f2020 | SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2020: THE SYNOD IS CONVENING.

SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2020: THE SYNOD IS CONVENING.

All fourteen Gates simultaneously reverse polarity. For the next seven days, and only these seven days, any imPort stepping through a Gate will arrive safely in the Porter building: the only place on this fractured planet that can safely contain the energy of the imPort community in its entirety.

SO IT BEGINS
THE SYNOD

THE

DEATH

TRAIN

While the Gates are the simplest form of transportation, those making the journey to the Synod from the White Tower have the option of travelling by train, if they wish. Despite the playfully grim moniker, there haven't been any recorded fatalities on board the Death Train in many years. Or ever, really. Raw, untamed entropy doesn't do anything as simple as kill.

For that delightful reason, passengers will be reminded at frequent intervals not to attempt to leave the train once it enters the active zone of the Porter's defenses, or to do anything that could jeopardise the integrity of its shielding.

The journey is relatively comfortable and takes approximately two and a half hours. A limited menu of pastries and alcohol is available from the buffet car. The smallest tables seat two.

As the train passes through the entropy-saturated wasteland of the Deathdome, the view from the heavily tinted windows of each of the train's four-person cars is impossible to comprehend: every atom of the landscape is in a constant state of flux, scattered in endless possibilities across the multiverse.

WELCOME CARPET

Inside, you get the impression of three towers; no view from outside is possible. You're totally sealed inside for the week, by the same Fate-built tech that shields this place from the ravages of cosmic radiation— the train station is built into the structure, entrance tunnel hermetically sealed.

You're greeted by welcome robots, primitive little things full endless enthusiasm and covered in dents. What they lack in intelligence they make up for in persistence and durability. Each and every ImPort is assigned their own personal robutler.

Though they tend to hinder more than help.

Boop boop boop boop. They provide you with a complimentary swag bag. Inside is one (1) t-shirt, one (1) top of the line tablet (pre-loaded with this year's Agenda and a simple game app that looks suspiciously like 2048), a stress ball, personalised souvenir pen and eraser (but no pencil), and of course, a lanyard keycard for accessing the comfortably adequate accommodations provided for all attendees.

Given the week-long Synod, your room itself is a decent suite, furnished with dark colors, redolent with a smell you can't quite place. You may find yourself assigned an unexpected roommate, which may feel awkward considering you'll find arrayed on the beds, a half-dozen complimentary tickets to the spa, restaurants and the power gym, with its preternaturally durable equipment.

Robutlers constantly remind: do not attempt to leave the Porter facility or do anything to jeopardise the integrity of its shielding.

CONVENTION

Talks and panels take place in the convention area, which feels like a miniature city within the Porter's defenses, a hive with padded audience seats, wide stages, and complete with holographic audiovisual equipment that's curiously compatible with presentation software from every city.

Here, ImPorts will present and debate various topics regarded as major concerns for all. [OOCly, players are invited to suggest topics! Scroll down; they will be added below.]

This is also something of an expo, where cities practically demonstrate— or show off their good works. From the latest hovertechnology models to demonstrations of healing powers, playful duels in the forcefield-enclosed stages to magical books that temporarily transfer skills on touch, this is the place to pretend you're showing off your cards... while playing the most important ones close to your chest.

PANELS AND DEBATES

PRESENTERS

TOPIC

Joseph Kavinsky vs [N/PC]

White Tower ImPort Overpopulation and Dimensional Instability

Tony Stark and other technopaths

How Technology Will Save Us

Joshua Foley

The Mysteries and Intricacies of ImPort Physiology

Count Dooku and volunteers

ImPort Factions Must Align Against the Shared 'Resistance' Threat

Jin Bubaigawara (x3)

The Twin Cities are NOT Dimensionally Unstable No Matter What You Heard

Kang

Bridging Old and New: Maintaining Infrastructure with Limited Modern Resources

EVENING

EVENTS

Every night of the Synod, ImPorts gather to dine in a grand hall with a ballroom party. Each dinner is hosted by one ImPort city, gruntwork complete with robutlers-- which guarantees food safety, and complete with multiple cuisine options, cultural decor, and entertainment.

Given the range of cities represented, food options vary from greasy burgers to six courses of seafood and blue venison, and rarefied vegan fare.

When ImPorts aren't here eating, they're most often talking. Ergo, it's not uncommon for low-key drama to break out, but this year, the majority of Synod days seem to be passing uneventfully.

Fortunately, speeches are reserved for daytime. After dinner, it's time to dance.

The last song of the night is always obscure music no one can quite remember the words or melody to afterward. It's a slow dance song meant for two or more partners; the ballroom grows dark and the world seems to fade away. Or rather, it just fades back into one's hotel room.

THE BLACKOUT

On Monday, September 21st, shortly before the Gates are due to resume ordinary function and allow attendees to leave, the Porter building suffers a power cut.

Abruptly, all the lights cut out. Music stops. Your faithful robutler freezes in place, unresponsive— though its internal systems appear to be running, the centralised command hub that it relies on has fallen silent.

Though the robutlers are out of comission, technology-minded ImPorts and their tech drones hasten to reassure that systems analyses are underway. Within a few hours, repairs begin, the estimated time being two days.

In the meantime, thanks to the diversity of powers on hand, there is enough food and water. Candles start to circulate. It might even be a little romantic, if it weren't for the chaos outside. Characters might find themselves trapped in an elevator for a few hours, or compelled to seek comfort from one another.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Welcome

Wei Wuxian took the train to get to the convention but he has no real interest in actually attending. He is only there because he has to be. In a way it does offer him some opportunity to investigate the area and the people attending and see if he can't gain information on the White Tower and those in charge.

He ignores the robot for the most part, accepts the bag and goes straight to his suite. He deposits the bag and his suitcase of clothing on the bed.

A knock comes at his door and he goes to answer. Pulling it open, he stares at the other person with a steady expression. "Looks like you found me."

Party
Wei Wuxian used to enjoy parties before he came to this place. Now it just seems like a cover for a far more sinister event going on beneath the surface. But now he has a drink in hand, his stomach is full from the food that he didn't have to cook and all he plans to do now is watch others dance and drink himself to sleep.

He knows that it is inevitable that he encounter people he used to consider friends and family while in this place. So the alcohol will help him get through what will inevitably be some hard conversations.

The personal robobutler was annoying for the most part, for constantly reminding him like the rest to don't leave the Porter facility, which he finds that suspicious. Now he regrets coming over for the convention and party once he learns everyone is sealed inside for a week. It did it's job helping him and his family to settle in their rooms.

At the party, he was being stoic for the most part. When the music starts, while everyone else finds a dance partner or wander off to explore the rest of the convention area, he walks around aimlessly through the crowd, hands tucked properly behind his back.

He finds Wei Wuxian drinking all by himself. It was dark in the ballroom, the music plays, and the world around them fades so no one can see well in the dark. Before Wei Wuxian knows it, Lan Wangji takes one of his hands in an attempt to lead him into a dance.

"Wei Ying. Will you dance with me? Perhaps, if only just for a little while."

He is barely paying attention when suddenly there is a hand on his and he is being lead to the dance floor. His eyebrows knit together and he looks up at the other in confusion.

"Lan Zh.." He pauses before the name can fully pass his lips. He hardly feels like he deserves to use such casual speech after how much he has tried to push them all away.

"I don't know how to dance."

This is exactly what he had tried to avoid and why coming to this event was such a risk. It meant having to see the ones he has tried so hard to push away.

He's not going to let go of that hand. He's not going to let him go. This world is dangerous. He can sense it. So much danger and control. So many factions divided into a lost cause. Same as how many sects were divided in the past. In his knowledge of politics, eventually, it's hard to predict the stability of this world's government as a whole.

For now, he wants to forget. Because he'll be damned if he waited another week, another month, another year, a decade. His self-restraint hits it's limited and pushing him away did worked at one time, but he keeps coming back.

He dances slow, watching his step, and attempts to find a rhythm. There isn't any. He just wants to hold his hand and dance with him slowly. "Neither do I, but I always wanted to try with you."

Wei Wuxian can't pull away without causing a scene. And he has done everything he could these last few years to always be right under the radar. Able to do what he does because he is like a ghost in the shadows. So if he were to try and push someone like Lan wangji away it would only cause unwanted attention.

So he moved with him, his eyes averted. His words cause that stir of uncertainty inside of him again. The one that always questions whether he is making the right choices with his life.

"Why would you want to try to dance with me?"

When he looked away, he could feel him faltering, wanting to flee from this very scene. That look reminded him of that day at Nightless city when he let him go and he wished he hadn't. He's here, right now, in front of him, and he doesn't want to let go.

Yet, he dances with him slowly, with grace, minding his step. Not wanting to overstep. Just like everything in this world, it feels fragile and fractured, just like their bond.

"But Wei Ying. I am dancing with you. Right, here here and now. We are dancing. There is no try. There is no regret." He just holds his hand and rocks him back and forth with the music.

"You are tired. Why do you continue on this path?"

Edited 2020-09-16 03:47 (UTC)

"Because it is the one I believe in and the one I think will somehow get us home." And he has never once let go of the belief that what he was doing would help everyone. Not just the people from his world, but the ones from everywhere. Everyone that could possibly want to return to their own world but can't find the way out.

He moves with the music, trying not to focus too much on the face that Lan Wangji is dancing with him, wanted to dance with him..How much has this world changed all of them that he would want to be like this?

"You're fighting this on your own." He said, with no surprise. He always felt this loneliness from him, and this loneliness always touched him in so many ways. "It has been lonely without you." So lonely.

He remained silent as he continues to dance with him around the ballroom, holding his hands, and holding him close as he dances the night away until it seems like everything and everyone else fades away. There's just them and the music.

At one point, he encourages and nudges Wei Ying to lean on his shoulder as they dance slowly back and forth. But only if he wanted to. He didn't have to. But he wanted him to. A wordless way of saying, no matter what he does, he always has his support from afar.

He feels his heart pound a little harder in his chest at the confession that Lan Wangji has been lonely without him. He had once thought they would always be by each others side. Walking the world and supporting each other as soulmates. But this world changed all of that. Wei Wuxian's own choices changed that.

It would be so easy to just forget everything he was fighting for and fall into the arms of family again. He had been without them for so long on their world, and now he is only continuing that when perhaps he doesn't have to.

"Lan Zhan..."

But what can he even say? He doesn't know how to even explain any of the things he has done. Without even thinking he lays his head against the man's shoulder, as if letting go of just one piece of everything that has held him back over the years.

He continues the dance, slow with each step. There is no hurry. When he lay his head on his shoulder, he felt a missing piece of puzzle coming back to him. They never dance together before, this must be their first time. There's no need to explain. Just the closeness of their bodies together, following the rhythm of the music and time and giving themselves permission to have fun.

"You don't have to fight. At least, not on your own." Very slowly, he welcomes him back. He's holding him in his arms around his back, to help him forget the bad things he done from the years. He doesn't know what he did. He doesn't have to know. All he has to know is that no matter what, he has a home to come back to always.

Eventually, the hold around him become a hug. It's a good thing it's dark in the ballroom, so it's hard to see.

He wraps his arms around the other man to hug him back. He wished it was true. Not having to fight alone...but somehow he has always believed that doing it that way was the only way. He needs this hug more then he realized. He needs to know that despite his choices that people still accept him.

"I'm an assassin, Lan Zhan..I kill people." That's his job. It's not the one he originally started off doing in this world but it is the one he has become the best at. It is necessary because each person he takes down, is one step closer to the answers he seeks.

"I have to do this fight alone because I can't make anyone else endure that. And it's the only way to keep everyone I care about safe."

"My ancestor, Lan Yi..she killed people who are her political enemies." He listens to him without judgment. He somehow knew what his intentions and aspirations are. "She the invented Chord Assassination technique, and she founded my clan to this day."

He hugs him only tighter in response. "Aren't you going to stop one day? Because you don't have to continue. There must be a way without having to kill." But somehow he knew the answer that Wei Ying couldn't stop the path that he is on.

"I'll stop only when those in charge are no longer corrupt and I've found the key to returning us home." Those are his goals and he is not one to stop until his goal is achieved. This is the path he has chosen and trying to detour from it now would go against everything he believes in.

He has perfected his abilities to be perfect for assassination. He had been a threat when hunting the Wen clan. He is even more of one now. He doesn't even have to play a single note to control the spirits. And with spirits he can kill without ever leaving a trace of how it happened. A perfect kill.

Wei Wuxian | The Untamed | OTA

II. Party

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