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!.

sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-26 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I doubt it. You said yourself, you don't know it could satisfy you. [ a beat. that's not right. that makes it sound like there's any alternative to her success in destroying the fold. ] Will satisfy you.

[ had he thought she hadn't caught that slip? he must truly see her as naive. malleable. no wonder he is so terribly fond of her. how convenient, to have someone with precisely the power he needs and precisely the foolishness to let him wield it as he pleases.

tension ripples through her jaw. but instead of digging her teeth in, she takes a deep breath. a blander explanation.
]

The Fold has killed more than Grisha. And it wasn't the Fold that made otkazat'sya hate us. If you continue taking responsibility for the suffering of all Grisha, you'll never be satisfied. Honestly, it's a bit arrogant, isn't it?
neversmall: (008)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ...a robot. Fascinating. What on earth is that? ]

I suppose it would be too much to hope for something wildly impractical - like chocolate. Or perhaps a note saying, 'Here is why you are here and how to get home.'
neversmall: (058)

😇

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nina laughs. It would be so easy to lean up and... she wants to. But she doesn't. She'll have nothing stolen between them.

But he's still holding onto her, keeping her close, and he's actually touched her cheek - an astonishing movement of boldness from Matthias Helvar. She relishes it.

(For the record, please note that you are choosing to make jokes, Matthias Helvar, instead of kissing this. Consider your life, consider your choices.) ]


Then I suppose we should go.

[ She said. Smiling up at him. Staying exactly where she is. ]
neversmall: (108)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nina blinks and takes two short steps very quickly back as Crow lands at her feet. Wow! What? Hello. ]

If that's a crow than I'm a Fjerdan. [ Her gaze darts between the griffin to Alex and back again. She gives them both a smile - ] Hello [ - and then bends down at the knees, not in any way unbalancing herself, to get a closer look at Crow. ]
neversmall: (101)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-26 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nina's eyes widen for a moment as he speaks; this is the first time someone's "Ravkan" hasn't felt... artificial, translated. He has a dialect she can't quite place, which is unusual given her line of work, but --

Then. Russian. No. ]


Ravkan, [ she corrects, her expression turning down a bit at the edges. It had been nice to think... but no, and she would prefer the truth. ] Which must be something similar, since whatever translates languages didn't make "Russian" into some other kind of word -- I'm assuming you mean that's a country?
morozova: @axisandallies (gk-sab171)

⥼ ᴛʜᴇᴀᴛʀᴇ

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-26 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
( he'd made the mistake of lingering too long at the theater, hoping to catch a glimpse of the projector—a curious device unlike anything he'd seen in his long, long life—and quickly finds himself pressed into service.

he has no real artistic talent, but he's strong enough and knowledgeable enough to be decently useful when it comes to fortifying the building. it's a simple, if satisfying task.

later, however, he can be found surrounded by a cluster of small children. wide-eyed, they watch as he conjures shadowy shapes: animals, people, even the occasional tree, as he tells them all the story of "the too-clever fox" and his brush with the hunter that very nearly took his life. )
morozova: by @axisandallies (pic#14918587)

⥼ ᴄʜʀʏsᴀʟɪs

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-26 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
( it's only a matter of time before he makes his way back to the central chrysalis, to where it all began.

aleksander picks his way carefully over the ground, dark eyes skimming to study his surroundings. the place is larger than he remembers. a vast cavern scattered with eggs of various sizes. )


I wonder how long these have been here. ( that seems as good a starting point as any. )
sunmon: (pic#14852469)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-26 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Alina's silent for a moment, as if waiting for Nina to continue. She doesn't. The absence of commentary on Genya somehow surprises her. She knows she shouldn't. Genya may boss around a gaggle of the Queen's and other otkazat'sya servants, but among Grisha, she is different.

Alina's mouth sets in a line.
]

They all are.

[ Good. Even Ivan. Alina can recognize that, despite her personal conflicts with him. All Grisha are people who have no place but in the Little Palace. They are myriad neuroses packed into keftas, stepping on each other's toes. She and Ivan step on each other's toes more often.

But he is not the Black Heretic.

She fidgets at the hem of her kefta sleeve, feeling the need to justify herself, the subject change, now that she doesn't have more to say on the matter. She wrestles with it a moment.
] The only real friend I had in the First Army hasn't answered my letters since I left. He never liked Grisha, so I suppose it's not that surprising.

[ It stings to admit, but it gives her protection in the long term. Nina will ask no more injurious questions about her time prior to coming to the Little Palace if it's clear that there's nothing but pain there. Alina stares at the bare, smooth center of her palm, where the scar had been. She closes her hand into a fist and lifts her chin. ]

It's for the best.
morozova: @axisandallies (Default)

⥼ ᴡɪʟᴅᴄᴀʀᴅ

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-27 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
( feel free to run into him at:
ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴇss ʜᴀʟʟ, picking over his rations.
↠ picking over the scraps on display and asking entirely too many questions at ᴇɴɢɪɴᴇᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴄᴏʀᴘs
↠ at the ᴀɪᴅ sᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, asking after the local flora.

or, really, just out and about in general? )
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-27 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
I can ...

[ she looks around them. there are a fair few people moving past them in what could loosely be defined as the streets of the basecamp. by her best guess, all of them are natives — to this universe, if not to this planet.

she tugs balthier resolutely down a side street, which amounts more or less to a maintenance hallway.
]

This way.
trassel: (07.)

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-27 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ It could be much worse. Trass isn't always the most strictly obedient, but he's always trusted Matthias' judgement, and right now, Matthias would like this other wolf and his human companion as friends over enemies. Wolves are sacred to his people and one especially is extremely beloved to him; he would hate to feel as though he needed to be wary of Ghost or worse, actively hostile towards him. ]

[ Matthias is visibly armed, the large knife at his front, and two more daggers at his belt, but nothing in his hands, which he shows Ghost. His movements are slow — he knows he's tall, and broad, and doesn't look friendly, the only thing that will speak for him is his care in an introduction. ]

This is Trassel.

[ A companion, not a pet. Wolves aren't dogs, anyone who keeps one so near knows exactly what they're doing. ]

He chose me, and I raised him. And you?
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-27 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
I don't think it's really meant for sight-seeing ...

[ but considering zeta's clothing, maybe she doesn't have sight-seeing in mind. what kind of restless is she, exactly? alina's never seen armor like that before. ]

Are you some kind of soldier? [ she could use someone who could handle themselves in a fight. alina can't really, no matter how she tries despite that fact. ]
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-05-27 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
What tools do you feel that would require?

[ it's unlikely she could provide them, but there's always the chance they'd come from the eggs with him. and if she could use the right words, later, in speaking with the crew, more the better. ]
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-05-27 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
I'm a terrible bore, I'm afraid. I must confess to enjoying the arts only under obligation.

[ she looks around, realizing that he is asking because he had found her here, in the theater, and she's obviously not adept with children, so it was odd for her to admit to coming to see them.

she finds a flattering smile.
]

But I'm quite interested in the operations of this settlement. There's no telling how long we'll be here. Leave no stone unturned, as they say.
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-05-27 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
That's quite the accusation to come from such an opportunist.

[ gaslight gatekeep girlboss over here is committed to accusing adora of exactly what she's doing. ]
trassel: (16.)

smh

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-27 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
I think so too.

[ Even though she's already in his arms, it's important to affirm the times they're of one mind. Yes, he knows there are many... outrageous things he could have asked instead of this, and Nina would also want them. And that it's really only a matter of time before he uses words instead of the comfort of silence and exchanged glances. In waking, they have not been as close as sleeping. ]

[ But for now, no one else is here. ]
morozova: (pic#14889636)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-27 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
Is that what I said? ( lightly, like he's surprised rather than offended. does alina realize just how much she sounds like his mother at this moment? it's almost enough to make him laugh. )

I was taught that the strong guard the weak. ( broadly-speaking. baghra's stance had always favoured their own survival, but she had been the one to lay the groundwork for this belief, regardless. and the certainty of his own strength. ) Perhaps it is arrogance, but do know of anyone stronger? Or willing to shoulder that burden?
sunmon: (pic#14854125)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-27 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
Well, if responsibility for all the Grisha, and the Black Heretic besides, has for some reason skipped your mother ...

[ which she points out only because she cannot help the jibe — it is so obvious, now that she knows. it is so obvious now that he gives her all of the adjacent information. is he waiting for her to figure it out? or is he just so arrogant and so thoroughly convinced that she is placid and foolish that there is nothing for him to fear, no matter what he says?

but she can't be. alina starkov was not born to hide. she is a fighter. she always has been. she comes to a stop. it's the most audacious thing she's ever said, and yet it comes out quickly, fluidly, because it comes from a place of hurt. the hurt that she's been nursing since the winter fete.
]

Am I not your equal?
medik: (we starve / look at one another)

cw anti-indigenous sentiment

[personal profile] medik 2021-05-27 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. It's where I'm from. Tomsk, in Siberia. [ It is, likewise, a slight disappointment, though he has to wonder about the point she's just raised—her Russian sounds too organic; her speech is a sound heard from the outside, not within his own mind. And Ravkan sounds suspiciously like Russian. It's possible that she's from one of the outermost regions of the empire, maybe somewhere in the Arctic, where little of civilization is known and pronunciation slowly mutates as things spread by word of mouth—but she doesn't look it.

Yakov gestures to one of the few temporarily empty cots; this is certainly a conversation he'd rather sit for, though the polite thing to do is to wait for her to do so first. Contrary to what the bourgeois might think, he's not so backwards that he lacks manners and consideration at all. ]


Ravka, this is also a country?
morozova: @axisandallies (Default)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-27 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
My mother has never had a conscience. ( said with the sort of bitter knowing that can only be reserved for close family. ) I wouldn't expect her to grow one now.

( a pause follows. it's not that he hadn't suspected, or even actively encouraged this belief, but there's something in the way that she asks it now, naked and vulnerable, that surprises him. )

Is that what you really want? Even knowing what you know?

lifetothefullest: (ɪ'ᴠᴇ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ'ᴠᴇ ʟᴏsᴛ)

Lance Sweets | Bones

[personal profile] lifetothefullest 2021-05-27 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Arrival]

[There are many reasons why this whole arrival process is an unpleasant experience.

It's difficult to say if it's better or worse than either Hadriel or New Amsterdam; they all have their bad and... Maybe not good, but at least less-bad points. This time is no different.

But it just happens to hit a particular combination of things that stress him out perhaps a little more than some other new arrivals, and so he's huddled into a corner on the floor at the back of the cell, arms crossed over his chest, trying to convince his nervous system to calm down with only limited success. Although he's not exactly hyperventilating or anything, it's probably easy to tell that a friendly distraction might help.

Alternatively, after he's had a little time to successfully handle everything--although 'handle everything' is actually more like 'compartmentalize it to deal with later'--he'll be approaching people who seem like they could use someone reassurance. He's tall but otherwise incredibly unintimidating, which is only amplified by the fact that his sneakers light up when he walks; he offers a small smile and asks--]


Hey, how are you doing? Besides, you know, the obvious.


[Aid Station]

[This is something he knows how to do, even if it's not his real area of expertise; he'd acquired enough medical skills and spent so much time helping run the clinic in Hadriel that he's confident in handling patients, at least if they're minor to moderate injuries. The more severe stuff he's less sure of himself on.

But he happens to be the person available when someone comes in with a gash in their arm, bleeding profusely, and fortunately that's one of the severe things he can fix. Not entirely, and not without likely drawing some attention, but that's not important right now.

So he sits the injured man down, presses a towel against the injury, and concentrates; a moment later, when he pulls the towel away to look, the bleeding has slowed to a manageable level and the edges of the cut have partially knit together. It'll still need stitches, but it's nothing like what it was before, and Lance gives a small sign of relief at how well that worked before realizing there's something else nearby.]


Um, can you help me with the stitches?

[Just deflecting from the magic thing, in case it's not something that's taken in stride. It tends to be very hit or miss on the reaction that gets.]


[Fetch Quest]

[He's not exactly enthused by the idea of being sent out into the wilderness again, but it's for a good cause and so he doesn't really protest at all. Instead he turns toward his new partner for the trip, offering a small smile in an attempt at a friendly greeting as he asks--]

Have you been out there yet?


[Wildcard]

[[ooc: Whatever! Hit me up at [plurk.com profile] amiasha or Ami#8741 on Discord, or PM, if you want to plot something. Otherwise feel free to just come up with something, and if we've had a TDM thread you'd like to make canon, just let me know! I'm down with whatever. c:]]
neversmall: (101)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-27 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[ There is no excuse, really, for what happened with Genya. It had already been done before Nina had joined the Little Palace as a child, it was simply in her framework for The Way Things Were. But Nina had, even as a child, a terrible time with looking at other people and not asking why, and now that she is older... her loyalty to the general is still strong, but she is deeply uncomfortable with many things. It had not been so hard to pretend to be a radical who hated the forced conscription of Grisha. For some things, silence was the best protection.

And the best prompt, if you wanted someone to say more on the subject. Honestly, Alina. This is how you get a Heartrender to not be interested in things?

But Nina's not interested in splitting open Alina's secrets and pains like a hammer and chisel. It strikes her, suddenly, how very alone Alina sounds. The only real friend.

And for most of her life, Alina hadn't known who she was.

She only makes a soft listening noise and then completely redirects. ]


So we're at the theater! Which way up?

[ ...look, she might not be interested in using silence as a weapon at this time, but she's only human, she can't just not. ]
Edited (sigh) 2021-05-27 01:26 (UTC)
neversmall: (081)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-27 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ No one else is here and he still hasn't let her go.

What's a girl to do? Which way should she push? They only have this moment.

Nina tilts up her chin, eliminates a few more breaths of space between them and murmurs richly: ]


You're making it very, very hard for me to care.
trassel: (18.)

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-27 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ A lure into a clear trap — should they start again what was almost done at the inn? This room is not so large, not so bright, and if they're already late, what are a few more minutes? A half-hour? She's right, it's hard to care. Four buttons, and every unspeakable thing that follows it. ]

[ He doesn't feel shy, holding her, but he does feel very conscious. ]

Yes.

[ He says, quietly. She feels an exhale, as slowly he lets her go and reaches to put on his coat. ]
neversmall: (139)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-27 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nina's gaze follows his gesture, and she glances around first before she nods. It is quiet enough right now that they should not be missed, but things can abruptly change. She moves and settles down comfortably on the cot, habitually taking the side that angles her back toward the wall. ]

Yes. Mine. Then -- Russia [ (Russian; Ravkan, she follows the speech pattern; she chooses to assume) ] -- that is yours?

[ This is very strange. She's grown used (??) to different worlds, but one so similar? ]