EVENT ★ WELCOME TO PERDITION'S REST

[futurologists]

ARRIVAL Recruits leave Oska at midday, with about 10 minutes of final warning given from over jewelcomms. Then the white mist rises as rifts open, and Oska is left behind. When they arrive in the new world, they’ll find themselves aboard a train, specifically seated in the coach traveling compartments. The other passengers -- humanoids with muted skin tones and bright eyes -- have already been notified of their arrival, so although there will be a good deal of curious staring, particularly from children, no one is going to be very alarmed at the strange, eclectic assortment of aliens that suddenly show up on board. It seems that, for once, recruits will enjoy a peaceful arrival. The dusty scenery flashes by placidly outside the windows, the rumble of wheels is constant and soothing, and there’s even a snack cart that makes its way around (the snacks aren’t free, though -- recruits are provided a modest sum of Qorral currency, and the locals are already interested in getting in on it). BAD COMPANY The first sign of trouble appears about two hours after arrival when there’s a faint BOOM and each of the train cars gives a little shudder. That would be the rear train car’s back wall being blown open. The other passengers know exactly what this means, and some lock themselves into traveling compartments while others haul out previously put away shotguns and pistols, ready to do what needs doing. And what needs doing is to fend off the troupe of bandits that have decided that this train looks ripe for the plucking. They board from the gaping hole they blew in the last car and begin shooting their way up the length of the train, robbing as they go, but they also circle out on their horses (mechanical and only vaguely horse-shaped four-legged contraptions that easily keep pace with the train) to provide an armed and unfriendly escort. They’ll shoot through the windows if anyone looks like a troublemaker, and are old hands at ducking to the other side of their horses to use them as cover from any return fire. The conductor and all present passengers would really appreciate a hand from any recruits who feel like stepping up. Those not quite ready to engage in a shootout can always keep the civilians locked into the compartments company. They, especially the children, might need some calming words (and the sage advice to keep away from the windows, and stop making faces at the bandits). The bandits put up a pretty good fight, but will eventually be driven away (hopefully without having snagged too many ill-gotten goods from the hardworking citizens of Perdition’s Rest), and peace falls back over the train. The passengers will be a bit frazzled afterward, though, and no one can quite ignore that whistling sound caused by the missing back wall of the final train car. It’s a long two more hours before they reach their destination. WELCOME TO PERDITION’S REST A dusty wooden sign swings on rusted hinges overhead as the train pulls into the station: PERDITION'S REST. The engine finally stills with one puff of smoke, and as the passengers begin to disembark, recruits will find a small group awaits them. The Mayor, his aide, and the sheriff are gathered just outside the train station, and once everyone is more or less off the train and conveniently gathered, the Mayor will clear his throat for attention. "I'm guessing y'all had a long ride here, didn't you?" He addresses the crowd calmly, with the kind of voice that doesn't need to be raised much to be heard. "Heard about them bandits.They ain’t gonna trouble you here in town, but best mind your wanderin’. I'm Mayor Mordecai Jones, and Perdition's Rest welcomes your company. You'll find our businesses hospitable and our services ready. We're a quiet place, keep mostly to ourselves and don't bother none. You'll do just fine here if you abide that." The aide waits quietly as the Mayor speaks, while the sheriff eyes the gathered bunch with a resigned wariness. She, and a few other locals who would be willing to speak up if asked, are of the opinion that they've gotten by just fine for 30 years without anyone's help, and they don't figure they need it now. But they'll tolerate the meddling, so long as everyone plays nice. Mayor Jones's speech draws to a close with a last note that trouble can be brought to him or to Sheriff Rosamund Holladay, and he, his aide, and Sheriff Holladay break the meeting without further ceremony and head away. Welcome to Perdition's Rest. It's recommended that you look around a little, familiarize yourself with the place, and find lodgings. It's going to be home for a while. OOC NOTES Welcome to Mission: Perdition's Rest! This mission will last for around three months, currently slated to end in mid-December. Depending on developments, this schedule is subject to change at our discretion. You can view the dossier here, which contains information that is ICly known to all characters, no matter their arrival time. You can find locations here. Please direct all questions pertaining to the mission to the dossier page to keep questions and responses in one place for easy player reference. General game questions should be directed to the FAQ. The Bounty Board will be updated this weekend, so keep an eye out! Remember you can also request bounty missions or submit player plots at any time.

Comments

02

[daimeinashi]

[Sai is...not much older than Sieglinde, honestly, so he's probably not the one who gets asked, here. But he does overhear one such conversation that doesn't go Sieglinde's way, and...well. The books do say that being helpful is a good way to break the ice with people, and he's still curious about how this whole "friendship" thing works, even if he's not a huge fan of being stuck with ALASTAIR indefinitely when he'd much rather go home ASAP.

He slips into the seat next to her, and asks, quietly enough not to be overheard--]

Your age is the issue here, correct?

[That's super weird to him. In Konoha, once you're twelve you're ready to be a genin, and Root was full of orphaned children like him much younger than that. "Childhood innocence" isn't a concept he understands.]

I can assist, if you wish.

[grunehexe]

[It wasn't only Sai who found it altogether foreign a concept not to treat twelve year olds like adults. There may have been no ninjas and no outright war in her village, but they'd abided by far more medieval ways than most of ALASTAIR's recruits, leaving very little room for the concept of "childhood". Sieglinde, nearly thirteen for all her small, slight stature made her seem even younger, had considered herself an adult for years, ever since her feet had been bound and she had inherited the title of Green Witch, had women decades her senior looking to her for salvation.

Reminders that people viewed her as a child were still not a welcome thing.

The silent way Sai approached made Sieglinde start a bit when he suddenly set down, surprised by the sudden seeming approach, but she listens as she looks him over quickly, (new recruit), trying not to look too annoyed with her situation.]

For some reason, yes.

[She's more than willing to slide the coin his way in offer, held in a small, lily white hand. Never mind some blood stains on her sleeve.]

Should you be able to, I will compensate you.

[The change wouldn't be... That much at all, but she hardly thinks buying a drink necessitates a bigger bribe, surely...]

[daimeinashi]

[Good thing Sai was already basically willing to do this for free. It's literally a social experiment to him.]

One moment, then.

[Of course, Sai isn't stupid enough to transform right in front of the bartender, so he...gets up, and apparently leaves. For a good thirty seconds or so, she might think he just made off with the coin like a huge douchebag, but then someone comes back inside.

Someone that doesn't look anything like Sai, but walks straight to Sieglinde, takes the seat beside her again, and orders a drink. Which is to say, he waits for someone else to order something, and then also orders that, because he's never had alcohol in his life, and certainly doesn't know anything about Alien Planet Alcohol.

Once the drink is served and the bartender's back is turned, he slides the drink over to Sieglinde and there's a puff of white smoke before he turns back into Sai.]

Will this be acceptable?

[grunehexe]

[Just about when Sieglinde is pretty sure she got swindled and that straight-faced thief had run off with her coin... for what, fun?, it was hardly that much money... an altogether different person just takes a seat at her table as casual as you please?

Only the fact that he orders a drink prevents Sieglinde from tossing him from her table (verbally, she was hardly capable of it physically), instead sideeying him something fierce with a brow raised high...

Until he passes the drink to her, and the illusion dissipates to leave her with her original companion once more. Trying to hide how impressed she was with the ease at which he completed the feat, Sieglinde instead takes her drink first, sniffing it curiously.]

An illusionist, are you?

[Thanks.]

[daimeinashi]

Ah, not quite.

[Shape-shifter would be a more accurate term, perhaps, but not quite that, either. It takes chakra and concentration to maintain a different form, after all.

Still speaking in that hushed tone, he explains:]

It was a simple transformation jutsu.

[Even beginning Academy students can do it, so he doesn't feel particularly concerned about telling her about it.]

[grunehexe]

[As she listens, Sieglinde sips cautiously at her drink, smacking her lips a bit at the taste. Not the best liquor she's ever had, and certainly not as good as a German brew, but.

It will do.]

"Jutsu"?

[That's a word she hasn't heard before, and though she matches his hushed tone out of respect, she isn't going to reign in her curiosity for what she just witnessed.]

Is that what you call a spell in your world?

[daimeinashi]

[Meanwhile, Sai's content just to sit there, ordering nothing. Which draws some glares from the bartender, but the perfectly plastic smile he receives in response keeps him quiet every time--especially on the matter of what might have happened to the guy who was just sitting there; he has a feeling he doesn't want to know.]

I'm afraid I have never heard that term before. But "jutsu" is the word we shinobi use for our techniques, both in training and on missions. If the abilities you use for such purposes are called spells, then I suppose they are functionally the same.

[grunehexe]

And a "shinobi" is... ?

[Despite how easily the things she's asking could be perceived as sarcastic, she's genuinely interested in... well, anything she doesn't know about.

And as disappointing as that liquor was, she still keeps sipping it.]

[daimeinashi]

[Luckily for Sieglinde, Sai is completely terrible at reading tone anyway.]

Ah...you might consider it analogous to a member of a military force, I suppose.

[grunehexe]

So you are a soldier of some kind, then?

[One that could change his shape? That sounds more conducive to spywork to her, or to assassinations...]

... your talents will likely come to be quite useful here, then.

[After Chantes, after Nalawi... she was a healer, not a fighter, so the others in her team were the ones she had to rely on when it came to fighting.

Even though she'd prefer there to be no fighting at all.]

[daimeinashi]

[Honestly, even Academy students can do transformations, but assassination is his specialty. But if he could hear what she was thinking, he'd point out that one can definitely be both a healer and a fighter. Sakura was proof enough of that.]

That is correct.

[And likely, yes. The part of Sai that's still Suspicious of ALISTAIR can't help but think it's Very Convenient that people have been falling through rifts while ALISTAIR was in a shortage of recruits.]

And what of yourself?

[There's only so much information he's willing to give without receiving some in return, after all.]

[grunehexe]

I am the Green Witch- a healer.

[It was something she had taken pride in all her life, and the hints of that in her speech are more habit than anything else, straightening up a bit in her chair after another sip.]

Should you have need of one here you need only call- unfortunately we are very few.

[Of course, there were quite a few people these days with healing spells courtesy ALASTAIR, but... she didn't count them as actual members of the profession.]

[daimeinashi]

[Sai doesn't know what a green witch is, but he sure does know the term "healer." You're officially someone to Keep In Mind, since Sakura's not here. He nods.]

No doubt your skills will be invaluable to ALISTAIR as well.

[grunehexe]

[Invaluable was a way to put it. Her expressions schooled, there's only a brief flicker of darkness in her features, flashes of memory playing out.

Working through the night to save Masamune's arm. That man's guts, held spilling into his hands. The bloated carcass of a Nalawin. The cut off screams of those trampled beneath the chimera in Chantes. The infected hole that had been Evan's eye.]

They have been for some time now, yes.

[For four missions and counting now.]

[daimeinashi]

[It's too subtle for Sai, really, who barely understands fully formed facial expressions at this point, let alone more subtle ones.]

I see. I will remember to contact you, should I be in need of assistance in the future.

[grunehexe]

Please do.

[She prefers it when people don't notice- it means she doesn't need to address it, nor lie about it.]

Those who are able to fight keep this team safe, so those who cannot fight- it is the least I can do to heal the damage accrued.

[daimeinashi]

[It's really weird for Sai to think of someone who can't fight but possesses other skills relevant to fighting. In Konoha, all the medics are ninjas too. A medic was useless if they were the first one killed, after all.]

You do not wish to learn how to fight? Medical attention is only useful while one still lives, after all. Such is not guaranteed, at the end of a battle.

[grunehexe]

... Learning can only do so much for natural ability.

[She tries to say it with a smile, but it's a sore spot, smile twitching a bit in the corner.

Admittedly, she certainly doesn't look very strong- all of 12 years old and even small for that age, arms slim and beneath her skirts, legs even slimmer from atrophied disuse.

But she isn't saying she can't do anything. There is definitively a small dagger attached to her chatelaine.]

SORRY this notif got buried

[daimeinashi]

[He looks at her appraisingly, at that comment. One might think he was checking her out, but it's not something that's even occurred to him.]

No, I do not expect you could be a front-liner in combat. [b-blunt] But that is not what I mean.

Given your stature, for instance, you could be excellent for stealth, or infiltration. You could conceal a great many things inside those garments in the guise of a civilian, for example--weapons, toxins, a flash or smoke grenade to disorient and disorganize the enemy.

And were you to wear more form-fitting clothing, you could easily fit into small spaces, slip past enemy lines unnoticed, or attack more sensitive areas. Kick a man in the balls, for instance.

[He says that just so completely flatly, without even flinching.]

Lack of physical strength does not mean lack of ability. Disadvantages can be easily turned to advantages.

[grunehexe]

[One might think that... especially if that person had what could be potentially classified as a perverted mind. As Sai kept looking... and talking about "form-fitting clothing"... and slipping into places... and men's groins...

Sieglinde's expression slowly grew more and more cautiously scandalized, cheeks turning pink as she raised a hand to cover her (nonexistant) breasts. Nevermind she was fully clothed.]

I... cannot walk well...

[Something that needed clarifying, now that she'd unbound her feet. Once they'd been a mere three inches long, broken and folded in on each other as proof of her pact with the werewolves, honoring her ancestor's promise... but now just looking wouldn't give that handicap away. She could do simple walking by herself now, but she'd lost most of the feeling in the extremities to dead nerves, and without that sense she was still highly prone to tumbles and trips.

What she's trying to say is... stealth was probably out of the question.]

I have... done the smuggling maneuver before, however...

[You could fit a lot under those skirts.]