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The streets and buildings are abandoned, the tech old and outdated, windows broken out and dust filling the street.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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acatalepsy_logs2018-07-29 11:52 pm
no subject
With his gaze fixated on the broken concrete below, 9S' vision is too distorted to notice anyone approaching from the corner of his eye. At the moment, all his thoughts are focused on how he needs to get back to safety—to return to the station to guarantee it, but...
Can he manage it like this? Likewise too affected by the storm, Pod wouldn't be able to carry him. He needs to... figure something out.
And then he hears his name.
9S lifts his head, and stares for a long moment, as if he can't quite make out who's there. But eventually, for all his visual processors flicker like hell, he manages to just enough. ]
A2— [ He grits out, cut off by a crackling pop in his voice. Jaw clenching—both out of his struggling and the anger of having to see her (why was she here, anyway?)—9S' free hand balls together tightly at his side. ] What the hell do you want?
no subject
A2 —
Be quiet.
[A2 keeps her hands loose at her sides, in contrast. Fingers splayed slightly, uneasy but clearly not prepared to fight. She looks diminished somehow, like this. Smaller. Out of her depth.]
You're hurt. Can you move?
no subject
[ Against all better judgement, 9S pushes away from the pole, arm raised in preparation to retaliate, but no sword ever appears in his hand. He barely makes it a few steps toward her before his leg seizes up on him entirely, stumbling to hit the ground on one knee with a hiss through his teeth. ]
Alert: NFCS malfunction. Motor functions are failing. Engaging in combat at this time is inadvisable—
No.
[ 9S intercepts his own Pod with a desperate voice. Not now. Why did this have to happen now? ]
no subject
A2 does not do this. She merely observes, silent. Then, finally.]
You can't stay out here. I'm going to help you back to the station.
no subject
[ His voice skips too much to finish his outcry, but it doesn't keep him from attempting to fight against his failing body. Not that it comes with success; 9S knows he won't be able to push himself back to his feet at this point, but the utterly stubborn part of himself refuses to concede.
Pod 153 is lacking in its usual grace, but it still gently bobs around 9S, assessing the situation for itself. ]
Report: Unit 9S' condition is reaching critical levels. [ And although this goes against Operation: Oh Yikes We Definitely Need To Keep 9S Away From A2 At All Costs... ] 9S should ensure that he returns to the station post haste. Hypothesis: Accepting A2's assistance is the quickest option.
[ 9S glances up, and if he looks betrayed, well—he's certainly feeling it right now. That isn't right. She would never help.
But his entire body is working against him now, too damaged to continue. All he finds himself able to do now is lower his head, doubling over, in a quiet, frantic panic that everything is going horribly wrong right now, and there's very little he can do about it. ]
no subject
She's never touched him before. She's watched the light bleed out of his eyes, seen him on the edge of her blade, but she's never gotten close enough for this.
It's best not to think about it.]
I'll just take you there. Then I'll leave.
no subject
There isn't an immediate response, but it does come, somber and quiet, and most of all, genuinely perplexed. ]
Why?
no subject
Because you're hurt. [Because she'd promised a dead woman, because she was tired of fighting, of killing. Tired of existing surrounded by death. And now here they were.
It's the only answer she can think to give. She braces herself, then cinches an arm around his waist to lift him to his feet easily before standing herself.]
Lean against me. If you can't walk, I'll carry you.
no subject
9S doesn't confirm nor deny whether he's able to press forward, mostly because he doesn't know for himself yet. All he can say is that his pride hurts so, so much now—these simple little gestures go against all he'd sworn to do. He's supposed to kill her. He's supposed to get revenge.
And now she's his means of making it back to the station alive. The irony of this is the sword impaling him that A2, for some reason, isn't doing for herself right now.
He isn't any better at walking now than he was before, one slow, erratic step after another. If this is too slow for her liking, he doesn't bother to ask. But he does say after several long, quiet minutes, ignoring how far belated this comment comes: ]
But you're a traitor to YoRHa.
[ So she has absolutely no reason to give a damn whether or not he's damaged like this. ]
no subject
When he speaks, she tries to catch his eye but can't, with his head bowed the way it is. It's the pluck of a string on an old song that she hates to hear but is forced to, time and time again. A traitor to YoRHa. It's so laughable. He's supposed to be perceptive, so why can't he see it? Why can't he see the pattern right in front of him, laid bare and left open?]
...
[What can she say to that?]
I completed my mission.
[These words come slowly, painfully, like pulling teeth. It's the first time she's uttered them aloud.] I did everything I was supposed to do. But it didn't matter. You'll think I'm a traitor no matter what I say.
no subject
Even if... he begins to wonder of her reasons for turning back on YoRHa. That perhaps they aren't as wild as he would have imagined during their encounter in the forest kingdom. Because the longer he spends away from Earth—between what he knows now from then, of the lies Command planted and what they had done time and time again whenever he'd discover them—the more 9S begins to understand why deserters had done what they do.
A2 isn't anyone he'd want to sympathize with, though. ]
I can't... I can't forgive you for—nngh!
[ Welp there goes his leg again. ]
no subject
Yeah. I know.
[She says this softly. Not arguing, not trying to. To do so would be to deny the chain that wound around them, keeping them bound in this cyclical movement. A2 had not forgiven either, but the difference was that 9S had a target he could focus his hatred on, a single line between himself and vengeance, absolution. A2 had not had even this luxury. She could not fight Command, all-seeing and all-powerful, nor the humans residing safely on the moon. So she destroyed herself instead, in a battle that would never end for any of them.
She was the person she could not forgive.]
I'm going to carry you now. I won't hurt you. Try not to move too much.
no subject
No—rather, 9S seems lost in thought, even with the visor over his eyes. Her response comes so resigned, so despondent, that it throws him for a loop more than anything else she could have possibly said. This would be far easier to deal with if she'd spoke like the traitorous killer he believed her to be.
She insists on aiding him instead, with a gentle touch that reminds him too much like 2B's. He'd be furious at how far their resemblance extends if he weren't both bewildered and exhausted. ]
... Fine.
[ Surprisingly, 9S doesn't sound begrudging, much as he'd like to be. ]
no subject
They walk in silence. A2 knows that once he gets the strength again to do so, he'll try to kill her again. But for now, she allows herself to be content with this. She's fulfilling her promise. It isn't too much to keep him safe, when he's like this. A2 recalls that 2B had carried him like this as well. She recalls too, all the times where she had killed him. Crushed his throat, driven him through with her sword, sent Pod to fire upon him in an unguarded moment, and for a little while, their memories collide in such a way that she isn't sure which ones are her own or not.]
no subject
There's so many questions running through his head, and it's all overwhelming in his current state. Why? A2's answer hasn't satisfied him; perhaps it doesn't because it makes no sense to begin with. 9S is desperate to understand, but he's gradually starting to realize he's in no position to begin trying.
It's quiet between them two, and after releasing a wavering, tired sigh, 9S doesn't interject into the silence. ]
no subject
Pod.
[Pod 042, accustomed to A2's blunt non-requests for information, answers:]
The station is approximately 4 kilometers away.
Mm.
[Her pace picks up a little. Without her enhancements, 9S is heavier than he should be, but she ignores the way her joints protest at the strain of carrying another android's weight. It's not the first time some part of her body has complained. Won't be the last.
To no one in particular, lest 9S think she's trying to make unnecessary small talk, she says,] Not that far.
after ten years
More than anything, he just wants to be out of her grasp. He can't stand this. ]
Just— [ Despite his sensory systems gradually degrading on him, voice muddled with static and noise, 9S forces through a response to her idle comment, tone balancing on the delicate line between pleading and resentment. ] Just hurry it up.
hello friendo
Even so, it feels like ages to her, too. The chasm that separates them is too wide for progress to be made so quickly. She feels that it's too deep to make progress at all.
It's a reality she's accepted, if wearily. Hope has no room to grow when you kill it in the cradle.
...
When they arrive at last, she lowers him carefully to the ground. Her gesture of goodwill aside, she doesn't intend on staying to wait for him to recover well enough to kill her, and so turns to leave.]
no subject
She evidently had no intention of doing him harm, but trust did not come so easily when a fire still burns. ]
A2, this... [ As she begins to leave, 9S has enough only to begin—this isn't the end; it doesn't solve anything; you shouldn't have; why?—but the thought vanishes as quickly as it comes with a body that can no longer bear to cling to consciousness further. He slumps back against the wall he's settled against, finally, unmoving.
A moment later, Pod 153's voice interjects: ]
Report: unit 9S has powered down. Mandatory system repairs are needed before initiating boot-up sequence. Loading maintenance mode now.
no subject
Then, without a word, she turns and walks away.]