here they talked of revolution, here it was they lit the flame

[initiates]

Date: October 1st
Location: The Observatory.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Observatory for the show of the year. Initial briefings are very brief this time around, and that Greeter just won't stop crying.
Warnings: new confused people and old sad people??

Your arrival here has been very unceremonious. One second you were somewhere else, and now, very suddenly, your feet hit the glowing white of the Transporter pad, and you're here. You aren't alone, either. There's a crowd of others around you, each seeming just as bewildered, angry, or confused as you might feel. At the head of the group is a woman in purple robes, with eyes red as if she'd just finished crying. She hurries over a quick overview of your intended purpose here, and gives direct answers when asked for them, but to most things she simply shows you how to access the tablet you've just been given. There, you can find the history of this place and a record of what your new cohorts have experienced — although it won't have Network access for another 8 hours. Someone stands on hand to give you a weapon, and though the armory is now greatly reduced, you should be able to find something to suit you.

You're shepherded down a walkway tunnel and into the Observatory, where you will find screens mounted on three sides of the wide room. The only lighting comes from dull red emergency lights, and the scenes of a dreary, rainy city from various cameras up on the screens; the largest of the screens opens up to a view of Earth from a good distance away -- this one isn't a screen at all, you might realize, but a window. As you watch, all screens in the room fill with light, impossibly bright. It consumes the buildings, the people, everything. There is no sound played, perhaps mercifully, only that white light -- and then nothing.

Through the large window, there's a pinprick of light over one of the landmasses on the blue planet. It grows to a tiny blossom and then dies away, but a cloud begins to mushroom outward in the same spot. It pushes the natural clouds out of the way, claiming that small portion of the world and wrapping it in a uniform gray.

Strings of numbers begin to fill the blanked out screens as the base's AI begins collecting data and calculations, but the show seems to be over. You're free to explore the base, visit and use any of the VR rooms, or discover your new room and roommates, but try not to step out of any airlocks if oxygen is a requirement for your system.

Welcome to the moon base, with front row seats to the grave of Exsilium.

[[ooc; reminder! The Network will be down for 8 hours after the wave of new Transports.]]

Comments

B

[affectate]

[She makes a hypothetical connection between hoods and the Dan pretty quickly upon seeing Momo, and is instantly assaulted by the worst mixed feelings ever. It'd be in her best interests, for the preservation of herself and her old (her real) friendships, if she turned around without answering, but --

Well, there's no guarantee this girl's with them.]

-- Ah, good... afternoon, I suppose! The moon is somewhat lacking in atmosphere, thus making it difficult to properly discern the time of day without the use of clocks... I am quite all right, thank you very much! Are you well, Miss?

[eyecaptivating]

[Oh, someone who's friendly right off the bat!! Isn't that great?

Momo grins brightly at her, nodding.] I'm fine. Ehehe, I'm just fine! Thank you!

[She takes a quick look around them. Oh, she's right about the atmosphere...] I guess we're gonna have to get used to how it looks here.

[affectate]

Ideally only for a time! There is, after all, very little substantial food to be eaten here, although space certainly is quite pretty!

[eyecaptivating]

Ah! It really is pretty. [A short laugh.] It's a lot prettier than--...

[...Wait a minute. Back up, back up.] Huh? Substantial?!

[affectate]

Yes, substantial! The food located in this place is more akin to military rations. Miss Kido mentioned that she would be shopping elsewhere, I believe...!

[It's a casual kind of namedrop she'd do under normal circumstances anyway, just through lack of concern for if the other person actually knew who she was talking about, but here it's specifically to see if that hoodie means what she assumed it did. She kind of hopes not.]

[eyecaptivating]

I guess so! It's probably not as good as the food we had back there.

[Give her a minute to process the fact that she just heard Kido's name, give her a minute, give her a minute...] ...Ah! You know Leader?!

[affectate]

[Ahh. Shit. She thought so.]

-- Ah, yes... I joined the Mekakushi Dan the other day. Shintaro recruited me originally, but I am acquainted with Kido and Kano as well.

[eyecaptivating]

[--!! Oh no, oh no! With all the excitement, she must have missed this!]

Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know yet! [She pauses, at a loss, before settling for a quick bow.] Welcome to the Mekakushi Dan! It's nice to meet you, I'm--

[...] You know Shintaro, too?

[affectate]

It's all right! It's very nice to meet you, Miss...! Shintaro and I are --

[It's tempting to tell her the same thing she told Kano, but after a while, people are bound to start getting suspicious. She won't.

But then there's the truth, which is still pretty worrying and uncomfortable for her. Huh. So there's an awkward little silence from her here before she picks back up, looking surprisingly embarrassed for her usual range; ]

... He is my friend.

[eyecaptivating]

Ah, really?

[Shintaro... Making friends!! On his own! WOW, incredible! (She can't really deny, at least to herself, that she's happy for him.)]

Hehehe, that's good... He's my brother!

[affectate]

Oh my! It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss! Your elder brother is very kind.

[eyecaptivating]

[She laughs, waving a hand dismissively.] Heh, I guess so... He's kind of a loser, but he's not so bad! So it's a good thing you met him!

[affectate]

[What

That's a weirdly negative word to use. He seemed pretty normal to her?]

... A loser, Miss? How so?

[eyecaptivating]

[Oh, Elaine...

Momo frowns, considering. Wow, what are you talking about? What do you mean Shintaro doesn't just exude loser??]

He's just really lame sometimes! I think all big brothers are.

[affectate]

I am an only child. Shintaro and I are the same age; if I were to have siblings, I would most likely be the eldest.

What do you mean?

[eyecaptivating]

[--Urk! Well, that was unexpected.] Ah... Ahaha... I'm sure you wouldn't be like him though!

He's always doing weird things in his room. And he gets so worked up and suspicious-looking!

[affectate]

He's far more normal and human than myself, so I'm certain that's true.

[But - ]

Strange things, Miss...? If he is practising human experimentation, then it would be wise of him to do so elsewhere. He is required to sleep in his room!

[eyecaptivating]

[...Wait a minute. Forget Shintaro being a rotten boy. What's she...

What in the--

What?]

H-human experimentation?! What?! He's not doing anything like that!

[affectate]

He isn't? What might he be doing, in that case...?

[eyecaptivating]

H-he's just looking at weird things on his computer! Really weird things!

[affectate]

[... Tilts her head to the side...]

His computer...? Those are -- equivalent to these tablets, isn't that correct?

[But hmm. What could he be looking at? If he's not experimenting on people, then...]

... Is he interested in animals, in that case?

[eyecaptivating]

[Well, he does always have Shiro the rabbit with him--

--NO. No...]

No, no, no, no, no! Not even my big brother would look at animals like that!

It's all with people! But it's still not human experimentation! It's...

[Elaine, she can't tell you her brother spends his days watching porn on his computer!]

It's different!

[affectate]

... Humans, but not experimentation...

... Is it necrophilia? Are they corpses?

[eyecaptivating]

[Everything is terrible. Where is their mother]

N-no! There are no corpses! It's just pictures on the internet, just pictures on the internet!

Th-that's what Ene said!

[affectate]

... Are they men, in that case...? I do not consider that wholly strange, but I imagine that some would. Sodomy is still prohibited outside of religious ceremony in my world, if I recall.