epidemiology | EVENT ★ COWBOYS VS. ALIENS

EVENT ★ COWBOYS VS. ALIENS

STATE OF THE PLANET

Efforts in convincing the Qorral to stop drilling have been tentatively successful. Longterm solutions have been brought to them and, perhaps most importantly for the immediate, the fracking fields have been destroyed. The entire field has collapsed in on itself, taking mining equipment with it and creating a barren wasteland. In effect, the Qorral can no longer drill for argecite here, which means they will be leaving earlier than expected now that there is no use for the mining colony. It also means that the planet has been saved from being hollowed out completely.

On the other hand, attempts at dealing with the Deemers have been a little shaky. By now, it's known that Miz Poppy is host to the Mother, the queen of this Taraxa hive. She remains elusive, slipping through the fingers of any who manage to find or capture her. Meanwhile, the infested Qorral have been dealt with in many ways: some opting for wholesale slaughter, some hoping to extract the Taraxa in the field, and some sending both extracted Taraxa and infested hosts back to Oska to be examined.

As varied as the Deemer solutions have been, they have all resulted in the Deemer population being decimated. The numbers have dwindled as their camps are hunted down by ALASTAIR recruits, and attacks on the town of Perdition's Rest halt.

But the Mother is still out there and free, and that's a problem . . .

THE INVASION (DAY 1)

In the morning, the ships come.

Visible from the ground are massive spaceships in the upper atmosphere, gently drifting clouds sometimes blocking them from view. The Qorral don't recognize the ships; they're neither from their homeworld nor from any species they know, friendly or otherwise. For a few hours, the ships just hang in space like looming, silent buzzards, waiting.

And then -- sparkling, metal objects start falling to the planet. It's difficult to tell what they are, as their scale is minuscule compared to the gigantic warships above, and their descent is strangely beautiful. But as the objects come closer to the surface, the details become clear: individual spacecraft. They're gleaming in gold and white metal, a triangle sigil painted on the sides, and cannons mounted on the bottom.

These are Zymandis fighter craft. And they are not here to make nice.

The fighter craft swoop down close and send a barrage of lasers down on Perdition's Rest, causing the local Qorral to scatter. But their fear doesn't last long: many immediately take up arms to fire back at the ships when they're low enough, including Sheriff Holladay, who shouts commands to anyone who will listen, Qorral and ALASTAIR alike: take cover, give 'em hell, and for sun's sake, don't be a hero. (Those who have been officially deputized may access the sheriff's armory, which includes all sorts of fun toys of the shooty variety.)

But some Qorral have something else in mind. A small pack of locals rides out to the farm of Amos Zephyr -- and if you're suspicious enough to follow, it'll pay off. Beneath Zephyr's farm is a hidden defense platform: earth slowly moves aside as a metal platform raises up, home to mounted anti-aircraft cannons and fighter craft of their own.

The Qorral fighter craft are intuitively designed, and the Qorral will also quickly give any curious ALASTAIR recruit a run-down on how to operate them. They're short-handed since so many of their number joined the Deemers, so they're very eager to allow anyone to try their hand at flying the two-man ships, which have their own mounted cannons and, of course, escape parachutes. The fighter craft are not meant for high altitudes, though, so your dreams of space travel will have to wait for another time.

Those who do not wish to take flight and aren't comfortable with projectile weapons may find luck searching the desert for prey: namely, Taraxa agents attempting to flee in Zymandis escape pods. It seems as though the fighter craft are a distraction from the real goal of Zymandis helping its agents flee the planet. The Zymandis agents who are not Taraxa are variously humanoid, all equipped with laser weapons (spears, rifles, whips) that they will not hesitate to use against any who interrupt their attempts at escape.

For those who aren't battle inclined, there are civilians who need to be ushered to safety, and quick repairs to weapons, equipment, horses, or even the Qorral fighter craft will be needed. This fight is going to be a long one.

THE AFTERMATH (DAY 2)

It's peaceful now. The Zymandis warships have fled into space with the surviving Taraxa agents in tow, the Mother presumably among them. The combined efforts of team Audentes and the Perdition's Rest colonists have successfully staved off the attack.

The destruction wrought by Zymandis (and, perhaps, by overeager recruits themselves) is visible across the planet: deep fissures and scars from the laser cannons, fighter craft wreckage from both sides, burned buildings and trees, perhaps a fire still raging in the scrub grass somewhere. The Qorral aren't quite sure what that was all about, but they're more concerned with ALASTAIR's efforts in helping than in pointing fingers.

Q-65 is no longer a suitable home, so the locals begin to pack up in preparation for the arrival of their homeworld's ships in the next few days. An old man puts his chess pieces away; a little girl clutches her robot pony doll, unwilling to put it in her suitcase; the stable owner and the blacksmith stand close together and talk in hushed, affectionate tones. Sheriff Holladay lets her deputies know they've served the colony well. It's bittersweet, but the Qorral always knew this settlement was never permanent.

The mission complete, Audentes should expect to arrive back at Oska shortly. Use the time to say goodbye and finish up your business. Or, if you'd like, drink some of the booze that someone just found in the cellar beneath the burned-out saloon. It doesn't keep during interstellar travel, and no one will begrudge you a little celebration.

OOC NOTES

This log wraps up the Perdition's Rest mission! The log will last two IC days, after which characters will immediately return to Oska via dimensional rift (on 21 December in OOC time).

Mission epilogue details will go up at a later date, but for now, Audentes can rest easy knowing that the mission has been a success. We will be posting an OOC post-mission assessment on 14 December so we can discuss how the mission went and talk about the state of the game in general.

There is a new bounty on the Oska Bounty Board! Perdition's Rest bounties remain open until 21 December, at which point you will no longer be able to turn them in. You can also request bounty missions at any time.

Please direct all questions pertaining to the mission to the dossier page to keep questions and responses in one place for easy player reference. General game questions should be directed to the FAQ. To submit a player plot or future mission idea, please go to the Suggestions post.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Most of the qorral had been evacuated, and at least that put a damper on the amount of non-combatants injured, but with the debris, the battle, the... the ships, whatever those were, there's still plenty of injured coming through their makeshift center. Thankfully not attacks, since she'd finally managed success with her ward spell, but-]

Olivia, how are you holding up?

[Sieglinde still takes a moment to ask, turning to the older woman beside her during a brief break between patients, peeling off a bloody glove to pin back a long strand of her hair that had come undone from her braid and fallen into her face, adjusting apron and skirts before she moved automatically to arrange her remaining potions and bandages.]

[ olivia has not been keeping track of the time, only the bodies that have come through her way. seven now, or nine if she counted the two that she had forced still to heal up some wounds they were content to ignore, and though her skills have increased enough that such numbers have not yet tapped her of her energy reserves, there is an undeniably heaviness to her limbs, the corners of her mouth that haven't quite smiled properly in the past few days.

still, when the young witch questions her, she attempts one, for propriety. for sieglinde. ]

I'm doing fine, [ she says, and it is at least an honest answer. for while there is a general exhaustion about her, it does not translate to the actual energy she needs to do what she must here, and thus, for the moment, it is inconsequential. ]

How are you?

[Keeping track of time is never a good idea in these battles... something Sieglinde had begun learning in Chantes but did not truly understand until Nalawi. It meant that you counted injuries, looked for an end that might be any time coming...

Not a good idea. It did nothing for the patients, and only took away attention from the case at hand.]

Fine-

[Her reply is quick, without looking at Olivia, instead gaze darting over her potion bottles. The purifier, the antihæmorrhagic...]

The barrier is holding, thankfully-

[Though unfortunately, it was also draining her magic in a slow and steady leak.]

- Can you pass me that cloth?

[The one for her washing bowl was too bloody to be effective any longer.]

[ she watches the young girl carefully, keen eyes taking in the drain all that magic is causing her. to be healing while also keeping the barrier up — frankly, olivia is surprised sieglinde is still on her feet. ]

Of course...

[ the cloth is passed, and her attention flickers for a moment when she sees a body run past. body tenses, anticipating another on their table, but the body keeps going, dragging with it a heavy-looking gun, and not another person.

she lets out a breath, turning back to sieglinde. ]

Why don't you rest for now, [ she says, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. ] I'll tend to your patients.

[Olivia wasn't wrong in her estimation. The only thing that had prevented her from exhausting her magic twenty minutes past were several items on her person she didn't usually wear. A jeweled hairpin. A golden bracelet.

Gifts from recruits long gone and yet missed.

She takes the cloth and begins the task of trying to purify her gloves, tensing along with Olivia in preparation of needing to move back to task, but... good, not a patient.]

You have your own, it is alright-

[She only had three left that needed somewhat immediate followup, and none were life-threatening. Life-threatening meant magic, but anything that could be patched physically she took care of the old-fashioned way. Stitches, potions, monitoring.

But she makes the effort to turn, to look at Olivia. Actually look at her.]

... I heard you did quite well, in my absence.

[In the attacks that had gone on while she was safe in Oska.]

[ their eyes meet briefly, and there is a heaviness behind those deep emeralds that has olivia glancing away out of reflex. ]

I managed, [ she says in turn, humility and the general discouragement she'd felt over the past few days keeping her tone low and neutral. for a want of something to do, she starts to draw up pieces of cloth they'd cut up from old sheets and blankets, folding them so they were easier to get to in cases of urgency. ]

Your system is pretty fool-proof. [ after working alongside her in nalawi, it had been easy enough to pick up the nuances. ]

Still.

[If Sieglinde noticed Olivia's quick refusal of eye contact, (and she did), she didn't say anything. It had been a long day. A long few days. It made her question once more, whether it had been the right thing to do, to call Olivia that day. The last thing she'd wanted to do was involve her in that sort of thing, with someone she had broken from, but... she was her most trustworthy disciple.

(Disciple.)]

It seems you can stand alone now- even if I cannot be with you. Little makes a master more proud than that.

[She may not realize, either, how morbid that sort of thing might sound, as if she were an aging witch imparting knowledge to a grandchild before her quiet death and not... twelve.

But life was a fleeting thing.]

[ it is more the tone of her words than the actual words themselves that had olivia pausing, has her looking back once more at the other. her master, as they had come to call it, a strange thing to hear for some... but it seemed only natural to olivia then, who had not known much of anything regarding healing and magic.

now, though... ]

What are you saying?

[ there is a note of dread in her tone, a furrow to her brow. ]

[What is she saying? No- she knows the words, and the feelings behind it, but now isn't the time. Shouldn't be the time, but neither of them has a patient crying or writhing on their tables, and for some reason she keeps talking, hands still half in her washing bowl, blood staining the water red as blood ribboned off her gloves.]

The spells you received from ALASTAIR... they surpass the ones I have.

[She tries to smile, even though it's bittersweet and painful. She hadn't been lying when she'd said a master was proud of a disciple who had learned enough to stand on their own two feet. But that didn't mean there was no shame in her heart for it, or a sort of jealousy.]

There is likely little else I can teach you as a magical instructor.

[Olivia didn't need her anymore.]

[ now really isn't the time, but there is no going back now that they've stepped into it. for sieglinde's words are one thing, and true enough she can sense the sincerity there, the small fluttering of pride that thicken her words and make olivia's own heart swell at the thought of not just being good enough... but actually good.

and yet?

and yet she feels it there, tugging on her own heart, making it grow heavy with a strange sort of pain.

carefully, she moves to face the young girl better, leaning down so they are now eye-level... perhaps prompting sieglinde now to meet her own. ]

Why does this make you so sad?

[Olivia moves, and Sieglinde moves in tandem, shifting her weight back, on instinct still sitting in the bizarre way she'd always had to before, when leaning directly onto her feet had been a painful thing to do. It was hard to remember sometimes.

And hard to smile, but she tried anyway, even though she was a touch pale from the strain of the ward around their triage center, even though it's hard to smile in this chaos.

Olivia deserved at least a smile.]

Is it not somewhat sad... ? The perfectly reasonable sort of sad...

[Like a parent who watches their child go off on their own, or when friends leave for a long parting... something like that, that she couldn't even really explain well. Proud, but. She was prideful herself, and to be outdone by her own student...

To become "useless" to yet another person, to lose another role she'd taken on since her recruitment. It wasn't something she could be happy about.]

I admit it... might be bittersweet.

[ the only thing she would like to admit to now, even though in her own mind, much earlier, she had already come to terms with the fact she and sieglinde may never actually become the friends she would have liked them to be. that for, whatever reason, the younger girl prefers this distance, this distance with her, and olivia has spent long enough dwelling on her own shortcomings to come to any one reason, certain instead it is a multitude of them.

but such things she cannot say now, for what would be the point in them? she could protest, could insist she would like to remain as disciple to sieglinde's master, but what shame does she risk in that sort of groveling? what more can she stand to lose in sieglinde's eyes? ]

But you speak as if you were saying good-bye, [ she says instead, attempting to affect her own voice with laughter, to try and lighten the situation. ]

Edited 2016-12-10 15:47 (UTC)

No, of course not...

[Sieglinde shakes her head as if such an idea was quite silly, though the gesture slows and dies, and her gaze grows somewhat distant. This wasn't a good-bye... right?

Her entire life had been a lie to make use of her. Everyone who she'd thought had loved her had been lying just to use her brain, her talents, her "magic". She told herself many times that the people of the Outside World wouldn't all by like that.

... But there was a part of her that didn't believe that. That believed once she stopped being useful, once she stopped providing a service... she would be discarded.]

If you wish to study the more physical means of healing, I am of course available... though for magical study you may need to look to one of the more gifted members of the team. Law, perhaps.

[Jealousy wasn't a pretty emotion, nor one she wanted to acknowledge. But it was easier than acknowledging the things more directly tied to her past. Than confronting things she lied about every day.

Even to the recruits "closest" to her. Even if hiding it was harder and harder.]

Law's magic is different from mine, [ she thinks to clarify first, if only because she doesn't really know where else to start. sieglinde says she is not saying good-bye, and yet she looks as forlorn as one might when doing so. olivia isn't quite sure where to let her suppositions land, both hopeful yet cautious, one thought convincing her one way, and the other drawing her towards the other.

frankly, she could use some more learning of practical healing. perhaps potion-making, as well, should one day alastair decide her powers were no longer necessary or warranted. but it feels a bit wrong to ask for that now, when sieglinde makes it sound like more of a plea than an offer.

where next, then, should she turn? ]

My healing might have greatly improved...

[ perhaps, one last try? ]

But you are still so much more competent, so much more experienced than I.

[ but there will always be other teachers, other mentors. if it were up to her, olivia thinks she would much rather have a sieglinde. ]

I-I know it's strange, and maybe something you wouldn't encourage, but... if you would not mind consorting with someone far inferior...

I think I would very much like to be your friend.

[Friends.

What were friends, anyway? She had a few now... at least, she wished to believe she did. A few had told her that was what they were. Friends helped one another, did not betray one another, and talked about everything...

Sometimes Sieglinde supposed if that was the case, it would mean she had no friends at all.]

Stop that.

[Her voice is sharper than she means it to be, maybe it's the strain of their work... (or maybe the strain of listening to someone she valued continue to talk about themselves like that.)]

If you were so far inferior, I would never have taken you as a disciple, nor would I even begin to consider you a friend.

[She jerks her gaze away, back to her potions and her bandages.]

You insult me.

[ to say that she were surprised by sieglinde's sharp tone would be a vast understatement. frankly, olivia is well aware of her habit to put herself down, having been told numerous times by others (both within alastair and without) that it is a fatal flaw of hers, and despite all the times she'd done so in an attempt to soften the blow to her own self-esteem (for a failure would not feel like too much of a failure if she had never set it up to be anything but, right?) in this case it had... been quite the opposite.

in an attempt to spare sieglinde's own pride, olivia had somehow managed to further injure it instead.

it is, honestly, the final blow to the meager beginnings of a delicate foundation olivia has spent too long working on to muster up any kind of energy in salvaging. ]

I honestly don't know what you want me to do or say anymore, Sieglinde. [ these words, though not nearly as sharp as the green witch's own, are firm and heavy in her own exhaustion, punctuated by the clenching of her fists, a brief sigh pushed out between her teeth. ]

But I get it. Okay? I get it. I'll stop trying.

[ now it is her turn to turn away, moving back to her station on the opposite end of the encampment. ]

[Olivia wasn't the only one surprised.

But surprise quickly turns to hurt, to outrage and frustration, (with Olivia, with herself for not knowing at all what she is doing when it comes to things like "friends", and without meaning to her hands balled into fists, tightened, tightened, until the vial in her hand cracked.]

I want you to stop saying those horrible things!

[Snapped, her fingers white knuckled still on the cracked vial, tempted to throw it and knowing how childish that would seem, holding back and trying to sound commanding, trying to sound in control-]

You have countless friends, and loves, and people who say wonderful things about you, and you yet say things like that-

[Far inferior. Olivia wasn't even the one who was. It was easy to see in other people, easy to tell someone else not to put themselves down, not to blame themselves, not to take on the responsibility of the world...]

I cannot be your friend if you keep saying such foolish things, Olivia!

[ the shout has olivia turning back around in her knee-jerk shock, eyes widening and lips parting around her confusion. she sees the strain on the vial, lifts a hand in a halted attempt to get the young girl to calm lest she injure herself—

but then the rest of sieglinde's words reach her, and olivia is left with the sudden urge to left.

gods, she's tired. she has to wonder when any of them weren't.

she does not laugh, thankfully, but she does let out a brief puff of breath that might have mirrored one, had her eyes not suddenly begun to well up in tears. they are good ones though, mostly, punctuated by the small, hopeful curve of her lips.

she had been foolish. they both have. tiptoeing and stumbling around, trying to find the right words, saying things without really saying them... saying other things, when you really mean to say something else.

perhaps, in the end, they'd been better off just settling for the truth. ]

...You really want to be my friend, Sieglinde?

[ perhaps, at this point, she shouldn't push her luck. but also, at this point, she just really, really needs to hear the other girl say it. ]

[It is merely the space of a single moment, but regrets come quickly on occasion, and Sieglinde is already feeling embarrassed for her outburst, for how immature or desperate it might have seemed, biting her lips and turning slightly red-faced with chagrin even though the emotions behind her words were still present.

She hated when Olivia spoke that way. She was beautiful, and gentle, and kind, and admired- Lucina said she was even destined to be a Queen. For someone like that to act so worthless, to be so self-insulting... It does not occur to her how hypocritical she is being, demanding Olivia accept those praises and stop thinking poorly of herself. After all-]

Of course I do!

[When it all came down to it. It wasn't like she didn't desire friends, didn't desire a lover, didn't desire a life outside her work. She just didn't really know how to get those things, keep those things, prioritize those things, and it makes her so damned frustrated-]

But I shall not be unless you rescind your earlier words!

[ her own answer comes, first, in a shaky breath. the slumping of her shoulders, the dropping of her gaze. one hand reaches up to rub at her eyes, the exhaustion near palpable at this rate. ]

Is... Is that why you refused me before?

[ she can recall it so vividly, cradling the young girl in her arms as she wept, as she broke down, tentatively placing herself in a position to be a friend... hearing nothing of the sort in return.

she has to laugh at herself, really, if all this time, it had merely been her own undoing. simply because of her tendency to put her own self down. ]

[She wants to say yes, just because it seems the path of least resistance, least need to explain herself, and her own flaws and faults.

But Olivia doesn't deserve the lie, and so she shakes her head, slowly, biting on her bottom lip.]

I was not in a position to think of friendship then.

[She can't even claim to understand it now, even though she'll ask for it. Doesn't want to think about how she'd felt back then, in the wake of failure, blaming herself for not working fast enough on a cure for Koltira's frenzy.]

But I will take it now.

[Maybe that was good enough.]

[ she sighs once more, but it is a quiet, relieved thing. without any other preamble, she steps forward, closing the distance between them, but stops just a foot short of the other. she is tentative, but in the end boldly holds open her arms, smiling past a few tears that have managed to fall. ]

Perhaps we're both better for it now, then.

[Was this happening? What should she do?

Sieglinde hesitates from lack of experience, unsure if she should indulge in such a personal thing when there was still much to be done about them, but- well, it was a bit too late for that.

She struggles to get her feet under her, and rather than potentially embarrass herself further, simply opts to just embrace Olivia, face buried in... well, her stomach, but. That's a height thing.]

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EVENT ★ COWBOYS VS. ALIENS

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