Crazy Kiwi
Deck 1 - Arboretum
[Minerva, Hadia, Pearl, Aubrey]Pearl nodded thoughtfully at Minerva's description of her world. "Mostly nice, but hazardous" seemed an apt description of nearly any place but the population numbers Minerva quoted were staggering and Pearl found it hard to grasp. Even assuming Minerva meant one thousand million for a billion, that was roughly four times the population of Earth of Pearl's own time.
Aubrey remembered that the global population estimate for Kris' era was around nine-and-a-half 'billion' and Wolfe had quoted around seven billion for his, which put Minerva's Earth, and probably time, somewhere in between the two.
Hadia's brief recap condensed a lot of the 'interesting details' of interplanetary portals, homicidal politics and warlocks into 'some issues here and there' but that was understandable in the interests of not having to repeat what you just said a few minutes ago.
A strange tune from Pearl's direction interrupted Aubrey's thoughts and he wondered what it was until she extracted one of those mobile phones from her purse and switched on the screen. He hadn't even been aware she was carrying one.
Pearl read the message. "Well, that's a bit of a bugger." She looked up from the screen and turned to Aubrey. "That was your friend, Sir Archibald, letting us know that he's instructed Wolfe and Teri to return - he wants them and the other 'mad bastards' to go on a mission for him."
Aubrey blinked in surprise. "But he can't just expect us to go home."
Pearl shook her head. "There's nothing about us returning home, just them. I guess he expects us to continue the cruise."
"But that's not fair, I thought we were all to have a holiday together." Aubrey realised that this personal drama was being played out in front of relative strangers and turned his attentions to Hadia and Minerva. "I do apologise. it's just a bit of a shock." He supposed that meant that Gwion and Sophia would still be on the voyage, but he hardly knew them, having only met them briefly between his rescue and departure from the Frontier. In truth, they seemed quite strange to him.
Pearl smiled. "Yes, sorry for that," she said to the two women, "just a bit of bad news. Two of our travelling companions have been unexpectedly called away." She stowed the phone back in her purse and took a draw on her vapouriser. "It happens, I suppose." Despite the fact that she was enjoying the cruise, she couldn't help but feel just a bit jealous that Teri was going off to have an adventure somewhere.
Deck 2 ~ Moonshine Bar and Lounge (Nana; Ulf; Gwion, Sophia, Teri, Wolfe)
Nana tapped her chin in though. "I see, though it still sounded Vargan to me," she said, before closing her eyes momentarily, "though, I wonder..." She considered the possibility that Vargan and French could possibly be one and the same, or at least quite similar, despite how unlikely that seemed. Reopening her eyes, she continued, "similarities abound, it seems, though some are quite... troubling."
Blinking slowly in Gwion's direction, the woman slowly nodded, "Artificial intelligence came about by accident in my world; it was a passive effect of the aether core on the command sheets, strange anomalies occurring with some of the sheets," Nana said, "baffled engineers at first, they corrected the anomalies until they noticed that the automatons were starting to act under their own volition."
"Of course, there is one small problem with automatons, they require a decent amount of resources to get them going, either time or money depending on how you go about it. Usually, folks go with a much cheaper, much more versatile workforce," she said, crossing her arms, "Personally, there are some jobs that I think would be best suited for an ironclad worker. Mines, for example. I’ve seen far too many widows and orphans around town."
With Wolfe's announcement of him and Teri being called off on some sort of adventure, with the rest of the Mad Bastards following suit, Nana couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, "Aw, leaving so soon? Pity, though perhaps we'll meet again someday. Anyway, my vacation is almost up. Not exactly too thrilled to see what my daughter has been up to with the inn while I was away..."
Deck 1 ~ Arboretum (Minerva; Hadia; Aubrey, Pearl)
Minerva smiled. "That's good to hear," she told Hadia. She wondered what the woman meant by "tesseract"; she assumed it to be someone, place, or thing named after the four-dimensional hypercube... or a comic book plot device. "Tesseract?" she asked, tilting her head.
Her train of thought was derailed when "The Imperial March" began playing in her head. Allowing a mild cringe of annoyance to show, she silently listened to the voice message that was sent by one Noir Braxton, a rather... eccentric coworker of hers at AEGIS:
Yo, my apprentice, got a hot tip on that cheap knockoff of yours with the stolen goods. I'm sendin' you coordinates and a transport, so go kick her shiny metal ass for me, 'k? Nobody gets away with swipin' my tech!
She gave the others a sad smile, "It looks like I'm to be called off on a mission of my own as well, it seems. You know what they say about holidays, right?" she said with a shrug. Her smile brightened a bit, "I'll stick around for a bit longer, though; I've still got some time to kill."
Deck 1 ~ Arboretum (Minerva; Hadia; Aubrey, Pearl)
To Aubrey and Pearl, Hadia said, "oh, that's a shame. I hope whatever it is they're doing, their mission goes well!" She wasn't going to ask about what they were doing; experience at Western Amalgamated led her to simply assume that knowledge was given out on a need-to-know basis, and she obviously wouldn't qualify. "And you as well, Minerva, though it was nice to meet you." Same principle. "But that question..."
"Tesseract," Hadia said, "is the big tech company in my world, the child of a dubiously-legal merger between an electric car manufacturer and a social media company." Never mind that Western Amalgamated had helped cripple the laws that would have prevented it as part of their own play for total control of all things agricultural. "They like to 'move fast and break things' which, as it turns out, is a bad idea for geo-engineering projects."
A pause, then she added, to fill the silence, "charming bunch of people as well. To give you an idea: our chief security officer, Winters, wrote the book on 21st century corporate security operations in high-risk regions." She took out her phone and pulled up a syllabus for a West Point class on asymmetric warfare — Alice Winters' name was on the list of required reading material. "We were at Davos a few years back, and bumped into Robinson. Tesseract's CEO. After a few too many glasses of gin. He got to talking with Alice, and somehow the security topic came up. He immediately tried to impress her with knowledge about it he probably got out of a single long-read article. I'll leave you to figure out why he just assumed Alice Winters was someone who needed to be lectured about military tactics, and once you've got that, you've got Tesseract corporate culture in a nutshell." She shook her head and said, "I guess the 21st century's still a work in progress, at least where I'm from."
edited 19th Feb '18 9:18:50 PM by KillerClowns
Crazy Kiwi
Moonshine Bar/Lounge
[Nana, Ulf, Teri, Sophia, Wolfe, Gwion]Wolfe nodded thoughtfully at what Nana had to say about French sounding like 'Vargan' to her and how some of the similarities were 'troubling'. If her languages could be so similar to Portuguese and English, why shouldn't Vargan and French sound the same?
The coffees and orange juice arrived quickly and were eagerly accepted.
What Nana had had to say about artificial intelligence reminded Wolfe of something. "What you were saying about your aether cores - it's 'emergent behaviour'... it was theorised back in my time as a possible alternative route to true AI. The theory was that you wouldn't have to design an intelligent system because if it you made a sophisticated enough artificial brain it would start to exhibit intelligence as a by-product of its basic functions."
Sophia shrugged. "Who knows? No one to date has built anything that sophisticated. Not on our Earth, anyway."
Wolfe drained his coffee. "I suppose I'd better go and break the news to the others."
Gwion raised a hand to signify 'wait' and hastily gulped the contents of his cup. "I might as well join you. If we're going to completely abandon them, I should at least tell them so in person."
Wolfe and Gwion excused themselves with the promise that they would be back soon and headed out the door towards the main staircase.
Once they were gone, Sophia turned to Nana. "You have an inn?"
Out in the corridor, Gwion eyed up the stairs. "Race you to the Arboretum, old man."
Deck 1 - Arboretum
[Minerva, Hadia, Pearl, Aubrey]Aubrey was quite perplexed at first when Minerva gave an annoyed look and then displayed every indication she was focusing on something only she could sense. When she announced that she was about to be called off on a mission of her own, he guessed that she had some means by which she could receive private messages without anyone else hearing. Perhaps something like the 'Bluetooth' earpieces that some of the newer immigrants had (though he couldn't for the life of him see an earpiece).
Pearl found Hadia's description of Tesseract's business practices and the faux pas of its 'CEO' - Chief Executive Officer, if she remembered correctly - quite amusing. The idea of trying to impress the woman who quite literally wrote the book on security after a surfeit of gin...
Pearl looked up in time to see both Wolfe and Gwion approaching across the grass. Both looked a bit flushed and from the way Wolfe was carefully regulating his breathing, he had recently been running.
Aubrey wasn't too surprised when Wolfe announced that he and Teri had been called away but he was shocked to hear that Gwion and Sophia intended to go as well. "So we'll be left here alone?"
Wolfe raised his hands in a placatory manner. "You'll both be fine here, nothing bad can happen and you can have a nice relaxing trip."
Pearl frowned. "While you go off and have fun. Why can't we come on this trip of yours?"
"It's supposed to be fairly dangerous," Gwion pointed out.
Pearl gave him a withering look. "So are most places I could name. I live in one. If you're taking fairly inexperienced youngsters like Peggy, then I could certainly come."
Aubrey nodded. "I should like to go, too."
Wolfe stared at him in stunned silence for a while. Aubrey, he recalled, had absolutely hated the Long Walk. "It's not a holiday, we're expected to travel all over the place. And it's going to be risky."
Aubrey was not about to be deterred. "I have a gun - not just my little Bull Dog, a proper one that I bought after getting back to Terra Nova. I survived the Long Walk and being abducted and locked in a mine."
Pearl, as surprised as the others that Aubrey was so keen to be included, nodded. "And you know my history, so don't even think about telling me it's too hard or too risky."
Gwion and Wolfe exchanged glances and read what they were looking for in each others' faces. Gwion turned back to face Aubrey and Pearl. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt - but I'd feel a lot more happy if you agreed to have someone accompany you at all times."
Pearl was about to say that she had no need for a nursemaid but it occurred to her that, as things stood, they had a conditional 'yes' that might become a decisive 'no' at any moment. What the hell, let him ease his conscience and mind, at least we'd get to go. "That sounds fine to me." She smiled. "All settled then."
As Wolfe and Gwion headed back towards the foyer, Pearl turned with a broad smile on her face. "Well, it looks like our holiday's taken an interesting turn." She looked at Hadia and Minerva. "I dare say we've got a while before we have to depart."
Aubrey settled back and puffed on his vapouriser, beginning to wonder what he had got himself in for.
As they entered the foyer, Wolfe turned to Gwion. "That could've gone a lot worse, I suppose."
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Hangar - Scout (Halberd, Reshk, The Zaran)
Halberd saw how the oquar was looking disapprovingly at him whie mentioning his goatee. "...Oh, sorry, I just naturally do that all the time while thinking. And since I'm the group's main thinker, well..." He decided to occupy his hand with taking out his Scanner, which looked a lot like a PDA with a flip-top screen when he quickly glanced at it. Never mind that this device was distinct from the simple cell phone he had used to look at the text from Warren earlier.
As Reshk went on, Halberd failed to hide a smirk when he mentioned having to kill him if he told him. Even though two of his weapons were up in the suite right now. When he offered to put him in contact with this so-called "Fat Man", Halberd stopped to think (consciously stopping his other hand from reaching his chin) for a moment. This was a guy who ran with criminals from space, and the only experience with space travel the Black Cat Bandits had was in a new ship with a very limited area of space to explore.
Still, Halberd being his inquisitive self, he ultimately decided it couldn't hurt. With that he pulled a business card out of his pocket. It bore a logo of a black cat's head in the corner, and was otherwise mostly blank... except for a single email address and some sort of complex website URL. After quickly scribbling "Contact: Halberd or Warren" on the back of the card, he handed it to Reshk. "I am not sure if the card will translate properly, but this is all I got for now. That email address puts you in touch with Warren, our main PR guy. I'm technically our face, but I do more of the planning and such. The link under is on the dark net, so make sure you're running the right server for it. It's... more or less our professional website if you will; our operations leader and I are the main ones managing it."
"So then, I assume you will be taking your leave? I myself have to get back up into the suite to offer some IT help to my crew, but I consider our meeting fortuitous." As he held out a hand, his eyes briefly shot upward. Argh, I'm sounding like Merlin. "I wish you best of luck in your travels... anything else before we're off?"
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
Mr ship
Arboretum (Henry)
Henry and Lauren retired to their suite to change clothes and rest a bit, but Henry got restless and started to take a walk around the ship.
He changed into a more modern look with a burgundy corduroy sportcoat with multiple pins in the lapel, one was a gold pin bearing the seal of the Intergalactic Senate and a banner saying '100 years of service' under it, another was an American flag pin, and the last one was an Oregon state flag pin. He also had on dark grey flannel pants, a black flannel shirt with a Navajo pattern and a Navajo silver bolo tie with a large piece of tourcos in it.
Eventually he found himself in the Arboretum. It was a wonderfully quiet place that reminded him of his home in Oregon.
As he was walking he noticed a group talking. Curious he took a step closer to see if he could listen to what they were saying.
edited 26th Feb '18 4:14:01 PM by Mrship21
These two characters, Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara, started as expies to Kim Possible and Shego. I'm double-checking to make sure they have enough originality to not be too similar to the characters they reference.
[Black Hole Lounge, Deck 2] -> Stairs (Jen Jara)
~ta-tap~ Jen Jara materialized mid-air in the Black Hole Lounge and landed on an unoccupied table, her bare chitinous feet clicking against the hard surface. Her features were hidden in the dark, but an echolocating bouncer bot noticed her sudden appearance and demanded, "Who are you? Are you a registered passenger?"
Panting and gasping from recent exertion, Jen Jara whispered, "Shhh! I'm hiding from someone!"
The bouncer bot scanned Jen Jara for any sign of a ticket. Not finding any, the bouncer bot scolded, "All beings capable of teleportation must board this ship at the Teleportation Station, and then check in at the Nebula Lobby!"
Jen Jara protested, "But I'm in the middle of ritual combat! Can't I stay here for just a bit longer?"
One precisely targeted boot later, Jen Jara tumbled out the door of the Black Hole Lounge, regained an upright bipedal stance with a harrumph, and shook a minimal amount of dust off her black toga-like outfit. Usually it would have been fastened together with magnetic clasps decorated with imitation jewels, but during ritual combat, the decorations were gone and the clasps were supplemented by a web-like harness carrying a small, sturdy computer system.
"Well, this is gonna cramp my style," Jen Jara muttered, looking around for a map. Her eyes were obscured behind custom-fit glasses glued to the soft flesh of her face, the lenses automatically darkened to protect her dark-accustomed eyes from the light. Her IGPSnote computer program was only accurate to the nearest light-year and couldn't map the interior of the ship. Syrni Sandra would be catching up any second now, and judging from Jen Jara's previous encounter, the crew didn't take kindly to fights outside designated arenas. Jen Jara couldn't just teleport off the ship - she and Syrni Sandra had been in ritual combat for two hours and this would be the last time they could manage light-year leaps before exhaustion set in and restricted them to short-range teleports only.
Jen Jara spotted a touchscreen on a wall and bounded over, raising both six-fingered handsnote to swiftly tap at the screen until she had the information she wanted. The interior map of the ship was instantly committed to memory - Viporises had excellent spatial orientation skills by necessity. She checked her IGPS and the tracker confirmed that Syrni Sandra was on board. Now, if Jen Jara could intercept Syrni Sandra before Syrni Sandra found a map...
Teleportation Station -> Stairs (Syrni Sandra)
~ta-tap~ Syrni Sandra emerged in mid-air, landing on a teleport pad and immediately dodging off of it. "Scuze me, pardon me, ritual combatant coming through," she warned as she dodged through the crowd, scanning the crowd for Jen Jara's distinctive iridescent black head-feathers. Syrni Sandra was also wearing a harness with a computer over her dark gray toga-like outfit, and had her own custom-fit pair of Cool Shades glued to her face, though she was moving a bit too fast for anyone to notice the computer, or the fact that what looked like orange hair and green leg armor was actually orange feathers and green chitin.
A friendly robot waiting at the room's exit started to say, "Welcome to the IMS Carpe Noctem, please check in at the... hey, wait, come back!" Instead of leaving its post, the robot signaled another robot.
Stairs (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara)
Exiting the room, Syrni Sandra glanced left and right, then did a Double Take left and down the stairs. "Aha!" She pointed dramatically at Jen Jara and teleported forward, assuming that Jen Jara would dodge up.
Instead, Jen Jara dodged down, positioning herself to sweep Syrni Sandra off her feet. Syrni Sanra landed on her back and Jen Jara pressed forward to land a sting, only for Syrni Sandra to spin and kick Jen Jara in the solar plexus. Jen Jara was launched down the stairs, and despite having the breath knocked out of her, managed to land on her feet like a cat. Syrni Sandra also regained her feet.
A robot came running up, scolding, "Break it up, break it up, you two! You're not supposed to fight here, take it to the... Hey! Where'd you go?"
Stairs -> Restrooms (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara)
~ta-tap~ Syrni Sandra teleported up into the hall between the Black Hole Lounge and the restroom.
~ta-tap~ Jen Jara teleported into the empty space between the Ladies' section and the Gender-Neutral section, recovering from the solar plexus blow far faster than any human would have. Contemplating the likelihood of someone mistaking female Viporis genitalia for a phallus, Jen Jara decided to play it safe and entered the Gender-Neutral section, heading for the nearest empty spacious stall. She really did need to use it, she wasn't just hiding from Syrni Sandra.
Syrni Sandra likewise needed to use the restroom, but missed seeing Jen Jara and entered the Ladies' section instead. Syrni Sandra contemplated Searching the Stalls, but figured Jen Jara would hear and teleport into an already-searched stall. Instead, Syrni Sandra entered a stall.
An announcement came over the PA System, "Attention, everyone. Rogue teleporting combatants have been sighted at the Black Hole Lounge, the Teleportation Station, and the stairs in between. It is forbidden to fight in this ship outside of designated combat areas. Will all combatants please report to the Combat Zone? I repeat, will all combatants please report to the Combat Zone? Thank you."
edited 9th Mar '18 12:06:17 PM by Miss_Desperado
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.Restrooms (Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara) -> Combat Zone (Jen Jara and Nameless Songmind)
Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara heard the announcement while washing their hands. Jen Jara was able to teleport to the Combat Zone straight away, and looked around the room, calculating where best to prepare an ambush. She ended up crouching for cover behind a black mound of something.note The fatigue of the battle catching up with her, she gradually started leaning on it, its texture reminded her of the pseudo-flesh of a cyborg friend.
Restrooms (Syrni Sandra) -> Nebula Lobby
Without a mental map of the ship, Syrni Sandra had to flag down a robot, who did not look too happy to see her. Syrni Sandra held both of her hands palm-up, stinger-thumbs folded under her other thumbs in (what was for her culture) a peaceful greeting gesture, and said, "I'm so sorry for the disturbance earlier, I don't know where the designated combat arenas are." The robot's verbalized directions made no sense to Syrni Sandra until it showed her the map on a wall-mounted touchscreen. "Ah, thank you, that makes more sense." The robot had been directing her through the Nebula Lobby's ground floor past the check-in station before going to the Combat Zone.
Syrni Sandra stared at the grand curving staircases and decided to try a Banister Slide. She found out the hard way that polished metal surfaces and chitin don't have enough friction to redirect momentum along a curve.
Alarmed gasps and screamsnote sounded as Syrni Sandra plummeted upside-down off the second-floor railing, but before anybody could rush to catch her or remotely switch off the artificial gravity, she did two teleports in rapid succession to land right-side up and unharmed on the floor. If anyone is close enough and particularly alert, they'll notice a brief and subtle tremor in her knees after she sticks the landing. For anyone able to sense emotions, the tremor was caused by physical fatigue, not fear.
Syrni Sandra called to the crowd, "I'm Okay!" and nonchalantly turned to the information booth. Leaning on the counter, she asked to see a few example blueprints of the rooms available, then reserved Room 8.091 for both herself and Jen Jara. When handed the smart cards, she deferred, "Please put them in the room, I don't want them broken from a misplaced kick. We'll get them later."
Nebula Lobby (Syrni Sandra) -> Combat Zone (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara and Nameless Songmind)
Syrni Sandra leaped into the air and disappeared from the Nebula Lobby, reappearing near the Combat Zone's door. ~ta-tap~ She wasn't stupid enough to simply do a blind teleport into an area where it could be reasonably assumed her opponent had prepared an ambush. Instead, she slowly opened the door, and then did a blind teleport into the combat arena.
Jen Jara heard one of the doors opening. She peeked out from behind the black mound, quickly spotted the opening door, and teleported across the distance before the door finished opening.
~ta-tap~ ~ta-tap~
Jen Jara realized she'd been baited right into where Syrni Sandra wanted her when she heard chitin on the floor behind her. She somersaulted just in time to avoid getting Syrni Sandra's stingers in her back. As she rolled, her infrared photosensors (which look like freckles to the uninitiated) detected the disappearance of Syrni Sandra. Jen Jara took a wild guess as she stood up and punched in front of her, connecting with Syrni Sandra's reappearing tummy.
"Oof!" Syrni Sandra sprawled on the floor, flattening herself under Jen Jara's kick, and swiped at Jen Jara's grounded leg, only to miss as Jen Jara took a short hop and dove forward to sting her. Syrni Sandra rolled out of the way — it was a near-miss — and tried to get up, but she'd taken enough cumulative hits on the same dang spot on her tummy over the past two hours to cry out in pain and swiftly cease her attempt.
Jen Jara grinned, closed the distance, and finally landed a sting on Syrni Sandra's shoulder, only to feel Syrni Sandra's sting slip between the chitin plates on her ankle. Knowing what would happen next, Syrni Sandra rolled onto her back and got comfortable as Jen Jara lay down beside her. The paralyzers took effect, tightening all muscles not involved in breathing, heartbeats, or eye movement until Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara could have been mistaken for statues, or worse, corpses, at first glance. Both Viporises had microchips in their heads, allowing them to use the voice synthesizers installed on the harness computers to congratulate each other for a good fight.
The effects of the paralyzers would eventually wear off, but until then, the ladies decided they might as well take a nap.note Meanwhile, since the ritual battle was over, the computers on their harnesses started streaming data from the battle over to an unmanned Viporis space drone waiting outside the IMS Carpe Noctem. The space drone would take a wormhole back to the Viporis home moon once it got all the data.
Edited to separate author knowledge from character knowledge - oops, my bad.
edited 11th Mar '18 11:45:53 AM by Miss_Desperado
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
[Combat Zone (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Nameless Songmind, Gabriel)]
Tap. Tap. Tap. The sounds of a pair of high heels slowly walking through the combat zone. The soft sound of metal sliding on metal as one of a pair of metallic fans was unfolded, the owner fanning themself as they considered.
The owner of the fans stood at just over six feet tall, though this included the height added by the three inch heels of their boots. With pale skin and long, beautifully effeminate features, one could be forgiven for thinking him a woman. His blonde-white hair was tied behind him in a bun, woven with gold ribbons, in a way that brought to mind a sun disk or a halo; it was large enough that, if let loose, his hair would easily reach his ankles. His eyes were blue, a shade too like the sky to be normal. All of this was accentuated by flamboyant but masterfully applied make-up that highlighted his every feature perfectly.
Gabriel's gloriously unsubtle tastes extended to his fashion sensibilities; he wore an outfit that would look ridiculous on any other man. His main garment was essentially a Catholic cassock, loosened to not restrict movement. But instead of the expected simple black, it was decorated with angular, sun-themed patterns of pure white and shining gold, with a large sun-shaped watch acting as a brooch. The sleeves opened at the elbows, with the backs flowing past his hand to billow out into a wing-like form. His hands and arms were covered by long white gloves, with abstract, insect-like patterns woven in silver. On his feet he wore knee-length boots made of segments of white with gold edging, with gold stiletto heels and toecaps. Over his shoulders was a small cape, of gold-trimmed white cloth, with some sort of large, perfectly white feathers woven in. The only thing that broke the strict color scheme was his earrings: crescents of some black metal, horns pointed upwards, decorated with blood-red rubies. Despite the incredible quality of the materials and workmanship, the whole affair would have been beyond salvaging were it not for Gabriel himself. Aside from being just naturally beautiful enough to make virtually any outfit work, the sheer, exaggerated confidence with which he carried himself made it clear he knew exactly how outlandish he looked and was happy to own it.
"So this must be the commotion," he said. "But it would appear," he sighed dramatically, "I'm late to the party. Again. Tch; all dressed up," he stretched his arms out, indicating his outfit, "and no place to go. I saw the logs, though. Quite a brawl; you two need anything to stitch you up?" He took a bow and said, "Gabriel, at your service."
The Songmind continued to slumber, even despite the brawlers using it as cover. Gabriel failed to notice it. The Songmind has unusual requirements to awaken.
edited 9th Mar '18 7:22:25 PM by KillerClowns
Combat Zone (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Nameless Songmind, Gabriel)
The Viporis ladies returned to alertness from their light doze, awakened by the subtle vibrations of Gabriel's footsteps through the floor. Jen Jara was the first of the two Viporises to speak with her computer's voice synthesizer, "You would not have been welcome in the fight that just ended, it was between Void Maiden Viporises only. But if you're truly itching for a sparring session, I at least would be happy to oblige once I've recovered..." Her train of thought was interrupted as she got her first good look at Gabriel, and her flat chest shook with wheezing laughter as she promptly got Dance Magic Dance
stuck in her head.
Syrni Sandra chimed in, "Well, this paralyzer wears off faster with a saline IV drip to flush it all out, so if you could manage to haul us both over to Sick Bay, that would be much appreciated. My name is Syrni Sandra. Pardon me for not shaking your hand, Viporises don't do that and you can probably guess why."
Jen Jara introduced herself, "I'm Jen Jara, pleased to meet you. And you remind me of the babe."
Syrni Sandra realized what Jen Jara had laughed about, and her own flat chest started shaking with wheezy laughter. She sent a direct communication from microchip to microchip, "Darn it, now I've got that song stuck in my head, too!"
edited 9th Mar '18 10:04:00 PM by Miss_Desperado
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Combat Zone (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Nameless Songmind, Gabriel)
Gabriel responded to the laughter with a raised eyebrow and a withering glare. "Oh, so glad you two are enjoying yourselves," he said. (But to himself, he caught the reference and, admitting it was Actually Pretty Funny, found himself humming a few notes from the same song.) He then approached the pair. "But I suppose your lack of appreciation for fashion is your problem, not mine." He looked skeptically at the toga outfits as he said this, then let it go.
"Let's get you that IV. Hold on, just a moment..." Despite his slender build, he lifted them as though they weighed nothing and put them, carefully, over a shoulder each. "I don't suppose you two are over the paralysis enough to hold on to something moving quite fast? It would make it a lot quicker to get you down to Sick Bay." Then he added, apologetically, "sorry I can't offer you anything to patch you up myself aside from conventional first aid. My magic's a bit hyper-focused on turning demons into..." he paused, searching for a metaphor. "gore confetti. Gore-fetti? Does that portmanteau make sense? It's quite a messy affair in any case."
edited 10th Mar '18 8:26:09 AM by KillerClowns
Combat Zone (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Nameless Songmind, Gabriel)
"Nope." "Can't grip anything." Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara were still as stiff as corpses in rigor mortis. They weren't surprised at Gabriel's effortless lift, most of the people they knew had some kind of supernatural ability.
Jen Jara complained through the computer, "It's easy to kill enemies, it's harder to capture them alive like we're supposed to do." A garbled growl escaped her lips and she lapsed into sulking silence, clearly not wanting to converse further about the sore topic.
Syrni Sandra thought back to something Gabriel had said earlier and inquired, "You said you saw the logs of our battle?" Concerned, she lectured, "Goodness, I hope you didn't watch the raw video gathered from our visual cortexes! That's not safe for humans to watch! You need to slow it down to sixty frames per second or you'll get severe motion sickness."note
Jen Jara added, "Some humans get sick even then, with all the teleporting stunts we do."
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Combat Zone (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Nameless Songmind, Gabriel Kardos) —> Sick Bay (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Gabriel Kardos, possibly others)
Sixty frames per second? He didn't want to bore the warriors with details, but he couldn't quite let their insult, unintentional as it was, go entirely unanswered. So, his voice light and casual, he simply said, "you greatly underestimate me." As he said this, he spotted a bale of wires. No longer usable for its original purpose, its ends were frayed, but as a makeshift rope, it would suffice. "My apologies, but this may get slightly uncomfortable."
A pure white malamute the size of a large tiger ran through the hallways, with a pair of Viporis warriors tied to him. The dog — Gabriel — slipped and wove through the crowd and hallways with preternatural speed and grace, managing to avoid causing anything more than consternation and dismay despite his bulk and cargo.
Gabriel smoothly transferred back into human form as he skidded to stop in the Sick Bay. Looking at the entirely unperturbed staff, he said, "these two managed to hit each other with a mild paralytic during a ceremonial duel. They said a saline drip would help. Can you arrange that?" The two were taken to hospital beds and hooked up appropriately. Gabriel, feeling sociable and eager to talk to fellow warriors, said, "you mentioned you're... bounty hunters, yes? Or perhaps law enforcement? Capturing enemies alive and all. I imagine that's what the paralytic is mostly for?"
If anyone else who is still in the sick bay is still active, they can react to this... dramatic entrance. Otherwise, they can be assumed to be elsewhere in the ward or having left it.
edited 10th Mar '18 9:46:26 PM by KillerClowns
Vocal cords still non-functional, Syrni Sandra whooped and cheered internally while being whisked along. When the journey was over, she said, "Let's do that again sometime!"
The corners of Jen Jara's mouth twitched upwards slightly. "A Malamute form! Impressive! That explains a couple of things."note
The Void Maiden Viporises' hearts were still pounding with exhilaration, and perhaps some other emotion they weren't yet aware of, as the needles for the saline drip pierced the inside of their elbows. Given this circumstance, the saline solution would have no trouble spreading throughout their bodies.
I, too, am giving anyone else in the sick bay time to react to the dramatic entrance before I write more dialogue for my ladies chatting with Gabriel.
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
In Front of Starlight Restaurant -> Sickbay (Jen Jara, Syrni Sandra, Gabriel, Lucina, Winky)
Much to Lucina's relief, the demons, Jake and Fiona, decided to trust her decision to speak with her sister about the fate of Solevaille and its residents. With a dramatic sigh, the elegantly-dressed doll-like queen stumbled over to a banister overlooking the Nebula Lobby and sat Winky down on it. "Ok thank goodness... those blasted demons, WHY do they have to come and ruin our vacation? Well, you know what this means, Winky!" She picked the monocled marionette mayor up. "We can now look for more fun things to do!"
Suddenly Winky's painted-on eyebrows shot up. "I say! What in Hell's name is that!?" He was pointing at something behind Lucina.
Lucina turned around... and saw a giant white dog carrying a pair of very futuristic and almost alien-looking women (who wore togas for some reason) rushing up to the sickbay.note She only saw the dog for a split second though; as soon as they approached, it transformed into a more normal-looking woman wearing an outfit on the same level of fanciness as her own, and with a similar color motif too.
"I think you mean Heaven's name!" Her attention now grabbed, Lucina put Winky back on her shoulder and half-jogged-half-skipped down the hall to follow them.
When she got to the entrance, a robot dressed in a nurse's uniform greeted her and asked what her business was. "You do not seem injured—how may I help you, your highness?" It saw the crown on Lucina's head and assumed such.
"Oh, I'm friends with the animorph there!" she replied; her normal speaking voice was sufficiently loud to carry over to the group. Not hesitating to wait for the robot's reply, she turned and walked up towards them. "Come on Winky, let's make sure she and her friends are all right!"
"Um, you do know your friend is a 'he', right?" he robot called after her, but its words fell on unattentive ears. With a mock sigh, it returned to its paperwork... or should I say tabletwork.
"Hello!" Lucina greeted, looking directly at the woman in white and gold. "I just want to say that that dog transformation of yours was amazing! It wasn't a parlor trick, was it? Or was it an actual spell? Or are you a very glamorous werewolf perhaps?"
"I say, what is the matter with those two?" asked Winky with a tip of his hat. "Winky at your service..." and here he felt Lucina bonk him on the head with her scepter, "...I mean in service to Queen Lucina of Solevaille, but in minor service to you at the moment." Next to him, Lucina nodded.
I don't know how good Gabe is at remembering his dreams, but if he is sufficiently good at it, he might remember interacting with Sinistrina among others in Dream II, and he might even remember a picture of Lucina hanging in Misery Manor (it's the one Sinistrina stabbed with a pin which Lorraine later stabbed herself with).
Pool Deck (Rebecca, Sinistrina, Mina)
Sinistrina watched with much interest as Rebecca performed her ritual, and the little girl emerged out of the gate. There was no doubt about it—that was her soul, manifesting a memory of the last vessel it occupied. Pure and untainted... in fact, Sinistrina came to a realization as she looked at the girl's form. There are no black mists. That must be it... those blasted mists must be draining away the soul's energy so that they cannot speak.
"That is..." Initially Sinistrina's focus was on Rebecca rather than Salissa. "I've heard of and even attempted rituals like that, but you are able to do it even with a tiny bit of hair. You are a lich, and yet your control over souls is unusually gentle..."
"Hello, Salissa," she said to the ghostly girl. "I imagine it must feel nice to be able to travel the world relatively unhindered by death. You and Rebecca talk often, I presume? What about your parents and friends?" She took a quick glance back at Rebecca. "Have you spoken with them since the plague went through, living or dead?"
Pool Deck (Ayako, Mari, Ethoya, Emille, Kiryu)
Much to Emille's relief, Lux had left the pool area. But by that time, the mood was spoiled a bit, and all the excitement on receiving her new magic, accidentally scaring Phagora off, seeing Sinistrina, being interrogated by Lux, and trying to wrap her head around what Ethoya said about the Xayu was getting on her nerves.
"Well, it has been lovely talking with you, but I am rather tired now and must go take a nap." Emille curtseyed and waved her folded-up parasol at Ayako and Ethoya. "Enjoy your conversation and the water."
And with that she headed back to the second floor and into her room, collapsing on the bed.
Fitness Center (Junko, Phagora, Carlotta, Panther)
Carlotta walked around a bit; she was able to do so well enough, but knew it wouldn't last. "Well, now that I have been weakened considerably," she said to Junko and Phagora (she looked and the two weirder-looking girlsnote had disappeared), "I see no point to staying here. Thank you for recharging me a little bit, Phagora, but I think in order to be completely back to my full strength..." she took a pause, "...I need to go back to the source. You may come with me if you want, but if you want to stay here and work out some more that's fine too."
And with a nod and a wave of her hand, she was out the door. Spotting a nearby service bot, she asked it, "Excuse me little automaton, have you by chance seen a witch lately? Wearing a black dress, carrying a staff with a skull on it? I uh, need to find her."
"If you know her name, I can ping her location for you."
"Sinistrina von Schwarzwald."
The robot paused for a moment as it searched a databank of some sort. "Ah, I have located someone by that name on the pool deck. You a friend of hers?"
"...Uh, her daughter, technically. Thank you very much." And she walked away, incredulous. What's she doing there? I thought she didn't like to swim.
Meanwhile, another woman, a human one this time, made her way into the fitness center, a tall and athletically built blonde who had changed into a sports bra and a pair of sweatpants and slung a towel over her shoulder. After picking up a pair of weights that were within the normal human strength range, she turned around and noticed a living doll walking away from two girls. Looks almost like those dolls in Alpenhaus.
"Does that doll belong to either of you?" she asked Junko and Phagora. "She looks like she's alive or something! Anyway I'm Panther. Enjoying your workout so far?"
Andromeda Suite (Warren)
Having had enough of trying to make heads or tails of Halberd's equipment and deciding to let the big guy figure it out for himself (Panther herself had given up and decided to hit the gym), Warren decided he needed a break. He popped into Lupin's room to see if he was still asleep... and much to his surprise, he was not in the room at all. "Bah... must've snuck out while I wasn't paying attention. Typical..."
Shrugging, after a quick check of the map, he decided he was in dire need of coffee anyway, and was off.
Comet Cafe (Loki, Sakura, QR, Warren)
Taking a moment to admire the decor, Warren entered the cafe and made a beeline to the counter, which he almost bumped into. "Okay I need an espresso, like, pronto."
Seeing how tired the teen looked, the robot said, "In that case why don't you try our Rocket Fuel Shot?"
Warren shook his head. "Nah, that'll probably make my heart beat so fast that it'll pass out from exhaustion. I know you can't relate since you're a robot, but I'd rather not die."
After paying for his drink, he looked around and noticed all the tables were full. "Well ain't that just gr—hey, an alien!" He looked over and saw a grey alien that looked pretty much exactly like the stereotypical martian save for the eyes, conversing with an off-duty samurai (judging by the katana and the casual clothing) and a fashion trainwreck with enormous pigtails.
"He-heeey ladies," said Warren after knocking out half of his espresso in one gulp (and wincing from the bitterness). "Mind if I join ya? What planet are you from by the way?" he asked the alien. Then he paused to take off his baseball cap and fan his face with it.
Arboretum (Hadia, Minerva, Aubrey, Pearl, Henry, Lupin)
Lupin had not only left the suite without Warren noticing, but he had also swiped a tablet off of Halberd's makeshift desk without Warren noticing. Currently he was treating the tablet as a dowsing rod, following a dot on a newly downloaded map of the ship down an elevator and all the way to Deck 1, past the storage rooms and into the arboretum. Hmm, makes sense that he'd be in an area with foliage.
After some fruitless searching, the scrawny blond in black pocketed the tablet (though it jutted out a couple of inches from his coat) and approached a group that was gathered there... some business-looking folk, a pair that seemingly came out of last century, and a blonde girl.
"Pardon me," he said, his usual quiet voice carrying the usual light British accent, "this question might sound strange, but have any of you folks seen a black and purple owl around here?"
edited 11th Mar '18 4:02:17 PM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.I'm gonna play loose and fuzzy with time here, and assume Lucina is not as adept at dodging through crowds as Gabriel Kardos is.
Deck 2, Sick Bay (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Gabriel Kardos, Lucina, Winky)
Gabriel's inquiry caused Jen Jara's eyebrows and the corners of her mouth to twitch upwards for a moment. "Law enforcement? Me, work in law enforcement? Void Maiden or not, I'd soon be fired!" Jen Jara burst into a laughing fit even stronger than her previous one, leaving Syrni Sandra to explain.
"Good guess, but neither phrase is quite the right fit, especially considering the two of us belong to two different organizations simultaneously. First and foremost we're Void Maidens, the astronaut ambassadors of our species. But we're also members of the Web of Friendship. I guess bounty hunters, or perhaps defenders of the galaxy, is a close description of what the Web of Friendship does."
By now, Jen Jara was hiccuping instead of laughing, so she used her computer voice synthesizer to suggest, "What about SWAT team?"
Syrni Sandra mused, "Yeah, SWAT team is the closest fit - with a heap of Scooby-Doo flair thrown in for good measure, because the Web started as a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits solving mysteries, and they just kept collecting more misfits until, by the time we joined, the organization was almost a small army."
Syrni Sandra glanced at her fingers and tried moving them, only managing a few twitches before continuing, "As for the paralytic stingers, you're right, they are quite useful for sentient enemies, but the oldest and most traditional purpose is for hunting food. Most of our home moon is uninterrupted wilderness on purpose, for hunting and for other reasons."
Jen Jara finished hiccuping and groaned at her sore diaphragm. Then she groaned again as she noticed Lucina's entrance and attire, making some unfair and negative assumptions about the child.note Jen Jara groaned a third time upon hearing the robot nurse say "your highness," a phrase that only reinforced those unfair assumptions. She took refuge in stony silence as Lucina inserted herself into the conversation.
Syrni Sandra would have smiled at the cute little robot Winkynote had she been able to. She was just barely capable of folding her thumbs in her culture's peaceful greeting gesture. She spoke through the computer strapped to her chest, "Hello, Lucina. Hi, Winky. I'm Syrni Sandra, the other Viporis is Jen Jara. We'll be okay, we're just waiting for the paralytics we stung each other with to wear off. Though Jen Jara here seems to be having a rough time of it, judging by her groans."
Jen Jara did not bother to correct Syrni Sandra's mistaken assumption. Then she noticed an Inconvenient Itch behind her ears. Her fingers began twitching like mad, she gritted her teeth and called to a medic bot, "Excuse me, medic, is there any way to dim the lights in this section?" When the bot demonstrated, Jen Jara requested, "Great! These sunglasses are anchored with a mild adhesive, could you remove them and scratch behind my ears, please? Ahhh, that's better, thank you." Jen Jara's eyes opened to reveal dark cobalt blue irises. She blinked a few times, presumably a side effect of adjusting to the dimmer light that was still bright for her, but she was looking at Gabriel while doing so.
Meanwhile, Syrni Sandra was suffering an Inconvenient Itch underneath the tape anchoring the tube in her vein. She endured it in silence, not daring to ask anyone to risk dislodging anything that would result in spilling her blood.
edited 11th Mar '18 8:29:40 PM by Miss_Desperado
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
[Deck 2, Sick Bay (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Gabriel Kardos, Lucina, Winky)]
Gabriel looked Lucina over. I've seen that woman before, he thought to himself, and it wasn't with a good impression. But where? I might be being unfair over a misunderstanding, I suppose, but she did rather just invite herself in, didn't she? That's just... tacky.
"The transformation?" Gabriel said. "It's a knack my order picks up. Great for running down demons. Or just saving time. It isn't a 'spell' in the sense a wizard would cast it... it's just bringing out something that always inside. I can't take any shape I choose, but I've got a few useful options." He considered Lucina's dress and companion. "You're familiar with the magical arts yourself, I take it?" Then, he motioned to his two new associates. "As they said, mild paralytic. They were engaged in some sort of friendly ceremonial duel. It ended in a tie with them both as you see, so now I'm making sure they get patched up."
Then he smiled slightly and said to the pair, "you know, between Scooby-Doo and Davd Bowie, I can see Earth's pop culture has been quite busy making its way around your galaxy. I guess our species is good for something, my patrons' condescension be damned. Ahem, no pun intended."
edited 17th Mar '18 9:51:24 PM by KillerClowns
[Hangar - Scout (Halberd, Reshk, 'The Zaran')]
Reshk and the zaran exchanged glances. "Technically, I meant I could set you up for a parley with the Man right now if you wanted. That's what the quangle's for, LR communications. But I mean, there's no rush - whatever works for you," the former explained.
"Sorry 'bout the hair thing. I've just always found it disturbing," he added. "I mean, it's like... tendrils? Of dead skin or something?"
"This from a being that is even less 'natural' in nature than I," the zaran commented.
[Deck 10 - Comet Cafe (Loki, QR)]
QR let both pairs of eye membranes blink slowly in an expression of surprise. Not that she was certain anything could genuinely surprise her anymore, but it only seemed polite.
"Hh. Well. Greetings," she said, dipping her head slightly. "Although I am not certain whether I should be honored or worried, considering your reputation." She took a moment to hold up each of her arms to her face and look briefly down the sleeve. "Though I suppose we are in good enough company, at least in terms of what most qrtxians would believe about me."
She was quite curious as to what Loki actually was - "god" could mean so many possible things, almost all of them disappointing - but wasn't entirely certain how to broach the subject. This may have been within her context, but it certainly wasn't everyday. Dropping hints as to her own nature seemed a reasonable possibility, but she would see.
"What brings you here, and in that appearance, if I may ask?" Her head tilted slightly. "I have to say, I'm not surprised to find that outfit the possible work of magic."
Deck 2, Sick Bay (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Gabriel Kardos, Lucina, Winky)
Jen Jara corrected, "Actually, Earth culture hasn't reached our galaxy. The two of us just spend a lot of time on Earth. The things humans come up with are quite exciting." The emotionless computer voice she was using failed to emphasize that last word the way she wanted, so she rippled her scalp muscles, causing her black head-feathers to shiver and catch the light with purple iridescence.Spoiler for Viporis body language
Author's note: I'm keeping this post short for ladytanuki's sake for when she catches up and posts.
edited 21st Mar '18 9:13:04 PM by Miss_Desperado
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Deck 10 ~ Comet Cafe (Loki; Warren; QR)
"You shouldn't be too worried about me; I'm currently mostly harmless," she told the alien woman, "As for why I'm here, I'm unofficially on vacation."
She glanced down at her form, "As for the way I look... I mooned a fairy. She turned me into a little kid and sealed my shapeshifting capabilities in return," she said, leaving out the part about how the fairy also sealed away a large portion of her powers.
Patting her obnoxious coat, she continued, "This coat is mostly normal, I used a bathrobe as a base, and bought all the add-on materials at Jo-Ann's," she said, "It's the designs and intent that make it magical," she said.
Loki turned to watch the scruffy street kid approach, and judging him to be harmless enough, shrugged, "I don't mind."
Deck 2 ~ Moonshine Bar and Lounge (Nana; Ulf; Gwion, Sophia, Teri, Wolfe)
Nana merely nodded at what Wolfe told her of the theory of emergent behavior. What he said suggested that their world was capable of building artificial brains, something unheard of from her world. Must be currently world-exclusive paths to building things.
She watched the others take their leave, taking a few sips of coffee. "Oh yes, I'm the proprietress of one of the inns of Tetsuzaki; my daughter is currently running it in my stead."
Deck 1 ~ Arboretum (Minerva; Hadia; Aubrey, Pearl)
Minerva frowned slightly. She was fairly certain that anti-monopoly laws would most likely prevent the formation of something that could be titled as "the" (she noticed the emphasis) big tech company. As for their way of doing things: "I can see how that would be problematic; move fast and break things is bad for a lot of things, even when it seems it wouldn't." She was briefly reminded of the first forays into giant, impractical robots. They certainly moved fast, and they certainly did break things with relative ease. Like themselves.
She was about to continue on with the conversation when she got another message; her ride was apparently here already and were waiting. "I must apologize, I must take my leave sooner than expected," she told them, before addressing the new arrival to the group, "No, I'm afraid I haven't." She then gave everyone her farewells and left the Arboretum for the Docking Bay.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Sick Bay (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Gabriel, Lucina, Winky)
Lucina's bright and cheery face gave way to a scowl when one of the extraterrestrial ladies groaned upon her arrival, but quickly resumed its default expression. By the looks of things, these two were suffering from some sort of paralytic that was starting to wear off. Meanwhile, the angelic one explained her transformation... in a masculine voice. Though Lucina's cheeks flushed a bit as she realized this, she decided not to comment on it. Besides, she found his words to be more interesting.
"You are correct! I am quite familiar with the magical arts in fact, like um..." As she glanced over to the insectoid girls, the lingering dread she felt from that curse Shireen placed on her sent a small chill through her, made her recall her ensuing conversation with Jake... or rather Jake's conversation with her. She had doubts, as what she thought about saying rather annoyed her to reveal, knowing how many would seek after it. But on the other hand, this was a spaceship; what were the chances of someone breaking word to Solevaille?
"...Like healing! I happen to specialize in white magic, gifted with the power of life. Winky here..." she nudged the marionette's shoulder, "...is one of my own creations! In faaaaaact..."
She turned back to the insectoids. "If you are not particularly patient, I could probably help you recover faster. Much faster. How about it, hm?" In her mind, she wasn't particularly eager to heal these two; thought it a waste of her time and energy. In fact, she hoped they would say they don't mind the wait and would be fine without her.
To take her mind off the possibility, she pondered over something else Gabriel said. "While I am from Earth, I'm afraid I am not familiar with this 'David Bowie' and 'Scooby Doo'. If you are from Earth too, may I ask... what year is it where you are from? And did you say you are part of an order that slays demons?" Her smile widened. "That is amazing! Ugh, I just met a pair of demons earlier; if you ask me they are a major pain in the a-r-s-e."
Comet Cafe (Loki, QR, Warren)
As Warren approached the table, he just barely overheard the tackily-dressed girl talk about putting together her outfit, but missed the part about fairy mooning. A shame; that was exactly the sort of thing he would have found funny. At least she invited him to sit down, so he did exactly that.
"Nice coat," he said to the girl. "You put it together on your own? That's a pretty rad assortment of colors there." His voice showed no hint of sarcasm, though the speed at which he talked helped. "I put together costumes myself, though as you can see, I don't have the guts to wear my own creations."
He looked over to the alien and decided to not bother repeating the question. Instead he asked, "So what's your name?" He cast a side glance at the girl, directing the question at her as well.
Hangar (Halberd, Reshk, The Zaran)
"Hair is made in the skin, but it's not skin itself," Halberd explained. "Made of the same material as fingernails and rhinoc— never mind." Reshk and the Zaran weren't from Earth; they probably wouldn't know what a rhinoceros was. "Well, anyway. I actually don't mind getting set up right now; let's see what ye got. Or, well, what your boss got."
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.Sick Bay (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Gabriel, Lucina, Winky)
The Void Maidens were surprised at Lucina's claim that she was capable of bringing life to a mechanical being. In their experience, such a supernatural ability was the domain of particular Mayatansnote whose telepathy specialized in catalyzing a soul in the mechanical macroneurons that species had invented. The two Viporises could see from Lucina's clothesnote , limb proportionnote , and having neither black spots nor gliding membranesnote that she was not a Mayatan. They didn't know what kind of circuits Winky hadnote , but they doubted Winky was built with soul-supporting Mayatan technology, Winky looked like he'd been built by humans. But then again, humans did have tales of sorcery, ghosts and golems, so it was probable that Lucina used a different method than Mayatans did...
Upon hearing Lucina's offer of accelerating their healing, Syrni Sandra and Jen Jara silently debated through their microchip implants on whether or not to take the offer. On one hand, quickly ending the torment of being immobile and at the mercy of whatever happened to come along would be a welcome relief for Viporis instincts. On the other hand, the strangely effective superstition they learned from other members of the Web called for suspicion in this case — strangers bearing gifts could have strings attached to said gifts. The pseudo-telepathic debate was over in a few seconds. Syrni Sandra answered, "You can try it on me first, but Jen Jara..." a diplomatic search for words, "...is still making up her mind."
In preparation for Lucina's spell, the Void Maidens did a quick head-to-toe check on their muscles - their facial expressions were definitely restored, their fingers and toes were free to wiggle, and the rest of their tightened muscles could make small adjustments. That last development wouldn't have happened by now without the saline drip.
edited 25th Mar '18 10:03:42 PM by Miss_Desperado
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.
Attitude is prohibited
[Comet Cafe]
Sakura made her way back to the table. "Hey, sorry that took so long," she said. "The sinks in there - they don't have any taps! And when I finally figured out how to get water out of them, I couldn't find any towels! What a strange place..." It was then that she noticed somebody new at the table. "Oh, um, hello there," she said, quickly bowing before resuming her seat from earlier. "I don't believe we've met! I'm Sakura. And you are...?"
Not entirely dead.
[Sick Bay (Syrni Sandra, Jen Jara, Gabriel, Lucina, Winky)]
"Healing," Gabriel said, stepping aside to let Lucina work. "That's one that isn't in my bag of tricks. I'd be interested to see it in action, though." Then a pause, and more cautiously: "though... I've seen some strange definitions definitions of 'healing' in my time. There aren't any side effects to worry about, are there?" The reason for his suspicion was simple — he understood from experience using it, and dealing with its agents, that light was not good. In fact, it was, in his hands, a remarkably potent force of raw destruction.
"But anyways, I digress. You were asking what year it is where I'm from?" He answered, giving a year very close to but not quite at our own. "And as for the demons? There are rules, and I deal with those who break them." He let Lucina assume that meant demons, though there had been a fair few rogue angels to deal with as well. "I dare to ask, what were these demons up to? Might I have to pay them a visit?"
Deck 1 ~ Arboretum (Minerva; Hadia; Aubrey, Pearl)
"Still habitable," Hadia said. "I know the feeling. Like I already told Pearl and Aubrey, our environment needs help. Fossil fuels, dumb idea out of Tesseract to 'fix' it, bad times." She didn't mention that a Tesseract employee would have called it a dumb idea out of Western Amalgamated; the two companies had worked together, and desperately passed the buck when things went bad. "We're working on it though." They'd shuffled Dr. Hayden into the window-gazing tribe and given Dr. Rose his job; Dr. Rose was that he'd vetoed any further "clever ideas" in favor of focusing on adaptation technologies. Expensive, yes, but everyone in Hadia's social circle could afford them, so of course she was optimistic.
"Aside from the environmental stuff," Hadia said, "I'm actually pretty hopeful. There's some issues here and there, but when you look at the statistics, the world's improving. 'The better angels of our nature' are still winning out, slowly but surely."