T
E
S
T
D
R
I
V
E
|
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. ) H A I S T O SUnlike 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 sparksDespite 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 pressureDespite 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 itOut 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.
|
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hownkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_ooc2016-06-07 03:39 pm
no subject
They're here, he's alive, she's not alone, and asking for anything else would be unforgivable selfishness. They made a choice together, it's not his fault she didn't have the decency to forget like she was supposed to.
"How did you manage to get crumbs on your shoulder?" she asks incredulously, because how better to avoid important topics than to discuss insignificant ones? And really, she couldn't care less about his table manners.
no subject
Except, he's got no reason to think she knows any of what he's lived through, these past couple years.
Holding herself back accomplishes exactly what she meant it to-- he doesn't suspect there's anything between them more than what's always been between them, and while that means a hell of a lot to him... It's an enormous loss to take at once, and she doesn't even know?
He blinks, looking down at his shoulder.
"Space food?"
Who knows.
no subject
It's going to be torment. She can't decide whether having him here will make it worse or better. Either way, she wouldn't trade his presence for her own comfort. He's safer here than back on Earth for certain, and she'll make sure he never knows about Teleios to be uncomfortable about it. Thankfully, her hair is long enough to cover what clothing doesn't, the arrow's point that she once wished for people to see on the nape of her neck, and she learned enough about her future that she can claim enough time after Terminus to account for the length.
Keeping secrets from him isn't a new development, but an old one. Out of practice though she is, it wouldn't be fair to tell him what happened in the years they spent in some other reality. Carol wouldn't react well to it from his position, she's certain, realizing that someone knew her in such vulnerable and intimate ways without her remembering granting the permission. Though they're so different in so many ways, in this they're not so far apart. Closeness isn't given lightly, and according to his memory she hasn't earned it. He didn't choose her, not in this world. It's not even a matter of someday because there would always be that to contend with, the extra years on one side that would upset their balance in her favor, which would be the antithesis of everything about them that she so cherished. She can't take that away from him, she won't. The weight of those secrets is a small matter compared to that.
"If you're telling me it's protein pills and gruel in there, I'm jumping out the airlock." Another joke, of course. They've eaten far worse. "You okay?" she asks in an unprecedented moment of honesty. She'll have to watch that.
no subject
And that's ridiculous, because it's not just him here. Not even just the two of them, but if he's the only one who remembers Teleios-- hell with it, he'll manage. Carol is still herself. He's thought a hundred times that it would be fine, that he could do without things being different as long as they were still close, still cared for each other, and here's where that gets put to the test.
"Nah." Shaking his head, shrugging, he steps a little nearer out of subconscious habit. It's not too close for the act they're keeping up, not quite. (Someday they'll laugh about this.) "More like... I dunno, cafeteria food."
Except in space.
"'M all right," he adds softly. "You just get here?"
no subject
Something about his stepping closer makes her react, and by the time her rational mind catches up she's reached out and managed to get her arms around him before he could reasonably protest. (Would he? Possibly. They're in a crowd. It didn't exactly stop them in Teleios, but here, who knows?) Whether he shrugs her off or not, it's a chance she apparently needed to take. Maybe to say goodbye, ironic as it is to do so as they're just meeting up again.
The hell with it, reasons aren't important, definitely not as important as being able to have him this close, just for a moment. To breathe him in (slowly, carefully, that would be one awkward explanation) and assure herself that this isn't a(nother) dream. One she doesn't let linger long enough for questions, pulling back with relief plain on her face.
"Long enough ago to worry I was on my own here." To think, once that would have been her preference. Thankfully she's learned that loneliness doesn't solve anything.
no subject
He lets himself lean into it a little, until she lets go. That's normal enough in these crazy circumstances, probably. After all this time it's strange to second-guess himself so much; especially when he knows how comfortable things used to be, even before. They held back on peculiar principles, once, knowing there was only so much energy to spare, but that first time they kissed, they'd lazed about after, leaning on one another, her hands in his hair, and even then he'd thought that was a liberty she could've taken any time she liked.
He shakes his head a bit once she pulls away, tries not to let himself wonder.
"Ain't just us."
If it's just him from Teleios that's a different kind of loneliness, but he can handle it.
no subject
It hurts more than it should, but she can deal with hurt. Logically, too, she's been given one hell of a lot. She has those two years; all the quiet, and not-so-quiet, and ridiculous and sweet and wonderful moments she thought she was giving up when they made the choice to leave, she gets to keep them. And she has some version of him right here and healthy and safe, that's not nothing. She still gets to love him, just in a different way. Knowing firsthand how much worse things could get, maybe will get, she has no right to complain.
The thought of their people here drags her back to reality, and the very genuine anxiety that comes along with the thought of facing others from home. (Not her real home, that's a magically locked penthouse in a Temple that may as well not exist for all she knows. But she'll have to get to calling Earth "home" again, which turns her stomach.) Depending on what those people remember, they might not think it's so great that Carol's here. But, on the bright side, Teleios gave her a lot of perspective on this, mostly reinforcing her belief that family is family and she shouldn't write off anyone without trying her damnedest to make things as right as she can make them. It's sad, looking back, how caught up in her own head she was. Technically, she's supposed to still be that person, but at least she has the advantage of knowing that after Terminus, in whatever sense, she joined up with everyone again, and she can claim to be from that time instead, so she won't have to act like the selfish idiot she was those first months in Teleios.
"Who's that?"
no subject
(They'll be fine.)
(Gotta be.)
"Saw Carl," he says, hardly believing himself. And-- shit, how does he even explain it? "Rick's here, he said. Just--"
And now he stops, takes a long moment to try to figure out where she's from. When she's from. (She looks... the way she's meant to look, in his mind, and it twists something deep in him, makes him want to set his hand on her side, splay his fingers over the pale white and blue blossoms inked there.)
"What's the last thing you saw?"
no subject
And so here goes nothing. Hopefully the subject matter will be reason enough for her reluctance to discuss it.
"It was... a little after Tyreese..." Carol cuts herself off, looking away, dearly hoping that is good enough, that he'll take her reaction as grief (which is genuine, even if she doesn't remember it happening she knows it did and that is enough to hurt) instead of deception. He'll know she's holding back, but that's how she was about everything before Teleios. (Right? She thinks this is how. It's hard to try and act like a version of herself she doesn't want to be anymore.)
"You?" It's a deflection, yeah, which again could be easily explained by a number of things aside from not wanting to elaborate on her own situation. She hopes.
no subject
And even now, after all the time spent-- well, they don't talk a lot about the people they've lost. You can't, because grief drags you back when you've got to keep walking. So he's not gonna dig, even if-- if, if what?
She'd say something, wouldn't she? If she knew. (He should say something. For a moment he entertains the thought, trying to come up with something-- some word or reference that wouldn't need explanation if it went overhead-- it's so ridiculous that he cuts that line of thought off before he comes up with anything at all.)
"After that," he says quietly, low and gravelly. He doesn't much want to share the details.
no subject
To Daryl's mercifully brief explanation, she nods, unsurprised (grateful?) that he doesn't delve into specifics. It can't be good news, because it never is.
"Food any good?" she asks in a pinched voice, half-grinning, he'll probably recognize that she's trying hard not to get emotional. Later on, she'll find a dark corner and get it out however seems quickest, for now it's trying her best to be casual and trusting him to follow along. That's what they do, and at least that hasn't changed. She hopes.
no subject
And if it comes up... well, then they'll deal with it.
"Funny lookin', but 's alright."
If he could he'd make a joke about what they're used to, but that doesn't feel right, considering where he's been.
"Hungry?"
Maybe it'll distract them both from questions he doesn't want to ask or answer.
no subject
"I'll do you one better. There a real kitchen in there?" This part she's less steady in, she just came from a beautiful kitchen in Teleios, the one gifted to her. But she's not supposed to have that but, disturbingly, it's not at all difficult to remember that she shouldn't know about that place. It feels wrong, but easy to slip into the role, a blatant lie right to the face of someone she swore never to lie to ever again. A pie or two is hardly going to square things.
It is, however, all she thinks she can offer. Falling right into the old trap of selfishness wrapped in platitudes and the greater good, not wanting others to hurt because she's not whole enough to accept their pain on top of her own. She never wanted to be this person again. But she is, so easily. So maybe she never stopped.
no subject
Here, he can’t get by hunting rabbits til he finds his footing.
“‘M alright,” he says, because he’s not sure the act can survive thinking too hard on the cozy home they all made there, safe with a stocked pantry and a wide array of weapons behind a magicked door. He can’t have that strange domesticity, he doesn’t want the reminders of it.
"C'mon."
no subject
Either way, she's not going to argue the point if he's uncomfortable, whether for the reasons she surmises or different ones. That's the kind of stuff they don't talk about, and why she's all but abandoned the idea of mentioning that she has two-plus years of memories from another place entirely. At the very least, maybe she can use those memories to help Daryl through whatever it is he's going through, if she does it subtly.
"Any idea where we're going?" she asks, somewhat tentative but still with an air of cheekiness. They're not in the woods, and so she's wondering if his impeccable sense of direction holds. (Being slightly sarcastic hides her nerves, okay?)
no subject
"We can get you fed if you want," he offers. Last thing he's going to do is let her not take care of herself, after all.
"If not..."
He shrugs. If not, then they explore.
no subject
"Maybe there's a view somewhere. If we're really in space, might as well get a peek at it." The sentence ends rather abruptly, as she cuts of an automatic segue about Beverly, that shared dream where Beverly showed her all around her ship, which was in orbit around Earth. Carol hadn't thought it would be so touching, seeing a version of the world that doesn't end up dead and gone. That's another memory she'll have to stow.
Normally she'd have suggested finding weapons first, but she seems to be pretty well set in that department, and she can imagine he is too, else he wouldn't be eating. She's thankful, because honestly, after the nonsense with Loki, she's ready to hang it up awhile.
no subject
A little too slow, he nods at the clipped-off almost-question, wonders what else she might have held back on. He's been through the observation deck, and he's pretty sure he can get back there. It won't be like it would if he could pull her close and the two of them could feel tiny but not alone, looking out on a field of unfamiliar stars stretching on forever, but it might be nice all the same.
"We can. 'N maybe get you fed after."
If he plays his cards right and she sees he isn't gonna keel over poisoned, maybe she'll let him make sure she takes care of herself.
no subject
In the end, she doesn't say a thing about the prospect of eating. Lying is just too hard and she's out of practice, and this whole thing reminds her of why it was so frighteningly easy to convince herself that letting nothing in was preferable to being genuine. At least she's learned enough to put off making that decision right now, because she's not exactly thinking straight, and thankfully she got enough in the habit of second-guessing herself whenever she wants to run and hide.
Thankfully, almost everything she passes is a jumping off point for a subject change. In this case, a panel on one of the walls.
"Dare you to go press five of those buttons and see what happens." She offers a sidelong grin, obviously a little forced but it's not as if that should be anything new.
no subject
It's hard to let his spirits get too high, not with everything that's weighing on him. Strange galaxies, familiar faces, memories he can't get to line up with what should be.
And-- well, and Carol jokes like that when she's trying to cover, often, and he can't quite sort out what she's covering for.
Fortunately the hall ahead opens up, and in lieu of having to say anything he just points. It is, he has to admit, a hell of a view.
no subject
She happens to still be glancing at him when he points (was she looking for too long?) and that diverts her attention ahead. Even having seen a similar sight before, it's still pretty incredible, and she jogs forward to get a better look. Given the empty husk of a world they left behind, it's really something to see the sheer possibilities that a space view like this brings to mind. Life going on somewhere, somehow, even if not for all of them. Not quite as touching as the view of Earth, but still impressive, and still choking her up a little.
...Though, in fairness, she could be nearly crying for any number of reasons. Hopefully Daryl will assume the less suspicious ones, to which there's more than a grain of truth.
no subject
Her steps quicken but he hangs back just a little, letting her have that lead. Already he's spent a fair amount of time standing there staring out into space, thinking of everything left behind. It's beautiful, no doubt about that-- meaningless, in another way. The distance is beyond his ability to comprehend.
Coming up behind her to look out, he sets a hand on the small of her back-- a gesture that would have been familiar and safe at home, he thinks, and he wants that sense of connection.
It's just habit that his fingertips fall perfectly over the leaves inked there.
no subject
One thing about growing up in a family of Southern church-goers, you learn to judge people. Carol spent far too much of her life doing that, and it's part of why she's still so hard on herself. There was always gossip around the tables at potlucks, women in their big hats chattering about who was running around on his wife or who the real father of Mrs. Wilkins' baby is. She always found it astounding that people would make those sort of impulsive decisions and wreck their lives and reputations, especially when she was always so careful, always planning, keeping Ed's punishments at the fore so she could calculate how far to push. Just plain lack of honor and willpower, those people who can't manage to follow a few simple rules, she'd thought.
But right now, with Daryl's hand on her back in exactly the right place, she gets it. How someone could let an impulse, a silly and selfish want, ruin everything. She never wanted anything more in her life than to pivot into his arms and yank him close, knowing he'd give whatever she asked and not caring what taking that kind of advantage would make her.
Instead, she releases a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and looks over at him. "I'm okay," she says quietly, knowing he can clearly see that she's lying, and not even very well. Fumbling for an excuse and settling on not wanting him to think he did anything wrong, she tucks herself against his side, her head ducking to rest on his shoulder, arms slipping around him for one gentle squeeze before hanging loose around his waist. Not the right thing to do, but not as wrong as what she really wants. It feels good, so damn good that she'd throw everything away for another few moments before he shrugs her off in embarrassment.
no subject
There's no way she's okay, not really, no more than he is-- no more than anyone could be in a situation like this-- but he lets it lie. Okay enough. Gotta be. What takes him by surprise, for a moment at least, is that she leans in against him instead of pulling away-- offering comfort, which makes sense, but accepting it, which is always the harder thing for Carol. Or so it seems.
It can't be fair of him to do this. Not this-- leaning against each other, offering and taking some solace in everything they have shared-- but keeping the secret. Puzzling through it is just a long knot of doubt. If she doesn't remember, it doesn't change the fact that he does, and if she'd feel unfairly violated by him knowing, wouldn't it be doubly a betrayal to hide that from her? Ignorance is bliss, though-- and she's worked, for the most part, to avoid learning too much about her own future. Whether that's different when it's in the past... And what if she's just carefully avoiding asking, the same way he is?
There's got to be something-- some idle old joke that won't demand too much explanation if it passes her by, or something. If she's expecting him to pull away, she's got a surprise in store. The thought doesn't even cross his mind. He doesn't think he would have, before Teleios. Not after everything, after Atlanta. In Alexandria it'd be her keeping her distance.
Hell, he should've let her snoop around the kitchen. At least he'd have probably managed to talk her into eating at least a little of whatever she made, and if she'd stumbled after cooking it, he might have some answers.
"Might could let you make me a grilled cheese," he murmurs at length, with all the warmth he can muster-- an obvious joke, perfectly casual, hopefully sufficient to lighten the mood if that's all it does (because the truth is he isn't even hungry), but he's thinking of a particular moment that maybe she'll recall.
(And if she does, well, maybe she'll be bold enough to say so.)
no subject
Her first thought, oddly, is yet another wave of panic, which maybe he can ascertain given that she tenses up. Because no way he's not going to notice when he eats whatever she decides to cook that he feels a small but certainly evident surge of energy. She never figured out how to keep things entirely neutral, only how to enhance it. And, while she's busy getting frantic about that, it dawns on her the joke he just made. It certainly could be nothing, and she's quite sure that it's her own wishful thinking reading into it a callback to that night she beckoned him from his rabbit traps back to the farmhouse on the strange psychic bracelets Teleios used (she even misses those, how utterly crazy). It really could be just an innocent comment, albeit one that's coincidentally cutting damn close to the quick.
But... what if...?
"Those are best at three in the morning," she says, just enough humor in her clogged voice to pass it off as something that people just say. (She's being stupid, frankly, to let herself hope, knowing it couldn't ever be that simple. If, on the other hand, he hits another point that's far too close to home, she could duck her head just a little more -- she knows exactly how much, of course -- and someone who was looking for it would see a flash of black on the nape of her neck. But, of course, that's ridiculous, and really she should have let go already...)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)