The City at Large & Mission Alpha

[baedalites.livejournal.com]

Who: OPEN to all residents.
What: The ant-situation is changing!
Where: Throughout the city.
When: NOW. This thread will likely cover a few days.
Warnings: To be updated.

Dear Mission Alpha,

It is your undeniable privilege to bring back as many of the so-called 'crow pearls' as possible to the Temple. Any temple. No one important cares how you do it, just get it done. Try to be substantial about it, let's say more than 50, hmm? The actual task here is to deprive our deranged ant-friends of as many pearls as possible, but no one is going to be rewarded for stories like 'oh we absolutely threw two tons of pearls down the whirlpool, we swear on our broodmother's grave', okay? Okay. Peachy. Bring me the pearls, chop chop.

Your totally sweet gods have decided to lend you some ...boons I guess, however that goes, to aid you in your quest. Useful objects. For you, my gifted pilferers and negotiators:

A Skeleton Key - it will open any unwarded lock. It will not open warded locks. That means magical locks. No magical locks will be opened with this key. Unless the magic is broken first. Good luck with that.

Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card - I realize no one has bothered to build proper jail cells in Our City yet so it's more of a Fend-off-The-Local-Authorities-Free Card but that's not as catchy. Think of it as An Official Voucher From the Gods that says you're on Official Twelve Point Business and can't be arrested right now. Keep it for the Sheriffs as it might not have the desired effect the Militia.

Privacy Ward or App For Your CiD - Well you don't want to get caught leaking signals and communication everywhere, do you.

It is a week and some change after the ants first noticeably began their labour and it seems they have finished rebuilding their houses. It's hard to see exactly what is going on from the ground, but the brave few who have ventured into and up the hives or climbed neighbouring buildings get a good enough view. The rooftops are now crowned with organic spires, much like malformed and undernourished termite nests reaching for the heavens. They are not the best constructs, some of them have broken off or imploded, but the majority of the spires stand.

Then one morning, individual ants are seen climbing to the very top of their towers. They then sit still, mandibles locked and antennae arched. It's hours before any change becomes noticeable, and by then it's too late. The ants have sprouted strange fleshy fungal tentacles, all filled to the bursting with spores.

Soon there after, reports come in from all across the city about people acting out of character; some have become catatonic or violent after brief a period of sickness. Individuals have been seen entering the ant-occupied buildings to help defend the ants against intruders, others have attempted to climb high points in the city or thrown themselves in the rivers.

Once again the City is under siege, but this time the enemy is invisible.

Comments

[im_apimp]

"I haven't been doing too bad," he said with a nod. "For all the fuss about these pearls, people aren't really hiding them that well."

[ironshodboots]

"Well, maybe they were hiding them better before they worried about getting sick. Or maybe they're scared off 'em, who knows?" While it was more pleasing to attribute success to skill, he was right - it hadn't been all that hard.

[im_apimp]

"Maybe. Who knows?" he shrugged. "All I know is we gotta track them down."

[ironshodboots]

"You're good at taking instruction, then?"

[im_apimp]

He shrugged. "I like to think a sign of a good operative is someone who can listen and learn, as well as make their own decisions. It doesn't hurt to listen to someone who has experience you don't."

[ironshodboots]

Nazca looks mildly delighted. "Very wise of you." Wiser than setting off the booby trap, at least.

[im_apimp]

He grins. "I try to be."

[ironshodboots]

"You're not Dean Winchester," she declared, after a moment, as if he needed to be informed. "I thought you were playing with me at first, but you're actually someone else."

[im_apimp]

It was bound to happen eventually. Alec was starting to hope that they ran in different circles, but eventually the dude who shared his face was going to be brought up. He sighed, heavily before nodding.

"Yeah. Sorry to disappoint." He turned to her and extended a hand. "Alec."

[ironshodboots]

It's more a clasp than a handshake, but she doesn't leave him hanging. "Nazca. I didn't think you were, but I wasn't certain."

[im_apimp]

He shrugged, before gesturing to his face. "It was an easy mistake to make. And ... a little weird to be quite honest."

[ironshodboots]

"I can only imagine. No relation at all, then?" That seemed unlikely, but considering their position, she wasn't in a position to claim anything was impossible.

[im_apimp]

"Nope. Far as I know, not even the same universe. Though if we do, that would be a really weird coincidence."

[ironshodboots]

"I suppose it would." Though having the same face as someone else is, in Nazca's opinion, coincidence enough. "I wonder if there's a finite number of universes, or if everything exists somewhere." She starts walking again, though - she still has work to do, as does he, presumably.

[im_apimp]

"Universe is ever expanding." Big giant brain that won't quit? Yeah, that would be Alec. "There an infinite number of options and choices. Who's to say there isn't one of everything?"

There's a beat as he considers that before smirking. "Hell, there's even a theory that alternate universes are created based on the idea of choice -- how if a person makes one choice in one universe, there's another universe alongside it where they make the opposite choice."

[ironshodboots]

Nazca considers this as they walk. "So the more different the universe, the farther back the different choice would be."

[im_apimp]

"In theory," he said with a nod, before shrugging. "But before I arrived here, I was pretty sure it was just that -- a theory. It hadn't been proven, and with the state of the world, it probably wasn't going to be. At least not in my lifetime."

[ironshodboots]

"Before I arrived here, I had never heard of anyone who thought there was more than one world," she replies, frankly. The lack of Eldgerglass in the city still unnerved her a little. "But no one seems to have been anywhere near mine."

[im_apimp]

He tipped his head to the side, his curiosity getting the better of him. "What's your world like?"

[ironshodboots]

She smiles, a bit ruefully. "Oh, much like here, in many ways. There were other people - not human - on our world before us, we think. They left structures behind, and most of our cities are built around them. Eldren, we call them, but we don't know what they called themselves."

[im_apimp]

"Huh. So they're kind of like your religion? Or your history?"

For some people it was one in the same, but Alec liked to distinguish once in a while.

[ironshodboots]

"We worship the Twelve," she says, "the Eldren are something different. We don't know who or what the Eldren were."

[im_apimp]

He nods as that information sinks in, before he frowns. "The Twelve as in ... the Twelve?" He gestures to the world around them for a moment, before continuing. "Or do you mean a different Twelve?"

[ironshodboots]

"Well, they go by different names back home." She shrugs. "I don't see why that shouldn't mean it's not still the Twelve, though. It seems likely a different world would bring out different aspects of the gods, though I'm no priest."

[im_apimp]

"Well, a lot of religion is just reinventing itself with a new prophet. In the early polytheistic years, a lot of early civilizations just stole their gods from the other societies and gave them new names. Greece and Rome being the most notable."

He did a lot of research into religion, okay? His evil twin was a little obsessed with the Virgin Mary and Catholicism, he felt it was best to keep himself informed from an objective sense.