open | event | All Shook Up!

[ironwood]

Characters: Teams Alpha, Beta, and Charlie; also, everyone!
Date: February 17th (through 28th)
Location: Tu Vishan's shell damaged areas (multiple locations), sewers
Situation: There are a number of damaged sections of Tu Vishan's shell and the kedan are working at repairs and, where the turtle's flesh itself has been damaged, healing. There are many convoluted sewer passages now open that Foreigners technically could access, if they can make it past the police that have been stationed around each exposed area.
Warnings/Rating: Medical examinations, blood & gore references, sewage; to be updated as needed.


Exposed Areas
The damages sustained during the dive event are not excessive in number, but are plentiful enough to require work groups of kedan to be deployed in a twenty-four/seven repair schedule. They are signed into each area through one of Evandau's direct reports and their numbers are counted throughout the day to enforce strict controls over those that have access to Tu Vishan, their most precious resource.

Those making it past the checkpoints or sneaking through gaps in the sentries find that the Emperor did not lie about the damages done. There are scars near each damaged bit of shell that shift into spider webbed stress lines and end with the jagged edging of broken shell. Kedan workers are busy trying to clear away broken shell and install metal-and-wood framing that will hold these pieces back in place when they are done.

Beneath the surface, some are working at dams and blockages in what appears to be an ancient sewer system. The walls are smooth and indicative of architecture done in concert with the natural growth of the turtle. Lanterns provide some pinpoints of light where dark mosses have grown over the bioluminescent shell itself, but the further one goes from the work sites, the more one must rely upon the natural lighting of the shell in order to proceed.

At the core of each operation are the best healers that the kedan population has to offer. They can be seen tending torn and blooded flesh of a momentous scale, mending the damages done directly to the turtle to the best measure that they can. These areas are the most stringently guarded, for Tu Vishan is most vulnerable beneath the armoured layer of its shell.

Sewage meets most that enter the tunnels rather than skulking about the sites, with an unpleasant smell lingering in the nose and mouth the longer that one stays there -- oh, and in the clothes, which may make a stealthy exit more difficult if one is not downwind. The tunnels twist and turn aplenty, crossing one another with a design more evolutionary than engineered. Those that wander in are at risk of becoming lost beneath the surface, with only a few doors and small closet-like rooms to be found where tools were stored once upon a time.

Be wary, Foreigners! There are many a kedan patrolling these areas and they will give chase in an unauthorised party is found. Evandau briefed a number of the teams himself, advising that Foreigners are all considered unauthorised. Parties subject to arrest are to be brought to the surface and handed over to either the police or, once it's in place, Raylan's civilian team for eventual escort to the palace prison.

OOC: Thread headers (and starters for the teams) are provided in the comments area of this post!

Comments

[histruename]

[Hellboy silently regards the man for a moment, the question niggling in the back of his brain making its way to the forefront.]

So you're out here doing what... playing the Emperor's watchdog? What's in that for you? She's protecting something down here she doesn't want us to see, and I'm sure it's not just the turtle.

[He's not backing down either, but he makes no threatening moves. Maybe all he has to do is talk to this guy and he can be on his way.]

[imaginate]

There's nothing in it for me except protecting the turtle. [He believes that, and it shows.] I'm not saying I trust her completely, or that she was right to make that announcement the way she did, but the rest of us? We've still got homes to go back to. The kedan don't. Any harm that might come to the turtle because one of us goes exploring in the tunnels? I'd rather that not happen. Even if there is something down here.

[He lays out his logic clearly. Something tells him this guy really wanted to hear it.]

[histruename]

[He did, and it helps. The guy's heart is in the right place, even if his logic runs against the grain of his own. It's not worth putting up a fight.

He nods once.]

All right.

[Guess it's time to go.]

[imaginate]

[Kyle flashes him a "Seriously? That worked?" expression, but it changes to a more serious one. He nods, and relaxes.] I've got to take you in. It's nothing personal.

[Gestures towards the way out. Hellboy might have acquiesced to being arrested, but Kyle's not going to walk in front of him.]

[histruename]

Sure.

[He starts walking without protest, his hooves clocking against the floor in the drier parts of the tunnel. He's spent time in the palace prison before. It really isn't horrible, and he knows he'll probably be out in a few days. He doesn't mind paying that small price for doing what he thinks is right.

And this kid? This kid impresses him. Though Hellboy had the greater good of the Foreigners in mind, this kid is still trying to accomplish something genuinely good, even if his ideas might be a little warped.

The only saving grace is that if he could get this far, there has to be other people who managed to get deeper. Maybe someone found what he was looking for. And later, maybe he'll figure out exactly what that is.]

[imaginate]

So. [What do you talk about when you're arresting someone like this. There was no protocol.

Oh well. Improvise.] I'm Kyle. Nice to meet you even if it is under these circumstances.

[histruename]

[Hellboy glances over his shoulder, still stooping slightly in the tunnel that doesn't fully accommodate his seven foot height. It's kind of amusing that he's trying to make smalltalk like this, but he's okay with that.]

It's Hellboy. Sorry they couldn't have been better. Guess there's nothing we can do about that.

[imaginate]

Well, we could go back in time.

[Kyle's used to people towering over him, but it's been a while since he had to look up at such an angle. His neck aches slightly. The smell isn't helping.]

[histruename]

Sounds like a big pain in the ass to me.

[The tunnel dips down, and he has to trudge through the ankle deep water slowly, his hooves struggling to keep purchase on the slick tunnel floor.]

Don't worry about it. You're trying to do a good thing. Can't say I agree, but I get where you're coming from.

[imaginate]

She really might have been hiding something down here, [he sounds a little strained, as though he's still even trying to convince himself it's the right thing. It's hard when one did want to discover what might be down here.] but turtle comes first. [Shakes his head.] Can't have both, I guess.

[histruename]

Maybe not. But I have a hard time believing the turtle is as fragile as the Emperor would like us to think. I mean, the thing has a whole damn city on its back and it seems just fine to me. A few people walking through tunnels shouldn't even make it blink.

[He's had more than enough tangles with big damn monsters that barely felt him beating the crap out of them with the Hand of Doom. He knows a lot about this kind of thing.]

Then she wouldn't take volunteers to help heal the thing. Trust me, she's hiding something. What, I don't know. All I know is she doesn't want us to find out.

[imaginate]

She might be, but unless somebody's got a good grasp of this turtle's physiology I don't think we'll know for sure. The other ones did die. [He pauses, to study one of the walls.] Does it look natural to you? I've never seen anything like this.

[He doesn't sound worried, just thoughtful.]

[histruename]

[The others died? Now that's some new information he'll have to file away.

Hellboy stops and considers the tunnels, running his flesh hand over the smooth bone once more.]

Doesn't look carved. But the thing's made out of living bone. It probably just heals.

[imaginate]

[He considers. A turtle shell doesn't grow like this naturally. He suspects magic or some kind of kedan manipulation here.] Or it could be sick and not healing at normal rates. [A light shrug.] I keep thinking somebody's going to jump out of the shadows and tell us we've been punked. There's too many mysteries.

[histruename]

More than you know.

[Mysteries like this... they're his life. They always have been, even before his time at the Bureau. Long before he arrived in Keeliai. Just one mystery unfolding into another.

His golden eyes flick back to Kyle in the strangely-lit gloom.]

You said the other turtles died?

[imaginate]

That's what I heard. [Although he hasn't been here as long as some others, but nonetheless, he's considering every scrap of information he can get, and the people he asks generally have no reason to lie to him.] Tu Vishan is apparently the last one.

[histruename]

Hmm.

[Well that... actually makes a lot of sense. It goes in hand with what Evandau told him not too long ago; about the Emperor's power losing potency the farther from Tu Vishan someone traveled. If this is the only turtle left, there's a good chance it's the source of the Emperor's power. That could be a big reason why she's so damn protective.]

Heard from who?

[He'll have to find them and compare notes, because yeah... they can use all the info they can get.]

[imaginate]

Last week it was on the network, when Marshal Givens was announcing the task force. [And Kyle trusted him that much, at least. The only way he could be mistaken was if someone else had lied to him.] Unfortunately I don't see any way we can confirm the existence of other turtles since we can't really leave this one. It'll have to show up in front of us.

[He was quite bad at sounding like a harmless civilian, so he had given it up.]

[histruename]

[And this is where his hate of the network comes to bite him in the ass. Too bad he broke his own console not too long ago. He'll have to get that replaced, much to his chagrin.

Either way, he'll have to get in contact with the Marshal. Great.]

There was the mainland, but I couldn't tell you either way. Place just looked like a desert to me. Was a hell of a lot bigger than Tu Vishan.

[And was more like a desert after a nuclear holocaust, but details.]

[imaginate]

I heard about that, although the word my friend used was 'wasteland'. No turtles there.

[histruename]

Yeah. Sounds about right.

[He keeps walking, heading toward the damage and the sounds and smells of the world above. Soon they come to the scaffolding where ladders reach up toward street level and the fractured shell gives glimpses of the night sky.

Hellboy starts climbing without another word.]

[imaginate]

[Kyle follows, carefully and quietly.]

[histruename]

[The ladder creaks ominously under Hellboy's weight, but he's surprisingly nimble as he scales it quickly, trying to to give it the opportunity to break. That'd be just his luck.

Once he reaches the surface he waits for Kyle to join him, enjoying his last few minutes of freedom for the next few days.]

All right, so how do we do this?

[imaginate]

I've gotta hand you over to the local police, you're going to the palace prison. [He points over to a group of kedan, who are heading towards them.

Kyle does not sound particularly happy about this. He had a good chat with a reasonable person.] Here's hoping they give you a slap on the wrist.

[histruename]

[He doesn't answer, standing in wait for the approaching kedan. He's had run-ins with the police force here before. Something to do with a few too many drinks and a temporary curfew. Not his finest moment, but he's sure Evandau won't be happy to see him again. The kedan police don't look all that happy either. But he greets them genially anyway.]

How's it going, boys?

[He won't put up any fight with this, either. He did what he did because he believed it was right. He doesn't mind facing the consequences.

When it's time for them to escort him away, he waves to Kyle once, still pretty damn unbothered by the whole situation.]

See you around, kid.

[He'll be out in a few days. All this really is is a minor inconvenience.]