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

[poetontheinside]

Shit-- [he says, totally mesmerized by what Vanyel is doing, and then--]

Shit! [brought to you by Ray Dropping Metal On His Bare Feet. He curses when he picks it up, but if Vanyel is still doing that, he'll go back to watching it.]

Crap. I could do that, I'd never stop doing it.

[peacockherald]

_{[ The cursing almost amuses him, though he was not one such coarse language, and he tried his best not to feel proud of creating such awe in the other he dropped his bits and bobs. He let the little flickers of lightning go on a moment longer before dismissing them. Such a display was not a terrible drain on his reserves, but no sense in emptying himself. ]}

It takes energy, and from what I understand now, shocking things left and right is not particularly wise on this ship.

_{[ He glanced down at Ray's foot, now feeling a little abashed. ]}

Is your foot all right? I have a touch of the Healing Gift as well.

[poetontheinside]

Uh, that's alright, buddy, you just-- [He gestures vaguely at Vanyel's hand, eyes wide. He may be alright with displays of magic for now, since it pretty much looks really cool, but it's another thing entirely to let some guy you only just met magic your hurt foot.]

Teach me to be more careful, huh? [It clearly hasn't worked in the thirty-something years he's been alive, but who knows! It could still happen.]

[peacockherald]

_{[ A breath of a laugh, slight nod of his head. There's a slight pause, Vanyel glancing down at the dropped pieces... only to have them abruptly disappear and reappear back in place beside their siblings. The shadow at the corner of Vanyel's mouth betrayed his smile, surprised at himself for showing off, but reasoned it was only good practice. ]}

It was my fault really. I had no intention of startling you for a second time so quickly.

[poetontheinside]

[He jumps a little when that happens, because he just has no idea what to expect from this whole magic thing. When he gets what just happened he's grinning again.]

I'm thinking it won't take a whole lot to startle me right now, so maybe don't worry about it. Hey-- maybe you don't even need to work any security, just can do a little magic show and distract the fuckers, right?

[peacockherald]

I can only pray it will be that simple, as I have no idea what I would be guarding the ship - or ships - against, much less the people.

_{[ A light shrug of his shoulders, reaching up to brush the silver lock behind his ear once more. ]}

[poetontheinside]

[His eyes stray to that lock-- looks like you got a bit of a vain streak there, Vanyel. It looks kinda cool, though, Ray has to admit that. Maybe he could get it dyed like that next time?]

Space age, right? Little green Martians, Wookiees, alla that stuff? [He grins a little- he's joking, obviously, but there's also some part of him that would be pretty psyched if there were actually going to be Wookiees.]

[peacockherald]

_{[ Oh yes, he was quite the peacock, though the streak was not from age or from dyes, but from the use of magic. Inescapable. Had he been more powerful, been raised Tayledras and begun his training sooner, his hair might well have been full silver.}

He cocked his head slightly at Ray, the smile he gave apologetic. ]

I am afraid you have lost me again, Ray. What, pray tell, is a Wookie?

[poetontheinside]

[Alright, now you're starting to remind him a little of Fraser. Which, actually, gives him an idea: treat all these space-time-other-world-magic people like they're Canadians. Don't talk about American stuff like they should know, because they won't, because they're Canadians.

That suddenly makes it a lot easier for him, which probably tells you a lot about his life.]

It's a, uh, fictional movie-type thing, big, hairy-- [he shakes his head] Never mind.

[peacockherald]

_{[ Probably not a bad way to go about it, all things concerned. Vanyel had been introduced to some modern concepts throughout his time in Paradisa, but they were few and far between. Everyone had lived in a Castle after all, that magically granted wishes. ]}

Oh, you mean it is a creature in the movie pictures?

_{[ See? He understood movies! Some he found entertaining, others he did not quite understand, and stiff preferred books. But it was fun watching such escapades played out. ]}

[poetontheinside]

[He literally perks up, smacking Vanyel on the shoulder like he's giving a dog a pat for good behavior.]

Hey! Yeah! It is a creature in the movie pictures.

[peacockherald]

_{[ Thankfully time around soldiers had adjusted him to such acts. Even his own sister did it, and she was a captain in the royal army. ]}

I confess I have not watched many of them, but the few I have seen I have enjoyed.

_{[ Don't ask him to name titles, he cannot. ]}

Perhaps you can show me the one these "Wookies" come from?

[poetontheinside]

Don't know if there's a big VCR collection in space, but if I figure out a way, buddy, you are invited.

[peacockherald]

_{[ The smile he has now is actually quite delighted. ]}

I would enjoy that very much, thank you.

...But what is a VCR?

_{[ Sorry Ray, you lost him again! ]}

[poetontheinside]

[The smile has Ray looking a little bashful, and he goes back to tinkering for a second- before that question makes him snort again.]

Baby steps, huh? It's what you use to watch movies. Little... recording-thingies. [Alright, so he now knows a lot about how technology works, that doesn't mean he can explain it.]

[peacockherald]

Just something else you shall have to show me when we find ourselves amongst the rest of the fleet, Ray.

_{[ He certainly would not mind. Ray seemed the sort to make a fine friend. ]}

[poetontheinside]

Man, I'm gonna be busy, huh? [He doesn't seem to mind, though, because he's still grinning as he goes back to his fiddling.]

[peacockherald]

If it is not to much trouble.

_{[ Yfandes would be proud, he thought, making a new companion so quickly. ]}

[poetontheinside]

Nah , it ain't too much trouble. What the fuck else'm I gonna do in space, huh? [He's pretty pleased himself; even if he knows how to interact with people just fine, it's a surprise that he's meeting people even here.]

[peacockherald]

Enjoy the view, hopefully.

_{[ It's a joke, Ray, really, though he does find the view marvelous. Stars, he means. Though if that came across or not... ]}

[poetontheinside]

[That-- came across, but mostly because Vanyel is still in the 'Canadian' category, and Canadians don't do innuendo, and they sure as hell don't do innuendo in the direction of Ray. He raises his eyebrows at the other man for a split-second, then goes back to work, shaking his head.]

If that's all there is to do I'm gonna go outta my fucking mind, man.

[peacockherald]

I am sure we shall come across our own share of excitement. Or make our own. A fair bit harder here than my last residence though. It rather spoiled us by granting every wish.

_{[ Ah, the good old days. Well, mostly good, there were days and weeks he could have done without. ]}

You've seemed to have found your own after all.

[poetontheinside]

This? Nah, this is just-- busywork, you know? Keep me from losin' my mind without any real work to do. I get, y'know-- [He twirls a finger next to his temple: coo-coo bananas, is what he wants to say.]

That sounds cool, though, that place you were at. What kinda stuff you wish for?

[peacockherald]

Anything we needed. Food. Clothes. Simple objects. We paid for them eventually, but otherwise it was happy to provide. We very well couldn't have made do without.

_{[ He shifted to peer at the bits and pieces again, wondering how it was he could name a few of the parts but not all. He took up two gears, fitting the teeth together and rolling them back and forth curiously. ]}

What was your world like? This world of cars and VCRs?

[poetontheinside]

[[he looks at Vanyel as he does that, slides some more interesting parts his way.]

Kinda difficult to explain if you don't know what-- you know. [he gestures a little]

Busy, I guess. Fast. I'm from a big city, so there's a lotta everything. Tall buildings, cars, people. An' I'm a cop, so the people I tend to meet aren't the, uh, best ones, usually. But um, before I got here I wasn't there. Fraser, my buddy-- he's from the north. The north north. And uh, we were there. We were supposed to go on adventure. And it's like a different world up there, y'know? Fresh air, mountains, snow everywhere. No people, neither.