epidemiology | PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION.

It's difficult to tell time without the presence of a sun or moon. There are no stars. The world is in constant blackness, the heavens barely visible from below and the only light artificial. It's been like this for months.

Suddenly, those who expressed interest in observing the sun (or lack thereof) will all at once receive a text message on their ALASTAIR jewellery from 82736775:

Get your shit and go look at the sky. Now's the time. If you need me, I'm around.

It's time to get to work.

OBSERVATION.

Find the highest point you can and point the telescopes at the sky. Should be easy, right?

Be mindful that there are still guards patrolling the city, looking for escaped prisoners, and some citizens would be very happy to tip them off to your presence. There are still animals in the forests to contend with, and there are still nosey citizens who may ask you too many questions. There are also your fellow ALASTAIR agents, who may not be very willing to share the spot they already staked out before you just showed up.

People and animals aren't all you need to look out for, either. Seven hours after the observation starts, there is a lightning storm. It lasts for 30 minutes, bolts of electricity arcing across the sky. It might be a good idea to scurry down someplace lower when this happens -- you know what they say about lightning and height.

82736775 doesn't contact anyone after the initial text, so observers are free to give up whenever they decide they've been sitting out in the freezing dark for long enough.

[ note: even if you didn't sign up, feel free to tag in! your character won't have a telescope but that doesn't mean they can't mingle. ]

[ previously: ic info | ooc info ]
[ direct questions here! ]

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A
[Pearl walks with a proud pep in her step. In hand looks to be Rick's telescope, but it looks cleaner than most. The exposed wires gone, polished, and most of all symmetric. Pearl twirls the telescope in her hand and glances up at the goblin church. A pretty tall building, Pearl thinks to herself as she slips the telescope into her sash.

Odd that she doesn't wear very weather appropriate clothes. Mostly consisting of her clothes from back home. But the cold doesn't seem to bother her too much. If anything, it makes it easier for Pearl to move. However, there is a pink scarf pulled around her neck. Tossing part of the scarf over her narrow shoulder, she looks up at the high wall of the church. Bending down low, she leaps up into the air with ease, and a quiet grunt, before settling atop it with ease, on her tip toes even!

Will someone already be there? Or will you come join her?]

B
[Pearl stares up at the sky through the telescope, her brows furrowed. So far, she's seen nothing, but at least she didn't require sleep or sustenance to maintain her energy. The Gem had been outside, trying some different vantage points and found herself in the forest in a tall tree. Hours and hours had passed. Honestly, she had lost track.

Suddenly, her eyes widen as she hears a loud crack. Lighting splits itself across the sky in a quick flash, and then the rain starts to rush down on top of her and her perch. Pearl's once perky hair flattens against her head, and her body becomes soaked to the bone. Great, just what she wanted.

She groans and moves to try and hop down from the tree she's in. Her ballet flats do little to help with traction against the slick bark. With another startling crack of thunder, she cries out. Her balance fails her, and she finds herself falling into the bushes down below the tree, leaves flourishing upward from the impact.]

C
{{ooc: Wildcard! If you have something else in mind, let me know at littlestpenguin on plurk. I'm open to all things, but if you're unsure, shoot me a pp!}}

A. Scrutiny - HOUR 1

[If there's one thing Peridot can do right, it's "go very high up and far away from other people." Towing behind her telescope via her Limb Enhancers Tractor Beam, and then using her other hand to go into Helicopter-Mode, she lands herself a nice, empty spot on top of a rather far off cliff and sets up camp. Camp consisting of her, her Robonoid, a toolkit, and of course, the telescope. Obviously, observations of a pitch black sky won't be too exciting, and while to her surprise, Rick's telescope does work, it was clearly nowhere near it's maximum potential.

But that's what she brought her tools along for, anyway.

Laying them out in front of her as her Robonoid mans the telescope, she begins her own investigation, intertwining a few wires of her own into the exposed wires of Rick's telescope.

SURE HOPE NO ONE WOULD SNEAK UP ON HER OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT!!]

B. Networking...? - HOUR 5

TEXT; UN: PERIDOT

Say someone comes across some sort of furry brown ... mammal. Approximately five feet in diameter. Black eyes. How lethal is it? Asking out of curiosity.

C. or Notworking? - HOUR 7

TEXT; UN: PERIDOT

DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THAT? THAT... LIGHT? AND SOUND?

[Someone has... well. Yet to encounter a thunderstorm.]

D. Espial - HOUR ...?

[This is nothing to a Gem. They're immortal, essentially. She'd stay out here for days, if it actually warranted some kind of information worth it. But after not much data gathered aside from confirming her own beliefs- that the sun wasn't gone so much as it's being covered up, and there are still traces of solar radiation in the sky, and already relocating twice, she's feeling pretty done with this experiment. The telescope, now upgraded significantly from how she received it, is capable of a lot more than a normal telescope should be able to do.

One of those things being reverse tracking. Rick had mentioned that all telescopes were hooked up to his something, which obviously was another piece of technology. Something secret enough he didn't even want to say by it's name. That sounded like something more interesting. Sure, it might be a little risky to hook up, but she's relocated to a place closer in town, closer to other people's telescope signals, so maybe, Rick might pin the blame on someone else if he happens to notice.

Or maybe, someone besides Rick notices Peridot acting a little shifty on a nearby rooftop. Again, SURE HOPE NO ONE WOULD SNEAK UP ON HER OR ANYTHING!]

So he was holding out on all of this...

[ooc: OR WILDCARD IT, WHY NOT. Throw things at me.]

[Hellboy, unaware that anything important is happening tonight (today? It's impossible to tell), has just come from visiting the goblin church. He's trying to learn what he can about the goblins' religion, and, although this church isn't his, he finds something relaxing about being in its presence.

The world is dark but there is always some kind of light to be found, either literal or metaphorical.

He steps out of the doors, twirling the swan-faced medallion between his fingers before slipping it in his pocket. He happens to glance up then, catching a glimpse of someone... jumping up to the roof?

That's worrying, and Hellboy steps further back from the church, calling up to the top.] Who's up there?

[ All this science business isn't really Undyne's thing. Now, if Alphys were here, she might be bothered to pay attention, maybe even try to be interested. On her own, though, it's not her strong suit. As much as she respects the initiative, she's best to just leave it to the professionals. Or amateurs. Or whoever, really; anyone who's not her.

She makes her way through the woods with an actual destination in mind. Visiting a friend-- what could go wrong? She's in the middle of wondering if she should have phoned ahead... magic messaged ahead?... when it starts raining, and she almost thinks nothing of it. The lightning is new, and it briefly surprises her as it crashes across the sky, but she's no stranger to being wet. It's a minor inconvenience, at worst, that she'll have to dry out all her nice warm clothes later. At best, it reminds her a little of home.

Among the other sounds of the forest during heavy rainfall, raindrops pattering from one leaf to the next on their descent to the forest floor, she hears another noise, and she stops for a moment, listening. These woods are still strange to her, and she hasn't ruled out a surprise attack from some kind of wildlife. She raises a hand, ready to summon a spear in an instant, but is interrupted by a distinct crashing noise, and she sees something tumble from a nearby tree-- a tall tree, and something not too small at all. An animal of some sort?

She rushes over to find the bushes mangled, and a vaguely humanoid figure within them, trying to push them aside. Whether or not something human-shaped could also be malicious wildlife fails to cross her mind. ]

Hey?? Are you okay?!

Edited 2016-01-08 22:15 (UTC)

[Pearl blinks at the sound of the voice. Anyone else would indeed find it strange to find someone atop a religious building. But Pearl and her Gem customs weren't very familiar with such sacred buildings.

Lowering her telescope, she peers over the edge of the building, her gem glowing brightly, like a flashlight. She catches sight of that red skin immediately, and recognizes who it is. She lifts her hand, waving it.]

Hellboy! Hello!

[Yep, this little thing leapt up to the roof.]

[In the face of such a bright light shining down at him, Hellboy winces and shields his eyes with his flesh hand. He's just not used to light anymore, after living in such dim conditions for months now.]

Pearl...? What the heck are you doing?

[Pearl dims down the amount of light her gem is giving off and laughs sheepishly, with an apologetic smile. Right, organics had to adjust to such things.]

Ah, I'm helping out with the sun effort! I don't know if you saw on the network, but a band of us are getting information about the sky, and possibly the sun! All thanks to these telescopes we were given. I wanted to find some good vantage points through out the city, so this is one of them I had deduced thus far! I hope to migrate to another one within the next hour or so.

[He saw something about that but, you know. Science. Not his strong suit.

When Pearl dims her light -- which is something new; Hellboy didn't know she could do that -- he lowers his hand, blinking. That all sounds fine, but --]

Well... on top of the church? Are you sure?

A

[She is camping, out under the stars for a planned camping trip with Graham. However, it's possible that others might also head outdoors and find them at their spot in the woods where they are set up with tents, food, blankets and such. Especially once he starts teaching her how to light a fire, with telltale smoke giving their position away. Let alone their chatter, noise carrying especially well through the darkness.

Come join them?]

B

[Well. She may as well give it a try? Sakura takes a deep breath, chanting the incantation she has memorized in order to activate her staff. 'he key that holds the power of darkness. Reveal your true form to me. I, Sakura, command thee under convert. Release!'

After that, she brings out two cards, knowing she needs to use both to access one of them as two parts of a whole. First, there's Dark, but then, there's an attempt with the Light card. There's a whirlwind of wind surrounding her, a bright yellow magical circle with a sun and a moon underneath her as she calls them out, asking the Light to try help bring the sun back.

Initially, it seems like it might be working but rather quickly seems to dull again. Staying as dark as ever. She's a little disheartened on it before she checks with the telescope again. At least some lights above seem a little brighter, reversing their previous intensity when one gets a closer look with the telescope.]

I....I think it helped a little?

c:

[Trying to see the sky from through all the trees isn't quite as easy. So it's probably no surprise that Sakura ends up at one point taking matters into her own hands by using the Fly card to transform her staff, the wings at each side of the bird's head at the end elongating, growing bigger that it could carry her weight and at least one other.

Maybe from up here she will get a better view, she thinks, as she checks through the telescope from up high. Sorry if she might startle others also taking advantage of height, or that aren't expecting to see a young girl flying with a staff akin to a witch on her broom.]

A

[Keats may be no astronomer, but he's incredibly excited for this. Finally, not only is this a way to help prove all these magical mumbo-jumbo theories wrong with pure science and logic, but he has the chance to investigate for clues, which is simply a reporter's bread and butter.]

[Bulky telescope resting on his shoulder, he moves along the streets, eyes scouring for a high place, but as the night goes on, he finds that every spot he sees has already been taken by another volunteer. His annoyance grows with every failure to find a place, and finally, he manages to climb up to a space on a rooftop, only to find that, surprise surprise, that place has been taken to.]

[He drops the telescope with a loud clunk, bending forward to try to catch his breath.]

Oh, come on! This place, too? [He lets out a frustrated sigh.] Honestly, damn my luck...this is harder than I thought.

B

[Lady Luck finally decides to smile on Keats for the first time this night, however, and he manages to set up his telescope with a bit of grumbling. It takes a bit of adjustment, but he manages to get it pointing up at the sky. That wasn't too hard.]

[And now, to see if all of this running around has actually been worth something. Keats pushes his glasses up on his forehead, leaning in to peer through the lens, and-]

Oh, come here, come here, take a look at this! [He calls over to whoever might be nearby, gesturing for them to come over.] Look through the telescope - I can't see it that well, what do you think those are?

[If one peers through the telescope, one can see very faint lights, like stars, in the night sky.]

C

[Annnnd of course it would rain. Of course. And lightening, to boot. Even though Keats is able to get to lower ground, he only manages to find shelter near the end of the storm, and everything from the top of his head to his boots are absolutely soaked.]

[He can be found near the edge of town, sitting on a log across a small pile of sticks and trash, which is has been set ablaze by a small, hearty fire. (It's far away from anything flammable - Keats isn't going to risk burning the town or forest down if he can help it). Hopefully, the fire will help him to dry up after that storm, though as he unlaces his boots to dump the water out, he realizes that drying out may take quite a while.]

[Anyone else who's looking for a place to hang out after the storm may join him and the soggy grumpy mess that he currently is.]

D

[WILDCARD it up! Throw whatever prompt you want at me, you can PM me here or PP me at plurk at vampirize!]

Edited 2016-01-08 23:36 (UTC)

[Julius notices the change in atmosphere and he nods.]

This is the work of your magic isn't it?

[The clow cards she described to him earlier--he remembers how they work. He fully admitted to not knowing how she actually managed to do that. For a moment he remains speechless and continues to observe the sky.]

It's making things easier for us, that's for sure.

A.

[At this moment Julius intends to watch the sky just like everyone else here who's volunteered to help out. Civilians are still walking about and Julius is being mindful of them. He's moving carefully in the dark to ensure that he won't be spotted by others. All of his years of military training seems to be paying off because it's helping him immensely.

He's still just a human though. The authorities will be storming in here if he were to make any sudden movements. Julius hopes that he won't slip up.

If you're walking around the vicinity you may notice Julius' shadow moving about. With the way he's moving it may come off as incredibly suspicious. ]

B.

[Once he finds a good location he settles down and puts the telescope in place. A couple of hours pass by and he takes a mental note of what he observes. Julius is careful to remain quite. Seven hours into the observation time--Julius finds something unusual. He decides to contact people on the network in order to confirm his findings.

video: username; julius ]

Let's exchange notes. We may be able to find something significant if we put all our information together.

I saw a storm earlier. It went by for approximately thirty minutes. The stars appeared to glow brighter for a moment too. From my perspective I'd say it was strange.

What did you see?

C.

[Idk wild card me up ! Or contact me and I'll write you something up.]

Edited 2016-01-09 00:27 (UTC)

[Pearl scrambles to get her bearings together. Her view is obscured by the leaves of the bushes, and she sputters, trying to push away what she cam. Thankfully, it looks like she's receiving some assistance! What a relief!

She's able to sit up in the bushes, trying to stand up. She feels disgusting, mud covering her attire, leaves clinging to her pale skin and gem. The Gem wrinkles her nose before she looks up to see who was assisting her in the first place. The first thing that catches her attention are the sharp teeth, and the... fins for ears?

Pearl stares up at the individual, blinking owlishly through the falling rain.]

I ah... yes. I'm fine! Just ah... fell.

[Her pale blue eyes shift from one side...

to the other...

and settle back on Hellboy.]

Iiiiis that a problem? It's a pretty tall structure. Perfect vantage point.

extremely lethal, especially if it's brown. it's endangered. whatever you do, don't keep staring at it.
those black eyes? they can melt your brain.
unless you didn't have one to start with which seems right.

_{[ guess who is bored with this science experiment and has moved onto something else to entertain himself with. ]}

[ It's raining... people? Undyne glances up at the tree, sees the broken branches, and doesn't really come to the obvious conclusion right away, and flashes a big grin instead. She's kind of used to getting that look, it wouldn't be the first time, but she's really trying to be a little less frightening. Perhaps bearing her fangs at strangers in a dreary forest isn't the best way of going about it, but it's a start. ]

Good! [ Then it sort of falls into place, and she comes to several different conclusions, all at once. ] Were you up in that tree? You're probably better off down here, who knows how long it's going to rain like this. We should probably find cover, or something...

[Her appearance was unlike anything else Pearl had seen. But oddly enough, she isn't too frightened by Undyne. She didn't show any ill will towards her, nor was she trying to be imposing. She was simply helping out.

Pearl stands up with a small bashful nod. Yes, smart for her to be up in a tree. Then again, the storm happened after she had gotten settled into her perch. She slumps her shoulders defeatedly, deflating.]

Yes, I was trying to get a good look at my telescope. I saw something before the lightning struck across the sky. [She picks off a few leaves from her gem and arms.]

Shelter sounds adequate.

You saw something? What kind of something?

[ She might not be a scientist but, hell, she wants to get this mess figured out, too; her interest is piqued.

She doesn't knows the forest all too well yet, but she turns and starts backtracking without further ceremony. She's sure she saw a nicely sized outcropping of rocks that should do for the time being, or at least to let her get her bearings. ]

I see.

Then I'm going to destroy it. It's a threat to our mission.

_{[ A normal person might care or worry about the trouble he is about to cause, but— ]}

the more i read your words, the more i come to the conclusion it's probably harmless to you specifically.
how do you plan on doing that?

I don't believe you. A threat is a threat.

And I have an energy blaster.

Yes. I got here first, this is my spot. Maybe you should have looked before you climbed up here. Now shoo, I don't need you interrupting.

[ Sorry Keats, were you expecting someone to give you a bit of a break? Maybe some sympathy??? Wrong. ]

I saw light!

[She exclaims as she walks beside Undyne.]

Just a small flickers. Barely even noticeable by the human eye! But then the storm happened to roll in, and now I can't see anything worth a pebble!

[She crosses her arms stubbornly, holding her head up high, despite her entire frame being soaked to the bone.]

(a) HOUR 2:

_{[ Already, he is getting bored of this task, and so a massive text goes out: ]}
UN: FruitsParfaitSamurai
oi oiii anybody find this completely boring? i’d rather watch the bunions form on your grandma’s old feet than put up with this…

join me in the clearing in the woods for a game of kick the can until something happens...
i’m really good at it
_{[ alright, now we’re being irresponsible like cul-de-sac children!! who’s in? ]}

(b) HOUR 4:

_{[ If nobody is going to play kick the can, that’s fine. Gintoki will head into the human side town with his telescope and climb some of the highest buildings to get a better look since this obviously isn’t working. More hours of waiting and waiting on the rooftop— hardly anything is happening and he’s wasting time, and so he wheels the telescope around and takes a look around the city at.. other things. Better looking things— like windows that are open and the silhouettes of women are seen by the lantern and fairy goop light.

This is better. He’ll start speaking to himself, and either you can be on the same rooftop (we’re sharing!) or somewhere down below. His voice is soft, but filled with amusement and expression. ]}

—Ah, that’s a bit better. They said nothing about a full moon tonight, but— I’ve found one.
_{[ ah.. he’s just going to wipe a bloody nostril across his arm.. rip.. ]}

_{[ Hour 7 is when he is actually working, still taking his risk on the top of a tall building in the human side of town. The rain doesn’t bother him, even if it’s chilly— but it might bother whoever is next to him and accompanying him. ]}

Hey.

_{[ Gintoki finally pulls his gaze from the sky and points to a small bag near him. ]}
There’s something of mine in there you can wear— or drape over you— or whatever.
_{[ it’s this black and red coat with Japanese on the crests. Guess who isn't going to leave just because of the rain! It's impressive, right? ]}

(d) HOUR 9:

_{[ By hour number 9, his blood sugar has crashed and he’s done with all of this. Nevertheless, even with the storm, he hasn’t given up. We could be scouting any place— it’s up to you, but both characters are seated. I hope you don’t mind a still damp and exhausted perm-boy beginning to doze off. His body is wavering to and fro— he looks like he could collapse any second. In fact, it's impressive he hasn't just flat out thrown in the towel and slept.

He doesn’t even notice it, but his telescope has picked up some kind of data. Wake him up? Read it for yourself? It’s up to you. ]}

i have an energy blaster.
between my legs.

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PLAYER EVENT ★ HELIOLOGY

Pearl | Open

Peridot | Open

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Sakura l Open

Keats | Open

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julius | open

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b; UN: FruitsParfaitSamurai

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A

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Gintoki Sakata | ota

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