driftfleet | A Rose by any other name...!

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A Rose by any other name...!

Suddenly, the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose begin to move on their own... slowly, calmly, they drift to into the same direction, away from the other ships of the fleet. Slowly, they move until they side by side.

Over the two ships' intercom, an old song begins to play. And that is all the warning there is before the engines engage -- full speed ahead.

Like a pair of rockets, the ships torpedo forward. As they move, they start circling around each other, like a synchronized dance. They move with incredible grace and skill, far more masterfully than the average pilot augment. Except, each time that they pass each other, they clearly get closer to one another.

And closer...

And closer...

No matter what buttons the crews press, no matter how much they might panic, nothing is going to stop the inevitable. On the final pass, it becomes clear there's not enough room between them to avoid a collision. Any impact alarms on the bridge are blaring at full blast. Any other ships watching will not have time to attempt any sort of interception.

CRASH!!

As if to shield spectators' eyes from the horrors of ships colliding in space, there's a blinding light upon impact -- and once it gradually fades, the results can be clearly seen by all: There is no wreckage. Nothing is broken. But where there were once two ships... now there's only one.

One ship that is looks completely new, but yet is reminiscent of both the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose.

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On the bridge, the crews of the SS Three Twins and the SS Windrose arrive, along with the usual pop! of Atroma confetti and ridiculous jingle music upon a successful shuffle. Sitting in the captain's chair is a round cake, just large enough for everyone to have one slice. There's a single candle, and the following message scribbled on top in yellow icing:

"Congratulations - SS Twin Roses!
Happy Fusion!"

... What, did you think you were going to die? Sorry about that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She does take in some of those details with the scars as they sit here. Certainly not her first time seeing someone with old wounds, but it does paint a more complicated picture of Vash than the one she'd created too hastily at their first meeting.] A little over a month. It's February 24th.

Oh. A month. The 24th. That's good.

[Wait.]

[That's not good. That's not good at all.]

A MONTH?! IT'S BEEN A WHOLE MONTH?!

HOW HAVE I BEEN ASLEEP THAT LONG?!

[Best for Kitty to be use to her hearing being gone while on a ship with Vash.]

......... [So little reaction other than a skeptical eyebrow raise.]

I'm sitting right next to you.

And you've been here longer than me. You know the drill.

Yeah, but-- but, a month just seems so long!! I guess after over two years and never falling asleep like that catches up to you or something.

Yeah... I haven't fallen asleep like that before. [She really hopes she doesn't. She wouldn't want to put Winn through that. Also just taking in that "two years" bit. She figured it was about that, but it still sounds like a long time.]

On the plus side, you're up now. We're the second ship to get combined like this. It happened to the Golden and Pathstone last week. They are the Goldstone now.

The Golden and the Pathstone. [He gives his face a rub.] Wow, that's a lot to wake up to.

Sooooooooo... does this make us both captains or do we arm wrestle or something? [He's kept tabs at least on who was captain of what ship before he fell asleep.]

[Okay, that impressed her a bit especially since she hadn't been captain very long. Though she had acted as one through the battle with Wrath on the Iskaulit at the time.]

We both are. Whatever that means. Two captains for ten people including us. Totally normal.

[Photographic memory can be a gift and a curse depending on the day.]

Well, that's probably normal. [He says dripping with sarcasm.] How much captain experience have you had before this fleet? [Two captains can work, but he also knows in an emergency it can be easier to have one person giving orders. If Kitty is use to leading it may be more cohesive to the team if he falls back slightly more like a co-captain.]

[She dated a guy with one. Definitely had curse moments.]

Being a captain of a ship? None. I was the leader of the Defense Force back in my last multidimensional kidnapping and back home I co-led a team of young mutants. [Kitty, they were like five years younger than you at most. Also, they were all slaughtered, so maybe not the best resume builder.]

Well, that's a bit more experience than me. I was just a drifter back home. [Ha. Just.] I think having two captains shouldn't be a problem, especially if one of us is ever unavailable. Like due to a forced nap. But I'm happy to bow to your experience for the most part.

[Mostly. No one can stop him from trying to keep everyone alive in any given situation. No one.]

I have a little history of space travel, but I was just a kid then. I wasn't exactly part of the crew or anything. [Still trying that more open and honest thing.] I certainly wasn't a captain then either.

I am off ship a lot. [She's not claustrophobic, but she feels very...contained when she stays on any one ship too long. Too much pent up energy. Plus, she has Winn and he's on the Tourist and he loves his ship as much as she loves...what's left of hers? So they tend to take turns on where they spend the night.

He would have hated how the Windrose handled the raiders.]

My team back home had some off world traveling, but generally stuck to earth. Were you relocating?

Yeah. You could say that. [He's avoided saying they were fleeing a dying Earth as he wasn't sure how upset that would make people the very few times he's brought it up so far.] While looking for a new home we ran into... problems and ended up having to make a crash landing and we haven't been able to get the technology back up to space travel standards yet.

I work at the Space Bar and tend to stretch my legs if we're near a planet. Anders has been my co-captain and was in charge when I wasn't here. I try to be here if he wants to leave as well, but I've been keeping a map and records as best I can of the places we've been so I like to get off a few times at least.

[Subject focus changing? Vash? Pfft, no, never.]

[Her earth was being actively killed while she lived there, so she could take it. But she's following his story with interest when it takes a jarring turn.]

I just get stir crazy if I'm on the ship too long. And Winn doesn't want to be away from his ship every night anyway.

Do you remember Earth? [Maybe she shouldn't ask. Seems like he doesn't want to talk about it. She asks anyway.]

Hmmm. Well, I was actually born on the ship. So, no I don't have any memories of Earth except what was shown to me during lessons some of the crew taught.

That must have been a surreal experience for your generation.

Oh yeah. My generation sure did. [What generation do you fall in when you don't age and are over a hundred?]

Waking up from cryo sleep because of a crash isn't exactly the best way to wake up after all.

[He scratches at the side of his head and suddenly remembers he's not actually dressed.]

Oh! HA! I suppose I should change, huh? Look a bit more "captain" like for the new crew.

[He will come back and talk after getting dressed of Kitty still wants to talk.]

[She does wonder why he's emphasizing "my" but somehow doesn't manage to put together the long-lived bit.]

How were you born on the ship if you were in cryo sleep until the crash?

Mm, I could just take some clothes off if you don't want me setting the bar too high. [Kidding.]

Well, I wasn't in cryogenic sleep. You could say I was a bit of a surprise too.

[He stands up to head towards the bedrooms. Literally running from the conversation unless Kitty follows him and keeps at it.]

Oh man. I wonder where all my stuff ended up.

[What just...happened?

She gets up and follows.] Are you coming back?

[What happened is Vash regretting his choice to be more open and truthful.]

Yeah, I'll be back. As soon as I find my clothes. I kinda gave my captain room to Anders and Wolfe so not sure if my stuff will be there.

[Open and truthful are good though. Or sometimes they're terrible, but she does both pretty reliably.] Try the room you were in a coma in. [So that's why her stuff wasn't in the captain's room.]

I'll take a look. [Vash will vanish for a few moments as he checks rooms. It takes about twenty minutes before he comes back dressed although his hair is still a flopped over mess.]

Sooooooooo there's only one captain room I think. Ah, haha. I kind of gave mine to them on the Three Twins because they are a couple so Anders and Wolfe may still want the bigger room.

Winn and I were having the best threesomes with the big bed. [The bed itself was the third, but she doesn't explain this.] That was way too brief. [She has every confidence in herself to kick people out of the room and make it hers and yet, she doesn't really want to do something that might divide the ship that started as two ships. And since they are also a couple that lives there all the time it probably is a bit more fair for them to have the big bed nightly, but it also sucks a lot.]

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