I'm not saying that it's aliens - TAKE A LOAD OFF, LOG 2

[libraryassistants]

Who: Readers and Actors
What: Beta Story final log
When: November 28 - December 11
Where: Woodhurst (UK) and the SS Radiance (in space!), 2019
Content warnings: Please tag warnings in comment headers!

In Woodhurst:

There is quite a bit of confusion in the village as the weeks pass by- by now it is clear that some people are very much not themselves, and there are multiple theories as to why. Aliens, obviously- the really weird bit is that it’s not just certain edgy teens purporting this theory, but since there’s been some (alleged) activity previously, maybe they’ve come back! Some tourists (and perhaps some locals) have made signs of the ‘Take me with you!’ variety, mostly loitering in the town square or in the park, whenever they get chased out of one or the other.

Suffice it to say, those people aren’t being taken seriously by those in charge- though even they have to admit that something strange is going on. Prevailing theories amongst officials are ‘gas leakage’ and ‘water contamination,’ neither of which are suitable explanations but no one seems to want to think too hard on it. As a result, the friends and families of those acting out of sorts are in a strange position. Do they try to seek medical help? Wait and hope it sorts itself out? Or do they join the crowds bidding welcome to their potential alien guests, demanding their real loved ones return?

Visitors of all stripes might find themselves a bit more scrutinized, as a result. Didn’t a bunch of weird people show up just as people seemed to start changing? Readers and aliens alike had best be on their most normal behavior, or it’s possible they’ll get cornered by someone asking what’s happening, or… a fanatic who wants to be taken up into their spaceship. Some of whom have some weird questions about probes. Good luck figuring out what that’s about.

On the IMW Group Supply Ship: Radiance

Things are not all well further up in the atmosphere, either. The staff have had to deal with much more pushback than they were expecting, including some people who seemed to not enough understand the concept of mental health (which was not in the briefing- shouldn’t they have at least heard of it before?). A few cases also seem to be quite severe, involving a level of intervention that they weren’t really prepared for- but of course, they’re here, so they’re going to do the very best they can to get all the humans the help they need! Hopefully legally.

Most alarmingly, however, it seems there have been some kidnapping attempts! …Kidnapping attempts that didn’t involve them! Someone, or multiple someones, have managed to get the patients off the ship without first filling out their discharge paperwork, and that simply will not do. As a result, security is ramped up on the ship… sort of. There’s very little in the way of a security crew, after all, and it’s not like they can call in reinforcements. So mostly this means that there are some very tired counselors who have been put on hallway shifts, and everyone has been assigned a little name badge that they MUST wear at ALL TIMES.

(There are actual people guarding the shuttles now, but again… there’s only so much security. The real question is, do you really want to beat up the aliens who are just trying to help?)

To their credit, the various Group members are trying to listen to the concerns of the patients who are here… less than willingly, and are beginning to filter some cases back to the planet by request. But they are going to do it properly, which means the proper forms. A wrap up visit with their counselor, a form agreeing to be finished with treatment, a politely worded request to maybe not tell people about the aliens (it’s not an NDA, because the Group has never needed those, it’s really just a form asking if they’re going to talk about it so management can figure out how badly this is going to go). Oh, and would you mind filling out this survey about your experience?

Of course, not everyone is in a hurry to leave- or at least needs something to do while waiting for bits of paperwork to approve. All the regular classes and sessions are still going, and they even retrofitted one of the spas to have water instead of… whatever it was before. Now certified safe for humans!


[Information on what's available on the ship is in the first log; info post is here.]

Comments

[curzed]

The true reason Curze is going to skin this creature alive: he hates repeating himself. "I could, but I won't." Any and all information on his friends remains his own. Finally, finally he decides to do something about his long-cooled meal; it won't last long. "I think I've told you quite enough. More than I should, if you were going to have a chance to tell anyone else."

But he'll see to that himself soon enough. First: soup. No point in wasting it. "Is that drink all you intend to have before the end? I'm not sure what this place has to offer for meals ordinarily, but surely there's something." Could anyone truly have a nice dinner with all of this going on?

He can.

[angel_of_baal]

He doesn't have to repeat himself: he could endeavor to answer Tsang's questions from a mindset of healing and growth.

Tsang will keep that insight to itself, though, because further irritating the stranger did not seem wise. "But since you are determined that I die, why not trust me? It's not like I will live to tell anyone."

"It is very kind of you," Sort of? "but I find myself not hungry." Queasy is a better word. Still, the ice chunks are melting and that's a tripping hazard, so Tsang bends down to scoop some of them back into his empty cup.

[curzed]

"I have no way of knowing if your species is capable of telepathy amongst your own kind," the Night Haunter points out, watching an ice cube get herded into its cup. "Or if you're wearing a recording device of some form, or a simple vox interface. Such a risk is not worth taking given the scenario."

He's just biding his time, now. This joyless experience had only marginal benefits, and he would stretch them out as long as he could just to get something out of it. "A pity. Given the variety of drinks surely something would be edible." His own, untouched meal perhaps.

"It is strange, in retrospect, that you, or any of your kind, would be so bold as to think you could offer ... mm, what did you call it, 'therapy'? To an entirely different species. The arrogance alone is breathtaking."

[angel_of_baal]

"Sirma'am," because the other had still not given Tsang any way to address it, "Had I telepathy, don't you think I would have either summoned aid or already warned them away?"

But it takes the point. "You will not allow yourself to trust anyone. This is not just me. That's an excuse, whether you know it or not. If you would only allow yourself to confide in someone, you would find you had allies and friends." If he won't share, Tsang will just diagnose.

The meal talk is disturbing and it has to ask. "And am I going to be part of your meal?" Delectable Revanian? It probably needs some sort of dipping sauce.

Under its human disguise, its antenna droop. "Perhaps it was arrogance, but our intent was pure. Yours is a warlike race that fights among itself, and in that fighting many, many things are lost--those who could have created great art, or new inventions, or been...whatever, forced merely to hold weapons."

[curzed]

It will, one day, occur to him that he should actually introduce himself when not directly asked who he is. His reputation preceded him for so long that it just doesn't come up to conscious thought very often, and so 'Sirma'am' will continue to suffice simply because names aren't of import. At least, not the one he was given later in life. "Depending on how cunning your species are, waiting and gaining what information you can would be infinitely more valuable than providing warning or inciting conflict."

If this creature was capable of that level of guile. The jury was still out on that. "I don't intend to eat you. Contrary to rumor, it has unpleasant side effects I prefer to avoid." Not prion disease, either. Though that wasn't likely when eating an alien anyway. Curze emphatically has little interest in experiencing Tsang's last moments alive directly.

"If you know our history, then you should have taken it into account. You should already know how mankind reacts to deception by the Other, to their mates and offspring and progenitors being stolen away. You should know the eons of myth and legend about the creatures who do such things." Eons of myth and legend that often had root in alien invasion, he's fairly certain. The patterns remained. So many stories of the fey could be traced easily to Eldar predations. "But you didn't."

[angel_of_baal]

The level of guile Tsang personally is capable of hovers around a solid zero. It's not just the human costume, it's that he's as transparent as a glass of water. "I take it that the side effect is not that your people find it monstrous." It could HOPE, but wanly.

"I tell you no one is stolen. Everyone is returned. All one has to do is simply request return and we process them and return them safe and sound." It knows the stranger doesn't want to listen, and likely gets irritated by the repetition, but it is...attempting that thing it is no good at: guile. Deception.

"We mean you no harm." It leans forward as though to lay a hand on the stranger's hand, and then moves, as fast as it can, throwing the ice from its cup at the stranger's face, bolting toward the door.

It turns out that some prey still retains the self-preservation instinct to flee.

[curzed]

"My people are expected to regularly make use of eating others." That's the entire point of that particular organ, though perhaps peculiarly given their predilection for flaying, the Night Lords didn't often bother.

But there's a slow faint smile settling into place, the barest tips of sharp teeth showing. It takes remarkable skill indeed to actually surprise the Night Haunter, when flickers of the future are a near-constant thing. He doesn't move, he just waits. "And again, taking without permission is stealing. Kidnapping in this case."

Every move he makes over the next several seconds is calculated; as the bedraggled remains of ice are thrown at him and Tsang bolts for the door, he's just slow enough to abandon his own seat that it seems like the xenos therapist might have a chance to escape. The shout of 'hey!' from one of the other customers ignored entirely in favor of slinging one of the chairs after the fleeing form, sending it crashing through the glass window beside the door. The point is absolutely not to hit Tsang.

Just incentivize him, and dissuade anyone else from interfering beyond perhaps suddenly calling the police.