Tranquility Broken

Set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world where the earth has been invaded by aliens, a group of refugees finds themselves in possession of advanced giant mecha with the power to save the world- If they're up to the challenge.
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Kai
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Tranquility Broken

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It couldn't last. Coulee could not stay safe forever. One day, out of the blue, they came. The ECF made an encampment at the base of the mountain. The first problem was the soldiers. They came into town and caused hell, filling the bars and hotels and generally making things much worse than they ever had been. This, however, only lasted a few weeks. The Townspeople generally wanted the ECF to leave, and the biggest reason happened one evening as people were trying to settle down- The Citabrians attacked. First it was far off, loud noises and explosions, and the racket of gunfire, as well as strange noises that the townspeople could not identify.

The ECF personnel, thankfully, left the town, rushing down to the encampment and getting ready to defend themselves. As the noises came closer, however, the townspeople grew nervous. Within an hour, lights and noises were close enough to make them all more than just worried. First the elders, and then the regular townsfolk, and finally even the newer arrivees began filing out of town, heading up a trail that lead deeper into the mountains. As people went the conversation grew louder, but it was still neat and orderly despite it all. Before long, the destination was clear- a mountain cave.
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Straken
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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In the days preceding the attack, Nolan passed the time by wandering the streets of Coulee as he usually did; only now he had plenty to photograph with the unruly ECF forces in town. In the back of his mind he knew that in some way these soldiers were merely harbingers for something much more unpleasant. With the peace of the town disrupted the freelancer meandered his way from town squares to bars as he derived some amusement from photographing the rabble-rousers in embarrassing unpleasant situations. One incident turning out from his favor when one soldier took offense and started a fight, and this of course ending in the soldier and a bunch of his buddies smacking Nolan around behind the bar.
Battered and bruised, Nolan walked away from the fight with most everything intact. Unfortunately the soldier had gone out of his way to break Nolan’s camera to add another injury to the photographer who had crossed him. Without so much as a shout after the soldiers, Nolan simply set about picking up all of the pieces of his camera before heading home to rest. The rest of the time leading up to the attack and evacuation he spent trying to repair his keepsake.

When the assault finally happened Nolan was less than surprised. “It’s about time I suppose,” he mumbled to himself as he stood from the table he was repairing his camera on and went about getting around some supplies for the trip up into the mountains. All he packed were a few changes up clothes, a usable secondary camera, and the remains he was trying to resurrect; all of which were stuffed inside a worn rucksack.
Once packed he hung around a bit longer than the other townsfolk to see if he could get any pictures of the battle down the mountain. “Nothing good,” Nolan said with a sigh as he spit the butt of a spent cigarette on the ground. With that he turned and followed the last few people on their way out of town.

After a while of walking Nolan reached the safety of the caves, Haven he heard others say. After a few obligatory pictures with his second camera Nolan made his way inside and found rather vacant place to sit down and get back to working on his camera.
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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It was just as well that the ECF showed up in Coulee for all the good these pacifists were doing the world. Don't be mistaken: Oriza DuPont was 100% committed to pursuing a peaceful solution of the global conflict, but that didn't change the fact that the residents of Coulee were far too timid. The high school graduate had yet to meet even one that would commit to her plan and stand by her side in an effort to actively promote a cease-fire and treaty. Sure, plenty of them were more than happy to moan and whine and bitch- heavens knew she'd heard plenty of that sort of complaint- and just as many were willing to discuss and even sympathize with her plans. For whatever reason, though- be it her age or appearance or whatever- not a single person would help her!

Well Oriza was no quitter, and she was capable of adapting. If that meant carrying out her plans single-handed, then by heavens Oriza would make it happen. She had yet to face an enemy unbeatable or a challenge unconquerable in all her eighteen years. So, she got to thinking as they hiked up into Haven that perhaps all this violence so close to home would force some of them to reconsider. Surely it must be a far more appealing endeavor now that the ECF was making life difficult, and the Citabarians were everywhere the soldiers were. We have no means of winning this war, and certainly no means of matching their power. Pursuing reason and debate is our only hope! That was what she firmly believed, and what Oriza mulled over in her mind as she tripped over some loose rock, and landed on her hands and knees just a couple feet away from one very melancholy photographer. "Uff!"

Oriza climbed back to her feet and brushed the dust from her flannel shirt and jeans. A quick examination of her boots revealed no scuff marks: fantastic news indeed. Hair? Still secure in its bun. Perfect: everything in its place. Only after her self-examination did she take notice of another nearby. This quite alarmed her, Oriza considering herself and observant individual. "Oh, hello! Seems I can't but take two steps and make a fool of myself in front of strangers." As she spoke, Oriza studied the young man and noted he didn't seem to be a local- he lacked the physique of a day laborer and his clothes were far too... urban might have been the word. "If you don't mind my asking, are you from Coulee?"
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Straken
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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The very melancholic photographer was quite content sitting away from the main groups of Coulee residents as he had never really formed much, if any, of a connection with them or the town. Aside from the scant few that he even recognized, or would recognize him, Nolan hung onto his role as town drifter. As he silently contemplated a small spring from his camera a relatively young girl tripped not too far away from him.

Nolan was about to set what he was doing down so as to go check to see if she was alright when the girl got up on her own. As he went back to inspecting the spring the girl brushed herself off and began justifying herself and ended with a question directed towards him. Without setting the small spring down he thought about the question and whether or not to ignore it all together with hopes that the girl would wander back to the main group, but part of him quickly shot this idea down.
“No, I am not from Coulee. I am originally from a big city down South,” Nolan said, purposefully being vague as he now tried to find a place for the little spring to fit. “The War brought me up to Coulee.”

To his enjoyment the tiny spring fit right into place. Looking at the main body of the camera with a smile he took it as a good omen and figured he could spare some time for a lite conversation. “How about yourself?” Nolan asked the girl as he set his camera down. “You don’t really look like you’re from around here, you come here with your family to get away from the war or something?”
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Kai
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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Before the flannel-clad girl could respond, another girl made her way to the entrance of the cave, looking around a bit nervously, seeming to be rather lost. She stopped when she noticed the other two there, and seemed to waver on something for a second before deciding and speaking up. "Do. Do you guys know where John went?" she asked, regardless of the fact that these two had never met John.

If they were to bother looking over the girl, she seemed to be very oddly dressed for the moment. She was wearing a white sundress, with a pair of black tights and boots on her lower half, carrying an overlarge hiking backpack off of one shoulder. Her medium-length blonde hair and piercing blue eyes gave her a bit of a striking appearance, but she seemed to be incredibly nervous, or lost, or something.

"I need to find him..." the girl continued.
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Straken
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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Before he was able to get a response from the first girl, another even younger girl approached him, only this one looking quite distraught. As he listened to her frantically ask for someone named “John” he was intrigued by her appearance, as odd as that seemed to him. Noting an odd urge to want to take a picture of the out of place child he leaned forward a bit in his cross-legged sitting position as he thought about the girl’s request.

“Nah sorry, I’m not familiar with anyone by the name of John,” Nolan said as he gave a nonchalant shrug. “Is he your father or something?”
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Kai
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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The girl shook her head at Nolan's question, closing her eyes as she did so, blushing slightly. "He's My friend. We need to find him." As quickly as that, it was suddenly obvious that the girl had included Nolan, and possibly Oriza in her search for this John person. The girl approached, and put her bag down for a moment, seeming to rummage through it for a moment, but she didn't seem to find what she was looking for, and closed the bag, before looking up at Nolan. "Please?"
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Straken
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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Nolan kept eye contact with the young girl who was now requesting his help in a search. The freelancer’s aloof stare and unchanging expression gave no real hint as to what he was thinking at the moment. After a few seconds of pondering the request he reached a hand up and scratched his shaggy head of hair while letting out a dejected sigh.
“Friend huh?” Nolan mumbled to himself before speaking to the girl again. “What’s your friend look like, and where did you last see him?”

In the back of his mind Nolan kept thinking that he should have found a spot to sit that was more tucked away so he could have avoided these interactions. ”When did I become such a misanthropist that I get annoyed by helping a kid? I need to stop being such a downer,” he thought to himself as he felt a certain amount of guilt towards his feelings.
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Kai
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Re: Tranquility Broken

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Behind the group, the sounds of the battle continued to rage on. Every once in a while, a stray round would make its way up into the mountains and smash into a hillside, destroying trees, causing landslides, and starting fires. The noise would have been deafening if they were closer, but from here it was almost dull, it was far off by several miles, but still close enough to be rather dangerous. At one point, a bright flash signified tho those who were familiar with the battling that a Mecha had been destroyed, its reactor exploding as containment failed.

Through this, the Timid girl simply stood, her dress swaying slightly in the breeze, as she spoke with Nolan. "Well... He has brown hair, and he's about this tall" She motioned with her hands that he was a few inches taller than she was "and he's nice." There wasn't much more the girl could really say, and she seemed to be keeping her distance, yet trying hard to remain close. It was an odd, nervous way in which she moved, timidly afraid of these strangers but terrified to be away from people.
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: Tranquility Broken

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

Oriza turned and listened silently to the young girl's plea. "I'd be glad to help." The graduate also offered a friendly smile. "I'm Oriza." O-ree'-za.

Then she turned back to the photographer for a moment. "I'm not from here, no, and I came alone." She smiled again, taking a small sense of pride in the fact that she was capable of living independently (and well) at her age.

Now back to the little blond. "Let's get moving. We'll want to find him before the fighting ends."
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