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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"It's okay, dear." said the old woman, probably well into her eighties and slightly hunched, currently patting the hand of a very distressed looking Lunari standing just outside her home. "I know what it means if I stay, and I don't mind. There's nothing for me out there."

The woman looked calm, resigned; smiling even as she assured her. But Lioriley looked anything but calm. Her leylines were dull, the pulse of them slow and flickering like a light that was on the verge of burning out. But even those that could not see could tell from her voice ⁠— strained and trembling as it was ⁠— that she was either on the verge of tears, collapse, or both while she pleaded with the woman.

"Please ⁠— you must. I cannot just leave you here."

Edited 2022-04-18 17:13 (UTC)

“Lioriley?”

Rezo had been unaware of where she had been all day besides that she was presumably helping with the evacuation; honestly, he’d been busy enough that he’d barely thought about it beyond a vague hope that things were going well with whatever tasks she’d taken on.

But by coincidence he’s wound up at the same village that needs to be evacuated, and when he hears her voice- strained, fragile, but distinctly hers- he forgets about the building he’s headed for and makes a straight course towards the sound.

He stops short a foot or so behind Lior. He can hear the quavery voice of an aging woman just on the other side of Lioriley, but she sounds a great deal calmer than Lioriley does.

Rezo clears his throat. “Is something the matter here?”

If she hadn't been so hyper focused on the woman in front of her, gripping her hands as tightly as she could without hurting her, Lioriley might have realized that Rezo was coming and attempted to adjust accordingly. Instead, he came just in time to hear her continue to plead — beg with this kind old woman who seemed to be doing more comforting for the exhausted Lunari than the latter was doing for her.

"No need to waste your time when there are plenty of others that need help." the woman said, looking up to the priest and nodding to him. "No worries, dear. Just giving your fellow voidtrecker a send off. She's been very kind."

Lioriley reluctantly looked up, still holding the woman's hand (and in the lady's defense, she didn't seem to mind overmuch despite her own protests about staying). "She will not come." is all she said to Rezo, the quiver in her voice too obvious to hide even if she tried to mumble the words.

Oh.

It’s quite easy to piece together the situation, and see how that has led to Lioriley’s distress. And the old woman’s reluctance doesn’t entirely surprise Rezo either. There are numerous reasons why someone might choose to stay behind and truthfully, if he were on his own, Rezo might very well opt to let her make her own choice and move on to more cooperative evacuees.

But he heard that quiver in Lioriley’s voice and he knows from past experience that the Lunari is not easily brushed off. So he places a hand on Lior’s shoulder and gently nudges her aside so that he can face the old woman directly.

“May I ask why you’re unwilling to evacuate with the others?”

There was, perhaps for the first time, resistance when he nudged her aside - brief but still obvious in the way she clung to the old woman's hand for as long as she could before finally stepping to the side to give Rezo room to step into place.

"Well," the old woman started, still smiling. "Like I was telling your friend here - I am old, my family moved on ages ago, and this is my home. If the world is ending...I may as well see it though."

Rezo will fortunately not be trying to nudge Lioriley particularly far, especially since he wants to keep his hand on her shoulder. That sort of thing helps her, doesn’t it…? He hopes so. He’s realized he’s not as good at understanding the feelings of other people as he should be, but here he has to navigate both Lioriley’s and that of this stranger’s.

And yet despite that, the problem he winds up having is that the old woman’s fatalism strikes a certain chord with him. He has tried to ‘see things through’ in the past, and it takes a moment of thought for him to come up with a counter-argument.

“I can understand your feelings,” Rezo says, slowly. “But this is not solely an ending. Osiga must live on through its people; and to that end, I believe each individual will hold an important role.”

More confident, or at least hopeful, he continues: “In times like these, people tend to look to their elders for guidance. There will be people who will need you out there, if you care to look for them.”

Rezo’s expression is calm, reassuring, but Lioriley may feel his grip tighten minutely.

His presence helped her emotionally, and in that moment the hand on her shoulder may have been the only thing keeping her upright beyond pure stubbornness.

She wanted to say something, to add something useful to the conversation, but she was so...tired. and she didn't understand why the woman had to fight so hard; why she couldn't understand she had to leave. How could anyone just want to die? She kept herself quiet for now as she listened and waited for the woman to reply.

"I understand." she said, and Lioriley felt a glimmer of hope that the woman may very well crush immediately. "But from what I've seen you've got plenty headed off planet. One little old lady won't make much difference in the end."

"One person can make all the difference." Lioriley countered, reaching up to gently squeeze the hand on her shoulder. She didn't know why he tensed - but she certainly didn't like the feeling all that much.

To her credit, the woman did fall silent for a few seconds, as if considering the words both healers offered. "You two are more stubborn than me. I'm almost impressed."

“We have tethering equipment at hand. It will only take a minute for you to join the rest of your people.”

It’s not really an acquiescence, but it’s enough to encourage Rezo to bully on ahead. He doesn’t want to leave her much room to say ‘no,’ and while he may not fully understand why Lioriley is so determined to save this woman, he’s not going to question it either. Not right now, while she feels so shaky underneath his hand.

Maybe it was the fact that denying such an easy request would be downright foolish when the alternative was a likely painful death. Or maybe it was the fact that Lioriley looked like she was on the edge of her sanity and a no might drive her to absolutely lose it. Whatever the reason, the woman sighed.

"Fine. Let me get my things." she huffed and turned to head back into her small home, likely only to be gone for a few moments.

As soon as she was inside Lioriley wobbled, and nearly collapsed with the sudden rush of relief, her face in her hands. "Thank you."

Rezo keeps an ear out, not fully trusting the woman not to try escaping out the back door if she’s that determined to go down with the rest of the world, but most of his attention is caught by how limp Lioriley suddenly feels under his hand.

“You sound exhausted.” He frowns, automatically moving close to her in case she does actually collapse; at least if she does now she’ll fall into him instead of onto the ground.

“Have you been encountering a lot of resistance?”

She was exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, physically; more exhausted than she had been in years because she just didn't stop once she got going. Not to mention all the magic she had used coercing others to calm down long enough to move to safety.

She tried to catch herself, to sound less exhausted than she was - but what was the point? He could already tell she wasn't doing well.

"A bit." She said, lifting her head and - despite valiant attempts to do otherwise - leaning into Rezo's side. Less for support and more for comfort. "I understand their desire to stay in their homes, but even when given the news of the incoming destruction... I feel as if I am not doing enough."

Knowing what he does of Lioriley and her stamina levels- the woman hardly needs to sleep, for Gods’ sakes- makes her exhaustion extra concerning. He shifts his grip on her shoulder, the better to firmly support her in place. Even as she speaks, he wonders how else to address this problem. There is the food that Devero was handing out…

Lior’s mind clearly isn’t on food, however.

“You cannot hold yourself responsible for the choices of other people,” Rezo says quietly.

Strange. Seemed like she could hold herself responsible for the choices of other people just fine. Why - she was doing it right now!

At least Rezo was there. The feeling of his hand gripping her shoulder a pleasant comfort both physically and emotionally. Even if she still watched the old woman's home with a sense of dread that she might have just locked herself inside to be done with them, and still planned to die when the planet was devoured.

"They are my responsibility." She said finally. "The moment I try to bring them back and they refuse - I have failed." She might not have been speaking strictly of the people here either.

Evidently they’re both suspicious bastards, with Rezo keeping an ear out and Lioriley keeping her eyes on the door, even if Rezo’s concern is mostly for Lior.

At her words, Rezo’s frown deepens and he tries to think of a counterargument that holds a bit more weight than “No, you’re not,” lest it turn into a fruitless back-and-forth.

“Lioriley… You mustn’t think like that,” he says, his words cautious, unsure if he’s saying the right thing. “It will do no good for you, nor the people who choose to stay behind.”

Speaking of which, Rezo thinks he can hear movement inside the woman’s house. He prays that it’s her coming out to meet them.

Unfortunately, even Rezo could not assuage the guilt that she had built up over the past six centuries. All these failures did was add to the seemingly endless number of people she had not been able to save. It wasn't her fault - it was never her fault - but by being there and not being able to help, she had not saved them when she thought she could.

"I just want to help." She murmured, reaching back around Rezo to gently grip at the back of his coat. Before she could say anything more, the door opened and the woman exited holding a single small bag, stopping a few feet away from them with a raised brow.

"Should I leave you kids alone?"

Edited 2022-04-21 20:19 (UTC)

Rezo tenses, as though he’s been caught in a clandestine act, rather than merely trying to support a distressed colleague. ~~(Or a distressed friend?)~~

“Madam,” he says tersely, turning to the old woman.

Despite his embarrassment at her misunderstanding of the situation (and she called them 'you kids?'), it’s with reluctance that he gently steps back from Lioriley, tacitly encouraging Lior to let go of him. It’s clear that whatever turmoil she’s going through is far from resolved but unfortunately, they have business to attend to.

“Let us get on with it, then. Lioriley, do you have an SCA prepared?”

He presumes yes, considering what she’s doing out here, but if not he has equipment in his rucksack.

Reluctantly, Lioriley loosened her grip and shifted her weight to keep herself upright, the flush of her cheeks either from embarrassment, exhaustion, or both. At the moment, she couldn't even tell.

"Oh. Yes." She replied hurriedly, taking out the mentioned SCA and handing it to the woman. A few easy instructions later and she would be tethered and on her way. At this point the older woman seemed resigned to leave, and didn't put up much of a fight. Though she did give them both another look before she was off.

Lioriley sighed. "One gone." So many more to go. She looked at her watch - there wasn't nearly enough time. "We should keep moving."

Edited 2022-04-21 22:28 (UTC)

Rezo is, fortunately, very resistant to looks, and unlike Lioriley he is able to miss the old woman’s entirely.

When the tethering is done, he knows Lior is right that they should move on. But Rezo pauses.

“One moment,” he says.

He moves to gently pick the old woman’s body up and carry it back into the house. He realizes even as he is doing so that there’s no real point to the action; they don’t need to move her out of the way and she certainly won’t be any safer in the house than on the doorstep. Still, he edges along the inside wall of the house until he bumps into an armchair, where he sets her down.

She had wanted to stay in her home, after all.

When she’s settled, he hurries back to Lioriley, who hopefully hasn’t been made antsy by this distraction.

Her brows furrowed in confusion, tempted to ask for an explanation, but willing to give Rezo the benefit of the doubt that he knew what he was doing and he wasn't just going to - to what? Throw the woman's body in a ditch or something?

It was only once he started easing into the house that she understood, and he might even be able to hear her soft footsteps as she made her way to the edge of the porch and peered inside. He didn't have to go far to hurry to her side again.

He also didn't have to have excellent hearing to know that she was sobbing.

"Thank you, Rezo." That was so...sweet. he didn't have to take the time to move a body that could not - would never - know that it was laid in its proper home. But he did and maybe it wasn't a big deal but damn if it didn't push her emotional ass over some unseen line.

“Lioriley-!”

Hell. He’d been concerned she might be impatient to get moving, knew she was sentimental enough that she would probably understand his actions better than he did, but he hadn’t expected this to be the moment that broke her composure, no matter how thinly stretched it had been earlier.

But it has and he halts in front of her, uncertain of if he should apologize for making her cry or not.

“Lioriley,” he repeats. He reaches out and touches her cheek, the motion hesitant. “It’s alright.”

It’s a blatant platitude, but what else can he say?

She shouldn't have broken down in front of him. Rezo did not need to deal with her on top of everything else - but the gesture had been so kind, so thoughtful; something she would have done if she had the strength and her mind wasn't so muddied by stress and despair.

"I am sorry, I--" oh. She looked up just in time to feel his hand on her cheek, her eyes widening in surprise. Rezo sure was full of surprises today apparently. Lioriley reached up, gently grasped the hand, and leaned into the touch for as long as she could. "I apologize. I am fine."

Rezo lets her take his hand, holding it steady against her cheek. He thinks he can almost feel the moisture of her tears even through the thick gloves he’s wearing.

“It’s alright,” he repeats, this time in response to the apologies.

Lioriley is blatantly not fine, and Rezo’s head tilts, brows furrowed as if he can somehow see through his perpetually closed eyes and glean a fix for everything that ails her. She doubtless needs a break, but he knows how she’d likely respond to that suggestion, and pragmatically he knows they need every hand on deck for as long as the ship is above water. Even when those hands are on the verge of breaking down themselves.

“...Here,” he says at last, and he takes his other hand and holds it to her other cheek, carefully cradling her face. In a quiet voice, he begins to incant. “Blessed humble hand of God. Breath of Mother Earth, I pray thee come before me, show your great compassion to this person and deliver them Recovery.”

His hands glow with magic- Lior may want to close her eyes for this part- and the white magic flows from Rezo and into Lioriley. In the unlikely event she’s incurred any scrapes or bruises over the past few hours that her own natural healing factor didn’t already take care of, those will heal away- but the real purpose of this spell, for Rezo to cast it at this time, is to return some of her stamina, to give her enough energy to keep going for however long they have left.

That time, she just nodded, knowing she would just be murmuring more apologies if she tried to speak. She was...overwhelmed, to say the least, and she would berate herself later for being so openly weak and vulnerable in front of a man who surely had far more important things to worry about than her.

She will also berate herself for the way she internally reacted to his touch; to how good it felt to have his hands cradling her face. Were they not in a crisis situation, she would think there was something more to it, something more intimate. But there wasn't — he was just doing what he could to help and it was surely nothing beyond that. Even if deep, deep down there was.

It had been... a long time since she had received any outside healing; the sensation foreign but not unpleasant. Her own background healing abilities didn't feel like much of anything with how used to it she was; so to feel the pulses of magical energy that coursed through her, knowing they came from him. It helped...a lot.

"Thank you." She said again, grasping both his hands and squeezing before he inevitably removed them.

Rezo doesn’t withdraw his hands right away, even after the spell finishes. He keeps them cradled there while she squeezes his hands, a slight frown on his lips, his thumbs brushing away any stray tears that escape her eyes.

When he finally draws back he moves slowly, the ticking of the clock being the only pressing reason he does so. He’s tempted to offer to go with her, but… They can cover more ground separately, and he trusts her competence in the field.

He’s just a little… concerned. Is that irrational of him?

“I will see you back on the train,” he says quietly. “And please, feel free to contact me if you encounter any more… obstacles.”

Lioriley closed her eyes and silently relished the touch; the warmth; the comfort, knowing full well she could not do so for more than a few seconds. But those few seconds were all she needed to keep going, and with a renewed vigor brought upon by both magical healing and Rezo's assurance, she pulled back and prepared to move.

"I will. Please do the same if you need me." She replied, lingered for a moment longer, and then finally - albeit reluctantly - turned to head out.

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Crashing Down: Start

THE DRILL. I KNOW IT.

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