i have been thinking


we ought to get ourselves to the northern continent of the americas






[[ooc: HI this is Thor putting out there the idea of getting to North America. This was first raised in an ooc discussion post, but it's good to get characters talking about the idea and figuring out how/if people who want to can help the effort.

Please use this network post for group discussion, I'm not planning to have Thor respond to everyone! Contribute your characters ideas for getting there and how etc. Just because Thor wants to take a boat doesn't mean it's the best idea! (see the plot engagement thread for the mods' thoughts on what might work best)

Basically, if we can get a few of the displaced to the shores of NA, another gate can be set up to allow everyone else to go if they want to explore and find stuff out.

Yay!!!!]]

Fellow Displaced, while there's certainly quite a lot to divert attentions to, allow me to offer some reprieve.
In my infamy, I've decided to publish a series of novels under a new surname. There's something in there for everyone, of course. If you like what you see, please support my endeavors! R&R, as they say.

Ah, yes- all appropriate warnings for mature content, blah bah blah. Read at work at your own risk.

King of the Scoundrels by Trixie Mistil
Summary:
Marius is torn between three lovers: One rich, one famous and the other dangerous. The biggest catch? They'll do anything for him. Overtaken by the politics of the upper echelon, Marius must maneuver to to keep himself safe while navigating the burning hunger within him. To sate his dangerous desires, he must dig to find the truth behind wicked facades.

[ there's a link to a free copy of the first erotic novel in the series. while it's kinda trashy, it's also fairly well-written, poetic at times, drama intense, and unapologetically sexy. there's even some surprising romance thrown in. whoever ends up reading it will find that it ends in a cliff-hanger.

the next one is under a pay lock. ]

[ someone's been dwelling on the aerie but, like, not in a traumatic way. cracks proverbial knuckles. ]

I had a conversation with Johann Grey, shortly before the gods were freed in the Aerie. My impression is that he had little to do with the Aerie's creation as a universe, and the version of him we saw in there was a position placed upon him by the god that also put us there in the first place. It is something to consider when we examine the roles placed upon all of us, how much of that might be a god’s perspective. He suspected it was largely the work of at least two of them and all but confirmed Gold’s involvement - which given the glowing eyed nature of the kestrel powers, makes sense.

I have caught up and see that James Henries is responsible for the death of the Blue god, but Grey had a friend in the Gold one in the Aerie. He claimed Gold was responsible for the Aerie, as well as the fact that we seem to have woken him up in the first place.

It was the recent expedition in May to Antarctica that woke up the Gold god. It would further explain the surge of golden eyed monsters that followed that earthquake and how they sought us out as Displaced. Ball's followers believe the gods are asleep, that previous god-touched individuals were left with the responsibility of keeping the world safe. We see signs of this throughout the history of this planet, with the hieroglyphics in New Cairo and the murals in New Oslo (my understanding of this world's timeline dates the art of these two societies at thousands of years apart). We, the Displaced, are the first evidence of the god-touch the cultists have seen in a long while. I realize this is old news for some of us, but we are constantly welcoming new numbers, so bear with it.

For those who were not able to reach under the volary, six of the gods were in bird cages, looking like wisps of color. The Gold one freely fluttered around Grey much like a bird. Blue is dead and we have pieces of him in us, Gold is awake, which means there are still five of them out there, presumably still asleep. Johann Grey was searching for a god in Antarctica, and we know he wanted to use Spinetail to wake Blue up. We can theorize he may be looking for the rest.

I do not trust Grey. But I do not believe he is an active threat to us. We do not seem to be his targets in the grand scheme so much as occasional collateral. I hope we can understand the difference, as I am not saying he is not dangerous, but his motivations seem more chaotically selfish than outright evil. He is aware of who we are and used Cassius to predict our continuous arrival in the Marianas Trench, and we know he worked with Henries, as well as Riverstone on Project Spinetail. They were first introduced in 2273 by an ancestor of Meredith Ling, the current CEO. A UN backed facility in New Omsk was used in a cover up for the Spinetail earthquake’s epicenter, which suggests UN involvement as well, but given how tightly Riverstone works with the UN, this is not a surprise. What concerns me more is what Riverstone or the UN might want with a god.

And Grey may still have Judas. He is not a safe man, and tracking him down still presents danger, even if his goals lie elsewhere.

Hey.

If we haven't met, I'm Ren Amamiya. [ Ren, child, your name is right there. ]
I wanted to post about something that's been on my mind for a while. The dreams that we have, and how we might be able to better control them. We have a connection to this world through them that we haven't fully explored yet.

We can start. I propose to whoever's interested that we do a couple of things.

1. Train ourselves to get to know our own dreams, and learn how to control our own subconscious.
2. Train our powers in our dreams. 1 before we can go to 2, but if you can already do 1, let's talk.
3. ????

Showing up here can make someone feel powerless. On top of it, there are corrupt people in high places playing a rigged game. They think they can do anything they want. I think we can take that some of that power back by leveraging what's unique to us.

If you want to work separately, I get that. If you wouldn't mind letting me know if you get somewhere, I'd appreciate it.
I know It'll take some work and it might be uncomfortable, but we could see how far we could go.

[ is this his way of remembering Wu Weixian fondly? maybe, but also he sees this as a way for them to stand up on their own two feet without playing into the rigged games this world has set up. please, ask this boy about his revolution.

note: there's also an explanation on plot engagement to go with this! ]

Think there's connection between Gold god and grief/peace combo. Maybe rage and searching, too.

When Aerie vanished, experienced Blue god shattering. [ Which he does not want to discuss in detail, thanks. ] Was underwater. Gold-eyed animals around. Felt cold, then rage. Searched for something. Gold eyes dimmed. Then felt grief, then peace.

When monsters attacked in May, some infected people. Eyes glowed gold, turned on allies. Could cure infected using empathy bond. Contact would burn first. Then feel peaceful, then sad.

(Had weird dream before monsters attacked. Pack of creatures searching for blue. More here.)

Wasn't here July 2511. Guide mentions curing unnatural rage with empathy bond. Says it came with intense despair.

Don't know who's making sense of this shit. [ Hence posting this on the network rather than going to someone directly. ] Seems like pattern.

That's it.

( ooc: please take any private threadjacks to character inboxes. thanks! )

@clarke.griffin
Hi everyone. This is @clarke.griffin and @lance.sweets. We wanted to give everyone an update, as well as give a rundown on some things moving forward.

First off, I know some of you just made it back from the Aerie, while others have been back for a while. For anyone who hasn't heard yet, the Aerie was a separate world where everyone was brought to it and given a new life, new memories, and new relationships. It wasn't an easy place to live, and some of us have only gotten a headstart in coping with what we went through. Still, not everyone's figured out the particulars, and a lot of us just got our loved ones back.

Perhaps most importantly, while we as a group tend to have weird things happen to us, this is the first time that the entire collective world has had a shared experience like this. Many of us came from situations where we were more prepared for this than most of the population of this world. Even if you're new, I'm willing to bet that this is the case.

Being in the Aerie changed us. I believe Lance can put this better than I can, but it's important to remember that you're far from alone in any of this. I'll let him delve deeper into this now.

@lance.sweets
‘Complicated’ is not even close to a strong enough word for the situation we’ve all found ourselves in, and there’s not really any sort of established framework for how exactly to deal with it. We’re all going to be figuring this out as we go along, but there are some key points to keep in mind.

The first is to remember that, for any similarities or differences there might've been, the people we were in the Aerie are not exactly the same as we were here before, or are now. Some patience and understanding with each other will go a long way in navigating what's happened. Additionally, the way in which each of us--including the native citizens--deals with this will be different, and so it will help if everyone can remember that and have no expectations for what others might do or how they may feel, or in what timeframe those occur. There’s no right or wrong way to come to terms with everything that happened, and that includes reconciling two entirely separate lives; some may treat who they were in the Aerie as another individual entirely, some may try to blend the two, and some may prefer the person they were in the Aerie.

But as Clarke said, none of us are alone in this, and that’s something that shouldn’t just be sentiment. As difficult as it can be, reach out to others if you need help; likewise, check in on each other whenever possible. It's very easy, in the midst of something of this scale, for individuals to get lost in the chaos if there isn’t a concerted effort to make sure that doesn’t happen. On that note, we also have people here who had arrived only days before the Aerie began and so had no time to establish any sort of support network, as well as new arrivals who can’t be forgotten about in all of this.

For those of you who have just arrived, hopefully you've found the network; although you'll be anonymous until your IDs are registered, you can still participate in discussions and read through older conversations, as well as access the new arrivals guide and the information compendium, the latter of which I believe is updated but I may have missed something. It'll give you something to do as a distraction from the current situation, at least. Additionally, if you have questions or need something brought to you, someone may be able to help with that.

[Lance probably more with the former than the latter, since he's not entirely sure if he can even get into the safehouse right now and doesn't care to test it.]

@clarke.griffin
If you're looking at the arrival guide and noticing that we need some updates, they'd be welcome right now. I usually handle it, but I'm not of a mind to be able to do so at this moment. [Which will be apparent soon for a particular reason—but also, she was doing a lot in coming back from the Aerie. Clarke always has her hands full, but she also knows she has to make good on her "I delegate I don't do everything" word. See, Gene—she can commit to her nonsense.]

Finally, our group has a bar named Red Wings. Both @stephen.strange and I run the establishment, though it's going to fall mostly to me for the time being. If you would like a place to help you get started here, or even get familiarized with the world, Red Wings is a good place to get started. We offer jobs to all Displaced, and we're only staffed by Displaced, making it so that it's a place where you can settle in on your terms. [Unsurprisingly, she isn't mentioning any code of conduct or her firing someone rather publicly. No need to draw attention to it.] And if that doesn't appeal, we do give free meals (and sometimes drinks) to our own on a regular basis.

Right now, just as we've done before, Red Wings has been converted into a community center to provide outreach and resources to our community. If you come and help out, you'll still be considered an employee and paid wages for helping out.

As a note, I'll be in charge of operations for the time being. If you helped Stephen with any of his responsibilities, let me know. I could use some help. [The point being to take the onus off of Stephen. This is how they manage things.]

We believe that covers everything. We know this is a lot to digest, so please feel free to ask any questions. Lance and I are here to help.

[ Don't mind him, just ignoring the trauma of their recent sojourn to another world and another life by giving himself a project that can realize the stuff he was talking about weeks ago- ]

a little while before we got interdimensionally kidnapped (again) i'd started thinking of ways to get to the moon to kick down henries' door, because i assumed that the only place a rich immortal nutcase would decide to live is there.

now that we've got confirmation and i don't have to sound like a crazy person, that's exactly what i want to accomplish. i've theorized with some people that there might be a gate on the moon. if so, probably needs some kind of activation. if not, well. i think there's some evidence we've made them before, but somebody can correct me if i'm wrong.

either way it requires getting there, so there's some options

1) legal: extremely high shuttle fare, huge pain, potentially registers us in a system via ticketing and security feeds
2) less legal: stow away on shuttles, run the risk of discovery, need to understand access points and means of egress
3) questionably legal: build our own shuttle, attract unwanted attention doing so, there's probably a log somewhere of registered shuttles which would mean fake credentials
4) definitely illegal: steal a shuttle, earn bad press, possible arrest?

what i'm looking for is people who want to see this through and don't mind the distinct possibility of getting their hands dirty. hit me up if you're interested.