reverielogs | ( 002 » ENSEMBLE ) gravitational.

( 002 » ENSEMBLE ) gravitational.

» 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.

( ♪ )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She keeps his arm locked tight around his shin, and ducks her head down low. Jasnah tries for a better grip on him, and starts to heave him forwards, towards safety as the hail of debris picks up.

Jasnah gets hit in the opposite shoulder from the arm hanging onto him, and both of them are spun by the force of it, skittering across the station surface, but she gets her boots back down with a scream of panic.

At least it's dragged them closer to the airlock.]

[ goddammit, kovacs really wishes he could talk right now because he'd be cursing so loud that any shithead down on that planet would hear him, vacuum of space be damned.

but, his mouth still isn't moving. he's blinked enough that his eyes no longer feel dry and the wiggling of his fingers eventually turns into being able to move his arm. just one but it's more than he had a second ago and he'll fucking take it.

as the airlock lurches into view, he reaches out and tries to grab with an arm that's still stiff but working. he is not getting spun off into space on this fucking bucket of bolts. he is not dying this way. ]

[Later, Jasnah won't be able to remember the last few seconds- his hand catching at the doorway, last few awkward panicked moments levering their way inside.

The outside doors slam shut behind them, and gravity reengages, dropping them to the floor in an ungainly tumble. She doesn't even try to heave him the rest of the way through into the corridor, not in full gravity. She just rolls onto her elbows and knees, tips her head forwards against the glass faceplate, and gulps in a few deep breaths before sitting up and trying to pull her helmet off. It takes a few shaky tries.

When she's finally free, she glances down at him, checking that all his limbs are still attached, and then whether any more of his range of motion has returned.]

[ his body is still trying to recover from whatever the fuck just happened. his arm is a little more mobile and he can feel his legs trying to catch purchase on the ground but everything still feels slow and stiff. he rolls onto his back, staring up at the ceiling.

he's never been so glad to see the inside of a room in his life. ]

Fuck this place.

[ was there any doubt those would be the first words spoken once he got the use of his body and mouth back? ]

Fuck it into the fucking ground.

[ just a little angry.

he glances over at the person who'd rescued him, checking to see that she's in one piece. ]

[Jasnah laughs, short and sharp and unhappy. She has an arm held gingerly still against her chest. The other hand presses hard over her mouth, cutting off the sound. This reaction is not helpful.

One steady breath in, another out, and she decides;]

We have to clear the airlock and get out of these suits.

[But it's going to take a second before she can peel herself up out of the corner she's ended up wedged into. She scrubs the stray curls out of her face, pats the ground absently to find her abandoned helmet, and finally looks up at him.]

Someone else will need them, to go out there and try again.

[ all this logic and common sense is making his head hurt. the pain he'd been feeling in his chest is easing, making breathing feel like it's not so much a task anymore. ]

Yeah sure, great fucking idea but I'm not exactly moving very well.

[ he was moving but it felt like this sleeve shutting itself down, like ryker was coming back from the dead to shit on him for taking his body. ]

Working on the breathing thing and then I'll think about getting up and moving.

[or more likely crawling. ]

[She laughs again, a tiny bit less hysterically this time, and tips her head back against the wall. If he's not moving, she's not. She could use the excuse to catch her breath.]

Storms.

[A brief, breathless curse. The next thing Jasnah pulls off are her space gloves, tucking them in the helmet, then sitting back again and closing her eyes, feeling her heartbeat finally start to slow.]

What about 'em?

[ he didn't think there'd been storms outside but he'd been a little too concerned with breathing and living and not dying.

it took a lot of effort but he finally got his hands underneath him and pushed himself into a sitting position, one hand over his chest. his heart was thumping rapidly but it was thumping. ]

What? [She asks, then realizes, and shakes her head.] It's your fuck. As in-

[Spitting the word just a little delicately, as she tests it out.]

Father of Storms Above, [Stilted, at first, but with building sincerity;] what in Kelek's eleventh name made this storming fools build a research outpost in blustering Damnation itself? Passions.

[She's dipping into her Thaylen a little there, but the situation merits it. She keeps going, using the momentum to pull herself up onto shaking legs.]

Ash's eyes, Talat's nails, Vedeledev's golden keys, and stones unhallowed, blessed gods of sea and stone-

[And, she offers him her hand, to help him to his feet. Time for them to move.
She wants out of this suit.]

Inventive.

[ kovacs is pretty sure he wouldn't even remember that many curse words which is why he was glad 'fuck' was so versatile and flexible. it could be used for anything or anyone and it would work. happy or sad, angry or not, fuck was the best curse word that had ever been uttered. ]

I think I'll stick to fuck.

[ he does reach up and grabs her hand, pulling himself somewhat stiffly to his feet. everything seems to be working again, movable and bendable, even if his body's still taking some time to get back up to full speed. ]

Don't even know what the fuck that was about but I do not like it.

[ the paralysis thing. being saved was okay though. that was fine. better to have someone save his life than die in space. ]

It's been going around.

[Jasnah snorts, and moves to work her way out the door, and towards the benches outside. She begins unclasping and unbuckling her painstaking way out of the suit.

The adrenaline is finally beginning to wear off, and she's suddenly having trouble moving one arm, and she needs to sit back down when her fingers start going clumsy.]

How are we supposed to clear the debris out if this place is periodically shutting our bodies down?

Asking the wrong person, lady.

[ after what had just happened, kovacs is pretty damn sure he's not going to set foot back outside. this fucking station had just tried to kill his ass and he's not about to let that happen when there's no sleeve nearby that he can be loaded into. ]

You should probably ask the people in charge.

[ oh wait! ]

Except we don't know who that is or if there's anyone in charge. I'm going with the assumption that this station's shutting down and it's going to try and take us with it.

[Jasnah looks up at him, finally dragging the hair out of her face, where it's stuck around her forehead, to her skin.]

You think it's related to the loss of gravity?

[It hasn't even occurred to her, and for some reason, she can't get her thoughts in order. She tells herself, firmly, to think. She grips the edge of the bench so her hands stop shaking.]

Edited 2018-06-06 15:28 (UTC)

How can you not? This shitty station loses gravity and people lose the ability to move? That can't be a fucking coincidence, not when they're in such close succession.

[ he just has no idea why they'd happen all the sudden unless this fucking station was falling apart around them. gravity was gone and people were becoming paralyzed after having been perfectly healthy.

some kind of shit was going down. ]

I'm almost tempted to just jump off this fucking station because I think I'd survive longer.

But then how have our bodies become so entwined with the workings of the station that we experience fluctuations along with the systems here?

[She asks, perfectly aware that he has no idea.]

Wait. Why did the gravity stop now?

[A thought is taking shape.]

I'm guessing something broke.

[ monotone. just a guess there. ]

Don't ask me what. We never had this problem where I'm from. Gravity was the one thing that didn't shit the bed.

I know that. I've spent the better part of a day out there helping free debris from the rotating rings. We're presumably not exposed to any greater amount of space junk than we were before, so it stands to reason that the first thing to go wasn't the gravity- it was the system that kept that krem from getting wedged between the rotating segments.

[Because if he's right, and the two things happening simultaneously means they're linked, then that means they should be able to guess at the root cause.]

What would cause a sudden change in ring rotation, as well as be linked to human consciousness? Some kind of shielding deactivating? Or possibly flickering energy, diminishing suddenly due to the sudden increased use?

The more that happens here, the more incoherent this all seems.

You're giving me a headache.

[ that was a lot of words in a short amount of time that had to do with things that he just didn't care about. give him something he could punch or stab or shoot and he'd be fine.

and while this was a mystery and he had some experience with that, this was a little more complex than solving someone's murder. what she seemed to be talking about was something technical and cosmic and mechanical. ]

I'm gonna stick with the thought that this station's falling apart and it's taking us with it. Hopefully the life support systems don't go next.

That's probably from all the times your head slammed into the floor.

[She offers, helpfully.]

Are you hurt?

Wasn't my fault.

[ she'd been the one dragging him and this station had been the one fucking with his ability to move. he was completely innocent for once! ]

No, I'm fine.

[ really, he was. now that he could breathe and move again, he ached but he was fine overall. ]

No need to kiss it and make it better.

It was not an impulse that had seized me.

[She reassures him, dryly.]

It was my fault, if anyone's. But it seems you've got a hard enough head.

Not the first person to say that.

[ she wouldn't be the last either. his head had been through a lot. it was a wonder he wasn't more fragged than he was. ]

But takes more than a few blows to the head to kill me.

[ now, standing in space until his oxygen ran out would have killed them so he'll take some jostling around to death. ]

What's your name?

[She reminds herself to ask, as usual. It's useful to be able to refer to, find people again later on.]

And what were you trying to do out there? Get to the debris?

Kovacs.

[ that's all anyone was going to be getting from him for the time being. no one got the first name unless they were his sister of quell.

or maybe ortega. ]

And I was helping. I told someone I'd watch her back so I was trying to do that.

[ remind him to never help again. ]

Jasnah.

[She answers, and looks over her shoulder towards the airlock.]

Do you see her?

[It wouldn't be good if she were still out there, thinking she has a spotter.]

( 002 » ENSEMBLE ) gravitational.

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