cityship: (Default)
cityship ([personal profile] cityship) wrote in [community profile] trans_92010-10-02 02:01 pm

Podpop

[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 phosphorescent 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.

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2010-10-02 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
If Mindy thinks the cute and innocent act has Eva off-guard, she's got another thing coming. Eva's seen enough child Controllers to know better than to trust anyone until you've seen them locked in a room for three days. But she does soften a little bit, because while Mindy may be the enemy, she may also just be a scared little girl who just woke up in a profoundly unpleasant location. And that idea calls to all of Eva's maternal instincts. "I don't know where you clothes are, but if you go over to those vines they'll dress you in this plant outfit I have on. It's scary, but I don't think they'll hurt you. I don't understand either, but we'll figure this out."

She turns and sees someone watching them. He looks about her son's age. "Is there a problem, young man? Besides the obvious nudity and gunk? And would you happen to have even a clue where we are?"

[identity profile] hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com 2010-10-02 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Mindy looked over at the vines. Oh, that was just perfect. Its not enough that she's getting computer thoughts beamed into her head, now she has to be a part of being molested by computer appendages. Could the day get any better? She rubbed her eyes with her hand. This was all way too much.

And there was a boy here too...the same age as Dave even. Making sure to concentrate on his face and not make him feel too out of it, she touched his arm lightly.

"He looks like he just got here, and I guess the computer lady is talking to him now."

[identity profile] andyallgrownup.livejournal.com 2010-10-02 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Andy just nodded. "Yeah... talking... in my head isn't something I'm used too..." Neither was waking up naked and covered in slime, but he figured that should be obvious.

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2010-10-02 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"So you heard it too. I'd guess it was a public broadcast to everyone who just crawled out of these things." He's probably not going to be able to tell her anything. He seems as confused, if not moreso, than the rest of them. Eva finds herself wishing Peter was here, his scientific mind might be able to make some sense out of the location, at least, and he'd probably be interested by Stacy.

...Peter. Oh no, what if she's dead? What if she'd just vanished? Is her depressed husband still sitting there are the dinner table, wondering where his last family member's gone off to? Is he sitting in a hospital waiting room while she conjures up slime-pods and dressing vines in an anesthetic-induced hallucination on an operating table?

Eva feels the panic building up in her and takes a deep, stinking breath and closes her eyes for a second. When she opens them, she's stern again. She motions towards the vines. "Those things'll dress you. It's creepy, but what isn't about this place? It feels like the whole place is alive, like we're inside some monster's nose or something. And I'm guessing we need to follow these lights if we're going to find out more."

She pauses, looks at the little girl and the young man. "Unless it's a trap," she adds with mocking cheerfulness. "What are your names, by the way?"

[identity profile] hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com 2010-10-02 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
The girl shook her head. "I..I thought a lot about it, and considering the temperature and the smells in the air...well, it sounds really weird, but I think that this ship we're in is alive. I guess wherever we are, it might be beyond the kind of stuff we're used to. Well, I'm used to, anyway. I don't know where you guys are from."

She sighed, looking unsure of herself (she wasn't). "My name is Mindy, Mindy Macready. Who are you two?"

[identity profile] andyallgrownup.livejournal.com 2010-10-02 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Andy blinked, looking down at Mindy as she talked. "... Alive...?" He shook his head. "Name's Andy Davis."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2010-10-02 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Whether or not it's alive, Stacy sounds inorganic. And if it's alive, it's massive. I think there's some law of physics, square cube law or something, that says that natural things don't tend to get that big and still be able to function without collapsing. I think, I'm not sure. My husband would know. It's probably augmented by technology, at least. And generally speaking I think the insides of giant creatures don't clothe you; they digest you."

Eva casts a sideways glance at Mindy. "Considering the temperature and smells in the air"? Definitely not an average child. But possibly just a precocious, observant one. No need to go getting herself psyched up about enemies that don't exist. Andy appears harmless, but it always does well to remember that looks could be deceiving. For an instant, it makes her sad that this is how she views children and people as young as her son. Paranoia has served her well, but it's never a pleasant feeling.

Eva considers giving them a fake name, or telling them that they don't need to know hers, but that would look pretty deeply suspicious and you never want to start up an unnecessary lie, because those get difficult to remember. "I'm Eva. From California."

[identity profile] hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com 2010-10-03 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Eva from California. Not a lot of info there. Looks like she wasn't the only one that was trying to hide some things about herself. The boy though, he was probably just that. He seemed to be as confused as anyone else might be if they had been brought on a ship like this. In any case, she could ease into this "little girl" thing as long as she continued to act like she had no idea why she was here.

"I don't think any of us new people know how big it is," Mindy said. "But it just feels like its alive, doesn't it? I'm not saying it makes any sense, or why anyone would put us on an alive ship but what else would explain it talking in our heads and stuff?"

[identity profile] andyallgrownup.livejournal.com 2010-10-03 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
"That... does make some sense," Andy said. "But we're not going to learn anything staying here, are we?"

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2010-10-03 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Follow the bright fleshy lights," Eva sing-songs under her breath to the tune of 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road'. "And that makes no sense, but if life's taught me anything it's that sense is both incredibly valuable and extremely rare. It's been nice meeting you both, but I think I'll try and find someone who has some answers now."

She'll also be watching Mindy from a distance until the reach the meet-and-greet, partially because she thinks she's hiding something and partially because a ten year-old could probably use someone watching out for her.

[identity profile] hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com 2010-10-03 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't really know where to go," Mindy said, pouring a little of the child anxiousness on. She hardly saw a reason NOT to do this: what she did, who she was, was a secret anyway. She didn't know any of these people from the man on the fucking moon, and there was still no proof this wasn't some kind of set up. Paranoia could be unhealthy, but it kept you alive. She'd leaned that much from her father's death.

She paused at hearing what Eva said, and gave her a grin. "Wizard of Oz. Nice."

[identity profile] andyallgrownup.livejournal.com 2010-10-03 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Andy just shook his head at that. "Let's just hurry up and hope we get some answers."

And with that, he started walking forward towards the lights.