( 0 0 1 » ENSEMBLE ) welcome to the inaugural log

[reveriemod]

» WHO? everyone
» WHEN? may 1 onward
» WHERE? all over the station
» WHAT? introductory log feat. waking up, exploration, meeting over food and noises in the walls
» WARNINGS? potential for body horror, psychological horror, hallucinations, physical injury

( 0 0 1 ) » WAKE UP

Were you asleep or were you unconscious? It doesn't matter: when you come to, there's an odd taste in your mouth and there's a low-level mechanical hum in the air. Your head hurts and you feel nauseous. You aren't anywhere you know: everything around you is metal, from the floor you lie on all the way to the ceiling. You are dressed in a jumpsuit you definitely weren't wearing before.

"We tried to save the world. I think— I think we did the opposite."

The message repeats on a loop. If you look for its source, you find a comms device on the floor next to you. The logo on its wallpaper says REVERIE TERMINAL. Upon closer inspection, you find the same logo on your jumpsuit.

Welcome to your new home.

( ♪ )

( 0 0 2 ) LOOK AROUND

You've woken up — but where have you woken up? It may be time to explore your new home. Rifling through a crew quarter will make the room's terminal lock to the comms device you're carrying; the room becomes yours. That includes everything in it, from the additional jumpsuit to the two extra sets of underwear. In some quarters, you may find remnants of whoever was here before you: a book on the nightstand, a coffee mug still on the table, a lonely sock on the floor.

A look around the shared areas will reveal the bar, some of its bottles already open, the mess hall, observation deck and the gym area with its dirty pool. An even closer look around these areas might reveal basic first aid kits as well as basic tool kits and fire extinguishers. The kits are located near the fire extinguishers in compartments in the wall that are not immediately visible. Hopefully, nothing's on fire and no one needs first aid... but that tool kit might come in handy.

Every now and then, as you explore, you might find yourself standing before a door that is locked. Try as you might, you will not be able to get it open.

( ♪ )

( OOC: What items characters find of those who were there before them is up to players, but please limit it to a single item that is mundane and somewhat useless in nature. )

( 0 0 3 ) HAVE A BITE

Sooner or later, all characters will have to make their way to the mess hall if they want to eat. In the mess hall, here are a number of replicator-like devices that sometimes work and sometimes don't— but after a recent malfunction that some characters may have noticed, they seem to work just fine... or at least as well as ever: nothing is particularly palatable, but at least it's nourishment, right?

So why not sit down at a table, whether it's already occupied or not, and have a meal. Maybe use it as an opportunity to introduce yourself, or just to complain about what passes for coffee around here.

And if coffee isn't your preferred beverage, well. There's always the bar.

( ♪ )

( 0 0 4 ) NOISES IN THE WALLS

For some, it's been over a week on the station. For others, merely a day or two. For all, things are starting to change: maybe you were asleep or maybe you weren't, but surely the scream that reverberates through the station will startle you. Was it human? Whatever it was, it seems to be coming from the walls of the station. Banging, clanging, then more screams.

Are you going to chase the sounds? Hide away from them? Try to investigate?

If you follow the sound of screams through the station's corridors and halls, you might feel someone - or was it something? - grab you from behind and pull hard. But when you turn around or turn your head if you've fallen, there's nothing and no one there. If you investigate and perhaps put your ear to a wall to see if the noises really come from there, or bang on the wall, you might hear something other than screams and clanging. Strain your ears and you might hear nothing at all — or you might be able to make out a soft "help me". It's barely above a whisper. Did it sound familiar? If you try to take apart the wall, two things will happen: you'll feel uncharacteristically weak and lethargic all of the sudden, and you'll find nothing at all but wiring and more metal.

Whatever you do, you'll find that the noises stop after a while, with no discernible source other than "the walls". And then hours later, they'll start again. Stop again. Start again a day later— and then stop for good.

( ♪ )

( O O C ) ACTIONS

Hello Reverie Terminal Operators! Welcome to our inaugural event. We hope you'll enjoy it!

To help exploration and interaction with the station, we have put together ten (10) 'actions' that you can request. These actions range from very minor, such as receiving a small piece of information about the station, to major, which may be a more vital piece of information or something far less pleasant, and are completely opt-in. These actions can help get your character involved in the plot, jump into the plot and its mysteries, and have more of a personal prompt to jump off of if you so wish.

Please note if you would avoid particular kinds of consequences (for example, if you'd rather your character not be injured), and we'll try to accommodate that, but please be aware that heavy themes are in play and the actions may feature body horror, injury and hallucinations.

If you'd like to receive an action, please reply to this comment with the following:
» Character: » Type of action: minor, medium, major » Notes:

In the future, actions such as these may be "bought" with bonus AC.



Please use content warning in your top-levels wherever necessary.

Comments

[dvmn]

[Akira had lived the vast majority of his life being someone utterly forgettable, someone so incredibly easy to lose into the background of whatever else was going on. There was something comforting in that sometimes — a comfort he now completely lacked, possessing an energy and aggression that was not at all his own in origin but mixed thoroughly into his being now regardless. He's continuously surprised at how it changes his perception in the eyes of others, just as anyone would struggle to slowly reprogram something like seventeen years of life with the experiences of just a few weeks.

So he would've been surprised initially if enlightened to the reason why she paused a moment, though after some consideration, he'd probably think it was pretty fair.

As it is, he sharply turns his head towards the sound of her voice, light surprise written into his expression (still with the red mark pressed into his forehead). He blinks once before turning his attention back towards the door, clearing his throat — because of course he'd have his goddamned arms stuck in a stupid door when a pretty girl decides to wander past. Par for the fuckin' course.]

Yeah, [he answers after a half a beat, nodding,] or two. Or ten. [He looks back towards her, the posture a little odd with how his arms are stuck.] You got any ideas? I, uh... I don't think pulling is gonna do much.

[Not much more than dislocate his shoulders, at least.]

[lssj]

It won't, huh...

[She says it like she's almost amused. But that's only given the fact that she isn't exactly sure how his arms got into this position in the first place. If he'd punched through it, then it wouldn't look like he jammed his arms into silly putty that instantly frozen once he'd pushed hard enough. Something was off about it.

So she steps forward and leans a little closer, looking over the door curiously.]

Well, how'd this happen in the first place? [She gives the door a little tap with her fingernail, which thankfully does not stick to her...there's the telltale 'ting' of metal.] Is this really metal?

[dvmn]

[Oh, believe me, he'd definitely thought about punching through the doors. And trying to slice his way through with his claws. And trying to burn through them. He'd thought about a lot of (mostly very violent) ways to get into the places that this station apparently wanted him out of, but he so far hasn't gone through with any of them. Ryo'd reminded him to keep everything related to that part of himself under wraps. There's no telling how people might react, after all, and there's no place to run in here.

...But that hadn't stopped him from attempting to use his (certainly not insignificant) strength to push or pull into a locked door, and here he is.

He's lucky he's mostly embarrassment-proof. The initial flustering he'd gone through is already over, and he just accepts that, well, this might as well happen.]

Sure as hell feels like metal. [He tries to move his fingers again, though it's a strict impossibility; he flinches as bones and muscles screech in protest along the highways of his nerves.] I, uh, [just a moment for his frown to deepen before he continues,] I was pushing on the door, and it... it seemed to turn into somethin' different, and then my arms just sank into it, and then it turned into metal again.

[A brief pause...]

I know it sounds stupid, but that's what happened.

[lssj]

[She shakes her head, trying to be reassuring;]

You don't sound stupid at all. This is a...strange place, after all.

[To put it lightly. Still, given what he's said she figures there must be...something about this material that makes it change its form. Noone would build a door out of something that could trap someone like this without warning, right?

She wonders briefly if the people who were here before them knew how to work around it, but...in the meantime it isn't worth thinking much more on. It isn't as if they can ask.

After some consideration she just assumes she wouldn't have any luck brute forcing the situation either. She's a step above normal humans in strength, but still not all that impressive. Best to be smart about it.]

There is something I'd like to try, but it might be a little dangerous...is that okay?

[dvmn]

[It... actually is pretty reassuring. The story was pretty ridiculous because what had actually happened was pretty ridiculous, but with the proof of his arms now locked in full-length metal shackles up to his elbows and the fact that they were all just floating around in space, maybe it's not the weirdest thing anyone's had happen to them in this place.]

...Yeah. [He says after a brief pause (that pause mostly spent glancing towards her with a slightly blank expression as he processed the consoling tone). He nods.] We should all be careful with the doors, then. Maybe they did this to keep people outta certain ones?

[Even though a locked door is just so tantalizing... It's the reason he'd been double- and triple-checking them, after all. He just wanted to see what was inside all of them, curious if there was anything that might give them more answers.]

Uh.

[Ryo would say "no," but Ryo's not here right now, is he? Besides, Akira is far more durable than the average human, so he'd probably be fine, especially if she's making her estimations off of your garden variety person.]

Yeah. I can handle it. Just tell me what I need to do.

[lssj]

Hold really still, mostly...I'm going to try and cut you out.

[She says, but...it isn't as if she has anything on her person that looks like it'd help with that.

That is, until, she holds her hand out in front of her; a small sphere of light blinks once or twice into existence right in front of her hand, hovering just an inch or two above her palm. It gives off a dim glow, just enough to cast some light that only reaches as far as her palm behind it.

Then Kale grabs a hold of her wrist with her other hand, to steady her grip...]

I'm not really all that strong, but even I should be able to do this much...so, um. Hold still, okay?

[It bears repeating.]

[dvmn]

[Cut him out? This pulls his attention away from where his arms disappeared into the doors, looking at her with one eyebrow raised, not necessarily disbelieving (he'd just had a door turn into gel and re-solidify around his arms as metal, he doesn't really have the ability to go throwing doubt everywhere) but more... curious.

Because right now it's looking like she's empty-handed.

But maybe that was her entire plan all along. His attention fixates on her hand when she holds it out in front of her, eyes blinking wide with surprise as the orb of light flashes into existence. Were he not remembering her admonishments to keep still, he probably would've said something along the lines of, what the fuck, but as it is, he's taking it all to heart and is remaining as still as he can.

He looks back up to her as she continues. She's expecting an answer, so he frees himself from his momentary freeze.]

If, uh, [his mouth goes dry for a moment, so he swallows.] If you think it'll get me outta here, go for it. I won't move a muscle.

[And then he goes still again, except for the movement of his eyes to fix on the ball of light she holds projected in front of her hand.]

[lssj]

[slices his arms off right at the shoulders

No just kidding, she's of a more reliable character than that. Kale repositions herself with a duck and a shimmy beneath his arms, mostly to get a better angle to kneel at in front of the door. And at that point, well...

It's like someone going at the door with a blowtorch, only with a lot less sparks, thankfully. It seems as if whatever she's doing is a lot safer, because it's neither a risk to their unprotected eyes or skin. The only real danger is, as she implied, whether or not it accidentally touches him.

And so far her control's been good enough that she's managing to avoid doing just that, thankfully.

Kale gets about halfway there, having cut a line from one side of the door to the other and made just enough progress upwards to go above his arms in the opposite direction this time. But she pauses before that.]

We're about halfway there, so it shouldn't take much longer...um...how are you doing?

[It seems right to ask, despite the fact nothing's really changed.]

[dvmn]

[He grows a little tense in his stillness, the constriction spreading through his muscles in a light fearful anticipation of the unknown of what she was about to do with that tiny ball of light. Fortunately if things went dreadfully wrong, well... he's had one of his arms reattached before, and it wasn't that big of a deal. But the rub was he'd prefer keep those less-human aspects of himself under wraps.

Even though she was definitely doing... whatever she was doing. Maybe she wasn't as nervous about people knowing about it??

He sees what she's doing, and his grow wider and wider. Wow, she's really cutting through it, huh? It's pretty impressive, given he couldn't even tear his way out with all of his strength. Her question stirs him from his daze, and he blinks a few times before looking to her, eyes still wide and bright and brimming with plenty of questions.]

Yeah, uh, [and with just about as much tact as he's known for:] if you don't mind me asking, what the fuck are you doing? And how??

[Said with a tone of awe more than anything else...]

[lssj]

[Her initial reaction is...confusion, flat out, entirely visible on her face. Ki control is just about something every saiyan can do; depending on how strong a baby is, it could probably fly before it even knows how to walk, even if letting your child fly around unattended would be incredibly dangerous.

But that's aside the point. What matters is he's asking her about something incredibly commonplace not only on her world, but commonplace to most parts of the universe she's read about. The fact he doesn't know...

Could Akira be some kind of space hick???]

This is, um...it's just ki. [She...waves her hand a little to bring attention to it, as if that answers everything.] Sorry, it's just...not something I'm used to being asked. You really can't do it too?

[dvmn]

[When he registers the confusion on her face, his turns into a mirror to reflect it, looking confounded himself.

He's starting to get the feeling that the answer he's going to get is gonna be even weirder than what she's doing in the first place.

(She can absolutely think he's a space hick, though; from her perspective that's probably true.)]

...Ki? [Like... I mean, he's heard of ki, it has to do with martial artists and monks and stuff (well, that's what martial arts movies and anime has taught him, anyway).] Uhh, no, definitely not. [He can do some weird shit but nothing like that, anyway.] Stuff like this really that commonplace for you? Being able to shoot laserbeams and stuff outta your hands?