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

[sunborne]

Oh.

Um.... Okay- Looks like Daylight has to pause now, needing some time to think of an answer.

"Not much... No..." He says it slowly, his nose scrunching up a bit as he's forced to admit something important: "I mean- I haven't been on Earth for a while." A long while, honestly. "But! I know they're still part of the Galactic Union. That organisation works really hard to make sure there's peace with everyone who is part of it."

[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?"

[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.

[hardlyanangel]

"Then, think of this place not unlike that you describe. There are several factions and it seems that they do not always align to a common cause. Some with their own agendas that may run against our acceptance of the invitation to this world."

She spoke softly, tilting her cradled head a bit. The tone was one not of condensation for his lack of experience in such matters, rather informative. Politics, unfortunately, were part and parcel of her former duties.

"It is something one may wish to keep in mind. "

[sunborne]

"Oh..." His winglets wilt a bit when he thinks about this some more. He's soon left wondering why anyone would do that. Especially if what he's heard about the city needing help is true. "But... will wanting their agendas to win really be enough to try and stop stuff that could help others? Really?"

That's a case of cutting the nose to spite the face, right? Why would anyone be that spiteful or mean? He frowns, looking at his porridge with some uncertainty while trying to piece this together. "That means we've gotta try hard then! Show that working together is the best option for everyone."

He makes it sound so easy, a nasty case of naïveté and his upbringing revealing itself since Daylight doesn't have a lot of experience with these sort of politics and situations. The past few years on the Lornful Light have been the longest since he's been exposed to so many new experience and things.

He pokes at his porridge and ugh. He can't bring himself to eat it. He looks over to Aithne now. "Do you want? This is my second helping-" A thing the servants gave him dirty looks for, when asking. "-but you can have some. I don't think I can trust myself in keeping this down."

[hardlyanangel]

She shook her head gently at his offer. "No, I have had my fill and you... you need to eat and keep it down." Why she even said this had to be instinctual. After all she was speaking to a machine, a curious one given, but...she let that thought drop.


"People are more complicated than most perceive. The same instincts that cause one to run into a burning building, or to jump into rapids to save another's child... This is the converse of that. To some the power is what matters.

Sometimes, they are correct. The 'right' faction gains control and the rest are saved."

She regarded him for a long moment. "I think you will fare well. "

[sunborne]

He can't help preen at the compliment(...?) and it obviously shows by his smile and his wiggling winglets.

"I think so too! It'll take a lot to take me down." Here, Daylight flexes his arm despite having no muscles to flex. It's a thing he knows Uncle Amberlyn did to show how he was tough. "I'm going to do my best to help the people out here after all! Can't do that if I'm easy to take down."

Daylight may not be a fighter compared to Nightbreak or even strong compared to Emergency Aid, but he gives it all and wants the best for everyone. "I hope we can work well together. I think you're really cool!"

[hardlyanangel]

The display was a bit surreal and she could not help but to smile. Aithne took a final drink of her mug. "I have no doubt of that Daylight, and thank you. Unfortunately I do need to head to the training grounds lest I be late."

She rose, and gave a dip of her head.

"Be well, and the best of luck in your search among the Guilds. I would be interested in what you find. Till then."

And with that the Valkyrie gave another nod and a smile before taking her own tray to the station before heading out.