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."

[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?

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.

[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?"

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."

[the habits of moths]

[yhlee]

[For the players, do with this knowledge what you will: the mothling is responding to the fact that the Wasp-Bumblebee has gone quiet and is trying to reestablish contact with "Mommy?". It has extremely good hearing.]

Re: in case Mishka shouldn't yell

[pengwern]

Mikodez darts to the floatchair, smile fixed, even if it feels like his teeth might crack. Did Imsayed just suggest the future hexarch tried to keep private Kel troops? "It's not a real dragon. Can't fly, loves snacks." And could he afford to ask Iawa about Imsayed's condition? Mikodez resolves to invent a multi-part name if that gets brought up.

"How do you feel?"

[<3 MOTHLINGS <3]

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.

Re: in case Mishka shouldn't yell

[venndaai]

[I guess at some point Sulen let go of him, lol]

[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.”

Re: paging Sasha

[zuhrovet]

[I'm going to assume Sasha learns about the new plan, gives Virmad the data, and sends Sulen an appropriate message, informing them that she, Ankat, and Virmad are heading to the station.

I'm also going to assume that nobody has instructed Sasha to change her shirt, which is covered in grime from crawling around changing filters.]

Re: paging Sasha

[yhlee]

[Let's say Ashari (NPC) filled Sasha in on the new plan, and in true Andan fashion failed to tell Sasha to change her shirt because Ashari assumed that anyone with a modicum of sense would change into fashionable fresh clothing after grubbing around in the filters.]

paging Sasha

[yhlee]

Ashari digests that. "It's almost too bad we're not staying longer. 'Doctrinally lax' could be--useful to us," they say, and straighten. "In any case, there's been a change in plans. "Sulen will be confronting the Administrator in person, and they'll need you to back them up. You should rendezvous with them--take Sasha and Ankat with you on the way out, safety in numbers, you know how it goes."

[Cultural note: "Safety in numbers" might as well be the secondary Rahal motto--or as they say it in the h*archate, "wolves always travel in packs."]

Re: in case Mishka shouldn't yell

[yhlee]

"Absolutely great," Imsayed says, with just a touch of sarcasm. His eyes slide closed.

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.

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

[yhlee]

The baby moth warbles happily in response. Its ability to imitate her humming is much less developed than the adult moth's--it gets the contours approximately right but is rather uncertain about actual pitches.

housekeeping in the visitors' quarters - still paging everyone, esp. Iawa & Sulen & Virmad

[zuhrovet]

When they reach the visitors' quarters, Sasha shifts to singing invented lyrics ("Why, oh why, do they like ice skating here? Why not low-gravity dancing?") while she checks the room for new surveillance.

[I'm going to assume that there's probably a lokwor bug or two in a corner, but that generally it's easy to clear. If I'm right, Sasha will borrow Ankat's tablet and print a weapon with actual ammunition for Sulen.

lleullawgyffes, venndaai: if the mothling's hearing is good enough to hear the adult moth, it probably knows the Kirrish lullaby. Might be a good thing to add to the list of obviously heretical behaviors for the administrator?]

Re: housekeeping in the visitors' quarters - still paging everyone, esp. Iawa & Sulen & Virmad

[yhlee]

There are a couple lokwor bugs indeed, but they are easily captured.

The mothling continues to burble happily.

order of operations says bugs before guns - paging Iawa

[zuhrovet]

Sasha lures the bugs into motion by playing a couple of rounds of jeng-zai through the lokki tunnel. (She wins enough to buy a fancy tea.) She captures them in a flat, transparent box that used to hold a data stick. Trapping Imsayed's bug is a little bit trickier, but eventually it starts moving.

"Is this what you needed help with?" she asks Iawa.

[slybrarian]

"Hard to say," Alaric said. "I really should have asked Remi for some kind of care and feeding guidelines, beyond the habitat instructions. It could be hungry and trying to convey that. Or possibly it's trying to chat because it's alone and away from the other mothlings. From what I can tell they're much more social creatures than I would have expected, so being apart from the rest of its... litter? Littermates might make it anxious. I'm not sure how far they can actually communicate with each other. I doubt sound's the only mechanism they use since they spend time in vacuum."

Re: housekeeping in the visitors' quarters - still paging everyone, esp. Iawa & Sulen & Virmad

[slybrarian]

Since Sasha is busy being useful, Alaric tries mimicking the mothling's noises back at it, throwing in a couple simple whistled children's tunes of his own. It's a serviceable enough attempt at tone and rhythm.

"I wonder if your keeper has any data on your vocal range," Alaric asks it, trying not to be too specific until Sasha's sure there's no unwanted ears around. He's already thinking about possible pidgins that wouldn't require computer assistance to translate basic concepts.

musical mothling

[yhlee]

The mothling seems perfectly happy to try to imitate Alaric instead. Its efforts aren't notably better than before, but then, presumably even mothlings need time to learn musicality.

[Nirai Remi does in fact have data on moths' vocal range, which is mostly a function of their maturity, and would be happy to talk shop the next time Alaric runs into him.]

[mothling communications and propulsion]

[yhlee]

[For reference, moths canonically communicate through gravity waves. This is going to require hella sensitive equipment to detect, though, and they'd have to be looking for it specifically, but it's not unreasonable that Alaric and/or any Nirai researchers would think of it since moths' self-propulsion is based on it.]