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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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thisavrou_log2016-03-01 02:40 pm
Wanda Maximoff | ota!
[She's not afraid of falling, her steps light and sure despite the warnings. Time and practice have given her enough confidence that she could fly back to safety if the planks give way. She watches the hunters dubiously, gaze almost unfocused at times, but says nothing. She knows a lost cause when she sees one.
The first night, before she's learned better, Wanda follows the flow of the crowd to the museum despite the somewhat offputting exterior. It's worse inside, but the crowd is pushing her onwards, deeper into the museum, so Wanda has little choice but to press on. She reads as she goes, at times fascinated (so that's how they "fly") and disgusted at the basic premise --]
They're here for that?
II. Whale Watching
[The red of Wanda's coat stands out amid Ceta's gloomy hues. She's on the outskirts of the temporaries, maybe a little farther out than is entirely safe if she couldn't fly, sitting and staring up at the creatures. Entranced, you could call it. She doesn't even turn when she senses she's not alone.]
They're beautiful.
III. Moira - various places
[Ceta hurts her heart, or so Wanda will learn in the first few days, and there's very little she can do about it. She can't make these people stop or leave, not for long enough to matter.
So she can be found on the Moira much more often than normal when they're planetside. It's common to find her in the library when she isn't working, but feel free to bump into her somewhere else.]
IV. Wildcard
[Wanda will not be joining the hunts but feel free to run into her somewhere else and poke me if you want something more specific.]
((ooc: Wanda's permissions post is here for psychic shenanigans.))
Moira; Library
He waits until he sees her eyeing something high up, grabbing it for her and touching it gently, briefly to the top of her head.]
Older, but still my little sister.
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Careful. Maybe the Ingress will bring a Wanda from a world where I am taller.
[She can dream, right?]
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Nope. Don't speak that thought into the world. That's my weirdness limit. A taller Wanda.
[He laughs a little, tucking the book under his arm.]
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[Wanda's gaze drifts down to the book. She was going to grab that, but...okay.]
Tell me if that one is good?
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Well, yeah. Some things go against the natural order. My sister is supposed to be pint sized.
Dude, like I even read. I'm trying to be nice and carry your books. Being a mature, helpful brother today.
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It's not even my birthday. [And this completely has nothing to do with buttering her up so when she finds out about something later, she won't be as upset, right? Riiiiiight...]
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[He barks out a laugh, watching her with his hands on his hips.]
Does it have to be a special day for me to be nice to you?
[What? No. Of course not Wanda. He would never.]
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But if Peter's in the library he was obviously looking for her. Wanda can come up with several reasons why and not all of them are good.]
Is everything all right?
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Have a little faith in me Wanda. I'm not always going to cause you trouble.
[He gives a little smile, reaching out to tug at a lock of hair.]
I'm fine. Everything's fine. Just wanted to see my sister, make sure she was all right.
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I
He doesn't mean to intrude on the remark, or her space, but...well.
Yes, he does.Like-minded company is better than any other option out here.]You'd be surprised what "opportunities" drag people to backwater planets.
[If it sounds snide and fairly disgusted...it's meant to.]
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I can imagine it. Some people will do anything for money. Or in desperation.
[But it really makes you wonder just what was wrong with the first person to discover the mineral. What kind of terrible person landed on this planet and decided to dissect a whale?]
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[There's very little necessity to be read in the hunts here. Anything he's felt is wrapped up in greed: it's nothing but numbers and "scores" and pay loads, and either none of them can feel those massive death knells, or they just don't care. It's most definitely not okay.]
I take it you're not with them, then?
[Obvious, but it's a kinder way at an introduction than a demand.]
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No. How could I? [Sadness tints the disdain in her voice; she can hear the whales if she tries hard enough.]
I would stop this if I could.
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Who says we can't?
[No, Anakin. This is a terrible idea, one he has no idea how to execute if he tries, and one he's already brought up to Obi-Wan with limited results. It had done little to assuage the urge to approach the hunters directly.
It's the "we" that should really be more worrying.]
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[Either through property damage or spreading hallucinations again. Either way, it wouldn't be that much harder than anything else she's done.]
But more would come. We can't reach the people sending them.
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[It's an echo of an earlier argument he's had on this very subject, but that's not what catches his attention.]
Stop them how?
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I wouldn't hurt them, but there are other ways. They can't hunt if their weapons are gone.
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It must be a trick of the light.It's not quite the answer he was expecting from a statement so resolute, but he had to admit that it would be effective.]It's a start at least.
[A more peaceful resolution than he might recommend.]
But no one needs weapons to be violent.
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II
[Elizabeth wraps her arms around herself and stands next to Wanda, watching the whales move through the sky with grace she wouldn't think possible for a creature so large and outside water.]
I suppose calling them whales isn't accurate. I'm used to seeing something like this underwater-- not flying around in the sky like it's nothing.
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[Whales in the sky - this is something a child would think up. Except if they were dreaming, Wanda's pretty sure she'd be riding one. The real-life sky-whales might not appreciate that.]
It makes me wonder what we would find on the surface, under these clouds. Maybe there are flying fish.
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I want to paint them, I think that would be a better addition to the library than... what's in that museum.
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You could show them as they truly are. The museum...it's what the hunters want them to be.
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[Because really, they've been doing a bad job with that lately. Something starts out innocent enough but turns into a horror show.]