Chapter 3.3: a belated meeting

[yhlee]

At 0800 local time, Ashari sends out a notice that everyone [= all the PCs and associated NPCs] should assemble for a planning meeting at 0830 in Conference Room A (the ballroom from last night).

At the same time, Ashari specifically messages Dar and asks her to set out a quick breakfast for the meeting, "nothing elaborate necessary, sorry about the short notice." [Dar is free to argue with this over the messaging system.]

Ashari will be in Conference Room A at 08,00 themself, pacing around and muttering and looking agitated, for anyone who shows up early. Among the early birds are Gerae, who keeps checking a nanny-cam app on his slate that keeps an eye on Fluffy and the baby Vraselian pseudo-dragons, and Istradez, who is looking around wistfully for non-sweet food.

ETA:
When most of the group has assembled, Ashari, still clearly ill at ease, says abruptly, "Some of you may be aware of the staggering emptiness of this timeline. I have decided that we need to evacuate, and soon, even though it means abandoning the base. Discuss."

[Please feel free to continue/wrap up threads from the previous move, Ch. 3.2. I will be responding to some threads there shortly.]

[Jedao's report to Sasha and Reshad will be forthcoming in a comment to this post shortly, once I remove a certain catten from my desk.]

Comments

eating or drinking

[zuhrovet]

Sasha appears at about a quarter past the hour, still slightly flushed from a very hot shower. She fills a mug with black tea and stirs in a couple of spoonfuls of the berry jam. Her first sip chases a stim.

Ashari seems sober this morning. Thank the Prophet for small favors.

Re: eating or drinking

[yhlee]

Jedao shows up around 0821, in unremarkable khakis, after having gotten in some morning exercise. He goes after the green tea and a careful helping of rice gruel with a bit of savory protein.

Remi arrives around 0825, wearing a necklace of mothlings: he has contrived a hollow torus of mesh to give them some room to wriggle around while remaining contained. He doesn't get anything for himself but efficiently snatches up a plate of warm leftovers for the mothlings' delectation.

Re: eating or drinking

[hoardingpearls]

Interesting; Remi is preventing anyone from separating him from the mothlings. Reshad greets him and them by names, then wanders off to the buffet, with a 'good morning' for anyone else around.

Buns and grilled tofu sound good, and she hunts around for anything made with fish before adding a cup of tea, black and unmodified.

She'll settle in to watch people move and cluster before the meeting begins.

Edit: Reshad is wearing much less extravagant clothing than yesterday: unremarkable trousers and a loose green jacket with an asymmetrical front. Her hair is in its customary bun, decorated with a gold-toned pin.

Re: eating or drinking

[kese_seyli]

Seyli grabs a bunch of savory foods and sweet black tea and goes to sit beside Remi and the mothlings, having gotten rather attached to them the night before. "Can I help feed them?" They ask, voice low. "I had fun last night spending time with them."

Re: eating or drinking

[bariolage]

Ione is as plain as she wasn't for the party; standard issue medical-bay-scrubs are the first thing that come to mind for her to wear, and are the simplest things to grab, so that's what she did. Instead of a white coat she's got a long, tight-waisted black jacket. There isn't currently a pseudo-dragon baby wrapped around her shoulders, but there so often is that she can't help grinning openly at Remi's similar jewelry.

Eating is for other people, but she did take tea and chooses to sit by Seyli (and Dr. Moth Clothing).

Re: eating or drinking

[yhlee]

Remi nods courteously to Seyli: a little tense, but making an effort to be cordial. "Of course," he says, and removes the mothling-necklace to settle it in his lap. A curious tentacle or three reach out in Seyli's direction. "I'm sure they'd enjoy a chance to interact, if you don't find them too distracting."

He also nods in response to Ione's grin, although he's not smiling himself.

Re: eating or drinking

[kese_seyli]

Seyli amuses themselves before the meeting begins feeding and playing with the moths, seemingly more relaxed than anyone from the Cantata has seen them since Jedao came aboard.

Re: eating or drinking

[venndaai]

[Are the dragonets old enough to be carried around? If so, Sulen is carrying theirs, and seems only half aware of it. If not, they hover near Gerae to look at his tablet over his shoulder.]

Sulen doesn't eat, but pours a mug of black tea and adds an unhealthy amount of powdered stimulants. Their eyes are very faintly and rapidly flickering in color but aside from that they look calm. "Any updates since last night?" they ask Sasha quietly.

Re: eating or drinking

[zuhrovet]

Sasha shrugs. "You saw the reports. Do you have any sense of where they're leaning?"

She hopes Ashari will give the order to evacuate, with reasonable haste. Thirty-five hours would be perfect. That gives time to liberate the other moths, pack, and wipe as much data as possible out of the base's grid. Less time would be a scramble; more is just more time for whatever's out there in the dark to find a signal.

Re: eating or drinking

[yhlee]

[Real quick--yes, dragonets are old enough to be carried around and in fact would benefit from gentle handling and socialization at this age anyway.]

Re: eating or drinking

[hoardingpearls]

[Oh excellent! Reshad's jacket has just developed pockets, so that her hatchling can be in one.]