( 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

[donkeyballs]

[ They are just sort of floating in the airlock, feet attached to the floor but otherwise drifting, and he hasn't even thought to pull his own helmet off, yet. He does now, though - one arm still lazily over Bobbie's side to hold her in place, the other coming up to unfasten the latches of his helmet. His arm was sore, but honestly, he felt more relieved than anything else.

When he looked back at her, hair matted a little to his head thanks to the helmet and the sweat that the excitement had generated, his expression was softer. Tired, and relieved. He reached over to start to help her with the clasps of her suit. ]

Think Ren and Alucard gathered all the med kits, so we can head there. You alright otherwise? Don't feel dizzy at all?

[marineris]

[She's glad that he's helping her with the suit, because right now doing that herself feels oddly difficult. Bobbie hesitates a moment before answering, still holding onto him so she doesn't start drifting off again.]

I'm dizzy, yes, but I can walk.

[And she didn't lose consciousness, so it can't be too bad.]

[donkeyballs]

[ At least his heart is going the normal speed, now. He keeps undoing clasps, then notices the blood pooling around her wound, again, and grabs the rest of the sling and pushes the fabric against her head.]

Here, hold this. Press tight.

[ It took a little time, but eventually he got most of her vac suit open, and had to let go of her waist so he could peel it off. Then he went for his own - significantly easier, without the sling, though his arm was aching with complaint. ]

[marineris]

[She does as he tells her, pressing the fabric down and utterly failing to hide her flinch. It's instantly obvious, though, that his arm is hurting him, and she lets out a breath.]

Hey, stop it. Let me do it.

[donkeyballs]

[ He would argue - if he couldn't honestly use the help. As it was, it would get them to Ren's makeshift med bay a lot faster if he just let her do it.

So, wordlessly, he lifted his arms out of the way so she could get at what she needed to."

[marineris]

[Bobbie takes one of his hands and presses it to the cloth against her temple so that he's holding it in place again, then starts to unfasten the rest of the vac suit. She's fumbling more than normal, so it takes her a bit longer than it would have taken him, but she finally manages it and pulls the suit down.]

Don't push that arm too hard.

[Says the woman who insisted on doing pushups when her arm was injured.]

[donkeyballs]

I'm alright, Gunny.

[ He pulled the cloth back just a little - at least the bleeding seemed to be slowing down. But then he put the cloth back in her hand and pressed it to her head, shifting so that he could undo his magboots and slip out of them. He could get his feet out of the vac suit, now, did so, then slid his feet back into the boots and clicked them on. Pushing the suit out of the way for a minute, he bent down and did the same thing for her boots, and helped her get them back on once she was free of her suit, too.

It took a couple more minutes and some zero gee maneuvering, but he got both suits and helmets stowed, and then floated back down next to her. ]

Alrigh'. Still dizzy, or you doin okay?

[marineris]

Still dizzy. Better, though.

[Mostly. She doesn't think zero gee is helping all that much.]

I can make it wherever we're going.

[donkeyballs]

Ren and Alucard made a sort of make-shift med bay. We'll head there. [ He knew that she had conflicted feelings about Alucard - to put it mildly - but that was also where all the medical supplies were, so...

He was relaxing by degrees as they went, keeping an eye on her, but she seemed like she'd be okay. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hadn't noticed the debris.

He was going to have that nightmare about Shed, tonight. He could tell. But he needed to keep his head from heading in that particular dark direction, so he started to talk as they walked. ]

Doesn't look like its gonna be a small job, to fix up the station. Couldn't tell for the life of me what that debris was from though. My guess is just space junk in orbit.

[marineris]

[Great. She's not a huge fan of the kid, but she'll suck it up for the sake of not bleeding anywhere, not that she'll like it. Bobbie does a decent job of keeping up and staying steady. Everyone once in a while, she reaches out to touch his arm to reorient herself.]

We're going to have a hell of a time getting those things spinning again.

[donkeyballs]

Yeah. Even from what I could see, it's gonna be weeks worth of work.

[ Which didn't bode well, given the amount of debris flying around. ]

Gonna have to see if we can't get some of the - uh - "specialized" folks aboard to come out and keep us from gettin' hit by anythin' out there.

[marineris]

[Bobbie smiles a little.]

Weeks, huh? You think the Earthers will whine about it?

[donkeyballs]

[ Her smile was very effective at getting him to relax further, and he even smiled back, the edges of his eyes crinkling. ]

Bet most of them are already. Though who knows. Maybe this all just feels like a fair ride to 'em, right now.

[marineris]

[The look on his face just makes her smile widen.]

Wait until one of them has to figure out how to work a toilet.

[donkeyballs]

[ A faux expression of despair crosses his face. ]

Christ - guess I'm avoidin' any of the more public toilet facilities for a while...

[marineris]

[She laughs, which doesn't help her head all that much.]

Maybe there's a few ponchos hiding around here.

[donkeyballs]

[ He grins, but then notices the way she flinched when she started laughing. Woops. ]

Alrigh', no more comedy show for you, not until we get you patched up, anyway. We're almost there. Least you seem pretty lucid.

[marineris]

You worry too much, you know that?

[Says the hypocrite.]

[donkeyballs]

Get hit by fewer rocks an' I'll worry less. [ The quip is immediate. Don't you dare @ him on this, Gunny!

Luckily they're coming up to the med bay and Alex pauses. ]

Here, just hold on for a sec, I'll go get the bandage. [ He didn't want to have to mediate between Alucard and Bobbie if he was there. ]

[marineris]

[She honestly doesn't want to deal with Alucard either, so she just nods, presses the cloth a bit more tightly to her temple, and waits.]

[donkeyballs]

[ Turns out no one is home, but Alex lets himself in anyway, grabbing a disinfectant wipe and a bandage, and then heads back over to Bobbie. ]

Come on, my room's just over there, let's get out of the hall.

[ Her room was also like, right there, but look. Look. Whatever. Don't @ him. ]

[marineris]

[Bobbie follows, sitting down on his bunk. She pulls the cloth away, and miracle of miracles, the bleeding has slowed.]

Be gentle. I'm fragile.

[donkeyballs]

Yeah, yeah, 'bout as fragile as a martian frigate. [ He replied, and his voice was amused, though a few seconds later an image of the Roci flashed through his mind, the molten trails of PDC rounds tracing through the ship, tearing up the hull.

Not fragile.

But not invincible.

He floated in front of her, pulling open the package for the wipe with his teeth.]

Hold back your hair?

[marineris]

[That's one of the best compliments he could have given her, and so she smiles softly as she brushes her hair back.]

No reason to worry, then.

[donkeyballs]

[ The smile makes him relax a little more, too. Alright. She'll be okay. But he's still gonna give her a bit of shit, for it. ]

Right, remind me that next time and I won't pull the tether so hard. [ Dryly.

He reaches out and very carefully wipes down the wound, and it's longer than he'd like but it doesn't look too deep, at least. Just head cuts bleedin' too much thanks to zero gee. At least she wasn't from Earth.

The bandage was a little more annoying to do with one hand, but he managed it somehow. It wasn't pretty, but it would keep the blood in her face where it should be. When he was done he leaned back a little. Good. ]

Alrigh'. Should be all fixed up, now. Wish I had a coagulant spray, but beggars can't be choosers.