new player welcome post

[yhlee]

[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.]

Comments

let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[zuhrovet]

"We could conceivably reconfigure, though," Sasha says, following up on Ashari's comment.

It seems that Fyedlet is occupied by chatting with the Rahal, and Seyli's asking very reasonable questions, so it makes perfect sense for Sasha to take her drink and go sit by them. She pulls up a map [scroll down] of the ship, using a convenient coffee table as the display surface. "There's some insulated cargo space next to the mothling habitat, where the range used to be, that we've been using for unarmed combat practice, and then some less finished cargo areas near the accesses to Engineering and Environmental. I'm not sure how much cargo we'll need to carry for our next mission, or when we'll set out. If we don't need the space for cargo, it would be easy to move walls around--we don't have full-on variable layout, but the ship can do a lot automatically. The hard part is reconfiguring the ductwork. We don't want to let lead dust build up, especially if it's going to be next to the mothlings' bedroom."

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[redshiftnova]

Aymad sips his unsettlingly orange Andan concoction and leans an elbow on the bar, tilting his head to keep one ear pointed at the pair - one of them is or was a Kel or he'll eat his boots - discussing ship layouts.

Which points his line of sight straight at one of the mothlings, and he loses a few seconds at the sheer weirdness of the things.

The drink is tasty, though.

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[yhlee]

The mothling flutters straight forward Aymad, tentacles waving. It's making a friendly? humming noise as it tries to alight on his arm.

[It will go away if shooed.]

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[redshiftnova]

He freezes, then carefully sets his glass down on the bar. Then he slowly extends his arm out towards the mothling and hums at it. He is definitely no longer paying attention to conversations around him at this point.

[For anyone who knows music things: He hums a minor pentatonic scale in E.]

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[yhlee]

The mothling drifts closer and warbles back. It can't hit the exact notes, but it definitely seems to be trying to follow the general contour of the "melody."

There's a much deeper hum as the Cantata [the moth they're in] repeats the same scale a couple octaves down, encouragingly.

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[hoardingpearls]

It's impossible to miss the moth - the big one - humming back. Reshad suppresses a startle and looks around for the smaller, similar sound, and then moves toward the humming person and the curious mothling.

"Do you sing?" She could be addressing either, with a polite gender-neutral pronoun.

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[redshiftnova]

Aymad glances at Reshad and smiles politely. "Badly, most of the time. Have you met the, er, mothlings before?"

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[hoardingpearls]

She smiles encouragingly. "Same. I liked some songs when I was a child, but-" she shrugs. "I've lost all the words now." She hums a bar, a minor pentatonic with no particular sense of rhythm behind it.

"This is the first time I've met the mothlings. They're quite unusual." Folding her hands before her, Reshad leans toward the little floating creature.

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[yhlee]

The mothling startles--or at least, its tentacles flail for a bit--then cautiously approaches her hands.

[It will attempt to alight on her hands, but will go away if shooed.]

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[kese_seyli]

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?"

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[zuhrovet]

"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."

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[kese_seyli]

"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.

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[zuhrovet]

"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?"

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[kese_seyli]

"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."

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[zuhrovet]

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.

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[kese_seyli]

"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."

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[zuhrovet]

"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?"

Re: let's have a sensible conversation about maps

[bariolage]

Ione's player may have been unconscious for five days but Ione has been quietly listening to this conversation with her head canted to one side, carefully not drawing attention to her apparently bizarre earrings.

"Do we have any ... non-moving headquarters options? A moon we could land on to use for practicing sorts of things? My, um, I was trained on an empty desert world for most combat."

She may also just want to see the mothlings' bedroom because she's still overwhelmed by how adorable they are, but is trying to keep that in check and look dignified while sipping this drink.

practice spaces

[zuhrovet]

Sasha shrugs. "Maybe? I'm not sure how much time for training we will have before our next assignment--all I know is that Ashari has been talking to people. Last time we had to sort things out in transit."

Sasha doesn't want to explain what Ashari sorting her out entailed, which means she needs to ask questions, instead. "Your training--was that mostly individual skills? Or did you work as part of a unit?"

Re: practice spaces

[bariolage]

Good call not giving Ione space to ask what Ione would have asked.

"I've never worked alone," she says in a way that almost sounds like it could be a confession. "It was a relief to find out I'd be part of a team here, even if it's not the people I'm used to being sent through dimensional rifts with. Always helps to shake things up, yeah?"

Ione would like to hope that saying that enough will make it true.

Re: practice spaces

[zuhrovet]

"What kind of rifts are you used to?" Sasha asks. "Do you know if they're the same kind as ours?"

She's glad they've got some people with experience, to balance out the flower child.

Re: practice spaces

[bariolage]

"Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how much you like physics? The person who can give you all the details on that answer isn't here. Because he only leaves his lab when he has to. Short answer," Ione says with a tiny little twitch shrug of one shoulder, "is that they're ... most likely not, since we made ours. I mean, they were deliberately constructed using ... math ... the details don't get taught to the majority of agents because they're confusing, and math isn't my strong point? But I suppose it is possible for that sort of matter-deconstructing-and-reconstructing to happen on a wild basis. I just don't have the faintest clue if it ever does. They don't feel similar, though, in the 'going through the rift here did not make me throw up' kind of way."

Conscious of the possible too-much-info, Ione smiles charmingly and sips her drink.

Re: practice spaces

[zuhrovet]

Sasha wishes people would try to explain math occasionally, instead of despairing from the beginning, but there are plenty of more practical questions to ask. "Did your rifts function like ours? That is, did you travel significantly in both time and space? Did you ever encounter people who seemed to be from other--other branches in time, I guess, where things turned out differently?"

Re: practice spaces

[bariolage]

If only Ione could - she's not an expert on the subject and has to squint for a second to find the right words.

"I'm not a technician, so I can only speak from the experience of someone who got sent through transport a lot, as opposed to -- I didn't actually do any of it, I don't know how to operate the system," thus implying also that she doesn't know how it works, maybe, "We rarely stayed in the same dimensional system, transport is generally used to switch between them, so it depends on how you define space I guess. Wouldn't use it to go to another planet in the same dimension, that would be a waste of computing power. A different dimension's version of that planet, yes, but not one you could travel to by ship or something. And as to time branching, they get classified as different worlds entirely then, so that's both a yes and a no I guess? Series Sixes, for instance, all have identical planetary structures but they're different because the outcomes of historical events are different? But I've probably been to nearly thirty of them, and sometimes we can look and say oh, this choice that was made here is why this is now 6-delta-4201 and not 6-delta-4200, and otherwise it's pretty much all the same down to the people living on it, rather like that?"

Ione's short answers are not short.

Never ask her for long answers.

[I was not the GM of her source game and did not devise this material, but I do have permission to have her blather about it ... since I later married the GM.]

Re: practice spaces

[zuhrovet]

"So you didn't go forward or backward within a timeline? You were primarily skipping sideways between different branches, what you're calling dimensions? And there wasn't a systematic way to characterize when a new dimension would split off? Can you give me any idea of what the power draw was to create one of your rifts, at least the order of magnitude?"

Sasha's also wondering if there are military applications, but she's not sure if Ione would tell her, and it's not like she has an R&D budget.