping us to destroy Fief, it wouldn't be helping us to trust Pyrrus with her data considering he might possess the ability to assimilate her potential. It's too dangerous, and as much as Aelita is going to hate this and it makes my stomach turn there's only one thing we really can do to ensure our safety in this matter; and that's to destroy Pyrrus regardless of his deal." He crossed his arms, visibly a bit irritated by his own proposal despite it being the logical route.

"It'll be much harder, but if you can collect a DNA sample off of my body after, uh, defeating it, I can rebuild myself from scratch from here. No deal required, but this assumes Pyrrus doesn't take my body with him upon defeat, like Fief seems capable of..."

"If it helps" William began "I've got nothing to loose" He owed them any way, with what happened when they let him join the group and he hadn't exactly been the most cooperative person thus far. If they could afford to loose anyone, it was him. Though he already knew they wouldn't agree, it was worth a shot.

"I'm going to take Aelita's side on this one, it's the only shot we've got. Besides, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind slicing Fief's head off" William nodded to Odd's arm which was progressively getting worse.