tushanshu_logs | Event | Console Crash Chaos

Event | Console Crash Chaos | Phase One

Characters: ALL!
Date: April 17-30, 2014
Location: Keeliai
Situation: In an unexpected and bold attack by Malicant, the console system is completely shut down while food and supply locations all around the city are targeted by bombings.
Warnings/Rating: Explosions! Possible descriptions of related aftermaths, injuries, death, etc.

Shortly after eight in the morning of the 17th, the consoles experience a strange glitching effect. They'll display 15-20 seconds of static, interrupting anything being done on them at the time, before going utterly dark. No power, no signal, completely offline even to detection of their normal bio-mechanical signatures. No amount of energy influx will get them going again, though taking them apart (or trying to) will still cause them to melt into goo.

Within minutes of the console shutdown, explosions will begin ripping through Keeliai. The bombs are all timed as close to simultaneous as coordinating a city-wide attack can be, with many going off within seconds of each other, throwing the thriving morning rush into chaos. They tear into businesses and across public spaces, collapsing walls and blowing piles of debris into the streets. Places of high traffic quickly become evident as prime targets: marketplaces, hospitals, schools and cafes. The streets take only moments to fill with panicking, screaming kedan trying to pull their injured fellows out of harm's way. All told, the explosions take place across approximately a 10-minute stretch and their explosive yields are fairly high.

In addition to the bombs that cause destruction through their blasts, smaller bombs are going off around the city that specifically target food and water supplies, particularly where large stocks of it were kept such as grocers, produce markets, and the like. Rather than cause mass damage, these explosions spray out a fine mist of spores. Any perishables in their immediate area that are splattered develop an oozing black mold within minutes, eventually breaking down organic substances that turn to foul smelling rot and release their own mist, perpetuating the cycle. While skin contact with the mist doesn't harm, inhaling or ingesting it will produce shakes, fever, vomiting with a cumulative effect that has the potential to be fatal. It is much slower to infect the water supply but the sheer volume of rotting perishables will eventually put enough of the spores to taint water sources, approximately 6-8 hours after the original bombings.

The police force are out as soon as possible and within the hour are helping move the injured to safer locations with Evandau in charge, right in their midst and shoulder to shoulder with his subordinates. Not being stockpiles for any of the apparent targets, many of the Foreigner residences have been left undamaged and, wary of putting them in further danger by collecting large groups in public spaces, Foreigners may even be asked to take in a few individuals or a kedan family.

Despite the number of explosions, there are far more reports of injuries as opposed to casualties. The person or persons (or That Bad Guy) responsible for this were, for this attack at least, more intent on damage than on death.

LINKS
Fire Sector | Earth Sector | Metal Sector | Water Sector | Wood Sector
Treating the Injured & Safe Houses | Investigations | OOC Plot Post

OOC NOTE: Remember that the consoles and network will be completely offline for the duration of this aspect of the the plot running April 17-23, though Foreigner tech is not affected. Plot questions can be directed to this comment. Have fun!

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She had calmed down some from the initial explosion, though her body was still tense and she still jumped at the slightest hint of loud noise. Either in the distance or there, at the welcome center.

But Midii refused to remain a useless lump of paranoia, and had taken up Clara's suggestion to spend her time consoling the youngest of the group. What she lacked in social interaction skills with her own peers, she more than compensated for with a surprisingly motherly aura when it came to the little ones. Years of practically raising her own brothers, especially Michel, had honed her voice into something soft. Soothing. A delicate soprano that they could seek out, if only for a half-forgotten story about princesses and princes and the adventures each of them had.

Parts of the story were missing, and she expected any one of them to call her out on skipping over parts at any moment...but for the time being, none said a single word, their weary eyes transfixed on her petite form as she sat in the middle of a small group. Five kedan children. With a couple others pretending not to pay attention off to one side. It was a rare moment when Midii actually didn't mind being the center of their focus, because it was serving a purpose. She was serving a purpose.

"And that's when the knight removed his helmet, revealing long, blonde hair. He was actually a girl, and had been the whole time!"

A couple children giggled. One of the boys who definitely wasn't paying attention snorted.

Midii, herself, almost smiled at their reactions to the rather lame (in her opinion) reveal. Almost. Her acting skills needed work.

Jack stood to the side, having not wanted to draw attention to himself or away from Midii's story. It was very like the ones that he would tell the kids, with lots of description so they could imagine themselves in the middle of it and a setting that was divided enough from their current reality that it would be easy, and welcome, to temporarily forget what was going on just outside. Midii seemed to have a knack for it too.

Not that she thought so.

When the story ended, she nodded over to one side, where Clara had set up some more food for the little ones. That was all the motivation they needed, and they scattered, leaving her alone in her seat on the floor. Almost.

"I know you're there. I can see you now, remember?" The corners of her lips tugged upward, but the smile was sad. "You should have taken over. Your stories are so much better than mine."

Jack had an easy smile on his face as he came forward and crouched down beside her. "Well, you can't get good at anything if you don't practice," he remarked. "But I thought you were doing great. The kids were enjoying it."

She could feel the cold radiating off his lithe frame, but her reaction was different from when Clara had gotten that close. She knew Jack better. Trusted him enough to let him in that close.

"I used to tell Michel stories like that. Back home." Her eyes glazed over at the memory. Bittersweet at best. "We would hide when the soldiers came, and I would tell him stories to keep him from crying."

The spirit nodded understandingly; he may not have known the exact situation that Midii had come from but soldiers, a time at war, those were all things he'd seen in his years. Jack hesitates for a moment, more habitually than out of reservation of touching on the subject with Midii.

"I used to do that, for my sister. Other kids in the village too. Not when there were soldiers but to keep them happy. Sometimes there wasn't a lot of food, back then."

Edited 2014-04-25 03:41 (UTC)

"That explains why you're so good at it."

It was almost impossible for most to understand exactly what was off-limits around Midii, and what she had no problems talking about. Especially on the subject of soldiers. Her days of living with them...infiltrating their ranks for less than honorable purposes (even if her reasons were valid enough in her mind to justify it all)...she'd tried so hard to put those days behind her.

But her family? The days before she'd left to go to war? She could talk about them indefinitely, if she trusted the person enough. Even the casual acquaintance might be treated to a short anecdote of something her precious baby brother had said or done with her when they were younger. He was in her thoughts always, and often motivated her in ways few would suspect.

"Was she your only family? Your sister?"

"Parents too," he answered, realizing only after he said it that she was probably asking for something more specific. "Parents and a younger sister... she was quite a bit younger than I was too, probably ten years."

He closed his eyes for a moment, drawing up those few precious memories even though they were never far from recollection. How small her hands had been when she had tugged him out the door, their skates over his shoulder, their mother on the stoop calling after them to be careful.

"Don't worry, we will!"

It spoke a lot that, while Jack clarified the existence of his parents...he immediately went back to describing his sister, only. As if she were the only person in his life that mattered so much as to remember.

"Michel wasn't that much younger. I think I was...six, when he was born? Seven?" It seemed strange for one as smart as she to not be able to recall a detail like that, but in those early years of her life, time was a bit of a generalized concept. Keeping track of the days had been difficult, when there had been so many other things on her young mind. "But I helped to raise him when Mama died. Especially after Papa got sick."

Which was, in a way, why the little boy was so dear to her. He had been more than just a little brother to her; she honestly wouldn't have been surprised if he'd started to call her mama by the time he was old enough to talk, rather than just Midii or sis-sis.

Jack didn't seem to mind that Midii wasn't or couldn't be precise with her estimation -- after all, she was still a lot more specific than the spirit was, as he had no way of knowing any of his information for certain, not even his sister's name. As always, that gnawed at him though he did his best to keep those contemplations to himself.

"Is Michel your only brother?"

Edited 2014-04-27 00:17 (UTC)

She shook her head.

"No. I have two others. Twins. They're just a couple years younger than I am, so they never liked it when I tired to play Big Sister as much." Or, at least, they said they didn't. Even during times when they listened to her anyway. "Not that I don't love them just as much. I do."

"Of course," Jack answered easily, earnestly as though he were wordlessly apologizing for saying anything that might have implied otherwise. "They're lucky, to have you as their big sister to take care of them."

At that, Midii glanced downward. Looking almost guilty for a moment.

"But they don't have me. Not anymore. They haven't for a long time."

"Because you've been here?" Jack asked, tilting his head to one side. He wouldn't push if it was something that she didn't want to talk about however.

She nodded.

"...but even before then. I hadn't seen the boys or Papa for over a year."

Edited 2014-04-28 04:31 (UTC)

"Seems like when you get back, you'll have good reason to look them up," Jack offered.

"I don't want to go back."

She'd made the declaration multiple times in the past, but somehow, in the here and now, it almost sounded wrong to say. Hadn't she just been telling Jack about her family? The ones she loved more than anything else? Whom she genuinely did wish to be able to see again someday.

Her eyes lowered, guiltily.

Jack was thoughtfully quiet for a moment before shrugging, as though to put the sudden read of guilt from Midii at ease. "I've considered it before," he admitted.

She glanced upward.

"...you've thought about staying in Keelai, too?" Midii knew she wasn't the only one, but she assumed the sentiment was unique to those who came from horrible worlds like hers. Not people like Jack. "Why?"

"Well..." Jack dragged the word out as he tried to order his thoughts. "You know how you couldn't see or hear me at first? That's basically... the whole world, where I left. There are a handful of kids -- really amazing, incredible kids -- who can see me now. And as a Guardian, eventually more kids will start believing in me too."

He let that sink in, trying to put into words that anxiety that hadn't fully left after all this time.

"But being able to make friends like I can here, and just... be myself? I don't think... that's going to be possible, back in my world. It just doesn't work like that for spirits."

It wasn't an entirely unfamiliar sentiment. Even if Jack didn't come from a war-torn world, there were several things that--from the sound of it--would make his life considerably less happy than he always seemed to be in Keelai. Friends. People who cared about him.

Midii had some of those too. Now. Maybe not as many as Jack, but it had been a very, very long time since she'd felt comfortable enough to trust anybody who wasn't Papa or her brothers...enough that she could be herself. Not just a cover story.

"Do they want to stay, too? The friends you've made."

An important question, in her mind, if they were the driving force of his desire not to return.

He pondered on the question for a moment before he had to shrug. "I'm not sure," he said honestly. "Some of them want to go home and some of them want to stay because they don't have a home to go back to. And some--"

Where did certain people (a person) fall in all this?

He didn't know and abandoned the sentence. "But I've got people counting on me back home so... for me it's not really my decision."

She nodded in quiet understanding.

"But...if it was your decision, what would you do?" Little more than hypothetically speaking, but her curiosity won out. She wanted to know what he truly thought. "Would you want to stay? I mean, is there any one thing about Keelai that would keep you from wanting to leave?"

For Midii, it was the freedom. The weight of her past life, her responsibilities, were gone. Mostly. She was able to live the way she wanted to. People still came and went. Bad things still happened here. But the good far outweighed the bad.

"I don't know," Jack said frankly, and the speed with which he replied indicated not that he wasn't giving the question due consideration but that he'd given it too much consideration over the past months.

"It's kind of a weird thing, you know? Not being able to make a decision like that, in your head."

"I don't think that's weird at all. Just...sad." She empathized. It was clear enough in her expression. "I used to feel the same way, back home. Everything was so out of my control. Even if I knew what I wanted, I could never have it. So there was no point in wanting."

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