SO BELOW - EVENT LOG

[pluviosamods]

SO BELOW

With a slightly bump that can be felt throughout the ship, progress levels out. The skies above are threatening rain, but there aren't any drops falling from the sky... Yet.

Not that you'd know it, looking out the windows. A foreign ocean stands outside, on the other side of the glass - the ghost of an ocean, long gone from the truth of this world.

Just like so many other things, which have become visible to those who are willing to pay attention.

This is the event log for SO BELOW. Information for the first part of the Event (days 15 and 16) can be found here, along with sign-up options for the second part of the event.

Comments

[airplaneskyward]

Shang Beida holds tightly to Casper and the railing both. "Here we go..."

The ship lurches into motion, galloping forward with teeth-jarring steps until it leaps into the air and holy fuck that is a long way down. The engines propel them forward and. Okay. Flying boat. That's a thing.

"...I wonder if the flying engines use the whatever energy that poisoned everything with radiation," he says, because he is always going to focus on the stupidest possible detail. He squeezes his arm around Casper while they're in the air and not bouncing. "You okay, baobei?"

[helborn]

He doesn't seem to mind the height, letting his arms dangle over the edge. It's kind of exciting, seeing everything from this angle - he kind of wants to fly again. It's been a while since he's had a good flight.

"Maybe it does. I'm not sure. We could ask the Ship." He nods a little bit at the question. "Hm? I'm fine. Heights don't bother me. It's depths that do." He smiles softly at his boyfriend. "What about you?"

[airplaneskyward]

Heights do kinda lose their edge when you can fly. "I'm good. I didn't realize we were avoiding the like... Mariana Trench? Obviously not that because this isn't Earth, but. Yknow. The equivalent. Like goddamn that is just a.... really big crack in the earth. Canyon, I guess, now that it isn't underwater? I don't know geological...y terms. Geology, that was the word I wanted. But yeah just like... there has to be a reason it walks rather than flying everywhere. Like, the legs don't look... original to it? I assumed it was legs on an ocean liner, but if it's legs on an airship... there must be a reason they thought walking was better than flying. Either they didn't have the energy for flight, or there was a reason not to use it. And, uh. What the ghost I talked to said about the radiation was. Alarming."

[helborn]

"Yeah, no I was thinking that too. It must have a limited energy supply, or not have a way to convert whatever it's using into fuel efficiently enough to have a large store of it. Walking might take less energy than flying since you'd only need to power a leg the instant you need it to move, rather than constantly. And it's probably easier with the weight distribution and I'm rambling again, sorry." Not that Shang Beida doesn't, but still.

"What did the ghost say? ... How bad is it?"

[airplaneskyward]

"Baobei I was absolutely rambling that is the last thing you need to apologize for." He bumps the other with his shoulder companionably. "And yeah like... the ship is heavy as hell, and the like, physical structure of the leg itself would do a lot of the work holding it up, versus flight would need to like, hold the entire thing, and also move it."

"He said the shields on the ship would probably only keep the radiation out a few hundred more years... that it started before even his grandparents were born but there was some kind of energy source developed that went wrong somehow and was poisoning everything with radiation. I think everyone moved into cities that were shielded against it, but the shields were powered by the same thing that created the radiation, so it just kept... getting worse until... until all there was was this. I don't know what happened to the cities. I don't know why they didn't stop before it was too late. And I don't know how long ago he was alive, if there's, if we have a time limit ticking down on the radiation hitting us. I mean, no matter how long ago it was there's a time limit, but there's a difference between it being in a hundred years and it being like, next week. Sorry, I'm... that's depressing and alarming and all. I just can't stop thinking about it."

[helborn]

He feels the other bump his shoulder and he huffs. "Okay well. I know saying 'don't think about it' is not going to do anything useful. As for the radiation..." He's not sure how much that would affect him? "We could ask the Ship how long the barrier has left. And like... we're probably okay? I don't know how old the ghosts here are. It's not like I know fashion trends of the future Leg Boat people."

Anyway. Hm. "The domed cities kind of remind me of a book I read once? With kids fighting a virtual war that mas like a proxy war and - I dunno, I'm not usually a science fiction person but I think most civilizations that isolate themselves die out pretty fast if they don't have the resources to keep them sustained? And if there was radiation everywhere I can't see where they'd have enough resources to wait it out. I think radiation takes a really long time to go away depending on what kind it is?"

[airplaneskyward]

"Yeah I tried to be like what year is it for you, so I could like, ask the ship what year it was... but asking the ship about the shield would be a lot more. Like. Efficient. I don't know why that didn't occur to me. But... yeah, but like. Look at the Ship, they've got all this layered space full of farms--they clearly had the technology to make the most of space and grow food? Did the cities not have the shit the boat has, but if they didn't, why the hell not? ...Is all this spatial shit powered by radiation murder energy too? What is powering the shield and the spatial shit and the just, fucking everything?"

"...But yeah, the radiation definitely takes a long-ass time to go away, since it's apparently still all... deathworld out there. I wonder if the Ship knows the half-life..."

The other side of the trench is coming up. "...I think we're gonna land soon. Let's uh. Try not to bite our tongues off I guess." He braces himself, holding tight to the railing and Casper both.

[helborn]

He nods and holds his boyfriend close. "I've got you, schatzi." He presses a kiss to his boyfriend's temple and braces for landing -

It's a little harder than he'd hope, but the ship continues running in a rough, wobbly jog. He holds on to Shang Beida a little longer until the ship smooths out. ... The rain doesn't bother him as it starts to trickle down, but...

"Looks like it's going to get worse." He starts unwrapping himself from the railing and reaches over to help his boyfriend.

[airplaneskyward]

God, he thinks he could probably brave the Endless Abyss if Casper was holding him all protective like that. I’ve got you. It still makes his heart flip.

It doesn’t take long to get off the railing and out of the harness with Casper’s help, and he’s as glad to head towards indoors and out of the rain. “Wet robes,” he complains vaguely, then distracts himself by leaning in to kiss Casper. “Love you, baobei.”

[helborn]

He blushes faintly and nods. "Yeah... love you too." What else should he even say to that?

As they head back under the cover of Ship, Casper catches some water in his hand idly. ... Hm. He grabs his boyfriend's hand as they get under the overhang of the upper levels. "... I want to try something." He taps his leg and suddenly there's a clear baseball bat with a blue core in his hand.

He holds it out towards the rain and Shang Beida might be able to sense some energy flowing from him to the bat until -

The water collected on the deck around them suddenly freezes, then reaches upwards into a number of spindly threads. The tip of each thread starts to 'bloom' into a flower - a little childish, a little rough, but unmistakably a flower on each one. The flowers form into a 'carpet' about thirty feet long. ... Pieces are getting shattered by the ever increasing rain, but he pulls his boyfriend into a kiss, bending him slightly backwards as his arms wrap around Shang Beida. He doesn't care if he's getting wetter - his heart is too warm.

Finally he lets his boyfriend go, smiling. The baseball bat disappears as he taps it to his leg. "It might be really temporary, but I... um. ... I wanted to make something for you."

[airplaneskyward]

Casper manifests a baseball bat out of his leg and right, that’s kind of his spiritual weapon, isn’t it? Shang Beida isn’t sure what he’s doing, as ice forms and rises with a familiar wave of cold, and… blooms. A field of flowers, glittering and shining in the dim light coming through the clouds.

And then Casper pulls him into a kiss, bending him backwards, and Shang Beida wraps his arms around his boyfriend’s neck, overcome by the absolute fucking romance of it all.

He smiles back at Casper when he breaks away, soppy adoration written all over his face. “You’re so fucking sweet. I love it. I love you.” He reaches out and grabs a flower that was enough under the edge of the roof to avoid the rain, carefully channeling spiritual energy into it to hold it in stasis, then tucking it into a qiankun pouch designed for sample collection that preserves its contents. “There. That should hold, I think.”

He can’t resist leaning in to kiss Casper again. “I can’t believe how fucking lucky I am to have met you.”

[helborn]

He just smiles wider and - oh, another kiss? That's... really nice. "I'm... glad you like it. I'm not - I mean Aiden would have been able to make them look better but she's not -" Right, he's trying not to think of his group in his world. "Anyway. Um. I'm just happy you don't think it's stupid. I mean it's just -"

Right. Shut up and take the compliment, Casper. "... I love you. I just... you make me want to do things for you like I'd never done for someone before."

[airplaneskyward]

“This is the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me, baobei. You might as well have anime prince sparkles right now. Which is an incredibly lame otaku thing of me to say but oh well. I don’t care how anyone else could have done it, my boyfriend made me magic flowers.”

He kisses him again and hugs him tight. “Let’s get out of the rain now, though.”

[helborn]

He understands maybe a quarter of that, but he nods and pulls away slightly from the hug, holding on to his boyfriend's hand.

"We can put on some robes and throw stuff in the dryer if you need to."