Event: Day 336 [open]

[bastionpc]

Who: NPCs! and you guys
Open: Open
When: Day 336
Where: in the Bastion
What: A plan is made, a letter is mailed, an enemy is cracked, a thief is caught
Format: action
Warnings: none




[Lots of things are happening today. See the individual threads in the post to find out what is going on.]

Comments

[bastionpc]

Ideally, yes. Ultimately we would be limited by how much power we could dump into the process, though. And, admittedly, I'm no expert on geology. If anyone knows anything about how planets are formed, I could definitely use their help, if we decide to go with this plan.

[twinked_witch]

Hrm. Who are 'you' in the collective sense, then? I know you have said your names from 'before' are irrelevant, but...

[bastionpc]

[She definitely thinks that, yes.

She is thinking other things too. Like how she is sure her group is falling over themselves trying to stay fed and healthy without her there to lead them, or how her daughter is doing without her there. But she still doesn't speak to River, beyond thinking 'You DID bring this on yourselves' in River's general direction. Not because she thinks River can actually hear her, but rather because she is angry and bitter and thinking things at people makes her feel better.

Grey speaks up again.]

Look, Red's not going to do anything, but we can work something out, can't we? It might just be all one big misunderstanding, maybe if we all talk calmly we can find a solution?

[freedom_engineer]

I've been on teams that planned planetoid construction on about five separate occasions.

I can give you plenty of pointers on the inner workings of it. I'd be interested in seeing if the Monument can pull this off...

[bastionpc]

A group of people, trying to survive. [She pauses for a moment, and then decides that there's no harm in telling a bit more.] For the first couple of months, it was just a group of us from the same building. The building I worked in, it was very large and held several companies. When the fires came, those of us who were in the elevators survived. We were lucky it was just a quick burst of fire, so it didn't have time to heat the elevators up like an oven. And the people in the bank on the first floor, they saw the fire coming, so many of them got into the bank vault and survived.

Then a few months later, we met other groups, but we couldn't understand each other. We stayed together for survival, but all of our efforts were focused on surviving and trying to find ways to communicate with each other.

[bastionpc]

I think it's the best bet we have. A lot of you don't like the thought of going back in time to try and stop all of this- [Which is what he wants to do, truthfully, but he won't go against the majority.] -and I'm not going to activate the evacuation function, so this is our best bet.

But as a warning, we only get one shot at it. It will use up all of the Bastion's power, and the Bastion itself will either end up as part of the planet or drop from the sky like a sack of bricks. If anything is wrong with the function or the designs, then it's wrong forever, and we won't get a chance to fix it.

[countingthunder]

Might be too late. Even if you hurry back, it takes a titan to hold up the heavens.

[legendary_can_opener]

[Mitellux's rumbling voice suddenly cut through the conversation-]

"Going back in time to..."? I was not aware this Bastion was even capable of such a feat.

[Mitellux narrowed her eyes]

To prevent... all of this, why is this option no longer under consideration?!

[... she may sound a bit... upset]

[darkshooter]

[For her part, she's looking kinda uncomfortable too after that. An all-or-nothing shot? With everyone dying if it goes wrong?]

[To say nothing of the obliteration of their safe-haven. What was terrible about leaving everything the way it was?]

[freedom_engineer]

Because it's been done at least once already. Probably a couple of times.

It resets everything. Including memories, minus some deja vu, rippled remembrances, and other temporally bizarre things. Meaning that it doesn't stop the calamity from happening, it just goes back to before it happened and lets it happen again.

[And here he was trying to stay out of things...]

[bastionpc]

It doesn't always erase everyone's memories. Zulf remembers what happened the last time, which is how we know what the 'restore' function even does.

[Sorry Colin, he's got to say the truth here.]

[bastionpc]

[She does, actually! Which is what she is about to try to explain.]

Everyone keeps going out on the Skyway, and then they don't come back, or the end up like Crona-

[She has to fight to keep in a sniffle there.]

These things are what make people leave, so if they're not here anymore...

[bastionpc]

But we have to go back, we're needed to keep everyone safe, and we need to find those cores too.

[dontyoujustwish]

That kind of reset doesn't really prevent this universe from existing anyway. It just creates an alternate universe where events may go differently. I've been through it before.

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera nods.]

That makes sense. But tell me... Why do you hate the Bastion? We're trying to welcome people to work together to survive here...

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob watches Colin examine the knife, an eyebrow going up slightly at the last part.]

"We do not negotiate with terrorists" is something that sounds reasonable, but fiction and reality tend to provide situations where negotiating could have prevented bloodshed and other negative effects. We're also not in Corsica anymore, Toto.

But moving the Ura... That's hardy something that can be done quickly and subtly, even assuming they're willing to move rather than stand their ground. We don't exactly have many mass transit options here.

[countingthunder]

Just banging rocks together.

[daughterofursa]

[A tight frown when Colin speaks. Don't interfere with her pseudo-parenting, Colin. In fact, don't talk at all, she doesn't want to accidentally snap at Anna. Too bad she can't pull the amulet removal trick again without being unable to talk to the girl either.

She lets out a short breath.]

Anna... I know how you feel. But hiding in the Bastion won't keep us safe. You remember what happened when it ran out of power?

Our best chance is in working together, and being honest with each other. And if Nathaniel's right, we shouldn't have to risk the Skyway for too much longer.

[amnesiadragon]

[Ryu keeps quiet, trying to think things through. Most of the Ura... they've all had to survive, but they shouldn't be involved in this.]

[He can't let another village burn. He can't allow himself to let more people die.]

I'll go. I can defend them. I'll... I can be their guard while they decide what to do.

[gianthobo]

[Umbreon paws at Colin, before wandering over towards Anna again, picking up one of the compasses in her mouth and dropping it on Anna's lap. You wanted these, right?]

[freedom_engineer]

[Her actual parent is RIGHT THERE Zuko... He appreciates what you're trying to do, he brought you here for a reason after all, but quit making promises that aren't your place to make.]

[But he's not going to push the matter, instead he's going to help Ippo gather up the other fallen compasses while the emotionally intelligent people handle things. Barring the one Umbreon took, naturally.]

[freedom_engineer]

Reality also tends to offer hard lessons that indicate that if someone can get something through menace, they have no reason not to continue.

[He looks at Ryu... then he reaches up and, very lightly, bops Ryu on the forehead with his index finger.]

No. No solo defense. If we send someone, we're sending a group.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob is still of the mindset that making every effort possible to save all the trillions of people who died in the Calamity (assuming that they did in fact die, which he still isn't sold on) is the only valid course of action, but the possibility of designing and creating an entire world is incredibly appealing to him personally. Anya's words are kind of distressing though.] But, uh, how would you be able to tell if that's what happened?

[bastionpc]

[Speaking of Stewart, he is comforting his daughter as best as he can, but he's not...really the emotional type. But he'll speak up now, since they seem to have an answer from Anna.]

She seems to be a bit misguided, that's all. I can't imagine how she got this idea into her head, but I can talk to her about it and explain things to her.

[He's right though, Anna wouldn't have thought of something like this on her own, she was never told what the compasses were for. Itty kids not needing to go out on the Skyway, and all.]

RIGHT JOURNAL THIS TIME

[bastionpc]

[Grey looks thoroughly confused, and Red just sighs and speaks.]

Don't bother her, Grey. She's either messing with you, or she's messed up.