Mingle McMingleface

[namisan]

Who: Crew & Visitors of the Bloodsport
Broadcast: Unlikely
Action: Bloodsport
When: July

[Welp, that sure was fun.  Any fallout?  But the crew has shuffled around a bit, so maybe this is a good time to touch base.]

Comments

This Is Your Captain Shrieking | OTA (Ship Broadcast)

[namisan]

[Ironically she knows she's pulling a leaf right out of Robin's book (the previous captain, not her Robin) by doing this, but even if the Captain's meeting was generally useless and ill-timed, one suggestion did come of it that she thinks is probably a good idea:]

So, that was all the best of fun.

If you haven't met me before, my name's Nami. I'm the Captain of the Bloodsport, which is the ship at least one of you is now new to. I know there were new people I never got to meet because I was in a coma before this whole mess started as well, so... when you've all got a moment, come see me in the kitchen. I think it's important we touch base after what happened on the Marsiva, and I want to hear your thoughts on that, if you've got them. Even the really rude thoughts. Especially the rude thoughts.

We've also lost Jaime and Daryl, so. Just so you know.

[She wasn't really attached to either of them. One was too off and one was too new. But just in case.]

voice

[moseyin]

[Ohhhh so you're the CAPTAIN of this thing. Good...ish to know.] Daryl's gone, huh? [Cloud would say that sucks but...he hardly knew the guy. Now who's he gonna blame his misbehaving on?]

Got no thoughts though. Don't know if you wanna bother with a kitchen meeting for that.

voice

[namisan]

[...wait she knows that voice. Which means she now remembers where she heard that name on her ship roster before

YOU'RE THAT JERK FROM THE BAR

Probably can't be helped all things considered, but she raises her eyebrows, and answers eventually, fingers tapping an audible pattern on the table.]

No thoughts at all? You didn't strike me as all that empty-headed. I'm sure we can find something to talk about, and we should at least meet in person. [Instead of, y'know, in your head.]

voice

[moseyin]

[uh no YOU'RE that jerk from the bar]

Pass. No offense. [look, he's just gonna deny being the one slowly stealing bits of metal from around the ship, what's the point......]

voice

[namisan]

Some offense taken. This isn't a request. [Well, she's not offended because she already kind of has a first impression and she's had worse, frankly. But the humour is gone from her voice.]

This isn't just some tin can you're stuck on where nothing happens. I'm not here to yell at you or sling orders unless there's an emergency. [Then she'll do both.] But we do have emergencies, so come to the kitchen, please. It'll take five whole minutes.

action

[moseyin]

[Well, he could ignore the order, but this is a very small ship and Cloud sincerely doubts any of the others are any better.

Reluctantly he heads for the kitchen, halting in the doorway with his arms folded, five-foot-seven of hiked up shoulders and defensive body language. If she just wants a look at him then fine, here he is.]

action

[namisan]

[They're both the same height and Nami is used to tall scowling people, so she kind of fights the urge to smile. It probably wouldn't help. Gonna give him a second to see if he actually bothers to come in and sit, which-- no? Okay, fine. She'll make it quick.]

Thank you.

First off-- have you got any experience with spaceships that hasn't been rudely shoved into your head by the Atroma?

[iattractmushi]

[He's fiddled with his communicating device a little, but he's not entirely comfortable with it yet. Besides... sometimes it's best to just... get things over with.

It doesn't take him long to find the kitchen; this ship isn't that big. He tries not to look too apprehensive when he enters. He might know what this woman looks like, have spoken to her, and he's seen a couple of her memories, but meeting her in person... that's something different.]

So... here's where I ended up after all.

What sort of things did you want to hear about?

[namisan]

Lucky you, huh? [Nami isn't aware he's been traipsing through her head, but she does remember speaking to him before this. She has a present for you, Ginko. But first, business.]

First impressions and any theories you might have about this place. Doesn't matter if you think they're common or really unlikely-- every point of view helps. Also, are you doing okay?

[iattractmushi]

[He blinks at her, caught off-guard by the question about his well being. She doesn't even know him, even if he's part of her crew now; even after everything that happened in Edensphere, people being concerned about him is still a strange feeling.]

Well... yeah, I'm fine. [He really is, and besides it's not like anything could be changed if he wasn't.] I'm still getting used to... being somewhere else, I guess.

[Enough about him.] Anyway, theories. It's pretty suspicious that I was brought here pretty much directly from the last place I was trapped, and it's really weird that I was brought in right when that calibrations thing was going on. The Tree liked forcing us to share memories, too.

[namisan]

The last place I was in did that to us, too. It seems to be a common thing. I'm pretty sure all these places are connected somehow, but I have no idea who's in charge of it all. But like I said before, you'll find coming from somewhere else disturbingly common, here.

[iattractmushi]

...well, I guess it's nice that we're not alone? [Yeah, that's some sarcasm there.]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were connected. We ran into at least one other place like this, uh... a year ago, I guess?

[Or something. Time is funny.]

And I heard rumors of another time it happened, before I got there.

[namisan]

The ones I've heard of are Adstringendum, Luceti, Paradisa, Exsilium... there's a couple people here from a spaceship that remember me, though I don't remember them. I know there's more. I'll have to find my notes. [There's a lot more.] Any of those sound familiar?

Atroma SS Bloodsport Switch - Bridge

[darksmokerising]

There's nothing like suddenly being on the bridge while fanfare plays and...more pudding and confetti.  Merlan just kinda stands there for a moment, adjusting to the sudden change of surroundings.  SS Bloodsport, Nami - Captain, Pilot, Cloud Strife - Pilot, (she hasn't met),  First Mate - Sam Winchester, Security Officer - Alisha Dipdha (who she hasn't met), Ginko - Lab Support.  The list is solid in her mind as she picks confetti from her hair.  It's disorienting, for sure.

"So much for the SS Paisley," she finally says glancing around the bridge.  "Tell me this doesn't happen often.  I was just headed for a cuppa, too."

[namisan]

Nami looks up with vague surprise at the new arrival. It is a shuffle day, but as far as she knew this woman had fetched up on the Paisley.

"I guess the Atroma must have taken a liking to you," she says, mildly enough. "Welcome to the Bloodsport?"

[darksmokerising]

"Perhaps they have," Merlan murmured, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "Ah, thanks for the welcome. I thought I was supposed to be on the SS Paisley but I guess I'm here, now. Not really sure how that works."

[namisan]

"Hey, maybe next week you'll be on the Tourist." She shakes her head, but she's grinning a little. "The Atroma do this sometimes. You can put in for a transfer and sometimes they refuse those because they think you're more entertaining where you are, or something like that. I guess this is more of the same.

"You said you were security, right?"

[darksmokerising]

"It sounds like we're stuck in a deck of cards, being shuffled from place to place. Pft, entertaining. Well, I guess this is a sort of circus, really." Merlan says, shaking her head before nodding at Nami's question.

"Yeah, that's what my augment is."

Her fingers brushed at the thing that had been rather unceremoniously stuck in her head. It was way more than weird to have tech stuck there and it made her vaguely uneasy to even touch it. Her nose wrinkles a little and then her expression settles into quiet amusement.

"At least I'm acquainted with most of the crew, here. There are a few I haven't met, though. Maybe the Atroma just enjoyed my exploits on the Marivsa. Who knows..." The corners of her eyes crinkle as she smiles at Nami.

[namisan]

"Well, we just lost our last security guy, so maybe that's why." But she doubts it. If Atroma cared about positions on their ship everyone would have a far more balanced crew.

"We've got Sam, Alisha, Cloud, Ginko, and now you. And me, of course. Who've you met already?"

[darksmokerising]

"Oh? Well, good timing, I guess." Merlan hummed a little at the two unfamiliar names. "Sam and Ginko I've met previously, so Alisha and Cloud are the two I don't know."

[collegedropout]

Sam was sitting on the bridge, at the communications area, fidgeting with the usual gear -- mostly trying to see if they receive any new messages. He doesn't exactly expect the intercepting fleet to contact them again anytime soon, but there might be other ships out there with information. Might as well keep doing what he usually does out here -- collect data, research, and so on. There's still an absently forgotten cup of herbal tea, half drank, sitting on the table in there.

But now, he's taking a quick break in the cargo bay and reading Watership Down (thanks Bucky). It's a nice place to perch, as Dean would say; he's laying on the workout bench in there with his nose practically in the book, brow in a thoughtful crinkle. She'll probably run into him last of all the people aboard, since he's so skillfully tucked away at the back of the Bloodsport.

[darksmokerising]

Merlan notices the herbal tea and pauses to pull off a glove to brush a finger against the cup before putting that glove back on. Then she collects it, pausing to empty the cup, wash it, and refill it with the same kind of tea right down to anything else he'd had in it.

Sometimes, the damned ability was gentle enough for a tiny window.

At least she knew it was Sam's for sure.

She winds her way through the ship before finding him, setting herself and the tea down before tilting her head back to catch the title. Hm. Her eyebrows arch.

"He fought because he actually felt safer fighting than running," she murmured.

[collegedropout]

He glances out from over his book, and immediately his demeanor is one of uncertainty and grim — well, something. After all, she had seen some pretty screwed up stuff. He sits up and slides a bookmark into the novel. "Oh — hey. What're you doing here? Visiting someone?" Usually that's why people are wandering through a ship, anyway. That or curiosity. He hasn't intruded on all the ships yet, but boy, sometimes he gets the itch.

... How the hell is he gonna talk to her about all that?

Not talking about any of it seems like a fabulous choice, now that he's thinking about it.

[darksmokerising]

She offers him the tea, tilting her head a little with a soft hey in response. The memories were as sharp as they had been and flicker though her mind as she watches him for a moment.

"At the moment, I'm visiting you," Merlan says, her tone gentle. "I'm also your new security officer." She pauses just for a moment to push a lock of hair behind her ear, the movement a little jerky, hesitant.

God, she felt incredibly awkward.

"Ah...mmn, you're doing alright, then?"

[collegedropout]

"Uh — Yeah, no, yeah, I'm... I'm doing good, actually. Welcome to the Bloodsport."

A pause, as he tries to figure out... how to address the situation at hand. Because he knows and she knows and they know just how fucked up that whole mess was. Aah. Alright. He carefully sets the book down (borrowed from Bucky, thanks Bucky) and looks up at her with some uncertainty.

"I've dealt with worse, so... I mean, I'm just sorry about — all of that."