At least there's no elevator music...

[thespaceopera]

[At least two weeks have passed since the Drift Fleet passengers woke up on this strange wing of the Marsiva... Some new passengers have even joined the group instead of being Shuffled off to a fleet ship! The large monitor in the central room remains quiet for now, so how is everyone holding up?

Have you been relaxing? Enjoying the Earth media? If you can even remember them, how have Calibrations been treating you? Has anyone started getting a little stir-crazy?

Don't worry... This ship has no shortage of mysteries, and you'll be seeing a few more soon.]


ooc: here's another mingle for the current game event! players can start or continue threads here from any point during the event. the additional setting information is still being postponed due to sickly mods, but y'all are welcome to post additional topcomments for reactions and investigation once it's up!

Comments

[experiencepoints]

[Nightingale has settled into a daily routine rather quickly. A routine that starts with blasting the nameplate on her door with gratuitous amounts of fire, so that might wake up anyone unfortunate enough to be in a nearby room who wanted to sleep in.

After that, she heads for the kitchen, cooks up a ridiculous amount of food for everyone, sneaking in experiments with the protein mush her and there where she hopes it will go unnoticed. It's there, might as well learn how to use it.

Once she's spent a few hours doing that, she alternates- on some days, she heads for the gym, where she takes a large punching bag and proceeds to destroy it with her normal fire spells, but now she's started to mix in ice and lightning as well- It's a pretty big spectacle, and by the time she's done, the punching bag is reduced to dust.

On other days, she heads towards the central space, grabs an empty cushion and a huge stack of the books. Usually, it's things like textbooks or educational materials, but if you pay close attention, you might find her sneaking a trashy lesbian vampire romance novel into that pile...]

[incousinswithyou]

Oh? [here's a curious voice over your shoulder. Her tone is light, and edging into teasing territory.]

Indulging in some light reading?

[the cover with one half dressed woman biting another kinda gives it away]

[mikangirl]

[Nami doesn't particularly want to think about what's happening right now. She doesn't seek out the people she's dreamed about; it feels like even more of an intrusion.

Time enough has passed that she decides hell with it. She can be found either in a niche in the library, burying herself in terrible pulp fiction and old classics, or in the hot tub. She's resisted it long enough.]

audio transmission

[hymnals]

[Adra paces in front of his communicator as he talks, as suggested by the sound of his rapid footfalls and the patchy quality of his voice. He sounds damn exhausted.]

So this is a whole lot of fucking nonsense, right? I've decided I'm going to try not sleeping. Still alive so far!

[Albeit a little delirious.]

[multiglyphs]

[ weiss frowns a little at the transmission that comes in during her communicator tinkering.

rather tentatively, she responds: ]

Why on earth would you want to do that?

[save_the_souls]

[A. Action, Closed to Previously-Established CR]

[It's early in the morning, only about ten or fifteen minutes after some people have woken up from their calibrations. Maybe you're heading down the hallway to get some morning coffee, or you're curled up in a fetal position as you angst over last night's room visits. Whatever starts your day. Either way, if you're passing by Allen's door- you may hear this through the closed metal door:]

I'M WHERE!?

[This is the followed by the sound of something electronic being hit and the sound of rage. Are you going to investigate or go about your morning?]

[B. Main Area- Open to All!]

[Regardless of whatever that was all about, Allen can be found in the common area later in the day. Between the dreams and other things, he's honestly looking worse for wear and very disgruntled about the situation- but he's there! You might find him nursing a cup of coffee grumpily, training in the training area that looks more like pummeling a punching bag for stealing his wallet or trying to take his rage out in a violent zombie shooter game]

[A lot of rage. This whole place sucks.]

A

[experiencepoints]

[Well, she was blasting the nameplate off of her door again, but that shout gets her attention.

So, she's going to go knock on Allen's door. Surely this can't end badly.]

Allen? Are you all right?

Alphonse Elric | OTA

[thebloodseal]

Gym

[Al still hasn't figured out how to transmute the walls of this ship effectively- and he's scared of accidentally punching a hole into space- but he can still see Izumi in his mind's eye, scaring him into not slacking off, so he was in the gym every now and then, punching on a bag or simply practicing forms, manuvering his huge body to blow and block and kick and punch against imaginary opponents.]

Other entertainment

[At other times, Al can be found playing a simple typing instruction game, or else trying to figure out motion controls. His large hands and fingers can make the former difficult, but he hopes it will improve his skills.]

Gym

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Walking into the gym to get some practice herself, Wanda spies Alphonse practicing at the bags. She silently watches for a moment before making her presence known.]

You did mention that you had received martial arts training. [She gives him a somewhat wry smile.] Impressive.

[preformthisneigh]

[Like most of the Flooters, Cheese has not been enjoying this calibration mess at all. What's the point of having a secret backstory if anypony who wanted to could just poke about into your memories? It's not okay, at all. Paradisa did a lot of terrible things to him, but it never did this. Sure, it took away his freedom, but Atroma has put his past on show. Seriously, Atroma. Not cool at all.

He's lying in one of the book nooks, reading a book. Or, rather, he's been staring at the same page in a book for about half an hour. It's still a good cover, right? ]

[alwayscomeback]

[Sokka can be found sitting at a table, lots of papers in front of him. He's writing down notes, and they look fairly extensive. He doesn't know if Beau and Diamond are going to show up again or not, but he wants to be prepared. He's going to get answers if it kills him.

Sometimes, he mutters to himself, crossing out a sentence or two or making short additions to them. ]

Ugh, that won't work. Gotta make it watertight.

[multiglyphs]

[ —what's this, a FELLOW NOTETAKER??? like attracts like, it seems, or maybe weiss is just so relieved to see someone else defaulting to her own habits that she's quick to approach him upon entering the space. she's still quite new but that just puts the onus on her to get out there and network, right? right.

though she's sort of failing at that when she gets too distracted hovering over his shoulder to peek at his work to actually... say something.... ]

[ricksybusiness]

[Rick is getting stir crazy and it's awful. He's taken apart most of the dumb, useless cameras that are stuck around here, and has turned them into various works of slipshod robotics. Which he smashed a few days ago. All of them. There are now a bunch of wires and metal bits in several different places. Try not to step on anything, it's probably worse than stepping on a LEGO.

Rick can be found in various levels of intoxication throughout the Marsiva's wing: sprawled out on the living space floor, using the blender in the kitchen to make something noxious and terrible, probably passed out in your bed. (How did he get in here?)

Maybe once in awhile he just starts throwing things? That happens sometimes. Better duck; there goes a lamp.]

[onlyanapple]

[He'll just be heading into the kitchen to poke around the food offerings to see if anything is even vaguely passable. He'll shoot a smirk at Rick while he does so, though. ]

If it isn't my favourite geriatric.

[admirably]

[ Well, this is certainly different. But far be it from Hans to not appreciate an opportunity to escape his fate, whatever it may be. The simple truth was that he had crimes to face back home, and now he doesn't have to face them. As much as it might appear he's a different sort of prisoner now, he takes his arrival on the S.S. Marsiva as an act of providence.

Once he had gathered his wits about him enough to no longer stare slack-jawed out the windows into the sea of stars, that is.

After a few days on the hospitality deck, gleaning what he could from his communicator and watching broadcasts, Hans is assigned to the S.S. Blue Fish and ends up in the same area of the Marsiva as the rest of the fleet's passengers. Finally. A chance to speak with the others face-to-face, and hopefully meet his crew-to-be. Now he was getting somewhere.

He'll be about in the various living spaces, eager to introduce himself to whoever he can. He needs to get a feel for the structure of rank, here. Who were the leaders, and who were the followers? The dangerous and the naive? He needed to classify these faces, and from there, he could make a plan. ]

Excuse me, but could I intrude upon a moment of your time?

[touchofrogue]

[Rogue lowers her book slowly and stares up at the interloper. It is not quite a glare, not yet. But it is a S T A R E.]

Yes?

[And it is not a friendly 'yes.' Go on, Handsome. Start sweet-talking, if you dare.]

[grounds]

[Given the rinse and repeat cycle of days in the common are and nights in whatever the hell she wanders into, Octavia's begrudgingly settled into something of a rhythm. She's had her share of movies, both weird and enjoyable, and the occasional video game. Now, she's decided on books. They're mostly non-fiction, unless one counts mythology, but at the moment the topic centers on weapons. Mostly swords, both types and uses.

Unless she's beat at a punching bag, getting food from the kitchen, or taking a pee break, Octavia can generally be found in one of the side nooks, absorbing as much material as she can before this whole debacle ends.

Pick your location.]

[takeabow]

[ Nova approaches, looking tired (somehow, despite all the forced sleeping) ]

Learning anything interesting?

[notkittenaround]

[ It is beyond irritating to be trapped in this place, forced into a maddening and institutionalized routine. But Magpie - Marhi - has already decided to make the best of it. If she cannot hunt, or use her best spells, or unleash the fury down on their captors with an unholy but goddess sanctified amount of violence, then it is best to keep herself fit through other methods.

Which is to say, she's in the gym. A child's plastic toy fishing rod does not make a good copy of a Dragoon's mighty heft, but she's making a go of it anyway. The dramatic, overly fancy and easily higher than her own body jumps of the Dragoon.. don't quite suit the weak plink of pink plastic against the gym bags when she spears them. ]

[delincuente]

[A. Common Room - Action]

[Alex is lounging on one of the sofas, upside down with her feet propped on the back. She's got a pair of headphones on, with the volume turned up loud enough to hear the horrendous music coming out of them. Occasionally, she'll hum along or bounce her feet, probably irritating those around her.

Someone's clearly in a good mood, despite how bad the past couple of weeks have been.]

[B. Kitchen - Voice/Action]

[Or, you can find your friendly neighborhood witch in the kitchen, doing something a bit uncharacteristic of her. She's attempting to bake cookies, with the limited ingredients available, but seems to have stopped at the dough phase, and is now just sitting on the counter with the bowl and a spoon.]

So where do you think these eggs come from? Like, is there some space-farm out there, with space-chickens?

[She licks a little dollop of dough off the end of the spoon.]

... And is space-salmonella a thing?

[Clearly she's asking all the important questions.]

b!

[kotatsu]

[ look, she's just minding her own business and trying to take a picture of the kitchen with her communicator when this lady starts asking her about space-chickens and space-salmonella.

she's seven years old what is this. ]

Space... salmonella?

[actsmagnificent]

[ The only place to run is a treadmill? Doesn't that seem fitting.

Haruka has been over every inch of the Marsiva by now looking for anything that might give them access to the remainder of the ship. She hasn't found any secret passages or anomalies. She hasn't transformed and destroyed the countdown clock, either, but only because when "we have to do something" fought with "don't act out childishly" in her head, the latter won. But she knows she's growing increasingly more irrational. She needs to go for a drive.

In lieu of that, she's running. A leisurely run, by her standards. She's only breaking a light, glittering sweat.

The treadmill is turned up all the way. ]

[experiencepoints]

[If there's any place you expect a scrawny nerd to be, it's probably not the gym. But even so, that's where she is, when she spots her shipmate working out on the treadmill.

The only thing stopping her from trying to fuck with Haruka is that the treadmill can't be turned up any higher, honestly.]

Don't exhaust yourself before the real bad stuff starts happening.

[takeabow]

[ For her part, Nova is definitely going stir-crazy. She's spending a decent amount of time in the workout area, foraging around the kitchen area, or just lounging in the common space. Occasionally, she'll tuck herself in a corner and study a small pin ]

[ Feel free to interrupt her or call her. She's probably been especially withdrawn since this whole cattle call started ]

[forsometimenow]

Something from home?

[Jennifer smiled as she watched Nova peering intensely at something in her hand.]

If you don't mind telling me.

[jamminshield]

A. Media Round-Up!

[You can find the tiny child in the common room, running back and forth as he checks out the different media on display. He seems to be gathering all the things he recognizes as his favorites.]

Yes! Another one!

[He runs back to deposit another book there. In that line-up, there are books from series like The No Home Boys and The Spirit Morph Saga, plus a copy of How to Talk to People.]

B. The Final Countdown

[Steven keeps on eying the timer uncertainly, wondering what it could have to do with his weird dreams lately. Finally, he points a finger at it.]

What's your deal, Timer?!

C. Wild Card!

[He can be found bumming around the kitchen, or checking out the gym, or just lounging around the common area!]

A

[ino]

[ ... She's watching him hoard all of the books/movies/etc ... but that last book on the list, there ... ]

... "How to Talk to People"?

[ That sounds like something Sai would read ... ]

[incousinswithyou]

[two words: hot tub. She's got a towel on, but that's about it. And from the way she keeps slipping lower into the water, she almost looks malcontent.

...There's no way she can swim in this. She should probably start looking for other forms of exercise. Insert heavy sigh here.]

[actsmagnificent]

No laps today?

[ Here comes some utter, thoughtless jerk to rub it in. Oh wait, it's Haruka. Who has a slightly tousled look about her - the way she looks after a run, but given the tension in her own shoulders, it also wasn't therapeutic.

She tucks in her own towel and heads for the tub. ] The jogging here's no good either.

[feathery]

[Davesprite resorted to vandalism not long after arrival, pulling down cameras and covering walls in shitty laser graffiti (a responsible use of his powers!). Too bad it keeps disappearing overnight. So, while it's possible to catch him standing in front of a wall covered in enough radioactive orange profanity to look like a health hazard, he's moved on to other activities (although defacing/dismantling books remains therapeutic).

This is why he is now rotting what remains of his brain with years of missed Earth media. #yolo

He mostly focuses on anything from after early April 2009. He has missed the fuck out. Who knew the future was so prolific. He listens to some songs and watches videos of others (BEWARE OF STAIRS); they aren't really linked in any particular order, but it's all media of varying quality that Davesprite takes the time to ~discover~.

Seriously, what the fuck even is some of this shit (video-wise in some cases, audio-wise in others, or possibly both depending on circumstances). Sitting with his legs propped up and wings bonelessly folded in a manner that looks hells of uncomfortable, he could very well be a corpse. It's hard to tell with the sunglasses. But sorry if you didn't want to listen to his somewhat variable collection of music, aka mostly rap and electronic shit.

He also watches movies. A lot of movies. He even watches a movie about a fast snail. There is a snail meme. Please discuss this with him.

Otherwise, he's giving people a crash course in time travel, a la Marty McFly. This is what you're stuck with, whether it's Part I, Part II, or Part III. I'm sorry, because he's not. On the upside, he has a never-ending Doritos supply, so if you're craving corn chips, you have found your guy.]

[thebarkside]

is this music good or ironic good :T

[ is jade texting him from across the room? jade is texting him from across the room. ]

Monkey D. Luffy; ota

[rubbernecking]

[ At first, he thinks he fell asleep somewhere weird again, because he doesn't usually wake up cold down to his bones, definitely not when he's usually flanked by a warm body and certainly not in the carefully climate-controlled dome he'd lived in. He sits up quickly, meaning to twist around to the side where he might see the familiar shape of a person under covers, and ends up smacking his forehead into a wall he doesn't expect to be there. ]

Uwah?!

[ There's graceless pinwheeling of arms, and Luffy tumbles backwards off the mattress, which now affords him an upside-down view of the room's metal walls and sterile, cold appointments. Eyes swivel from one side to the other while he lies there, arms akimbo, legs still hooked up over the admittedly comfortable mattress, his tank top hiked up past his ribs and one leg of his pajama pants scrunched up to the knee. ]

Vivi..?

[ No answering sounds of movement. She's usually awake well before he is on any given day. He pushes himself upright, turning his head in the other direction. ]

Xin? [ None of Xin's rusty, croaky chattering laughter. No sound of glossy black feathers ruffling. ] Torao?

[ Eventually he gets back to his feet, giving himself a cursory dusting off as he remarks to himself: ] Wow, I fell asleep somewhere weird! [ Does he make a habit of that? An investigation of the box (because that's what you do when there's a box around, you take a peek inside) reveals a pair of black, sturdy self-adjusting boots, long blue jeans and his favorite red jacket with hood and a panda-faced t-shirt. The other set is something more familiar by far, and unique in that he thought it had been missing permanently when it was confiscated during his arrest by those robots that one time: a pair of denim shorts cut off at the knees, some woven hemp sandals, and a hawaiian shirt, dark, covered all over with bright yellow sunflower heads.

Still, he feels cold, so he starts dressing in the t-shirt, longer jeans, and hooded jacket. Sandals would be more comfortable by far, but chilly, so socks and boots it is. Tucked into a corner of the box interior, he finds his backpack, and a necklace of maroon, deep purple, and red stone beads, both of which he puts on next.

The final touch is the straw hat he dons, after finding it sitting in a corner. ] Guess I'll just head home!

[ He stuffs the rest of what he finds in his backpack, slings it over a shoulder, and exits.

Come on. By now? Everyone can recognize a touch panel when they see one, right? He's humming tunelessly to himself as he chooses a direction at random and strolls along, expecting he'll eventually encounter an exit sign or another person he could ask directions from.

He sees the big windows, first, and that's probably where you'll find him, face squashed against the great bowed windows and gawking at the void, exclaiming excited noises whenever he spies something even remotely interesting.

When it's his first time in space? All of it is. ]

[mikangirl]

[Nami almost misses him. It's the net effect of being so disgruntled by these weirdass dreams that she's keeping to herself just so she can have some quiet time, because she sure isn't getting it at night.

But odd clothes or not, it's very, very hard not to immediately focus on that unforgettable straw hat. She checks her stride, coming to a stop to stare. Jeans and a hoodie is not Luffy's style, and he didn't have clothes like that when she last saw him besides. It's a coincidence. That's all. A hurtful one.

...but the way he's plastered against the window is so very Luffy-like. Maybe--

Yeah, she's kind of edging closer in a hopeful sort of way.

Real gentle like, real slow...

...to snatch that damn hat off his head. WHO ARE YOU.]

[empireofmymind]

[ There is a new face in the common area today. He's kept to himself since arriving, the better to think through his situation, but is now exploring his surroundings. For a system that professes to have brought people from all planes of existence, the prevalence of Earth media is certainly puzzling...

More to the point, he's standing here with a game cartridge in one hand looking absolutely baffled. Many of these games he recognizes, but what

in the world

is "Donkey Madness"? ]

[experiencepoints]

[Oh, god, it's another kid. Why are there so many kids here? Nightingale approaches to see who this kid is- At least this one seems a little older than the other one, but...]

What's that?

[ino]

[ Ino's actually doing pretty okay. Annoyed with Atroma, of course, but that's the usual. Annoyed with herself for accidentally waking up a terrible monster in Allen's brain, but, you know. She can handle it. Probably. Shut up.

Her boyfriend said he loved her, okay!!! GOOD THINGS CAN HAPPEN SOMETIMES.

She can probably be found in (A), the gym, punching a punching bag absently until she accidentally breaks it off the wall/splits it open. Oops.

... OR, she may also be found in (B), the kitchen, whipping up something as fresh and non-protein-cube as possible. And humming to herself a little bit. Like you do! ]

[experiencepoints]

[Well, Nightingale's sort of taken over the kitchen, just making as much for as many people as she can, so she's used to seeing all sorts of others in there by now, but... What the hell.]

... So, uh. Did something happen?

[limitstorm]

[ (a) quietly, when no one is around... riku is at the computer panel. gasp! it's rare that he's actually doing that, since he usually reads or listens to music, but no. he's at the screen with a small stack of movies, it seems... suspenseful music plays, and he hunches his shoulders as he watches intently. the volume's down, but that certainly is some sort of flesh-eating zombie ambling across the screen... riku, however, is completely and totally engrossed in it. he's leaning forward, eyes wide, and when the music grows and a zombie catches up with a poor, unsuspecting human, eating their brains, he jumps slightly. he's not actually scared, though, seeming far more engrossed. excuse him as he paws for where he last left his tea, he doesn't want to take his eyes off of the movie... the stack of movies next to him seem to all be horror, too. never let it be said he doesn't love a genre.

(b) in one reading nook, you may find riku closeted away, legs crossed, eyes closed. for those who've stumbled upon him before, it's not unlike when he was meditating on the previous planet--his brows furrow and smoky, inky black energy spews from him once or twice before he reels it back in. it's hard, his face concentrated and exhausted, but it's necessary. don't get too close, you might find a small explosion of darkness will startle you off of your feet. ]

b

[experiencepoints]

[All she wanted was a place to read her trashy lesbian vampire erotica in peace, damnit.

Still, as she approaches Riku, a cool wind blows in his face, like it's trying to blow the smoke off, and maybe just cool him off a bit. She's not quite close enough for an explosion to trigger yet, though, unless that wind is enough to startle it into happening.]

Hey, are you okay?

[multiglyphs]

[ weiss has, thus far, been one of the fortunate ones. despite her arrival seemingly ill-timed, she has yet to experience any of these calibrations that seem to be putting the rest of the ship under some duress, and the selfish part of her rather wishes she'd never have to.

after spending numerous consecutive days attempting to glean as much information from her communicator as she can (as well as the idle conversation with a veteran crew member here and there), she has decided to give herself a bit of a break... though her mind is far too anxious to stay silent for long, and so she attempts to keep herself busy within the general common room/recreational space. feel free to find her:

A ) working diligently to make what appears to be the perfect paper airplane. she's got a number of books borrowed from the ship's holdings stacked around her while she works at a table, ripping page after page out of the books (BLASPHEMOUS!! she knows, but she has a good reason for this, she swears!) and working meticulously to fold each angle. from the number of crumpled paper at her feet and fallen planes around the wastebasket set about ten, fifteen feet away from her... it's obvious that she isn't having much success.

or

B ) attempting to play one of those video games. attempting is the emphasis here, of course, as weiss had taken care to steal into the recreational area when she was certain no one was around to witness her fumble with the thing. from the prim and proper way she's sitting as she awkwardly fumbles with the remote, to the all-too-serious and intense stare she's directing towards the screen, it's pretty clear she's never really had experience with this activity either.

all seems well, really, at least until she suddenly lets out a sharp (but brief!) shriek of discontent, and she's shaking the controller in her hands as she attempts to hold in her anger. eventually, it all comes bubbling out in strangled shout of, ]

That stupid blue turtle shell...!!

A!

[survives]

[Well, this is... definitely a new sight here.

Huh.]

Um. Are you okay there? That's a lot of, uh...

closed to Alex, Allen, and Clay

[stefanged]

[As the days wore on, even Stefan was getting kind of bored. He could only re-read his books so many times before boredom took over, and a bored Stefan was not a very fun Stefan. Which is why, honestly, he was more than okay with sitting in front of the couch with big bowls of (magicked-up) popcorn, excellent company, and... a video game? He knows it's a video game. He can see the console, and the controllers, and the current level they're playing.

He's just not sure what it is, and the theme song only serves to confuse him more. A guy can stay quiet for only so long, so when he thinks there's a lull in the action, he'll finally pipe up to ask--]

Uh, what's a Katamari? The thing we're rolling around?

[save_the_souls]

[Allen doesn't look over, but nods very solemnly as he continues to control the katamari, leaning against Clay as he does so. He answers with a deadpan seriousness]

Yes. They're the cores of stars, but they need kindling to start up their bright fires again.

[Allen knows there is absolutely no science to this. But that won't stop him from saying it like he believes it when Clay's in earshot.]

closed to mal

[forgetyourusedtobe]

[continuing this]

[Elena considers it and carefully shakes her head. She does take a few steps over to lean a little more on the car itself on the backseat door.]

In a second... I'm still feeling a little light-headed.

How did you get here?

[deshabille]

Mm. Honestly, I'm not sure. Some kind of magic, or . . . something.

[She gives Elena a critical look.]

Do you remember Atroma, in here?

closed to abigail

[forgetyourusedtobe]

[continuing this]

[Sorry, Abigail. You don't have weapons to choose from, but there's a styrofoam cup, a ring, and a blank diary.]

[versusnurture]

[All right. Well. Some people would respect privacy.]

[And some people are Abigail, who goes directly for the diary. Naturally.]