janitorscloset | [Event] Introduction to the Nexus / MoI crash

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[Event] Introduction to the Nexus / MoI crash

I.
Within the fabric of the multiverse the differing possibilities of each branch are woven, overlapping but separate, converging and looping at times, but often wriggling apart by ever-increasing degrees until the substance of it is thick with possibilities. This fabric is five-dimensional, not recognizable in its true form to the beings that are forced to live within the constraints of linear time and three-dimensional space. Unknown to those who live out the events contained within it, the sense of it is only kept by the special properties of the interactions between universes—it would seem that each universe is independent, but the nature of this fabric is such that certain events—convergence events—tie each universe together in an indelible way.

This is not to say that these convergence events all take place in the same way in each universe. But there are key threads that cannot be unraveled from their neighbors, and though the players in a scene may not all be the same in each universe, the moments contained in these convergence points are so tightly woven that in some ways they may be indistinguishable from their neighbors.

II.
An indelible part of those universes where Project Freelancer came to be is the fact that the Project could not succeed. It was based on flawed theories, illegal activities, biased science, no matter which lifetime this particular founder of the Project was living out. And so its failure, or more specifically that moment where its impending failure came to a head, became a convergence event. Like a network of strong magnets, the turning point brought the multiverse together in an intimately linked way. For this reason, when in one universe the ship Mother of Invention fired upon itself and began its descent into the atmosphere of the nearby planet, it sent shockwaves of destiny through the multiverse, bringing each doom destined for Project Freelancer into clear focus.

Much of the technology in the Project's facilities, both on the ship and the planet itself, were experimental. Dimension-hopping was one of the unsanctioned activities taking place under the Project's purview, though it was intended for fast travel through space within the same universe rather than through the multiverse itself. This didn't change the fact that once again, the Project was messing around with things that weren't entirely understood. The emotional states of the users of the dimensional portals had a huge effect on them—and the person effecting the portal didn't necessarily have to be actively using it, either. This wasn't known or considered when the Project moved one of its portals from its planet-side facility to the labs on the ship.

III.
And so it was that the combined anger, fear, and desperation of the occupants of the ship at the time it crashed reprogrammed the portal in the ship's belly, and in turn created havoc in the transporter nexus that resided on the planet. Like an arc of electricity sparking from a Tesla coil, the wave of reprogramming touched every portal in the nexus. Every portal would now lead to the Mother of Invention in the aftermath of the crash. Worse than this, it caused the portals in the nexus to draw in users from other parts of the multiverse. They would enter the nexus unknowingly, simply hearing a ringing like crystal and finding themselves within it. Attempting to leave would simply send them to the Mother of Invention at a most dangerous time.

IV.

Timeline of events:

• Day 1: Residents of other times and places will find themselves on the planet containing Freelancer facilities in the teleporter nexus. Everyone who comes to the nexus will find that their cell phone, 2-way radio, comm device, or helmet radio can be used to communicate with anyone else who has arrived in the nexus at any point. Attempting to leave the nexus via any portal will lead to the crash site of the Mother of Invention. Recovery agents and guards will be evident all around the grounds, but things are chaotic. It will be impossible to locate the end portal the character arrived through to return to the nexus.

• Days 2-5: Things are calming down at the site, but time itself will seem to be undergoing an echo effect—recovery agents and guards will still be on patrol, but as time goes by they will seem to be in several places at once and though they may spot characters who arrive, they will be unable to apprehend them. The end portals that lead back to the nexus will be intermittently visible, but in a shivery way that will make it difficult to use them to return. When one manages to return to the nexus, they will find that they're unable to reprogram the teleporters. Teleporters now lead to various locations, however, rather than just the ship crash site—they also lead to various bases inhabited by simulation troops. Like the guards and recovery agents at the crash site, however, the simulation troops will not be quite able to interact with the characters who have arrived.

• Days 6-10: The shivers that are going through time and space now seem to be settling down, and the teleporters are increasingly responsive to attempts to reprogram them. By the time the ten days are up it's easy to cycle them between other Freelancer and UNSC facilities, and many technologically-savvy characters will be able to deduce the fact that there is a resonant frequency inherent to their own universe that can be programmed into a teleporter via their radio or comm device.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes.

...what did he do to you?

[ Pauses. Again. ]

[ Well, that's certainly a … broad question, isn't it? Cali gives a little snort of laughter, half turning away from him. ] If you put those names together, you know the answer to that already. [ There's no way. No way, if he knows that California equals Aoko, that he doesn't know what happened to her. Right? ]

Anyway, uh, we should, uh … take a look around. [ Scuffs the toe of one boot against the floor. ] See what we can see. There might be something we can put on your arm, for the bruises. [ … ] I—really am sorry about that, for what it's worth. I didn't … [ ugh, god ] I didn't mean to do that.

...I swear if there's a way to punch his lights out...

[He sighs, standing up.] I really need the answer, Aoko. I just....I need to see something, it's not going to hurt you. [He's not going to let it, but he doesn't know if this is a game or real.]

I know.

[ Glances sharply over her shoulder. ]

Then you'd have to go through me. [ She settles one hand on her hip, ignoring the urge to fidget. If she's here, and Puma is here … then there's a non-zero chance that Wash could be here, too. ] Just like he would. [ Seriously, do not think she doesn't have what it takes to step between a pair of angry, self-destructive idiots. ]

… [ But it makes her think … makes her think, beyond the wall she's thrown up between herself and her feelings (he's there he's here, Aoko, hug him), that maybe— ]

[ When she speaks again, her voice is determinedly softer, if only by a little. ] Connie—CT—is the one who taught Wash how to handle a knife. [ … ] She was also the only other person in Freelancer who looked at the board and saw what I did, though she was better than me at getting the actual evidence. We're friends. Kind of. It's complicated, between the havoc nuke she dropped on us and the tomahawk I took to the gut to save her life. [ There's no real inflection there, just a statement of fact. Yeah, that happened. ]

She's alive somewhere out there.

He was an idiot. He actually agreed, is the funny thing. [There was...so much self hate.]

....

[The one who saw. She disappeared while attacking the ship. A traitor? It would make sense, but he hadn't thought of it.]

I wasn't sure if this was a game, or reality. But you know things I don't remember, never considered. But...it would explain one odd thing I do remember now that it's been said. It means you're not likely built from what I remembered in that game.

Sorry, but you probably remember how much they like to fuck with our heads.

[ He agreed? How did he agree? How does he even know any of this? — a game, probably, somehow. The Echoes always did have weird and wonderful ways to fuck with people. ]

Wash is about as fond of you as you are of him. [ It bears pointing out, wryly, with an emphasis on the "you." ]

… It's fine. [ She gives a shrug, picking a random direction and starting to walk. Ignore, ignore the bubbling maelstrom in your gut, keep walking, keep walking. ] I thought the same thing, at first. It took years for it to sink in that I wasn't gonna fall asleep there and wake up back in some Echo's realm.

[ There's a moment of hesitation. Brief. ]

What game?

...yeah, I could see that. I do deserve a punch for a few things, if I was honest.

[He follows along. He's watching her mostly. Watching her move, how she holds herself. It's different. He sees echoes of Aoko, but it's different.]

I imagine it would be hard to accept.

...Iota ran one. An....alternate universe game, I suppose. People changed, what ifs, things like that.

[ California's gate is even and steady, with the kind of quiet confidence that comes with knowing your own strength; with having found your center of balance and honed it. It's a far cry from the way Aoko would have bounced and fluttered, her arms swinging when they weren't clasped behind her back … or when they weren't reaching for his hand. ]

[ She flinches. Minutely, but it's there. ]

And you know … how much? [ What about her younger self? What about … No. She stops that thought before it can start. ]

It's...fragmented. I imagine in part because it couldn't fill in the stuff I didn't know, since clearly some repeated.

I know you showed up during the desert attack. You were in Freelancer. You vanished with everyone else. And...well, he was kind of...trying to drive Aoko away, so, he said...things....

Things I would rather not repeat or think too hard about for the sake of my own sanity.

[ … She very, very carefully does not stop walking. Keeps her hands loose at her sides. Can't help that slightly deeper, slightly ragged way she has to drag the next breath in, though, because. Wow. Wow, Iota. Thank you. ]

Let me guess. [ So very, very flatly. ] He got dragged in from a bad time. [ Wash always had his moods, but there had been one time in particular that he'd done everything in his power to drive Cali away. ]

...Sidewinder. Right...after Sidewinder.

[ Of FUCKING course it would be right after Sidewinder. Sometimes she hates being right. ]

Wow. That sounds like it must've been fun. [ Right after means it was before he'd found out she was still alive. Right after means he'd woken up, knowing that she was dead, that he'd done nothing but hurt her since they'd reunited. The old scars on her leg and chin twinge in time with her heart beat, and if Puma's still watching closely, he might notice that she takes her next step harder than the ones before. ]

… It was a long time ago. We're on Chorus now, after the truce. We're still working on the pirates.

....

Wait, what.

What do you mean, what?

[ She tilts her head to frown at him, not that he can see it. He probably can read it in the angle of her helmet, though; Puma was always good at reading body language in armor. ]

Edited 2015-12-30 16:45 (UTC)

You're on Chorus? You're...alive?

Uhm.

[ Okay, let's just. Stop walking, shall we. ]

Yes? [ She's staring at him. ] It takes a lot more than a cliff and the Reds dropping a Warthog on my head [ and Wash shooting her in the leg, and Tex's bombs, and fighting Tex in general, and then fighting the Meta ] to keep me down.

It kept The Meta down, didn't it? [He assumes. That's how it was shaping up.]

Yeah … Yeah, it kept him down.

[ Glances off to the side, shoulders slouching, and then back to Puma. She's still not happy with how things ended for Maine. Never will be, if she's honest. ]

[He's not either. It's why he said the Meta. It was...easier to not think of him as Maine. He was always so fond of him when he thought of him as Maine.]

[There's a small stumble in his step when he realizes Aoko must know so much about his relationship with other people he has so many questions about. Connie was the one who taught him knives, huh?]

...you really are amazing. To get through that.

[ Cali raises a hand quickly when he stumbles, only to freeze, thinking better of reaching out. ]

… [ There's a moment of quiet, of fierce inner debate. Does she admit that she'd almost thought Wash would've been happier with her dead? Does she admit that for a moment there, she'd wanted to die? No. No, she does not. ] Spite's a good motivator. [ is what she says instead. ]

Besides ... I figured he'd had enough of people leaving him, one way or another. I wasn't about to add myself back to the list.

It is. [Spite is why Wash does a lot. Hell, it's why he does some things too.]

...I think....he would be happy about that. [Because under all the anger and guilt and self hate, there was a lot of sadness.]

[ Aoko'd never the type to let spite be her driving force. She worked with hope, with earnest, burning belief. Cali, though … California had been burned, and things had started to snap. She's not sure when. ]

He was. Is. [ She folds her arms, turning her gaze to the ceiling. ] The Reds and Blues would've been enough for him, in his own way [ and theirs ] … but, well, you know. Sometimes even Agent Washington gets to have his cake and eat it.

So I picked my way up the cliff using a knife, until the Reds noticed and tossed a rope down to me.

....

You continue to be the most ridiculously badass schoolgirl I have ever met.

[ … ]

You know that I'm not a schoolgirl any more. [ She tries to remind herself that it hasn't been as long for him as it has for her. He still knows Aoko. Hell, he was probably with her before he got yanked into this ... wherever this is. ] I haven't been one in a long, long time.

...

[He actually stops. Just...stops and looks at her, his face blank. Doing that whole unreadable thing, that says he's thinking and feeling far too many emotions at once.]

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