Not Quite the Last Train

[lionunchained]

WHO: Shiro and Open
WHERE: Sh'ka
WHAT: Exploring
WHEN: October 15th on
WARNINGS: None so far.


Arrival
Somehow, luck was finally on Shiro's side. He'd always claim that if he didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all. Okay, sure, it wasn't really so bleak as that, but he could be over dramatic sometimes.

He had decided to take the train out of Temba and to Sh'ka. His intention was that he was only going to stay for one day, but that plan quickly got waylaid when the train arrived from Temba and it would not return. Further more, some of those who had escaped had reported a strange darkness that had come over Temba suddenly.

After attempting a few more times in vain to try and get the train moving since it sounded like something was happening in Temba, Shiro was forced to give up, stalking away.

Security Center
Since he now had a forced vacation in Sh'ka, Shiro decided to do some exploring. He headed into the security center to see what was there, struck by the oddly relaxing nature of the facility. Strange he thought. A building such as that wasn't normally relaxing in any sort of way.

He happened upon the video that was playing, watching it for maybe five minutes before he got bored and went exploring again. When he cam back a few hours later, he looked back at the screen and raised an eyebrow.

"Is the video repeating?" He could have sworn he had just seen that part...

Theater
Shiro went to the theater when he saw that it seemed to active like the security center had been. He had no previously interacted with the Graq and since he didn't have the communication data point, the words meant nothing to him at all, but would stand in the back watch the figures that danced around on stage, trying to figure out from what they were doing and what was actually going on in some cases.

Around
Shiro could often be found around Sh'ka, exploring whatever he could so there was not much option to go anywhere else. At least once a day, he could be found at the train, trying to see if he could get it to go back.

What was the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result?

Comments

Security

[small_compromise]

There was a girl sitting by the monitors, one hand propping her head up, if barely as she appeared to be nodding off. Curled up just under her chin was a young mothcat on a harness, the leash wrapped around her other hand.

She must have wandered in some time before Shiro had returned to the building. The monitors were depicting the moon rise and the twinkling stars beyond the leafy canopy of the trees.

[lionunchained]

Shiro had been exploring the security center for a while so obviously he had missed when she had come in.

"Sorry. I didn't see you come in," Shiro said as he entered further into the room. He looked at the mothcat on a leash with her, studying it for a moment, before his attention turned back to her. "Have you been in there long?"

[small_compromise]

Omega lifted her head at the voice, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her free hand. "Hm? Oh..." She glanced down at the mothcat, giving him a scratch on the head as the little creature stretched out and yawned, then looked over at Shiro.

"I don't think we had..? We were just looking around. Aren't these strange recordings?" She stifled a yawn as she looked back towards the screens.

[lionunchained]

Shiro smiled, moving a little closer as he glanced at the screen. "Well, it couldn't have been too long since I remember looking in here not long after I got here."

He nodded. "They are very strange. It seems like they are repeating since I seem to remember this from when I looked in earlier."

And since he hadn't met her before. "I'm Shiro."

[small_compromise]

"Hm. I wonder what they're here for. If this is supposed to be the security center you'd think they'd have live feed, like the room in the mines back in Temba."

She gathered up the mothcat, who instantly took to clambering out of her arms and onto a shoulder. "I'm Omega," the girl said with a smile up at Shiro. "This is Tony. Not to be mistaken with the other Tony, of course."

[lionunchained]

"Yeah, that would make sense. Since it is security center, it should be showing what it going on right now." He frowned at the screens that were clearly showing something that was not happening outside before looking back at her.

"Nice to meet you, Omega." He smiled faintly at her comment. "Of course. Nice to meet you too, Tony."

[small_compromise]

The mothcat gave a little prrrp! at hearing his name, prompting a laugh from Omega. "It's nice to meet you too, Shiro. Have you found anything interesting? I didn't get to look around much- we got distracted."

Not that the videos had anything very interesting to watch, although she couldn't explain why she'd sat there to do so anyway. Maybe she'd expected something interesting to pop up.

Theater

[kree_soldieress]

How long had he been there? A good question that Lauri didn't care to pry into. The Accuser had been wandering around the city they had been stranded in, and come upon a single human at the theater, and for a few moments she watched him watching what was happening here.

Frankly, she could not blame him. This was very intriguing.

"It is interesting, to hear what others have said about the Graq on the network, and then see this technology," she said as a way of making the other aware of her if he was not already. She strode down the stairs in her full armor, hammer at her side, and frowned at the scene below them.

"They are good holograms, nearly on par with Kree technology. This bothers me."

[lionunchained]

It was a good question. He'd probably been there longer than he was willing to admit. It was something to do and it was mildly amusing and given the fact he was trying to figure it out from pantomime, a little bit challenging.

He glanced over at her as she spoke. He had vaguely realized she was there, the way that people registered other sounds around them even if they didn't focus on them, but hadn't taken a lot of notice until that moment.

"I don't know much about Graq," he remarked. "Only what I have overheard." He glanced back at the screen. "It is rather amazing and creepy."

[kree_soldieress]

"I never met them," Lauri noted as she moved to his side, looking down at the stage to watch the acting. "So I too have only overheard. But this? This strikes me as strange. We use holograms for communication and tactical planning. This I do not understand the purpose of."

And it bothered her when she did not understand things.

[lionunchained]

He nodded. "It seems... like it is a play of some sort. Like an old time production on Earth. I know in a lot of amusement parks, they'd have animated or animatronic plays set to start on a loop so it didn't matter if someone was in there or not; it would still play so you could walk in near the end of one and stay for a while and see it again."

He glanced back at the stage. "I guess, kind of reminds me of that."

[kree_soldieress]

Another thing that Kree did not have. things such as that.

"A form of amusement. I wonder why it is running now. Do the Agrii wish to distract us from the darkness that swelled over Temba?"

[lionunchained]

"Perhaps. Seems to make as much as sense as any unless it is trying to tell us something... which may not be likely."

He glanced over at her again. "Did you actually see it?"

Around - Train

[doubled_speed]

Shiro wasn't the only one who kept coming back here. Four days in and Tommy had come to pace fretfully by the train at least twice a day. This was the first time their checking was apparently at the same time.

When Tommy heard someone approaching he looked back over his shoulder, and he didn't even try to hide the concern on his face. His brother was in Temba, so it was very easy to see why there was an issue and concern in him.

"Not running," he said aloud, and he didn't break down. Applaud him.

[lionunchained]

Oh look a familiar face. It was good to see him here, knowing that he was spared whatever was going on in Temba, but it was still very concerning since he'd imagine he was here to check on the train as well.

"I can see that. Probably a hard thing not to do right now. I guess you were checking the train too?"

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, very concerning. Tommy was almost vibrating with anxiety. Maybe he was hard to look at, he didn't really know.

"Checking. Definitely. Billy and Kyle, they're both still over there. And I haven't seen a lot of people. I'm scared for them."

He hated admitting it, but Shiro he figured wouldn't hold it against him.

[lionunchained]

He definitely understood the concern so he wasn't going to hold it against him. He frowned.

"I'm sorry to hear they are still over there. Yeah, it seems relatively empty here. I haven't seen Cayde and quite a number of others."

Also, let's face it. He was also worried for the animals over there too if something weird was happening.

[doubled_speed]

"There seems to be less of us here than there," Tommy agreed, and he kept pacing. Pacing was the best thing he could do.

"I feel so powerless."

[lionunchained]

Pacing did seem like the most productive option even though it didn't actually help them solve anything.

He nodded. "I do too. I'm not sure what if anything we could do since I don't know that charging back there with no idea at all what is happening is the best idea, especially on foot."

[the_tailor]

Like Shiro, Lance appeared to be very much stuck in Sh'ka. While not the worst of things, he supposed, it was aggravating to be trapped.

And a little worrying, considering that something was apparently going down in Temba.

He'd been messing about with the train as well, and after giving up, spotted his fellow paladin walking.

"Shirooooo!" he called out, jogging over and waving.

[lionunchained]

Shiro had been going to the train often. He had thought that it might suddenly be able to move back to Temba and they could figure out what was going on but so far there was no luck in that department.

So you wouldn't imagine how happy he was that he spotted Lance there at the train. Oh good, that meant he wasn't stuck in Temba.

"Lance. You're here. It's good to see you."

[the_tailor]

"It's good to see you, too. I dunno what the heck is going on, but..."

He trails off and shrugs. Honestly, with this place, he rarely does.

"You okay? Keith's here too, at least. I think I'd flip if he got stuck somewhere else."

[lionunchained]

"I don't either. All I know is that I came here on the train and now the train is unable to go back that direction. I've heard talk from some of the others here that whatever happened was pretty bad there..."

He paused for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine. I got here a few days before whatever it was happened. Good that he's here two. You guys okay?"

[the_tailor]

He gives a little nod. "Best as we can be, given the situation. But I'm hella worried about everyone else who isn't here. We don't know exactly what happened, and since we're stuck here, we can't even go help..."

Lance grumbles.

"I wish we had the lions."

[lionunchained]

Shiro listened to what Lance, nodding his head in agreement. He felt the same way exactly. He hadn’t seen what had happened, but the fact that they couldn’t get the trains to move at all was concerning to him. Others who had managed to make it out had been less than comforting about what was going on in the other town.

“I’m worried too. This is not normal. I wish there was something that I was able to do besides standing around waiting for the train to work again.”

He sighed.

“I do too. It would make so much easier here.”

Not that it would do him much good, but he could still wish that Lance and Keith had their lions.