thisavrou_log | ( august intro log )

Entry tags:

( august intro log )

Who: Everyone
When: August 1st and on
Where: The Moira
What: New “guests” join the crew on their journey and implement some changes.
Warnings: None for now. Please label your content!

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old but unfamiliar faces
"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once."

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. Shortly after, you are led out and toward the medbay.

Inside this room, you are given a physical scan and offered a contract to sign that states you are now part of the crew of the Moira with a specific job. Any questions you might have would be answered in a straightforward manner as well as an explanation about how the Ingress, the thing that has pulled you onto the Moira, is broken and bringing people here unintentionally. This process also 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 or wrist with only the slightest pinch. From there, you are guided out of the medbay and to your living quarters.

At first, this month seems no more unusual than the previous one for those who have been aboard the Moira for any amount of time. The crew who had landed on the slaver outpost were rescued, and with everyone aboard, the ship has pushed forward into the darker parts of the Runoff. Anyone arriving through the Ingress follows the same routine—moving from the Ingress room into the Medbay for their physical and contract before being assisted by seasoned crew members and helped to their assigned decks. But all familiar things must eventually come to an end: two final travelers come through the Ingress. The first, and most noticeable difference between them and all the others, is their clothing. Both are dressed in standard Moira uniforms, though they bear the insignia of one sharing the same rank as Captains Cúrre and Thán. After a moment to take in all the people on the platform ahead of them, one of the two latest arrivals approaches one of the Ingress panels and begins to manipulate the controls. The Ingress completely shuts down. Unlike before, however, there isn’t an imbalance felt across the ship; everything remains normal and stable.

Utilizing the computer systems located in the Ingress room, they send out the following message to the crew via the MID:
To all those aboard this vessel: I am Ira Phirun, assigned captain of the Moira. First Mate Egan and I will be commandeering all rights to the ship as soon as word is sent to those currently in charge. Expect a more detailed report as soon as all records and logs in Navigation have been reviewed by myself and the First Mate. All questions will be answered in a timely matter. For now, there will be no interruption of daily routine or reprimand if conduct among ranks is broken. Thanks for your time.

Heading to Navigation, the Captain and First Mate, for seemingly unknown reasons, approach Navigator Manasseh and have her show them all records and logs of the Moira. Those working in Navigation when the Captain and First Mate arrive will see Mana greet them in a professional manner. Oddly, the Captain and First Mate act very familiar with the Navigator. They review all documents, but when they come upon news that the Ploiatos is on board, their mostly friendly demeanor shifts quickly. The Captain issues a sharp order, unintelligible to those who are close enough to overhear parts of their conversation, and without any warning at all, Mana loses consciousness and collapses right there on the bridge. Within minutes of this happening, the ship as a whole falls into a low power state with basic functions only. Mana’s MID alerts Medbay, and without hesitation, Captain Cúrre places her in cryo with strict orders to those who work there not to disturb the unit.

As promised, the Captain and First Mate soon address the crew.

☄ lights down low

The lighting has dimmed in all the rooms and halls, the normally crisp air that is pumped from the vents low, and all machines and tech are running at half-speed. These effects can be found throughout the ship. Water in the showers remain hot for only a few minutes before reverting to cold. Recreational equipment powers off not long after it has been turned on. The sanitation and water filtration systems require an hourly manual reboot, and all unused areas of the ship have no power allotted to them until a crew member steps inside. Even then, most functions are not optimal. It’s as if the Moira has been transformed into a dark house with only a candle flickering on the window sill.

☄ reuse & recycle

The Captain and First Mate are quick to establish that this is a new regime and go about making the ship and its crew more efficient in the wake of their change in course and the low power state of the ship itself. This means they will systematically inspect each occupied barracks room and leave notes for what needs to be disposed of or stowed away. Unlike before, this is no longer a pleasure cruise, and each member of the crew is a guest on board; they will not tolerate useless clutter. Anything seen as unnecessary will be either placed into storage in the Cargo Bay or disposed of through the airlock. This new need for efficiency also extends to the need to conserve resources until they reach their destination. The showers are set to an automatic timer to minimize water waste. Those few minutes of hot water are all a crew member is now given. Meals are smaller, bordering on ration sizes, and luxuries are done away with entirely in order to preserve supplies so that the ship can go longer before needing to dock at a planet.

☄ new jobs, same faces

The Captain and his First Mate, as expressed in their addressing of the Moira, explain that work efficiency is a priority. Applications for a head of the following departments will be accepted for a short period: Navigation, the Tower, Medbay, Defense, the Hold, Sanitation, Ingress work, and the Galley/Mess Hall. (Here.) After reviewing what they receive, one head of department will be chosen and tasked with helping crew find positions relevant to those departments and their own skillsets. They will be allowed to retain any positions that they held before that aren’t ship-functional jobs, but they will have to be done in leisure time. In two weeks time, they’ll be accepting department position applications which will be approved, and all those that do not apply will be assigned in accordance with their initial work application. They will also choose three individuals to act as guards of Ploiatos to ensure that there is a rotation available at all times. Will you choose to follow this new decision and promote yourself into a position of responsibility? Or will you simply wait for a reassignment?

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

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As far as he was concerned, there were no particular allies on this vessel unless he had prior history or deemed them worthwhile to the cause that he would continue to maintain. Everyone had useful skills, but it was a matter on if they could accept both authority and had the strength of character to restrain themselves for a long-term goal.

It had been a good while since he had been forced to act and feel things out on his own, and it was charmingly thrilling. Exploring a space ship, dim lights and life support and all, reminded him of childhood and the space program. Every boy at some point dream of the stars after all.

He turned his head at the approach of a stranger, but he immediately noted the pad of paper and pen. The sunglasses were amusing given the lack of light, but he accepted his own physical limitations easily. He was comfortable in his own skin. "Enjoying the freedom of exploration. Yourself?"

[He nods in agreement. The events on the bridge are an obvious concern, considering the circumstances, and Spock knows better than to forget it entirely in favor of mindless cooperation. The takeover does not sit well with him either, but he has a better sense of control when it comes to his concerns than his friends. It worries him that Jim is so afflicted, especially given Jim’s gut feelings and seemingly senseless intuition that has proven itself to Spock several times now.

Of course, there is also the matter of the Enterprise, and though he knows he cannot confirm the exact state of things, Spock has faith.]

Regardless of interruption, I believe the Enterprise is in good hands. [A light reassurance for Jim, if he should take it.] As for the present matter, I do believe that we must tread carefully. Even as disagreeable as the matter is, questioning their authority will likely only instigate conflict on our parts.

[Not that he feels Jim does not already know this. While before, he may have doubted, Spock knows that Jim isn’t unaware.]

Perhaps if we could acquire more information, regarding this universe, this time, and this ship. [He suggests it knowing how obvious it likely already is, but it’s his own way of hinting to Jim what his personal intent is, Spock not always being keen on the most direct wording when it comes to his personal thoughts and plans.]

Journalist? You don't have any more valuable skills than that?

If not, I'll just have to eat them all! [let's hope that this time he doesn't get a cavity and lose a tooth...]

So you just got here? Been given a job, yet?

[ Given that Snake's general strategy, particularly when meeting new people, is to come across as neutral, he recognizes it in this man too. An emotional outburst about his situation isn't going to change anything, so why take the energy? That's how Snake's always viewed it, anyway. Maybe it's the same for this guy.

His first comment earns a shrug. It hadn't necessarily been meant as a comfort, but it did give the stranger the option to commiserate with other people if that's what he wanted to do. Although just from this first impression,
Snake's going to guess that isn't likely. ]

Or the Styx? Yeah, well, I didn't say everyone. The Ingress is able to resurrect people when they die here, but it's not like everyone here has managed to get themselves killed. [ Yet. ]

You were talking about something that happened before you got here, though, weren't you. [ It's not a question, not really, but he says it with a curious tilt of his head. Snake's observational skills are pretty sharp, and this guy is obviously new. There's no way he'd managed to get himself killed here already, which leaves only one other option. ]

[The dog whines a bit and looks over at Liquid with what could almost be considered an offended expression.]

Don't worry, he likes you. [He looks at the dog.] It's alright, Mantis, you did good.

[Yeah, he named his dog after his best friend, and the amusement of this isn't lost on him as he rummages for a box of treats. Tossing one to the dog, he focuses his attention on Tretij again.]

Ah, our little tracking devices.

[Not the best thing to have stuck on yourself all of a sudden, no.]

They're useful as hell, but hard to really get used to. They don't come off, either. I tried, pretty early on, just to see if I could. Didn't work.

Spock jerks to a halt in surprise, eyes widening a bit at the abruptness of her situating herself directly in front of him and brow raising in subsequent fascination. Really, it is impressive how quickly she managed to do so, barring that he has no idea why it had been necessary at all. If her exclamations were not so curious, he feels he should likely be offended by her unexpected injection into his path. Still, her sheer enthusiasm to his presence is flattering, enough that he even feels it, even if her slew of words makes absolutely no sense to him.

“Perhaps I may be of better assistance if you were to disclose your thoughts.” Because he can’t really answer any of what she has said right now. “I do not know to which matter you are make your inquiry.”

Oh hey, good thing I'm a medic. [He's sounding a little more deadpan than he probably should be.]

I'm giving myself permission to put it off until it gets worse.

Never external in my own world, no. I don't think they had the technology for it. No reploids or independent robots that I ever heard of.

[The trapped school is too complicated to explain. Yori's had two months to think about how anything could possibly let her mix with Users on their own level.]

If an Ingress or whatever can access so many different universes, I suppose it can access different levels of the same universe. Especially when broken.

[She flourishes her disk in exasperation; that makes very little sense, but it's the best theory she has.]

At home I had to use the predetermined answers to tell my User anything, or else she didn't understand and thought I might be glitched. It was very frustrating when she never asked the questions I wanted to answer.

[She did try to make her point. Had to, when the mass arrests began. Her grip on the disk tightens until the blue material squeaks against her fingernails.]

But all the programs in the system interacted with each other like people, even the ones who didn't take on a User's shape. Imports from other systems, too.

[Yori shrugs, with a tired glance backward before she resumes watching the hall.]

It's nice to be here, face to face, but I wish they would believe me when I tell them not to delete any programs without good reason.

[ Distracted by what, is the question, but if this kid is one of the newcomers (and Snake is going to bet that he is), then chances were he'd been in the middle of initial processing. He's got his MID now, which means that he must be all done with that.

A vivid imagination isn't a bad thing to have, honestly. It means that the kid's wired to consider potential threats. Or maybe he's just the paranoid, overly-frightened type. ]

Doesn't seem like it. We already went through that once. The temperature lowered to near-freezing degrees. [ Their life support hadn't gone out, but it had been a harrowing experience for people all the same. Snake at least had some idea of how to deal with it after spending years in Alaska, but a lot of the crew hadn't been so prepared.

He doesn't think anyone actually froze to death, but...

Snake takes a look at the kid and his monkey companion. ] You're new here, right?

Yeah, I thought so.

[riptide falls silent again. he tries not to think too hard about failing to get pipes and teebs through the ingress. and teeb's head in the box.]

[ Snake doesn't miss the way that Milly moves, as if she's sore from too hard of a workout, or... limited somehow. He can't quite pinpoint what it is, but she's never been shy about answering his questions. ]

Yeah, we had to mount rescue missions to get back some of the crew. You're probably better off having missed it.

[ He doesn't like the idea of someone as young and bright as Milly getting recruited into slavery.

After reaching down to grab a water bottle he kept nearby and taking a swig, his eyes scan over Milly. ] Still working out all the kinks? [ Staying prone in one position for so long couldn't be good for anyone's body. ]

Well... Can't work as much as I'd like anyway. [There's brutal honesty in that. Sometimes he feels like he's always busying his hands. While he's in no particular rush to fill his time with demeaning work like cleaning bathrooms (that whole year of cleaning the sauna is burned into his memory), or taking over everyone's kitchen duties, Kaz ends up reading books on distant alien wars, past and present, or rifling through the collected information he has on everyone from the training simulation room.]

[He does play the guitar in the gardens a lot though.]

[He stops playing and looks down at it, and back up at Snake. Drums his fingers on the body of it.]

I could show you the gardens too. They should be fine, even with the ship running at low power. [Says a man that's probably a little too eager to spend time with his commanding officer again. He's been giving him a serious rundown of ship functions and trying not to talk about his distracting emotions. When Venom's hand drops away from his back he grabs at the prosthetic with his clear hand, false fingers wrapping around artificial knuckles. A little worried that he's going to call the business completed and just go.]

Boss... Got a couple of other things to show you.

It and me both. [That's… Not as much of a joke, admittedly. But that said, he's already feeling a bit more alert now.

Masked guys in tactical gear prowling around in the dark with assault weapons at the ready tend to set off a few warning bells in Adam's head. He thinks back to some of his own first encounters with people in these hallways– what could've nearly turned into fights, back then. How might some of those interactions have gone if he'd been someone whose intentions were not-so-good?

Adam eyes the guy, the line of his mouth thinning. He's not going to test that question if he can help it.]

Hope you're not looking for someone. [There's an implied question in his otherwise flat tone – if not, what is it you're trying to do out here?]

[ Monster. Right. Anyone who became aware of Mantis' powers wouldn't have known what to do with him, would have seen him as a freak and treated him as such. Snake finds himself wanting to shield his eyes from lights that aren't even there as the images start again. He isn't really that fond of this form of communication, but he figures that asking anything more of Mantis (or Tretij?) right now isn't going to fly.

He'd been an experiment. Of course. Because scientists so often didn't know where to draw a line when it comes to their research. If a kid with psychic powers fell into their lap, how could they resist? It's both sickening and disturbing, but it's not surprising. ]

Before they got you... you must have had a name. [ Snake's eyes narrow. ] You don't remember it?

[ Or maybe Tretij has thrown that name away. Names are a tricky thing, and if he hadn't thought it fit him anymore, maybe it had seemed easier to go with what his captors had called him instead. It doesn't sit well with Snake, though.

He really shouldn't be feeling anything like sympathy for someone who's going to one day be Psycho Mantis, but he's already starting to get an idea of why he'd turned out that way. ]

A world where books aren't as common... It sort of hurts Venom to think of such a place. The Crusades did immense damage, but the Guild's collection survived mostly intact. And he's always preferred physical copies over anything on a magic screen.

He shakes his head. "I haven't. I was brought on to the ship recently. And you?"

[Adam doesn't turn to look until the "graveyards" bit, because– what the hell is she on about, for real?

He levels her with a look, the metal components in his eyes gleaming in what little light there is around them. A faint look of recognition passes over his face – something about the way she talks reminds him of someone – but his expression is otherwise carefully neutral.]

Let's go with "all of the above." Just to be safe.

[Guy sounds like he eats his cigarettes and then chases them with whisky. One of those things is true.]

You could say that.

[ Snake wishes that he could offer up a different answer, but their situation (six years difference) isn't even that severe. ]

There are some people from our world who are from way in the past, back in the 80's. [ Raiden had probably been barely older than five, maybe even younger. Snake doesn't know his exact age, though he could probably extrapolate it now that he's aware of his participation in the Liberian Civil War. ]

Ever heard of Master Miller? [ Snake cants his head to one side and narrows his eyes. If Raiden is really as familiar with Shadow Moses as he'd claimed, then he should at least recognize the name. ] He was my mentor, back in FOXHOUND. We're the same age here.

[That thought vaguely concerns Venom as that is a lot of sugar...]

I did. They gave me the job of facilitating the windows. Not the type of work I'm used to.

[ Well.

Garrus is about to continue, say something about how they're both headed the same way and he thinks he knows where it is maybe possibly hopefully, but Maine is just staggering backwards ( there's something somewhat concerning about seeing such a large man so unsteady on his feet ) before he's turning away. He watches him move unsteadily through the corridor, and well, apparently, they'll each be finding their way to Nomo deck alone.

Which is fine. He needs to run a few scans on his omnitool, figure out as much as he can about this place, try and pinpoint where he is in relation to the Citadel, to home, to the Normandy. Maybe put out a hail for it, find out where everyone else is. maybe other people from the crew got pulled here by this Ingress, too, and if so, he'd certainly like to find them.

He pushes himself away from the wall, glancing briefly down at his MID before he starts to move -- except there's that same man again, lumbering back in his direction and apparently with more to ask as he just moves right up to him and keeps moving until Garrus has to take a step back, and another, his back hitting the same wall he was backed into moments ago.

Well.

A notification pops up on his MID after a few moments of Maine's tapping, and Garrus glances down at it, giving him a bit of an incredulous look. ]

Turian. [ That's the only way that question makes sense to him. Are they out of Citadel space? That little briefing that they were given, Garrus has only had the time to just barely skim through it, and sure maybe they said this thing was supposed to be transdimensional but it's more than a little hard to swallow. A pause, and. ] Say, are you always this friendly, or is it just me?

( there's no shortage of willing partners, it seems. dutch doesn't ask about tex's motivation to agree to the spar, nor does she offer her own for it: that she wants to work off some frustration, that this is as safe an outlet as dutch knows, even if fighting, whether seriously or in a spar, will always carry some link to khlyen for her.

khlyen isn't here on this ship. if what she's been told is the truth, khlyen might not even be in the same universe as dutch anymore, and five years ago, nothing would have made her happier. now, there are mysteries to unravel and questions that dutch has no answers to, and things are happening in the quad that dutch doesn't understand. she isn't going to find the truth she's looking for on the moira, and that pisses her off.

a spar might help, and she thinks her current partner must know what she's doing. it's in the way she's moving, the way she holds herself. despite dutch's anger, her movements are controlled and easy, and she smiles when tex jabs at her, evading rather than blocking only to counter with a right hook. )

[Now that's just unsettling, to say nothing of the glow in their chest. Wanda's eyes are drawn to the brightness, but she tries not to stare. Not everyone was as lucky as she was.]

Not exactly. It is not what most people would call magic.

[Even to this day, on a ship full of people from other worlds, no one's been able to properly classify it. But it's certainly not what Billy has.]

( whoever is in the corridor with her doesn't sound too happy about the lights going off, and the quiet fuck is such a natural reaction that it's almost enough to make dutch relax. almost, but not quite. she's glad for it when she realises who he is, because the jury's still out on andyr. she doesn't know much about him, but the questions he'd asked had given away some things.

kill or be killed is not a game dutch would like to play today. her hand stays in her weapon, but she still doesn't draw. her instincts haven't dulled in the least for all the sparring she's done. )

Got it in one. ( a beat, and she adds: ) Where are you going?

( dutch doesn't trust this place as far as she can throw it, and given that they're on a spaceship and she couldn't throw it even if she put on a suit and got out into the cold of space and tried, that's saying something. she doesn't trust this place, but that isn't what makes something close to dread sit heavy in her stomach. it's that she's no longer in the quad, that she's left johnny and d'avin and lucy, it's that she isn't going to get answers to any of the questions she has here. there's so much happening in the quad, and dutch is here, and against her choice.

she's tired of people pulling her strings. she's tired of (alleged) malfunctions pulling her away from her home, too, and that's only happened the once.

alvis is familiar, and after what happened at the pool, she's glad for that familiarity. she can't afford to let herself cling to him, but this, circling and waiting for him to make the first move, that isn't clinging. that's just something she might have done on lucy as well.

he moves, and dutch counters, letting his hands connect but moving with it, using his momentum against him to push him off again on the other side of her and off-balance. )

Recently?

[lúcio slows down his pace, looking around the halls.]

Huh. What's it been like on the ship since then?

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Page 79 of 231

( august intro log )

everyone wants their own version of peace

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so cool

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