middleofsomewhere | Onward: Orange

A Stormy Night

The night of day six of Grasshopper begins to get blustery, and rain begins to fall shortly after the sun sets. Just after midnight they are facing a full-on storm. It’s quite interesting to watch, for those who need a break from investigating. Especially up on the top floor, where the glass roof gives a good view; all the instruments are set up to monitor weather patterns and are operating perfectly, a fascinating watch for those interested in such things.

It’s a little noisy, but not too bad for those that want to sleep; it’s just another distraction along with the perpetual light. Still it is, for the most part, a peaceful night.

Lights OUT

Peaceful, that is, until about an hour before dawn on day seven, their third day on-world. A large clap of thunder booms overhead, a massive flash of light brightens even the sky around the station… and something hits the facility so hard that it seems to rock. The lights go out.

Every single light and screen in the building go dark at once.

It’s only a few moments before the machines whir back to life. Monitors and equipment rebooting, a cascade of beeps and whirrs and start-up tones. The lights, however, do not come back on. Clearly emergency lighting has never been a concern for a people that can see in the dark.

It’s a concern now. From across the facility, everywhere there was an orb, there are now monsters. A lot of monsters. Grey, long limbed and ready to attack.

Luckily for the Voidtreckers, the monsters on the very bottom floor have found something more interesting than hunting them. Within moments, they smash through the grates along the floor, and begin clambering downwards.

Downwards seems to be through some kind of service shaft, though easily big enough to fit a person in. They skitter down into the darkness, if any of Orange try and follow they can. It will be a steep, treacherous descent; they may need to break out that climbing gear to descend safely.

Something Approaches

Back in the facility, the monsters that didn’t descend are instead attacking anyone they find with mindless savagery. A little while after the attack starts those near the top floor will hear a siren, ringing out into the darkness. It is not constant, rather it peaks and fades. Anyone who goes to investigate will find it comes from a black metal machine on the top floor, its screen showing a now constantly flashing, wavy green line and the words SIGNAL FOUND. As time passes, the green wave on-screen grows taller.
Luckily, they only have to last the remaining hour until dawn and when the sunlight shines through the glass of the facility the monsters shatter. In their place rise familiar orbs. Any monsters on the sub-levels remain active whilst the facility is in darkness.

The alarm subsides during the day. The machine’s wave remains the same size, pulsing only occasionally. Once night falls on the third day (Grasshopper 7), it shrills, and the wave continues to grow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I know." She kisses his hands.

"I know, beloved, I know. But my heart... you were always meant to shine."

Fire burns, after all. It's dangerous. But it's home, and safety, protection and life itself.

She reaches to draw him close to kiss his brow. I believe in you, my Feanaro. I believe in the ner I married, those long years ago, who wanted to create, who loved beauty, who felt everything so deeply. You are not poison, my love. You have so much in you to give. Fire burns, my love. It's what it does. It's what you do. But it can help as much as harm. Which will you be, my love?

"I want to help." His voice is quiet barely above whisper. "But can I? What if I start and cannot stop?"

He leans down resting his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes, taking solace in her presence. She's right. She always is. Fire burns. His light won't be the soft, warm glow of the sun like Glorfindel's. No. His light is the blaze of the furnace, the searing inferno of roaring flames that turn all to ash.
It's the strongest light that casts the deepest shadows. He might want to unleash his fury only at the monsters but what if...

"Is that not why I am here, my love? To ground you. I trust you, Feanaro. My beautiful, bright husband. Do you not trust me? I am here for you, my love. Show them how a Prince of the Noldor fights."

Edited 2020-07-26 03:44 (UTC)

"I trust you, I trust you more than I trust myself."

That's true and she's right once again. She already did that. Not that long time ago, in a blizzard, on the top of an icy mountain. He looks up and finally smiles.

"Then I will. They won't even know what hit them."

"And I trust you." She smiles and kisses him.

"Show them how it's done, my Feanaro. And I will be right here by your side."

This is how it should be. This is how it always should have been. The two of them together. The sun will set and the monsters will come but they will be ready.

"Words cannot express how happy I am that you are here with me."

Alone, his own fiery nature would consume him. As it already did once. With her, he can do anything.

"As I am to be here with you."

It had been hard, but... even the elves, as slow as they are to change, even the elves change. And Feanaro, Nerdanel knows, has never been one to shy from trying new things. Even if those new things are changing himself, as she is proud to see.

"Come, let us go."

Change? That is very much a work in progress. He's very aware of the fact that all it needs is one spark, the right circumstances, the right trigger for his volatile temper, the right mix of disastrous conditions for everything to go out in flames once again. Maybe he truly is fundamentally broken, unredeemable. Maybe.

Or maybe not. Maybe this time the sheer weight of all the horrible memories, of this awareness, will be enough to halt his reaction, stop him before he says too much, does too much. Maybe this time it will force him to listen. Maybe.

But he'd rather operate under the assumption the latter is true. That he is not doomed to always steer into darkness. With that thought, he takes her hand and smiles.

"Let us go."

Time to light up some nasties.

Change is not a bad word, no matter how much the Quendi all prefer things to remain as they are. And Nerdanel will never believe her husband is broken. An idiot, yes. Broken, no.

She smiles back as she takes his hand.

"Shine for us, my husband. Let those who stand before us flee."

Nerdanel's temper is slower to wake than his, the volcano to the bushfire. But he will not fight alone.

Woe to any that make a mistake of underestimating her. He might be more flashy and thus easier to notice but she is a power in her own right.

All that would be direly needed as there will be no shortage of monsters to obliterate once the sun goes down. Even before there are those that hide in the lower levels, far away from glass windows and all other sources of light.

"The sun is going down." She murmurs, and indeed, their natural light is more apparent, that faint gleam as if of moonlight over the tops of the hills as it rises glimmering.

"What were you thinking of, my love?"

How odd that for the first time there's a fight that does not need weapons. What it does, is their presence, and light.

"That whatever comes out of those shadows has no chance to go past both of us." He smiles. "And that you shine like all the stars combined, beloved."

"Flatterer." She kisses him. "Then let's shine, my Feanaro. My beautiful, bright star."

Onward: Orange

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<3 <3

<3 to infinity

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did you want them to fight things? I am down if you do, or we can wrap?

wrap please

<3 ok