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

[hiddenblade]

"I did," Ezio replies, but the as well catches him. It's not quite disbelief –– he'd never known Loki well enough to say one way or another, though Loki had certainly never been one of the inmates he'd manhandled down to Zero –– but there is a thread of surprise just the same. The man looks like he's been caught with his hands down his trousers. "Are you a warden?"

[shiftedshape]

"Oh, yes. I graduated not too long ago-- well, relative to my understanding, at least. Was sent home, I guess, and the Navarch showed up pretty much immediately." Which was great for him given the circumstances, even if it was painful to leave for other reasons. "Not sure if the other one changed his mind about me or..."

He waves his hand.

"It hardly matters. I'm just here to earn some means to fix things back home."

He pauses, a thought occurring. "Unless something happened. Did something happen? To the barge?" Loki pales as a wave of dread washes over him at the thought of the people he'd come to care about being in genuine danger, even if it was simply being forcibly sent home as he was.

[hiddenblade]

If something happened, it was after his time. Ezio frowns, mulling over the potentials there.

"All you can do is forge ahead," he agrees, but it doesn't feel entirely right. He'd left unfinished business behind, and he and Kovacs had been settling into a pairing that felt worthy. Crucial, even. It makes his stomach twist.

He adds: "We knew there were other ships, but one wonders how far it goes. Have you seen any others?"

[shiftedshape]

"Other ships or others from the Barge?" He shakes his head. "Not that I've seen either, yet. After I was sent back to where I would have died, the Navarch showed up almost immediately. Next thing I saw after that was the infirmary, more or less."

His neck had still been broken, after all. Surviving Thanos' punishment didn't mean he missed the punishment entirely, apparently.

"I'm guessing you haven't either, then?"

[hiddenblade]

"None from the other Barge, no," Ezio replies, and he matches that shake of the head. "I went back home. I travelled for a year, disposed of a tyrant, and then took up the Navarch's offer. The Admiral sent you home to die even though you were graduated?"

[shiftedshape]

"He sent me to the moment where the madman who killed me made the decision to finish the job and, I guess, made it so he chose not to. Instead he left me with severe injuries, my trapped brother, and a ship falling to pieces around us. So possibly he just delayed the inevitable slightly." Loki's eyes narrow and he glances away. Yet another reason why he's glad to be out of the Admiral's control, frankly.

He sighs, shaking all that off. "It sounds as if you had a far better detour. What made you decide to come here, after that?"

[hiddenblade]

"The same thing that brought me to the first ship," he replies, and he leaves the real answer dangling for only a heartbeat before he moves on. "I thought inmates were supposed to get their lives back. You are telling me he left you in a situation where you would die?"

[shiftedshape]

Loki takes that cue not to pry-- at least not right now --and follows the subject change with only a slight wince. "Well, I suppose I don't know that for sure. But what I was left with didn't look great. I was hoping 'not dying' would mean somehow avoiding the encounter entirely, not simply barely surviving it."

He smirks, shrugs. "Maybe I only barely graduated, so that was all I deserved. I don't know. I didn't ask to go back, so perhaps the Admiral didn't have any part in it at all. Norns know that place was having its troubles when I left."

He glances around them. "This place is, well. Maybe a little more sterile, but certainly doesn't seem to be falling apart. And the Navarch seems...stable."

He can't say, yet, if she's reliable or honest. But she doesn't seem to be insane, and given his personal track record of being essentially trapped somewhere with one person in charge, that's an enormous improvement.