( ★ ━ ❝ life on mars !! ❞ // closed

[alyosha]

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the ares program, nasa's most ambitious project yet. the plan is to send a series of five
manned missions to mars to collect samples from mars and to bring them back to earth,
and, in addition, to test the effects of mars' gravity on the human body. the ultimate goal
is to colonize mars, but things take a dark turn when disaster strikes the ares i. crew.

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[alyosha]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝑷𝑳𝑶𝑻 𝑶𝑵 ━━━━━━━━

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the year is 2035, and the ares one crew have finally arrived in acidalia planitia for what was
supposed to be a month long stay on mars. however, on sol 6 of their mission, the crew
experiences an intense dust storm. they're ordered to abort mission, but before they can
reach the mav (mars ascent vehicle, a shuttle used to evacuate mars' surface), it tips over
due to the high speed winds. now, with no mav, they're stranded with limited supplies of
oxygen, water, and food. and not to mention, they've lost all connection to earth during
the storm, including their communications systems. the first people to live on mars may
also be the first to die there, unless they can figure out a way to survive on the red planet.

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[alyosha]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝑹𝑼𝑳𝑬𝑺 𝑶𝑵 ━━━━━━━

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i. follow all cs rules ii. posts should be 400+ words in length, more is encouraged, but quality
over quantity is always best iii. only one character per person for now, reservations should
be made by pm only iv. post forms on discussion thread after i've accepted your reservation
v. only realistic faceclaims please! vi. make your posts look nice, i'm not asking for expertise
coding, but i'd greatly appreciate it if you would disable your signature and have your text
size under 90! vii. diversity is strongly encouraged among the characters! make them have
different personalities, it'll make the rp more interesting. i know it's hard with set roles but
please try your best xx viii. age range is 28+, except for one role which i'll specify
ix. posting requirements will be made later depending on how fast the rp is moving.

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[alyosha]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑺 𝑶𝑵 ━━━━━


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xxxxxxxxx
𝐓𝐇𝐄
𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐓


played by bird
a top-notch air force pilot,
they have about as much
space travel experience as
the commander, who they
have served alongside for
almost every one of their
missions. a practical joker
who takes their job seriously



𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐑/
𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓


played by alyosha
after spending two years in the
peace corps, they were offered
a spot on the ares mission, to
much of their astonishment.
they were chosen because of
their good attitude and wit.
they're a problem solver w/ a
penchant for coarse language.



𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐑
𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓


played by andromeda
the computer scientist is the
baby of the group at 26. they
are highly intelligent & know
everything there is to know
about computers. they were
chosen bc they created the
system on the ship. to describe
them in 3 words: a giant nerd.



𝐓𝐇𝐄
𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐒𝐓


played by ashton_99
the geologist collects and
analyzes rock samples from
mars' surface to see what info
they can gather about mars's
past. the only one with their
life together tbh, and they
stare at rocks all day! also
the unofficial crew babysitter.
xxxxxxxxx
𝐓𝐇𝐄
𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑


played by dayman
a former navy officer and a
space travel veteran, no one
is more capable or qualified
to lead this mission than the
commander. they have a phD
in planetary sciences and a
strange love for disco music
and 1970's television.



𝐓𝐇𝐄
𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑


played by mastros
a grumpy astrophysicist who
also serves as the crew's on
board psychologist & director
of communications. their job
is to calculate trajectories &
routes, send updates to nasa,
and to evaluate each of the
astronaut's mental health.



𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓
𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐍


played by sins
a world-renowned surgeon
from yale, the flight surgeon is
the team's doctor, as well as a
biologist & eva specialist. they
are studying the effects of mars
gravity on the body as well as
searching for possible signs of
life. the space mom/dad.



𝐓𝐇𝐄
𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓


played by comminatory
the chemist is the only one not
working for nasa. they're from
germany and were chosen to
represent the european space
agency on the ares mission.
they analyze organic material
& try not to blow anything up.
basically a mad scientist.
xxxxxxx

[alyosha]

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𝐎 𝐏 𝐄 𝐍 | 𝐂 𝐋 𝐎 𝐒 𝐄 𝐃

all spots taken !!
discussion thread

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[.sins.]

▸Ａ Ｎ Ｇ Ｅ Ｌ Ｍ Ａ Ｈ Ａ Ｉ Ｏ
; ｆｌｉｇｈｔ ｓｕｒｇｅｏｎ
;s ᴏ ɴ o ғ A ᴘ o ʟ ʟ o
THIRTY-THREE; HETEROSEXUAL; MALE;
TAGS: P. MUCH EVERYONE
LOCATION: LOADING DOCK

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finishing with packing up some of his bags for the loaders to take, angel sighed. not with sadness, or boredem, but with anxious nervousness as what was about to happen in the next three hours. yeah, three hours may seam like a long time but for the surgeon this was a time of getting ready and a lot of tears. he had just said goodbye to his mother and father, who were also going to be taking care of his mini aussie, Lo-Lo, while he was on his mission, leaving them with a wad of cash that should cover everything for them, and would pay back whatever might go over. he cried profusely with his family over what could possibly go wrong, but having to assure his mother that it was NASA and they can always fix what could go wrong. finally getting her to calm down he fixed her makeup and hugged both her and his father before watching them walk off to their car. he was still sitting in the room they had given him to spend time with his family with crying. 'don't worry mijo, we will be able to email each other until you get back,' the words rang inside his head from his father. wiping his eyes he got up and headed out.

two hours... two hours was all he had left and he had spent most of the last hour trying to calm himself down. everything that could go wrong running through his mind. walking down a high school-esque hallway into a locker room he was suppose to share with all the others to get their suits on and head up to the loading dock. he went into one of the stalls and sat down before crying again. 'seriously angel, get it together, please!... but think of all the ways things could go wrong, or all the ways that your crew could get hurt and you can't save them or-' he cut himself off as he hear another locker open. he stood up and flushed the toilet so whoever it was didn't think anything differently. he stepped out and washed his hands, admittedly all the way up to his elbows, before realizing that he didn't have to do that. rolling his eyes at himself, he splashed water over his face and dried off with a towel. he headed over to his locker and nodded to thibault before grabbing his 'space long jonh's' as he liked to call them and began to slip them on, he noted as the others walked into the room. some he knew and others he didn't. Claude and Lalyn together, then Elliot and some green haired girl he had seen around and talked to a couple of times. the more he got on, the other's also filed in.

one hour to go... and he was terrified, walking down the catwalk with everyone else to the shuttle that would take them to the hermes waiting beyond the pull of gravity to take them to mars. how fitting, hermes, messenger of the gods, sending them to mars, the god of war, also known as ares, which was what the missions he was on was called... his train of thought got the best of him again, allowing him to relax a bit from all the stress. getting into the shuttle, he took his seat in the back with no controls whatsoever for him to play with, not even baby toys. probably for the best... he watched and listened as the commander and co-pilot wrorked together to get everything going, and the green haired girl as well. he leaned his head back and spoke aloud to anyone able to respond "if anyone is nervous the best way to calm yourself is to take deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth and remember this will all be over shortly."

the countdown to launch could be heard through the shuttle. they made speakers able to withstand the forces of gravity and other stuff that NASA would think of. he braced himself and the ship began to shake to the the fuels getting ready to ignite. '''five... four... three... two... one... lift off''' the ship shook with such vigor that he was sure it would fall apart. the weight that fell upon him made him almost instantly puke, if not for the weight causing it. he grabbed onto the closest thing he could and could tell he was white knuckling. ears popping with such ferocity too that he wasn't sure if he would go deaf or not from it. all he could do was hope and pray that nothing bad would happen. a few minutes later he could feel all the weight suddenly disappear and he reached for the nearest bio-hazard bag they had on board and released his own cargo. after folding and tying it off properly, he laughed with everyone else on board at the success they had with not dying for that part of the trip, and took part in all the high fives going around.

[altiora]

Claude had been in a daze for the last few weeks, ever since they had received a
night off to go to a family gathering. It had been for them, a high-class function to
celebrate the pilot's achievements and wish them luck for the Ares Mission. The
relatives and family friends that had attended made sure to use the appropriate
pronouns without being awkward about it - and even humoured them by using their
favoured nickname, Cloud.

tags ; most ppl
. * : ✧･ﾟ * .･ﾟ✧

- - -

ᴄʟᴀᴜᴅᴇ ʟᴀᴠɪɴᴇ
they them / the pilot

»»——————---　★　---——————««

The position they were in had struck them that night, and they floated through the next few weeks as they regarded what they were leaving behind and what was soon coming up in a fresh, startling light. It wasn't as if they had never thought about it before, but the realisation that yes, indeed, they were going to Mars gave them a new awareness of their situation. To leave everything they had ever known for becoming one of the Mars pioneers, leading the way for a colony, laying the foundations for a spacefaring humanity. As they were falling asleep the day before liftoff, they wondered if humanity would survive long enough, travel far enough, to forget about the earth. If this mission succeeds - and of course it will, they thought to themselves, optimistic yet grim - the consequences spiralled past the limits of prediction.

As they woke up the next morning, suddenly everything clicked into place and the daze passed - and they put a name to the buzzing in their chest; the flutter of apprehension and the sting of excitement. An unguarded smile easily slipped onto their face where their one-sided charming one usually lay. They moved from room to room as they prepped themselves, and they were greeted with eager nods, enthusiastic 'good luck, Cloud!'s, and the occasional fist bump from the more outgoing colleagues. With every step they become more animated, throwing a two-fingered salute at one person they barely knew who looked in awe at them, and spinning into a five-second hug with the family member who had suggested working for NASA in the first place, the catalyst for Claude, Ares Mission Pilot - before rushing off to meet Lalyn Kimball at the time they had planned.

Claude was five minutes late, but Lalyn, being the commander, was first to arrive at the place the team would congregate just under two hours departure, so Claude was still the second person to arrive. In an attempt to make her jump, they snuck behind the woman, then called out: "hey Lal, looking wonderful as always." just behind her. Lalyn was perhaps the only authoritative figure Claude had no issue working under, and throughout the NASA missions the two had shared Claude liked to think at this point they were also fast friends. They had worked so fluently together that once again Claude Lavine was apart of her crew. Their apprehension faded at the friendly face, leaving only an excited sly smile. Claude knew Lalyn felt the pressure of the upcoming event, so as they conversed while they awaited the rest of the crew, they friendly joked around with a 'man, gotta work with you again, huh?', 'let's hope I dont crash', and, 'ugh, I cant believe bringing hair dye is a hazard'.

The two walked to the lockers, Claude glancing to Angel and Thibault - they thought the former looked worried but didn't know him enough to read him properly - and put on their gross orange launch suit. Others came in, and Claude knew their names from the meetings they shared and a few other details from a few team building exercises but little more than that. Time passed with increasing speed, and as they walked up to the shuttle Claude gazed at the vast Ares spacecraft with fear, but mostly great admiration, even love. It would deliver her to what they loved most; to the sky, to space, to their future. It was a unnamed feeling that raced under their skin like liquid electricity, and if they weren't probably being watched by people all over the world, Claude wouldn't have been able to stop themselves from fidgeting and skipping.

But when they reached the crew module, they calmed.

They focused on their job with a surprising serenity as they pushed everything from their mind except their job at hand. They held the crew's lives on their shoulders, but even this was classed as a distracting thought and was gone as soon as it passed through their mind. In experienced synchronization with the commander they started on the controls around them, commencing with the tasks at hand and triple-checking everything involved in the safe escape of the earths gravital pull. They were aided by the young Saga Gunnarsdóttir who did computer-scientist things and commented to them occasionally about one thing or another. The navigator, Thibault Moridian, was also at the ready, though not much was needed from him for this part of the journey. No, this was where Claude's was important, and as the countdown echoed in their ears it soothed them further into a meditative-like state.

Takeoff might rely slightly on automated systems and the pre-prepared engineering of NASA's science-nerds, but the commander and her pilot still had control and decisions to make and Claude was alert at all the information and data that rushed in, following through on Laryn's commands. Six seconds to go, the main engines shuddered to life, an earthquake below them. Then, T-minus-zero, the Solid Rocket Boosters ignited and with all the thrust the Space Launch System could manage, they jerked upwards. Milestones rushed by with fortunate yet expected ease; forty-five seconds in, the engine throttled down for Max-Q, and throttled up again afterward; a few minutes in, the empty SRB's dropped off with a bang and a flash on the screens, and that was the last loud noise now that they had exited the slipstream; the mach numbers rose and so the pressure rose to highly uncomfortable levels on Claude's body until they watched the main engine cut off - and then they were in space.

A few seconds of silence, until Claude's calm split and they once again focused on the world - or rather, the space - around them, and fist pumped the air. They joined in the celebratory exclamations, and they thought about how much they were meant to be out here. God, they loved flying.

[comminatory]

❝ ａｎｇｅｌｉｋａ !! ☁ ❞

" angelika dietrich ⬫ twenty-nine ⬫ the chemist ⬫ cisfem ⬫ " tags; //open

angelika hadn't even bothered to make small talk to her fellow crew mates at all yet, sticking to herself the entire time. this was rather unlike her, usually she'd be a loud-mouth the second she saw new people, but now she had a job to do. angelika ignored all advances towards her for the first days, except for saying a polite "hello." she barely realized how distant she came across, though, she thought it didn't matter much. she was just here to do her job.

leaving to go to space wasn't even a problem for her, as she didn't have anyone to say goodbye to, not even a pet. her family hadn't even come to wish her off, as much as she secretly desired it. though, all feelings of sadness vanished the second they got into outer space. angelika was in pure bliss, her laughter erupting from her room and throughout the halls. "Finally." she groaned, getting up off her bed and pushing her arms up into the air, stretching them out.

she quickly pushed all her hair except some long strips into a ponytail and popped a lollipop into her mouth. she always had one at the ready. she squealed in delight with the flavor. cherry, her favorite. angelika already knew that her day was going to be great. she quickly spun to her doorway and walked out of it, closing the door behind her. she moaned rather loudly in pain, her hand quickly slapping onto her forehead. in a few seconds, she already managed to give herself a headache.

"Oh well that's just perfect," She spat harshly, walking down the hallway in strong irritation. one would think that she would learn her lesson and stop spinning, but not even five seconds later she was spinning down the hallway again. as she spun, she wondered if her crew mates didn't trust her. she had ignored most of them, and, she was the only one not working for NASA.

part of her felt bad for not being with everyone else when the ship took off, as she heard their cheers all the way from her room. her sympathy, of course, flew out the window as she became distracted once more with her own thoughts, especially with the work she would be doing. angelika, sadly, wasn't allowed to blow anything up, which was rather disappointing. her whole shtick was that she blew things up. though, she understood the safety issue, as much as she hated it.

angelika walked towards where all the cheering was. the crew module, or whatever it was called. she didn't really know the specifics. she popped her lollipop out of her mouth and peeked in. she saw the smiling faces, proud of their work as the ship had took off. she overheard some saying they were glad they didn't die. long strands of her hair cascaded over her expressionless face as she looked at the other laughing faces, her eyes secretly looking on with curiosity. part of her desired to be that happy with other people.

"Whatever." she blew herself off again, throwing her own needs away and popping the cherry-flavored lollipop back into her mouth. she scoffed at herself. why was she sitting around when she had a lab to explore, things to set up? angelika passed by the door, continuing a few loud steps down the hallway. seeing her crew mates proud faces made her feel something she hadn't felt since her childhood. she couldn't pin down the emotion, but she knew she didn't like it. rather aggressively, she bit down hard on her lollipop, causing it to crack in her mouth. she paused mid-step and took it out of her mouth, staring down at it with a disappointed look. "Great."

[guh-huh!]

♕ ( ＬＡＬＹＮ ＫＩＭＢＡＬＬ! )

──────── ＴＨＥ ＣＯＭＭＡＮＤＥＲ ───────────────────
( gender. female )─( feeling. estatic )─( age. thrity-one )─( tagged. everybody )


xxxlalyn, the commander of the task ahead, now stared at the sky ahead with a bored expression. the time was approaching, the night sky which gleamed a starlight indigo; turned into a burgundy, and finally collapsed itself into the morning sky of pale blue. the young woman found herself fiddling with the tv remote, sprawled out on her brother’s sofa, and scratching the chin of her beloved cat, harvey. her family was busing around her, taking amongst each other while eating forkfuls of home cooked breakfast and each taking their turns to gawk at and compliment her before she took off.

xxxit’s not that lalyn doesn’t enjoy the praise- far from it- it’s that she always gets a spur of pre-flight jitters before going on board. a million thoughts race through her mind as he takes several long gulps of the soda in her hand. this can work- it has to work. the nasa commander was a woman of dignity and class, bestowed with her prestigious job and title of leader. every moment of her day was replaced with the thought of becoming a better person herself. no second thoughts. no turning back. the seed has been planted, the sprout already fully formed, and it’s now blossomed into a brilliant plan to execute.

“let’s hope this all goes smoothly.”
xxxanother long swig of the ice-cold cola, and she raises her eyes skyward, talking as if there were actually someone there to hear her murmurs. it’s not long until lalyn finds herself saying goodbye to her family. both of her brothers picking her up into an embrace before promising to watch over her cat, despite his adversity. her mother is a bit of a harder goodbye; lalyn’s mother, holly, was her main support system during her childhood and schooling. without her mother, lalyn wouldn’t have been able to reach the stars; and for that she hugs her mother dearly before waving goodbye from her car’s dashboard.

xxxtime seemed to have flew slower than a slug in salt. beyond the canopies of green, the sun was there. and as slow as it was, it steadily rose up into the middle of the sky. lalyn was a firm believer in showing up early to events, and she simply couldn’t contain her excitement for what the future held. basically shouting out the lyrics to her favorite grace jones songs: disco music was one of the few things she’d miss most of all. that, and her recording re-runs of charlie’s angels, still on her television. a little treat for when she gets back home.

xxxthe nasa building is beyond fascinating. there’s hunks of rockets from the first few trials of reaching the moon, and multiple prototypes of satellites hang from the ceiling. lalyn gives her respects to the scientists and they congratulate her in turn. all the wonderful people of nasa that first helped her reach the stars, would now be assisting her trip to the red planet. lalyn finds herself getting prepared and awaiting her pilot and friend claude, or cloud out of endearment. but with the few extra minutes to herself, lalyn doesn't hesitate to go through old paperwork and move the blonde hairs back into their proper place before-

"hey lal, looking wonderful as always."
xxxthe voice startles lalyn into silence before turning to see cloud, sneaking up on her again. lips pucker as she attempts to hide the smile and bubble of laughter she feels rising. head shakes in a disapproving manner, though it’s clear she’s almost as amused as they are.

"not too shabby yourself, cloud! i'm glad you're finally here."
xxxthey talk for quite some time about the mission ahead, that, and other important things like new makeup kits and what they've been doing the duration of time they've been apart. it isn't long until the other members show up; each one bringing in a new mood into the room. lalyn calls out various greetings to everybody she knows, and takes the initiative to introduce herself to those who are new to her.

xxxthe chill of the air-conditioning is significant and presses in on them. lalyn shrugs on her lavish spacesuit, the fabric pooling around her arms and lalyn has to roll the sleeves up like she’s a child wearing her big brother’s clothes. she fumbles with the zipper, tugging it up to her throat and feels moderately warmer already. she rounds up the crew to the best of her ability, and the group heads out the door. a grin spreads smoothly across her face as she walks down the catwalk. her happiness is furthered when she sees the ship, her home for the next hundred or so days, and practically leaps on board.

xxxbody tenses even further than it already is as another flash lights up the compartment, followed swiftly by a clap of the engine so loud lalyn is sure the windows of the vehicle rattle along with every bone in her body. god, lalyn hates take off. she quickly calls out a few orders to avoid another migraine, and pulls the lever closest to her in order to aid in the increasing speed. the pressure building up inside is almost too much, and she swears there's a pro-wrestler punching her stomach repeatedly. nevertheless, it's all worth it in the end. the laughter that leaves her is sprinkled so heavily with vitality it could renew the youth of a ninety-year old. times like these are what lalyn lives for.