xp_logs | Sound of Silence - Isolation: Forge, Crystal, and Medusa

Forge, Crystal, Medusa, along with over 100,000 Attilani citizens and visitors, find themselves cut off from the rest of the world. During the first twelve days, each one reacts to the situation in a different way. What happens next? Only time will tell.

Forge - Day One:

Forge had been typing away on his laptop in the airport lounge when the blast came, shattering every window in the airport simultaneously. The screen of his laptop dissolved into spiderweb cracks, and he hit the floor instinctively, covering his head. Long seconds passed, punctuated by the sounds of panic and screaming from the other travelers. Airport personnel were staggering to their feet, trying to keep order and direct people away from the pulverized glass that littered the floor. Reaching his feet, Forge stumbled towards the crowd, some part of his mind wondering if the flight to Muir would be delayed.

People were shouting and pointing out the windows to the sky. Forge's attention was drawn to the plane that was visible in the distance, trailing smoke and coming around in a tight arc to attempt an emergency landing. Even from this distance, details leaped out to him - port inboard engine inoperative outboard engine destroyed flight surfaces compromised - and he realized that the plane was coming in far too quickly for a safe landing. The second realization was that the royal crest on the tail of the plane was plainly visible as it careened past the airport, disappearing behind a curve of landscape.

Instinctively, Forge ran in that direction, ignoring shouts from airport officials. The plane had to be over a kilometer away, but if it was carrying the royal family - those were people he knew, his friends...

Then the horizon seemed to grow rapidly closer, and an odd sensation gripped Forge, as if he were plummeting in a high-speed elevator, though his feet remained firmly on solid ground. The ocean appeared to rise up in a massive wave, converging from every direction, enveloping the island in a massive liquid sphere -

- then just as suddenly the sphere collapsed, and bright sunlight reflected through the sudden fall of rain. Forge shielded his eyes, stepping through the broken glass out onto the tarmac. There seemed to be no sign of the plane, no explosion, nothing. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a uniformed security officer tugging him back. "Senhor, vem com mim, por favor," the Attilani officer earnestly ordered. When Forge shook his head, uncomprehending, he repeated the demand in English. "Sir, I need you to come with me, this way. It is not safe here, we are evacuating the airport."

Forge could only blink in surprise, the events of the past sixty seconds seemed almost unreal. "I don't understand..." he stammered quietly.

"Sir, you need to come with me. Do you need medical attention? Sir, can you hear me?"

Shaking his head, Forge turned and walked with the officer to where more people were being herded through the airport as security officers and airport personnel tried to manage the chaos. "I'm fine," he said to no one in particular. "I'll be all right. I need to make it to my flight."

"This way, sir," a female airline attendant said, placing a hand on his upper arm to guide him. "We need you to keep moving."

Within moments, Forge was surrounded by the throng of people moving from the scene. He kept trying to push his way through the mass, to get some idea of what was going on. It seemed to be hours until he was brought into the crowded ampitheater that seemed to be serving as an evacuation point. Around him, various people - Attilani and foreign tourists - looked to be in different states of shock, fear, and trepidation. Leaning against a wall, Forge slid to the floor and hugged his travel bag to his chest, trying to stay calm.

"What is going on?" he asked quietly. No one answered.

Crystal - Day Two:

Crystal awoke. All seemed as it should be, yet she knew that it was not. Something was... off. Different. Slowly, she sat up, her head turning to face the window. Just a few days ago, everything had been right. School had been over, she'd been home with her family... her family. Her parents.

Crystal pushed herself off the bed. Maximus manifested and did not tell anyone. She stepped into the shower. I trusted him. I let him into my mind. She dressed. He used me. He made me believe that I should kill his parents and my parents. She opened her bedroom door. Blackagar stopped me and made Maximus leave. She floated down the hallway. Mother and Father are fine. I am fine. We are all fine.

Ten minutes later, the palace filled with her screams.

Forge - Day Three:

"No, I'm trying to tell you. I'm an American citizen. Look, here's my passport. I was supposed to fly out almost 36 hours ago to Lisbon and connect to Edinburgh. I need to know what's going on."

"Sir, we are under a state of emergency currently. As I have explained to you, we will provide you as much information as we are able. Now please, we are very busy and if you will just be patient..."

The Attilani officer's voice was polite, but the intimation was clear - sit back down and shut up. Forge had quickly become impatient with being herded into the ampitheater with two hundred other people, and was trying to gain some perspective on the situation. His cell phone wasn't receiving any signal, even when he'd boosted the gain through the building's internal framework. Logically, he should have been able to reach any number of signal towers from Berlin to North Africa, but instead... nothing.

"Can I at least try and make arrangements to contact my family? I can't get any cell reception, and apparently nothing's registering within almost a thousand miles. I need to know what's going on? Have any flights been able to leave? What about the royal jet? Has the royal family--"

Forge's questions were cut off by a harsh look from the officer, who stood up from behind the small folding table and walked briskly to a semi-private alcove, motioning for Forge to follow. As he did, the officer grabbed him firmly by the shoulder. "Sir, I understand the confusion, but the last thing we can handle is a panic. I can tell you this much - the Ministry of Transportation has forbidden any commercial flights or ships from leaving Attilan until we can make contact with the mainland. There has been no official word, but we must remain calm and have faith."

"Wait, you mean no one's able to contact anyone outside of Attilan?" Forge's eyebrows raised in surprise. "There have to be landlines, submarine communications cables, something direct. Unless there's no one to answer..."

The officer yanked on Forge's arm, drawing him in close. "Do you see what I mean about a panic?" he hissed. "Right now, our job is to keep these people calm until we can discover the cause of this incident."

Forge shook his head. "Look, I know the royal family. Lady Medusa and Lady Crystal. I'm with Xavier's School in America. If I can see them, I know we can find out a solution to this--"

He was interrupted by a snort of sarcastic laughter. "Out of the question," the officer stated sharply. "During a state of emergency the royal family will be kept secure, certainly entertaining no foreign visitors, no matter what familiarity they may claim. Once this situation is resolved, you may apply for an audience through proper channels."

Forge gritted his teeth. He was beginning to despise the run-around. "I'm telling you, something's gone on here, and I demand to know what it is. You can't just keep all these people in the dark, we have a right to know."

"And the right of the state will take precedence," the officer shot back, "Now, I will ask you one last time to exercise some patience and whatever amount of dignity you can muster and let us do our job. Sir."

Reluctantly, Forge jerked his arm out of the officer's grip and returned to where the Attilani officials had set up the cots and food for those who were still stranded. Resting on a cot and leaning his head into his hands, Forge began to run options in his head, no matter how futile.

At the moment, it was the only thing distracting him from the possibility of being totally alone.

Crystal - Day Five:

Crystal stood on the balcony outside her bedroom door. There wasn't any proof that the plane had gone down. There wasn't proof of anything. They were completely cut off from the world outside of Attilan and no one knew why. Whatever was happening, Crystal knew it hadn't been part of Maximus's plan. She'd been privy to his plan: a horrible, insane mess of faulty reasoning, death, and an entirely mutant Attilan.

Crystal's thoughts turned to those outside of the palace. Did any of them know anything? Had anyone seen what happened to the plane before they lost contact with the rest of the world? Had someone done this on purpose?

Where was Maximus?

Crystal sat on the balcony and cried.

Medusa - Day Nine:

It was the first day that Medusa had emerged from the fog she'd been in since the day of isolation, as some were calling it now. For what else could they call it now that no one in other countries could be reached via radio, cell, internet? At first they'd thought perhaps something had wiped out communications, perhaps the use of Blackagar's voice for the first time in over a decade. But then communications that were internal and based on the island was found to work…it was only communication off Attilan that wasn't working. So they had sent scouts, in boats and planes. They would lose contact after a distance and none had returned. So they had sent the teleporter. When she didn't return, they stopped sending scouts. The focus turned to imposing order on the chaos of the island - registering residents and visitors alike; providing housing for those without; learning what infrastructure could still function and what required adaption. List after list was made of what needed to be done and when the lists were completed, the tasks were staggering. If the government had been strong…but with many of the high officials gone, those left behind were left scrambling to fill in the gaps. If she could only ask her the Lady Ambur for advice…her mother would know what to do. Medusa quickly pushed the thought from her mind. Something in her had snapped the day her parents had died and the island had disappeared…for no matter that people had tried to comfort her that her parents might be ok since there were no remnants of the plane to be found, she knew it wasn't true.

Forge - Day Ten:

Forge sighed as he stood outside the small house. This was apparently what passed for suburbs in Attilan, a row of small single-family homes overlooking the coast. Without any contact with anyone outside Attilan for over a week now, there seemed to be no way of leaving the island. Ships that had gone out to sea returned, having run into dangerous and unpredictable ocean currents. Without navigation systems, planes could not venture far from the small island. The coast of Portugal should only have been a stone's throw away in even a small plane, but yet no contact had been made. Rumors were circulating that the government had sent a teleporter out to contact the mainland, but no one had returned.

For all intents and purposes, Attilan was a world unto itself. And along with four hundred and thirty other travelers, tourists, and non-citizens, Forge found himself a stranger in a strange land. Once they had been released from the emergency shelter, Attilan officials had made it public that the island nation was isolated from the mainland, but that through cooperation, patriotism, and faith, that her citizens would prevail.

Rumors still ran rampant about the royal family - whether or not they were even alive was a matter of great discussion, and Parliament officials still had not made any official comment. What they had done was institute a voluntary "temporary hosting and relocation" program for the four hundred and thirty people who had found themselves suddenly refugees without a home. The citizens of Attilan were asked to open their homes to host these foreigners, and assist them during their acclimation to Attilan culture.

Thus, Forge found himself knocking on a stranger's door, his luggage pulled meekly behind him. Within moments, the door opened and a large bearded man looked down at him. Forge tried to give a confident smile and gave a small wave, holding up the envelope with the government seal on it. "Hello. I'm John Forge, they gave me this address as part of the hosting program. Are you Mister..." he looked at the paper briefly, "Paulo Castellano?"

With a nod, the older man grunted assent, then reached out with both hands to grasp Forge firmly by the shoulders, pulling him in to kiss him on both cheeks. "Welcome to my home, my young friend!" Paulo exclaimed boisterously. "We are honored to be able to help during these troubled times! Maria! Cristina!" he bellowed back into the house, "Our guest has arrived! Come in, come in, let my wife take your things. Maria! I am taking our young guest to the boat! Bring us the wine!"

Shocked by the sudden rush of oppressive enthusiasm, Forge found himself rapidly introduced to Paulo's wife and found his jacket taken, his luggage scooted down the hall, and a glass of wine placed in his hand as he found himself following Paulo down a well-traveled path to the wooden boardwalk leading to a small marina.

"Senhor Castellano," Forge said meekly, trying to keep up with the larger Attilan, "I'm very thankful that your family's opened up your home to me... if there's anything I can do to help out..." He was somewhat at a loss for words, the situation being rather unfamiliar to him. While back at home he had a sizeable bank account, there was no accessing it from Attilan, closed off as they were. And despite assurances that the refugees would be taken care of by their new hosts, Forge had issues with being someone's impromptu houseguest for however long this crisis lasted.

"Yes, yes, very much you can do, my friend!" Paulo clapped Forge on the shoulder, escorting him to the docks. "You wish to do work, we have work for you to do. Maria's brother, Enrico, he works with me on our boat. We are line fishers, you understand the word? Large net, we drag behind the boat, bring in many fish." The thick Attilan accent belied the obvious fact that English was a second or third language to Paulo, but one he chose to speak in for his guest's comfort. Turning to Forge, he noticed the prosthetics and paused, one thick-nailed hand scratching at his beard. "Oh, I see. You can, enh... you have no trouble with a boat, yes? With the, how do you say... disabled?"

Forge was slightly overcome by the sudden offer, and shook his head. "No, I think I can handle myself on a boat just fine, sir-"

"Paulo," the older gentleman corrected, "When you share a man's home, he is not 'sir', you are like family. You will call me Paulo."

"Paulo, then," Forge replied with a smile. "I'd be honored to learn how to help you on your..."

He stopped dead in his tracks alongside Paulo as the older man reached their destination. It was a boat, possibly only because it fit the definition of "object mostly-floating on a body of water". The faded white paint was peeling in more areas than it covered, and what metal was visible binding the planks together was coated with dark grey barnacles and shockingly-red rust.

Orgulho de Reina, the painted name on the prow stated. "Queen's Pride?" Forge translated, relying on his elementary Spanish to try and parse the words in Portugese. "This is your boat?"

"And my father's, and his father's before him!" Paulo exclaimed proudly. "Come, we shall sit like old friends and I will learn about you, how you are doing, where you are coming from, yes? I would offer you cigar, but my wife, she forbids these things. What can you do, eh? Come, my young friend, let me show you aboard, Mister... enh..." Paulo looked at the folded paper, his eyes squinting.

"John," Forge said, extending his hand to Paulo. "My name is John."

Crystal - Day Twelve:

It was odd, Crystal thought, having memorial services instead of funerals. No bodies, no way of even knowing if people were dead... There was no way to prove that her parents were dead, but they had heard reports of people seeing the plane coming down, seeing a blinding flash, and then the plane was gone. In the same vein, there was no way to know that Estela was dead. Perhaps she'd made it out of Attilan but was unable to return. Jackson didn't think so; she'd seen it in his eyes. Estela had only been trying to teleport to Portugal, and Portugal wasn't so far away... why hadn't it worked?

Clearly the outside world wasn't having any more luck contacting them than they were having in contacting the outside world. Whatever this was, it was a two-way street. They couldn't leave Attilan, and no one could reach Attilan.

Was that really so bad?