come_sailaway | Welcome To The Village

Who: Everyone who was signed-up for the excursion
What: The Village December Excursion
When: Dec 1st - Dec 23rd
Where: The Village
Warnings: Involuntary capture and confinement including immobilization and restraints, violence, injury, maiming, possibility of death, torture, coercion, gaslighting, mind control, drugging, scientific experiments, and extremely inaccurate depictions of mental health facilities/hospitals, among other potentially triggering themes. Please mark all threads appropriately.

"Good morning, good morning, good morning!" A voice that sounds very similar to Friday's chirps over a loudspeaker outside your character's home. Yes, their home.

Overnight, all the passengers who signed up for this excursion have been transported to their very own personal cottages. They will awake in a bed that is familiar to them. While this home of theirs does not necessarily have to resemble the place they were born or raised, it will be a perfect replica of a place they truly thought of as their home, down to the most minute details.

The cottages are self-contained, the size of a large studio apartment so, in some cases, they may only resemble the bedroom and living room of a person's home with a shrunken-down kitchenette and bathroom adjoined. But the heirlooms of their past are here. A favorite doll? A treasured family portrait? Trinkets you have long forgotten about? All of them will be here, somehow. (All except for weapons, that is.) They are indistinguishable from the real item, down to the molecule.

After that wake-up call, the voice continues on to express that the weather will be warm and sunny, with no rain forecasted. A brass band concert is announced, to start at noon on the lawn next to the living chess set. And once that bit of news is wrapped up, lively marching band music will begin to play. And it will continue to play. All day. From every speaker...including the ones hidden in their home.

Welcome to Your Village

It only gets stranger from here. Characters may be dismayed to find that they are without any of their original clothes or belongings. They awake in conservative button-up pajamas. The closet in their home is full of the latest Village Fashion to choose from. Everything is The Village label brand, including the tin cans of food that stock the kitchen and any of the groceries you could get at the General Store.

Your ship phone rings. When you answer it, you will be greeted, once again, by the voice of Friday. "Your number, please? Of course, you have a number. Look at your badge." If they look down at their chest, they will discover a small round number badge has been pinned to their pajamas. Was that there before? It bears the symbol of a Penny-farthing Bicycle, with a number in the spokes. This is their number.

"No names here," the voice of Friday chides, "Only numbers. Number 2 would like a word with you at the Green Dome. He requests you come for breakfast. Thank you!" Before they can protest further, the line goes dead.

Some Notes:

No matter how many times your character tries to take off and disregard their number badge, they will always find it re-attached to their clothes again the moment they look away and look back.

Your characters still have their phones but now they can only make calls instead of sending texts. They also do not take or store photographs anymore.

If your character destroys or damages anything in their home, or in The Village it will instantly repair the way things used to on the Serena Eterna.

The noise from the speakers can be muffled by covering it with pillows or other creative items, but cannot be stopped entirely. (Sorry Phil)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

'Captain!' There's relief in her voice, because it's only Captain Sinclair, not someone who means her harm. Sinclair is afraid of Number 2 and his enforcers, Tayrey knows that much. Hesitant to rebel. She's the only one who gets away with calling her 27 without correction. But she's still a Tradeliner, beneath all the damage.

'Listen, we have to go. Tirva, remember. They're going to... hurt me in here.' It's said as softly as she dares. Tayrey steps forward, still meaning to leave.

"Stop, 27," the Captain says sternly. "They aren't going to hurt you, they want to help you. I want to help you. That's why I volunteered to meet you here."

Tayrey stops.

It's not really a conscious decision so much as that when a Tradeline captain tells you to stop in that tone, you'd better stop. She runs the analysis. Did Erin talk to Captain Sinclair as she promised? Is that the reason that she suddenly seems markedly less confused, less fragile than she had before? If Erin talked to her about leaving this place, then-

Then there are two major possibilities. Erin accidentally scared her into doubling down on her compliance, to the point where she'd offer the young lieutenant up for torture instead of letting her walk out that door. Or Erin convinced her of another path, and this is all some plan that Tayrey needs to go along with. Maybe there's a very sound reason why walking out the door is a bad idea right now, she just can't say it.

Ari Tayrey is going to trust to Erin's capabilities and to Captain Sinclair's Tradeliner integrity. 'I hear you,' she says slowly. 'I know you want to help me.' And she knows the others don't, even if Sinclair doesn't consider it safe to say, so let that omission be noted. 'How are you going to help me now, Captain?'

From behind, two men in white coats come rushing in. They stop a pace back from Ari as if waiting for their cue.

Captain Sinclair's mouth is set in a grim line, "I'm not going to help you. They are."

That seems to have been the cue. The men rush forward to take Ari by the arms. One uncaps a syringe preparing to plunge it into her arm.

How could you? are the words that come to mind as one of her arms is grabbed. She thinks of Erin again, and doesn't voice them - but oh, that sense of betrayal is written all over her face.

The one person in the whole of this nightmare whom she should have been able to trust...

It's breach of contract; it frees her from any Tradeline obligation to the woman, but that's no comfort at all. Ari reacts, then, trying to pull her arm down and away from one assailant as she sharply elbows the other. The grunt of pain she hears is satisfying, but it's not enough for her to get herself free. These men are brawnier than any Tradeline medic she's ever seen, and between them they soon have her held still enough for the injection.

With all the adrenaline coursing through her, she barely feels it go in, but she knows she won't have long. Tayrey looks up, stares steadily at the captain. 'Shame on you,' she pronounces, 'for abandoning our values. For breaking Code.'

Captain Sinclair is unwavering, she doesn't even flinch, and for the first time it occurs to Tayrey that if Sinclair really did give up hope of ever getting home then that will have impacted her worldview far more than she allowed for. But there's no time to reason it out, she figures, no time for anything except maybe making them regret this a little more. If she'd had her boots on she could have done a lot more damage, but even now she doesn't give up, but uses the fact that they're holding her upright against them, delivering a backward stomping kick to the side of the nearest man's knee with all the power she has. No, astrogators aren't taught these things, but those months of training with Nobunaga made all the difference.

[20]

"When will you wake up from this childish dream of yours, 27?" This captain is nearly unrecognizable now, coldly watching the struggle in front of her. "We aren't Tradeliners anymore. They wouldn't accept us back even if we could go home. We're far too damaged. There is no other place for us now."

The goons think they're in the clear now that Ari's been injected. They were severely mistaken. Ari's kick lands just right on the knee of the man holding her right side. He howls in pain as his kneecap dislodges, sending him crumpling to the ground in a whimpering heap. The other goon lets her go so he can stoop over his comrade in concern. He figures she can't get far before the drugs take her down.

She spins to face the two of then, knowing that dismissing the threat simply because she's no longer being physically held would be a mistake. Initiate aggression against a Tradeliner and you won't like the results. Tayrey attacks the second man now.

[17]

He's distracted, trying to tend to his suffering comrade. She pushes him backwards, before punching him square in the nose. He staggers, dazed, clutching at his face with blood dripping from between his fingers.

Only when she believes he has been neutralised does she turn back to Captain Sinclair. Even in this heightened state, those words struck hard. Too much damage. Isn't that what she fears? Tradeliners don't want damaged goods, and spacers have been let go for less pain than this, with a decent payout if they're lucky and nothing but a recommendation letter if they aren't.

Except - she realises it now, in the heat of the moment. Every time she's seen that it's been for physical injury too severe to patch up properly, or for late-onset space sickness. Debilitating hallucinations. Not for mental distress - because how would they know, if she hid it, if she followed Code? 'They'll take me back if I can do my job,' she asserts, 'and I can do my job, and even if you can't? It's a big sector out there. Almost anyplace would be better than this, because you'd be free. Maybe you stopped being a Tradeliner, maybe they hurt you so bad you abandoned all you stood for, but I never did! Now stand aside. I don't want to hurt you.'

She really doesn't, despite the betrayal, despite everything, but if Sinclair doesn't move out of her way, Tayrey's going to shove her hard and go straight out that door.

[4]

"Don't you realize," Captain Sinclair says with pity in her tone, "Nowhere is free. Not even the Tradelines. Freedom is an illusion."

The Captain stands firm when Ari tries to push past her. From her pocket, she pulls out one last syringe. "I told them the dose was too low." Swift and sudden, the Captain jabs the syringe into Ari's shoulder. "Do not be afraid, Number 27. The pain is only temporary."

[unnatural 1]

She's wrong, Ari Tayrey thinks. So very wrong. The young lieutenant is all ready to give Sinclair one of her little speeches about freedom, believing even now that she could make a difference.

Number 19 was very thorough. She didn't take any chances with the Cardalek-born Tradeliner's dosage.

The only words that pass Tayrey's lips are an earnest 'But Captain-' before she falls. Unconscious on the floor, right in front of the exit.

Welcome To The Village

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roll to see if the injection works

cw: violence, involuntary drugging

dang what a time to get a crit!

I know! sometimes probability smiles, and sometimes there's this...

the dice are fickle [cw: needles]

oh yes