middleofsomewhere | So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

Entry tags:

So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

JUST Ā̸̛͇̹̈́͌͐͛̐̋͝Ǹ̵̠͍̲̘͈̮͈̺͔̤͙̳̓̔͑͌̒̓̃́̄̚͘Ớ̶̻̱̄̓͆͂̈́̄̔͋͌̽̀̕͘T̵͙͍͓̻̩͙̻͙̹͎̫̘͇̱̈́̌̓͝ͅH̶̭̻͇̰͈̯̦̹̦̗͐̒́Ẽ̵̡̡̘̳͉͇͚̼̗̣̩͎̞̏͒̈́̏͂̈͝Ř̴̠͋̐͘ NORMAL DAY

"Jinnjar citizens. Unfortunately, all train travel will be closed due to issues on the lines. Members of the Voidtrecker Express have been located around the city, and are deploying trickery to agitate and confuse us. We ask any volunteers at this time to help us locate any suspicious objects and people, and to restrain them.

For the f̴̘̯̰̦̺͖̔͌̋̃ũ̴̢̖̦͙̩̼̺̪͚͍̥͈̜̝͋̌̒̊̚ẗ̶̪̺͕̤̯̞̤͓̝́̑̄̎̊̕future of our city!"

A TL;DR notes version of days/prompts: (click to show)

EVENT BASICS:

DAYS 5 & 6:

By now, some people have broken out of their fake lives while some haven't. Tension is rising in the city as people are led to believe this is by the Voidtreckers, which some will believe due to illusions and messing with one's heads is believed to be one of their many tactics.
Some oddities are occurring with travel, and glimpses of how the city is made beginning to show. The streams of colour - the void - are getting brighter. Electronics are not working well. Some monster sightings are seen, but not to a large degree.
The prompts here are light to give characters and players time to ICly coordinate, as Voidtreckers are being more actively hunted. Some faces are known. You know who you are, troublemakers.

DAYS 7 & 8:

The world is really starting to go a bit wild now, with more things disappearing, animals on the loose and more monster sightings.
By the end of day eight most people have realised the truth though those who are very susceptible to mind control or very stubbornly wanting to believe in this world will still be trapped, believing this is the Voidtreckers doing.
There are monsters to fight, people to keep calm and a plan to make.

[ HOME SWEET...HOME? ] By day 5, the people of Jinnjar are in a state of anxiety more than before. There's those who realise they're not a part of this world, never were, while there's those who still cling onto this life. Health services say that the source of confusion comes from the colour trails that are brighter than ever in the sky, while the D-Force/Heroes have it confirmed - internally and publicly - that there are Voidtreckers amongst them.

The media shows pictures of potential suspects, some Voidtreckers, some not; a man with the same face as two others, one who made a show by creating ice in the middle of the street. Your face may be shown, but don't worry - they're asking people not to play vigilante.

That'll surely keep people behaved.

[ TRAVEL REVIEW. ] As if it couldn't get more frustrating, most of the trains are down. Air taxis are still available for short journeys, yet some people have the bizarre occurrence where they end up in the wrong spot, and even remember going in this wrong direction...but never say anything about it. Those using the tele-pads will also find themselves not always arriving where they should, or worse, suffering intense headaches, swirling colours behind their eyes, their thoughts jumbled for as long as ten minutes before it passes.

You might want to walk.

[ MAKING DO. ] Still, with all the chaos, many are trying to live. You have a life here, no matter what some other force is trying to make you believe,

For our HEROES: The cinema has rethought its showings due to the worrying happenings of the last few days. Clearly a boost in morale is needed and so they have pulled out some of the great films of the past. Action films that show heroes beating the bad guys, disaster films where the good guys beat the aliens, stop the natural disaster or thwart the secret agency looking to take down civilisation from the inside, at the last minute. Even the childrens films have taken on a pro-hero and triumphant air.

It's not quite distraction though, how could it be when every film has a warning before and after. REMEMBER TO REPORT ALL SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY TO DFORCE and WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE SHOW. REMEMBER TO WATCH YOUR SURROUNDINGS AS CAREFULLY AS YOU DID THE SCREEN.
Fun Park: It's for the kids, but one of the largest arcade parks has a special discount on everything to anyone who come visit. It's even advertised across the news: For half the price, get amazing fun and even better food! Kids younger than eight or from the orphanages get free access everywhere!

It's time not to think too hard, and to ignore the trouble! Play laser tag, racing cars or get a high score on the dance mat!
Encroaching Dangers: Something new is beginning to happen, as the city continues to shift. It starts at night, those that stay out past when the streets go quiet might see a shadow, might hear a growl.

Rumours and reports start to spread about monsters on the street.

DAY SIX: HELP FROM INSIDE

[ AID. ] DIAGNET is full of videos but one that has started doing the rounds is of a small droid and a cat. It's not hard to see why it has gone viral, the cat and cleaning droid are chasing each other around an apartment, caught on a home security footage. The cat tries to catch the droid but every time it gets close the droid turns to chase it and the cat runs away. It has been uploaded with stirring orchestral music, which adds to the madness.

But... For those Voidtreckers who have already regained their memories that little droid seems familiar indeed. As do the sounds that punctuate the music.

beep beep beep boop | boop

boop boop beep | boop boop boop

boop boop | boop boop boop | boop boop boop | boop beep | boop beep beep | beep beep boop | beep beep beep | boop

boop beep boop beep | beep boop | beep beep boop beep | beep

boop boop boop | beep boop beep | boop beep beepp | beep | beep boop beep

boop beep | beep beep boop | boop | beep boop beep | beep beep | boop | beep | beep boop

Of course it might not be anything, just weird droid sounds that haven't been fully edited out of the video.

[ MOONDUST CAFÉ. ] It might be that they figured out the message or, it might be that a friend is dragging them to the cafe. But for those that make their way there, they will find the Moondust Cafe is a bustling cafe on the edge of a park, near local transport links.

For those that say the right words, a slightly bored looking teenager manning the counter waves them to a side door. "Best sit downstairs, service will be quicker."

Downstairs has a fair number of tables and booths and is lit by coloured lighting making everything look a little obscure. There's soft music playing, not loud enough to make it impossible to hear each other but enough to make it a little harder for evesdroppers.

Mingle, discuss. This is probably the closest to a safe space there is.

[ LOST & LOST. ] You may have spotted it already - that is, spotted what's missing. There's been the pets, the birds in the sky, a pen or apple or wrench from the garage. But now, with every single bad thing going on, more is starting to disappear. Machines stop working, from air conditioning, freezers, your Jinnjar MP3 player, to TVs and more.

And in some business buildings, even entire rooms are gone, their floors empty of more than the door you opened to find this out. Even the heroes seem worried and they quickly clear any affected areas, chasing away bystanders and sealing off whole wings of office blocks.

None of them have answers though, except that this must be the Voidtreckers doing. After all who else but that group could have power enough to do such damage?

DAY SEVEN & EIGHT: UNRAVELLING

[ OVEREXPOSURE. ] Everything is starting to escalate. The headaches are getting regular the more you're outside, buildings are starting to go missing around the outskirts. People see parts of the city flickering, and when they reach certain sections of the city, they find they can't go beyond it.

Life tries to go on, but as more areas of the city begin to be sealed off and considered dangerous, even those who are most stubborn about pretending everything is normal can see that is is not.

[ LET LOOSE. ] The breaking down of the city has caused a lot of chaos, but one of the biggest problems are that parts of the zoo have vanished. Walls, fences, enclosure roofs. Meaning that the animals inside are no longer confined and are now prowling the city streets. Real birds now fill the sky that the fakes left empty.

And they aren't all that's there. Twisted creatures are becoming more common on the streets of Diagad. Creatures that look almost like animals but warp and twist between them, one moment a bear the next it has horns and then it is a wolf. But no matter how they look those claws and teeth are bad news for everyone.

[ CRUMBLING, CRUMBLING. ] By day eight whole streets are disappearing. homes, houses. people need to be moved in closer around the congress sector. Colours crackle through the sky like lightning and the world shakes often.

It's not just the infrastructure but the memories of those in the city. Dreams have come realities and all but the most stubborn have begun to realise that this world is not their own. They are from another place. What is going on? Why are they in this city? Who are these people who are their 'family'?

Confusion and anger are growing in the streets and it is perhaps time for the Voidtreckers to come out of the shadows.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Someone steps out of the shadows and greets them, and Wash damn near jumps out of his skin, a knife appearing in his hand as if from nowhere. (It's not his standard, but it's not exactly hard to find a knife in a city, and he knows how to conceal it.)

But...nobody else is reacting. The new person is probably another Voidtrecker. Which makes him pulling a knife look crazy. Great.

He settles and tucks the knife back away. "So then this place is, what?" he says as though none of that had just happened. "Interdimensional flypaper?"

He gestures at Yondu. "And that's the question I want an answer to. If Diagad was part of a known network of planets, and the rest of those planets survived, and someone from Diagad was this powerful, then how does nobody know who they are? You'd think they'd have a reputation." Information can be kept quiet - Wash has lived through several different flavors of that - but unless the god wannabe was some kind of government secret, there's no way gossip alone wouldn't have caught up with them. Someone has to know something, right?

About the same time that Yondu notices Wash pull the knife, he moves his cup of coffee to hide it and glances around, just making sure no one is looking. "Better not get stuck in a wall," Yondu says idly to Wuxian, almost a joke except he's not sure that won't actually happen, but then moves on.

"Or an interdimensional magnet." He says.

"How many scouts were with you? And do they got the same tells as you an' I do if we need to find 'em?" He taps his wrist, above the leather of his coat, where the SCA is.

"Nice knife," Wei Wuxian says with a nod to Wash. On edge? Seems normal. If no one's actively shanking, whipping, shooting, or slicing him, he's having a good day. Today so far has not been a bad day.

Collectively, they were asking good questions, so he shifted his thoughts to one that bothers him as a person who hates seeing people at risk, particularly for situations outside their control.

"Beyond that, is this world stable enough to support the people not tied to scouts or something else keeping them alive out here? Whatever the manner people were abducted, they're in danger, and need to get home safe. Is there a way to make this not-quite nexus stable enough to send them all back before a collapse?"

"Ah my apologies." She spoke to Wash directly, "We use world, planet and system interchangeably in the void business, it's a terribly bad habit. The whole system is gone. Diagad, it's entire galaxy. Everything associated with System #401837400141 is gone."

She frowned, letting that sink in. "There were five of us, one other scout, two fighters and Malin runs tech for us. She doesn't often come into systems at all but... I can't contact her, nor the others. They should all have their SCA's. We wear them even on our craft."

She nodded at Wei Wuxian. "That's the big question. We know why me and my crew are here, even if the details are blurry. We know how you voidtreckers got here. But how about everyone else? How did they get here? And how do we get them back?"

"The whole galaxy?" Okay, that's bigger than a one planet problem. That's a bigger than what he's had to deal with, and he had a moody planet.

But he will worry more about that later, since now that makes this person feel like a more fixable problem.

He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket. "A lot of us had accounts already set up for us when we showed. Like we'd been here forever. A lotta names line up, too. Might wanna take a look an' see if you know nobody." He offers it to her.

Edited 2021-07-18 01:37 (UTC)

Wash is just...silent. If Diagad's entire damn system is gone without a trace, that puts the potential that they're dealing with the Hunger back on the table, which makes this all a whole lot more dangerous.

The fact that there's no plan for displaced people who aren't Voidtreckers - like him - only makes it worse. He'll take death if it comes as a consequence of his own decisions - he's already done that once, and it sucked, but at least it was a result of his actions - but getting yanked into an entirely different dimension and possibly being stuck while it crumbles around him is some existential horror he is not prepared to deal with.

So he's quiet. Yondu's got the right idea - let their informant see if she recognizes any of her crew on the local internet, and they can go from there. Nothing else has any answers yet.

He frowns, because that returns niggling details to the front of his mind. Yondu's already handing over his phone, which is great, because Wei Wuxian has trouble doing anything fancy on his at this point. Only his time on train has him even recognising still how to properly use the thing, so sending messages, looking up information, those things? He's got it.

The rest is brushed aside. "In other systems that have been entirely destroyed like that, have there been survivors? Energies that escaped out through whatever void ties they had in place? If I recall, Diagad was just figuring out its own relationship to the void in the time before it was destroyed." Was this even a singular entity? Though, at another, longer pause.

"How many living worlds were in that system?"

The issue of getting people out of this place weighs even more heavily on his mind. "Hey, that tethering thing. If people aren't tethered to one of the vessels, do they end up tethered to this place, or could we tether them back to their own worlds? Something has to call you home," he says, nodding to Wash, "Because we're all tied to that place, wherever it is, even when it doesn't exist. Case in point."

A gesture to the room around them, but more broadly, this imitation of what Diagad might have been.

Good idea, she took the phone and started looking through the list even as she listened to the other two talking, the ideas being bounced around. It felt good to be with people who at least were in the know, to have people to think with.

"You're right." She nodded at Wei Wuxian. "They can't be tethered. There's no craft. However they've been pulled here it's... Are they somehow tethered to this world? They must be still connected to their world. Can we figure a way to get them back? Using that..."

She was still looking through the phone and paused. "Jin-Roh." He's one of us.

He pulls out a tab book from the bar from an inner pocket and starts to write the name she mentions.

He feels for Wash, he does. Because he still doesn't know what the hell his tether will do. What happens to him after the train decides to get rid of him. But he's already told Anan as much. "We really gotta figure out or get our hands on some method of emergency tetherin'." He mutters, like it makes that much of a difference.

"Is the atmosphere on this world part of what's bein' generated or do we gotta look out for that as well?"

A lot of questions for her, but it was daunting to think of how many living worlds probably died in this system when he knew how many were swirling arorund in his galaxy.

We're all tied to home, even when it doesn't exist feels particularly targeted, even though there's no way anyone outside of the Bureau could have known the status of Wash's home dimension right now (Currently: Eaten By Interdimensional Cthulu). "Yeah, I'd love to figure out how I'm getting home," he says, a little too brightly for the conversation at hand, but it's either that or sarcasm and nobody here deserves the latter. "But since we're flying completely blind on that one, I'll settle for breaking the illusion and punching whatever's behind this in its goddamn face."

Slow breath in; slow breath out; keep your shit together, Wash. Focus. "Okay, Jin-Roh's one. Who else?"

He likewise nods to the Jin-Roh, but he's moving along with Anan's thoughts. Valid questions from the rest of those asking, and he has to say, "Yes, I think we can. Right now there's the potential for so much energy, if nothing else, sending everything back... or to at least some safe point. Adjacent to this system, or something similar?"

Tethering starting to sound like fishing in his mind, but he quiets, because he's thinking on the energy of the one driving this whole illusion. The one giving them a table to sit at, and he frowns.

"Is it sane to say each person here in the city may well be from their own unique system?" Madcap, that kind of power, plus targeting those associated more directly with the void. Anan one example, themselves another, but from a potentially different sort of... hm.

"Oh you ask the best questions." She sighed at Yondu, looking worried for a moment as she thought about those particular implications. "Another thing to keep an eye on."

And act fast, in case it was the case.

"I think that's true." She nodded at Wei Wuxian. "Obviously all you voidtreckers come from your craft, me and my crew come from ours. But everyone else, each from their own system seems to be the case."

It's harder to tell, when they all believe each other family and friends within this city.

"Malin, Sendez and Pepper. They're the others."

He writes down those names too, makes a couple of repetitions on other sheets of paper and gives those to Wuxian and Wash.

"I can confirm that suffocation ain't the most fun way to go." He's shared that concern outright already. But he's selfish enough that he doesn't want to face it again. Dying once was bad enough.

"I gotta go huntin' for some other people later. You want me to tag along with ya some," he offers Anan. At least for a little bit two sets of eyes might work better than one.

"You ever had cases where you had to get Void misplaced people home?"

He takes the sheet of paper, gives it a glance, then folds it and slips it into his pocket. "I can help look too. I haven't found anyone I recognize, and everyone still thinks I'm a good citizen," he doesn't do scare quotes, but his tone makes it very clear that's the intent, "so nobody's going to look too deeply into me asking around."

"Same here, plus the whole power borrowing," he says, holding up a hand and waggling his fingers. "But we may need to be thinking about safe places for people who have themselves known already to go, or to keep stable, if this starts falling apart. Which it's gotta be a young illusion, and something this massive, and this emotional... without a better anchor, I'm not sure what it might do."

He pauses, and frowns. "I hope it has some kind of anchor here."

"I hope so too..." She frowned and then shook her head at Yondu's question.

"I've never had to do it, but I've heard of it. We cover it in training. It's pretty rare but there are cases where void nexus worlds, do you know of them? Sometimes they pull people in, they are never... whole. Half there, half at home, a trapped soul even. This isn't the same... But we at least have a base to work with."

She nodded at Wash and Wei Wuxian. "Thank you for helping. And yes, finding safe places is a good idea. Who knows what might happen as more people break out of the hold here."

"Ever'body don't think I'm a good citizen, I'm just bad enough." He makes a space between his fingers and smiles a big grin at the other two. That vigilante thing works out when you wanna seem a little bit of a shady pest.

But on the more serious nature of void nexus worlds? He does remember. "Yeah, we know 'em. We stop sometimes. So we gotta get Blondie here back to his soul. ...Yeah, I think we can do what it takes to manage that. We got a lot of fit people what can follow directions. Maybe not follow orders but follow directions, sure as shit."

He has some confidence in that, at least. "Anything else that'd be good for us to know or do before we get back out there? ...Shame we cain't see none of them fighters." But she already knows he was kind of thirsty for it so it's just kind of muttered under his breath.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Broke order again while I'm awake and my head doesn't hurt.

Broke it? Or made it better?

we all love scrambled eggs in this thread

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Broke order again while I'm awake and my head doesn't hurt.

Broke it? Or made it *better?*

we all love scrambled eggs in this thread

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Broke it? Or made it better?