Sojourner Deep - Panfandom RPG

[closed] far from home

2017-01-09T05:56:54Z

Posted by: chainsarebroken

Some time later--a few days, after gravity and day-night are restored and some plants set along the path of rehabilitation and everybody starts getting a good night's sleep again--some time after that, Anakin Skywalker sits cross-legged in the rooftop garden where this all began and ended and says into the air, "Ship's Services?"

In response he receives a shimmering and expected, "Hello, Anakin Skywalker. May I help you?"

"Hello, Ship's Services," he repeats back duly; then, "I'd like to talk to the ship. I'd like to talk to Sojourner."

A pause. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean.""

"I know it's possible," he says with a measure of impatience; "I know it's possible here. I'd like to talk to the ship without tampering with the clock again. I'd rather not do that. But I will if I have to. Can I talk to the ship?"

Ship's Services repeats, with all the exact same cadences, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean" until Anakin gets up and walks into the fountain. Then when prompted it shifts to playing strange, whalesong music, then a brusque tone--familiar to anyone who's seen the broadcast from the initial fountain 'expedition'--and, "You are not authorized."

"That's better," says Anakin with a mote of brightness in his voice: not much, though. He's still tired, still set back from weeks of sleeping in short unpredictable bursts and during the daylight, and he still hasn't gotten any answers. This is his only lead, and it's not going anywhere. "Ship? Are you still there?"

But he gets nothing this time. He tries again. And again.

Eventually he goes home, no wiser for his efforts, though a bit damper; he walks down the stairs, over the tiled square, down the path that leads to the waterfall, and behind it. He takes off his boots; he unclips his lightsaber and sits down, again, on the floor, and closes his eyes. But he is not meditating. He is thinking about home.

They flicker open again when he becomes aware of his master's presence nearing. He doesn't stand up. Neither does he feign meditation for Obi-Wan's benefit: there would be no point. Instead he remains still until Obi-Wan walks into the room, and looks up at him--damp hair loose around his forehead.

"Hello, Master," he says. There is a pause before Anakin's words this time, something that takes him longer to greet him, as he settles his gaze on him.

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[All good things must come to an end]

2017-01-08T05:31:35Z

Posted by: sojournermod

There's a low hum throughout Sojourner Deep, from its eerie crystalline structures to its broad tiled plazas. It's barely audible, but the passengers are aware of it all the same: felt in the bones as much as heard by the ears.

Everyone's personal communications device flashes with a single short message: RECALIBRATION COMPLETED.

And... the humming stops. The residents will discover, over the next day-cycle, that there is, in fact, a day cycle again. And that gravity is once more behaving itself at the standard to which the majority of them are accustomed to.

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[Arrival log! Open as soon as he steps out from the Room]

2016-12-25T00:31:20Z

Posted by: 50shadesofpurple

It isn't the voice itself that brings Dorian out of his standby mode, but the tiny itching prompt running along his neocortex like little specks of light. It suggests, in the dry, jagged tones of someone he's come to respect and count as a friend, to update your files.

( Read more... )

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[Open] [Location: A rooftop garden] All Things Devours

2016-11-16T02:21:04Z

Posted by: sojournermod

On the edge of the livable complexes in Sojourner--on the rooftop of a dispenser-laden building, in the shadow of another and tucked out of the way--there is a garden. It's unremarkable, by Sojourner standards: a perfect, not-at-all-surreal set of concentric squares, with hedges bordering each level and four walkways that pierce the corners. Everything is built to a larger-than-human scale, including the flat ground-level fountain and the enormous stone sundial next to it.

The fountain goes on and off at irregular intervals, like many other fixtures in Sojourner at the moment; the sundial tracks no regular circuit of the 'sun.' The grass, somehow, remains green, and a little drier and slipperier than anyone remembers Earth grass to be. There are no walls at the edge of the rooftop garden, meaning that anyone who strays too close to the brink risks falling several storeys to the ground.

The garden is unremarkable, except for one thing: all triangulation of gravity incidents seems to point to here. Every ripple of low or high gravity that travels through the ship seems to begin at this place. This is the epicenter. And thanks to the community-gathered data, this fact is now very obvious.

Few people visit the garden, generally. It's out of most people's way. But it is accessible, and it is currently empty.

[OOC: This is a metaplot thread for those who want to resolve and interact with the ending of the gravity/darkness plot! Feel free to post your characters here at the garden, and they can interact with one another and the environment--we'll be posting more information/reactions from the environment as you variously investigate things--and good luck with the puzzle. :D]

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(closed) Settling In

2016-11-15T13:29:07Z

Posted by: rlyprivateperson

He hadn't so much as invited John Reese to his temporary home as insisted on it, after that Incident at the plaza. (Incident was a nice word. Indicative while still being imprecise, euphemistic. 'Incident' was a safe word that didn't allow for things like panic.)

The place Harold Finch had chosen for himself was a place of curves, a domicile set into a long glass-roofed tube that itself snaked around a tower and became a gentle torus. It made him think of a hobbit-hole. (There was a book he hadn't read in ages.) But he'd chosen it for location and vantage more than nostalgia; it was near to the arrival plaza, it had a good view from its transparent sections of the bazaar and the people coming and going. There was an elevator allowing access, but not stairs, and Finch was of mixed feelings about this: should the power go out, he was going to find himself up in a rather hard-to-descend-from lofty nest... but conversely, that made it defensible too, he supposed. And-- and he-- well, he liked the height, anyway.

Still, he imagined John was likely to say some things about the lack of stairs.

But at the moment he was more concerned with things like making sure Jo-- Reese ate; accessibility concerns could come later. He ushered John in the round hatch door, and towards one of the curved sofa-like things that hugged the walls, and then busied himself at the collection of wires and scavenged equipment that was serving him as kitchen and work-center and various other things. Tea first. He set water heating.

The gun was still heavy in his jacket pocket. Finch took it out, gingerly, and set it.... down, away from John.

"I have oatmeal or something like it," he said crisply to Reese, "and a green soup that's sort of savory; which do you want?"

(Because you are going to eat one of them if he has to force it down you, John Reese.)

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[Text and Voice: Notice]

2016-11-13T23:49:32Z

Posted by: vampapalooza

So, you lot are all 'selected for a remarkable opportunity' as well!

We will be stuck together until we figure out what the hell is going on. Lucky us!

Since there's a good chance what with the gravity and lights and so on, there's going to be lots of fantastic opportunities to have things get very awkward or flat-out terrifying, I thought it might be good if any interested parties tell a little about themselves.

I'll start.

I'm Spike. English, London, 2015. It doesn't matter how old I am. No, my hair doesn't look like this naturally.

My skills include: Debating, asking the questions no one wants to ask in meetings, general exploring, climbing, fighting, trivia, general DIY stuff as long as it doesn't involve alien tech or computers, and running the card games.

I can also draw cartoons with a satirical bent, in the event that some form of government is formed and it needs to be kept in check.

Any interested parties who respond to this notice, please consider mentioning any ongoing projects you've got going that you'd like a hand with, and if you have any experience with the following:

Texas Hold-Em, Five Card Stud, Pai Gow, Faro, Follow the Lady, Pokemon

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[open]

2016-11-11T23:30:35Z

Posted by: altus_pavus

Then the Maker said:
To you, My second-born, I grant this gift:
In your heart shall burn
An unquenchable flame
All-consuming, and never satisfied.
From the Fade I crafted you,
And to the Fade you shall return
Each night in dreams
That you may always remember Me.

—Canticle of Threnodies 5:7

( Read more... )

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[Location - Wild Park] [Open]

2016-11-11T22:58:15Z

Posted by: goodwithhumans

Toska is tired of crackers.

Trolls are hunters. Made for catching things - eating things. Sela says not to erase his sticker, that they are in short supply, but hunting with stubby fingers in this tiny body with it's tiny teeth is so...annoying.

Still, Toska's sense of smell is good. He can move quietly and see in the dark. He crouches, watching the beast in front of him, motionless except for a slight flick of his tail, like a cat. A very large cat. The creature has it's head down, drinking from an overgrown fountain. The beast has thick blue fur and large teeth and horns on it's head. Toska thinks it might be a mammal, given the fur. He hopes it's a mammal. Mammals taste best.

Toska's muscles tense. He prepares for the pounce. But before he can he smells...something else. Not an animal but a person. He waits for a moment, still, seeing if the person will come closer before he makes his mood - he does not particularly want anyone to see him hunting. Not just yet.

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Spike|John Reese

2016-11-10T21:38:04Z

Posted by: vampapalooza

Hope things got sorted and you are feeling a bit more yourself.

Just so you know, I wasn't just blowing smoke up your arse when we were speaking on the comm.network.

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[Location: Arrival Plaza][closed to Long, Goodie]

2016-11-10T05:19:07Z

Posted by: bladework

The last thing Billy sees -- the last thing he looks at -- is Goodie's flask. It's been thrown clear out of Billy's waistcoat, punctured through and through with a bullet hole, and that's how Billy knows he's dying. No metal flask is sturdy enough to stop a bullet fired from a Gatling gun -- which means the bullet's in his chest now, in his heart, assuming it's stayed in his body at all.

( Billy's not sure he'd be able to feel whether or not there was an exit wound, even if it mattered. )

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[Location: Arrival Plaza]

2016-11-08T05:40:31Z

Posted by: killerangel

He feels the ground hit him, slamming into him harder than the bullets. It's the last thing he feels, or expects to feel, and he closes his eyes and expects the pain to carry him away--but it doesn't. He's left with the ground, which is solid under his back and shoulders, and... darkness, complete darkness. That doesn't shock him either; the pain being gone, he admits, is more of a surprise. But then again he's heard what men say about the last few seconds between life and death, in the case that you're afforded them. Goodnight Robicheaux closes his eyes and prepares--he supposes--to meet his maker.

( Trouble is, his maker is a little late. )

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Location - Chez Brier (Finch, Reese, Brier) - Backdated!

2016-11-05T13:47:20Z

Posted by: rlyprivateperson

Finch is wearing his gray suit again-- his only suit, here. It's a precious resource: it has to be scrupulously cleaned as best he can after wearing it, in this land of no dry cleaning; and steam "ironing" by leaving them in the shower enclosure has kept the wrinkles at bay, at least... but the suit no longer looks quite as crisp as it once did, to the very discerning eye.

Finch supposes he might be the only one who cares about it, but he happens to care a lot.

Anyway.... he has bread, per Brier's request, and a bottle of fruit juice (just what fruit, he's not quite certain of, but the vendor in the market had assured him it wasn't alcoholic and that it tasted fine) in lieu of the traditional wine, and he has John Reese with him, and Bear, and they've followed Brier's directions through the strange locales and landmarks of Sojourner (directions are funny things here, there's not really street signs though some wag has started informally hanging them, Finch has noticed, but generally it's things like 'turn right at the giant crystal obelisk') and... well, here they are, in front of a door.

Finch gives Reese a slightly concerned look. He feels he should say "....please behave, John" but that would be-- insulting, wouldn't it. John's perfectly civilized. So instead, Finch just offers him a hesitant smile, and knocks on the door he thinks is Brier's.

(OOC: Backdated to before Reese's recent crisis point; same day as as this thread)

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[Location - A park, during zero G]

2016-11-04T16:22:47Z

Posted by: personaldemon

Many people might avoid the open-air spaces-- and wisely so-- during the instances of zero gravity that are intermittently plaguing Sojourner Deep. Not Jason Blood, at least, not at this point in time. He is on the edge of a footpath of polished wooden planks, one hand hanging on to the railing to keep himself from drifting upward, his feet stubbornly planted on the path itself, as if he were trying to assert a proper vertical orientation against this nonsense.

In his other hand he has a rock, a smooth white quartz pebble scavenged from the dry streambed below. He rubs it over and over in his palm, touching the smooth stone with his thumb, gazing upward at the sky arching overhead.

And then with a slightly awkward twist he cranes back and throws it, out towards that expanse of sky, sending the rock hurtling upward with some decent force behind it and no gravity at all to slow its progress. He squints up after it, shading his eyes with his hand, trying to follow the path of the rock disappearing against the expanse beyond.

[OOC: Open to anyone but I'd love for Jason to meet someone he hasn't yet!]

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[Voice]

2016-11-03T23:49:18Z

Posted by: vampapalooza

Does anyone know a bloke calling himself John Reese?

There's a bit of a problem.

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[Private text to to Obi-Wan Kenobi]

2016-11-03T01:44:43Z

Posted by: personaldemon

[Private]

Mr. Kenobi? I trust you and your apprentice are settling in. I see you've been mutually productive in the attempts to help measure our surroundings.

I have a matter on which I should like your opinion if you have the time.

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[closed to Sherlock, Finch] [Text] Ship's Services Update

2016-11-02T03:12:22Z

Posted by: rameses

I've just had a pleasant conversation with Ship's Services regarding our situation here. The system didn't show interest in answering a question regarding the division of systems allocations between its life support functions and its energy grid functions; it was also specifically evasive on the question of whether there might be some kind of passenger on this ship with conflicting biological needs to ours. It did, however, generally confirm that everything produced by the dispensers is in some way created here on Sojourner -- but that our closed habitat was not at risk of a scarcity of resources.

I've asked Ship's Services to deactivate the lights to one of the rooms in my residence, which it complied with. I'll let you know if the lights remain deactivated throughout our day-night fluctuations. I'd like to see if that persists -- and set up a gravity-marker in that room as well, in the event the two variables are related.

Have you had any success in any other avenues of inquiry?

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[closed] The Shape of Things

2016-11-01T22:29:51Z

Posted by: rameses

The toothpaste, as it happens, is coming along nicely. Other projects are, too: he's managed to find temporary solutions for Bubastis's diet, and for his own, and he's started work on a proper shampoo and a few decent perfumes. His collection of possessions, by careful bartering of goods and services, is growing, and his living quarters are progressively more comfortable and more secure. All people adapt. Adrian adapts well and quickly, in his own opinion.

Some things, though, are not to be adapted to. ( Some things are to be modified. )

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[Location] various --> Cave near Park

2016-11-01T12:33:17Z

Posted by: badwithhumans

Sela attracts some attention as she stomps from the arrival plaza, throwing glares around in her own right. Perhaps it's the outfit-- an obvious uniform in black and gray, with a tall shako hat; perhaps it's her scowl; but most likely, it's the shark.

There's a shark, yes. It's a shark about the size of a golden retriever, a really fat one. It has legs-- short, stubby ones, along which it is happily trundling. It has scars, much like its owner. It has a mouthful of grinning teeth and black, empty eyes.

It sniffs along the pavement/floor/various surfaces, the blunt gray nose whuffling, and the tall woman in the uniform with the shovel strapped to her back follows along with it, smoking a cigarette.

Should anyone stare a little too long, she growls around her cigarette, "Yeah, I know I look good, thanks."

But ultimately, following her shark leads her to an overgrown park, and then to a cave. Sela hikes up the rocks and rubble before the cavemouth, shouting up as she goes, "Toska! You great big dunderhead, are you in there?!"

[OOC: Primarily for Toska and Sela to meet up, taking place directly after this! However if you want your character to briefly encounter Sela en route, feel free. ;)]

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[open] sad songs say so much

2016-10-31T22:49:47Z

Posted by: breakeggs_savelives

( bye bye baby, baby goodbye - bye bye baby, don't make me cry )

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[Voice and Text] Spike|Sela

2016-10-31T16:59:48Z

Posted by: vampapalooza

Did you find what you were looking for then.

Do you want some meat?

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[Location - Anakin and Obi-Wan's place] [Closed - Brier, Anakin, and possible Obi-Wan]

2016-10-27T18:43:50Z

Posted by: likegrier

Brier knew she had seen the green spire Anakin mentioned, at least from a distance, but it took a bit of remembering with her feet the next morning to come to the place. Brier supposed she could use the exercise, it was not as if she was training anymore.

( The conversations she was forced to have on the network over the last day or so... )

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[Voice]

2016-10-26T09:05:13Z

Posted by: badwithhumans

RIGHT

ABDUCTING A BRIGADIER IS PUNISHABLE BY, LET'S SEE HERE, FLOGGING, DEATH, FINES, DEATH, FIRE-WORM INTRODUCTION INTO THE GROIN, DEATH, YOUR BEING TURNED OVER TO USE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS AS MULCH, DEATH, DEATH, AND ALSO SOME DEATH.

SO WHOSE FISH-FELCHING IDEA IS THIS AND WHAT IN ALL BUGGERING BLISTERS HAVE YOU PUT INTO MY HEAD, YOU DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED PUS-BAG?

I'M ONLY GOING TO ASK NICELY ONCE.

[The user name sending this message is listed as 'HowAboutFuckOff.']

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[Voice and Text] Dispensers

2016-10-25T02:04:09Z

Posted by: vampapalooza

Wotcha. Spike here. Er- for efficiency's sake: England, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, 2015.

I thought it might be a good idea to make a sort of list of stuff that people need or want from dispensers or have managed to get. Then praps people could swop, or make whatever arrangements they want to. I'm keeping a list of my successes and failures. Anyone else who wants to add on to my master list, just reply here with what you've managed to get and ideally, how you did it.

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[Voice & Text] - Seeking Volunteers

2016-10-24T15:57:42Z

Posted by: rlyprivateperson

Hello again, this is Harold Finch. I'm seeking volunteers for a little project-- Mr. Veidt, Mr. Holmes, and myself want to place some gravity monitoring devices through as much of the immediate city as we can reach. Ready hands and feet would be helpful in this task, as there's quite a lot of ground to cover.

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[Voice & Text]

2016-10-21T12:09:00Z

Posted by: rlyprivateperson

(This message is transmitted as both text and voice.)

Good... afternoon, I believe, though I'm not sure that has any meaning given the current chaos of our day-night schedule.

To those of you I haven't met, my name is Harold Finch. I'm from... a planet called Earth, circa 2014. My background is with computers; I've been attempting to figure out how to make the communications devices shed light... among other things. So far that hasn't been successful, but I have rigged a fairly simple, portable, and safe lighting device if anyone is still having difficulties with the lighting situation.

It seems we're all in... a very strange situation, and that the situation has gotten worse: most of the passengers I've spoken to say that the lighting and the gravity are not normally like this. I'm trying to ascertain if there's any sort of pattern to this, but it occurs to me others might be doing the same as well, and there's no need to duplicate data sets, so to speak.

If you'd like an explanation of my lantern-- there's a picture attached-- or if you'd like to discuss these recent fluctuations, please feel free to contact me. We are, I think, all very strange to each other, but I imagine that we all have one thing in common: we would like to go home. It might behoove us to work together.

(There's a picture attached of what looks like a glass tube halfway filled with water and capped at both ends with copper or bronze; there's some glowing blue ice cubes? inside the tube.)

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