raiamods: (Default)
raiamods ([personal profile] raiamods) wrote in [community profile] ethyraia2021-05-21 04:56 pm
Entry tags:

◣ 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!.

psychometries: (024)

[personal profile] psychometries 2021-06-06 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ Sort of... but Cal isn't much of a programmer himself, honestly, so he couldn't really begin to describe what makes a robot (or droid) a robot, other than mechanical parts with an A.I. inside. He's more in tune with the mechanical parts than the A.I. ]

Yeah, they're all over the place. Beedee's an explorer droid, so this is basically what he was made for. [ He smiles and gestures to the droid, who is scanning some other interesting plant and whistling excitedly. ] But there are droids for all kinds of things. Security, medicine, bartending—at my old job, my overseer was a droid.

[ He shakes his head a little, because that was fun—having a boss who didn't really understand the reality of fatigue, or the difference between reasonable and unreasonable demands. ]
psychometries: (014)

[personal profile] psychometries 2021-06-06 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
[ Okay, rich boy. Cal gives him a sidelong look—not that he's judging or anything, really, because he was certainly privileged himself, in his own way, before the Order fell—and chuckles a little under his breath. ]

You kind of get used to them after a while.

[ BD-1 lights the way while they explore, occasionally jumping down from Cal's back to run over and scan some interesting object or other. The droid also maps out the areas they've been to, not that that's particularly helpful yet. ]

What do you mean? [ How big it is? Its purpose? How it crashed? ]
wittingly: (Oɴʟʏ ғᴏᴏʟs ʀᴜsʜ ɪɴ)

[personal profile] wittingly 2021-06-06 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
( Not a trip for the faint of heart earns a kind of no kidding, you have no idea expression from him. That... was not a fun time, it didn't end well. Never again, thanks.

He's content to focus on the other part of the conversation. He snaps his fingers and points at Alex sagely. With calm, knowing confidence:
)

Right before climax is the other one.

( Once upon a time, Ian was a teacher at a respected institution. He perfected his Business Polite affect, wore button-down shirts, and schooled swearwords out of his vocabulary.

Once upon a time before that, Ian was poverty trash in a small town called Weaverville, and he spent his evenings getting stoned with his grunge buddies while listening to Nirvana. You can take the kid out of Weaverville, but you can't take Weaverville out of the kid.
)
psychometries: (071)

[personal profile] psychometries 2021-06-06 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
I'm Cal.

[ It's a friendly introduction. BD-1 trills cheerfully, even though Cal already introduced him, and he maneuvers the baby around in his arms so that he can free his hand and hold it out for her to shake. ]

Thanks for the help back there. I kind of needed it. [ Obviously... but at least he's self-aware. ]
psychometries: (102)

[personal profile] psychometries 2021-06-06 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ Earth again. The name doesn't surprise him. It seems like a lot of people here are from Earth, including the survivors of the crash. Cal's not really sure what to make of it, to be honest, but it sure seems like a hell of a coincidence. It also makes him feel a little... lonely? He's the only one from his galaxy even here, apparently, while all these people from Earth have that in common.

He shoves the feeling aside, running a hand through his hair and smiling lopsidedly. ]


I've been hearing about that planet a lot, actually.

[ Countries are still a trip to him—like, why divide up a planet? But if it's the only place you know, and you can't go anywhere else... anyway, his gaze follows BD-1 as the droid trots back over to him. ]

I'm pretty sure I'm not even from the same galaxy. That, or Earth is somewhere in uncharted space.
wittingly: (ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ᴍᴇ ᴡʀᴏɴɢ ɴᴏᴡ)

[personal profile] wittingly 2021-06-06 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Sure, man.

( He says pleasantly, and only glances up afterward. There's a pause there as soon as he sets eyes on John, accompanied by a slight squint. )

Have we met? I swear you look familiar.
unfastens: (the tyranny)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-06-06 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ the singing catches him off-guard, too, mostly because his impression of Balthier thus far has been "witty gentleman" and not "con man," but maybe the former is a testament to the latter. Bruno understands what he's up to fairly quickly - he's used to putting on acts like this. That said, he can only guess at what the desired end result here is. He's not going to try a a full-blown jailbreak, is he? In his underwear?

He'll have to hope not. He keeps his mouth shut while Balthier performs (he doesn't know him well enough to join in on this little bit of improv), pretending to focus on the mildly arduous task of putting on pants when they're wet until he's called upon. ]


... Fine. Someone's got to keep you in line.

[ a small attempt to play along. It's a bit surprising the guard will permit him to take a guest, but, frankly, Bruno's not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. So he squelches over, muttering to Balthier under his breath in hopes the guard won't hear: ]

You've got guts.
wittingly: (Hᴇʀᴇ's Tʜᴇ Mᴏʀᴀʟ Aɴᴅ Tʜᴇ Sᴛᴏʀʏ)

[personal profile] wittingly 2021-06-06 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
( There's no smug self-satisfaction or anything of the sort when she pauses. Nothing that suggests he's over here competing, or that he's particularly ruffled by her attitude. Just that same steady, faintly amused chill through and through.

In fact, he probably sounds like every stoner in every movie in history when he shrugs and says;
)

Por que no los dos? Why not both? Morale's important too.

( God knows they needed to keep good spirits back at Crater Lake, otherwise they'd have all just fucking given up probably.

But anyway:
)

I'm Ian, by the way. It's nice to meet you.
unfastens: (lost in a world)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-06-06 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ SHE HAD A MOP AND EVERYTHING....... SHE COULD DO IT ......... ]

I haven't, [ he answers, shaking his head gently. ] We should be careful who we share that information with. As Stand users, others knowing what our Stands can do is our greatest weakness.

[ she hasn't spent as much time with her Stand as he has, and he has no idea if she's even used hers again after everything happened - unlike his Stand, Spice Girl probably doesn't have too many practical uses in everyday life - so he doesn't think it's patronizing to tell her this much, even if he also believes she's clever enough to figure that out on her own. ]

In the first place, there don't seem to be any other Stand users here, although there are some people with similar abilities... I should be able to fly under the radar for a while.
unfastens: (you'd be so proud)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-06-06 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
Payment, provided you trust the other person to hold up their end of the bargain.

[ which is a not insignificant amount of trust to place in someone, from his point of view, but the comment is far from critical - more of an observation. After 8 years in the mob, Bruno only cuts deals like that with people he can rely on or people he can beat into submission if they try backing out.

Then again, maybe Illumi's the same way. ]


Most people here are just trying to survive. I'm surprised you can think about getting paid.

[ more curious than judgmental. There are plenty of reasons why that might be important to someone; he knows very well that money can make or break a life. ]
figlia_morbida: ([roundabout])

me: i shant tag this night. also me:

[personal profile] figlia_morbida 2021-06-06 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
...I see.

[As a new Stand user, Trish has to be honest...she didn't think about that. It's fortunate that Notorious B.I.G. wasn't a Stand capable of strategy, because she has to admit, the idea of going against someone as experienced as Bruno is terrifying. Spice Girl had the room to essentially tutor her user against a mindless Stand, but a regular user wouldn't afford her that time...

Luckily she hasn't shared her ability either, mostly because it seems weird to shoehorn into conversation and with people she doesn't know besides. Even if, in her opinion, Spice Girl is awesome.

The knowledge people have similar abilities is surprising, also. She actually leans toward him, braced on one hand, clearly not privy to this!
]

Wait, what did you say? There are people with powers but no Stands...?

[Fuck!!!! What do you mean Stands aren't the only weird thing people can do!!!]
figlia_morbida: ([word up])

[personal profile] figlia_morbida 2021-06-06 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
[With how ramshackle everything here is, it takes Trish a moment, but she recalls that the people here apparently could travel through space too (which obviously didn't end well, and this is why you don't go cavorting in space!!!!)...though trying to comprehend everything as a unit is too much, especially since her Earth couldn't freely space travel, but there is an Earth - possibly Earths - that could if all the chatter she's heard is true? And then there's the question of time...

They may not even be from the same century let alone galaxy, if she really thinks about it. She rests her head against her hand. Oof. She unfortunately gives his smile a pinched look as a result, but it's nothing against him!
]

Earth isn't much if you've seen more planets than we can count. I wouldn't be jealous.

[Pity the man who has never seen Italy though. She's biased but it's lovely!]

It doesn't give us a nuanced outlook on our situation either. I'm curious to know what you think about all this considering you have more in common with the people here than any one of us.

[Spice Girl finally filters back to her as she says this, now that Trish is wholly distracted from BD for now. Ganbare, roomba-san...]

It's not common to magically drag people off their planets, is it?
figlia_morbida: ([blue monday])

[personal profile] figlia_morbida 2021-06-06 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Trish's face twitches with a hint of a smile at that. Nina's got her there!]

It helps to learn who you're stuck with, if nothing else.

[She's heard some bizarre stuff to be sure...not sure when it'll be useful but it's there...]

From what I've been told....a lot of us are from Earth. Is that true for you too? Tell me you've at least heard of Italy.

[The name "Nina Zenik" sounds European, almost, but Trish is more than prepared to be wrong.]
brosbeforeprose: (the great pretender)

Varric

[personal profile] brosbeforeprose 2021-06-06 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
the theatre, darling

Varric neither expected nor asked to be drawn into artsy shit. But storytelling is artsy shit, I hear you say. Well, yes, but not the kind where people fart around acting it all out. Varric gets enough drama, fiction and falsehoods in his personal life, he doesn't need to add theatre to it.

Not that he can blame anybody here for needing to escape for a while.

He was asked to paint a nice banner for some play, which he absolutely is going to do, but if you pass by him, you'll notice by the he's been practising his calligraphy for this on various scraps of wood, plastic, whatever he can find. Beautiful curving letters, swirling around one another in elegant lines, imposing block capitals, a slightly more classic script of the kind of you might see in old medieval manuscripts.

It's all swear words.

Quite creative ones, too.

missing persons

Several days after arrival, Varric just about knows his way around - knows who to butter up at the mess to get a little less slop, a little more protein; has thought long and hard about whether a joint is worth janitorial work (the answer is no, but the head janitor has puppy dog eyes and reminds him of Merrill, damn her); has been by the engineering area and taken some notes on concepts he knows nothing about to read up on and come up with questions later. All that stuff.

But now he's getting to the important things: he's seen the new ragtag bunch of misfits in camp wandering around with their old stuff, when from what he saw, everyone came in with just the clothes on their backs. Varric may keep his expectations low, but his hopes are always high.

Therefore, you can see him one day in an area with a lot of foot traffic, nailing a bit of fabric to a flimsy wall that may not take that kind of violence being done to it. The fabric has painted on it in clear, elegant writing:

MISSING: repeating crossbow
Return to Varric Tethras if found
Reward?


A question mark can do a lot of heavy lifting in a sentence. Or just after a word.

sweet dreams are made of this

Varric's not even aware to begin with that he is dreaming. Dwarves don't dream. Dreams come from the Fade, and although Varric has been pushed into the Fade physically, he doesn't feel it, much less when he sleeps.

But, even fully convinced he's awake, underground in what looks like some kind of old underground lake you might find outside the ancestral home of the dwarves, he can't bring himself to mind. This place is peaceful. It's as warm and comfortable as if a cozy hearth is crackling next to him. And he can't even bring himself to be afraid when the creature emerges. He bloody should be. But he welcomes it like an old friend.

a. together in the deep

He takes far too long to notice anybody's here with him. But he does. Eventually. He turns to look at them, a faint smile on his face.

"Have you ever seen anything like it?"

b. the morning after

The next morning is just as peaceful as the night - just a bit colder and damper. And as Varric heads out on a walk through camp on his new usual routine of talking to the locals and finding out what's going on, his usual half-open shirt shows not only his lucious chest hair, but also a faint lilac mark.

"My eyes are up here," he says, mock-offended, to the first person he sees staring at it.
brosbeforeprose: (ordinary world)

[personal profile] brosbeforeprose 2021-06-06 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[Varric's already leaping in to catch whatever he can out of sheer instinct - and hisses in pain as a canister of something hits his lower leg. Mops, though - it's Mops, he recognises her from their trip to the caves - catches the main structure deftly, and Varric hastily shoves some boxes out of the way of anybody passing by.]

"Tentacle incest"? I need to add that to my repertoire.
cleaningsolutions: (Default)

[personal profile] cleaningsolutions 2021-06-06 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[He is a good listener. Mops appreciates that. It's uncanny in various ways, talking to red-blooded humans. They're so much more like the humans she knows, compared to the various alien species, that the differences feel strange and unreal. That she feels strange among them.]

I do. I was born and lived as a feral for at least two and a half decades. The Krakau changed me, but their science only goes so far. I'm a "cured human", something between what I was and what you are.

[Wolf would absolutely go 'you wanna see my blood?' at a moment like this. Mops has the impression that that wouldn't go down so well with people who feel pain and can bleed to death.]

I never thought I'd get to meet... I don't even know what to call you.
neversmall: (Default)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-06-06 01:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, no. I'm afraid not. I'm from Ravka - which is a country, not a planet. Italy is your country?

[ The way she spoke of it indicated some pride. ]
cleaningsolutions: (I think I’m both)

[personal profile] cleaningsolutions 2021-06-06 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Hah. Sounds better in Liktok. "Tentacle incest" just doesn't have the punch of-

[Mops grunts as she wrestles the body of the shelving unit back upright. It stands, but with a sullen lean that suggests this state won't last long. Having heard the call of the floor, it means to answer it.]

- the way you can air-bite the last click. It's satisfying. Hi, Varric.
neversmall: (002)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-06-06 02:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nina reaches out to take his hand. As a Heartrender, she's accustomed to (except for when she is pretending not to be one) keeping such exchanges brief. She can't help the way the contact increases her awareness of a person's heartbeat, sense of self, power. The least she can do is keep the invasiveness as minimal as possible, for both their sakes. ]

Don't mention it. I'm adverse to the sound of crying children.

[ It sounds like a very selfish statement, but with the smile she says it with, what? She nods toward the baby in his arms. ]

You're getting the hang of it. Think you'll be back tomorrow?
portolan: (c o n v e r s a t i o n)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-06-06 02:37 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the path is amply wide for them to walk abreast, the darkness punctured by the low glow of phosphoresce. It is enough not to trip and not much more, but Balthier is still aware of his footsteps. He has no desire to be injured in a foreign place, or with such a long walk back to the base camp.

Maybe it's the cramped space, and maybe it's the companionship of conversation after days of fear and isolation, but he answers more honestly than he has with others.
]

Have you ever been tethered to a place you didn't want to be, that you knew if you didn't get out, you would cease to exist?

Then imagine being able to pilot a ship, go anywhere at anytime, no borders to restrict you, the freedom to accept or reject any job that comes your way. [ he hesitates. ] And a partner you trust more than anyone. It is absolute freedom.

[ his vulnerability feels too large, too vulnerable in the darkness all around them. too much like when he first left, when he first met Fran, when he only knew how to be entirely closed off or so transparent he would shoot himself in the foot with every word. ]

Of course, I'm mostly in it for the treasure.
portolan: (a r m s c r o s s e d)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-06-06 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Treasure isn't always gold and glitter. [ he says it with a wink. ] I enjoy an antique tea pot, for instance. Half the joy is discovering what treasure motivates you.

[ like a princess and her quest for freedom and justice. he certainly hadn't expected that. ] And some treasure you don't steal; you protect.
neversmall: (008)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-06-06 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The casual deflection at the end lets her know even more than his words how true what he's saying is. But his words ring true even without that -

- and yes, she does, quite literally, know what it's like to be tethered to someplace she didn't want to be, realizing that if she didn't escape she would die. A partner you trust more than anyone. Absolute freedom.

This place, without that partner, must feel like quite the opposite to him. ]


That sounds both terribly wonderful and terribly exciting. [ And then, deliberately, so as to not leave things unbalanced: ] I do know a little bit about what that's like, though I can't say my escape involved anything as powerful as the freedom to go anywhere as a result. That's quite the treasure.

[ They should be coming about the bend now - the ambient light of the Chrysalis is increasing. ]
portolan: (c h e e r y)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-06-06 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the guard leads them down a series of halls -- Balthier notes that she makes no effort to confuse or mislead them -- and opens a service door on the side. Blissfully warm dry air wafts in. She calls to another guard and they discuss for a few moments. When she returns she informs them that they will be following another guard down to move some supplies into the mess hall. Balthier notes that she does not make any real effort to keep them from running off.

She also suggests Balthier may want to restore his pants to their proper position.
]

Thank you for your concern, good lady. [ he figures by the time they wind down to the bottom of the hill where they need to lift things, his clothing should be significantly more pleasant, and by the time they're done his clothes should be mostly dry. He's also hoping to gather information on the size of the building they're being kept in, and how many people are here. ] I quite miss airing out my drawers, though. Feels like home. [ it has the desired effect, and she shakes her head slightly as she disappears back inside. ]

Wouldn't have made it nearly this far without any. [ he says it cheerily, slipping his shirt on. it'll dry faster with more surface area. ] You have excellent taste in strangers and a good amount of curiosity.
spalten: (pic#14899510)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-06-06 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I probably won't.

[ when vidar sighs, it sounds like a soft rumbling through his mask. nevertheless, he moves past wires and empty rooms, until the two of them stumble at the bridge: dark, desolate, screens empty and the drawers ripped of whatever was important in them.

he taps his foot softly on the floor. ]


I find it funny that a ship, carrying these many people, with clear intentions of settling elsewhere - and having spent a lot of funding in it - would end up this way.

The route ought to have been routine, don't you think? If you were moving to a new house, for example, you'd map out the neighbourhood and know the way from your work to your house. Now, granted, this is space - and anything can happen out there.

I just find it grim that this is how they ended. Making a home out of a planet they never wanted to be in. I'm a paranoid man, however.
spalten: (pic#14899500)

missing persons

[personal profile] spalten 2021-06-06 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, that's an unfortunate thing to get lost.

"Have you tried their security team? I know they're not the friendliest lot, but something that can be potentially dangerous as that, if found, might've been confiscated."

And considering the lack of trust extended to the new 'hatchlings', he can see this playing out just like that, if it were the case that they'd taken it to begin with.