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

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

» 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:

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

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Air filters were, indeed, only a small part of the life support systems - though unlike Frank, Alex was not worried about the power too much. He was used to stations that had power supplies that could last essentially for decades - thanks nuclear fusion. If they were running any engines, that would be a different problem all together - fuel they could burn out of pretty quickly. But he wasn't even sure the station had engines.

At the 'joke' Alex looked amused - if only because it was a sentiment he'd heard before, with a lot less supposed humour.]

I don't think any of us would like to be around that long, friend, so let's hope it don't come to that. There's gotta be a way we got here, so there's gotta be a way to get back. We'll find it.

[ he likes the confidence with which alex says that and he nods, latching onto it even if he looks about .00000000000001% as sure. ]

Hope you're right, sailor. [ get it navy he's full of terrible jokes ok. it's all he has left other than sadness. ]

[He may think it's a joke, but it's a joke that's older than Alex is, and one that warms his heart immediately - the same warmth spreading right into his smile.]

Ain't worth focusing on the otherwise. [And it wasn't. They were going to save everyone. End of discussion.

Nothing else was acceptable.

He finished his drink and pushed the empty glass across the counter, to get another, and offered a hand.]

Alex Kamal.

[ that gets a steadier nod, even as he hesitantly reaches out to clasp the man's hand. his grip is strong and firm despite the uncertainty briefly splayed across his face. ]

Frank Castiglione. [ it's almost like a joke, too. one identity married to the other. there's further hesitation over the next part, but there's always an ease between veterans he seeks. and to that end it's natural to be honest about it even as he pulls back to pour the man's refill. ] United States Marine Corps. [ well- ] Former.

Edited 2018-05-11 20:24 (UTC)

Good to meet you, Frank. [He didn't seem bothered by the hesitation, and his shake was sure and firm but there wasn't any of the squeezing-too-hard that some people did as if it would 'establish dominance'. It was just friendly.]

Yeah, had you pegged for an Earther. Can see it in the way you walk. [People who grew up under Earth's oppressive gravity had their bones and their muscles grow differently. They stood differently, walked differently. They expected the horizon at a different height. They weren't hard to spot.]

Former Navy, too, technically. Served my twenty, honourable discharge. [But then something occurred to him, and he frowned.] Wait - did you just say the United States? Not the United Nations?

[ it makes him smile, though to anyone else it's merely a twitch of lips, pouring himself another few fingers. figured you for a new yorker. basic was a lifetime ago, but the rest - barring space metaphors - is familiar. he takes a long, savoring drink before wiping his bandaged hand across his mouth and leaning towards alex a little. ]

Your thing isn't as obvious. Thought you might be... greener. [ jokes jokes jokes ]

That's what I said, yeah. [ he hesitates again, clutching the glass a little too hard in his hand. for all the time shenanigans he's had to put up with, he's not sure he's prepared to hear that america isn't a thing anymore by alex's timeline, but he can guess that's where it's going anyway. a part of him feels vindicated, those bastards deserved to have everything taken from them. but the same couldn't be said for the american people. he sees lady liberty in his mind's eye then, can feel the weight of his daughter and son flanking him on the ride to staten island, the acrid atlantic filling their nostrils- ] It's 2016 for me. [ he takes the rest of his glass down like a shot. here goes nothing. ]

[He doesn't get the green joke. Just a few hundred years out of date. All the jokes now talk are about Martian dust in the blood.

His face falls a little, at the year. He'd been hoping, when Frank didn't make weird mention of if, that being from Mars was a normal thing, where he was from. That maybe he was from the same year that he and Amos and Naomi were from. The same system. But no. Seemed almost everyone on this station was from elsewhere. Or else-when.]

Right. Shit, that ain't ever gonna stop throwin' me for a loop. [He swirled his drink around in his glass before taking a sip. Slower, this time.] That's over three hundred years back. Earth didn't even have space stations, yet, right? At least not proper ones.

[ he would actually feel bad to know his chillness threw alex off. but no, he's just heard too much shit this week to really blink at it. martian navy? motherfucking alright then, why not. ]

Not that they tell us about. [ frank shrugs, he had one of the highest security clearances there were, but all the government is for is keeping secrets, right? ] Brooklyn is about as close as I get to alien life.

[ more jokes alex won't get. he's noticing it at least and mentioning something relevant as if thinking of it just then. but no one forgets something like this, not even for a moment. ] We had an invasion once. Called, uh- Chitauri. Something like that. They leveled half of New York City back in 2011.

[ The joke about Brooklyn is lost on him. If it had been about Baltimore, though, he would have laughed.

Even though as Frank spoke, he felt less and less like laughing.]

... You ain't from the same Earth. [Said sort of heavily, because Frank wasn't the first.] The protomolecule's the first sign of alien we've ever had, in hundreds of years bein' in space.

[ frank just shrugs a shoulder then nods, ding ding ding we have a winner. he even taps the end of his nose in agreement. ]

What the heck is a protomolecule?

[He let out a long breath, and then finished his drink. He was going to need it.]

Wish I could tell you, hoss. I can't tell you what it is. I can only tell you what it does. It's some kind of lifeform that re-purposes everything it can get its hands on at a molecular level. An' I don't just mean things.

I mean people. In it's base form, it don't look like much at all - just a blue, glowing goo. But it changes' things and it eats energy to get bigger.

And it defies the god damned laws of physics, when it wants to.

Edited 2018-05-13 01:49 (UTC)

[ amos said something about blue goo when he first met him. frank frowns as he tries to reconcile what he's being told, rocking his glass back and forth in his hand and watching the sloshing liquid rather than alex's face. ]

I keep wishing this guy I know was here. [ yeah, just some guy. not his partner, not his fucking brother and best friend; his confidant. ] He's way better at all this nerd shit than me.

Anyway, sounds like a party. [ now he'll finish his drink too ]

What guy? [Obviously Alex wouldn't know him, but that didn't mean he didn't want to hear about him.]

And yeah. Party's a word for it. Let's just hope this station ain't invited.

[ the question catches him off-guard, thinking it's strange alex would ask about a guy he doesn't know that frank casually gleaned over. maybe he's bored though, bartenders usually talk to their patrons right? not like he's a real bartender, and alex sure isn't a real customer. but maybe it loosens his lips a little more after space whiskey had already taken its hold. ]

A friend of mine. Goes by Micro. [ because even here, he feels like he has to protect him, frank doesn't say david. he frowns, realizing how selfish it is to wish david were here in the first place. frank pours another drink while he talks. ] He's, uh. You know, a computer genius. Or whatever. He'd probably have this place eating out of the palm of his hand after two days.

[ he meets alex's eyes fleetingly as he pours the other man a top-up too, leaning close now, their elbows only an inch away as he props himself up against the bar and takes a drink. ]

He shouldn't be here though, not for real. He's... he's got people who count on him. Kids. A family. [ it's telling how much he hesitates over the words, like they're foreign to him. but then he just shrugs, clinking his glass against the other's before chugging down the equivalent of a shot or maybe a little more. ]

Sounds like a useful man to have around, [Alex agreed, commiserating.]

[He gives a silent nod of thanks when Frank fills his cup, and goes to drink it when the man continues. He pauses, glass almost to his lips, a sinking feeling suddenly in his gut.

Damn.

Damn.

He took the drink after all - just a quarter of what was in the glass - and then set it back down, before his hands idly went went fiddle with the wedding ring on his finger - the band a dark gunmetal grey with a slight glint of red - the exact colour of martian dust. He didn't seem to notice that he even went for it - it was entirely a subconscious motion.]

... Probably for the best. [ He could agree on that, even if it settled a hell of a lot of guilt into his gut. ]

[ he opens his mouth to agree - or maybe to complain about how micro never cleaned his gun. he was damn good at playing dead though. and saving frank from fires he started himself. but then his eyes are tracking to that wedding ring and he's kicking himself for not noticing before, so caught up in his own stupid thoughts. ]

Sorry. I didn't-- [ he didn't know, but he also hadn't really considered. he should have, there are kids here. teenagers. so surely there must be parents too, it would hold. frank swallows, hanging his head and staring into the remaining liquid, just a shallow covering of the base. ] Sorry.

[ he forces out a breath and pushes himself to stand at full height, though he instantly wavers a little. tomorrow is going to be another lost morning if he keeps going like this. but what does it matter, really? he's useless here. ]

So. Blue goo, huh?

[ Alex raised a hand, shaking his head. ]

's alright. They're okay. They're safe, whether I'm there or not. [He took another drink, grimacing a little, before setting the glass back down. Then, he gave a little half-hearted laugh, and a smile that was more grief than it was anything else, and added:]

They already thought I was dead, anyway.

[He looked up.]

And yeah. All thanks to that Blue Goo.

[ and isn't that familiar. micro, alone, watching the monitors of his family living on without him, thinking he's gone. mourning his loss. his eyes widen a little, fear easily plucked out of them. if they never get out of here, alex's kids will never see him again. kamala's parents will never see her either. just because he has no one left to live for doesn't mean everyone else on this barge is the same. ]

Where'd it come from? [ the protomolecule. it sounds pretty serious now that he's heard about it from two different parties. ]

No damn idea. [He knocked back the rest of his drink.] Somewhere else is about all I can tell you. Extraterrestrial. Alien.

They found it on Phoebe - one of Saturn's moons - and they had the stupid damn idea to mess with it. It had been there for - damn, who even knows how the hell long - and it could have just kept on lyin' dormant forever, but they found it and like every damn idjit in history thought they could use it.

They're still tryin'. 'Cause who gives a damn about a hundred thousand belters anyway, right?

[ this is already reminding him of the infinity stone. the tesseract. whatever that thing was that nearly brought his city down. everyone thinks they can harness power until they have it. then it's not as easy as they thought. and someone always lines up to take it away from you anyway. ]

...Belters? [ if this is another genocide thing he quits space. consider this his resignation letter. ]

[ Alex looked confused at the question for a second, then shook his head, remembering. ]

Right. Sorry, 'course you wouldn't know.

Mars ain't the only colony in the solar system. Just one of the biggest ones, and the only planet-side one. Out in the Belt - the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter - there's millions of people that eke out a livin' clingin' to rocks. Ceres, Eros - big enough asteroids that ages ago they could build minin' stations on them. Only thing is, it's been a few generations since they were first built. Most of the people who lived out there grew up there, too. And they ain't even got as much gravity as Mars does.

On Mars, we all have to train at one gee - build our muscles up to get used to it, just in case. [ In case of a Martian invasion of Earth, he doesn't say. ] But in the belt, or out beyond 'er, they live at minimum gravity all the time. Their bodies don't quite grow up right. On Mars it just means we tend to get taller and leaner than your average Earther - but that effect is multiplied in the Belt.

Thing is, means no one on the Belt is ever gonna set foot on Earth. The gravity would literally crush 'em. So Earth loves to treat 'em like they ain't even human, anymore. Or at least a hell of a lot less than one.

[So did Mars, but he really didn't like thinking about that.]

So when they wanted to experiment with the protomolecule on people... [He trailed off to let Frank finish that sentence on his own.]

[ alex doesn't have to say the things he's leaving out because frank is pretty good at reading between the lines. even when it comes to space politics that won't happen in his lifetime. he pictures it, the different worlds alex describes, and their people. and when the other man gets to the end, he pushes out a sharp breath through his nose, abandoning his glass as he feels a wave of nausea pass over him. ]

Genocide. [ just an observation, a disgusted one at that. first rogue and now alex, telling him about future worlds where people tear each other apart. are there no alternate realities where people stop being fuckfaces? frank wants that timeline if so. he just fought an entire war only to be dragged here. he really doesn't want to think about what alex is telling him now, but it's too late for that. ]

[Sorry, Frank. He'd rather not think about it either, but... He nods, solemnly.]

All in the name of an 'experiment'.

Only it backfired on 'em. The protomolecule ended up takin' over the entire asteroid - turned it into a god damned space ship, breakin' nearly every damned law of physics in the process. Headed straight for Earth. Only thing that managed to stop it-- [He sighed.]

A Belter got into it, somehow managed to divert it. Crashed into Venus instead. Thought that killed it, but now it's down there doin' who knows what.

Anyway. Point is, if it ends up here, don't touch it. Cut it off from any power sources that you can.

Turned it... into a spaceship. [ yep that's pretty solidly off the (physics) books. jesus. he understands the rest after another second. someone went down with the ship to save the world, and it was a belter, the very people who had been wronged. it reminds him of dinah madani in a weird way. ]

Got it. [ and frank is listening, it isn't dismissive. ] Someone else told me - about that stuff. Amos? You know him?

[Alex's face lights up a little, with honest fondness, and the smile crinkles at the edges of his eyes.]

Damn right, I know him. Brother is on my crew - man of the Roci, same as me. And I'm damn glad he's here, I'll be honest. If I'da been the first one to show up and not know where any of the others were, I would be in a hell of a darker state than he seemed to be.

But if we're here, the rest of the crew's gotta be around somewhere, I figure.

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

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