( closed ) let it snow, let it snow, let it -- yeti?!

[initiates]

Date & Time: November 27th - December 5th, 3313
Location: Spaceshuttle, Winter Wonderland Exsilium
Characters: All those on the official scouting mission to Exsilium.
Summary: The Transports send down a collection of their own in order to investigate the whys of the sudden drop in radiation on the island, and to locate the Initiative.
Warnings: Please PM the mod account should anything in this log go into graphically violent territory.
Notes: You know the drill! Specify dates and times in subject lines, set up as many scenarios as you like, and for information on if a run-in with Exiles will net your character(s) a chance to talk with or make contact with the Initiative, ask over here!

The satellite imagery AI was able to capture and download onto tablets doesn't speak adequately to the pristine, chill landscape the space ship descends into under cloaking technology. The crystalline landscape is almost beautiful, stark brights and shadows turning the countryside into something soft, alien, and deadly. Winter has arrived, in a way some may be familiar with, and to others, may be entirely new.

The ship is a mile out from the largest identified gathering of heat signatures and power structures, in a city built over part of what once was London, formerly known as Exsilium to the Transports. There is no Eye of London to be found, only a partial tower that stands suspiciously close to where Big Ben once stood. The river Thames remains present, but the built up structures, the identifiers of "modern" Exsilium are all gone, lost and buried underneath the snows if ever they existed.

This is not a friendly landscape, though the people are friendly enough, should you not go out of your way to offend them or display your alien natures.

Find the Initiative. Take stock of the landscape. Report back what you can. Scouts, you are our best hope in understanding this new landscape.

Good luck.

Comments

[inhumanity]

[Christopher is giddy, but a creature in a constant state of anxiety is accustomed to being aware of its surroundings no matter what. Particularly when such an animal is threatened by its own group mates, it learns to be sensitive to the moods and behaviours of those around it.

So it would be difficult for him to miss what has happened with Kaneis. Pausing in his excitable exploration of the environment, Christopher turns back around. He doesn't want to get too close to Kaneis. He has no idea what has set him off.

But he knows that look. It's the same look that his siblings get when they're surprised by people in labcoats. It's from the same feeling Christopher has trained himself to suppress when the smell of sterilized equipment hits his nose.

With gentle, serene tone, Christopher calls out to Kaneis.]

Hm? Kaneis? It's good to be back safely on Earth, don't you think? [There is a soft, slight emphasis on safe and Earth, but he keeps his voice calm and not loud.] I myself am very happy to be here with you and the other Transports.

[wilder]

[He hears Christopher, even if he doesn't entirely register all of it right away. His mind is racing through all the memories he spends so much time trying to keep locked away. Not forgotten, but, not always there]

[Not filling his field of vision with red snow falling.]

[But Christopher's calming tone does help some. He tries his best to pull himself out of the past, take a few deep breaths (the air is so icy and cold- it feels like shards in his lung). He tries to nod, at least he thinks he's nodding.]

...Right. Yeah.

[he doesn't feel the least bit safe. Then again, it's not like he remembers what safe is supposed to feel like anyway]

[inhumanity]

[Ah, breathing is good. Christopher remembers the way that Rail used to almost seem to stop breathing, making Christopher wonder if he would die of the fear itself. Christopher remembers the test subjects who didn't survive for just that reason. Weak, he calls them. Those who die so easily don't deserve to survive.

Christopher takes a few steps forward, cat-like silent even in the snow. He extends his hand to Kaneis, an open palm, and he keeps the same tone he used before.]

Let's come along. The sooner we reach shelter the better, right? It's only a mile away. There might even be a clinic where you can eat pudding. [He brightens without raising his voice.] Why, they'll probably have even more ingredients for making interesting desserts. We can celebrate our arrival with any kind of dessert we like.

[Christopher doesn't exactly like Kaneis. Kaneis is not part of that constructed 'family' he has invented for himself. And Kaneis has a brittleness that doesn't meet easily with Christopher's own moods.

But Christopher is sure he must have once reacted like that, even if he has now forgotten those days. And though he can't be certain, he thinks that the Poet and Chi helped him survive those moments. Or was he helped by one of the test subjects who died after? It's hard to remember anymore. It's hard to fight the desire to forget. But Christopher remembers this: even if they don't deserve their lives, they'll have nothing if they can't help others stay living.]

[wilder]

[he stares at that extended hand. He knows he's being talk to like a child, like a cornered animal. Was that just Christopher's way of talking or did he really seem like someone who might attack at the wrong movement.]

[Maybe he was just that. How many times did he lash out at people who made a misstep? He even felt that slight impulse right now. To shove the guy away make sure no one came near him.]

[But another breath, and he can bring himself to putting his hands into his pocket and responding to Christopher. A middle ground in compromise]

Yeah...let's go.

[inhumanity]

[The corners of Christopher's mouth lift in a signal of understanding. He lowers his hand and turns around. Though he ambles onwards, he speaks, encouraging Kaneis to come with him. To stay with him, in this moment. Not in the moment that hurt him, whatever it was.]

You might think that it would be hard for a nation like this to have desserts that use wheat, but that simply hasn't played out historically with the dishes. Well, there weren't as many Norwegian or Swedish immigrants in the communities that I've travelled to in my work. I don't know many of their dishes. Perhaps all the wheat-based desserts I saw were just an anomaly. No, I refuse to believe it. We'll have sponge cake or we will stage a second revolution! Or is it third? Sorry, I don't keep track. In faaaaact— [and here Christopher spins around to face Kaneis, but with the warning of a slower movement, to avoid startling any senses made acute by fear] —let's make dishes that use berries. Because of how long it takes them to mature, berries grown in this kind of country have a much more intense taste than those grown in places like the United States of America. We ought to search their markets for cloudberries and cherries to top up with whipped cream. Sounds marvellous, doesn't it? Of course it does: I suggested it. What kind of flavour in fruits and berries do you like best? I ought to be looking for persimmons myself. Do you like blueberries?

[wilder]

[...Well, it sure helps keep him in the moment because he has no idea half of what Christopher is saying. Even more than usual! In fact it's enough to make him look utterly perplexed.]

Uh....


...Yeah? They're okay. Never really been a berry person.

[inhumanity]

[Christopher persists. As he usually does.] Fruits? You know, fruits are Nature's very own desserts. Fresh and sweet, they are a match for any manmade candy. That's right: using fruits in desserts is the incorporation of the natural into an artificial form. Wow, now I like berry gratin even more than I did a moment ago. Do you like apples? oranges? pomegranates?

[wilder]

[...]

...Melons.

[inhumanity]

Marvellous! We'll have a melon-based dessert. Sadly, melons tend to be a little too mild to make a gratin on their own. Don't worry! I can find other things to make.

[That calm, serene tone has, bit by bit, become brighter and more whimsical. It still stays below Christopher's most obnoxious level of cheerfulness, but the sense of someone talking to a wounded animal is gone.]

I like mixed drinks with umbrellas. [He raises a closed fist and gestures down with it. This apparently means 'putting an umbrella in a mixed drink.' And here's your explanation for the topic jump:] I could make a dessert with melons and alcohol. My creativity is as unbounded as my soul.

[wilder]

[And he goes with it. Yeah, he often finds Christopher annoying, suspicious and weird. But he's not trying to pry into Zelos's issues, and he's talking about a topic that has nothing to do with the snow. So...he tries to pay attention.]

...It has been awhile since I've had alcohol.

[inhumanity]

It's difficult on the moon, wouldn't you say? Chi and Sickle always insist that I ought not have alcohol, but absent voting isn't allowed! I wonder if they have vodka? Let's drink mint juleps and recall with them histories not our own.

[By which he means the means the American South. Because Christopher is pretty sure neither of them are from the South.]

sorry for the late!! feel free to drop

[wilder]

Histories not our own? [Yeah okay he really shouldn't try to make sense of what Christopher says. Since when does alcohol have anything to do with voting] Yeah sure...sounds great.