SET SAIL: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

[returnjourney]

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.

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The Helpdesk

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.

Comments

[smugreport]

[ Oh yeah how often does he actually wash it? ]

Look, I know there's barely a point in explaining this to you cause you'll just say elves are doing it or something, but space travel is actually very fast in most galaxies.

There's some weird

[ Rhys waves his hand, dismissive of what the technical term for it must be ]

Time dilation thing with passengers here. So I get it, you're from a point in time before we'd conquered the final frontier but- and this'll blow your mind, it's been literal centuries since then for the rest of us.

[ He should probably be more sympathetic to how this could blow Volk's mind in a bad way ]

[saklas]

[not once. its leather, thats his excuse. but dont fall for it.

Yeah, alright, buddy. You're from the future, in space, with the martians. Beep boop. Take me to your leader.]

Not what time dilation means.

[Sigh.]

So, two scenarios. One where they need supplies, one where they don't. Let's plan for both. I think it's more likely like way, way more likely that they'll just send someone to us to bring us supplies and groceries. In a ...transport shuttle.

[in a van.]

[smugreport]

Whatever! I'm from 2870, you're from, what, 1975? Someone else is from like, 2027 or something. So whatever you wanna call that.

[ He will keep calling it time dilation until told otherwise! You're the crazy one here Volk not him.]

Alright, so step one is learning the schedule for that.

[saklas]

[He is making up year numbers. This is good. This is great. He's so happy this is the conversation he's in.

He chooses to ignore that bit, and his lip curls -]

Could take months, and then we could learn that there's no way to exploit it. Something we can do right now is check to see if they left any doors unlocked.

[Which is what he was doing. Volk gestures down the hall again.]

Let's just start with the simplest plan and work up to the ones with more steps once they inevitably fail.

[smugreport]

[ You're a made up number!

Rhys just rolls his eyes, this is dumb and a waste of time but again: there will be an "I told you so" opportunity coming up and those are always validating. ]

Yeah fine, check your biometrically locked doors. It's not like looking for a shipment schedule, which is an actual plan, will have gone anywhere when you realize you can't open any of them.

[saklas]

Yes. Exactly. Simplest first. This is what I'm saying, so help me check them.

[He's going to start doing that.]

[smugreport]

[ Rhys makes the sound of a man thoroughly inconvenienced, and half heartedly starts trying to access the door within closest range. It denies him, as expected!!

He gives a pointed, sidelong look towards Volk. U SEE? ]

[saklas]

What? You tried one, and you're giving up? Is that how you ended up picking out those pants?

[Volk is trying the next one, both push and pull. Nothing, of course.]

[smugreport]

I'm showing you how pointless this is and my pants are great.

[ And bespoke! How dare he...

With obvious purpose in his step Rhys walks ahead of Volk, he'll show him it's going to be the same all the way down, but when he turns a corner he's instead met with a view of a very open loading bay. ]

Hey...hey!

[ He makes a "get over here" waving motion, keeping his eyes on the door. ]

[saklas]

Volk is over there fast - the sound of someone hurrying, in pumps, on metal grating is very distinct.

"Yes. I knew they'd make a mistake. They have like, no staff."

He's going for it. "Come on!"

[smugreport]

[ Dang, dude can really run in heels...like really run, as he darts ahead of Rhys.

He hasn't got much choice but to follow, even as the doors begin to close as he reaches them, yelping as he turns body sideways to slip through before they close completely.

He stops to catch his breath once through, bending over with a hand on his knee, the other slicking back his hair. ]

This... this better be worth i-

oh

[ This is definitely the room he arrived in, those are definitely the shuttles he arrived on. ]

There! That's them.

oops i switched format by accident there lol

[saklas]

[Volk curses as the doors definitely threaten to crush Rhys, and will help pull him through if Rhys lets him - something that big should really have a safety sensor, and the fact that it doesn't is making him more angry at the whole situation.]

Assholes! Who installed this?

[He turns when Rhys says 'oh' - looks over his shoulder at the massive sci-fi hangar.]

... It's impressive work.

But it's decorated. That means they already know we might get in here.

[So how do they get to some place they haven't anticipated prisoners?

Volk goes up to the nearest ATV, checks it for anything like a license plate that might have a country or province marking. Hmm. None. Not street-legal, or they're in some Nirrazim hell hole with more goats than cars.]

managing this nice calm thread while Rhys Dies in his network post...

[smugreport]

[ Volk won't get much for his help, but Rhys does appreciate it. ]

Add it to the list.

[ Said absentmindedly as he heads straight for the Arvos and begins a lap around one. ]

...Yeah? Of course we'd get in here, these are probably the loading docks. Even if we're not supposed to be in here right now.

[ He feels along the edge of one of the small ships, looking for some leverage so he can hoist himself up and get a look inside. ]

the duality of man

[saklas]

That's what I mean. If we weren't supposed to be in here it wouldn't - never mind.

[Can't convince him that if this wasn't a place that prisoners weren't anticipated to be that it'd just be a regular garage.]

Do you know how to hotwire? Not that it matters if we can't get the door open...

[smugreport]

[ Rhys isn't really listening to him. He's able to get the leverage to hang off the side and look in, but barely. He's not, for once, tall enough. ]

Hey, come over here. I'm going to give you a boost to look inside one of these things.

[saklas]

[Volk... cautiously... goes over.]

Alright. Yeah. Don't ...drop me, I'll, do something bad.

[It's a halfassed attempt; he assumes Rhys wouldn't have offered if he didn't think he could hold up another person. Volk cranes his neck up at the window, then down at his shoes. The heel isn't more than an inch, but would he be better taking them off? ... No, that seems gross.]

Uh, just hold them under the bridge part, should be fine.

[smugreport]

I won't- I'm not a bodybuilder, but my arm [ he indicates the robo one ] is pretty sturdy. It'll do most of the heavy lifting.

[ Rhys links his fingers into a stirrup and crouches slightly, enough that Volk will be able to step up. The move will seem almost practiced, a callback to all the times he gave Vaughn a leg up while they got into various kinds of trouble. ]

Just... watch the heels.

[saklas]

I still don't understand how there was a person in there, but alright.

[He is careful - it does neither of them any good if the lift is too uncomfortable to maintain. He sticks the undersole into Rhys' metal palm so that the sharp part of the heel hangs over, which isnt an ideal way to balance but works in a pinch, and steps up.

He scrabbles to get a grip on part of the metal facade of the vehicle - if he can hold some of his weight he should.]

[smugreport]

He wasn't a person- or he was, but the version in me was a program of a them....it's a long story ok?

[ He understands how he probably sounds, even if Volk came from a place of higher technological means it'd seem far fetched.

Bracing with his knees Rhys lifts and stands, helping Volk reach whatever purchase he can hold onto and hopefully get a proper look inside. ]

Hff-- I'm gonna [ strained grunt as he adjusts ] let you in on a little secret, dude. It's called "washing your clothes once a week" and it's really effective at making you smell halfway decent.

[ Because boy, does Volk reek of old cigarettes and coffee. Has he ever washed that jacket? It looks worn to shit. ]

[saklas]

You can't wash leather! It cracks!

[He scrabbles, chips a nail - fuck! - and peers inside.]

What am I looking for? ...It looks like they just made the inside up to be a spaceship, too. There's ... controls, I think, near the front. A - what is that you call a steering wheel for an airplane? Joystick? One of those things, you know.

[smugreport]

You could at least [ a strained sound, he's trying not to breath in too deeply ] spray it down with something.

[ Rhys tries to adjust as he scrambles, the weight distribution becoming painfully uneven for a moment before Volk catches himself, getting a "careful- careful" from Rhys, though the concern is mostly for himself. ]

Just... keep telling me what what you see. A control stick means the thing is probably manual, not self driving. How many screens? Does it look like there are any flux ports? Proton drives? The important stuff.

[saklas]

[Volk says something that's not in English, but by the tone is easy enough to guess is "Jesus Christ" or similar. Proton drives.]

It's not a stick! It's a - YOKE. Yoke.

[There's the word.]

Hard to tell what's screens and what's just a black shiny part of the ship, but I think I see ... ssssseven? Wait, what am I doing. Are we fucking animals?

[He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his comm, snaps a rapid series of photos. MUCH easier than describing what's going on in there.]

[smugreport]

What about proton capacitators? hydraulic indicators ---augh you wouldn't know.

[ Volk whipping out his comm and snapping pics is actually the smartest move, Rhys should have thought of that!! Annoying... ]

You got everything?

[saklas]

I think so.

[He's going to try to crane his head backwards to step down, not really trusting Rhys to not just drop him like a sack of potatoes.]

[smugreport]

He wouldn't drop him! Unless it was between dropping Volk and saving himself then he totally would. But that's not the case here! This time.

Rhys politely lowers Volk, crowding him and shaking his arm.

Okay okay let's see.

[ He's really interested now that they've gotten this far to see the kind of space faring tech this place is working with. He'll have to check the front of the small ship next, see if there's any obvious signs of weapons or defense. ]