EVENT LOG 007 | AFTERMATH

[larkers]

WHO: The Displaced! Plus a surprise.
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.

> EVENT #007 AFTERMATH LOG

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.

> LAYING LOW

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.

> YET ANOTHER TRAIN LOG!

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.

> FINAL OOC NOTES

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!

> NAVIGATION

Comments

[inherited]

[Perhaps the most concerning part is where he doesn't need to do any of that. His pain threshold is considerably high—maybe even worryingly high, when it all comes down to it. He's in a fair bit of pain, yes. Riku's entire body language says it. But he curls his hands into fists and bears it. He's been knocked around. He's allowed someone else to take over his body because he was being an idiot. And he's kept going. What choice does he have?

Riku knows he could blame himself for this injury. That he should. Arguing with Catra was a waste of his time, to say the least. He should've known where it would lead him.

At most, he makes a few pained sounds, but he pushes through. The last thing he wants is Nill to worry more about him. She doesn't need to be stressed about his pain. About his potentially fatal injury, at least if it had gone unchecked. What if he hadn't run into her? Well, maybe he would've found someone else.

It's hard to say.

When she's eventually done, he keeps his eyes closed, and his chest rises and falls slowly, as if he's trying to stabilize himself. Carefully. Carefully.]

Thanks. [It isn't much, but it's about all he can muster at the moment.]

[culver]

[Another time, she'll think on this and wonder at how he bore it so well. Nill has a fairly high threshold for pain herself, but she isn't used to being around other people who do, too. The only other person she knows who would just grit his teeth and bear it is Heine, and that's because he'd been in pain for his entire life.

But for now, she focuses on what her hands are doing, and the moment she ties off the last stitch, she takes her first full breath in several minutes. The stitches look pretty even, and tight enough to hold the wound closed, but not tight enough to pull. She reaches for the gauze pad, peeling off the protective covering so she can cover her work.

Only now do her hands start to shake, and she can't seem to make them stop.

But his eyes are closed, and she works on mastering herself as she gently presses down the sticky edges of the gauze. Later, once they're safe, she'll have him take it off, but keeping it covered until then is the safest option.]

Anytime.

[Though she really hopes this doesn't keep happening, even if something in her gut tells her it might. She crumples up the remnants of everything she's used, sitting back on her heels and shoving it all back into her bag.]

Let me know when you're ready to move, okay?

[He needs time, but they don't have much. They can't stay here.]

[inherited]

Okay. [Not opening his eyes yet, but he can see her words even with his eyes closed. Riku knows he can't just rest here forever. Taking a moment is good. Taking too long might be a problem. He doesn't trust himself not to go with the latter. It's hard and he's drained and it's been a long few hours.

Both of his hands press into the floor, and he lets out a grunt. Even from this angle, it's going to be hard to get up.]

Keep talking to me. Tell you what you've seen. I need to get my mind moving again. It's slowed down and I just—[Well, she can see him. She can see the energy fading. He's alive, but tired. Rest would be good if he were literally anywhere else.]

I could use the conversation.

[culver]

[He still hasn't opened his eyes, and when he asks her to keep talking to him, the seed of worry that had settled in her chest starts to grow even faster. Her mind races: has he lost too much blood? Was there poison on whatever cut him? She doesn't know, and not knowing makes her want to scream, or cry. But she holds herself together, settling back on her heels as she begins to talk.]

After the explosions went off, I went to see if I could help. But there were only a couple people hurt, and there were UNA soldiers everywhere. So I went back towards the base, and realized nobody sane would stay there because some of the soldiers were heading back. That's when I came down here to search for other displaced. It's where I would go if I was trying to hide.

[It's where she had hid, at least in her own world. It was easy to forget the church was underground sometimes, when she hardly ever left it.]

I haven't run into anyone else, but I'm sure some of them have made it back to the hotel.

[She pauses, trying to collect her thoughts. Nill exhales slowly, hands curling into the material of her pants where they rest on her thighs.]

I'm glad I came to look. I'm glad I found you.

[inherited]

I'm glad you came, too. [It's about gathering energy. He feels like his stores are depleted, but he also wants to give the potion he took time to improve him. Riku still doesn't know the exact science behind it, and doesn't know how well it works immediately verses over time. He could ask her to let him drink more, but that might be hard given how he'd have to lean toward her. No, this will be how he manages.]

In there, things didn't go as bad as I feared, not until we got what we came for. There were soldiers, but people handled them quick. They were spread out. Depleted. We got in, we got to what we went there for, and not long after ... it got bad. Not everyone agreed on what to do. I'm worried about what this'll mean for us when we get back.

[Despite the amount of words, it should be stated that he says them slowly. Each period holds for a longer period of time, each comma is felt. But he wants to push himself to keep at it. That just feels right.]

[culver]

[Her brows draw together as she listens, her expression darkening the longer he speaks. What he's described--the disorganization, the way things had gone downhill--had been her biggest concern with this entire mission. But she hadn't wanted to go in, hadn't trusted that she could be useful enough in there. She can fight, she can hide, but would that have been enough against a trained military force? Her immediate thought had been no, and she's certain it was the right one.

Nill doesn't miss the way he speaks, the timbre and pace of his voice. It worries her. All of this worries her. But worrying won't help as much as being vigilant will, so she keeps stealing glances at his side, checking the wound, making sure it isn't about to break open just from speaking. And, in the meantime, she's going to keep him talking. Keep him awake.]

Do you know what happened to him? The AI.

[She still remembers the message, and the immediate distrust she'd felt for Cassius. Nill only has a little experience with AI's, and even though she tries not to judge, none of those experiences had been positive, including the EMP this particular AI had caused. It had made it nearly impossible for her to take any offer he made at face value.]

[inherited]

[Riku makes a pained expression in response to her question. No, it's not actual pain. Nill will be able to tell because it's not followed up by labored breathing. What happened in there is bad, because it gives Cassius more power. Even if Riku tried to get answers out of him, the end result doesn't look good for anyone involved.

His lips twist.]

I don't know where he was last, but he's free and with someone. Not free in the world, not unless they find a way to plug him in. [The good news is that Riku doesn't think that's easily managed with how things are handled in this world. There are very few physical objects related to computing, which is why Riku figures that the AI was held away.]

I guess Cassius gets what he wants. Again.

[culver]

[An involuntary shiver runs down Nill's spine, and she tries to reign it in before Riku notices. Cassius had made it clear the moment he'd revealed himself that he'd endanger countless lives to make a point--she can't imagine what it will be like to have two AI like him loose in the world. But thinking about that right now isn't going to help Riku, isn't going to get them out of this situation. So she tries to push it away, at least for now.]

Maybe we can find him before then.

[It seems a small comfort, but Riku had asked her to talk to him, and that's what she's doing. She'll say anything that comes into her head, as long as it helps keep him thinking, keep him awake.]

We just have to figure out who took him, and go from there.

[inherited]

Heh, right. Just get up and find out where he went. [Riku isn't defeatist usually, but he knows that he can't do much good. He knows that Rey and Kylo have gone back to their hotel room to lay low. That's what anyone would be doing. Do they even have enough time to change how things are going before Judas is back in Cassius' hands—if he isn't already?]

I hope the others can work out a way to make that happen. I don't think I'll be any good for the rest of this trip.

[Look, he's feeling bad for himself, but at least he's talking.]

[culver]

[Hearing him talk like that makes her worry even more; she thinks he must be in a lot more pain than she's able to see, and it amazes her just as much as it troubles her. But he's still talking to her, still engaged in their conversation. That's a good sign.]

Yeah, just like that.

[It's half a joke. But she's always found that sometimes just getting up and looking for something, even if you have no idea where to start, can pay off in unexpected ways.

She's also learned that a little levity can go a long way. Nill tries to smile, a little crooked and not with her whole heart. But she's trying.]

Come on, a good night's sleep can do wonders. Figuring out what to do next will be easier in the morning.

[inherited]

You don't mind if I lean a little on you? I'm feeling woozy. [It probably wouldn't help to have some water, but they're in the same spot they were in before. No cup, only her hands, and the intimacy of it all. He's been through worse, especially when the Organization was on his tail for screwing up their plans.]

If not, I think I can make it. Just gotta stick by walls. Mostly.

[culver]

[She expected he'd have to do as much, and nods firmly.]

It's fine. I'm stronger than I look.

[She says it with a smile, but it isn't really a joke. She's a far cry from the skinny fifteen-year-old she was when she first landed on the ship. It's amazing what a steady diet and regular physical activity can do. Does that mean this will be easy? No. But determination can go a long way.]

Then let's get moving. Just let me know when you need to rest.

we can wrap this up here!

[inherited]

You let me know the same. This might take a while. [Riku isn't the type who's good at cleaning on someone else, but he lets it happen when times like this come up. After fighting Xemnas, he could barely move, so he let Sora takes him down to the beach. This is a matter of greater importance, but he's glad he has someone he cares about and trusts by his side.]