a bumpy start! {glyphcomm + action}

[seeingyou]

You wake up to the sound of alarms and a distinct sensation of quaking, and you're quite obviously not where you're supposed to be. This room is strangely shaped, nothing you recognize, and you definitely don't remember how you got here. The room is bathed in soft red light, which might look pretty, except it's blinking in a way that you can probably guess signals danger.

There's a symbol on the back of your hand that you don't remember acquiring, either, but that's probably less important at the moment than the sound of the alarms shrieking and the prerecorded voice speaking over the intercom. It's one of those bland, agender voices, entirely too calm in tone for the message it's relaying:

WARNING
WARNING
IMPACT THREAT DETECTED
EVASIVE ACTION REQUIRED

There’s a loud crash and another violent shaking, as that impact threat collides with the ship’s hull. The warning message continues to repeat on a loop amidst the blaring of the alarm. All passengers should be conscious now, with the noise at such a high volume. Opening your cabin door reveals a nondescript hallway, with five cabin doors on each side for a total of ten on each floor; the doors to the empty cabins are unlocked and inside the cabins hold the same plain, basic furnishings as your own. Halfway into the hallway, there is a lift on one side and a set of stairs on the other.

Comments

{pre-crash}

[seeingyou]

Amidst this chaos and cacophony, you hear a voice - gentle, warm, mellifluous. Unlike the recording, it's not heard from over the intercom but projected directly into your mind. The tone of the voice is calm, but you’re able to pick up a sense of frightened urgency as it speaks to you:

There’s no time for an explanation - all of you, please, come down to the bottom floor. Quickly! We don’t have much time.

Should you choose to make your way down to the bottom floor - and you really should! - you’ll end up halfway into the hallway, either via the lift on one side or the set of stairs on the other. At one end of the hallway is what looks like a laundry room, with three machines each to wash and dry clothes, and instead of cabins in the hallway, there are empty pods meant to house passengers in stasis/cryosleep, twenty-five on each side of the hallway.

At the other end of the hallway is a large door covered with the same glyph symbol that has appeared on your hands, glowing green. There's an instrument panel and large display screen to the side, which displays diagrams and alien language. As you approach, the door slides open to reveal the Navigator. They are an agender being with a humanoid face and many limbs, the same grey color as the ship itself, and they appear to be fused to the command chamber, taking up the bulk of the space in the room. The same glyph found on the door that just opened and the backs of passengers' hands is also on the Navigator's forehead, glowing a steady green. The wall opposite the Navigator is covered in screens and windows, displaying a number of rapidly-shifting diagrams and lines of text in the same alien language that was found on the display outside the door. One thing missing from the Navigator's face is a mouth. It seems that the words it "speaks" are being projected telepathically to all passengers:

Good - you’re all here. I need your help -

The rest of the request is cut off by a loud, stern voice that cuts through on the ship’s intercom:

Attention! Rogue vessel number 27A-43!
You are in violation of the Primal Code and are hereby ordered to stand down.
This is your final warning.
If you do not comply, you will be destroyed.

You feel the Navigator’s emotions swing from fear to angry defiance as they reply:

Eat blangdark barnacles, Zerentian scum!

The only response offered by the other ship - you can see it’s a second ship now on one of the screens in the Navigator’s chamber, massive and imposing - is another projectile fired that makes impact a few seconds later, with the sensation of restrained recoiling in pain accompanying the crashing sound and shaking of the entire ship. The Navigator continues to tap frantically at the screens with their many limbs, but turns their head to address the crowd of gathered passengers with a plea:

If we’re to survive this attack, I’ll need your help - I’ve taken damage and I’m losing power. Please, link your hands together and form a chain, and those of you on the ends, take mine. This should restore enough power to shake these bastards.

[shahrrehth]

This is not the first time she's been in a situation like this before. It's not even the fourth time, to be honest. She's dressed in her office wear, her supersuit beneath her clothes, and her first inclination is to get out there and Do Something about this threat. But there's so much she doesn't know, for all the familiarity, and the fact that none of her team is here... that she doesn't know how she got here... that she's so far away from home and hearing names and words she's never heard before even from the Kryptonian archives-

It has her feeling frustrated but still, at least for the moment, deciding to stay here and do as the voice tells her to do.

Her hands go out on either side.

[albatrossomen]

This is definitely the first time Murmur's been in a situation like this. Blaring alarms, flashing lights, heck he didn't even know space ships were possible! How terribly exciting! Although the probable, imminent death did take a little edge off the excitement. Just a little. Between the alarms and requests there really wasn't any time to investigate or ask questions. He resolved that should they survive this he will absolutely become the most annoying about asking questions.

Later, now was apparently hand holding time. "So much for introductions." He murmured as he took one of the offered hands in his gloved one, offering for another. For all the excitement he appeared completely calm.

[shahrrehth]

"I've met some of my favorite people this way," she notes, not quite cheerful but at least somewhat positive. Trying to keep her chin up, anyway. Her hands are firm, firmer than they really ought to be quite frankly, but the skin is soft.

[eyediot]

Nevermind the bit of a freakout he had waking up in all this. Jon hesitates for a breath before following the instruction and leaving his room and going down? Downstairs. He's a little scruffy from a long flight already and keeps his bag slung over one shoulder.

"What-- Hand holding. That-that's what's going to help this?"

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"Apparently."

If he sounds distinctly less than impressed by the idea, it's because he is. And never mind the fact that he might actually be willing to try, if it makes the difference between having to find another mortal host and not having to.

[eyediot]

"There has to be a better argument for it."

Jon's not exactly pleased either - one hand being still bandaged up to heal might be part of it.

[shahrrehth]

She gives him what she hopes is an encouraging smile, if a somewhat long suffering one.

"Apparently. And since I don't know what else to do, I figured... probably best to at least try it. But I'm open to suggestions."

[eyediot]

"Other suggestions like a pilot with experience? Emergency landing?"

[bravers]

OPEN /

[bravers]

[Blangdark... barnacles.
Zentenian...?
What?

Of all of the weird things going on, those're probably not the weirdest things out of the lot of it, but it's what sticks in his mind the most. He can't help but question the words, furrow his eyebrows at them, and that's even after the impact of the second missile. After he's been thrown a couple of meters away from where he'd previously stood, of course. And as he adjusts himself, something even weirder is requested.

...Linking...
hands.

... The hell was this.

To the nearest person to him:]

I don't buy into this holding hands crap.

[With an indelicate shove of an extension of his arm-]

But m'not up for dyin'. Not like we can do anything else.

[Cold, synthetic blue eyes look up from the floor to said person.]

So let's do this.

[sisterswitch]

Look, I get it - this is a little too Disney “clap your hands if you believe” for my taste too.

[jack sighs and reaches out to take his hand. let’s do this indeed.]

But I’ve seen stranger things, and I’m choosing to believe that this ship knows best about what’s needed to stay airborne.

[unnecessaryflourishes]

[Emet's hands are, perhaps regrettably, both already spoken for. But he is nearby. Near enough to hear Cloud's comments at the least, and he's never been one to not pass comment, when the opportunity should strike itself.]

Not unless you happen to have a burning desire to find out what lies beyond death.

[It's offered surprisingly matter-of-factly, despite the somewhat morbid topic.]

But I agree that it's hardly anything I'd have found enjoyable. Much less something I would have believed to be necessary.

CLOSED / Zack continuation

[bravers]

Gotta be. No reason why this floor'd be different from the others.

[Aside from the anti-grav field but...

Shinra.
He feels Zack's grip tense as he speaks, and something else in him seems to... feel it. It's weird. He can't describe what exactly in him suddenly responds to Zack's shift in emotion. It's like trying to describe a new colour which has never been seen before, or a new sense that's just spontaneously, incredulously there.

It's their link. But he doesn't know that. So all he can do is squeeze his wrist, carefully, and wonder just why his fingers're subconsciously straining to lightly stroke at his skin as he does so. Reassurance, right?

And he answers.]

But if they're not doing this, then who?

[A stupid question, he's sure. One that neither of them should have any sort of answer for, but... it needs asking. Just like so many other things. Freedom, for a start.

But. Mid intake of breath, mid-mental structuring of his enquiry and... there's an explosion. Not on this floor, thankfully, but he's feeling anything but thankful as the ship suddenly lurches to the side, and the pair of them are thrown against a wall, bouncing off it, against another, and another, all the way until momentum's finally extinguished. ]

Shit-!

[Anyone else would be knocked out. He's sure. But it's not so easy for them. He's still conscious, and the way Zack's body is moving indicates the same for him. The lights are immediately cut- and his only light source, for a moment, is the faint blue glowing of Zack's.

Until the emergency lighting kicks in. Then, an announcement. His eyes are wide.]

...Could take advantage of all this and make a run for it now. But if we're really in space...

[Where could they run to?]

...Your call.

[1st]

[ zack takes pause, contemplative as his features set into something firmer. this had been worlds apart from the lifestream; the feeling, altogether, was different in its entirety. there was no peace, no freedom here, just a vacancy and a lull. ]

I don’t know, [ zack admits. his brows knit together, jaw clenching a little. ] but we’ll figure it out later. For now—

[ there’s a burst of sound. as they come crashing against the walls violently, zack’s eyes blow out, a mesh of panic and adrenaline wracking his body.

instinctively, he’s already launched forward to grab at cloud’s shoulders and anchor him against himself. his body acts before his mind, as though he couldn’t envision any other possibility or course of action.

it doesn’t matter, really, because they both come down with a thud. pain surges through his body; for a moment, the room goes dark. he can hear cloud’s breathing against him, the steady crawl of his heartbeat. the glow of their eyes cuts through the darkness.

light floods back into the room. zack is quick to straighten his back, now in a defensive stance. ]

Let’s make a break for it. [ he says, eyes determined. ] This is our chance.

[secreteary]

Hold hands? What on earth is that-- No, wait, bad choice of phrase-- How is that supposed to help anything? Are we going to sing hymns like a church retreat?!

[even despite his protests, Martin is looking around for the closest person (can he even guarantee that these are 'people' in the sense he thinks of?) to hold hands with, grimacing at them half apologetically, half insolently.]

That thing knows better than me, I guess. [he holds out his hand, even if there's a little reluctance, before yelling at the agender being.] We're going to get an explanation later!

{post-crash}

[tdls]

Once the ship has completed its extremely bumpy landing, the sirens go quiet and the red light stops blinking to provide a gentle, steady glow instead. You’ve all survived!

The quiet only lasts for a moment, however - one of the screens flashes to life to reveal the face of a young adult human male. The face is framed with shaggy black hair and wearing an expression creased with deep concern.

“Navi, are you OK? Your vitals are off the charts, and I - ”

He stops, having noticed the group of passengers, blue eyes lighting up with surprise. “Ah, OK, that explains it.” He offers the crowd a friendly smile and a wave. “Hi, everyone. Welcome to space? I’m Tim, and I’m guessing you all have questions.”

[shahrrehth]

There is definitely something familiar about that face. It reminds her of-

Of Tina, honestly. She hasn't seen her in the last few weeks (things had just been hectic lately) but there's definitely a... a Tina-ness that she can't shake. It's an odd kind of deja vu to add to the rest of the weirdness going on right now.

But none of it is a reason not to talk back, so she's going to step towards the console, offering a friendly little wave.

"Hi, Tim," she offers easily enough, a smile coming to her lips. It's all warmth and reassurance; it's a Superwoman smile and whether it's for Tim or her or the people here or all of the above, she's honestly not sure.

"And you're not wrong about that. But we did just crash land so... I don't suppose you know if there's anything else we need to be doing right now first?"

[tdls]

Tim's eyes widen in concern. "You crashed? Is everyone there OK?" He scans the passengers, looking for signs of injury, and relaxes when he sees a lack of anything dire.

"Navi should be fine. They're self-repairing, it just takes time. Right, Navi?" The Navigator nods their head slowly.

Yes, my essential systems are still functional. It will take quite some time to repair the damage I took, however. Luckily, the planet where we landed is compatible with all life forms currently on board, and the local population is friendly and hospitable. We should be safe here, for now.

[unnecessaryflourishes]

"More than a few, yes."

The idea of being in space is not, perhaps, as much of a surprise as it could be, given the general level of technology current available on the Source or any of the thirteen shards. But even with that, it's not anywhere he'd wanted to be.

[tdls]

"Yeah, I kind of figured you might. I know I had a bunch when I first got here." Most of Tim's were related to how he could be alive when he remembered dying, but what are the chances anyone else here has a similar situation?

"Lucky for you, I've been here for a while, so I can probably answer them."

[albatrossomen]

All parts accounted for, check. No one inconveniently dying, also check. Good. In return to Tim's greeting Murmur offered a slight bow. No sense in not being polite, despite their less than polite circumstances.

"Numerous. Perhaps the most pressing being how, and why, have we been kidnapped?" Not that he really minded an additional kidnapping. Better than wasting away in a mostly empty city bored out of his mind.

[tdls]

Ah, good, a sensible question. It's nice to see people asking and not attacking Navi under an assumption of malice on their part.

"Well, that answer is both easy and not." Tim rubs his hand over his mouth, thinking of the best way to put this. "You haven't really been kidnapped, because there isn't a person or entity responsible for it. There are these rifts in space-time, and as far as we can tell, that's what's responsible for dragging people here. We still don't know why or exactly how - I mean, I've got some ideas for how to run some experiments to find out, but it hasn't been the priority."

Sorry, Murmur, he's a bit of a nerd.

[eyediot]

Jon wasn't exactly handling this at all well. He'd fallen asleep on his flight and woke up to sirens and now this.

Once things seem to settle, lights and alarm done, he watches that screen light up.

"Um. Yes? One question.

Space?"

[tdls]

"Yeah, space." Tim nods and laughs quietly. "I know, it sounds pretty weird, but you're probably not even in a part of space where you're originally from, either. None of us were, at least. Navi hadn't even heard of Earth."