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

[Uh-huh. You just keep telling yourself that, Peter.

Still, she'd rather not argue, so aside from making a face Wanda lets it go.]

It's better, with the new room. Easier to sleep when I don't have to listen to the entire deck's thoughts.

[At least she's not pressing the issue, it's not like he could lie if she asked the right questions. Luckily, after the medbay trip everything is fine. Before? Not so much.

Omissions aren't lies right?]

Easier meaning you're actually sleeping now? Full eight hours, whole shebang?

[Waking at a responsible time? Eating all the vegetables? He's really worried about her well being.]

[Peter better hope Wanda never finds out about that or the next time she asks if he's okay, she might use her powers to make sure.]

Maybe not eight hours, but I sleep. And not in a bed shaped like an egg.

What's wrong with the egg beds? They're kind of comfy.

[Not that he spends too much time in them himself. But he's never been much of a sleeper even with all his laziness.]

I'm glad you're doing better. [Truth time.] I was worried. After everything.

They are, but it's a little strange.

[And she's almost hit her head so many times when she wakes up abruptly and afraid, but Peter's not the only one who can omit things. Still--]

I'm sorry. It was not a good month.

Hey now. We're not playing that game.

[He tugs at a piece of her hair, shaking his head. He's got his serious face on, making sure to keep eye contact.]

You don't owe anyone any apologies, let alone me. Okay?

[Oh, he has no idea...

This isn't the first time Peter has said something that makes Wanda look at him like she just got punched in the stomach, and it probably won't be the last. But there's nothing to be said, really, so she just looks down to where he's been tugging on her hair.

She's trying but this is a weak attempt at masking her strange reaction:] Do I get that back?

[He frowns, watching her change of expression. He lets go after one last tug, sticking his hand back in his pocket.]

Sure thing.

[He hates hat expression. Not just the upset look, though he has a certain dislike for that too. That cover-up. Pretending to be okay when she's clearly not. She's hiding her emotions from him and it feels as cosmically wrong as every little omission he'd made.

Maybe there was just something unnatural about twins lying to each other.]

You know you're my favorite, right? I love you, I've always got your back.

[You can tell me anything. You don't have to pretend.]

[And for her part, Wanda can tell he hates it. She keeps telling herself it's for his own good, that this time she has to keep him safe no matter what. Peter doesn't need to be burdened with her guilt.

Except after everything that's happened, it's too much - her nightmares are a jumble of the Scepter, of Ultron and Rinzler, of two different brothers, and a city falling from the sky. She thought she was getting better, as much as one can, but everything got turned on its head last month. It's too much too quickly.

And everything and everyone has a breaking point.

Hope you're ready for a sudden hug, Peter. Not the happy kind, either - Wanda looks a hair's breadth from tears.]

[He lets the book drop to the floor, attention focused on her and her alone.

He sees her coming at him and opens his arms to help, wrapping her up and pulling her in. He doesn't know what's wrong, but it doesn't matter. She looks on the verge of crying and he knows what his job is now. To comfort and fall back into that easy role of being the big brother. He pets at her hair, whispering things that are more soothing sounds than actual words.]

It's okay, it's okay. I got you. Whatever it is, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay.

[But it isn't and that was not the right thing to say. The underlying problems simply can't be fixed, not unless Wanda finds some technological marvel out here to take home with her. But even that wouldn't erase the memories, and part of her can never leave that church.

She shakes her head, digs her nails into her palms to try to maintain some vestige of composure.]

You don't understand...it's not, it can't be.

[He frowns into her hair, shaking his head minutely. He can't, in all his experience as the older one and the closest thing to a patriarch his family has ever had, imagine that there could be something so wrong with his sisters that he can't fix. As far as he's concerned, as long as the family is together, there's nothing that can ever be so bad.]

Wanda. Just tell me what it is. Let me take care of it. We'll figure it out.

[He lifts his head just enough to look down at her, smiling softly but troubled. He doesn't want to see her so in pain, he just wants to make it stop for her.]

[But what happens when you are the thing that can't be fixed?]

You can't, it was my fault, I...

[Wanda's blinking back tears now. She has to stop - she can't bring herself to say it, to make it real here. But she knows her brother and she knows that neither Peter nor Pietro would leave this alone after she's practically started crying at nothing.

She wiggles free, extends one glowing hand, hopes with all her might that he won't take it. She can't lie to him...but she doesn't have to be happy about it.]

Don't. Please.

[She's right. There's no version of him that can let this go, can let her deal with whatever this is alone. That's built into his DNA just as much as his powers are.

He reaches for her hand, letting his hover above her's a moment to speak.]

I have to. No matter this universe nonsense or age difference, we're twins. What happens to you, happens to me. We deal with things together, Wanda. Whatever it is, I can't let you hurt on your own. [With his other hand, he cups the back of her head and drops a kiss on her forehead.] I'm sorry, but we're doing this.

[He takes her hand.]

[Oh, Peter...she tried to warn you.

Red invades his vision, then he's inside another one of Wanda's memories. There's a church, the scattered pieces of sentries everywhere, an important machine on the platform behind her. Wanda tells Pietro to go, and while he protests he eventually does as she says and she's alone. There is guilt and fear under her determination, but all things considered, Wanda's doing as well as one could expect. No sentry can get near her though they try over and over and over...

And then it happens. Something tugs hard and Wanda can practically feel the bullets in her own chest. She gasps in pain and shock and her powers burn to the surface in some vain attempt to protect her from the backlash carried along their bond. The city is falling, Wanda's alone, Pietro is slipping away, and all she can think is no more.

Wisps of scarlet seek their targets as she falls to her knees, followed by a shockwave that burns the sentries so thoroughly there's not even dust but passes harmlessly through everything else.

The vision fades on Wanda's sobbing and present-day Wanda's eyes are wet with tears. Why couldn't he just leave this one thing alone?]

Do you understand?

[There's something dreamlike in experiencing Wanda's power, seeing the world through her pieced together memories. He just wished she was showing him something other than a nightmare.

Peter has never, not once in the past seventeen years, thought about what life would be without his twin. The idea of it was simply inconceivable. Less something too painful- though it was, it was in all the worst ways- but just something he simply couldn't make himself think about. They'd been together since the first breath, some part of him simply believed they'd be together to the last. Anything else was wrong.

Cosmically, horribly wrong.

It feels like someone is carving a hole it his chest, to see and feel what has happened to Wanda. To this other version of himself. To feel what it is to loose the one person the one person they were never supposed to be without. A connection severed in its prime. And the worst part isn't in feeling it, it's in knowing that Wanda has been. She's carried it all this time and all on her own.]

Wanda.

[He can't say anything other than her name, choking out the syllables like a last prayer. He pulls her in by her hand, wrapping her up again. He squeezing to tight, crushing her to her chest but he can't make himself let go.]

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't- I should have-[He should have known. Somehow, he should have known, should have come to her sooner. Should have some way to fix this. But he can't. And he's so sorry for it.]

[That tone's the last straw - whatever vestiges of self-control Wanda was desperately clinging to shatter and she can't hold the tears back anymore. It doesn't matter that Peter is holding her so tightly that it kind of hurts. He's here, he's alive, and Wanda doesn't want him to let go.

It's hard to dig into her own most painful memories like this - give her a minute, she can't really handle words beyond broken whispering that she's sorry over and over.]

[He's not going to let her go, not yet. Not until he feels like the world's stopped crumbling.]

No. You don't have to apologize. Not to me. Not about this.

[It wasn't her fault, as far as he was concerned. She has no reason to be sorry.]

[It was Wanda who volunteered to stay behind and sent him away. They'd always survived by staying together and protecting each other...perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising that separation was fatal.

Really, it's a small miracle she ever lets Peter out of her sight.]

I didn't want you to see. I wanted you to be happy and safe and... [She's really made a mess of that idea, hasn't she?]

Wanda. [He tries to say it delicately, gently.] This isn't something to be protecting me from. You can't save me from the truth.

[Even if he didn't know how to deal with this. It was heavy and horrible and he was sure he'd spend some sleepless nights thinking about it. But that would be away from her and her pain. She took priority.]

This isn't about me, anyway. You the one who I'm worried about. You've been keeping this in since I got here, haven't you?

It doesn't have to be your truth. It won't be.

[Not if she has any say in the matter.]

So you didn't need to know.

It's your truth. Kind of makes it mine too. [He sighs, deflating.]

If something's bothering you I want to know about it. You shouldn't have to hurt by yourself. That's the point of family. We don't have to deal with stuff on our own.

[Yes, but...Wanda's guilt is strong.]

We are safer together. But that is both ways. You must tell me if something is bothering you.

[That stings, deep in that place where Peter's still keeping a few things secret. But he rationalizes that not talking about some broken bones isn't the same as keeping a death secret. He puts on a smile anyway, giving her a squeeze.]

I'm not keeping anything that big from you Wanda.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( march intro log )

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

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject