VoidTrecker Express Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
voidtreckermods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
middleofsomewhere2022-04-16 05:14 am
voidtreckermods) wrote in middleofsomewhere2022-04-16 05:14 am
Entry tags:
- alice liddell (am) [ou],
- allen walker [crau],
- devero [ou],
- esteban drake [ou],
- fai d flourite [ou],
- inigo [ou],
- little one [ou],
- madoka kaname [ou],
- nell ingram [ou],
- rezo greywords [ou],
- romeo [crau],
- taiki [ou],
- thanatos [ou],
- tidus [ou],
- yugi mutou [ou],
- zelda (oot) [ou],
- ~x~k'zeka tia [ou],
- ~x~shen qingqiu [au],
- ~x~soma cruz [ou]
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.
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
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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But he obliges, lifts Romeo higher again, breathing deeply to keep his focus on the child before him. He'd rather break a wing or faint than cause him to slip and fall, his tiny body so fragile-- no. Esteban won't allow any harm to come to the kids that are with him. Not anymore than necessary.
"Any better?" He... doesn't think so. But it's a last try, a last chance-- before they admit that there is no easy way out of this one. Before they admit that the best they can do is to tether the children with what little they have at their disposition.
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He had really hoped it would work. But they don't have time to wait... Time is something they don't have at all!
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He can tell that Romeo is silent because there is nothing-- he knows. He knows. It has to be his decision, because Romeo is too kind, too young, too sweet, too innocent. Esteban's always known that there was a chance he wouldn't be able to save them. That there's a chance he might not be able to save anyone.
So he brings the kid back down from the flight, gently lowering the grav-con's anti-gravity field until Romeo can feel his boots hit the ground. His companion is crouching already, a hand steadying him as he turns off the small machine, and there's a beat of silence, a simple, quiet moment, before Esteban tugs him gently to offer a hug.
"It's gonna be okay," he promises, because even though it was fragile, he feels they need to mourn the tiny shard of hope they'd been holding onto.
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He lets himself be pulled into a hug, leaning against Esteban for a moment before nodding. They had to keep their spirits up, it was the only thing they could do.
"Yes. We can still help them, right?"
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He's not sure who's cheering who up at this point-- he thinks Romeo has it more together than he does-- but he's not sure if it really matters. He's only thankful that, even though these are his decisions; his calls to make... he's glad that he's not alone out here.
"Alright, we sh'ld get back to them," the half-elf mentions, offering his hand on their way down to the child next to him. There's a short silence as he ponders for a moment, their feet steady even on the sors that breaks underfoot, but he thinks he should... make a plan.
"I'll tell them 'bout tethering." Let him be the bad guy-- that's fine. That's fine. "I'll need you to cheer them up, okay?" He goes on, trusting the child with this task, because already, Nyrah and Orin both seemed to like him a lot better than the adult in the room. Just as they'd already said. Romeo and Esteban themselves were the best example of what would happen to these children, once they were tethered.
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Or mad. Orin might get mad, he was the sort of person who might get mad instead of sad.
It would be alright though, they would tether them here and they could go and get on a voidcraft and be safe from the world eaters that were getting ever closer.
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"I'm countin' on you," he adds, because he's sure that Romeo can manage the task he's given him. He's kind and patient, and he's already managed to share some sort of bond with the other children, so it makes sense that they'd listen to him.
Their trek is slowly taking them down the short cliff they'd climbed, and the two Ossigans are huddled near a buff of sors, some distance away from the crag that had ensnared their speeder. Orin is the one that looks up first, his coat pulled wide around Nyrah's little shoulders, probably for warmth. She's tucked against his shoulder, and he doesn't bother to nudge her awake when the two VoidTreckers approach.
They don't get the time to say anything.
"There isn't anyone around, is there?" His voice is muffled through his scarf, but there is a sharp edge snarled around it, and something in his stance is tense. Esteban has to step in here-- he's the one they should blame.
"No--" Orin doesn't give him time to go on beyond that.
"We're going to get tethered here."
He knows. He already knows what's coming. The half-elf falters at this, startled, and Orin curls Nyrah a little closer to himself, as if he means to hide her away. There's a short silence as he reflects on that, his goggles and scarf hiding too much of him away for either companions to read his face. His voice falters, weaker when he speaks again.
"D-- does it hurt?"
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"No." He shook his head. "It doesn't hurt at all! We didn't even know about tethering or anything for ages 'cause we just appeared on a platform. So we didn't even notice that it was different than on our worlds."
At least no one had said anything. It might be different for him, since he wasn't alive before he came to the train.
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"Tether me first. Don't let Nyrah wake up." There's a wild glance from the half-elf to the child next to him, briefly wondering if he might be able to help with that, as Orin brushes his sister's hair aside, his breath a little shallow. "I need-- I want to be there for her when she gets there."
It's a small mercy. Or maybe a cruelty. Nyrah being asleep means she doesn't need to know. She can blissfully slip from one to the other without knowing the difference. Without knowing what happened. Esteban swallows thickly at that, and reaches back into his bags, to pull at the SCAs and the tablet designed to tether people from a distance.
"You can make sure we're going to the same ship, right?" Orin's voice is still soft, careful. He keeps looking between both VoidTreckers, thorn between too much that he doesn't really have the time to process right now. Esteban is already passing the SCAs out-- and with Nyrah in his arms, Orin will need help to put the watch on to his wrist-- onto both their wrists.
"Yeah," the half-elf assures, but Orin is still bouncing between them both, tension still rising.
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And they wouldn't seperate Orin and Nyrah. It would be really mean! So they would make sure to keep them together.
And they wouldn't wake Nyrah. He smiled at Orin and reached out to grasp his hand, in solidarity, to lend strength.
"Give Nyrah a hug from us both okay?" He reached out for the SCA so he could help Orin strap it to his wrist.
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"It's gonna be alright," he promises the child, before showing the tablet-- thank the guardian spirits that Kaiba's shown him how to use it-- and the SCAs waiting to connect to the same Void vessel. "She'll be right there with you."
There's another shaky nod at this, before Orin reaches out with his newly freed limb, and takes the half-elf's hand in his own. Esteban startles, but Romeo gets the same, his hand caught into another's-- a child's hand, so small, so fragile. Orin might have been a bit older-- but he is still so young, too young. Nyrah doesn't even stir, still leaning against her brother in slumber. He nods once, and there is silence.
There is silence.
Esteban flicks the connection on before he can allow himself to think about it, before he can start to doubt, before he can-- Orin slumps backwards, and the half-elf nearly drops the tablet to cradle him gently down, his arm shaking lightly.
"It's okay," he repeats, a bit uselessly. "It's gonna be okay." A glance gets sent to Romeo, and there is too much in Esteban's eyes for this, but he can't stop. Not now.
"Nyrah next," he murmurs, his voice a little hoarser than he means. Just one more. Nyrah is asleep, it's going to be okay. "Can you get her SCA on?" A last gesture. A small goodbye.
Esteban himself reaches out to the almost-toddler, her hair spilling underneath her brother's scarf. He teases some curls gently away, a tiny, delicate touch that he hopes will linger in her dreams. Or maybe it's just to comfort himself.
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He knew it would be okay and he squeezed his hand one last time as he slipped away into the void.
He moved over to Nyrah, to fasten the SCA around her wrist, triple checking to make sure it was tight enough but not too tight. He strokes her hair as well.
"Okay! She's ready, she can go see Orin now!"
He nodded, his face very serious for once.
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On the tablet, both connections are green, marked completed within a handful of seconds, and Esteban turns it to share this much with Romeo, swallowing deep lungfuls of air that don't quite feel real.
It's okay. It's okay. It's not perfect. But Orin and Nyrah have a chance, and that has to count for something.
Ah, but it still hurts.
Esteban pats their heads a little uselessly, a little too late, before he turns to his remaining companion, and tries to smile, though he knows it comes out as crooked at the very best. Sors and cold be damned, he stretches his neck out of his scarf, and pulls the goggles away, clearing his face to the gentle glow that still surrounds them. There are tears in his eyes, and the half-elf lets them drift down his cheeks with soft sniffles, reaching out to Romeo as he tries to lift their spirits up.
"I could do with a hug," he mentions, but doesn't pull the child in one-- not if he doesn't want it. There's too many tangles of emotions surrounding this now; he knew he had to keep his hopes low, but it seems he still didn't manage. He always holds on too tight to it, to the better tomorrows and the silver linings.
It's not a bad thing. Orin and Nyrah have a chance. And that has to count for something.
"Are you okay?" He asks after a moment, because Romeo might struggle with it worse than he does, and he has to be there, he has to be there for Romeo as well.
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Either way he figured Orin would be able to handle it, he was very brave! Romeo hoped he would see him again. Him and Nyrah both.
But he has other things to think about now as Esteban starts to cry and says he needs a hug. That was something Romeo could do to keep his spirits up. He wrapped his arms around him, squeezing tight for a moment.
"Yes." He nodded, thinking. "I feel a bit sad. But also a bit relieved. Because they are safe now."
no subject
There's tightness in his lungs and limbs, but Esteban allows his friend to soothe him with the gentle words and hold. A deep breath unlocks the limbs from their cage of bones, seeping through lungs and heart with a cool, sharp grip that helps him pull his thoughts together. Wisps of his air ghost in the soft glow that surrounds them, and the half-elf smiles, a little wistful at the tangles unraveling just a bit.
It makes it much easier to weave hope back into his friend's mention.
"Yeah! Who knows-- maybe we'll see them 'round again! What with all of us bein' on Void vessels an' all. Hun-- wonder 'f the train'd allow between-vessels communications," he asks aloud, although he's pretty sure he would struggle to get the function working at all. "Maybe we can try an' reach out to them later."
It at least gives him something to do or at least try, and that too is helping. He's still not releasing the hug though, unless Romeo is the one to break away. He does feel better holding others in general, and right now, he's afraid to break away from his small friend, only to see the two young children still just a few feet away. They are still breathing-- for now.
For now. Just fifteen minutes or so are counting down on his SCA, on the tablet, on everywhere that he can see right now, seconds dripping down, almost tortuously slow. Esteban doesn't want to see it tick down, turns away from the reminders that the end is coming. They can't make it out of here in time anyways; they can only wait. They can only wait.
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Like a ship or a car maybe. Were there void cars? Romeo keeps hugging Esteban, not letting go but leaning on him quietly.
"You feel really sad though, about all of this."
So does Romeo, but Esteban is a grown up and sometimes grown ups really struggled with their feelings.
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"I knew I couldn't save them," he admits, softly. "But they're so young." If they were older, if they were-- but what-ifs serve no one at all. It hurts. It just hurts. Whether they were older or still so small, it hurts that their world is ending, and their only salvation is in saving the soul, but not the body.
His arms squeeze the kid with him again, wishing he could do something for Romeo too. The faintest of hopes he'd held when speaking with Kaiba is fading fast, and Esteban has to remind himself that it's a good thing. Hope is a dangerous tool after all; and it's bitten him harder than he wants to admit already. But he still will try. He still will try, as soon as he gets back up.
"One day, we'll find a way." He's not sure what he's promising-- he can't promise to save them, he knows. He knows. But he can promise to do his best for them. "There's gotta be things that can be done to help them." Maybe even to help Romeo. He has to strive for that. He has to reach for that.
"I wanna give them a great big hug when we see them again," he adds; and that promise is easier to settle in his bones. He will do this one day. "D'you think Nyrah would like Gon, the little fox?"
It was a gift from Romeo after all, and Esteban cherishes it quite a bit. But. But if they do meet over the transports. If they ever meet Orin and Nyrah again... Esteban wants to give them something. Something for them, an item that would be theirs. He would hate to lose the one gift his friend has given him, but considering the young Ossigans' situation... It's the only thing he can think to offer.
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And that's a lot of teamwork.
"I think she'd like that lots, it's a nice book and I think she would find it really fun."
Lit writing this on the corner of the table right before leaving
"When we see them again," he says again, because sometimes words have power, and saying it aloud helps him hold on just a little longer. "I'll give them the book." Laughter sparks a bit brighter in his lungs this time, as he tries to encourage Romeo as well.
"Who knows. Maybe we'll start a trend. New arrivals into Void Space get a book from a teammate." It would make for a lovely tradition. A way to push, even if just a bit, the loneliness and fear. To give a sense of belonging. It's a distraction Esteban can grasp onto right now, and he lowers his eyes at last, even if he doesn't bother brushing the last remnants of his tears.
"How about you? What book would you recommend for them?" His smile is maybe a bit faint, but he holds on, giving the child his best reassurances, even if he is clumsy through them.
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"I think happy books are good but also books that are big. For kids like Orin, a big book with lots to think about... Like the Illiad but you got to read that one with a grown up."
And lots of kids didn't have a lot of nice grown ups around them.
<3 Very cute icon there~
But they've done their best. They've done what they could. And Orin and Nyrah will have... the best chance that can be granted to them at that point. His lungs are filled and emptied of the frigid air that still sweeps around them, and Esteban watches the sky above their heads, curious for the signs of the World Eaters that might be coming.
"In my world," he begins, feeling more stable, more gentle. He can help with this. He can help with this. "There's lots 'f stories 'round the stars." It's impromptu, a bit, but Melchor's voice rumbles in the back of his head, steady as a heartbeat, a comfort for himself just as much as he hopes to give to Romeo.
"Around the moons an' the nights. When darkness falls, the world grows so quiet, an' the wind rushes through the saltgrass, like something's sleepin' out in the distance, an' you can hear it, an' the cad'nce of its breath."
He hopes Romeo is warm enough, that his voice is enough of a distraction. From the bitter cold, from the children laid behind them, dreaming their last breath away, as Esteban traces old words that have seen him grow up, bit by bit. An old legend of a bird that stole pieces of the night to fashion itself a coat of beautiful blackened feathers.