antarcticite (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
acicular) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ioduanlogs2018-09-01 05:58 pm
acicular) wrote in ioduanlogs2018-09-01 05:58 pm
[OPEN] at least they haven't melted yet
Characters: Antarcticite + you??
Date: Throughout September.
Location: Throughout Aifaran.
Situation: Various affinity-specific open prompts!
Warnings/Rating: Prompt 2 might be a bit unsettling for people with a fear of heights. Otherwise go to town!
Faith 4: Fortune Favours the Perch (OPEN)
This is, quite frankly, more attention than Antarcticite has received in their several centuries’ long lifespan, and they don’t like it one bit.
The mottled butterfly is fine company, of course. It isn’t the first one that Antarcticite has ever seen, given that they often stayed in solid form long enough into the very early spring to see the snow begin to melt, and the beginnings of flowers blooming among the frost. Late winter butterflies in their home were small white things though--they didn’t dazzle the bystander like this, let alone spend this much time perched on anyone’s ear. Antarcticite spends several hours seated quite still on a rock overlooking the sea with their insect companion, loathe to move lest they frighten it off.
Eventually it does take flight, but whatever time Antarcticite would like to spend mulling over the pleasant mystery of that encounter is used up by the arrival of several kedan Ban Om devotees, all of whom seem to think it is perfectly appropriate to push their odd trinkets towards their hands. Startled and discomfited, Antarcticite scrambles down off of the rock and begins to back away along the surf.
“No,” they insist earnestly, holding up both hands to ward off the gifts, “no, I don’t need anything like that..!”
The kedan exchange confused looks with each other, before several begin speaking at once to try to explain the gesture--but Antarcticite, rather overwhelmed by all this attention at once, appears to be a hair’s breadth away from turning tail and bolting directly into the sea.
Sci-Tech 1: Mission Grime (OPEN)
Antarcticite is not familiar enough with Aifaran’s technology to be truly unsettled by most of it backfiring on them out of nowhere in the days immediately following their foray into the shunt with Rutile and Padparadscha. Maybe yimos are supposed to spontaneously turn on and off; it seems a strange functionality to design into a device, but given the other strange things they’ve witnessed since their arrival, they don’t find it too surprising.
What does strike them as alarming is the skytrain suddenly grinding to a stop several hundred feet above the ground.
It’s only alarming for them because they know that even should the train collapse, shattering them upon impact, Rutile would (most likely) be able to reassemble them. (They think. They hope.) Given the reactions of the living things around them who begin to mutter and pace and panic, however, they would not be so easy to reassemble after impact.
The train conductor’s voice crackles across the loudspeaker with, “Attention, passengers, there’s been, uh, a mechanical issue with the train. Just sit tight, response personnel are on their way--”
Above them, the lights flicker ominously, before fizzling out into nothingness. A hushed silence falls over the whole train car.
“...just, uh. Just hang in there, folks.” Click.
Somewhere else on the train, a baby starts to cry. For their part, Antarcticite gets up and approaches one of the windows, as though trying to determine how best to open it.
Meta 2: The Tide is High (OPEN)
Ending up shoulder-deep in rising seawater might be a life threatening proposition for other Dreamfolk beset by the dreaming sickness, but all Antarcticite discovers upon coming to their senses is that the vast majority of the white powder covering up their translucent crystalline structure has been washed away by the salt. They startle the poor Erol’an rescuers who come to fish them out, but frankly, they’ve seen stranger things than a human-shaped crystal that walks, talks, and speaks at this point.
They wade ashore and gratefully accept the towel that is given to them, delicately dabbing at their exposed arms and legs with a worried frown creasing their brows. Obviously both Rutile and Padparadscha have found an adequate substitute for the powder flowers that they used back home, and for the waterproof resin that kept the powder from running in the rain; they will simply have to seek them out and enquire about it.
Once they’ve dried off, and are able to fend off the Erol’an do-gooders who keep trying to offer them tea and food. “No, thank you,” they insist mechanically, “I don’t eat.”
A few of them blink. “...you don’t… what?”
Antarcticite sighs.
Date: Throughout September.
Location: Throughout Aifaran.
Situation: Various affinity-specific open prompts!
Warnings/Rating: Prompt 2 might be a bit unsettling for people with a fear of heights. Otherwise go to town!
Faith 4: Fortune Favours the Perch (OPEN)
This is, quite frankly, more attention than Antarcticite has received in their several centuries’ long lifespan, and they don’t like it one bit.
The mottled butterfly is fine company, of course. It isn’t the first one that Antarcticite has ever seen, given that they often stayed in solid form long enough into the very early spring to see the snow begin to melt, and the beginnings of flowers blooming among the frost. Late winter butterflies in their home were small white things though--they didn’t dazzle the bystander like this, let alone spend this much time perched on anyone’s ear. Antarcticite spends several hours seated quite still on a rock overlooking the sea with their insect companion, loathe to move lest they frighten it off.
Eventually it does take flight, but whatever time Antarcticite would like to spend mulling over the pleasant mystery of that encounter is used up by the arrival of several kedan Ban Om devotees, all of whom seem to think it is perfectly appropriate to push their odd trinkets towards their hands. Startled and discomfited, Antarcticite scrambles down off of the rock and begins to back away along the surf.
“No,” they insist earnestly, holding up both hands to ward off the gifts, “no, I don’t need anything like that..!”
The kedan exchange confused looks with each other, before several begin speaking at once to try to explain the gesture--but Antarcticite, rather overwhelmed by all this attention at once, appears to be a hair’s breadth away from turning tail and bolting directly into the sea.
Sci-Tech 1: Mission Grime (OPEN)
Antarcticite is not familiar enough with Aifaran’s technology to be truly unsettled by most of it backfiring on them out of nowhere in the days immediately following their foray into the shunt with Rutile and Padparadscha. Maybe yimos are supposed to spontaneously turn on and off; it seems a strange functionality to design into a device, but given the other strange things they’ve witnessed since their arrival, they don’t find it too surprising.
What does strike them as alarming is the skytrain suddenly grinding to a stop several hundred feet above the ground.
It’s only alarming for them because they know that even should the train collapse, shattering them upon impact, Rutile would (most likely) be able to reassemble them. (They think. They hope.) Given the reactions of the living things around them who begin to mutter and pace and panic, however, they would not be so easy to reassemble after impact.
The train conductor’s voice crackles across the loudspeaker with, “Attention, passengers, there’s been, uh, a mechanical issue with the train. Just sit tight, response personnel are on their way--”
Above them, the lights flicker ominously, before fizzling out into nothingness. A hushed silence falls over the whole train car.
“...just, uh. Just hang in there, folks.” Click.
Somewhere else on the train, a baby starts to cry. For their part, Antarcticite gets up and approaches one of the windows, as though trying to determine how best to open it.
Meta 2: The Tide is High (OPEN)
Ending up shoulder-deep in rising seawater might be a life threatening proposition for other Dreamfolk beset by the dreaming sickness, but all Antarcticite discovers upon coming to their senses is that the vast majority of the white powder covering up their translucent crystalline structure has been washed away by the salt. They startle the poor Erol’an rescuers who come to fish them out, but frankly, they’ve seen stranger things than a human-shaped crystal that walks, talks, and speaks at this point.
They wade ashore and gratefully accept the towel that is given to them, delicately dabbing at their exposed arms and legs with a worried frown creasing their brows. Obviously both Rutile and Padparadscha have found an adequate substitute for the powder flowers that they used back home, and for the waterproof resin that kept the powder from running in the rain; they will simply have to seek them out and enquire about it.
Once they’ve dried off, and are able to fend off the Erol’an do-gooders who keep trying to offer them tea and food. “No, thank you,” they insist mechanically, “I don’t eat.”
A few of them blink. “...you don’t… what?”
Antarcticite sighs.
Sci-Tech
The train ride is a nice opportunity to relax a little. He's not really sleeping – several miles away, the suit is doing a casting run of some custom hardware one of his clients had requested – but he's managed to fall into a light doze. Which is rudely interrupted by the train coming to a sudden halt, and all the power in the car dying.
Tony groans and squints his eyes open. Golly, this looks like a job for Overworked Supergenius Mechanic Man! Oh goody! He stands and looks around the car. "I sure hope I get paid for this," he mutters to himself. Then addressing the rest of the passengers, he says, "It's okay, everybody. Probably just an electrical short. I'll go check it out. Stay in the car - if we can't get this one moving again we'll get you transferred to another train. Just sit tight." He nods at the person studying the window latches: they've got the right idea. "Let's see if we can open up some of those windows so it doesn't get too stuffy in here."
The calm, reassuring authority comes automatically, even though he's not technically in charge of anything. As is often the case in situations like this, most people are just happy to have someone else take the lead, and many of the passengers relax as soon as he's delivered his announcement.
no subject
They glance backwards towards the human who appears to have taken control of the situation, experiencing a modicum of relief that they are careful not to let show on their face. They turn to face Tony and incline their head once politely; they probably come across as courteous, but, uh. Weird.
"Mechanical things seem to break down so often," they remark upon straightening, then gesture to Tony. "It's wise of the city to keep maintenance workers on hand just in case of an emergency." Yeah, weird.
They turn back to the window, frowning. "That's as far as I could get it to open." For safety reasons, the window doesn't lower itself by a wide margin, but it's narrow enough that Antarcticite, lithe as they are, could probably maneuver themselves through it. ...if they had a reason to, at any rate.
no subject
He walks over to the door separating the cars. Fortunately, there's an emergency release lever, and he can see one on the outside of the next door, too, which means he doesn't have to lockpick his way up to the front and yell at someone about public transit safety features. Tony looks over the car full of nervous passengers and selects an Erol'a who looks young enough to be a Crest but old enough to have some authority as an adult with the other races. "Hey." Tony puts his hand on the kid's shoulder. "I'm going to head up to the front - can you make sure people don't leave the car? It's not safe to go out on the elevated track, so we need everybody to stay put." The kid looks surprised by being singled out, but nods confidently.
Then Tony turns back to the other Dreamer. "You want to come, or are you gonna stay?" They'd seemed to have the same inclination to take charge that Tony had, so he figured he'd offer.
no subject
"Antarcticite." It is who they are, as well as what they are, which is how Antarcticite has explained themselves to others in Aifaran who have given them strange looks over their introduction. Thankfully, they receive no such odd looks from Tony, who has already turned his attention back to one of the other junior Dreamfolk onboard the train to deliver instructions to them. The surety with which Tony takes control of the situation raises him considerably in Antarcticite's estimation; true, he will likely not survive the impact should the train come crashing to the ground, but he makes a good impression in the interim.
"You want to come, or are you gonna stay?"
That's a question that effectively snaps them out of their macabre reverie. Antarcticite blinks, then straightens their shoulders and nods once. "I'll come with you," they say and step after Tony. A beat before they add, a little uncertainly, "I don't have any business cards." Whatever those are.
no subject
He opens the door and steps out onto the little platform connecting the two cars. Whatever happened to the train didn't feel like a derailment, but just in case, he peers up and down the tracks to check. "Looks fine on the tracks. Just a power outage." He might be reassuring the other passengers; he might just be muttering to himself.
no subject
They follow Tony towards the door leading out onto the small connecting platform and don't crowd him as he glances about outside. "Looks fine on the tracks. Just a power outage," Tony says.
Antarcticite snorts. "Yes," they agree and fish out their yimo, scowling down at its blank screen before pocketing it again. Useless device. "I don't understand how all of these machines are supposed to help this city function if they are always malfunctioning. Have you been here long? Is this normal?"
no subject
Tony frowns and glances back when Antarc pulls out their BSOD'd yimo to scowl at it, pausing before opening the door to the next car. "No, it's not normal. Your yimo's down too?" Tony pulls out his own to check it. It turns on, but clearly isn't happy about it. It lags and glitches out, and after a couple seconds Tony takes pity on it and shuts it down. "Yeah, that's definitely not normal. An EMP...?" Tony mutters, half to himself. "No, I would have felt that. Getting some weird interference with Extremis, though." He hadn't recognized it until now: he'd brushed off the extra mental strain and uncomfortable staticky feeling in his head as fatigue. "Maybe we hit some kind of electrical field. Probably blew the fuses on the train."