Day 201 [event post]

[bastionpc]

Who: Zahi and everyone who wants to go hunt down the cure
Open: Open
When: 201- onwards
Where: the monument, and then out on the Skyway
What: People in the Bastion are falling sick, and Zahi knows where a cure can be found. Unfortunately, it won't be easy to get to.
Format: action
Warnings: none

[On Day 201, after several people have fallen ill, another meeting is called. This time, however, it is not Nathaniel who has called for everyone. It's Zahi.]

Okay, I know everyone's been worried about the people in the hospital, and it looks like our fears weren't unfounded: some of the people who went on that last trip, they caught something.

I've been watching the symptoms, and I think I know what this is. A long time ago, back before Zayna was born, there was a terrible illness that claimed the lives of many Ura. Everyone who fell sick here, they had the same symptoms as those who caught the disease before.

On the plus side, this means that it can be cured. I know of a clinic, way out in the Terminals, where there should be some medicine stocked. Not only can we cure the sick, but we can give another kind of medicine to those who aren't sick yet, so they won't catch it at all.

The downside is that it's gonna take a while to get there. It'll be at least two days there, and possibly more to track down exactly where the clinic is, and then the same amount of time back. We're looking at a four-day minimum, which means we won't be much help to those who are sick right now. They'll either be dead or getting better by the time we get back.

Then there's the fact that it's really dangerous out there. Zayna and I were out on the Terminals before we came here, and let's just say that there's a reason we went looking for somewhere safer to stay.

If you'd rather stay here, I can understand that. The Bastion is an amazing place, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone here managed to save everyone. But I'm not a fan of putting all my eggs in one basket, so I figured it's worth a shot to go and try to get some of the medicine.

What do you guys think?

Comments

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin can tell. He isn't the least bit put off by the child. He knows animals, he knows young animals especially. In fact, when Cubone gives his hand a whack, Colin pantomimes a little spasm of his fingers just for show.]

Do you want me to call you out now, or later? Your health is just as important to me as everyone else's.

[fuckthemancers]

...Why do I need to be called out?

[That's just putting him on the defensive now, stopping in his cleaning to actually bend down a bit to pick up Cubone. Which is still trying to wave its little bone, for the record.]

[freedom_engineer]

Do you want a list?

[Colin stands up.]

I said it before, I'll say it again. YOU have me worried. Your behavior, your thought processes, likelihood of making it out of this in one piece.

[A momentary pause.]

And for the love of all the gods still listening, please don't try to retreat again. I'd hate to have to chase you, and your child there doesn't need the stress.

tw for suicidal thoughts???

[fuckthemancers]

[The threat of stressing out Cubone seems to get to him more than the threat of being chased does.]

My chances of surviving are actually rather high if past experiences are anything to go by.

...Although the opposite would be easier.

[freedom_engineer]

Zulf? I've got life projections for everyone in the Bastion.

Yours is my lowest one. Do you think I've been bothering you so much because I want to make you uncomfortable?

I want to keep you alive, man. I want to see you get through this.

[fuckthemancers]

...I'm really uncertain of what to say to that. "Thank you for the lack of confidence"?

[freedom_engineer]

Oh please, if it's lack of confidence, then I'm just as badly off as you. I've got one of the lower life expectancies here too.

Of course, my worry there is that within six months I'm expecting someone to shoot me in the back or shove me off the Skyway.

[Colin shakes his head.]

But you...

I don't know why, what's behind it. But you're showing EVERY. SINGLE. WARNING SIGN of Armageddon Fatigue.

[fuckthemancers]

...Pardon?

[freedom_engineer]

Armageddon Fatigue. It's...

Gah, right, you people don't practice end of the world scenarios.

[Colin holds up three fingers.]

Shelter.

Food.

Sanity.

Those are the three requirements to survive the end of the world.

The first two are the easiest to solve, we've done that.

Keeping your brain in good shape, that's another matter. People are not BUILT to survive the end of the world. There is shock, there is trauma, and it is very, VERY easy to lose the will to live.

That is not weakness, that is a symptom of the end of the world.

[fuckthemancers]

It disconcerts me that there are places which do find this normal.

[But he quiets soon enough to listen to the explanation.]

...That makes sense, I suppose. I... [There's a pause and a bit of rocking again as he pets Cubone to help keep it calm. Obviously feeling avoidant again and trying to work against it.] This event has likely only... stirred something that was already present.

[freedom_engineer]

Where I'm from, we prepare for everything we can imagine. Even things that shouldn't ever happen. Like this.

[He gestures around.]

"Something that was already present"? Are you able to elaborate?

[fuckthemancers]

This isn't the first time I've lost everything you know.

...The first plague. [And other things, but he just tenses up his shoulders and continues to pet the Cubone.]

[freedom_engineer]

I gathered as much. Unfortunately, you do a very good job of not giving me much information from which to extrapolate.

[Nobody ever tells him what he needs to know. He is going to be so angry when things finally get brought out into the open...]

You were a child then, right?

[fuckthemancers]

[Zulf is fully prepared to automatically shift blame onto Rucks when that happens.]

Yes. It wasn't a particularly uncommon thing- there were plenty of children who were the sole survivors of their families. We had to learn to rely on ourselves. It got to the point where we even earned a sort of name for ourselves. Dolic.

[freedom_engineer]

"Dolic"?

Got a translation for the poor ignorant foreigner?

[fuckthemancers]

Oh, so the amulets didn't translate? I suppose a direct translation would be a bit complicated...

It's a kind of... crystal-like moss? It's a strange kind of phenomena. In certain caves and tunnels. I've heard you could once find it especially common near the underground nests of Anklegators, or deep underground old battlefields, given enough time.

It doesn't have a good effect on stone, for some reason, but that isn't an area I'm particularly specialized in.

[freedom_engineer]

It's an interesting experiment, actually. When words seem important, carrying a meaning that seems to transcend language, they don't automatically translate. I suspect that's why we don't understand Paarthurnax's dragon-speak.

[He studies Zulf for a moment, before finally asking the question that seems obvious to him.]

So was that a good name, or a bad name?

[fuckthemancers]

My people live underground. Anything that would weaken the stone used to shelter us was rarely considered a good thing.

[Along with being connected with areas often associated with some manner of death... No, not a particularly good name at all.]

Sometimes, you could use it as a source of pride if you were that kind of stubborn person. "At least I'm not dead", et cetera.

[freedom_engineer]

Ah, but in some instances, weakening a stone can be helpful. It's all a measure of how you look at things, from the outside.

From the inside, though. That makes sense.

[He just watches Zulf with a gentle expression.]

You were the only one to survive in your family, how about after the plague passed? What then?

[fuckthemancers]

I survived. There isn't really much more to say about it until I was taken in some years later.

[freedom_engineer]

I think there is, actually.

You wouldn't be so eager to get off the topic if there weren't something there that you didn't want to face. Something getting you right in the depths of your soul.

[fuckthemancers]

A bit dramatic, don't you think?

[A way of saying that he doesn't like how perceptive Colin is being.]

...The plague made it so that the dead were too much for the living to handle, at least effectively. Some bodies couldn't be dispersed, souls released, for days. For a few, it was simply a matter of finding them. For others... As I said, many people died.

[His expressin starts to twist a bit, brows furrowing and mouth scrunching up. His voice has been steadily getting a bit tighter. Telling people about the plague- that's always been easy in general terms.]

I didn't want them to be stuck like that.

[freedom_engineer]

So what did you do?

[Colin steps to Zulf's side, still looking at him. If he's perceptive, he may be able to tell that there's a hug coming. Colin suspects that's a big "If" at the moment.]

[fuckthemancers]

..Someone had to send them to the Lorn Mother.

[Zulf is a bit lost in his own thoughts to notice anything, but Cubone is different. The small bone starts getting waved about again at Colin, this time a bit more aggressively. The little Pokemon may not really understand what's going on, but it knows enough to guess that Colin is the reason why Parental Figure 1 is upset.]

[freedom_engineer]

It's okay, little one. You can give me a whack with it if you want.

[He puts an arm around Zulf then.]

I would offer you my sympathy, if you wanted it. I suspect it would do nothing for you, though. How long were you alone, after that?