[MISSION LOG] BRAVE NEW WORLD

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: The Station + Concordia
WHEN: Day :000 - ???
SUMMARY: Leaving the Station; the arrival and first days on Concordia. Concordia pt.1.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary.

IT'S EARLY IN THE DAY and something feels strange. It’s not unlike when a new Host - not one of your brood, but close enough to feel the tug - comes awake on the Nesting Deck. But it’s just the initial tug. There’s no noise, no hum of confusion or volume. Today, it’s just there: a sensation of presence that a moment ago wasn’t. Soon after follows a prickling awareness of urgency. A small electric bolt through the mind. Cathaway doesn’t use words in the mind, but her meaning is nonetheless easily understood: come to her on the hangar; your presence is required.

On the hangar there is a sleek, low profile transport ship. Before it stand Cathaway and Prince and in their company is a stranger: a short woman with warm skin and dark hair, wearing unfamiliar colorful clothes and a quick, pleasant smile. You’ve never seen her before, but you know she’s a Host.

“This is them?” Her voice is light and sweet. Prince, occupied by a databank, glances up at her then nods once. There’s a tension in his shoulder and through his jaw - a distinct contrast to Cathaway and the stranger who lack both.

“Lovely.” Her tone is breezy and easy, delighted. “Hello, it is so nice to meet you all! My name is Carata. My partner and I have been away on duty for a few months, but it’s become clear that we need backup on our assignment. We are hoping you can help.” Carata motions to the mission equipment in neat kits at her feet. There is one for each young Host.

Prince folds his pad down into its smallest form. His expression is set and serious.

“You will be joining Carata and Nirad on the planet below to assist them with their mission. Your datapbank will provide you with information about the planet and the city where you will be stationed. This mission is covert and the planet itself has no contact with other planetary races, so you will need to do your utmost to blend in.”

Cathaway sharpens slowly beside them: a dull pencil being sharpened to a point as her attention curves back to this place, this instance. She unfolds her hands. “You’ll be provided with an earpiece that should allow you to interface with the local technology and a fake identity for your cover on world. Please mind both carefully and be sure to keep your databanks offline. It would be inconvenient if they were networked while on planet.” From the way she says it, it sounds like ‘inconvenient’ might be an understatement. “This mission shouldn’t be inherently life threatening. Your primary goal is to investigate the anti-android movement. Carata and Nirad will be able to tell you what your databanks do not.”

“You should listen to them,” Prince adds. “Rely on their experience and knowledge to help you succeed in your task. Be mindful, and treat them with the respect they have earned.”

At this Carata laughs. It’s a bright, joyful sound, her hands coming up to clasp in front of her chest, “Please, teacher, you are too serious. I am sure they will do very well. Come along then! Gather your things; we must leave as soon as possible. I do hate to leave Nirad alone for too long.”

Turning her back to the Hosts, Carata takes Cathaway’s hand for a moment Nothing is said, but there’s the distinct impression of something passing between them. They release their grip, then Carata turns to Prince. She places her hands on his shoulders and goes up to her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. He doesn’t return the gesture, but those with sharp eyes will note he does lean down slightly to make her job easier.

Gather your gear, get anything from your rooms you might not want to leave behind. In two hours, everyone attending the mission will be buckled or strapped into the transport as Carata readies the ship for takeoff. She explains, neatly and concisely, what they believe the enemy to be doing in Concordia. Then, with a turning of the deck, the ship is freed from the embrace of Station 72.

It will be a long time before you see this place again.

     I. THE WHEELS ON THE BUS
The flight to Concordia is surprisingly short. By the time Carata's finished her explanation, you've passed into a new universe. It comes with a strange wave of something akin to nausea. Outside the transport's starboard viewports lays Opia in all it's glory: a beautiful blue marble speckled with sixteen landmasses and swathed in thing clouds like spun sugar. From this distance, clusters of light burn from specific points on the continents like a map of grounded constellations. As one of the great megacities of Opia comes curling from around the edge of the planet, the transport ship begins to descend.

Atmospheric entry is smooth. The transport drops at the outskirts of Concordia on what is, hilariously, some kind of large parking garage. It has engaged the most sophisticated of its cloaking technology to do this and Carata urged everyone to disembark quickly so the ship can return to orbiting the planet before it's detected.

"It will be back," she says flippantly. "When we've finished our job."

The ship departs. It's quiet and still for a handful of minutes; Carata seems unconcerned and gives little in the way of direction or instruction. The city flashes around them - bright lights and neon masking the fading of natural light - and nearby, a roadway hums. Eventually the sound of a car pitches louder. A set of headlamps shear from the long line of cars and in moments a long, squarish transport van pulls up and parks at the top of the garage. The side door slides open to admit everyone. In the driver's seat is an android - shining metal and cheerful as it greets every host by name. Beside the android in the van's passenger seat sits a tall, dark skinned man who - much like Carata - is obviously a host.

Welcome to Concordia.

     II. HOME SWEET HOME
It's a long drive into the city. The buildings get taller, the lights get brighter, the streets get busier. There are throngs of people on the street, dogged by endless rows of neon bright advertisements. Traffic is either miserable or flowing depending on the neighborhood and trams run on tracks fifty feet or more above the roadways. Streams of people files from the pavement to the subways, countless numbers of escalators leading down.

When the bus finally stops, it's in front of a building as tall as any others. The signs here mark this section of the city as BETA BLOCK and when you get out and into the building lobby you find that the door opens for you automatically. A chime rings through the interfacing ear piece and when you enter the elevators, the only floor accessible to you is NUMBER EIGHTEEN. When you disembark, a kind voice welcomes you by home in your ear. There are a large number of rooms here in Bearing - stake your claim, everyone! Nirad and Carata already have a couple of rooms in the Southwest corner of the building, but the rest are open. Time to settle in!

     III. FEET ON THE GROUND
You're given the rest of the night to sleep (or...whatever), but by 9AM the next morning everyone is awoken by Carata's voice in their head. She's clearly not shy of using her symbiotic connection.

( Good morning! I know this is quite a lot to get used to. I believe this is your first true assignment? But I have always believed that the best way to learn something new is to jump right in. ) The words are accompanied by the sensation of someone clapping their hands together, a cheerful kind of practicality. ( You’ve been given a credit card. I encourage you to go out today and learn what you can about this place. Talk to people. Listen to the news. Be sure to remember your cover identity, and don’t hesitate to call if you find yourself in trouble. )

There is nothing pressing to the suggestion, just the sensation- light. Airy. Fun. She switches track after a moment, a thoughtful addition: ( There is also a rally in town today. It’s being run by The True Children of Opia, some minor little hate group-- ) She seems to wave off the unsavory aspects as she forges ahead, ( They aren’t affiliated with Humans + Humans 1st, but they do have very similar ideologies and it is quite probable that there is overlap in their membership. If you would rather, it is also quite likely that there will be protestors there as well, both members of Mind Life and those who are adamant about pursuing digital resurrection. Please do be careful, though, sometimes those rallies can be a little... ) An image of an oily substance catching flame, quickly and hotly.

( Whatever you chose, simply do your best to get your bearings. ) She seems to realize the unintended joke there, given the name of their current residence, and a bright happy flash of color accompanies it. What a delightful surprise. ( Prepare yourself for what is to come. Nirad and I will continue our investigation in the meantime. )

---

((OOC Notes: This is the catchall log for the first stages of the Concordia mission. You'll notice there's no set ending date, so use this log however you like - alternatively, feel free to start your own logs in the setting! Don't worry; we'll be keeping a close eye on things, so if something big starts to happen that necessitates a new long, we'll make sure to keep our bases covered and all of y'all updated. Just be aware that dating forward farther than :010 may get a little dicey.

If you have any mission specific questions, direct them to the OOC post here.))

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Comments

[circumspector]

[ It's a lean back to Lexa's presence, mentally reaching for the strength of someone else with looking at what she does -- trying to come up with her own response to calm down, get a handle on it. She's fine doing it for others usually, but she feels guilty about this. No, maybe this wasn't the most serious crime in this world, but she'd done something utterly irreparable to a fully sentient being.

So when Lexa is there, she's back into the wall, hand pressed to her mouth and yes -- the broken machine responds to her orders now, because that's all it is. Just a walking hunk of metal. Nothing at all what she'd started with. Tucked in small and fretful. Clutching at herself worriedly when she sees Lexa. A scared, almost childish want to press her face into her chest and sob that she's sorry, she didn't mean to.

Which isn't helpful at all right now, and she swallows it down. This was her choice, her own curiosity come back to bite her, even if the answer comes out clipped as she looks at the broken Android. Chattering away an error message on repeat about resetting. ]

That's the problem. I broke it. It's not a person anymore, it's just -- basic functions now.

[ The problem is - open her hands in a quick panicked motion as she tries to come to terms with it. As guilty as if she'd just killed someone because effectively, she has. ]

Someone is going to come looking for him. [ Which is the more pressing part of this. It might just turn out to be a slap on the wrist, but it's undue attention they shouldn't be getting. ]

[adamance]

These things happen. [A better phrasing might be "accidents happen," but Lexa can discern enough here from what's happened that this was no accident. Angel had sought out the Android in question to see what she could make of it, and what ended up was a being that had a life being stripped away. It's callous to dismiss its life considering what they are here to do. It's callous to dismiss its life considering her own confusion over who and what she is now.

But she cares more for Angel than the being that lies in front of her. It's collateral damage, something that occurs from time to time.]

Is there some way to make it seem as if it was done by the movement we've come here to stop? [This is where her ruthlessness kicks in: she wants to ignore the guilt that Angel feels to find a solution. That guilt won't lead to a solution. It'll only lead to more guilt.]

If so, let's begin.

[circumspector]

[ It's the kick she needs, to force herself to work through the rest of the panic. The group -- the group weren't that obvious. They hadn't done anything from what she had gathered that direct, nothing that could be called distinctively their work.

Presses her lips together in a hum of thought. If they did, that would be... obvious. Really, directly obvious, and might call them out. But also implicate her to anyone else tapped in enough to know and this whole planet was. Who else did things like this? Who else had she seen -- well apart from silly girls with abilities they didn't know how to use properly, she really didn't want to know what Prince was going to say to her -- break stuff for the sake of breaking it, trying to be scarier than they were, or show they didn't care -- bandits.

That'll do. Seizes on the idea. ]

Not them. They haven't been this obvious or -- childish. [ a wince, even if it's fair. Eyes on the android as it rattled off the same error code. ] Uhm. Okay. Wait, I know - I need you to go to this shop, [ an image, clear and bright of its position and the shop front, an art supply story by the look of it. ] it's just the street over. Buy me some paint, whatever colour.

[ She needs to stay here, watch over it, make sure nothing else happens. ]

[adamance]

[Though Lexa senses the doubt she feels and the guilt, she lacks any knowledge of the exact train of thoughts pushing their way through Angel's mind. Still, she can tell that she's beginning to act, to come up with an idea that may work. When she proposes it, Lexa nods. It's odd to be in the position of someone running errands and taking orders, but she's beginning to acclimate to it. She hasn't done it for a long time, not since before they realized her black blood and brought her to Polis to train as a novitiate.]

I'll be back soon. [She lifts her gaze upward to see if there might be any immediate surveillance, but assumes Angel is at least sharp enough to act when someone else can't view her at work.

Lexa assumes that Angel will not hurt anyone if she's found, but she does her best to keep up a link between herself an Angel, just as if she were contacting her otherwise. The farther she gets, the harder it is to maintain, but she manages to find the paint (a bright yellow color) and brings it back swiftly, moving as swiftly as possible without attracting attention.

Once she's reached Angel again, she breaks the link (it's not necessary), and she yanks out the paint, handing it to her.]

[circumspector]

[ It's a fretful wait, watching over the injured Android like it's an injured animal, and it is really to her mind at least. Pressing her thumb against her bottom lip, biting at her nail in little, worried motions as she hangs there to wait for Lexa to come back. All but ringing her hands until she comes back.

When she sees her, she takes the paint in a solid grip. Nervous, she doesn't want to do this, she doesn't want to hurt anyone but now that she has, she doesn't want to endanger anyone else, either.

May as well finish what she started. Pushes herself up on her tiptoes, the paint clutched tightly, and murmurs a quiet I'm so sorry, before she reaches out with her power, destroying like she seems more inclined to this planet, her marked hand going sharp into his chest, all bright white on her markings and light in her eyes as she pushes her mind the rest of the way over it. Pushing the electricity of her symbiote ability into it to short out its remaining systems and let her mind destroy whatever records it had left. It's error messages going into a jarring whine and a sizzle of wiring before it in turn dies. Dead behind the eyes like anything else that died.

Hopefully, now they'd just be ghosts in this now - it was as much as she could do now. Costs her, because her abilities always does these days and the symbiote ones especially, a heavy wet heave of lungs as she pulls away and starts to pry the tin open. ]

Just open, damn -- darn it. [ Impatient snap before it finally comes off, and like that, she leans up and --

-- tips it over the android, over its shoulders where she couldn't reach otherwise. Breath hitching, she might just cry for how much she never wanted to do this. But there's nothing for it, more mumbled sorries under her breath as she splashed the yellow paint over whatever she could. Trying to make sure it stayed off her clothes at least where she could, making sure her fingers didn't touch anything either.

When she's made a complete mess of it, she steps back, wiping her cheek against her shoulder before she looks back to Lexa. Tried to be careful, but there is still some paint on her. ]

Does it look like... kids making a mess and thinking their funny?

[ It's not nice, shifting blame like that, but she'd seen how they talked on the networks. Bragging that they were part of such an awful group. Without the group to blame themselves, it was the next best thing. ]

[adamance]

[The moment Angel gets to work while filled with guilt-related emotions, Lexa immediately regrets handing off the paint can. Those final steps could have been handled by her with Angel's minor direction, especially after she shoved her hand into the machine's chest, ruining it once and for all. Her lips twist downward as her eyes follow every single one of Angel's movement. Lexa's body is still as she does, and that doesn't change when Angel turns her attention back to her.

She doesn't have much of an answer for that. Kids do play in her world, but not like this. They would be published for destroying something valuable, and it wouldn't be difficult to find out the cause. Many of the villages of her people police themselves.

But she thinks of Skaikru and what those "kids" were capable of, and she thinks this is fitting. Similar. Before they realized exactly where they had landed and Lexa's people had begun to attack.]

It does, [she decides. Even if she hadn't seen any of that first hand, her scouts had been good about passing along the information so it made its way to her.]

We should go. I don't want you to dwell on this. [To hurt, because she clearly is.]

[circumspector]

[ She would insist either way, that it's her mess, that she must do this because she can't expect other people to clean up her mess. Pushing herself through it until her stomach churns so uncomfortably she wants to throw up from the guilt, as she takes one last look at what she's done.

Then she nods in reply, clearly miserable with it all, doesn't answer the last part. Of could she would dwell, it's her nature as clearly shown by now. She fixates and dissects too deeply, but she stows it for now. ]

One second. [ and there she uses what she had been homing with her symbiote skill. Closes her eyes to focus away from the outside world. A spark of power she takes from her head ports that she carries down her arm to her markings into a ball of white light she builds between her fingers in a familiar flash of her abilities. The sphere building and she holds the paint can in it. Forces it bright in her hand and then into the metal.

Its effect is obvious, electricity crackles through the metal and down her, the paper label catches fire from the current. A bright flash that in turn helps her super heat the tin itself. Melting it just a little and she drops it just a second before it burns her too ( electricity she's learned to flow through her, fire not so much ). Goal achieved, hidden her fingerprints from the tin itself. A smouldering metal container that will cool on the alley street in a few moments. ]

Okay... okay let's go.

[adamance]

[How had Cathaway said it? Her symbiote's ability would reveal itself when it was most needed. For the most part, Lexa hasn't encountered situations where it was needed, until now, when she's stood close to a flame that's threatened her. Her skin burns hot, but she barely recognizes it. What she does know is that standing close to the flame as she is (with the threat of it literally exploding) leads to little recognition. What she also knows is exactly how it feels to have the ability activate, to have it come to life for the first time to aid her.

Almost unaware of what Angel is doing, she stares down at her hands as they burn hot for a moment, and then she wills it away with some difficulty, before it burns her clothing and creates a bigger problem. Her mouth feels dry, and so do her eyes, like she hasn't had any water for a while. It hasn't completely dehydrated her, but it's still new.

She inhales deeply, trying to find a calm.]

This has served another purpose, [she explains. It's clearly the first time she's been in touch with that, and the fact that her ability has to do with flames hasn't escaped her. She's not surprised. If anything, it seems fitting.

She just doesn't like how she feels.]

But we should return. Staying out here longer will be a problem. [For both of them, but she can tell that her body is definitely feeling the effects of her reaction, no matter how minor it was.]

[circumspector]

[ With their closeness, she feels the peak of something... different and she snaps to look at Lexa, curiosity overtaking her concern and guilt for a moment.

Good in a way, Lexa herself is stabilising, calming, and she reaches back to flick her hood up over her face. A stiff nod. ]

You go first, I'll catch up with you around the corner.

[ Not a good idea to both be seen leaving at the same time. ]

[adamance]

[Angel's meaning is clear enough, and Lexa finds herself nodding. Having to process precisely what she's just managed is important, especially due to the danger that almost came with it. Her throat still feels parched, and the less she lingers, the more she can care for that.

She moves to go, blinking dry eyes along the way as she's checking her current state.]

[circumspector]

[ She hangs back against the wall, waiting a good few minutes timing before she shoves her hands in her pockets where they are shaking faintly, she curls them up tight and starts out as calm as she can be. Didn't do to look guilty to anyone else.

So a few minutes later, Angel is heading out after her, reaching out for her mind though her mouth stays shut.

( We should find different ways back to the Bearings. Just in case we're being followed. )

[adamance]

( I'll stop for some food, then. ) [The answer is decisive enough, plus she can see a number of values to it. If she had just come out to get food, she can't be confused for other things.] ( Would you like anything? )

[The latter question is purely because it's polite to ask.]

[circumspector]

( No... no, thank you. I'm not hungry. )

[ rather, she just feels sick. unhappy in herself, and it's strange how much it could effect her outwardly. Taking a different path to Lexa, going to find a cafe to sit at for awhile instead. ]

( I'll find you later, Lexa. )