thisavrou_log | ( may event log )

Entry tags:

( may event log )

Who: Everyone
When: May 1st and on
Where: The Moira + Amissis-Re
What: The crew finds themselves visiting the very barren planet of Amissis-Re.
Warnings:None, but please label your content!

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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.

( ooc; For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's amazing they survived. [But then, the story of the Dowager Queen's original inhabitants is highly fictional by now, a bedtime story told all over Anchorhead. In a few more decades, it will probably be entirely mythological.]

[He looks over to Cassandra.] I used to. We lived out on the Great Chott sandflats, that's... [He looks at the position of the suns overhead, and checks the chrono on the speeder's dashboard.] West, I think. [He points.] We had a farm right on the edge of the wastes.

[She notes the past tense, and bites the inside of her cheek as she nods in understanding. She wants to ask him what happened, but knows she'd be mad if someone did the same to her. Instead of talking, she heads over toward the west. She wants to get out of the busy area so she can go faster and see what kind of moves she can pull.

Without crashing, hopefully.]

What kind of farm was it?

[Luke is watching her out of the corner of his eye, trying to make sure they don't get killed. The model they're riding isn't made for speed to begin with, back when it was made twenty years ago, so that's a small guarantee against dying in a horrifying crash, right.]

The only kind of farm you can have on Tatooine: moisture. I've heard of other kinds, but I've never seen them. The Darklighter farm should still there, we can go see it, if you want. I haven't seen Dera in years.

[Of course, that connection to the real world, time and place and setting, reminds him that this isn't just a sight-seeing visit. He knows why he left. He's grown up in Mos Eisley, he barely notices the troopers wandering the streets, but they're there. Things are different now.]

But... if anyone asks, my name is, uh, Laze Whitesun.

Okay.

[She says it right after he's finished telling her his fake name, eyes widening as she resists laughing.]

Should I ask why, or is it something you don't want to talk about?

[As they pull away from the populated area, Cassandra keeps an eye on the direction they're headed. It looks like there's nothing but dunes up ahead, so she decides that a speeder ride is made much more fun while going in serpentine motions.

Up far ahead, still a good distance away, there's figures slowly shuffling their way through the sand. Cassandra isn't paying them much attention yet, but she's spotted them easily enough. They'll be easy to bypass, she figures.]

Uh, [Luke's grin is somewhere between bashful and proud.] I... might have a bounty on me.

[So concerned with the thought sandtroopers and keeping an eye on Cassandra's driving, Luke doesn't see the figures on the horizon. The Force whispers a warning, but he's too distracted to hear it.]

[His answer makes her laugh, and she breaks her focus on driving in order to look up and over at him with a smirk.]

A bounty? You really don't seem like the kind of guy who would have a price on his head. What did you do to deserve one?

[She slows down some so she can talk to him and not have to concentrate so much on not crashing and killing them both.]

I guess you haven't heard of the Death Star? I... blew it up.

[His bashfulness becomes some kind of mix between pride and awkward humility. He's still grinning. The figures on the horizon move closer, but he's still not paying attention.]

I've never heard of it before.

[But she is most definitely impressed that he blew something up.]

But I'm starting to realize there's a lot more to you than I thought.

[And saying that out loud causes her stomach to do some kind of weird twist and flip, which she promptly ignores in favor of grinning right along with him. Blowing things up is awesome.

By this point, the figures that had been on the horizon are even closer, and Cassandra forces herself to look away from Luke to them. She decides to head over toward them, to see what they're up to.]

I- I don't know about that. [Luke would like to be exactly as he appears, but lately life has been conspiring to make that impossible.]

[He looks up at shuffling shadows not far off.] Those- those might be sand people, you should... [And now he hears the warning from the Force.] Something's wrong.

Yeah? Well, I decide if I think you're -

[She's in the middle of a retort when she realizes that he's said something's wrong, and years of worst case scenarios have her trained to fall silent and bring the speeder to a stop. They're far enough away that they can observe what's up ahead, and she feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge as her skin gets goosebumps. ]

Do sand people move like that?

[Because they're moving in a way that's very familiar to her, a way that has a cold chill going down her spine.]

We need to get closer.

[She moves the speeder in closer, slow enough that they're not drawing more attention than needed to themselves. As they get close enough, she takes in their appearance, taking note that they're most definitely zombies. Ones that look like they were plucked right from her home and dropped into the desert on another planet. The speeder comes to a stop once again, and she shifts so she can pull out the knife that she wears at all times.]

Shit.

[That's pretty much the best way to describe the situation, as far as she's concerned.]

[Luke goes still, tense with worry.] No, sand people would have already been shooting. What are you- [He stares at the knife she pulls out, but he realizes he didn't bring a blaster.] Should we really get so close?

[Suffice to say he has a bad feeling about this.] Maybe we could outrun them...?

No.

[She shoots down that idea, her voice firm.]

I know what they are. They're from my world.

[Which means outrunning them sounds like a good idea, but she hesitates to do that. She's just been laughing and having a good time, but it's easy for her to slide into a fearful sense of survival that has her feeling like she needs to be in charge.]

We need to bring them down. Give them mercy. If we don't, they'll get to the city and turn everyone.

What-? Really? They... [Luke doesn't like the idea of attacking unprovoked, but Cassandra would know best, wouldn't she? Luke frowns.] The weapon you have... you'd have to get awful close.

[It's clear from his tone he doesn't like that idea.]

If they kill everyone, it will be my fault. They're here because of me.

[She already has a large enough guilt complex without adding this to it. So she looks to her knife, and then back to him. ]

Wait here. I know what I'm doing.

[Her voice leaves absolutely no room for argument, and she climbs out of the speeder to make her way over toward the z's. She wants to cry, knowing that she's brought something so awful here. People could already be turned, things spiraling out of control. Her stomach churns the longer it takes her to walk through the sand, and as she makes her way to the top of a dune to look down at the undead, she takes notice of the fact there's only a few.]

[The change in Cassandra's demeanor is so total and sudden, Luke is, for once, surprised into silence. He watches her go, fidgeting awkwardly.]

[The problem with Luke is he's not great with orders, especially ones that put him out of the action, especially ones that put his friends in danger over him. He stews for a moment, attempting respectful patience, but that fizzles out pretty quick. Locking up the speeder, he hurries after Cassandra.]

[He's quiet, walking up to her.]

I can help. [His tone is neither pleading nor argumentative. It's a gently spoken fact. He knows he can help, feels it singing in the Force around them. Quietly,] Please.

[She doesn't want him to get hurt. That's first on her priority list, protecting him. So when she hears him approach, she extends her arm, attempting to act as a barrier that might keep him safe from what's on the other side. It's common sense to argue with him, tell him that he can't help.

But she realizes that she trusts him enough to have her back, and to keep himself alive when it comes down to it. So she nods. Yes, he can help.]

If you get them in the brain, they'll go down peacefully.

[Up this close, he can see the state of what was once people. Their skin is ashen, most of it in the process of swelling and falling off, leaving patches of gore revealed. Their eyes are clouded, but focused on the two of them anyway, and Cassandra manages to judge the exact moment before they'll strike.

She sees it in the way their heads tilt, and the smaller of the three that are gathered rushes forward. In order to protect Luke as best as she can, she rushes forward, making quick work of ducking and dodging the larger male zombie lunging at her so she can slam the blade of her knife through the skull of the smaller female that's moved first.

That leaves the two large males, and Cassandra about faces to try and figure out how to get her blade up high enough without leaping up and on them. In the end, she just shrugs and lunges forward, using all of her body weight to land against the larger male so she can make him fall down face first in the sand. This ends with her in a heap with the stupid thing, attempting to fight for the top position.]

[Cassandra may feel the creature being wrenched from her and pulled away as though by an invisible hand. Luke is standing some ways away, expression stony with placid concentration.]

[During this, he's been so focused on the creature attacking Cassandra that another was able to walk up almost directly behind him. Luke doesn't move his head; he just waves his arm again, and it's pushed away, its rotting feet skidding uselessly in the sand.]

[Luke's voice is calm, but it's with a forced quality. Control takes effort, and he's no master. According to Vader, he's not even a Jedi.]

Where do you need them? [They'll work as a team.]

[She's more than a little astounded by what he's able to do, but doesn't exactly have the time to really react to it right now. There's a split second of her looking Luke's way, giving his question as much thought as she can muster with the way her adrenaline is pumping.]

Hold them together between us. If you can keep them still, it'll be over fast.

[She's back up on her feet and has her knife at the ready, watching for the right moment to strike.]

[Luke moves his hands like a conductor, and the creatures are pulled through the sand with a wrenching tug. He's-- annoyed? Angry? Something burning and cold lurks at the back of his mind, antipathy for these mindless creatures attacking his friend. They're close to the Darklighter farm, closer to where the Lars farm used to be; these things could hurt people, people he loves.]

[So he moves them, not gently, but not cruelly, either.]

[In the end, he has them clustered together as Cassandra asked. It's taking some obvious work on his part-- his expression is screwed up in concentration-- but he manages it.] Be careful.

[The fact that he cares enough at all to tell her to be careful is something she's not used to, and it makes her feel vulnerable. Luckily, he's holding the things attacking them still, and she trusts him to keep them there. She glances over at Luke, and sees the effort of what he's doing on his face.

Not wanting him to cause himself harm, she hurries to use her knife to dispose of them. She knows the exact point where to shove her blade through their head, the point that will drop them down to the ground the fastest. She hits it quickly on one, and then the other, and steps back until she's standing at Luke's side. Her hand that isn't holding the knife slips over to take hold of his, and she hopes he feels the sense of gratitude that she's feeling for him helping her.]

There's probably others.

[In her experience, there's never just three of them. But she almost doesn't want to think about it, because she's afraid Luke will resent her for being at fault for the zombies being here in the first place.]

I should try to make sure there isn't. It's my fault they're here.

[Luke was sweating before-- it's Tatooine, someone's always sweating-- but now his hair is matted to his forehead, and his shirt sticks to his chest. He's panting like he came in from a long run.]

[Still, when she takes his hand, he squeezes it, attempting to be reassuring or heroic. Someone who's got your back, certainly.]

How is it your fault? [He's walking, maybe a little slowly, back to the speeder. As far as he's concerned, some womprats are going to smell those bodies soon and he doesn't want Cassandra to have to see them picked apart. It's not a pretty image.]

[She glances up at him, wondering where in the hell all that had come from. Is he like Peter, with special powers? She quickly decides it really doesn't matter, because he's helped her and he's on her side.

As he starts walking, she stays at his side, keeping hold of his hand. If it seems like he needs help staying up on his feet, she's right there to help him stay up.]

I went through the portal with you. It made our worlds combine like this. Those things are only here because I am.

[She wants to make a joke about how he looks all sweaty like this, but it feels out of place and like it would come out empty sounding. She's tired, and he clearly is too. ]

Are you gonna be okay?

[She really hopes he will, otherwise the guilt is going to be intense.]

You didn't do it on purpose, Cassandra. It's not your fault. [He says it easily, without much thought. He moves his hand from hers, putting it over her shoulder instead.] C'mon, let's get back to the speeder before a Jawa steals it.

[Wow, harsh rodent racism, Luke.]

I'll be fine, I just need to sit down. I need to practice more; I'm not used to moving something bigger than a person... much less three people at once. [People. He called them people, and helped Cassandra kill them. He frowns.] What were they?

[She glances up at him just in time to see the frown on his face. She wonders if he's disappointed in her for killing them.]

They were people, once. But they were bit and turned into monsters. People back home call them zombies. Dead people who get back up again and bite and eat the living.

[She brings her hand up to touch at her cheek, at the bite scar there. She gets a weird sense of dread in the pit of her stomach when she explains these things to people from the Moira, because she has a sinking suspicion that she's one of those things. Or would be, if she ended up back home in her right timeline.]

They tear people apart to devour them. I've seen -

[Oh, she's seen some shit. ]

A lot. Horrible things, the worst way you could possibly think of to die. And then the bodies get right up, turned into a z, and they keep the problem going. If there's any other ones here, your home's in danger.

[They make it back to the speeder, and she helps him get inside and seated before going to the other side to get in herself. There's blood on her hands, clearly not belonging to her, and she sets the dirty knife on the seat between them. Her hands rest on her lap and she stares down at them, unsure of what else to say. She hadn't wanted Luke to know about any of this, to see her any differently. She doesn't want him to pity or fear her.]

[And Luke listens. He'd trusted that Cassandra wouldn't run off to kill someone who could be saved, and his trust wasn't misplaced. When he sits in the speeder, he looks over her with calm concern. That explains the scar on her cheek, at least.]

I'm sorry you went through that. It sounds horrible. If you ever need someone to talk to... [Luke's always been demonstrative with those he cares about. He pats her shoulder again.] You can trust me. [He hopes she does.]

But don't worry about Tatooine. It's always taken care of itself.

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