Reverie

If everyone from one universe disappears almost at the same time but one person, what does it mean?

[ prax has been feeling a lot steadier as of late, but this is throwing him. how can he be the only one left? where did the others go and is it a good thing they're gone or a bad thing? ]

I have a few questions:

What the hell is going on?

Is this a prison ship?

Who is bringing us here?

And what's the planet because it sure as hell ain't Earth?

...hey.

[ when the station intercoms come on, it's unquestionably venus's soft tenor/alto that makes its way through. but something sounds... different. off. she sounds nervous, and terrified, and excited all at once. ]

It's Venus. Aphrodite on the network. But, uh... you probably knew that already, right? Haha. [ she bites her lip, pauses - buying time. ] I don't... really know if making this announcement is a good idea. Actually, it seems pretty awful? It's a terrible idea. Like... wow. But I've got to say it. It's the right thing to do.

( cut for length )

[ despite the announcement coming through the speakers, a post from her username goes up shortly after. it contains two simple lines of text: ]

good luck everyone
i'm rooting for you! :)

No welcome party?

[Hello, network. It's Tyl, looming too close to his communicator again. He's been very nearly quiet since his arrival on Reverie, and now he's built up a head of steam for a ramble. Hope you're sitting comfortably, it might be a while.]

So. I've been slowly extracting information from this station's little brain. Asking about Delta Optima, resurrection, all sorts of things.

It doesn't know much. Says it doesn't, anyway. But what it did say was tantalizing: The station wasn't supposed to be able to fix dead people. Or drag them in from other dimensions either, it learned how to do all that after it murdered its crew.

Or maybe something else has lodged in its rusting conduits, running the show now. Dear little CIRSTA wouldn't say. I think she's holding out on me, though. Anyone feel like trying to charm her? Or just tear her open. I don't know enough about human computers to do it myself.

Oh, and--[He's forgotten what else he was going to pester the network about. Hmm.]--Ah! Right. Back on the subject of getting murdered. I was told this place tries to kill everyone constantly. No time to do anything, too busy fighting for your life. Sounded dire.

I've been here for more than twenty intervals and nothing's tried to kill me. Honestly, I'm disappointed. The worst I've had to suffer is a hangover. I've lowered my standards to account for this bucket's limitations, but I'm not that easy.

And on that final note, there is one thing. One very annoying thing. This gravity business. All of you have these. [He holds up one of the station-issued magnetic boots.] These things. Station left me a pair too. Wouldn't look dire on me. But.

[The boot drops with a clunk, and there's an odd series of whirs and mechanical clicking.]

I wasn't planning on being stolen away to a human station, light years, universes away from my collection.

[Regor holds something up. At first it might be hard to identify. It's the same gunmetal that accents his tight-fitting suit. It tapers into a long, curving metal strut, which he draws attention to.] These feet weren't made for one-third-G. Not made for spin gravity. They were designed for real gravity and good taste. [Yes, Regor has removed half of one of his legs, just to complain about it.]

I've got designs for walking feet. Ones that fit human boots. But got no parts to make them. Someone needs to fix that, because I am sick of scraping my head on the ceiling every time I want to go anywhere.

If you have the parts and the brains for cybernetics work, talk to me. Soon.

How does this thing...oh I see.

[There's a certain amount of fumbling before the camera steadies on the face of an anxious looking and deliberately very beautiful woman.]

Um hi I guess? My name's Sarah, or um Ms Hyland but that's way too formal. [She smiles nervously, her arm (and the picture) shaking slightly before she steadies it.]

I've just arrived here and I don't know who's who or what's what and I really hope I'm not talking to myself here, but can someone please tell me what's going on?

Testing, testing.

[ murphy knows the radio is working, he's just being obnoxious. there's a strain to the man's (boy's?) voice, like pain he's gritting through, because he is. he's sporting fresh bullet wounds in his shoulder and his leg, the latter making movement very difficult, but sitting and waiting for someone to happen on him wasn't helping anything. Despite the strain there, his voice comes in flippant and flat, sarcastic. ]

This is Captain Murphy, paging Spacekru. Come in, Spacekru. [ he pauses, chewing at a lip nervously, though his voice remains a dry drawl. ] Or Wonkru. Hell, I'd even take... Prisonerkru? Whatever you people're calling yourself. Anyone at all?

[ a weighty pause falls, Murphy hoping any voice he knows chimes in. lets him know he isn't out here, on the ass end of space, completely alone. he's done it before, you know. the alone thing. it's fine, it's just not... great. (it's not fine at all). after a defeated sigh, he speaks up again. ]

If those aren't an option, someone with any idea what the hell's going on works too. And — shit — [ a hiss of pain sounds, followed by some clattering - a wounded leg may have slipped and given out for a second. this isn't a fun time. ] And a medbay, or someone with a good sized first-aid kit. Before I contract whatever number of wonderful space infections in this nasty, rusted out can.

Thanks.

We should start keeping track of the missing.

[That's two more good friends, in the span of a couple of days, and the loss isn't easy to push through. But it's not time to get sad, or scared. It's time to get angry, get moving, get ahead.

Someone had once suggested they were going home, all of the vanished people. But no matter how hard she hopes, Clara just can't make herself believe it. Things don't work that way. Why would their captors just toss them back, like lucky fish? It doesn't make sense.]

I've got a few working theories, but none of them are very nice, so I'm open to suggestions.

A lot's been happening.

[ honestly? he's just glad that he hasn't actually faded into nothingness like he'd been scared he would. ] And I haven't made as much progress on the plants and seeds as I'd like.

But the good news is, the seeds we found are viable and they're growing. They're all catalogued, too, and if something goes wrong with the replicators, we won't starve.

[ probably. he's pretty sure on this one. ] I still want to improve the nutritional value of the various species as much as I can, but for now, I think we should spread out the plants. The station seems build for it and honestly? It's a good idea. Means that if something goes wrong on one end, we might not lose everything.

[ although this station, much like any other, is a simple complex system. cascades of failure can happen. ]

So if you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, come talk to me?

Reverie Terminal. As far as daydreams go, I suppose I’ve had far worse.

This is Raphael of the Virtues, if that means anything here. [He’s not expecting it to—and that in itself is an odd feeling, defined as he’s always been by his class and rank.] If you need me to verify--

[And there’s a glimpse of a blond man from the neck up, mouth set in a thin line-- after a pause, he briefly produces a corresponding ID card--]

I believe that will suffice.

I’ll spare you my asking how to return home, because frankly, I doubt if I’m the only one who had better things to do than waste my time here. But if anyone here is aware of a woman named Sara Mudo, or Gabriel, please let me know immediately.

One other question. Does anyone know who or what sent the message? The wording sounds like a child. Not much of a closing statement.

[ Alex looks a little ashen faced and grim, but otherwise no worse for wear. Beside him is Vanessa who looks a little uneasy with the situation. Her hair is loose, arms wrapped around herself and whilst she agreed that they need to do this, and she trusts Alex, it's a little clear that she doesn't want to do it.

Alex clears his throat. ]

Alrigh’, well - I know this ain’t as big news as it would have been a couple weeks ago, but. Vanessa and I - and Bobbie and Kylo - we uh, we had a little chat. With someone who had been on the station before.

Who died on the station before.

And before ya’ll start arguin’ - just listen to what we heard, for a second.

First thing - all this? The crazy shit that we keep gettin’ in to, and why we’re so far from Earth? It’s all because of the Drive. Now we talked to the Medic so I ain’t exactly got a whole lot of technical details, but - they built it because of whatever was going down on Earth at the time, but instead of what it was supposed to do, it moved them.

Moved them, and then started killin’ them.

But the drive is somewhere on the station - or at least it was. So I think we gotta put in a real effort now to find it.

I don't understand this as Alex does. ( her words are quiet as she finally speaks. even if you've not had the conversation with her that she's from 1892 there's a look to her, particularly in her dress, that would heavily suggest that she's not from a “modern” century ) But I trust the information that we received.

( she only knows what the others told her, effectively unconscious during the affair, but there's a feeling that vanessa has. the spirit hadnt meant them harm, nor did it feel like a deception )

It may be that this Drive is behind one of the doors we have yet to open, I don't know, but perhaps someone will discover that.

( her only hope was that there wouldn't be too many questions about how they'd come to learn this information though vanessa doubted that that would be the case )

( there'll be responses from both. vanessa is in purple text )

The scent of sunlight has faded, and I can only suspect what must be true. Like others, I have not been able to find Apollo. I thought it best to mention for the friends that he had made here.

And so brings my concern to light: do we have any theories on what happens to those we lose? I would like to think that they return home, but I find it unrealistic to hope for as much.

So, then what? I would hear your thoughts.

... What the Hell?

[Keith’s image comes on screen before it disappears once he realizes the device on his arm also has a video feed. Instead, he makes sure the thing transmits only his voice which sounds anything but happy right now.]

What--... What is this? What happened? [This time.] Is anyone getting this?...

[Two seconds.]

Guys...?

[A second and a half.]

C’mon! Lance? Pidge?...

[A second.]

Hunk? Princess?

[Half a second.]

Come in!

[A bone-white faceplate and unequal yellow lenses, framed by blue and gunmetal. Might be human, two eyes, at least two arms, none of it sitting still. A deep, resonant voice filters through the mask from an unseen source, slow and deliberate, rising and falling in an almost sing-song tone.]

So. A little tin can, out in space. Collecting all the flotsam it can find.

[The words gradually come faster, more staccato as he goes.]

Dirty. Grimy. Primitive. Using spin gravity! Not even the oldest, most decrepit ship in the fleet would spin like this. Would barely be worth notice. Not important.

Except.

[The mask looms too close over the communicator, filling the view with white and glowing yellow.]

I am now here. And someone will tell me why.

[There's no video because Jun had been going to the shower, but he's a little panicked as he gets on the network, and maybe not thinking really straight.]

Wh-why?!

Isn't it enough to have to be here? To lose everyone and everything, and now to be mocked from beyond reality by others using our names and likenesses without anyone being able to know who we are, what we've done, what they're invoking?

[He's probably not making sense, sorry. It's hard to make sense when you're just word vomiting.]

Tatsuya, Joker, Personas! All of these things stolen and put into a world where we have no place! And where are the others? Folded up into the fabric of reality and referred to as some sort of sick joke?

Who put this... who put this here for me to find?!

[He finally turns on the camera, and it's pointed at the floor of the showers, where there is an outfit on the floor, the shirt and pants folded neatly with the mask and gloves on top, shoes in front of it, as if it had been waiting here for Jun to put on after his shower.]

[There's a woman with dark hair and almond eyes waving at the camera in greeting. Somehow even in that awful uniform she manages to look elegant and composed... and maybe just a little mischievous.]

I have a surprise for you. Pay attention even if it seems like old news. The details are still important.

[That's all the warning people are going to get before Elektra plays this footage for everyone. Only once it's done the camera focuses back on her face.] Don't say I never contributed anything to the cause. You'd be surprised how long it takes to find something even remotely interesting around here.

[She waves one last time.] Enjoy your puzzle piece. [The feed ends here.]

So. I found something very important. [Lapis says, with a tone of which that suggests that it's not really at all important, especially when its punctuated with an ugly snort of laughter. Whatever it is, Lapis seems to have gotten a huge kick out of it, considering she's waving around the magazine article she is. She quickly clears her throat and begins reading:]

"Lapis Lazuli is a gemstone known to reduce stress and bring peace. It brings harmony and deep inner self knowledge and encourages self awareness. It provides qualities of honesty, compassion and morality to the person and stimulates objectivity, clarity, and creativity. It is also known for assisting in inspiring confidence and helping one express their feelings and emotions.

Lapis Lazuli boosts the immune system, purifies blood, lowers blood pressure, cooling and soothing areas of inflammation. It alleviates insomnia and vertigo, and overcomes depression. Lapis Lazuli benefits the respiratory and nervous systems and the throat, vocal chords, and thyroid, cleanses organs, bone marrow and thymus."

[She pauses, and waves the article again, clearly amused as hell. For anyone who knows Lapis, these all sound like bold faced lies.]

You know, I'm kind of flattered people believe this about me. I have no idea what half of these things I supposedly fix are, but you know. I'm your Gem for this stuff, apparently.

[ooc: cross-posted from here; doesn't matter which you tag]

[discussed and cross-posted on the network:]

I've started a master document of everything we know. If you send me what you've discovered, I can work to compile it in chronological order. If you wish to do so anonymously, I'll protect your identity.

hi, i'm ava

[ she's gone through the various stages of grief in the days since her arrival. grief at losing her chance of learning how to live a normal life. grief at losing the first person who'd really understood her pain. grief at losing a cure that had been within her grasp.

grief at being on a damn space station, of all things. (maybe they should be renamed the various stages of anger.)

she's settled on something akin to resignation, for now. she's here. she still wants to try. ]

what are things you consider normal? how many of them can you still do here

[There's a shifting sound, like someone stretching their muscles for the first time in awhile.]

Mmnh. Can anyone tell me what day it is, approximately? Just woke up in one of those new pods in the med bay. Must've wandered in delirious when that bug was going around.

["That bug" which he still thinks was just a flu, ah 2 be ignorant.]

Could use a run-down of anything important I missed.