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

"So that wasn't your intent, then? You didn't unleash it yourself?" If he was simply a victim of circumstance, Loki isn't certain why he'd be here. Surely he made some poor choices along the way.

"I was a different man." Alex murmured. It sounded like he was being mysterious or evasive. It was actually in many ways, the literal truth; just complicated.

Aha. He had thought this was all too easy, so far.

"A man who wanted to unleash it, and now you regret having done so? Or were you a man who didn't mean to unleash it, but now you see it was the right thing to do all along?" He smirks a little. "Given the manhunt, I wouldn't be surprised if you aren't terribly pleased with your former employers. Perhaps you feel you were ultimately in the right, letting that virus loose?"

"Both of those are correct, and while I'm not sure releasing the virus was the right thing, it also seems to be the only way I was going to unravel things." Alex said with a smirk. "Alex Mercer died releasing the vial when he was shot at Penn Station. He didn't drop it, he let it go. I woke up on an autopsy table with scattered or no memories, and then tried to unravel the conspiracy of what'd happened. Found out far more than I bargained for."

Loki's eyebrows raise. "You don't believe you are Alex Mercer any longer?"

The lock's already opened, whether the inmate has noticed or not. That last question had been impulsive, but he's still unclear about this virus. Might as well press his luck and keep going.

"If you aren't him, then that crime isn't yours to atone for. What exactly did you have to do to get to the bottom of that conspiracy?"

"It's all part of me. I'm not that Alex Mercer, but I am Alex Mercer." Alex answered calmly. "Infiltrate a few secure black-ops compounds, murder a few marines hunting me." Alex shrugged. "Figure out why I was waking up on an autopsy table with no memories in the first place. Found out the source of the virus, accidentally freed her, then had to kill her and some Hunters--while she was out she made the infection worse."

All as if he's reciting a list of chores. "Stop the military from nuking Manhattan to fix things. I was flying it out over the water, and then I'm here."

Loki follows that. Perhaps not quite as literally, but the Loki who lived on Asgard in blissful ignorance is someone he hardly remembers, at this point. And it doesn't sound as if trauma has nothing to do with Alex's shift in personality...

"You'll do better than most," Loki observes. "Being capable of acknowledging your mistakes is more than some inmates ever seemed to manage."

He examines Alex for a moment, still uncertain that his calm is entirely put-on. But they'll have time for that later. He nods to the unlocked door.

"Thank you for your time, Alex. You're free to go, if you like."

SET SAIL: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

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