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

[inducings]

[ She lets him curl his arm around her and move her closer to him. It's comfortable and good and she's almost completely forgotten they have to eat porridge right now. ]

Really glad to see you. [ She can't blame him for saying yes to the dream - she did too. She can't imagine he thought it through any more than she did. ] How about you?

[fulminatum]

I'm all right.

[ Much, much better, now that she's here. He's not being as steadfast about not being blatant over here, but that kiss was a broadcast for anyone looking, and anyway, he's not really sorry. No one can claim dominion over Piper, but she's his and he is hers. ]

Eat up, I want to take you on a tour of the city after this.

[ And they can talk away from prying eyes and ears. ]

[inducings]

[ Piper blinks. ]

What do you mean, take me on a tour of the city?

[ How would he know anything about the city, hadn't he just arrived as well? ]

[fulminatum]

[ He scrunches his face, puzzled. ]

Meaning... exactly that?

[inducings]

[ ... ]

But... we just got here?

[ Right? ]

[fulminatum]

[ — Oh. ]

Pipes, you just got here. I've been here for a month.

[ With Percy and Leo, but one thing at a time. ]

[inducings]

[ Now that's disturbing.

She leans in toward him, searching his expression, straining her perception. ]

But I just saw you the night before I got here.

[fulminatum]

[ He shrugs, a little helplessly. ]

Yeah, things can get weird here.

[ Leo's alive, and that's what he asked for, he's happy to stay. But at least she didn't have to miss him. ]

[inducings]

[ She doesn't sense anything like the Eidolons from him. And it's very clear that he believes what he's saying. ]

...a whole month?

[fulminatum]

[ Jason nods. It's nothing to worry about, really, it wasn't a long time (but didn't it feel like that now, when she's here?) ]

[inducings]

[ Excuse you, she will decide what she will and will not worry about, ty.

She searches his gaze again for another long moment and then nods a little. Okay, she believes you. ]

That's... really weird.

[fulminatum]

[ He shrugs again. ]

Not much weirder than home.

[inducings]

[ Piper disagrees. ]

Time standing still for one person and moving for someone else seems weirder to me.

[ Although... what with having his memory wiped and being planted in a completely different camp, she can see how he might disagree.

She lifts up a hand to brush strands of his hair lightly out of his face. She can see it now - his hair is usually so closely cut. ]

...a whole month?

[fulminatum]

[ At least he hadn't had his memory wiped here, it was enough. Jason leans into the touch — it's a missing piece that he didn't realise until it's back in his puzzle. ]

A month.

[inducings]

[ She smiles at him, her fingers lightly brushing against his temple and then lightly tracing down his cheek before she can drop her hand.

She wants to ask a thousand things. Did you miss me? What's it like? Who have you met here? What did you do? ]

That's a long time. How was it?

[fulminatum]

[ His fingers curl over her wandering hand, holding it comfortably. ]

I have Percy and... [ he swallows, ] Leo. There's a few things I need to tell you about, after we're done eating here.

[inducings]

[ Leo. He knows, of course he knows, he's seen him --

He's alive - and she leans in again to kiss Jason, brief and happy and triumphant -- relieved, so relieved. ]

I'm glad. [ There were layers of joy to her voice. ]

[fulminatum]

[ So relieved. So unbearably happy — he had the physician's cure, Jason would never have left him otherwise. ]

Yeah, it's been... good to have him here.

[inducings]

He's a good guy to have around. [ Glancing down at the porridge. ] He makes good breakfasts, too.

[ Jason saw her, after they'd thought Leo was gone. He'll know exactly what she isn't saying.

She's still glad she punched him. She is unspeakably glad Leo's alive. But she hasn't completely forgiven him for his choice yet, it might take some tofu tacos. ]

[fulminatum]

Yeah, it's —

[ His best friend. Jason needs a moment, but that moment is easier when he can reach for Piper's hand. ]

I asked the Queen about him, before agreeing. And when I came here.. there he was.

[inducings]

[ She glances at their hands.

Quietly: ]

I asked the queen about him too.

[ Now, she wishes she'd asked something else - asked about her dad, about there being a way to tell him without breaking him... but she doesn't regret asking about Leo, either. She'd... needed to know, needed to find him. He was her best friend. ]

[fulminatum]

[ Their best friend. Now he's here and alive and whole and safe, and that's all that matters. Jason squeezes her hand, leans towards her quietly for solidarity. ]

[inducings]

[ She looks back up at him and smiles at him. ]

And he's here and you're here, so I'm really glad I got here too.

[ Even if she was apparently a month late, at least she got there. ]

[fulminatum]

[ She got there. He smiles back at her and they eat quietly, companionably — he can sit next to her during meals now, if he wants. They can't offer parts of these meals to their parents, but they're in the habit of it when they eat anything at home. ]

[ They put their trays back together, then Jason takes her hand and draws her outside. ]

Do you want to walk, or have the bird's eye view?

[inducings]

[ He'd been serious about giving her the tour. There was something almost adorable about it, her boy wanting to be able to explore the city with her. She was glad he'd decided to spend the day with her; they didn't often have time like this.

...but then again, it'd been a month for him. That was still so strange. ]

I think I'd rather walk, for now.

[ She couldn't just start flying whenever, and she needs to get an idea of where things are. Besides, they have all day. What a strange and wonderful thing to be able to say: ]

We have all day.