returnjourneylogs | PORT: MEODRIOTOPE

PORT: MEODRIOTOPE

Feb 11, 2022 – Feb 13, 2022
Welcome to Meodriotope! (Try spelling that without double-checking. I double-dog dare you.) This is our first port. Ports are, as the name implies, a visit to "shore", which can be just about any planet in the Oos Galaxy. This time, the Peregrine is dropping in on a flower-gathering errand, but it's a good opportunity for characters to stretch their legs.

The full OOC write-up for the port is here. If you have any questions about the event, please ask here.

1. Disembarking

For some passengers, this will be the first time they've touched land in almost forty days. Is it unusual, stepping down onto solid ground and breathing cool, fresh air? Is it frightening, to look upon the sea of blue grass and pale sky and realize you have never been so far from home? Is it exciting? Awe-inspiring? Gross, because who likes the outdoors anyway?

Of course, not everyone will disembark. Inmates cannot leave the ship without a warden as escort, and wardens will be responsible for inmates in port — they don't have to be glued to each others' sides, of course, but it's harder to make trouble under a watchful eye.

2. Camp

There'd be a lot of walking without the ATVs, so the Navarch has deployed both vehicles to serve as transport and support for housing. The campsites, once set up, look very much like regular Earth camping — turns out at some point in human development, people pretty much perfected what a rapid set-up/rapid tear-down camp can be, give or take some aesthetic trappings. A sleeping bag is a sleeping bag. A camp stove is a camp stove. It's just cooler when it's made of sleek white metal with designer rounded edges and blue lighting, and all.

There are four tents set up, each sleeping 4-6 people, so even if everyone decided to camp, it won't be too crowded. They are equipped with a solar-air tube that can generate power from sunlight, so they are climate controlled and have built-in lighting. An additional tent serves as a mess tent, though you'll all be eating on little folding chairs. Plastic trunks store rations. Those who want a bit of local fare will have to work for it.

Wardens also have a locked toolbox containing a hatchet, a firestarter, and a pair of utility knives. Should be handy for setting up a campfire at night. Shame no one picked up marshmallows from the commissary; that would have been nice.

3. [Mis]adventuring

There's plenty to see out in the world of Meodriotope:

Burrowing holes — Beware your ankles: the fields are home to colonies of littari, rabbit-like creatures the size of labradors. They leave large holes that are easy to fall into, if you're not watching where you step. This time of year, they usually stay deep in their warrens, but occasionally they pop up to smell the wind and scavenge for edible plants in the thick grasses. They're largely harmless, preferring to flee when possible, but they may go for the calves with their large, blunt teeth when cornered or struck. (They also taste good with mint sauce.)

Lover's Kiss — These little plants can be difficult to find, as they thrive under the grasses' shade, but when you find one, you find a lot of them. Each vine has fifty or more bright, red blooms, pinched at the sides and bowed in the middle like a pair of juicy lips. The Navarch requests that they be harvested; they're used in medicines on a neighboring planet and the Admiralty has asked the Peregrine to pick some up while we're in the area. Be careful, though: if you pluck them too roughly, they'll explode, and the red markings take weeks to wear off skin, even with dutiful scrubbing.

The Fishwives' Village — Five hours west is a small village close to the shore, home to...well, who knows if they're wives, but they have fish heads and bodies with humanoid arms and legs, and they wear little robes. Kind of like reverse mermaids. They are quite small, barely reaching four feet tall, and they speak their own language, leaving communication to little gesticulations and gestures. They live in small stone huts, arranged in concentric circles with a small market in the middle, and barter roast seafood, handicrafts, crabgrass beer, and small tools for off-world goods. Most of their culture seems to revolve around fishing and goods made of woven grasses. The fishwives are fussy about outsiders and carry little fishing spears when they visit, just in case.

The Shoreline — Long, long, long coastlines looking out at the sea, with beaches made up of smooth stones. There are plenty of interesting sea creatures to see in the rocky tide pools, but try not to handle anything indiscriminately (many things bite and some of those things are venomous). You can walk a long way out before the water gets deep, but be careful and make sure you aren't too far out when the tide comes in.

Rock Formations — Weathered in fascinating shapes from centuries of storms and high winds, these formations curl across the southeastern plains. They make swooping sounds when the wind passes through them, like deep and echoing woodwinds. Suneoff, resembling cat-sized mudskippers, dwell in the formations' shadow, while the bat-like knassu nest in the better protected crannies.

4. A Very Wet Last Day

Looks like we didn't manage to miss the rain. The storm clouds on the horizon take their sweet time to arrive, but on the last full day before departure, wardens and inmates will wake to the sound of heavy rain on the roofs of their tents. For some, it may be a struggle to leave the warm, dry confines of the tent to venture into rain. It's the kind that comes down relentlessly, soaking you to the skin within minutes, and cold to boot.

To make matters worse, the rain has transformed the long grasses into a veritable slip-n-slide. Step too quickly and you might find yourself shooting down a sloping hill, or at the very least on your ass. Visibility drops to barely twenty feet ahead.

Packing up in this? Ugh. We have to be back on the ship by nightfall! Anyone who isn't aboard gets left behind.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hanging out in nature on a foreign planet with Lucifer is up there, on the strange chart, but Claire's at least polite. Regardless of who he says he is, he is a warden, apparently. That's what she keeps reminding herself.

Everything is great for like, three minutes, and then he has wings and Claire screams in surprise, clutching her empty basket.

She wonders what the Auto Doc can do about heart attacks.]

[ Woops.

The scream draws Lucifer away from the hunt, and in a moment, he lands, wings furling away again, leaving him looking once again like just a normal, tall dude in a nice suit. ]

I do apologize, Doctor Claire. I forget sometimes, how off-putting it can be at first.

[ He's all concern - annoyance vanished. He steps towards her, then stops himself, his hand sort of half-outstretched, like he's prepared to catch her if she faints, but again - sometimes people flinch away from his touch. ]

You forget?

[Her voice is a few octaves higher, hand against her chest. No fainting, and she stands her ground.

She just looks Very Annoyed.]

[ Oh good, no fainting. He can deal with Mild British Annoyance. He drops his hand, keeps some distance between them. If she wants to Nope Out of the conversation by walking away, he certainly won't stop her. She's a warden and can do what she likes. But, she's still here. It's a start. ]

Yes, it's been some time since I've dealt with anyone who isn't dead, and in Hell.

[ There's some kind of sadness in his eyes as he says that, but he doesn't acknowledge it - he keeps his voice light and conversational. Straightforward. He might as well be talking about the weather. ]

I usually send Belios to give the "welcome to Hell" speech, or Squee. We've finally found something Squee is good at. By the time they meet me, the initial shock has usually worn off.

Well, you just nearly killed me.

[Dramatic, but she is. She heaves a big breath, then drops her hand.]

You might want to be careful doing that around some of the inmates for the same reason.

[ Very dramatic, Doctor Claire. Lucifer even snorts faintly. She's a doctor, after all. He has pretty high respect for the medical profession, generally. He suspects she's doing just fine, if she's able to be snippy with him. He only startled her. ]

I suspect most of the inmates would pride themselves on not being impressed by my wings. Alex demanded proof I'm really the Devil, and apparently the wings weren't enough to convince him. But I've found some humans have serious difficulty accepting something that would so thoroughly overturn their world view.

[ He gives Claire a somewhat pointed look. ]

[She will take that hint, thank you very much.]

Can you blame them?

No, I can't.

[ He still hopes for, desires, acceptance. It's not a big deal - his feelings aren't hurt. He's experienced it, he knows what it is to be loved and accepted for who he is, so it's no longer some kind of overweening problem in his life. Still, though. ]

But we are all on an interdimensional prison ship. We wardens were told what it was and agreed to it, even. People with magical powers, aliens from other planets - I'm the first to admit, I'm egotistical, but I didn't think I'd be that big a deal.

Lucifer is different from finding out magic and other worlds exist.

[And space aliens and all that.]

And even on top of that... the wings? That's a lot .

Is it, though?

[ Lucifer regards her curiously for a moment. ]

Would you consider yourself religious, Doctor Claire? If that's too personal a question, I understand. I'm just curious.

[It's a good question.]

Depends on the day. I know for a fact there are things beyond explaining.

[Even before all this.]

Things beyond explaining, but not this thing? [ He gestures vaguely at himself, smiling a little. ]

It's interesting to me. One of my dearest human friends is very pious. She didn't believe me any more than anyone else, of course - thought I was a method actor, of all things. But she eventually realized it was true. She was upset - not to realize that she was friends with the actual Devil unknowingly for several years, but because she thought I didn't trust her. She already believed in the general concepts. She would've accepted me. Some of the most religious people I've known have been the most accepting.

PORT: MEODRIOTOPE

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