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

[bryces_pup]

[Riona grimaces as they take off, trying to keep herself as still as she can. The turbulence of he take off makes it difficult, and her injured arms shifts, making her bite back a shout. What she wouldn't give for some elfroot right now.]

That's, ah. That's not something you see every day.

[It's hard to see it, from her angle, but she can make out the top of it.]

[whatisright]

[Watching Riona wincing and paling at the slightest movement of her arm makes Justice feel utterly useless. He can't steady her broken arm without possibly hurting it more. He can't pull out the glass from her back. He can't do anything.

He almost offers to ease the pain again despite Anders' boyfriend's clear distaste and despite the fact Riona probably still knows that the offer is open, but then he sees the meteor.

He's frozen, trying to comprehend what he's seeing, so magnificent and destructive and utterly indifferent. He can't speak, all his breath stolen by the sight.

It's beautiful.

And then something happens--the meteor gets too close, they get too close, something that Justice doesn't understand immediately, and it's like a wave slams into the ship. The hit almost throws Justice from his seat even with straps, slamming the straps into his chest with bruising force.]

[wolfehawke]

[A thousand alarms and flashing lights start blaring across the console and Adalwolfe tries desperately to quell them once he gets his bearings again. The sudden advent of concussive force sent his face into the console and he's bleeding from a small cut above his eyebrow. Nothing major, but bleeding from the head always looks far worse than it is.

After a moment he starts swearing and fighting to untangle himself from the seatbelt, fighting against gravity the whole way as the shuttle starts to lurch gut-wrenchingly to one side.]

The stabilizers are out, they have to be reset manually or we're going to get sucked right back into the atmosphere.

[Adalwolfe doesn't have time to wonder how he knows that at all, instead concentrating on making it to a panel near the back of the shuttle in order to reset the stabilizers as the ship keeps keening further and further to the side.]

[bryces_pup]

[Why can't anything ever go right?

The force of whatever impacts them throws Riona off of her seat, though the harness that she was loosely strapped into keeps her from hitting the ground. Unfortunately, when it snaps her back, the shard of glass hits the seat and breaks, most of it coming clean off but a bit of it embedding further into her back.

There are expletives, curses, and other such words shouted that a women of noble birth should not know, let alone say, but they are, and they're shouted at the roof of the shuttle.

She's volunteer to try and fly the shuttle, but she's kind of useless at the moment. Sorry Wolfe.]

[whatisright]

[Justice is pretty sure that the straps have bruised his body somehow--he's not actually sure what exactly's been bruised because he's not used to dealing with fiddly human anatomy--but that doesn't matter. He doesn't know a thing about flying or fixing ships, so he is effectively useless right now, which is what he hates more than anything.

Riona is screaming swears, and Justice almost calls Anders' boyfriend over--the man is the closest thing to a healer they have--but he's their only hope of getting this ship righted and out before the meteor hits, and that has to take priority. Justice is on his own with Riona, and he can only hope that the glass in her back isn't killing her.

He rests a hand on her uninjured shoulder, doing his best to keep her steady as the ship tips to one side. She does not need to be tossed around again.]

If you need pain relief, just open your mind and let me in. [His offer has none of the hesitance from before. She is in terrible pain and she's probably going to be in more as the ship tips. He doesn't care if demons are the ones who usually do this sort of thing--Nathaniel is right that intent matters, and that certain power doesn't have to be evil as long as it is performed with permission and the intention to give to others.

He's not going to force his way into her mind like a demon. Even now, he waits for her to allow him access, if she chooses to at all.]

[wolfehawke]

[Unfortunately, Adalwolfe is too preoccupied trying to help them not crash and burn to stop Justice but he's close enough to hear - everyone is in the small shuttle - and so all the mage can do is grit his teeth as he pries open an access panel with his fingers and lets out a yell of effort as it gives way. The array of lights and switches all flickering and flashing in front of him makes him pause, though.]

Maker's sagging balls, how is anyone supposed to keep all this straight in a crisis?!

[bryces_pup]

[The lights are flashing and Riona's pilot augment tells her it's super bad and pours in some details that, frankly, she's not really able to do much with in her current state. And she knows she should get up and fly the damn thing so Wolfe can focus on fixing whatever's wrong, but it's kinda hard when she's in this much pain and with one arm busted.

It seems all but impossible, until Justice offers to help. The idea of it unnerves her a tiny bit, she won't lie, but right now, her discomfort - well, the mental sort - takes far less precedence than her physical pain and the situation they're in.]

Go for it. Whatever you can do, so long as you can do it while I'm moving.

[Because she's unbuckling herself already and lurching for the pilot controls. Luckily, with it being a shuttle, it's not far to go to reach them and fight with the shuttle to keep it from plummeting down towards the ground. She's not sure what "opening her mind" entails, but if it's simply permission, Justice has it.]

[whatisright]

Are you sure you should--

[Apparently she is, because she's already on the move. Justice barely has time to unstrap himself before she's jerking for the controls, and he has to brace himself on the pilot's chair to keep his footing as the shuttle lurches. Alright. Mess directly with the senses of a human he cares terribly about while she struggles to keep them all from dying a fiery death. Sounds easy. No problem.

He senses her unease. He doesn't take offense, because even he finds this sort of power discomfiting. She's still trusting him to do it.

Permission is really all he needs. She's opened herself to him by giving permission, whether she's conscious of it or not.

He rests one hand on her uninjured shoulder. Physical contact helps him work, and it's the least obtrusive spot he can think to touch while she deals with the controls.

Coiling a strand of himself into her mind is easy. She doesn't offer any resistance except her reflexive unease, but he doesn't try to project calmness to diffuse it as other spirits might have. He wants to influence her mind as little as possible due to his moral convictions as well as his respect for Riona. He is here for one purpose and he will fulfill it, no more and no less.

He just reaches into her nerves and gradually numbs the pain. He doesn't get rid of it entirely--he doesn't want her accidentally injuring herself more because she can't feel it--but he takes the fire from the pain until it's just discomfort.]

Is that alright? [He's never formed a connection like this with someone who isn't a mage, so it's a new experience on many levels.]

[wolfehawke]

[He's glad for Riona behind the controls even if she might exacerbate her injury. He's got to trust that she knows her limits because as things are, they need the help or else they're all going to die a screaming fiery death. He's not sure what Justice did but at this point he really can't complain about anything, instead dedicating all of his brain power to the panel. So much so that he doesn't have the cells to devote to stopping himself from muttering stream of consciousness style under his breath.]

Umm, right, so, red is bad but if you reconnect these here I think I can turn it back to- [zzzt] Ow! Blasted-- No, ok, then maybe...

[A communications augment really doesn't help much, does it.]

[bryces_pup]

[There's definitely a sense of invasion, of something not her coming into her mind. Riona forces herself to focus on the task at hand and ignore Justice reaching into her. She yanks on the steering, forcing the ship to keep going somewhat in an upright direction. It actually takes her a moment to realize the pain has dulled considerably. It's strange, knowing that her back has a foreign object embedded in it and her arm's busted and yet she only feels the equivalent of a smacked shin or something.]

Yes, it is. Thank you, Justice. [Now at least she can concentrate better on keeping them in the air and not plummeting to their deaths. Bonus of no cursing!]

I'm buying us as much time as I can, Wolfe. [She refrains from mentioning that the meteor isn't going to wait around forever, or that she can only do so much, especially with one functioning arm.]

[whatisright]

[This is a weird feeling for Justice too. He does not remember ever directly fiddling with a mortal's senses before, and he does not like it, even with permission. But he'd like Riona being in pain even less (not to mention, of course, dying in a ship crash), so he just focuses on dealing with the pain and not messing with her mind any more than he has to. He can forget the sense of wrongness later when the situation isn't so dire.

Anders' boyfriend is doing the best he can. Riona is doing the best she can. The family is shaking in the back, but they are not in the way. Justice says nothing. He has a job and nothing he says will help anyone else with theirs. He just stares ahead with an unblinking gaze while he focuses on his work.]

[wolfehawke]

[There's an implicit undertone of 'hurry the fuck up' in Riona's assurance that she's buying time and, frazzled, Wolfe just starts going at the bank of lights and switches from a trial and error approach. It can't make things worse, after all.

Whoops, did the lights just flicker? Sorry, gonna leave that one alone.

Aaand that one is the air conditioning. Not really what they need right now.

A moment later, suddenly, an alarm starts blaring.]

Please enter command code to initiate self destr--

[It cuts off with a frustrated and panicked noise from Wolfe.]

Sorry!

[Just... to the Void with it! There's an upsurge of his magic, electricity crackling around his hand as he shoves it right into the mess of electronics, willing this to just fix it because he's out of ideas. What follows are several loud pops, a deafening crack!, and the sound of Wolfe getting launched against the opposite wall as everything goes dark for a long, harrowing moment and even the gravity fails, everyone inside the cabin starting to float just an inch or less from their seats.

And then all systems pop back on, green across the board, and Riona has full control. Wolfe, though, might be smoking slightly.]

Ow...

[bryces_pup]

[Those are, uh, some pretty alarming sounds back there. And kind of scary, honestly. Especially when the gravity suddenly shuts off.

Fuck, this is it. They're going down. They're gonna crash on this planet, and if the impact doesn't kill them, the meteor will. Maker damn it, Wolfe, you ridiculous, scruffy-

Oh hey, the alarms stopped. And Riona can feel the shuttle respond to her again. She breathes out a huge sigh of relief as she angles it upwards and punches it, shooting them off towards the upper reaches of the atmosphere. She glances over her shoulder, brow raised at the sight of Wolfe.]

I must say, I am shocked at how you handled that, but all the same, I am ex-static that you managed to get the shuttle working again.

[whatisright]

[Justice winces at the scream of magic and electricity, and then Anders' boyfriend is on the other side of the room.

If he hurt himself, Justice is not going into his head.

The wordplay flies over Justice's head, but that's all the same because he wouldn't be able to appreciate a good pun anyway. Instead, he keeps a hold of Riona's nerves as he glances back at Anders' boyfriend, permanent frown deepening as he sees smoke curling off the mage.]

Are you injured?

[A note to future mages: don't shove your hands into live wires. Good advice all around, or so his augment tells him. On the other hand, they're not dead, so they have that going for them.]

[wolfehawke]

[Adalwolfe groans a little, but sits up and takes stock of himself. Singed, definitely, and sore, but he doesn't think anything worse. Time will tell, but it's not their concern at the moment; getting to the safety of the station and Riona to Anders and his healing is paramount. To that end, Wolfe decides to downplay his rattled nerves and shakes his head at Justice, looking to Riona with his rejoinder.]

It was an electrifying experience to be sure, but worth it to give the controls that extra jolt.

[Really not his best work but he needs a little time to upgrade his brains back from scrambled egg status.]

[bryces_pup]

[No it's not but hey, he just electrocuted himself to save their asses. Riona's willing to give him a pass on the puns.

And by the power of time travel, we fast forward into the near future!

Which consists of Riona finally guiding the shuttle into the docking area. Exhaustion from the day's events is slowly creeping in as the adrenaline dies down. Between that and her injuries, she knows she's not gonna last much longer.]

Justice, you think you can steer us in Anders's direction?

[whatisright]

[Justice stoops to offer Riona his shoulder as support again once she's ready to stand up. Just because he's keeping her pain at bay doesn't mean he can take away the muscle weakness or keep her body from damaging itself further if she tries to walk on her own.]

I know where he is. I will lead you to him.

[Once Riona and a slightly singed Wolfe are ready, Justice makes a beeline towards Anders, ignoring the family of refugees yelling at them for directions. He knows exactly where he's going, and he keeps the pace as clipped as Riona can keep up with without hurting herself. Before Anders is even visible between the crush of people, Justice knows he's within earshot and shouts,] Anders!

[wolfehawke]

[Wolfe stays behind for just a moment, directing the family where to go. It feels good to help, to see them walk hand in hand towards a survival. These happy endings - or happy continuance, anyway - are far too few and far between.

A moment later he's sprinting after Justice and Riona, vaguely trying to smooth his frazzled hair as he moves. Maybe Anders won't notice he's moving stiffly from being electrocuted.]

[apurrstate]

[Anders had his hands full between people who actually needed him and people who had small scratches and bruises who insisted they must be dying. One such person had happened to catch the healer at exactly the worst time and had been met with clipped coolness a Anders grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the nearest window to shove the survivor into facing the window and the molten burning of his planet below just to remind him how good those bruises were in comparison.

Anders had just left the poor idiot to try and return to helping manage the movement of people and things when he heard his name shouted over the throng of the crowd.

Justice of all people wouldn't be calling to him like that if there wasn't cause. The healer pushed through the group between him and his friends, worry clear in his face.]

Justice!

[Anders' eyes fell to Hawke automatically, the person he deemed most likely to warrant healing, and picked up on the signs that something had happened. But then his assessment moved to Riona and his heart dropped. Right. There was only a moment where his fear over his friend's horrible state crossed his face and then it smoothed and Anders' voice took on the commanding tone he used in a crises.]

Bring her over here, there's an empty cot. Tell me what happened.

[bryces_pup]

[Hi Anders. Your friend and your boyfriend are pincushions/electricity conductors. Whoops?]

He got zapped, I got shoved out of a second story window and landed on glass.

[She'd try to make a pun or joke of it, but the pain's setting back in and her brain's way too fried from everything that's happened. So she just limps over to Anders to do as told. In situations like this, she knows better than to try and argue or insist she's okay. Which, she's really not and even she'll admit it. For once, she'll be a good patient.]

Anyone care to help me onto the cot?

[whatisright]

Here.

[Justice takes Riona's good arm, helping her onto the cot. He still has a tendril in her mind, taking the edge off of her pain, but he's already beginning to gradually withdraw. He doesn't want to drop all that pain back in her lap all at once, but he won't be able to numb her pain and give Anders' healing his full attention at the same time.

Justice looks to Anders as he helps Riona, the presence of a trusted healer only taking the edge off of the anxiety he's worked up by seeing Riona so injured.] I am ready to assist, as we discussed.

[Anders had brought up Justice helping him with healing, and looking at all these refugees, Justice can't think of a better time to do it.]

[wolfehawke]

I'm fi-- "as we discussed"?

[Adalwolfe interrupts his own assurances on his health with a lift of his eyebrow and a look at Anders. Apparently they'd discussed Justice assisting with magic? And of course he wasn't informed, which he should have been to his mind considering Justice's at best controversial role in their lives.

He doesn't really have much ability to lodge a complaint currently, however, because he can see that the wound in Riona's back is going to take some major healing and Anders already looks as if he's been extending himself for the benefit of the refugees.]

Tell me how I can 'assist' as well.

[They will have a chat about this later.]

[apurrstate]

[Anders gives Justice a nod at his offer, but then annoyance flashes through his expression with Wolfe's curt reply. Annoyance that hardens into a sharp and cutting edge, a healer's authority soaking his tone to put weight behind his reply.]

Adalwolfe.

[Anders practically brushed past his lover, that one word said with a venom not usually aimed at Hawke. Still, his hand brushes the other mage's shoulder, a burst of healing magic surging through Wolfe to try and ease the likely stiff and sore muscles.]

I need a container and a towel or cloth or something for extracting the glass.

[His expression softens only slightly as he kneels beside the cot and takes a small dagger from the inside of his coat. The hilt was a little fancier than his tastes required, but he'd found it while going through the planet's market and it was sharp enough to do what he would need of it.]

Riona, lay on your side as best as you can, we have to take care of the glass first.

[As she situated, he ran the blade over his palm, a red glow encasing it as he sterilized the dagger.]

[bryces_pup]

[Welp. That sounds like the makings of a possible argument about to brew. Riona feels so self-conscious at the moment. She knows it's not because of her, but it doesn't help much. So she's just gonna thank Justice for helping her up and keep quiet until Anders comes back over and gives her instructions.]

All right.

[From the corner of her eye, she sees him heating up the dagger to sterilize it. It feels like her intestines want to writhe and explode at the sight. Good Maker, this is going to suck. But she does as told and lays on her side, silently bracing herself for it.]

[whatisright]

[Did you see that? That's Justice bristling again. Justice shoots a sharp look at Anders' boyfriend, a clear sign of displeasure and offense, but he holds his tongue. There are more important things to deal with than a mage that can't handle spirit magic--but Justice will not tolerate being treated as a danger to his friends for long after their immediate problems have passed.

(Though, to be honest, it eases the sting for Anders to rebuke the man, though Justice didn't expect it. Sometimes it still catches him off guard when his mortal friends stand up for him.)

Justice's hands linger on Riona's shoulder as she settles into place, his brow furrowing in concern and Anders' boyfriend's slight quickly forgotten for the moment.] I will not be able to assist Anders and ease your pain at the same time. This will hurt. I am sorry.

[Hopefully, that warning is enough before he withdraws from her mind entirely. Then he takes his hands from her, moving to stand by Anders.

Justice gathers his power in preparation, allowing it to well inside with all the purpose he has fulfilled helping these people. In the harsh light of the station, it may be difficult to see, easily dismissed as a trick of the eyes, but Justice's skin begins to softly glow a (possibly familiar) shade of blue. He does not move to touch or connect with Anders yet, allowing Anders time to prepare himself any way he would like, but Justice is ready to offer himself to Anders as soon as he asks.

That part is a partnership, a connection of minds and magic, and it works so long as both parties enter it with good faith and remain responsive to each other's needs. It's easy with an experienced mage Justice trusts, and he trusts Anders without reservation.]