saveourearth | New endings and old beginnings Part I [Mingle]

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New endings and old beginnings Part I [Mingle]

Date: Monday, 20th of January
Characters: OPEN

It's been a bit over two weeks since the Numbered found the giant dormouse, and... nothing has happened. Everything's been quiet.

Until in the early morning hours of the 20th, every Numbered will find their doorbell ringing. Outside is either Mr Helpful or Mr Neutral, informing them that Mr Evil is making a move. When questioned, they say that they do not know what it is, but there is a lot of activity out at the sea forts and something seems to be moving in the ocean. Something bigger than normal.

About an hour later, at sunrise, a large wave hits the shore, and then minutes later a giant shark wearing the exact same uniform as Mr Evil (well, with the necessary adjustments to make it fit a shark) rises from the sea not too far away from the sea forts. It jumps up into the air, and it's just as well that high tide was an hour ago and not right now, and it wasn't very high to begin with today, because that makes a rather large wave crash against the beach. Not a tsunami, but it's big.

The shark then proceeds to head for the mouth of the river, and tips up, tail in the air head down. The water in the area quickly gets much, much muddier than normal, and the observer might come to the conclusion that the giant beast is digging.

[ooc: anyone who wishes to interact with the shark, go down into the tunnels, or otherwise needs mod input, please contact Kira-mod]

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[Walter absolutely asks the visiting alien questions, and can only guess what this could be about.

To be fair, he doesn't have to guess hard.

Barely five minutes after sunrise, therefore, there's a message on the Network; clipped, to the point.]

We have our monster. Everyone who can, get to your positions, now.

Edited 2020-05-09 20:58 (UTC)

[For the first time, Benjiro is breaking his utter silence on the Network. This emergency certainly justifies ending his radio silence.

Wearing his radio headset that he had used when sneaking out to investigate the sea forts, he chimes in as he is gathering the equipment he has prepared for the attack.]

I’ll be en route in 5 minutes. Walter, do we have any activity online about it yet?

Sadie? Remember to pace yourself.

No news outlets-

[Walter cuts off briefly, only to return.]

Though someone has just declared on Twitch-ter that they're going to take a look themselves. I can interfere with whatever footage they take, but that also means we're going to have bystanders.

[Sadie is currently on-route to the river mouth.]

I should be there in a bit and I'll do the best I can. [The fact that she's not done this before goes without saying.]

Has anyone else got there yet?

Possibly there are people still there from overnight, but they aren't posting anything I can track-

[And satellite resolution isn't perfect, even these days.]

No one else is certainly trying to fight the thing.

[Presumably the Numbered are the only ones being that particular kind of foolish.]

I saw the shark. Anything I can do to help?

[Jimmy gets a text response in kind:]

Unless you have been working on a skill capable of harming a giant shark these past two weeks, help in running interference with the news outlets would be more than enough. I can handle digital uploads, but there are going to be people on the ground before long. Distracting them would be most useful.

Yeah, I think I'll have to pass on fighting the giant shark. I don't think being really observant at it is going to help much.

Distractions I think I can handle.

If you come up with any potential weaknesses that could have been magnified with its size, let us know.

[And Walter next... texts Jimmy some directions.]

This would be the most likely place to intercept people heading to the bay. How fast can you get there?

[ He does some quick calculations. ]

Give me five minutes. I'm already close to there.

Will do. Up to you whether you let yourself be identified, but I advise caution either way.

I'm on my way.

...While I try to think up something that could distract reporters from a really big shark.

Medical emergencies - or reporting someone else is having them - tend to be effective. But I trust in your ability to come up with a compelling story. ;)

[Despite what the emoticon might imply, Walter really does mean that.]

Got it. I'll come up with something.

[And Jimmy is on his way. ]

In case there's need for a car and a driver, I have the first and can do the second.

[There's public transport and all, but in case someone needs to bring suspicious equipment or something like that, she's here.]

Can I come? I want to see the shark!

Just promise that you won't try to get too close to it, okay?

I promise! Gizmo promises too.

Can I come too if I promise?

[Nel is similarly curious of the giant shark.]

Yes, you can come too, if you promise.

[Same principle as with Thom: She'd rather know that they're there, and have them feel beholden by promise to keep a distance, than try to keep them away and fail.]

[Capslock on.]

PROMISE!

[Immediately Nel hurries to prepare for departure.]

And Thom is right behind her. He wasn't going to miss this!

[And as soon as they're all in the car, they're heading off to the mouth of the Moss River, because there's sharks in suits that need to be observed. And maybe they can even help?]

Sadie arrived at the river fairly swiftly thanks to being one of the Numbered closest to the river mouth, pulling the hood of her back baggy top up and over her hair and shifting the scarf she'd piled around her neck to hide her lower face and make her less immediately recognisable. The sights of just how large the shark is brings her up short at the pounding of an Echo that nearly has her dropping the generic duffle bag she'd brought with her.

Not much later Sadie feels the approach of some of the other Numbered and makes her way over.

"It's bloody huge isn't it?"

Edited 2020-05-17 23:44 (UTC)

The shark is clearly digging. As they stand there, it flings a bit of soil into the air, which lands near where the Numbered stand. It has all the signs of thick muddy riverbed material and if it hits someone will probably knock them over (and also make them rather dirty and smelly).

"It is."

The Tilly car has arrived and stopped where the other Numbered are, because Mary Ann has a question.

"So what's the plan?"

Sadie waves at Mary Ann, Nel and Thom, "Well, normal sharks are sensitive to electromagnets. The boys are hoping that this one will be the same despite its size but they need a bit of time to get things set up which is where I come in."

Sadie pats her large duffle bag causing some muffled metal clinking, "I'm going to be throwing some magic about but I've never done it like this before so I need someone to spot me as I go, I'd really rather not find out what happens if I use too much magic."

Hm. Well. She should be able to help with that? It doesn't sound safe by any means, or like it would be easy to hide. But neither does a giant shark ina suit.

So, fair trade-off.

"What kind of spotting do you need? Just watching you and tell you if the lightening goes in the wrong direction?"

"Oh! That would definitely be handy though my target is rather large. The issue is more my health."

She places the bag down, Mary Ann would be the best equipped to keep an eye on her afterall. "Casting magic seems to pull on some sort of energy, the more I practice the more efficient I become but it can become draining and when testing how much I could do, I ended up feeling faint. Apparently I became exceedingly pale before that so if you see it you need to tell me to stop."

"...all right. I can definitely do that."

She takes a step back, giving Sadie space for whatever she's going to do next. They shouldn't lose any more time than strictly necessary.

"Okay. Cool, thank you Mary Ann."

Sadie huffs out a breath, steeling her nerves as she kneels down and unzips the duffle bag and carefully pulls out the deep blue crystalline rapier and the winged focus. Sadie's hands shake nervously as she clips the focus into place to form a staff and she has to take a deep breath as she steps forward and focuses, pulling that intangible energy to her hands and then into the staff.

The shift is obvious, the deep blue crystal bleeds red and starts to glow and almost flake, except what look like the crystal falling off don't hit the floor, instead they open into little red butterflies that flap away from the staff and fade away. The focus is surrounded by a sparkling vermillion ball of magic that begins to crackle the more Sadie focuses, the colour shifting towards purple.

"Hyaa!" Sadie shouts as she swings the staff to the side and back again.

CRACK
CRACK

Sadie can feel all of her hair stand on end and the ends of her fingers tingle as all the magic is released in two consecutive blasts of purple-blue-white hot lightning that streak like bullets across the river and into the side of the shark. Lowering the staff, Sadie holds her breath as she watches the shark for a reaction.

The lightening hits the shark, which twitches in pain at the impact and then pulls back.

It's head is covered in mud when it breaks the surface of the water and roars like a furious... something between a grizzly and a lion? ...and turns, trying to see where the lightening came from.

It's only thanks to alien interference - and maybe Walter knocking at his door in turn - that Russell is awake and functional early enough to be riding to the shore. Enough time to dress in layers and grab a mask, enough time to remember that brief not-quite-levitation he grabbed Nel with a couple weeks back, enough to build a little sense of confidence in the whole thing.

When he arrives, he maybe regrets it a little. That shark is entirely too large to be believed, and somehow in a suit? The large waves crashing about are proof that the digging shark is real, and that flash crack is someone throwing around lightning bolts. This is his life, now.

"I could just live in the city," Russell mutters to himself as he approaches. "My sister has a couch, she'd be thrilled to push me around a few weeks."

Complaining as he does, he's giving his best effort at keeping them all from getting eaten, should the shark decide to stop digging in the mood and just charge the shore. First he focuses on the magic he's been discovering the last couple years - still not sure how it works, or why - remembering how it feels to tug at something above his stomach and drift upwards for a few seconds, how it felt to tug at someone else. This trick hasn't worked on phones or clothes, so there's something about a living person it tugs at...

Hopefully, the shark has that same something, as he tries to push it up in the same way.

The shark does indeed have the same something, and it very, very slowly gets pushed up. The strain of it is enormous - the shark is pretty big and heavy, and the suit, while made of a neoprene-like fabric, is soaked full of water and weighs something, too. But: Russell definitely has an influence on what it physically does.

And it makes the shark unhappy. First lightening gets thrown at it, and now someone tries to drag it around. WHERE ARE THE CULPRITS. And how can it break out of this pulling power. It trashes, sending waves towards the shores of the river.

Sadie allows herself to feel pretty good and smug about nailing the hit on the shark, especially considering she hasn't cast properly at such a distance yet. That elation lasts until the moment the shark stops burrowing into the river bed and turns around.

"Oh shit." Sadie pales, rushing to grab up the bag she'd bought the rapier in, "I think that's our cue to move!"

Dashing along the tow-path towards the river bank she spots Russell makes her skid to a halt on the gravel path. "Hey Russell, are you holding it still? Think you can keep doing it?"

Holding her rapier in front of her again, Sadie starts to focus on her magic once again and the makeshift staff starts to crackle with electricity as she waits for his answer.

Russell grimaces as she asks, whether at the question, the exertion of holding it, or some mix of both.

"I haven't the faintest notion," he admits, not quite happily.

Really, the echo of a power isn't the echo of familiarity in its use. He's stretching an unfamiliar muscle that he's only experimented with a few times... and never on this scale.

"But I'll do my best! You do your thing," Russell urges, even as he raises a hand to point toward the shark like the arm outstretched is a focus to help him keep doing this longer.

The shark continues trashing, and slowly, very very slowly moves towards the shore. It's straining against the bonds, and clearly has to work very hard to move at all, but it's huge and heavy and Russell's abilities are just not practised enough to fully keep it in place.

Watching the shark trash and Russell focus hard, Mary Ann suddenly feels overcome by the feeling of an echo, and an understanding washes over her of how to join up all those things she knows how to do - enhance the strength of something's life, see life patterns, alter her own form. Because of course they all go together, and that also means that...

She focuses on the shark, trying to get a grasp on how it is structured, momentary failing to spot Sadie.

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New endings and old beginnings Part I [Mingle]

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Network [Audio] /casually hybridizes Twitter and Twitch because why not.

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Do we need NPCs for reporters, or do we just handwave that? /thinky face

hmm, could go either way. might be easiest to just handwave for now

That's fine. o/

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Lets all forget that i was suppose to post this weeks ago

That's the mood of the year

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