event } lime, coconut, explosions

[seeingyou]

WHO: All y’all
WHAT: A nice vacation to ease everyone in
WHERE: Various locations on Alkonost Island, including Navi
WHEN: Sept 12-30
WARNINGS: Use ‘em in your threads if needed!

Welcome to Alkonost, the beautiful tropical island on the planet Tetagari where you have just made an emergency crash landing! You’ll be here for a while, so settle in and get cozy with your new shipmates until Navi is repaired and ready for takeoff.

Alkonost is a small island with an eponymous beachfront village, with the rest of the land covered in tropical rainforest, dry forest, and grasslands. Most of the land is still wild, as the Alkonost population is centered at the beach, though ancient ruins can be found a bit more inland. Alkonostians are a humanoid, amphibious people, with light green skin, gills, and webbed fingers; they are friendly and welcoming to tourists, business contacts, and intergalactic refugees alike.

Speaking of business, the main exports of Alkonost are various types of fish, shell jewelry, and a unique, dark red pearl that is only cultivated in the waters surrounding the island. These red pearls are highly prized on other islands and provide the bulk of income for the Alkonost population. They’ve also recently attracted a band of pesky pirates, which has taken to raiding export ships and even the pearl farms themselves, on occasion. Warning signs are posted near the shoreline and will be explained by locals if asked.

While visiting, you can elect to work as part of a fishing or pearl farming crew, or with one of the island’s fruit collection squads, and you’ll be paid daily in fresh fish and equally fresh fruit. For necessities of the non-consumable sort, the village open-air market is open every day for all of your shopping needs. Otherwise, grab some sun on the beach, dance and sing around bonfires at night, get to know your fellow passengers, or just chill on the ship and get to know Navi.

Comments

[sisterswitch]

Jack is generally pretty good at rolling with the punches that come her way (metaphorical, please, she's a tiny squishy mage) and acting like not much fazes her, but landing on a tropical island with an abundance of sunshine and zero wifi is the exact opposite of her idea of a good time. She's not much for loudly complaining, though - be the change you want to see, right? She's entirely capable of finding ways to occupy her time, even if they aren't her ideal.

During the day, she'll often be found on the ship, either getting to know Navi a bit better or lurking in one of the common areas. Once she procures a journal from the market, she spends time on the beach - back in the shady areas where the forest meets the sand, of course, a bit removed from the village - filling up the blank pages with scribbling and doodles. An artist she is not, but words are easy enough.

At night, once the sun has disappeared, Jack feels much more in her element. Some people are frightened by the dark, but it's been a comfort for her as long as she can remember. It's her nature to gravitate toward the back of a crowd, so even when she joins the festivities at the nightly bonfires, she keeps a bit of distance between herself and the villagers.

She's used to being alone, so she doesn't typically seek out the companionship of others. But Jack can be friendly enough and open to conversation if approached. She doesn't bite - not on this side of the Primordial Dream, at least.

bonfire

[shahrrehth]

She's seen Jack around but she's noticed that, for the most part, she tends to keep to herself and she's always firmly believed that folks who want to be left on their own ought to be left on their own. But when they're at the bonfire, she keeps her distance, but the whole thing is a social thing by nature, so she feels like this is when she can make her way over and say hello.

She offers a little wave, then gestures towards a seat near her. She'll still go if Jack says no, but she's hoping not.

[sisterswitch]

Jack tends toward wariness around new people, at least until she's been able to get a good sense of the type of person they are. Usually, she's able to make that assessment with some good old-fashioned cyber-searching and maybe a little hacking, but she doesn't have those tools here.

All she knows about Clara is what she's been able to observe. Jack remembers Clara was one of the few passengers who was in favor of cooperating with Navi's initial request, which is a big point in her favor. She wasn't hostile like Jane, so it's probably safe to accept her invitation, right? And she'll be able to get to know more about Clara this way, too.

She returns the wave and makes her way toward the seat next to Clara. "Hey," she says, with a small smile. "Nice night for a bonfire, huh?"

beach

[fuckregularpeople]

It seems that Jack picked up an implement of expression at the market too. The Hangman's Daughter watches her hand move over the page, watching the ink flow in organic and crude patterns. She studies the figures Jack draws. Her fingers itch. She wishes she could do the same thing.

"Excuse me," she says softly, apologetically. "You have a pen and paper?" She moves into the shade, her head tilted and her eyes sad and wide. Jane has argued with this woman and she knows it, had suspected the worst of her, but the Hangman's Daughter is less reactionary than Jane is. Perhaps Jack was trustworthy, perhaps not, but she'd done nothing so far to harm them.

"May I have a page, please? If you'd like something in return, I could paint your nails." She fishes into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out the single bottle of dark purple nail polish Jane bought from the market. It's not much of a trade, but it's the best she could do at the moment.

[sisterswitch]

Jack is surprised to be approached in such a civil manner by someone who looks like Jane but clearly isn’t. (She even said please! Definitely not Jane.) And while she might still be holding a teeny grudge against Jane, Jack doesn’t see the point in applying that to all of Jane’s personalities across the board.

“Sure,” she answers, and holds the journal and pen toward the other woman for her to take. “You don’t have to trade me for it - it’s just paper.”

[fuckregularpeople]

The entire journal and the pen was more than the Hangman's Daughter anticipated, and she pauses before reaching to accept it. This woman is being nicer than she expected. Maybe she's not as bad as Jane thinks?

HD settles down on the sand and turns to a blank page, glancing up at Jack before putting the pen to it.

"You're an artist?"

[sisterswitch]

The thing about Jack is that she's perfectly amicable, until one of her buttons gets pushed. Then, she gets angry, and she holds grudges. Never forgive, never forget, as some might say.

She'd tried to offer help in Dualis, and Jane wasn't the only one who jumped down her throat with distrust and irrational anger, but she is the only one from that episode who has also been dragged on this voyage. Jack doesn't appreciate irrational accusations, which is how she's taken Jane's hostility toward her, and she isn't a killer. (Well - technically, she is, but that was one time, and it was an accident.) She hadn't killed anyone in Dualis, and her tendency is to stay out of sight, so why is it being held against her that she didn't make contact sooner? She had good reasons not to approach anyone there.

Normally, Jack doesn't care whether people like her. She's used to being disliked, for being a fearlessly outspoken feminist, for being a woman, for being gay, for being an anarchist, for being someone who doesn't conform to the status quo. Those are things she can handle being disliked for, but being told she's a bad person for things she hasn't done? Nope. That bugs her.

"Not really," she says. "I doodle designs sometimes, sigils for spells, but nothing fancy. And I'm not used to living unplugged, so I got the journal so I'd have something to do. You are, though, right?"

[fuckregularpeople]

Funnily enough, most of Jane's personalities wouldn't argue with Jack's approach. It was the same one they often used, and it had served them well. Now it was pitting the survivors against each other.

Jack hadn't actively made things worse in Dualis, but she had only offered help at the eleventh hour and held it over their heads, demanding some sort of stupid fee for it. The idea that someone could've helped but didn't hardly seemed an irrational thing to be angry about. To them, people who had spent years suffering because someone else viewed them as expendable, that was nothing short of despicable.

Jane wasn't wrong, really. She wasn't right, either, but she wasn't wrong.

The Hangman's Daughter had a different view on Dualis than most of Jane's personalities. She wasn't furious; she was just sad and tired. There didn't seem to be a point in being angry at Jack, even if she hadn't precisely been an ally there. She had never accomplished anything by being angry.

"Sigils?" The Hangman's Daughter doesn't know what goes into those herself. "What designs do you make?" The pen tip glided over the page in a smooth arching curve and she glanced at Jack, taking in the shape of her face and the way her hair fell. "Yes. I was the one who did the mural."

ship

[clavis_caerulea]

It's during one of those times on the ship that she'll see a gentleman walk out of one of the rooms on the first floor. He's wearing what is clearly some sort of uniform in a deep blue color with a high collar; his hair is a neat undercut with a bit of grey at the temples, and he's cleanshaven. He's fixing his cufflinks as he makes his way out and he smiles over at Jack once he sees her.

"Hello. I suppose you're one of the others who've been transported here."

[sisterswitch]

Jack definitely doesn’t remember seeing him at the big crash-landing group hug - which doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but his question hints at his arrival being more recent than most.

And he’s caught her in a weird mood, blame it on the lack of wi-fi. It feels like forever since she’s (jokingly) trolled anyone. Time to fix that!

“Who, me? Nah, I’ve been here forever,” she says, completely straight-faced. “I’m a hologram. Standard issue with this type of ship.”