EVENT: BIA ▒ STERN

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: The stern areas of the ship
WARNINGS: Disturbing imagery, violence, psychological trauma, gore, etc.
SUMMARY: Characters have to fight to find their way back to each other from being increasingly isolated and plagued by their deepest fears and most hopeful dreams.
NOTES: May 27 onwards.

An echoing boom comes from deep in the middle of the ship, shakes its way through the trees and waters of the Oxygen Gardens, down into the maze of walkways and mechanics that make up the Engineering Complex. A sense of danger rolls through with it, enough to make you pause in your work, set down tools or supplies, ignore the thrumming pain in your head to find out what. Trapped far away from the comforts of beds and kitchens and slow approaching necessity of gravcouches, you only have each other to turn to. But soon that grows difficult, turnings leading you off path, door slamming shut behind you. In the increasing isolation panic swells like an infection up through your mind-- but then soothes. You find your way into an unexpected comfort, the company of a long-gone friend, an old home filled with happy memories. You linger, drift into contentment, and yet it still can't calm one deep nagging doubt: you aren't safe where you've found yourself.

Comments

not at all! c:

[servator]

[ Voices. Shepard steels herself, expecting... something more malicious. It's someone she doesn't recognize which is why her rifle remains in her hands, but she does respond, shaking her head slowly, eyes on the hallway behind Sebastian. ]

I'm fine. [ Relatively speaking. Slowly, she holsters the gun and peers at the other. ] I think it's become pretty common around here.

[ Something was affecting them from the inside-out: not a pleasant idea. ]

Do you have any idea what that sound was?

=)

[shinywhitearmor]

[Shepard's rifle might remain, but so does Sebastian's bow. He recognizes the value of modern weaponry now, but he can't give up his Grandfather's bow so easily. And with noises like what he'd just heard, he was wise.]

Worryingly so. I would hate to see what is uncommon around here. [He paused, looking around.] I know what it sounded like. [He hadn't heard many explosions, but one haunted his dreams, and it sounded similar to that.]

[servator]

I'd say something like "peace and quiet" is a safe bet.

[ She hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in who-knows-how-long. Never mind that she almost never sleeps for more than a few hours at a time. ]

You do? [ She frowns pointedly, studying the stranger. ] Mind explaining?

[shinywhitearmor]

['I've heard it in my dreams' didn't seem to be the most sensibly thing to say, not when she had one of those modern weapons that were more efficient than his bow.]

It sounds like some kind of explosion, which I fear is not good in a ship in space.

[servator]

Well, yeah, that'd be a safe assumption.

[ Down the hall, she hears a low moan; it isn't the Reapers, but it sounds like more Husks. Shepard raises her weapon again, expression darkening. ]

Be careful. They're faster than they look.

[shinywhitearmor]

[Sebastian, having been working with Hawke for too long had an arrow in his bow as fast as he could but he paused for a moment, watching the things. He had a million questions about them, since she obviously knew them, but one came to the forefront.]

Best way to kill them?

[servator]

They used to be human, so anything'll do.

[ To prove it, she tears into one with her rifle. The Husks, pulsing blue and moaning, shamble quickly toward them, arms outstretched. ]

Dammit. [ One falls and two more round the corner to take its place. Shepard bares her teeth, agitated, and guns them down as fast as she can. ] I sure as hell didn't miss these things.

[shinywhitearmor]

[Arrows were flying from Sebastian's bow, as quickly as he could take aim and fire that massive bow of his. He decided that he definitely didn't like this creatures, and the more of them dead, the better.]

I take it it isn't good if we get caught by them...

[servator]

No, better not.

[ He's a good shot and she's grateful for it; Shepard eyes Sebastian briefly, firing at one of the Husks who'd lunged for the archer.

The crowd of monsters dies down, their agonized moans fading. She catches her breath, eyes scanning the halls. ]

... Doubt they're gone, but at least we've got a break. [ And she shakes her head, gun still at hand. ] I have no idea how they got aboard.

[shinywhitearmor]

[Sebastian stood still for a moment, watching the suddenly empty halls.]

Do I have time to retrieve some of my arrows? And are they safe to reuse? [Arrows used in Darkspawn were considered a loss, so he knew not to trust everything that he fought.] Or else I will need to pick more up.

[servator]

If they're not broken, they're safe. [ The pulsing monsters aren't poisonous or otherwise dangerous to the touch, save for... well, being grabbed by them. ] Here.

[ Still on high alert, Shepard ducks down around the hall and snatches a few up, wedging them delicately from the corpses. ]

Have you seen anything strange, besides these guys? Heard a-- [ she frowns briefly, brows furrowed ] a sort of piercing sound? Not like the ship breaking apart. More... a cry.

[shinywhitearmor]

Though they won't be as effective. [As he pulled one out of a corpse, he noticed how much the head had been damaged by one tough skull.]

A cry? [He glanced around, as if he could hear it already. But he hadn't heard anything like that, so he shook his head.] No, I haven't heard it. But you have?

[servator]

Good point. [ Better less-effective arrows than none; either way, Shepard has enough firepower for the both of them. ]

... Yeah. [ She frowns; could it have been imagined, after all? ] Might be the ship pulling one over on me. Wouldn't be the first time.

[shinywhitearmor]

[Sebastian wouldn't feel right if he wasn't able to contribute something to the battle. Perhaps he needed to learn newer weaponry - another time.]

The ship pulling 'one over on you'? [He was puzzled. How could it 'pull one over' on one person?]

[servator]

Sorry. Playing tricks on me.

[ She doesn't flinch at the confusion of colloquialisms; it isn't as if each alien species had the same sayings, after all, so she's far too used to it. ]

Wouldn't be the first time.