[plot] Invasion: Day 1

[theearth]

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.

Comments

[espigeonage]

You always wanna think the best of me. [Julien produces one of those huge heaving sighs, and leans the side of his head against Aaron's arm.] I hate to disappoint you. I'm not a hero. All I do is muddle along, and freak out, sometimes.

[elfstoned]

And you think I am?

[He's Sketchy Doctor Strider, remember, who spent two days running around being homeless because he wouldn't cooperate with the police and who freezes up underground. Come on.]

You have never disappointed me before. I don't think you will now.

[Yep, it's hug o'clock.]

I wouldn't think so highly of you if you hadn't earned it.

[espigeonage]

[The feathers on his neck relax a little, not holding so close to him. Julien shudders and dips his head to press his beak against Aaron's shoulder.]

You're a hero to me.

[he's dimly aware that he shouldn't say things like that, for some reason, so he closes his stinging eyes and summons something up.]

...you goddamned... nerd.

[elfstoned]

[....oh.

Oh. That's.

He's really touched. God damn.

There's a short breath out; the arms around Julien's neck hold him tighter for a second.

Then, he pulls back, enough to look Julien in the face.]

Then follow me. If the Earth can be saved, then we will save it.

[espigeonage]

[Julien almost has to cross his wide-set eyes, not being built to look at things head on from up close anymore. His pupils are dilated, his eyes as big and hard to read as ever.]

That's... very grand.

[He sighs like a horse, breath hot and scented with the meal and the dark sweet insides of his bones.]

I can't get out of this. All right. You lead, and I'll... do my best.

[elfstoned]

Your best has never disappointed me.

[His hand is high on Julien's neck, half-curled around the side and back, where you'd expect a shoulder to be on a human. It's very manful.]

Come on. The world hasn't ended yet, and I won't lose hope until no one is left to defend it. Rest, while you can -- we'll be needed again.

[espigeonage]

[There's a kind of short mane down the back of Julien's neck, stiff feathers raised in a ridge from his crest almost to his shoulders. It's a good place to catch fingers, just about the only spot that doesn't encourage a hand to slide down along the otherwise smooth grain of feathers.

He wishes he had some athelas left.]

Stay with me, then. I don't want to lose my nerve.

[elfstoned]

I will.

[He doesn't let go of Julien yet. Instead, he speaks again, quieter:]

...I'm sorry about your sister.

[He means it. There's understanding in it, regret -- even if they were less estranged, there is no time to search for loved ones.]

[espigeonage]

[Even though it's become so much more complicated, Julien finds touch reassuring. Sometimes it's the only thing that feels real.]

I know. She was the world to me... she was... I haven't seen her in person in a year. She doesn't like this. I'm not supposed to be- [If he had athelas he could compartmentalize properly, set it aside and not feel so much. She always wanted him to be better than an animal, and better than their father, and now he is this.] -but I can't get through.

[elfstoned]

[There are few words of comfort that can be said, especially with the future as potentially limited as it is. But he can listen. Aaron pulls Julien's head over his shoulder in another hug.]

There is nothing wrong with what you are. Not everyone will see that, but don't forget it.

[espigeonage]

[Julien sighs. He's tired, he's heartsick, he's afraid for the future. And he has to say why it's not that bad, or at least, why it's understandable.]

It's okay. Shit got too weird and dangerous, and people bother the family about me, and then they bother her. [Julien and his family don't get on well.] I can't blame her.

No matter what happens, I don't want anything happening to her.

[elfstoned]

[He doesn't pull back from the hug; not yet. This kind of thing is easier to admit, sometimes, when you're not looking directly at a person.]

I understand.

There are people I'm afraid for, too.

[It's hard, not going looking for them. The idea is tempting -- go find Gillian and Eliot and Thorir and protect them, keep them together, keep them safe. But Aaron has chosen not to -- has chosen to stay where he can help more people, even knowing that the people he cares about might soon be unfindable. It weighs down his heart.]

[espigeonage]

Yeah.

[Julien can't get through on his phone, and almost literally cannot leave to look. He's changed to the point where outside of the boundaries his body is warped and has difficulty with a lot of simple things.

He tucks a wing awkwardly against Aaron's back.]

They're smart. Right? They can... they can hole up and try and weather this.

[elfstoned]

All we can do is trust that they are, and trust them.

[It's a slim hope. It's not much. But it's all he can offer. Aaron isn't entirely composed -- he's breathing deeper than usual, forcing calm, not managing a completely even voice.]

[espigeonage]

[Julien doesn't know if he's got the senses to pick up on Aaron being upset, or knows him well enough to see it, or Aaron is more willing to show vulnerability to him, or all of it at once. There's nothing he can do here to ease the helplessness, for either of them.]

I know. We'll all do our best. That's... it will have to be enough.

Did they give you a cot?

[elfstoned]

[He swallows and pulls back.]

Those, I think, are reserved for the injured. We'll have to do the best we can on our own.

[espigeonage]

I'm fine on the floor.

[He doesn't usually like to admit that. Even aside from the symbolism he is more comfortable on a bed, but not by as much as back in the days when he wasn't completely feathered. It's more important to have Aaron there, to try to share that desperate fearful guilty sense.

What's waiting for me at the other end of this night? Yuuya asks in his memory. Christ.]

Stay with me. You can use me as a backrest again.

[elfstoned]

[Sincerely:]

Where else would I go?

[He'll wrap himself in the Lorien-cloak, made of that fabric that is neither too warm nor not warm enough, and lean back against Julien.

It's the guilt that bothers him most, the sense that by being here and not searching for Eliot and Gillian and Thorir he is betraying them, somehow. It nags at him, and though his mind is made up, it adds a layer of misery to an already terrible situation.]

[espigeonage]

[Julien settles on the ground. It seems in that moment that time is passing that he'll never get back, that there is a limit to something he'd thought was limitless.

He takes in the feel of the floor against his well-padded chest and under his feet, the temperature, Aaron here at his side seeming undersized, slight, the way most people do now. The sound, mostly breathing and some people moving through the hallway, voices that he can't quite make out. The smell, dominated by damp bird, the remains of the food and some antiseptic and the cleaning products used here a lifetime ago. All fleeting, somehow. This moment will never happen again.

It's been a long pause since Aaron said anything. Julien still stirs, curving his neck around, and tucks his beak to press the rounded crown of his head to Aaron's temple. Well, temple, ear, most of the side of his face.]

I don't want you anywhere else.

[elfstoned]

[He wasn't asleep yet, but he had begun to doze. The movement brings Aaron out of it, enough to open his eyes and to reach over with one hand to touch the side of Julien's neck.

He's quiet for a moment. When he finally speaks, when he asks the question, there are layers of meaning to it, meaning that goes back to January, to before.}

Do you trust me?

[espigeonage]

[Can't get out of this by biting your hair this time, can I? he almost says. Julien closes his eyes. If the lights are on his pupils may be dimly visible through his thin eyelids.]

I trust you. I do.

[elfstoned]

[He lets out a breath, takes a moment to accept that, to internalize it, to let it reassure him. He's glad he got that answer before what might be the end of both their lives.

Then, his look turns wry.]

Then go to sleep.

I won't tell you again.

[espigeonage]

'Smartass response', Aaron. 'Smartass response.'

[He goes and pushes his head a little harder, nudging, then withdraws, coiling his neck so that his chin is pillowed on his own throat right above his crop, and fluffing his feathers out, like he's comfortable. Julien does feel a little better for the exchange.

It's dark, and he's gone to enough effort today to fatigue even this body, and someone he trusts is laying against him and breathing. That is enough. Soon enough he gets to sleep.]

[elfstoned]

[He's not sorry. He's not sorry for any of it.

It takes him maybe half the time it takes Julien to pass out.]

[espigeonage]

[There are worse people to curl up against. In this form Julien doesn't shift positions, really. There's just the slow rhythm of his breathing, rocking gently in and out. Maybe his heartbeat and the leisurely grating of food being ground in his gizzard, if you get your ear to him. His wet dog smell fades back to baking bread, sweet and yeasty.

It's very nice, but please don't react violently when some hours later he wakes, thrashing, trying to remember how this body works again while gasping about what he'd forgotten yesterday.]

-The mushroom!