thebastion | Day 264 [Log; Part 1 Closed, Part 2 Open]

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Day 264 [Log; Part 1 Closed, Part 2 Open]

[Part 1 - CLOSED to The Emissary]

She'd dropped the PDA in her hand as the rumbling grew stronger, the device tumbling into the abyss. Never in all of her life had she experienced something quite like this, a grand shaking that rivaled any earthquake despite the fact that she was in a place that was in no way connected to the ground. She braced herself and closed her eyes, a tingling awareness of Jake's presence on the floating slab beside her.

What now? After all they'd been through, what now?

It took forever, an age perhaps, before the shaking and rumbling finally ceased, petering out in slow, weak tremors. There was a sudden sense of stillness around her, hollowness, that urged Jane to open her eyes. She examined her body first - she was intact. The slab she sat on looked somewhat worse for wear, chunks ripped off the corners and edges, and all around her the innards of Prospit's moon hung in ruin. It was as if a great giant had ripped the moon in half, leaving bits of chain to float like debris and swaths of blackness in the sky that...she couldn't explain it, but they just didn't look the same. A question on the tip of her tongue, she turned to Jake's slab -

- Jake wasn't moving.

He was sprawled out on his similarly damaged slab, still as death and completely ashen, as if covered from head to toe in a fine dust. The gap between their slabs was too wide for her to jump, lest she topple into him and send them both tumbling down into who knew what. Her throat was incredibly dry.

"...Jake...?"

It was all she could bring herself to say to him, after all she'd put him through, but if she couldn't reach him, she had to...she couldn't be alone here, could she? In this strange and unearthly place?

No answer. She waited a minute, two, but still nothing.

Jane took a deep breath. Okay - okay, so, the only person she knew was in shouting distance could not answer her. She'd be okay, this was going to be okay, she just...needed to find some help, was all! Yes, help, that was exactly it. She stood up on the slab and cupped her hands around her mouth, looking about the wreck wildly.

"HELLO? IS ANYONE OUT THERE?"

There's barely an echo. She tries again, and again, and will keep on trying until someone hears her.

[Part 2 - OPEN to all]

So...this was it, then. The Bastion.

After parting from her rescuer, Jane had been quickly welcomed by the natives, and though still shaken from all she had learned, she absorbed what they told her like a sponge, but two things stuck out in particular: there was no way home, and no one to go back to. It was a daunting, frightful thought, one surely common to many who first arrived, but that did not keep it from nipping at Jane's heels nonetheless.

At the direction of the locals, she walks off towards what she's been told are apartments where she can stay. She seems a bit drawn and tired, but...not completely unapproachable. In fact, she looks on those who come and go with an inkling of genuine curiosity.

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The ability to pause and gauge the reaction of others instead of plowing through a conversation is one Jane is proud to have, even if for only this moment. She nods thoughtfully as if he had spoken. "Ah, I see. Throat troubles. Ah, maybe it's a bit much for me to say, but if you're not feeling on the up and up, maybe you should be resting in bed?"

Bed. Right, the strange rectangular soft sleeping objects. Frankly, with the Emissary and Disciple's combined fussing, he's getting a bit sick of being in them. He's been trapped in one place not allowed out for way too many centuries now. Making a face, he gives a shake of his head. Pass.

No? Hm. Well, that's odd. His apparent condition really isn't one to be ignored, but Jane's not going to push the buttons of someone she'd just met.

"So you're out to get some fresh air, then? I guess I can't blame you. It's not fun to be cooped up in one place." Oh, Jane, you have no idea how much of an understatement that is.

At the prompt understanding, he seems to relax a bit. Another nod. Tell him about it. It's a good thing he'd much prefer to stay with the "hallucination" of Disciple, or else he'd have likely shot off onto the Skyway and gotten lost or something ridiculous. With that answered, he points to her.

So what about you, bespectacled alien?

It takes a moment for Jane to register what he means by the point. Did she have something on her face? Was she making a funny face - again? No, the context clues click into place soon enough. He wants to know what she's doing out here.

"Oh, um, I've just...I'm new here, and I was told to go to an apartment building to see about getting someplace to stay." She sniffs, tries not to think about her time on the Skyway too much. Talk, Jane, talk, do anything but think too hard. "Someone named The Emissary helped me get here. Would it be too much to assume the two of you might be acquainted? Being trolls and all?"

It probably was. Stop being rude, Jane, it's not like all trolls actually know each other. That's like assuming all humans knew each other. Probably.

Except, in this case, she's completely right. When there's only two other people of your kind, you sort of get to know each other pretty quickly. Not even going into the context of how they dragged him out of what was left of the Condesce's ship.

So he just gives a nod. The Emissary always seems to be running out of the Bastion, so he's not particularly surprised they met that way. After a moment, red-and-blue psi energy forms basic stick figures in a simple box- one with four horns, one with two curly ones, and another that's either cat ears or also horns. After a moment of consideration, he adds a really crappy bed to the 'drawing'.

So he did know her, that's a relief. What a lucky coincidence that was, as far as Jane knows.

The psi energy drawing immediately catches Jane's attention. Hm, three figures with a bed...so that meant three people lived together. One of them had curlicues like the Emissary, so it was easy enough to figure out that the little bits on the figures' heads were horns.

Huh. Interesting.

"So there are three trolls here, including you?"

Well, three that he knows of... But neither Disciple or Emissary has mentioned any others so after a moment, he gives a nod. Sounds about right.

If there are any more, they'll pop out of the woodwork when they're least expected. Or, at least, that's Jane's experience.

She manages a smile. It feels good to be right for once. "Well that's good! And does the bed mean you live together?"

Another nod to show that Jane is hitting all the right answers so far, and he jerks a thumb back towards the building he's leaning up against. In their nice little abode of the Tower. "Little" since the whole building isn't theirs, after all.

No, she doubts it is. Given the situation, it'd be odd if three people lived in such a big place all on their own.

"I see, so you all live here. That's nice." Also good for him - he's not overexerting his condition, whatever it is. It'd probably be bad for a sick person to go wandering very far. "Did any of you know each other before...er, all this happened? Or did you first meet when you arrived?"

For the first moment, the Helmsman looks... unsure. It's a similar conversation he's had with Disciple, and he's still hesitant about a lot of things. After a moment, however, there's a new set of stick figures. The one with the double set of horns and a thought bubble leading from him, with the Emissary and Disciple figures inside that. He's hallucinating them, after all, so it doesn't really matter if he knew them or not, right?

After a moment, a figure with no horns but apparently short air joins the thought bubble crew. That goes for you, too, Miss Alien.

Now this one stumps her. Jane narrows her eyes at the new set and puts a hand on her chin. Thought bubbles usually meant thinking, of course, so...he's thinking about the other trolls? He thinks he might have known them? No, no, then why is that other stick figure there? It doesn't have horns, so it can't be a troll. Hm, what else was there? Thinking, thoughts, doubts...

Jane shakes her head. "I'm awfully sorry sir, but you've lost me on this one."

Well, there is only so much communication you can do with pictures. He gives a helpless shrug and lets the picture fade away. What can you do, after all?

She smiles wryly. "I really am sorry. Maybe when your throat is feeling better, you can explain it to me. After all, we're stuck here for...forever, I guess. Right? That's plenty of time."

Wow. When she puts it like that, it's pretty depressing. Like today can't get any worse.

Well, if there's someone who's used to an eternity of shit, it's this guy. So there's another shrug before he gives another try at pictionary. It's a good practice with his powers, anyway, even if it's not what he was initially interested in doing. This time, it's a rough kind of map and then a question maker, followed up by pointing at her.

Where was she going?

Oh, it's definitely a good exercise in communication and getting to know others, as well as a great stretch of deduction abilities. Or at least, that's what Jane would call it were she not focusing on the new picture.

Hmm, let's see...he points to her, there's a question mark, and a sort of...map? Possibly?

"Where did I come from?" A pause. "Where was I going?"

Headshake at the first suggestion, but the second earns a nod and he holds up two fingers just to confirm it. Door #2 is the winner here.

Ahah! She's back on the right track!

"I was going to an apartment building. I'm fairly certain I still have a ways to go, though."

The apartment building... The other communal hive, that's right. While he's never been there, restricted for the most part as he's been, the Helmsman knows of the area. He's had to do a lot of people watching, and after a while you figure it out. He points to the area it's at. It's not too far away, but then again his sense of distance might be a little skewed.

Jane looks towards where he's pointing. "Oh. It's around thataways, then? Good to know."

Skewed distance or not, there's always people to meet on the way, and that's what's important.

"Did you ever happen to go there? Is it nice?" By which she means, should she expect some seriously sparse conditions for a post-apocalyptic society?

A shake of his head. He's familiar with the hospital and the Tower, but nowhere else. Disciple brings him things, more often than not. After a pause, he points behind him to the Tower. He can show her this place, if she wants, because that's the only place he can judge.

Pointing to the Tower, huh? Hm...did he want her to come inside with him? To see what it was like inside? Surely it couldn't be too different from the apartments.

Besides, the stubborn skeptic in her thinks, he doesn't look like he could do anything untoward...and if he did, well, he knew Miss Emissary. As brief as their acquaintanceship was, the other troll did help her, and was thus the only person she could really fall back on.

"You want me to go inside with you?" Jane asks. "Okay, then."

Guess that's settled then. The glow around him gets just a little bit stronger, lifting up into a proper hovering position where the tips of his toes barely brush the ground. Heading over to the front door, he looks back to make sure she's following before the same glow settles over the door knob to the Tower to open it.

It's actually a rather nice first floor, as well, with what appears to be a small recreational area to the left and some chairs to the right. The stairs are straight ahead, leading upwards.

Ahah! Floating, huh? Jane wondered how he got around. She does indeed follow him into the building, her glances around the first floor increasingly approving.

"Oh, wow. It's not bad for the end of the world, is it?"

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