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)! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Magic. Of course. Except he can't even say that sarcastically in his own head, because the idea of learning magic himself is just that bizarre.

Conveniently, the lower-than-usual lighting helps hide the tiniest wince he can't hold back at the casual mention of Sam.]

Probably would be. And duly noted on the ball-cutting.

[Actually, he's genuinely glad that merc school seems to have at least skipped torture.]

You know, I could talk about how weird that is compared to what the crew gets up to here, but it isn't really. First week I got here, they docked at what was basically a vacation planet, all expenses paid. The catch came when some pissed-off aliens invaded the Moira a few weeks later. Magic probably would've been really useful then.

Trust me, it's definitely useful in invasions. [He tries to make it sound casual, but there's something a little too serious about his gaze away. He's used magic on both sides of an invasion, much more as the invader trying to save the world than the defender of a school.]

But I haven't really seen any alien overlords or whatever around, so it looks like you guys did okay for yourselves.

[Which isn't to say he hasn't seen any non-human off-worlders, because he has - they just don't seem to be bossing everyone around or as triumphant as he'd expect for a successful invasion.]

[So his younger, smaller self has lived through invasions, too. At least one and implied to maybe be more. He really doesn't know how to respond to that, so he doesn't. not directly.]

We did okay. People died, but the entire crew didn't get wiped out, which is what they wanted. Hopefully you won't have to see anything like that.

[Protective? Him? Of him? Maybe a little.]

So...you got any, uh, questions for me?

[This is so weird.]

[Nate's eyebrows go up at "people died". Shit happened at Garden, but students and staff didn't die. (Because it was a permadeath game, but he doesn't know that.)

[He rallies at the question, shifting his uniforms in his arms.]

Uh, just about ship life, I guess, since you've been here a while. What the good food in the cafeteria is [so he can avoid the equivalent of the hotdog stampedes]... Is there a curfew [so he can avoid getting caught]... And are they serious about these jobs, because I really don't think I'm qualified.

[He wishes he could tell the kid that he's not going to see much death in the future but, well, he can't.]

Uh, in order—nothing's great but nothing's awful and the mess hall was recently destroyed, no, and yes. Why, what did they make you?

[If he's not qualified, it can't be something like Elena's climbing instructor job. That would just be insulting.]

Uh, hang on a second.

[He reaches for his journal in his back pocket and flicks through, past their last sketches in Cartagena, a drawing of Balamb Garden, some weird looking birds, a lady with facial tattoos and a large head piece framed by class notes, two people in a supermarket trolley, a girl doing a crisp salute in a school uniform...

‎[Aha! A page sadly unaccompanied by drawings, just a job name and description, his room number, and his rank.]‎

'General Education teaching assistant' 'with a focus on languages'.‎ [He's not bothering to finger quote it; it's in his voice anyway.]

I didn't even graduate Garden, because of... a lot of crap [easier than explaining Time Compression and the war], and the trimester I took the language class, it was basically Latin.

[From the quick glances Nate gets, the kid's drawing style is a lot like what he remembers from the past, but different enough from what he currently does. Presumably that's because of the extra years of practice, but he'll take what he can get. Too many similarities are just weird, even if they're to be expected.]

Bet you had a leg up on that, huh? Sister Catherine would be so proud.

[He shakes his head, sounding a little amused.]

I don't know why I'm surprised. Guess what, that's basically my job too. Except I'm one of the teachers.

[He snorts.] Oh, great, the Captains have a sense of humor.

[Don't get him wrong, it's better than them not having one at all.]

Are there even that many students? Haven't seen a lot of kids so far.

[He shrugs.]

Some, yeah. And some people who are older and want to learn things. It's probably better this way--smaller classes and personalized instruction or something.

[As if has a teaching technique to adjust by size anyway.]

Hey, if you don't want to work, you should be happy. Fewer classes to assist with.

I don't want to do nothing.

[Not that his to do list is particularly accomplishable while he's here.]

What do you need assistance with, anyway?

Not much, but I'm sure I could come up with something. Or we could just sit around and I could cheat and help you with some of the languages you're gonna learn in the next few years.

[Sort of a self-help class.]

[Nate laughs.] Yeah? Which ones? I was kinda thinking about tagging along with my Japanese friend when he goes home, but I was gonna wear my translator.

Uh...Indonesian, French, some older dialects of Spanish you haven't gotten the hang of yet, some that I can read but not speak all that well...depends on whether you're looking for fluency or just enough to get by, because that opens things up considerably.

[It's interesting taking these languages as hints of where he could end up in the future - he's never given much thought to France, but assumes Indonesia must hold some clue to Sir Francis's mystery trip.]

Actually, a little more modern Spanish would be good. Since Sam's more fluent, and he's in jail - well, you know how Cartagena was.

[Not that "let go of me, asshole" isn't useful.]

[Actually, the French came when Nate realized it'd be great for picking up girls and easy to learn based on what he already knew.]

Yeah...yeah, I know.

[Wow, he's really going to have to develop a poker face.]

I can promise you that you'll pick it up on your own, but sure, we can help you skip some of the time it'll take.

Great, thanks.

[While he's milking his older self for knowledge...]

Hey, are we anywhere near Mero deck? This place needs a map.

[what do you mean there's a map app on the MID. what is an app]

It has a map. Here, check it out.

[He brings up his own MID to demonstrate. If Nate can learn to use it, Nate can too. ...just thinking that makes his head hurt.]

It's a big ship and there aren't as many good places to climb as there should be, but you'll get the hang of it.

[Nate goggles at it, then experimentally pokes his own MID.]

I'd still rather have one on paper. The batteries in these things can't last forever.

[The big Garden map had been plugged in.

[More interestingly, his older self fiddling with the MID gave him a good view of his hands. Nate gestures at his left, where that is definitely not Sir Francis Drake's ring.]

Are you married? [It sounds faintly appalled, but mostly, he's intrigued. An older version of him not only got a girl, but committed to her?]

[He's about to agree and offer to make a copy of his own handwritten paper map, but the kid's question and the tone in which it's delivered divert his attention. Oh, right, his (second) wedding ring.]

Uh, yeah. Her name's Elena, the woman I mentioned before. Met her about four years ago, took the plunge a year and change back.

[He spreads his fingers in a little 'jazz hands' gesture.]

Surprise.

[His eyebrows lift. This may be one of the bigger surprises today.]

Uh, belated congrats. [If it sounds unsure, it's only because what do you even say when you find out your future self gets married?] Do you guys have kids, or...?

Oh, no. No no no. Maybe someday, but not in the immediate future.

[The emphasis comes from wanting to get his marriage in track before he thinks about fatherhood, not from being against the idea of children, but geez, in this case it's good that they don't have kids for a whole extra reason. What a weird thing it would be to hear about your future kid while still essentially a kid yourself.]

Dont let the fact that I don't have kids make you think that you don't have to wrap it up when the time comes. That's why I don't have kids.

[Nate laughs.] I'm sixteen, not stupid.

[Garden's not a Catholic school.]‎

Not that I even have someone to wrap it up for, anyway. Been busy.

Good.

[He wasn't that worried, knowing himself as he does, but who can be sure how hearing of one's future might affect one's actions today?]

Yeah, I'm not surprised. [He's rarely idle.] I'm sure you'll find plenty of things to do here, too. It's not like any of us can leave if it gets too boring.

[Nate raises an eyebrow, that last part getting his attention.]

That Ingress thing's only one way, huh? No one's come here before with their own multiverse travel gear?

No. Why would they?

[He actually doesn't know it for sure, having only been here two months himself, but Nate's fairly certain he would have heard about it if they had.]

( august intro log )

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sorry for the delay trip happened

All good! Sorry for lack of formatting/image links - phone tagging

also good, I feel the pain of phone tagging

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