∞ 007

[cpt_ressentiment]

Who: The Crew of the SS Starstruck + Any Visitors!
Broadcast: Nah prob not
Action: On board the SS Starstruck, or on the spacestation if you like!
When: NOW! and until the next mingle.

[ Y'all know what this is? This is a mingle. So get in here and mingle it out, everyone. o7

We have plenty of new people, but we don't have plenty of room anymore! Never really figured out a more permanent solution to all that yet, did we...? How's everyone coping, hmm?

Welcome newcomers! And welcome visitors! To the oldbie crew - stay awesome. ♥ ]

Comments

[nostraightlines]

[ Ramse smiles back -- he was expecting a bit of confusion. ]

Nah, plain's fine.

I'm Ramse. Were you waiting on someone?

[ She's doing things with her hands but he offers one of his to shake anyway, because manners. If she was waiting for someone he'll offer to take it to go, but tea really does sound good. He's still got a chill from arriving in so little clothing. ]

[mucked]

Heavens, no. [ she'd wrangled a bit of cream (lord knows what alien animal it came from!) down on the station, and stirs a modest splash of it into her own mug. his she leaves black, and soon delivers it to the table. she invites him to sit. ] Only I wasn't expecting a new face. No complaints; only pleasant surprise.

[ both mugs deposited upon the kitchen table, she offers her hand. ] Peggy Carter. First mate and communications aboard the Starstruck. Are you joining us, or are you visiting?

[nostraightlines]

Thanks again.

[ Ramse sits and cups his hands around the mug, leeching its warmth. ]

I'm joining you, I guess. Ramse, security officer. I've already wandered around enough to hit up the armory.

Have you been on here long? What's the story?

[mucked]

Half a year, if you consider that long. [ she lifts her mug. sips. ] But the story's rather the same for all of us. Hauled from what we knew, we now live here. Under Atroma's watchful eye.

[nostraightlines]

Has anybody found cameras..?

[ He just wants to know what they're watching. Everything everywhere? He hasn't seen a single camera or anything that looks like one in his explorations of the ship and -- more specifically -- his room. ]

[mucked]

None beyond what's already in our...devices. [ she sometimes likes to doubt whether others exist, but: ] People assure me they watch by other means.

[nostraightlines]

Do they have any idea what the other means are?

[ He sips his tea casually; he doesn't mean to interrogate you, ma'am, he just has a lot of questions. ]

[mucked]

I've heard theories. None of which I like -- especially the possibility that the other cameras are so small they're microscopic. [ a rueful smile. peggy takes a seat. ]

[nostraightlines]

[ Ramse blinks. No, he doesn't like that idea at all either. ]

I guess if they've got the technology... [ He glances around the room and sighs. ] The idea of being watched all the time freaks me out, but I'm sure everybody feels that way. The bathrooms are probably safe, right?

[ For activities, or if there was something he wanted to keep secret. ]

[mucked]

[ a grimace -- because it's a clumsy topic, but she empathizes with his need to ask. ]

I wish I could answer with some certainty.

[nostraightlines]

Let's pretend.

[ He smiles at her, cupping his hands back around the mug. ]

So, Ms Carter, what did you do back home?

[mucked]

[ oh! decent manners. her stern demeanor gives way to a polite warm smile. ]

Office work, mostly. [ it isn't a lie. at least -- that's what the new york branch had wanted of her: office-bound and answering phones. ] Some days, there isn't much difference between myself and a secretary.

Yourself?

[nostraightlines]

A secretary... [ He knows what those are! Vaguely. ] They don't really have jobs in my world anymore, not like that. I guess security was the closest thing to what I did, besides survive. That's the job they gave me here too.

[mucked]

-- Security is always welcome. [ but her curiousity gets the better of her. ] Your world, then. What is it like? What happened to the poor beleaguered secretaries?

[nostraightlines]

Well, the world sort of ended. A virus knocked out almost all of humanity twenty-eight years ago, including the poor secretaries. Those of us that survived it are mostly scavengers now. Just trying to find enough food and shelter to make it to the next day.

[mucked]

[ and perhaps a poor secretary might not react to such news with a stiff nod and a quiet moment of contemplation. she takes another long drink of tea -- and, mentally, she compares these notes to that of max's home world. scavengers. survivors.

curious: ] Two more questions, Mister Ramse, if you'll entertain them. Is this world some version of Earth? [ they so often are. ] And if so, what year was it twenty-eight years ago?

[nostraightlines]

It's Earth, yeah. And the plague started in 2016. I was a little kid.

[mucked]

[ silent -- as though she's running the math in her head. 2016 is a year beyond anyone else she knows from her own world: those from the far-flung future that she's met within the fleet. that alone gives her pause.

she points to herself. ] 1946. It seems I can count on a few decades of job security, at least. [ dry dry dry. ]

[nostraightlines]

'46? Enjoy the world while it lasts.

[ He's not being snarky or bitter -- he means it. Enjoy the world as it is, full people and technology and just... life. Life still developing, not stagnating into the fight to just survive. ]

Hopefully you'll be retired by then, though.

[mucked]

-- What manner of virus was it?

[nostraightlines]

What do you mean? It was called the Kalavirus, I guess it's kind of like a flu, but with internal bleeding? It's still around, it keeps mutating. At this point it's killed off about 98% of the human population. Somehow I'm still immune.

[mucked]

Immune.

[ she sucks on a back tooth. thoughtful. ] You're immune. And so was another 2% of the population?

[nostraightlines]

Right now. We're pretty sure, anyway, communications are broken down all over the world, we can't exactly take a census.

[mucked]

[ nothing? no radio? bleak, indeed. peggy's attention drops respectfully to her tea. ]

-- Sounds awful. And a lot like something about which you'd likely not want to be interrogated.

[nostraightlines]

I don't mind... It's been a long time since I talked about home, maybe it'll do me good to remember how terrible it is. I might hate this place less.

[ He raises his tea in a little mock toast, grinning. ]