voidtreckerexpress | Event: Abort! Part Two (day 25, Egret). Luggage carriage

They are on world world#27462947582 for about five hours, helping, ushering people out of the city, fighting monsters, keeping guard. All seems well in the city itself, peaceful even except for the slight panic of people being told to move south.

Wherever they are, north in the desert, travelling through the countryside to the south or still in the city itself they will notice from their peripheral vision a darkening of the sky. Looking up they will see clouds. Strange clouds, appearing in the blue sky out of nowhere.

Their SCA’s start beeping, rapidly, flashing red. The clouds are too weird to be clouds, dark shapes in the sky. It might be that the Voidtreckers heed the warning and tap their SCA to evacuate to the train. It might be that they do not.

If they don’t then there is a moment, a moment of absolute stillness as those around them notice the shapes. A confused pause. Children stop their chatter, people stop their complaining, even the monsters seem to sense something and pause in their attacks.

The remaining voidtreckers are yanked away, even without pressing their SCA, they glow gold and disappear.

They all appear in the luggage carriage and not even a second later, with no warning the train lurches, flinging everyone off their feet as it enters the void.

It’s not really easy to tell speed in the void, but they will get the sense that they are moving fast. Faster than before, leaving that world and whatever those shapes were behind.

(OOC: Information on this event is here and part one is here)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Something was coming! It looked like the Lord of the flies and the Black Cepters!" Now that she thought about it, she realized it had. "They need us!"

"Whatever those are... whatever this was... if we're being pulled out so suddenly and quickly..." Her stomach drops a little. She doesn't want to say it, admit it to herself.

"Then they still need us," she said, drawing the sentence to its obvious - to her - conclusion.

"It won't do any good." It might. They had powerful fighters like Piccolo, geniuses like Tony. Incredible magic users. "If... if we'd been more prepared... but we weren't. Couldn't be."

"We were right there! Why couldn't we help? What do you mean we wouldn't have done any good?" there were angry tears in her eyes.

"I don't know. I don't know what it was. None of us do, but..." Whatever sends them on these missions didn't think they could help even a little bit.

"Then why couldn't we have stayed?" she wailed, starting to shake. So many people in danger and she couldn't do anything for them. None of them could. If she could have saved even one life... helped even one person get away...

"Why couldn't the train have taken them too if it was so dangerous for anyone to stay?"

"I don't know!" She was halfway to shouting. "And I want answers too. But there's nothing to be done about this now!"

"Why not? There has to be some way to go back... right....?" Please... please say there was...

"It's entirely up to this... train. Whatever forces it operates under. We're subject to its whims..." utterly, entirely helpless to make their own decisions.

"I would just... like to know why, I think. If there's a truly worthwhile answer..."

"Wha answer could be worth leaving them to face whatever danger was coming?" she asked with an angry sniff. Not angry at the person she was talking to, but at whoever pulled them out.

"If staying there would have gotten us killed - without any chance of success - then it's the right decision." There are surmountable odds, and then there's facing the apocalypse a bunch of swords and spears. "As... awful as I know that sounds."

"How could they know? How could they be sure? People can do amazing things when we work together!"

"Given the appropriate time and resources." Which they had little of - apparently.

"We were there already! I had my cards, we all had our abilities! And some of the people I've met here are pretty amazing! We could have tried!"

"What we don't know... will apparently leave us confused and dissatisfied." But it's also not hurting them. Physically.

"That doesn't help," she said hiccuping. She still wasn't angry at the person she was speaking to, but she was far closer to the crying miserably end of the scale now. She didn't hold on to anger or rage easily, and usually regretted her rare outbursts. But she was so exhausted and so confused and hurt and she just wanted to go back and help...

Ple Two carefully, awkwardly reached out to pat her on the arm. "I'm sorry. ...it's distressing that we may have... very well left them to a horrible fate." Even if she didn't feel it as viscerally - scarcely had the emotional capacity for that still - she could try.

"Why did we have to?" she whispered. And hiccuped another sob again. "If my staying would have saved any of them..." she would have.

"And the only thing keeping me reasonable is assuming that it wouldn't have." Better to ask questions and find answers instead of... wallowing.

But she wouldn't tell Najaran not to.

"But we can't just assume that." Because if you assumed that and assuming that became habit... at what point did you just... stop trying?

"We can readjust when we have more information. Until then... there's nothing to do."

"There can't... just... be... nothing..." she whispered, heartbroken.

"Reality is quite cruel at times." That's... about all she can offer.

"Why does it have to be?"

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pleple - 2020-05-05 19:39 (UTC) - Expand

najaran - 2020-05-07 09:06 (UTC) - Expand