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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)! )
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hownkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2016-03-01 02:40 pm
obs deck - trash planet continued
I guess the real question is where to start... [ Batman and Canary maybe? This isn't the first he's heard of the Batman. It might even be the same one from Gotham; after all, how many people dressed up like bats and got into fights?
The problem is, he doesn't know very much about that yet either way. He'd only just moved to Metropolis when he got dragged here and Gotham, despite being a sister city, was a whole different beast. Better to safe it for later, maybe. At the moment, he's more interested in catching up with his... clone. ]
You said your friends got you out. Who are they?
no subject
[ He tries to keep his explanation succinct, especially since none of this seems to have happened for Clark yet. How they investigated the lab after a fire and found the underground facility. How they were the first ones to treat him like a person instead of a weapon.
Even with details edited out, Conner clearly cares for them all. Even if he mentions Kaldur's name with an edge of hurt. He still can't believe what he's heard about his friend turning traitor. ]
The League didn't know what to do with us, but in the end they let us form a team for more covert operations. We've even taken on new members as others have left.
no subject
No, he still doesn't like it. ]
Covert operations. [ He folds his arms across his chest and tries to sound conversational when he says: ] Like what, exactly? Did something happen... with Aqualad?
no subject
[ Clark's body language makes him tip his chin up defiantly. This isn't his brother but there's another similarities for him to get a feeling for what's going on. He's older but there's still remnants of the angry newly free clone he was when he escaped Cadmus. Get on board or get out of our way. ]
He left the team. [ After Tula got killed. She wasn't even their first loss. It didn't hurt any less than when they lost Robin. ] We knew the risks when we chose to do this. We've done a lot of good for people.
no subject
Conner looks like he's braced for this fight, but if Clark is going to take issue with anyone on this undercover team business, it's going to be the League. For now, he has to decide. Does he want to argue with Conner? The next time the crew gets involved with some disaster, could he expect Conner to hang back any more than he would?
He can read between the lines well enough, too. The stakes in this line of work are incredibly high. How did the League deal with that?
We've done a lot of good for people. Clark exhales slowly. He's starting to understand his parents a lot better these days - and he was invulnerable. ] And you're planning to continue helping people here?
no subject
[ Conner gives Clark a flat look that says one thing very clearly. This is the mountain I die on. Being a hero has been what's made his creation a good thing. He isn't a weapon when he's wearing the shield, people see him and know he's standing for the right thing. Clark might have started that trust but he's lived up to the legacy just as much. ]
I'm invulnerable like you, lasers and bullets and explosions won't hurt me like they'd hurt a normal human. [ He touches his chest over the S-Shield. ] Wearing this means I've got a responsibility to do the right thing.
You don't have to like it, but I'm not going to just sit back when I can do some good.
no subject
There are things here that can and will hurt you just as easily as they hurt me. I don't want that - I don't think you should be putting yourself in the line of fire. There are plenty of ways to do good and help people that don't put you at risk.
[ God, he sounds exactly like his father. None of this would have gotten through to him as a teenager, either.
His gaze drops briefly to the symbol on Conner's chest, stylized a little differently from the one on his own suit, but still unmistakable. ] I won't try to stop you from doing what you think is right. I don't think that I could. But that symbol on your chest is our family crest, and every responsibility it carries, everything that it stands for - we bear it together. If you won't let me protect you, promise me you'll let me help you.
no subject
I know what I'm good at, and I'm not going to quit because you think I'm too young. You let me be a hero in my own right in my world because the team proved we could handle the consequences. Even the bad ones.
[ But he isn't the angry kid he once was. Well. He's still angry but not as bad as when he was first out of the Khan. He's older, able to do the rational thing. He holds out a hand to Clark. ] You can't be everywhere at once, that's where I come in. I've got your back just like I know you've got mine.
no subject
[ It's only fair to meet Conner's truth with his own. Only a fraction of his own life has been spent fighting, really, but it feels like all of the time before it is sometimes the only thing that keeps him whole and sane. He can't imagine fighting for years without that foundation, without his mother and Lois and the people he holds close to rely on.
But five years is Conner's whole life, and like it or not, he has a point. And this is, after all, what a family does. They look out for each other.
Clark takes his hand. ]
Alright. Together, then.