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agentlelog2019-02-19 07:00 pm
thestewards) wrote in agentlelog2019-02-19 07:00 pm
Entry tags:
- !modevent,
- !modpost,
- aithne,
- alex fierro,
- calvin lee,
- clarke griffin,
- daisy whitfoot,
- daylight vis lornlit,
- emil västerström,
- haein seo,
- henry percy,
- horatio hornblower,
- jason grace,
- jon snow,
- jonathan reid,
- lalli hotakainen,
- leo valdez,
- mary crawley,
- mordred,
- peter parker (spider-verse),
- piper mclean,
- ren suzugamori,
- rhus bashe,
- river song,
- sansa stark,
- takame kesi,
- zita harrington
event: a gentle explosion
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.
► 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.]
no subject
oh.
um.
oh.
whoops.
after a few seconds of holding still when he realises something is up, daylight's annoyed expression melts into sheepishness and he begins to set the poor flailing guy down. he pulls back when he's sure the guy is safely back on the ground, rubbing the back of his neck now. (while also keeping an optic out for the flames.) ]
Sorry! I didn't know you were joking. I thought you were- [ a distant scream cuts daylight off short. the sound catches daylight's attention, his helm moving towards the directions of it. ] Did you hear that? It sounded close.
[ despite how muffled it sounds, must be nearby for them to be able to hear it at all. ]
no subject
When he's back on the ground it takes him another second to come back to reality, shaking his head and looking up (and up and up) indignantly.]
You thought I really wanted— [To be thrown like a shotput around the building??? They can table this discussion for later, at least, since someone is screaming somewhere in here. Ah-]
I heard it, but I can't see anything! [nnnNNNH] Let's just go!!
[And off he goes, ready to rescue someone or die horribly, whichever.]
no subject
daylight hurries after the guy, making sure to jog ahead to push fallen beams and crumbling ways so they're not an obstacle for him. it causes more smoke and dust to be belched out into the night, stinging poor daylight's optics in the process, but there's that saying with eggs and omelette and cracking.
by the time they reach the source of the screaming, it's clear they've gotten there just in time - the pair inside flickering shield are struggling to hang on.
judging by their clothes and their age, the man and the woman in the shield are the line managers. the man is leaning against the shield, clutching at his throats, while the woman tries to keep her wild eyes on daylight and emil and her companion. ]
We're here to help! Don't worry- We'll get you out of there soon as we can! [ after he says that, he turns to his new partner and looks very lost. ] So- What do you want to do?
no subject
Make the best of it? Embrace fate?? Emil figures he'll do one of those, more concerned with the people in the shield once they come into view. Ah—]
What do you mean what do I want to do?! [Does he have to shout this loudly? No, but he's fairly convinced this big guy is too big to hear him from all the way down here. He'll learn.] Help them!
Just— help me hit it!!
[That's the big plan: punch it REAL good.]
no subject
daylight looks at the shield and looks back at his partner, wondering if it'll be safe for him to try and punch and kick it. hmm... would shooting work? he has his arc gun and that can pack a mean punch.
thankfully- the folks in the shield are frantically shaking their heads. it seems they can hear what's going on outside the barrier and, um, they're not cool with the idea of two boys - one a pratcial giant - whacking at their bubble while they're helpless to defend themselves. good intentions or no.
instead, the man still standing is pointing at daylight. daylight's waist, specifically, because he has something strapped around it- ]
Oh! [ he looks down and sees the strange tool he had been given when he was rushing into the fires. ] Oh yeah... I forgot I was given this.
no subject
But thankfully, his companion's apparent bumbling through basic tasks is a bigger distraction. Emil didn't notice the breaker either and doesn't understand how they're supposed to work, but-!]
You had that this whole time?! Use it!
no subject
[ switching out his arc gun for the breaker, daylight attempts to start the thing up. it isn't long before he runs into an issue:
the breaker is too small for his servos.
in the shield, the people in it are trying to show the motions of turning the darn thing on but daylight is just too big for the thing. he can follow their instructions surprisingly well, but his fingers won't press the right buttons or switches for it to work.
eventually, they turn their attention to emil and desperately gesture to him to take it from daylight and use it. since he's their size, they can only hope he can get it to work faster. ]
no subject
However, he's uh, still about half the size of his fun metal companion, so all he can do is wave his hands over his head. He feels like a child trying to get something from their parents...]
Give me that!
no subject
[ daylight is so startled by the command that he doesn't fight back. he's quick to turn towards emil's direction, hefting the breaker as if he's going to toss is his way and is daylight seriously going to be throwing their only surefire way to save these people-
it looks like he is.
with a huff, daylight carefully (but urgently) tosses it towards emil's direction. hopefully emil can better operate the breaker than daylight can with his too big servos. ]
no subject
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?!]
no subject
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!
no subject
That's— okay! Go!
[He'll follow! He isn't a gifted runner and the oppressive atmosphere of the chaos in the collapsing building is making it worse, so he starts to lag behind before they can reach the way out... but that's fine, Daylight can get those people to safety, and Emil will catch up in due time, huffing and puffing on his wee human legs. He extends a hand to Daylight, either to get his attention or because he's about to just wobble and fall over, one of the two.]
There are... I heard more people back there!
no subject
Wait- What??
[ amazing, daylight. amazing.
daylight stops despite the poor reaction from the people he's carrying. as he jogs over to emil's side to let his partner use his frame as suppose, daylight tries to adjust his audials and their frequency, expanding the range in hopes of trying to catch whatever emil caught in the mist of all this chaos.
it's faint but... but... yeah. he hears yelling. two are muffled, frenzies. one is more clear, to his surprise, but they don't sound good between their coughs and stutters. ]
We've got to help them and do it now. [ he turns to the direction that they were heading to and attempts to assess the fire damage. ] We only have half an hour left, at best, before this path closes off and we need to find another way out.
[ and daylight doesn't like their odds of finding a new path. it'll be now or never, since he feels like they won't have enough time to get these survivors out, get them somewhere safe, get back in the power plant to do it all over again.]