Intro Log: The Forgotten City

GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS

This time for real!

WAKEY WAKEY.

As the storm finally peters out and characters can once again move above ground it becomes abundantly clear that the landscape has changed. Where vast expanses of sand dunes once laid is now the half-buried remnants of what looks like some sort of...city? Full of structures. It stretches so far it's really hard to tell. But there is one thing characters will notice:

There are more stasis pods.

Revealed by the sandstorm, a whole new flurry of pods can be found scattered on the way to the city (curiously though, not in it. Hurry and wake those guys up!

SPREAD THE LOVE. OR ACID.

With the departure of the storm there's even more new arrivals to be found besides those fellow travelers of yours! The "Seedlings" and "Cactus" are now both available, the former blown in by the storm and the former uncovered.

The Seedlings are generally pretty harmless. They like to burrow into the sand so only their "Leaves" plant-like leaves remain above ground, and they're quite happy to stay that way until surprised. Then they pop up and trip over themselves a little, before slowing down and wandering aimlessly. When they find a patch of sand that looks comfy they begin burrowing back down.

Pull or yank on their leaves though and you'll find yourself with a face full of pollen that makes you want to just tell everyone how super-cool they are. It lasts a while, and then you get a fever and vomit for two hours. Good times.

The Cacti are much less harmless and just...why would you eat them? Everything about this plant is poisonous, and cracking it open causes a corrosive acid-like substance to spill out. It'll eat through everything but...dirt, oddly. Metals and flesh are like hot oil on plastic.

DON'T GET LOST

And last but not least: The Forgotten City. Maybe you want to check out the Hull first for some loot, but maybe that's not such a cool idea anymore? Although it looks like the ship's definitely more powered after draining the suits of whoever went in, now it's started to spread and fill the sinkhole the ship's in. Suits can go from 100% to 0% in just ten minutes--not good!

Lucky for everyone else, it looks like finally there's some sort of civilization up ahead. Go on and check it out!

OR DO. THAT'S OKAY TOO.

Go nuts, have fun, and enjoy! (This is the wildcard option)

OOC

The Flora, Fauna & Resources page has been updated with information on the seedlings, cacti, and crystals! These items are now all available for Discovery, and The Forgotten City will be available indefinitely from now on! Characters can take this time to settle & build up a foundation for themselves, explore the area, and of course, harass those poor little seedlings.

We encourage players to make their own open posts for this setting--you don't need to stick to just this intro log! But make sure to make our newbies feel welcome!

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[Hard to miss the man's arrival, though Cloud hadn't thought much of it first aside from wondering where, exactly, all those weapons came from. But he's seen him hand out a few guns since, and... well. A weapon would be good. Even if Zack prefers a sword (he'd rather have one too, admittedly), they can trade off between them, he figures, if the man's willing to part with one more gun.

Having been trying to figure out a good way to actually ask about that, the question takes him by surprise, and at first Cloud just blinks. Then he shrugs. He's drooping and he knows it, just not really... made for this sort of heat, but it doesn't matter.]

... I guess. I'm... better with cold. [It's offered up a little awkwardly, and Cloud shrugs again, glancing to the pile of guns.] Are any of those working?

[They seem to be in worse condition than he thought at first, and while they're all recognizably guns, they're also very clearly... alien.]

... to zero? [Looking down now, after reflexively looking around (he's the closest one after coming around the corner to see her at all, aside from Zack) Cloud blinks at the indicators visible; 20% functionality, 98% power. He hadn't noticed those before...]

Oh. Um... don't know.

[That's actually kind of worrying, in addition to everything else, especially the first set of numbers. What happens if those drop lower... or the second set of numbers drop low enough?]

[ Exploring takes a lot of her mind off things. Kara focuses her senses, never for too long, but enough to identify how high some of the places in the city might be and how sturdy they are, if she wanted to jump up to them. It all gravitates towards the tree, and striding towards it she finds someone already there. ]

Hi.

[ She flashes him a quick smile, then determinedly circles, looking up and down at the tree, focused on it with her infrared and microscopic vision to see what she can pick out. ]

What do you think this is?

Sorry?

[ The murals are beautiful, and Kara can't help but feel the echo of people about the place. It's old, and there's a lot missing. She's skirting around this woman examining the murals politely, waiting for her turn, and raises her eyebrows at the statement. ]

[ ...You know, at first he was kind of morbidly fascinated-slash-terrified when he saw this guy trashing up that pod. But now?

Slightly less. Smiling was the last thing he expected this guy to do. ]

Some...gahh-lock? [ What on Earth is that word. Inui thought these suits translated everything ]

Hah, if you're interested in those you should have seen where we first woke up. They were all over our pods and the giant skeleton we found a ways back. [ It's not actually that far away, come to think of it. It seems like it all happened a while back but it's only been...a really long week and a bit now. Huh.

It's probably only take an hour or two to walk back to the boneyard, maybe a day to the valley. ]

[ Sure, for words that have a translation. But gaatlok is almost more a brand name than something with a real definition. ]

Qunari explosive.

[ Much like that one. Koo-nah-ree. ]

I mean, might not be actual gaatlok. Doesn't usually fall into foreign hands. But I could make do with anything that's got a blast radius.

[ He's turned to eye the pod again, like maybe he's considering some more dismantling. Bull, no. ]

[ The smallest of smiles twitches Bull's lips. The awkward thing is cute. If he wasn't really, really taken he'd probably push a little harder. Get more... direct. Instead he lets the topic shift naturally; ]

Yeah? How's that work?

i. that song is stuck in my head anyway [ bruce ]

It must be said that Dorian has woken up less hospitable places, only some of them after ill-considered liquor related decisions. Which he is forced to consider, after the whole nightmare of asphyxiation ends, is probably not what's happening here, even if that would be nice and simple and--now that he thinks about it account for absolutely nothing that's happening.

On the other hand, he hasn't actually been warm in three years, so despite struggling to breathe and mysterious messages about mysterious atlases and whatever hideous tragedy he's wearing, things don't seem all bad. If a bit italics-ridden.

"I do hope," he informs his pod opener, who at the time of this writing may or may not be Bruce Wayne, "you're not a kidnapper. I seem to have left my 'unhand me at once' speech in my other baffling surroundings."

This delivered in what sounds like the kind of English accent suggesting a 'my good man!!' could break out any second. His eyes are still mostly closed, and he's pretty obviously disoriented and unhappy despite the ridiculous blase introduction. That's just Dorian's equivalent of a reflex hammer.

ii. nothing good ever comes from poking the wildlife

So aside from all the factors that make today insane, Dorian is doing pretty well! Hasn't tried to escape from his suit and be murdered by the elements, is reasonably sure he isn't dead, hasn't encountered a single demon ...everything is fine. Until he gets startled by a Seedling and, rattled, chucks a handful of fire at it.

As one does. Since he misses (...or does he), he doesn't immediately turn to the nearest person and dissolve into a whirlwind of delight of delight at their presence, but power reading on his suit does change, and while he is not a hundred percent positive what exactly that means, he does know numbers dropping (or rising, or staying still for that matter) when a person has no idea what said numbers indicate, um. Generally that bodes poorly.

"Well." To, you know, whomever. Maybe himself! He does love the sound of his own voice. "That can't be good."

Perhaps you would like to explain to him what just happened, O open prompt encounterer? Perhaps you are like 'ho hom magic I've seen it so many times', as we often find ourselves in these situations? Perhaps Dorian almost just set you aflame and you would like to express your feelings about this? So many choices. Choices that still make relative sense post edits!

iii. fossilized timey whimey

Dorian's last experience with time getting all improperly altered was a number of years ago, and really given the stupid, stupid life he leads, a great number of other even more ridiculous things have happened since, and yet--somehow the memory has remained fresh. What with that whole 'ripping the universe apart at the seams' factor and everything, probably.

When he first realizes the weird change in perception, the way things move differently in the periphery of the tree, he stops and backs up, frowning intently - and spectacularly handsomely, of course - then begins to prowl around it, becoming, if possible, even more frowny and intent. It's not possible to get any more handsome, this is just Dorian's lot in life.

Anyway, this shit is weird and you should come help him examine it! What good will that do? Who knows, but it's weird, so Dorian wants to touch it.

iv. exploration b; alternately the Extremely General option

Sooner rather than later, he begins to make his blissfully warm way toward the buildings. Buildings are always preferable to nature, even when that nature isn't horrible, as this particular variety seems to be. Perhaps you should join him! That is a sane idea, yes? Let's collude! It'll be amazing.

Edited 2016-11-10 17:07 (UTC)

[Eying the other, Cloud frowns. Then shrugs, not exactly dismissing the claw marks on the buildings for the moment (none of them are fresh, after all...), but putting it aside, a little.]

Not interested. But, knowing if there's more than one and where they are... will keep us alive, even if those are old.

[Another gesture up to the weathered claw marks. Just because these are old doesn't mean there might not be more of them, and that's... Probably not very good, even if all whatever critter is it amounts to is 'huge, and huge claws and teeth'.]

Ha. Nooo.

[ He makes an aborted motion like he was going to reach up and touch but thought better of it, then shakes his head. ]

Lost it in a bar fight. The fingers,

[ He holds up his left hand, where the last two fingers stop abruptly above the first knuckle. ]

Were before even that, in a shitshow of a sortie. You wanna go through all my scars? We might be here a while.

Right up until he started to fall, he was free to react however he wanted. If that was jumping and looking around frantically, she couldn't blame him.

"It's a long story. The short version is that a large number of us woke up in pods on this planet. We don't know where it is, how we got here, or why we're here beyond that mysterious message."

She was perfectly calm and matter-of-fact about it all.

"Because the original set of pods we all emerged from exploded," Elma said, very calmly and matter-of-fact. "We don't know why, but my personal guess is that they were designed to do so intentionally once we had the chance to exit them, collect what we could, and get away."

Children were not so strange sights. Elma was honestly surprised they hadn't seen more out here, though her own opinion had been just a little biased by her time working with Lin.

A respectful pace away, close enough that if the girl stumbled or fell on getting out of the pod, Elma could catch her, she said, "That's not a name I'm familiar with. And I'm afraid you're not going to find very much at all that's familiar here."

The matter-of-fact delivery helped. A little. Not that that said much, because Cloud shook his head sharply, latching on onto 'this planet'.

"But--- there shouldn't... be two moons. We can't even go to the one moon we have, yet!" Looking back at Elma, Cloud knew, of course, what this meant; somehow, despite what was 'possible', he had ended up on another planet. But that was just... aside from being impossible, yet, that reality was more than a little unsettling, and Cloud had had a pretty unsettling week already.

Nothing awful, but Sephiroth's breakdown and then subsequently locking himself in the secret basement of the mansion had settled tension in the back of his neck, one which hadn't gone away no matter what he and Zack had tried to do to pass the time.

... Zack. Was he here, or was he... alone?

Lance! Hunk!

[ Pidge's confusion doesn't give way completely, but there's a huge surge of relief in her chest. She's not alone here. She's going to be okay. her friends are right here and she's with them again, no matter what happens. Pidge begins to laugh as she's swept up first in Hunk's arms and then into Allura's. She lets out a whoop of sheer excitement. ]

Princess! I thought--I wasn't sure I'd see you guys again!

[ She shoots a grin over to Lance, overjoyed--then her face falls at the expression on his face. She breaks free of the others and practically hurtles herself at Lance, burying her face against his chest as she hugs him with a ferocity normally reserved for slugging Galra. ]

"Exploded?" Okay, that sounds... not so good to Pidge. She takes what little she's managed to gather into her arms and moves to follow Elma away from the pods, glancing back nervously as if they might go off right at this moment.

"So, uh... What's your name? How long have you been stuck here?" She's inquisitive, trying to find out what she can, even if Lance and Allura have given her a bit of a rundown on their situation already.

[ At this point Jim doesn't even care if the people here look unfriendly. He's stranded on some unknown planet so it's not like he can afford to be picky, and besides he doesn't really expect anyone else here to be in a particularly good mood.

The fact that the woman offers a smile is already more than he could expect, and the easy remark draws a grin and a soft chuckle from him. ]

Must be my lucky day.

[ Except. Pod. Sand. Lost. So no. ]

You just woke up too?

[ He can't even say he moves in on the doctor because he recognizes him; Jim gets a little too close for comfort well before that, and it actually takes him a couple of seconds to match the features to the ones he knows so well. Especially with the wide open smile, that throws him for a loop.

Oddly enough, though, Jim doesn't question it. He just grins even wider and lets out a happy chuckle. ]

Well, you've got a few more gray hairs since the last I saw you, so. [ This shouldn't be amusing, but he doesn't stop smiling. He also leans in and randomly hugs Bones, letting out a soft little sigh. ] You're still great, though. So great.

[ Strange man? I think you mean your new best friend, Clark. ]

Oh. Hi. No, I just... [ He moves in a little closer, trying to settle his hands on the guy's arms. (Also, very impressive arms there, buddy.) ] You have any idea how awesome you are?

Miss? [Not a form of address she's familiar with. The name the doctor gives doesn't give her any clues as to where they're from, either. But a doctor being present makes sense, at least, even if nothing else does. She doesn't shake him off entirely, as a small concession to the possibility she might need medical attention, but she doesn't let herself be steered, either. She'll try to stay on her feet until she literally can't.]

Breq. My name is Breq.[It was the name she was willing to give right now, anyway.]

Beyond you, why?

[ Lance just stays right where he is, a weight draped over Inui's shoulder, visibly happy to be there. ]

Well I should. Tell you about it, I mean. More often. Because you're just great. A pretty coooooooool friend! And I know all about cool.

[Oh my. How old is this person? Surely not far into adulthood, if that. If they've been collected here on purpose, she likes whoever has done the collecting even less now.]

Have you seen someone die in these suits, from lack of power?

[She doesn't doubt them, exactly, but she doesn't really want to rely on rumor.]

[ Lance is, all things considered, pretty harmless on a good day, but the pollen seems to have drawn out his affectionate nature and amplified it. He lets Cloud go, but not for long, leaning right back into the other teen's space, grinning. ]

Why would I need to? As soon as I saw you it was like, KA-POW! [ He mimes getting his mind blown. ] I mean, have you seen you? You have like, the most awesome hair! How do you get your hair like that?!

[ He sure is trying to touch Cloud's hair... ]

[ After finding two more of the paladins, Allura's determined to hunt through as many of the pods as possible in the slim chance of finding the other two. It's not likely, but she still hopes. So many of the pods are empty, the displays cracked and dusty; a few are already open, a positive sign at least.

And then there's this one, complete with spitting out another person. At least she was expecting that. ]

I'm Allura, Princess of Altea. [ The title probably isn't necessary, but it's ingrained habit at this point. She studies the stranger, noting the ears and the eyebrows. ] Who are you? You aren't Altean, but you don't look entirely human.

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Intro Log: The Forgotten City

GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS

guns for everyone!

2

the tree.

03.

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dorian pavus | ota except the evanescence joke clark beat me to

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wake up grab a brush and put a little -- never mind

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poor doctor

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a. wake up in the morning feeling like not p. diddy