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 Speaking of clothing, whatever recruits were wearing upon their abduction has been replaced by a uniform orange jumpsuit.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

[kisha]

[Things only she could do. The thought almost made her laugh again, but even that small outburst of emotion had seemed so tiring, so unsightly. There were stronger members of their number. Faster, too, apparently. More intelligent, more anything at all. It wasn't as if she thought she had to be the best at something... but it made it seem a fools argument, that there was something only she could do.

Nothing good.

But doesn't even have the will to rebuke him for coming closer, and can only lay quiet as he tells his tale, and it goes in one ear and out the other. A world that would end, an "agito", a tale of overcoming unworthiness... it was admirable.

For him, who had done it.

She can only bow her head.]

You are small.

[And light. And easy to throw.

It hasn't been so great a feat as that.]

[sentry]

And I get discounted for it. Almost always.

[Even his brothers and sisters give him a tough time about it, though in his case it's at least a thing borne of being raised together. Eight would've hoped that relating to her sense of powerlessness, as it appears that way from where he sits, might have made some connection. But he isn't discouraged by the lack of results, all too aware that he isn't like most. That he never would be like most.

It's just not how he was brought up. Most children had friends, most concerned themselves with the mundane and inconsequential. He decided from an early age that he wanted to feel pain when he brought it upon others, even his enemies.

Class Zero was not normal]

...Do you think you're small?

[It's a guess he ventures after a time, because it seems to him she's avoided the windows. And he's never seen that behavior from her before. Maybe it's nothing at all, or maybe she'll choose not to answer him honestly. She might not answer at all. But he's nothing if not determined]

[kisha]

[There is nothing wrong with his stature- but perhaps that was merely something she could think only as a woman who found all humans to be small compared to her. At least- usually. But now she's laying down, heavy equine torso leaning against the cell wall, her hooves tucked beneath, her human arms crossed defensively and her cheek to the metal.

A human could be taller than her now.

But she knows he doesn't mean like that.

The silence stretches on, her answer unspoken, until.]

We all are.

[She'd seen it outside that window. Just how small they were, a tiny speck in a sea of stars.]

[sentry]

Does it really matter that we are?

[Perhaps their individual lives are inconsequential to the universe itself, but that's never mattered to Eight. Countless worlds he'll never see or be a part of don't hold the same significance as the lives of those precious to him. So they're small. He's been small all his life.

Well, once he'd had height on some of his brothers, until they'd all sprinted right past him in that department. Then he learned to literally sprint past them, shorter legs be damned.

What Hayame is weighing extends far beyond any of that, and yet... Wasn't it always true that these things were out there?]

Seems like all that's changed is what we can see.

[And what they can see is difficult to fathom. Even so, it was there before them, and will surely be there after. It's not something they can change. But there are things they still can reach, touch, and influence]

[kisha]

[He makes it sound like such a simple thing. They all managed to. Of course it mattered. Why it was so easy for them to accept and so hard for her, she had little ability to know, and little interest in comparing psychologies.

Little interest in much of anything but struggling within herself to make sense of what was happening- and failing.

There is another long silence, the stillness in her continues, not even a flick of tail or shiver along spine.]

... do you not have somewhere else to be?

[It was tiring- continuing this. All of it.]

[sentry]

...I'm a prisoner, same as you.

[By definition, he has incredibly few places to be. Normally, Eight isn't much for wasting time, whether it's his own or that of another. In this case, it's not that he sees it as time wasted. Seeing another soldier demoralized in this way is something he recognizes as troubling, and far from anything he wishes to see continue after observing it this long.

Even so, he isn't Deuce, lacking the softening influence of her ready kindness. Neither is he Jack, who on some level proved to be an effective distraction, if a frustrating one. Eight has always been frank and to the point, and while he wishes to help pick Hayame up, he doesn't know how.

Likely, he'd have better luck manually doing so than otherwise.

But he's patient. He always has been. And for the moment he concentrates his energy, the low hum of magic and soft flicker of light around one upheld fist choreographing just what he's doing. That hum grows a little louder, the light a little brighter, before he releases the healing spell. It bounds to Hayame, dousing her in a wash of glittering light]

Whatever you think of yourself, I consider you strong.

[kisha]

[A reminder she doesn't need. Both that she is stuck with him, stuck with all of them, with their caring and their compassion... and also that they were prisoners.

Not that she'd forgotten for a moment.

She thinks if she continues to ignore him he might finally go away, take her cold shoulder for dismissal and leave her be, but he insists on final words she supposes are meant to be uplifting.

Instead, it is another mark of shame, to be reminder of what she should be, yet cannot bring herself to muster. The double shame, of being seen as weak, and she blanches out of sight to feel the spell wash over her, a shudder of horror working its way down both portions of her spine.

Magic. On her. Invading her body and changing things in a way that wasn't natural at all.

But to protest or speak to him on that point would only encourage him, and so her arms cross even tighter across her chest, and her panic-tightened muscles merely stay in place... waiting to hear the sound of retreat.]