[hatch log] everything happens so much

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: New Hosts & EVERYONE
WHERE: The Station
WHEN: DAY :039
SUMMARY: New faces and old losses - a hatch occurs and a number of older hosts go comatose. Coma'd hosts include all auto-piloted dropped characters to date.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. Need a warning added? PM this account please!

NEW HATCHES
YOU WAKE UP and suddenly you're a different person. No. That's not right. You're you and there's no suddenly about it. It's been a while, hasn't it? It feels like waking up from a very deep, extended sleep or like surfacing up from the darkness of the ocean and right there in your own head there's something both familiar and strange. You know intuitively that you've been unconscious for more than just a blink of the eye. While it’s impossible to tell exactly how long ago or how exactly you escaped the danger that had been breathing down your neck, you're certain it was more than a moment ago.

But here you are, a small miracle of the multiverse: lying in a small faintly hexagonal chamber, a gentle white light emanating from the surrounding walls. If you were injured during your escape, those injuries have been healed. If you were anxious or frightened or distraught, those feelings have been briefly calmed. There's something strangely peaceful about waking up here. That feeling persists even as you find the tube running from the base of your neck to the compartment's rear wall.

But once the tube's disconnected? Things get loud. A wave of emotion fills that peaceful void - fear, uncertainty, relief, a sense of purpose or loneliness or anxiety. Maybe some of these emotions are yours, but they can't all be. After the initial sensory overload, the mental buzz elongates: stretches out into a murmur like the sound of a party happening behind a closed door.

You can sit up - barely -, and shift out of the pod. There’s a ladder at your feet and a little cubby just before it with anything you brought with you as well as a set of crisp, loose-fitting white clothes; while your injuries are healed, whatever you’re wearing is in the exact state it was before. Maybe it's time for a change? Drop down the ladder to the floor of the Nesting Deck and you’ll find you’re not alone. The closer you are to these stranger, the louder the sound in your head becomes. --Actually they're not quite strangers either, are they? Something is wound about and between you and these people, whoever they are, are as familiar as this place you've never been is.

Welcome to Station 72. The air buzzes with activity. Somewhere deep in the Station, other minds call to yours. They are bright, brilliantly celebratory spots in your subconscious. They are sun-warm gentle, or they are fire and the taste of ash, or they are a vibrant frenetic whirl, or they are a tangled garden, or they are the feeling of flight through dense cirrus clouds. No two links are exactly the same, but you know for certain that you are connected to all of them in at least some small way.

Which is why it's easy to tell when something goes terribly wrong:


OLD HOSTS
THE ENDORPHIN RUSH of making it back to Station 72 (relatively) unharmed, having successfully acquired exactly what you'd set out to get your hands on can't be denied. Even if you're not necessarily the type to celebrate, there's no ignoring the thrumming celebratory sensation from those Hosts who are.

After a few hours of being back in the void, something else stirs in the air: the clear, prickling sensation of new hosts hatching on the Nesting Deck. They're a rush of mental information - as if someone's turned the volume on the radio all the way up -, a cacophony of sensation and emotional feedback for anyone unprepared to shield against it.

The swell of feeling might make it easy to miss what follows immediately after: the dull, gut-deep quiet as The Darkling, Chuuya Nakahara, and Nasu Rei go suddenly comatose.

---

((OOC Notes: This is the hatch log for all new hosts. Feel free to make your own logs and posts additional to this if you care do. You can find a more detailed overview of the hatching process HERE. You can find additional setting information about the Station HERE If you have any questions, please hit up either the FAQ or MOD CONTACT pages!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

pats that ass

[miscreant]

[Its hard for the sound not to draw her attention -- of course, Shiro's beating heart and expanding lungs were more than enough for that, a sharp rhythm that she presently can't stand, but metal cracking against skin is enough for her to turn her head enough to glance over her shoulder with one glowing blue eye.

And she waits, one rotted ear twitching with some irritation. She knows the sound of their blood and thoughts far better than she knows their faces.]

There is no need for that, Shiro.

[Her echoing voice vibrates off the walls.]

[shiro2hero]

[Well that's... a nice mess he's made right here. He drags that hand down his face, scowling across the hall like it's personally offended him. Maybe one day, he's going to have some measure of his old composure. One day he's going to not make himself ridiculous.]

[He steels himself.]

[Attempts a deep breath, and takes a step back into the doorway. Eyes pointedly on his feet.]

Sorry. I didn't realize it was ... occupied.

[miscreant]

It isn't.

[She continues casually, watching him over her shoulder. Eventually, when she notices that he isn't looking up from his feet, she pulls her arms from the water and rests them on the side of the pool. The surface beneath them begins to freeze slightly.

She can feel his discomfort, so she stays where she is, rather than rise from the water -- though a cruel piece of her contemplates it briefly.]

It is a public space, is it not?

[shiro2hero]

[That's... better. At least he can look her in the eye without worrying he's going to -- you know. Witness her. For lack of a better term. It's bad enough there's no mental privacy without breaking into physical lacks.]

It is. You're right. I... guess I'm not a big fan of walking in on people.

Without permission.

Sorry.

[Oh, yeah, that totally nailed it.]

[miscreant]

[One ear twitches, before both of them flick a bit higher. This time, she chuckles, nails gently scratching at the edge of the pool.]

Somehow, I find it difficult to believe that my permission will soothe your nerves. But consider it given.

[Aside from the fact that she was apparently a giant compared to most of the Station, pieces of her glowed. She was hard to ignore in straight flesh.

If she weren't so angry over the loss of The Darkling, she might have teased him further. Instead, she stays where she has placed herself.]

I am pleased to see you managed to return here in one piece.

[shiro2hero]

[Well hey, at least someone thinks he's funny. He'll take it. Even if it's coming from the walking corpse he almost saw naked.]

It helps, actually.

[Still going to look her right in the eye though. Glowing chunks notwithstanding.]

That's... debatable. Physically, yes. The rest of it is up in the air. [He figures he doesn't need to elaborate on what he means. She must know.] But thank you.

[miscreant]

Mm, yes. Pity that we can never seem to depart fully intact.

[To this, her eyelids lower. She is clearly no happier about the state of the Nest, even if her features might have suggested otherwise. There's something bitter on her tongue.]

I imagine we will one day grow numb to it all.

[shiro2hero]

[He goes quiet. Left hand clenching tight over the place where metal joins flesh -- over his right arm.]

... I'm sorry, Seviilia. I don't know what you two... how you thought of each other. But I'm sorry.

[Because they were, clearly, something. Thanks, Darkling, for that feedback. It feels like it isn't enough. Like the words are just a trite little bandaid on a bigger wound. But there is sincerity in them. And he doesn't know what else to say.]

I hope not. I don't want to be.

[miscreant]

[There it is. For a moment, she is quiet. Had anyone ever given her such condolences before? Did anyone care when she had lost Aelaidas or Corvan? For a long time, she has to think about it.

No. No one had cared -- about her, or about them.]

It is the curse of living. To die.

[Its a cold response, but it is all she can think of in return. Thanks felt hollow and dishonest on her tongue, still bitter from being left behind. None of them had ever risen from their pods again, once they entered that comatose. It may as well be the same thing. His answer though, that is intriguing.]

Why is that?

[shiro2hero]

[There it is. And there it stays. Even in her silence, her introspection. He's held it out like an offering, no expectations. Just condolence and some sort of understanding. An attempt, at least.]

[He cares. About anyone who hasn't given him reason not to. And maybe that isn't good here.]

I... guess I really can't argue against that.

[Acceptance. And moving on.]

Because I can't imagine not feeling anything for people I care about.

They're the reason I'm trying to make myself better. Without them, I don't know if I'd still be me.

[miscreant]

[Perhaps that was the beauty of humans -- that their short lives afforded them (most of them) the ability to love without fear. Her glowing eyes flick up to Shiro, full of interest and curiosity.]

That is a dangerous way to live, Shiro.

[A sort of co-dependency she finds herself familiar with, perhaps deeper than he suggests, and yet she cannot help the sort of kinship she feels.

Her greatest mistake had been trying to live as anything but a soldier.]

[shiro2hero]

She's family. [A beat, an automatic answer, and Pidge's face flashing through his thoughts. Before the image shifts, replaced with Sam's.] Both of them are, now.

I need that. I need them.

[Maybe it is human. Maybe it's a very, very human failing, but on the other side, at least failing like that means he's still human. Somewhere. Under metal and wire and scars and symbiote.]

[His shoulders twitch in a shrug.]

I'll accept it. If it wrecks me.

[miscreant]

[Yes, she understands the meaning of paladin now, in the sense that Pidge had used it. She understands that Shiro needs that sense of belonging, as she once did -- before she understood what she stood to lose, if she persisted.

Life was for the living, and all that.]

I should hope it does not. You stand to damage more than yourself, if it does.

[shiro2hero]

I know that, too.

[Too well. Knows how the feeling of loss can stretch and literally drag people under with him. And that's the opposite of everything he wants. Everything he's been trying to do since he got here.]

[He pauses, and looks at her again. In the eye, though.]

... are you going to be all right with this?

[miscreant]

[She meets his gaze evenly, if not a bit empty. It was hard to tell, when her eyes glowed as they did -- but there is a sense of cold, in addition to the obvious resentment toward the Darkling's slumber.]

With what, exactly?

[With him standing in the room over her? With The Darkling's slumber? With his likely inevitable act of martyrdom?]

[shiro2hero]

With losing someone.

[He shrugs his shoulders, after a moment of staring back at her. Just as evenly, but with the addition of concern, on his end. Yes, he can feel she's angry, to an extent. But any more than that feels like intruding.]

I have to ask. I don't feel right not doing it. But I'm not here to pry, if you don't want to talk about it.

[miscreant]

We press on.

[It is clearly a repeated phrase, judging by how she says it, eyes drifting closed again. His curiosity is clear, in spite of his desire not to pry. For a moment, she stays quiet.]

I have not been afforded many choices since my death.

[She straightens a little where she lays, forgetting (or perhaps not caring) about the original reason as to why she had positioned herself that way in the first place. He may get a flash of something he doesn't want to see if he doesn't react quickly enough.]

So, what I may or may not be ok with does not factor.

[shiro2hero]

[We press on.]

[That's a sentiment he wishes he weren't familiar with. Maybe not in the sense she's saying it -- but in the sense of carrying on. Even when there's a part of you that wants to fall down under the weight.]

Choices seem like they're a rare thing to have, anymore.

[He's -- very quick to avert his eyes. Very, very quick. It doesn't change what he's saying, though, or the agreement.]

Would you be offended if I said you're sort of sounding like me?

[miscreant]

[She notices, but she doesn't bother to readjust. He'll get used to it eventually. Or he'll be confronted with it when someone actually has a problem with what he's seeing and then--

Well. A lesson for another day.]

No.

[True enough. There's a quick drumming of all her fingers, claws tapping and breaking the forming rime under her arms.]

But I would advise you to alter your course, if that is the case.

[shiro2hero]

[He's decidedly not seeing anything but either her eye or the top of her head right now. So. Hopefully no one will take issue with that.]

Well. That thing about choices being in short supply applies there too, I think.

The last thing I had a say in was coming here.

[And even then, the alternative had been watching his team, that misfit family they'd all scraped together around themselves, fall apart and die.]

[It wasn't a real choice. Not to him.]

[miscreant]

[She considers Shiro with a slow tilt of her head.]

And? Do you regret that choice?

[He can't regret it, she's sure. The same way she cannot regret leaving her army, potentially her entire planet and what little she knew of her life, behind.

But humans, and the living, always seemed to arrive at different conclusions than she. If he was going to ask after her feelings of loss, surely this was fair game.]

[shiro2hero]

No.

[He doesn't have to think about it. There are times where he wishes things were different. Where he likes to imagine being back with the others. Seeing them again.]

[Knowing they were all right -- Lance and Keith are bickering, red and blue. Hunk mediating, beaming yellow because I'm a leg! Pidge a tide of green and scrolling text and wires. Allura... Allura composure, solidity, regal and like starlight.]

I miss them all. But... if this means they're safe, I can live with it.

[miscreant]

[Seviilia sorts through the images like she's reading a particularly interesting book, one ear flicking with interest. She recognizes Pidge, at least. Allura is the one who interests her most -- she almost could be elven.

Her eyelids lower slightly, and she sinks a bit deeper into the water, hair fanning out to float in silence. She floats above just enough to speak again, when she is ready.]

How did they take you? The Nest.

[shiro2hero]

[He almost starts to leave. Figuring the conversation over. But then Seviilia speaks again, and he stops, turning back to look at her again -- look at her eyes. Thank you very much.]

... they picked up an escape pod our... commander put me in. [Allura's face again, serene and accepting, while he hears himself shouting at her no no it shouldn't be her it should have been him why is she doing this and the pod ejecting before she's taken away.] Told me this enemy was going to kill my team if I didn't do something.

[Hence why it wasn't even remotely a choice for him.]

[miscreant]

[There's a distinct frown that sits between her eyes, and a false sigh comes out her nose.]

I was not threatened in such a way. [Pause.] Did they take the form of an enemy you recognized?

[Trying to find similarities between them was difficult. But it would not be difficult for her to believe that the Legion spanned far enough to affect other realms. Not with what they had been managing on Azeroth.]