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Entry tags:
Supergreen.
✖ 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.
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.
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.
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.
Houston, we have a banging playlist!
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.
I finally picked a memory to use to mess this up so that will come next tag!
"I love it. But don't worry, I got no problem walking." He tugs David towards the stairs so they can see what's down there.
excited. wonder if David's going to know his real name now.
But he's happy to let Hawks bring him toward the stairs, and he smiles as he starts down the wide, spiraling staircase into the building proper. This was good, because the upper levels of the tower tended to be the living quarters. Was he bashfully considering showing his boyfriend his room? Yep.
no subject
The nuance of David's world is still beyond Hawks, but that's all right. It's probably true in reverse, and it's not as if Hawks is all that good at explaining it. He takes some things for granted; unlike mutants where David is from, it's not like he's dealt with persecution for his abilities. He dealt with stuff when he was a kid, but that was mostly his parents' doing. He had thought the world was a cruel, lonely place. He…doesn't generally think that now, but he's aware that it can be.
Hawks isn't sure what he's actually expecting to see when they get to the bottom of the stairs. More of what David created, a glimpse into his world. He's got an open mind about it.
What awaits them, however, isn't David's doing. Instead, something about their surroundings changes. Even with Hawks's superhuman eyesight, it's something subtle, untraceable, until they're actually standing in it.
The first sign is a superhero doll sitting a few feet away from the bottom of the stairs. Hawks glances down at it; of course he knows what it is. He still has that doll, the only thing leftover from his childhood worth remembering or holding onto. But what is it doing here?
He looks up again and his fingers tighten reflexively in David's. The building walls are nondescript but in disrepair. Across the hall, a dishevelled woman and two men in suits stand, having a conversation. They're here in time for the end of it:
We will erase any connection to the name Takami and allow you to start over.
"What the hell," Hawks says aloud, stopping in his tracks. He hasn't heard his family name — his father's name — said aloud in a long time now, but he recognises those Commission lackeys. Of course he does. Again, though, what is any of this doing here?
no subject
"This isn't part of my program," he whispers to Hawks. "Something's wrong."
no subject
"This is…mine, I guess. This happened when I was a kid. I don't know what it's doing here, though."
In front of them, the others don't notice. While little Hawks doesn't actually appear here, he was there when it actually happened. For now:
"Finally you'll be useful for something, Keigo," his mother says. Her tone isn't very nice.
The conversation continues somewhat inaudibly; Hawks doesn't really remember all of what came next, since he was very young and it was a whirlwind of the commission moving them into real housing and the years of training that made him an asset to them, not just a hero but a spy.
no subject
"Did..."
His mother give him away? No, David doesn't want to ask. So instead he turns to Hawks and takes the man into his arms, holds him. Maybe he can't change the past, but he can be a barrier against it.
no subject
He still sees his mom sometimes but they aren't close. She's just a person he knows to him now.
Hawks is still staring at the scene when David hugs him. It takes him a second, but then he returns that embrace, feathers fluffed up.
"That's the Hero Commission for you," he says. "They wanted me for my abilities, but they also wanted to erase my murderer father. I didn't want his name anyway."
no subject
He doesn't know anything about Hawks' past, at least this depth of it. He doesn't know how to express his concern.
no subject
Names are tricky. He doesn't need the name Takami. He's rarely used the name Keigo and most people don't even know it. He's never felt like he matters as a person, but that's just how it is. On some level he knows that's pretty fucked up, but what else can he do? He was raised like this. He wants to never be like his parents, but whether other people value him as a person or not doesn't always get to matter.
He does laugh a little, though it isn't funny. "Oh, yeah, man. You can dislike her all you want. She wasn't as bad as my dad, but she was pretty awful. They didn't want me and I always knew it."
no subject
"You're nothing but amazing, and you don't have to live up to their names. You've made your own, and it's beautiful. You're beautiful, whether you're Hawks, or you're Keigo."
Hopefully the guy doesn't hate him for the name.
no subject
He's not sure anyone's ever called him beautiful before.
"I think I'm just Hawks these days," he says. "I didn't pick any of these names for myself, but this is the one I earned, y'know?"
He's not upset about his other name. It's his name, after all, and not something he feels negative towards. He hasn't heard it in awhile; it's rare anyone bothers using it.
"I have no idea how this weird shit messed up your simulation. Sorry about that."
no subject
"Want to get out of here? So you don't have to see it any longer? You don't deserve this, and the tower can't be as entertaining right now."
no subject
"Yeah. You had something else to show me in the tower anyway, right?"
no subject
What, making out with his boyfriend as part of a date is something he was allowed to do, right?
no subject
Really, there was a lot worse they could have been subjected to, he thinks. At least it was just his mom and not his dad, not the things that happened before this particular thing.
"It's just like this whole stupid place to ruin all the work you put in"
no subject
"It is just like this place. But I still have you here, so that means that the day can't be ruined."
no subject
"Good point," he says with half a smile. "I'm not gonna let their weird intrusive memory thing get me down, long as I'm with you."
no subject
While it isn't as impressive as the roof, he did think it reflected on him some.
no subject
"Lead the way."
no subject
Smiling he caught Hawks' hand and resumes the way down the stairs, his hand touching the projections of the holodeck and thrusting his technopathic will through it to try an maintain the program as designed.
"If nothing else, the bed is comfortable for snuggling."