Event - The 25,000 Light Year View

[apocalypsehowmods]

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The 25,000 Light Year View

The atmosphere in the lower level gym at ADI headquarters is… tense, to say the least. Nia, Neil, and Rae are present with the rest of those remaining at the organization (or willing to come when called by Neil and Rae for a final statement) seated in benches and chairs that have been dragged in. It's not the usual, orderly meetings that some might have gotten used to for mission briefings.

Neil speaks first. "Thank you, everyone, for coming in. Lot's been happening, but we've come to… an understanding about where we need to go. The artifacts that were in the Vault have all been accounted for or noted as destroyed in some manner with a few exceptions. We're still chasing- ADI is still chasing those down with help from anyone who might want to give it. Won't pretend this is going to be a kumbaya moment, so let's get down to brass tacks. There's an apocalypse on. Whatever this organizations stands for now, its original mission was to uncover and stop those. That's still my mission."

"Mine, too," Rae chimes in.

"It's one we all share," Nia adds.

Neil nods before continuing. "So, we stop this, and we go our separate ways. I'll be leaving ADI and starting my own organization. We've seen a large number of threats in the Appalachian region and a lot of folks heavily impacted by decisions ADI's made. I'll be taking my organization there. Already been in touch with our- with ADI's field agents in the region. Some will be joining me. Along with a certain newsperson who keeps sniffing around. We'll do what we can to do right by the people who've been hurt most. That's going to be our focus. Support and security. We're not feeding the Hunt anymore by running down threats."

Rae steps up next. "And I'll be going where I need to. Lot of threats out west. If you're looking to do some good that won't be working for the Hunt… maybe think about heading that way."

Nia is the last to speak. "And I'll be staying here in Gloucester. ADI will be staying. And I will be its final Warden. We're stopping Zyrian, then we're figuring out what the hell is going on with Dogtown to get all of you people from other worlds home. Or at least stop anyone else coming in. After that? I'm out. What happens after that is still in the works. But Neil's agreed to stay in touch to help with everything… once I'm gone." There's a flicker of emotion across Neil's stoic expression. Regret, frustration… grief. "But right now, we look to Wolf Trap. I-"

There's a pause, and Neil and Rae look to Nia in concern as she puts a hand to her temple. She recovers, though. "Huh… We look to Wolf Trap, Virginia. We'll have buses to get everyone down there. We'll be arriving just as Copernicus' launch of the New Horizon's project is underway. That's where Zyrian Steel's going to do his ritual. We need to find the server rooms at the event. Those are important."

Rae squints at Nia, "You sure?"

Nia nods. "Yeah. I'm real sure about that. It'll be dangerous, though, and that's not the- it's not the only threat that's gonna be there."

Neil's looking wary. "Nia?"

"There's something else. The Web? It's not just the Vast that's involved in this, I don't think. It would make sense, right?" She shakes her head. "We'll be facing multiple Entity threats down there, not just the Vast. And I'm sure Zyrian's gonna kick the ritual off on the last day, once he's had time for-for something… not sure what. But he's a dramatic bastard, if nothing else. And timing's everything."

Neil and Rae exchange uncertain looks before Neil speaks up again. "Coming is voluntary, like always, but we'll want boots on the ground to cover as much ground as possible. They'll be holding the biggest events and productions at the Filene Center stage. But we're expecting tech booths scattered all throughout the park. Be on your guard."

"And bring a gun," Rae advises.

➥ Links

• General Setting Prompts - Part 1 & Part 2
  
• NPC/Mod Response Prompts - LINK
  
  

Wolf Trap Park
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NPC Interactions

[apocalypsehowmods]

NPC/Mod Setting Interactions

This section is for players wishing to take a more active role in deciding ADI's ultimate fate, and directly interacting with key NPCs. We would ask, for the sake of plot progression, that those tagging in prioritize these threads to the extent practicable. Mods will do so, as well.

We would request all tag-ins by June 21st to allow for sufficient time to thread things out. Players may tag in just their character or may thread in pairs with mod responses. You may tag an individual character into a maximum of two (2) different mod response options.

_

➥ Jazz

(cw: panic; discussion of dead bodies)

"Hey. Hey, you!" The young Asian man who grasps at your arm is a stranger, one with wild, terrified eyes. He looks to be in his late teens or early twenties, and he's practically shaking like a leaf. "You gotta help. There's- fuck, man. There's a monster in the server rooms. One of the server rooms? I don't even know how many they've set up here. And it was- it was way too big. I walked around the building. But it- Look. None of the security people are taking me seriously, but there are bodies in there. Like-like people? People in trouble. I got out. I figured out how to get out, but I- god! This was supposed to just be a summer gig. What the hell? What the hell?"

_

➥ Fortune

(cw: altered perceptions of reality, tones of madness)

There’s been so much chaos. Information flying, people running about, monsters to fight, and yet no sign of Steel himself and no the ideas Nia, Rae, and Neil have chased have all come up empty. Wherever he is, he’s well hidden. Through all of it, though, there has been one consistent presence just on the edge of wherever the fun is. Those observant might recognize they’ve seen her more than once… just before or near a discovery of new lead, the rumor of wire monsters, and right near where ADI has set up a temporary base. Steel’s app goes live and she sits there, legs dangling off the edge of a narrow window sill that has no good path to reach. She sits there now, watching everyone scramble around and unnoticed by those around. Except you.

You she turns a smile on, one that seems a little too wide, framed as it is with dark lipstick. Her eyes catch the light in a deep pitless black. A void under her wide-brimmed hat and motions you over with a wave of hands tattooed in branching fractals that trace up her wrists and into the sleeves of her long coat.

“Having some trouble, are you?” Her voice is soft, but drowns out every other sound in the area to those she’s set her sights on, almost like it’s right behind your ear. “Would you like some help?”

_

➥ Zyrian Steel

(cw: dissociation and derealization; existential horror related to the size of the universe; villain actively attempting to induce a mental health crisis; altered mental states in general; please use headers for additional warnings as needed)

The sky is watching you. Here within his realm, lording over the people plugged into his machine, Zyrian Steel is everywhere and nowhere. He might be a comet in space, the earth beneath your feet, a great eagle whose wings block out the sun–whatever illusion your mind has cooked up to hide from the knowledge with which he has gifted to you, Zyrian plays his role in it, at least for now.

"Creative!" he grins, conveying amusement whether or not he has a mouth or a face with which to convey it. "But it won't help. Just let it happen and–well, it won't be all over. It'll just be starting."

Somewhere deep in the server rooms, lies the physical body of Zyrian Steel. Where others plugged into the machine weep silent tears or cry out for help that may never come, he rests peacefully, a satisfied smile on his lips. Soon everyone will join him in knowing and understanding their place.

_

➥ Mod Notes

• Zyrian Steel - For this prompt, any number of characters may interact with Steel inside the mindscape generated by his machine. They may be able to hurt or even appear to kill him, but he will come back from any death inside the mindscape. Only one team of characters will be able to find his physical body and kill him from outside the machine once and for all; as of this posting that selection has already been made via RNG. Please refer to the OOC post for more details.

Fortune

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

[He notices her amidst the chaos, and right away he knows something is wrong.

Something is wrong with her appearance, it's a little too sharp, a little too unreal.]

I would, actually? That would be fantastic?

[It's a little snarled, a little angry. Even though there's no good path to her, he starts trying to make his way over to her anyway, one hand hovering above the handgun on the holster strapped to his hip and thigh.]

[trappedwolves]

[Her feet kick against the wall beneath her window and she gives a tittering laugh. One that sounds like crunching leaves in the street.]

It would be, wouldn't it? What do you think you want, then, little weasel? What would help you in this trying hour?

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

Little weasel, huh? Interesting choice of words. Do you like weasels, or do I just come off as weasely to you…

[He’s immediately on edge—well, on more of an edge than he already was, wondering if she was somehow behind the weaseling and crabbening of their previous field trip.]

I’m looking for Zyrian Steel, actually. You seen him around?

[trappedwolves]

[She gives a thoughtful hum.]

Small, sniffing around, territorial, aggressive...small nose, what a slinky, sneaky, needy little thing you are.

I've seen him. He was wandering about the first day of this little party. Haven't...seen him in...hmmm...a whole sun and half a samba from our band. I suspect he's plugging in.

Zyrian Steel

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

[Welp. Here he is, like an idiot, trapped within a machine that's trying to break his brain, because that just happens sometimes. It's difficult to break free of the changing visions, sometimes he just doesn't and gets lost in it, and sometimes he remembers himself and it's like clawing through molasses--one time it literally was molasses, so that's great, too--

And then he's there.

Right now John is on a balcony of the city of Atlantis, floating gently on the seas, and his mind is apparently hearing Zyrian's voice coming from the ocean. So that's also...great.]

You...

[...this is weird, and his mind is struggling as it was, but okay.]

What I didn't let it happen?

[trappedwolves]

Me. And you. And the rest of the human race...or what we're all going to become next. Together.

[A dark shape slides by under the surface of the water, nearly as big as the city itself, sending waves crashing at the balcony in its careless wake.]

I know, I know. It's a lot--haha--it's a lot to take in.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

See, now that's just ominous.

[He stares at the ocean, and that's also an ominous shape. He takes a step back to avoid getting hit with the waves, but the spray still gets him, a little.]

Very funny, you're a real comedian, you know that?

See, I really don't think anybody's becoming anything much after this except a screaming, hollow shell of themselves, so it's not really the kind of future I'm looking forward to.

[trappedwolves]

Thanks for noticing. Did you catch me on Saturday Night Live? I hope some of the screaming, hollow shells will remember that; it was a lot of fun.

If knowing what and where you are is enough to destroy you...were you ever really all that much to write home about in the first place?

Steel

[hellojon]

[ You are tiny. You are insignificant. You are one with the universe. You are a speck. You do not matter.

That's one way of looking at it. Elias wants to focus on another way.

You are part of a whole. You are a little bit of something bigger. You are more. In your do not mattering, you matter more than most because the something bigger has chosen you, has made a place for you. Elias tries to brute force his mind out of this ever-encroaching horror by focusing on the last time he was a speck: the apocalypse, when he was king undying, a conduit of the Eye, a portion of a whole, when he could feel all of knowledge funneled through him and it felt wonderful.

So in true Magnus Archives fashion, Steel's voice cuts through a lot of monologuing. ]

—it slinks and enters and covers them like a blanket, darkness pressing down, I am too tight, I cannot breathe, the mind fades and the thoughts start to fuzz, blurred at the edges like an old film, an out of focus photograph, they scream and cry and stop for each scream takes the air, the fetid air which chokes and thins and—

[ A pause. Steel's talking now! Elias's big dumb episode 193 style monologue stops as he gives Steel a little chuckle, trying to stay calm and collected despite the fact that he is very annoyed by all this. ]

You know, I don't think I will. [ A pause before, ] Which one of them are you working with?

[trappedwolves]

[The Eye itself rolls over in the sky and stares directly down at Elias, its would-be conduit. Its gaze is distant and cold, sizing him up and finding him wanting. It hangs in the sky like a halted meteor, looming enormous in Elias's sight, ready to crush him with its impossible mass as much as its scrutiny.]

Oh, that's a smart question. I don't know if Nia ever even thought to sniff that out before she sent you poor pups hounding after me. But this is a very interesting little construct you've built for yourself. You're not like the others, are you?

[hellojon]

[ As Elias sees the Eye scrutinizing him, he pushes back by thinking. He is here, he is powerful, he is a conduit for all of this, he is part of a whole but that whole is blissful and wonderful and fit for him. He wants to keep his mind intact until he learns the information he wants to know. ]

I suspect I'm more like you than I am the rest of Nia's dogs, [ he says, with a small chuckle. ] But of course she didn't think to sniff it out. You know the Hunt. So single-minded.

[trappedwolves]

So small-minded. It's too bad. I liked her. Not that it makes any difference in the grand, grand scheme of things, I suppose.

[The Eye's pupil dilates, a sea of black in which a man could drown.]

You, though...you're itching to Know, aren't you? But your focus is too narrow. Too small. I'll help you fix that.

Jazz

[canofmanji]

[In an effort to blend in a bit better Manji is wearing a long dark blue skirt the falls all the way to the ground and an oversized black button up shirt. Although it looks like he's given up trying to button every hole about halfway up his chest. Perhaps Manji was standing in a way that hid the fact that he only has one arm, or maybe he looks strong enough without the arm, or perhaps Jazz just didn't care and Manji was the first person who he found. Regardless, Manji gives him a serious look.] Whoa, easy there, kid. [In his mid twenties, Manji really isn't that much older than what Jazz looks to be. It's mostly a habit he's developed of calling most people in this world a 'kid'.]

A monster? You're sure? What did it look like? [Or perhaps more importantly.] How'd you escape?

[trappedwolves]

Snakes. But, like-like not really snakes. Fuck! I don't know. It was wires. So... wire snakes? They were sparking and- I saw a guy go down and the wires just-just ate him. Dragged him under the servers and started plugging into him like he was some kinda android.

That's batshit, right? I swear I'm not on drugs. [He last comment is added in earnest.] The snakes have- It was like they were on a programmed patrol route. Like a fucking video game.

[canofmanji]

Snakes. [Manji repeats as his mind starts to whirl.] Wire snakes. [Snakes he can handle. Wires? That might be a bit more out of his expertise. Video games even more so. Maybe he should consult Cortana? Was there time for that?]

And you escaped by running? Nothing special?

Fortune!

[edalyn]

While Eda’s coming to understand Human Realm technology a good deal better than she used to—and at least somewhat better than she sometimes lets on, she can’t say the tech fair is really her scene.

She’s not sure where to start, at least as far as it comes to the actual booths and exhibits. Nor is she sure exactly how closely she wants to investigate them, given what happened last time she played a game in a science exhibit.

But she has been watching people. Where they’re going, what they’re looking at, what’s seeming to make them nervous. Which ones she’s spotting more times over than the rest. And so part of her isn’t surprised by the time the girl in the wide-brimmed hat calls direct attention to herself.

Eda’s ears prick up at the voice, but she does her best to look casual as she looks up to spot the source.

“Nah, I think I’m doing alright.” Or at least, she’s not about to admit it. But she is curious about the person asking.

“What about you. Need any to get down from there?” After all, it looks a little tricky. For most people, at any rate. She already doubts this is most people.

[trappedwolves]

Her smile is too crooked and she plants her elbows on her knees as she cups her chin in her hands and leans forward to study Eda.

"Me? No, no, there's so much to see up here. A clear view of the foggy maze you lot are running yourselves in. Pesky, pattering, pests seeking a way inside to chew on the wires."

[edalyn]

"Well, shows what I get for trying to be nice, I guess." Eda shrugs. She didn't really expect the young woman to take the help, but she supposes they're just dropping the pretense.

Fine by her, she huffs and folds her arms, tilting her head to the side as she watches her.

"So we're rats in this, huh?" Eda doesn't love the comparison, but that's as much to do with her experience of playing one on stage as anything else.

"What does that make you?"

Zyrian

[rainestorms]

Raine sat on the stoop of their childhood home on the snow-capped knee of the Titan. Their eyes were glued to the face of the Titan as they stared over the ledge that sat far enough away to create a relatively safe front yard. They whistled the same song Eda had written them, foot tapping in time to keep their focus. If it slipped they could fall away, back into the incomprehensible.

When Zyrian spoke, Raine initially ignored him. They kept staring, kept whistling, kept tapping, and only at the end of the song did they stop. After a moment they glanced down at the lawn decoration Zyrian inhabited- some strange Boiling Isles version of a Garden Gnome that resembled something with much more teeth than a gnome- with a tired grimace.

"Do you always sound like you're trying to sell something?" They pulled their knees a little tighter to their chest, and continuing to study the skeletal creature.

"Even telling me to give up you sound like you want me to buy something. Which. I will not. Be doing. I have too much waiting for me when I get out of this mess."

[trappedwolves]

"Can't be helped--the sales pitch or what's awaiting you. I just thought I'd make the transition a little easier for you."

Don't gaze upon the lawn gnome too long, for the lawn gnome gazes back. There's an eternity in those beady black painted eyes, ready to suck Raine in and send them tumbling into a new vision of the Vast.

But since they're not looking anyway, the gnome turns to face the skeleton that stretches out beneath them and into the distance. Zyrian lets out an appreciative whistle. "Big fella! I could do something with that."

[rainestorms]

Raine only met his response with a wrinkled nose and an accompanied, disgusted "eugh."

They continued to stare off at the Titan in the distance, alarm prickled at the back of their neck when he mentioned being able to do something with The Titan.

"The Titan is dead. He doesn't. Move. He hasn't moved for thousands of years.. and he will not move for thousands more."

They stood up, and put a few feet between themself and the Zyrian-gnome.

"Don't you think it's a shame you're using all of this to hurt people, instead of exploring places like this?"

Steel

[edalyn]

Eda knows that she’s very, very small in this moment. Aware of her place in the universe in the face of something staggeringly huge and aeons old.

And as she looks out over the landscape of her home all that makes her feel is a sense of comforting nostalgia.

It’s possible that growing up on the bones of a dead god gives one a strange perspective on these things.

Eda sits in the snow, on one of the highest points on the Isles, overlooking the form of a vast skeleton. Vast, but in a way that's familiar. A way she understands. A way that is, at the moment at any rate, shielding her from perceiving the vastness of space in a way she doesn’t.

She’s startled by the voice, though. One that seems to be coming from either everywhere at once or the inside of her own head. After the initial slight jump, she can’t help snorting at creative. But then again she’d be just as glad if Steel doesn’t think her world is real.

As for the rest, well, she’s doing her best not to seem impressed. “Just starting, huh? If it involves listening to you talk more, I’ll pass. I sat through your bit on Saturday Night Live and I think I’ve had enough to last a lifetime.”

A pause. “Well, I sat through some of it.”

[trappedwolves]

There's a pregnant, rather hurt pause before the disembodied voice of Zyrian Steel resumes its heckling and cajoling.

"I stuck in your mind that well after just a few minutes, eh?" he asks, not sounding quite as flippant as he probably hopes he is. "That's alright. There won't be much need for words where we're all going. What is this place, anyway? I've seen it before...."

[edalyn]

Well, someone seems easier to get a reaction out of than she expected. Should she antagonise the man currently trapping her in some kind of computer hell? Probably not. Is she going to? Absolutely.

But something about the next part worries her. Seen it before makes her wonder about Raine. And Hunter. She does her best not to make her response obvious, but she doesn't necessarily succeed. She wants to ask, but she doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of making her worry. So first, she leans into continuing to be obnoxious.

"You only 'stuck in my mind' because I was figuring out what you were up to before you just went and told Nia. Wish you'd done that a little earlier, woulda saved me some dreadful boredom." She shrugs, taking a moment before she goes on.

"Anyway. You don't just know what it is? I would've expected you to have a better handle on the stuff going on in here. Or do you only see what we feel like showing you?"

The phrasing is somewhat of a bluff—she wasn't expecting him to show up in her dream(?) at all, but now she's trying to figure out exactly how much the guy is actually in her head.