EVENT ▸ RETURN TO HQ

[futurologists]

RETURN TO HQ After a tough mission, it's time to return to Headquarters for a well-earned rest. Hathaway's medics and healers are there to patch up any lingering injuries (as are any teammates with healing abilities!), everyone's room is tidied up for them, and the entirety of Hathaway HQ is ripe for exploring. Take your time -- you earned it. Also sharing downtime at HQ are Guilds Horatio, Montague, and Watchman, composed of humanoids of various shapes and sizes. Temporary pop-up shops down in the promenade include a spa where one can get a manicure, pedicure, or other beautifying procedures; a yoga studio; and an imported salt cave for meditation. After a few days of silent relaxation, members of Guild Ophelia will all receive a text message on their magitek from Imogen -- their Guild Master, if they don't remember. Imogen, while not directly involved in any world-saving affairs, has a rather sizable amount of inheritance that she puts towards the Hathaway cause. Specifically, she uses it to finance Ophelia's endeavors. This sort of makes her in charge, or as much in charge of this rag-tag team as any one person can be. Hello, Ophelia! Once again, allow me to congratulate you on your successful mission in Hanabira. I hear the wedding went smashingly. Hathaway's analysts should rift down someone to check in on your success in several years, but the mathematicians are confident your solution has brought peace to the region. One should never rest on their laurels, however. From what I've seen in magitek messages, this guild is sorely lacking in the ability to work together and trust all guildmates, regardless of who they are. I've spotted more than a few barbs exchanged. Hanabira will be only an exception if you continue to behave this way. We'll be conducting guild bonding exercises today. While they are not mandatory, I assure you I've procured incentive for you all to participate. It isn't cheap to finance your exploits, and I won't spend my resources on a group of ruffians slinging insults at each other. Meet by the memorial fountain in one hour, and do try to bring a positive attitude. Your Guild Master, Imogen Those who choose to participate will find Imogen, a very prim and graceful elf dressed in elaborately embroidered robes, standing near the fountain. She greets everyone by name -- "nice to see you" and "glad you could make it" -- before directing them to the training rooms on the upper deck. The training rooms include run-of-the-mill exercise equipment and the training simulation room, both of which are free to use by participants and non-participants alike. A tall, strong-looking man whom some may recognize as their recruiter is making use of the equipment. His name is Khalef, and he is happy to answer questions about the training facilities or anything else about Hathaway. Between exercises, Imogen is available at the memorial fountain to chat but she's otherwise busy with paperwork. ▸ SECRETS Two partners sit in a room furnished only with two (very comfy, if it matters) chairs and a table between them. On the table sits -- floats, really -- a colorful orb, softly glowing. It is comfortably warm to the touch. The instructions automatically flash across the participants' magitek, thanking them for participating and asking them both to answer the following questions with complete honesty to gain the most from this exercise. Then, the first question pops up: What is something you like about your exercise partner? It seems simple enough. If a participant tells the truth, they will notice the orb's glow brightening, almost as if it is starting to flame. If a participant lies, they will notice the orb's glow dimming. Otherwise, there is no penalty for lying. The questions slowly get more personal, with the aim of getting the two partners to open up to each other: If a crystal ball could tell you the future, what would you want to know? What’s the one thing you would like to change about yourself? What are you most proud of accomplishing? What do you think existed before the universe was created? What do you think is the worst crime a human could commit? Do you think jealousy has value in driving people to improve themselves, or is it a purely negative emotion? If you could start your life over, what would you do differently? If you were given only one week to live, how would you spend it? Who had the greatest impact on your life? What was it? What’s the difference between justice and revenge? Is it possible to live a normal life and not ever tell a lie? Do the ends justify the means? Are some people’s lives worth more than others? Why or why not? Complete this sentence: "I wish I had someone with whom I could share..." If a loved one died, but someone created a perfect copy, would they be the same person and would you love them just as much? If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know. ( Mod note: the above are just ideas! You can pick and choose, or come up with your own. Whatever is most fun for you! ) If the two partners truthfully answer their questions, the orb will eventually catch fire, although it will curiously still remain only pleasantly warm if anyone attempts to touch it. It will blaze until it burns out, leaving two small marble replicas in its place. When one of the partners grasps it in their hand, they will be able to see through the other partner's eyes for one minute (although they will not be aware of their own surroundings, so you might want to be in a safe area). The other partner will be aware of this and able to sever the link by removing the marble from their person. These items are bound to their owners and cannot be used by others. If one or both partners lie, the orb will eventually fizzle out entirely, and the magitek will inform them that the exercise was failed due to deceit. ▸ RIFTING Next, guild members are directed to the rifting pad located on the upper deck. Technicians scurry about in the rifting area, spinning dials and taking readings, as volunteers are directed to stand on the rifting pad and wait. It's just like rifting to a different universe for a mission -- the world goes bright and then, in a flash, you're standing somewhere else -- except the technicians emphatically explain this is not a mission. It's still part of the training exercise, you see! Participants have been rifted to an unpopulated garden planet, in the middle of a forest clearing. The grass is tall -- nearly 150 cm in height -- and is surrounded on all sides by forest. A notice pops up on your magitek that informs you there is no aggressive local wildlife, but there are aggressive plants: including, unfortunately, your goal for this part of the exercise. Spread throughout the forest are aggressive willow trees, sentient flora that will lash out with sharp, clawlike branches at anyone who comes too close. The branches have incredible reach, but the trees have no other defense, and are rooted to the spot so they are also unable to maneuver. The goal of the exercise is to gather as many willow seeds as possible, ostensibly without hurting the trees themselves. Willow seeds are around the size of a small marble and have a fluffy attachment that will allow them to blow away on the wind; you can scour the forest in search of them, of course, but the highest concentration is below the willows themselves. Once participants feel they have gathered enough seeds -- or if they simply want to give up -- they need only speak to the rift technicians via magitek and they will return back to Headquarters immediately. The participants will each receive a pot of soil and a seed to plant within it. The plant that sprouts from it will be no ordinary plant; it will require no water to sustain itself, but it will require something else: friendship. As the relationship between the two participants strengthens, the plant will grow, its appearance representing how the other participant feels about the plant owner -- pink and red blooms may represent romantic love, whereas bright, multi-colored petals may simply represent a strong friendship or budding blooms may represent... well, a budding friendship. (Of course, there's no "flower guide", so it's up to them to decide how to interpret this.) As the relationship weakens, the plant will wilt and, if the relationship turns sour enough, die. So take care of your relationship and take care of your plant! ▸ COMPOSURE This exercise completed, participants are free to return to the first deck and go about their business. But on the elevator back down from the rifting pad, the elevator suddenly jerks violently and then stalls. You're stuck! The emergency button doesn't seem to be working, no matter how many times you press it. And for that matter, no messages seem to be going through the magitek, either. You're effectively trapped in here with whomever you stepped aboard -- a friend, an acquaintance, or even a stranger. But don't panic -- surely Hathaway hired you for your ingenuity and not just your pretty face, right? The elevator can be broken out of in a number of ways: If you brute strength the doors open, you'll find that the elevator is stuck halfway between floors. This means that you must either climb up or down to escape the narrow opening, and, if your partner isn't the athletic type, help them out as well. If you hack the elevator's control panel (prying the panel door off first, obviously), you may be able to guide it up and down the shaft. Depending on your expertise in this sort of thing, the ride may be jerky and uncomfortable, and there's always a risk of the elevator plummeting down to the bottom if you lose control -- although strangely, there's never any impact if this happens, only the elevator springing back up the shaft after the fall. Either way, you should be able to figure out how to get the doors open. If you open the access hatch at the top of the elevator, you'll be granted access to the elevator shaft. It's a dimly lit tunnel of cables and wires, and unless you're lucky enough to find a service ladder in the midst of all of it, you'll have to use the cables to climb. It's dangerous -- you could lose your footing at any moment and slam back down onto the elevator below -- but you should be able to find a door eventually. And then it's only a matter of figuring out how to get it open. Or you could try a combination of these, or something entirely different! No matter what method you choose, once you find your way onto solid ground, your magitek will light up: Congratulations! You passed the final exercise. Rest assured, you were never in any real danger, I promise! Your Guild Master, Imogen Indeed, if you found yourself falling too far down the shaft, you would have found yourself instantly buffeted by invisible winds to keep your landing soft -- and if you found yourself unable to find a way to escape within two hours, the elevator would automatically start up again. Those who succeed will receive a flashlight that does not seem to work at first; however, it is capable of taking and storing light from its immediate surroundings, which it can then release into similar light sources or, in the absence of those, floating orbs of light. It is incapable of taking light out of an entire building, for an example, but can darken a room. ▸ OOC NOTES If you have questions about this log, please direct them to this comment on the plotting post. Questions about the game in general can be directed to the FAQ. ▸ Up now: Hanabira Bounty Board is still open! Bounties must be turned in by the start of the next mission on 15 April. Congratulations, Guild Ophelia now has an official uniform! The uniforms may be modified in any way characters like. The FAQ and Headquarters pages have been updated to include the uniform information. ▸ Coming next: 25 March: Mandatory How's My Driving meme. Participation is required to pass March AC. 28 March: April calendar, including news about apps. 01 April: March AC begins, ending on 5 April 23:59 UTC. ▸ Plotting ▸ Hathaway Headquarters ▸ Hanabira Bounty Board ▸ March Calendar

Comments

[tolight]

[ Her excitement keeps her from catching the somber note — her back naturally straightening, her expression shifting towards something brighter ... until it's not.

And it's expected; her father's father hadn't been a kind man, either. But there's still something that twists when Veronica begins to speak, the implications very much there for her to pick up on. A legacy can be a blessing, or a curse; she's seen both in her time. ]

For what it's worth — I couldn't have guessed, until this moment. [ Veronica's capacity to hurt should she choose to do so. That should say something.

( For when they're ready, the next question flickers on the screen: If a crystal ball could tell you the future, what would you want to know? ) ]

[evenslimmer]

They're more normal for me than juice bars.

[ That is not a joke. But only because sometimes he feels like space aliens make more sense than the future, even though he knows it's only due to his deficient frame of reference with regards to aliens. ]

But it's not like any part of my life is really normal. I haven't lost sight of the fact that it's— how did you put it? Very science fiction. It's just that if I got caught up on every little weird piece I wouldn't get anything done.

[mitthrawnaruto]

[For a moment he is a glacial blur, ducking into the thick shadows beneath raised roots— disappearing entirely. With his absence, the branches slow in their pursuit, curling briefly in midair: it can't chase what it can't perceive, apparently, which leaves Loki as its focus.

The seconds tick on— turning instead to a minute or so— the Grand Admiral either absent or inactive, or some mixture of either, just before Thrawn calls out, standing at Loki's back some distance away (dirt flecking shimmering blue-black hair and the rest of his angular features):]

We Chiss prefer subtlety.

[He tips his palm, showing off a handful of gathered seeds.]

[mitthrawnaruto]

They are a temperamental species, I have found. [Though his judgment doesn't seem to come with contempt or malice despite its lack of open positivity.] Is it difficult for you to work alongside them?

[His teeth sink into the apple, sharpened incisors puncturing the skin with a crisp snap, and for a moment in spite of the conversation at hand, the Chiss seems briefly distracted by his attempts to process the texture and taste of an entirely unfamiliar fruit.]

[refashioned]

Me helping you helps everyone. You have a level head, so learning how to apply that won't be a bad thing. [It definitely stands in sharp contrast to how Veronica handles things. She can be levelheaded and even-tempered, but she can also get heated and lose it, just a bit. Just a bit. Jason doesn't strike her as someone who tends to do that.

That said, there is something else she needs to add:] As for the end arrangement, I'm always up for coffee and baked goods, but I ... should make it clear that I'm not looking for anything serious right now. Coffee dates are cutting it a little close as it is.

party stats - strength: 99 intelligence: 5

[undeserved]

... Metal. [ mostly. ] I'm an android - YoRHa Unit 2B.

[ this is something she should tell people sooner, but it's sort of hard to just... drop it into conversation, especially since that was never something she had to do before. ]

[refashioned]

So, should I safely assume you've come up against everything that I would typically consider weird and bizarre? [There is no tension in her voice. If anything, things not being weird for Scott probably makes his life easier. That's one less thing that he has to worry about, and he worries a lot.]

[refashioned]

Perhaps you should be more scrutinizing of me, Lucina. [It's not fair to Lucina to respond with a tone that is just shy of a "rebuke." Veronica feels guilty almost immediately. There's so much Lucina doesn't know. She wouldn't even know where to start.

Though explaining that she's technically one step from being a mobster may help, if Lucina had any context for what the hell the "mob" happened to be. Veronica's betting that's a solid no.

She sighs and looks down, processing the question.]

I don't know. If my father will ever be capable of being a truly good man. I feel like that's a nice place to start. I just don't know if that's more for a crystal ball or a magic eight ball.

[refashioned]

If it were only that simple. Don't worry, we caught the serial killer. In fact, we may have been able to catch him sooner if my initial hunch regarding the matter had been followed. [Archie said that his eyes hadn't been right. She had believed that, but if she had gone on her own, she may have been able to prevent Archie from nearly being buried alive. She would honestly give anything to prevent him from having that experience.

Which is part of why she's here, in a roundabout way.]

Now you understand why I was so peeved over being treated like I was ill-equipped for every aspect of this experience once I was already handling it head on.

[rhinostagros]

I guess it depends who I'm working with. Some are understanding and willing to learn about us. Others don't regard us as people and treat us as nothing more than tools.

[ Mainly humans who work under the Abbey, led by the teachings of the higher ups. Malevolent energy is also obviously an issue for his kind as it's like a toxin, but it's not something he likes to bring up to others of the guild.

He pauses and tilts his head curiously, studying Thrawn's expression. ]

Sweet and tart, right? Do Chiss require food for sustenance?

[ Probably a strange question to ask, but he's being serious. ]

[mitthrawnaruto]

We do, yes. Some would refer to us as human-adjacent, despite our differences in physiology. In most ways I would disagree— but there are some rudimentary functions that we still share.

[He suspects, given the nature of his companion's inquiry, that is likely not the case for the Malakhim.]

It is quite fascinating. Much like a meiloorun in taste, though not texture.

[forcevisions]

No. No.

[ Rey takes a few stuttered steps towards him. It's not that she thinks she knows better than him, but that she's afraid he's not understanding or considering things that he should know to weigh here because he's succumbing to his anger.

Which she empathizes with. Sitting across from Thrawn like that felt like — Well, like having her brain picked apart, her vulnerabilities laid bare, in the interrogation room of Starkiller. She wants him to pay for that too. She's just not letting it blind her. She'd felt like that because he'd beaten them.

Charging in aggressive and half-cocked will only ensure the same thing takes place. ]

Stop and think. [ And despite her failure, despite the loss that she felt responsible, Rey does think she's beginning to get the hang of that. Of considering Thrawn's movements instead of just charging in on her feelings. ] He discovered it once before. If we don't determine how, plucking that memory out will be pointless because he'll only discover it again.

[ She straightens, softens. Less imploring, more examining now: ] And if we don't figure out exactly what we're up against, he'll outmaneuver us again. It wasn't a theory. He knew you were with me. We have to be careful.

[sololoquy]

And how do you propose we outmaneuver him while he already knows to expect retribution?

[Kylo Ren isn't exactly the most unpredictable, in terms of behavior patterns. She's got it in one: his anger is a low simmer, threatening to rise to a boil without somewhere to direct it -- without something to take it out on.]

He is not Force sensitive. The only other way he could have known was a confident guess.

[If nothing else, Loki and others have taught him that even false confidence can go a long way in unearthing the truth of things -- he'd never needed such tools with the Force at his fingertips.

Regardless: whether or not Thrawn knew at the time of his proclamation, he certainly knew now.]

[forcevisions]

[ Alright, now he's definitely mad at her. There's no mistaking that — and Rey's not sure she doesn't deserve it. Just that it's unproductive. She's more practically minded than he is, and sitting here bickering about it won't get them anywhere. ]

By waiting to act until we know everything we need to know.

[ She keeps her voice level, despite the fact that she wants to bristle with unjustified defensiveness. She did give him the bond and she did give him the Empire. ]

We need to work through it, sift through what we have to find answers, not look for reasons to lash out immediately. If we act on impulse and confront him before we have all the information, we'll never beat him. He just proved that.

[forcevisions]

[ Rey rolls her eyes. On the bright side she's looking at the wires and not at him, so maybe that goes unnoticed. Cool. He's insulting her now because he's so impatient. ]

Why wouldn't they be?

[forcevisions]

[ It's not the first time she's heard that warning, and it shows on her face. Some part of her understands that it's true, in part. She just doesn't know how to let someone else drown and not care, especially not when they mean to her what Ben does.

Or maybe that's not what this is about at all, and she's just so used to hearing it about him that —

Well. It doesn't matter much either way, does it? She's done taking advice from Thrawn. All of it is tainted by his ambition regardless.

So instead of affording him an answer of some kind, she just drops her gaze, accepting his words, and turns to leave.

She's not in the business of murdering people out of hand, and she'd be an obvious hypocrite if she did; Thrawn has a role to play in what unfolds too. She can't remove him from the timeline anymore than he can change it. If she wants to stop him,
she has to find another way. But the next time she sees him, it won't be as friends. ]

[followhim]

You keep talking about how you know they're coming, but how do you know that they know anything's wrong?

[notthatjason]

[Jason tenses up. Laphicet asks it so innocently and yet it forces Jason back to a time when he was only a child asking himself that same question in the 5th cohort barracks.]

I wish I had an answer for that. I don't know.

[justbeingknife]

Silva?

I'd start it all over from the beginning. You think about it, there're all kindsa choices and people you run into in just one life. You gotta figure that if ya took it over from the top, you'd get to have a totally new set of experiences.

[ Majima didn't sound like he was regretting anything -- more like he was talking about the prospect of an interesting adventure. The orb's glow brightened a little further. ]

What’s the difference between justice and revenge?

[ Oh. Well, that was more sobering, wasn't it... ]

...I don't know. There's supposed to be a difference. Like justice's supposed to be selfless and impartial and all that; revenge is supposed to be selfish.

In practice, though, I think there's more in common there than you'd think.

[sololoquy]

[Somewhere in between her lecturing, Kylo Ren has turned away to pace, working his jaw with obvious frustration and maybe a twitch of fear. Thrawn was not someone he wanted as an open adversary. He was not like most of the rank and file he encountered — not even the old relics that had fled the Empire’s fall to join the First Order. He was smarter, and knew what to do to get what he wanted.

And now that he knew they were onto him, he would work harder than ever to make sure he succeeded. At least, that’s what Kylo would do — so it must be what Thrawn would do too.

He eventually stops pacing to grip the nearest surface until it creaks under his strength. He is silent for a few moments.]

What he told you — about the Viridian Sea.

[If he doesnt make attempts to engage in discussion he’ll just start breaking things again.]

It is true. I refused to entertain his questions about you. And again, in Hanabira.

[But Rey — Rey couldn’t keep her damn mouth shut.]

[forcevisions]

[ It's hard not to succumb to her instinctual emotional response to this admission, to keep herself at the pragmatic distance she has been asking him for. But her loneliness and self worth issues have gravity as strong as his anger, and while he'd confirmed this once before, he had not declared it so openly.

He'd protected her. That makes the guilt worse, too. He'd been protecting her from the very beginning, and she'd been the one to cause these problems — with Keith, with Thrawn — by doubting that and refusing to accept what she could see instead of hear.

She swallows the dryness in her throat. ]

He didn't mention it until Hanabira. [ Which means he'd held onto it for weeks, supporting her belief that they don't need to worry about him instantly going to spread the bond around. ] Not until he saw my power. [ It's been some time. The specifics are hard to grapple for, but— ] When he did, I told him only about Starkiller, and in broad terms. If he gleaned anything from it, it must have been the same as your silence — that he drew conclusions not from what I said, but the way I said it.

[ Though she keeps her voice level, her face feels hot. She hadn't been aware enough of exactly what her feelings were to even think about looking for markers of something else, and Thrawn was quite good with people. ]

I indicated that I'd assumed you'd told him everything about me, and that I couldn't give him much information about you. That's not enough even for him to gather what he said today. [ And because Ben couldn't hear, she gives him the exact words — or a clearer summary of them: ] He said he'd noticed a connection in your evasiveness despite our positions in the war, but couldn't see more. And that when my 'true focus shifted,' he could see clearly that we were 'alike in mind.'

[ But she can see he's barely restraining himself from lashing out now. In addition to watching the tabletop creak and sigh under his grip, she can feel it like heat across the bond. ]

Do you want to do this in the training center?

[ She shouldn't ask, given her current churning emotions and the way the last time had gone, but asking him to slow down and work through this with her is asking a lot, and if taking that anger out on her is going to help him set it aside — well, she deserves it. And she can certainly handle it. ]

[forcevisions]

It's their elevator on their ship. They have sensors for this. [ Two wires connect and the doors slide open the rest of the way. ] Alright, got those. I think some of these might help move us to the next floor so we don't have to climb. [ She doesn't know Poe's experience climbing in ship guts, so she doesn't want to rely on it. ]

[rhinostagros]

I don't know what a meiloorun is, but... hey! [ Laphicet's curious, excited over such an unfamiliar-sounding fruit. And he likely had more questions about the Chiss. Where he came from, there were only humans, daemons, and malakhim. ] Maybe they have some in the shops, sir—

[ "Sir". The form of address reminds him that he hasn't properly introduced himself or even ask for his ally's name. They didn't have much of a chance for introductions back at the castle.

He shifts awkwardly in his chair, acting almost ashamed he hadn't said anything sooner. ]

Oh right, you can call me Laphicet by the way. [ As if that wasn't obvious enough from the username over the magitek. ] Sorry, I never got your name.

[rhinostagros]

[ Laphicet knows he doesn't want to hurt Jason by prying into the matter further. It's already telling that it's not an easy subject for him, judging from his expression. So, he leaves the subject at that.

He turns to quietly look back at the orb, to carry on with their exercise although the current question is one that requires some thought. Frowning, he really doesn't like the thought of having to weigh many lives against each other. But he knows there have been moments where he would place one higher than the other, especially when it came to protecting Velvet.

He once again speaks his answer slowly, choosing his words carefully. ]

Everyone is... unique, if you look at the world as a whole. Or I guess in this case, the universe. So no, I don't believe that everyone's life is worth more than another. But suppose if someone close to you was in danger, naturally you would want to protect that person over anyone else.

I know I would. [ Then his words suddenly sound more filled with confidence, almost haughty even. ] So if someone hurts you Jason, I'll tear them a new one.

[ Wow, tough little guy. The orb glows in response. Perhaps it's also Laphicet's way of trying to lighten the mood and cheer his friend up. ]

[rhinostagros]

Silva was a friend. He was about my age.

[ A new set of experiences sounds exciting, he doesn't doubt that. But he's not entirely ready to start over completely. There was still much to do with his current life and he doesn't know if he could part ways with certain people. ]

Revenge is... selfish, driven by anger and hatred.

[ He almost says it easily enough. He's more familiar with revenge, with how some of the people on the Van Eltia acted. ]

And I don't know. I guess I agree? Justice is more about selflessness, that much I can say.

[ This is a tough question and he doesn't have much else to say on it. But his answer is honest, as indicated by the orb glowing in response. ]