exsiliumlogs | (open) mission: hit the beach

Date & Time: July 18th-24th, Exsilium Time
Location: Sea Shore during the Late Cretaceous Period
Characters: All! Oh those pesky mandatory missions.
Summary: In lieu of the success of the space shuttle's test flight, all of the Transports have been sent back to the Cretaceous period to gather mineral supplies and volcanic rock, while doubling as a sort of 'vacation' and chance to get Transports out of the Initiative's hair. With well stocked supplies, camping gear, and more burlap sacks than anyone could possibly ever use, the Transports have been set under a protective dome and told to collect what they can... and to enjoy the sunshine.
Warnings: Shenanigans!

The overflow log can be found HERE!

It's almost surreal, the quality of color, of light, of oxygen saturation in the air once people arrive. It's so rich that the Initiative sent people back with respirators, to help ease the transition, and warned those who would listen about the effects of too much oxygen on a system.

What they don't warn for is the sheer alien familiarity of the landscape, the warmth, the roughness of the sand on the beaches. This is not the fine, sandy beaches out of vacation dreams, but a rougher, larger granule sort, with shells that might be recognizeable as ancestors to ones those from Earth would remember washing up on familiar beaches, millions of years later.

Most striking is the lack of abundant wildlife found among the fronds and leaves and foliage, or underneath the surface of the saltier, much warmer waters extending off the beach. While acting as a permeable membrane to oxygen and water, along with the sorts of phytoplankton that kept sea creatures alive, all the larger animals had been pushed out by the Initiative's installment of the safety dome. Along the transparent walls, curious creatures would come close, peer in, tap against the barrier and run off if frightened, but very few were found inside at any size larger than that of a house cat. It was for the better in the long run.

Too bad that the Initiative didn't have ultra-violet blocking technology in their shielding. For all the atmosphere is in much better shape millions of years in the past, the sun is as strong as ever, and the unwary will be burned through and through if they're not careful.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[A

When she sees the sand, the water, she really only sees one thing. The Quarter Quell.

Every step is another step through the arena. Every sound represents the onset of another untold horror. She's perpetually on high alert, prepared for the worst to manifest itself at any second.

So when she spots something out of the corner of her eye, something moving, there's a moment of breathless paralysis.

She turns to find... some kind of mutt, nothing quite like she's ever seen before. A turkey with teeth, as best she can reconcile. Not large enough to be imposing; not even that much larger that the "tree rats" she'd found in the arena.

But big enough for a good meal, at least.

She notches an arrow and takes aim.]

[B

It's some time before she's able to successfully pluck all of the feathers off by herself, but when she manages to do so, she's ready for a fire. (And not a moment too soon, because by now, her stomach is growling with all too familiar gusto.) They're not lacking for supplies on this mission, so it doesn't take her long to build one, to get it ignited.

In a (supposedly) secluded area of the beach is one Katniss Everdeen, roasting the remains of a very small renegade dinosaur for her dinner.]

[It was the smell that drew Elizabeth's attention, appealing in a sense and yet also rather not, and the barefoot young woman couldn't help but be drawn to go search it out, cresting a hill into a little out-of-the-way spot on the beach only to see...a young woman cooking a...huh.]

[She slid down the hill of sand and started over, offering a small wave of greeting, but her attention was mostly on the food.]

...Are you cooking a dinosaur?

(open) mission: hit the beach

open!

B!