text / un: solnishka, two days before mission's end;

[peasant]

we've located the orb.

the "how" and "where" are less important details than what we intend to do with it, now that it's in our possession. as far as i'm aware, there are others still tirelessly working on plans, remi and aureliah included, to have their shot at saving the people of this planet, but we'll need to hurry if we all plan to make it out intact.

until we've put what to do with the orb to a vote, kovacs and myself will be safeguarding it alongside unohana and ryunosuke. sabriel will be taking her leave to discuss evacuation plans. in the meanwhile, i'd suggest, whatever choice we make, we hurry to make it sooner rather than later.

( ooc: threadjacking is completely encouraged! this post is mostly to ic infoshare and generate pre-voting discussions. ♥ )

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text. un: stardust

[shadysided]

I informed Melis and Criv, so at least the Seriw and Ciarv settlements should be accounted for — last I knew, they were going to be having a meeting with Yerek about all of this.

I don't know their choices yet, but... they were thankful to know, at least.

[It's been a long day, y'all.]

I'll stick around here, for whatever plan rolls into motion. I can't do much, but I've got a few things I can do, and you guys seem to have the orb covered.

un: lion cub

[heyciri]

Thank you.

If there's anything you need while helping, too, let me know. I'll be out of the woods soon, and I can probably help bridge to a location if people need to move faster.

( she thinks, she's getting a great feel for how to portal when doing various shorter distances. )

[shadysided]

... You can do something like that? Make bridges across places?

[heyciri]

Yes. More a portal, like what Yennefer can do, if you've seen it. Or... move between two places, but that's not something I'm as practised in. If there's a collapsed bridge, I might be able to bring it back up too?

[shadysided]

... That's pretty awesome. Can you show me sometime?
I haven't actually ever walked through a portal before.

[She did totally fall into purgatory once... but that was a totally different mission.]

[heyciri]

You want to see? Sure, I can show you. We can even use one if you like, but it doesn't feel pleasant. As a warning.

[shadysided]

Hey, that's alright.
It's important to know what if feels like, right? So I know what to expect on a real mission. Better to experience it now than in a crisis.

[heyciri]

Yeah, better to have practised first. Did you want to meet in the morning? We're working on them right now as we need to.

( when they just keep practicing what's gonna get them out of this mission in the end )

[shadysided]

Sounds good, I'll need to get up early to work on my end of things anyway. I'll be doing a lot of transporting with my jetpack and qiankun pouch, so the portals will become my best friend.

[heyciri]

And everyone's, once we've word of where they're going.

See you then.

[shadysided]

You got it.

[And true to her world, she will be there — coming down by the jetpack on her back, a gift Peter had given her that she's learned over time to use as a fifth limb at this point. What better way to travel around than by air? It sure cuts down on hiking distance.]

shoves this into timey wimey land

[heyciri]

( Ciri, who has currently had the benefit of lemur-clinging to Yujin in order to have Stephen Strange's Cloak fly them back out of the depths of the forest, and who has heard of Joric's form of soaring skimming flight but not witnessed it herself, feels some of the weight of what she and the rest of team portal is waiting on for final confirmation before they're funneling who and what they can of this world on to what comes Next lessen, just a touch, at the technological magic of actually getting to see what Ziggy's doing.

When she's down, Ciri doesn't have to try as hard to put on a smile that's not more grimace than sincerity. )

That's really fun to see. How long have you been flying?

( They're here for a different form of transit, but it doesn't make her less appreciative of Ziggy's after the last week and then some. )

Where do we need to get you first? The survey teams aren't back yet, though we're expecting them soon.

is the best way to ball

[shadysided]

About a year? Maybe a little less. Peter let me use it a lot, and — I guess you wouldn't know Peter, but he was a really cool person. Defender of the galaxy, and all of that...

[She clicks a button, and the jetpack flattens more naturally around her.]

He'd decided to go home back to his team, but he left me this.

[... Anyway.]

I was thinking... I could help the Seriw and Ciarv settlements, once things really get going. Maybe coordinating with Criv and Melis and jetpacking and transferring their goods; Wei Wuxian gave me this special pouch? It carries a lot inside of it.

[She shows said pouch, which is just about big enough to fit in one hand. Odd.]

Admittedly, I can't do anything as big as the rest of you, but — it's something, right?

[heyciri]

( what's a galaxy, she decides not to ask, there's been so much new terminology lately, and it sounds like it might be a little space related. maybe. possibly? the reminder that people can decide that it's more worth returning home to live with the regret that brought them here than to keep marching forward on these missions to see it changed is... exhausting, too. and they're not through her first one yet.

she shoves that aside. nothing she can do anyway. )

More than something. It's everything that needs to happen so that those of us standing around pouring energy into a giant gate can keep standing there and doing it while everyone has a chance of getting there.

( though this gives her all sorts of interesting thoughts, such as the concept of a pouch that looks small but carries more than it seems? she cants her head, thinking about it. magic has a flexibility to her mind she hadn't thought about before, instinctual as her use of it has been. )

If you're carrying their things without getting weighed down, they can focus on getting their people out. That's hard enough even when you have warning. Like this, we're fleeing before the army arrives at the gates, and we've seen them all in distance viewers.

( which yes, she means the asteroid that's blazing overhead even now, another sun in the sky in its own weird way, here to breach the gates and leave everything as less than rubble. )

Okay, so... Seriw. Let's start with Seriw.

( ciri turns her head, then her shoulders, sort of squaring off with the space to their immediate left. no one's there, which is the point: she imagines the settlement, what she's seen of it, and throws out her hand, palm thrust out. see what you want it to be, and will it into being.

a few heartbeats, and the silvery, near rippling surface of the portal spreads across the open space, strangely two-dimensional if ziggy walks to the side to look at it, a thin plane of altered space. )

That... should be right outside of Seriw. Above ground.

[shadysided]

[Careful, Wei Wuxian will combust if the word 'magic' is spoken around him with regard to cultivation. Ziggy has learned well.

But the thought fades with the newfound interest in Ciri; Ziggy watches as the portal slowly comes to be, and her eyes grow wider with some quiet awe. It's pretty nuts to her, that people are capable of things like this. And here she is with her only proper skillset being making light in her hands.

After a moment, she steps closer, fighting the urge to reach out and touch it.

So she goes walk a circle around it instead.]

Wow... Is this hard to keep open for long?

... I'm not gonna, like, hurl when I walk though, am I?

[heyciri]

( It's a good question. While Ziggy will see that the portal shows a duller side on the far end of it, as if the backside of a mirror in ways, it's paper thin construction is an indication of just how flat space is being folded, bridged, whatever one wants to call it right there. )

Dunno. Haven't had to try for all that long before here. Every other time I was using these to move fast.

( Prayer circle for Yujin, who endured the heading to somewhere fast like a champion. Ciri doesn't notice any strain right now, but she's not sure what that means in specific. There's so much she just doesn't know.

The question about hurling takes a moment for her to guess at context, and then she grins, allowing herself the amusement. )

I mean, you might. Yujin didn't, though he looked a little pale at times.

[shadysided]

[Ziggy looks mildly amused at poor Yujin's suffering, though only mildly; after all, she might be looking (somehow) paler too after this. But with a squaring of her shoulders, she moves toward the portal's front face. She looks back at Ciri with a thoughtful look.]

Are you able to keep it open, if you jump through it too? Or would it just close up?

[It's good to know every little detail, right?

They're crewmates; knowing how a crewmate's powers work seems smart.]

[heyciri]

I can hold it open. Or let it go and it'll close.

( The first time it had been like that, and then all the hopping around with Yujin hadn't needed her to keep them open. What they're prepping for now? Does. )

Just depends on me keeping focus. I'm very focussed right now.

( A small... half smile for Ziggy at that. )

Won't leave you stranded to fly back. Wastes too much time.