The Bunker of Nariba Relia | OPEN PLOT MINGLE POST

[theroadwarrior]

Who: Everyone!!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: The bunker in the surrounding desert.
When: Sometime recently, see this post for full information. Below is the excerpt of information listed there. Feel free to make a top comment and thread out the sad truth and whatnot.

[Records buried in the library, the research facility, and cues from the power plant will eventually reveal the bunker in the surrounding desert. The passageway leads several yards underground, and it doesn’t appear to have been used in a long time. Those brave enough to venture inside will find that it is not much more than a tomb. Eerily enough, the emergency lights are still on, casting a soft red glow over sheets and the once-bodies beneath them.

It has been long enough that paper journals, books, and personal belongings (like bags and such) have deteriorated to the point of being extremely fragile. Handled with care, however, they are eager to tell a story.

“The engineers should have been more careful. I’m not sure I’ll be able to recoup my losses from this… At least I have enough money to buy a ride off this planet!”

“No one could have known this would happen. Hopefully it stabilizes so we can go home soon. In the meantime, I’ve been teaching my daughter how to count. She doesn’t understand what’s going on, and I don’t know what to tell her.”

“It’s not getting better. So many people have died that we’re running out of room in the morgue. We had to move all of the food to another room so that the smell doesn’t leach out, but we all know what’s back there.”

“The replicator was supposed to repair us, too.”

“I don’t know if we can go back yet, but it doesn’t matter. Even if the city was back to the way it was, there’s no cure for us. The dead are dead, and we lay down next to them as we wait for our turn.”

There is nothing that can be done for these people except to give them the eternal rest they deserve. Ultimately, the fate of Nariba Relia is a sad one and not altogether preventable.]

Comments

[dothelokimotion]

[ You had more, Loki wanted to say, you got to say goodbye to mother. Your last words to her weren't a recrimination. You saw her pass on and you left me. There is a wedge of bitterness in his throat which he swallows down. Because in the end, it's nothing. It might even be his imagination. ]

Perhaps. I don't particularly care for what these people got.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor does, in a way that's two steps shy of true sympathy. It's the hearing of a long-ago tragedy that reminds him too much of what his own people have lost, but doesn't quite follow. Comparing the two is pointless and unfair. He does it anyway, despite himself.

He shakes himself slightly, and gets to his feet. A slight turn back has him looking askance at Loki.]

Don't you?

[An open question. He's not about to prod Loki into responding if his hackles raise even more.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ His smile is shallow. ]

I'm not like you. I have no heart for strangers.

[rebuildyourruins]

[His brows pull together before he hums, turning away again. Loki has made clear many times what he thinks of sentiment. Only some of it is obfuscation, the rest inhabiting the darker mysteries of his brother's thinking.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ A strange question for Thor to ask him though and Loki picks up on that. ]

What do you think of this place then?

[rebuildyourruins]

I think it's sad. Maybe if it had been handled differently, it would not have ended up like this.

[Thor likes to think he would do it differently if something like this happened to his own people. But maybe that's just a desire not to align himself with whoever ruled this world, whose designs went so badly wrong. He turns around and steps back over to Loki.]

What I don't want is for our story to end up like this.

[dothelokimotion]

[ His expression softens minutely. ]

It won't.

You're not like them.

[rebuildyourruins]

[He hopes not. Hard to tell, when all that's left of them are bones and dust. Still, Thor's expression clears somewhat.]

No doubt you'd point it out immediately if I was.

[dothelokimotion]

In excruciating detail.

[rebuildyourruins]

It doesn't have to be excruciating. There's advice and then there's kicking someone in the face with it.

[dothelokimotion]

No, it has to be.

[ Loki says this in a sage tone. ]

How else will it stick?

[rebuildyourruins]

With time and patience.

[dothelokimotion]

Hmm. Sounds fake.

[rebuildyourruins]

Oh, try it. [Thor smacks Loki on the shoulder, grinning.] You might even enjoy it.

[dothelokimotion]

[ There's a faint glow before Loki throttles it. ]

Perhaps. Things have been hectic of late.

[rebuildyourruins]

Yeah, I know.

[Some of his good humour fades.]

Between coming here and this planet, you would have been busy. [Not to mention everything that came before. A shake of his head as he watches the steadily darkening sky.] But I think it will be quieter from now on.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He glances at Thor. ]

What do you think I would be busy with?

[rebuildyourruins]

Well, getting your bearings with the ships and the planet.

[Thor had assumed Loki would go off and do that himself, as he usually did. Thor's information wasn't the sum-total of knowledge in the Fleet.]

Or trying to find new weapons, since they do take those off us when we get here.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki waves his hand at that. ]

Child's play. Though my ship received an interesting addition. A witch of some caliber.

[rebuildyourruins]

Another one? I met a witch when I first got here, though I don't think she's around anymore. What's this one like?

[dothelokimotion]

[ Hmm. ]

Dangerous. I would keep my distance if I were you.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Telling Thor someone's dangerous is not necessarily going to keep him away from them. Still, he's not going to discount Loki's warning.]

Did they make threats?

[dothelokimotion]

No. But there is a strange power within her. I can't pinpoint it clearly.

[rebuildyourruins]

[He shouldn't be surprised by that. They're so far beyond their own universe that of course they would encounter powers and magics their own worlds have never experienced. It sits a bit uneasily though that Loki isn't able to discern what it is. Thor crosses his arms over his chest, nodding once.]

With any luck we'll have no cause to find out what it is.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki snorts lightly because they've never been lucky. ]

We shall see.