[hatch log] welcome to the void-- wait no, waypoint shril

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: New Hosts & EVERYONE
WHERE: The Station, Waypoint Shril
WHEN: DAY :027
SUMMARY: New hosts take the universe for a spin.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. Need a warning added? PM this account please!

YOU WAKE UP and suddenly you're a different person. --No. Wait. Scratch that. Not suddenly. It's been a while, hasn't it? Something feels off anyway - a combination of the strange and familiar right there in your own head - and you know intuitively that you've been unconscious for more than just a blink of the eye. It’s impossible to tell exactly how long ago or how exactly you escaped the danger that had been breathing down your neck, but you know it was more than a moment ago.

But here you are, a small miracle of the multiverse: lying in a small faintly hexagonal chamber, a gentle white light emanating from the surrounding walls. If you were injured during your escape, those injuries have been healed. If you were anxious or frightened or distraught, those feelings have been briefly calmed. There's something strangely peaceful about waking up here. That feeling persists even as you find the tube running from the base of your neck to the compartment's rear wall.

But when the tube's disconnected? Things get loud. A wave of emotion fills that peaceful void - fear, uncertainty, relief, a sense of purpose or loneliness or anxiety. Maybe some of these emotions are yours, but they can't all be. After the initial sensory overload, the mental buzz elongates: stretches out into a murmur like the sound of a party happening behind a closed door.

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. Maybe it's time for a change? Drop down the ladder to the floor of the Nesting Deck and you’ll find you’re not alone - and that those sounds in your head are louder the closer you are to these strangers. --No. That's not right either. A sense of familiarity runs so deep between you it might as well be cellular.

Welcome to Station 72. It is... exhausting. There's both a both deep weariness in your bones and a pulse of anticipation crawling under your skin. Your body feels heavy at first, like you're somehow too dense or too real. But maybe that sensation eases eventually. Or maybe you just get used to it?

( ▬▬▬▬▬...There you are. Join us on the hangar, won't you....▬▬▬? )

It doesn't sound like a voice as much as it just resembles sounds, the sensation of warmth and security like napping in a window at the height of summer. If it's followed, you'll eventually wind your day to a massive hangar bay peppered with a myriad of small and medium ships ranging from strange to ornately beautiful to hardly recognizable. Waiting in front of a small silver craft is an aging woman with greying hair, fine jewlery chains tinkling with a multitude of metal charms sound through her clothing and along her forearms. You know instinctively she was the one who spoke to you.

She smiles now, moving to climb into the (very) small ship. There's room enough for all of you if you pack in tight. "Come along," says Cathaway. "The line for Platform Alfa is long enough that we can answer your questions on the way."





WAYPOINT SHRIL might be bursting at the seams with activity, noise and people, but there's no missing when something in the universe shifts. For most older Hosts, they wont quite be able to put their finger on what's going on, but Chuuya and Elena? They know exactly what's happening - somewhere in this universe, new Hosts are hatching and at least one of them belongs to you.

Not that the mystery lasts long for everyone else either. A few hours after the shift, Cathaway's speaks to you. Her voice is clear as a crystal bell, suffused with an intense and simple joy that has nothing to do with--

( New hosts have arrived. Please come meet us at Platform Alfa if you're able. They'll need your assistance. )

--and everything to do with the sensation of a ship hurtling as a bullet through space, the nauseating feeling of darting between other small craft and buzzing around larger class ships.

Come fetch your new friends, everyone. Waypoint Shril could be dangerous for the initiated. After all, the Catacomb Hotel is filled with construction zones and open elevator shafts, the streets are thronged with vendors looking to make a quick Shen off unsuspecting tourists, the area immediately surrounding the Stadium Zone is jammed with intergalactic reporters and especially hot headed or famous competitors filming a pre-competition conference, and - most mortifying of all - the line to leave Platform Alfa is apparently several hours long. What's a new Host to do without a little guidance?

---

((OOC Notes: This is the hatch log for the new hosts and anyone looking to greet them after their hatching. You’re welcome to make your own logs separate to this going forward and tag any old logs that have been forward dated to this point or beyond. We're about halfway through the first week at Waypoint Shril, so feel free to touch the mission drop post as long as you're appropriately timing your encounters.


Additionally, you can find a more detailed overview of the hatching process HERE. You can find additional setting information about the Station HERE. Information about Waypoint Shril is located at the Current Mission Brief - you may consider this information more or less ICly known. Last but not least, if you have any questions, please hit up either the FAQ or MOD CONTACT pages!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[futurewitness]

I. on the station
[ As soon as the tube disconnects, the odd sense of calm that had been there disappears, and Lucina is at a loss as to what she had to be calm about in the first place. Everything is loud and overwhelming and she doesn't know where she is -

Wherever she is, it's small. She feels trapped.

She pushes herself up to sit, her hand brushing against something as she does, and there's at least a little relief finally mixed in with everything else. Falchion is here. And it's all she has left, again - but if there's one lesson she's been forced to learn too many times, it's that there is a good and a very bad time for grief. She can't stay put.

Out the bottom it is, then. ]



II. platform alfa
[ Despite the explanations, she still has far too many questions, and there are more she's sure she hasn't thought of yet or doesn't know how to ask, but the ride (??) is over and she's out of the ship (it doesn't look like a ship?) and onto the landing platform.

And she stops, and stares.

Whether she's more in shock at the technology around them (like nothing she's ever seen) or at the sheer number of people-or-whatever around them (Ylisstol must've been this busy once, she knows, but that's not a time she can remember) is questionable. More than likely, the answer is both. ]

station

[sistershoggoth]

[ She's not far away. There had been a sense, that she should wait. That it was not just her, that it would never just be her. The sensation is a familiar one, she had once had a unit that she would not leave behind. You wait for them. You check for them. They are yours, you are theirs. And now there is Lucina.

Lucina doesn't remind her of any of her unit, at a glance. Not in looks, not in bearing.

A head tilt. Annie's observation is as unsubtle as being fondled by a tentacle, and as cold. There's something a little bit clockwork to her, not quite organic, a process put together over time. For all that Annie feels strange in her attentions, she smiles. Eyelids heavy, the grin crooked, roguish. ]

Good morning, princess.

[futurewitness]

[ It's strange - she knows she's never seen this woman in her life, and yet there's something so undeniably familiar about her that she can't help but relax. Her posture is still as tight as a rubber band about to snap, but the hand that's resting on the hilt of her sword, at least, unclenches.

Deep breath.

Whatever is going on, this is not an enemy. She can feel it in her gut, even if part of her rebels at the thought of just trusting so easily (because look at the mess it's all caused before). ]

Do you know where we are?

[sistershoggoth]

Nope.

[ She's not going to lie about it, she doesn't entirely know, but she'll share her suppositions. ]

Definitely out of gravity though. [ It's something she can feel inside, she is after all a planet herself, and there is something very un-planetary about where they now stand. ] Tech's not human either.

[ Neither is she, and she tilts her head and squints at Lucina. ]

You look human.

[futurewitness]

[ Out of...of gravity?

That confuses her more than the idea of anything inhuman (even if she doesn't think she looks much like a taguel or a manakete for someone to make the mistake). ]

I am human.

[ But that gets her to squint back, because - ]

Are you not?

[ It...seems oddly appropriate, really, even if she can't quite explain why - because there's that something that seems a little off, even if Annie looks perfectly human to her eyes. ]

[sistershoggoth]

Human-ish.

[ She's not terribly inclined to go into a great big spiel about what it was to be more than one entity at once. It was not amusing to explain, and the more she talked about it, the deeper the knife seemed to sink. Her avoidance, however, is its own tang in the air. A spray of sea salt in a dark and empty cavern, the tide susurrating, whispering.

She breezes past it, ]

Then I'm assuming none of the technology here looks right to you either.

[futurewitness]

[ She's not one to pry, so she doesn't press the question - tears her gaze off Annie, instead, looking around them at all of the other pods. ]

That may be a vicious understatement.

alfa

[somnifacient]

[Noctis had kept mostly to himself on the flight over. It required all of his focus to not get lost in the thoughts of others (two of them, they felt so close, as if they were a part of him he didn't realize he was missing) but with a bit of stubborn determination, they manage to reach Platform Alfa without too much of a fuss.

He exits not too far behind Lucina, and is absolutely stunned by the amount of people (aliens? creatures?) that swarmed around them. He's turning his head, furrowing his brow, trying to take it all in, when-

oops. He bumps into her. What grace.]

Sorry. You all right?

[The moment the words leave his mouth, he thinks it's a dumb question. But, well, there it is.]

[futurewitness]

[ It probably is a dumb question, but she's not inclined to judge, seeing how many of her questions have probably been very dumb from the perspective of everyone else here. (Technology. What is it even.) ]

Yes.

[ She's not feeling particularly all right, but the response is practically automatic. It doesn't matter if she's okay or not. She needs to be, so as far as anyone else is concerned, she is, and that's that.

Even if she's fairly sure that lying to this crowd is going to be a lot harder than her usual audience. ]

The fault is mine, I'm sorry. I chose a poor place to stop.

[somnifacient]

[She answers with "yes", but all Noctis feels is a "no". Without even having to reach out (he hasn't even tried once, it's too early yet), he can tell that she's just putting up a brave face. Saying that she's all right out of necessity, not truth.

That rings rather familiar to him.]

I don't think there's a good place to stop. I feel like one wrong move and we're going to get toppled over by a mass of people heading in the opposite direction.

Or... aliens, I guess.

[futurewitness]

...aliens.

[ One in a long list of terms she's going to have to get used to, apparently. It feels odd coming off her tongue. People who aren't human is simple enough, but people from a different planet is something else entirely. ]

Had you ever heard the term before today?

[ Please tell her she's not the only one who had to smile and nod through half of the answers to those questions? ]

[somnifacient]

[Normally, it's an odd question, but after everything that's just happened in the last 24 hours, can he really be surprised? He can't hope to assume that everyone shares the same context as him, even his... "broodmates".]

Yeah. But it's usually restricted to books, or video games.

[You know what those are... right, Lucina?]

Never had the pleasure of seeing them in person.

[futurewitness]

[ Books, okay, that makes sense enough, but - ]

...I don't know what a "video game" is. How is that different from any other game?

[ Because games are like...hide and seek? Chess if you want to get fancy? help ]

2

[lavelly]

[He almost has to laugh, when he feels it: that abject confusion. A kindred spirit, apparently, struggling to grasp what's in front of her eyes the same way he is. The same way the rest of them don't seem to be doing.

He doesn't bother to soften his footsteps when he comes up beside her. He doesn't want to startle what could turn out to be a friend, after all. But he doesn't bother announcing himself, either.]

First time? Me, too.

[futurewitness]

[ It takes a moment for her to realize that someone else's confusion is bleeding in there, and despite the impression she's gotten so far (because Annie seems very With It, and Noctis...well, he's at least got a head start on her), she's not the only person who's so far out of their depth that they don't even have a frame of reference for any of it.

Thank Naga for that. She doesn't like feeling stupid. ]

I never dreamed I'd see this many people in one place, let alone...

[ There's the impression of a vague mental shrug, something standing in for "my world has a few races but they aren't too far apart in looks and there aren't nearly this many of them." There's a - person? blob of rainbow ooze rolling along the walkway ahead of them, chittering in some high-pitched foreign language at a trio of smaller, slightly less colorful ones behind it (children???). That is about a thousand times beyond "one of my friends is half-taguel so he has fuzzy bunny ears." ]

[lavelly]

[He looks apprehensively at the same being she is. Truth be told, it's not the strangest kind of creature he's ever seen, but he's well used to all the little quirks of the Fade. This girl likely has no familiarity with magic. No wonder she's paralyzed; he's hardly doing much better.

As off-balance as he is, he can't keep his Keeper impulses from surfacing when someone obviously younger than him is struggling just as much.]

It's overwhelming, isn't it? I'm rather lost myself. We could be lost together, if you like. I think we could all use a friend here.

[futurewitness]

[ It's a relief to hear someone else come straight out and say it. She's used to repressing things; there are too many people who look to her, and she can't afford to show weakness.

It's a relief that none of them are here, because this is entirely too much to take with a straight face. ]

I'd appreciate that. This would be...a bit much to take in alone.

[lavelly]

[Welcome to the club. They can posture together, apparently.]

I don't think that would be possible even if we tried. [He can sense her anxiety, after all. It matches his own.]

I almost vomited when I woke up. I'd say you're doing admirably.

[futurewitness]

[ She manages a faint smile. It sounds a bit like something Inigo would do (and she's trying not to think too hard about her family, because she needs to stay focused, but there's a touch of worry about him bleeding through the edges). Deflecting. Trying to make everyone feel better.

And yeah, if anyone puked from coming to in a new world, she'd put her money on her brother for that one, too.

Maybe he did when they got to the past, even. Who knows what happened when they were separated? ]

It is a disorienting situation. I can't imagine anyone would think less of you for it.

II

[greentech]

[ The feeling of being overwhelmed washes over her and it takes Katie a moment to recognize that it's not her, it's someone else. She's threading her way through the crowd and she hops up onto her toes until she thinks she sees the source of it all. She course corrects and after a few moments, she manages to find Lucina. She doesn't know her, but there's a familiar tug. A flowing exchange that she can't quite shut off, no matter how hard she tries. ]

You look kinda shell-shocked. You OK?

[futurewitness]

[ There's something really weird about seeing people she's never met and finding them so familiar, though to be honest it's just the icing on the cake of weird in this place. She at least has some kind of precedent for that. She's gone to the past and met her parents when they were scarcely older than her; it's not quite the same kind of weird, but at least it makes the weird push-and-pull between "familiar" and "stranger" a bit easier to reconcile.

Focusing on that is more manageable than focusing on any of the strange things walking past her in the crowd. ]

I - I'm fine. [ Lies. ] I apologize if I've worried you; I just...I've never seen anything like this.

[ Understatement of the century, that. ]

[greentech]

[ Don't worry Lucina, you'll get used to it. Maybe. Pidge still thinks it's incredibly weird, but it's not as weird as it used to be. And in this case, it means she can helpful to someone who really looks like they need it. Lucina looks downright lost. ]

Well, if you say so.

[ Katie won't press, but she's pretty sure Lucina isn't fine. ]

I know, right? I've been in cities before, but this is something else. It's like it can't decide what it wants to be.

[futurewitness]

There are no cities like this where I come from.

[ And while there probably weren't any that were quite comparable even before Grima's rise, there's a faint undercurrent of none anymore in her thoughts. Smoke. Screaming. Desolation.

You know, the usual stuff. ]

[greentech]

[ Oh boy. For a moment, Pidge thinks she can smell smoke and soot. Then it vanishes and she rubs at her forehead. Oi. She's still not totally used to this. ]

Yeah, it's - uh. Overwhelming. Did you just - you're new, aren't you? On the Station?

[futurewitness]

Yes. I didn't see much of it, though. Cathaway brought us straight here.

[ And considering the mere concept of outer space was brand new, she could really have used a little time there to at least get over the whole "flying through the stars" bit before getting dropped off in intergalactic NYC. ]