OPEN PLAYER PLOT: OPERATION LOST BOYS

[forcevisions]

WHO: Anyone
WHERE: A research outpost not far from New Amsterdam proper
WHEN: November 28
WHAT: The Displaced arrive to save the captured Morningstar agents, including one of their own.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, mentions of interrogation/torture, etc.

> DEPARTURE BY TRAIN Early in the day on November 28th, Prompto and Poe will conspire to get an out-of-service train car onto the same tracks where the Displaced were guided by Cassius earlier this month. By all measures, the train car doesn't look operational. There are telling dents in the side, and it does not appear to be powered on. Yet those involved in the rescue operation already assembled are climbing on board like they know that this is their ride. Inside, the train is fairly battered. Some of the seats on the far wall seem to have been damaged when the train collided with something during the EMP, and the rattling of the crash took out some of the internal handrails as well. Once everyone is settled, though, the car begins to move. At the front of the car, Poe uses his power to move the train car on the tracks and out of the city. As they hit a checkpoint, the car doesn't slow down to be inspected; instead, it accelerates and blows right through the barrier, which makes for a pronounced jolt for all the passengers inside. Once the train is rolling outside of the city limits, the Displaced can grab scrambler masks that have been provided by Morningstar for use in infiltrating the outpost when they arrive. It is imperative, El suggests, that they don't allow their identities to be compromised. They will also remind the Displaced to keep this project under wraps, lest Morningstar as a whole has its operations compromised. This is a good time to solidify any plans about what to do when the outpost is reached. The train ride won't be especially long, but long enough for some tension to settle over the car. > INFILTRATE THE OUTPOST The outpost they arrive at is a less grimy version of what the Displaced saw earlier in November. The interior is almost identical to what was present there, with some wings repurposed as jailing sites. There are bright, fluorescent lights with white walls and a sterile smell throughout. Even cleaned up, these labs do not recognize any of those that the Displaced may have seen in their dreams. The description below is borrowed from the arrival log for reference: The building is six stories tall. The first floor has a lobby/waiting area, a cafeteria, and some office spaces. The second floor is the dormitory floor, which is where the employees would usually sleep if they chose to stay at the facility while working rather than returning to the city in between shifts. This is where the new arrivals woke up. Floors three through five are dedicated to lab spaces, which is where the actual research work is usually done. Most of these laboratories are going to be locked, but that won't stop Displaced from breaking into them if they want. Some of the lab rooms also have exam rooms. Displaced will be able to swipe lab equipment and medical supplies, such as syringes, vials/beakers, first aid supplies, scalpels, bandages, multi-lens microscopes, etc. The top floor is dedicated to offices for higher-ranked scientists, so think of it as the C suite. All floors also have bathrooms, of course, and the dormitory wing also has showers. ✦ Notably, this outpost is also empty of scientists. However, stoic soldiers stand guard at every door. These well-armed warriors are with the UNA, who has taken over the outpost. These soldiers are not an easy fight. In the fights with UNA soldiers, PCs might die and need to be revived in New Prague by Morningstar. ✧ DISTRACTION: Some of the PCs may choose to deal with the UNA by attempting to distract them using wit, charm, or apparent helplessness. PCs may search for a way to draw attention away from some of these doors to let others sneak past. ✧ INFILTRATION: Those who sneak past will find the jailing areas similarly guarded, and eventually, stealth and quiet infiltration is no longer an option. Rey and the other Morningstar agents are being held in well-secured cells, and UNA soldiers must be engaged in order to get past them. ✦ Inside the jailing sites, they find the missing agents in terrible shape. These Morningstar operatives have gone through extreme interrogation, and if they can get persuaded to talk sense--or talk at all--they might impart on their rescuers that the subject of that interrogation was most recently about the blue technology. However, most are catatonic, seemingly unaware of who they are or where they are, and some react negatively and violently toward anyone who displays the blue glow in front of them as the result of a conditioned response. ✧ Agents from the September raids will explain that Rey's arrival worsened the interrogation. Some of these agents may admit to confessing that Morningstar started helping a new group that emerged. It was clear in their interrogation that the UNA was not involved in the June firefight because they only then put together that the Displaced were involved in it. They're only aware because they were tasked with cleaning up after it. ✧ Some of the agents taken during the raids will still be resentful of the Displaced, and this will help convince the UNA that the Displaced are separate from Morningstar. Once the agents are freed, the Displaced can make their way back to the exit of the outpost, where Poe Dameron waits in an armored truck liberated from the UNA. This flying truck is meant to transfer large numbers of UNA soldiers for load-outs, so despite the Displaced and rescued agents' numbers, it will be sufficiently spacious to fit them all. Though it flies, it's smarter to stay low in the interest of staying off trackers on their way to New Prague, where they can hopefully wait out the heat of pursuit by the UNA. > NEW PRAGUE When they arrived in New Prague, El contacts local Morningstar agents to escort them to a safehouse. Notably, El will warn the Displaced that no other parts of Morningstar know about zeir identity as an AI. El is hoping that the Displaced will keep their secret, but is more concerned with helping than with keeping them separate from the New Prague Morningstar chapter. These Morningstar agents will bring the Displaced to an abandoned chain convenience store at the edge of town, Zesco. The convenience store is located near the edge of the city, and it's meant to be a temporary stop. The upper part of the store is just an empty space, though there is a wall where it's clear that there were once icee machines. All of the Morningstar agents will be held under an abandoned convenience store. ✦ The inside of the safehouse is like most safehouses, but since it's meant to be temporary, there aren't any clothes or food in place to help someone out. There will be Morningstar agents who come in to supply these things throughout the stay, showing up about an hour in to help out. ✧ It will be apparent that this safehouse is not one of the ones that's typically used in New Prague, but instead one of the miscellaneous ones that they've had around. Unlike New Amsterdam, most of the safehouses in New Prague weren't compromised. Of course, there is a high likelihood that this safehouse will be decommissioned after all of this. ✧ Notably, the New Prague agents are all quite impressed that the missing New Amsterdam agents were able to be saved at all—previously, NPC Morningstar cells had believed rescue to be impossible. ✧ Anyone who kept their scrambler mask on during the infiltration of the outpost is allowed to leave the safehouse and explore New Prague. Anyone else … can do that if they want, but it's not a good idea! The safehouse won't be fun, but jail will be worse. Please reach out to the mods if you do this. ✦ Beyond the safehouse, New Prague is a large, beautiful city housing around 30 million people. Unlike many of its brethren, it pays homage to the "Old" Prague in a number of ways: there are impractical cobblestone streets, and the architecture adheres to an older, gothic style throughout the city. In fact, there are ordinances that demand the city continues to look as if it harkens to an older past and time. Above all else, New Prague is very green: there are trees everywhere. Throughout the city, there is a large, man-made river that cuts through to the underground, causing there to be beautiful falls underneath the main city itself. This river is called the New Vitava River, once again paying homage to the Prague of Old. The New Vitava River is maintained to the degree that there is no littering in it, and there are strict local rules about doing anything lewd in it. (That includes using it as a toilet. Don't do that!) There are bridges all over the city to easily cross from one side to another, and all public transit has been constructed to adhere to the river and also offer its citizens views of it on the regular. ✧ The weather here is just as extreme as it is in New Amsterdam, so anyone who's not been checking the news will find that the world really was screwed over by Cassius. ✧ Food throughout the city is just as eclectic as it is anywhere else. Visually, it looks like they want to remember Prague, but culturally, it's just as varied. This isn't an Eastern European city in anything but aesthetic. > THE RETURN The train ride back to New Amsterdam will resemble the ride to and from New Tokyo, but it is a considerably shorter trip. There is no stop for the train at New Amsterdam, so they will need to devise a way to get off the train without dying in the process - this will be difficult, but not impossible. This should not be too much of a surprise, as some of the New Prague Morningstar agents will join them on this train ride, and will explain the situation. Once they're outside the city, these agents will get them back into the city, as they've done this rodeo before. They can sneak in easily through the opening made by Cassius earlier in the month, which if it has been found, has not yet been addressed.

Comments

[forcevisions]

[ She shakes her head. For a moment, it seems she'll leave it at that.

But after some silence, she breaks out with, ] Actually.

[ Mostly, she needs the company. Filling in the rest is a matter of stepping over the obtrusive corpse of her pride. ]

I need to shower. [ Obviously. She indicates the bundle in her arms. ] ... If I pass out, will you ... I don't know. Put a towel over me or something? Turn the water off.

[dragonwarder]

[Daenerys eventually puts two and two together. She must still be drugged. Her brows knit with concern in response, but she recognizes the need taking over where there is pride.

She remembers the last time they had a more intimate conversation, and opts not to offer her more direct assistance.]

Of course. I will keep your dignity.

[...nope, she's still worried. Her hesitation shows on her face.]

You could slip and do further damage. Is there no one you trust to assist?

[forcevisions]

[ It's a brutal blow to her pride, the insinuation that she can't wash herself. But it's also not the first time Rey has been confronted with it, and as such, she's slightly more able to accept it. She thinks of Ben. Of New Amsterdam. Who isn't here, and who probably shouldn't be trusted with that task anyway, given how well he'd focused the last time. ]

No one I would ask.

[ Not the same as not trusting. She searches Daenerys' face with marked discomfort. If someone offered, though, that would be a different matter. She's getting better at letting people fuss over her when it's of their own volition. ]

[dragonwarder]

No?

[Daenerys smiles lightly at Rey's answer. She is familiar with that sort of approach. And, in her mothering manner, she offers her arm to help her off the wall.]

What if I were to offer?

[And, to dissuade further hesitation:]

It would trouble me naught, but you may reject me without ill will between us, if you wish. My only desire is to not see you come to further harm unnecessarily.

[forcevisions]

[ Nodding, Rey takes her arm. That's easier to take, even though her slow movements make it clear that she's not entirely thrilled by this prospect either. It has been a grueling process to allow it from Kylo, even. Well. Maybe not grueling. But slow. Demanding of his considerable patience. She certainly hasn't made it easy, even at the moments that it's ostensibly to their mutual enjoyment. ]

You're a lot like him, you know.

[ Rey's brain isn't firing on all cylinders yet, so it comes out as if Daenerys must have been following her thought pattern. And she can't be, because clothes (for now) obscure the empathy bond for them both. She means it as a compliment, at least. ]

[dragonwarder]

[She winces when Rey grasps her on a bruise, but she makes no sound nor allows any pause in her step. Rey's words, however, surprise her. She would not have compared herself to Kylo Ren.

She thinks of it for a moment, trying to follow her train of thought. When nothing obvious comes, she probes further.]

How do you mean?

[forcevisions]

You care for people the same way.

[ For a moment, her explanation lapses. She juggles the items in her arms to make sure they aren't at risk of falling when she's only holding them with one hand, steadying herself on Daenerys with the other as they make their way to the showers. They are rusty with disuse. The drains are clean. No one stays at this safe house anymore, no one from Morningstar Prague at least. ]

Stubbornly. [ Rey's expression takes on a sad quality. ] And ... distantly. [ The way that people care when they've been made to feel like they shouldn't give themselves to people. When their affection has been abused in the past. She studies Daenerys then, thinking of her brother Viserys, and wondering what had become of him. ]

[dragonwarder]

[Ah. She should not have asked. Dany’s smile that comes next is a false sort of thing, a reflex that oft comes when she does not want to talk about something but knows the conversation must be had one way or another.]

Old habits, I suppose. I am a different sort of Queen than other Westerosi. But there are still expectations when it comes to my close company. Dangers that come along with it.

[And then, there was the matter of Viserys. Of Khal Drogo, her Sun and Stars, who’s name and existance she had yet to share with anyone here. Those two, they do not factor into any of the excuses Dany has given thusfar.

The past was past. And if she looked back for too long—she would be staring at that Red Door again, the world closed to her.]

Regardless — it is not my intention to draw distance between us, Rey. You have my word on that.

[forcevisions]

You aren't. I'm not worried about that.

[ Rey finds a box on which she can stack her clothes and her towel, letting go of Daenerys' arm temporarily to make it easier. She's mostly alright, getting around on her own. It hits her sideways, though. Out of nowhere. That's the part that makes depending on people at least somewhat necessary.

Fortunately, Rey is stubborn too. And patient. She will persist through any distance that makes it difficult to become close to them, now that she knows how deeply they care. She just knows it might take time. ]

I was only thinking about why that is. [ But importantly, she doesn't put it to a question. She doesn't want to probe for what isn't freely offered; it's not her place. But she does want to make it clear that her interest grows out of concern for Daenerys and what she's been through. There's some sameness, there. A sense of understanding. Rey can be distant too. ]

[dragonwarder]

[It is vocal curiousity that Rey shares with her, rather than a direct question. She had spoken on Viserys the last time — but she is not ready to speak on Drogo. Not the way Rey wants her to. She would need to be less sober for that. In more comfortable conditions. Somewhere there was no danger of his name being heard by the wrong person, who might seek to use it against her.]

I was rarely afforded the luxury of being anything but a monarch. My council was made up of my closest friends, but even still — I suppose it is rarely easy to befriend someone of high birth when no one would let you close enough.

[Daenerys manages to seat herself on another box, contemplating the level of discomfort Rey will find herself with once she starts to undress.]

[forcevisions]

It sounds lonely.

[ Rey knows loneliness. Even if she can't imagine the other parts of Daenerys' life, she can empathize with the fact that Daenerys has felt that way. She imagines it's worse, to be surrounded by people and still feel it. People who cannot be what you need; people who only let you down.

She starts tugging her shirt off over her head, but her vision darkens at the edges when she lifts her hands up over her heart. So she pauses, hesitates, and then uses the cuts already made deep in the front collar to just tear it straight down the middle. The shirt is already ruined, anyway. Better not to pretend otherwise.

Rey is not used to being naked around others. Around Kylo, she has no issue. She can move around her apartment with Poe in her underwear and shirt and not worry. That's how she knows it's not a matter of prudish humility and rather a matter of the bare vulnerability. She casts a skittish, sidelong glance in Daenerys' direction, moving slowly as she takes the shirt off like a vest. ]

[dragonwarder]

[Daenerys does not advert her eyes, nor does she stare or steal any curious glances. Instead, she keeps talking, as if Rey were not stripping bare in front of her.]

I suppose that is the cost of all the rest. It is not such a terrible thing.

[That is something of a lie. She is a different person now, less effected by loneliness (or so she believes), but it had taken many years for her to let go of Drogo. Truthfully, she never really had let go — she had just learned to cope.]

I do not want for pleasant company. The company simply comes and goes.

[forcevisions]

There's a difference.

[ She pushes down her pants and underwear. Daenerys' cavalier disinterest makes that easier for her. This is functional nudity, not something to be uneasy about. ]

Between company and companionship.

[ Rey hadn't realized that until she'd found the latter in Ben. And that had only come to her by force, not by her own choosing. It's easy to accept now as a foregone conclusion, but she still has a hard time offering that intimate vulnerability willingly, without extenuating factors. ]

[dragonwarder]

[Rey's persistence on the point has her sighing out of her nose.]

Yes. I know.

[Queens did not get companions unless they were for political alliances. She does not say as much aloud. Rey would not understand -- and not only that, it was not the entire truth, so it would be doubly hard to convince her to swallow that as a reason.

So finally, she offers something of herself again. A small sliver of admission.]

I suppose I've long lost the taste for companionship.

[forcevisions]

[ Rey turns the shower knob. The sudden spray first cracks on the concrete like thunder, then the ambient patter fills the silence between Daenerys' remark and Rey's slow reply. ]

I think Ben felt the same. [ He never said it directly, but she read it in everything he did. Yet he ached for it. ] But it was only because so many people had disappointed him that ... [ She doesn't finish. She leans against the side of the stall, shutting her eyes. The dizziness catches Rey off guard. She'd felt fine. She'd seemed able. ]

[dragonwarder]

[Dany is on her feet in a flash, crossing the span of the shower to hover her hands near Rey. The water makes her clothes hang heavy, damp and sodden, silver hair and braid sticking to her face.]

--you should sit.

[She moves to grab the box she had been sitting on, dragging it closer for Rey.]

[forcevisions]

It's okay. I'm fine. I --

[ Can't quite catch her breath, actually. Rey braces herself on the shower stall wall, then eases down onto the box. ]

Maybe just for a second.

[ Pressing her eyes shut doesn't stop the dizzy feeling. Neither does sitting. It doesn't help that she has no idea what they had injected her with or what she's recovering from. ]

[dragonwarder]

It's alright. You don't have to say anything.

[Don't be so proud is the sentiment that she doesn't quite put to words. It would make her a hypocrite, after all. She could not ask someone to do what she would not be willing to do herself.

And if she had been in Rey's position, she isn't entirely sure she would have done anything differently. Carefully, she lifts a sodden hand to the side of Rey's temple.]

Well, you are not feverish. Though I should hope that you would not have infection after you have seen other healers.

[Just another situation where there is nothing more she can do. Instead, she lowers her hand for the cloth Rey had been planning to wash herself with. The bruising on her arms has turned an ugly shade of blue-green.]

[forcevisions]

Your clothes are soaked.

[ The damage is already done. No point in discouraging her directly in that way, but she nonetheless points it out. Daenerys made things worse for herself by choosing to help Rey out. It's not really about the clothes at all, of course. But the fact that Rey notices the bruising now, eyes sharp. This is a trend. ]

[dragonwarder]

Only a bit of water.

[It comes out without thought as she takes the cloth and blots at Rey's forehead to warm her up to the idea of allowing her to assist more directly. it does not stop her from noting the trajectory of Rey's eyes.]

Do not worry. It is not the fault of recent endeavors.

[Not as recent as they could be, anyway.]

[forcevisions]

[ Not here? What else had happened recently that might have caused it? Digging makes Rey realize just how long that list is. ] The creatures?

[ She asks the question quietly, still recovering from her dizziness. ]

At the other outpost?

[dragonwarder]

Indeed.

[She does not elaborate much further than that. It wasn't exactly necessary. The creatures were everywhere, and she had mostly moved on from the terror of the entire ordeal even if she still bore the marks from it.

She spends time being gentle to scrub the salty remains of sweat off of Rey's face, but momentarily pauses when she is through. The next area, she has learned the other girl is shy about, and so she does not advance immediately.]

Do you need to lie down?

[forcevisions]

[ She hesitates. Lying down with this layer of damp grime from the facility still coating her skin like grit sounds terrible, just now. Rey seldom cares about how dirty she is, but this is about more than the physical dirt. It seems to seep in, a reminder of the facility, evidence of being there. She feels gross.

So she shakes her head. ]

I want it off.

there’s titty touching here

[dragonwarder]

As you wish. But please — if you feel faint, I ask that you alert me. Hitting your head on this floor will do you no favors.

[That is the only warming Rey gets before Daenerys continues. Granted, she goes slowly, carefully and dutifully wiping the grime near her neck away before carefully moving to the wounded area between her breasts. Small, she mentally notes briefly — not that that ever mattered to her. She was a lean woman — a fighter. There was much more to be said for that, as far as Dany is concerned.

She talks her way through this — there is no way for her not to structinize, lest she cause more damage trying to wash the blood off.]

I was once married. Did I tell you?

[It is a ploy — she knows, of course, that she did not give very many details about her closer relationships. But it was the best chance to keep Rey sitting still.]

Many moons ago, when my brother was still alive.

[The introduction of Viserys into the tale helps keep Daenerys sounding detached from the whole affair.]

[forcevisions]

To a prince?

[ She was a Queen, after all. That would have been true of all the stories that she's heard before.

Mostly, Rey puts forth the question to give herself something else to focus on, other than Dany's gentle scrubbing. She looks deliberately away, eyes on the nearby showerhead, squinting against the ambient spray. ]