[ video ] it was not a party bunker

[hardwearing]

[ Sup Hadriel. Today’s video opens on three people (Wash, Nate, and Kyna) sitting in front of Wash’s propped-up phone. They all look uncomfortable to varying degrees but it’s not clear yet why. After a few moments of dead air Wash clears his throat and opens awkwardly, as is his way. ]

Hey. Uh-- hello. We… a group of us, that is, have been gone for awhile on a trip out to the mountains to investigate the planet a little, maybe find out where the Hosts might have been coming from.

...more or less. An exploratory kind of thi- you know, that doesn’t really matter? We found something. It’s. It’s not great.

Not great’s… an understatement. [ Is this where he tells everyone they should sit down for this news? Maybe he should, but Wash presses forward anyway. ] We found what we thought was a bunker, like for survival. But it was actually a lab. A Null lab, where they were experimenting on the Hosts.

Experimenting is a friendly word for it. [ Nate, whose arms are folded resolutely over his chest, flexes his hands, tense. ] It was basically torture. Very meticulous, well-researched torture. As it turns out, the Null were implanting Hosts with- something, it was a piece of equipment they’d worked on for a while. Something to control them.

[ At the word torture Wash goes very still, jaw working with tension and Kyna glances toward him, frowning, before making a face and speaking up to divert attention back to herself. ]

Wow, guys, way to break the news gently. Anyway, there were like, videos and everything.

Footage that, um. Isn’t really suitable for public consumption. I’ll just leave it at that. Point is, the Null have been doing this for a while. And we just- [ He takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly. ] Want people to be safe.

It seemed like something everyone should know about. [ Wash chimes in just to agree, still looking tense but like he doesn’t know where to go from here. ]

Yeah so, uh… [Kyna pauses awkwardly, toying with her necklace.] I don’t know. I guess that kind of explains why they’ve been so violent towards us? Maybe we don’t have to fight the Hosts and the Null. [Or maybe that’s wishful thinking on Kyna’s part.] Anyway, I guess we’ll take questions if you guys have them? Or if anyone wants to know where the bunker is, but it sucks, so you’d probably hate it.

[ Rated -5 stars on Yelp. ]


(( OOC: This is the info dissemination post for this big ol' expedition!! (OOC rundown here.) Unless you want to talk to someone in particular, replies to this post will be fielded randomly by one of the adventurers! ))

Comments

[nonscriptum]

[Kyna is sitting next to Wash, and Nate is literally standing five feet away from both of them, so this is honestly both adorable and hilarious to watch.

Out loud:]

Newt's got that one covered for us.

[hardwearing]

[ Wash doesn't flinch at the elbow, just frowns at Kyna like he's about to say no he doesn't want her anywhere near the tentacled death machines, but then Nate speaks up and his attention is effectively diverted. ]

Newt's doing what?

[evocation]

Newt isn't as good at zapping things as I am.

[Kyna grumbles, utterly unhelpful.]

[hardwearing]

Kyna....

[ Wash glances back at Nate again with a look like 'hey he doesn't know'... neither would Newt, for that matter. His head snaps up. ]

Is Alphys working with him?

[nonscriptum]

Capture plan. Pretty sure Alphys is working with him.

[Nate says with a shrug, before realizing that he might be one of the few people who knows this information, and inadvertently kept it to himself.]

And yeah, the- Kyna taught Lance how to shock, right? He did it to me once when I was teaching him how to punch.

[evocation]

[Kyna's face totally lights up at that.]

Did he? Did it knock you on your ass?

[Let her be proud!]

[nonscriptum]

Oh, yeah.

[No exaggeration, Nate is nothing but honest when he confirms:]

Hated every second.

[hardwearing]

Hey, I can shock too-- but that's not what she means.

[ Urgh this explanation is something he's been keeping hidden for a long time but........ ]

If Alphys is working with Newt, she'll know that a strong electrical shock will disrupt the Null's control through a neural implant. So if they find that that is the case...

[nonscriptum]

But can they risk that without damaging the implant?

[Nate doesn't have any doubts about the collective skill set of the scientists, but he's also worried they'll lose their only tether to the Null.]

What if it just kills the host?

[evocation]

[Kyna looks very proud.]

It won't kill the host. Probably. Right, Wash?

[hardwearing]

That depends how strong a current they use, or is needed to sever the connection. It could damage the implant. It could kill the host. It wouldn't be my first course of action by any means but it's an option. Just one pretty far down the list.

[nonscriptum]

...great, so we won't actually know until they start poking and prodding at it the same way the Null did.

[hardwearing]

Well... I still think trying to calm one down enough to communicate is the best course of action, even if it does have an active link to the Null. And I don't know Newt but I'd trust Alphys to calculate the right amount of electricity.

[ But just in case... ]

Hopefully their team has a healer who can handle Host biology.

[evocation]

If none of that works, the next group can just take someone who can communicate magically.

[hardwearing]

...I'd hope they already do. Or are going to bring it to Hope.

[ Like he suggested last month, but didn't think was going to actually happen with everything else going on. Go Newt go??? ]

Shit, I wish I'd gotten in on this.

[nonscriptum]

Hey, don't sweat it too much. We've been busy keeping our own shit together.

[Understatement of the goddamn year. Nate doesn't need any more guilt on his hands.]

It's like every time we turn around some new crap happens.