Uh Oh....

[navi_no]

The... Start of something?
By now everyone is used to the summons to the bridge every month. Yet it doesn't come, and as the days pass by, bleeding into one another, a growing sense of unease settles deep in the bones of every soul on board with each groan and shift of the derelict ship.

A ship that seems to be under some vast, unseen strain. Its metallic sighs and creaks are no longer the familiar sounds of a vessel in motion, but almost like the strained vocalizations of something in pain. The "dangerous" areas, once clearly demarcated and avoidable, now seem to shift and expand their shadowy borders when no one is looking. A fleeting movement in the corner of an eye, a whisper in the static of a malfunctioning comm — the feeling of being watched by unseen things lurking in the deepening shadows is a shared, unspoken dread.

Reality glitches at times. Blue hair. A yarn person. A day of heat then a freezing blizzard. Anything and everything starts to happen on the ship.

Compounding this is the increasingly unhelpful nature of Navi-No. The ship's AI, who isn't that helpful despite it's best attempts, now responds only with cryptic nonsense, frustrating loops of logic that make little sense, or simply, unsettling silence. Questions about the ship's status are met with irrelevant data streams or corrupted audio files that sound like the screams of the damned - or maybe just Tasmanian Devils. It's hard to tell.

It's as if the very mind of the vessel is succumbing to a creeping sickness, and a deeply personal and constant reminder of the ship's decline also rests on every crew member's wrist. The bangles, once vibrant and steady, have grown dull. The central jewel now flickers erratically, its light weak and threatening to extinguish at any moment. The network it connects to is just as unreliable, sputtering in and out of existence, severing connections and leaving everyone feeling more isolated than ever before.

Some might even find they can almost slip the bangle off - freedom? Yet no. The longer it's almost off, the worse they feel. Nausea, weakness of the body and haywire powers. To say nothing of how harder breathing becomes all of a sudden.

Every sign points to a single, terrifying conclusion: Something is failing. The entire vessel, from its grandest systems to its smallest personal devices, is running down, slowly and inexorably fading into a state of decay.

The Mushroom Rings

While the Noanga's systems continue their slow, grinding decline, something else springs from the cracks - mushrooms of all manner and form. They are wild and untameable, and attempts to remove them only result in more mushroom rings sprouting.

And leaves - dull, red, maple leaves can be found in these circles. Don't look too long as the colour might look like blood.

They are on the walls, on the floor, on the beds and on... you? That's weird. How'd that happen.

At least they are pretty, if eerie as they pulse with a soft, internal light, casting an ethereal glow in the already flickering lighting of the ship.


The Vison

It's dark and you sit in a chair, half curled up as you hear the groans and creaks of the ship around you. You're so tired, but you can't sleep again. Not when going to sleep will doom them. Your guests. Saviours.

Your people.

A male voice, scared, comes from beside you. "Sister -"

"We couldn't - he took them - we need to run! He's closer. I can feel him -" Your voice is near panic.

"We have them. They found the Fountain -"

"No. No. It was destroyed when they -"

"It was hidden from us."

"In our -"

"Yes."

"We need more -"

"How? He's taking them."

"Others?"

"N-No... Not strong enough." She whimpers and you curl up. "They must be so afraid. Can we -"

"I.. think so."

"They liked the durian, Brother. It's a sweet scent to them."

"And kiwis. And sheep. They liked the wool." you can hear a grin in his voice.

You'll give them something so they're less afraid of the darkness.

"I'm... Please be brave, little ones. We're trying."


Bird.... fruits? and sheep.

It's hard to say where the first one comes from, but as if the fungal circles weren't bizarre enough, the ship now has new inhabitants. Small, flightless birds the size of kiwi fruits with fuzzy brown bodies have emerged and they are both adorable and very, very uncanny.

They are kiwi-fruits, in a fashion. However, while they may be birds, their behaviour is anything but bird-like; they act more like playful kittens as they exhibit boundless curiosity and energy. They will stalk you. They will pounce on you, and on loose wires - on anything really. They even manage to climb you enough to sit on your head, to bat at the bangles, and chasing dust bunnies with an adorable ferocity.


Yet their friendliness is almost overbearing - they tumble over the feet of passersby or enthusiastically nudge crew members for attention, sounding much like a seagull when they don't get it fast enough. While their antics might offer a moment of levity, their presence is accompanied by a uniquely potent and bizarre aroma: a scent that is a strange mix of durian and oranges.

Some are more durian than orange, while others, are, thankfully, more orange than not.

Also they seem to be multiplying. and or stuck in your cup. How'd that one even get on the ceiling of all places?!

And where did that Earth sheepgoat come from?!?! And why is the size of a brown bear?!


The Solution?

While there isn't really any solution that can be done solve this, the following will actively help the ship maintain some semblance of liveability.

Offerings: The mushroom circles are the most visible manifestation of the Fae's power and these are these are the perfect places to make offerings using things that hold meaning, such as a hand-carved trinket, a poem written on a spare panel, a piece of jewellery filled with personal memories.

Performances: Gather in groups and tell stories, sing songs — not just any songs, but songs of hope, memory, and home. Play instruments if they can be found. The act of creating art and sharing it collectively generates a powerful, positive energy that can further drive the shadows back.

Active Belief: Treat the ship as a living entity by thanking it when a door opens. Apologize when you bump into a wall. Verbally ask Navi-No for help, even if it can only spout gibberish. The focused intent and act of acknowledging the ship can help the fae that brought you here.

Embrace Absurdity: Lean into it - If a hallway floods, don't just complain; actively race the rubber ducks. If someone is stuck in a rainbow onesie, treat it as a fashion show. Etc.


Attempts to Contact the Fae

Attempts can be made through the bangles! Who knows, maybe they'll answer.

Comments

[burstingstars]

The Jungle Calls [OTA]
Day does only have hazy memories of what happened when he and Donnie got taken by the plants. The vines were a bit rough dragging them along, he hit his head, which on it’s own would’ve been enough to knock him out. Being stuffed into a plant did the rest. Not that it was the plants fault, just the way his head was a bit screwed up.

And he tried to be mindful of how everyone had worried, but Day needed to be out here, to spend time in nature and this was the only place to do so. The compromise he found with himself was to stick to the paths they’d already cleared, to always tell where he was going and to try and find someone to come along. Which was harder with the network so unreliable, so you can find him wandering the hallways with a torch light. “I’m going to the forest. Want to come along?”

Trying to help [OTA]
Living in a place that reacts to him and needs help is nothing new. If anything it makes it a bit easier for him – technology he can’t help with, but this is something he knows. Day already believes the fae don’t mean them harm and any weirdness of the ship are no different than the ones at the gas station. He has a little shrine for Loki in a hallway nook already anyway.

You can spot him leaving offerings in the mushroom circles: feathers of his that broke off, a small share from their meals, carved figures, dried flowers. It might not look like much, but these things matter to him and he tries to pass that one. “I know you’re trying.” he tells the circles, hoping the fae can hear it too. “And I trust you can do this. We want to help, in any way we can.”

Though not all is fine about this situation. He worries what will happen if the ship fails, what it means for the people that brought them here. And while he generally likes the red leaves in the mushroom circles, there’s a moment where he is rummaging through an empty room for useful things, turns around and something about the low light makes it look as if he’s surrounded by splots of blood. Which puts him back into a memory of a different place and next thing he knows he feels faint enough to sink slowly to the floor, press his eyes shut and start counting out loud. That’s supposed to help.

[thepurpleone]

That the greenery below is dangerous was only part of the reason that Donnie refrained from approaching it again. It's been long enough that he's stopped holing himself up in his room at the very least, but for a good while after he and Day had been rescued, there had been very little sightings of the soft-shell outside of it.

He's beginning to think he was better off staying within, uncertain of the recent shifts that have been affecting the ship, but none of the previous occurrences have been enjoyable to him. He has a sinking feeling that this isn't entirely something planned.

Movement down the hall surprises him; he'd gone out to scavenge up some snacks so he and Leo can maybe weather out whatever this might be. He only barely begins to register who the other person is before being positively stunned by the casual question.

It takes Donnie a few tries before he can get his mouth to spit out the words balancing at the tip of his tongue.

"Are you serious??"

[burstingstars]

He blinks at that reaction, surprised by it. "Yes?" Someone got to take care of the budding gardens, clear more paths - and he needs that exposure to nature either way. "I'm out there every day. Just asking so Aen'kae worries less. And it's nicer to not be alone."

As for the abduction, he got off reasonable well. Some light skin irritation, a migraine, nothing that his boyfriend couldn't fix. Except for the memory issues.

[thepurpleone]

If he were given the reasons, he would have pointed out that the place had taken care of itself well enough without people. The jungle is clearly thriving- perhaps too much given it's latest stunt, and Donnie's not inclined to want to help it in that regard.

It's been long enough that any soreness from being exposed to whatever digestive acids and bruising from being manhandled by vines has more or less faded. Donnie had lucked out only in that he his arms were acid-proof, a point that had only made him at one point in some fever-prompted madness wonder if they'd be the only things left once the plant managed to break down everything else.

"No," Donnie corrects, his drawn-on brows furrowing sharply. "Don't you figure that perhaps Æn'kae has perfectly good reason to worry at all? Or did you already forget that we were nearly eaten?"

[burstingstars]

Day freezes up at that, drawing his shoulders up. "I... I don't really remember anything between us going out there. And the next morning." Where he'd already been cleaned, healed and mostly disorientated about the gap.

It's not that he was unconscious, after all. He'd hit his head somewhere at being dragged by the vines and once freed had been present, able to tell who and where he was, to follow simple instructions. Just that some connection had been knocked loose and none of that made it over to his permanent memory.

[thepurpleone]

"And that isn't enough to keep you from going back? That's already a big warning sign, don't you think?" Donnie stares at him, incredulous.

"I don't know how long we went missing, but it was long enough. Apparently the alarm system went off to let everyone know something had happened, thankfully. Given the slow rate of breakdown from that plant's digestive juices, I'm unsure that we wouldn't have just woken up inside the things and more or less be tortured having to watch and feel ourselves being dissolved."

Jungle

[imperfectagent]

Dain looks at Day as if he's gone mad. "Now? So soon after you almost- after you almost died there? It's a little safer now without that thing, but what if there's something else just as bad?"

[burstingstars]

"What thing?" Donnie has eluded to the same, but no one has given him a description to fill the gap in his memory. "I'm fine. It's a forest, it's not going to be worse than mine at home."

[imperfectagent]

"The plant that seized you and Donnie and tried to eat you." His face twists. "And then made duplicates of you to try to lure us into its maw."

[burstingstars]

"I... I don't remember any of that. Must've hit me head." He looks away, hates admitting this, that it happens at all. But he can't help it, this is beyond Aen'kaes skill to fix. If it even is fixable at all.

[imperfectagent]

Dain looks away. "That... might be for the best. It could not have been pleasant, being slowly eaten in a pod. And the doubles... they were the most unnerving part. They looked like you, and showed some knowledge, but they were also so single-minded in their goal..."

[kosmonautilus]

For science [OTA]
His turning back to a human was off-schedule. Late. It’s one thing that it happens at all, he is past his feelings for that already, but to have the pattern broken? That is a new problem. Distracting him from it is the loose bangle. Lucas is sure that if he were still his octopus-self he could’ve already slipped out of it, but now these pesky bones get in the way.

Before he’s trying to remedy that bone situation, he experiments with slipping it as far off as it will go, sitting in the glow of the aquarium. He has already passed out twice and is stubbornly ignoring the concerned meeping of Odd Coral. Or the kiwi birds gathering around him. Two is not enough to form a hypothesis!

We need more ants! [OTA]
If the fae need help, of course he will. And he knows just what he needs – ants. This ship is severely lacking in ants. Luckily he has gotten a terrarium with some at an earlier mall stop. They’ve somewhat outgrown his cubicle anyway, after being left alone in there while he was an octopus, and he needs that back to sleep in it.

So not only is there a whole anthill suddenly displaces that is now wandering the ship in the search of a new home, thanks to Lucas redistributing them, they’ll show up all over the ship. In the kitchen. In the aquariums pump room. Outside the rooms of any people he considers needing them.

He’s taken it upon himself to babysit Navi-No too. Trail the drone, ask it all the questions with his slate. “Do you know the engines light spectrum? Are the windows double or triple layered? Where does the wrong food go?” He is actively paying attention and noting the answers, even if they are gibberish today. It’s alright. Even Kern had off days.

And ever once he tries to drop some ants onto Navi-No, hoping they’ll find a way inside the wiring and help. Though he isn’t entirely sure these ants know what they are doing. Maybe they need more exposure to electricity, to learn?

Paint your feelings [OTA]
The fae can’t expect him to sing or have a sense of music or tell stories that are coherent to anyone but him. But art? Art is his life and he is already trying to share it. Flickering lights and eerie hallways and a lack of arms will not stop him. The floating still works, though he falls frequently when he forgets to think about it and it highly increases the risk of anyone getting hit by falling pens, brushes or paint.

He’s also getting more assertive in getting others to participate. No more asking, if you pass him by you’ll be grabbed, handed a painting utensil and pointed at the nearest corner where the dark is encroaching. Just needs all of them helping to beat it back! Any art is good art.
The kiwi birds get unwillingly recruited too. Meaning there are a whole bunch of birds that have been dunked into paint – only up to the neck, don’t worry – or have open paint markers tied to them and are now running around, leaving tracks of creative chaos.

Paint your feelings

[bestbrotherever]

Loki is searching for Lucas, a stormy expression on his face. It's not hard to track the octopus down, he just needs to follow the literal paint bird tracks back to their source.

Nestled in his arms is the Precious Car Payment, looking even more upset than him. And sounding much more upset with her constant whining meows.

[kosmonautilus]

Certainly not hard to find him: just follow the still-wet traces of paint. Or the slightly distressed cries of kiwis. Most of his allowance goes into paints and lacking that he is happy to make his own, so there is more than enough to go around. Splats of paint on the wall indicate some ballistic experiments and the torkeling birds tell the rest of the story.

Still the once-more-human brightens at Lokis approach, waves a paint brush. "Good! You came to help!" If they want to beat back that darkness, they need more art.

[bestbrotherever]

The tortie in Loki's arm's hisses at the painted birds and wiggles as if she's about to attack. He soothes her with one hand while glaring at the human-Lucas.

"Quite the opposite. I have come to stop you. Before you make a more ferocious enemy than a young flerken."

[kosmonautilus]

"We need this." Not to mention that he has been decorating the ship for months now, with no one complaining. And just to demonstrate he points at the offshooting hallway, where lights flicker and everything seems more derelict than it used to be - except in the spots he painted, little islands of safety.

[bestbrotherever]

"We do not need creatures covered in paint running everywhere." Precious meows in agreement. "I have managed to clean up the mess they left in my quarters and on my pets and person. It was tedious even with magic. I expect everyone else will have more trouble and thus be less forgiving."

[uzerotwo]

Mushrooms
Flora sprouting up in weird places was...well, everything here was weird. Zero Two can tell they're mushrooms, a type of fungus, but can't place any species. Because it never had much to worry about from flora if nobody touched or tried to eat it. It stands near a couple rings with a mushroom in its hand, slowly rotating it while it scans and examines the thing. Yep, its fungus. It almost wishes it'd scanned more things like this in the past but that can't be helped.

Flower is near by, floating, spinning and dancing around a smaller ring. She seems to be pretty happy.


Kiwi
The bird is minding its own business, waddling down the hall, sticking its beak into cracks in the walls and open doors. Perfectly content to cause trouble and look adorable while doing so. Suddenly, out of nowhere (it was lurking around a corner) a beast leaps out and grabs the bird in its jaws! The bird squeals but its no match for the beast as it chomps down and...drops the bird, shaking her head and making distressed noises. That wasn't a bird? What the hell!


Network [Audio]: Attempting to contact the fae
It is obvious something is wrong. Please advise so we can assist.

Kiwi

[imperfectagent]

Dain had been crouching in the hallway, watching the kiwi go about its business at close to eye level without interfering. He barely reacts when a strange feathered creature appears from around a corner and snatches up the little bird. His eyes widen, however, when it does not devour it, but instead lets it drop.

"What is that? Why did it attack but not eat the bird?" he exclaims.

need a dino icon ^^;

[uzerotwo]

The dinosaur looks up with a chirping noise and peers at Dain. It can't really reply, but the discarded body has no blood and the insides appear to be...fruit? It is not happy with fruit.

[imperfectagent]

Dain approaches the mangled kiwi carefully. Just in case the... bird-lizard? feels territorial over its kill. Once he's closer, he can see clearly that there's no blood, and the flesh isn't the expected red.

"Oh. You thought it was a normal bird made of meat, not- whatever it is. Are you hungry?"

[uzerotwo]

The dino chirps, though its unclear if it understands or if its just still complaining about the fruit-bird.

[bestbrotherever]

The Amazing Technicolor Flerken

The Precious Car Payment, Loki's tortoiseshell flerken kitten, is sleeping in her second-favorite place behind her dad's quarters: Right next to the dining hall entrance. She has her own cat bed and dad conjured a sunbeam just for her. Despite looking like she's deep asleep, she's very aware of any heavy footsteps that might mean someone is looking for food, so she can demand her portion.

Today she doesn't hear any of those, but there are a lot of smaller creatures coming and going. Many take turns cuddling against her for a time. She assumes they're other kittens looking to play, but as long as they're not pouncing, she won't chase them away.

Several hours into her nap, she shifts her position- and sticks to the bed. That's very distressing. Her fur feels uncomfortably wet, too. She extends a paw to groom herself and tastes something horrible.

Awakening fully with an upset yowl, her distress only multiplies as she sees her nest and herself. It's covered in paint of all colors, most still wet. Milling about, and spreading the paint even more, are small birds. She lashes out and minces a couple with her claws before they start avoiding her. She would punish them more, but she must have her current intolerable condition fixed. She darts through the ship to Loki's room, leaving angry cries and muddled color paw prints behind her.

Lazy River Coming Soon

The corridor is flooded, one end to the other. Deep enough to be trouble. That's not good. Loki is floating above the water, looking down and casting spells. The water is now moving slowly with a constant current. Satisfied, he starts conjuring large yellow inner tubes and spacing them out in the corridor.

He's still at his spells when he addresses you. "I would appreciate it if you could either wait or take an alternate route. I still need to perfect the teleportation spell at the end so the tubes return to the start." He pauses and then adds: "I would recommend not trying to stay on the tubes as the return. I suppose I should add a warning and a barrier, too," he says with a put-upon sigh.

Emporio Alniño - OTA

[oceanbear]

[NOW I'M ONLY FALLING APART]

The ship is degrading. It's...worrisome, to say the least. Emporio sticks to hallways that he can guarantee won't fall under his feet, under bright lights that will at least refrain from blinking, and for their own sake, keeps as many Pokemon as possible in their balls. Dead Man's Party, after all, never had a Pokeball.

...Then again, Dead Man's Party was a ghost, and probably didn't have to worry about this. Still.

The bangle comes off. The bangle goes back on. He can spin it in his grip, and there's no blaring, no nothing. ...That's...worrying, he thinks, as he casually skates along a patch of ground Weather Report is discretely freezing under his feet, making his way through a flooded hall. At least things like this are fun.

...

It could be that Emporio has classified the various glitches, and the degradation of the ship, as separate matters.

[THE MOUNTAIN GOATS]

Ultimately, when the visions are had and their purposes end up clear, Emporio just...

Finds himself relaxing against a sheepgoat. ""Meeeeeeeh.""

"...I really don't know who told them we like durian."

"MeEeeEEEeeh," says the sheepgoat.

"It's not a good smell. It's considered one of the worst," Emporio adds alongside that, looking almost balefully to the rotom hovering above the two. No doubt, right now, Emporio can only smell sheepgoat stink from where he is.

...

That may be intentional.

"You're lucky you don't have a nose..."

"Zrrt!"

Falling Apart

[thepurpleone]

Nothing that's going on with the ship seems to have any reasonable roots for system failures. It's of no surprise, but it is no less frustrating. It's made Donnie less eager to leave his room, particularly since he's been loathe to leave his brother's side for very long these days.

What needs to be fix? At least normally functioning ships would have some sort of system in place that would tell you! That they were on a ship with portions they couldn't even feasibly access without fear of being eaten or sucked out into space just underlined how senseless it was. He can't stand it. It eats at him, not being able to fix what's wrong, because he can't identify the exact problem. Not doing anything goes against his very being.

The haphazard weather shifts are something he can definitely do without. Naturally the first thing he thinks of is how inconvenient it would be for Leo if he suddenly came across a flash-flood in the halls or a sudden blizzard. He should make those add-ons for the wheelchair. Thrusters or even some kind of rotor system like his previous battle shell...

At least water is something he doesn't mind too much, but it's not nearly enough to swim through, so he wades. He blinks as he sees someone else coming through, and with much less effort. That makes him squint. "How..."