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]

[...oooh boy. There's a lot she can say about that that she... doesn't want to say, doesn't want to get into.

...but she can't ignore it either. She shrugs a little.] There's only one way to find out, I guess.

[...ugh, she can't not...] I know that there were people in Luceti who cared about you very much, actually.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He actually looks vaguely surprised, his brow furrowed. ]

Surely, you're mistaken.

[watermarks]

[She shakes her head.] I'm not. [Then she raises one hand slightly, almost like a hesitant child calling out in school.] I wasn't one of them. I barely knew you. [She lets her hand fall back to her side and gives a little shrug.] But I did know a few of them pretty well, and that's the only reason why I bring it up, even though I know it's not something connected with the situation right now. Because I know that they [that Ikki] wouldn't want you doubting that.

[She meets his gaze evenly with a little, almost apologetic smile, because she knows this conversation is a bit awkward, but she's not backing down.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ A myriad of expressions flits through his face. It's hard — practically impossible to picture, but Loki isn't so callous that he'll dismiss her memories on doubt alone. Still, it makes him uncomfortable. It's easier when he's doubted because Loki need not care for their expectations. He can protect himself.

( it helped, long ago ) ]

I suppose it is surprising that anyone knew me at all.

[ Or that there was anything worth knowing. ]

[watermarks]

[She gives a wry smile and holds up her hand, thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.] When you're trapped together in a very small space, it's kind of hard to avoid.

[She lets her arm fall back to her side.] How long have you been here?

[dothelokimotion]

[ There's the faintest brush of wry humour on his face. ]

A few weeks. No more.

[watermarks]

I was in Luceti for about four years before waking up here. [She gives a wry quirk of her mouth that seems to indicate: Give it time, buddy. You'll be surprised at all the people who end up knowing you.] It's very strange, but if what I learned in Luceti holds true here, the only good thing about places like this are the people who are trapped in it with you.

[Which is both a blessing and a curse, because then you want to be happy when they go home... and you can't quite be.

And now she was here, and not home at all, and she grieves for the people she's left behind.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki isn't so easily convinced. People can't be trusted. Loki can't be trusted. ]

Four years is a long time for a mortal.

[watermarks]

It is. [Though, mortal, and not wanting to think about it too much, has her returning.] Although any amount of time you're trapped someplace you don't want to be seems like too long.

[In other words, how are those 'few weeks' going for you here, Loki?]

[dothelokimotion]

[ He doesn't want to talk about it. ]

Hopefully, Thor and I won't linger here too long.

[watermarks]

[YUP it SUCKS right?

She nods a little.]

I hope so too, although that sounds rude. I hate places like this. [And she does, to her marrow.]

[dothelokimotion]

I hardly think it is an unpopular opinion.

[watermarks]

[She raises an eyebrow at that mildest of contenders for understatement of the year.]

No, probably not. [She shakes her head slightly and then returns to the topic she'd wanted to check with him about.] Thank you for walking me out. Will you be going back in there?

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki lets his gaze drift back to the bunker, as if he's mulling it over and not putting on a show. In truth, he'd like to burn it. Erase all existence. ]

Perhaps. There might be something to learn from it.

[watermarks]

More than what you already saw? [Books so old they could crumble at a touch, bodies, so many bodies, nearly at the end cycle of decomposition... so many lives, suddenly lost. It reminds her of the villages burned out by the Fire Nation that they saw on their journey through the Earth Kingdom, it reminds her of her own village, decimated by raids, and the smell of burning flesh...

And she doesn't know if it's worse, or better, or if it's just as bad, but in a different way, that their end was not through violence, but through accident.] I doubt it. But if you do, I hope you won't stay down there too long.

[dothelokimotion]

[ He smiles faintly. He recognizes compassion if he continually rejects it when it is applied to himself. ]

I tend not to linger.

[watermarks]

[Her gaze rests on him a moment longer, assessing. Then she starts to take her scarf and wrap it around her head.]

Then I hope you'll do what you need to do to be alright afterwards.

[Stupid desert sun. She was going to have to walk back under you now; at least the scarf provided some relief from the constant glare.] Do you have someone here you can talk to?

[dothelokimotion]

[ He blinks. ]

What for?

[watermarks]

[Katara blinks back.

Oh Loki. That is so sad. That is just... genuinely sad. Most people would at least have enough of an association with community to guess why, or to deny that they need it. He just looks honestly confused.

Gently, but not too gently:] Because sometimes talking about it helps. Not always, but more times than you'd think. And like you said - I don't think anyone can be okay after seeing that.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki purses his lips. He has Thor . . . but Loki has gotten the feeling that Thor doesn't want to talk to him. Or want much to do with him.

He never should have come here. He's not wanted. ]

I cannot say talking has done me any favors.

[watermarks]

[...okay, that was not an answer she expected. She'd been planning on beating it out of there, but instead she turns to look at Loki directly.] Why do you think that is? How often have you tried?

[Communication isn't easy, Loki, it takes practice. And talking. And listening. And she's only had like a fifteen minute conversation with this version of you so far, and she already knows that you are not necessarily the most DIRECT with your words.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ His lips thin into a censorious line. He's never been good at it. The long years spent on Asgard had him retreat into himself and certain truths hammered it in. ]

I know why it is. I do not need to be told that.

[watermarks]

[...told... what? She'd just asked questions?] I wasn't offering to tell you why it was, I was offering to try to help you figure out why it was. But if you know already, then that puts you in a really good position to start to do something about it.

[...] Listen, I know we just met and you probably don't want to hear this from me, but... I know there are some things that nothing helps, that nothing can touch. But for almost anything else, the only thing I've ever really seen work is talking about it. So it's worth trying again.

[dothelokimotion]

[ It's petty and he feels surly about it. ]

What good would it do? It is long past. And they won't listen. They never have.

[watermarks]

[...Katara is no longer certain they are talking about the same thing.

Her brow furrows.] I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. If you mean that no one listened in the past, then you're right, there's nothing you can do to change that. And that's hurtful, and I'm sorry that happened to you. But you can learn from it, because you're not in the past anymore. [Which means that you don't need to be stuck there.] Maybe you weren't talking to the right people, or maybe they didn't know you needed them to listen.

[People are stupid about that sometimes.]