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 I - Gathering - Irue Grotto
Esteban won't ever pretend to be the smartest. He's a bit slow on the uptake, sometimes he can't see clues if they were about to smack him in the face. But he is resilient, and there is some strength to him, and the goodness to help people whomever they may be, and that means he's ready to carry whoever needs to be carried up a few flights of steps if there's need be.

He's not the strongest either, but he'll make do, as long as someone is there to guide him through-- Esteban loves getting lost, but their time is ticking, and he doesn't have the opportunity to meander again.

"Left or right?" He asks aloud, adjusting his hold onto the teenager with the sprained ligament currently hanging onto his back.

Hour II-III - The Irue Zoo - All creatures, big and small
II
The problem, Esteban figures, with being raised with wyverns and nightmares and dragons, is that teeth are not an immediate deterrent.

He struggles with the creature, pinning it down as best he can as it thrashes underneath him, snarling and growling as its tail whips across the scratchy sand-like enclosure. He has to keep a tight, sturdy hold on the blanket that covers its head to expose the neck, which means he doesn't have the hands to help put on the collar on the beast.

"I got it! It's safe-- quick!" he calls to whoever's nearby, because it's just a matter of time before the creature gets upset enough that even Esteban's weight and strength won't keep it down.

III
"Listen. Listen." His voice is surprisingly quiet as he calls to his companion, crouched in the few spots of underbrush that had been gathered for the creatures enrichment. Most of the small, winged-critters had already been gathered up, collared and placed in temporary shelters while they were being moved, but Esteban had insisted on staying back just a few more minutes.

There's a pathetic little mewl from somewhere nearby, the barest edge of a sound that is both panicked and tired. This is new. This, he does not know what it is, and according to the count, they should have all the critters from this enclosure. So what's making that sound?

Hour IV-V - The Right to Choose - Unnamed Hamlet
[OOC: Some pretty morally grey themes ahead, warnings will be in the titles if necessary.]
IV
It's a tiny hamlet, flung to the very edges of civilization. The cold doesn't bite this far so much as it gnashes and gnaws at any piece of uncovered skin, leaving it raw and red in its wake. The houses are tightly packed at the very least, but it does mean that the villagers are nothing more than an extension of one another, a network sharing the same root beliefs.

"We're jus' tryin' to make you all safe!" Esteban struggles, holding the door as best ajar as he can. They're heavy, the frames reinforced, and whoever is behind it must work with their strength a lot. The door doesn't budge well, and the booming voice from within echoes over the snapping wind.

"We don't want your help, strangers. Go away. Let the winds and the cold take you all, and let us never see you here again!" It should be clear-cut. It should be the end of it.

But Esteban is who he is. And he can't not try.

V - [Warning: Mild kidnapping? The kids want to go, but their parents do not.]
This is it. They've done their best, they've tried as hard as they could. Maybe, maybe they can make it back to the station before time runs out, but it's a bit of a stretch. The hamlet is closed to them, their doors and windows barred, curtains pulled. There's been some sound of banging, as they've noticed even some residents boarding up the windows, as if they needed to protect themselves from the wind rather than the end of their world.

Maybe this is for the best. Whatever comes at this community, they'll stand by it together; be it nothing but a misreading... or the end coming for them. And that is it.

Or at least, that would be it, only there's a distinct bundle of warm clothing in the speeder that hadn't been there when they'd reached the hamlet, a bundle that has two pairs of eyes barely peeking through their heavy snow-- (sorry, wrong term)-- sors-goggles. One is distinctively the older of the pair, and the furrow between their brows is enough to motion that they are ready to fight for their spot here, if they must.

Hour Unknown - Wildcard!~
Esteban will roll with anything.

Edited 2022-04-18 23:28 (UTC)

Rezo isn’t entirely sure if the question is directed at him, but as he’s steering people around anyway, he gestures with his staff and speaks loudly. “The right- this way- if you’re taking the Kilconnan Flier, the left if you’re taking the Cornflower.”

He may not be able to see the paths he's indicating, but he did help set up the rope barriers that cordon off the two separate pathways, so he’s quite familiar with what goes where. But before he can let Esteban go, Rezo’s attention is caught by the odd sound of Esteban’s gait, as if he’s carrying something heavy and bulky, or…

“...Are you carrying someone?”

Well.

"What's the correct answer not t' make anyone mad?" Esteban asks back with a chuckle, shifting the teen higher on his back again, still walking along, and taking a right after they mentioned their destination to him.

"Kid got tripped, an' their knee's banged up. Probably needs a healer too, but I guess there's one on the Cornflower already?" Please let there be one. Esteban doesn't have the time to search through the buildings to find one person when there's plenty more that struggle with movement, either through age, wounds or otherwise.

"Maybe Ryo's around?" He's gonna be honest, Ryo's the only VoidTrecker he knows for a fact is a healer, and that's only on hear-say. Surprisingly, Esteban hasn't needed a healer yet beyond a few scratches and bruises.

Rezo smiles, shifting into Reassuring Healer Mode. “Do not worry, it isn’t an accusation.” And from the brief exchange he overhears between Esteban and a young-sounding individual, there is indeed a passenger being carried about.

“There’s a healer here,” Rezo says. Automatically, he raises his hand, then hesitates, tilting his head. “We can try asking for Ryo over the comms, if you would be more comfortable with that, but I believe it would be more practical to let me handle it. What do you think?”

This last question is addressed more towards Esteban’s back than Esteban.

"Hmm? Oh! You're a healer?" Well, that simplifies matters! "I was just askin' 'cause Ryo's the only one I know is a healer. I know there's s'posed to be an armband or somethin', but I keep forgettin' which one's for what!" Hence, his complete lack of clue to who does what.

Esteban is here to help. The rest just complicates matters. He's even pretty sure there's some sort of colour system the train insists on that Esteban is... kind of out of the loop for. And Tidus told him it didn't really matter, so, he took those words of wisdom to heart.

"D'you need me to set them down somewhere so y' can work?" There's a slight shuffle as the teenager clings a slight tighter onto the half-elf's shoulders, nervous, but he shifts his hand to pat their arm and throw a reassuring smile over his shoulder.

“That’s right.” Rezo smiles drily. “And I understand what you mean- I’m not very good with colors myself.”

In fact, Esteban may note that Rezo is wearing a red coat, purple hat and gloves, and an orange scarf. He was, alas, in a bit too much of a hurry to ask anyone to help him color coordinate. At least it makes him eye-catching.

“If you can keep the affected limb straight it will be easier, but I can work with this. Which leg is the injured one?”

Once the kid answers, Rezo will hold his hand out towards the leg in question and cast Recovery. Esteban will be able to see white light emitting from Rezo’s hand, and any scrapes and bruises will visibly fade away.

Hey, Esteban's not judgy over anyone's wardrobe. He makes a note that Rezo seems to enjoy mixing colours before moving on to the side where he helps the teenager down, settling them on a jutting outcrop of stacked stones. While the healer gets to work, he stands back a bit, impressed to see the swelling quickly shift through colours before the knee settles down to a more natural size.

He lets out an appreciative hum as the teenager kicks their leg a few times, hesitantly at first, before growing more confident. They stand up more resolutely, before smiling lightly.

"Thanks!"

Well, that's... that, Esteban guesses. "Y' got directions to get to the Cornflower?" he asks lightly, but the teen hesitates, shifting their weight about. Hm. He hopes Rezo at least does, because Esteban doesn't.

The thanks will get a brief, satisfied smile out of Rezo before they move onto the matter of directions. Rezo nods and explains, “There is a path marked by ropes and, I believe, a few painted markers. The tethering stations are also broadcasting the names of the voidcraft outside of their stations, so you will hear those when you’re close.”

Rezo stands, taking a few steps back to where they’d met, assuming that the others will follow, or at least pay attention to what he’s doing, and gestures to the street on the left.

“The path begins at the end of that street. Do you think you can find it from there? If not, I would be happy to assist.”

Even if the kid isn’t injured anymore, there are other reasons why someone might lack confidence in their ability to get around on their own.

There's a shake of the teen's head before they start on their way, a note of hesitance soon vanishing from their steps as they see the directions Rezo mentioned.

"I'm good. I'll be okay." A brief pause follows where they smile, and with their destination in view, they start off at a light jog, to test their knee for a bit before they gain the confidence to run the nearly empty streets.

"Stay safe! An' don't trip up again!" Esteban calls out behind the priest, letting the teen get some distance before he waves at them goodbye. At least they would be safe. Time is still slipping by, but it's one more win, another person who will be transferred properly to a ship, where they will be saved.

"So you're a healer?" He asks Rezo, grinning now that he's found an ally. "Most people missin' from the stations are those that got in trouble. Wanna wait here an' I bring them up t' you, or should we set up somewhere easy to access lower in the caverns? Help them as close to on-site as possible?"

Esteban Drake | Purple Team, some Blue Team | OTA

Hour I

Is this on comms? XD or are they near-enough from one another?

I assumed they're in-person!

Okies! It just sounded like Rezo couldn't see Esteban, so I was checking to make sure.

He can't! But that's because he's blind, not because he's far away.

O__o ..... orz .... *Checks permissions*

I've had a few people miss that detail before so I def think I need to make it clearer! n-n;

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V

It's a Romeo!~ <3 He missed his tiny friend~

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Oof. Names. The bane of my existence.

Re: Oof. Names. The bane of my existence.

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Hour one

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O__o ..... orz .... Checks permissions