middleofsomewhere | Crashing Down: Start

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Crashing Down: Start

As the Voidtreckers are going through their morning routines on the 24th Quicksand, there comes a train announcement over the comms. When it ends, their SCAs glow and bring up a holographic screen as is common before a mission. There's a few hours to prepare before a new announcement:

Shortly arriving at system #78961112094711. Leaving the void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

The train shakes as it leaves the void. As explained by the mission brief, those who are not wearing their SCA will not be able to physically leave the train.

But for those that do, they will find their SCA lights up with their stopwatch. Counting down from five hous.

CRASHING DOWN: START

QUICKSAND 24 ~ TEAM OBJECTIVES ~ LOCATION INFORMATION ~ OTHER DETAILS
ASK QUESTIONS ~ SHENANIGANS ~ TEAM PLOTTING ~ MISSION TASKS/REWARDS

HOUR ONE

The Voidtrecker Express lands them within a voidcraft multistorey, the same one as when they came to holiday at the Irue Grotto. As soon as it does, their SCAs vibrate and bring up a message, audio and transcript (including brialle) become available from a Ministry worker: the tethering station is on the first floor, and there will be people and gear waiting for them, depending on what jobs they're taking up.

Evacuation plans have already begun, and everything is going to get hectic, fast. Voidtreckers will have no end of work available.

1. PROCESSING. For the more tech-minded, plenty of help is needed. Containers of SCAs in storage need to be scanned and made sure they're not faulty before they're loaded up and sent off to communities outside the Irue Grotto. It's a simple if tedious process, but necessary. There's also helping to process people, getting visitors to the planet back to their voidcrafts, so they can leave and make room for more voidcrafts to station.

People can help civilians through the health scanners, or help manage the cyro-pods that they'll be placed into, Setting up the pods isn't too difficult, it just requires hands and the ability to follow an instruction manual. The void scientists happily give this task to any voidtreckers availible to help so that they can get on with the tasks that require more know-how. ( ORANGE1 )

2. GATHERING. The Ministry also need help with bringing in people. Hover trams will help take officials - including Voidtreckers - into the Irue Grotto, to pick up people at farther parts of the city, and who can't walk to the tethering station. Directing people is necessary, as well as making sure that people have caught the message of the evacuation in the earliest hours; but also those less keen, not taking the call seriously will need to be persuaded.

People are also needed to begin going to further out communities. There are emergency broadcasts throughout the planet but the ministry and the local governing groups are aware that not everyone is going to have heard them. The ministry scramble to give the voidtreckers official passes, to help give credibility to their announcement of evacuation. ( PURPLE 1, BLUE 1 )

3. JOIN THE QUEUE. Help will be needed to help keep some semblance of order, to create a flow to keep everything running. Out in the streets, or even in the tethering station, people will become more panicked if they think they've missed their ride, if they have to wait for too long. It's not yet violent, but people with presence will be useful for helping keep everyone sensible. ( RED 1 )

HOURS TWO AND THREE

The work continues to bring people from their lives to the tethering stations, now packed by anxious individuals. There's aid needed for people outside the Irue Grotto, a call for drivers and more volunteers to stay back and help with tethering processing to get people onto the liminal stations. Panic rises with the tension, and there's also signs of disbelief for what's apparently going on.

The Ministry are handing out SCAs to be taken to those who can't come to the stations, to help with the tethering process. With quick training, people can tether themselves, and arrive at the liminal stations awaiting them.

1. ALL ABOARD. Even in the most busy of void hubs, the tethering and platform systems are not designed for an entire planet to arrive all at once. Those volunteering can access the void by a device at the tethering station. The ministry workers explain that it won't disrupt their own tethers, and they will be able to freely walk through the barrier back to the ministry building. The platform is larger than any voidtreckers have seen in their time in the void, closer to the transport station. There are rows of train tracks, but also docked air craft, space craft, there's even a port with voidcraft that look like traditional ships that would sail through water, if there were any water in the void.

All those tethered have tickets and so should know where they are going, but volunteers have been given tablets with an ever growing database to match passengers up to their voidcrafts. From there, it's a case of helping direct people, carrying luggage, and hurrying children along.

For those who would rather not be around panicked people, there's plenty of work loading animals, be they pets or animals from the zoo, who have their own dedicated voidcraft. ( ORANGE2 )

2. THE IRUE ZOO. Outside the Irue Grotto the planet is pretty rural. Not far from the city is The Irue Zoo, a clutter of domed conservatories customised to house creatures from across the system's planets: avians, reptiles, creatures that don't match anything Voidtreckers know. The zookeepers have already had collars delivered- devices similar to SCAs but for use on animals. They do however need help getting them on the creatures. For any tiny animals, there are chip guns - but, you'll need good aim.

Using drones, those piloting them can also help to make sure an area has been cleared and no one left behind, without the person piloting even being physically present. ( PURPLE 2, BLUE 3, ORANGE 3 )

2. OSIGA VILLAGES. In the villages, there are families who just don't have easy access to reach the Irue Grotto: not everyone has a vehicle. Some eagerly climb into the Ministry ride that Voidtreckers take to reach their communities, while others will need help to go to them instead. They might have family members who can't make the trip, others are more worried about their pets or farm creatures, for those lucky to have indoor farms. Luckily the SCA packs that voidtreckers were given also contain the animal tethering collars- the ministry had factored that into their evacuation plans.

More of a challenge are those who refuse to leave the lives they made, who've barricaded and are making it difficult to be helped. They might not trust the ministry. They might not believe that the threat is real. Or they might resist the idea that this threat cannot be fought, after all they are Osigan, not a weak people at all. ( ORANGE 3, RED2, PURPLE2, BLUE3 )

HOURS FOUR AND FIVE

As their countdown clocks tick to two hours remaining there is a message from Anan. The main bulk of people have been processed by now, freeing up those helping in the grotto to move out to further flung communities. Almost all efforts are now on the portable tethering kits, voidtreckers encouraged to travel by speeder to get to as many places as possible.

1. OFF WORLD. Anan waits at the main transport hub next to a space ship. It's not particularly large, clearly made for short inter planet journeys rather than long durations in space. She looks understandably worried, Chiff sat like a hat on her head, but she welcomes people on board for half an hour before they leave.

They're headed to a space station, getting there not for the faint hearted as it's situated in an asteroid field. Luckily, Anan can pilot her way through safely. The station is mostly occupied by elderly people and small children, suspicious people, a couple even tangry at Anan for leading strangers to their door. She takes their ire with humility but is quick to get down to business.

Here like on Osiga people have varying reactions to the news. The children are frightened but generally tough souls. Some of them know Anan and Chiff already and that helps with coaxing them. ( RED 2-3, BLUE 3, PURPLE 2-3 )

2. ON PLANET. The easily convinced have been evacuated by now, which leaves those who are, for variety of reasons, more difficult. Some are the furthest away from the Grotto, the travel time longer. Here, there is often unrest. There's been a couple of hours for people to work themselves into a state of panic. Even those ready and prepared to be evacuated are frustrated.

As they travel they might even find bands of people moving towards the grotto, angry and assuming they have been forgotten, abandoned. They can be calmed, especially when they learn that the voidtreckers have tethering kits and are here to help. But it will take some loud voices and calm personalities to break through that fear and anger. ( BLUE 2, PURPLE 3 )

3. THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE. But what of those who are adament they will not leave? The refusers are not one homogeneous group. Some refuse to believe what is happening. World eaters? Whose heard of them? Who are these strange people who are trying to empty their world? They never did trust the ministry, setting up in Irue like that...

Others truly believe that leaving their home to an otherworldly threat is an act of cowardice. Surely they should stay and fight. Stand against this threat and drive it back. They have weapons, surely if everyone just made a stand they could stop what was about to happen.

Others just can't bare to leave their homes. They are old and would rather face their fate in the comfort they know rather than leave to go to the void- they might know of it but that doesn't mean they trust it. Others are very aware of what this means, they survive but their bodies do not.

Some can be convinced, others are more stubborn. It may be best to focus on those who do want to leave, but there is no easy answer. ( RED 2-3, BLUE 3, ORANGE 3, PURPLE 2-3 )

All the time the skies are calm and clear, no sign of the approaching danger present. In some ways, this makes it harder; te only indication they have is their SCA clocks counting down. Hours turning to minutes, counting down to catastrophe.

OOC NOTES

OOC Post ~ Questions ~ Shenanigans ~ Tasks Check-In & Rewards
This event will last for 1 IC day, and OOCly runs from 16th to 22nd, with a conclusion going up on the 23rd.

CHARACTER AID: Lan Jingyi will be offering transport over distance, Lea can create keyblade portals to move people; Thanatos and Tidus will have functioning transgates to allow movement between where they are and back at the tethering station. Elidibus will also eventually be creating portals and force-teleports.

Art Credit: Header

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HOUR ONE – PROCESSING

Testing new production isn’t anything Bulma hasn’t busied herself with before. Even she had to work through shipment upon shipment testing capsules in her younger years, learning the ropes of everything that she was eventually going to take over at Capsule Corporation. As much as she would typically want to participate in that process, though… she’s whisked through a few times to give advice, and instead moved along to processing. Unfortunately she also has experience in this, in her own way, though with a bit less rush.

Getting the Namekians she’d taken in on Earth back to New Namek hadn’t been quite so rushed, but a process nevertheless.

And, at any rate, Bulma is loud and assertive enough to make it work.

Which is exactly what she takes on, a hand moving in a ‘move along’ motion as people load in to their voidcraft.

“Alright everybody, let’s keep this moving. Nice and orderly, in to your ships so that others can come in. Everyone needs off of the planet, after all.” … She is perhaps far too calm about this, but to be fair, she’s been on one too many destructing planets in her lifetime. She’s also available if anyone is struggling with a more hard headed passenger.

HOURS TWO & THREE

ALL ABORD - Mounting anxiety seems to have taken over by now, but no one would guess by the way Bulma conducts her business, tablet in hand, working methodically. Everyone gets a friendly, placid smile as they approach, and of course Bulma will take the time to fuss over a child or two as she works, ever exacting even as the hustle around them grows.

There’s palpable tension in the air, and it’s like every child on the platform seems to sense it, babies wailing at the tops of their lungs as they’re brought by their guardians, and though Bulma herself doesn’t really feel that anxiety for a planet that wasn’t her own… she’s been here before. Another family boards, and she turns to a nearby fellow voidtrecker to sigh :

“These poor people will never see this planet again. I wish I didn’t know what that’s like but.. without the dragon balls there’s not much more I can do other than this.”

OSIGA VILLAGES - There is one thing she knows – and that’s very stubborn people. Of course, having lived among saiyans for a time now, and having dealt with this at least once.. Bulma’s approaching this whole ‘loading up stragglers’ thing with as much practicality as she can.

Which means she is, perhaps, not as delicate as others may approach it upon seeing a few barricaded in, maybe even beating their chests about not being a weak people. She’s seen this before (cough cough) – and rolls her eyes more than once at any particularly vehement denier. This one may get her in to trouble, but she hadn’t blinked an eye at screaming at a giant Oozaru last month, and so will not hesitate to flatly assert :

“Sure, I don’t blame you for not trusting the ministry. But you can’t go on beating your chest about how strong Osigans are if Osigans, or your line of particularly dense Osigans, no longer exist, so get packing.” With an impatient flick of her hand.

“Or this’ll just become a weeding out of its own kind when the planet goes.”

HOURS FOUR & FIVE – RIGHT TO CHOOSE

.. This is getting eshausting.

Already sore and still healing from her little run in with a giant monkey not all that long ago, and now mentally taxed and not entirely thrilled to be dealing with those who refuse to leave… Bulma has decided that she will do her best, but those who insist are choosing their own fates. Of course, she knows there will be folks on the train who refuse to allow that to ride (possibly even those she knows) – and if she notices a fellow Voidtrecker struggling with a particularly stubborn person, or group of people, she’ll wait for a quite moment before butting her nose in to the situation.

“It’s a shame, but some people will never change their minds. And there may be regret there, in those few moments where they realize they were wrong, but in the end you’re not going to butt that wall down with your head.”

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

If there’s a prompt you’d like to play with Bulma but I haven’t thrown out here, please feel free to tag her with it! :) You can also PM me or reach me on the game discord!

"Better they never see the planet than the planet be the last thing they see."

K'zeka can't say he's ever experienced exactly what the people of this planet are facing right now, and he doesn't think he'd be able to be calm at all if he was told to do the same thing. Was there a way to panic rationally? He likes to think so.

"Here's your craft," he says to the group he's been escorting, a pair of families, one with a child he's managed to calm down by letting her ride on his shoulders and play with his ears. "Safe travels!"

He has regrets, but doesn't show it until she and her family have left him with Bulma, wincing slightly as he taps on his tablet. "'Dragon balls'?"

"By law of averages, there will be some people there that's the reality." Bulma sighs. She's seen it before, though maybe not in the world eater sense - people so hard-headed that they choose to go along with some destruction instead of going away to safety.

.. Totally not the absolute norm while living with saiyans, right?

The children were the hardest part, for her. They would be safe, but starting life anew so young when there's so little understanding of what was going on would be tough for not only the kids, but their parents as well. She nods as he asks about the dragon balls, pausing for a moment to guide one group a little further down to the void craft that they are looking for.

"They're magical objects from my world that can fulfill almost any wish you throw at them. Revive people from the dead, everything like that. Sometimes it takes a little bit of artful wording, but... we've been able to do a lot with them..."

"The law of...?" he asks, more to himself than to her, scrolling through the list of denizens that still haven't been accounted for that never seems to get shorter in a reasonable amount of time.

Another family--all adults this time--shows up and he directs them to a different craft, trying to keep an ear on Bulma's explanation as well.

"Any wish? They must have everyone in the world trying to get their hands on them. Or keep their hands on them." And he'd be one of those people. If they could bring the dead back to life...that's so much more than he could ever ask for.

"Never heard of the law of averages?" She wishes she was more surprised, if she's honest. Many around here aren't aware of many things that she'd consider a basic, or at least something that she'd know for the sake of making bad jokes on probability. Granted, probability was nothing in the world she'd come from, but that's not really the point at the moment.

"Most people don't know about them, thankfully." Or else, god forbid, she may not be able to wish to look a little younger every once in a while at will. "At any rate I'm the only one with the radar that makes tracking them down a breeze, so that does help when we need them.."

Thankfully it does seem like some people are heeding Bulma's advice - but then again, those might have been the people who were a little less insistent on their resistance in the first place.

Because there's still some people who are looking defiant in the face of what she's saying. Heck, if anything, Madoka feels like one guy in particular is only starting to look more angry when Bulma speaks up with that...

And that gets the tiny teenage girl worried enough that she quickly moves up to Bulma's side, looking a tad nervous.

"U-Um, miss Bulma..? Are you sure this is the right way to do it..?"

"Bull-headed people need to hear things in their own tone, sometimes." She lives this every single day, though Vegeta is a bit less hard-headed when it comes to her opinion, these days. The fact that it's because their personalities aren't all that different at the end of the day... she will of course leave out. At the end of the day, she's less than intimidated by an angry Osigan.

Arms cross over her chest quickly, that ingratiating smirk practically taken from Vegeta's face and put on hers.

"Let him try it. I'm not scared."

This is the woman who slaps hard enough to scare Goku.. she will slap the face off of an Osigan for laughs.

Oh god.

There is one fear here. No, scratch that, there is so much fear on Madoka's end. After all, she's incredibly sweet, but most of the time Madoka has a spine that's absolutely made out of jelly, and the idea of talking to the people on this planet like that - especially the tougher-looking ones - is terrifying to her.

No matter how much she thinks that Bulma is absolutely amazing, mind you. It's not Madoka having no faith in Bulma, it's just Madoka being immediately terrified in any aggressive situation.

"B-But..! I wouldn't want you to--"

Madoka doesn't even get to finish the sentence - because while she's in the middle of it, the giant guy is already yelling at Madoka that she should stay out of it, causing the tiny girl to let out a scared sound, wincing as she takes a step back.

"HEY!" Let it never be said that just because her children are pretty super that Bulma is nothing less than a bear when it comes to kids she considers her own. Even if they aren't biologically hers, like Madoka, she is immediately ripping through the space between herself and the larger Osigan the very moment he begins yelling at her.

The volume, let alone the force that comes with the voice of the small woman seems to surprise him for a moment, blinking as if he isn't quite sure what's going on by the time Bulma has reached him, already craning to place herself in his face, volume growing by the moment, and perhaps furthering everyone's understanding of how the hell she managed Vegeta and two half-saiyan children with the sudden flash of temper.

"That's enough out of you! I didn't ask you either!" Her other hand is already reared back, basically cocking a slap to unleash at any given reason to.

..

There's just silent. A pause. It's like the entire world froze up around them the moment Bulma burst like that. And it's not just Madoka staring at the woman, or the people around them.. even the man seems totally frozen, like he didn't expect things to get this far in the slightest.

Which means absolutely nothing happens for a moment or two.

But before the man or anyone else can even speak up, it's Madoka who ends up first squeaking: "T.. Thank you, miss Bulma.."

For stepping in to help her, even if it was in the scariest possible way. Madoka certainly hopes the woman will never have a reason to yell at her like that, even if she's grateful for the protection in this moment.

Bulma doesn't break the intense stare at the larger man, even as Madoka thanks her. Instead, there's a little wave of her hand as if dismissing it, an 'of course' without the words while she's basically daring the man to so much as attempt to lay a hand on her. She doubts that he will by how silent he's been since she's snapped at him, but for good measure, she'll lean back some, finger still pointed dangerously in his face.

"Anything else to say? Or are you going to shut up before I make you?"

Apologies, Madoka, but Bulma isn't about to leave him alone until there's some form of backing down from the other party.

Absolutely no apologies needed. Madoka, too, would rather get out of this tense situation as quickly as possible, considering how much she hates confrontation.

Unfortunately it seems that confrontation is basically one of the key points of this mission - which is why it's such a good thing that they have people like Bulma here with them, who are actually good at it. Rather than cowering in the face of it, like Madoka.

The guy stares at Bulma for another moment, but then he does seem to shut up, grumbling something about how he'll listen and get going as he walks away from the woman and the girl. Like he doesn't fully want to admit it out loud.

It's only when he's properly walked away towards the station that Madoka slowly dares to speak up with a little more than what she said a moment ago.

"Y.. You really convinced him.."

She sounds kind of impressed as she says it, like she can't quite believe that was possible for anyone. Not even someone as amazing as Bulma.

"How do you think I dealt with Vegeta in the early days?" Bulma laughs lowly, shoulders shrugging. Now that he isn't actively trying to posture on her or Madoka, she feels she can let down her guard down enough to joke about Vegeta a little. Look... neither of them were exactly great to be around when all of this had started, as rocky as it had been. She was willing to (partially) admit as much.

She takes a quick look around to see if there are anymore stragglers, but it would seem that if they were aiming to put up a fight... they've given up on it after that little display. "It isn't easy to be among a group of fighters all the time if you aren't willing to break bad with people a little, you know. I learned from that."

".. of course," Madoka slowly says.

She gets that. If Vegeta is anything to go by - and honestly, if Bulma is anything to go by as well - then their world is.. a fairly wild place, from Minako's point of view. Even remembering Piccolo makes it make more sense. Their world has got to be filled with people who are so tough, and who aren't always good with emotions, even if they have something good buried in them deep down.

There's no way Bulma could thrive there if she wasn't just as strong as these people, if not just in mentality.

"That really helps here though. I've been trying to convince some of the more stubborn people, but.. um, I think they really don't want to listen to me. Maybe it's since I'm so young, but they dismiss me right away, and won't listen to anything I say afterwards.."

Apparently Madoka's kicked puppy look doesn't even faze them.

Because that sure is what the girl is looking like in this moment, as she's thinking back on those exchanges.

She would say 'if only Madoka knew' but, in reality, she isn't sure that she would want the girl to know about their world in that sense. It was a fairly brutal circle of fighting, 7 years or so of peace, rinse and repeat. Thankfully lately there's a little less of a training scramble to do before the next big threat, but that doesn't do a whole lot to soothe her. They did have more kids to consider, these days, though.

With Bulla and herself in the balance, they could at least know that Vegeta would be fighting until his last.

"You're also fairly soft-spoken and tend to back down," Bulma says it matter of factly, as if she's notated it for future use if she should need it. It's not, shall we say, off base for her to do so in practicality's sense. "With people like these you can't be willing to back off so easily. Some will never, ever give in and admit that you're making sense, but those people will also probably not bother to engage about it because their mind is already made up."

Madoka frowns - though it doesn't seem to be in any offended way, despite Bulma being.. a little blunt about it, in a way that's making Madoka feel worse than she's fully letting onto in this moment. It's the sort of thing that she's going to be thinking about when she's lying in bed after the mission and maybe cry about a little if she's feeling bad enough.

But right now she's too focused on their current mission and her desire to do it well so they can save as many people as possible, so she's shoving the feeling aside for the moment. It means that said frown is instead a thoughtful one.

"But then what do I do..?" Especially since pushing through definitely is not going to work for Madoka. She just can't do it. "If people already made up their mind, then nothing I do would convince them."

Nothing anyone would do would convince them. Even more assertive people than Madoka.

"Then you allow them their decision." Bulma says it with a little nod. It's the difficult thing to do, really, to allow people to decide on their own doom, but if they were so determined... it really isn't their place to force them, either. Use forceful words, or maybe even get a little too close for comfort? Sure.

But to make a decision for someone is bound to be troublesome. Or lead to regrets or resentments later.

"Sometimes, even if you know it isn't the right decision, people do not or will not hear what you have to say because they are so sure that you're wrong. And even if, in this situation, it means they will die.. well. That's still their decision to make."

"You're right.." She's at least willing to admit to that. Granted, Madoka is usually quick to submit, to just admit that other people are right.

But in this case, Bulma is right. When it comes down to it, this entire situation is in these people's own hands. It's their decision.

But it still makes Madoka look sad, obviously.

"But.. it's still hard."

It's hard, watching people walk away. Knowing that they are going to die. Even if pretty much everyone here is a total stranger to them, it still hurts Madoka and her soft, soft heart.

"It hurts." Not that she doesn't think they should leave it up to these people in the end, but.. she just wants to have said that. To have been open about her pain.

"It is. Here, there aren't any dragon balls I can sort of.. mop up later with, either." Yes, there had been people (cough, Vegeta) who had dealt with the results of their own hard-headedness in her own world, but there was an impressive little escape hatch built-in with the dragon balls. Here, with the train, despite everything that it could do... there was no escaping death. With the universe, or just the planet, there was no changing it once it happened.

Bulma hums a soft agreement that it hurts, even if.. perhaps she's been desensitized, in her own way. Death happened, for everyone, at some point or another. There's no stopping it.

"It's never easy, death and everything about it is... far more permanent, here, than it is in my world, but those who die naturally can't be wished back." Meaning that, one day, she'll have to deal with it from everyone, and her own family with her.. "But that's just the way of the world, unfortunately. Even as much as we may try to change it."

The way of the world.

Madoka really wishes something could be done about all these cruel worlds out there, because it just.. doesn't feel right for this to be the way of any world. Destruction on this scale just shouldn't be possible. It's wrong. It doesn't have a single good aspect to it.

On the other hand, she realises that ruminating on that won't change anything right now. She should just try to be as strong as Bulma here. Try to think about it as little as possible.

"I.. I'll return to trying to convince people, then." Madoka speaks up, looking up at Bulma.

Knowing the other will do the same. That Bulma will also do her best.

"Good luck to us both, miss Bulma. Let's at least try to save as many people as possible.."

"That'a girl." Bulma smiles, happy that Madoka's willing to rally and move along at the very least. It isn't very easy to do, considering it's fairly defeating to know that those who weren't going to take their advice would be destroyed along with their planet, here.

She's seen this, in a way, but there is no way to fix it all once it's done. Bulma takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders.

"Yeah. Of course. There may not be dragon balls to fix it, but we can sure as hell try our hardest."

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Crashing Down: Start

Bulma Briefs | Orange Team | OTA

2 & 3: All Aboard

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