( 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

[possidetur]

No, it didn't-- ( there's a momentary pause as vanessa catches the reflection of the girl in the window. wings, eyes. it doesn't seem right, and perhaps she's been staring out for too long.

though when vanessa turns she sees that those windows are still there. she can't help but stare for a moment, caught by the sight of them. she'll be thoroughly embarrassed in a moment )

[wingstosee]

[ venus waits for vanessa to finish, but only for a moment. it's easy to see that she's faltered, after all - she has dozens of eyes to pick up on it. she stifles a soft laugh behind her hand. ]

Don't worry! I don't bite, haha. [ she brings the wings back behind her, both creating more space and letting vanessa get a better look. ] And... you can look if you want to. I don't mind.

[possidetur]

( when vanessa's attention finally returns to venus's face there's a small smile, embarrassed. though vanessa does look at the wings it's only briefly before she answers venus's question )

I had never considered that coming to space was ever possible. No one has before.

[wingstosee]

[ that means... whoever this person is, she's not from the present. or, well, her present? god. time travel stuff just kind of makes her head hurt. ]

Where I'm from, a couple of people have. But, like... Not very many? Not many at all. So this is all still a lot for me, too.

[ she smiles, looking directly over to vanessa - with the eyes on her face, not just the ones on her wings. ]

I'm Venus. Even if this place is kind of weird, it's still nice to meet you.

[possidetur]

( it made vanessa's hurt too, trying to digest what she should know (or what people in her future knew), what was common. what made her sound 'old' )

Vanessa Ives. ( the smile turns more genuine now. friendly, pleased. a proper greeting ) That is one thing about this place -- I have met many that I would not have met otherwise. And many more that I believe that was a good thing to do.

( potential friends, pleasant conversation passers-- )

[wingstosee]

Oh, wow. Vanessa's a super pretty name?

[ actually, it kind of sounds like her name - venus, vanessa. which is a little odd? she's not used to thinking her name sounds pretty. maybe it's the extra "a" at the end. ]

Yeah! Yeah, it's like... the place kind of sucks? Haha. But there's so many awesome people here, it's more than made up for it. You know?

[possidetur]

Thank you.

( there's a nod of agreement. this place did suck )

It's comforting. That feels a little selfish, to be comforted by someone's misfortune, but we're not alone. Perhaps that may help in the end if we're to leave this place.

[wingstosee]

Maybe it is sort of selfish? But also, maybe that's not the worst thing.

[ it's a weird sort of duality to strike, balancing between selfishness and not hurting others. but- nobody said the devil couldn't be both. so that's just what she plans to do. ]

Yeah. The more people we've got, the better our chances are here - whether we're leaving or not. Right?

[possidetur]

I hope so. There are people here that are familiar with this environment. It can only help us.

( it may have been a slightly different environment that they knew but space was space, right? )

[wingstosee]

Haha, right? Isn't that kind of crazy to think about?

[ and it really is crazy! or at least, it feels like it. there are people who legitimately just- work in space! ]

This- this whole thing, it feels like a story in a book somewhere. And there are people like Amos, and- it's just normal for them. That's so weird.

[possidetur]

I'm not certain I would have thought of it in a book.

( at least not yet. space and science fiction novels were quite few in number for the moment )

Though I know that likely can't be said for many.

( she's old time. she knows )

[wingstosee]

I mean, I probably wouldn't have thought of it either? But there are plenty of people who are way more creative than me.

[ if she realizes she's passing that insult onto vanessa, she sure doesn't show it. she just shrugs, and leans in close to the window again - fogging it up lightly with her breath. ]

...do you get to read very much? [ it doesn't sound like she means any offense. ] I used to read a lot more. But- I guess there's been other stuff to do around here, you know?

[possidetur]

Not since I woke here.

( though vanessa couldn't say when the last time was that she'd truly been able to sit down and enjoy something. oh, she'd tried, but her life was rarely quiet enough for much time to be spent reading )

Though it was more often poetry than any story.

[wingstosee]

Oh, wow. [ if it's meant to be sarcastic, there's no sign of that on her face - she looks honestly impressed. ] I've never been any good with poetry? I get that it's supposed to be pretty, but like... I guess I'm not any good with that kind of thing.

[ she's honestly not trying to talk herself down, here! she just knows her strengths. and that she has almost none of them.

okay, maybe it's a little hard on herself. ]

[possidetur]

Not everyone likes poetry.

( some could find the meaning in the words, others simply appreciated the beauty of how it sounded. some didn't like it at all )

What is it that you do like?

[wingstosee]

Hmm. Fantasy, maybe? Elves and witches and dragons. That kind of stuff.

[ it's a childish sort of answer, she feels. not anywhere near as "mature" as vanessa's. but, well - that sort of escapism holds a magic in and of itself.

it's a bit weird, thinking about escapism when you're literally the devil. what's left to escape from? ]

Is there... a kind of poetry you like? [ she's out of her element, and she knows it. but she can try to be polite, at least. ]

[possidetur]

( it may sound childish to venus but, at least in terms of witches, vanessa is very familiar with it. if only the girl knew the truth of what she enjoyed reading, though it seemed in the future that magic was even less believed in than what she was used to )

I suppose you would call them romantics. Not to say that their poems are all about love but the ideas that they put forth, the way that they write.

( a, perhaps, romantic view of the world, a reflection of their ideas and how things were )

If we ever find a library here I could show you some.

( she'd looked for it but to no avail )

[wingstosee]

I think... I'd really like that. [ the romantics sound appealing, at least. she's not really sure what romantic ideas would sound like, but she can at least think of a few possibilities. ] I mean, as long as you're okay if I don't get it? I'm really not any good at it.

[possidetur]

You don't need to.

( there's a smile, encouraging )

You can appreciate poetry by listening to it without understanding the meaning. Sometimes it can be nice to make your own meaning however it relates to you.

( but don't worry she'll hold your hand through it )