Hijinks Mingle

[potentite]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Anywhere around the hub!
When: Days 103-105
Open/Closed: Open mingle!
Notes: See this post for details on the moon prompt and this one for the telepathy/dream/spirit prompts!



[A | Flower Gleam and Glow]
[The nearby moon is still passing close to the hub island, meaning the effects are still in play. Perhaps now is the time to stop and smell the large lit up sparkling moonflowers that have bloomed? Or be annoyed by the mosquito-like insects that came with them.

Alternatively, the deer seem to draw some sort of energy from the moon's light. Given their size, at least their sudden aggression and proximity to the base camp isn't the worst thing in the world but a kick would still break a rib or other bone so be careful! Possibly help each other deal with these cute but troublesome fauna.]



[B | Eavesdropping]
[For some reason, the telepathy will suddenly get rather wonky. Characters won't know why it's happening, though of course no doubt there will be ponderings, but it means characters won't be in control of their ability to broadcast — or more specifically, not broadcast — their thoughts. Time to find out secrets of an embarrassing nature. Or maybe something sadder is going on in your character's head.

If this wasn't bad enough, the area around the signet might experience burning or tingling. Just try to keep a lid on your brain for the day and distract yourself from any annoying pain.]



[C | Talking In Your Sleep]
[Or maybe your character just doesn't have the most interesting thoughts. Maybe they're busy thinking about pie instead of their upsetting childhood. That's fair. Pie is great.

But surely sometimes it haunts their dreams. With the telepathy running amuck, it's no wonder dreams and nightmares are leaking through, too. Of course, it doesn't have to be an accident. Feel free to grab a friend and share a fanciful dreamscape together on purpose! But for those nuts that are tougher to crack, accidents can and will happen.]



[D | Who You Gonna Call]
[Last but not least, as Friday rolls around, there seems to be something odd going on with the island. If your character is inclined towards the spiritual or supernatural, they'll no doubt notice the strange heavy thickness hanging around. There are whispers in the air and all of new energy just feels solemn. Might be good to give people a heads up and keep an eye on it.]

Comments

[rebells]

[A shrug. Actually, he looks a little confused by the question. Why wouldn't he know who Dirk was?

Maybe he just doesn't want to be big right now. Maybe you broke his personality. It's probably the second one.

After a long pause, Tiny Jay ventures a,]

. . . is he coming back?

[splinten]

[There's a pause.]

I'll wreck his soul again if he does.

[That may not be a great idea. He may have broken Jay's personality. But it feels like the right thing to say.]

[rebells]

[ . . . he nods, and seems a little more relaxed hearing that.]

Okay.

[Congratulations! You did a NOT BAD THING.

The small child plops himself down on the apartment roof. If there are any external signs of Dirk freaking out, he has not noticed them.]

[splinten]

[Holy shit. He didn't fuck up. (Maybe. In this way.)

Dirk pauses a moment, and then sits across from Jay. He flashpuppets Cal to sit in his lap, because that's a good use of his time and energy.]

Do you know this is probably a dream?

[rebells]

[Another long pause before the kid nods.]

That's why he was here . . . he always is.

[The last part is nearly whispered.]

[splinten]

[Ah. A wire seems to snag somewhere in his inner workings.]

He seems like that kind of asshole, yeah. Sorry about that.

[rebells]

. . . I thought you'd ask more questions.

[For a moment, he sounds older--or was that your imagination?]

[splinten]

[He pauses. It did sound older. He thinks.]

It isn't as if the questions haven't crossed my mind, if I'm right in assuming what you were implying there. Going from that tenuous premise, I'd have to flip it turnways and ask you whether or not you'd ask that kind of question of me.

[rebells]

[This is not really a traumatized eleven-year-old kind of question. The kid seems to consider it carefully, though, looking uncertain.]

. . . no.

[He sounds surprised to have come to that conclusion. He also definitely sounds older, and looks a little older, too, like between one blink and the next he'd gained a year or two.]

I want to know things. But . . . .

[splinten]

[What do you mean traumatized eleven year olds don't contemplate ethics and empathy? Sounds Fake.]

But, you wouldn't. I don't intend on it either.

We can just hang, if you want.

[rebells]

All right.

[He sounds and looks like Jay, now, although he's wearing the same (sized-up) drab gray clothing tiny Jay was wearing, and his hair is tied loosely back rather than in the usual side ponytail. He looks around as though seeing the view from the apartment roof for the first time. Maybe he is.]

. . . is this your world?

[splinten]

[He opts not to comment on the look. He doesn't know enough to piece everything together, but he has a sense—so he doesn't comment.]

Yeah. This is the apartment I grew up in. Planet, Earth; country, America; state, Texas; city, Houston.

[Not Dirk's favourite place in Paradox Space. He isn't sure he has a place anywhere in Paradox Space he really likes, truthfully. But familiar, safe, and his. Somewhere he could take Jay to guard him.]

[rebells]

I didn't realize there was so much water.

It reminds him of Melfes, before humans came and created land there.]

[splinten]

The Condesce was really big on remodelling.

[A dry (hah) note. If anything, it was the reverse of the situation on Jay's planet. Alien invaders with a thing for the sea.]

Not much is left above sea-level, if anything. I assume a few mountains still peak past the water's surface.

[rebells]

[He's remembering mentions of a lost civilization now, and of deep-sea diving. He looks between the ocean and Dirk's face.]

Something similar happened on my world, about four or five thousand years ago. An incredibly destructive event called the Cataclysm.

[He's not sure how much Dirk really wants to talk about this, so he defaults to mentioning the parallels to his own world.]

[splinten]

[It doesn't seem to bother Dirk either way. The world ended. Then they left it.]

Any relation to the arrival of the non-sea folk?

[rebells]

Some. It wouldn't have happened if they'd never arrived; it was the Radiant's attempt to take back their planet from the people of the land. And to take revenge, most likely.

[It's also an easier conversation topic than his own past. Jay and Dirk Talk Apocalyptic Terraforming, fun for the whole family.]

[splinten]

You have to elaborate on what happened after a statement like that.

[Wow of course it's fun?? hdu]

[rebells]

We still don't know many of the details.

[That was a disclaimer, though, not a refusal to give information. He rests his chin in his hands, trying to sort out the tangled details he's been given for himself.]

I told you that humans arrived on Melfes--our planet--which was originally covered in water and inhabited by the Radiant. They came piloting the Legacy, an enormous ship the size of an island with capabilities unimaginable by the standards of modern technology. It could make land . . . they must have configured it somehow to use Radiant lives as its energy source, in the intervening years, because that was how they made the continents.

[He makes a bit of a face. Humans: not the greatest people in the multiverse.]

That led to war, and at some point during that war, the Radiant must have taken control of the ship.

[splinten]

[Wow. Wow.]

So Soylent landmass is people. Damn, and I thought the Batterwitch was brutal.

[rebells]

The . . . Batterwitch.

[Spoken with a slight raise of the eyebrows at the end. But yeah. Humans were definitely not the good guys here.]

[splinten]

The Condesce's pastimes include genetic experimentation on unwilling subjects, the slaughter of dissidents, and baking.

[rebells]

[Ah. He makes a face.]

And 'remodelling,' too. I see.

[splinten]

Naturally. Her genetic experiments were to her the same as remodelling the planet by sinking it. It was essentially an effort to recreate her home planet and its population.

[rebells]

Not so different from humans when they first arrived on Melfes, then. Though I can't say whether human experimentation is among the things we've done to the Radiant over the years. Most likely someone somewhere has tried it.

[He sounds oddly dispassionate, if subdued; a little sad and a little cynical, maybe.]