Welcome to Gaia! ::

The tasks were easy, but the fear that rolled over each group couldn't be hidden. This was something most had never experienced. The Grimm attempting to take the children was one thing, but the entirety of Below in danger? Below and Above had finally entered peaceful times, and parents had hoped their children wouldn't experience what those of their and previous generations felt. This was new to some, and frighteningly familiar to others.

A small and nervous chatter filled the academy. Some were worried thoughts, some were humorous attempts to lighten the mood. Ava did her best to comfort those who needed it, but her mind was focused on one thing; preparing the academy for the unknown.

At almost exactly midnight the door left untouched was opened by the academy staff, and the survivors came through.

It was only a handful that managed to make it free, and some bore scratches, bruises, and bite marks. They looked visibly shaken as the staff quickly seized the strangely small group to begin patching up wounds. They had come just in time, as shortly after they entered the door they came from was sealed and it was time to join the freshlings underground.

"Everyone, head towards the grandfather clock." Ava called, an order echoed throughout the academy by staff. The staff attempted to remain cheerful, but it was clear they were nervous and on edge. Today would be a long, long night.

What to do:
The underground bunker looks like one might expect: sparsely decorated, with sectioned off rooms for food storage or sleeping. The new inhabitants are free to move about the bunker as they please, but no one is allowed to leave. Staff stand guard by the doors. Ava and Kirket flit around the group, taking head counts and checking in on new arrivals. Annabelle remains with the freshlings, attempting to keep the group entertained and calm.

Some of the survivors are wounded, some are unharmed... you might try to get information out of them on just what happened before their arrival.


Keep an eye on this thread for an update between the next stage! New stage will begin on 1/16.

"Well sure, but that's why we're moving everyone into the bunker below the Academy grounds. You'll be safe there, and there's plenty of people to protect you."

Oh yes, very convincing. Way to go Sathe, you are the pinnacle of calming kids down in a crisis. Add this to your long list of skills, for sure.

He glanced over as the doors opened and survivors from the other locations started to enter. Well, he was hoping to help out more with moving supplies around, but they were out of time it seemed. As if on cue, Ava announced that they were moving into the bunker, and the mass of people slowly did so.

“C’mon now, we have to go with the rest of the group. I’m going to carry you, alright?”

It wasn’t so much of a request as it was a notification. There was no point in waiting for an answer, as the outcome would be inevitable. And at this point Sathe figured he would be better off grabbing the kid than someone simply walking past and scooping him up.

Not wanting to waste much more time, he carefully grabbed the small bakeneko and made sure the two stuffed toys came along, and headed for the entrance to the bunker.

Francine wasted no time in heading to safety, though she did make sure Honey was not too far away from her. As far as the mutant knew, they were the only two who'd gotten hurt during the attack. They had to stick together to better get medical attention to notice them.

"That was not a good time," she said wryly, gingerly touching the bite on her leg and hissing at the stinging pain. "But on the plus side, this'll leave a wicked cool scar." She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Arabelle started a little. Nerves. Her body was probably awash with various hormones after what they'd been through. She probably wasn't the only one either. The thought caused her eyes to flicker towards the rest of the survivor group. She was willing to bet there would be nightmares tonight. Hopefully there were people here able to deal with mental and emotional trauma as well as physical. She should probably keep an eye out herself, but...

Licking lips gone dry, Arabelle's gaze quickly flicked back to the one who had startled her. The wings and tail instantly identified them as a Chimera. She noted the blanket in their hand, stretched out towards her in offering. Initial evaluation gave her a clue to their age. Chimera were very tall when mature, so this one was still an adolescent.

Arabelle felt like something inside her simultaneously tensed and relaxed. Silly of her, when this youngster could probably overpower her even on a good day, but conditioned responses rarely listened to reason. She always felt a bit awkward around children of any size and her rapport with them seemed hit or miss, but there was still something about them that made her feel less on edge than when she spoke to adults. Their honesty, probably, and overall lack in guile or duplicity.

So while she relaxed at the sign of her helper's age, Arabelle also tension. There were children here. Masses of them. She'd personally witnessed the fall of Leviathan, the horrors that had taken place. If that was brought here...

Arabella felt herself shiver, and tried her best to smile to cover the sudden wave of fear which threatened to engulf her. "Thank you," she said softly, reaching out slowly with her right hand to take the blanket. It felt stiff, and sent out twinges of pain that she tried to ignore. She clumsily pulled it over her shoulders, feeling some relief that at least her injury and clothing was partially hidden from sight now.

Ashi kept close to Howl as the grimm worked on her task. He was to frazzled to be able to help much... And when the door was opened and the 'survivors' were brought in he looked on in fear at the sight. He stepped closer to the grimm and tried to hide behind her. Howl was definitely braver then him. The Hallow she had been hanging out with before he joined the two seemed like he was able to remain calm. He wondered if Gaius would let him play with one of his familiars, it would help calm his own nerves. But before he ask Ava asked for everyone to go the bunker... It was underground. Ashi didn't like the sound of that!

"Howl... How long do you think we'll be down there?"



When the others that were attacked entered the building Howl turned and watched them. It was certainly scary and she could understand why Ashi was afraid. "Wow Gaius, look at that..." She commented to the other male with all the familiars. If those were all that survived... How many had died? This... well whatever it was that was attacking would certainly be very dangerous and as much as her curiosity wanted to go and explore, maybe it would be better to take the 'safer' route.

Glancing back at Ashi as she turned to follow Ava's directions Howl shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know... This is really serious Ashi. We could be down there for a long time. I know you don't like tight spaces like this but you're going to have to try and keep it together." She touched his shoulder lightly and let her eyes slide over to Gaius. The grimmed hoped he didn't mind the two of them sticking around with him.

"Gaius, the guy from the tv announcement... You think he did that?"

Illya smiled at the shy student. At least, they looked pretty shy. She had a bit of experience with kids like this, but still not a lot. She took a few of the cans off of the top. "Here, I'll take a few of these things. Is there anything else you need me to carry?"

Belatedly, she realized that her hands were now too full to shake his hand. He hadn't offered, but it would have been nice to offer a hand to shake. Ah, well. Instead, she fluttered her wings. "It's nice to meet you, Jericho. My name's Illya. It's no problem to help you carry stuff--I feel better when I'm being of use instead of just being decorative."

Back at the assembly room, the survivors--and wasn't that a frightening word!--had arrived. Illya frowned. So few people had made it out? Where was everyone else? This wasn't a big city, but there should have been far more people than this... She helped carry the supplies down to the bunker, where she dropped them off at the supply depot. She wanted to ask the survivors what had happened, what was going on, but she didn't want to leave Jericho alone, either. He seemed very nervous with all this going on, and she hadn't missed the tinge of relief in his voice when she had shown up. If she had the chance to make a positive effect on him, she would take that chance. She held out her fingers to one of the service animals--when had they shown up?! How had they gotten in here?!--as something to do with her hands. "Are you okay, Jericho?" she asked the youngster.

Arabelle noticed a particular group, situated off to the side. It looked like there were several familiars as well as people. It made her think of her own familiars back home with a bit of a pang in her heart. She found herself slowly drifting over towards the group, blanket clutched close.

Illya's attention had been drawn to a particular service animal, a cranberry-red spectrefox. Illya had a soft spot for canines of any kind. She reached out her fingers to them to sniff and hoped that they would give her a good response.