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

The worst kinda place is the one you kinda like 'cause then you're really feelin' it when it's gone.

[The same with people, really. He feels for the guy, he really does. Seems like the type of guy that could use a break.]

[Yondu drops the load he's carrying once they're in the cave, going back to the mouth of it to see how far out of the storm's way they are.] Looks like we made it in the nick of time. Don't worry, we'll figure a way outa this an' then make 'em think twice about pullin' this shit. At least that's what I'm gonna do. I don't really appreciate bein' yanked the hell around.

Yeah.

[ He breathes that out, too close for comfort to a sigh. There's been plenty of places he never minded leaving-- back before the world ended-- and even if it's worth it, having a place to call home, it's that much harder moving on. Oughta be used to it.

But there's nothing to gain sulking about it. ]

You got the right idea.

[ One way or another they'll get through. Preferably in a way that involves kicking some Savrii ass for pulling this shit, but he's not picky. Rallying a little he fishes a packet of jerky out of his pack-- he's been rationing the food they brought, but-- well, the people here are his people now. Even if this guy wasn't the color-corrected spitting image of his brother, he'd share. ]

Here. Better'n chokin down catgut.

Especially big ol' mutant catgut, huh?

[He loosely points at the monster bits they dragged in, before accepting the meat with a grin. Helpful guy, this one. Good team player, for sure. The thanks aren't spoken but they're in the nod and in the way he tears into the jerky without hesitation.]

At least you had a good breather. What family you got with ya? [He settles down by Daryl, taking a break from the meat for now to pick through the rest of his jerky slowly.]

[ Already gnawing at his own strip of dried meat, he grunts agreeably. Carol's food, aside from being more appetizing, is mildly magic-- imbued with a bit of borrowed energy, a little better at keeping you on your feet than it ought to be. At least, that's how it usually is. Something about this place makes him feel dulled at the best of times. ]

A woman-- Carol-- and a kid. [ Carl barely counts as a kid, he guesses, but whatever. ] Carl. His dad's like a brother.

[ Feels awkward as hell to say that, but it'd be weirder not to. ]

Been together a few years.

Carl uh... one eye, right? Yeah, think I talked to him on the network.

[He's almost a little envious. But he figures he damn well deserved to lose whatever family he had. Even Peter was smart enough to get the hell out when he made his big break.]

[Good for him, really.]

[Doesn't mean it doesn't get a little lonely sometimes.]

He a good kid?

Mmmn. [ Yep, that's Carl. He nods, still chewing.

It's hard explaining where they're from, what home is like- and so he doesn't bother, mostly. He figures some of it's too self-evident to hide, that they've all got something seriously screwed up behind them.

It's the kind of place that ruins people all too easy. ]

Yeah, he's a good kid.

[And then he asks one of the more awkward questions he can concoct.]

Is Carol good lookin'?

[Yondu's seen pretty terrible places and ways of life that can ruin people, but after his years of slavery he always had the option to leave.]

[ That is not a question he's strictly expecting.

He busts out laughing. ]

You mind your business, asshole.

[ Definitely too familiar, and full of way more fondness than is warranted. Unquestionably how he'd talk to Merle, at least when they were getting along. He can't help the reaction-- or the fact that he's still faintly smiling. ]

[He laughs, wry and teasing, at that startled response. Daryl's an easy going guy, pretty accepting of Yondu. That puts him at a special sort of ease, the way he would treat one of the better members of his crew.]

I'll take that as a yes. If I meet her, I'll let her know you said so.

[He shakes his head with the laugh, finishing off the last of that jerky before finally cutting into those hunks of meat they hauled in.]

[ Maybe it should be surprising that you can have such a nice moment in the midst of hardship and devastation, but, well. It's par for the course in his experience. ]

Yeah, you better.

[ Seems like she'd get a kick out of it. He huffs another laugh. They oughta bring all that meat to the rest of the group, get it shared around and cooked, figure out what they oughta do next-- but he's finding it hard to be in a hurry. ]

August Event Log: Part I

hitting the road

storm front

wild life

old familiar places

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