2024.2.2: Orrery Adventures: Helios 2

Adventures in Orrery Making: Helios
A trip to the palace of the Sun God to beg a piece of his realm for the orrery, and to request knowledge of his gifts.
IC Date	January
IC Time	Afternoon
Players	Pancake Evan Abril Jackie
Location	The surface of the Umbral Sun
Prp/Tp	Happens alongside This log
Spheres	Gaian Garou

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Cast: Abril: Mr. Purple, Evan: Mr. Green, Jackie: Mr. Red, ST/Iris: Mr. Black

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xxxxxSo what's been happening? Well, it's not exactly the love boat, but it's possibly been a fun trip getting from Mercury to the Sun, the lounge has plenty to drink, snacks galore, karaoke 25/8, there's interesting spirits to talk to or get into arm wrestling matches with (assuming the spirit in question has actual arms, that is), Soul Train style dance offs and surely some sparring here and there as well. Gotta keep everyone fighting fit, after all!
xxxxxSlowly but surely the already fucknormous sun just gets bigger and bigger till it takes up practically all of one's vision when looking that direction. And then, the big day arrives! This is noticeable by all the turbulence. Boat shaking around, shit starting to fall off shelves, someone probably got a loose backpack right to the face while waking up, that sort of thing. It's not terrible as of yet, just sorta annoying.
xxxxxIris can be found up on the bridge of the ship, fighting with the complicated armillary sphere steering mechanism a bit, trying to navigate the solar road this close to the source. Nearby are the supplies that have been made ready for the trip down.
xxxxxBoots, Irsa, Rhapsody and Branton are also here and off to one side. Rhap is passing out Kiss of Helios and Adaptation talens to everyone in the form of sun screen and bandanas, respectively.

As soon as things start shaking, Abril shifts to the safety and stability of four legs over two. And so, she's looking mighty fly with the bandana wrapped about her dire-wolf neck. If you look past the protective smudges of talened sunscreen on her snout.

Jackie stumbles out of the cabin, being maybe a bit too careful about holding onto things as the ship sways and shakes under her feet than she really needs to be. "I almost hate to say it, but are we there yet?"

Evan will go for his direwolf shape after applying the protective talens and such, agreeing with Abril as to the superiority of that as a choice. Once on four legs he sidles over to sit near Jackie just in case >>Evenutally we'll have to stop the ship. The gauntlet is for people, at least that's how it was explained to me.<<

xxxxx"Yeah!" shouts Iris while gesturing to Boots to hit the anchor switch. She doesn't have enough hands. The whole vessel lurches against its tether and stops, as predicted by Evan. It's not a nice and easy rest, it's like anchoring in the middle of some wild rapids. It *works*, but it's a little tilty and unsafe. "BEHOLD the staggering, awe inspiring, creation balancing power of the strongest Celestine in the solar system!" Here's the thing. In ACTUAL outer space, no one can hear you scream and explosions are silent. In UMBRAL outer space, you can breathe, fly, everyone can definitely hear you scream, and at this distance from the sun it sounds like a major 4th of July fireworks display going on downtown. Just BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM all over the place down there, distant enough not to be ear shattering as of yet. "Alright, let's get suited up!" Any last minute talen application and what not. Sunglasses are passed around (goggles in the case of the hispo and crinos) that Branton explains are done with welding mask glass and a smidgin of magic to make them full coverage. Over-ear protection as well to avoid deafness, and lastly some colorful scarves.
xxxxxIris warns everyone, "DO NOT take the glasses off for any reason until we're back on the ship and done with the sun, you will absolutely go blind and the damage might not be fixable! You can take the ear thingies off ONLY once you've fully landed and have both feet on what passes for ground, or again, might not be able to fix the deafness." The scarves are mostly just longass strips of brilliant sun colors, not protective in any way, just cloth is all: "We're wearing his colors to show respect and loyalty to the light."

Abril considers the sun colored clothes and asks, << Can I get extra??? >> The dark furred shadow lord wrapping said extra clothing around her wolfish midsection as well. When in rome (or the Sun), cover up any shadow-ness?

Jackie shakes her head as she puts on the sunglasses and earmuffs. "You know, back in New York, Evan probably knows this one, we had a saying. 'Why do we live where the air hurts your face?' It's great to know there's somewhere so much worse. Maybe it's less great that we're going there though."

Collector-of-Tales gives a wolfy laugh at Jackie's reaction >>Well the talens will keep us from burning to a crisp so there's that. But yeah, this is like the absolute inverse of where we grew up.<<

xxxxx"Sure!" Iris says, and makes sure Abril has extra scarves. There's a whole check yourself-check your neighbor thing going on as well, the sun is NOT a place to oops anything when it comes to preparations. She grins at Jackie and Evan, "Well, I mean at least now you know you can take on the air from *any* state, once you've done this! Okay, so..."
xxxxx"We have to fly the rest of the way, on-foot as it were. You see those big ribbons of fire that keep shooting up? We're going to weave between them. Keep your head on a swivel, and stay tight! If you see someone get thrown off course, slap your neighbor, and that neighbor slaps THEIR neighbor and so on, so that all of us can go after them as one. We don't want to get separated, and we cant let anyone get thrown too far off course. Those explosions you hear can pretty much liquefy all your organs and bones, so... I will be furthest in front, so you guys stay on my ass and I'll get us to the ground. Most importantly, don't panic! Sing a song at the tops of your lungs, trust me it'll keep your head sane and provide an outlet for all the adrenaline. Theurges, be ready with mid-flight healing!"
xxxxx"THREE HITS, we *have* to take three direct hits from the guardians of the sun, just to refresh anyone that missed this info earlier. That's the gauntlet. If we make it, then we're worthy. When you're ready, step overboard and join me!" She steps over the railing and into space, and is joined by the other team.

<< Three is a magic number. >> Abril nods as if it makes perfect sense. And totally not just taking schoolhouse rock as the gospel it is. But then she's stepping over to Jackie's other side, sandwich the kin between two hispos. << Don't be afraid to grab tails if getting thrown off course. >>

Collector-of-Tales nods in agreement with Abril, for whatever reason she said it she's not wrong >>Can be like sled dogs or water ski. Except flying through the sky and on fire.<<

Jackie steps to the edge, and has to think long and hard before stepping over the edge of the boat. And she does it with her eyes closed, too. "And to think, I could have just been a mechanic."

xxxxxFortunately Flight is just one of those solid laws in the Aetherial, so Jackie does not Wile E Coyote plummet into the void or anything. The winds immediately begin to buffet the pack as they head towards the sun, and flying becomes harder the closer they get. It really is like flying into a hurricane! The explosions cant be heard through the ear protection yet, so you're left with your own inner sound track and heart beat while moving forward. An explosion on the surface lights up bright white-yellow and a ribbon of fire errupts towards the group, looking like the five mile long on-fire dragon that Iris warned everyone about before. The light serpent aims straight for the tiny meat morsels and opens its mouth wide, and Iris points excitedly right at the open mouth and doesn't attempt to lead the group out of its way. But if everyone was paying attention, then they know this is the first of the three hits. It's mouth does little more than dazzle though when it snaps at the pack, the sunscreen deflects the burn.

Abril just keeps swimming, swimming, swimming... or flying, along with the group and through the fire dragon mouth.

Collector-of-Tales howls in excitement as he dives forward. Staying in formation with the group as they charge into the maw of the fire dragon.

Jackie flies feet first with her arms crossed over her chest, looking more like she's plummeting. Because it's funnier that way. Plus, if she does hit something, it'll be boot first instead of face planting.

xxxxxAs they get closer and all the group's field of view is nothing but fire and violent eruptions, you get to feel the explosions that you cant hear, dull thuds and vibrations against your bodies from bigass booms hundreds of miles away, explosions roughly the size of an entire earthly continent. Even with the protections of talens and gifts, you can still feel the *sting* of heat. No blisters, no burns, but it IS the most powerful fire, like, anywhere, so... Stings a little. The winds become even wilder as they get closer, and from one side a vicious golden dragon of fire sweeps in, solar-flare-wings spread wide and flame teeth glinting.
xxxxxThis time things actually kinda hurt! The burning of the Incarna's mouth is ignored, and maybe its bite at such small creatures was ill placed, but everyone's knocked by its fucknormous teeth, and Boots takes one hell of a cut on the way through. Rhapsody doesn't get hurt in the same way, but the wildness of the solar flare's breath straight up HURLS her off course, the Fury spinning wildly through the air and plummeting off to the left at a rapid pace! Irsa is closest to her out of control packmate though, and dives down to grab her and bring her back into the fold. On this side of the group, everything's okay, no injuries, no major off course spins.

As they move closer to Sun Central, those explosions may not be //hurting// Abril's ears but they are definitely beginning to get under her skin. The floating through sun-space isn't quite as smooth as it was to begin with, but she continues hurdling on through.

Collector-of-Tales is dodging and weaving as best he can, getting buffeted around but he still stays as close to Jackie as he can so he can support her if she needs it. Packmates gotta watch out for each other after all.

Jackie moves her hands to her glasses and muffs to hold them on as turbulence increases. She mutters something that's probably some sort of vicious griping, but it's thankfully devoured by the roarscape.

xxxxxIris and the gang have to angle to make sure everyone's staying together, but so far so good! The elder does some rough signing on one side and then the other to make sure everyone gets the jist of 'one more, then ground'. The solar winds buffet them like crazy as they near their goal, every second is a fight for most of the group to just stay on target, stay together, even a second of weakness and you'll be thrown miles off course and into explosive doom. So far so good, they're threading this needle very well!
xxxxxFrom directly in front of them, right where they're aiming comes a colossal boom that's loud even through the headphones, and hits like a punch to the gut. A fiery beast of rage and light erupts from the ground and swipes with a clawed hand that's roughly the size of a building!
xxxxxAs the bigass beast swipes, it catches pretty much everyone, not a single person escapes this attack without wounds, though some are worse than others. Boots, for instance, is hit hard enough to make him go limp and enter an uncontrolled fall straight towards the surface. At the same that Evan is diving to grab Abril and stall her wild spin, Irsa and Rhapsody are doing the same for Boots, the former grabbing him while the latter gives him mother's touch.

Abril spins out from the hit, a bit winded as well, though a thankful nudge of her nose to Evan as he doesn't allow her to go spinning off into a fiery abyss that is The Sun.

Jackie lets out a shriek of pain as the claw slams into her, managing to stay 'falling' in the right direction but curled around and clutching her chest while spitting out more blood than looks healthy. The healthy amount of blood to be spitting out being zero, of course.

Collector-of-Tales sees that Jackie is on course so he dives deftly to grab Abril when she gets knocked out of Formation. Dragging her back over to Jackie so that the group will all land together.

xxxxxIris was very nearly about to shit herself when she saw her kiddos take such hard hits, nerves all jangled up and ready to be Plan B if Irsa and Rhapsody don't manage... But they do! She quick flips and does a sort of stumbly half run of a landing, not quite crashing but maybe not super graceful either. Once landed, she takes off her earmuffs.
xxxxxSo, we've landed on the sun! It's really calm, all things considered, a sort of slooooowly undulating expanse of gold/red rolling hills that occasionally burst into flames, and out there grazing are herds of really, really big golden cattle and really, really big lizards. The sky - which is very definitely not exploding - is home to huge golden birds, some kind of eagle species maybe. Under the feet of the pack is a roadway of blue embers that leads through the solar landscape towards a particularly tall rise whereupon sits the citadel of Helios.
xxxxxIt's... it's so, *so* big. The lupus amongst us might see a hugenormous eagle's nest of gold with a little opening at the bottom, the Furies doubtless see the home of Apollo in all its legendary majesty. The Gnawers might see something more modern, something extremely opulent, think the palace of Asgard from the Marvel movies maybe. The air is calm, it's hot as balls, but no one's dead!

Once they have terra firma (or sola firma?) under paw again, Abril gives a good solid shake as if trying to encourage her own regenerative powers along some. << Ooofh. Everybody alright? >> Her head swivels as if trying to do a head count when not distracted by the reall big gold birds.

Jackie lands on her feet with a thump, an apple core with golden ends in her hand. "Holy fuck that hurt! Goddamn it... Oh shit, it's even weirder down here."

Collector-of-Tales takes a moment to steady himself and check on Jackie, seeing the healing talen has done its work he takes a breath and looks around as he starts to regenerate his own wounds >>I'm going to need a moment to heal but nothing that'll take long to fix. That was a hell of a ride yeah?<<

xxxxxIris is coming around to everybody, momma wolfing all over the place with, "Are you okay? Are you okay?!" and will bestow healing if asked, for sure. Regeneration will totally do it, given a little time, but still. She herself is wiping blood off her face that shot out of her nose earlier. Nearby, Boots is recovering from being incapacitated a second and gets up yelling "IMMA FUCK UP THE SUN!" Once everyone's good, she starts them towards Helios's place.
xxxxxThe guy cant possibly get that many guests, so maybe he's compensating, or maybe he just REALLY wants to impress the few guests he does get. Thanks to the talens and gifts, walking on the coal path is like walking on gravel, and that's only bad for people that wear open toed shoes. You always get a rock stuck under your foot in those. A hill nearby quietly whooshes in flame that climbs high up into the sky before going out again, sun cattle low and lizards just kinda watch the passers by.
xxxxxThe home itself is, as stated, enormous. Like I really can not understate how *big* this one guy's home is, regardless what it looks like to each person according to their view of the sun deity. The doors are super tall and super wide, and look like solid gold. The door knockers are like way up there and Iris makes Irsa climb Boots to knock for us all, so we have a sec while they do that. The design of the doors is, of course, lots of sun burst motifs, lots of birds, ravens and eagles in particular, and maybe some particularly spiteful designs of certain wyrmspawn being smoted by the sun.

Abril forgot to pack wolf-booties, but she's dealing. While the Gnawers be knocking, she takes the time to truly observe the monumental architecture before giving a whispered and awed mutter of << El Dorado... >>

Collector-of-Tales pads along the path and nods to Abril >>The Monarch of All that is Shiny. Kind of makes sense how much the Corax love this place.<<

Jackie looks up, and up, and up, reflexively and uselessly putting her hand to her forehead over her eyes as if to shield them, even though the sun is under her feet at this point. "Mmmmm... Big."

xxxxxThe knocks on the door bong out like a giant bell had been struck, and the doors open with nary a hint of creaking nor squeaky hinge sound, swinging inwards with the ease of excellent balancing and craftsmanship. Beyond is a cavernous antechamber that could probably fit a city's worth of people leading to the throne room (or central altar or heart of the nest or whatever). Regardless of how you see it, it's rich, it's opulent, it's bright and golden. Aside from the staggering wealth of the place, all its gold, rubies, fire opals and such decorating ornate art, like there is a serious narcissism in here. Helios is the kind of guy that would have several portraits of himself in his own apartment, you know? Of course, it's more like giant golden suns and images of his many, many faces throughout all the ages of Man wrought 20 feet tall on his walls.
xxxxxThe man himself sits upon a massive red ruby throne, the thing carved fittingly for a king above all kings. Good thing you have those sun glasses, this dude is bright even with them on, and he's a little difficult to look directly at. A golden bird, a kilted sun warrior, a fiery nordic goddess, however you see him, he's bright, and is in a dramatically unphased lounge just now.
xxxxxIt's kind of a long walk towards the throne, aside from being very bright, he's also very big, the crinos no bigger than toddlers to him, by comparison, and the homid types even littler. His voice is strong and clear when he asks, "What is it you seek, little Garou, that you would come to my throne directly?" And here Iris states her case, but since I don't want to RP with myself, we're just gonna sum it up! Firstly, she does some serious prostration in her greeting, and before getting to any sort of business she whips out offerings and encourages the others to do so as well. Helios's version of 'aw that's cool, I love it!' is to wave magnanimously towards some large gold bowls to put your stuff in. She also states her case about needing a little smidgin of Sun and the orrery and the whole leg up it'll give in the fight against the Wyrm. She gets a "Go forth and harvest my fire for your device of light and prophecy. I give my blessing in these endeavors. And the rest of you, what do you seek of me?"

When it comes time for the whole Giving of Gifts, Abril nudges forward a single, tiny, unpolished sunstone and steps back. << Nothing to seek, just to observe. >> Crow's follower is a modest one after all.

Collector-of-Tales steps up in his turn and returns to homid to say (as he readies his fetish guitar) "I have brought in offering a gift of a song, an anthem of the divine inspiration of what it feels like to be filled with fire and called to glory. If you find it pleasing there are magics I would learn from your power."

Jackie steps up and deposits a small handheld telescope from Branton's box of crafted goodies (that I'm told was mentioned in a scene I missed). "I figured that everyone else in the solar system can see the sun, so looking back should be fair, right? But I'm not really seeing anything either, I'm along for the ride."

xxxxxOver on the other side of the group, the talkative types flatter the heck out of Helios, and everyone leaves some sort of offering or another. There's promises to dedicate their next vampire hunts to him and to perform rituals and all sorts of stuff. Irsa talked him in to striking an impressive pose so that she can sketch him and make a mural that he'll be able to see.
xxxxxWith a twitch of his fingers he uses the Force to snatch up the little sun stone and roll it over his fingers idly while he's being used as a muse for the Gnawer artist. He rolls it to thr rhytm of Evan's music, smiling slightly and closing his eyes. He nod graciously to Jackie's offering and studies it while in pose for Irsa. It compliments the magnifying glass from Boots perfectly and he seems to like it.
xxxxxSo much attention! Helios is loving it, LO! VING! IT! The sun is a very prideful and this, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly how to win him over. xxxxxIris offers a traditional yet inexpensive offering of meat and bone in the style of the Greeks. And while songs are sung and knowledge is SEARED into the brains of those that asked for gifts, there's time to wander around, look at stuff. You want an amazing view? Take your pick! Behold this staggeringly gorgeous ten foot tall statue of an elder Corax all decorated with black feathers. Have you ever seen a sun stone *this* big? It's good stuff! And Iris is ready for her brethren and sistren when they've had their fill of this hot man and his hot house.

Abril is mostly all eyes as she takes a wander about Helios' hall. And by the time they're heading back to the space boat? Well... the shadow lord may have picked up the tiniest of Sun stones as a souvenir. You know, for a certain sparkle-loving avian spirit.

Evan does have a look around after his performance is over, though if at all prompted he'll do an encore. He's got all sorts of sun positive songs in his available catalog. He will wrap up when its time though, having acquired a new guitar pick from...somewhere? He looks at it and smiles before tucking it in his pocket.

xxxxxIris took a short detour during the end bit there to fill up a big glass sphere with some sun... earth. Sun dirt...? The... the fuckin ground, dawg. Anyways, tiny sun, got it.
xxxxxAfter humble thanks for all the things, more compliments, more low, low bows, Helios is feeling.... Fluffed, pleased, worshiped even, and that's a great feeling! He's buffing his nails in happiness as the Garou leave his presence while their eyes still work. There's no real need to follow the path again, all they need is nothing in the way and they can jump and fly away, as demonstrated by Iris in case anyone briefly forgot they're still in a realm where that's possible. The way up is MUCH much much much muuuuuuuch easier. Still windy as hell, not really anything one can do about that, but there's no nearby explosions trying to powder one's bones, nor enormous sunfire spirits attempting to slap or bite them. Parked waaaaaay on out there is the boat, still in one piece! Bad news, we all got sun tans while down there, and have reverse raccoon eyes. Even the people with fur on, sun tans.