( 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

clara oswald || doctor who

[oddbod]

[004. noises]

[The noises start on Clara's third day, rattling her out of the closest thing to sleep she's been able to manage. Without the rush of blood and the whistle of breath in her ears, everything on this ship is too loud, but she's been learning to tune it all out into background noise.

Clunk. Clunk. Then, a bang. Then-

She flies out of bed and into the corridor, where she's sure the scream came from. Empty, of course, and almost silent, but she can still hear the echoes, soft and tinny and... behind her?

An hour later finds her elbows-deep in the paneling just outside her quarters, a screwdriver between her teeth, brows furrowed. When she sees she has company, she spits out the tool and gives a distracted smile.]

Sorry, don't mind me. Just looking for someth- [There's another sound - a metallic thwack - and Clara turns back towards it, using the light of her communicator to peer into the hole she's made.]

[005. action (cw: blood, self-injury)]

[In hindsight, she should have waited until she found the right supplies.]

Excuse me.

[She's rifling through a cupboard in the mess hall, but it's clumsy work with only one free hand. The other, you'll quickly notice, is wrapped up in what seems to be pillowcase, and she seems to be making an effort to hold it level.]

Have you seen anything for stitches?

[00X. wildcard]

[Let me know via PM or plurk - gizmatico - if you have something else in mind!]

[neuralnet]

[ Haruto sees the woman raiding a cupboard, her hand wrapped up much like he'd attempted to bandage his own forehead when he'd arrived. Silently, he makes his way over to the wall panel that hides the first aid kit, prying it open with a small amount of difficulty, and pulling out the kit from inside. ]

Here. This should have what you're looking for.

[ As if to illustrate its usefulness, he gestures to his own stitched up forehead. ]

[oddbod]

[Clara looks down at the kit in his hand, and then at the stitches over his brow, and her eyes light up a bit in relief.]

Thanks, mate, you're a life saver. [A beat.] Well, a pillowcase saver.

[She smiles at her own joke, then turns to sit down at the nearest table. She rests her wrapped arm across the surface, grimacing a bit at the motion.]

You might not want to look.

[neuralnet]

[ It's only when she says he might not want to look that Haruto realizes he's been staring. He quickly turns away, putting his back to her, and speaking to her while he faces the wall. ]

Did you injure yourself here, or did you arrive injured?

[oddbod]

Here.

[There's the sound of her removing the fabric, and then the click of the first aid kit opening.]

I woke up with this... thing, in my arm.

noises

[newroutine]

[On deck six, the Butler steps out of room two, the one that assigned itself to him despite being human quarters a robot really shouldn't be entitled to. He's spent some time inside the network, losing focus on his body in a way that isn't much like sleep.]

[Spotting one of the humans with better claim to human crew quarters would make him pause, but the fact that the young lady appears to be disassembling the wall sends him to find out why.]

Pardon us, madam, but may we be of any assistance?

[He hopes his voice with its committee-designed British accent reassures people even when his obvious robot features unnerve them. This station certainly has a great variety of people.]

[What is that sound? The Butler hasn't been paying enough attention for the past few hours to be certain.]

[oddbod]

[For what it's worth, Clara doesn't seem unnerved at all by his robotic presence. She glances up once, gives a polite smile.]

Maybe, if you can tell me what all the noise is about.

[Her reply is punctuated by a particularly loud clang, and she turns sharply back towards the wall, brow furrowed in determination.]

I thought there must be an air duct, carrying it from somewhere, but- [Clunk. Clang.] -I don't see anything.

[newroutine]

[The Butler would have hated to hear any such racket in the walls of his Master's manor. Here, it's not quite as personal...yet all the more disturbing for his complete lack of knowledge on what might mend the problem.]

A disturbing noise, but not familiar, we fear.

[He shakes his head in apology.]

We could hold a light for you, madam, but we have not yet become an expert on the station ductwork.

[The handlight is still attached to his Reverie jumpsuit; he unclips it. Is there a way to become an expert that does not involve looking into every single duct? A manual or a plan might be nice, so of course it is not accessible to the kidnap victims.]

[oddbod]

A light would be superb.

[Oh, she loves nice robots. Scooting aside just a bit, she makes room for him to get the light into the open panel. It illuminates much more than the device had.]

... So, "we"? Is there more than one of you in there?

noises

[tumang]

[ This station makes the kind of noises Amos is used to. The low hum of the air recyclers suddenly kicking in at random intervals, the metal clanging echoing through the corridors, airlocks hissing with depressurizing, zipping of jumpsuits, clinking of spoons against bowls -

The screams, though. They're new.

He's not entirely sure why he follows the noise. Probably just because he can't sleep, and what if - what if. Better check it out, anyway.

He walks through the corridors carefully because he still doesn't have a weapon and this is really starting to grate on him. Regularly, the screams come back, and Amos taps his knuckles against the walls to try and find out where is anything hollow.

Until he stumbles upon a girl, who apparently broke apart the metal panel like it's going out of style. Amos can't help taking a step forward. ]

Well, we better hope to fucking Christ that you're not poking through life support systems, here.

[oddbod]

[She wipes her hand across her brow and gives him a half-amused look.]

Let me know if it stops working, and I'll back off.

[There's a focused urgency to her words and actions, but it's smoothed over with something almost flippant. While she's taking this seriously, she's not panicked in the slightest. She likes a good challenge, after all.]

[tumang]

[ He doesn't even blink, and his voice doesn't even take on any inflection as he speaks next, just cold. ]

You mean when you kill us all?

[ The moment she breaks something vital, they're all doomed. She seems to give no fucks about that, which he can respect, but he's not on this shithole of a station to die. ]

You an engineer?

action

[oorah]

[ he sees her trying to sew herself up and comes to help - he's no doctor but he's done it enough times on himself. but when he sits down across from her, both his hands are bandaged. looks like she's not to only one going around damaging themselves here. frank doesn't say anything, just gestures for her to hand him the needle. ]

[oddbod]

[Clara almost doesn't relinquish it. She's stubborn, and she hates little more than being shown up by some man, but then she looks back down at her arm.

Okay, yeah, he can do it.

The cut is about four inches long, covering the middle half of her inner forearm, and from first glance it's strange. There's no redness, no swelling. It's like someone cut open paper, and there just happens to be a flesh and veins and tendons beneath it. There is blood, but it's stationary, waiting to spill only if she tilts her arm.]

Think I'll live, doc?

[Dry, a little too cavalier considering the circumstances.]

[oorah]

[ it is weird, especially for how this spot usually bleeds. but he doesn't need to think about it, he just needs to focus on the task at hand. he waits patiently for her to deem him competent, but only gives her an eyebrow raise for the question. ]

You clean this already? [ the wound. he pulls a lighter out of his pocket to sterilize the needle, heating it up while he waits for a reply. ]

noises

[subplot]

[Karen's making her way down the hall with her ear nearly pressed against the cool metal of the walls. She can hear the echoes of cries for help, hear the remains of screams from within them. At first she thinks it's something like the door, a strange occurrence that probably shouldn't be happening. Maybe she's hearing things. But as she rounds a corner and makes her way down a new corridor, she spots a woman that definitely looks like she's meddling with something.

Snooping and meddling are her calling cards, so Karen pulls away from the wall and heads across the hall to make her way on over.]

I'm looking for something too.

[Without being invited, she turns on the light of her communicator to help shine a brighter light inside the hole, and leans in like she's just going to help look for things. She has no idea what they're looking for, but color her interested.]

Have you heard someone screaming?

[oddbod]

[At the mention of the screams, Clara's expression goes from distracted and pleasant to hyper-focused, brows slanting over her wide eyes.]

Yeah, a few times. Woke me up.

[She scoots over, giving Karen more room to peer into the opening. She's carefully cordoned the wiring aside, to better see up and down the dark expanse within the wall.]

I thought there might be a vent, or a duct. Something carrying the noise from another room.

[subplot]

[When more room is made for her, Karen leans in closer to peer inside. She knows absolutely nothing about wires or anything that might be lurking in this wall, but she figures she'll know enough to recognize if something is out of place.]

That's what I thought too. But I think the ducts are all hidden up above us.

[She takes a second to look from the wall and over to Clara, eyeing her up and down.]

Do you think we could fit inside if we found a way to get in?

[Clara's short and small, and Karen is rail thin but tall. She figures that they'd be able to make it work. A vent crawling expedition sounds pretty exciting, actually.]

We might be able to reach the areas that are behind locked doors that way.

005.

[donkeyballs]

Woah, woah, what happened? [Have a very worried man with a texan drawl holding his hands up and looking at her wrapped up arm.]

Saw a man with a med kit around here earlier, but it didn't have much in it an' I can't say it had a hypo-spray or anything useful for stitches. You alright there, darlin'?

[oddbod]

[An American, and a chatty one at that. Clara can't help but wrinkle her nose just the slightest bit at the pet name.]

I'm fine. [Clipped, brusque.] It's not actually bleeding, it's just... open.

[donkeyballs]

[Definitely not an American, but hey, no one would blame her for thinking so.

He looks a little confused at that.]

Well, not bleedin's a start, though usually anything you need stitches for is gonna keep bleedin anyway. Come on, let's see if we can find you a med kit, at least. Bandage it up with somethin' proper before you try stickin' needles in it.

[004. noises]

[magneticfields]

[ Most of the residents has fallen into some sort of circadian rhythm despite the fact that there is no actual day-night cycle on the station. There are the handful of insomniacs who can't quite manage this, Erik among them. He sees the woman attacking the wall on his way to try again at one of the locked doors. He leaves her to her business. But when he returns, exhausted by his own failure, he's confronted with the mess she's made. ]

Did you lose something?

[ He asks in a very unimpressed tone of voice. Under other circumstances he would continue to leave her to her business but he has to cross the mess to get back to his own quarters anyway. ]

[oddbod]

[Clara looks up, surprised, and quickly realizes that she's spread her efforts out a bit too far into the corridor. With an apologetic smile, she reaches to collect the discarded panel.]

Sorry, sorry. [She's not, really, particularly to someone being so standoffish, but she's nothing if not polite.] I'm trying to figure out where- [Oh, there's another one now, a clank from the opening in the wall.] That, right there!

[magneticfields]

[ He knows how much English-style reflexive apologies are worth, and doesn't bother acknowledging it. He's about to make a comment about figuring out where all the wiring she ripped out of the walls goes when he hears the clank as well. ]

What was that?

[ He glares at the wall as if that will reveal the answer. Then steps closer and places his palm on the panel over the part where he heard the sound. ]

Is that what happened here? [ He gestures at where she's dismantled the walls. ] You heard a sound each time?

005

[givenofox]

[ Blood and injuries are nothing new for Ren, so he doesn't even blink when Clara addresses him and he notices the wound. ]

I haven't...but if you could find a way to cut the pillow case small enough...

[ Stitches are something he has quite a bit of experience with. Ren's absolutely covered in scars from the shoulders down. ]

Honestly, if we can sterilize it, you could use pretty much anything. I could do it for you? I'm pretty used to it.