acatalepsy_logs | ( world #2

( world #2 - the storm. )

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a storm approaches.This log is for everyone who signed up for The Storm investigation. Feel free to use the here to plot further on how you plan on approaching The Storm, and the issue. The mod questions thread is also open, if you have anything you would like to run by us.

the investigation.

It takes a day of preparation, and a day of discussion, before you are led further down into the tunnels. It's pitch black, but one of the BGs who you have become familiar enough with turns on a low light and continues further. You walk for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, and then turn a corner into a large, open cavern. The BG explains that at one time, this had been an underground transportation system - old and unused for centuries, now, but still in working order.

They file each of you onto a single car - it seems to be large enough to fit nearly a hundred, possibly more, bodies - so everyone has a space. The BG explains that they have already input the coordinates into the system, and that once they close the door, you will be transported to the last known location. The car will be programmed to wait for 72 hours, and then will return to this location. There is food and water supplied, and already packed, in the car. If you are not back in the car by that time, it will leave you behind. They then give their farewells, thank you for your help and readiness, and step away from the door - letting it close behind them. The car travels down a pitch black tunnel, and while the inside is dimly lit enough for the Circle Members to see each other and move around without hinderance, you can see nothing through the windows. It continues for a few hours at this rate - nothing to see, no idea where you are going. That is, until it seems to break through the surface, the track running through buildings and another, unknown area of the city.

The streets and buildings are abandoned, the tech old and outdated, windows broken out and dust filling the street. The sky, like back in the city you knew before, is cloudy and grey. But these clouds are different - these clouds are dark in a way you haven't seen before. You travel for another half hour above ground before the cart comes to a stop, and during this time it happens twice. A low rumble, seeming to come from everywhere at once, and then a few heartbeats after, a disasterous flash of lighting - miles away, yes, but threatening and gigantic, brighter and more violent than you've ever seen lightning before. The crash shakes the ground under you, and the damage is immense.

But the buildings are abandoned, the streets empty save for crates, old mechanical bits, dusty remnants of a society long forgotten by the Struxta you came from just a couple of days prior.

This is The Storm you've been warned about.

the storm.

You have been asked to find out information that will help the BG's, and Struxta, to stop The Storm.

From what you can gather, it does seem to be a naturally occurring weather phenomenon, as far as weather systems seem to work on this planet. However, rather than scattered thunder and lightning strikes, it seems to almost recharge and strike with epic proportions. It can damage, or destroy, buildings. It shorts out any and all items (and people) who depend on electricity in any form to function (Sorry Daylight and Conner, sorry to anyone who brought along technology) within a three mile radius.

The 'darkness' the BGs were talking about does follow this storm, but they seem to have been referring to this electrical shortage that comes from the storm and it's strikes. If this storm does reach any of the still-occupied areas of the city, it will shut down the entire grid, as well as any of the robots, androids, or electrically based figures that exist there - essentially ending the life of every Struxta citizen that is effected.

Plot, plan, theorize, and see if you can find a way to stop The Storm. If not, be back on the train car in 72 hours time, to return to the BGs and report what you have found.
PROMPT IDEAS
1.) Discussions on the train - do you have any ideas for what to prepare? Any discussions you may want to have? You and your fellow Circle Members are caught here together for a few hours, driving into a situation you know very little about. What do you want to make sure you're prepared to handle?

2.) Scouting missions - the heart of The Storm is very much in the distance, and it is not moving quickly, giving Circle Members plenty of time to set out and check out the surrounding city. What you will find won't be much - this is a robotic ghost town in every turn of the phrase. Buildings have been abandoned for hundreds of years, covered in dust and left entirely undisturbed, except for the breeze that now seems to flit through this entire area. There are stores, warehouses, apartments, and buildings you can't even tell what they were used for, cleared out. Whenever, or whoever, lived in this part of Struxta had evacuated, quickly but efficiently.

3.) The Storm - The Storm is still a distance away from where the cart has dropped you off, enough that when your 72 hours are up, the heart of the storm and the lightning strikes shouldn't reach the car, or the track. This does mean that to do any closer investigation, you will need to go to The Storm itself. But be careful - the electrical output from these lightning strikes are dangerous, and can have all sorts of effects on both natural and mechanical beings. The wind, the closer you get to The Storm, will also pick up - making any kind of flying or air travel impossible.

4.) Planning - the car leaves everyone off at an old train station, which a large room attached. This room can be used as a kind of home base, as well as a meeting location. What do you plan on doing? Simply taking down information, or trying to take the storm head on? How do you plan on doing that? Will your abilities help? This room attached onto the train station is a safe location - no effects of The Storm will make it inside. Use as you would like!

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[ there's a tilt of the head. gently, he speaks— ]

Everyone here has a different power. Maybe we can see if someone can create a barrier for you.

[ his hand does not waver. ]

You won't help us by throwing your life away, either. We can figure out a way to get past this together.

[He feels like this is a situation put on repeat; the threat of overloading his processing, all cognitive ability to function destroyed in a rush of something. First, it was information. Here, it's the pulsing electrical bursts coming from the Storm, like a something physical buffeting into him from even miles away.

There's no response, not at first. He frowns, taking his hand to be hefted back up. The acceptance of such a gesture is not an agreement or a declination either way.]

We're so far away. How can something like that-

[The crackle of lightning at a distance, the almost-wince of Connor's features.]

-be so strong? It's improbable. It can't possibly occur naturally.

[ his grip is tight — slowly, he helps the man sitting before him rise to his feet. he isn't hasty to pull his hand away either, instead letting it linger until connor decides otherwise. ]

It probably isn't. That's why the BGs were so afraid of it...it must be something foreign to them, too.

I've fought a lot of unnatural things in my lifetime, though. We'll have to find the source.

[ nier musters a benign smile. it's alarming, how numb he is. ]

Don't be afraid. I'll protect you.

[It is strange, that calm detachment, but Connor's in a state where his judgment is impaired. His core programming bending itself over backwards to right itself, and there's little processing power delegated to analyzing his surroundings beyond very basic functions.

He leans on the other man, just a bit. His ingrained sense of propriety overridden by pure necessity right now.]

I'm not afraid, I-

[No, definitely not the line of conversation he wants to tread down right now. Eyes cast towards the helpful stranger, considering, LED flashing yellow.]

Thank you. You said you've- you've had experience with this?

[ he notices the lean — nier leans in himself to compensate, a hand moving to pat his shoulder and keep him in place. ]

Mm. You could say that. A powerful force tried to electrocute me with the intention of killing my friend and I, once.

[ it was the worst day of his life, more explicitly, and his eyes narrow the slightest bit as he speaks. ]

It's painful, but something that can be endured no less.

[ a beat. ]

Maybe we can make a suit of armor for you out of glass or paper. I could break all of the windows and put something together...

[He huffs out something that almost sounds shaped like a laugh, something dismissive. But it's lost in the wind that picks up, swirling all around them.]

Your level of endurance cannot be compared to mine. I'm a machine; I'm particularly susceptible to an electrical storm as powerful as this one.

[Connor shakes his head.]

We have very limited time here. You need to focus on investigating, even if I can't.

An automaton? [ his voice lowers a register with surprises— there's a tilt of the head. ] It's okay. I told you I'd protect you.

[ he says it casually, like that's simply all there is to it. ]

What do you want to do?

Andr- [A hitch in his voice, like scratch in an old record making it skip.] Android.

[There should be comfort in someone saying that they want to protect you. But Connor reads this as him being useless, a burden, which is the opposite of what one wants to be during an investigation. It pre-emptively screams "failed mission" at him, and it's all he can do to not frown even more deeply.]

Help- Help me back. To the t-train station. I can decide how to proceed from there.

[When he doesn't feel like he's in the middle of an EMP storm slicing through him.]

Android...

[ he has no idea what that is.

nier's eyes soften a bit. and then— ]

I can carry you back.

[ uh. he positions himself, as if he's about to heave him up. ]

It'll be faster.

Edited 2018-07-31 21:33 (UTC)

[The thing about being an android? Is that Connor’s sense of pride is rather non-existent when he has no need for it. Such as now.

Being carried is honestly the only way he’s going to get out of the vicinity of the Storm, and so he nods weakly.]

That’s fine. Please.

[ that was easier than he thought. nier declines his head, shifting connor's arm over his shoulder before heaving him up into something that can only be really described as a bridal carry.

this is quite a visual to behold and i sympathize with any bypasser who may have to witness it.

anyhow, the trek back begins. ]

You said were an android, not an automaton. What does that mean exactly?

[Well, when one is threatened with a terrible EMP-caused death, Connor doesn’t seem to mind being carried bridal style. It’s better than being slung over a shoulder, or dragged along the ground by his foot. There are more humiliating ways to do it — at least this way, he can look up at his fellow Circle member’s face. He can focus on something, though static charges through his vision, and his voice hitches, becoming a paroxysm of syllables occasionally.

At least, eventually, he manages an explanation.]

A machine created to look as human as possible. ...Advanced. Made to interact seamlessly with mankind.

[Except when glitching the heck out like now.]

I see.

[ in a way, it rouses his sympathies — in this moment, he wonders if all the machines he'd brutally decimated had feelings or a character like that of the man he's currently carrying.

of course, even if they did, he wouldn't regret killing them. he doesn't regret killing anyone — not the Shades, not the man from Seafront, not the sheep or the automatons, and never the Shadowlord.

still, his expression hardens with concern. nier looks down at him, making an attempt to meet his gaze as he proceeds. ]

Do you know who'll repair you? Or how you'll be repaired?

[He might not need it, he might just need to reboot and hope that everything stutters back online all right. But if not-]

There are some who can look at me. I've already-

[Well. This has already happened.]

I've been brought back online once before.

So you've died before?

[ not what he said— ]

I'm glad you'll be alright.

[ it's said with a smile, benign as ever. ]

Maybe those people can find a way to provide you with protection — or a way to bolster your resistance. It seems like you don't want to stay back, but we can't allow you to get hurt either...

[He can't die if he's not alive. The ingrained need to argue this, out of some lingering stubbornness wrought from home, still exists in him.

Except now, really, he hasn't much the energy to drive the point home. Instead, his LED stutters and blinks, a response to the second half of the statement.]

72 hours isn't much time. We can't afford to waste it on that, not now.

[In the future, maybe. But the future doesn't do much for the state of the Storm now, the androids in Struxta that will go dark because of it.]

[ calmly: ]

It wouldn't be a waste if it helped you.

[ nonchalantly, he continues to carry him — refuge is in sight, fortunately. ]

What you want matters too.

[What you want matters too.

Well, if there's a statement that would really send his LED flashing, that one is it. For reasons beyond this place, having little to do with the Storm -- even so, Connor's reply is quick and certain.]

In the grand scheme of things, and how it affects the mission at hand? Generally not.

I think it does, even if you don't. The mission isn't all that matters.

[ they've entered familiar territory. his eyes flicker around, as if to scan their surroundings. ]

How do you feel? I can keep carrying you.

[His jaw tenses, having no immediately reply to that. The mission, especially after his departure from home, is really the only notion that keeps him pressing forward.

But he tends to Nier's question, instead.]

...Try putting me down. I want to see if I can walk.

[ he does as asked, gently shifting him out of his arms as he setting him down feet first.

he places his hands on his shoulders as if to brace him. ]

I'll be here, even if it's still difficult.

[He's set down, onto his feet, and appreciative for the way he's allowed to lean his weight slightly into the bracing touch of the other, because balance is an oddly foreign thing to Connor now.

One step, two. He manages, though, to break himself away, standing on his own.]

I think I'm all right now, I think-

[He feels the fear of what had happened slowly draining away, leaving him feeling oddly hollow.]

I think I can make it back from here. There's others like out there. Who might require similar assistance.

I see. I'm glad that you're alright now. Before I go, I wanted to tell you that...

[ he takes a step back, hands falling back down to his sides. nier's expression softens for a moment before hardening. ]

You should consider what I said. About what you want.

[ a pause. ]

...I grew up with two androids. I hadn't realized what they were at the time...but before they died, they cried.

They cried because they didn't want to be alone.

[ his lips quirk into a smile — it's terribly small and wilts with a quiet sorrow. ]

If you need anything, I'll be here to help you. You can find me whenever you'd like.

[He looks on at him, LED flickering yellow, unsure what to immediately say. That this man had his own experiences gleaned from androids, was likely attached to them, and they had shown emotion-

Well, that's the sticking point, isn't it? Different than him, different than the rules meant to define what an RK800 is, what an RK800 can do.

He could press the point. But perhaps some other time. Now, though, he's lacking information, and pointedly decides to focus on one thing instead:]

It's... appreciated. May I have your name?

Nier.

[ he starts to turn on his heel. ]

Yours?

(no subject)

bleps - 2018-08-10 14:45 (UTC) - Expand

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