☆TRACK VIII: I'LL REACH YOU BELOW

[interdimanagers]

Who: All rescuers!
What: The trio is here to give you the deets.
When: The evening of February 18th.
Where: An abandoned subway.
Warnings: Nothing predictable, but you never know.

“Word has it on the wire That you don't who you are. Well, if you could jack into my brain, You'd know exactly what you mean here.” ☆I'LL REACH YOU BELOW The notification is sudden. A several hours in advance, all rescuers will receive a ping over the network from Shep that they are to gather at a specific location late that evening. The location will not be given out until one hour in advance of the meeting, but they are advised to be ready to receive it and move out immediately. When they arrive, the meeting is taking place in an abandoned subway. At first it doesn't seem like there is a way in, but after slipping through the rubble in some collapsed tunnels, you'll find it. Shep, Gold, and Silver are all present, and will spent the first while doing a careful headcount of those that show up, until approximately 15 minutes after the starting time. The results seem to be disappointing. People who were here the first time are missing, that much is obvious just from looking around – the leaders’ unease with it is clear. However, it doesn’t cause them to panic or change the point of the meeting, either. At 11:15 PM on the dot, then Shep will begin the meeting by explaining what they are all there for: information. There have been details that the team has been holding back on giving until now, and Shep will somewhat sheepishly explain that it’s because they didn’t want the risk the change of it being leaked in the event that new recruits were incapable or unwilling to blend and lay low for the time being. Thankfully, he’ll explain, everyone here has more than proven themselves capable of working within Vista’s system. So, they’ve been brought together so they can be fully brought up to speed. Information will be delivered in three parts, by each one of the leaders. Afterwards, questions can be asked, and the rescuers will be allowed to mingle and discuss for a few hours. All the information is concise, and in the end the actual explanation will end up taking a half hour or less. Afterwards, Gold has brought snacks to share, as has become customary. Hopefully you like pastries. “So, if you've got the time, Set up the tone to sync. Tap in the code, I'll reach you below.”

Comments

[woomy]

"Faulty technology? You mean they just Super Jumped back home because the guitar ship thingy broke?"

Okay, not exactly, but after fearing the worse... it almost sounds unbelievable that they were just snapped back to their own dimensions. The rescuers can't blame this on the two big labels?

"Do you think the labels know that this is happening to us?" Could they cause it to happen even more?

[interstellarebels]

"Silver's deactivated all the missing headsets, at least. So...as far as we know the network is still save. As safe as it can be, anyway. But besides that...man, who knows."

He scratches his hair.

"I doubt it, I mean, I don't think they even know most of us are here."

[spokethetruth]

It's obvious that, in some ways, Shep and the others are working in the blind just as much as him and Agent 3 are. He smiles sympathetically and shrugs.

"Thank you for explaining, at least," he says.

[woomy]

"I hope so. We'd all be toast if they knew, huh?" Just stating what's already be said. "Thanks though. I guess that means we don't have even more people to rescue."

[spokethetruth]

After talking to Shep, Signless will lead Agent 3 off again (the captain seems busy - he always does). As they depart, he'll look down to her thoughtfully.

"Did that help? At least we can hope that being sent home is the worst of it."

[woomy]

"It did. It's a little weird to think of it, but it kinda makes sense." And if they have just returned home, then the rescuer network hasn't been discovered by the bad guys yet. "Do you think we should tell the others or wait until we have some solid evidence?"

[spokethetruth]

He considers that for a moment and then shrugs his shoulder.

"I think it offers more peace of mind to have an explanation, even if it's an uncertain one. We can tell them what Shep told us."

[woomy]

"Okay. I'll let people know, so they don't have more reasons to storm the big labels." Though, part of her wishes that Shep had just said this to everyone outright. It would have helped keep people calm.

[spokethetruth]

"Yes...there are already a lot of reasons for them to be getting impatient," Signless sighs. He understands why, but he also understand why it's something they need to resist. "I've been doing my best to lay low but I'm worried that I haven't been doing enough to support the others...waiting can be the most difficult part."

[woomy]

"Hmm... Do you want to help me with my research on Vista City? I can check out books from the library and bring them home with me for you to read."

There's so much that they could learn, and she's just one Inkling. And... she doesn't necessarily understand all that she reads either. (Though Signless might be in the same boat as her for that.)

[spokethetruth]

Oh, he definitely is. He's been learning, though - mostly through reading a lot of magazines and newspapers.

He smiles.

"Of course! I've read so many of their magazines, so far...even the basics of human culture are something I've been having to learn. It's all very different from my home. In...a good way, mostly, besides the obvious problems here."

[woomy]

"It's really weird to see how much is different and is the same from my world." She stretches and looks at all the humans in their group. "I wonder if this world will have its polar ice caps melt and flood all the humans or if they'll stop that from happening..."

Realizing that it's not very clear what she means, she continues. "They're doing a lot environmentally friendly stuff. I learned that when I was trying to learn about the power sources of the city."

[spokethetruth]

That would probably be more shocking to hear for Signless if he was actually a human. As it is, it's more like an unfortunate but interesting tid bit about the possibilities of Earth.

"Oh...that happened on your world? I didn't know they were that similar." Tera being an alternate universe version of Earth is hard to notice for someone whose never been to either. "Did your kind only come around after humans were hone?"

[woomy]

"Yep." She takes a breath and closes her eyes, like she's about to recite something from memory. With her history interest, Agent 3 spent hours reading and rereading the Sunken Scrolls she found in Octo Valley. "'With creatures of the surface driven to extinction by rising sea levels, the ancestors of Inklings were free to haul their 10-legged bodies up onto the abandoned land. This is how the Mollusc Era began.'"

Which again begs the question why the Inklings evolved to live on land instead of remaining in the water where there's plentiful space. But Nintendo does that all the time.