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nomans_land2023-05-02 05:02 am
nml_mods) wrote in nomans_land2023-05-02 05:02 am
Entry tags:
On The First Day
It had been months.
Months of terror, of families ripped apart, refugees racing against the Ark in the sky, against the Plants that had once been their only source of survival on the world and had now been turned against them, raining lightning and death down on them like the hand of a vengeful God. Humanity pushed to the brink, fleeing their homes and communities, waves of refugees fleeing across the sands as more and more towns and cities fell to the reign of destruction that had been biting at their heels every step of the way.
And then, as the last descendants of the survivors of the Big Fall clustered in the city of Octovern, spiilling out into the streets, every available, livable space filled to capacity and beyond, what felt like the final days of humanity began. The sounds of artillery fire filled the air, the sight of the Ark and its grotesque ruler loomed overhead, and in the distant sky high above, the previously-inconceivable reinforcement ships from Earth took up orbit around No Man's Land. Throughout the night, explosions lit up the sky, thundering with deafening reports through the air, and yet the civilians below had settled into a still, terrified, anticipatory silence. They couldn't see, from their perspective, the figures atop the ruins of the Earth's space destroyers that had already fallen to the ground, locked in battle for the future of the people far below. But the sight of Millions Knives high above, terrifying and grotesque with the power of the Plants he had absorbed, was omnipresent, a never-ending threat, the harbinger of doom, biding his time until he could make good on his promise to wipe every last one of them off the face of existence.
And then something had changed.
Electrical currents rippled through the air above the downed ship, carrying screams on the wind. To the people below, Millions Knives' massive form had shifted, writhing, bellowing with unholy rage and pain and despair. And then it begun to unmake itself, shredding, crumbling, tearing itself apart at the seams and floating to the ground in tiny, shining, white particles. Tiny, white feathers drifted on the wind, closer and closer before, one by one, they began to settle to the roofs of the buildings, to the tops of cars and to the streets, and to the heads and faces of the humans staring up from below.
The instant that contact was made between feather and skin, a connection was made; between Human and Plant, between each person standing side by side, minds thrown open in bursts of light and expanding consciousness, and through the doors sprang multitudes of memories spanning hundreds of years. Suffering, laughter, pain, sorrow, joy, enslavement, death, pride, love. The Plants had made the connection to their creators - their keepers - that they had been silently pleading for since their first containment, and with it every man, woman, and child on the surface of the world began to see and feel and hear their stories and their cries for help. They did not want this war, they did not want this destruction. They had seen the promises of vengeance and a paradise for their kind atop the bones of humanity offered by Millions Knives and they had felt the hopes and dreams carried by Vash the Stampede of a kinder, more loving world, and they had made their choice.
Let there be love and peace in this world.
In the chaos that followed, as the bodies of the Plants began tumbling to the ground in a writhing mass and the screams of shock and confusion began to rise from the sea of humanity below, something rippled in the air, a last gasp of those silent voices before the connection was lost.
This was...different. New. As if reality had taken the distraction caused by the calamity below to shift itself sharply to the left, and then snapped. It started at the core of the mass of angelic bodies as men and women began to rush to their aid, a shockwave in the fabric of creation that rumbled silently in the atoms of the world and ricocheted outward, along the ground, through the air, until it had enveloped the entire planet. Time froze for an instant, and to the eyes of all who had the capacity for sight, that leftward shift became manifest, the world doubling on itself as the ground shook beneath their feet.
Wails of confusion and fear rose into the night sky, and for a brief moment, it felt as if the world were about to unmake itself on the molecular level. But then, just as suddenly as it had come, the distortion snapped back into place with a loud, ear-splitting CRACK, and in the stunned silence that followed, only one thing could be certain; things were not the same as they had been mere moments ago, as if everything and yet nothing at all had changed, all at once.
The world of No Man's Land was as it should be, but all across the surface of the planet, pockets of reality had split open, sending the inhabitants of mirrored existences tumbling through wide, unseen rifts. People and places outside of time and space found themselves staggering to their feet in a world that was both foreign and familiar at the same time, found themselves face to face with their own reflection made flesh, tossed about by the pleas of a race reaching across the fabric of creation for aid in putting a stop to a war that had been fought time and time again, across reality after reality, without fail.
Thus began the new chapter in the history of No Man's Land.
[Wherever your character was, whatever they were doing, when the rifts in reality opened, they will have found themselves rocked by a massive earthquake that lastes a few short seconds before settling with a loud crack, like thunder. While no damage will be left in its wake, the characters themselves will realize that though the planet appears to be the same, it will quickly become evident that they are in an alternate reality of the place they call home. Are they standing in the rubble of a once-destroyed city now remade whole? Is the bar they had been taking refuge in suddenly gone, leaving them tumbling to the sand with nothing but their drink in their hand? And what of the friends that had been standing by their side seconds before? This is where your stories begin.]
Months of terror, of families ripped apart, refugees racing against the Ark in the sky, against the Plants that had once been their only source of survival on the world and had now been turned against them, raining lightning and death down on them like the hand of a vengeful God. Humanity pushed to the brink, fleeing their homes and communities, waves of refugees fleeing across the sands as more and more towns and cities fell to the reign of destruction that had been biting at their heels every step of the way.
And then, as the last descendants of the survivors of the Big Fall clustered in the city of Octovern, spiilling out into the streets, every available, livable space filled to capacity and beyond, what felt like the final days of humanity began. The sounds of artillery fire filled the air, the sight of the Ark and its grotesque ruler loomed overhead, and in the distant sky high above, the previously-inconceivable reinforcement ships from Earth took up orbit around No Man's Land. Throughout the night, explosions lit up the sky, thundering with deafening reports through the air, and yet the civilians below had settled into a still, terrified, anticipatory silence. They couldn't see, from their perspective, the figures atop the ruins of the Earth's space destroyers that had already fallen to the ground, locked in battle for the future of the people far below. But the sight of Millions Knives high above, terrifying and grotesque with the power of the Plants he had absorbed, was omnipresent, a never-ending threat, the harbinger of doom, biding his time until he could make good on his promise to wipe every last one of them off the face of existence.
And then something had changed.
Electrical currents rippled through the air above the downed ship, carrying screams on the wind. To the people below, Millions Knives' massive form had shifted, writhing, bellowing with unholy rage and pain and despair. And then it begun to unmake itself, shredding, crumbling, tearing itself apart at the seams and floating to the ground in tiny, shining, white particles. Tiny, white feathers drifted on the wind, closer and closer before, one by one, they began to settle to the roofs of the buildings, to the tops of cars and to the streets, and to the heads and faces of the humans staring up from below.
The instant that contact was made between feather and skin, a connection was made; between Human and Plant, between each person standing side by side, minds thrown open in bursts of light and expanding consciousness, and through the doors sprang multitudes of memories spanning hundreds of years. Suffering, laughter, pain, sorrow, joy, enslavement, death, pride, love. The Plants had made the connection to their creators - their keepers - that they had been silently pleading for since their first containment, and with it every man, woman, and child on the surface of the world began to see and feel and hear their stories and their cries for help. They did not want this war, they did not want this destruction. They had seen the promises of vengeance and a paradise for their kind atop the bones of humanity offered by Millions Knives and they had felt the hopes and dreams carried by Vash the Stampede of a kinder, more loving world, and they had made their choice.
Of course, but...what would he do at a time like this?
I wonder if he'll laugh again
I wonder if he'll follow his ideals again.
I see. You all know him as well. That young man with a gentle smile.
Little Red Brother.
Let there be love and peace in this world.
In the chaos that followed, as the bodies of the Plants began tumbling to the ground in a writhing mass and the screams of shock and confusion began to rise from the sea of humanity below, something rippled in the air, a last gasp of those silent voices before the connection was lost.
Help Us. Help him. Please.
This was...different. New. As if reality had taken the distraction caused by the calamity below to shift itself sharply to the left, and then snapped. It started at the core of the mass of angelic bodies as men and women began to rush to their aid, a shockwave in the fabric of creation that rumbled silently in the atoms of the world and ricocheted outward, along the ground, through the air, until it had enveloped the entire planet. Time froze for an instant, and to the eyes of all who had the capacity for sight, that leftward shift became manifest, the world doubling on itself as the ground shook beneath their feet.
Wails of confusion and fear rose into the night sky, and for a brief moment, it felt as if the world were about to unmake itself on the molecular level. But then, just as suddenly as it had come, the distortion snapped back into place with a loud, ear-splitting CRACK, and in the stunned silence that followed, only one thing could be certain; things were not the same as they had been mere moments ago, as if everything and yet nothing at all had changed, all at once.
The world of No Man's Land was as it should be, but all across the surface of the planet, pockets of reality had split open, sending the inhabitants of mirrored existences tumbling through wide, unseen rifts. People and places outside of time and space found themselves staggering to their feet in a world that was both foreign and familiar at the same time, found themselves face to face with their own reflection made flesh, tossed about by the pleas of a race reaching across the fabric of creation for aid in putting a stop to a war that had been fought time and time again, across reality after reality, without fail.
[Wherever your character was, whatever they were doing, when the rifts in reality opened, they will have found themselves rocked by a massive earthquake that lastes a few short seconds before settling with a loud crack, like thunder. While no damage will be left in its wake, the characters themselves will realize that though the planet appears to be the same, it will quickly become evident that they are in an alternate reality of the place they call home. Are they standing in the rubble of a once-destroyed city now remade whole? Is the bar they had been taking refuge in suddenly gone, leaving them tumbling to the sand with nothing but their drink in their hand? And what of the friends that had been standing by their side seconds before? This is where your stories begin.]
no subject
but for now, she gives him a bright smile. ]
Of course.
I think a few of the places we used to hide in as kids might be good to check first. Come on.
[ ... she isn't sure if he remembers or even knew them all back then, he was with them for such a short time. but she remembers. ]
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I think back then I was too tall to fit in some hiding places, too. You'll have to remind me.
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Of course! This way.
[ after the first two or three places that they check that are empty of anyone hurt or lost, she might even start telling stories about each hideout... ]
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Hmmm...guess this is okay.
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I guess, yeah.
[ she straigtens up from looking under the cover she's managed to half-lift (that's why it's a hideout) and ponders for a moment. ]
Livio... where you here in December, before things - changed? Or were you somewhere else?
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I was here, yeah. I was visiting for a bit. You were with your kids, right?
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Not that we'll find anything any sooner if it's also urgent for you to go back, but it's good to know what one's dealing with... whenever possible, right?
[ then she pauses, thoughtul. ]
Right, if you were here, would you want to stay here to find out more? I'll... definitely be going back to Octovern.
[ no, she doesn't want to go and leave him here. but also he might have things to do here. ]
no subject
[the answer's automatic. maybe they'd run off to get help, or help others, but they'd never abandon her. its obvious from...from the incident before. they never left her.]
I don't want to stay here when it's like-- I think they've already evacuated.
no subject
[ so that would be later than she is but at the same time, it's good. and then the next part makes her give a small smile. she would understand if he'd wanted to stay, but not leaving him here alone with the silence is better. ]
Okay, yeah. That makes sense. So we find out what we can here, and head out?
no subject
Yeah, sounds like a plan.
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All right. So we check the key points in town, and if there's nothing to say whatever happened started here, then we ... gather what supplies we can and head out.
[ ... and supplies are important. she certainly can't walk all the way to octovern without a whole lot of them. and some sort of shelter. and-- right. one thing at a time. ]
no subject
[he's not worried about supplies for himself, aside from water, but more concerned about Jasmine. he can survive out here without much.
and he's a tad self conscious about you know, theft]
Only borrow, we'd bring it back!
also if you do discord and are interested, sandbox has server now
Can you drive? If so, then yeah, borrowing a car would be a good thing, and we can move faster that way. And bring it back! If people left it, we'd probably be able to do that before they return.
[ oh she gets it. supplies, especially ones that might spoil, she feels less guilty about because then they'd just go bad and be wasted. something like that, she agrees with him. ]
Thanks... for thinking of that.
oh!!! that's wonderful!! i'd probably lurk...?
[who taught him. let's not think about it.
Livio keeps nodding]
'Course. You would've, I know that for sure. I just-- am used to it out here, more.
hehehe link/invite is in the OOC comm, come in whenever you feel like it!
hopefully there will be a long time in which he'll come to terms with some of it can talk about it, not even necessarily to her, of course! just... talk about it. for now, they have immediate things to focus on. ]
Ha. Thanks, I do appreciate both the confidence and the consideration.
So, let's go looking. You lead this time.
[ ... so if there are areas he'd rather avoid, he doesn't have to explain. ]
<333333
with another nod, he jerks his chin towards the side of a pile of rubble, which was a building once. better start there, check around corners both for people, and cars]
RIGHT BACK ATCHA
so she sticks close, relatively, except where she slips into narrower places to check for anything abandoned that they can use. ]
no subject
what he stumbles upon after taking a few steps away (but within earshot) was once a-- pantry? or bomb shelter or something. who did all this?? he isn't sure. but there are a couple of cans of something left. of course, beans. he gathers that under his arm, along with a tarp, that'll be good.]
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I found some bottled drinks... not water, but it might have to do.
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That's great. Found a couple cans of stuff.
no subject
That's a start. Let's go looking for more. [ and she'll pack up what she found, careful to avoid any excess clanking - both in case they need to be quiet at some point, and to make sure nothing breaks. ]
no subject
maybe a few more cans, or fuel, even. still no car so far]
also do they want to pick up human vash with the car...
... then there will be a surprised squeal.
(it's all right. she found a shop mostly intact and is not thinking that it will stress livio out, she's fine.) ]
is this before or after they hit him with the car? but yes
What's wrong?!
... after, obviously. is livio's driving Like That, or is he trying to teach jasmine to drive...
[ she looks back and sees his alarmed expression and shakes her head, and waves her arms in denial. ]
It's fine! Everything is fine! I was just surprised this place didn't get looted as people were leaving!
[ she'd thought the stores might get priority for such things, but perhaps it was locked up well and then only broken because of the whole... damage all over the place. ]
There used to be a couple of supply vans in the back, maybe one of them is still here?
surprisingly nah he can drive p well but no no i was mostly joking! my answer is yes, sorry!
cackles only vash and meryl are bad at it. also tagged in.
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