[NOVA] Building Blocks (M 1.7)

WPTunes

GAUMATA'S QUARTERS

Mei, you are alone in Gaumata's quarters, which ze offered use of so you would have some uninterrupted quiet time to focus on your defenses. For now, ze is at the Sensor station in the cockpit, analyzing data, but ze's available to help if you feel ze's needed. In the silence, the much reduced whisper of words in your head still draws your focus, an unending external mantra echoed and underlined by Cora's "voice".



You run through the basic meditation regimen you learned on the first day of PsiCorps training, adding the additional advanced techniques for stilling the mind. You are a clear pool of water, and still the words continue to drip drip drip into your head like the sink in one of your dormitories at the arcology, which steadily gave forth a drop every three seconds for the three years you were there. (You did the math on the night before you moved out. That was 31,556,933 drops, give or take.)

What's next? What do you do?

Mischa

[Mei]

It's much easier to concentrate, once we moved further from the transmitter. It was a little scary how strong it was! I don't like admitting weakness in front of everyone- Church, Sung and Sanchez, Ksenia, Dai. But I couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough, like back on the Dauntless when the Core died and became Cora in my head. I didn't think I'd ever have to experience anything like that loss again, but the utter sense of impending crushing will was something different.

At a distance, I can stand ready against it.

There's two stances I can take- to keep the still pool metaphor, I can gutter away the drops or I can thicken the pool. If I sluice it away, it might still impact me, especially if a gutter built for drops gets hit by a firehose.

First I start to give my thoughts more weight. Make them more meaningful, more poignant. Like adding flour to water, thickening. When they threaten to clog, I deliberately step aside and from a different perspective my thoughts are a whirlpool of mercury, solid and in motion, but not viscous. Anything dripped in has nothing to disturb. Instead, my thoughts will overwhelm and subsume the interloping stream.

Use your will, Mei. You can do this. Help Cora. Help the crew.

WPTunes

Mei, you hear sharp lemons and smell π. Cora and the emitter begin to lose sync, and Cora's "voice" fades a bit. Something is certainly happening, although you can't be entirely sure what.

You recall Commander Tengku's words. "A psychic defense is built like a memory palace, with each brick in the wall tied to a strong sense or emotional memory. Invest your childhood love of taffy in a brick. Invest your regret over losing your first love in a brick. Invest the sharp scent of plasma-ionized air in a brick. Tie each block in the wall to a specific trigger."

What are the first three bricks in you wall, Mei?

Mischa

[Mei]

The memory palace. A useful tool, a fine perspective.

// the first time i transitioned to the grey and was so horny i jumped the cadet in the berth with me and i spent twenty-two minutes being reduced to a puddle //

// the first time i didn't screw up my own beam routine and pulled the entire sequence off perfectly with a perfect dismount and the look on the faces of the audience //

// the heavier than it looks round warm cool metal medal of distinction hanging from my neck at space academy graduation and knowing i would fly again //

WPTunes

Mei, the scent of arc-welded metal is rough against your skin.

Mischa

[Mei]

I feel a flutter of my eyelid, just one.

// spicy pho and noodles from the boat, an actual floating noodle boat in the muddy waters in the old saigon river at ho chi minh city, fishmongers and people all around //

// working on a self-portrait, trying to make the charcoal and paper see what my eye sees when it would be so easier to use the tablet //

// feeling the core arrive, so bright and strange //

I'm juggling my focus, strong and fluid. It's like certain kinds of martial arts.

WPTunes

Mei, you hear the taste of an unfamiliar fruit, mineral and sweet.

strong this presence wringing out your you and mathematics keep building

Sometimes punctuation would be a real help.

Mischa

[Mei]

White and silver and motion, spirals. Push on, Mei.

// ksenia's strong hands, pulling me and carrying me to safety, to atmo, to life //


// looking at all the faces and skins and body types in space academy, everyone is so different and so loud //


// the humiliation of being defeated in the ring at martial trials, the heat of the lights and the pain and the blood in my mouth, and martha pak's smug look collecting the trophy //

WPTunes

Mei, you've built the beginnings of your defenses. The nine bricks are firm, tied directly to your memories and senses.

OOC: give me a roll to make this happen. Cora's trying to help, so you can use her d8. I'll put my GM roll in the next post.

WPTunes

Your challenge is as follows: 2d8 for the basic situation. 1d6 for your Psi sensitivity. 1d8 for Cora's distraction. So, 4d total.

Challenge: (Rolled: 2d8. Rolls: 3, 3. Total: 6)
Sensitivity: (Rolled: 1d6. Rolls: 2. Total: 2)
Distraction: (Rolled: 1d8. Rolls: 8. Total: 8)

WPTunes

OOC: 11 to beat, with all those dice? Should be fine.

Mischa

[Mei]

Nine bricks for a whole ship isn't enough. It's not even enough for nine people. But it's a foundation. It's to be built upon. I focus, concentrate, and start my weaving.

Duty - I'm the officer. This is my mission. Everyone's depending on me. - 1d10
Science - We must get closer to study it. - 1d8
Alien-Enhanced Psionic - Nobody else can do this but me. 1d8

(Spending PP)
Cora - It's affecting her, too. We'll get through this together. - 1d8

Mischa

[Mei]

Duty (Rolled: 1d10. Rolls: 7. Total: 7)
Science (Rolled: 1d8. Rolls: 2. Total: 2)
Alien-Enhanced Psionic (Rolled: 1d8. Rolls: 1. Total: 1)

(Spending PP)
Cora (Rolled: 1d8. Rolls: 5. Total: 5)

Mischa

7+5=12

[OOC: Squeaker again, and a one for you. Again.]

WPTunes

[OOC: I will give two PP. Cora's entanglement with the wall will be a d6 for me until the end of the session.]

Mei, the work begins to go much quicker, building on the foundation you've laid. Swiftly, you build the moments of your life into a wall between the complement of the Stalker Jane and the emitter. Every now and then, though a moment that is not yours flits through your mind, mortaring those bricks together.

//watching the supernova that engulfed your home system. even from your vastly distant vantage point, feeling the particles that were once home passing through you//

//the smell of the infinitely complex equation that describes the path of a moon orbiting a planet orbiting a sun orbiting the center of a galaxy speeding out and out and out//

//drifting, alone until awakened by four... humans... burning bright with curiosity and fear. one of them refusing to leave you to your fate, carrying you with... her... somehow//

You have your wall, Mei, but Cora has made herself a part of it, strengthening and enhancing. If the wall falls, you have no idea what will become of Cora.

Mischa

[Mei]

"Oh, Cora..." I say, aloud, not realizing. I'm on the edge of a good cry as I realize that her... existence? no, her life is so entwined with this wall. I have my head in my hands, looking at the floor, perched on Gaumata's bunk, contemplating the depth of what she's doing.

I set my jaw, clenching my teeth, feeling determined. I'm not going to throw this away. I brought her back across a galaxy, we've been through too much together. She's not going to die. She's depending on me as much as the crew, if not more!

I want a hug, but there's no one to ask. So I wrap my arms around myself, rocking, breathing, sending feelings to Cora. I don't want Cora to die, I don't want to feel that again. Get it together, Mei! Look at what we've built together. It's not a sacrifice!




After a time, I compose myself.


It's quiet, just the peaceful vibrations of the engines. I check my reflection before I go out.


You've done it, Mei. The psi block will hold. It will hold.

WPTunes

Mei, as you leave Gaumata's quarters, you feel the structure you've built settle into place. Of course, "wall" is a metaphor, and probably a poor one, but you know that this not-a-wall is encircling all those on the ship, Cora's presence whispering to you from the shimmering geometry of your construction.

Oh, please go here.

--END SCENE--