Down the Tubes - Discovery

[spoileralert]

WHO: Stephanie Brown
WHERE: The lake, the bunker
WHEN: 8/26
OPEN TO: Bull (part 1), OTA (part 2)
WARNINGS: TBA, please note in subject lines

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AT THE LAKE/UNDERGROUND

LOCKED TO BULL

The number of people gravitating towards the lake has been worrying to Steph. She wants to keep an eye on things, but she's worried that getting too close will trigger something. She watches people pass by instead, keeping herself hidden and not following them. Finally several people leave all at once, and all but one come back. After that things quiet down, and she feels safe taking a slightly closer look.

Out of the trees and the lake comes into view, as does the new addition. The pod is intriguing enough that she wanders out into the open for a closer look.

ON THE NETWORK/LAKESIDE

OTA/MINGLE

The little escapade underground has left Steph with an odd sense of anxiety and a newfound appreciation for the open air. She can't quite put her finger on what unsettled her, but she knows that as long as the pod is out here in the open she and Bull aren't going to be the only ones to step inside and see what happens. If it's going to be a whole Thing then they may as well compile notes. That means letting people know, and that means posting to the village twitter. She sits on a rock at the edge of the lake and composes her message.

no telling (@StephanieBrown)

found something cool... the pod at the lake is an elevator. lights work, but idk about the structural integrity or security measures. be careful.

Comments

At the tubes

[ataashihunter]

Bull had been keeping an eye on the strange things happening as well. After the wendigo and losing someone, he doesn't really want anyone else to risk getting hurt so when Steph steps forward he follows her towards the pod. As he gets closer his curiosity gets the better of him and he reaches out to touch it.

"What do you think it does?"

[spoileralert]

Of course she notices the massive body moving behind her, and the silhouette is hard to mistake. If it’s only Bull he’s likely trying to protect her again. Luckily this time she’s wearing black jeans and not overalls he can use to throw her off balance.

“I dunno,” she answers without looking back. “It looks like a giant test tube, or something from a gumball vending machine. Or one of the transport tubes from futurama, maybe, if it had a top and a bottom.” Probably none of that makes any sense to Bull. It doesn’t stop her from making the references, much less from walking right up to the edge of the water and deciding which she values more- dry pants or keeping them on her body.

[ataashihunter]

The words make no sense to him but he doesn't comment at that, at least not right now. Unlike her he has no issues getting his pants wet and wades into the water.

"Transport tubes? Where do you think it goes to? It doesn't look like anything else here? It looks... different." Then he glances over at her. "You have things like this where you're from?... Want a ride out there?"

[spoileralert]

"The future, maybe?" She shrugs. It probably isn't any kind of transport tube. It was just the sort of design she was thinking about.

She's about to answer his first question when the second brings her up short. She looks at him for the first time.

"What, like on your back? Can you do that?"

[ataashihunter]

Bull looks at her confused for a moment, why shouldn't he be able to do that. Then he just smiles and reaches out to pick her up and place her on his shoulders. But he is making sure the movements are slow enough that she can dodge them easily if she wants.

"Of course I can."

Network/Lakeside | OTA

[ataashihunter]

After getting out of the pod Bull is happy to stretch and remind himself that he is above ground and at least so far there has been no sign of darkspawn. He walks over to where Steph is sitting and then settles down next to her, looking over the message she posted before he decides to add his own. His typing is slow, clearly this whole technology thing is new to him still.

@THEIronBull
went with Steph. place looks bigger than what we saw, no see any signs of darkspawn.

[living_proof]

I'm not going to lie: It took awhile before I even noticed the pod was out there. That's not the sort of thing you expect to see in the middle of a lake when an hour ago nothing was there, and I've been trying to focus on helping everybody else, making sure there are no injuries, mostly because if I stop, I have to acknowledge again how terrifying all of this was.

I want to know what the hell happened. I've felt out of control of my own actions plenty of times, but this was a whole other level.

I get the messages from Stephanie and then Bull before I actually spy him stretched out on the shore — Although unlike the pod, he isn't exactly easy to miss.

"Hey," I say as I trudge his way across the damp sand. "Are you okay?" He looks okay, but even big guys can get injured.

[ataashihunter]

Bull smiles slightly when he looks up at Liv and gives her a quick now. He is a little rattled and curious about what they had found and this weird place that partly seems like magic. But he is not hurt. "Yeah. Yeah we are fine. Didn't get hurt don't there. Just... it's weird."

[living_proof]

"You found something," I say, and settle myself onto the sand beside him. It isn't until my ass hits the beach that I realize how exhausted I am — Physically, I haven't done all that much, but adrenaline is like that, and with the kind of day it's been, I can already tell the come-down is going to be brutal.

"Another town?"

[ataashihunter]

He glances over at her when she sits down, putting a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"Not exactly a town. Looked like a bunch of rooms. Some sort of complex maybe. Reminded me of what I've heard of dwarven towns."

To Both: @VSparda

[demonic_divinity]

Do not go into it alone.

[spoileralert]

lol how do you think we know about the electricity?

[demonic_divinity]

Just be careful, Steph.

un change: Steph Careful Brown

[spoileralert]

Careful is my middle name. Whatever that means.

[demonic_divinity]

No, smartass is. Anyway, check in when you get back, and if you need help call.

Re: To Both: @VSparda

[ataashihunter]

We went in together, that counts.

Action/Text [OTA]

[theimmortalweapon]

Text | un; DannyRand

Do people find things like this a lot?

Action | Lakeside

It took Danny a little longer than it meant to get to the lake where Bull and Stephanie had apparently found something. He didn't know a lot about this world or it's oddities but he was curious. K'un-Lun hadn't had any technology and he hadn't actually expected this world to be much different. Yes, some of the buildings had electricity but that felt more normal than an elevator.

He was also maddeningly curious.

Danny jogged up to the location that Stephanie had indicated and saw a few people already there. "Hey." He waved, his monk robes making him look like he'd walked right out of a monastery.

"So what's happening exactly?" He'd kind of gotten the cliff-note version.

[thegreatexperiment]

The ironic thing was, Sam hadn't been hanging around the lake because of the text. She'd actually been minding her own business, trying out some of Frank's spearfishing techniques. And while she wasn't exactly 'a natural' at it, she thought she was doing all right, for a beginner. Sort of like archery in high school gym class. Or how she'd picked up on trick shots pretty fast after moving to LA and making friends with some of the local street gangsters.

Of course, this felt oddly more productive.

She'd been ignoring her wrist device. But when everyone started to cluster down the shore from her, she had to admit, she wanted to know what was up. So she grabbed her ghetto-ass spear and a couple of fairly pathetic fish she'd managed to catch and tie off around the tail, heading over.

That she looked like something out of the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show--fish and a damn pole dangling over her shoulder--didn't really cross her mind. At least she had her wig to compensate for the effect, somewhat. And when she caught sight of Danny, she managed a tentative smile, even. She'd tucked away the events of the party into a deep and compartmentalized part of her mind. It was just a blip. She was pulling her fucking self together.

Although when she saw the pod, she let out a very soft, "Fuck. Another one?"

[theimmortalweapon]

Danny noticed Sam as she neared the group of people clustered around the odd finding. She wasn't hard to spot with the blue hair though he'd been a little distracted by the event. He was disappointed in her but seeing the fish dangling from a make-shift spear gave him hope.

He nodded his head in a silent hello before looking back at the gathering.

Sam's exclamation got his attention again.

"Another one? This has happened before?"

[thegreatexperiment]

It was funny. Sometimes, Sam forgot just how new Danny was to the clown show. Felt like he'd been around for much longer. She couldn't put an explanation to the thought, but maybe it wasn't a thought. Just a feeling.

She was crap at feelings.

"Yeah," Sam said, walking over to his side. "A couple of times. It's a little hard to tell if this fuckers are a backstage pass, or just another event we have to suffer through." She rolled her eyes.

No one had ever told her that if she made a face, it might stick that way.

Looking sideways, she continued, almost in the same breath. "You're totally going to go down there, aren't you?" Not that she could blame him. But it was rare when Sam was sure she had someone else's number.

[theimmortalweapon]

Danny was relatively comfortable in his current displacement. There were times when he felt tense but his training and random anger management exercises (i.e. punching a tree) have allowed him to appear comfortable and situated in the strange town.

It was all an appearance, though Danny was fooling himself more than those around him.

He watched her move, letting his eyes follow her gait and read the set of her shoulders. Sam looked like she was feeling better. "Maybe both." He didn't really know what was going on but if this was a test of some sort, maybe they were supposed to figure out what the test was about. It wouldn't be the first time that he was tested without knowing it.

"I am." He spoke like this was a fact.

"You aren't." Again, his voice was firm and unyielding. "What can you tell me about the other pods like these? How did they show up and where?"

Text; un: no telling

[spoileralert]

idk I haven't even been here two months

it's kinda exciting though right?

[theimmortalweapon]

Exciting but it could be dangerous.

[spoileralert]

for sure. I went in with Bull though so worst case scenario he's big enough that a ceiling collapse probably wouldn't even touch me

[theimmortalweapon]

I know him and he's strong. Stay close to him and stay safe.

We don't know if there is something here more dangerous than a collapsed ceiling.