thisavrou_log | April Event and Final Game Log

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April Event and Final Game Log

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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anything other than that? More than that?

[More than just "alive"?]

You and me both. Maybe just... a few days. Where nothing's breaking.

I imagine you've heard the phrase "I'll sleep when I'm dead," yes? [He knows them. He's probably heard it. They've certainly uttered it, and plenty of phrases like it, enough for it to be familiar in tone, if nothing else.]

One cannot put stock in such things.

[They've been dead more times than they can count, and they still haven't gotten any rest! ba dum tsh]

More times than I have grey hairs.

[That's more like himself. That's more like the weary spaceman who deflects and soldiers on.]

Chara... this feels like we're heading somewhere. All this is ... leading somewhere. [It's just a feeling. He doesn't yet know about what waits for them, deep in the station.]

[At the end of the road.] Would you consider staying, this time? Sticking around?

[Come with us, he wants to say.]

It's the End.

[That is one thing they can recognize unfailingly, a talent they have and will always possess: the ability to distinguish the sense of finality that comes with knowing that all roads find their end.]

[Even the more ouroboric sorts cannot escape the complete, eclipsing force of an ERASE.]

It was hardly my choice the first time. I fail to see why I should entertain the idea that any of us will be allowed a choice now.

[Since when has choice ever been afforded to them?]

[Since when have they been allowed to choose anything, save for the method of their own death?]

How do you know?

[It's an automatic question. The kind that comes when you aren't sure if you really want the answer someone just gave you. But do hey mean the end for them? Or the end of more?]

[A shake of his head.]

If it's the end then... humor me?

It is the one thing I always know. I've brought it about myself, in some cases. Or I will.

[That was a glimpse of their future: a crimson blade rending the world apart in a great string of angry red 9's. If ever one were to think they were above consequences - they would be proven wrong.]

Why entertain false hopes?

Because you didn't expect to come back.

So maybe, this is going to be different than you expect, too.

[All he wants is for Chara to entertain a "maybe". Just once. Maybe that's selfish.]

[And maybe by now, he can't bring himself to worry about selfishness anymore.]

If it is different, if it truly turns out to be something other than what any well-meaning SOUL would expect...

[They began this sentence before they'd conceptualized an ending for it, it turns out. Or, rather, they'd assumed that the ending would be obvious enough to them that it hardly boded thinking about - until, of course, it did.]

I suppose I'd consider it.

After all, there is nothing for me here, or where I come from.

[That's as good as an agreement, as far as he's concerned. Coming from them, coming from Chara... it's as good as he can expect. More than he can expect. More than he did expect.]

[And it actually makes him smile a little. It's funny how completely relieved he feels, just to hear that.]

Thank you, Chara.

[And he means it. With everything he's got.] If we can... then I want you with us.

[The ridiculousness of him thanking them for that non-answer notwithstanding - ]

"Us"?

[Forgive them for being wary; it's hard to say who he means, when he says "us" - exactly how inclusive he's being, and how many of the seemingly infinite lost souls he's eager to take under his wing would be, hypothetically, joining them.]

[Hey, he's grateful for anything they give him.]

My team and I. You've seen them here before. Hunk, Pidge. Allura. Keith and Lance back there.

[He knows they've spoken to Lance, at least. The others have been around here and there, not exactly quiet during their time.]

I've not gotten on particularly well with any of them in the past, if you recall.

[Granted, they've only interacted with Lance and Pidge - Keith, once. None of those conversations went terribly well.]

I know.

But that can change. A lot of things have changed.

[And they'll take his word on this. They'll trust him on this. He knows they will...]

[It'd be worth it to get Chara somewhere they could live...]

[They hum their acknowledgment; a neutral tone that does not indicate a sense of commitment one way or another.]

And who here hasn't played the odd rousing game of Anywhere But Here?

If you end up not liking it on the Castle Ship... there's a few planets I know of you could try.

Places with no humans.

[He remembers that conversation. So long ago. It would hurt, if Chara decided to leave, but -- Anywhere But Here. Anywhere but whatever doom they were so sure waited for them.]

There are too many others that would require your attention, surely. Too many of the lost and the disenfranchised, who would need a home and an elsewhere to be.

[Why concern oneself over one small child, compared to an entire hypothetical diaspora of unlikely spacefarers who would presumably need some place to go, just the same as they?]

That doesn't make you matter less to me. I... think I've made that pretty clear by now.

[Because he cares.]

[That's why. Because one life is just as important, isn't it?]

My point is that exacting undue effort on my behalf to the detriment of others may very well not be worth it.

[Which is to say, it isn't worth it. At all.]

Who says it would be a detriment? I wouldn't offer if it was.

[They're worth it though, he says. Though, he's fairly sure they would disagree.]

[Their smile is as practiced as it is bittersweet, and doubtless just as achingly familiar.]

You'd rather be needing to go out of your way. Would you not?

Or... we teach you to fly a shuttle. And you do it yourself.

We have them to spare, before you say anything.

[Patiently, calmly, doing what he can to convince them. Just to try. Just this once... try to live.]

[He really doesn't know when to QUIT, does he.]

[That's a human quality if they ever saw one.]

I expect I already know the answer, but in the case that I do not: what is it that keeps you going, Shiro? Why do you endure the way you do? What thought galvanizes you into making attempt after attempt, day after day?

Because I have to.

[Maybe they do already know that answer. Maybe he's said it a hundred times, a thousand times, before now. It doesn't matter. It's still true. He has to. If he falls, if he falters, then it leaves the people he cares about vulnerable.]

[He's the leader. He's the one with the mantle on his shoulders. With the weight of the world. He has to.]

[Even here. Even with the constant offer of support, the constant reminders he is not alone, he's only human, you deserve so much more than what you were given, he still has to. Because no matter how calm the skies, there's always been a storm on the horizons.]

I spent a year in space prison and came out again. I lived. What's a little more?

They need me to keep going.

Your team, then.

[That's the easy part. There's a they that needs him, who he needs in turn, to find his due motivation. That has never been a secret. He feels very deeply, and that has never been a crime - how could they say as much, when they are no better?]

And what would you do, then, if that reason to endure were to vanish? Or, worse, if it were to disown you?

Is this about Asriel?

[It's asked quietly. Working his hardest to keep anything even remotely accusatory out of his voice. He doesn't want to make them feel guarded. Just... has the feeling that may be what this is about.]

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