System Glitch: In The City: Ship Ahoy! [location: Osten]

[theextras]

The day of July fourth was spent dealing with annoying, static-ridden transmissions from the tablets. Hisses, bleeps, pops, and occasionally what might have been an indistinguishable voice saying something unintelligible. The interruptions ceased in the evening, and the city went back to being quiet and empty.

The fifth brought more of the same, but shortly after noon something curious happened: if one consulted the map, they'd note a dot out in the ocean. Zooming in on the dot showed that it was not one but many dots, each with a familiar name attached, and observation would show that the dots were headed toward a never-before-used ferry terminal on the Osten waterfront.

Go meet your people, Taxon, and send them to get showers post haste!


ooc: The ferry terminal is a proper building so our vampires aren't in danger of going foom.

And that's that! Thanks everyone, this plot's been ridiculous fun, now back to your regularly scheduled hijinks.

Comments

[Rooftop of Azkadellia's building]

[hasaheart]

"You'll be surprised the things you'll come to like. Just you wait and see." Big hands make for big handfuls, and before long he's filled a fairly large pot (designated for a lone tomato plant), and brings the bag over to help her with the box. Somewhere in the background, there's a murmur of something that you can't hear, but he can feel it in his belly. Probably just another alien trick with the tablets. What else can they do to shake things up, or whatever.

"You're getting better, you know. At the cooking thing. It's all about practice, not being afraid to go with your gut."

...maybe it's not just a murmur. Murmurs don't usually have rhythm.

Wyatt frowns, looking at his young friend. "Am I going crazy, or-- Can you feel that?"

[Rooftop of Azkadellia's building]

[azoftheoz]

She was much a child in filling the box, delighting in the soil between her fingers, the feel of dirt and rocks as the scent filled the air. It was living, and life and she cherished it now that she had her life to live once more.

So caught up, the sound is distant to her, focused on working and Cain.

"I want to learn. If nothing else, maybe I can cook for Glitch when he comes over for... you know," she said, not speaking of it much these days. It was there. Waiting. Glitch wasn't.

She paused, looking up at Cain.

"I... What is that," she asked, sitting back on her heels, nose wrinkling with a frown. "Is that normal?"

[Rooftop of Azkadellia's building]

[hasaheart]

Wyatt nodded absently, not wanting to think about that. The notion of Glitch's brain being here, in Taxon had unnerved him right from the start. He still felt bad about the intrusion at the cabin, felt worse yet for threatening to shoot Glitch's brain (and worst of all was Glitch, or Ambrose, had believed he'd do it). As first impressions go, he just kept making a mess of things. It's good to know he's learned from his mistakes.

But that noise that isn't noise but grating just the same... It's getting to him, filling him with a sinking, unspoken dread of what now.

"Wash your hands. Get your tablet. We need to figure out where it's coming from."

He gets up, brushing his hands and arms free of most of the dirt. This needs investigating.

[Rooftop of Azkadellia's building]

[azoftheoz]

Azkadellia watched Cain intently, eyes narrowing slightly. He was caught up in that noise, everything that came with it, and that was easily transferred to her with the way she had been focusing on the former tin man.

She nodded, pushing quickly to her feet. "Right back," she said, dashing to the bucket and towel she had to one side, rinsing most of the dirt off her hands. She ignored the dark lines around her nails, briskly scrubbing her hands with the towel.

Her tablet sat nearby and she grabbed it up, flipping it around in her hands.

"Cain? What is this," she asked, handing it to him.

[Rooftop of Azkadellia's building]

[hasaheart]

For a moment, Cain scans the streets below, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then, after finding nothing amiss in the near vicinity, he takes his turn at the bucket, looking at the tablet when Azkadellia brings it over.

...is that? What is that? And it's heading for...

That wasn't there last time he checked. Right? Right. Something is very clearly up, and despite himself, heart going at its thing like a jackhammer, he can't help but feel hesitantly hopeful. Maybe it doesn't have to be bad this time, it's not always bad, sometimes it's just weird, and maybe just this once it could be good--

"Hang on," he wipes his hands mostly clean, zooming in on the massive dot moving towards just off the beach.

For a heartbeat or two, he doesn't breathe. Then he does, one short, stuttered gasp.

"It's them. It's everyone."

[Rooftop of Azkadellia's building]

[azoftheoz]

Something was wrong. The last time there had been no warning. They had woken up to an empty city. Would the warning be the final act? Had they assumed everyone went back and now, whatever the city was, was falling apart? She had a sudden fear the city was crumbling and they were over and done for.

Leaning in over the tablet, peering at the dot as it became more dots. So many tiny dots in a tiny space. Dots with names.

"I...They..." Glitch. Paul. Mayland. She saw their names, eyes welling up with tears. "Come on. We have to go," she said, tugging at his sleeve.