EVENT ★ ROLLING 'ROUND THE BEND

[futurologists]

ASTERION PRISON The white light is blinding. The weightlessness continues. The air thins into nothingness, though those who breathe won't feel the pain of suffocation -- in fact, they won't feel the need to breathe at all. The sensation continues for what may seem like a second or an eternity; it's impossible to tell. And then the floor hits you. Or rather, you hit the floor. It's cold and metal and as your vision returns, you'll find you're not alone in this small room, though you're definitely not with anyone you know: standing in front of you is a brawny alien in a black uniform, its many purple eyes staring at you. The alien is flanked by a pair of robots, who take advantage of your dazed state and grasp you in their metal arms to drag you from the room into what appears to be a gigantic prison. As the robots drag you past cells -- some containing other aliens, some containing humanoids, and some containing your teammates -- you'll catch a glimpse of the outside through a window. You're in outer space. If questioned, the guard will only tell you that you've been accused of conspiracy to commit grand theft, and your trial will begin soon. But in the meantime, you'd better get cozy. YOUR NEW HOME Asterion Prison is a dreadnought class spaceship with several different cell blocks making up a majority of its innards, with the rest of the space designated for day-to-day running of the ship and living quarters for the guards. Audentes is housed in Block 26, which has six tiers of cells situated in a circle around the main recreational area, out of which juts the Block 26 guard tower. Each inmate, including Audentes recruits, has a glowing blue symbol emblazoned on their forehead. Though it's not immediately clear what the symbols mean, inmates who have been around longer will explain: it's a record of how many lives you've taken, a way for the guards to know who's the most dangerous. The symbol glows through any kind of attempt at covering it -- whether by makeup, clothing, hair, or something else -- so it's best to learn to deal with it quickly. Speaking of clothing, whatever recruits were wearing upon their abduction has been replaced by a uniform orange jumpsuit. Similarly, any weapons are no longer present, though those with a special connection to their weapons will feel that they are being held elsewhere on the ship. Luckily, the guards appear to have overlooked jewelcomms, so Audentes will be able to communicate with each other via magitek (text only is suggested, of course, unless you want to get caught!), though contact with Oska or any other outside ALASTAIR recruit seems to be blocked. LOCKDOWN As long as inmates keep to themselves and don't bother the guards, things run pretty smoothly. Two meals a day, five hours of sleep, and all the weights you need to get yourself swole. But on the sixth day in Asterion Prison, all hell breaks loose. No one knows who started it, but there's suddenly a loud roar from the milling crowd in the recreational area. Most inmates scatter, but some rush in -- to see what's going on or to get a piece of the action themselves, who knows -- and then everything becomes an all-out brawl. Super strong aliens with various powers fight each other loudly and violently while others cower and run for cover. The old alien ducks behind his chess board just in time to avoid a barbell sailing overhead; a six-armed being shoots lava out of its mouth, which does nothing to the metallic floor but severely burns a group of humanoid toads wielding shivs. The fight goes on for a few long minutes before correctional officers and their robot guards pour in to try and get things under control. Those who are still around once the officers come in are in threat of being dragged off to solitary, even if they had nothing to do with the brawl, so make yourself scarce unless the idea of sitting in the dark for another six days seems appealing. OOC NOTES Welcome to space prison! We hope you'll enjoy your stay. There is a plotting write-up here with extra information about the prison ship, and please note that participation in the symbol directory is mandatory. If you have any questions about the prison that aren't answered here, please direct them to the Leramzen dossier. Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ and you may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

Comments

Hayame | OTA

[kisha]

０１ ↣ 誰にも殺してない武士 ↣ THE WARRIOR WITH NO KILLS

[For a more romantic person, a more creative or philosophical person, to exist and breathe and live out amongst the stars might be a dream, a chance to explore the world beyond or at the very least proof of some future beyond the ground. It might even be the straw that broke the proverbial... horse's back.

But it's too much, for a centaur who has been born and raised in times most would consider medieval, who never dreamed of life in the stars, of other worlds, of any of the insanity that keeps happening ever since she'd been recruited by ALASTAIR.

The infinite blackness she'd seen outside the window, dragged bodily down the halls, haunts her. She can't sleep. She doesn't eat. The guards have to beat and drag her to roll call, and she's likely an infraction away from solitary. But none of that pulls Hayame from her cell, where she can be found lying down in the corner with her back to the door, head down to hide the blue "0" emblazoned on her forehead.]

０２ ↣ 心を決めるのなら ↣ IF YOU ARE RESOLVED

[But her reluctance to go aside, the guards are determined she do so, and though it earns her more bruises in the process, one blossoming newly colored on her cheek, Hayame is at roll call. Her head remains down in shame, gaze distant... but she isn't blind. She can see something of her surroundings.

If the persons beside her seem stable, seem resilient or defiant in the face of their captivity, Hayame says nothing, only standing in sullen silence.

But if they seem depressed, withdrawn, or even more resigned than she does... then she slowly begins to take an interest, eyeing them rather darkly... almost desperately.]

０３ ↣ 食欲減退 ↣ LOSS OF APPETITE

[Just as Hayame is forced to attend roll call, she is also forced to attend one meal a day. She does, hooves scraping weakly on the floor as she makes her way through the line with her tray, receives the slop they call food, and finds a seat and table that is designed for the more large aliens amongst their number.

The tray goes on the table, she lowers her equine half weakly to the ground... but that is the extent of her actions in the mess hall beyond staring at the food in silence, waiting to be allowed to return to her cell.

It has only been a few days, but there's a sharpness to her shoulder blades and withers that wasn't there before, a consequence of how much her body needed to consume to maintain itself, versus the amount she's been feeding it.]

人馬持ち上げ ↣ CENTAUR LIFTING ↣ FOR ODINSON

[kisha]

[The problem with a "0" glowing on your forehead... it tends to advertise the bearer as one of two things. Someone who either was too weak to kill, or one opposed to killing. Either way... it makes one easy pickings. Makes one seem like a fly buzzing about a lion- not something worthy of much respect.

Hayame is neither of these things... but it's making her search for what she needs very, very difficult.]

I am telling you. I merely heard that you may possess-

[The voice comes from a cell not Hayame's own, hushed, before a harsh snarl breaks through the words... the sound of an impact... and a one ton centaur comes flying out of the cell, skidding along the floor until her progress is stopped by a railing.

Breath knocked out of her, it takes a moment for her to recover, inhaling in short, gasping breaths that only flutter weakly in her two chests as prisoners around her scramble out of the way in case whatever sent her flying comes out to finish the job.

Thankfully for them, though, her would-be shiv dealer seems content just to have gotten her out of his cell.]

[deemed]

[For all that Odinson is not enjoying his time in this prison, he has made sure to keep an eye on his companions. Not all the inmates are dangerous, but there are some who would as soon slit a throat to get what they wanted as ask. Odinson has been making it clear that any who tries this will answer to him.

Seeing Hayame fly out of the cell and not rise again draws his attention very quickly. He stands, crossing the room and jumping over the railing to stand beside her.

First- he glares into the cell, making eye contact with the creature. The M on his forehead glows blue as his eyes.] I will have words with you in a moment, worm.

[Then he turns to Hayame, looking her over to check how injured she is. He doesn't touch her, not yet. He knows how much she dislikes it.] Rise, friend. We will teach the worm that he may not mistreat one of our number so.

今ではラッパ音 ↣ SOUND THE BUGLE ↣ FOR NINURRTA (cw: suicidal thoughts)

[kisha]

[Hayame can count the times she has wept in her life on her fingers. Most of them had been in childhood, when she had been weaker, when she had not yet learned to present the cold and mature look of a good horse, and a good warrior. One had been when the letter had come clutched in the talons of a messenger hawk that spelled the doom of the village full of jinba she had just begun to think of as her own. Once more had been when she'd arrived in Oska, after hours and hours of running when the hopelessness of escape had sunk in.

Another is now, alone in her cell in a time she had specifically chosen because most of the prisoners would be in the mess hall for their second meal.

How pathetic. How lowly. How shameful.

Those feelings choke her, close around her throat even as she clasps a hand to her mouth to try and muffle her sobs, shoulders shaking as she bows over the item laid out in front of her between equine legs, concealed slightly in the shadows of her body. Her orange prison uniform is unzipped, a line of skin from collarbone to navel bare as she tries to get herself under control, tries to compose herself.

If this was her last act, the final act of a would-be warrior, she could not die with traces of weakness on her cheeks. Couldn't let alone know how she hesitated, how she feared to go through with it. How she doubted if she could do it without a second to lop her head from her neck the moment she'd finished slicing open her stomach, and had to tie her legs together to prevent thrashing and an undignified corpse.

But it seems so much like the only way. She can't wrap her head around the world she lives in any longer. Can't imagine recovering from the shame of failure and capture, of what she had done in her world, of the betrayal, of the "0" emblazoned on her forehead for all to see, of her weakness. And now they are in a prison she can see no way out of, amidst the black, black expanse of space.

The sound of someone in her doorway brings her head up in alarm, draws her tear-streaked face up and her body out of its bow, and reveals the item between her knees.

A makeshift blade filed out of what was once the scale of a more bestial prisoner.]

[trueborn]

[ There was little privacy to be found, in a place such as this. Audentes may have had the entire block to themselves, but living conditions were subpar, cramped, and he had a cellmate whom he needed to keep a stiff upper lip around ( Kagari was, for lack of a better term, experienced with living in jail, and not coping well ). There were many of them who were not coping well, either because imprisonment was an innate fear - or because the deaths upon their hands were emblazoned on their bodies for all to see and judge them for.

He does his best to not draw attention to himself, but has not flinched from any contempt or judgement that reaches him. He is aware of what he has done - as he is aware that, above all else, he cannot break. And, he needs to find Hayame. Something about her ways and her thoughts concerns him, deeply. He does not know what she will do in this place, but he knows that the distress and shame he feels will be tenfold upon her. And he promised ( promised her ) that he would bear their crime for both their sake.

When he finds her, she is a shell of herself - and it takes him but a moment to look at her stricken, shame-filled expression and the crude blade on the floor before her. With only a sound of effort and horror, he steps through the doorway and into her cell block, lunging for the blade. She cannot do this -- !! ]

01

[sentry]

[In contrast to Hayame, Eight is taking the circumstances in stride. He'd been no higher than the skies over Orience, airships familiar to his experience, but composure was one thing Eight has never lacked. Back home, he'd often served as a rock in turbulent waters for his brothers and sisters, and that's something that he won't allow to change. Without that ironclad calm, he wouldn't know how else to comport himself.

More than once as he's released from confinement for one purpose or another he passes her figure, and it seems to him she's positioned herself as far from the door as possible. Just a few cells down from his own, he'd heard the guards battle to get her to leave, heard them beat her. He grits his teeth with the thought, each time he sees her back, knowing there's nothing he can do to stop her.

But on the way to what serves as lunch in this place one day he halts in front of her door. If she were to look, the brand on his own forehead is clearly visible, three X marks he recognized at first as the number thirty until he was told otherwise. He thinks little of it, for more reasons than one]

You're not letting this defeat you, surely...

[Not the woman who'd thrown him bodily into the hot springs like he weighed no more than a moogle]

[kisha]

[When she closes her eyes, there is darkness. As there is when anyone does so, confronted with the inside of their eyelids, but in the wake of what she has seen, it has taken on a new meaning. One that scared her.

How was it they could be among stars, that shone in the sky so far away from the ground she belonged on? She had tried so hard, so long to understand how it was that she could be in another world, be ripped from her own... and here was another thing that she could not understand.

That made her feel like a speck of dust.

Her new revelation of insignificance makes it easy to be beaten. The coat on her lower half isn't dark, but the dun color is enough to obscure bruising and swelling, from her forced marches to mess hall and roll call, from other prisoners who saw the "0" on her forehead and figured her for easy pickings.

She did little to stop it.

And she does little to answer the familiar voice she hears behind her.

Perhaps if she didn't answer, he would give up, and leave her alone again with the spiraling vortex her thoughts had become.]

02

[scarredhorns]

[Nyuu had not been awake since Woodhurst, when she was shifting between herself and Lucy due to the effects of the Bristol virus, so to wake up in a prison in space was a terrifying experience that shocked her to the core. What disturbed Nyuu most, however, was the blue XX marking on her forehead, especially once she learned what it meant.

Even though it's useless, Nyuu covers her forehead with both hands as she stands at roll call, tearful eyes pointed down, while the blue light still glows through her skin. She's quick to obey when the guard barks a command to keep her eyes up and only trembles harder. After her eyes start to wander, they eventually fall on a set of horse legs yet that doesn't prepare Nyuu for the amazement she experiences once she sees what those legs are attached to. She's been taught that it's rude to stare, but she can't help herself. Upon first glance, the female centaur looks so strong, but then Nyuu notices the bruises and the defeated way that the other is carrying herself. Eventually, she sees those eyes stare into her own and only utters a sound once the guard is out of earshot.]

W-What's wrong?

[Besides the glowing mark on her forehead, there's also a pair of white horns at the top of her head, poking through her bright pink hair. Short in height, and not very pointy at the edges. In fact, they almost looked like cat ears.]

[kisha]

[Hayame has grown used to being stared at. Though the many teams in Oska had been made up of various species, Audentes was almost completely human- or, humanoid, at least, and she's the strange one, despite being a completely normal existence in her own world.

But here is... something else not human. A demon, or one of dragon blood, if she had to guess by the horns.

It isn't her race that drew her gaze, though. Rather, it was the look in her eyes that contains some of the same things in her own.

Shame. Disgrace. Fear.]

... do you need a second?

[She doesn't mean the measure of time.]

02

[flashbanging]

[ McCree's not exactly happy about the situation, but he ain't too low about it either--at least, not from an observer's standpoint. To the outside eye, he's as carefree and easygoing as ever, sauntering into the mess hall like he owns the place and sitting down like he's in a palace rather than a prison. His roving eye catches Hayame, looking considerably less upbeat, and he leans over to her. ]

That's a real shiner you got there, sweetheart. Somebody been botherin' you?

[kisha]

[Her response time is slow- not from any injury, but from resignation. To imprisonment, and the only option that remained to someone so disgraced. From the new discovery of her place, all their places, in the infinite scheme of things that she'd caught a glimpse of out the window.

Normally she'd bristle, to hear such a familiar sounding nickname used by a man she did not know... but she doesn't have it in her any longer.

A beat too late to be timely, she raises her head just slightly, the "0" glowing blue on her forehead despite how she keeps trying to hide it behind her dark hair.]

The same bothering everyone.

[Though those with symbols that clearly marked them as weaklings... perhaps they were easier to bother.

Not that she'd admit to such.]

03

[littlestguano]

[It's the fact that she's a centaur that catches his eye first—although he's seen a number of alien and hybrid creatures already and it's certainly not the strangest thing he's seen either here or at home—but it's the way she stares seemingly into nothing and doesn't attempt to eat that holds his attention. It's none of his business and he knows it. This isn't the sort of thing that concerns him. What concerns him is finding a way out and then finding a way home before ALASTAIR can cause them anymore trouble.

But as much as he prefers to look the other way, he can't. (He blames Grayson and he blames Gotham with all its talk of what Robin means. He blames the fact that he hasn't worn the suit in days and maybe it's harder than he thought to pretend to be something else.)

Damian sits across from her, struggling for a moment with the table that was clearly not built for his small 4'6 frame and eventually setting his tray down on his lap. He sits for a while in silence before eventually beginning to speak.]

Although it is very difficult to call this food, it does appear to contain the required sustenance to keep us functioning, and that is something we will need when we are able to escape. [He doesn't make mention of the symbol on her forehead or of the ΔΔΔ on his own.]

[kisha]

[Hayame has been keeping her head down. At her full height she stood at around twenty one hands, and if she didn't keep her eyes on the floor then the shameful brand of "0" was visible for any and all to see. It's easier when she's seated, at least, though she knew her size still drew attention, from the many of others worlds that had never seen one of her kind.

She'd only just begun to attempt understanding how other worlds existed. Now they were in a ship that sailed the stars.

It turned her stomachs.

Part of keeping her head down meant not paying much attention to those around her, and at the sound of address she weakly raises her head only enough to see... a human child? Maybe not, there were all sorts of creatures in this hell hole that appeared mostly human. Still-]

When.

[She throws back what to her seems like baseless optimism, and doesn't make a single move towards her food.]

03!

[daimeinashi]

[Sai remembers her, the horse-shaped creature on his team during the heist. He's kept a sharp eye out for the other members of Audentes during their incarceration; today is the fifth straight day the horse woman has failed to eat.

If they are to escape eventually, she will become a liability if this continues. Sai takes a seat next to her, the X glowing brightly on his own forehead. Insult to injury, although he does not know it.]

Is it your intention to die aboard this ship?

[kisha]

[Indeed, the "X" on his skin is the last thing she wants to see. She doesn't even look at him fully, keeping he eyes vaguely on the tray of food in front of her.]

Is my intention any of your business?

[Hunger hasn't dulled the chill in her voice, at least.]

3

[prodigism]

[ Arima does notice her and he does realize she's one of them. Even if she weren't he'd still come over regardless. There's his own symbol of XX oh his forehead that he makes no mention of nor does he make mention of anyone elses for that matter. ]

If you want to survive you should eat. Allowing them to win will benefit no one.

[ Arima that's not how you give people pep talks?! ]

[kisha]

[Thankfully? for Arima, the quality of his pep talk matters little to Hayame, who was stubborn enough despite her weakening to be capable of ignoring most dissenting opinions that have come her way.

And that's been... most of them.]

What I want is none of your business.

[But at minimum... it definitely isn't eating.]

03

[ofobedience]

[When he sits down beside her, it's with quiet unobtrusiveness. He's been keeping himself to himself, silently quiescent for the most part-- it's not his first rodeo when it comes to captivity, and he knows what to do in order to keep himself free of grief, of unwanted attention.

(until the riot, at least, but until then, he does his very best)

He says nothing at first, though he fails to touch the unrecognisable mess of food, just as she does. It's not as though he requires it to go on functioning. But eventually, without looking up at her, he does speak. Quietly, his voice smooth and low.]

You ought to take better care of yourself, you realise. Sooner or later, you're going to require your strength.

[kisha]

[The prison was kind enough to their prisoners to provide appropriate amounts of food, if not... actually palatable fare. The serving on Hayame's tray is much larger than on Giovanni's... but waste they both will become, at this rate. Her stomach had slowly stopped rumbling every hour, now resorting to an occasional gurgle... but she wasn't sure anymore if the knotted feeling in her abdomen was colic or hunger anymore.

She supposed she should care more about that... but she didn't need to be well fed and strong to get ahold of a shiv, and right now... that's her only goal.]

If you wish to speak of escape, I advise you sit elsewhere.

[She'd seen the strength of the bars and the walls and whatever this place was made of. Oh, perhaps someone could do it- escape into the black. But all of them? And then what?

Laughable. If she had the will to laugh.]

03

[feytality]

[Maya sees the way Hayame's trudging along, quietly going to sit by herself with food she's not even eating. (Maya gets it, the food is terrible, but--)]

[It's such a far cry from the proud, aggressive warrior she'd encountered and worked with during the heist, that she's alarmed. Once Maya gets her own food, she goes out of her way to sit next to Hayame, although she too struggles to take a seat on a table that is obviously not meant for her small size. Still, even though some of her food sloshes onto the tray, she makes it up next to Hayame with determination, shooting her a worried look.]

[And then, with a softer tone that's probably very strange coming from a normally very loud and excitable teenage girl--]

Hey, you have to eat something, you know.... I know it's bad, but you gotta keep your strength up.

[For what it's worth, she's also in the "0 on the forehead loser" club.]

[kisha]

[Unfortunately... being in the same category as Maya in this instance is far more shameful than... most anything else happening right now.

She doesn't need to turn her head to see and know who has approached her, with all the fuss it takes for her to even get into her seat. So Hayame doesn't, looking straight at her plate the entire time.

Slop. (When he had taken her prisoner, he had fed her the same food which he ate.)]

Be gone with you.

[Like she desired to be pitied by someone such as this. Associated even further with that shameful number.]

01;

[nextlineis]

[Joseph knows that in a place like this, it's generally everyone for themselves in the end. Hell, he's already seen it here where prisoners who have broken off into small groups are willing to throw one another under the figurative bus when push comes to shove. But it's hard to ignore and look the other way when someone's clearly not doing so hot, and is paying a pretty steep price for it. It's once they're allowed to roam out of their cells that Joseph pokes his head into Hayame's cell and spots her lying down in the corner.]

[He raps a knuckle gently on the frame of the entryway.]

Hey, um, you're not looking so good. [Duh, Joseph, she's probably aware of that.] So, I thought I'd come check on you.

[kisha]

[He isn't the first one to come by to "check on her". Hayame is beginning to lose hope that he will be the last. Though her instinct is to ignore him, keep her back to the door and her face turned away, such tactics have done little to discourage the... camaraderie of Audentes.

As if she'd done anything to warrant, nor want of it.]

Leave me be.

[Her tone is cold, dismissive from the get go.

Perhaps it will actually be heeded.]

ばか騒ぎ ↣ HORSIN' AROUND ↣ FOR EIGHT

[kisha]

[The end of the riot didn't mean the end to the pent up frustrations constantly about to boil over in Asterion Prison. It merely broke it into smaller gangs and groups, returned them to the usual style of jumpings and beatings in the shadows, out of sight of guards, or quick enough not to get caught.

Hayame has largely been ignoring these things since they've arrived. Hasn't really left her cell, except for the times she was dragged to the mess for breakfast and roll call... and her quest for a makeshift blade.

She still had it. Even though she failed to use it. (She still thought of it as "failed to", even with the circumstances. Even with what she had been asked to do.)

This time, though... Hayame raises her head at the sound of threats from outside the cell, accompanied by the sound what sounds like a fight in the making.]

[sentry]

[It's not the first time that Eight's been met with incredulity at the sight of his brand. Nobody believes someone his size and apparent age could be responsible for so many deaths, and so he can easily conclude that this won't be the last time. He's about the least intimidated by alien inmates crowding around him as he could be, and that only seems to offend them more.

He meets the attempts to goad him with stony silence, his expression speaking nothing of concern as he looks up at them. One lifts a limb and shoves his chest, knocking him against the wall behind him, and still, Eight's expression doesn't waver]

You really don't have anything better to do?

[His tone doesn't change, but the looks he's given certainly do. He's struck again, and he only straightens his posture, for all that his limited height allows him]

I've had worse.

[One among them says he'll show him worse. Eight looks no more intimidated than he did before, even when he's struck again. And again. It's something he tolerates, even though his magic could certainly handle this much. Even though, had he the room, so could his fists and feet.

But he's letting them occupy themselves for a reason]