driftfleet | (no subject)

Kitchen – Crostata my heart and hope to pie!

Ever seen a man negotiating with a pie filling? The crust is really the easy part in making any kind of fruit-based pastry. Once the ingredients are in balance, you can make as much as you need. This filling, though… He’s looming over an assortment of fruits from the planets and is turning them over in his hands, holding them up into the light, even breaking off pieces to pop under the mask for a proper get-to-know-you. Some are passable, others, not so much. It’s what he gets for having a non-traditional pantry.

Eventually, he settles on taking up a knife and starting to carve a selection of fruits. As one gets chopped up by hand, others are floating around him and slowly relieving themselves of stems and seeds found within. He gestures to the table and pulls several circles of dough towards him. You’re welcome to come up and watch the show, but he’s going to be a while with making these tarts.

Office – X marks the spot!

The door’s open, but the designated doctor is only half-in today. Mantis is holding a round wooden loom with a piece of white fabric stretched thin across it. He’s pulling a green threaded needle in and out of the white fabric with all the care and attention of someone who is not entirely sure of what he’s doing with what he’s holding. He lets the frame go to float closer to the lights and makes contemplative noises while taking in his work. Now’s your chance!

Bridge – Fly away, Odette!

The objects are as random as they are ordinary: a few books, a small lockable box, even a scarf. The most un-ordinary thing about them is that they’re all doing a rather poor job of staying firmly planted on any surface in accordance with gravity. Mantis is likewise telling gravity that its services are no longer wanted and is contently floating and turning about in mid-air as he follows his things around the room in slow laps. Who needs to throw chairs when you can listen to music on the bridge of the ship? He’s even moving his hands in rough time with the music! Feel free to stop and star or otherwise question life. He can do this all day.

Edited 2018-02-13 04:05 (UTC)

John's ambling in, ostensibly to check everything over. Granted, there's not a whole lot for either of them to do considering things have been relatively peaceful, but he can at least check in on the office. He is, as has become usual over the past few months, followed by Alexander the snow leopard.

"Yo, what are you up to in here?"

Dr. Mantis is always available provided that people don't mind the sporadic office hours. He waves hello, only to point at Alexander when he turns his head as well to see who it is.

"That's an endangered species back home. And you have one for a...pet." He sighs and shakes his head. "Have a seat, if you want. I sat at a lecture on cross-stitching at the craft hall. I need more things to do between systems."

“I like animals,” John replies with a shrug. “Besides, he’s cute, and he’s never gonna get much bigger than this if those folks were right about him.” Upon finding out what Mantis is up to, however, he raises his eyebrows, amused.

“You really must be bored if you’re doin’ embroidery.”

"It's never too late to pick up a hobby." He plucks the loom out of the air, and turns his head back to John and his fuzzy companion. "Is your cat tame? I had a coworker back home who took care of wolfhounds, but they were generally angry things that only really liked her and a scientist."

"Relatively." He's spent the past month or so trying to get him tamer, but he's a reasonably well-behaved cat. "I mean, his namesake ain't all that tame either, come to think of it, but he's not here."

"That will have to do for now." He clicks his tongue and makes a beckoning motion to Alexander. "I still can't believe that you managed to find one. I've heard cats of their kind use their jaw strength to crush skulls and necks while hunting."

"You didn't see? They had a lot up for adoption back at the last planet." He gives Alexander a fond look. "I couldn't resist, he's too gorgeous not to."

"I did, it just still amazes me to see such a familiar animal this far from home." He turns back to the loom, pulling the thread through a few more times. "Maybe I'll look for a pet of my own. There seems to be a growing number of animals on these ships."

"We didn't have anything like this guy back in South Carolina. Too warm down there." He reaches down to give the cat an absent ruffle.

"If ya want, do it. I ain't had time for pets in a few years, and it helps keep the boredom at bay when we're not fighting for our lives." A wry lipquirk. "Or when I'm not yellin' at our captain."

"South Carolina? I can't remember the last time I heard the name of a US state dropped like that. I lived in the country for a bit of a while before working on my own."

He chuckles. "Always question authority. I never let my Commanding Officer have an easy time making decisions."

"Yeah? Whereabouts? I'm from outside'a Charleston originally, but I haven't spent much time there lately. Mostly I was up north or traveling back home."

That lipquirk is turning into an outright grin. "Questioning authority is one of the things I do best, man."

"A little bit of everywhere. I never really settled down in one spot due to my government work. It was the price I paid for amnesty, but it also meant I saw all sides of the country and how people lived."

Mantis is smiling a bit himself. "He's an old friend, too. It is a duty and a joy to make sure he's not acting too much like his father."

"Yeah, same here. I mean, I guess it's a lil' different during war time, but I got to see a lot of it." He never really got to the 'working for the government' part of his story.

"Can't say I can make sure that happens with my commanding officer, but I have stood for his honor a few times."

"What war were you a part of? I've gone between battlefields, but most of my work was behind the ones who carry the guns." Mantis lets the loom rise up again to study his work.

"I don't believe in the full scope of his ideals, but...he was the best thing that I had going on in my life. As long as I could do as I wanted, it didn't matter what he asked of me."

"The revolution." Since he's already said he's from South Carolina, it should be easy to decipher that.

"I -- get along better with the general than some'a my friends, but we don't exactly see eye to eye on everything, either."

Plenty to decipher it with. The loom drops suddenly out of the air and clatters onto the desk. Mantis turns slowly in his chair, holding a hand up to his head.

"Adams and Hamilton! You're part of the naturalization exam to get citizenship." His voice drops as he speaks. "How far back in history can Atroma reach to bring people here?"

He laughs a little, raising his eyebrows. "No shit? I've heard Alex did well for himself after, but I didn't know that. Can't say I know Adams well--only through letters, but my father worked with him for a while." A shrug.

"I dunno. I'm fairly certain there are people around from earlier than me, though."

"I feel a bit foolish for not having put the clues together. Those names are centuries old where I come from and not usually uttered out of the confines of historical textbooks and dramas."

Mantis makes a surprised noise at the notion. "Older than you? I find that hard to believe."

"I mean, I wouldn't wanna say Adams' name, either; he might show up." He shrugs.

"They're not from our world, maybe, but I'd like to think I'm a little past Rowan and his folks."

"How does that phrase go... 'Speak of the Devil', right?"

Mantis shakes his head. "It's enough to make me feel young. I always seem to be, but this is something else."

Stop and stare it is. Not necessarily in surprise, but simply...because. Even if this phenomenon is not completely new to him, it's a spectacle anyway. After a moment he crosses to the comm station - ducking any stray objects - and takes a seat.

"That's certainly one way to pass the time."

Who needs zero gravity when you have psychokinesis? There's so much more fun to it when you're airborne of your own means. Mantis, for his part, does a lazy flip in the air and plucks the scarf up, running it across his hands.

"I need to keep in practice. This is very good practice. And the bridge is the most ideal and open spot in which to ply the trade."

"I would think the cargo hold would be larger?" Which is to say, it is larger. But Sayid thinks about this for a moment, and then shrugs. "Although I suppose it doesn't have as nice a view."

He doesn't sound like he's trying to get into an argument. Just making conversation.

"A box of gunmetal grey is only going to be so visually stimulating." He gestures to the view of the stars and planets. "I will gladly sacrifice freedom of movement to have something to look at."

He lands on one of the chairs, sitting on the headrest rather than the chair properly. "Which of these planets interests you most? I've been visiting the large arts and crafts hall quite a bit."

Sayid watches him settle (with maybe a slightly raised eyebrow) and then goes on to answer the question.

"Duotera is, of course, the most comfortable. But the more temperate areas of Philias are similar to where I was born." In response to Mantis supplying his own answer, he asks: "Have you found anything of interest there?"

Chairs have a set purpose in their design and Mantis is very content to ignore them. His practice objects come closer to him in a kind of orbit.

"I like the forests on Duotera. Silence and solitude are healthy in their own way. It almost feels like home sometimes."

He's already ignoring gravity so why not ignore the intended functionality of a chair? It's not like it makes any less sense.

Sayid looks interested in that answer. "Where is home, for you? I don't think I've ever asked."

Yuri was just heading around to check on his friends and... well he'd come by the Bishop before and wanted to see if Mantis was doing well with the sewing thing. What he didn't expect was the visual that he got. He was confused at first and stared for a long time at the floating items. He thought he must be imagining things. Or there must be something wrong with the ship but why would it just be that part of the ship? Why not others?

Why not where he was? So he approached and Mantis was there and he supposed that ought to be answer enough, still the question came out of his mouth.

"Mantis what is this?" he began to float too along with the items. He froze then... drifted around like in a pool. He flailed some but... his hand slid across the wall of the bridge, he knew he could stop himself and crawl to the door if he had to. But he started laughing instead.

There are a lot of things to keep Mantis busy these days, none the least of which involves him spending a better part of the day making gravity not a thing. If he can move a giant robot, he can handle himself.

Mantis doesn't even respond verbally to the question. There is a slight flick of the wrist to get Yuri to join in, but that's just the prankster he always has been. Slowly, he floats closer to Yuri and pulls him away from the wall and into the open waters, so to speak.

When he does speak, it's quite calm for once. "Hanging around. You'd be amazed at the thing that I've made move."

Mantis has nothing to prove in Yuri's eyes. He is a wonder to behold. He doesn't understand his power and thus cannot comprehend a limit to it. Mantis is a miracle worker of sorts. A wizard in his own right.

"I bet I would and wouldn't. You can move anything, I bet. Is there anything you couldn't move?" he laughs more when he's moved into the main current and starts moving just a bit faster... or more out of control since he can't reach a wall or anything to stop himself. It says a great deal about his trust in Mantis by allowing him to have total control over him. He has only let Victor do that before.

There's a certain similarity to what he does and magic, although damned if Mantis can figure out how one could go about telling the difference. Maybe if he got a cape and made scary gestures more often...

"You know, I'm not sure? I think it would have to be something extremely large. Large as the ships we're on, maybe." He's honestly surprised by how calm Yuri seems to be about the whole thing. Usually his ability to directly move people is met with fear or at least some panic. He sits up in mid-air, legs crossed. "You're an odd one."

He should treat himself with more dignity than that. But Yuri can't define magic and what Mantis does. It's all stuff that shouldn't happen and it happens without any trick or secret...

"Odd? How?" he grins as he zips around, this is like a slide or a roller coaster but even better! And Mantis has a special privilege that not many get to see. Yuri in a completely calm state. He trusts Mantis on a similar level as he trust Victor. He has handed himself over to them both, put his fate in their hands so to speak. He put his career and in a way his life in Victor's hands. And he put his physical safety in Mantis' hands on the death planet. He knows full well he would have died on the planet in short order if not for Mantis.

Mantis didn't have to protect him so much... and he knows full well that Mantis is capable of violence but he has seen what he believes to be his true nature. So he is trusting. Like a dog with a kindly owner.

All Mantis knows is that he was born the way he was and that it's been a life's work to keep his powers at a level he can control. Hell, no one on the Fleet even knows the real reason he has a mask.

"You're not afraid. Even when I was at my worst back on the red planet... You were grateful." Mantis slows the flow of the objects, including Yuri. He moves onto his back, one leg still crossed over the other. "I'm not used to meeting much of anyone who can see that and be all right with it. I will personally introduce you to my teammates if they show up here."

Mantis would be the last person to call himself kindly, but it's a distinct compliment in his lonely world. Yuri is full of surprises.

Yuri would be put off by the noselessness... but he doesn't realize it's also a protection for him. He just... takes it at face value. He sees a lot of people wearing a lot of things and he knows Mantis has to have a hell of a story and he is sure it isn't one he wants to hear.

"How could I be ungrateful? I was as good as dead there." he stares into space as he talks about it. He hasn't thought about that since he and Victor sorted that out together and he doesn't care to revisit the memory. "You saved me... you didn't have to, I know I was a burden but you kept me safe and I am very grateful for that... and I know you are a good person under all that violence." in his eyes at least. He... blocked out quite a bit of the planet, he was traumatized enough he couldn't detect Mantis' joy the way he might now.

"Are your teammates... like you?"

Some scars are better off not seen. Mantis will never admit he's as sensitive as he is about his face, but seeing Yuri's tact about it is a comfort. He only ever explained it once to that brunette that dared to stand against him and that was enough.

Mantis shifts slowly as Yuri speaks until he's sort of standing upright in mid-air. It says a lot about how much Yuri actively remembers about the planet that he can take such a positive experience from all that chaos. "No more a burden than any other civilian. I've seen worse from people who had grown up with the military and trained in it. You needed help to survive, but you did better than many would."

He laughs, if in a somewhat evil way. "In our own ways. We've two gunmen who work with a sniper rifle and revolvers, our disguise master, a living tank, and our wonderful leader."

Yuri can appreciate that and he doesn't think he has tact here so much as an ability to defend his own inability to cope. He's an anxious little thing and he knows better than to ask more than he needs to hear. Somehow with Mantis... he just knows.

Yuri doesn't think he remembers very much. He remembers crawling under a bush and curling up so he didn't see anything. But he could hear it all, he could hear Looma and Mantis and the screams... the.... ripping, wet splashes... he just went through skating routines as he hid there and played music in his mind. He went through imaginary fundamentals in his head, he wrote new shows. Anything to not have to look. And other times he did watch and he just... those are the time he knows he was there but it is difficult to remember what happened. If he sat and thought about it he'd be able to say but if left to his own devices those facts all but fall out of his brain.

"Well that's a compliment I guess. I guess it doesn't take much to curl up in a ball. But maybe some people want to help? And they don't realize they are better off not trying to..."

"A... living tank? What do you mean?"

Only the anxiety ridden messes truly understand how much pain can be found in a single story. Mantis doesn't make any kind of habit out of prying when it's not called for.

Mantis has far more bloody memories himself, but it's clouded over in a haze of anger and joy that he hadn't felt in a long while. He learned to a great deal of delight the similarities he and Looma shared in their views on people trying to end them. It was home far away from home and the exact reason he was glad they couldn't stay long. He didn't need to get sucked back into that mindset when he was still a part of the Fleet.

"Everyone wants to try and be helpful in some way. Even the worst of mankind."

Mantis pulls the scarf closer to him and tries to work it into the rough shape of a very tall, very broad man. "Vulcan Raven. He's taller than I am, stronger than Liquid, and neither Wolf nor Ocelot will ever roll around in a tank with a gun like he does. Octopus could never match his stature for any amount of trying."

KITCHEN.
(Alisaie tends to keep to herself and considering how tiny she is, in addition to how she's practically spent most of her time here working on repairing the ship, it's easy to have overlooked her. She's made it something of an art to avoid people and while she's not as skilled as a ninja from Kugane, she has managed to do well at it thus far. For the most part, it has been unintentional. Keeping busy, not being able to keep up with time due to how space in general works, and her studies... What spare time she does have is spent looking after her brother from a distance, the girl both perplexed and pleased with the forced separation.

Today though, she manages to make it to the kitchen during a reasonable hour. A hour in which there may be other members of the ship present.)

Hm, so the other crew mates exist. (She speaks as though she hasn't been the one dodging the crew.)

ETC.
(Have something more specific? Let's do it.)

[He can't help the short laugh as he walks past the kitchen. Mantis pokes his head in, curious as to who could make such a boast.]

You have hair like a ghost. It must be genetic with how young you look. [He waves at her.] I have a whole office if you ever wish to socialize more. You can re-discover the whole crew.

[Sayid is wandering through for a slightly later than midday meal when he encounters Alisaie in the kitchen. The shock of her isn't entire, he's seen glimpses of white hair around the ship before but he'd thought she was maybe a visitor.

That turns out to be a false assumption.]

There's quite a few of us, actually.

[He says it with a faint smile, looking her over curiously now.]

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