thisavrou_log | ( march intro log )

Entry tags:

( march intro log )

Who: Everyone
When: March 1st and on
Where: The Moira + Ceta
What: The crew finds themselves on the planet of Ceta
Warnings: Potential sci-fi creature death. Please label your content!

I
N
T
R
O

L
O
G

by the inquest
"Arguments on their nature are refuted by those who return to shore, wide-eyed with tales of their savagery."

All Moirans are woken to the sounds of the ship coming to a rather grating halt some time in the early morning cycle. It’s no faster or slower than any other stop, but it is unexpected as the captains didn’t mention an upcoming disembarkment. Shortly after, a message is sent to every MID:
Navigation has informed us that we’re approaching bad traveling conditions: an overactive star. Instead of stopping on Liant El, we’ll be docking here on Ceta. Please exercise caution while gathering supplies and during excursions. Follow their safety guidelines. If the chance allows, we’ll also be signing new crew on the planet. Please greet them first and show them to the ship. Thank you.
The Ingress has pulled you in. Your body experiences several sensations at once: being pushed forward as if a hand is resting on your back, momentary and startling blindness, a gentle ringing in your head. You have difficulty discerning whether it is hot or cold, but where you have been prodded is noticeably warmer than the rest of you. Some may suffer from dizziness while others are perfectly fine. Once equilibrium has been reestablished, you will notice you are standing on a long platform and that the room is filled with a soft cerulean light. It's slightly humid and dark despite the glow around you, and nothing is familiar.

For those few who come through Ceta's Ingress, there will be crew of the Moira there to greet you. They tell you of the Ingress, how it is broken, even on this planet, and that the ship is headed back to the origin of this technology. This planet’s Ingress is set precariously atop a floating rock formation, the only way from one area to the next is on small air-propelled boats. Crew members will guide everyone back to the Moira and take them to the Medbay; contracts will be signed posthaste.

WELCOME TO CETA

At first glance, Ceta seems mostly inhabitable, and that's because it is. The atmosphere around the planet is surprisingly thick in most places, sometimes thin in others, and without some way to filter the air, it is mostly unbreathable; it's a giant gas planet, its core made of various molten metals and the atmosphere a mix of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrous. Ceta's gravity is also uneven, meaning that some areas will have stronger focal points than others. The terrain, when it is visible, appears rather rocky—hardly the best conditions for life and stable living. What's more unusual, however, is that despite this fact, there is, indeed, a small populace "living" among the mist and clouds, but it's clear they do not live here year-round. It's hunting season, and they are there for the bounty.

These visitors have built small platforms that are hooked together by ropes and swinging bridges, which they call "temporaries". Unstable buildings are rare, dangerous, and spread out over these temporaries to prevent damage or accidents. The temporaries float along, swaying and shifting with the planet’s atmosphere, and posted at every point of entry and all open surfaces are a particular set of rules that everyone must abide by. They are written in dark ink and large block letters so that all passing by will stop and read them:
NO FIRE. Flammables, ignition sources, matches, lighters, and anything that creates a spark is prohibited. The atmosphere has higher levels of hydrogen, and the smallest spark will create a problem.
AIR BREATHABILITY. Monitor your vitals. Wear masks or re-breathers if needed.
WATCH THE EDGE. All walkways are the only thing from you and falling. Be cautious and watch your step.
These signs should be given their due attention. The edge is just that: the end of where it is safe to walk. If a wooden plank gives way beneath your feet, you will plummet through hundred of miles of atmosphere before hitting the planet’s thin surface. The captains reiterate that crew should be careful and stick to the main temporaries, gather supplies, visit at their leisure, and then go back to the ship.

☄ IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE!

The organisms that have evolved on this planet are unintelligent—a fact that is told to you by the other visitors. As there is no solid materials or ways for them to interact with their environments, these giants float along within the atmosphere, though it appears that they are flying when they are merely navigating through. They travel in groups of three or more and sometimes come close to the outskirts of the temporaries. Because there is an invisible filtration dome around the temporaries, this allows the creatures to pass through without harm and return again into the mist as they please. They are difficult to see at night and are rather skittish in the presence of sudden light.

☄ @ THE MUSEUM

Every evening when work is done, artificial light sources illuminate the streets of the temporaries. There is one bar, if you can actually call it that, but the main attraction is a museum. The support structure appears to be made out of the skeletal system of the giants that "swim" and live on Ceta, and though the outside seems rather unassuming, the inside is not for the faint of heart. As it's considered informative, there are displays of the internal structures and functions of the very creatures that seem harmless and as unintelligent as the visitors claim. There are sections of the museum dedicated to their anatomy and what makes them so valuable: inside their air sacs, which is what gives the illusion to flying through the atmosphere, is a mineral that, when harvested, attunes and sharpens the senses so that brain capacity and function excel over one-hundred percent efficiency. Likewise, aside from these informative areas, there is also a history of how and when the visitors began to hunt them for this valuable, unnamed resource.

☄ HARVEST SEASON

Are you looking for work? Or perhaps you're bored with your duties aboard the Moira and prefer to see just what it is these visitors do during the day? Hunters will often pay for menial labor to help with the killing and retrieval of the giants of Ceta. It is by day, not by hour, and once aboard one of the many ships, you will be put to work handling equipment or being on the lookout for "signs" of the creatures. Once they've been spotted, the real work isn't in capturing them or even trying to subdue them—though they give a good fight. It's in the harvest, done below deck once they have been safely brought into the ship's cargo areas by the tethers, that can get quite gruesome. As a defense mechanism, cutting into the skin creates a rather noxious emission that can cause disorientation, hallucinations, or unconsciousness. Worst case scenarios can often result in death.

☄ WORD LIMITS

As things are beginning to wind up (or down), something seems to have gotten into the MID systems and caused a malfunction. On the morning of 03.13, it suddenly becomes clear that communicating with others who are not from the same universe or similar timelines seems very difficult. Understanding each other becomes rather hopeless as the day continues, and these repercussions can be felt across the entire ship. The Captains send out another MID message that appears as a jumble of unusual letters and symbols. However, there is one word that can be read by everyone and (hopefully) understood: RATCHET. Figuring out this problem shouldn't take long if everyone can leap the language barriers and work together.

( ooc; All New Arrivals: you have the choice of coming through the Moira's Ingress OR Ceta's Ingress. For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Though Al never revelled in killing, he knew that sometimes it was necessary. Izumi Curtiss had drilled that into him at a young age, teaching him the value of understanding the food chain and how sometimes one thing had to die in order for another to live. If that had been the basis for why the hunters came here, he would have had no issue with it, he might even have assisted.

But their bounty seems to be more on luxuries than necessities. A mineral that allowed the expansion of brain power was no good reason to slaughter another living creature, and Al could not help but agree with the words of this stranger. He seemed to be the only one, though.

"H-Hey! Don't threaten him." Al pushed his way forwards. Relatively easy when you're an eight foot tall suit of armour covered in spikes. He held his hands palm up peacefully, trying to get between Obi-Wan and those people shoving at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm— I'm fine," he replied readily, mostly out of reflex. There was now something akin to a wall between him and his aggressors and it left him a bit stunned. How had he not seen that coming?

A cursory glance up and Kenobi is startled to find an armored hulk. Certainly a being — not a droid despite its metal facade — different than he'd ever encountered. What he saw and the imprint this person left on the Force was entirely different.

It was a day of firsts for Obi-Wan Kenobi, something that wasn't often said considering his 38 years of experience.

"Thank you for coming to my aid. I had hoped to avoid violence, but I think they had other ideas." The Jedi glanced around Al at the crowd that now seemed much more willing to disburse and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't mention it, we all have to help each other out, right?"

It wasn't hard to deduce that this man had to be a crew member aboard the Moira. He didn't have the look of the hunters and he wouldn't be here to argue with them if he hadn't come off the ship, which made he and Al automatically allies.

He glanced down at the stranger and, even though his helmet remained expressionless, a warm smile could easily be heard in his voice. High and boyish, like a child before puberty.

"Maybe we should head back to the ship for a while, just until they've calmed down a bit? I don't think either of us want to fight that many people at once." He chuckled, unaware that Obi-Wan could sense anything out of the ordinary from him. "I'm Al, by the way, Alphonse Elric."

From this distance he couldn't see in between the plates of metal, but the Force could move around and through all things. It hummed quietly to Obi-Wan, like the space between molecules rubbing together created a symphony of openness.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," he responded reflexively. He wasn't quite finished pressing his point with the hunters, but he couldn't deny that he was too close and could likely use a break. "Yes; let's go. At least away from here."

He fell into line with Elric and glanced up at the large form in front of him. "If this is out of turn, I apologize, but..." Obi-Wan paused. "How exactly did you find yourself in that... casing?" The essence is there, but it's an otherwise empty vessel. Perhaps he was a being of energy. That would explain some of what Kenobi was sensing.

Al was so surprised at the sudden question that he stopped literally mid-stride and nearly fell over. Tension practically radiated from him in waves as he straightened up awkwardly and tried to lie his way out of the reaction he had. Badly.

"U-Uh, sorry... I guess I must have tripped over a stone." Definitely what happened. A stone. "But this? This is just my Dad's old armour, it's part of my training to be an alchemist to wear it."

He put a little more emphasis on the word 'wear' than was strictly necessary. But it terrified him how quickly some people here seemed to cotton on to his situation.

Almost immediately Obi-Wan could feel the heaviness of his mistake in asking the question. It loomed over him for a moment like a dark cloud; his insensitivity, while rare, could be particularly sharp and he knew it. An unfortunate oversight, one he didn't intend to make again.

"Oh, yes, well—" He effortlessly shifted to a different tack, not calling direct attention to the bantha in the middle of the room. "I could see that, I suppose. An alchemist, you say? It's a very uncommon practice where I come from," Obi-Wan responded carefully.

There were a lot of wonderful things about being pulled onto the Moira. Meeting new people and seeing new worlds was a big part of that, but it came with the downside that people were more likely to question his armour. Robots and mechanical creatures and non-organic life was more common, when it was unheard of where Al came from, so it was harder to hide.

He has the feeling that Obi-Wan hasn't exactly bought the explanation, but he's grateful all the same for a shift in topic and he'll grab onto it with both hands.

"It seems to be uncommon in a lot of places. In fact, I think my brother and I are the only ones here who are practising alchemists, it's really strange. It's such a big part of where I come from, it's hard to imagine all these places where nobody uses alchemy at all."

If nothing else, Obi-Wan understands what Al's feeling. Traveling throughout his own galaxy, it wasn't unheard of to find cultures that had no idea the Force existed around them; something that Kenobi uses daily — a power that feels so obvious to him — was nothing to others.

"Your brother's here with you?" Intriguing. In the short time since arriving, he's been trying to understand a pattern for those coming aboard. Another clue toward that is a welcome distraction from his recent upset. "Did you arrive together?"

His voice was warm and full of genuine affection, it's not hard to see he really loves his big brother. "Yeah, we arrived just a few weeks ago now, on the same morning and pretty much in the same hour."

He hadn't realised that wasn't the norm until a few days after when he had been talking to others about when they arrived. About the people they still missed from back home, or the ones that arrived before or after them. He was definitely lucky to have got here alongside Ed.

"How about you? Have you come across anyone you know here yet?"

How fortunate, how fortunate. Obi-Wan can't help but smile at the thought. Sometimes the universe exhibits a small amount of mercy in its application of fate.

"Yes, a close acquaintance of mine followed me here." It's understating the importance of their relationship by calling Anakin and acquaintance, but Obi-Wan doesn't believe that matters here so much. In the times and places where it does make a difference, Skywalker is Kenobi's best friend, brother, the closest he has to family, but in this setting the distinction doesn't really need to be made.

"Perhaps I'll have the good fortune of meeting your brother some time soon." An afterthought, but genuine nonetheless. "Do you spend a lot of time together?"

"Mm, Brother and I are almost always together. Back home, too, we travel together and it's usually just us. Or it used to be, we've started picking up a lot more people along the way now."

Which is good, in a way. More people to help take down the Fuhrer, more people to help protect the citizens of Amestris. But Al also worries that it's more people to get hurt or die in the conflict, and he doesn't want to subject anyone to that.

"We're all each other has, so we're used to spending a lot of time together. I don't know what I would have done if Brother hadn't been brought here too." Coped, very likely, but he would have also worried the whole time. "It must be nice for you to have someone you know here as well, I bet you'll end up closer acquaintances by the time all of this is over."

[ooc: Sorry for the delay, I was out of town at a wedding.]

Strangely enough, Obi-Wan finds Al's sentiment particularly familiar, echoed in his own relationship with a man that he easily calls brother. For a great many years he's worked so closely with Anakin, there is little they don't share with each other.

"I sense it's inevitable, yes. For all of us, I'm sure." How much tighter the bonds could be, he doesn't know, but Obi-Wan agrees about the fortunate nature of their arrivals; without someone to lean on, things are infinitely more difficult. Not insurmountable, but...

Kenobi dips his head, guessing he should probably move on before he causes more upset with the hunters. "Thank you again for your assistance. If there's anything I can do to return the favor, I urge you to reach out to me, Al."

[[ OOC: No worries at all!! ]]

"Thanks, I hope you'll do the same for me. After all, we have to look out for each other now that we're working on the same ship, right?"

Al can't smile, but he somehow manages to give off the impression of it all the same, radiating warmth and genuine friendliness. He reaches down to clap Obi-Wan on the shoulder in that same gesture of solidarity.

"But I hope you'll call me even before you need help, okay? This is a scary situation, being so far from home and dealing with everything that's new and overwhelming around here, and I'd like to be your friend. Maybe we can even figure out a way to help those creatures together, huh?"

Kenobi is struck by the sentiment, ultimately pleased by this turn of events despite its rough start. It's helpful to have an ally or two, and one that's particularly positive feeds a part of Obi-Wan that rarely nourished these days, especially now that Anakin's grown up and taken on universe of troubles atop the world of his own troubles.

"It may be the only way to figure this out," he agrees, and while the tone is a bit grim, he hasn't stopped feeling better in Elric's presence. It's a net gain. "I certainly look forward to the opportunity of working together." Obi-Wan can use all the friends he can get.

"Then I guess this is a see you later instead of a goodbye, huh?" He chuckles at himself and raises a hand. He would stick around and talk more with Obi-Wan, but he needs to make sure his brother isn't making a mess elsewhere.

The raiders, hunters... they're exactly the sort of people that Ed would also get himself into trouble trying to stop. And Al wants to be there to step in if it gets violent again. Even if it does mean spending his whole day going from possible fight to possible fight.

"I hope I'll see you around." He raises a hand in a dorky sort of wave and turns away, leaving Obi-Wan to make his own way to his next destination.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( march intro log )

ceta

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject