Action | Bloodsport is such a violent name, gosh

[mikangirl]

Who: SS Bloodsport crew and visitors!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: SS Bloodsport
When: Any time since last shuffle.

[And then the SS Bloodsport got two new crew members. Say hi to your co-pilots? Crew mingle!]

Comments

[pompous_today]

I'm glad to meet you. It'll be good to have a pilot- we've been without for a while, and I don't think any of us are much for steering ships. It seems to be able to pilot on its own just fine, but machines cannot quite replicate a person's touch.

[mikangirl]

Well, hopefully I can get the gist okay. I'm a navigator back home, too-- just of an entirely different kind of ship.

[She gives a wistful smile, and edges a bit closer to those plants he's studying.] Maybe it'll give me an edge.

[pompous_today]

Perhaps it will. By another type of ship... do you mean another spaceship, or the seafaring kind? I know not everyone comes from a world of space exploration like I do.

[mikangirl]

[Her eyebrows lift at that.]

Seafaring kind-- I navigate a brigantine sloop, actually. You... come from space? Seriously?

[It's less skepticism and more Simon's about to become a target for all sorts of questions, really...]

[pompous_today]

I do, yes- and I am from quite a bit into the future for most people, I am finding. I'd be happy to answer questions if you are curious.

[mikangirl]

I'm plenty curious. You've got to be way further on than me, then. In terms of technology, anyway-- but ah. I don't know anything at all about space other than the fact you can't go out in it. I guess it's like deep ocean in that regard.

Does it ever change?

[pompous_today]

[Simon nods.]

That's correct- it's extremely cold outside the confines of the ship, and there is no oxygen to breathe. As far as changes of scenery- we do land around once a month, and between planets there are waystations we can resupply at. Other than that, it tends to look the same out in the black.

[mikangirl]

[She crooks a small grin. Wry.]

So I guess navigating out here is vastly different from navigating on an ocean, then. No air currents, no waves, no weather.

[WELP. Guess she's learning from scratch, then.]

[pompous_today]

Just a little bit. At least we are part of a fleet, so if nothing else, you will be able to follow along with the crowd. Your augment will help with that, as well, I'm betting.

[mikangirl]

Yeah, that's. Uh. Something else. [She reaches up subconsciously to touch at the small bump she can feel.] Someone told me trying to remove it led to all kinds of nasty stuff. You know anything about that?

[pompous_today]

[He nods.] People have tried, but fiddling with it too much fills one with overwhelming dread. Like trying to take it off would be a very, very bad idea. I'm sure it's a failsafe Atroma put in to stop us from probing their technology too much.

[mikangirl]

Figures. I wouldn't even know where to start trying to pry it out anyway.

[To be fair, she does appreciate she kind of knows how to pilot things now. And the crew so far seem okay.]

How long have you been here?

[pompous_today]

It is tricky, especially when it's so near vulnerable areas like the inner ear and the brain. I am an experienced trauma surgeon and even I would be wary of attempting to fiddle with it.

I have been here around 6 months.

[mikangirl]

[So, filing that away in the nothing-can-be-done column.]

Has the fleet changed much in that time? I mean-- do you often get new crew?

[pompous_today]

Yes. Whether people stay or leave seems to be completely random- my sister arrived not long after I did, yet she's been gone for a month or so and I remain. Supposedly it's all Atroma's doing, but some of us are not convinced.

[mikangirl]

[Ah. Is it a good thing or a bad thing she went home?]

...I'm sorry about your sister.

[Either way, he probably misses her a lot.]

[pompous_today]

I am, too. I know she is safe back home and will not ever know that I am gone, but... she and I are close. [To say the least.] I try not to dwell, though, as there is not much I can do to change things.

[mikangirl]

[Her eyes narrow a little.]

She won't know you're gone. Time doesn't move back home?

[pompous_today]

It does. That is one of the things I cling to while I am here- at least my sister and my girlfriend will not have to deal with me having up and vanished.

[mikangirl]

Always a plus. [But she frowns.] I guess the whole "time standing still" thing is common to places like this.

[pompous_today]

It seems to be, yes. This is the first time something like this has happened to me, but others have come from other worlds that aren't their own, and none of them seem to have been missed back home no matter how long they have been gone.

[mikangirl]

It makes you wonder just how these places are connected. It's way too implausible for there to be a bunch of little terrariums like this that all have the same kind of rules.

Has anyone ever died here?

[pompous_today]

It is something to consider. Maybe there are other Atromas who enjoy kidnapping people for their amusement.

They haven't, to my knowledge- Atroma has put us in peril a few times since I've been here, but never enough to be lethal. I suppose so far we have been entertaining enough that they do not have to resort to such extreme measures.

[mikangirl]

Or the Atroma are just a branch of something else.

[Either way, the chance she'll get a definitive answer about that is pretty small.]

I guess it doesn't matter. Stuck is stuck.

[pompous_today]

Nothing about them would surprise me at this point, frankly.

[He nodded.]

Some people choose to deliberately play to the audience, but others- including myself- just carry on as normally as we can. I do not court audience acceptance, but they seem to enjoy me anyway.