hexarchate_rpg | new player welcome post

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moves

new player welcome post

[Hello, new players! This post is for new and old players to get acquainted with each other in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC). I will be updating the character roster shortly for easy reference. Characters from the first arc who are still wrapping things up in Move 24, feel free to continue; I'll get to y'all shortly.

In the meantime, feel free to introduce yourself in OOC threads, including any information you want other players to have about you (including pronouns if relevant, or what time zones you're usually on, that kind of thing.]

[IC]
Ashari has just recruited a number of newcomers to the team in the hopes of shoring up its weaknesses and is, in classic Andan fashion, throwing a party on the Cantata (the moth ship formerly known as the Wasp and/or Bumblebee) so that folks can meet-and-greet. There are canapés, and Ashari promised Sulen that there are no recreational substances other than the alcohol if anyone wants it; Ashari is currently in the galley mixing drinks for anyone who asks. The public spaces of the interior have been decorated with somewhat lopsided and overly colorful artificial flowers (the matter printer was feeling cranky) as well as plush moths. There are in addition six friendly levitating baby moths, all wriggly tentacles and eyes, who will gravitate toward anyone who sings to them, and who like to be petted.

For the purposes of this post, "public areas" include the galley, the common room, and the storage hold, which has been temporarily pressed into service as a place where people can hang out. People are also welcome to hold private conversations elsewhere. For the moment, however, the cockpit, engine room, commander's office, and communications room/gunnery are off-limits.

[See this wiki entry on the Cantata-Wasp for more details on its layout.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Seyli nods in greeting as Sasha comes toward them, and she even gets a smile as she starts answering serious questions for him.

"Well, consider me muscle to haul things around if they need to be moved to reconfigure. I know I'm proficient and can miss a few days at the range, I am uncertain about anyone else here." They are trying to withhold snap judgement about the Hafn woman.

They glance over at one of the mothlings and than back to Sasha. "So those are future ships?"

"Those are children," Sasha says, stern. She's inclined to like Seyli; she hopes they'll have the sense not to push.

"As far as firearms proficiency goes, we're primarily going to be relying on you and Aymad there. I'm sure Ashari's deadly with any weapon you'd like to name, but they prefer knives; Reshad might be similar. I was fairly serious about marksmanship as a teenager, but I lost access to a range when I moved to the heptarchate, and I've only just started skilling up again. Mishka's academy scores were pretty good, but he has literally been known to forget that guns use ammunition. Fyedlet of the Flowers seems to run on a similar principle."

"Heptarchate?" They knew that they were all out of time, but it is still disconcerting to hear. They shake their head as if to indicate Sasha doesn't need to say anything and keep moving forward. "Children, gotcha."

Their lips twitch at "Fyedlet of the flowers" and they can't help a glance back to the young woman. "I assure you that I not only know guns require ammunition, I even carry extra rounds," they add dryly.

"I find it delightful to work with professionals like yourself," Sasha says. She uses the old pronouns, the ones that make a careful distinction between singular and plural. "Is there anything else you'd like to know? Are you sure you wouldn't like a drink?"

"I don't drink alcohol if I could potentially be working," Seyli says with a glance over to the bar. They're not even sure why they're at a...mixer? to begin with, it seems very Andan. They may not be an actual Kel any longer, but they'd always been a grunt and never expected to play nice with important people at parties. "It goes hand and hand with the professional label."

Sasha stares at Seyli without speaking for a moment, partly because she's wondering if they meant the implied criticism, and partly because she's trying to work out how they celebrate a contract. Maybe they don't, and the entire heptarchate is just that unlucky. That would explain a lot.

"If I brought you a beer and a sober-up as chaser, would you toast the success of this mission with me?" Sasha asks.

"Shit, I didn't quite say what I mean," Seyli says at the stare. "I wasn't expecting a party, I was expecting logistics planning around a table, to get orders and be sent off to lug cargo somewhere," they admit. "But if that's not happening, and I don't need to be working, yeah I'll take a drink." A slight pause. "A cider over a beer though, I can't stand the taste of beer."

"On it."

Sasha heads to the galley (taking her own glass with her) and returns with an open bottle of cider and a wine glass. She pours for Seyli and passes them the glass. "I'm afraid working for an Andan is not going to get less weird. Ashari likes to wait for maximum chaos before making an entrance. Anyway. Cheers?"

"Cheers," Seyli says, tapping their glass against Sasha's and taking a sip. "I can't say I'm thrilled about dramatics, but everyone seems like that's normal, so I should get used to it, is what you're indicating?"

Sasha's glad she always flushes when she's drinking, because she's definitely turning pink. "We're trying to increase the efficiency level, but things have been interesting. Um. How do you feel about teaching? Ankat was running some unarmed combat classes for us, but his next assignment is elsewhere."

"Teaching?" Seyli mulls that over. "I've never done it any kinda formal capacity, but provided people listen to me, I don't think I'd object to giving it a try. I might not be the gentlest of teachers, if we're doing unarmed combat." They know themselves well enough to know they can be impatient and rough with new recruits, and figures this isn't going to be much different.

Sasha grins. "I might not be the gentlest of students! I think Aymad used to do some sort of teaching? That's one of the new foxes, over there with the mothling. He might have ideas about drills, too."

"I'm sure foxes have ideas about teaching." Ideas that Seyli did not want to get tangled up with in practice or theory. "But I'm also sure I can figure something out, once I assess where everyone is."

"Oh, you don't want everything to be a game?" Sasha's grin widens. "I used to work with a lot of kids who had failed the exams for Shuos Academy, or didn't stick it after the first year. It's a hazard of independent security analysis. Some of them were reasonable once you gave them a win condition other than collecting imaginary tokens, but I was so grateful when I got people who had gotten into grid-diving by some other route."

"I might be more inclined to throw myself out an airlock than playing useless games. I like practical, hands on teaching." A brief pause. "Fuck, are you a Shuos? How many Shuos will I be dealing with, and is it too late for me to space myself?"

"Fuck, no." Sasha's finishing her second tequila, which might be why she gives the medium-long version: "I took the Nirai exams, but they asked me to prove something that wasn't true in characteristic seven, and it turns out a page and a half of 'what the fuck were you thinking' isn't a passing grade. So then I had to get a day job. About the Shuos, there were two on our last mission, probably three on this one. If you have to space someone, I recommend starting with Mishka; he's the teenager."

Seyli nods, like they know what the hell Sasha's talking about in regards to characteristic seven, whatever it was, it certainly left an impression in her mind. At least she's not a fucking fox. "A teenager?" Their eyebrows shoot up again and they glace back toward the woman with the flowers. "Another teenager? I clearly should have asked more questions before I signed on," they say, with a huffing little laugh.

"Yeah, we've got a tiny foxling who doesn't know the meaning of fear. With luck, one of the adult foxes will get stuck with the babysitting." Sasha shrugs. "I don't know if you see traveling in time as an advantage? I think that's worth the price of admission, most days. But maybe it's different if this is your past, and not your future."

[If you want to start a new thread, so we're not quite as far sideways, I'll follow you!]

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