meadowlarklogs | EVENT #009 AFTERMATH LOG

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EVENT #009 AFTERMATH LOG

WHO: Everyone! Monsters, trains, and New Amsterdam citizens.
WHERE: New Amsterdam, a train, and New Magellan.
WHEN: May 3, 2512
WHAT: The aftermath of the simulation.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Mentions of monsters, as well as deaths and memorials.

> EVENT #009 AFTERMATH LOG

The simulation ends abruptly. Whether someone was in the cold and artificially lit underground New Amsterdam or rushing the work camps to set every inch of them on fire, they'll wake up wherever they were before the simulation started. Given that it came down midday, many are likely to either be at work or enjoying a day off. The city takes a couple hours to "wake up" and "recover" from the long and traumatic period of time. Many of the New Amsterdam citizens will have to check a calendar to see how long it's been, and they'll also want to take care of any bodily functions and shove some food into their faces. While Judas' Suspended Animation helped a lot in this arena, everyone who's waking up will have to make up the difference for themselves.

After a couple hours left in recovery, people all around New Amsterdam flock to the streets to take in the state of the world. Numerous local corporations send out messages announcing that all employees will be paid for their time spent in the simulation, and that everyone will have a brief reprieve from work while New Amsterdam takes inventory on itself. Anyone in corporate jobs will have five days to take care of themselves, while anyone working in restaurants or lower-end jobs will only have two days to get themselves back together before they're expected to return to work.

Once everyone takes to the streets, they'll find a New Amsterdam covered in green and trees. It marks a striking difference to the cold, lifeless underground New Amsterdam that was present in the simulation. Many take to camping out on the first night, relishing the fresh air and lack of bustling city life that New Amsterdam has to offer. These same campers will need to move the following morning, but there will be little enforcement of any quick movement on that front.

On a more somber note, Governor Lydia Gill-Jade gives her final address to the city. She announces that New Amsterdam is the strongest megacity in the world, and that it's ready to persevere and prevail over any and all obstacles. She asks that everyone remember the lives lost when the simulation was lifted. By now, there are a couple hundred deaths reported, and among them are Katelin Jovavich and Matek Kattan (AKA "Ball"). Memorials spring up around the city in honor of these losses. At the end of her address, Gill-Jade declares that she's stepping down as Governor of New Amsterdam, effective immediately.

> NEW MAGELLAN AND THE MANY MONSTERS

Thanks to Ian, the simulation has come to an end in New Amsterdam. Anyone who went into the laboratory will need an exit strategy. What comes next? Daenerys will be setting off an EMP bomb as everyone leaves the laboratory, and will have set a large majority of the monsters on fire. But what about any that might be chasing them out, and how do they prevent them from following? It's time to have a plan to get out of dodge, so to speak. That's assuming that anyone has a plan. The accelerated timeline has meant that everyone is moving without having all the bricks laid.

Either way, now that Cassius has been transferred and is mostly secure in the hands of the Displaced, it's probably a good idea to not dawdle for too long. The lab is thoroughly on fire, the monsters are up for a chase, and it's time to get moving. Should they leave the building itself burning in the meantime? Then again, is that really anyone's biggest concern?

The problem is: where to? A quick hop back to New Amsterdam won't be on the horizon. The gate there is still down after the event, as recovering it fell by the wayside. If anyone wants to visit New Amsterdam, they'll have to fast travel to a city close by (New Prague is a great choice!) and take a train ride home.

That's right: it's train log time again!

> GATE BUSINESS

While people are either heading back from their adventures abroad or eating a lot of protein to boost their energy, there is still that little problem with the gate in New Amsterdam. Tony Stark identified the missing objects there, but the acceleration of everything meant that the gate never got fixed up. Now, it's up to the Displaced to put together how to make this gate work! If they have a relic sitting at home, wouldn't it be worth trying to see if they can slot it back in there? It might take a bit of teamwork, but this is the type of puzzle the Displaced can piece together.

The only thing that the Displaced might want to do is look for additional clues or information for how the original slots got changed up. When did it happen and who had the means to do that? Even if the fast travel system is back up, will there be any chance of someone messing things up again in the future?

> FINAL OOC NOTES

And that's all for our ninth event, folks! Please direct any aftermath questions to our Wrap Up post! In terms of the gate, we're happy with assuming that the gate is back up and running by time the arrival log is posted on June 13th.

Thanks again for helping make this a great event!

> NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well. Two reasons. [So far, this is going in a more productive direction than she could expect, which is mainly what she can take from Catra not trying to attack her.

It's the little things.]

First, you're both willing to stand up and do what's important. I can see that leading to you butting heads over issues down the line. Which leads to my second point and reason: we're going to be more visible now. If we seem dangerous, or like we're fighting all the time, it's not going to help us further ourselves here.

[ Clarke applying to her ego, giving her a compliment first, does wonders for the part that comes next. Catra actually seems to listen and absorb the second point, where normally it might have gone over like a lead balloon. ]

... Tch. I get it. I'm not stupid.

But I'm not gonna just play nice if someone starts a fight with me, either.

I don't expect you to, especially when it's a choice between that and survival. [It's acknowledgement of what she saw: Rey attempting to take Catra's life. Clarke didn't even know Rey was capable of that.]

But I'd give her a wide berth for now.

[ Catra looks away, gritting her teeth, the picture of frustration. ]

I've been trying to.

[ And Clarke doesn't know it, but that's rare enough for Catra. ]

But we keep running into each other. She's everywhere I go. I can't even get away from her in my dreams.

All right. [It's said like she's processing the information. Clarke stands up, and motions for Catra to join her. There are a lot of things she can do right now: ask after the fight and pry into it, but she doesn't know Catra enough to ask after that. A more productive conversation is likely to be had with Rey, but it's hard to say.

Clarke had always told her that her past was a nasty one. Rey's now experienced that first hand.

Yes, thinking about it, she's going to have to talk to Rey. They won't be cheery and seeing eye to eye this time. She can bet on that.]

I can give you some tips for how to handle the dreams. I had a fight with someone over my self-conscious back home, and it trained me before I got here again. Let's head back inside and into the safehouse down below so I can explain.

[Purpose. That's Clarke's main focus.]

[ It's Clarke's matter-of-fact attitude that does the trick. Catra stands after a minute and follows, after she's sure she isn't going to just keel right over. She looks paler than usual, but she's steady enough on her feet. Just. ]

... You can do that?

Edited 2020-06-16 05:45 (UTC)

Assuming that it's your dream, you can. It's harder when it's theirs, but I have a theory that our shared dreams happen because of the blue in our chests. It means that our involvement may be controllable in time.

[Clarke has a lot of theories about the dreams, but they all boil down to two things: control and how they can be used with this world. The rest of the theorizing falls to the wayside. Unsurprisingly, she isn't interested.]

Usually, you'll know the difference. You need to latch on to what lucidity you have and grip it tightly.

[ Dany had mentioned something similar, hadn't she? Having some degree of control over her dreams or at least waking up from them by remaining lucid. Catra frowns. ]

I've never been very good at it. The-- lucid dreaming thing. Most of the time I don't even realize that I'm asleep.

The idea is to look for contradictions, as well as beginnings and endings. Don't let something surface that you don't want someone else to see. That's assuming, of course, that you haven't dragged someone in too deep.

[Clarke had done that. When the Red Sun toxin had been infecting her in her dream, she couldn't overcome it. No amount of lucidity could break her out of that hold. It wasn't just the memory—it's who she was at that given moment, who she needed to be. Her exhaustion led her to that breaking point.]

The person I learned this from was methodical. Her mind and dreams were an organized library, with everything in its place. She even had a way of viewing the mind as if it was easily understood with everything in its place. It allowed her to move through mine freely, even while I tried to hide parts of myself. I'm not saying that you have to be her. [By this point, they're in the back of Red Wings in the storage area. Clarke is opening up the hatch so that Catra can follow her down into the safehouse.

She heads down into the safehouse down there, and waits for Catra to follow her. Since Stephen's vacated the area, it looks like it's barely been lived in. All the cots are brand new and set up tightly together, indicating that no one's taken care to space them out. There's a kitchen, but it's empty, and a similar first aid room to the one underneath the garage.

It looks like backup more than anything. That's what it was always meant to be.]

Contradictions, huh...

[ Dreams sure are full of those. Catra listens carefully to all Clarke has to say on dreaming, and files it away in her brain for future use.

She follows Clarke down to the backup safehouse, and her eyes widen in surprise when she sees what it is, giving a low whistle. ]

... Didn't know this was here.

We don't advertise it like we used to, but we asked for these two safehouses to call our own. They were undeveloped, but we didn't want to continue to rely on Morningstar's help. That meant making sure we had a rotating income, as well as a place to secure ourselves. One of the conditions was that we set this one up just in case something bad went down.

[Obviously, that did little to help them during the simulation. When everyone's underground and the city itself is only a false facsimile of itself, there is nowhere that someone can truly go to hide. But they have it now.]

Makes sense.

[ Catra appraises the place with what looks like approval, before her gaze turns back to Clarke, one eyebrow raise. ]

... And you're trusting me with knowing this is here.

[ The tone of her voice makes her suspicion clear. ]

I don't want you to think it's anything special to know. [Not to cut down Catra, but because Clarke needs her to know where she stands.] It's more that we don't advertise it. It wouldn't be fair to present it as something ... unique for you to know. [To get that out there.]

[ Catra pretends to inspect something in the opposite direction from Clarke, her face pointing away. ]

... Yeah yeah. I'm not special. Got it.

Look at it this way. It would be more dishonest to make you believe that you were. I'm not taking advantage of the fact that you believed that.

[Clarke hopes that Catra is the type to appreciate this being pointed out to her.]

I don't want to build trust with you based on a meaningless lie.

[ Clarke had her going in the first half. But it's the second part that makes Catra whirl around back to face her, eyes narrowed in suspicion and thinly-veiled anger. "Build trust based on a meaningless lie," indeed. ]

Everyone else does it.

You don't even know me. And I don't know you. So don't front about "building trust."

No. I don't. [Stiff yet agreeable. Clarke has a tendency to foster familiarity with someone that doesn't exist. She's done it countless times before. But regardless of that, she's fine to be called out on that same tendency.]

But we're a part of the same group, like it or not. Unless we find out otherwise, we're connected until one or both of us disappears.

... Fine. We're connected.

But let's leave it at that.

[ Even as pale as she looks from the recent energy-drain from Rey, her cheeks still flush pink with some kind of emotion-- anger, embarrassment, defiance, who knows.

Trust is a thorny issue with Catra, and she puffs up like a puffer-fish full of spikes the moment she suspects anyone of trying to force their way in. ]

I wasn't planning on pushing it any further. [That's the truth, too. The thought of trying to pretend that there's more here wouldn't help. She can all but see the walls coming up.]

So. Rey. When you end up in dreams with her, how long before you start fighting? And whose dreams are they typically?

[ Catra seems content to let the subject drop at that, and focuses on the important part. ]

... Five minutes. Figuratively, I mean. Obviously I can't actually tell how much time is passing. But it's not long.

And it seems about even-- whose dream we end up in.

How likely is it that you're going to make her leave instead of spending five minutes getting angry enough to fight?

[Because that's the first step here that needs to be determined. If it only takes five minutes to launch into a fight, Clarke needs to find a way to motivate Catra to kick Rey out before it gets to that point.]

[ Catra has to sit with that one for a while to think about it. It's clear she's seriously considering it, going over the various past scenarios in her head. The thing is... there's a part of Catra that can't-- or rather won't-- back down. Even when she knows the deck is stacked against her. Leaving, or trying to convince Rey to leave, is a show of weakness as far as Catra's concerned. ]

I can... try.

[ Even as she says it, it doesn't sound very convincing. ]

If you show her you can go in and out of her mindspace, the control may be enough to give you the upper hand. She won't like the fact that you can leave, or that she can't stay. It won't matter who wins the fight because you'll always get to decide when it ends.

[That is the next step: "try" isn't "I can do it" and Clarke can tell.

But she's worked with people focused on little more than victory before, or seemingly so. Pride. Honor. Those were always a factor for the grounders, so she can see how a strategic retreat needs to be approached cautiously.]

[ Catra's expression becomes less defensive, more interested. Coming and going whenever she pleases, being able to kick people out-- the way Clarke phrases it, that sounds more appealing.

If she's honest, it sounds... a little bit like her power. Being able to direct where people look, when they pay attention to her. Yeah. She can work with that. ]

... All right. Where do we start?

It would be easier if we could go to sleep in here and get started, [she admits, knowing that's where training would start. Clarke's handle on her subconscious space is the only reason why she's even alive.]

But in the meantime, think about how your mind presents itself to others. Whether it's chaotic, disorganized, or easily put together. I don't need to know the answer to that.

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