Gumball Wishes and Taxicab Dreams

[thespaceopera]

[On today's episode of the Drift Fleet:

The cargo holds are full of mysterious crates! The crews are filling beyond capacity with new faces! Official alerts are informing the passengers that they are signed to contracts that they've never agreed to! They are docking at the dazzling FS Starlight, but are flat broke!

What are they going to do!? Stay tuned to find out!


...Meaning, this is a kickoff mingle for you all to enjoy the beginning of the latest plot setting. This is a convenient place to start threads relating to the first week of the event-- meeting new crewmembers, reacting to the mysterious cargo, arriving on the station and discovering that you're all broke, etc.

Tag around, start whatever you'd like, have fun. And, as always, feel free to make your own posts and mingles from here on in, as this will be the only mod-posted one for this event!]

Comments

[ino]

Eh? So some nice heels, then ...

[ She looks a little confused, though ]

What's wrong with being the shortest?

[experiencepoints]

Because my ship has at least two kids on it.

[... okay, they're teenagers, but still.]

[bryces_pup]

Ah, I had thought it had docked. But you're likely right, as much as I hope you're not.

NEVER FORGIVEN YOU MONSTER

[onlyanapple]

[Crowley makes a clapping motion with his hands, not quite making it thanks to the drink in one of them, but still. ]

We all get that once in a while, enjoy it while you can.

[eyeforaneye]

[ He almost wants to ask if she's allowed herself to cry since then, but that's not really his place. It'd force him to face his own emotional hypocrisies, too, and that's not something he's interested in getting into right now. ]

I see. [ He sees the potential for this girl's dream to shatter, that's what he sees. Maybe he really is just that much of a pessimist. What if her mother isn't there anymore? ]

... don't just focus on that end destination.

[flickerflash]

Oh, I've never eaten here before! My dad won't let me. [She waits patiently for him at the base, then sets out with a little skip toward the main food court area, turning to walk backwards while she keeps talking.] But I bet at least one of them sells fish. We can look around, right?

[goodjob]

No, it was waste removal. [The lie falls out of her mouth as easy as a dream. Lying to children has never been hard for her. It's adult who give her problems.] Very glamorous. Wish I still had the brochure.

[takeabow]

Maybe if it's big enough to carry everything I need.

[eyeforaneye]

[ NOT EXCUSED ]

... We really don't need to master that.

Either way... I'm going. [ So he says before just as abruptly swinging himself over the short safety ledge on an adjacent side of that building, dropping to the ground below and subsequently disappearing from sight with one more person to add to the growing list of those he has forgotten history with.

Maybe they should try mastering the art of decent goodbyes first. ]

[eyeforaneye]

[ Oh just RUB SALT IN THE WOUND, INO. ]

... that's what cheating means to you? It's not something that legitimately threatens your relationship.

[ino]

[ LOOK SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER LITERALLY EVERYONE MAKING A BID FOR HOKAGE, ALL RIGHT.

She folds her arms across her chest. ]

No offense, Sasuke, but you're about the last person I'd expect to know how a healthy romantic relationship works.

[actsmagnificent]

[ Given that she nearly took Rei along for the ride, there's no telling her it doesn't concern her anymore, is there. Haruka stifles a sigh. ] Something managed to trap us here, right? I wanted to see if the authorities knew anything about Atroma.

[ And by "see" she means "break into security", because Soldier of the Outer Soldier System. Whatev. ]

[eyeforaneye]

I'm not offended by that. [ Of all the shots that could taken at his inability to form decent versions of different relationships, romantic ones are the ones he takes the least issue with. ]

It doesn't mean I can't envision how I'd feel in one. [ ... he is suddenly realizing that he is opening the door to talking to Ino about dating and nO. ]

I'm not going to try further to change your mind.

[ino]

[ ......... GRINS.

Does that mean he imagines what it would be like to be in a relationship sometimes ... ]

Is that right ...

[eyeforaneye]

. . .





Stop.

[ino]

Stop what?

[ Stop smiling like a weirdo, Ino ]

[eyeforaneye]

Tch.

If you're going to be on your way, then go. That's what I'm saying.

[ino]

[ ... ]

You're really going to stay here?

[ The whole point of that was to entice him off the street, not to just leave him there by himself ... ]

[eyeforaneye]

[ How did this thread go from buying stealing clothes to Ino trying to coax Sasuke away from a life of prostitution? ]

... probably not, not with as long as this has gone on. [ admittedly ] I have other business to attend to soon. [ Another shady delivery across town no doubt. ]

[flickerflash]

Of course it is. [Otherwise you wouldn't be so petrified. As if to be reassuring, she takes it back from him much more gently than her magic trick, holding her hand out for the torn leaf as well. Then she sits where she is on the crate pile and concentrates on matching the little torn edges of the leaf perfectly.

At least it's a clean break, and he's the odd sort of person who would keep a broken piece of foliage. It really means a lot, huh? Eventually, she licks a finger on her free hand and smooths it over the tear, mending it out of existence.]

Here you go.

[Like it was never there. She holds it back out.]

[willak]

[She likes watching Jilly act scared of her. It makes her feel better and for a moment she considers lunging at her just to see what happens. Maybe she'll scream and cry.

Maybe she'll just let it happen.

The thing is, Ray doesn't know this woman her sister's become anymore than Jilly May knows her. All of her good memories are tarnished with the anger that was left behind. The same anger that drove her to burn down a tree. To want to go try to find Jilly.

The red behind her eyeballs is making her fingers twitch anxiously.]

...Were you ever gonna come back?

[She has to know, but she hates this moment of vulnerability. Hates it like nothing else, but she has to know.]

[feathery]

[His expression is wry—waste removal, really?—but he doesn't question it.

If only he knew it was more accurate than he thought.]

How'd you end up there. Did they nab you straight from Asgard?

[incousinswithyou]

[she pauses as soon as she crosses the threshold to take it all in. And here's a grin and a squeeze of her hand.]

You're getting sneakier. [that's a compliment, if anything.] It's beautiful in here.

[monolike]

Well...I mean, I suppose it's different where you're from. In my world, humans can't manipulate mana or anything like that.

[experiencepoints]

In my world, the only ones who can't are the merfolk...

[She demonstrates, cupping a hand and forming a small whirlwind in it.]