Blue Hallway
It's another hallway, similar to the red hallway. This one is blue, of course, with a bunch of doors leading to some closets and a bunch of other places. Near the end of the hallway seems to be a double-door, but it's locked...and nothing but void looks to be on the other side.
???: Thump. Thump. Thump.
BONK.
Clober: "Ow- Hey! It's you!" She yells. "I've been looking for you! D-Don't think I forgot what you said last trial!"
Ivan: "Awk...jeez, be a little less quiet when you run out of a room, and maybe we won't run into each other yeah?" He chuckles, rubbing his chest.
"But uh...I don't really have to time to talk about that right now. I got places to be, y'know? Important places."
Clober: "Like what!? You just sound like you're making excuses..."
Ivan: ...He looks to his left. Then his right.
"Ya wanna come with me, then? We can talk there. It's about one of the new rooms-- I've just got to take a look in there."
Clober: "This late? ....Ooooh, I got it! You have a really secret secret, huuuh? And I get the scoop cause I'm a special little queen!"
Ivan: "I. I guess?? I'm mostly worried someone like the mastermind would catch me snooping around...which I don't think is you, no offense."
Clober: "None taken. Like I'd want to be some dumb mean mastermind anyways..."
Following Ivan's lead, the two head to...whever Ivan could be taking her. She hasn't visited the new rooms herself, so she is none the wiser.
Archive Room
Ivan: Creaking the door open, he and Clober sneak inside.
"Here we are...just a bunch of books and docs, in a whole bunch of languages."
Clober: "Do you think something important's in here?"
Ivan: "Maybe! Can't fail if you don't try!"
Clober: "I...don't think you said that phrase right." She replies, beginning to walk down the aisles. "And I doubt there's anything here. One of the baddies would've just taken it away by now, or hid it somewhere!"
Ivan: "Who knows! At least help me look for a little. We can talk about whatever you wanted to talk about while we search."
Clober: "Whatever I wanted to talk about!? You mean the thing you said, mister vague!?"
Ivan: He laughs with a chirp. "Yup!"
Clober: ...She sighs. Welp, to do what she must.
She begins perusing the shelves rather hastily, looking for anything she can even read that catches her eye...
Ivan: "...So, you get what I mean, right?" He says through the shelves.
Clober: "Eh?"
Ivan: "I can tell you got some problems. I mean, look at you. You sound like a squeaky toy! A very...angry, bitter one. What's with the rage? Who hurt you?"
Clober: "Well, nobody- but-!"
Ivan: "Don't lie to me, Clober~! I can tell you're ly-iiing~!"
Clober: "Y-You can't just ask me these things and expect a genuine response, dick!!"
Ivan: "...Yeah, guess so." He coos. "Your secrets are secrets...just know that they'd be safe with me. Everyone seems to want to be against ya, but..."
...There's a pause.
"...I know what it's like to be despised. Thoroughly. And I just want to try to be understanding, y'know? If I can't do that, then...I'm just a dirty sinner after all."
Clober: "..."
A period of silence washes over the two. Only the sound of books being taken and put back on shelves can be heard, mixed with the pitter-patter of their feet.
...
"...I was sold."
Ivan: "H-Huh?"
He perks his head up, peeking past a shelf to see Clober, leaning against a pillar. She's looking away from him.
Clober: "You heard me. Sold. My parents sold me to...the same group of scientists Lotus eventually worked for. The Serpent Deityology Council."
Ivan: He feels a part of his heart drop into the pits of the earth. A lump forming in his gut, as guilt washes over him.
"Did...did Lotus...?"
Clober: Heh.
"Nah, he didn't have anything to do with it. By the time he showed up, I was long gone. But, for, say, 15 years...I was the lab rat. They did all sorts of things, y'know? To my eyes, my leaves...my body. I felt more like an animal than an actual prota...didn't have a name, either. Just a number. Quirky stuff like that."
Ivan: The shadow looming over his face has not left. He expected something similar to himself...a bad family life, perhaps. Some sort of troubled youth...
But this...was much worse. Was selling an egg like that even legal...? Did it matter? Did it, truly, matter in a city like the one they lived in--?
Clober: "But, hey, it wasn't all doom and gloom. I eventually escaped, but it was kind of hard to live a life without anything to your name...so I just became an assassin. Learned how to change my name and personality at will. But, uh...the voice never went away. Just something that happens when scientists mess with your puberty is all. But once I just...got a codename called "Clober". And that kinda stuck with me, y'know?"
Ivan: "...I...I see...I'm sorry, Clober, y-you didn't have to tell me all of that-"
Clober: "I don't need any sorrys! You wanted to hear, and I..." She sighs. "...I think that I can trust you enough with it."
Ivan: He's quiet. Not because he doesn't care, but...he just doesn't know what to say...he simply nods in understanding.
Clober: "...But I guess anger's the easiest emotion when you live like me. Oh, and feigning innocence. Either or. It's just...easy to be mad, y'know? It's easy to whine and complain. And I don't know how to do whatever else, so that's what people get!"
Ivan: "...Would...would you want to be something else?"
Clober: She blinks at him. And then, staring at her hands, briefly contemplates the thought.
"...Can I be anything else? Everyone kind of hates me already...right?"
Ivan: "I can't deny that most people don't like you," he replies. "But...you don't have to be what people think you are. You can be whatever you want. You don't have to be some asshole, or a subject, or...or...whatever!"
He stomps his foot on the ground, startling Clober as she flinches back.
"Ah- whoops-" He apologizes. "Just...I don't think any one of us is a bad person. I can't bring myself to think that. Maybe the world we were raised in was cruel, but...we don't gotta be. You don't gotta be! And even if everyone thinks one thing about you, it doesn't have to stay that way....yeah?" Because...ah...we're not sinners. We're just...alive."
...It's quiet again. Clober isn't saying a word, looking at the floor.
"...S-Sorry. Did I...say too much?"
Clober: And then...she walks up to him. Slowly.
"...No. You...uh...you said good words."
She stares up at him, a genuine smile on her face. "Thank you. I'm gonna try to be...nicer, if I can."
...And then, following that, a little giggle. "Just don't expect my attitude to go away! That's as much a part of me as all the baggage!"
Ivan: ...Hah. Hahah.
He can't help but giggle along with her, despite the subject matter. "You got it, heh! We might as well have a baggage contest with the people here...though you might just win!"
Out from the silence of before came laughter, along with light jabs from both parties. For just a moment...
Clober: "Hahah...ah...aw, I'm tired. Are we still looking for books or whatever, or...?"
Ivan: "...Y'know what, fuck it. I'm tired too, and there's way too many papers in here. See ya tomorrow! ...And good luck."
With a wave, he was already a hop and a skip out the door.
Clober: She still had a bit of a smile on her as she followed behind.
...But that smile changed. It changed when it saw something...unusual sticking out of one of the shelves she had walked past.
Clober: She raised a brow. "Huh? Weird...what's this thingy?"
Curious, she picked up the paper.
???: By signing this paper, you agree to partaking in the ultimate punishment.
- Jasper
(A mass of scribbled text, with the word STRANGER written over it in a white marker)
- Unit MX-Z0
- Clober
- Ivan
- Rue
- Lotus
- Tarnish
- Paradi
- Arsenic
- Bryan
- Gust
- Seven Stones
- Firestarter
- Dax
Clober: "...Huh!?"
She reread the paper again. And again. She...she doesn't remember signing up for ANYTHING! What is this paper? And...why was...
...Wait. Right. She recalled Paradi saying Hitori wasn't brought here but just showed up...at least, she thinks they said that. But...everyone else!? Herself!? What was this paper for? What was-
Clober: BLING. BWACK.
Clober: The world turns into blurry colors as something hits her on the back of the head, piercing her skin.
She stumbles, trying to keep her footing...only to fail. She collapses to the ground, weak...
...She hears the sound of something fluttering through the air. Someone picking up...the paper...
...And vanishing into nothingness.
Clober: ...
Her eyes blink open. Her head...it aches.
What was she doing again? Oh, yes...there was a paper. A paper with something important on it...and she was attacked, she thinks. But...what was on the paper? She can't remember. She just saw it, but can't remember a thing. She bonks her head gently. Think, think think...!
Nothing. All that comes to mind is the pain of the impact, the traipse of that unknown prota's windy step...and the blood now trickling from the back of her head.
Something is wrong. Very wrong. She can't stay here.
She runs out of the room, a small bleeding trail left behind.