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

[rank1]

Travis sits back in the seat, head turned lazily to Jack.

"You think he's gonna be handy?" Travis replies, skepticism on his voice. "He's just gonna snivel and play the victim."

[n0ught]

He has a point. It's not like they can blame it all on Rhys if they get caught. No one would believe them.

"We're already carrying dead weight." Literally, with Waver taking a nap in the back. "Could be a good hostage, if things get fucked."

[rank1]

That gets a scoff; it veers annoyed only because he doesn't bother to cover it up.

"I didn't take you for the type of girl who'd take hostages."

Seems cheap to him.

[smugreport]

"I can literally hear everything you're saying."

He pushes the nausea induced sweat on his forehead up and back into his hair. He's feeling better, present conversation aside.

"I know tech, probably better than either of you. If this thing breaks down your boned without my insight."

Does he know the ins and outs of Peregrines tech? No, it's an enigma. But he could figure it out if he needed to.

"That, and as soon as we get neat a signal I can connect with whatever the local network is. You wanna drive around aimlessly or do you want access to local info?"

[n0ught]

It's almost like... Jack and Travis don't care if Rhys hears them...

Jack levels an unimpressed look at Rhys. "You think I'm fucking stupid? I can figure that shit out myself."

[rank1]

"I only let you tag along as a favor to Volk," Travis adds. "So don't let your being here go to your head."

Poor Volk looked like he was going to go apeshit, and a scene would spoil the whole mood.

1/2

[smugreport]

[ What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my division in Hyperion, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Maliwan, and I have over 300 confirmed hacks. I am trained in echonet warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire 6 Galaxy armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this planet, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the entire universe and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the Atlas Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo. ]

2/2

[smugreport]

The only reason, the only reason Rhys is practicing even a tiny measure of restraint over his desire to retaliate at Jack and Travis and what huge, stupid assholes they are is because he doesn't want to get kicked out and left to rot on this shitty planet.

He will endure this only because his end goal means so much more but you'll see you'll all see.

He sits his ass back in the ATV, slams the door shut with unnecessary force.

“I'm good.”

[rank1]

"Can't believe I let you come," he mutters, though he doesn't put any actual effort into lowering his voice. He glances at Jack and then gestures at the other front seat. "Ride shotgun. I hate feeling like a chauffeur."

And then he leans over to crank the music back up, and while he's at it, fiddle with the console until all the bass is focused on the back seats:

––won't ever slack up, punk you better back up
Try and play the role and yo the whole crew'll act up!