April Event and Final Game Log

[savmods]

Who: Anyone and everyone
When: April 1-17
Where: Avagi
What: The end of an era
Warnings: Description of body horror. Label your content.

With the breach of the Namalos' locked building, and the rescue of the individual inside, it doesn't take long for a path back to reassert itself. Silver light blossoms around Avagi's residents, pulling them back to their own home... if not necessarily to precisely where they'd left it. All characters, regardless of their location when they fell through Avagi's portals, find themselves winking back into existence at the new Memorial—the one discovered by the away team. There, they will have a chance to rest, recover, and learn from their new friend. A descendant of the intermediaries and former inhabitant of Avagi, Tamen is indebted to the group that perfomed his rescue. He speaks freely and readily, cataloging his own experience aboard the station as well as tales of what came before. The survivors of Thisavrou's fall have venerated Ingress technology for generations—for the peace it brings, and for the odd disappearances known to happen nearby. But Tamen has heard older stories too, of the twin worlds that used it as a gateway. And of a time, centuries and centuries before that: when Thisavrou's first settlers discovered a strange light. Living Energy: something that felt them and... reached out. Thisavrou's founders harnessed that source for their machine—and Avagi's newest residents know as well as anyone how their society came to an end. But whatever their perspectives on the energy that powers this station, it will become clear in short order that the time to learn is quickly running out. The halls remain clear, all trace of Mirtos purged by the persisting glow—but tremors wrack the station's framework intermittently, a deep, erratic shaking accompanied by flickers of the silver light. The process is slow, and poses no more immediate danger than a small earthquake. But the balance between the Living Energy and storms outside has broken, and given time, the station will literally shake itself apart. Tamen volunteers readily to return to his people—and retrieve a supply of the purifying crystals the away team had set out for in the first place. Once installed, the air clears quickly, and in a handful of days, the Avagians' home will be as functional as ever. Still, any solution is short-term against the quakes now rippling through the interior. To resolve this problem, they will need to reach its source.

Allies

Given the difficulty of travel—and the dangers a specific few know are waiting at Avagi's heart, some amount of planning is definitely warranted. But when it comes time to assess resources, locals may find a few unexpected surprises. The light that pulled them from the station in the first place is dimmer, but still present, a strange illumination independent of any source. It glows the strongest in places where many people gather, and those who linger in its presence long may feel inexplicably revitalized. Exhaustion and pains will be alleviated, and injuries will heal twice as quickly as they should. But the current residents aren't the only ones who've been affected by the Living Energy. Or, perhaps, the only ones it values or remembers, too. Motes of light draw together here and there, coalescing in the familiar flash of silver that precedes a new arrival. The figures that emerge, however, are anything but new. Friends, enemies, acquaintances or allies—those who traveled on the Moira or called Thisavrou their home. Harnessed or not, the Living Energy is founded on connection, and in this time of need, it reaches out to those you knew. Unlike the usual newcomers, these visitors can appear anywhere within the station. At the time of their arrival, no return path will be apparent.

Threats

Once underway, all parties will face difficulties: some, much like the travels before. The inner levels of Avagi were every bit as shattered as the outer spaces by the explosion that tore the station apart, and care and skill will be required to navigate toward the center. The activation of the Memorials has burned away the storm from the interior, and will protect all travelers from casual glances or incidental contact. Still, it presses at the outside, fluxing violently as each bout of tremors wrack the station. Immersing oneself in it directly remains very much to be avoided, and those journeying must keep their path inside Avagi's ruins. With the storm's expulsion comes safety from the Mirtos who stalked its halls before. Of course, your goal isn't entirely unguarded. Wrapped around the center of the station is the being who ripped it apart: Mother, a psychic swarm of shapechanging flesh who once feigned alliance with you and your friends in order to hasten Thisavrou's fall. As observed in the vision a few months back, Mother has taken up occupancy in the center of the station, and will go to any lengths to maintain her hold on the Living Energy inside. Individuals may encounter Mother in any of several forms: The Barrier: Entirely obstructing all paths of approach, this wall of flesh is the outermost manifestation of Mother's form. Swelling and sagging faintly as it draws in air, the surface is peppered with haphazard organs: eyes and mouths, limbs and claws, all pulsing and changing with each moment. The barrier reacts violently to any approach: with wordless shrieks and new tendrils, ready to rend or crush. That said, careful investigation (or sufficient destructive force) will reveal an important fact: this part of Mother is less a solid mass and more a membrane, and once a gap is created, quick-moving travelers can make their way inside. The barrier will seal behind them so long as there is sufficient flesh left to do so. The Hunters: If the barrier is a chaotic swarm, Mother's next line of defense is more capable... and detailed. Full-formed bodies roam the interior hallways, taking on a variety of aspects: from innocent children to monstrous terrors to visages close enough to be mistaken for your friends. Their abilities are as varied as their shapes, and while some will charge unthinkingly, others may work as teams or call for help—if only for the purpose of entrapment. Although clever in a short-term sense, these bodies are physical manifestations of Mother's survival instinct, lacking the complexity to maintain their facade through any lengthy conversation. The Avatars: Imbued with a measure of Mother's personality and power, these bodies are the closest to a "true" form that can be found. Mother's avatars can be identified by the gold light flaring from their eyes and skin, and the aura of rage she projects on any who come close. While as vulnerable to destruction as any organic shape, the avatars will rip into the minds of any who come near, determined to do whatever damage she can, whether through words or psychic energy. [ooc: While players can assume the presence of avatars in their own threads, they will be NPCed in a thread below. This will be opened up for tagging on April 7th.] Combatants might oppose these threats directly, but to reach the innermost remnants of the station, Avagi's inhabitants will need a variety of resources—and a variety of skills. Shortly before their fall, the local Savrii upgraded security around the Ingress platform, installing an array of barriers, countermeasures, and weaponry that has lain inactive for the last several centuries. While some approaches remain locked off and require skill to open, accessing other systems could give opportunities: to arm, reinforce, or safeguard your allies in this fight. Once destroyed, all traces of the flesh that composed Mother's bodies will recede, dissolving into light. An odd feeling of sorrow lingers in the places where she fell.

Renewal

By the time all obstacles are bypassed, the quakes shaking Avagi come more frequently—and threaten the integrity of its outer parts. Still, at the very center of the station, all is quiet. The Ingress platform itself appears to have been shattered long ago, but the halls around are miraculously nearly intact: a maze of components and systems that once composed Thisavrou's Ingress. Here, in the relative peace after their battles, those touched by the Ingress will find the time they need to study what remains. Many travelers by now have their own familiarity with the Ingress—whether here or earlier on the Moira. More information can be found in the Savrii's secured systems, once they are re-activated and repaired. Present are the control schematics: the means for activating the Ingress and selecting worlds for travel. There are even notes on the machine's instability, including a sharp increase in visitors pulled in from other worlds—logged in the last year before Thisavrou fell. But the power source, the factor bridging all the worlds, is conspicuously absent. Or, depending on one's perspective, all around. Light shines softly in these halls as well, the silver glow of Living Energy untethered from the machines that once used it as fuel. The systems designed to contain it have been almost entirely shattered... but a few remain, gleaming faintly from within. It might be possible at this point to rebuild. Or, to dismantle what remains of the containment. The choice is yours. Whatever outcome is decided will take time—both to settle on and to enact. In the meantime, reconnect with friends. Salvage your supplies, tend any wounds you gained through the battles. And make your last farewells: to this place and, for many, to each other.

---

[OOC: For questions, information, and to cast your vote on the game-ending choice, please check out the ooc post here. A final post will go up in the network comm on April 18 with the final results, but this is the last mod log for threading on. We hope you enjoy the ride!]

Comments

Mother's Avatars (NPC thread, OPEN)

[awar]

[The heart of the one-time Ingress Complex is a maze-like framework of machinery. The walls crawl with circuitry and buried conduits, controls and monitoring panels growing denser further into the sector. The systems here are massively damaged: cracked and shattered by the destruction of the Ingress; corroded by time and by the flesh and fluids that have slithered past. Still, a few structures flicker stubbornly among the rest, gleaming the silver light of the Ingress.

Still, a figure stands at the entrance—blocking your way.

Gold blazes from her eyes and skin. It pulses and beats with the force of her fury, a seething, vicious force that burns the minds of any who come near. These creatures have broken through her skin. Whittled down her smaller parts, one at a time. She's watched them, fought them, and lost more flesh than she can easily recover—especially in this forgotten hulk.

No matter. What she has won't be abandoned—not to the storms, or these pathetic beasts. Whining and whispering, scraping and clawing at her insides. She'll crush them. Break them. Rip their minds to pieces, claw their forms apart to decorate the walls. It's only right. Only fair.

When you come into this body's sight, she smiles, and unleashes a psychic lance of pain.]

[deal_me_in]

[It hasn't been an easy time getting through, but the odds remind him of old times out in the field, where the landscape would be teeming with Fallen or the Hive or Vex. He's made each shot count, still holding onto the charge of his Golden Gun for when he could make it count, although he knows how much good it had done the first time he'd tried it against the Mother.

...but at that time he hadn't been aiming for her, so hey, maybe there's still a chance.

The Guardian rounds a corner, his Ghost murmuring its concerned commentary in his head. Up ahead, it informs him, and Cayde's ready.

Or at least, he thought he was.]

Long time no see-!

[His casual greeting's at odds with the equally casual leveling of his hand cannon. He doesn't like that smile at all, and it's at that moment that he regrets not having shot first.

His head nearly snaps back with the sudden pain that shoots through his mind, body arching before hunching forward as he grasps at his the black-scarred metal of his face, barely capable of processing the internal shout in alarm from his Ghost.]

sans | returning oldbie | WIDE OPEN

[skelepun]

allies; near living quarters

[It's almost funny, how accustomed he was getting to finding himself somewhere completely new and yet entirely familiar. If he was a better comedian, maybe there'd be a joke in it. Something about being deja screwed, maybe. Whatever.

Sans' last memory was settling in to sleep in the makeshift bed he'd made for himself in the Avagi library. If he wasn't so accustomed to that rising-gorge feeling that came with temporal displacement, Sans might've guessed he sleepwalked here. But when you show up on a space ship, then a space station, and now... the same space station -- there just wasn't any time for being confused.

Walking down the hall, Sans took brief note of all the differences -- polished metal where there was once damage, a sign that was missing before, the mark of life the Avagi hadn't held -- as if they might spell out exactly what his position in time could be. The future, again? The past?

There was only so much a ship could say, though. People were much better.]

Huh. [Sans comments to nobody in particular, kneeling down slightly to get a better look at a small scorch mark. Any who happen upon him now will see him stretching a bony finger towards the mark, scratching a small line through the soot.] Weird.

threats; ye olde flesh wall

[Why'd it always have to be FLESH, though?

Standing at a safe distance, Sans makes a careful study of the surface. Each lashing tendril is sidestepped with an air bordering on casual. A tilt of the skull, another screech, a violent strike, an unhurried step back out of reach.]

Y'know, this is what happens when you don't drink your milk. No skeleton, mo' problems, y'feel me?

[Another strike, to which Sans teleports three feet back. Cut it close that time, admittedly.]

Okay, but don't actually feel me. [He turns to whoever else is there, hands sliding into his pockets.] That patch of hair is blonde, I think. You figure she has more fun?

renewal; at ingress

[The battles were fought, the enemy defeated (for now, anyway), and the Ingress...

Well, the Ingress was the Ingress. Dormant, as it had been from the moment Sans first laid a bony hand on its chassis. What the didn't have on the Moira was information, what they didn't have on the Avagi was... well, also information, but also so much more than that. Hard to find a way home when you could barely manage to feed the crew here.]

You know I left a whole mess of people behind just for a chance to fix you, and now you go ahead and bring me back just to die again? [It's a joke. None of the Ingresses machinations were ever more or less than the random tethering of bonds and the universe. He was no more supposed to be here than anyone else. Fate, prophecies, destiny -- they were jokes too, but not the kind of jokes he traded in. Too mean.] A lotta people got mad at me for that, least you could do is make it up to me and work.

[He thumped lightly on the metal, hoping it might spring to life like his old TV back home -- way back, to his house in Snowdin. No dice.]

(( ooc: hi thisavrou i love you, thank you for being amazing and going out with a bang! i'm so glad to be here and if anyone wants a special thread or starter, please hmu on plurk @safelybeds or in a dm and i'll put one up! ))

allies

[lavelly]

[It had been long enough that Lavellan had assumed Sans had been disappeared by the Ingress, but not so long that when he sees the skeleton now, he realizes immediately what's happened.

Despite the chaos that's happening all around them, Lavellan breaks into a grin (look! a smile!) and makes a beeline for him. Maybe it's just his relief at being off Namalos and back on the station, but he's possessed of a weird energy he hadn't had before.]

Sans. Thank goodness. [A small laugh, even, though it's not entirely with humor.] You know, I'd started to think you were gone.

chara dreemurr | returning oldbie | ota, i'll match your formatting, etc!!

[inconsequence]

allies; greenery

Caught in an unsteady riptide, that decomposing push-pull of life-then-death-then-life again, is not so atypical as one might think. To awake the dull, silvered veneer of an old space station after that uneasy sleep - perhaps some part of them ought to have expected it, to be honest.

They stand, slowly. Count their belongings. Sweater, striped in green and yellow. Locket, the chain cold around their neck. The Knife, secure in its sheath. One, two, three...eight blades total, kept on their person, because one can say many things about Chara as a person, very few of them pleasant, but one can never call them unprepared for a FIGHT.

There are still flowers, just as there once were. Soft cerulean blooms, whispering whatever was spoken near them last.

"Miles to go," the child murmurs. The susurrus of the Echo Flowers as the words rebound in whispered repetition - it slows the pound of their heart (alive again, and frantic to make up for lost time) - and it unbends their back as they begin to walk.

Miles to go, before I sleep.

threats; the hunters

[You really have to hand it to Chara and their ability to locate a FIGHT in record time.]

[This might be the most animated they've been since they've arrived, to be honest. Their motions are choppy and deliberate, inexpert but nonetheless direct. They're more accustomed to cleaving down monsters, still, than they are creatures of flesh, but you won't catch them going gently into that good night.]

[You'll instead catch them surfing this gnarly wave of I Came Out To Attack People And I'm Honestly Having Such A Good Time Right Now.]

[They're even laughing as it goes down. Horrible. Just, horrible.]

renewal; a moment to breathe

[You tell a joke.]

[You tell a joke about a child who slept in the soil, and ate pie with their bare hands, and played in a muddy garden. You tell a joke about a child who made a promise that they kept too rigidly, and squandered the hopes and dreams of an entire species in the process. You tell a joke about the future of humans and monsters - how they doomed the crown prince of the Underground and saw fit to exterminate that species, monster by monster, in a systematic act of genocide. You tell a joke about a child that woke on a planet a million miles away, surrounded by people who did not know them and refused to judge them for their crimes, despite their cruelties, their pettiness, their callous acting out.]

[When the FIGHT is over, for the most part, Chara doesn't favor the act of making a decision, just yet. They sit, and try not to think too deeply about why they're still here.]

[Because for every joke, there's a punchline. It ought to have been stale and bitter and predictable: that it really was all gold-stained lies and hollow cruelties and rugs to be yanked out from under one's feet.]

[But it wasn't.]

[The joke is that, despite everything, there are too many people they cannot forget and ignore - people who grew to Chara-bout them.]

[And there's the punchline. That they ended up caring right back.]

allies (for now, i'm greedy)

[lavelly]

Lavellan and Chara have gone longer without speaking or even seeing a glimpse of each other. As a result it doesn't even occur to him that Chara might have been gone; simply, they'd been out of sight, and now they're not.

And he's only in the greenery himself to relax, so he can't help but release an audible sigh when he sees who's already there. There's no chance of a peaceful visit now.

"And where have you been?" It comes out as a demand. Namalos had been... disquieting, and children running around it unsupervised is the last thing he wants to think about.

Asriel Dreemurr | returning oldbie | ota

[pleasereset]

[A. Allies | The hallways]

[It feels like he never left, but the changes are there. Painfully noticeable even as he explores the Avagi. What happened to him. What happened to... everyone else?

He's clutching his identity disk, like a child holding onto a security blanket. He jumps suddenly when he hears footsteps behind him, turning around with his disk raised and ready to attack. His fur is bristling and there's a fearful look in his eyes.]

Stay back!

[B. Threats - Hunters]

[It's not surprising that there's more fighting. There's always more fighting. And Asriel has bypassed a few Hunters just to find someplace to breath and figure out what's going on. He sees a tall figure turn a corner further down the hallway, light gleaming off of long, metal arms and pink boots...]

Mettaton!

[It's gotta be him. Finally someone he recognizes and can help him in this mess! He chases after, calling out to him and the figure stops.

And it's not Mettaton. It almost looks like him, but one arm is too long, with sharp claws, and the face is missing - except for that mouth full of razor sharp teeth. The creature lunges, wrapping its longer arm around Asriel's neck and throwing him down. He thrashes, trying to cut himself lose with his disk. But as the creature's grip tightens, his air cuts off and he's struggling to hold onto it.]

S... stop-!

[Renewal]

[After surviving all of these deadly encounters, this... strange light is what's left at the end of it all. Asriel isn't really sure what it all means, but it's clear that this is what they're here for.]

What should we do now?

Threats

[notglitching]

[Asriel's pleas are interrupted by a shower of flesh, red light streaking through the creature's head. The lack of a cranium might not be enough to stop this thing from acting, but the impact that follows does considerably more. Rinzler collides feetfirst with the creature's spine, second disk burying deep in its back to rip through the shoulder of its too-long arm.

Hands off the beta.]

COMMANDER SHEPARD 🙀 OTA

[squadgoals]

1. ALLIES - OLD FAMILIAR FACES

[Things were returning to normal—or at least, what the bar for "normal" was when one had just finished a sojourn on an alien planet, jail-breaking the distant survivor of a mostly-destroyed race of people, then been transported back to one's largely-abandoned and decrepit space station, and begun preparing for war.

Maybe 'war' was a little dramatic. Maybe just 'large scale-offensive'. Maybe just 'battle for their lives'.

Whatever the case, Shepard can be seen at various times of the non-day categorically taking note of their supplies—medical, potential weaponry, and remaining food stores. Unless your character is in their room, they see her at least once each cycle, striding somewhere with a datapad, musing over notes on Mother, living energy, stocktake lists. Putting together packages of necessities for everyone to push forward together with. If you find yourself looking for something to do, you may just find your purpose directed here.

She may not immediately notice who she's talking to.]

2. ALLIES - WORN-OUT PLACES

[Everyone has to sleep some time, though—even someone who's eerily used to being awake for days on end, even now.

Yet somehow, you've managed to catch Shepard in a nap, here in her apartment, on the living room's couch. 'Nap' is being generous—it clearly wasn't by choice. Face-down in the cushions, arms tucked completely under her torso, legs half in the air, half on the ground, you wonder how she's managing it at all. Still, as soon as you enter the room, there is movement, a muffled groan even above the station's shuddering. Is she awake?

Do you check, or just wait?]

3. THREATS - MEATWALL

[Oh, so this is completely disgusting. As soon as you approach the writhing walls, the spine-chilling shriek fills your ears, nearly deafening you with its livid cries.

Someone, however, isn't taking it to heart. Some distance away, Shepard can be made out slashing the wall to pieces, creating an ever-widening circle of dripping gore, blood, and twitching amputated tentacles. When you lock eyes with her, she points are the hole, already closing, and yells above the cacophony:]

Through! Now!

4. THREATS - CLOSE FOR COMFORT

[Hey, there's Shepard, down here in this chaotic cluster of broken station remnants and features, covered with screaming walls and grotesque figures! What's she up to? Why, it looks as though she's talking to someone that looks oddly familiar!

That's probably because it looks just like you.

It's undoubtably a Hunter, something you are aware of, because you are the real deal. It'd be good if you told her, let her know that that one's not you, and it'll probably try to attack her pretty shortly. It would be kind of terrible if you just watched that go down from afar instead.]

5. THREATS - HUNTING THE HUNTERS

You may find yourself, at some point, held up by the appearance of a keen Hunter. Perhaps you are having a hard time figuring out what its deal is, why it's crying—or attacking you. Perhaps it resembles your friend, long since departed from the world—or just from Thisavrou. And hey, people have been turning back up at the station, haven't they? Couldn't this possibly be them, reunited with you one more time? Aren't you happy to see them? Don't you want to be with them?

Fret no more! Three shots ring out, and whatever was attempting to wiggle its way into your heart (metaphorically or physically) is suddenly dropping to the ground like a bag of potatoes. As it falls away, Shepard can be seen striding towards you, gun in hand, expression masked.]

Not real. Saw it form out of one of the walls.

6. DESTROY

[With everything that's happened, it's surprising—or maybe, not surprising in the least—to find Shepard sitting a little distance apart from everyone, in what looks to be simple contemplation. She is looking, it seems, at everything—and nothing at all.

At your approach, she jerks out of silent thought, and gives you a long look—then wordlessly pats a space beside her.

After overcoming so much together, what are they now, if not family and friends?

Although still unspeaking, the atmosphere is friendly enough, seemingly open to conversation. But what else remains to be said?

Oh yeah right the whole voting thing.]

#. THE FINAL PIECES

[A lot will be happening with the wrap-up, so if there's anything you want to thread, hit me up by PM or at nijikai! Thanks for everything, Thisavrou!!]

6

[araignee_du_soir]

[LaCroix didn't take the offered seat, instead choosing to lean against the wall next to Shepard. All these looks of contemplation on everyone and it seemed so foolish to Widowmaker. How could this possibly be a hard choice? They needed to get home. She needed to get home. But of course, the bleeding heart 'heroes' would be self-sacrificing because they were shackled to their emotions. Pathetic.

Perhaps she should prepare for the need to take the choice away from others. She knew of a few people that would be of like mind that would be in. They would just need to hold everyone off long enough for Sombra to repair the machine.

But Shepard was not going to be one of those like-minded people. Probably. The woman could surprise her; she seemed capable of setting her emotions aside to do what was necessary.]

You are distracted.

Frisk | returning oldbie | OTA

[gainedlove]

Allies

[They aren't used to being the one out of the loop.]

[Frisk comes to in the library, stumbling for a few moments to even remember where they had been. They know this place, of course, and it only takes a moment before they set off through the stacks of books and out into the halls, looking for anyone else that might be around--still be around? The shaking of the walls leaves an uneasy feeling in their gut, and Frisk holds their stick tight in one tiny fist.]

[How long has it been? They should know, they should, but...]

Threats

[This is definitely far from ideal, but Frisk refuses to stand idly by. As soon as an opening had been made in the barriers around the core, Frisk had darted right in, but they have yet to truly raise their weapons in attack. Darting and ducking through the chaos, they've a sharp eye out for anyone in trouble.]

[Anyone cornered by the hunters might find their attacker stunned by a sudden jolt of electricity, or in more immediate fashion tackled to the ground by a blue-and-pink blur that shouts as soon as they're able:]

Run, quick!

Renewal

[Frisk spends quite a while staring up at the shifting light. Their expression is nearly blank, only a faint sense of curiosity and thought keeping them from seeming entirely robotic and still. The noise of those around them, the nudges and bumps from those passing by--none of it seems to faze them. They simply watch, and think...]

[And then they decide.]

[There's no fanfare to their movements, quick but not pronouced as they weave past those clustered near the remains of the Ingress. Picking through the debris still littered about, Frisk makes their way over to one of the remaining containment devices. They consider it silently for a moment, before pulling out their disk, activating it--]

[And with all their strength, start smashing the machine.]

allies!!

[notyetsore]

[Ginko... isn't sure when they got back. He doesn't even remember any indication that they might be going back soon.

And yet, here he is. Out of the woods, back on the station, and everything is shaking and he doesn't know why-- what did he miss? How did he miss it?

He hurries through the shuddering hall, stumbles around a corner--

Right into someone familiar.]

...Frisk?

[magneticfields]

The heart wants to feel, the heart wants to hold Allies

[ it is such a strange constant in his life. Or at least it has been for the last twenty years of it. The double-edged sword of a psychic's powers. He is in the workshop, carefully crafting his armor. And his helmet. He will not go in unprepared.

If anybody else finds themselves in the workshop, he will help them prepare as well. ]

How did I climb out of a life so boring into that moment? The Barriers, closed to Clara

[ Charles may think the cape is silly. He's certainly said as much more than once. But after so many years, when Erik is preparing for battle he will not go without it. And his helmet, of course, though that is of more practical value. And the rest of his armor.

Still. Standing before the wall of flesh with its tendrils and shrieking, he does pause.

He looks to Clara, also ready for battle in her own way. And feels a rush of affection, despite the dire circumstances, remembering how he met her on Kaittos. Covered in blood and raging during the Trial of Life. He raises his voice slightly to be heard over the din. ]

Any thoughts on how to approach this one, my dear?

The head wants to turn, to avert both its eyes The Hunters A, OTA

[ Once the barrier is breached, he is confronted with a new hell. The creature that charges at him appears to be some kind of carnivorous rhinoceros. He yanks part of the bulkhead off and hurls it at the thing's throat. It has to have a brain, right? This should work. ]

In front.

[ He calls to whoever is behind him in the hall. Just in case its brain is in some place he doesn't anticipate. Or it has an auxiliary brain or some other nonsense. ]

While you gasp at my bloody crimes, please take the time to make your heart my home The Hunters B, closed to Diana

[ They aren't just monsters. The further they get, the more personalized the hunters get. Erik suspects his helmet is helping, as the figures that emerge from the darkened corridors definitely appear to be more of the Amazonian and Edwardian variety than anybody he recognizes. After finishing yet another wave of them, he looks over to Diana, concern clear in his eyes. ]

Are you alright? We could... I could seal off an area, let you take a moment.

Your heart's warm and kind, your mind is your own Renewal, OTA

[ The decision, as far as Erik is concerned, is an easy one. After the battle, after they've managed to determine what they must do to return to their homes, he doesn't bother joining in on discussions. He goes back to his quarters to pack. Deliberately ignoring any soft tugs at his thoughts whenever he passes through areas a bit brighter than other places.

The door is open, unlocked. Uncharacteristically so. But if anybody has anything in particular to say to him, he's willing to endure it for the last few hours before he departs. ]

winky face

[monomachy]

[For the first time in recent memory, Diana is short of breath after a battle--but not because of physical exertion alone. Though the creatures were not exact replicas of her sisters, they had been close enough for her to show the slightest bit of hesitance with each blow. When Erik addresses her, she's staring at familiar armor and an almost-familiar face on the ground. Her head snaps towards him, something unreadable in her face. She exhales slowly, and shakes her head.]

No. We must keep on.

[Her heart isn't in the words.]

Peter Maximoff | Returning Oldie | OPEN

[takeitslow]

Allies; Medbay

[Peter's by a cryo pod, a hand pressed against the glass and a frown heavy on his face. It's not the first time he's blinked into existence someplace strange and new. It's not even the first time he's found himself lost among medical equipment, struggling to connect his memories to where he stands now.
As Peter remembers it, he should be in the mansion. He should be on his way down for a second breakfast, a joke on his tongue that he wants to tell Kurt. One second he's jumping three stairs at a time and the next he's facing frozen glass. One more strange thing to add to the list.]

At least it's better than the outpost.

[It's not a funny joke, but Peter's face splits into a grin anyway. The last he remembers, his life was finally falling into place. He doesn't know yet to be worried, and he's to secure in the lack of immediate threat to be wary.]

But if we got accidentally teleported and I have to be rescued again, I am seriously never going to live it down. They're going to change my codename to 'dude in distress' and I'll have to die of shame.


Threats; Hunters

[He's fast enough not to worry about being swarmed and the monstrous types are easily avoided with a quick step away from swinging arms. It's simple enough to get through, his speed a constant blessing as he dodges twisted creatures outstretched hands. If it could only stay bad horror movie Peter would be fine.

But she's just a little girl. She's just a little girl crying for help, curled on the ground like she's scared. Like she's hurt. She reminds him too much of his little sisters, both of them. It reminds him of one left screaming in the woods and a broken man recounting a story of being too late. Peter can't- won't- be late again, not when he knows there's a reason Jean looked up to him in the future. The only reason the students survived was because of you.

He has to live up to that.

It's the wrong time to play hero.

She wants to go further in, a mother figure lurking beyond the next hall that she wants to see. Peter obliges, swayed by big eyes and a quivering lip. The trap that lies there catches him off guard, more of those nightmarish things encircling them and blocking off the easy exit. He startles enough to lose the moment to run, more surprised than scared, getting backing into the wall in his attempt to keep hands away from the child. He thinks he sees someone moving beyond the wall of figures and doesn't consider he could be dragging someone else in on the trick.]

Hey, we need some help! There's a kid over here!


Renewal; Ingress

[He finds a corner to sit in, watching the faint glow with his chin in his hands. He stays away from the heated arguments he can hear start and stall down the halls. Peter's not up for the debate over what's right. Many of the faces are different, but for once he has a little faith that the crew will won't let him down. And there's a part of him that wants the decision taken out of his hands anyway. There's a fate waiting for him back home, a growing family and school full of kids that, somehow, look up to him. He has a life worth living waiting for him to stand up and try.

But it's not enough to want to leave. Many of the faces are different, but he sees a year of changes reflected in the ones he calls familiar. These people who shaped him, fought for him, that he can't find the selflessness to let go of. Part of him wants just a little longer before they have to say goodbye.]

If we do get sent back- [Peter taps out the beat of Eclipse on his knees.] If that's what they decide, what are you going to miss? I'm struggling between the kitten tree and the better video games. It's going to be really hard to just go back to Pong after this.

renewal;

[shadowblends]

[peter isn't the only one avoiding the disagreements between people. nightcrawler prefers chatting about entirely different subjects, like where they believe they'll be returned in their worlds, if it will deposit them right where they started or not.

things that are going to be missed once they (hopefully) get home would be a great distraction, too.]

Taking into account I never got to witness the kitten tree, I don't think that's a fair decision for me to make. [he grins, just the slightest quirk of his lips.] The video games have been quite a trip, though.

isha devan // classic, not old tyvm // open

[diamondhack]

a dramatic entrance
[She'd been minding her own business, but that's usually when the trouble always starts: when she's minding her own damn business.

An action preceded by being involved in others' businesses but that was a small detail compared to the greater concern at hand.

Energy glows bright, then immediately simmers, leaving behind the form of an international criminal turned international crimefighter with perfectly braided hair and her black and gold robotic greyhound.]

Not this again.

[She hardly misses a beat as she starts to stride through the ship as if she owns the entire place. Something always had to be falling apart, and no one could afford a single decent engineer. Q-11, her most trusted companion and bodyguard of a sort, is alert, ears pricked, lights glowing an urgent orange underneath the encrusted golden henna patterns. Look closely and you'll notice that the patterns between dog and arm match. Cute.]

Does anyone know how to navigate and maintain this bloody, godforsaken ship!? No, of course not! [Stomp as she might, her steps are quiet as ever. Those noise-canceling boots are what make her a terror.] I am going to personally strangle whoever is doing this now, Q. And we're going to have fun doing it.

[Throughout the time, should you think it may not be smart to interrupt a 5'10" angry woman with dark sunglasses and her manufactured dog, you'll find her knee-deep and intensely focused on computer work and repairs, though she won't turn down a conversation. She'll be looking for materials, too, to build defenses and crude weapons.]

hacker voice, i'm in
[The good ship Moira, and all of her beastly enemies. It always had been a fight to the death with the knife in her prosthetic arm and the knives lining Q's mouth. Isha now stands at a terminal, furiously working her way through whatever failsafes and modifications had been put in place at the Ingress.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, she's found a way to get her voice into a communication system and still manage to tell people what to do from the other side of the ship. Don't be overly alarmed now when she begins to speak.]

If we're smart, we can get through this together. I can open and close doors, maybe make a distraction or three while you get closer. And I'll know if you're being an idiot because I know everything right now.

the end is the beginning is the end
[At some point, however, she'll have finally relented to seclusion, tired of barking orders, tired of knifing and shredding and slamming her head against foreign systems she hardly understands. Should you want to approach her alone, she'll be away from most people, with whatever bottle of alcohol she managed to find, or even make herself. It's all relative now. Isha thinks she should rest, but there's a finality to this. Like always, she'll have chosen to dress her own wounds, because pride is something she still struggles to surpass.

She's seen better days. And like the days of yore, Isha takes a hefty shot before liberally dousing an open wound with the alcohol. Some part of her would rather not let anyone see or know of her existence anymore. Let her pass through like a shadow, as she used to before.

She knows it won't work out that way. Q, obediently, lays on his stomach silently, facing her opposite direction, towards everyone else as she lets her back be the visible part of herself.]

the third one

[sketchycharacter]

[Q probably notices someone approaching before Isha does. Dogs have better senses, robot or otherwise, and in any case he has a reason to detect this particular intruder. There's the quiet sound of movement before a robot German shepherd appears, metal ears alert and tail wagging.

He's not alone. A second or two later, his master appears—looking somewhat beefier than she remembers—and his expression rapidly cycles through confusion, surprise and delight.]

Wow, Ish, I can't believe you're sitting around when, you know. [He waves a hand vaguely.] Things are happening.

Cayde-6 // OTA

[deal_me_in]

Just Catching Our Breath
     The shortcut back to the station isn't one that Cayde would ever think to complain about. So far as he was concerned, the sooner out of creepytown, the better. The place they return to isn't the one he remembers off the top of his head, but it doesn't take too long to sync up his memories, and thankfully not with the backlash of the last time. The atmosphere however is a lot more welcoming than he last recalls, and while they aren't all out of the proverbial woods yet, at least for the moment they can wind down.

     "Of course, there's still our old 'friend' camped out somewhere here." He's not sure where everyone's at in regards to knowing about the Mother's presence, or if 76 or someone had made mention, the actual (failed) attempt to seek her out having been one of those things he hasn't come to recall. It's been weird.

     But one thing at a time, especially when the station's stability's come to question. With nothing much to do but wait until Tamen's gone to get those crystal things, Cayde and his Ghost have been occupying their momentary freetime with other things. Or at least one of them is. The two haven't been terribly inclined to wander too far from the Ingress Memorial. The guardian's Ghost in particular seems quite adamant about something, and perhaps if one's around, they might just see the moment it tries to...do something, briefly fading in and out as it passes through the glow over the memorial, shaking itself out a bit before its forward vertices seem to narrow a bit in what might be determination.

     "Hey, you sure you know what you're doing?" Cayde asks, or seems about to. He only gets half way when the little AI surges into the light again, vanishing in its usual motes of silvery light. The Exo balks, starting closer. "Ghost..?"

     Or perhaps you've missed that moment and the brief stint of panic to ensue, but either way in passing by some time (try a day) later either find Cayde camped out on the floor beside the Ingress or poking about the wall inscriptions before something shimmers and emerges from the Ingress Memorial- Cayde's Ghost has returned.



Threats - Barrier
     "Yeah, that doesn't look pretty."

     The Hunter Vanguard's made ever the understatement as he looks at the fleshy walls that they'd earlier had a glimpse of through security feeds that his Ghost managed to patch through the system that they'd booted up. Getting this far hadn't been without effort, as even with the areas already mapped out, technically while the layout hadn't changed since he and the others who had accompanied the Mother had last come through here, one needed to apply three hundred or so years of dilapidation on top of whatever damages had been sustained from the Ingress overload. Things had gotten only messier here on in.

     "Anyone see any strategically placed airlocks?" What better way to clear out an unwanted infestation?

     Cayde brings up his hand cannon, flipping the cylinder out before locking it back in with a spin to set it. All charged and ready. "Anyone having second thoughts? -okay good, let's do this then."

     He doesn't wait for a response, doesn't hesitate as he throws himself around the corner and opens fire.



Threats - Hunters
     *Blam!* Hopefully you weren't engaged in conversation with the thing, because suddenly it's head jerks forward before the rest of it topples into a quickly melting heap. Cayde twirls his gun, seeming about to say something when he lifts his head as though his attention's been brought to something else. His weapon's grip caught securely in his palm after its second pass, he swings his arm around his opposite side, firing behind him.

     "She fights dirty," he notes, turning as the other body does the same as the first, shaking his head. "You all right?"


((OOC: Will match preferred format!))

Catching breath - say a minute or few before Ghost returns?

[notglitching]

The upcoming assault requires major preparation, and Rinzler hasn't stopped for much. Certainly, he hasn't spent much time near the memorial—or its effects. With plans to make and imports rezzing in, the last thing he needs is to lose a millicycle glitching.

Still, the room is difficult to avoid entirely, and even in passing, the current occupant sticks out. Not least of all because Rinzler would have expected him to know better. The not-user doesn't look frozen, and the first time or two, Rinzler ignores the anomaly. But when he passes by later to see Cayde-6 still lurking in the space...

"Purpose?"

The question is accompanied by a familiar low rumble—and a red-glowing shadow headtilting from the door.

J | returning oldbie | OTA

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

Is the feeling taking over, hit you like a freight train? - BAR

['Be careful what you wish for.'

As the thought passed through her mind J was hit by the strongest wave of deja vu. It's almost freaky how quickly the anger, frustration and hurt that were dominating her mind just a second ago were gone and replaced by a feeling of familiarity and recognition -- like the one you get when you visit your childhood neighborhood after years of being gone. Gone was the chilly wind of New York's cold April evening and the echo from click of her heels fill in the empty hallway of the station. The change from outdoors to indoors really treated her well as she was only wearing her black dress with no coat.

Guided by this strange kind of melancholia and nostalgia J makes her way to the bar area and that's when it all hits. Memories are flooding into her all fresh and real. It's like she hadn't left the place in the first place.]

Huh. So much for a warm welcoming party. [She muses to herself and sits down on the stool, digging up a golden cigarette case from her pulse. She lights herself a smoke and leans her elbows on the counter like a bored cat.] Now, who'll pour this poor girl a drink and then take for a spin on the dance floor?

Did your tip toes tappin' bout the song they're playing? - RESIDENTIAL AREA

[A forgotten song is playing in the hallways of the __Suite's. And from the Unit 2 there can be heard a familiar voice, one that has been missing for a long time, singing along the lyrics:]

♪ ♬I'm through with love
I'll never fall again
Said adieu to love
Don't ever call again
For I must love you or no one
And so I'm through with love♬ ♪

[J's found her way back to her old room and is sitting on the bed while going through of her previous belongings. She's really impressed to see that her roomie (ex-roomie?) had actually kept everything she left behind and even took care some of it, at least her portable record player was working like a dream. Right next to her there was a pile of different kind of lingerie, colorful showgirl costumes, unfinished sewing projects, countless amount of cosmetic products from makeup to body lotions, cigarettes, diamonds and one huge teddy bear.]

Back to square one, it seems. [Well, only mostly. She certainly has more stuff on her than last time this happened but there was something very.. restless in this situation. ]

Have you the hard time, the one to make your motor run? - HUNTERS.

[And of course the calm and peace couldn't last. Not in this world. How silly of her to think that because really, J should know that better by now.

She's lurking behind one of the fleshy walls, a memory of a disgusting encounter that she had hoped to be one time horror event, hiding from one of the people she had first believed to be one of her acquaintances back from the twin planets. But no such luck -- on either scenario. Back were the way too vivid memories of the stink of the sewers and rotten flesh and feeling of adrenaline rushing through her veins, her instincts screaming her to flee from the scene as the big, tank-like guy roamed the halls while looking for her. ]

Fuck, fuck. [She whispers to herself between her ragged breaths as she tries to calm down. This is what you get for trying to be nice to strangers, she supposes. It'll end up you being cornered somewhere and hunted for your life.]

The fire breath would sure come handy now.

The right woman. (nightmare edit)

[The fast and pitched breathing can be heard from empty cleaning closet. J's crouched on the floor behind an open door, knees pressed against chest as she's almost hyperventilating. Her skin is white like sheet, eyes wide and watery from the shock and her entire being is shaking violently. It's like she's seen something beyond scary, like a ghost.

In the hallway near her hiding place there is a woman looking for her. There's wrinkles on the woman's forehead and big black bags underneath eyes left by stress and lack of sleep. Her blond, worn curly hair is covered by a grey scarf and she's wearing a matching, bland dress and apron. But other than that? She was almost identical to J, only several years older than her.

The woman doesn't say a word as she slowly staggers forward. Her eyes blank eyes are staring into the nothing.]


[WILDCARD]

Create your own adventure! J can be found all around the space station and hanging around for the renewal prompt!

bar

[skelepun]

Hah! Like you'd let me, kiddo.

[The voice comes from the other end of the bar, hazy and familiar. When she looks up, she'll see Sans. He's several glasses ahead of her, and there's a sense of something not quite right in how he looks at her. Less breathless recognition -- like they've shared before -- and more blithe humor at just how good a sense of humor the universe seems to have.

The last time they'd talked had been in this bar. And now here they were again. The silver light that brought her was gone, and the stage for a lackluster family reunion was set.]

Don't worry, sweetheart. You're not the only one it dragged back.

Shiro | OTA

[shiro2hero]

+ RESPITE
[In the time between the return to the station and the emergence of the chaos, all his time is spent locating the others. Trying to find friends. Trying to make sure his family all made it back here. That everyone is all right. He's not hurt, and being tired is nothing new to him. So, with his arm back in working order, finding his people is now all that matters.]

[Some part of him has to laugh. Isn't this always how he spent his days? Something went sideways -- finding the others was the priority. Always. That was never going to change, was it?]

[He'll be everywhere. From the greenery to the recreation areas. Even the library. Searching. Familiar faces greeted with open arms. And a nagging sense of urgency.]


+ FORWARD
[There's no choice, finally. There's only going Forward. If anything is meant to change, if anything is meant to get better, they've got to keep moving. Fight on. Shoulder the burden.]

[You deserve so much more]

[He'll be at the Barriers, his hand glowing like a star. Mercilessly hacking through the membrane as best he can, the weapon attached to his arm burning as it cuts. Letting the flesh curl away like blackened paper. The Hunters are more difficult to deal with. Fighting living things always is. But he keeps going. Sliding up to an ally's back and taking position to cut down the enemy around them.]

[We're fighting a war. We do what we have to do]

[Onward. Forward. To whatever end.]


+ FINALE
[I believe we all know how this story must End]

[It's what they've all worked for. Isn't it? The chance to go home again. To go back to the fight. To take up their mantles as Paladins and Defenders of the Universe again. To let Pidge return to her own personal mission. To get back to Lance and Keith and Coran. To tell their missing members how much they meant. How important they were and how much they mattered to the team. To save the universe. To be more than just people, more than just a band of cobbled-together family, to be soldiers again. To... ]

[... leave Alfor behind. Leave Darin behind. Diana. Lena. Shepard. Lavellan. Leave them all. The memories of the others. Of Lucio and Maine and North and Chara and Frisk and Angela and Fareeha and the children...]

[We're staying together. We all are. He'd told Hunk. He'd promised them. Time and time again. Constantly. Trying to make up for the fact he didn't know how to prevent what would come once they actually made their goal.]

[Whatever comes next doesn't feel like a win]

[His heart twists. Instead of feeling relieved... there's only something cold. But when someone approaches, anyone, he looks at them with an attempted bit of humor, an exhausted smile. Smothering down the trepidation. There's still more work to do. This... might not end up being the end.]

[Maybe there's still time to keep his word to them all. Somehow. Somw way.]

Looks like we did it. How about that?

kurt wagner [nightcrawler] ❧ ota

[shadowblends]

we all carry on; (allies)

[knowing they'll need all the help they can get for the final confrontations, kurt blinks here and there, collecting items and storing them in his pacdisc or preparing packs people will be able to carry with ease.

while distracting himself with this, he can be found in the living quarters, checking up on those he encounters (visitors included during brief hallway passings, perhaps?), at the greenery gathering plants that should provide a more medicinal use, or even at the library where he might find useful information to aid their current predicament.]

when our brothers in arms are gone; (threats [the barrier])

[nightcrawler is vaguely reminded of sludge. this amorphous form that mother has taken might be one of the most bizarre things he's ever seen and to be honest, he isn't sure he can get past with a simple bamf right now.

he does use the ability to get away from those flailing appendages, squinting as he dips this way and that, attempting to strike the creature's gory hide. observing the reaction, the teleporter cocks an eyebrow then motions with his free hand.]

How weird is this? [a prompt shake of the head.] It's like trying to fight jello.

raise your glass high for tomorrow we die; (renewal)

[as he'd done before their triumph over mother, the blue boy can't help preparing for the worst by gathering all the supplies they can spare. between the back and forth monotony of that, he finds it increasingly harder to ignore the fact there are people here he won't get to see ever again if they do end up succeeding in getting home.

it hits him harder than he'd like to admit, but each time, kurt forces himself through the hurt, blinking away tears that attempt to form then carrying on. whatever he can do that will keep him occupied long enough.]

You know, [he says, a little offhandedly.] I'm really going to miss this place.

[and here's hoping he doesn't sound too unsteady.]

and return from the ashes you call; (wildcard)

[ooc: or make your own adventure! thanks for all the great times, thisavrou! and for making my first game an amazing one ♥]

fighting jello hidden ass

[brokeassgoing]

HOW ARE YOU SO DAMN CALM?!?! I SEE THIS SHIT EVERY DAY IN MY NIGHTMARES-- YOU JUST CAN'T FLUSH IT-- is that it's glory hole.

[Badou's less amazed and more horrified, as you can tell]

Nathan Drake | OTA

[sketchycharacter]

i. wait, wasn't I just here?

[After almost two years, he'd gone home and stayed. And after what, two weeks? He's back. The memories return quickly, as does the awareness that serious shit is happening.

Cracking a smile and giving a wave to whoever's near seems like the right thing to do.]

Hey. Did I miss anything?

ii. the first rule of fight club

[...is that there is no club, this isn't recreation, this is a fight for their lives and maybe the lives of everyone who was ever touched by this place. Thank god he has a gun.

What he doesn't have is unlimited ammo, and even if he did, he's never been one to insist on going solo. He falls in step by step, back to back, with whoever is here and can still fight.]

Move in on 'em! I've got you covered!

iii. the fleshening

[It's a literal wall of flesh with organs.]

That is goddamn disgusting.

[He doesn't have anything else to say about that.

iv. the end

[Two years of his life passed in space, and it doesn't matter that he supposedly won't remember once it's all said and done. They happened. They mattered.

And they're not done yet. In the aftermath, as everything is being decided, he goes to people he recognizes. This might be now or never, and he's done wasting time.]

Hey. You doing all right?

[And to some, those he's being honest with.]

Hey. I wanted to say goodbye, just in case this is it.

1

[brokeassgoing]

[Badou immediately gives Nate a comradely punch in the shoulder and rolls his eye]

Good of you to choose such a shitty time to hang around. You only missed the end of the world.

Sideswipe | OTA

[redshitlord]

1) The Break
Okay, cool! So we saved the day, and now we get a break! Awesome.

[As he flops down in the nearest space large enough for a robot to flop down in. It'd be great. Just to relax. Just to have some time to talk to people for a little while. Maybe even pull out his music again...]

[Whoever happens to be nearby gets a weak sort of smile.]

Hey! How's it going?


2) The Fight
[But it doesn't last. Of course it doesn't last. It never has. That's the one stupid constant in this place. That no matter what they do, no matter how hard they work -- someone disappears. Something goes wrong.]

[Something tries to kill them all. Like right now.]

Gross! [As a sword the size of a two-by-four slams through the nearest foe. Be it the gross flesh wall or otherwise. But just like every time, Sideswipe does his best to square up and fight back.] C'mon! Let's do this!


3) The End Of All Things
[And then it's calm.]

[Then it's quiet.]

[And there's nothing but the shuddering ground and the light around them. Sideswipe doesn't know what to do. He's standing there, staring forward. As if that's somehow going to explain everything.]

It's -- are we going somewhere else?

[He sounds, suddenly, as young as he actually is. A teenager's uncertain voice from the frame of a familiar robot frame.]

3

[brokeassgoing]

[this silence is almost worse than the disgusting things they've seen, the horrors they've been dragged through the mud. In space no one can hear you scream and the stars don't give a shit-- they're already dead.

Badou lights a cigarette after what feels like a million years.]

To infinity and beyond, maybe.

Yori | OTA

[yorisearching]

1: analyzing countermeasures

Yori's not a combatant, but she's determined to give those who are every possible advantage. Now that the air is clean again at last, letting her stop fretting quite so much over all the oxygen-breathing Users, she can use her hard-earned knowledge of the Savrii systems to figure out how the defenses are meant to work and whether they can work again now, maybe better.

Smudged with the evidence of her current explorations of machinery, Yori is busy trying to wake the systems involved and remind them they have a purpose.

Someone might also need to remind her to rest every once in a while. Who has time for rest?



2: destroy or repair, let's talk about it first

After the battle and the chaos, everything seems to quiet, enough to allow space for thought.

If the Savrii couldn't control the Ingress without destroying planets along the way, and the energy itself seems happy to help when it's free and able, Yori favors letting it go. She's spent enough time talking to it to feel confident it's as capable of functioning on its own as it would be under strict control.

Also, of course, even if they destroy the mechanism itself she doesn't want to do any more damage to the station's computer systems while they're at it. No point destroying still more worlds.

She's willing to debate the question politely with just about anyone, though. The fact that she herself doesn't want to go home makes her worry that she's taking too big a risk with other people.

2 I was going to smoosh words on destroy and repair and then I realized it actually means something

[notglitching]

Rinzler's function is to deal with the threats. The investigation—and discussion—that comes after feels well outside his sphere of assessment. Still, that hasn't stopped the users yet: from chatting, moralizing, or imposing their own values. It's equal parts an irritation and no surprise at all.

He goes to find Yori.

Contact remained open through the battle, and he's already been assured that she's unharmed. Still, his own lights brighten at the sight of her blue glow, sound skipping just a little. The audio cue is probably announcement enough, but Rinzler keeps his approach in Yori's line of sight... as well as he can when she's working on these systems. Yori claimed the Ingress as her function over a cycle ago, and it surprises him not at all to see that the current debate has prompted new analysis.

Function matters, and the urgent queries have been answered. He'll pause just a step off, waiting for her current task to finish.

Ginko | returning oldbie | OTA

[notyetsore]

A - Allies - Greenhouse

Ginko... does not remember getting back to the station. In fact, he doesn't remember any indication that they were going to be getting to the station, and he gets the distinctly uncomfortable (and uncomfortably familiar) feeling of having missed something.

Which also means he's not quite sure where to go from here. So he wanders to the first place he can think of.

After the long exposure to all those toxins, the greenhouse isn't really as lively as it once was. So he wanders among the remaining plants, examining leaves and stems out of habit more than anything, checking over what's still alive.

He's got no idea what the hell is going on. So, might as well just... do what he's used to until he figures something out. This is probably fine.

B - Threats - The Barrier

That is... really, really gross. And very inconvenient, from what he's gathered. But he also doesn't know how to get past it.

Ginko has been trying to figure out how to bypass this thing for a while, but... there's not a lot he can do. He doesn't have any powers, or any real weapons - especially not anything that would let him attack it from a distance.

Eventually, he picks up a random piece of debris and hurls it at the barrier as hard as he can - which isn't actually very hard, but he did his best. He backs hurriedly away from its effort to lash out in response, pulling his arms in tight.

"...Maybe we should set it on fire."

C - Wildcard

[Message me at omixgirl10 if you wanna do something else!!]

Barrier

[redshitlord]

"You think?"

It's less of a "duh!" question and more of a hopeful one. He's not sure where Ginko went. The last time he'd seen him was on that weird planet... but maybe the guy was just keeping his head down. Sideswipe got it.

He's also got the barrier thing. With a giant sword.

"Do you have anything to set it on fire with?"

Tron - Returning Oldbie - OTA

[fight4theusers]

Allies

[This is certainly one place Tron never expected to see again. What he remembers has changed so drastically, much of the scenery and locations are unfamiliar. Still, the feeling of this place is the same, and he knows instantly where he's returned.

He wonders if anyone he knows is still here... he begins wandering these strange but familiar halls, looking for allies.]

Threats

[Here is easy enough to find something to do. The creatures attacking are a definite threat, though not as mindless as what they might have originally seemed. Tron has to pause and check himself several times to ensure that the thing approaching him is not another crewmember... but when it attacks, he fights back easily, discs glowing. Whatever has happened here, he will fulfill his role as protector.]

Allies!

[notglitching]

[As long as he's been running in the user world, Rinzler is hardly surprised to see new imports. The familiarity of this batch is more surprising, but not entirely unwelcome. Allies or enemies, known factors are much easier to account for.

Still, somehow he hadn't planned for this.

Rinzler rounds the corner and freezes, hand twitching just the slightest margin back. Familiar patterns. Familiar ID. From old (unwanted) files, but more recent memories as well: the duplicate who'd wandered these same halls a cycle back. If they hadn't been precisely hostile, allies still feels like a strain, and tension coils down the enforcer's bent spine as the scrape of conflict rises. It could be another virus. It could be a system glitch.

In some ways, that might be easier.]

Nova Barnett née Clone Shepard | Mass Effect

[petridish]

Wildcard: Reply here :) Feel free to hit me up at pohutukaryl or on my contact post if you want to plot.

Note for returning characters: If your character left before Arc III, Nova styles herself differently from when your character last saw her.

this is my favorite store on Avagi

[petridish]

[To say the last few months have been rough on Nova would be an understatement. Transformed into a bird, her humanity stripped away from her, sucked into a hivemind. It's changed her outlook on a couple of things: Namely, that maybe, just maybe, non-humans might not be so bad, and that if she's going to share anything, it's going to be on her own terms.]

Hey. [Yes, you.] Just... Take what you need. [Rope, perhaps, or a blanket, or an air mattress to camp out on, or any number of survival items or non-perishable foods.] And something you can hit those things with. [Like a survival knife, or a shovel or a trekking pole, offered to you on the flat top of her darling pod crab.

[In a way, her terms haven't changed that much: She's still interested in seeing humans safe. She still somewhat assumes this favor will be repaid down the road. But for once, the offer is less about what she'll get later and more about protecting people now.]

Nathan Drake | Uncharted + CRAU

[ascendit]

Wildcard: Reply here :) Feel free to hit me up at pohutukaryl or on my contact post if you want to plot.

there must be a beginning of any great matter

[ascendit]

[Wiping his gunblade on his jeans (don't worry, he'll clean it off when they're further away from the membrane), Nate points at a large, conspicuous looking button on a wall of the station, next to a rather distinct looking part of the wall.]

Maybe that'll get us through.

[He holsters his gunblade, then casually presses the button.

[Nothing happens. Which possibly should have been expected judging from the way this wall has not been left intact by the tremors through the station, but Nate groans anyway, rolling his eyes.

[Mid-roll he catches sight of something above - something that, from down here, looks very similar to the button at his chest height.]

I wonder if we have to push both at once...? There were some really tall species back on Kauto.

[And thus, as someone whose first instinct with obstacles is to climb them, he examines the wall and finds a pipe sticking out above.]

Hey - gimme a boost.

[a_perfect_end]

i. This Is Why There's No One (Allies)

He knows better. Second chances do not exist, and empires are dissolved for want of them. Still--

Some of the arrivals either don't find their people, or have no one left to find, and he knows what's that like.

The grin goes on bright and easy, friendly wave glib and practiced. Perfect.

"Been a while," he says for the first he recognizes. "How the heck are you? We could use your help."

ii. Invaders Must Die (Threats)

He was designed, originally, to manage life, and that mostly translated as pest control.

This is what it even brought him for. This is what he's done with every obstacle that ever confronted him.

"Glitching stupid, breakable, fragile--Get out of the way!"

If you're really into bodyslams, here's a nice one.


iii. Ruiner (D E S T R O Y)

"It's not about what we want." It's not the heralding sound of the end of the world, but it is the last thing he says in the interest of negotiation. "It's never been about that."

That thing is going down.

And for once he's not the only one who thinks it should happen.

III

[notglitching]

Wants have never held a high priority. Rinzler has always understood this—it's only recently that his own have become even a factor to acknowledge. Function matters. Loyalty matters, and when the battles have concluded, both draw him back to his admin's side.

Combat is Rinzler's function. The choices that come next are well outside what he was coded for, and with another system crashing all around them, he's not sure what investment he has left to guard. Apart from the obvious. The enforcer's mask lifts toward Clu (and toward Clu's declarations), sound ticking quietly in the background. Rinzler was made to fight and to obey—to bow silently to Clu's decisions, regardless of their cause. To serve.

It's only in these last few cycles that he's become capable of more.

"Then—" a hitch, a stutter, quiet sorting for the word. He finds it.

"Why?"

What is this about?

miles vorkosigan | returning character | OPEN

[forwardmomentum]

Returning oldbie here! Miles was on the Moira from the very start, for about the first year of the game before accidentally falling back into the Ingress. He is a pretty particularly odd-looking guy, so if your character was around for the first year of the game, they might recognize him, and either way, he stands out in a crowd. More info on him here, and feel free to hit me up at runawayballista for plotting!

ALLIES: arrival - closed to J

[forwardmomentum]

It's like waking up from a deep sleep. Not so much a blink of the eye; there's a sense of the passage of time, but his first thoughts are muddled and confused, floating in space. There's a flash of silver light at the edges of his vision and his feet are moving under him, stumbling forward without realizing he's even commanding them to, into --

The bar. Well, a bar, and there are people here, but it's not the Moira's bar. But this isn't Barrayar, either -- it doesn't look like anywhere he recognizes at all. And yet there's something familiar about it, that strange tingle in the back of his mind that seemed to come from the Ingress, every time it had spat him out -- this is the third, now. To be fair, though, he had died that one time.

The Moira -- the Ingress -- hadn't he just fallen in? Where the hell did it go? For that matter, where did the rest of the Ingress chamber go? And -- hey, wasn't his leg broken? Miles looks down at his legs, and realizes he's still wearing his old Moira uniform.

His mind is buzzing with too many questions, too many stimuli all at once -- there's something so disorientingly familiar about the bar, maybe just misplaced déjà vu because he'd run the Moira's bar for so long -- but his hands go automatically to his sides where he usually keeps his sidearms holstered, and he realizes with a little splash of relief that his old stunner and plasma rifle are still there. But it's a small comfort against the rising tide of overstimulation as he tries to piece together the situation. Is he having a panic attack right now? He might be having a panic attack right now. But hey, forward momentum, right?

He tries to get his mind to stop doing cartwheels around itself long enough to think, and he has to think fast. A distinctive-looking guy like him materializing in a populated bar is going to get noticed.

Flynn | the return | hmu!

[gridfather]

Allies

[ The universe just isn't ever gonna go to plan, is it? He's traded one portal for another in the span of an hour, oblivious to the months spent on this derelict space station while he hitched a ride on a solar sailer and then a stolen light jet, hurrying Sam and Quorra to a home he knew he'd never see again.

Well. That cleared up a few questions. Quorra's disc is warm between his shoulder blades, a comfort somehow through the aches and pains this last leg of his long journey have given to him. Glad we could make one more trip together, Q.

If he's here though, that means there's still work to do. Loose ends to tie up, people to see. Accosted by Clu not a minute into arrival, kept busy for much longer than that, Flynn finally has a moment free. At the moment, he's hastening toward the labs-

-and very nearly collides into a familiar face, instinctively reaching out to steady them by the elbow. Tired as he is, this old man still has a smile for them, bright and lit with soul-suffusing joy. ]

Hey man! You're a sight for sore eyes.

[alan_1]

[It’s been a difficult past few months for Alan. First had been the harrowing journey to the other side of the station and the attack by the Mirtos. Then there had been the silver light, whisking many—but not all of them—away. Alan hadn’t known what to think when he found Flynn was no longer among them. Had Flynn been killed by the Mirtos? The toxic fumes? Or had the silver light taken him somewhere else entirely? It was the same kind of torturous uncertainty that had afflicted Alan when Flynn had disappeared the first time those decades ago and its return had devastated him. That is, until it, along with all other individual thought, had been lost on Namalos, at least for a time.

Alan has only recently been freed from the hivemind and at least he can report with certainty now that he prefers being an individual, heartaches and all. He’s still feeling out of sorts almost a day after they return to the station, mind still reaching out for others that aren’t there. It’s enough that he doesn’t even process the sound of footsteps drawing nearer as he makes his way down the hall until he nearly collides with someone. He stumbles a step back in surprise and a hand steadies him by the elbow. He’s about to mutter a word of apology when he realizes exactly who he’s just run into.

Alan stares for a long moment, the mental fog that’s plagued him for weeks replaced by a dizzying rush of emotion seeing that face and hearing that voice again. Relief, joy, incredulity, and… anger? He wouldn’t be able to process it all on a good day, much less after everything that’s happened. He says the first thing that comes to him, barely thinking at all.]

You have got to stop doing this to me.

[Even he isn’t sure whether he’s kidding or not.]

Erik Lehnsherr | returning oldbie | ota

[frankensteinian]

Allies - the hallways

[There's a moment of disorientation at first, because this is not where he's supposed to be. He had just been at the mansion talking to Charles, with the assurance that this time he'd keep in touch, and a moment later he's in an unfamiliar hallway. How did he get here?

It takes a moment, but the memories start to filter in, memories of a place that isn't the home he knows. He'd been there only a matter of months, and never really felt like it was home, but he knows things now that he hadn't known then. The place might not have felt like home, but now that he remembers it again, he also remembers the people that he didn't know he missed. What Raven had said in Cairo, why couldn't it be true of this place too? Maybe in this place there's also a family to fight for. He's not going to find them if he doesn't go looking.

This isn't a hallway he knows, and he doesn't know where it will take him if he follows it. But he does know that it's probably not wise to remain standing here, so he picks a direction and sets out walking. Even if he doesn't come across someone he knows, he might find someone who can fill him in on what happened around here while he was gone.]

[ooc: If you want a different option, hit me up on plurk or in a PM.]

Agent Washington | Red vs Blue | OTA

[notyourrookie]

Allies
[Time to go to war. Should have expected it. Since when have things ever been quiet here or back where he came from?

At least the air is better quality than it had been. Makes it easier to stock up on what he needs. When it hasn't been shaken loose by the quakes at least.

Wash spends his time stockpiling what supplies he can, collecting weapons that might be useful, even if not to him. He's learnt to trust his instincts and every one of them is screaming at him that things are going to go bad very soon.]


Threat
[The hallways have been turned into something from nightmares; flesh organs pulsing against the walls, horrific but somehow still living. He thinks he's seen a movie like this before and he wishes he'd never had to remember it. Luckily he isn't a strange to gore, and once he sets aside the initial mix of sick horror and revulsion, Wash is adept at causing damage.

Grenades, small bombs, knives if he has to, anything to get them through this... thing. A wall of flesh. He really hates that he's ever had to think about this.

And beyond the wall, it doesn't let up. He thinks he recognises them. They look like people he knows, flashes of them out of the corner of his eye. Maine one second, Connie and even the idiot sim troopers. They lack the charisma though, and it seems like once the mask is off, there's no returning it.


Renewal
[He just wants to sleep. Stupid, isn't it? Reaching the end and just wanting to sleep until it's all over. Let someone else figure this out! He's the muscle. He'll go where he's told and do what he's instructed if anyone has ideas, but otherwise Wash is content to sit in the odd glow of the Ingress energy and try not to fall asleep.]

Allies

[notglitching]

[Rinzler's weapons are, as always, docked in the center of his back. Still, users are much less sensibly designed, and arming everyone is a reasonable procedure—especially in anticipation of this threat. When he finds out about the stockpile, he shows up, carrying a small collection of shock-sticks and knives to deposit with the rest.

The opaque helmet appraises Wash a moment before angling pointedly to one side. Status?]