Move 17 (Chapter 1.17)

[yhlee]

Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~05:00

Mikodez finds himself treed by Alaric (bearing "sleep aids") in the corridor outside Medical. In whatever confrontation happens, the much-adorned mothling known (among other things) as Crowned-with-Eyes (henceforth CWE) wriggles free of the Andan cloth and flutters straight into one of the nearest examination rooms, humming joyously. Several medics can be heard exclaiming in fear and/or annoyance at the intruder. One of them squeaks, "Is that another of Magistrate Gerae's pets?"

(...pets?)

Alaric, EDIT: Iawa, and Sulen can take advantage of the distraction to get by Mikodez and into Medical. The triage nurse will recognize them as the recent visitors and direct them toward a pallet where "Imsayed" (Istradez) is lying; he is apparently now sleeping rather than knocked out, but has yet to wake from his ordeal.

Sasha is in the midst of oxygen recycler diagnostics and reading through the maintenance logs. Around this time, Yehan (running as NPC), who has actually gotten some sleep, stops in and asks if Sasha could use some breakfast and/or assistance.

Ashari is enjoying a restful sleep in preparation for what's to come. They can, if they choose to get up early, check in on the others, or determine what to do with Gerae of the mysteriously weaponizable lockpicks. [NOTE: If smokedetective doesn't respond to this move, I'm going to put Ashari on inactive status and run as NPC as necessary to move forward.] Virmad is a likely candidate to either volunteer or be asked to look in on Gerae. Among other things, Gerae is still awake and is (if anyone checks on him, whether through camera surveillance or by persuading Sasha to open the room) scratching messages onto the wall with a stylus that was left in the room.

===

CURRENTLY INACTIVE, running as NPCs: Ankat, Kaliyan, Yehan, Istradez

Comments

about the Rosemallow...

[zuhrovet]

"Thanks, but I just had a ration bar," Sasha tells Yehan. "What do I need to know about the Rosemallow crew list?"

Iawa

[vass]

[I thought Iawa was going to the station with Sulen and Alaric?]

Re: Iawa

[yhlee]

[I'm so sorry! I must have misread the comment thread--I thought they were headed after Istradez. I'll revise the move posthaste.

EDIT: I see what happened--I glitched and dropped their name from the list. >_> Apologies--have fixed in the move. *slinks off*

(I need to tape a checklist to my monitor...]

Re: Iawa

[vass]

[No worries. Thank you.]

[pengwern]

The Wasp crew will find Mikodez studying the wall panels outside of Medical, having been rebuffed by sensible medics who claimed a cheeping Vraselian psuedo-dragon would not improve the decor. If only they had taken longer to arrive. (Mikodez would have been somewhere inside the ducts, cage and all.) Good thing they're here to relieve him of Fluffy.

[really important questions left over from move 15: What happens when you add a mothling to a wire cage containing a well-fed Vraselian psuedo-dragon? Do they fight? Does the well fed psuedo-dragon attempt to nibble on the mothling, and is it able to mimic the mothling's humming (to its confusion? or would that be delight), and will a light sprinkle of glitter adhere to those insubstantial fronds? What about googly eye stickers/pins?
Also, is Mikodez covered in scratches from trying to get little paper hats to stay on Fluffy.]

Re: about the Rosemallow...

[yhlee]

[Following up on this thread from Move 9.]

Yehan [running as NPC] frowns and explains that she's been researching specific Rosemallow crew names, as well as the names of slaves on the cargo list. She's identified some of the Naxorian crew members as coming from probable urban lineages, whereas the slaves, both Kirrish and Naxorian, seem to come from less developed areas. Presumably whatever alternate history the Rosemallow comes from hasn't diverged so far that its cities and rural areas are completely different from what exists in their timeline.

Fluffy and CWE (the mothling)

[yhlee]

The mothling and the pseudo-dragon seem to think each other are food up until the point where Fluffy actually bites into one of the mothling's tendrils. Fluffy is next seen whimpering at the other side of the cage having bitten into ELDRITCH VOID while CWE tries to ooze closer to make friends, having interpreted this as a genial overture. Glitter adheres intermittently to the fronds, but some of it seems to fall through CWE to another dimension. (Somewhere in gate-space, glitter is floating enticingly.)

Mikodez does indeed sport some new scratches from Fluffy's not-really-diligently-trimmed claws.

Re: Fluffy and CWE (the mothling)

[pengwern]

[So we can add Space Littering to Mikodez's misdemeanors. If this was one of the adventures that Jedao's mom watches, that would be where the aliens start to take an interest :[ (:D:D:D)]

Re: Fluffy and CWE (the mothling)

[yhlee]

[That, or Mikodez has started a glitter trend among fashionable voidmoths who will show up asking for a makeover!

--possibly inspired by a new interest in Kel eyeshadow--I am going to learn to do that with my eyes if it kills me, I just need the makeup brushes and actualfax gold eyeshadow I ordered to arrive]

Re: about the Rosemallow...

[zuhrovet]

"Is there anyone from the Dek'alekhes?" Sasha asks. It's a stupid question. Nobody really lives in the mountains; they have estates in the hills like her father, or they're part of a Kirrish band on the steppes.

[That's a Kirrish apostrophe!]

[venndaai]

Sulen immediately moves to menace Mikodez, although they don't actually grab him yet. Their eyes turn gold as they scan his signifier full power. "Hello, Cadet [edit: errr I forget what Avrayen's official job title isss]," they say. "Not that I don't appreciate the promotion, but that response to my message was unsatisfactory."

[Does Sulen know about the sleeping pills plan? Asking Alaric and Iawa's players.]

OT: Ashari

[venndaai]

[I talked to smokedetective and they'd like to be put on inactive and are fine with Ashari being run as an npc.]

Re: OT: Ashari

[yhlee]

[Thanks for letting me know! Tell them I wish them well.]

[paging Alaric and Mikodez's players]

[vass]

[idk if Sulen knows, but Iawa definitely doesn't know, unless Alaric wants to go back before we leave and brief her on it.]

Re: [paging Alaric and Mikodez's players]

[zuhrovet]

[Sasha was definitely under the impression that Iawa and Sulen had already left for station when she talked to Alaric, though of course she could have been wrong about that.]

Re: [paging Alaric and Mikodez's players]

[venndaai]

"I'll deal with him if you want to check on Imsayed," Sulen says to Iawa.

[pengwern]

Mikodez is a prudent youth, wise and possessed of great sensitivity to the atmosphere, and he does not actually say 'You're unsatisfactory.' Sulen isn't being subtle about scrying. He'll lie only about the convenient things.

"You wanted me to stop everything I'm doing, which was sleeping, so I'm up. Do you not want Rahal Gerae's pet either? And yes, about Imsayed," he says sharply, with a glance between the three of them. "Because my cousin." Mikodez pauses, "He had a second concussion, and they won't let me in with the cage. Were you aware of any previous injuries during your time with him?"

[Mikodez's signifier remains Ninefox Smiling. If Sulen can scry for specific intentions, they might see that Mikodez wants to talk to Imsayed desperately. If only for mood, then lashings of mistrust, a garnish of lingering fury, wrapped in bright interest like cookie dough over M&Ms.

(whoops I, also forgot what Sulen's cover position was. Mikodez was an assistant of some sort, I think. Has Sulen been informed about his background?)]

Re: Fluffy and CWE (the mothling)

[pengwern]

[I saw top middle and shrieked, PLEASE do it and take pics.

(Also seeing the words 'fashionable' and 'voidmoth' next to each other is distinctly threatening, thanks to Kujen. How do we know his files are accurate anyway >:O ]

[OT: hexarchate makeup]

[yhlee]

[I promise pics once I have results worth taking pics of! Which might take a while, because I have zero makeup experience LOL. :)

Kujen's diary might make an appearance in Revenant Gun. ;) ]

note to Sulen re: Istradez

[yhlee]

[If Sulen has been in Ashari's confidence, it's entirely plausible that Ashari notified them that Istradez apparently has some history of head trauma, so the current picklement can't be doing him any additional good.]

Re: about the Rosemallow...

[yhlee]

[Still running Yehan as NPC.]

Yehan's brow wrinkles. "Nothing I recognized," she says tactfully. "Steppes bands, yes, but not the mountains as such." She rubs her eyes. "Listen, I'm going to get some coffee before I report to Ashari. Have you really been up all this time? And is there anything in particular you want me to tell them?"

Re: about the Rosemallow...

[zuhrovet]

Well, Sasha had enough tutors that she sounds like a city person 96% of the time. An archaically formal city person, because this is the future. Not that she should be worrying about how the Rosemallow might treat her, or which of her alternate-universe great-nephews or nieces might be on board, when there are more pressing problems here.

She answers Yehan, "Yeah, Iawa gave me a stim. Tell Ashari I've got a ping on Avrayen's lokwor, and Alaric has gone to fetch him? And once you've talked to them, would you mind keeping an eye on comms? I need to take a look at the station recycling algorithms for one of Sulen's projects, and I'll have to deal with whatever the ship diagnostics spit out here, as well."

Re: about the Rosemallow...

[yhlee]

Yehan nods; no doubt she's familiar with stim ab/use from her own past work as an analyst. "I'll let Ashari know," she says. "And I'd be happy to look over comms while you're busy elsewhere."

[Yehan will be as good as her word. Her breakfast and report will take about twenty-five minutes; presumably Ashari is quizzing her about other things as well.]

Re: [OT: hexarchate makeup]

[pengwern]

[good luck!! I managed to get makeup all the way around my eyes once, called it a win, and never tried that again.

Re Kujen, O-O "Dear Diary, today I was extra terrible, but I looked better than the Andan heptarch. Kujen 1, Heptarchate 0."]

Hacking, housekeeping

[zuhrovet]

While she's waiting for the diagnostics to finish, Sasha inserts malicious versions of her memes into station chatter, with bonus Clowder Purring characters, and cautiously starts hunting for information on the garbage/recycling sorting algorithm.

[How long is this stimulant going to last, anyway? Eight hours? Thirteen? How terrible an idea would it be to take two in a row?]