etcircenses: (reverse)
Panem Events ([personal profile] etcircenses) wrote in [community profile] thearena2016-05-10 07:54 pm

The Last Flower Girl

Who| The rebels and a scientist from the Districts. For now… (later: EVERYONE)
What| The Revival Mechanism is discovered. Things fall into place. (A Whole Lot Of Meta.)
Where| A facility nestled in the mountains between District 2 and the Capitol.
When| Now.
Warnings/Notes| Please put warnings in headers. The Scientist’s spot will unfreeze for commenting when this log reachers 20 comments or when time is up.

Regardless of whether District two became a win or a loss for the rebellion, they’ve managed to claim the most important of prizes while the Capitol and District was distracted. In the mountains just between the many cities of District two and that of the Capitol itself, a secret base has been uncovered and claimed. Offworlder-loyal rebels call for it to be investigated personally by them. Though the call itself had been vague, it’s not hard for the rebels arriving now to see why they were called.

Nestled in a cave carved out of the mountain, the secret base features a number of hovercrafts at its entrance, and inside, stark white lab rooms lit up bright with many offices to the front. A wide hall cuts straight through them with wheeled hospital beds sitting unused to the sides.The hall opens to a cavernous area, the walls and ceiling all made of the mountain’s natural stone. Desks for scientists, mechanics, and medics are all around but it’s the center of the room that truly pulls the eye.

An enormous metal machine with a circular frame sits in the center. Within it lies a vortex of such color and light it becomes difficult to look at after mere seconds. Yet for all it deters the eyes, it calls, especially to the offworlders. The closer one gets, the stronger the sense that passing through it will correct some cosmic flaw. It is for this reason that it seems to be well blocked off with clear gates. These gates can be pushed through but sticker signs upon them warn not to do so. The sign, drawn like a typical hazard warning, shows a person being disintegrated into little dots by the portal upon reaching it. A note explains that only pure energy can pass through the Revival Mechanism. Attempting to pass anything through the portal will reduce it to energy. It seems things may come out but not go in-- without being turned to energy first that is.

Over along the side of this are many rather massive machines and computers. The computers show many a near-indecipherable code. Others are a little more recognizable as showing coordinates of sorts. Upon further investigation, rebels may find these coordinates are not for any place in the Districts, but for worlds and times far beyond. It maps out like brain synapses, stretching on eternally. Certain coordinates have been marked with red and are noted hazards. The ones lit with gold seem to be ones with a missing person or two-- people that may very well be standing there and looking at said lights. Many others have a blue-ish-grey light. These seem to indicate another issue entirely; “Energy seize. Port no longer reachable”. If one takes a particularly close look they’ll notice familiar names in the blue-grey sections, people who haven’t come back for a long time. They may also notice one of the golden lights has the coordinates for… Panem itself. The name of the person is encrypted heavily.

Not everything is kept on the computers however. There are many, many complicated and detailed notes left upon the desks. Some discuss things like Tribute vital signs. There’s a long analysis written in clinical terms of how the pull-process of the Revival Mechanism essentially kills the person by reducing them and their closely associated items on pass-through to pure energy. However, in bringing them to Panem, the Revival Mechanism quickly reassembles that energy. It seems that the process of destruction and recreation is the major cause of Offworlder unconsciousness when being revived, allowing Offworlder Transport to bring them back to the Tribute Tower before they ever wake.

An electronic wipe-board over by a set of table and chairs goes over the nature of what can and cannot pass through the portal. There are scribbled words on the edges, formulas, circled sentences, and lines that criss-cross over the page. It seems that purely material items cannot be pulled into Panem. At least, not on their own. All items passing through have some strong and close connection to the spirit or “energy” that is grabbed. How this works seems a mystery even to the scientists involved but is suspected to have to do with memories. There is a hypothesis with many question marks that a memory chip, if reduced it to energy and sent through the portal, could possibly go back to the worlds offworlders came from, allowing them to keep memories even back on their world. This is noted to be untested however.

A second board looks at why bodies may duplicate but seemingly not objects. It appears inanimate objects are too identical for physics to function properly and the items simply merge, preventing a paradox, while living tissue is changed enough after being in Panem even for a short time that this only happens to non-living objects that are pulled, not people. There is further aggressively scribbled debate on whether robots count as people. The conclusion is that “they damn well must be if they’re here at all”. A paper on the table explains how most of the robots are transferred via chip to a mutt-body and the brain registers the chip to fill out personality and memories based upon it, thus making the robot essentially human. This is done for further study in reviving people.

Former Capitol-soldiers may recall that robots aren’t the only ones with muttation bodies. Some are animals and others, like Venus Dee Milo, have a portal transfer very specific to them. On one of the mechanic’s desks, blueprints lay for making much smaller portals that may be put within the mutt body and transfer the soul into it stating Venus’s name on the first prototype designs but not on the last. The blueprints note a disintegration system with these so the portal doesn’t stay within them. More blueprints can be seen for another full scale portal, using the one in the mountain there as a prototype. One final blueprint can be found, not for a portal, but for what looks like a weapon. Though it has the shape of a gun, it doesn’t appear to fire bullets. Apparently, it’s a relatively recent invention, from late december. The finalized design is dated for February.

By what looks like a station for hovercraft pilots to collect their gear is a clipboard and typed out list. The oldest ones to the back show revival deliveries from the arenas. As one flips to the front, these lists become those offworld soldiers who died in battle and were revived with all the relevant timestamps, serial numbers, and delivery location (the Tribute Tower and the Detainment Center). However, there are some anomalies, like names that have been blacked out leaving only serial numbers, timestamps, and, curiously, an entirely different location. This location is only listed as Center V. The timestamps date from the start of the war to a mass exodus very recently.

Rebels rush in to investigate the area, quickly capturing anyone working there. Despite the size and clear need for more hands in the facility, there’s only a handful of individuals left behind. One, a scientist, is ready to speak to the offworlders in charge as offworlders finish the investigation of the Facility. Something in here is sure to explain the mysterious “illness” offworlders have been facing. Hopefully rebels can find it fast, before it’s too late…
wizardplease: (Shock)

[personal profile] wizardplease 2016-05-12 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Haruto is no hacker and no scientist, and came into this mission considering himself to not be of much use when it comes to figuring out what's going on. And now that he's here, staring down the spectacular machine generating that portal, he really isn't of much use to anyone. He's staring at it as best he can, and trying to not step on closer to it as best he can, too. It is resulting in him shuffling back and forth, head darting first one way, then the other, eyes wide and mouth agape all the while.

Someone might want to smack him upside the head and tell him to do something more useful.
infinitemayonnaise: (did i do that)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2016-05-12 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Nitou is also staring, but at least this isn't the absolute worst thing he's seen. Not by a long shot. The portal is pretty somehow, but because it's the Capitol's doing, he's wary. (But damn, does he ever want to try to take that barrier down and just go for it.)

But maybe...maybe he should try to stop Haruto's gaping. "...at least it's not another Tribute clone body dump."
Edited 2016-05-12 22:51 (UTC)
wizardplease: (Huh?)

[personal profile] wizardplease 2016-05-12 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Haruto nods absently, this time taking the portal in from the corner of his eye. "Yeah... Yeah, at least it's not a...." And then he realizes what Nitou just said, what he was just about to repeat, and his head snaps sharply Nitou-wards.

"...what? Wait, what!? What did you say?!"
infinitemayonnaise: (kind of serious)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2016-05-12 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"Back in the Capitol...there's this warehouse, and they're keeping bodies." Nitou looks a little sick at the memory. "Like...multiples. Of the same people, just...different deaths." This is not exactly a pleasant discussion, but it probably needs to be said. "That's what happens when you die in the Arena, they just...dump the bodies there. In that warehouse. Just as they died. Don't seem too concerned with preservation." If he never smells anything like that again, he'll be happy.
wizardplease: (Mild Shock)

[personal profile] wizardplease 2016-05-12 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"What?" It's not that Haruto needs to have any of that repeated. It's that he doesn't want to believe it. But he has to because one, Nitou is saying it and two, that is exactly the sort of revolting thing that Capitol scientists would do. "They... just dump them. In a warehouse. Did..." No, no. He is not going to ask 'did you see me there' because that is weird and creepy and wrong.

"...how'd you find out about that?"
infinitemayonnaise: (not super happy)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2016-05-12 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"Valentine's Day, there was some information leak, some of us used the holiday distraction to sneak away and see what this was about..." Nitou shudders. "I saw it, man. Saw it with my own eyes, I saw..." No, he's not going to mention that he saw them both. "Enough. I saw enough."
wizardplease: (Thinking)

[personal profile] wizardplease 2016-05-13 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
"...hell of a time to find out that kind of thing." And given Nitou's reaction, yeah, he can definitely say that his fellow wizard has seen enough. And maybe needs some distracting.

"Maybe that's related to this. I mean, the chips, us dying and coming back..." And he side-steps around and turns his back on the portal, bringing an arm up to try and guide Nitou around the same way. "You think?"
infinitemayonnaise: (the sparkles are getting in my eyes)

[personal profile] infinitemayonnaise 2016-05-15 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, well...I could never really think of a good time to mention that..." Nitou lets Haruto guide him away, that sounds good right about now. "Man, after seeing all this, probably. Probably..."

They'd never really come back, had they? They'd just been remade.
didnothing: (what did you make me read?!)

[personal profile] didnothing 2016-05-18 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
Luna hadn't been sure about leaving the base to return to District Two, given that her last visit had involved being shot at more than she'd hoped - not unexpected, but unfortunate when the rebellion doesn't have anything to fix the superficial but unpleasant-looking damage to her artificial tissue. She makes do with a bandage to cover the wound and goes anyway, and once she arrives and gets a look around she wonders how she could have ever considered staying behind with all there is to see.

She spends a lot of time reading over charts and anything her medical knowledge can be applied towards, trying to see what can be gained from looking at the complex details. Some of it is beyond easy understanding for her, but there are things she can figure out from the notes left behind that might be useful for the Tributes to know. She's not familiar with many of those in the rebellion at the moment given how long she's been with the Capitol, but Luna might try to flag down anyone who looks like they know what they're doing to discuss findings - or anyone who just looks curious about it all.

Luna also lingers around the second board once she finds out, reading and rereading the scribbled outlines and arguments laid out there. Mutt bodies make sense; the rest is harder to comprehend. She remembers the body she'd had upon arrival, and how she'd still seen herself as essentially the same while in that body. And if Capitol researchers say it's essentially the same as being human, then that makes her...

After a while she has to sit down. Firo and Albert - she hadn't believed them when they argued she wasn't as far from humans as she thought. But now Luna's hearing it from even the Capitol in a way, and it's increasingly hard to deny there's some truth in what they say. She can hardly talk to them now, though, and she's starting to regret that very much. She has plenty of battery power left, but considering all this on her own makes her tired anyway - and it shows. Any observer might think Luna was simply exhausted, leaning back in her chair and staring vacantly at the board as she thinks.
the_marshal: (wyattWorried)

[personal profile] the_marshal 2016-05-18 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)
A lot of it goes over Wyatt's head. He wasn't a man of science, wasn't a doctor... But he understand the last just fine.

Live, or die. Stay, or go. Be with Max, or not.

He didn't have to think about it.

Lurching toward the sparks, he grasped the man's hand, hard, even as he was turning his face away from the light and sound.
futilecycle: (Let's go out and dance darling)

[personal profile] futilecycle 2016-05-18 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Nothing and no one waits for Sigma beyond that portal. Even if an age of imprisonment could appeal to him, if the woman he loved were somehow still alive, his choice has already been made. Sigma Klim had made a deal and he did not go back on his word anymore.

Sigma diverts as many people as he can behind him so he can help form the head of the chain, as his cybernetic arms could bear strain in their sockets better than most. When he turns to find the hand connected to the scientist belongs to a certain Wyatt Earp, Sigma cannot afford to hesitate. He reaches for Wyatt’s wrist and takes hold with a cold, robotic stillness, immovable.

He cannot know how Wyatt feels, but this was something greater than either of them. In his typical, proud fashion, Sigma remarks: “Save your opinions for after everyone is safe.” There isn't time for much else.

When the next person is ready, he takes their hand firmly, swearing that however he has failed people in his long and unremarkable life, he would not fail them now.
Edited 2016-05-18 21:07 (UTC)
ka_sera_sera: (old action smoking gun)

[personal profile] ka_sera_sera 2016-05-18 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
He knows these men and it's almost strange, to be at peace with them here in this one moment. The one, Wyatt, who he'd have to try to kill, in any other circumstance, and the other, Sigma, who he once almost considered a friend.

Roland does not think on this long. He does not think on the choice in front of him, either. What is left for him, in that other place? Nothing. He wouldn't go back to it even if there was. That life is over. It's time to leave it behind.

Roland meets Sigma's eyes, and wraps his metal fingers tightly around the man's wrist. His other life in those other worlds are gone, and Roland is done with mourning them. On the other side of him he stretches out his hand, rolling it in an impatient gesture.

"No wasting time," he says, to whoever's nearest. "Do it or don't."
Edited 2016-05-18 21:12 (UTC)
rediscover: (not so sure about this)

[personal profile] rediscover 2016-05-19 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
To be quite frank, Anna's presence here is mostly one of bewilderment. Her conditioning is screaming at her to resist, to do something that won't result in positives for the rebellion—but the problem with that is, she has no idea whether or not it matters. Whether or not the things her brain is screaming at her is true.

Her gun slung over her back, the princess looks fearfully side to side, and sees one of her former District-mates holding out his hand. Technically, she was his Mentor, before the war started, but that doesn't matter much now. She takes a deep, shaky breath.

"Okay."

Okay. This is it. If she takes Roland's hand, she can never go home. Never see Arendelle again. Never be the person she used to be, either.

She exhales, and clasps her tiny hand around Roland's beef-jerky hand. Her other hand reaches out for the next person. She's doing this.
silberfuchs: (battlefield)

[personal profile] silberfuchs 2016-05-19 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
They all have their reasons. Some he knows, or thinks he does. Wyatt, for example, and Sigma. Others he can't imagine. Anna. Roland. He doesn't know them well or personally, doesn't know their lives, their worlds, or their motivations, but he does know his own. He knows going back is worse than a death sentence. Certainly for him, but also possibly for people here. He's not so proud as to think he's indispensable to the Rebellion, especially with how hampered he is by the Capitol right now, but he does know he can help. And that's enough.

And more than simply enough is his family, those he's had from the beginning - he gives Jet a meaningful look - and those he's gathered through shared experiences here in Panem. Sam, Initiate, Terezi... and their close friends and allies; Barnes, Meulin, Clint, Porrim. Even Sigma, he's surprised to find, makes the list of their ever expanding circle. Make the list of reasons to stay.

He takes Anna's hand carefully and with a nod to echo her single spoken word, cold metal meeting her dainty fingers as light as he can manage while still holding on to keep the chain intact. He doesn't want to crush her. His other hand he extends outward to whoever will catch it first, joined to their singular purpose.

He won't deny anyone who also has their reasons to stay and see this through.
revvinguptheharley: (Harleen: Double life)

[personal profile] revvinguptheharley 2016-05-19 03:15 am (UTC)(link)
Harleen...as she still did not feel the pull of madness she had grown so comfortable to...wanted to go home.

She ached for the horrible smells of Gotham and the world of fun she had been torn away from. The Capitol had been fun but...all of that was gone now.

But as she gazed into the portal she realized something else, there was no Harleen Quinzel in her world. It was a world full of chaos and silliness. A world for Harley Quinn.

But in this world there would be people who would spend the rest of their lives suffering because of what had happened. People who would need someone who had been there in the worst of it.

But...but there had to be other people right?

And for the first time since the Capitol had beat the madness out of her, Harleen acted upon impulse seizing Albert's hands tears streaming down her face. In all the noise her farewell to the life she'd lost. The love she'd probably lost forever.

"Goodbye Red."
Edited 2016-05-19 04:10 (UTC)
foundafamily: (Default)

[personal profile] foundafamily 2016-05-19 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
Firo never meant to stay. The Family comes first, and they’re the ones who’re waiting for him back home. They’re looming tall in his mind before the chaos strikes; he doesn’t allow himself to hope much just yet, be he does hope a little. He doesn’t trust whatever’s going on with this machine, doesn’t even realize how important it is. He has a healthy skepticism of anything anybody here tells him.

And then everything starts falling apart.

When the explosion goes off, he turns to see what’s going on and is immediately seeing stars when one of the flying chairs smacks right into his head. No big deal; he’s had worse. But the shouting of the scientist is all just meaningless noise to him in the ringing of his ears, and he doesn’t even pay any mind to the damaged portal anyway. They have the scientists, it can probably be fixed or something—that’s a problem for later.

But his friends—Roland, Phil, Luna, Eowyn, Sandy… He has to find them and make sure they’re okay.

Claire had described one of Firo’s gifts as being able to simply act without asking questions. He doesn’t decide—think of alternatives, outcomes, consequences—so much as he just does. That’s what he does now, grabbing the nearest hand before he even sees their face. Doesn’t recognize them. He whips around to catch what glimpses he can of any other friends—that’s what’s important right now, that they’re okay. He focuses on that, not yet realizing what he’s just lost.

He holds out his hand for the next person, hoping it's a friend, but willing to help hold onto anyone who needs it.
justoutrunyou: (These aren't tears their raindrops)

[personal profile] justoutrunyou 2016-05-19 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
She stands like a stone in a storm, stoic and starring into the portal. Internally she's screaming louder then she's screamed in months.

All it would take was a few steps and she wouldn't be able to stop herself. She'd go pitching through that portal to...to what? A church full of screaming children? Monsters falling from the sky?

Her father...

She had a chance...didn't she? One chance to put it all right. To save the children, to find her father.

Could the girl who had lost so much, and so many times finally win?

But then her eyes settled on the chain of bodies trying to save...well everything else. This world that had ripped her apart and put her back together. This world that had taught her bravery, loss, love and absolute terror.

She saw Firo, the boy who had saved her life and treated her like family and somehow though the brainwashing still held tight on her images of all those she had considered family bubbled to the surface.

Phil.

Shepard.

Peta and Katniss.

The Initiate.

Mindy.

Effie.

Pruna.

"Fuck."

Turning her back to the portal the word came gushing out of her mouth again and again as she dug her heels into the tile and pushed for Firo's hand.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!"

Springing forward she snagged his wrist and gripped it tighter then a girl her size ought be able to.

As much as she hated it, as much as this world had taken from her it was more her home now then the world she had left behind.

Because in some small way, she had helped shape it.


didnothing: (it leaves the cage and flies away)

[personal profile] didnothing 2016-05-19 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
Luna barely even thinks of staying as a choice, just a natural outcome of the fact that she's here at all. The Capitol rescued her from death, and it might not make up for all they've forced her into since but it doesn't change how little she has to go back to - a facility that's already killed her, and the bodies of almost everyone she knew save Sigma, whose present self is already up ahead in the chain. She can see others she's met since then too: Firo, Albert, Roland, people who've helped her in innumerable ways and are important and here and alive.

Rhizome Nine was home and its inhabitants the closest to family she'll ever have, despite the cruelty of GAULEM life. But the Rhizome is the past in her eyes, and Panem is the present. And even if her feelings about herself have changed, she still wants to see a better future for this world as well. Maybe for herself too, one day.

Luna doesn't think twice before making her way towards the human chain, shielding her eyes and fighting the backwards pull of the vortex's edges before she gets close enough to grab onto--

She recognizes Sandy only after she's taken the girl's hand, and if there were more time and less urgency she'd like to talk more. But there isn't such luxury, not right now, so Luna only gives her a grateful "Thank you!" before reaching out to the next person.
69problems: <user name = "spokethetruth"> (xtra | We can't pretend)

[personal profile] 69problems 2016-05-19 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
This is the moment everything has led up to. This is what the Signless has spent three miserable years biding his time to be alive to see. He's kept his head down and kept his mouth shut and pushed all his pain into the attic of his mind to wait -- to wait for what?

Alternia is there, he knows, just a few steps into that whirling vortex. He used to think he'd go back in a heartbeat if he had the choice. There was work in his world still to be done. He knows that if he goes back, he dies, and his death will be instrumental in shaping the future toward the course it's meant to take. In that way staying is selfish, but he came to terms with that years ago. That part of himself is dead, has died slowly piece by piece the longer he's been here and the longer he's given himself to this cause and these people. His work here isn't done, and that means walking through that portal now would be just as selfish as staying. The rebellion still needs him. Twelve still needs him. All his friends, all his loves, all the people bound to him simply by this shared experience -- they all need him. This chain, right now, needs him.

He takes Luna's hand, grips it hard. She's not one of the ones he knows, but that hardly matters. They've all been brought together by this one goal; everything else has been pushed to the wayside. It puts a fire in his chest that hasn't really been lit there in years. The embers have been there, barely glowing, but here he's found himself again. This is what he was meant for. He gives her an encouraging nod, his eyes brighter with the light of the portal and some internal glow, and then turns.

"Come on," he says to whoever's nearest him. "It's working. We can do this."
carnagecarnival: (Out of sticks and stones.)

[personal profile] carnagecarnival 2016-05-19 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
He hesitates. It's always been in his nature, to stop and stare out at a Da that would never care for him, never come back. He always embraced futures that tore him apart because it was fine, he was getting what he wanted, he was stronger... Always tugged deeper into the dark heedless of the beasts that were dragging him in. And it's funny this should happen now, even when he's already made up his mind, or thought he had.

If he never goes back, he loses his church, his promised family. His Messiahs may never again be as clear in his mind and being as they used to be. He loses his throne, he loses his chance to change that future and make it into one where his quadrants and their family all live. He never sees the descendant teased before him. He loses the only place he really ever knew. He'll never speak, never say a word, and never preach to a Carnival of faithful faces like he always dreamed. He loses every wonder, even for all the death and destruction.

He really won't see Da ever again, no matter how long he searches that horizon. And it's strange, how even after being abandoned, after being angry so long, he still wants to try and chase after that slight sliver of care he recalls.

But he was abandoned. And his future can't change there. The timeline is locked. His future is empty. All those dreams he has, they're just dreams. No resetting this time. No more sacrificing for something already doomed. This time, he takes a look around at what's already about him.

Sigma is just up the line, not his Da but his father. Albert's there and Jet won't be far. Sandy's near, Luna beside her. He glances back for others like Clara, The Punch, Shepard, Porrim (even wonders about Azula and Kevin and Pasha wherever they are). The Nameless, the Neophyte, The Disciple, Gamzee, His Other... Mituna, as he knew him, as the Helmsman. So many motherfucking others he lost but who taught him more and gave him more all the same. He sees Terezi, his beloved, his heart keeper. And there's Sam, an angel, a soldier, so much more, so much good; a moirail. And then here he is... Signless.

Kankri.

Brother best.

The first person he ever met, the first one to give him a chance, tell him he could be more. The first to see him here what's still being here. The first hand he ever took.

Warm in his as it ever was, he grasps Kankri's hand tight. He has a family here. He has a future. He has his heart and soul and mind, for fucking once. He's not alone. He, like his pale brother here, was hatched to be a gaurdian of earth. This time, they would win. This time, at last, they would know some motherfucking peace.

And so, like he never would've done on Alternia, like he only learned to do here cause of all them about him, he holds out his hand.
Edited 2016-05-19 05:33 (UTC)

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