balance_logs | Lunar Interlude 5

	FINALLY.
	NAVIGATION

1. IN THE NOT-SO DISTANCE: A TRAIN

A. GET YOUR BOARDING PASSES READY

As your friendly neighborhood interplanal technomancer mentioned earlier, a pocket dimension the Bureau of Balance had been using for storage got kind of ... well, infected is probably the most accurate word for it. And for a multitude of reasons, most of them for her own gain, Miss Zarves has unlocked the door and guided you toward the entrance. It's contained on one of the locked floors above your quarters on the Moon Base.

And once you step through the entrance and get a load of what she's been yammering about ... boy. That is most definitely a hell of a train. It's parked at a single solitary station, the air both smells and exhudes a general sense of unease and steam, and the cars seem to stretch on into forever. Much like infected was the most accurate word earlier, "demonic" is probably what works best right now.

Best steel yourself. And hang on tight to that diamond Miss Zarves told you to bring along (Dr. Tank is throwing a fit over having to dole them out, btw). You've got a director to fetch, after all.

B. THE TRAIN'S CARS

This bad boy (evil boy, demonic boy, whatever you're in the mood to refer to this thing that is definitely not Doomtrain (but probably is Doomtrain for those in the know)) comes equipped with the luxury status that befits its 5* Zagart rating. As you pull up to one of the many compartments, you'll notice that the landing zone is pretty much the same for every car that's currently parked at the station.

Down the line, of course, you can't even make out the beginning or the end of this monstrosity, and as you touch the edifice (that is, if you're brazen enough to do so), you can can swear you feel a warm, beating sensation under the literal ton of steel facing you. The rules of this train ride of the impossible are written firmly on a neat placard across from the entrance way. Doors will remain locked until you agree to the ToS set forth by... well, who you can only assume is the Conductor.

Decided to enter? Well, there's a lot to do here! Go be lazy somewhere else!

○ The Seating Cars. They're perfect for sitting in on long journeys. If you look outside the window you'll see neon lights swirling around in the distance. No matter where you go or what you do, it doesn't actually look like this train is going anywhere. You wouldn't want to go anywhere anyway, right? So just have a seat! You'll find yourself feeling pretty chill about sitting. So much so that it might be hard to get up. Thoughts just tend to slip away while you wait. And wait you will. Forever! Unless someone can snap you out of it.

Loot table: Sleepy time tea set (a set of 6 teabags that when distilled and imbibed have the same effect of the Sleep spell), any book from your home world, a memento from someone you knew before coming to the Bureau, an unsolvable crossword puzzle

○ The Art Gallery Car. You've wound up in an empty car with paintings to your left and right. Some of these cars have portraits of stuffy old people watching you, wherever you go. When you pass one, you'll hear one of them say something incredibly insulting towards you that strikes a deep nerve within. Turn around to get a better look, and guess what? It's just a painting, what were you actually expecting?

Other Art Gallery cars will show idyllic landscapes, that ripple when you touch the paint within them. Can you pass through to the other side? You certainly can. You'll notice that everything in these vast, barren wastelands contains ridiculous things that were once deposed of by the Bureau of Balance. One of them might have an industrial sized dump of old uniforms. You can see that Lucretia absolutely had a fashion designer come in and spruce up the digs. You'll find endless, and we really... really do mean endless fields of pizza sauce vats that sprawl entire pocket-within-pocket dimensions. Other ones will contain, as you guessed it, Fantasy Costco flyers. They're of varying quality. Entire pockets of failed machinery that was once met for the Bureau's sustaining devices on the moon are located here as well. If you can think it up, and it's garbage... there's a highly good chance that a painting can lead you here.

The worst type of Art Gallery cars will let you enter a painting that spits you out on another side of the train. Or worse, commit you straight up into an MC Escher landscape of winding stairs leading to nowhere and are nearly impossible to escape out of. Even worse than that? Paintings that you step into that show you a complete reverse of everything on the other side. Colors, shapes, sizes- it's Picasso all the way down from here. At least it's fun to look at it, albeit mostly harmless.

Loot table: Painting supplies, Blank canvases, Jars of pizza sauce (one tablespoon is as filling as a whole meal, 24 uses), Clothing already on your body but in complete color reversals

○ The Club Car. Eventually, you'll find your way to a car that's brimming with the sweet and sultry blues sound of the Runaway Five, a group wearing suits and neat hats that seem to play some of the best music you've heard in a while. Upon entering, you'll notice that your wardrobe has been redone into the flapper style of the 20s. This is one hell of a speakeasy. Take a load off, grab a drink, socialize. If you manage to get a word in with the Runaway Five, you'll find that the Devil Went Down to Neverwinter was quite a literal thing here. They might've sold their soul for fame, but for one and one night only, they're here to liven up the joint. Too bad this place seems to exist in a perpetual state of night. Oof. Be careful with who you make contracts with.

Loot table: Music sheets, handheld musical instruments (ocarina, flute, kazoo, etc), one bottle of extremely potent alcohol, your flapper outfit

○ The Dining Car. Towards the front of the train... or what you can assume to be the front of the train, is a dining car that's absolutely disproportionate in every sense of the word. As you enter, you realize that you're about the size of a safety pin in comparison to everything else in the room. Giant swaths of cheese boards make walking on the moon look like an easy task. Goblets of wine can appear to be a hot tub of drunken goodness. Take a stroll on the pillowy soft landscape of the bread flatlands. And, eventually... make your way to a literal mountain of Jello. There's something dark and shadowy on the inside of it, if you'd like to get digging. Who knows what could be under there, though?

Loot table: Weapons in the shape of utensils that never rust or dull, slices of cake that never seem to go bad, small jello pet that seems sentient and fits in the palm of your hand, a jalapeno pepper that when ingested allows you to breathe fire once

○ OOC/Etc. We're really open to seeing how you go wild with this log. Feel free to make up any sort of car you can imagine and throw it together. The key element here is leaning on the absurd, if you haven't gotten the idea yet, and we'll be keeping an eye out to see what you all end up creating on this hellish train ride to... well, you'll see. Notice that there are loot tables up there? Well, if you've read the ToS Agreement, you'll know you're allowed to take one item out of here. It's yours to keep!

Lastly, if your party winds up truly lost and can't make heads or tails of the train (and even as you get to the very front, where you think the Conductor's car is, you'll eventually get sent back to the very first car on the train), you can always follow a mouse with a sign. It'll lead you on a maze of forward and back shenanigans until you find yourself... at the station where you began. Wait, was this thing ever actually moving!?

C. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON

At some point, though, assuming you don't get lost, you will approach a painting that is a chaotic mess of bright colors splashed across a dark black canvas. This is the last stop before you reach the Engine and, presumably, whoever it is actually conducting this thing. And considering all those other paintings you probably stumbled through on your way here, you know what to do with this one.

The other side of the painting, at first, is pitch black. Then, like flashlights blinking on, a splash of color. Then, another. They spread out like a web to reveal an entire second Moon Base, contoured in neon lights.

You're not going to find some Other Side Garfield running the Other Side Fantasy Costco (we don't want to torture you quite that much). But you will find that the layout of the domes, of the trees, of the buildings, is correct down to the last detail. And you're not going to find any other living creatures — you are going to find nothing but monsters.

Art that melts off the wall and springs at you. If you happen to wander to where your room is supposed to be, you might find that the item that's most precious to you has suddenly sprouted limbs and is attempting to shatter your bones.

Yes, you can fight the moonside version of Bender (we don't particularly recommend it, however! He's stationary and tough as nails — you can bypass him easily). If you wander down to the Voidfish tank, you'll find that the Voidfish itself has been replaced by a giant violin.

You'll have to fight the violin, too.

While all of this is happening, though, there is a voice booming through the entire neon base; a man speaking through invisible loudspeakers. He runs through the aforementioned Terms of Service, repeatedly, before his tone suddenly shifts, presumably addressing whoever has made it this far:

Get out. Get out. Get out get out get out get out

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He may not be as skilled as Roxas or Wash, but he's learned some things from them. He leaps back and brings Beacon up to block the tail lash, but even with the sword he's not able to avoid a couple of those spikes stabbing his arm.]

Gh..!

[With as much strength as he can, he shoves the tail off and makes to stab at the beast again.]

[Shuichi winces a little as the tail makes contact with Hayner's arm. Ouch. That had to hurt. But that's something he CAN help with, at least. He may not have done any kind of training since he got here, but he HAS been doing a lot of research into his path.]

[He just needs to wait until the coast is clear. Which, fortunately, won't be too terribly long. Because that second stab sends the creature to the ground, wailing in anguish and oozing more blood as it twitches and feebly lashes out with its tail and limbs. Its depth perception is clearly awry though, because none of these swipes even come close to Hayner this time. From the looks of things, he didn't manage to hit a vital organ, but he did strike hard and deep enough to make the thing bleed out slowly.]

[That stab to his arm hurt, dangit! Hayner's gritting his teeth and avoids the lashes as much as he can. He can see that the monster is clearly suffering from his prior attack, and he grins confidently.]

Hah! Not so tough now, are you?? Take this! And this!

[He slashes at the beast with each yell.]

[Nope, not so tough now. More like so dead now. Dead and melting into a sticky mass of blood and neon ooze. Gross.]

[Once the creature falls silent, Shuichi finally moves out from the alleyway, taking a few steps towards Hayner and craning his neck to get a look at the creature.]

Is it...dead?

[That is certainly a dead monster. Hayner takes a minute to breathe as he looks at the fallen creature, and after a moment nudges it with his foot. When it doesn't move, he sighs.]

Yeah... it's dead.

[He winces as he moves, then looks down at his arm, before looking up at Shuichi.]

Man, that was painful... Hey, are you alright?? That thing was chasing you, wasn't it?

[With the all clear, Shuichi lengthens his stride and pulls a small bottle out of one of the pouches around his waist as he makes his way towards Hayner.]

I'm alright...but you aren't. Let me see your arm, please.

[Just how bad did it get you, Hayner?]

Oh, this? Yeah, guess it got me good, huh?

[He shows his arm to Shuichi, wincing a bit as he does. There's a couple nasty-looking holes in his arms and scrapes from the other spikes, but fortunately they don't look life-threatening.]

I'm sorry...

[He looks over the wounds with a somewhat depressed expression, wincing a little himself. This is his fault... A complete stranger got hurt because he was too weak to even defend himself.]

[If nothing else, it steels his resolve to start taking steps towards changing that, once this is all over. But that's later and this is now. Right now he has several wounds to take care of.]

Hold still for me, okay? [He pulls the stopper from the bottle in his hand.] This will help, though I don't think I'll be able to completely heal these deeper punctures. That's a bit beyond my ability at the moment.

[He has, unfortunately, only been a Chemist for a few weeks. But that's not going to stop him from at least doing what he can. He lifts the bottle and slowly pours some of the contents directly onto Hayner's arm. The substance inside is pale green in color and fairly glutinous, more lotion than potion, though somewhat runny and carrying a faintly sterile scent. Once he's poured out enough, Shuichi uses his free hand to gently start rubbing it into the skin. Fortunately, it doesn't sting, though it does cause the wounds to warm up. Within seconds, the shallower scrapes heal over completely and disappear, leaving the skin as good as new.]

[As he predicted, the punctures don't disappear. They're just a little too deep and serious for this basic a healing balm. They do, at least, stop bleeding and begin to scab over, and any pain Hayner may still have felt fades away. A look of relief crosses Shuichi's face, and he gives a satisfied little nod before replacing the stopper and returning the bottle to his pouch. Instead, he pulls out a roll of bandages, using a little bit of it to wipe away whatever blood is left before wrapping up the punctures.]

There...does that feel better? They'll probably be able to do more for you if you go to the Medical Bay once we're back at the base but...hopefully that should be good enough until then.

Hey, it’s ok. It happens.

[He blames the monster for the wound, and the monster is a bloody pulp on the ground before them. Still, he does as he’s asked, holding his arm out for Shuichi to work. He’s glad the potion doesn’t cause his wounds to sting, and if he’s being honest, it’s kind of cool to see the wounds heat up and stitch back together.]

Woah...

[When it’s done and his arm is bandaged up, he lifts his arm up and rotated it, flexing his hand.]

Hey, it’s okay. This feels loads better already! Thanks, man.

What about you? You get any injuries from that thing?

[Shuichi's beams, clearly pleased to hear that it feels "loads better already".]

You're welcome. Oh um....I'm fine. It wasn't chasing me for very long, so it didn't manage to catch up and attack me.

[Had Hayner not shown up when he did...potentially different outcome. Shuichi is not an athletic boy, eventually he would have slowed down.]

[Hayner grins at Shuichi, straightening up and nodding at him.]

Good. That thing could have really caused some damage to people.

Oh, I'm Hayner. Nice to meet you... though, woulda been nice to meet under different circumstances.

Mmm...

[It's definitely better off dead, with how many of them are likely wandering around in this bizarro moonbase.]

I'm Shuichi Saihara, it's nice to meet you too. Monsters aside, of course.

[Ah well, what can you do. Sometimes the circumstances of meeting people just suck.]

[Hayner nods at Shuichi, offering him a grin. Then he looks around, his face growing serious.]

So, you have any idea where to go from here? Preferably away from any of this thing's friends.

[Shuichi shakes his head.]

No idea... I was on my way to the Voidfish's tank when I came across that thing but I didn't really have any particular reason to go there. Just curiosity.

[He likes the Voidfish, okay? Don't judge him. He frowns slightly in thought, bringing a hand up to his chin.]

I suppose the Director's Office would be too much of a giveaway, huh? So she's probably not being held there...

The Voidfish's tank?

[He's not judging, but... the Voidfish was weird, is all. Oh well. It was worth a look at least.]

Probably not... unless that's what they want us to think? [sort of hidden in plain sight kind of thing???]

Lunar Interlude 5 — Part 2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

So sorry about the delay! Work got really busy

no problem! ^^

/o/

\o\

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject