riverviewlogs | exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

Entry tags:

exploration mingle: CAPTIVITY

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: exploration mingle: rescue mission!
when: June 15 - August 15
where: The River Structure
warnings: violence and/or torture; please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

captivity

One of the major and most highly-valued cultural concepts in Riverview is that of exploration, expansion. Especially now that, with the recent influx of new arrivals, as the portal kicks into high gear for reasons not entirely known, the Inhabited City, already comfortably full, is rapidly becoming overpopulated. With all the refugees from other worlds pouring in from day to day, the city's safe space and resources are being taxed to their breaking point.

Right now, exploration and expansion is key, and each month, the government has decided to focus on a particular objective, in order to unite citizens in expanding, securing, and supplying the city for everyone's benefit.

the story so far

Exploration & Expansion Progress Report ● The Guardians of the Deep ● What Lies Beneath ● Plotting & Questions

After some serious flooding at the banks of the river, the cause was discovered to be the Guardians of the Deep, creatures protecting a circular labyrinthine structure underneath the river. Residents of the city explored and mapped the structure, and dealt with a good portion of the traps and other dangers, until they found a little piece of history in the Central Chamber of the structure, revealing that it was inhabited by the first people to live on the moon.

While this news has been exciting scholars and historians in the city, something a little more pressing has been bothering the average citizen - an ever-increasing number of missing persons. People have simply been disappearing all over the city, and only now are residents starting to realize why...

how it works

● Phases: Each prompt is a different phase of the operation. Characters may partake in whichever part of the operation they choose, whether it is a large and prominent part, or a more of a backseat or support role. Characters may participate in as many phases as they wish.

● Completion: When next month's exploration mingle goes up, the mission featured on this exploration mingle will be considered complete, and game canon, providing the entry has 200+ comments on it.

● Entry Reward: The reward for completion of this month's exploration objective will be...well, the safe return of everyone who was kidnapped. And some sweet hurt/comfort.

● IMPORTANT NOTE: Having observed how the pacing of exploration mingles has been going and how they are tagged, I have noticed that posting one exploration mingle each month has been a little hectic, both plotwise and for me as a mod (writing three mingles a month has been tough!). I have decided to space them out a bit further, and post an exploration mingle once every two months, starting with this one - the next exploration mingle will be posted in August!

phase i: the abducted

People don't simply go missing, they don't disappear into thin air, they have to be somewhere. And while those who are missing people keep frantically searching, those who have been kidnapped are the only ones besides the kidnappers who do know where they are.

Abducted by a group who have taken up residence in the structure under the city after last month's exploration died down, the missing are trapped in the Central Chamber, in fear of the kidnappers. Their abductors are a group of people that is starting to slowly take on cultist tendencies, believing that the remaining spirits of the First People still live in the structure, that it is a temple, and that those First People need offerings of host bodies to inhabit so they can return and bring their wisdom and magic back to the moon. Things are getting a little hairy - there's no agreement among the kidnappers as to how 'intact' the host bodies have to be and whether or not the sacrifice is in the form of alive or dead captives. Even worse, some of the kidnappers are only with the group to enjoy having power over others and using it to hurt them.

Captives are held in the Central Chamber of the structure, with next to no amenities. Blankets, food, water, and other necessities are in short supply, and they are kept huddled together, constantly guarded and either restrained, wearing or in the presence of a power suppressor to keep them subdued. But the captives haven't lost hope - they are working on getting a message out, finding a way to contact the outside world so their loved ones can rescue them...

This prompt is to play out interactions among the captives before they are rescued, and may include violence or other character suffering. It is also to enact plotted plans for the abductees to find connections with the outside world to summon help.

phase ii: distraction and infiltration

Once would-be rescuers become aware of where the captives are being held, they start making plans to rescue them - whether someone they love has been taken, they're just a good person, or they just want to feel like a big damn hero, there are lots of people willing to take the plunge and jump into the rescue. But the cult group has been in control of the structure for a while now, they definitely have the home team advantage. They know the lay of the land and where the traps are, and have used some of them to their own advantage.

It's not going to be as easy as storming the castle.

There are two parts to this phase of the rescue: a distraction and an infiltration. Distractions are planned to draw as many of the kidnappers away from the hostages being held in the Central Chamber as possible, while those who are stealthily infiltrating will try to find another entrance into the chamber so they can surprise and surround the remaining kidnappers.

This prompt is to play out any plans for distraction and infiltration. If you have plotted something out on the plotting post, feel free to post up a header for specific groups for threading rather than an individual character top-level.

phase iii: the brawl and after

Distractions only last so long, unfortunately, and so eventually the whole thing is going to break down into a big fight. Rescuers versus kidnappers, on the kidnappers' home turf, and surrounded by traps left over from the First People, while pieces of stationary tech throw out auras and waves of power suppression. It's going to be a doozy of a fight, so prepare for an epic throwdown!

And once the dust settles, there's going to be a lot of injuries to tend to, a lot of people traumatized and hurt and frightened. A lot of hungry, suffering people will need to be transported out, given medical care, and brought supplies.

This prompt is to play out the final fight between the kidnapping cult and the rescuers, as well as anything in the aftermath of the fight.

phase iv: wildcard

Have an idea for a mission-adjacent plot, or want to make up an unexpected plot twist or problem and solve it with your character? Just write up a starter, and don't forget to give yourself props by submitting it for the Progress Report.

navigation
[Asterion - Environment Art: Ariadne's Forest by Nicolas Mendoza]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[They sure know what it's like to have a friend who's scary when they're mad. The Separator knew how to be terrifying. But knowing her as they did, the Tetherer never found themself afraid on the other end of her fury.

But they knew when it came to people harming them, she wouldn't stop until those people were done for. But they're sort of glad she's not here. As useful it would be right now... they'd have a lot to explain to her in the meantime that they'd rather not deal with.]

She sounds lovely. ...You're right. They'll come for you. And everyone else.

[ The corner of his mouth quirks up a little. ]

Yeah. She’s definitely somethin’.

[ And there’s warmth in his voice. Worrisome, maybe, that he’s talking so fondly about Gamora potentially murdering folks on his behalf, but that’s the Guardians of the Galaxy for you. ]

So what we gotta do is hold out long enough for them to find us. So don’t give up hope, alright?

[Maybe if they knew he was talking about Gamora murdering people, maybe if they knew Gamora, they might be a little less hopeful about it. But the warmth in his voice when talking about her is uplifting, and he's gone through some of the worst in here. If he can have hope now, so can they.]

...Okay. I won't. I'll count on your friends, too.

[If he trusts them, then the Tetherer will trust them. It's easy to rely on someone else's hope, right now. Especially someone with such good taste in movies.]

See? That’s the spirit.

[ And speaking of movies— ]

When we get out of here, you and me are having a movie marathon. [ And he says it with certainty. Apparently he’s not taking no for an answer, here. Welcome to being friends with Peter Quill. ] Have you seen Ghostbusters yet?

[They almost get too excited, but then they remember the sleeping child between them. They keep their voice down to a whisper, by some miracle.]

I haven't! I doubt I've seen any movies from your world. These were the first I've heard of any of them.

[ Their enthusiasm is pretty infectious, honestly, and Peter feels himself smiling – if only a little. He can’t offer one of his usual giant grins with the way his lips are cut and scabbed over, with the way his face is bruised like hell. ]

Dude.

[ In a tone of voice that implies this is an absolute crime. ]

Okay. Ghostbusters. Back to the Future. Definitely the Indiana Jones movies.

Obviously, uh. [ He gestures to himself a little helplessly, the movement brief to avoid jostling Lanie. ] Obviously I might need some time to heal up, but once I’m good, we’re doin’ this.

And you’re bringing soda.

[This sounds so exciting. And it's something to look forward to. Something to plan, to hope for. They remember where they are, but they'd rather focus on this.]

...Of course. Once your friends come and we're both healed up and recovered. I'll bring as much soda as is necessary.

Awesome. I’ll get the candy and popcorn.

[ And he says it brightly, the tone at complete odds with the atmosphere. It’s hushed and tense – the calm before a storm – and generally Peter’s pretty good about reading the room. In this instance, though, he’s apparently decided to throw up the double birds at the cultists’ attempts at breaking them, at keeping them subdued and terrified. ]

Hey. You decide on a name yet?

Ah...

[The distractions really do help them from giving into the bleak atmosphere, but they get a little more subdued at the question. It's been something on their mind for some time now.]

I've just been using Teth for now. One day I was really excited about Ripley, and then another day I really wanted a different one, but it changes so much I'm afraid to commit to something. It's odd to think of an entirely new name as myself.

[ He huffs out a quiet sort of laugh, sympathetic. ]

Yeah, I get it. Back on Earth, the parents usually picked their kids’ names, otherwise you’d end up with a kid wanting to call themselves Optimus Prime or Inspector Gadget or, like, Elmer’s Glue.

[ If given the choice, “Peter Quill” might very well have been “He-Man Quill.” ]

If it helps, most folks I knew back on Earth had at least three names – a first name, a middle name, and a family name. So you can totally pick three. And if you don’t like those, you can always change it or pick up a nickname later on.

[ He lifts one shoulder slightly, head tipping a little to one side in a truncated shrug. ]

It doesn’t have to be set in stone, is what I’m saying.

Are those bad names?

[They don't get the references!!!]

But yes, um, you're not the first to suggest trying names on. This is the first I've heard about using three, though.

[Even the Separator, who had a real name, only used two. But she wasn't from Earth, to be fair. The Tetherer ponders for a moment, deep in thought.]

...Ferris... Emerson... Ripley?

Edited (TENSES) 2018-07-14 18:15 (UTC)

They're not fantastic.

[ It's a simple answer, for now, and apparently not worth the time it might take for an explanation.

Especially since there are more important matters to discuss, and Peter gives a small, thoughtful hum. ]

Not bad, actually.

Where'd you get Emerson from?

I got it from Finn's book of names that he gave me. Lucretia said she liked it.

[This whole name debacle has been a multifaceted issue that a lot of people have added their input to, apparently.]

Do the second and third names even count? Usually people are only called by their first names, in my experience... How is it on Earth?

[ Listen, sometimes it takes a community. ]

It’s more the first and last names that count, I guess, if you put it that way. Back on Earth, they called me Peter, but once I left, more folks started calling me Quill or Star-Lord.

[ ... no, okay, that second bit is absolutely a lie, but it’s worth a shot to throw it in there, right?

(One of these days, he’s going to stop trying to make “Star-Lord” happen. And on that day, hell will have frozen over.) ]

Hell, I’m pretty sure more folks call me by my last name than my first.

[Well, they offered to call him Star-Lord, but he told them not to!!!!]

I didn't realize you'd left your world. The world I'm from harbors refugees from many worlds, including several different Earths. Did something happen to your Earth...?

[THEY HOPE IT WASN'T DESTROYED???? Gods, what if he's from one of their Earths. That would be awful. And would help explain his initially strong reaction to their godhood.]

[ He offers a quick little wave of his hand, something meant to reassure and to dismiss any concerns they might have. ]

No, no. Earth is fine. [ Last he checked, anyway. ] I just...

[ Usually, this is when he tells people that he "left." It's not a lie, really; he did leave. But the phrasing makes it sound like a choice, makes it sound like he found a way off Earth into the blackness of space by his own gumption.

That was the denial talking, a lot of the time.

But he's had a little time to come to terms with it all. It's been a hell of a process – almost thirty years in the making – so maybe now's a good time to just. Tell the truth.

And it's not like their having this information is going to be any worse than what their captors have already done to him. So— ]

I was taken when I was eight.

[They knit their brow. Taken? At such a young age? Who could have use for a child outside of Earth? There have been refugees at around that age -- the Separator's acquaintance, the previous apparent candidate for the next Destroyer, comes to mind -- but most of the time young ones leave because of some horrible occurrence. Like their Earth, or at least some portion of it, being Destroyed. Or because they had no place to go in an incomplete Separation.

Their only experience is a uniquely Nexian one.

The only other reason they can think of is... because someone thought they'd be useful. Is that what happened to him?]

Was there a purpose for this? Some kind of reason?

[They don't ask after parents. From experience with the Separator, with June, and with other refugees, they know that can often be a lost connection for displaced children.

They hope he won't tell them that he's been in a situation like this one before. But it would explain his cool head about the whole thing.]

[ He glances down at Lanie for a second, just to make sure she isn’t secretly listening. The kid was usually silent, apparently as a rule, and sometimes after her fitful naps he didn’t even notice she was awake until she would tug at his jacket and to wordlessly ask for one of his rated-PG stories.

But for now, her breathing is still even, still slow, and Peter relaxes a little. ]

I, uh.

[ ... how can he put this delicately, without putting a damper on things? He had only just managed to get their spirits up; it’d totally suck if he brought it all back down because of his shitty childhood. ]

... A guy was hired to take me to someone, but the guy who took me, Yondu, realized there was some bad shit going down. So instead of taking me to the dude that hired him or leaving me on Earth where someone else could pick me up, Yondu just kinda... kept me on his ship.

[ Yeah. Okay. That feels like the baggage-free version. Or, at the very least, the one-checked-bag version. ]

[What kind of person would have it out for an 8 year old? Unless that 8 year old was special in some way. They nod, thoughtfully.]

So he was saving you, in the end. From some... bad fate.

[They decide not to quiz him on what exactly that might be. He seems to not be all that excited about recounting the situation.]

Several years ago, when I was still a teenager, we had thought we found another god. She was a scrawny little child in stolen clothes living without a home in a developing world, no real technology to speak of, no ties that hadn't hurt her deeply. About my age, actually, but she looked smaller.

[Possibly due to sickness and hunger.]

She was tested for her Nature, and found to... not be what we needed. But to return her to her world would be cruel. So she was taken into the Nexus as a refugee. To live in an orphanage, yes, but she would've been worse off at home.

Things like that happen more than you'd think. Maybe not all the time. But they happen.

I... guess he did.

[ And he says it with more than a little uncertainty.

He gets what the Tetherer is trying to say, but it’s not quite the same. Unlike whoever it is they’re talking about, Peter already had a home. He already had family and people who cared about him.

Peter wouldn’t trade his current life for anything – because he’s finally found a new family, and he’s found the love of his life, and he’s finally doing good in the world, and he’s happy – but sometimes, he wonders what life would’ve been like if he had stayed on Earth. Sat through Mom’s funeral. Lived with Grandma and Gramps. Finished off school and went off to college, like Mom wanted him to.

Maybe he’d be going nuts with some 9 to 5 desk job, or maybe he’d be working for NASA, like he had always dreamed of doing as a kid. Maybe he’d be happy. Maybe he wouldn’t. But the fact of the matter is, he’s never going to know.

Sometimes, he can’t forgive Yondu for depriving him of a normal life. And sometimes, he can’t thank the bastard enough for introducing him to the big wide galaxy.

Relationship Status: It’s Complicated. ]

Was she happy, though? About being taken and chucked into a wildly different environment?

[It's clear, from his hesitation, that he might not see it entirely the same way. And it's not up to them to pass judgments on how he should view his life. He was kidnapped, yes, and even if it seemed like that might have been better for him in the end, he was deprived of a life that he could have lived on his Earth.

So maybe he had more ties than the girl with the Nature of Disorder, but they still can't help but make the connection. The girl isn't even the only one this has happened to, she was just the one that Teth happened to be heavily involved in.

After all, Teth is the one that took her from her world. Child to child. They were working from a young age, and the Nexian government found their being a child could be helpful at times, back then.]

I don't know her personally. Not anymore. She keeps in contact with my partner, I believe. They were from the same world.

Last I heard, she'd gone to medical school and become a doctor of some kind. I don't know if she's happy, but she's certainly had better opportunities than she would have had otherwise.

Yeah. I guess that’s fair.

[ Still, he thinks. Not quite the same, but maybe it is? In a handful of ways. When he was a kid, they used to do those Venn diagram things; maybe his situation and this other woman’s have at least a few points of overlap.

... But, shit. This conversation is taking a kind of dark turn, isn’t it? He shifts, trying to get a little more comfortable – almost impossible to do in the state he’s in, but he’s trying anyway. Lanie only lets off a small noise of protest before settling again. ]

You know— [ And he makes a concerted effort to brighten his tone a little. ] —when I was a kid, I used to want to be an astronaut.

Guess I ended up taking one hell of a shortcut, huh?

[The brighter turn of conversation takes them by surprise, and Teth pauses a bit before slowly starting to smile. A smile of someone who's been caught off-guard, but a smile nonetheless.]

I guess you did. That's a nice way to look at it.

[It's not something they can easily relate to. Their lot in life was chosen for them the minute they could form full sentences. They spent so much time preparing to be a god, they never had the chance to wonder what else they could be.

And now they're a barista on a world untouched by Natures. Weird, how life takes you unexpected places.]

Probably for the best I took the fast track. I probably would've puked my guts out in the centrifuge.

[ He tilts his head a little, almost curious. ]

What about you? I mean, yeah, the god thing, sure— [ Which still puts an odd taste in his mouth, mentioning it. But Teth seems... fine. Not psychopathic, and not apparently bent on the destruction of the known universe, so they're almost certainly not cut from the same cloth as Ego. ] —but when you were young, did you ever wanna be anything else?

[They were being introspective about it, but they didn't expect him to actually ask about their side of things. It takes them a moment of surprise at his curiosity for them to answer, voice even and words measured.]

...I don't believe I had the chance to wonder if I could be anything else. There was a lot of preparation being done the moment my Nature was discovered. I was very young at the time. Younger than you when you left Earth.

I'm sure if I expressed a desire to be something else, I'd have been met with shock and dismay. And... to be honest, I was once rather excited about it.

Most kids want to be the next world leader at some point in their lives. I had the good fortune of being one already.

[After all, by the time they reached their teens they were already fulfilling their role. Traveling to other worlds and parlaying with their leading powers. Searching for the other gods. Sure, they had others assisting them, but they were also given a fast track to their destiny.]

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