Podpop!

[cityship]

[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.

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

I will do my best to make sure you are not harmed.

Okay, Howard likes this guy. Doesn't trust him, but Howard doesn't trust anyone, but he certainly likes the idea of someone looking out for him in case that weird spiky turtle over there or the tentacles try to do a number on him.

"There's tentacles over there that do things I'm really, really not used to tentacles doing, but they give you clothes, or you know, whatever this is because it's breathing but I think it's supposed to be clothes..." he takes a few deep breaths. The air smells awful but not all that much more humid than oceanside California. "I'm a civilian and I have no freaky powers. I can't be expected to defend myself."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi nods in response. "I understand. If it helps, I also do not have any freaky powers. I'm a Synthetic Human designed for military applications. Would you mind accompanying me to these clothing-tentacles?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Well, despite all the weirdness in his hometown, 'synthetic human' isn't something Howard's familiar with. He's thinking something along the lines of a test-tube baby mixed in with the AI from Terminator: Salvation. "Right. Okay. No offense, but that's freaky enough, man. And um, sure, it's this way." He motions to where the clothing vines are.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

The tentacles were exactly as unpleasant as Howard had described, if not more so. Their organic, alien nature reminded him strongly of the N5S drones, but on the other hand, he was no longer naked.

He picked idly at the plantsuit, which was much thinner and lighter than his armor. He hoped it was more substantial than it looked.

"Much better. If I may ask, where are you from?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's not entirely sure is naked is worse than the suits. The breathing is really upsetting. He doesn't like feeling like he's in a sock-mouth-flesh combo. "Long story. Have you ever read Lord of the Flies?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes. It was part of my educational program. A novel by William Golding, in which children are left stranded and their society quickly dissolves into infighting, murder, and tribalism. It was deemed important as a study of what might happen to humanity in a power vaccuum."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Well, when you put it that way...think of that, but with talking coyotes, an electric fence, flesh-eating worms, and a bunch of ten year-olds carrying machine guns. Oh, and a homicidal psychopath who has a tentacle arm living in my basement. Can't say I'm a big fan of the tentacle arm." He shudders. "What kind of world do you come from that you need to study humanity?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Talking coyotes? Flesh-eating worms?

Well, Zouichi did know a talking bear, so he supposed he couldn't judge.

"Where I come from, most cities are under lockdown to prevent the spread of a mutagenic virus. It's highly contagious and transforms people into mindless drones. However, the spread of the disease is now mostly seen as inevitable, and two out of three major powers are now attempting to infect the entire human race." He smiles grimly. "In some ways, I suppose it is also like Lord of the Flies.

"What happened in your world? It sounds like normal humans are a minority there."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Oh man, so a zombie apocalypse? I always thought people were joking when they talked about preparing for that." In a sick way it makes Howard feel better to know that his world isn't the only world that outright sucked. "Since you're synthetic, can you catch it?"

"Like I know. One minute it's life as normal, next minute all the adults are gone and kids are shooting lasers out of their hands. It's been that way for about a year." He shakes his head and waves his hands to signal 'no'. He's very expressive with his hands. "We're the majority, but that doesn't do a lot of good when the oldest people in town still aren't old enough to take a high school government class and anyone with powers can just throw whole churches with their mind when they're pissed off."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

A zombie apocalypse. For some reason, no one had ever really described it as such (it probably sounded too cartoonish and pedestrian, and scientists hated that more than anything). But that was basically what it was.

"No. I was designed to combat the drones, so it would have been foolish to create someone susceptible to the virus. There are even a rare few humans who appear to be immune to it; I was supposed to be tracking them down."

He considered what Howard had said. The adults were all gone? Did that mean they had disappeared, or that they were dead? It was difficult to tell. People with special abilities were not unheard of, and yet it sounded like perfectly ordinary human beings had suddenly manifested them for no obvious reason.

"If there are no adults, and no government structure, then I suppose your world is simply ruled by those who are strongest. And yet, you managed to survive."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"To find a cure, right? Or a vaccine? Because that sounds like the smart thing to do, but obviously people don't always act the smartest when there's zombies and devastation everywhere. Just in general."

"I have my ways," he says cryptically. They mostly involve buying weapons and protection with illegal substances and being the best friend of one of the strongest mutants in the FAYZ. "We're working on that government structure thing. I'm part of the town council but you know, getting seven fifteen year-olds to agree on a constitution takes time. Mostly we're just trying to not all starve to death."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Toha is pursuing a vaccine, and the accommodators are the most likely source of that vaccine. However, I believe the other organizations are interested in N5S's regenerative power. They believe immortality is within their grasp, if they can properly perfect the virus in the lab."

Zouichi senses there's something Howard has left unsaid, but it's not exactly his nature to question the human beings he's supposed to protect. As an ordinary human in the face of extraordinary circumstances, Howard has somehow managed to thrive and achieve influence -- most likely something to be admired. "Will they be all right without you?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Immortality? I mean, I'm all for not dying but who wants that? Shouldn't quality of life have like, some influence in this, since there's still a big scary zombie virus out?"

He opens his mouth to say something, then pauses. He knows full well Orc won't be, and Orc happens to be the only person he'll miss. He swallows and declares "well, according to Spacey Stacy they're all dead, so I guess it doesn't matter."

He doesn't believe that either. If he got chosen, surely Orc did too. They're a pair, fairly useless without each other, at least in his view.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I suppose quality of life, for those lucky enough to be immortal and superpowered, would be quite a bit higher than those infected with the original strain. But who knows what they're thinking?"

On some level, Zouichi doesn't want to believe that his world is gone, and no matter how bad things were on Howard's version of Earth, he suspects Howard might also have a few things that made the little blue planet matter. Either way, maybe it's better not to ask.

"I think I should follow these lights," Zouichi says. "Try and find my gear."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Okay, take it from someone who knows a lot of people with superpowers - unless you're a total immoral sociopath, they're not all they're cracked up to be." The 'with great responsibility' part never mentioned the huge responsibility to stay vigilant of one's capabilities at all moments. Plenty of kids died in the FAYZ because they suddenly discovered powers they couldn't control, or their friends did.

He nods. "Good idea." Then mutters, mostly to himself, "and with luck I'll find the dehydrated artichoke hearts and old cat food for dinner. I live like a king."