the veil is thin . . .

[thespaceopera]

[ On the night of the 16th, the feeling of tension and horrid anticipation comes to a head. Everything stops when the sun goes down-- even the ever-present music in the hoppingest part of the city center. One by one, everyone turns their eyes to the skies. The young and old alike pour out of their houses, some in bare feet, and they point to the velvety blanket of stars.

It takes a second to find it, especially if one is unaccustomed to the starscape. But even a casual observer can see it.

A brightly-shining star, larger than the others, and growing larger.

An announcement cuts across all communication channels that encourages people to evacuate to the space station, but it’s clear that these are just people and they’ll need some help. Supplies, equipment, organization, there’s something for everyone to do.

Civilization is disrupted by a panicked stampede of people vying for limited seats aboard spacefaring craft. Within hours, there will be crushed glass, looting, and chaos.

The clock is ticking. Will you help? Or would you rather watch the dying gasps of a Singing Planet from a safe distance? ]

[OOC: Please see this post for plot details. Phase two has begun! Feel free to use this post as a reaction post, mingle, etc. or make your own!]

Comments

Justice | OTA | Throughout evacuation until a little before the 11th hour

[whatisright]

[Finding Stragglers 1]

[A man that looks a little like a corpse wanders around the town, not seeming like he is quite looking at what's in front of him, but instead listening very intently. Suddenly, he takes a sharp turn towards a house. He knocks on the door.]

There's an evacuation. You have to leave.

[After a moment of no answer, he draws back, angling his armored shoulder and slamming it into the door. It flies off the hinges and clatters on the ground.

There is a squeak from inside. In the kitchen, a child has curled up under the sink, and she covers her mouth to keep from screaming.

Justice stares down at her, then slowly walks towards the kitchen. A stuffed toy has been tossed on the ground. He crouches low and picks it up, holding it loosely to face the child.]

Your parents were swept up in the evacuation. They are looking for you. [He offers the stuffed toy to the girl, holding her gaze and keeping his voice steady.] I can take you to them.

[Finding Stragglers 2]

[Outside the town, the view is beautiful. Justice doesn't allow himself any time to admire it as he follows the sense of people.

There is a tent placed near a cliff, overlooking the sky, and Justice stops in front of it.]

Wake up. There's an evacuation.

[There's a burst of activity inside the tent, two people yelling in confusion and scrambling before a naked young man rolls out, bleary, holding a dull pocket knife and waving it uselessly while he yelled, "Who are you? How'd you find us?"

Justice, for his part, doesn't visibly react, as though confused naked men flailing knives at him is normal.]

I am not a thief, nor do I mean you any harm. Your entire planet is to evacuate immediately. Put on your clothes and follow me.

[Wildcard]

[Justice is spending most of his time finding stragglers, but he can also be seen in strategic places throughout the evacuation, somehow diffusing conflicts between people before they even have a chance to start.

If there is a magical person extending a lot of magic to help, and he's reasonably certain from peeking at their head that they won't turn on him, he may offer his services as a magical booster.]

Stragglers the 1st!

[wolfuncaged]

[Fenris intends to get the Tourist and her crew as far away from the planet as possible when things get too far past recovery. He is not going to risk their lives. But for now, he's doing what he can to move people to safety- his own conscience would not let him leave them die. He knows he has a lot of...issues, but he is not so far gone as to leave others suffer. It reminds him too much of Exsilium- when they had hardly any time at all to save the people, and so, so many died as a result of that. Never again.

Justice is...quite a sight. It's enough to make Fenris tense a little. He doesn't know what he is, though- if he did, there would be a full scale fight right off the bat. For now, Fenris uses a great deal of caution. As if Justice were an unexpolded bomb. Still- he was good to the child. That gives him some bonus points. ]

...Is this house clear?

[whatisright]

[Justice glances towards Fenris, but keeps most of his attention on the girl. Justice has questions, mostly stemming from the elf's singing lyrium tattoos, but those questions can come after they've cleared out all the stragglers they can. In the meantime, Justice is pleased that he's not doing this alone. Presumably, a mortal would be better at dealing with mortal children than he is.

The girl stutters, her eyes on the stuffed animal.] "There's... there's..."

[Her words fumble in her mouth, and Justice's eyes are on her again, though he speaks to Fenris.] She has a little brother upstairs. He's sleeping.

[He holds out the stuffed animal, shifting so he's a little closer to her. She eyes him, pale and frightened, but she slowly accepts the toy and hugs it tightly. It seems to calm her a little.]

[wolfuncaged]

[Fenris gives a nod, stepping past. ]

We will retrieve your brother, remain here, and you will be safe.

[He hopes. He casts Justice a look- he doesn't especially want to spend time with this strange looking being, but he would be a fool to go inside alone. Can't be too careful. ]

[whatisright]

[Justice nods, standing up without trying to force the girl from her hiding spot. She won't leave. He knows she won't with the same certainty that she knows it. She's too afraid, and as frightening as they look, they're the only ones who've promised to take her to her parents.

Justice, almost without thinking about it, trails a finger on the wall as he walks by Fenris. He catches scraps of the family--two superstitious parents, teaching their daughter how to use crystals. A little boy, only just old enough to begin inducting into crystal work as well.

As he picks up more scraps from the air, he glances at Fenris.] Do you have experience calming children? I confess I have very little. [The girl and the boy will both be frightened. Justice does not have much faith in his abilities to comfort them. Up until now, he's only encountered mortal children in their dreams or when they've perished and lingered in the Fade. In those cases, he was usually more focused on warding off demons rather than soothing the child in question.]

[wolfuncaged]

I know a little.

[His time here and in Exsilium have seen to that, at least.He continues upstairs, frowning softly. He's uneasy- he knows they don't have the time for this. They need to be making sure they, themselves get out, too. They can't cut it too fine. ]

They will be fine, the important thing is getting them out and away from here. Somewhere safe.

wildcard it

[fantachetic]

[ Amidst an evacuation, one would think that people would generally have some sense and get off the planet's surface. Unfortunately, this lot are not only superstitious, but stubborn. There are plenty of Fleet members in the city escorting others to the shuttles, but Dorian takes to the bazaar to weed out a few psychics he knows are as set in their ways, refusing to leave.

When negotiating seems to fall on deaf ears as well as common sense, Dorian's had quite enough. He won't stand idly by and let these people simply perish because of a premonition that said it would be fine. It takes a lot of focus to maintain the spirits connections so far away from the Fade, but he needs to make sure they stay frightened enough so they don't simply turn back around. Only once they've joined the line to the shuttles does he sever the connection. Don't mind him, he's just a tad tired. He'll get back to it in a moment. ]

I don't suppose you've got a spare lyrium potion on you?

[whatisright]

[Justice hears the magic at work. He knows what the mage is doing, and normally, Justice would highly frown on mind-altering magic used outside of battle. He still frowns on it, but considering the situation, it's one of those things he's willing to grudgingly accept as long as the mage keeps from going overboard or taking direct control of their minds.]

I do not carry lyrium potions. What lyrium I do have would kill you. [He fiddles with his lyrium ring as he thinks, scowling at the masses. He can't deny the effectiveness of what the mage has done. He's not sure if it is just to take a person's choice away from them like this, but he's also not sure that it is just to allow a person to die because they are operating with inaccurate information. This is the sort of thing he'd like to meditate on, but time is limited. If nothing else, he has discovered that in the mortal world, time is unforgiving.] Do you not have the mana to continue your efforts?

wildcard!

[outstandingbalance]

[In all the chaos, with so many people trying to help, it would be easy to miss any one person's actions. It's at least half luck that Natasha notices him at all, even considering his cadaverous appearance. She still needed to be looking in the right place at the right time to notice that.

But the way conflicts dissolve, order where her practiced eye expects chaos, that gets her attention. Natasha knows crowds and she knows how they move. she knows how to move in them. That's what gets her attention, at first, the way the flow of evacuation moves smoothly. She doesn't have to watch long to notice there's more going on here than meets the eye. And she's curious, but for the moment, she really only has one question:]

How are you finding them?

[whatisright]

[He doesn't seem startled at all that she speaks to him, that she notices what is happening. He has learned not to underestimate the observational skills of mortals. As for her question--it's hard to explain a sense that mortals don't have.]

I can... feel which ones are most likely to cause conflict, and I direct them away from each other. Fear and rage are both very distinct for me to sense.

[As long as two people who are ready for a fight don't have a chance to speak, then there will be no fight.]

[outstandingbalance]

You sense emotions? [All right. Why wouldn't he? Natasha is passed the point where she'll question an asset. At least, not for the moment.] I don't have to tell you how useful that is in a situation like this.

[whatisright]

Not quite, but I do not know how to better explain it. [So if this woman wants to call it 'sensing emotions', he's not going to stop her. It's hard enough for him to put into words what he picks up from mortals, besides perhaps an inconsistent mishmash of thoughts and certain feelings and memories, especially those related to his virtue.] It is proving more useful than I anticipated. This is not my area of expertise.

[Spirits of peace are usually the ones who prevent conflicts before they happen. Spirits of justice are usually the ones who mete out judgment and mercy/punishment after a conflict. But mortals have a way of putting him in weird situations, and it's not like avoiding unnecessary conflict entirely isn't the just thing to do.]

[outstandingbalance]

I'm all right not putting too fine a point on it. [Not that she's not curious. She is. Under other circumstances, she'd also be paranoid, and some part of her mind still finds the space to turn guarded, stilling her own emotions and thoughts out of concern what he'd be able to sense from her.

But exact information, along with personal feelings, can wait for some time when the sky isn't literally threatening to fall.

Right now, she's interested in how a power like that could be used most effectively.] So you're using that skill to prevent conflicts and pick out stragglers?

1

[bryces_pup]

[Well that's certainly Justice breaking down a door. Riona grimaces before she hurries down the street and follows him inside. He's well meaning, but in such a panic-inducing situation, there's a lot of room for misinterpretation and things to go south quickly.

She finds him holding out a stuffed toy to a little girl hiding under the skin. She smiles kindly, bending down and waving to her. Justice will already know she's in here, so she doesn't bother announcing herself to him.]

Hi sweetheart. My friend and I are going to help you get out of here and find your parents, okay?

[whatisright]

[It's good that the Warden Commander is there. Justice doesn't know how well he'd handle a frightened child without her.

The girl's eyes dart between Justice and the Warden Commander, wide and terrified. She gazes longingly at the stuffed toy in Justice's hand, but she doesn't seem to quite have the courage to take it.

Justice slowly places it on the floor and nudges it in her direction. Just as it comes within reach, she snatches it by the leg and hugs it tight to her chest, her trembling easing as she cradles it.

She looks to the Warden Commander, eyes still wide.] "Why does your friend look so scary?"

[bryces_pup]

[Well, time to fib here a bit. She's certainly not going to explain to this kid that Justice looks like that because he inhabited a corpse once and just thought he should stick with the look.]

That's just how he is. He's a... special type of person. Don't worry, he's nowhere near as scary as he looks.

[Riona scoots a little closer, holding out her hand.]

We both just want to get you somewhere safe. We'll help you find your parents, too, okay?

[whatisright]

[Justice glances at her, but it's close enough to the truth that he doesn't feel the need to object. It's not a lie, but rather a simplification. He can live with this.

The child's eyes dart between them, not looking quite as terrified as before.] "How do you know where my Mama and Papa are?"

[Justice doesn't move his eyes from the child, but they unfocus, like he's paying attention to something that can't quite be seen.] I know where they are because they want to find you so badly, and you want to find them. It connects you, no matter how far apart you are. We'll take you to your parents. I promise.

[The child watches Justice, chewing her lower lip. Then she slips out from under the sink, dragging her toy with her as she crawls to Riona, taking her hand tightly.]

Stragglers 2

[echovocation]

[Matt had almost approached the commotion in his makeshift ass-kicking outfit, until he caught the sound of Justice's voice and swore. He couldn't show up like this; he doesn't know what kind of stupid magic identification powers Justice might have. He could identify him and Matt doesn't want his abilities getting out at all, let alone so soon.

He books it back to where he'd stashed his normal clothes and tucks away the mask and shirt, snatching up his cane and glasses before hurrying back, assuming his cover once he's within earshot of where the man is shouting for Justice to turn around.]

Justice! Justice, hey, try a new approach. [He honestly does not know what the spirit will do if some freaked out honeymooner stabs him with a pocketknife.] Let me handle it.

[whatisright]

[If Justice thinks it's strange that a blind man just happens to be hanging around a camping site in the middle of an evacuation, he doesn't say so. He has his hands full enough with the increasingly angry man, who's currently trying to cover himself with one palm while waving around his knife with the other.] "This creep is trying to peek on me and my wife when we're naked!"

[Justice cocks his head, not looking particularly fazed by what's happening but brow furrowing in confusion.] Why would I want to do that?

[He sounds genuinely confused by the idea, which seems to be the wrong move because it just makes the man angrier, spitting curses and waving his knife more. Justice gives a (slightly helpless) look to Matthew.] I believe you have a point, Matthew. They may find you more agreeable. [And by 'may', he means 'absolutely positively'.]

[echovocation]

[Okay, time to defuse this. Always more Foggy's specialty than...anything Matt's ever done (he's the expert escalator okay, look, it's a personality thing) but he at least doesn't look like the walking dead.] You need to get dressed and gather your things, [he tells the man calmly, hand out placatingly.] You and your wife might not have heard the warning, but there's a wide-scale evacuation going on. You need to hurry back to the city.

[whatisright]

"What are you talking about? Why are we evacuating?"

[A female voice hisses from inside of the tent.] "Honey, make them go away!"

"Just, just turn around and--" [The man abruptly notices the cane and dark glasses.] "--Or just stand there and I'm going to put on some pants."

[Justice is tempted to speak, but instead he holds his tongue and crosses his arms, doing his best to not appear unsettling and failing miserably (partially because he looks like a corpse, partially because he hasn't figured out that his unblinking stare is weird). The young man shudders and shuffles into the tent, grabbing his clothes.]

2

[unbridles]

[John, too, is on the hunt for stragglers and people in need of evacuation. He happens to be passing, and -- well, this is awkward. Maybe he should help the weird corpse-guy.]

Hey, yo, man, you gotta be a little more discreet. Gentler, you get what I'm sayin'?

[whatisright]

[Justice turns to look at this new man while the naked man still waves his pocket knife and yells.]

I do not know what you mean. [Gentler? What? As in... kinder with his words? He doesn't think he said anything offensive or cruel. But the guy is still yelling, so Justice went wrong somewhere.]

[unbridles]

[Okay, naked guy, maybe you should put some clothes on. John's trying to be polite and ignore the whole naked-ness for now, turning his attention to Justice. Men who can run impossibly fast and now living corpses. This is turning out to be an interesting day.]

I mean, like -- clearly this gentleman is otherwise occupied with his, uh, lady friend. He might take your advice a little easier if you -- I dunno, knocked? Gave 'em some warning? Or at least some time to get dressed.

[whatisright]

[The naked man, after exhausting his vocabulary of obscenities, crawls into the tent to throw on some clothes. Justice still just frowns in confusion, but he's always frowning, so that's not much of a change.]

Why should I delay warning them about a meteor because of their activities and state of dress?

[Justice still doesn't quite understand the mortal concept of 'privacy' and 'basic social etiquette'.]