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!.

morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14862947)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-29 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
You make it sound so insidious.

( granted, there's nothing to say that he hadn't absolutely intended to do just that. both to avoid the vulnerability of being seen that way by anyone unknown and because he was curious to see what she'd do. if she'd take the opportunity he was ready to hand her and try to do something unfortunate.

at her gesture, his gaze briefly drops before lifting back to catch hers. then, he slides the kefta from his shoulders. )


I'm beginning to wonder if I won't have to resort to something drastic, like incineration.
trassel: (40.)

aid station.

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-29 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The Something that he feels nearby is the Looming Presence of one Matthias Helvar, Witch Hunter, who most definitely saw magic being performed right in front of him. Healing magic, or some facet, but not different enough from a Grisha for it to be salient to him. ]

[ Lance receives a stony look, coolly scrutinising. Matthias silently offers the gauze, along with the needle and thread. ]
neversmall: (011)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-29 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ...so a divide not erased, but moved, if there was magic that everyone had and "special magic." ]

I see. You'll have to excuse my fascination. It's hard for me to imagine a world where everyone is able to do magic, because in my world my country is one of the only ones that doesn't kill, enslave, or experiment on those who can manipulate matter. But it sounds like your world has its own divisions.
morozova: by @frathouse (pic#14920510)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-29 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
You must come from quite a remarkable place if you can afford to be so cavalier.

( on the one hand, the dragon is still plenty impressive. even at his age, knowing all that he does and having seen all that he's seen, dragons remain one of those things that only exist in fairy tales and the istorii sankt'ya.

on the other hand, aleksander is much more interested in this strange new technology. even if he's not entirely sure that he trusts any of it just yet. )


Though I suppose one knows where one stands with a dragon.
cleaningsolutions: (Default)

base camp general

[personal profile] cleaningsolutions 2021-05-29 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[As Sam's passing through the camp, he might see a big gray-tinged woman protecting her head with her arm as a major jury-rigged shelving unit she's inspecting suffers a long overdue catastrophic failure. Shelves in different sizes and colors cascade and go sliding across the floor, canisters and little boxes tumbling and rolling out with vigor, various of them glancing off her. The sides topple and the large, heavy headboard seems to hesitate before tipping over, slow at first and then very quickly. She catches it with a loud smack of metal and plastic on flesh that probably means a bruise.

Calmly, with only the mildest indication of annoyance in her tone, Mops says something that technically translates fine but without the cultural context sounds a little off.]


...Tentacle incest. This is why you don't use glue to build furniture.

[More loudly:]

Anyone got hit by that?
apatheia: (mfw the machine here's just a sidequest)

[personal profile] apatheia 2021-05-29 02:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's no rest for the wicked, and certainly no rest for video game protags built to help humanity! 2B really can't bring herself to turn down the work she gets, of which there's definitely a lot. Even when it means helping out at a childcare center. With children. Actual, human children. It's debatable if she would've tried to escape from the situation anyways, but the sheer bafflement she feels at an android being asked to help look after kids definitely doesn't help, and she's dragged into work before she knows it.

At the very least, she manages to convince them to let her do something a little less related to childcare. After throwing an apron on her, they send her to paint the outside walls something "bright, fun, and cheerful." All things she definitely doesn't have any good idea for.

If anything, it makes her think of 9S. She knows he'd have a much better idea of what to paint for something like that. After their encounter with the machine "children," she thinks he'd do better with handling this whole thing in general.

It's a wistful thought though, one she tries to push out of her mind. Surely, it's for the best that he isn't here. There's no way for her to know what's happened in her world after her death, but 9S not having been kidnapped twice would have to be better than nothing.

So when she hears his voice, a voice she could never mistake in a million years, but while wearing an apron covered in paint and trying to paint a flower on the wall—it all feels a little impossible. She whips around to find the owner of that voice, but she still can't believe what she's seeing.]


—9S?
neversmall: (093)

1/2

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-29 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The Look she sends him.

If they were in private (seeking to respect his feelings in this, at least a little) and she was not about to be bowled over by nearly 200 pounds of wolf, she'd extend a hand to his cheek and say: So am I. ]
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854930)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-29 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
( aleksander is more cautious than nina but only because he knows how quickly the tide can turn. the adamant might suffer their presence now, but they are still a drain on resources, something that is bound to become an issue sooner rather than later. )

Have you shown them what you can do?

( her wording would suggest so. he's not sure why it surprises him, truthfully. a heartrender is useful for far more than simply doing harm, and nina has always been gifted. )

Be careful, if you continue.

( that "if" is really more of a "when", isn't it? an inevitability. )
neversmall: (057)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-29 02:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Instead, she has to abruptly look down at the very insistent, very large wolf shedding white fur all over her.

That doesn't stop her, bending to laugh and then twisting her head out of the way so Trassel can't stick his tongue down her throat in the way of wolves. ]


So am I.

[ She does manage to send a smolder Matthias' way over Trassel's head, but the effect may be somewhat spoiled by her closed-mouth grin and the fact that she's peering over his wolf. ]
trassel: (25.)

[personal profile] trassel 2021-05-29 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Trass ends up licking her cheek, following it with jumping up lightly to lick at her forehead, then dropping down and circling again. Although Nina is Accepted, she is also New. Despite never being ordered to do so, Trass sleeps under her hammock. His time is starting to split more evenly with both of them, although it's still overwhelmingly in Matthias' favour. ]

[ Speaking of Matthias' favour, the reins of this conversation are not. Again she simply, brutally, throws him a Look and what is he supposed to do with the answering flare, the clumsy jerking motion of his own heart towards where she is. He ducks his gaze away quickly to the wolf. Nina's laugh rings around them, an enclosing web. ]

[ She likes it when he turns red. He very, very much wishes the light flush in his cheeks was not there. Her want is so wide. ]

[ Matthias huffs. ]

How was your day?
portolan: (w e l l l l l)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-29 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ this one must have been sheltered. He remembers meeting some men like this in his pirating days, all from a country farther north. He never really understood, especially not after living in the heat of a desert. ]

If they're staring, why not give them a show? [ He grins even as he takes the towel and starts drying off. The air is cold and the heat of the water quickly fades. ]

morozova: BY @EASYSTREET (pic#14925716)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-29 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
( while it's likely that yakov is entirely correct in his assessment—both of the cliff, itself, and frankly aleksander's seeming lack of a sense of self-preservation—he is fortunate that the other man is also not the type to not recognize reason when it's placed before him.

even if he's beginning to suspect that the crew might be doing all that they can to slowly thin the number of newcomers through a series of increasingly difficult tasks. the rat warren, at least, was something he could strike at. )


If these herbs are as important as they claim, it might be prudent to look at ways to harvest them without risking life and limb.

( though, he's a soldier, not an engineer. the solution, itself, is best left in the hands of someone more knowledgeable. )
Edited 2021-05-29 15:24 (UTC)
neversmall: (101)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-29 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nina appreciates that he did not make that an order; he's leaving her actions to her discretion when he has the right to do more. She's honored - flattered - by his trust. It twists in her, knowing what she's done and knowing what she will do. But she has her reasons, and those convictions are steadfast. Sometimes, you have to do what's right - and her whole heart tells her that what has happened with Matthias is right. ]

I spent some time this morning in the Aid Station. They have a very limited supply of pain killers. [ So what she did, what she showed them, is a clear conclusion. ] I thought it best to become as useful as possible as quickly as possible, considering. Some of them are scared and suspicious, bitter about sharing their resources. Showing them that we are resources, and giving them a friendly face while letting them draw their own conclusions about the risks of isolating us seemed to be a good first step.

[ ...help, she was doing it. She was falling right back into the pattern of reporting, listening, and planning with the General. But well, why shouldn't she?

Besides the fact that she was a deserter.

But here, it wasn't as if they had any choice, they hadn't taken any step out of line - they'd just woken up here. And there was no war. She had tremendous respect for Kirigan, and for his experience and abilities. There was no reason that they all couldn't work together. No reason at all... besides ancient hatreds and old wounds -- shit, how was she going to do this? ]
portolan: (Default)

For Roy

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-29 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ they head north, away from the muddy ravine. it's likely wet from runoff from the cliffs they're headed too, either that or from an underground water source. other than the gnarled trees hugging the edge of the ravine, everything else is scrub and grass -- high desert. at least that's familiar ]

Done much mountain climbing at home?

[ the was normally an air man, but there was something satisfying about hiking desert vistas. maybe it was being able to see where you were going. ]


portolan: (Default)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-29 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the hatchlings are fairly easy to tell apart by their foreign clothing, bewildered expressions, and sometimes otherwordly features. however, it's only been a few days, and he hasn't been everywhere in camp yet. ]

I've counted around forty so far, though I imagine there are more. Quite a lot of chosen ones for one place.
portolan: (l o o s e n y o u r c u f f s)

Re: four

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-29 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Balthier loosens his cuffs to roll his sleeves against the heat, even as he watches 9S's contraption out of the corner of his eye. Not impossible with Ivalice technology --or magic, of course -- but he's completely uncertain as to its function. ]

Only when I'm between adventures.
neversmall: (076)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-29 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ...oh, she'd made him blush. She hadn't meant to, but it's a delight to see. One day, he won't blush with her anymore, and she might miss it, but she's interested in seeing what he'll do when he isn't holding himself back anymore. She's... very, very interested in that. Lightly, slightly wicked: ]

Better now. [ Ooof, all right, you monster. She pets Trassel's head around his ears and then moves through him, the wolf shifting to accommodate, so she can go toward Matthias. ] But Sam showed me how to make waffles with the small pictures, so it was already pretty good.

[ These pictures are so much fun?? ]
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854917)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-05-29 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
She was a Fjerdan princess from long ago.

( he explains, considering the lake surface as though wrestling with a decision. it's been years since he's gone swimming, and yet there is something about that creature that calls to him. )

When she turned from her faith, her people tried to drown her in a river.
portolan: (l o o s e n y o u r c u f f s)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-29 03:46 pm (UTC)(link)
And here I'd have settled for twelve. Dreams do come true.

[ she reminds him a little of ashe, too, when they first met. quick temper, a need to be taken seriously, me-against-the-world attitude. he wonders what story she's coming from that's given her that secrecy and defense. ]
portolan: (Default)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-05-29 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Something tenses in the air and in the Mist beyond it. Balthier doesn't see the effects of any spell, but Bruno suddenly has two towels when Balthier was sure the stack was out. Not the kind of magic he has at home, but appreciated. ]

I suppose it's easier to believe than the idea that all this was somehow hidden elsewhere on my own planet. [ planet. it feels strange in his mouth, a word he has only ever really used to name celestial objects while navigating the night skies. sure, it was a beloved past time by some to imagine that other worlds existed out on those celestial bodies, but his money had always been on magic and dreams. ah, well, he's nothing if not adaptable. ]

Any idea how many of us there are, or how long people like us have been showing up? [ he was so disoriented when he actually woke up, exhausted from fighting out of the egg mucous, and then focused on getting out of the holding cell. he hasn't truly stopped to gather his wits yet. ]
neversmall: (Default)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-05-29 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She'd not yet had the opportunity to count; that was something she was looking forward to doing once they got back to the chamber, numbering the cracked eggs.

And the eggs that remained.

Forty is quite the number. ]


"Chosen ones", [ Nina repeats, turning the phrase around in her mind before snorting a little. ] This strikes me as more accidental - or perhaps coincidental, than a matter of fate. The question remains, though - chosen for what?
sunmon: (pic#14854125)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-29 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ alina takes the kefta from him, folds it over her arm. there's something familiar and comforting about the gesture. it is deceptively reassuring. nothing is as it was that morning, yet she can't help the tiny ache that wants to return to it.

she hangs the kefta on one of the hooks in an open locker.
]

The tunic and shirt too.

[ heat prickles her cheeks. it is one thing to progressively disrobe while pawing at one another in the moment. another to demand it when they're standing plainly apart, when she's not interested in letting him touch her. she had already seen him naked in the baths. it shouldn't be suggestive. but it is. and even as her chest grows lighter, something sits heavy as poison in her gut.

in a way, it is insidious. so she doesn't acknowledge the statement. only makes her quick demand.
]
Edited 2021-05-29 16:34 (UTC)
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-29 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
What if there's another settlement on this continent? Or ... Or another dragon, or one still living?

[ maybe striking out on their own is exactly what they need to do. ]

That chamber has more questions than answers. We can't just stare at it until it gives up its secrets, either.
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-05-29 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
That makes one of us happy to be here.

[ the 'us' she means more broadly, but she intones it like a goal. if balthier can settle in, maybe there's hope for the rest to find a place for themselves until they can figure out a way home. ]
cleaningsolutions: (Default)

Marion "Mops" Adamopoulos | Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse | OTA

[personal profile] cleaningsolutions 2021-05-29 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
the horror movie toplevel
[Either someone's asked you to bring a bucket of supplies or a bowl of gruel here, or you were drawn by the steam billowing out near the showers and the hissing of escaping pressure; regardless, there's a lot of effort going on here.

While the shower system was being installed, someone had confused the measurement of the full diameter of a pipe and the diameter of the pipe's insides. Consequently there are a few places where the plumbing is held together with layer on layer of thick, dripping tape. The persistent warmth and damp have let some kind of rustlike lichen bristle off of various surfaces where you don't want creatively placed bristles. Mops is working on getting these joins properly replaced and has diverted most of the flow so she can actually do it.

She seems to loom abruptly out of a cloud of too-hot-to-be-comfortable steam. If Mops had been a classic human she would have been bright pink from this heat, with eyes reddened by the irritating droplets. Since her blood is black, she's gone an unsettling dark gray instead, and the whites of her eyes are much darker than the odd shining blue of her irises. Her skin is wet, her graying hair soaked, and water forms running beads over her scuffed uniform.]


You shouldn't be here. It's hot, you could pass out.

the big noisy mess toplevel
[As you're passing through the camp, you might see a big gray-tinged woman protecting her head with her arm as a major jury-rigged shelving unit she's trying to secure suffers a long overdue catastrophic failure. Shelves in different sizes and colors cascade and go sliding across the floor, canisters and little boxes tumbling and rolling out with vigor, various of them glancing off her. If they slide enough to ram into your ankles that could bruise, and the footing has gone treacherous. The shelf's sides topple and the large, heavy headboard seems to hesitate before tipping over, slow at first and then very quickly. She catches it with a loud smack of metal and plastic on flesh.

Calmly, with only a moderate amount of strained patience in her tone, Mops says something that technically translates fine but without the cultural context sounds a little off.]


...tentacle incest. This is why you don't just use glue to build furniture.

[More loudly, as she leans the headboard against the wall:]

Anyone got hit by that?

the somber toplevel
[The memorial wall displays some remnant of everyone who's died on this planet, whether it's as plain as the letters of their name or a much-worn personal shrine with pictures and fresh flowers. There are thousands of names, far too many for any one visit to see them all, but Mops is giving it a try, making her slow way down the wall, sometimes stretching out an outsized hand to touch the carvings as she goes. Her face is sad and wondering. Eventually her AI, Doc, tells her Take a break, you're getting overwhelmed. They're not going anywhere, sir.

She finds a place to sit down, a wax-spattered bench where mourners come with candles, and wipes at tears. Mops is mostly addressing herself and Doc, but she does say it out loud, where anyone could hear and respond.]


Can you imagine this many people, alive?

wildcard
[Mops is a tall, stocky, gray-tinged woman who has a suggestion of undeath to her, though she's very much a living person. She can mostly be found around camp, taking quickly to Sanitation with a minor side of Engineering, and being fascinated with people. Mops is playing it cool but definitely regards red-blooded humans and humanlike people in a bit of an odd way, with a kind of disbelieving, anxious for them awe.]