[OOC] Star Trader

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

Hey I'm so sorry for the really short response. I'm currently buried under a pile of work right now so writing is going to take a bit of a long time for me.

How are you by the way?

[Thinslayer]

I've been doing okay. Generally sleepless, although that's mainly my own fault for staying up so late. I have a few stories swirling around in my head, and I've written intros for a couple of them, but I don't have the motivation to keep writing (what with video games consuming my interest), so they've been lagging behind.

Speaking of games, I've rediscovered Heroes of the Storm and League of Legends, and my interest in playing Overwatch again is building. In between games (and during long showers), I've been dreaming up scenarios for our characters. It's awfully tempting to make the ship be a sort of Wise Mother figure, but the fact of the matter is, she's a poor pilot, hasn't seen much (if any) combat, and hasn't had much human interaction. So she'll be more like a child in personality, albeit much more reserved and introspective.

Some scenarios I'd dreamed up...
* The Raving Maiden's Q-Core is currently the property of a shady character (like a Pirate Lord or something) within Confederate territory. Since we're not terribly well-armed, we'll have to use our cunning to get it back.
* Back on Crescent Prime, we're introduced to the Mission Computer, where we can pick and choose what missions we want to take on. Major storyline quests may show up there.
* One mission is a cargo job. Normally, cargo is handled at an orbital space station where dedicated freighters can transport it, but this job is a special request from a small factory business that doesn't have the funds to buy a freighter or a slot in a space station. They need help both loading the cargo and transporting it, and the Raving Maiden, with the thrust of an ex-battleship, is perfect for the job.
* One mission is a passenger transport job. A family of three wants to be shuttled to the orbital condominiums to start a new life, but their reason for that is less than rational. See, they all hate each other, and their constant infighting aboard the Maiden gets on the crew's nerves. If we can help the family reconcile before we reach the condos, they might tip us with a substantial bonus.

Still thinking up scenarios.

How are you doing?

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

Hey! I'm excited for all the scenarios you've thought of. They all seem really fun and I look forwards to writing them.

I'm glad that you're doing okay! I've been sleeping pretty late as well so I guess we have that in common (I've been watching a lot of Netflix lately in between work loads so it's been a pretty dull week.) I wish I had more time to play games, I'd love to get into another Overwatch match or just open Steam up again. Who do you main on OW?

I'm hoping to write longer replies now that I've gotten into the rhythm of my workload (if that makes sense) so hopefully, we'll be seeing more of Sofie soon :)

[Thinslayer]

In Oveewatch, I like to play Widowmaker or D.Va mostly. Trouble is, I'm not such a great sniper, so I tend to do better with D.Va. Mercy is also fun. I use the same username everywhere, so you'll find me as Thinslayer in-game.

Who do you main as in Overwatch?

[ineffable]

I used to do a lot of Mercy but now I'm switching up my playing style. Sometimes I go with Tracer but I'd love to get good at Mcree.

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

Hey just writing to tell you that my update might come a bit slow. Work's over my head right now but you can expect it sometime soon within this week :(

[Thinslayer]

Understood. Maybe when you have a good chunk of free time, we could do Overwatch together too.

My Blizzard ID

Thinslayer#1556

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

My reply is so short, I'm so so sorry! I wish I could write more but I've barely fitted this in amongst all my other work. Hopefully, the work load should die down soon once I get myself comfortable with it but for now I'm feeling guilty that you'll have to read through my horrible writing. I'll try to write more the next time I reply but I'm getting better at chasing my writer's block away.

As for what's going on in the story I know Sofie is supposed to steer them to Horus II, and she will but maybe we could have the characters interact more, get to know each other on the journey? Darcy could be there if you'd like or we can move him to another part of the ship :)

[Thinslayer]

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Darcy is kind of getting on in years, so he might leave our characters in charge while he goes take a nap or something. Then Ed and Sofie can have a heart-to-heart talk.

[Thinslayer]

I think you'll like what I have planned. I'm thinking we should play with the usual gender roles a little bit - we'll make Sofie the crack pilot, and Ed will be her tech geek. Additionally, for this mission, I played out a few scenarios in my head, and decided on a version with a cheerier plot than what I was initially going with. The person we're obtaining the Q-core from (we'll call him Krakticus Quinn), as you know, is a rather shady fellow, and one with which Richard Darcy has an unpleasant history. Mr. Quinn is a racing mogul, who makes his money off the fees, betting, and gambling over interstellar races. Crescent Q-Cores are exceptionally powerful drive units and make for nigh-unbeatable speedsters, making them highly sought-after in the racing community (or anywhere, really).

As for motivations and stuff, I think I've sorted it out. I'll start up a side-story about a few Terrans on planet Charon, who are living under increasingly perilous tyranny and hold out hope for someone to help them.

New post coming in the next couple days. I apologize again for the long wait. I'll try not to let that happen again. :)

[Thinslayer]

Right now, the way I'm planning the scene, events start kicking off the moment they arrive. The ship has two FTL drives: a wormhole generator (called a "worm drive") and a warp drive. Had they used their warp drive, it might have taken some time to get there, but the worm drive is basically an interstellar teleport. There's no time between activating the drive and reaching the destination. I should probably retcon my post to make it a warp instead to give Ed and Sofie some time to chat.

[Thinslayer]

Finally posted. I sincerely apologize for the wait; I wasn't expecting to take this long. You doing okay?

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

Hey there! It's no problem at all. I'm doing well...haven't had the best day but hopefully I'll cheer up soon.

I'll make sure to write back soon :)

[Thinslayer]

You're too kind, ineffable. :') <3

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

Ah no! While you're waiting for me to write something do you have any updates on life or whatever at all?

[Thinslayer]

Well, while I was dreaming up a scene exploring life on the Terran side of Charon, it inspired me to start another 1x1 RP for it. I hope you don't mind that I did that. I'm tempted to do a crossover between the RPs at some point, since they take place in the same timeline and (ultimately) on the same planet.

As far as the scene goes, I was thinking of telling a story about a brother and sister struggling to survive the tyrannical regime. The sister is the optimistic one, believing that the Empire will come save them someday. The brother is more pessimistic, believing that neither faction really cares about the individual and doesn't give a hoot if it doesn't affect them in any major way. One day, he's involved in a tragic event; I haven't decided whether he's put do death for racial prejudice, castrated for a false rape charge, loses a limb or two, falls sick of flesh-eating bacteria or cancer, or something else. If he lives through it, his sister tries to help him escape to the Crescent side of Charon, where the legendary Imperial healers can help him. He doesn't make it there, so the two of them are stuck on the Terran side of Charon with no way to get help. When our characters arrive during the climax of the story, helping this pair will be one of our missions.

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

Wow that sounds like a lot of thinking went on! I'm always amazed by your ability to think in depth about certain plot points or settings. It's a really good idea and I look forwards to seeing it soon!

Also, another warning. It may take a bit for me to get back to you. I'll try my best but as of now I'm expecting an influx in work for this week :(

[ineffable]

@Thinslayer

Whew! New post is up! Sorry if it transitioned so quickly. I haven't written anything remotely story like in the past few weeks and this was my lame attempt at inserting some of Sofie's history in there. Ahhh, my writing really is terrible :/

I hope you've had a great day!

[Thinslayer]

Well, to be fair, I did wait 3 weeks to post. Your writing is fine! I'm a sucker for fluff, and seeing Sofie look at Ed romantically makes me wanna fangir- I mean, smile warmly. I'll try to pick up the pace a little so we don't both lose our touch. :P

[Thinslayer]

Ooh, by the way, Ed was trying to strike up a conversation with Sofie. The silence that followed would be a little awkward for him. Should I have him try again with a more direct conversation-starter, or do you wanna give Sofie a reply?