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!.

cicatrize: (pic#12603010)

jack benjamin | kings

[personal profile] cicatrize 2021-06-08 04:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Showers;
[ Who showers in three minutes? You can’t possibly scrub all the places you need to scrub, with the attention each deserves, in three minutes, that’s absurd. Or, so Jack believes. That’s what you call a military shower, and he knows well enough from warfront camps and trenches that 3 minutes does not a completely clean individual make. Or soldiers and war are just naturally foul, that’s a good possibility too.

Once he’d learned they’re living inside a rotting carcass, Jack couldn’t make it to the showers fast enough, and when someone started prodding him to finish up, the words ’make me’ came more like a compulsion than a real proposal. Luckily, they didn’t, just frowned aggressively and waited for the water to turn cold a moment later, souring Jack’s peaceful communion with cleanliness. ]


I don’t do sloppy seconds towels, sorry. [ blithely remarked as he snatches up the one towel he and his shower buddy were meant to share, clearly not actually that sorry. ]

Mess Hall;
[ in the mess hall, jack’s sat off in a corner all his own, not so much looking like the dejected kid with no friends as the aloof princess unwilling to share personal space with strangers.

A mug of coffee simmers a few inches below his chin, the metal flask he tugs from inside his jacket upended to pour something amber and alcoholic into the cup. Head seeming to be held up only but the fist his cheek is propped on, Jack doesn’t bother looking up from the cup he’s stirring when someone joins his table. ]


Seat’s taken. Mosey along, friend.

[ the seat is not taken, he’s just grouchy and anti-social right now. Feel free to completely ignore that and bother him anyway. ]

Theater / Childcare;
[ In another life, perhaps Jack’s ability to completely erase himself and portray a fabricated persona for the public might’ve been better used for the theatrical arts. He has no skill for engineering or medicine, and while he could work security, after witnessing the others attempt conversation with What’s-his-ass, any motivation for volunteering there was struck down.

Children are certainly not a demographic he’s used to or interested in associating with, but since he hasn’t yet heard that sanitation means free weed, this is where he’s ended up. Script in hand, 5 year old attempting to scale his right leg, Jack squints down at the words critically. ]
Who wrote this drivel?

[ The staff seem about as thrilled to deal with Jack and Jack is to deal with these kids. These kids, who are the only ones truly excited about his presence. He’s tall and grumpy and too prim, and that, of course, makes them want to bother and dishevel him all the more. They tug on his clothes, reach for his hair, grab at his hands and arms to lead him around. One spotted the silver flask Jack periodically sips from, reaching up towards it with grabby-hands.
Can I have it?
No.
Why?
Because I said so.
But why?
Because I’m an adult.
So?
So I’ve earned bodily autonomy and the privilege to own property, and you are just some breeder’s unleashed, glorified pet. Keep your filthy mitts to yourself. And blow your nose, for godsake, you look like a toddler.
A native childcare worker reminds Jack, he is a toddler, which earns an unimpressed snort and - ]
Doesn’t mean he has to advertise it.

[ Look, if Jack could be a toddler with the poise and disposition of a 50 year old ambassador, so can this brat. There’s a chance Jack Benjamin did not have a normal childhood, and it is possible it’s left him a little fucked up, okay? Someone save him from this fresh new hell. ]

Community Outreach - Synagogue;
[ if bitterness could be made manifest, the pointed stare Jack angles at the synagogue would be pouring out waves of it. He’s crossed time and space, traveled galaxies and dimensions away, and still, God follows him. There’s no escaping it, and tension runs all through his frame, muscles tight, jaw clenched, not enough whisky left in his flask. Someone pauses nearby, and his gaze shifts, looking over their profile a moment before addressing them - ]

Subscriber or tourist?

[ are you here to pray, or here to watch others and judge them? Guess which he is. ]

Wildcard;
[ toss me a fresh starter, if you like, or hit me up on plurk at [plurk.com profile] Wuzzafuzzle for plotting! ]

Edited 2021-06-08 16:22 (UTC)
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14956889)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-06-08 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
( he runs a hand across his jaw, first, testing. )

Not bad for a first attempt.
sunmon: (Default)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-08 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ her scoff is almost a laugh. ]

Don't strain yourself reaching for a compliment.

[ she pats the razor dry, then offers it back to him. ]
angerberg: (pic#14132774)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-06-09 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
Over land? [ a pause. ] Amongst the stars, I gather.
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-06-09 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
That's no way to ask. [ she sounds more amused than offended at least. ] What will you give in return?

[ that's how it works. the magic. this is part of the lesson. ]
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-06-09 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
It would take a great deal of magic to give back what you've lost.

[ which is not to say it's impossible. what yennefer had gained was not prosthetic, precisely, but it was not so dissimilar. a bitterness enters her smile as she says, ] And it isn't without cost.
angerberg: (pic#14132779)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-06-09 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ she does hold her hand out — at a careful distance.

yennefer has had years of training in not looking surprised by anything, but it's hard to tear her eyes away from redwing, which suggests the same amount of awe that any facial expression might give away.
]

And what generates the heat? Fires need fuel.

[ and redwing is very, very small. ]
angerberg: (Default)

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-06-09 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
A carpenter, then. New or old, it seems they've called you to duty here.

[ she wants to see how that sits with him. carpentry. it's so mundane, and he carries a gravitas about him. ]
neversmall: (041)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-06-09 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ ...adjust back to life outside of war. That assumes... either the war has ended, or the soldiers have somehow been decommissioned. She assumes that occasionally happens with the First Army; she's never heard of it happening with the Second. The most a Grisha could hope for was training others at the Little Palace, but as long as Fjerda wanted their heads, the Kaelish wanted their blood, and the Shu wanted to cut them up to see how they worked, their war would never be over.

What would it be like to suddenly no longer be a soldier? She supposed she was going to find out, but winding up on an alien planet with hostile terrain wasn't exactly acclimating to civilian life.

Her hands have gone still as she listens to him, and now her fingers curl a little around the bandages as she leans in, intent. ]


And how do you do that? Treat those wounds?
portolan: (c h e e r y)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-06-09 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ it truly was, though the idea of total freedom stirs up the thoughts he'd been struggling with the last six months or so, the idea that the freedom to go anywhere was not the same as healing the wounds he was running from. ]

There is certainly plenty of treasure in piracy. Gems you wouldn't believe, ancient statues, stunning woodwork. It's probably a blessing I didn't have a house to fill with my spoils.

[ as they speak, they turn a bend. The light of the Chrysalis fills the large cavern like a small sun, and all about it giant eggs sit, pulsating lightly in its glow. Some are broken, but many more still look in tact. He wonders uneasily if they'll hatch with more newcomers, or monsters. ]
portolan: (a r m s c r o s s e d)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-06-09 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
Cheers to that. It is expressly on my agenda to ask locals what sorts of hot beverages they use instead. I shall happily invite you for one once I get my hands on it.

[ he hears the sounds of children playing and the particular cadence of voices delivering stories to eager ears. they must be close to the players. ]
neversmall: (005)

[personal profile] neversmall 2021-06-09 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ Lightly: ] Didn't anybody ever tell you not to brag about how much money you have while you're headed into the dark with a mysterious stranger? ...or, into the light, apparently.

[ They turn the bend and ...well. That's certainly. Creepy. ]

Saints, look at this. Where did they come from? [ Nina doesn't hesitate long before walking in, prowling a cautious perimeter along the lake of goo. ]
unclesam: ((20))

[personal profile] unclesam 2021-06-09 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
Depends on the person.

[ It's a vague answer, as Sam sifts through terminology that would mean little to her he suspects, for ways to explain it more easily. ]

Everyone's damage is different. If it's real bad, you might get medication - antidepressants, mood-stabilizers, the works. Those get prescribed by psychiatrists, though. They're meant to assist with depression and anxiety issues, reduce irritability, improve sleep patterns, help ease nightmares, but they're no fix, just... well, they're like painkillers, right. They help, but you gotta do a little more for the healing process.

[ He rolls up another bandage. Having something to do with his hands helps his mind stay on task, too. ]

Talk therapy's most common. I had a lot of groups where I just sat with these vets, and we just... talked. About their experiences, if they were comfortable sharing, or about how things were going in the present. Being understood, being heard, being able to tell these things to other people who just... get it in ways civilians don't, y'know. Work through the things that hold your mind hostage. Learn what sets you off, and how to cope with it, knowing you're not crazy for having those reactions. That goes a long way to help. Reminds people they're not alone. Some people don't like groups though, so you just talk one on one with some. It's about giving people the tools to come to terms with what they went through, turn the pain from a wound into a scar. Guide them through challenging and changing some of the cognitive distortions they experience in their thoughts and beliefs, and improve their emotional regulation as a result. Develop coping strategies, help them re-establish positive social relationships. And then some just need help that seems small for a civilian, like finding a new apartment, finding a new job. Mundane things that can feel monumental if you've done a couple combat tours and barely remember how to be a civilian anymore. So yeah, different for everybody. Mostly, you gotta understand them, find what works for them. Some people just need you to tell them something, some people need you to show them, some people don't know what they need so you figure that out together, too.

[ Sam's eyes go far away for a moment, expression fond. ]

One of my vets... this huge brickhouse of a guy. Honorable discharge due to the injuries he sustained. Drove a truck full of soldiers, just a routine patrol. Thing got blown up. He was the only one who survived. So he gets shipped back home, right, to his wife and his daughter who barely remembers him, 'cause he served almost two full tours - a tour's three years. And he thinks he's fine, right. Except every time he gets in his car he gets real nervous and just... breaks down. Shaking, crying, sometimes for hours. Can't drive his daughter to school. Can't find a job, 'cause he needs to drive himself. Feels useless, 'cause he can't drive him and the wife to the store to buy groceries. Dude was real bad with words, but I mean... wasn't that hard to figure out. He felt guilty, felt responsible. He drove the truck, but he survived. Doesn't feel like it's safe for him to drive, much less with his daughter and wife in the car. So for weeks, I went to his place, every day. Just got him to sit in the car with me, no driving. Just talking. Man to this day I swear I can recount his daughter's every school adventure and what she had for breakfast, and what kinda toy she really wanted. He loved that little girl, and talking about her. So damn proud. And when he didn't get nervous about being in the car and talking anymore, I started driving him places. Every damn day, I drove him and his daughter to school, him and his wife to the store, and him to job interviews - and to his shifts, when he got a job. And I had him tell me interesting things along the way, y'know. Who lives in that house, what's up with that weird looking tree on the corner there. 'Cause if it's just him, he starts thinking... there might be someone hiding there with a grenade launcher, and they're gonna blow up my car. Or he might think, that pothole could hide a landmine, if I drive over it everyone in this car will die, just like my squad died. Irrational, but he couldn't help it. His mind just slid sideways, and there was nothing he could do about it. I taught him other things to focus on. Taught him a couple breathing techniques too, for when he'd start feeling nervous. Mostly, taught him to be able to relax and be comfortable in a car again, and learn to trust himself again. Learn to accept that it wasn't his fault, and how to handle the guilt when it snuck up on him. And then one day, he asked to try and drive the car into the garage. Just that. Can barely be called a drive, I mean it was like a couple of feet. But it was a victory. And then a couple days later, he drove the car down the road before I had to swap in. And it was a little more every day after that. Took us a while until he could drive the car himself with more people than me in it. Took us a longer while until he could drive the car with his wife and daughter, without me there with him. But we got there. And his daughter's growing up now, and he's teaching her how to drive now. He still got bad days, cause... it never goes away fully, y'know. Like a scar that sometimes hurts. But he's doing good. Still calls me sometimes to talk my ear off about his daughter.

[ Sam grins at her. ]

Just like I'm talking your ear off.
mylawn: (pic#10436251)

[personal profile] mylawn 2021-06-09 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
Find out who did this.

[Who--or what--brought them here. 76 knows full well that he's unlikely to find the answers he wants, but he needs to rage against something. Illumi is right, though. Once they're out, they'll have to contend with the people who put them there in the first place, plus the relative unknown of...wherever it is they are.

He gives the door a good kick, but it seems like his heart isn't in it. Maybe he's just dazed, still.
]

I'm not gonna figure this out sitting in a cell.
unfastens: (so we could build a playground)

no sweat!!

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-06-09 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
Drone?

[ he repeats, clearly not knowing what it is. This better not be something he was supposed to learn in school. ]

I'm not busy, but I don't know what you're talking about. Some kind of medical device?

[ being from 2001 means you miss out on all the cool stuff. ]
needfully: (pic#14766411)

[personal profile] needfully 2021-06-09 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Teleportation is more possible than you would think.

[ For almost the first time since this conversation started, his expression shifts, his eyes squinting a fraction— as if in recollection of something. Maybe it's because of his circumstances that he finds himself so wary of being made to do things by the camp; being forcefully teleported by an otherworldly power at the request of his brother, then suddenly waking up in an egg, in some other dimension? It's all very suspicious.

Unaffected as he is by the stress of the situation, it does set the cogs in his head turning, wondering to what extent the powers that be here interfered with Nanika's power. ]


If I had to guess, it was either truly an accident as they'd like us to believe, or they just really don't want to say. [ Illumi turns his head over his shoulder, his blank stare boring right into the back of Rémi's head. ] The latter would be preferable.
unfastens: (but you)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-06-09 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ at the mention of it, he lifts his wrist slightly, glancing down at said watch before sighing out of his nose. ]

I'll admit I haven't tried it. [ mostly because this technology is pretty far away from anything he's used to. He's from the age of Windows XP. ] But I imagine the answer's with the people who were already living here, not any of us.
unfastens: (whose ammunition)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-06-09 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
If you made an enemy of him, yes. He'd be very dangerous. However, for the time being, we're all on the same side. We should be concerned about the environment trying to kill us before the other people here... the other "hatchlings," at least.

[ He can't say he entirely trusts all these refugees. Desperate people can behave unpredictably. The same applies to the hatchlings, to an extent, but the divide between them and the original refugees remains very strong, as evidenced by his inability to get into the security team at the moment. If there was a break, it would be between the two factions.

Then again, of course Trish would be concerned about a sudden betrayal. He's sure that week changed her in ways she's not even aware of. The man is dead and gone, but Bruno feels some anger towards her father simmer in him anew. ]


As long as you're careful, you'll be fine. Just try not to make enemies.
unfastens: (looking below)

[personal profile] unfastens 2021-06-09 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ well, something he said made Illumi think. That's a first. Bruno follows his gaze, briefly, before averting it once more out of politeness. If he actually wants to get onto this team, he'd better not get caught giving the head of it a skeptical stare. ]

We can only hope.

[ he'd rather not have some clueless mistake bring him here - or especially Trish here. If there's no explanation, they'd better make one. But that's neither here nor there - it's not a question they can answer. Unlike, apparently, teleportation. ]

I don't have a problem with teleportation. Being brought to an alien planet hundreds of years in the future is harder to accept. [ a beat. ] You have experience with power like that?

[ that's the implication from what he said, isn't it? ]
mylawn: (pic#12190498)

[personal profile] mylawn 2021-06-09 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
Retired.

[That's a joke, really. He wouldn't be able to retire if he tried, because this is all he really knows how to do. It's in his vocabulary, the way he carries himself and the way he moves. That much is more than evident, so he can't even be upset that someone is able to pinpoint his background so quickly.]

I'm not gonna complain, as long as you can keep up.

[But he's already matching his pace to hers, even as he seems determined to continue out to the edge of camp.]
unclesam: ((24))

[personal profile] unclesam 2021-06-09 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ She's got a good poker face, he'll gave her that. A little like Natasha in that she's hard to read, and he wonders if like Natasha she's expressive only in very particular, practiced ways, when she wants someone to see only very particular, practiced things. Interesting, and something he files away for further quiet observation. ]

It does. This flies on some pretty damn advanced tech that I couldn't explain for the life of me, honestly - I didn't build it. Previous model had a micro-combustion engine that caused chemical reactions with its internal fuel source, which then generated flame, heat and thrust. This one's more advanced. Same principle, just on a more refined scale.
psychometries: (091)

[personal profile] psychometries 2021-06-09 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ Isn't everyone adverse to the sound of crying children? He can't really blame her for that. Her smile draws one out of him, though, and her friendliness (and the current lack of crying children) makes him relax a little, most of the tension leaving his shoulders. ]

I don't know about that.

[ Could be a response to either the statement or the question, honestly—it's self-deprecating, either way. But the baby is quiet, and looking up at him with huge, curious eyes, and he can't help the way his expression softens. ]

I'm not really used to being around younglings—kids. [ He corrects himself swiftly and a little sheepishly. It's a Jedi term he didn't mean to let slip—thankfully nobody here would notice it, or so he hopes. He continues just as swiftly— ] Not many of them on Bracca—the scrapyards where I worked.
lifetothefullest: (ᴄʀʏsᴛᴀʟʟɪᴢɪɴɢ ᴄʟᴇᴀʀ ᴀs ᴅᴀʏ)

[personal profile] lifetothefullest 2021-06-09 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Stitches are done, and so he finishes by wrapping a temporary bandage as he contemplates what Matthias says and, more interestingly, how he reacted. Lance wants to ask more--what the war is about, how it started, what they're fighting over--but he's concerned it's a sensitive topic, and so he just keeps them in mind for now.]

I'm sorry; I imagine it can't be easy.

[Being at war is one of those things he's never experienced, at least not in the normal sense; he supposes technically he was involved in a war in Hadriel, but that was pretty unique.]
unclesam: ((54))

[personal profile] unclesam 2021-06-09 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ah... right. Sam doesn't judge. Honestly, Redwing's damn advanced even for Sam's day and age. ]

It's a small, flying wonder of technology. Mostly reconnaissance. Can fly automated patrols and scan the environment for potential threats, or observe its surroundings. The scanner's pretty advanced though. If this is like... a tattoo, or a chip, or anything even remotely known to the world I'm from, the scan will tell us.

[ And then, on second thought, he adds: ]

The scan's non-invasive. I won't track anything on you, just focus on the mark to see if the drone's database got anything helpful.
psychometries: (102)

[personal profile] psychometries 2021-06-09 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ Hey, she doesn't know about the planets he's been to. He doesn't know Earth, but it has to be better than Dathomir. Almost everything has to be better than Dathomir. (No offense, Merrin.)

He looks a little surprised to hear that he has more in common with the survivors here, despite not being from Earth, if only because he hadn't really considered it that way. She does have a point, though—the level of technology here is familiar to him. ]


Can't say I've ever hatched on a different planet before, no.

[ His tone is very, very dry, and there's a wry edge to his smile. BD-1 comes to a stop nearby, and he pauses to wordlessly pat the droid on the head, the gesture affectionate.

As for magick... maybe she didn't mean it literally, but Merrin could definitely teleport freely on her planet, but to a different planet? Probably not. But could he deny the possibility of someone or something being able to do it? Even if it isn't magick, the Force is certainly mysterious enough.

But he's not about to start talking about the Force. ]


The only way to travel from planet to planet is on a ship. At least, that's how it works when I come from.