january event log

[hohnkai]

Who: Everyone
When: January 3rd and on
Where: The Midway Hub.
What: The crew finally make it to the center of the Hub.
Warnings: Mentions of dead bodies, death, and violence. Please label your content!

E V E N T L O G

the inner gate "Let them in, and take them out." Through ups and downs, the Moira and the crew have survived much together: During the first wave of arrivals, the ship docks at a planet that has an addictive substance called Exuo — crew went through mood swings, heightened aggression, and fits of paranoia. Natives attempted to kidnap and sacrifice everyone. A solar storm caused a power blip, and strange masks were found in every mailbox that gave them unusual abilities. They reached Caducus Primary, a planet largely comprised of glass. The representative of CP accused the crew and captains of theft; however, they didn’t leave fast enough, and a skirmish caused damage to their Ingress, which ended with Caducus Primary cracking and being destroyed. The power fluctuates and temperatures drop. One of the captains, Tipota, is found dead. This is the introduction of Ploiatos, who ended up being one of the original crew members affected by the power of the Ingress. The Moira docks at Emiri, which was comprised of three main cities where the culture was influenced heavily by finding one’s soulmate. The company responsible for this, Link’d Inc, is incredibly popular throughout the universe. However, hints of forced unions, kidnapping, and slavery are investigated by the crew after an attack on all of the cities by a rebel group. The planet becomes locked down. Benjamin Link joins the crew and helps them escape. Another month passes, and crew dock on Ceta. It is known for it’s unusual atmosphere and its living beings AKA sentient flying whales. They were hunted for valuable organic resources, and eventually, the crew decided to hire mercenaries from outlying planets to protect them from further death. Soon after, the Moira stops at an abandoned prison station called Del Pascia with a resident AI (D-E-L) who was “irritated and snippy” but did not keep crew from exploring and taking items. D-E-L tried to persuade crew to stay, and when it became clear no one wanted to, D-E-L tried to infect them as she had infected those who’d remained behind in the prison. Everyone fought and escaped. Amissis-Re is an unregistered planet that had no signs of life — the crew’s next stop. Here, they meet a “host” who had done the impossible and “fixed” the Ingress. However, she only reversed the energy of the Ingress, which created melted worlds and made it incredibly dangerous to discern reality from the time inside these worlds. The host gifts some of the crew with journals after she decides to go through the Ingress and remain there. The Moira begins to malfunction, and those of Caducus Secondary, along with survivors of Caducus Primary, hunt the ship and those inside it for revenge. Negotiations started while crew tried to set up defenses aboard. Due to prior issues, the Ingress shuts off, resulting in the melding of Caducun glass with the ship and everyone aboard. When the Ingress finally stabilizes, the Moira is now in a different universe: the Runoff. Some members of the crew are found on a slavery outpost in the Runoff, and others make a stealthy rescue effort to bring them back to the Moira. First Mate Egan and Captain Ira appear through the Ingress, explaining that they are the original members of the Moira designated to pilot the ship. The old captains hand over authority to them as the ship drifts into the Luminous Sea. The ship crashes into one of the moons within the Luminous Sea where crew find a group of natives who are overly friendly. They beckon them to stay with food, drink, and much more. Unbeknownst to those who stay with them, an entire year passes. Eventually, what is wrong with the Moira is patched so they can leave. After months of hard travel, the crew explore the wonders of the Mini Colony. A closed ceremony held on the MC caused crew to change in ways they’d never experienced before. Yet, during the festivities, someone triggered the “fear machine”, and crew suffered from phobias once back on the ship. Those working on the Ingress pick up a signature for the Midway Hub and begin to make preparations to go there. The new species Ploiatos has become is named Mirtis (meer-tees); some of the crew kill him before things get too out of control again as they had in the previous months. The Ingress is then turned on, and the ship falls into a time slip. The Moira crashes on the Midway Hub. Captain Ira draws a map and encourages crew to split up and travel to the Inner Gate of the Midway Hub. Once inside the Outer Gate, crew experience de-powering — a safety protocol of those who’d worked on the Hub. Exploration and survival are a key focus during this time. They move through a network of caves to find the entrance to the Inner Gate. After a brief respite, crew learn that the entrances to Gate A and Gate B are inside one of the caves. 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 remain at the cave entrance until all crew are accounted for, and then, they enter through the gate together. Finally, after entering through the Inner Gate, the crew head down through a system of tunnels that lead them to an underground - and main - section of the Midway Hub. Initial scans show that there is a catacomb of rooms and hallways that seem to have been patched together hastily and messily, suggesting that the builders added on new areas as they were needed. Anyone who has abilities, and tries to use them now, will realize that they are no longer depowered as they had been for the last several weeks. Crew are allowed to explore and are encouraged to look for any evidence as to why the previous tenants are gone, as well as take any supplies found or find ways to radio out for assistance. ☄ FLOOR ONE - jan. 3rd Deeper in, the first level of the Hub is littered with thousands of papers and notes regarding things on the Ingress. Some are highly classified while others are of the smallest consequence to anyone reading them. Upon closer inspection, some of the things listed might even make sense to those of the crew slightly familiar with Ingress technology—reports of energy distortion and time slips, effects of the energy on those traveling through it, how to isolate particular parts of the Ingress' energy and use them to transport to other places. Only a portion of these documents are legible; the majority have either been torn into pieces or charred. Smaller rooms can be found here as well, offices and labs that are only large enough to hold five or six people at a time, and within some of them, pieces of machinery and electronics can be found. Most recognizable are the circular-curved mechanisms that belong to an Ingress. Yet, rather than just one, there are hundreds. Some have been left in piles of twisted, melted hunks, and some, those parts still (probably) capable of being used if the occasion presented itself, are thrown about carelessly, tossed under desks and under chairs and even embedded in parts of the walls where they - more than likely - exploded. Not much else can be found on this level. Unless empty cups and broken computers are justifiable as something. ☄ FLOOR TWO - jan. 4th Crew who travel even further within the Hub will find that not all things have been deserted. Sort of. What greets anyone who explores here is the visible evidence that some sort of intense struggle happened between those who worked on the Hub and a group of outsiders. Dead bodies cover the floors, in hallways, and inside personal quarters. The one constant in the tableau is that none of them died in any sort of peace, and the visceral knowledge of that is clear by the amount of blood spilled and the putrid smell that comes from it having been sealed off for such a long time. Be careful to tread lightly and step with caution. Also, breathing the air for any more than a few seconds without some sort of filter isn’t advisable. Items worth taking might be in the form of blankets and clothes, but most of it seems to have been taken in a rush. ☄ FLOOR THREE - jan. 5th And even further within the Hub, below the offices and labs and unfortunate death, a power source can be found. From obvious signs, it is clear that someone had lived here recently, and anyone who looks through some of the things left behind will find a list of recordings readily available to them. They are as follows: audio log 1 audio log 2 audio log 3 audio log 4 audio log 5 ☄ FLOOR FOUR - jan. 6th to the 24th Inside the Ingress Channel, a group of fifteen have taken up a defensive position, standing in a small circle towards the back. When approached, they’ll tell crew to stay where they are; they want to talk to them but with lots of space between. There doesn’t appear to be a leader of this diverse group, but one person comes forward and asks who they are and what they were doing on the Moira as they had seen it crash. With this new group being unwilling to divulge any information, the conversation is slow to reveal anything important or useful. Through patience and diplomatic efforts by the crew, the following is eventually discovered: these people call themselves Savrii and aren’t native to the Midway Hub. The Savrii aren’t hostile, though they are skittish at first. Their people were sent through the Ingress to destroy all the documented research on Ingress technology and energy that could be found here, taking out anyone who tried to stop them. Their mission was critical, meant to protect the universe from those tampering with such an unstable, natural force. During the incursion, the Ingress machines on the Hub were damaged, and they are what’s left of the group of Savrii that didn’t make it back through before the machine shut down. They’ve seen footage and schematics of the Moira and would have destroyed it, too, if it had landed instead of crashing. The Moirans did the job for them. Their people don’t believe in fighting or chaos, unless the Ingress energy is being manipulated in any way. The ship was the first of its kind, created by severing some of the energy from the whole. This upset an already delicate balance and caused issues with Ingresses all across the universes. The Savrii liken it to taking a child away from its mother. When the crew explain that they were only passengers, the Savrii believe them. They lower their weapons and open the floor to peaceful discussion. From this point, crew learn that the Savrii have been surviving here as they try to fix one of the Ingress machines, which they are close to but are lacking one of the key elements. Science technicians from the Moira, who have studied the Ingress will realize that after sorting through the wreckage the part they need survived the crash, and with help, the crew are able to assist in replacing the broken element. When the Ingress is rebooted, they send one of their group through, who returns a moment later with good news. The damage on this side didn’t affect the Ingress Complex on the other, a place where the Ingress Energy was first discovered and built around. They tell of their home, with the largest and first Ingress machine, that is a mecca of travel and culture. It might not be the crew's original homes, but the Ingress there is functioning, and they can use it. The Savrii can go home. The Moirans are allowed to come with them. Step through the Ingress and welcome to thisavrou ( ooc; For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! Everything will be switching over during the end of the month. )

Comments

Obi-Wan Kenobi | Star Wars | OTA (cw: possible blood, gore, death, etc.)

[jedimindtrick]

all floors—

[ Like a heady brew, the return of the Force leaves Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi feeling particularly light, airy even, with a bit of a bubble. Almost young again. He can hardly help it, though, having spent so very long (what could have been a near-eternity from certain points of view) feeling every bit of his thirty-nine years (and particularly the last fifteen or so). He'd felt too old, practically useless, like maybe all that was truly keeping him together was the Force.

But all that's changed, hasn't it? Again. With the aid of the Force once more, everything is that much more within his reach: Peace, knowledge, serenity, harmony — even feeling becomes easier, because he once more has all the strength he needs to acknowledge his emotions and then let go of them.

To say he's relieved would be an understatement (although he's never quite been one to show it). Instead, he funnels his renewed spirit into what he does best: helping others. To do what he can to explore their new surroundings, he uses the Force as his guide, pairing off with a suitable ally where possible.

Obi-Wan will be exploring all floors in an effort to uncover additional clues about this new destination, while doing all he can to test the boundaries of his now returned Force powers. ]

[[ OOC Note: By default, Obi-Wan will not use the Force on your character. If you'd like to opt-in, hit up his permissions here! ]]

Re: Obi-Wan Kenobi | Star Wars | OTA (cw: possible blood, gore, death, etc.)

[farmboyjedi]

Luke is drawn to his old mentor's Force presence after he steps through and feels the Force flow through him once again, like a cascade of rushing water. He's also an adult again, and it all feels wonderful.

"It feels good....being back to normal." he says. "It isn't the first time I've been without the Force, but it's certainly the longest. I'm finally beginning to feel alive again, I think."

Like Obi-Wan, he's falling into exploring and helping, although he's still debating whether to tag along or not.

"What do you think is best...exploring together, or moving off in different paths?" he asks. "Another thought I had is that maybe we could take nearby areas...it would cover more ground, but we could still communicate to each other through the Force if either of us needs help or finds something important."

Pharah

[justice_from_above]

Floor One

[It's disheartening - though unsurprising - to find things as desolate as they are. Fareeha takes this time to collect what notes and technological materials as she can. The information about the Ingress she can only imagine will be helpful, and the tech she hopes someone might find useful in upgrading her armor.]

[She can only hope others are having better luck.]

Have you found anything of note?

Floor Two

[This is the obvious moment Fareeha dons her armor - and sacrifices one of her cleaner shirts to tear a bit off to tie over her nose and mouth to offense of the smell.]

[But more than that, she feels a need to dig deeper - that turning away would be to the discredit of those who fell here. She had to find out what happened. She investigates what she can, and you might catch her pulling bodies into more peaceful repose, if she can.]

[Still, it's a lot to take in, and she'll be shaken by it.]

So much loss ...

Floor Three

[It's encouraging to find some recent signs of habitation, but after searching and then listening to the logs, It feels like they've come to another dead end. She's growing frustrated, and the insight from the audio isn't helping.]

Floor Four

[By now she's pretty wound up, but she's not interested in fighting if there's a discussion to be had.]

[She will be bristly, though. Tread lightly.]

{ floor one }

[frostedplum]

[ Mei is combing through wires and bits of metal in the hopes of either finding something to explain all this or at least add to her collection of robot parts so she can build more working drones for people. She's already promised one to Kurt, but she'd like more diverse options than what she has in her PacDisc. Looking up from her search, she shakes her head slightly. ]

Not really. Though I've been looking at the tech more than the notes. What sort of things do they say?


[ ooc: is it all right for me to assume Mei knows Fareeha a little from the former's time in Overwatch? ]

Chara | ota | will match formats | cw gore mentions

[inconsequence]

floor one; good etiquette demands i remain soft and accessible

[It's inevitable that Frisk will not be far away, even as Chara peruses this endless cycle of worthless garbage. They resemble a normal enough child by now, save for the red eyes - the golden growths running along the edges of their face and down their arms have wilted and fallen away, leaving the skin smooth and whole. And so now they turn through the crumbled detritus with a curt indifference, sifting through the rubble in search of anything that may be of even vague use. At times they locate scraps of paper bearing lines of printed text that are barely legible; these are pocketed for inspection at a later time.

They are not what one might call twitchy. Their composure does not slip. But should anyone step behind them, their red eyes will fasten onto the offender with a perhaps unsettling alacrity, tracking them silently until they depart from Chara's line of sight.

It grows rapidly and increasingly obvious that this floor contains little in the way of useful supplies, and even fewer in the way of revelation.

* Nothing useful.

They move on.]

second floor; get in your zone, don't even look at them at all

* Smells like rot.

This is altogether quite unobjectionable. They tie a scrap of cloth around their nose and mouth for the worst of it, but for the most part, Chara seems quite content meandering about amidst the dead and departed. Kindred spirits, in part. They cock their head and study the carnage with a cold lack of interest, though perhaps, if you can recognize it - you may note a spark of jealousy nestled in their scarlet gaze.

Respect for the dead, it seems, is overrated. Chara goes through the pockets of the ones that still have pockets to speak of, counting off the more intriguing cadavers as easily as one may collect bugs or flowers. Disembowelment, check. Cut to ribbons, check. Some poor man's head was bashed open on something or another, his skull opened like a geode. A little ways off, someone's spine glistens dully, bared to the elements and lack thereof.

They're not precisely hurting for blankets, but they're resourceful, and they'll take what they can get. Scraps of cloth are useful things, and Chara bundles up what little they can find and departs without a word to their dear departed - and oblivious - benefactors.

They will leave the dead to their Endings, to be eroded away into nothing.

The lucky SOULs.

floor three; stay golden and retreat into my sweetest fantasy

[It takes little time to locate the audio logs; logs detailing the tragic fall of a group of researchers, something sufficiently hubristic and horrifying and yes, it's all very sad and Chara is very impressed by the sheer level of moronic shortsightedness, truly. Humans are not the only creatures predisposed to perform in profound and idiotic ways - presuming the owners of the logs are even human.

Chara, for their part, has begun to look for popcorn, or something else to snack on. They're too young for something as disgusting as a drinking game, but it pays to have some food with your quality entertainment.]

wildcard;

[ooc: write your own starter if you choose; I'm flexible! Chara is unlikely to interact with the Savrii for very long - presuming everyone else just doesn't plain keep them away from them for their own good. Feel free to PM me or hit me up at arrpee if you've got questions!]

Floor 2

[mttbrandlegs]

It's hardly as if Mettaton wants to be near Chara, but as is evident in pretty much everything in this place, what he wants is not what he gets. So while he's wandering through the fields of death and decay, he does indeed cross their path.

It's not surprising the little monster busies themselves pilfering from the graveless dead. That, in and of itself, is more disgusting than the bodies, at least to him. He's caused too much pain to feel for these people, whose circumstances he didn't care to think about.

They were dead, that's all. As for what Chara is doing...well. He can't help the words he sneers out.

"I cannot imagine that those blankets will be of any use, the stench must be unbearable. Fitting for you, isn't it?"

Seems as if someone's got back his nerve to face the shitty human. Or demon, as they prefer.

[neverheardofhim]

General:

[Varric didn't linger on the bottom floors for a particularly length amount of time. Interested as he was, he simply wasn't prepared enough to do any exploring of his own. Bianca was still virtually inaccessible to him, and he wasn't about to risk some monster or another coming running at him while he was defenseless. Adding to the struggle was the fact that most of what could be explored was too technically advanced for him.]

[So once he reached the fourth floor, that was where he stayed. For a time, he scribbled down what he could pick up from the Savrii, the crew, anything else that he could find. He wrote down important pieces of dialogue that he picked up on as well. While he was at least marginally less skeptical about their chances of survival now that they'd found... whatever this was... he still figured it best to make headway on his log.]

[Just in case they wound up like the victims they'd found.]

[For the most part, his expression was sour. He was annoyed at his apparent uselessness, and cursing the fact that he couldn't have been made younger like a certain blond he knew. More time than usual was spent scratching at his back, or palming at the butt of the crossbow.]

Wildcard:

[[Hit me with anything, or a PM on Plurk! Ashstriferous ]]

[brokeassgoing]

[Those of the crew who aren't a mixture of flabbergasted or just plain confused are definitely feeling the Disappointment-- you know where the joy shows through the cracks or something.

Badou is none of these, except suspicious as a mangy alley cat. But not enough, so much, of his own crew since he comes right up to Varric to read over his shoulder--]

Think you spelled 'irony' wrong.

Asriel Dreemurr | ota

[pleasereset]

[First Floor]

[As Asriel checks out the first floor, he picks up a couple of scattered papers and tries to read them. For the most part, they don't make any sense to him. What he does pick out is not interesting enough for him to keep reading.]

It sure is messy in here. How are we supposed to find anything useful in all these papers?

[Second Floor]

[The smell hits Asriel before the sight of dead bodies does, and Asriel stumbles back in alarm.]

Ah-!

[The sight is immediately sickening, and reminiscent of a certain bloody battle in July. For a few seconds, Asriel feels like he's back on the Moira again. Without realizing it, a flame the size of Asriel's palm flickers to life in his hand. He seems dazed for a moment, but someone calling out to him would be enough to snap him out of it.]

Second Floor

[mttbrandlegs]

Asriel.

[It's probably not surprising that Mettaton is nearby to call to Asriel. It's probably not surprising that he wants to tell his friend that it's okay either, but that's really just a lie, isn't it? The scent of decay, the dead bodies in varying states of putrefaction...how could any of that be okay?

But rather than be off-put by it, Mettaton just feels...empty. Not unsympathetic...

Just emotionless at the sight of so much death. Given his past experiences, it probably follows. LOVE is a hell of a drug.

So he instead tries to ground Asriel, let him know there's nothing to fight.]

Whatever happened, it's long since ended. Let's not add to it.

Kazuhira Miller

[warandpeace]

☄ FLOOR TWO
OTA | CW: MENTIONS OF TRAUMA AND GORE

[Kaz has seen a lot of horrors in his life, ranging from festering boils on his own men to bombing survivors in his home country. He's seen his soldiers burning on their shattering home or being torn apart by horrific mindless creatures to young women detonating from bombs shoved inside of them. It does, unfortunately, add a bit of the ability to cope when he's presented with these situations. He's been there. He's seen the worst. Nothing about what this looks like surprises him.]

[But he's a red-blooded human being as well a seasoned soldier, and this? Looks like a slaughter. Whatever happened here was a nightmare for these people, each dying in horror. He hasn't seen a single death that looks merciful.]

[Scarf wrapped around his face, growing hair pulled back into a short messy ponytail, he creeps from room to room, peering in with a mirror stolen from an abandoned purse before entering. He looks around every nook and cranny. There's nothing of value in here for him. Nothing he can use to help the remaining crew of the Moira. Just more dead bodies tucked here and there, cut down in their path.]

[Yet another room awaits inspection and the person he's closest to gets motioned at.]

Let's check this one out.

[He isn't expecting they'll have much luck, but maybe they can notice more than he can. But as he stands there, his eyes unfortunately fall on a woman, face down on the floor, body sprawled.]

This was no way for these people to die. [A deeply painful sentiment, spoken from behind layers of fabric.]


☄ FLOOR FOUR
OTA

[It is getting to be a bit much. Home feels further than it ever has before.]

[What has been driving Miller since the beginning is knowing what happens, what he has ahead of him. Sure, it was like being handed a cheat sheet, but it gave him a goal and a purpose and hope. The likes of which he'd lost after he discovered the truth about Zero's scheme (the one John inherited).]

[In his time as a part of the crew (a year? two years?) he's made peace with some enemies and come to better understand. He's lost people and found some again. He's pulled down some barriers he once built to protect himself and made others to take their place. He's weathered it all with every last ounce of strength he could muster.]

[This was supposed to be the end of their journey, and Venom assured him that they would find their way home. They would conquer any odd to return. Despite a desire for belief, faith, it's increasingly hard to come by. Now Miller is just tired of losing and tired of hoping. So he just sits in the nearest seat he can find and idly listens to the question and answer session as it goes on, watches technicians fuss, and feels largely useless.]

[An uncertain Mama nudges at his hands and Joy sits at dutiful attention, and Kaz's gaze turns down to their pale, attentive eyes.]

A little bit longer. That's all. [If he can't assure himself, he can assure her. He can scruff his fingers into her fur, and hope that it's not another disaster ahead of them when they pass through that gate.]

Floor Two

[justice_from_above]

[Fareeha nods stiffly as they enter the next room. She's been in war, she's seen the casualties of it. It does help to cope, but she hopes she never gets comfortable to it. She's keeping abnormally quiet as she takes a look around, and there's an unedinable sadness in her eyes even if the rest of her face is obscured by cloth.]

No, it's not. Did they even have a chance?

Rafe Adler | OTA

[buyeverything]

FLOOR TWO:

He heads into the second floor, following another group, more will probably follow or head through to the next, but he feels better not going alone. The moment they step foot there it smells like death, reeks. Needless to say it's the smell that has him stepping back out to gag a bit, managing barely to hold what little he has in his stomach. Bleh, maybe he will go back to have a better look around the first floor.

After utilizing a spare shirt to wrap around his lower face, covering his nose, the smell is much better and he'll head on in. The bodies strewn about, humanoid or not, don't bother him beyond the previous smell, and he has no qualms with stepping over them to have a look around. They've been like this for sometime for the smell to be that bad, decomposition on some is pretty far on too... it has him hopeful whatever was the cause is long gone.

When it seems like not much is left around he'll start pillaging any bodies that seem like they could have something useful on them. Weapons would be a nice start. Eventually he finds what... could be a sword hilt? A strange sword hilt that is, wedged under some alien looking humanoid. Gingerly at first he tries to pull it out, before having to roll the body over some to get at it. Well now it just looks like some weird futuristic broken sword. He picks the hilt up, holding it to inspect it as he stands. It's purely by accident that he hits the trigger like piece sticking out of the hilt and a sword unfolds out of itself and fits together neatly, startling him some.

"Jesus--" That could have gone right into his face if he'd been holding it the wrong way.


FLOOR FOUR:

Well the cat is out of the bag it seems. They're not going home, but honestly Rafe isn't sure how well that would have worked for him anyway. Considering the whole, dead back home thing.

"Am I the only one who thinks it's horseshit we're helping them when they would have blown the damn ship up for us if it hadn't crashed? Why should we trust anything they say?" Not that he was on the ship, he came a bit after that, but still. Why help them when they destroyed what the crew was here for in the first place? Sure they needed to get out of here, but maybe let's not cozy up to these Savrii so much.

Why not force them to help them fix the Ingress and then kill them after and use it to go. Any where but this place. Seems to easy that they'd just invite them to their home after everything, at least to him.


(ooc: Anyone who's met him previously will note he's physically aged back to his actual appearance of 35. So from precious sweetheart to a literal hot mess.)

Floor Two

[flynnitomite]

The mess of corpses did give Flynn pause at first, as he wasn't keen on meeting what made this mess while he was unarmed. Then the smell was enough to make him retreat and retch in a corner for a while.

He returned shortly thereafter with a makeshift bandanna over his face and began to pick over the corpses in hopes that one of them died holding a gun and wearing a pair of trousers with a 34" inseam, seeing as his jeans had to be cut from his body and reassembled with safety pins.

Rafe he kept in the periphery of his vision while working, not particularly interested in his finds until he found the sword.

"Well look at you," said Flynn. "Lucky boy."

L

[ryuuzaki]

[Starters will be in comments.]

Elsa ❄

[coldhardy]

[Starters will be in separate comments.]

Nathan Drake | OTA

[sketchycharacter]

[ all floors all day - exploring ]

[Nate isn't quite in his element here—the kind of ruins he loves to explore are a little more ancient—but it's close enough for him to be comfortable. He's got a weapon in his gun belt and a flashlight attached to his hip, but it's the journal that gets the most use. He makes notes on the hand-drawn map and occasionally stops for sketches. If he bumps into anyone else doing the same scouting, he'll gladly team up with them. Safety in numbers and all.]

[ floor 1 - arrival ]

[Nate's got one gun in hand and two ready to be pulled out at a moment's notice when they enter the facility, and finds himself strangely...disappointed? Well, no. After the chaos of the crash and the trials of the weeks that followed, he is absolutely not looking for another fight. But he kind of expected one and isn't immediately sure what to do when there's just nothing.

So, all right. He joins the others in fanning out, looking around, trying to figure out what happened based on what's left. He gathers a few scraps of documents and squints at them, trying to get a sense of narrative or even a fucking paragraph before dropping them and letting them waft to the ground again.]

I'm an amateur archeologist at best, but I'm going to say that what we're finding on this site is a whole bunch of junk.

[Nailed it.]

[ floor 2 ]

[The smile goes away on this floor.

These aren't the first bodies Nate has ever seen. They're not even the first group of bodies of beings who were killed violently. But there's a difference between the long lost corpses of those who sailed on Marco Polo's lost fleet, basically historical relics themselves, and what he sees here. This was a lot more recent, and bodes a lot worse for them.

But eventually he deals with it like he always does.]

Well. This is pretty disgusting. I'm going to be put off lunch for at least a couple of hours.

floor 2

[infailtration]

[ York is in full armor as they explore, as has become the norm for him in the hub. He moves surprisingly quietly for being nearly seven feet of titanium and enters the area behind Nate with caution. A few steps in and his HUD flashes an air quality warning, though, and he speaks up immediately. Being put off lunch probably isn't Nate's only concern. ]

Hey man, you've gotta get out. The air's not safe.

Hawke | OTA

[otiosity]

[General]

[The feeling of her magic return is... sensational. Even in the face of so many nasty revelations coming from home, Hawke feels lighthearted and cheery despite herself. Or perhaps just better at putting on a face for it. She has her staff out of her PacDisc and is spinning it eagerly in her hands as if she'd forgotten the feel.

It hadn't been particularly useful the past month.

If she sees you watching she'll give you a wave.]

You there! Have anything you need lit on fire? Hot? I can give you an ice shower? Or you're bored and fancy a light show that you can "oooh" and be impressed at because you've never seen magic before?

Yes or yes?

[Floor Two]

[Hawke isn't a stranger to dead bodies. Hell, she's probably the number one cause of them in Kirkwall. But this is decidedly... unnerving.

She tries to glance through some of the bodies near the entrance, kneeling down to see if they have anything on them that might indicate what happened to them. But after a few seconds she starts to cough and that coughing turns to gagging and she has to stumble out of the room for fresh air.

Leaning against the wall she wipes her face, only to smear blood across her nose. Well that is her look after all. If she sees anyone else trying to inspect the room, she'll wave a hand to indicate that's a bad life choice.]

I don't recommend you go in there unless you have the strongest stomach and weakest nose in the universe. And even then I'd still bring a bucket. Or two.

[Wildcard!]

[Hit me up with anything here, or via PM, or at bowtie]

floor two

[infailtration]

[ York hesitates at her warning, slowing to a stop beside her. He's in a full suit of armor, his gun held at the ready but there's no motion on this floor from his trackers so he lowers it and reaches to steady her instead. The blood on her face catches his attention. ]

What is it? Are you alright?

Kerrigan

[swarm_embrace]

I. Re-powered

Stepping in and gaining her abilities back was even better than drinking the purple water. As soon as Kerrigan felt the strength surging back into her she stepped off to the side, moving with purpose as pale purple light flared off her skin in wispy patterns and ripples distorted the air. Off to the side of the entrance and with no one immediately nearby she flexed the limbs on her back, lifting and stretching them out.

Her hands followed, and lighting arced between her fingers and then in larger bolts from hand to hand and against the walls. All the while she stretched her mental senses as that part of her brain woke up as if from a long sleep, reaching out into the silence that didn't hold her swarm.

II. Floor One: Stretching Out

The first thing she did out on her own was find a space open enough to work through her abilities. The limbs on her back tore into walls as easily as she expected, and she used her rejuvenated muscles to dash or leap from here to there. The more impressive physical moves were accompanied by a build up of energy and visible purple light. After going through her physical abilities and satisfied with the results she moved on to the telekinetic.

Empty cups and pieces of computers were lifted and moved in quick, complex patterns around her hand before she hurled them at the wall. A door flew off its hinges at a gesture from her, embedding itself in a wall of the room. She felt a little drained still, but her energy was returning the more the worked, her Zerg metabolism picking up to meet the demands of her restored abilities.

III. Floor Two: Dead Bodies

The air was unpleasant in the way of lingering, old death. It didn't bother her much, not after being accustomed to the burning, ashy, almost-toxic environment on Char. Especially fighting through the bone trench. She was careful as she stepped, avoiding the worst of the mess, more out of respect for not treading upon the dead than concern. Every now and then she would pause and lift something with telekinesis. A weapon or a strange looking device. Her pac-disc has been fastened to the sturdy belt she found back in the settlement, ready to store anything she found that was worth keeping.

There was little chance she would get lost, and no point in marking areas she had searched. There were too many people, and unless all of them had the same goals and marked, there was no point to it. So she continued on her way, impatient to get through but more outwardly calm now that she was herself again.

IV. Telepathy

[Kerrigan is extremely obvious to people with any kind of telepathic sensitivity. Feel free to notice and approach her or try to contact her via telepathy.]

V. Hurry up and Wait

[After the Savrii have been contacted, Kerrigan is going to spend as much time as possible inside, and can be found on any of the floors during this time period. She will be making a trip out, to gather more of the purple water. If going home doesn't pan out she wants to have enough of the stuff that studying it later is an option.

Some of this will involve sitting around and performing telekinetic exercises: assembling/disassembling objects that she's found as fast as she can using only telekinesis.]

I

[handofrapture]

[Kerrigan isn’t the only one celebrating her regained powers. As she stretches her mental awareness outwards, she may sense a particularly bright spark of emotion emanating from one mind nearby. And it won't take much delving to find what that emotion is; the Big Sister practically radiates pure, vicious happiness.

Her strength has returned. Armor that had felt heavy and cumbersome for weeks now feels like an extension of her own body once again and the needles on her arm feel so light that the Big Sister knows she could plunge them through solid bone as if it were rubber. And amidst her elation, one word repeats like a mantra: ADAM.

There’s no one to fight, no need to use her plasmids, but she wants them all the same. More than that? She wants to use them on someone.]

Venom | Guilty Gear | OTA

[poolhall_killer]

[Floor 1]

[The area appeared like some massive natural disaster hit it. With all the papers strewn about, Venom can barely tell where the place begins and ends. As he examines a few sheets, he shoos Bart away from some of the papers being carried along the occasional burst of air. The mischievous bat's already chewing away on a piece when the former assassin pulls it away.

Isn't sure what to make of the research papers or the twisted remnants of the explosion, though it does reinforce his general dislike of non-magic sciences and technology.]

I almost wish I could understand these, but I fear it's beyond my comprehension.

[Floor 2/cw: death and gore]

[Compared to the previous floor, this one feels... stagnant. It's a stagnation he's rather used to. The smell is rather overwhelming as Venom navigates, his training coming into handy as he walks. It was advised that he should use breathing equipment, but even that doesn't completely mask the smell of death. And judging by the placement of the bodies, they didn't die peacefully. They're too decrepit to tell whether or not they died at the hands of another, and Venom's not about to take a closer look. The blood stains are enough to keep him far, far away.]

I feel that we should not be here. Let us leave as soon as possible.

[Heading for Floor 4: Closed to Jim Kirk]

[As they moved deeper into the gate, Venom's sense of both dread and excitement are in overdrive. After seeing all those bodies, and then listening to the recordings, he's not sure what to make of it. Whatever's going on, he feels that perhaps it's time to stop being alone. He starts to search for a particular individual. They've recently cleared away a good portion of the awkward between them (mostly on Venom's end), and he believes he's ready to continue.

He approaches the other, if not to relieve himself of his solitude and vague anxiety.]

Jim?

[Exploring/Wildcard]

[Venom can be found looking around and collecting information, so feel free to bug him! You can ping me @ dominoman if you want to plot things o/]

floor 2

[readytocomply]

[The smell is enough for Bucky to know what they'll find down here.

It's familiar, though not in a good way, and he's not looking forward to it. He'd found someone nearby to go exploring with him, a man named Venom who held himself in a way that was familiar to how Zev carried himself, how Bucky does. He doesn't make any assumptions or judgments, even if he's curious about it, and he hates that he's proved right when they see all those bodies.]

Yeah, you're right.

[Bucky moves forward, looking for anything valuable that might be around.]

Let's do this fast, get back up to a better floor.

Liquid Snake | ota

[saveyourserpent]

[A. ONE STEP CLOSER]

Much of what the few legible papers scattered around the area say mean little to Liquid as is. Science isn't exactly his strong point, and while he recognizes some particulars from that translation project he helped with, like hell he'd know exactly what to do with them. He's smart, yeah, but that's not his area of expertise.

Still, if he finds something that seems like it might have some kind of use as he pokes through offices or whatever these rooms once were, he picks it up to save it for someone who might be able to utilize it. He's pretty sure he's not the only one doing that; there's sure to be a collection when he's done.

He turns to look at someone who's entered the room, ready to show the papers he's found, when he seems to just up and disappear. The papers fall to the floor and the cloud of smoke where Liquid once was makes a frustrated sound. Looks like his powers are back, and he hadn't even noticed.

"That... wasn't quite what I was trying to show you."

[B. TWO SHADOWS]

It's not like Liquid's never seen bloodshed before. Still doesn't make this scene particularly pleasant... and the smell is not helping one bit. He's tied a cloth around his face, and one around his dog's for good measure.

"Well. Something wasn't happy." His voice is muffled by the cloth covering it. "Wonder what it wasn't happy about."

Hopefully, it's not 'people heading through this area'! Not that he wouldn't try to fight it, but still.

[C. FOUR LETTER WORD]

It's been a long time coming, and they're still not quite there yet. But if this place has a working Ingress like they seem to claim, they'll be home in no time, comparatively. It's strange. Especially the thought of returning to a place where he's technically no longer among the living. How's he going to figure that out? He's spent all this time out here, traveling around.

Is it weird he'd miss it?

Oh well. He's determined to see this through to the end. Liquid Snake never gives up, especially now, when victory's just within his grasp. Even if that victory comes from a whole lot of losing.

He also knows never to just expect something. The return home could be soon, but it's better to expect less. "Strange detour they've got here."

[D. WILDCARD]

[anything else not covered? feel free to just come up with something or plot with me here or at agentkaz]

a for the excuse of leading with a dick joke

[brokeassgoing]

Badou takes one look at what Liquid had just done, unimpressed as usual when it comes to this man, and says,

"Better that than your dick I guess."

Seriously, way to ruin whatever that was. Probably a dear diary entry.

Undertaker

[somakemelaugh]

Floor 1
[From the start, Undertaker is nothing if not a little intrigued with what he sees, though he finds little that is actually legible and understands even less of what he can find in the paperwork scattered throughout. Rather than tossing it aside for the trash that it is to him, he keeps the pages with him to get them to someone who can do anything with them... and to look over in his own time, perhaps to read a little closer it makes sense later. Who's to say he might not learn to work with technology like this in his own future? He's not giggling about that a little. Nope.]

[There are other items here of some interest to him. Strange, thin boxes with a slab of odd buttons in front of them, one button for each letter of the alphabet and others with markings. Some of these he does recognize, some he doesn't. Now and then, he'll take a long fingernail and poke at one of these buttons, just to hear the sound it makes. Nothing else happens, but he doesn't need it to. It makes him smile.]

Floor 2
[Well, now this is just distasteful. Bodies strewn all about, left to their own natural decomposition in such a state. They've long been dead from the smell in the air - and oh yes, that is ripe - but it doesn't bother him. He's used to it. This is the first time in a long time that his lips have curved into a genuine frown. He hasn't much to say about this floor, but once they're done, he'll quietly move on to the next.]

Floor 3
[And now quite the opposite, some sign of life! Maybe it's the same person or people who had a hand in what happened in the floor above, or better yet, a survivor. He is present when the recording for audio log 3 is played and it fascinates him to no end. Not the message, but the method. The newness of everything still hasn't worn off on him and won't until he learns how to use it, and he can just barely figure out his TAB at this point.]

[The message itself is a whole other story. He's not a stranger to scandals or to dirty doings. In fact, he once had been an accessory to such things, but now times have changed. He'll admit, he's a little out of his element, but he's content to absorb information and pass it on when the time comes to whatever inquiring minds want to know. It wouldn't be the first time, and it's not as if he's exactly alone in the discovery this time.]

Floor 4
[Isn't this a pickle? He'd been used to creatures that looked human and no longer were, and now he's getting used to seeing creatures that aren't human and don't resemble one in the least. That's not something he saw often, even in his own world, but it's like walking right into a fairy tale mothers tell children when it's time to sleep... or when they want to scare them into obedience.]

[He stays on the sidelines, content to watch the exchange between the group that found him and the group that they've now found, grinning like a loon. When the group goes, he goes with them, not motivated so much by the prospect of a machine similar to the one that pulled him here is on the other side and working as by what they might find. How deep does the rabbit hole go? He's more than willing to find out.]

floor 3

[mylawn]

[76 has already decided that this whole place is total bullshit and that the Moira was never supposed to be cavorting through space in the first place, but he's still devouring all the information he can get his hands on, if only because he doesn't want to go into this unprepared. He's got no hope for whatever they're going to find, so he might as well learn what he can in the event it helps him fight back.

You know, when they're most certainly killed. That's the theory he's running with.

Right now, he's plugged into the audio logs, though he's not engrossed in them to the extent that he doesn't realize he isn't alone. In fact, he seems amenable to conversation, if only for the moment. He finishes what seems to be the worst of the logs and then nods in the Undertaker's direction.]

You should come listen to this one.

kurt wagner [nightcrawler] ❧ ota ❧ brackets, prose, it's all good!

[shadowblends]

☄ floor one; i just want to stay in the sun where i'm fine

[Scrounging through all of the illegible papers and hunks of metal has given him absolutely nothing worth using. He's rummaged and combed and picked through all that he can, coming up with empty cups and broken electronics. To say he's disheartened is an understatement, but he is glad about two things: being back to his normal age and having his teleporting powers returned.

The body of a child had been convenient for being carried around or slipping into hard to reach nooks of the caves, but with his powers, he can easily scale any walls to get to higher ground, teleport for quicker movement and reach things that are taller than three feet.

It's one of the simpler things that he can enjoy, for the moment.]


☄ floor two; i know it's hard sometimes (cw: mention of dead bodies and such)

[The stench of death hits him far harder than he could ever expect.

One of his hands lifts to cup over his nose and mouth, attempting to protect his senses from the stomach-churning smell, although it does not do anything to shield his eyes from the bodies; it's enough to almost make him vomit and weep, all at the same time.

From the looks of it, none of them seem to have been graced with any sort of tranquility. He scans over the fallen people, his other hand clutching the white rosary around his neck, his breath leaving in a quivering gasp. Who could have done this and why ...?

These poor people. He shakes his head and removes the ivory beads from around his neck, twisting them around his right hand, fingers clasping around the necklace.

With every single body he walks past, Kurt softly prays, begging his God to give them peace and happiness, wherever they might have gone. No matter how many of them he goes by, he doesn't stop - not until he has entreated his Lord to take care of them and once he has fulfilled his mission, he sets about collecting blankets and clothes that he can take with him.]


☄ floor three; pieces of peace in the sun's piece of mind

[This floor seems like it had been inhabited not too long ago - maybe even within an extremely recent amount of time. He continues to pick through things, as they have all done the entire time they have been on this planet, but when he comes across the audio logs, he decides to sit and one by one, he listens.

His anxiety grows with each new sound, to the point of when he finally reaches the last one, his hands are trembling, his breath is uneven and labored and he can't seem to coherently form words right away. Did these have anything to do with what had happened on the floor above? Was this why they had all been killed?

Were they next?

Anything he'd held in his hands was instantly dropped and he retreated from the area, the sound of his pulse pounding in his ears and his heaving breaths echoing around him.]

floor two;

[infailtration]

[ York is no stranger to slaughter; half the time he used to be the one doing the killing, so he's not too affected by the bodies themselves. At least this answers the question of where all the people from the settlements they'd been scavenging were. His armor also protects him from the rancid air, though his HUD flashes an air quality warning of which that he'll warn anyone he passes. He moves through the bodies slowly and carefully, gun in his hands and Delta at his shoulder, until he comes to Kurt's hunched back blocking his path down a hallway.

The prayers get his attention before he can say anything, be it a comment on the air or a request for the other to move aside for him. This person is praying for the dead. Strangers. And for every single one of them, it seems. York isn't religious but he also doesn't want to disturb someone else's practice, so he turns to explore another hallway. As he does, he catches a flicker of motion below him -- a spaded blue tail. He blinks. ]

Kurt?

Dutch Velders | Open

[curiousnotmalicious]

[ F L O O R O N E ]


[ Dutch has been having a grand time on this floor. There’s a wealth of information here. She’s already sorted through the papers, trying to piece together some sort of coherent message. She failed, of course, but there are still folded up papers tucked into her pockets for later study.

Now, though, she’s fiddling fascinatedly with a broken computer. It’s similar in many ways to Earth tech and yet different in so many other ways. The more she studies it, it seems, the less she knows, and yet she keeps discovering more and more.

Her eyes flit up briefly as she sees movement, presumably another person. ]

Can you believe the amount of stuff they’ve got here?


[ F L O O R T W O ]

[ Immediately upon entering, Dutch gags, putting her arm up over her mouth and nose. She should be used to awful smells by now, but being on the Moira has given her a break from the aromas the Strigoi create. Decaying flesh is heavy in the air and the fabric of her sleeve is barely enough to filter it out.

Her speech is muffled, but audible and coherent enough. ]

Would love a bottle of Pine-Sol right now. Freshen this place right up.

[ Dutch knows why she’s here, though, and she’s not about to wander uselessly. Right away she starts looking for practical items. She spots a blanket and picks it up, folding it over her arm. ]


[ F L O O R T H R E E ]

[ As interesting as the first floor was and as disgusting as the second floor was, it’s the third floor that captures her attention. It’s almost as if it’s haunted by someone, like there’s a presence still there, and surely enough when she finds the recordings it feels even more like that. Dutch sits slightly hunched over, listening, and once they’re all finished she’s left staring into space, nibbling on her thumbnail and staring into space. She’s a little shaken by all of it.

Suddenly, she hears footsteps, and she whirls around to face the source of the sound. ]

You won’t believe what I found…

[ She presses a button to begin playing the recordings. ]

uno!!

[brokeassgoing]

[ah and here he'd hoped the cigarette he left burning in that piece of coffee mug would burn all this down upon returning from the can. he's disappointed.

Badou hasn't checked out the tech as of yet, but he's a tad curious.]

That antique actually up and running? Didn't hear the dial up sound from all the way downstairs.

OTA

[farmboyjedi]

Floor 1: The feeling of the Force returning as Luke steps in is like a tidal wave, rushing to engulf him. He staggers and braces himself, closing his eyes for a moment as he takes in the onrush of energy. Almost immediately, he feels stronger and healthier again. He reaches out, hopeful, anxious to see if he can feel anything of his Force bonds. But it isn't what he's used to-he has a sense that his family is alive, but that's about it. As he had half expected, he's still essentially cut off.

He also realizes that his body has returned to normal; he's no longer a child. Now, he's a short-ish, gray-haired man in his late 40s again. He glances around curiously, hoping that the others who were affected like him are returning to normal as well.

He can't take time to dwell on too many things right now, though, there's too much to be done. He's curious about the broken machines, even though he isn't familiar with them. There are papers and signs of fire everywhere, and it's hard to even know where to start. He keeps alert, both for signs of danger, and for anyone who might need help.

Floor 2: Luke is used to death, but the carnage here is still horrific. There's so much blood, so many dead. He watches and listens, checking for any signs of life, but finds none. He wishes he had a breather of some sort, and has to mouth breathe as he moves through.

Floor 3: He's a little shaken by the recordings, although he fears that with having just arrived in this world, he might not be picking up as much from them as some of the others. Still, it's obvious that something bad happened, as if the visuals downstairs weren't enough of a sign. He's willing to talk, though, if anyone's around who wants to join him.

Floor 4: Luke watches the proceedings with interest, ready to offer his skills as a negotiator, and he does get a chance to prove helpful at times. Fortunately, things don't become violent, and actually get rather friendly once everyone understands each other. He offers his help to the technicians who are rebuilding the element, hoping the mechanical skill he inherited from his father might prove helpful in some way or other.

floor 1

[ventifact]

[Rey has spent most of her time since they arrived at the inner gate sifting through the notes and pieces of technology. She's gathered anything that might prove useful, and just a few that are probably useless. But souvenirs are always a good idea, right? She hasn't really been focusing on the Force, but once she's basically knocked in the head with an incredibly powerful signature, she can't help but turn and search for it.

She sees Luke not too far away, and takes a deep breath. She starts towards him, squaring her shoulders and steeling herself.]

Hey.

Darin Altway | Open to All

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Floor 1

[After crossing through the Inner Gate, Darin found himself feeling so much better than he had in the last few weeks. As soon as he could, Darin separates himself from the rest of the crew and goes off exploring on his own. After wandering deep into the bowels of the first floor, he comes across a large room just brimming with large, broken down machinery. Upon closer inspection, Darin realizes that they're Ingress parts...!]

[He starts to paw through them when he realizes that it seems like his strength has returned. A grin creeps across his face as he hoists a massive piece of derelict machinery over his head and gives it an experimental toss into the air, like a beach ball. He laughs as he catches it, reaching down to grab another enormous piece of scrap.]

[Several minutes later, he's juggling three exceptionally large pieces of rotted out scrap and machinery like they're apples.]

Oh man...! I never thought I'd be happy to be able to do this again...!

Floor 2

[It was too much for him to deal with. The corpses. The stench of death and decay. The unnatural way the bodies were positioned. Everything about it sent flashes of what Dromas had done, of what he could do, back into his mind. Having gone pale and excusing himself, he rushes back up to the first floor to throw up in a dark corner.]

[After that, anyone who had been with Darin when Floor 2 was finally cracked open for exploration will note his absence for the next few days. He's been keeping himself occupied on the first floor. During his many scavenging expeditions, Darin's taken to finding maps and star charts, collecting them for his own personal records. If one were to look for him, they might find one of the offices on the first floor cleared out completely, save for a chair. The entire office, from floor to ceiling, is covered in the star charts and maps Darin has managed to salvage. Some he restored himself, using pieces of paper from his own notebook. They're pinned up all over, leaving practically no space uncovered save for the center of the floor. That's where Darin is lying on his back, staring up at the maps, his arms crossed behind his head.]

[It was humbling and exhilarating all at once. Darin's entire world view had, in the short span of a couple of months, been completely blown wide open. There was so much out there, so much to learn and see and experience and he was so happy to be able to experience it. But the sights on floor 2 brought him crashing down to reality. It reminded him of what Dromas, and Darin by proxy, could do. And he began to silently wonder aloud.]

I wonder if there's any place in this universe for a guy like me...

Floor 3

[Having forced himself beyond the carnage of floor two, Darin made his way deeper into the complex. He'd heard people talking about recordings and decided he wanted to hear them for himself.]

[After hearing what transpired, that the Ingress could be dangerous, Darin sits in a chair in an old room and starts going through his notebooks. All of that work, all of that time studying the Ingress...all of these notes. What if he was trying to learn about something that could hurt people? Hurt his new friends? Hurt the people he cared about?]

[What if Ingress energy could somehow affect what he was?]

[In aggravation, Darin tosses one of his notebooks across the room.]

I never should have tried to learn about this crap...

I should have stuck to blacksmithing. Stayed in my place. Where I belong...

2

[dancingblade]

[It resembles the basement of the Ancient Cistern, some part of her observes. The amount of bodies here was astounding, but more than that was the method in which they were dispatched with. She knows of massacre, the records of that long War between the Goddess and the Demon God kept securely within her memory...

But death means little to a sword that will exist for eternity and it's spirit who will sleep for as long. So she turns and wanders through the first floor again, occasionally stopping to watch the other crew members explore.

It's just a matter of time before she floats into the room that Darin has occupied. She doesn't take the floor or the paper into consideration when she floats over to where the blue haired man is lying down. It reminds her a little of Link; how her Master would lie down and sleep wherever there was space and safety. Fi looks down at the blacksmith before speaking]

All creatures are created with a purpose, though it is often times obscured from the eyes of mortals.

It has been some time since we last spoke, Darin Altway. How have you fared in these strange times?

76 | get at me

[mylawn]

floors one, two, three

[76 still isn’t holding out much hope for whatever lies at the end of this very long, very strange journey, but whatever this place is feels like progress, at least. The important thing is that he’s back at a hundred percent, and he isn’t particularly keen on experiencing any of that again. The other important thing is that there’s actually work to do now that they’ve done the bulk of the traveling—76 doesn’t have as much of a mind for science as certain people he knows, but he can recognize that a great deal of this wreckage may have been intentional.

It doesn’t bode well, is mostly what he decides.

76 ascends the inner gate much the way he’s traveled there in the first place—that is, leading with his bigass gun and acting like most things are threats. When he is not acting like most things are threats, he can be found on any of the first three floors doing the following:

> Examining notes and Ingress pieces and audio files—or what’s salvageable of them, anyway. He’s not entirely sure what happened here, but he can make a few guesses. Probably it’s a bad idea to sneak up on him.

> You need a buddy? He looks like he knows what he’s doing. Clearly he won’t mind if you tag along for the moment. It is pretty creepy in here, after all.

> Looting corpses. Looting a heck of a lot of corpses because hey, these guys died with sweet loot on them. Maybe he shouldn’t touch that alien-looking gun? Or take it apart? Maybe you should tell him to put it down? He’s not putting it down.]

floor four

[To say that 76 is suspicious of all this is probably an understatement. He leaves the diplomacy to people better suited for it, instead choosing to watch and listen while progress is made.

He can’t bring himself to trust any of this, so he stands watch with his bigass gun for the majority of the negotiations, then busies himself with inventory and preparations. Of course, he knows he has no choice but to walk through the Ingress (eventually), but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to dig his heels in about it while he still can. Luckily, it seems like it’s going to take some time to actually fix the thing, so he attempts to be a productive member of society in the meantime, helping haul equipment, or maybe your bags, if you look like you need it. Eventually he ends up camped out on the fourth floor while he waits for all of this to get sorted out. It mostly involves a lot of dis-and-re-assembly of his bigass gun.

> Approach DadFort y/n?]

wildcard

((I’ll do whatever the heck you want! Hit me up on plurk at whitticus.))

4

[brokeassgoing]

[The whole waiting game is making him antsy. Like a caged animal pacing back and forth along its tiny cell. Not that he isn't grateful for the horror show on floor two, the vague show on one and the creeptastic one on three. four's just a barrel of laughs.

but at least his book of the crew's reactions to certain situations is growing. who will be his publisher is anyones guess to be honest. poor 76 is about to be the next victim or something because badou saddles right up to him.]

Think they're legit?

Ahsoka Tano | Star Wars | ota

[divagated]

all floors:

[To say it was a relief to be reconnected with the Force would be an understatement. She had already been exploring and gathering supplies in the weeks prior, but with her senses back to normal, she was back at it with a new spring in her step.

Her curiosity with the whole situation was at an all time high, and with each floor came more and more questions.

Each day and on each floor, Ahsoka could be found searching for clues among the contents, whether it be rifling through papers for anything still legible on floor one, trying to find answers for the decimation of life on floor two, or searching through the belongings forgotten on floor three.

The time on floor four is spent trying to help with the diplomacy issues (even if she wasn't exactly happy with the people responsible for the floor two slaughter), then the attempts to fix the Ingress. She's good with ships and that's about it, so she mostly tries to stay out of the way of those that actually have a good idea of what they're doing.]

Re: Ahsoka Tano | Star Wars | ota

[farmboyjedi]

[Luke runs into her while he's doing the same thing she is-searching the rubble for clues. He remembers her from the talk on the network. Now that the Force is within him again, he can feel her strength in it. He doesn't press for now, just starts out simply.]

Hello. How are you holding up?

solid snake | metal gear | come at me bro

[soldiergenes]

FLOORS ONE AND TWO

[ So this is it. The Midway Hub.

It's not anything as illustrious as Snake might have imagined, with the way that it had been built up to them by the captains. An underground series of tunnels, it's clear that no one living has set foot here for a while. That's what he assumes as he first starts his search of the place, anyway. The place smells old and musty, clogging his senses as he moves floor by floor.

With all of the broken Ingress tech scattered all over, it's hard not to be curious. Snake isn't a scientist or an engineer, so he leaves the notes and entries for other people to read, inspecting the actual Ingress devices instead.

The second floor answers a question all of them had sitting in the back of their minds: where had everyone who lived here gone? The dead bodies have been that way for a while, some of them so decayed that they're skeletal. The smell still isn't pleasant, and Snake keeps a hand help up to his nose as he picks through the corpses in search of anything useful. ]

FLOOR THREE

[ It only stands to reason that there would be living quarters for those who had been working here, and the more that Snake sees, the more that he can tell that this was some sort of research facility. It's not hard to figure out what they might have been studying, given all the Ingress prototypes.

Still, finding a set of audio logs is kind of like hitting the jackpot when it comes to finally getting concrete information on what this place is and where the Moira came from.

Snake's seated in a chair in the room and listening carefully to the voice of a stranger who's already long dead. He's about halfway through when someone else steps inside.

He nods to the terminal. ] You're gonna want to hear this.

FLOOR FOUR

[ And as it turns out, his assumption that there were no survivors turned out to be wrong.

Or maybe survivors is the wrong word. Snake is putting the pieces together here, and it seems safe to assume that the small group of people holed up here are the ones responsible for all that death a few floors up. Why they never cleaned up after themselves, he can't say. But that voice on the logs had mentioned being worried that they'd be found out, and it looks like that's exactly what happened.

All this is just conjecture, though. He'd like to get some real answers out of them, but the Savrii have retreated to the other side of the room and it doesn't look like they want anyone to get near them. Snake can't assume they won't be trigger happy, given what they've already done.

He turns to the person at his side. ] Think we can crack 'em?

WILDCARD

[ Want something that doesn't fit in here? Have at it! I'm available at demonology for plotting as well. ]

{ floor three }

[frostedplum]

[ After searching the first floor for any useful tech to take, and hurrying through the second floor in the hopes the next isn't filled with dead bodies too, Mei is relieved to find the third is clear of any of that. Dressed in her parka with her water tank for her gun strapped to her back, she looks pretty overdressed for this building with it's offices, labs, and strange power source.

As she comes closer to the latter, she stops and turns her attention to the man at the terminal before coming over to hear something already in progress. Her eyebrows furrow above her glasses and she looks from him to the terminal, listening intently. Once it's clear they've reached the end of the audio logs, she gives him a questioning look. She's only arrived this month and never got to see the Moira. ]

Is this information people who were on the ship don't know? I only came through the Ingress once you were all on the planet, so there's a lot I still don't know.

Ronan Lynch & Adam Parrish ❦ OPEN

[nightmarist]

floor one (closed to ronan & adam)

[Something nameless happens to Ronan once they pass through the Inner Gate. He is not transformed, but whatever has been smothering him is lifted and there's somehow more of him again. Some color returns to him, or he is more solid, or more present, the way Noah gets around Blue. It's the same sensation as drinking the purple water, and that's how Ronan realizes that his dream half is restored and his dreamer half is capable again. He says to Adam immediately:]

I have to dream.

[And they set off for the most private space they can find, which turns out to be an old office with a functional door. Once it's wedged shut, Ronan curls up on the floor while Adam keeps watch over him, and he sleeps an unremarkable sleep for close to an hour.

When he stirs, it isn't obvious. As always, he's paralyzed at first. But his hand is covered in dirt quite suddenly and there's something clutched in the palm of it, a flash of green so vibrant it feels like it's glowing or pulsing with life, and it carries the scent of petrichor and misty rain on heavy leaves. Adam will recognize its energy before Ronan is even capable of speaking it: Cabeswater.]

floor two (open to all)

[Scavenging among the dead is dirty business, and not something Ronan would care to do under normal circumstances. If he had any faith that his dreaming would remain stable, he wouldn't bother. But after weeks of his power flickering on and off with no reliability, he has to admit there's no choice but to hoard what equipment he can get his hands on.

He's been informed of the smell before they go in, so both he and Adam are prepared with half-facepiece respirators of Ronan's own design. (That is: they look super badass in glossy black material and smell kind of minty). Ronan's wearing rubber gloves, too, though he has no intention of handling the corpses more than he needs to. He's mostly picking up weapons and anything that looks remotely useful, dropping the items into his PacDisc for closer inspection later. All the while, he keeps an eye on Adam, never allowing him out of sight for more than a second. This place is obviously a death trap, and no matter how much experience he and Adam have with climbing into haunted caves and cursed tombs, Ronan won't be reckless here.

For a deeply traumatized boy, Ronan does a commendable job of ignoring the bodies at first. He's seen, dreamt, created, buried, or otherwise handled enough dead things to push past the normal human level of shock.

But then he comes across one that looks a bit too familiar. Not because of the face that corpse wears, but because of the way its head is caved in. Something about the shape of the wound, the curve of collapsed skull. Ronan stumbles when he sees it, almost trips right over it, and he blinks rapidly and hisses behind his mask:]

Fuck.

floor three (open to all)

[Ronan, unlike Gansey, doesn't much care for solving the creepy mysteries of the past. Poking around for clues and listening to the haunting voices of history is really not his forte - Noah aside. Ronan doesn't figure out the answers to puzzles. He cheats or bashes his way past them. So besides their ominous nature, the recordings don't give him much to think about. Sarcastically addressing no one in particular:]

I can't believe it all went so wrong. Who would've thought.

floor four (open to all)

[Ronan isn't one to negotiate. He is, however, a towering and intimidating presence with strong arms and an expandable steel loc baton in each hand. Now, he has no intention of interrupting what seem to be peaceful negotiations, but he is absolutely an attack dog keeping watch and just waiting for the first sign of trouble. He doesn't trust the Savrii. That much is clear in his eyes and the way he squares his jaw while listening to their words. But he'll leave the talk to smarter men than he is, and glance around occasionally to assess what the others are thinking.]

( OOC Note: All threads will include both Ronan and Adam, as the horror twins cannot currently be separated. )

Floor 1

[unaffluent]

[Adam doesn't argue or really say much otherwise as the other lays down. Instead he stays close, standing guard though in this enclosed office it doesn't seem like they need to worry so much but he still does. He doesn't want anyone to walk in on this, them, when Ronan is vulnerable.

He can't help the way he gets worried the more and more time goes by but he sense the moment that Ronan wakes up even if he can't move yet. He can feel what he brought back. It seems unthinkable that it's real. Adam moves to kneel beside him, staring at his hand. There's never going to be a moment where what Ronan can do doesn't feel fantastical and unbelievable to him.]

Ronan... [He doesn't know what he means to say, not really, the feeling of Cabeswater's energy and the fact that Ronan is able to dream again both hit him hard, making him even less articulate than usual.]

Reinhardt | OTA

[grandpaladin]

FLOOR TWO
[Reinhardt is glad for his helmet, once he steps onto this floor. It's not sealed tight, but it puts enough of a barrier between his senses and the smells assaulting them. He stops in his tracks -- his bulk effectively blocking the doorway for anyone behind.]

[If that doesn't work, he holds out a hand to stop them.]

I doubt you want to see this, my friend...

[Even he doesn't want to. He, who has seen things like this before. Just because you've seen war and destruction, that doesn't mean you want to see it happen again. Ever. It's nauseating -- for more than just the corpses. This kind of slaughter is always horrific.]

[He'll do his best to try and keep his companion(s) from seeing it, too. Just in case.]


FLOOR THREE
[His helmet doesn't quite betray what Reinhardt is thinking. But his shoulders straighten up, grip tightening on the haft of his hammer. Agitated, maybe a little disturbed. These logs make it sound like they were some kind of experiment.]

[The whole ship was. And that doesn't quite sit well with him.]

What does this mean? This world is where the Moira is from?


WILDCARD
[Choose your own adventure! Run into him anywhere!]

Floor Two

[justice_from_above]

[Fareeha places a gentle hand on his shoulder. She didn't know if he knew she was following or not, but she'd tried to catch up to him. She wasn't at all surprised that he was trying to bar her; but she'd already been in and out of Floor Two; she couldn't take it all in at once, and her helmet isn't a full covering like his; she had needed the air. She's back now to see if there's anything she can do for these people, or if there is anyone here that needs help.]

It's okay, Reinhardt. I can manage.

Sideswipe | open & closed

[redshitlord]

FLOOR 1: DRIFT
[See Sideswipe. See Sideswipe skulk around through the top floor, sticking way too close to his big sword buddy. Like glue, really. Like anything could leap out at them at any moment and eat them. Even though they're made of metal.]

[Something creaks. Probably the facility settling.]

[Sideswipe just shrieks. And literally leaps several feet in the air, to end up clinging to Drift like a big red Scooby Doo.]

WHAT WAS THAT?


FLOOR 1: OTA
[At some point after Drift had big white hippie robot things to do, Sideswipe settled for sorting through a pile of junk. Curiously -- because there might be something useful in there.]

[He's not having much luck, though. And ends up settling for marching a vaguely humanoid piece of metal along a fallen beam. Before having it fight with another piece of metal. Making sound effects the whole while.]

[... well. At least he's entertained?]


FLOOR 4: OTA
So... wait. They're not gonna kill us? They're gonna take us home?

[Look at that, the lanky bot actually looks like he's perked up a bit. He'd ducked and probably hid for a lot of the confrontation -- it smacked too much of the time the ship was attacked. When he was attacked, even after trying really hard not to do the same.]

[So he's peeking around a corner, glowing optics darting nervously around, as if he expects the confrontation to start all over again.]


WILDCARD; OTA
[Choose your own adventure!]

oooooooooooo

[happyclappyhippydrippy]

[Sideswipe suddenly clinging to him was more startling than any of the creepy noises had been so far. Drift's sword is half out of it's sheath before he realizes that Sideswipe's just startled by harmless noises.]

I--Sideswipe, it was probably just someone downstairs. It's not like we're the only ones here.