text | un: k. jarrus

[blindrun]

The Mayor and I had a heart to heart in her office. Reporting on details:

-The Companions, the fake people, aren't controlled by her, but by the Sun. It's not just an advanced monitoring system - it's alive, and it's keeping everyone here hostage. Making everyone pretend to be the town we see. It's also behind replacing people with the Companions.

(Side Speculation: Could this be connected to the list of people? She might have been noting people that are drawing attention and getting on the Sun's bad side?)

-All of the Companions shutdown during my talk with her and they don't seem to be getting up again. She said it's because we've made the Sun mad. There's no way to communicate with the Sun. Either they make it happy or angry and they've been trying to stick with the former to stay alive.

(Side Note: The Sun could hear us the entire time and she spoke quieter and quieter through our talk. We need to be careful what we say aloud moving forward. It's listening to all of us.)

-She has no idea about the orb or where it might be. Really hoping it isn't the sun itself but it could be something connected to it.

-She wants the town to be free but she's afraid. All the people here are. But I don't think they want to keep taking it anymore and that's why they're acting out. We might be able to get them to cooperate with us if we break the pretenses about just being a bunch of new move ins.


Whatever is going down, we need to bring an end to it fast. We can't leave these people to suffer. This is just a mission for us, but it's their lives on the line.

[ ooc: this is a post relegating info from the npc thread -- feel free to use this as an open post to discuss and share other information! ]

Comments

[blindrun]

Couldn't put it better myself if I tried.

[ The Force is still very weird and mysterious to him. Off-putting most times. ]

If she was lying, she's an amazing actress. Award winning. I can't rule it out, but I'm putting my cards on trusting her.

[blackfire]

（ well, he's been close with a few force users now, and he has his suspicions. this place sure loves jedi. ）

Then trust in that. Those we have dealt with have meant well more often than they have not.

What do you think would best serve us in assisting the people here?

[blindrun]

I'm not sure. Disabling the Sun is the first obvious step. But there seems to be absolutely nothing outside of this town. Could we help them resettle somewhere else?

[blackfire]

（ it is useless to consider if this is another consequence of them having overstayed their welcome on other worlds. would things have been different, if they were here a week earlier? two? logically, he knows it to be unlikely. but the intersection of logic and emotion has always been more abridged than he would like. ）

Given how little we know of the rest of the world, that may not be a viable option. In the past we have helped to resettle people to other worlds, but that was... situational.

@toxicodendron, what would it take to make the land arable again, in your estimation?

[greenpower]

[You know what, Ivy could get used to people taking her professional scientific opinion seriously.

If only she had an answer ready.]

I'd need more data and a better understanding of our resources to say for sure, but with the level of devistation I've seen out there...

We'd probably have to restart the whole microbiome before we could even think about rehabilitating the planet through normal means. If we could stick around for a while, I could make it go faster.

[And she wouldn't be entirely against that if the people staying behind could be trusted to take care of the environment left behind.]

It could be easier if I could get a sample of a fruit fly trapped in amber.

[blackfire]

What might I do to assist?

（ he's been on this crew too long to presume they won't try. they may not succeed, but — as chances go, it's not a terrible one. ）

[greenpower]

[That's a good question. There are a lot of variables that could go into the answer, but ultimately what she needs is more information.]

The first thing I'd need is soil and water samples from outside of town. I'm assuming the water is safe since the water here is fine, but without confirmation we could waste a whole lot of time.

If we can find living plant life, even viable seeds or roots, it would be a lot easier.

[blackfire]

Very well.

Look for me in an hour.

（ and away he goes. he'll use several clones and split off in various directions — he'll either find what she's asked for, or have a definitive answer otherwise. ）

[greenpower]

[Who knew it would be that easy?]

I'll see if I can find some functional lab space then.

Thank... you...?

[blackfire]

（ ordinarily, the gratitude would not get a reply.

but, because Character Growth sometimes occurs in fits and spurts, he eventually returns with: ）

It's nothing.

（ you're welcome is still too hard to say. but this is a good compromise. ）

[greenpower]

[It's all right. They can be bad at giving and receiving gratitude together.]