smaller patch of fading sky [ open ]

[resetbutton]

WHO: EVERYONE. All PCs thus far will be in this log, through active tagging or implication.
WHAT: THRILLS. SPILLS. Hiking trip toward the Diamond City.
WHERE: The Overworld.
WHEN: Forward-dated to May 1st (Tuesday) through May 7th (Monday).
WARNINGS: May contain violence or other mentions of physical harm. This is not summer camp.
NOTES: More information can be found on the OOC post here. Please read it!

Gathered in the morning haze, Sleepers were brought to the mouth of the Cave with plenty of supplies and equipment. Compasses that would point them toward the City. Backpacks full of clothes and food, medical kits, tents and even weapons. Stun rifles and knives — to fight off any unwanted company, they said. ("Watch out for their bite," Ryan had commented. "Those fuckers are downright feral.") The straight and narrow path would get them there in six days if they kept a good clip. They were sent off just like that. Refusals to leave were met with a wall of guard force officers blocking the entrance back into the cave city. No way to go but forward, unless someone was particularly stalwart about remaining.

From the exterminator's station near the mouth, leaving the Cave was as simple as a short hike upward into the fresh air of the Overworld. Dust and an uncomfortable sort of heat pervaded the atmosphere, light winds stirring up the sand and teasing the meager bits of vegetation that had grown. No matter what direction you looked... it was all wasteland, cracked ground and desolate emptiness. Jutting up from scarred ground were boulders and small spires made entirely of glass and patches of stone; instead of reflecting the harsh sunlight, they seemed to absorb it and only add to the muted loneliness of the atmosphere. As far as the eye could see, there was no life to be found.

With no other option, the Sleepers eventually made their way onward.

| Day 1: Calm

| Day 2: Animals

| Day 3: Sandstorm

| Day 4: Mansion

| Day 5: Thomp

| Days 6&7: Long way

Comments

Day 1 (May 1st)

[resetbutton]

That was that. They were kicked out of the Cave with nothing but a compass to follow and no choice to turn around. They could go anywhere they wanted... but where else was there to go? Wind howled quietly in the distance and the sun beat down mercilessly on anything unlucky enough to be above ground. Standing still would be a bad idea unless relative shelter could be found. Outcroppings of glassy rock or large enough scars in the land would suffice. Just don't let yourself get burned.

[inequal]

No matter what the Workers had said, there was something breathtaking about seeing the world with his own eyes. It sent a powerful shiver down his spine. Everything... there was no "everything". While the Cave had been strange, foreign and intimidating, this Overworld was vast and something else entirely. It was not home, it was not safe and here they were, expected to make the trek all the way to a City none of them recalled. Anselmo had made one thing abundantly clear: moving backward was not an option.

Abruptly taking in a deep breath, Liam began to cough on the accumulated dust. "Oh, fucking hell," he muttered, patting on his own chest to try and clear the passage. If this was an indication of how the rest of their journey was to go, then they were screwed.

[myfedorarocks]

He was worried. The abilities that he had had in his dream had been just that-- a dream. He didn't have foresight to know things that might help him. It would never be much, but he would have hoped that he would have been able to find shelter at the very least. But he couldn't leave people behind. He was no leader, but he needed to help however he could.

"Can... can anyone defend themselves?" he asked in his quiet voice, uncertain. Twitch certainly couldn't. He still trembled constantly, and his head ached from the stress. But he needed to do something, somehow. His hands trembled too bad for the rifle to be any use at all to him, and he was having trouble figuring out if he could even use the knife. But he was going to try. "I should be able to help with cooking."

[inequal]

Liam turned to give a Look to the one who had spoken up. What he really wanted to do was stop and catalogue what resources the Workers had truly left them with, yet he knew staying still in the heat was no way to be — if not for himself, then for Ken and the rest of the lot. He pulled the stun rifle off from where it hung on the back of the knapsack, keeping it studiously pointed toward the ground and his finger nowhere near the trigger, and shook it for emphasis.

"You don't need to do anything more than point — and shoot with a gun. Don't shoot your friends, don't shoot yourself and don't forget about the safety, whatever you do," he instructed. Years in the War before he had died left him with equal parts healthy respect, disgust and instinct when dealing with a firearm. He did not want to be handling it (even if it really did only stun), yet would not forego the chance at protection because of his own aversion. Liam would deal with his nerves as best he could. "Can't handle it, then don't carry it. We don't need any accidents on our hands now."

[tartanisstylish]

After the initial shock of sunlight and fresh (well, fresh enough) air and the fact that they would be walking for a week, Aziraphale had had the good sense to look around. Catching sight of Liam was no difficult task - they weren't, after all, a very large group - but Aziraphale hesitated to approach him. He kept asking himself why, and came up with several answers.

Because they might have done something worse to Liam than they had to him.

Because it had been his fault in the first place.

Because Liam might not remember any of it at all.

In the end, though, he caught Liam during a rest and managed a "Hello" before realizing he wasn't sure whether to say Sorry or What happened?

[inequal]

The rest wasn't going to last long and Liam was taking the time to sip at his own water while glancing out into the wasteland. It was much easier with the goggles, as they doubled as sunglasses, which was really just one of those little small conveniences that annoyed the hell out of him. Mostly because he couldn't figure out the Workers' angle on being so... thoughtful about their provisions compared to everything else that had happened in the Cave. He jolted out of the reverie to look over to Aziraphale and quirked a half-smile when he saw the man.

His memories of the incident were foggy and only got worse the further he tried to follow them. There was the offer of a meeting, their talk and realization, the guard force showing up. They were cornered, Aziraphale pleading and Liam simply lashing out — literally, in one case. He distinctly recalled throwing a punch and could only guess by the bruise that was now mostly-healed that he had hit something and been hit back. That was where it more or less ended.

"Good afternoon," he greeted sardonically. It was anything but good, after all. "You doing all right?"

[deshabille]

Mal had seen bleak. Mal was intimately familiar with bleak. This was somewhere entirely past bleak.

She'd taken the weapons and the compass and the silly goggles and the sunscreen; she'd listened to the impromptu - what was it - stun gonne demonstration; she'd wondered if she should perhaps have stayed and looked around more - but the only way out was through, supposedly, and the more answers she found in the near future the better.

There was dust in her teeth already. She grimaced and raised a hand lazily. "Are we going, then?"

[eagletalons]

Oh, Garrett had seen bleak-- in the form of death, destruction and not knowing how the future will unfold. He lived through bleak with the eyes of the boy named Hope.

He supposed that he can do it again, the knife feeling heavy but almost familiar in his hand. The stun gun however... Guns were far larger in Cocoon and Pulse. But he knew how to operate one, take it apart, clean it, and put it back together, ammunition, barrel and extensions and all.

"I suppose we shall be going if we want to get anywhere."

[deshabille]

"Oh, good." Setting her teeth, Mal pulled out the compass again. Apparently it would show them where to go. She was, of course, not thrilled to be taking direction through a wasteland from a compass that didn't even know how to point Hubward, but it didn't appear she had a lot of choice.

Still, the way forward was fairly intimidating. She allowed herself the briefest look back to the entrance of the Cave. At least she wouldn't burn in there.

Oh, well. Onwards and forwards, she supposed; someone had to do it. With her most practiced saunter, she slipped past the man who'd spoken and headed into the wilderness - but not so fast that she couldn't be caught up.

[brightblueeyeshadow]

Re-l spent the first fifteen minutes breaking in her stride, accustoming herself to the weight of the pack on her back and the feel of the gun on her hip. It wasn't Awakening, but it made her feel safer.

Ahead of her the road stretched endlessly into the distance, dusty and barren. Scenes of the world beyond Romdeau came one after another. They weren't so different, and that made her afraid. She squashed her fear down irritably, focusing on each step, on the measure and pace of it.

It occured to her at that moment that she'd been matching steps with another traveller for some minutes. She glanced to her right and took in the short-haired woman. They weren't close, and she decided her actions probably hadn't been noticed, but Re-l still drew her hood a little closer around her face.


These empty places took away her voice.

[deshabille]

A good try, but movement tended to catch her eye. Mal turned her head curiously, appraising the woman next to her. Hm. Young, sort of tense-looking. Interesting, but then anything would be out in the middle of nowhere.

She allowed her stride to edge left until she and Re-l were walking next to each other. "Scared of the sun?" she drawled. It was only half a joke. She was fairly worried about it herself.

[delightme]

Any other being might have called the landscape "hellish," but Balthazar had seen Hell. The real Hell, with its many different lands full of pain, suffering, torment, and of course, its enemies. Although the angel (former, it's former now) had to give this skillet the Workers here called the Overworld some credit; it certainly was nothing to sneeze at. Especially now that he could no longer travel where he liked at will and was now (un)comfortably stuck in his human vessel.

Still, though, he supposed jumping into the proverbial frying pan couldn't be that bad if it was leading away from the Cave. Despite the stifling climate, Balthazar breathed deep and made his way forward.

"How wonderful for them to let us work on our tans."

[inequal]

"Or not, if we don't prefer," Liam commented. He had fallen somewhat behind the pack while trying to dig out not only the sunscreen provided, but also the duster and goggles he'd seen along the way. Neither were particularly cumbersome or even very out of place considering their surroundings, but... goggles. Nobody ever looked good in goggles. At best you could manage to look inoffensive.

Still. Better than burning out one's retinas or drying your eyes out with sand.

While he never truly let Ken out of his sight, Liam felt the need to check out the rest of their group and get a better idea of what sort of fellows they were being forced to travel with for the next week. He didn't like the feeling of exposure it left him with — not to the elements, but to all these people who could notice him whenever they wanted. Right now, he just had to pretend only the people he chose to speak with could tell he was there at all. Easier to adjust that way.

"Hope you've found the sunblock by now, mate."

[delightme]

Despite his limited time spent as a full human, Balthazar managed to get the hang of taking care of the body that was now permanently his pretty quickly. He knew stepping out in the sweltering heat of the deserted landscape would probably leave his vessel (body, it's a body now) redder than a lobster.

"It was actually the first thing I thought of," and it truthfully was. He hadn't really pulled on anything besides that, partly because he knew having less things on would leave him less likely to overheat, but mostly because he didn't think anything else would be necessary for the time being. The only other thing he had bothered with was the knife, which felt incredibly familiar in his hand despite it not being anything close to an angel sword. That had been put somewhere he could reach with ease. "I'm vaguely surprised they gave us all of these things."

[trickntreats]

Gabriel had taken a rifle, knife and the pack with a mocking smile, though whether it was mocking himself or the Workers it was hard to tell. When he hefted the knife it was at least somewhat reminiscent of his sword; he slung the rifle over his back and strapped the knife's sheath to his arm.

He couldn't deny he was eager to get out of that blasted cave, so he strode forward, cheerful and jaunty and with an air that said he would have been humming with sheer pleasure except he just wasn't. (Not a note.)

Then they reached the surface proper and he stopped short, the sight of it like a punch to the gut. Now he knew why that phrase said what it did. The land before them was--there was no other word for it--raped. Sure, there were parts of Espas which were kind of hot and deserty and scrubby, but the sort of desert it had been had life in it. This was just ... rock and dust. And glass, of all things. It was wrong and it left chills all down his spine--a sensation he never wanted to feel again, thanks very much.

"This isn't what it's supposed to look like." The words came out before he could stop them.

[whowillsaveyou]

The old Doctor had refused the weapons. Really, he was an old man (even if by Gallifreyan standards he could still be considered a youth), how would he even manage a knife? It was too big and unweildy for him to trust himself with it for smaller things. The gun would've been easier, but he remained firm in his refusal until they gave in. The rest he took, slinging the pack over his shoulder. At least they didn't expect him to carry a tent; he was already concerned with his ability to keep up with the rest of the group with what he did have to carry.

He followed the others out of the cave, toying with the compass and, once the sun hit, was glad of his tendancy to dress more conservatively. Once he caught a proper view of the terrain, well. He'd seen similar, and simply shrugged off the desolation, getting his bearings easily enough with that compass. "This will come in handy, won't it?" he commented to himself, a smug smile forming across his lips.

Hearing Gabriel's comment, the Doctor glanced over and approached the man, brow quirked with obvious curiosity. Gabriel wasn't one for books, so unless the man had caught pictures of the place elsewhere... "How is it supposed to look?" he asked.

[trickntreats]

Gabriel waved a hand vaguely but emphatically at the landscape, struggling for words. "Not like this," he finished at last, irritable and strangely unnerved. "Green. Foresty. Fieldsy. And okay, with the occasional scrap of desert. Even that was nothing like this. There's nothing here. No life."

Just desolation. The archangel realised just how disconcerted he'd sounded and checked himself. It took him a moment, frowning, to realise it wasn't just the memory of what should have been here that was making him feel like this. It was the desolation, period. The scar on the land. It had been a long, long time since he'd done much with the land itself instead of with those populating it, but he still remembered what the world had been like back then.

Wild. Open. Lush. Dangerous, yes, but dangerous because of the sheer amount of life in it. And beautiful for all that danger. This ... this made his human heart clench with the thought of everything his Father had made that had been destroyed. He hadn't been expecting that reaction.

"But at least we won't have any trouble cooking meals," he added with an attempt at levity, trying to rearrange his expression into something more upbeat and cheerful. He didn't quite make it; couldn't quite help the hurt in his eyes as he looked out over the landscape.

[doul]

Shading his eyes, Doul stood briefly surveyed the land before him, taking in the sight and trying to match it to anything he'd seen or heard of before. He would know the Scar from a thousand miles away and surely he would be able to feel the Cacotopic Stain leeching his mind away and twisting his body? Perhaps he is further still, trapped somehow beyond Nova Esperium and into the lost lands of Bered Kai Nev. He wonders if when they enter the desert, the ground will be littered with gearships and the chitinous heads of dead khepri women or if the sun and sand have already ground them back into dust.

Since his awakening in the cave, Doul (now Downing) has kept quiet and to himself. There was no great gap between his rising and being pushed out into the desert. They have been armed and while these godspit bastards saw fit to take his engine and sword, he feels confident enough that if the guards did not lie, at least a portion of their team will make it to their destination.

[knifedances]

Izaya (or Toshiyuki as he'd been informed he was now named) appeared entirely calm and composed as he surveyed the landscape before them, the outside world they'd been kept from since waking and now all but forced into with only the most basic of provisions. Internally, he wasn't feeling nearly so relaxed and confident as outward appearances would have one believe, however. He may have been stronger than he looked, was capable of defending himself if he had to, but the fact remained that he was accustomed to urban environments and modern comforts; he'd never so much as been camping, never mind found himself forced to survive a harsh environment like the one he now found himself surveying.

He would rather not have left the Cave at all, not without a more convenient means of transport, but it had been made quite clear that he was no longer welcome to remain there; it had been a full month since he'd up, there was no reason for him to stay any longer, he'd been informed. Besides, there was the small matter of his curiosity; the Cave had been stifling with only a limited amount of information available as to their current situation. Perhaps in the City he'd have access to both greater freedom and a deeper wealth of information. Provided he made it there alive, of course.

His shoulders shifted beneath the weight of the pack he was carrying, exhaling deeply as he sought to encourage himself to get a move on. No point hanging around here to burn, after all. "So this is what they've been keeping from us all this time."

[doul]

"Have you traveled through desert before?" Doul checks his pack for a cloth to cover his face and head with; even if the dust isn't too strong now, it's wise to keep the sun off his head. They have some water with them, but there's no way they'll be able to carry a week's worth and that means either they're not expected to survive, there will be a way station, or one of their number has a solar still.

[trickntreats]

After his chat with the Doctor Gabriel had felt the urge to stay away from his brothers for a little while, just in case either one of them had overheard about his stupidity with getting himself rehabbed. Again. He found himself not far from Mr Tall And Dour, and knew, instantly, that the man was some kind of hunter. Or at least a soldier. It was in the way he walked, the way he held himself, the way he held the gun.

He was also new. So Gabriel wandered alongside the man, catching up without making it seem like he was putting effort into it (even though he was). "I don't remember you. New to this little Hell of ours, are we?"

[doul]

"Downing," he said, slowing his pace to stop and shake hands. There's a moment where he looks to move as if he's going to clasp Gabriel's forearm as a warrior might, but he before it happens he moves to shake hands. He hasn't let it show to anyone, but it bothers him intensely that the wires and gears that were once woven through his arm aren't there; there's no physical discomfort, but the ache remains. "And yes, I'm new."

[littlealienguy]

To say the task at hand was daunting was an understatement. Only recently they had woken up in a new world and told their lives were a dream. Now they were being forced out of that comfort zone (for what little comfort it was) and sent off on what possibly could be a perilous journey to another new life.

Jonas would be lying if he said he wasn't a tiny bit intimidated by the whole concept. But a voice in the back of brain that sounded vaguely like Colonel O'Neill told him to suck it up make SG-1 proud. And dream or not, Jonas was determined to do just that.

Those glass outcroppings sure looked interesting though...

[oilyhands]

Now this, this was more exciting. It wasn't something White had had a hand in personally (he would certainly take the time to improve upon the landscape), but it felt similar enough in nature to cheer him. Particularly as a contrast to the cave, where things had tried — far too successfully — at being neat and orderly.

"Lightning strikes?" he said, more wondering aloud than actually asking. "Not meteorites."

[experiencedlove]

Caprica had never been anywhere this arid — this dead. Not even Caprica City after the attacks looked like this. The air was thick with dust, and she had to keep herself from coughing on nearly each breath she took. Something about it made her believe it didn't always look this way, that once there was beauty and life here, animals and growing things.

She still wasn't comfortable with this — with any of it, the thought of being told that her entire life was a dream, the reality that she had very little choice but to cooperate for the time being. Being human... she hadn't even begun to process that yet. As much as she'd always wanted to understand what being human was like, she'd never wanted to give up what she was for it.

Wandering a little away from the main group, she noticed the man examining the outcroppings of glass. Drawing in a breath (and suppressing another fit of coughing as a result), she addressed him as she drew closer.

"What do you think caused it?"