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the outer gate
"Open up, and let them in."
The Moira is no more.
With the damage done to the ship due to the timeslip, all that remains is a burning wreckage and parts to be taken—if the crew can find anything in the pieces. Recovery and headcounts are the main objective for the first several hours of being planetside, and once things have settled just enough, Captain Ira calls for a meeting and addresses those who are able in person to explain the situation. He draws a rough map of the area and explains where he believes they are - according to the terrain - and where they must go. For anyone who’s listening, he describes things like an “Outer Gate”, an “Inner Gate” and “gate sectors”. Believing this to be the best course of action, all crew are asked to explore and gather what they think they’ll need to make the long journey towards the central point of the Hub. Because the MIDs are no longer working due to the lack of a network, the Captains distribute a newer tech called the TAB. It serves the same functions as the MID but is lighter, slimmer, and has the ability to stick to any surface.
WELCOME TO THE MIDWAY HUB
Now that the smoke from the crash has cleared, and injured crew have been tended to, the Captains get everyone ready for departure by explaining what they know of the Hub. Almost stone-like, the creators built a domed workspace in the largest solid space on the planet they could find. Gates are the only way inside, and anyone who catches a glimpse of the compound will see that parts of the dome are cracked. Yet, everything still appears to be relatively intact. The Midway Hub’s terrain is very rocky and difficult to walk on at times. Below the surface is a honeycomb of intermittently dense and brittle stone that makes travel difficult due to the unpredictable nature of what lies beneath the crew’s feet. Those who can develop the tech from what’s left of the debris might be able to create something to determine which route is the safest. Ships and small crafts can be used to fly, but landing is a problem—rocks jut up in sharp peaks and the clearer spots can't handle their weight. Vegetation is sparse, consisting of twisted dark gray thistles that have sprung up from cracks in the rock and burn when in direct contact with skin, and what could be considered small animals here can be seen scurrying away the closer crew get to them.
☄ WEEK ONE
Crew are asked to hook cryo beds together and to use any appropriate vehicles that can be made or fashioned to fit the terrain to carry injured crew on the journey to the center of the Hub. Supplies are gathered, and the Captains, as well as any crew who want to, give the Moira a proper sendoff, heads bowed as they say goodbye to what’s been their home. Traveling starts out slowly, a line of a hundred-plus crew members making their way slowly forward. Stops are frequent, but camping for rest only occurs at night. Crew are assigned watch shifts, fires are built, injured tended to, and those who are able are asked to explore nearby caves and hunt for food.
Something akin to deer, though striped and only to be found in pairs, can be stumbled across at night. Throngs of dark purple mammels begin to follow the Moirans on their trip as well. They are friendly, curious, and eat the thistle. Meet the intelligent, watchful predators that aren’t easily scared away and follow the crew from a distance as if waiting to pounce. The thistle can be eaten, but only if cooked first, and those who sample the chewy plant raw will experience a burning sensation in their throat that doesn’t go away until the cooked version is consumed. During the first week, water can’t be found.
Anyone who does hunt, gather, or explore should make sure to that their TABS are on and it’s suggested that nobody goes alone.
Nearing the end of the first week, an Ingress can be spotted close by that crew can explore. If anyone dares to go inside, they will find the texture of the ground and surrounding walls to be rather soft. If inspected closely, crew will discover that what they originally thought to be rock is actually a living organism that’s fed off the energy of the Ingress it’s attached itself to. It’s not harmful and squishy to the touch. If pressed hard enough, it secretes a turquoise liquid with the consistency of water that might make a good substitute for that very thing. ☄ WEEK TWO
When crew finally pass through the sector gates, a strange sensation encompasses them, and a depowering of sorts goes into effect. The creators put in security measures meant to put all visitors on equal footing as well as to protect themselves from harm. All crew will essentially have the strength and abilities of the average human. An unforeseen issue, this causes Captain Thán to slip into a coma as he is no longer able to continue to recover at a steady pace, and with the loss of the former Captain’s abilities, crew can no longer be brought back if they die. For the first time, all Moirans are subject to permanent death.
During this week of travel, broken ingress machines and parts will be found scattered among the rocks, and new crew will come through. Unfortunately, these Ingresses aren’t in good shape, and anyone coming through will be in varying states of distress—some physical and some mental. New individuals will either have suffered an age slip, growing older or younger than their original body, some form of body transformation (perhaps that shiny thing they were wearing is now part of them somehow), or an extreme weakness they had never been subjected to before arriving on the Midway Hub. The new people will be offered to join their group, once found, and seasoned crew will be asked to explain to them where they are going and what they know.
The rest of the week will be a mix of greeting the new arrivals and continuing to travel to the center of the Hub. The closer they get, the less frequently they’ll see animals, and more caves will begin to pop up. ☄ WEEK THREE
Entering the third week of travel, settlements and houses begin to crop up and are prime areas for exploration and general supplies. Those who go inside may find items that have been left behind and evidence showing that those of varying species and cultures lived in the homes. Some appeared to have been scientists while others were explorers, but all living quarters are deserted. Crew who are less lucky in their search might come away with no fresh supplies, and others might walk into traps or safeguards left behind by previous tenants; these come in many forms, from mild paralysis to temporary unconsciousness. As there are more residences, there are also more caves. The entrances vary in size, and light sources will be needed to explore. Once inside, crew can find purple underwater streams, which can be consumed, and glowing surfaces. When crew drink the water, it temporarily restores powers, a few minutes tops, and then, extreme lethargy settles in for a couple of hours.
Further into the cave systems, crew will come across these lovely creatures that are attracted to sound and track through scent. They are highly dangerous and attack simply to feed. Killing them, though, is surprisingly simple as they are just as vulnerable and weak as everyone else. They are vicious in demeanor but only as strong as an average human.
The closer to the Inner Gate crew get, the less homes, wildlife, and more caves there will be. ☄ WEEK FOUR
The Captains, aware that the crew is exhausted, stop and make camp for the first few days. Someone mentions that it’s the holidays where they’re from, and the Captains do their best to throw a party. Set up at the base of a cave, tents are built and fires roar. Soft music is played in the form of guitar, thank you Ira, and Cúrre brings out some legumes that taste like cherries when roasted. There isn’t much in the way of decorations, but crew are encouraged to dig through their pac-discs and contribute to the festivities.
After a brief respite, crew learn that the entrances to Gate A and Gate B are inside one of the caves but any signs or markings have long since worn away or been destroyed. Groups are split, TABS are synced, and crew explore carefully until an entrance is found. Crew discover Gate A first, and all crew are contacted to gather there. The Captains will remain at the cave entrance until all crew are accounted for, and then, they’ll enter through the gate together.
( ooc; For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )
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hohnkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2016-12-02 06:54 pm
no subject
You've said everything I could.
[It's not bitter, and it lacks the sarcastic edge it might have had normally, when he'd once gotten an unadmitted thrill out of pressing Obi-Wan on a subject like this and the dichotomy of their relationship. It simply sounds...tired. He sighs after a long moment and continues, this time slipping glances to the man at his side.]
I always wondered how they lived like this. Even--even before the Temple. My mother always knew I was different. She never said it like that of course, she never had to, but--
[His head hangs a little further as he falls back into that uncomfortable habit of folding in on himself.]
This is awful.
no subject
This isn't new, he thinks, but Anakin doesn't hear it as he should, and the implication spreads like numbness to Obi-Wan's fingertips. His fists pump to draw blood into his cold fingertips, but little he does helps drive away that chill of remembrance.
He lifts his chin, recalling his own Master's voice, hearing it as if Qui-Gon still lived at his side, still spoke from well above him.
Be brave, Obi-Wan.
Despite their differences, those simple words of encouragement inspired so much more from him than anything else. Kenobi couldn't have ever imagined back then he'd had so much more in him. How he hadn't noticed it before is still a mystery — encouragement even contains the courage in question — but perhaps he'd just been too young to realize how important that support was to him, especially at a time when he already felt so vulnerable (and far too stubborn to admit it).
Be brave, Anakin.
He wants to say it aloud, but Anakin is the bravest man he knows. Skywalker has faced more in his arguably short lifetime than any one person ever should. And still, he stands. Even without the Force. Somehow. Despite it all. ]
You're not wrong.
[ He places a hand on his best friend's back, just between the shoulder blades, connecting as he can, pleased at the spread of warmth under his fingers. ]
But there are some advantages. A unique perspective, if nothing else.
no subject
Fear is tangible. It's always present. Part of his makeup so much that sometimes he wonders what it's like to not worry at all. If it's not one thing, it's another in a constant rotation of considerations and reminiscences of failures.
A "unique perspective." He might as well have added "from a certain point of view," especially when Anakin knows he doesn't agree, and knows that Obi-Wan is similarly aware.]
I like my wondering to be hypothetical. [He's seen enough, been through enough, that thought experiments are not very high on his list of priorities or desires.] And look, you thought I attracted trouble? This whole universe is nothing but. How are you not just...
Tired?
no subject
[ The very sound of the words escaping him suggests a bone-deep tiredness. But it feels like it's been there a very long time, doesn't it? Before this universe and its trouble, before their galaxy and its war. Was he born tired, too? Did the Force bring with it an inherent exhaustion, or was it all there was to stave off something as common to life as life is common?
The older he gets, the less Obi-Wan Kenobi feels he knows. And the more he learns, the more powerless he feels. ]
It does get easier. You learn to cope. Did I not just finish telling you how adaptable we are?
[ But how he wishes he could say more, to say something that would allow his friend to rest, to not feel tired through-and-through, and to accept these current limitations without frustrating himself more than he already is. ]
Does it not make you feel closer to your wife? To know how she must live?
no subject
Anakin shrugs in response. If the feeling were less noticeable, that might have been the case, but having brought this up to her, Padmé hadn't noticed or truly understood the difference. She's capable because she's never known different. Force favored as she might sometimes be, the loss of it isn't an ordeal]
It's just one more thing I can't explain right.
[All he wants is the universe to calm down for more than a lucky week at a time. From surprise children, to Vader, a warzone, another lost limb, to a slavery outpost, Obi-Wan's abuse (though he doesn't expect his friend to call he'd gone through what it actually had been so plainly, two ship crashes, a lost year, an unfamiliar species change (if anything was a change in perspective, it had been that), to this?
This hasn't been about a shift in perspective in some time. He'd never quite adjusted after Vader, not with the settling of that doubt, and everything that adds onto this is either deserved or simply untenable when he's already spread so thinly.]
No one can adapt this quickly.
no subject
[ He rarely asks so simply, although this time he hopes a simple question will prompt a simple answer. They might as well speak plainly. Without the benefit of the Force, staying truthful and straightforward is the best way to maintain that trust.
Nodding away from the party, he leaves the celebrations behind in favor of a little privacy for them both. ]
no subject
Begrudgingly, he pushes himself up and follows Obi-Wan some distance away, the din of the makeshift party slowly fading behind them until it's more like a party at the end of a city block, rather than the apartment across the hall unfortunately leaving its door open all night. (Some senators always had less to hide, it seemed, than others.)]
I'm tired, Obi-Wan. [The declaration doesn't start out terribly unique, nor does it quite catch the question at first, but he crosses his arms and folds back into himself to continue, the habit of "confidently" arguing with the Council while not terribly confident in himself at all has never quite been broken, even with the change in scenery and lack of observation.] I'm tired of watching everyone I care about hurt over and over and over again, and I'm tired of it always being on us to fix. Even if...no, especially if it's not even our mess.
When is this enough? How much gross incompetence do we have to put up with until it's "too much"? At this rate, someone's going to die, and they won't be throwing parties then, will they?!
no subject
[ And yet, here they are at the cusp of this party living with this very fact. People have been killed and brought back, and still there is no completely robbing the spirits of the remaining crew of the now-defunct Moira. ]
Again, I ask: what's the alternative? We turn our back? I know that isn't what you mean.
[ But he is certain that it's tempting. Being as tired as they are, as overdrawn as they are, that severance from responsibility is almost tantalizing. ]
But if you're tired, Anakin, it isn't a crime to rest.
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[That isn't to say he knows how to actually do that, just that he's fed up with leadership not actually leading. No leadership, and only the meager support they've all managed to eke out for themselves. How isn't that endlessly exhausting? One-third of his reason for living is missing, and they're throwing a party while responsibility is never taken by the forces throwing them into this situation?
Anakin bristles and shrugs. It isn't rest he wants. He wants this over.]
no subject
[ He frowns, despite his own advice. And why shouldn't he be morose? For all intents and purposes, he's failing as much as the Captains. How little he's done, how few he's managed to save... ]
But we are making progress, and I wonder what use it would even be at this point. There are times when we must choose our battles.
no subject
[But Obi-Wan still has that extremely annoying point: what can they even do about it? What has to change, if change is the solution here? They're yet more questions he has no answers to, and he hates this. With significant enough loathing to call it as much.
He leans against the outside surface of the cave some way down from the entrance and the party itself, and groans.]
This is worse than Lanteeb. [It's muttered, but out here even a whisper might as well be a shout in the silence.] How does anything get worse than Lanteeb?
no subject
At least we knew who we were fighting and who we were fighting for on Lanteeb. Clarity was a bit easier to come by.
[ Obi-Wan isn't so certain he can give up learning lessons at this point, otherwise he might also give in to the futility of their new lives, but for the moment, he doesn't much feel like teaching. He actually feels a bit like whining, although he'd never let Anakin know as much. ]
I know you'll be surprised to hear me say as much, but I need you to take a breath, Anakin. You'll kill yourself at this pace and you know I won't survive long without you.
[ It's said as if the very matter of fact it truly is, as if as common a sentiment as a good morning. ]
no subject
It's bad when Obi-Wan stops joking and actually admits all the life-saving. It's never quite denied, no, but it always comes with an edge, a lilt, something meant to soften the sentiment and downplay the severity of their situation. It's only bare when the situation is dire.
And that would be enough to knock the smart-ass comeback out of anyone.
He gapes for a short moment and then promptly clamps his mouth shut in thought. It might be giving Obi-Wan exactly what he wants in a way Anakin's sure he'll never live down (if "never" lasts approximately a standard Corellian month), but he can't exactly say his friend lacks a point. That's the worst part of this: Obi-Wan knows precisely how this feels. He's been through this before despite everything Anakin would have given to prevent it, and survived it, and stang, how does it always end up like this?
Some day, damn it, he's going to be caught up. Ahead, even. For now, all he can do is sigh.]
No, you wouldn't. But I'm not going anywhere. None of us are. That's the problem.
no subject
Still, he's not certain he's ready to share that sentiment, even if he suspects Anakin would understand (having been at war half his life (and forever in turmoil, too). ]
That's not entirely true. Some of us are going.
[ But the answer is only said offhand, almost crassly, as Obi-Wan squints briefly at a strange object near the mouth of the cave. ]
You know, I could have— [ Downright distracted, and quick, he fills in words — practical nonsense — but he's edging toward the suspicious thing all the while, trying to get a closer look. ] I could have said—
[ It's dark like the shadowed cave, like the dank dirt, but there's an eerie quality to the way the light reflects off the surface. A rock? No, not quite. It's familiar, startling enough in how it immediately causes Kenobi's stomach to drop, he almost hopes he's wrong in guessing what it might be.
He reels himself in and looks back to Anakin. ]
Sorry, sorry. I thought I— I saw something.
no subject
Anakin follows that line of sight, watching his former Master creep closer to whatever he's peering at, but in the darkness, he sees nothing. Part of him says that of course it's nothing, but there's that deeper voice, the one that only seems to burst out screaming, whispering now when it no longer has the Force to feed on, telling...begging him to follow.
He ignores the gnawing in his gut at that, the anxiety that should have served as a red flag. It might have, if anxiety hadn't been so invasive and loud through the last few weeks that it has become almost impossible to distinguish one sense of dread from another.
Instead, all he can think is that whatever Obi-Wan thinks he's seen--whether he has or not--has to be better than continuing to watch this insufferable party. He hooks his arm in Obi-Wan's and pulls them both off toward the cave before he can second-guess himself.]
Then let's make sure you didn't.
[The logic seems perfectly sound, thank you.]
no subject
It isn't far to go, but it quickly becomes too close when the darkness gives way and his eyes adjust enough to understand the grim outline of a charred mask once worn by Darth Vader and cherished by Kylo Ren. Obi-Wan's hand stills their approach and he produces his lightsaber, its hiss and hum accompanying the stark illumination of its blue blade. ]
To be wrong...
[ He might have given obscene things to not find this particular object, he reminds himself rather grimly, although he would never say so aloud. ]
welp
He doesn't take the moment to contemplate, nor does he try to answer that quip with something sardonic and cutting as he might have with a better leash on this anger. No, instead he takes the entirely reasonable road of immediately igniting his saber and plunging it directly into the mask itself.
The lightsaber in the stone.Yanking the blade out, he looks pretty intent on doing it again...and then likely again until it becomes nothing but an upset method of releasing tension.]
no subject
Before his friend can make a job of utterly destroying the already massacred helmet, Kenobi's own lightsaber parries Anakin's blade, the sound of the clashing lightsabers like the tugging call of a life once familiar. His other hand shoves, flat to Skywalker's heart, discouraging him from further action, disengaging him from the scene. ]
Anakin— [ He makes an attempt to direct Skywalker away. ] That's enough!
[ His own fear and anger is hard enough to hide, but he swallows down all he can in an attempt to keep himself as centered as possible. He needs to be here for his friend, but he also needs to be in control. ]
What good is that? [ His voice is clipped, not spared of strain. ] If you're going to waste your energy, do so on something productive!
no subject
He leans against the cave wall, breathing heavily as he glares back at Obi-Wan. The lecture--because it's always a lecture, stirs less nostalgia in him than it does indignation. He may not be lost in that anger anymore, but it continues to simmer on the surface, manifesting itself in the way he clenches and unclenches his free hand over and again.]
All I'm doing, [his tone rises to meet that being hurled at him] is finishing what we should have done when the damn thing was given to you.
[If this isn't an indication that this...legacy, this horrible fate he doesn't want, couldn't ever want, is going to follow him until there's nothing left of him to follow, he doesn't know what other sign could possibly make that clearer.]
no subject
That's all you're doing?
[ Standing ready between Skywalker and Vader's helmet, Kenobi does an arguably impressive job of maintaining a sense of power without the Force. Age has given him this. Success and motivation has given him this. A Council standing behind him has allowed for such confidence. It's only a shame Anakin has hardly been offered the same consideration. Perhaps he wouldn't look so... wild now had he been given what he needed from the start. ]
How could I have been so blind? Wildly stabbing away at an inanimate object is every bit the rational response, of course.
Honestly, Anakin, do you really think this helps? Does it make you feel any better to allow a— a shadow such hold over you? A destiny that isn't necessarily even your own?
[ He narrows his eyes a bit, and the set of his jaw betrays how very much it hurts him to say anything at all. But they're friends, aren't they? Best friends, two parts of a whole, family. ]
Why must you hold on to this so tightly?
no subject
No. Of course it doesn't. Every part of him still attached to this is hollow, and scared, and tired. Oh, is he tired. But that isn't a response either. At least not the one Obi-Wan wants, when it's interpreted as simply giving up.
All he wants, he thinks to say, is assurance. That's all he's ever wanted. That this mask, however it keeps doing this, is the only assurance he has right now, the only seeming certainty, and no one can tell him that it's going to be all right. No one can tell him that his effort to keep away from it is even worth a damn. No one can tell him that the concentrated effort he makes every damned day to not think about it is helping.
Across every timeline they've seen, everyone they've talked to, this is the only thing that ever stays the same. His fall is the axis around which future history revolves. How else is he supposed to change anything? How can he maintain distance, if it follows him just as physically as the shadow of Darth Vader looms over everything else?
He's twelve all over again. Twelve and hopeless. Hopelessly lost in explanations and reasoning too big for his understanding or anyone else's. Hopelessly lost in emotions he may not have ever been meant to understand, let alone control. Hopeless.
Force, he's never hated anything this much.]
Fine. You tell me how the damn thing got here. Tell me how to just...FORGET IT. We can go on pretending nothing's wrong, and that everything we do here is worth a damn.
[He tries not to sneer as his voice rises, but it's worth no more trying to fight that as it is the tide of that anger. He turns his lightsaber off, still clenching the hilt in his hand until it bruises.]
You know so much about it, you get rid of it.
[He pushes away from the wall, and moves back toward the entrance.]
no subject
None of them did Anakin any favors after Qui-Gon liberated him from Tatooine. They told themselves they were doing good, but instead they were trying to twist and change someone who clearly didn't need changed to begin with.
Obi-Wan feels the urge to challenge again, but it gives way to tiredness and heartache, to a soft plea. ]
Stay.
[ That's the length of it, but it's a request and a demand and a hope and a need all wrapped up into one little word. Whether he means here in this spot or just in general (or both) is up to interpretation, but for the moment, Kenobi is spare with his words.
He passes off his lightsaber, meets his friend's eyes in silent apology, and then turns and dips to pick up the mask.
I won't be long, he thinks, although he knows Anakin can't hear him has he normally can. Hopefully that trust will hold despite this bizarre hiccup. ]
no subject
With a heavy exhale a moment later, his shoulders finally slump, and he can feel the tension in those tired muscles release, even if the pain underneath is still wound like a tight coil set to spring. Another deep breath, and he finally turns back, snapping his lightsaber to his belt. He glances back at Obi-Wan, his expression no less pained, but the anger, at least, is gone, leaving behind only tired, red-ringed eyes and a pout to rival the most petulant teenager. (Something he never did quite grow out of).]
Fine.
[But he's not apologizing for this. Not right now.]