hexarchate_rpg | Move 24 (Chapter 1.24)

yhlee posting in

[GM note: This is a wrap-up move to close off the Station Moongray arc. Well done, everyone!]

[IMPORTANT: There is a roll call thread in this move. Please respond if you intend to continue as an active player for the next arc. Otherwise I will move you off the active list and to the NPC/inactive list.]

Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~0900

Kaliyan (NPC) successfully guides the Wasp to the rift without complications or interference. She reports that the Rosemallow ship has veered away and chosen not to pursue or harass them further--at least in this timeline. The ship will be spending the next five to seven days in rift travel.

In the Rift:

Ashari orders everyone to catch up on sleep in shifts. After this has happened, they call a meeting that includes Sulen, Virmad, Sasha, Iawa, Alaric, and Mikodez [if

pengwern is available], with Gerae (NPC) and Remi (NPC) as guests. The Wasp (NPC) may also venture opinions through Alaric and Sasha as interpreters. Kaliyan (NPC), Ankat (NPC), and Yehan (NPC) oversee the ship in case of emergency, but can be called via the ship's grid if anyone has questions for them specifically.

Tentative agenda as per this thread [Move 23]: (a) addressing problems in teamwork during the Station Moongray mission, (b) how to rectify those issues, and (c) next steps, including any recruitment.

[GM notes: Players are welcome to suggest plot hooks for what they'd like to explore in the next arc. Going after Quill? Rabble-rousing? Crashing the heptarchate's stock market?

Also, I'd really prefer the team leader to be a currently active PC rather than an NPC. If someone would like to volunteer their character for the job, I can move Ashari (NPC) to more of a background/support position, or maybe "shadowy boss who doesn't get involved in the day to day decision-making that much."

For recruitment, I still think the team would benefit from a couple of more fighty/meat shield type characters, and I'm thinking of opening up applications so we can recruit two more PCs. Thoughts on this are welcome, either IC or OOC. I'm personally not opposed to opening up mothlings as adoptable PCs, although they're not really meat shields yet...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

yhlee

Ashari's response is a succinct

Done, as item (d).

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha picks a seat that puts her back against the wall and has line-of-sight to the various entrances, and settles in to wait for the rest of the team.

From:

slybrarian

Alaric shows up shortly after, a mug of space cocoa in one hand, a tablet in the other, and a moth plushie tucked under under one arm. It's not that he expects to need a visual aid, but it couldn't possibly hurt.

He takes the first available seat and waves politely to Sasha.

From:

zuhrovet

"You persuaded the printer to make a cuddly toy that wasn't purple and green?" Sasha asks. "That takes dedication."

From:

slybrarian

"Yes, that was a little tricky. I used an iridescent material for the wings - like beetles, where the color comes from the structure - but in the end I dug into the definitions database and swapped around the relations between color codes and what pigments it prints." Alaric pauses. "I should probably change that back before anyone else prints something."

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha leans forward. "Did you rewrite the chemistry module? Or is the printer going to use whatever pigment works for fake fur, no matter what the material is you're printing?"

From:

slybrarian

"No, I left the chemistry alone. The last thing I want is it putting cyanide in the milk or something. Instead I just tricked it into thinking it's spitting out shades of purple and green when it's really using a moth-appropriate palette. I still don't have a clue why it has that restriction in the first place."

From:

zuhrovet

"It's not a restriction so much as an aesthetic judgment. Whoever wrote the color routines had strong feelings about the appropriateness of textiles. I think purple and green was their universal signal for Not Suitable For Children Over Ten? I ran into that when I was printing a sleeping bag." (Sasha had been so tired she'd accepted the green, albeit in a somewhat faded shade, even though it resolved to tiny images of ducks.)

From:

venndaai

Sulen shows up a few minutes after Alaric, and sits across from Sasha. They've changed out of their mocked-up Rahal uniform into extremely plain clothing, which to people familiar with Rahal mindsets indicates that they're taking this meeting very seriously. They also seem to have gotten either some very restful sleep or some effective stimulants. They nod at Sasha.

From:

yhlee

Ashari arrives, looking somewhat rested, several minutes after Sulen, perhaps just in time to catch the tail end of the discussion between Sasha and Alaric of aesthetic judgment. Ashari says, a little grumpily, "So that's why I could only get throw pillows in purple and green. Hideous. Absolutely hideous."

[Currently we're waiting on Iawa and Virmad, is that correct?]

From:

zuhrovet

[Also Remi, possibly? And Virmad might bring Gerae...]

From:

yhlee

[Yeah, let's have Remi show up with Iawa, and Gerae with Virmad.]

From:

lleullawgyffes

[do we want to rp retrieving Gerae or just skip it for convenience?]

From:

yhlee

[Skip it for convenience--assume that Gerae is willing to puppydog-follow his fellow Rahal around. ;) ]

From:

vass

Iawa almost bumps into Remi on their way through the door. This is awkward: their intention was to enter unobtrusively and [~~lurk moar~~] not make a spectacle of themselves.

"Excuse me," they mutter, waiting for him to pass them.

From:

yhlee

Remi sketches a bow to Iawa, although it looks faintly foreign in style. "No, the fault is mine," he says, politely enough. He precedes Iawa into the meeting room and takes a seat near Alaric.

From:

vass

His courtesy only makes Iawa more uncomfortable, given that the near-collision was definitely Iawa's fault. They mumble something awkward and find a seat of their own.

From:

lleullawgyffes

Virmad arrives, Gerae in tow; like Sulen, he’s changed from his vintage uniform into some simple civilian clothes — although not quite as dramatically plain as Sulen’s.

“You’ve met some of the crew,” he says to Gerae, “but here’s everyone.” And he’ll introduce Gerae briefly to everyone who hasn’t met him themselves.

From:

yhlee

Gerae may have questionable morals, but he's Rahal enough to catch the mood from Sulen and Virmad's plain clothing. He's very well-behaved during the introductions and is especially respectful to Ashari; he probably hasn't forgotten that Ashari has the power to order him spaced if he steps out of line.

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha tells Gerae, "Call me Sasha. If you weren't going to anyway."

From:

yhlee

"Yes, Sasha," Gerae says, subdued. He reaches up toward his left shoulder, then checks himself; presumably that's where Fluffy (not present) usually perches.

From:

zuhrovet

Fuck, the last thing Sasha wants is Ashari thinking she's trying to exert authority over the magistrate in any specific, formal way. She glances at them, but Ashari's in benign social mode, which gives her no information.

"How is Fluffy settling in?" Sasha asks Gerae.

From:

yhlee

Gerae looks cautiously hopeful that Sasha isn't going to have him spaced. "She's doing well. Currently napping in her enclosure--thanks to Alaric, by the way--with one of those purple-and-green moth toys."

[Let's say the purple-and-green moth toy was one of the failed creations while Alaric was screwing with the matter printer. ;) ]

Ashari clears their throat and taps a dagger against the wall, indicating that the meeting has begun. "Thank you all for showing up without setting off alarms, picking locks, or stealing additional pets," Ashari says. They're definitely in a quixotic mood. "Now, while it seems clear that our higher-ups set us up for failure, it would be remiss of me to allow this team to continue lurching about as we did in this mission. I would like constructive suggestions on how we can improve teamwork before we figure out next steps."

From:

slybrarian

"Well, it is not precisely teamwork related," Alaric says, raising one hand, "and I'm still not entirely clear on the sequence of events that lead to it, I probably was not the best option to send to retrieve Misha. While I like to think I'm quite handy with fisticuffs and skullduggery, perhaps we need someone handy-er in case abducting, punching, or shooting is something that will happen routinely in the future. Or past. You know what I mean."

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha fidgets with the coffee-table display (setting the interface to Naxorian-with-outgoing-translation, so anybody who wants to read over her shoulder has to work at it) and messages Alaric, thx 4 the support :( Aloud, she says, "Will we go on being a team, after this mission? Does anyone know how that usually works?"