kenoslogs | The Seeds of Unrest, Phase Two 🌱

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The Seeds of Unrest, Phase Two 🌱

UPROOTED

Time has not been kind thus far, and the future will be no kinder.

The slow passage of days to weeks has seen both cities increasingly ravaged by the untamed growth of the enlarging roots. Their size is enough to uproot buildings by their foundations, if not bisect them entirely where they push through unfettered. In the worst-hit areas, entire blocks are left abandoned - if even standing at all, displacing families and leaving businesses in ruins.

Cetina and Kathova have been in near constant contact with Bearers via Communion, feeding them information about which areas to focus their lifesaving efforts. Yima’s Manor and the Seat of the Tribune - despite their closeness to the Trees - have been fortified by your leaders and act as a base of operations for each respective faction. You will be able to return to either to find sanctuary from the chaos beyond, but the innumerable civilians are not so lucky.

Bearers are tasked with rescue and recovery efforts and requested to assist hands on the ground with taking refugees to temporary shelters. Survivors must be dug out of the debris. Those who are capable of healing will be enlisted to assist at hospitals and triage centers. Supplies must be gathered and harvested from areas that are collapsed and too dangerous for civilians to navigate. If you are feeling generous, you can go on search and rescue missions, as many people are considered missing in both Highstorm and Springstar. Some areas are completely cut off to regular foot traffic by the massive, winding roots bearing countless Blight-blooms. Citizens are succumbing to the Blight flower’s effects persistent from phase one with more and more frequency.

While both cities slowly succumb to a deepening catastrophe, the situation worsens.

STIRRING STORMS

As the days pass, inexplicable and unnatural weather occurrences will randomly plague both cities. They can last as long as a full day or as little as an hour before dissolving entirely.

Flurries: this snow is tainted by the Blight, making the snowfall look like ash. Any organic matter it touches will be affected by reopening wounds, re-infection of illnesses, or re-experiencing injuries that may have healed over years ago.
Thunderstorms: these storms carry a frigid rainfall and heavy cloud cover, making already difficult-to-navigate disaster zones harder to clear. As each thunder bellow crashes overhead, you might swear you hear a familiar voice reaching out to you in the fading rumble… one that sends a message - either from the future or past.
Fog: dense clouds of thick, freezing fog will roll in randomly, making visibility even more precarious. In your search for survivors - or your companions, you may find yourself coming face to face with someone else, instead: a version of yourself (or a companion) from another timeline. You may also hear your own voice calling out to you from within the fog, attempting to beckon you further into the mist.
General Note: Exposure to any of the above weather patterns will increase your Blight infection.

THE BLIGHT COMES FOR ALL

As if it were not enough to see the cities that have become your salvation at the end of the Timestream falling to collapse and ruin, the Bearers will slowly begin to realize their previous immunity to the Blight is eroding. They will begin to show symptoms of infection that increase into May’s event. ( For more information on the effects of the Blight and purification methods, please see the OOC Summary. )

Now that their last bastion - the Bearers - are just as much in harm’s way as everyone else, the populous’s efforts to formulate a temporary stop-gap solution are being rushed to completion. Time is not on anyone’s side. They will continue to work with those who have been kind enough to volunteer their resources and brilliant minds - collecting materials and attempting to figure out a way to avert their otherwise inevitable destiny.

ORDERS

Orders from your leaders will come as soon as infections among the Bearers have been confirmed.

🌙 YIMA will stress for all Zenite Bearers to prioritize their well-being and to avoid unnecessary exposure, to manage their symptoms as much as possible. They must fight for their own survival to bring in the birth of a new universe - and their lives are too precious to risk. Beyond that, she asks them to save what they can of their people and their most critical structures with the understanding that hard choices may be necessary.

🌞 CYRUS will implore all Meridian Bearers to prioritize the general population's lives and turn their efforts to save as much of Springstar as they can. He will note that Bearers have ways to help keep one another from suffering too much contagion and to coordinate their usages appropriately, to keep one another safe, and watch their backs.

ANOTHER EN-TREE-TY

The Tree of Life continues to sicken, yet - thankfully - the progression of the Blight is slow. Still, Bearers will find themselves occasionally compelled to take a moment to sit beneath its boughs and vibrant leaves, even as some begin to show signs of discoloration and rot. Any characters who sit with the Tree with the purple leaf they found on their person after phase one will find it warming to the touch, its veins laced with gold. This effect will be even more effective if taken into the cavernous roots beneath the Tree! While this may fill you with a temporary sense of calm, it doesn't seem to have any other effects... yet still, you are compelled, if not curious.

The Tree has offered you this gift for a reason. Perhaps you will find its use before long.

...As long as you - and Kenos - survive long enough to discover it.

CODING

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ idk what i was expecting honestly, but this checks out.

there is another shrill scream - this one even higher?? an octave somehow - before Vash appears to go and reach for his gun holstered at his side once more (the very second 'Melshi' appears, huh, weird how he seems to have the power of precognition isn't it, weird, kind of like he saw this coming or something, couldn't be. or could it? nah. UNLESS? no, no. surely Melshi isn't predictable in this instance, no way).

...anyway, this requires him to loosen his grip on the lamppost which is, tragically, ill-prepared to handle all this jostling and Vash's shifting weight. this sees him abruptly sliding upside-down and dangling by one arm where the other holds his pistol, and then-- ]

NonononononooOOO--

[ --the lamppost is yanked one more time - right as a blade shoots in a blur from a certain individual's hand with surefire precision. Vash is sent freefalling downward, the whole of his weight coming to land point blank on the Blighted man's upper body as the gunman screams bloody murder.

it happens as if in slow motion.

1) the figure suffering his affliction collides with the cold, hard ground with a heavy thud, knocking his head against the cracked cobblestone beneath him.

2) a banshee-screeching Vash ends up going right on down with him, his cries muffled as he ends up sprawled in a heap of idiot atop his would-be cushion, coat turned upside-down and over his head, and

3) the blade miraculously sinks into Vash's left, prosthetic arm which just so happened to be in the right position to guard the Blighted guy against harm as they were falling, ]

[

what the fuck. ]

[ no for real give him a second here. ]

[ from over there, ]

Are you okay?

[ Blighted Guy isn't moving underneath him as Vash sits up, trapped beneath his coat for a few seconds before he finally manages to-- finagle... it to... GET OFF HIS......... HEAD, IT'S-- ]

...

[ FLUSTERED

STARING DIRECTLY AT MELSHI ]

[ and then DRAMATICALLY flailing his left arm, which has the stupid blade sticking out of it, ]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! DO I LOOK OKAY?!?! DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING OUT FOR ME OR WHAT?!

[ well, if he can make this level of dramatics, he's probably fine.

cassian approaches, says, wry, ]

Try not to fall next time.

[ and — is he going to reach over to just pull the knife back out of vash's arm? yeah, he is. is he going to help with the coat situation? no, he is not. ]

[ ......he goes more still as 'Melshi' approaches, fully expecting a little assistance, here--

which means Vash gets an up close and personal view as Melshi leans over,

grasps the handle of the blade,

pulls it out of his arm,

and just. ]

Anyone ever tell you you could work on your people skills?

Edited 2023-05-06 03:25 (UTC)

[ the blade disappears back in its hiding place in his boot, done before he straightens. he regards vash with a bemused tilt to his eyebrows, then shrugs flippantly. ]

No. You're the first.

[ hahahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahahah. ]

Are you planning on staying down there all day?

You planning on apologizing for sticking me-- again?!

[ Vash shoots this out accusingly as he FINALLY manages to get his coat properly over his head and untangled, looking red in the face from... exertion? frustration? maybe both. ]

And would you PLEASE stop trying to kill people?! AND. And, how many of those knives do you have?!

[ cassian has, of course, no intention of answering any of those questions.

in fact he barely seems like he's heard them. there's a tinge of exasperation, impatience, that touches his expression, but that's all there is. of course he won't apologize. of course he won't say how many knives he has. and he has no interest in killing the infected man now that he's incapacitated, no longer an active threat to either the young man from earlier or vash now. in fact, he glances back in the direction of the medical center briefly, wondering if they should take him back there. or — somewhere.

but then something cool touches his skin, then another, then another. the clouds above finally making good on the promise of snow from before with flurries beginning in earnest. cassian glances upwards, the flakes starting to collect on his gloves, his sleeves, melting into the exposed skin of his wrists and face and into his hair. he shivers.

then his next breath is a sharp inhale, every line of his body seeming to tense. he swallows, then he looks to vash, jerking a head to the blighted man underneath him. ]

Get him somewhere safe. He'll need help when he comes to.

[ rearrangement of priorities: there's something wrong with the snow (there's only one thing wrong with kenos right now, or one very salient thing), and they all need to get out of it. vash especially, the blight-stricken man, especially. the latter should be dealt while it's still possible. if vash is physically capable, and he should be, he can do that. and cassian will —

well, don't worry about it. ]

[ Vash is dragging himself off of the poor Blighted Guy still taking a nice nap that will hopefully see him a little less crazed when he wakes up - even if it also means he's likely to have succumbed further to his affliction. the way this thing works is horrible, and he truly isn't jealous of anyone who is suffering its effects.

he's crouched down next to him, examining the state of the man's head injury when he hears Melshi's directions; Vash angles his head up, looking at his companion with a slight frown. ]

Where're you off to?

[ does it still sound slightly haughty around the edges? gee, can't imagine why...

but he hasn't yet picked up on anything abnormal about the heavier snowfall. it's probably lucky that Vash's skin is nearly entirely covered save for his face and neck by habit - that, or maybe he's gotten lucky so far... ]

You aren't the only one in this city who needs my help.

[ oh, is that how we're characterizing what happened here? apparently we are. but vash is still moving too slowly. the snow is only continuing to come down, and cassian can't imagine it'll be long before he or even the blighted man start to feel the effects of it. won't they? no, better question: is he willing to risk that?

impatiently, he clarifies, ]

There's something wrong with the snow. We need to get out of it.

[ because with every prickle of cold and wet that touches his skin, his pain mounts. he flips up the collar of his coat to better protect his neck, but even that motion is stiff, difficult. he isn't clear yet on what, precisely, is happening, but — it's only going to get worse the longer they stay out here. ]

[ well.

that does serve to kick a little pep into Mr. Stampede's step; something becomes slightly sharper in his gaze before he's hauling the Blighted man up, slinging one of the guy's arms around his shoulders to give his weight an upward heave. ]

You took the other one to the med checkpoint, right?

[ the civilian he and 'Melshi' had run across after their paths had crossed earlier. before the... Tragic Events that followed, yes. ]

You think we make it?

[ 'we,' yes. he sure did say we. and Melshi can choose to hear a 'we' that refers to Vash and Blighted Guy, but he surely knows Vash is including dear, sweet Melshi in that 'we,' too. ]

[ cassian andor is nothing if not practical.

that means he hears the way vash says 'we' and understands his meaning. that means he considers the likelihood of argument following multiple answers he could give, and whether or not they really have time for that. he weighs his options, and chooses to go for the most expedient one.

so: in a low, urgent voice he tells vash the fastest way to get to that same medical checkpoint cassian had taken the other man to, where he'd come from to find vash. and then he meets vash's eyes, and he says, ]

Come back for me after. I'd just slow you down now.

[ the only reason he hadn't stirred himself to help carry all that dead weight vash is dealing with: he's not sure he can. the priority right now, despite the murder attempts before, is to get that man to safety and help. it's something that ranks above cassian's well-being, and vash's too. he glances upwards again and adds, ]

I'll try to get out of the snow. Don't let it touch you if you can help it.

[ though he might play the part of the idiot well, Vash isn't ~~entirely~~ as stupid as he lets on. whether it's something he's able to tell from 'Melshi's' posture, from the tone of his voice, from the strain in his eyes - it's inconsequential. in what might come as a surprising move, the gunman doesn't argue with Melshi.

he gives a nod. instead, he's shifting his weight to piggyback the unconscious Blighted man... and beginning to run off in the direction Melshi had indicated with a shout over his shoulder. ]

Get some cover; I'll find you. --And don't go and try to kill anybody 'til I get back!

[ cassian had guessed that vash would understand. call it, perhaps, a hunch. but he's already seem too many coincidences around this man to actually believe them for coincidence.

he huffs out a soft breath, almost a scoff, at the instruction — WHO IS HE GOING TO KILL HERE, HE'S ALONE — and watches vash leave with the man until they round a corner, out of view. getting vash to leave without him had been the gamble; there's no question in this mind that a man like this would come back for him. that's why he'd folded it into his instructions, and into his plan. suggesting vash do otherwise would only incite a different argument, waste time, for likely the same result.

instead, he finally allows himself a low hiss through his teeth, staggers backwards until he's inside a nearby alley, moves towards an overhang he'd seen from a distance. not a large one, but more protection than none. the cataloguing of his pain, his apparent injury, is a cold, clinical thing. none of it makes sense, but that's so often been the case in kenos. he hasn't felt this bad since —

since.

that pulls him up short. raises the question, again, of what the hell the snow is doing; but with more of an answer, reconsidered in this context. he

hurries over to that relative shelter, where he can let himself slide to the ground. and keep an eye out for vash, if the blighted weather doesn't stop his return. ]

[ Vash, luckily enough, is pretty quick on his feet and gifted with impressive stamina if the haste of his return has anything to say about it. 'Melshi' is left to lick his wounds in peace for a good ten minutes, tops, before he'd hear the thud of booted footsteps approaching from the street at a rapid pace. ]

Hey, you didn't go and die on me, did you?

[ the call comes from a bit down the block as he draws in closer, and he can't quite manage to keep the hint of urgency out of his voice despite the casual nature of his tone. he's worried; something is wrong with the snow. something that had hit Melshi fast and hard.

and there's no telling how hard, yet. ]

Sorry to disappoint you,

[ is tossed back, so at least his sarcasm is intact. cassian isn't very far down the alleyway, and so likely isn't hard to find. he's on the ground, leaning heavily against the wall, breathing too hard for someone who isn't moving. if there's blood, (and there is,) it isn't apparent at least. perhaps hidden under all those layers? don't worry about it.

despite all that, he looks up to vash, focusing his attention by sheer force of will. he couldn't get up if he wanted to, but that isn't his only concern right now. it's not even his most pressing one. ]

You found the checkpoint?

[ it's as much concern for the man vash knocked out, as an excuse to look vash over with a critical eye. how is he doing, with the snow reopening old wounds? ]

[ the rhythm of his footsteps slows as he reaches the mouth of the alley, and Vash takes one look over 'Melshi' before his shoulders sag in relief. granted... it isn't much relief considering the pallor of the other man's face that suggests Bad Things Are Indeed Afoot, but he hasn't gone and kicked the bucket. he'll take even a minor victory, these days.

Vash comes a bit closer before crouching at Melshi's side; they are now sizing one another up, as men do (??). thankfully, despite bearing 230948092834 scars, Vash seems to be hanging in there, not outwardly worse for wear. ]

Yeah. They sedated our guy, said they'll keep him under for a while. People've been losing it all over the place...

[ ...he is worried, but he's doing his best to put that aside. one crisis at a time. ]

How you holding up?

[ 'because you look terrible' is, very kindly, left unsaid. ]

Good.

[ is more a response to news of the survival of the man he tried to murder twice than how he's holding up, but could, you know, be some of both. he's holding up, and that's about as good as it gets right now. and at least vash seems to be doing alright, so much the better. if they were both doing poorly, the situation would be much worse. ]

We should get out of the weather. [ but, ] I'll need help.

[ is pretty much the understatement of the century. should vash go to help him up, he'll find that cassian makes a sincere effort — all gritted teeth and white knuckled and uncomplaining — but can't seem to support his own weight. his legs shake violently, move awkwardly, and he flinches away from touch too near his midsection. he might reflect, later, that it makes some kind of sense: that the snow reopened some of his most recent wounds. it's not random, much as he'd much rather be reliving one of a thousand old blaster burns right about now. ]

[ yeah. he does need help and Vash can see that long before 'Melshi' struggles to get upright. the signs of someone in serious pain are ones Vash is well acquainted with, and he's quickly lowering his companion back down to see the strain it's causing him. giving him an over-the-shoulder carry isn't going to work when he's in this condition. ]

Chest or back?

[ is it front-loaded? back? or is Melshi in the super fun category of All-Arounder where both sides are fucked? either way, moving will hurt - it's just a matter of how much and if they can find a way to transport him without, say... him passing out. ]

Back.

[ admitted after a moment. it's not the whole story, but the worst; he'd gone down hard after getting shot in the data vault, hit a beam with his back before landing on his side. all a blur in his memory now, but he remembers enough to say. ]

[ alright. alright; Vash takes in this info with a nod of his head, and it seems like he's formulating a plan. ]

Sorry to say, but I'm not one of those real helpful types who can do [ he makes wiggly... finger... gestures? ] that healing magic stuff. We're gonna have to get you back to the med tents. You think you can hold out if I piggyback you...?

[ Vash thinks about making a wisecrack about how he'll be a real smooth ride or something, but 'Melshi's probably not in the mood for... you know. too much in the way of jesting, seeing as how the pinched pain in his eyes seems to be getting worse by the second rather than more tolerable. ]

STIRRING STORMS

ORDERS

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