Bliss Stage Alpha Log 1: Chloe/Jake

[etherjammer]

<<OOC>> Suze says "Okay. This'll be the first mission, so bear with me as we learn. :)"

<<OOC>> Jake nodnods.

<<OOC>> Jake says "I'm still very fuzzy on the whole 'what we do in missions' thing, so... I will be asking questions, no doubt!"

<<OOC>> Suze says "Here's how missions go. You have three objectives when we start. Successfully forming an ANIMa, doing a circuit around the base and observing enemy incursion, then submerging. Jake, you're going to have a lot of control over what Chloe 'sees' as she undergoes the objectives. I'll step in with hostile elements, or if a roll goes badly enough that the anchor loses control. Anchors have the training to help interpret the dreamworld for their pilots."

<<OOC>> Suze says "So, I'm going to open. Anyone have any questions before we begin?"

<<OOC>> Chloe says "Not I!"

<<OOC>> Jake says "I'm...not quite sure how things work yet, but I'll figure it out as we go along!"

The ANIMa is housed on the playing field, close to where the original drone body fell; the alien's impact crater can still be seen, although a crude but sturdy structure has been erected over the astroturf, forming a hanger of sorts. The astroturf is still underfoot, although huge chunks have been removed over the years. From inside the hanger, the eerie, song-like wail of the ANIMa engine can be heard, a just-audible sound that seems to make the teeth vibrate in one's mouth. Inside, the ANIMa itself: a bizarre amalgam of wire and gel-like organics, from which three swollen pods, each about twice the size of a human seem to grow. The pods are wreathed in wires and blinking lights, like a triple lobe heart. Suze is at the bulky mainframes to either side of the ANIMa itself, frowning and zipping back and forth from one monitor to the other, utterly absorbed in the arcane signals.

Chloe enters the playing field from the home team's locker rooms. She swallows her nervousness and checks the straps on her ERA suit. "Ready when you are," she says, looking over her shoulder at Jake.

Jake is watching Suze, but he has a friendly smile for Chloe when he looks her way. "I'm ready to go," he says, heading for his place.

Suze turns around at the sound of their voices, and gives Jake a quick, narrowed-eyed look, before striding over to Chloe. She reaches out and rechecks a few of the straps on the suit, ones that Chloe's just done herself, before giving the pilot a nod. "You look ready. Mission objectives?" She steps back, the curt question thrown at the two like a rock.

Jake's shoulders swing back so that he's standing straighter at that voice, before he even gets around to the actual answering. "Three-part ANIMa, circuit of the base, check the resulting breach," he supplies, shooting a look over to Chloe.

Chloe nods. "Sounds right to me."

Suze gives them both a disgusted look, and spins on her heel. "Wrong. Three-part anima. Circuit of the base, including visual observation of enemy incursion, /and/ brief submersion in the sea to check cockpit integrity." She shakes her head and stalks back to her console, refusing to even look in their direction.

Jake mutters something under his breath about /summarizing/, but not loud enough for his sister to hear. Hopefully. His next look at Chloe is more one of commiseration.

Chloe coughs back a smile, nods at the departing Suze, and with a similar look of commiseration to Jake, she heads for the ANIMa chamber.

Suze does not seem to hear, her hands already ticking with caffeine-fueled energy over the monitor displays, bringing everything up line. "You are clear to enter at any time, once your anchor has taken his place. Obey your anchor. Your anchor will terminate the mission if it goes too badly, but I don't want to see you terminating the mission over any old thing, clear?" She turns, her eyes flicking back to her younger brother, unreadable.

<<OOC>> Suze waves.

<<OOC>> Chloe waves!

Chloe says, "Enter any time after Jake's in place. Obey Jake. Don't abort because I broke a nail. Got it."

Jake nods shortly, not looking up now from the instruments he's supposed to be watching.

Suze glances over to the pilot, and raises an eyebrow. "Exactly," she says, shortly. She takes a seat near another one of the monitors, affixing a small earbud as she pulls up her recording tools. "Then you are go for mission. Jake, take over."

Chloe glances Jake nervously, and climbs into the ANIMa creche. "Whenever you're ready."

Jake scans the controls slowly one more time, then says, "Ready. Let's get this show on the road."

<<OOC>> Suze says "Okay, narrative control moves over to Jake. Jake, you get to describe what Chloe will experience in the dream realm; how it looks, what she needs to do, both as Jake IC and through emitted details. I will introduce hostile elements as needed, and then when we reach the first mission objective -- forming the ANIMa -- there's a chance you might lose control."

<<OOC>> Jake says "Okay. Um. Sorry I'm slow! Just taking a bit to get a grasp of how this all works."

<<OOC>> Jake says "How much echo should there be between Jake's 'You'll see X' or what not and what I'm just outright emitting for scene desc?"

<<OOC>> Suze says "It's okay! This is our first time. And since we're doing it throught text, not voice, you can go ahead and emit details as you like. I would give verbal cues as well, sort of like, 'Remember where the Starbucks used to be; can you see any of it's roof left?' and things like that, so that Jake and Chloe have the chance to talk."

<<OOC>> Jake nods.

Water slushes through the city in endless slow-motion waves, from lows where a kid would wade through it to highs that would eat a skyscraper. The sky overhead is a mirror reflection, not just cloudy but full of wobbling expanses of water that might descend at any moment. "Are you standing or swimming?" Jake asks, staring at instruments in front of him. "See if you can move around."

Chloe glances nervously at the sky. "Standing," she says. "I'm up to my knees." She kicks experimentally. "I can move, but it's just like being in the water. Slow and kind of cold."

"Okay," Jake says, "we want to get started on that ANIMa first. I want you to look around for a place with a roof, and on the /leading/ edge of a low patch of water, got it?" The depth of the water changes ever so slowly as the enormous waves slide through the city, parting to move around buildings or crushing them in their path with no rule for why the water chooses either.

Chloe peers around. "I see a few old townhouses about half a mile off and on a little rise. I bet one of them will work." She starts walking in their direction.

Jake sets a hand near a switch. Not to flip it, but just to be...ready. "Once you're near a roof--don't get under it yet, just make sure you're where you can--that'll be when you should start putting together your ANIMa."

<<OOC>> Suze says "Okay. When manifesting an ANIMa, all you usually have to do is choose the relationships you're using -- one of which must be the anchor -- and what parts that they're becoming. The anchor is always the chassis. Please do use details! Keep in mind that each relationship can only be one thing; it can't be a pair of wings one mission and a gun the next."

Chloe nods, then remembers Jake can't see it. "Aye." She trudges on, until she's standing before the townhouse. One is gutted and useless, but the other two still have functional rooves. "Ready to begin, at your pleasure, Jake."

Jake smiles slightly. Of course, Chloe can't see that either. "Start at the core, and work your way up. I hope you're feeling well-armored today."

Chloe laughs. "Should I take that as a suggestion?" She concentrates on her relationship with Jake, thinking about sitting in the back of the theater, feeling like The Day After Tomorrow hit too close to home; about how Jake found her after her first meeting with Suze as a pilot, and told her to never mind Suze's attitude, just get back on the horse; about how Jake is how she's getting home. The body of the ANIMa forges itself around her, a titan in ice-white and whisper-blue, all angles and edges and crystalline shard-spikes. Once it solidifies under her, she says, with artificial control in her voice, "I think I've got it."

Jake looks over his readings, and gives a little nod to himself. "That's looking good. Nice solid base. That means we're ready for the second part. Let's start with offensive. Maybe something long-range, if you're feeling it today. Hit them from a distance."

Chloe says, "Aye."

<<OOC>> Suze says "Once you choose the relationships and manifest the second and third sections of the ANIMa, we'll do our first roll. It will be based on the Intimacy of the relationships you choose."

<<OOC>> Chloe was trying to remember how Intimacy and Trust worked with the ANIMa bits.

<<OOC>> Suze says "Intimacy adds to your ANIMa's power. Trust isn't used in the roll, but it has to be watched if your relationships become strained."

<<OOC>> cpip says "Intimacy is how many dice you'll roll; Trust is how resilient the relationship is to damage over time."

<<OOC>> Chloe says "Gotcha."

Chloe considers for a long moment, then calls on her relationship with her fellow pilot Kat. Colder than she might like - given that his attention always seems to be going to his girlfriend of the moment - and more distant, he seems like the perfect base on which to build a glistening white arm cannon, frost vapor puffing from vents on an attached backpack as it chills the ice blasts that the cannon throws.

<<OOC>> Chloe says "I hope I am doing this right."

<<OOC>> Suze says "You are!"

Jake watches a little dial spin. "You're almost there, Chloe. Maybe we'll have clear sailing today. And speaking of sailing, let's get ready for an environmental component. We're going to be doing a full circuit of the base, so let's go for something that'll keep you fast and maneuverable."

Chloe only has to think about that for a moment. Over the backpack goes a set of small wings and a burst nozzle, created from her relationship with Troy - not enough to fly with, but certainly enough to lift her off her feet and help her jump tall buildings in ... well, maybe a couple bounds.

<<OOC>> Suze says "Okay. Add up the Intimacy value of those three relationships, and roll that many d6s."

Jake does not actually check things off a literal list, but he does discreetly snap a switch that goes to nothing in particular but one of several colored lights at the top of his panel. One objective down, two to go.

<<OOC>> Chloe says "That's 2/2 Jake, 3/1 Kat, and 4/2 Troy."

<<DICE>> Chloe rolls 9d6 <2 2 3 3 3 4 6 6 6> for 35 total.

<<OOC>> Suze says "All right! 5-6 are +, 3-4 are blanks, 1-2 are minuses. You place one die in each of the following categories: Mission Success, Pilot Safety, the 3 Relationship Safeties, with unused dice going to Bliss."

<<OOC>> Suze says "+s are good, blanks are pretty neutral, and -s are going to cause Conflict. :)"

<<OOC>> Chloe says "Hm. Mission Success +, Pilot Safety ~, Jake +, Kat ~, Troy +, Bliss ~ ~ - -."

<<OOC>> Suze says "Okay! Then I'll step in here a bit. :)"

The ANIMa forms around Chloe with a sense of 'rightness', shielding her from the oppressive, clammy humidity of the dream realm. However, as she's just getting settled in, one of those massive waves swells directly before her, picking up the ANIMa and engulfing it. Within the water, a strange, chiming song can be heard, and something flickers beneath her, an alien bioluminescence rising up from the dreamsea, as a whippy tentacle reaches out and wraps itself around the cannon arm, trying to haul the mecha and its pilot deeper into the depths. The icy surface of the cannon begins to crack and warp.

<<OOC>> Jake says "Now that the ANIMa is going, what do I continue to do/emote/etc?"

<<OOC>> Suze says "You still have most of the control of the scenario. I've added a hostile element. Now help your pilot get out of this."

Chloe gasps and pulls back. "Jake, we have a visitor!" She tries firing the ice cannon in the direction of the tentacle's origin.

The waters waver around the ANIMa, and gush backwards. "Hit it hard and go for the skies, Chloe. If you can get airborn, I think it'll start loosening." Jake stares at the controls, and through the city comes a cold wind. "Keep your ice strong. That thing's not warm enough to melt through it, if you can keep it pulled together."

The blast of the cannon pierces the shadowy waters, the song of the alien rising to a ear-aching whistle as the creature clings to the gun while trying to avoid the pilot's barrage.

Chloe fires up the booster rocket and lets it simmer, providing steady downward thrust - not enough to get her off the ground on land, but hopefully enough to surface her in the water.

As the rocket flares, spreading a cold light through the water, the ANIMa fights the current and surfaces, pulling the alien drone along with it. The light reveals more of the jellyfish-like body beneath the machine, although this is somehow /longer/, and gellid, studded with more tentacles, each glowing with multicolored lights. As the ANIMa breaks the surface, the grip on Chloe's cannon falls away, but the monster remains, and even without eyes, it somehow manages to convey an intent focus on the thing above it.

Jake frowns at the panel, but keeps his tone brisk and not too worried. "Keep on moving. Head for shallow water and high ground, and keep going /up/ until that drops loose. Once you're free of it"--there is no suggestion in his voice that this will be difficult to achieve--"we'll head back towards our next objective, after a little shake-off to make sure it's not following. Look for a multi-story building, maybe something with really high ceilings inside to give you maneuvering room. Are you anywhere near the library?"

Chloe kicks the rocket into higher gear and boosts up about thirty feet, firing the ice cannon down into the water. "About half a mile, I think."

"Beautiful." Jake wiggles a knob, and closes his eyes briefly. "Go in through a second story window. One of those enormous ones. See if you can get that tentacle to slide across the glass, it's much less hard-sided than you are."

Chloe kicks back and lands in much shallower water. "I can't tell if it's going to come after me, but I'm headed there anyway." She turns and boost-jumps away, moving four or five times as fast as Chloe herself usually does - but it still takes a few minutes to get to the library.

The alien slides deeper beneath the water, the wave seeming to follow at its bidding as it swims beneath the ANIMa. It submerges with each of Chloe's shots, then bobs upwards again. It's definitely following.

Chloe flees the wave, jumping and running ever closer to the library. When she arrives, she times her last jump so that it propels her through one of the massive upper windows, creating a jagged, vicious portal into the vaulted interior.

The alien appears thwarted by the shell of the library; the tentacles slap and search the lower windows for a few minutes, before the song changes, grows sorrowful, and fades as it moves away.