(no subject)

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

[to say john is prepared to actually be fired up, with a real bullet, is not even in the realm of possibilities. when the bullet cracks sharply to the side of him, close enough to give him an idea that this isn't an amateur, he thanks whatever luck he has left that it's clearly a warning shot. anyone else and that could've been a shot to torso or limbs. while he's not exactly scared to die here (he had just gone home after the last time, after all), bullets hurt.

forty plus years of being under a hail of them and being hit in about every part of his body has taught him this very important lesson.

his hindbrain kicks in and, like breathing, john automatically crouches down and turns his sights on where the bullet could've come from. just in case whoever fired on him doesn't want to talk, he whips out one of his pistols, takes aim, and calls out:]

This your place?

[Of course, 76 has no intention of actually hurting anyone, especially now that he's recognized this is Not Reaper, but there's value in bluffing. He watches the figure drop into a crouch, and takes that moment to make himself known.]

Yeah.

[Shouted from the porch as he hefts his rifle and keeps it trained on John's location, a very deliberate display. No one's going to die today, but 76 wants to make absolutely sure this guy knows who's in charge around here. The easiest way to do that is by explicitly indicating the size of his gun.]

Did you read the sign?

[The one that says NO TRESPASSING.]

[if john were scared of big guns, he would've got out of his line of work decades ago. instead, he just crouches there, finger on the trigger of his own weapon, and ready to bolt if need be. despite his instincts naturally leaning towards violence in most things, he doesn't actually wanna fight.

in fact, he's just kind of hungry.]

Nope.

[said casually and without regret. he thought most people would be gone from their homesteads, that was the whole point. can't be a perfect, legendary soldier all the time, though.]

Maybe you should make it bigger.

[it's plenty big, he did see a sign on the way in. he just willfully chose to ignore any it might have said.]

[His sign is FINE, thanks very much, even though John is most certainly not the first person to ignore it. For that reason, 76 remains largely unconvinced of any sort of intentions this man may or may not have, though given the circumstance, he figures the guy is just snooping. Maybe seeing what sort of supplies he can salvage.

But he's not unreasonable--he'll give John an opportunity to explain himself, however brief.]

You've got five seconds to tell me what you want.

[The implication, of course, being that 76 will start shooting again if he finds the answer unsatisfactory.]

[any sane person with a modicum of common sense might have put away their gun and proceeded to explain themselves in a peaceful manner. after all, it seemed as if whoever was on the other end of that rifle (a rifle he had never seen before) wasn't the bloodthirsty type. unfortunately, john was just sane enough to function in society and barely had any common sense, so he continues to crouch there, gripping a pistol, like a moron.

he does, luckily, see the merits of just explaining why he was roaming around in the snow and people's yards.]

Looking for supplies.

[simple as that. he hadn't even planned on breaking into any buildings.]

City's overcrowded. Couldn't stand it.

So you thought you'd come out here and steal things.

[Not that 76 can really talk, because sometimes that's what you have to do when you're in internationally wanted vigilante. Here, however, it seems rude to skulk around the properties of people who have presumably evacuated, looking to take their stuff, but perhaps he only thinks that because he's the one on the porch. If their positions were switched, well. 76 has always done what he needed to survive.

So perhaps he can't begrudge John that much. The gun shifts, but only slightly.]

You think about knocking on the door and asking?

I'm surviving.

[that's totally not the same thing as stealing! besides, anything perishable would just go bad anyway out here in the cold. why waste food when the city would, inevitably, get dangerously low on it?]

And I'm not going to waste time knocking when the place is supposed to be evacuated. [although it seems like only old, stubborn morons didn't get the memo. it just had to be that the only person left in region two owned a gun and was capable with it.] Are you going to shoot or not? It's too cold for a standoff. [says the man that went shirtless in russia.]

[76 appears to consider all this for a moment, as if deciding whether or not he wants to keep arguing the fact that John is here to steal things either way. After a protracted silence, he speaks up again, in a way that indicates the answer was passable.

But only passable, maybe.]

Might as well come in.

[He lowers the gun and turns his back as he makes his way into the house and gestures for his uninvited guest to follow--perhaps not the smartest decision, given the fact that he doesn't know who or what he's dealing with, but he's taken worse risks.]

[john was never taught about stranger danger when he was younger, so he really sees no issue in just walking into some dude's house. some dude who's armed and, presumably, dangerous. of course, he does linger a little, making sure there's not one else that's going to spring out and shoot at him, because that's just standard protocol.

plus, you know, if the guy really does want to kill him, he still has his guns and a knife on him. when you're considered the 'world's best soldier', you kind of stop sweating the small, life-threatening situations.

whatever snow collected on the mercenary's body during their tenuous standoff trails into the other man's home after him. it's been some time since he's had to use proper manners, so it doesn't occur to him that, maybe, he should've brushed himself off outside. and not have a gun still in his hand, even if it clearly has the safety on.]

You the only one out here still?

[As John gets closer, 76 takes a moment to give him an obvious once-over, looking to take mental inventory of the weapons he can see, and perhaps make a few educated guesses about the ones he can't. Even with the mask on, it's easy to see the way his eyebrows pinch together at snow in the entranceway, though he decides not to say anything about it.

Not just yet, anyway.

The inside of the house isn't anything special, really--Jack hasn't done much to make it anything more than what they were given when they arrived here, any creature comforts entirely thanks to Ana. Right now, the whole place is in survival mode, because even though he's defying recommendation by staying here, he'd be remiss if he wasn't prepared for the long haul.

Heat is going to be the most pressing issue, especially if the power goes out, and there's a not insubstantial amount of firewood stacked up on a rack in the living room. 76 brushes past all that without a word, however, leading John into the kitchen where he pulls a coffee maker (the space version of one, anyway) from a cabinet.]

Neighbors all left.

[Because they have brains, clearly. He pointedly won't mention that he's not the only person who lives here.]

Their prerogative, I guess.

[it's very clear from one, sweeping look around the place that, whoever this guy is, he's clearly not perturbed by the incoming threat of a freak winter. if there's one thing that john understands about thisavrou, it's that there's All Kinds living on both planets. knowing that, though, he's still slightly surprised when he meets capable people like his masked host. if the city was any indication right now, there were too many ingress refugees that became anxious at the first sign of trouble.

and, of course, there's the whole thing about them both carrying guns in each other's presence and literally being unfazed by it.

john carefully removes the duffle hanging off his shoulder, setting it by the door, and then continues to remain standing. it's a sign of temporary trust; all of his gear is in there. parting from it means that he feels safe enough. maybe not safe enough not to have his back facing the wall. or to relinquish his sidearm, you know.]

But you stayed. Confident you can weather the storm?

[76 takes note of the way John leaves his equipment at the door, but his stare doesn't linger on it too long. He's set his own rifle aside, a nonverbal mutual agreement that they've reached a temporary truce. He doesn't expect either of them to become fully comfortable in this situation, as evidenced by the fact that John doesn't really invite himself in or sit down, but 76 is fine with that. He'll put a pot of coffee on either way--it seems like the right thing to do.

If John plans to use that sidearm, well. 76 will cross that bridge when he gets to it. For now, it seems prudent to learn a little more about the man trying to rob all the farms in his general vicinity. If that means he has to explain his own decision to stay here, well. So be it.]

I've been through worse.

[Even though he's not quite sure how bad this is going to get.]

You got a name?

...Ishmael. [there's a lot of hesitation in saying his 'name', but for reasons other than what his host might think. after his last time here, he's grown to dread using that name, but it's what he's agreed to use to keep him and his brother's story straight. after all, it's easier to deal with the constant moby dick references than to try to explain how venom actually came to be.

but that was barely here or there.

if he was lucky, his host had never even met his doppleganger.]

You?

[76 was sort of willing to write off the resemblance to Venom as coincidence (he's seen weirder things on this planet, that's for sure), but the name gets his attention. Maybe another coincidence, sure. Maybe 76 should give him the benefit of the doubt, so he won't say anything about it for now. If there is a connection, it seems prudent to keep any knowledge of Venom close to his chest.]

76.

[He'll go ahead and answer the question instead, knowing full well that it's not really a name, and screams alias besides. If anything, it will tell Ishmael a great deal of what he needs to know, if he's at all good at educated guesses.]

That's what people call me.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(no subject)

nerds save the world

the land below

the coming days

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WEW sorry for delay

no worries!

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