driftfleet | it's gonna rain - and it never ends

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it's gonna rain - and it never ends

[ It's midday, or close enough to it that the sun is blazing red hot above the planet. Everything seems ordinary - for disturbing, red-tinted values of ordinary, anyway. But the normalcy doesn't last for long.

Without warning, an explosive sound shocks through the jungle. It doesn't come from any one central point, but rather several points, scattered throughout, strategically placed to the advantage of someone. And from those massive shocks rises a wave of missiles - large, fast, and apparently, freely flying. They're guided, and they've locked onto their target: any foreign ship that is currently within Lato'li's atmosphere.

There's no way to mistake it. They're headed right for the Fleet.

The first wave feels a bit sporadic - timings might be off, but the missiles are still deadly, and if they hit, they hit hard. Shields might withstand this wave, but ships without shields will take direct hits. The ability to stay airborn is very, very quickly lost.

The second wave is much more precise, expertly timed and executed by whomever is firing from below. Even smaller shuttles get caught in the crosshairs, and those ships that lasted through the first volley will take a few more shots. If shields saved you before, they will fail here, giving out under the strain.

And the third wave comes, a little bit longer after, to finish the job. There are more of them, and they are far more advanced - they make the previous two volleys look like warning shots. This time, it's all missiles launched, all targets acquired.

Seven Fleet ships - and many, many shuttles - fall out of the sky, headed straight for the surface at alarming speed. Only four ships manage to escape the assault and exit the planet's atmosphere, retreating to orbit as fast as possible. Those lucky enough to have been in orbit can only watch as all of this happens.

But the missiles aren't the only thing up their sleeve. Just when the dust settles, while the network is surely lighting up with activity, attempts to contact one another and check on the status of fellow ships and crew, A loud, quick, terrible screeching noise shocks the network. It drowns out all communications on any connected devices - ship or personal. Ships in orbit will see all on-board systems flicker, then fizzle out, all non-emergency systems have gone completely down.

And with that.. there's silence. Perhaps too much silence. No matter what you do, no matter which buttons you press, which channels you try, there is no connection. Those who have dropped to the surface are entirely radio silent, and those in orbit have been reduced to the barest of abilities and life-support, with the bare minimum of contact.

So... What can you do now? ]

(( ooc: Feel free to use this post as a mingle for all your crashy or missile-dodgy needs!

• The following ships have been shot down: Bishop, Bloodsport, Blue Fish, Goldstone, Heron, Tourist, Twin Roses.
• The following ships are now in orbit: Blameless, Caprine, First Breath, Huntress, Iskaulit, Red Fish, Starstruck, Vanquish, Wonderduck

Good luck, Dear Fleet...~ ♪ ))

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During the attack - closed to Noctis.

[ Fortunately but unfortunately, Lunafreya has pulled Noctis planetside to find some of those petrified plants that she'd seen in her vision. She had assumed that even if they could bring just one sample back, perhaps it would help them piece things together. They've been so damn careful too, even as they'd entered the forest. Neither of them had let their guards down a single bit.

The explosions had sounded so distant at first she'd almost dismissed them, until they became louder and far more frequent. They had quietly made their way out of the forest,and that's when she saw it: ships falling out of the sky, along with shuttles. Her heart skips to a complete stop -- there isn't anything either she and Noctis can do right now except stand and watch the carnage from the ground. Her eyes are as wide as saucers, and images of Insomnia flash through her mind.

Blindly, with the free hand that is not carrying the trident they'd bought, she reaches out for Noct's hand. ]

Oh, Astrals... Noctis, we have to do something-- [ Instinct has her wanting to get close, but there are things falling out of the sky still and while SHE doesn't mind running into the chaos, she doesn't want to pull Noctis in and get him injured as well.

When she speaks, it's soft and mostly to herself. ] Six... this is so reminiscent of the Crown City.... [ She'd know... she was in the heart of that incident, too. ]

Midway through the attack/afterwards - OPEN.

[ Standing around and watching isn't going to work, not for Lunafreya and certainly not for Noctis either. They are both people of action. They have both agreed that something needs to be done, and so despite the danger of falling ships and debris, they make their way out and into the open. It's time to start pulling the injured out of their ships and heal as many people as they can. Both King and Oracle are ready to defend from the ground as best they can, too; they've bought a few weapons, they are ready to do what needs to be done.

Umbra runs ahead, barking at his humans to follow him to the worst of the carnage. The dog will be tugging people out from under debris as well and letting Noctis and Luna know where people are like the helpful little soul he is.

When everything is said and done, when the dust clears, they know that there is a LOT of ground to cover, and at some point they'll need to split up... it all just depends on when. ]

[[ ooc; For the open post, please let us know if you'd rather have Luna or Noctis reply, or both. They're going to be doing their best to drag people out of wrecked ships and shuttles... Noct and Umbra are the muscle, and Luna is the healer! ]]

Edited 2017-10-20 19:53 (UTC)

[Gil wasn't on one of the big ships when the attacks happened, but rather on a small shuttle that had been traveling between them. He's probably lucky the shuttle hadn't just exploded, but the crash has mangled the thing pretty badly.

During the crash, one of his wrists had gotten injured, and when Umbra finds him he's attempting to strip any working pieces from the engine in a hurry and doing it all with one hand.

His plan was to take anything of value from the shuttle and trek it to one of the bigger ships - the smoke trails from them gave him a general direction to go. He wanted to help them get repaired and back in flight.

He hadn't been expecting a dog to trot up to him and for a moment he sort of stares at Umbra as if he thinks the animal is a hallucination.]

Er... hello? Are you a nice dog or are you with the assholes who shot me down?

_{[Umbra is a super nice doggo. He will accept head pets and belly rubs... and snacks of any variety. But right now he will just stay with Gil and occasionally bark when a voice sounded. Footsteps can be heard... and a man calling Umbra's name. The dog barks in response to him, he's announcing their location!

From around the other side of the shuttle comes a man with messy black hair, all black clothes, and an expression like he's just seen a ghost or... a dozen.

He stops and looks Gil over.]}

You're with the fleet? Me too. We haven't met. My name is Noct... this is my dog, Umbra... are you alone?

[Gil is relieved when the people who appear are friendly. It's much better than what he had been fearing.]

Yeah, I am. I'm Gil. I'd say nice to meet you but the circumstances are less than ideal.

So much the better that we met, then. We need to stick together. _{[Noctis pets Umbra's head, telling him he's a good boy.]}

I'm from the First Breath. My wife and I were on the planet already when the ships started falling... are you hurt?

Yeah. I messed up my wrist with the crash. I don't think it's broken, but it's probably a wicked strain...

Sprains are sometimes worse than breaks.... let's see if I got something for that.

_{[He's still a prince, he can still use his magic on various drinkable liquids found in the fleet. Royals, where he comes from, can turn energy drinks into potions and hi-potions.... he has had to make do with other drinks but it works. He hands Gil a bottle out of his pack.]}

This ought to help.

[Gil assumes it's closer to his omnigel back home, but he isn't used to having to drink it. Still, he takes it and drinks it. When it fixes his injury he's impressed, even twisting his wrist a bit to make sure.]

Wow. That's good stuff. Thank you.

_{[Not quite so wonderful as that. He doesn't come from a world with space travel either, sadly... Noctis smiles when the potion works.]}

Good. You're welcome. I can make more if you need anything... actually... take some more, in case you need more later or if we get separated and you find someone hurt.

Wow. Thank you again.

I was planning on treking to one of the downed ships so that will probably come in handy.

Do you want some help with that? Umbra and I can tag along. My wife Luna and I are just trying to find people.

Oh, yeah, if you find drinks just bring them to me and I can change them.

Sure. More help means more things can be brought with us.

And, how do you change them? Mind if I ask?

Huh? It's a power I always had. I... my family has magical power where I'm from. I can change things like drinks into healing potions. I can draw energy from my home world and make spells out of it. It's just something I was born with, I can't really explain it.

Really? That's pretty wicked isn't it?

Is it just your family or can other people do it too?

_{[He was wanting to get back to the ship as soon as possible but... well now he's kind of relieved they weren't aboard. He watches in horror as the ships come down, burning, crashing, splintering apart.... he prays nobody died. He prays his people are alive... Umbra is gone in a flash leading the way to the nearest crash and he's running after the dog, sword in hand. Who knows what caused the ships to fall, who knows what happened to the crew... a chill runs down his spine as he considers the possibilities.

But then Luna says something so peculiar and out of nowhere he almost doesn't acknowledge it. But it's his hometown.]}

What about Insomnia?

[ Luna's honestly more than a little disturbed. Her vision hadn't shown her this, she had known this planet was going to be bad but not like this. And it's brought memories of Insomnia right back to the surface. With each explosion, she can hear people screaming in the back of her mind, citizens running. Nyx.

I know your mother would wish the same. That you and Noctis live happily.

She nearly misses Noct's voice, she's zoned out for a moment. She tears her gaze away from the chaos to look at him. The grip on her new trident is so painfully tight that her knuckles are sheet white. To say that this sight is distressing... is an understatement. Between Tenebrae's fall and Insomnia's, she should be hardened to this by now, but she's not. ]

I was in Insomnia during the attack... this just... brought back those memories. Forgive me, we've work to do.

Edited 2017-10-21 12:03 (UTC)

_{[He's more than a little disturbed too. He hadn't ever seen the fleet take this sort of damage. He was so sure the worst was over. He was so sure that her vision had been about Lyuku somehow... He just... didn't think that this... well who would think that this would happen?

They can't fret over it happening, they have to move forward. Like Ignis told him, a king moves forward accepting the consequences never looking back. He looked to his wife's bone-white knuckles and just... furrows his brow.]}

I know you were there... what did you see that reminds you of this?

[ She'd thought it had been about Lyuku, too. The moment she'd seen this planet from the port windows, she'd been shaken to the core and it had all come rushing back to her at once. So much so that she'd backed right up into poor Noctis and nearly bowled him over. Fortunately she's got a forgiving husband, especially when she'd hurriedly explained, whilst pointing at the window, just what that planet was, that it was the very same from her vision.

Swallowing, she finally tears her eyes away from the falling ships and the craziness, looking back over at her husband. Right now... is not an appropriate time to tell him everything, and she should have stopped herself from blurting anything out in general but now it's too late and he's asked her a question. ]

The explosions... there were so many Niflheim ships taking buildings down and people... at the very least, there are not Magitek soldiers to do more damage than has already been done here. [ She'll never forget the sights and the sounds of the Crown City filled with explosions and gunfire and screams.

The bodies scattered around the treaty room, Clarus Amicitia impaled against a wall... she shakes her head quickly. ]

We can talk more about this later. We must focus on the task at hand right now. Let us pray that there are no casualties and that we are able to pull as many people from the wreckage as possible.

_{[He's lucky he has such a lovely wife who can do no wrong. He didn't care at all that's the third time she's knocked him over somehow. At least he didn't get literally kicked from the bed this time.

But why is she crying? Does she think she can just do that and he won't demand more information?]}

I...I figured... did you... did you get hurt there, Luna? It must have been terrifying. I'm sorry. _{[He can see it on her face. Trauma and old fear. All he saw of his own city was smoke in the distance. He hadn't been inside yet. He imagined it but he didn't know until now that... whole buildings... He knew if his father was dead that Clarus went with him. He did his job as a shielf... alright then.]}

....Ah..... yeah......sure....

_{[Sure, stab him in the gut then just carry on. Don't worry, he'll catch up when he recovers.]}

[ She swears that is an uncommon occurrence and she will refrain from knocking him down again. At least the third time he didn't get knocked out of bed... he just got knocked onto the floor in general. It is almost an upgrade... especially when he'd blurted up 'Am I allowed to get back up now?' Poor, sweet man. ]

...Cuts and bruises and scrapes, nothing horrible. Most were self inflicted. [ It could have and would have been a LOT worse, and it's true.She did a lot of running and throwing herself out of airships that day... she shakes her head and takes his hand. ]

We should split up and pick somewhere to reconvene. What do you think?

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it's gonna rain - and it never ends

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