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Who: Everyone
When: July 1 and onward. See this post for info.
Where: Kauto + Chioni + Ingress Complex
Warnings: Potential violence. Please label warn-worthy content in your subject headers.

There's a burst of light in the sky when the Ingress breaks, a final flare followed by a shuddering that only those in the facility can feel. A flurry of panicked activity in the complex follows, ushering new arrivals to where they need to go in a hurry, with little time to give them the needed information, much less answer questions. The lights remain on, but dimmer now, life functions still operating but little else. On Kauto and Chioni below, the sky fades into an early twilight, followed by night, and day does not come again.

nerds save the world

Before the end of the day, all TABs receive an emergency broadcast notification outlining the situation. The speaker, a lead Savriite Ingress technician, does not invite panic but nor does he mince words. The Ingress is broken; their best efforts have failed to restore it. The time has come to turn to anyone who can help: scientists, engineers, those who have worked with advanced technology on any world. Formal qualifications don't matter when it could be the end of everything.

"Help us. Before it is too late."

Those who come will have the run of the complex and full access to the Ingress, as well as whatever tools are available and as much coffee as they can drink. People are encouraged to work in groups and share ideas, and a small number of young and nervous technical assistants will be on hand.

the land below

As Thisavrou is denied light and warmth, the weather becomes brisk and descends into bitter cold. Chioni is evacuated due to the effects on the already-harsh weather cycles there, although a skeleton crew of scientists remain behind. On Kauto, the arboreal Region Three and pastoral Region Two suffer the most from the temperatures and the snow that eventually begins to fall. Many crops are frozen over, and refugee citizens are driven from their homes to the Regions One and Five, where stored energy will keep dwellings warm. Save for those who choose to leave the underwater facilities, Region Four remains largely unchanged, but there are unverified accounts of strange aquatic animal behavior near the surface.

Overcrowding, limited supplies and a pervasive fear presents the opportunity for both heroism and foul deeds. Many come together to share resources, supplies and fellowship in what could be the end of worlds, while others take what they can from the unwilling or exploit the desperate. Sentient evacuees are followed by fauna from Region Three and unsettled lands beyond, in search of warmth or food or merely confused by the change in habitat. Some are unthreatening herbivores, while tanglesnakes and clownbees are more troublesome. Others are poisonous hunters, while still others are small, but dangerous when faced as a pack.

Just when all seems lost, light returns to the sky. The Ingress begins to function once more.

the coming days

As the temperatures rise, many demand answers, but most turn to the rebuilding of their lives first. Damage has been done that isn't so easily fixed, and even in the least-affected areas, remnants of the crisis show in the lack of fresh food, in the increased signs of criminal activity. Those who can help others through their own efforts of by organizing assistance are needed, but those with impure intentions are more likely to go unnoticed.

Eavesdropping on the streets may reveal a desire for vengeance. "Those intruders from last week. They're responsible for this, aren't they? What's being done?" But don't listen too closely, or a suspicious eye may be turned on you. "Aren't you one of the refugees from the Midway Hub? You should return to where you came from! All the trouble began when your people showed up!"

Life goes on. But life does not go on unchanged.

[quick ooc note: the Region 4 search & retrieval mission/RNG fight will be posted in a separate log.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah. This is patently familiar to Venom, even if the Eli he's approaching is decades older and slightly mellowed over the months of cohabitation. The operative word there is 'slightly'.

When he spots the familiar figure with his hands balled into fists, Venom takes the liberty of bridging the distance between them and raising his artificial hand to shoulder-level. A silent command to stand down, even if he knows that it's unsolicited.

"Acting violent won't help our case."

What a spoilsport, huh.

Venom mostly gets a glare for his efforts. It's probably good that he interrupted him before he could sock this guy in the jaw, but it doesn't make him feel any better. Yeah, he's mellowed out a little, but when anger's your default state, it doesn't slow things down that much.

"Like hell it won't."

The other guy is probably feeling a little awkward right now, maybe.

There are two staring matches going on right now: one between Liquid and Venom, and one between the Savrii and the two Snakes. It's the kind of standoff that at least one of the three parties would probably want to walk away from, but it keeps going. Somehow.

"You're gonna give them more ammunition against us."

He almost says Eli, in that patented 'you-listen-to-me-kid' tone. Venom does this literally every time; maybe Liquid should try to punch him for being so predictable.

Liquid's too stubborn to walk away from it, while the angry local isn't sure how to get away from this easy. At least he's not being punched right now, right?

And, of course, just like the old days, here's Venom to ruin everything.

Or, at least, keep him from taking out some very well-deserved frustrations.

"Is that what we're worried about? Ammunition? I don't think he cares either way, considering he's got nothing in the first place."

Well, to some extent? Liquid isn't wrong. The Savrii are literally just trying to rile them for the sake of riling them, and they have no leverage other than the old playground adage of 'we were here first'. It's not a really strong argument, but boy are they trying to milk it for everything they have.

So. Here's Venom conceding. "You're right. They don't have anything."

It's a valid point, and Venom won't contest it. However, here's the addendum: "But rising to the bait's just gonna make you look weak."

Simply, matter-of-factly.

"Right up until the point where he finds himself losing consciousness, hm?" Because goddamn that'd feel pretty good right now. He can use his glass hand and it'd make a nice, satisfying clunk to go with it.

He knows, in a way, Venom's right, but like hell he'll admit it.

"If they couldn't take it, why start anything in the first place?"

"Because they want to prove themselves right."

Self-fulfilling prophecies. Venom's tone pitches down to a sigh, because this is familiar terrain. He's not above violence (let's be real, none of them are), but he knows when he might be adding more fuel to the fire.

(The lone Savrii is now texting his friends to maybe come pick him up. Maybe this will turn into a rumble??? Only time will tell.)

"Doubt you want to be stroking their ego."

Liquid scoffs. "They're not going to have much of an ego to stroke when I'm done with them."

(Go ahead and bring backup, Liquid's not scared.)

"I've found a good punch often gets the message across when necessary. And it's often necessary."

Or maybe that's just his temper. It's probably just his temper.

The thing about this situation is: it's difficult to make a point about not stirring the pot when the other party keeps adding more ingredients to it. The Savrii puts down his TAB equivalent and twiddles his thumbs while the two humans seem to be arguing among themselves, and a few minutes later... well.

Two more Savrii come to join the fray, as if two more moderately-built dudes will somehow stand a chance against Tank 1 and Tank 2. The point here is, they tried.

Venom turns his head. Sighs.

"...Don't make the first move."

If they have to fight (which is looking more and more likely), the warning here is to dispatch through defensive maneuvers. The word 'defensive' used loosely here, since they both know that their defensive maneuvers still entail breaking someone's face in the process.

When the guy's attempt at backup show up, Liquid has to stifle a laugh. Really, it would have been a lot better off if the guy had seen Liquid's intention to fight and headed for the hills instead of calling some friends.

Two against three is such an unfair advantage, after all.

Liquid looks over at Venom, looking amused. "Oh, I would never."

At this point, if these Savrii aren't smart enough to just leave them alone, then maybe a few faces really do need to be punched.

"I'm sure they're smart enough not to themselves."

So Liquid's just gonna stare them down, looking more like he's watching something funny than planning on getting into a fight, arms crossed, stance still intimidating.

The original Savrii's two friends look back and forth between his companion and Liquid, back to the guy who called them, back to Liquid. One of them looks palpably uneasy, like he's just on the verge of saying something to the extent of 'yo, let's split'. The other one looks more obstinate, as if he's not about to have shown up only to do nothing at all.

The one who initially gave Liquid a hard time looks at the both of them for counsel, eyes widening and jaw jerking towards the Snake duo. Are we gonna do this or what???

It's the newcomer who looks like he just lost every fuck to give that comes at Liquid first (the other guy has a horn, and he's not about to mess with whatever the fuck that is), holding what looks like the dollar-store equivalent of a military baton to hit his target with.

Venom, on his part, looks Tired.

"Don't get too carried away." He says, completely nonthreatened.

Liquid almost doesn't want to get into this, just because he knows it's going to be pointless.

Almost.

"Don't worry about that. I think they might do the getting carried away for us." They definitely look like they're in over their head, even as one comes over to Liquid with a weapon. On Liquid's part, he seems to be unarmed, beyond his fists. One of those fists is made of some pretty hard glass, but he's wearing gloves.

So he holds his hands out to the sides, defiant and yet not even bothering to attack just yet. "Really? Here to hit me with a stick, are you?"

Whatever fight that might break out will be exceedingly pointless, to be sure. Exhibit A: the Savrii with the nightstick who, mid-step, looks to be reevaluating the course of his entire life. He doesn't quite follow through on the promise of outright violence, but he does, stupidly, reach forward (like, way forward— his arm is extended at maximum capacity, torso bent at his hip) and poke Liquid in the chest with his 'weapon'.

"Watch it, refugee. You don't even belong here— don't talk down to us."

The threat lacks conviction, but it's delivered with some self-importance.

Venom, on his part, looks at Liquid with his brow raised. Unspoken here is: maybe leaving is a good idea.

Maybe leaving really is a good idea, but Liquid can't just let that insult slide like that. Not when the guy had the audacity to touch him like that. He made the first move.

But Liquid's not stupid. Dense, sometimes, yes (he is a Snake, after all), but not stupid. Usually.

So while he looks like he's about to punch the guy in the face, he simply reaches out and grabs the weapon in an attempt to disarm him and take it away.

"Perhaps you should come up with a better threat next time."

It's—

—tame. The reaction. Remarkably restrained, enough so that the Savrii whose weapon was confiscated draws his shoulders up in alarm and finds it in himself to back off, as if he didn't expect Liquid to take the ostensible high road.

On the other side of the coin, Liquid is also unfortunately treated to Venom looking... what, proud? The expression skirts close, fond and slightly bemused as the older Snake reaches with his bionic to take the nightstick from Liquid's hand.

"I don't think they'll be trying anything again."

Liquid's actions might be on the tame side, but he hasn't backed down on looking intimidating, or making it appear like he's fully intending to beat the guy with it, even as he backs off.

He really wants to.

He's just gonna ignore that expression, and then suddenly he finds that Venom's moving to take the nightstick. "Wait, give that back. I wanted to hit him with it."

Well, he did want to.

"You already did."

In spirit, is what Venom means. That's a remarkably patronizing thing to say, though, and he knows it— it's the sort of holier-than-thou bullshit that Venom knows he never quiet subscribes to all of the time, either.

Still, he keeps the nightstick firmly out of Liquid's reach, and turns hit over on the flat of his bionic.

"We're done here."

He says, and two of the three Savrii natives flee the scene. The only one left is the one that got his weapon stolen, and he looks balefully at the two of them before slowly starting to back off.

"I'm not here for a metaphor," Liquid protests, but at least he doesn't try to grab the nightstick away, or pout too much about it.

Maybe he's grown up a little.

Just a little, though. He crosses his arms, glaring angrily at the remaining guy until he starts backing off, then looks over at Venom again.

"I could have handled that by myself," he says. "What the hell did they even think they were getting into?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(no subject)

nerds save the world

the land below

the coming days

let's not fight, fight, fight

JEEZ

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