Panem Events (
etcircenses) wrote in
thearena2016-05-10 07:54 pm
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Entry tags:
The Last Flower Girl
Who| The rebels and a scientist from the Districts. For now… (later: EVERYONE)
What| The Revival Mechanism is discovered. Things fall into place. (A Whole Lot Of Meta.)
Where| A facility nestled in the mountains between District 2 and the Capitol.
When| Now.
Warnings/Notes| Please put warnings in headers. The Scientist’s spot will unfreeze for commenting when this log reachers 20 comments or when time is up.
Regardless of whether District two became a win or a loss for the rebellion, they’ve managed to claim the most important of prizes while the Capitol and District was distracted. In the mountains just between the many cities of District two and that of the Capitol itself, a secret base has been uncovered and claimed. Offworlder-loyal rebels call for it to be investigated personally by them. Though the call itself had been vague, it’s not hard for the rebels arriving now to see why they were called.
Nestled in a cave carved out of the mountain, the secret base features a number of hovercrafts at its entrance, and inside, stark white lab rooms lit up bright with many offices to the front. A wide hall cuts straight through them with wheeled hospital beds sitting unused to the sides.The hall opens to a cavernous area, the walls and ceiling all made of the mountain’s natural stone. Desks for scientists, mechanics, and medics are all around but it’s the center of the room that truly pulls the eye.
An enormous metal machine with a circular frame sits in the center. Within it lies a vortex of such color and light it becomes difficult to look at after mere seconds. Yet for all it deters the eyes, it calls, especially to the offworlders. The closer one gets, the stronger the sense that passing through it will correct some cosmic flaw. It is for this reason that it seems to be well blocked off with clear gates. These gates can be pushed through but sticker signs upon them warn not to do so. The sign, drawn like a typical hazard warning, shows a person being disintegrated into little dots by the portal upon reaching it. A note explains that only pure energy can pass through the Revival Mechanism. Attempting to pass anything through the portal will reduce it to energy. It seems things may come out but not go in-- without being turned to energy first that is.
Over along the side of this are many rather massive machines and computers. The computers show many a near-indecipherable code. Others are a little more recognizable as showing coordinates of sorts. Upon further investigation, rebels may find these coordinates are not for any place in the Districts, but for worlds and times far beyond. It maps out like brain synapses, stretching on eternally. Certain coordinates have been marked with red and are noted hazards. The ones lit with gold seem to be ones with a missing person or two-- people that may very well be standing there and looking at said lights. Many others have a blue-ish-grey light. These seem to indicate another issue entirely; “Energy seize. Port no longer reachable”. If one takes a particularly close look they’ll notice familiar names in the blue-grey sections, people who haven’t come back for a long time. They may also notice one of the golden lights has the coordinates for… Panem itself. The name of the person is encrypted heavily.
Not everything is kept on the computers however. There are many, many complicated and detailed notes left upon the desks. Some discuss things like Tribute vital signs. There’s a long analysis written in clinical terms of how the pull-process of the Revival Mechanism essentially kills the person by reducing them and their closely associated items on pass-through to pure energy. However, in bringing them to Panem, the Revival Mechanism quickly reassembles that energy. It seems that the process of destruction and recreation is the major cause of Offworlder unconsciousness when being revived, allowing Offworlder Transport to bring them back to the Tribute Tower before they ever wake.
An electronic wipe-board over by a set of table and chairs goes over the nature of what can and cannot pass through the portal. There are scribbled words on the edges, formulas, circled sentences, and lines that criss-cross over the page. It seems that purely material items cannot be pulled into Panem. At least, not on their own. All items passing through have some strong and close connection to the spirit or “energy” that is grabbed. How this works seems a mystery even to the scientists involved but is suspected to have to do with memories. There is a hypothesis with many question marks that a memory chip, if reduced it to energy and sent through the portal, could possibly go back to the worlds offworlders came from, allowing them to keep memories even back on their world. This is noted to be untested however.
A second board looks at why bodies may duplicate but seemingly not objects. It appears inanimate objects are too identical for physics to function properly and the items simply merge, preventing a paradox, while living tissue is changed enough after being in Panem even for a short time that this only happens to non-living objects that are pulled, not people. There is further aggressively scribbled debate on whether robots count as people. The conclusion is that “they damn well must be if they’re here at all”. A paper on the table explains how most of the robots are transferred via chip to a mutt-body and the brain registers the chip to fill out personality and memories based upon it, thus making the robot essentially human. This is done for further study in reviving people.
Former Capitol-soldiers may recall that robots aren’t the only ones with muttation bodies. Some are animals and others, like Venus Dee Milo, have a portal transfer very specific to them. On one of the mechanic’s desks, blueprints lay for making much smaller portals that may be put within the mutt body and transfer the soul into it stating Venus’s name on the first prototype designs but not on the last. The blueprints note a disintegration system with these so the portal doesn’t stay within them. More blueprints can be seen for another full scale portal, using the one in the mountain there as a prototype. One final blueprint can be found, not for a portal, but for what looks like a weapon. Though it has the shape of a gun, it doesn’t appear to fire bullets. Apparently, it’s a relatively recent invention, from late december. The finalized design is dated for February.
By what looks like a station for hovercraft pilots to collect their gear is a clipboard and typed out list. The oldest ones to the back show revival deliveries from the arenas. As one flips to the front, these lists become those offworld soldiers who died in battle and were revived with all the relevant timestamps, serial numbers, and delivery location (the Tribute Tower and the Detainment Center). However, there are some anomalies, like names that have been blacked out leaving only serial numbers, timestamps, and, curiously, an entirely different location. This location is only listed as Center V. The timestamps date from the start of the war to a mass exodus very recently.
Rebels rush in to investigate the area, quickly capturing anyone working there. Despite the size and clear need for more hands in the facility, there’s only a handful of individuals left behind. One, a scientist, is ready to speak to the offworlders in charge as offworlders finish the investigation of the Facility. Something in here is sure to explain the mysterious “illness” offworlders have been facing. Hopefully rebels can find it fast, before it’s too late…
What| The Revival Mechanism is discovered. Things fall into place. (A Whole Lot Of Meta.)
Where| A facility nestled in the mountains between District 2 and the Capitol.
When| Now.
Warnings/Notes| Please put warnings in headers. The Scientist’s spot will unfreeze for commenting when this log reachers 20 comments or when time is up.
Regardless of whether District two became a win or a loss for the rebellion, they’ve managed to claim the most important of prizes while the Capitol and District was distracted. In the mountains just between the many cities of District two and that of the Capitol itself, a secret base has been uncovered and claimed. Offworlder-loyal rebels call for it to be investigated personally by them. Though the call itself had been vague, it’s not hard for the rebels arriving now to see why they were called.
Nestled in a cave carved out of the mountain, the secret base features a number of hovercrafts at its entrance, and inside, stark white lab rooms lit up bright with many offices to the front. A wide hall cuts straight through them with wheeled hospital beds sitting unused to the sides.The hall opens to a cavernous area, the walls and ceiling all made of the mountain’s natural stone. Desks for scientists, mechanics, and medics are all around but it’s the center of the room that truly pulls the eye.
An enormous metal machine with a circular frame sits in the center. Within it lies a vortex of such color and light it becomes difficult to look at after mere seconds. Yet for all it deters the eyes, it calls, especially to the offworlders. The closer one gets, the stronger the sense that passing through it will correct some cosmic flaw. It is for this reason that it seems to be well blocked off with clear gates. These gates can be pushed through but sticker signs upon them warn not to do so. The sign, drawn like a typical hazard warning, shows a person being disintegrated into little dots by the portal upon reaching it. A note explains that only pure energy can pass through the Revival Mechanism. Attempting to pass anything through the portal will reduce it to energy. It seems things may come out but not go in-- without being turned to energy first that is.
Over along the side of this are many rather massive machines and computers. The computers show many a near-indecipherable code. Others are a little more recognizable as showing coordinates of sorts. Upon further investigation, rebels may find these coordinates are not for any place in the Districts, but for worlds and times far beyond. It maps out like brain synapses, stretching on eternally. Certain coordinates have been marked with red and are noted hazards. The ones lit with gold seem to be ones with a missing person or two-- people that may very well be standing there and looking at said lights. Many others have a blue-ish-grey light. These seem to indicate another issue entirely; “Energy seize. Port no longer reachable”. If one takes a particularly close look they’ll notice familiar names in the blue-grey sections, people who haven’t come back for a long time. They may also notice one of the golden lights has the coordinates for… Panem itself. The name of the person is encrypted heavily.
Not everything is kept on the computers however. There are many, many complicated and detailed notes left upon the desks. Some discuss things like Tribute vital signs. There’s a long analysis written in clinical terms of how the pull-process of the Revival Mechanism essentially kills the person by reducing them and their closely associated items on pass-through to pure energy. However, in bringing them to Panem, the Revival Mechanism quickly reassembles that energy. It seems that the process of destruction and recreation is the major cause of Offworlder unconsciousness when being revived, allowing Offworlder Transport to bring them back to the Tribute Tower before they ever wake.
An electronic wipe-board over by a set of table and chairs goes over the nature of what can and cannot pass through the portal. There are scribbled words on the edges, formulas, circled sentences, and lines that criss-cross over the page. It seems that purely material items cannot be pulled into Panem. At least, not on their own. All items passing through have some strong and close connection to the spirit or “energy” that is grabbed. How this works seems a mystery even to the scientists involved but is suspected to have to do with memories. There is a hypothesis with many question marks that a memory chip, if reduced it to energy and sent through the portal, could possibly go back to the worlds offworlders came from, allowing them to keep memories even back on their world. This is noted to be untested however.
A second board looks at why bodies may duplicate but seemingly not objects. It appears inanimate objects are too identical for physics to function properly and the items simply merge, preventing a paradox, while living tissue is changed enough after being in Panem even for a short time that this only happens to non-living objects that are pulled, not people. There is further aggressively scribbled debate on whether robots count as people. The conclusion is that “they damn well must be if they’re here at all”. A paper on the table explains how most of the robots are transferred via chip to a mutt-body and the brain registers the chip to fill out personality and memories based upon it, thus making the robot essentially human. This is done for further study in reviving people.
Former Capitol-soldiers may recall that robots aren’t the only ones with muttation bodies. Some are animals and others, like Venus Dee Milo, have a portal transfer very specific to them. On one of the mechanic’s desks, blueprints lay for making much smaller portals that may be put within the mutt body and transfer the soul into it stating Venus’s name on the first prototype designs but not on the last. The blueprints note a disintegration system with these so the portal doesn’t stay within them. More blueprints can be seen for another full scale portal, using the one in the mountain there as a prototype. One final blueprint can be found, not for a portal, but for what looks like a weapon. Though it has the shape of a gun, it doesn’t appear to fire bullets. Apparently, it’s a relatively recent invention, from late december. The finalized design is dated for February.
By what looks like a station for hovercraft pilots to collect their gear is a clipboard and typed out list. The oldest ones to the back show revival deliveries from the arenas. As one flips to the front, these lists become those offworld soldiers who died in battle and were revived with all the relevant timestamps, serial numbers, and delivery location (the Tribute Tower and the Detainment Center). However, there are some anomalies, like names that have been blacked out leaving only serial numbers, timestamps, and, curiously, an entirely different location. This location is only listed as Center V. The timestamps date from the start of the war to a mass exodus very recently.
Rebels rush in to investigate the area, quickly capturing anyone working there. Despite the size and clear need for more hands in the facility, there’s only a handful of individuals left behind. One, a scientist, is ready to speak to the offworlders in charge as offworlders finish the investigation of the Facility. Something in here is sure to explain the mysterious “illness” offworlders have been facing. Hopefully rebels can find it fast, before it’s too late…
Investigation - Mingle
no subject
Someone might want to smack him upside the head and tell him to do something more useful.
no subject
But maybe...maybe he should try to stop Haruto's gaping. "...at least it's not another Tribute clone body dump."
no subject
"...what? Wait, what!? What did you say?!"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
She spends a lot of time reading over charts and anything her medical knowledge can be applied towards, trying to see what can be gained from looking at the complex details. Some of it is beyond easy understanding for her, but there are things she can figure out from the notes left behind that might be useful for the Tributes to know. She's not familiar with many of those in the rebellion at the moment given how long she's been with the Capitol, but Luna might try to flag down anyone who looks like they know what they're doing to discuss findings - or anyone who just looks curious about it all.
Luna also lingers around the second board once she finds out, reading and rereading the scribbled outlines and arguments laid out there. Mutt bodies make sense; the rest is harder to comprehend. She remembers the body she'd had upon arrival, and how she'd still seen herself as essentially the same while in that body. And if Capitol researchers say it's essentially the same as being human, then that makes her...
After a while she has to sit down. Firo and Albert - she hadn't believed them when they argued she wasn't as far from humans as she thought. But now Luna's hearing it from even the Capitol in a way, and it's increasingly hard to deny there's some truth in what they say. She can hardly talk to them now, though, and she's starting to regret that very much. She has plenty of battery power left, but considering all this on her own makes her tired anyway - and it shows. Any observer might think Luna was simply exhausted, leaning back in her chair and staring vacantly at the board as she thinks.
(frozen comment) Interrogation - Locked
"I had heard that you offworlders figured it out. You found our research like I had hoped. You figured out what it was all for. Who it was for." Her eyes are red like she'd been recently crying but despite the pain there, she appears resolute and it carries in her voice.
She sits up straighter. "If you'll all just take a seat or stand by, I'll explain everything. Then you can ask whatever you like." She waits until everyone has indeed settled in and around the office-entrance.
"They made us do it, as you could guess. Much like they made you fight, I think. I suppose we all thought we could get back some of the people we lost through this but we can't. All we can fight for now is the peace of everyone else in Panem and those of you who've been brought here against your will. All to save just one man who would sooner see us dead. Something I helped with."
Her hands are clasped tight in her lap, revealing her nervousness and guilt.
"He was dying. Sick. No one could figure out how to cure it. But somehow we could bring someone back from death, through bending time and space." She laughs bitterly. "His body was made new. They used a smaller portal variation like used to be used for Venus Dee Milo so that the energy of his... spirit, I guess could take hold and the old sick body couldn't form. Didn't need to. The universe corrects itself by removing the unneeded body from the equation. The formula only needed to be recalibrated so that we made a loop from Panem, to Panem instead of another world. That, and we needed a way to reduce him to mere energy in moments. The disperser gun did well for that. I'm sure you heard all about the assassination. Four years of trying to figure out how to bring someone back to life and the answer was right here, in the mountains."
For a moment, she looks as though she may cry, but only for a moment.
"But even the best laid plans have their flaws. You, the original experiments and distractions alike, have risen up against your masters. For months you've felt the effects of the Revival Mechanism malfunction, the universe trying desperately to correct itself as we rip it apart over and over by bringing you here. Even as energy seized and halted attempts to bring back others. Even as the disturbances got more and more frequent, building up broken and excess energy within. An energy that threatens to tear apart all of Panem, dragging us in to replace the broken pieces, unless all the lines to other worlds and times are closed."
As she speaks her eyes go distant like one in a fever.
"A rebel group unrelated to you of District thirteen once tried to destroy this portal, to destroy you and send you all back. At first I thought it was stooping low, not to mention a wasteful effort. But even if we close off enough of the ties to stabilize it, you'll only be killed in this war. You'll go home either way and no one will be able to bring you back but... it doesn't stop Snow. He's been in hiding for ages. We've seen more of his daughter than we have of him. There's only one way we'll be able to bring him out. The only way to do that is... if he wins. We can only catch him then, and once he's killed and his tie is closed, only then will the universe be stable again. Only then will we all be safe."
She opens her hand, revealing some sort of technologically advanced device with a red button on one end.
"Capitol soldiers are already being sent this way. They should be arriving now as I called them just before I came to speak with you. With all the offworlders are gathered here again, you'll all go home. I'm sorry that this has happened. I'm sorry I helped our tormentor. I'm sorry there was no one I could save. That's the last part of Snow's plan that he failed to realise would hurt him. He saved me while my District burned. While my daughter, my Tansy, was left behind."
She stands up, pulling her shirt just off the shoulder to reveal a tattoo of a red flower there.
"We are The Red Oleander. I am District three. And I'm afraid there is no time left to answer your questions."
She holds up the device, recognizable now as a stabilizer piece of the portal as once seen in photographs. Chicory Neveera of District 3 hits the button.
Detonation
A small explosion occurs on the portal’s side. Alarm lights brighten up and sirens sound. The vortex in the center of the room stops its lazy swirl and speeds into something fast and vicious, ripping up loose items and dragging chairs. Anything that gets caught in its pull is immediately destroyed. Rebel and Capitol soldier alike are left to scramble as another scientist appears from a side office.
“We have to close off the ties and they have to do it now or it will take down the whole mountain, destroy the portal, and kill everyone there!” The scientist shouts, taking charge. “Every Panem native and offworlder who wants to stay needs to lock hands so I can reach the computer!” Their tone leaves no room for argument on the opposing side helping each other. “Everyone who's going had better go now before the ties are locked off! If you go now, you'll go home! I can’t say you’ll remember, we haven't tested the memory chips like that but you need to choose NOW!” The scientist reaches out to the nearest offworlder. “Take my hand! If we make a chain I can reach the computer and shut off all the universal ties!”
STAYING
no subject
Live, or die. Stay, or go. Be with Max, or not.
He didn't have to think about it.
Lurching toward the sparks, he grasped the man's hand, hard, even as he was turning his face away from the light and sound.
no subject
Sigma diverts as many people as he can behind him so he can help form the head of the chain, as his cybernetic arms could bear strain in their sockets better than most. When he turns to find the hand connected to the scientist belongs to a certain Wyatt Earp, Sigma cannot afford to hesitate. He reaches for Wyatt’s wrist and takes hold with a cold, robotic stillness, immovable.
He cannot know how Wyatt feels, but this was something greater than either of them. In his typical, proud fashion, Sigma remarks: “Save your opinions for after everyone is safe.” There isn't time for much else.
When the next person is ready, he takes their hand firmly, swearing that however he has failed people in his long and unremarkable life, he would not fail them now.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
LEAVING
no subject
It feels like a coward's way out, in most respects. But it's an opportunity he can't afford to pass up, considering the risk he'd be taking otherwise - staying here in Panem could mean any number of things going wrong. More chaos, more loss, more death and pain that could be caused by his own hands if he's pulled under their control again. The more he thinks about it, the more he finds it wasn't as if he was helping the war efforts anyway. His missions failed more often than not, and he could barely lift his bow without shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. He's no good to anyone here.
That's what he keeps trying to tell himself, at least. The right thing to do would be to stay, to keeping trying to help even when there's no hope left. The rebels need everyone they can, don't they?
But when a hand is offered to him, Jeremy hesitates, his hands shaking when he finally answers. There's not much time.
"... I can't!" He hates himself for being such a pathetic coward, for thinking of himself over others, but once the thought's in his head he just can't let it go. He's going home.
"I-- I have to go."
no subject
Even now, Phil is looking at the silver lining: Jeremy doesn't have to die if he goes back, the Capitol probably fixed his brain damage and he'll survive the Bite. Maybe he'll get real help for the most likely case of post-traumatic stress he has. Maybe he can stop the killer before Fazbear's Fright takes place and Springtrap will never come to be.
"It's okay!" that familiar voice calls out, not from a phone but in the maelstrom around them. "Go home Jeremy! I'll see you on the flipside!" That old sign-off from nearly six years ago still rang true, maybe there is a flip side to this journey and they will meet again. If this discovery has served any purpose is that there are countless universes and infinite outcomes. The last thing Phone Guy wanted was for Fitzgerald to panic or regret his final choice. Once upon a time, Gray would've asked Jeremy to visit his grave or something but maybe it won't be necessary.
Phil smiles comfortingly at his friend, ready to finally let his former employee now friend go.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
"It's all good, Rabbit!" he shouted, tears threatening to stream his still tanned face. God, Ellis has known loss in this one year more than he had in the Green Flu. He's seen his friends unceremoniously killed and loved ones slaughtered for someone else's entertainment. But this one was different, it was a good-bye rather than a funeral. The mechanic knew that wherever Jeremy was going, he would be okay.
"Y'ALL BE GOOD NOW! AN' STAY SAFE! DON'T WANNA SEE YOU IN TROUBLE!" he added as the bright light began to pulse even brighter. He hopes Fitzgerald can forgive himself when he crossed to the other side of the portal. Hell, he hopes he can see the man again, somehow.
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
And Jeremy can still hear them encouraging him to go, that it's okay. He's not meant for this world anymore - he never was in the first place. This way, if it works, he can finally go home. He can't hurt anyone anymore.
His heart feels like it's going to beat it's way out of his chest, but one more shout from the scientists that they have to go now before it's too late, and something snaps the roots that had dug into the soles of his feet and he runs. He can't control the tears in his eyes any more than he can control the pull from the portal, but none of it matters any more.
He doesn't care what awaits him on the other side. If it's nothingness, if it's an afterlife of wandering aimlessly through his homeworld's version of purgatory, if he wakes up in a hospital bed and remembers none of it, he doesn't care. Jeremy's left Panem behind, and it's a relief. He's safe from the Capitol's clutches and the brutalities of war. And, more importantly, the people he cared about the most, and everyone else in Panem, are safe from him.
no subject
There's a home that she's wanted to return to for two years, a son that she has thought about everyday that she's been here, the chance to actually try to make things right with Alex, if what Dr. Norton had told her in his brief time in Panem had been true.
There are reasons for her to think about staying, of course. Friends who feel more like family, friends who understand what she's been through when, if she remembers all this, no one will understand at home, James.
But really, none of that matters when David is waiting for her.
Which is the big thing that hits her when she sees a hand stretched out to her and she backs away. "I can't, I'm sorry."
no subject
"Don't worry about it," James spoke up, calm in the chaos surrounding them. He would've given her one last kiss if he could but that could break the chain and put everyone else in danger. Words echoed in the broken man's mind but one phrase stood out to him. He could even hear Mary's voice, cracking under the strain of accepting her inevitable early death by disease, but he said them steady and resolute.
"Do what's best for you. Clara, you made me happy."
no subject
"...You guys have got this! I know it!" And she means it. It's their war to fight, not hers. Her war, if the truth has been told, is through that gate. She turns and gives a salute and a tight smile to those few she's come to know, and the bolts for it. Anyone who tries to stop her will have hell to pay.
no subject
A place like this could really get its hooks in you. Sometimes literally-- her face was still bruised, still healing. He spirit might never recover. But that didn't matter. It was another one of those moments, like waking up in Thirteen, like waking up free. They'd confiscated her gear again, but there would be armor for her on the other side. There would be a weapon to hand and a purpose to mind-- there would be peace, one way or another, if she could get through that final battle... Her mind was already in London. Dying, to go home, that had never made sense to her.
This, the shining surface of the Portal, rippling with violent light. This made sense.
"I've gotta get out of here," She said, looking neither to the left or to the right. The pull of the Portal tugged at her limbs, "I'm going."
Panem doesn't need her. Panem never needed her-- it could have done what needs doing without any of them. But the Earth needs her. And she needs to go.
no subject
But then she saw her.
For a moment one look at that muscular, determined figure cut right through the Capitol Brainwashing and Sandy felt a flutter of fear. One of the strongest people she knew was leaving...why was she leaving? They needed her!
She needed her...
Her eyes watered and she gripped the hands on either side of her tighter because if she didn't she was afraid she might let go and run after her. How many times had Sandy fantasized about joining Shepard on her adventures? Saving the universe, fighting the good fight instead of just fighting.
But it looked like that wasn't in the cards for them anymore. Even if Sandy tried to let go now and run she could already feel the brainwashing creeping back in. It wouldn't let her go. Panem needed her...
...just like Shepard's world needed her.
The videos that the Capitol had put together, hadn't Shepard said all of that was true? No...no just the most horrific parts about what was happening to Earth and the rest of the universe.
That massive beast...how many more of those things would Shepard have to face now that she no longer had the Capitol's boot on her neck?
The fight wasn't over here but wherever Shepard was going, it might just be getting started.
With fresh tears streaming down her face Sandy felt her tongue swollen in her mouth choking out the words she wanted to say. She managed out one cry.
"JANE!"
She'd never used Shepard's first name before. It felt forbidden in a way.
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
"Good luck, Commander Shepard!" Phone Guy called out, naming her rank and surname as a proper soldier would. She made him capable, stronger and willing to fight. He never got to see the Normandy in person, only through the last Arena...but it showed just how people on her world relied on her. To keep her would be denying those people her strength, and that would be disastrous. It was the farewell Shepard deserved: head up high, crowned in light as she returned to her crew.
(no subject)
no subject
But he did see her, that shock of red hair and those equally shocking eyes, as she moved away from the open hands and moved toward the light.
They'd never been what he'd call friends (maybe could have been, someday, in the new world.... maybe not), but they were allies. Had wanted the same thing.
Had shared a friendship between them in Max.
He nods to her.
"We have it. Do what'cha gotta."
(no subject)
no subject
"Jane." Porrim is right at her shoulder, and she tentatively places a hand on Shepard's arm. "Time for a goodbye?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
But what it would cost is Faramir's smile, and the wind in her hair, and the thunder of hooves over Rohan's grassland. Other things, too, less sweet but no less necessary: the work to be done in Ithilien, Théoden King's barrow to be tended, her training with the Healers. She's been too long away, and though her honour tells her to stay, to put duty above joy... she can't. For the first time in months, today, she's breathed what feels like free air, outside the confines of the Detention Center, and whoever wins now, she can't risk returning there. She can't risk being part of this world, where she has no place. She would sicken, she knows it, sicken and die as her mother did of grief, torn from the land and the people that are so deep a part of her. No, she must go, or perish trying.
But then... the Ring. Oh, why did she have to think of it now, remember that duty and that danger? Was she not torn enough, leaving her friends to an uncertain fate, without taking that information with her? It might damn this world, and all who stayed in it - and when she looks around wildly, her long hair whipping around her and the tears starting unchecked to her eyes, she sees too many she cares for in that building line of joined hands.
There is no time for this doubt, no time for shame at the tears wetting her face. She has tarried too long already. Still she fights against the pull of the portal, fearing every moment, fearing the time ticking away, but knowing she cannot leave without even a word or an embrace for those who have come to mean so much.
"I must." She says it out loud, into the raging noise, tries to find her way over to Firo and Roland, to say what has to be said. "I have to. I..." Words of grief and guilt have never been her forte.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
Evacuation
The scientist is working to find a loophole in the system but they’re not sure if it will work without destabilizing the world. The theory is that Offworlders can be revived via the same universal coordinates as soon was, and because offworlders aren’t meant to be here in the first place, there’ll be no loop created in reviving them like there is for someone of Panem. But this is all just theory and the scientist urges people not to risk it, for it may cause even more destabilization. Though, if the rebels don’t win, it won’t matter. They’ll all be dead for good.
The first scientist is nowhere to be seen. When people inquire about it, some look to the portal, quiet. There’s no face projected in the sky for her, but it seems nevertheless that the games are not yet over.