welcome to the horologium.

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players welcome to the horologium. Some of you know it is coming. The World Jump, the chaotic thrust into a new universe. But some of you are new, and though you know what the mission is, it is a bit . . . troubling, sitting around and waiting for something to happen. But eventually, you get a message on your watch. It shows Astoria . . . dark hair framing her features, her voice light and musical. She sounds like herself, for the first time in some time . . . that spark of determination back in her eyes. A MESSAGE FROM YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD WITCH. "It is time, my beloved Travelers, to go to our new destination . . . and I want you to know that I have the utmost faith in you. Akvos' loss has hurt us all, and I know that many of you doubt our mission. But please believe me when I say that you have done the best job anyone could ask of you. Akvos' destruction was not your fault . . . and to our newest members of our Circle, welcome to our journey. I can only hope that your journey here will work out to the benefit of us all." That being said, you are journeying to the Horologium . . . it is a ship that has sent out a distress beacon. I am not sure when, or where, but I can feel great darkness, emanating from that place. I believe you all can combat what is done there, without interacting with the Void . . . so please, be safe, and I will see you all when you return." And, just like that, there is a pull in your stomach . . . your vision blacks out and you feel the sudden sense of vertigo, a sensation of falling, and then . . . nothingness. You open your eyes, and you are suddenly waking up in the midst of . . . fog? THE AWAKENING. When you wake, you are greeted by metal — there’s an expanse of silver all around you. The cot you’re laying on is somewhat rigid, like a flattened wedge of cotton more than anything, encased in a capsule-like structure. Should you inspect your surroundings, you’ll find that there are three more cots in your room..or more notably, another person in the room in of itself. Depending on where you’ve been roused from your slumber, however, you’ll find that your circumstances differ. ➜ If you’ve woken up in the northeast wing of the ship, there seems to be a pool of saturated pink goo at your feet. It sticks to the bottom of your heel and collects at the very center of the room, oozing from the cracks and crevices within the metal lining of the walls. And even more notably, the goo has a particularly saccharine scent, as though it’s meant to be...consumed. Looks like you had the misfortune of waking up in the wing adjacent to the kitchen. ➜ In the northwest wing, the ship is functioning at an all time low. When you wake, the room is illuminated for a brief moment...before flickering out, only to leave you in pitch darkness. Power returns to the room intermittently and only for a few seconds at most, but it appears as though you and your newfound roommates will have to navigate the darkness if you want to leave. ➜ In the southwest wing, the fire alarm in your room has been activated for some inexplicable reason. It’s an obnoxiously loud siren that slices right through the whirring of the machinery around you — and it goes as far as to trigger the sprinklers hanging from the ceiling. Water sprays from above you, hopefully ensuring that you’ve woken up if nothing else has. It doesn’t seem to be draining either, so it may be for the best that you escape with some haste. ➜ In the southeast wing, your circumstances are for the most part rather unremarkable. An untouched room, mostly intact...until you try to open the door. It won’t budge — unless you have some form of super strength, your muscle power is rendered useless on its own. You might just have to commission someone else to help you... Beyond your room, the word “Horologium.” stretches across the wall. Welcome to your new home. WHISPERS IN THE DARK. In a way, it feels as though you’re suspended in time. The ship is always humming, always whirring as it makes a haphazard attempt to function. The noise comes to a halt every so often, leaving you with nothing but silence and the idle creaking of the floor beneath you. There are remarkably large, bright white doors that divide each and every wing. A circular window is positioned at the center of all 4 of these doors: but nothing can be seen through it. It’s likeness is that of a black hole’s, like someone had gone as far as to paint over it. On every door, the same word is emblazoned in black lettering: EXIT. Except the word itself appears to be scratched out to some degree — as though it were scrubbed out in a fit of desperation but remained no less. When you see the door, you might be overcome with excitement. Or perhaps not. Regardless of what your reaction is like, the lights around you will dim and flicker at an alarming frequency. For a moment, it’s almost as though the gravity around you has slowed, and the hallways are becoming narrower by the second.. Voices and faces from the past emerge in your mind. You see someone you shouldn’t; they’re calling for you. They’re here with you right now, beckoning you to come closer... If you reach the door and attempt to open it, it won’t budge. And the further you walk away from it, the more the effects will subside. But there’s no telling if you’ll sleep well tonight. INVESTIGATIONS The ship is fitted to house approximately 500 people — it’s a bit of a ghost town, however, lived in but abandoned no less. The chairs are in the mess hall aren’t aligned perfectly. The tables are a bit crooked. The lounge is lofty, but not pristine. The rooms may be barren, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that they were somehow someone else’s before they became yours. There’s an array of locked doors, varying in sizes and shapes, all of which withhold something potentially useful to you. You may be inclined to visit the lounge, the mess hall, rifle through the bedrooms . . . the ship is yours to explore. However, how you interact with the ship is….entirely up to you. There is something to be found everywhere. Regardless of what you do, where you investigate and how, you might be tempted to look behind your shoulder. After all, every decision you make matters...right? (Every Player’s investigation prompt has the potential to differ greatly as your investigation will require mod input. We encourage you to ask as many questions as you would like, we are here to help and provide you with the information necessary.) Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These areas of the world are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore -- you may use as much leeway as you want in order to come up with what your character will do. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before!

Comments

HISOKA the magician

[flimsylies]

BREAD CRUMBS - GENERAL WILDCARD OTA

[ He had not waited for the others in his wing to wake up, he doesn't hang around wondering where he is or what's going on. He just gets up and starts wandering around. After a few hallways, he seems to establish just how large a place he's in. He stops. He would normally leave a mark of bungee gum somewhere and trail it along to keep track of his progress, but that witchess has taken his nen. Bitch that she is.

He smooths back his hair, a gesture of thoughtful nonchalance. Lacking the immaterial, he will just have to make do with the material that he has on hand. The first toy he summons up is a classic teddy bear. He tosses it over his shoulder as he continues down the hallway. A few more paces and then another toy, which he also carelessly throws. Then another. And another.

Lacking bread crumbs, it will do. ]

LOCKED DOOR - STANDARD OTA

[ He is sitting on the floor, picking the lock of a small door with the bayonet of an olive green little toy solider... And it's all that work for nothing but cleaning supplies, although he doesn't seem bothered by the disappointment. ]

LOCKED DOOR - HEAVY OTA

[ The large door, he pries open with his bare hands. His back and shoulders flexing. He is very, scarily, strong. It's not enough to be 6'6 with clown makeup on despite the otherwise drab clothes, he's also gotta be monstrously built too????

➜ INSIDE THE DOOR: "With the more difficult, smaller doors and an excess of brute force, he'll discover a pair of walkie talkies (lacking in batteries), a survival knife and a box of matches. Try not to kill someone too quickly. There also appears to be flavor packets for the "space goo". They come in roast beef, cherry and birthday cake. Enjoy...?"

The knife he takes, it disappears into his clothing immediately. The rest he pokes at lazily, although he does declare: ]

Birthday cake. Sounds delicious.

[ He going to hoard them. But you can have the rest. ]

THE HOLE - FOR HOLE PEOPLE

[ There had been a few people, peering curiously into the depths of the lift shaft. Discussing civilly what the best plan of action was for its exploration. This... interested him very little. ]

Let's see, hmm?

[ And he simply steps off into the dark and falls. He falls for a long time with no sign of a bottom, he counts his heartbeats calmly to keep track of the seconds, and he knows well enough that it's been much too long, that if he were to hit the bottom now the impact would shatter his legs. But he hasn't made impact yet, so he twists and slaps out a hand to grab at a dangling cable. His body slamming into the shaft isn't even audible to those above. His shoulder popping out of place is extremely audible to him, however. It dangles uselessly at his side as he hangs on to the cable with the remaining limb.

How... irritating. He gets his feet onto the cable as well and begins the boring process of working his way back up. Lacking either hand, he has no real way to manipulate his comm and let them know he's coming. Maybe they'll just assume he's dead, it doesn't matter...

When he finally drags himself back out of the shaft, his first action is to sickeningly snap his arm back into place. He doesn't flinch, and indeed just smiles. What... a fucking creep. ]

We'll need to plan more carefully, to reach the bottom. What do you think they've quarantined away down there?

I'm a hole person.

[rightfully]

- wait.

[ It's cried out the moment he takes that step back. Lucina's entire body jerks forward to grab him, at the wrist or by whatever bit of clothing is most near by. She ends up swiping at empty air as he disappears into the deep blackness. Already, her sense of caution is in overdrive - they don't know what's down there or how deep the hole even goes - there's investigation; and then there's probable suicide.

She waits the (what we can assume is) literal hours it takes for him to fall and then climb back up, with one of those processes taking a bit longer than the other. It's enough time for the intense worry to dull into a base sense of concern, and then for a faint sense of boredom to kick in.

And then he comes back.

And she yells at him. ]

That was utterly reckless! What were you thinking!?

[flimsylies]

[ He stares placidly down at her as she berates him. He seems unmoved by the tirade, the only sign that he's even hearing her is the slight perk in his eyebrows. Otherwise, his lazy smile doesn't change at all. Finally, all he says in response is, ]

Are you through?

[rightfully]

[ Eight words hardly seems like a tirade! Lucina would be quite indignant at his internal narrative commentary, if she were aware of it. as it is, she merely looks quarrelsome, her next words in a rather terse tone. ]

... Yes.

[ And that's how you win a fight, ig. ]

[flimsylies]

[ His smile perks up. ]

Good. You'll want to wait for the elevator.

Locked door - heavy

[elegant_and_proud]

[Ikaruga's been exploring largely on her own, but it has occurred to her that she ought to spend some time learning about those within the Circle. The days left to settle in before being whisked off to this place were quite limited. In a situation like this, she's less concerned with making small talk and getting to know people, so much as she's concerned with learning what people can do.

She's a little down the hall when she sees Hisoka managing to force the doors open with nothing more than his physical strength.

Entering the room with dainty steps, she's quick to pocket the matches.]

More appealing than the roast beef.

[Don't mind her, she's snagging the cherry now.]

[flimsylies]

[ He doesn't respond aggressively to her, he is quite lackadaisical about all of this. While he may take all the birthday cake goo for fun, for maybe bartering later--but probably to eat--he doesn't care much about hoarding supplies. He's just curious what is behind the locked doors, curious about this strange place. ]

They expected to be traveling, for some time. And couldn't bring real meat.

[ He's not saying the roast beef sounds good, he's just going over what's obvious based on this stash. ]

[elegant_and_proud]

[She understands the reasoning. It's just not particularly appetizing. But when there's nothing else to eat, it has to do.]

At least it seems like the food will be edible to those of us that Astoria brought here.

[Ensuring their own basic survival needs are met is kind of essential, after all.]

I wonder if she's unable to transport food and water with her powers.

[This all seems like the most haphazard rescue mission she's ever been on, thus far.]

[flimsylies]

It's no small feat transporting all of us intact.

[ He is lazily picking through the other garbage in the room, but nothing else really seems interesting. ]

Though, if she can transport us... there's no reason we couldn't have packed supplies in advance. Maybe I'll have a bag ready next time.

[elegant_and_proud]

Teleportation magic exists in my world, but I've met only one other being than Astoria who could do it on such a massive scale.

[She's curious about Astoria's other capabilities now. Such as how she identifies when worlds need saving.]

That would be a wise idea. Perhaps I'll suggest that she grant us a few minutes' notice.

[She offers a small smile.]

I wonder if anyone has been misfortunate enough to be bathing when she's done this.

[flimsylies]

[ He laughs easily, mostly because something like that wouldn't bother him. He has definitely had teleportation issues while bathing. ]

How unfortunate that would be.

[ He sits down on a crate, he begins to idly play with a deck of playing cards, shuffling them between his hands like someone with a great deal of practice at the trick. ]

Someone might be scandalized.

[ Hahaha he gives no fucks....... ]

[elegant_and_proud]

That may be why the grey jumpsuits were conveniently in our exact sizes in the rooms we woke up in.

[Because certainly he's not someone who'd fall in the range of sizes that would be readily available.

Although she'd rather be clothed, she'd be more troubled by arriving without her sword than she would by arriving without her clothing. Fabric can be sliced just so for some impromptu clothing if need be.]

I wonder what caused the people here to disappear. I found no signs of any bloodshed or struggle.

[flimsylies]

Maybe they were all jettisoned out the airlock, a million miles ago.

[ He posits this cheerfully, as if the thought of an entire crew's worth of frozen suffocated bodies does not disturb him. ]

[elegant_and_proud]

[She doesn't even flinch at his theory. In fact, she has a terrible one of her own.]

Perhaps. Or they may have been poisoned by one of their own.

[Her tone may not be cheerful like his, but it sounds more like she's working through a mildly challenging puzzle rather than talking about people's lives.]

[flimsylies]

Possible. I have heard theories that long-term space travel can trouble the mind.

[ And this ship was clearly meant to be sustainable for a long time. ]

meanwhile, at the hole

[loveedition]

[ She had a bad feeling about the giant hole. The thought of slipping right down and falling out the other side of the ship was seeping in, even it'd be a long fall. Figuring out what to do next was the best option. Finally, getting to talk something through--

And then, someone just. Fell into the floor.

Ryoko had no idea what the hell do to next-- she couldn't fly, and she didn't know if anyone else here could either, and oh god someone died oh no not already.

She didn't know what to do, and then... once he's back up, Ryoko nearly jumps. She struggles to find the words as he snaps his arm back, causing her to wince. Then, he speaks like nothing happened. ]

Well, maybe someone should wait until we've actually come up with something! Are you crazy?!

[flimsylies]

[ Crazy is certainly a word that people would use to describe him. He would object and, in fact, he does. He was very aware of his limits and capabilities, why should he tolerate these girls berating him when he had done them such a favor? ]

Any plan would be a waste of time. [ He shrugs with a lazy and dismissive hand gesture. ] The shaft is too deep.

[loveedition]

[ Mostly because even if this guy's trying to be helpful in a dumb way, she's still trying to show that she gives kind of a damn. ]

We don't know that for sure. There may be someone able to glide or come up with something to make navigating down there easier.

[flimsylies]

I'm sure someone can get down there.

[ The implication being that getting back up would be much more difficult. ]

[loveedition]

[ Someone, maybe could. Ryoko just isn't sure about the rest of it. ]

I'm sure someone can, but it'd help a lot more if they had someone else at least help them down so they don't hurt themselves, or in case something bad happens.

[flimsylies]

So impatient.

[ He shrugs theatrically. ]

We'll just repair the elevator.

[loveedition]

And I'm telling you--

[ Pause. Wait, actually that's. A good idea. ]

Ah... well, that'd probably be for the best. [ A beat. ] We should be able to get it running if the rest of the electricity comes back on. Meaning we'd be more likely to get somewhere by looking after those doors.

[flimsylies]

How try. Would you like me to pry one open for you?

[loveedition]

...Would... you be able to do that?

that's an unfortunate typo *how true

[flimsylies]

Of course.