Bring the pringles, it's a mingle!

[geonomy]

Who: SS Vanquish and whoever visits!
Broadcast: Noooope.
Action: SS Vanquish!
When: Any time during their stay on the blue planet!

[That's right, it's a ship mingle! While the crew of Vanquish have fun on the beach, or help the residents with rebuilding/the fungus problem, or shopping, or whatever strikes their fancy, they've still got to come back to the ship sometime!

As the rest of the crew return at points, they might find a growing collection of shells and little cups of sand and algae around the pilot's area. He'll organize it someday. Maybe.]

Comments

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue blinks, confused. She initially takes 'our little group' to mean the Vanquish, but that doesn't make much sense if Pearl is used to more advanced equipment. Or does it? She... isn't sure.

So she just lets it go for now - maybe she'll circle back later. She is okay with prying information out of strangers, or if she has to, but with people she has to live with Rogue is very sensitive about issues of privacy.

Besides. Robot.

She perks right up, further interested.]

You usually build robots? What kinds?

[stickupherforehead]

[whoops maybe she should've been more precise] Well, I don't usually build robots.

[hmmm] I've repaired a few in recent memory, but as it stands, there hasn't been a need for one.

[and even then, she can simply use her holograms] I suppose you could say I build whatever's necessary at the moment.

[touchofrogue]

[So it was something she'd done before she got here - at least, that was what Rogue took from the tenor of Pearl's responses. Pearl had also said she usually dealt with more advanced technology than this as well, and Rogue figured she meant more than just the stone knives.

She nods a little.]

Nice. [A quick grin.] I don't usually run into inventor types who only build what's necessary.

[She is looking at you, Tony Stark and the Talking Toaster.]

[stickupherforehead]

I am skilled enough in such tasks [probably made for it, even], but I prefer other methods of relaxation.

[hmm] That sounds like a very good way to build up a lot of clutter. [re: unnecessary projects]

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue exhales, a brief, amused sound that is almost a laugh.] It sure is. An' half the time they barely work - 'least, that's the way it always seemed to me.

[Pause a beat. Consider... and dare to venture into something more personal.] What kinds of things do ya do for fun, then?

[stickupherforehead]

[Pearl pauses in her work, taking a moment to think.]

Well, I do like practicing with my spear. There's swordplay as well, but I haven't gotten one yet.

Does that count?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue's eyebrows quirk upwards. Noooot an answer she had expected, but it's a stinkin' cool one.]

I don't see why not. I've never really gotten into swords, but I used ta practice with a bo and tonfas pretty regularly. I wonder if spear fightin' and bo fighting are similar.

[stickupherforehead]

That's just a staff, yes? I would expect much of the basic moves to be the same, though one could argue that the bo is more versatile under a variety of situations. With a spear, one usually focuses on the [hah] pointy end.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue nods at the question.] Heh. Makes sense.

[...and then Rogue runs out of conversing skills. She has more questions about the ship and how things work, but she really doesn't like impinging on people's personal space for too long. Still, they are in the kitchen, and she is just gonna... glance around hoping conversational genius will strike her before she abandons ship.]

[stickupherforehead]

[Pearl doesn't seem to notice any awkwardness, but plows straight ahead]

How are you when it comes to fighting?

[if there's one thing she knows about working on a team, it's that it's important to know what everybody's abilities are]

[touchofrogue]

[Oh. Well. That's direct.

Rogue can appreciate direct.

...it's also complicated, but it shouldn't be. It's just. Ugh.]

Pretty good. [She pauses, trying to figure out the best way to explain without getting into a Long Story. She isn't really any good at Long Stories.] I've been trainin' to fight in one way or another for over ten years. Had some more intense trainin' for the past... seven or so, I guess.

[stickupherforehead]

[she doesn't think of herself as leader material, but she is pretty good at faking that confidence]

We don't have a security officer on board, so we'll have to pitch in the best we can. Of course, it'll be significantly easier if some of us know what we're doing. [a nod at Rogue. She's...not too sure about their captain.]

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue's brow furrows. This is the sort of information she needs to know.]

What kinda security threats have we had so far? An' what are our ship's defenses?

[stickupherforehead]

I haven't been here for very long, but there were violent, parasitized aliens on a larger ship we came across. They were of the same species as the Nunnilis we've seen here.

As far as defenses go, we have unremarkable shields, with reference to most of the other ships.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue frowns.] Those Nunnilis - did they attack us? An' what's the story with our shields?

[Why are they unremarkable?]

[stickupherforehead]

[she'll answer the easy one first] The shields we have are the same as those of any other ships in the fleet. Of course, some have no shields at all, so I suppose we can't complain.

Apparently, their ship was sending out distress signals, so we - that is, the other members of the fleet; I wasn't here yet - went in to investigate. They were attacked by the Nunnilis, so they fought back and eventually cleared them out. However, they later discovered that the only reason they attacked was that their nervous system was compromised by a parasitic fungi.

Otherwise, they seem peaceful enough, as demonstrated by the Nunnilis here.

[touchofrogue]

[...okay, let's break this down bit by bit, then.]

...okay, simple question first, I guess. How do we get better shields?

[She will just... come back to that whole alien infection thing, and let her brain chomp on that for a bit.]

[stickupherforehead]

[looking up, thinky face, finger tapping against her chin]

I suppose I could tinker around with it, but if I had to guess, I would assume we'd need more power.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue leans forward slightly, placing her elbows on the table.]

So how do we get more power?

[Shields just sound like a really important thing to have, okay?]

[stickupherforehead]

That's the difficult part, isn't it? Obtaining something like that is probably not in our captor's best interest.

[touchofrogue]

Because... they want our shields to be ineffective? Or you think they're worried about what else we'd do with it.

[stickupherforehead]

I could do a good number of things, given enough energy and proper materials.

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue nods at that. She's getting a bit better sense here of what Pearl might mean, and a 'number of things' could include just about anything, with proper materials and time. That was what engineers usually thought in her experience, anyway. So she decides instead of questioning Pearl about what they are unlikely to receive anyway, to circle back to what she'd told her about the whole... attacking... thing.]

So this... parasetic fungi. It didn't infect anyone in this fleet, did it?

[stickupherforehead]

Not that I know of. From what I understand, only their specific species could be infected. They did do a thorough cleansing of the new ship, if you were worried.

[touchofrogue]

[A fungus that only affected a certain species? That was - okay, a lot less of a threat than she'd been concerned about and--

Rogue shook her head then let out a breathy almost-laugh.]

Sorry. It's just - a lot ta take in. I keep expectin' something extra horrible to jump out at me. So I'm just - tryin' ta peer in all the corners, ya know?