epidemiology | EVENT ★ THE BOOM

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EVENT ★ THE BOOM

EVACUATION

Under Undyne’s supervision, recruits will be directed to begin evacuation procedures on the islands closest to Nalalona, where the volcano resides. Nalalona itself is unpopulated, so there’s no need to spend time searching for Nalawi here, but the closest islands may be in danger from errant debris following the forced eruption.

It’s up to you if you want to tell the Nalawi the details about what’s going on. The older, more religious may have a problem with the sacrilege of forcing an eruption, and may become belligerent and aggressive. The younger ones may agree with the idea and ask what they can do to help. You have two weeks until the bomb is ready to be launched, but don’t be fooled -- it’s not a lot of time to waste arguing with some stubborn deer.

Either way, the Nalawi should be moved southward, away from Nalalona. The southern islands are well beyond any danger, but getting there will be difficult without powers at full strength. Better hope you know how to sail a boat.

SCAVENGER HUNT: NALAWI EDITION

The following items will need to be scavenged by recruits in order to assemble the bomb:

METALS: Metal ore can be found and harvested along the more rugged terrain of Nalawi, but there's also the strange, more refined metal scraps and sheets in the depths of the water, remnants of an old war.
OBSIDIAN: Also known as volcanic glass, obsidian is easy to find and useful for makeshift weapons, should the recruits have any extra. Fragile, but sharp.
FISH HEARTS: The local fish use a strange chemical compound that helps oxygenate their blood, most highly concentrated within their hearts. The Nalawi also share this trait, but will not take kindly to people trying to kill them.
SEA URCHINS: Plentiful, but prickly. The toxins in their needles can cause severe fever and hallucinations, so handle with caution.
NALAWI WILDFLOWERS: Red flowers with black stems that need to be ground into a powder. Breathing in the pollen or the powder will induce strange allergies in any recruit, causing one of their senses to go haywire for fifteen minutes -- they might lose it completely, or perhaps they’ll find themselves seeing things that aren’t there or hearing their companions talk about them behind their back. Effects can continue into the second part of the event, if players wish.
COCONUTS: The coconuts on Nalawi look more or less the same as regular coconuts. However, the coconut water here is also highly flammable and volatile -- raittling or handling them indelicately may cause them to explode. On the bright side, they're extra delicious.
WOOD: Trees are made of it.

CONSTRUCTION

The blueprints provided by the ALASTAIR NPCs are detailed and well-drawn, with thorough enough instructions that even laymen could put it together with enough time and effort. However, local, monkey-like creatures will be drawn to the commotion and ingredients. Expect them to sneak around, pulling wires in their curiosity, knocking over coconuts, and otherwise causing trouble. What happens when fish hearts are mixed prematurely with wildflower powder? Let's hope no one finds out.

There is one difference between them and normal Earth monkeys -- the Nalawi monkeys have fins. They seem to be a strange cross between fish and monkey; try not to think too hard about how that happened.

The monkeys are largely nonaggressive, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t annoying. They’ve never seen anybody who looks like the recruits before, and will be understandably curious.

At best, they’ll crawl all over you while you attempt to combine highly reactive ingredients. At worst, they’ll be curious about what happens when they throw said ingredients at you. At the end of the day, they’re just cute, sociopathic little fish-monkey toddlers.

NOTE: When all the scavenger hunt ingredients are prepared properly as per instructions, they will create a stable compound with no ill side effects. Incorrect combinations and accidents may result in whatever problems that players would enjoy playing out.

DEMOLITION

With the bomb and catapult complete, the risky plan to restore the magical flow to the land can commence. Under Pearl's direction, the bomb will be launched from the base of the volcano, landing and detonating exactly as planned. The blast is so powerful it can be felt in the ground below, reverberating through the heart of the volcano.

The plug of ash and steam is burst, lava spewing forth in a violent eruption. The effects can be felt immediately -- the air turns muggy and hot, and characters that have lost their powers will feel them return in a rush. Some will find their powers uncontrollable and unpredictable, and will need to get out of range before they accidentally start shooting lightning bolts into the sky. In this state, powers are likely more of a hindrance than a boon. And those without powers will want to get out of the way, since things are about to get… interesting.

There's another resounding bang. A second explosion, clearly not linked to the first. Something blasts outward from the inside of the volcano, sending lava, ash, and rock spewing out for miles. It's difficult to see exactly what is escaping from the new opening in the side of Nalalona, but you'll find out soon enough.

Countless impish creatures made of flame crawl their way out of the hole. If you listen closely, you might hear them laughing. They’re actually quite intelligent and seem to understand what characters say. They’re hot to the touch and will burn any flesh that comes into contact with them, so all attacks will need to be at a range. A non-violent way to defeat them is to lure them into the water, although some are smarter than others and may start luring characters towards them, compelling them to follow like moths to a flame.

Anyone who lets their defenses down will find themselves more and more hypnotized until they’re following the fire imps back into the volcano; the only things that can break the spell over them are their fellow recruits, whether it’s through defeating the imp, knocking the victim out, showing them reason, or any other alternative.

There are also larger, more menacing fire golems that lumber forth. Despite their hulking size and molten rock pouring from their mouths, they're quite a bit faster than they look, and near unstoppable once they sense body heat. They will chase relentlessly, plowing or scorching through any obstacles to get to their prey.

Each one has a glowing, vulnerable core, but it's not easy to reach -- they're only exposed while attacking, or after its sharp, obsidian exoskeleton is shattered away from it. This can be done via rockslides, cleverness, or brute force, but be careful not to get slashed up too badly in the process. Golems will also not follow into bodies of water or approach active geysers.

The major threat, however, is lava. Contrary to popular media, it's not safe to stand around it in any capacity. It pours quickly down the side of the volcano in a wave towards the recruits. Characters will need to escape the lava's path as well as the creatures that have been set upon them, while helping any of their comrades who may need an extra hand.

AFTERMATH

Once the eruption ends and the lava cools, characters may investigate Nalalona itself. There is a temple nestled inside of it, where the second explosion occurred. It seems the shrine there has been converted into some sort of prison, wrought iron bars raised all along the sacred grounds to keep something penned in. Whatever was being kept there has been whisked away, though it must've been recent: there are signs of life such as freshly scuffed earth and maps with scrawled notes that don't seem to match any Nalawi handwriting. Each one has an area of westward, open ocean circled fervently. Strangely, there are no remnants of food or water to be found. Whoever was holed up in here simply didn’t need it.

everquest next concept

For characters capable of studying the volcano (or asking the ALASTAIR NPCs), the strange energy readings are now gone.

For magical or otherwise supernatural characters, the power surge will only last for the duration of this log. After that, players have one of two options.

POWER BURNOUT: After the sudden spike of powers, players may opt for characters to completely lose their abilities for the time being. For magical characters, this means they can retain non-human characteristics, but will be reduced to a physical, mortal form. This means they will no longer require magical energy or similar substances to survive, but will no longer have any supernatural abilities.

POWER REDUCTION: Similar to what's already happened, characters can continue to coast on nerfed abilities.

This will remain in play until otherwise noted, so please pick whatever option is most sustainable for you. Please note this is not optional: magical characters will be affected in one way or the other, and all powers (including AC Rewards) will need to be removed or severely toned down.

OOC INFO

The actions in this log will take two IC weeks. Gathering, construction, and evacuation will take up the bulk of this time.

REMINDER: we always take player plot suggestions! Please see the suggestion page here.

If you have a question about the Nalawi mission in general, please use the mission overview page to help keep questions in one location for easy player reference. The questions thread below should only be for questions that pertain to this specific log.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Atta girl. No time to appreciate a good taunt, because he's immediately up and running to get clear while she draws attention away from him. Jason spins on a heel to face the carnage once he's got a reasonable—if not safe—distance. Just in time to see her start literally punching pieces off of the golem.

Well, that he can appreciate.]

Oh yeah, I get that a lot.

[The trying-to-kill-him thing, mostly. Brief snafu aside, she seems to have things under control, now. Punching through in the right neighborhood, but just in case—]

Weakness is dead center, under all that. Can't miss it.

[ She nods; the core is almost in sight, it just keeps shifting around to keep it protected. The stupid thing is smart, she hates that. She catches one of its flying fists and traps the limb under her arm, for one less limb focused on murdering her while she tries to murder it. It's going... relatively well, all things considered. ]

Yeah, got it — I'll have this guy in a sec.

[ That's the prognosis, anyway, until they get another enthusiastic party. A second golem slinks over the crest of the ridge, drawn by the noise, with gleaming eyes shifting from Ramir and her task to Jason. Ramir hasn't quite noticed it yet, she's a little preoccupied. ]

[Ramir's too busy to notice their company. Jason's not. Well, wouldn't expect it to be too easy.]

You've got fifteen seconds before you've got company.

[He can run interference for a while—provided the golem doesn't ignore him and beeline right to Ramir in defense of its fellow man. Do rock monsters have a sense of camaraderie? Now's not a good time to find out. He's already circling around to position himself a little closer to Golem Numero Dos, though he won't make a move until they're on the same page. Last thing they need in these conditions is to work against each other.

The new golem hisses ominously and angrily in Ramir's direction, spouting a stream of sparks from its mouth. 12 seconds...11...]

Need me to keep him busy?

[ She darts a glance over, and the sight of their newcomer gets a sigh. Normally two would be totally fine, but this one here is being just totally unreasonable. ]

Yeah, it'd be nice — just thirty seconds, then I'll take him off your hands.

[ She picks up the pace. She's almost got that stupid core in reach, but every time she grabs for it the thing pins her down with two arms and jerks away. With a lip curled in irritation she grabs a firm hold of one of those arms and twists hard, wrenching it out of the socket — and then right off. Of course the thing bleeds lava, and of course it bleeds it right down onto her, but it's progress. The next time she goes for the core it doesn't have a way to fend her off, and finally she plunges an arm through its body and closes a hand around it, crushing the thing into pieces. The creature collapses over her, but she's quick to kick it off and struggle back to her feet. It's about 25 seconds in all, not bad. ]

Okay, gimme the next guy!

[That's all the go ahead he needs.]

Thirty it is.

[Jason kicks off in the direction that gives him the most room to maneuver, drawing a pistol to take a potshot at the interloper's head to piss it off and grab its attention. This usually works like a charm, but for good measure—]

Come on, big guy, let's not be rude! Give the lady a little space, you'll get your turn when she's good and ready.

[Offended by one or both of these gambits, the golem swings around and charges for him, and he shuts up to concentrate on not getting incinerated. He can hear the crunch of stone in the distance, though he doesn't risk a glance to see how Ramir's doing. Just going to have to hope she's as good as she says she is. Counting seconds in the back of his head, he ducks an increasingly accurate swipe of a claw, backsprings narrowly out of the way of a spatter of red-hot rock. Until—

Right on time, he gets the all clear. He risks a glance over a shoulder to check up on the situation on her end—severed arm cast to the side and golem numero uno gone limp in a puddle of molten gore. He shifts gears away from playing keep-away to lead the golem back in Ramir's direction. Incoming.]

[ She wishes she could have watched whatever Jason did to keep the thing busy, it was probably a good show. Oh well, maybe next time. Right now she's got another guy to take care off, and as it approaches she's already eying the plating on its chest, deciding which ones to rip away first. She charges in, ready to get started again, but somewhere in the back of her mind registers that this one feels... hotter.

She catches two of its arms and gets right to work removing one, but it's not quite so easy this time. It really takes some tugging, and for a while it doesn't seem like it'll come off. And the swipes from the remaining two arms really start to hurt, too. When she glances down and notices that claws have drawn a thin line of blood across one shoulder is when she feels the first stirring of unease. But, okay, plating. It's down to three arms, that's enough. She pins one of them against her own body and begins tearing off chunks —

— But she doesn't make it too far. There's just a slim opening in its armor when she has to jerk away from it, the ugly red sear of a burn along one forearm and eyes going wide in panic. She's freezing up. This feels way weaker than she was before, when everything was just draining, this feels like more. And the thing is pissed now, surging forward as she backs away. ]

Jason! [ There's a note of terror in her voice that she doesn't have time to dislike. Can she count on this guy? They've saved each other a couple times before, sure, what's that guarantee? Enough, she hopes. She clutches her burnt arm against her chest and has forgotten how to look away from it, to find an opening to dart away. ]

[His biggest mistake, he realizes at once, and too late, is assuming too far with too little to back it up. Falling back a little too hard, taking for granted that the confidence and the superpower set comes with a certain kind of experience backing it up. The kind that prepares you for contingencies, keeps you from choking in the face of things gone south in the worst way.

That's his bad, and he's already kicking himself for the carelessness of it when he catches the high note of fear in her voice, the way she freezes up. No time for that while their big guns are (clearly) gone and their big ugly problems are still (unfortunately) knuckledragging around. He's in a perfect position to ditch her and save his own skin, if he were feeling that kind of self-serving. Jason's not exactly the nicest guy in the world, but he's not that particular kind of dirtbag. So. Options.]

O-kay, new plan!

[Cutting in loudly, both to draw attention back to himself and to rattle her out of her shock if he can. He'd stopped out of the range of the fight when Ramir tagged in, so he starts edging back in as soon as he catches on that she's running into trouble. Weapon raised at the crack in the armor plating that she'd managed to reveal as he pulls the trigger in succession. The golem stops with a confused roar when he lands a bullseye at the weak spot. It hunches protectively over its core as it swings around looking for the source.

He doesn't let himself sound worried, but he makes a point of sounding urgent. Come on, Ramir, look alive if you want to stay that way.]

I think it's about time to mosey, don't you? [This is rhetorical, please mosey the hell out of here. He's a good shot, and it seems to hurt just enough to make him golem priority numero uno again, but it won't be enough to put the thing down for good. This is just stalling. There are still three whole arms to swipe at them with, so Jason's's better used to split the attention than to try and drag her out of the way. Which means she's going to have to get moving on her own.] You find us some higher ground and I'll catch up.

[Hopefully. The golem's already recovering to swing back his way, and standing his ground for even a fraction of the time while she splits is a whole lot riskier than playing cat and mouse. Thirty seconds is a pretty generous estimate.]

[ The sound of his voice brings a wave of relief with it. He could have cut and run, it'd be so easy. The golem would be distracted by her, and she wouldn't last long, but long enough for him to get a hell of a head start. But he's here, he's willing to bail her out of this colossal fuck up. It's an impromptu decency test, and he's passed with (luckily) flying colors.

She allows herself just an instant of a relieved exhale, then immediately starts up a scramble backward. The life's back in her again as soon as she's assured of support. Unfortunately she's also really starting to feel those bare feet now, the hard ridges of volcanic rock underfoot aren't kind without some soles between her and them. She buries the pain of it along with the shock of her powers just up and vanishing, though. That's for later. ]

No, hang on... [ Her mind is running a few seconds behind her instincts. Jason has the thing's attention, though, so she's got a few seconds to figure out what thought she'd just seen flash by. And... yes, got it: ] Downhill, toward the water.

[ She hovers about where Jason had been while she'd been able to take it on, ready to bolt but not alone. ]

Together. You ready?

[Her insistence on waiting for him instead of getting out when he gives her the opening is both a complication and kind of surprising in a not-entirely-bad way. Stupid, but nice of her to care enough to do it. (He'd long stopped letting himself expect that kind of thing out of anyone, let alone someone he's known a bare minimum of weeks.) It gives the big bad an extra target for longer, gives them more ways for something to go wrong, but she does follow through on her other part of the great escape—water sounds like a pretty promising direction.

In the meantime, Jason's lost the buffer of space now that the golem's moving in on him. Gotten real up close and personal again. He stows his gun to free himself up for a little more flexibility, and while he skirts the sharp part of a swipe, the golem finally manages to catch him on the backhand with a different set of arms. On the downside, it hits hard enough to hurt and knocks him clear out of the arena. On the upside, it certainly puts some space back between them. He hits the ground hard somewhere not too far from Ramir and rolls with the impact, digging down and pushing himself upright as soon as possible to put a stop to his momentum before he skids into a lava flow or something. He'll feel that hit tomorrow—already bleeding down the back of his neck from clipping the sharp ground a little too hard—but he's good to run. Finding her again—]

Yeah, I think I'm pretty ready.

[He's got the clearance to bolt, once he's back on his feet again. Just pick a direction, and he'll catch up.]

[ She flinches when he's struck, which is made only slightly better when he's up on his feet again in record time. He's probably still hurt, but not so much that it'd fuck up their escape. Small blessings.

She takes off at a dash, pretty sure she's going for the quickest way down the mountain and toward the waves. She kinda knows this area, has gotten a feel for it as they've moved through it. This is going to be really embarrassing if she's wrong.

A few steps in she darts a glance over her shoulder (the golem confused, but just starting to pick up after them) (Jason not far behind, left) and veers just slightly, enough to snatch up Jason's hand in hers as they go. It's only mostly so she can keep track of him without needing to look over-- she also has this horrible mental image of stepping down wrong on one of those sharp edges and flying off her feet. A little more stability can't hurt. ]

[Any one you walk away from, right? Adrenaline does a whole lot to help ignore getting knocked around, anyway. Jason springs up after her like he doesn't even feel it, catching up at a decent clip while the golem starts to work out what they're up to.

He does still have to stop himself short of kneejerking away when she grabs for his hand. When he catches on to her intentions, he shifts his grip to something a little more secure. This is getting to be a habit. You'd be barking up the wrong Bat for stability, bud, but in this, he can be a bit of an anchor. Proper shoes and enough bullshit acrobatics in his backlog to compensate for a pitch in balance if she manages to impale herself on the terrain all of a sudden.

Booking it down the path she's picked out, he does his best to get his bearings. They're putting some distance between them and the golem, which is good, but it can't hurt to look for a shortcut. Especially with her going barefoot and all.]

How are you with water?

[Also heights. Can you swim, mostly. They're coming up on a cliff side overlooking the ocean. They can keep running down the slope...or they could jump. High enough to look daunting, deep enough to land safely. And, most importantly—not an act the golem's going to follow.]

[ Keeping a grip on his hand is even more reassuring than she hoped it would be. And she does need that hold and its sturdiness a few times, jerking to one side or the other when she lands a foot on something a little too sharp to keep her weight on. She looks a little grim when she realizes the cliff is coming up, but he's not necessarily veering for the path down it, and she follows suit. There's no way she's taking the long way down, giving her a dozen more chances to fall on her face and the monster a dozen more chances to catch up. ]

Shitty. [ It'll be deep, which is awful, but at least probably not far from shore. It could be worse. ] But let's do it.

[ She squeezes his hand just a little tighter as the jump rushes up on them, not at all willing to let go in the near future. This is all terrifying only if she stops to think about it, so she distinctly doesn't. Instead she snatches one last glance back at the golem (snarling, but slowing), casts one over at Jason, and synchronizes her steps to his to launch off the edge and into the empty air. ]

[Shitty, but up for it anyway. Good girl. Compared to the lava monster and the terrain, the waves are the path of least resistance, right now, whether she likes it or not. Better to know she'll need help getting to shore before they're in the drink.

Years of flipping off skyscrapers and whatnot kind of robs you of a fear of heights, but he's at least aware that normal people have some issue with these things. He doesn't slow an inch to give her a chance to think about it or a chance to lose their momentum—the further out they get from the cliffside, the better. And to Ramir's credit, for all her unhappiness with the prospect, she doesn't need him dragging her along. They jump in tandem, hanging in midair for a beat before falling. Just long enough to catch a breath and brace before the impact. It's disorienting at best—they won't have time to hit terminal velocity, but water can still hit hard when you're going fast enough.

After spending so long in the stifling air of the eruption, the relative cool of the ocean's a shock. Saltwater stinging at burns and broken skin even after the impact's done rattling through them. They plunge down pretty deep, so first order of business is breaking to the surface. If the golem has defied the odds and hopped down after them, they need to get out of dodge fast. No way it'll last once it hits the drink and cools off and sinks like the stone it is, but it's still huge and heavy and hot as a projectile.

Small favors, Ramir's death-grip on his hand was more than enough to keep them from being scattered by the plunge. How shitty "shitty" is remains to be seen. For now, he pulls his fingers tight and kicks for the surface.]

[ The water is a shock. The only blessing is that she didn’t have time to stop and consider what she was leaping into. But now that it’s closing around her head and forcing her to slam her eyes shut against the sting of it, it all comes rushing back with a nice note of jarring panic. Jason’s hold on her hand does wonders for that too, honestly.

She fights her way to the surface along with him, a decent swimmer for someone “shitty” at it. She greedily gulps down air as soon as they break the waterline, and immediately scans the cliff’s edge for sign of the golem.

It’s up there alright, snorting and flaring angry fire, but not willing to pursue them. There’s a lucky break. It’s one she needs, considering the tossing of waves around her is kind of the worst thing ever. But she’s just faced worse, and recently, so she fights off the panic. ]

C’mon — shore — [ That’s about all she can manage to sputter out between waves, and she says it like she has any control over this two person swim team. She’d probably be having an easier time of this if she freed up a hand to help paddle, but there are still no plans to give Jason his hand back. ]

[Soon as they break the surface, he does the same. There's the golem, not following, and she needs less help than she could to stay afloat. All in all, it could be worse. Hanging out in the open water isn't very productive, so he starts for the shore as steadily as he is able while handicapped by a barnacle. The waves are choppy, as the ocean's prone to be lately, but they're close enough to the shoreline that it's not so bad they can't swim it.

Jason touches down on the sand a little sooner than she does, by virtue of being taller. He uses it to tug her forward until he's got about half of himself free of the water.]

Okay— [They're good. That was fun. He uses his free hand to rake his wet hair off of his face and kind of gives his caught one a shake, as if to drive home how good they are. He looks back over a shoulder at the near distance. The golem seems to have given them up and wandered back toward the eruption.] Hate to say I told you so—

[He doesn't actually hate that, usually. But this time can be an exception. Looks like they found the catch.]

[ The shore is an incredible relief, and she's pretty sure she hasn't felt anything better than sand under her feet in, like, years. She even eases up on the death grip of his hand, allowing him to pull away if he really wants to. ]

God, no, go ahead. [ She knows she fucked up. She doesn't plan on dwelling on it much, and certainly not verbally, but she knows. She definitely deserves a told you so. She scrubs her free hand over her face with a heavy sigh. ]

I can't believe how much that fucking sucked. I miss my shoes.

Far be it from me to turn down an opportunity to be smug.

[In her defense, they didn't have much reason to believe her powers would cut out at (nearly) the worst possible moment. And it's not like he tried very hard to stop her from showing off. Jason's probably at least partially complicit in this small disaster. Don't beat yourself up, these things happen. So despite the I told you so, he waves off the rest in surprisingly good humor, considering the near-death-experience thing.]

But I dunno, I think I kind of missed the exercise. Nothing quite motivates like the threat of being charbroiled.

[Too much slow vacation time on deer island. He carefully works on reclaiming his hand once she looks pretty steady and starts wading back toward the shallows, skimming the shoreline to make sure it's free of lava monsters and maybe find a place for her to sit for a minute. Speaking of her shoes, a little more seriously—]

What's the damage?

[Because at the very least, sandy beach and bloody feet sounds like a pretty terrible combination. He got out of it with a little knocking around, but she'd been pretty close to punching out the lava monster when she guttered out.]

[ She makes a face at the thought of all that as exercise. God, what a shitty routine that'd be. She slows down as the water gets lower, glancing down at her feet -- yep, definitely some red billowing out in the water around her, hopefully this area isn't too big on sharks. And the higher she gets the more weight they take, so she hovers right where she is. ]

Got any bandaids on you?

[ She asks it without much humor, and takes just a quick glance at the bottom of one foot (which is gross, as she's bad with blood and there was a lot of that going on, so, never going to do that again) and looks over the burn of her forearm, then sighs again. She doesn't even bother to go over the side that slapped the water, that's probably fine. Even if it stings like a bitch. ]

Honestly, I think I forgot what getting hurt feels like. I'll try not to whine. [ She glances over at him, particular attention in looking him over. ] What about you, how bad did it get you?

[Let him tell you stories about the live-fire course in the Batcave, bud. (Hah.)]

You know what they say about burns. It's when it doesn't hurt you've really got to worry.

[They'll have to see if any of the magic types have retained their healing mojo. When she asks after him he rakes his hand through the back of his hair and frowns when he hits the scrape he'd taken in his tumble. It's bleeding a lot, watery red running down his neck and into the collar of his shirt, but head wounds always do.]

Probably looks more impressive than it is. Pretty sure nothing's broken.

[And he can usually tell, because he's had experience. He pulls his shirt over his head to dunk it back in the water and wring it out. Soot-stained and soaked in saltwater isn't the cleanest of things to wrangle some makeshift bandages out of, but it'll be better than getting her feet full of grit until they can regroup. (He'd ask her if she wants to sacrifice to the cause, but she's running pretty short on clothes already after all that.)

Without it, he's burnt and bruising in places already, but that's about par for the course. A hazard of heading into the blast zone without anything more armored. Still, he's had worse. Any one you walk away from. On that note—]

Think you can walk out of here if we wrap you up?

[ True. She sneaks another glance at the burn (less gross than open cuts) and, while it's red and looks angry, she can feel it. Not ideal, but better than it could be. She's preparing some sort of actual intelligent answer when she's suddenly distracted by the fact that Jason has taken off his shirt. She hadn't realized it was her birthday already.

Anything she was going to say trails off unsaid into a smile, and she makes a show of setting her chin in one hand to watch the show. ]

Hmmm? [ Absently, like she'd barely realized a question was asked. (She heard it, she knows her answer is yes, but what fun is that?) After a few seconds' pause: ] Oh. Well. Maybe. You might have to carry me.

[Well, look who's back to normal in record time. This isn't actually supposed to be positive reinforcement, Ramir. He stops midway through wringing out his shirt to cock a critical brow back at her. You don't bullshit a bullshitter very easy, but she's barely trying at all.]

Dunno, might need to go find some backup, in that case. I'm feeling a little lightheaded all of a sudden. Must have taken a harder hit than I thought.

[Do you want to get out of that water before the sharks smell you or not.]

[ It's amazing, the things that make you feel better, and how quickly they work. She laughs quietly, finally sweeping a hand through her hair to brush it back out of her face. ]

Aw, that's so sad. Maybe we'll just have to sit here forever. You, shirtless, me, nothing better to do than keep an eye on you and make sure you don't faint. [ keep an eye on SOMETHING, anyway. ]

I'll let you know if I start feeling all swoony.

[To think this was a very serious life or death situation a few minutes ago. He ought to be feeling kind of objectified right about now. Is this how Grayson feels all the time. (Now there is a train of thought he's not actually going to entertain at all for about a thousand different reasons.) He's not particularly shy, so she wins a crooked grin out of him for her efforts, but he pulls a knife from his belt—a peculiar thing with a long, waved blade—and gestures back at her with the tip before bothering to put it to work on the prospect of bandages.]

We could use yours for this instead, if it'll help you concentrate. I'm not picky.

[ She snorts, glancing down at her clothes. What remains of her clothes, anyway. They're pretty much shredded, she'd be surprised if it exceeds decency in some places. Whatever, good thing she brought her usual clothes and stashed them in the inn. ]

Nah, this is fine, I'd rather take a donation from you.

[ She pushes a little closer to shore, specifically so she can give up on standing altogether and sit in the surf. She has the uncomfortable feeling that she's going to start dwelling on her missing powers soon, with the danger passed.

So, instead, with a more serious glance up at Jason: ] Hey, seriously though-- thank you.

[Don't worry, he's got a few options. Even assuming the infinitely spawning ALASTAIR uniform engine doesn't apply here. He'd be less shirtless if it wasn't mostly way too warm to dress in layers out here. That settled, he goes about cutting a couple notches in the thing so he can tear it into wide strips while Ramir sits herself down a little closer to shore. The bloodstained bit at the neck gets pocketed for scrap before he stows his knife again.

He's in the process of dropping down in front of her in the surf when she thanks him, and he stops to raise his eyes back to her. There's an odd break of awkwardness when the flippancy goes out of the conversation. Like he's got an easy response for everything but earnestness. Still, after a beat—]

Sure.

[He can try telling himself it's not because he gives a damn. That he's not falling back into old habits. Definitely not doing anything because of anything Batman would or wouldn't do. It's not even really because he's got an angle on her, anymore. (Not entirely, anyway.) It's been a while since he'd spent so much time around the same bunch of people without the caveat of them being professional dirtbags, or without a very particular endgame in mind. He's a little rusty at sincerity.

He gestures for her to lift one of her feet out of the water so he can get on wrapping it up. Don't look if you're gonna get queasy on him.]

Keep some tabs on being breakable til this clears up. I have a feeling you'll run out of feet before I run out of shirts.

[No point in avoiding the elephant in the room.]

EVENT ★ THE BOOM

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