PORT: MEODRIOTOPE

[returnjourney]

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.

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Questions & Answers

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.

Comments

[dealwiththe]

Ooh, that'd be a fun job. But no. No, I'm an immortal celestial being, tasked for all of human history to rule Hell - that's the bad afterlife, where all the guilty humans go when they die to wallow in their own guilt for the rest of eternity.

[ He says this conversationally. As if he was saying I'm a banker or I'm a mailman. And there's no ego behind it, either. It's a dry recitation of facts, explaining who he is to someone who presumably doesn't have a Devil myth in his home universe. All very straightforward. ]

[grindset]

[Was Lucifer watching Mothra vs. Godzilla as he said this, or was he looking at Viktor? The difference being: either he will get to watch Viktor's expression transform, and his head slowly turn; or, he might get to turn himself and see Viktor already staring at him, his frown comically abrupt.

What the hell, says his face, are you talking about.]

[dealwiththe]

[ Lucifer's attention sort of slips from the movie to Viktor as he speaks, so he's able to catch most of the transformation.

Yeah. Yeah, it's like that. ]

Does your world not even have an afterlife? I suppose it's pretty confusing to explain in that case.

[grindset]

You don't need to explain the concept of legends. I'm familiar. We have plenty of things suitable for swearing on.

[His attention moves back to the screen.]

But what you just said sounds ridiculous.

[dealwiththe]

I know. Doesn't make it less true.

[ He's still being very matter-of-fact about the whole thing. It's the usual spiel, of people not believing him. ]

Though, perhaps slightly less ridiculous, given we've all signed on for this interdimensional prison ship. So what's your ridiculous story? What do you do, back home?

[grindset]

I design and build machines infused with magic.

[Viktor says, standing next to Satan on a spaceship while this Godzilla movie plays. Somewhere nearby is a snoozing robot owl.]

So, when you put it that way, [a conceding tilt of the head, fair.] Though you do have to admit it's a bit preposterous in present context. Especially this early in the morning.

[The next time he sneaks a glance, though, it's different—doubt in a less defensive shape. More curious.]

[dealwiththe]

Aha! See? [ Lucifer just looks delighted. Absurdity is kind of a hallmark of his life. It's just another Tuesday if he's dealing with three absurd things before breakfast. ] Magic isn't a thing in my world. Not magic that humans can do, anyway. Sounds ridiculous.

[ But he's pleased by it. Godzilla roars quietly. ]

What sort of magic? What does it do? Do you have magical flying cars?

[grindset]

[Viktor breathes into his cup while he sips, a soft puff through the nose, amused. Turnabout is more than fair—and a little nice to hear, besides.]

Mm, [swallowing,] no. Not yet, anyway. There may be sketches. [Who among us has not spontaneously conceived impractical aircraft with the bestie at three-thirty in the morning, I ask you—] The magic itself is naturally occurring, condensed in crystal formations. Now we're able to refine those crystals into, eh, something like a battery, which supplies a given device with arcane energy. The full potential has yet to be explored.

[Soft pat of a gloved finger tapping his cup, twice; it seems thoughtful.]

This technology is still considered new, in the grander scheme of things. We're, um... we're seven years in. So far.

[dealwiththe]

[ Lucifer is loving this. Magic is so cool. Stage magic, real magic from other worlds... doesn't matter. It's cool. ]

Incredible! Like when humans discovered electricity, but much cooler. So, what's the coolest gadget you've invented so far?

[grindset]

[An adaptive rune matrix,]

The Hexgates.

[People usually want to hear about that one—and the mechanical lack of effort needed to describe it offers a sidestep past the static creeping in among his thoughts.]

Near-instantaneous travel on an industrial scale, and all the revolutionary impacts that implies. I wouldn't call them gadgets, as such, but they are certainly our most popular innovation to date.

[dealwiththe]

Semi-magical teleportation! That's amazing. Humans haven't done teleportation in my world, so you've got a big leg up on them there.

[ Seriously, he's delighted. ]

[grindset]

[That enthusiasm is doing the heavy lifting keeping him in this conversation, really—]

It's the same in mine. There are legends of mages, and other such living conduits to the arcane, but as far as anyone knows we're the first to tap into it from a technological angle. You don't need to be a mage to operate Hextech—anyone can use it. Anyone, no matter who you are or where you're from. That's the point.

[He looks at Lucifer, then—just looks at him, for a moment. Keen yellow eyes, steady gaze.]

You're surprisingly friendly for a celestial being dedicated to eternal torment.

[dealwiththe]

And equal opportunity! Love it.

[ Lucifer just smiles, unfazed by any sort of steady piercingness~ ]

Well, the multiverse is full of amazing things and people. I didn't dedicate myself to eternal torment. I did it because I thought I had to. It took me a while to realize I didn't. I've moved on to better things now.

[grindset]

I'm guessing 'a while' means something different to you than it does to a human.

[On the terminal, humans are doing something in a hurry; he's not paying attention.]

[dealwiththe]

Several thousand years, in my case, yes. It’s easy to get stuck in a particular way of being, when you’re immortal and in Hell. But I eventually got tired of it, and started making changes.

[ Lucifer completely ignores the scenes where humans are talking and arguing. That’s not why anybody watches a Godzilla movie. ]

[grindset]

[Eternity is a daunting concept, but it's just a concept; the number provides a more recognizable shape. Several thousand years, just to get tired of something.]

That's... [an inconceivable luxury] commendable. I know someone who... well. His years are in the hundreds, not the thousands, but he's... let us say, committed to his idea of the way things should be.

[dealwiththe]

[ Lucifer, totally ignorant of Viktor’s world, imagines a human hundreds of years old. Well. Maybe magic did it! ]

That sounds like my Father. Created the universe, then ruled it without even thinking to consult anyone else or consider there might be other ways He could’ve done things, until very recently. He finally retired, and my brother took over the job. He’s made some positive changes so far. That’s what it takes sometimes - fresh eyes, new blood.

[ Surely there are no parallels there! ]

[grindset]

[Yes 100% a human and not a tiny cat-man with an irregularly large head. As for these definitely non-existent parallels,

Viktor gives Lucifer a funny look, sideways, like he isn't sure if this is on purpose. This is a person who spent thousands of years inflicting pain on the condemned, self-admittedly; if it's true, maybe he hasn't completely broken the habit.]

And your brother... you trust him to do right by all these... guilty humans?

[dealwiththe]

Oh, Amenadiel rules the universe, but Hell is still my purview. I help them now. Their guilt sends them to Hell, so I help them confront their guilt, so they can go to Heaven.

[ It’s simple, straightforward. Lucifer has no guile, no mockery about him. Not about this, anyway. ]

[grindset]

Oh.

[What else do you even say? This takes a solid moment to absorb.

Conclusion: he squints.]

Then... who is taking care of that while you're here?

[dealwiththe]

Hell pretty much runs itself, in general. I’ve got demons to do what daily tasks there are, and if something really wild happens, Amenadiel is popping down from time to time to check on things while I’m gone. He knows where I am, and what I’m doing here.

[ And there are so many human souls in Hell, many of them there for hundreds or even thousands of years. When you’re talking about eternity, a few months or even a few years on sabbatical will make no difference to his potential patients. ]

It’ll still be there when I get back. Hopefully, I’ll be even better at it when I do return - having the chance to challenge myself and learn here was one of the reasons I signed up.

So what made you decide to take the interdimensional plunge?

[grindset]

[Viktor is listening along, head tilted, doing his best to process this as something real that can and does really happen, because they are in space right now, and his life force has apparently been turned into a marble which is now implanted somewhere in his body, so why not eternity and demons and a self-running hell, too—

And it's the question that takes him aback. His posture lifts; not sudden, but notable.

Eloquently,]

Uh.

[Changing gears. Give him a second.]

Well, I, eh... [a tilting shrug, self-conscious,] the contract, and. [Resolving,] And, I... want to make a difference. Change the course of someone's life, for the better. If I can.

[dealwiththe]

[ Lucifer was sort of half-expecting a reaction like that. If he had ulterior motives, if he was manipulative or scheming, he might file it away, or use it to try and pry more -

But he's not. So he won't. He just smiles faintly. ]

Mm, I sincerely hope that's why we're all here. Don't worry; I'm not interested in prying into the details of your agreement with the Navarch. Mine are personal, as well.

[ Personal enough that he hasn't divulged them to anyone, and isn't planning to. ]

Her power is impressive, though. Not many beings can pull people from multiple, parallel universes like that. I suspect she'll be able to follow through on her end of the deals.

[grindset]

[Oh thank god, a topic shift. Personal details, what's that, he doesn't know her—]

Mm. Let's hope. Still, I wouldn't pin all our hopes on her alone—Navarch Minerva is just one officer, and this ship just one of many. The Admiralty's Transformative and Penal Reparation Fleet, [a recital, neatly plucked at by his accent.]

It could be she simply operates the technology.

[dealwiththe]

True. The real power may lie in whomever runs the fleet.

[ Lucifer tilts his head at Viktor curiously. ]

Does it concern you? I only ask because I've heard at least one other warden express concern, about their agreement being fulfilled.