[MINGLE] Color Coordination: The Announcement

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: 6I Inn
WHEN: Morning, 18 April
OPEN TO: ALL - This is a mingle post
NOTES: Details may be found here

---

In the often-bustling front room of the inn there sits a large, old-style chalboard on a wooden stand. Chalk is a precious commodity, but limestone can be found easily, and both sides of the board are often covered with notes and notices from villagers.

This morning, the board has been wiped clean and a much different message has appeared on its worn gray surface:

Jude Sullivan and Francis Mulcahy have been exposed to toxic spores and will slowly drown if a counter-agent is not procured.

A yellow lichen is needed. It only grows on a small stand of trees in marshland two days to the southeast. There is no other antidote.

The following people have coordinates for the lichen loaded into their wrist devices. Only they may retrieve it, and only if they work together. If anyone else attempts this, the expedition will fail.

Peggy Carter
Beverly Crusher
Jean-Luc Picard
Owen Prichard
Margaery Tyrell
Mark Watney

Hurry. Soon it will be too late.

Comments

Margaery Tyrell | OTA

[thekittenqueen]

The last few days had been difficult to digest, between the new device, new world and strange happenings. Much to her chagrin, because of her disorientation, Margaery had been waking later and falling behind in her usual chores. What strength she had hoped to provide to others was slow to appear, making it impossible to summon similar courage for herself as well. It was almost like walking through a dream. It hadn't been that way when she first arrived in the village over a year ago. Why was this time different.

The inn at least still offered solace and distraction. Much like before, she went over every afternoon to help with lunch and to have something to eat among the others. The chalkboard often had something amusing written on it, someone able to find the means to lift others' spirits and make them laugh. She glanced towards the board, hoping to see a drawing but finding something else instead.

Her name. Her name written by the Observers.

For a time, she stood reading the message, absorbing what it said and trying to make sense of the words written. It was a jumble, mixed within her shock. There were others beginning to gather as well, some who were named and told to go, others that were spared from this trek.

"Why did they choose us?" She asked to no one in particular. There were a few names that registered for her. Mark and Beverly were skilled with plants and she had familiarity as well. Was that why they were among those picked? It would at least offer an explanation to this sudden turn. "Why only us though? Why can't anyone else go?"

[king_in_the_north]

"You're not going." This was said at her shoulder, and in a low, dangerous tone as Robb's hand fell between Margaery's shoulder blades. "I don't care what these Observers say, if the plant is out there, someone else can find it just as easily as you. I'll go instead, or Jon."

He meant to sound as if the matter were settled, but the waver in his voice betrayed him. He'd seen how badly off Jude had been, and that had been days ago. They hadn't been truly punished by the Observers yet, but he recalled Lyanna's fear of it that night when they'd sat together at the dinner, how worried something so insignificant as switching seats had made her. They both had understood the way in which seemingly minor choices could ripple out and harm everyone around them. And this risk? It was so much bigger, and the instructions clearly explicit.

[thekittenqueen]

This was too much to discuss in front of everyone. Already she felt that she was bordering on the precipice of vulnerability, allowing others to get a sense of her fear and hesitation. The moment his hand was placed against her back, she found the strength to move again and gave his arm a tug, pulling him to the edge of the room.

She could breathe easier with this space. No one was surrounding her, pressing in closer and watching her face, seeing signs of her weakness. There was no warning about any of this, no glimmer of a vision. Since they had arrived in this new village, she hadn't had a hint of what was to come. It was strange how such a painful and difficult ability had become a crutch for her. Now, she felt smaller and more fragile than before. It wasn't something that sat well with her.

"You can't go in my place. We don't have a choice with this." And if Jude and Francis were truly sick, they couldn't ignore the orders. Their lives were at risk. "I think I have to go, Robb."

[king_in_the_north]

"I do have a choice," Robb sharply asserted, his voice raised before he caught himself, glancing swiftly at the other people in the room before looking back to Margaery. "If the intent is to find the plant and bring it back quickly, it should make no difference if someone goes in your stead," he added more quietly. "I cannot let you go alone. Surely you must see that. We've no idea what's out there."

But would they punish her if she failed to obey? Would they punish him, or someone completely unattached to either of them? Robb squeezed his eyes closed, his face going pinched.

"It's absurd, Margaery."

[thekittenqueen]

"It's not my choice," she offered. No one had noticed them, despite Robb's sharp tone and her inelegant escape from the crowd. Her hands held firmly to his arm, keeping herself steady as her thoughts raced ahead of her, whirring back to life. There was a trap, she knew it deep in her gut, but couldn't see or figure out what form it would take. "They set the rules and we have to play by them. If we don't, someone will get hurt."

The room felt so warm, everything closing in around her as the crowd seemed to grow. "There will be others with me. I'm not going alone." Her head felt light as she let out a deep breath, trying to reconcile herself to the idea. "If you go or follow me, the Observers said the expedition will fail. Jude and Francis could die."

But he was right and she wasn't about to ignore that. "It is absurd. It's frustrating and infuriating. They are toying with us again and we have no way to fight back."

Owen Prichard | OTA

[underpinnings]

Owen only goes to the inn with a purpose; not one to check in, not one to rely on group meals. To be self-sufficient is the only freedom he knows. But if the others are drawing in toward it, the source of their curiosity must be observed--any meeting of people should concern strangers, should they be a source of discussion.

He's not sure how this ranks.

Despite the tool, the handwriting is similar enough to the tags on recent packages. His full name, thankfully only one of many. In waiting to be singled out, he hadn't imagined being part of a group, or even chose for a purpose.

He recognizes a couple of names at this point; slots the protesting woman at the fore into Margaery or Beverly by elimination. Then to Margaery as a red-headed woman clicks into a memory of the clinic. It left only Jean-Luc to his imagination, and he let himself remain in theirs--unannounced, uncomplaining, when he asked instead: "Has anyone located the spores? Those staying should find a way to contain or destroy the source, or we might all be in trouble."

Surreal as it had been to wander carpet-bombed cities between the zones and wilderness, it had been the right idea. Raze the earth, burn the fungus away. This group can't afford to lose sixty percent of its people and burn away a forest of resources to save the rest.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

The stir had drawn Lyanna from the edge of the woods back to the inn. It wasn't uncommon for something to happen that would gather the entire village, but generally those were the feasts. Very rarely did something like this happen. The only time she could remember the Others actually communicating with them had been through the letters.

But it wasn't like this and no one's life was in question...save for those that might take that sacrifice too far.

She recognized most of the names on the board, though their faces were unfamiliar to her. She had kept to herself in the village, uncertain of her footing and those around her. She couldn't imagine how it would be for someone else, chosen to go on this mission without any idea of what might happen or what would be waiting for them. They would have to rely on each other.

Perhaps that was why she wasn't named? She was too independent and solitary.

She had pushed her way closer, coming to a stop at Owen's side. He was someone she had seen around, but hadn't fully met. He had ideas at least, something for them to do rather than wait for news. "What are spores, exactly?"

[underpinnings]

He's been waiting for something like this from the drop, for the infection to raise its ugly head despite no one speaking of it--it doesn't occur to him to doubt the veracity, he's only surprised by the reactions. How sheltered is this place, how true are the claims of being plucked from different times and worlds, that they're worried the victims can't breathe. That this girl, pausing in her push to the fore, asks him this?

Owen stares at her a moment, taking it in.

"They're airborne particles," he explains, breaking it down to the most basic terms he knows. Everything he learned was so specific to surviving the infection, it takes a moment's thought to broaden the definition. "There'll be a plant or fungus where both people traveled, and they would have breathed in something it released."

Was she the only one who didn't understand, or would it be all of them? He tries to address the group in volume and tone, though he's still looking at her when he adds, "We need to burn out the source without anyone else breathing that in."

[iron_beneath_beauty]

She had seen strange things and heard confusing reports of other worlds, but this was the first that such things mixed. Spores, it was an odd word for something that was supposed to be dangerous. Two men were ill because of something called "spores". It was hard to take it seriously. But given everyone's response to the message, she knew she should.

Owen's look of surprise wasn't out of place. Everyone shared that look at one time or another. The sudden meeting of different worlds, the lack of knowledge and common ground. He at least didn't call her an idiot or something of that sort. All she could offer was a serious expression to show she wasn't jesting.

"The plants released something that infected them?" She asked, making certain she had this right. "If it's so easy to breathe in, how do you know we haven't already? We don't even know what plant caused this. Maybe the spore is only deadly when the Observers want it to be?" Nothing happened by random happenstance. It was a game to them, a test of some sort they had to pass.

"What do you think will happen to them? The ones chosen, if they go on that journey?"

Erik Lehnsherr | ota

[frankensteinian]

Erik hadn't given much thought to the purpose of the new device on his wrist, or made any effort to figure out how to use it. It was put there by whoever's behind this, after all, and he's not giving them any more information about him than they already have.

And now it seems that not only has a reason for the wrist devices been revealed, but there's a message directly from the people behind this. Or at least one delivered more plainly than any in the past. He's relieved, really, not to see his name on the board. Not because he doesn't want to help, but because he doesn't want to be forced to help.

He doesn't want to be toyed with.

He doesn't like having to play by the rules, and he likes the rules of this place even less. But he figured out a long time ago that trying to fight against those rules does nothing but waste time and energy. All he can do is bear it and bide his time.

And now there's an explanation for the priest's mysterious, worsening illness. If that had happened to him, he'd be angrier than usual at the ones causing this.

"'Soon,'" he repeats. "That's not ominous. Or, come to that, very helpful."

Mark Watney | OTA

[markwatney]

That first day, fresh out of the fountain and getting a haircut in the middle of Kira's kitchen, my instinctive impression was that we'd leveled up. If we were in some kind of game, we'd finally reached the magic number of points or stars or otherwise proven our mettle enough that we got to take off the training wheels. This place doesn't feel any more or less real than where we came from — I don't have any kind of spider-sense about it — but things make relative logical sense, and the world is a heckuva lot bigger.

Standing in the middle of the front room at the inn, I realize now I had no idea how close to the truth I'd gotten.

There's been contact from the people who put us here, but it's always been so much more vague than this. This is explicit in a way that scares me more than anything in a long time.

And that's without my name being on the list.

Which doesn't make much sense as a whole. The inclusion of Margaery specifically seems to stand out, and I have to wonder the purpose of her being there. Is it because she has a specific skill I don't personally know about that might be useful? She does keep a lot of livestock; maybe that's what it is. Or is the reasoning more manipulative, more coy? Is this a measure of our obedience cloaked in concern?

I don't even know where to begin, and if what's written is correct, we have no time to parse any of it out.

"Does anybody know if this is true? Has anybody seen Jude or the Father lately? Can someone go check on them?"

Re: Mark Watney | OTA

[viridescere]

"I haven't seen them myself," Oliver says. He'd been too dumbstruck by the announcement to check on either the priest or Jude and now he wonders if he ought to have done that first and come to see what was going on in the front room of the Inn second. He's never been the kind of person who was handy with First Aid; he can pull an arrow from his own chest, sure, but he isn't very good at nursing the sick.

"I came here to see the announcement and to see who was getting sent out." The names are stark on the chalkboard, each written in care. Some of them make a good deal of sense to him: Beverly is a doctor. Mark, from what he hears, is a botanist. Margaery doesn't seem to make sense but maybe the Observers know something he doesn't know. He's never spoken to Mark directly before now but he does a lot of work here for the community and he seems like a natural enough person to ask for information.

"Have you ever been sent out like this before? I've only been here for a couple months and I've never been told I had to go anywhere."

[markwatney]

"No, and unless someone's managed to actually keep it a secret, I don't think anyone else has, either," I answer, glancing over to Oliver. We're not really acquainted beyond the typical village pleasantries, but he's always struck me as a capable guy. I don't know if we're going to need especially capable guys to get through whatever this is, but it definitely doesn't hurt.

"People have gotten letters," I clarify, scrubbing a hand over my newly-cut hair. "But they were always given a choice. The content was always a suggestion. This is a directive."

Maybe I've been here too long, maybe I've finally become a cynic, because despite the implication of what's written on the board, I just can't picture any of this being strictly altruistic. The list is too specific for that, and I can't help wondering why they're wanting us out of town.

[viridescere]

"My girlfriend got one of the letters," Oliver says, thinking back a few months ago to when Felicity had gotten a letter directing her to hurt someone in exchange for a chance to see home again. It'd been something they had talked about extensively before experimenting with and Oliver knew others had gotten the same choices. Mark seems right about this one, though: it doesn't seem anything like a choice.

"I wonder what happens if people who aren't on the list go and help? I mean, obviously we'll send the ones they told us to," Oliver says, evaluating that list again. "But what happens if I go too? Or someone else you know? Is it going to screw up the whole thing or is it just additional firepower?"

Robb Stark | OTA

[king_in_the_north]

The room was full of people, many of them murmurring in alarm, most of them likely there by the same means that drew Robb. The village tended to be quiet a good deal of the time, but when something worrisome happened, or something strange, word traveled like wildfire. Standing before the board, he was silent, breathing steadily as he seemed to study the message written so impossibly neatly upon its dark face. His hands, however, were clutching into a fist and then releasing, clutching and releasing, and if he'd stopped, you might have seen the shaking of his fingers.

Margaery was on the list. It was absurd, but Margaery was on the list. And while he hadn't known it at the time, he'd seen the effects of the spores firsthand.

"It's true," he abruptly said at last. "I don't know about Mulcahy, but I've seen Jude. He's terribly ill. Last I saw, he was having a good deal of difficulty breathing, and spitting up terrible stuff. He said it had just come over him."

That was days ago now, and if the rest of the message was true, they had precious little time left. And yet, he could not allow Margaery to take part in something so dangerous. It was unthinkable.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

It wasn't hard to guess why Robb was upset. For all of his similarities to Ned, there was a hint of Brandon about him, particularly when it came to protecting those he loved. It wasn't a time for tempers to take control, not when they were given specific instructions and someone was actually ill. She didn't know very much about what was causing this, but she knew that they would have to remain calm.

They had spoken about this once before, falling out of line in what the Observers wanted. It was one matter when there was a feast with no actual instructions beyond where to sit. This was different and someone could suffer if they refused to play the game their way.

She placed a gentle hand on his arm, hoping to steady him and help calm whatever nerves he might have. She had seen him with that southron noble and had gathered there was something there. She could understand this a little, at least. She had also had to stand by and send someone she cared for off to what could be their death. This was more noble, at least.

"Six people, many of them have been here for some time. They will know how to protect themselves in the woods. It's possible that the Observers are trying to help?" It was a feeble attempt at trying to comfort him, but it failed to help her as well.

[king_in_the_north]

The urge to snap was strong, particularly with his aunt, but Robb caught a hard hold of the impulse and swallowed it down. It was clear enough that she was merely attempting to help, even if it was only to soothe his own fears.

"But there's always some trick with them, isn't there?" he asked at length, and turned to look at her. "It seems plain enough on the surface, but it doesn't feel right. And it makes no damned sense."

Margaery had embraced her new home, it was true. She had set herself to the task of learning how to care for herself as well as others, and after some awkward starts, had found ways to contribute to the village. But she was yet a lady, and of the group of them here, perhaps only matched in being ill-suited for this task by Sansa.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

"There is." There wasn't any point in making false promises or claiming that the Observers meant well. They always seemed to have a test for them and this was a new one. They had no way of knowing what was waiting for the group and they would have to stay behind and imagine the worst. It was a cruel game and she didn't blame her nephew for being angry.

"It's not only them that are being forced into a difficult situation. This is going to be just as hard on the rest of us. We have to wait days and know nothing." The Observers found a way to make them all suffer, but sentiments like that wouldn't help and she refused to let them get the better of her. "It's not easy, but we have to put on a brave face for them. We have to believe for them that everything will turn out all right."

She gave his arm a gentle squeeze. "It will make it easier for them when they go, knowing that we think they will come back."

Re: Robb Stark | OTA

[tooktheblack]

Jon had seen Margaery on the list of those who had to seek out the cure and he'd been concerned, immediately, for her person. His second concern had run to Robb and seeing his brother among those in the Inn, he quickly sought to get to his side and speak with him about it. He and Robb didn't often speak about Margaery, considering Jon was Margaery's own friend and could speak with her directly, but this was something of a special circumstance.

"Why would they choose her?" Jon asked, voice pitched low so that others might not overhear them. "Why Margaery over someone who was used to rough travel? We don't even know this place well enough to go out there ourselves, much less..."

Jon trailed off. Margaery was a capable woman, yes, but even Jon would be worried about him own self embarking into the unknown of this new wilderness.

[king_in_the_north]

"I don't know," Robb replied. "I can't even begin to imagine. If they're sending a message here, I don't know what it is. But she can't go." He turned to Jon, his face pinched. "How am I supposed to allow her to go when nearly anyone else would have been a better choice?"

But if she didn't go, what of Jude? What of the Father? Would their deaths be the sharp lesson they'd all worried was looming for so long?

[tooktheblack]

"But what if they need her and it fails without her?" Jon argued. He didn't want Margaery to go either, of course, but he had been in the village long enough to know sometimes instructions were meant to be heeded even if they seemed implausible.

"There's nothing to say we can't go with her," he said. "I could go with them and make sure she's safe."

Jean-Luc Picard | OTA

[enterprisingheart]

For all that Jean-Luc has grown more or less accustomed to the presence of the chalkboard, the dire warning that turns up out the blue is... different. Whether it's good or bad that the Observers are communicating more directly is something to be seen, but apart from that it's not the first mission of this sort he's been on. It's just that usually he's the one picking the people who will go on the away mission, as opposed to being one of the people assigned to it.

But that's a small enough difference, he figures. And given the direness of the warning, he isn't even so much as considering not going. There is however, just one question he has, asked to anyone who might be in range to hear and have any idea as to the answer.

"...Drown?"

Jon Snow | OTA

[tooktheblack]

Jon's primary concern upon seeing the board in the Inn was Margaery. It was selfish, yes, but Margaery was a part of his family for all intents and purposes and seeing that she was one of those chosen to go out and find the cure worried him. While she was a woman capable of many things, he did not know that she would be the best choice to go over rough country and encounter dangers and hazards that none of them had seen before.

Jon used to think himself familiar with this village and the land that surrounded it, familiar enough to feel at home in the woods or along the river. Now, though, everything he knew about this place had changed irrevocably and he had no idea how or why - only that it had. It had taken him several hours to try and seek a border to the lands they now had (both his dogs in tow, even) and he'd still seen more land on the horizon yet untouched. How large was this new place? A continent the size of Westeros? Essos? The two combined?

If he felt uneasy about traversing it himself, he felt twice as uneasy about letting Margaery go. He didn't want harm to come to his brother's lady and, besides, she was his friend. Jon turned to someone next to him, voicing his concern aloud.

"How were they chosen? Some of those people aren't used to long distances over rough country. How can we ensure they'll be safe while searching for this plant?"

oliver queen | OTA

[viridescere]

Obligation to a community is something that pulls at Oliver whether he wants it to or not and in spite of all his efforts to keep himself separate and apart from everyone else, to not trust anyone else, he's drawn to community and to taking care of a group of people. He's not the mayor of the village (They have no government, which works for their current size. Any larger, though, and some kind of law and order might become necessary) but he does feel an obligation to work toward bettering it, toward keeping people safe and toward being someone that they can rely on.

When he sees the list of names, those chosen to go on the expedition for lack of a better term, his first reaction is the sting of disappointment. Their captors chose these people, specifically, and didn't think him capable? Perhaps it's just ego but he'd rather go and do something himself and keep everyone else out of harm's way than sit back and hope that nothing bad happens to others while it's out of his control.

Control is something that always makes him feel better. His life has had a disturbing lack of control lately.

"What happens if other people go? I'd volunteer to go with them, to be an extra hand. I don't want to mess anything up by replacing someone but I have no problems with being someone additional. I've got decent experience with rough terrain and survival."

Sometimes survival is all he does, whether it's in a place like this or it's back in Star City.

Raleigh Becket | OTA

[rangerbecket]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The whole world has turned upside down on them in the last few weeks but the village fucking with them hasn't changed at all. The sign in the Inn is further proof of that and Raleigh's brows draw together in worry when he sees Peggy on the list of names. She's a good friend and while he knows she's more than capable of doing any and everything put before her, he doesn't want to see one of his friends at risk.

Then he scans down further on the list and sees Margaery Tyrell. Margaery is like Sansa, a proper lady, and he has to wonder what the hell their captors are thinking sending her out through the woods and the brush to go get some antidote plant. From what he's heard from Sansa, she's been having illness the last few months too; is she even healthy enough to go? While Raleigh doesn't want to see the priest or Jude suffer, he has to wonder if it's not going to affect Margaery adversely too.

"How did they even choose these people? The botanist makes sense and Peggy makes sense but Margaery? Margaery's better off supporting everyone from here, isn't she? What kind of choice is it to put her in harm's way in order to save someone else?"

Never mind that Raleigh would put himself in harm's way every day of the week to keep someone else safe. That's not the point. The point is that he'd choose to do it and he's concerned that the people on this list aren't even getting the choice.