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

[ amos is the one person he can trust to drink with him in silence so it's become a more frequent occurrence of late. they had been enjoying their customary antisocial social trend when the gravity goes out. he thinks he hears a curse from his left side, but miller just lets it happen, drifting up to the ceiling as he snatches his hat out of the air and closes his other hand around julie's necklace before it can escape his pocket. his mag-boots engage neatly one at a time on the ceiling and he waits for amos to catch up. ]

Guess it's your time to shine, kid.

[ He'd been minding his own business - aka drinking with Miller, which is something they do, these days, especially considering Holden isn't here to make noises about it. And he's been doing just that, drinking mostly in companionable, comfortable silence, when there's a sudden shudder throughout the room, a loud click and whir and hiss that Amos has heard before.

And then, gravity goes. ]

Damnit.

[ There's no emotion in it as Amos grips the bar top and puts his feet on the floor, engaging his boots. He opens his mouth to suck in the remaining few drops of gin that were in his glass before he pulls back. ]

Wanna bet everyone forgot about the video I sent around?

[ he laughs, meeting amos's eyes upside down. ]

Goddamn Earthers, pal. [ yeah that's right - you're officially out of that category, especially with so many prime targets to pick on here. ] Guess we should start stowing projectiles while all of them panic.

[ in that vein he plucks a vodka bottle out of the air and disengages his boots, drifting down to put it in the lock on the shelf before touching down gracefully onto the floor and turning them back on. ]

And you talk about not knowing anything about space. Look at you, Beratna.

[ Amos himself pushes off from the ceiling with three fingers, spinning to have his feet back towards the ground, and grabs their glasses, stowing them in a cupboard. ]

You say that anyway, but you love Earthers.

[ he snatches their gin bottle and neatly gathers some escaped liquid from the air before closing it up again. some still floats off, wasted, and he sighs. though it's more for amos' words than the lost booze. ]

Ceres loses gravity all the time. Especially in the outer quadrants.

[ the ones no one cares about. but amos knows that. he probably knows ceres better than he does. he glances up sharply from his task, hat and necklace floating on either side of him while he puts away the gin - like added accessories to a doll. ]

I don't- [ love. what a word. it's hard not to think of havelock then, laying in that hospital bed. he flashes a grim smile at amos as he puts the necklace in his breast pocket this time and snaps it shut before snatching his hat out of the air next. julie's picture escapes the secret pocket and he's quick to snatch that up too. it doesn't exactly lend credence to his denial. ] That word's not in my limited vocab, alright.

[ you're in love with julie mao. he blows out a tight breath that seems lodged in his chest as he tucks the picture back in his hat, swallowing down the rest of his discomfort. ]

Not all of 'em. You're just special. [ he recovers, but only just barely with that lame tease. ]

[ Amos rolls his eyes, not taking Miller's words at face value at all. Amos doesn't believes in love. Not really. It often feels like a convenient word to use, but not one that amounts to much, not when he's seen what people are able and willing to do to each other. Not when he's done so much himself.

Miller's full of shit, though. Miller believes in love and loves Belters and Earthers and probably some Martians, too, wanting to protect them all and more, and not even for fame or glory. Just because someone has to do it.

Miller talks a big talk about how much he doesn't care, just to hide how much he does.

Amos disengages from the floor, pushing off to float around the room, making sure nothing sharp or dangerous has been left unattended. ]

How was it, growing up on Ceres?

[ he holds his hat and looks up at amos, content to leave his boots on the floor for now. though he's looking around for any projectiles he might want to stow idly. ]

How was it? You've been there, you tell me. [ what's with the sudden interest??? there's also a nostalgia that comes with it, knowing he'll never go back there even if they somehow miraculously find the roci and take miller with them like alex keeps talking about. it's a pipedream but one he can't actually stomach taking away from the guy. ] It sucked, I don't know why or how I survived. Maybe I was just a stubborn bastard in the end. Maybe you're the same way. Survivors, you and me.

Barely. Never spent much time on stations, was always hopping from ship to ship after I left Earth.

[ Five ships going under while he was on the crew. Anyone else would have considered that bad luck. Amos just kept on going. ]

What did you survive? Gang wars? Poverty? Any kind of trade?

[ Were they alike in that way? In what they'd overcome in their past? Amos wasn't sure. They were alike now - ruthlessly determined to achieve what was necessary, without much morals to speak of - but were they, then?

It didn't matter as much as other things did. And yet Amos still asked. ]

Sounds like my nightmare, kid.

[ he knew amos had been in space for some time, it was hard not to notice. but he figured he'd been into port at ceres enough times to know how it operated. maybe that was naive or ethnonationalistic or whatever the word is!!! but miller had only been outside of his station to help these assholes. and now he's here. he supposes they've turned him into a ship hopper too. ]

I was a ward of the station until I was old enough to pick pockets then they sent me on my merry way. It's not that interesting a story.

[ Amos knew how stations worked. That was easy; but he'd only visited them as an adult, finding out the ways of the trade on Pallas and Ceres and Eros and not bothering about much else.

But he definitely didn't know how it was to grow up as a Belter. ]

Didn't have parents?

[ They really are similar. ]

[ he shakes his head. he doesn't think about it often - being an orphan. when he sees kids and parents he thinks about his own failures rather than the sins of parents he'd never met. like amos, there was just a void there and he felt nothing about it one way or the other. ]

Owe whoever they were a favor for dying, really. Or fucking off, whichever.

Why?

[ Amos doesn't think his life would have been different if his mother hadn't died. It would have been the same, he knows that for a fact. He's glad he didn't have to deal with a father, either. But he knows he's not the norm. ]

Wouldn't have become a cop, wouldn't have ever left the station, wouldn't have met you assholes. [ a beat ] Nevermind, I take it back. I'd be way better off in the slums with junkie parents. [ he's kidding!!!! ...mostly ]

I mean, you might still be alive, if you had parents.

[ Ouch, Amos. ]

That was kind of my point. [ welp tho ]

So you still want to die.

[ as ever he and amos are not understanding each other. but he can't find it in himself to be too broken up about it honestly. ]

Doesn't matter one way or the other, does it? I'm already dead.

[ If Miller was someone else, Amos might refute that. But facts are facts. He shrugs a shoulder, kicking into a slight spin around the room. ]

Guess so. Hey, if you've been given a second lease on life, at least for a time, why are you not making the most of it?

[ Amos has never seen anyone mope like Miller mopes. And he's been sharing a ship with Holden. He knows what moping looks like. ]

[ that gets a stare, bewildered and unfocused. ]

Who says I'm not. [ miller recovers, but it's not quick enough, even amos will be able to see through his act as he gestures around them to all the booze. this isn't living. this is wallowing and even he knows it. is hyperaware of it, even. ] Look, I just don't appreciate bein' interrupted by this place. What if they screwed it up? What if by taking me out of that moment, they...

[ his eyes dart around for a moment and then he snaps his fingers abruptly ] What if that's it? Eros crashes into Earth and the human race is done for. [ so no, with things like that in his head he can't really just shut it off. he doesn't expect amos to understand that though. ]

Edited 2018-06-25 13:50 (UTC)

[ This is definitely not living, even for a guy like Amos, who understands all too well wanting to numb everything out. This is no life. This is just misery. It's exactly why Amos carved out all of these feelings out, why he built himself defenses. Why he stopped feeling.

Amos gets what Miller's saying. But also... ]

If that's it, at least you won't be there to see it. [ He knows how flippant it sounds, but it's also the truth, as brutal as it is. ] We can't do anything about it, here, and now.

[ Amos looks down at his hands as he pushes past a bench. ]

But it wouldn't be it, anyway. Earth had nukes aimed at Eros the whole time, when you were in there talking to your girlfriend. They wouldn't let it crash into them.

[ he sighs, but doesn't argue because amos is right on at least some level there. ]

If they thought that would solve it, they'd have taken the shot.

[ and miller would be dead either way, so he still gets to be happy. see how win-win this is for him? wait- ]

...I talked to Julie?

Don't be naive. They were ready to take the shot, Miller. They only didn't because they couldn't paint a target on Eros themselves, and had to use Johnson and us to do it. We bought you time.

[ Amos looks straight at Miller. Earth wouldn't have stopped for the sake of a sad Belter detective's insane theory. ]

It might not have solved it, but Earth would have done it without hesitation. You can thank Holden for giving your plan a chance. As for Julie, well. It's what you wanted to do. I don't know if you got to do it, we lost radio contact with you when you got too far in.

[ he looks down, far from thinking he's naive, though maybe compared to someone like amos it's a more apt description than he'd like. ]

Maybe you all would've been better off taking out the whole damn station.

[ it's soft, but gruff, idly fiddling with the communicator on his wrist. but they hadn't. holden hadn't. they had listened to him, of all fucking people. ]

I just hope I found her, you know? Kid deserved to have someone find her.

Maybe. I don't know. You did it anyway, so it doesn't matter.

[ Amos shrugs. He didn't know Julie Mao, nor did he care, really, aside from some residual anger that she didn't decide to die alone somewhere isolated, saving them all the Eros incident. ]

I didn't know her.

[ he nods. ] Yeah...

[ miller taps amos' shoulder once - twice, companionably. he gives a tight smile. ]

Me either, but I wish I did. And you're tellin' me I might've gotten my wish.

[ he isn't sure if amos can understand why he'd get emotional about this, usually clear eyes getting visibly sticky and wet. but he doesn't need amos to understand, that isn't amos' purpose. it's his. he's the detective. he's going to get them out of this. he just doesn't know how yet. miller snuffles softly, blinking the tears from his eyes. it isn't the time for a breakdown, not even close. ]

That's enough of that, huh? Let's go find the others.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( 002 » ENSEMBLE ) gravitational.

wildcard bitches!!!!!!

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