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

and zee. and sage. and carolyn. and ida somehow even though I didn't know she played here!!

[praevikaan]

These.

[She digs through the little pouch at her side, and pulls out a rock. To the DC-minded, it almost looks like Kryptonite, save that it's not translucent. Still, it mimics the colour and vague luminescence almost exactly.]

It is used for elemental sourcing.

[It hasn't yet occurred to her that might not be a widely known thing, so she's moving right along because Steph said something else that intrigues her.]

Dragons? What is a dragons?

I do not know that person!! but man there's a bit of crossover between ts and exs

[controlledvariable]

[That does look a little like kryptonite and she makes a note to see if she can get her hands on it for an extended period of time, to test it. Not yet, though, not when she's just met Sikoyja.]

I have absolutely no idea what that is.

[But she says it lightly; she's pretty used to being out of her depth by now.

And anyway, dragons:]

They're a mythical creature where I come from. A really big reptile with wings, and usually they were said to breathe fire. In some worlds they actually exist. I could show you, with a simulation?

they were both in tushan too! and yes, farrah called it 'cross-pollination'

[praevikaan]

I can explain? If you would like.

[In fact she looks a little excited!! at the prospect. Sharing information is a pure, sweet joy to her. She is a huge fan of knowledge.]

Here?

[She glances about at the strange empty room. 'Virtual reality'. The two words, combined, make little sense to her, but she nods her consent after a moment. Perhaps Steph can summon them?]

what will be the result of that cross pollination.....

[controlledvariable]

[Oh no that's cute, and Steph can't help smiling.]

Sure thing, I'll show you some dragons and you can explain shaorocks.

[Seems like a fair trade, and it might reassure her than the woman isn't carrying around something potentially dangerous.

For now, though, she crosses to the monitor at the side of the room and starts designing a dragon, keeping it to the screen for just a moment.]

It's not real, so it can't hurt us.

[As a warning, before she does make it display within the room. She doesn't bother with a background or anything, wanting to start simple, so there's just a medium sized dragon against the far wall, tail flicking lazily from side to side and wings pulled in. It's purple, because why not.

She looks to Sikoyja, just to check her reaction to the sudden thing in the room.]

... metahumans.

[praevikaan]

[The warning was a good thing, certainly, but Sikoyja still changes her stance just slightly as the creature manifests. It is roughly the size of a fusiri, but without fur. She wonders idly if it is poisonous also. Not real takes some time to sink in properly. How can she disbelieve her eyes? But after a moment, she steps towards it. Her gait is light and fearless in this changed gravity, very much a hunter's prowl. She approaches the creature, but it does not shift the way a real animal would at the presence of a human.

Not real. Hm.

She touches it. It feels-- solid? That is two senses that have been fooled. She glances back towards Stephanie, a slight question to her expression.]

What is the truth here?

or a game set on like. blastoise

[controlledvariable]

[Idly, she files away how Sikoyja moves. Something to think about later.]

It's a simulation, I'm not exactly an expert on the science of it, but...

[INSERT ONE EXPLANATION HERE.

Yes.

Good.]

what is a blastoise

[praevikaan]

[Hm. Science. It is... not her strongest suit? But she understands well enough, she thinks. Even if she doesn't quite like it.]

I see. It is complicated.

[She doesn't seem bothered by that, though. Instead, she's inspecting the dragon from all possible angles. Figuring out its weakest points.]

it is a pokemon!!!

[controlledvariable]

That's one way to put it.

[She'd probably add a curse word in there, but that's just a personal preference.

Though she smiles a little at the way Sikoyja is circling the dragon.]

Usually the underbelly is the weak spot, since the scales are impenetrable.

[praevikaan]

Nothing is impenetrable. It takes only the right tool.

[She says that absent-mindedly, not a correction or a reprimand as she gets onto the floor and crawls under the creature to inspect that too.]

[controlledvariable]

[That gets a huff of a laugh.]

I think it's different in stories.

[At least she actually added texture to the dragon, too, so that the underside is more like snakeskin compared to the roughness of the scales.]

[praevikaan]

[Yep, she's sticking her hands everywhere she can reach, feeling for the spots Steph had mentioned. When she's satisfied she could kill one if she had to, she crawls out again.]

Stories? What is the point of a story that isn't based in truth?

[controlledvariable]

[The question actually stumps her for a second, and she actually has to think about her answer.]

For entertainment, mostly. Escapism?

[praevikaan]

[She shrugs, as she dusts her hands against her thighs. Her orange silks are getting dirty with all the crawling around she's been doing, but she doesn't seem to care, particularly.]

Why?

[It's curious rather than judgmental. After a moment she adds,]

Is the world not enough?

[controlledvariable]

I think it's the other way around, actually. Sometimes the world's too much.

[She's never been much for media consumption, really, not like that, but she can understand the way people escape into stories to avoid their own lives.

Tim could be a bit like that.]

[praevikaan]

How?

[The assertion seems absurd to her. But then, she has never been beaten or starved or betrayed, not in any lasting ways. She has had people take her money, but that did not truly bother her. It was business.]

[controlledvariable]

[She shrugs, and her posture closes off slightly, not defensive, just a little... sad.]

The world kind of sucks, sometimes it's easier to read stories and forget, for a little while.

[praevikaan]

Ah.

[It's a slight noise of enlightenment.]

We create. Or learn.

[controlledvariable]

I think some people do that, too. Everyone copes differently.

[She tends to hit things.]

[praevikaan]

[It's k, she runs away to play 007 when she has no idea what she's doing! Hitting things is the better pastime by far.]

Mm. That is true. Differences are good, they keep a people from stagnation. Uniformity is dangerous for this reason.

[Then again, she's from a culture where people are praised rather than punished for thinking outside of the box.]

[controlledvariable]

[She smiles]

That seems like a good way to look at things, sometimes people get too caught up on the idea of fitting in.

[Or it's safer to fit in; which is something she's had on her mind more, since she figured out the whole liking girls thing.]

[praevikaan]

[It is a fear she herself fostered, during her time in Eganzi. There was too much there that was unfamiliar, it was... easier, to go without notice. For her purpose and otherwise. She gives the dragon a thoughtful look.]

Safety. Versus identity?

[Was that what she'd given up? She's not certain.]

[controlledvariable]

In some cases, yeah. [Not all of them, though, and she's quiet for a moment as she tries to work out how to say what she wants.

Eventually:] Sometimes I think it's more about ego. People want to fit because it makes them well liked, or 'cause there's power in it.

[She can't help thinking of the Bruce Wayne persona.]

[praevikaan]

[Like the merchants of Shazahd. Or the Atticat. Is their entire political structure not built around the assignation of seats of power based on feats of prowess or skill or wealth?

Stephanie's words make sense to her, and that in and of itself bothers her.]

It seems a prison, to be so restrained by the opinion of others.

[controlledvariable]

[Steph isn't sure what to say to that. She's not really sure if she agrees, but she can't really disagree, either.

She smiles, wry.]

I think I should've had more time in my philosophy classes before having discussions like these.

[a joke!! just not a very good one.]

[praevikaan]

[It's okay, she laughs.]

My apologies. I did not mean to encumber our conversation in such topics.