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

[thedarkbond]

Well, I think that would be pretty different for most people... [It's not as different for Ren as it could be, but he's still looking oblivious on that front for now. He takes another sip of his coffee, having no visible reaction to how bitter it must be having it straight.]

Was your world different to this one too? I'd kind of like to hear more about where everyone came from.

[inducings]

[ That's something to think about - not just being in a different world, but being in a different world with others from a different world. Piper wishes Annabeth was there, she suspects not for the last time. ]

Yeah, it's pretty different. [ She glances at the queen and her court. ] ...we've nothing like this court, for example.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren hums a little curiously at that, looking around the room.] You didn't have queens and their fancy houses and stuff...? I would've thought that was pretty common...

[He might be missing the point slightly there, but then, it's more fun for him that way.] Though I guess we had emperors and empresses instead, so that's a little bit different too.

[inducings]

Not in my country. [ No queens, no kings, it was an American thing. And definitely no queens and kings from her other heritage.

And chalk up another tally for meeting someone not from Earth, although really, the hair and the eyes should have been a clue. ] You have emperors and empresses everywhere in your world, or just where you're from?

[thedarkbond]

I mean, even if your country didn't have them, you see pictures and read stories and stuff, right...? [It's one of those things Ren would have figured to just be something you picked up by osmosis, though his perspective might be skewed considering he comes from a country with a royalty system.

He takes another sip of his coffee, waving a hand at her question. It's occurred to him that it's entirely possible they're both from Earth and are just talking past each other, since she hasn't said anything that directly contradicts it yet, but he keeps his vagueness for now just to see how far it goes.] No, some countries have them, but some countries have queens and kings, and others have different kinds of leaders. My country has them, but we also have different kinds of leaders too, so it's not just those.

[inducings]

[ Emperors and empresses and other kinds of leaders? ] That sounds... complicated.

[ He'll probably be able to adapt well to this, then. ]

[thedarkbond]

Mmm, not really. Though I guess I grew up with it. [Lots of things seem less complicated when it's the system you're used to, and he shrugs a little as he sets his cup down for the moment.]

What kind of leaders did they have where you came from, then?

[inducings]

Oh - presidents, prime ministers, dictators... I can't think of any country that has any kind of functioning monarchy. A few figureheads, maybe.

[ ...needs more milk. She reaches for it to pour a little more in her coffee. ]

[thedarkbond]

[That's definitely sounding familiar, and Ren hums a little in curiosity as he twirls a finger around the edge of his cup.]

Oh, that sounds a lot like where I come from...most places don't have monarchies alone, but some of them have sort of a combination of that and elected people. Like where I come from.

[He's trying to breadcrumb the fact that there's a reasonable chance they're both from Earth without outright giving it away, because that'd be no fun at all.]

[inducings]

[ Oh, she's picking up what he's putting down, but she's not inclined to look for similarities and let herself look for a false familiarity. So far, everything they've talked about has been general enough. Seems like the best way to find out is just to ask. ]

What's the name of where you're from?

[thedarkbond]

[Aw, it's the straightforward option. Still, Ren doesn't allow himself to actually look disappointed, instead just tilting his head with a light smile.]

Oh, I'm from Earth. Or Japan, if you want just the country and not the planet.

[It occurs to him that might be a good thing to get into the habit of elaborating on slightly, considering there's probably plenty of people here who aren't from Earth.]

[inducings]

[ ...okaaay. ]

And Japan has an emperor?

[ Because she is pretty sure that stopped after World War II - that the monarchy was still a thing, but that it had absolutely no power. ]

[thedarkbond]

An emperor and an empress...and a prime minister, but that wasn't really what we were talking about to start with.

[He shrugs in a rather airy manner. The initial premise of the conversation was just monarchies, and Japan's system is still considered a form of monarchy even if the government is actually run democratically, so he didn't really feel the need to make the distinction.]

[inducings]

[ She raises her eyebrows at him. ]

Do you always stick so closely to the original conversation?

[ But there's a quick curl of her lip that follows - she's teasing. ]

I don't know if your Japan is my world's Japan. I just met someone from Earth who's from year 91. As in - 91 years after an apocalypse. So.

[ A shrug. ]

[thedarkbond]

Hmm, it depends. Government is a little bit boring to talk about normally, right? [So he'll take a small opportunity to make it more entertaining for himself in this case. Ren does pause slightly at the mention of someone being from 91 years after an apocalypse, though.]

That sounds kind of nasty... [Understatement. He circles a finger around the rim of his cup.] Are you American? You sound a bit like it, and that's kind of the first thing I think of when I think of countries that don't really like monarchies...

[Granted, he goes to France a lot too and they're definitely not overly fond of monarchs, but she doesn't sound French to him.]

[inducings]

[ Piper glances down at his finger on the rim of his coffee cup and then back up to him.

She nods. ] Yes, I'm from California.

[ She's honestly impressed with his ear. And it is so surreal to be having this kind of conversation in a court in another world. There is not enough coffee in the world for this.. or at least, not the way Piper drinks it.

But then, she gives a little mental wince - saying she's from California might be enough for someone from her world to connect her to her father, and she really... doesn't want that. ] Or I guess - New York now. [ A shrug. ] Long story.

[thedarkbond]

[That hesitation between the change of locations is telling, and Ren can take a hint on what sounds like her not wanting him to pry. That doesn't necessarily mean he's not going to try doing so at a later date, but for now, he's primarily trying to form connections, not drive anyone away by being nosy, obviously or not. So he hums a little in approval at the fact that he managed to guess right.]

I travel around there for work sometimes, and to Europe and that sort of area as well. I guess it's kind of easier to say you sound more like one than the other if I go to those places pretty often. [He taps his chin a little in thought.] I think the last time I was in America I was visiting a friend of mine who studies at Yale, though...

[inducings]

[ Huh. That's interesting. She tries to think of what kind of job would require that sort traveling... sales? That didn't seem to fit. ]

What do you do for work?

[thedarkbond]

Oh, I own a company. [It's not exactly a secret - he's very widely known in his world, if slightly less so than he was when he was younger - so he admits it openly, finally picking up his coffee again. Though the fact that he admits it in just about the most airheaded tone he's had for this entire conversation probably doesn't help.] We have a pretty strong reputation internationally, so sometimes I have to go visit people we work with in other countries to keep up relationships, you know?

[inducings]

[ Yeah, the airheaded tone is... a weird contrast, and not something she'll fail to pick up on. She decides to follow the natural, predictable course of questioning, just to see what will happen. ]

Oh really? What's the name of your company?

[ Which is easier, she figures, then just asking what it does. ]

[thedarkbond]

It's called Foo Fighter. [Likeness to any rock bands entirely coincidental. He rests his mug between his fingers for a moment as he thinks about that, though, then elaborates slightly.]

We mostly train people in how to play a game that's popular in my world, so if you don't have that game then it wouldn't exist where you came from anyway.

[inducings]

[ Piper shakes her head. ] I haven't heard of it. I guess we're from different Earths after all.

[ THAT. IS STILL. A REALLY STRANGE SENTENCE. ]

[thedarkbond]

Mmm, I guess...though thinking about it, it'd be pretty strange if she was pulling people from just the one Earth, right? If they're all pretty different.

[It sounds like at least one of the other people she's met already came from one that would count as "very different", so to him it's not a stretch to assume that different Earths would have very different things to offer.]

[inducings]

[ She gives him a 'how are you so calm about the words coming out of your mouth right now' look. ]

I guess that depends on how many Earths there are.

[ Because... whaaaaaat. ]

[thedarkbond]

[Having a psychic connection to a world in another galaxy entirely for the past decade helps with suspension of disbelief. Ren offers Piper an innocent, questioning sort of smile, as if wondering what the problem is.]

There's probably a lot, honestly...people like to talk about alternate universes in stories, right? There could be more than we can even think of.

[He spreads his hands rather dramatically with that, as if to accentuate the scale.]