( CLOSED ) a glorious planet tucked in the far reaches of a mostly unknown system

[avicula]

WHO: Emil (unluckynumberseven), Maes Hughes (dadandgone), Thor (worldsaway) and Dutch (avicula)
WHERE: Bajikan and the moon Caritas
WHEN: March 8 to March 16, most likely
WHAT: The volunteer team heads down to the planet and tries to get the materials needed to get the fleet running again. In the process, secrets and desires are revealed, magic happens, they fly to the moon and back, and tempers may flare.
WARNINGS: Sad backstories, secrets that probably involve violence, possibly sex and actual violence.

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DAY ONE

[avicula]

[ in which the team arrives on the planet and asks after terfezia. when first attempts at learning his whereabouts prove fruitless, our heroes split up to cover more ground. thor and dutch head into the seedier parts of luxuria, while maes and emil discover superbia. everyone gets a little distracted. ]

feel free to switch to prose if you prefer! I'm easy :V

[unluckynumberseven]

[Splitting up to cover more ground had sounded like the best idea, and Emil is still brimming with enthusiasm as he and Hughes arrive in Superbia. They gave him an important job to do, and he intends to take this very seriously.

The air here smells good, bright with possibilities, and just being here makes him feel even better about their chances.]

Wow, they really spared no expense here, did they? Come on, I bet we can find our guy before Thor and Dutch find theirs!

[dadandgone]

[Maes was taking things in stride. Was he freaked out that he was on an alien planet? A little. But he wasn't going to show it -- if it was one thing Maes was good at it was hiding how he felt, at least most of the time. Besides, at least this was solid ground. Sure, it might be solid ground surrounded by aliens, but hey, it was certainly better than being stuck on the ship.

Besides, they had a mission, so if nothing else he could focus on that. He's already taking in as much of his surroundings as possible, looking for places to start and where to go next.]

It does look pretty extravagant and a lot of places to check in to.

[He grins.]

I think so too. Let's get our barrings first and see if we overhear anything interesting.

DAY TWO

[avicula]

[ in which the team meets up again once they've acquired the information about terfezia. our heroes set up a rendezvous with the alien. in exchange for the resources needed, terfezia tasks the team with gathering some objects of interest from his rivals. ]

DAY THREE

[avicula]

[ in which terfezia's rivals are unsurprisingly reluctant to meet the team, and our heroes have to wait. ]

DAY FOUR

[avicula]

[ in which the team meets with calvatica in the district of acedia, who will part with the crystal of far-seeing only if our heroes perform four feats of wondrous magic. fortunately, thor and emil happen to be talented gents. ]

[unluckynumberseven]

[This challenge was laughably easy for Emil. A chance to use his magic to save instead is destroy was always welcome, and he was secretly proud of his creativity. Bajikan was even more breathtaking from a bird's eye view in a transparent bubble, and while he was a bit nervous about turning his dangerous attacks into a light show that crashed together in the sky, it turned out okay. He kept careful control of himself this time. Going nuclear here was definitely not an option.]

Okay, that's it from me! I hope you liked it, and I hope you're ready for more, 'cause we're not done yet.

[He glances over at the team and gestures to Thor. You ready to wrap this up?]

[worldsaway]

[Similarly, this is a fairly easy challenge for Thor. Of course, he's glad that there's someone else in the crew capable of magic, given that he's very limited in his tricks. Maes is a capable but fairly normal human and Dutch is capable of wondrous things that aren't entirely appropriate for a magic show.

Thor smiles at Emil when he wraps up his portion, nodding silently as he steps forward. Saying nothing, he raises his hammer upward toward the roof. The boom of thunder is immediately heard from the outside, followed by the sound of a torrential rain fall. When he lowers his hammer, the sounds stop instantly, as if he flicked a switch.]

For my next trick, I shall need to borrow a guard. [They seem hesitant, but he gestures all the same.] Come now, all in the spirit of magic.

[Calvatica gives the go ahead and at Thor's prompting, the guard lies flat on the ground. Thor promptly places his hammer atop the guard and suggests that he attempt to remove it himself. The guard is firmly pinned and not a single person can manage to remove the hammer, much to Calvatica's intrigue. Finally, Thor reaches down and plucks the hammer up, flicking it around in his hand before he steps back.]

Do they look satisfied to you, Emil?

DAY FIVE

[avicula]

[ in which the team is made to wait some more, but eventually meets with lepiota in invidia, who will part with the crystal of secrets for the price of 4 deep, shameful secrets that have never been told. our heroes are none too pleased. ]

[avicula]

[ when lepiota finally agrees to meet them, dutch is ready for some circus tricks. she can perform a few acrobatic stunts, do a dance, whatever lepiota asks so that they can get out of here and be on their way. she wants to get moving, wants to keep moving—the days in a drifting ship are still itching under dutch's skin, the loss of control of it driving her forward now.

and then lepiota asks for secrets and dutch almost laughs. only almost, because she's too good a killjoy and too well-trained in the art of statecraft and assassination alike to show her hand like that, and so the bitter sound gets lodged in her throat. deep, shameful secrets, those were lepiota's exact words.

dutch would rather kill than tell a secret. ] What if I whisper it in your ear? [ she asks after a moment, forcing a smile that's cloyingly sweet. lepiota is having none of it, though, and there's something in the steel of the alien's gaze that makes dutch decide not to lie. ]

Fine, [ she spits out after a moment, jaw clenching now even if it gives away too much. don't ever let them see you weak, yala khlyen's voice whispers in the back of her head, but khlyen is dead and will never tell her anything ever again, no matter how messed up. dutch still doesn't know how to deal with that, and with johnny gone—

right. she's not thinking about any of that, she's just going to get this out of the way. so she straightens her spine and holds her head up high and says, very crisply: ] The second time I killed a man, I was proud.

[ she'd been eight and she'd done what khlyen had asked of her. she'd thought she could make him proud by doing what he said. she'd thought maybe if she proved that she'll obey him, he would stop. she'd thought if she did well and didn't cry or yell about how she didn't want to kill anyone, he'd smile at her and tell her she'd done good. ]

[unluckynumberseven]

The second time?

[He says it without thinking and quickly covers his mouth. It isn't out of shock or disgust, really, he just feels bad for her. And he can't help wondering just what happened.]

[dadandgone]

[Maes knows they are trying to get through this at a decent pace -- waiting for everyone to meet them has taken enough time. He thought after the first one that this wouldn't be so bad, that the trials would actually be manageable and he could contribute when magic wasn't on the table.

But, no, it had to be something like this. Maes was going to have to actually think on this one. He was an honest guy back home, for the most part, and his friend Roy had been there for most of his worst moments: The Ishvalan War.

But he didn't think that was going to cut it -- it was shameful, but it wasn't a secret what he had done there. He had to go back further...before Roy was in his life, because here were some events from back then that he hadn't shared.]

I abandoned my father when I joined the military. I left him when he was sick and never looked back, because I wanted to be a better man than he was...a better father.

[In leaving his father, he'd essentially sentenced him to death. And while his father had no been the best, Maes realized later that he hadn't necessarily deserved that fate. But how could he tell others that? How could he explain that the man who every saw as THE family man, had been a terrible son.]

[unluckynumberseven]

[Emil has never been a large individual, but he can't help feeling extra small hovering in front of Lepiota with his teammates behind him and all eyes on him, silent and waiting for him to share something terrible from his past. Something no one else knew.

Not even his friends from back home.

This was going to be difficult -- he tried to be an honest person, so he'd answered people's questions here to the best of his ability. And part of the reason his friends were his friends was because of the terrible things they'd all seen and done. Trauma was a hell of a bonding agent.

Feeling extra self-conscious, he sinks down to the floor and stares at the floor, hands gripping tight to his staff.]

I think... I really forgot... what my parents were like. When I try to think about my old life, all I can remember now is Sensei. And the labs.

[worldsaway]

[Thor doesn't try to hide the expression of disgust when Lepiota makes his request. The last audience had been almost enjoyable, far too easy, he should have expected the pin to drop eventually. He wishes he could tell four secrets of his own and spare the rest, but he struggles to think of one.

He's had his share of them, to be sure, but they vary from ones that make little sense out of context and innocent lies. He had the last muffin from the gift basket the Avengers received, and he doesn't regret it.

Other team mates can expect a nod of solidarity or a shoulder squeeze when they struggle with their own honesty. He can't remember the last time he felt so raw and humiliated, and it all comes to a head when he needs to speak. Once the dust settles, he knows what has been eating at him since he left Earth, he just struggles to say it.]

I knew that my love for Jane was born to fail- and I pursued it. I put her at risk, I put my family at risk, and I understood completely that it would bring us no happiness- no satisfaction. [He tightens his lips and hardens his expression when he speaks.] I nearly destroyed us both for a whim.

DAY SIX

[avicula]

[ in which the team has to find a way to fly to the moon, steathily steal a shuttle and manage to get to the moon without incident. ]

i'll match style

[dadandgone]

There had been some debate as to the best way to get to the moon, but in the end they decided getting a shuttle was the only way to do. More so, it was getting a shuttle through means that weren't strictly legal. At least, Maes could assume that commandeering a shuttle wasn't going to be looked at fondly, even in a place like this.

He's still trying not to dwell too much on the events of the day before. They only have one more piece of the puzzle to obtain and then they can all go back to the ship and get out of here. Maes just hopes the worst is behind them, because these trades are starting to get ridiculous.

But, that's in the past and for the moment Maes is keeping his eye on a few promising shuttles. He doesn't know how to fly or operate any of this insane future tech -- but he knows how to play lookout and he is fairly confident that if they get their timing right they can snag a ship without having to actually fight anyone.

Maes adjusts his glasses and leans back, addressing his teammate, "All right. It looks like the crew is getting out. A few more minutes and then we'll need to move quick."

[avicula]

[ dutch isn't happy. she isn't happy at all, but in some situations, the only way out is through. they've come this far, and she refuses to be stuck on a dead ship or on this planet. she refuses to be stuck, period. at least stealing a shuttle gives her something to do, something to occupy her mind with so that it isn't on the secret she told, on what they each shared.

she glances at maes, giving him a brief nod. ] Ready when you are.

DAYS SEVEN & EIGHT

[avicula]

[ in which the team is left to stew in their juices after divulging their shameful and dark secrets, while russula, the last of terfezia's rivals, keeps them waiting. ]

[avicula]

[ stealing a shuttle and flying it to the moon had been a distraction, but now that's done and they're here, left waiting because russula "isn't available right now" to meet with them. dutch has half a mind to just break into whatever stronghold russula has here and demand an audience. the problem with that plan, of course, is that she doesn't know where russula is at all.

so she's left pacing in front of the shuttle. back and forth and back and forth, mind replaying her confession. she had been proud, and khlyen had smiled at her. it had meant the world at the time, and she hates herself for how easily he had manipulated her almost as much as she used to hate khlyen for doing it to her—and now that she knows why, she can't even hate him anymore.

she's lost without that hatred, without johnny to help her make sense of it all. ]

[unluckynumberseven]

[There isn't anything they can do until this particular alien agrees to see them, and they can't exactly fly back down to the planet and hope to re-steal a shuttle, so the group is really stuck here until their next meeting.

Emil had seemed pretty crushed when he first gave his confession, but you'd never know it to look at him now. He lies on top of the shuttle with his head hanging down, kicking his feet in the air and humming tunelessly to himself. Like so many times before, he's pushed past feeling sorry for himself amd swallowed sadness. Now he's just a bored kid on the moon waiting for something to happen.]

DAY NINE

[avicula]

[ in which our team meets russula, who will part with the crystal of fulfilled longing for the price of 4 deepest longings of the heart. it's not worse than shameful secrets, is it? our heroes get the goods, return to bajikan and present all three crystals to terfezia.

it's a job well done, but don't expect them to be too joyful. ]

[unluckynumberseven]

What do I want? More than anything else?

[The deepest longing of his heart? That stumps him in a different way, mainly because he can think of so many things he wished for. He wished Yonah could be healthy, so his dear friend wouldn't have to fight so hard every day. He wished his friends could be here with him, that his twin sister was still alive and well beside him, that the very world he came from wasn't so thin and wan with evidence of the inevitable end.

In the end, as much as he wants all of those things, his deepest longing isn't as noble as any of that. And after his experience with Lepiota, he feels less inclined than ever to lie.]

Um... I-I wish... that none of this had ever happened to me or Halua. I wish we -- no, okay, I wish I -- could just go back to being a normal human kid again.

[dadandgone]

[For Maes, this one was much easier than any of the others surprisingly. Before he'd come to this place, it might have been a challenge. He had a wife, a daughter, a true friend, and he considered himself to be pretty satisfied with his lot in the world. But now...well now that was all taken from him. His friends and family were gone and he had no idea if he would ever get to see them again.

He took a breath, stepping forward.]

The only desire I have is to be with my family again.

[worldsaway]

[Irritated as he is, Thor can't deny that this audience is a relief from the last one. It is humiliating in its own right, but far less than the previous confessions. He still resents that he's paying for this ship with parts of his soul, but he's willing to do what needs to be done.]

I desire to see my brother again, more than anything. Alive and well, of course. [But he knows that isn't the half of it, and he won't compromise the mission by not admitting what he wants fully.] I want him to see me as a brother again- as a friend. I would give anything to see his face with any other expression than disdain for me.

[avicula]

I want Johnny back.

[ dutch says the first thing that comes to her mind when asked to share her deepest longing. unlike the secret, this isn't something she minds sharing as much, and so her posture is easier this time. she doesn't mind sharing it, but the truth underneath it is that she misses johnny: he was here and now he isn't anymore and what with people who've disappeared turning up dead, she's worried, but no search has brought her best friend back, contacting him has been useless and the captain won't give her the time of day. even back home, johnny is gone and she gets that he needs space after what happened with pawter, but—she's lost without him. for five years now, johnny jaqobis has been her gravity and without him, she's afloat with nothing to hold on to.

she misses her best friend. ]