(no subject)

[maskormods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: Everywhere
WHEN: Everywhe- March 19-27th
WHAT: A general start/catch all for the Groundhog week event. Feel free to make your own logs! This is here for as much or little use as you like. If you have any questions please ask here!
WARNINGS:  Mass extermination and TBD

The meteor shower parties start cropping up at a variety of times on the 19th into the 20th. Along the coast of Florida, several parties start before midnight and run until the scheduled event. Bonfires, drinks a plenty, and a questionable number of college kids with guitars litter the beaches at these all night gatherings. A little further north, the lake side parties in North Carolina tend to be a bit more mellow, some people camping out for the event but many showing up just an hour or so before the scheduled start to set up their telescopes or lay out a blanket. Whatever your preference, there’s sure to be a party that suits your needs- and at least a handful of natives asking just what kind of experience any imPort they can bump into has with being in space.

The downside of attending one of these large gatherings is there’s a good chunk of people around to fully embrace the mass panic when the announcements begin blaring over every radio station and hitting the text inbox of every cellphone at 5am.

NUCLEAR MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO FLORIDA. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

There is only a half hour to attempt to do so, with people in Florida in particular trampling each other to get to the long maintained, but rarely used, fallout shelters scattered around each city in every state. Just thirty minutes for many people to discover who they really are when the rubber hits the road.

And then darkness. And a voice, one only a few imPorts will still recognize anymore as a goddess, asking- sarcastically, of course- one simple question: You’ll let it end like this?

Then you’re back on Monday morning. In bed, or wherever you were at 5:30 that morning, 24 hours before the missiles hit.

And then it's Monday again. And again. And the question still remains the same, even as you repeat the same day, day after day. Will you let it end like this?

Comments

Re: Blue Beetle III | OTA

[hellrisen02]

Ominous. Nice. [A voice that manages to be weary and amused all at once sounds next to Jaime in the post-speech bustle. The man was older, for once without the white collar at his throat, but he had a crinkle at his eyes and a casual slouch that gave the impression of youth in spirit. He holds a flashdrive out for Jaime to take.]

I gave this record to the government after last month's mission, but I've been working on it a little bit. It's a transcript of the coding I was able to get into while we took down those attack satellites. Edited with my own interpretations, what little sense I think I could make of it.

Maybe my interpretations aren't much use to someone outside of what I'm familiar with but ...I figure if anyone might be able to figure something out, it's you or-- maybe that suit of yours. Pass it on to whoever else is working on that end of things.

--Ah, I think we haven't exactly been acquainted yet. [From Jaime's perspective, anyway.] Call me Shinigami.

[khajidont]

[ At first Jaime opens his mouth up to agree whole-heartedly with Duo's assessment, but then his eyes light up in recognition. ] Oh! You're the goth guy that, uh - that Moony was talking about! The one who was gonna build them a bike. Good to see you weren't actually an axe murderer.

[ Sorry, Duo. That's just your rep now. That goth guy. Then he blanches, recognizing that now's neither the time nor place and accepts the flashdrive gratefully. ]

Sorry. Totally not the point. Thanks for this, [ he says, waving the flashdrive in one hand. ] I'll make sure to pass it onto people who'll know what to do with it. I think I got a guy who could really use it.

[hellrisen02]

[Duo's expression goes through a range of reactions to goth guy, eventually settling on 'mildly unsettled acceptance'.] ...I don't know where to start with that one. I really don't. [He rubs the back of his head, adjusting the cowboy hat that sat atop it to tip down a little.] Gotta be a first, actually.

--Uh, anyway, [Something strange happens just then, although unnoticeable to anyone within the conversation. Duo's lips are moving, but anyone other than Blue Beetle can't hear his words.] --figures she'd know you. I bet you knew it too, then, right? Our cosmic mom's ol' rasping. [He tilts his head back up with a little wink, and his voice resumes as normal.] Well, I suppose things won't be settled until we're successful, at that rate. Better make everything we can count.

[khajidont]

[ Oh, so this guy knows who Ruka really is? Interesting. He must have been here for longer than Jaime thinks. Then it clicks. There are few people out there that have been here for years and years, and fewer still that would be both familiar with Lachesis and familiar with Ruka. He must be from the City, which means he's the guy that Lucina had spoken to him about. ]

Ah. I think I might know who you are other than the Shinigami.

[ Father Maxwell, she had said. It doesn't take long to put two and two together. He doesn't say it out loud, though, just taps at where the side of his nose should be, if he had a nose. ] Doesn't matter. Point is, we've got to get this done before Lachesis stops being able to do it. Or, you know, before she decides she's through with it. Neither option's good.

[hellrisen02]

Good! [Duo grins, waving a hand.] You pay attention. Better than most folks 'round here, I suppose.

Guess she wouldn't be --asking [Heavy airquotes in the tone here] for help otherwise, huh? Her influence on this world must be such that... They must be in her blindspot, if she even has that kind of oversight anymore. The enemy.

[Duo rubs his chin.] Whether that only pertains to off-Earth or what.... It's too bad the technology level isn't there, to get to Mars in a reasonable time. I woulda had an advantage.

[khajidont]

Yeah, I can't get a handle on what she's about, really. One month she goes ballistic just because some people tried to talk to her, and the next she's... what, helping us? Or is she just helping herself?

[ Lachesis lives here too, after all. She probably doesn't want the machine she's fused to becoming rendered to little more than dust. Jaime sighs, shaking his head. Anything he can think of is purely speculation, and that really doesn't help them much in the long run. ]

What kind of advantage would you have from Mars, anyway?

[hellrisen02]

[Duo gives a thoughtful hum. He'd heard... some other things, regarding that whole little incident in December, but then again there's been a number of incidents where Lachesis definitely reacted poorly to imPorts attempting to make contact with her in the Porter. So like, fair.]

Helping herself.......... Almost definitely. [He scoffs.] I don't know, I suppose.... I wasn't around for --the way things ended, last time. [Dating himself, but that's alright, he thinks.] And I suppose circumstances may have changed since then, but even if she has done things to help us, has she ever done anything that didn't benefit her, in some way?

[Can't complain too much if it means she's going to save them from being nuked, he supposes. He flashes a little grin at the last question.] Ah, well........ I live there. --Back home, obviously. So like, I guess you could say, 'home field advantage'? It's a whole different set of calculations to deal with, Martian gravity, orbit... I'm pretty used to it, probably moreso even than whoever we're dealing with. --Well, hopefully.

[khajidont]

That's probably a good thing, [ Jaime murmurs, though it's not necessarily for Duo's benefit. He's heard about the City, and he's heard about the end of it. It's nothing he would have wanted to be present for. No matter how useful the firsthand experience may be for gathering information - and Jaime has his doubts about it being useful at all - he wouldn't wish that experience on anyone.

He tilts his head, considering Duo's words. ]

Most of us are used to being pretty close to Earth, so I'm willing to say that this gives us more or less an even playing field. Not that living on Mars isn't cool, but I dunno if it'd give us that much more of an advantage. I'm pretty sure the threat is totally remote anyway. [ Whoever the people in charge of this are, they're not in space. He's sure of that much. ]

The way we're doing this seems to be power against power. And that's never the sort of fight you wanna get into with imPorts.

[hellrisen02]

[Not that Duo would disagree at all. It didn't take more than seeing the shellshock on Cityzens' faces to know he wouldn't have been able to make it, being honest with himself. He always did figure he was sent back for a reason. He wasn't able to handle that place, then. He'd broken too easily. Being brought back now? ...Maybe he was just old and tired enough.]

[Duo hums. He hadn't really considered that whatever setup they'd had launching from Phobos might be... unmanned, but there were plenty of AI's running around this place. He rubs his chin.] So you think they don't have any men on the ground, where they're launching from? Or rather I should ask, do you think they were never there at any point?

Where you have personnel, you need to have living spaces. I wonder how extensive the construction for this project was, for such a seemingly disposable purpose.