Sixth Iteration Logs

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sixthiteration

WHERE: Island-wide
WHEN: 3 May 2019, 10:00 AM and onward
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Please warn in your subject line as needed
NOTES: Details are here.

Weeks now the villagers have endured kidnappings and attacks by an unknown, if eerily familiar-looking enemy who may have been just on their periphery for much, much longer than anyone realized. Now, with another uncertain day before them all, a message lights up every device on or off of a wrist:

ALL VILLAGERS HAVE 24 HOURS TO SECURE THEIR WRIST DEVICES.
DO NOT REMOVE YOUR DEVICES.
COUNTERMEASURES ARE FORTHCOMING.

For those unclear on its urgency, the message is repeated every hour, an unmissable countdown... But to what?

vidal

WHO: Reyes Vidal
WHERE: Finnick & Annie's place (House 57)
WHEN: ~handwavey general siege times~
OPEN TO: Hawke, Finnick, Annie
WARNINGS: Violent geese!! Probably some violence to NPCs.

Since Reyes had been attacked, the two hunters had taken to walking the village armed. Hawke had more of a tendency to look in on her loved ones, and so today they were doing the rounds together, checking in on their famously reclusive married friends out at the outskirts, like performing a neighbourly check-in. Except instead of spare a cuppa sugar or want to come in for some coffee?, it's so how about those mysterious attackers, huh? Reyes still has a blossoming bruise darkening one eye from his own altercation, and he's leaning his weight on a crude spear as they stand outside in the pleasant sunshine, chatting and watching as Finnick and Annie fuss with booby traps that pique his interest. For all intents and purposes, it all looks like a nice and normal spring day out in the garden -- except that they're battening down the hatches, readying for something potentially awful.

The yard has the visitors surrounded by birds, too, and Reyes has to keep sidling further and further to the left as a particularly large goose keeps stalking closer. He's not quite sure if it approves of him or not.

"You know, I'm lamenting the fact that no one ever taught me how to build booby traps," he says. "I'm starting to think my life skills are sorely ill-fitted for this planet."

(Understatement. He's been thinking that since the day he got here.)

enterprisingheart

WHO: Jean-Luc Picard
WHERE: The Inn, the villages, and anywhere in between
WHEN: NPC siege!
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Warnings in subject lines as needed
Note: Plot details over here!

Things are none too settled in the villages, of late, between kidnappings and any of the other various attack of the interlopers (for lack of anything better). And with the latter coming more and more frequently over recent days, it's only really a matter of time before something needs to be done.

The question is then: what? And how?

notyourrookie

WHO: Agent Washington
WHERE: A bit outside the South village
WHEN: April 5th
OPEN TO: Natasha Romanoff
WARNINGS: Violence and injuries

He's been keeping to himself since the fight. Well, even more than usual. Hasn't visited the South village in a few days. He wouldn't call it embarrassment exactly; it's hardly a grappling hook to the balls, but he hates the thought of having been vulnerable, that people might know more about him than he wants them to. He really hates that North had seen him like that. Strangers weren't as bad, but people he knew? What if they thought he was crazy?

But there's only so much time he can remain scarce for before he really needs to go to the South Village to pick some things up and remind the few people who care that isn't dead.

The weather is warming up a little, and he slows down as he approaches the village, dropping to a slow jog rather than a pace that makes it seem like he's got a drill sergeant after him, and taking time to pause and stretch out.

He sees it then - someone just approaching along the road from the other direction. Their clothes look torn and they're dirty, like they've been in a fight. He knows that look well. He thinks he recognises them. Not personally, but from spending time in the village - there's few enough people there that you become familiar with the sight of most of them.

"Are you okay?"

whipshots

WHERE: The southern village, a cave system about 5 miles southwest, and in-between
WHEN: April 6
OPEN TO: Kidnappees (Agent Washington, Tim Drake-Wayne, Cissie King-Jones) & their rescuers (Agent Maine/Brigitte Lindholm; Jason Todd/Stephanie Brown; Diego Hargreeves/Seifer Almasy/Anne Weying)
WARNINGS: Violence & NPC death. Will update further as needed!

OOC details:

All 3 kidnapped villagers wake deep in a system of caves, firmly bound by rope at their ankles and wrists, with their hands in front of their bodies. It will be extremely dark. They will be able to speak to each other, however, and may notice that their wrist devices have been removed. There will be two canteens of water and two plates of berries and rice. They may begin to loosen or cut through their ropes, but it will be slow-going.

When Nat returns to the village and tells everyone about the kidnapping, it seems a fairly safe presumption that there will be folks wanting to go after the kidnapped villagers, locate them, and bring them safely back to the village. These characters may encounter NPCs along the way as they locate the kidnapped villagers and help them escape.

The odd hit-and-run assaults by the strange doppelgangers had finally escalated: three of their own had been taken. And so of course, others would go after them. Three ragtag groups eventually assembled within the southern village, setting out into the wilderness and trying to trace the path back to the origin of these inexplicable attackers, or at least where they’ve been holding their captives. It’s five miles away, so perhaps about two hours’ walk with all the stopping to check for footprints, broken branches, trampled bushes.

Once the rescuers start working through the dark caves, they start running into aggressive NPCs, and it seems likely a fight will break out.

A list of NPC clones they might encounter:

Anne Weying, Ashley Magnus, Aqua, Bobo del Rey, Brigitte Lindholm, Bruce Banner, Cissie King-Jones, Cougar Alvarez, Foggy Nelson, Frank Castle, Jacob Frye, Jason Todd, Jessica Jones, Joe Miller, John Druitt, John Wick, Kalen, Marian Hawke, Natasha Romanoff, Niska Elster, Oerba Dia Vanille, Peggy Carter, Reyes Vidal, Rinoa Heartilly, Rosa Diaz, Samantha Moon, Seifer Almasy, Thor Odinson, Tim Drake-Wayne

tothefly

WHO: Natasha Romanoff
WHERE: South Village outskirts
WHEN: April 5th, spam from 5th-8th
OPEN TO: all (Network first response goes to Reyes)
WARNINGS: Injuries

[network, video, OTA (first response goes to Reyes)]

[It looks like there's something smeared over the screen; it's just a jumble of color, blacks and browns and the faintest hint of sky peeking through here and there, a blur that implies faint motion. The voice is recognizable as Natasha's, but the words are slightly slurred and it sounds like she's having a hard time putting them together.]

They took...him. I think--

[A small sound of pain, and another brief pause of labored breathing.]

Don't...know his name. Tall. Blonde. Fighter. Teal wristband. More of those people--not us--

Think I--know which way they went. Someone needs to...

[And then there's the sound of someone falling, and the video ends.]

[action, south village inn, OTA]

A concussion means Natasha isn't going to sleep any time soon. She should still be resting, shouldn't be sitting up given the state of her injuries, but judging by the look on her face anyone who tells her that has a good chance of going through the window she's sitting by. The map she and Loki had found is unfurled on the table in front of her, and she's bent over it, marking distances and looking pretty intent, despite her pale, clammy skin and the rapidly purpling bruise emanating outward from her temple, a cut at its center.

She doesn't even bother looking up as she hears someone enter the room, instead holding out a hand towards them and motioning. "Come here. I need another pair of hands."

aguidingkey

WHO: Aqua
WHERE: By the forge
WHEN: Early morning in late March
OPEN TO: Seifer Almasy
WARNINGS: MAYBE KH3 SPOILERS, I will mark them in the comment subject lines, fighting, violence, anything else will be updated and marked

( the sweet impulse )

vidal

WHO: Reyes Vidal
WHERE: Outskirts of the southern village
WHEN: Today?
OPEN TO: John Wick
WARNINGS: Language, violence, and a Ghost in the Machine fight

( village outskirts | john )

fishermansweater

WHO: Finnick Odair
WHERE: Outskirts of the South Village
WHEN: February 4
OPEN TO: Jessica Jones and Marian Hawke
WARNINGS: Probably cursing, references to canon violence

It had been a long trek back from the building in the mountains (shrine, other people had called it, though the word had been unfamiliar to Finnick). He'd gotten back fine, and his preparedness for an everyday fishing trip had been very useful for the group: it meant he could start fires, fight foxes, hike through the cold, take his share of the lead during the trek and the watch during the nights. When he'd gotten back, he'd been exhausted, and he'd spent days at home curled up with Annie and Coco, the little crocdog that had adopted them. But the need for food didn't wait for comfort, so now he's back to his morning routine of long treks along the river and out to the lake to check and reset his fish traps.

One of the traps had been broken yesterday, and he'd brought it back to fix it. He'd been finishing it off this morning, so he's a little later on his outward trek than he usually is.

Maybe that's coincidence. Maybe it's not, because as Finnick is approaching the bridge on the edge of the South Village, there's a flash of movement on the edge of his vision. Danger? Approaching villager? Animal? He doesn't see it well enough to tell, but it's enoughto snap his attention to the spot, and see her.

Moana.

His heart lurches. She's been gone for months, or he thought she'd been gone for months, but there she is, dark hair messy and matted, face gaunt, scrubs so torn and dirty it's hard to tell they were once dark blue.

He's seen what the victor looks like when they're plucked from the arena. She looks like that, a tribute who's been in the arena for weeks, barely surviving with little hope of victory. She's half-hidden behind a shrub, but he knows it's her.

"Moana!"

He starts towards her, and the girl turns and darts back into the scrub.

"Moana! It's okay!" He starts off after her, running, bursting into the plant she'd been hiding in only to see her disappearing up ahead. He starts to run after her, but his training kicks in and reminds him how bad an idea that is and he comes to a reluctant stop. He wants to help her. He should help her, but he can't trust what he sees. It could be her, or it could be a trap by the Gamemakers. It could be an illusion. It could be a lot of things, and he shouldn't run into potential danger both blind and alone.

So he slashes a mark into the bark of the tree he'd seen her run past and turns back the direction he'd come.

The first people he sees are both familiar faces, so he doesn't bother with niceties.

"Did you see that? Did you see her?"

Sixth Iteration

Logs

Entries tagged with - plot: ghost in the machine

Credits & Style Info

[MINGLE | PLOT] Ghost in the Machine Ends

but if you're worried about the weather, then you picked the wrong place to stay.

(no subject)

Ghost Stories

ghost in the machine, pt. two | rescue mingle

No Longer Ghosts [network+log]

my heart's a battleground ( closed )

oh, now, just dirt and mud in my veins.

ψ can't turn back now I'm haunted | CLOSED