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

[watermarks]

I won't - I won't - [But it's almost like a chant and it feels like the walls are closing in and--

She gives him a wide-eyed look before turning.]

...but maybe that's a good idea.

[She sets the journal back down, closing it carefully before standing.]

[privateeyed]

'Course it's a good idea.

[he pushes to his feet and makes an "after you" gesture]

[watermarks]

[Katara very nearly bolts out of there. She doesn't run, but the walk is a decent impression of it. He'll have to take long steps to catch up with her.]

[privateeyed]

[oh don't worry, he's only a step behind her.

Though when they reach the top he stops just outside, letting her continue to wherever she needs privacy, if she really is about to be sick]

[watermarks]

[No, although her rapid motion has done her heart rate very little good, and the implications of that book are... horrifying, she is not going to throw up.

She does keep her back to Ben, though, as she rips the scarf from her mouth and nose and then covers her mouth with her hand.

She's trembling.]

[privateeyed]

[oh, geez. This is the part he isn't good at - hell, he can't even handle his own bullshit, how is he supposed to help someone else?

He tugs down his shirt and lets out a breath, then reaches back into his bag to pull out a water bottle. He waits a moment, just to make sure she really isn't going to be sick, then heads over to offer it to her]

Here, take a few sips. Slow, deep breaths, too. Supposed to help, or so I'm told.

[watermarks]

[Poor Ben. Katara tries to pull herself together, but there are still tears in her eyes. She sees him offer her his water bottle out of her peripheral vision and nods. She takes it, but she doesn't manage to take the drink. Her other hand curls into a fist at her side.

She exhales - breathe - and then does manage to take just one sip before passing it back to him.] I'll be okay, I'm just -- [Her eyes heat; tears are imminent.] That's so horrible.

[privateeyed]

[once she takes it he just sits down right there, taking a deep breath and letting it slowly - taking his own advice, at least for a second]

Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty horrible. [he takes the water back and takes a sip himself, then breathes out a curse] Fucking hell.

[watermarks]

[Emphatically:] You can say that again.

[All of it. She's not sure there are words terrible enough for this -- needless -- awful -- she closes her eyes and exhales, very deliberately. Her heart is still racing.

There are so many of them down there...]

[privateeyed]

I'm sure I'll say it a few dozen times before we leave.

[he mutters a few curses under his breath as he puts the water back, then runs a hand through his hair, the movement jerky and rough]

[watermarks]

[She gives him a concerned glance.]

Are you going to go back down there?

[privateeyed]

In a bit, probably. [he really doesn't want to, but he also wants to know what the fuck happened. He pushes to his feet with a grunt] I fucking hate bunkers.

[watermarks]

[She frowns a little and then glances from him across the desert -- the wide open space is a comfort. She takes another breath of clean air and then looks back at him.] You've been in them before -- bunkers?

[It's a strange word to her.]

[privateeyed]

Not one that size, but yeah. [not one built to hold an entire city with a damn morgue, that's for sure] Couple of times, but not since - uh. Not since I was in the army. People built 'em 'cause they were scared shitless of bombs and nuclear war - that's why they're all concrete and steel or - whatever they used down there. It's meant to protect whoever's inside from all the shit going on outside.

[watermarks]

[She knows what bombs are, she knows what war is, but 'nuclear war' is a new term for her. Her eyes narrow a little.] 'Nuclear' war?

[privateeyed]

Uh. [he scratches at his cheek, how the fuck can he explain this] People were afraid that war would break out from everyone shooting off their nuclear bombs. It's a kind of bomb . . . like - I think it's something like 200 bombs in one? It uses a different kind of energy than a regular bomb. It's so devastating that people who aren't even within the blast range can die just from the energy it lets off, and that sticks around for weeks. And it's not a quick death, either.

[he shrugs a little helplessly] There's a hell of a lot more to it than that, but that's just what I remember about them.

[watermarks]

...I've never heard of anything like that. [She glances around the desert. She thinks of Ozai, and what she learned about Sozin's comet, and she shuts her eyes again.] And they thought hiding in the ground would protect them from that?

[privateeyed]

Yeah, they build bunkers specifically out of material that'll keep the radiation out, and protect from the blasts. [he turns to glance back at the bunker, though, frowning] Wonder if their replicator bullshit ran off the same kind of power.

[watermarks]

[Katara takes another deep breath of clean air and then begins to wrap her scarf around her mouth and nose again.]

I guess there's only one way to find out.

[privateeyed]

[he glances at her, both eyebrows raised]

You sure? 'Cause I don't mind if you want to wait up here.

[watermarks]

[She nods.] I'll leave if I have to. But you don't have to do this by yourself.

[privateeyed]

[his face scrunches up] Did you forget who you're talking to?

[but he takes a deep breath, then starts heading for the bunker]

Let's get this done fast, then. It's my turn to freak out. [ha ha he's so funny]

[watermarks]

[Nope, she knows exactly who she's talking to - someone who needs to know he doesn't have to do things by herself. Sorry, you might be twice her age, but you're in the category of Those Who Need Care now, so... deal with it.]

Oh, are we taking turns now? I'll have to remember that...

[She smiles a little, not that he can see it, and moves to follow him.]

[privateeyed]

[he makes a grumbled noise and pulls his shirt up over his nose as they get close]

Just for that I'm not gonna freak out. [probably. Hopefully . . .

Down he goes]

[watermarks]

[Heh.]

If you say so. Does that mean I have to go twice?

[But it's... harder to make light of things the closer they get to what had been these people's hope for survival. She tells herself that she isn't going to go and count the bodies.

She's not sure she believes herself.]