August Event Log: Part II

[savmods]

Who: Everyone
When: Approximately two weeks into the exile
Where: The core of the crashed Moira
What: The travelers reach the ship's Ingress and discover the truth of why they're here
Warnings: Potential violence. Please label your content!

A NOTE: As this log functions as something of a short-term bridge between the previous event and what comes next, it is being posted separately from a more standard log that covers a longer time period. As seen on the calendar, that log will be posted Saturday.

a change on the wind

Without warning, the part of the Moira that houses the Ingress and the energy signature that brought the travelers there is no longer closed off. Doors unlock and open, revealing yet more halls that lead deeper into the ship. Only when everyone has entered and come closer to the Ingress chamber do their surroundings change.

Instead of a dark, dead ship, travelers find themselves upon the planet Aueia, home of the space whales, the first world opened to them after arriving on Thisavrou. But this world, too, has been touched by the life-twisting storms that still rage across the landscape, stirring up dangerous waves in the fluid that makes up the "seas" of the planet and leaving dead spaces on the dry land that normally teems with life and local habitation.

After approximately one hour, just as impossibly, the world blurs around the travelers and becomes Deslora, a world that once resembled nothing so much as the inside of a funhouse or a circus, but whose colors have been turned black by the storms and whose native fauna, including the clown bees, have been twisted by the storms that have somehow made their way inside.

And so it goes, the world on which they walk changing once an hour. The sleek, futuristic world known as Asteroid 276 looks more like a post-apocalyptic wreck, with the outer walls of the space station shaking so hard from the storms that it appears they might give way—and they start to, just as another shift begins. On Escoria, the water feels thick with some contaminant, perhaps the rot of those who once lived in the water, for only monsters shark-like creatures remain. And then they stand upon Aioros, a planet that is no longer poisonous to all because after the storms have ravaged the planet thoroughly, nothing upon the planet lives.

nothing but white

Finally, with just as little warning as the first shift, the world blurs a final time and travelers find themselves in a featureless room, a large space with soft light and no visible doors. Any pets or companion lifeforms that accompanied them to the Moira are no longer in sight. As they begin to get their bearings, a single humanoid being steps through a wall as though it were nothing but a hologram. Upon him is a silver strip of cloth—the marking of a Savrii intermediary, and he is not well; a great strain is etched upon his face, his coloring is pale and he holds himself as though barely able to do so. Whatever the travelers might wish to say to him, whatever sounds they would otherwise make, they'll find they cannot—for a brief time, some outer force has inflicted silence upon them. That same force will prevent them from coming too close to the intermediary just yet.

"I wish that I could—I would apologize for bringing you here." His voice is as tired as he looks, and a strange combination bitterness mixed with desperation can be heard in his tone. "But I haven't brought you anywhere. None of this was true—from the moment you thought you stepped through the Ingress, it was a simulated reality, technology and our power combined to occupy you while they decided what to do, while they made their plans. It was to be peaceful to keep you docile, but I knew better, I knew you had to see—"

For a moment, the Savrii flickers, like an old television signal being interrupted. When he reappears, his expression has grown even more urgent as his words quicken.

"You have done great damage to our home but you are the only ones who act, who might listen. They told me, the whispers in my mind that grew clearer when you broke the Ingress—the mother and her child. They told me what could happen, that it will if we don't change, but they won't, they don't even know how—the storms, the end of everything. We are not as protected as we think. This could happen to Thisavrou too."

Then he flickers again, returning with wide eyes and speaking even more rapidly.

"This was not an act of cruelty. This is a warning. You had to understand for yourself what is at stake. When this simulation ends, when they discover what I've shown you. They are trying to truly send you away, and you must not let them or all may be lost. Please. Please."

There is a sense of release as ambient sound returns. Travelers will find they can approach the Savrii to ask questions (or to punch him if they so choose! Though anyone who wishes to commit excessive violence will find that death just doesn't take), and though he is nearly panicked now, he will answer as many as possible in the time that they have.

Eventually, though, he will emit a sharp gasp and disappear once more, not returning this time—just before everything goes black for the travelers.

Comments

Questions/conversation/punching

[savnpcs]

[The Savrii will speak with characters in their own top-level posts as well, but direct conversation can also be had with him here.]

[warandpeace]

"We heard of something called 'Living Energy' before, related to the Ingress? What is that?"

He's angry but first thing is first. This man has answers that he wants. He just wishes that it wouldn't have been by a demonstration of mind-control.

[inconsequence]

[How good.]

[How]
[good.]


[An intermediary with a conscience, begging for their help. They've seen this story transpire, and they've witnessed its end; they've written the end, and then burned the book, and all of its pages. This void is sterile and white instead of the howling black they favor, but a change in the ink does not dismiss the tune.]

[They do what comes most naturally to them, and what does not look natural at all:]

[They smile.]

Allow me to ask you one thing, sir, if you will.

[And their eyes darken to an ink-black shine, like a drop of oil set aflame.]

Why should we care?

[ryuuzaki]

[L is angry too, but nothing about his demeanor really shows it; those people who can read his vitals via the suit he's wearing may pick up on it, though. While his posture is skeptical -- head tilted to the side, gaze questioning -- his voice is cool and measured.]

Everything we've seen... we've all experienced the same things? If one of us spoke to someone else, the other person recalls that conversation?

[First things first, because this reminds him of something, dreams and visions involuntarily shared with other people, and he really doesn't like it.]

[gerechtigkeit]

[This was all simulated. A manipulation of the mind. Siegfried doesn't know whether to yell or to seethe quietly in the background.

Then comes the plea, the asking for their help, and he breathes out, letting it go slowly.]

Change what, exactly?

[He's wary and irritated, but he understands the situation and is willing to help. He wants to understand what needs to be fixed in order to save people.]

[chaoticluptral]

So do the phrases "the Hunger" and "Light of Creation" mean anything to you? Because this is starting to hit a little to close to well, not home, but you know.

[prorenataa]

[ At this point, Adrien has cycled through so many emotions that he hits this particular news and goes fairly numb.

All around him, he listens to people asking questions, watches as others offer threats and mostly separates himself from the group and goes to lean against one of the walls. He doesn't bother trying to find his way out of it, he just leans there and waits his turn.

When there is a lull in the conversations -accusations punching whatever- he speaks up. ]

What will be the logistical support for this aid we're to offer? Anything from your people, this planet, or are we on our own?

[ Practicalities. Fates' fuck he was tired of practicalities but it always seemed to boil down to that. ]

[deal_me_in]

     "C--de? -ayde, wh-t's goi-g o--"

     It's a genuinely chilling sensation to hear your Ghost gutting out like that. Because it shouldn't, especially when the thing's in you. Or should have been. But all the blackness and the intermittent flashes of some world or another just suddenly get washed out in whiteness. Cayde's not quite sure if his vision's completely returned or if he's reached a new stage of blindness, but even then that's the least of his concerns.

     His handcannon finds its way into his grip, a near automatic response to the figure that steps through the wall. In hindsight he'd probably realize that maybe a weapon wouldn't do squat against something that could pass through solid objects, but it sure as hell makes him feel better to have his Ace of Spades in hand. Words seem to fail him, even when he finally finds them. The Exo looks baffled, but even though he has his pistol trained upon the Savrii, he listens, if begrudgingly. Because he wants answers, and they better be good.

     What he hears isn't necessarily 'good', per se. And in his opinion, there's a lot of things wrong with it, because it still seems to be shoveling all the responsibility upon them.

     Cayde makes a show of holstering his gun before starting towards the Savrii, knowing he's not the only one who's got questions for the guy.

     "So I doubt this move is going to make you popular with the rest of your people." As though that much isn't already obvious for the man's anxiety. "Tell me- not counting this freak-o simulation, were we all purposely brought here after all and not some accidental feedback from the Ingress? Either way it's awfully irresponsible of people to be throwing blame on the ones who didn't ask to be here in the first place."

     He raises his hands, hoping to forestall objections if there might be any forthcoming. "Although it's only fair to behave properly when you're a guest in someone's house- but that's only if the guests are in the right mind. But all this secrecy really hasn't helped." He's sure that others might have already spoken as much. There's plenty of people that have been here longer than him and have a lot more laundry to air. It's not just against this guy, though. It's the Savrii in general. Which is one reason why Cayde's not trying to put a bullet through his head.

     "-so how long've you been hearing um. Voices? In your head? Is that a... Is it normal?" he asks, gesturing loosely. "Who's this 'mother' and 'child.' And what's supposed to change? Your way of life? Treatment of all the weirdoes you brought in here? The Ingress thing? -do any of you actually know how to work that thing and if not, where did you steal it from?"

     Tangents, distractions, Cayde just lets his thoughts go whichever direction they manage to latch onto. He has a feeling they're pressed for time and here he hasn't brought his list for Santa Claus.

[liberaltus]

[Fortunately Dorian isn't prone to acts of violence, he doesn't go around throwing his fists at people.]

How are we supposed to know that this isn't more trickery? The last time I was gently persuaded by your lot I found myself stuck somewhere I'd rather not be. Namely here.

[And it has been very unpleasant to say the least.]

I need a very good reason to want to help given that I still feel like we are being blamed for something. What's in it for us? What would the consequences be if we decided not to act? I suspect some of us are not feeling too helpful after the alarming treatment we received in our most recent endeavors to help. What's my motivation, ser?

[tearmeanewone]

[Needless to say, Elizabeth is highly displeased that all of this has occurred. She is sorely tempted to shoot the messenger too, but she imagines that's going to be met with some form of objection from some of the party. Plus she has a feeling it's not going to be nearly as satisfying as she hopes if he keeps flickering in and out.]

So what do you suggest, hm? [She asks, crossing her arms and shrugging.] Come out of this guns blazing? Or do we try to talk it out with the people who just put us through, essentially, psychological torture? Because I'll be plain, I'm fairly certain most of us are ready to turn the responsible parties inside out.

[squadgoals]

Where are we.

[Sharp, forceful, it's almost more statement than question.

Once, it had been a black space, empty, vast, stretching forever. No hunger, no exhaustion, just the feeling of time stretching out forever, waiting for her to accept nightmares as reality.

And they had been real — until she'd woken up. There'd been an intermediary there then, too. Waiting.

And wasn't that just their M.O.]

Did you put all of us in the Mediation Center? Is that how you did this?

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

[This is one of those moments where J wishes she'd have something to drink, tea or coffee. She's just that unimpressed and done with this. There's something in his vagueness of his explanation that reminds her of some of the previous captains on Moira.]

You sure ask lot of us without really telling us anything. What happened to classic introductions?

[mylawn]

[It takes a remarkable amount of restraint for 76 to not immediately escalate the situation with violence or words, though he definitely things he's well within his rights to throw a punch, at least. The simulation doesn't bother him so much as the fact that this guy has the audacity to ask for help--after everything. The last time they were here on the Midway Hub, it had been the scene of a massacre. 76 isn't about to forget that.]

You ever think about asking for help like a normal person?

[He has other questions, sure, but this seems like an appropriate opener.]

[shiro2hero]

[Shiro is a calm, rational individual. He's had to be. He's fought hard to make himself be. But the shock of waking here, the surprise of it all, the slow realization not only had the Savrii been messing around with his head, but the minds of his teammates...]

[It's too much.]

[After all the people had gone through, all they'd suffered, after Hunk's gesture, Keith's damage... it was all imagined. It was all in their minds, and these people put his teammates through that. Through simulated hell because of things none of them had done. Made them witness things they should never have had to, as a warning? As if they didn't know how to handle high-stakes situations, as if they were actual, literal children who couldn't process given information.]

[It's too much.]

["Not an act of cruelty" they say. "Just a warning", they say. Like they'd sent them to watch some propaganda film or onto a space station for a while. Not made everyone think they'd suffered.]

[He at least, has the presence of mind to use his human hand to strike out, instead of the metal one. If he tried to hit the representative across the jaw with it, he might have broken them.]

How dare you say this wasn't cruelty! Do you have any idea what you put my people through! What you put all of us through!

Do you even care!

[His people. His team. The most important people in the world, in the universe.]

You make them think they've been abandoned to die and then you have the goddamn nerve to ask us to help?

[seeingscarlet]

[Wanda's eyes have gone red in her anger, though the scarlet remains leashed. For now. She's tried so hard to be the Scarlet Witch that Steve would have wanted her to be in the months since their arrival here, but it hasn't mattered. They're perfectly willing to let her walk into what should be certain death to save their own but can't be bothered to make any distinctions among the 'outsiders.' Typical.]

And why should I help your people again? You'll just try to kill us when this is over.

Magnus Burnsides | OTA

[ruffboi]

[Magnus wakes up, confused and disoriented, and not really in the mood to be silenced by a stranger and lectured to. But he lets the lecture pass, seeing as though there's nothing he can really do about it, before approaching. His jaw is clenched and he looks angry, but not likely to actually do anything violent - in fact, he may well step in if anyone else seems about to try something violent.]

Is it just me, or did that not explain anything?

[And more directly to the Savrii - ]

I don't need any more warnings, I need answers. What do you actually want from us?

[savnpcs]

[On the verge of losing his composure, the Savrii nonetheless looks grateful for the question.]

Don't let them exile you. Tell them what you saw—you may not have truly visited these places, but the threat to them is real. My people—they don't abide change to the society they've cultivated, but they must.

Asriel Dreemurr | ota

[pleasereset]

[It wasn't real. That's pretty much all that Asriel takes away from what the Savrii says - his filthy clothing, his hunger, all of it was meaningless. And now they have to help, despite everything they've been subjected to.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because what they need help with is big enough that Asriel should just forget about all the comments, how socially ostracized he was on that planet, and how they took away his sibling.]

... No, I won't do it.

[It's not the right thing to do, it's not the right thing to say. It's selfish, but he's exhausted enough to not care.]

We'll just be gotten rid of once we help, right?

[savnpcs]

[The Savrii frowns.]

Do not let them. All of you together—you are not powerless.

Elsa | OTA

[coldhardy]

[Elsa is wearing a long, warm-looking cloak over her gown, and a sort of fluffy furred helmet that ties under the chin -- not for protection from the cold, but in an attempt to preserve her senses. Her hands are bare, though.

Everything that has happened has been so strange that the news that it's the result of a kind of magic actually comes as a relief to her. Magic is something she understands, even if it's not the same sort that she possesses. There are other kinds out there, and if something happens this way, it can un-happen. This horrible place doesn't really exist except as a warning.

So, as the man speaks, she considers his words carefully, then nods slowly as though she understands them and takes them to heart. For the most part, anyway.]

Is this the child I saw? I heard that she died.

[savnpcs]

[The Savrii hesitates, not out of an unwillingness to answer, but in apparent uncertainty.]

I don't know. The mother—[He stops for a moment, wincing as if a sudden headache has struck him.]—she is desperate. She believes her child can still be helped.

[bloodbathing]

[ What the Savrii says: this was a warning; this could happen to Thisavrou; all may be lost; please.

[ What Maine hears: the Savrii took his sight; the Savrii endangered his squad; the Savrii is unrepentant; the Savrii demands their aid.

[ How Maine responds to any and all threats: kill it.

[ The moment they can move, a bestial snarl rips out of Maine and he reaches for the Brute Shot. He's going to slaughter this son of a bitch. ]

[sightsset]

[North isn't sure how he feels about it. He'd been very clearly optimistic about the situation, and there's a lot to process here; but he doesn't really get time. The entire team is here, but he's going to take the first step with Maine.

[This first step is to dart forward and grab the hand reaching for the brute shot on his back.]

Maine, there are civilians. You can't use that in here.

Lavellan | ota-ish

[lavelly]

[Lavellan doesn't approach the Savrii at first; he's reeling too hard from the revelation of the whole thing to even process the finer details of what he's saying. But after a while, dimly, something resonates, something he hadn't even wanted to think about at the start because the idea of more consequences of what he'd done was simply too much.

They told me, the whispers in my mind that grew clearer when you broke the Ingress—the mother and her child.

He's hesitant. His heart is in his throat. He can't dare to hope, that something good could have come of it. And yet--]

What did you mean when you said they spoke to you when-- [When.] --when the Ingress was broken?

[savnpcs]

[The Savrii (Siddony, if anyone cares to ask his name, but no one has yet) gives Lavellan an unreadable look as he approaches—perhaps he doesn't know what to make of this man who nearly destroyed his home but may have accomplished something in doing so.]

You must know that I'm an intermediary. My abilities—I have felt odd psychic communications before, fleeting ones. When the Ingress broke, when the technology did not hum in the background...I felt them, minds, clearer than ever before.

Ginko | OTA

[notyetsore]

...It was all fake.

All of it. An illusion, a dream, created to-- to what? Convince them that they should help save Thisavrou? Did they Savrii think that the newcomers would be so unwilling to do anything to save this place - the place they'd been living - that they needed to be made to think they had been cast out and made blind and abandoned in order to convince them?

Something close to anger, hot and sharp and painful, rises in Ginko's chest, and his hands tighten into fists, knuckles going white.

"Why didn't you just-- just tell us? Why all this? You didn't-- you didn't have to do this if you wanted our help!"

[savnpcs]

"You had to know. To see. To understand."

The Savrii's voice is almost pleading now, not with Ginko specifically but the universe at large.

"Anyone can use words. You had to see what I saw. To have certainty."

ocelot | OTA

[shashka]

[ Ocelot is silent for some time, as he best tries to think about how to proceed. none of it sat particularly well with him, that was for sure, but he was going to be very careful with how he picked his next words.

how did they know this wasn't another trap? that they weren't being monitored? that this wasn't a way to eliminate them. ]

Where do they want to send us?

[ a save enough question, though he still doesn't know if he can trust the answer. ]

[savnpcs]

Before you entered this simulation, it had not been decided. But it would not have been here.

Elizabeth || OTA

[tearmeanewone]

[Fan-fucking-tastic.]

[Heavily armed and clearly more than just irate, Elizabeth is watching the proceedings with sharp, livid eyes. This is, quite possibly, even worse than someone abandoning them on the Midway Hub. Someone messed with their minds, put them through pain and stress for what? So they would do something to stop this natural disaster because "no one should suffer like that"? Maybe that would work on bleeding hearts, but Elizabeth? She's almost to the end of her proverbial rope-- forget other planets, forget the storms, she's not even supposed to be alive right now.]

[All this talk about living energy and misuse of the power makes Elizabeth shrink to the back of the crowd. Have they been watching everything they've been doing? Do they know about what Elizabeth can do? That she might be what they consider an abuser of whatever energy allows the Ingress to open to different places and timelines?]

[If that's true, all the more reason for her to tear these bastards a new one the second they get out. She's not going to be tortured and imprisoned for her abilities, not again, she has to get away. There is, of course, nowhere to go right now. So she stays to the back, staring forward at nothing in particular, thousands of miles away as she tries to breathe evenly.]

[foins]

[It is the way the young woman withdraws that catches Laura’s eye, the others around them otherwise moving forward, questions still ready in their throats. As one who hunts, it is not Laura’s nature to move in so quickly. She waits. She sees. And when another withdraws, it leaves a question: Why?

Using the sway of the crowd, she drifts closer, slipping though gaps until she is near. She hears the strained rasp of the young woman’s breath, forced even, and sees the way the young woman looks but sees nothing. She knows this behavior (though a distant life of hers it feels now), and thoughts drift back to the friend she’d lost here that had also known the same, Angel.

Could there be another of them?]

You. [She calls the woman’s attention quietly. The masses needn't hear.] You will not go alone.

[Had Laura more experience with expressing such sentiments by way of conventional language, she likely would have preferred to start with, “Excuse me, but reading your body language, I think I know what you’re thinking,” and politely followed that with, “But don’t worry. They will not have us. I won’t let them.” Not that it’d be the best way to make acquaintance with anyone either, but it would still likely have been better and made more sense to the average person, which Laura clearly isn't.]

Agent North Dakota | OTA

[sightsset]

[after a very public fight amongst the esteemed agents of project freelancer, north has taken a walk. wherever anybody can see the hulking brute that is agent maine, north is at the opposite end of the room. it isn't maine he's avoiding, but he knows washington is at the man's side, and for once, he doesn't trust himself.

[he'll find a place to sit down, eventually, removing his helmet and just setting it aside to feel his gloved fingers roughly pushing through his hair. he needs to breathe.

[did you see the fight? are you concerned about this very tall man in bulky armor? feel free to say hello!]

Re: Agent North Dakota | OTA

[infailtration]

[ York did not see the fight, but needs to hear about it. And North happens to be the first one he comes across, when he goes looking for his friends. He's upset about the announcement, of course, at what they've been put through and what might be to come. He assumes that's what North's distress is over as well, and sits at his side to pull off his own helmet. ]

North? It'll be alright, man, they need us.