No Stars In The Sky

QUINN OUR BELOVED!!! (We changed our username from eventide-triptych to eventide-paradox, so we didn't get pinged- I'm happy that this came up on my feed regardless- :D)

A look of concern quickly spreads across Quinn's face. "...Y-yeah- do you want me to get you a medkit or something? That...that looks painful, to say the least-" They wouldn't wait for an answer, instead immediately beginning to rummage through the various cabinets and lockers in the room in search of anything they could use to patch the mutant creature up.

"I know how regeneration works, ya know- just because you can heal doesn't mean it won't hurt. And yeah, you may not be my responsibility, but that doesn't mean I can't help you out- here we go!" Quinn pulls a medkit out of a drawer, a bright smile on their face. "Here we go- do you mind if I patch you up, or are you able to do it yourself?"

Quinn nods, pulling their backpack off of their back and setting it down on the ground. They'd rummage through the bag, pulling out a bag of beef jerky and a can of beans. "I- uh- don't know what you're able to eat- hopefully you can have these?" They'd offer the can and bag to Jett.

"Yeah- that's definitely convenient, especially down here." Quinn smiles softly at Jett. "No problem- just trying to do some good down here. Gods know it's needed."

"Oh- I'm okay- just didn't expect to see anyone in here, ya know?" They smile at the aquatic mutant. "I'm Quinn- what's your name?"

"Oh okay..! I'm Artemis. It's uh.. nice to meet you.."

"Nice to meet ya too, Artemis." Quinn would approach slowly, not sure how the mutant feels about other people. "So...how're ya doing?"

"Oh- yeah, it can be pretty scary down here...how long were you asleep?" Quinn cocks their head to the side.

"That's the problem. I don't know how long.."

"...Oh..." Quinn taps their chin with one finger. "Well...you don't know what happened, right? I...I could explain, if you want-"

"If you could that would be nice! All I remember anyways is almost being experimented on again before whatever happened here.."

"Okay..." Quinn sits down on a nearby chair, taking a deep breath. "So...I'm not really clear on the details, but...do you know of a guy named Sebastian Solace?"

"Well I've heard of him before! Never met him though."

"Well..." Quinn takes a deep breath. "He's one of the experiments here. One day, I...I guess he got fed up- makes sense, honestly- and he started something of a riot. He set a good chunk of the entities free, caused a site-wide lockdown, and that's sorta how we got to how we are now. He'd probably be able to explain it better- he's honestly a really great guy, once you get to know him." Quinn's face warms a bit as they give Artemis a small smile. "Basically- Urbanshade's been sending people down here to try to retrieve the Crystal that powers this whole site, and we don't want that to happen- that's the gist of it, anyways. Again, Seb could probably explain it better than I could-"

"Yeah...I don't like Urbanshade either." Quinn shakes their head, scowling at the mention of the megacorporation that owned the Blacksite. "But yeah, Sebastian's great! Maybe I could take you to meet him sometime, actually- if you want, of course!"

"I wouldn't mind meeting him at some point! It would make me less lonely too."

Quinn nods, a bright smile on their face. "Alright! He's got some friends that I'm sure would like you too!"

"Friends..? I haven't had friends in quite a while now.. but I'll be happy to meet them when I do!"

"Well...I could be your friend? I-if you'd be okay with that, of course!"

"Yes of course! Then you'd be my first friend here in a while!"

Quinn's smile grows even brighter. "Well, I'm honored to call myself your friend, Artemis!" Quinn holds out a hand for a handshake.

"Oh, that's fine! I've met plenty of entities and creatures down here- I'm not exactly fully human either, if I'm being honest-"

"Did something happen to you here to not be fully human..?"

"...Not here. Something happened to me, yeah, but...it was before I came here. I don't remember much, but...I at least remember that." They pull down the red scarf around their neck, revealing heavy scarring...and a pair of gills set into the side of their neck. They leave it on display for a couple of seconds before pulling the scarf back up, hiding the scars and gills once again.

"Y-yeah, it can get a bit confusing..." They tap their chin with one finger. "Hm...about three months, maybe? It's a bit hard to tell time down here- but it's been at least two months, probably more."

"That's quite a while then. I'd try to remember how long I've been here for myself but I really don't remember anything except for how I was treated by someone.."

"How you were...treated by someone?" Quinn cocks their head to the side.

"Well.. Minty, as I remember them, constantly did those experiments on me that made me look like what I do now. They didn't care when I was trying to get them to stop the pain I had gone through.."

"...Minty? I...don't know who that is, but...they don't sound like a very good person, that's for sure." Quinn's smile morphs into a scowl, their teeth showing to be just slightly too sharp.

"They aren't a good person at all.. they're one of those people that worked for Urbanshade."

"...Yeah- that checks out- "Urbanshade Employee" and "Good person" don't exactly go hand in hand-"

"Yes but I don't remember what I did for that to even happen. I really hope it's not that bad.. :("

"H-hey, I'm sure you couldn't have done anything too bad! Urbanshade has a lot of prisoners that haven't actually done anything- it's completely possible that you were framed, or that they just took you off the streets!" Quinn smiles at Artemis, attempting to reassure the fish mutant.

"...I'm sorry, I really don't know much- oh! All of the entities here have files...maybe we could find yours? If we can find your file, we'll know what you did to be sent here!" Quinn's smile brightens.

"Well we can try find the file then.. no clue where those files are though.."

"Hm...well- if I can get access to one of the facility's primary computers, I could probably access the entity files- they're usually in the security rooms for each sector of the Blacksite. I just...don't really know where those rooms are-" A sheepish look crosses the more humanoid entity's face.

"I have no idea where those rooms are either. I'm just typically keeping myself to one place."

"Oh- hm...maybe we could ask Sebastian? Or...maybe his friend P.ai.nter? Those two know their way around the facility really well!"

"We can go to either of those two then! Though I still have no clue where either of them are.."

“Well, just follow me! I’ll bring ya to ‘em!”

"Okay let's go!"

"Hello!"

He waved a hand, "hello and welcome."

"So are you the Sebastian person my friend was talking about?"

"Yes I am," he held his hands together and cocked his head to the side, "and you are?"

"Well I'm Artemis!"

He nodded, "nice to meet you Artemis."

"It's nice to meet you too Sebastian!"

He nodded, "I assume you were brought here either for rest or to find something rather specific?"

"Well to try explain, I forgot what I did to end up as this and I'm trying to find out what had happened to me.."

"Ah, do you remember what your designation was? What the scientists and guards called you?"

"..no I don't have the best memory so I don't exactly remember what they called me."

"Well that could make this difficult, but I will do my best to find your file if I have the physical one on hand, otherwise P.ai.nter here will have to search the digital files."

"Well thank you for wanting to help me!"

"Of course, we're all on the same side here (besides the straggling urbanshade employees, but of course you knew that already)."

Quinn simply nods, smiling.

He cocked his head to the side, "as fine as one can get down here, do you want some wall dweller, Friend managed to take one down with the broken locker door they carry around."

"Wall Dweller? I mean- sure, don't mind if I do-"

"Great, and because it wasn't partially eaten by an angler we have more this time," he just grinned.

Quinn smiles back, their mouth watering. They may not have any need to eat, but that doesn't mean that they don't get hungry. "Well- should I just follow you? I assume we're going to your shop to eat-"

He nodded, then slithered back off towards the shop, his tail fin just dragging behind him.

Quinn followed after Sebastian, a bright smile on their face. "So- how've you all been doing?"

"Pretty well i'd say- making decent progress on my plans and the expendables seem to be running out of flash beacons for the time being."

"That's great!" Quinn's smile widens as they walk alongside Sebastian. "And the others? Are they all okay?"

He nodded, "as far as they've told me they are."

"That's great!" They look around as they continue walking. "I've been doing pretty well too- been doing some painting, as you probably saw-"

"I did see, and it looked nice"

"O-oh- thanks!" They look away for a moment- they're not exactly used to compliments lol- "I like to paint skyscapes- they're calming, and it's not like we can see the real thing down here...it's not the best substitute, but hey, i-it's something, right?" Their voice grows a little bit shaky there, almost as if wordlessly asking for approval, or something of the sort.

"You and p.ai.nter will probably get along very well," he smiled.

"Yep," he returned the smile, "you learn fast."

"Not that far, it'll only be a couple minutes"

Quinn nods, continuing to walk. "Are P.ai.nter and your friend there?"

"Just friend, P.ai.nter can't eat"

"Oh- yeah, fair enough-" Quinn shrugs. "So- is Friend their name? That's interesting-"

"No, but their name is You, yes you as in y-o-u, so we just call them Friend instead."

"Ah- fair enough, not the strangest name I've heard-" Quinn shrugs once again, continuing onwards. "You said they took out a Wall Dweller with a locker door? I'm impressed-"

"Theyve had practice, get all the practice in the world when you can't die (permanently) of course."

Quinn nods. "Makes sense- revival does come in handy, even if death isn't exactly the most comfortable of sensations-"

He nodded, "I think we're almost there-"

Quinn smiles as they enter the room. "Through that vent, right?"

He nodded, "yep," he coiled up slightly to let them go through first.

Quinn nods back before crawling into the vent, going through in order to enter Sebastian’s shop.

Once Quinn was through he slithered his way into the shop as well (though it was a struggle due to his size).

"Well- here we are- where's Friend?"

Quinn looks over, giving Friend a wave. "Heya!"