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: (pic#14854106)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
Ravka needs me.

[ there's hubris in it, but it's the truth. it had felt good to be needed — for the first time in her life, she'd felt a sense that she belonged, a sense she was wanted. even if kirigan had manipulated her, lied to her, the basic premise was still true: she was still the sun summoner, and ravka still needed to be freed of the fold. ]

Even if I never get strong enough to destroy the Fold, I could ... ferry ships. [ it's not glamorous, but it's good work. she looks down over the settlement. ] The survivors of the Adamant don't even want us here. We're just a drain on their resources.
neversmall: (110)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-28 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
Ravka is at war on two fronts with two different nations; the Fold has split our country down the middle - everyone who can serve, serves. Everyone who can fight, fights.

[ She tilts her head slightly and inquires: ] And your own war?
portolan: (Default)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-28 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Bigger than any dragons we have in Ivalice, but that doesn't make it impossible. The real question, I suppose, is whether any actual offspring hatch from those eggs. I'm not sure I want to meet them.

[ he's done his share of monster hunting -- probably more than most others here, he'd wager. but he always had fran at his side. he's never fought without her. ]

What about you? Dragons at home?
unclesam: ((43))

[personal profile] unclesam 2021-05-28 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ For a small, delirious moment, Sam thinks that helicopter in New York must have hit him harder than he thought. Maybe this is all just a fever dream. He badly wants to wake up, hungover from the cookout, knowing Bucky's probably sprawled all over the couch. Just shove the world back into the kind of madness that he'd somewhat figured out and made sense of. Not... whatever all of this is.

Bullshit, that's what it is. ]


Now I'm not mad at you. Just... [ Hurt. He shakes his head. Doesn't matter. ] I get it, alright?

[ Doesn't make it feel better.

When Bucky doesn't take the water bottle, Sam eventually pulls it back with a small sigh, and takes another sip more to calm the rattling in his own chest than anything else.

He glances at the shield. Tries to reconcile his claim with Bucky's lashing out and Steve's existence.

Nice job, Cap.

It was never even about you.
]


What did Steve say, Buck?

[ The tone goes softer again, but this time not in quiet hurt. Just concern. ]
portolan: (a r m s c r o s s e d)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-28 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
Not to worry -- you've time enough for six more careers if you like.

[ he watches as she comes in close, blocking onlookers' views with her back. between her hands, a small golden light erupts, bright like a Mist fire. he holds his hand up toward it -- no heat. ]

Beautiful.

[ he watches her, and the way she relaxes and fills up with the light present. he's not sure he fully understands, but he knows people, and this means something to her. ]

I'm flattered you shared this with me, little pirate.
neversmall: (110)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-28 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
Alina... [ Nina rarely reaches out herself; the touch of a Heartrender is not often welcome. But she takes the hand that's not holding her biscuit and places it on Alina's shoulder. ] Your being here right now is not your fault. You're right - Ravka does need you. And we'll find a way to get you back. But don't feel guilty for being alive and somewhere else when it was not your fault or your choice to come here.
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854890)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-28 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sure she'll care a great deal. ( a touch of wryness. in all likelihood, she'd have forgotten about him entirely by then. he's not so remarkable as to stick in the memory unless he's given them a real reason.

does alina realize just how badly that could have gone? she must have if she'd thrown her weight behind the woman, hoping to soften the blow. and it had worked, no less. he was getting soft.

the showers are quieter than usual. although that might be because of the hour. he's grateful for that, if only because there is something so very vulnerable about bearing his throat to a person. it's something he would rather avoid having witnessed. )


One wonders where they would have found shaving cream. ( this is mused aloud. it's an assumption, of course, as he's yet to really pick over the supplies and it would be perhaps exactly what he deserved if he had to suffer through this without the extra bit of comfort. )

sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ is it guilt, this gnawing ache in her chest? the weight that settles there when she lies down to sleep? is it?

that doesn't feel like the right word for how little she wants to return to feeling useless and small, but alina can feel some responsibility there, no matter how arrogant, and she thinks that maybe guilt and responsibility are kinder and more flattering than the truth, so she shies away from prodding at it. lets it gnaw at her a little more, but out of her line of sight.

the desire to tell nina — not just someone, but nina — the truth burns in her. she stuffs the rest of the biscuit into her mouth just to stop it coming, and flexes her hands into little fists, then unclenches them before she has stopped chewing.
]

I know. You're right. [ she turns her head and smiles, nodding, assuring nina that she does not need the support that she desperately does, simply because she knows that she needs to hold herself back from it if she means to keep her secrets. ] But the people from the Adamant, they're not thinking about that when they look at us.
wittingly: (Yᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ sᴏ ғᴜᴄᴋɪɴ' sᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟ)

[personal profile] wittingly 2021-05-28 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
( Please observe this sudden, intensely enthusiastic sympathy. )

Right? That--

( Thank you for Getting It, because he's gotten Looks over this exact thing in the past. Standing there in the middle of a safehouse during a monster invasion with a giant bat in a cage. Nate strolls in with a, "You know on a scale of one to ten this is monumentally stupid, right?" Ian came back with,"agree to disagree" and two minutes later giant badger moles broke in and they had to make a run for it.

RIP Batty.

He twists his arm around to better display a tattoo he's got just above his elbow.
)

There was this giant bat one time, it's-- okay, it's a long story, it was glow reactive, I got like two hours--

( In hindsight, without all the context it probably makes no sense, but whatever. There's a vaguely dismissive hand gesture. )

Anyway, man, you would've been real useful in the other place.
sunmon: (pic#14852203)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe there's a lake of it to the southwest. We won't know until they turn over their maps.

[ she's not bitter about this at all. the highly limited functionality of the comm device is already too much for her to manage in terms of technology, but it's also the thing harboring all their maps — and she keeps getting ACCESS DENIED messages when she tries to open them. 'fatal error.' nonsense.

she sets her supplies down on a bench near the sinks and goes through the contents of the bundle.
] Looks like you're out of luck.

[ but she does produce a straight razor, unbending it at the hinge. it clicks into place as she opens it. ]

I'm not Ivan or some otkazat'sya servant. I've never done this before.
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
Little?

[ the light goes out in time with her flicker of offense. why is it always little? it reminds her of mal, and buried there is a bitterness. not one letter. she drops her hands to her sides.

in the wake of the glow, the rest of what he's said filters in. six more careers. he has no idea. it could be more, were grisha not slaves to the king in the second army, if she really were as long-lived as kirigan. and it will be none if nothing is done for grisha. one job, as a lighthouse and court prop and slave to the black heretic.
]
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14852740)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-28 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
You mean you haven't already planned a grand escape? ( it's said just a touch too lightly with aleksander turning his head slightly, hoping to catch her reaction. )

Then we'll manage with soap.

( it will be less than ideal but still better than nothing. he sets down his own pack, finally, picking over the contents. )

It's not as difficult as it seems. All you have to do is not cut my throat.
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ she goes very still for a moment. when she catches him looking at her, she flashes him a tight smile. ]

From the basecamp? [ he couldn't know about the little palace, could he? but it seems like he does. his mood, when they had first arrived ... it was more than just their circumstances. again she is keenly aware of how many barbs lay on the ground she treads. ] I wish.

[ she sets the razor aside and begins picking through the bottles of soap-like fluids. ]

I can't read any of these. I think this one's a hair oil. [ she holds it up and turns it around, squinting. ]
fossils: (pic#8704352)

[personal profile] fossils 2021-05-28 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ Maybe this place'll be a nice reprieve from all that god-complex bullshit. ]

Cigarette smoke, for the longest time. The smell of it.

[ When you walk into a restaurant, clinging to a person's clothes. The former at least is a rare thing in the modern world. Not a bad one either, just-- he gives a one shouldered shrug. ]

Never smoked myself, though.

[ Not the regular kind. ]
portolan: (a r m s c r o s s e d)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-28 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ her demeanor goes rigid, the light evaporating from her hands and from her mood. he's not sure what button he's pushed, but it's not the direction he wanted things to go. ]

What are you, eight? Nine? We don't usually teach magic til twelve but you seem precocious. [ he'd guess closer to eighteen, give or take. ]
neversmall: (003)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-28 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ ...not guilt, then. What? Something is twisting around inside her, and Nina's not certain of what it is that is coiling, choking at her fellow Grisha, her sister; the sun summoner, her nation's hope, but she does not like that it's there.

She lets her hand drop down and takes another small bite of her biscuit, seeming to let it go.

Nina is absolutely terrible at letting things go. ]


What do you think they're thinking when they look at us?
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Try twenty.

[ a beat. she shifts her weight a bit. ]

... Near enough, at least.

[ thAT'S NOT THE POINT ]

Why do they wait so long to teach magic in Ivalice? The Second Army tries to find Grisha as young as they can. [ ... GIRL ]
sunmon: (pic#14854106)

cw: racism

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
That we're just one more thing this planet is doing to keep them from surviving long enough to go home.

[ it's a familiar look. no one has looked at her judgmentally because she is shu since she got here, admittedly, but that doesn't mean there haven't been looks that are quite similar. she just notices everyone who came from the chrysalis gets them.

it's the look that says if one of us has to die, i hope you go first. the look that says this is what we're wasting resources on?
]
portolan: (Default)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-28 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
I'm afraid in my old age I've become weak at guessing the ages of youth.

[ he nearly laughs at himself. he's 23. he would have been just as offended at 20. Passed off as 30 as soon as he could. ]

I'm sure some families teach a little younger, but who wants schoolyard bullies shooting fire and poison? They seem to behave a little better after twelve, but who knows. Pedagogy was not my expertise.

[ he remembers his father wanting him to learn younger. his father didn't have magical know-how, not before the Occuria. his mother had -- white magic. he'd begged her to teach him when he was small, but she'd insisted that there would be time later. she was right, but she didn't get to be his teacher. ]

Did you start your training young then?
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-28 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
I didn't.

[ she quiets a little, sufficiently distracted from the insult of her age. she doesn't want to talk about the little palace and the people who'd come looking for grisha. it's too personal. she chews briefly on the inside of her cheek. ]

They didn't find me until recently. I didn't know what I could do either.
unfastens: (catch a kiss)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-05-28 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ the comment has Bruno smirking just slightly, though it's good-natured. The water cuts, and he's instantly very cold, but he does his best to ignore it, standing up and turning to grab a towel. ]

I won't judge you for that. It's nice to have something to remind you of home. [ it seems he caught Balthier's drift, because he tosses the towel his way without any fanfare, though it's just about the last one in the pile. ] I'm in the same boat about information. Frankly, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me something.

[ he reaches behind himself again, and suddenly he has a towel in his hand, seemingly out of nowhere (if Balthier is sensitive to magic or the supernatural, he might hear the faint sound of a zipper closing), which he uses to roughly dry his hair. ]

My eavesdropping tells me we're on an alien planet, but that's hard to believe, even for me.
portolan: (c h e e r y)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-28 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
Mmm. I can relate, on both accounts.

[ some of his friends had enjoyed smoking expensive cigars when they would sneak out in school to play cards and drink. he'd been too afraid of looking a fool his first time to join them. he'd learned to give the appearance of participating later in his pirating days, but never took it up in earnest.

What's your vice then? Alcohol? Gambling? Throwing yourself to the far reaches of the skies to keep things interesting?
portolan: (w e l l l l l)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-28 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ her mood shifts again. he decides to steer for calmer skies. ]

The wonderful thing about being human is our incredible capacity for change. I didn't learn to be a pirate until the ripe old age of seventeen, and just last year I went straight and protected a princess and her country from crumbling under the weight of gods and empires. [ oh, ashe would murder him for saying it that way. he smiles a little, thinking of her. he hopes she's well, that dalmasca is prospering. she will make a strong queen. ]

Who knows. I may even fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a famous actor. What's being whisked across the universe for if not reinventing oneself?
unfastens: (every child)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-05-28 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ he watches Matthias a bit intensely, clearly trying to determine that intention for himself. Not that Bruno doubts him - it's just in Bruno's nature. A man in his position has to know who he's dealing with, after all. ]

Too many dangerous unknowns, [ he agrees. Then, he continues, a little bit more amicable. ] Well... If you find a place to fish, then I can help you out. Hunting game is beyond me, I'm afraid.

[ unless it's people, but. ]
unfastens: (a life of dining alone)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-05-28 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
I only noticed this morning.

[ he can't claim it was never there before then - it's entirely possible he didn't spot it, although he considers it unlikely - but at least since this morning. Bruno doesn't even take the dream he faintly remembers into consideration. Strange as his life has been, he at least tries to stay grounded in the practical. ]

It's almost like a tattoo. [ but clearly it isn't - otherwise it wouldn't show up on Sam that brightly, and he's also pretty sure it would itch. Alien tech? ] ... Damn it. I don't know anyone we could ask about this.