raiamods: (Default)
raiamods ([personal profile] raiamods) wrote in [community profile] ethyraia2021-05-21 04:56 pm
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◣ OPEN ◢ HATCHING LOG 001

WHO: All PCs
WHAT: New characters arrive on Ethyraia, get interrogated, and settle in at the basecamp.
WHEN: May 21 onward
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan
NOTES/WARNINGS: Potential character nudity, violence, trypophobia (images) as well as light mentions of gore, alcohol and drug-use, light aphrodisiac effects (optional), and references to mass death.


HATCHING LOG 001 ❀
CONTENT WARNINGS: potential character nudity, violence, trypophobia (images) as well as light mentions of gore, alcohol and drug-use, light aphrodisiac effects (optional), and references to mass death.

Players who participated in our TDM are welcome to keep their CR and the content of those threads. Please make sure to chat this out on the OOC intro & CR meme before making assumptions. Please take your time reading the hatching and basecamp bullets, as some items have been altered or expanded.

❀ HATCHING


Congrats, you've woken up in an egg. I'm sure this is exactly how you wanted to spend your Saturday, right? There's no time to get curious and check out the other egg sacs. By the time you've fought your way out of the membranous sac, spilled electric blue goop everywhere, wiped it out of your eyes and sundry other orifices to get your bearings, you have a spear (or a gun) leveled at your face, throat, or other vital organs. Even if you might be inclined to fight, you can barely lift your arms to protest being grabbed and dragged off. Before you can even get a word in edgewise, you've been thrown into a holding cell.

Characters will not have a chance to retrieve their items at the time of the first hatching, and may not even know there is anything left in the remaining eggs.

The holding cell stinks of something sour and acidic, like rotted citrus, but you are not alone. Several other detainees sit in similar squalid confusion, dressed strangely and equally gooey. Time to make nice, ask questions... figure out what the hell is going on, and maybe do something about all that slime?

Over the next few days, a few things become clear. Despite the alien greeting, your captors speak a language that you understand, and the unpleasant circumstances are revealed to be a matter of necessity, not choice. Supplies are low, but they ensure that the new arrivals' time imprisoned is as painless as can be — they offer hot communal showers of less than three minutes, some strange starchy meal-replacement, and medical treatment to those in need. You might strike up a conversation with your new best friend in the shower over a low soap dispenser or when you realize you might need to share towels.

The cost of these luxuries comes in the form of touch-and-go interrogation by the security officers keeping tabs on the cells and supervising the shower time.

A few notes:
Your character may get pulled away for interrogation at some point. No torture, no drugs; just questioning. If you would like to thread this out, please reply to CAPT CHILDE'S top level comment! A caveat: threads will not go beyond (TEN) NPC replies, and new tag-ins will not be responded to after MAY 24.

☆ Locals will be stopping by outside the freestanding holding cells to ogle or ask questions. Are you really going to be mean to that little kid staring at you with wide eyes?

☆ Characters will be let out for bio breaks. No one has to pee in a bucket, that's just inhumane!

Attempts to escape will probably get you tasered. If your character composes a genius jailbreak, you are welcome to submit it in the MOD QUESTION comment to work out how that might go with the NPCs!

❀ EXPLORE THE BASECAMP

On the heels of a little benign interrogation, a medical inspection, and a stern talking to by Captain Childe, the survivors at Basecamp Leviathan determine one thing: you don't appear to be an active threat.

Released from the detention center after three days, you are given the run-down by the locals — you're on a planet called Ethyraia, and the people around you are survivors of the catastrophic crash of the UCSS Adamant several years prior. You, in fact, showed up on the third anniversary of the crash. Weird coincidence, huh?

The first order of the day is having a proper meal at the mess hall — some of the Adamant's survivors will be friendlier than others. They've been stranded here for years, remember? Some of them will be so desperate to talk to someone who has news of other places, and some will be giving you the cold shoulder.

You'll be fed the same as the rest of them. A plastic plate of crumbled protein of unidentifiable origin and gravy over rice with a single wilted stalk of broccoli and a cup of the worst coffee you've ever had. Maybe somebody bumps into you and spills said coffee, maybe you make it all the way to one of the long tables set out for communal eating.

Time to strike up a chat with your neighbor — maybe ask them to pass the salt?

(What do you mean, there's no salt!?)

During this time, characters will be able to return to the Central Chrysalis where they hatched. While there are no clues as to how they got there, they might find items — their own, or someone else's. Everyone is strapped for supplies, but try not to snatch up anything that isn't yours. The security officers don't look kindly on people chasing one other down the hall, trying to get back their dirty magazines.

A few notes:
☆ Feel free to help out anywhere. Every little bit of assistance you offer to the locals will raise their estimation of you. You could easily help clean dishes after the meal, help fix leaky piping or repair hammocks. You could stop by the aid station and assist with the wounded. You'll be watched closely and some of the survivors will be warier than others, but most will appreciate the opportunity to have a 'break'.

☆ If your character leaves the basecamp and wanders outside the Leviathan, they may begin to notice that what they perhaps took as a giant cave is actually an enormous dragon. Everything that seems human-made will look varying levels of worn down, patched, repaired and patched again. This is not a place of prosperity and happiness. Many people are recently injured, or have new scars or missing limbs.

☆ PCs will be warned about the acid rain and inhospitable wildlife that they'll face if they venture beyond the shade of the dragon's wings.

❀ RECRUITMENT FAIR



You've been here for a week, had a chance to show your mettle. Maybe you've demonstrated a propensity for fixing gadgets (or plumbing!) or you have the command of a natural leader and the ability to wield a gun (or a tire iron!) to great effect. Either way, the Adamant's survivors are eager to put you to work so they can have their first real 'days off' in three years! Survivors have set up their various areas in the hopes of catching your attention and (possibly!) bolster their numbers! Feel free to wander around, talk to other PCs, and get the lay of the land.

ENGINEERING CORPS

Thorkil has welded a sign to a post out front, cheerfully painted by a gaggle of children to say "WELCOME!" The children are crowded around the area, and Thorkil is telling them stories about one of his many tattoos as you approach — he has a magnificent eagle tattooed on his arm, and in a hush he is explaining how it landed on him and tried to bite him like a mosquito, and how he slapped it and it just splattered right there on his arm and he's never been able to wash it off!

The children seem mesmerized by the story (maybe you are too?) and will scatter at the story's conclusion, tugging you over to the various areas, pointing things out excitedly. What is an Ehlers-Chau sublight engine? You're about to find out whether you like it or not! Or maybe you can teach them a thing or two. Those who seem to know their stuff will be eagerly invited on board by Thorkil.

The Engineering division has salvaged its tools and scrap from the Adamant’s wreckage, so it has all of the essentials from metal mills to CNC routers to circuitry tools. A holo projector throws schematics on the wall — a drill, a few potential shelter ideas for long-term settlement, and a new communications tower.

SECURITY DIVISION

Rémi has barely deigned to participate — and seems to have done so only at the request of some of his companions. He's sitting at an unadorned table and he is cleaning a variety of weapons. He will scowl if approached, and seems openly mistrustful of your intentions should you speak to him. Questions about how a conversation with Rémi might go may be posted to the MOD QUESTIONS thread. (Note: We will not be threading Rémi, so these questions will be handwaved!)

Characters who make a positive impression on him will open up the avenue to work for the Security Division later, but he will not be extending any offers now — please allow for a realistic period of development here!

Feel free to lean into another PC's space and comment on how frosty that dude seems! You can also survey the various weapons stored in racks, help out with building spears, the usual suspects.

THEATRE

The theatre doubles as a childcare center, and many of the NPCs bustling about seem very excited and eager for the chance to talk to anyone who ventures in to visit. The theatre is bright and cheerful, paintings have been done on the walls of scenes from children's stories featuring colorful characters.

The thespians will not only try to recruit you (for acting in a play, for teaching, for script writing, for drawing on the walls or caring for children) but they will actively put you to work if they see you standing idle longer than a moment! Your character may find themselves with a paintbrush in hand, or taking part in a recital for a play (you're free to invent one, or put a new spin on an old classic! Romeo and Julio, anyone?) or building a set piece for one of the many local productions.

The Theatre doubles as the protective hub in times of need, so beyond arts education and babysitting, your character may also be tasked with shoring up those defenses, helping to fortify the walls, or other such tasks. And who knows, they may be paired off with someone else rather unexpectedly!

AID STATION

Sunya Hyacinth is the local medical doctor, fueled by coffee and spite. She doesn't have the time to recruit personally — she's flitting about the aid station seeing to the injured.

If you follow her, she will put you to work. Hold this stent, articulate this dislocation, take this blood pressure reading. If anyone appears to have a proficiency for this sort of work, she may inquire after credentials — and anyone who seems to have medical experience is going to immediately be handed the medic's armband, a white band with a blue cross emblazoned on it. This armband will grant any PC an extra amount of respect and trust from the Adamant's survivors — but you'd better be able to live up to it!

Feel free to treat any injured PCs, converse with other 'recruits', help pin that white and blue arm-band on... you know, anything under the sun. Some of the patients in the medical bay seem to be suffering from the adverse effects of some of the local flora — itching hives or burning pustules. One unfortunate soul seems only able to speak in limericks, which the medical staff will admit is one of the odder things they’ve seen.

SANITATION

CONTENT WARNING: DRUG REFERENCES

It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it! There are always latrines to be dug, pipes to be repaired, general maintenance to be done on the various sanitation systems.

A nervous-looking janitor will approach your character almost shyly, and ask if you wouldn't mind giving her a hand. If you are willing to help her (fix a pipe, dig a hole, etc), she will gradually warm up to you and seem more animated and lively and very, very grateful. Won't you please consider working with the Sanitation crew? Sure, it's not as glamorous as some of the other duties, but they're the backbone of the Basecamp and they could really use the help!

She'll even let you in on a little secret if you really butter her up or show an interest — the Sanitation Crew? Totally has a little underground greenhouse where they're growing marijuana. They're totally willing to share...

Feel free to dig latrines alongside your fellow PCs, or maybe even share a joint. It's a way to pass the time, right? PCs serving in sanitation will also have an easier time overhearing the gossip that spreads around the base, since no one looks twice at them.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

CONTENT WARNING: REFERENCES TO MASS DEATH

During their first two weeks in the basecamp, any character who stops by one of the various houses of worship (in addition to a church, a synagogue, and a mosque, there is a temple with small statues to fifteen different unfamiliar deities, many of whom seem to be from different faiths), the gymnasium, or the mess hall will come across a stand that hosts a dozen or so packages.

Wrapped in the black emergency blankets that many bring with them to and from the bunks, these packages are about one cubic foot and contain folded clothes in roughly the same sizes. The styles are all different and highly individualized. Some are luxe, some are basic, and some are clearly the undershirt (but not the proper outerwear) for uniforms of the Adamant’s crew. Warm-faced folks eagerly give out a single package to each new hatchling. Along with the clothing and blanket, hatchlings will receive basic packages containing basic toiletries — bar soap, a toothbrush, a straight razor, etc.

Come by at the wrong time, and you might see a fight break out. A young person, red-faced, shouts at the volunteers working these stands, “Those were our people! Our families! We should be the one to decide what’s done with what they left behind.”

In hushed tones, clearly trying to keep this from becoming a conflict, the lead volunteer insists, “Take it up with Captain Childe.”


A few notes:
Feel free to have your character sign on to help out with any of the listed divisions, with the exception of security.

☆ Characters may collect one (1) care package from the community outreach program. If your character intends to come back for more, please let us know in the Mod Questions thread.

☆ Feel free to ask for light NPC interactions in the MOD QUESTIONS header; we can give you a general idea of how a conversation might go! Like with the Captain Childe threads, none of these threads will be lengthy, and new tag-ins will not be responded to after MAY 24.

❀ THE DREAMING

You are standing at the edge of an immense, underground lake. Water laps at the shore, echoing in the cavern. There is a sense of peace and warmth and — welcome.

A creature emerges from the lake and approaches you. Its gills flutter, its eyes are a faint bioluminescent glow in the darkness. It reaches out to touch you — one long, elegant finger presses against your chest. It feels as if it might crack your sternum open and ferret beneath your bones as if looking, looking for something. Yet, there is no malice from it, and you feel no fear.

But the creature relents. It backs up. Bows to you once, and then turns and walks back into the water.

You stay for some time at the edge of the lake. Eventually, it seems as if another person is here with you, or perhaps they simply came into focus after being here just as long as you. Should you speak with them?

A few notes:
PCs may interact with one another in the dreams. They will be in a semi-conscious state, not wholly aware they are dreaming and not wholly under the impression of its normalcy.

☆ Your character will wake up naturally from the Dreaming, they will feel peaceful and refreshed.
The lake, if they choose to swim in it while dreaming, would be perceived as the perfect ambient temperature for them — some characters may prefer it to be warmer or colder!

☆ If they duck below the water, they will see far-off glittering city lights, but no matter how they try to swim towards them they will never get any closer!

☆ If your character tries to drink the water, they might notice that for a few minutes after they wake they can hear little snippets of NPC thoughts. Weird!

☆ Every character will have a small, pale lilac mark where they were touched on the chest. It will fade over the next few days.

❀ FETCH QUEST

CONTENT WARNING: REFERENCES TO LIGHT APHRODISIAC EFFECTS

A small, perky woman corrals you somewhere near the latrines. "Hey!" she says insistently, pushing her hat back and sending a spill of inky curls askew from her forehead. "We need a hand. There's this plant we get for Sunya — the Doc? You met her yet? — it's a painkiller. Go through a shitload of that, which I'm sure is quite surprising," she says all this in a single breath, and her expression is sour despite her cheery tone.

"You any good at botany? We need another round of Starspire root. Can't harvest the ones we've got in camp, they've been a little cranky lately. You'll have to go about four kilometers due west, towards the old Adamant wreck. Just watch them — if they start to sweat, you'll need to get under cover, means the acid rain is coming. I'll upload the specs to your Comm."

Seems like you're being partnered with somebody else for the run — another person looking perhaps about as equally haggard as you, and at least as equally voluntold. Hopefully you won't run into any difficulties — how hard can retrieving one plant be?

A few notes:
☆ Feel free to have random monster encounters along the way! Don’t forget to wait for approvals on bestiary submissions before incorporating them into threads.

☆ The plants are at a high elevation, so they will exist on rocky outcroppings along a cliff-face. The landscape here is mostly high desert, which means it is full of thin, calf-high grasses, scrub plants, and non arable land polluted by dense, alkaline soil and rocks. Be creative in how you get there!

☆ Somebody gets hurt? Here, chew this root! They said it was a painkiller, right? What's the worst that could happen? (People can get a little ... flirtatious, shall we say.)

☆ Or you could go one step further and try exploring portions of the Adamant! Remember, the ship itself was built to house seventy thousand people — it's the size of a city, and it cannot be adequately explored in an afternoon! If you'd like anything specific to come of this, or if you’d like to know specifics about the Adamant’s layout, please consider submitting a plot request!.

portolan: (c h e e r y)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-25 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmm I suppose there's always advantages to specializations. Are your Grisha limited to set spells or more able to manipulate their element holistically? [ he remembers some theory and debate on these subjects as a youth, but largely shrugged off the pieces that simply weren't applicable to his reality, which at the time included no magic at all.

fran would know. and she'd accuse him of picking up another stray. ah, well, fran was the one who picked him up -- that was a trait of hers he was happy to carry on.
]

fossils: (pic#10792279)

[personal profile] fossils 2021-05-25 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I still think about her. [ he admits to the back of his friend's skull, eyes closed ] Going back...

[ Only he's older now, more weathered and worn down. With knowledge of a life she lives without him. To go back to her when they first met — it's a fantasy.

He'll feel his head tilt a degree, his tone a little more urgent in his need to be understood. ]


I can't speak for the guy five years from now. But right now— I've already got back what I was missing.

[ You, Sam. He's got them both. He's got Natasha.

He's got people. He's got somewhere he's needed.

Maybe he's got a future, too. ]
portolan: (w e l l l l l)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-25 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, another member of the fancy coat club. Excellent. I was so afraid I'd had finery ripped from my sad stranded fingers.

[ balthier stops off briefly to grab a sturdy but plain sack and the frew supplies he's manage to gather: canteens for water, some bland but nutrient-laden tack, and a sketch of where they're headed. navigation skills have never let him down.

he shows the latter to nina.
] We're here, the egg garden is here. It's a bit of a walk, but the way should be fairly clear due to semi-regular traffic. We should be able to get back by nightfall.
neversmall: (017)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-25 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nina considers. ] Unlikely, sir. Arken believed me to be a radical, willing to work with him to ferry Grisha out of the Little Palace.

[ Nina's jaw works as she shoves back memories -- the weight of her arms, gone numb, aching, held above her head in the dark for days on end -- the fear, the stench, the way the heartbeats in the hold slowed and she could do nothing -- ]

They weren't interested in who I was. I was guilty of being Grisha. [ She still tastes hot copper in her mouth at those words; she is still so angry that this happened, that an entire culture was taught to hate, fear, and dehumanize her because of how she was born. ] For the drüskelle, that's enough.
portolan: (c h e e r y)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-25 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately I'm quite attached to my material possessions.

[ the water shuts off. he leaves his clothes sopping, hoping that will help them soak longer. truth be told, without the clothes he fears he won't be able to hold onto the person he's built. he's been pulled from home before -- it's amazing how quickly things can fade. ]

I managed to escape questioning with the time-tried strategy of luck. Saw them pulling others away though. Trying to decide if I'd rather go and get information or be left well enough alone.

[ the cold begins to set in as the air meets his wet skin. he looks behind Bruno for towels -- the stack is quickly depleting. ]
neversmall: (055)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nina doesn't sigh when he lets go of her hand or indulge in a moue of disappointment when he puts on his shirt. Her attention is level upon him, a steady weight. The more he talks, the more she realizes how this must have tapped into something deep inside him, and the more determined she is not to be moved until she understands all the ways this experience and his understanding overlap.

...she's a little worried. There was something Other about the experience, but... she does not think it was Djel. And she knows how Matthias, Matthias who has told her he is not her enemy, might respond. He'd have thought himself forsaken and cast out, having not yet come around to what she keeps trying to tell him -- that the gifts Grisha have connect to life, and are not perversions of life. To have thought that, and then experienced a visitation from a spirit that aligns up enough with his beliefs that he might feel affirmed.... and then to discover it may not be that at all...

Yes, she's a little worried. But she'll wait and see. ]


Yes, I remember swimming.
neversmall: (Default)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, they certainly seem to be considering that. [ Nina glances at the reinforcements done to the walls. ] Still, I think a bit of brightness and fun -- and music - in what otherwise looks to be a lot of drudgery and bad memories will go a long way. Did you introduce yourself to the theater troop here?
spalten: (pic#14544816)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-05-26 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
If resources are all used up then your options become limited - nobody wants to stay in a dying planet.

[ which is, really, what drove space exploration in the first place. ]

Though you're right - it's not a guarantee for all.
spalten: (pic#14899529)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-05-26 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
That's true. But I highly doubt that's all of it too - you know the people you work with if you survived being on this planet long enough. Trusting newcomers who mysteriously appeared during a tense time, what with their anniversary and all .... I'd want to prioritize my own people over that.

[ not knowing their temperaments or allegiances is bad enough, and now they even want jobs. he can understand rémi's problem even if he's not sympathetic to it. ]
trassel: (13.)

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-26 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
The way it felt. Wasn't it water you'd swam in before?

[ Texture, opacity, even taste, as he'd just cruised around in it, enjoying the relief it brought to his limbs. The most recent memory is of the great and terrible ocean — the storm, and what it had brought them. He never hated the open water, but he knows he's got a healthy wariness of it now. ]
neversmall: (004)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ That would be, temporarily, Nina - but that's what you get when you wander off and leave total strangers in charge of the set. There's risk that you may need to redo them.

Nina nods toward the sets. ]


Come on, let's go make sure there's enough paint and paintbrushes.

[ Come on, Cal, they can supervise. ]
sunmon: (pic#14852192)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-26 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
Just you? No back-up?

[ 'specialized' and 'my' clue alina in. she's used to first army talk — 'we're heading south.' 'we're crossing the fold.' nina doesn't frame it that way. even if alina had never been one of them, the illusion of camaraderie was a thin blanket. mutual suffering, she'd tell herself, could run deeper than even the worst prejudices. it had never proved true, of course. not for most of the first army. not for anyone with any power. ]
trassel: (14.)

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-26 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ Honestly he's just glad to be taken seriously. Remi hadn't, which means he requires proof, and by Djel Matthias will find it and present it. If he must. ]

That is very helpful. [ The old-fashioned ways of "wait for an animal to eat it first" aren't going to work — all it would prove is that the meat was safe for that animal, not necessarily for a human diet. And to suggest a criminal volunteer is also outrageous. It would be cruel and pathetic, only befitting an equally cruel and pathetic crime, of which there don't seem to be any. Nobody even steals, as far as he's noticed. ] Of the animals you know of — do you recognise any here?
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-26 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
They're not really spells. It's — I mean, we don't create anything. We're just manipulating what's already there.

[ but she smiles. she'd taken it for magic at first too. kirigan had dispensed with that preconception quickly, and baghra had positively beaten it out of her. ]

But I would say it's pretty holistic. An inferni can do more than summon just one flame, if that's what you mean.
neversmall: (068)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nina's open to being wrong. She considers what it is that he's saying, but her connection with water has never been what his is. ]

It's hard for me to remember that much about the way the water felt, [ she confesses. ] I do remember that it felt the perfect temperature to swim - a little cool, that warms as you move in it. Why do you ask?
spalten: (pic#14544807)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-05-26 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ he looks impressed at her words. ] Well, certainly not anything creative. That's not part of my resume.

But I was a pilot. Are you familiar with the term? [ since everyone comes from everywhere here and he can't be certain. ]
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-05-26 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ other than the scale, the problems that he cites sound very familiar. arable land. useful natural resources. things any kingdom would concern while annexing or settling land. ]

So the colonies are full of settlers — and, of course, the types of scholars who might make the settlers' efforts more fruitful. All in pursuit of something like this. [ she looks around. ] By any kingdom on the Continent's standards, this land wouldn't be worth the trouble. They'd leave it to the monsters.

[ if they had a decent mage for an advisor, at least. this was worse than any marsh. ]
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-05-26 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
You're a poor haggler.

[ she doesn't hand it over quite yet. ]

Offering me only what I already have in my hand, with no proof of your claim. [ she could have just spotted it, decided she liked it, and claimed anything! yennefer recognizes this isn't true, of course, and she's planning to give it up. but not without making a point. after all, she'd been searching for anything useful. ]

I've lost something of mine. Before waking up here, I remember having it with me. Not a weapon; a book. [ lies, all of it. but she knows that if there is any book in here, it's more useful than any weapon when she already has a short sword tucked against her hip under her cloak, one she'd carried with her before. books can hold all kinds of things. ] Find it for me, and I won't care if the dagger is yours or not. You can have it.
spalten: (pic#14544654)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-05-26 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
I said they're lively.

But the situation is otherwise familiar to me. Look at it this way - we're not making a waste out of anyone's things. I understand the need to memorialize, but we also need to survive.

And we can't do that without these handouts. [ even if they're from the dead. ] We have to start somewhere, after all.
neversmall: (020)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nina shakes her head. ] Not for this one, no. I've worked within units before, but this wasn't that kind of job.

[ Nina's not interested in hiding who she is and what she's done, but she's also very aware that what she does... what Heartrenders do... it's not always easy to swallow.

There were many reasons why Heartrenders tended to stay with their own kind. ]


How long were you working with the cartographers?
trassel: (30.)

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-26 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yes, that sounds right. She would not have much reason to take down notes on it, when she had not even been expecting what he had seen. ]

Mine was from the time my father taught me to swim.

[ So precise it could only have been a memory — one he wasn't even sure he could still revisit — but it'd been done, and without pain. ]

It was a wish I didn't know about.
neversmall: (099)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nina shrugs a little. ] Suit yourself.

[ She unscrews the cap and takes a sip of the water herself. See? No poison. ]

It's true - I'm not a fan of tag. Hide and seek could be useful, I suppose, but it defeats the purpose of keeping an eye on them. [ Added with a wry, friendly smile. ]
angerberg: (pic#13922748)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-05-26 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
I've never known anyone with that kind of power to give it up.

[ clearly there's something there. she looks genuinely confused. that's not how power works. that's not how people work. ]
neversmall: (051)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ This is the first time Nina remembers hearing Matthias talk about his family. It feels more intimate than watching him strip off his shirt. It would be infinitely more rude to stare at this than at his nakedness.

Said quietly: ]


I see. And that's why you think it was a wej?
angerberg: (pic#13922749)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-05-26 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
Mage. Sorceress.

[ a faint flicker of offense cuts through her features. it's not his fault, of course. there's no way he could know better. still, it rankles her. she had worked hard for her title, for her power.

but then the machines are moving again, clicks and hums accompany movements that draw the eye as the drone stills and sam takes it in hand. she steps closer, then, examining the parts. they're all so unfamiliar she barely knows where to look.
]

And it— [ she glances at sam. ] He isn't powered by magic, nor is he alive?