A Spacemas Carol: December's Mod Event Log

[savmods]

Who: Anyone and Everyone
When: December 19 onwards
Where: Avagi... and beyond?
What: Your past, someone's present, and potential futures.
Warnings: Body horror and an associated image in the second part. Otherwise, label your content.

While the Ingress may have been destroyed, the energy powering it remains alive and well. The residents of Avagi know this intimately: from their own arrivals, from the portals that have appeared, and the short-lived changes (as well as longer-lived possessions) that have cluttered the station over the last few months. Recently, whatever force is manipulating this has even gone so far as to revive the dead—demonstrating, perhaps, an unwillingness to relinquish those it has brought to this place. To say this entity is seasonal would probably be a mistake. In the heart of Avagi's storms, there are no stars to mark the seasons, much less connect them to a certain planet's holidays—or the literature thereon. Still, from luck or from intention, the current fluctuations comes with a certain theme...

Past

It starts at the turn of the station clock's midnight. Flickers at the edge of one's vision. Indistinct whispers, ghosting through walls and down corridors. Those who are sleeping will be untroubled, but the wakeful and wary can watch the light build: from flickers to pulses, from pulses to pools. Over several hours, silver mist fills rooms and corridors, varying from a thin veil to dense, obscuring fog. If you step into the mist, you'll feel a sense of displacement; of sound and color, energy and a shift of life. Ingress travel. Except... not quite. Shortly after entering the mist, you'll find yourself free of disorientation and apparently free of physical form, unable to interact with your surroundings. As a quasi-ghost, you've been transported to somewhere and somewhen—a location from the past, back on a world of someone’s origin or from any place you've been since first arriving through the Ingress. While these experiences can vary wildly, some things remain consistent: The past matters: These visits to the past are not repeats of idle afternoons—each has emotional significance to someone currently on Avagi. The past cannot be changed: As real as any given scenario seems, you're fundamentally incapable of altering it. The past event will play out as it did in real life and dissipate when it reaches an ending. Trying has consequences: Attempting too hard to interfere increases the emotional significance, and will consequently draw onlookers further into the scene. You may find yourself anchored to any participant in the scene: first physically (experiencing the scene through their eyes) and then emotionally (experiencing their emotions and thoughts). If drawn in too deeply, you may lose track of your own nature during the experience, drowning in the sense of being someone else.. You are not alone: While immersed in a scene, you'll see nothing but the history playing out. However, at the its conclusion, the fog will once again displace the world around. As it melts away, you'll find themselves back in Avagi's halls—and face to face with whoever else was also viewing that piece of the past.

Present

Whether through one memory or several, eventually, the fog disperses. Only a faint mist remains, gathered in corners of the station's halls. It's simple enough to avoid, and nothing obstructs efforts to return to your rooms, your friends, or any other destination. Nothing, that is, except finding them. The layout of the halls has shifted. The clutter you so painstakingly cleared is back. The GPS on your ACE mistakenly reports that you are floating off in space far outside the station, and any efforts to locate or call your companions results in glitchy static. Something is interfering with your calls—more effectively than the distance between worlds. Inference and intuition are all you have to put together the pieces. The layout has changed, but the construction stayed the same. You're still on the former Ingress station. But not the same area that you called home. This is a different section of Avagi. An inhabited one. Dank, warm air pulses in and out of the vents in odd rhythms. Water damage stains the walls, and some seep dark liquid. There's an odd symphony in the distance: four notes, hummed to a pattern that buzzes in the back of your head. It's possible to wait it out. But if you do explore, you might come across your friends. And together, you might find the source. Further in, a wall of flesh fills the pathways, rising and falling with intermittent, massive draws of air. A fluid wash of features glues it to the bulkheads. Claws and eyes, hands and faces: half-made bodies shifting in and out of recognition with each pulse of breath. And always with the same gold glow beneath the skin. It's a familiar shade, to those who witnessed Thisavrou's destruction. It's the being who destroyed it. Those who flee will escape her notice. Those who wait may watch in secret for a time. Mother's focus seems to be elsewhere...or, perhaps, something else is hiding your presence here from her. Any attack on Mother's flesh shape, or any overt effort to draw her attention, will meet violent, immediate reprisal. You'll experience an immobilizing psychic force before the flesh consumes you. But whether you hide or fight or run, your time on this section of the station will end in the same way: a burst of brilliant, clear light providing transport back home.

Future

You flash back to reality amidst a burst of light—but this time, you recognize your surroundings. You have returned to the Avagi you know, and the silver mist that filled the halls has cleared. Over the next few days, most of Avagi will settle back into a state of normalcy. The ACEs are working properly, and station residents will have all the time they need to compare notes on their experiences—and, perhaps, on any plans to act on what they've learned. Avagi is not as empty as it seemed. And one place in particular will remain changed in the wake of the event. The Ingress Memorial, once inactive, has come to life, emitting a swirl of silver light that shifts and flickers, like the light of the portal it once contained. For the next five days, it will offer a vision to anyone approaching it: a single, brief scene from their potential future. Players have the following options: Canon future: Your character catches a glimpse of their future if they were to return from Avagi to their own world. This consists of a canon event. Avagi future: Your character catches a glimpse of their own future on Avagi. This can be a short-term future (i.e. an actual vision of a future scene you plan to play out), or a potential longer-term one in which they stayed on Avagi for months or years. Storm future: Your character catches a glimpse of themselves as a Mirtos—a desiccated husk and incarnation of the storm's hunger. As seen in Thisavrou's destruction, these creatures are carried by the storms and destroy all they come across. The visions can observed by any present when the Memorial is approached. And while the past is fixed, the future is always capable of being altered. What will you do regarding yours?

---

[OOC: Check out the OOC post for more information!]

Comments

Cayde-6 // OTA

[deal_me_in]

.present // hello ɹǝɥʇoɯ

     "I don't like this..."

     "Yeah, well neither do I," Cayde agrees, his eyes flicking back down one way and then the other as they move. Things are off, even he can tell as much without his Ghost informing him. The layout's all wrong, and he's not entirely sure that he might have been chucked into some mindscape of sorts again. He hates those.

     "Cayde? Something's...here..." the Ghost murmurs, edging a little closer to its Guardian as its glowing 'eye' fixes on some point ahead down the dilapidated corridors they traverse.

     Both of them realize simultaneously what else it is that's here with them once they see what coats the walls beyond. Instantly Cayde's got his trusty Ace of Spades in hand, the handcannon grasped tightly as he draws to a stop. There's a dozen things running through his mind and all of them end in question marks. What he chooses to voice is more of a statement, and in not nearly so many words although it delivers enough emphasis for the situation.

     "Damn."


.future // The Red Legion

     Looks like just another day in the Tower. Everything's hunky-dory, Ikora's throwing verbal jabs, Zavala's wearing his famous scowl as Cayde strolls in oh-so-casually, but no one can say he isn't ready to get down to business. There's concern about sensors, signals- something. The pale blue-skinned Titan Vanguard turns back towards the enormous window that provides an expansive view of the City but little else at the moment for the thick clouds of the storm beyond.

     All at once the lazing tension tightens like the string of a bow. Something's caught Zavala's eye, and sure enough, just as he shouts for everyone to take their battle stations, the great, dark hulls of ships emerge from the cloud cover, a fleet of them all with obvious intent. The first volley is already sent flying straight for the Tower as Zavala shouts for people to take cover behind him as he erects a shimmering shield of energy around them.

     Cayde goes a different route, pulling his gun as his body catches alight in a golden flame, and he steps forward calmly, taking aim and firing off blazing shots at the incoming missiles to try thinning them out, not seeing the debris falling from above as others find their target and around them the structure rattles. In a flash the Warlock Vanguard is there, Ikora grabbing the Exo Guardian and teleporting them both within the safe confines of Zavala's shield.

     ...but even that safety lasts only so long. All eyes widen, and what hits next is blinding, swallowing everything-

     The light swirling about before the Ingress Memorial fades back to its original intensity, leaving Cayde gaping before he tosses his hands exasperatedly.

     "What, really?! This is worse than a season cliffhanger!"

future

[nyx_it]

"So... you feel like explaining what the hell I just saw?"

It's probably not the voice he's looking for. Or the explanation he's looking for. But literally none of that made any sense to her. Except Cayde and his weirdly flashy gun. Who let him have something like that? Who decided it was a good idea?

Also, who decided shooting missiles with firearms was a good idea?

"Are you okay?"

Because of course that's going to be the next thing out of her mouth. Not like she cares or anything.

Re: future

[deal_me_in]

     Cayde practically jumps, apparently having been completely unaware that there'd been someone else watching the show. Even his Ghost looks a bit startled, vertices flaring out slightly as it floats back, and then forth again to hover just at the Exo's shoulder.

     "You're asking me? Some bigshot looks like they're taking a stab at the City. 's about all I can make of it." He sounds more annoyed than worried, but he's still trying to make any sense of the vision himself.

     And if Vetra ever got to see the damage Cayde could dole out with the Golden Gun, she might reconsider his tactics.

     "I..." Cayde drops his hands, shrugging. "I dunno. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all that. That's never happened before- no one's ever attacked the City, or the Tower. I think those were Cabal ships..." He scowls, shaking his head. "Guess out of all the things trying to wipe out humanity it would be the space rhinos."

[nyx_it]

"Sorry."

She holds her hands up. Taking a physical step back. See? She's not here to threaten you, buddy. The apology goes out to the Ghost, too.

"Those... are those the things that took out earth? In your world?"

Because he'd said something else, hadn't he? "Who were those people with you?"

[deal_me_in]

     Cayde shakes his head again. "No, no- they didn't. They came after. Claimed most of the territory we'd set up on Mars. Of the three- wait, no- four groups that invaded our space, the Cabal are the most militant. Big guys too, heavy and armored...ugly."

     The more he considers it, the more obvious it seems to him that the Cabal would be the most organized in trying to do something like whatever it was he'd seen. But it seems a long way for them to come, just to raze a human city. Maybe they just really, really hated Earthlings?

     "The woman is Ikora, the Warlock Vanguard. The blue guy in armor's Zavala. He was in Thisavrou, briefly. Guess he got kicked back to the City. Lucky him." The Awoken was probably happier that way. Duty blahblah and all that. "He's the Titan, and commander of our Vanguard."

[nyx_it]

"Now they're coming after a city?"

But from the way he's been talking, it doesn't sound like he knows much about the situation. The whole yelling about a cliffhanger bit and all. But he knows the people. So how did that work?

"So you know them. The people. But not why you're shooting missiles?"

She has to pause, and glance around, almost suspiciously. Is this more of that 'shared dream' crap? Is Ryder or her dad about to saunter in?

[deal_me_in]

     "The City. Last one on Earth. Our home." There's a softness to the admission as Cayde realizes he means it, for all that he yearns to be back out in the field rather than at the table in the Tower, sending fresh Hunters out on missions.

     "Well. Yeah. I work with them. I'm the Hunter Vanguard. That all there was the Tower where I'm usually stationed. As for the shooting things- well, I can get that. Better they get intercepted out there before they hit. Titan's shields are tough, but they aren't usually employed to withstand an onslaught from an armada, as you saw."

     Folding his arms, Cayde looks back at the silvery light that swirls innocently as though it hadn't shown him some terrible hint of horrific things to come. "Didn't look good, did it..."

[nyx_it]

Our home.

She exhales slowly, her mandibles tapping against her jaw. Boy, there's a sentiment she can understand. A feeling she can sympathize with. The Nexus wasn't exactly home, but it was close as you could get, for now. If something happened to it...

Something more, anyway.

Her head turns, following his stare. "No. It didn't. Especially when you put it that way," she says, very quietly. "You said your Ghost could save you, though. Didn't you?"

[deal_me_in]

     Cayde nods slowly. "Ghosts can bring their Guardians back. But the City doesn't only house Guardians. Even the Tower...not everyone working there are like us."

     His optics lid as his thoughts turn inward, replaying what he can recall of the things he'd just witnessed. "...there were people dying in that attack. They won't come back. And those ships didn't just come to fire at the Tower...."

[nyx_it]

"... Yeah. Should've figured."

Her own eyes lower for a moment. He'd said humans lived there. Humans wouldn't have handy little Ghosts floating around to save the day. When she speaks again, her voice is more reverberation than actual words.

"You probably keep shooting and blowing things up enough to scare them off."

It's a hollow reassurance, but it's all she's got.

[deal_me_in]

     The Exo forces a laugh, but he somehow manages to make it sound casual enough. "'course I would. I'll shoot every last one of 'em if I have to. Then somehow get up there and take out whoever's in charge with a shot to the head."

     He knows he would. He always preferred the direct approach in contrast to Zavala's seemingly endless planning.

[nyx_it]

"Then... that's what happens. Right?"

It might not be. The whole City could go up with a bang. She's not naive enough to really believe what she's telling him. And... knows he's probably not, either.

But what else can you say? Sorry your city exploded?

"Probably not real, anyway. Just something screwing with our heads."

[deal_me_in]

     "Yeah..." Cayde nods. It's all up in the air, but if anything, he knows himself and what he'd do. He's not sure whether to be grateful or not that that's all that he'd seen.

     "You're right. I mean, kinda ridiculous believing everything that might pop up from these weirdo energy fluctuations or whatever they are. Wouldn't be the first time someone tried messing around inside our heads either." There's a bit of a scowl at that, but he's nevertheless appreciative of what Vetra's trying to do.

[nyx_it]

"Yeah. Could just be this... whatever these energy things are, screwing with us. Pulling up fears, or something."

She hopes she sounds more sure of herself than she ends up being. Cayde's right about one thing, though. This wouldn't be the first time something came along to scramble their brains.

Just look at what the Savrou officials were doing.

[deal_me_in]

     There's some dubiousness in his expression at the suggestions made. Had the City ever being under attack ever been a fear for him? Or maybe it's a spin on something more abstract. That could be a possibility too. He scowls, shrugging.

     "Well, whatever it is, trying to work it out isn't doing much good. I'm heading to the bar."

[nyx_it]

She watches him for a moment, wondering if she should be doing more. Saying more. Anything. This is miles outside her experience, but -- damn it, she likes the guy. Cares about him, even.

Despite his distaste for Blasto.

"Want some company?"

[deal_me_in]

     Pausing mid-turn, Cayde glances back at Vetra. He hesitates only briefly before giving her a nod.

     "Eh, sure. Wouldn't mind it."

[nyx_it]

"All right then. I'm buying."

She takes a few long steps, to put herself ahead of him. Doesn't matter there's no currency here. It's the principle of the thing.

[deal_me_in]

     Cayde looks about ready to object to that to point that out exactly, but as the Turian moves ahead, he pauses before shaking his head and moving to catch up, Ghost trailing after the two.