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ABOARD THE MOIRA
Whether adjusting to space travel has been difficult or not, there is always something to be done. From working to leisure, the Moira offers a multitude of opportunities to get to know your crewmates a bit better. Exploration of the ship is highly encouraged, but as another planet grows closer to being docked, things start to get a little hectic. You'll notice a slight change in the artificial gravity as the Moira is pulled into a gravitational field; however, more noticeable changes can be found in the overall morale as you prepare to descend.
☄ on your ownThere are plenty of other communal areas on the ship to explore! Pick a place, and see where it takes you. ( These scenarios can be used as in-game canon. ) C R O M I AWhile exhibits or museums exist to commemorate people or objects, planets like this are designed as a memoriam for certain eras across the universe. Welcome to Cromia—a one-of-a-kind place set in medieval times. Sort of. Most technology on Cromia isn’t particularly advanced, and the fashion leaves little to be desired. However, one thing is very noticeable about this planet once you decide to explore: there are no organic people anywhere to be found. Cromia is inhabited by a race of intelligent, humanoid robots who tend to and care for the environment as well as live peacefully with one another. Yet, some have been programmed to show a certain disdain for those who are, in some way, living, and their hostility ranges between hurling insults and vegetables to reporting trespassers to the authorities. Besides that, all seems well and prosperous on Cromia.
☄ the emperor’s new servosThe Royal Family of Cromia has extended an invitation to join them for festivities, food, and drink beginning when the first sun sets. This night is a way to relax and perhaps romance that special someone in your life with a little song and dance. For those who sample certain drinks, they might find themselves doing just that without being able to help themselves. Or perhaps that delicious wine you've heard so much about is actually a very oily concoction meant for the robots of Cromia. For others, a little cheese or venison might instill the need for fisticuffs. Could the desserts hold the same sort of enchantment? Do you dare to find out? ☄ catch-a-riiiideThe fastest way to get around is via carriage in the city, and each city is pulled by a large insectoid cyborg. Their handlers assure you they’re quite tame, especially since their silly organic minds have been implanted with a control chip. They’ll take you to whatever destination you program in without a hiccup! What could go wrong? Except on the way, that ever-so-important control chip happens to malfunction. Your once docile bug-stallion is now running amok down the streets. Do you jump out before you meet a sticky end? Or do you take control and force it to stop? Either way, you aren’t likely to be getting your deposit back from this. ☄ taste the rainbowArchery. Bugback riding. Jousting. These are the typical leisure activities suiting the time period you now find yourself in, which is what you might assume when you see the banners denoting a competition. Anyone can enter. Anyone can win the prizes. When you ask what sport you’ll have to play, they just say one word: skittles. Similar to bowling, this sport is played on a long, flattened field, and the point of it is to use the wooden ball to knock over the "skittles" that are set up in increasingly complex patterns for each round. These skittles are also made of wood, exactly ten feet high each, and the balls used vary from the size of a golf ball to a canon ball (dealer’s choice on ball size). People are usually split into teams, but for the sake of the competition, everyone plays alone. Whoever gets the most points moves forward in the competition, and hope that there are no accidents mid-throw!
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thisavrou_ooc2016-04-11 01:44 am
HUSBANDCIDE??
She can't believe she's staring down at him right now, him of all people. She doesn't know what to say, mouth opening and then closing, floundering on how to answer or speak. ]
How did you— Is this where you've been all this time?
[ There's a good reason for her asking that question, breathing it out in a disbelieving voice that comes out small and uncertain, as if she can't believe what she's seeing right now— that happens to be him. Elena had looked everywhere for him, not just for him but also for Sully, and she had come up so empty-handed that she'd begun to panic thinking terrible, dangerous thoughts after seeing Nate struggle against the drug that had been injected into him by the dart.
She'd never seen him so afraid, so out of control and unable to stop himself from lashing out at them. And then when he'd run away from them into the narrow alleyways...
It takes some maneuvering of the skirts before she can lower herself down to his side. Elena's afraid to touch him, still staring. ]
Where did I hit? You all right?
YES THAT IS THE THING SHE SHOULD NOT DO
His voice is scratchy, like he's been gargling in the sands of the Rub' al Khali again, so he takes a moment to collect himself and swallow a few times before trying again.]
You know, if you wanted me to stand around silently looking pretty, you could have just asked. I don't remember your elbows being so sharp.
[Granted, she'd never used her elbows on him before. He sounds more admiring than resentful, though, and he smiles as he drinks in the sight of her. He'd expected Sully and Elena to have been space-napped with him, they'd been right there, and there was nothing like the sense of crushing distance and loneliness he'd felt when he'd been unable to find them. Elena especially, much as he loved Sully. He'd just gotten her back; it wasn't fair to be torn apart now.
Nate reaches out to her with his right hand for balance as he decides to try getting to his feet.]
I'd say you should remind me never to pickpocket you again, but I didn't realize it was you. Nice hood.
PISH
I've only used my fist on you before, never my elbows, remember?
[ He was reaching out to her and Elena hesitated, looking to the hand he's extended. What if this wasn't real? What if she took his hand to help him up and he disappeared, slipped through her fingers? Hesitation and worries and doubts be damned— her hand grasps his and she's helping him to his feet, rising up with him. No, his hand is as she remembers— rough skin, the coarse bumps under his fingers on his palms, his hand big enough that it covers nearly all of hers. The familiarity closes her throat and it hurts to try to swallow past it.
Elena leans in then in an unexpected rush and her arms are tight in wrapping around his neck, holding on. He's solid, sturdy— real, alive. Said hood tips back slightly but doesn't drop to her shoulders. ]
—I was so worried. [ The words are muffled against him, hushed, emotion thick in them. ] I couldn't find you, I couldn't find Sully. I wasn't sure where to start, what to expect. God, Nate—
This is why they need Space Marriage Counseling
He wraps his arms around her waist and hugs her back just as tight. Maybe even tighter. It hasn't been so very long since he hugged her, but he'd been afraid to think how long it was going to be until he could again, about how far away she was.]
I know, I know. I looked everywhere for you two. But the ship is huge, and then there's this city—we must have kept missing each other.
[He rocks them back and forth slightly. How long might they have gone without knowing each other was here? For once luck is on his side.]
This whole thing is crazy. I'm glad I found you.
This sounds like a thing that must happen
Speaking of which... ]
Wait... [ Elena begins to lean away. She's frowning up at him, confused, and she has to reach up to catch the stray tear before it falls too far down her cheek or gets noticed- shut up, she's not crying, it's raining. ] I...wasn't talking about the ship, I was talking about...
[ This doesn't make sense. Again. Her hands go to his upper arms, leaning further back as she stares up at him like he's not her Nate, the man she had married, although he looks and sounds the same, and then her eyes drop down at his neck. That's where she goes to touch, fingers skimming the skin to feel for...something. Which Elena won't find. ]
Nate... Do you not remember?
It must
He's practically beaming at her until she touches his chest where Drake's ring used to hang, and then something feels...wrong. Off. She's not the only one to expect it to still be there, he keeps getting phantom flashes of its slight weight, but its absence shouldn't perplex her so.]
I...yeah. [He speaks cautiously. What's she getting at?] Well, if I didn't, I wouldn't know it—what do you mean?
It will
His ring hadn't been on her mind, it'd been the injection site, her hand moving there next to feel the side of his neck. Nothing, and why would there be? ]
You took off, Nate, how can you not remember that? Sully said you'd been drugged, you kept fighting him off when he was trying to help. You even...took a swing at me— are you sure you're all right?
[ Hazel green eyes squint in concern. He sounds and looks like he's good, physically and mentally, but Elena knows him. Something is off. He's as unsure as she is right now, that can never be a good thing. Usually it's one of them who's sure of whatever is going on while the other doubts and needs some sliver of reassurance.
Her hand moves to his jaw, cupping it, those worried eyes searching his face for something that might tell her she's just being crazy. ]
OH RIGHT THE INJECTION...well at least it's IC for him to think with his ring
Of course I remember. Not with a lot of clarity, but it's hard to forget something like that.
[He's unhappy to hear her confirm that he did take a shot at her, that that was real and not part of the hallucinations that quickly overwhelmed him, but he's not surprised. All he'd been able to think about once the horror of realization swept over him was make them run, get away, don't let yourself be used to hurt them. And then the rising sense of drug-induced paranoia that they were the real threats before everything collapsed into incoherency and he'd fled.
Not one of his favorite memories, but it's definitely there. That's not what has him so dismayed now, though.]
But Elena, that was over a week ago, even before ending up in this place. Don't you remember any of what happened after that? I made my way back to you, we went to the airfield to go rescue Sully, we...anything?
[If she's focused on his unexpected trip, then that means the last thing she remembers of him before that was him acting like a cocky jackass as he tried to cover up what he really felt about seeing her again, as he tried to win and make her admit liking the adventure as if that would justify everything. And the thought makes him feel sick.]
Yes! and it worked out anyway.
[ Because that was clearly the more plausible reason here for why nothing he said was making sense. He obviously did remember what she was talking about, so then why didn't she know of or remember any of what he was saying? They'd gone to rescue Sully? Did that mean Sully was okay? Since their arrival in Yemen, Elena had been more concerned for the older man's well-being than that of her husband's. That wasn't to say she didn't care about Nate. Elena knew he could take care of himself and was capable of getting out of the more trickier situations— unlike Sully who had his age going against him.
Elena begins to draw away from him then, hand lifting away. She stares up at him like he's the one who's grown two heads— why wasn't anything they were saying matching up? She was so confused and it showed, a small knit creasing between her brows. Oh yes, she remembers that cocky jackass attitude well, she remembers him teasing her about missing the life they'd had before marriage, and she remembers telling him that he'd already won, he had nothing else to prove. ]
We were the ones rescuing you, Nate.
\o/
You tried. But they grabbed me first, and while I was still drugged I...I told them that only Sully knew the coordinates of Iram. I got away eventually, but they found him and took him while you two were searching for me. I swear, it's true.
[His hands tighten on her waist, but he won't stop her if she pulls away completely.]
I don't get it. Is this some kind of space/time bullshit? I've read sci-fi stories where people living on a light-speed ship experience less time than those on the outside, but I wouldn't have guessed that space kidnapping would cause a week's difference. [Is it because they took her first, then him? Wouldn't he have noticed?] It was real, Elena. You helped me go after Sully and I found him. Marlowe is dead and Iram of the Pillars is...not an issue anymore.
[It blew up. He blew it up/sank it. Is anyone surprised.]
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Elena's not pulling away, she's not pushing his hands from her waist. She's just trying to put one and one together and then two and two— of course until he says the magic words 'Marlowe is dead' and she pulls in a quiet breath through her teeth, fingers squeezing at his arms. ]
What do you mean the Iram of the Pillars isn't an issue anymore? [ For now she's going to ignore the main crisis, which is that they've been— as he calls it— space kidnapped, and she's going to focus on getting the facts straight. It isn't like she can't not believe him, when he looks so serious and his usual joking attitude is nowhere to be seen. Everything he's been telling her has been a continuation from what she knows and includes a conclusion, the finish to the story they were set out on.
Doesn't make it any less confusing, however. ]
What did you and Sully do? [ More like what did Nate do is more like what she means. ]
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Doesn't matter now. Sully's safe, probably back on Earth where he belongs, and Elena needs to be filled in on...too much. Far too much.]
I mean it's gone. We bl—okay, we didn't blow up the lost city, exactly, but it's a sinkhole in the desert. It can stay lost forever as far as I'm concerned.
[This probably doesn't help her confusion, considering how he'd laughed at the idea of quitting when she'd last asked him to, but he can't even pretend to give a damn. He saw Sully die there, and even if it was all a hallucination, nothing that can cause that kind of horror should be released into the world. Francis Drake had been right.]
I just wanted to get him out of there. It's Marlowe who wanted to take the secret of Iram for herself, and she paid for that with her life.
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This is making her head hurt.
She steps back another step, hand to her temple, and kind of falls into pacing a few steps with the skirts moving around her legs. Thankfully she doesn't trip. Sully was safe, that was all that should've mattered here. She hadn't been joking around when she said that that man would follow Nate to the ends of the earth, and now in some sense the same could've been applied to Nate in the steps he'd taken to rescuing the older man and friend. ]
I should've gone with you. You shouldn't have had to go on your own, it was too dangerous. [ Here she stops to look at him. She couldn't give a flying fuck about Marlowe at this point. ] What if you didn't come back? What if the two of you had gone down with Marlowe and Iram?
[ While Elena had been alone for months now after their separation, some small part of her had been okay with that, living her life, doing what she always did— Nate was alive then, that was easy. Thinking that she could've been left alone without either him or Sully, their deaths would've taken a chunk out of her life that she wouldn't know what to replace it with. That's the thought that flickers in her eyes— this lifestyle of theirs, it was far too dangerous, that was why she'd pulled out when she did. Elena knew of the risks and that the losses would become too great for her to bear.
This feels like deja vu, like they've already gone through the motions of this discussion.
'What was I supposed to do then?' is the question she leaves to hang unspoken between them. ]
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[He lets her go, but as soon as she suggests that she should have accompanied him, he's stepping forward again, reaching out for her arm. It's ridiculous—even if it hasn't happened yet for her, Nate knows how things will go, knows she'll back down when he pleads for her to take the car and go. But just the thought that it could go otherwise has him scared and sick.]
Of course you say that, it's what you said then—but you don't understand. It was too dangerous, and that's exactly why you couldn't come with me.
[It's a bright day and the streets of this alien city are lively with people, human or otherwise, but for a few seconds it's dark and they're on an empty airstrip and Nate is looking at her, knowing it might be the last time he ever sees her face.]
They had Sully on a convoy going into the desert, days ahead of us. I snuck onto a plane they were going to use for a supply drop, but it—it crashed. [Yeah. Crashed all on its own, nothing to do with him.] I spent three days walking the dunes of the Rub' al Khali. I almost died. You would have.
[And god, he can imagine that so clearly even though he doesn't want to. Whatever Elena might think he feels or doesn't feel for her after so much time apart, the terror of that untaken path is naked on his face.]
I had to go after him. And we didn't go down with Iram, we both made it out. We came back to you.
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Talk about a brief moment of whiplash when he tells her she'd said the exact same thing then as she was saying now. Sounds like something she'd say, he was right. ]
But I— [ She tries to interject but he carries on to explain while she's left to stand there and watch him, stuck listening. Elena closes her jaw and sets it. Just because he'd nearly died didn't mean she would've. She wasn't weak, he had to know that. Hadn't she proven that each time they went out together on some dumb adventure? Dehydration couldn't keep her down. ] You can't know that, Nate. You can't know that I would've died. I could've come out of there just the same as you— alive.
[ The rest of her argument fizzles away then at the fear in his expression. It had to have been one hell of a journey, a dangerous one at that, if he was looking at her the way he was. Fearing for her life before she even had the chance to experience it. Elena's shoulders drop and she reaches up to press a hand over his chest in a means to soothe him, a nurturing trait she defaults to when anyone is in need of reassurance, the beat of his heart hard and steady against her palm, reassuring her. ]
It's all right. You're alive and I'm here. We're going to be okay. We'll figure something out, even if nothing is making sense and you're from...the future and I'm— I don't know— stuck in the past or something like it's Back to the Future and you're Emmett Brown and I'm Marty McFly.
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It'll be all right. She won't stubbornly charge forward after getting a glimpse of her own future and change everything. On the other end of this, somewhere, they'll both be alive.]
Thank you.
[He's not even sure what he's thanking her for. Listening to him now? Easing his fears? Not charging after him in Yemen, when Yemen's not even on this planet?]
I can't be Doc Brown, though. [And now it's safe to joke, putting his raw emotions away behind a cheeky smile.] I don't have a cool car like he does. Find me a DeLorean and I'll consider it.
[He's still a little rattled, though, and he doesn't want her to step away, so he takes the hand on his chest with his left one, squeezing gently.]
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[ Even she's questioning why he would be thanking her. Was it because she was being supportive and reassuring him? That she was alive and they were together again? The meaning behind his thanks is lost on her when usually Elena's able to read him and figure out what he's up to without needing more than a simple little clue.
And there he goes, falling back into old ways of hiding his emotions behind that smile and his jokes although she'd been the one to mention Back to the Future in the first place. ]
What does not having a cool car have anything to do with— [ The warmth of his hand covering hers draws her attention down; it's one thing for her to get touchy with him, but as soon as he's getting his hands on her after everything with those small gestures, she's always finding herself pausing to look and consider them. Like the need to see for herself that it's real and not just a figment of her imagination. Of course her first reaction to seeing the metal band around his ring finger is a dismissive one, until she double takes and looks back down—
What? What?
Elena's mouth opens. Nate can bet his ass she would have something to say about that, and after he'd been a bit of an ass about her still supposedly wearing hers, but she suddenly pulls away, like his touch had burned her, a sharp breath sucked in. ]
—what is that?
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What's what—
[Then it hits him. Oh. Oh. In the short time Nate's had since Sully presented him with his not-so-lost-after-all ring, it's become second nature to put it on each morning, just like before. Even when he'd thought he was alone here. He doesn't even notice it now.
But of course it stands out to her, especially after he'd pretty much mocked her for still wearing hers. Nate swallows hard before answering.]
It's...my wedding ring.
[Obviously. Even if it weren't on that significant finger, Elena had helped pick it out and then put it on him for the first time. Smooth titanium, tough enough to stand up to the hard knocks he'd inevitably put it through. They'd laughed about that at the time.
He opens his mouth to explain further but realizes he has no idea what to say.]
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You weren't wearing it before. Nate, you mocked me for still wearing mine. And you can't tell me that wearing it here of all places helps somehow.
[ It looks exactly the same as she remembered it. Frankly, she'd thought he had lost it, or at least put it somewhere where he couldn't. The sight of it on his hand leaves a slightly haunted look in her eyes and she has to glance away, but then she looks at him again. ]
...what happened? I mean, what happened that would make you put it back on?
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Still, he frowns a little as he looks down at his hand, holding it out slightly like he doesn't know what to do with it. It's not lost on him that this is what it was probably like for her.]
I didn't start wearing it here, I started wearing it—
[He stops himself when a pair of strangers walks by, not that close but enough to remind him that they're still in a very public place, and updating his wife on the status of their marriage, from his perspective at least, is not something he wants to do with an audience. Even if the audience doesn't actually give a shit.]
Look, can we find a place to sit and talk? I don't know, a bench or something?
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Numbly, she nods. Her voice comes out low, hesitant. ]
Yeah... Yeah, I think I remember seeing one just...over there. [ One more side glance drops to his left hand and she moves past him to lead. It shouldn't bother her as much as it does but— it does. Dammit, it does. ] By the way, try not to step on the dress. I don't want to find out the hard way how much it cost.
[ A tiny effort to lighten whatever tension was struggling between them, Elena looks out from the edge of her hood and offers a smile. There wasn't exactly any treasure they could attempt to steal and sell for coin here, not that she knew of. She hopes he doesn't try it, either. Her reputation wouldn't be a free Get Out of Jail card, unfortunately. ]
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Nate manages to give her a weak smile back, but his heart isn't in it, though he rallies enough to try and tease.]
Didn't know you were into this kind of stuff. Next you'll be telling me you're a secret renfaire fan.
[Not that he's lacking in garb, but it's different for him. He's got to blend in to be a successful thief. Totally not the same.
Once they find a bench, he plops down in his seat and stares at the ground for a long moment, half hoping she'll say something first, before sacking up and re-starting the conversation.]
So...this is really weird. Just to get that out of the way.
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[ Elena is dying to get out of the gown, the hood carrying some weight atop her head so it won't fall back on its own. She can't stand the way the skirts drag whenever she walks, missing the freedom that comes with wearing her khakis.
He sits and she joins him, an absent gesture of running her hands over the skirts on her lap following, as if she's stalling on getting things going. Where do they start? Right, the ring business. She eyes his left hand— it's a little strange for her to see it after going so long without. Would it be all right to completely skip over it and go straight into a discussion about this world and what comes next? Thankfully he's the one who goes first and Elena glances over. ]
Yeah... You could say that again.
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No eyebrow waggles now, just an expression of faint unhappiness and the sensation of something thick and heavy in the pit of his stomach.]
No, I mean—I get that it's weird for you too, getting a vision from the future and all. But it's weird for me because I feel like this is stuff you already know and I'm not sure how to explain it now that it turns out you don't.
Last I saw you, we were on the same page about things, but we didn't exactly have the chance to talk through it all with Sully right there. I figured we would when we got to Lisbon, but then...space happened.
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Lisbon..? Why Lisbon? What did we have there going for us? What 'things' are you talking about?
[ Elena asks this as she looks between him and his wedding ring. The ring had to fall in with said 'things', somehow. If it did, then why did he look unhappy? ]
It's probably easier if you stop trying to act like you're gently breaking the world's biggest new story and just tell me.
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I WARNED YOU ABOUT YOUR MISSED WORD.........
....DID YOU?
I DID. BEFORE YOU PASSED OUT....
I do not recall this whatsoever
S I G H
I must have been pretty tired
I think so.
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all right, time for the ending