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

I'd prefer a cabana.

[Or a one way ticket to literally anywhere else. She's pretty sure the Australian wastes were a luxury resort compared to this— and they were a literal death trap.]

Not sure. [Narrowing sightless eyes, she squints as though it'll somehow help retrace the signal she'd been following. It's all cybernetic, and hers aren't looking so hot after the storm, but eventually Sombra flicks her index finger out to angle off at some invisible, distant point. Sharing the truth with her seeing-eye-turian seems only fair.] Something with a lot of energy.

I've been trying to track it— that's why I got screwed over when the storm kicked up out of nowhere. Didn't have anywhere to run to.

I think we're fresh out.

[Whatever exactly a cabana is...]

[She was way more keen on guiding Sombra back to the main column of ex-Savrii marchers. But "something with a lot of energy" is definitely interesting. Possibly more useful.]

Can you tell what kind of energy? Like a jump drive, or... mass effect field? Power generator?

[Destination ahead or not, returning to the group is the exact opposite of what Sombra wants. After deconstructing Lena Oxton's chronal accelerator, any time spent in Overwatch's general radius is time spent asking for trouble— something she has enough of already.]

...A mass what?

Mass effect field.

[They've only had the one meeting so far. Her fault for assuming this was a human who fell under the umbrella of the Alliance.]

[Or literally any human from the Milky Way.]

... You don't know what that is?

Mija I don't even know what you are. [It's not cruel— just a statement of facts: trying to compare their differences in tech terminology is apples and space oranges. Deep space oranges.]

Think it's safe to say I've never heard of a mass effect field before.

[There's only a slight pause before she adds, coolly:] But if you feel like explaining it, I'm all ears— we've got a lot of time to kill on our way there.

Right... different universes.

[Someone had mentioned that before. Vetra grimaces. Probably should have asked. But it hadn't come up yet. She keeps walking steadily in the direction indicated, but shifts her arms enough to tap out a message.]

[Kallo isn't here, so Raeka is probably her best bet. That's not weird, right?]

[Hey, Raeka. How do I explain a mass effect field without sounding like an idiot?]

Hang on a second... I want to make sure I get this right. [Just because it feels like something too familiar to explain. Like how electricity works.] I'm turian, by the way.

Human. [Sombra responds, cheerfully lifting her spare hand as Vetra types...something. Normally she'd peek, but without her eyes working at peak performance, she can't exactly sideye it, and with her cybernetics running low, risking a hack just isn't worth it.

So instead she waits.]

Really? Couldn't tell.

[There's a lot of amusement in those few words. A little more than should strictly happen in this situation. But oh well.]

[There's a ping as Raeka's message comes back.]

Okay, mass effect fields... "a limited area of effect that manipulates mass. This is done through the use of element zero, which, when subjected to an electrical current, releases dark energy to create the 'field', and can then increase or decrease the mass of the intended target."

[In retrospect, maybe she should have told Raeka who exactly she was explaining this to.]

Does that help...?

I'll give you an anatomy lesson later.

[The ping she can hear at least— attention sharply shifting with renewed interest, away from her prior joke (for better or worse). She listens, and she processes it, and...well.]

So it makes things bigger or smaller?

Maybe when your eyes are working again.

[They're hilarious, really.]

[Vetra frowns, and looks over Raeka's message again. And again. Her mandibles flick against her jaw.]

No... It... basically makes things move. Fast and hard. And makes people able to kill people with their brains.

Cool.

[That's tech she wants, if it's real. And thanks to Vetra's need to hunt down an answer, Sombra suspects it probably is.] You look it up on omnipedia?

[Or do you have a very intelligent friend, vata.]

[She makes an irritated sort of noise.]

I asked my friend how she'd explain it. [This is embarrassing.] Where I'm from, it's one of those things you just... know. Like how electricity or the extranet works.

[It's so mundane anymore, they use it for toothbrushes. So actually explaining it is more difficult than it should be.]

A linked network capable of sending and receiving data transfers locked packets of information across various distances.

[Said with a helpful, mild little shrug. This is entirely intentional.]

So you're right: I do just know.

[There's silence while Vetra glowers at the horizon like it has somehow personally offended her.]

If you could see right now, I'd punch you.

[In the shoulder but that's beside the point. She's not actually angry, at least. So there's that?]

Smartass.

If I could see right now, you wouldn't be here trying to hold my hand.

[But oh, how smug she looks at being called a smartass: you'd think it was a compliment.]

Trying to? Would you rather I put it on your shoulder?

[She really does look smug, and it can only make Vetra shake her head. Amused.]

Or you could just carry me.

[Like a true action hero.]

...

All right.

[If Sombra lets her, she'll just pause, and move to heft the human up in a princess carry.]

[You know, maybe it's the company she keeps, but that is the last thing Sombra ever expected when she teased Vetra about it. Her arms quickly snap to the turian's neck, clinging like a cat hanging to a ledge.] Woah—

Didn't think you'd take me seriously about that.

Do you want me to put you down?

[Light and easy, just like the steps in the direction Sombra had indicated. Maybe she should be taking it easy. The food shortage is a real problem, after all.]

[But this is more fun, for the moment.]

Nah.

[Honest answer time, apparently: there's hardly a second spent considering that response before she's spit it out, already settling down into Vetra's grip.

It saves time, it's comfortable, it makes her feel like a princess— what's not to like about it?]

Anyone ever tell you that you make a pretty good servant?

No. Because when they do... I drop them.

[She bounces her new friend a little bit as she walks, for emphasis. But other than that, there's not really a protest to the arms around her neck.]

[It's not bad. Actually.]

You wouldn't.

[Said convincingly enough, only reflexively snorting in amusement when gravity pulls at her with every exaggerated bounce. Considering the kind of company she normally keeps (namely the kind that would drop her for saying— well, just about anything), she likes to think she can recognize all the little warning signs.]

I'm an older sister. I absolutely would.

[... absolutely would make dumb threats at dropping her but not actually do so. If Sombra weren't blind and they weren't hiking through a wasteland, she'd probably drop her legs to be an ass.]

[But they are. Sombra is. So Vetra won't.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

August Event Log: Part I

hitting the road

storm front

wild life

old familiar places

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