( november intro log )

[hownkai]

Who: Everyone
When: November 1st and on
Where: The ship and on planet
What: Exploration + new arrivals
Warnings: Please label any warnings you have on your threads

THE INFLUX

"It is not so much about beginnings and endings; it is about muddling through the middle."

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.

Welcome to Caducus Primary

Shortly after your arrival, you are met by one of the captains and any of the crew of the Moira who might have accompanied him. You are given a brief physical scan and are asked to sign a contract that states you are now part 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. Much like the Moira's own Ingress, C-Primary's Ingress seems to be malfunctioning, and nothing can return through it. If you choose to disregard this offer, you will be detained indefinitely by the natives of Caducus Primary. (Joining the Moira is really the only choice you have.)

DESCENSION

"I am the keeper of fragile things."

From a distance, Caducus Primary doesn't look like much. The weather on the planet is extremely stable, and the vegetation is neat, almost pristine. What stands out about C-Primary, however, is the fact that there are hundreds of VERY TALL buildings packed together in many of the cities. They are elevated about the ground on what appear to be stilts and sway almost gracefully in the gentle breeze that is always present. Their stability never wavers; they don't fall down. The streets are lined with beautiful sculptures that are placed wherever light is needed. Many other designs can be found outside as well as in. This planet is rather wealthy, and the abundance of their natural resources reflect in everything. The world glitters just as glass would in the sunlight.

Native Details
● They have darker skin tones, but their hair styles and colors are all as unique as they can make them. This can be seen as influence from other travelers.
● Friendly, welcoming, and encouraging to the crew to trade with them for what they need.
● There are no visible "poor" areas.
● Calm and organized. If lost or in need of directions, they will offer to take you where you are going.
● Vey strict when it comes to rules. (Trade what you say you're going to trade.)

☄CITY PROPER

There are many things to do once on planet. In the city proper, stepping into one of the multiple shops reveals workers crafting glass figurines, jewelry, cups, and other items to your specifications. Trading is the same as on all other planets—there is no one accepted monetary unit. Yet, any unsavory cargo (such as weapons, explosives, alcohol, and drugs) will not be found anywhere in the vicinity of these areas. Other travelers have set up places outside the cities near transporter zones for these particular necessities. Trade at your discretion. At night, if you catch your reflection in a surface that isn't quite as transparent (on a sculpture, the side of a building, anything made of glass), there will be a momentary glimpse of your past or future self. A blink, and then, it will be gone.

Staying on the Moira isn't required during time spent on Caducus Primary. Visit one of its many fine hotels with its beautiful accomodations. The price is remarkably inexpensive: it's free.

( OOC: For any and all questions and to see new rank privileges, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! Check THIS to see your tag. They have already been added to the comms, but you'll have to tag them onto a post before they show up in the list. )

Comments

all aboard the garbage train

[forwardmomentum]

[ it's hard not to feel a little gunshy after the last time miles went planetside, but miles doesn't really do hesitant. instead this time, he made sure to leave the ship armed to the teeth. nerve disruptor at his right hip, plasma arc at his left. he'd still kill to have a stunner, though. if anything wants to kidnap him and drain his blood like a pig over an altar, he'll give them a hell of a lot more of a fight first.

he stops momentarily to check a message on his MID after it beeped insistently at him a few times, but he's barely had a chance to skim it before a preternatural instinct kicks in, telling him to be still -- and nanoseconds later he feels a rush of hair just over the crown of his head with an accompanying, definitive thunk. miles doesn't move except to roll his eyes upward, trying to catch his breath after that neatly skipped heartbeat. yep, that sure is a knife handle.

miles' eyes track to the woman across the shop -- seems he's been meeting a lot of green ladies lately, although she's a far cry from peridot. tall, dark, and terrifying, check. miles gives her a manic grin, eyes still a little wild, and reaches over his head to tug the knife from the wall support. it takes some effort. ]

Maybe, but if you're going to be hurling these things at people -- I assume people, you don't really look like you throw knives at wall for fun -- might I suggest something with a slightly sturdier handle? [ gingerly holding the blade by its dull edge, he demonstrates by wiggling the handle -- it gives just slightly thanks to the force required to pull it from the wall, just enough to be visible. ] A bit of an embarrassment if the handle comes clean off when you're trying to remove it from some poor sucker's forehead, eh?

[ he politely holds it out to her handle-first lest she like to inspect it for herself. ]

Niko Bellic

[vengeance_driven]

☄City Proper | Night

[The fact that there are no poor areas is unsettling to him. The planets he's been on so far have been primitive, or destitute. This one is different, shining, glistening, with everyone wealthy and proud and secure in their post-scarcity resources.]

[Niko is a man borne from a war, of helplessness and need and has grown accustomed to being the lowest of ranks and dredges of society. This makes his skin crawl because he doesn't know how it works, how people survive or keep busy when they just have what they they need. No contracts, no bindings to help them survive. They just are and they exist and it's miserable for him and he hates it.]

[He isn't going to admit that, though. He's just going to ignore interested eyes.]

[He can appreciate the beauty of it, at least. In the way that a man whose led a simple life of struggle can marvel at things pristine and intact as though they're masterpieces in that alone. His gaze lingers at the buildings around him, before he finally catches sight of something he's not seen in about twelve years.]

[It's a teenage boy stands staring back from the glass, with the same baffled expression. A reflection that looks like he used to, standing in place of where he should be. Stupid floppy hair and an ill-fitting secondhand uniform. His hands are bloody. Niko attempts to bat at the annoying bangs to see if he's actually changed, but finds they're not there.]

[Niko looks around to see if anyone else has seen, but when he looks back to the mirror.]

[Well... There's the scarred up face he's used to, at least. Maybe something he ate disagreed with him. Or he's high.]

Meh Yewll

[imaginary_wife]

☄CITY PROPER | DAY

[Some people who know Doc Yewll may note that she's not casually taking in the sights; at least at a glance. She's walking with a purpose towards one of the taller buildings, passing glances around her at the unfamiliar aliens. They remind her of technologically adept Irathants. She doesn't know how much of an insult that is to Iraths, though.]

[But she is noting many, many features she does not share with these people, and her purposeful stride hesitates as she walks backwards to take in one especially large example of a hairdo.]

Well. I guess I stick out like a sore thumb.

[incantamentum]

[He hadn't actually anticipated someone coming to see him. He'd been hopeful, sure, but in the back of his head he'd fallen under the illusion that most people would be frightened off by his message.

He smiles warmly at the stranger even before he talks to Eric, mostly assuming he was a patron of the hotel. When he does speak though Eric turns towards him, his expression turning warmer still as he extends his hand for a shake.]

You presume correctly, enchanté.

[hohnkai]

[Thán lets his hand drop back to his side, lips pinching slightly. There's not much he can do to help him other than talk him through it.]

Tyler. [A slow nod.] Take all the time you need.

[He steps back to give him space.]

If you have questions, I'll answer them the best I can.

[It's the least he can do.]

city, night

[keelahselai]

[Tali's only been in cities like this a couple of times in her life - and in one of them, everybody there was terrified she was going to steal their credit chits, so when security weren't pre-emptively interrogating her, she got a wide...wide berth.

In this city? She's being totally ignored. Actually, people are being nice. And Tali's never been one to mistrust kindness, so she's more than happy with this planet. Everything about it is gorgeous, there are no jungles, no giant worms, nothing's trying to kill her... Look, that's a novelty.

So right up until she notices the...human? She doesn't assume that much anymore...woman walking past her, Tali's pretty happy with all the aimless wandering around she's been doing on her downtime. But first it's the clothes that stand out - then the bleeding - and then the unmistakeable MID on her arm, and that's what pushes her from just considering saying something to actually hurrying over to catch her attention.] Hey - hey, what happened? Do you need any help?

[She's wearing a uniform of the Moira...and also an almost completely opaque face-mask, so she's maybe not exactly the most comforting sort of sight.]

[whynotgoonmyown]

[He returns the warm smile as he shakes Eric's hand.] Good. It'd have pretty awkward if I'd gotten the wrong.

[Joke before introducing himself. Priorities, he has them, clearly.] I'm Tyler, Tyler Preman.

[stompadour]

Her eyes narrow as she looks him up and down, clearly unimpressed with what she sees – not least because if this human is going to be leading her anywhere she's going to have to walk more slowly than she'd like to keep pace with his tiny little legs.

But she doesn't exactly have a wide range of larger humans available. This will have to do.

"Alright," she says brusquely, and drops him.

[whynotgoonmyown]

[Somehow, that's a littler harder than it looks, since he feels like he has several, but he manages to narrow it down to one first.]

Thank you. So just to get the obvious one out of the way, and then working from there... How slash why, did this happen? Me bring transported here, I mean.

[seeingscarlet]

[Needless to say, Wanda wasn't expecting that look. She steps back ever so slightly, a reflexive motion she wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the crunch of glass under her heel. She steps off it quickly, for all the good that does, and in the shattered pieces she can see wild, almost frightened red eyes.

Wanda shudders and turns her attention back to Loki, who has quite obviously dodged the question. His earlier expression has chilled her enough that she doesn't press, though she doesn't look exactly convinced either. Of course she knows better than to try to get a better read...the backlash would likely be terrible and that really won't help right now.

It's easiest on everyone if she just pretends that was a satisfactory answer.]

They're coming. [She can feel the ripples of awareness spreading; it won't be long before word gets to whoever passes as 'in charge.'] We should go before they find us.

[backsassin]

[She’s somewhat surprised when the response she gets isn’t an irritated retort and subsequent storming away, but a polite apology and two hands on her shoulders holding her steady.]

Don’t worry about it, [she mutters, clearly caught off-guard. It’s then that she notices that one of the hands on her shoulders has a MID attached.]

Oh! You’re another one of crew. [She lifts her hand to show her own MID.] Did you also come through the… [Lost in thought as she had been, she’s already forgotten the name of the device that had brought her here.] Ingrid?

[backsassin]

[Zam’s so caught up in trying to find the docking bay that she doesn’t even notice the other woman until she’s face-to-face with her own reflection in the latter’s face-mask. She leaps back, wounded hand instinctively reaching for her blaster, though it stills once she has a moment to process the woman’s words.]

I… I’m looking for the Moira. [It’s then that she notices the woman’s uniform. It looks a lot like the one the crewman had worn when they had greeted her with the captain outside the Ingress. Huh. Lucky break.]

They have a medbay on-board right? [Her wounded hand goes back to her chest.] There was a little… accident at the hotel I was staying at.

[not_too_close]

[His head moves in the direction of his MID, then back to her face in one quick flicker of movement.]

You are one of the Moira?

[David hasn't seen her before, he would remember her unless there was something faulty with his core memory processor, and regularly run diagnostics haven't revealed that. So it leads him to the understanding that she must be new, or had hidden herself away quite well.

He purposefully leaves his hands where they are.]

The Ingress, yes. But my arrival was over a month ago. Did you just come through?

[hohnkai]

I don't know that. None of us do.

[The best he can do is going to be pretty abysmal for some of these questions.]

There's something wrong with the Ingress technology. People have begun coming through and we don't know how to send them back. Which is why we've been forming our crew out of those that come in and want to go home. The Moira is on its way back to the creator's planet, where they'll certainly be able to help.

Moro Deck

[metabee]

[ Once the initial excitement of being on another planet with aliens and getting to go on a space ship had worn off, Metabee had retreated to his designated room. He needed to think, he missed his medafighter and had to figure out a way to try at least calling him. Kid was probably worried sick.

So Metabee was still awake, sitting in on one of the upper bunks, when the door opened. In the dark his glowing green eyes stood out like lamps, narrowing with annoyance at the interruption.]

Hey! Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?

[backsassin]

Yeah. [She gives an amused glance at one of the hands that remains on her shoulders.] I guess I am. [She hasn’t actually been on the Moira yet, though as she understands from the contract she signed, it is technically her place of work for the time being. Unless she finds a more agreeable way off this planet. Or if Jango decides to drop by and tell her what the hell is going on.]

Just a couple of hours ago, actually. [She cocks her head as she regards her new crewmate.] So they did the same thing with you? Pulled you out of that thing and then just offered you a job, no questions asked?

[Seriously, what kind of shady, pirate operation are they running here? Not that Zam is a stranger to shady, pirate operations, but some details would be nice.]

[backsassin]

[Zam is surprised to see the small figure perched on one of the upper bunks in the room, though she recovers quickly with an irritated look of her own.]

Oh. They have droids in the afterlife. Well, why not since they apparently also have starships and luxury hotels?

[She leans against the doorframe, arms crossed.]

Maybe you should have just listened harder.

[realitywarped]

Even if they caught me, they couldn't hold me, believe me. I can escape almost anything.

[Except burning, apparently, and he looks away, smile fixed and a little brittle.]

But I suppose life would be a little easier if I fled the tedious formalities. Coming?

[incantamentum]

[The moment their hands connect Eric's eyes widen slightly, he'd received that same flash of knowledge that he regularly does on first contact with a stranger and it tugged his lips up in a smile.]

A child of the moon, hm? What a pleasure to make your acquaintance Monsieur Preman. [He wasn't playing the cloak and dagger game right now, he was too pleased to be acquainted with someone at least slightly similar to himself; someone beyond the natural.]

Easily fixed :)

[realitywarped]

Whoops, caught.

[Not that he sounds or looks particularly contrite or ashamed about it. There's just a touch of wry chagrin around the edge of a very crooked smile to indicate he minds being caught at all.]

Have to, no. I could probably talk them into giving me things, if you'd rather, but it does take longer. Or I could let the crew not eat. Besides, I clearly need the practice if people can catch me.

[forwardmomentum]

He wasn't really expecting her to put him down gently, although he didn't really figure on being dropped a meter and change. Miles just barely manages to land on his feet instead of anything more breakable (or...already broken), the shock absorbed by the plastic synthetics in his legs. Still hurts like a son of a bitch, though, and he staggers a step or two, gritting his teeth.

"Right," he says brightly, baring his teeth in a grin. He gestures expansively at the towering Gem with his good arm. He almost feels bad dropping her at Captain Thán's doorstep, and he briefly entertains the idea of directing her to his cousin Ivan, one of the Public Relations officers, but that'd be more in the vein of a mean prank rather than anything helpful. Thán it is. "Allow me to lead on, madam."

[petridish]

arrival
If she's going to be made to work on some random ship, she's going to check that ship out before exploring some foreign (albeit at least alien-free, as far as she can tell) planet. The woman in the black armor with the distinctive red and white stripe down the right arm strides from C-Primary's Ingress to the Moira with purpose and an annoyed look, absently scratching at her MID from time to time.

Nomo deck
Her first stop onboard, of course, is the cabins. She gets too caught up in touching the wood of the dressers and shelves in fascination to notice that at first she gets the wrong room. Eventually, however, she makes her way to her own room, where she shelves her shotgun and sits down to poke at her MID, checking the functions with a frown.

medbay
So this is where she'll work. She raises an eyebrow at the the blood synthesizers, winces away from the cryostasis units (never again), and then walks around the edges of the room, sure she must have missed something on the walls. Not finding it, she starts rummaging through storage; at least she's sure to replace everything where she found it.

"No medi-gel...?" she asks aloud, baffled. She would have thought it would be indispensible. At least she's only in charge of inventory and not actual medical care, because it's not like she knows how to use anything else, and it looks like the MID can't activate it.

city
After grabbing some water (and a mouthful of wine) in the mess, she decides she can tour the ship some more in the days to come. Who knows how long they'll be docked on a human planet? She's still in her armor when she returns to the city, though without her gun, and this time she takes her time to explore. Usually she knows a place before she goes there - now, for the first time, she's on her own.

The freedom's incredible - there's a joy on her face as she walks around without supervision or hiding that's unfamiliar to her - but it's also unsettling. From time to time, she catches sight of... things that clearly aren't human but also aren't any species she ever learnt about, Council or not, and stares after them without understanding. Glass figurines make her wonder under her breath, "What's the point?" though she's at least more approving of the more utilarian items. She finds her way to a shadier area selling grenades, but shakes her head when the salesperson offers a trade.

"I don't have anything I'm willing to give up," she says. "Don't you use money?" Not that she has any of that, either, thanks to losing her omni-tool.

On her way back to the ship in the evening, she's confused for a moment to see her reflection, but in a tank of liquid instead of armor on the side of a building, and more confused when she and the tank are gone a moment later. She flinches away from it.

[gamora]

( the flash of red used to pull the knife out is enough to catch gamora's attention, although the blankness of her eyes makes it difficult to tell just what she's focusing on. the slight narrowing of her eyes is enough, though. )

You're still alive, aren't you?

( so she was careful enough. )

[stompadour]

Jasper doesn't thank him, just gives him a curt nod and follows.

"And what do you do?" She sounds skeptical, but this is the problem with humans – can't tell what they're for just by looking, and in Jasper's limited experience they don't seem to be made for anything. Extremely inefficient.

[gamora]

( gamora only spares him a glance, blank eyes barely indicating any movement. ugh. it seems like humanity's getting itself all over this galaxy. mantis and drax didn't count in her wide dismissal of the species as a whole -- they hardly resembled terrans. quill was, well, whatever he was, and rider was exceptional. )

Surely a Terran like you can come up with something more creative.

( a generalization -- he might not be from earth, but he looks human enough. gamora feels, if not confident in her guess, then confident she can take his offended response if he isn't. )