Reynard North (
shardofwinter) wrote in
nexus_crossings2019-01-03 10:57 am
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Entry tags:
The Start of the Storm
The god hosted Yule party left the Nexus in the state of beautiful Winter Wonderland. With the snow falling softly and steadily, and the beautiful festive lights twinkling in the darkness, the Nexus is left with a sense of serene nostalgia hanging in the cold air. This peace and joy clings to the streets for several weeks, buoying everyone’s mood as they look back on the past year and forward to ringing in the new one.
It starts in the Wilds, and the outskirts. The cold air suddenly feels like it freezes everything it touches in an instant. Light doesn’t quite pierce the gloom. Gentle snowfall becomes thick and falls hard. One or two people looking for shelter from their uninhabitable homes isn’t too noticeable. People can still enjoy their pretty Winter, blissfully unaware. Pipes freeze solid, paths become impassable, power cuts out, simple walks become baffling in the poor visibility. Soon it’s not one or two people, it’s many, it’s families. There are people coming in, bloody, bruised and scared, saying they were chased. Eventually the kindness of friends and strangers becomes strained. Spare rooms are packed to the brim and the storm that stays just shy of the bizarre torches somehow seems to have a slow, but unmistakable march closer towards a point where the Plaza, Industrial sector and Downtown meet. On top of that, people are complaining about PINpoints acting up or portals freezing over.
Streets are becoming packed full of people with far more problems than solutions. Huddling together and whispering about ghosts and monsters moving about in the shadows. In a place with no government, no organisation, no collaborative emergency services, chaos and confusion reigns supreme. And with chaos, comes panic. With confusion, comes frustration and anger. The Nexus is a powder keg waiting to blow.
That’s certainly how one Durant sees it. As a manager, Isidor is keen on organisation and order. Both things that are lacking in the Nexus at the moment. Groups pop up to help, but struggle to communicate effectively, or work together. Some people get free food twice, some people are still waiting for some at all. It’s madness, and Isidor can’t stand it. Particularly because she, her brother and sister-in-law are stuck here. So, when nobody else takes the mantle, Isidor Durant takes it upon herself to inject some order into this scrum.
In her fur hat and long coat, leather gloves and thick boots, Isidor can be seen directing people this way and that. There’s something about a confident person taking charge that means people instinctively defer to them. She becomes the point of contact quite easily, with people soon taking her direction regardless of whether or not they know her. Under her instruction, people are directed to a building that has tables set up, queues in front of them, and volunteers behind them taking names and telling people where to go. It might still be chaos, but at least now it’s organised chaos.
The question is: Where will your character go?
((Below are comments for each desk. Tag any of them, threadhop, or post with your own character. I suggest putting your character’s name in the subject to help keep things clear. Comments marked with a snowflake ( ❅ ) have been coordinated with the mods and I as official event comments. The OOC Post is here! If you have any questions, feel free to message me or one of the mods!))
Threads of Note
Medicine/Illness | Shelter/Heat | Food | Security/Crime | Lost items/people | Misc resources/Donations | Volunteers | Expeditions | Planning Table/The woman in charge | Drulb's Deelz | A Ship in the Outskirts
It starts in the Wilds, and the outskirts. The cold air suddenly feels like it freezes everything it touches in an instant. Light doesn’t quite pierce the gloom. Gentle snowfall becomes thick and falls hard. One or two people looking for shelter from their uninhabitable homes isn’t too noticeable. People can still enjoy their pretty Winter, blissfully unaware. Pipes freeze solid, paths become impassable, power cuts out, simple walks become baffling in the poor visibility. Soon it’s not one or two people, it’s many, it’s families. There are people coming in, bloody, bruised and scared, saying they were chased. Eventually the kindness of friends and strangers becomes strained. Spare rooms are packed to the brim and the storm that stays just shy of the bizarre torches somehow seems to have a slow, but unmistakable march closer towards a point where the Plaza, Industrial sector and Downtown meet. On top of that, people are complaining about PINpoints acting up or portals freezing over.
Streets are becoming packed full of people with far more problems than solutions. Huddling together and whispering about ghosts and monsters moving about in the shadows. In a place with no government, no organisation, no collaborative emergency services, chaos and confusion reigns supreme. And with chaos, comes panic. With confusion, comes frustration and anger. The Nexus is a powder keg waiting to blow.
That’s certainly how one Durant sees it. As a manager, Isidor is keen on organisation and order. Both things that are lacking in the Nexus at the moment. Groups pop up to help, but struggle to communicate effectively, or work together. Some people get free food twice, some people are still waiting for some at all. It’s madness, and Isidor can’t stand it. Particularly because she, her brother and sister-in-law are stuck here. So, when nobody else takes the mantle, Isidor Durant takes it upon herself to inject some order into this scrum.
In her fur hat and long coat, leather gloves and thick boots, Isidor can be seen directing people this way and that. There’s something about a confident person taking charge that means people instinctively defer to them. She becomes the point of contact quite easily, with people soon taking her direction regardless of whether or not they know her. Under her instruction, people are directed to a building that has tables set up, queues in front of them, and volunteers behind them taking names and telling people where to go. It might still be chaos, but at least now it’s organised chaos.
The question is: Where will your character go?
❅-❅-❅-❅
((Below are comments for each desk. Tag any of them, threadhop, or post with your own character. I suggest putting your character’s name in the subject to help keep things clear. Comments marked with a snowflake ( ❅ ) have been coordinated with the mods and I as official event comments. The OOC Post is here! If you have any questions, feel free to message me or one of the mods!))
Threads of Note
Medicine/Illness | Shelter/Heat | Food | Security/Crime | Lost items/people | Misc resources/Donations | Volunteers | Expeditions | Planning Table/The woman in charge | Drulb's Deelz | A Ship in the Outskirts
no subject
Now, rushing back is about the last thing his legs want to do, but the rest of him is dead determined, and he nods to Steve. "Yessir. I ain't much of a runner, sir, but I'll do what I can--i-if you need to go on ahead of me I don't mind."
Same offer he made to Caspar on Hallowe'en, but this is a different situation. There are a lot of things that could happen to him between the Plaza and Harley's place.
Regardless, he's relieved already. Maybe the man he shot can be saved and maybe he can't, but at least no one can say he didn't try.
He pivots carefully and starts to head right back the way he came, in his own tracks. Steve will get to see just how uneven his gait is firsthand, now. Worse than usual, because he's pushed himself already today and how he hurts, but he's going to go as fast as he can: what would be a brisk walking pace to most people.
no subject
It's a pointless twist in his chest. Impossible and even if it were utterly useless for the situation they're in now. The cold might be a bad place for Steve's memories, but before it was flirting with very real death. How many winters did he spend in hospital or laid up in their drafty apartment with every blanket and coat in the house laid over him while Bucky was so sure this would be the last time Steve was sick, riddled with fever and coughs that rattled his bones?
"It's Steve." He tells the young man. Polio, or something similar, must have gotten to him. "Are you serious about trying to save a life right now?" He's sure the kid is. He can see it in his eyes. He needs to invoke that determination to do right before he suggests something he knows would have earned him a glare and possibly a fight from the Steve he no longer can be anymore.
"It will be faster if I carry you. You know the way, and we need to hurry." He doesn't say it will be safer for Cricket this way. No coddling, no pity. Practical reasons and an urgent goal in mind.
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"I'm Cricket," he says. "Cricket Pate. I...I recognize you, sir. Steve."
That was meant as a correction, right, not just an introduction? Not using 'sir' and 'ma'am' as a default is so counterintuitive to this kid.
"Carry me?" He slows and stops, trying to picture it for a moment, and he's got to admit it's not an idea that thrills him. Except Steve definitely looks strong enough, and every step Cricket's taking hurts worse, so after a couple seconds of thought, he presses his lips together and nods. "A'ight. Yeah. Do it."
The man's been bleeding out, presumably, since Cricket shot him. If he's not dead already, they don't have a lot of time to save him.
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"Good man, Cricket." Steve's there the moment the kid agrees, one hand supporting his back as the other tucks right at the back of his knees and swiftly picks him up in one fluid motion without breaking stride as though the other weighed nothing at all. "Tell me where to go."
Steve's got a good sense of direction and crucially with his gear on he doesn't have to go at a sedate pace. It's not as quick as he could go at a full sprint (he really can't in these boots without ripping them apart and probably falling on his face) but it's it's probably a full sprint for most normal people.
The wind prickles and stings and Steve puts the icy grip of its bite out of his mind. A life is on the line right now. It's all that matters. Cricket gets set down carefully when they arrive at what he points out as Harley Quinn's home. Steve can see where the entry has been forced open. He's going to be looking for tracks above Cricket's when he ran off to get help before he lets the kid back in.
no subject
In any case, he murmur his directions and points, and his tracks haven't quite been erased, either, so they should make good time back to the house this way. As they get closer, Steve will certainly be able to see the tracks and blood trail the escaping burglar made, leading away from the building and between some of the nearby houses. It's possible the stranger thought shelter there. Maybe someone else's place has already been ransacked and taken for use as a den in the interim. It doesn't look like anyone else has come into Cricket's home, though.
The door that's been forced open is pretty spectacularly busted. Either the burglars had exceptionally good tools or they're stronger than an average human. Cricket takes a step toward the threshold, and he's all set to go in first if Steve doesn't hold him back.
no subject
The home doesn't look like its had more visitors since Cricket left, but Steve's hand is still at the kid's shoulder when he tries to move inside.
"Where did you leave the gun?" He whispers urgently over the wind. Let Steve go first, please. Of the two of them here, the soldier has a better chance of disarming or blocking any kind of fire. But he's not going to linger outside, either. Time is critical right now, and chances are the man Cricket shot is unconscious yet.
no subject
He pauses, racking his brain, and then nods. "Yeah, on the foot of the bed. But it's empty. I know it's empty."
It's a good thought, though, and it sparks another vital piece of information in Cricket's brain. "But Harley has one, too. Hers is a semi-auto. Beretta. Got a lot more rounds in it. She's got a lock on it, too, but..."
But. If the man was less badly wounded than Cricket thought, there's a possibility he could have found it.
no subject
This home won't be much of a base, now. Another thought Steve will have to deal with soon, but not immediately. He's following the trail of blood through the entryway and down the hall until he comes across the partner to this crime.
"I need bandages or something we can rip into them. We're going to do what we can for the bleeding before I move him."
no subject
He feels a little nauseous.
Shoving that aside, he hastens into the room after Steve. The man is on the floor, not quite where Cricket left him, but only three or four feet away. The kid scans the room, trying to think if there's any kind of weapon he could have grabbed, but aside from books, his beach-snowglobe that Adia and Caspar gave him, and maybe some lint, there's not much. The revolver is undisturbed on his bed.
The burglar is still breathing. He looks human to all appearances, and his eyes are closed, but he might just be playing dead. There's blood pooled on the floor and smeared across his coat, but it's hard to tell if it's still coming.
For a moment, Cricket finds himself wondering if it might've been better if the man did die. Because treatment won't be easy, and dying of sepsis won't be pretty...
Then he snaps out of it, nods to Steve, and hastens toward the communal bathroom. Of course they have a first aid kit, and it's a big one, in a case, well-equipped for this kind of emergency. Harley's in a violent line of work, even if she heals exceptionally well, herself.
He brings the case to Steve, hesitates a second, and then sinks to kneel beside the man, jaw clenched between nerves and pain. Steve said 'we', and Cricket's not great with triage or anything, but he'll pitch in, no question.
no subject
There's a still a pulse so there's still time to try.
"Okay, here goes." He'll tell Cricket where to press and hold while he gets bandages wound tight to staunch what they can for the bleeding. It's not a great sign that there's this much blood about the place and for the first time it dawns on Steve that this is someone's bedroom. This is where Cricket should have felt the safest in all the world. And it's full of this man's blood for trying to break into that home.
"Can you climb onto my back? I need my hands to carry him back to the base but I don't want to leave you here." Not sick with guilt over a life he may have taken. And not with a gun that could be reloaded in this broken place of supposed safety. He doesn't want Cricket to be alone right now.
no subject
He's done some first aid. He patched Jack up after Rakes beat the living hell out of him in Cricket's yard, but that's a memory that still makes him want to scream or cry or break something, so it's not useful here. His hands are shaking. He takes in air and breathes out through his nose, and thinks about Aunt Winnie, instead. Washing up her swollen legs and bandaging wounds there. Helping her out of bed and cleaning up the sheets she soiled, washing her clothes, helping her into the tub and back out. It's just a body and the things that come out of a body, and maybe he shouldn't have had to look after her the way he did, as young as he did, but he got used to it. It's a memory of resigned drudgery, not rage and hurt and terror.
It's better. He stops trembling and follows Steve's instructions without complaint. Maybe the man will live, maybe he won't, but they're trying.
He scrubs his hands clean a little too hard after they're done, but manages to lever himself up from the floor without help. And then, as a reluctant afterthought, he crosses the room and picks up his cane from the corner.
"...Climb onto your..." Cricket looks him over uncertainly. "You can carry that much? You'd go faster without me, either way--I--I'm a'ight."
He's in no frame of mind to argue if Steve insists, though, really.
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"They'll need you to file a report, in case there are more. Let's go." No arguments, no time to waste. It's not even technically a lie even if it's not the reason Steve wants to get Cricket out of here and back to the base where at least there are other people and some shelter from the cold.
He'll take Cricket and the injured would-be thief back to the base, straight for the Medical station.
no subject
"How long ago did this happen?" He pulls open the man's clothing to expose the wound, taking in the treatment already applied.
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"Yessir," he says, almost gently, and puts forth no more arguments, hanging his cane off his own belt and clinging obediently to Steve's back on the way back to base.
There'll probably be questions later, but now is not the time.
Cricket and Azwel haven't talked a lot, but he recognizes him, and it's kind of a relief to see a familiar face. He gives him an uncertain smile, arms folded across his chest as if to protect himself, and answers, "'Bout an hour and a half, I reckon? Maybe a little less. Two bullet wounds. Chest and belly."
no subject
Steve can't just let the boy alone now. He needs someone. Steve might not be the best for this, but until someone better comes along he's decided he'll be there.
"We didn't have time or the tools to disinfect the wound, but both shots passed cleanly through the body at least." The risk for infection if they had to go digging bullets out of a guy would be astronomical. Especially given their meager setups. "We've staunched the bleeding as best we could but he lost and awful lot before we got there."
no subject
"The cold managed to slow the blood loss somewhat. But he's lost rather a lot." He looks at the supplies. Realises they have no blood and scarcely anything to hydrate with. There's a pause.
He clearly makes a decision, as he snatches up the strange golden gauntlets from the nearby table and slips his hands into them. Ralts squeaks in alarm.
"Noffin ell forrit," he says, tightening the straps with his teeth.
no subject
He feels cold right now, a little too calm, like the part of his brain that tells him to move and speak is functional, but the rest is locked up and silent, emotions more or less flatlined.
He's pretty lucky to have someone looking out for him, and the way he's shadowing Steve is instinctive, rather than deliberate, but he seems to feel some relief from his presence.
"That happened to Forrest," he says a little vaguely. "When he got his throat cut. It was cold. Doctors said he mighta bled out otherwise."
The gauntlets make him wary all over again, and he sidles closer to Steve, until they're practically in contact. "What'chu gonna do?"
no subject
Relying on magic-based healing is all they can do now, but it's so hard to trust something like that. Sure, he's met beings (and people, people like Wanda) that can do some strange kind of magic before. Carried powers within themselves that Steve had no answers for. Usually, they ended up being folks Steve had to fight. Makes it a lot more difficult for him to stomach seeing it being used on someone this weak and unable to defend themselves.
It's the circumstances that lead them here, ultimately, that has Steve backing up to give Azwel room to do his work. He pulls Cricket back with him before glancing up.
"Should we be here for this?" And by 'we' he means Cricket, but well. It would probably upset the kid if he phrased it like that.
no subject
Over by the supplies, Ralts squeaks again, unwilling to leave her post but distressed at what her human intends to do.
That intent becomes clear as, with a huge surge of primal magick and an oddly musical tone, the blue and red settings on the gauntlets flare brightly. But this time, instead of forming weapons of hard light, the glow swirls and then arcs. It wicks into the patient's body and coruscates around it.
And while it does that, the essences of Order and Chaos dance in the atoms around and in the injured man. The tone stretches out, becomes something almost like a song, harmony and dissonance somehow weaving into a cogent whole. The sound can be heard throughout the room, the magick felt throughout the base and its surroundings, flickering in glass in abandoned buildings, humming in the magickal (or even subconscious) senses of everyone sheltering within the ring of torches.
Someone, somewhere, might have called it the Music of the Spheres.
It rings and warbles and all the while Azwel's mind works furiously, darting amidst the numbers of creation; a digit here, a few more there, all changed to tweak reality ever so subtly, to pull water and other elements from the air and match them to blood and flesh, to restore them, to seal the wounds shut.
All this for a stranger. But if not him, then who?
Blue and red flow and flicker, and the song grows louder. Azwel, himself, is still save for small movements of his fingers as he holds his hands over his patient. A twist or a pull or a flick. His gaze is intent on something only he can see. Behind him, Ralts curls in on herself, keening softly.
Colour rapidly returns to the injured man's face and his breathing grows regular again. And the better he looks, the worse Azwel looks. Whatever this energy is, it is literally draining him--his already pale complexion goes ashen and blood glistens under his nose.
And then, as though it had simply run its course, the sound and the lights die down. Azwel leans forward, bracing his hands on the edge of the bed, wheezing. A couple crimson drops fall from his nose.
"He'll live...." He steps back and drops heavily into a chair. "Do not wake him. The mind is... fragile in this state."
no subject
But there's always a price to be paid for a miracle.
On the other hand, the man clearly has no chance without some major intervention, so Cricket opts to shut up and let the sorcerer do his work. And what a work it is! Cricket was already a little shaken up, but the light and sound and the thrum at the base of his spine makes him feel like he's about to pass out, and potentially vomit in the process. He sways and takes a couple hasty steps backward to drop into a sitting position on a crate, letting his head hang between his knees.
"Jesus," he mutters under his breath. And it's a mercy it ends when it does, and he's spared any further embarrassment.
He looks up woozily and is immediately concerned that Azwel looks about as sickly as he feels. "Y'a'ight, sir? You best sit..."
His gaze goes to Steve, then. He's halfway checking to make sure he's okay, and halfway hoping he can drag Azwel to a chair ASAP.
no subject
As though they'd give way underneath him at any second.
Okay, he feels a lot more woozy than he thought he would. Steve's actually gotten used to the way things hit him now. Not as intensely (unless they're things that are meant to be fatal to ordinary folk), and never lingering for as long as they should. Flashes of pain that dull away rather than chronic lingering pain he's known all his life.
Right now, in this moment? Steve feels like he's both at once. He's clearly in his altered body but he's shaky in a way he hasn't been since he was in his own. He doesn't like it one bit. But whatever else the magic has done, it's clearly done good for the man on the cot.
Steve looks up with a gaze as shaky as the rest of him when Azwel tumbles back into a chair. Turns slowly so the room doesn't spin to look back at Cricket and make sure he's alright. And then, to Azwel.
"Will you be okay?" A beat. "Should we restrain this guy?"
no subject
"Might be best... for his own safety." Later, he'll examine the fellow thoroughly--with the absence of any kind of supernatural injury, it'll be interesting to see how he weathers these energies.
For his own part, though, Azwel leans bonelessly back in the chair. "...need something to... eat or drink...." Looks like his blood sugar plummeted, the fool.
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Because Steve is the better choice for restraining the unconscious burglar. No question of that in Cricket's mind.
no subject
He's too busy trying to get his feet steady underneath him.
"Right. Cricket will get you sorted. I'm..." A deep breath, then two. He feels a little bit better now that the magic isn't being wielded anymore. He's got this, right? Right? Yeah. "I'll handle him."
Captain James Kirk has plenty of rope over by the expedition station and once Steve murmurs what it's for he'll be allowed as much as he needs to carefully bind the man's hands and feet securely. It's not ideal but he'll have to talk to Lyall about where they're holding anyone that's captured. A makeshift jail is better than being exiled to the cold.
no subject
"I'll be fine," he says, reaching up to gently scratch the back of her head. "Don't fret."
Then the notion of Cricket's own condition makes it way through is rather sluggish thoughts and he looks at the younger man, head tilted. "You're head's spinning? What's wrong?"
He'll explain to Steve what he means once he's sure nobody is going to fall over.
(no subject)