middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

Dawn Attack

It's been a busy few days of fighting demons, attacking keystones and fighting both on the demon and human planes. On the morning of day nine of the month of Kazoo a gate opens close to the base camp that the two teams have made.

It seems the demons have decided to focus on this unexpected threat, because it is a sizable force, with a number of the large demons. They march towards the camp with single-minded focus, the opportunity to stop these unwanted defenders taking precedence over their desire to destroy the city.

The advantage to the landscape being as ruined as it is, is that there isn't much to stop the lookouts from seeing this force headed towards them. A gate opening is not subtle. There should be enough time to make sure the defenders are ready.

Scouting Ahead

Once that skirmish is won those on the Red team will find their SCA's beeping, with an exclamation point far out to the east.

A group of demons is congregating at the location indicated. Investigate why, defeat the demons and close any gates nearby.

It will take a while to get there and there is plenty to do on the way for those that follow the exclamation point. Roaming packs of demons, gates to be closed. Exhausting work, especially for those going in and out of the demon gates.

Protecting the City

Once it is clear that these defenders are not going to be easy to wipe out, the attacks on the city itself get more frequent. The demons have changed tactics: rather than sending in large groups they open many small portals, sending small strike teams to harry and target individuals.

Some of the attacks are clearly meant as traps: they open the gates in or very close to the city, to lure the Voidtreckers in to where they will be affected by the spell. Ranged attacks may be useful here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Beep

That beep is coming from not too far away, soft, as if in answer.

But perhaps more interesting the void radio also begins to beep. It's been beeping intermittently since arriving on the world, just one beep, every hour, but now... It is very staticy but there are definite beeps.

Some boops too.

"What in the...?"

When all you've been exposed to for the past couple of Kazoo days are the sounds of demon screeching and a literal warzone, it makes it all the more obvious when the sounds of artificial, robotic beeping are the only pings the ears catch in an enclosed, rundown tent. He stops all movement and breathes slow, eventually inching himself closer and closer to try and find its source.

Beep. Boop. He didn't notice it before. He was too busy on the frontline to notice anything but the fight. There. There it is again, that sound.

"Where...?" Roland puts more effort now into looking, turning things about, even though he's making a mess. Behind this cot? Maybe?

"Rol! Did I give you the suitcase with the first aid bag in it? Do the healers have it? Blue Team's been on call, they've got people underground!"

Hi, sorry, are you trying to use your earholes for listening to more than a guy barging into the tent, set on his own mission? He should be following Red Team, but he's lagging, wanting to get that bag he knows they have in the general supplies, just - where was it? Not in his arms band.

Ugh, did he leave it in one of the bands someone else borrowed? He hates trying to be organised!!

"Ssh!" A beat, then a shake of his head. A wave of his hand. "No, I don't have it! I thought you audited your things! Hold on, okay? There's something - !"

Roland's response is instantaneous, knees bending to crouch and move aside the cot in question. He isn't even looking at Tidus, knowing there's something here, something he needs to find.

Boop. Boop. Beep.

It's not by the cot. But he's close. He can hear it. Louder and louder...Suspiciously louder and his gut is broiling with instincts going haywire. Roland is practically crawling.

"Do you hear that?" He cups his hand over his ear, please Twin Teen uno, let's focus on this first! "Find where that's coming from! Now!"

Roland may be doing his very best to get unhelpful obstacle #1 to cooperate with this endeavour, but clearly he didn't count on the fact that where one trouble teen goes, the other is soon to follow.

So maybe the tent was quiet for a moment, but that's soon interrupted by another voice stepping into it, just a moment or two later.

"Tidus! I think someone els--"

He can't even finish the statement. Not even because he's probably being shushed. But mostly since he's just realising what kind of scene he walked right into, with Roland practically crawling on the ground.

Inigo's baffled look travels from Roland's form over to Tidus, giving him his best 'bro, what did you do??' look.

AUDITING things?! Is Roland talking to him about auditing!!

Which is the exact kind of exasperation Tidus wants to throw at the man, please don't talk to him about being responsible right now!, except Roland's not even giving him the decency of looking at him, down on his knees and -- what?

Beep...beep...?

...

Tidus is baffled into silence, though he was already wiling to listen to Roland (kinda). He's heard this beeping before, eyes flitting around, and he moves more around the tiny compartment, wanting to ask the obvious question--that Inigo's arrival interrupts.

To give him that look. Tidus's eyes widen and his hands go up, a defence of 'I didn't do nothing!' that's been seen plenty times before. But he's not keeping his focus on Inigo, turning back to where he hears that static. There, amongst the other bits and pieces of belongings-

Tidus picks up the void radio, figuring it's the source for all this noise going on. Twisting the device some in his hands, he asks in a loud whisper, "Did you get something?"

A signal? This is a lot more boops than he heard when he ever did hear anything...!

There's a scuttling sound near where Roldand is on his hands and knees, from a neat pile of equipment, as if something is trying to get into it.

Or perhaps behind it.

Tidus is fiddling with the radio, the beeps and boops intermingled with static until eventually, enough tuning and...

beep boop
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep
boop beep boop beep
boop boop boop
boop boop
beep
beep beep
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep

A clear and steady pattern of beeps comes through the radio.

And near Roland, another series of scuttling, is that sleeping bag moving?

'Fiddling'??

...first, let Tidus give the radio a light shake and put it near to his ear like he thinks this is going to help fix the static. It's like, right there, he can hear a thing!

The arrival of both Twin Teens may have spelled out a certain sense of chaos on any other occasion, but it's to Roland's benefit that this meant more hands to help with whatever it was that's happening before him. And it's a lot to take in, the beeping growing louder and the movement by the corner of his eye more suspicious as it turns clear something else is inside of the tent with the three of them.

But Roland has to ask himself which one does he focus on first? The incessant beeping that's made no better with Tidus's roughhousing on it, good intentions aside, or the thing moving about? Demon? Critter? Worse?

He makes a face; clicks his tongue against his teeth. Between a pile of stuff rummaged around and the void radio showing activity, his attentions would be better suited to the latter. Roland makes to stand but not quite, not yet, gesturing to Inigo first with a quiet shush in his lips, beckoning him with a wave of his hand. Roland doesn't talk, but rather nudges his head towards the moving supplies. Then, he makes a motion to unsheathe Inigo's sword in the event they've been infiltrated. Lets hope his charades skills are good enough to be translated despite the silence. Behind the sleeping bag, he begs without words. Behind it, pup!!!

Meanwhile, his other hand tries to wave at Tidus: a clear and jarring motion of his arm to please stop shaking the thing and bring it to Roland so he can listen closer too. The beeping is familiar to Roland, distantly. But he doesn't jump to any conclusions yet, just trying his best to manage two things happening at once. All the while, his gaze shifting to and fro, not knowing what might surprise him this time. More beeping? More things moving in a tent that should be empty?

No, it's the beeping that's getting him on edge. Why is it doing that? Why does he feel like he's heard it before...?

Inigo still has absolutely no idea what he walked in on. After all, the situation isn't helped much by the fact that Inigo is so unfamiliar with a radio - only having been explained the basic concept - that he doesn't know what Tidus is doing with it. At least he can grasp everyone is probably quiet because of the sounds, but.. what are they expecting to hear, other than a bunch of weird sounds..?

But fine, whatever. Maybe it's easier to just not think about it too much. Instead he catches Roland's drift, and he starts heading over in the direction of the sleeping bags. His sword is out, but still very much in its sheath, since Inigo can't help but think this is Roland being a little too cautious. Please, no demon would be able to fit behind or in that sleeping bag, dad.

Maybe that thought is why Inigo seems pretty unconcerned as he squats down next to the sleeping bags, trying to find the one that seems to be moving and lifting it up.

Tidus does catch the noise of the rustling, though it's nothing that's grabbing his attention like it is Roland. It's more likely a rat than anything serious, right? Rather, Tidus can't imagine it being anything worth one's fuss when it's come to hide out in this dinky tent. No, he's not about to get on his hands and knees like Roland is without some kind of better explanation!

But his focus is split, with the radio still making a vague sound under the thick layer of static. Has Roland already tried to do anything with it...? With the way he's acting about whatever's trying to make a home in the tent, maybe. Or maybe not. Really, Tidus thinks Roland is up to some goofy charades here with the silent miming going on. He knows what a mime is, he still remembers Ninja Mime!!!

"It's just a rat, isn't it...?" he mumbles rather disbelieving. But he takes a step back from the pair of them, deciding to try one of the knobs on the radio, causing the pitches to change. Higher, lower-- ah, wait. Is that beep growing louder...?

...

--op beep
beep boop
boop beep
boop beep boop beep
boop boop boop
boop boop
beep
beep beep
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep

Whatever happened to better safe than sorry, people!!!

But no, it's still the right kind of timing. Whatever it was hiding behind the sleeping bags and supplies, it's not enough to warrant Roland's attention completely away from the steadily sharpening frequency emitting from the void radio. Finally, he stops darting his eyes around the small tent to settle on the tinkering of the knobs, the beeps forcing him to rise. Inigo, whatever comes out from behind that sleeping bag, dad believes in you to handle it! For now, for now -

"Wait."

He frowns, inching closer to the radio with a flicker of recognition in his gaze. It takes a couple more rounds of the beeping for Roland to finally get it. Or at least, to chase the feeling. It's a eureka moment for certain, with his hand darting out to grab Tidus's wrist like the radio is about to fly out of his grasp, and his other hand materializing his phone at a pitiful 10% battery life. A lot of his energy is frantic almost, shown only through tense muscles and movements.

"Keep it there, keep it where it's the loudest!" He says, no longer hushed or whispering. His phone's recording app is open, and can hopefully outlast this strange occurrence. But more than Roland's weird reactions, it's when he lets go of Tidus's wrist and the fingers of that hand begin to tap against air, eventually setting on the side of his leg. It's timed, or is finding timing, against the beeping noise that comes out clean eventually. With enough tinkering.

"I...no, A...? Shoot. That's a long beep. Gah! I need...I need something!"

To write with, to tap against, this isn't a coincidence!

What is he blathering on about? At least the phone is catching the rhythms of the beeps, for whatever he misses. But only time will tell if his instinct is correct. No matter how strange that a void radio is using something as archaic as morse code to communicate...

beep boop
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep
boop beep boop beep
boop boop boop
boop boop
beep
beep beep
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep
beep boop
boop beep

The pattern seems to repeat as they get the signal steady, still interrupted here and there by some static but not enough to obscure it.

Meanwhile Inigo pulls away the sleeping bag... To find a metal object, a centre sphere with metal legs curled around it as if it had attempted to make itself smaller. It is very still.

Whatever, you two. Have fun with your beeping radio. It seems that Roland is actually hearing something in it, but Inigo has no idea what the guy is getting from nothing but these sounds. Roland isn't the type to kid around about these things, so.. who knows, maybe he really is hearing something.

Inigo will leave it up to them to figure out. Instead he's all eyes for this odd metal object over here. Was this thing moving? But how? Did someone throw it in here by accident? Inigo doesn't think he's ever seen it on the train before, but it could belong to a fellow passenger..

Either way, he just reaches his hand out to try and pick it up. Maybe he can figure out what it is after he holds it in his hands.

What is Roland hearing? Is it the same as him? Tidus watches completely oblivious, one second his wrist grabbed, the other letting it go. But Tidus doesn't move, doesn't dare to, other than his head as his gaze goes over to Inigo and then back to Roland, then to nowhere as he attempts to make anything out of the weird beeps.

Is there... is there anything in this he's not realising he's hearing? But there's no eureka him, no sudden realisation. The beeps could be anything to his ears.

"What?" he asks, as Roland makes his commotion about need something. But his brain isn't working as to what. A translator? And once again does he look about the small space, seeing Inigo and...

Tidus is having a lot of small moments of pauses, here.

"...isn't that Cassie's bot?"

But also, that has to be Cassie's bot. Doesn't it? Right... right??

He continues to whisper, suddenly hyperaware of only one thing; one fact. The beeping is not random. The beeping is definitely morse code, or at least, if he can decipher an actual word from it just to confirm --

He looks around and spots his notebook and pen on the ground from when he took stock of what was inside his Arms Band. He strides over to it quickly before approaching the radio in Tidus's hands again, letting both Teens figure out the thing that's moving while Roland focuses on the beeps, the bops... No, more specifically, the dots, the dashes. Long. Short. Long. Short.

He scribbles faster than he's ever had to, turning the page to a blank space and drawing out from memory, to some degree of success with the amount of tries he has to do to get it right, a particular diagram. Some lines are dashed, some are long and unbroken. For some reason, this makes sense...Until Roland starts repeating the beeps and bops with his own voice, as if in a secret coded language between himself and the radio transmission. Has he gone mad?

But if he's not making sense with how focused he is on the sounds, his fingers tapping, his voice repeating, or that his writing hand is now scribbling down single letters from the alphabet, it's when he finally gets the rhythm done together with the sharpening frequency that perhaps his madness shows its method.

"A...N...A...N..." Roland says out loud, tracing the pattern of the long and short sounds to the letter written on his brackets. The word Anan is written in plain language on a blank space, before he continues. Sometimes getting it right, sometimes struggling and waiting for the pattern to repeat. "C...O...M...E..." He growls under his breath. "No, that was...Shoot, one more time." If he is attempting to draw in the radio closer, staring at times at Inigo's direction in thought, it's because he's trying his best to remember lessons of a bygone era. Morse, of all things! Older than him!

"C...O...M...E...I...N..." He writes it down. "A...N...A...N...?"

Finally, the task is completed. Or so he wonders. He holds it up for the Twin Teens, his pen nestled between fingers, the page filled out with so much ink. But the message - the final right one - is encircled.

Anan / Come in / Anan?

A light shines onto Inigo's face as the cylinder top spins around. Metal limbs curl around his hands as it is picked up and it makes a soft beeping noise.

It isn't very large, no more than a foot tall even taking the metal limbs into consideration. There are six of them and they are still now. The top is still spinning, as if searching for something.

Meanwhile after a couple of loops of the first message the beeps and boops of the radio change.

boop boop
beep boop
boop beep boop boop
boop beep beep
beep boop
boop beep boop boop
beep boop boop beep
beep beep
beep boop beep beep
boop boop boop
boop
boop boop
beep beep
beep boop

The light makes him blink for a moment, but thankfully it doesn't startle him enough for him to accidentally drop the thing. Instead he stares at the thing when he gets used to the light spinning by, thinking about what Tidus just said. Cassie's.. bot? Inigo has no idea what that one looks like, but why would Cassie's bot be here with them?

He frowns as he sees it spin around like that though. What is it doing that for..? The thing is kind of holding his hands now though, and if there's anything that makes Inigo trust something, it's that. "Did you get startled..?" He softly says to it, even though he's not expecting an answer in return. It's more just him musing out loud, really. Can something like this get startled?

Until Roland draws his attention. Inigo looks towards him and the paper, unsure how Roland got those letters from nothing but beeps, but fully willing to believe the guy. But even so, the message doesn't make much sense to him. Who's Anan? Where does he need to come?

He only knows one thing, so he shakes, gesturing with his head in the direction of the metal thing on his hands.

"This one makes the same sounds as the radio." He heard it beep! Softly, but he heard it!

From where Tidus is standing, he can see the jotting below as Roland focuses in on whatever's going through his head, the radio beeping in his hands, the droid-looking machine that he's second guessing if it's really Cassie's at all. He's not sure if he should move - not wanting to interrupt Roland (though, man, can he? He's totally absorbed and muttering away!), but what good is he here, being this radio's frame?

It's hard to know where to settle his attentions, but he decides at least to lower the radio down slowly, careful not to lose the signal, or to see that he won't. That's better with Roland than him, with his ears catching the differences in the beeps, and maybe he's becoming aware of how... peculiar, or particular they are. But what does that mean for him when they're just a bunch of beeps and boops regardless?

So, the next plan should be for him to go over to Inigo, and that's half of the idea. That's half of the direction he's going, inspecting the metal thing from where he is. The same boops and beeps, and he wonders, what the heck is going on here?, when Roland lifts the paper for them, his scribbles on display.

'Anan, Come In, Anan'?

"It's talking?" Was it? Wait, were they even making the same kind of boops and beeps? But nevermind if it's making any new noises or messages; if Roland knows what the thing is saying, then-- "Say something back!"

Nothing could have forced Roland's attentions away from the radio, even as the guy holding it eventually lets it go, sets it down on the nearest surface for Roland to watch for. Even as Inigo cradles the thing scrounging about their things. (Will Roland ever be reunited with his lunch box? Stay tuned.) His ears are more perked up than ever, getting used to the rhythms required of decoding morse after so long of not hearing dots and dashes, secret languages of Earth that were meant to transmit messages faster than horses could carry into the wind.

But why? Why now? On this planet? There was so much of this that doesn't make sense.

Until eventually, it does. Somehow. While he struggles to decode even just the first series of the radio's signals, the second half he knows almost instinctively. If you can only know a little bit of morse by memory, after all, surely you choose the signal that spells out -

"...Mayday."

It's not quite saying something back as Tidus instructs him to do - not like he could or had the ability to, when the radio wasn't meant to transmit things back - but there's no mistaking it. He even repeats it in his own, hushed monotone, timed perfectly to the radio beeping it out loud. He could pass off as a possessed robot with the blank look in his eye, the sounds coming out of his throat...But upon a closer inspection, Roland looks to be completely engrossed. Worried. Brows eventually meeting in the middle, sure as any about what follows.

He writes this down with more certainty, and shows it to the Twin Teens without missing a beat.

Mayday / Pilot / MIA.

Roland turns away, leaving them to read the page one more time if they want. He's already on his comms line, relaying what they know immediately. He makes it quick, ends the line fast, and turning back to the radio in case it has more to say....

A third message, a third series of beeps and boops begins to play.

beep beep beep
boop boop boop beep beep
boop beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep boop boop boop
beep beep beep beep beep
boop beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep
boop beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep boop
beep boop boop boop boop
beep beep boop boop boop
beep beep beep boop boop
beep beep beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep

It repeats a few times before looping back, playing the very first sequence once again.

The small droid in Inigo's hands is whirring slightly as it shines its light on him, on Tidus and on Roland, it beeps softly again but if that was a response to Inigo's question was unclear.

With how Inigo has been wandering closer towards the other two, he's practically meeting Tidus halfway. Just enough for him to be able to lean over and to whisper - in a way that isn't quiet enough to be a whisper at all, honestly: "How does Roland know what day of the week it is?"

You think Inigo understands what the word mayday means? Please, half of this whole situation is going over his head. This is way too much of a modern way to word things for him to fully understand how Roland is getting this message from the beeps and boops, let alone know what the message itself means.

So rather than trying to understand that, he turns his attention back to the little thing sitting on his hands. "Hey, is that you talking? Over the radio? Can't you talk with us in any other way?"

Look, Inigo isn't too sure if this thing can even communicate, but it's not like he's got many other leads to go by here. May as well look like an idiot talking to a metal moving thingy.

TALK TO THE BOT NOT THE COMMS, OLD MAN!!!

Roland is engrossed in his own world right about that, and that puts the final nail in the decision for Tidus to join Inigo, though he doesn't need to move a step or more before the other guy is already coming over to him. This is a lot of absurdity going on at once, but at least with Inigo's question...

"Huh? Day of the...?" Oh, may day. "No, it's a distress call. Like alert, alert. Something's trying to get in contact."

With someone, or something, that much was what Tidus was making out. But it's clear that this bot...was not from this world, and whatever it was doing here...

While Inigo is being bot-mom, Tidus tries something - making his void ticket appear from his band and in his hand. It's got that weird light...maybe it's trying to read them, so maybe, as he lifts it up in front of him.

"We came from the void. You too? Where's your, uh...craft?"

Take us to your leader, oh space bot??

DON'T TELL HIM WHAT TO DO THIS IS A NATIONAL CRISIS-

This part of the transmission has Roland off for a loop. It forces him back to his diagram, hoping his phone is catching the recording of the beeps that he's missing. It's important too, because he can't keep up with this one until he takes his phone, stops the recording, and plays back the final part of the message that distinctly grows longer and longer the more he paces. He's on his feet, phone up close to his ear, his mouth moving to inaudible words, and his hand holding the chart with the letters.

When he stops to write down what he knows, a transmission from someone else on the team comes through his earpiece and he finally takes a look at the two, cradling the droid. What was it, and how was it related to these messages...? He's heard it's looking for something over the comms line, a backpack...?

"I think Devero wants to take a look at it," He finally says, writing down letters onto paper, multitasking with a stern calm, hiding an undercurrent of worry. "But if it's beeping like the radio, then maybe it'll respond to the same thing? Give me a sec."

The final piece of the puzzle is just as unnerving as the rest of the morse. S 8 6 5 2 5 6 5 6 4 1 2 3 5 5 (Erda) is written on his notebook, set aside on the nearest surface for them to read if they so choose. Anan, come in, Anan. Mayday, pilot MIA. S 8 6 5 2 5 6 5 6 4 1 2 3 5 5.

He starts talking into his comms line again while searching his discarded supplies for something. It takes him a good long minute, but he comes back to the Twin Teens holding a metal can. The FortiGro in Chocolate. Roland opens it and chugs quietly, giving the can air, hollowness for his experiment.

But that gives the droid enough time to respond to Tidus's own experiment first, if it does. He'll try his afterwards.

Beep The droid vibrated slightly in Inigo's hands, metal limbs curling a little tighter even as it ran a green light over the ticket that Tidus was holding up.

Boop
Beep Beep
Boop Beep Beep
Beep Beep Boop
Beep Beep Beep

(no subject)

flatteries - 2021-03-25 08:11 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Will to Fight: Ongoing: Red and Purple

Re: Roland & YOU ( using the void radio for meta plot check; threadjack friendly! )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)