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Entry tags:
TDM 001
TEST DRIVE MEME 001 ❀
CONTENT WARNINGS: potential character nudity, violence, trypophobia (images) as well as light mentions of gore.
Please note: FOR THE FIRST 24 HOURS AFTER 'HATCHING', CHARACTERS WILL FEEL WEAK AND ANY POWERS THEY HAVE WILL NOT WORK.
Test drive meme threads can be considered game canon for players who are later accepted and wish to keep their CR. The rescue mission prompt will be a TDM-exclusive, but the other prompts that you see here will also appear on our first game log. There will, of course, be more going on that week.
Please reserve questions about consequences for altering or meaningfully investigating the setting for the first log of the game, where we will have a Mod Questions thread at the top of the log. On this test drive meme, please reserve this thread for clarification and setting questions.
On the first day of reserves (May 10th), only players who participate in the TDM will be allowed to reserve. You must link an AC-length thread from the TDM for early access. Starting on the 11th, any prospective player may submit a reserve. Our hope is that this will avoid overwhelming our reserves.
Congrats, you've woken up in an egg. I'm sure this is exactly how you wanted to spend your Saturday, right? There's no time to get curious and check out the other egg sacs. By the time you've fought your way out of the membranous sac, spilled electric blue goop everywhere, wiped it out of your eyes and sundry other orifices to get your bearings, you have a spear (or a gun) leveled at your face, throat, or other vital organs. Even if you might be inclined to fight, you can barely lift your arms to protest being grabbed and dragged off. Before you can even get a word in edgewise, you've been thrown into a holding cell.
Characters will not have a chance to retrieve their items at the time of the first hatching, and may not even know there is anything left in the remaining eggs.
The holding cell stinks of something sour and acidic, like rotted citrus, but you are not alone. Several other detainees sit in similar squalid confusion, dressed strangely and equally gooey. Time to make nice, ask questions... figure out what the hell is going on, and maybe do something about all that slime?
Over the next few days, a few things become clear. Despite the alien greeting, your captors speak a language that you understand, and the unpleasant circumstances are revealed to be a matter of necessity, not choice. Supplies are low, but they ensure that the new arrivals' time imprisoned is as painless as can be — they offer hot communal showers of less than three minutes, some strange starchy meal-replacement, and medical treatment to those in need. You might strike up a conversation with your new best friend in the shower over a low soap dispenser or when you realize you might need to share towels.
The cost of these luxuries comes in the form of touch-and-go interrogation by the security officers keeping tabs on the cells and supervising the shower time.
A few notes:
Please note: FOR THE FIRST 24 HOURS AFTER 'HATCHING', CHARACTERS WILL FEEL WEAK AND ANY POWERS THEY HAVE WILL NOT WORK.
Test drive meme threads can be considered game canon for players who are later accepted and wish to keep their CR. The rescue mission prompt will be a TDM-exclusive, but the other prompts that you see here will also appear on our first game log. There will, of course, be more going on that week.
Please reserve questions about consequences for altering or meaningfully investigating the setting for the first log of the game, where we will have a Mod Questions thread at the top of the log. On this test drive meme, please reserve this thread for clarification and setting questions.
On the first day of reserves (May 10th), only players who participate in the TDM will be allowed to reserve. You must link an AC-length thread from the TDM for early access. Starting on the 11th, any prospective player may submit a reserve. Our hope is that this will avoid overwhelming our reserves.
❀ HATCHING
Congrats, you've woken up in an egg. I'm sure this is exactly how you wanted to spend your Saturday, right? There's no time to get curious and check out the other egg sacs. By the time you've fought your way out of the membranous sac, spilled electric blue goop everywhere, wiped it out of your eyes and sundry other orifices to get your bearings, you have a spear (or a gun) leveled at your face, throat, or other vital organs. Even if you might be inclined to fight, you can barely lift your arms to protest being grabbed and dragged off. Before you can even get a word in edgewise, you've been thrown into a holding cell.
Characters will not have a chance to retrieve their items at the time of the first hatching, and may not even know there is anything left in the remaining eggs.
The holding cell stinks of something sour and acidic, like rotted citrus, but you are not alone. Several other detainees sit in similar squalid confusion, dressed strangely and equally gooey. Time to make nice, ask questions... figure out what the hell is going on, and maybe do something about all that slime?
Over the next few days, a few things become clear. Despite the alien greeting, your captors speak a language that you understand, and the unpleasant circumstances are revealed to be a matter of necessity, not choice. Supplies are low, but they ensure that the new arrivals' time imprisoned is as painless as can be — they offer hot communal showers of less than three minutes, some strange starchy meal-replacement, and medical treatment to those in need. You might strike up a conversation with your new best friend in the shower over a low soap dispenser or when you realize you might need to share towels.
The cost of these luxuries comes in the form of touch-and-go interrogation by the security officers keeping tabs on the cells and supervising the shower time.
A few notes:
☆ Your character may get pulled away for interrogation at some point. No torture, no drugs; just questioning.
☆ Locals will be stopping by outside the freestanding holding cells to ogle or ask questions. Are you really going to be mean to that little kid staring at you with wide eyes?
☆ Characters will be let out for bio breaks. No one has to pee in a bucket, that's just inhumane!
☆ Attempts to escape will probably get you tasered. The mods will not facilitate escape-plots/etc on test drive memes. However: if you app and are accepted you are more than welcome to chat with us about the possibility of having escaped or attempted it.
☆ Locals will be stopping by outside the freestanding holding cells to ogle or ask questions. Are you really going to be mean to that little kid staring at you with wide eyes?
☆ Characters will be let out for bio breaks. No one has to pee in a bucket, that's just inhumane!
☆ Attempts to escape will probably get you tasered. The mods will not facilitate escape-plots/etc on test drive memes. However: if you app and are accepted you are more than welcome to chat with us about the possibility of having escaped or attempted it.
❀ EXPLORE THE BASECAMP
On the heels of a little benign interrogation, a medical inspection, and a stern talking to by Captain Childe, the survivors at Basecamp Leviathan determine one thing: you don't appear to be an active threat.
Released from the detention center after three days, you are given the run-down by the locals — you're on a planet called Ethyraia, and the people around you are survivors of the catastrophic crash of the UCSS Adamant several years prior. You, in fact, showed up on the third anniversary of the crash. Weird coincidence, huh?
You're being allowed to mingle with the others. The first order of the day is having a proper meal at the mess hall — some of the Adamant's survivors will be friendlier than others. They've been stranded here for years, remember? Some of them will be so desperate to talk to someone who has news of other places, and some will be giving you the cold shoulder.
You'll be fed the same as the rest of them. A plastic plate of crumbled protein of unidentifiable origin and gravy over rice with a single wilted stalk of broccoli and a cup of the worst coffee you've ever had. Maybe somebody bumps into you and spills said coffee, maybe you make it all the way to one of the long tables set out for communal eating.
Time to strike up a chat with your neighbor — maybe ask them to pass the salt?
(What do you mean, there's no salt!?)
After a meal — it's hard to say which one you'd call it, since the whole crew is on rotating schedules — you may decide to wander the basecamp. Folks in every department could use a hand. Those willing to help out may get friendlier reception than those who play the tourist. For more info on what else you might find, check out the LOCATIONS page.
During this time, characters will be able to return to the Central Chrysalis where they hatched. While there are no clues as to how they got there, they might find items — their own, or someone else's. Everyone is strapped for supplies, but try not to snatch up anything that isn't yours. The security officers don't look kindly on people chasing one other down the hall, trying to get back their dirty magazines.
A few notes:
Released from the detention center after three days, you are given the run-down by the locals — you're on a planet called Ethyraia, and the people around you are survivors of the catastrophic crash of the UCSS Adamant several years prior. You, in fact, showed up on the third anniversary of the crash. Weird coincidence, huh?
You're being allowed to mingle with the others. The first order of the day is having a proper meal at the mess hall — some of the Adamant's survivors will be friendlier than others. They've been stranded here for years, remember? Some of them will be so desperate to talk to someone who has news of other places, and some will be giving you the cold shoulder.
You'll be fed the same as the rest of them. A plastic plate of crumbled protein of unidentifiable origin and gravy over rice with a single wilted stalk of broccoli and a cup of the worst coffee you've ever had. Maybe somebody bumps into you and spills said coffee, maybe you make it all the way to one of the long tables set out for communal eating.
Time to strike up a chat with your neighbor — maybe ask them to pass the salt?
(What do you mean, there's no salt!?)
After a meal — it's hard to say which one you'd call it, since the whole crew is on rotating schedules — you may decide to wander the basecamp. Folks in every department could use a hand. Those willing to help out may get friendlier reception than those who play the tourist. For more info on what else you might find, check out the LOCATIONS page.
During this time, characters will be able to return to the Central Chrysalis where they hatched. While there are no clues as to how they got there, they might find items — their own, or someone else's. Everyone is strapped for supplies, but try not to snatch up anything that isn't yours. The security officers don't look kindly on people chasing one other down the hall, trying to get back their dirty magazines.
A few notes:
☆ Feel free to help out anywhere. Every little bit of assistance you offer to the locals will raise their estimation of you. You could easily help clean dishes after the meal, help fix leaky piping or repair hammocks. You could stop by the aid station and assist with the wounded. You'll be watched closely and some of the survivors will be warier than others, but most will appreciate the opportunity to have a 'break'.
☆ If your character leaves the basecamp and wanders outside the Leviathan, they may begin to notice that what they perhaps took as a giant cave is actually an enormous dragon. Everything they see that seems 'human made' will look varying levels of worn down, patched, repaired and patched again. This is not a place of prosperity and happiness. Many people are recently injured, or have new scars or missing limbs.
☆ PCs will be warned about going beyond the shade of the dragon's wings. For the sake of the test drive mods will not be facilitating plots that deal with characters going further; we ask that players with an interest in exploring this wait until the game is fully open.
☆ If your character leaves the basecamp and wanders outside the Leviathan, they may begin to notice that what they perhaps took as a giant cave is actually an enormous dragon. Everything they see that seems 'human made' will look varying levels of worn down, patched, repaired and patched again. This is not a place of prosperity and happiness. Many people are recently injured, or have new scars or missing limbs.
☆ PCs will be warned about going beyond the shade of the dragon's wings. For the sake of the test drive mods will not be facilitating plots that deal with characters going further; we ask that players with an interest in exploring this wait until the game is fully open.
❀ RESCUE MISSION
"There's no time to waste," the woman says breathlessly as she grabs your arm. She pulls you to an augmented reality sand table and you will find yourself standing alongside some of the others you may recognize as having 'hatched' with you. There are murmurs by the Adamant's survivors as they pour over data. Maybe you remember Captain Childe from the stern interrogation she gave you a few days ago, but in any case but she's standing at the edge of the sand table looking at the distance scaled between the enormous huddle of HUD badges — the Adamant's survivors — and a tiny pocket of pulsing green some fifteen kilometers away.
"They knew better," Captain Childe says, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "They should have been back hours ago."
"Fucking scientists," says a man with a faintly French accent. He is scarred and battle-worn, and looks properly pissed off. He's also sporting several fresh injuries, one of which seems to have warranted the use of a crutch. "They'd lose their heads if they weren't attached. Let them wait out the storm."
"No," the captain says. "They're too close to the Rat Nest. We don't need a repeat of —" she trails off, as if seeing you for the first time. She looks you up and down, and then: "You've been told by now that everyone here has to pitch in. If you know how to fight, be ready in ten minutes. You're our rescue squad." She turns and walks out, and there's an awkward moment where everyone present is looking at you to make a choice.
Ten minutes really isn't a lot of time to get ready to walk into danger. Or maybe you aren't a fighter. Maybe you just don't care. But either way, there are people looking to you. To see how you'll react. To see what you'll do. To see if you belong.
What'll it be, hatchling? Fight or flight? Maybe you ought to start coming up with a plan.
FIELD WORK
There's a cadre of scientists cut off by acid rain. From their last transmission, they were driven into the Rat Warrens — and you've been tasked with rescuing them. Too many members of the Security Team are themselves injured, and none of the remaining ones have experience leading a fire team. Let's hope you do — or at least that you can fake it.
Maybe you've hand-picked your team. Maybe you're just stuck with whoever else was closest. Either way, your companions are some of the people you might recognize as fellow 'hatchlings'. If you know them already — good, you've got a head start on what they might be capable of out in the field, and you can chat about the little things. You know, like the weather. Acid rain, gotta love it.
Either way. You're given few small slabs of surprisingly lightweight alloy that has a sheet of — is that hide from the Leviathan? — stretched across them, to divide up amongst your team. "Helps with the rain," Ensign Porter says, trying to sound cheerful despite the grim set to his jaw. "Just come back in one piece. I kinda feel responsible for you guys, you know?"
Before you know it, you're outfitted for the trip. Weapons (if you didn't have your own) and maybe some medical supplies, handed over with a grimace by Doc Sunya.
So then it's just you, your tiny team and a fifteen kilometer hike. Oh, and the acid rain. Luckily, the shields seem to be keeping it off, but it's hard to hear anything over the impact of the drops. Anyone want to play I never?
Or maybe you think you should make a break for it. This is your first time being outside the Leviathan unsupervised. You've got supplies, and other people with as little to lose here as you do. Maybe you should talk.
THE RAT WARREN
You've made it to the last transmitted location of the scientists. What you find doesn't bode well — one of them seemed to have an arm torn off — at least, you think it's an arm — the way it's been disintegrated by the rain makes it hard to tell.
One thing's certain, though. There are bloodstains leading into the nearby maw of a hole in the ground. There's a putrid odor wafting from it, and the sound of frantic scrabbling.
You have an idea of what might be down there. 'Giant rats with tentacles', Porter had said. Don't let the tentacles grab you, they leave chemical burns that usually result in amputation if they can't be treated immediately. But there's a chance the scientists are still alive, and you need to make your choice.
If you and your small team venture down into the darkness, what happens next is up to you. You'll be encountering hoards of these monsters. The scientists are still alive, but will they stay that way? And more importantly, can you get them back to the Leviathan in one piece?
PCs versus the local fauna, round one, FIGHT!
A few notes:
"They knew better," Captain Childe says, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "They should have been back hours ago."
"Fucking scientists," says a man with a faintly French accent. He is scarred and battle-worn, and looks properly pissed off. He's also sporting several fresh injuries, one of which seems to have warranted the use of a crutch. "They'd lose their heads if they weren't attached. Let them wait out the storm."
"No," the captain says. "They're too close to the Rat Nest. We don't need a repeat of —" she trails off, as if seeing you for the first time. She looks you up and down, and then: "You've been told by now that everyone here has to pitch in. If you know how to fight, be ready in ten minutes. You're our rescue squad." She turns and walks out, and there's an awkward moment where everyone present is looking at you to make a choice.
Ten minutes really isn't a lot of time to get ready to walk into danger. Or maybe you aren't a fighter. Maybe you just don't care. But either way, there are people looking to you. To see how you'll react. To see what you'll do. To see if you belong.
What'll it be, hatchling? Fight or flight? Maybe you ought to start coming up with a plan.
FIELD WORK
There's a cadre of scientists cut off by acid rain. From their last transmission, they were driven into the Rat Warrens — and you've been tasked with rescuing them. Too many members of the Security Team are themselves injured, and none of the remaining ones have experience leading a fire team. Let's hope you do — or at least that you can fake it.
Maybe you've hand-picked your team. Maybe you're just stuck with whoever else was closest. Either way, your companions are some of the people you might recognize as fellow 'hatchlings'. If you know them already — good, you've got a head start on what they might be capable of out in the field, and you can chat about the little things. You know, like the weather. Acid rain, gotta love it.
Either way. You're given few small slabs of surprisingly lightweight alloy that has a sheet of — is that hide from the Leviathan? — stretched across them, to divide up amongst your team. "Helps with the rain," Ensign Porter says, trying to sound cheerful despite the grim set to his jaw. "Just come back in one piece. I kinda feel responsible for you guys, you know?"
Before you know it, you're outfitted for the trip. Weapons (if you didn't have your own) and maybe some medical supplies, handed over with a grimace by Doc Sunya.
So then it's just you, your tiny team and a fifteen kilometer hike. Oh, and the acid rain. Luckily, the shields seem to be keeping it off, but it's hard to hear anything over the impact of the drops. Anyone want to play I never?
Or maybe you think you should make a break for it. This is your first time being outside the Leviathan unsupervised. You've got supplies, and other people with as little to lose here as you do. Maybe you should talk.
THE RAT WARREN
You've made it to the last transmitted location of the scientists. What you find doesn't bode well — one of them seemed to have an arm torn off — at least, you think it's an arm — the way it's been disintegrated by the rain makes it hard to tell.
One thing's certain, though. There are bloodstains leading into the nearby maw of a hole in the ground. There's a putrid odor wafting from it, and the sound of frantic scrabbling.
You have an idea of what might be down there. 'Giant rats with tentacles', Porter had said. Don't let the tentacles grab you, they leave chemical burns that usually result in amputation if they can't be treated immediately. But there's a chance the scientists are still alive, and you need to make your choice.
If you and your small team venture down into the darkness, what happens next is up to you. You'll be encountering hoards of these monsters. The scientists are still alive, but will they stay that way? And more importantly, can you get them back to the Leviathan in one piece?
PCs versus the local fauna, round one, FIGHT!
A few notes:
☆ Feel free to put player characters 'in charge' of the planning/logistics phase. If another PC tags into your thread, you and that player can decide which PC will be 'leading the charge'.
☆ Your character will have: a mini-railgun, a spear (if they don't have their items/weapons from home), a first-aid kit, the acid rain shields, ration bars (that are essentially condensed protein bars — they do not taste good) and one of the smartwatches, which will have a mini holographic HUD displayable on its interface. If your character is the sort to request other things, feel free to assume they received them (within reason — please remember that resource scarcity is the name of the game — feel free to be creative here!).
☆ There are fifteen kilometers to cover. If your character has an ability like superspeed/etc, please keep in mind it will work, but you also have your allies to consider. Normal walking time over this distance, given the difficulty of the environment (steep hills, acid rain, unknown territory, etc) would translate to several hours to an average person.
☆ Feel free to use the NPC scientists however you'd like. If you want your character to find some dead, you can. If you'd prefer they be rescued, that is also acceptable. These are essentially 'your' NPCs that you are using to facilitate the story at this point — the sky is the metaphoric limit!
☆ Your character will have: a mini-railgun, a spear (if they don't have their items/weapons from home), a first-aid kit, the acid rain shields, ration bars (that are essentially condensed protein bars — they do not taste good) and one of the smartwatches, which will have a mini holographic HUD displayable on its interface. If your character is the sort to request other things, feel free to assume they received them (within reason — please remember that resource scarcity is the name of the game — feel free to be creative here!).
☆ There are fifteen kilometers to cover. If your character has an ability like superspeed/etc, please keep in mind it will work, but you also have your allies to consider. Normal walking time over this distance, given the difficulty of the environment (steep hills, acid rain, unknown territory, etc) would translate to several hours to an average person.
☆ Feel free to use the NPC scientists however you'd like. If you want your character to find some dead, you can. If you'd prefer they be rescued, that is also acceptable. These are essentially 'your' NPCs that you are using to facilitate the story at this point — the sky is the metaphoric limit!
❀ BOOZE
A week. You've been here for a week.
By now, you might have tried to venture out of Basecamp Leviathan and experienced firsthand the acid rains that the security officers warned you about. Or you might be teaching the kids at the schoolyard how to gamble. In any event, Thorkil seems to take pity on his disoriented new friends and taps his distillery for a little help.
Invitation passes by word of mouth to meet at the memorial wall. Moonshine of questionable quality is passed around in tin cups — hope no one's afraid of germs — as Thorkil explains the great relief it is to be gaining people instead of losing them. This settlement isn't big, and they aren't overburdened with hope or supplies, but there's been a lot of loss in the past three years. Some people might be willing to look at the arrival of these newcomers as a sign that things are turning around.
Bottoms up, hatchlings, and ... Happy Birthday?
A few notes:
By now, you might have tried to venture out of Basecamp Leviathan and experienced firsthand the acid rains that the security officers warned you about. Or you might be teaching the kids at the schoolyard how to gamble. In any event, Thorkil seems to take pity on his disoriented new friends and taps his distillery for a little help.
Invitation passes by word of mouth to meet at the memorial wall. Moonshine of questionable quality is passed around in tin cups — hope no one's afraid of germs — as Thorkil explains the great relief it is to be gaining people instead of losing them. This settlement isn't big, and they aren't overburdened with hope or supplies, but there's been a lot of loss in the past three years. Some people might be willing to look at the arrival of these newcomers as a sign that things are turning around.
Bottoms up, hatchlings, and ... Happy Birthday?
A few notes:
☆ Feel free to turn this into an impromptu party. Maybe you're celebrating getting all the scientists back alive! Maybe it's something like a wake to remember them in the sad event of their passing. Either way, many of the engineers and other NPCs may join you in this moonlight drinking session, as well as whatever PCs you tag out to or are tagged by.)
❀ OBLIGATORY NETWORK
Welcome people of all kinds to Basecamp Leviathan! I'd give you a hand moving in except...
I have no hands.
Because I'm an AI.
Get it?
It's a joke.
My name is Cartagena. But anyway, this isn't about me or the Adamant for once. This is about all of you. So if you would kindly fill out the following questionnaire to get to know each other; it would also be very helpful for my systems.
NOTE: Participation is MANDATORY.
That was another joke. It's all voluntary. You people and your free will.
1. What is your name?
2. Where are you from?
3. What's your favorite smell? Please describe it as you would to a person without a nose. Because I do not have a nose.
4. If you could be any animal in any world, what would you be?
5. How old are you?
6. Did you enjoy this questionnaire?
Thank you for your participation! Please enjoy the rest of your stay here at Basecamp Leviathan.
I have no hands.
Because I'm an AI.
Get it?
It's a joke.
My name is Cartagena. But anyway, this isn't about me or the Adamant for once. This is about all of you. So if you would kindly fill out the following questionnaire to get to know each other; it would also be very helpful for my systems.
NOTE: Participation is MANDATORY.
That was another joke. It's all voluntary. You people and your free will.
1. What is your name?
2. Where are you from?
3. What's your favorite smell? Please describe it as you would to a person without a nose. Because I do not have a nose.
4. If you could be any animal in any world, what would you be?
5. How old are you?
6. Did you enjoy this questionnaire?
Thank you for your participation! Please enjoy the rest of your stay here at Basecamp Leviathan.
kaz brekker | shadow and bone
ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 (mentions of duology spoilers)
he has no memory of being taken to the cell. he supposes they dragged him, if the comingling of dirt and slime say anything about the state of his knees. but he is just there, in the muck, and then he isn't. his heartrate is too quick, too hard, and he is scowling at his surroundings, wiping slime from the slick of his hair, daring anyone to say anything about his disassociation, privately hoping everyone is too busy being caught up in their own mire to have minded his at all.
(but he would have. if it were him. he'll have to be on guard for it later.)
he's been kidnapped before, certainly. woken up strange places. very few people get the drop on him anymore, but that isn't to say it can't happen. but this place — there are guns he doesn't recognize, accents that don't make sense. their captors are a motley crew of people better suited to ketterdam's back alleys, but they're wearing uniforms that mark them as aligned to a singular cause — no matter that they're threadbare and tattered.
they march him out. question him. bring him back. he tells them very little. his name, nothing else. the only point they get in their favor is that when their captain notices the limp, she instructs one of her underlings to find him a cane. he sets his jaw against gratitude, but they seem to have the measure of one-another by the time he's taken back to the cage.
when they bring food, he shoves his plate to the nearest other person in the cage, his other hand curled around the head of the cane. ）
Be my guest.
（ it isn't that he isn't hungry. it's more that he doesn't quite trust the food, and is using the hunger to fuel his spiteful annoyance. ）
𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑝
the rest of it is finding something he can turn his hand to.
he would be useless at anything that required long periods of standing. he learns technology quickly, but is by no means proficient enough to take over duties from those more familiar. he isn't about to teach.
it doesn't take him very long at all to ferret out the shadier parts of the basecamp. people gambling to exchange unfavorable shifts, ration cards for rare, vaunted food items. kaz inserts himself at a table playing a game that's almost familiar, and within two hands he's gotten the gist of it. he gambles things he doesn't have to lose and wins via a combination of blunt-force luck and natural skill, and when he is on track to lose a hand he cheats, skimming cards with a steadiness of hand that betrays the anxiety that's gnawing at him like a rat at a corpse.
what results is a decent amassment of items, favors and ration cards. he has an extra communication device he's tucked into a pocket. it's not much, but it's a start. ruthlessness will serve him as well here as anywhere.
characters can find him with his own deck of cards, laying out a ketterdam game called kingsmeet. he will glance up as people pass, to invite them into this two-person iteration. be prepared to lose the shirt off your back, players! ）
100% voicetesting
there are no rooftops to run across here, no threats to stab, just technology she's never seen on top of information she doesn't understand on top of people she doesn't recognize. but she's good at blending in, at least, and still good at slipping away. if she's powerless to do anything else, she can still eavesdrop, still collect as much knowledge as she can for when she runs into-
they might not be here. she might have been the only dreg taken, and if their captors - planetmates? - are to be believed, they're far away from ketterdam, even farther away from the saints.
inej prays anyway. what else is there to do?
once they have the freedom to roam, she takes advantage, scopes out every part of the basecamp as inconspicuously as she can manage. it doesn't take long to find something familiar - she follows the raucous sounds of laughing to what must pass for the gambling district here. and then she sees him. his cane, his posture, the tilt of his head - she'd recognize him anywhere.
the anxious triple beat in her heart soothes, near instantly. ]
I just found my knives again. Will you cheat me out of them so soon?
same hat same hat
but his breath still hitches when he sees her. every time. catching on old ribs, badly broken. reminding him that even the hardest bastards in the barrel need to breathe. these last few days have been a riotous panic in his head, tempered by strict discipline and the same will that got him out of the water. but it hasn't been easy. clawing himself out of the egg alone had been. it had been —
— it doesn't matter. the moment is past. what is one more thing to survive in a hard life of unsurvivable things?
he has been playing by himself long enough that people's eyes slide over him as they pass. he's landscape, scenery. the name and reputation he's worked so hard for means nothing to this scattered flock of pigeons, but it doesn't mean they aren't useful to him — he's been listening. remembering.
but when he sees inej, everything goes silent.
(distantly, he hears the lap of hungry water against the strong tarred legs of the dock.)
still, his expression — if anything — hardens. ）
Cheating you out of them would be a waste of my talents.
（ the cold, hard truth of it — inej is not a gambler. he could say something kinder. soften the blow. but the barest glimmer of what inej might call decency makes him all the more eager to grind it to dust beneath his boot.
he turns up a card (the nine of clubs) and puts it down against the makeshift table. ）
And you're late.
（ he's glad. if she'd found him earlier, when he was all but insensible — she's already seen him without his gloves, more intimate than anything to be found at the menagerie. he's already in too deep, it would have been the ruin of him. ）
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that's fine. it would have been an insult to their relationship, to how well she knew him, if inej had expected a warm welcome. ] The next time I'm birthed from an egg sac on some other world, I'll find you faster. [ she says it evenly, because it's only half a joke. if kaz is here to be found, across the universe from everything she's even known, who is she to doubt she'll keep finding him again and again, no matter what life brings?
but that's not important. she leans a little forward in her seat, eyes intent on his. ] I'm here now. So what's your plan? [ because certainly he has one. inej doesn't have doubts when it comes to that. ]
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pekka rollins is worlds away, alive, and the tether that kaz built between them, the anchor is snapped taut.
plan? he barely has a purpose. pathetic. he could pick a fight with the biggest man here, put him in the dirt. break his legs with his cane that sings with the lead-lined thrum of a fabrikator-made weapon. and for what? there is no money. people trade in rations, ill-favoured shifts, sex. none of that matters to him. their idea of gambling is not the sort that ends with a man having his fingernails pulled out or his pinky finger cut off. he has not met a single person here who exudes danger the way a barrel rat with an ounce of steel in their spine could muster. this is not an empire. it's barely even a township. there aren't enough people in the belly of this leviathan to block the goedmedbridge.
and what of ketterdam, in their absence? does their little world spin on without them? he imagines jesper walking up east stave towards the fifth harbour alone. not a pigeon, but certainly less a murder with the rest of the crows absent his flamboyant shadow. the dime lions will be slavering for a crack at everything kaz built up from nothing, if the razorgulls don't get there first. apart from it all, he can already feel the tapestry of his revenge unravel at the edge.
and inej, his spider, thinks he has a plan. there is a brief, vivid slash of a moment, suli-bright, where he thinks he would sooner be on the reaper's barge than weather her disappointment. it fades like a firework, there and gone.
his jaw works as he shuffles, the clench of it perceptible only to those that know him best. he let all his tells get beaten out of him, over the years. all but one.
all but one.
his eyes flicker upwards. alight on her, and hold.
of the cards, he deals one after the other. turns up the three of hearts, the queen of spades, the six of clubs. ）
Not here.
（ he says it disdainfully. as if it's a matter of her indiscretion rather than his own failure. they have ways to avoid being overheard. they have made themselves invisible in plain sight a thousand times. but this is a new world, new rules. the devices they carry in their pockets can record audio and video across distances an etherealki would envy. until he knows for certain how to disable these devices, kaz will not make the mistake of being so careless. but it is, all of it, a pretense for avoiding what he would sooner not admit. ）
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lips pressed together, she leans back in her chair, casting her gaze over the people around them. kaz brekker is not a bad man, but she'd be lying if she said she was always ready to be charitable to him. ]
Have you met anyone else familiar? [ she's been keeping an eye out for the rest of the dregs, but kaz is the only one she's found, and he very much seems to have been alone till now. she's not sure what she wants - jesper's humor would be welcome now, to distract her from the reality of the situation, but perhaps he'd be safer at home.
then again, with inej and kaz both here, home might not be so safe after all. she swallows, one hand going to rest on a knife strapped to her thigh. ]
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"Don't have a damned thing to wager, so what're you playing for?"
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(he does not, in point of fact, look like jesper, but kaz is reminded all the same. it's the frame, the irreverence, the tendency to smile when one shouldn't.)
he tucks a card beneath one laying face down, and then flips it up to reveal the three of spades. his movements are languid and effortless, not so much betraying his confidence with the dealing as announcing it as a warning. ）
There's always something to wager. If you can't think of anything, you aren't worth my time.
𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑚
he takes a cursory mouthful, and discreetly spits it out when the server turns their back to him. he raises his glass in a gesture of cheers to someone who's caught his eye. he'll have to make a statement — and soon — in the shape of proving himself not to be trifled with, but until he knows which way the wind is blowing he isn't going to be cutting anyone's throat. ）
May you live in health.
（ he doesn't say it like he means it, though his expression is neutral there is something cruel in the set of his mouth. he'll hold conversation if he must — no spider, he, but someone who knows that liquor loosens lips in ways he can leverage. ）
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[Max has acquired a slightly nicer tin cup and holds it out in Kaz's direction with a glance at his half-drunk moonshine. If he's just going to spit it out, he can pour the rest into her cup, and let her drink it.
Greetings are for people who aren't alcoholics who haven't seen booze in a week. Top a girl up. The only reason she hasn't gotten sick is because she's been manipulating her body, but actual alcohol will help.]
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I wish you your fill of it.
（ it might provide a pleasant respite. dull his senses, numb the pain. but he needs to be sharp, and quick, and clever, and he cannot afford to be otherwise. ）
𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 @ 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑒
I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. No one walks my roads, though they follow them. I have water, but no fish. What am I?
@ "n"
How about one of mine?
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[ After sending it to him, she wanders casually, always skimming over the room to see if anyone is concentrating hard on their device or working it out. ]
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so instead, he is tucked away behind the lee of one of the aid tents sitting on a bench he's dragged there. it gives him a clear field of vision, the walls of the dragon's body and sightlines that a sniper would envy.
the puzzle itself is easy. he has always had an excellent head for mathematics and logistics. it's the morality where he gets fuzzy, because frankly he would sooner shove everyone else off the bridge entirely were it a matter of people. ）
I suppose that may have been difficult for a child, or a fool.
（ he doesn't send her the answer. it isn't worth the effort of typing it out. he's almost offended by how simplistic it was. ）
@astarkov
Who apparently considers riddles a fair introduction.
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（ a starkov, who knows something of maps. yes, he has a very good guess as to who's on the other side of this device. ）
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[ to be appraising instead of connecting presumes he's superior out of the gate. ]
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cw: self-directed pejorative
@spins
Why the riddle, though?
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An easy riddle doesn't tell you that much.