driftfleet | ♦ from the start

Entry tags:

♦ from the start

Who: Kravitz and YOU!
Broadcast: Yes!
Action: On the SS Bloodsport!
When: After the last shuffle!

1) [ action -- SS Bloodsport ]
[ Hello, Bloodsport, you have a new crew member! He's... very confused, wondering why he keeps getting yanked around -- honestly, it's kind of rude. And definitely not the kind of rude that can be made up for with pudding and confetti. Oh well.

He brushes the colorful bits of paper off of the sleeves of his suit coat, straightens his tie, and... starts walking. There's got to be a reason he's just suddenly appeared in this place, right? ]

Hello? ... Is there anyone actually here?

[ Because geez, it's quiet - and not the kind of quiet he likes. ]

2) [ video ]
[ So far, Kravitz's entire experience here has been 1) wake up in a giant spaceship. 2) attempt to regain bearings. 3) almost immediately end up whisked away onto some other ship with a *Pop!* and some confetti. 4) try the pudding. ... It's mediocre at best.

So when he finds this... very complicated Stone of Farspeech... and sees others using it to talk, of course he's going to give it a try. He turns it on, angles the camera well enough to get himself in-frame, and clears his throat. ]

-- Right. Well. I've pretty much gathered the short of what this all is, so beyond that, I have to ask: how cut-off are we? Because there are several people that I really should call right now, and I have a feeling the answer is going to be, "That's impossible". So... how impossible?

[ He's been stuck alone and cut-off from everyone and everything before. This situation is, arguably, better than that... but that doesn't mean he has to like it. ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[It doesn't take long for a woman to soon poke her head into the bridge, stepping in completely when she spots the newcomer.]

Welcome to the ship. [She offers a smile.]

[ He smiles as well, relieved to see a friendly face. ]

Thank you. I... think. Sorry, what ship is this?

Really, really cut off. I have pacts with spirits that connect our souls, and I can only barely feel them.

[...Well, dunk. Lup knows that face well enough, even if she's used to seeing it as a distant blur at best. The voice is easier to recognize. Hard to forget the cadence of someone who's hunting you.

This... complicates things. A lot. Kravitz is a Reaper, he can recognize the presence of undead. He can sense necromancy, he can sense liches. Taako may not know, but he suspects something, and if the reaper confirms it... that'll be the end of everything. He'll never trust her, she'll lose him.

And she can't. She can't lose him again. She can't let this happen.

Best to nip it in the bud before he spills the beans and ruins everything she's tried to build with Taako. Maybe they can broker a truce, somehow? Kravitz likes making deals. There's a couple of things she might be able to wager.]

Reaper. When you're settled, I need to speak with you. You won't know me, but it's important that we meet.

Wow, that's... about as cut off as it gets, I'd say.

[ At least Sorey can barely feel them - he's absolutely severed from the Raven Queen and it's playing hell on his cool right now tbh ]

How long has it been this way?

[ The moment he sees the incoming message, two things happen: first, that damn thing in his head informs him that he can elevate that encryption. So, he does so! (As weird as it is that he suddenly knows that... ugh. That's going to take some getting used to.) Second, he's suspicious. "Reaper" absolutely means that it's someone who knows him. Even here. ]

Consider me settled. Did you want to speak here or in person?

[She'd used his title specifically to catch his attention, so she's glad it worked.]

In person. Probably not ideal, but I don't trust this communication system.

[She sends a location his way, somewhere easy to find, isolated but not dangerously so, with landmarks to guide him- it's a spot just outside of the main port town, near where most of the ships are.]

I'll be waiting.

[At least this way, if he won't listen, no one will get caught in the crossfire when she has to fight her way out.]

I'll be there.

[ It doesn't take him long to get there, and the closer he gets, the more he feels a very distinct kind of presence. Undead - a lich, and a powerful one at that. He pulls for his scythe out of pure reflex, but is quickly reminded that he can't... have it here. That's a problem. Well... He'll just have to hope this doesn't go south, and if it does, fine, he can make do.

But when he actually reaches the location, when he actually sees just who it is standing there, he knows exactly why he felt what he did, and why it seemed so familiar. Besides, he'd know that red robe anywhere at this point. ]

... Lup? Is that you?

[She's got her robe on and her hood up, but her face is uncovered, the wooden spoon she's been using as her spell focus tucked into her belt. She'd assumed that she would be met with some recognition, had expected him to call Taako's name, since they share a face.

But then-

what?

She stiffens immediately, eyes widening in the shadow of her hood. He said her name. He knows her name, he recognizes her, he- what?

What the fuck is going on?]

...You... [She's at a loss for words, tongue twisted for a long moment.] You know me?

[But he- he couldn't. He couldn't know her. Not even Taako knows her. No one knows her, except Barry, except Lucretia, she's been erased completely, she's trapped in the umbrella back home, she's never met him, how is this possible-]

[ He'd picked up the pace when he'd recognized her, his original suspicion completely out the window, but at the obvious surprise in her tone and confusion on her face, he slows again. Something is... weird here. ]

I.. yes, of course I do. You're Taako's sister, and you and Barry-- [ -- Wait. ] ... Don't you remember?

[ what is going on here??? ]

[....

He does know. He does. He knows about her, about Barry. And he recognizes her, which means-

-she lifts a hand to her mouth, leaning back against the wall of her shuttle where she'd been waiting for him, before her legs can wobble beneath her.

They make it. Barry's plan works.

I get out?

She's silent for a long moment, eyes closed, as it all sinks in. This isn't something that Kravitz could trick her with, or guess at. It's too specific. And for him to greet her in such a familiar way means they're not... enemies...? He's not hunting them anymore?

Breathe, Lup, breathe. Keep it together. You've gotta figure this out.

At last she grits her teeth briefly and faces him again, shrugging off her hood, because there's little sense in wearing it anymore. Evidently it hadn't mattered at all.]

Whatever you know, it hasn't happened yet. Not for me, and... not for Taako, either. Last thing I remember is the guys collecting the Animus Bell.

[She watches his expression; if he knows about her and Barry, about who she is, then how much else does he know? The relics? Wonderland? The Hunger?]

[He's barely paying attention to the network as he shifts through all the newer posts - people screaming about that ship crashing together and spent melting into one, people asking random questions, the usual. He's in the midst of prepping a meal when that voice comes through. That unmistakable, nerdy accent only used for business. A voice he hasn't heard in almost a month. Someone recognizable and family and achingly handsome.

Taako fumbles the device at first as he checks the video and sure enough: it's him. Kravitz is here.

There's an initial feeling of relief at having him here, of seeing someone familiar, and then there's a panic because how the hell did the Atroma catch the Grim Reaper? He shouldn't be surprised because they have gods captive here, but Kravitz can rip holes in reality. He shouldn't be stuck hate likes the rest of them. He should have gotten out and if he couldn't then how was Taako going to break the bonds of this reality to escape?

It takes him too long to calm down and think of a good casual reply to seeing Kravitz here. But when he finally sends a message, he looks composed and properly made up, too. He isn't about to let Kravitz see him with flour on his face.]

I really hope I'm on that list of people you needed to call or I'll be offended.

[ Gods, she looks completely overwhelmed -- and when she braces herself against the shuttle, he goes to her side, just in case. Maybe something weird is going on, but that doesn't mean he's not going to support a teammate.

When she speaks again, it's his turn for his eyes to go wide. Because if that's the last thing she remembers... well. No wonder. ]

Really? The Animus Bell? That's the last thing you... That was definitely a while ago. A lot has happened since then. ... I'm so sorry.

[ It's not even his fault?? Obviously. But in light of everything else, what the hell else is he... supposed... to say right this second jfksl ]

-- Taako?!

[ Atroma or whoever the hell pulled Taako here too? That's-- well... it's not great that they're both stuck here, sure, but still, it's good to see him. And that much is evident as Kravitz practically lights up when he sees him, smiling. ]

You were of course the first person I'd call. [ Natch. ] I can't believe you're here, too...

[ also for the record he would not have minded flour on the face. That's actually pretty cute. ]

[It's weird to have him come so close, like- like he cares, like he's worried about her. Instinctively she leans away at first, since the last time they were anywhere near one another he was searching for a monster and she definitely tried to Scorching Ray his face off. Something about his expression makes her stop before she can put too much distance between them, though. Something about his tone, concerned and honest- apologizing for something that he hadn't even done to her.

She stares at him for a moment, stunned, before she glances downward with a bit of a bemused laugh. A lot happened, huh? She can only imagine. The Hunger had been on its way- had been hours away from arriving, based on Barry's warning. Shit must've gotten pretty wild.

Did they win? She's afraid to ask.]

Well, shit, Skullman, you've got me kind of at a loss, here. I thought you'd try to kill me, so why do I feel like I ought to ask for a hug instead?

[She does not, of course. It's just been a really goddamn long time since anyone's looked at her with genuine care like that, so it's jarring.]

In all my glory.

[The way he lights up is nice to see. The last time they met, they'd been getting somewhere, but then Kravitz had gone all Skull Lord on him and buggered off to go talk to his queen. He gives the Reaper a smile and shrugs.]

Been here for almost a month, my man. Been wondering when you or the others would start mounting a rescue mission.

[He didn't mean for you to also get trapped...]

[Figures they'd start getting new crew seeing as, y'know, the Atroma sent home a good half of the Bloodsport crowd in recent weeks. Nami calls out from where she is in the kitchen-- sounds like he's just left the bridge, so--]

In here. You hungry?

So, the bad news is that we're pretty cut off from our own worlds until more people you may know show up. The good news is that it's possible that they will.

This place is kind of like another universe. Supposedly time stops in our own world until we get back. I'm not really sure how true all of that is. Either way, welcome to the Fleet.

[ Hello there, handsome sir. Have another handsome face. ]

This place continually contests just how impossible something is. I'm not certain what sort of place you hail from, though if it is anything like my own, then most things are quite impossible in certain aspects, especially those pertaining to technology.

There are various sending crystals in possession of members of the fleet, though all attempts to use them are cut off since the other party is not currently up to speed and in possession of the other. It seems that all attempts at outside contact are null and void.

The- you mean the distant connection? Ever since I've been here, which is about...I think two years now. [His voice takes on a distinctly sympathetic lilt.] You're missing someone too, huh?

Edited 2018-10-21 18:12 (UTC)

I mean, if you think about it, calling isn't the problem.

[ Two years?? That's not comforting. fjksld ]

... Yes. A few people. My partner, my team... [ Two of them are here! He just doesn't know it yet. ] And like you, I have a pact that connects me to someone - a deity, though, not a spirit. But contacting her isn't working.

[ He can't even imagine. It must be a different kind of hell to be dragged out here at a time when she's still trapped, when the boys are suffering, and The Hunger is on the way -- hell, it had already gotten to the Astral Plane at that point -- and without the Day of Story and Song, that means...

Oh, gods, Taako doesn't know her.

... He immediately wants to tell her. Everything. To spill the proverbial beans, to reassure her, anything. But... can he? How does all of this work? Even without the Voidfish business, there's the cosmic sense of how playing with time could be like playing with fire, in a sense, and... it's complicated. Too complicated to think through right now. He can... think on it longer, later. They can talk about it later. Maybe. ]

Well, do you want a hug? Or I could always pretend to try taking you in, if that would help somehow.

[ Bad jokes at bad times. That's what you wanted, right? ]

A month? That's... strange, I just saw you before I ended up here. Believe me, if you'd been missing for a month, I absolutely would have been trying to find you.

[ Yeah this isn't a rescue mission. Alas. If anything, now they both need someone else to mount a rescue mission. Womp womp. ]

That's, um, okay.

[To both? To both. There's literally no subtle way to wipe the traitorous wetness at the corner of her eye, but damn if she doesn't try anyway, laughing a little at his offer. It's dumb, but she'd needed it anyway, and it helps her to form a newfound appreciation for him, when before all she'd felt was bewildered caution and overprotective anger. It makes sense to her, why Taako likes him so much.

Cautiously she straightens up, exhaling and steeling herself against... whatever happens next. This is all a little overwhelming, but she can endure it. It's good news. It means they have a future, as long as they can get themselves home.

First things first. If Kravitz is, like... an ally now, she needs to get him on the same page here.]

Thanks, but I'm good. You've- I assume you've seen Taako, yeah?

[That had been her priority upon arrival, so she can only imagine it would be his as well.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 6

♦ from the start

action;

no subject

voice

text; with a clumsy attempt at private/encrypted

voice

text; slightly bumping up that encryption level, just in case

text; thank god someone gets it

text -> action!

no subject

no subject

no subject

Video;

no subject

Video;

no subject

Video;

action

video;;

video;;

voice

voice;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject