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meadowlarklogs2019-11-30 12:31 pm
EVENT LOG 007 | AFTERMATH
WHERE: New Beijing, a train, and then New Amsterdam.
WHEN: The tail end of the operation and the two days after: January 26th-28th.
WHAT: Finishing up the operation, hiding out, and going home.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence and unstoppable soldiers. More to be updated as necessary.
At the turn of midnight in New Beijing, the true risk to this plan comes to light. There was always a chance, always a point of awareness that Cassius wouldn't be able to buy his foot soldiers enough time. He knew that this could go poorly, so he was prepared for just that. He knew that the Displaced would, potentially, treat the UNA soldiers as personal enemies. They showed this face with their foolhardy desperation during the EMP's effects, and given an opportunity to assault a weaker, unexpecting bunch, they wouldn't hold back.
After all, not killing the soldiers hadn't been a suggestion made by Cassius showing some sign that he had a conscience or was worried about the death of citizens. No, killing the soldiers would make his job harder: and it did.
After scrambling the distress call for forty-five minutes, Cassius' efforts finally fail when the base finally gets the word out for reinforcements. Switching gears, Cassius sends along a word to the Displaced still in the base, letting them know that their time is running short. They need to get moving, and the UNA has wisened up to Cassius' tactics with the fabricated terrorist attacks on the other side of the city. If it were just one thing, the UNA may not have turned back, but their installed software quickly began to recognize many of the tactical patterns that Cassius employed: they weren't that different from the ones executed by radicalized Morningstar agents in other cities.
The lack of traffic in the city means the deployed soldiers return swiftly. Unlike the ones at the base, these soldiers are heavily armed and prepared for the worst. Even though Judas is definitely offline by the time they arrive, their systems remain operational for now. After all, Judas wasn't online as it was, as he was isolated from the world on a localized quantum server. The weight of Judas' impact on the UNA and its systems are still up in the air for anyone to guess. It's hard to tell what they might have been using him for, and just what weight his own additions had made on their current operations. What's clear is that these soldiers can still move, act, and attack, and there are hundreds of them rushing back in a steady stream of military might.
For anyone in the base, it's time to move. Being caught here probably will mean the end of the road for everyone involved.
◉ The soldiers who show up are not beatable. They will be working in formation and predicting most of what's coming their way, and given the numbers sent out, they will be unstoppable. Unsurprisingly, the larger the unit, the stronger their ingrained instincts happen to be. Think of these soldiers as the boss battle you can't even beat for an achievement. It's the one where you're meant to lose, if you engage at all.
◉ We're fine with any degree of Judas Hot Potato that goes on in the final stages of the base, and recommend that you all work that out on our event aftermath post.
◉ As for who finally hands Judas off to Cassius, we have sign ups at the aftermath post, too! The person who wins that doesn't need to be the person with the potato in the end; some creative juggling can go down for that stage, too!
◉ Anyone who dies on the base will need to be dragged out and taken to a medi-unit or they will be permadead. We are not asking for anyone to have their characters killed here! Everyone can get out safely and unharmed if they haul ass. Or even if they don't! Maybe they got lucky.
◉ Cassius will be wiping any records of the interlopers, making it so that their existence can't be traced. He'll be covering the surrounding areas of the base for a three mile radius. After that, everyone is on their own: they'd better have a plan of escape.
While Cassius will be covering the immediate area of the base, everyone will want to make sure that they don't appear suspicious as they hit the streets of New Beijing. The best place to hide? The lower levels of the city. Despite the frequent police raids, someone can move through the lower levels until they're close to their hotel. All they need to do is move up once they're just beneath their temporary residence. Discarding any unwanted goods along the way down there probably wouldn't hurt.
For anyone who's been injured by the soldiers or by their fellow Displaced, they'll want to stop and do some quick first aid on themselves. Hitting a hospital or clinic like this is risky. For the dead, it's not as if anyone has any choice, so their pal better cook up a good story for what happened along the way. The good news in all of this is that injuries and all, none of the hotels are likely to ask too many questions. The drones that do the room service aren't sentient, and the people who work the front desks simply aren't paid enough to care.
By 9 AM, all the news beats around the city refer to a series of attacks that rocked UN landmarks. While the attacks on the UN government buildings had the mark of Morningstar radicals from New Prague and New Johannesburg, they are not citing them as the individuals most likely to be culpable for these attacks. There is no information about what happened at the UNA HQ, though it seems unlikely that none of that information would have gotten out during the flurry of hasty exits.
Even so, it's likely a good idea that everyone lays low for the final couple of days in New Beijing. That doesn't mean that everyone needs to say cooped up in their hotels. Still, they'll likely want to be cautious while the city is on high alert for suspicious activity.
As for whoever has Judas, they'll get a message late in the evening of the 26th telling them to meet with one of Cassius' resources in the morning. Cassius won't be up for much conversation when the message comes in. Despite all previous communication, any messages sent to him now will be a dead end.
Eventually, it's January 28th and everyone will be headed back to New Amsterdam on a train. It feels as if there's almost a lack of closure, as Judas is most likely gone, the devices that were meant to hold him unable to go through customs. Unlike the previous train, this ride will be an non-stop express from New Beijing to New Amsterdam, and will be largely uneventful. The lack of stops along the way makes it impossible for any temporary havoc to break out. Even the Displaced who didn't pick up express tickets will find that their itinerary has been changed. While the more luxurious seats will remain the same and will offer a bed for anyone looking to rest over the long journey, everyone else's upgrade will treat them to neck pillows and thin blankets to help them stay comfortable.
An event-free ride probably won't mean much for the feelings stewing among the Displaced. Everyone is bound to be feeling something after everything that just happened, so there's still a lot of room for tension now that everyone's been crammed in close quarters on a non-stop train ride. Let's just hope it doesn't get too nasty in there!
◉ El will purchase all of the newcomer Displaced tickets for the way back. All of them will be traveling to New Amsterdam for new job opportunities in the wake of the city's losses, and will be directed to make a statement of intent to move to New Amsterdam permanently.
◉ El won't be purchasing that upgrade, though. If anyone thinks it's Cassius' doing, just blame it on Cassius.
◉ Everyone will be arriving in New Amsterdam around 4 PM with varying amounts of jetlag (or trainlag).
◉ Upon arriving, everyone will begin to see garrish advertisements for both Valentine's Day and Carnival.
Thanks for the great event, Larkers! We have a lot planned to spin out of this one, so we hope that you enjoyed what we cooked up here. Our OOC Aftermath Post is live, which is where we'd like you to direct all of your aftermath questions. We also encourage you to discuss any loose ends for the plot and plan anything else out that's needed!
Otherwise, we intended for this to be more of a low key log while everyone continues to thread out the event. Our next log will be up on December 13th featuring our new arrivals, giving everyone some time between now and then!
train time
I think you might have to unwrap it for me.
[ His voice is confident, but not loud, and slightly apologetic. ]
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[ silena clearly isn't fussed. she's had playing nurse as a chore enough that opening the flimsy biodegradable packaging comes easy to her. opened enough so he can pluck them free but not enough that silena's own fingers touch the caramel.
no germs! ]
Just tell me when to stop.
[ she will open them indefinitely. ]
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He does swipe one of the caramels in the meantime. ]
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You're not gonna say stop are you?
[ her nose wrinkles, chagrined. she really walked into that, didn't she? oh well, it wasn't mean-spirited and she benefits from the open caramels anyway, popping one in her mouth. ]
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[ But given an inch, best to take a mile. Or in this case, another caramel. ]
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[ unluckily, love is a fickle bitch and silena can be catty which finds her using her power on the caramels so some of them taste like earwax. earth 2512 might not have bertie bott's every flavor beans but it does have silena. maybe he'll get lucky and only pick up the untouched caramels. she'll find out soon enough!
helena will eat them otherwise. ]
I've seen you before. But I don't know your name.
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He likes his name. ]
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all this to say her eyes go a bit wider in surprise. ]
You're Greek? I'm Greek!
[ WE'RE GREEK! ]
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[ Not Greece. His world doesn't have a Greece. ]
But the languages are similar.
[ He's done enough research to know that there are a lot of similarities, actually. ]
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[ she deflates immediately. two hours ago she was talking to marcos about not having anything from home and the homesickness hits her again all at once. ]
I speak Greek. Well, ancient. If there is a New Athens they won't be able to understand me. [ a beat. ] Except they will because of the implant.
[ she can't even swear properly, it's very depressing. greek swears have flair! oomph! pizzazz! half of them translate to "motherfucker" here... which is pretty accurate tbh ]
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Curses, Eugenides agrees, are very important. ]
Do you know your letters? [ He pauses, before picking up another caramel but not yet eating it. ] Better, do you have a pen?
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I don't have a pen, but I have... [ well, she has an app for that, tossing an invite at him via proximity. it basically throws a display out that they can draw on. it's still all via the implant but it's an easier visualization. a 26th century whiteboard. ]
You can pick a color. Mine's blue.
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Also a time and place entirely without apps, which he still views with some degree of skepticism. ]
Right. [ He knows there's a great surfeit of old-fashioned writing implements here, but it's still disappointing to be reminded. Without inkpots, what do people throw when they are mad? ]
Ancient, right?
He picks a rich, nearly garish red color and writes in block capitals: ΕΙΜΙ ΕΥΓΕΝΙΔΗΣ. I am Eugenides. The verb in the demotic would be something slightly different, but he half expects the letters to rearrange themselves because of whatever it is that makes everything he hears an amorphous but perfectly understandable language. ]
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the blue silena chooses is the same color as the blue ribbon tied like a headband in her short hair. her own name is lowercase because she thinks it looks prettier and suits her delicate, neat lettering and she does what she wants: σιλένα, αφροδίτης θυγάτηρ.
she draws a little heart at the end; silena, daughter of aphrodite. ]
I didn't know I missed Ancient Greek this much.
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Like the moon.
[ Silena, he means. The has one advantage over his inkpots and that is that he did not get smudges all over his necessarily left-handed script. Quickly, he writes out, in those same capitals, much neater than his actual handwriting. Do all your people speak— he pauses, and squints because he doesn't know what the word would be— the old tongue? ]
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I'm named after my aunt, the goddess of the moon. She's retired now though, it's a whole thing.
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;
A question mark. ]
Named after the goddess of the moon. Your aunt. [ He echoes her words to make sure he has the right of them. ] Like I'm named for the god of thieves, and my grandfather.
[ Two separate entities, the god of thieves and his grandfather. He has met them both so he's quite sure. ]
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No. My aunt was the goddess of the moon but then worshiping her fell out of fashion so she faded and then Artemis took over, like she didn't already have a crapton of junk under her perview.
[ ten points if you guess what goddess silena doesn't like at all. ]
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Artemis is a name for one of the Invader godesses, in some stories. We don't worship them in Eddis.
[ He wants to be skeptical, but he has not lived a life that allows much space for skepticism. ]
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And -- [ her hand waves uselessly at the pseudo-whiteboard ] -- I'd have to write novel to explain the Ancient Greek thing so that might be better for a verbal conversation, too.
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He also reaches for that caramel he'd had before, but doesn't eat it yet. ]
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[ casual. this is normal. ]
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Is that how you Greeks tell a story? I wasn't holding my breath for hexameter, but…
[ Well, Eugenides actually did write a novel once, so he might have exacting standards. He throws the caramel in his mouth— safe again. The gods must love him. ]
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[ she pulls a face as if to say "shut up i don't need to tell stories well, i'm cute!" ]
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[ The less said about love letters, though, the better. ]
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