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

[kotatsu]

[ can we just pretend she conveniently missed that bc i think she'd probably tear up and start weeping a little. ]

But the crows are mean too, aren't they? They tried to eat the snails.

[ nevermind the fact that dave is also part crow. ]

[feathery]

[Oh noooooo. The snail race climax is pretty dramatic. Def worth shedding a few tears.]

Well, no one said they're eating the snails. [He thinks. He may have missed it being more than implied in the sheer wtfery of this movie.] Maybe they're carrying the truly deserving ones off to snail paradise. Or snail hell. Snail purgatory?

[Ah, yes, because a small child will understand references to Dante's Divine Comedy.]

[kotatsu]

... Does that mean the snails were bad? Big Bro said bad people go to hell.

[ dave what have u wrought. ]

[feathery]

[Someone please ban him from interacting with small children.]

What, no. I mean he's probably right about that in some universes and there's got to be some bad snails mucking around that get served as crow escargot. But the rest of the mollusks are probably fine.

[kotatsu]

Oh... okay.

[ she'll take it, going back to watching the movie again. after a while, she turns back to dave. ]

But you're not going to take any snails, are you?

[feathery]

[She asks this while he's thinking the cartoony quality of the snails is probably why he doesn't feel compelled to eat one.

Mostly.]

No way. And there is absolutely no way I was even considering such a thing, I am a firm believer in snail rights. I donate regularly to their charity. I even lobby against gulls for them.

[Oh god he sounds so guilty what is this.]

[kotatsu]

[ at least she doesn't pick up on the guilt because she's too busy trying not to break into a fit of giggles. dave uses a really extensive vocabulary and half the time she kind of struggles to keep up, but it mostly sounds a little silly because he uses all those big words.

gulls, though. in a hushed voice: ]

The gulls are in on it too?

[feathery]

[The look he gives her is serious. So serious. The most serious.]

If you thought the crows were bad, [and he says it like he's imparting Real deets, the kind he should be handing over to the police] you don't even want to know what kind of shady deals the gulls have got going on in their parking lot dumpsters.

[kotatsu]

[ that's terrible. this is terrible. her whole opinion on gulls is forever changed. ]

I didn't think they were so mean...

[ she sounds so disappointed. ]

Everyone's trying to hurt the snails! They didn't do anything wrong.

[feathery]

[What has he done.]

Maybe it's a lesson in being more open-minded. You don't accept your racing snail buddy and a bird will make off with your shell during business hours.

[Is he trying to do damage control? Can this even be considered such a thing? He's terrible at this.]

[kotatsu]

If my snail friend told me he wanted to start racing, I'd accept him. I think it'd be really cool!

[feathery]

Then you already got this movie's aesop down. You're single-handedly saving a garden of snails with that kind of thinking.

[kotatsu]

[ a whole garden! look at how bright her smile is. ]

Yes! I'll go to every other garden in the world and save all the snails!

brings you starbucks in a shiny red cup

[feathery]

[And she'll give hyperglycemia to everyone she meets in the interim.]

You'll be head of the Snail Protection League in no time. I guess I'll provide pamphlets for Crow Awareness Week. Maybe lecture some of my bros about alternative food sources.

bless u

[kotatsu]

Yeah! And we'll give them cool t-shirts too for supporting the snails!

[ never mind the fact that dave is the only part crow around here. for all she knows, crows in a america are half-human. the west is weird, ok. ]

[feathery]

Heck yes. I would be all about promoting snail welfare with a t-shirt. If we've got any crayons around here, we can brainstorm asap.

shhhh go to sleep

[kotatsu]

[ the most delighted gasp, ]

Really? I'll go find some now!

[ she's so! excited!! to the point where she immediately dashes off before waiting for his reply. oops. ]

im going soon... i say like ive said for the last 2 hours BUT NO I AM REALLY GOING

[feathery]

[And he just. Watches her go.]

Man, did I ever get that excited over crayons.

[Yes. Yes he did. He just sucked at expressing it, even as a child.]

ok good sleep well my friend

[kotatsu]

[ this is what happens when you're seven and home alone all the time??? also crayons are great, crayons are cool, and nanako is ace at drawing and coloring between the lines.

ten minutes later reveals nanako's triumphant return, sliding back into the room with a handful of papers and pens. there are exactly 2 crayons: purple and pink. ]

I couldn't find more crayons, [ she says, while climbing up on the chair next to him and showing him her spoils. ] But there's a lot of pens! Maybe when we land, I can bring some school supplies back.

[ nanako, you're the only one still going to school here. ]

[feathery]

[By the time ten minutes have passed, Davesprite is wondering if he should check if Nanako fell down a space well. That'd be a hell of a situation. Small Child, Lost to Unexpected Plumbing Gap. In fact, it's a totally plausible thing to happen on his watch.

So she gets a crowkid staring avidly in her general direction when she pops back in. It turns into a flicker of a smile when she climbs onto the chair, and he reaches out to help sort through her sweet loot.]

Yeah, get some glitter and glue. This is pretty legit, though. I'm feeling the found office supply look.

[He picks up a pen.] So what do you think would epitomize the look of Fast Snail Enterprises.

sorry for the delay!

[kotatsu]

[ she makes a thoughtful sound, kicking her feet a little while she doodles the beginnings of a snail shell. ]

There's gotta be a snail on it, but maybe we can put wheels on it? [ like so, ] If we add like a flag on it that's blowing in the wind it'd look like it's going really fast!

more like sorry for me and my late af backtags

[feathery]

[Davesprite is doodling along with her, with a few variations as she talks. They start to get a little goofy.]

I must be working with a snail-speed visionary, [he comments as he looks over at her drawing.] His back end looks a little empty, though. Dude needs a spoiler for extra lift.

laughs bc this is even later

[kotatsu]

[ is that... a tree?? hooked up to it???? ]

Oh, maybe we can add a rocket? A jet-pack or something... then he'd be going really fast!

can't be tamed

[feathery]

[It's an air freshener. :x Super fresh.]

Hell yeah. Or. [Shit, you're not supposed to use hell around kids. At least, he's pretty sure you aren't, based on what he remembers of the Disney channel.] Yeah. He can be NASA certified. Snail's on the roster as a space cadet.

[He doodles a little badge that says "NASA" in his sharp graffitiesque handwriting.]

[kotatsu]

[ as soon as dave finishes the badge, nanako lifts up the drawing to look at it critically, turning it this way and that.

eventually, with much awe in her voice: ]

It's perfect.