MISSION 004 MINI MINGLE.

[etrayamods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: July 27th-August 9th
WHERE: Moorecroft Village
WHAT: July's mid-mission mini-mingle!
NOTES\WARNINGS: Questionable medical practices in the first prompt, potential death.

⏵ arrival ⏴ Perhaps you started your journey aboard a SPACE CRAFT, or perhaps you're beginning it here. Your method of initial arrival matters not, because everyone lands in Moorecroft through the same method: You were somewhere, and suddenly you find yourself waking up in a hospital bed. The room around you is dark, and you find that you are unable to move. A machine close to you reads back your vitals, and there is a gentle mechanical whirr running somewhere behind you. The room remains that way for several minutes: empty, aside from the whirring and beeping of the machines around you. What items you may have had on you and your clothing sit in a pile several feet away, leaving you dressed in only a hospital gown. Until Eos appears. She walks through the open door, her attention focused on the monitors to begin with. While she may be human in shape, most of the rest of her clearly... is not. Her face rests atop metal plates and wires, highly advanced silicone that looks very realistic. She wears no clothing, instead opting to leave the rest of her metal plating, wiring, and gears visible to everyone who sees her: she may be highly advanced, but she is still an android. And very, very tall. The top of her head almost touches the ceiling of the room, but doesn't quite. "Hello." Her voice is soft, meant to be perceived as soothing, even if her actions are anything but: she does not look to her charge, but walks around the room. Doesn't touch monitors, but looks at them. "You are not one of mine, but you are here for the time being regardless. I will release you shortly, but I will explain the rules before you go on your way. Do not venture outside during our maintenance period from 20:00 to 05:00. Do not destroy public property. Do not cause disturbances." Now, her attention turns to those in her care, synthetic eyes focusing on theirs. "You will remain paralyzed for exactly two minutes after I exit this room. Please gather your things. Atop your clothing, you will find an earpiece that will function as your communicator during your time with us, along with a note specifying where you will be temporarily residing. Thank you for your cooperation." Once she does leave, the machinery around characters turns off, and slowly, the ability to move returns to them. Outside the door is a long hallway, which ends at an elevator. The elevator will take characters up, into a relatively normal hospital that is staffed by those who have also been stuck here: Etrayans, and those from Moorecroft alike. Attempts to break into other rooms will be unsuccessful, and each door will open individually, leading characters out before allowing the next into the hallway. Welcome to your temporary home. Good luck finding your way. ⏵ autumn winds ⏴ In most places, a seasonal change is a slow process. The weather starts warming up, leaves fall off trees, or trees begin showing new growth. In Moorecroft, it's significantly less gradual: the weather goes from warm to significantly cooler. The wind kicks up, leaving behind a nice chill for all those residing within its city bubble. Leaves fall, covering sidewalks and grassy front yards alike. To-do lists change to reflect the change in season, too: lawn moving turns to raking up leaves, parents may now be required to shop for more weather appropriate clothing for their children, and activities that may have usually involved spending time outdoors shift to indoors: adults are encouraged to take their children to visit the aquarium, go to the movies, or take a day off to go to the ice skating rink. Enjoy Autumn while it lasts. ⏵ rainy days ⏴ With the cooling weather also comes rain. Oftentimes, there are no warning signs for when the rain will begin; rather, the skies go from gently cloudy to suddenly angry. Rain covers the pavement and drenches anything left outside. Characters may find themselves suddenly stranded in the town proper, as the rain becomes too heavy for safe driving. Luckily, there are several buildings they can wait in: the library is massive, including enough space for everyone if necessary. The cafe has several hot drinks on special. There may be a few individuals who may be able to assist in influencing the weather in small areas to create safe pathways back home if you're lucky enough to come across them. After curfew begins, the rain becomes even more intense, falling in massive drops all over Moorecroft. ⏵ NOTES ⏴ Please check through our Mission Plotting post! We have new arrivals who may be utilizing it. As noted under this thread, we're open to one group successfully staying out past curfew, but would like to keep this to one thread. Players have put up a post HERE to plot out their attempts. If you would like to incorporate prompts from our previous mission log, please feel free! For any questions relating to the contents of this log, mod queries thread on the initial plotting post to assist us in keeping all mission-related information in one place. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ. ⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Comments

Riley Grace Davis | Worm

[beagoodgirl]

I — ARRIVAL

[It's a fairly major change of pace; a space station stuck in unstable orbit about a black hole, that is further trapped in a time loop and haunted by clowns, to... the seat she doesn't usually occupy in this kind of medical horror.

Riley spends the majority of her paralysis working herself into and out of anxious terror, watching her vitals spike and dip, spike and dip. When movement returns to her, and she finds herself in the hospital's foyer, it's mostly whim that guides her to make the decision to stick around for a while. Really take in the atmosphere.

Any person who enters from deeper into this complex is getting stared at. Really stared at. She's staring extremely hard.]

II — NORMAL LEMONADE STAND

[When one thinks of idyllic suburban children, it's probably not too far down the list of Iconic Acts^TM that one finds "running a lemonade stand."

So, while it's a bit aseasonal, it is unlikely to be that terribly jarring to anyone walking down one of the residential streets to see one such stand, painted a cute baby blue, and even decorated with a couple little faux lemons on the sign.

What is terribly jarring is that the sign atop it does not read "Lemonade." Instead, it reads "Surgery." Riley, who sits behind the counter of the stand, looks vaguely bored. There are multiple sharp implements on the counter before her.]

III — RAINY DAYS

[Riley has, before this moment, had no real grand opinion on rain. It's just weather, and, frankly, she just plain had bigger fish to fry than to get frowny about a bit of water. Shit like that simply wouldn't slow Bonesaw down.

But now, in this moment?

Riley rushes into the cafe with what might be equal to her body weight in water soaking her through, the very image of an utterly miserable sopping wet cat. She sloshes her way over to the nearest table, swings an utterly waterlogged bag onto it with a wet splorch, and collapses into one of the seats and begins at the task of trying to wring the water out of her sleeves.

If anyone else was using it, she'll look at them after a moment, seemingly only just processing their existence.]

...how about that weather, huh? Fucking awful.

IV — WILDCARD

[want to do something else? go for it!]

CLOSED PROMPTS

[beagoodgirl]

FOR ACCELERATOR

[beagoodgirl]

[Bonesaw has broken into many, many places over the years. Houses, hotels, headquarters, and, yes, hospitals. Often without anybody being the wiser, not until she (or Jack) wanted her to be noticed. Sometimes because everyone else was dead.

Riley, however, is not only somewhat rusty, she also doesn't currently have access to... much of anything, really. No lobotomized abominations, no real augmentations, not even any spiderboxes! All she has is an aching need for the supplies within the Moorecroft hospital.

So, she's standing off to the side of the hospital a bit aways from most foot traffic, garbed in comfortably warm clothes and clutching an umbrella. Staring at a window like it killed her dog.

Holding a brick in her other hand.

You know, normal girl things. Regular girl stuff.]

[levelshift]

[#justgirlthings

Accelerator is wandering down the street, his usual scowl on his face. Not being stuck in school isn't improving his mood any, probably because the whole American suburbia environment in general is still something that chafes. He doesn't like the fake roles, he doesn't like the fake town and he certainly doesn't like the fake families.

He can only sleep so much, so he's out getting some air, his aimless wandering having taken him over to the hospital. It hadn't been intentional, but when the building comes into view he debates how weird it would be to go in and have a look around.

And then he sees that girl with the brick. He's fairly sure Eos' turf is the hospital, much like Aurora, so this scene screams bad news.

It crosses his mind to just walk away and leave this to be someone else's problem, but this involves both some kid and Eos. Some girl doesn't deserve to get hassled for making a dumb decision, and Eos doesn't deserve a broken window.

He walks over, stopping a few feet away, leaning on his crutch.]

That's a shitty way to get Eos' attention.

[beagoodgirl]

Fuck!

[Riley jolts as if he just jabbed her with a cattle prod. Whipping around to face him, and it's only a miracle that has her not throwing the brick at him, clutching it tightly to her chest instead.]

Where did you come from? [The street, Riley. You're in public.] Don't answer that. And...

[She stares to the side, shiftily. The brick remains in plain sight.]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[levelshift]

[If he needed any confirmation as to what she was planning on doing, he's certainly getting it! Accelerator has no idea how close he was to getting a brick to the face (ouch), and just raises an eyebrow at her, entirely unimpressed.]

Uh huh. [Well, now he wants to know what she has against Eos. The AI thing? Her insistence on suburbia? Maybe she's just into creating chaos.

Either way, it means he's sticking around.]

You just like carrying around bricks, then? [Clearly a very normal thing to like doing.]

[beagoodgirl]

And what if I do? There aren't any rules saying I'm not allowed to carry bricks.

[She shakes the brick at him. Chidingly.]

Maybe I'm carrying it in case I get approached by weird dudes. Make them think twice.

[levelshift]

[Well, he can't really argue with a girl who doesn't weird guys to hassle her. From some of the stuff he's seen back home, that's a very valid concern to have, even in an idyllic American suburban town.

So he refrains from making any smarmy comments about that.]

Alright, and you staring at the hospital like you wanted to murder the entire damn building is unrelated to the brick?

[beagoodgirl]

[Riley lowers the brick. Her lips draw flat, and then further down into a more proper glower that directs itself back at the hospital.

It's fine to be a little honest, right? She feels like complaining, anyways.]

...the glass is probably reinforced anyways, so it's not like it really matters if it is or isn't.

[levelshift]

[She's probably right. If this is Eos' territory, it's likely going to have some additions made it to to make sure the residents can't destroy it.]

There's probably alarms hooked up, too. [To call the companion bots, or whatever. He glances over at the hospital, then back at her.]

Not a fan of suburbia?

[beagoodgirl]

[An undignified snort escapes her.]

I've always been more of a city girl, yeah, but it's not about that. [She glances at him, out the corner of her eyes, and seeing that he's looking at her, she turns to meet his gaze properly.

He seems to be cool with the concept of throwing bricks at the windows, so...] I need her shit, the stuff that has to be in there. Medicine, machines, samples, that kind of thing.

[levelshift]

......

[Okay, that's certainly an answer. Most people aren't going to need stuff from a hospital specifically, if they need some first aid it's easier to just go to a pharmacy, and for more specialized resources a person probably wouldn't bother removing it from the building, they'd use it in the building.

Needless to say, Accelerator is very puzzled, and a little suspicious. He blinks at her, confused.]

Why?

[beagoodgirl]

It'd speed up my timetable something fierce.

[Wait. This guy doesn't know who she is and that sentence is severely lacking in context. Rushing a bit, she continues.]

I'm good at making things. The point I'm making is that I could use all that junk to make things that'd help us more than the sum of their parts.

ii

[ontologically]

[Amy noticed Riley's surgery stand about half an hour ago, peeking out the window of her shared bedroom with Lisa. It's only after noticing no changes that she decided to get changed and go visit.

Half amused, she joins her beside the stand.]

Any bites yet?

[beagoodgirl]

[Riley perks up as soon as she spots Amy walking over, and then immediately deflates at the question.]

Ugh, no. I'm thinking that maybe I should change locations, right? Set up in front of the hospital.

[ontologically]

[She should probably point out the logical reaction to any kid as young as Riley offering to perform pro bono surgery at what amounts to a street corner lemonade stand. But, as a teenager who also offers pro bono surgery casually, she can't really talk.]

I think the stand in general is the problem. Great for things like lemonade, ice cream, baked goods maybe - not so great for offering life changing operations.

You might have better luck if you tried advertising your services on the network? I've been waiting until I have better facilities to really start offering that out.

[beagoodgirl]

Better facilities would be nice, but it's not like they're needed. Really, my main problem is actually sourcing materials.

[Riley gestures, vaguely, at her set up. Her tools are visibly either power tools for carpentry or kitchenware.]

I'm working with cleaning supplies, over-the-counter meds, and whatever else I can scrounge around the shops for. If someone needed a new arm I'd have to make it out of fucking plywood, Amelia. Totally stupid.

[It goes without saying that she could absolutely make a functioning arm out of plywood, stolen copper wiring, and gumption. It equally goes without saying that "sourcing materials" means "sourcing materials in a way that isn't extremely evil."

She sighs, spiritedly, and plants both elbows on the stand's counter and rests her head on her hands as if all the weight of the world was atop her scalp. It's so hard being a kid.]

But, yeah, advertising sounds good. Think you could, like, be there with me when I do that? Chime in and tell people that I'm cool and won't steal their organs.

[ontologically]

That's probably a reason to not offer any limb replacements or synthetic organs then. At least not without about a dozen asterisks.

[It's easy sometimes to forget how much work goes into Tinkering. She only ever saw the results of Bonesaw's horrific work, the implants, the Hack Jobs, the bioengineered plagues.

Even in this state of unprepared disorganization, she knows that Riley could still make it work.]

Sure, I guess. Assuming you actually aren't going to steal their organs anyway. That'd be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[beagoodgirl]

Of course I'm not gonna steal their organs.

[Blood isn't an organ after all. Riley figures Amy can hear that part.]

But if anybody actually gets a replacement, I'm not gonna let the spare just go to waste. Can you endorse that practice for me?

[ontologically]

Yeah, I can do that.

[Some organs are probably better off in Riley's hands anyway, provided she replaces them. Amy's seen what she can do.]

I can also try to produce a few spares if you need them. I'd just need samples of biological material.

II

[merciekills]

[Not!Daughter, what are you doing?

She's heading out for a moment to bring her a scarf for the cold weather, and maybe some snacks too since she's playing the role of a good Housespouse, which also means she's her pseudo-mother of sorts.

Which is why when she approaches the makeshift stand and sees the sign, she pauses. Uh.]

Surgery?

[beagoodgirl]

[Riley turns around to face her government assigned mom. Stares for a moment, looking at the scarf and the snacks. Then nods.]

Yep. Want one?

[merciekills]

I'm good. Perhaps next time!

[She says it with good humor anyway, unfazed by the ease she asks. That said.]

Just how do you plan on performing it?

[beagoodgirl]

Well, that'd depend on the surgery, duh.

[Riley gestures at the spread of tools before her. It's a variety of things that could definitely work as replacement for surgical tools in theory, like sewing thread or fillet knives, and multiple things that should probably never be anywhere even slightly near an operating theater. Like some household cleaning supplies.

She seems pretty confident, though?]

Though, making improvements or even just full replacements is off the table at this point. Don't have the supplies for making new organs. Good ones, anyways.

[merciekills]

Oh goodness, how did you get your hands on these? I thought I stored them away.

[She sure isn't doing a good job at being her fake mom if she didn't manage to keep the dangerous things from reach. Oh well.]