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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hour 1- Gathering- Purple

Bruno wondered if this was how his papi had felt, having to gather the people of his village and flee from invading soldiers. No, scratch that. He wondered if this was how Noah felt, trying to get people to board the Ark. 'The flood is coming! Everyone get on the boat!'

He seemed to be having about as much success as Noah had, and he sighed, running a hand down over his face in increasingly panicked frustration as another person refused to believe his assurances that the ministry's warnings were genuine. The terrible irony wasn't lost on him at all. "The one time it would actually be useful for people to believe everything I say is a prophesy of doom, and they don't," Bruno said to himself when the person he'd failed to convince was out of earshot. "Because of course they don't. Can't have my gift actually be helpful, can we?" Perhaps unfortunately for him though, he failed to check to see if anyone else was within earshot.

Hours 2 and 3- All Aboard- Orange

If Bruno had felt like Noah before, he really felt like it now, helping herd tethered animals aboard the craft designated for them. Except instead of two of every kind there were dozens, sometimes hundreds at a time. He was also beginning to understand why 'herding cats' was an expression as he tried to wrangle several pet felines who had somehow gotten out of their carriers back into them so they could be loaded aboard.

"Ai," he sighed. "Come on, gatitos, we don't have time for this! Literally!" At least he'd managed to keep them contained to the general area reserved for animal boarding; if they escaped into the crowd of people, the poor things could be trampled. But he was definitely going to need a hand if all these animals were going to get loaded in time.

Hours 4 and 5- On Planet- Blue, Purple

Alas Bruno had neither a loud voice nor a calm presence. But what he did have was a bunch of tethering kits and recently acquired knowledge of how to use them. Hopefully he got the chance to use them. He clutched the box containing the kits and managed to not hide behind the Voidtrecker nearest to him when they encountered a group of angry, frightened people who'd been making their way towards the grotto, thinking they wouldn't make it.

They were understandably panicked and angry. Bombarding him with questions faster than he could answer them. "That's not-", he began in answer to one man's accusation, only to be interrupted by another woman's frightened question. "We're trying to-" And another, someone demanding to know if the grotto had already been devoured by these 'world eaters'. "No, that's-" And so on. Bruno threw a somewhat desperate look to his nearby fellow Voidtrecker. Please help so they can... actually help?

Kitty sighs, not having much luck with convincing people of the impending danger either. Just as she's about to try again with some others, though, she can't help overhearing Bruno's words, and glances over at him curiously.

"What kind of gift?" she can't help asking. It might not exactly be the time for this, but if they had something that could help convince people...

Meirda. He really needed to get out of the habit of talking to himself. And it was too late to brush it off, now that she'd specifically asked. "It's... nothing that would help here," Bruno said. "I mean, it might have before we got here, but that's only if people believed me like they did back home, so..."

Kitty couldn't help frowning a bit. She could recognize the signs of when someone not wanting to talk about something, and she had a feeling about what it had to do with.

And normally she'd still try to ask about it, but they were limited on time. So instead she nodded. "Well...okay. Guess we'll have to try to convince them the old-fashioned way."

She was about to leave it at that to go after people to talk with them, but she paused a moment and added, "And hey...If it helps any, you aren't the only one with a gift. And I know what it's like when it's hard to talk about it too."

Elizabeth looks over at the muttering man. This whole mission has her feeling out of place as none of the jobs were "Get out there and murder up as many world eaters as you can." Tilting her head at the last bit she shrugs.

"In my experience, the powers that bless mortals with gifts almost never are completely honest about them."

Bruno was startled that someone had actually managed to hear him in all the confusion. Though thankfully she wasn't asking for details. "Tell me about it," he said. "Or at least, they don't seem to think about the kinds of consequences it might have for the people involved." His family was living proof of that.

"Consequences are something that no one thinks of till they must suffer them. Those who do not have the means to suffer them simply do not understand, or they blame the gods."

With that she shrugs.

"Still, being able to see more does grant a certain wisdom that being blind does not."

"Funny, it didn't seem to make me all that wise," Bruno said. "If it did, maybe I'd be able to figure out how to get people to listen to me."

If anyone needs to be able to keep their head during a crisis, it's the healer - you can't help anyone if you can't think straight, after all. Ryo catches Bruno's gaze, approaches the crowd gathered around him, and gestures, and a gust of wind blows through the crowd. It's not strong enough to knock anyone off their feet, but the temperature means it's cold enough to cut off words and make people huddle a bit inside their coats. It's an interruption in the chaos, it's what they needed, and he didn't need to raise his voice to do it.

"Nobody has missed their chance," he says, calm but firm in the wake of the wind. "Form a line and we'll help you. He'll tether you and I'll answer questions."

Bruno fought the urge to give a sigh of relief as Ryo showed up. People skills weren't Bruno's strong suit, and that was especially evident at times like this. That gust of wind, though... Had it just ben a coincidence, or did Ryo have some kind of magic too? Maybe something like Pepa's? No time to ask now, but he made a mental note of it for later.

He nodded hastily and set the box down so he could open it, while the people shuffled into a somewhat ragged line. Families still clumped together, but thankfully some semblance of order had been restored. The box was wooden, and Bruno quickly did knock on wood before opening it and beginning to tether people. He hoped none of them noticed how his hands were trembling faintly; at least the cold gave him a plausible excuse if they did. "Thanks," Bruno said to Ryo as he finished tethering the first group. "Really. I'm... not that great at talking to people, especially at times like this."

It looks like the pause was enough of a break for Bruno to gather himself, and the crowd is following instructions and forming a line. It's not single file - there's clumps of people, groups of families and relatives - but it's still a line, and it's still mostly calm. Good.

Ryo waves the first group on as Bruno finishes tethering them, pointing them towards another voidtrecker for check-in and finding their voidcraft, before responding to Bruno. "Of course. Don't worry about the questions - I'll take care of them."

Which is when someone peels off from the line and rushes to the front. Are they sure everyone will get tethered? Are they going to get tethered with their family? Because they need to take care of their little brother-

Ryo just nods to Bruno - he can keep doing what he's doing - and turns to answer the questions.

"Right... OK," Bruno said offering a brief, nervous smile. "You handle the talking, I'll handle the tethering." Well, him and a few others, at least.

He understood the young man's panic as he came rushing forward, but was very glad when Ryo intercepted him. Bruno focused on tethering the current family he was working on as quickly as possible... only to pause slightly in shock when he came to the youngest member of the group: a little girl who couldn't be more than five or six. He couldn't help it; she looked just like Mirabel had at that age, right down to the big, round glasses. He actually had to blink and shake his head slightly to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

It wasn't until the girl's mother asked him if something was wrong that he managed to snap out of it. "No, no, nothing's wrong!", he assured both her and the girl hastily as he proceeded to get the girl tethered. "She just... looks a lot like someone I know, that's all."

"Are you real sure these are domestic cats?" The red-head that helps along isn't someone that has spoken to Bruno before, though he might have seen him around once or twice. He's not so much herding the cats as just picking them up, claws and hissy-fits and all, and tucking them along in the nook of an arm as he approaches. His shirt is a bright purple though, and has the VoidTrecker insigna at the very least.

"D'you have carriers for them?" There's a slight furrow between his eyebrows, before a cat uses the opportunity to bite his hand and he yelps lightly, turning to scowl at the tuft of fur.

"That's it. Your name's Bitey," he threatens the unapologetic critter.

"I don't know," Bruno said. "I think so? I mean one is purple, but I'm pretty sure it's a cat? And they're definitely pets, so..." He shrugged somewhat helplessly. The labels on the carries said 'cat' so he was going with that.

"And yeah, I have them, but the trick is getting them back in there. Maybe you can try catching them while I keep them out of the way of the people who are boarding?"

"Alright; can y' get one open for lil' Bitey here?" the half-elf asks, fairly casually. He grins whenever his companion glances his way, but he's not entirely sure that it's helping. Bitey gets an ear scratch as he approaches, even as the cat bites at his knuckles.

"How many 've we got to find, an' d'we know what they look like?" he asks fairly casually, before adding, "Also, it's cute that the SCA misses some of yer words. Not sure how it's working-- or not workin'-- but I like it!" Another smile dances at the corner of his eyes as he mentions that. "Might wanna check if you need it fixed though. Just in case."

"Five, I think. That's how many empty carriers there are at least," he said grabbing one said carrier and hurrying over with it. He opened the door so that the redhead could put 'Bitey' into it.

The comment about his SCA missing words caught him by surprise though. "What do you mean about it 'missing words'?", he asked. No one else had said anything about it after all, so it was news to him.

Edited 2022-06-23 06:14 (UTC)

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crowneddragon - 2022-07-07 20:28 (UTC) - Expand

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persona_non_ratta - 2022-07-16 21:28 (UTC) - Expand

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crowneddragon - 2022-07-18 02:51 (UTC) - Expand

"Ladies and gentleman, I get you are all scared, but if you go one at a time he would be able to answer the questions. By throwing them all at once it makes it a lot harder"

He felt like he had to at least state as such yet, but at least he had some idea of what they had been asking.

"But to note, everything is still okay for the moment but we do need to hurrt regardless and this gentleman will help you."

Bruno offered the people a brief shaky smile at being called a gentleman and having attention directed his way, but nodded. "Right," he said. "That's what I'm here for." He set the box down and hastily set about opening it.

To the young man next to him, he said, "Do you think maybe you could answer questions while I get people tethered? I'm... way better at that than talking to people, honestly."

"I can do that, I don't think I would do all that well with the tethering, so it works out." He said in a little cheery manner. It wasn't necessarily true, Fai could probably learn, but her this was honestly the better way since he knew right now how to and he didn't.

So Fai moved away for a moment before going to a few people who seemed to have questions, making sure to do his best to answer before sending them one at a time to get tethered.

"Tell me when to let the next one through."

Bruno set to tethering people as quickly as possible doing his best to keep his hands from trembling slightly as he worked. At least the cold gave him a valid excuse, if anyone noticed.

He finished up with the first group quickly enough, then turned to Fai. "OK, ready for the next bunch," he said. Since most people were clumped together in groups of families and friends it was faster to just take them that way.

Link saw the poor guy's silent plea and tried to help.

"I know everyone is scared, but, please, one at a time."

Bruno gave the young man a grateful look. "Thanks," he said. Then turned back to the people taking a deep breath of the frosty air before speaking again. "The grotto is fine, for now, and nobody's gonna get left behind if we can help it. But if people could line up, it's make it a lot easier for us to get everyone tethered. OK?" He tried to sound confident, but was pretty sure it didn't work. At least he'd managed to keep his voice from shaking.

He couldn't quite keep his hands from trembling though, as he put down the box and began to get tethering kits out. He offered some to Link. "Can you try and get some of the people in back? It'll go faster if there's two of us."

Xion had also been trying to gather animals. The problem was...

... Okay to be fair, there were lots of problems.

The current problem, however, was that she was trying to put the cat she had picked up into her pocket. And the cat did not want to be put in her pocket. Or held. At all. It might have been amusing if not for the dire situation. And the very real possibilty her face might start looking like Xigbr's, under the hood.

Was that girl... trying to stuff a cat in her pocket? He knew that panic could do weird things to people, but that was a first for him. At least she'd caught one though so he grabbed one of the empty carriers and rushed over. "No, no," he said. "Put it in here. He's not gonna fit in your pocket, OK?" He held the barred carrier door open for her to put the cat inside. Hopefully quickly before it managed to squirm away or claw her face.

She winced back and might have held the cat against herself defensively, but it took her wince as a moment of weakness and tried again to escape. She put the cat in the carrier then scrambled back, not sure why this was so hard. She turned to look at the other cats, maybe she just picked a bad one?

Crashing Down: Start

Bruno Madrigal | OTA

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