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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
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He inclines his head toward the path, an unspoken question - they might as well walk while they chat. The gravity might take some negotiation when flying, but it's not really much of a bother to walk through, and Sif seems to handle it just as well.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" He can't seem to stop smiling entirely. "No, not at all. It's... just the way I am, I guess. Anyone from Krypton can do the same things."
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Which will be never.
She nods a little in agreement and starts walking, though she isn't exactly a master of the fine art of strolling. Her strides are long and purposeful, as if she knows exactly where she's going even though she has absolutely no clue, and it's not really the walk of a woman who tends to stop and smell the roses.
"I have never heard of this Krypton."
Which is not surprising, really, Kal is probably not from the same dimension as her. It is a thought that holds a faint hint of disappointment already, even if they are not even friends yet.
"As for my story, it is quite simple. My people visited Midgard, and as we have abilities that the people of earth do not, we were thought to be gods. We did not dispute it."
It was kind of practical, and also amusing. Yes, Asgardians are dicks sometimes.
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He'll survive.
He doesn't really expect her to set off at a brusque hiking pace, but he keeps time with her. It's fun, and a even a little challenging, except that everything seems to go by in a rush. The gravity lightens considerably as they move into the next section, and Clark gives a little hop to test it, a delighted laugh bursting out of him as he glides up several feet - no super powers required. The landing is gentle, too. "What's the hurry? Come on, let's see your flying skills."
His expression shutters briefly when she says she doesn't know Krypton, just a ghost of an expression that's easily swept away. He doesn't say anything about it, just picks up the next thread of conversation. What is there to say about Krypton? It's gone.
"I'm starting to see why that would be the case," he says. "I don't know that disputing it would have made a big difference. People believe what they want to. So what's Asgard like - the real thing?"
no subject
"Asgard is beautiful. A golden city floating among the stars, filled with proud memories and shrouded in glory."
Fun fact, space vikings speak in purple prose.
Alright no, this is silly. They can't hold a conversation like this. So she takes a couple of steps back, and then leaps over to Kal.
And yes, it does make her laugh too. Don't tell anyone.
no subject
He'd also been hoping that she'd do exactly that - take a leap of faith, if only for the convenience. She gets some pretty good altitude too. Clark, remembering his first less than glorious flight, manages to catch her just as she drifts down.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?"
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Her pride demands that she say it, even if she didn't particularly mind that he did it.
For a moment when she looks at him, still standing close with her hands on his shoulders after her landing, the way he smiles down at her reminds her not of Thor but of Haldor. The thought is but a fleeting one, but the memory of her lost love still stings, and when she steps away from him there is a sadness in her eyes.
"Our scholars are wise, our healers skilled and our sorcerers crafty, but above all we are warriors."
Her perspective on that might be a tiny bit biased...
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He doesn't know exactly what prompts the sudden change in her expression. He follows when she steps away, reaching to rest a hand on her shoulder, the discussion about other worlds temporarily suspended. "Is everything alright?"
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"Yes. You simply reminded me of someone I once knew. The memories are treasured ones, but I cannot bring them to mind without a measure of pain."
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Loving someone and losing them is different for everyone, but he's seen that same expression on his mother's face countless times, when something would stop her mid-step, and suddenly his father's absence would be everywhere.
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Everyone loses people, and Sif is a warrior so she has had to look that particular inevitability right in the face quite a lot. She doesn't mean to reject Clark's sympathy, she merely sees it as being truthful.
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"So let's keep going. Together."