acatalepsy_rpg

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[ when the feed comes on, riza's expression is tense. controlled. she's looking straight into the camera. there's an air of professionalism to her as she speaks, but that's to be expected.

she's lived through enough warzones, calamities, and nightmares to know how this goes. ]

My name is Riza Hawkeye. I know some of you, but-

[ not important. she blinks herself out of that. roy was always better at this, wasn't he? okay, breathe. ]

We need to regroup. I'm sure everyone has felt some part of what is going on, but things are getting out of hand. We can't turn on each other at a time like this, not with whatever is happening down below. I know a lot of us are scared, but if we're going to get through this, we need to pull together.

[ a beat, and then she exhales. riza doesn't look fantastic, honestly. she hasn't slept in who knows how long, and with everything going on around the ship?

but she's trying, that has to mean something, right? ]

Anyone who needs help, come find me in the lounge. I know basic first aid and can see what I can do. If anyone has any kind of healing abilities that are working? I can help with those too. I'm trying to collect what supplies we have, but help is appreciated.

I'll be in the Lounge if anyone needs to find me.

[ and then the feed cuts.

ooc timeline wise! this is happening semi-post the event log but pre the wrap-up log! meaning that people who went down in the first log can be back up, but all the dead bodies haven't made it up. she is open for network stuff but also if you just want to action meeting her in the lounge......feel free.

also.....no one has told her about roy yet so. that is open. c: ]

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If you need more help with that, let me know. That's...important enough to make sure you can get. Depending on if we can get a process set up, it's something that should be brought along.

[ she sees the distant rubbing, the thought that crosses morrigan's face, and riza nods. ] I can do that, yes. With there seeming to be a pattern with these worlds, it's not a bad idea to remind everyone to bring provisions.

[ at the next question, riza shakes her head. ] I haven't been able to make it down there to check. We should have some, but I'm worried about dipping into the water supply. [ and then she sighs. ] But it might be worth doing, at this point.

[ she laughs lightly at that. ]

It makes me miss Akvos, honestly. Even if I got sick of fish, at least it was something substantial.

[ and the moment is appreciated. even if it can't last long, some semblance of normalcy before they have to get to business. but just like maes knows, it can't last forever, and she nods. ]

We spent most of the time up here just trying to decipher the messages. The alien language was harder to understand than we thought, but we managed to get three of the messages Zari found in the bridge.

[ she doesn't sound particularly...excited about them, but she looks over to maes anyway, just checking to make sure he's following. ]

[ She needs more time. She may not get it -- or maybe they will. For now, focus. ]

Oh. Good.

I'm aware.

I would have liked earlier notice than after being attacked by the monster.

[He has dreams of Gracia's cooking, though recently those have been rarer and replaced by uneasy sleep and nightmares. Now he not only misses the food but the dreams of the food. He's not sure he wants to share that with Riza though, as mentions of Gracia and his past in Amestris.

Best to focus on the present concerns.]

Messages? I'm guessing they didn't hold much good news or a quick explanation about how to handle what we found down below on this ship.

[Ren has mostly been keeping his head down since everyone came back up from under the surface, but he can't help but notice the name "Hawkeye" when it comes up. He'd heard that name while he was down below, from someone he might not have seen killed but certainly knows didn't come back up with his group like he went down with them, and he finds himself wondering. About the person behind that name, for one thing, but whether anyone had been able to tell her what happened yet considering the losses their group had suffered.

He's mostly been lingering around the lounge area anyway, so he just wanders back in, keeping an eye out for the face from the video. Ren looks a little bit banged up, bruised and scraped, but he doesn't seem to mind too much, and he links his hands behind his back as he approaches her, head slightly tilted.]

You said your name was Hawkeye, right...? [His tone is making an attempt to be vague and curious, but it's more grounded than he'd like on first approaching someone. He's having trouble pulling together his full innocent airs after all that.] Were you one of the ones who stayed up here on the bridge?

[ she says for him to keep still so he does his best, one hand fisted in his trousers, the other keeping him upright at his side, palm gripping the metal ground beneath them. the wounds sting in the open air, his shirt a makeshift bandage of sorts between the oozing and blood. he closes his eyes, wishes quietly that pike were here and then furiously unwishes it because pike doesn't deserve this.

her healing magic likely wouldn't even work.

he breathes out. ] I don't know. Time down there seemed to go on forever... could have been hours, days, a week.

[ a sharp hiss inwards at the touch of a more sensitive swath of burning. ] I'm only lucky the one who gave me that burn knew how to fight me off as well as she did. [ she has a name, he remembers it, but he won't speak it. she did what she had to do and he will take it. ]

How did you fare...? Were you up by the bridge?

[ she nods, her eyes falling back down to the floor space between them. ]

There was some information in them, but I don't know how much of it was good. [ a breath, then she exhales. ] One of them was a video of the monster itself. Another was a ship log detailing the...well. Detailing what has been happening to the rest of us so far. Nothing that we didn't know already, so that one wasn't as useful.

And the third- [ riza rubs at the bridge of her nose, frustrated but also exhausted. ] It talked about shadows, like the monster could use them for something? And focused a lot on the work-out room. Something about the zero gravity, but it wasn't clear why.

You bring up a good point though.
If the ship, or the monster, or whatever it is is able to affect us that much...
We need to be preparing for more than we have been.

[ and then, because she can't ignore that... ]

I know you have it handled, but if you do need more bandaging or supplies I do have them here.

Edited 2019-03-22 18:26 (UTC)

[ she has been keeping busy, and it's an easy enough task to handle. with all the supplies being dropped off, other members of the circle stopping in, wounds to be tended to and then new materials to restock. there has been help, she's not doing it on her own, but it keeps her mind off of everything else.

when he wanders in, riza does notice, but has enough that she's working with that she doesn't necessarily walk over to him. it's not until the newcomer approaches her, curious. riza is polite enough when she turns to him, nodding once, her hands holding a box of bandages. ]

Yes, but you can call me Riza if you'd rather. And I did stay up here. [ she looks him over, the cuts and scrapes and bruises, assuming he'd gone down below and turning to face him more fully. ] Did you need help bandaging those?

We know so little, even after what we've had to learn through experience. How do you prepare for the unknown?

And one potential old source simply isn't talking. Maybe it's time to lean on her a bit more.

[ Well, you could. But Vex is grateful that you don't. even if she'd deserve it, given how short she's been. ]

I'm with Percival. If either of us should need anything more, we know who to call.

So you saw it then.

[He listens to the information. He can understand her exhaustion now, her concern when posting to the network. He considers it and combines it with his own experiences.]

It's certainly an ugly thing and in person it has...I don't know...I guess some kind of effect on you as well. It's like an embodiment of fear and all it wanted to do down there was mess with our heads. The rest of your information checks out. Shiro and I encountered it fairly early on. It could use the shadows to hide and move in, sometimes it even seemed like it could manipulate them, but that could have just been another way of messing with our heads. When we tried to illuminate the halls it really freaked out on us, so it could also just be a strong aversion to light...like some cave dwelling or nocturnal creatures are.

[He starts to rub at his chin. He hasn't had a chance to clean up his facial hair in awhile and its definitely gotten thicker. Maybe he'll find a moment to clean up after their conversation.]

I do know that we witnessed it jump through walls and locked doors several times. Maybe...maybe if we got it into a place without gravity we could keep it from reaching the walls. That might make it easier to pin down at any rate, since otherwise every time we tried to get it cornered it would just slip away again.

[So that tracks to what he'd heard Roy say while they were down below, about asking her to "stay up top". It seems unlikely she isn't the person he was talking about at that time.

He's distracted from that train of thought by her remark on bandaging, though, and he hums slightly in apparent confusion as he raises one of his arms to look more closely at it, as if he hadn't noticed the extent of the injuries. He's aching and exhausted enough in general that pinpointing specific marks hasn't really been a main concern to him.] Mmm, I suppose...I didn't really come here for that, though...

[One of his hands fidgets a bit with his sleeve as he considers how to be at least somewhat gentle in dropping deeply unpleasant news. Usually he'd be plenty happy to do something nicer first and drop bad news later, but that doesn't seem right with this specific kind.] You're friends with that Roy Mustang guy, right? Have you talked to anyone else in the group he went down with...?

["Friends" is a guess, but he doubts he would've jumped so soon to her name in a situation like that, or been seeing or hearing her, if she wasn't somehow important to him. In any case, he'll make sure someone else hasn't told her what went on down there first.]

[He lightly touches her hand and sits back, looking as exhausted as he feels.] I'll be fine in time.

[He'd have thought Haggar's words and the whispers would haunt him. Strangely they don't. No, the wounds inflicted were by using those he trusts and believes in most. He can't let himself think about that too hard. Not yet. A little longer, he promises himself. He raises his head and squares his shoulders, pushing it all down for now.

Right now, he's co-leader of Voltron. His voice comes out quiet but there's strength returning to it with every word.]

...that creature has to be stopped. It's too dangerous and if anyone of this reality is looking for this ship they won't be prepared to take this beast on.

And we don't know how it spreads. It has to be contained here. [He reaches out to lightly touch her arm.] And we need to find out what happened to the others. We'll come up with a plan, put together supplies, and head back down.

This is the best way to do it if we're to find out what happened. A team must occupy the creature. Or it will repeat what it did to us.

We will see once we have returned, then. [~~Casually adds a name to the list.~~ She frowns, but nods.] Indeed. T'would certainly be more helpful rather than...this.

[Them running about with acute cases of paranoia and various injuries, whether they were inflicted by another of their own, themselves, or the creature toying with them.]

We may have to depending on how many injuries there are to treat. Infection kills more often than the initial wound.

[She doesn't like it either, but they have to make do with what they have. She kills the feed once she arrives at the lounge, carrying a pack she'd snagged from Akvos with a few bottles of poultice still within. She places it down on the nearest table with empty space and pulls the bottles out one-by-one.]

[Ugh, fine. Sheryl exhales, an audible sigh, and there's a pause before she answers.] It's nothing big. Whenever I heal someone, I feel a bit of pain, that's all.

It doesn't leave any injuries or anything like that. It just hurts. I can put up with it.

Hard to argue that, ma'am. I went to sleep fighting a war, woke up to fight another, and got pulled here to do the same.

You're my people now so I can't say I mind much.

I know you will. [ she gives him a small, empathetic smile. because above it all, they both do know how that all feels. the weight, but also the responsibility to come back to their roles. their team. she watches him square his shoulders and pull himself back together and all she can really do is nod, feeling herself grow a bit more centered. ]

I agree. That monster, and whatever it's doing, can't go on like it is. The messages we found up here prove that. That...thing is what killed the last crew. All of them.

[ he touches her arm, and some of that resolve crumbles from her face. just for a moment, but riza lets it. ]

You're going to need two teams- one to go after the monster, and one to. [ a pause, and then she swallows. ] One to retrieve the bodies. We can't leave them down there.

[ inej freezes, at the words, her fingers curling protectively over the bandages. her immediate reaction is to dart away, but she's already been caught . . . so inej steels her nerves, and speaks as calmly as possible. ]

I wanted to avoid a conversation.

[ she may as well be honest, and she pockets the bandages. she's not giving those up. ]

But if you have pain medication, I would take it.

Team retrieval will need just as many experienced fighters. ...just in case. [He briefly glances around. They’re alone. His shoulders sag a little and the care worn expression he’d been hiding is on his face. His grey eyes are faintly haunted. But just as that mask’s removal shows his pain it also shows the will to see no one else hurt. The haunted light is tempered with a sharp intensity.

He turns what she told him over in his head. His priority is to learn all he can and come up with a plan to kill the creature. While he’s at it to see to the team that had been up here. ...as much as he can.]

I want you on the retrieval team or on guard up here. You’re level headed, reasonable, and if they need to retreat I know you will see it done. [Shiro shuts his eyes for a moment. One moment. It’s all he can afford.] We don’t know if we’ll succeed in dealing with the creature. Please keep an eye on Hunk. He’s honest and a good man to have with you. As a healer and an engineer.

[He opens his eyes, a sad smile on his face.] I know I’m asking a lot of you. I wish I didn’t have to. If you decide to come down on the team to fight the beast, I’ll welcome you all the same. It’s your decision.

[ he's right. of course he is. she knows he's going to be, because it's almost exactly what she would say if their situations were switched. but more than that, she feels the way his body relaxes, a sign enough to her that they're alone.

the rest of what she'd been holding together collapses to the floor, and riza leans forward, pressing her hands to her face. she's exhausted, but more than that she's terrified, and she hates what she says next more than anything, but because it's shiro, she can say it. ]

I should go down there, but I don't know if I can. Roy's still- [ missing, gone, probably dead. the words die in her throat as she sits there for a moment, her face still in her hands. then the moment passes, and riza takes a breath, sitting back up and watching as shiro closes his eyes.

of course he's thinking about hunk, his paladins. riza lets out the breath and nods. ] I'll stay up here. Act as a base for you to come back to. Hunk will be needed, especially if he's a healer. [ and then, as shiro gives her his smile, she returns one in kind. ] You don't ask that much of me, Shiro. We're here for the same reason. But- [ there are too many possibilities, too many chances, images, scenarios. she doesn't know if it'll help anyone for her to go down there and then get caught up in who knows what just to look for him.

not when she can be of help up here. ] I'll stay here. Make sure there's somewhere set up for the retrieval team.

You just prepare. Not for anything specific, not for anything in particular. You just do.

Do you think she'd have anything new for us?

[ she's not going to. her ability to ignore obvious things only goes so far. ]

He's going to need new bandages in a day, so I'll expect your call.

[His heart twinges when she stops hiding behind her mask. He knows how he would be if it were Keith that hadn’t returned. A mess that has no business going back down but would charge into the fray anyway. But he would be at his most effective that way. Riza knows where she will be strongest.

Shiro reaches for her shoulder. It’s because their public faces are off he can do this. If she allows it he pulls her into a hug. Otherwise his hand just stays on her shoulder like a steady port in the storm.]

I’ll do what I can down there. No matter what happens, I’ll make sure it won’t hurt anyone else.

[He will stop it even it costs his life and he knows Keith feels the same way. This can’t be allowed to continue.]

[ she will let him pull her towards him for the hug, tucking her face into his shoulder as he does so. it's easier knowing they both get it. that she's not showing weakness, or have anyone to hold it together for. she closes her eyes, breathes, and listens to shiro talk.

but a moment later, she will pull back, her eyes hard when she looks to him. she knows what he's saying, and she can't tell him no, but. ]

Come back. [ don't tell her whatever it takes. don't. ] Finish it, and come back. Okay?

Have you tried it at any length? Do you know for sure it doesn't leave any lasting injuries?

[ but then riza will sigh, deflate a little. ]

I'm not trying to stop you from helping. I just want to be sure you're not hurting yourself worse just trying to make sure others are okay.

Was it the same war?

And we appreciate the help. Always appreciate the help.

What did you say your name was?

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