riverviewlogs | exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

Entry tags:

exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: exploration mingle: rescue mission!
when: June 15 - August 15
where: The River Structure
warnings: violence and/or torture; please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

captivity

One of the major and most highly-valued cultural concepts in Riverview is that of exploration, expansion. Especially now that, with the recent influx of new arrivals, as the portal kicks into high gear for reasons not entirely known, the Inhabited City, already comfortably full, is rapidly becoming overpopulated. With all the refugees from other worlds pouring in from day to day, the city's safe space and resources are being taxed to their breaking point.

Right now, exploration and expansion is key, and each month, the government has decided to focus on a particular objective, in order to unite citizens in expanding, securing, and supplying the city for everyone's benefit.

the story so far

Exploration & Expansion Progress Report ● The Guardians of the Deep ● What Lies Beneath ● Plotting & Questions

After some serious flooding at the banks of the river, the cause was discovered to be the Guardians of the Deep, creatures protecting a circular labyrinthine structure underneath the river. Residents of the city explored and mapped the structure, and dealt with a good portion of the traps and other dangers, until they found a little piece of history in the Central Chamber of the structure, revealing that it was inhabited by the first people to live on the moon.

While this news has been exciting scholars and historians in the city, something a little more pressing has been bothering the average citizen - an ever-increasing number of missing persons. People have simply been disappearing all over the city, and only now are residents starting to realize why...

how it works

● Phases: Each prompt is a different phase of the operation. Characters may partake in whichever part of the operation they choose, whether it is a large and prominent part, or a more of a backseat or support role. Characters may participate in as many phases as they wish.

● Completion: When next month's exploration mingle goes up, the mission featured on this exploration mingle will be considered complete, and game canon, providing the entry has 200+ comments on it.

● Entry Reward: The reward for completion of this month's exploration objective will be...well, the safe return of everyone who was kidnapped. And some sweet hurt/comfort.

● IMPORTANT NOTE: Having observed how the pacing of exploration mingles has been going and how they are tagged, I have noticed that posting one exploration mingle each month has been a little hectic, both plotwise and for me as a mod (writing three mingles a month has been tough!). I have decided to space them out a bit further, and post an exploration mingle once every two months, starting with this one - the next exploration mingle will be posted in August!

phase i: the abducted

People don't simply go missing, they don't disappear into thin air, they have to be somewhere. And while those who are missing people keep frantically searching, those who have been kidnapped are the only ones besides the kidnappers who do know where they are.

Abducted by a group who have taken up residence in the structure under the city after last month's exploration died down, the missing are trapped in the Central Chamber, in fear of the kidnappers. Their abductors are a group of people that is starting to slowly take on cultist tendencies, believing that the remaining spirits of the First People still live in the structure, that it is a temple, and that those First People need offerings of host bodies to inhabit so they can return and bring their wisdom and magic back to the moon. Things are getting a little hairy - there's no agreement among the kidnappers as to how 'intact' the host bodies have to be and whether or not the sacrifice is in the form of alive or dead captives. Even worse, some of the kidnappers are only with the group to enjoy having power over others and using it to hurt them.

Captives are held in the Central Chamber of the structure, with next to no amenities. Blankets, food, water, and other necessities are in short supply, and they are kept huddled together, constantly guarded and either restrained, wearing or in the presence of a power suppressor to keep them subdued. But the captives haven't lost hope - they are working on getting a message out, finding a way to contact the outside world so their loved ones can rescue them...

This prompt is to play out interactions among the captives before they are rescued, and may include violence or other character suffering. It is also to enact plotted plans for the abductees to find connections with the outside world to summon help.

phase ii: distraction and infiltration

Once would-be rescuers become aware of where the captives are being held, they start making plans to rescue them - whether someone they love has been taken, they're just a good person, or they just want to feel like a big damn hero, there are lots of people willing to take the plunge and jump into the rescue. But the cult group has been in control of the structure for a while now, they definitely have the home team advantage. They know the lay of the land and where the traps are, and have used some of them to their own advantage.

It's not going to be as easy as storming the castle.

There are two parts to this phase of the rescue: a distraction and an infiltration. Distractions are planned to draw as many of the kidnappers away from the hostages being held in the Central Chamber as possible, while those who are stealthily infiltrating will try to find another entrance into the chamber so they can surprise and surround the remaining kidnappers.

This prompt is to play out any plans for distraction and infiltration. If you have plotted something out on the plotting post, feel free to post up a header for specific groups for threading rather than an individual character top-level.

phase iii: the brawl and after

Distractions only last so long, unfortunately, and so eventually the whole thing is going to break down into a big fight. Rescuers versus kidnappers, on the kidnappers' home turf, and surrounded by traps left over from the First People, while pieces of stationary tech throw out auras and waves of power suppression. It's going to be a doozy of a fight, so prepare for an epic throwdown!

And once the dust settles, there's going to be a lot of injuries to tend to, a lot of people traumatized and hurt and frightened. A lot of hungry, suffering people will need to be transported out, given medical care, and brought supplies.

This prompt is to play out the final fight between the kidnapping cult and the rescuers, as well as anything in the aftermath of the fight.

phase iv: wildcard

Have an idea for a mission-adjacent plot, or want to make up an unexpected plot twist or problem and solve it with your character? Just write up a starter, and don't forget to give yourself props by submitting it for the Progress Report.

navigation
[Asterion - Environment Art: Ariadne's Forest by Nicolas Mendoza]

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[Give her a minute for her brain to reboot. Sorry, what? Wanda's not sure what she was expecting, but it definitely wasn't...that.]

'Kind of?'

[How can the other Wanda be 'kind of' his mom?

~~This is definitely the best place for a worldview-altering conversation.~~]

Um. ( yeah, best place, best time for this. give him a moment to pull his thoughts together, get his head out of everything else going on and refocus down onto this. )

The--Wanda of my world had twin boys, but they died? ( skipping over the mephisto parts, the being wished into existence, the no more mutants bit. no one wants that. ) and were reincarnated to different families. That's--me and Tommy.

[Tommy? Well, that explains...a lot, actually. She'd guessed he was Billy's twin, but he looked so much like Pietro, too...

In a way, maybe it's fortunate that they're doing this now, when Wanda doesn't have the luxury of shutting down to process it. This is A Lot, almost too much, to take in - now she has a kind of family again when she was still struggling to get past losing Pietro. She doesn't know the first thing about how to be a mom, much less if Billy and Tommy even want or expect that from her. They're very nearly the same age...

Wanda's definitely going to have a lot of processing to do later, but they're not safe here and Billy needs her to stay present. No matter how weak her knees suddenly feel, she has to keep putting one foot in front of the other.]

Oh. [What do you even say to a bombshell like that? They don't exactly make Hallmark cards for this kind of thing. There's a long silence.] You two reminded me of Pietro and I.

( this isn't how he imagined any of this going; not how he wanted to break this to wanda at all. especially not one so young, who clearly--has barely found herself let alone anyone else and here he is, holding onto her and mumbling on about their very weird family tree that billy isn't even beginning to describe, yet. )

We're--a different universe's Wanda's soulkids, so. ( it makes sense that they'd remind her of herself and pietro. right? another step forward and the top of his sneaker hits against a tree root, causes billy to push up against her a bit harder than he really wanted to. ) Pietro's still around too. ( he said that before, but. ) He helped us look for our Wanda.

( after kidnapping billy and taking off with him, then there was the whole magneto incident, tommy being a pest because that's just what he does-- )

How did you know? Was it your magic?

[Wanda stumbles with the sudden added weight but manages to keep her feet. She knows she's the physically weakest Avenger, but she is not dropping him or letting anything else happen to him.

Look, if Pietro got to lord twelve minutes over her their entire lives, you better believe she's going to milk the year she has on Billy for all it's worth.]

Careful. Are you sure you're all right?

Haven't. . slept in a while. Or eaten.

( a quiet grunt, but he's still up on his feet. that's something. a bit more distance, and billy feels the magic returning to his fingertips. feels the power, the magic, even if it doesn't help steady his feet any. )

Uh. The Super-Skrull mentioned it--? It felt right. Then we found you. Her. She recognized me.

[The what? But before Wanda can ask, she can hear footsteps echoing in the corridor ahead. She can vaguely get a sense of the presence, but not enough to know if it's a cultist or one of theirs.

Hence the dilemma: go back to get away from them, further into the range of the suppressors? Or push ahead and hope her powers return before there's a problem?]

Someone's coming, [she whispers urgently.] Can you feel your magic yet?

Yeah. ( he raises a hand, blue sparks flying from fingertips but he's quick to close his fist after, dispelling the magic as he slumps over. )

I can't-- ( fix himself, which is the main issue here, isn't it. billy has power, a lot of power, but it can't save himself. it can help everyone around him, fix wounds from others and get him near-anywhere (er, within a certain distance here) but if billy's screwed, no amount of his own magic can help him. ) my magic doesn't work on me though.

[Enough awareness has returned that if Wanda reaches out enough to hurt she can tell that those footsteps definitely belong to a cultist. They're in trouble.]

Then stay behind me. I won't let them hurt you more.

[She might be able to summon enough power to do some damage at this point, or maybe stun them enough so she can stab them with the knife she'd picked up earlier. It might not be the most controlled thing she's ever done, but it can't hurt her and it would never hurt Billy.]

( her protective maternal instincts are nice, thanks, but he doesn't really need them too much. he can't fix himself, but he can do much, much more than that. he takes a deep breath, leans up against her, murmurs a quiet, )

Shoes into--uh. . snakes.

( which. prompts a shitton of screaming and hissing noises and running around from anyone recognized as an enemy nearby. )

[She shouldn't be laughing. Wanda's is 100% sure that is not a thing Good Heroes should do but to see the tables turned on their enemies in such a hilarious manner...she can't help it. It's been a Day.]

How did you--

[But nevermind that, one of the cultists rounds the corner screaming. Wanda reaches out, flinging scarlet at her, and down she goes. Well, that's one way to deal with the problem of temporarily limited range...

She's not feeling particularly forgiving, so with a final flick of her wrist (and far more concentration than it would normally take; they're still too close to the suppressors for comfort) Wanda adds some snake-related nightmares.]

( if he were more awake, less tired and beat up, billy wouldn't be standing around wishing shoes into slithery beasts but--his head hurts, his everything hurts, he doesn't care enough about the state of himself to stop but it doesn't--keep it from effecting him. )

Reality warper. ( an easy answer to supply, if that's what she's going for. another step forward and billy lets out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding, flexes fingers at his side. ) I change stuff around me to what I want it to be. It--works, usually, as long as I want it. That's my brand of magic.

( different than this wanda or even the wanda back home. that's not even--bringing the whole demiurge thing into it. )

That's amazing.

[Seems like he really doesn't need her for more than physical support right now if he can just change things with a wave of his hand. She just hopes it isn't costing him too much when he's already been through an ordeal.]

Will you let me look at your injuries now? I can't feel anyone else, just us.

( he's tired and exhausted but careful not to push his magic too too far. casting doesn't help his energy levels any, but--a little won't hurt him too much. billy won't push himself to the point of passing out. )

Yeah, that's--fine.

( the next log they walk over seems good enough to sit down on as any, so billy--stops, sits himself down and rubs down dirt-covered jeans with a hiss. )

Sorry for having the worst timing ever.

Why are you apologizing? You haven't done anything wrong.

[Wanda kneels beside him and slings her little backpack off to start rummaging through it. She's no doctor and anything she's brought feels terribly inadequate, but it will have to do. She can't just snap her fingers and make him better.

She can't help but wonder if the other Wanda could.]

Where does it hurt most? I have some bandages and some gauze.

An unfortunate habit.

( not one he practices too much anymore. he apologizes for telling wanda stuff at the most inopportune moment. billy tilts his head up a bit, looks down to bruised knuckles. over scraped knees. )

My ribs, but we're not going to be able to fix that out here. ( if wanda could he's fairly certain she would have already. ) Unless you've got a handy pocket-healer.

It's all right.

[It might not have been the best time, true, but there's still nothing to apologize for.

Technically her powers could help him, but Wanda doesn't know that yet. It never would have occurred to Strucker to have his precious weapon try something like that.]

Not unless you can turn these into something more useful. I only have first aid.

( a quick shake of his head should speak for itself enough. billy doesn't reach out for anything she has, or open his mouth to spell it, so. )

It's fine. First aid is enough, I'll--heal fast enough anyway, I'm used to the cuts and bruises.

( after a childhood spent bullied and ridiculed, getting punched and kicked around is no big deal. the lack of food and sleep is mostly what's getting to him, but he can't fix that until after they get out of here. )

Thanks.

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exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

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