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epidemiology2018-04-28 11:39 pm
futurologists) wrote in epidemiology2018-04-28 11:39 pm
Entry tags:
- ! plot,
- ahad (the inheritance trilogy),
- fiona (borderlands),
- gorō majima (yakuza),
- hayame (jinba),
- inuyasha (inuyasha),
- jason grace (camp half-blood chronicles),
- jester (critical role),
- keith (voltron),
- korra (legend of korra),
- kylo ren (star wars),
- laphicet (tales of berseria),
- lissa (fire emblem: awakening),
- rey (star wars),
- rhys (borderlands),
- scott summers (marvel comics),
- veronica lodge (riverdale),
- wylan van eck (grishaverse),
- yusuke urameshi (yu yu hakusho)
EVENT ▸ ELECTRIC SHEEP
ELECTRIC SHEEP  After Ophelia spends some time getting the lay of the land and settling into Drakstadish life, Rost informs them that one of their secret sympathizers has gained access to information that has the potential to bring the Prime Minister down. One of his maids has found security footage of him talking to other governmental officials in his home about incriminating plans. There is no time to explain what's in the recording, Rost member Froken explains, only that it has something to do with taxes: citizens of Drakstaden have had to pay an increase in taxes with the understanding that it will be used for revitalizing the lower levels -- including the promised Vakdir presence that has yet to come to fruition. Ophelia will need to infiltrate the City-State Broadcasting Station in the upper levels, where another secret sympathizer is ready to get them into the the master control room and disseminate the incriminating recording for the entire city to see. Rost will be accompanying them, ready to act as distractions or sacrifice themselves to the Vakdir who patrol the station; Ophelia has a better chance of completing the mission, and that is the most important thing to the rebels. ▸ BROADCASTING STATION  The Vakdir presence here is noticeably heavier than in the middle levels, though the upper class citizens' reaction to them is markedly different: whereas the middle class tends to cringe away from the Vakdir and avert their gaze, the upper class either ignores the Vakdir entirely or engages them in friendly conversation. It seems as though the oppressive force of the Vakdir is not so oppressive for the wealthy. You may want to take the time to explore. The City-State Broadcasting Station is on the uppermost floors of one of the taller buildings, meaning that Ophelia and Rost will need to climb several flights of stairs to reach the doors. Once there, the "secret sympathizer" -- Petyr Larson, the janitor -- is there to let them in. It's the middle of the broadcast day, so everyone else will be busy in the broadcasting and control rooms, giving characters plenty of time to explore the station, though they'll still have to be on the lookout for the Vakdir patrolling the halls. Larson's iris scan allows him to enter any room in the Broadcasting Station, including offices, and he has made copies of his iris scan on credit card-sized discs: the infiltrators only need hold the disc up to the scanners in front of any locked room for access. This allows for the team to split up into smaller groups or head out solo, and it keeps Larson out of immediate danger; though he's sympathetic to the rebel cause, he's a very nervous sort and is not exactly equipped to explain to the Vakdir why he's accompanying roughly 80 people around the station. While exploring the whole station can potentially turn up useful information for Rost to use against the oppressive government, they'll insist that everyone's sights are set on the control booth so they can upload the Prime Minister's secret meeting. It'll have to be timed carefully -- there is a fifteen minute break between broadcast shifts where the majority of the staff breaks for lunch, and the control booth should be abandoned. Once inside, it's a small matter of plugging the drive into the console and hitting the button marked BROADCAST: The recording is grainy-looking and from a high angle. It's a spacious, many-windowed room where the Prime Minister is seated at a desk. Seated across from the desk are three men, all dressed impeccably; their high-end cybernetics gleam even in the low-quality recording.As this recorded "off the record" meeting continues, it seems to indicate that Prime Minister Ivarson does intend to stay true to his promise to fix the lower levels -- by jailing the majority of the lower class, thereby clearing the lower levels of crime and undesirables once and for all. The prisoners would then be used as a cheap labor force, driving the middle class into poverty as they try to compete with the unpaid workers, thereby establishing a new lower class and ridding the upper class of all competition. It's certainly damning to the Prime Minister and will likely disturb the lower and middle classes, but it begs the question -- is it enough to drive the upper class against him too? ▸ THE VAKDIR  Any safeguards against entering the broadcasting station don’t keep all of the Vakdir out; there are already several inside, searching the large building for anyone who doesn't belong there. You’ll need to be stealthy if you want to get out without being apprehended and arrested, which will obviously happen if you're found there. The Broadcasting Station has quite a lot of tech one might be able to hide behind, as well as rooms -- offices, closets, dressing rooms -- to duck into if the Vakdir are patrolling the halls. If caught, characters can struggle to break free -- although they will still be known as a fugitive if they escape, and their likeness will be broadcast frequently as a wanted person. The Vakdir are equipped with powerful stun guns that will disable the average person almost instantly, as well as body armor that protects them from most attacks. Characters who do not escape will be brought to the prison, a high-tech complex adjacent to the Vakdir Headquarters, where they will be required to relinquish their possessions (it's your choice if your character's jewelcomm and/or specialization magitek is included!) and change into the grey prisoner uniform provided. The prisoners are informed by a particularly slimy Vakdir officer that there will be no trial, and that their punishment will be severe; the Prime Minister is very displeased with their malicious attempts to destabilize a peaceful nation, and evil acts deserve justice. “Sleep well,” he tells them, locking the door to the cell. On the bright side, due to severe overpopulation in the prison, all the prisoners from the broadcasting station have been thrown into one -- cramped, uncomfortable -- cell. In addition to whatever guildmates have been imprisoned, there are a few Rost members in the cell as well, as well as some innocent bystanders -- and Petyr Larson, the Broadcast Station's inside man. It looks like it's sleepover time! But don't worry -- the Rost take care of their own, and rescue is surely on its way. ▸ OOC NOTES This log takes place over several hours, with the next log -- featuring a jailbreak! -- beginning a few days later. In other words, there will be time dilation in place, meaning that only two IC days will pass between this log and the next. Please note because this log has been posted so late in the month, you may use threads begun in April for May AC. You may not use the same thread for AC in both months. If you have questions about this log or the mission, please direct them to the dossier. Questions about the game in general can be directed to the FAQ. ▸ Up now:
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no subject
It's distressing to see her wake like this- he can't help but be reminded of other, more pleasant, wakings.]
The guards passed through not fifteen minutes ago. [Threatening, bullying, using their weapons on the prisoners. He would take them all on if he could, but he cannot.
He looks down at her, taking in the bruises and the blood. This, at least, he can do. He can talk calmly and give her a moment to orient herself. He can support her.] We'll be undisturbed until the meals come, if today's as things have been.
no subject
What she would give now, for this to be a different day. A different sight of his face when she woke. What a foolish thought. A weak thought.
He tells her all she needs to know in the immediate moment, and slowly, her head hangs, she moves to haul herself up the rest of the way into a sit- and recoils with a hiss the moment she tries to put weight on her hands, pulling the left close to her breast as if burned. Swollen, three fingers crooked and colored beneath the skin. The only reason she yet wore the ring keeping her human-shaped... stuck on a mangled digit.
She stares at it, and forces herself to make a fist. To feel the pain she feels she deserves that makes her shoulders shudder and her spine curl.]
... I am sorry.
[She hadn’t been strong enough. Had perhaps... even been a liability.
And they’re here. Still here.]
no subject
He reaches out a hand now, trying to smooth back the hair that cover her face.]
no subject
She doesn't. Pathetic, but she welcomes him before she painfully finishes dragging herself up and over to sit beside him, hand still cradled to her chest. (What if it didn't heal right, what if her aim was-)]
... What will we do?
[Spoken quietly, the reason she tells herself she's allowed to sit so close, in order to whisper and be heard. Asks, because they were not to reveal their true natures to these people... and if that were the case...]
no subject
We wait. Hathaway will see us out of here in time. [Whether before or after the mission is complete, he cannot say. The mission must succeed, so long as they're in no physical danger there's no pressing need to get them out.
He does not have to like it, though. He just has to endure.]
We can still contact the network, so we're unlikely to be forgotten. And my brother will be along to visit at some point.
no subject
It hurts. Like she hadn't hurt in a long time.]
Let them complete the mission before they think to waste the time and resour-
[What had she told her brother, when she'd sent him away the very last time she had laid eyes upon him? Do not fail as I did. But wait-]
Your brother will?
no subject
Walls are nothing to him and he enjoys proving it.
no subject
Slowly, she begins to shift away to try and put a slightly more respectable gap between them.]
... I see. I shall... expect him, then.
[Or would such a thing earn his ire? Unsure, all too aware of the last words they had exchanged... she hesitates.]
no subject
Noticing the hesitation-] Hm?
no subject
... I do not wish to interfere with your meeting.
[In her own world- but she stops herself from completing the thought. This wasn't there. She knew that- but it was still the basis of what she operated on unless told otherwise, including how rude it would be to greet one's brother with a woman on one's shoulder.
Nor is it easy to admit that more than that... she simply dreads what his brother might say.]
no subject
Don't fear that.
no subject
I do not... believe that he approves. Surely it should not be flaunted before him.
[It's the last thing she ever imagined she might care about... but he seemed to value that bond so highly. She could understand that. If Yubari had been against a choice such as that she made-
(Part of her thinks, this is not the time nor the place. But it is something that isn't wallowing in her own weakness, that distracts from the pain and her anger. For now.)]
no subject
He turns to her, shoulders shifting.] What has he said?
no subject
[The one that had enabled her to take human form, that had been fast approaching it's last use. It is shameful to admit, but here, her cheek pressed against a stone cell wall, her hand half-mangled, body bruised from failure... it's easier to swallow, suddenly, in comparison.]
When you had gone... I asked him to forget my request. My-
[Her what? She had tried to figure it out, to understand best she was able... but it had all gone wrong, like most of her attempts at communication seemed to eventually. She had wanted to mourn and not to cling to hope like some naive filly- but he had said-]
Perhaps he thought I insulted your memory. It was not my intent, but-
[But she's been avoiding him ever since.]
no subject
Taking a moment to think, he runs a hand through his beard. Loki had puffed up like an angry cat on his return. At the time Odinson had thought nothing of it, but-- how much had his brother missed him?]
Even at the best of times my brother and I have a... challenging relationship. [He's searched for the word, but that's still not quite it.] Perhaps some day I will- try to explain it if you like. But for now... suffice it to say any accusations were likely made in fear that I'd never return.
[He might joke here that Loki also feared she'd trample him if he gave her offense (Thor's previous lovers have not withheld from giving Loki what was coming to him), but there is too much on his mind.] There's no need to listen to what he says if you think it will not serve you. Mischief is his delight.
no subject
Hayame nods slowly, eyes squeezed shut as a shift and desire to curl her fingers sends another surge of pain through her hand and arm, clutching it uselessly closer to her breast as she grits her teeth to ride out the shudders.]
There is... there is no greater bond.
[She has spoken about her own brother with only three people... one of who was gone, and one of whom was Odinson. The brother she had loved but could not embrace nor speak of such to, because theirs was a world that tolerated no weakness and no kindness. The brother she feared she would never see again, that she may have damned if Hathaway did not give her what she desired. And so the idea of possibly upsetting such a relationship-]
I simply... do not wish to add challenge. If you are sure that I shall not-
[Then she can return to the spot by his side, to the weakness and strength both such a thing was to her. To press her bruised cheek against his shoulder rather than the cold prison wall.]
no subject
Face him as you would any other. He may be my brother, but you do not answer to him.
[The truth is: there is no challenge. Through long cycles of Ragnarok past Loki and Thor fought and killed one another; now Loki and he will grow into the unknown future. That Loki is his brother is as a part of him as the lightning or the simmering temper (or the hammer, once).]
no subject
How she envied gods in this moment. Remembers how his skin had survived even the poison that had eaten through her hide in seconds.]
... ah.
[He tells her to face a god as if he believes she can, but she cannot argue against it. Not now. (Not considering that his godhood had never stopped her against him, either.) She remembers the last time they were imprisoned. The despair she had felt, the way her fingers had trembled undoing the jumpsuit to bare her gut, the grip of the knife. How weak and warm she had felt, in her lord's arms when he begged her to promise him she would not take her own life.
Here they are again, and her promise still holds, but-]
Odinson, promise me- Promise me you will not stop me from returning to my proper form, of it should come to that-
[To needing to choose which way to die. Two-legged or four-hooved.]
no subject
Surrender is not in his nature. Valhalla awaits only those who die in battle, on the weapons of the enemy. Suicide is not noble or good or right-- and a determination rises in him to fight against it, no matter where it is found. There is always hope, there is always another option, there must be.
But-- she is not Asgardian. She is not a god. He knows of Japanese culture and their different understanding of honour. It is different, does that make it wrong?
(And he would not (did not) listen to any rousing speeches when he lost Mjolnir. Perhaps there is a time and place for such things.)]
...should it come to it. [There. A promise.]
no subject
[She will keep her promise. She will not take her life in the way she had always been taught was far more honorable than to die imprisoned or to labor as broken slave. But... if it came to the choice, between execution or abuse too great to take, between being used as a weapon against their comrades in Hathaway as hostage...
Hayame would rather take to battle futile in the form natural to her, and die against enemies rather than be put down or killed on her knees like some sort of coward. She remembers equally well what he had said to her of his own people and their thoughts on such actions... and she presses her lips just briefly against his shoulder, as if she might comfort him, make her own promise. (Hah.)]
We must show them later... what it is they truly deal with.
[Once the mission is done, once they need not hide amongst these people as if they were humans. Even with her hand like this... if it were her own body, she has hooves and kicks and charge, and he... he has strength beyond men, and the storm. The idea of revenge against the wrongs sustains her, a simmering rage fostered in her breast that makes it just a bit easier to stay alive.]