FIELD TRIP - the Presidium - the Citadel, Saturday Afternoon & Evening

[endsthegame]

The group from Fandom arrived at the Presidium early into the afternoon, having travelled by shuttle. Upon first glance, it might have looked like an oddly disk-shaped but otherwise familiar garden city, blue skies up above, grass and trees below, and a long river crossed by many bridges-- but if you stared up for long enough, it would start to become obvious that the sky and the clouds drifting past were just a projection.

Not to worry, though; it wouldn't always be this bright. The Presidium kept to a precise 20-hour day cycle, of which six would be night-time. Not only that, but there seemed to be a perpetual light breeze ensuring that while temperatures ran reasonably warm, they never became unpleasantly hot.

The many public spaces were open, its white walls and floors offset by the abundant greenery. Here and there, you could still notice little splotches of black residue on the walls, or a damaged wall, or an empty spot that looked like it should have had a bench on it - but for the most part, this side of the Presidium was clean.

[[ ocd up! | The Hotel | The Presidium | Clubs on the Wards | OOC ]]

[[ ETA: Because I'm an idiot: please note that no Mass Effect wiki information (including the timeline) before 'Pre-Council Times' or after the Battle of the Citadel is currently applicable. No mentions of Reapers, either. ]]

Comments

The Hotel

[endsthegame]

This many-layered hotel stretched out over the Presidium's central rivers, providing gorgeous views of the general area. Many species had jobs here, though you were most likely to find an asari, human or salarian knocking on your door if you wanted refreshments or housekeeping.

The Hotel - Suites

[endsthegame]

Suites at the hotel were all modeled in the general style of the Presidium, featuring a large shower, two twin beds or one king-sized one, and a balcony overlooking the Presidium itself.

[[ you can find your suite number here! normal trip rules apply: please put the number of your suite in the subject line, and keep NWS posts to your personal journals. ]]

The Hotel - Room 314

[fewer_explosions]

"It is... strange to be here," Liara confessed, tossing her bag onto the bed. "It is so familiar, but now there are humans everywhere - I mean, I expected it, but..."

The Hotel - Room 306

[dollpocalypse]

Even though they'd only been on the Zakera Ward for handwavy small amount of hours, Topher already had a disturbing amount of shopping bags, which he dumped on his bed before hopping on there himself to go through every single one of them. Every few minutes he muttered something to himself along the lines of a highly impressed "Oh my god" or something to that effect.

Look, he almost never spent money. He figured a trip to space justified it.

The Hotel - Room 301

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

Upon arriving in the room, April's first observation was that she seriously kept getting paired up with cute blond guys for these things, and that was a very good thing that should keep on coming. You'd never know that was what she was thinking by the look on her face, though, which was as neutral as ever as she dumped her stuff on the bed closer to the balcony and then proceeded to thoughtfully survey the room.

They probably didn't get the Wrestling Channel in space, did they?

The Hotel - Room 303

[furnaceface]

Jono wasn't certain that he'd ever actually leave his balcony. He could fly so long as he had his tech, which meant that he was slowly getting used to breathtaking views, but there was something about this one that had him fixated.

He was already thankful that he'd decided to come along on this trip, yes.

The Hotel - Food

[endsthegame]

There are three seperate restaurants at the hotel. One of them serves predominantly dextro cuisine - we don't recommend that one if you enjoy not having allergic reactions. There's also a grill that serves a great deal of human food, and the Emerald Cafe, which serves predominantly asari food. (That's edible.)

The Hotel - Pool

[endsthegame]

For visitors who just want to relax and take a swim, the pool is available for anyone to either swim in, or lounge around. Just beware the hotel's few krogan guests - when they make a splash, they don't mess around.

Re: The Hotel - Pool

[citadelia.livejournal.com]

Yes, there was a set of snickering krogans shoving each other into the water every now and again. Something to do about finding out whether there were fish at the bottom of the pool...

The Presidium

[endsthegame]

The fake sky moves overhead, offsetting the many aircars that shoot along the Presidium's inner ring.

The Presidium - Avina

[endsthegame]

"Greetings, and welcome to the Presidium. My name is Avina, and I am pleased to be your virtual guide throughout this level of the Citadel space station."

Every few hundred feet, there's a terminal you can use to access Avina, the holographic asari tour guide. If you're lost or curious, she can answer your questions about the Presidium. All of them.

The Presidium - Galactic History Museum

[endsthegame]

The imposingly large Intergalactic History Museum details the known history of the galaxy to date, displaying both old Prothean artifacts and much newer documents of the current age. Newest (and obviously still being put together) is the exhibit dedicated to the Eden Prime War, and most importantly, the Battle of the Citadel.

At the end of the museum, there's a gift shop featuring all kinds of memorabilia, including more model ships.

Re: The Presidium - Galactic History Museum

[dollpocalypse]

Topher was totally touring the museum today. He even had a picnic lunch from one of the restaurants nearby, so he could stay as long as he liked.

The poor turian security guard had a hell of a time getting him to stop touching the artifacts, though. Woe.

Re: The Presidium - Galactic History Museum

[genesishero]

History! So much history, way beyond anything he could read back to in the school library! Evan was quite content to spend his day looking at the artifacts and poking through the documents, committing every possible bit of it that he could to memory.

The stuff about the geth, Evan found particularly interesting. He wasn't quite certain who he felt for more. After all, his own race had been subject to a sort of 'dismantling' once humanity started to develop a fear that mutants would someday become dominant. It was kind of difficult to think of the geth as the bad guys, in light of that.

Being taken apart because you'd questioned your creators was generally a good reason to rebel, wasn't it?

Re: The Presidium - Galactic History Museum

[robinonadderall]

Yeah of course Stiles would be nerding it up at the museum. He didn't know why this information would be useful at any point but he'd file it away for later just in case.

And he was totally buying a model ship to put in his room.

Re: The Presidium - Galactic History Museum

[pulseof_life]

It was possibly unsurprising that Yeul found herself in the museum. She took her time, wandering from exhibit to exhibit, without particular rhyme or reason for where she decided to go next.

Seeing another universe's history, condensed this way, was curious.

The Presidium - Embassies

[endsthegame]

Perhaps the Presidium's most impressive feature is the many embassies it houses, one for every Citadel race. If you're polite, you can walk inside and ask a few questions. Or you can sit around the ambassadorial café and watch the various diplomats mill around and schmooze.

[[ if you want a specific embassy and there's no NPC up for that yet, feel free to mention so in the subject of your tag & let us know ]]

The Presidium - Apollo's Café

[endsthegame]

Just want to sit down and have something to eat? Apollo's Café features a range of food for dextro- and levo-amino lifeforms alike! Humans are encouraged to try the Café's take on a classic human delicacy: the steak sandwich. Or sit back and have a sip of batarian shard wine instead!

The Presidium - Damaged Areas

[endsthegame]

If you walk around for long enough, you might just get a peek of the damage done during the Battle of the Citadel that - still - hasn't been completely restored. Pairs of asari biotics are using their powers to move rubble, while various species paint walls, replace windows, and seed new plants on barren patches of land.

Help isn't necessary, but it certainly wouldn't be turned away.

The Presidium - Rest of the Presidium

[endsthegame]

There's much more to do and see on the Presidium, but not all of it is easily found. Or maybe you'd just like to take a walk, take in the views, the greenery, the giant-ass krogan statue standing in the middle of the reservoir...
... or have a religious debate with a hanar preacher.

The Wards

[endsthegame]

Sure, the real trip to the Wards isn't scheduled until tomorrow. But anyone who wants to find some actual nightlife will have to grab a cab and sneak down here...

The Wards - Flux

[endsthegame]

Flux is the Citadel's hottest nightclub. It's much more above board than some, but in the Wards, that's a very relative term... especially since all you have to do is take the stairs up from the dance floor to hit Flux's very own casino.

The rest of the club is permeated by the sound of pounding music, though there's a brief moment where the usual makes way for something else entirely.

The Wards - Dark Star Lounge

[endsthegame]

If you want some less scrupulous entertainment, there's always the Dark Star Lounge. It replaced Chora's Den some time ago, and although the Lounge doesn't officially feature asari dancers, there's definitely enough people of all species hitting the dance floor to count.

... Just don't try the ryncol. Please.

OOC

[not_a_whiner]

Hallo, all! We'll be populating this OCD with various NPCs throughout the day. You're free to ping those, but you're also free to hit us up for NPCs here (and be sure to poke us down here if you want actual Avina guidance instead of modding her)!

So I was going to close this off with a French chanson. And then I was distracted by a Wallonian Belgian chansonnier instead-- and then I was tempted to post his ode to the Flemmish.

And somehow that lead me back to Blof's ode to the Dutch province of Zeeland ("Here on the coast, the Zeeuwse coast, where people subconsciously start to feel like having feasts full of mussles..."), and Guus Meeuwis's own song dedicated to his native Noord Brabant province ("I'm walking alone in a too-empty city, I've never suffered from homesickness. But everyone's asleep, the doors shut. And then I think of Brabant, in Brabant the light's still on."). And from there, I went on to the Heidevolk's dedication to my home province ("There is the Waal, then the IJssel, then the Meuse and also the Rhine, giving us the right to be proud of Gelderland forever.").

... Yes, I know the most famous Dutch-language song to come out of my province is Oerend Hard. Shut up.

In conclusion: I love this patch of Europe, man.

(Look, I haven't even linked anything to do with my father's much-feared native province of Limburg-- whoops. Well, it's just a matter of patience until everyone speaks Limburgish anyway...)

Re: OOC

[hasadestiny]

*raises hand*

Lex doesn't seem to have a room.