3rd Circuit, Video [UNSEELIE LOCKED]

[zerotohiro]

[Loki and Hiro have taken a small room in Diasbaile, mostly barren save for the wooden cabinets that seem to blend into the background. Loki would have done this himself, but there was insistence on Hiro's part of aiding in the delivery of the very, very bad news. The focus is on the two of them, and Loki speaks first.]

Hello.

This is a message of the emergency broadcast system. As you can see, our sirens are down for the moment, but I assure you that the news is none less dire.

[Loki's voice drops to something uncharacteristically serious.]

Ah, yes. So—listen up, Unseelie.

[Hiro's sitting almost a little too close to Loki, face more ashen than anyone in their court has ever seen. It's a reality they have to face and while he'd been hoping Loki would find some more information in his research, they're running out of time.]

Some of you had a vision at the beginning of August. A dream about fire and machines with shards for eyes. I didn't have the vision myself, Loki did…but we can both confirm these are real. These things are being created now and they are coming. Monsters that run on shards and blood. But there are some things you guys don't know yet.

[When Hiro stops, Loki barely glances down before he picks up without missing a beat, as if he's giving him a moment to collect himself. Loki looks perturbed at the recollection of the golems, but not nearly as pale as Hiro.]

Our dear friends the dwarves have crafted mechanical monsters, forged from melted metal and living shards. These mecha-beasts are brought to live with blood magic and runes. Not your basic run-of-the-mill runes, not even my fancy-smancy "stay out of my room" runes, but hundreds of them in intricate designs—sorcery that's very possibly lost to antiquity—all working together to bring them to life.

And if that isn't nightmare material, these large, metal machinations have keen senses when it comes to shardbearers, even those that find means of hiding themselves, if you get my drift.

There are hundreds, even thousands of them, with no exaggeration.

[The longer they stay on camera, the more Hiro finds himself shrinking into his sweater. Loki delivering the brunt of the bad news helps, but dredging up the memories is more than mildly horrifying. There's one key factor though that they've neglected to mention.]

We don't know when they're coming, but judging by the amount of time between the last vision and its turnaround to coming true, it's soon. Really, really soon. We don't know when they're coming and we don't know the full extent of what they can do or why they're being unleashed.

[A pause.] Ideas. We need ideas on how we can combat these things and how to keep everybody safe. Start using your brains and focus on what's really important here.

[The important thing, he thinks, is that this war? It's much, much bigger now than just Seelie vs. Unseelie. It's now about just staying alive.]

I would suggest highly against approaching them… [Loki glances at Hiro.] …As I’m certain we’ll offend them somehow.

[Considering the fact that there are other things…he can agree with that.] …right. Defense ideas then. Lay 'em out. [A beat. And then:] Privately, if you would. Doesn't matter if they're coming for all of us…this is still a war.

[And he sure does know that there are certain devices generated by a certain witch that can see this broadcast. He had agreed that the Seelie should know what's coming. Doesn't mean they should be privy to everything else, too.]

Not exactly how I pictured life in a giant robot series, hm?

[Though that’s meant more for Hiro. They have some questions to answer, and Hiro needs a little bit of a perk up.]

[Hiro at least gives a small grin in response, but says nothing else. Definitely Q&A time.]

[ooc: As a note! Most threads will be answered by Hiro, but he may call on Loki for assistance. Additionally, Hiro is aware Hermione's compasses can see posts on both networks so those with compasses are capable of seeing this post. They just won't be able to see the threads in this post. Have fun guys o/]

Comments

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[survivra]

Those who can't or won't fight—we need to get to them first, places those monsters can't follow. Can they fly, or swim? Are there places they won't travel? Do they only attack shardbearers?

Then we should have a talk with the dwarves.

[ The way she says talk doesn't sound much like she means to do much talking at all. ]

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[zerotohiro]

Right. Problem is where are we actually going to put them? The shard gundam things are in the dwarven city. Pretty sure they can't fly at least and they're machines. Not exactly good with water.

I don't know if there're places they can't travel, but they can sense us by our shards. Pretty sure they're only going after us.

...Katsa, is this the part where I say "please don't actually do something stupid"?

[erythristic]

[oh, christ. and here she had been praying that September might be a touch easier, but that was a clear fool idea.]

The last time we faced metal opposition, we used acid to melt it. Could possibly we create enough to specifically target the joints and cripple them?

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[zerotohiro]

[Haha like anything is easier. You can see why he was very affectionate and grateful a few days ago, Deathmom.]

This has happened before? When? And where'd we get the acid?

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[benumbing]

They're coming for us indiscriminately?

[Well that's just great, isn't it. Fighting the Seelie was struggle enough, but add in this...

He frowns, but softly. Hiro looks frightened enough without showing him his own fear.]

What quarrel do the dwarves have with shardbearers? I'm not sure I've even seen one.

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[zerotohiro]

You got a shard in your chest, they'll come after you. Probably. [Assuming, anyway. He has a lot of the same thoughts Jack has but he's doing his best to answer everything he can.]

That's the thing. From what I know about them they just...let shardbearer business be shardbearer business and don't care. The problem is that they're also the kinda guys who'll do whatever it takes to defend themselves. Maybe they've got the same idea as the native people. We're here, we brought a war to them that they didn't ask for, and now they wanna take the easy way out and just do a mass delete.

[...sure. Slip in technical terms, Hiro, that'll help make this less worrisome.]

Text, Private to Hiro

[gordianknots]

I may have ideas, if you'd be willing to speak in person. I dare not ask further details over the network, and I believe that some privacy would be ideal.

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[zerotohiro]

Always. Where?
Monarchs gave me something to move faster and this is kinda too big to put off much longer.

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[ragnarock]

[ Is the reaction supposed to be terror? Sorry, but Ange is grinning. Giant robots are her shit. ]

Paramail, huh? Even the best machines can get their asses handed to them. Tie them up with cables, hit them while they're getting ready to fire and use their own energy build-up agains them, shove bras in their exhaust ports...

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[zerotohiro]

[...you know. That's not the reaction he expected and he's too surprised to switch the conversation to private. He's actually more on edge and he narrows his eyes a bit. Great introduction, huh, Ange.]

I don't think you get what we're actually saying here. These things will find you before you can even do anything. [Probably.] And you're missing the part where even the best machines can override people. Trust me, I know.

[Sometimes thinking about Baymax and how he commanded the robot to destroy Callaghan still bothers him. Sometimes.] But if you wanna attack them for us, be my guest.

[heralding]

... What can you tell me about the people who have made these?

["Dwarves" as a race of people is not something that she's familiar with. She's heard of them in her time of traveling in and out of Redgate, but surprise surprise, Lightning hasn't touched a single book yet.]

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[zerotohiro]

I can just forward you my report I wrote. [There's a small, small hint of amusement. He's figured out how much Lightning loves to read. And he's trying. He's trying to keep his game face on and be as helpful as possible.]

The dwarves live in a city right outside of Redgate. They're divided into classes and they're the type of people who're very concerned with self-preservation, basically. They're going to want to keep themselves safe and they're gonna do whatever it takes, including unleashing mechanical monsters on all of us. They're clever though, that's the thing. They use magic and tech combined to create some of the strongest weapons I've ever seen. They had an alliance with one of the Seelie territories and there used to be a Seelie working under them, but they kicked everybody out not too long ago. I don't think they care anymore.

They've been planning this for a long time, I think. There's no way they could have just started all of this.

[andallbite]

... Are you sure there's no way to take them head on?

[ Because if it's an option, he's going to take it. ]

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[zerotohiro]

[...well. Actually. He stops, looking at Loki for a moment before looking back at Eren. All things considered, the other boy is a very special case.]

See, this is why it was important to tell me about certain things. [Like Eren's ability to become a giant, hulking monster.] We're not sure, but we're also sort of stumped for ideas when they reacted to us the way they did.

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[independant]

Huh..? [ Fortunately Hiro's (mostly) been spared the embarrassment that comes with Rin's knowledge of machines. ]

Technology and sorcery can't mix together. They... override one another? [ Giant robot series though, Loki? For real? ]

Are you sure you haven't been watching too much anime at the Station?

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[zerotohiro]

[He shakes his head. Normally he'd be a little huffy or launch into an explanation of things, but for now...this is a little more pressing.]

Not sure we'd believe it either if we hadn't seen them with our own eyes. And technology and sorcery can be mixed together by guys who know what they're doing like the dwarves. [Or Hiro, in some cases, with some things. It's a stretch, but he's trying.]

Normally they override each other, but the dwarves know a specific kind of magic to make this possible. That's the problem.

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[boutant]

I don't think we exactly have enough time to build walls, but my team can try.

Other than that- fight big things with something big. I can try.

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[zerotohiro]

Maybe not everywhere we want to build them, but we can select one or two places to try? I might be able to recruit a couple of guys I worked with on Spire 10, too.

[But. Hold it. He knows what that means.] Ariadne, no. We don't know if that'll hold up against them. [...although.] ...but then again, is your shard detectable in that form?

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[uneulogized]

How's it going? Anything good?

[It doesn't take him long to figure out Hiro's tactic here. Something like this doesn't hang around without a whole lotta freaked out responses, even among people as screwed up as the Unseelie. So, he's picking their brains to see what's happening.]

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[zerotohiro]

[Loki can interject when he feels like it. He may need to soon enough seeing how Hiro's still unsettled even as he starts addressing Jason's question.]

Couple of interesting ones, couple of people who still wanna fight these guys...typical Unseelie. Katsa brought up a point about how they might not do well with water so we can check out rivers and other bodies of water for campsites. And Eren and Ariadne kinda offered to try and go head to head with them. I have some other leads I want to follow, too.

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[atoned]

[ zuko smacks his hand so hard against his forehead it should destroy these machines. of course it doesn't. nothing good happens in zuko's life. why would him simply smacking his temple send such powerful ripples through the lands and destroy these things? ]

[ he takes note of fire. it's the one element he can control, bending it better than even his father at times. it's the only way he can think to assist — melt these machines down until they're whatever melted machines become. he's read stuff on the internet. it still doesn't mean he understands it. ]

[ he's scowling. ]

Are they immune to fire?

[ of course they are, but zuko has to ask. ]

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[zerotohiro]

[...you okay bro? Hiro sort of just stares at Zuko for a moment, partially because that's kind of a dumb question...but at the same time, maybe it's not that dumb of a question.]

More than likely, but why do you ask? [As far as he knows, fire magic is gone in this world and it's something he's still slightly sore about. However, he knows that there are people who had the element at their disposal back home. Zuko must be one of those.] You have an idea?

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[notavirtue]

[Oh, good. Javik had spent his life fighting giant death machines, and it had been nearly two and half years since he'd last seen one. Considering the world was ending, why not now?]

They will aim for the courts if they are so attracted to our shards. Knowing where they are going will make them easier to avoid or lure, until we run out of land.

[He let out an aggravated sigh.]

Short of an orbital barrage, which we do not have here, I have little else to suggest. Tell me what they look like.

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[zerotohiro]

[Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, man. Sucks, doesn't it?]

Exactly what we figured. Katsa's already planning on scouting out locations to take some of the shardbearers who can't easily defend themselves and a few other people are going to scout, too. The problem is we don't know how much land we'll have by the time these guys show up.

[There's a huff, followed by a look that says he still doesn't quite like remembering what these things look like.]

...think of them like giant, mechanical dragons. Big monsters that's like fifty feet, maybe bigger than that, with red and green eyes powered by the shards and made with cogs and gears. They walk on four legs and they can breathe fire. Trust me, you won't miss 'em when they show up.

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[digophelia]

There is one man I know of who possibly could have had a solution to that and he is not here.

Should you find something, please, by all means, lend support to Aghmor. I have ten innocent children who do not need this and we do not have much defenses.

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[zerotohiro]

[He has zero problem with Alice texting, but he doesn't have the time or patience (or the composure) to really do a lot of texting. Short, quickfires yes, but the longer they talk to everyone and field questions and make plans, the more he's reminded that this is really, really bad. None of them need this. Native, shardbearer, it doesn't matter. None of them need the casualties that come with war and it bothers him how widespread everything is.]

We'll do what we can, Alice. There're a lot of people out there that're defenseless and we're trying to figure out the best plan to make sure everybody's safe. This is bigger than any of us have ever dealt with before.

[A beat.] What man? Do you know anybody else we could talk to that might have known him well enough to provide more ideas?

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[fulminants]

We need to get all the natives out of the way. They're coming after us, right? All the shardbearers. The shardbearers who can't defend themselves need to scatter as far as possible, make themselves much smaller targets rather than have it be some sort of massacre.

[ Johnny pauses. ]

I can create a distraction if you need to buy time. These assholes can't go airborne, but I can. Who else is making plans?

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[zerotohiro]

[Johnny he's just. Going to cut through all of that for one quick minute.]

You can fly again? Sweet. [Focus, Hiro.]

They're coming after shardbearers. Katsa had the same idea that we need to get the defenseless ones out of the path and make it harder for them to become targets. We're talking to a lot of people, everybody seems to have ideas. Katsa wants to relocate people, Jack's talking about ice weapons, we have a couple of people researching other routes...the problem is that we don't know if any of those plans are gonna work.

[And you can see why that bums out him, bro.]

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[desperate_times]

Saber told me about that vision. Guess it's happening now.

[She can't help but wonder...]

Are they coming straight here? What about the Seelie? They're shardbearers, too.

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[zerotohiro]

We don't know where they're coming first, but pretty sure they don't have a preference over Seelie versus Unseelie shards. They're going to be coming out from Troichean Beinn which is right next to Redgate and start moving inward, I bet. There're hundreds of them, Chloe. Maybe thousands? They're gonna spread out.

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[madeover]

[ Eggsy only recognizes one of the people making the broadcast. Loki, who he'd spoken to on his first day here. He'd struck Eggsy as one of those people who'd been here long enough to know the war's messy history, so it doesn't surprise him that he's the one making some sort of emergency announcement.

The other kid strikes Eggsy as far too young for any of this, especially with the way that he looks white as a sheet. Then again, he's not the first teenager that Eggsy's spotted, not even close, and all of them have to do their part.

So Eggsy listens dutifully, files away both mental notes and constructs a list of questions. This sounds beyond bad, but he's dealt with horrible odds before. And fighting is at least something he can wrap his head around, unlike that Void thing which doesn't seem stoppable. ]

First thing's first. You said you're sure this is happening, but how do you really know? You said something about a vision?

[ Sounds a bit suspect to him, but he'll hear them out. ]

[video; private] I. WILL STILL HIT EGGSY'S POST but probably after this thread gets a little further

[zerotohiro]

[Hello Eggsy. While Loki's busy with something else, Hiro's going to take it upon himself to address the question here. Beyond bad doesn't even begin to cover stuff here. For the most part though Hiro appears to be kinda patient with the questions, only a tad annoyed by the fact that they're being questioned about facts.]

We really know because we actually saw the things first-hand. Kinda funny how that works. [Hiro, no.] ...the vision came to a couple of people months ago back in the winter and it recently came back last month. This isn't the first time people have had visions of things in this world and have seen them come true months later. If we hadn't seen the hundreds or thousands of shard monsters hanging out in the rings inside Troichean Beinn I'd be a little more skeptical, too.

Fact is they're coming. We just don't know when and instead of waiting, we wanna start preparing for stuff now. Be a little ahead of the game.

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[vaccinations]

Agh, fuck. When it rains it pours, doesn't it?

[Slowly she runs her hands down her face before dropping them to her side.]

Okay, so we know these things are coming. Any idea where they'll strike first? Is there anyway we could use it to our advantage? Or is it just one of those "shit's happening" visions without much other detail?

We gotta at least try to get people the hell away from there.

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[zerotohiro]

That's putting it way, way lightly. [Sorry, Ellie.]

We know these things are coming. We don't know where the dwarves have mapped out, but if they're coming out of Troichean Beinn probably gonna guess they're coming to strike the west first. The most we could do is maybe move everybody east. Couple of people have suggested moving people into the mountains and near whatever bodies of water we've got left but there's nothing confirming they'll be stopped by water.

How fast do you think we can actually move people though?

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[thedominatrix]

[Irene gets her 'what' and her 'you're not serious' over before turning on the locket; the face she presents is immaculately calm.]

If you can't beat them, join them.

Can we convince the Seelie this is our doing?

Can we goad these things away from us and towards them?

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[selfimage]

Ah—yes. That has crossed my mind. The convincing part I doubt. [ mostly because he alerted Dorian as part of his debt. it wasn't everything, just like it isn't everything now. Loki had a knack for lying by omission. it remained true that even though it was worthless, Dorian did help them get in. they just found ... something they weren't looking for. ]

As soon as they figure out what's amiss, they can easily slide out from between us and them. It is a rather long trek between Redgate and Caer Glaem.

The goading bit depends on how tenacious these unmanned shard Gundams are in their pursuit of ... well, us, I'd suppose. I'm not yet savvy enough to create fake shard signatures. [ alas. that would be useful. ]

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[accomplicedauthor]

[ That's a scary chunk of information to digest. Dwarves? Robots? If he understands even half of it--

Well, he doesn't. The part about having visions makes sense, and maybe the "evil invincible magic monsters" thing. That's about it. ]

You're certain this isn't a tactic by the-- the Seelie? They're not in league with these dwarves?

[ Those words sound strange in his mouth. He's had a month to acclimate to the myth and mystery of the Drabwurld, but every legend is still as alien as the next. ]

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[zerotohiro]

[Ah. Poor guy must be new, and he actually feels pretty bad about that. This world's brutal no matter what but at least a lot of them have some idea what's going on.]

I kinda wish it was just so we'd have an easier idea of how to attack, but no. The dwarves have an allegiance with some Seelie territory but this is pretty much all their own idea from what we can tell. [Though...maybe the monsters do only react to Unseelie shards? Though that wouldn't make sense why they'd kick out all shardbearers then.] The Seelie might be in as much trouble as we are.