event: portal six | the wasteland

[mayfield_mods]

If you had thought that a charred nuclear hellscape couldn't possibly get any worse, turns out you thought wrong.

The sixth portal is located just a few yards across from the entrance to the Mayfield Dairy. The door to the Dairy is, as always, locked, but those of you who stare long enough at the drawn curtains might notice them fluttering slightly every once in a while- as if there's movement behind them. As if someone is watching.

Even just by glancing at the portal from the Mayfield side, you can tell it makes the desert portal look like a tropical vacation by comparison. The portal opens up to the interior of a ruined schoolhouse, its walls and floor caked with dust and ash. The hallways are bare and desolate, save for the occasional scorch mark. Inside the classrooms you can see small skeletons beneath the desks, curled up as if for warmth.

The world outside the schoolhouse is no better. Not only are the old hazards still here- pockets of intense radiation, air clouded by ash and smoke -but things have apparently deteriorated since your last visit. There are glitch pockets, as expected, but they're not sitting in place anymore: they're moving, slowly at times, quickly at others. And they're not moving at random, either: they'll come straight for you, as if they're hunting...

But glitch pockets aren't the only ones out for your blood. The roaming gangs of cannibal survivors are still here, but they appear to have been as changed as the landscape. Many of them bear the same deformities as the drones of the carnival- multiple or lacking limbs, two bodies fused together, mutated growths spreading up and down their limbs. Many of them are wearing scorched hazmat suits, patched together haphazardly. All of them are armed. None of them are friendly.

The sun hangs high in the sky, but you can barely see it through the thick brown clouds. This is a dead world, and unless you find that memento fast, you're about to become a permanent resident.

Comments

[madboy]

[Gil had been avoiding the portals, but they just kept popping up... when he finally caves in, it's not without a hastily cobbled-together death ray. It has a bad recharge, and will probably melt upon too much use, but it's better than nothing.

The first thing he does, though, is kneel down in the classroom, frowning and reaching out to touch one of the skeletons. The room was scorched; whatever they'd been hiding from, this hadn't saved them.]

okay were doing it were makin it happne

[myblimpisbigger]

[It's okay, Gil, Klaus has been putting this off too for the purposes of weapon construction. He's seen those portals and there's no way his war clank is fitting through, so he's instead dedicated his time to improving the shrapnel gun Dist originally made for him. Of course now that Gil is going in, he has to go in after him.]

I wouldn't touch those if I were you. They may be contaminated with any manner of things.

[madboy]

[Gil looks back over his shoulder, expression a mix of surprise and concern.]

I didn't know you were following me here. I thought you didn't want to fight Mayfield any more.

[myblimpisbigger]

Fighting is not the same as investigation. It's always prudent to know what your enemies are doing, even if you can't necessarily stop them.

Besides, your leg is still in the testing phases. Being in here alone when you may need assistance in repairing it in the heat of battle isn't wise at all.

[This is dad-speak for 'I'M WORRIED FOR YOU AND WANT TO PROTECT YOU :C']

[madboy]

It's been functioning fine so far, and hopefully there won't be a need to battle.

[Considering they were both carrying guns, though, it was clear they both knew it might be necessary. Unknown territory was best entered with weapons. He stood, tracing a line across one of the desks and examining the ash on his fingers.]

I don't want it to come to that, anyway. There's more out there; whatever we're looking for, I don't think it's in here. There wouldn't be a point to expanding the simulation if it were in the first room.

[And Gil heads for the door. The leg, for its part, moves fluidly; his stride is a bit off, but that's the only tell that something might be different about him. This whole thing is just more comfortable for Gil if he keeps his mind on his mission, so he doesn't dwell on anything else, at least not verbally.

It's so much more complicated when his father is involved.]

[myblimpisbigger]

[It isn't as though Klaus wouldn't prefer to do this on his own, you know. He knows he's as much of a liability to his son as his son is to him, but he's determined to be there, in every sense of the phrase, so he follows Gil whether Gil likes it or not.]

It would be too easy to place what we're looking for so close to the entrance, yes. Whatever we're looking for, it's likely further in and guarded closely. I don't want it to come to fighting either but it may be necessary.

It's a good thing you built in that jumping mechanism. It may prove extremely useful.

[madboy]

I can only use it every once in a while; it has to be built up, unfortunately. It's always good to have a backup plan, though.

[Gil takes a peek into the various classrooms as they walk through the school, but doesn't stop to investigate any of them too deeply. He might not admit it, but a good portion of his reason for that is that the childrens' skeletons bother him too much. He can't rule out the possibility that something had been placed with them, but... well, he doesn't want to be the one to look.]

This doesn't seem constructed. It looks like a memory.

[myblimpisbigger]

A memory.

[Klaus considers this.]

It's certainly a very different place and time, at the very least, from the one Mayfield asserts itself to be. If you believe it is a memory, then whose memory would it be?

[nosigntospeakof]

Perhaps it's a memory belonging to a drone?

[The voice comes from behind them and it's likely to be familiar to Klaus. There's a man standing in the classroom, just in front of the portal. He looks...tired, is the best way to describe him and not just in the sense it appears he just jumped out of bed, looked out the window, spotted a seven-foot baron walking down the street and scrambled to throw on clothes so he could chase him down. No, he has a weariness in the way he holds himself that screams 'exhausted in every sense' with more than a little 'wow, I am so uncomfortable in this skin' thrown in.]

[madboy]

A memory of what Mayfield was before it was Mayfield, probably from whoever opened this place up. The one who sent the letters.

[Gil turns around, giving just a very slight confused frown.]

Are you following me?

[Not us, apparently.]

[myblimpisbigger]

[Wow, Gil, he's hurt. And squinting at this new arrival quite closely. He looks very familiar, even if his skin isn't grey and there are no horns poking out from his hair and his eyes aren't red.]

I wouldn't blame him if he was, Gil. There is safety in numbers and we have weaponry.

[nosigntospeakof]

No, not you. [Brown eyes dart to Klaus and Signless's face eases into a slightly more relaxed expression, a small but warm smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He takes a few long, confident strides toward the taller man then reaches up to gently tap his hand against Klaus's cheek twice.]

Hello again, Klaus.

[madboy]

You know each other?

[Well, that makes things easier. It actually relaxes him a little; having a third party there dissolves the tension a bit, as he no longer has to worry about this just being him and his father trying very hard to avoid talking about something.]

You're right; it's better if there are more of us. We can search more thoroughly and will probably be more difficult to kill. Anything that can survive whatever created this place won't be friendly.

[myblimpisbigger]

[Klaus smiles -- actually smiles and paps Signless in return.]

Yes, we know each other. This is Signless; Signless, this is Gilgamesh, my son. And 'won't be friendly' may be a bit of an understatement. Do you have anything to fight with, Signless? If not you can borrow my sword.

[Even though it's longer than you are tall.]

[nosigntospeakof]

[Oh, that expression! That smile! The paps! He can't help it, he's hugging Klaus and it's going to be horrendously awkward.]

It's a pleasure to finally get to meet Klaus's descendant- ah, son. Sorry, it's been some time since I've used human terms. But hello, Gilgamesh.

I don't but I think I can handle your sword. It's not what I'm used to but I believe I can manage. [He'll just have to use it as a staff! ...Somehow, he'll figure it out.]

[madboy]

[Gil nods politely.]

Either works.

[That is some cynicism there, Gilgamesh.]

I'm sure we can fashion some sort of weapon for you; we don't know what's going to happen, and I don't know how well we'd be able to protect you if something does. It's better to be armed.

I probably should have brought a backup death ray... a sword will do for now, though. I hope you're well-versed in melee.

[myblimpisbigger]

[Klaus hands the sword over -- it really is larger than Signless, but it's Skif-forged, light and strong, so hopefully he won't have too many issues with it.]

Hopefully you won't need to be, but it's best to be safe, as Gil says.

Though we're not likely to encounter much, either good or bad, in here.

[He starts to make his way out into the wasteland beyond. Follow, y/n?]