astrogator: (pic#15819322)
Lieutenant Ari Tayrey ([personal profile] astrogator) wrote in [community profile] come_sailaway2022-11-23 06:04 pm

To infinity...and beyond? (Semi-open)

Who: Ari Tayrey + willing CR + anyone else who wants in
What: Mini-plot: an expedition to determine what kind of infinite this store really is
When: 25-29??? November
Where: The Infinite Tommy Bahama
Warnings: None yet
Notes: First prompt is a text message sent to Ari's friendly-ish CR - replies are welcome even from people who don't want to take part! Other prompts are open but please note that participating characters will potentially be in the store for up to 4/5 days. Party post rules are fine, start your own toplevels and tag people other than Ari if you like. ((I checked with our lovely mod about what would happen if they tried this!))



1. Texting

I have a plan. I want to see just how infinite this Tommy Bahama is. Multi-day expedition for data collection? It could be informative. Maybe fun, too. Interested in coming along?

- Tayrey

2. Preparing

Even people who don't know Ari well may notice that something is up. It's not often that people walk into Tommy Bahama wearing backpacks full of supplies. There's some last-minute preparation going on here, as well as a last-minute opportunity to join the expedition. Expect Ari to want to check and make sure everyone has all the essentials with them. She's used to preparing for trips to uninhabited and potentially hostile planets, and it shows. Don't mind the fussing. She wouldn't do it if she didn't care.

3. Exploring

Despite all the promises, the expedition is - well, boring might be an accurate description, unless you're really invested in the outcome. There's a lot of walking past the same racks of clothes, over and over and over. Infinite length doesn't mean infinite variety.

Ari's fascinated, and she'll be chattering about loop programming to anyone who will listen, and attempting to measure the distance between one rack of garishly-patterned bikinis and the next iteration of that very same rack. She'll encourage tests, too - what happens if you completely destroy one of the displays? Is the destruction repeated? (Spoiler alert: no, it's not that kind of loop, but let's try it a few times anyway and make sure?)

Maybe you give up and head back after a few hours. Maybe you have a run-in with the Bahamanal. Maybe you join in with Ari's ridiculous spacer song singalong - she is in a good mood. It's Tommy Bahama, anything could happen.

4. Relaxing

Ari pushes the pace on the first day, because it comes naturally to do so, and possibly, subconsciously, to weed out anyone who isn't serious about this and is going to cause them problems once they're a long way in. Eventually, though, it's time to stop for the night. There's not a campfire, but it's a fine social occasion just the same. Ari's brought some Serena Eterna branded playing cards, and she's up for a little gambling. Maybe you have some other entertainment ideas. Don't stay up too long, though - see if you can't make a nice nest of clothes to bed down in. There's plenty of walking to do tomorrow.

5. Emerging

Plenty of data has been collected about the repeating displays, but there's no end in sight to this store. Is it really infinite? If there's a way to answer that question, this expedition won't do it. It's over two days in when the group realises that they're over halfway through the supplies they brought. Time to turn around, whether that leaves you disappointed or delighted.

Unfortunately, there are no tricks of perception or proportion here. It'll take just as long to walk out as it did to walk in. Look on the bright side, at least you're carrying less weight? Finally, on the fifth day, the intrepid explorers who stayed the distance catch sight of the store entrance up ahead. Who saw it first?

6. Wildcard

Anything else you want to do! (Just let me know if I need to add warnings to the header :) )
crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2022-11-26 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
Erin sucks a breath in between her teeth. "...Not that kind. We tend to say 'rehab' when we're talking about trying to handle certain...very specific...life problems. The people who gave me the chance to be better couldn't...god how to put this."

How does she put this? Erin walks a nickel over her knuckles for awhile.

"...The people who took me in knew every detail about what the Captain suggested, or at least enough to understand that I was their enemy for a very long time. That community had concerns, and the monarchs who sheltered me both could not and would not simply ignore those concerns. Among other things that meant formally, publicly, demanding that I get help in my recovery, that I have someone available to mind me, and restrictions on how and where I could travel. The idea was to give both me and everyone else time to get used to the idea that I wasn't going away any time soon, but, well. Now I'm here."
konpeito_aji: (mrrrr)

[personal profile] konpeito_aji 2022-11-26 10:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Monarchs? Literally, or are you using that term thinking I'll understand it better? Because I am familiar with America's President and Roman Senators and Caesars. My dream was to rejoin Japan to the rest of the world. Take it out of Hell. So I am a little more adept with global history and politics than the rest of Hell. And... since my ambition was to one day travel the rest of Earth... that punishment sounds torturous to me. But I assume a better alternative than prison."

Even more quietly, "Slavery is also not something I have a lot of knowledge about. Yasuke was my weapons bearer. Quite nearly a friend, were it not for my political status. I made him the first foreign samurai. He taught me much about Africa, and even before coming to my lands, he was a freed man. But the closest to slaves in Japan is the monks, or families selling their children to try to let them survive better or not be an untouchable. Yet, the captain made being a slaver sound like a --" Nobunaga's brow furrows, searching again for the right words. "Lifestyle choice? Like piracy. Likewise, Teyrey's reaction." Because Teyrey fears pirates.
crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2022-11-26 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Deep breath, but at least it sounds more like she's trying to think than trying to restrain herself. Easy explanation first.

"My people had to govern ourselves differently than our homelands. I'm actually from America myself, in the year two thousand and seventeen by the calendar of the time. But - she taps her pointed ear, "our hidden society hails a series of rotating monarchs. When I woke up here, Ramona Rabbit ruled in the Spring, then ceded her throne to Arthur in the Summer. Come Autumn, Zippo Morris reigns, and then in Winter, Misery Monroe bore the crown. Then it was Spring again, and so on. Living under siege in a small community made centralizing power like that attractive, for reasons I want far more alcohol to discuss."
konpeito_aji: (well rested)

[personal profile] konpeito_aji 2022-11-26 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay. Thank you. Sometime when this is over we can drink wherever you like and I'd greatly appreciate hearing about other realms' means of governance. What I said before still stands. If you ever need to tell me to back the fuck off, I will heed." A nod! "This is a great luxury I can afford here, and not at home. Since to not have my questions answered there would have set a precedent. I am trying my hand at manners, but I was awful at it even as a child." So bad. So very bad.
crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2022-11-26 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Erin considers the offer. She chews her lip for a moment, and then, with a heavy sigh. "...Yeah, I think I might tap out. Not meaning offense but answering the other question cuts close to home in more than one way. Another time."

With more alcohol.

"I think I might like to focus on the march. You keep well, Demon King."
konpeito_aji: (fan language)

[personal profile] konpeito_aji 2022-11-27 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
"None taken. Later Peters." A salute!