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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[ Snake would have been pissed if he'd slept through something like that too. He's no hero, not the way that Milly seems to be, but he has certain skills and they'd been well-tailored to rescuing the crew. ]

Yeah, it's not like we left anyone behind, don't worry.

[ That's one thing that the Moira has never done, except for the mysterious disappearances that are supposedly more due to the Ingress than anything else.

There's a long pause as Snake runs over what Milly says in his head, before he just comes out with the question picking at his brain. ] How would your joints get rusty?

[ Guess who hasn't yet gotten the memo that she's a cyborg? ]

[ milly does a slight double take, blinking, and then flushes in embarrassment. did she...not tell snake? about the whole cyborg thing? her immediate instinct is to tell him never mind and say it was just a joke, but...it's a small ship, plenty of other people know she's a cyborg, and dammit, she doesn't have to keep it a secret anymore. raiden helped her understand that. snake's not going to sneer at her and call her a freak over it. ...probably. ]

Oh, um -- well, some of them are mechanical, you know. [ she clears her throat a little and stands up straighter. she's tall enough that she can look snake in the eye, trying to show a little pride, or at least dignity. ] I'm a cyborg.

[ Snake can see the moment of uncertainty and nervousness that passes over Milly' face, and he can already tell that he probably asked the wrong thing. It had seemed like an odd statement to make, but she'd said it almost casually, so...

Eventually she explains herself, causing both of Snake's eyebrows to raise up in alarm. He stands then, drawing a little closer to see if he can find any sign of something mechanical on her body. He doesn't invade her personal space, but it's hard not to be curious when they'd had a whole conversation and shared a meal and he'd been none-the-wiser. ]

... Huh. That part of the superhero gig?

[ oh, she's so glad he's not being weird about it, although she catches that extra once-over. ]

No, but it helps. I've been this way since I was a kid. [ there's a moment of hesitation in her voice, that slight waver she always gets when it comes to her dad, because things with him are so complicated. she manages a smile and puffs out a little breath. ] I was in an accident when I was little. My dad's pretty much a world-glass cyberneticist. You couldn't tell unless you're really looking, and even then...

[ she's been so shy about this her cybernetics for so long, but so much of that was because of her dad. and snake's curiosity doesn't seem so...clinical that she feels like he's going to dissect her. she holds out her arm pushes back her sleeve, inviting snake to take a closer look at the almost-invisible seams where her real skin meets synthetic. ]

Hardly anyone knew until a little while ago. Dad insisted it had to be kept secret, that people wouldn't...understand. [ a shadow of sadness passes over her face before her expression brightens. ] But then I met Raiden. I'd never met anyone like me before him.

[ Snake can only be so weird about it when his best friend came back from the dead as a cyborg ninja. Fox's appearance had been much more striking compared to Milly, and his mental state had also been affected by what those scientists had put him through.

It goes to figure that a parent would be more careful in how they handled something like this.

Snake definitely doesn't have any clinical interest in it. His curiosity is just that. Even if he'd interacted with Frank after his body had been changed, it's not like there had ever been time to ask questions or get a proper look at him. It takes Snake a few seconds to find the seams, though when he sees them all he does is let out a small 'hmm.'

Snake could understand the need for secrecy, though it obviously wouldn't matter on a spaceship. As soon as Milly says the name "Raiden," though, his head snaps up so he can stare her in the face. ] You know Raiden? How?

Um -- what? [ milly blinks at him, looking bewildered. ]

He works with CONDOR. He's the one who convinced me to join the Trailblazers after all. [ she beams. ] He's my mentor.

[ There's a few long seconds of silence as he tries to make sense of what she's just said, but no matter what angle he comes at it from, it isn't clicking. ]

That can't be right. Raiden and I know each other from home, we worked a mission together. He's from my future, but... superpowers and those organizations you named, they don't exist in my world.

[ Snake looks baffled more than accusatory. He lifts an arm so that he can draw a hand through his hair. What's going on now? ]

[ milly looks about the same, just flat out bewildered. ]

Well, that's not right. I don't really know how you can live in a world where superpowers just don't exist. [ she's seriously having trouble with this concept, but moving on. ] I mean, he never really talks about his past much, so I don't really know who he worked with before CONDOR, but...maybe we're not talking about the same person.

[ she frowns, then digs her cell phone out of her pocket -- not the MID attached to her arm, but the iphone that had apparently made the trip through the ingress with her. ]

Here, hang on. I'll show you. I bet they're not even the same person.

[ she swipes through her photos until she finds a selfie she took of her and raiden -- in her starbreaker costume, of course, but it's definitely milly behind that domino mask, and it sure is raiden next to her, looking the way you would imagine raiden looking in a selfie. ]

See?

[ While Snake seriously doubts that there are two cyborgs here named Raiden, he decides to humor Milly. After all, there are a fair number of Snakes around here, and even some examples of doubles. It's hard to keep up sometimes.

But when she shows him the photo, it's definitely a familiar face that he spots there. ]

No, that's... that's him.

[ Snake sighs and drags a hand through his hair. It would explain why Raiden had also mentioned some organization he'd never heard of when they talked. ]

Starting to think we've got a parallel universe thing going on here.

[ And here he thought all he had to worry about were time discrepancies. ]

[ milly's brow knits. ]

Are you sure you don't have superheroes where you're from?

[ she sighs and pockets her phone, pursing her lips. ]

I guess it's possible. I mean, we can't really rule it out, what with the Ingress and all. You don't think it could be time travel, do you? You said Raiden must be from your future... [ she taps her finger to her lips thoughtfully and then shakes her head. ] No, that doesn't make as much sense. Maybe you're right. But...does that mean there's a version of you in my world, too? Oh! Or of me in yours?

Pretty sure, kid. [ Which isn't to say that there's not people with strange abilities in Snake's world, but none of them run around with capes and fancy hero names to go stop crime and keep cities safe. It's nothing nearly as pristine as that.

Snake shrugs one shoulder as Milly puzzles through all of it, hardly some kind of expert on alternate universes or timelines. But he doubts that superheroes became a thing in the six years of difference between himself and Raiden, not to mention their confusion regarding TRIDENT, so... ]

There must be a version of me in your world, since Raiden recognized me. Not sure about you in mine, though, but I guess it's possible.

[ The chances that he would run into Milly's other self back home are pretty slim, after all. ]

It'd make sense, though. Raiden doesn't really...talk about himself much. Or his life before TRIDENT. [ well gee, there's a surprise. raiden's opening up to his protege little by little, mostly by milly's stubborn determination, but she's learned far more about raiden from the future than she has from himself about his past. ] Maybe you could fill me in a little. I mean, obviously some of the same stuff happened in both our worlds.

[ she smiles a little ruefully. ]

If there is another me, we probably wouldn't have any reason to have met, anyway. I wonder if there's any chance I'm a normal girl in your world.

[ There's that name again, TRIDENT. Snake has to wonder if there's anyone else here from this alternate universe or if it's just Raiden and Milly. If it's just the two of them, what's the significance of that? He's not sure how to approach the fact that the Raiden here isn't technically the same one from his world, but he figures he'll just treat him as if he is. It's possible he isn't going to end up a cyborg in Snake's timeline, but he has no way of knowing that either way. ]

You might be. [ Snake goes to take a seat on one of the benches, judging that they might keep talking for a while now that they've uncovered this. ]

What do you want to know? [ There's only so much Snake will reveal about Raiden, knowing that he's just as protective of his past as Snake himself, but he'll hear Milly out at the least. ]

[ milly doesn't sit just yet, rocking back and forth on her heels in contemplation. but she does like the idea that there might be a version of her who hasn't had to deal with all the stuff she has. one who never had the accident.

but when she does sit down, her face is serious. ]

I want to know what he was like before. The way you know him. He's younger where you're from, right? He's not a cyborg yet.

[ It's a fair question to ask, and Snake can't really blame Milly for being curious. Raiden is still Raiden, even if he's from a different universe than Snake's. That much he's fairly certain of by this point. But either way, he's gone through a lot of changes. ]

When I met him, he was... kind of clueless. It was his first mission in the field, at least as far as he could remember, and he hadn't been briefed at all. I did what I could to help him out. He wanted to do the right thing, though, and he endured a lot of shit from pretty much everyone involved.

[ Snake settles his elbows on his knees and intertwines his fingers as he stares at one of the mats on the floor, thinking back on everything that happened at Big Shell. ]

So he was greener. A little more lighthearted, a little more gullible. But a good kid.

Yeah? [ milly smiles just a tiny bit down at her hands in her lap. it's hard to picture raiden as gullible and clueless, but then again...maybe not. he still had those things in him, even now, she knows that. so maybe he still did in that alternate future where things had gone so horribly wrong. ] He almost sounds a little bit like me when I first started out as a hero.

[ her gaze raises again to look at snake. ]

I always knew he had to be. Someone good, I mean. Or else he wouldn't have helped me. He didn't have to, you know. It was an accident that we met. He could've just...walked away. But he didn't.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

[ At one point even Snake had been green, barely comfortable with a gun in his hands and not prepared for what he would have to do with it. Once the killing starts, though, it's a slippery slope to getting used to it. Not that he thinks Milly has killed before, but Raiden certainly has.

Of course, a person's reasons for killing make all the difference, and Raiden has a moral grounding that somehow held out even with his background as a child soldier. Snake finds it just as admirable as Milly does.

He meets her eyes, curious. ] What happened?

[ milly's cheeks flush a little, part embarrassment, part sudden shyness. ]

Um -- well, you know. Superhero stuff, mostly.

[ she clears her throat and sits up a little straighter. ]

Not long before, I'd had, um...well, I came out on the wrong end of a fight with one of the Decepticons. He...took one of my hands. [ she scowls at this, because what the hell, starscream. ] I mean -- for a reason, but still. Anyway, my dad built me a new one, upgraded cybernetics and all that, and updated some of my other systems. It was just another hand, you know?

[ no, milly, most people don't go through enough hands to say 'it was just another hand'. ]

Anyway, a couple of weeks later there was this big, ugly monster coming into LA, pretty sure it was one of those nasty things that come out of the ocean sometimes. There weren't any other heroes around, just me, and hey, that's what I do! After all, somebody's got to protect the defenseless. It was kind of a tough fight, though, and when it looked like things were really bad, I... [ she thinks very carefully about how to word this, and then gives up. ] My hand turned into a gun. And I didn't know it could do that. And...turns out I wasn't the only hero around, because Raiden was there, too. And he saw.

[ So there had been Decepticons back where Milly came from? That seems odd, since Snake's only ever heard of them existing in other parts of space. With alternate universes, though, it seems like anything could be possible.

On the one hand, being able to easily replace a hand could certainly be handy. On the other hand, the fact that Milly had lost her actual flesh-and-blood hand in the first place kind of outweighs any convenience, even if she speaks about it like it's no big deal.

If it happened to her when she was really that young, then her current state probably seems normal to her. Just like monsters coming out of the ocean is normal, apparently. ]

So you're saying that your dad gave you a hand that could turn into a gun and he didn't tell you? [ Snake frowns, something not really clicking here. ] Why would he do that?

I...don't know.

[ and you have just taken the express line to emotions territory, snake, sorry, there are no stops in between. milly frowns, biting her lip, and looks down at her hands folded in her lap with a small sigh. ]

I don't really understand why he does a lot of things lately. I mean, things have always been different since the accident, but... [ she fidgets with her hands now, touching a finger to the other wrist where the seams of synthetic skin are just barely visible. ] He did it to save my life. I know he did. But he also has his research, and I'm...part of his research, I guess.

[ it really doesn't feel very good to say aloud. she was hoping it'd be freeing, somehow. she turns her left hand over and stares at it. ]

He didn't like me doing the whole superhero thing to begin with. And that fight with Starscream...it was a really bad mess. And it was something of my dad's he was after in the first place. But when I asked my dad about it, he just said he was making sure I'd be better equipped to handle something like that next time. So I guess he was just...being protective.

[ yes, because most fathers express their protectiveness by installing guns in their children's hands and not telling them about it. ]

[ Really, Snake should have known he was booking a ticket there the moment that he asked such a loaded question, but he'd been appalled enough that he hadn't really thought about it. Besides, it's not like he's a stranger to daddy issues. It's just that his decided he didn't want him right from the get-go. Milly's situation is obviously more complicated.

Treating your own daughter as your research subject and guinea pig isn't okay no matter how you look at it, but Snake at least has the presence of mind to bite down on those words instead of saying them out loud. He isn't here to make Milly feel worse.

What is he here for, then? Who knows, but he can't just ignore it now. ]

Even then, he should have asked for your permission and he should have told you what he was doing. Handing someone a gun, no matter how you do it, and not telling them what it is or how it works, that's just going to get them into more trouble.

[ Snake goes off on that rant about gun safety before he can really stop himself, and in the silence that hangs between them afterward he heaves out a sigh. ]

Obviously I don't know your father and maybe I shouldn't be judging what he did, but... something isn't right there. [ And someone has to tell Milly that. If it has to be him, then so be it. He may have failed at not making her feel worse, but he tried. ]

[ milly only looks up at snake briefly before dropping her gaze again, some of the bright liveliness fading away. ]

...I know that. [ she's known it for a while now. ] But he's my dad. And he's the only family I still have left. That's...supposed to count for something, isn't it?

[ but for what, she's really not sure. things have always been complicated between her and her father, sure, but that's all milly had let herself think of it as. not necessarily bad, just...complicated. working things out. speaking to him on and off, off more than on lately, but... she lets out a small sigh. ]

Raiden doesn't like him either. He never says it to my face, but...he doesn't hide it that well.

[ No, Raiden wouldn't be very good at hiding things like that. Snake isn't even making the effort. It might seem wrong to insult someone's parent to their face, but at the same time, he doesn't want Milly to think that anything about the situation is okay.

It hits him that he's going to have to make this personal and he already hates it, but revealing details about himself to explain something important to a kid is probably the best reason to do it.

Snake settles his elbows on his thighs and looks at the floor as he speaks. ] A lot of people put a lot of emphasis on blood relation, but sometimes it doesn't mean a thing. Sometimes people just see it as an excuse to take advantage, or think that it means you owe them something. [ He isn't being that subtle about the fact that he's speaking from experience.

He looks over at Milly then, frowning with concern. ] Just... be careful.

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( august intro log )

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