[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

[batmotif]

[As he suspected, it was not merely out of the goodness of her heart, though Bruce is hardly judgmental. He explanation was reasonable. And yet it also revealed to him a bit of her character -- that she was clever, likely so, but cleverness often ushered in a keenness for manipulation, wielded just as easily. He hasn't known her long enough to say one way or the other, but regardless, it's something he notes to himself. One observation in a veritable sea of them, since his arrival. (The ones concerning hosts are often of interest to him.)

This line of thinking transitions easily into his next question, though it may sound oddly direct without context.]

Who are you, exactly?

[adamance]

Lexa kom Trikru. Back home, they call me "Heda"—Commander.

[There are rare situations where she feels inclined to share her credentials off the bat, and so thoroughly. But it feels important here to show him where she stands. The title itself is militaristic in nature, as her people live a violent, war-torn life. It offers some depth to her perspective, and why she views the experience here as if they are dealing with a gameboard involving strategy.]

And you are?

[batmotif]

[Commander. It's unsurprising in how fitting it is, Bruce thinks, from what little he's gleaned of her personality from their one conversation alone. Her way of thinking runs parallel with the title (or what assumptions he can make about one that sounds so militaristic).

In return, he'll give his name, though he has no title to latch onto it. "Of Wayne Enterprises" does not carry the same weight in the outer reaches of the universe, nor is it as independent of context as the title of Commander. And Bruce won't be so quick to give out his other moniker, not without reason, and certainly not to someone he's just met, despite their shared character traits.]

Bruce Wayne. [The way he says it still carries weight, though he is still compelled to state what he does in a way more digestable than "majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises."] I'm more businessman than military.

[Omitting a few important details? Maybe. But it's truth regardless, and the rest can be either implied or figured out in due time by others, as far as he's concerned.]

[adamance]

Bruce, [she repeats, mostly for good measure. Her understanding of capitalism is only two planets old. She's read about it in books, but her people lack a specific currency, believing that trade is the grounding for everything they do. Acquiring a wardrobe upon arrival had been a trial and error basis of figuring out the basics of what Prince had outlined to her about numbers. By now, she has a good grasp of it, but the inner workings of business escape her.]

You'll be adequately prepared to handle this world's commerce, then. Whatever cover is decided for you, you should advise Carata to allow you to use these skills. We're currently facing some difficulties in this area. ["We" is fair. It's one area where she has struggled to make up for things in terms of planning. But if they could get a high-level officer (or whatever they are called in businesses—executive seems proper?) to work and meet with other businesses, they may not have to go through so many complicated channels.]

[batmotif]

[Bruce isn't unused to using all of his skills to achieve a particular goal, even if those skills have to extend into the boardroom; he knows business (though he does not know Concordia's business; more reading to be done, it seems) and he is well aware of the bureaucracy that litters it.

He can play more than one role. He does it all the time. He simply doesn't want to be limited to it.]

I can consort with business executives, fine. But at that level, there's usually red tape for miles. Socially, I may be put into a position where my hands are tied, and there may be nothing to be done about it. Publicly.

[Publicly. No one said anything about not slinking around in the shadows at night.]

[adamance]

[Good point. There is "red tape" keeping people from seeing her when she's being particularly controlling, and why would a business be any different? She understands what he's saying, but she still thinks he will have a useful perspective.]

When you begin to look at what we've done, I'm curious about what you think about the secrecy surrounding Ven Diagrams. [It may be a corporate decision, but her beliefs tend to fall into seeing tactics differently.

They need someone who can provide the other perspective, which she's fairly certain none of the Hosts before him could do.]

[batmotif]

[He is certainly willing to try (when is he not?) but he knows that putting his foot in the proverbial door isn't as easy as it seems. Corporate politics are interwoven and complicated, and it's unlikely any of the suits will be keen on sharing secrets with a newcomer, falsified credentials or otherwise.

Regardless, even if he has trouble penetrating the web itself, he would still be able to offer insight on its architecture.]

Secrecy concerning something other than their corporate policies?

[Because business dealings are often kept hush-hush; no corporation is exempt from that.]

[adamance]

We believe they have answers regarding the first round of bombings that they've chosen to keep to themselves. They may have answers that we haven't found yet. [Without them, she's at a loss. But she's genuinely frustrated with why they would conceal information that would protect their organization.

But perhaps a company is unlike a society of people in that way. Lexa doesn't know personally, so it's where her understanding of this world hits a very literal wall.]