[ The empty ghost city running along The Trench caught Aoba's attention on the infobank immediately. Zooming in on the pixelated map of it, he could almost mistake it for the north quarter of the Old Resident District. Not that it's a great part of town, (off limits, actually) but it's a reminder of home nonetheless. The north quarter would've been worth exploring back home for salvageable goods if it were more accessible, (and had less criminals lurking inside, but Aoba's already accepted that would be no different here). Maybe this place would be good for finding things too.
It hadn't occurred to him it was likely already cleaned out of all valuables, but by the time Aoba is thinking about this he's already committed. Dedicated an entire day to making the trip. Warm weather gear on, hood up over his bright hair, flashlight out, boots and pants muddy up to the knees from having hiked all the way from the Minte Spaceport. It's a long trip, but he's no stranger to long commutes on foot. Still, he's not so used to the rain and he misses his warmer ugly jacket and matching boots left behind on the Station. He knew he'd need to travel light, like when he used to run errands for Haga-san.
It's been a few hours of ducking through dilapidated doorways and dodging roofs leaking with rainwater, and so far Aoba has... zilch to show for the effort. Just a couple of bent spoons and a near run-in with a bandit camping in one of the drier areas. He's currently found a dry area of his own in a crumbling stone house with a spindly tree attempting to grow out of the fireplace. There on the mantle, he can see something glinting where the rainwater is still coming through, but before he can investigate a noise almost makes him drop his flashlight. ]
Who's-?
[ No, better not to draw any attention to himself verbally in case it's more bandits. So instead he reaches out of the symbiote, gently prodding any mind that may be near enough to feel it. ]
(Who's there?)
III. Hot Spring Episode
[ It's been a long trip through The Trench. Even for as much as he walked every day back home, Aoba's exhausted. Too tired and achy to make it back to the Spaceport without taking at least some time to rest, take his medication, and get over this headache first. Using the datapad he maps a trail back to port that's a little longer, but not for the sake of making the trip harder on himself. The Hot Line isn't too much farther out of his way, and though the description of the area sounds treacherous, Aoba has a hunch it might be worth exploring the outskirts for one thing.
Hot springs. Well, what he finds isn't exactly like a spring, but there are pools of runoff from the more volatile waters. Unlike the boiling pools these steam pleasantly, invitingly, and even have tiny iridescent fish circling in them. It's not the cleanest or purest water, but the thought of a hot bath under the setting light is too tempting to pass up. Besides, there's no one else around to see him strip off his gear and lower himself in, right? He'll make it a quick dip.
Only five minutes in the water, and Aoba is fighting off sleep. A prod from his own head helps; the migraine he had earlier isn't going away or letting him fully relax. So he reluctantly pulls himself halfway out of the water to reach his pack and dig for the bottle of Station-synthesized pills somewhere inside it, grumbling- ]
Where did I put that medicine...?
[ Anyone passing through the area is gunna get an eyeful of Aobutts alright alright alright. ]
III. Crack the Code (closed to Angel + Adara brood)
[ He couldn't quite make it back to port before nightfall, but by again using the maps on the datapad Aoba finds Tari Town is closer anyway. A simple search of the establishments tells him of an inn with a reasonable price range, so rather than continue back in the dark, Aoba decides to set up in Tari for the night.
The inn room is small, lonely without Ren or his brood nearby, (are they nearby? Probably keeping busy too, though he can't really tell with one of them still being so shut out). It has a pod that's more comfortable than the one he woke up on in the Station, and a charging surface to keep his datapad running through the night. He needs it to keep running because he's currently trying to open a datacache found in a small figurine in The Trench. At first he thought it was just a bronze turtle, some useless house decoration, but then the shell popped off in his hands to reveal some kind of circuitboard with tiny memory sticks inside.
It takes some charging to get it's wireless function back up and working, and after a few attempts he manages to get it to connect to the pad. He even breaks past the encryption with minimal effort, but once the data starts opening up he sees... none of it is translating. It might as well be files upon files of moon runes to Aoba. Whatever language this is filling his screen, the translation program is refusing to work with it. He's tired and he's hit a wall, but he's also too curious to give up after all this. Rather than stare at walls of code he doesn't understand, he should ask for help... ugh, where's Noiz when he could actually be useful for once?
Who else could help? Definitely not Ares, that kid knows so little about tech he'd probably break the program just looking at it with his sour face. He hadn't asked Romy if she knew much about computers or code, or Michelle. Parker still wouldn't give him time of day, so that left- ]
(Angel? Can you hear me?)
[ He's never used the symbiote to call out just one member of his brood before. He's tired and still a bit achey in the head, and hopefully isn't accidentally invading someone else's headspace, (or all of them, or everyone but Angel). It hurts a bit more to stretch the connection so far, searching her out, but he's got to know- ]
(How familiar are you with code? I'm having some translation problems with a datacache I found inside a turtle.)
[ Yep, tired. But it's true, it was in a turtle. Maybe it's time to stop posting rather than keep working... nah. ]
no subject
[ The empty ghost city running along The Trench caught Aoba's attention on the infobank immediately. Zooming in on the pixelated map of it, he could almost mistake it for the north quarter of the Old Resident District. Not that it's a great part of town, (off limits, actually) but it's a reminder of home nonetheless. The north quarter would've been worth exploring back home for salvageable goods if it were more accessible, (and had less criminals lurking inside, but Aoba's already accepted that would be no different here). Maybe this place would be good for finding things too.
It hadn't occurred to him it was likely already cleaned out of all valuables, but by the time Aoba is thinking about this he's already committed. Dedicated an entire day to making the trip. Warm weather gear on, hood up over his bright hair, flashlight out, boots and pants muddy up to the knees from having hiked all the way from the Minte Spaceport. It's a long trip, but he's no stranger to long commutes on foot. Still, he's not so used to the rain and he misses his warmer
uglyjacket and matching boots left behind on the Station. He knew he'd need to travel light, like when he used to run errands for Haga-san.It's been a few hours of ducking through dilapidated doorways and dodging roofs leaking with rainwater, and so far Aoba has... zilch to show for the effort. Just a couple of bent spoons and a near run-in with a bandit camping in one of the drier areas. He's currently found a dry area of his own in a crumbling stone house with a spindly tree attempting to grow out of the fireplace. There on the mantle, he can see something glinting where the rainwater is still coming through, but before he can investigate a noise almost makes him drop his flashlight. ]
Who's-?
[ No, better not to draw any attention to himself verbally in case it's more bandits. So instead he reaches out of the symbiote, gently prodding any mind that may be near enough to feel it. ]
( Who's there? )
III. Hot Spring Episode
[ It's been a long trip through The Trench. Even for as much as he walked every day back home, Aoba's exhausted. Too tired and achy to make it back to the Spaceport without taking at least some time to rest, take his medication, and get over this headache first. Using the datapad he maps a trail back to port that's a little longer, but not for the sake of making the trip harder on himself. The Hot Line isn't too much farther out of his way, and though the description of the area sounds treacherous, Aoba has a hunch it might be worth exploring the outskirts for one thing.
Hot springs. Well, what he finds isn't exactly like a spring, but there are pools of runoff from the more volatile waters. Unlike the boiling pools these steam pleasantly, invitingly, and even have tiny iridescent fish circling in them. It's not the cleanest or purest water, but the thought of a hot bath under the setting light is too tempting to pass up. Besides, there's no one else around to see him strip off his gear and lower himself in, right? He'll make it a quick dip.
Only five minutes in the water, and Aoba is fighting off sleep. A prod from his own head helps; the migraine he had earlier isn't going away or letting him fully relax. So he reluctantly pulls himself halfway out of the water to reach his pack and dig for the bottle of Station-synthesized pills somewhere inside it, grumbling- ]
Where did I put that medicine...?
[ Anyone passing through the area is gunna get an eyeful of Aobutts alright alright alright. ]
III. Crack the Code (closed to Angel + Adara brood)
[ He couldn't quite make it back to port before nightfall, but by again using the maps on the datapad Aoba finds Tari Town is closer anyway. A simple search of the establishments tells him of an inn with a reasonable price range, so rather than continue back in the dark, Aoba decides to set up in Tari for the night.
The inn room is small, lonely without Ren or his brood nearby, (are they nearby? Probably keeping busy too, though he can't really tell with one of them still being so shut out). It has a pod that's more comfortable than the one he woke up on in the Station, and a charging surface to keep his datapad running through the night. He needs it to keep running because he's currently trying to open a datacache found in a small figurine in The Trench. At first he thought it was just a bronze turtle, some useless house decoration, but then the shell popped off in his hands to reveal some kind of circuitboard with tiny memory sticks inside.
It takes some charging to get it's wireless function back up and working, and after a few attempts he manages to get it to connect to the pad. He even breaks past the encryption with minimal effort, but once the data starts opening up he sees... none of it is translating. It might as well be files upon files of moon runes to Aoba. Whatever language this is filling his screen, the translation program is refusing to work with it. He's tired and he's hit a wall, but he's also too curious to give up after all this. Rather than stare at walls of code he doesn't understand, he should ask for help... ugh, where's Noiz when he could actually be useful for once?
Who else could help? Definitely not Ares, that kid knows so little about tech he'd probably break the program just looking at it with his sour face. He hadn't asked Romy if she knew much about computers or code, or Michelle. Parker still wouldn't give him time of day, so that left- ]
( Angel? Can you hear me? )
[ He's never used the symbiote to call out just one member of his brood before. He's tired and still a bit achey in the head, and hopefully isn't accidentally invading someone else's headspace, (or all of them, or everyone but Angel). It hurts a bit more to stretch the connection so far, searching her out, but he's got to know- ]
( How familiar are you with code? I'm having some translation problems with a datacache I found inside a turtle. )
[ Yep, tired. But it's true, it was in a turtle. Maybe it's time to stop posting rather than keep working... nah. ]