goneawaymod: (Default)
Piper 90: Mods ([personal profile] goneawaymod) wrote in [community profile] goneawaymemes2020-04-04 10:47 pm
Entry tags:

TDM #1


TEST DRIVE #1


So it's your first day at your new job! Welcome to the Jorgmund Family™! It's time to settle into your new workplace on the Piper 90 rig, the coziest place of employment this side of the Livable Zone. A leader in its industry, Jorgmund is excited to have you join them in enthusiastically envisioneering team-driven paradigms.  

The Piper 90 rig's mission is not only an impressive undertaking in terms of impactful customer-oriented deliverables, it's providing a vital backbone to the Livable Zone by creating a safe region for citizens to live, work, and play. Jorgmund's "outside the box" thinking means they understand the importance of wisely investing in their human capital - you! You'll soon find that you'll take pride in this vital work - and the benefits can't be beat.

Rest assured, Jorgmund's multidisciplinary approach to our world's period of recovery means we know how to keep it real when facing this opportunity for restructuring and growth. Jorgmund: Even if most of the world has gone away, we can make a world of difference!

Synergy!

USEFUL LINKS
It is recommended you check out the following links first for info on the rig, rig conditions, game mechanics, and the intro and slideshow your characters would have to endure that takes place chronologically before the Test Drive Meme: 

Welcome/Arrival  | Rig Weather & Hazards | Rig Setting Page | Game Mechanics


SCENARIO #1 - MOVE-IN DAY!

After the bewildering and unpleasant onboarding process, you've finally been unleashed on the rig. (Well. To places you're allowed to go on the rig.) It's time to get acquainted with your new surroundings, process some of All Of That™, and meet your fellow captives - err, coworkers!

a) A BIT OF A MESS
Perhaps you're hungry? The mess hall food isn't amazing, but it does the job. Characters that have higher metabolic needs than your average human might be left feeling a little hungry, though. The worst part is actually the electronic sliding door: a small sign helpfully informs you that if you want inside, you need to smile for the camera! In addition to being patronizing, this may be a problem for characters who refuse to play ball, or characters with sufficiently nonhuman faces the door sensor can't read them. Remember, if then company doesn't see people like you, it's not discriminatory -- it's just indifferent! And that isn't legally actionable!

b) GOING NOWHERE FAST
The rig's elevators are a little off-kilter today. Overhead announcements mention this, but downplay the severity and are easy to miss -- which means you and your threadmate are stuck in here, somewhere between the fifth and sixth floor. You can complain into the emergency intercomm, but it might take from a few minutes up to an hour before the elevator gets rolling again. How do you pass the time?

c) SHOULD'VE TAKEN THAT LEFT TURN
You're really just trying to get somewhere else on the rig, but you've gotten hopelessly lost. Oh well, at least you're not alone! Did you run into your threadmate here? Did you lead them astray? Are they at fault? Even worse, are you somewhere full of AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY signs, mysterious equipment, and a worrying number of security cameras?

d) NEED A HAND?
You've been assigned a room and some relatively spare possessions to put in it. Unfortunately, it seems that the staff assigned to help move in new hires are all busy at the moment. Unless you want to wait around, you're going to need to lug and assemble your new assigned foldable den furniture yourself. Do you team up with another newbie? Do you try it alone and find yourself needing help? Do you come to the rescue of someone else who did that?

e) SPECIAL DELIVERY
Somebody in processing decided to give you two a quick little errand: you're supposed to take a couple boxes of files up to the executive deck. Unfortunately, a skeptical security staffer is giving you a hard time on your way there, on account of your funny-looking face, insufficient ID or sketchy-looking package. How do you deal with this and accomplish your task?

f) BLOW OFF STEAM
You're likely still a bit sore from Jorgmund fitting you with the nanochain, but you were promised a gym and you are going to use that gym, dammit. It looks like you're not alone in deciding to try out the training area. Do you train together? Spar to let some frustration out? Or are you gonna argue about whose turn it is on which piece of equipment and resent your lost solitude? You'll also find you have to contend with the communal showers when you're done.

g) NO REST FOR THE WEARY
It's the middle of the night on the rig. You're displaced from home, it's not very warm, your door doesn't shut because privacy is a "privilege" nobody has earned yet, and occasional mysterious clanging noises ring through the rig. You can't sleep, not yet, and perhaps you're not the only insomniac wandering the crew deck?


SCENARIO #2 - YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO PANIC

Around dawn on the morning of Day Two, something goes wrong. (Wrong-er?) You awake to the sound of alarms, and a voice over the speakers telling you NOT TO PANIC! A Stuff storm has caused a brief and contained leak onto Piper 90. You may encounter strange sights or sounds. Any anomalies should be reported immediately to rig security. Thank you for your cooperation!

The nature of the problem isn't immediately clear, but over the next handful of hours you find yourself embroiled in a bizarre fracas: a Stuff leak has caused numerous inanimate objects on the rig to come to life. Furniture and appliances small and large are roaming the decks. Some of them are docile, but others are aggressive (or just troublesome due to their size). Some examples:
  • A rogue photocopier spewing paper and ink
  • A mahogany conference table with old clawed feet and a brand new gaping jaw
  • A water cooler that scuttles the halls, squirting people with jets in varying temperatures
  • Small office supplies like pencils and paperclips that swarm in large numbers
  • Dressers and drawers that spit their contents at high velocity
  • A room's worth of folding chairs that hunt as a pack
  • An emergency fire hose that attempts to ensnare crew members in its coils
  • The angriest coffee pot you have ever seen
The objects can be dangerous, but are more strange, troublesome, and determined than deadly. If a foe seems to be incapacitated or "plays dead," even the aggressive conference table or hose will leave them with bruises and move on. Crew members who get in over their heads will be bailed out by security personnel as the incident dies down. Jorgmund staff stresses that the leak has been contained (so no new anomalies will appear), but after the initial surprise it's everyone's job to help hunt down and dispose of the Stuff-altered... stuff. It's gonna be a long morning, and you haven't even been properly briefed yet!

h) GOOD MORNING, PIPER 90
Rise and shine! There are alarms going off, announcements blaring, and people are scrambling around trying to figure out what's going on. You're one of them. Freak out? Spring into action? Team up with someone to shake down a staffer for more details? Run into someone new, perhaps literally?

i) INTERIOR WRECKORATING
You've been ambushed by an animate object that seems to have it in for you, or you've heard the shouts of someone who has and come running to help. What's ruining your morning now, and what are you going to do about it?

j) ON THE RUN
The folding chairs from Presentation Room B operate as a unit, harrying their prey through the halls with much scrambling of legs and flapping of seats. They're after you, at the moment. Can you escape, or perhaps lead them into a trap? Or do you stand your ground?

k) HERE'S THE PLAN
You and your threadmate have found somewhere secure (for now) and are deciding how to deal with a larger enemy. Are you hunting it, or is it hunting you? Are you planning to take it out of commission, or just how to get away from it? Or are you just gonna hide here and lay low until this is over?

l) PROP HUNT
Things are getting back under control, thankfully. Large disturbances have been disposed of, but that leaves the little things like elusive chains of paperclips, a small but vicious stapler, pens and markers that write rude words on walls, and utensils from the mess hall. These anomalies are stealthier, but must still be dealt with, and it's up to you to flush them out.

m) CLEAN UP IN AISLE EVERYTHING
The chaos has passed, and now you've been instructed to clean up a mess. Ink or loose paper from the copier, coffee from the rampaging pot, mopping up after a water cooler, scrubbing marker off a wall, etc. You might get roped into contending with the Yuck Puddle, which is a permanent fixture and not a new development, but someone's always contending with the Yuck Puddle.


OOC DETAILS

Feel free to play around with powers. If your character has powers from canon you want to play around with, go for it. If you'd like to test out possibilities for game powers, also go for it. Feel free to change it up from thread to thread if you need to. This can be handwaved as exposure to Stuff making characters' powers shift a few times before settling.

Potential players may use test drive threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, both in length (200 words) and in quality. If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice.

Players can eventually count TDMs towards AC. They can only count towards comment-based AC proofs.

Potential players can opt to keep these threads as game canon when they app in, or start over fresh, based on preference. The Stuff bringing them to the game universe can fog their memories, if players don't want their character to remember TDM threads when introing into the game.

The game is invite-only. Players without invites are allowed to tdm since some of them may know someone in game to ask for one, and since some people enjoy TDMs just for fun in games they don't plan to app into. But an invite is required during the apping process.

The game is at a starting cap at 30 players. Right now the current number of invitees is likely to not exceed the game's 30 slots, but if we go a few over they will still be allowed to app during this first round. Future apps will be rolling apps and will have a wait queue if the cap has been exceeded.

The first game round will be apps only, no reserves. Apps open: Sat 4/11/20. Game start: Fri 4/17/20.


wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-08 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"I mean if we're talking about the enemy, sure. But they're like, not from around here, I wouldn't call them natural - " she frowns. "And at the point in the Great Cycle we're at, they're not a big problem, because the magic levels aren't high enough - " She shakes her head, a little confused herself, but heartened by his response; someone who knows what horrors are and fights them can't be all bad.

" - let me start at the beginning, okay?" Deep breath. Without thinking, she takes out a smoke and lights it, tilting the package towards him in offering.

"So. The metaplane I'm from - the version of Earth I'm from - we're on this like, millenia-long cycle between two extremes. On one end, magic is everywhere and anyone can do it, and on the other, magic is so rare it basically doesn't exist. It's possible that the cycle is the result of an imbalance in our solar system; Mars and Venus used to be living planets, but something happened in the early days of creation and destroyed everything that lived on them, and shortly after that, according to the explanation I got, magic faded for the first time."

"This would be annoying but not really a problem for anyone but archaeologists except when the magical tide is high, these.... things... from out beyond astral space - and I mean they're not spirits, they're not anything that was ever supposed to be in material or astral space, they're the fucking definition of unnatural - can come in on that tide. Like sharks getting into a protected bay, drawn by suffering and hate and fear as if it were blood in the water."

She uses this metaphor every time. It's a good metaphor.

"Which means that the higher the mana count - the more ambient magic around - the easier time those things have sidling up to get inside someone's head. If you're on the peak end of a similar cycle - yeah, makes sense you might just reject magic."

She takes a drag. "Thing is, at least as far as the only expert I know on the subject is aware, those fucking things aren't supposed to be able to get in here full stop. Figuring out why they are, and what let them, and how stop it if it can be stopped..."

She sighs. "I'd say we're working on it, but I'd actually just mean me. Most of the people who know about the cycle - and that's about two dozen, 'cause fucking immortal elf and dragon bullshit turf wars, long stupid story I don't even understand that good - anyway, they seem to be resigned to it and just happy they know how to survive the part where the enemy shows up, and screw the rest of us. Assholes."
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

you said not to so that means I gotta

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-08 11:24 pm (UTC)(link)
She grins at him. "Right in one. I got the magic in my fists - real strong, real fast, real tough, and I see in the dark and around corners."

She rethinks that with a frown. "Well, sight isn't exactly the mechanism - perceive is probably better. Also got a magic sword." She pats her arm fondly. "Applications include deflecting bullets, punching through walls, and returning grenades to sender. Plus martial arts."

She tilts her head, thinking, and then asks: "Hey, would a zombie count as alive?"
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-08 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"..."

Saturday is judging. Saturday is judging so hard. She also, uncomfortably, suddenly understands how Mama Sofia felt about her roping Maggie into shadow nonsense.

"Sounds like a hell of a party," she says instead. "So, your old man used to run around - what, fighting crime? - along with a bunch of others. They got told to stop cause violence belongs to the state, he refused, you came along just when shit caught up him?"
kingofneworleans: (Default)

[personal profile] kingofneworleans 2020-04-08 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"Huh. Dat's useful. I got a skeleton dat don' bend quite right. More flexible dan mos'." Which was damned useful when he wanted to twist out of the way of something in a way people wouldn't expect. "Ain't so strong m'self, but what I got, I'm good at usin'."

And that was without bringing the bo into the equation.

The last question gets a huffed laugh out of him. "I dunno. T'ought 'bout it more dan a few times." Because he's from New Orleans and it's a THING. "Might depen' some on how ol' de zombie is. But I ain't ever tried chargin' a dead body, neither. Ain't de sorta t'ing you t'ink 'bout when dere are bodies 'bout."

Well, Remy didn't think about it. That didn't mean others wouldn't.
tarnishedavenger: (Default)

[personal profile] tarnishedavenger 2020-04-08 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
He nods and lets go, waving his hand in front of his face as if to brush the comment away. "No, believe me, I know how it is." The name isn't... entirely familiar. Who didn't know what Valhalla was, after all? And it makes sense for a military to name itself after that. But... No, that would come out in time. "Once everyone's more settled in, I'll probably do up a role call. See which of us have military experience, which of us ought to still be in school, who's a regular human..." That kind of thing.

What was with this? Whatever method they'd arrived by, it seemed like all they were picking up were military people, robots, and teenagers.

He shrugs and picks back up where he'd trailed off. "...I ran into a centaur. That was a little unusual. The robot, a little less so."
morebetter: (Basic - Eyebrows Raised)

[personal profile] morebetter 2020-04-08 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Bluffing has never really worked out for Mac that well, but if he were someone who learned from his failures, his whole life would probably look significantly different. As such, like the dog that chases its tail and can't wrap its head around why the target keeps moving, Mac commits, as always, to his first impulse.

His first impulse is basically always to bullshit (the rare occasions that it's not, it's typically to run away). The fact that even a quick once-over reveals that Carrie isn't someone about to bust him for wandering around forbidden areas doesn't really change his current tactic, as the words are already halfway out his mouth.

"Uh, yeah, that's uh...a stress ball Johnson recommended for me. You know, with all the deliverables and...projections I'm in charge of." Mac's spent all of three days in a corporate environment in his life and couldn't remember with a gun to his head the last time someone called him 'sir', but he's seen Office Space, so he's pretty sure he can nail the corporate lingo. Every company has like, four Johnsons, right? "I have a lot of high capital investor model bottom line ventures going on to entre-punore, so you should give that back to me before I get too stressed out and have a stroke or something."

He holds his hand out. His hired hand clothing, now that he's out of the doorway, looks a little ridiculous, on account of having hacked off the sleeves and having transparently covered the first half of his name-tag with about eight layers of Scotch tape and red Sharpie reading "MAC". There are also the tacky tattoos, which do not scream 'business cazh'.

"You don't look like you're supposed to be down here." It's not that he doesn't want company, just, ugh, she's a girl, and at some point she very well might crack the diabolical mystery that he's not, actually, supposed to be here.
ahtohollaback: (pic#13895283)

[personal profile] ahtohollaback 2020-04-08 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[Her arms are out and her stance is wide to steady herself, and she's looking around. What can she use? How can she solve this?]

Can you make a hole in the bubble? In their direction.

[Elsa nods at the chairs. If he can open the bubble just enough that she can shoot some ice through, she's got more options.]
tarnishedavenger: (09)

[personal profile] tarnishedavenger 2020-04-08 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"We're a bit of a backwater," he admits. Humanity hadn't exactly flown beyond its own solar system unaided yet. Then again, with all of the alien empires out there, maybe not sticking out was a good thing. "And if Jorgmund is your first introduction to Earthlings, I'll have to apologize on almost everyone else's behalf."

Armstrong lets go as soon as she reaches up, prepared to go for the bar. But she seems like she still has things under control. "I'm Kevin, by the way. Kevin Armstrong." It still felt strange, actually having to introduce himself. No immediate answer comes, but that's to be expected. She's in the middle of something.
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-08 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
One of those people is definitely Saturday. She can think of some situations where turning dead bodies into ordnance would have been pretty useful.

"I wouldn't mind a bout one day, if you're up for it. I bet you can make the field a real interesting place for anyone who ain't quick on their feet."

kingofneworleans: (Default)

[personal profile] kingofneworleans 2020-04-08 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
The last time he'd been around enough bodies for that to make a difference, he really hadn't been in the right place mentally to be able to do it.

Also bleeding out, but that was a little thing. Really.

He grins at her. "Jus' gotta fin' some stuff t' use. Normally use cards, but only got one deck wit' me. Rather not use dem up right now." Not until he knew he could get more.
grimbiker: (thinking)

[personal profile] grimbiker 2020-04-08 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oops. He should've known better than to ask.

"London," Sirius said. His knowledge of the city hadn't covered anything involving work and his general knowledge about Muggles and their technology was always going to have gaps. This was a hell of a time for a reminder.

Sirius almost managed to subdue the stapler when one of the paper clips bent just enough for the chain to snap. As the offended office supply turned on Sirius, he had just enough time to mutter "protego."

The stapler bounced off of thin air. Sirius took the opportunity to scramble back and away from it.

"Time for a new plan."
oopseration: (Default)

e)

[personal profile] oopseration 2020-04-09 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
Even paranoid, even twitchy, even with a bandage around his head, even hungover, even coming down from one hell of a cocaine high that is obviously completely outside the realm of his typical behavior, Dr. Armstrong can find it in him to be annoyed and offended by someone suggesting he's like the common folk. As he sees the weaselly-looking man stop and interrogate Saturday, he sees a vision of his own future, with the special delivery box he's carrying. The corporate man is going to stop him too, just as he stopped the young woman before him.

May as well deal with it now instead of later.

"Are you quite done holding up the line, sir? I'm sure the little miss has places to be and I, personally, am tired of faffing around waiting for you to discover how to do your job efficiently."

He has no qualms pulling rank even as the bandage, uniform and nametag that irritatingly leaves off the title he slaved away for in medical school reveals that he has no rank to pull. He gives a look to Saturday, looking for a sort of guarded allyship against this annoying bureaucrat.
valkywhee: (15 - 05)

[personal profile] valkywhee 2020-04-09 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Nora might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer herself, but she keeps a cool head in a crisis, responding with an "uh..." of her own because her back is against a wall. What kind of amateur does this random stranger think she is?

Tiny as she is, Mac has no trouble shoving Nora, or at least her legs, out of his way, and she yelps indignantly as she's spun around. "Excuse yo--"

Oh. Rampaging...whatever that is. Nora hops off the defunct soda machine on the same side as the charging photocopier and sets down her can, gauging the distance as the hostile machine flaps its lid in what she assumes is menace. She drops into a combat stance, and when the distance is right, kicks the thing, planting the sole of her foot right over the logo that proclaims it to be a product of the Zeerocks Corporation.

Office equipment is generally not combat rated, and the photocopier proves no different. The front end crumples around Nora's foot and lower leg, glass and plastic shattering into flying shards and internal metal components screeching as as they sunder from the impact. Enough momentum remains that the pair slides several feet until Nora bumps against the soda machine.

The copier may be mortally wounded, but it's not out of the fight yet, and as Nora wrenches her foot free, it surges forward and pins her against the frame of the soda machine.

"Seriously?" She huffs, blowing her bangs up and out of her eyes for a moment. "This is the second stupidest fight I've ever had."
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-09 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
"Hmm. Well, c-suite has an executive lounge where I steal all my smokes; maybe they have something there? Or you can probably requisition some when they send us into the field. Cardstock can't be that hard to find."

Saturday thinks over what she's seen lying around. "Would ordinary paper work, if you folded it thick enough? Or paper clips or something like that?"
kingofneworleans: (Default)

[personal profile] kingofneworleans 2020-04-09 12:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Mos' anyt'in'll do, 'long as it ain't livin'. Paperclips might be a bit small, but I can make do wit' dem." Since they'd probably be easiest to get. "Or a buncha copy paper, card stock. Can make do wit' a lotta stuff, really. Part of de powers is dat when I t'row somet'ing, it flies true."
henregretta: (Default)

[personal profile] henregretta 2020-04-09 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
Once Ronan is relatively safer underneath the tables, or at least no longer having to fight like some crazed, dystopian knight of the office, Adam can breathe easier in spite of the now focused efforts of the chairs to breach the trench. “I didn’t think that far ahead.”

He looked around the small space. They had very little to work with. There’s the chair armour that Ronan has, the tables that are largely in use, and a few shards of shattered plastic from the chair that Adam kicked. He picked up one of the longer pieces, turning it over in his hands while he tried to think past the snapping chairs shaking the tables.

“We need the tables where they are for now, and you’re not going out there alone.” After a few seconds, Adam shimmied down to the centre of the sideways table and leaned forward, examining how the centre legs, currently folded up, were attached to the table top. “But we don’t need these if it’s not load-bearing.”

He tried to put the narrow edge of the shard into one of the flathead screws. It took a few tries, with grunts that might be quiet cusses in disguise, but the screw eventually started to spin. “If we can get these off, we might be able to use them to sweep the chairs to the side so we can ... do whatever counts as stopping them.”
morebetter: (Basic - Considering)

B

[personal profile] morebetter 2020-04-09 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know, dude, but I gotta take a piss so it better start working again soon.

[Mac's somehow, miraculously, unbothered by how weird Phos is. That's because Mac's made the executive decision to believe none of this really happening, and anyway, if it is happening, that's fine. It's a superpower that's gotten him, well, not far in life, but through life, and honestly sometimes you don't really hope for more than that.

He heard about the unreliable narrators, but as with many warnings in life, decided that it somehow didn't apply to him, or that by virtue of being some kind of alien robot sea creature something something, Phos would have some kind of magical power to get them out in case anything happened. Now that it's obvious Phos doesn't, Mac's disappointed. Not angry. Just disappointed.
]

You want me to try kicking it?
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

Re: e)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-09 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
Saturday returns the look with a nod of appreciation, especially as the horrible weasel-man blusters into a retreat.

"Thanks. I'm Saturday."

He looks like a salariman that fell asleep in the wrong Touristville alley and had to beg pity from a local, but who doesn't look and feel like shit right now?
badbot: (get outta here)

[personal profile] badbot 2020-04-09 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
"You're welcome," Proto Man drawls like he's a gift from the heavens, putting his hands on his hips, and is definitely about to continue when he hears the same thing she does.

"...Crud. That thing's about to go up! Let's blow this joint before it blows us!"

Fighting's fun, but explosions? Can't exactly punch his way through that, and if that thing's full of cans of pop then it could leave a bit of a sticky mess. Turning right around on his heel, he beats a hasty retreat and dives head-first into the distressingly large hole in the wall. Hey, that would have been him if it hit, so it's every bot for themselves!
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-09 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
Saturday sighs in envy. "Damn, that's useful. Only the charged stuff, or any old thing?"
kingofneworleans: (Default)

[personal profile] kingofneworleans 2020-04-09 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
"Only de charged stuff, but I got one hell of an aim, too." As long as it was heavy enough to to overcome wind resistance, it wouldn't be a problem without being charged.
malfoysance: (pic#12077413)

[personal profile] malfoysance 2020-04-09 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
"I am not -" He stops himself to modulate his tone, to try and sound more like his father's evenness. "I am not whining. I'm asking if you're insane. You did just try to have me killed."

Draco is already framing how he will present it to the HR department when he files his complaint. If he can say that he's already tried to reason with her, that will look better.

Of course, they're a bunch of loonies as well, so he isn't hoping for much in the way of a happy resolution where the authorities are on his side. They came up with this ridiculous 'Stuff'.

She also has - makes several good points, which he eyes warily as he makes one of his own. "They want the Stuff destroyed. They need the people, or else they wouldn't waste their money on bed and board for us. You're more at risk if you hurt me than you are if it takes another five minutes to catch whatever that is."
ahtohollaback: (pic#13895283)

[personal profile] ahtohollaback 2020-04-09 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, his are so much worse. Elsa has repression-and-isolation Disney problems. Alloran has moral-quandary-war-horrors Animorphs problems. But neither of them know the details and have considerately opted to leave it that way. He does a gesture with his tail that reads as a deliberate formality, so Elsa, hands still folded near her waist, inclines her head in a way that is a respectful acknowledgement of his rank while secure in her own.

She looks at him with muddled happiness and sadness -- she's empathetically glad he's free from whatever it was that was keeping him from speaking, and glad he is pleased to speak with her. Often, when Elsa speaks with people, it's the business of making decisions for the kingdom among advisers, or overseeing festivals, which is more planning and supervising (and making ice sculptures for children) than deep conversation. She's pleased that someone (besides her sister, or Olaf) is speaking to her like just another person, not as the queen who nearly trapped the kingdom in an eternal winter. The people of Arendelle have forgiven her for that wholeheartedly, but she's never forgotten how easy it is for her to make mistakes with enormous consequences.

But she hears the sadness and regret, the weight of it obvious even to Elsa. Instead of inquiring about the circumstances that would lead to one not being able to talk, she opts to ask something more general.

"Is royalty a title you can lose?" Elsa asks. "Where you come from."
wheyoftheadept: (Default)

[personal profile] wheyoftheadept 2020-04-09 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
The more Saturday hears about this mutant power stuff, the more she wonders if it isn't some kind of magic thing that they're just not calling magic because they don't know better - mana levels rising caused the genetic expression of metatypes, maybe on some other world it works differently. And she's pretty sure that when the magic came back, people looked for scientific explanations right up until Ryumyou did his Fuji flyby - and after.

"Hope I get you on my field team, then. I'm strongest at short range."
kingofneworleans: (Default)

[personal profile] kingofneworleans 2020-04-09 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
"Guess we'll have to see what dis place holds in store for dat." He leans a little forward against the table. "Still. We en' up doin' field teams, should let you know dat I'm generally called Gambit by teammates."

Often times, it gets included in the introduction. But they'd only traded first names.