diademlogs | OPEN ☾ crash landing

Entry tags:

OPEN ☾ crash landing

Who: river tam + you!
Where: all over panorama
When: February
What: intro log and catch all!

Warnings: will add if needed

pls check out her opt-in/opt-out post to let me know how you'd like me to handle river's psychic powers around your character or if there are any sensitive topics you'd like to avoid. hover over chinese phrases for a translation and my apologies in advance for any mistakes! feel free to hmu on ragemarshmallow @ discord if you'd like to plan something out!

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[ the first few days in the diadem are tough for river. more than the dangerous nature of panorama, the lack of funds and the growing mountain of debt - more than anything else, river is struggling with the basic function of sleeping.

she managed to scrounge up enough money in her first two days to book a week at a hostel, the cheapest thing she could afford with the small handful of joolies she earned counting inventory ( when she wasn't otherwise botching her assignment ). the place is pretty rundown, just shy of condemnable by reasonable standards that don't seem to apply here. the rooms are small, the walls are thin, and there are too many people packed into what feels like a coffin for how much river feels like she's suffocating in it.

anyone staying in the same hostel might catch a rumor that the building is haunted by the pale ghost of a young girl with long black hair. there have been sightings of her lurking in the communal showers during the witching hours around 3am or later, standing stock still under a stream of hot water until she vanishes into the steam. she might also appear as a dark shadow in the corner of your vision, darting across hallways or into rooms so quickly it seems like a trick of the eye.

on nights when her nightmares and insomnia are at their worst, she might be found pounding on the door to a nearby bedroom late at night. her eyes are bloodshot, her hair an unkempt mess, standing in the hallway with bare feet and ill-fitting sleep clothes. whether the door opens or not, she can be heard pleading in a miserable voice. ]

Can you please turn it down? Please, it - it's too loud. Qǐng ānjìng yīdiǎn, please. Hello?

[ might be your door she's come knocking on in the dead of night, when most folks ought to be sleeping - or as is more often the case, her begging goes unheeded as the room is empty. it's unclear where the racket she's hearing may be coming from but she's insistent, borderline desperate as she continues to bang on the door. ]

[ ultimately, river doesn't spend a lot of time at the hostel, choosing instead to wander the streets of panorama at all hours of the day. she can be found riding around town on her scooter, wearing a big pair of goggles and a colorful helmet. not very imposing for what can be a rough and tumble world, but river doesn't seem nervous even as she make her way through some of the seedier parts of town.

if anything, she seems endlessly fascinated. this entire world is a literal mishmash of things from across the multiverse, how could she not be intrigued by all of it?

she's supposed to be looking for a job, but more often than not, river can be found meandering aimlessly through the city. she's openly transfixed by everything she sees and hears - ogling people of different species in ways that might be somewhat rude, eavesdropping on conversations in different languages and interjecting in the same tongue in ways that might also be rude, and otherwise poking her head in or touching things that don't belong to her in ways that are - you guessed it - a little bit rude.

she has no manners and no sense of shame or personal space. she's just extremely curious and willing to get all up in people's business about it. might be good to warn her off of such invasive behavior, especially in places that don't take kindly to outsiders meddling. ]

Edited 2026-02-15 21:56 (UTC)

[ a little bit rude indeed. she happens to rub the wrong person the wrong way, a man in his fifties who doesn't appreciate his very inconspicuous manpurse being touched. it's enough for him to become violent, squaring up like he's going to grab river by the shirt-- ]

[ fortunately, there's someone nearby who can't mind his own business either. livio, a six foot seven towering man made of muscles, shifts so he's between the two, hands up and attempting to placate the man. he'd rather this not turn to violence, but it's clear that one punch from livio could knock this man straight out ]

Sorry about her, mister! She didn't mean ta bother you. We'll be going now.

[ the man tries to glare around livio at river, but is stopped by his sheer bulk ]

[Viktor is practically made to be stared at, even among other nonhuman Fluxdrifts. When wandering Panorama or otherwise taking care of errands in public, he wears a hooded cloak to obscure his more unsettling features--though of course that does nothing to disguise his height, or the way his heavy metal footfalls announce his arrival. Suffice to say he's used to some degree of scrutiny, to the point where he can't really blame anyone for looking.

Still, he does hope that it's just observing, and nothing more. He's haggling with a shopkeeper about the price of what looks to be a bin of miscellaneous parts, but her stare from beyond a nearby shelf is starting to grate. He pauses the transaction, momentarily, to tilt his head in her direction.]

Is there something I can help you with?

[There is little to be discerned from the shadow of his hood outside of two glowing yellow eyes. He doesn't sound unfriendly, at least--just a little exasperated.]

[ on the rare occasion that she remembers what she's supposed to be doing, river takes the same shameless approach to looking for work. she wanders into different stores, approaches people hawking on the streets, and generally asks anyone that looks like they could use a helping hand - whether they actually need it or not.

her approach to job hunting might be unorthodox in a place like the diadem and would never pass the standards of what she was taught back home, but her daddy taught her that first impressions are important. in a ratty messenger bag she found near a dumpster, she has a dozen handwritten resumes and cover letters that she tries to hand out as she makes her inquiries. her name is listed as 'r. tam' and the pages are mostly blank, effectively reduced to 'please hire me, i would like to eat.' ]

I promise to work hard in exchange for currency.

[ earnest and sincere, if a bit awkward. she means well and doesn't get discouraged when people tell her to shove off, simply gives a polite bow and moves on to the next spot. ]

Edited 2026-02-15 21:10 (UTC)

[ Jack is usually busy with one of his three jobs, but during the day he's less so because he does a lot of graveyard shifts from not sleeping. He's out and about at the moment when he walks by a young woman who seems to be handing out physical papers. He stops politely and takes one, but he assumes that it's a flier about an event, not mostly blank pages with R. Tam written on it. He's very confused as he's never had a resume or cover letter, he was put into the family business, but he gets it then.]

Oh! You're looking for work.

[ She is talking to the right person if she wants to be doing that.]

I know several places that have open positions!

[ Jack smiles at her brightly. He's a completely average person on the outside, nothing special about him, and everything he says and feels are right there on the open. He's what he seems, which is a nice young man, with an optimistic attitude.]

What would you like to do?

[ river has been approaching just about everyone she can find that seems approachable - some more so than others, but this is certainly the first time the response has been quite so positive. helpful and friendly, earnestly so, a rare enough thing to find in just about any 'verse. she smiles faintly in return, warmed by his energy and the potential for finding a job. captain would say a lead is a lead, might as well see where it ends up taking you. ]

Anything would do. I'm a fast learner with very versatile skills.

[ is this an interview? she might as well treat it like one and give the business answer for 'i have no work experience and no career prospects but i need a job.' she's never thought about what she would like to do; it's not even part of the equation. ]

There are a lot of jobs, some of them require more skill than others. I work at the grocery store, the bowling alley, and a caffeine place.

[ Jack has three jobs because he stored all his money to pay back the debts of himself and his family, but also since he doesn't sleep so he has a lot of time to work. Now he's saving up for a better place, so he doesn't slow down on his time cards. He likes each of his jobs, and he's very good at customer service. As he's showing, being so warm and friendly to a stranger.

She must be new if she's searching like this. He must help her as he would've wanted someone else to do for him.]

There is a job board by the grocery store, do you want to go look together? It'll have openings on it.

[ It's how Jack found his job there in the first place. It is a central location as everyone ends up there eventually, so they made a little job stand for newcomers or people looking to pick up extra shifts. Jack gestures in the direction of the grocery store which is always open, so they can walk there if she wants.]

If you know how to be a bartender or a waitress, you can potentially get more money through tips.

[ over the course of river's first week in the diadem, she goes to see cassian a handful of times. simon might have something to say about spending so much time with a strange man she doesn't know, but the fact of the matter is that she doesn't know anyone. he offered to help for as long as she needs it, and she needs it.

perhaps even more now than when they first met in the scrapyard. she's been back there to watch him work or curiously peruse through the junk, trying to learn more about this world through the people and things that have been left behind. other times, cassian has shown her some of the more important things to know about life in panorama.

they're meeting up in the city today, and her demeanor might seem more nervous or erratic than the last few times they met up. she parks her scooter nearby, loops the helmet around the handles, and tugs down her goggles to face him with viciously dark circles under her eyes. ]

Nǐ hǎo.

Edited 2026-02-15 21:29 (UTC)

[ Cassian's offer for her to stay with he and Amos while she got on her feet was an open offer as far as he was concerned. But he also understands the implications of what it could look and feel like for a young girl to be staying with two grown men. How unsafe it might make her feel.

So when she chooses to go out on her own, he doesn't stop her - even tries to set her up at the motel where the staff were the good sort, the kind that assured him they would keep an eye on her on the off chance she needed it before she determinedly decides to do things her own way. All the same he continues to make good on his promise to help her too, meeting up with her when she asks, offering to take her out for a meal since he can't be certain what her job prospects look like at the moment, learning a little of her language because he knows how much that can put someone at ease. Surprisingly, he's picked it up quite quickly. ]

Nǐ hǎo. [ He emerges from his own car at the hole in the wall dumpling shop they'd agreed to meet at, only to pause as he takes in her appearance. ] Everything okay?

Edited 2026-02-15 22:16 (UTC)

[ even exhaustion weighing heavy on her, river manages to make a humorous expression at him, as if the question is ridiculous. ]

Everything can't be okay, it's statistically impossible.

[ it's quantifiable: everything is not okay. simon isn't here and river feels unmoored without him. she's going through the motions of what she thinks you're supposed to do - eating, sleeping, showering, getting dressed, things her brother typically helps her with - but it's exhausting and there are always so many people.

except for this restaurant that river found on one of her excursions through the city. it's small, just a row of stools across the bar where they serve piping hot food directly to you for a fast and cheap meal. best of all, though - the place seems to be low on patronage because it's usually empty. bad for business maybe, but it works for river, who moves her bag into her lap as she slides onto one of the stools. ]

Your pronunciation is getting better, though. Did you practice?

[ They both know that he hadn't been asking that. All the same, River's clever little response is met with a snort and a flat look in the spirit of trying to keep things as lighthearted as possible.

Even without knowing everything that she had gone through before arriving, Cassian could surmise as much. That and he knew as well as any that the first several days here were unlikely to be "okay". But if that's what would make this easier, then so be it. ]

That's not what I meant.

[ But they can put a pin in that thought for now as they make their way into the restaurant. As they settle into the table he distributes menus between the pair of them. It's a little pointless given this place only sells five items - but he's come to enjoy the simplicity and matter-of-factness of the elderly proprietors. ]

A little. There's a couple of people in the building that speak it.

[ A battered looking tea set is set on the table before them and Cassian offers a nod of thanks to the old man as he shuffles back to the kitchen. AS he speaks he begins to pour tea between them. ]

Did you speak it growing up?

[ she's all too eager to change the topic; there are the obvious reasons why she's struggling and others that can't be shared, secrets she needs to keep as close to her chest as possible. wanda knows because she knows, sees and feels things the way river sees and feels them, but she can't tell cassian.

easier instead to talk about other things. river's interest genuinely perks up at the notion that there may be people that speak chinese in cassian's building. ]

Everyone speaks it growing up, it's just the way of things.

[ which is why it's strange to be surprised, when she doesn't know life any other way. the diadem is full of impossible realities, so river fixes him with the smile of a contrarian. ]

The better question is whether or not what we're speaking right now is what we grew up speaking. If we aren't from the same 'verse, could be that my version of English or Chinese is different from yours or anyone else's, so how do we all understand each other?

[ really makes you think ]

[ Cassian can assume it's any number of things. Whatever they are though it isn't his place to pry – even if instincts that feel misplaced might tell him otherwise.

He knows a change in topic when he sees it. Though River's secrets are hers to keep, subtly when it comes to this are very obvious. And this at least is something that he doesn't mind talking about or entertaining. For now. ]

We have translator droids for that in my galaxy. There are countless languages - it would be impossible for someone to learn them all. I haven't seen anything like that here.

[ With the tea poured he slides it over to her acting none the wiser about her not so slick distraction. ]

So it has to be something to do with this planet.

[ after their unexpected connection in the clinic on river's first day in the diadem, wanda offered to help her out - in more ways than one, although river isn't keen to try anything related to her mental abilities anytime soon after the backlash of losing that momentary protective blanket.

instead, she might need help with a much more simple task. river invites wanda to visit her at the hostel a few days after her arrival. the room is small, yet every available surface seems to be covered in a random array of clothes strewn about haphazardly. river took as much as she could carry from the wayward laundromat, but she hasn't put any effort into actually figuring out what she can wear. some things are much too large for her, it's hard to tell what's clean or dirty, and she has no fashion sense to speak of.

she's just been wearing whatever she grabs first, which is how she greets wanda at the door wearing an old pair of jeans that are long enough to hide her feet and a hoodie with a sports team logo she's never heard of and holes where the front pocket should be. still, she smiles warmly. ]

Welcome. Qǐng jìn.

Edited 2026-02-15 21:45 (UTC)

( it's not difficult to find wanda, as she spends a lot of her days at her job in the thrift store. other times, though, she can be found at the store, the laundromat, or exploring some new (to her) part of the city. imagine her surprise when she ran into river (not that it's impossible to notice, this telepathic bond with them from the start a note of familiarity whenever the teen is nearby) and was offered a set of directions and an open invitation.

wanda made it a day before she took river up on that, and finds herself witnessing... a room, certainly. )

Thanks.

( in she goes, pulling off the crossbody bag from her shoulder, and being careful of not stepping on anything that might seem too precious or delicate. this proves to be an almost impossible task. would it have been better to invite river to her place, instead...? wanda cannot hide the worry she feels.

before river can say anything, though, wanda turns to the teen, and, pulling something from her bag, she presents it to her. )

I got you something.

( it's a flip phone, a similar model to wanda's, and a charging cable for it, along with a sim card. all components are neatly placed inside a box for safekeeping. )

I figured you didn't have one yet after we spoke yesterday. Most everyone has one here, so — we can keep in touch easier this way. ( helpfully, she adds, ) I've already added myself as a contact.

Edited 2026-02-15 23:13 (UTC)

[ oh? she wasn't expecting anything. river closes and locks the door before making her way over to wanda, deftly stepping around the chaos on her floor as easy as you please. her eyes are bright and curious as she accepts the box and takes out the phone, turning it around in her hand before flipping it open. ]

Shiny. It's a functional model of early-millennia wireless telecommunication devices from Earth-that-Was.

[ maybe it's just a flip phone - or maybe it's ~~maybelline~~ a relic of ancient history from a fallen empire. river marvels at it for a long moment either way before finally turning to wanda. ]

I can really have this? I didn't know it was Christmas, I didn't get you anything.

( oh, so she does know christmas, even if she speaks about 'early millennia' and an 'earth-that-was', giving wanda the impression that river might not be quite from neither the same place nor time as her—those visions she saw in their shared telepathic link showed her constellations and space travel, too.

wanda just shrugs. )

You don't have to get me anything.

( after all, she had some extra cash lying around. it felt right to do this for river. )

...do you know how to use it? I could show you. ( then, humming, as she glances about, adds, ) Maybe clean up a little bit, too?

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OPEN ☾ crash landing

OPEN ❂ hostile hostel

OPEN ✫ down the rabbit hole

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OPEN ✹ help needed

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CLOSED ⚝ cassian

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CLOSED ❃ wanda

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