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

[He flinches, then grimaces, but doesn't actually protest.]

I said you were right. Do you really need me to elaborate?

[Hawke rubs her nose on her sleeve and continues recording.]

Yes.

And in great detail.

[He jerks back, appalled.]

Is this funny to you? People have died because of what I did, and you care about gloating?

It's a little funny. Being told that I'm right, I mean. No one ever really likes to admit that.

And also how you didn't give a shit when you were destroying something that my friend had worked on for years and was pretty much my only chance of making out alive. Not really "haha" funny but that sort of bitter irony funny.

Oh, and that I tried to get you out for days after. That's kind of extra frosting on the bitter funny cake.

[Basically. Fuck you.]

[He shuts his eyes and clenches his jaw as she lectures him. He deserves it. He shouldn't even have gotten angry with her. He has no right to be angry; she does. He shouldn't be protesting at all. He should be doing whatever it is she wants him to do in the hope that it will even slightly begin to make up for how he's wronged her. That's what they taught him he should be doing.

He forces himself to sound calm, once she's finished.]

If what you want is for me to confess, then I will.

I don't care about a confession. Confessions are pretty useless after the fact, if you ask me. Which you did.

[Hawke shrugs and seems to shrink, all the anger that palpitated from her seconds ago dissipates. She snapped like a wounded dog and now she's backed away. Anger is exhausting. She doesn't like it.]

[Lavellan sighs, and the silence stretches for a long moment. Both their anger has dissolved, and what's left is a strange, morose tension. Lavellan doesn't know how to break it.

But someone has to.]

Then what do you want from me?

I don't know. I don't usually get anything. This is all new for me.

[Most people tend to refuse to concede she's right. Or if they were wrong, blame it on her anyway. It's sort of how things work in Kirkwall. It's a complicated relationship.

She reaches up to scratch her ear and sniffle.]

Spare tissues?

[He smiles in spite of himself. Even laughs slightly. Well done.]

You really are allergic to everything, aren't you?

No. This isn't allergies. Allergies are more itchy. My nose just runs and bleeds in the cold. Which sort of makes lecturing you a little bit awkward. No one wants to be lectured by a snotty nose. Which is one reason I was opposed to Ingress destruction in the first place.

[She self consciously runs a hand over her nose and glances down to check for blood.]

And not everything! Just somethings. Everything is too far on the pathetic scale.

[He... tries to keep smiling through it all, but Hawke brings up the Ingress again and he can't. Because he is way too preoccupied with being a sadsack.]

I don't think it's up to me whether any lecture you give me is delivered snottily or otherwise.

Well, I'm going to say factually that it was.

[She gingerly wipes her nose on her sleeve.]

I was asking seriously about the tissues, you know.

[Tissues, fine. He can handle tissues. But he doesn't feel comfortable just not talking about what happened, especially when he has questions of his own.

Everything about this is just too big to ignore.]

Tissues aren't the... issue. [Hahahaha.]

What happened after they separated us? I told them you didn't have anything to do with it, but they wouldn't tell me anything.

Easy for you to say.

[Hawke wrinkles her nose as she sniffles and rubs her sleeve against her nose. Is she getting a cold? She better not be getting a cold.]

They questioned me for a bit and then let me go. I kept trying to ask about you and they told me you were fine. I think they got mad when I questioned them because they tossed me out.

Tossed you out?

[Wow, an actual laugh. Well done, Hawke.]

You must have been quite obnoxious, they're very reasonable people. I was fine, incidentally, but I appreciate the effort.

[Especially after he tricked her to get there.]

I wouldn't really consider holding someone with no answers and then kicking them out, reasonable. But then again that sort of thing isn't my forte. Or so I've been told.

[She is proud of that laugh though.]

Well... you really didn't have anything to do with it. I'm not surprised they let you go. Isn't that what they should have done?

[After all, they hadn't given him any answers to his questions, either. As far as he knows, that's how things just work around here, and who is he to criticize?]

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nerds save the world

the land below

the coming days

itt hawke being funny and lavellan making it weird

bless

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FOR REAL THIS TIME

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