EVENT LOG: BOTTOM OF THE RIVER

[nextnightmods]

EVENT LOG:
BOTTOM OF THE RIVER

characters: everyone.
location: everywhere.
date/time: april 15-30.
content: preparation begins, and rain falls.
warnings: n/a. please cw tags appropriately.

an early warning: april 15-17

When someone goes to check the readings at the weather station in mid-April, they notice something - an immense low-pressure system incoming in just a few short days. Looks like rain on the horizon, although it isn’t immediately clear how long it will last or how much will fall - but it seems like spring has come to Beacon, and April showers bring May flowers, right?

Better get to work.

into the water: april 18-30

Thick clouds obscure the light from the stars. The air grows thick with humidity, and soon, showers begin to fall. It’s gentle at first - a pleasant sound as the drops hit the earth and tap out patterns on the roofs.

This only lasts an hour or two before the heavens seem to open up, letting loose sheets of pounding rain that make it hard to see more than twenty feet ahead of you. The sound is immense and deafening, and you find yourself shouting over the noise as you scramble to make the last of your modifications, find your friends, and take shelter.

Within days, the water falling constantly off of the edges of the rooftops has begun to dig trenches in the soil, and the river swells and overtakes its own banks. Town becomes a moving stream of water that threatens to knock you over and take you with it, and entire sections of Beacon are cut off from each other as you find yourself unable to cross the former banks of the rivers even through flight. Torches get swept away, bridges collapse, and buildings begin to crumble.

Were you prepared?

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Comments

Stone | OTA

[scarsolderthanyou]

I. Heavy Lifting

While Stone is not as strong as he once was, he's still big. His winged form gets recruited to lift things to higher floors, help dig run-off trenches, and pile up tree trunks around foundations of the more important buildings. He's seen the aftermath of floods before, he's pretty sure this is how groundlings would protect against them, what would have been needed.

And while he's personally not worried about injury or losing belongings due to flooding, he's happy to help anyone else who would be more at risk than a big dragon-alien who didn't have many possessions at all.

Since the Invincible has plenty of people working at it, he focuses mainly on the downtown area. Which means, when the rivers rise, he's stuck there. Annoying.


II. Network - Voice

[Stone's annoyed voice comes over the network on the first day of actual flooding.]

Hey, just in case anyone wanted to, don't try crossing the rivers. They keep tossing me back even when I fly over them. Literally find myself wing-lengths back as soon as I start flying over one.

Hate to see what it'd do to somebody smaller than me.


III. Search and Rescue

Flying in the driving rain isn't exactly easy, but Stone's done it, and at least there isn't a lot of lightning to contend with. (Being hit by lightning is no fun, though he's done that a couple times before, too.) He flaps heavily around the downtown area, looking for people, spirits, or important-looking goods tossed around by the floodwaters. When he gets tired, he stops flying and just jumps from roof to roof, wings tucked in and rainwater dripping from the ends.

He can't talk like this, but he can dip his three-foot-wide hand down to scoop his target right out of the water, whatever catches his eye, or more appropriately his ears and nose, because in the dark and with his poor eyesight, actually seeing someone clinging to a wall or being tossed around by the waves isn't very likely. Hope you like being carried in the literal palm of someone's hand, whoever you are.


IV. Break Time

When he gets too tired to even jump roofs-- which is pretty quick, to his frustration-- or whenever he's got someone or something to drop off, Stone returns to the Landmark Hotel. He drops onto the roof, opens the roof access with a claw, shifts down, and basically belly-flops inside again. The winged form is much, much sturdier and more enduring than his groundling form, and exhaustion hits him hard as soon as he's back in the more vulnerable shape.

Then it's a half a day of sleeping, eating everything the other residents of the Landmark will let him, and being grouchy but too weak yet to go back out. "I'm fine," he insists in a slightly quavery, even older-sounding than usual voice. "Stop fussing."

network;

[mellowyellow]

[Masaomi's looking a tad bit waterlogged, but he's okay enough to be throwing out a video reply anyway. A considerably miffed video reply.]

How come you always have to be the one who tests that?

[scarsolderthanyou]

I didn't know it was going to be a problem, I was just trying to get back home! I'm stuck over downtown, because I can't cross any rivers to get back.

[mellowyellow]

[Masaomi distinctly remembers Stone telling him about how he died flying over water! It's a problem! But. Stone's explanation stops Masaomi's oncoming sarcasm cold.]

You're stuck downtown? You're not alone or anything, right?

[scarsolderthanyou]

There's other people here. I'm at the Landmark Hotel thing, the really tall building down here. It makes a good place to land after flying around.

[mellowyellow]

Oh! That's where Sora stays, right?

Super excitable guy just a little older than me? Brings new meaning to the words "locking eyes"?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Yeah, I know Sora. He's not over here, though, I haven't smelled him in a couple days. His scent is around inside, it's faint enough that he hasn't been here in a while.

[mellowyellow]

Guess everybody's pretty mixed up right now.... [He laughs under his breath, a nervous, awkward chuckle.] I never thought I'd weather a flood in a church, but I didn't have time to run anywhere else.

network | voice

[callada]

Careful out there. Glad to hear it wasn't like that time with the lake. So we're stuck now, hm? Which river?

[scarsolderthanyou]

I'm glad, too. I'm not interested in dying again today. Too much work to do.

Both. Or I guess it's all the same river, pretty much.

[callada]

Suppose that's true. I wonder what's causing it. You didn't hear any singing, did you?

[scarsolderthanyou]

No. It wasn't even like I missed a wing-beat, I just was suddenly further back than when I started.

[He makes a rumbling noise, sounding tired.]

I remember a magic trap like that once. We spent hours walking the same hallway, and thought it wasn't more than a few minutes. It might be something like that.

[callada]

Huh. All right, so those of us at The Invincible, we're cut off from people in the village. Hope it doesn't last too long, I don't know how well stocked they are over there.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Did anyone empty out all the food from the houses? If not, they should be fine. There's a lot of houses over there.

You at the Invincible are doing all right, yeah?

[callada]

I don't know. I'm guessing most people came to The Invincible and the Landmark, because I've had a hard time getting hold of anyone in the village. But you're right, there's probably enough food if they can get to it.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Well that's not worrying at all. It's not like the tablets don't work still. Who all have we heard from?

[callada]

Quite a few people. I don't have a full list. I'm more concerned about the ones I haven't heard from, regardless of location. I'm not getting a response from Xayah, Daylight, Riku, Maes, Ambrose, or Ignis - or Robin or Rastus.

network

[patriotnow]

[Speaking of things smaller than Stone. At first theres just the sound of rushing water, Ashford's attempt at calling starting out badly as he keeps getting pulled under. He's never learned to swim, has never had to, and while his attempt to save his uniform monitor had been successful, he'd almost immediately been dragged by a rush when his home's side wall buckled with a swell of current breaking through the trees.]

S-stone!

[He manages to get his head above the water long enough to try and make the call]

Need rescue. Near m- --ouse.

[And the water pulls him back down again, the message ending with the glubbing and woosh of water]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[And here you get to hear Stone alarmed. This is a new tone to his voice.]

You idiot, I can't get to you! I'm stuck downtown! Hang on, grab something that floats or a wall or something.

[He makes sure his message is as public as it can get, and growls,]

Hey! Anybody in the village area! Get to the Grand Portal cabins! Ashford's down there, dammit, and he can't swim!

@langit; voice;

[arsarcanum]

[ Thank your lucky stars that Sora's already gotten done with one emergency and was scrolling through the network to wind down. A very quick, clipped message: ]

On it, on my way. What's he look like? [ Sora's already launched himself out a window, but he keeps the tablet open for any replies. ]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Kind of like me, only scruffier. And with more color. Tall, old, white hair. Lots of scars on his face.

You let me know when you find him.

[Because Stone actually sounds worried. And frustrated. Because he can't do anything.]

@langit; voice;

[arsarcanum]

[ This message was about to come in text before Sora remembers how tough it was for Stone to look at things up close. Voice it is! ]

Yikes. Did you see anything, or was it just like something invisible pushing you back?

[scarsolderthanyou]

It wasn't even like being pushed. It was like suddenly I was just further back, covering ground I'd already flown over a few wing-beats ago. I don't remember being moved, it just happened.

[arsarcanum]

Oh, whoa. [ ... ] So what you're saying is that it didn't hurt, right?

[scarsolderthanyou]

You're planning on throwing yourself at it, aren't you.