❪ event ❫ THE DESCENT: PART ONE -- the overflow.

[natha]

THE PROLOGUE     Your sleep on the night of the 15th is not a restful one, unfortunately. It’s unclear whether you are in a state of half-wakefulness, or dreaming. The voices you hear certainly sound very real. What is it, Sael? —Is everyone asleep?! Every one, yes. Sael, it appears you do not have good news to deliver...? N-No! I don’t know how it slipped past us, but there’s something powerful coming this way. Something hostile. I can barely keep the core systems online! ... I don't know what to do... I see... and we cannot protect Thesa and Alria in addition to transferring the Refugees to Olympia. This force, they waited for this moment. They knew I have been Intervening, and that I have become weak from such Interventions— ... We've been had. It cannot be helped. To save the Refugees on the Stations, we must eject the awoken unto El Nysa. My remaining energy shall go into shielding Thesa— left defenseless, every being we have saved on this station will perish... Sael, where is the ideal location for the landing? Hmm. There aren’t any people within a ten mile radius of The Outlook, and there shouldn’t be any for a few more days. I think that’s the best location right now. Very well. Instruct Zasere and Roman to begin preparations for an emergency eject. This is the only way we can save everyone. I am counting on you to ward off the enemy on the space front. The rest... is up to our Refugees. The alarms are blaring. It shouts against your eardrums, calling you to wake again. This time, you are in new pod, strapped down completely and cushioned tightly against the walls. In truth, you had no idea when you’d gone to sleep, but it is reminiscent of when you had been saved from the force of the Storm. A voice greets you when you come to, while the conversation between Darma and Sael is still fresh on your mind. Despite their voices playing like an old tune in your memory, you still know it is something that happened. Something has gone terribly wrong. You hear Darma speak, her voice loud in your head. Fellow Refugee, I wake you with regrettable news. A force equal to our own is attempting to engage Thesa, no doubt to steal the souls contained here. My energy is near depleted with this last Intervention, so I cannot send you to the grounds safely as originally intended. However, there is hope yet.This power shall instead shield Thesa and Alria — and believe in me when I swear no one shall be hurt. Your loved ones are safe with us. —Unfortunately, that is at your expense. Your descent will not be an easy one. This pod that contains you shall pierce through El Nysa's atmosphere and land you on an island west of Olympia, simply called The Outlook. Travel east. Find the West Outpost, then continue east until you find the Olympian North Gate. There is a method to this madness. You shall be sent in waves. The inhumanly strong shall be first. The parachute will soften the landing, but I am aware of all your capabilities. The first wave will survive the drop, and will work tirelessly to secure the others. Find your bearings, and ensure the safety of the second wave. They are the healers and medics. Catch their pods, ease their landings, make certain that they shall not be harmed, because you will need them for your wounds. The third wave are your strongmen. They shall help clear the debris and take people to safety, making way for the fourth wave, those can conjure magic to help. Bring everyone to a safe distance. A supply drop will follow soon after; it shall contain tents and tools that will be useful for the long night. The fifth and sixth waves are largely vulnerable humans. With your combined efforts, you shall survive this great misfortune. Forgive us, Refugee. Leave the Moons to us, my promise to you is still in tact— focus on what you can do for others like you. Helping at least two (2) Refugees will earn you one (1) Natha REP. Threads must be AC length to qualify, and can be submitted HERE by JULY 31st. THE DESCENT     FIRST WAVE. The instructions are clear. Those who are a part of the First Wave should be equipped with physical strength and fortitude to survive the drop or the power to regenerate and heal their own wounds. While the pods are already designed to cushion some of the impact, as this is the first group, it will likely to be the most jarring. In all of the waves, some of the pods will malfunction and offer no cushion at all. They will be expected to quickly find their bearings. Their mission isn’t simply just landing, after all. The first wave will be expected to help the next wave, and the wave after that. Whether through their abilities or brute strength, they will be expected to help soften the landing for those who are falling. They will also be expected to pry open hatches, carry people to safety, and to just... survive. It’s not always easy being first. SECOND WAVE. Within the next hour, it’s time for the Second Wave to make their descent. You were selected based upon your aptitude for healing and/or being able to administer first aid. Perhaps you can help the tired and weary. Maybe those who have landed have have strength, but no stamina. Either way, it may be unwise to exhaust all their abilities at once. The night is long, and you may want to conserve their energy for the next waves to come. At least you’ll have help in getting settled. THIRD WAVE. Akin to the First Wave, the Third Wave will possess some durability, and some manner of strength, making you a reliable ally. Especially in a time of crisis... Or so we hope. While the landing is tough, and some of you may need first aid. As soon as you’re all healed up, you’ll have no time to dawdle. Your help is required. “Please help those still trapped in pods. Carry those unconscious to safety. Lift debris, and rescue all you can.” May be a vague message still stuck in the back of your head. Something whispered to you while you were just waking. Well, might as well roll with it. It’s the best shot you have, after all. FOURTH WAVE. Those in the Fourth Wave, as Darma projects, were selected due to the versatility of their abilities. No one expects one man to do the same as the next. Rather, that’s precisely the point: to be different. To be able to accomplish something unique. While one individual may be blessed with powers that assist in putting out fires, another may have the ability to shield those from oncoming debris. Maybe one even has the ability to channel all of these. Regardless, it’s up to you and your quick wits to see what tasks are open. It’ll take some coordination, especially as there are more people mixing into the fray, but, you can do it, can’t you? FIFTH WAVE. If you are in the Fifth Wave it is likely that you have a specific power or ability. One that isn’t easily channeled or called upon. Or, perhaps, you were merely placed here for insurance. Whatever the case if, your expertise will presently be put to the test. Maybe you’re quite proficient in survival skills, and you’re already eyeing the supplies that were dropped between the Fourth Wave and now. Goods all ready to be salvaged. Okay, maybe some can’t, but as they say, “it’s the thought that counts.” Besides, the injured from earlier certainly need a space to rest, and camp isn’t going to make itself. Regardless, maybe you feel more comfortable joining in the efforts to assist those who still require it. Whatever it is, you are sure to find your place and use. Darma obviously held the same faith. FINAL WAVE. The Final Wave is fortunate in a variety of ways. With Thesa Station a bit more stabilized, Darma utilizes the last bit of her powers in insuring that these last remaining pods are met with the softest landing, right beside the fifth, that is. The fragility of life is nothing she is unfamiliar with, after all. Still, that isn’t to say nothing is expected of you. Most of the individuals that have dropped earlier will likely be exhausted. An hour stretched between each one, makes several hours for the first couple of waves. They'll need a place to relax. You will act as the final group of helpers. Settle into whatever role feels best for you. Are you an excellent cook? Great at rationing supplies? Perhaps, you have a secret skill in ______ that might come in handy here? Or, maybe, despite the gentler landing you still managed to get hurt. The sky's the limit, and you got this! Meanwhile, in the distant kingdom of Olympia, the Empress and her loyal subject discuss matters late into the night... I’ll have the results of that dragon toxin study ready for you soon, Your Highness. I just need a few helpers to— oh wow, is that a meteor shower? Oh yes, it appears so. How beautiful.. hehe. Let us thank Thesa for this blessing. GATHER YOUR BEARINGS     All in all, the descent lasts for nearly seven hours. After the deployment of the last wave of refugees, it’s only natural that you may be feeling pretty worn out. A. Within the remains of the pods, Refugees will find basic camping supplies such as small tents, sleeping bags, and compasses. Not all of the supplies remain intact, thanks to the impact of the crash. But, sharing resources will ensure there is enough for everyone to rest for the night. Can you really in good conscience leave that stranger next to you without shelter? B. Although you may be tired after such a life-threatening ordeal, there is still work to be done to ensure your survival. Fortunately, it works out because now there are plenty of empty hands. There are stray debris and metal parts that should be collected and disposed of. There's firewood that needs to be collected, and campfires to upkeep. The nights in the Outlook are particularly chilly, and so it will be imperative to keep warm! C. Your clothes are tattered or too bloodied to sleep on with comfortably. Fortunately, Darma thought ahead. There will be various types of clothing provided, mostly robes that resemble her own in earthy tones, all to help them camouflage you for your next big adventure. FINAL OOC NOTE     This INTRO event will be broken up into three parts! Please keep this in mind when plotting your threads/tag load. PART 3 Will be up on JULY 22ND, at 6 PM EST. We will not provide an additional CAPTCHA for this overflow. Players are advised to move threads to an overflow post on their character journals in the event this overflow gets close to CAPTCHA. These threads remain eligible for AC, AC Rewards, and REP. The NETWORK is currently down, as Sael must concentrate all of his efforts on warding off the invading force. Characters may still message each other's personal IC inboxes. Submit two (2) AC-eligible threads from this log for one (1) Natha Orbiter REP point here by JULY 31ST. Recommended Listening: Alex & TOKYO Rose PART ONE | PART ONE (overflow) | PART TWO | PART THREE QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● world ● map ● reputation ● npcs taken ● reserves ● application calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

Comments

[trybelieving]

[ she can easily start with what he doesn't need; a warm shelter for the night (which she assumes is out of the fear that someone else would have to go without if he agreed to having one). he's selflessly kind in a way that would be rare in any world. for a moment, she almost points that out - that no matter what she says, he'll likely insist that he's just fine as he is. Jon might convince some of the others, but not Tinker Bell.

after all, everyone needs something.]

One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn was that yes you do have a choice. I can try to help you, take you on as a project, as you say... but it's up to you to decide if you'll accept that help.

[ it's an explanation that comes a little softer, more earnest than her previous declarations. she's a stranger to him, Tinker Bell knows that. but she thinks he's rather handsome with a smile on his face. it just seems he doesn't do it much.]

I can see that you're strong, but strength is built from what we've had to carry. I think you need someone to share that burden with you.

[ a little weight off his shoulders, even in this strange situation.]

[song_of_ice]

[While he didn't want to believe someone could be astute enough to read him well right away, there was a small part of him that suspected Tinker Bell might. She was clever, that much was obvious. Starks were normally a mystery buried beneath their stoic and cold exteriors. Not many looked deeper, but he gave Tink an open challenge.

Almost immediately, she touched on an issue that he had been debating with Sansa, him accepting or asking for her help. He isn't surprised to hear her mention that same problem.]

Trust doesn't come easily for me anymore, not enough that I ask or accept help.

[Which is more than he usually admits, but she likely knew that as well.]

I couldn't expect someone to share what I carry. I don't wish that on anyone.

[trybelieving]

[ he may be mysterious, yet it's easy to see him for what he is; a good person, who puts himself last with the expectation that no one will put him first. it doesn't surprise her, not when the man won't accept the warmth of a covered bed if it means someone else might have to go without one. it's one thing to be used to cold weather, and perhaps another to have suffered the cold of another's heart.]

Then I'll wish it for you, Jon.

[ she'll wish that he finds people to lean on who won't let him down. it's a difficult thing, to trust after being betrayed - Tinker Bell might know that better than most. failing to help Regina changed something inside of her in a way she's only starting to recover from after decades of loneliness. hopefully, he won't suffer as long as she did.]

Your history, your experiences, they are a part of you. I can't speak for what you've been through, but once I chose not to trust, not to reach out, not to connect with those who wanted to help me.

[ it was a mistake to punish herself that way. it'll be the same for him.]

I nearly lost myself to that loneliness, and I don't want that for anyone else.

[song_of_ice]

[She's gentle and kind in all the ways he had never experienced before. Even Ygritte in her more quiet moments wasn't like this. It was such a simple wish, but it was genuinely meant and touching. He didn't quite know how to respond, save for giving a small shy smile.]

Thank you, my lady.

[She was more observant than he gave her credit, but it seemed to come from something more than reading him. He couldn't know for certain, but he suspected she understood how betrayal could sour trust or hope.

He didn't have a shield behind, his emotions clear on his face.]

You don't seem to be the sort of woman to withhold trust easily.

[There was that ache again, the one that had become a constant companion. Life or death, it was all he had known and he often did feel lost in it. It was exhausting.]

I think I have forgotten why I spend so much of my life alone.

[trybelieving]

[ it seems she's not the only one with a talent for reading people. he's not wrong to think that she'd been more open before Neverland, that trust was given more easily before she'd felt the sting of disappointment. she'd been so sure that love could heal the most broken of hearts that she'd neglected to realize how much it asked of someone to suggest they'd be willing love again after facing all the loss that Regina had suffered.

it's asking a lot now, to tell a stranger to be more open with the pain he's kept close. all she knows is that it's something he seems to respond to, almost in spite of himself. he came over here to help her prepare a shelter, and Tink is afraid she's given him more than he bargained for.

but it's brave of him to admit to loneliness, and when she looks up from her tent, she finds herself reaching out. there's time offered; a few seconds in case he won't allow himself that comfort, in case she's overstepped and meddled again the way that she used to. a hand covers his after a moment, just a light, reassuring touch. a reminder that sometimes someone else can carry the burden he's brought from his home.]

You don't have to.

[ it sounds so simple, doesn't it? Tinker Bell's found she believes in the people here, even if her friends are still sleeping. she'll make new ones and hope to be reunited with her old ones, but just as they've reached out to her, she intends to do the same.]

[song_of_ice]

[It was possible he was looking for a way to ease his grief and loneliness. It had been with him for so long that the weight and burden had become normal for him, a habit that he kept and forgot to break. So many of his friends and family were carrying painful pasts of their own that it was normal to live as he did. Nobody told him otherwise, though he wasn't sure if he would have listened.

It was likely it would take the right sort of person. Someone with their own determination and stubbornness to get through his own, but with a gentleness that he hadn't come across before and likely never existed in his world. Tink was rare in his experience and he didn't know how to respond to her aside from turning towards that kindness, like a drowning man towards the shore.

He doesn't step or pull back, instead curling his hand around hers. He stares back at her, afraid to accept her softness, uncertain it could thrive against his darkness.]

I don't think it's that simple.

[He wasn't even certain it was wise, as much as he missed that connection.]

[trybelieving]

[ she thinks it might say something about him when Jon doesn't turn away from her touch. he may be reluctant to trust the people around him, but if he truly wanted to shut away the world, he wouldn't take her hand at all. Tink has been rejected; she knows that feeling, she's felt that bitterness directed at her in the past. Jon may waver on agreeing to change his situation, but he doesn't have to do it all at once.

she'll take this for the victory that it is, a silent one with nothing more than the opportunity to take his hand in hers and let their eyes meet for a few moments.]

It is that simple, it just isn't easy.

[ this isn't an effort to deceive him, she won't pretend what she's suggested can be accomplished easily. Tink is simply inclined to think that whatever he carries on his own would be less of a burden if he wasn't so set on taking on everything by himself. no matter where he's from and where he intends to go, this won't make him happy.]

[song_of_ice]

[He had wanted to shut away the world when Ygritte died. He had been willing to face an army alone, well aware that he wouldn't survive. Time had curbed those impulses and resurrection had dulled that guilt and pain that dictated his life.

He found himself turning towards tenderness now, too long deprived of it. He didn't mind Tink's touch, he didn't want to become dependent on it. To be deprived again...he knew how that could break him.]

Not very much is easy.

[Which is his attempt at smiling again, but it felt disingenuous.]

Is this advice you have taken for yourself as well?

[trybelieving]

[ she considers the question for a moment, silently turning over the idea in her head. at first, she hadn't wanted to join the rescue effort when Emma and the group had found her. after everything she'd been through when she lost her wings, it had been difficult to believe that home wasn't a shabby little tree house in the middle of the jungle, worlds away from the fairies she'd once called her family.

but, given the opportunity to make a better life for herself, she'd taken it. as much as it had scared her to be vulnerable to someone offering her help, the more frightening alternative would have been to continue to live without hope and happiness, and any chance at rebuilding what she'd lost.]

It is, and I'd say it worked out well for me before we all ended up here.

[ which is, of course, a timeline she still struggles with. in any case, she feels a little lighter for her own honesty and gives Jon's hand a gentle squeeze before letting go.]

There's always a choice, Jon. No one can make it for you, but the good news is that it's also true that no one can take it from you.

[song_of_ice]

[She had a level of idealism that he had never seen before. It couldn't have existed in Westeros. Sansa had once been innocent, but the Lannisters and political schemers had put that to death. Tink had come from a world that apparently allowed such things to thrive, a place where good trumped evil. Unfortunately, it wasn't realistic in Westeros.

But he wasn't in that world anymore. What seemed impossible there might not be here. It was hope that had always seemed beyond his capabilities. Was it so difficult to find now?]

I don't know. If it came to a choice between my desires and the safety of my family and friends...

[He flexes his hands at his side, trying to pull himself together again, hiding behind that wall he had built around himself.]

...I know I can survive with loneliness.

[trybelieving]

[ he makes a point that suggests he's had to make that choice before; his desires versus the safety of the people he cares about. it's not a foreign argument to her. Tink is suddenly reminded of all that Snow and Charming had to give up in order to ensure that the curse would be broken, how they'd been separated from their only daughter with the hope that she'd return to them as a grown woman. love does demand sacrifice, but it's never as extreme as he makes it out to be.

never without hope, never without the potential for a happy ending.] I've survived with loneliness too, and that's no way to live. [ for her, the loneliness had been what she'd thought she deserved at the time. she'd let too many people down, failed herself and in all the things she used to believe in. he could survive in the darkness, but that's all he'd ever do.]

This world could be a fresh start, and from the sound of it, you're in need of one.

[song_of_ice]

[After so many years of placing his happiness second, it had become a habit for him. Perhaps if he had remained with the Wildlings...? No, it was unlikely that he ever would have been free of guilt. Even after sacrificing his later freedom and second life in favor of protecting the realm, he had failed. Now it was gone and there was little reason to isolate himself...

...save that he saw no reason to break that habit. He nodded, half heartedly listening. She knew and understood loneliness, but very few understood the burden and honor Starks carried on their shoulders, even the bastards of Winterfell.]

I don't need a fresh start. [He was closing himself off, shutting out any further glimpses into his heart. He had already shown more than he was comfortable with.] I need to protect my family and men.

[trybelieving]

[ his family and his men. it's a bit like Tinker Bell asking for the protection of those from her world still sleeping. more than that, it's like the heroes her own heart aches to see find their place here eventually. she won't argue him wanting to protect his family, almost anyone would do the same.]

You'll do everything you can to protect them, I have no doubt you're capable of it.

[ look at all he's accomplished here already, helping strangers who seek to meddle far more than they should. she gives a nod of reassurance - if he worries about protecting his family, he should know someone believes he can. but at the same time, Tink believes in something more. hopefully this won't be their only chance to discuss it. she doesn't want to think she's scared him off.]

I just hope that, when you're ready, you'll open your heart to some other possibilities, too.

[song_of_ice]

[Perhaps someday he might be ready to open himself again, but it didn't seem likely any time soon. He had been alone too long and it wasn't a state he was ready to change, not after losing his world and so many of his men.

The loss of Ygritte had closed his heart, but the destruction of his world left him with little desire to make a life for himself here. He would fulfill his promise, but what was the point of anything else?

No matter how the loneliness was beginning to hurt him. But he had opened up as much as he could and he needed that wall back up. He gave her a tired smile, glancing at the tent now set up and sturdy.]

Rest well, my lady. We have a long journey ahead of us.

[trybelieving]

Thank you for your help, Jon.

[ if he needs to excuse himself, she doesn't intend to keep him, or to continue to lecture him. he'll move on when he's ready, in whatever way he needs to. and maybe when he does, he won't feel so compelled to take it all on by himself. if he doesn't turn to her, Tink hopes that there are people here for him to lean on. she wouldn't want to place her help over the importance of him getting what he needs.

but for now, she gives him a small smile, and keeps her eyes on his as he excuses himself. he was kind to her. Tink might be willing to leave things there, but she won't forget it.]

Take care of yourself. I hope I see you around.