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far from nowhere
"the trees rustle in the evening when we stand uneasy before our own thoughts."
With the events of Del Pascia behind the Moira, things are only now beginning to settle—and not very well. Through the combined efforts of some of the crew, D-E-L and her permanent residents were incinerated into the dust of space. While it’s not the most peaceful end, it is one, and not many are going to be thinking back on how nice Del Pascia’s facilities were for quite some time. Repairing what they could of the ship’s interior and putting as much distance between the Moira and the prison as possible, those aboard are informed by Navigation that they are approaching another planet. This means, of course, the potential for better supplies, as some things are beginning to dwindle, and the Captains elect to dock so long as the crew follows protocol. WELCOME TO AMISSIS-RE
Amissis-Re is an unregistered planet with no documented histories or signs of life. The Moira’s Navigation crew have scanned the planet for any usable resources and have discovered a faint signal emitting from beneath the surface of Amissi-Re. Using the transporters and any other crafts located in the Cargo Bay, the crew are able to travel to the source of the signal. Upon arriving in its exact location, they’ll find a small series of lakes that lead to a tower-like structure that appears to be in use. Crew must cross a poorly assembled bridge system that sways and dips when weight is applied to it in order to gain access to the entrance. Once there, a woman comes out to greet them and explains, excitedly, that she is so very happy that they have come to Amissis-Re.
Everyone can go home.
Their host insists that she has done the impossible and has somewhat fixed the Ingress that’s been built on Amissis-Re a long time ago, and what’s more, she can send crew home for short bursts of time. Upon following this woman inside, crew will find that the planet is not, in fact, barren at all. Diving deep into the underbelly of Amissis-Re, it’s like an eternal factory of machines, and while vast, for whatever reason, it also seems incredibly welcoming...
☄ LEAP OF FAITH ( 05.01 and on ) The barren planet of Amissis-Re is devoid of vegetation and organic life except for a lone woman, and the planet itself is an intricate honeycomb of machines that go for miles below the surface. Yet, that seems insignificant and unimportant in comparison to the news that the crew has just received. After Thán has looked at the Ingress, he tells the crew that he cannot say for certain that it is properly functioning, but Emiri native, Ben Link, will volunteer to test it out.
An elevator takes crew down to a glass platform that overlooks an inverted Ingress portal. In order to return home, the Moirans will have to take a leap of faith and jump in. Ben, in order to show his commitment to the crew and willingness to help get them home, takes that jump with Captain Thán seconds behind him. Jumping feels like dropping through wind; lights swirl, it’s warm, and a soft buzzing encompasses you as you fall. You don’t feel the landing. One moment you’re falling, and the next, you’re in a new world.
A few hours pass before a similar elevator rises from below and to the left of the Ingress, stopping beside the platform. Ben and Thán step out unharmed.
It works, and everyone can temporarily go home. Will you jump? ☄ COMBINE THE EXTREMES ( 05.01 and on ) The woman that greeted the crew and led them to the platform will allow anyone that wants to go home the opportunity to go. There’s only one catch: it’s not permanent. She’s worked for years to fix the Ingress so that she can return to her own home but hasn’t been able to make the trip an everlasting one. Everyone always comes back. Always. They go for a few hours, at first, but that amount of time increases with each visit.
The one guideline, she says, is that you can’t go alone. Each trip requires a partner, or it becomes too much for the mind to bear. These rules are simple: the world takes shape depending on who jumps first, but if crew go hand-in-hand and leap at the same time, the worlds combine. This new world will be populated with people that existed in both and may appear to be a jarring combination of both worlds. It may seem unusual, but if the woman is asked, she’ll explain that the combined world does exist as there are more universes than can be imagined. The Ingress tries to take the person to their own home, their original home, but when jumping together, it finds the closest possible match and deposits them there instead.
From that point on, you can travel the world together or split up, but remember, this world is a living, functioning world. It doesn’t matter if it’s the home of one crew member or a combination. You meet other people. You can get hurt. You influence and are influenced by others.
Be cautious, and enjoy your visit “home”. ☄ LINGER ON ( 05.05 and on ) The more times the Amissis-Re Ingress is visited, the more it seems that your trips last longer and the experience becomes even more vivid. More real and harder to distinguish from the current reality that you know. It’s difficult to explain why, but you get the feeling that maybe if you went without the aid of the host, that perhaps you’d be able to stay. Forever. It takes some subterfuge, but in time, you see your chance: she’s nowhere in sight, and you take it.
The world you are in now is completely your own, whether another crew member accompanied you or not. The people you know are there, everything around you is exactly as you remember. A few hours pass, and you don’t feel that familiar tug, that invisible hook at the base of your spine that signals that your visit is over. Even more time goes by, and you’re still in that world, your home. When the first day has passed, you begin to question if you’ll ever go back, or if life on the Moira was all a dream. The person with you won’t be able to convince you otherwise, and they’ll start to feel less real, a stranger that you used to know.
There’s only one way to go back to the Moira. Someone from the other side has to come in and retrieve you both. Once in, contact with a third will jump-start a link through the Ingress, and it will pull all crew back to the platform.
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thisavrou_log2016-05-01 09:04 pm
The Girl
[It's hot. The air's dry and smells of something acidic, like burning chemicals. There's sand as far as the eye can see, buzzards flying, and the distance sound of a motor. The sun bearing down is unbearable and off behind a pile of rocks there's white cloth that upon further inspection will be found to be a body bag.
The girl couldn't look more thrilled.
She isn't waiting for her companion to keep up, she's heading off through the sand with a smile on her face. ]
You better not stick to one place, bet ya the Dracs will be around here patrolin' soon.
You Only Live Forever; Closed to first reply for it
[She's only come with another because she had to and she's quiet for the entire walk. There's a letter weighing heavy in her pack, but the closer they get to the mailbox in the distance, the more at peace her expression becomes. This is a moment she's needed for a long time, since that day in Better Living's headquarters. There's a proper way to say goodbye in the desert, and she won't let the presence of another keep her from the ritual.
She comes to a stop several feet away from the box, regarding it the way some would a religious shrine. The image isn't that far off. The mailbox is decorated to the nines, several layers of graffiti and paint covering every inch. Flowers and unlit candles and small trinkets lay around it, a cross has been laid on top. The corner of something colorful is peeking fro the flap and the girl stumbles forward to free it. It's a circular looking mask, bright green and orange, and she pushes it the rest of the way in with surprising gentleness. ]
It's pretty full. Must be 'bout time for her to make the rounds.
you only live forever
Who? The Painted Reaper's mailwoman?
[ It doesn't occur to him that the Girl may not know about the Painted Reaper and her yearly rounds at Harvest and the letters of petition written to her by everyone from girls hoping to marry well to lonely widowers wanting one last minute with their late wives. ]
no subject
Painted what? What's a mailwoman?
[The mailboxes might still stand in the desert, but what they were once in the times before the wars was a mystery to the little girl. Her life had come after, once the world was already in shambles and all civilization was left to the City. Her only knowledge of world her fathers knew, that D knew, came from half explained references on the radio and the boys stories from childhood. The mail system had not been included.
Maybe because she'd taken to Cherri's stories of the Witch with such reverence that no one wanted to ruin the boxes for her.]
This is for the Witch. The Phoenix Witch. She's gonna make her rounds soon, collect all the letters and masks so she knows what souls to find. Didn't anyone ever teach ya nothin' about what happens after someone's dusted?
no subject
Painted Reaper. She, ah. She's the god of Harvest. Both of people and other things. And … a mailwoman is a kind of messenger.
[ He listens attentively to the Girl's explanation of who the letter is for, then nods. ]
She sounds kin with our Reaper, then. Do, ah. Do souls get lost, once you die? Ours tend to stay put, from what I understand. Wandering becomes … scary.
no subject
[A messenger. Makes sense, as that was the Witch's role in some respects. She nods absently to the explanation.]
Sorta? Um. Cherri's a lot better than explainin' it than me. [She pauses, looking out to the horizon and thinking of the man. It's a hard thing to do when just his name fills her with too many conflicting emotions that she doesn't want to sort out.] I think that if she doesn't help you might get stuck. Might not get to have any peace, get away from this place and all the fightin'.
no subject
[ God damn it, how do you talk to kids about death? He knows the Girl is no stranger to death, but he still has a difficult time acknowledging that, that a child can already know how cruel the world is.
The fact that at her age, he already knew how cruel and strange the world is occurs to him and he shivers. Right. Be the adult you needed when you were a child and all that. ]
It's a metaphor for birth and death, darling. Harvest is when the souls of the dead are gathered together to travel to ... wherever they're going. Different souls have different destinations.
[ He considers the Girl's explanation carefully. ]
So she is a psychopomp. Like our Reaper. Maybe she is our Reaper. Gods wear different faces to different folk.
no subject
Just take 'em all a once? That ain't to the people that have to wait. Or to make 'em go with a bunch of others. That kind of shit should be private, ya know?
A pscho-what? The Witch ain't dotty. Ya can't be powerful and be crazy. [She frowns.] And the Witch ain't no god. Only one of those around is Destroya, if ya believe the droids, and he's just around for the robots. No person here has any god lookin' out for them.
no subject
I think the idea is that it's less lonely to go in a group. I don't know. Different cultures do things differently. But back home, death is ... very much a family affair.
And that's "psychopomp", darling. One who escorts the dead to whatever lies beyond.
Do you really not have gods? Gods are everywhere. They might just not be showing themselves to people here.
no subject
[She says it defensively, and with a tone of hurt. She'd lost her own in one swoop and she didn't think it was fair.]
It's a funny word. Think I'd rather stick to Witch.
[She snorts, expression darkening.] There ain't none here. Weren't gods supposed to look out for people? Ain't nothin' lookin' out for people here. If we got 'em, I don't want 'em. They don't care about us out in the sand.
burning up in the sun
But she's already taking off, and he hurries to catch up to her.]
There are patrols here? Are they anything like the Royal Guard?
no subject
Ain't no royalty 'round here. It's the Drac patrols. Maybe Scarecrows if we're real unlucky.
[She doesn't want to consider that it could be someone on Korse's level. She could maybe get them both away from the mooks, but she couldn't protect herself against Korse. Protecting a second person was out of the question.]
If we see 'em, we gotta run. Fast as ya can, got it? Don't stop until ya can't hear the lasers no more.
no subject
Understood, but scarecrows aren't so bad! At least... not the ones Underground.
[He's willing to admit that human Scarecrows might be more prone to violence though.]
What is this world called? And where are we going?
no subject
The Zones. [She throws her arms out as she runs, indicating the desert around them.] Can't tell ya which one till I get a good look at the signs. They all kinda look the same. 'cept six. We're breathin' so it can't be six.
We're headin' to the diner. One of the safe places.
no subject
[He looks around as she indicates the wasteland around them. Nothing but sand as far as the eye can see.]
Lead the way, and I, Papyrus, will follow!
no subject
[His question about friends hurts a little. There won’t be, not unless Cherri or Pony have come there looking for her after she ran. But she can’t imagine they’d even bother, too self-absorbed and complete in her belief the Cherri must not really care about her at all.
She just walks a few moments, trying to push down the ugly feelings that threaten her whenever she thinks about the man she once considered family.]
Just gonna be you and me. Only place there’s a friendly face is if we found one of the stations.
no subject
Uh, what's a Drac?
[He nervously transforms and easily catches up to her. His tires skid a little in the sand and he huffs a little as sand slowly seeps into his plating. How awful!]
no subject
[She stops, both in speaking and her tracks. She stares at the vehicle now accompanying her.]
What did you just do?