[hatch log] pull plug, enter multiverse

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: The Station + Concordia
WHEN: DAY :025 - :026
SUMMARY: Somewhere deep in Station 72, a hatch happens; new hosts arrive on Concordia.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary.

YOU WAKE UP and in a very real sense you are born again. You’re not the same person you were the last time your eyes were open. You’ll never be that person again - well, except for you, Jessica Jones. You know how this part goes, don’t you?

You might not know it right away, though. What you do know is that you’re laying down in a place very different than you were before. The walls angle around you, claustrophobic, and they emit a gentle white light that’s faint enough not to hurt your freshly opened eyes. For a moment you feel fine even if you didn’t before you went under. Whatever injuries you might have had, whatever agony you may have been experiencing, whatever fear dogged your heels, they’re all gone. It’s quiet. When you’re conscious enough to take stock of anything beyond that, you realize that you’re wearing your own clothes and that there’s a faint pinch at the base of your skull - notable as the only discomfort you feel. Reach up, feel along the tube running from the base of your neck to the compartment’s back wall. It pulls free without much fuss.

Then it’s not so quiet anymore. There’s the sensation of something more, something louder, something both big and broad and something intimately near to you. There’s the realization that you aren’t alone, that you won’t ever be alone again. You belong here. This is as correct as the murmur of something like muffled voices in the back of your head is somehow familiar, or how the press of emotion that sweeps over you now doesn’t necessarily belong to you but doesn’t feel out of place either.

You can sit up - barely -, and shift out of the pod. There’s a ladder at your feet, and a little cubby just before it with anything you brought with you, as well as a set of crisp, loose-fitting white clothes; while your injuries are healed, whatever you’re wearing is in the exact state it was before. You can hear a sound in the back of your head, a faint buzzing, something like distant waves or the murmur of a party behind a door. Drop down the ladder to the floor of the Nesting Deck and you’ll find you’re not alone - and the those sounds in your head are louder. Other people’s thoughts swim up: some of them seem clear, most of them are a jumbled mess. Some of these people call to you - their voices are louder, their feelings more clear, they feel right. Further, there’s an awareness that there are others like you - not here, not close, but somewhere: an indelible tug at the back of your mind.

Welcome to Station 72. All new hosts will have one day aboard the Station before being whisked off to Concordia to join the others. Get to know the other new hosts, and ask the guardians of the Station - Prince and Cathaway -, any burning questions you might have. By the time the day has passed, Carata will arrive on the hangar to collect you.



MEANWHILE IN CONCORDIA Angel slips into a coma on :025 at almost at the exact same time that some Hosts become aware of missing pieces fitting into place. Those hosts with new brood members waking up on the station will feel somewhere more complete; you might want to let everyone know you’ll be getting new roommates soon.

Everyone might be putting themselves and their broods back together in the wake of the explosion that left the nest down one host and injected everyone with renewed motivation to either find the people responsible or make sure nothing like what happened at Royal Street ever happens again. Things are progressing on multiple fronts, but on DAY 26 there’s an option to put some of those efforts on the back burner...

     ON THE STATION, the new hosts are herded onto a sleek, black brick-shaped transport. Carata, a woman young enough to almost be called a girl, carefully makes sure everyone is seated and strapped in. She’s all gentle, easy smiles and cheerful responses to any questions posed to her. When everyone’s safely aboard, the ship’s landing platform descends through the floor of the hangar. It snaps into place in the airlock and for a moment there’s a beat of perfect stillness, a shiver of anticipation. Then the transport is flung through the shaft, ejected into the wild black of space. There’s a nauseating lurch in your belly as it bursts through the delicate shell of the multiverse and snaps into real space above the blue and yellow marble of the planet Opia. Somewhere, thousands of miles below in the city of Concordia, your brood is waiting for you.

     IN CONCORDIA
IN CONCORDIA, as dark falls, Nirad announces he’s going to fetch Carata and the new hosts from their landing. Anyone’s welcome to accompany him on the hour long drive to the stealth transport’s landing zone. The rented bus - manned by that same (now very stoic) android - takes everyone to the outskirts of the industrial block. They arrive at a different parking garage just as the stealth transport drops out of the sky, shivering into sight as it touches down. The hosts on the ship step down and then the stealth transport lifts back off the rooftop and wrinkles out of sight. It’s unclear how many more time they’ll be able to get away with this.

Get your meet and greets in and stretch your legs; you have a few minutes before everyone piles into the van and takes the long drive back to the Bearings Apartment block where the hosts have rented out the entirely of Level 13. New hosts will find there are rooms there that as of yet unclaimed, and they’re free to begin making this their home in whatever ways they please. Get familiar with your new comrades, explore the city, or maybe just take a well deserved breather. Officially speaking, nothing much happens until--

     EARLY ON DAY 27

A NEW WINDOW POPS UP IN YOUR EXTRANET PANEL...

---

((OOC Notes: This is the hatch log for all new and recently returning hosts; any threads on the Station should be closed to newly awakened hosts or Station-based NPCs; a top level for Cathaway and Prince will be going live shortly. Any threads on Concordia can be open to both new and old hosts! For anything happening beyond these calendar dates, feel free to create your own logs and posts.

If you have questions about the mission specifically, direct them to the most recent calendar post HERE. You can find a more detailed overview of the hatching process HERE; you might also want to take a glance at the MISSION CONCORDIA BRIEFING. For all other questions, please hit up either the FAQ or MOD CONTACT pages.))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[headinjuries]

She's also in our brood, but she kind of avoids everybody. I dunno if there's anyone here she doesn't hate.

[greentech]

Wow, she sounds great.

[ Pidge rolls her eyes. ]

There's no point in taking it out on us. Not like we chose this, right?

[headinjuries]

Yeah, isn't misery supposed to love company?

[ Except for the misery that apparently doesn't. ]

[greentech]

In theory. Most of the time, I find that it really hates everyone around it.

[ She... might have some experience with that. Haha. ]

[headinjuries]

[ He makes a noise that's halfway between a snort and a (bitter) laugh. ]

Yeah, okay, that does sound about right.

[ Does he even have friends at school anymore? He's beginning to suspect no, with what a downer he's been to be around lately. ]

[greentech]

OK, maybe "hate" is too strong a word-

[ She waggles her hand as she takes a bite of her eggs and chews. Unlike him, she actually swallows before starting to talk again. ]

But I definitely didn't want to talk to anyone while I was hanging around Garrison. At least not more than I had to.

[headinjuries]

Talking feels pretty pointless when nobody's gonna get it.

[ He hadn't really explained any of his shit to the other Avengers, beyond what Iron Man needed to try and do some searching for him. It didn't seem like it was worth bothering. Either people didn't get it, or they needed him to have it together. ]

[greentech]

Well, I was also supposedly banned from Garrison for life and I was pretending to be someone else.

[ She pauses and a little half smile tugs at her features as she remembers something else. ]

Plus all the guys there just wanted to talk about pizza and girls. Well, one guy in specific, but we were on the same training crew.

[headinjuries]

Why talk about pizza when you could be eating it?

[ Sam can only halfway judge, though. Pizza and girls are perfectly viable interests as far as he's concerned. ]

[greentech]

I don't know. I just know that Lance's first conversation involved inviting me to go out on the town and pick up girls.

[ Her voice is a bit flat, but there's a touch of fondness there as well. She actually misses that goofball, even if he was stupidly single-minded and full of himself at times. ]

[headinjuries]

There are much worse ways for a guy to lead off, trust me.

[ He's never going to get over how badly he blew it with Ms. Marvel. ]

[greentech]

Speaking from personal experience?

[ She doesn't even have to be mind-linked to pick up on that. Sorry, Sam.

She teases because she likes him. Really. ]

[headinjuries]

You ever try to say something funny to take the edge off, and it totally does the opposite?

Yeah.

[greentech]

Well, I haven't. But I've definitely seen it happen to other people.

[ She flashes a quick grin. It's partially teasing, partially to take off some of her own edge. ]

Happens to everyone. Right?

[headinjuries]

Everyone except you, apparently?

[ It happened to Sam...a lot more than national average, he was pretty sure. ]

[greentech]

So far, so good.

[ She's acutely aware of her own failings. Or her own perceived failings. She's pretty sure she's got a good wit and a sense of humor, though. ]

I mean, I've stuck my foot in my mouth before, but usually I manage to avoid that. Although sometimes I say things people don't really like or agree with, but that's not really the same thing.

[headinjuries]

I think finding the worst possible way to phrase myself might be my other superpower or something.

[ He rarely means stuff badly. Especially around Kamala, who's probably gotten more of his stupid foot-in-mouth moments than anyone he knows. But somehow it never, ever comes out right. ]

[greentech]

At least you're aware of it!

[ Unlike other people in her life. Like Lance.

OK, mostly Lance. ]

So, what happens now that we're here?

[headinjuries]

So, I guess someone's trying to block AI development on this planet, and we're trying to stop them.

[ The very simplified version. Sam likes things simple, which is perhaps why he really doesn't like this mission much. It's complicated technology and complicated morality. ]

I dunno how to feel about that...but there was a bombing a few days ago, and there's a good chance the same people are behind that.

[ Much less complicated morality in "keep that crap from happening again." That one he can get behind. ]

[greentech]

Why do they want to stop it? And why do we want to stop them stopping it? What's the reasoning behind it? Who would feel strongly enough to blow up a bunch of innocent people over it?

[ She has so many questions about this. How do they know they're actually doing the right thing? Then again, if the people they're supposed to be stopping feel fine about blowing up innocent people, maybe they're on the right side already. ]

[headinjuries]

[ He ticks them off on his fingers as he answers. ]

I don't know, I...know that the Nest is really into stopping whatever the so-called Enemy is doing but not really anything about the Enemy or what the heck their angle is, I don't know, and I really wish I knew.

[greentech]

Do they just not know? What kind of war are they trying to fight, anyway?

[ She's been doing this for like two weeks and she already knows that it's way better to have a clear opponent in mind. ]

[headinjuries]

I asked Cathaway about it when I woke up, but she couldn't tell me much. Like, that it's been going on for a long time and they're trying to kill us, but not really anything more than that.

[greentech]

Wow. That answers so many questions.

[ Pidge's expression is flat and her tone is incredibly deadpan. She's not a fan of that answer, apparently. ]

There's got to be some records or something on the station, right?

[headinjuries]

[ Sam's not so fond of it, himself. ]

I dunno. They hustled me down here pretty quick, so I didn't have much time to look around.