station72 | [mission: hyrypia] big, but not coarse

[mission: hyrypia] big, but not coarse - merely on another scale

CHARACTERS: Everyone
WHERE: The Red Coast
WHEN: DAY :036 - DAY :037
SUMMARY: A multiverse away, new hatches wake on the Station. On Hyrypia, the Garstall hunt begins in earnest - and wraps up with terrible consequences.
WARNINGS: Animal hunting and slaughter, death, Bad Times at Ridgemont High. Need something added? PM the mod account!

STATION 72
DAY :036

THE HATCH - NEW HOSTS
YOU WAKE UP and the universe and you in it are altered. --No. That's not right. You're you, the universe is as it's always been, and there's no 'suddenly' about it. But it's been a while, hasn't it? It feels like waking from a very deep sleep or coming up from the darkness of some wine colored sea. Nothing is different and yet everything is.

You find yourself lying in a small, hexagonal chamber with a gentle light emanating from its walls. If you were injured during your escape, you're now 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 until you disconnect the IV running from the base of your neck to the chamber wall.

Then 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. Some of these emotions might be yours, but they can't all be.

Eventually you find your way out of the pod, having found whatever belongings you brought with you and a change of crisp white clothes in a cubby near your feet. Once you descend to the Nesting Deck, you’ll find you’re not alone. There are a handful others very like you here, all of them somehow intimately familiar.

Welcome to Station 72. Beyond this room, the vast Station is quiet and still. It feels for all the world like a shell for some vast dark thing.
EXPLORE the strange environment you've found yourself in. The Station seems to be both infinitely vast and strangely small. It's possible to wander along halls and through chambers for hours, only to turn a corner and find yourself in a place you've already been because your mind happened to think of it.

PREPARE for what's to come. Not long after your arrival, a pair of aliens arrive in a dark ship bearings mission kits for everyone. Get changed into your disguises, brush up on your mission briefing, and ask what questions you have while you can. It isn't long before you're loaded onto the ship and leave the Station behind.

HYRYPIA - THE RED COAST
DAY :036

A CALLING
A FAMILIAR FEELING to those that know it is sign enough that the elder hosts must depart to fetch whoever it is remains on the station. But this time, it's not just two of them that strike out under the cover of night. Instead, all four of them make their way from Whalsome House.

( We will not be gone long. ) Collector’s voice is a cheerful lilt in their minds as she gathers a book in hand. ( Try to have only pleasant stories for me, when we return. )

And with that Rhan, The Collector, Siva'co and Lyr are gone. They take with them the comatose Hosts and leave the rest to their own devices.

HYRYPIA - THE RED COAST
DAY :037

THE HUNT
DAWN BREAKS over a coastline already bustling with activity. The day has finally come to take those long boats out beyond the shallows and hunt the massive serpent-like Garstall in earnest. A familiar horn is blown and anyone who wishes to participate files down onto the beach and is divided into groups, a dozen or two people for each boat. There's a celebratory air to the whole affair, a true pleasure in taking the boats out into the sea. For all that the Barithian Hunt was anxious and quiet and tense, this is is a day of laughter and shouting and singing rowing songs as the boats slash their way through the open water toward the massive creatures roiling through the deeper water off the coast.
SHORT HANDED might not be the first thought that comes to mind on the bustling ships, but at some point during the hunt it becomes clear that Keya isn't present despite the fact that she's been attending every training session. Should anyone ask, one of the Descendants confesses that Keya skipped the hunt because Shee Naraxa secured a meeting between her and the heads of House Tyrisson concerning "her peace talk idea." The news seems to surprise one of the other Descendants; while it’s difficult to read her expression, it’s clear this is not what she expected to hear. She remains tense for the remainder of the voyage.

FINDING THE GARSTALL is simple enough for the experienced sailors of the Red Coast. They look for signs where the water’s color is more pronounced and where the waves seem to stir in unusual directions. They direct those who have less to do with controlling the fickle vessels to keeping a weather eye out for these signs, and to let out a cry when they spot them. Once a Garstall is spotted, all the nearby boats must rally together to take it.

ONCE SPOTTED what had been a pleasant but almost routine sail becomes something far different. Orders and directions are shouted down the lengths of the vessels. Hunters are armed and those in charge of ballast set to their stations.

The boats maneuver incredibly well for their size, their narrowness slashing through the sea to close on the Garstall that has risen near the surface. The beast is huge - larger than any single boat. It's like a great tree come to life, a twisting trunk of a body in the waves. The ships cut in separate directions, and when the signal horn sounds then the hunt truly begins. Hunters begin to hurl harpoons into the waves, aiming for the Garstall's sinuous body.

When the harpoons find their target, the whole boat shudders and tips. There's shouting and some laughter, the eager deck hands compensating for the drag of the beast by sliding weight across the deck to the opposite side of the boat. On one of the boats, a line snaps and sends the ship springing back the opposite direction - several of the sailors thrown into the water even as the hunters lose their footing. On another boat they fail to slide the ballast quickly enough and the Garstall wrenches them forward as it attempts to dive, leaving the other two boats attached to the beast attempting to compensate. On still another boat, they subdue a smaller beast much more easily. Sailors line the boat's side as one of the crewmen slides down the harpoon line, knife in hand to finish the job.

It’s a chaotic experience - but a successful one.

RAISE A BLADE, RAISE A GLASS
IN THE AFTERMATH of the successful hunt, the Garstall's massive carcasses are dredged up into the shallows. It's hot work to beach the massive animal. Once it's in the foaming purple surf, the most delicate parts of it must be stripped from the carcass before they can rot. The harvesting of the fat under the Garstall's heavy plates can wait, but the exposed flesh must be stripped promptly to avoid rot. Luckily, this work is done under the guise of celebration and the result is half slaughter and half bonfire beach party as night falls over the Red Coast.
BUTCHERY might not be the right work for everyone, but the locals leading the task are good natured and encouraging.

FEASTING on the sweet meat of the Garstall is a given. Huge slabs of meat are roasted over equally massive fires as the work is completed. Drinks are passed around. Music is played. Fashionably late, the heads of Tyrisson House come down for their manor (for a split second in the company of Shee Naraxa before she peels away to join the rest of the Descendants) to give another cheerful speech. The work is hard but rewarding, and for a moment the tenor of this place is so very good.

A DREADFUL DISCOVERY
BUT A MONSTER IS HUNTING and just after the speech, a horrifying sense of dread grips the Hosts. It's sickening - a vomiting, visceral wrongness that reaches out of the universe and finds the symbiote and the Host mind and sinks its hooks there exactly as it did that night on the road from Naerstone. Should anyone follow that dreadful sensation, they'll find themselves in the twisted orchard near Tyrisson House, mist clinging low to the ground in the chilling evening, lit only by a pale moon. What waits for them there is a pitch black circle scorched into the loamy earth - so exact and so precisely like the one discovered so many days earlier. And near this perfect circle: the broken body of Keya, her throat split open and blood still wet on the ground.

NEW FRIENDS (OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES)
NEWS OF THE MURDER SPREADS and all the envoys are encouraged to return to their quarters for their safety while those in the employ of Tyrisson house secure the area-- encouragement which turns to insistence until all the members of the Envoys have returned their respective housing. Lights are lit in every courtyard and at every corner. Tension runs high. During this time, as the Hosts wait in their own row of Whalsome House's low stone buildings, company arrives:
A VISITOR arrives with a special request. An older Descendant wrapped in a heavy cloak with a deep hood comes knocking. When she reveals her face, Lakshmi might recognize her as Keya's aunt. "My name is Casiria," she says. "I believe you knew my niece."

It’s clear from her demeanor that she has far more to say before she goes.

FAMILIAR FRIENDS in the shape of newly hatched hosts and your senior chaperones arrive not long after Casiria's departure. They find their way to Whalsome House in a hush, having apparently faced some difficulty in dodging the added security. Better catch everyone up quickly.

((OOC Notes: This log serves as a general catch-all for events from DAY :036 through DAY :037. Please feel free to create your logs outside of this one, though we strongly recommend not forward-dating to the following morning. Please be aware that in the context of this log, new Hosts won't be present on Hyrypia until after Casiria has left. If you have any questions, please hit up either the mission's question thread, the FAQ or MOD CONTACT pages!))

NAVIGATION • GAME CALENDAR • MISSION: HYRYPIA • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For all their Nectar and unique technology, these people are not gifted in the same way as the rest of us. If I chose to do so, my symbiote would allow me to burn a man alive on the spot. However, an ability like that would stand out. People would wonder how or why the fire was started, or how he was so thoroughly immolated where he stood.

[She doesn't follow up with any question to see that Asuka understands. She also doesn't curb the cruelty in her words; she recalls Asuka's ruthlessness back on the Station at the start of the mission. That says enough.]

Huh. OK. I think I get what you're talking about now...

[ She leans back in her seat, arms clasped behind her head, brow furrowed as her eye searches the ceiling for answers that probably (definitely) aren't there. ]

If you kill someone, do it so it could be local. In a way that doesn't draw attention - well as little attention as a murder can, anyway. Do it in a familiar kinda way. Right?

Yes. Though you could argue against my original point with that. They use whatever this ability is to leave the scene of a crime. It means they can't be tracked by the many talented hunters here. To the people of this world, those circles and the feeling that exists concurrently are nothing. To us, they're everything. Perhaps they don't know that we're here. Unless they hope to draw us out.

[Lexa is never fully stuck on an idea unless it seems futile. Case in point: she can easily talk herself out of it.]

It's possible they know we're here but not how or who we're pretending to be, yeah...

[ Asuka groans. ]

Why can't this be more straightforward? Why does it have to be so complicated?

Because we're partaking in two wars right now: our own, as well as the war of this galaxy. We only care about one, but we have to consider the others while remaining ignorant to the larger scale of things no matter what we attempt.

[It may have been a rhetorical question, but Lexa answers it anyway. It feels like an answer that needs to be out there.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah....

[ Asuka sighs again. ]

I don't like being kept in the dark. Feels too much like they want to use me up and throw me out.

Do you want me to tell you that we're more than a resource? [It's a question framed a particular way for a reason.] I wouldn't say that Cathaway and Prince are that callous, but the overall mission of the Nest can only lead to that conclusion.

We should be.

[ Asuka dodges the question. She doesn't want to think about that or contemplate the fact that she's being used as disposable again. She's only just clawed her way free of it, she's not going back. ]

I've had enough of being disposable.

Many of us can say the same. [To associate herself with that sentiment may seem strange to anyone who's seen her in passing. It's an odd thing for her to own now, to know that she could be nothing more in passing than a symbol meant to be composed and constructed a certain way for her people.

To be everything that Titus demanded that she be.]

We can only act as if we're not. To prevent ourselves from slipping away and see a future where we're free from these binds.

So we're just acting like we're not disposable?

[ Asuka sounds a bit bitter. But she knows the truth - they are disposable, no matter how hard she pushes back against the idea. She shifts her weight in her seat, feeling awkward and uncomfortable, forced up against an idea she doesn't truly want to deal with. ]

I guess I have to live with that.

How else do you propose we grapple with this situation? We all took the hand offered to us, removing ourselves from that life. None of us knew this was more than temporary, that we were handing ourselves over. We can only live now for what comes after. Whatever that may be.

[Whenever that may be. Lexa knows all too well that it might take decades.]

I don't know.

[ She hates admitting that, but it is what it is. She grumbles, shifting her weight as if finding a more comfortable position to sprawl in will somehow help her puzzle out the philosophical implications of what it is they're doing here. Their existence in this system. ]

I took it because it was better than... the alternative. So I'll deal with it. That doesn't mean I have to like it, right?

And I took it because I had the obligation to protect my people. Now it seems as if I've abandoned that very obligation. [Though she knows she would have had she remained.]

I'm not saying to like it. I'm saying to accept your part in the choice and act upon it. We are not meant to serve forever, even if the senior Hosts may indicate that's the case. We are a larger group for a reason.

Maybe I wouldn't mind that. Better than going back, like some of us want to.

[ She throws it out there. Casual. She's never really hidden it, but thinking about 'going back' has never been high on her priority list. There's nothing there. Like she says and keeps saying. ]

Whatever. We need to push through this, right? Finish this whole stupid thing up.

People are foolish to believe we'll ever return to our worlds. Time passes. I've been gone for almost half a year now. [It's how Carata expressed it to her back in the day.]

And time will pass as we fight. As it does. That's the nature of war.

That's the nature of everything.

[ Asuka replies, with just a hint of a sour expression on her face. ]

Time moves. We get older. That's how it works.

But there is no reason to believe we will die fighting this war. There will be a point after all of this.

[And that is where their identities will change: from disposable to something else.]

We don't plan on dying. Doesn't mean we won't.

[ Cynical. But she tempers it by continuing. ]

What do you want to do... after, anyway?

We've avoided death once. [By being here at all. There's a graver, darker certainty to Lexa's words, but she offers nothing by way of clarification.]

After this, I hope my people and I will go somewhere. Perhaps a world with trees, where we can be with one another and no longer fight any wars and owe anything but to each other.

[It's a candid, serious answer. But Lexa thinks there's something in the honesty of it: the fact that she's willing to fight for it.]

Trees would be nice.

[ That's only a little sarcastic. She misses a planet with blue skies and green trees. This place is... not the same. ]

But... yeah. Somewhere where people aren't going to bother us might be nice. Somewhere where there isn't going to be... where I don't have to fight all the time.

[ There's more to it than that. But Asuka feels like she owes a bit to Lexa for that answer. ]

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[mission: hyrypia] big, but not coarse - merely on another scale

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