[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

[adamance]

There may come a time when Lexa responds to the nudge with a challenge, to point out that it's apparent that what Aloy still wants is that acceptance. She doesn't pry further into the girl's thoughts to understand her thinking or her approach, but that simple action reminds her of Bellamy, of others—of that need to have something solid to hold on to. She is accustomed to being that for her people back home, but only from a distance.

But that time is not now. She sees no value in pushing Aloy away. Those harsh lessons can come later, when the time is right (and when she is not adjusting to the new conditions of her life).

"Would you consider that to be all of life? That's a great burden to carry." These words come with some hesitation, as Lexa's eyes were carefully examining Aloy's features throughout all of this, all to see what she might glean. "People die. They always will."

[huntsmachines]

Aloy knows harsh lessons. Perhaps not as harsh as the one's Lexa has learned, though. Aloy shifts her weight, feeling awkward and a little embarrassed as Lexa studies her. It's enough to make her blush a little--she's not used to the close scrutiny or the attention and her cheeks are a little pink. She tries to ignore it and focus on what they're talking about. Now isn't the time to worry about that sort of thing, Aloy. She shoves the feeling back, ignoring it as she looks back to Lexa. A touch of relief that her mental probe isn't slapped away, even if she wasn't entirely conscious sending it. This is comfortable. Or mostly comfortable, at any rate.

"I suppose so. I... Of course people die. And animals and plants and everything else die. It's part of life. I know that." Aloy frowns, gazing back at Lexa with an even stare. She's not one to flinch or look away and she returns the look with her own. Almost challenging Lexa. Aloy examines Lexa in return, unsure of what she's looking for.

"But there were things that threatened to wipe out all life and I fought them. I would fight them again. Life is precious. It was lost once in my home. Never again, if I can help it."

[adamance]

Before, when it had been Angel she scrutinized under a similar lens, she had been unaware of any blushes, willing to overlook them as if they weren't occurring. It had been an act of willful ignorance, as the wound of losing Clarke had still been much too fresh for her at the time. Here, it's not the same. She considers the color in Aloy's cheeks, but doesn't look away. It is what it is: Lexa is too immersed in the conversation at hand to bring attention to that.

(But since it is Lexa, she's unlikely to overlook that forever.)

"And what if it turns out that by removing you, your people are no longer at risk. The Enemy will remain. The Enemy will still be a threat to others. Will you consider to preserve life in the same way as much as possible? Do you have that in you?" She can be speaking of power or strength of will. Then again, some might consider those two things to be one and the same.

[huntsmachines]

Aloy is aware of being scrutinized. She straightens her back a little and thrusts her chin forward. She's a Nora Brave and she isn't going to let blushing or inner doubt or anything stop her from being her best. Not today or any day for that matter, as far as she's concerned. It's hard not to notice Lexa in return. The confident presence and pointed questions that Lexa asks make Aloy more determined to show that she's worth Lexa's respect in return.

"Yes." She speaks the word, looking back into Lexa's eyes as she does. Almost challenging the other woman to doubt what she says.

"I have seen what happens when a world is wiped clean of life. I wouldn't wish it on any other world or any other people and if my people are safe, then I will continue to fight here." Strength of will is something Aloy has much of and the fire in her eyes speaks to it.

"You don't need to worry about me faltering when I stand beside you in battle, Lexa."

[adamance]

"It's not faltering that concerns me. It's that you may not be able to handle the occurrence of death as much as you want to prevent the loss of it. All of this may prove to be too much for you to carry." Lexa is not someone who will throw herself on a sword for some unknown people. Her own way of framing things here has been specifically to serve her and her own.

"My people know what it's like to lose everything, too. And they prevailed. It was, at first, because of one individual. But they waited for her, and were ready for her. Even then, she died. Because everyone dies. Their strength can't outlast even life itself."

Though as a host, Lexa knows that both she and Aloy will live very long lives—assuming they don't lose consciousness before then.

[huntsmachines]

"I've seen death." Aloy is younger than Lexa and the words put her on the defensive. The idea that this was too much for her, after what she'd done and seen. She shakes her head at Lexa.

"I can deal with death. I just try to avoid it when I can. Unnecessary killing isn't needed." That she has seen too much of in her already short life. She takes a breath.

"I'll be reliable. I promise."

[adamance]

"Just remember that you saved yourself so that you could act in the future. That's all I ask." Lexa finds that it's a hard lesson to impress upon those who are so willing to let themselves fall victim to whatever surrounds them. They might not value themselves enough. It's a good thing to check on, as far as she's concerned.

[huntsmachines]

"Of course I will!" Aloy speaks sharply out of shock, not out of any real offense or anger. She pauses and tries to center herself after her outburst. Inhale. Exhale. Calm, Aloy.

"Are you in charge here?"

[adamance]

"No. Whatever status I had before doesn't carry over here. We have no leader. Only ... mentors. Of a sort." And even then, Lexa has learned that they have their own selfish beliefs and desires that carry them. Those are difficult to deny.

[huntsmachines]

Aloy nodded. Alright, Lexa isn't in charge--which is kind of disheartening. Aloy had gotten the impression of confidence, strength, and command from the other woman and finding that such a person wasn't in control, well. It was disappointing.

"Odd. I'm surprised no one has risen as a leader yet. It would probably make whatever this all is a bit simpler, don't you think?"

[adamance]

"Think beyond yourself. What kind of people do you think would abandon those around them to come to a place like this? Some might be like us, willing to protect our people. But not all." Self-preservation is one common link that they all have, and it's what Lexa tries to bring out in those who seem as if they're more reluctant to admit it. It's why she ensured that Aloy would practice it.

[huntsmachines]

"Those who do what they must to survive." Aloy knows this lesson well. She had to learn it in the wilds when she had no tribe, no people who would take her.

"Is that what you're trying to tell me, Lexa?" She's groping a little, but Aloy thinks she has the right of it. She pauses and rests a hand on her hip, studying the other moment for a long moment. Her mind is inquisitive and curious, stretching out towards the other on an instinct she hasn't yet learned to corral.

[adamance]

"Yes. They're people who rest their lives in someone else's hands, but only temporarily, to get away from the trouble that they wish to have behind them. Not everyone is that way. You also have to understand that we are like children to the Nest, even someone like myself. There are Hosts who have been around for twenty, fifty, a hundred years—or longer. In that, we are young upstarts." Even if Lexa hates to admit it, it's still a representation of her growth. Understanding that she cannot simply lead them to victory had been a difficult concept to grasp. She wants this war to be simple.

But wants don't necessarily predicate what will come after that.

"Combining the two, it's difficult to find a leader. Difficult to have a source of leadership. So, we lead by example. By doing what we feel is best and ensuring that the Nest benefits from it in the long term." That is what she has accomplished, at least. Talks like these have helped her in that goal.