[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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( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[bracchium]

[Bucky spins in place and his programming begins to hum in the back of his head, a slow buzzing that grows louder with each beat of his heart. He doesn't look away from Kylo even as he mentally begins to prepare an escape. The walls are ten meters tall, sheer, but not unscalable.]

Wasn't running.

[narcissithstic]

You can't lie to me.

[A pointed connection, reiterated to match his prior claim. His mind is a live wire, an echoing din where the even the city itself fails to create any noise, alive with the whispers of so much more. It's withheld a moment later; Ren opts not to torment his fellow host.

And then, after a beat of weighted silence:]

I know your face.

[bracchium]

[Bucky paces a couple steps to the side, eyes glued to Kylo. He doesn't respond and instead clenches his jaw as tight as he can to keep any words from spilling out, but he can't ignore how utterly trapped he feels. Like a fox cornered by a hound. He doesn't know this stranger or why he believes he knows him.]

[narcissithstic]

Rogers.

[His own head tilts, pausing where he's been watching Bucky's agitated pacing. Like the clicking of a light as it snaps on, Ren comes to recognize the source of his own would-be memories: his own broodmate.

An opportunity, for better— or horrifyingly worse.]

He is part of my brood, the man that knows you. [The subject change feels necessary, given Bucky's feverish urge to run. It reminds Ren briefly of FN-2187 - the flickering shadow of a life that seems so far away.]

I didn't come here to harm you.

[bracchium]

[Bucky stops mid-pace at the mention of Steve. He furrows his brows and glances up and down the stranger for any memory of him.] What the hell is that?

[He hasn't been here nearly long enough to know what a brood is or how it might affect Steve.]

[narcissithstic]

—She didn't tell you?

[Of course not. The man is bristling, as tense as a charged blaster and painting the image of a predator backed into a corner. It takes nothing— less than nothing— to imagine how quickly he might have run from human contact.

Or less than human contact.

Ren shifts onto his heels, granting his quarry a modicum of room. Space to breathe, however slight. It's not an organic gesture of goodwill from Kylo Ren alone.]

The symbiote within you is linked with another, smaller group. A family. One only it recognizes.

One you'll recognize in time.

[Once Bucky stops rejecting his newly-given role, that is.] Thoughts, cravings, memories, all of them are shared.

[The man before him looks different somehow, but through the haze of malformed memories little comes clearly or cleanly. Perhaps this is merely a side effect.] Rogers is one of mine.

And you cannot deny that bond, no matter how far you run.

[Or hate, in Ren's case.]

[bracchium]

[He got the rundown same as every other host, but most of it is currently lost to the nightmare and the anxiety that woke him this morning. The other steps back enough for Bucky to feel some quiet relief; there's room to run if he needs it.

Thoughts, memories... all of Steve's memories of him are being shared with his brood? Bucky swallows. What he does remember of before the war are bright beams of light full of naive smiles and clean-shaven faces.]

Wasn't running. [He growls again.]

[narcissithstic]

Tell me, then. [There's a softness to it, at odds with Ren's broad, jagged silhouette - measured in the space between them where the shadows run thin. For all the people out there that are capable of dripping with earnesty, Kylo Ren seems an unlikely candidate.

And yet.]

What are you doing?

[Not just in the narrow, immediate sense, but in general: why the cafe? Why flee at the first unfamiliar press of a foreign mind?]

[bracchium]

[Bucky doesn't trust the man before him, even if he does know Steve in some small way. He doesn't trust himself to answer properly either. Instinct had piloted him after the nightmare that morning and the spike of anxiety that accompanied it.

He's dangerous. He doesn't belong in Bearings.]

[narcissithstic]

You're afraid.

[An assumption, but not one entirely colored by supposition alone. Like recognizes like, even on the palest, most distant level. Ren's eyes narrow slightly, searching for something intangible; he'd come closer if he didn't imagine his captive conversational partner would hate the idea.]

Don't be.

[If he only knew the threat his fellow hosts posed. Individually, united - Ren suspects none of them were chosen for their personalities.]

I can help you.

[bracchium]

[Bucky sucks in a breath at Kylo's frank and accurate assessment of his mental state. Though Kylo doesn't move closer, Bucky takes a step back anyway.]

Don't. [Carata had said something similar and he's not been convinced then either.]

[narcissithstic]

Leaving won't help anyone. Won't save anyone. [He'll do more harm than good if he's killed, if his mind slips or his will fades - whatever broodmates hinge on his existence will suffer as Ren has.] Least of all you.

[But this stalemate can't last forever, and he's done his part, however small and potentially ineffective as it is. After a moment Ren opts to withdraw, stepping backwards to leave the narrow alleyway entirely open; if Bucky wants to leave, he's free to.

Congrats, buddy.] Try to remember that.

[bracchium]

[Bucky's not interested in saving himself and isn't sure he can save anyone else, either. As soon as he has enough room, Bucky skirts the edge of the alley to leave, never quite turning his back to Ren.]