[open] we could strike the chord

[headinjuries]

CHARACTERS: Anyone who wanted to go to the vigil!
WHERE: Royal Street Gaming Parlor.
WHEN: DAY :031
SUMMARY: Concordia honors the dead. Hosts honor the dead, or maybe just do a little 007ing. As in snooping, not macking on hot ladies. We hope.
WARNINGS: TBA.

This is here for any and all of your mingling needs. Start your own top-levels, harass each other, etc etc.

Here is what we know is happening, courtesy of our fearless mods:

The hosts will be few in a throng of relatively peaceful people. Most people in attendance are younger (30s and below) and a proportionally large number of them have some kind of physical modification, though most are relatively low-profile mods. There's also a small contingent of androids in attendance.

A low platform has been erected in front of the Royal Street Gaming Parlor and the speakers for the vigil either stand on it or, as is the case with some more high profile appearances, they speak across an extranet connection via a holoscreen projected onto the Parlor itself. For the most part the speakers are small time: a few workers from a small local chapter of Mind Life (accompanied by a few skittish looking androids), a beta block councilwoman, a Mother and Sister from a nearby Church of Lirinity. Most of them have nothing more than words of support and condolence.

Somewhere close to the middle of the vigil, Seong-Hye Ngazi, the Public Security Commissioner for Concordia, speaks via extranet connection. She seems somber, competent, but also confident, and speaks about condolences for the losses, regret for the circumstances of the attack, and Public Security's dedication to finding the party responsible for the attack.

Otherwise: it's your fairly standard memorial gathering. Poems are read, some tears are shed, there are some people with signs and a small contingent of rabble rousers on the fringe of the gathering that quickly get chased off by Public Security, etc. You're welcome to create and interact with your own NPCs if you feel so inclined!

Comments

[narcissithstic]

[There. Progress. Proof that Sam is capable of utilizing what potential lies at his fingertips.]

Press it.

[Perhaps it's unwise, urging him forward when already the boy skirts the limits of his abilities— but then how else would he be expected to grow? To adapt where this world would rather see him falter? It was only through hateful perseverance that Kylo Ren was born and moderation is for babies.]

Why are they holding back?

[headinjuries]

[ Press it.

Right. No big deal.

He closes his eyes, tries to look (hear?) a layer under that, find the why that goes with the what. But it's elusive; every time he thinks maybe he's close, he can't quite reach it, even if he's picking up more lies the more he hears -

Uncovering the source of these attacks is Public Security's number one priority.

It's not.

Rest assured that once we've apprehended those responsible, I will personally do my utmost to bring the full weight of the law down against them.

She won't.

There's got to more to find than that, but the more he strains to reach it, the more it feels like his head is swimming. ]

( They're...I...I think they know who did it, but I don't - )

[ His hand goes up to his mouth. Oh, God, he's like ninety-five percent sure he's going to puke if he keeps trying to do this. ]

[narcissithstic]

[It takes nothing more than a cursory observation to realize that Sam is fast approaching critical failure. Anywhere else it might be ignored entirely, but even Ren can feel bile curling bitterly against the back of his tongue where their connection rests, and they have enough to pursue more substantial answers.

He withdraws completely, severing their immediate connection and unburdening Sam in the process.]

Enough.

[Murmured low beneath his breath. The only sure sign aside from one meager pat across Sam's shoulder.]

[headinjuries]

[ He doesn't open his eyes, just sucks in a breath as Ren disconnects and waits for his head to stop spinning.

Jesus.

It takes a moment for him to realize that while his head is no longer, in fact, spinning, it's just throbbing instead, and instead of feeling like he's going to throw up, he feels like someone just slammed his head into a wall.

Oh. That's...great? ]

[narcissithstic]

[Resigned (and only moderately affected by their lessened bond), Ren takes the opportunity to take hold of Sam's wrist in passing, drawing him towards sparser clusters, wider spaces where the crowd thins out significantly near the back. He won't stay with him forever, but for now, at least, he cares enough to drag him out of the fire into relative safety.

...And maybe also a towards couple of garbage bins to vomit into.]

[headinjuries]

[ Too kind.

He doesn't throw up, mercifully, but for once, Sam doesn't even find the sass to comment on Ren's inability to ask or suggest or use the word "please" before manhandling him. He just lets himself get pulled towards the back of the crowd, and thinks about staying upright, which feels like enough of an accomplishment right now that he can be content with managing that much.

Getting away from the worst of the crowd helps, at least, even if he's pretty sure that headache isn't going to be going anywhere for a while. ]

( Is getting in people's heads supposed to be that... )

[ Weird? Uncomfortable? He's not quite sure what the word he wants is, but maybe that's one of the advantages of the mental link - the feeling comes across just fine even if he can't decide how to describe it. ]

[narcissithstic]

Not always.

[Eyes set on the crowd rather than his companion, Ren's tone is set, but not wholly devoid of sympathy wow amazing. He stays purposefully close, arms folded tight across his chest. A ward against any straggling strangers.]

It depends on a number of different factors: your skill— your strength— their will, their devotion, distraction. [The Force, for a majority, could be fickle. Cruel, even. Apprentices driven to collapse from strain over something as simple as lifting a heavy stone might not have been common, but it did happen all the same.]

You will adapt.

[headinjuries]

( I hope so, because if that's how I'm gonna feel every time someone lies in front of me, I think I'm gonna hate people in general by like next week. )

[ It's not like he never realized that people lie all the time. But there are an awful lot of things he would've been perfectly content to not know they were lying about.

And the nausea, of course. The nausea really sucks too. ]