thisavrou_ooc | ( tdm 11 )

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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 own

There 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. )

H A I S T O S

Unlike previously visited locations, the sweltering heat of this planet can be felt long before arrival. The surface of Haistos is not a place for those with a weak constitution. It’s in a constant state of low-level volcanic activity as its land masses are dotted with many volcanoes—all of them spewing black ash into the air. Breathing is difficult without the aid of a respirator due to the potential of breathing in ash, and the plant life is stunted, adapted to living in an environment with little sunlight. The weather is unpredictable, and ash-storms will often blow in fiercely, leaving people trapped for a hours at a time before they blow themselves out. But that same ash which chokes everything on this planet is what also provides its livelihood. Haistos’ volcanic resources are a highly sought-after commodity elsewhere in the universe, and as long as gathering the ash is profitable, people will continue to return.

Looking closely, etched into the curling paths of ignimbrite deposits that swirl along the base of the volcanoes is a language that is easily translated by the MID, often resembling Latin. Carved over time by visitors and travelers, it tells a tale of fire and stone and power. Some might even say there are mystic abilities associated with these volcanoes, though the rumors and myths behind it seem to be nothing but a warning to those who think to go looking for it. It’s also hard to tell if the words carry any true meaning since there are no natives to question, and all those who harvest the ash can only tell stories. Still, it’s apparent that people from many different times have all added to the scrolling messages.

A word of caution: you cannot build here. Stone, metal, and wood all burn, all crumble. Only what is true can survive, and fire will show its true quality.

☄ breathing sparks
Despite the haphazard lay of the land, there are things to do. Or, at least, things to see. The rocky terrain often leads to some inactive volcanoes that are perfect for exploring and harvesting the ash that continues to rain down across Haistos. There are step-like structures built into the sides of the volcanic craters, narrow but sturdy. With each move down, the air gets even thicker, and your respirator takes longer and longer to filter the unbreathable atmosphere the deeper into the planet you travel. Yet, the risk of asphyxiation is worth what awaits at the bottom of the staircase. Still warm, the volcanic rocks that are sunk into the deposits are both smooth and clear as crystal. Most of these gems retain heat permanently and can be used to warm small spaces. Gathering too many together in a single place, however, creates a reaction with the limited air supply and can spark a faux volcanic eruption—yes, these rocks are capable of producing lava at an impossibly quick rate.

Is it possible to outrun the flow and reach the steps before it begins filling the bottom of the crater? The only thing worse than a sudden swimming pool of lava would be the respirator finally breaking because of the abrupt, extreme heat, wouldn’t it?

☄ under pressure
Despite being unable to actually build any structures of substance on Haistos, walking around the planet itself is surprisingly easy. Due to its unusual composition, the ground itself is a noticeable mixture of dark rock and shining surfaces. More than that, each step around the bases of the volcanoes reveals something both amazing and rather fascinating: the ability to create diamonds without much pressure at all. It only takes a single step or even a hand print. Take a break and sit to rest? Diamonds. Wrestling over what pile of ash is yours to claim? Diamonds. Tripping and falling and refusing to get up so that no one sees your embarrassment? Diamonds. Suddenly, moving around on Haistos has taken a whole new turn. Especially when it’s completely possible to keep what you make with your very own body weight.

☄ if you break it, you buy it
Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.

At the base of one of the smaller volcanoes, this message is carved into the rock in large, curling script. The volcano is currently inactive and is dotted with openings large enough for visitors to enter through. Stranger than the message is the faint tinkling sound - almost like glass clinking against glass - that grows louder the deeper into the volcano you go. The intricate honeycomb of paths all lead in the same direction—towards the sound and a mellow blue glow.

At the center, the sound is loud and the light illuminates a large space. Thousands of crystalline creatures swirl and bump against one another, the source of both the sound and light. They appear to be a cross between a lightning bug and bee, glowing and noisy and harmless. The beautiful sight may, or may not, be dampened by the fact that the cavern is littered with glass honeycombs that have been built up within the bodies of fallen travelers. It’s clear that the organisms didn’t harm them, perhaps the result of too much ash or broken respirators, and the honey they’ve produced is light blue and clear. It’s sweet if eaten, bright and citrus-y, and carries an earthy undertone, making the skin glow temporarily after ingesting.

If careful, visitors may harvest the honey, but do not disturb the creatures. Their wings are sharp, and when agitated, they swarm out of fear.

OUT OF CHARACTER INFO

FAQ | LOCATIONS | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS | NAVIGATION
For mature or graphic content, please label. For questions, please direct them to the FAQ. As always, be kind and have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ it's the low muttered, sheepish apology Andyr hears from across the medbay at first, where he's been allowed to sit against a wall somewhere and frown at everyone passing by, given he isn't supposed to be heading out into the ship without a physical, and he's refused to let anyone touch him for that physical as of yet. maybe they thought he might calm down if they left him alone for a while. or if they left steve, the alvary-clone, chat with him. they'd gone on a wake around the ship earlier, and it'd been calming, but he still wasn't Posie and wasn't Alvary. No one's touching him, no one's scanning him.

at least, not until he hears that voice, and it's with the kind of dad-tone Andyr just knows as that freaking loser Alvary. he's snapped up from his chair, shouldering past several people (who aren't terribly happy about being shoved around, but who fucking cares about them honestly), and making it over to Alva just in time to see him nearly slap a lab tech through a wall. Well, they'd tried to prod at the ports, and that's about the least okay thing you can possibly do to any of them.

shuffling becomes long strides, and before anyone can say "i'm sorry, sir", Andyr is in the lab tech's face, practically baring teeth at them. words don't really need saying - get the fuck away from his back, thanks. once the tech's shuffled away, Andyr turns back to squint down at the ports in question, a hand on Alva's shoulder to urge him to arch forward a bit, enough that they're in the light and Andyr can make sure nothing's been messed up with them. idiot techs poking and prodding at stuff they aren't familiar with. ]

They look fine. You're good, Alva. [ There's a squeeze to his shoulder, something comforting, as he knows just how traumatizing it is just feeling those rings of metal at your back as you stretch, remembering that they're there at all and the process it took to install them. Alva's been like a brother to him, hell, like a freaking father, with the gap that'd been left there and all the talk of Marya, and seeing him here is an instant flood of relief, dissipating all the wound up tension. And this one, he knows, is Alva. Iterations don't get ports. Not like his, at least. ] You okay? Did they do anything to you?

[ The rings pull at his skin all the time. This is something that never stops, never ends, never quits - removing the ports would mean death for him, given how deep the metal has gotten into his bones. Flesh wounds aren't a problem, but bones - there's a different story altogether. Alva winces when Andyr touches his shoulder, and then winces again, a smaller action this time, at himself.

How easily his body remembers what hands on one's shoulder meant. Sorry, he tries to communicate to Andyr with a wet, desperate laugh. I'm still back there. Back at the compound, where he's been shot, where he'd locked the doors to the service rooms and the galleries and rigged them with handmade explosives he only had small hopes of working. It took them a year, for the plan to work. A year of hiding messages in slips of paper, tucked into the hardcover book jackets, with short messages and schematics that would spell out a mass bombing of three Houses.

Alva knows Hapsburg was successfully bombed; he'd seen the explosions from his window up in the labs. He knows he'd dragged Miray out, with her swollen belly; he knows she's in safe hands after he'd led her out to friends from back home, back in Alaska, because if someone deserved a chance at a normal life then let it be the girl who's bringing a child into the world.

He hisses through his teeth, trying to steady his breathing. You can handle this, he reminds himself. You can do this. ]

Nothing I didn't agree to, [ he replies, then rethinks his answer. Given his history, he didn't want to cause any alarm. ] Routine physical. I'm fine, I swear.

How did you— [ How did you get here? ]

[ He hears that laugh, and knows where Alva's mind went, slipping his hand down to his bicep instead, just for the shift to a less familiar place, giving a short squeeze to his arm. it's fine, i know.

he doesn't stay there long either way, moving around to alvary's front, hands finding his face to tilt it up and squint at him a bit, turning his head one way and the other. his own quick assessment that Alva's actually doing fine and not just being a butt about it. ]

Yeah, well. You agree to stupid things. [ andyr mutters distractedly, before he finds he's satisfied with this state of alva, and finishes off by squishing his cheeks together between his palms, comically. for a brief moment, his hands drop to his sides, and he's watching alva with his head tilted and a small smirk on his lips, still dressed in the bloodstained detainment pajamas he's put in at hapsburg, and the jacket he'd stolen off a guard's body, albeit with thermals now underneath.

he'd been worried he was here alone. worried what was happening back home, with the raid, with him gone. worried alva wouldn't make it out. but here he is, his best friend's alive and well, and the relief of it has andyr lunging forward a bit to hug the man around his stupidly huge shoulders. for a moment or two, with a tight squeeze, just to tell him he's grateful for it. because those aren't words Andyr says easily. pulling back, he reaches out for the discarded shirt and flops it unceremoniously over Alvary's shoulder. ]

But you're wrong about that. There's nothing routine going on here. [ something sly, and a bit excited, is showing in the sharp curve of his grin, and his head jerk a motion towards the lab doors. ] Get dressed before your nipples freeze off. There's something you need to see.

[ and he'll be stopping to tell a lab tech "i'll bring him back, i promise", as he makes his way towards the exit. ]

( tdm 11 )

i, spine ports: a space opera

(lazerhawk plays on in the bg)

synth trash alva, also retconning that about him not having his physical yet bc adrien did it ayyy