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pluviooc2024-03-18 02:45 pm
pluviosamods) wrote in pluviooc2024-03-18 02:45 pm
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TEST DRIVE 02
TEST DRIVE
Hello, and welcome to the second Pluviosa Test Drive!
This Test Drive corresponds to Days 4-12 in the ship calendar, and will run until around the game's next major event. You can get a better idea what's going on in the most recent Game Update which covers Days 5-8. Currently, character IC housing is not in operation yet; it is expected to open on Day 9 (part of the way through the Test Drive period). Otherwise, the ship is largely in the state described on the Setting page and in other game information.
Test Drive threads involving characters who are accepted are considered canon to the events of the game unless otherwise agreed by players/mods. Pluviosa does not do welcome mingle logs nor does it have any kind of in-character welcome information, making your test drive threads your character's arrival to the game setting. That said, mod-run interactions such as formal exploration and/or interactions with the Ship as an NPC are not available on the Test Drive.
It is advised that potential players familiarize themselves with the Premise page, the Rules/Session Zero page, and at least the first few paragraphs of the Setting page. As Pluviosa is a horror game, we especially encourage players to be aware of the content warnings that will be major themes of the game. If you have any further questions, you can ask them on the QUESTIONS header in the comments!
If you're test driving a character, you're welcome to join the game Discord and hang out and meet your fellow players!
You wake up. You remember waking up, right? In another place, another time...
There's blood running down your fingers. Outside, the rain isn't pounding, yet, just a gentle patter...
Or is it?
As characters gain fuller awareness of their surroundings, they will realize that there is, in fact, no blood on their hands (save any that might have already been there). It feels as though they lost focus for a moment and hallucinated, but the hallucination ended with them somewhere else entirely.
There is not actually the sound of rain. If characters are near enough to a window, balcony, or even a hole in the ceiling, they will find that it is cloudless, beaming sunlight outside. The emptiness in the distance rolls on and on, completely absent any signs of life.
That being, of course, because the signs of life are all in here. Characters might wake up on any of the decks on the upper side of the ship - anywhere that isn't the cafeteria or lounge where previous arrivals spend most of their time is free game. This also means, of course, that they have the jungle of plants to contend with...
Most areas in the ship are dark when characters arrive. That doesn't mean that they stay dark. Occasionally, lights overhead flicker on and off for a few minutes at a time.
The problem with this isn't the lights themselves (cool white and kind of industrial). It's the reaction that the addition of the extra light causes the plants in the dark areas of the ship that's cause for alarm. To describe the growth as explosive isn't an understatement - vines, saplings, and even thicker branches surge with growth, pushing outwards towards the distant sunlight and upwards towards the flickering bulbs.
The growth is sudden enough to take all but the most aware characters by surprise, and if they're in the wrong corner of the room, it's very easy to get tangled up, wedged in by a tree trunk, or otherwise trapped against some corner or wall. If you're lucky and skilled, you might be able to cut yourself out from there (or break down the wall you're shoved up against), but otherwise, there's only one solution left.
Yell like your life depends on it, and hope somebody out there can hear you. And that whoever hears is someone who is inclined to help, rather than leaving you there. Or worse.
Oh, and the lights flicker back off after a few minutes, of course. Hopefully you're not waiting for rescue in the dark (with the smell of mold and the general faint dampness of the forest) for too long.
Occasionally, the whole ship tilts.
This is not simply the side to side motion of a ship on the water (or the equivalent motion brought on by the way this particular ship moves); it's an extremely forward or backward tilt that sends things sliding across the floor if they aren't secured by roots or something else. Unlike storm-tossed ships, the tilt is somewhat prolonged - rather than everything sliding back and forth a couple times a minute, the tilt lasts for five, ten, maybe as much as twenty minutes.
Although it's not enough to knock a well-balanced character off their feet, it's quite likely that new arrivals will not be particularly on-balance. And attempting to traverse the ship with the tilt is a tall order... especially when the ship's angle does unexpectedly change... to the exact opposite direction. All that goes up the mountain must go back down, and a glance out the windows reveals that that's exactly what's going on, as the ship progresses across a mountainous landscape without real regard for the concept of mountain passes.
And for characters who have managed to make their way to the "civilized" parts of the ship, namely the cafeteria and the lounge above it... None of the furniture in these areas is secured. The cafeteria carts under the direct control of the Ship don't seem as inclined to go anywhere, but the tables and chairs in the cafeteria and the couches and armchairs upstairs... Well, it's a good thing both spaces are surrounded by railings. Large chunks of tree trunk also still littler the lounge, sliding back and forth and occasionally rolling with great force across the floor.
Better hold on tight.
While wandering around the ship's interior, characters might occasionally hear a person whistling.
The sound always seems to be coming from just around the corner, but it sounds alive in a way that other sounds don't. Maybe more alive, even, than the rustle of leaves, the occasional drip of water, and the sounds of things sliding back and forth across the grimy, leaf-covered floors. The whistler, whoever they are, doesn't actively respond if called out to - but the whistling does pause, as though indicating that the call was heard, before starting up again.
If characters choose to follow the whistling, they're inevitably led to the same place - somewhere overlooking the great gap down the middle of the ship, whether an internal suite's balcony, one of the bridges crossing between the two halves, or one of the hallways that runs alongside it. Once they're there, there's no whistler in sight; however, characters will be filled with the overwhelming urge to look over the edge of the railing and down into the lower parts of the ship.
Exactly what they experience after looking down varies. Some will hallucinate that they've fallen over the side, feeling their balance go haywire and seeing the floor rushing up to them right up until the moment of "impact," at which everything returns to normal. Some will feel a stranger's hands on their shoulders, threatening to push them over with a great shove that goes through them with incorporeal fingers. Some will just hear unidentifiable laughter right up close to their ears, and experience the distinct sensation that there's someone laughing at them, in a haha-made-you-look kind of way.
But whatever happens, when they look up, there's no one there - or at least not anyone that physically close to them. The one good thing about being drawn to the middle section of the ship by whatever prankster this is is that it makes it a lot easier to run into people if you're all drawn to the same, highly visible place.
And at least the other person is flesh and blood, right? Probably.
This Test Drive corresponds to Days 4-12 in the ship calendar, and will run until around the game's next major event. You can get a better idea what's going on in the most recent Game Update which covers Days 5-8. Currently, character IC housing is not in operation yet; it is expected to open on Day 9 (part of the way through the Test Drive period). Otherwise, the ship is largely in the state described on the Setting page and in other game information.
Test Drive threads involving characters who are accepted are considered canon to the events of the game unless otherwise agreed by players/mods. Pluviosa does not do welcome mingle logs nor does it have any kind of in-character welcome information, making your test drive threads your character's arrival to the game setting. That said, mod-run interactions such as formal exploration and/or interactions with the Ship as an NPC are not available on the Test Drive.
It is advised that potential players familiarize themselves with the Premise page, the Rules/Session Zero page, and at least the first few paragraphs of the Setting page. As Pluviosa is a horror game, we especially encourage players to be aware of the content warnings that will be major themes of the game. If you have any further questions, you can ask them on the QUESTIONS header in the comments!
If you're test driving a character, you're welcome to join the game Discord and hang out and meet your fellow players!
ARRIVAL - LIKE THE RAIN
You wake up. You remember waking up, right? In another place, another time...
There's blood running down your fingers. Outside, the rain isn't pounding, yet, just a gentle patter...
Or is it?
As characters gain fuller awareness of their surroundings, they will realize that there is, in fact, no blood on their hands (save any that might have already been there). It feels as though they lost focus for a moment and hallucinated, but the hallucination ended with them somewhere else entirely.
There is not actually the sound of rain. If characters are near enough to a window, balcony, or even a hole in the ceiling, they will find that it is cloudless, beaming sunlight outside. The emptiness in the distance rolls on and on, completely absent any signs of life.
That being, of course, because the signs of life are all in here. Characters might wake up on any of the decks on the upper side of the ship - anywhere that isn't the cafeteria or lounge where previous arrivals spend most of their time is free game. This also means, of course, that they have the jungle of plants to contend with...
LIGHTS ON, SHOW START
Most areas in the ship are dark when characters arrive. That doesn't mean that they stay dark. Occasionally, lights overhead flicker on and off for a few minutes at a time.
The problem with this isn't the lights themselves (cool white and kind of industrial). It's the reaction that the addition of the extra light causes the plants in the dark areas of the ship that's cause for alarm. To describe the growth as explosive isn't an understatement - vines, saplings, and even thicker branches surge with growth, pushing outwards towards the distant sunlight and upwards towards the flickering bulbs.
The growth is sudden enough to take all but the most aware characters by surprise, and if they're in the wrong corner of the room, it's very easy to get tangled up, wedged in by a tree trunk, or otherwise trapped against some corner or wall. If you're lucky and skilled, you might be able to cut yourself out from there (or break down the wall you're shoved up against), but otherwise, there's only one solution left.
Yell like your life depends on it, and hope somebody out there can hear you. And that whoever hears is someone who is inclined to help, rather than leaving you there. Or worse.
Oh, and the lights flicker back off after a few minutes, of course. Hopefully you're not waiting for rescue in the dark (with the smell of mold and the general faint dampness of the forest) for too long.
TILT-A-WORLD
Occasionally, the whole ship tilts.
This is not simply the side to side motion of a ship on the water (or the equivalent motion brought on by the way this particular ship moves); it's an extremely forward or backward tilt that sends things sliding across the floor if they aren't secured by roots or something else. Unlike storm-tossed ships, the tilt is somewhat prolonged - rather than everything sliding back and forth a couple times a minute, the tilt lasts for five, ten, maybe as much as twenty minutes.
Although it's not enough to knock a well-balanced character off their feet, it's quite likely that new arrivals will not be particularly on-balance. And attempting to traverse the ship with the tilt is a tall order... especially when the ship's angle does unexpectedly change... to the exact opposite direction. All that goes up the mountain must go back down, and a glance out the windows reveals that that's exactly what's going on, as the ship progresses across a mountainous landscape without real regard for the concept of mountain passes.
And for characters who have managed to make their way to the "civilized" parts of the ship, namely the cafeteria and the lounge above it... None of the furniture in these areas is secured. The cafeteria carts under the direct control of the Ship don't seem as inclined to go anywhere, but the tables and chairs in the cafeteria and the couches and armchairs upstairs... Well, it's a good thing both spaces are surrounded by railings. Large chunks of tree trunk also still littler the lounge, sliding back and forth and occasionally rolling with great force across the floor.
Better hold on tight.
SOMETHING WHISTLING
While wandering around the ship's interior, characters might occasionally hear a person whistling.
The sound always seems to be coming from just around the corner, but it sounds alive in a way that other sounds don't. Maybe more alive, even, than the rustle of leaves, the occasional drip of water, and the sounds of things sliding back and forth across the grimy, leaf-covered floors. The whistler, whoever they are, doesn't actively respond if called out to - but the whistling does pause, as though indicating that the call was heard, before starting up again.
If characters choose to follow the whistling, they're inevitably led to the same place - somewhere overlooking the great gap down the middle of the ship, whether an internal suite's balcony, one of the bridges crossing between the two halves, or one of the hallways that runs alongside it. Once they're there, there's no whistler in sight; however, characters will be filled with the overwhelming urge to look over the edge of the railing and down into the lower parts of the ship.
Exactly what they experience after looking down varies. Some will hallucinate that they've fallen over the side, feeling their balance go haywire and seeing the floor rushing up to them right up until the moment of "impact," at which everything returns to normal. Some will feel a stranger's hands on their shoulders, threatening to push them over with a great shove that goes through them with incorporeal fingers. Some will just hear unidentifiable laughter right up close to their ears, and experience the distinct sensation that there's someone laughing at them, in a haha-made-you-look kind of way.
But whatever happens, when they look up, there's no one there - or at least not anyone that physically close to them. The one good thing about being drawn to the middle section of the ship by whatever prankster this is is that it makes it a lot easier to run into people if you're all drawn to the same, highly visible place.
And at least the other person is flesh and blood, right? Probably.
no subject
That thought flies out the window when Shang hits him with the other information. "L...legs? And yet it has reach to other....universes?" Why? How? Oh Ratio would have a field day piecing that all together. Aventurine is struggling to get over the sheer strangeness. The other man could be lying but--it was such specifically absurd information..."Right. Alright. Ship with legs in a wasteland. Got it. Alright." He takes a deep breath, putting his composure back together.
"Thank you...yes, I would like to see the residential areas if you don't mind?" He says, glancing around."I hope it's more welcoming than...this."
He steps over to go walk with the other man. He'll probably make general smalltalk, amongst which: "So you said to beware the plants. Are they poisonous to the touch?"
no subject
“I’m not sure the ship actually has reach to other universes? It claims not to know how we got here. So in theory there’s also some other force dragging people here for unknown reasons. Sorry, everything is just a giant mystery at this point, I don’t have a lot of useful information.”
The guy visibly puts himself back together. He’s better at charm than Shang Beida is, that much is already clear.
“It’s not all it might have been when the ship was new, but it’s definitely better than this. Also, there’s food, and beds, and showers.” The important stuff.
“They’re not poisonous, but when the lights come on—which just sort of happens at random now—they start growing. Really, really fast. You can get trapped or injured by them if you’re caught off guard. Also my, er, friend—“ does Casper want people to know that they’re dating? “—did find a centuries-old corpse that started growing new alive plants when it was uncovered, so like, it’s possible that they can like, infest you and grow out of you? So like if you get injured by one I strongly recommend cleaning out the wounds immediately because uh, horrorshow.” You have activated: Shang Beida trying to be informative mode!
no subject
Aventurine takes in his words about other amenities on the ship, his demeanor becoming more genuinely enthusiastic. "Oh that sounds fantastic actually," he says. He's not sure when he last ate or slept. Yes he just woke up, but it wasn't a particularly restful thing. It was like he didn't need rest in the void of Ix, but now that the notion is brought up, he finds that is no longer true here.
He will walk with Shang Beida as he explains the plants, clearly engaged but mystified. He quietly notes the stumbling over the word "friend", filing it away as a bit of interest for later. He then grimaces at the mention of infestation. "Sounds lovely," he drawls, his tone full of sarcasm. "Thank you for the warning, Shang. I can appreciate a pretty flower and such, but I'd hardly want to become one." He suppresses a shudder. The brand on his neck is enough unwilling modification, thanks.
"I also have a... friend" He can practically feel the chalk hitting the side of his head for daring to call Ratio that. "-that taught me some things about medicine. Hopefully there are clean first aid tools in these rooms we're going to?"
no subject
“Oh, yeah, there’s some kind of AI running the ship, it has speakers and some terminals where you can make requests of it that it will give phenomenally unhelpful answers to. Or maybe that was just me. And it has robots that are cleaning things up, and that serve the food. The whole place was abandoned before the first wave of us turned up a couple weeks ago, from a variety of different worlds. There’s somewhere around a dozen of us that woke up here during the storm, and I’m not sure how many more since. We’re still less than two dozen, I’m pretty sure. Fewer? Whatever.” You really probably could not get a better source of information than the motormouth.
The way he says friend—is he gay too? Not asking, that’s rude. “Uh, yeah, there’s a sort of medical room with supplies and stuff. Wish I’d had that instead of trying to wash out wounds with wine, but it wasn’t set up yet.”
When they get to the right deck, he leads the way to the cafeteria. “Ta-da! Food! There’s basically always something available here during the day. There’s a huge like decontamination shower down the hall, or the rooms have private bathrooms if you can find an open one that’s been repaired. Or you could ask the Ship to go ahead and assign one to you, I guess, and then you’d have a bedroom?”
I CAN NOW REPLY I sent in my application :) (also sorry in advance)
"Good. Cleaning wounds with wine sounds...unpleasant," he adds, giving a sympathetic wince. "Still, effective with nothing else. And clearly you survived whatever that was, so hey! Smart move." And if survival in Sigonia-IV taught him anything, it was to make do with what you had. Having extra supplies nearby is a huge advantage.
Speaking of supplies...his eyes widen slightly when the doors open and reveal the cafeteria. "All this it's just...available? You don't need to pay for it with anything?" he asks, tugging some credits out of one of his many pockets. He might have enough. ....Did the ship even accept credits? But nothing was just free, right? "Food, shower, and a room sound...really good." Almost too good to be true. And this guy was just...really nice. Was there some catch he's missing?
His smile stays, but his eyes narrow slightly, unease prickling at the back of his neck. "What would I owe for this generosity, Shang?"
no subject
"I'm not sure what the Ship would do with money, honestly? Like, there's no other... people. Or anything outside the Ship. It might want us to work for it eventually, I'm still sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop? It seems to feel it has some kind of like, professional obligation to provide the best accommodations it can for any passengers--it might be programmed into the AI? It's been clearing out the plants and replacing rotten furniture and shit. And providing the food. Which like four of us tested in various ways and doesn't seem to be enchanted or poisoned in any way." Important information.
Aventurine's eyes narrow at him, and... okay, yeah, fair! Not dissimilar to his own reaction really! "Goodwill?" He offers. "I like when people are inclined to, uh, not hate me?" That sounds fucking stupid. Phrase that in a better way, Airplane. "Alliance is really sort of the only available currency here? And I have no idea what your deal is, but most people here have been impressive in one way or another, so I don't want to be on anyone's bad side really?" He shrugs a little, helplessly. Also he doesn't see the point in not helping people in their circumstances. (Which does not make him a good person, Casper.) His coward is showing, but he's never pretended not to be one, that's fine. "Auxiliary goodwill towards my, uh, friend, would be good too?"
no subject
Something in his posture eases up at the mention of alliance, his smile becoming less sharp. Ah. So...business. Friends. Unclear terms, but then again that could be more fun. He could do that. "So it's a blind bet you want. An investment." And he stands to gain ample supplies and support in the process. "I'm a man of many talents, and a gambler at heart. I can certainly offer goodwill," he hums, tucking the credits away and instead producing two poker chips with a flourish.
"A token for a new alliance then. Keep one, give the other to your friend. If you have this and are in need of my goodwill, I will find you. I'll help negotiate, fight, whatever. Up to you what you'd use me for." He grins. "Deal?"
no subject
Oh, a gambler. Okay. He can work with that, maybe. "Yeah, I'd like to bet that you're a better friend than enemy." He smiles a little. Suspicious negotiation isn't unfamiliar, but this just feels... safer than with demons. In fair part because he knows Casper would raise hell if anyone or anything hurt him.
He takes the poker chips and peers at them. They feel like... something, they're not dead metal or plastic, but he can't quite sense what's in them. "Some kind of tracker? And what exactly does it track?" Does he actually want to let this dude track his every move? Can it still track him if it's shoved in a qiankun pouch? Does he trust this dude to track Casper too? "What do these work with?" Actually, he wants to know what this dude's deal is. "Do you have like, powers of some kind? Most everyone here seems to--almost everyone, the girl with the mad hair doesn't I don't think. Tell you mine if you tell me yours." Offering a trade should make him more comfortable sharing information, right?
no subject
He can't afford to think like that. Just focus on the apparent luck of ending up here instead. So he smiles at the comment about being friends instead of enemies. He holds his hands aloft, in a hopefully disarming gesture. "Likewise, my potential friend."
Annnd he probably should have expected suspicion over the chip. Just because he's used to being surveyed, doesn't mean others will be. "Just location, nothing more. And look, you can turn it off, see-" and he gets out another chip so he doesn't have to take something from Shang. He holds it up, indicating a tiny switch on the edge. He flips it on, and there's a quiet ping from his watch. He holds his other wrist out so Shang can see the screen. "When I turned the chip on, this acts as a sort of compass so I can find it, or whoever has it." There is a blinking green light on the dark watchface, and a needle pointing towards it; where Aventurine holds the chip he just activated. "There are ways to toggle between which chip I'm tracking if they're multiple, or more specific instructions, but I think you get the idea..."
He shrugs again at being asked what it runs on. "IPC technology, I'm not sure of the specifics." And the IPC likely can't reach them at all wherever they were, so. Probably fine.
"Powers? Hm." An eyebrow quirks at the mention of a girl with "mad hair". Another time. "A sensible transaction. Well, I believe a demonstration is in order then!" he states, clapping his hands and using misdirection to place the chip back in his pocket. Not a "power", but still a talent in itself.
"First, a bit of context. I don't know about you, but where I'm from, we've got these beings called Aeons. These Aeons are powerful, and have very strong ideals." As he talks, he steps around the cafeteria, looking for the perfect prop. "There are many people, myself included, that...from how I understand it, share? Their ideals in some way?" Funny one for him, with his home destroyed. So much for Preservation. He quickly shakes a dark expression. "And through this, they're granted all sorts of powers. We call people like that, like me, Pathstriders."
He finds a stack of ceramic plates. This will do. He picks two up. "As for me, I guess I got picked by the Aeon of Preservation, which usually means," and with a flick of the wrist, he tosses both plates into the air. He adjusts his watch, and shields form around him just in time to intercept and break the plates, the pieces falling harmlessly to the ground, "barriers. Not just for me, but any of my allies." His fingers twitch, and a shield manifests by Shang as well. "I can also manifest various objects like dice and coins, but they don't last long since they're just made of imaginary energy. They can still pack a punch though." He raises an eyebrow, giving a cheeky grin. "Would you like to see those as well? Might cause a bit more...property damage."
no subject
Aeons... interesting. Pathstriders. He puts a vague tick on his 'things that seem like they're from an anime or something, plausibly fictional' list that he is not sharing with anyone (unless Scary Ouji Lawyer threatens to behead him again).
He watches the barrier demonstration with interest--they're more flexible and quick to cast than anything he could manage, it looks like. "If we're going to do property damage, we might as well do find some plants that need cut back and direct it at them. And I can show you what a sword glare looks like, for my end of the deal. Or, uh--" they did just get to the cafeteria for a reason. "Do you want to eat first? I can show off something nondestructive first, if we want to like, take it in halves." He doesn't actually wait for permission for that one, forming a sword seal with his hand and calling out Kao Ci to hover low on the floor next to him where he can step onto it, then rising to take a careful turn around the ceiling of the room before dropping back down in front of Aventurine and putting his sword back away. "Flying on a sword! Limited amount of utility inside the giant bubble around the ship, but yknow."
no subject
He nods. "Weed whacking sounds productive enough, I'm up for it," he says, grinning. There's a pained edge to it now; he'd been suffering a headache of sorts since waking up on the ship, and as he keeps the shields up, its intensity seems to be increasing.
It's fine, he's been through worse. He needs to make a good impression with this. He is surprised Shang takes half payment and demonstrates some of his own power by flying on a sword around the room. "Impressive!" he laughs, clapping as if for a show. "I don't know, it could have some good uses...escaping apparently very fast plants for example."
Then he remembers Shang asked about eating first, and he's painfully reminded of his empty stomach. It didn't...sit right with him to just...eat, right? He huffs, trying to wave the offer off.
"Oh, no it's fine, I can still-" Just as he's about to step forward to maybe argue, he falters, swaying where he stands. The room in his vision seems to lurch to the side for a moment, the steady pounding in his head sharpening aggressively. He hisses a swear under his breath, catching his weight on a nearby table. "What the..."
The shields. Imaginary energy. He's still not recovered from the amusement park, is he? Damn. He takes a breath.
"I...yeah. Yeah, food sounds good, I think," he relents. He has to have done enough by now. With a flick of his wrist, the shields disperse into gold particles, and the weight in his head lets up a bit. The room rights itself. Embarrassing, but not unsalvageable. He stands up straighter. "So...any recommendations?"
no subject
Aventurine wobbles, eyes unfocused, catching himself on a table, and Shang Beida's eyes widen. "Shit, dude, you okay?" He takes down the shields and looks better--definitely takes energy from him that he doesn't have to spare right now. The barrier doesn't feel like regular spiritual energy, but Shang Beida can sense it, and that's good enough for him--everything is so goddamn weird here anyway, yknow. Like, why would anyone's shit be compatible with anyone else's!
Let the guy have his dignity, he guesses. "I like the vegetable dumplings and the noodle stir-fry, but I'm like, biased because I'm Chinese and those are familiar normal foods for me, I don't know what's normal food for you. The only thing with meat in it is the chili, and the meat is, uh, apparently it grows inside of some kind of fucked up modified tomato, so that's weird and all. The chili is like, fine, though, it's very filling. I have no idea how it compares to chili in general, I didn't even know what chili was until Casper told me. I have no idea if you know what chili is. Everything is competently made it seems like, pick whatever looks good to you? Maybe grab like, a cookie or something for sugar to get some energy in your system while the rest of the meal processes?" Okay, not acknowledging that he looks rough failed. Oh well.
I wrote this up while hungry. M. Method acting
"I'm-fine. It's been a long few days, is all," Aventurine says, smiling shakily and waving off Shang's apparent concern. It would serve him better to not look like a pitiful mess, good going there. He maintains his footing, so that's something.
He blinks at the stream of words, letting them ground him in the moment, trying to grasp their meaning. "I believe chili was a staple on a planet with cold climates, but it may not be the same "chili", maybe? I'm willing to try it..." It was a type of salad, right? "Meat from a tomato?" he blurts, baffled. "Hm. Well, I believe I've had stir fry before and enjoyed it...meat might be a bit. Much, right now." His brows furrow in thought. A lecture from Doctor Ratio echoes in the back of his mind about starting slowly when skipping meals for so long. "Let's...start with stir fry."
So he grabs another plate, not intending to break this one, putting on a little bit of everything that sounded good. He didn't want to waste anything he ended up not liking...yes he enjoys risk, but teachings from home were hard to ignore.
And there's still something in the back of his mind telling him it's too good to be true. That this will all be taken away last minute with a demand for compensation. This is silly, he thinks, putting focus into steadying his shaking hand. He's just tired, that's all. It's a blind wager worth making if it'll get his energy levels, and thus his usefulness, back up.
His strained smile seems to soften a little at the comment about sugar. "I will take that kind advice into consideration, Shang." He'd never considered himself having much of a sweet tooth, but to be honest, pretty much everything sounded very appetizing. Energy would be good. And Shang really did seem to be offering all this in good faith. Goodwill indeed...just holding up his end of the bargain. It's fine. Good even. He takes what looks like a plain sugar cookie, and a small fruit tart that looked pretty to him.
With his food gathered, he goes to sit down at one of the tables. He briefly wonders if he should wait for Shang to sit with him, but the point was to actually eat something here. He's made it this far. So he offers a quiet "Thank you for the food," and takes a tentative bite of stir fry.
It...really is good. He's still hyperaware he's being watched, but some of that falls to the background as he starts eating his first full meal in what quite possibly would have been some days. Time in Penacony was strange like that. But instead of that world's sugary, over the top confections, the simplicity of this food was actually much more appealing to Aventurine at the moment.
I wrote this while eating. method acting??
"Thank the Ship, really. I mean, actually, you could do that, if you raise your voice it can hear you. It might or might not respond, but like. It's... listening most places that are in any kind of repair. But uh, you're welcome for showing you where it was?"
Aventurine eats carefully, but with a kind of intent that... Shang Beida doesn't think the guy has seen a full meal in a hot minute. And might be used to not having food. He files that information away and decides to relay some more information. "The Ship's also got like, terminals where you can put in requests, and when it assigns you a room it'll give you a key. And it's not very amenable to reassignment requests." He glares at the nearest speaker for a moment. Let him room with his boyfriend officially so they can both have keys, damnit. "Anyway, uh. The Ship says it's like, 700-some years old? And it's been devoid of passengers or crew for like 300 years, which is why it's all," he gestures vaguely, "yknow. Like this. It doesn't answer questions terribly helpfully a lot of the time. It says it doesn't know why we're here and it acted like it didn't understand the question when someone asked why we can all suddenly speak its language, because hey, did you notice Magical Mystery Language that got shoved in all our brains when we got here? Love that for me, love mysterious forces messing with my brain, that's my favorite. Uh. Any questions?"
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"Well I wouldn't have found this otherwise, so my thanks still stands," he says, when his mouth isn't full of course. He may be hungry but he won't forget his manners. He leans back a little, calling out, "Thanks alot for the meal!" He really does mean it, but it feels pretty silly to do. Still...just in case.
He starts finishing off his meal, glad to just let Shang fill the silence with information he can think over. His mouth quirks in amusement at the apparent irritation at room changes. "Got someone special you want to room with?" he asks, giving a cheeky smirk. He takes another bite, this time with mashed potatoes, and those are good too. "I'll look into getting an assigned room, then. Who knows how long I'll be here..." especially considering how old the place is.
Then Aventurine quite frankly drops his fork when Shang mentions the Magical Mystery Language. He just stares for a moment, clearly baffled. "Huh. No, um. I didn't notice that..." he says, blinking owlishly. He laughs, picking up the utensil again. "Then again, I'm not exactly new to others messing with my brain on a whim." Sunday comes to mind, but that's too long and complicated of a story.
"In fact, I got an automatic translator injected straight into my nervous system when I was...young." He scratches the back of his neck when he says this, near the marking on his neck. He doesn't seem to realize he's doing it as he keeps eating. "So everything just translates to my native language anyway. Still, that is a bit...much." He pauses, clearly unsettled. He shrugs it off. "I can think of a few people who'd have a field day studying a language like that."
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Shang Beida flushes at the question and the smirk. "It can't stop us," he mutters mutinously. "But, um, yeah. More convenient to have one than not, and it's not like we... know how to leave, so. Unless you can break out some really hardcore teleportation, for the foreseeable it's just... Ship."
Magical Mystery Language startles the other man so badly he drops his fork. Oops. "I mean, yeah, it's not exactly uh, foreign to me either. Doesn't mean I love it, though." But then Aventurine goes on to mention the translator, and his hand moves, drawing attention to the brand on his neck and... he shouldn't jump to conclusions, it could be a fashion statement or something, but... that kinda looks like... Like, he doesn't even know if there is slavery where the guy comes from, and 'were you a slave' is a question fantastically rude enough that even he can recognize that he shouldn't say it, but uh. Hm. Okay. Noted.
"I don't like, hate knowing an extra language for free--it definitely makes it easier to communicate with everyone here, I don't know if I'd actually have a language in common with anyone here other than my shitty and extremely rusty English with Casper otherwise, but. Yeah. Not knowing how or why or... yeah."
"Hey wait, actually, does your translator work on everything? 你可以懂我说普通话?"
[that says 'can you understand me speaking mandarin', in mandarin]
Sorry he can't help poking fun
He hums thoughtfully through another bite of food. "Good point. I can make things appear temporarily, but without space anchors, I don't see teleportation being a capability of mine here." And available food and resources...Ship isn't the worst to be stuck with.
There's a brief flash of sympathy on Aventurine's face, or something like it when Shang mentions also being used to mind tampering. "Agreed..." he mutters, then proceeding to attack/eat the green beans. He feels...maybe a little bad talking so flippantly about it. He's used to just...using those experiences to throw people off, but doesn't really expect reciprocation? That's new. More things to maybe assess in a quieter moment.
"That makes sense. I guess I never really bothered to learn any other languages because of the beacon- erm. Translator. My native language is...very unlikely to be known even in my own galaxy." Reality? Universe? Hm. English is a new one. He smiles again though, because he's perhaps not totally done poking a bit of fun. And it's better than thinking of the language downloaded into their brains. "Casper wouldn't happen to be the person you're trying to share a room with, are they?"
As Shang speaks Mandarin, Aventurine's head tilts as he listens closely. He can hear...a bit of a different way the words are formed, like a thicker accent than usual. But it translates just fine. " Can you understand...interesting. The Intelligencia Guild will have a field day knowing this can pick up even more languages..."
((Shang, unfortunately for Aventurine, he can't hear when he slips back into his native tongue when he says that. It probably makes no sense to you since you're unlikely to have heard Sigonian.
It's probably difficult to know when one is speaking "Magical Mystery Language" when you can't...hear it yourself.))
congratulations you have achieved blushu icon
Aventurine starts rather aggressively eating his green beans, so uh, let's stop talking about mysterious forces messing with our brains! That's a topic that can be dropped!
"I guess it's a handy thing to have, regardless of the circumstances you got it in?" he hazards. Like, a universal translator sounds pretty great, he's not gonna lie.
Shang Beida blushes harder. "That's unrelated to the common language." Or like, mostly unrelated? Him being startled into asking if Casper was American probably did something to establish a rapport between them?
Aventurine answers him in... not Magical Mystery Language. Huh. "Well, I can definitely say that I don't understand your native language. You might have to, uh, consciously think about using Magical Mystery Language?"
That icon is very cute he's going to keep teasing oops
"Oh it definitely is useful," He says, taking a bite of some sort of sweet bread roll. Definitely feeling better. "Much of my work would be near impossible without a beacon, I think. I kind of forget it's there most of the time, since just about everyone in my universe has one by now." Thanks to the IPC, for better or worse.
Aventurine grins even wider as Shang goes beet red. "You're right, it doesn't. My sincere apologies," He says, looking anything but sincere. Even if he's speaking a different language, the expression makes it clear.
He pauses when Shang points it out, grin fading to something like concentration. "Oh really- ahem, really? Ah." He pauses again as if tasting the words. Amazing. It is completely foreign and yet so intuitive he didn't even notice. "Sorry, thanks for pointing it out. I can't even hear the difference on my end. But it seems I can understand your language? It just...translates to Sigonian for me. Or...boat language?" Not sure what he can do with that or how Shang would take it but might as well point it out. It does...bother him a little he can't tell the difference.
he's only used to mean teasing what does he do with this!
"Wow, that's some... pretty wide technology adoption. I guess it makes it easier than having to learn twelve new languages a planet if you're doing, like, interplanetary or intergalactic trade or whatever, for sure."
Oh come on. He doesn't know what the other man just said, but that smug fucking grin, he is enjoying teasing him for sure. Augh. He's just going to ignore whatever that was.
"Oh, that sounds... disconcerting. I think it's easier to tell the difference for people who already knew more than one language? Like, I knew Chinese and some English and some Japanese, and Casper knew English and at least some German, and we can both manage to switch at will." He shifts to English, just to make the point. "I guess we won't have a secret language now.."
Wait, fuck, does this extend to the written word? Did the ship clean off what he wrote on the wall? Fuck. He resists turning to look at the wall in question to check, because if it didn't, then Aventurine is going to look at that wall, and then he's going to die. He is not blushing any less now that he's thinking about this. Goddamnit why did he have to write on the wall. He needs to clean that off immediately if it hasn't been, as soon as... no one is watching him do it. Or else scribble all over it until it's illegible. Fuck. The point of writing on the wall in Chinese was that nobody else would understand it so it didn't matter!
[haha if they say 'schatzi' and 'baobei' in front of churin it will translate... cute...]
I said stop teasing him Churin!!! Oh boy. Rip Shang
Then he realizes Shang likely did not get the last part. Not that it was a sincere apology...ah well.
"Makes sense...I only know mine-well. Knew, since now there's a new one just there-and while there are different dialects on my planet, it's not quite the same. You seem quite the linguist!" He pauses, listening intently for a difference as Shang speaks. It's slight, in the tone and accent, something he'd probably miss if he wasn't listening for it. Interesting. "I suppose you don't, sorry friend," he says, again not looking sorry at all. "It's alright, your secret's safe with me~"
Then by some marvel, Shang's face goes impossibly redder. Was it something he said? Aventurine spears a cherry tomato on his fork, holding it up. It's very hard to keep from laughing at how similar the colors are. The guy's eyes are wide and flicking to the side, but otherwise he's gone very stiff. Aventurine tilts his head, smile easing up a bit. "What is it, is something wrong?"
[oh no he so will...adorable...waugh]
it's like if sha hualing was actually a nice person, send help
And to be mutually beneficially arranged against a wall I mean what.Man he doesn't know what to do in this situation, how do you... what do you do when someone teases you in a nice way??? Obviously groveling isn't the answer that would be weird. Pretending to faint also would... probably not help? Actually if he did it in an obviously fake way maybe it would be funny? Hm."I'm not a linguist at all, I just... liked reading and watching stuff that had been released in other languages, so I picked some up?" Because he's a fucking otaku nerd.
"No, um, nothing's wrong, I just..." What the hell does he say that doesn't sound stupid or open him up to more teasing? "Nothing." He makes an effort to look normal. "Um, are you... enjoying the food?"
He's laughing with you not at you (OK maybe a little at)
“Sorry, sorry, I’ll stop teasing you now, promise,” he breathes, straightening his posture, his own face flushed with mirth. Having allies, and people you could trust…intimately which was most likely Shang’s case with this friend of his, is a good thing, especially in such a dangerous setting. Keeping that in mind, it would not help to inadvertently piss the guy off by teasing him about it too much.
“Right, that makes sense. But hey, you still know more languages than me by far, so still a valuable skill in my opinion,” he says, chuckling lightly. He wonders if he’d used a similar method if it weren’t for the beacon…
He raises an eyebrow at Shang insisting nothing is wrong. Clearly something’s bothering him, but hey, who is he to press? So he smiles, scooping up one last bite of pie. “It’s pretty good, thanks. Rather simple flavors, but I like it better that way, honestly.” He’d take a simple, homely meal rather than the over complicated bougie fare he’d had to get used to while doing business at the IPC. Clients liked to show off their wealth by meeting at fancy restaraunts, he understood, but there’s something…more fulfilling sharing a simple meal in a cafeteria with someone like Shang.
Needless to say, he’s feeling a lot better.
“I think I’m finished, actually,” he adds, cleaning up his eating area. “Did we want to head out for further power demonstrations?”
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"It's... less useful here than it could be, and it wasn't very useful in my last world either, but. Oh well. I got decent use out of it in my original one." Hm. Was he going to tell the guy about the transmigration thing? Oh well too late now. Anyway, he's told loads of people at this point. It's just still weird to, he feels every time like the System is going to pop up and deduct ten thousand B points and invoke Punishment Mode. He pokes it mentally, just to be reassured by the low battery icon showing that it's still on standby.
"Oh, yeah, that works!" He stands up and leads the way out to the open decks, where there's a lot of just, bullshit plants that can be attacked still.
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This kind of interaction on more equal footing was…nice.
“At least it helped you somewhere!” He chirps, twirling his fork idly. He does pause at the wording there. “Last…world? Did you have intergalactic travel where you’re from, Shang?” He asks, curious. Seems like there’s more to this than just…that, though.
“Right then,” he agrees, following the guy out. He does spare the used dishes a glance, wondering if he just leaves them there. If Shang does though then it’s probably fine.
And the open decks sure are breathtaking in their own right, choked with plants as they are. And now he can see out a bit more to the world the Ship is traversing. “Wow…” he breathes. He shakes himself, tipping his head towards Shang. “Any plants that…I don’t know, piss you off in particular?”
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Excuse me while I slip in a moon landing pun
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