the white noise is deafening silence

[thespaceopera]

[In the very early hours of January 20th, as the Marsiva and her captives drift nonchalantly through the depths of the universe, there is a call. Every single personal communicator and console springs to life, spitting out a stream of indecipherable static and showing only gray snow on screen. It continues like this for a few seconds longer, going black and then going staticky, and then the signal switches to the encrypted channel generally used for speaking to the Interceptors when something big goes down.

This is a little more successful. The voice may be familiar to some, at least through the static.]

Zhade here! I trust I ███ your attention? I'm having some ██▓▓ble ██tting through. Some of the ░▓██▓█ are missing. I can't ░▓▓▓ read on their loc█████ns. [A particularly long burst of static.] ███stening. I'll s█▓▓█ more inf██▓▓▓▓▓█ I get it.

Stay sharp! [There's the sound of someone actually doing the fingerguns wink noise, and then static.

Any messages sent back won't get through, and Zhade isn't there to answer.]

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome.

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round three of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

Comments

loki (mcu) | ota

[dothelokimotion]

( video killed the ___ star )

[ people were popping in and out of his head and even though loki has no idea what memories they were picking apart, he had enough of a sense to realize He Did Not Like It. so he strides into the living room and squints at the video titles. none of them make much sense to him, but that doesn't matter. with a flick of his fingers, they all rise out of their positions and he turns on his heel, heading back to his room, the dvds/various paraphernalia following him. good luck to anyone who needed their fix of "Love Actually". or you can try stopping him.

if you approach his room, his door is closed, but you can hear the loud noises of a movie being played. and if you open the door, loki is curled up on his bed, knees locked together as he's riveted to his screen. ]

[rebuildyourruins]

[On the one hand, an enforced sleep period every night has ensured Thor actually does sleep a solid number of hours every day. On the other hand, that sleep is made up of mad ventures into other people's souls, or them into his, and that is far from a relaxing thought. While he looks and feels better physically, it does nothing for the restless frustration burning in him.

It leaves him pacing the hallways sometimes. On this occasion when he passes by Loki's room, he can hear - something. Some kind of media. Thor slows to a halt and stares at the door for a few minutes. He knows it's Loki's room, having seen him emerge from there before, but he hasn't really spoken to his brother much since this begun a couple of days ago. And definitely not since last night ...

Rather than knocking, Thor just shoves his hand on the touch panel to open it and steps inside.]

What are you -- [He pauses, squinting at the strange dog-creature on the screen] ... doing.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki hisses, shushing thor. he definitely looks very invested, emotionally so. ]

Be quiet, he's being adopted!

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor looks affronted at being hushed, though it's probably lost on Loki given his being glued to the screen. Looking at the screen again with uncertainty, Thor steps into the room and lets the door shut behind him. He's vaguely familiar with animated movies, having caught advertisements for one or two while watching television on Earth. Never sat through one though.

... he can't help himself, he interrupts again.]

Is it a dog?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki shoots thor a deadly glare. ]

He is not a dog. He is part of the family and he's accepted.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Oh-kay, he does wince at that look. But it was still a valid question.]

Uh, right, of course.

[Though Thor is a little dubious on that point, given the older sister's reaction. He sighs after a moment, regretting his decision to come in here already. Pointing to the door, he follows up with:]

I'll just -- leave you to it.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki bites on his lip. ]

Wait.

[ he pauses the film. ]

You can come watch if you like.

[postocular]

[ Well he was going to see what movies were around in the common area, but by the looks of it, someone had other ideas. He had a few guesses as to who the culprit was, but didn't want to make assumptions. Instead, Carl was planning on walking around the halls a bit before heading back to his room. He hears a familiar movie that he hadn't seen in years echoing down the hall, loudest near Loki's room. Ah ha, so that's where everything was. Instead of asking if he can come in because he knows how Loki can be sometimes, Carl simply invites himself in, quietly sitting next to Loki to watch. ] This movie is really good..

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki is certainly engrossed, knees up and arms wrapped around them. ]

It is certainly . . . engaging.

[ and not at all scarily relevant to loki, not at all. ]

[postocular]

Did you find any other good movies, or is this your first one?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki has no idea what a good movie may entail. ]

I simply chose one at random. I will probably do the rest as well.

[postocular]

Do you want some company?

[dothelokimotion]

[ he sniffs. ]

I suppose I won't complain.

[brooklyn_boy]

Steve has had about enough at this point. He's been jumping in and out of people's minds, had people jumping in and out of his, and if that wasn't enough, he's also had to cope with new arrivals that, welcome though they were, put even more pressure on his thoughts. He needs to just relax for a minute. Needs something familiar and brainless to lose himself in. Nat had reminded him of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, so that sounded perfect to him.

If only someone hadn't stolen all the DVDs.

Annoyed and distracted, Steve walks down the hall, trying to think of something else to do. Maybe beat up another five punching bags. But before he commits to it, Steve passes a room that he can hear movie noises coming out of.

He stops, listening for a second, and then finally decides to lift his hand to knock (or bang) on the door.

"Hey," he calls in. "Do you have some extra movies in there? Everyone else cleaned out the whole collection."

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki is practically glued to the screen, enraptured by the drama of stitch's dilemma, created to be a weapon, with no place to go and no one really wanting him, etc etc. needless to say, it hit very close to home. the knock on the door jars him from the movie. loki goes to open it with a scowl. ]

I have them. What of it?

[brooklyn_boy]

[It's the first time seeing Loki since their Calibrations so Steve pauses a moment, feeling oddly wrong-footed. It seems he's the only one, though.]

Ah. Can I have one? Maybe two? I don't really care whi-

[He pauses, recognizing the garbled voice from the screen.]

Is that Lilo and Stitch?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki is very good at repression. at this point, he had to be. still he relaxes a little. ]

It is. It is . . . enlightening.

[brooklyn_boy]

[Steve tries a small smile]

I liked the earlier movies. They were a little...simple then, though.

Seen Snow White or Pinocchio? That was a real good one.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki shakes his head. ]

I have never heard of those.

[shroudedsecrets]

[Haggar often has some reason to be wandering past the rooms in this area. Particularly when she's not busy being holed up in her own room dealing with the headache that is people traversing her mind that she has not quite been able to keep up with, as if her own inner-workings and even deeper memories were a mystery to herself, as they ever were. Almost fitting, that.

And so, distractions here were more preferable. That and -- that oddly persistent consideration that she should perhaps, check up on others. Better than being alone or--worse, the whims of what the greater common area would yield. Considering everything, Loki was one of those who fit into this category, and so here she was, knocking at the door.

Although from the sounds within, it seemed evident what had become of the entire movie collection. Even better.]

May I join you?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki blinks, vaguely surprised before nodding slowly. ]

Of course.

[shroudedsecrets]

[Well, now she slips right on in. She's not empty handed, however; she's holding a small tray of whatever candied snacks had been prepared in the kitchen. Which she offers to Loki, as soon as she takes in his cozy set up.]

I suppose it should not surprise me that you would have found this sort of distraction.

[dothelokimotion]

[ that is an interesting statement. his eyebrows climb up in surprise. ]

You pictured me as such?

[shroudedsecrets]

... In these circumstances, there is a high demand for... distraction. You were quicker to take the course of action that I was intending to follow, myself.

[So she is not surprised by a similar inclination. Save that he actually seems to be taken with what he's watching.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki relaxes a little. ]

It is also easier to sequester myself without having to deal with any questions.