melodiesoflife | Event || The Answer

Event || The Answer

Characters: All characters who signed-up for the event.
Where: South Continent of Balance (Imperial Territories)
When: April 20th to April 30th.
Summary: The Heroes of Light have lost consciousness and now find themselves in the middle of nowhere, without their Moogles and away from everything they know. They will have to get back home, but what awaits them on the path? For more information, please check the First OOC Post and Second OOC Post.
Warning: Bad things.

Group 01: Team Hijinks House
Group 02: Team Brigands
Group 03: Team Discovery Channel
Group 04: Sephiroth's (In)Sanity Squad
Group 05: Team (Bad) Shipping Advice
Group 06: Team Blue-Haired Lords on Fire
Group 07: Team Mom and Late Sleepers
Group 08: Nothing Bad Will Happen
Group 09: The Hellhounds
Group 10: Loftwings, A Working Title
Group 11: Team Oni
Group 12: Team F.N.T.I²
Group 13: Team Name-In-Progress
Group 14: Team The-Mods-Couldn’t-Brain-A-Name
Group 15: Seraphim Shenanigans

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Jack tries to follow fast enough, but he loses sight of the little girl. Darn it. He scans the area for where she could have gone but now there are too many things in the way.

"Split up," it comes out like a Captain's order. "Buddy system," he taps K'Pandolu on the shoulder and starts to lead the way to the right. He hopes she'll follow without his logic getting questioned. He and Tazendra are armed, so they should split up, and they should each stick with one of the two people who seem to know what's going on here.

At a glance, the stalls seemed to offer plenty of places to hide. K'pandolu frowned as she looked around- if everything was set up, where were the rest of the people?

She glanced over at Jack, alerted by that tone of voice, and blinked for a moment before nodding. She tilted her head back towards the other two for a moment, and flicked an ear. "If you find anything, I'll be listening. Just call," she said, and left out that she'd be looking for trouble as well.

She headed for the nearest stall, crouching down to start examining it from bottom to top for anything useful.

[Further into the plaza Jack and K'Pandolu would happen onto an older male figure, though only familiar in appearance to one of the two. His disposition was tense, and even uncomfortable. He froze momentarily, but loosened several moments later. Happening upon Jack was something he expected, but at the same time, wasn't prepared for.]

I see.

[He muttered calmly, hinting his displeasure in this turn of events.]

Jack stops short and gasps a breath in, as if he got hit with a bolt of lightning, a sudden shock to his entire system. He's spent enough years around the man, Jack recognizes him even before his face is fully visible. Tense, uncomfortable, displeased, and probably finding something to complain about. Rather than putting Jack on guard, his disposition confirms that maybe this is actually the man he thinks he's looking at.

"Owen?" Tentative, before he snaps out of his shock, and starts walking towards the (former?) field medic. The man who died on his watch twice, now standing in front of him again.

Jack stops only a few feet away, a hand starts to raise as if he wants to reach out and confirm that this one isn't a hologram, but he falters, and it drops back to his side, then his arms fold uncomfortably around himself.

"It really you, or is this place fucking with us again?"

K'pandolu glanced between the two men, her tail twitching slowly. "You two know each other?" she asked, ostensibly to both of them. Jack's actions had already confirmed that he recognised the other man, though, so she wanted to see how this Owen responded. Slightly more to the point- "What do you see, exactly?"

[There wasn't a method in which Owen could console the other. Consoling had never been something he was particularly good at, and with that he came off cynical, as he tended to. Giving the girl a brief glance to acknowledge her before turning his attention to Jack.]

Can't tell the real from fake?

[He might have been offended.] I'm really here.

It's him. It's really really him. Jack breaks into a familiar smile, and shifts his weight. "When even the people saying that they're here to help us have been throwing illusions and jerking us around from day one, yeah, sorry, but I had to ask. They could teach Parliament a thing or two, it's that bad..."

"K'Pandolu, I'd like to introduce Dr. Owen Harper, field medic and alien biology specialist from Torchwood." Nods towards K'Pandolu, "K'Pandolu Tohka, a warrior who is way more used to this sort of world than I am."

The joking tone leaves Jack's voice. "It's damn good to see you, Owen. First person I've really seen from our world." Better to see him than even Jack can verbalize without giving anything away.

Which...leads Jack to another point. "What's- the last thing you remember? Before you showed up here?" Tries to keep his voice even, act like the question is casual. "We might not be synced-up, timeline-wise." They aren't. "What can and can't I say, you know?"

Judging by Jack's reaction, he at least accepted that this was the same person he knew. With a moment's hesitation, K'pandolu decided to accept that, trying to keep a positive- or at least neutral expression as Jack introduced them.

"A pleasure to meet you," she said, and leaned forward in interest. "An… alien biology specialist?" That sounded curious- would it apply to all of those who were from different worlds, or just those who weren't hyur?

Still, Jack seemed to have the more relevant questions, and she turned her attention to their surroundings again, listening for any clues.

[At least doctor wasn't forgotten, and if it was, he would have corrected it.] Pleasure.

[He paused at the question, in spite of being aware of the gaps in one's timeline, he wasn't as new as they thought him to be. Then again, Crystallis wasn't common, even by his universe's logic.]

Let's take this somewhere more private. Follow me.

[A chance to gain some composure. Even though the city was barred, and there wasn't much to advocate for, anything regarding sensitive information was best exchanged behind walls. He lead the two deeper into the district until they stumbled onto a relatively normal looking building. Upon entering, Jack will notice the layout and technology was eerily similar in make and build as Torchwood Three.]

Jack pauses in the doorway, and his whole face lights up like a kid in a candy store. There's a feeling of familiarity, and almost expectedness, like of course what he would come across would look just the way he expects it to. Jack cranes his neck, looking up at the ceiling, staring at the computer screens. He's almost expecting a pterodactyl to fly overhead any second now.

"Home sweet home... Now we're talking."

He looks back at K'Pandolu, spreads his hands out as if he's showing off the place. "You wanted to know what my world looked like, take a long look around. All this stuff's from home."

But the building brings up a thousand more questions. "Obviously you've settled in for a while." He points vaguely upwards. "This place like this when you got here, or did you build it a piece at a time?"

If a Torchwood Hub was already here, then one, Jack knows the only other person who has been here in a previous cycle who would have built it. Two, he is going to kick himself for literally following in his own footsteps.

And three, there's one piece of tech from Torchwood that they could really use right now. He is looking around very specifically for the Rift Manipulator.

K'pandolu was less at ease the further away they went from the other two, but there was no denying the new building fascinated her. She followed Jack's gaze up to the ceiling for a moment before looking back down and around.

"It's incredible," she said honestly, and wandered over to take a look at the nearest screens. "What do you do with it here?"

The technology was already here when I arrived. [He went through the trouble of assembling it to make it what the two were looking at now. Of course most of what went into contributing it was no longer here. Jack and K'Pandolu were the first visitors in a long while.

Owen had a sneaking feeling of what Jack might have been looking for, and for good reason. Amongst everything, his most recent world memories included being forgiven over the mess it caused.]

It's in the back.

Jack sighs deeply and looks at the ceiling. "Point one for Banner's theory. The tech stays, we all cycle through every time. And I bet I know who left this behind."

Jack turns to K'pandolu, at least try to answer her questions. "Back home, Torchwood was there to protect the world. There was a thing that we called the Rift, gap in the fabric of space and time, and things would fall through." Jack waves a hand. "Weirdly similar to what's happening here, only unintentional."

Then he looks back at Owen, solemnly. "We created a device that could partially control the Rift. Close it when it was too active...or rip it wide open." But. You're still forgiven over that, Owen.

Jack starts to move towards the back, hopeful. "And if we've got one here? We might be able to use it to get into the Interdimensional Rift. That- place, between worlds. The one that we saw in our dreams."

He's looking for the machine, if it's still working, this wouldn't fix it all, but it could help. "If we're going to actually fix this. Instead of cycling again. We need a way to fix the Crystal in there, but this...this could be the key to open the door."

"…so it leaves behind that which is not alive?" K'pandolu mused.

She turned towards Jack as he spoke, giving him a nod of acknowledgement. "You dealt with whatever came through, then? You've more experience than I thought, then."

She glanced at Owen for a moment, and followed after Jack. "That could definitely be useful," she acknowledged. "But… how would we reach it while being certain we weren't bringing something else down on our heads?" She remembered events of the Sage's vision well enough, as much as she might wish to put it behind them. She didn't want to see a repeat of the incident with the manikins.

[Owen shifted on his feet, building in agitation. He pivoted to keep track of the two as Jack explained their worldly details to his current companion.]

We've never had the chance to use it. [He debriefed sternly.] But it's compromised, and extremely limited.

[It was too late for this world now, as it was, and there was no one left to advocate for it. Hell, it was a miracle he was still around. Owen never thought himself the type to be the last man standing, yet here he was in an empty barren town. Not to mention explaining the very details to a man he'd never thought he'd see again.]

If you can make use of it, take it.

Jack nods to K'Pandolu's questions. "That's all the things keeping me from just trying it out... Hit the button, maybe end this all now?" He sadly smiles at K'Pandolu. "Be tough with just the three of us, but maybe...? Maybe not."

And then he turns back to Owen. "Because isn't this just our damn luck? Get the thing that could save the world right when there's no world left to save."

So it's time for the million gil question. "My perspective? It was yesterday, this city was still standing, filled with people...then we woke up out in the wilderness. If we got time-shifted? Then I would've expected this place to be in crystal. Calamity should've consumed this place, if enough time's passed for this place to be as built up as it is." Jack casually leans against the machine, treating an integral piece of technology like another set of furniture. His arms fold, and he looks at Owen with the hope that he can put the missing piece into the puzzle.

"But you've been here a while. Long while. What the hell happened?"

Edited (Talky-man talks too much.) 2016-05-10 05:32 (UTC)

"Maybe," K'pandolu echoed. She glanced over her shoulder, ears twitching with anxiety, worried for the others. She wanted to be sure they were all right- Minfilia, at least, and Tazendra didn't deserve to be caught up in something other people had brought on them.

If they knew more, though, perhaps they'd be better positioned to make a decision. She leaned back a little, her attention going back to Owen as well. "Did that result in the device being compromised, too?"

Isn't it obvious?

[There was a pause, perhaps that wasn't fair of him to say.]

The Rift Manipulator was always compromised.

[Settling uncomfortably for his seat, he rotated to face them. His story won't be very long winded, but he settled down for it anyway.]

We were summoned here, like you, to resist the Calamity. Locals dubbed us the Heroes of Light, and we were to find a way to save the world. They insisted we had done it before in our past lives. More complications surfaced, as we tried to stop the Calamity. Garland turned out to have a nasty side, and began to generate more problems. The Heroes [which Owen refused to call himself] prioritized ceasing Garland's reign, and it doing so the Calamity went ignored. Efforts to stop Garland succeed, but what you see now is the result of the Calamity.

[If these two didn't know that then they weren't apart of this devolvement.]

Does yours have a happier ending? [He humored sarcastically.]

The look on Jack's face gets darker as Owen speaks more. Damn it. Somehow, they're in a different cycle? Or later in the cycle Jack is from? "I'm sorry I wasn't here to help." First instinct is always to take responsibility, to apologize. "Not at the same time as you. Frustrating that it feels like we keep following in our own and each other's footsteps," Jack waves at the room.

"And our cycle is still going, so I have no idea how in the hell we got here. This shouldn't be possible. The Calamity had covered about a third of the world, but it's a wave of crystalization, once you're inside, nothing should survive. The Calamity has already passed this place? Has it covered the world?"

This shouldn't make any sense. But what if they're wrong about what's inside the Calamity? "Garland, what we got told was that he's somehow in charge of the resets, why time cycles through again. Time as a whole was still going, but time on this planet kept repeating. With him and a handful of other people remembering the cycles."

Jack holds up the vortex manipulator. "But time as a whole isn't still going right here, right now. I've got a date, no year. Before, I had a year, Universal Standard Date. Way farther in the future than any of us could have expected. So, what? Are we cut off?" Jack spreads his hands out to the sides. Thoughts, ideas?

'The result of the Calamity'… and the mention of an ending. K'pandolu's ears flattened against her head, and she shook her head, not wanting to believe it.

"…It might be possible to make it," she said quietly. "The Heroes who arrived in… ah, the second moon, February- they were in the Research Facility after it crystallised. So, then…"

She turned, looking around again for signs of what had happened, and then turned back to Jack. "Evidently we've been displaced again. If the Calamity has taken the entire world-" she glanced to Owen for confirmation- "then perhaps this is some stage between the cycles."

[Multiverse Theory was child's play in the grand scheme of things and with these two here, it further proved it. Of course there wasn't really anyone here to debunk it either. Regardless, it wasn't Jack's fault and they should have been able to succeed without him, as there were capable heroes who could have. The group as a whole just misplaced their focus and no amount of thought could change that mistake.]

What's done is done.

[What's worse was their misperception of how the calamity worked, or rather how it was dealt with..]

The world has already suffered the effects of the Calamity, what you see now are the remnants of what once was. When Crystallis started to suffer from its aliments, it began to fight off the Calamity naturally. Similar to how bodies uses their natural defenses to stave of infections.

[What could those resources be, exactly? Well, what was lacking in the world around him. The answer was more obvious than it first appeared to be.]

If it's still developing, if there's still something to return to, you should be able to make it.

That's as regretful as Owen gets without exploding into a ball of rage so Jack accepts Owen's breeze past without questioning it. He holds up a hand as if Owen has reminded him of something. "I've heard something similar to this before. Crystallization is actually an immune response to try to keep the calamity from spreading further." Jack snaps his fingers as he realizes it. "Crystal Stasis, somebody called it the same thing. We get turned into Crystal when we die to keep us from contaminating the cycle of souls on this planet."

"Like when we went back in time," Jack nods at K'pandolu. He looks at Owen sheepishly. "Long story, all my fault. Point is, nothing killed us. We ended up in Crystal because we weren't supposed to be there. It was the planet's natural way of keeping us from interfering with the timeline. The Crystal isn't the infection. It's not the Calamity. It's the immune response to the Calamity."

Jack looks up seriously at Owen. "And you can get an injection of outside antibodies to help you fight an infection," Jack waves to indicate himself and K'Pandolu and Owen. "But those are supposed to bolster your natural antibodies. The people that belong here on Crystallis."

Jack's face falls as he comes to the point that he hadn't wanted to bring up. "The city is empty. The world, it's the same? The cycle failed to save the people of Crystallis, so there's nothing left to fight back with?"

Edited (Shut UP, Jack) 2016-05-16 15:05 (UTC)

The talk of antibodies was a little over K'pandolu's understanding of the world, but there was enough context that she could roughly slot it in where it sounded right. That explanation for why Crystal Stasis seemed to fit, too, and she slotted it in to think about.

K'pandolu nodded, and stepped away, pacing for a few moments. "Those who have been brought here… are gradually becoming a part of this world's Lifestream, aren't they?" Or- at the very least- separated from their own. She looked at Owen, tail flicking in concern. "The Calamity… what is it really? What more do you know about it?"

[All right, they weren't quite understanding, not that it was an easy message to get across. He paused momentarily, before releasing a heavy breath. Remember that wonder temper of his? It's starting to rise.]

Keep in mind that our paths don't align. [Especially if they hadn't resolved what Garland surmised.] The Calamity remains ambiguous!

The world past the point of crystalizing, when that defense proved vulnerable, it took a more desperate measure. It tapped into the very life that resided on it just to keep the Calamity at bay. It poses no threat, now, but at the cost of having nothing left to fight for.

[His tone, ridden in bitter aguish. Owen was ashamed of himself, and his in ability to prevent what had happened.]

Jack looks at Owen sympathetically. "Owen, this isn't your fault. This- place, it keeps dragging us here to fight their war for them. It's beyond...even us."

Jack laughs wryly and scratches the back of his head. "Calamity wins, eats up this planet, and nobody hits the reset button. It devours all life that belongs here...and leaves us behind. Because we dont belong here."

Jack nods at Owen. "Bright spot, though. What color's your Crystal? Or, did all the links back to the Heroes' homeworlds get severed?"

But that all suddenly leaves Jack with a sinking feeling. He runs a hand over his face. He keeps the same light, explanatory tone, as if he's just talking theory. "But if the Calamity won and Garland didn't reset anything, then what happened after this? How did we get from here to our timeline?"

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unyieldingspirit - 2016-06-02 13:49 (UTC) - Expand

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