001;

[privateeyed]

Who: Ben and you folks
Broadcast: Yes
Action: SS Huntress
When: now

action; SS Huntress

[Ben doesn't take teleportation well. In fact, if the confetti and the music didn't tip the ship off, the loud cursing probably does - there you go, Huntress, your security officer is here]

What the fuck—give a guy some fuckin' warning next time, geez! God damn teleporting bullshit.

[once he's calmed down, though - and picked up some of the pudding because far be it from him to turn down free food - he's wandering the ship, peeking his head into rooms to see what's what]


broadcast;

[once he's somewhat settled in and found a place to sit and digest everything going on, Ben decides to set up a broadcast to get some Shit Done]

Anyone here good with cybernetics? Or - I don't know, computers? Advanced stuff, can give you the specfics if you're interested. Don't need you right now, I'm just covering my ass just in case.

[he pauses, and maybe realizes he should . . . introduce himself. Like a normal person would. You know, instead of just getting down to business]

Uh - anyway, name's Ben; if you don't know shit about cybernetics . . . I don't know, come tell me about the weird crap going on here. Or stuff I should know. I like being informed.

Comments

[tsunergy]

[There's a long, confused pause, and then:]

I don't understand what that means.

[privateeyed]

[oh, hey, it works]

It's a movie where I'm from. Gets remade every twenty years or so. This is a lot easier than your ghost trick - which was cool, by the way.

[tsunergy]

Oh.

[no wonder it's lost on him, he's seen like two whole movies in his lifetime.]

Thanks. I'm not a ghost, by the way- I'm a seraph.

[privateeyed]

Yeah. Probably a reference no one will get, my bad.

[bro you need to watch more movies come on now]

Aren't seraph a kind of angel? My bible school knowledge is a little rusty.

[tsunergy]

[There's a long pause, a sudden, tense chill in the air. The kitten actually climbs up to stand on the empty air beneath it and jump off, wandering off a few feet to shake off the feeling and groom itself.

And then, over the comm, a tired sigh.]

Elemental spirit...

[if he ever meets an angel he's going to punch them for existing in literally every other world except his own and stealing that term.

Should he start using malak? he should totally just use malak. nobody ever mistakes malakhim for angels.]

[privateeyed]

[oh boy. Ben takes a step back, just in case he's offended him and look, he doesn't want to be turned into an ice sculpture or something, okay]

Uh - okay, elemental spirit, got it. Not a thing where I'm from.

[tsunergy]

I assumed not.

[Okay, okay, relax. It's not this guy's fault his world is obviously confused.]

My name is Mikleo. There's two other seraphim on this ship, just so you know. I'm the captain, but our vessel and the ship's first mate is human- Sorey- so if you ever need anything just let him know. ...Or use the comm, I suppose. For some reason it always picks up our voices.

[privateeyed]

That's better than picking up nothing at all, I guess. [two more, though . . . yeah, he was going to slip and call them ghosts, too. But that was just how he was] Wait, your - vessel?

How come nobody can you see you anyway?

[tsunergy]

It's the nature of our kind. Most people lack the ability to see us, that's all. As for the vessel thing... that's a little more complicated to explain, but the short version is that we need a pure "house" to keep us protected, or the presence of non-seraphim around us can make us sick. Sorey acts as that house, so we can dwell within him if we need to.

[privateeyed]

[a few inappropriate things come to mind - look, he looks like a dumpster disaster, it's not surprise his mind is there too - but he bites his tongue]

That . . . sort of makes sense. I'll take your word for it. [he scratches at his cheek] If it's an ability, though, is it something that can be learned?

[tsunergy]

[yeah just wait till he finds out they're 'dating'.]

It can be. Actually, it develops fairly easily here in the fleet for some reason... it used to be almost impossible back home.

Anyway, within a few months you should at least be able to hear us without the communicators. How long it takes varies from person to person.

[privateeyed]

[I'm sorry in advance]

Only a few months. [that sounds like a pain in the ass, though] Guess I'll just have to keep this thing on me and not treat it like my phone back home. [the phone he routinely forgets on his desk]

[tsunergy]

Give or take.

[Some have resonance in months! And then there were people like Clay who barely had any after like, a year and a half.]

Like I said, if there are any problems and I need to speak with you urgently, I'll just get Sorey. It's not likely to be a problem, though.

[privateeyed]

Well, that's good. [but his paranoia about literally everything says otherwise] Even so, I'll try not to forget it.

[tsunergy]

I'd appreciate it.

[No offense, buddy, but he hates to repeat himself.]

What's your augment?

[privateeyed]

[none taken, he feels the same way]

It's security.

[tsunergy]

Oh! That's good. We've been without security for a while now. It's hit or miss whether weaponry even becomes relevant, but I'm glad to have it just in case.

[Oh, wait, that's presumptuous.]

Assuming you decide to stay, of course. You're welcome here, but you can choose to move to another ship if you feel so inclined.

[privateeyed]

It's relevant to us folks who don't have fancy powers. [he shrugs] I don't know what I'm supposed to do as security, but I'll do it.

I don't know anyone else, though, so I guess I'll stick around here. I'll try not to be a bother.

[tsunergy]

Honestly, you don't need to do much unless there's some kind of fight, which is rare but not unheard of. I guess the best advice I can offer is to learn the systems and equipment you've been assigned to, and pay attention to what changes when we're in and out of a drift. The rest is up to you.

[privateeyed]

[he can't help but snort, faintly amused] Been a while since I've had to do shit like that, but I think I can figure it out. What kind of stuff changes during a drift? [...] And what is a drift anyway?

[tsunergy]

It's... slang, I guess you could call it. It just refers to the time we spend traveling through space between planets or stations. By changes I mean anything from harmless stuff, like crew coming or going, to dangerous things like sudden attacks or messages from someone outside of the fleet or Atroma. Too many weird things happen here to really list them all.

[privateeyed]

[he can't help but wince at the thought of "sudden attacks". That doesn't sound fun, at all, for anyone. Especially him] The fun never stops with this place, does it?

[tsunergy]

Fun... right. Honestly half the time I'm not sure whether to enjoy the moments of boredom or dread them. You'll figure it out the longer you stay.

[privateeyed]

Sarcasm. [he makes another face] Why not both? I'm leaning more towards dread, though. I don't deal well with boredom. [because he's a workaholic and what is free time]

[tsunergy]

Be free. No one's going to limit your opinions, believe me. ...At least, not intentionally, anyway.

[This place can be pretty damn weird, after all.]