Supergreen.

[polymods]

✖ EVENT HORIZON

Ⅰ. PARADISE
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The heart of the station is beating.

MUTHER is online, and she has filled the station with the sound of music. Over that she occasionally warns in an emotionless voice, “Liberate tutemet ex inferis.”

Thick concentric thick metal rings rotate in different directions around a sphere in a steady, pulsing rhythm before they all line up. The dimensional gate opens.

The entire space station is momentarily subsumed in bright white light. You will be blinded for a second, and taken over briefly by a sense of joy so profound that it aches. The more emotionally or psychically sensitive Travelers may find it difficult to regain their equilibrium for a while and may be prone to laughing or crying fits.

After the dimensional shift, things are different. The most noticeable of which is that the space station is no longer abandoned. Crew members move about, but they aren't the only ones; the station is alive with what are pretty clearly tourists. Some are humanoid, some are not - maybe you even recognise some of the species. None of them are chasing you down and trying to eat your face, though - the most aggressive they get is ‘crabby from waiting in line at Disney World’ levels.

Doors that were once locked are now open. There are restaurants, spas, night clubs, swimming pools… anything and everything you could possibly want in a vacation destination. The sleeping pods are still accessible, but you’ll probably prefer one of the many fine hotel rooms now available to you.

Yes, the mystery space station is in fact an intergalactic resort. Who knew?

Where the dimensional gate once was, now is instead the High Temple. Travelers can access anything they have stored there, as well as have access to food that isn’t in paste form.

Notes:
1. The High Temple is available to everyone this month.

2. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

3. MUTHER will no longer communicate with any travelers.

4. Have fun!

---

Ⅱ. INFLUENCER
Now that the station is bustling with people, you’ll be quick to notice that some of them receive more attention than others. Crowds surround certain individuals who just exude an aura of ‘I am better than everyone else here.’ The staff bend over backwards to fulfill their every whim, and they are definitely getting the best of the best when it comes to food and drink and accommodations.

Yeah. They’re celebrities.

You’ll probably do your best to avoid the throngs of adoring fans, unless you happen to spot some intergalactic superstar you actually recognise. Why get caught up in all that nonsense, right? You can just avoid it.

At least, you can until a skinny, fabulously dressed person with the most fantastic hair you’ve ever seen slides out of nowhere right in front of you. They have a headset on, and hold a staff that doubles as a microphone. Around them float half a dozen spherical drones that can only be cameras. You don’t recognise them, but they seem to recognise YOU, considering that they all but shriek your name.

“And here we have the most beloved person currently living and breathing the air of this fiiiiiiiiiiiine establishment! After yours truly, of course! That’s right, loyal viewers, this is Vanity Apollonia streaming LIVE from seven to nine with all the deets you could POSS-ib-ly desire about the multiverse’s darling of the moment! Their dreams, their desires, their most INtimate of intimates! Right on! Say something to those fifty billion pairs of ears out there!”

They shove the microphone in your face, giving you an expectant look. You should probably say something.

Vanity reacts as if you’ve just given the world’s most brilliant and inspiring speech no matter what you say, following it up with, “More of that to come! Now a quick word from today’s sponsor, NordMan! The only intergalactic security I personally trust!”

The cameras suddenly close up, and Vanity sighs and adjusts their hair.

“Look, you wanna keep that follower count up, babe? You gotta play to the viewers a little more! Give them what they want. A little cleverness, a little vulnerability. Do it and I promise you’ll get the V.I.P. treatment! Don’t, and you’ll just go back to being a regular guest. It’s all the same to me, sweetheart.”

Looks like you have a choice to make.

Notes:
1. To achieve celebrity status, you must spend two hours a day live streaming with Vanity Apollonia.

2. Whoever happens to be with you is considered your entourage, unless you decide to pull some stunt to make them as (in)famous as you.

3. Your follower count will go up if you appear ‘real’ to your audience. For some this means actually being genuine. For others this means faking it so well nobody can tell.

---

Ⅲ. HOLODECK
CW: potential violence, sexual situations.
Depending on what world you're from, virtual reality may be fairly commonplace, or it may be so far out of the realm of possibility that the idea seems magical. Here it’s the former, with entire rooms devoted to a VR experience that is completely immersive.

Step inside the holodeck and pick from any of the preset scenarios the computer has to offer! Would you like to swash a buckle on a pirate ship? Lead an Elven army? Have relations with a bunch of anthropomorphic animal people? Hey, we’re not judging, just warn for that shit. The computer is also happy to tailor an experience just for you if you tell it what you want! And it’s probably more fun with a friend so grab someone and have a great time!

No matter what scenario you choose, after some time you’ll notice that certain elements from your actual life are sneaking in. Even if you’re in the middle of fighting Godzilla, you’ll find that an important moment from your past has inserted itself into the narrative.

For once you don’t seem to have to do anything about it, but it sure can be embarrassing depending on what memory has decided to shoehorn its way into your leisure time. How you react to it may reveal a lot about your character.

Notes:
1. The memory can be good or bad and it is entirely up to the player’s discretion as to how it interrupts the VR experience. Maybe Godzilla suddenly becomes your mother.

---

Ⅳ.PARENTHOOD
CW: disturbing image in link, forcible togetherness.

Even in a nonstop party space station there are moments of quiet. You and someone else are walking down a hallway, maybe, or having a relatively quiet time poolside, or star-gazing at one of the viewing decks. Wherever you are, you come to realise that you are being watched.

A quick look around will reveal that a hideous child-sized humanoid is half hiding nearby, watching you with huge blue eyes. It looks very young and very frightened, and it seems to be drawn to you.

Maybe you try to speak to it. It doesn’t talk back, but it will approach you shyly.

Maybe you ignore it because it’s ugly. It doesn’t seem to care, and will approach you shyly anyway.

The little alien takes one of your hands, and one of your companion’s hands. It still doesn’t speak, but it radiates a mental image of loving parents surrounded by rainbows and hearts.

Congratulations! You’ve just adopted a MAC!

The MAC wants only to eat candy and have fun, which doesn’t sound that bad in theory. In practice the MAC is the most accident prone dumbass you have ever seen in your life. Lucky for it, it seems completely invulnerable to any sort of injury. That luck does not, however, extend to you, so when the MAC accidentally sets a fire or breaks a toilet or blows up a fuse box you could very well be the one taking damage.

The MAC refuses to leave you and your companion alone. It fully expects you to all stay together as a happy family unit. The little guy is freakishly strong, and may physically hold on to the two of you in order to keep you around. He sure loves to hold hands. It must bring him comfort. Or maybe he’s just exchanging long strings of complex proteins for sustenance with you. Either or.

The only way to get rid of the MAC is to find its real parents.

Notes:
1. Maybe you find the parents right away. Maybe it takes days. Weeks. The whole month. You poor bastard.

2. How you treat the MAC will affect the colour of your ScryWatch. So, yes, if you punt it into the sun you probably won’t be rewarded.

Houston, we have a banging playlist!

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

Sephiroth | OTA

[unkindled_madness]

I. SLEEP

[The past month has been both physically and emotionally exhausting. He's only caught snatches of sleep here and there, and all those waking hours have been full of unease. The oppressive environment of the station reminding him of where he came from, the newfound certainty of what he isn't, the lingering question of what he is.

He has never sought the luxury of a resort, but nearly any change is welcome now. There is nothing familiar about the plush room he finds for himself, and that's good. This is a room for normal people who are allowed the comfort of material desires. He takes enough time to pull his boots off and make it halfway through braiding his hair, and then he's out.

Sephiroth rarely sleeps this deeply, so if you have ever wanted to draw on his face or touch the forbidden hair... now is your chance.]


II. Celebrity.... entourage?

[The past year has granted Sephiroth a much-desired reprieve from celebrity. He stands out, of course, but he isn't famous among the Travellers. So maybe he's gotten a little out-of-practice at avoiding reporters and media personalities. This Vanity Apollonia person manages to get entirely too close before he recognizes what's happening.

But then that microphone gets shoved in the face of... the person next to him?

Congratulations. Vanity seems to have decided Sephiroth is just your bodyguard. How does it feel to be the VIP?]


III. Holodeck
a) Decisions
[Sephiroth is familiar enough with the concept of virtual reality to understand, essentially, what he's being offered here. Shinra's forays into the technology are comparatively clumsy and limited, but it's the degree of choice that really gives him pause. He's only tested a handful of combat sims. This is... a lot.

Do you already have something in mind? Want to drag Sephiroth along for some fantasy fun? He's already here so surely he'd be amenable.]

b) Wutai
[Given the time to browse, Sephiroth eventually discovers a few programs with names and locations he recognizes. So is he going to load up an interactive version of Loveless? Absolutely not.

No one's ever respected anyone's privacy for holodeck time, the door doesn't even lock while in use, so if you care to walk in on him, you'll find he hasn't loaded one of the narrative programs, but something more scenic. You stand in the foothills of the mountains near the southern end of Wutai. The simulation isn't perfect enough to capture the scent of an out-of-sight ocean on the wind, but it still feels nice. A flock of wild chocobos is grazing in the valley below. The scene is absent camps or other people of any kind. It's just... peaceful.]

((Hit me up at yinza if you want to plot anything. I'm game for him getting dragged around pretty much anywhere, let's have some fun!))

( iii. a )

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki doesn't care much for simulations. it's nothing his illusions cannot do, but he's curious as to the power and ability of this reason. it's dangerous, of course. his mother has warned him about how illusions can fool you, make you sink into that comfort instead of remembering reality. ]

Are you curious?

[unkindled_madness]

[Sephiroth looks up.]

It seems worthy of investigation. There are quite a few locations programmed in.

[Yes, he's curious.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki hums. ]

And you wish to visit one?

[unkindled_madness]

Is that surprising?

It's hardly travel, but... it is an opportunity to choose one's surroundings.

[dothelokimotion]

[ he smiles. ]

Not at all. Where would you like to go?

[unkindled_madness]

...I haven't decided.

I thought perhaps someplace I've only heard of. A number of people have mentioned "L.A." or "Japan"... or perhaps "Detroit."

II

[helpdesk_hero]

[Well fuck. There was David, just minding his own business and going to thank Sephiroth for all the stuff that had happened lately and the support his friend had offered him. In fact, he'd been approaching Sephiroth when he saw his friend about to be harried by someone with the press.

David hated celebrity obsessions. He'd lived under that spotlight for a long time in the last world. And back home there had been Mojoworld, which was an all streaming, all the time sort of thing that had been very awkward to be in the middle of while investigating a death.

There was every reason for David to stay out of the spotlight. Every reason but one.

That reason? Sephiroth was a very private man from what David knew, and he knew how to use that sword of his, even in enclosed spaces. What David did now, the bullet he intended to take for the metaphorical team, he did entirely to try and prevent violence.

But he wasn't expecting the interviewer to turn to him like it was always their plan and shove the microphone in his face. And David looked... panicked. And so he whispered, hopefully too low for the microphone to hear.]

Get me out of here and I'll owe you forever. Whatever you want. Please.

[Then with more volume and the perfect poise of someone used to dealing with the press, he smiled at the interviewer.]

Actually, if you must know Apollonia, I'm actually here on a romantic get away with my dearest and truest. I'd totally love to spill the deets, but at the moment I'm on my way to an appointment at a local jeweler. Got to get a little ice for my love. But it would be terrible if the surprise got ruined, right?

[unkindled_madness]

[Sephiroth is a private man, but he's never assaulted any reporters. ... Well, he's never stabbed any.

Scarlet is the worse assignment.

David's reaction throws him more than the fact that this is happening in the first place, and Sephiroth stares at him. Owe him forever? That's extreme. Reporters are an irritation, not a deadly threat. Thankfully, David's smooth response to Apollonia gives him time to recover.]

Why are you answering? [he asks David in a low voice. Then he fixes Apollonia with a cold look and announces simply:]

We're leaving.

[Since this isn't, apparently, about him, he shoves the microphone back and steps between it and David, nodding for David to get moving.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Yeah, maybe he should start. Stabbing cameras that is. But, while Apollonia is frustrated and flustered, David is relieved. The statement followed by immediate action is about the best thing ever, and David is happy to try and take the space opened up for him to duck out of the crowd. It's not easy, there are still people hovering around because Apollonia thinks he's big news, but he wins free.

And doesn't look back. Sephiroth's one of the people that David is certain can catch up with him.]

Come on, Sephiroth. You remember where the jewelry store is, right?

[Please, just help him get away.]

[unkindled_madness]

[Sephiroth rolls his eyes.]

Yes. The jewelry store.

[He's intimidating enough that no one tries to follow him too closely, but some of those camera drones flit after them. Sephiroth drops them with a weak Bolt spell, causing the people nearby to scatter in alarm. He gains some distance, easily catching up with David.]

I don't know why you're bothering with a pretense.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Bless Sephiroth for the Bolt spell. Like, seriously.]

From my experience, it's easier to get them to leave you be if you have the pretense than to try and tell them to fuck off. It... It's a bad experience.

[unkindled_madness]

[Getting a lot of blessings over here.]

...what are you expecting that they could do to you?

I. The Forbidden Hair

[naturaldisasster]

(( ooc: Let me know if this doesn’t work! ))

[ She didn’t expect to feel guilty, stumbling upon him, asleep. Taken out of the context of that medical bay, with all the visceral unease that inspires, he’s just… Some guy. Minding his own business, as far as she could tell. Thus far, nothing about him suggests he deserved the flack she gave him.

Though she expects him to eviscerate her for it (verbally, if not physically) she finishes his braid. Oni’s kept her hair short for almost all of her adult life, but some things you don’t forget. When he wakes, he’ll either find her finishing her self-appointed task or else sitting far enough away so as not to be in his personal space, her rough demeanor completely at odds with the lavish surroundings. ]

I see you took my advice. [ She briefly smirks, fully expecting him to tell her she had nothing to do with it, and, probably, it’d be the truth. ] … It’s not a rat’s nest.

[ This, then, is as close to an apology as he’s going to get from her. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[He would almost appreciate that. Being taken for Just Some Guy.

He begins to rouse while she's at work with his hair, but doesn't fully wake until she's retreated to a safe distance. His first reaction on realizing someone else is in the room is to jolt upright, patting down his shirt to make sure the papers he's been keeping there remain securely tucked away. Then he blinks at her.]

What?

[Her comment makes him look down, noticing the finished braid. He looks... mildly horrified. It's probably a good thing that he left his favorite sword against the wall, out of reach.]

[naturaldisasster]

I’m not a thief. [ Seeing him pat himself down, and correctly assuming he thinks she might have lifted something of value from him while he was sleeping, she clarifies. ] Not usually. Tell me you’re hiding a slice of pizza down there, and all bets’re off.

[ He sure is taking this well. On the other hand, it’s not like she asked his permission or anything. ] I said it’s not a rat’s nest. [ That’s not what he’s focusing on at all, and she knows it, but maybe if she de-emphasizes the other thing, he’ll look slightly less like he’s tempted to take a swing at her. ]

[unkindled_madness]

[Why the hell would he put pizza in his shirt???

He actually runs a hand over the end of the braid, as if to reassure himself that she hasn't tampered with it in any other way.]

My hair is never a rat's nest. What do you think gave you the right to touch it?

[naturaldisasster]

[ Well she assumes it wouldn’t fit in the pockets he may or may not have. Needs must!

It’s on the tip of her tongue to say “A bird’s nest, then,” but that would be back-pedaling on the non-apology she was trying to make. ] … No, I suppose not.

What gave me the right? Nothing. But I saw it as doin’ you a favor that you didn’t ask for. [ A shrug. ] Je vous en prie.

[unkindled_madness]

[If he was forced to eat pizza, he would just eat it, not carry it around.

He narrows his eyes at her. He does not speak French.]

You're right, I didn't ask for it. And you do not have my permission in the future.

What are you even doing in here?

II

[speed_of_snark]

[Is it possible for Northstar to be MORE insufferable than usual? Turns out that yes, yes it is.

He's spent most of his life as a celebrity. Not movie-star levels, no, but as a famous athlete. The camera loves him. He loves the camera. So the very moment that microphone is put in his face he lights up. (Almost literally.)]

Mmm, honestly it's my first time here. We simply must try everything there is to try here!

[Vanity nods a lot and gestures to Sephiroth.]

Oh, ouais, he's with me. Never go anywhere without him. My second best bodyguard, you know. If you need an autograph you may speak to him first.

[He looks at Sephiroth with a cheeky grin.]

Thank god you're photogenic.

[unkindled_madness]

[While Sephiroth is grateful not to be the center of attention, the feeling is short-lived. Jean-Paul did not need to say anything to include him in whatever farce this is.

He returns the grin with a cool look.]

I don't know this man.

[Gasps! Sadly no one seems to take that for the truth but instead some juicy hint of behind-the-scenes drama. Jean-Paul what have you done to offend your bodyguard? Is there a rivalry between him and the first best bodyguard??]

[speed_of_snark]

Isn't he a bitch? It's why we're such a good pair.

[Phrasing that will definitely fuel even more gossip. IS this just professional?! GASP!

Jean-Paul lowers his voice a little.]

That was legitimately funny.

[unkindled_madness]

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself.

[He isn't.

Well, maybe it's a little nice to be funny.]

There's no need to encourage them.

[speed_of_snark]

I usually do.

Why not? We'll get access to all the truly high end stuff this way. You can't tell me you don't want the really good shampoo.

[unkindled_madness]

I don't require high end shampoo.

[Good luck tempting him with material goods, he already has his sword.]