Wayward Frontier: New Horizons [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

White_Hood

2019-02-09, 05:01 AM

Wayward Frontier
New Horizons

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18g3remim6x3kjpg/original.jpg

The silence that follows the crash is eerie after the blaring alarms and the thunderous smashing of metal and rock. As senses return, the group slowly becomes aware of their surroundings. What was once a large arc ship is now little more than a mountain of twisted metal and debris scattered across several miles of the planet’s surface. The hull has been cracked and torn open in dozens of places, and a glance back along the trail of destruction reveals a deep furrow of scorched ground and flaming debris with a scattering of bodies. Those unfortunate few who were in sections of the ship that were torn open or had been pulled out with the vacuum during the crash. Whatever supplies the ship had been carrying are likewise broken and scattered along the length of the crash site.

Gazing out through rents in the hull or through the cockpit view port reveals a landscape of dense, overgrown jungle surrounding the crash site. Some of the trees and plants look familiar if not exactly the same as one might expect. Hardwood trees and various ferns and vines are easily identifiable in the foliage, but there are also bizarre, fat, blue pods and exotic, brilliant purple and red flowers the size of manhole covers. Something similar to spanish moss hangs from many of the trees, but it glimmers a silver-blue color in the emergency lights of the crashed ship, and the ground is covered in a thick layer of mossy grass that seems more vibrantly green than anything found on earth.

It is difficult to tell if it is day or night, as dark, ominous clouds cover the sky above the jungle canopy, obscuring any view of sun or stars. Rain buffets the planet around the crash sight in a torrential downpour, and occasionally thunder rumbles and purple lighting splits the darkness in brilliant flashes that arc toward the distant mountains. There is no sound of wildlife, but here and there in the high branches of the trees a sharp eye can detect the movement of small, furry creatures scittering away from the crash site.

Besides the rain, the only other sound is the groaning, muttering and crying of the nearly twenty six thousand human survivors huddled in pockets up and down the miles long crash. They huddle inside or under intact portions of the ship, trying to stay out of the rain, and there are calls and shouts as people try to find their loved ones, and the occasionally cry of despair as one is found among the dead. Injuries to the survivors appear to be minor, the worst being some broken bones, but fear, stress and mental trauma are running high as they survey the dark, foreboding jungle around them and try to take stock of their new situation.

The ship is a wreck and would be impossible to salvage, let alone try and repair. There is no going back now. This planet, and whatever dangers it may hold, is home now.

Glitchy

2019-02-09, 06:22 AM

Vivienne had been just as disoriented as everyone else when her pod had cracked open and released her from the extended hibernation. She tumbled out onto the floor of the ship with a grunt and just lay there for a second, feeling like she had just come off a weekend bender and wishing the damn alarms and flashing lights would stop. It actually takes her a moment to register that alarms and flashing lights were probably a very bad thing on a space ship, and she shoves herself to her feet to find out what is going on.

Looking out the view port as the shield slides back, her jaw drops, ”Oh….crap" the thought is like molasses in her brain as she stares at the planet rapidly approaching, and she has to force herself to look away, ”What? How?” she feels like she’s moving in a fog as she tries to come up with some solution to this, but there’s no stopping it. All she can do is prepare. She is getting ready to do just that when she sees all of the other people looking just as panicked as she feels. She hesitates, then growls, ”Mother puss bucket!”

As quickly as she can Vivienne moves in eight different directions at once, a literal gang of scrawny, angry trailer park girls storming through the ship and rounding up people. When one of her Others gets a decent size group together she slides her hands over the walls and floor of the ship, pulling the metal as if it were soft mud and forming it into barriers, trying to cover as many people as she can in protective bulkheads as she feels the ship pass into the atmosphere. She continues until it looks like there is no time left, then all eight of her duck into cover and hold on as the ship crashes.

She rides out the crash as best as she can, and when it ends Vivienne Prime stands and looks around. A couple of her Others are unconscious, and the ones still on their feet are already absorbing them before returning to the Prime, leaving a single bruised and panting Multi-Task standing in the wrecked ship and looking a bit worse for wear.

She steps out of the ship, not caring as the rain soaks her, running in rivers from her wild, short hair and sticking her white T-shirt to her body. Vivid blue eyes scan the alien jungle around the crash sight, and she runs a hand through her hair, making the water spray in all directions before sighing heavily, ”Well. Ain’t no worse’en Louisiana in the spring,” she mutters to herself in that thick southern drawl of hers.

bc56

2019-02-09, 12:11 PM

Theo had gone into the pod expecting to be ejected in a few hundred years. It still came as a shock. He coughed, breathing deeply, then immediately went to his footlocker, pulling out his gear. He tugged on his survival suit, sealing the helmet with a pneumatic hiss. After that, he buckled the jump pack onto his back and grabbed up the rifle. The ship was beginning to break apart around him, and a rift opened in the wall nearby. One of his fellow travelers was standing too close, and started to be sucked out of the ship, but Theo whipped his rifle to his shoulder and with a single shot pinned the man's foot to the bulkhead with a glob of blue slime.
And then there was the crash, the great shaking and twisting of metal.
When it subsided, Theo looked around. The people were still there, the man stuck to the wall swaying gently in the breeze. Theo sprayed solvent over the glue holding him in place and lowered him back to the floor, then stepped outside, curious of what he would see. The rain ran down his suit, covering his visor with streaks of water, but inside he was dry. He looks around at the dense jungle, then leaps into the air to get a better view from the top of the ship.

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-09, 03:06 PM

Dawn's pod had been near her family's of course, and thanks to the flow of her chi she recovered faster than any of them.

Which...more-or-less just meant she got to be fully aware of how helpless she was to do anything. Thanks to the stasis, the memory of losing the fleet was still fresh in her mind. She had been just as helpless then.

Dawn hated feeling helpless.

She took a breath. Spread the flow of chi through her body. Time seemed to slow down. None of her shielding powers would do anything to mitigate an impact like this, and healing was of no use until damage was received. This wasn't a problem she could just power her way through.

But she couldn't just do nothing.

She started with her family, helping them into whatever safety restraints were available, and then she was off. She moved in a blur, getting as many people as she could buckled in and braced. It wasn't much, but at the moment, it was the best she could do.

Her powers would be more useful in the aftermath. The thought terrified her. It didn't show on her face.

The planet came screaming towards them. Dawn had done the best she could do, and raced back to her family. Her timing had to be perfect. There were nine of them. At her full power, she could invest eight. And she had less than six seconds to decide.

A false limit; she didn't even hesitate. There were decisions Dawn would not make, could not make, not if she wanted to stay sane. But they were rare. It was the burden of a healer that they could never help everyone, there was never enough power to satisfy the need. In times of crisis, a healer had to prioritize, to spend their power and their time in whatever way offered the most people the best chance of survival. It was a cold calculus, but Dawn could do it.

Dawn could solve those equations in her sleep.

Vibrant power burst out from her, a golden wave of light that seeped into eight of her family members, shining in auras around them. Young Cole, secured against his father, remained untouched. Invested healing wasn't strictly protective. It was preparatory, a charge of healing that would trigger after several seconds, to cure damage received in the interim. In a situation like this, it would ensure that even the worst of wounds were instantly stabilized, but it would be of least use upon the frailest target.

Besides, she had a much more potent barrier to use to protect her infant nephew, the strongest shield in her extensive arsenal of curative and protective power.

Herself.

Dawn threw her arms around her brother, shielding Cole between both of their chi-strengthened bodies, and hung on tight.

IMPACT!

Even with all of her chi training, the force of the crash dazed her. She shook her head clear, little enough worse for wear. "Everyone okay?" she asked her family breathlessly. If any of them needed further healing, she'd provide it. But as soon as she was assured they were alright, she raced out of the ship.

The strange world only earned passing attention in those first moments. Her focus was drawn to the bodies. Taking a shaky breath, she opened her senses, attuning them to the Lifestream. She could not heal the dead - in this case, it wasn't even a question of will and secrecy, it was simply a matter of math. If she did try to bring people back, each one she did would be at the cost of scores, maybe even hundreds, of injuries she would no longer have the energy to heal.

But some of those bodies may yet be clinging, however tentatively, to life. Dawn's sense of the Lifestream was extremely precise. As a diagnostic tool, it was invaluable. She could detect at the equivalent of a glance who was in most need of healing, and prioritize her work to save as many as possible.

Dawn's using Sense the Lifestream to try to see if any of the bodies are still alive by whatever fluke of luck. If they are, she'll proceed to stabilizing as many as she can. Naturally, if there are any other life forms in the vicinity, she might detect them too (yes I'm paranoid). Sense the Lifestream is an Acute, Accurate, Analytical, Radius sense and it Counters All Concealment, but it is not Extended and does not Penetrate Concealment, so its range is no greater than normal vision and it's blocked by solid objects.

Perception (life sense only): [roll0].

Izzarra

2019-02-09, 05:47 PM

Kimiko Jinkawa wakes up in her pod to alarms going off, rather than the medical personnel that she was told to expect.

Opening her metaphorical third eye she cycles through several different forms of energy that she is capable of perceiving as she looks around. There is a large gravity well, planet sized, that is not too far away and they were headed towards it.

She considers what she is "seeing" for a few seconds. Even with her rudimentary understanding of planetary approach vectors it is apparent that their trajectory is not into anything that could be considered a parking orbit, they were headed straight down the gravity well. As she continues to asses the situation it becomes apparent that any thrusters that are operating are not enough to properly control their decent.

She decided that it is not enough to monitor the situation and that she needs to act. She reaches out and envelops the ship with a energy dampening field slowing its decent, if only a little bit, and cooling the hull from the friction of atmospheric entry. After a few agonizing minutes the atmospheric friction began to taper off so she drops the cooling effect and puts up an inertial dampening field as she braces for impact.

Not sure if we were supposed to wake up before the crash, but apparently everybody is doing it.
Senses (Detect Energy), Ranged, Accurate, Acute, Penetrates Concealment, Variable Descriptor 2 (Energy), Activation (Free)
Start with Environment Control, 900 ft (250 m) radius, impede movement 2 to the ship's superstructure to help slow decent, cold 2 to the outer hull of the ship to help with atmospheric friction so we do not burn up, Ranged, Selective.
Finish with Environment Control, 900 ft (250 m) radius, impede movement 2 on everything within range. Will use extra effort to expand the effect radius at impact if necessary.
Also not sure how big the ark is but the effect is large enough to encompass a modern aircraft carrier or the worlds largest cruse ship.

She wakes up in her pod for the second time, the remaining section of the ship she is in is tilted at an angle and she hears the sound of rain nearby. She pulls the emergency release handle and the pod pops open. After grabbing her small bag out of the foot locker she floats over to a large ragged tear in the bulkhead to see the destruction of the crashed ship. It takes her a few minutes to comes to terms with the devastation and pull herself together. She bows and says in Japanese "Thank you Mr Arc for carrying us to this planet."

White_Hood

2019-02-10, 04:43 AM

In response to Izzarra, a modern aircraft carrier would equal roughly an eighth the size of the arc ship. Remember that the arc was not only carrying around 30,000 people + the equipment to keep them in hibernation, but also building materials, tools, seeds, livestock ( also in hibernation), several dozen all terrain and construction vehicles, and enough ready supplies of MRE meals and water to keep the survivors alive while they build the infrastructure to produce their own. This was all crammed into the arc after it had been retrofit and expanded from it's original exploration purpose, so it was pretty cramped and unorganized.

From on top of a section of the crashed ship Theo can't see more than a foot or so into the dense foliage of the jungle. Most of the exterior emergency lights on the hull have been broken, and the few that are working are not bright enough to penetrate the deep shadows beneath the trees. He can see a good distance along the crash site itself, and it is clear that the ship broke up as it slid along the ground, leaving large sections of hull, debris and supplies scattered over several miles.

Dawns power reaches out, sensing the life force of everyone within range. Of the bodies she can see, there are sixty four dead with no signs of life in them and twelve that are broken, bloody but still showing the faintest of life signs. Unfortunately her power can not see the whole of the miles long crash sight, and there is no doubt that there are many more scattered out along it who may be dying at this very moment beyond her sight.

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-10, 01:48 PM

Dawn felt cold inside. Dozens dead just that she could see. Over the entire length of the Arc, it could well be hundreds. She shivered in the rain.

But she moved while she did, drawing her flow of chi back inward, adding speed to her limbs. In theory, the most efficient way to heal the greatest number of people would be to make a series of quick runs along the length of the arc, checking for life signs at intervals, gather everybody into one place, and drop a mass heal or two to stabilize them all at once.

Yeah. In theory. In practice, people would die while she scouted the area. Her mastery of chi wasn't great enough to both hasten her movements and sense the life energy of others simultaneously. And moving people who had been injured that badly, especially at superhuman speeds, could well kill them.

Option two was moving from person to person, healing each one in turn. That would...work, but it would take time. Channeling that much chi energy took a couple seconds of focus, and repeated healing of that scale would be draining. Depending on how many injured there were, she might not be able to treat all of them. Regardless, people would die in the time it took her to heal others.

The fact was, that was almost certainly going to happen. But that didn't mean Dawn couldn't minimize how many it happened to.

Dawn's chi powers could heal a person faster and better than modern medicine could hope to do. These people would absolutely need such healing if they were to survive on this world. But they didn't need that immediately. Right now, they just needed to live. The rest she could deal with later.

Dawn was moving as she planned, moving and thinking both with superhuman speed. When she reached the first injured survivor, her hands were glowing. Not giving off an aura of light so much as illuminated from within. It looked almost like someone was shining a high-powered flashlight through them.

She touched her first patient, but released only a trickle of her chi energy. Not enough to fully heal their wounds, nor, on its own, even enough to stabilize them. But as wondrous as Dawn's chi powers were, in a situation like this, they simply weren't enough. For all her power as a healer, Dawn would be hard-pressed to save more than a few people here.

But Dawn wasn't just a healer. Dawn was a doctor.

That tiny trickle of chi she guided exactly where it was needed, moving on to the next victim in a blur. Damaged organs were repaired. Ruptured arteries were sealed. Broken necks were bonded. Cuts and bruises, broken bones, and other serious but non-fatal trauma went untouched for the time being. Dawn raced with heightened speed to stabilize as many people as she could.

Rather than using her Healing power directly, Dawn is moving between the injured and using her Treatment skill to Stabilize them, and her Quickness to accomplish the task far faster than normal. Her Doctor power is inactive, so she can't fail the DC 15 Treatment check. Once she's stabilized everyone in her immediate vicinity, she'll race further down the crash site, do another life scan, and then do another super-speed stabilization run. Rinse and repeat until she runs out of people to save or something interrupts her.

I can't say for certain that this is the very first time I've had a legit use for the Treatment skill outside of more medical knowledge/diagnostic stuff, but it might be.

Izzarra

2019-02-10, 04:22 PM

While lacking any formal medical training beyond a rudimentary first aid course, Kimi has watched enough TV to know the basics of emergency triage. People that will not die immediately from their injuries can wait, but what to do with those that do need immediate treatment? She will need to find a doctor, a place for them to work, and some way to transport the injured.

Finding a doctor will be the hard part. A section of the ship that is more or less intact could be used as a base of operations. She could use a large sheet of hull plating as a stretcher for several people at a time.

Not knowing how long she was unconscious it would be a good idea to start by checking to see if anybody else has already started something similar. Kimi flies above the treetops to get a better view of the situation and tunes her senses to the radio spectrum frequently used by communication devices. While she cannot interpret the signals, she can at least check to see if anybody is broadcasting, and from where. She raises her arm sends off a "flare" by projecting a beam of red light into the sky.

She then drops back down and checks her immediate surroundings for other survivors. Switching between thermal and kinetic senses to look for the combination of body heat and heart activity.

Senses (Detect Energy), Ranged, Accurate, Acute, Penetrates Concealment, Variable Descriptor 2 (Energy), Activation (Free)
Chain Lightning/Laser Blast: Damage, Ranged, Multiattack, Precise, Accurate 4, Variable Descriptor (Electricity/Light)

White_Hood

2019-02-11, 02:51 AM

As the heroes begin moving around the crash site assisting the survivors, they begin to see others doing the same. There are dozens of regular people doing their best to pull trapped people from the debris and wreckage or working to treat minor wounds. There are a number of firefighters, doctors, military nd police among the survivors and they are the ones trying to organize people and get them away from the more dangerous areas of the crash site.

Dawn is the first one to encounter another super. As she dashes from one patient to the next, stabilizing as many as she can, she comes across a teenage girl, probably no older than fifteen, clutching the bleeding gash on an older man’s head. The man is unconscious, and the girl looks to have hundreds of cuts, bruises, broken bones and even a missing eye. Her hands glow a bright, brilliant blue for a moment and before Dawn’s eyes the gash on the man’s head closes, and an identical gash opens on the girl’s head.

The teenager lets go and sits back on the ground, wiping the blood now streaming down her face from her good eye, and she looks up at Dawn as the hero approaches, “C..can’t stop. So many injured,” her voice quavers and her breathing is shallow and erratic, “I...I can take it. Have to...have to take their pain...” She tries to stand up, wincing as she puts weight on an obviously broken leg, and she looks around for the next person she can help.

In another area of the crash site, Theo spots a brilliant golden light sudden flare to life and illuminate a hug area. People begin moving toward it, and when he gets closer the power suited hero can see the light is coming from a human shaped figure who appears to be glowing from the inside. It is a somewhat disheveled looking man with a very long, thick beard and hair than hangs almost to his waist, but he looks like a being of pure light as Theo approaches. When the man spots Theo, he waves a hand, “Hey there! Name’s Beacon..or uh, Ben if you prefer,” he looks down at himself and chuckles, “It ain’t much of a power, but I figured being able to see proper like and giving people a clear place to gather might help.”

Over at yet another area of the crash sight, where Vivienne, Kimiko and Olivia all happen to be, a ring of large green bonfires begin to erupt among the debris, spreading light and warmth over the area. People begin to congregate there, and a tall, dark man with spike black hair and a cleft chin is standing in the center, hands blazing with green fire as he gestures for people to come closer, “Over this way! Get next to a fire! Get warm and dry, then we’ll figure out what to do!”

Kimiko find’s plenty of survivors all around her. Those that are able to move are heading for the ring of green fires, or try to help people trapped under wreckage or too injured to move.

Glitchy

2019-02-11, 03:44 AM

Vivienne notices first the red flare going up, and then the appearance of the green bonfires and the man trying to gather people to them. Turning away from the jungle she makes her way over to the circle of heat and light with the rest of the survivors, giving the man who was apparently in control of the fire a wave of her hand, “Nice work with the flames,” she comments, looking around and getting close to one of the fires to warm herself up, “I’m gonna try and find more survivors and send them this way. If you can, you might wanna make more of these an’ spread’em out,” she suggests.

Then she splits and eight Vivienne’s move toward the wreckage. They each grab hold of metal debris and shrapnel, molding it with their hands into discs wide enough for them to stand on. As one, they put the discs beneath their feet and lift off the ground, flying up above the crash site before moving off in different directions in search of more survivors to point back toward the bonfires.

One Vivienne spot Kimiko combing through the crash site in search of survivors and comes down to hover near her, “Hey. Gather over there, near the green fires,” she calls. Then she drops from her disc to help move wreckage, using her control of metal to bend and shape the debris that would otherwise be impossible to move.

Another Vivienne spots the bright light coming from a mile off and heads in that direction until she finds Theo and the man called Beacon. Descending from the sky on her metal disc, this Vivienne also shouts down to the two men who seem to be the most in control of the situation and points back toward the direction she came from, “We’re trying to gather everyone in that direction. Head for the green fires and try to get warm,” she explains. Then, just like the other her, she drops to the ground and starts working to get people out of the wreckage with her metal controlling power.

A third Vivienne is flying low over a stretch of the crash sight when she notices the flash of blue light from what looks like a teenage girl, and a woman moving rapidly from one injured person to another. She drops down to pass on the message, but stops when she sees the heavily injured teen, “Oh mah gawd,” she gasps, “Is she okay?” it was a dumb question, but Vivienne wasn’t exactly experienced in emergency situations or proper bedside manner.

The rest of the Vivienne’s spread out over the crash site, trying to cover as much ground as possible and passing on the message for people to head for the green bonfires. She keeps an eye out for people trapped in the wreckage where normal rescue isn’t possible, and uses her power to bend the metal debris out of the way to get to them. Search and rescue is not really her area of expertise, but she does the best she can given the circumstances.

El'the Ellie

2019-02-11, 10:34 AM

Songbird awakens to chaos. She's far from the first one out of the cryopod for whatever reason. As she lands on hands and knees and gathers her senses from the deep sleep, it's clear that panic has gripped this section of passengers. People run haphazardly back and forth, crying or praying or screaming, and from the window across the cabin she can see why: The Arc careens fatalistically towards a strange, looming planet that grows larger by the second. And in case any were under the impression that this was intentional, the shaking of the vessel and blaring emergency sirens quickly corrected that. Loud as they were, Olivia realized she might be one of the few that could hear the grating androgynous voice over the cacophony from freaked-out passengers.

Remain calm. Sit in your cryopod chamber and engage the safety straps. Leave the door open, and brace for impact. Remain calm. Sit in your cryopod... It repeated over and over again, but of course went unheard by people looking for loved ones, or perhaps some kind of escape.

Read the room Olive. Get their attention. Her thoughts jumped to a rowdy crowd, restless before a big event. So she did, she started to sing*. Not a song with words: they would only get lost in the din. But a melody that would snap their scattered focus on to one thing, that thing being her voice. She started quietly, but soon grew louder and louder to rise above the chaos. As it pulled in people's attention the cabin grew quieter, and expertly she matched her volume to the quieting of the space. Eventually is was only the warning message, the noises of the ship, and Songbird's voice. That is when she began to speak over her own song. "Into your pod everyone. Quickly." They shuffled around the cabin to follow her instructions. "The red straps on the sides: buckle them and pull tight. Now grip the handles and hold on tight. Close your eyes and just listen to my voice: we're going to get through this."
She followed her own own instructions, but continued sing as the pull of gravity got worse, and the Arc shuddered through the storm. The crash was a sudden crescendo of twisting metal and shattering ground that even she could not overpower. At some point as the Arc crashed down, Olivia was slammed back against the metal sides and saw blackness.

She awoke to an angry roar of thunder that made her bolt upright. She had been flung from her pod at some point and was lying on the Arc's cold metal floor. She fluttered her wings and scurried backwards away from the thunder. Olivia looked at the pods around her: there were enough empty ones to know that many had walked away from the crash. Another rumble of thunder sent panic through her. She could see activity through a hole in the hull: people moving back and forth and what seemed to be green fires. But those were out in the middle of the storm. Here, at least, the sound was muffled.

*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbmHT4W5Ffs

Oof, Astraphobia complication hit quite early... :smallredface:

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-11, 01:57 PM

God, Dawn understood how the girl felt.

Her own power to heal was limited by her chi energy. She only had so much to spend. It would rejuvenate over time, of course, but if she used up too much of it too fast, it would take even longer to recover. She had learned the hard way that pushing herself to heal as many people as she could as fast as she could, while it may be satisfying in the moment, would come with hours or even days where she couldn't help anyone. Sometimes you needed to be efficient. Dawn had learned that skill, how to ration her power to do the most good even when her heart was screaming at her to pour it into everyone she found and make the hurting stop. That didn't mean it was easy.

The young woman before her was incredibly brave and extraordinarily selfless, taking on the injuries of others. But her power came with a far harsher limit than Dawn's. In theory, Dawn could pour out her power until the last of her life force went with it, but in practice she'd probably exhaust herself or pass out well before that point. But an empathic healer, taking on the wounds of others, could kill herself without ever realizing the risk. She could take on a wound that bled out or became infected, an internal injury she hadn't realized was there...unless she had medical training, she might even take on an injury that was mortal without realizing it. Her power likely made her more resistant to injury than most - there weren't many fifteen year olds who would be capable of toughing through the number of injuries she currently had to keep operating. But it was still a risk.

Which meant Dawn had to help her. It was just another hard variable in the cold calculation you had to perform if you wanted to save the most lives. She was a healer. If she died here in her effort to help as many people as she could, that came at the cost of all the other lives she could save in the future. Sometimes, you had to do the most good you can as soon as you can, even when you knew there were people just a little further away who also needed you, and maybe needed you more.

Another super came flying in on some sort of metal platform, and asked if the girl would be okay. Dawn gave her a little smile, then rested her hands on the empathic healer's shoulders. The light glowing within them intensified, and pulsed out into her, to make a start at curing her injuries and, more importantly, ensure she wasn't in any danger of dying of the injuries she had taken on.

She met her gaze steadily as she continued pouring healing power into her, speaking in a warm tone of calm, gentle authority. The most important skill a doctor learns is not how to close any wound or treat any disease. It's how to remain calm and decisive in times of crisis. "I know it's hard, but I need you to ration your power, okay? You can't help anyone if you're dead, or too hurt to move. I don't know exactly how your power works, so it's up to you to judge how much you can do safely. But right now the most important thing is keeping the people who are at risk of death alive. If you can do that without risking your own life, do as much as you safely can. But if not, my suggestion is to hold off for the moment. Once the critical patients have been treated, I'll come find you again. I have a feeling you and I together will be able to heal a lot more people than either of us could alone. Okay?"

She looked to the other super. "Can you carry others on that?" she asked, with a nod to the metal platform. She couldn't both move at superhuman speed and sense the life force of others simultaneously. That meant she was limited to moving, sensing who most needed help where she arrived, and tending to them before moving on. If she could get an aerial vantage, though, she could figure out the best route to help the most people the fastest. She had precisely zero qualm about just up and drafting another super to help with that.

Let me know if I should make a Persuasion check to convince the empathic healer to ration her power or hold off until they can work together. Dawn's pretty much just spamming cures on her until she's back to full health.

Izzarra

2019-02-11, 07:20 PM

Somebody came gliding in on a disk and said something to Kimi but her accent was so thick that Kimi did not catch most of it, so she smiles and bows slightly.
Quirk (ESL): English is your second language; you have trouble with colloquialisms, thick accents, and obscure vocabulary.
She looks back and forth between the people huddling around the fires and the piles of debris representing the unknown injured that could still be trapped. It is a tough decision but these people near the fires needed shelter, and soon. Anybody that is under wreckage that is big enough that the others cannot shift it is probably already dead. She goes to somebody who looks like they have some authority.
"I am sorry to trouble you, but I would like to help. I am not very good yet but I will try to make house for everyone. Please make sure there is room."
She takes flight and lifts her arms raising the ambient light level around her so she can see better and starts a circular search pattern for sections of the ship that would be suitable as a makeshift shelter. Something that just needs to be moved into a better position would be ideal, but several large panels of hull plating would work as basic lean-tos would do. Just have to check to see if anybody is still inside or trapped underneath first.
As far as size goes Telekinesis for lifting a single object is 400 tons, approximately a loaded Boeing 747.

bc56

2019-02-12, 12:47 AM

Theo nods to Ben. "Theo." Then the girl flies by on the metal platform, telling of a meeting place. Theo continues to Ben, "Can you direct people that way? I'm going to look for anyone trapped by the wreckage."

Glitchy

2019-02-13, 01:48 AM

Zipping through the wreckage in search of Survivors, one of the Viviennes drops to the ground and bends a metal door open on a section of the hull that looks mostly intact. Stepping inside she looks around and calls, “Anyone in here?” she moves deeper into the section of the crashed ship and spots someone hiding near the broken hibernation pods, “Hey there. Y’all need to get outta here. It ain’t safe. There’s a buncha us gatherin’ outside by the green fires,” she explains as she walks over to the figure, but she stops when she sees the woman’s wings, “Oh. Nice feathers,” she comments lamely and holds out her hand, “C’mon, lets get outta here.”

The Vivienne standing with Dawn and the teenage girl stares with her mouth hanging open a bit as the older of the two uses her power to heal the teenager and deliver a short lecture on how best to use her powers. It actually takes Vivienne a moment to realize when Dawn is asking her a question, and she has to give herself a little shake, “Oh, uh...yeah. I can do that,” she looks down at the metal disc she is using and quickly grabs another chunk of wreckage in order to expand it enough for Dawn to stand on it comfortably with her, “I ain’t the fastest flyer. Could be faster is more of me were here,” of course this comment makes absolutely no sense to either of the healers, but Vivienne doesn’t seem to notice.

Looking at the teenage empathic healer she points back toward where the green bonfires are, “People are gatherin’ that way, at the green fire. Head on over there an’ get yerself warmed up,” then she lifts the metal disc off the ground with Dawn and looks at the other hero, “Which way ma’am?” Vivienne didn’t know if the healer was much older than she was, but she had a certain air of responsible, mature authority to her that made the trailer park girl feel like a little kid again.

White_Hood

2019-02-13, 04:45 AM

The glowing man known as Ben nods to Theo, “Alright. You be careful out here,” and with that he begins ushering people in the direction Vivienne had indicated.

At the location people are beginning to gather, the man controlling the green flames does as Vivienne suggested and starts making new fires, however after only two new ones all of the bonfires seem to grow a little dimmer and he stops, “Best I can do. Any more than eight and they’ll either snuff out or I’ll lose control and roast everyone here,” he explains, showing visible effort as he holds his flaming hands toward the fires to keep them going.

At the same time, Kimiko is able to find several large sections of intact hull from the ship that she can shift closer to the fires to form a make-shift shanty camp. They don’t do much more than offer some shelter from the rain, but people seem grateful as they mill around inside of them, occasionally coming out to get warm beside a fire before going back in. When Kimiko turns to retrieve another, however, she finds it already moving. Standing underneath it is a little girl, no older than six, holding the massive section of hull up on her shoulders and walking it toward the camp. Red faced and with her sandy blond hair looking like a rat’s nest, the little girl is obviously putting all she has into the ffort, but making steady progress. She drops the section of hull next to the rest and gives Kimiko a huge grin,”I’m helping!

The teenage healer looks up at Dawn with a look of near worship as her injuries heal over. Able to stand comfortably again, the girl listens to what Dawn has to say, nodding, “I...heal faster than most people...” she starts to protest, but stops when Dawn says they can work together to save more people. Nodding the girl stoops down and pulls the man she had healed to his feet, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She starts to head in the direction Vivienne indicated, but stops and calls back, “Um...thank you! My name is Eve by the way...” she looks a little embarrassed as she hurries to get the man to the gathering point.

Searching the crash sight turns up dozens more critically injured people, as well as plenty who were only trapped but relatively unhurt. The heroes have to work for hours before they can say with any confidence that they have rescued everyone they could. During the search, Vivienne comes across one more person of interest. At first it looks like a severed head laying next to a large chunk of wreckage, but when she gets close the middle age man looks up at her, “Hey there. Could you help me out?”

When the metal controlling hero manages to get the wreckage moved she finds the man is completely intact, but his body had flattened out like a pancake. Once he is free he returns to normal proportions and thanks her before heading off to join the rest of the survivors.

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-14, 12:50 AM

Dawn gave an understanding nod when Eve explained she could heal faster than most. That did ease a lot of her worries; not that it was impossible that she might push her power too far, but that would greatly mitigate the risk. "Dawn," she introduced herself in return with a friendly smile, although there wasn't really time for any pleasantries beyond that.

Dawn blinked at the notion of "more of her" being here, but didn't question it. "Thank you," she said earnestly as she stepped aboard the platform, pointing further down along the wreckage. "If you can head that way until we get to the end of the crash site, and then swoop around to the other side and take us back down that way, that would be great."

--

I'm working on the assumption that we're more-or-less timeskipping ahead, but Glitchy if you want to continue Dawn and Vivienne's interaction I'm happy to do so in parallel. I'm kinda assuming that over the course of the whole search and rescue they'd have eventually split back up since Dawn doesn't really need a ride once she's gotten a full sweep of the area and Vivienne probably has more useful things she can be doing, but up to you. Dawn could certainly direct her to people who are too injured to move on their own who she could like transport to the main group on a makeshift stretcher or something.

Dawn rationed her power during the search and rescue process, using trickles of chi energy backed up by sheer medical skill to stabilize the dying. However, that meant many who were merely injured went untreated - initially.

But as the search wound down and the people all gathered, Dawn knew her work was just beginning. She made her way to the green fires, and one more time opened her senses, seeking out the feeling of Eve's energy in the Lifestream. Even with all the people gathered, it shouldn't be super-hard to find her - her chi senses were keen enough to ignore any form of obscurement save solid objects. That included the "noise" of overlapping energy sources. Sensing someone's spirit in a crowd was about as easy for Dawn as doing it in an empty field.

Izzarra

2019-02-14, 03:50 AM

Kimi wipes some "rain" out of her eyes at the site of the kid helping.
"Yes, yes you are." Kimi looks around concern growing on her face. "Do you have any family?"

Following Quellian-dyrae's time skip format.
--
Kimi has been using her powers continuously for many hours searching the wreckage for survivors, the longest and most mentally, physically, and emotionally tasking event in her entire life and she is just about ready to collapse. However, there is one more thing critical to survival that needs to be done before she can take a brief rest. Water, the people need safe drinking water. Food can wait until tomorrow. She looks for the metal controller with the thick accent that she encountered earlier. Between the two of them they should be able to fabricate a large water still, sterilize it with heat, and make canteens to store the clean water.

Assuming Kimi locates Vivienne w/o too much trouble: She flies over and bows. "Excuse me, I noticed you can control the metals. I have an idea and I could use your help. If it is not to much trouble." Bows again. She explains her idea. Some large slabs of metal that we can pour heat into to use as stoves. Barrels and gutters on some of the shelter roofs to catch rain water. A stainless steel boiler with a coil of copper condensing tube. Followed by a large secondary boiling pot. The water should be boiled and condensed to filter out unwanted minerals, then boiled again for half an hour to kill any microbes. Then if possible try to find a super or somebody with testing equipment to do a quality check before distribution. Kimi will use her Thermokinesis too keep this thing going as long as she safely can. Putting heat into the stove slabs and keeping the condensing tube just above freezing.
I swear I am not doing any research to come up with this, my character has an education comparable to myself and I know how to set this up.
Trying to boil the water with fresh cut wood for fires would generate mountains of smoke that could introduce contaminants.
By my estimate it would generate a maximum of 4 gallons an hour assuming we can gather enough rain.

bc56

2019-02-14, 11:21 AM

Once he's sure he's rescued everyone he can, Theo heads toward the bonfires himself. He sees how many people there are, and realizes; they'll need food. A lot of food. He rushes a short distance into the forest, looking at the plants and cutting off bits which look like likely candidates for edibles. He'll cut them off using the blade of his bayonet.

If needed, Expertise (survival) to identify edible plants. (Or biology, if that's more appropriate. Biology is a +6)
[roll0]

El'the Ellie

2019-02-14, 12:47 PM

Songbird looks up as she hears the metal door bending. She internally cursed herself for hiding like this. She was a super, shouldn't she be out there helping, like the others? But every rumble of thunder sent a quivering note of fear though her and pulled her back to the cabin. Unwilling to look like she was just hiding, Songbird appears to appears to be looking for something when Vivienne enters: it's not very convincing. She grabs the woman's hand to pick herself up, and as another roll of thunder passes overhead Songbird subconsciously squeezes her hand hard, leaving little guess as to the cause of her fear.

"Oh... Yeah, sure. Yeah, I jus' needed a minute. Th' crash was... Well, you know." Her voice, smooth and melodic despite the trepidation, perfectly matches Vivienne's accent. From the similarity, you might imagine they grew up near each other, although that almost couldn't be further from the truth.

She stands for a long moment before stepping into the rain, almost seeming to zone out as she stares at the rhythmic patter of the drops.

Apologies if it seems like a bit of a pain getting Songbird out in the action right now: she would just be very unwilling to do so during the storm, so another person helping goes a long way.

Glitchy

2019-02-15, 08:27 AM

At Dawn's request Vivienne takes off down the length of the crash sight, keeping the disc low over the wreckage so her passenger can get a good look around. She remains silent for a while, until it feels a little akward, then she speaks, "Mah name's Vivienne by the way. Vi for short, or some of mah friends used to call me Multi-Task," she falls silent again after the introduction, not really sure what to say to the healer riding behind her.

I'm fine with the time skip. Vivienne isn't exactly a social butterfly. Plus there's important type work to be done. They can chat later.

When a Vivienne fine the squashed man in the wreckage she is a little freaked out at the sight of the head talking to her. After she gets him free and sees his body go from flat to normal with seemingly no damage, she just stares, watching him head off to join the rest of the survivors, "It's official," she mutters to herself, "This is the weirdest day of mah life." she shakes her head and continues looking for survivors.

Time Skip

One by one, six of the Vivienne's return to the growing camp site as they finish searching the crash for survivors. Each and every one of them is soaked from the rain, covered in mud, blood, oil and grease from digging through the wreckage and helping injured people. They look exhausted, and each in turn makes their way first to one of the green bonfires to warm up. Seeing that there isn't really space for all of them to get close, one of them finds a spot next to the flames, and the other five simply walk into her, disappearing into her back as if they were never there. The one who remains heaves a big sigh, wiping a hand over her face to half-heartedly clean it, then heads for one of the shelters.

That's when the asian girl she had seen earlier confronts her about building stills for clean water. Vivienne stares at the girl for a moment. She wanted to say no. The last thing she wanted right now was more work. She wanted to get out of the rain, lay down and maybe sleep for a day or two. But looking around at the survivors in the camp she knew she couldn't. "Yeah. Alright. Ah can help," it wasn't exactly an enthusiastic response, but Vivienne splits again, all six of them moving to gather the metal they would need, |Ah can make the shapes we need right now," she starts to explain to Kimiko, "But we'll have to wait til all of me gets back to turn some of it into copper. Can only do that when ahm one person," while she talks all of her start to mold six separate stills.

The Vivienne with Songbird gives the winged woman a smile when she feels the squeeze to her hand. She leads her back to the camp site and toward one of the shelters that have been gathered, "You go ahead and get some rest. Hopefully this storm'll stop soon," she gives the woman a knowing smile before moving off to join her Others and get to work on a seventh still.

The Vivienne with Dawn is the last to return. She remained with the healer even after their fly over of the crash site, helping to rescue survivors from under wreckage and debris where ever she could. When the pair finally return to the camp, she sees her Others building stills and gives Dawn a tired smile, "Ain't no rest for the wicked ah guess," she sighs and heads of to join the rest of the Viviennes in their work.

White_Hood

2019-02-16, 04:59 AM

Theo’s exploration into the jungle does not turn up anything he can confidently say would be edible for humans. He finds two different types of berries. One is small and yellow with tiny spines and a gooey orange inside. The other is a brilliant turquoise, grows in thick bunches and has a juicy black inside. There is a plant that looks somewhat similar to fiddlehead ferns from Earth, but are bright blue, and he finds a fruit with a hard rind that is long, tubular and pure white. The insides of the fruit is similar to a pomegranate except it’s green. Theo can’t tell by sight if any of these foods are safe for humans.

When Dawn arrives at the camp and goes looking for Eve she finds the teenager in one of the make-shift shelters holding her glowing blue hands over a woman’s bleeding arm. There is a telltale flash and Eve’s arm opens up with a long, nasty gash as the woman’s heals. As she approaches, Dawn can see tht Eve is once again showing signs of dozens of injuries, though none look quite as terrible as the ones she had previously. Mostly she is covered in bruises, scratches and a few deep cuts.

When Eve spots Dawn she looks guilty and seems to be trying to hide some of the worse looking cuts as she attempts a smile, “Uh, hi. Welcome back.”

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-17, 03:48 PM

Dawn gave Vi a not-disagreeing look as she headed off. She smiled at Eve when she saw her doing her thing. She wasn't upset about it; she had told her to judge what she could do safely, and she seemed to have done just that. Truth was, Dawn was glad she had been able to help some people in the meantime.

But now it was time to kick things up a notch.

"Hey," she said, laying her hands on Eve's shoulders and sending another pulse of chi into her, guiding the energy through her body to close her injuries. She talked while she healed - with so many injured, Dawn's mind was a little one-track at the moment. "So. Let's get a plan together."

"Our objective is to heal as many people as possible. My limitation is energy; I have a finite amount of power I can spend healing. It recovers with rest, but if I spend too much of it too fast, recovery will be degraded. I'm capable of mass healing over an area, but I've found that works best for healing relatively light damage. Cuts, bruises, simple broken bones. For stuff like that, it's super-efficient. But for serious injuries like we have here, it's going to take more of my attention to make sure everything gets healed right. So individual healing will be my best bet."

"But it's actually a lot more efficient to heal a lot of injuries on one person than one injury on a lot of people. What I'm doing now is, I sent a charge of my energy into you, and now I'm guiding it to heal each of your wounds, one at a time. It takes a bit of energy to kinda keep it going and..."topped up", but way less than producing the initial charge again. Much more efficient. And, well, practice makes perfect; the more often I heal you, the better sense I'll have of your body's natural state and how your chi flows through it, which will also help with efficiency."

"So my default plan is, you take on the more serious injuries, as many as you are both willing to endure and can endure safely." There was a part of Dawn that was yelling at her for asking the teenaged girl to do such a thing, to expose herself over and over again to the injuries of others. She told it to shut up. Eve had already demonstrated a willingness to do just that, and in all likelihood she'd do it whether Dawn backed her or not. At least this way Dawn could help her. "I'll diagnose the patients so you know exactly what you'll be taking. Then I heal you up. Rinse and repeat. Once we've cleared the serious injuries, we'll gather anyone with lighter injuries together, and I'll finish the job with a mass heal or three. A job like this, normally I'd bet on it taking over a week. With your help, I'm not certain we'll be able to get it all done tonight...but I'm not certain we won't either."

"But that's just what springs to mind going by what little I know of your abilities. Is there any flaw we'd run up against? Limits on your own powers or such, aside from how much damage you're physically capable of enduring? And is there anything else you can do that we could use to make things more efficient still? I can heal myself without spending basically any energy or effort at all, gradually. Kinda like how you heal faster than normal, but a bit more active. Can you transfer injuries to others as well as yourself? If you can, you can transfer some of the injuries to me, basically doubling the number we can heal before I have to spend energy to heal you."

bc56

2019-02-18, 01:02 AM

Carrying the fruit, Theo runs back into the camp,. shouting "Is there a doctor in the house!?" He is already unsealing his helmet and taking it off. "I'm going to taste-test some plants and I might need medical aid!"

El'the Ellie

2019-02-19, 12:28 AM

Songbird smiles more out of politeness than necessarily being put at ease as Vivienne leaves. "I hope so." She takes a deep breath and half runs over to one of the shelters, her heart beating rapidly as she does so. Once under the makeshift cover, she starts to feel a bit better. She glances around the area, looking and mostly listening for someone that sounds like they're in charge. She hears a confident voice, someone who sounded like they knew what they're doing.

Sticking to the shelters when she can, Songbird makes her way over to Dawn. "I couldn't help but hear: you sound like you have a plan. We're supposed to be the ones helping the passengers, right? I'm looking for a way to pitch in, what needs doing?"

Izzarra

2019-02-20, 09:09 PM

Kimi continues work on her water purification project.

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-20, 11:00 PM

Dawn blinked and regarded the woman who had approached her a bit confusedly for a moment. She didn't know her. She didn't know what she could do. And honestly, she had been so focused on healing she hadn't even considered anything else. So the answer she wanted to give was more-or-less "How should I know?"

And then over the sound of the rain and the din of the makeshift camp, she heard someone yell that they were about to eat some unidentified plant and might need medical attention.

And she gritted her teeth, focused her chi to speed the flow of her thoughts, and stepped up.

"Over here!" she called back to Theo, before looking again at Olivia. "What we need right now are resources. ...No. Sorry, scratch that. We have resources. We have an entire ship full of resources. What we need right now is to know what our resources are. Gather up a hundred people who are uninjured, or at least not badly injured. Have half of them go among the crowd and start asking around for people who are willing and able to work. Anyone with medical, computer, and engineering skills, direct them into groups. We're going to need them sooner than later. The other half should go into the ship and start retrieving some of our food supplies. We're all going to need to eat soon. I think I know someone who can make sure the route is structurally sound. Can you do that?"

After she finished that, she reached out with her spirit. Vi would feel a sudden sense of warm presence, almost like someone was suddenly standing nearby, and hear Dawn's voice in her head. ~Vi? You have, uh, like clones or something, right?~ She was pretty sure when they had split up she had seen her go join some other people who looked like her, and between that and the "more of me" statement from earlier...well, it was a logical assumption. ~Do you think you can have one or two of them go into the ship, make sure the way to the food stores is structurally sound, maybe shore it up if it isn't? I want to get some people bringing food out so we can have it ready by the time people start getting hungry.~

bc56

2019-02-22, 08:48 AM

Theo runs over to where Dawn is. "Hey," he says, "We can't subsist off the ship's supplies forever. I saw someone else boiling water, so I'm going to try some of these fruits. Could you help out in case they're poisonous?"

Glitchy

2019-02-23, 02:43 AM

Vi Prime looks around in confusion when she hears Dawn's voice but doesn't see the healer anywhere near where the water purifiers are being put together. Not really sure how to respond, she both thinks and speaks her reply out loud, "Um, yeah. Ah can send a couple. Give me a sec," she motions for her Others to gather around and merges back into one person. Once whole again, she set about turning a large amount of scrap metal into pure copper, moving as fast as she can to get it done and checking with Kimi every few minutes to see if she has made enough to get the job done.

Once she has enough, Vivienne once again splits into eight identical copies. Six of them return to working with Kimi, molding and shaping the metal like clay into the shapes they need. The other two head off to find any of the intact supply storage they can and make sure there are stable routes into them. They will sure up any corridors that are damaged or make new ones if they have to.

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-23, 02:36 PM

"That would be a big risk. We can't know what effects they might have on you. I would...imagine our stores include seeds for us to plant so we can grow our own food." Dawn didn't know that for sure of course, but it seemed like an obvious thing to bring. "As a medical professional, it is my duty to advise you not to consume any substance when you are unaware of what it might do to you."

...

"That said, if you're going to do it anyway, yes, I'll do whatever I can to heal you if it's dangerous. My powers should be sufficient to deal with...well, most poisons and pathogens, anyway."

~Thanks, Vi,~ she sent back to the duplicator.

Izzarra

2019-02-26, 02:04 AM

While working on the water purifier Kimi says to some of the bystanders "If some of you could spread out and let anybody who looks like they have medical experience know what we are doing perhaps somebody will have a way to test the water before we drink it."

bc56

2019-02-26, 11:12 AM

"What's life without a few risks? We'll have to start eating these eventually." Theo cuts open the green pomegranate and pops a few of the seeds into his mouth to see what happens.

White_Hood

2019-02-27, 01:45 AM

Putting the fruit in his mouth, Theo finds it tastes absolutely horrible. Something like mulched grass and battery acid. It numbs his tongue instantly but otherwise doesn’t seem to have any immediate effects. If he swallows, the numbness spreads down his throat like a very potent novocain.

Eve’s listens to Dawn’s plan in rapt silence, nodding at every opportunity and looking a bit starry eyed. Once she’s heard the whole thing she nods enthusiastically, “Yeah. Sounds good. I can do that. Just tell me who to heal first,” the teenager seems eager to help and to impress Dawn with her ability. Together the two super healers spend the next several hours going from shelter to shelter finding people who are missing limbs, have ruptured organs, are suffering massive blood loss and number of other terrible injuries sustained in the crash. Eve is able to take those injuries onto herself, suffering each one with a stoic silence even as the pain is clear in her eyes as her body is mutilated and destroyed over and over again, only for Dawn to bring her back to full health. By the time all of the critical patients have been healed, Eve is shaking visibly and looking pale. However, she remains resolutely at Dawn’s side, ready to assist however she can.

Delving into the wreckage of the ship, Vivienne is able to find several of the storage holds still intact but buried beneath debris and almost inaccessible. Her powers allow her to clear passages into the storage areas and, with the aid of the civilians assigned to help her, she is able to recover a great deal of the Arc’s supplies. When it is all collected and brought to the camp area, a number of former military and police officers take a count and do some calculations, informing the supers that it looks like there is a good three months worth of food and water, as well as the majority of the seeds brought from Earth. None of the livestock survived the crash, but there are three hundred fertilized chicken eggs that were kept in suspended hibernation that could be hatched if a suitable environment is provided. Most of the tools and building supplies survived the crash, and the heavy construction equipment, though damaged, is not beyond repair given enough time. Medical supplies are in the shortest supply, with only a few basic antibiotics and pharmaceuticals having survived. Giving no means of producing more, anyone who might be reliant on constant medication such as those with diabetes or heart conditions are likely to run out within a couple of weeks.

The construction of the water purifiers goes as smoothly as one could expect with the aid of Vivienne’s metal shaping powers. Each component is sculpted and put in place, and Kimi is able to mount them on top of the hull sections being used as shelter. She even gets some help lifting them from the exceptionally strong little girl who seems very excited to use her power to help. No adults have come forward to claim the child, and it seems apparent that they either died in the crash, or never made on board the arc to begin with. If asked, the girl says her name is Grace.

Just as the last purifier is completed, however, the rain seems to stop. Cutting off as if someone turned off the tap. There are mutters both happy and surprised throughout the survivor camp as people look up toward the jungle canopy for any sign that the clouds have cleared. But instead they see a shimmering dome of yellow-green energy encompassing the entire camp area, blocking out the rain.

The muttering turns to shock and surprise when a tall, statuesque man in green and gold body armor strides out of the jungle, one hand help up and glowing with the same energy as the dome above. He looks like a male model, with perfectly chiseled features and wavy blond hair that looks untouched by either the crash or the weather. He grins, showing off perfectly straight, brilliantly white teeth, “Do not fear. I am here!” he shouts as he makes his grand entrance, striking a heroic pose.

There are cheers from the crowd, and it’s little wonder why. Back on Earth, this man had been known as Mister Impervious, the number five top ranked hero in the world. Invulnerable and able to manipulate powerful force fields, he had not only been a powerful hero in his own right, but had also been the leader of Gale Force, a premier team of similarly powerful heroes.

Sure enough, just behind Impervious stands another familiar figure. Dressed in a skin hugging black body suit, her head and face completely covered by her trademarked mask and cowl, is none other than Midnight, the mysterious stealth hero of Gale Force.

Quellian-dyrae

2019-02-27, 01:49 PM

Dawn's actions with Theo will largely depend on what he tells her, so I'll hold off posting that bit for now. At the very least, she'll wait with him a few minutes to make sure he doesn't like collapse seizing or anything, and tell him to come find her immediately if he experiences any strange symptoms.

...Also, random aside, I only just now noticed the in-retrospect obvious thematic link between Dawn and Eve's names. Nicely done. :smallcool:

She didn't show it externally with anything more than the occasional concerned look or clenched jaw, but inside, Dawn was struggling as she and Eve went about their healing. She had been a bit uncomfortable asking the teenager to do this in the first place, and that discomfort certain did not decrease as she watched Eve take on horrific injury again and again, often taking on several before Dawn healed her. Rationally, she knew it was the right call, that it would get more people up and active and out of pain the fastest. Even so, Eve was just a kid. Dawn's heart was screaming at her that letting her do this was simply wrong. Sure, she'd have used her power anyway, but without Dawn there to undo the damage, she could only take on so much. She would only have to endure so much.

But at the end of the day, the injuries Eve would be spared would still be felt by others. And if one thing was made clear as Eve came back for more time and again, it was that the young healer was almost certainly stronger than any of them. Eve's power was fairly impressive, sure, and the synergy between it and Dawn's own proved every bit as efficient as she had hoped. But what really amazed Dawn, what hit her again every time Eve took her newly-repaired body and willingly subjected it to yet more trauma, was the girl's sheer will.

So aside from those involuntary looks of concern, Dawn forcibly kept her struggle inside. She didn't try to coddle Eve, didn't constantly ask if she was alright or wanted a break (though she did make sure they both rested periodically; that was just good sense). When they came across someone with a particularly horrid injury, she didn't waste her energy trying to heal them herself, or make a start on healing them so Eve would have to take less, even though the urge to do so welled up every time. She felt guilty, because Eve was basically torturing herself to save her some energy. She didn't show it, because the both of them were doing it for a reason - to help as many people as they could as fast as they could. She wouldn't diminish the significance of Eve's will to help by suggesting she should be doing less. When she laid hands on her to heal her, it was with gestures of gratitude and encouragement.

By the time they had finished, Dawn was soaked to the bone, starving, and exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. Guilt and pride were waging a brutal, bloody war in her heart. After she doggedly healed the last remnants of the final injuries Eve had taken on she said, "Alright...I think...that might actually be the last of the critical injuries. We can see about wiping out lesser injuries once we've recovered. But for now, I'm prescribing both of us a hearty meal, a good night's sleep, and at least twenty-four hours of not using our powers unless it's an emergency. You may consider that doctor's orders," that last she said in a bemused tone, but one no less serious for all that.

And then she wrapped Eve in a tight hug. "You were amazing, Eve. Seriously. I've met veteran soldiers twice your age who aren't half as tough as you. I could not have done a fifth of that without your help. Thank you."

--

Not long thereafter, whether Eve stuck with her or parted ways, Dawn was shambling through the camp looking for her family (she wasn't out of energy, but she was low enough that she'd already be a bit slow to recuperate, and if she used much more it would be even worse; what she had left she had to conserve for emergencies, so even the paltry expenditure of reaching out with her chi senses to locate them was, she deemed, a price she couldn't currently afford to pay). And a hot meal. And maybe something resembling a bed. If she could find all that within some reasonable vicinity of each other it would be ideal, but she'd be honest right now if she found her family and there wasn't food near them she'd have kept walking without looking back or thinking twice.

So when the forcefield came up and Mr. Impervious made his grand entrance, with Midnight beside him...Dawn spared them maybe half a glance, muttered something that may not have been entirely conscious and almost certainly had something to do with the rain turning off, and pretty much just kept walking. She was just too tired and frankly numb to give any more reaction than that, at the moment.

Glitchy

2019-02-28, 12:10 PM

Vi was exhausted. Easily eight times more exhausted than anyone else since she had done eight times as much stuff, simultaneously. Most of her Others spent the hours working with Kimi and the the bizarrely strong little girl called Grace. Her hands were sore from the constant bending and molding of metal that was otherwise strong enough to make up the hull of a star ship. A lot of it was composite material, and she had a hell of a time separating the metal from the polymers and ceramics before she could properly shape into the cisterns, pipes and funnels needed to build the purifiers. Her arms were sore, and she was soaked through with rain and sweat by the time they were finished.

Vi Prime and another of her Others led the expedition into the Arc storage areas, stabilizing passages and making sure the non-powered workers could get in and out of the holds with the supplies. When the passages were firmly in place she did her part hauling out gallons of water and packages of food and seeds. When the construction equipment was found the skinny trailer park girl gave a massive sigh, looking over the machinery and seeing where repairs would have to be made. She could do it, she was sure of that, but it seemed like every time she thought she was making some headway in this mad scramble, something else popped up that she had to deal with. Luckily, this was a matter she could probably delegate to the civilians. There had to be other mechanics among the survivors who knew enough to get these things running again. She would lend a hand if they needed any parts or tools made that they didn't have, since she could probably create them from the wreckage of the Arc, but otherwise she was going to leave this relatively minor issue alone for the time being.

When the Vivienne's finally meet up again after all the work is done, they are stumbling, wet, covered in grease, dirt and blood, and the majority of their clothes are in desperate need of repairs where they had snagged and ripped on debris. As the group of them come together they look at each other in exhausted silence. They were all thinking the same thing. They could really go for a hot bath and a hard drink right about now. Determined to find at least one of those two things before they passed out, they merge together into a single Vi again and start for the shelters when the rain suddenly comes to a stop.

Looking around, Vi spots the costumed pair walking out of the jungle looking clean and rested, and there is a flare of burning, acidic anger in her gut. Suddenly the aching fatigue seems to leave her body, and she runs a hand through her short, messy hair, flinging the water out as she stomps toward the man who claimed to be one of the top heroes, "An' just where in the blazing fires a hell have you been?" she screams in his face, "It's been hours since we crash and y'all been missin' this whole time! We coulda used some o' yer help savin' people an' settin' up this here camp. Y'all best have one helluva reason fer up an' vanishin' like a fart in the wind," Vivienne was raging and poking the armored hero in the chest with one finger as she yelled, "An y'all come strollin' back like yer savin' the day all clean like while we been here in the mud and blood tryin' keep things together," if someone didn't stop her, Vi was likely to start swinging soon.