Move 20 (Chapter 1.20)

[yhlee]

[Sorry for the delay!]

EDITED ONE MORE TIME: the escape plan, for easy reference.

Move 20

Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~05:75

Just outside of Medical
The mothling Crowned-with-Eyes is continuing to purr rapturously from within Mikodez's pack, which is in Alaric's possession. Fluffy has finally piped down--maybe napping, who knows what her sleep cycles are? Mikodez is currently under Alaric's watch (so to speak). [The GM strongly suggests that players cooperate to keep Mikodez from escaping yet again as I'd like to get y'all off this station! *g* ]

Sulen gets to check their lokwor, which contains an updated message from Ashari reiterating that everyone should return to the Wasp ASAP. Ashari adds, rather ominously, that they authorize Sulen to "use any necessary force" to round up crew members; they would like Sulen and Virmad to contact the administrator from the Wasp once the two of them are on the moth again.

A thoroughly exasperated-looking male nurse (the one Alaric spoke to earlier) wheels Istradez (NPC) out on a float chair, accompanied by Iawa, whom the nurse has entrusted with further instructions for Istradez's care. Istradez looks like he's seen better days, and Iawa notices that his mind seems to be wandering again--a lingering concussion effect? It's too bad that the nurse seems thoroughly determined to get rid of them all and heads back into Medical at the first opportunity.

Sasha, accompanied by Ankat (NPC), can meet our merry adventurers just outside Medical, if she likes.

"Bumblebee" status
Kaliyan (NPC) is manning the cockpit. Ashari (NPC) has left the office [edit, continuity, sorry about that]. Yehan (NPC) is currently manning comms as well. The Wasp itself is currently quiescent, no doubt chewing away on magic squares (which Sasha gave it to think about in Move 19). Gerae is contained (for the moment) in his makeshift cell; video surveillance will reveal that he is slowly drinking his Space Nescafe, making everything last and looking as if it's the best coffee he's ever had.

After giving orders to crew members on the station, Ashari seeks out Virmad in the galley and tells him that they expect him and Sulen to prepare to call the administrator on the station so they can get the hell out of here as per the plan as soon as Sulen and the rest of the crew is back. Ashari suggests that Virmad draft the communication for Sulen's approval and adds, "Did you find out anything useful from Teo? Don't be shy, darling, every little bit helps."

Comments

[venndaai]

--on the other hand, Sulen is now currently in possession of a gun-shaped object, on the appropriate side of station security. And having an actual escaped mothling to wave in Shan's face while shouting about calendrical rot seems like it could be an effective drama tool.

"Since I'm on the station now," they say to Ashari, "why don't I bring my information to the Administrator straight away instead of returning to the ship? You could send me Virmad, and I'll send you my current collection of liabilities."

Ashari and decision making (paging Virmad)

[yhlee]

Slight pause here as, on the ship, Ashari reads over their lokwor.

The message EDIT Sulen Ashari [augh, I cannot proper noun] gets in return is:

I trust you to read the situation. We'll do it your way.

Meanwhile, on the Wasp, Ashari waits for Virmad to finish whatever response he may have had to their conversational gambit, then says, "We'll hash this out later. Sulen thinks they can handle the administrator and I trust their judgment. You're to go back them up."

paging Sasha

[venndaai]

Sulen sends back,

I think it's the best option. Bayan should have the data I requested- I'll tell her to send it with Virmad.

I appreciate the trust.

Then they send Sasha a message, telling her (obliquely) to give Ashari the faked up heresy evidence.

[lleullawgyffes]

“Just a reminder of why I like Kel,” Virmad says with a half-smile; at this point he’s sufficiently tired that he's transcended the ability to be intimidated or shamed, or, indeed, to feel any particularly strong emotions. That said, he adds, “Although it’s worth noting that even if he’s technically good at his job, which the spy program suggests he is, a real Rahal — that is, not myself or our erstwhile magistrate guest — would have put their foot down immediately and stopped this kind of fraternization. After all, who knows where or when we’re from? There’s all kinds of danger of cultural contamination — and, thus, calendrical rot. I would describe Teo as scrupulous in terms of his immediate duties but perhaps doctrinally lax.”

[pengwern]

Is Crowned-with-Eyes more vocal out here than it was earlier? Was it the temperature, the chat about bigger (real!) voidmoths, or had it been siphoning off more of whatever exotic force it lives on?

Mikodez pins his gaze on the big Medical sign so vacantly that he almost misses Istradez's first movements out the door.

In the mean time, he tries pestering Alaric again. "When can we get the rest of these?"

[yhlee]

Crowned-with-Eyes does sound a bit louder, although who knows why: hungry? wanting attention? happy? other?

[pengwern]

Mikodez asks Alaric, deferential, "You have more experience with the moths than the rest of us combined." But I got to decorate Crowned-With-Eyes. "This mothling sounds quite a bit louder than it was just six hours ago. Any theories on what it's responding to?"

in case Mishka shouldn't yell

[pengwern]

Mikodez decides to risk claiming Istradez's attention. "Look, Cousin Imsayed, I found the Vraselian pseudo-dragon!" He taps on Fluffy's cage and offers his widest smile.

Re: in case Mishka shouldn't yell

[yhlee]

Imsayed's eyes focus briefly on Fluffy, then regain their worrying glassiness. "Zehun stopped you from adopting birds already, Miki," he says. He's slurring. "I really don't think they're going to approve a dragon."

maybe we could stop waiting around for Security? - paging everybody, especially Iawa and Sulen

[zuhrovet]

Three-faced saint, the humming coming from the bag that Alaric is holding sounds like another moth. Sasha wants very badly to investigate, or failing that to greet Fluffy, but she has work to do first.

"The visitor's quarters are on the way back to the Bumblebee," she tells Iawa. "Maybe your patient can rest for a few minutes and have a glass of water, while I test that functionality you were asking about? And Rahal Dar Chresh, I have the pens you ordered."

As they walk, she hums softly to the moth. She learned the song from one of the station's ice-skating vids, so at least it's safe for this time.

possible scene change - please weigh in

[zuhrovet]

[Once the question of the extra gun is sorted out, Sasha's going to want to head back to the Wasp with most of the party (Alaric, Ankat, Iawa, Istradez, and Mikodez), leaving Sulen and Virmad to confront the administrator. Is there anything that anybody wants to finish, before then? And yhlee, is security likely to be interesting, or could we pick up back at the Wasp?

If nobody objects, I'll start a new thread to that effect on Wednesday, US Eastern time.]

Re: possible scene change - please weigh in

[yhlee]

[I don't think anything's to be gained roleplaying-wise from a security encounter, so let's say that it will go smoothly and those heading back shipside can pick back up at the Wasp.]

Re: possible scene change - please weigh in

[vass]

[Sorry I've been so absent. I had a bad brain week. I'm back now. Let's say Iawa has been fussing around Istradez and trying to remember what they can about concussions until now.]

Re: possible scene change - please weigh in

[zuhrovet]

[Glad to have you back! I left you a medbay comment just now.]

back on the Wasp: who gets to debrief Mishka? - paging Iawa, Mikodez, Alaric, GM

[zuhrovet]

Once the airlock closes, Sasha says, "Grid. Please inform Ashari that we've retrieved Avrayen and Imsayed, and ask whether we should bring Avrayen to them."

She moves to the side of the room, to check the airlock scan.

[How many lockpicks are hidden in Fluffy's cage? Anything else of interest there? And is there enough lingering radiation from the mothling to show up on scan?

pengwern: Which authority figure would you like to inflict on Mishka? According to our org chart, this is a problem for an NPC, Ashari or Ankat. Ashari could delegate to the Rahal, which would be logical but means we'd have to find something for Mikodez to do besides staring at a blank wall until Sulen and Virmad get back, or to Sasha, since his trespasses on the station's grid are her domain.

vass: Sasha's angst about corporal punishment seems like a possible hook for interactions with Iawa. Let me know if you want to go this direction.

slybrarian: How does Alaric feel about very small dragons? I don't know what your plans are, but I confess I'm very curious about what a conversation between Alaric and Gerae would look like. (Sasha can give Alaric temporary access.)]

Re: back on the Wasp: who gets to debrief Mishka? - paging Iawa, Mikodez, Alaric, GM

[slybrarian]

[Alaric would be delighted to observe and interact with small dragons.]

"You know," Alaric says to the group, not really to anyone in particular, "I honestly can't decide if we're not very good at this, or if we're actually really good at it since we're basically on schedule despite all these distractions we keep getting involved with. I'm leaning towards 'really good' though."

here is a tiny dragon for you!

[zuhrovet]

Sasha taps her foot four times, and then hopes nobody noticed. "Could you save the assessment till we're actually finished?"

She chirps reassuringly at Fluffy. Ankat's half-dragging, half-carrying Mishka, who looks to be more asleep than not, Iawa's hovering by Imsayed, and if she's not mistaken Ashari wants to see her and the teenager in person. So. That leaves Alaric to deal with Fluffy and Gerae. Maybe the magistrate will find him charming?

"Look," she tells Alaric. "Somebody needs to let the pseudo-dragon out of her cage near a toilet, before she makes a mess, and then take her to Gerae. Would you mind? He's in the room without a door-- I'll give you temporary access-- and you shouldn't give him the cage, it's got at least two lockpicks I can see on scan right now. Fluffy seems pretty docile, but you can always feed her cookies."

Re: back on the Wasp: who gets to debrief Mishka? - paging Iawa, Mikodez, Alaric, GM

[yhlee]

Ashari responds with almost distressing promptness.

Yes. Tech Bayan, please bring the child back to me. I need to give him a spanking.

[EDIT: Ashari intends to deal with Mikodez unless pengwern would really prefer Ankat, and may be annoyed enough to threaten enthrallment if not actually use it, which could be fun. Ashari will dump Mikodez on Sasha once they're back at the Bumblebee/Wasp. Ashari will also note in passing, "That vicious streak of yours ought to serve you well in dealing with him, but don't break him, he's important."]

There are two lockpicks hidden in Fluffy's cage: one in the base and one that serves as a removable cage "bar." Fluffy is emitting some cries of distress, though: from Sasha's knowledge of Vraselian pseudo-dragons, she realizes that Fluffy needs to use a litter box or toilet soon. (They can be trained to use regular human toilets.)

The mothling doesn't show up on scan anymore, radiation-wise.

[Please let me know if I missed anything that needs catching up on--I've been a little scattered and I apologize.]

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Mikodez?

[vass]

[I'm not sure exactly where you're going there with Sasha on corporal punishment, but Iawa definitely has objections to torture which could reasonably extend to corporal punishment, and also is worried about whether the resistance are actually good people, and is conflicted about Mikodez. In other words, Iawa is definitely going to be interested in how Sasha and Ashari deal with the little weasel.]

talking to the administrator - paging Sulen (cc GM)

[lleullawgyffes]

“I suppose,” Virmad says to Sulen, now that everyone else is safely back on the ship, “we should contact the Administrator and inform her that we want to speak with her.” He hesitates, then adds, “Are you all right?”

Re: talking to the administrator - paging Sulen (cc GM)

[venndaai]

Sulen blinks at him, and then tries to smile. "Sorry, am I being noticeably sulky and grumpy?" they ask, quoting the words Ashari always used to tease them. "It's just- is this what you thought it'd be like? Constant complications and most of the trouble from our own side?"

In the medbay - paging Iawa, Istradez/GM

[zuhrovet]

Mishka seems to have drifted off again. Maybe it's time to check with Imsayed, or check with Iawa about him. Sasha heads to the medbay by way of the gym (where she stashes her duffle in a locker). She finds the bottle of stims and pockets one (she'll need it in another couple of hours), then turns to Iawa, who's hovering over Imsayed. "Did Imsayed say anything about when he found Avrayen?" she asks. "And what's in that box?"

[I think we all sort of lost track of what happened to the box with Remi's diaries in it, so I am choosing to assume Mikodez shoved it in a handy receptacle under the float chair, while he was tidying.]

Re: In the medbay - paging Iawa, Istradez/GM

[vass]

Iawa notices Sasha's pocketing the stims, and gives her a Look. This being Iawa, it's perhaps not a very effective Look, but she tries. "How many of those have you taken? And how much sleep have you had in the past 50 hours?"

"I don't know anything about a box."

Iawa doesn't feel comfortable talking about her patient over his semi-conscious body. "Imsayed, I know you value your privacy, but I think Sikandaret[*] needs to know this. Do you mind?"

[* Or Sasha. I'm not sure what name she's told Iawa to use, so I'm erring on the formal.]

[Iawa's player is regretting having tied a critically injured NPC to themselves like an albatross. Not that I want Istradez to die, but if there's any chance the Wasp is equipped with a nice convenient medical stasis pod where Iawa can stash him, that would be wonderful. Having assumed responsibility for him, Iawa's not going to wander away from him when his condition could deteriorate (unless... could I interest one of the other NPCs in babysitting duty?) but people keep wandering away from Iawa, and I'm kind of stuck.]

Shan's office- paging Virmad, GM

[venndaai]

So it's back to the administration level, not making any attempt to avoid attention or conceal the struggling bag of mothling. Shan's door is of course locked, so Sulen can't just dramatically storm in, but they can press the intercom button and then bang on it, loudly.

"You hold this," they say to Virmad, and pass him the mothling.

Re: Shan's office- paging Virmad, GM

[yhlee]

The door opens. Shan is sitting at her desk. "I hope this is urg--" She looks up and sees both Sulen and Virmad, and her mouth clamps shut. Then: "Is there some difficulty I can help you with, Magistrates?" she says, notably more deferentially.