[MINGLE] PLOT: Down the Tubes: Alarm

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: The bunker & elsewhere
WHEN: 1 September 2018
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Please warn on threads
NOTES: Plot Details | Bunker Details | Bunker Map & Key
Threads may take place ANYTIME during the plot, including before, during and after the tubes have been opened, just please do not godmod tube arrivals without explicit permission. Related threads not in the bunker are welcomed, as are general bunker exploration/reaction threads that have nothing to do with the arrivals. Please reference the bunker key doc for what is and isn't available to explore at present.

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Deep under the mountain, tucked away in the newly-discovered bunker complex, there is a room where everyone begins. It is filled with equipment — Computer consoles, monitors — but the point of it all resides within ten vertical stasis tubes lined neatly along a far wall.

One of them has been cracked and lies dormant, dry. In six of the remaining are bodies, unconscious and floating in their familiar vari-colored scrubs, vital signs ticking calmly off on their respective readouts.

In the corner, near the cracked tube, the ceiling has shattered and tumbled inward, across the floor and over the largest console in the room — The one flashing 24 HOURS UNTIL STASIS FAILURE.

Comments

[symbolizes]

He really has nothing better to do than hear this man out. It gives him a direction to go in which is important for a man seeking the truth all across the globe. "I could use both. Thank you." Clark shuffles to his feet. Nothing feels right, but that can't be helped as far as he knows. He'll ask Kira sooner or later about it. "Lead the way. Please."

[3ofswords]

"It's not far," he promises, leading Clark back through the field. He'll get a view of the fountain park, the crops, the back of the Town Hall and houses. A sense of--a place, maybe, if not its scale or purpose.

Cutting to the back door, they pass the still over the cold char of a previous fire, and Kira slips in first to hold Aurora at bay. "Hush," he tells her: "New people, I know." Crouching down to smooth her ears and talk to her directly seems to appease her--he might be the one thing that can compete with a new smell. "I don't have anything that would fit you," he says, like it isn't evident from looking at him. "But you should have fresh clothes in that pack; bathroom and bedrooms are upstairs if you want to change while I wrangle the animals."

[symbolizes]

It is a good and necessary tour. Even in his shock and justified fear over what's happening to him, he's reminded of home. It sinks into his head this is real. It's crazy so far, but very real. There are people here who need to eat and take care of each other. That's comforting even if it hadn't always been the best experience for him.

Even the dog that greets him is familiar. Clark hopes the one he left behind back home is still doing well. The thought doesn't get any further than that before Clark catches up to what Kira is saying. Clark touches the shoulder of his pack like he forgot that was even there. In his defense, backpacks are basically a second skin to him at this point. "I'll check for them. Thank you." Clark slips past the pair to get upstairs and change. He won't be long no matter how overwhelming this all is. This part at least feels familiar.

[3ofswords]

Kira spends more time wrangling his anxiety off a ramp, which just aims it down the slope of numbing depression. Aurora licks a face gone blank in Clark's absence, and Kira has to make himself get up, stow the moonshine, give her a braid of plant husks to chew on under the dining room table.

He looks down at his watch, where the other signals have gone dark, and messages are trickling in before the flood.

It's all coming to a head now, isn't it? All out in the open with proof. People are going to want to talk about it and he's going to want to scream, for every second of everyone catching the fuck up.

Not Clark's fault: he centers on that. Centers on the bare bones hospitality of early harvest fare and native tubers searing in a pan, by the time Clark returns. "Sit," he offers, spatula pointed at the table with Aurora underneath. "Think about what you want to know, ask a million questions. I can multitask."

[symbolizes]

He takes his time getting dressed mostly to collect himself. Clark is in a strange place without the abilities that have been a part of his life for so long. He's shaken to say the least. He needs time to just get used to how it feels to do things without having to be in control every second of every day.

Clark comes down sooner rather than later with his wet clothing in hand. It's all set off to the side. He'll need to find somewhere for it to dry later, but one problem at a time. For now, he's taking a seat at the table and trying to be calm. The familiarity of the scene again makes it a little easier. "Why am I here? Where is here? How does that watch know who I am?" He starts. Each question is carefully spaced apart. Clark seems in no rush. He'll wait patiently for whatever Kira has to offer him.