dropoffs | GRAVEYARD.

Entry tags:

graveyard

GRAVEYARD.

GR͏∀VE̴Y͞A̵ЯD 13 DECOMMISSIONED

t̀h̡e u͝nḑerbe̸l͞l̵y ̸o͜f th̴è ̡şh̷i͠p.

Crushing pressure is the initial sensation you can recall upon awakening. The stench of fetid, hot steam fills your nose, motes of dust and dirt floating upwards to cling to your skin. Down you are pulled to the cold ground, and all at once you realize you have forgotten to breathe. As you gasp back to life, you are flung onto a pile of scraps and trash, as the enormous machine that spat you out grumbles a little, and then goes silent. You are whole somehow, alive... but at what cost?

Popping out of the grinder, you look yourself over and find that any injuries you may have incurred during your death will be healed. While the scars that remain from the process will serve as a stark reminder, you will be able to get up on your own two feet without issue.

Thin, tapering metal (?) claws unhook from overhead and lower themselves, proceeding to guide you around. Your clothing starts sticking uncomfortably to your skin in the humidity of this strange, new place. Overhead you can hear the tinny humming of flickering lights overhead, arranged in a singular, thin strip and snaking around the serpentine halls. Along exposed pipes, wires, and the walls, a rust-colored substance creeps in web-like patterns, climbing towards the ceiling lights.

The deep grinding and groaning of the ship begin to meld into one low, deep moan from all around. It dips and rises in pitch, and becomes sickening to listen to if you focus on it for too long. Maybe, it's the ship's way of saying Welcome, to the underbelly of the CSS Eudora, home of the decommissioned.

Some things to keep in mind, while amongst the dead:

💀 Mini-events will be posted on WEDNESDAY at 3 PM EST / 12 PM PST and 6 PM EST / 3 PM PST, and are due at the same time they are for the living. Any changes to the schedule will be announced in the graveyard channels.

💀 Weekly effects will still hit you here, in the belly of the ship. Mods will make sure to announce any special changes based on being the graveyard; otherwise, please assume everything is 1:1!

💀 While not perfect, there is a healing factor in place. It is extremely sluggish, uncomfortable, and does not negate the fact that you're injured and likely in pain. If the injury is too severe, you might wind up dying from it if left untreated. Again. If you have a pre-existing condition like an illness that has been exacerbated by factors beyond your control, you will find that for the time being these symptoms are at their most minor.

💀 That said, while double death is possible, you'll find yourself reviving after 4 hours fully healed, but feeling like complete garbage for the rest of the day. Message your mods if you find yourself getting killed while dead, though! There might be a special surprise involved.

💀 Your possessions, minus clothing besides what you're wearing now, can be found in the bunk pods and their storage. Yes, while it might not include clothes, it does include any Omegamart Promotional Items, Scrap purchases, home items, etc that you were in possession of. if you had a lot of things, the cubby might jam or have difficulty closing. Better organize. If you arrive on Saturday during trial, belongings will return at the end of trial.

💀 Communications, while you cannot text via I.R.I.S., you can still send messages through HER-MES. All other functions for I.R.I.S. are available along with direct data transfers. Dead can send private letters to the living! An inbox can be accessed from the family computer at the canteen. If you find it locked, it is because we are updating it.

💀 Living livestream is broadcasted on the TV screen in the canteen!
✔️ Upgraded Quality ✔️ Audio ✔️ Translit Captions that sometimes fuck up ✔️ Dramatic panning ❌ Color

💀 Planet locations are free to use! Upon the Eudora landing planetside, you will find that as you meander through the various parts of the Belly you may run into one of locations of the current planet instead of where you were meaning to go. These locations are indeed still populated, but the people are more like wisps and will not react much to any conversation. Though you can interact with stuff there you cannot take anything with you out of the location "rooms".

CHANGES

COMMS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[showered with woodchips

scien swats at some of them, annoyed that they're interrupting his nap but some get in his hair and he does nothing about it]

Busybody...? Either you're far worse than expected or this isn't Hades.

[Sawdust bath

But since his and Dahut's brilliant plan didn't work he is going to do what is rapidly becoming a habit and move over to help Scien sit up. Or. Rag doll him up and use a hand to keep him there? I don't know how boneless Scien feels at the moment.]

A little of column A, a little of column B. [This is probably a joke. Hoyoverse fans could never handle a villain LI.] We're still on the ship, don't ask me how. I can't blame you for wanting to rest after all of that, but there are beds.

[He will carry Scien there if needed, unfortunately... the way this CR was saved from nosediving off a cliff because he woke up here with Dahut who was just like "welp that was an oopsie but these things happen"]

[he's pretty boneless and tired - but honestly he'll sit up once guided and wave luke's hand off. no fussing. he doesn't trust enough for a carry either but we'll get there one day pixi]

I don't like beds. [he hasn't slept in a bed in over sixty years]

Ah... I see. As whatever it was spit me out, you were trying to climb in to return to the other side?

[at least he's quick on the uptake. his one plus as a person]

Suit yourself. [He's fussy but not over people who can take care of themselves, even though that's arguably questionable at the moment?? He got Dahut's explanation and their own reawakening to work from, but he doesn't try to hide that he's keeping a wary eye on Scien to make sure he doesn't malfunction again.]

Yeah. It's the only connection point we've found so far.

I see. "So far" is a few days, so I anticipate we'll get more information as we go. I'm fairly sure I already have things I need to be caught up on.

[ . . .

the wariness is felt though, and scien is tired enough he's not even annoyed at the emotional feedback. instead:]

You're combat capable. Do you have the follow through to kill someone?

Technically only one day--but we have someone else who's been here since shortly before our arrival. [So he is counting that too, even though he agrees with Scien's assessment.

He's assuming Scien's talking about Reliver business when it comes to catching up, so he doesn't ask--he just nods in answer to the question.]

I prefer to leave it as a last resort. [Sometimes you're from a normal and modern society] But yes, if it comes to that.

Who...?

[but scien will just nod in acceptance.]

As long as it's possible if necessary. Then while I'm monitoring myself and will obviously take action if I have any control left—I expect you to be able to remove me before I harm either of you. I'd rather not be left as a looming threat.

[and his emotions are fairly even (if still oddly processed), but there is the spark of frustration here. indignation.]

The original Callisto, apparently.

[SO THAT'S FUN.

There's a pulse of sympathy, there, in response to what he picks up from Scien's stilted feelings--but for all that he's perfectly able and willing to put those thoughts into words, everything else about the situation takes priority.]

Mm. Dahut told me some things, and I caught a little of what you said on the screen, yesterday. [Not a ton, because he was busy having his own emotional malfunctions, but. Enough.] I'll take care of it.

Original? I see. So they can't even keep track of their own staff.

[that's... cool and fun and great. inspires so much confidence. the withering in scien's emotions is soooooo palpable for a second.

but then at the agreement, scien looks over luke for a long moment. he tilts his head, thoughtful, before he nods. there's a beat of gratitude in his emotions. it's still not quite the real thing but... it's there.]

I'm putting a burden on you. [he's aware of what it means to make the request to take life, even if it's for a good reason they can all agree on]

Name one thing you want of me in exchange.

Either that, or they didn't see fit to tell us that one of their own had vanished and been replaced. [Which is... arguably a little understandable, considering that their group has already (rightfully) blasted senior crew to hell and back for all of this and probably didn't want to deal with their reactions about it. Scien's reaction is, however, the realest of moods.

Luke, for his part, is ready to leave it at that--it's not as though Scien is asking him to do anything he wouldn't have already. Don't reward me for promising to kill you, he might've said, or even you can buy me a burger once we're off this ship, if he could manage that casual playfulness he loves to wear.

But they'd spoken, hadn't they? In a sense. It normally starts as a degradation in the lungs that then spreads to the rest of the body--

He meets Scien's gaze, and there's a flicker of conflict in his eyes--but then he looks away and gets back to his feet.]

The things I want aren't things you can give me. [There's nothing but quiet resignation in his tone, a weary acceptance of this truth as unchanging.] But if that changes, I'll tell you.

[scien sighs, rising to his feet if only because he doesn't want to have whatever remains of this conversation at mismatched levels. he watches luke for a thoughtful moment, then letting his gaze obviously flick down to his chest—his lungs. that sensation of pain was familiar, so hilariously familiar that scien didn't barely registered it until others reacted first.]

You shouldn't be so sure.

There is probably nothing that you can ask from me, short of bending my principles, that I can't grant.

[and that sure is god's arrogance isn't it! but maybe not a surprise coming from a man who quite literally invented eternal youth.

still, he won't push, even though he has a feeling he knows what's on luke's mind.]

I don't like having debts to repay. Tell me when you decide.

It's not that I don't think you could. [Well. He kind of doesn't, really. Rather--he can't let himself hope that way, even with the evidence of what Scien and Dahut are capable of standing before him. He remembers Aaron tossing him that small bag, promising to save him a second time, only to say, as if meant anything, two extra months. He knows what it's like to go through the gauntlet of dashed hopes, and he's long since resigned himself to his fate.

He doesn't believe in gods, who have never done anything for him. Why would he start now?

But more than that...]

To me, there would be no point to living longer if I couldn't feel. I know you and Dahut are looking for answers for yourselves, but for me--that would never be worth it.

[To look at Rosa in the sunlight, radiant with delight; to let her shoulder warm his and know the depth of her trust as she dozes off beside him; even to sit with the years of guilt, grown stronger with every lie and omission. How could he bear to give that up?]

Someone already has my heart. I can't let other people do whatever they want with it.

[Even if it wouldn't be necessary to go through what they went through, even if Scien could do what Aaron and his other doctors couldn't--he can't entrust himself to someone who'd make such sacrifices. He's not that desperate.

...Not yet.]

I'll tell you. And I won't hold onto it beyond this ship. [He has no interest in sitting on an indefinite IOU; he just wants to get everyone home safely. For all his secrets and lies, that has always been true.]

Ah, that. So you're another who's fixated on your lovesick ways. [be nicer about it i'm begging] I already know how to fix it. If you asked me to become a Reliver with your emotions intact, I would have to perform a test—but I should be able to grant it.

[each day i hate scien brofiise

but he shakes his head. it's an offer that's on the table, to become a reliver, but that's not the first resort that he tends to focus on.]

I could save you, if you asked. However if you're looking for your own answers to stand on your own two feet, it's not like I hate that either. [if anything, he'd respect it more] I am not against working through hypotheticals and thought experiments while we discover more about our environment.

[however,]

There is no time limit.

[even if luke isn't the type to hold onto an indefinite IOU, it's another one of scien's particular principles to not forget when someone is willing to fulfill his request during the rare moments he makes them]

[Luke doesn't deserve to hear it in a nicer way when he ghosted Rosa for eight years and plans to do so again, and yet here he is, looking briefly annoyed anyway. STUPID.]

I'll think about it.

[Maybe. It's a bit half-hearted, with the edges of his emotions turning prickly, though not because of anything Scien has said. It just rankles, having his hand forced into sharing so much of this. He would have taken this secret to the grave--okay technically he did--EVEN MORE TO THE GRAVE if not for the damn nanites. Awful. Don't look at his TB anymore pay no attention to the man behind the curtain etc.

Blatantly changing the subject--]

We haven't figured out yet why we're still here, or where this is, other than "probably still on the ship." Communications are completely down, too. I'm not sure the senior crew even knows this place exists.

[a half-hearted shrug. it doesn't matter to him. as long as his request exists, then there will be a favor owed to luke.]

And there's no explanation as to how—who was it? Callisto? Got here?

Any idea what that thing is? [juts his thumb out over at the fucking grinder why does it look like that]

[Looks over at the virche thread looks into the camera]

He said we can call him Vash. But no, he doesn't remember clearly. He says he thinks the company might've just sent someone to take over his job, and that the others might think he just went missing. [looks at my conspiracy theories looks into a different camera. Luke also sounds doubtful, but that's because he's been filled with suspicion about them since the beginning... BLIZZARD VILLA REDUX!!!] Strangely enough, though, we didn't see his body when we saw, um, ours.

[On the screen... which was fucking WEIRD to see for him]

And this thing is...

[...

...

...]

...no clue. [thanks]

Saw... yours? Your bodies?

[please bring him up to speed on the pods, luke, he missed his entire own execution fallout]

... I see.

[he looks over at the grinder]

It's pretty ugly. [FOCUS] And we come out of it, scars over our injuries, but otherwise safe?

[i think about how scien's beautiful reliver mark on his throat is scared over now and it destroys me I DID THIS TO HIM]

Yeah. Mine and Dahut's--they're in the stasis bay. The screen in there isn't great, but I'm pretty sure the pods said "auxiliary" on them--if I had to guess, whatever's going on there is what's allowing us to be here. [Though how that works is way beyond his understanding.] Sheba and Eunhyuk were the ones who found your body. They probably put it in one of the pods too. [...] Sorry. I know that's not what you wanted.

[Though he personally thinks it's for the best, at least for now, especially since he doesn't know they're going to fucking mcmurder Viktor]

And yeah, it seems like it. Dahut's been--whole, the whole time I've seen him. [Granted he was distracted wallowing in his own misery and acting like a feral dog at first, but don't worry about that.] And my symptoms have been mild. Milder than they were all week, even.

[THE SEXY NECK TATTOO MAY BE RUINED BUT THE BACK ARCH IS FOREVER...]

"Auxiliary"... [he looks thoughtful at that] Then we'll see what will happen since our memory banks presumably aren't with our bodies at the moment. Though if these bodies exist, [he'll tap his chest] we can always do transplants in an emergency.

[JUST WHOLEASS HEART TRANSPLANTS OKAY OKAY but he doesn't even know why this body exists... there is a brief thought of should run some tests before it goes away help me]

The symptoms that we felt on Thursday. [he's presuming?]

You clearly hate talking about it, but are there anything other impediments on you aside from the pain?

[stop not the back arch]

[Not the tests HE HATES IT HERE WHY IS HE STUCK WITH TWO MAD SCIENTISTS AND A STANDING_PLANT. At least it's not his job to smack rusty knives out of Dahut's hand anymore, y'all can spot each other again. Nature is healing.

He just nods as Scien muses about the bodies and the memory banks, though, because he is truly no help when it comes to that... and predictably, his vibes turn sour again, though there's the noted sensation of pushing the irritation back. Only because Dahut appealed to him about Sharing yesterday though.]

Yes, and if I start to feel them again, I'll let you know. [Bold words from a proven liar but okay] But nothing so far. I mean--I can tell it's still there, but it's been mild and stable. Even with the painkillers Io gave me, I could tell it was getting worse before.

[He just didn't think it would go from 0 to 100 like that, otherwise he would've crawled off behind a couch somewhere and texted Io to hide his corpse and say he got turbo promoted or something]

Do you still have the painkillers?

[you're sure those weren't placebo or poison? the way that scien truly doesn't trust the senior crew even a little is wild]

[OKAY BUT LIKE, VALID THOUGH. WHAT A DINGDANG MOOD. He digs into his pocket for a second, pulling out a small, white bottle of pills, which he hands over. There are ingredients listed on the back, "and the ingredients are indeed normal, there is absolutely nothing wrong with these pills. they are Stronger painkillers. i don't know things." Pats Io-mod on the head.]

They could've been. I've built up a resistance to some of the common ones, but that could've been meaningless with these. [He'll acknowledge that; it was a gamble. Truly who knows what the fuck space drugs are, even if he probably recognized the ingredients on the label with his stupid bioengineering degree.] I tried not to take that many, at least until we got access to the medbay and I could check them myself. They did claim they'd taken them before, for their leg, but...

[Y'know. It all comes back to the none trust.]

You can take a look if you want. We have even less to work with down here than we did up there, though.

[scien looks them over and hums, probably recognizing the ingredients as well because he's a researcher but larps as a doctor on occasion. truly, he doesn't trust the senior crew at all but at the moment they just don't have the resources to further examine it.

he'll toss the bottle back over to luke]

Even I can't examine a pill and discern whether the ingredients match the label on sight.

You only have these, no actual medication for your condition?

[Luke slams the bottle down like a football touchdown and yells WHO'S A GOD NOW no just kidding. He puts them back in his pocket.]

Mm. [Dryly--] Just one more thing they forgot to pack, I guess.

[BUT THEY PACKED HIS BIRD? WHY!!! HE WASN'T EVEN HOME]

[luke should get to play god for a lil bit. as a treat.]

Wow.

[the unimpressed vibes are back]

Well, no one can blame you for being angry.

[luke got such a wildly short end of the stick hello]

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