driftfleet | Goldstone Mingle!

A - Engineering

[A new system means that Felix doesn't spend all his time aboard the ship, but that doesn't mean there aren't some things that need to be done - and a new system also means there are sufficient supplies to help finish up the last of the repairs from the substantial damage the Goldstone sustained some time ago.

Find him tinkering about in various places in the ship, some panel exposed and various small smart scattered at his feet as he replaces damaged components. As is typical for him, he opts for simpler dress when it comes to getting his hands dirty, wearing only trousers and the fleet-issue undershirt, long hair bound in a messy braid to keep it out of the way.

If you stumble upon him in the engine room, you may find him doing a very different sort of maintenance. Placed in a metal stand right in front of the engine housing and carefully chained in place is a large dark stone sphere and shimmers inwardly with ripples of gold. Here the wizard lingers, ringed hand placed lightly atop the surface of the stone, his eyes closed as he lends power to the nexus of the ship's wards.]

B - Chores

[Other times that Felix returns are for smaller matters. Usually that matter is laundry because he's spending enough credits elsewhere and his wardrobe is still not as extensive as he would like.

Curiously, today he might be walking down the narrow corridor towards the rooms struggling with a laden basket of clothes and a small bowl of diced fresh fruit balanced on top of it]

Oh, it's you. Thank the powers. Help me with this, would you?

[Are you assuming he means the fruit bowl? Do you take it before he presses the the whole basket into your hands and then lifts the small bowl up to carry himself?]

[Actually, he figured Felix wanted him to carry both, but he just starts by taking the big one. He's basically the pack mule of the Goldstone at this point, but it's good to feel useful. It's especially good right now because it's been a trying time since Kara gained more memories of how his mother tried to rule over Earth. You know, minor stuff. He's been a little quieter and more distant the last month or so.]

Sure, buddy.

Edited 2018-05-06 01:34 (UTC)

[He's the pack mule for Felix, if nothing else. He's half come to expect it at this point.]

I knew I could count on you. The room isn't much further, but I was sure I was going to lose all of it.

[Smiling and seemingly oblivious to Mon-El's troubles for the time being, he beckons the man to follow him down the remainder of the hall into the slightly larger bedroom that he and Crowley shared.]

Just set it down on the bed, please.

[He gestures vaguely towards it, not quite looking behind him as he moves over to the side of the room to a set of shelves housing, among other things, a glass orb containing a small glowing fish and a small terrarium containing a rainbow-scaled snake. It's the second that he begins to drop the pieces of sliced fruit into]

[Maybe he learned how to be a friend from Winn too much and it became about how useful you could be.

He sets the items down on the bed.] Have you ever thought about just trying to transport fewer things at a time?

[He turns to watch Felix. He's never actually been in their room before. He definitely wasn't expecting the serpent or glowing fish.] Who's that?

I thought it would be more productive. [Blithely, as if made complete sense, as he continues to feed the snake pieces of fruit, which it happily starts to gobble up]

Our resident refugee from Lyuku. [He smiles at that, the expression sad and fond for a brief moment] I still haven't thought of a name of her. I've never been particularly good at that.

[Crowley would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy watching Felix work on the engines. Perhaps because it was so outside of either of their usual comfort zones- or perhaps he took some amusement from watching Felix attempt something without an augment he would be utterly lost at. Even Crowley wouldn't be able to exactly put his finger on what made this so fascinating.

The demon is sitting on top of some ship part of other, watching Felix work while drinking a glass of wine. He has to get his entertainment from somewhere. ]

Anyway. I'm pretty sure this whole 'healthy competition' on this planet is going to just end in some horrible war or something, but I'm also morbidly curious as to what a competitive Jenga competition would look like so I kind of want to suggest that to the crazies just for shits and giggles.

[The funny thing, it doesn't even occur to him to resent being the subject of that entertainment. Nevermind the incongruity of the work, the simple act of being engrossed in a problem makes him forget little things that would would otherwise drive him crazy, like his his hair being a mess.

Felix peaks up over the open panel, hands still questing for the problem area.]

Going by the logic many planets ago, competition might just be a way to avoid war.

[A beat] What is...Jenga?

[Crowley certainly isn't about to start complaining. ]

Hmmm, you have a point. This whole system might just be teetering on the edge of it. Wonder how long it'll take the other members of the Fleet to knock it over?

[His grin widens. ]

It's a game. Basically you've got this little sticks of wood together to make a tower, then you take turns in removing a stick from it and placing it on top of the tower. If you make it fall over, you lose.

It sounds more like a puzzle than a game to me. Speaking of...[he pauses for a moment, struggling with something, and after a moment tugs loose a part from a small bundle of wires.]

I don't think war is likely. One or more of them getting incarcerated for breaking a rule, however? Far more probable.

Hold this, would you? [He gestures with the hand holding the group of wires]

[He grimaces at the proffered wires, before gingerly taking them. As if simply being in contact with them might make something horrible happen. Like a short-circuit or dirt on his suit. It's all nice watching Felix get dirty, he has no plans to get involved in that mess, though. ]

Well, if they get locked up, that's on them. I'm pretty sure they'd get beamed back onto the ship once we moved on. Meanwhile, we can have a chuckle at their expense.

[Thankfully, wiring doesn't involve any grease. Sparks are another. Don't touch the ends, maybe. Not that Felix issues any such warning.]

Knowing some of them, I'd suspect they'd turn it into another kind of competition.

[He fishes around for a similar looking part, pausing to unscrew a section of it.]

And frankly, it reminds me a little too much of home. Wizards are more subtle with that kind of thing, but it was always a struggle to win at something or other. Who has more power, who has more influence, whose study on a subject is the most extensive. It's exhausting.

[Not warning him hold a better chance of him NOT playing with it at least. The horse won't bolt through the stable door if it doesn't know it's been opened in the first place after all. ]

Who can get beamed back onto the ship the fastest?

[Crowley lets out a soft scoff. ]

Well, that explains a lot about you. [His tone is teasing, at least. ] Still, yeah, demons are like this. Always trying to get the best commendations. Basically trying to get rewards for being shitty and making human lives miserable.

I'm not sure if that is the highest possible accolade or a point ridicule. Or both.

[Pausing again, he makes a soft sound of triumph as he opens the piece]

What is a commendation in the world of demons?

[He's part honestly curious and part slightly getting back at Crowley for the tease.]

Both, my dear Felix, always go for both.

[Crowley grimaces. ]

Mostly it's a pat on the back- rare cases you get promoted. Mostly they just give you a little plaque to go in your cubicle. Like 'adequate work' or 'congratulations on not being completely worthless, you feckless maggot'. Stuff like that.

[He huffs a very slight laugh and holds his hand out for Crowley to hand the wires back.]

That sounds...not entirely unexpected, but...cubicle?

[Crowley does as asked, they even remain as wires. He doesn't turn them into worms or anything. ]

It's a workspace in an office, it's basically a square made out of ply-board. Just enough space for a desk and a chair really. There's lots of them stuffed into one place- with a worker in each one.

Hell picked that one up from humans. Found it an efficiently dismal way to remind their employees they own them. And the being a feckless maggot thing.

[It's quite impossible for Stephen not to sense, nor to notice the wards placed around the ship. The are borne from a different magic than his, but their signature is magical none the less. Once he feels more at ease to navigate through the ship, Strange follows the flow of magic to its source, only to find himself in the engine room.

The pulse of magic is strong here and Strange watches in silence the young man as he infuses what he guesses is the center of power of the wards. He doesn't hide as he waits for the other man to finish, knowing better than to disturb a magic user during a spell.]

That's an interesting idea. They're protection spells, right?

Edited 2018-05-07 01:25 (UTC)

[He appreciates the consideration, though he's mildly startled at finding he's no longer alone, once he opens his eyes and turns to see the source of the voice. Stephen is only vaguely registered as 'the newcomer', though he's not had the time to remember more than that. His surprise takes another note once he registers the words, brow raising slightly.]

Yes. Very perceptive of you. [It's one thing to sense magic - many people in the fleet could recognize it on the basic level, if they had anything similar. It was another to recognize the form as being more than that. Color him intrigued.]

You'd be our newest arrival? We haven't been properly introduced. Felix Harrowgate. [He offers a hand]

[It's more a question of deduction than anything else: there's no sense in putting destructive wards on a ship in the middle of space, especially when one is on said ship. Their transport isn't powered by magic either, so protection is the next best guess.]

Mmm, it was a lucky guess. [Not really, and Strange doesn't say that out of modesty, that's not in his nature. But he's not either about to reveal too much about himself either. Not until he knows the crew better.]

I am. Dr. Stephen Strange, [he offers, moving to grasp the man's forearm instead of his hand to shake. It's just as polite, and much less painful for Strange. His grasp is firm despite the scars on his hand and the light tremor of it.]

I arrived a few days ago. [Form the thin, tight line of his lips, it's easy to figure that this isn't a place he wishes to be stuck in.]

I wasn't aware that this ship had sorcerers on it.

[Felix hums in thought, clearly skeptical of Strange's answer but letting it rest for the time being. He would have preferred more honesty, truthfully, but dragging it out of the man wouldn't help any.

The altered handshake throws him for a moment, but he understands the intent after a moment, his smile flaring back to life on his face.]

Well, technically speaking it doesn't. I'm a wizard. But that's semantics.

A doctor, though? Well, we're lucky to have you on board with us. Sorry for the lack of a proper welcoming party, but the crew tends to scatter to the winds the second we come into sight of a habitable planet. Ah, which reminds me...[He moves back, opening a compartment on the far wall and removing a small basket]

Take one of these. It will key you into the wards. Do what you want with it - put it a piece of jewelry or just keep it in your pocket - just as long as you have it on your person at all times while you're on the ship.

Edited 2018-05-12 21:15 (UTC)

[It's nothing personal against Felix, but considering that the only other sorcerer he knows beside the masters of the mystic arts is Loki, Strange tends to keep his cards close to his heart. For now.

That answer raises an eyebrow slowly on Stephen's face:]

There's a difference between the two of them?

[Not that it matters much to him, as he will always see himself as a master of the mystic arts.
He smiles lightly:]

I am. My specialty lies in neurosurgery. Well, used to be that, I guess. [The reason why it's not anymore is fairly easy to guess from his hands.] And don't worry about the welcoming party, I wasn't exactly expecting one either.

[Stephen watches as Felix retrieves something and peers into the basket when it's presented to him. Strange chooses a green stone that reminds him of the Eye of Agamotto hanging around his neck and nods curtly:]

Thank you. How do they work?

[Strange is not sure he will ever need a protection ward, but he's not about to turn down something that might come useful in the future.]

[He's used to people playing their cards close to their chest, especially when it comes to magic, so he takes the hint of evasiveness in stride.]

That depends on where you're from, but at the end of the day it's largely a matter of persistent nomenclature.

[Smirking lightly, he backs up to replace the remaining stones back in their cubby]

The stones are a way to help the wards recognize friend over foe. The wards, besides protecting the structure of the ship itself, will also incapacitate anyone on the interior of the ship attempting to attack the ship or the crew. Technically speaking, they are more exclusive than inclusive, as anyone with the stone will be considered a viable target for the wards. For instance, in the event we were boarded by something hostile and you went to attack it without the stone on your person, the wards would incapacitate you first.

((ooc: You can design your stone here))

Edited (added link :)) 2018-05-17 20:41 (UTC)

Goldstone Mingle!

Felix Harrowgate | ota

Chores

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Engineering

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Engine room

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