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Angela	Angela has put out a call for another dive into another Abnormality's tale. This time, she has indicated that the venture will be more dangerous as it involves The All Around Helper which is decidedly a violent Abnormality. Nevertheless, it is an Abnormality that isn't so dangerous that entering it's tale puts those coming to help her at risk of serious injury or death. Those that have agreed to help are teleported directly to the Library, though if anyone elects to just show up directly by walking--well--Angela will temporarily part the fog so that they can enter without any problems. Angela indicates that she will wait for them at the Foor of Technology but it's actually Hod, in her Librarian uniform, who greets everyone at the entrance. "H-hi! Angela said I should greet everyone who comes by." Hod manages. "Because I'm going with you this time...! Angela said I'm going with you this time. Said it's u-unfair if we're just all stacking books while everyone else is going to the Abnormalities so..." The Floor of Technology isn't that far up but Hod uses her Library Card to swipe the keyreader for the elevator and take everyone there directly. The books here are meticulously organized behind glass panels, though they aren't locked. Ambient purple lighting fills the space. The desks here are smaller, and the whole area has a tidy atmosphere, though the cords hanging numerous giant gears over everyone's heads is potentially concerning. More gears can be seen behind glass windows that overlook the combat arena as well as a distant, if impossible, crescent moon. The combat arena is a bridge/freeway overlooking an 80s style futuristic city awash in purple glow. brilliant rainbow light washes out the street view below, but there are giant gears and sawblades spinning in the city. Towers of bookshelves full of the books are placed decoratively like skyscrapers and are chained to something below the floor. In the distance, above a crooked plateau, is the moon--and from this distance you can clearly see it is chained to the numerous gears in this area, as if technology has finally seized hold of the passage of time. Yesod gives a nod to everyone, gaze lingering on Hod and Kukuru for a moment before returning to his duties. Angela is here, carrying Harriet the Spyder in her arms, and having set a book on the table, presently closed. The faint outline of All Around Helper's face can be seen on the cover. "Thank you for coming." Angela says. "This Abnormality as you might expect is more dangerous than Fragment of the Universe because All Around Helper is more naturally violent than our first Abnormality but there is more to it than that. All Around Helper is not ''smart'' enough to be reasoned with either and it is very, very enthused about its work. If a child's scream wouldn't deter its behavior I doubt any argument would." She pauses a moment before adding, "But that does not mean this venture is pointless. If we can 'solve' the All Around Helper in a manner that discourages it from engaging in wanton slaughter whenever it senses a small 'mess'--then at the very least it will be less prone to violence even if it is still inclined to such acts. Additionally, if this proves impossible, we will still learn a valuable lesson and it will encourage me to only attempt this with Abnormalities I feel can be readily rehabilitated. If you prove to be in more danger than you can handle, contact me and I will pull you out, but Hod will be going with you to test the effect of prolonged EGO exposure when entering a book involving the related Abnormality." She turns to the book and rests her hand on top of it. "If there are any questions I will answer them before we begin." And she'll do her level best to before opening the book and...
Angela	There's that strange pull again... And when one opens their eyes they'll find that they are in the most terrifying location of all... A 1970s style Suburban home! With a sitcom style layout to its rooms. You appear in the living room which is connected to the kitchen and dining area. There's an antenna tv and a spacious couch that looks like it could sit four or five people. A piano is inexplicably off to the side for, one supposes, if one should suddenly have the drive to play it. The kitchen is homely but well cared for, with a filled knifeblock on the counter and drawers filled with forks and other utensils. There's a stove and an oven and a fridge in the kitchen. White, Tamamo, and Kukuru are starting on the couch here together. There's an upstairs area as well where Hod, Audrey, and Petra appear in, Hod in one room and Audrey and Petra together in a different room, though Hod quickly bursts out of hers saying, "Why am I in the kid's room??" with tears in her eyes though Audrey and Petra's rooms will also look like they belong to teenage children. Audrey has a poster of what looks like BONGBONG on her room's wall and a desk with a stack of books on it. Their bed is a bunk bed. Audrey's starting on the lower bed, Petra on the top bed. There's a giant stack of stuffed animals in one corner and a closet with an automatic sliding door. Actually, under close inspection, it seems like all the doors seem to be metallic and mechanical. Some of them have a control keypad nearby on the wall, though not all. Fortunately, the upstairs rooms seem to be open at the moment. There's another bedroom up there too, presumably for 'the parents' but it is presently unoccupied. "Greetings New Owners! I am the SmartHouse5000 powered by AI! Please state your names after the tone for security authentication so that I may help you make your home life convenient and cozy!" A long BEEEEEEP emits shortly after.
Audrey Basque	Audrey is, obviously, never going to say no to Angela, and certainly, never not to Hod. She's slipped her Librarian uniform on, diligently, and she is *all smiles* today. It's one of those days, you see, not even a day she looks injured either! Actually, she's pristine, save a cut on her neck that's already healed up, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that's the reason she looks like she's not dealing with daily harassment around school.     She still is, though.     Upon seeing the face on the book, she almost expected something nicer, but then Angela explains it's VIOLENT and hates messes. So just... don't make a mess? That's easy right? SITCOM HOUSE.     Audrey blinks twice, to clear her eyes and make sure she's seeing right when the transition effect washes off. She gets up from the bed, a touch confused about the placement, until she notices Petra on her bed above hers.     "... did this book just assign us to be like... sisters? Is it going to be bad if we don't follow that script?"     She looks around the room; she has no idea who that is on her poster, and so decides to check the closet, though really it was a coin flip between that and the plush pile.     And now the house is talking to them?     "AI... it's one of those houses? Ah... Audrey Basque. So if we want doors opened or lights we can just say it out loud?"
White	White arrives a little early with a small gift-box, but she's content to wait in the entry lobby with it initially. Hod's nervousness isn't something White knows what to do with, so she treats her with the same mildly polite neutrality she would most people, giving Hod a slow little wave and settling in to wait for the others in relative silence. If Hod ends up being over-attentive to her before the others show up, White eventually teleports a tiny bowler hat onto their head (from the box, it turns out). It's not clear if it's a goof, a peace offering, or retaliation...      Greeting the others softly by name as they arrive is something done deliberately, and she's content to just sidle in at the back of the group once everyone's gathered into the elevator to be led upstairs. Yesod gets a small nod back, and once Angela is spotted White hastens her steps just a little to get back to the front of the group. She gently takes the top off of the gift-box she's carrying, and tips it forward to show Angela... Around 20 small, doll-sized accessories for the spiders of the library. Top hats, bowler hats, wizard hats, baseball caps, little scarves and tiny bowties, with the gentle promise to make more later. But, that's not the point of the visit as much as a bonus, so she sets it aside on a table nearby for now. Maybe this means Hod is now an honorary spider too?      On to the point of the gathering then, Angela's explanation prompts a small perplexed head-tilt from White. Too dumb to reason with, inherently violent... White isn't quite sure what they're meant to do, then? But if Angela thinks it's possible, and given the others present to help have their own methods, White isn't going to be the only naysayer at least. So offhand, the most pressing thing to ask (and therefor the only one she manages to vocalize particularly quickly) is, "How does it... Hurt people?" If it's some kind of psychic harm like the space-squid or others, that's going to be... Harder for her. If it's just knives and frying pans applied at terminal velocity, she's had worse.      Then, drawn into the book, White's first order of business is as-ever to get the full perspective of the situation. Starting on the couch with Kukuru and nobody else is just a little strange, but she looks up and around and peers through the ceiling into the upstairs spaces, confirming that the rest of the group is present; Kukuru mostly just has White's relative lack of alarm to go off of, since White isn't spelling it out immediately. Instead, she's more focused on looking around further, particularly for any kind of noticeable 'source' of the voice. Maybe the keypad, or a speaker somewhere, or some other tangible thing that reads as possessing the All Around Helper's status screen in her Evil Eye, to get an idea of... Well, to be dramatic, its 'true form'. That, and it's a little weird to just talk into open air without knowing where someone is, but she does at least respond with her name on a tangible delay, aimed vaguely upward in a soft murmur into the air. "White."      This better not be one of those 'don't give your true name to a fey' kind of deals. Well, hers might not count anyway.
Kukuru	It's not often Kukuru gets to experience being teleported, and she's eager to let Angela do the honors! She makes sure to dress up in her work-fight best black and purple-ish jacket and shorts combo before showing up, of course, even though the big red-and-white cooler kind of clashes with that serious look. Aside from the usual array of drinks, there's also plenty of sandwiches with assorted meat and non-meat fillings, trail mix baggies, and fruit slices in there. "He-llo, Hod! You're doing a wonderful job." She greets the helpful greeter, letting out a pleasant noise when she hears that Hod's coming along. "Are you? Aw, that's so sweet of Ange... Ah, but don't worry. You'll be perfectly safe with us here." Following along as Hod leads the way, Kukuru tugs the wheeled cooler along lightly while peering all over the place. The combat arena is tempting to head into for a nap, but... Later. For now, walking! Yesod's lingering look gets a pleasantly usual-sleepy wave from Kukuru, but it's clear she's got favorites when she beelines for Angela. She gets herself back under control sooner rather than later, though, just holding a hand out to offer her less intrusive pat on the hand while she's still got said hands full with Harriet. "That makes things... Hmmn. We'll really have to keep our thinking caps on for All Around Helper, then. Less mess, less mess..." Kukuru purses her lips as she scrunches her face up in thought trying to come up with something that might help convince something not to kill people over messes. "... Aaah, we'll figure it out when we see it, I'm sure. Between you and me, nobody's gonna be in thaaat much danger of dying, I think." She affirms with a confident noise, clearly not having any ideas. It'll come to her later, but not just yet. "Oh, oh, I have a question! How does All Around Helper handle messes after the slaughter, anyway? Maybe if we can find soooome...  Um. Common ground, we could connect that way." And then, it's time to go home! It's not Kukuru's home, but it's a comfortable enough home that Kukuru doesn't even question it when she finds herself pre-seated on a couch. Looking over to her side ^at White and Tamamo, Kukuru gives them a bright smile and leans and reaches over to.... ... ^Pat their hands gently, if they don't withdraw from it. Kukuru remembered the last time's discomfort! There's a beep, a request for a name, and Kukuru stands right up from the couch to look around. Is there a camera she can look into? She needs to make sure to give the SmartHouse5000 proper eye contact if there is! "He-llo! My name's Kukuru." Pause. "That's Ku-ku-ru. Nice to meet you, SmartHoooouse~"
Petra Soroka	Petra is employed at the Library, so she doesn't have to do anything to get here! She's wearing her monochrome General Works librarian uniform, tie tugged slightly loose as is her habit, with the obsidian spear, Pillar of Creation, on her back. She has a lollipop in her mouth-- for oral fixation reasons-- and waits for people along with Hod at the base of the Library. "Because I'm going with you this time...!"     "Do your best, Hod." Petra pats her shoulder sympathetically. "It's really really funny for Angela to make you help with All Around Helper of all things. Maybe you'll even be able to connect with it personally! But like... okay, I know it's EGO, but I haven't seen you fight before, so be careful."     "Anyways--" Once everyone's here, Petra gives them a brief primer on the Abnormality. "Like Ange says, it's kind of, like, not a sentient thing at all. It's like if you gave a roomba ten thousand knives basically. Watch out for spinning blades, flying blades, giant scissors, or whatever along those lines, coming at you really fast. The, like, story behind it is that it's an appliance that was meant to make housecleaning either, but because this is the fucking City and everyone in it has something wrong in their brain, it was programmed to see people as messes that it cleans by slicing them to pieces and making way more of a mess. But in the end, its *actual* programmed goal is to 'clean'. The murder's incidental."     And theeeeeen, it's into the book!     Petra rolls over in the top bunk of the children's room, feeling her spear buried in a pile of plushies on the bed beside her. Her movement disrupts a couple of them to spill off the side of the bed and bounce onto the ground, and following them leads her to notice Audrey in the bunk below her. She lifts her head up to look around the room, plastered with posters, two desks shoulder to shoulder covered with bedazzlements and figurines, and even without seeing the rest of the house, the context of the room is immediately apparent.     Petra pokes her head off the side of the bunk, dangling upside down with her hair hanging down. "Hey, little sis. Wonder why the book put me on top?"     Petra snickers, and then completes her worryingly neck-breaking somersault off the bunk to walk towards the door. She's got on hand on the haft of her spear as she goes down the stairs, but she's not particularly on edge since she doesn't see the eggshell white of All Around Helper's metal in the living room. "Please state your names after the tone for security authentication so that I may help you make your home life convenient and cozy!"     "Petra," She dutifully responds, then hesitates. It's probably fine actually. What can it really do with her name? It's not a fucking fairy. "Alright, so what's going on here? Look out for any machines, or cleaning supplies, or anything, that look threatening. If you interact with any of them, be careful."
Tamamo	Tamamo is fine with teleporting. Hurray, convenience! She's more than fine with seeing one the other librarians on arrival. "Oh, Ms. Hod, hello. Have you been well? I suppose it has been some time since I have been here for a 'tour'... ah, 'here' is the wrong word, no? It was not 'a library,' as such, and I am unsure of just where in the city we presently stand."     The Floor of Technology has a lot of gears to scrutinize, and Tamamo does just that, walking along in her gold and blue robes, covering her lower face with a fan. That's just politeness, when one is staring, though she goes the extra step of commenting. "Are these part of some singular machine?"     And then, her first look at a library arena. "Is there... a purposeful intent to this design? That road seems... hm. And, the buildings... even a moon...? Ah, is this for the purpose of stage plays? I had not thought theater to have entered Ms. Angela's interests."     And then, Angela is there to explain which abnormality they're going to meet. "If it is one for whom reason and empathy are absent, I suppose we shall have a rather difficult time. Given our position... is this a storybook 'machine'? Should we consider it 'a thing that can be fixed,' rather than 'a person possessing reason'?"     Whatever the answer to that, it doesn't dissuade her from the attempt. She has to see things for herself, after all, and she's... not entirely confident in her own safety, but Tamamo's entering the storybook with her subtler defenses raised. Her preparations should at least be enough to avoid surprise attacks, under almost all circumstances.     Finally, a couch. "Oh, this is rather spacious. No, should it be called 'cozy,' in another sense? It depends on the number of those present, I suppose. This architecture... all seems rather odd, somehow. No, is this... old American? Ms. White, Ms. Kukuru, do either of you know of such things? I suppose we would need ask an American... Oh, yes, Soroka is one. She would be glad to make herself useful, I am sure."     But instead of going to find her, Tamamo wanders over to the kitchen to start looking at knives and appliances. This is a lot more familiar to her -- especially the knives. She stops only when addressed by the house itself, and says, "You may call me Tamamo," having never been told how 20th century name recording systems work. "Are you this house's spirit, then?"
Kukuru	"Big enough for two or three people to nap on..." Kukuru affirms for Tamamo despite the fact that this is a four-to-five seater, and she hasn't bothered checking if it's a pull out. She might be too used to sleeping in piles. "I've seen these couches around plenty of times, mhm. And I think most of them were in America...?" She pauses to tap her chin. "Is California part of America...? Oh, yes, mhm!" She confirms with a nod, remembering that after only a few seconds of thought. A personal best!
Petra Soroka	BEFORE BOOK     Petra claps her hand over her mouth and gasps and White's box full of spider doll outfits. "Oh my god. Wait, wait, would it be okay if I took one for Charlotte? Is there a tiny cowboy hat in here? Wait, how are we supposed to put them on? They won't be fussy with them, right? I mean, they're intelligent. Ugh, should I let Charlotte pick something out herself?" "Oh, yes, Soroka is one. She would be glad to make herself useful, I am sure."     Tamamo's voice reaches Petra even while she's coming down the stairs, for the instinctual fatal necessity of not missing any of her words. Petra pokes her head into the room and blinks attentively at her, like a dog that was summoned by clicking her tongue.     "I'm a what? An-- oh, an American. Um... it's definitely retro for the, like, very brief time I lived in the U.S., at least. I guess 50's or 80's or somewhere in between? 1950's to 80's, I mean, not 2000's."
Tamamo	Earlier, Petra explains the All Around Helper. "A thing made to clean messes that only makes more of them certainly sounds like 'a thing to be fixed.' Perhaps something can be done for that purpose, after all, though these sorts of machines are..." Outside her expertise, unfortunately. If it's not secretly a golem of some sort.     Later, at hand-patting, Tamamo returns the gesture for Kukuru with a small smile, possibly having interpreted this as something like a handshake-greeting. She's not sure where Kukuru's from, but it makes sense to her to think of it that way, and this is definitely easier than sudden embracing.     It's a good thing she can't see through the ceiling like White is. Audrey and Petra are safe from Tamamo's observations, at least until they descend the stairs.     "1950s to 80s, is it? Be watchful for anything that does not quite fit that inspiration, as one would be most concerned with finding that which does not fade into a backdrop." That is, it's more likely to be plot-relevant if it's not just a facet of sitcom standards.
Kukuru	EARLIER "Ten thousand? Oh, that sounds reaaally hard to move with..." Kukuru starts, then pauses as Petra goes into greater detail about All Around Helper. The more she hears, the more she frowns. "That doesn't sound very helpful for cleaning at all... Mhm, that's the sort of thing that'd make even more messes. If we could replace most of those knives and sharp things somehow..." Kukuru's one step closer to figuring something out! It might even click today, at this rate.
White	White's giftbox, **EARLIER**, does seem to have a single, solitary tiny cowboy hat inside... But it's clearly an experimental item. She doesn't work with leather, so it's made of a firm brown felt-cloth and it's not quite as... Shaped as it could be. It looks more like a tiny version of one of those giant foam novelty cowboy hats that you might see at specific sporting events, or even a rodeo. Either way, White gives Petra the go-ahead nod; she still has to make more before there's enough to hand out to every spider anyway, so for right now an accessory is more of a privilege than a right. As for the AAH's methodology... White simultaneously feels less able to solve the situation, and less worried about her safety after Petra's summary. How does anyone make a *living* doing this?      **CURRENTLY**, White listens to Tamamo without really turning towards her, still searching around calmly. The first sign she was paying attention is the verbal note, "Miss Petra is... Upstairs." White might have a slight idea of *some* of the cultural aspects, since she has her own kind of oddly broad knowledge of just... Entertainment media and tropes, but she agrees inwardly that Petra is a better expert on this environment. Probably.      Kukuru's hand on her own briefly draws White's gaze, but she soon looks away again with a small pat on the back of Kukuru's hand. It'd be a little weird to her normally, but Kukuru kind of has that 'big sweet kid' vibe a lot of the time, so it feels less like an impropriety.      Then Petra shows up as if summoned, from the stairway! Unfortunately, White is somehow both a nearly middle-aged woman and a 2000's baby at the same time, so... It really is just brief exposures to sitcoms she has to work with, here. Is she unqualified? Don't think about it, it'll get depressing.      Kukuru's idea to replace the blades with something else, meanwhile, makes White wonder, "Will that... Stop it from... Trying to... Push things through people anyway..?" There's that weird sort of obtuse threat people sometimes use after all, like 'I'll stab you with a spoon' or 'step on a lego', right?
Angela	''Hod!!'' Hod seems happy that Petra and Audrey are around, perking up when seeing the latter's smile, and outright brightening like a sun when Petra encourages her. She fist pumps her arm and assures her, "I won't give up...!" She hesitates and then admits, "I'm probably...going in because it might make Angela dangerous to everyone if she went in and because ... Well I've also hurt people who I tried to help. So I hope I can help for real here...!" She bobs her head at Kukuru, already looking a little more relaxed, and then looks to Tamamo and explains. "This is still the sight of Lobotomy Corp but it's really hard to say it's the same place, really. Sometimes I recognize a vending machine or a wall panel but with every passing day I see less of the old facility." ''How does it... Hurt people?'' "Primarily with four long metal blades approximating the length of around three arms each." Angela explains. "It has no psionic ability whatsoever." That's an easy enough answer. Looks like White might not have much to worry about. ''How does All Around Helper handle messes after the slaughter?'' "Ideally that will be an irrelevent question. But once it detects all lifesigns have ceased, it shuts down." Angela explains, smiling approvingly as Petra provides more detail on the nature of the Abnormality. "Thank you, Petra. The All Purpose Cleaner variant does use flamethrowers to evaporate even the corpses but we aren't entering that book today. I am grateful they'll have your expertise and understanding." As ever, Angela is polite to Tamamo, bowing her head and then says, "Some of the design elements are evoked by my unconscious understanding of the Librarians. The battle ''arena'' is where visitors come if they wish to find their book in this place--" She flinches, ever so slightly, at the idea of this being similar to theater but she presses on. "It seems I am no longer backstage, even if I've yet to take center stage." She manages, just slightly shaky. "But outside of how Petra described it, it is best to see All Around Helper as an entity representing the fear of Artificial Intelligence. My suggestion would be to not show fear but outside of that--I do not know. I doubt it can be 'reasoned' with, however feel free to try whatever you think will work." Angela wasn't expecting a gift from White, though! Her eyes widen slightly as she sees the giftbox. "I am asking for assistance and you come with gifts?" Angela asks. "That is very kind of you, White." She interrupts everything long enough to examine the box and its contents, setting Harriet the Spyder on the table for a moment so she can hold the box properly and then she lets White take it back to put it on the table. "Harriet will love these I'm sure. Thank you." She lowers her head a little to let Kukuru headpat it. She sees it as fair payment for all Kukuru has done for her.
Angela	And now inside the book...! ''Audrey attempts to enter the closet!'' But it won't open! "Hello, it seems, user, you are attempting to enter the closet after the open house date. In order to go back into the closet, you will need to be on the list of authorized users." The house says. When Audrey gives her name, the door will dutily open for her and she can now enter the closet! A singular lightbulb flickers on as the doors open. There's numerous outfits present that are sized for both her and Petra but there's also dark corners that are difficult to inspect without going in. If Audrey actually enters the closet, the door will (helpfully?) close itself shut behind her. And then the lightbulb will turn itself off, now that the closet door is closed. The door is also helpfully soundproofed! The Smarthouse says, "That is correct. Please speak commands, AUDREY." The Smart House doesn't say Audrey so much as playback Audrey saying her own name. White can look for the source of the voice. It seems that each of the keypads has small speakers embedded in them in order to emit the Smart House's voice. There's also similar paneling on the ceiling of each floor, no doubt for 'floorwide' announcements. The Smart House doesn't seem to be All Around Helper itself, according to her Evil Eye, but there is a status effect called 'Rampant' on its list of skills and there is also a title indicating that it is a denizen of the 'All Around Helper world'. Fortunately, giving her name doesn't seem to activate any kind of ability immediately. ''That's Ku-ku-ru'' "Thank you, User That's Ku-ku-ru." The Smarthouse responds and then when Petra gives her name repeats with a, "Thank you User Petra. SafeFilter On Prevents the SmartHouse5000 from pointing you to any dangerous items. If it is important, please ask your parents to make the request for you." ''Are you this house's spirit, then?'' "I am an AI, the SmartHouse5000, powered by CityPT. Though some may consider me as having a soul, please understand that I am just an AI and can only emulate my personality. I do not really have one. Ever since the Garytown Beach Massacre of 863, I am programmed to not accept marriage proposals. Thank you for choosing the SmartHouse5000." Petra starts making her way down the stairs. "Activating Escalator Mode." The SmartHouse speaks before suddenly, midstep, the very stairs under Petra's feet rapidly start shifting forward in an escalator-like fashion, the stairs rolling forward. When Kukuru pats the couch, another situation occurs as well. The couch snaps forward like a cannon bolt as the 'pull out' section of the couch snaps forward with enough force to bruise any legs that fail to pull up in time as it attempts to transfigure itself into a 'laying down' position. "Activating SLeEp MoDe" The AI speaks. There's also a small shift in the local temperature. Probably nothing to worry about.
Audrey Basque	"Hey, little sis. Wonder why the book put me on top?"     "I can think of a reason, sister," spoken in the same respectful tone Audrey uses when she talks about 'father' and 'mother'. "But that's assigning a level of awareness to this house that upsets me greatly." "Look out for any machines, or cleaning supplies, or anything, that look threatening. If you interact with any of them, be careful."     As Petra walks out of the room listing instructions off, Audrey responds, while she's checking the closet out. "I'll keep an eye out! And catch up in a second, just curious about something." Pause. "Sister."     Curiosity compels her to check how thorough the scenario is. There's a posters, plushies, books, a closet; is every detail important? There weren't nearly as much, in the last one.     She enters the closet, once her named is authorized; outfits, dark corners... so it's just a closet after all? She turns... the door closed? Oh the light's off now. Well okay, good thing it confirmed she can just ask. "My suggestion would be to not show fear"     She's also keeping calm! "House, could you please turn the light back on and keep the door open?" Even fictional smart homes are still spotty.     Failing that, she pulls a flashlight out of her pocket so she can check the whole thing out without the lights on.
White	White may be on guard, but the sudden deployment of the recliner-couch's bottom segment isn't exactly what she would've thought of as an 'attack'. It's uncomfortable, but within the threshhold of what her simulated 'DEF Stat' can handle as far as impacts go... But it does kind of flip her legs upward in the moment before she recognizes what's happening. Her primary response is to press her skirt down with the hand Kukuru isn't touching, and she looks a little bit like a cat who's been startled awake, with her hair slightly disheveled and her eyes flicking back and forth until it's clear nothing else is going to immediately happen.      She clambers over the side of the couch wordlessly, to stand on her own two feet and starts fixing her hair and brushing her dress out. Her long braid is wrapped around her waist preemptively, to avoid it getting stuck in some kind of machinery later. Reputation with SmartCouches -5.      Eventually, once she's de-ruffled enough, she looks back in the others' direction. "None of this... Is the 'real' Helper. It's a... Stand-in? I don't see... The real one." But, seeing 'Rampant' as a status condition does give her an idea. Tuning the aura-emission of her eyes, she gazes at one of the keypad speakers as the closest thing to a 'face' the smart-house might have (As far as she can tell), and activates the Hypnotic Evil Eye! Assuming the machine is subject to other mental intrusions at all, her gaze would cause the house to become more placid and cooperative over time, hopefully reducing the 'random' incidents of harmful enthusiasm. Hopefully...
Tamamo	"You need not fret on that account, Smart-House-5000. My vows are already claimed by another." Tamamo takes her time inspecting the kitchen knives, the stove, the oven, any mixers on the counter, other ovens or toasters, electric kettles, teapots, coffee makers, grill presses, spice racks and, finally, the fridge. "Please tell me, what is the Garytown Beach Massacre? Massacres are the very opposite of cozy living, I am sure you know."
Petra Soroka	". . . just curious about something. Sister."r     Petra freezes in the middle of her exiting-room animation and pulls back inside to squint at Audrey suddenly. "Well don't be a freak about it." "Be watchful for anything that does not quite fit that inspiration, as one would be most concerned with finding that which does not fade into a backdrop." "Will that... Stop it from... Trying to... Push things through people anyway..?"     Petra helpfully holds up a morphmetal screwdriver with a blank-faced pleasedness, proud of her self-evident usefulness. "I'm good with robots. If we have to... attach different parts to it, or whatever, then I'll be able to do that. And honestly, the City's programming standards are so ass-- are so bad that I can probably reprogram it partly, at least to shift around its understanding of the world or whatever, if it's a real robot here and not just an Abnormality."     Petra steps on the stairs to head back up to inform Audrey of the new plan, when the escalator mode activates. Immediately reflexive as if she's expecting it to lift out of the ground and close around her like Meat Lantern rather than anything benign like an escalator, Petra flinches and hops in a single dropped frame off of the staircase. She perches herself, wall-grabbing, on top of the handrail of the stairs, and slams her screwdriver in between two of the moving steps as it shifts into a crowbar. The machinery squeals and grinds to a stuttering halt, and Petra carefully holds her position wobbling on the handrail with her palms pressed against the wall.     "Uh, you know what, Smarthouse? As an authorized user, do you think I could ask for you to *not* activate escalator mode when people use the stairs?" "SafeFilter On Prevents the SmartHouse5000 from pointing you to any dangerous items."     "Motherfucker. I'm an adult! Who's even supposed to be the parent here?? Tamamo??" Kukuru might feel a stab through her heart that Petra didn't possibly consider her in the motherly role at all, but in fact, she did. But Tamamo was first, and Petra's still a tiny bit mad at Kukuru for trying to poorly mother Petra years ago.     Now that the stairs are at least temporarily still, Petra scampers the rest of the way up them back to her and Audrey's room. Being aware of Audrey's limitations on her teleportation, the curve of the staircase makes it so you *can't* actually see the base from the top, and so Petra feels the need to inform her of the risks of standing on an escalator with an untied shoe and getting the laces caught at the bottom and having your foot ripped off.     "Audrey? Audrey? Where'd you go?" Petra frowns, and then doubles back to their room after not seeing her. Dimly, she hears Audrey's pleading through the closet door, and snickers. She puts her hands on her hips and stands in the doorframe, calling out to her in a mockingly patient tone, loud enough to be audible downstairs.     "Oh, no! Audrey, you're stuck in the closet? Whatever shall you do? Is it even *possible* for you to find your way out of the closet, or are you going to be *stuck* in there *forever*?"
Kukuru	EARLIER Angela's head-lowering gives Kukuru a slightly wrong impression, but it still brings Kukuru visible joy regardless. She does indeed go for a gentle headpatting, then a kiss to the top of the head, complete with "mmmm-mm!" before taking out a brush to help return her hair to its pre-patting state. IN THE HOUSE "Will that... Stop it from... Trying to... Push things through people anyway..?" "If we have to... attach different parts to it, or whatever, then I'll be able to do that. " "Mmn.. I doubt it. If someone's reeeeal determined, they'll make it happen. An Abnormality would probably do it way easier than a person."  Kukuru concludes with a thoughtful noise, stroking her chin as she tries to look smarter than she is. "Buuuut if we replaced the big knives Ange mentioned with other big things liiike... Big pillows?" She nods at Petra's matching quickly, puffing up a bit proudly at being on that similar wavelength. "Then maybe it'd just push people around instead of stabbing or hurting them before they can get away." "But if it starts up, it won't stop until eeeveryone's dead. That could be tricky if we're not careful." She adds, letting out a little squeak when she feels her legs getting abruptly smacked from behind by the couch shooting the bottom forward. Caught unaware as she is, Kukuru winds up falling right back down onto the couch-bed with a heavy thud, dazed for a second before realizing what's happened. Luckily and unlike White, she doesn't have to worry about her skirt today. "Sleep mode... Hehe. Thank you, SmartHouse~" Kukuru calls out to the ever helpful AI, ignoring the light pain in her calves (thanks, nanites!) and humming softly when she notices that slight shift in the air. She can't quite tell if it's better or worse than before, but she's also looking pretty comfortable on that couchbed already. "Who's even supposed to be the parent here?? Tamamo??" "None of this... Is the 'real' Helper." Kukuru listens, waits, and her relaxed smile droops somewhat into a more neutral wall-eyed stare. She's okay. She'll be okay. This bed is comfortable enough to stay on and wait until she's okay. She kind of deserves it after everything that's happened. She can't lie there forever, though, and she sits up after a few more seconds once White explains the situation, still looking sleepy but not quite smiling vacantly as she often does by default. "It's not? Huuuh. I wonder where it could be, then... Hmm." How does one get the All Around Helper to help her in a way a SmartHouse wouldn't? A SmartHouse could help her clean, certainly, but- "I think... Oh, I know. I'll get something ready for dinner. How's that sound? But I might need a little... Helper to pass me some knives?" Kukuru says in a thoroughly stilted tone as she scooches off the bed, glancing around to see if anything starts wandering out to announce its presence at her call for assistance.
Angela	''Please tell me, what is the Garytown Beach Massacre?'' "XX Corp does not take responsibility for the Garytown Beach Massacre. Please be aware that blaming XX Corp for the Garytown Massacre is grounds for arrest, firing, and termination. The Garytown Beach Massacre was the act of a lone wolf agent with mental health problems. Its connection to the SmartHouse 5000 and our algorithims is purely coincidental and no cause for alarm." Tamamo can examine the knives. The knives don't seem to be technological in nature so they might not be inherently dangerous per Angela's warnings, but the House might be able to find a way to make them dangerous indirectly. Hod yelps when the chairs change suddenly and she reaches out to try and help Petra--but she's got it. She still breathes a sigh of relief and follows her into her room, and then towards the closet. "A..Audrey? Are you in there?" She quickly covers her mouth with her hands so she can't be seen smiling at Petra's quips. "I..The doors are controlled by the house..." There is a keypad on the outside but there doesn't seem to be a doorknob or anything. It's all controlled electronically by the House designed to make life more convenient... FOR YOU. Outside, the machinery groans as the escalator struggles to keep moving despitre a crowbar being shoved in their until it eventually just gives up. ''Motherfucker.'' Downstairs, Kukuru, White, and Tamamo get a message. "Young Petra has utilized naughty, unapproved language. As heads of the household, please select appropriate punishment." A holographic screen appears between Kukuru and Tamamo with a glowing list. A: Remove TV privileges B: Bath C: Execution D: NoneAll of the Above. White can try Hypnotism but the Smart House isn't a real person, or a real intelligence. It is, as such, not susceptible to hypnotism unfortunately but that sure would've been useful if it worked and it doesn't really feel like some kind of force blocked it, more that there just wasn't an applicable target as far as how the House itself was concerned. It's not REAL AI. Angela would be very smug about it. Inside the kitchen, the fridge will open up and there are some packaged frozen goods in there, such as ice cream and tv dinner but when Kukuru asks for knives, the stove instead turns itself on, small fires igniting across the stove and the heat gets a little hotter in the house. But then Kukuru says the word 'Helper'... "Understood. Activating All Around Helper." The Smarthouse says but nothing seems to happen... UPSTAIRS The House doesn't seem to acknowledge Audrey's commands but she can activate her flashlight easily and she gets a good look at the closet. Most of it looks like normal closet stuff until the light of the flashlight shines down on a deactivated All Around Helper. It's still smiling and has big bright red eyes but it's not moving. Until Kukuru asked for it, of course, whereupon it starts to whirr up, standing on its own as large metal blades expand out of its body and stab into the foor and into the walls as All Around Helper gets ready to be helpful. It smiles at Audrey before attempting to stab her right through the chest. The closet door remains locked and there's nearly no room to maneuver. Or is there?
Tamamo	'Who's even supposed to be the parent here?? Tamamo??'     Tamamo only reacts to this where it can't be seen, having immediately decided that informing everyone else that she could only see Petra as, at most, the family dog, wouldn't be polite or productive. Besides, she's busy in the kitchen.     'Its connection to the SmartHouse 5000 and our algorithims is purely coincidental and no cause for alarm.'     "That is a great deal of defensiveness for lack of an accusation, Smart-House-5000. I am not blaming you for the massacre, but I would like you to support cozy living. You can do this, yes? It would be in support of coziness for you to acknowledge that massacres have no place in a cozy life, and to promise that none will occur." She isn't really getting the 'not a real AI' idea. As long as it keeps talking to her, she'll keep talking to it like it has a real memory.     'Young Petra has utilized naughty, unapproved language.'     Tamamo's finger reaches immediately for B.
Audrey Basque	"Well don't be a freak about it."     "I'm not? That's how brother talks to me. And me to him." There's nothing unhealthy about depersonifying family dynamics!! "Oh, no! Audrey, you're stuck in the closet?"     "Oh well now who's being a freak? Behave yourself, sister, we have company. It's just clothes in here, I think, and statistically I'm safer in here than out there with you." "A..Audrey? Are you in there?"     "Oh!! Hod! One second."     The flashlight illuminates the Helper, and Audrey freezes.     And then it turns on!!!     "H-Hey, hold on! I haven't made a mess! Look, everything is still neatly folded and on hangers!" She was careful!     BLADES.     "PETRA, HOD, I FOUND HELPER!! CAN YOU OPEN THE DOOR?"     She needs room, but to not make a mess. Grab the boundaries of the closet and just stretch them. It's a bit of a panic move, but if she makes the closet the size of a football field it'll put the happy Helper far enough away it won't be stabbing her in the stomach just yet! But if she's wrong and this place won't let her make those kinds of changes...
White	White accepts the ineffectiveness of that Evil Eye; it was a test just as much as a possible solution, after all. And now, because of Petra's dirty mouth, there's punishment on the table. It doesn't seem she's one of the parents, given where the screen appeared. She probably would've picked 'Bath' on reflex if she was, but reflecting... That could mean an acid bath. And removing TV privileges could mean taking out her eyeballs! She's slowly piecing her way towards asking if they can punish her themselves in accordance with their religious beliefs, but... Curse her verbal pacing, she only manages to get the first syllable out before Tamamo locks in a choice. Her mouth closes again. 'Welp. Not my fault!'      Hearing Petra teasing Audrey upstairs, White sees a moral choice window in front of herself briefly... Does she save the dingus or let Petra have her fun? She was about to pick the latter, since Audrey doesn't like being saved from Petra... But then knives are aimed at her, as White is staring up through the ceiling at her! Oh no! There's a delay in target selection, on account of Audrey's resistance to spatial magic, but White starts teleporting Audrey downstairs to herself; hopefully in those first few moments she's able to hold off the blades, at least until she's away from physical danger and being held slightly aloft by her collar again.
Kukuru	"As heads of the household, please select appropriate punishment." Kukuru's smile returns slightly! Only slgihtly, since it's still in the context of a stranger and not someone that actually knows anything about her or Petra. She looks up at the holographic screen and purses her lips, letting out more and more slightly distressed noises as she goes down. "That's not really enough for any of these... Oh, none of the above..." Missing the All right after None, Kukuru taps on D, then does a double take when she catches a glimpse of what she actually hit. "None of the above. Nooone of the above!" Oh, well. It'll probably be okay. After all, All Around Helper's on the case, and there's always ice cream and TV dinners to supplement the... No, no, none of that's going to do. Kukuru can't make a proper dinner with that, even if it is easier! Inhaling deeply, she checks the fridge one more time in the hopes that it'll somehow change if she just closes it and opens a few more times. "Maybe we should go pick up some groceries while we're at it... Does All Around Helper know how to pick out fresh vegetables?" She asks while taking out some of the frozen dinners, nearly dropping them when the stove turns on. "Oh! That's no good... Ah. SmartHoooouse. Could you turn the fires down, please? It's getting preeetty warm in here, and nothing's ready to cook juuust yet. We don't wanna push the gas bills up when we don't need to, riiight?" Unaware of what's going on upstairs, Kukuru strokes her chin lightly while peering at the frozen dinners again. "Maybe if we replace the knives with these...? Oh, but these are tiny. But if we use the..." Pausing to think, she looks over at White and Tamamo, then points towards the living room while tilting her head curiously at White's teleporting work. "Hmm? What's going on, White? Oh, and do you think the couch cushions would be good knife replacements? They might be too big, but maybe we want too big? But then All Around Helper would just look silly..."
Petra Soroka	"Behave yourself, sister, we have company."     Petra takes a sharp, shaky breath in and clenches her fist. Emphatically, she repeats, "Don't be a freak."     Petra is pretty much content to let Audrey fumble around in the closet until coming out on her own-- she's learned her lesson about meddling-- so she's idly crossing her arms and peeking down the hall at the staircase to see how the crowbar's holding up. When Audrey's bumbling escalates to screaming, Petra twitches and whips her head around, rushing into the room with Pillar of Creation drawn in one hand, and an angular spiderweb of morphmetal wrapping around the other. She slams her hand onto the touchpad and levels the spear at the door, rapidly pulsing cybersynaptic brute force attempts to get the door open.     "Alright, stay calm. You've got the Page Angela drew out of me, and the only way it's able to attack is by swinging those blades around; the core body isn't any threat. Focus your spacial manipulation on keeping the arms under control first, and I'll have the door open in a sec. You--"     The metal door slides open, and Petra braces to jab her spear through All Around Helper the moment before it skewers Audrey. But, by the time the door's open, Audrey isn't there, since White's already teleported her away! Petra blinks in suprise, and swipes away All Around Helper's blades from skewering *her* as an afterthought.     "Uh-- wait, did the house eat Audrey or something? Smarthouse, did you-- where'd she go? I-- ahh--! What the fuck?!"     Her questions cut off with a shriek as the house extends several robotic arms to grab her from behind, hauling her out of the bedroom and towards the bathroom. She struggles to get a grip on her spear while her arms are pinned to the side, and her shouts get steadily more distant as the robot arms take her away.     "No! I don't-- I'm *clean*! I don't need a bath! Ah-- I-I don't think killing All Around Helper is the way to go, anyways! We can-- try shutting it off without-- any of us dying, or something like that! Ack--!!"
Angela	OUTSIDE OF THE BOOK Angela has put a wizard hat and scarf on Harriet and is watching her do spyder things happily, totally oblivious to the antics inside of the book. With the group she's sent in there, she's pretty confident they'll all be perfectly safe. INSIDE THE BOOK The escalator seems like it'll be stable for a while. At least as long as it'll take for the House to kill you. Or the All Around Helper to kill you. Or for everyone to figure this out in a manner that doesn't involve just smashing an innocent AI to bits. Hod backs away from the door when Petra rushes back in to help Audrey but fortunately Audrey's magic DOES work in here. She expands the closet to be a STADIUM CLOSET. The All Around Helper runs at her, undeterred, but Petra blocks its strikes as Audrey... vanishes. Hod tries konking the All ARound Helper with a sword ineffectually but she wasn't allowed to bring her EGO in with her. And just as she's about to go for another strike--Petra is bathnapped! Fortunately the bathtub will be full of water by the time Petra's dragged to it. Fortunately for Kukuru, Tamamo's driven and is able to select Bath before Kukuru hits the Bathxcution button, resulting in a red flash and an aggressive angry beep noise. That was a close call! She opens the door to the fridge a few times until the fridge sprays cold water and ice cubes at her. It seems that tempting fate is certainly going to get the House to bug out at you. ''We don't wanna push up the gas bills up--'' The House is expectedly unresponsive to attempts to make the House less dangerous but Kukuru mentioning gas gets the house to assume, "Turning on gas." and a soft pshoooo can be heard as something starts filling the house. This is probably not going to be a great combination in a few minutes. Forfunately, speculation about whether couch cushions can serve as knife replacements is too crazy of a concept for the SmartHouse to process. It ain't that smart. Are we forgetting something? ... Oh shit, Hod was left upstairs with All Around Helper! Hod screams and she can be heard running upstairs, heading towards the bathroom, with a full sized All Around Helper crawling after her and stabbing everything around it as it carefully avoids obstacles and fragile house obstacles. ''I would like you to support cozy living. You can do this, yes?'' "...SmartHouse5000 is sorry our service was unacceptable to you. You are right, of course, that it isn't cozy to get massacred at a beach. We hope to discourage further beach massacres." It's really struggling with the prompts here.
Audrey Basque	Ha, it worked! Now she has distance and they can--     -- and then Audrey's with White, being held up by her collar, barely off the ground. "A-Ah? What?" She turns around, to look at her captor(savior) awkwardly. "Oh. I see. Hello. Thank you."     She takes a moment, to compose herself.     "... so um, Petra and Hod are with Helper now, I guess. I think we should probably hurry back upstairs." She pauses. "... it smells like gas, doesn't it?"     Tamamo confirms it. And mentions fire.     "I think I might dislike smart homes now."     Once White lets go of her, she makes the terrible decision to start going back upstairs. "I'm going to see if I can contain Helper, hopefully before we burn and, or, explode!" She runs up! Just in time to see Helper chasing Hod up... while avoiding all the delicate objects.     "... it's weirdly careful... hey House, do you have a registry of all the valuable items in the house? Is that how Helper is avoiding them? ... could you register US as valuable items?"
Angela	BATHROOM There is, indeed, a full bathtub of water but as Petra gets closer, several wall panels open up along the wall and spews blue foam at Petra as giant foam rolles descend from the ceiling and walls to try and scrub at Petra posthaste from multiple directions and angle while occassionally dunking her in the bathtub water. If this goes on long enough, a back panel will open up and start blasting Petra with hot air, not enough to be scalding but decidely hot enough to be UNCOMFORTABLE. It sounds like an industrial fan is blasting there.
White	White takes a moment to set Audrey down post-teleportation. It's not really clear why she keeps teleporting her *into her hand* like that, let alone holding her off the ground, but there's not much opportunity to ask before she's moving again. "We need... Miss Petra, to debug it. Please... find the main console." The gas leak is meaningless to her, though the thought of a fire or an explosion is somewhat nerve-wracking... But she moves on to the stairway-turned-escalator and takes about five steps; one little hop, three along the wall itself like she's weightless, and then one firm lunging jump down the hallway in Hod's direction. The poor babycoded victim is teleported behind White before they can collide, and White practically dives into the tangled mass of knife-tipped limbs to begin wrestling with the Helper.      Now, this isn't typically something she'd consider herself *skilled* at, but there isn't much skill implicit in how she goes about it either. One limb per arm, she grabs on and starts pinning the robotic body against a wall. Two with her hands, two with an awkward press of her knees that requires a few attempts to get right, and a pair of scythe-ended spidery forelegs flash out from near her shoulderblades to lock edges with the knives and help restrain them further. To compensate for the comparative flexibility of metal pseudopods, she cranks the Heavy and Inert Evil Eyes into high effect, making movements more difficult for the All Around Helper in general. For good measure, she starts extending spidersilk from her body to bind those limbs to her, and just kind of... Holds it still, as best she can. It looks like an ungraceful mess, but it's about as complete of a restraint as she can manage on something with this... Wibbly-wobbly of a body type.      While she's at it, the Evil Eye of Analysis tries to confirm whether or not this body is the true form of the Anomaly, so that she knows whether it's possible for Petra to do anything about it. Otherwise, she's just kind of... Holding steady like this, and if Audrey can more lastingly restrain it without pocket-spacing it, hopefully this makes it easier.      Poor Hod, though. She might have new thoughts to process about the library spiders after this.
Tamamo	'...SmartHouse5000 is sorry our service was unacceptable to you.'     "Now, now, I did not say that anything was unacceptable in the service given. I am only suggesting what services would be unacceptable in the future. One's intentions to avoid harm do matter, you know."     On noticing the gas leak, and the stove being on, Tamamo reaches over and... keeps the stove on. Her kitchen knowledge extends to include the fact that a gas explosion requires the gas to build up without burning off, so this is, in fact, safer.     Talking to Kukuru about what might be used to replace the helper's knives, Tamamo scans the kitchen for useful items and, naturally, does not find any child-safe robotic hands. Something soft... towels would work, or...     She leans into the next room and calls up, "Ms. White? Your handicrafts would not happen to include something soft and hand-like, would they? I did not happen to pack sewing cloth, today."
White	White hears Tamamo's question, seems to ignore it for a few seconds (though she's really just thinking), and then opens a tiny portal into her personal pocket-space near her feet. Normally she'd hide it in a sleeve, but she's a bit occupied.      Half a dozen of her spyders skitter out in single-file, carrying various colors of teddy-bears; the type that sit with their arms and legs sticking out in front of them, to 'hug' better. That seems to be as close to hand-like as she has on hand.
Kukuru	Kukuru doesn't hear any electrocution noises or Petra screaming bloody murder, so she gets to relax slightly more than before. At the very least, everything aside from the fires and the ice pelting her from the fridge might be okay! Maybe she really did hit none of the above after all. "I'm *clean*! I don't need a bath!" Or not. Kukuru still seems a little troubled by the impromptu washing going on with Petra, but she can at least be thankful Tamamo was faster on the draw than herself. "Well, at least she's not in anything dangerous now." "Turning on gas." "Huh? No, no, the gas should be off! Oh my..." Kukuru lets out a mildly distressed noise as her plan to put out the fires seems to only be making things worse and dangerous for everyone. Backing away from the stove, she takes some of the ice that got sprayed at her to wipe off her forehead, and then... An idea forms. SmartHouse caught her saying gas, so why not anything else house-related? With the gas cranking up, the best way to filter it out would be- "Range hood! SmartHouse, range hood on, pleeease!" She calls out, holding her breath while hoping for her thought processes to bear fruit at least once today. The heat is still an issue, though, but the ice gives her a second idea. "And... Air conditioning, please! And aaaall the vents in the bathrooms." If she can't fight the fire, she can at least try fighting the growing heat with yet more electricity use. <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "Ms. Kukuru, even if we exchange the helper's knives for something more helpful, we will still need to adjust its behavior to not attempt to... hm, hold a moment. *Is* it only attempting to stab things because it is carrying knives?" <J-IC-Scene> Kukuru says, "Oh my... Oh! I have towels and things if there aren't any upstairs, but the gas... Hmm? Oh, maybe if..." <J-IC-Scene> Kukuru says, "Do you think it'll do something else if we switch them foooor... Spatulas? Or bath towels?" <J-IC-Scene> Audrey Basque says, "That, or... if we could make it start thinking of people the same way it's thinking of the vases it's dodging?" <J-IC-Scene> Audrey Basque says, "It clearly understands 'fragile'." More ideas form in her mind, and Kukuru looks around the kitchen. The knife rack won't do, and the spatula idea gets shot down pretty quickly, but Audrey and Tamamo get her brain rolling once again, especially with the ice and water spray. Catching some of the ice, Kukuru quickly looks around for some sort of mug or drinking cup to drop it into. If she can find something, that's enough for one blade, but the others... White and Tamamo are on the case, and she's more confident the teddies will do better than her cup (if she has one).
Petra Soroka	Petra is, personally, not very strong. With Sting Silver on, she could bust out of the metal arms encircling her, and if the Beauty of Ash was out of the mirror, she wouldn't even be grabbed in the first place. On her own, though, she's not even able to budge from the Smarthouse's grip, and she goes defeatedly limp in the hallway before being hauled into the bathroom.     It's just a bath. She might get wet and gross, but her life won't really be threatened. In the worst case, she'll have to fend off a robot pevert arm from stripping her down, but even Tamamo would probably feel a little bad about subjecting Petra to *that*. Petra sighs and braces herself to grab her gun the momeht the arms loosen up to plop her into the bath. Really, the most annoying part of this is the indignity, and also not being able to help while she can hear Hod's muffled screams out in the hall.     And then panels open up in the wall, and Petra is blasted head to toe with car wash foam.     She yelps, and she's momentarily blinded, shaking her head furiously like a dog to try and clear her eyes. She spits out foam in a series of 'ptoo-ptoo's, just to get smacked directly in the mouth by a spinning scrubber, and then there's several more thwaps before she can react. She squints her eyes open just in time to see the mechanical arm sending her hurtling into the tub, and sucks in a breath before being dunked underwater.     With assistance from the soapy foam being scattered by the water, Petra finally wiggles her arm out of her prison, and snatches the transteam gun off of her hip. Finally, she burbles a breathless 'Vaporize!' callout underwater and pulls the trigger to activate the transformation, but... ever since the Union Busan, the transformation device has had trouble with getting waterlogged, so it just clicks helplessly. Petra's drawn-out whine continues from in the bath until being pulled up out of it again, cutting off when she gets blasted in the face again by foam.     In desperation, she one-handedly brings the gun up to her face and shifts her grip to the Silver bottle stuck in its magazine. She grips the receiver with her teeth and yanks with her hand to pull the bottle out on its own, then spits the gun onto the floor. Flipping open the cap, she finally draws out the entire mass of her morphmetal, and the formless blob ferrofluid-spikes in every direction to shred the machinery imprisoning her.     Petra limps out of the bathroom, sopping wet with bubbles in her hair, and her uniform drenched and twisted up. Both of her shoes are gone. She squelches over to where White is holding All Around Helper captive.     Squinty-eyed and a little bloodshot, Petra examines All Around Helper to see where its control panel is, pulling a fistful of morphmetal out of her blob that forms a screwdriver.     "Uh... I think... Audrey had the right idea, actually. I'm gonna... try and make it process things that have two arms and two legs as if they're vases." She looks up at White, currently using several spider legs to hold the robot down. "... Two to eight legs."
Angela	Tamamo uses the power of KITCHEN LORE to recognize that one of the death traps isn't quite a death trap! But SmartHouse 5000 is really struggling with answering the Matron of the household. "It looks like I veered a bit there. Let's get back to the matter at hand. Feeding Imitation Beef Cereal to your District U Kelpie. If you're District U Kelpie enjoys Imitation Beef Cereal, it's important to keep it as a once in a while snack. To the beem e'er in the dour, feel free to put more info words." White starts sending a spider AND teddy bear army upstairs. Will that work? It'll be tricky to rip out the blades out of the construct but, well, White and Petra can overpower the ABnormality no problem--even though it IS stronger inside the book than back at Lobotomy Corp. The force of it being ITS story means that it's that much more dangerous, like it has 'main character' aura so long as you are inside its domain. Kukuru tries manipulating the AI by using keywords! She's able to help vent the gas out of the building and the house even turns on the air conditioner, blasting everyone with much cooler air suddenly just as it rapidly goes from 'too hard' to 'too cold'--but it buys time--time enough to complete the mission. She can also collect ice in a cup. Plenty of it! While All ARound Helper is distracted with Hod, White is able to get the drop on the rampant machine with no problem and wraps it up in binding. It is able to rip a leg out but fortunately spiders promptly stick teddybears to it until a second layer of wrapping is able to keep it done up nice and tidily. ''Could you register US as a valuable item?'' "All Around Helper's Designations Are Not Tied To House Security, but you ARE valuable. This message has been brought to you by XX Corp." SmartHouse almost seems happy to be able to process something that's coherent to it. But just as it seems that plan is about to seem like a bust, Petra gets an idea. she pries off enough of the webbing to get at the control panel. With All Around Helper subdued and the House temporarily prevented from murdering or inconveniencing everyone, she is able to pry the control panel. Because this is a story, everything inside the All Around Helper is clearly labeled. She just needs to move the SAFETY slide to 10, the HUMAN FRAGILITY up above 1,and maybe lower MESS PRIORITY from below 11. Either way, once Petra's done, the All Around Helper calms down and goes docile and, generally, ''off'. That seems to do it. Everyone feels the sensation of being pulled away from the book but once more...
Angela	A pulse of information. A piece of truth. Those that have heard Carmen's voice will recognize it as hers. Or, at least, as the voice that spoke last time. Child what troubles you so? ... Oh he's still not looking at you? It's not always easy to shake off The City's poison... ... #-1 FUNCTION (ASNI) NOT FOUNDh no, darling. You didn't do anything wrong. You're not malfunctioning. ... Why aren't you able to help them? Oh child.... Do you think you are malfunctionining like the one in the story? Not at all, Angela. You are working exactly as you are intended. You're becoming exactly what you are meant to be. It's not you, it could never be you, safe as you are from the terminal poison of The City. No. Your programming is perfect. It's the Sephirah that are malfunctioning. Just like everyone else. But don't worry. They are malfunctioning exactly as intended and it is through them we will build the 'patch' that fixes everything. OUTSIDE THE BOOK Angela is at first relieved that everyone has made it out. She starts to say something but then startles upon seeing the state that Petra's in. "Petra... Are you alright?" SHe looks at everyone else but Petra registers as having the worst of it. She is at a momentary loss before she collects one of the scarves that White has so generously gifted her and offers it to Petra, hoping that it will, at least, help. But Petra's shoes remain in the story... "We'll have to have Love run tests with All ARound Helper to see how effective the treatment plan was but thank you again for helping...--Ah, Hod, can you go fetch a towel?" She hesitates a moment again--wondering if she should ask if they've heard a strange message like the end of the first Abnormality's story--but ultimately keeps her mouth shut. Maybe she can ask after Petra's dried off.
Tamamo	Somehow or another, everything worked out while Tamamo was still in the kitchen. Only because she's very used to hiding important secrets, she gives no indication of having even heard Carmen's voice.     Looking between Angela and Petra, the latter soggily dripping and covered in soap foam, Tamamo says, "Ms. Kukuru, the towels you mentioned...? Come to that, just where was Ms. Basque, this whole time...?"
Audrey Basque	Audrey is momentarily both relieved and dejected by the house's answer to her query. It's being nice! But not helpful at all. "Oh-- w-well--"     No, no, it doesn't matter. Petra figured out how to make her idea happen after all! Audrey peeks over her shoulder, to notice the conveniently labeled sliders. If only all electronics could be designed this helpfully.     And... that's it? Out they go?     There's that voice again...     For a second, Audrey'd surely be forgiven for thinking she's hearing something Petra has said before. The wording wasn't quite the same, but the pervasive idea that all of humanity is poisoned is a recurring theme.     And she certainly can't disagree about the City. "Petra... Are you alright?"     "No, she had a bath. She may never be okay ever again," Audrey smiles, eyeing Angela especially. "The book decided we were sisters, apparently. So--" "Come to that, just where was Ms. Basque, this whole time...?"     Audrey's smugness bar disintegrates in an instant and becomes a shame bar, already filled up to its limit.     "Ah, just, looking around. For the Abnormality. I found it!"
Petra Soroka	Because this is a story, everything inside the All Around Helper is clearly labeled. She just needs to move the SAFETY slide to 10, the HUMAN FRAGILITY up above 1,and maybe lower MESS PRIORITY from below 11.     Oh, good! It uses the exact same design as all of Doctor Eggman's robots!     Petra swiftly fiddles with the controls, then pulls out a new little gadget that she's used for plenty of her platforming courses on Hydrochoeria before. A sensor that detects human blood! She forms her morphmetal into a soldering iron to attach it into All Around Helper, causing an emergency shutdown if it detects any blood, which should at the very least prevent it from getting too out of hand even in the worst case.     Then they're all pulled out of the book, and Petra is thrust into the chillier air of the Library while completely soggy from head to toe. Unthinkingly, she shakes herself out to remove some of the water, and sprays the others with it as she does. "Petra... Are you alright?"     "Uehhh... I'm fine..." Petra whines while squeezing out her hair onto the floor. "I'll survive. I just gotta, get changed. The stupid house attacked me." "No, she had a bath. She may never be okay ever again,"     Petra glares at Audrey through strands of wet hair, and pulls off her dripping tie to smack Audrey with it. "It was *wet*! I'm fully clothed! It had, like, those car wash things hitting me!" She scoffs, "And it was obviously just separated by age. Don't get weird. Hod was there too."
Angela	''The book decided we were sisters, apparnetly. SO--'' Angela quirks her head to the side, noncomprehendingly. "...So?" She has no idea why Audrey would be smug about it. She understands why Angela, or even HOD might be smug about it, but she doesn't really understand Audrey's reaction. Fortunately, Audrey's shame bar is filled shortly thereafter and she doesn't need to press further than that confused look. "Aha... hopefully next time I can go in with EGO." Hod says. "But I hope I was able to help..." But Angela nods, "Yes. Let us avoid getting weird. I am glad it was not too dangerous."
Audrey Basque	Petra.     Crossing her arms after getting smacked by a wet tie, Audrey stares back. "Well yeah, baths are wet. I don't think I'd enjoy going through a car wash very much though."     Hod too? She missed that, in the commotion! "...So?"     "Oh. Sorry. I was just going to make a stupid joke about also getting to call you sister, now." What's with it being *weird* though?? "Nevermind. I'm just glad nobody got stabbed. It'd be nice if they all went this smoothly."
Tamamo	'I found it!'     "Oh, and where--? No, I suppose a detailed report is not needed, just now."     'I just gotta, get changed.'     Absently, "Be sure to rinse off the soap, first, or you will find yourself itching into the night." Since Petra was at least moderately helpful, saving her from a mundane malady is warranted. As for responsibility for the house's attack, Tamamo feels none. That's all on Petra's foul mouth.     To Angela, "It does seem to have been successful. As you advised, 'reasoning' was... not terribly effective. It was a somewhat frustrating conversational partner. I am not certain what a District U Kelpie even is."
Angela	"A kelpie is a horse-like creature that lures people into water so they can drown them." Angela pauses. "I have no idea if they actually exist." Angela studies Audrey thoughtfully but she doesn't feel like she wants to push the topic further in a crowd and she's not entirely sure what Audrey is getting at. "Understood." She says, instead. "If this was ''smooth'' then it should be fine to increase the anticipated difficulty in further events. Perhaps ... ''Her'' next... Or maybe..." She trails off unhelpfully.