Save the Earth Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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savetheearth2015-04-29 06:33 pm
theearth) wrote in savetheearth2015-04-29 06:33 pm
[plot] Invasion: Day 1
Who: EVERYONE + Returnees
What: Day 1 of the Invasion!
Where: EVERYWHERE
When: ICLy: The 29th! OOCly: April 29th to May 4th
Warnings: Please warn in your subject line if anything that deserves a warning occurs; this includes R-rated things as well as things worthy of a content warning/trigger warning.
The Central info post
Description: A minute after midnight EST, some people around the world who used to be numbered yet have lost their echoes since suddenly have all their pulses returned to them.
At 4pm EST, a child's laughing voice resounds in the air all around the world, remaining for over a minute and staying longer where it gets caught in the echo between buildings, mountains, or other echoing surfaces. Not long after, people in areas where the moon is visible (like those in Europe) will see pink lights on the moon, like a pink aurora borealis from above going all the way around the moon, and then the whole moon changes shape. Literally. It unfolds into a giant serpent that soon can be seen from everywhere around the world as it moves to wrap around the world, tossing and turning head and tail as if trying to hit and bite nasty flies. ...And if someone gets out a telescope, they'll realize that the serpent is doing exactly that: There are tiny spaceships attacking it and trying to pass by it, but for now it is holding up. ....You might maybe rather get to safety than get your telescope out though, because the serpent sometimes smashes down into the earth in its tossing and turning, and while it doesn't hit inhabited areas that still causes tsunamis and earthquakes. Giorgio A. Tsoukalos and Erich von Däniken will announce that it's totally aliens!!! SEE THEY CALLED IT. Ancient astronauts that gave the earth culture are coming back to us!
What this day is for: This day is mostly for reconnecting with returnees and dealing with the last wave of plot echoes. It is also for catastrophe relief efforts for areas that are hit by tsunamis or earthquakes. The only echo boundary that will be devastated in this way are the Galapagos Islands. Characters that can fly or have special swimming abilities are especially invited to help with rescuing people and delivering first aid. (Icly, the talks with the first wave aliens also happen here and they will be wrapped up or dropped after the 4th of May. You are still welcome to jump in and talk to an alien!)
How this works:
- Day 1 does not have any alien encounters past those in this log.
- There will be no toplevels on this post. Please start your own threads freely! Please format the subject line like this: "Location(s)/Network | ota/closed/etc". Please keep in mind that each character may change location twice per day (=a maximum of three different locations) and that the moon/space location is still off limits on the 1st Day.
- This post can be used for both network and action threads.
- Keep in mind that returnee characters must have checked in and must request their echoes if they get any.
- Please direct all questions to this thread on the General Invasion Guide
- For the returnee registration, please go here.
What: Day 1 of the Invasion!
Where: EVERYWHERE
When: ICLy: The 29th! OOCly: April 29th to May 4th
Warnings: Please warn in your subject line if anything that deserves a warning occurs; this includes R-rated things as well as things worthy of a content warning/trigger warning.
The Central info post
Description: A minute after midnight EST, some people around the world who used to be numbered yet have lost their echoes since suddenly have all their pulses returned to them.
At 4pm EST, a child's laughing voice resounds in the air all around the world, remaining for over a minute and staying longer where it gets caught in the echo between buildings, mountains, or other echoing surfaces. Not long after, people in areas where the moon is visible (like those in Europe) will see pink lights on the moon, like a pink aurora borealis from above going all the way around the moon, and then the whole moon changes shape. Literally. It unfolds into a giant serpent that soon can be seen from everywhere around the world as it moves to wrap around the world, tossing and turning head and tail as if trying to hit and bite nasty flies. ...And if someone gets out a telescope, they'll realize that the serpent is doing exactly that: There are tiny spaceships attacking it and trying to pass by it, but for now it is holding up. ....You might maybe rather get to safety than get your telescope out though, because the serpent sometimes smashes down into the earth in its tossing and turning, and while it doesn't hit inhabited areas that still causes tsunamis and earthquakes. Giorgio A. Tsoukalos and Erich von Däniken will announce that it's totally aliens!!! SEE THEY CALLED IT. Ancient astronauts that gave the earth culture are coming back to us!
What this day is for: This day is mostly for reconnecting with returnees and dealing with the last wave of plot echoes. It is also for catastrophe relief efforts for areas that are hit by tsunamis or earthquakes. The only echo boundary that will be devastated in this way are the Galapagos Islands. Characters that can fly or have special swimming abilities are especially invited to help with rescuing people and delivering first aid. (Icly, the talks with the first wave aliens also happen here and they will be wrapped up or dropped after the 4th of May. You are still welcome to jump in and talk to an alien!)
How this works:
- Day 1 does not have any alien encounters past those in this log.
- There will be no toplevels on this post. Please start your own threads freely! Please format the subject line like this: "Location(s)/Network | ota/closed/etc". Please keep in mind that each character may change location twice per day (=a maximum of three different locations) and that the moon/space location is still off limits on the 1st Day.
- This post can be used for both network and action threads.
- Keep in mind that returnee characters must have checked in and must request their echoes if they get any.
- Please direct all questions to this thread on the General Invasion Guide
- For the returnee registration, please go here.
Locke City | Network (live, if people show up) | ota
[Someone is a huge nerd who owns a small camera drone. Someone is using it to be dramatic.]
[The camera opens on a splendid view of Locke City, from a high rooftop on the Locke City University campus.
Someone is silhouetted against the setting sun. Their feet are not touching the roof. They hover about three feet above it, their feet haloed by a pinkish light. They are fiddling with something in their hand -- probably a smartphone they're using to control the drone remotely.
The light behind them means that their features are in shadow, but certain details can be made out. Two splendid steel wings spread from their back, and the angles of their body are all wrong -- entirely mechanical, entirely alien. A pair of red eyes glow brightly from their face, barely highlighting their cheekbones -- do machines even have bones? Cheek... ridges?]
[They lift the cellphone slightly, to get a better angle for the microphone. When they finally speak, their voice is horribly grating -- high pitched, screechy, whiny. But to some of you, it is unmistakably the voice of Christobel Starsky. No one else sounds that interminably annoying.]
Hello, Locke City.
Some of you may remember me.
For those that do not, greetings. I am Starscream -- formerly Lieutenant Commander Starscream of the Decepticons. With no high commander, I would normally inherit the title High Commander, Emperor in Exile of Cybertron, but, well. There are no Decepticons for me to command here, and Cybertron, if it exists, must surely be in some other universe.
Thus, I am merely Starscream.
[She pauses. She turns her head slightly, looking over her shoulder toward the sunset. The alien angles of her face are highlighted at last -- those who knew Chris can clearly see her in those features, and yet... she is very, very inhuman now.]
I had a human name, once.
[She turns back to face the camera, plunging her face into shadow once again. All that remains are those eerie red eyes.]
I don't think I need it any longer.
[She reaches out a hand. The drone flies closer, and for a second, you can almost see her features -- smooth red, silver, and blue metal -- before she turns it off, leaving only the audio feed.]
It has been almost exactly one solar cycle -- ah, year -- since I last remembered my true self. I need information. I need information about the enemy, about developments... everything I've missed. I understand we have teleportation devices now for troop movements, but I need more than that.
Voice
[But he doesn't waste time on pleasantries; he doesn't know how to do those anyway. His own voice is inflectionless, bland despite his interest.] A teleportation device, as well as an intermediary dimension, yes. The aliens that arrived here in the aftermath of Wise Snake have made a show of being agreeable, but that is likely all it was. And the creatures that lie below the ground are our allies, not enemies.
Voice
Tch. It's nothing but a show. Trust me. I was here on the first day. They're nothing but liars. Charlatans.
A shame about the beasts beneath. I was unclear on the matter... towards the end, before I left, I'd started to suspect, but I'm afraid I had a hand in the end of one of their children.
I think the Enemy had a hand in that, though. In confusing us, turning us against our own.
Voice
It is likely, yes. We unfortunately did not know better at the time. Several new boundaries have sprung up within the past few months and we've managed some success in keeping the Animals from being attacked.
Voice
I think I remember saying not to trust him. Because I don't trust anyone.
No, we did not know better than to attack the animals.
[pause]
I did not know better.
[Another pause. She lands on the roof, and there's a very brief flicker as her pretender-mode flickers across her skin. Taking responsibility for your actions? How very human of you. But I was born human, this time. I accept... I accept some things? do I?]
I accept certain responsibility for these things. I was at the forefront of some of the attacks on the snakes. Ignorance is not always an excuse.
It is good to know you've been protecting our protectors since then. What are the others? I only knew of the Snake.
Voice
I . . . did not do much. [Nathan, you helped talk the Japanese government out of attacking its Animal. Give yourself some credit.]
There was a crab/lobster hybrid in Las Vegas -- also dead before we knew better, unfortunately. A swan in Germany. A creature constructed of hair in London. A giant mushroom in Santarem. A kappa in Tokyo. I don't know what the other creatures are. And I'm sure you've noticed the moon yourself.
Voice
As for the moon...
[She
closes her eyesshutters her lenses and... no, not takes a breath. It's audible over the feed, a whirring of fans, like a very tiny jet engine taking off, a hissing sound. The equivalent of taking a breath, a rush of cooling air over... it occurs to her that this is air rushing over her damn internal organs, keeping her temperature stable.God, how exhilarating.]
Yes, the moon. It... woke me back up, as it were. When I entered the city my mind remembered what I was, but the moon reminded... more than that.
[her optics unshutter with an audible click.]
If the moon is one of our guardian beasts, then it needs help, does it not? Is there someone in charge of that team...? I don't need to breathe anymore.
Voice
Voice
Voice
Voice
video;
The enemy is something we are lacking a large amount of concrete information on, unfortunately. The one thing we do know is that they could be capable of just about anything, which is on the one hand not helpful to finding a weakness, but... is notable so that none of us get cocky.
The one thing we can be almost certain of, at this point... The Animals that resided beneath the echo locations, including the snake that broke free beneath Lock City, were not our enemies. Killing it, the shellfish in Las Vegas... those were mistakes. Ones we may pay for dearly.
Re: video;
[she fumes, audibly, as a groaning whirr of gears and buzzing energy]
... I had heard from another about the Animals. I am... ...
[She tilts her head. Christobel, Christobel is sorry. Christobel regrets. To... admit that?]
I am sorry to say I was in part responsible for some of the... early retaliation against the Animals. I think, in part, this was part of a deliberate misinformation campaign on the part of the Enemy, but we did fall for it. Much as it pains me to admit so.
[A part of her -- the inhuman part -- buzzes and seethes at the idea of admitting some part in wrongdoing. But admit it she does. There are some parts of her humanity she refuses to part with, even if it may be weakness to do so.]
I don't recognize you. Who are you?
video;
Still... We were all manipulated. Led to think that we were to destroy these creatures beneath us. Even as much destruction as their wakening causes, it is not their fault that we humans built on top of them. In spite of that, twisting our beliefs into thinking they were a long term danger was not difficult, so none of us can well be blamed on that end, unless we are blaming the lot of us collectively.
[Which Saretha will take.
They all screwed up, to some degree.]
Some of that manipulation is in question, however. Allies of the alien ambassadors' chief speaker, Geoff Benwick, speak as if he is trying to help us all even now... But at the same time, we know he has the power to manipulate those around him into trusting his word as well.
As for where that leaves us now, beyond the immediate threat, I am uncertain.
[An exasperated sigh.]
My name is Saretha Kaiser. My Numbers woke with the rising of the snake in Locke City last year.
video;
[mental sound of brakes screeching. Possibly, a physical sound of a few gears very abruptly halting in surprise]
My sincere apologies, this is likely a pure coincidence, but you didn't mean Kaiser Solutions, did you...?
[HA HA. PROBABLY NOT. THAT WOULD BE A CRAZY RANDOM HAPPENSTANCe. ]
In an case, erm. ...
[lol THESE ARE PETTY HUMAN CONCERNS focus]
I will never trust the aliens. They've hurt too many people I care about, proven themselves nothing but untrustworthy. ... curious, really, I think I left just before you awakened.
video;
One in the same; my parents were the founders before it was absorbed by... other interested parties.
[Ah, even in the face of alien invasion, she doesn't sound the least bit bitter about that, no.]
No, of that much we are agreed. Trust is hard, yet at the same time... One does not have to trust a source in order to use them.
video;
Oh, she likes you.]
Wise, very wise. What have you managed to learn from him so far, if anything? I suppose my next question after that would be... have we organized teams to protect the animals? And, if so, who's dealing with the moon?
[Maybe not now, because, well, war to fight. But she's filing away that bit about the company. If she could help this girl to re-take her company, using Chris' own newfound knowledge of ridiculous alien tech... well. It could be very profitable indeed.]
video;
video;
video;
[voice]
Starscream, is it? All right.
What questions do you have that haven't been answered?
[voice] 1/2
[voice] 2/2
YOU'RE MORE LIKE TEAM STONER UNCLE ANYWAY
IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WERE A VOICE OF REASON IN MY LIFE OR ANYTHING
OR LIKE, A WAY MORE REAL PERSON THAN ANY OF THE BROGRAMMER FUCKERS OUT WEST
;-; ]
[in any case while the robotic sound is still there when she speaks, she... sounds less formal. More human. There's actual emotion coming through.]
Thank god you're here.
[Not thank Primus but just the reflexive human "thank the nonexistant dude I don't believe in."]
The people who have responded so far aren't like some of the slopeheads we had back in the day, but they still haven't told me as much as I'd really like to know.
[There's a whirring noise as her coolant fans exchange air; she's found it has the same calming effect as taking a deep breath. sometimes, this all still feels really, really weird.]
Okay, I get that we fucked up real bad with the snake, and apparently we fucked up again with a crab, but there's still other animal dudes... somewhere, that are strategic targets we gotta protect, yes?
I mean.
Okay, here's what I'm wondering.
First, what the hell do these aliens even want? Did we EVER find out? No one seems able to tell me, beyond "destroy the earth." What's their plan besides that? Colonization? Why?
I get that the animals are Earth's defense mechanism; do we have... any organization at all? Strike teams?
Which, I guess my last question: there's shit in space. My memories mean that I am a literal goddamn space warfare commander, this was... this was what I was built to do, designed to do. I spent nine million fucking years doing it. Who's in charge of the space strike team, and if the answer is "no one" then I need to know fast who else doesn't need to breathe or has a space ship.
Sorry, that wasn't... coherent. i'm still processing.
[voice]
First, you're correct. The stone animals have been destroyed in Locke City and Las Vegas. They are still alive on Christmas Island; in Santarem, Brazil; in Lapland; in Neuschwanstein, Germany; in London, England; in Tokyo, Japan; on the Galapagos Islands; and of course in space. They are powerful and difficult to understand, but they are allies.
I do not know whether it is colonization, destruction, or both. I have not spoken with them personally; regrettable circumstances have kept me too occupied to seek them out myself.
[whoops the police shut the clinic down and he's gotten all kinds of bad press in Locke City. Aaron Strider is basically a wanted man and is avoiding police capture thanks to an appearance echo and a doppelganger who is making no effort to conceal his identity. Speaking of...]
You may see beings who closely resemble individuals with Numbers but who behave in an unusual way. These are copies made by one of the Animals, the one in Neuschwanstein. They will behave in the opposite manner of the person they resemble. Keep that in mind when you're dealing with them.
[His own is a gun-toting, straight-edge, frothing Fox News poster boy. It's embarrassing.]
I have seen many Network posts with speeches and calls to arms; I have not seen any true organization. Efforts are being concentrated in Las Vegas and Locke City, since those are the most vulnerable places. I do not know who else can take to space; I've heard nothing more than rumors.
Speak to Lazarus Lawliet. He has been collecting information and will be able to tell you more than me about the capabilities of other Numbered. His Network number is -- [blah blah Lazarus's number].
[voice]
And yeah, I've seen a lot of speeches but not a hell of a lot of doing. I'll go contact this Lazarus person.
...
[speaking of being a hobo on the run]
What's going on with you these days, man? I lost track of basically everyone after I left Locke. Existential crisis and all that. Uh. ... you don't happen to know a convenient abandoned subway tunnel or something with electricity in it that I can hide in, do you?
[voice]
As for your subway tunnel, I do -- you may have to share it with a few homeless, but it has power. And if you want to know about me, do a quick search of Locke City's news around February 26th. I went underground after that. I tried to locate the other animals with little real luck, pulsed back a hundred ghosts I have no idea how to command, and am currently in Puerto Ayora, waiting to be cleared to help the relief efforts.
[voice]
As for the cops, you know, I feel like I remember that happening. It was just... when I left the city, a lot of stuff about this, about anyone with a Number, got... fuzzy, you know? Whatever, the point is, if you ever need me to...
[she almost says "punch a cop" but then figures Aaron wouldn't approve]
... cover your ass or get you out of something, you have my number.
[voice]
Video
[He's actually using video, which he normally doesn't do. But it's been two years and most Numbered have seen him by now anyway. He looks pretty much the same as he did last year, but seems to have lost a few inches in height.] At least the moon is waking useful people back up again. [Kinda rude, Toushirou.]
Video
Toushirou, right? And yes. Could have gotten someone who was an accountant in their past life or some such.
Video
Video
...
It's kinda weird, actually. Feeling, I mean.
Video