MISSION ONE: THE TIME MACHINE

[causalitys]

MISSION LOGS

MISSION ONE: THE TIME MACHINE

▐ OBJECTIVES ▐ The machine has malfunctioned, resulting in the random splintering of individuals across time and across the vast expanse of possible realities. Each person pulled has subsequently been recruited temporarily until a solution to return them home has been reached. The first mission is simple: return to the last splinter point the machine reached and retrace the steps of the team to locate any temporal anomalies and record them. Record anything strange or out of the ordinary for missions. The year is 1993, and you are going native. In the 'present', the team should begin a physical document mapping out where the new recruits come from and try to determine if splintering back is possible with their current technology. ▐ OUTCOMES ▐ Characters will have experience using the time machine and players will have chance to explore the past or explore the facility in the 'present'. A brief comprehensive idea of where everyone comes from should be starting to form, with Dr. Jones conducting individual interviews. You can be as vague about your characters personal circumstances as you like, as Dr. Jones will be more interested in the world itself, the year and will make quick character judgement's based on the conversation itself. At the end of the mission, characters should be starting to form connections, however small or significant.

SETTINGS

▐ 1993 ▐ Before you leave, you will be interviewed by Dr. Jones. This can be hand waved for inconvenience. She will ask you only the most pertinent questions: your name, your age, the year you are from. She will ask for as in depth description of your world that you can provide. If you want to elaborate on your personal circumstances, you can. If not, that's fine too. Before you leave, normal protocol takes place. The machine will be explained to you, as will the injections required before hand. The machine itself is dangerous, but the danger of being catapulted across reality again is 0.000001%. Reassuring in every way, of course. You will travel to 1993, Seattle. The only relevant information about this previous mission is the places the team were and anything odd they can recall. You will, however, be free to explore the State and note anything odd. There will be vague temporal anomalies, but nothing big enough to cross the multiverse. ▐ PROJECT SPLINTER INTEL GATHERING ▐ Interviews conducted by Dr. Jones are mandatory. Until you complete it, you will be held in the brigg quarters which, compared to the rest of the facility, is hugely uncomfortable. It is the same process as above. In turn, Dr. Jones will brief you on the current state of this world. She will only share relevant and confirmed information. After you're done, you are free to also share these experiences with the new 'volunteers. ' ▐ EXPLORING YOUR SURROUNDINGS ▐ The obligatory wild card. Explore the facility. The rooms, the kitchens, the shower rooms. Head up to the roof and look upon the vast wasteland that has become of the world. Do whatever you want!

table code by optimisty

Comments

[disgorge]

[ Out of the latest onslaught of words directed at him, there's only really a few that resonate the wrong way. ]

-- this isn't home.

[ Which isn't to say he means it aggressively. It's a correction, an important one at that, because Merlin has never had a home and he doesn't intend to make one out of this place. ]

Don't you think it's a little soon for you to call it your own?

[scientest]

It is while we're stuck here.

[Home, that it is. Jay considers himself relatively sentimental. Like, the feeling of home -- of comfort and safety -- is his parents house. It's the smell of dinner, or the sound of his sisters three year old asking for sweets.

But home is also a temporary thing. It's this, here, until it isn't. ]

[disgorge]

I disagree.

[ And this is okay. Except, no it isn't, because it sucks. In the meanwhile, Merlin has never known a home, he has never really had a family. The best he got was being taken out of the orphanage by a family he couldn't adapt to. That's why he ran off when he was still a teenager, and his troublemaking ways were eventually no longer worth being put up with. ]

How is that apple?

[scientest]

Bitter.

[A change of subject it is then. Jay glances at his apple -- almost to the core now -- and shrugs, like: hey, what can you do? Take what you can get, is how he sees it. A bitter apple is better than none at all.]

Not bad. Just, not sweet. Probably not enough sunlight here.

[disgorge]

That's funny.

[ Even though there wasn't even a joke to it, as far as Merlin can tell. Not enough sunlight - that never stopped his trees from bursting out of him disproportionately, like hundreds of years of life had been concentrated inside him, no matter how much or how little sunlight he'd been getting. He doesn't grow them, they simply - grow out of him. ]

How do they get their food here?

[scientest]

No idea.

[He thinks he saw the beginnings of a greenhouse, maybe, from the roof. Hard to say whether it belonged to the people here or not. It's not hard to piece together a picture though, of what humanity might be like while on it's last legs. ]

Can't imagine they have many options other than scavenging.

[disgorge]

No... I guess not. [ Why can't there be convenience stores in the post-apocalyptic future? It would make things so much easier for Merlin's awful diet. ] Are you any good with... [ Pause. ] That?

[scientest]

Scavenging? Nah.

[Damn, maybe he should have shaved earlier. ] I'm more of a starbucks and go kinda guy.

[disgorge]

Ah. That's. Yeah, I think that's me, too.

[ It's weird how it's two situations would have happened: that Merlin would have mentioned Starbucks and be met with confusion, having forgotten that it couldn't possibly be a universal this-is-not-real-coffee franchise, or that he would forget that other travelers would have similarities in such detail. Either way he'd be taking something for granted. That's a general sentiment around this place. ]

Maybe if we do go in that machine, we'll survive.

[ Ha... ha... ]

[scientest]

Do you think they'd let us do morning trips just for Starbucks? Is that taking advantage of the system, slightly?

[A wry sort of grin. The kind that says he's joking but also not really.]

[disgorge]

I think we've earned that much.

[ His humor is dry, but sort of - not. It's easy to maintain that tone when he's been doing it all his life, to a point where it's become ingrained in his personality. Freak of nature aside, Merlin does manage to qualify as a human. At least he'd like to think that he's meant to be human. If not, let him be something near-identical. ]

[scientest]

You're right. I'll start a petition in the morning.

[A cursory glance around to the others filling the room prompts a lop-sided smile on his face. ] I think everyone here could do with a coffee run, actually.

[disgorge]

[ Now leaving him with the sad task of deciding which would be the nicer irony: why wait, or we've got all the time in the world.

He goes with neither one. ]

... I think they've had enough of not sleeping.

[scientest]

Deep.

[A hand on chest worthy comment. He's still kidding around, trying to take all of this as not seriously as he can. It's better for his overall well being if he's calm. He works better when not on the verge of a panic attack. ]

[disgorge]

[ What are you...

Oh well. Time to change the subject again. ]

Do you have someone back home? [ His real home. ] Someone you'd like to go back to.

[scientest]

Mmm. [A conundrum, of whether to break the habit of a lifetime. ] Just my mum and dad. My sisters do their own thing.

[Vague and informative all at once. He has a family. They have lives. Jay offers a quiet, 'what can ya do smile' and shrugs. ] You?

[disgorge]

Not. Really.

[ He was hoping Jay would fill in his side with more details, build a little narrative for them so Merlin wouldn't have to. ]

That sounds dramatic.

[scientest]

Not really.

[Very modern. He knows lots of people without much of anything beyond work, or school or -- whatever. It's fine. It's not especially weird, to Jay. ] Maybe lonely.

[disgorge]

That just sounds sad.

[ Trying to make light of a situation in order to make light of their overall situation, is what Merlin is doing. Probably failing, by the way his expression is betraying him. ]

Do I sound sad?

[scientest]

Nah. I think you sound normal.

[In so far as he's experienced 'normal'. Jay himself lives alone, and has done for almost four years now. Normal is mostly lonely, isn't it?]

[disgorge]

[ Well, Jay, one of the things that people never really get to learn about Merlin is that telling him he sounds normal is like delivering him the news that he doesn't have a terminal illness after all. Though, in the matter of how he sees himself and his condition, it should be closer to telling Merlin he isn't the terminal illness himself.

Hardly any of it comes through, save, perhaps, for the quick side-glance the doctor gets. The next step is attributing Jay the authority on what normal is. ]

Thanks. [ Ironic-but-not. ]

... I keep wondering how we get picked. If there's some sort of - algorithm? Is that the right word?

[ Picking tech-terms off the internet, y'all. ]

[scientest]

The doctors saying it was random. But yeah, I've been wondering. I'm not sure anything is really 'random', especially with something like this.

[He's going to find out. Or try to. Eventually. ] I figure the machine keeps trying to go back to it's last mission, but it's cross over somehow. Working theory. I'm more of a blood and tissue doctor. Obviously.

[disgorge]

Obviously.

[ It's in a flat tone, no real thought put into it, agreeing because it's logical. ]

But you're processing this better than I am. The theory. I think I'm just grasping at straws, here.

[ It's not fun. ]

[scientest]

Professional detachment, I think.

[It's maybe not a good thing, really, especially when trying to figure things out. ] I slip into it sometimes, otherwise I just -- freak out.

[disgorge]

[ Ah. Right. ]

Is it bad that I'm a little relieved to hear that other people are freaking out. Or trying not to.

[ As is his case, really. ]