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bakerstreet2023-10-01 07:52 am
vivalaopenpost) wrote in bakerstreet2023-10-01 07:52 am
Survive the night
the survival meme
Acts of nature, vicious monsters, merciless enemies, and treacherous worlds. These are circumstances which put your skills and your wit to the ultimate test: the struggle to survive. Maybe you're fit enough to make it on your own, or maybe you're in over your head. Either way, can you afford to help a friend or stranger in need? That's a decision you'll have to make in the moment.
1. wilderness
Whether you're stranded, adventuring, or simply camping, the wild has been known to turn on those who would appreciate her splendor in an instant. Wild animals, inclement weather, hazardous territory, and food that fights back are just some of the things you'll need to contend with to survive.
2. natural disaster
Earthquakes, floods, avalanches, and more. These forces of nature are hard to predict, and even harder to control. You may need more than just your own wit and ingenuity to make it through this.
3. post-apoc
The world has met with some disaster - be it war, a climate event, an invasion - and for most, all the comforts of modern life are a thing of the distant past. How have the stragglers survived so far?
4. alien planet
You've landed on a strange and unknown world, and you have no idea what dangers could lurk ahead. The very air could be poison, and on some worlds, even the plants have teeth!
5. zombies
Whatever you do, don't get bitten. No one can afford to spare your life when the virus takes hold.
6. robot uprising
Humanity has been pushed to the very brink of existence on their own world, as AIs rise up to take their place as the rightful stewards of the planet. Do you even stand a chance against intelligence and physical ability far superior to a mere fleshy being?
7. monsters
Take care and stay on your guard, for this territory is crawling with foul beasts who will come for you at any sign of... fear, sound, movement, blood... or what have you!
8. battle royale
In this nightmare, your enemies are the very people who are trapped here with you. Do you team up to survive, or do you take no prisoners?
9. enemy territory
This is your most dangerous mission yet: you're heading right into the enemy's lair.
10. wildcard
Anything goes!
[ Get Memes! ]
Paul Atreides | Dune
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As the sun's rays strike the trough the strange substance starts to undulate slightly, small ripples and waves running through it in response to the ray of warmth. Gemini doesn't sleep, indeed can't do so, but letting herself devolve into her true form always brings with it a pleasant degree of relaxation. How long has she been like this? Days, weeks, months? She isn't bothering to keep count.
She feels old, not physically, her amorphous body still exactly the same as it had been 20,000 years before, but mentally, worn down by so many long centuries. That feeling of crushing age was what had brought her to Arrakis, drawn by the lure of solitude and the urge to reflect, losing herself in the quietness of the desert for what had turned into centuries. The whisper of the wind, the sparkle of spice in the air, there's a peacefulness here which she hadn't felt in nearly a thousand years and which might keep her here a century more. Burrowing into dunes and curling up in their warm centre, her body taking on the consistency of the sand, or hardening into a rock, letting the sun's rays warm her rubber body and cool again at night.
Yes she likes it here. The abandoned research station is a place she frequently returns to when she tires of the harsh sunlight, where she can meditate and clear her mind of too many years, entirely relaxed and unconcerned by the world around.
[There you go, hope it's ok!]
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The blue substance wasn't one of the items he was interested in, but a quick look confirms that it's not water or any other substance Paul knows. Best not to touch anything unfamiliar for risk of poisoning or exposure to toxic chemicals, and Paul doesn't have the equipment he would need to run a poison check. Still, it's a curiosity and Paul keeps some attention on it while he turns to the vegetation. He needs the plants - even dried plants contain material useful for analysis and cultivation, and he wants to see if there's anything that can be salvaged.
Is it rippling on its own, or is that a trick of the light? Paul stands as he gathers one of the husks, alert. Probably nothing, but it's difficult to get even small details past him. He approaches the liquid to get a closer look.
Not to collect a sample, but he is a curious person. The liquid contains some interesting qualities, that it can persist in the heat without evaporating. Clearly it isn't water - it must be something else, and how it got here there's no way for him to know. But he's wary about touching it without knowing what it is or whether it's safe to collect. And if it did move on its own, it could be some kind of life form - such things aren't unheard of. Energy beings that could manifest in some physical form if they so chose.
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It's not a huge surprise, the Fremen are bold, but she had thought to have sufficiently discouraged visits to her sanctuary by taking the shape of a slavering monster and forcing the increasingly infrequent intruders to run for their lives. But she's never killed anyone on Arrakis and she sees no need to now, but frighten him off? That she can do.
For a moment she watches him closely, curious about her first human interaction in many years and then as he edges closer she strikes. A maw of yellow razor sharp teeth erupts out of the goo as if it had been hiding underneath, spreading wide like a flower to try and chomp down on him (and deliberately missing) a horrific screech escaping the red monstrosity she's become as she rears menacingly, giving the Fremen ample time to back away.
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Paul considers his options. Running is one, but that would mean abandoning his samples, and he's not willing to do that if it can be prevented. Violence is another, but he doesn't want to fight the creature. It's intimidating, but it hasn't actually attacked Paul just yet. It could have killed him but chose to warn instead. Which means, he hopes, that there's a chance to communicate. If the creature's intelligent enough to show restraint, or placed to guard the facility, he might be able to convince it that he's not a threat.
"I'm not here to disturb you." He raises his hands, showing the creature that he's not going for his blade or his lasgun. This is a gamble, but the only way he sees to avoid a fight and keep the samples he collected. "I came here to collect vegetation samples for our own use and didn't know you were here. Once I have what I need, you have my word that you won't hear from me again and I'll tell no one in my tribe about your home. You can continue to live in peace."
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She's still watching him though. There's enough of her in the trough still to keep under observation even as she bounds through the structure, monstrous form oozing through a blockage caused by an old rockfall and growing into a different form on the other side, silently approaching the research room from a different tunnel, slender, dark haired, blue eyed, the human appearance that she's always considered to be 'her', although clad in a dusty stillsuit.
"Who might you be?" She calls to him to get his attention, leaning languidly against the doorframe and folding her arms, eyeing him curiously, relaxed and non-threatening.
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Then the young woman appears as he's starting to make his way out of the facility from the room, but her appearance distracts him from leaving. She's Fremen, like him, so it's only polite to introduce himself and warn her about the creature that's protecting the facility - though she's come from a different tunnel than the creature disappeared through, he doesn't want any surprises for either of them.
He doesn't tie the young woman with the creature, though given time he might consider the fact that she appeared after it disappeared odd. "I'm Paul-Muad'Dib. Who are you? You might want to be careful - there's a creature in the tunnels that I think is protecting this place." Maybe it was placed by Fremen originally, which might explain why it let them pass safely.
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"I'm Gemini." It's the name her mother gave to her, so long ago now that it almost seems like a dream, her eyes going distant for a moment before she focusses on his warning. "That? You needn't worry about it, provided you don't bother it, it won't bother you." Most would have run away screaming or attacked pointlessly, but its already apparent to her that he is not 'most'.
"What brings you here Paul-Maud'Dib?" She asks, her blue eyes boring deeply into his as she asks the question. He'd already told her what his purpose was in coming to this base, but that's not what she means. It's obvious to her already that he is not a native of Arrakis, so why would he come to this world? Riches? Glory? Love? After so long observing others she hasn't missed the slight bulge of the ring on his finger visible beneath the glove.
"Who are you?" Another question deeper than the words would suggest, her curiosity only growing as she watches him, remembering to blink and breath, all those little touches that made her illusion of humanity complete.
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"I promised that I wouldn't share its location or what it guards with my tribe, so to keep my promise I ask you to do the same. It sounds like you've encountered it before - I think it was placed there by Fremen, so it's not a danger to us unless provoked. It was intelligent enough to understand my promise and accept the deal, it seemed." That was a relief to Paul, who prefers to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
He has killed people, and he killed someone to join his tribe, but Paul doesn't particularly enjoy killing. All the same, he's a dangerous enemy when he's actually in combat, as anyone faced with him has discovered. Paul's small stature and lean build are deceptive.
"Who am I?" Paul is formal, but polite. He's unsure of who he's talking to but if she's a guardian of this place she's owed his respect. For all he knows she might have the responsibility of caring for the creature and making sure it has the food and whatever water it needs. "Only a visitor. I'm assisting in Dr. Liet-Kynes' terraforming project, if that name means anything to you. I needed samples to bring to the surface. After that's done, I have no intent to bother this place again."
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The evasion of her questions has her raising a brow, although she doesn't outright comment on it. A man with secrets then, the mystery only deepens. Gemini can tell he knows how to handle himself, his lean frame and posture speaking of training, but his manner is not similar to the Fremen. A smuggler? Perhaps, certainly not an imperial bureaucrat, or maybe a renegade? Nothing about any of those labels seemed to fit.
"A worthy endeavour, with so much wealth leaving this place nobody has ever given much thought to the Fremen." Not 'my people', a subtle clue that she isn't one of the Fremen even though she appears to be, as she's not particularly interesting in lying outright, but fencing verbally? It's always diverting.
"Why don't you tell me why you're really here? Arrakis doesn't see many visitors Paul Muad'Dib, may I call you Paul?"
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"The Fremen take in outsiders sometimes, if they're lucky and the tribe decides to take the risk," Paul tells her, a small confession. "I'm one of them. Before I was Paul-Muad'Dib, I was someone else. That someone never went away, not completely - so I'm a fusion of both cultures. I came from Caladan, originally, and my family came here. We were adopted after my father's murder." Not giving specific details, but it's the truth, and Paul also likes talking in riddles.
"My family...we didn't agree with the treatment of the Fremen." Paul nods in agreement. "The Empire at large doesn't agree with us, so we had to go into hiding to escape. But we haven't abandoned our work - my mother and sister are aligned with my cause, and I intend to continue my father and Dr. Kynes' work."
He tilts his head. "Now...if you could tell me why you're here? I'm curious, and I'd be friends or allies if you like."
Squall Leonhart | Final Fantasy VIII | ota
ezra bridger | star wars | ota
o/
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With a series of beeps and truly terrible whirs, the engines hum to life, and the landscape begins to blur past them. It's a near-monotonous sea of white, broken up only by the occasional jagged gray rock, and the even rarer patch of something weird and purple that might be stone or ice.
Squall is just starting to wonder what he's looking at, and is about to call up a question to the droid pilot, when the engines cut out with a sharp whine followed by the shrieking of metal chewing on itself. The droid-pilot panics, but its panic doesn't last long -- the shuttle veers off whatever path it was travelling, and its seating area is crushed by the impact.
Which leaves Squall alone with a stranger in a landscape he doesn't know, with weather and hazard conditions he doesn't know, in a damaged shuttle. Well, kriff.]
Hey are you alright?
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And yet here he is on this transport shuttle, with a fake name on his ticket and trying to look somewhat inconspicuous. When Hera asks you to do something, though you do it.
Hera probably didn't intend for the shuttle to get thrown off its course, though... Probably. Ezra's faced far worse impacts at this point, so he's not shaken as he tries to gather himself and respond to the other's question.]
Okay here! You?
[He gets up to look over the damage to the droid and the shuttle's systems, but this is really a job for someone else. He knows enough to get by, but...]
You, uh, wouldn't happen to be a mechanic or anything, would you?
[This needs more than a mechanic.]
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[Squall moves to the front of the shuttle to join the stranger. He takes a look at the droid and the controls, then shakes his head.]
I can handle light repairs, but nothing like this. [He crouches, getting as close to the controls as he dares. There ought to be an emergency beacon.] Do you see the emergency beacon anywhere? They're usually red, right?
[It is at least marginally safer to set off the emergency beacon and stay in this shuttle than to try and trek toward the spaceport, or even the nearest settlement, on foot. There are too many unknowns, and that's how people get themselves killed.]
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[Ezra usually gets himself in more trouble instead of setting up an emergency beacon so he can only guess at its color.]
Stand back.
[he pulls out pieces of a lightsaber and then puts them together. Being inconspicuous hardly matters now, he figures, as he ignites the blade and begins cutting a hole in the wall of the shuttle.]
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And --
Just have an ultra-pragmatic mercenary who generally plays things safe staring at you, horrified. Not by the lightsaber, but by the damn hole in the damn shuttle!
Not, of course, that he's gonna show a stranger any of that. He just furrows his brow and frowns.]
There went my plan to set off an emergency beacon and wait for assistance in a safe location.
[Whatever, it looks like his preferred option isn't an option anymore, so he ducks out through the hole once Ezra is finished with it. The air outside stings his skin weirdly, but the planet's atmosphere is humanoid-breathable, at a minimum. Squall can't get a read on the temperature; it seems to fluctuate from noticeably warm to practically freezing, depending on how much sunlight he's standing in.
Weird, his mouth is dry.]
_____
[[i'm thinking that there is extremely little ambient moisture, possibly because the atmosphere is thin? idk go where you wanna go do what you wanna do]]
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I mean, you could still do that.
[He's not acknowledging that he made this a less safe location. In multiple ways. But seeing that Squall is not doing staying here anymore, he follows behind him, his movements clearly that of a Force-wielder now.
The environment doesn't seem to bug him, or at least he's not showing that it does.]
So... you wanna go backwards or forwards?
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[He notes that the stranger moves like a Force-user, but he's still not about to comment on it. Instead, he circles the shuttle, hoping to find an undamaged wing.
Ah, there. He quests his fingers along it, finally finding a latch, and pulls at it, revealing a compartment with a small bag of emergency supplies. Enough for three people, hopefully -- at least, that's the Imperial standard. Who knows if anyone follows that out here.]
Since we've decided that leaving the immediate area is a good idea, I'm going to say 'backward.' [He looks at the stranger, frowning.] Squall, by the way.
Althea Frija-Sinclair | OC | OTA
Telrim | Animorphs OC | ota
Mack Gerhardt | The Unit
Alien Planet - OH HAIIIII (dude, it took me a week to find my power cord)
Stomping through the grounds of an unknown place, at an unknown time (the sky was hazy, reddish in way the suggested dawn) full of unknown THINGS was not the brightest idea but goddamn it, she was pissed. She had no idea how she had gotten here, WHY she was here and if she stopped to ponder any second of her current existence the disorientation would have crippled her.
Best to focus on things she knew. She was alive, her clothing was still intact and praise be to the baby Jesus there was a rifle in her hands - all things she could work with.
Things were looking up until she tripped and found herself staring at the boots of someone? Something?
"Motherfucker. It's been a day and if we don't speak the same language yours is about to get a lot worse."
jacket | hotline miami
adriel | original
Re: adriel | original
gregor | limbus company | ota
Hornet | Hollow Knight
Inasa Yoarashi | My Hero Academia | OTA
Joan Watson | Elementary
The Prophet - D&D OC
siegfried, granblue fantasy.
daryl dixon | the walking dead
Hawke | Dragon Age 2
Kuina (AU) | OPLA
Voicetesting.]
The Butcher | Malevolent | OTA
cheng xiaoshi | link click
Eomer | The Lord of the Rings
Grand Admiral Thrawn | Star Wars | OTA
Felix | Red vs Blue | OTA