01: I turn this corner, get on this spaceship...

[poetontheinside]

Who: Ray Kowalski
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: 16/4, pre-Shuffle

[A]

[It's not like Ray's graceless-- he's a dancer, right, he can be light on his feet, one-two-three-end-up-in-space, but right now it looks like he's mostly forgotten how to move at all. You can laugh at him (and you could, because in the kerfuffle he's managed to turn on the communicator) but only as soon as you figure out that there's a person underneath the sheer amount of winter clothes currently on the Marsiva. There's a mostly-empty backpack, a hideous parka, a warm (holy shit too warm) middle layer, and a suffocating base core layer. Then there's the hat, the weird-ass circular scarf-thing, two types of gloves, snow boots, sunglasses--


There's some muffled cursing coming from underneath all of this, but eventually there's a frustrated groan and a thump as about half of the aforementioned layers fall to the floor. All through the process, there's muttering.]

Look, Frase, not that I'm callin' you a liar or nothin', but all this time you been bragging about how freakin' cold it gets up North, but I'm kinda disappo-- [He pokes his head out of his last layer, hair mussed, eyes big.]

Fraser?

[B]

[However things get explained to him, he suddenly knows a shit-ton about space. And spaceships. A lot about space ships, actually, so much that his hands get a little itchy. It's weird to be here, without Fraser, when they've spent so much time together since starting his undercover assignment-- especially after they'd left for their Northern Adventure. It makes him feel a little anxious, like he's not sure how to behave without the Mountie at his side.

And when Ray gets anxious, he has to find something to do. So he starts walking around the Marsiva, and he finds things to do-- because he's a Detective, more than anything, and Finding Things Out is his gig, his jam. Specifically, he finds things to take apart, carefully, decisively. With the world of knowledge now inside his head, it all makes sense, and he settles into the work, seeing it, feeling it. It's cool. It's really cool.

The communicator's with him, on a table or on the floor, and despite the whole 'Engineering Augment' thing he keeps turning it off and on accidentally. Feel free to tell him not to take the ship apart.]

Comments

video;

[invigorates]

[ lioriley has been watching the display from the beginning - concerned and slightly alarmed at first - but then just outright confused. how was he able to even function with all of those layers?

oh, he's talking. not to her, but to someone else - whoever fraser is. she doesn't recognize that name, unfortunately. ]

So far as I am aware, there is no one aboard the Fleet named Fraser. Is that someone you know from your world? [ hi. she's a glowing elf that's totally not weird right?? ]

video;

[poetontheinside]

[Look, Glowing Elf Lady, The Northwest Colonies or whatever are like, 80% ice, he was preparing for the worst! And also, he didn't move a lot, there's dogsleds for that.

It takes him a while to figure out where the voice is coming from, but when he finds the comm he just stares at it for a while before visibly snapping himself out of it.]

Yeah, he's my uh, my partner, back home, like-- stop, police, that kinda-- [His head is obviously not in it. He ducks out of view for a second as he roots through the pockets of his parka, and comes up with a pair of thick glasses, fitted with little sunglasses attachments. He puts them on and squints at the screen. Nope. Still blue. Still glowing.]

Look, lady, I don't wanna be rude or nothin', but are you blue?

[It's totally weird.]

[invigorates]

[ she cocks her head to the side, trying desperately to follow along with his odd, jumbled train of thought. something about police, his partner and -- okay, you lost her. she blinks owlishly as he returns to the screen with sunglasses on.

and then suddenly everything makes sense when he asks that question about her skin color. except... it doesn't make sense at all. ]

I am. Does that trouble you? [ she can go. ]

[poetontheinside]

[That'd be kinda cute if she weren't blue and glowing, which, he's kinda still getting over.]

Trouble? No, it doesn't trouble me, it's not like you're gettin' in my way by being blue and lightin' up like something outta Tron, which, actually, now that I think about it, looks kinda cool-- how're you doing that?

[That sentence kinda got away from him. Sorry.]

Audio;

[justamobster]

Ain't heard of a Fraser here, sorry. Gonna have t'save the disappointment for now.

Audio;

[poetontheinside]

[Sounds, what's happening. There's some dull thuds in the background, then some scrabbling as he gets his hands on the comm. Without the video, his accent probably sounds even thicker than it usually does.]

You sure? Tall guy, red uniform, wears a hat all the time?

[justamobster]

Don't ring a bell, sorry.

[poetontheinside]

So, uh... [He looks around him, although Ladon can't... see that. He's checking out the surroundings, finally, and he picks up the comm like a phone a few seconds later.]

Who the fuck're you, then?

A - Video

[birdsbirdsbirds]

...Yeah. Sorry to disappoint you, but you're in a bit more of a mess than that.

[hello, there's a good-looking pale guy looking through the video feed at him. at least he has a pleasant smile?]

Video

[poetontheinside]

[By now he's at least gotten the hang of there being a communicator, and he's looking into it while he balls up his gloves and extra socks.

Anyway, pale and good-looking is his thing. Well. Pale and skinny and experimental hair, at least?]

How d'you mean?

Video

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[he will fight him for that title! maybe.]

Well, obviously there's the part where you've been kidnapped, more or less. You're on reality television, I think.

Video

[poetontheinside]

[He knows boxing okay]

You're a jokester, ain't ya? Who'd want this to be on reality TV? [he gestures at his face, then twists it into a skeptical expression to underline his point.]

B, action

[peacockherald]

<sub>[ Exploration was all Vanyel really had to do, all he felt anyone had to do on this ship. His friends had warned him that finding entertainment here would not be easy, which he thought was at odds with the concept of wanting the passengers to provide entertainment to... well, whoever was watching. It left him with little to do but wander the ship or practice spells. No sense in getting rusty, after all, and he had more than enough time to ponder the few he had dreamt up in Paradisa. When he was not doing that - he sang.

Sonorous notes, the song he sang filled with a sense of longing, the weariness of a long journey, but the eagerness of returning home. He pressed carefully at his Bardic talent, so out of use, not wanting to overwhelm himself, draw to deeply. He thought himself alone as he walked the halls, or as alone as one could be, turning the corner - cutting his note sharply when he spotted Ray. ]</sub>

My apologies, I had not thought anyone would be in this section.

_{[ Cheeks took on a faint pink, properly embarrassed. ]}

[poetontheinside]

[He looks a little embarrassed for Vanyel, really, jumping to busy himself as soon as the other man notices him. He squirms but shakes his head.]

Nah, that was-- kinda nice, really. You some kinda singer? [Musical entertainment for this whole reality show?]

[peacockherald]

Only a minor talent, really. Bardic was never my strongest Gift.

_{[ He shook his head ever so slightly, black locks floating around his prettily narrow face, a single streak of silver falling into his eyes that he quickly tucked back behind his ear. ]}

I did not mean to disturb your work.

[poetontheinside]

[Geez, guy, way to emphasize the fact that Ray is kinda skinny, on the wrong side of thirty and has experimental hair-- and not the kinda experiment that went completely right, if you catch his drift.

He also has no idea what the heck most of that meant, but whatever, he can deal with that.]

Wasn't workin'. I'm kinda-- figuring it out, y'know? Got this thing going on-- [He taps the back of his neck, where he can just make out the shape of the augment] which is weird, but okay, so I'm just-- [He gestures with some loose copper wire, meaning 'he's fucking around with space ship technology'.]

Video

[onlyanapple]

You know, you remind me of that film.

You know. The one with the kid where his mother puts him in all the layers in creation until he couldn't move his arms? That one.

...So what's up with all the layers, is what I'm getting at here.

Video

[poetontheinside]

[He narrows his eyes at Crowley, pulling a band of cloth from around his ears and wadding it up. He clearly has no idea what film he's talking about, and it makes him feel awkward.]

You try being out in the frozen North with nothin' on but jeans and a t-shirt, see how you like it.

[onlyanapple]

I wouldn't be caught dead in any frozen North anyway. Don't know why anyone would want to go anywhere with the word 'frozen' in it.

video

[deshabille]

Excuse me, but are you drowning?

video

[poetontheinside]

What? [He hops a little as he tries taking off a boot without sitting down first.] I ain't drowning, does it look like I'm drowning?

[deshabille]

In clothes, I meant. It's not that cold in space.

B - action!

[openhands]

[Cassandra is seated in the viewing bay, looking out into the infinite void. Over the past few months, she's seen things she once thought were entirely impossible. But this? This whole situation manages to trump everything.]

[It's not comforting to look out into space. In a way, it's terrifying seeing so much nothing out there. But in another, it's grounding that all of this is real. Or as real as she's willing to allow it to be.]

[She does stop gazing outside to look over at Ray when he enters.]

Getting your bearings?

action!!!

[poetontheinside]

[He's fiddling with a remote when he walks in, focusing on that instead of where he's going. Most doors open just by walking up to them, and it's making walking around aimlessly pretty easy.

He only looks up when she addresses him, and a slow grin spreads out over his face when he sees the vast infinite expanse of space. After the initial shock had died down, it's now only inspiring an almost child-like wonder in him. The endless tundra and space have more in common than he would've expected. Both are beautiful in their own way, even when he doesn't get it.]

Yeah. I mean, as much as a guy can get his bearings in a place like this, right? [He flashes a grin at her and flips the remote in his hand, obviously showing off.]

action!!!

[openhands]

[Cassandra doesn't reflect back a grin. Not even a mild smile. He seems to be taking all of this remarkably well from the way he's acting and she can't really understand why. It's one thing to keep whatever anxiety or distress he might be feeling to himself, but it's another to be able to smile or...play with the technology here.]

[She doesn't ask about the remote even as he shows it off.]

I'm told we won't remain on this ship for long and will be assigned to a different one. I wouldn't suggest getting too comfortable.