pluviosamods: (Default)
Pluviosa Mods ([personal profile] pluviosamods) wrote in [community profile] pluviosa2024-02-14 09:13 pm
Entry tags:

GAME OPENING LOG

GAME OPENING
There's still dripping everywhere, and the gurgle of standing water shifting and draining to somewhere further down...

... But the sound of the rain outside has stopped. And you haven't heard the thunder in a while.

Take a moment. Look out the windows, the glass doors leading out to the balconies - the world beyond is lighting up. Mountains stand out against the distant eastern horizon, breaking up the first of the sunlight into scattered beams. The ship chases that light, running eastward towards the glow of dawn. Its motion is easier to bear now that the storm is over - the wind no longer tries to blow it off course.

You've survived the night - survived the storm. You get the feeling it won't be the last.


The storm abates over the course of the night - by midnight, it's dropped back enough that water and wind are no longer forcing their way through the bubble barriers, and by about an hour before sunrise - just when the sky is starting to get light - the rain has stopped completely. The clouds persist a bit longer, giving characters a spectacular sunrise to look at. When the first rays of the sun are visible over the mountains, any characters still affected by hallucinations feel their minds clear.

Fifteen minutes after dawn - about when it's getting to be a pain to look directly in the direction the ship is travelling because of the sun directly in the eyeballs - characters who are sensitive to electricity may sense the power kick back on. It's just in the wires and cables spread throughout the ship, however - the lights don't turn on, although the elevators do.

Five minutes after that, there's a crackle that is audible to all characters, from speakers spread throughout the hallways and rooms of the ship. Not every speaker is functional - some of them just continue to emit static instead of the message that follows - but enough of them are that every character will be able to hear a single piercing beep, followed by an artificial voice in an androgynous tenor:

"ALL PASSENGERS, PLEASE REPORT TO THE AFT LOUNGE ON DECK R-ZERO FOR A HEADCOUNT."

There's silence for a moment, and then another, quieter alert beep, and the same voice adds, almost as an afterthought,

"Please follow the emergency lighting in the hallways for guidance."

After that announcement, strips of lighting on the ceiling of the hallways - the lights are also on the floor, but even after the rain has washed so much dirt away, you're unlikely to see them anywhere except close enough to the stairs that you don't need them - light up. They begin to move in a pattern of diodes that leads characters to the staircases and elevators near the back of the ship, in the somewhat drier part of it that has more decks above the one where characters woke up.

The stairs are now navigable - even if there's still a decent amount of water flowing down them, not entirely contained by the channels cut into the outside of the turns of the staircase - and the elevators are now powered. Well, sort of. Although the elevators have power, the buttons inside do not - all of them are dark. Instead, the elevators automatically move characters upwards after they enter, depositing them on deck R0 for the indicated headcount.

Other than the increasingly large number of confused "passengers," however, there doesn't seem to be anything here. Some furniture in varying states of decay, sure, and puddles and debris from the storm's flooding, but no indication of humans or any other form of sapient life. The space is wide and open, and decently well-lit even with the overhead lights off, since the majority of the walls to either side appear to be made of glass.

AT THE CAFETERIA


Once everyone has assembled - or at least everyone who is willing to come, as nothing forces characters do follow instructions from a strange voice - there is another crackle of speaker feedback. At least there's no blaring alert tone to start this message.

"THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION."

The voice is the same as before - and anyone from a semi-modern world would be able to tell, from the pattern of speech, that this is a synthesized voice, not a real person, or at least not a real person willing to reveal themselves to be such. It speaks entirely in the language characters discovered knowing when they woke up here. The volume of the voice decreases somewhat after the initial announcement gets everyone's attention, but it is still audible to everyone.

"Please excuse the inadequate accommodations. Your arrival was unexpected. This ship has not entertained new passengers in 317 years, 6 months, and 19 days."

"We will do our best to prepare appropriate accommodations as quickly as possible. However, the immediate priority is to supply passengers with meals and other appropriate provisions. Please accept this with our sincerest apologies."

At the close of those words, the elevator doors to either side of the lounge area open, and self-propelled carts - the kind you might see in industrial kitchens - roll out. Their lower shelves are stacked with bowls, cups, and those plastic utensil holders filled with spoons, while the upper halves are full of food and drink. Specifically, the majority are full of cafeteria pans of oatmeal, the kind with the metal lids that keep the heat in. In addition to the oatmeal, there's a wide variety of raw fruits and vegetables, and some additional options for throwing in your oatmeal such as cinnamon, honey, both brown and white sugar, shaved almonds, and other things that can be made from plants and stored for a long time. There are also two carts at either end full of hot drinks - one of tea, one of coffee - and one each of cold drinks such as fruit juice. There do not appear to be any meat or dairy offerings, although there's both almond and soy milk for your coffee if you can tolerate the substitutes. (It tastes somewhat metallic, like it was dehydrated for a long time, but the coffee and tea themselves taste quite fresh.)

Once the carts have wheeled themselves out, the voice continues from the speakers.

"In order to better serve our passengers, we would like to ask you a few questions. First: What is your locale of origin? Second: Why have you come?"

OOC INFO


For OOC questions about this event, please use the OOC Questions header in the comments below. To respond to the Ship's questions, or ask it some of your own, please use the Talk to the Ship header. Otherwise, this post is a mingle, and players are encouraged to post their own top-level comments for their characters and reply to each other.

Following this post, simple food will be available in this area during "active" hours, starting from around dawn to two hours after sunset (the ship's days, at least at present, are about evenly divided). At night, the food carts roll away into one of the restaurants around the edges of this area. Instead, wheeled dumpsters with grabbing attachments collect up the old furniture and cram it into themselves, and starting the second night, 'new' furniture takes its place, mostly dining tables and chairs of various sizes.

Characters now have theoretically full access to the ship; however, the elevators are only mostly functional as debris is cleared from them. The rear elevators go all the way up the residential levels, but only as far down as deck 3. The front elevators only move between decks R0, 0, and 1.

More information on the schedule of shipwide upgrades will be available on the event plotting post in a few days. Until then - at least it's dry weather and smooth sailing for a while?
whydoyoushine: (excuse me peasant)

Zed | Ressha Sentai ToQGer | will match format

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-02-18 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[Light Show]
Zed would have ignored the ship's messages--he does what he wants when he wants, and what he wants doesn't often involve listening to others, thank you very much. It's just that the ship started in on that light show, with those diodes leading him into an elevator. He's entranced with the lights and follows them readily enough, almost but not quite in a trance, he's so focused on the things. They do such a good job of distracting him--and leading him--that he seems almost surprised to end up in the same place as everyone else.

[At the Cafeteria]
Zed, as just the sort of spoiled royalty who's never had to lift a finger for himself in his life and comes from a species that isn't exactly known for eating oatmeal. Darkness created by negative emotions, sure. Oatmeal? Not so much.

He has never seen such slop before, and he stands there in front of one of the serving bowls in confusion, sort of slapping at the oatmeal with the serving spoon like he's just going to go play in everyone's food without eating any of it. The look on his face strongly suggests he has no idea what this stuff even is...because he doesn't.
alzarian: (pic#17017249)

At the cafeteria

[personal profile] alzarian 2024-02-20 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Meanwhile, Adric is back for his third helping. He's perfectly happy with oatmeal, as long as there's lots of it. Certainly better than worm soup.

Stepping next to Zed to grab some more, he notices the taller man being a lot more doubtful. "Don't like oatmeal?" he asks curiously, leaning forward a little to catch the man's eye. He's much more cheerful now he's dry and fed.
whydoyoushine: (lounge)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-02-22 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Is that what it is?" Glop, glop. He's still sort of playing with it. "I've never had it before. Doesn't look worth eating."
astraldownpour: (Default)

Cafeteria

[personal profile] astraldownpour 2024-02-20 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Childe isn't quite happy about being stuck here either, but the guy that talked about...er? Being swallowed, and implying the Ship itself was within something much bigger... Well.

He seemed to be the most interesting of the bunch so far.

So when Childe finds him just... slapping the oatmeal with a spoon, with a very confused look on his face. He strides on up to the other man, a little curious himself as to what was bugging the guy so much.

"I'm pretty sure it's not poisoned. It's just oatmeal. Real bland. Easy to eat. The fruits over there give it some more substance."

The Harbinger himself has already eaten, and is mostly just idly lounging around for now. Happy to be dry and in a place with light, for the meantime. At least until he gets stir crazy and wants to dive right back into the depths of the ship.

"We just have to put up with it for now, I guess."

Childe himself didn't actually mind, but he knew it wasn't what everyone liked.
whydoyoushine: (profile thinking)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-03-06 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"So it's food, then?" Zed has never seen such a thing. Such is life when you are very sheltered and very royal. "Doesn't look like it."

He's not making any efforts to eat it himself, but he has at least stopped playing with it.
astraldownpour: (nice)

[personal profile] astraldownpour 2024-03-09 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, it is. You don't need a lot to feel full, either."

Childe wasn't gonna force the guy to eat if he didn't trust the food. Fair enough, really.

"It's probably not poisoned. I don't see anyone dropping dead."

Yet.

"I'm Childe. Figured I'd come say hi, since we're all stuck here together."
whydoyoushine: (Default)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-03-28 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, I wouldn't think it would be." Poisoning isn't Gritta's style, and he's still not entirely convinced they aren't inside there.

He doesn't appear to be in any rush to eat it, but at least he stops playing with it. Maybe he'll try it later; he hasn't decided yet.

And hey, an introduction! Might as well return that. "Oh, I'm Zed." There's a pause. "The Emperor of Darkness." Said casually, almost flippantly.
astraldownpour: (niceboy)

[personal profile] astraldownpour 2024-03-31 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, good. Feels like most people are a bit worried about it." Childe had eaten it and he was fine, so far.

The.... Emperor of Darkness? Childe isn't one to judge, he's really not, as his Foul Legacy transformation technique was quite literally The Foul's Legacy, but. He didn't make that his title.

To each their own! Childe had his own title, but he wasn't quite handing it out. That didn't stop others who knew of him from using it, though.

"It's nice to meet you, Zed, Emperor of Darkness. I like the title, it has a cool ring to it."

One not unlike the evil foes in his childhood stories, and names he made up for enemies he'd felled in his own, to keep things silly and lighthearted for his younger siblings. If almost everyone here seemed to be from wildly different places, it was no wonder that maybe someone might be ripped from a world in a storybook.

Unless that sort of thing carried real weight in Zed's world. His own world had a few pretty silly names here and there. Regrator's title was Pantalone.
whydoyoushine: (chillin' with my homeboys)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-04-03 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
The good news is that Zed lacks both the imagination and the context to theorize that the food could be some sort of glandular secretions. Everyone has been spared the horrors.

The food is less interesting now anyway; Childe is being casual when being presented with royalty. That is refreshing. Zed grins. "I'm head of the Shadow Line. Comes with the territory."
astraldownpour: (nice)

[personal profile] astraldownpour 2024-04-07 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately for most royalty, Childe respected one, and only one ruler. The Tsaritsa's radiance, her gentleness, her ferocity, was unmatched by any other who might call themself such. Childe had no care for false gods and kings; She was the only one he had pledged himself to.

"Head of a family, huh? I thought I had my hands full." He says with a laugh, before laying a hand over his heart. "I'm a Harbinger. I act as my Tsaritsa's sword."

Head of the Shadow Line... All this talk of Darkness and Shadows... It was enough to make the Harbinger think that this guy was probably a bad guy, wherever he was from.

The redhead was in good company then. Zed even seemed like someone who wasn't completely drunk on being the most conniving evil freak ever. It was just as refreshing for Childe, a guy used to every one of his coworkers trying to back stab one another just to get ahead. It was a rat race he wanted no part of.

Childe returns the grin.

"If you ever find yourself in any trouble, give me a shout."
Edited 2024-04-07 17:01 (UTC)
airplaneskyward: (Default)

[personal profile] airplaneskyward 2024-02-21 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
There’s someone else in the cafeteria who looks Asian, with what feels like incredibly dark demonic qi, dressed like royalty, and acting utterly baffled by some kind of grain porridge.
Shang Qinghua imagines how Mobei-Jun would react to these trays of food, and yeah, there are some familiar notes here! Maybe he can ingratiate himself with someone? And avoid making enemies of someone? He’s already afraid of like three people, he’d prefer to keep that count as low as possible.
“Ah, gongzi, does the food offend? The fruits may be of more palatable quality than the porridges, in an unknown kitchen? I could certainly wish for some ordinary rice or congee!” If he’s going to trust the food at all, which he hasn’t decided on.
whydoyoushine: (skeptical)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-03-10 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's food?" Like he's never seen such a thing before. Zed's not at all worried about the other people here; he is very much confident in himself and his ability to deal with anything or anyone that might try to give him trouble. "Doesn't look worth eating."
airplaneskyward: (lowkey)

[personal profile] airplaneskyward 2024-03-11 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
"It may be, ah, a sort of... inexpensive and simple dish? The currently available rations do not appear... focused on luxury? I am unfamiliar with the specifics, but it certainly seems some sort of porridge." China is much bigger on congee than oatmeal, but like, porridge is porridge. "As our host did not expect us, perhaps they are putting... limited effort into the available food?" Weird fancy guy doesn't seem like, aggressive, though his bafflement at the concept of this being food... "Is your diet, ah, notably different from such things, gongzi?" Please don't be a demon who prefers to eat rotten human flesh, he really has had enough of those for a lifetime.
whydoyoushine: (Default)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-03-28 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, there's enough darkness around here, I don't even think I need to eat anything." Zed sort of waves the thought away. At least there's no indication he's a demon who prefers to eat rotten human flesh? Bad vibes, sure. Rotten human flesh, not so much. "Makes things easier, I guess."
airplaneskyward: (Default)

[personal profile] airplaneskyward 2024-03-29 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, he... subsists on darkness? Cool, that's... fine. That's unlikely to result in him killing or eating anyone. Very reassuring. "Ah, that's very convenient for you, gongzi! It is quite dark in many places here. It's... good, not to have to worry about food? I expect most here are glad of the, ah, porridge, because they require more than darkness to live on!" He has absolutely no idea what kind of entity lives off darkness, but hey, information is information. "I take it you found yourself here with no explanation as well?"
whydoyoushine: (Bored)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-04-01 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, there was enough explanation." He scowls. "Gritta went and swallowed me at the altar." He says this like it is supposed to make perfect sense. And it does! To him.
airplaneskyward: (lowkey)

[personal profile] airplaneskyward 2024-04-02 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
"This one is unfamiliar with this, ah, Gritta? Is her stomach... larger than one might expect?" He's baffled, but okay, sure, let's get the details of what this guy thinks is going on, for all Shang Qinghua knows this whole planet is inside whoever Gritta is.
whydoyoushine: (Default)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-04-07 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Well," Zed says, "I wouldn't have expected her to contain multitudes." He shakes his head. "Or to be able to contain me, but I guess life is full of surprises."
airplaneskyward: (oh hm)

[personal profile] airplaneskyward 2024-04-07 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Is it, ah, possible that something else occurred as well, gongzi? If this Gritta consumed you at the altar, but others among us have never heard of her, it seems... possible that we did not all arrive via the same method? Perhaps someone... took you from Gritta?" Shang Qinghua is in 'trying not to offend demon nobles while telling them they're wrong about something' mode, something he has a lot of practice at, if not quite enough skill to avoid regular threats of disembowelment.
whydoyoushine: (don't have time for this)

[personal profile] whydoyoushine 2024-04-16 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
Fortunately, Zed's not offended by any of this--the novelty of this situation is counting for a lot. "At a wedding?" The thought hadn't occurred to Zed. "I'd say someone should've stopped it or seen that, but everyone was too surprised at what Gritta was trying to pull that...maybe?" He considers it. "I'd have to show them who's boss, if that's the case."
airplaneskyward: (sideeye)

[personal profile] airplaneskyward 2024-04-30 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ah, this one is sure your efforts would be very effective, if we could find whoever brought us here, gongzi! They may not have had any respect for your wedding, as they seem to have had little respect for any of us? Are you likely to be missed at home, by others than your bride?" If only apparently as a snack, by the bride.