The Start of the Storm

[shardofwinter]

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?

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((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 

Comments

[sweetcandygirl]

When they make the safety of the torches, Harley finally ducks a little to place the droid back on his feet. And breathes a slight annoyed sigh... at the fact they were not able to reclaim anything else. Plus, the extra damage to the ship ain't going to do them any favors.

"There is a lot of mystery about those creatures. We report what we saw... and hopefully someone can find some answers."

[eumenis]

Furiosa is 100% on the droid's side, for the moment. They can worry about where the guns came from once they're well out of reach of them. It's still a valid question, though. These monsters are strange; they don't operate quite like a trained military unit. The strategy they're employing is very basic. And yet, they're well-armed, and very, very tough.

She's wheezing subtly when they finally reach safety, although she's taken no injury and probably managed to pick off a couple of their pursuers. She had a collapsed lung a couple years back and while it's healed shockingly well considering the lack of medical facilities and antibiotics, a long rush through the snow on high alert makes it act up a bit.

She clears her throat a couple times, then pats Palmer's shoulder and gives him a nod of approval. Rational obedience is what you want in a mechanic on a risky run. He's done well as far as she's concerned.

A couple steps brings her closer to Harley and she exchanges glances with the other woman, wondering if she's interpreted that attack the way Furiosa has. "You're good," she says. "Very good. Better than me. But they could have surrounded us in the ship and we'd have never broken through without someone getting hurt. I don't think they were trying to kill us. What's your take?"

[readvondaniken]

"If they weren't trying to kill us," Palmer says in a huff, "why'd they laugh at me when I was tryin' to negotiate with 'em? Couldn't bother to tell us what they wanted. They would've saved themselves and us a lotta trouble if they'd listened to what I had to say." He brushes the tears in his jacket. Palmer's not usually like this, but his optimism had been roughly thrown back in his face.

He's physically unhurt, but the same can't be said for his pride. Palmer feels foolish. He actually thought he could stop the fight. It's a good thing he hadn't gotten himself killed.

He thinks the creatures are intelligent, all right, smart enough to set traps and use complex weapons, but they were clearly not interested in explaining what they were or what they wanted. He just doen't understand why, if they were smart enough to understand what he was saying, they just laughed his offer of peace off and continued attacking.

"That was too close. I'm gonna stay in the safe zone for a while."

[kinto_robotics_corp]

"Yes, staying in the safe zone might be wise at this point," 2V agrees, as he's set down. He's thankful, at this point, he's note human, so his fear of this whole situation isn't as obvious as it would be. Although he does anxiously tap the tips of his fingers together for lack of anything better to do with his hands.

"They seemed at least. Somewhat organized. But very dangerous. And I was not capable of translating anything they were vocalizing." He tilts his head, "Which is ... mildly odd, given my language database is extensive, but the Nexus is an unknown variable."

[sweetcandygirl]

"Organized, but relentless. Ready to attack, but they didn't seem to take advantage of surrounding us. It was almost like they just wanted to push us away from the supplies. They didn't seem to be sticking around the ship to claim the supplies for themselves either..." Harley bounces on her feet for a moment as she thinks.

"There is more to those creatures than meets the eye."

[eumenis]

"If their whole purpose was to try and prevent us from retrieving supplies," Furiosa says grimly. "That implies orders from someone or something higher up."

What does anyone have to gain by trapping them, making them desperate? Unless the whole point is just to sit back and watch everyone in the Nexus fight one another for survival.

"Well," she says with finality, after considering for a moment. "Chances are we'll see them again. I guess we'll learn plenty more about them before the season's out."

[readvondaniken]

"If that's what those critters are like," Palmer says, "I'd hate to see the big boss." He thinks over Furiosa's suggestion and what he observed in the field.

A leader makes sense. Well, taking out the leader would throw the creatures into confusion, he thinks. Let's see how they like it for a change.

"Y'know those little fish that follow sharks around? There's gotta be a big one somewhere. I say we gather our numbers and take down the boss, whatever it is. Not before we know what we're up against, but we're gonna have to take the fight to them sooner or later. Killing or wounding the leader would show we mean business."