Entry tags:

August Event Log: Part I

Who: Everyone
When: August 9 and onward
Where: An unexpected destination
What: The newcomers go on a trip and end up far from where they expected
Warnings: Potential violence. Please label your content!

NOTE: PLEASE READ THIS OOC POST FIRST.

When the time comes for the travelers to go on the off-world trip that will help restore Thisavrou, they are not alone. Others who have settled on the planets longer and come to call them home are also prepared to travel; through the Ingress and do their part. Yet when the newcomers step through, whether they stepped through the Ingress seconds or hours apart, they will find that they have arrived at the same time, and only newcomers are in sight.

What awaits them is not a land of plenty. The land is barren, and dark storms in the sky resemble those held at bay by the Ingress complex—but much, much closer. Those who traveled on the Moira may recognize the landscape; though they have come through at a different point from the crash, they are on the Midway Hub. And there is no portal back. They are trapped.

hitting the road

Though some have been here before, the Midway Hub is not as they remember it. The storms fill the sky, leaving it dark and ominous even when they are not sweeping across the landscape—but they have clearly done so in recent times, and often. While never a lush land, large patches of ground an acre or more wide looking nothing more than utterly dead; the thistle that naturally grows is brittle, black and unable to be consumed even with the usual preparations to make it edible, and here and there animal corpses are found twisted into unnatural poses, but seemingly uninjured. These places are particularly concentrated near the broken Ingresses litter the landscape. While Midway Hub as a whole may seem naturally arid, these dead spots leave no hope that anything can possibly live there again.

The travelers have two options: stay where they are, or move on. While it might seem that they've been tricked into coming here and been left abandoned, those with the technological ability to do so may detect a sign of hope: a familiar energy source, far in the distance. Although none of the Ingresses they pass will ever work again, the faint energy shows that one still-functioning Ingress lies far in the distance, days away.

Although technological scanning or impressive memory of the landscape indicates that they are not separated from their destination by one of the gates that divide the land, they are also far from the shelter of the facility at the center of the Hub. Any attempt to travel in a direction other than that of the energy signal will result in a strange disorientation after several hours, bringing individuals back to their original path as though they've gone in circles. Meanwhile, though travelers will feel the need to slake their hunger and thirst through any natural water sources they discover, wildlife they can hunt for food and any supplies they have on them, if they don't find sustenance, they'll find that they will never pass out or reach the point of starvation. Instead, they'll be left alive and awake but feeling utterly hollow.

storm front

At regular intervals, the energy storms above descend onto the land, bringing not rain but violent clashes of negative energy and thunder so loud that nothing can be heard above it. The passing of the storms leaves some strange effects. The ground is warped and rotted by their touch, even solid stone degrading to a spongy surface. The air is tepid and oddly charged. Prolonged contact with air or ground will not supply energy, however — it drains it from organic and synthetic life alike.

Those who remember their last trip to the Hub, or simply explore in the right direction, may come across the cave complexes with their glowing surfaces and streams. The light is dimmer now, a sickly green, but drinking from the streams will still restore the energy lost, for a time. This time, however, the lethargy that inevitably follows is much more severe, and the drinkers are left with a raw, empty feeling leeching in from the wasteland around.

Those who are exposed to the storms, either by finding themselves in very close proximity or even closely observing them for too long as they approach, may lose their sight, or hearing, even much of the ability to feel touch — whatever sense they used in observation. What lingers in its place is a numbness. A hunger. And as time passes, the time between storms decreases; what seemed like hours between the storms becomes scarcely one, and their intensity grows.

wild life

Sentient beings are not the only ones affected by the storms; these creatures, attracted to sound and able to track by scent, and these panthers, which once looked normal but have been twisted by the storms into more monstrous forms, are numerous enough that travelers must be constantly alert for their presence. Though natural predators, the threat the creatures represent is not itself natural. They are also more aggressive. Some strange instinct drives them, not a need for food. While the panthers themselves can be caught and their meat cooked, it has little taste, offering nutrition but not satisfaction.

old familiar places

Although it's difficult to track the passage of time without day-night cycles, after what seems like more than a week of the travelers' unexpected trip, the storms abruptly come rushing in at the group of travelers, as if they're herding the group to move faster toward their destination and the Ingress energy that awaits them. The true nature of that destination becomes clear when debris appears on the horizon; the energy comes from the wreckage of the Moira, the interstellar ship that crashed here months ago.

Despite the trauma of impact, large sections of the ship remain surprisingly intact, though few of them are properly vertically oriented. If travelers are able to make their way inside the damaged sections of the ship, they'll find familiar territory, if they are one of those who traveled on the Moira, as well as shelter—something that's increasingly necessary as the storms seem to center over the ship, leaving little hope for survival outside. Useful items may be scavenged from the ship if they are willing to explore, but no personal items of any kind remain.

Strangely, the deeper travelers go into the crashed ship, the less familiar their surroundings will seem, regardless of their orientation. The inward-leading paths into the ship become generic metal, and as with the travel on the surface of the planet, they may find themselves back where they started. And no matter how far they go or how hard they try, they will find themselves unable to make it to the Ingress chamber itself...for now.

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[Either would certainly be useful at this point. Maybe he'll help Kaz out about it when he's got a better idea. Either way, though, he can help now at least.]

Right. Keep hold of that, I'll feed it down.

[Once he's got the rope in enough that he can let it go the rest of the way, he jumps, dissolving into smoke on the way down. It's bizarre on the inside, familiar yet not, and he's not so sure if it's just the orientation of things or not.

Once he's found something he can secure the rope to, he calls up to Miller.]

It's attached!

[Twisting an end around the rope to make a makeshift loop, he lowers himself down at moderate speed, careful just because he can't afford any injuries when they're so scant on people that can treat wounds.]

[He settles at the bottom and leaves the rope there so that he can go back up when he's done, and starts off towards that derelict area of the ship, the one that was cut off for so long.]

It is too crisp around here. Too sterile.

Like they plopped it right down.

[It's highly unlikely someone would have come in and cleaned up the wreckage of a ship, too. It's strange.

It's also strange having to orient himself after changing back. Everything's so off-center as he follows Miller, glancing at his surroundings.]

Better than being out there, at least, [he jokes.]

[The rest of the journey to the hold is at least uneventful. But the whole way Kaz keeps observing that there's nothing to indicate that they were even actually here. There's not the bite marks from the cute metal eating animals. No repairs to a blasted hole in a wall left by Cybertronians. No relics of old fights, nothing. And when he finds the stores where the gold had been kept? It's not just empty, but like nothing had been there in the first place.]

[He actually misses his over-sensitive eyes as he walks around in the dark (still in his sunglasses), wielding his flashlight to look in every corner for evidence of their previous occupation.]

[Nothing.]

This isn't right. [He breathes out loud, turning in place.]

There's nothing here. [He's sounding increasingly angry, a biting tone welling up in him he's not used in quite a while. Likely more familiar to Liquid from the days that Miller roamed the platforms listening, looking for problems, facing a world where he forced himself into paranoia and loneliness.] They're messing with our minds somehow and I can't figure it out. Goddammit.

[But maybe, just maybe, Liquid has Mantis, right? He'd notice something off, right?]

[Liquid follows along, trying to take note of 'landmarks,' of damages, of little personal touches, but there's nothing. It's like the Moira had just been... constructed, or something, and left here.]

I know we were supposed to take as much as we could, but this is ridiculous.

[He knows what it's like to have his mind messed with. The Middle East. Del Pascia. The bug planet. Hell, even just knowing Mantis, sharing their connection, knowing what he was capable of.

Miller's assessment sounds about right.]

If this is some sort of... some sort of bloody hallucination, a, a mirage or whatever, I'm going to find them and personally see to it that their faces are bashed in.

There's not even garbage. [He says near a trash can that's conveniently empty, something he knows people wouldn't have bothered to take, and he kicks it across the room because inanimate objects are all he can exact his frustration on.]

That's the one thing we had going for us here. [He points angrily at his chest, before gesturing around with his left hand.] We weren't under control. And now, I don't know if we're hallucinating! Or if it's the Ingress doing this on purpose! If this is some effort to make us obedient!

[His voice rises and falls. It's not often that he gets this angry anymore, that he lets it actually come spilling out. But there it is, and he's furious.]

It was the one thing that we had! We were allowed a life! And these whining bitches decided to take it out on all of us!

[He's mad enough to start really swearing.]

[It's... very strange not being the one boiling over in anger right now. But he's been more like quietly seething, holding in his rage until he could get revenge on the people responsible for all of this.

He knows exactly how Miller feels about all of this.]

I was never so fond of the 'work for us or be stranded out in space' ultimatum, but you're right. We could do our own thing... to an extent.

[But how is showing them this fake-seeming Moira supposed to cow them into obedience? It's something to think about.]

I know a thing or two about not being obedient, as I'm sure you're aware. So we break out of this-- whatever this is, find our way back, and we show them that we're not. Hm? I'm always up for a good fight, even if it's going to be a bit one-sided.

[No matter what tricks they've got up their sleeves, Liquid's working on sheer willpower. It's helped him out in the past.]

I--

[He stops before he gets out his next thought, though, eyes widening a bit. Seems he's discovered something, somewhere.]

No--

[Because it's to show them they have nothing to go back to, that the Savrii have their lone ticket out, and only then if they're lucky. It's to show them what the malfunctioning Ingress might do. But did they have to send children? People that didn't do anything?]

[Kaz did, admittedly, help hide a crime. But he did allow himself to be injured to avoid a fight.]

[He's still fuming but the tone and shock of Liquid's voice stalls him, makes him look around for something that he might have missed in his flashlight perusal.]

What is it?

[Liquid never even got to punch any Savrii!

But he's silent for a moment, staring forward, eyes unfocused. Maybe he's just imagining it. Maybe it's something wrong with things because of where they've ended up. But the hole's back, his psyche incomplete, no answer when he calls. His fingers twitch for a second...

Then he punches the nearest wall.]

He-- he's gone! He can't be bloody gone, not again...!

[It should be pretty obvious who he's talking about.

Where's that garbage can, maybe he should go kick it too...]

Mantis?

Gone here?

[It would have been different if he'd disappeared back on their joint worlds. But here? Now? It raises Kaz's hackles even higher, makes him bristle with the thought that maybe Mantis didn't exactly have a confident choice in leaving.]

[Though he's never seen the loss actually happen in front of him before. And it cools his anger for now.]

We can go look around. Make sure he didn't get hurt somewhere. Or is it-

[Is it the same as last time?]

Here.

[He doesn't want it to be true. Doesn't want to lose him again. Tries to figure out a way he could have just went back to Thisavrou, but...]

No, he-- I'd know.

[It reminds him of back then, when he hadn't been able to mourn, had to keep up the illusion of being Miller for the mission, had to do his own things. had to be the leader.

He's not the leader now.]

But he's gone. He hasn't just... hasn't just found a way out. He'd tell me. He'd...

[But... it's not like when the kid version had gone home.]

He's dead back home!

[Ironic, then, that the man he was pretending to be, the one he ordered the death of, hazards coming closer and extending a hand. Not quite touching his shoulder, but hovering. Because he remembers how badly it hurts Liquid, every time that feeling is stripped from him.]

[Consolation under these circumstances seems ridiculous.]

It's not fair.

[He says in vague understanding, because with people ripped away and returned and then ripped away again it can leave someone hollow.]

[Liquid might be bad at showing it, but he does sort of appreciate the gesture. Especially the fact that he hasn't actually touched him.

If he could have changed things, he probably wouldn't have had Miller killed. Hard to believe he actually appreciates him now.]

Nothing's ever bloody fair. I know that!

[That hollow sensation has been Liquid's default state for a while now, and it's not surprising to return to it. But it doesn't make it hurt any less.

He punches the wall again. Maybe it makes him feel better.]

I just thought maybe... maybe this time we could just go on with things. We could get ourselves home-- alive.

[That punch to the wall has a familiar ring, and Kaz knows that feeling as well. It doesn't do much. Maybe split the knuckles.]

[He would say that there could still be a chance of finding him when they went back, but with the way the Savrii are being about the Ingress?] There's still a chance. And maybe next time it would be worth it to just leave. Get as far from the Ingress as you can.

Right now it's worth checking around, right? I can ask for people. I know other psychics, people that might have seen him.

[It'll be fine. Liquid'll handle it. Just like he handles anything.]

Yeah. Maybe. Maybe he came back alive, maybe when I go back I'll be alive, and we'll find each other.

[He's not confident. And he's not confident about the other psychics finding him, either. Mantis wouldn't just disappear like this. He'd know it far before anyone else would. It's the only bit of psychic ability he's ever had, after all.

But Miller's offering to do this for him. It. It wouldn't hurt.]

...Thank you. I... I appreciate it.

[He doesn't leave to check immediately, though. Just because he doesn't want to rush out and leave Liquid alone. Instead he gestures around the room.]

We should look at the other storage rooms, see if there's anything particularly defining about them. Then I'll go find my acquaintance.

[There's little more he can do in this situation than help Eli.]

[But he does have to bring up the suggestion.] Did he have any contact with the intermediaries besides what happened during our meeting? [It's a valid concern. And one he's being careful with.]

Yeah. We've got to... got to keep going.

[He can't just stand here punching walls all day, wallowing in misery. This is something he should be used to by now. Mantis is dead. He should be dead too, was dead. The fact that he got to see him at all after all that should have been enough.

Still, he did always like punching things...

He sighs, turning and crossing his arms.]

Not that I'm aware of, and I didn't think he was hiding anything from me. But. That... they could always be hiding things themselves, couldn't they?

Maybe.

[But knowing that Mantis wouldn't have hid anything from Liquid does alleviate the concern slightly. Only a little.]

[He continues into the next storage room.]

[Honestly it looks exactly like the last one. He doesn't even go all the way through before he goes back to make sure his kicked garbage can is some sort of place marker.]

[It's not knowing that's probably the worst of all. With how rare it is for Liquid to care about people so much... well, that's why it hurts.

There's little else they can do but look around.

He goes along with Kaz, eyes narrowed, watching for some sign of something different.]

Bloody hell, it's just as much like walking in circles as it is out there. It's like they never put anything in here to begin with.

We're being fucked with somehow.

I can't tell if we're being made to get nowhere, or can only get to where they want.

[He drags his gloved hand along the wall, as if he's feeling for inconsistencies as much as he's looking for them. He supposes if Mantis just left, then Liquid would have had some sort of warning of psychic influence. Mantis has to be aware of that sort of thing, right?]

[He proceeds to the next area but it's twisted wreckage, hard to navigate, and predictably the safest route seems to be arched in a way that would lead them back up towards their starting point.]

Maybe it's both. They want us to get nowhere.

[It's more likely, he's pretty sure, looking around for anything that could be some sort of clue as he follows Miller around.

Contact with Mantis has been rather sparse, but it's easy to get separated around here, and perhaps the confusion messed with the connection somehow. Liquid will never know.

It'll bother him forever.

But so have a lot of things, so on to the pile it goes. He moves to inspect the wreckage, like somehow there'll be a way further into all of this mess.

No good.]

This is getting beyond ridiculous. They probably think it's good for a laugh.

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August Event Log: Part I

hitting the road

storm front

wild life

old familiar places

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