cityship: (Default)
cityship ([personal profile] cityship) wrote in [community profile] trans_92010-04-01 07:04 pm

Snap, Crackle, and POP

[ooc: Newbie Helpers List | Instructions: Post your character with one post establishing them as being podpopped. Tag each other in groups of 2's, 3's, and 4's, to get some interaction to start with. If a thread doesn't already have 2 or 3 people tagged in, tag it with your character's podpop popping near the other people, rather than making a new subthread. If you would like to play out them talking to the AI, please send an email to the mods making the request--we do this only by request. Then move onto the big Newbie Meeting. Once your character has gotten the rundown from the old crew, you may start posting entrance posts and freely tagging.]


||Pod Release Protocols Initating|| Stacy's familiar voice sounds out to all the podmates through the ship.

In the Pod Caverns, there are the sounds of: Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.

There is condensation and mist spraying out from cracks in the pods, as the people inside slide out onto the floors, covered in slime.

--


There was nothing. You were going about your normal life, then there was a bright light, and then? Nothing.

Then the world lurches.

The chamber here is humid.

Actually, "chamber" isn't quite accurate. You're in a cavern, half-lit by an eerie greenish light, going on and on as far as the eye can see. The light is coming from what can only be described as pods, glistening, round greenish-yellow things, glowing with a pale inner light, outlining human -- and not quite human -- forms. Each is rooted to the floor, to the walls, with something black, twisted, and unidentifiable.

They line the walls of the cavern, go up in maddeningly high columns, curling and corkscrewing up into the darkness, until the light from them is like that of the stars, glowing pale and mournful in clusters in the darkness above. Twisted walkways and stairs crisscross, traverse the platforms in front of the pods, wending their way back and forth, up and down through the chamber.

You just came from one of those pods, broke free like a butterfly from a (slimy, nasty) chrysalis.

Now you stand alone but not quite alone, naked, not knowing how you got there, who took you, or why you were taken.

As your body heats up again, you realize the air is warm -- just a few degrees too warm to be comfortable -- and muggy; it smells acrid and organic, like freshly spilt blood and sweat. Your mouth tastes of salt.

The floors are pulsing under your feet, throbbing...

Wherever you are, this entire place...is alive.

Oh, and also you're naked and covered in alien snot.

When you call out, ask where you are, a voice speaks to you, in your head. She tells you:

||You are here.||


When you ask who she is, she tells you that her name is STA'C K'LTRRB'TXFT, but that you may call her Stacy. When she tells you who she is, there is a gush of emotion, love, maternal warmth. You are on a ship. She is that ship. Her name is Stacy and she loves you. Her voice is warm and motherly, even if these messages sound almost automated.

Glowing phosphorescenet lights appear in pustules along the floor. They lead you up a massive spiraling walkway that gives you a view of what are possibly millions in stasis. At the top is a room with moving vines that clean you and clothe you in a plant-like body-suit--soft, but durable. After that, the lights lead you to a great cavernous room with a clear floor that lets you see all the holes and tunnels in the walls of it. When you reach the center, the last thing she tells you before whisking you away to gather your belongings and meet the rest of the crew is this reassuring thought:

||You have been Chosen to accomplish a Great Purpose. You have been Chosen to help fight the Ohm, a race of insectoid beings that are the destroyers of worlds.||

||You have been Chosen as champions of life, as protectors of the worlds and peoples that are left. The others are waiting for you. They will explain everything.||


She will tell you nothing more. Your answers lie with these "others" she speaks of.
fieldpromoted: (Friendly badass)

[personal profile] fieldpromoted 2010-04-02 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
Trudy was slowly beginning to think that she was not, in fact, dead. For one thing, there were other people around her - people she had never seen before, some of which weren't human or Na'vi.

For another, there was the voice... the voice in her head which... Usually when there are voices in your head it's a sign you've either been at the tequila too long or it's time to go on leave for a long time.

As she was taking stock, and trying not to get too annoyed at the naked part, she heard a small voice and looked down.

A kid.

Great.

"Yeah? Are you looking for your mom or something?"
colorfulworld: ("Oh no no" said the little Fly;)

[personal profile] colorfulworld 2010-04-02 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
This woman seemed as lost as Aftran was. So the Yeerk put on a scared face, nodding in answer to the question. "Where are we? Where's my mommy and daddy?"

And then came the voice. ||You are here.|| It was a voice and not a voice, in her head and yet distinctly different from the thoughtspeak she'd become used to when she'd worked in Visser Three's personal guard. This was not the doing of Yeerks, but the Andalites didn't seem to be behind this either.

And so Aftran would continue to be "Karen" for now. "I'm scared, lady."
fieldpromoted: (Captain in uniform)

[personal profile] fieldpromoted 2010-04-02 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
Trudy may not have had the normal proportion of maternal instincts to violent instincts, but a scared kid hit just about everyone's buttons. She reached out and put her hand on Karen's head. "Hey kid, it's okay. I don't know where your mom is but I tell you what, stick close to me and I'll make sure you're okay. Wanna know why?"

She looked around and crouched down like she was telling the kid a secret. "Do you know about the Marine Corp?"
colorfulworld: (to shew when you are there.)

[personal profile] colorfulworld 2010-04-02 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
Aftran sniffled, but all that served to do was get more goop up her nose. She snorted to try to get it back out, and her eyes watered up.

She tilted her head downward, but looked up at Trudy with big, worried eyes. Of course she knew about them. But she lied. "The Marine Core?"
fieldpromoted: (Oh look a smile!)

[personal profile] fieldpromoted 2010-04-02 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
Trudy smiled. "Yep, the Marine Corp, the best soldiers ever. I'm Captain Trudy, and you stick with me, I'll make sure you're okay. Just don't wander off, got it?"

Of course, as soon as she found someone more willing to corral children, she was going to dump her off at the very first opportunity. But she wasn't going to tell the kid that.
colorfulworld: (the sheets are fine and thin;)

[personal profile] colorfulworld 2010-04-02 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
A soldier, then. It might be useful to stick close to this woman; in this body, Aftran was weak and helpless. "Um... okay. Thank you, Miss Captain Trudy."

And then, with a shifty glance from side to side, she leaned closer, as though telling a secret of her own. "Um-- I'm not supposed to tell strangers what my name is, but... I-I'm Karen."
fieldpromoted: (Friendly badass)

[personal profile] fieldpromoted 2010-04-02 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Secret's safe with me, kiddo. And you can just call me Trudy." She paused, looking around at the cavern. There were some things here that a little girl should not see... Trudy shifted almost unconsciously to block the girl's view from the rest of the naked people.

"Let's see about getting you some clothes, huh? I could use some myself - it's warm enough in here but I'm not so hot on wandering around in my birthday suit."
colorfulworld: (Said the cunning Spider to the Fly:)

[personal profile] colorfulworld 2010-04-02 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Aftran nodded, looking down sheepishly. The human obsession with clothing was an amusing one, but one she had been playing along with for so long that it seemed almost natural.

"D'you think... those lights in the floor, is that a path or something?"
fieldpromoted: (Default)

[personal profile] fieldpromoted 2010-04-02 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
"Looks that way," Trudy said, looking down the path. "Looks kind of like a runway, doesn't it? You ever been on a plane?"

Trudy reached out to take Karen's hand as she started down the pathway. Keep the kid talking, keep her distracted from the situation. It was like babysitting a panicky civilian, only smaller. She could do this.
colorfulworld: (I'm sure you're very welcome --)

[personal profile] colorfulworld 2010-04-02 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
Once, long ago, Karen might have spoken up within her mind, to chide Aftran as she took Trudy's hand and walked with her. By now, though, she'd come to realize that nothing she said would stop Aftran from breaking the rules her parents had laid out for her. The first, and foremost of those being, Never go anywhere with strangers.

It wasn't as thought that could be helped right now, anyway.

Aftran nodded. "Uh-huh. I went on a trip with my daddy a few months ago. It was fun."