driftfleet | one ☀ video / action

Entry tags:

one ☀ video / action

Who: Mal
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Caprine
When: After the shuffle!

[The first thing she did once she got a good handle on exactly what was going on - which, for the record, she did not need help with, she is a perfectly capable and independent adult vampire, it's fine - was dive into the engine room and begin to pull things apart. There is knowledge brimming out of her mind that she has no origin for or control over, it's chaotic and it's mad and she loves it.]

[She broadcasts from the engine room, looking at a wrench admiringly. She's messy and a little greasy, but it's a suave sort of messy and greasy. Gods only know how she manages this.]

I'd be interested to know how many people are actually upset about this. Being here. Because I know all sorts of things now that I never could have known before, and that's worth something, I think.

Also, have there ever been any riots here? I think I could do with a good riot sometime soon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We wouldn't have had a use for it before, either.

[Because what use would the Borogravian military have for a space ship engineer-- Well, they could have waged war on other planets, too.]

Which ship are you on?

[They could have waged such amazing war. Mal will definitely never tell anyone about this if she manages to get home. That said: technically she doesn't need to get home now, since Polly's here.]

The Caprine. Welcome to space, sergeant, have you taken charge of your ship yet?

They made me Captain.

[Should she be smug? She's a little bit smug, even as she's been telling herself the assignment was random.]

I see you're working hard already, corporal.

They made you Captain?

[MAL WAS TOTALLY JOKING, what the fuck. She doesn't know whether to be pleased or annoyed about this. She also doesn't know if that last comment is sarcastic or not.]

Well. It's a bit fun.

Shouldn't they have?

[Yep, definitely smug now. Also, she's mostly just amused by the grease, and a ~~lot~~ little bit impressed she's still looking so suave.]

It looks a bit... taken apart.

Not without consulting me.

[Her lips twist into an odd expression, not a smirk and not a frown.]

I expressly forbid you from becoming. Rupert-y.

What's wrong with taken apart?

I guess they went over your head. You think I'd become a rupert?

[That's low, Mal. That's really low.]

Nothing. Just commenting.

Everyone has the seeds of rupertism in them, Sergeant. Even you. Even me. Don't take it personally. I'm just looking out for you.

[In the most patronizing way possible.]

I think I'm supposed to take it apart. At least a little bit. Maybe not this much.

You more than me, Mal.

[Vampires and their nobby families and all.]

I don't think anyone will mind as long as you put it back together again, too.

That is uncalled for, Sarge.

I plan on putting it back together once I find out exactly what's inside.

I'm just looking out for you.

Anything useful so far?

I think I could probably build two smaller engines out of this big engine. I won't, but I could. And it smells good in here.

[A brief pause.]

I will admit that isn't very useful. Umm. It's hard to explain if you're not here to show.

I think I could figure out how to get there.

--What, really?

I'm the pilot. I could probably work the teleport, too.

[Which she's half convinced is magic. They didn't give her the knowledge of how it works, just which buttons to push.]

Well why haven't you done it already, then?

Because I'll need to work out the coordinates first.

[And it's strange to rely on knowledge that isn't hers, but she has to try this sometime, right? And she'd rather try it on herself.]

Give me a few minutes.

It's not as if I'm going anywhere. I'm already trying out the toys I was given.

[She is very excited, and compensating by being extra rude.]

I was trying out a different toy.

[i.e. the network. Which she'll shut off now as she heads back up to the bridge, because she doesn't need any distractions as she works this out. After all, the only kind of math she's used to doing is keeping the ledger at her dad's inn, and it's a bit... daunting. Which she'd never admit to.

But, as promised, a little over five minutes later she'll appear on the Caprine, looking surprised she actually succeeded.]

Mal?

Sergeant.

[True to form, Mal does not get up and come to greet Polly. That would, she feels, be a touch overenthusiastic - after all, they've just seen each other - and so she stays with her pipes and screws and grease, remarkably earthy things, things to touch and smell and taste on the air, and lights and displays and--]

[She's excited. But when she sees Polly she does sit up, at least, wiping her hands on a rag and cocking a brow.]

Fancy meeting you here. Look, you didn't even lose any limbs or anything.

I did say I could work it.

[And it is a relief to know she can visit Mal's ship. Having someone familiar around makes the place seem a lot less strange.]

You're still taking the engine apart?

I think I'm putting it back together by now.

[She squints at it.]

Not entirely sure yet. But it feels right.

Did you learn anything?

I learned . . .

[She hesitates, for once. It's hard to encapsulate the breadth of her new knowledge into a few sentences, and she desperately
wants to get it right. Gesticulating with one pale, long-fingered hand, she indicates a dark and murky part of the engine, half-reconstructed by now.]

I learned that this is what lets us breathe. It creates breathable air and circulates it through the ship. There's an emergency supply in case the engine fails, or I have to take the engine apart. Or want to take the engine apart.

[Cough.]

So if that breaks, we all die?

[She has some... vague knowledge about that. Before this, she'd never really considered air as a thing. She knew you need to breathe, obviously, but the idea of a vacuum - that air can just go missing, without something else, like smoke, taking its place - that still seems strange.

But she'll take care not to let anyone fiddle with that thing, not unless they got the same knowledge Mal did.]

This all still sounds like magic.

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