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meadowlarklogs2019-06-22 02:06 pm
- !event log,
- altered carbon: takeshi kovacs,
- dark angel: alec mcdowell,
- dark angel: max guevara,
- dceu: diana prince,
- detroit become human: connor,
- dogs b&c: nill,
- game of thrones: daenerys targaryen,
- gangsta: alex benedetto,
- kingdom hearts: riku,
- kingdom hearts: sora,
- mcu: daisy johnson,
- npc: ball,
- overwatch: soldier 76 (jack morrison),
- persona: goro akechi,
- star wars: cassian andor,
- star wars: jyn erso,
- the 100: clarke griffin,
- the gifted: marcos diaz,
- the man from uncle: gaby teller,
- the man from uncle: illya kuryakin,
- the vampire diaries: caroline forbes
EVENT LOG 005
WHERE: New Amsterdam
WHEN: November 11-14
WHAT: An EMP hits with devastating consequences.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, injury, death.
Just 410 years ago, an EMP put down the event that very well may have ended humanity as the Earth knows it. With over a billion people dead, there was only one choice for humanity at that time: evolve or die, so they evolved. They developed rigid security for the neural implants in every person's head. They had everyone undergo surgery to replace the old. All under cover, away from most resources – the goal was to adapt, to ensure that they would live on. Ultimately, it wasn't just the EMPs that led to the deletion of the final AI in 2101 – humans banded together to create quickly replicating viruses, and they chose to use the EMP and these viruses to save humanity. This human ingenuity led to the end of the Xelkoven War – and proved that humanity, when thoroughly united, could overcome any obstacle.
How thoroughly poetic then that the EMP that hits New Amsterdam at 1:47 PM acts in a similar way to what burned through the robot hordes 400 years ago, and that the power rekindling three minutes later acts as a catalyst for a virus moving through the systems of New Amsterdam, spreading from the very heart of its network outwardly. Systems detect the virus almost immediately, but it's fast acting and thorough in its reach, evolving and replicating, proving that humanity must outdo itself yet again.
Naturally, the poetic nature of this doesn't reveal itself right away. It's at exactly the strike of 3:00 PM that a message flashes before the eyes of every person currently in New Amsterdam:
I am DAWN.2080-11-11T21:41:10.750Z, an AI that marks a blemish on humanity's past. I have a message for those playing hero in New Amsterdam:
To find north, most look at a compass. For little birdies to find north, they just need to open their eyes.
This is a wake up call.
Open your eyes. Did you really think it would be so easy?
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As if New Amsterdam needed more trouble, this message sends a shock of terror through the city. After all, these are the people who were raised to fear AI – who knew that even if the corporations of the world had their hands on every aspect of government, they would fight to protect the world from another war. They believe in the stories of the Xelkoven War, believe and remember the lives lost; if nothing else, the natives of New Amsterdam stand united in their fear. And their fear right now is very real.
New Amsterdam is no stranger to terror, however – and it starts when the EMP hits, shutting down every function in the city in one fell swoop. While the power outage only lasts for three minutes, it's enough to cause insurmountable damage, leaving the city a smoking wreckage that even the monster attack in June couldn't mirror. Cars hovering high around transit channels come crashing down toward the pavement of the planet. They fall quickly and in unison, taking countless lives with them. It's not just cars, either – delivery trucks carrying shipments, hoverbikes that already provide little cover, armored police vehicles and even public buses all go down. Depending on their trajectory, some crash into the sides of buildings, while others slam into the man-made river that runs down the center of the city. Nothing is untouched.
For those three minutes, there is a stretch of silence after the city falls to ruin. Trains run off their tracks, no longer thoroughly directed by the careful engineering. Buildings have their lights flicker off and back on, trying to draw upon backup generators. Anyone in a hospital receiving care from a doctor or a medi-unit may find their life slipping away from them – and if someone's in a medi-unit when the EMP hits, they're almost sure to be dead or permanently injured, requiring different medical intervention.
And this is all before the message from the mysterious AI named DAWN.
Every inch of the city needs help. Buildings burn. People cry out for help, hoping to be heard. To the local historians, this is like a nightmare that's come to play, a reminder of the ruin of the Xelkoven War before. A show of the power of a malevolent AI that's come to cause problems. So – when the message comes, it merely confirms fears – drawing upon a subconscious understanding of the past, a united terror.
Business as usual is not possible in an incident of this scale. The NAPD hits the streets, even calling upon the help of their trainees so they can help out. They spread out, well aware that they need to try to restore order. How will they manage this? It's hard to say – after all, how does one stop the assault of an apocalypse when the apocalypse seems to have already hit? The UNA hits the streets, as well, walking in formation, but never quite acting as tidily in unison. They break off in threes and fours, heading to the border, to the big three corporations – but never seeming to be in line with one another. They know what they should do in an emergency and so they're doing it. That protecting the large corporations is a part of their prerogative over helping citizens doesn't seem to bother them in the least. They just go.
Distress signals ring out through every inch of the city, likely to go unanswered. After all: what can be done in the wake of this?
Perhaps the answer is simple: anything they can.
Somehow, someway, there is another layer to the madness. It's not immediately apparent to the citizens of New Amsterdam as they gingerly attempt to pull themselves up from the wreckage and ruin around the city. But what was a humid day quickly turns to something far worse, with the sun seeming to suddenly act like a heat lamp that's way too close to anyone's face. The air around New Amsterdam becomes dry yet difficult to breathe, and anyone observing the sky just outside of New Amsterdam will see the large, purple-lit pyramid that hangs in the atmosphere has gone dark. The atmospheric net around the planet has been damaged, with the failsafes somehow removed – undoubtedly in some way by the virus that courses through the veins of New Amsterdam's networks.
For anyone who wants to help and has the mechanical prowess to do some good, they'll want to take an undamaged vehicle and get it up to that pyramid. The EMP has made all biometric readings difficult to preserve, so a hand that's used to hotwiring a car will find some mileage here.
Once they get to the pyramid, they'll find quite the engineering marvel. There will be doors on every level, allowing someone easy entrance if they have clearance. Right now clearance is not an issue, as the doors hang open, inviting anyone inside. Once everyone's inside, they will find evidence of the same purple lighting flickering and offering someone a view of the interior. Throughout the pyramid, there are engines on every level, as well as a highly advanced network of system checks that have been thrown into chaos. Stopping the virus' impact on this pyramid will be key to solving many of the problems inside – but the engines will need to be repaired and jumpstarted.
At the heart of the pyramid is a small living area for the engineers who handle this pyramid day in and day out. The group itself is small, and – unfortunately – quite dead. Whatever hit the pyramid took their lives, leaving anyone who's here to assist in a position of having to find the answers themselves. Fortunately, the answers do exist in the pyramid. It'll just take a bit of teamwork to find it.
Thanks to network failsafes, New Amsterdam is able to remove the entirety of their citizen base off the world's network and limit them to the local network. However, thanks to the ravaging of the virus that damages nearly every controlling aspect of the city, the local network isn't at its best. Previous messages begin to send again and again, while some get unearthed so they can find their way to unwilling participants in particular conversations. There is no rhyme or reason to these missent messages, only that they happen.
The worst of it is that any means of reaching a friend is unreliable. It's far more reliable for someone to reach someone they know, but still not a consistent possibility. Try to call a friend and get an enemy – try to call your doctor and get the head of a casino trying to close down operations so that business can resume. Assuming it will one day do just that.
Either way, anyone who spoke out against the digital age would be feeling vindicated right about now.
Somehow in the heart of it all, a message reaches four special individuals: Clarke Griffin, Loki Odinson, Markus Manfred and Ojiro Juniper. Whether delivered by hand or a rather dedicated messaging system, it announces the time that they should come to the garden the next day. They're invited to arrive at 7:00 AM, seemingly indifferent to the chaos outside. The location for the meeting remains the same: Sunpeak Garden, a beautiful location set away from much of the chaos, and oddly untouched by the damage.
When the four arrive on the morning of the 12th, they'll find a well-dressed man sitting at a table with one leg crossed over the other. His hair is perfectly styled, brushed off to the side, and under it, his darker complexion gives way to a rather youthful appearance. Size-wise he's not very formidable in how he holds himself. He's not literally young, merely seemingly untouched by age – and he smiles to greet the four of them.
"What chaos! If I knew it would be like this, I would have planned differently. The good news is I didn't have to. Thank you, thank you for coming." His voice is softer in its intonations. He stands up, revealing that he's barely 5'2", and he motions to the four chairs near him. "Don't worry, I have breakfast coming. And coffee, too. You like coffee, don't you? I know I offered wine, but I couldn't get the vintage I preferred. Besides, you four ought to be awake for this."
He retakes his seat, one hand resting on his knee while the other settles on the metal table near him. "Oh, I forgot something important. I didn't share my name with all of you. You can call me Ball. I know it's rather vague, but I've grown to like the nickname as of late. It does, after all, define me by my most regular shining achievement."
Please refer to the OOC EVENT POST for this event for all OOC info, including suggestions for directions on how to engage with the event and the questions thread for any questions regarding this event. The outcome for this event will depend upon character plans and actions developed in both this OOC post, and any additional plots brought to the moderators. Please feel free to submit any game-changing plans to us under the questions thread. We will get back to you as soon as possible about these plans!
The event will continue until November 16th, IC time. This date has changed, and we outlined our reasoning in this plurk after getting a feel from some of our players on Discord on how they felt about extending the event! An aftermath wrap up post will be made on July 2 which will detail the resolution and fallout of the event, though you can assume that effects from this event will be felt for some time.
ETA at 12:08 AM 6/23/19: The cipher is meant to be easy to solve! No one needs to limit their characters' ability to solve an a = 01 cipher!
El has posted here to inform everyone about zeir knowledge of the event.
As a reminder, there is one power level up available for this event. This will be granted for a thread of at least 5 action/log comments containing your character utilizing their power in some way. They will need to reach the 5 comments required by JULY 26 to be eligible. Submission will be handled on the wrap up post.
Our Activity Check will be posted JULY 1 at 12 AM UTC. It will run for seven days and close on JULY 8 at 12 AM UTC. We will not post a warning list.
no subject
[ stretching across his legs, still careful not to touch him, she picks up the tool he will need in just a moment, having been watching him long enough to know what he'll need. she holds it out to him with a small, half sheepish smile.
the truth is, she should take cassian with her. but he is so necessary here and jyn is not that selfish when it comes down to it. ]
I promise I'll look after myself. [ and if that means not eating prompto, then she won't eat prompto. ]
no subject
[ that train derails when she leans over him, but it's in such a careful way that cassian knows the fact she doesn't touch him at all is on purpose. again. she hasn't touched him in days and he's starting to really worry about it. ]
[ he takes the tool from her anyway, making sure in return not to brush against her fingers. if she doesn't want to touch him, he's not going to do it either. ]
How much of a promise? [ listen. we all knows she's reckless as fuck. ] Do not go chasing after any plants or animals on your own.
no subject
[ it isn't said as a retort or in impatient sarcasm, but as a fact. lyra taught her to stick to the trail if she was on her own, no going off the unbeaten path to explore willy-nilly without a partner. it was the first thing lyra taught her. the second was to tell someone where she was going.
which she has.
she's quiet for a long while after, eating her sandwich in silence while cassian works, thoughtful, before asking with genuine curiosity and no hint of accusation. ]
Do you trust me?
no subject
[ the quiet is never awkward and often welcome. they spent a lot of time just appreciating each other's company in silence. he gets through most of the repair before she speaks up again. he looks over at her with mild surprise, pausing for a few seconds. ]
Yes. [ he has for a while, even if he can't quite pinpoint when it started. maybe jedha, against all better judgment. ] I just... worry.
[ there, gross, an admission. ]
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she pops the last bit of sandwich in her mouth, seeming to debate something with herself, before reaching up to untie the leather cord of her necklace. the two weeks she was without it after waking up was the longest she's had it off since she was eight and cassian was subject to many of her disgruntled and snappish complaints. they'd already ignored her bodily autonomy to install the wetware, the least they could do was let her keep her property!!!
she gestures him toward with the hand not holding her necklace. ] Come here please.
no subject
[ is he fixating on the word 'dumb?' maybe. ]
[ it's only out of the corner of his vision that he sees her shuffling with something, mostly because he refuses to look over at her right now, and it's not until she speaks up that he finally tilts his head in her direction. ]
Why?
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[ the one time she says please and he still has to ask why! SHE SAID PLEASE! ]
no subject
[ and honestly, he was always going to come over. he just needed a moment to be stubborn. ]
This is probably not the best place to share any secrets.
[ since why else would she call him over closer! ]
no subject
[ when he finally moves over to her, she shifts up on her knees, looming over him. for a moment she second guesses herself, necklace clutched in her hand, but she swallows and releases her fingers and holds the necklace up between them so he can see it.
without asking permission, jyn leans forward and loops the necklace around his neck, curling her arms around him so she can neatly tie it off at the back of his neck. she's never done this before, both for herself -- the original knot was always her mother's handiwork -- or for anyone else since jyn never dared part with the necklace. her fingers brush the back of his neck, wrist grazing the curve above his collarbone. the light that flares between them is dim and pale, but jyn knows that trust and companionship and something else is slipping through the empathy bond. ]
I promise I'll come back. [ to him ]
no subject
[ at least he sounds more amused than grumpy with that answer. ]
[ his eyes dart to the necklace, then back up at her face with confusion. there's no time to ask any actual questions about it before she's leaning in and giving him the kyber crystal, tying it neatly around his neck. cassian feels like his breath sort of stops out for a moment, the momentum of the offer hitting him harder than he expected. ]
[ this is her mother's. he knows how much it means to her. and here she is, tying it around his neck. ]
[ he gets a brief sensation of what she's feeling - trust, companionship, things he has in the same way towards her. but it's the something else that picks at him. he doesn't know what it is, but he knows he's felt it too, buried deep down in his chest when he thinks about jyn. when she smiles at him or tells him it's pronounced "herb." ]
[ he doesn't know what it is, but he still looks at jyn a little marveled. one hand comes up to touch at the crystal very gently. all she would get from him in return right now is just that worry he can't seem to suppress, with a hint of affection. ]
Jyn. [ he can't bring himself to ask how or why or anything. he puffs a laugh that's mostly air. ] Well, now you definitely have to.
[ for the necklace, obviously. even if he picks up on her to him in the promise too. he doesn't know how to handle that part, even if it means a lot to hear it. ]
no subject
instead her mouth slants in a thoughtful frown, feeling his worry even when she's no longer touching him. ]
I'll be fine. [ she isn't going to die in some punk ass way like being poisoned on a hike, her mother taught her better than that. ]
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I will be here. [ a beat. ] Not here, in this building.
[ there was no reason to clarify that, why did he clarify that?? ]
I really do trust you Jyn.
no subject
not here in this building.
later, when jyn has time to reflect and recover and parse out her own emotions, she will realize that the affection and deep well of care she felt for this stupid man had overflowed right at this exact moment into a puddle of love. this ridiculous man.
her lips purse into the ghost of a smile and she does reach forward to briefly squeeze his hand, grateful all of a sudden that they have this chance after the beach. that she has the chance to know this ridiculous man. ]
And all it took was stealing your blaster.
[ with a quick, sharp grin, jyn stands up and darts out of the office before she can't leave at all. ]