[hatch log / mission: hyrypia] the winds that will be howling at all hours

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: New Hosts & EVERYONE
WHERE: Station 72; Hyrypia - Naerstone House
WHEN: DAY :002 - :003
SUMMARY: New hosts hatch on the Station, are briefed, then make their way to Hyrypia to join the rest of the hosts… while they attend a very important history lesson.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. Need a warning added? PM this account please!

STATION 72
DAY :002

NEW HATCHES
YOU WAKE UP are are suddenly changed. --No. That's not right. You're you and there's no suddenly about it. It's been a while, hasn't it? It feels like waking up from a very deep, extended sleep or surfacing up from the darkness of some wine dark sea. Nothing is different and everything is because right there in your own head there's something both familiar and strange. You know intuitively that you've been unconscious for more than just a blink of the eye.

But here you are, a small miracle of the multiverse: lying in a small, faintly hexagonal chamber with 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 calmed. There's something peaceful about waking up here - like you belong. That feeling persists even as you find the tube running from the base of your neck to the compartment's rear wall.

But once 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. A matching dread. An easy comfort. 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 nearby 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.In fact there are lots of you and none of them are the strangers they should be. Some even seems like people you've known for a very long time.They are as familiar as this place you've never been is.

Welcome to Station 72. Beyond this room it's quiet and still, feeling for all the world like a hollow shell.

--Or it does until a voice separates itself from the white noise in your head:


BRIEFING
THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD isn't really a voice at all. It's the warm tang of camaraderie, tinged with a flash of impatience like ticking hands on a clock face and a flicker of wonder: a falling star. It says:

( My, you're all very fresh aren't you? Unfortunately, the multiverse waits for no spring chicken. Once you've figured out which way's up, won't you all join us? )
Join 'us' where is the question. And yet, once you're ready to meet the owner of the voice in your mind, your footsteps simply lead you there naturally. Two strangers sit in a small circular briefing room - a tall being covered in short brown fur with a rigid demeanor, and a pale alien with yellow washed frills at her jaw and throat who is smiling cheerfully.

"Hey there, sunshine," says Rhan, her frills humming as she speaks. "Why don't you take a seat so we can get started?"

[ooc note: please see here for the catch-all briefing thread]


THE STATION
WITH A LITTLE UNDER 24 HOURS before it's time to make the trip to Hyrypia, this is as good an opportunity as you're going to get to familiarize yourself with Station 72 before you leave it. There's plenty to see, but a distinct lack of people to make conversation with. It's lonely and quiet and there's a sensation of dust gathering even where there is none. Maybe studying the briefing files on your databank and going over your mission kit is the most proactive distraction, but if not? Well there's plenty of places to get lost...

HYRYPIA - NAERSTONE HOUSE
DAY :003

MEETING
A SINGLE SHIP LANDS in a field the color of burnished gold, returning to the place it had until late the night before occupied. It's carefully inserted beside dozens of other spacecraft bearing more than faint similarities, though each has its own unique aesthetic. When the gangplank drops, the loud engines powering down, it reveals--

New hosts. Seven fresh faces - obscured as they are in layers of intricate fabric - are led down the gangplank by Rhan There to greet them is a number of other hosts - any who answered to the sweet crystalline ring of Collector’s voice in their heads hardly a half hour earlier, speaking with certainty born of truth:

( Rhan and Siva’co are returning. Shall we see what stories they have to tell? )

Despite the solidarity that both combined groups provide, there's a feeling of eyes here. A number of guards along the edge of the shuttle field are watching the reunion like hawks. Better perhaps to return to the apartments where they'll be able to speak in private and teach the new hosts what it is that has been learned since their arrival. --Or explore, for those who prefer not to rest. Naerstone House's grounds are vast and they are almost entirely open to the parties of the pilgrims to explore.

THE PERFORMANCE
AS THE SINGLE RED SUN of Hyrypia dips low on the horizon there is a long, low, mournful sound. A deep bell-- or a horn? Or maybe it's something else entirely, but the call is heard and answered as any nearby servants inform the guests of the house:

“There will be a performance of the First Journey in a quarter turn. All guests are invited to attend.”

There's no mystery as to where the event is occurring. A steady trail of guests and servants lead out past the Veranda into the central garden where a number of pillars have been mounted and a large tiered platform festooned with with numerous draped curtains and abstract representations of trees and mountains - a great stage - now sits. The stage is surrounded by numerous low settees and tables, piles of thick cushions and richly colored rugs around which guests can be found clustered, lounging while sipping thick, syrupy drinks.

Each table is illuminated only by a single glowing orb at its center. Otherwise, as the sun sets it pitches the garden into darkness as even the castle itself has been left unlit. There are no lights in distant windows or on Naerstone House's high walls; these small orbs and the glitter of stars in the black sky might very well be the only points of light in the whole universe.

The allotted time passes and the performance begins. A sun rises over the stage. It's a much larger, more intricate glowing orb and reveals a number of players dressed far more simply than the Hyrypians the hosts have met. They wear complex machine masks upon their faces that shutter into different expressions as their hands flitter across their faces: dramatic caricatures to accompany the droning sound of their singing voices as they unfold the tale at the center of the performance - the one which drives this pilgrimage and for the Nest's very presence in the universe at all. It's the story of lost Rabadoceans coming to a planet near barren intent on brutalizing them - about loss and hardship until finally a single player separates from the rest. The orb of the sun over the stage turns, it's mechanical face shifting and resetting to indicate the passage of time as the very central platform of the stage begins to turn so that this lone player might walk. And walk. And walk through deserts and scrub land, through dark woods and dark caves, against the wind and with it. Through it all, the orb over the stage slowly lowers until at last this lone player can take it in their hands.

It cracks like an egg and brilliance streams from it. Braziers catch fire in the darkness. The garden illuminates itself. Every light in Naerstone House comes to life.

With that, the silence of the crowd breaks. There is applause -- each culture in its own unique fashion -- and then there is a rise of chattering conversation as the guests are served several small dishes and talk about the show they’ve just seen - and whatever possible clues it might give to the pilgrimage they themselves would soon be undertaking.

---

((OOC Notes: This is the hatch log for all new hosts as well as the evening's performance. Feel free to make your own logs and posts additional to this if you care to. You can find a more detailed overview of the host hatching process HERE and additional setting information about the Station HERE. Please be sure to review the MISSION: HYRYPIA ooc information. If you have any questions, please hit up either the mission's question thread, the FAQ or MOD CONTACT pages!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[blooded]

We've never argued about your transition. We've never talked about it, because I didn't know it happened!

❰ this isn't making any sense. elena isn't making any sense. she went into a coma and came back a vampire, but insists he was there to argue with her about it. he's been in hyrypia too long for that to even be possible, but —

but.

if more timeline fuckery was happening... if damon was on the back end of it this time, instead of the front... ❱

Elena, what day was it, back in Mystic Falls? Last time I was there, it was June 21st.

[otrazhenie]

[ He didn't know? How could he not know,he'd been right there with her, trying to find a way to stop it, to give her the life he thought she deserved. ]

June? [ How...? ] It was November 7. The day after I died.

[blooded]

❰ november. about four months after the last thing he remembers from mystic falls — not the ten months elena was missing before, but enough that he's probably missed some pretty important stuff. damon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. ten seconds. he can take ten seconds to be pissed off at the world, and then he needs to catch elena up and fix this.

somehow.

one, two... ❱

This happened when I woke up a couple months ago. You woke up with me, but we weren't from the same point in time. You were from the night you realized what Stefan and I were. That happens, apparently — Sam's best friend Steve didn't even know who he was when Sam first showed up. The Nest pulls us from different points in our timelines, maybe even from different universes. I might not even be your Damon.

❰ if the words make elena nervous, all she has to do is pay attention to his mental landscape — whether they are each other's damon and elena or not, she still is elena, and that means that no matter what, he loves her and will protect her. it just makes their lives a little more... complicated, at least right now. ❱

[otrazhenie]

[ Four months. Different points in time. Different universes. It's all completely crazy, but so is all of this, and everything else in their lives. Vampires, werewolves, doppelgangers, hybrids, witches. Mysterious enemies, space stations, alien symbiotes. If this is their lives now... she just has to go with it. Adapt and keep moving forward. Somehow.

The only thing that makes her nervous is not knowing if their pasts are the same. If they're from different universes, if there are particular things that are different, then everything might be different. But then she does take note of his mind, of the steadiness there, the strength of his feelings for her. He's still Damon, and that's so very comforting. ]

It doesn't matter. You're still Damon. You're still my friend, and... we can get through this.

[ It's said with more determination than she actually feels, but she's trying to fool herself as much as him. ]

[blooded]

❰ it's not hard to see that elena's determination is fake — even if damon wasn't in her head, he knows her well enough to know when she's faking. still, there's a truth to "fake it til you make it", and if she tells herself she can make it through this enough times, maybe she'll be able to believe it someday. until they get to that point, damon will be there to remind her. ❱

Yes, we can.

❰ where her confidence was fake, damon's is completely real. ❱

Right now, I need to know what I missed when you were up on the Station, and don't tell me nothing.

❰ given that she never wanted to be a vampire, some distress on elena's part would be understandable, but what he feels from her now, hidden behind her makeshift little wall... that isn't just about being a vampire, he knows it's not. ❱

[otrazhenie]

What you--

[ Missed. On the Station. When she woke up. Elena has no training to keep her thoughts to herself, there's no wall or even a flimsy barrier to hide behind as she follows the train of thought to the hours after she'd woken up. The terror she'd felt at being alone, at knowing that she needed to feed because she was so hungry but also knowing she might kill someone if she tried. And--

Lakshmi. She tenses, both mentally and physically, at the memory of meeting her broodmate. The hatred and disgust are as potent in her mind now as they were then, digging in deep with claws as sharp as the knife she'd nearly been stabbed with. That Prince had come along to stand between them...

Elena looks up at Damon with fear in her eyes, her jaw trembling as she begins to believe again that she's the monster Lakshmi thinks she is. ]

Damon.

[blooded]

❰ she won't – maybe can't – talk about what happened, but that's where the symbiotes come in handy. the question is all it takes to bring elena's thoughts to the day she spent on the station, and damon pays close attention to all of it. her fear, her despair, her – terror. she's terrified, under threat... by her broodmate. by a woman who sees nothing except what she is, not who she is. elena wouldn't hurt anyone here, but that apparently doesn't matter to this woman. damon's grip on elena's waist tightens uncomfortably and his eyes narrow in anger, but his words are gentle when he speaks. ❱

It's okay, Elena, you're safe. I won't let anything happen to you.

❰ if she'd been given time to adjust, she could protect herself. that's the one good thing about her being a vampire now, she doesn't need damon to take care of her anymore. once she's settled, elena can do that all by herself.

(not that that would stop damon from trying, of course, but it'stheprinciple of the thing.)

until she gets to that point, damon will keep protecting her. it's what he does, after all. ❱

[otrazhenie]

[ It's the gentleness of his words that registers, settling around her like a soft blanket on her shoulders. She doesn't even notice the intensity of his hold on her waist, or the anger in his eyes; all that matters is that he's telling her she's safe and she believes it. This is Damon, he'll do anything to protect her, and as frustrating as that has been in the past, she clings to it now. Of all the things she's been told in the past 48 hours, Damon's words are the few that she's actually sure of.

And she needs another hug. Leaning those last few inches in, she wraps her around tight around him and presses her cheek to his shoulder, hiding her face against his neck. ]

[blooded]

❰ more hugging. damon's sure he's not the best candidate for this, but sam is out of the room and stefan is in a coma, so it falls to him – not that he even minds all that much, really, it just... feels sort of like he's cheating. taking something that isn't his. still, elena leans into him and damon wraps his arms around her waist, gentle but fierce. ❱

I'm gonna kick her ass, ❰ he says absently, his gentle tone almost comedically incongruent with the words. ❱

[otrazhenie]

[ He does perfectly fine with the hugs, and Elena will tell him so one day. He's actually pretty great at them, all things considered, though she may be a bit biased about that. Either way, she feels even safer with his arms wrapped around her, and she lets herself bask in that sensation for a moment.

Until he says that, anyway, and she lifts her head to look at him with as much firmness as she can muster in her current state. ] Damon, don't.

[blooded]

❰ no matter how much firmness elena can muster, it's not enough to dissuade him. nothing would be, probably, short of a repeat of the days after he'd killed jeremy — threats of never speaking to him again, manipulation, promises he'd lost her forever... even then, though, this is something he can't just let slide. an attempt on elena's life would be one thing. plenty of people have tried to kill her, and as long as they haven't succeeded, damon's down for an uneasy truce. lakshmi didn't just try to kill her, though. ❱

Don't worry, I won't kill her, ❰ his tone is serene, unaffected — there's no way elena could ever talk him out of this. ❱

[otrazhenie]

[ She stares him down for a moment, recognizing that tone and comprehending that short of never letting him out of her sight, there's really no way she'll be able to keep him from going after Lakshmi. Honestly, his word that he won't kill her is probably the best she can hope for out of this situation. It's a testament to how worn down she is that she even accepts that answer. ]

Please make sure you don't. [ That weariness seeps into her voice and there's no hiding it from him. She doesn't even really try. ]

[blooded]

I couldn't even if I wanted to, ❰ he says – though it's pretty clear hewants to. ❱ She couldn't kill you, either. There's a failsafe in the symbiote, a killswitch that keeps us from killing each other. As long as she's part of the nest, she'll pass out before she can do any real damage.

❰ not that that's all that much of a comfort, when the danger lakshmi poses is so much more about how she can make elena feel. she doesn't have to try to kill her to wound her. ❱

[otrazhenie]

Oh. Okay. [ That's good then. Right? She doesn't know anymore. Maybe she shouldn't be here at all, shouldn't have completed the transition...

It's hard to stop those thoughts once they've started, but she tries. Damon doesn't need to hear those, as he undoubtedly will with how close they are. He doesn't deserve any of those, not looking after her and having to teach her, not being the only person she has left to lean on. What he deserves is so much better than this. ]

[blooded]

❰ where damon was joking just a moment ago, as soon as he feels that — the defeated, dejected resignation, that sense of it'd be better if... — he turns fierce again, his hands sliding from a hug into a fierce grip on elena's waist. ❱

Hey, none of that. Elena, you didn't do anything wrong. You didn't have time to do anything wrong. None of this is your fault.

❰ elena's tendency to blame herself for everything bad that happens ever is both frustrating and utterly terrifying. the idea of what she might do, brought low enough... it keeps damon awake at night. she takes on responsibility for so much that isn't her fault, and if he can't help her... one day it'll break her.

he can't let that happen. ❱

[otrazhenie]

[ His hold on her changes and it's almost enough to break her out of that thought spiral. His reassuring words are always enough to shift her own to agreeing with his. Almost. But almost isn't quite enough to sway her tumultuous emotional state. ]

Of course it's my fault, it always is. If I had been more careful that day, I wouldn't have gotten hurt and ended up at the hospital. If I hadn't been so mean to Rebekah, maybe she wouldn't have run the truck off the bridge. If I had picked you, I wouldn't have been on that bridge. If I had just let myself die, I wouldn't be here to cause all these problems!

[ She's rambling but she can't stop. She's close to tears but they won't come. Her chest is tight and it feels like she's drowning -- is this what an anxiety attack feels like? ]