( april intro log )

[hownkai]

Who: Everyone
When: April 1st and on
Where: The Moira + Del Pascia
What: The crew finds themselves visiting the correctional facility of Del Pascia.
Warnings: Mentions of blood. Please label your content!

I N T R O L O G

slammed & counted "I feel liberated when I'm doing it, and I want other people to feel liberated through it." 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. Shortly after, you are led out and toward the medbay. Inside this room, you are given a physical scan and offered a contract to sign that states you are now part of the crew of the Moira with a specific job. This process consists of a complete work-up of medical history and current health, and afterwards, you are given your MID, a device that is integrated into your hand with only the slightest pinch. From there, you are guided out of the medbay and to your living quarters. With the combined efforts of the crew, the terror plaguing the ship has been successfully removed from the Moira. Yet, it doesn’t come without consequences. Aside from the overall state of those aboard the ship, the Moira itself has taken considerable damage across various sections. Overall functionality seems stable for now, but with necessary repairs to be made and few supplies to actually make them with, the Captains have set a course for any nearby planet with the hope of finding what they need. However, that is much closer than it appears. As new arrivals begin coming through the Ingress, a message is received by those in the Tower and broadcast to everyone: Please be advised. Your vessel is now entering Restricted Space. As per penal code 65208-A, only authorized personnel are to be admitted beyond this point. If necessary, further assistance will be provided once docked. As there is little choice, the Captains instruct Navigation to proceed with caution. All transporters will be required to assist in taking those who volunteer to the main hub. WELCOME TO CORRECTIONAL FACILITY DEL PASCIA Del Pascia is one of many facilities across the universe built to maintain and rehabilitate its inhabitants. With a combined populace of both prisoners and employed civilians, it functions as both prison and living quarters. The central section of Del Pascia is divided into multiple floors that branch out into subdivisions of the facility—clearly and precisely labeled. For those contracted to work in the prison, Del Pas Main is home. There are cafeterias, common areas for exercise and general downtime, divided residences, and work stations. Beyond this area, each remaining wing of Del Pascia separates into cell blocks A through F with similar facilities available to the inmates. Varying degrees of criminals are brought to Del Pascia, ranging from maximum security to juvenile offenders, and security differs depending on which block is visited. Yet, there is something peculiar about this prison upon further investigation: there are no living persons within Del Pascia. The AI, which runs and oversees all of Del Pascia, has made arrangements with the Moira so that those who wish may board and take what is needed to begin repairs. This program, while generally polite in nature, goes simply by the name D-E-L. ☄ ENJOY YOUR STAY ... IN PRISON Those who choose to go to Del Pascia will find themselves greeted by D-E-L. It has already agreed to terms with the Captains, allowing crew to strip nonessential supplies that aren’t needed since the station’s crew and prisoners were relocated due to funding cuts. The only condition placed upon this agreement is that any crew wishing to explore must undergo a mandatory decontamination before proceeding through the rest of Del Pascia. This process takes only minutes and is guaranteed to cause no physical side effects. Following this simple procedure, exploration is open with only warnings to be careful about damaging key systems. It is important to note that there are various security cameras located throughout the correctional facility, and it is not uncommon for D-E-L to comment or show concern for those exploring parts of Del Pascia. ☄ DEATH BECOMES YOU There is salvage to be found in all parts of the facility, including the cell blocks and infirmaries of the prison wings. However, there is something odd about these sectors, a strange charge in the air that follows you as you search for anything useful to bring back to the Moira. Perhaps it is the eyes of D-E-L watching? But then, after an indiscernible amount of time, it's like a switch is flipped. Suddenly, you are wearing your sins where anyone but you can see. For however much death you have wrought or committed, there will be blood on your hands—perhaps even further than that. This bizarre occurrence will appear as an almost digital skin and will not vanish until outside the cell blocks. If exploring the infirmaries for supplies, any and all health stats throughout your life will be visible and easy to read by anyone who happens to take an interest. For those who have killed once or twice, they might find a red stain on their hands, but the higher the kill count will result in larger proportions of blood covering their arms and, in extreme cases, perhaps their entire body. The blood will vanish once you have left the prison wing, though you may occasionally see a flicker of the image while anywhere on the station. The same goes for health stats viewed in infirmary sections of Del Pascia. ☄ WHAT WAS THAT SOUND? Del Pascia is a very large station and has been abandoned for quite some time. D-E-L will regretfully inform anyone who asks that some nonessential areas have fallen into disrepair. It will warn that exploring these areas can be risky as it has no knowledge of what damage these sections have taken. Regardless of that, if you venture in, you’ll find that these sections are in rather bad shape. Exposed wiring sparks in the walls, a great variety of broken tools are thrown about, and it seems that every camera has been purposely broken. Venturing in further will yield valuable components for salvage, and yet... as before, you suspect you aren’t alone. It isn’t often, but sometimes, you might hear a step falling moments after yours or a rattle coming from the vents. Every time you go to investigate... whatever made the noise is gone. Should the AI be queried about this, D-E-L will emphasize that all personnel and prisoners were removed and that there is no one on board except crew from the Moira. ( ooc; For questions, go here. All players, please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )

Comments

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

There wasn't much left in the cupboards by the time Papyrus reached the infirmary, but it was worth a quick peek anyway. His time in medbay had reinforced the idea of how important it was to have the right supplies on hand, and even if all he found were a few strips of bandage tape, well... it was something.

"Rosethorn! Calendula! How nice to see you!" He gave her an especially bright smile -- it was great seeing her out and about for reasons besides him dragging her along for the adventure of it -- though it dimmed just a bit after a moment.

"What is a... blue pox?"

Meanwhile, behind him, his own stats scroll up without his notice.

Name: Papyrus
Species: Monster
Subspecies: Skeleton
HP: 680
ATK: 20
DEF: 20

Forgettable.

Following that is an impossibly long list of life-ending atrocities committed by someone named Flowey. When Flowey's list comes to an abrupt end, there's another list of deaths attributed to a name that changes impossibly fast, thousands of names and characters flickering by in seconds. It might, for an instant, be possible to catch the names Frisk and Chara among them.

[earthandpine]

Other things in Rosethorn's file that might be of interest to Papyrus are her birth name, Nivalin Greenhow, and the mention of her connection with plants, to the extent that she is dependent on their presence for emotional stability. Rosethorn can't go extended periods without them unless she wants to risk psychological damage.

The small greeting smile that Papyrus usually earns from her fades as Rosethorn turns to answer him, "An epidemic that went through Summersea four years ago. How did you- oh..."

Her own question is answered with that look at Papyrus' information. She inhales sharply as it goes past, eyes widening slightly. How many times has he died? There doesn't seem to be any end to the list, and she doesn't really need the brief glimpse of Chara's name to know it's on there. Gods, suddenly, she understands. Rosethorn knows exactly why Sans tried to kill Chara, and vows or no, her hands curl into fists as she thinks about how hard it would be to avoid doing the same, if it were a member of her own family in question. Lark, Briar, any of the girls, Crane.

Rosethorn died once, and reviving her was a miracle. An impossibility. Something Briar and his sisters could only manage thanks to the unique connection of their magics, never seen before or since. Papyrus has died more times than she can count, and all of it malicious rather than accidental or due to disease or natural causes. She's seen just how hard he works to stay positive, to believe the best in people, even to the point of denial, but Rosethorn has no idea how he's maintaining that in the face of everything that's happened to him.

It isn't the cruelty that surprises her. Rosethorn stopped being surprised by the depths of human (or, she supposes, perhaps nonhuman) cruelty years ago. It's Papyrus.

She doesn't speak again for a moment, needing time to process all of it, and then she offers quietly, "I'll tell you about it, if you want."

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

Her additional information is interesting. It'd be hard not to know she really liked plants, but he had no idea she actually needed them. He'd have to keep that in mind in case anything happened to her, especially now that he's aware of how unwell she is. He'll just have to be strong for her too, the way he tries to be for Sans.

Rosethorn is a much cooler name, though, so he decides to continue calling her by that. Maybe he'd ask later, but for the time being, her given name suits him just fine.

"Really? Sure!" He certainly seems perky for someone who's been killed a lot, even for someone who only retained solid memories of the last one. Belatedly, he remembers that this story isn't going to be happy, and simmers down a bit. "If you're all right talking about it, that is."

[earthandpine]

"I don't mind." Rosethorn considers where to start. "Am I right in thinking monsters don't get diseases the same way humans do? An epidemic is a wide-spread disease, one that affects a significant portion of the population in an area. That's what happened with the Blue Pox. It was a brand new disease, one we'd never seen before. I spent the beginning of the epidemic in quarantine, because I had been around someone who was sick and we weren't sure yet how this particular disease was spread. It wasn't through contact, like some diseases are, and so eventually I was released from the hospital to do my work. I, along with my partner Crane and a team of others, research diseases and try to find cures for them, though I stick to gardening and basic medicines when there isn't a need for that work."

She made her one big contribution to her world's medicine, a substitute for human testing of treatments, and then faded into quiet retirement from research unless the need arose in her own home country. Rosethorn is one of the world's foremost infectious disease experts, though she operates on a mix of magic and basic science rather than the advanced scientific theory some on board the Moira use. She wrote her country's infectious disease and quarantine procedures. She doesn't tend to talk much about her accomplishments in her field, but she is proud of them.

"There was an accident. An assistant dropped a tray of disease samples. I caught it without thinking. They spilled, my protective sleeve slipped, Crane had an absolute fit, and a few days later I was confined to bed." A breach in all her careful precautions, and the beginning of a story Rosethorn had seen play out with former research partners. She was hardly the first to lose her life or bits of her health to the diseases she was studying. Rosethorn and six other researchers worked the better part of a decade creating human essence, and her team did take casualties.

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

"Oh, yes, it's possible for us to catch and spread illnesses as well! It's less of a risk for my brother and myself, though." He falls silent after that interjection, listening carefully to the disease she was describing. That didn't sound anything at all like the sorts of sniffles and fevers that sometimes rolled through Snowdin.

He scratches his skull, a bit unclear on one point. "I admit I have a lot to learn about human diseases, but if it spilled on you, doesn't that mean you caught it through contact?"

[earthandpine]

"Yes, but no person could have passed it on through touch or sharing air. I was working with the essence of the disease. Much more potent than it would be in any other form, because we were manipulating the disease directly." Which is why she should have been more damned careful.

That isn't the important part, though. What matters more than how she got sick is what happened after she died. Usually, Rosethorn would downplay this. She talks about it matter-of-factly, referring to her illness rather than her death, and glossing over the details when she absolutely has to address the latter. Papyrus, though, will get much more of the truth from her. "My fever rose too high. I started having seizures. My body shut down, and my soul moved on. My afterlife... it was a big unruly garden. Years of my favorite kind of work, just waiting to be done. I settled in immediately, and I wanted to stay. My son, Briar, wouldn't let me. He had used his shakkan, which is a magical tree, and his sisters for anchors, and followed me when I died."

Her heart broke when she saw him there, because Rosethorn wasn't sure he could get back out. And then he issued her an ultimatum. "I told Briar that I was too tired to keep fighting and I didn't want to go back to all that pain, and he scolded me for it. I could have refused him. It would have been hard, but I could have done it. I'd already made my peace with dying. Then he started severing his ties to the girls. He told me if I was staying, so was he. I couldn't let him die just so I could get some rest. He pulled me back with him. I felt... trapped... for a little while, however grateful I was to be surrounded by the people I loved. I couldn't speak. It was like I'd lost all of my words."

She's glad to be alive, but oh, was it hard at first coming back to her damaged body and a mind that wouldn't cooperate in quite all of the ways she needed it to. She recovered everything that mattered most. Rosethorn is well aware it could have been worse. Her slur has even faded now, except when she's completely exhausted. She's still very slow and careful with her speech.

[coolskeletonnyehntyfive]

The ohhh Papyrus offers at that explanation might have been a charade, it was hard to tell. But he seemed to understand the gist of what she was saying about sicknesses and essences. It had to be so hard to be a creature with organs and blood and skin. He's sure he'd be good at it if he tried, but he's still glad he never had to deal with that much extra responsibility.

His eyesockets widened as she spoke about her soul -- that was a concept he grasped easily, and the implication that it went somewhere that others couldn't follow was frightening. His good friend, so sick, so close to the brink of never coming back. Even if she'd pulled through, he worried a bit.

"That was very brave of Briar to do that! And... even if it was very hard, and you're still a little sick, I'm happy he did it! So that we could be friends and hang out on a cool spaceship and explore more worlds!"

[earthandpine]

Rosethorn isn't sure whether he genuinely understands, but then, if he's never had to worry about that sort of infection, so much the better. She wants Papyrus to stay in one piece. He's talked about how fragile he and his brother are. That there's one less danger to them only seems fair, as a trade-off. (Not that Rosethorn has ever expected the world to be especially fair.)

She chuckles softly, shaking her head. All of her criticism is heavily tempered with fondness when she counters, "It was foolish and pigheaded, and his other foster mother had flat-out forbidden him to do it. I didn't say I'm not grateful for my life and the time with people I care about. Just that it was hard at first. Most worthwhile things are hard."