ourearth: General Mod icon, shows Earth (Default)
Save Our Earth Mods ([personal profile] ourearth) wrote in [community profile] saveourearth2018-06-30 04:24 pm

Let's meet under the Northern Lights [Mingle]

Date: June 30th 2018, in the evening
Characters: Everyone!


It is a perfect Saturday evening after a almost unbearably hot summer's day: The sky is clear, the temperature only just begins to dip below twenty degrees at sundown with only a fresh breeze from across the Channel perhaps suggesting that a jacket should be brought along for later, and most residents of Mossgate and its surroundings are on their feet to come and see the annual fireworks above the ruins at the top of the Greens. The whole park is dotted with people on picnic blankets, but most attendees centre around the bottom near the bandstand, where an orchestra is setting up to play classical music to accompany the fireworks.

The fireworks are set to start at 10:30, once the sky has finally darkened enough and thus they do, a beautiful display lasting for over twenty minutes, accompanied by moving music, the wind from the seaside helpfully clearing the smoke away so they never get obscured by it.

But then, when the last firework has gone up and people are starting to turn their heads away, a shout goes up, those who were still hoping that the last of the fireworks might yet be before them calling everyone else to attention.

Something else can be seen in the sky, something that older residents or those who look at the nightly sky a lot might have seen before, but never at this time of the year:

Northern Lights.

They hang in the sky for almost half an hour before dissipating, and leave many a person in excited discussions with those around them about the odd timing of the sight.

Some of the residents of Mossgate and the surrounding area, however, will experience the occasion very differently. Because as the Northern Lights appear, they are overcome with a wave of absolute emptiness, with a feeling of being absolutely hollow inside, and a loud sound like a resounding heartbeat will drown out everything around them.

They'll be left feeling dizzy, and like they gained something - which they did. They're all in possession of one additional echo* now. And that number they could never forget? It's suddenly very present on their minds again.

And if they write it down, input it into a computer, say it out loud, or in any other way give form to it, they will realize that it does something now: It connects them with other people. The Network just went live.

[*This is a plot echo. Those characters whose First Echo the Northern Lights are will, of course, not get an additional echo, but everyone whose First Echo happened before the Northern Lights will gain another echo now. Please request all echoes over here and wait with playing out all echoes that aren't memory echoes until they have been approved.]
fracturedbeauty: (Rafe scold)

Post-Northern Lights

[personal profile] fracturedbeauty 2018-07-03 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Rafe already has problems keeping proper balance on even his best days (and today is honestly one of the better ones), but when Walter crashes into him, he goes toppling without so much as a chance, his cane falling to the wayside.

"Excuse you!" Rafe exclaims, rather unforgivingly, and he reaches out to grab Walter by the pant leg. No matter how fast he's trying to excuse himself. "I do hope that you don't intend to just leave me down here."

The look on his face is a mix of unimpressed, sour, and a contortion of are you serious right now. If Walter knows what's good for him, he'll fix this mess before he continues to run off.
iamnotgod: A man, hands up at chest level, staring left and down (In The Dark)

Re: Post-Northern Lights

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2018-07-03 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Walter ends up thinking, "Oh shit" a full second before he's able to pull himself to a stop, backing up for good measure.

"I- I'm sorry, I- ... No, I wasn't."

So he's reaching for the cane next, though the action seems off to him, as if it's happening in slow motion.
fracturedbeauty: (Rafe unimpressed)

[personal profile] fracturedbeauty 2018-07-03 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Rafe, despite his outburst, does seem to wait rather patiently for Walter to catch himself up. And when he finds himself upright again, cane in hand, Rafe finally lets out a huff, evening his tone out some.

"Honestly, whatever could put you in such a hurry that you just bowl people over with no mind?"
iamnotgod: Shade Over Face (What Did You Do To Me?)

[personal profile] iamnotgod 2018-07-03 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Despite his speed of though, Walter's actions are at normal speed - at least from other peoples' perspective.

"I- it was just... panic, I think. When I looked at the lights, I just felt- hollow."

There's an awkward pause - or, to Walter, it feels like there should be an awkward pause.

"Did- did you?" If he wasn't feeling increasingly alone in his own head - why do I feel so out of sync? - he might not have asked the question at all.