VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-01-11 05:58 am

Fierce New World- Mission Start!

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day six of the month of Jelly." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preparation and Arrival

They have a short time to prepare for their mission, enough time to read their briefs, make decisions, meet in their teams and gather anything they may need.

A few hours later there is another announcement. "Shortly arriving on System #2207385. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world #2207385. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train judders as it leaves the void, the colours from the windows turn into the blackness of space but quickly white as the train descends into the entrance of the biosphere.

The doors of the train open and passengers can enter the large white-walled holding bay. Currently, they are the only vehicle inside. There are four large doors around the bay each labelled with where they lead. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The doors open easily, and their SCA’s show a basic route, though the non-linear nature of the sectors mean that obstacles will need to be navigated. While they are in a closed world, there is a day and night cycle: the panels far up above are designed to make it seem like there is a natural sky, brightening and dimming every ten hours.

Red/Summer

Empty Streets

Wide streets divide sealed-off factories and manufacturing pods that tower up towards the ‘sky’. It is hot here, though the fumes from the factories are vented out, leaving the air breathable if overly warm.

Sometimes the pods are not yet finished, empty shells that can be sheltered in. There are also stations for living, with plumbing and basic amenities scattered through the sector. Places to rest as they move towards the center and the Great-Summer that they seek.

Helpmates

Where factories are still being built they will find Helpmates, operating machinery or moving materials.

They will not pause in their tasks for long but are programmed to answer questions so can be drawn into a conversation. Or, if the Voidtreckers are unfortunate, they will find those that are malfunctioning turning on them as they approach.

They aren’t too difficult to fight, but can do some damage with the machinery if they manage to take a Voidtrecker by surprise. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down outright.

Wild Weather

Though warm, the corridors remain a constant temperature that is not too unpleasant for people. For the most part. Unfortunately, due to the malfunctioning state of things routes may become impassable. Boiling air, freezing blasts, electricity crackling across a pathway.

Their SCA’s do a good job of warning them, allowing them to change direction or shelter in nearby buildings.

Purple/Autumn

Exploring

The Autumn sector is the least complete of the sectors, with shells of habitation pods and not much else. No one is expected to live here until nearing the end of construction, and so the pods are unfurnished, many missing doors, some missing internal walls.

Outside the streets are wide and clearly made to be pleasant to walk on; it is airy, bright and spacious, if a bit eerie due to the quiet.

There are panels on the walls, to call Helpmates to appear. Here they are primarily for helping citizens, giving directions and offering aid.

Malfunctions

Since there are more helpmates there is more risk of them malfunctioning. They attack with or without weapons, using any tools they can pick up to attack. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

They won’t chase people into the houses, their privacy programming preventing them from doing so.

Turned Around

The roads seem simple, built in a grid pattern around the houses. However, whatever is going wrong here is affecting the very streets themselves. Sometimes there will be a wall where there wasn’t before or roads go in circles. Sometimes they find themselves at a dead end, trapped until structures shift again.

Their SCA’s do their best to keep up but it can take a while for them to reroute and by the time they do, that path might be blocked too!

Blue/Spring

Patchwork Forest

The Spring sector houses the hydroponics and pastoral sections. It alternates between grazing land and more heavily forested areas with rows of pine-like trees in a checkerboard pattern, with empty plots interspersed. Walkways divide each square, but all squares appear able to move about as required, as though on a conveyor system.

There are clear walkways to avoid stepping on any newly growing plants. In the grazing land live flocks of camelid creatures resembling alpacas with blueish wool, on average a metre and a half tall at the shoulders. Helpmates appear here as if on a timer to feed the animals and tend to plants.

Destruction


If the Helpmates here malfunction they attack anyone nearby, cause havoc to any farming equipment and frightening the animals.

They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down. The panels here are less obvious than they are in the more urban sectors, low to the ground, looking almost like energy panels. But once they know what to look for they will be able to use them to shut down the Helpmates.

Stampede

Frightened animals are likely to flee and unfortunately in this case it means rampaging across the grazing land to the newly growing trees.

They will need to be calmed, returned to their grazing lands and the plants restored. Or it might be that the Voidtreckers can stop the Helpmates before the creatures get too spooked.

Orange/Winter

Exploring

The Winter sector’s primary concern is life support. Huge banks of air scrubbers form artificial cliffs, while other sections are tanks filled with water in varying stages of processing or recycling.

The paths here are a lot narrower than they are in other areas, sometimes requiring moving between pipes or scrambling over layers of railing.

There doesn’t seem to be any easy or straightforward path through the sector, their SCA takes them on wild winding routes through the machinery.

Help or Hindrance

The fluctuating temperatures here are causing problems with many of the pipes, several sections are flooded, others are in danger of being so.

There are patch kits in easily opened panels, designed to be used by the helpmates and indeed there are many helpmates out.

But some are less helpful, those that are malfunctioning are more likely to cause more damage than they are there to fix. They will attack any one who tries to interfere with them. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

Patch Job

Once the malfunctioning Helpmates are dealt with the pipes still need to be fixed. The patch kits do not have any instructions but are simple enough that anyone with a basic knowledge of how to fix things should be able to figure them out- though the more knowledge and expertise they have the better the fix!

For those that don’t, many of the jobs will need more than one person and so for those that don’t mind taking instructions they will find an extra pair of hands is always welcome.
reluctantjinrou: (Sideways Glance)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-01-29 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"I understand the mundane being boring." He commented softly as she continued.

When she got to the part of people deciding she'd done it, he clicked his tongue in open annoyance. "I hate that, when people just decide things for you."

"It's incredibly unfair." He believed her that she didn't do it without any hesitation. "Did you ever find this doctor?"
irrationally: (tell me what's my destination)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-29 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hmm." She nods, humming lightly.

Something about this feels a lot more weirdly comfortable than she thought it would. Even though she usually hates being close to people, right now, it just feels warm. Both physically and emotionally - the latter since he meets her with an easy understanding that she never found before back home.

"I had blocked out my memories of that night. I didn't remember what started the fire, and I started worrying that maybe everyone was right and I did do it. Even when I managed to get out of the asylum after ten years, I still had to see a psychiatrist for my mental issues with the event. He tried to help me.. forget all of it. He said it would be for the better."

And Alice had blindly believed that back then.

"Of course that psychiatrist turned out to be the person who had burned down the house in the first place. He was trying to make me forget so there would be no evidence left of his crime." Her tone turns a bit harder at that - just at the very memory of that awful, awful man. "Once I found out, I pushed him in front of a train."
reluctantjinrou: (Glancing Around Corners)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-01-30 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Natsuno was quiet as she spoke, considering that. It made sense that she didn't want to remember. It was traumatic. There were things he'd forget if he could.

His lips pressed together when she mentioned the doctor, and at the conclusion he nodded. "Good."

"I should be for getting justice, but I doubt that you would've if you didn't do it yourself."
irrationally: (i don't know what is real)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-01-30 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
It's easier, really. That Natsuno doesn't question it, that he doesn't insist on that she should have found some other way to go about it.

But it's not too surprising either that he just says 'good'. Alice already felt like Natsuno was exactly the sort of person who'd understand this kind of thing.

"There's no way anything would have happened to him otherwise." Her voice is a little more quiet than a moment ago as she says it, and Alice shakes her head. "He did more awful things-- so many awful things. But no one would have believed me if I had told them about it. He was somehow seen as a respected member of society, whereas I'm nothing more than an utter outcast."
reluctantjinrou: (Hmmmm)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-01-31 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"Then he got what he deserved." He huffed lightly. His perspective on things had changed based on the events of the summer he'd endured.

"You don't strike me as a liar anyway." Natsuno commented. "So they should believe you."
irrationally: (reverberating through my dreams)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-01 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not that easy."

If only it was. There's a reason why it feels kind of weird to Alice that he's so readily willing to believe her. This easily. Just agreeing with her. It's something she's never experienced back home.

"Everyone knows that I've been in the asylum. They all think I'm literally insane. That I can't be trusted for it. They call me violent, or unstable, or they say I'll be back in the asylum before long." Alice has been pretty good at masking her hurt while talking about all of this - up to this point. Because she does stop for a moment, seeming like she really has to force herself to speak on. Like saying all of this is hard. It's hard, knowing what people think about you. Knowing no one cares, knowing no one bothers to see the real you.

She closes her eyes for a moment.

"Who would ever believe me then?"
reluctantjinrou: (Default)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-02-01 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"Anyone with a brain in their head." Natsuno said with a rude snort.

"Look. Even if they were right and you were in an asylum because you were as insane as they said, they let you out, which would mean you'd gotten better." Natsuno pointed out.

"I don't think you're any more insane than I am, for whatever that is worth." She'd have to decide how insane he was, really.
irrationally: (Default)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-02 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Alice doesn't say anything to the last part - which is surprising. Alice, actually skipping out on an opportunity to make a sarcastic quip? That really must mean she's being serious right now, while they're discussing this whole heavy topic.

"Nobody thinks I've gotten better." It's a stigma that just clings to you forever, especially in her time. Alice already knows she won't ever be seen as anything other than the local loonie. Hence why no one would believe her - and she knows it.

But while that part is something she might admit to more people, the next part is not something she'd say as readily. But right now..

"Some days I think they're right."
reluctantjinrou: (Mournful Glance)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-02-04 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"It doesn't sound to me like there was anything to get better. Except maybe living with the trauma, and if you've faced that head on then..." He exhaled slowly. "You've done a better job of it than I have."

Natsuno was very much avoiding dealing with anything, for as long as he could help it. He wasn't supposed to have to.

"And if you mean traumatic stuff, I don't know that it ever leaves you completely." He murmured. "But that doesn't make you insane. I don't think you are."
irrationally: (i was travelling through the past)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-05 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"Nonsense. Sure, you are.. broody." Is that a good word for Natsuno's behaviour? Alice thinks so. And it's immediately the most diplomatic way of putting it, since her intention here is not to insult him at all.

Especially while they're still so close together right now, anyway.

"But it sounds like you tried to handle everything that was going on back where you're from as well." How isn't that facing things head on?
reluctantjinrou: (Can't take it anymore)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-02-07 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Natsuno sighed a little bit. "Taking revenge and getting everyone killed including myself is a fine way to avoid...everything I feel about the situation."

His hand clenched into a fist against her arm.

"And the longer I'm alive, the longer it's bothering me."
irrationally: (i don't know what is real)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-07 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
She goes quiet for a moment.

Alice isn't too sure on how far to push, but considering everything she told him just now.. Natsuno probably wouldn't mind sharing anything in turn as much in the fact of that, right?

"What do you feel, then? What are you avoiding..? Just that bothered feeling?"
reluctantjinrou: (Mournful Glance)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-02-12 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
"A lot of people I know died. People that I...got along with or didn't, but maybe should have and I just..." Natsuno sighed. "I didn't have to worry about that because you know, dead. Tohru died and I dove in headfirst. I'm not sorry I did that. My mom, also, is probably dead. And my father has just..."

He hadn't really gotten into that at all. "He snapped. He's not...he's barely lucid anymore. I don't...think he died."
irrationally: (reverberating through my dreams)

[personal profile] irrationally 2021-02-12 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Losing people," she says, as if trying to draw a conclusion from everything he's saying. Alice isn't too sure if that's it, since Natsuno is saying that he didn't have to worry about it since they were dead.

But maybe that's just something he is telling himself. Alice is no stranger to trying to convince yourself of things you aren't actually feeling.

"Is that what's been hard on you? Is that what makes it easier to just die as well?"