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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
Commander Shepard | Mass Effect | ota unless marked!
[Interested in taking Shepard to your world? She's interested in yours, as long as you're jumping first! She'll be hanging out in her room, in engineering, or any other part of the Moira you'd care to find her in, as well as checking out the planetary Ingress for herself, just out of curiosity. There really is a lot of machinery down there. Feel free to tag for a jump, or if you want to plot something, hit me up at
--
LOCKED: Nihlus and Shepard have a shitty time, part 27 of an ongoing series // May 10
[There was hesitation. A lot of hesitation. The why of which she couldn't quite pin down. Joining others for their jumps, being the guard on their six, that was easy enough. A new perspective, point of view. That, she could do. Even Tali, same universe as they may be, was no problem — as long as Tali was jumping first. It was easy to brush off, with happy phrases like "after you", or "ladies first", friendly quips and gestures that greased a conversation — an advantage she planned to use.
Nihlus had recommended a supplies run to their own universe, and Shepard's reluctance to reveal her reluctance was matched only by her vociferous agreement with the suggestion. The solution, then, was a Nihlus-first one. After arriving planetside, making their way towards the Ingress, Shepard had kept back one pace, matching the formation they'd used for prison station salvage. It works — by the time they reach the platform, Nihlus is in front, ready to go — and it only takes a nod from Shepard to confirm, a smile quirked in the corner of her lips.]
I'm right behind you. [beat;] Just so you know, I'll be grading your entry on a scale of one to ten.
[As soon as Nihlus jumps, Shepard is running, too, reluctance evaporating with her mentor's steps. As with Tali's, she feels comfortable, confident with the knowledge that anything that may appear will be something, or somewhere, that her mentor has encountered, seen, experienced before. They may end up on any number of planets in the galaxy, but they could never end up on--
--Earth.
The downtown Vancouver skyline, to be precise. Buildings she knows (or, at least, certain rooms) all too well tower in the near distance, ragged swathes carved out of them, and her confidence evaporates like water on a hotplate. There's the sound — or lack. No scree of ships, no war theatre rat-tat-tat, no Reaper beams. No Reapers. The realisation is sudden, blunt, and she has to steady herself against the wall of the warehouse they're standing outside of, nausea rising unbidden.
It's after the choice. It's all she can do not to laugh, even though the joke is clearly on her. Was accompanying Nihlus alone enough to shift things? Or could the Ingress choose a point — any point — in history, as long as it was in your galaxy, similar to how it abducted people in the first place?
There's no time to reflect, though, because suddenly, there is sound — footfalls, even and measured, are coming towards their direction. Shepard's eyes dart, and lock on an open door across from them, another warehouse's entrance proper. She signals silently to Nihlus, and they move wordlessly inside, not stopping until they are well-secreted among the stacks of boxes, heights and placement against the wall varying wildly.
Lit only by sunlight (a rarity, Shepard remembers, here in Vancouver), the room they occupy seems to only make up a small corner of the warehouse proper. Doors can be made out on the north and east walls, their circuitry glowing softly. And the boxes that surround them?
'MILITARY-GRADE MEDI-GEL: KEEP IN COOL DRY PLACE'
She stares at the printed letters, focusing on them for a moment in disbelief, before finally turning to Nihlus, hand on one of the boxes. Keeping her voice low, her tone is conversational, pleasant — but the focus on maintaining that air is as clear as if she were gritting her teeth.]
So. This is lucky. [beat;] Seven point five on the jump, by the way.
SHITTY TIMES AHOY
His HUD puts the temperature down at three degrees Celsius and he's idly glad he'd put his helmet on before hopping in.
The thump of heavy boots on the pavement announces Shepard's arrival and he turns in time to see the way she steadies herself against the wall. He ignores the sinking feeling in his guts and moves to her side, sweeping the area for any signs of danger.]
Shepard-
[Footsteps interrupt him before he could finish. At Shepard's signal he follows her into the warehouse and behind the stacks of boxes, hunkering down and keeping his eyes and ears open in case they'd been followed.]
I'll have you know I actually tried on that jump.
[Actually, no he didn't, but he can hear that strange strain in her voice.
When no one comes through after them he ducks down and peers at the medi-gel containers around them with a contemplative hum.]
This is lucky, but we've still got three hours to kill. Any idea who we're hiding from?
ALL ABOARD THE SHIT TRAIN
Systems Alliance Soldiers. This is one of their Vancouver storage staging warehouses.
[It's a borderline-cagey response, one sure to generate more questions than answers, and she doesn't bother to elucidate, busying herself instead with flipping through her omni-tool's menus to ensure all network connectivity was still off. If there was any "new" messages, she didn't want to see them.]
no subject
... So. We're playing Dodge the Allies for three hours and not talking about this then?
[There's a quiet resignation in the other Spectre's tones.]
no subject
It only takes a moment for her adult self to tamp gently down on the childish outburst. She was reacting in a panic that was self-generated. If they were going to be here, together, then Nihlus deserved to know, fully what was going on. Steadying herself with a long breath, she turns her omni-tool off, leans back against their pile of boxes, and turns to face her would-be mentor. Big things first, then smaller details when necessary.]
I'm pretty sure we've arrived on Earth after the war is over. Maybe just over.
[That was easy enough. The next one's tougher.]
I don't think I'm alive. [The statement hangs in the air for a moment, and in the silence she shifts, looks a shade embarrassed, and taps her hardsuit.] And my damn face has been all over the news for months—[agh not even]—years wearing this. Some Alliance grunt sees me? It's going to make for an awkward conversation.
no subject
... Should've bought Yewll's collar along, [he laments quietly.] Ah, well.
[So, three hours to kill and objective technically pretty much completed. What to do then?]
We need a more secure location. With how things look outside, someone going to be coming in for more medi-gel sooner or later. Wanna grab a box each and go scouting?