un: jaycetalis | video

[hexcope]

[In a rare moment of using video on purpose, there's Jayce. To those who know him, he looks the same as he always does. To those who don't- he's an early 30's man with seemingly a permanent five-o-clock shadow, bright golden eyes, and perfectly coiffed hair. The background is out of focus, but to those who know it, it's clearly a part of S.T.A.R. labs. Normally a little more jovial or at least less serious sounding, Jayce looks into the camera like he's giving a press release.]

We’ve got about forty-eight hours or less until Aurora allows that toxin into Etraya. Which means if you haven’t started taking precautions already; start now. Get easily carried food, medical supplies, whatever you think you'd need. Better to be over-prepared than under.

Considering what Aurora's told us about the "mission"... If you’re someone prone to having weapons, do us all a favor and throw them into one of our many, lovely lakes, before you wind up using it on someone else. Or, if you’re going to be touchy about it, let me know, I’ll talk with Harold about how we can get them locked up somewhere for the mission’s duration.

As a reminder to those who don’t want to think about it, and maybe new information to those who are new: if you die here, for whatever reason, you lose something. I don’t know what, you won’t know what, and you might not even know what it is you’ve lost even after you’ve lost it. Maybe it’s an eye, maybe it’s the memory of your best friend. Either way, whatever you're afraid of by not having your weapons on you isn’t worth what you’ll be making someone else lose because of your bad decisions.

If you have any special concerns, worries about any specific denizens in this upcoming mission, now's also the time to voice it.

Comments

[hexcope]

No weapons- obviously- to start. We've already been told air filters won't work, so there's nothing we can do on mitigation other than try to calm ourselves down. Sedatives are going to be our best friend, both for ourselves and for others who are too aggressive or can't be talked down. Finding the vent as fast as possible is worth going all-out for, since the longer this goes on, the less likely we're going to be able to avoid distractions. If I could get a sample of what particle we're working against before we encounter it, I could maybe make a tracker to determine where the most dense of particles are accumulating, and that might be a means of finding the opening.

[cache_coeur]

All reasonable, though I don't know how likely it is that we'll have the courtesy of a sample. Doubtful we could head off a mission that easily, but it's worth a shot. Would it be worth stationing people all over the region to see where it shows up first?

[hexcope]

[He didn't think of that!! And his voice brightens up significantly.]

Yes, actually! That would be great. Even if it wouldn't give us specifics, given that the top of the bubble is 100 kilometers to the surface, it's at least a direction we can hone in on.

[cache_coeur]

Do we have anyone with a flying machine, who could perhaps see before anyone on the ground? Or some very high vantage point that could cover more ground?

[hexcope]

Just got some information from Aurora it won't be somewhere we can't reach. Could mean it's on ground level, or could mean there'll be some form of flying machine we'll be given to use. So that's one more thing we won't need to worry about supplying ourselves, hopefully.
Highest vantage points as far as I know are in Purple Windy, and Nova City, which are opposite each other, fortunately. Maybe we rope Barnabas in for assistance on the Purple Windy side though.

[cache_coeur]

It narrows down two areas, at least.

Do you think it’d be safe for someone to fly? It’d be a big risk, if they lost control.

[hexcope]

If it's flight based on someone's abilities, no. We don't know when people will start to be de-powered, and the last thing we want is someone at five hundred feet finding that out in real time.

Machines, technology, those are all safe to use, assuming they don't suffer any hallucinations or become too impaired to land.

[cache_coeur]

Well, that’s what I mean. I’ve only seen the wreckage of airships, but I assume they could be very dangerous with the pilot impaired. Though that does make me wonder… does the fog go all the way up?

[hexcope]

[He drags his hand over his face.]

I knew I should have worked on building a jetpack...

No idea on how high the fog goes. If it obeys atmospheric rules at all, it shouldn't, but it's also somehow a fog, from space, so we're already knee deep in "doesn't make sense according to the laws of nature."

[cache_coeur]

High risk with a high reward, then.

We can’t be prepared for all possibilities. But in the absence of your jet pack, reliable boots on the ground will do. We really should just spread out by land.

[hexcope]

One person every two miles around the circumference would require about twenty-two volunteers.

[cache_coeur]

So a quarter or so of our population needs to volunteer. Doable, maybe.

[hexcope]

Less, if we increase the distance size. Three miles would need maybe twelve. It'll make it harder for us in the long run, but apparently cooperation is a nigh unachievable ask.

[cache_coeur]

I have a team of four. We could cover a portion of it, ideally in pairs, but I think two miles is already a lot to cover.

Given how few wanted to give you information in San Fran, I’m starting to see cooperation is a weak point. Has it always been that way?

[hexcope]

I've been here for nearly a year and I'd say "weak point" is an apt term. There's a few people I could rope into volunteering, along with myself, but that'll only account for a handful more.

[cache_coeur]

I suspect you’d be more useful at a home base, at that. No sense in having the captain of this risking getting trapped out there.

And you know, I don’t think I realized how much it was in my people’s character to work together for the good of all until coming here and seeing how… individualistic it is for everyone else.

[hexcope]

Woah. Hang on. No. I'm not the captain of this. I'm not the anything of this. We're working together.

We're a bunch of people from different cultures, cities, countries, and worlds. The only thing that actually unites us is our shared captivity. Even sometimes the threat of their world being destroyed if they don't try to complete the missions well enough isn't motivation.

I have to wonder what makes your people different.

[cache_coeur]

[Amused, veering right into teasing:]

Really? This is the second time I've seen you taking the lead, and we've only spoken twice.

My people existed in a constant mission, and failure meant annihilation. We had no one else to rely on, no other cultures or peoples, nowhere else to go, and no promise of a future even if we did our very best. We never lived any other way.

[hexcope]

Coincidence.

[It's not coincidence. There's a reason he went from citizen to basically president in his city in a matter of a week.]

Wow, uh. That would do it, wouldn't it. Environmental disaster? Plague?

[cache_coeur]

Sounds a little more like fate to me.

[She'll be asking her cards about that tonight, Jayce :)]

Environmental disaster set us on that path, yes. A sentient force of nature kept us there. No noxious fogs, though.

[hexcope]

If that's the case, then that proves fate has it out for me.

[not the tarot cards 😭]

Sentient force of nature. It's the arcane, isn't it?

[cache_coeur]

Fate doesn't have it out for anyone.

And yes, it's the arcane. A being we call the Paintress.

[hexcope]

I have to disagree.

[When she agrees with something so simple as a "yes, it's the arcane," his tone shifts to one a little more locked-in.]

You named the arcane manifestations? Does that- does that mean it exhibits personality? Or does actions that mimic human-like behavior?

[cache_coeur]

Suit yourself.

We did, or my grandparents’ generation did, and we kept up the name. She had a human-like form. She woke every year to paint numbers on a monolith. She can talk. I’ve faced her. I still don’t know much.

[hexcope]

That's incredible and... and terrifying.

[His mind is racing at the idea.]

I didn't lead with this, but what you're describing is a fundamental part of the research I do. I study magic and runes, and I've seen ... traces of arcane sentience. Nothing so developed as a whole human-like presentation, or speech.