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

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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 :) )

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Preparing
This is by no means his first rodeo, so he'll try to do his part by walking around to check on the preparations of others. Rations, water, weapons? He's making sure you've got that at the very least. He picked up some first aid items from the infirmary too, just in case they have a nasty run-in with the Bahanimal.

Now, the last thing to do is to take his gun from his thigh holster and check the cartridge. Which he does by removing the clip and sticking his tongue into the oil. Yeah, don't mind him just licking his clip to see how many pulse shots he has left. Normal.

Exploring
Well. The view could be a little more scenic. He didn't know what he expected out of a clothing store, but here they are. Still, he will do his part to contribute, writing down measurements and observations on a stolen stationary pad and even trying to scribble out a few sketches of familiar displays. He was a scientist after all, so he actually does know how to notate data.

And when they start the sing-alongs, he's right there with them. He'll even try to contribute one of his own. "Oh! 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall!" He is not, for the record, a very skilled singer.

Relaxing
Some people might have cut and run, but he's sticking it out. It's kind of like camping, but with no fire and no marshmallows and no tent... but that's fine. They have good company, they have cards to play, and Crichton does at least have his roommate here with him on this adventure so they can share body heat when they do finally decide to bed-down for the night.

Just one slight concern, however. "Hey, do you think we should set up a watch? I don't want anything to surprise us while we sleep."

Emerging
"Oh, thank Christ," he exclaims exhaustedly as they finally spot the open door to the shop on the horizon. "This has been fun and all, but I am really looking forward to a shower and a hot meal." And a nap that isn't on a cold hard floor. "Almost there, just a little longer."

He's so ready to get out of here that he's dropped his guard significantly. It sure would be a shame if something decided to attack now while he's so tired and relatively distracted.

Dedue hasn't ever talked to Ari before, but he recognizes expedition prep when he sees it. He too has been curious about charting the Tommy Bahama, so he wheels over to where Ari is working.
"You are preparing for a longer trip into the Infinite Tommy Bahama?" he asks.

Prepping:

Nobunaga could not be more excited at his best friend joining in. THIS IS SURE TO SUCCEED NOW! Or at least be fun and interesting! And the more people that join in, the happier Nobunaga instantly gets, because then it's more of what he's used to: a literal fucking army (however small) and safer. No way will he die again!

He's back to traveling lightly like Halloween. Gauntlets (kote) this time, and mostly cleaned up haidate greaves but conspicuously absent is the cuirass clamshell do. Endurance is the trick, and an extra 20 pounds is not worth it. Especially without pageboys or attendants specifically in charge of the armor. It'll be fine. The monsters don't go for his chest anyway.

Exploring:
Every 2000 paces, Nobunaga is making paint marks on the floor at different racks each time. It resets. They are either lost at best, or in an infinite loop that just resets endlessly. Still--

"98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer--" Nobunaga is a great singer. The monks literally cannot discourage music in his time, so it's one of the things monks themselves are trained in. Go figure. "Is it traditional to have a hundred bottles of beer on the wall in Europe? Why that number? Someone please explain."

Relaxing:

"Yes. I have a watch." A souvenir gift shop watch, which he points to, sliding the left hand kote down enough so the watch is visible ridiculously high up near the elbow though it is. And despite the Dad-joke pun: "Three hundred hours. Would you like to take first shift, and wake me up then? Or should we find others? The bahamanal has produced babies recently and they will no doubt be drawn by the scent of us all together." He's 99% sure that's his own damn fault too. He was kind of feeding them in his efforts to entertain Siffleur and well... Shit got wild.

Nobunaga perks up instantly at the sight of Dedue! "Lieutenant! This is Dedue. He's an herbalist hobbyist." Giant beam. "Yeah, I've been dying to map this place," um. Literally. "Leaving bottles and food in the store itself is fruitless, as much as organizing it, but Teyrey has knowledge of L-Space and believes she can coordinate the exact dimensions of the loop, possibly. We're going to conquer infinity!" he punches the air. He's not wearing the metal cuirass for once, just his gauntlets and greaves, and Tommy Bahama general ridiculously bright Hawaiian shirt, with florescence and GUNS - though he's still in traditional black samurai hakama pants, because the baby bahamanals don't use eyes to hunt, and might as well half blend in, but still make sure the pants offer as much protection as possible by making it nearly impossible to get directly to the legs.

"Dedue, this is Lieutenant Teyrey of the Tradelines, and my official astrogator! She maps stars. And is a prodigy on the level with Ieyasu and a true genius!"

Yes, that's very sensible.

[And far better that the suggestion comes from one of the others than her. Ari's been telling people what to do a lot today, she doesn't want to push anyone too far. Crichton has impressed her from the beginning, when he'd helped to check that everyone had packed properly. He was competent, reliable, and that song about the bottles of beer had made her laugh far too much.

She'd joined in until the very end.]

I'll take a middle watch. [They were the worst; nobody liked broken sleep, but Ari held herself responsible for this expedition, so of course she had to volunteer.]

Prepping:

Nobunaga's got bags of food to feed a small army or last a week for himself and a few others of snacks, snacks, all the candy he could gather since it came back, and insane quantities of green tea, bottled coffee, and portable drinks.

"Usually it's vice versa," he laughs, going over their supplies. "You can scavenge and forage food and drinks, you have to, that's in the Art of War too, but not clothes, bedding, shelter. I love it. It's so opposite world!"

Speaking of which...

He's not wearing his usual jet black full plate mail again. Not as bare as teaching sumo throws, as he still has his gauntlets (kote) and greaves (haidate), but the heavy as hell cuirass clamshell do is conspicuously missing, and replaced with what has to be the brightest shirt he could find, or maybe he got it for the guns and skulls. Who knows, truly. The sleeves are also rolled up enough to reveal a fresh tattoo of a plain purple 4.

Anyone who does opt in to join will get warned:

"Remember everyone, this is a long road march. Do not break a sweat at any point, that means you're pushing too hard, and will consume more liquid necessary to compensate. Endurance is king here. We're trying to map the pattern, if one even exists. And don't die to the clothing monsters. They've been breeding." So much for organizing lessening the chaos, oops. Though he suspects his attempts to store supplies inside the store (and Siffleur treat boxes!) are more what fed the babies, oops.

"Let's conquer infinity!" A fist punch to the air. He's ecstatic.

Exploring:

Nobunaga is quick to learn any songs shared with him, and will even dance a little as they march. In addition to the two katana, and the long gun, Nobunaga is carrying his whip on the left, and a long spear or walking stick cannibalized out of a shuffleboard cue and a stolen knife. How many weapons does one man need? All of them. All the weapons.

Every 2000 paces (he's counting, and no matter what is sung, he doesn't lose track, though occasionally he does accidentally slip the count into the song instead of the right lyrics) he makes a small paint marker, always at different racks. He KNOWS it doesn't work, will reset the second they're out of sight, probably, but it has to be done!

There's a small laugh one of the times, "It's been years since I wasn't doing this on horse, actually. You always have to scout how long it takes you by foot for infantry and gunners, but I did it so much in my youth, I haven't needed to since before the Mt. Hiei siege." But he's clearly enjoying himself!

On the rare off chance he gets bored, or (far more likely:) fidgety, Nobunaga is whistling 90s pop (blame Klaus) and spinning the makeshift naginta (spear) and maybe testing it's telescoping sliding capacity in a fight.

Relaxing:

Nobunaga will definitely join in card games, and even though he's staying on target despite Klaus' presence generally having one hell of an effect on his concentration 90% of the time, this the 10% where he stops caring as much, even though they're in more danger sitting still. "We'll need watch guards," for sure. Getting eaten by clothing monsters is definitely more embarrassing than other ways to die. "Two truths and a lie?"

But Nobunaga's eyes light up as he spots a certain display and pops open the football "Let's play!" He is going to tackle the hell out of everyone. YAY!

There is also a foraged bean bag toss set that Nobunaga ignores the rules on. "Whoever can throw it the furthest WINS. If you get it to go so far it's missing, that's an automatic win, and if multiple people do it, you all tie." Now if only he had a cannon launcher!

He also has a Lovecraft book: At the Mountains of Madness because that's what you want when you are an expedition to conquer infinity and fighting possible monsters made of clothes. A book about being driven insane on the exploration of the extreme conditions. Obviously.

Dedue gives a small bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant. Is there any way I can offer assistance? If I were healed, I could provide defense. But I will help in any way I can. Finding out as much as we can about this place is important.”

[Ari's not terribly happy, because Nobunaga didn't exactly introduce Dedue properly, and he's probably going to roll his eyes if she calls the man citizen. Calling her a prodigy and a genius does make up for it, though, so he gets a pass this time. She smiles at the newcomer, and returns his bow with a little one of her own.]

Peace and prosperity to you! It's very kind of you to offer to help us. [There's a rather skeptical look in her eye as she's appraising him, though.]

It's going to be long hours of travel, covering a great distance over several days. [Possibly not the easiest thing for a man in his condition. Ari isn't about to refuse him outright, though. She'll give anyone a chance - and she'll send anyone back if they can't keep up with the group.]

[Ari approves of the paint markers, both for loop testing and so they'll have some idea of just how far they've travelled. She isn't pressing the pace quite as much as she would do on a planetary expedition; they aren't under the same time constraints, and Nobunaga had made a good point earlier about too much exertion being inefficient. Still, all seems to be going well so far. She's in a good mood - people actually agreed to this! And they might discover useful things! Having a sense of purpose does wonders for her, even if they're just passing the same displays over and over.]

It'd be much quicker on horses. [She chuckles.] We did planetary expeditions on foot, but we'd usually have an antigrav sled to pile all the heavy gear on. Not that we're carrying big weapons or machinery today.

[She has her gun, like always, and her multitool which has a little blade attached, even though it's unlikely they're going to have to hack through jungles of Tommy Bahamas clothing.

Her gaze is drawn towards his arm, not for the first time today. That purple marking.]

Is that paint, or ink?

[Having set up a Tommy Bahama table and chairs for card-playing, Ari's all too quick to get some games going. After a little currency discussion, it's agreed that they'll play for dares or forfeits. Much more fun than using tokens that don't have any real value.

Or so Ari Tayrey thinks, until probability turns its face away from her and she loses. Horribly.

She's a good sport, and cheerful about it, even as she's shaking her head.]

Well, that couldn't have gone worse. Alright. What's my dare?

“Yes. That is what I assumed,” he says. “I was thinking I could help prepare packages of food at least. Or items for sleeping.”

Back on the Garreg Mach expositions, they’d have carriages and tents, but tents would make no sense in an indoor location, and there are no animals to pull a carriage.

Anti-grav sling. [Red eyes light up like whenever he's talking about new technology and vocabulary!]

The Portuguese would have loved that. Although, only Luiz Frois really had the kind of balls to try going inland. The missionaries are zealots, so it gives them great determination. [The sense of purpose, much like him and Teyrey, and this expedition.]

This is ink. It's a tattoo. In Japan we mark criminals with this. A permanent brand to make them visibly inescapably untouchable. It's reserved for the worst of the worst. The religions are very strictly against it. Doing anything to mark your body permanently. Klaus had several before his father's machine reset their universe. Hello and Goodbye on his hands -- not for the Beatles song, I asked. "It is an ouija board thing," he says. This toy the future uses to talk to ghosts. And a flying tiger tattoo on his back for his division in the army. Oh, and umbrella from his father when he was a teen.

I once told Blackbeard it would be like an exorcism in Hell. It is. Demon Kings are supposed to hide their demonic nature, pretend to be human, no horns, blend in. Getting tattooed would be -- it is very extreme. I could no longer be in the Imperial Court. It might dissolve my political status, entirely. It would make me the most untouchable man in the world. [Eyegleam! Bring it on!!!]

Hideyoshi would try to spin it. He knows I have my vision, and trusts me too much, as I've said before. Mitsuhide would be furious, might threaten to cut it off. [Laughs! Giddy with the very idea of it!]

Ah, the 4 is extra especially the case! 4 means death. Same word. People hate it so much, they changed the way to write it. So not only have I cast myself as a criminal, but I took the most untouchable superstition they all fear and chose to put that on!

This is my gamble. That this is the me who will be free of all of it. Travel beyond the stars, conquer infinity. An exorcism of my Hellish past, so it only affects me as much as I allow, no more.

"Fortunately we can scavenge sleeping materials! It's the opposite, usually you must forage food, and bring clothes. How ridiculous - I love it!"

Nobunaga acts as oblivious to Dedue's condition as he is to Arthur (and Erin and Helena!) being blind. So he just cheerfully piles bags of water bottles on Dedue's lap, liberally taking advantage of the offer in a way only a man completely devoid of manners ever could. "We need to consolidate as much as possible, but if there are more than us, we might also split up the load depending on everyone's size and what else they bring."

He's in a good mood. Okay, well he always is on the ship, but extra good!

"Dedue is also ex-army like Klaus. Oh! And made those maps of his world I gave you in your contract!" A giant beam, and back to Dedue, "It worked. Teyrey loves maps. That's part of the ambition with this. To map the loop point where it repeats or at least discover the pattern, if there is one."

A happy hum and he tilts his head. If it was Mitsuhide, the left hand would just read his mind. "The terrain should be flat like this the whole time -- oh but there is the Bahamanal... and its offspring." Someone might have been feeding it. He's not sorry, but he probably should be, because that someone is him and his sushi boxes for Siffleur probably. "Can you shoot?"

There's the way out if Dedue wants, or way in, same for Teyrey to tell him not to just abscond with people pressing them into the Oda motto: join or die. (Which she now knew didn't mean Nobunaga would personally kill them, but rather wouldn't be able to save them while trying to prioritize his army instead, but still!!)

Do a handstand!

Anti-grav sled. [It's a gentle correction, because she knows he's interested in these things.] It's like - imagine a little cart, but instead of having wheels, it hovers, the way Klaus can, so you can take it with you even over bumpy terrain. It doesn't take any effort to pull it along, either.

[She nods as he explains about the tattoo. They'd discussed it before, but in truth she hadn't believed he'd really do it, to the point where she'd have guessed the 4 was painted on.]

I'm all in favor of you travelling the stars, but in your position you can do whatever you want, really. If you unified your country, and then you wanted to go to court, you could declare that nobody without a tattoo was allowed to be there. Turn everything upside-down. [She laughs.] As you said. You're free.

[Then Ari starts unbuttoning her jacket, and she lifts up the shirt beneath, to show him her bare midriff. Above her navel, slightly to her left, there's an eight-pointed star in shades of blue, outlined in silver. It's sophisticated work, finely shaded, and seems to shimmer in the light as she walks.]

That's my astrogator's mark, that I told you about.

[She pulls the shirt down again, quickly, before anyone else can take notice.]

Neat. Anti-grav sled.

No, I couldn't back on Earth, in my time, or even afterwards. It isn't just that I'm responsible for everyone else's dreams and ambitions, not just my own, but in the end, if I didn't change people's hearts and minds, it wouldn't be enough. I might do such a radical thing, but I already pushed everyone to the absolute limits of what they would accept, I think. It's the hardest part of my fight. I can't just jump ahead, have things be the way I want, I have to incrementally get them there so that the backlash doesn't result in them doing the opposite of what I want. Ah, it is politics as much as you hate.

You should Klaus, he'll love it.

Another reason you should avoid Hell, Teyrey. If anyone ever saw that, they might kill you. Usually untouchables don't get killed, only because doing so isn't considered worth the bother. Like getting your hands dirty just by interacting with them at all.

[Ari walks on in silence. It's true, she hates politics, and she hates when she thinks she's understood something about him but it turns out that she really hasn't. It's inevitable, given the cultural divide, the massive gulf in time and space between them - but it's still difficult for her.

She'd shown him because she'd thought he'd like it, and because he disregarded the conventions of his homeworld himself, so she didn't think they'd matter to him. Part of her discomfort isn't to do with Nobunaga at all; it's the idea that people might treat her poorly, even kill her, over such an unimportant thing.

After a moment:]

If I were going there, I'd remove it first. I wouldn't be that careless! You're the only one here who has seen it, and only because I wanted to show you, and if I were going, I wouldn't even take that risk.

[He grabs her into a one-armed hug around the shoulders, an instant glomp of extreme affection, the kind even Crichton and Klaus do not get from him.]

Okay. I know you won't under contract with me anyway. [He doesn't kiss the top of her head, but he does lean his head down to hers briefly before finally letting go.]

It's gorgeous, I love it. When did you have it done?

[The hug takes Ari by surprise, but she leans in. It's comforting. It's enough to tell her that whatever she's misunderstood, it can't matter all that much. She smiles, softly.]

Of course I won't. [Said in a low voice, reassuring. She might have been trying to prove a point about her ability to survive in such places, but the truth of it is that Ari Tayrey would never break contract.]

It was two parts. The first four points were after my first L-space test. I think I was just as worried about how much the tattoo would hurt as I was about the test. [A little laughter. She'd been young then.] It was fine, I had my friends there. Lilah Montero told me all these silly stories to distract me. Second half was after I passed for lieutenant. Properly qualified astrogator. [She grins. Still very proud of that.]

2. Preparing

Welcome to learning that Erin owns a backpack, a tough travel pack made for long-range hiking. She shows up, a little surprised to have been invited but very ready to be here, with her first aid supplies and a great deal of pillaged food. Her saber and knives are very much in evidence, along with a great deal of...

...We're going to call it rope, made from braided laces and elastics stolen from this very store. There are people here she hasn't caught up with since The Price Is Right, but Erin's hoping either that they don't care about what they heard, or that Tayrey's invitation is enough to certify safe passage.

We're thinking positive today, damnit!

3. Exploring

As the group walks Erin leaves behind a trail of nickels, each one ringing against the floor as she makes a trail of breadcrumbs. There's also a test she wants to formally conduct, which she tells Tayrey about; will the ship's self-repair work on the clothing? In service to this Erin regularly steals yet more laces and elastics, makes careful cuts in the outfits with a knife, and otherwise disturbs the sameness of the store. Since repairs happen daily, they should get results on the way back.

She has an odd tendency to whip nickels in the direction of the baby Bahamanals when she spots them. They don't seem to like it.

5. Emerging

"The thing that gets me," Erin muses, "is trying to figure out if making it infinite was more effort...or less effort."

Ask her about it. She can make it make sense(1)

(1)No she can't.

Erin provides a nice whistle to go with Crichton's terrible singing, a thought coming to mind after about the 70th bottle of beer.

(Nerd check?)

Oh yeah, nerd check.

When his, for lack of a better word, song comes to a close, Erin waits a moment to be sure no one else is going to start up, and then she starts humming a classic bop.

((OOC: So, this is one of my favorite things to do to people on hikes and camp-outs. My personal record for telling this joke is a bit over two hours, but legends say it can go on for longer. Please, feel free to jump in, to do reaction shots, to do whatever; Erin's only going to stop when people are actually begging her to stop, as is the ancient law of This Joke. I'll update it every now and again to make it worse.))

4. Relaxing

At some point during the night, or even while walking, Erin commences telling what she says is a classic joke.

You will note the word 'commences' there instead of 'starts'. That's foreshadowing.

"A man is traveling a great distance when his wagon breaks an axle near a monastery. Humbly he goes there for help, and the monks receive him with great hospitality. They say they will repair his wagon and that he can stay there for the night, an offer he accepts with goodwill. Late at night, the man hears a strange sound, and in the morning he asks his hosts what it is. They apologize but tell him that they cannot explain, because he is not a monk, and they send him on his way."

She pauses, to see if anyone recognizes the trap that is being set.

Edited 2022-11-24 18:45 (UTC)

Nobunaga bursts out laughing oh so darkly, "YEAH THAT'S WHAT THEY GET!" Fuck them monks.

"Damn you're good at that," he laughs oh so cheerfully as she whips coins at them. He didn't even have to move for using his makeshift spear. He's oh so delighted.

He had originally been more worried that Teyrey hurt Erin and would hold a grudge, so far from minding her presence, he's thrilled that his high estimation of Ari's intelligence was for good enough reason.

Arthur does not know this trap. He does not recognise this trap. He walks into the trap with all the innocent interest of a duck approaching a decoy.

Anyway nobody's been murdered yet, so this is already better than Nobunaga's monk story.

(He doesn't interject, but he's clearly listening.)

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Page 1 of 36

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

OTA

Preparing (Open)

yeeeeesss /nod nod

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Relaxing

OTA

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Exploring

Relaxing - CARD GAMES (OTA, threadhopping encouraged)

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OTA but there's gonna be another one

Exploring

The Worst Fucking Joke - OTA

MAKING IT WORSE - OTA

3!

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