( 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

[intherigging]

Not a problem, mate. [Skipping forward, Jacky quickly and efficiently dismantled the stacks in front of him, clearing a nice, clear space. Stepping back enough to give him room but close enough to give him an arm if necessary she grinned.]

I'm Jacky, by the by. You're the bartender, right?

[forwardmomentum]

[ miles scoots forward and slides off the table without help, setting the book in his hands down where he'd just been sitting. he absently straightens the top of his uniform -- tailored to fit his unusual body, thanks to harry. he gives her a half-grin in response and sweeps her a modest bow in greeting. it's only a little wry. ]

Miles. Yes, that'd be me, although only part-time at the moment.

[intherigging]

Well, if you ever need another server, or someone to do sets, give me a holler! I own a pub back in Boston, and I know just how hectic or quiet things can get for a bunch of sailors.

What were you reading about, if you don't mind me asking?

[forwardmomentum]

Oh, you know. [ miles waves a hand airily. ] Astronomy, astrophysics, anything on every damned weird phenomenon I can get my hands on in this place, although I'm turning up relatively little. I suspect at least part of that has to do with the fact that this isn't exactly my area of expertise. My mother would have an easier time making sense of this, I think.

[ after all, his mother'd had an eleven-year career in the betan astronomical survey making blind wormhole jumps. you had to be a damned good scientist to make it in survey.

he raises his eyebrows at the offer, though, and flashes her a crooked grin. ]

I could use a hand, actually, if you don't mind pulling double duty. I suspect I'll be rather busy with my new responsibilities in short order. Er -- where is Boston, by the way?

[ going from everyone else he knows here, odds are it's probably somewhere on earth. he's encountered more people from earth on his ship than he's run into in most of his travels through the nexus -- aside from the time he spent recently in london, of course. not a fan. ]

[intherigging]

You're probably doing better than I would; all this stuff is strange to me. Give me a ship and the open seas any day!

[Star physics are a little beyond someone who only found out that they were sailing in vacuum barely a month ago.]

I don't mind at all! I'm used to my days being a bit more filled than this; between running Faber Shipping Worldwide, the Pig and Whistle, and performing, my docket is usually filled from sun-up to sun-down. Having only a mess-shift and a turn up in the crow's nest doesn't eat up much time, in all honesty.

Boston's in the Colonies--the Americas. Um, on Earth? [The thought finally occurs to her.] Is it not there in your time?

[forwardmomentum]

Well, you're quite the enterprising young woman.

[ miles blinks. although come to think of it, he'd only been seventeen when he'd invented the persona of admiral naismith and annexed an entire mercenary fleet into his own, although, er, not entirely by design, at first. and given the trajectory of his more public career, enterprising is a word that could apply to miles -- one of the nicer ones, anyway. his mouth quirks into a grin. ]

A sailor, you say? I must confess, I never did grow to love it as much as I did horseback riding. My father used to take us out on the lake behind our house, but he was a terrible sailor. There was always one capsize a summer. At least.

[ he doesn't look like someone who rides horses, given his body, but hey, miles is full of surprises. he looks thoughtful at jacky's response as he tries to remember earth geography. ]

Oh, no, Earth is still very much around, if a bit off the beaten path, these days. Er -- not America, though. If I've got my history right, the entire continent was nuked to hell and back several centuries ago.

[ sorry, jacky. ]

[intherigging]

[Jacky grinned at the compliment. She is an entrepreneur, and it's nice to not be mocked for that.

As Miles tells the tales of his childhood, she can't help but laugh.] Oh, that must have been a fright! Or at least an annoyance. But you ride? I haven't run into anyone else yet who has. [She's not judging; no one would expect a guttersnipe like her to ride, either.]

Ah. I take it 'nukes' are bad? [It's a little academic, right now. She might be a little bit in shock.] Did England make it?

[forwardmomentum]

Thankfully I could swim better than my father could sail. [ miles' mouth twitches, but his little grin spreads into a genuine smile, though. his love of horses is something he inherited from his grandfather -- neither of his parents can stand the things, and ivan isn't too keen, either. ] Oh, yes. Almost since I could walk -- well, since I was about five.

[ because that was about when he could walk, having spent the first four or so years of his life in traction. he winces a little at her question, sympathetically. ]

Bad, yes. Very bad. But I was in London a few months back -- that's England, isn't it?

[ his earth geography is pretty abysmal but who cares, he's really not keen about going back. ]

[intherigging]

That's right lucky of you; most men I know can't. [Jacky can. It's gotten her out of many a tight scrape, as well as actually saving her life.] Ah. I only learned when I was sent away to school, but cor, what a way to travel! Much better than traipsing around on your own two hooves.

It is! S'where I'm from, actually. Spent four years of my life under Blackfriar's Bridge! [Jacky's...not thinking about the 'nuking' thing. That's just. Too distressing. Much less distressing to think about being a starving, penniless child on the streets.]

[forwardmomentum]

Er -- I don't know it, I'm afraid. [ he spreads his hands apologetically. ] Granted, it's about the thirty-first century where I'm from, which has to be at least seven hundred years removed from where you're from, so I suspect it's, ah, changed a bit in the interim.

[intherigging]

[Jacky tilted her head, nodding a bit.] That's fair. Also, it is just a bridge; not sure it's all that noteworthy, if'n you didn't live under it.

You really don't mind me working in your pub, then? Would it be alright with you if I put on a show, played some music, and the like? [Even if Ratchet was right, and her music...was hideously out of mode, Jacky'd never yet met a sailor who didn't like a drinking song.]

[forwardmomentum]

Well, it's not really my bar. It's the ship's -- I'm just posted to it. [ he tilts his head in response to hers, though, and grins. ] But most fortunately I also happen to be the ship's Personnel Officer. I can talk to the captains, see if we can't get you an official posting. How does co-Beverage Dissemination Officer sound to you?

[ his grin widens wildly, and he looks at her with interest. she...reminds him a little of himself, in a few strange, scattered ways. at least as driven and enterprising. he wonders if any of that drive comes from a similar place as his own. ]

You play music?

[intherigging]

[She grinned, wide and foxy.] That sounds mighty official-like! J.M. Faber: Crow's Nest Technician and co-Beverage Dissemination Officer.

I do indeed! I play the pennywhistle, the fiddle, the concertina, and the guitar, as well as sing and dance. I know songs in English, French, and Spanish--but that's not much of a problem here, is it? [She blinked and laughed a little.] This future sure is amazing; my trip through the Orient would've been much easier if I could've spoken the language! [Not that she hadn't learned, eventually, but it's still not something she's conversant in.]

Do you play any music, Mister Miles?

[forwardmomentum]

[ miles blinks at that. god damn, jacky. ]

Damn, you are talented, aren't you? I doubt the crew would object to a little entertainment here and there. Hell, it'd probably raise morale. But, er, no, I'm not one for music myself. Don't play any instruments. [ after a thoughtful pause: ] Unless you count my cousin Ivan, who says I play him like a fiddle, but anyone could play that idiot.

[intherigging]

[She preened a little under the praise. She always liked being appreciated!] Thank you! I consider myself a fair hand; been playing the pennywhistle since I was a ship's boy on the Dolphin, and the others I've picked up along the way. I'm a fair teacher, too, if'n you ever want to learn!

[She laughed, cheerily.] I'll be honest with you, the only reason a girl like me's gotten as far as I have has been due to my proficiency in that same instrument. Not your cousin, I've not met him I believe, but men in general.

[forwardmomentum]

Oh, believe me, you'd know if you'd met him. Ivan tends to go after any woman with a pulse.

[ his tone is dry, and just a touch bitter. he quirks a faint grin at that, though, raising an eyebrow. ]

An important skill for women, I understand. And I applaud your proficiency. [ that's a totally genuine compliment. barrayar is still somewhat behind most of the galaxy when it comes to the treatment of women, but miles has spent well enough time off planet to have long since disabused him of any notions of sex-based incompetence. he can relate, somewhat; he might not be a woman, but he grew up with at least as acute a disadvantage, with this body. he had to learn to take advantage of people's constant underestimations of him. ] I had to develop a somewhat different skill set to get where I am now, but I, ah -- understand the necessity of it, you could say.

[intherigging]

[Jacky rolled her eyes and laughed.] I've known many men like your cousin. [Her face scrunched as she thought, recalling Lord Richard, brother Randall, Capitaine Bardot...] A lot. It's true that many of them are dear to me, and that I might be as free and easy in my ways as they are in theirs, but still. It's amusing to watch, sometimes. 'O fickle moon', and all that.

[Jacky can understand that. Son of a count he might be, to even stay in the line of inheritance with his stature must have been a chess game of the highest stakes. And while he might've been lucky, being the son of a count instead of a poor scholar and his wife (*cough*), the one thing Jacky has always had besides her wits has been her health.]

I feel, Mister Miles, that you and I are quite similar underneath.