February Event Log I: Breathing Space

[savmods]

Who: Anyone and Everyone
When: February 10-19
Where: Avagi
What: Life support fails, and a team sets out. Check out this ooc post for more.
Warnings: Label your content.

Synce their arrival, Avagi's residents have been plagued by minor system failures. Faulty taskbots and infested crawlspaces, supply shortages and the floods last month. For the most part, they've coped admirably, and quality of life aboard the station is substantially improved from what it was. But even as the damage in the lived-in space is scrubbed away, more dangerous poisons have been building underneath. On February 10, the groaning from the walls will escalate to a harsh scraping, audible station-wide. Then silence falls as the filtration systems die completely: leaving all vents to begin spewing thick, black smoke.

	System Failures
	(February 10-19)

Acrid and hazardous, the cocktail of gases emerging from the vents are the result of three centuries' toxin storage spilling over. A shallow breath can cause a coughing fit, but individuals who draw in too much of the toxic air will find themselves becoming dizzy, passing out, or worse. While effects may vary based on individual biology, all beings who require breath will find their lungs burning and their vision blurred. An hour after the initial failure, the lighting goes out too. With it, all station power: to computers, doors, and any system not hooked up to its own supply. Investigation: The electrical failures can be sourced to an automated safety shutoff, override-able from Life Support's main controls. But the mechanism isn't in place without a reason. Generating station power produces more of the dark fumes, and without working filters, they will pump straight into the air. Wait in the dark (and growing cold), or suffocate more quickly? Either way, your air troubles won't be resolved quickly. Over the next couple days, groups searching Sanitation can track down the vapors to their source. A small mob of taskbots run sad circles in the filtration hub: between the air processing units and a row of shelves along one wall. The label reads Purification Crystals, and a single empty container remains. Survival (Home Team): Without the crystals, there is no effective way of restoring the entire living space. It may, however, be possible to section off small areas. Able bodies will be required to seal off the fumes and guide those suffering from their effects to safety. Many may need medical assistance, and technical skills will be in even more desperate need: to equip these regions with oxygen and power, and insulate them against the cold that leeches in from the outside. Some amount of work has already been done, and a few safe rooms are prepped across the station. As days progress toward weeks, however, their air and power reserves will run thin, and some larger sectors may warrant securing regardless. The Greenery contains young plants that are susceptible to the fumes, and those invested in the library's book collection may also want to take measures. The gas has acidic qualities in higher concentrations, enough to eat through paper... for a start. Contain it? Remove it? Or just try to protect yourselves? One way or another, you'll need to hold out for a while.

	Travel (Away Team)
	(February 12-19)

When Avagi's current population first got here, it was clear that others had inhabited the space before. Recent developments have even proven that these others—or, perhaps, their descendants—might still exist elsewhere on the station now. With the crystals that might repair your home missing, diplomacy is no longer an optional consideration. It's time to meet the neighbors, and hope they come in peace. Navigation: Those volunteering to undertake this mission will be provided with a patchwork set of maps. However, these contain little to no information on the current state of the station—including which parts still exist. The explosion that tore apart the former Ingress Complex left wide gaps in the structure, many of which have been invaded by the storms outside. Scanning tech will be required to assess what lies behind the sealed walls, and physical labor to cut through them. As no contiguous paths across the station remain, this process will need to be repeated numerous times. Where no adjoining regions can be verified intact, smaller scouting tools (or group members!) may be required to traverse crawlspaces for a view of nearby rooms. Survival: Behind the first wall lies a pressurized room with normal gravity—and contaminated air. This will not persist as the travelers continue. Some regions have power, but no gravity. Others contain pockets of unaffected, still-clean air. Few spaces will be fully online before the travelers get there, but local generators can be found that might allow for a night or two of "comfortable" camping. At least one juncture can only be crossed by floating through an empty docking bay. The area contains no power, air, or gravity, but spacesuits can be procured... inside the sealed vacuum of the bay. Creative thinking may be required. Enveloping the station's outside, the roiling shadows of Avagi's storms have crept invasively into all unsealed regions of the interior. While the Observation Station may have accustomed some Avagians to the view, there's something much more immediate about the shadows pressing at the other side of these windows. The faint patterns of light that ripple through the clouds prompt a sense of malice and exhaustion, one that lingers even when you've turned away. Those who attempt more intense scrutiny may suffer more severe effects. Certainly, it feels like something is watching back. Discoveries: As harrowing as the journey may be, it's not entirely without its gains. A few tools can be salvaged from some of the decks visited along the way, and while food is in much shorter supply, there are a few signs that it might not have been, long ago. Wrappers and empty cans turn up in strange places. A few glyphs can be found scratched into one wall: ones that your ACE's translators roughly interpret as prayers. One sealed room has a large "X" scrawled across the walls despite the detectable presence of power, air, and gravity. Opening it produces a strange sight: two skeletal corpses pressed up against the still-active force field that cuts this room off from the storms. Both bodies show extensive burns to hands and faces, but don't appear to have died from that effect.

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[For questions, signups, or plotting, check out the ooc post. For the duration of this log, characters may travel between teams to whatever extent they are capable. The event will escalate with a second log on February 20.]

Comments

[lefthandfree]

When she stares, it’s clear she knows that standing isn’t a choice for her here, so he withdraws his head with a solemn nod. The dry remark that follows makes the corners of his lips quirk, Bucky always one to appreciate a spare bit of wit in any circumstance. Though they both know that he would never likely resort to it, it certainly does make for an amusing image.

“I don’t want to risk it,” he smiles thinly then, before dropping the expression altogether. “I don’t know what all is in that gas or how fast or slow it might work now that it’s in you. I can’t check you out either cause I ain’t a doctor. But I can get you to a safe room where there are others who can.” Even if it means it might be a struggle. He’s coherent now, and that’s enough. He can rest when they’re there.

[seeingscarlet]

"And you too." If Bucky thinks he's getting away without being fussed over too, he has another think coming. Privately, Wanda doubts the doctors will be able to do much for them other than get them water and fresh(?) air, but if Bucky's sure he's ready to go, who is she to argue?

She tugs the fabric back over her mouth and nose - Bucky's shirt, her brain is late to supply - and reaches up. "I can keep it away from us, but I need to see where we're going."

[lefthandfree]

When she pushes to add on that he must also be present in the safe room, he manages to crack a proper smile. She’s always been so considerate, even for someone like him, and the regard she always gives him is something he appreciates greatly, even as quickly as he sometimes is to dismiss it.

Nodding, he looks down the hall and deliberates the best means to do so. Eventually (and somewhat hesitantly), he turns back toward her, sheepish expression on his face.

“How do you feel about sitting on my shoulders?” He can’t carry her well on his back as he hasn’t the second arm to stabilize the weight on her left side, and any other configuration would result in Wanda not facing forward, even if a few would have her angled forward (she’d be staring at his boots rather than the path in front of them).

[seeingscarlet]

Of course Wanda cares. He's her friend, regardless of what HYDRA forced him to do, and if she knew he was thinking like that she'd be giving him such a Look. He's getting checked out if she has to sit on him to make him stay still.

She'd expected to end up slung over his shoulder awkwardly, so sitting on his shoulders is an improvement. "Should be fine. As long as you don't go through any low doors." Wanda manages a small attempt at a grin but it quickly breaks into a series of painful coughs.

Clearly Bucky's right - they need to go. She's not fully recovered from her previous exposure.