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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ it's the hair that catches his attention first. pale hair, and lots of it. tetora trails the person's head by sight at first, before stalking along when it starts moving too far for him to keep visual track of.

curiosity gets the better of him, after about half an hour. ]

Hey. You. With the hair. [ descriptive. ] Is that natural?

[Siegfried is busy enough keeping an eye on everyone that he only vaguely notices Tetora- enough to keep him in a headcount of people traveling, but not much else. He's never really had someone ask anything about him before, beyond the basic "where are you from, what do you do, what was your life like" deal. His own hair color has never been anything he's seen as strange or out of place.

(What's even worse is that if Tetora pays attention, the ends of Siegfried's hair are tinted pink, of all things.)

So after a while, when Siegfried gets called at, he stops; giving a confused look at Tetora.]

...what?

[He doesn't really understand the question.]

[ thankfully the lighting is pretty uniformly shit on this hell-forsaken shithole pretending to be a planet; the pinking can take up his focus later on. the general weirdness of the ingress complex's transient population has always been on a high level, to the point that the novelty's starting to wear off for tetora, but pale hair always takes him by surprise, mostly because of the unsavory associations he has for it.

mimegumi had pale hair (that bitch). so did zenitsu (that fucking bitch). he always expects to be fighting platinum blondes, really. ]

The hair. [ he makes some squiggly gestures with one hand. ] Is it real. Does it really grow out that way or do you have a crazy acid dye job regimen.

I'm really curious about it. That's not a wig?

[It's such an odd thing to ask, considering where they are, but Siegfried supposes that it's better to be asked something normal now, to keep them both occupied. He furrows his brow a little before shaking his head.]

It's real. [Why is that even a question, what is his life right now.] I don't know what you mean by that other part. And no, it's not a wig. Why would I wear one?

[He's not trying to be sassy, he's asking because he's generally curious. No one has ever bothered him about this before- he just thought his hair was a natural color.]

[ upon closer inspection there are pink flecks somewhere at the tips, and it's a little freaky. ]

What the fuck. [ and once more, empathically: ] What the fuck, no way.

[ he's always been a curious person, which means he's crossing the distance between himself and mister whitehead and reaching up to grab a fistful of hair to inspect. this is completnormal behavior! ]

[He's expecting silence after Tetora gets his answers, so Siegfried doesn't bother looking back to him while he helps the rest of the group move along. What he doesn't expect is for Tetora to continue, and not only continue, but actually grab his hair to have a look at it. Siegfried goes completely rigid at the tugging, caught unprepared, and a hand automatically tries to pull his captor's grasp of his locks.]

That- [He's flustered and now startled and irritated. What does he do with this!?!?] Off. Get off.

[WHAT IS HIS LIFE RIGHT NOW, WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING.]

[ no. ]

Why is it pink, huh? Pink ain't fucking natural!

[ he's not the tallest, not by a long shot, but tetora's tall enough to be able to reach a person's head easily and it's not like the guy's hair is short. it's long and inviting - and frankly kind of well-conditioned - and it's. pink.

not all of it, but just the edges, and the guy's roots don't seem any different from the rest of the hair so is he dying the tips? why just the tips, then? ]

What kind of species are you???

[Somewhere inside, he's internally screaming. Thanks, Tetora.

Siegfried tries to pull himself away from the other, but Tetora has a good fistful of hair in his hand and is demanding answers for the most pointless things. He sighs, clearly aggravated and trying to make him let go.]

It's been that way. Let go. [How does he try to be nice without wanting to eventually have pick this guy up by his collar or something??????? TETORA NO, TETORA PLEASE STOP.]

I don't know what you're talking about. [Species in referring to hair color????? This guy just gets more and more confusing.]

Pink isn't a natural color. It's an impossible color, even, human eyes aren't supposed to recognize it because it's fuckin' brown and violet mixed together and those two are tertiary colors! There are only three tiers of colors, or at least it's supposed to be like that!!!

[ bright side is he's finally letting go. color nerdism aside. some white strands have come away when tetora lets go, and he would apologize for it if he were a nicer kind of person.

fortunately, he's a shitty guy. ]

So what are you? What are you?

[There is a long moment where Siegfried simply stares at him, caught by surprise at his answer. Of all the kinds of replies, he wasn't expecting actual scientific logic. But Tetora is odd, and his whole thing of demanding an answer, even after he's let go, that leaves Siegfried puzzled even more.

Why bother asking something so bizarre in a place like this?

He shakes his head, huffing out in annoyance and putting a hand through his hair, frowning.]

I'm not human. [Avoiding what he is, exactly.] Does it bother you that much?

It doesn't. It's just— It's really fucking weird.

[ tetora deflates this time, his attitude softening just enough to pull back and give them both space more appropriate for two total strangers. the hair is weird. he'll insist on it for no other reason than he can; admitting to anything else is too much honesty right now.

so. ]

What kind of non-human are you, then? Some kinda elf?

[It's just really fucking weird. How exactly does he respond to that? He frowns, looking back at Tetora before casting his eyes downward slightly.]

Sorry. [Yep, back to apologizing.] It's just how it's been.

An... elf? [WHERE DID THAT COME FROM. Siegfried gives him an odd look, but shakes his head in response.] No, I'm not an elf. There aren't any elves back on my world.

[Not that he's aware of, at least.]

THEN WHAT.

[ tetora drops it the minute he's done yelling, at least - lets his face go through a couple of annoyed expressions before taking a heavy sigh and rolling his shoulders. it's whatever, he guesses. be cagey, see if he cares!

(he'll just have to try again later.) ]

What are you doing this far out, anyway? You're hunting alone?

[The yelling at him causes him to stop momentarily, tilting his head at Tetora with an almost exasperated look.]

Do you ask everyone these kinds of questions?

[Meaning this is really R U D E to ask a complete stranger, you know!! Especially after you've invaded their personal space and yanked their hair.]

I'm keeping an eye out, mostly. [He shrugs.] I figured it would be easy for me to do that a bit away from everyone else.

Because you're tall and eye-catching and stick out like a sore thumb you might as well be a distraction? Okay. Good plan.

You don't have any back-up, though. That part's stupid.

[ and since he's already here anyway... well, crap. he's the back-up. imagine your luck, pale-haired stranger! you won the crap jackpot!!! ]

I thought you were interesting.

[Siegfried goes to argue against that, but instead just lets an exhausted snort out through his nose instead. Tetora's right, and what's even worse is that he's completely positive the glowing sigil on his chest isn't doing anyone any kind of favors in a place like this.]

I'm used to working with and without it. [He glances at Tetora at that, though.] Are you offering?

[Please say no, please leave him be and stop asking him weird things.]

You found me interesting. [His patience is sorely being tested right now.] You asked me odd questions, grabbed my hair and pulled it, then asked more questions about what I was before giving me my space again. [His face is full of complete incredulity while he speaks. Tetora, what the fuck.] How does that make me interesting??

I miscalculated. And I'm here, anyway - look at that. [ tetora gives his hands a shake - look at me, he says with his gestures. ] Looks like I'm your backup.

[ testing people's patience is what tetora has in lieu of a hobby. that's what he'll tell people if asked, anyway - it's a more palatable answer compared to "i routinely test boundaries to see what ticks, because i'm chaotic by nature and annoying people into aggression is how i find order in my life". also: less of a mouthful. gotta give him points for that. ]

So other than big cats and ugly monsters, what else are we on the lookout for?

[Siegfried sighs at Tetora's hand shaking, quietly breathing out again. The boy is not what he had hoped for as backup, and quite frankly he didn't want Tetora to stay. But it is what it is, and Siegfried knows how his luck usually runs.]

Anything that might seem out of place. [Which is a lot, so he narrows the list down.] Beyond the monsters and creatures, there's also the storms to consider, and looking for anything that might serve as a place to rest or take shelter for a while before we move forward again.

Your plan would be a lot more successful if you'd told more than one person about it.

[ just to state the obvious, and poke holes in the argument. it's not a bad outline, really, but this lone wolf act of protecting the herd on one's lonesome is heroic in the stupidest manner.

yeah, you read that right, mr. paledude. it's dumb.

tetora's demeanor shifts to something more serious now, at least. ]

What's your top speed?

[Siegfried bites his tongue at Tetora's retort, and sighs.] I'll keep that in mind.

[~~Well maybe your face is dumb, Tetora.~~ He doesn't bother telling people because he knows he'll be fine- and the less people involved, the less dangerous it is for others to get hurt. That's the last thing he wants. It wouldn't exactly be just, either.

He notices the shift, but doesn't mention it.]

My top speed? [It's an odd question to ask, but he supposes it's average for this kid.] I can move fast enough, if need be. Why?

[ his face isn't dumb, excuse you, he's actually very attractive where he comes from. ]

It's always good to know how fast you can run. Especially when you're running from something faster than you.

[ he nods at a distance, where the poor foliage is clearly rustling. ]

Wanna take a bet on what that is?

[Nope, his face is still dumb. Deal with it.

Still, Siegfried keeps his mouth shut about running from an enemy, and instead turns his attention to the very obvious hiding place Tetora points out. A hand shifts to the hilt of his greatsword, and his eyes narrow.]

Something we don't want everyone else to meet.

[Meaning he's going to take care of it. His head tilts to watch the other. Coming, Tetora?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

August Event Log: Part I

hitting the road

storm front

wild life

old familiar places

wildcard

bless you tetora

you're welcome siggy

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