( march intro log )

[hownkai]

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)! )

Comments

Mess Hall

[takeitslow]

[However Ade looks, its a face Peter recognizes from the trial and footage. Part of him feels like avoiding the guy, knowing that he'd taken out one of Wanda's friends. Another part, the loud and dangerous part that always seems to lead him into trouble, wants to ask questions.

It's obvious which he prefers listening to.]

Out of the cell but still looking a little rough, huh?

[forcefulgift]

[Ade didn't know the stranger, but it turned out that these days a lot of people knew him even if it wasn't a particularly mutual thing. It was unnerving in a sense, that everyone just knew him as a murderer, he'd managed to keep a much better cover than this so far. People telling him he looked rough though, that was just bullshit.]

And what's it to you how I look mate?

[takeitslow]

Nothing really. Just saying.

[Peter doesn't care that he's obviously making a bad impression, he still sits down across from the guy.]

Never been that good at small talk.

[forcefulgift]

[Ade just shakes his head.] Me neither mate, so don't worry 'bout trying to make it. [It was rude, sure, but Ade had a bit of a reputation for that already.]

[takeitslow]

[It's not like Peter is phased by a little rudeness.] Would you rather me go straight into asking the uncomfortable questions then? Like about the murder thing? Or the more interesting questions about the punishment they supposedly gave you? You know, the powers.

[forcefulgift]

Ain't exactly the easiest person to make uncomfortable. [That's a lie, he could be made uncomfortable in seconds but that was with a lot of left-wing questions that most people, short of being psychic, wouldn't actually guess.] Ask whatever you want, yeah? The moment I'm not into it... you'll know. [Because he wasn't answering those general questions, friend, you ask him like its an interrogation and he might feel up to it.]

[takeitslow]

Honestly, I can't say I was that worried about making you uncomfortable. [He doesn't say it meanly, it's just a matter of fact.] How did they nix your abilities? Radiation, shooting you up with something, or what?

[forcefulgift]

[Ade just shakes his head.] Don't know mate. Might have something to do with the chip they put in my head. [Because the captains were very open about what they'd done.] If I find out they've got a talent for it but, well... it won't be pretty.

[takeitslow]

Chip? They implanted something in you? Gross.

[He looks fascinated, disgust aside.]

Threatening the captains probably won't make them want to flip the switch back on those abilities, man. Shit sucks, but if it were me? I'd rather take the powers than the revenge.

[forcefulgift]

Wouldn't be the first time mate. [Which has him reaching for his bicep almost out of instinct, the scar from the last chip he dug out of his flash was sitting there even if you couldn't see it through the uniform.]

I'll figure out how they did it and it won't happen again.

[takeitslow]

And that sounds like a story. The captains chipped you before? Why?

[He watches where Ade's hand lands, frowning.]

Alright. Are you going to share with the class? Because I'm interested in a work around for that kind of thing.

[forcefulgift]

The captains didn't chip me before mate. [He just shrugs.] Just saying the whole idea of being chipped ain't foreign to me. [And he drops his arms to his sides when he notices the other man looking at them.]

Ain't ever been the kinda bloke what shares stuff, sorry to have to tell you.

[takeitslow]

[Peter raises an eyebrow. Like he'd said, there's a story in that. But he's getting the feeling it's not one Ade's going to tell.]

Guess I shouldn't have figured you for the type to make things easy. Tell me something else then. How'd you come by those powers? Give me an idea of what they're capable of turning off. Chemical accident, magic, born with it? Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine.

[forcefulgift]

[Ade just grins at all the ideas Peter throws out.] Ain't like that mate, nah... I'm a mutant. [He shrugs.] All got to do with my DNA or something. You'd have to ask someone a lot smarter than me to figure it out, maybe the Professor.

[takeitslow]

Mutant. [Peter repeats it slowly, starting to smile.] I hope you're not pulling my leg on that. Cause that'd make two of us.

[It's still just as exciting as finding out about Billy, the idea of there being more mutants around. At this rate they'll have more on the ship than Peter's known his whole life.]

Which Professor are we talking about?

[forcefulgift]

[Ade tilts his head to the side, eyebrows knitting together.] You shitting me?? There's mutants where you're from?

[And he groans a little at the question about the Professor.] Professor X, Charles Xavier, bloke in a wheelchair, telepath and a massive wanker.

[takeitslow]

Dude, I am one. They better be around where I'm from.

[He grins at the familiar name, thumping the table in excitement.] I know him! He's not in a chair, but I've met him. Weird, strung out looking hippie. I didn't know he was some kind of Professor. I saw the school card but he said it wasn't open anymore.

[forcefulgift]

[Ade's eyes widen then because this kid was claiming to be a mutant, even if his version of Charles Xavier was drastically different to his own.] You what mate? You're a mutant? That's, well that's a bloody first.

[And he chews his lips for a second.] Well, that don't sound like the Professor X I know and the school is definitely open, 'cause that's where I was before all this mate.

[takeitslow]

Yeah. In the flesh. [He's having a hard time containing his excitement. This was different than finding out about Billy, here was finally one he wasn't related to.] Need a demonstration?

Yeah, well. [He pauses and considers how different things had been between his life and his sister's.] When were you there?

[forcefulgift]

[He just shakes his head.] Don't need a demonstration mate, those can wait. Unless you were wanting some sort of you show me yours I'll show you mine kinda thing...

[He just shrugs at the concept of time because wow that is a hard question.] 2015?

[takeitslow]

Don't really need to play that game. I was offering. Most people don't believe it until they see it, you know? [And even then they barely believed it. At least back home.]

Yeah. That might explain it. [He shakes his head.] See when I was back home, actually with this guy you're calling a professor, it was 1973. Guess it's nice to hear he lives that long.

[forcefulgift]

Well mate... most people who actually are mutants or even from our world would know better than to lie 'bout it. [Because humans who got caught lying about a mutant status usually didn't stick around long enough to tell the tale.

He tilts his head to the side and blinks a couple of times.] Wait, so you're from the bloody past or something?

[takeitslow]

Why wouldn't anyone lie and want to be a mutant? I mean, I think it the powers kind of rock and I'm awesome and everything. But like, we're the kind of shit mobs get started over. Government knocking at your door, ran out of the neighborhood sort of thing.

[Perhaps not always so extreme. But in his time, there was no community. There was no talking about it.]

Apparently. Yeah, I know. It's weird. I'm already over it.

[forcefulgift]

Some people do, mate. People what wanna infiltrate mutant groups, some people just get a bloody kick out of it. [He shrugs. He'd met people like that before, back when he was on a run, people who lied about being mutants in order to try and gain his trust. People that wound up dead.]

That's weird mate, yeah.... [He didn't quite like the idea of it, really.] Suppose I'm not supposed to tell you 'bout my time then, am I?

[takeitslow]

Groups? What do you mean groups? I know you just mentioned a school, but how many mutants do you know?

[He snorts, shakes his head.] I don't think that matters much anymore. I've already found out enough to break the timeline as is. Like the war ends, video games get really advanced, the internet happens. I don't think anything you've got to say with make it any worse.