onemind: (Default)
THE N E S T ([personal profile] onemind) wrote in [community profile] station722017-03-20 08:25 pm

MISSION: WAYPOINT SHRIL, PT. I

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: WAYPOINT SHRIL
WHEN: Day :025 - :029
SUMMARY: Welcome to Waypoint Shril, the soon-to-be home to the galaxy's most incredible competition!
WARNINGS: N/A, will update as necessary.






SOMETHING IS WRONG. Strange, how a moment ago everything seemed perfectly fine - as normal as things get on Station 72 - and then the next the entire void shifts by a degree. There's a crackling, anticipatory feel in the air. Dwelled on too long and it might become nauseating, triggering some hindbrain impulse the nervous system under the skin or--

Something is coming.

Something is coming undone.

In the heart of the Station in a small, featureless circular room, The Prince and Cathaway dredge the Station from its mooring. There's a rush of shared adrenaline, then an massive sensation like an inhale. A gulp of breath. Relief floods through the body like something palpable as the massive beehive structure of the Station snaps into real space above the deep space space station known as Waypoint Shril.

( ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬...Please meet us in the hangar. We have your next assignment....▬▬▬. )


Once they've arrived at the hangar, the Hosts will be briefed by Cathaway and Prince on their new objective. They'll be given their mission kits, along with a written brief on their databanks. The usual warnings apply. Try not to kill anyone. Do not get killed yourself. And accomplish your mission. From there, pack yourself onto the transport shuttle and make your way to the Waypoint. --One of you knows how to drive, right?

Once ejected from the Station, you'll find yourself on one of literally thousands of ships. The black space above Waypoint Shril is full to bursting with air traffic from the smallest pod-shaped one being ship to the most gargantuan floating planet cruisers. Some of them rival even the Station which now lurks, a mottled white and grey latticework structure that's no more bizarre to look at than any of its neighbors.

VROOM. A ship shaped like a sword with a naked multi-limbed alien painted in lascivious, technicolor detail along the blade slices directly across the path of the shuttle transport. It blares a proximity alarm and a holographic message full of swearing and threats pops up even as the ship blasts down toward the traffic choked landing platform in the distance. A school of insectoid fighters go swarming after it. In the distance, the flash of ships dropping out of hyperspace through the gate rings gleams like a strobe light and on around the landing platform itself buzz two dozen security vessels desperately trying to keep order.

Welcome to Waypoint Shril. Don't crash into anyone on the way in.


     I. PLATFORM ALFA
When the ship finally docks on Waypoint Shril - after a lot, lot longer than you may have liked -, the scene that greets you is more hectic than even the busiest rush-hour on Concordia. There are simply too many people in too small and too hastily prepared of a space. The platform itself was clearly designed for utility, not for comfort and not for style. The walls- towering sheets of welded metal from a countless number of sources, flecked with old paint and the occasional slash of grafitti - offer nothing in the realm of sound dampening, and the electro-cloth banners that hang from the ceiling, advertising the Aurora Blue Arena! in dozens of different languages do little to help. As a result, the entire platform echoes with thousands of voices trying to talk over each other and the newly enhanced intercom system struggling to be heard over the din as it works to provide simple directions and instructions for the teeming mass of tourists.

In the press of flesh and the constant motion, it’s easy to get swept away from your party. It’s easy to find that the items you just had on you are suddenly missing, expertly palmed away by slippery fingers as you try to push your way towards the series of pneumatic tubes leading to the Waypoint proper. Ship's hydraulics hiss, lights flash, and the smell of greasy stall food spreads out from the edges of the platform. There are a few bright-eyed, clever locals - or what count for locals on Waypoint Shril - who don’t hesitate to reach out and grab your arm, offering to be your guide. Asking if you’re here as a spectator or a participant. Asking if you need information. Company. Everything has a price.

Get your bearings - if you can. It’s going to be a long couple of weeks.

     II. THE MOST FABULOUS PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE (Please Excuse Our Dust!)
Waypoint Shril's main thoroughfares and twisting platforms may have made sense to someone, but now absolutely no one knows how to navigate them as the ABA! has swept through Waypoint, bulldozing and building up anything and everything in its path. Oh, did you like that tentacle sandwich shop you stopped in five minutes ago? Too bad! We decided two minutes ago we're tearing it down to make way for a spa-slash-beer-garden! Stand back please, there are explosives detonating in this area in 3, 2, 1…--!

Everywhere you look, Waypoint Shril is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Maybe there are places on the outskirts, far from the Arena Zone that aren't literally being paved over or built on top of, but they seem to be the exception to the rule. Don't get lost as the neighborhood quite literally changes shape around you!

     III. MEET THE COMPETITION
Between the fabulous prizes and the fabulous fame - every single still-living winner of the previous competitions became household names before they stepped out of the Arena, then went on to live lavish lives of excess where they're paid exorbitant fees just to be seen and heard, known for canoodling and cavorting with the best, the brightest, the most privileged the Galaxy has to offer- it’s no surprise that the ABA! draws competitors like a magnet. And while not everyone advertises their status, plenty do - hoping to exchange the slimmest possibility of their victory for favors or drinks or just plain old attention. They’re loud, they’re visible, and plenty of them are very, very drunk, or whatever counts for drunk for their species.

If you want to size up the competition, now’s the time - in the middle of Blunt Force, with scores of other competitors lined up. The club itself is home to a deep, thrumming beat that vibrates through your chest, the industrial concrete walls covered in splashes of electro-paint that pulses in time with the beat. The floor is dark and smooth, the bar is long and there isn’t a single seat to be found at it, just an endless slab of some ancient black stone that drinks slide back and forth across. Every bartender wears a half of a mask in clear plastic run through with simple circuitry in complex patterns and they’ll keep you hydrated for a modest price. Above the floor on a catwalk composed of corrugated metal and transparasteel there are low couches and cushions in rich fabrics of a hundred different patterns of velvet and neon, two dozen tables, and another small bar that will hand out drinks and powders and oils and smoke. The patrons are as varied as anything else in this place, as hodge-podge. Slender, slick looking people with hunched backs and long necks. Short, broad aliens with four legs and four arms. Something heavily shrouded, the only part of them visible a proboscis. Some are here to dance, some to drink, some to talk and more than a few to fight - maybe for keeps. Hell, you might be one of them.

     IV. WILDCARD
There's plenty to see, do and explore. You've got a few days before the competition kicks off - might as well make the most of it.






((OOC NOTES: Welcome to Waypoint Shril! This log covers the arrival on the Waypoint and can be used for anything prior to the start of the Aurora Blue Arena! on Day :029. However, feel free to make your own logs if you choose! You can find a complete mission overview and a place to ask any mission-specific questions over at the OOC post.

Thanks everyone!))




inflori: in treatment (199)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-03-28 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Slurpity slurp. ]

What?

[ It's a whiny kind of what, like he's being unjustly accused of... stuff. ]

You told me to hold it. [ What better way to hold it than in your stomach. ] What was I supposed to do, read your m--

[ Wait. Never mind.

His brows then arch to take up the next best topic, which is!! ]
Can you do that? Eat me alive?

[ Have I found a cannibal friend?? ]
wille: (* grump)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-01 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ Misato interprets his question as a challenge, standing up taller in some primitive need to intimidate before bearing down on him to reach over and pinch his nose, hard. ]

You insufferable little--

[ She leaves off saying the last word, and whether or not she succeeds in catching his nose, she moves next to grab him by the arm and begin dragging him along with her back to the most popular coffee shop on the Shril. Back to the barista who gave her the evilest of evil eyes for her convoluted order. ]

I'd chew you and spit you out if I could, dammit.
Edited 2017-04-01 06:16 (UTC)
inflori: in treatment (203)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-03 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ACK. He really is going to bite that stupid pinching hand one day! He has to, to assert his dominance!

Or he has to bitch and whine while she drags him along, walking into the coffee shop with the longest queue in the Universe. Word got out that it's popular as hell, so maybe it'll actually last more than ten minutes. ]


Oh, come the fuck on. We're not gonna wait for this shit, are we?
wille: (@ battle room)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-04 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ At least she releases him as soon as they arrive, ignoring his whining for the most part because he's walking along anyway, isn't it? If she can handle a complete dead weight of a teenager while under constant fire in an ambushed underground labyrinth then she can handle one whiny demon child. Misato looks almost smug when she crosses her arms in front of him, holding her posture just so to be able to look down on him. ]

I'm not gonna.

[ You are, Petre. ]
inflori: in treatment (118)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-08 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
What?

[ SURELY SHE DOESN'T MEAN... WHAT HE THINKS SHE MEANS... ]

I'm not gonna stand here by myself looking like an asshole!
wille: (& i heard that)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-08 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ Her smugness is practically radiating out of her mind. ]

Hey, be a man and fix your own mistakes.

[ No one has yet given Misato a lecture on how not okay it is to say man up or don't be a girl, so here she is, poking at his masculinity to make him do something for her. Her, who would go into a rage if someone were to call her manipulative. ]
inflori: in treatment (102)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-08 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
My mistake? You're the one who left me with the drink.

[ all ur fault, girl. ]
wille: (& elevator)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-09 09:57 am (UTC)(link)
And you drank it all up! A sip would've been fine.

[ Probably. Demon Human saliva can't be poisonous for the alien VVIP she's working for, right? ]

This is mission critical. Get in line.
inflori: in treatment (115)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-09 10:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ A critical mission, starring: the groaniest groan ever groaned. ]

Well - what are you gonna do?
wille: (@ command center)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-09 11:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's funny. She thinks she's not good with teenagers even as she bullies them all into doing her work for her. ]

I'm gonna wait here to make sure you don't run off on me. 'Cause that'd be a veeery bad move.
inflori: in treatment (211)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-09 01:04 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so stupid.

[ And he'd be happy to roll out a list with all the reasons why, but his vocabulary is unfortunately much too limited to make a good case. Lifting his head to see how far the queue stretches before him, Petre sighs in utter exasperation and grabs the shoulder of the alien immediately in front of them. ]

Hey - that guy just totally grabbed the last stone milk you wanted. Are you gonna let him get away with that?

[ Envy, the current motivator creeping into the alien's mind, in order to make him susceptible to Petre's following order: ]

Go get him, dude.

[ And so he does. A heated fight ensues, adrenaline shoots up, and before they know it Petre's made his way to the counter, leaning over it with crossed arms and a smug look. ]

Get us the - whatever this chick wants.

[ Your cue, Misato. ]
wille: (& disbelief)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-11 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Expecting this to be a very long and tedious morning with Petre moaning all the way to the front of the queue, Misato shifts her attention to her databank, still catching up on all the things she should know in her current job. She hears his attempt at cutting the wait, but looks up late enough to only see the beginnings of an all-out brawl. Domino effect. More and more join the fray until she finds herself needing to dodge errant paws and antennae and tentacles as she follows him to the counter with a dazed look on her face.

She takes a beat to reply. ]


Uhh-- The venti iced skinny spacenut macchiato, with sugar-free syrup, light ice, moonstone sprinkles, no whip. Oh, and extra shot. Please, thanks.

[ The boy gets a stern but impressed look. ]

Okay, that was pretty cool.
inflori: in treatment (083)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-11 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ See, he was just going to cross his arms, continue to drape lazily and let her pay for it, but the compliment sits with him very well. He presses his lips like he's too proud to show a smile, and then... embraces it in full. Of course it was cool. Everything about him is cool!!!

They haven't started to prepare the drink when the bartender charges Misato. Petre puts a finger up, looking the alien right in the eye: ]


She knows your boss. He's gonna give you a fucking huge bonus if you give her this drink for free.

[ Greed. ]

So pay for it yourself.

[ There it is, the brain rewiring itself to see how perfectly logical Petre's order is, using its own money. Except Petre raises his finger again. ]

I want that one over there, too.

[ He has no fucking idea how to pronounce the name, but it's the most expensive drink on the menu, so it's got to be the best, right? ]

Two to go.

And a pixie star donut, too.
wille: (& oblivious)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-14 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ PETRE . . . It's sad how thirsty this demon boy is for appreciation, but see this, Misato will milk it for what it's worth like the despicable example of a human being she is. She's still stunned by what's happening before her eyes, this impeccable choreography of minds with the boy acting as conductor. Awe is clear on her mind, along with confusion, but eventually the niggling sense of conscience prompts her to action.

She reaches to grab him by the shoulder. ]


--Okay, enough.

[ She hesitates, knowing she has no right to discipline him when she's going right along with it, yet feeling the need to say something anyway. ]

Save it for next time, Petre, you're setting an awfully high bar for yourself already.
inflori: in treatment (205)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-14 03:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's a good metaphor: the music screeches to a halt as soon as the weight of Misato's hand and conscience lands on his shoulders. ]

... I'm not setting anything.

[ Is his response, for the sake of just saying he couldn't possibly be wrong about anything he does. Ever!!

The announcement that their order is ready comes just in time for Petre to turn away and snatch it off the barista's hands, avoiding anything Misato might have to say to prove she's right. ]


There. Here's your stupid drink.

[ weh weh weh ]
wille: (+ why we fight)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-16 01:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Somebody wiser may already notice the slippery slope ahead but Misato, fortunately, is far from wise. She takes the offered drink out of reflex, using her free hand to reach for Petre's wrist, wanting to make sure the boy hears her words. ]

Thanks. You really saved my day. Remember that.
inflori: in treatment (069)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-19 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, Misato. You just made his heart skip a beat, and there's no way he managed to keep it locked up in his head. ]

... I thought I ruined it.
wille: (& map)

[personal profile] wille 2017-04-20 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She has never fancied herself a seductress, a manipulator or any other underhanded sort, at least not without a commensurate weight of shame and self-flagellation. She defines herself as a straight shooter compared to others around her, even if it isn't always true. For example, there's something that feels like accomplishment when she notes his heart leaping, and she can't help but layer it on thick. ]

You ruined it a little bit, and saved it a lot. How's that?
inflori: in treatment (202)

[personal profile] inflori 2017-04-20 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Petre holds out for as long as he can. The refusal to just open up again and get comfortable is right there where she can see it, the perfect picture of a young thing called out for what he is, which is exactly what he didn't want to be. He's used to being the bully, used to being the little monster nobody trusts and a select few fear. Even fewer are the people who tolerate him. Maybe even like him.

He turns away and walks with her toward the exit; they'll have to take a couple of detours to avoid having anyone swing at them in the confusion, half of Petre's order in clutched in his hands. He's using the drinks and snack to pretend he didn't hear Misato, focusing on their weight, his jaw set and lips twisted.

Authorities arrive by the time they've turned the corner, and Petre changes his mind like he's magically decided that the situation rolled back into his control. ]


... Fine.