returnjourneylogs | SET SAIL: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

SET SAIL: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

January 1, 2022 – January 7, 2022
Welcome to the new year and the Return Journey's opening event! We're starting with something light to get everyone acclimated and so no one feels they've missed too much if they app after the holiday season. We'd like to make it easy for any new players to jump in right away.

If you have any questions about the event, please ask here.

1. What? My name is who? My name is—

Salutations! Now that everyone's respective warden and inmate orientations are out of the way, you've been given a helpful, mandatory name tag. It instantly appears on your shirt and can't be taken off, though where it appears on your shirt is a bit more unpredictable; it's an imperfect science, so it's just as likely to pop up on the back of your shirt as the front. If you try to remove your clothes, the tag appears on your skin; they're waterproof, so a quick shower won't get rid of it, either. What can we say — it's mandatory.

While the tags all follow the standard "HELLO my name is" format and have your name or most common alias, they also include some other information. For wardens, it features a space that declares "I LIKE" and one or two of your most choices hobbies. For inmates, it features these hobbies and "I have killed [x] people" (this may be a specific number or something akin to "a lot of" or "no"). Fun icebreaker, right?

2. Twenty Questions

Speaking of icebreakers, a brief announcement summons everyone to the observatory. Again, yes, it's mandatory; wardens must retrieve absent inmates before any more information is revealed. Better hop to it!

Upon arrival, passengers will discover that the Peregrine's resident bot force has reconfigured the observatory with small, portable cubicles, each with a transparent wall that retains a lovely view of the observatory's massive window. Each inmate is assigned their own cubicle and, upon entering, cannot leave without a warden's say so; the door only unlocks with a warden's CommLink.

Wardens are tasked with interviewing at least one inmate, to get a feel for their prospective charges. They can have as much time as they need to formulate what questions they want to ask, but that might leave some inmates waiting. Maybe that's on purpose, though. In any case, the exercise is over once an inmate is asked five questions and a warden receives five answers.

Archimedes will collect name tags after the interviews for incineration. The robotic owl is, notably, the only one who can remove them.

3. Polite Picnic

The greenhouse doesn't always have enough fresh produce to go around (and often what is collected is frozen and preserved), but given the circumstances — a new mission and new passengers — everyone can reap the rewards this month...if they share. A bot stationed in the mess hall mechanically tells anyone who crosses into range (whether they mean to visit the produce table or not) that they aren't to take more than three fruits and/or vegetables. If you choose not to abide by the rules...well, that depends if you're caught and by who.

The produce available are as follows:

Adalfane: Tastes like cocaine, but very nutritious, especially when eaten raw.
Tuadath: Smells awful, but very hearty when cooked, tasting a little like steak.
Tsanyi: Pure, sugary sweetness. Can be made into a refreshing drink, eaten raw, or sprinkled over a desert.

There are notably fewer tsanyi than adalfane or tuadath. But if everyone's nice and cooperates, each person can get exactly one.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Theo doesn't like that question, because he has. Otherwise he wouldn't have cared when the spell spiraled so out of control and took so many people with it. He glowers at William.]

Does it matter? It's not like that'd bring them back or something.

Yeah. [ There's no defiance in it, no anger rising to meet Theo's. It's somber: trapped low in his throat. ] It matters how you're remembered.

What do you think about?

Oh, I'll be remembered. That's for sure. [A smirk sneaks back onto his face.] I don't care how, especially if I'm not there anymore.

[He's not sure what to make of that question, narrowing his eyes a bit.] What, like in general or something? What do you think about?

[ He rolls his eyes. Nineteen, he reminds himself. ] I don't mean you. [ It's curt, his gaze sharp. ] The dead.

[ He almost shrugs off the question. Still irritated—affronted—by the kid's bravado. But he stops himself, pausing to pin down the thoughts behind the kneejerk fuck you. ] I'm thinking about a woman I knew. She was the last of her kind, and she told me you can be loyal to someone after death. She said it better, but—feeling is undying.

I'm thinking about what it takes to dig a grave and multiplying it by 987.

[Nineteen, so the universe clearly revolves around him. Theo also really doesn't like continuing to talk about all the people who's death he's responsible for, and would have much rather had kept the topic on himself.

He glares at William, leaning forward. It's not easy for someone Theo's age and size to intimidate anyone, but those sunken blue eyes could drill holes in steel right now.]

Exactly what do you want me to do here. Do you want me to fall to my knees, repenting? To say I take it back, that I was wrong? Because I won't. The sucker who brought me here seems to think I'm fit to be rehabilitated, but I don't owe them or anyone else anything.

[ William meets his eyes, regards him as though staring into a fire. Invigorated and half-hypnotized by what burns there. His own gaze bright without being warm. ] I don't want you on your knees. Ever. [ He says, quiet—almost solemn.

He'd wanted to keep talking about her, he realizes. He'd wanted Theo to ask. So much for that. ] Were you like this when you killed them?

[Theo holds his pose, holds his stare. Like maintaining his gaze was a challenge, now. While he had been raising his voice before, now he was quiet and steady, somehow even more intense.]

Like what? Like a smug asshole? Yeah buddy, I was. Cuz I did what hundreds of years of mages never had the balls to. Cuz I knew somewhere in the city that useless piece of shit teacher of mine could do nothing to stop what I did, and wouldn't even get the dignity to die with everyone else around him. I got everything I wanted.

Pissed. [ He clarifies, the word incongruously delicate. He stares back—but he's not ready for the onslaught of detail, the talk of mages and teachers. He remembers the pull of magic—literally—he'd felt when he'd had it in a breach, and all at once feels hopelessly out of his depth.

He doesn't flinch but he blinks, drops his eyes to the table. He's silent a long moment, trying to imagine. A magical plague? A storm, a town turned to ash?

At last: ] How's it feel, to get everything you want?

[Theo had not been anticipating that question, and he can't hide the tiny moment of shock on his face. That was exactly the problem, wasn't it? He'd gotten what he wanted.

A chink in his armor now exposed, Theo leans back into the chair again. His voice is quieter now, hoarser. Resurrection and orientation was tough, and he was exhausted. The only place it didn't show was in that glare. Theo refused to break eye contact, smug as ever.]

Yeah. It's great. Cuz I was dead and now I'm not, and now I get to be your problem. I'm fuckin' delighted.

[ For his part, William retreats—not physically, though he does have the urge to get up, take a walk. Give himself a break from this kid and his sneer and his body count. (Another urge, acknowledged but not examined—to reach for his hand, touch his shoulder.)

The old selfish question: what does it say about him, that he can't quite bring himself to hate a mass-murdering stranger? That he isn't utterly repulsed?

He spends a moment studying his own hands, his fingers twined loosely together. ] Hollow, right? [ A glance up, his expression unguarded, as though he's only just remembered Theo's there. ]

Tell me something—just for me. What was it like? Magic?

[That question distracts him enough from that hollow remark, noted by the grin that starts to form. It's not a wholesome smile, but he is happy to talk about magic at any time, even now.]

It's the best goddamn feeling in the world. Nothin' like it. Knowing what you're capable of, and working hard to make it happen? Knowing that if you just put your mind to it and practice, you can do just about anything you want?

[This is the closest Theo's probably come to sounding like an actual teenager since William started speaking with him. There's genuine excitement behind all that exhaustion, and he leans forward.]

Even the little stuff is enough. Light up your cigarette with a flame from a finger? Brighten up a dark room with an orb? Levitate around the place like ya weigh no more than a feather? Kids' stuff. Ya just have to know where to look to learn it and then practice til it happens. The big shit comes later.

[He relaxes back again, managing some smugness again.] 'Course, you have to have some talent, too. Not everyone can cast where I come from, ya know. Do they not have it where you're from or something?

SET SAIL: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

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