event: a gentle explosion

[thestewards]

I see a world just out of reach
With shoulders of giants at my feet
There’s not a challenge I’m afraid to meet

► The OOC plotting post for this event can be found here.

► Direct all questions to the mods at this link.

STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
You wake, warm and comfortable, and realize that you’re no longer where you were when you went to sleep. The dream was real. As you clamber out of bed and open your door, an impassive footman greets you and leads you to breakfast in a large hall filled with many, many people. They sit around a hodgepodge of tables in a mishmash of furniture—nothing matches anything else, and no two chairs are the same.

The woman from your dream catches your eyes. She stares at you with open shock. “Well,” she says, as a number of males turn to her with withering looks. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She smiles at you. “Welcome to Draega, Stranger. Please, join us.”

Join them at the table and have your breakfast, Stranger. There isn’t much to offer: porridge, water, a bit of milk, some wrinkled fruits, and bread. Coffee, thankfully, is not in short supply. Meet your fellow Strangers, both the ones choosing to live at the Queen’s Residence and those who arrived in the night with you.

As breakfast draws to a close, the Queen’s Steward, Prince Loren Sorey, explains that you may choose to find your own home or stay in the residence for as long as you please. Those who stay will receive a modest stipend but are required to participate in Allairavar’s morning trainings every day. At dawn. Before breakfast. Those who go will need to find their own homes among the ruined buildings of the city and make their own money.

The court begins filtering out of the Great Hall, dispersing to attend their many duties. Linger, Stranger, and overhear…

“What did you mean?” The man leaning over the Queen is Prince Allairavar. His membranous wings flare around him, and his expression is menacing. “This wasn’t supposed to happen?”

Queen Fayura doesn’t look at all alarmed by the massive man caging her against a wall. “It was a one-time spell,” she says. “The web was—” Her eyes go wide. “I need to go look at the web.” She ducks under Allairavar’s arm, which could put a tree trunk to shame, really, grabs Prince Verim, and drags him from the hall.

Allairavar bares his teeth at the wall and snarls. The sound rumbles through the room, and dark temper washes briefly through the residence before all the tangled webs tucked in corners absorb it, leaving the building peaceful and clean of psychic feeling once more.

A TALE OF TWO IDEALS
At exactly 5:46pm, an explosion rocks the city of Draega. Black clouds belch fire to the northwest of the city. Concurrently, in Old Town, a mob of landens armed with Breakers and Muters descends on The Last Meal. They surround an older, Blood woman.

i. Black Out
The power plant maintained by the Tinkers and the Elektrics has exploded. Across Draega, e-line appliances shut down and the city plunges into darkness—the sun set some 45 minutes ago.

Prince Loren reaches out to approximately half the Strangers, asking them to go to the power plant. He shares a mental map with them so they know how to reach the building, as well as the Craft used for air-walking. The tutorial is quick and hardly complete, but now you’ll be able to run above the city to reach your destination.

The power plant burns. Black smoke pours into the air. Master Elektric Doriah organizes the Tinkers and Elektrics who were able to escape on their own. A quick glance reveals how absolutely exhausted she is. When Strangers approach, she sneers but isn’t about to turn away good help.

“There are still people inside. The Blood who did this trapped us in shields.” She hesitates only a moment before collecting Breakers from guildmembers carrying them. “Take these. Your Jewel may not be able to break through the shields.”

Inside, well-ordered building is a mess of fire and melting steel. Airwalking protects your feet, and shields can keep out the heat, but you’ll need something more to protect your lungs. Put out fires, stop systems from overloading, save the machines from complete destruction, and rescue missing workers who are suffocating and cooking inside shields. The guildmembers trapped in the power plant will assist the Strangers who free them, helping mitigate the damage done to the plant and keep it from exploding the rest of the way.

ii. Death of a Councilwoman
Councilwoman Vera enjoys dinners at The Last Meal, and this is well known by everyone in the city. Today, public knowledge of her schedule doesn’t work so well in her favor.

As she approaches the restaurant with her family, a group of landens descends on them. Muters prevent the Blood from taking any action that isn’t purely physical, and this is enough to throw most of them off their stride; they’re used to relying on Craft to fight. The landens separate Vera from her family in a short-lived brawl. She shouts and screams—“Let me go! Don’t you know who I am? The Queen will have you executed for this! Your families will be thrown out of the city! You’re making a mis—”

A shot rings through the air.

The landens peel away from one of their own, a young man gripping a Breaker in both hands. He trembles as he stands over Councilwoman Vera, whose expression is frozen forever in shocked disbelief. Her body crumples to the ground, blood from a gunshot wound on her chest staining the white fabric of her blouse.

In the silence that follows the shot, Allairavar shoves free of the crowd. “Go home!” he snarled, Craft powering his voice.

No one moves.

Except the young landen man. He takes off at a run, and the crowd is still too horrified to do much to stop him. Allairavar wastes no time. He plunges after the young man. At the same time, he reaches out to the minds of the Strangers closest to Old Town. *The Ebon Council is, collectively, a sack of reeking shit, and Lady Vera was a bitch,* Allairavar tells the Strangers. *But if we don’t get between the Blood and the landens, we’ll have another war. We can’t afford another war. Keep them from killing each other while I deal with this idiot.*


AIR TIME
Whether you catch the news on a Far-caster in the city or you’re spinning the dial on your own device, you’ll hear…

the news
…angered local landen families by her hard-line position that Blood homes should receive priority as the city continues to recover from the fires set by the Hunter Guild last month. [The man speaks at a brisk pace, hurried and harried as though he has too much to say and not enough time to say it.]

Councilwoman Vera is known for her vocal disdain for the landen Guilds, isn’t that right, Garret? [Another man, nasally in tone. He doesn’t sound rushed so much as put upon.]

[Garret:] Correct, Wilt. She—excuse the interruption, but we are just now hearing— [The feed abruptly cuts off. Static pours from the Far-caster regardless of what local channel it is tuned to.]

Comments

[theladyofwinterfell]

A leader that you chose? That...when they made my brother king, it was because he was still of the royal line, the line of House Stark. We hadn't had a king in a while, of course, but they still chose from House Stark. You choose one without a thought to a bloodline? Truly?

( That seems fanciful, in a way, and Sansa is more than intrigued about this sort of government. )

[sunborne]

[ the worst thing for haein right now?

it's that daylight has audacity to look confused by haein's (reasonable) outburst, something he makes clear when he begins cocking his head and begins blinking at him with those dark eyes of his. ]

It's me! Daylight! [ he spreads his arms out to demonstrate the fact that this is, indeed, him. ] Didn't I say I was going to slip into my avaform?

Weeeeeell- This is it.

[ he pats himself down and something strange happens when he does so- when his hands smack against his chest, a sort of ripple occurs throughout his body. his entire ripples and distorts and digitises, pixels and blocks of light becoming evidence before snapping back into place as his 'hair' and 'skin' and 'clothes', just like that.

it's one of the more disconcerting things that daylight could do with his avaform when in front of someone who's never experienced it before. more so when he continues to talk like this is no big deal. ]

It's a projection of hard light that I can monitor when I'm in exploratory stasis mode. It allows me to interact with humanoids on a more, ah, reasonable scale.

[mollymocked]

[And boy does that sting a bit. How nice it must be to have people and not be stuck here alone. Not that Molly is going to linger on that shit for very long.]

So here's the question, then. Do I leave you here and let them find you?

[mollymocked]

Oh, darling. [Yep. Sorry, Zita. You're getting a hug and forehead kiss. By accepting his friendship, you have accepted that Molly is going to be super cuddly without preamble or permission.] Shhh. None of that. It turned out all right in the end, yeah? And these things happen, especially when people think they've got a good reason to be awful.

[mollymocked]

As a person who touches and likes being touched, even someone who could rip his throat out with nary a thought encroaching on his space is given little reaction. He even relaxes a bit at the hand on his shoulder, as if he's just more comfortable when there's physical contact involved.

"I find it really easy to make snap judgments on people, and I'm comfortable doing it, since people make them about me all the time." He sticks the cigarette in his mouth and lets it dangle so he can pat Jonathan's hand. "But I all but gave you permission to tear into those arseholes and you didn't do it, so I'm inclined to believe that you're probably a politer person than I am, all told."

[hardlyanangel]

[ A bit of a crook at the edge of lips, reading his tone.]

Jon Snow, a pleasure.

. Aithne paused considering the question before answering, at least as best as she could.

That answer is complicated. It certainly is a tortured place, as if their is some sickness. That I have not seen the like, or at least to this extent. The rest... [The Valkyrie gave a gentle shrug.] ...is familiar enough, especially from my youth. Perhaps not to these extremes.

[hardlyanangel]

She had a gentle, curious expression on her face as he explained. Though an eyebrow arched at the words "Galactic Union' . She inquired.

"And are there those that disagree on the decisions this Union makes?"

[championbittersweet]

Jonathan had expected the opposite reaction to the contact, so he's clearly a little surprised that Mollymauk reacts so positively to it. He gives a slightly awkward, though still friendly squeeze and pulls his hand away, clearing his throat. Physical contact is slightly foreign to him, raised in a conservative culture as he was, and he finds it easier to keep his distance.

Although it surprises him somewhat to hear that the other man, as bright and vibrant looking as he is, has so many issues with how people see him.

"Are people not used to... tieflings? where you are from? If it earns you such negative attention, why not hide it?"

[shiftinglikeclay]

[The name gets a slight nod. He's been dealing with Nordic names more than he'd like recently, but he won't hold that against Emil.]

Food's food. [And if it's at all edible, he's going to eat it.]

My squat's down this way. [As squatter residences go, it's not that bad. Sure, the windows have all been broken in, but Alex has gotten some boards up, and inside while it might not be warm, it's at least out of wind and weather. There's even a table and some mismatched chairs.]

[shiftinglikeclay]

This past summer. 'Course then it turned out that Magnus's ship sailed itself so he needn't have worried. [She shrugs, mostly unconcerned.]

You okay? You're looking... shellshocked.

[illequipped]

[Emil actually, genuinely leans away from him.]

This explains so much about you.

[championbittersweet]

[Is he just going to... Jonathan watches with some fascination as Lalli pulls the carafe of milk towards himself, wondering what exactly he means to do with it. He hasn't drunk milk on its own since he was a child, and now he cannot so he finds himself oddly envious.

His hearing is sharper than human, especially here, so he catches that softer remark easily. His voice is carefully gentle:] Before you came here?

[thequitecontrary]

There are apparently others who have this affliction. Mary briefly wonders if it's contagious and if she ought to be touching Jonathan's arm. She notices that they move through the shadows now and that Jonathan seems much more comfortable there. Is he ashamed of his appearance?

"That's noble of you, Dr. Reid. You are a good man." She pauses for a moment. "I haven't told you how happy I was to find someone here who is so familiar with my time and the world I come from."

They're only a few years removed, even if much did change in those years.

[ilves]

[People give him these looks all the time, man. He doesn't enjoy when people stare at him, but he's not, like, particularly concerned about this other person's opinion? Especially not when he's asked such an obvious question. Like...?]

The ones that exist.

[Obviously! He'll just nonchalantly take another sip of milk, thanks.]

[sunborne]

....

He frowns, tilting his helm to the side and his winglets fluttering in confusion. "I'm... I'm not sure, to be honest." Politics had never been his best class when he was still being taught by Softlight in the day. "I guess? Not all planets' government are part of them and stuff."

That would be impossible to achieve. Mom and others had worked hard to get new planets to join them, but they would meet the occasional one that refused to join.

[unwieldy]

[ WOW?? He is so personally offended now. ]

I'm not going to blame my schools for how things might have turned out for me. [ Shitty. He turned out shitty and he knows this. ] That's what small, weak-minded people do.

[unwieldy]

[ Only one person is allowed to be confused right now and that's Haein.

The sad thing is, explanations are usually supposed to clear things up, but the one offered does nothing but make Haein's head further spin. He openly stares at the demonstration, before back down the alley that Daylight had disappeared into, as if expecting it to hold all the answers.

When none come, he turns back to Daylight. There's that wariness from before again, and he takes a small step back, regarding the other... boy... uncertainly. ]

So your... actual body? It's back there?

[ Points to the alley.

This is too strange. He hadn't even gotten used to the giant robot before things just went south into Deep Weird and now he's got this to deal with. ]

[illequipped]

[Oh. Oh, goodness-- Emil has a split second to figure this out, which is just great, and he is just barely ready to catch but he is always ready to complain.]

Why do you have to throw everything!!

[That includes him, see. The attempt on his young, non-thrown life. But he manages a catch and then, with the urgent help of the people in the shield, fumbles with the breaker until it comes to life properly-- too soon for him to aim, so he hits a spot down closer to the floor, which makes the shield kind of... crackle? But does nothing.

He'll get it on the second try, give him a minute. Be ready to grab some people?!]

[illequipped]

[Emil gives him a look as if to say don't worry, he is already blaming these schools in Haein's stead. It all makes sense now! This terrible boy is terrible because of Public School.]

Sure, whatever. You don't have to defend school.

[illequipped]

[Greek doesn't exist anymore either...!! Morse code, maybe, but Emil doesn't know jack about anything not Scandinavian, so.]

A couple more? [Why does it not work instantly! But fine, fine. He gestures for Leo to continue, and also--] Count again with your fake language.

[Which is not a weird thing to say at all, and anyway, he is Punch Ready.]

[sunborne]

... How rough exactly? [ he frowns now, his expression becoming clouded with worry upon receiving the warning and the advice.

he knew he was supposed to help out here, given the arrangement he agreed to. he could also tell there's some funny stuff going on thanks to some of the (concerning) gossip he's been hearing. ]

I've- I've heard mutterings about the 'landen' and the 'Guilds' when coming by. [ it's how he got the idea to see them, honestly. ]

[verstoned]

Some landen Hunters broke in last month, tried to assassinate us all. Same night, a fire broke out here in the city, an' more Hunters tried to kill anyone who attempted to put it out.

[Rhus takes a moment to put the banana back down on the table, and pull out his pipe, a small, thin silver thing with a dragon engraved upon it, and inspects the bowl to check if it still has some of the weed inside. Then he pulls out his tobacco pouch and goes through the motions of rolling his weed into small balls to fit into the pipe bowl.

He needs a smoke.]

The landens don' like us much, still.

[sunborne]

Yeah. I'm back there and it's why I needed to look for a place like that. [ also... ] Can you, um, not point at that direction? Please?

[ pretty please? he would like people to not wander there, wondering what this conversation is all about, and finding his body curled up against one of the walls. it's not fun to have curious folks poke at him when he's defenceless like that.

not fun and not something he would recommend, like, ever.

right! let's back to the task at hand! that person needs support and they're not going to be giving them that if they're here. ] Since that's all addressed and stuff-! Come on!

[ daylight now jogs pass haein, motioning for him to follow because, clearly, there's no need to talk about this any further.

again: the utter audacity. ]

[sunborne]

[ he's ready to grab some people!

the first attempt is a prelude for what's to come. at least, that's how the people in the shield are reacting when they pull back to give emil space.

there's no need for a third time because, indeed, the second time is the charm - for shield crackles and flickers with vigour compared to the first try. then, before their very eyes, it breaks apart and reveals the trapped souls inside. the people inside can be heard audibly gasping for breath, praising their gods and their saviours for their rescue.

this is daylight's cue to lean forward and scoops them up into his arms, which is a feat of in itself. he's ten feet tall, not ten feet wide. it doesn't help that the chaos around them seems to decide that's the time to increase with a rumbling collapse happening way too close to them.

okay. ]

I think that's our cue to leave. Come on- I know a shortcut we can use to get back out faster!

[thedarkbond]

The...princes, were they called? [There had been some understanding of the system in Ren's head when he woke up, but he hadn't had a lot of opportunity to actually exercise that knowledge just yet. Better to do it here than in a situation where a faux pas might have greater consequences.

That train of thought is broken when Rhus makes that remark, though, and Ren turns his head, eyes narrowing as he tries to parse shapes out of the smoke.]

I can't tell from over here... [He can see something that appears like it could maybe be the edge of a shield amidst the low visibility, but that's the extent of it. Still, he moves a bit closer, somewhat cautious with the roof here in the state it's in.] Is this way where you saw it?