∞ 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]

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. ]

[mucked]

By the sounds of it, I reckon you have every right to see the fleet's more...silver linings.

[nostraightlines]

Are there more? I'll take all the silver linings we can find.

[mucked]

It's hard to fault the people. Most of them. The majority aim to be kind and welcoming.

[nostraightlines]

You certainly do. I hope the rest of the crew is so nice.

[mucked]

Now I truly do fear for your world, sir. Not many go so far as to call me nice. [ a quirk of her lips. it's a joke, albeit a poor one. ]

[nostraightlines]

Hey, nobody's made me tea in decades. And sitting and holding a conversation takes more than manners. Seriously, it makes a difference having someone actually talk to you. Especially when you're new.

[mucked]

Well, you're welcome. [ she raises her half-drunk mug. like a clumsy toast. ] I suppose fleet life has softened some of us. [ herself included. ]