( 002 » ENSEMBLE ) gravitational.

[reveriemod]

» WHO? EVERYONE
» WHEN? JUNE 1 onward
» WHERE? ALL OVER THE STATION (literally)
» WHAT? Gravity is always on, until it isn't.
» WARNINGS? zero g, paralysis, the vacuum of space, possible asphyxiation, possible character death

0 0 1 » LOSS OF GRAVITY

The outer rings of Reverie Station rotate around the shaft of the station, using inertial forces to simulate gravity. One moment, this works fine — people are walking along corridors, sleeping in their beds, eating in the mess hall or having a drink at the bar. The next moment? In some parts of the station, a crunching sound can be heard, like metal against metal, and shortly thereafter, the rings cease to spin, causing a jolt to go through all rings.

And then what passed for gravity just stops.

Your food, drink or blanket might have floated off after the jolt. Remember to engage your mag boots, if you're wearing them, lest you follow suit. Good luck getting around in zero g.

( ♪ )

0 0 1 . 1 » UPSIDE DOWN AND FLOATING

The lack of gravity may be disorienting at first for those not used to operating in zero g environments. Fortunately, mag boots mean you can continue walking along corridors — though the boots will engage with what used to be the ceiling of the corridors as much as what used to be the floor. No matter which part of the corridor you're attached to, if any, better make sure to collect anything that may be floating around, lest it becomes a dangerous projectile whenever gravity turns back on.

The mess hall and the gym area in particular are in a significant state of disarray. In the mess hall, some cutlery (of the grey, hard plastic variant) has been left unsecured and is floating harmlessly through the air. The same holds true for a large amount of protein powder. In the gym area, meanwhile, the entirety of the dirty water from the pool is no longer in the pool.

( ☺︎ )

0 0 1 . 2 » PARALYSIS INDOORS

One moment, you’re walking — or maybe you’re floating, mag boots disengaged. Either way, from one moment to the next, you become unable to move. Your arms, your legs, even wiggling a toe becomes a thing of impossibility. There’s a heavy weight on your chest, despite the fact that gravity is still not back on. Taking a breath is an ordeal. You can’t call for help, you can’t signal to anyone, you can only stay still.

( ♪ )

OOC: The length of paralysis is up to players.

0 0 2 » TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

It isn't clear why the rotation of the rings has stopped and gravity ceased, but one thing is certain: life on the station is a lot more difficult without gravity, especially for those not used to living and working in a zero g environment. The sensible thing would be to fix whatever is wrong, but in order to do that, you have to figure out what's wrong first.

One way to get an idea might be to put on a suit (if required) and go out an airlock to have a close look at the upper ring, where the crunching noise could be heard the loudest. The objective is to identify the problem and, if possible, fix it — but unless you have the power of flight and can breathe in the vacuum of space, the walk from the airlock to surveying the ring will be taxing in and of itself.

Better not lose hold of the station or each other and whatever you do, do not disengage those mag boots. Hopefully, no debris will come flying at you. The station may be built to withstand it, but you aren't.

( ♪ )

OOC: There are some 20 vac suits with oxygen packs and small thrusters for (weak) propulsion available in the spaces currently accessible to characters; these can be found in various airlocks.

0 0 2 . 1 » FLOATING AROUND

The station may be built to withstand debris, but you aren't — which makes it all the more unfortunate that some debris does catch you. In the side, in the face or in the legs, it doesn't matter: what matters is that the impact is strong enough to disengage the mag boots, which means you are now floating in space.

Did your suit take damage? Do its thrusters still work, or not? Is your oxygen pack still connected properly? If your connection to the station network is still intact, now would be a good time to call for help and hope that someone's close enough to get to you in time before you float too far from the station to still be reached, before your oxygen runs out, before any possible injuries you may have sustained take their toll.

( ♪ )

OOC: With this prompt, the extent of possible injuries, the time before rescue and factors such as oxygen or damage to the suit are all up to players. Please keep in mind that character death is very much a possibility — but that death means relatively little. Should a character die from their injuries or lack of oxygen, they will awaken again. As per the death mechanism outlined in the FAQ, characters are brought back to life (possibly repeatedly, if rescue takes a while), but they lose something. What they lose is up to players as well (a limb, memories, senses, social skills, ...) and the duration of the loss can range from a few days to permanent loss.

0 0 2 . 2 » PARALYSIS OUTDOORS

One moment, you are walking along the hull of the station. The next, you're frozen. Your arms and legs no longer move and there's pressure on your chest. Even taking a breath becomes an ordeal. You cannot move forward. You cannot move back. You can't even signal or call for help.

What choice do you have but to wait out this paralysis and hope that it loses its hold on you before your oxygen runs out? Better not panic, lest you use up more of it.

( ♪ )

OOC: The length of paralysis is up to players.

0 0 3 » WORK IT

For those who've successfully made the walk across the hull of the station to find the problem, it will soon become obvious what has happened: debris crashed into the station and got lodged between the uppermost ring and the shaft of the station, where it is stuck, preventing the spinning of the ring.

You will need to work together to cut through the debris or dislodge it. It's heavy, and you have little leverage in the absence of gravity.

Keep in mind also that if you successfully dislodge the debris, the outer ring will start moving again. Be prepared, especially if you're still connected to the ring by your mag boots. Inertial forces can be quite strong, so you will need to brace yourself or risk being dislodged yourself.

( ♪ )

Comments

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[foolishjourney]

[Minato is sort of just... floating aimlessly and pointlessly across deck 2, splayed like a star fish and staring blankly at the ceiling. This is his life now, he guesses. These are his choices. He didn't really expect to hear another voice, having been in complete solitude up until this moment, and it's enough to startle him, though it doesn't really cross his features. He turns his attention over to Dave, staring at him for a moment in contemplation before speaking.]

...I guess.

[Where he needs a hand to, he had no idea. He'd kind of just been staring at the ceiling for however long he's been here for, so far.]

[oculusriffs]

[Dave hadn't been sure if he was approaching a guy who was dying or spacing out, so when he does get a response to his question ... oh. spacing out it is, it looks like.]

[not that that's an inappropriate thing to be doing when one's stuck in no gravity, in a space station, in the vast, empty void of space. if anything, it seems like the exact thing he should be doing? and, well. that's pretty much what Dave's doing, now that he thinks about it.]

[but he turns himself over, settling into a cross-legged position, to give Minato a once over.]

New here? Ghosts picked a weird time to bring you aboard, but, whatever. Which direction should I shove you?

[foolishjourney]

Where ever "here" is, yeah.

[Minato carefully attempts to maneuver himself into a position where it would be easier to look at Dave, but ends up doing a gentle continuous spin around in a circle instead. Oops.]

If I had my preference, it'd be "down".

[oculusriffs]

[lol. he's here to help, for the most part, but he also can't help himself. watching people fail to negotiate their own free-floating velocity is still pretty funny.]

Try using a little less umph in your next barrel roll. [Dave will reach over and stop him. eventually. hopefully Minato isn't susceptible to motion sickness or something.]

You're on a space station, if it wasn't already obvious. Right now, we're having what management calls Free-Floating Fridays — you can even wear your casual jumpsuit if you want.

[how sensitive is Minato's BS meter exactly? it may be flying off the charts like it's in zero gravity, too.]

[foolishjourney]

[It had definitely been disorienting and mildly nausea-inducing, so thanks for the assist, Dave.]

Thanks.

[Minato sticks his hands in his jumpsuit pockets, letting himself float as he may, seemingly without much of a care. However, his mind is racing — how did space and the end of the world mix together (assuming what the device he had found was telling the truth)? How did he end up getting taken from a roof top, dying, to floating aimlessly through a space station feeling very much alive? It didn't make sense. Like most everything, though, he was just gonna roll with it and shrug it off with the help of the world's healthiest coping method: apathy. This was his life now, he guesses. Not like he had a life to go back to, anyways.]

Hm. I guess I'm overdressed.

[Is he taking Dave seriously? With his nonchalant tone and expression, it's pretty impossible to tell.]

[oculusriffs]

[ah, now there's something they instantly have in common: two dead kids floating about aimlessly aboard a space station where death doesn't really matter in the first place.]

[Dave's not sure whether Minato actually bought that or not; it's rare that he comes across someone with a better poker face than him. but, he's in the business of rolling with everything, too.]

Yeah, looks like it. Guess it's not a big deal if you're just gonna camp out here, though.

[the question goes unasked, but it's probably there anyway. is. is he planning on floating out here until he crashes down when they fix the gravity, or what?]

[foolishjourney]

[Dave had a point... he couldn't float here forever. It was getting pretty boring, actually.]

I amend my previous statement. Are there snacks somewhere? You can shove me in that direction.

[Minato had no idea how long he'd been aimlessly floating here, but it was long enough to make his stomach start to growl.]

[oculusriffs]

It's a pretty loose definition of snacks, but yeah, sure.

[Dave will just go ahead and float on closer, and give Minato a light shove toward one of the hallways. there you go, pal, let's see if he can properly figure out how to steer himself.]

[foolishjourney]

Thanks.

[Nope, he definitely doesn't seem to be doing very well in the steering department, 'cause he's just sort of uselessly flapping his arms as he's shoved towards the hall. He can do this. He's got this. For the sake of snacks... he would achieve anything.]

...Is it the same thing as swimming?

[oculusriffs]

Sorta. Except in the ways that it isn't.

[Dave, don't be an asshole. but he's also an asshole with the gift of god-flight, so moving about in no gravity comes a lot easier to him — that is, he doesn't have to push off walls or rely on others to get to where he's going.]

[so he float-saunters on over, following along as Minato flails humorously.]

It's more about using your momentum to your advantage. You can bounce off walls, or the ceilings ... or just wait for someone charitable to give you a shove.

[he punctuates that advice with another shove, now that he's close enough, this time down the hallway. and away you go, Minato.]

[foolishjourney]

[This time, he tries to be smarter with his momentum after he's shoved by kicking off a wall once he's close to it, as per Dave's advice. From there, he floats over to the other side of the hall, only to kick back off of that wall, as well.]

I think I get it now.

[Good job, Minato.]

Which door is the way to the food?

[oculusriffs]

Kick off to your left next big hallway you float across.

[here, Dave will follow along, not necessarily because he's charitable, but because people generally have entertaining reactions to the replicators. and Minato has been pretty entertaining so far.]

[foolishjourney]

[Well you're in luck Dave, because one of Minato's biggest passions besides listening to music was eating lots of delicious food. This was gonna be a devastating blow.

He nods a little and follows Daves instructions, grabbing onto the door to the mess hall once he'd successfully reached it. In he goes, carefully, and while he was going to kick off of the door in whatever direction the actual food was in, he stops for a moment to look in confusion, not really sure what to make of it. There were weird devices and lots of tables, but no vending machines, no lunch ladies, nothing. What kind of place is this. Minato looks back over his shoulder to see if Dave's following, and when it seems as such, he'll ask him another question.]

...What do I do now.

[oculusriffs]

[oh man, is he going to have to pull up an invisible chair for this one? Dave makes a vague sort of gesture in the general direction of the machines.]

Go tell those things your order. Want my advice? Don't think about burritos. Or liver and onions.

Macaroni and cheese might be funny, though. I haven't seen that one yet.

[foolishjourney]

[He was starting to suspect something was off about this situation due to the way Dave was speaking, but his need for distraction from his thoughts and the hunger in his belly was enough for him to set that aside for now. You'll be winning this round, Strider...]

Well, why not.

[He shrugs slightly, and floats over to one of the replicators, giving it a once over.]

Uh... macaroni and cheese...?

[He hits a button. He assumes he's supposed to hit a button. Whether it's the right button, who knows. Either way, it produces the most vile looking sludge of macaroni and cheese one could imagine, the cheese an unfortunate grey tone and the macaroni obviously way past the point of being considered pasta.

There are no words to explain the utter look of betrayal that crosses Minato's face.]

[oculusriffs]

[that must be some intensely double-crossing macaroni to get that look out of a guy with a better poker face than him. Dave can't hold back on his curiosity; he moves closer to get a better look, and.]

[oh god.]

Man, there's nothing funny about that at all. Shit's just depressing.

[he leans back, giving the replicator next to the one Minato used, the horrible perpetrator of Crimes Against Kraft, a few good whacks with a closed fist. it's not unlike how he punched the coffee machines back home to get them to spit out equally unpalatable coffee.]

[a few stale, but at least edible-looking, pieces of toast flop into existence.]

Here, this is what I usually eat. [it's not much, but this is sort of Dave's way of offering his condolences for the macaroni and tragedy.]