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

[outstandingbalance]

[She laughs dryly at that, soft. It's not all that surprising he says that, or that they agree about this.]

It's high on my list of least favorite things that happens here.

[Very high on the list. Not on the level of seeing worlds destroyed, but honestly? She'd prefer cannibals.]

It shouldn't last long.

[sinistral]

So this is a regular occurrence?

[His expression says rather clearly exactly what he thinks of that.]

It's already been too long. But how long do you define "long"?

[outstandingbalance]

It's the second time since I've been here, third that I know of. Maybe not regular... but it happens.

[And they agree on that. Once was once too many.]

I can't say exactly how long it will last, but it won't last forever.

[sinistral]

Great.

[What else is there to say about it? Certainly complaining isn't going to shorten the time; if that was the case, Bucky doubts they'd be here at all.

Then again, he can't deny that it probably makes great entertainment.]

Small miracles, I suppose.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha makes a sound of muffled sympathy. At first, she's not sure what to say, really, but she tries.

Better than awkward silence.]

The Fleet really knows how to roll out the welcome wagon, hm? You seeing a lot?

[A lot of other people's dreams and memories. A lot of people in his own. Either way.]

[sinistral]

[That she even tries says enough. They're not friends; Bucky isn't sure he knows how to be anyone's friend. Isn't sure he wants to. But they're not hostile — which for them says a lot.]

More than I'd like.

[Easy enough to admit since he's pretty sure most people would share the sentiment. Still, like so many other things, it could be so much worse and certainly the few things he has seen aren't enough to rival his own nightmares.

At least no one has walked through his own head. He keeps the thought private though, not trusting to the idea of tempting fate.]

At least the food is consistent.

[Consistently as bad as on the ships, as the dry humor in the statement attests.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Half a laugh, just half, because he's right and it's not really funny, but if you think about it, it's sort of funny. This whole situation is absurd.]

The food is one of the few things that is. The same protein solids and gels. It's gross.

[But comforting in a way. Because familiar things are comforting.]

Some of them won't remember it. You go in, poke around, and they're not sure what you saw or even if you saw anything.

[sinistral]

It's better than intravenous.

[Which isn't exactly a point in its favor, but things could be worse. Things could be so much worse.]

That might make it more comfortable, but it doesn't make it right. People should be allowed their privacy, not to have it stripped from them like this.

[He doesn't voice the thought that he's been fortunate to not have his own brain opened up thus, but what that means he's not sure. What he doesn't discount is the possibility that it may only be a matter of time.]

[outstandingbalance]

Don't give them ideas. If they did it that way, wouldn't have to wake us up at all.

[As jokes go, it's grim and weak. For what it's worth, she doubts it would actually happen that way; the fact they're awake now points to the fact it's for a reason.]

Though if we didn't, probably makes for worse drama. They do love a good drama.

[sinistral]

If they really can look inside our heads they should have all the ideas they need.

[But there's no drama in laying them all out nice and neat in rows of beds, keeping them alive with fluid drips. And as Bucky's learning — and Natasha's confirming — this place loves its drama.]

Lucky us, getting to be their players. I'm so honored.

[outstandingbalance]

Usually, I'd say they can't but here... this might be the exception.

[If it's not the exception, if they can always poke through their heads like this, then it raises some uncomfortable possibilities?

But why go through all this if it weren't necessary for the calibrations?]

If you're hungry, I have some snacks. Help yourself.

[sinistral]

Could be.

[It probably goes without saying that Bucky prefers to keep his guard up. Or perhaps it's simply telling that he doesn't trust anything that seems able to dig into his brain. Even if this isn't the usual course of action for the Atroma it's still enough to have him on edge.

Why do people need to be calibrated anyway? So far it hasn't been akin to being prepped or wiped, but he still doesn't trust it.]

Protein solids by any chance? [Not that Bucky's been too picky, not with what his metabolism requires to simply exist.]

[outstandingbalance]

You're in luck. [Wryly. It's not like they have a whole lot of options, is it?] You can pretend it's salami?

[It's not especially like salami aside from being salty. But what can you do.]

I've had worse.

[sinistral]

Appetizing.

[But it's not the worst thing he's had either, so it's fine. He's definitely not going to voice that though; best not to tempt fate, or whatever passes for it around here.

It takes him a long moment to actually sit but he does so, warily. If he looks like he's ready to bolt at any moment, that isn't an entirely inaccurate observation.]

Thanks. [He doesn't just mean for the snack.]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha watches him, deliberately holding herself relaxed, nonthreatening. It's a conscious effort, but... not all that hard. She's fairly confident he's not going to turn on her without some kind of provocation.]

You're welcome. Hard to last long here without any allies, right?

[sinistral]

Easier without them. [Easier without the weight in people's stares, the expectation that he's supposed to know them, the barely concealed disappointment when he doesn't. Easier to avoid people who aren't his shipmates, though that itself has become harder in being aboard the Marsiva like this. It's part of what he hates about this: the forced close quarters, the unavoidable interactions.

Even so, he is sitting, at least for the moment. It's not likely to last long, he's too much on edge and he'll admit how dangerous it makes him. The fact that he's forced into a schedule that matches everyone else's doesn't help; there's no retreat into the comfort of training when most are asleep.] But we don't always get what we want, do we?

[outstandingbalance]

[She doesn't quite laugh at that. She doesn't laugh because it's not really funny, but it sort of is if you think about it the right way.

No, no they do not.]

No, no we do not. Some of us even less than others.

[Sometimes it seems like Natasha could count the number of times she's gotten what she wants on her fingers and still have some left over. Not accurate, probably, but...

Barnes probably felt the same.]

Imagine a lot of people making it hard for you to be on your own.

[He'd made a lot of friends here before, now she imagined this Barnes would be stuck with at least some of them.]

[sinistral]

[He wishes, and not for the first time, that he had a mission. Something clearly defined: get in, complete the objective, get out. Not that Bucky wants to be doing what he'd done for HYDRA; that's far from it. But he does want to be doing something other than staying cooped up on this ship with the possibility of having one's brain put on display for others to see.]

Understatement.

[Feeling the weight of one existence is bad enough; having more than that has been draining indeed. Having it in such close quarters doesn't help either, especially with people who recognize him. He knows there are more people who know him than he's encountered thus far but he's in no rush to meet them — especially considering the encounters he's had thus far.]

The sooner we get off this thing and back to the ships, the better.

[Back to at least the illusion of privacy, and a somewhat easier avoidance of people.]

[outstandingbalance]

That's something we can agree on. [Not the only thing by any means, she suspects, but she hates this. Hiding on their own ships for at least a week while they process the vulnerability and trauma of calibrations seems like the most reasonable things in the world.

Still.]

Probably once we're moving again, we'll be heading toward a new system soon. Good chance to stretch your legs and find some privacy.

[sinistral]

Be nice to get back to a room that's sized more generously than a closet.

[Bucky, have you considered that you're just stupidly tall? The quarters here certainly aren't the worst accommodations he's had, but they're also not as nice as the quarters Bucky had on the Starduck. Still, it definitely falls into that category of "things that could be worse" — which has the subheading "don't complain, they might make it worse."]

And a real workout facility.

[outstandingbalance]

[That gets a laugh out of her, rueful, but she knows very well how much space he takes up in a bed. She can see why he's looking forward to getting back to his own room.

Aside from the comfort that comes from being in your own space.

Natasha shakes her head.]

Miss that, too. It'd be nice to be able to work out some frustration. Take it out on the heavy bag?

[sinistral]

A little. Usually it's more crowded than I'd like.

[Bucky, one person doesn't count as a crowd. But working out on the bag is only one way of working out, and there's certainly plenty of things he's able to do in the privacy of his own quarters, which is preferable. The forced attempts at interaction don't suit him well at all.

But at least she probably understands that too.]

But I suppose there's a small comfort in this being something that apparently happens on some sort of regular schedule.

[outstandingbalance]

[No, in Bucky's case, even one person does make a crowd. If Steve said something like that Natasha would tease him, push back. In this case, though... maybe in four months if they're still on speaking terms she'll make fun of him then.

For now, he's doing well enough.]

You could always see about getting some equipment for your ship. Not sure what they have over there now, but... probably room in the cargo bay.

[Which also might get a little crowded, but mostly people who he'd already know. Hopefully people he'd be more comfortable with.]

You mean every year or two? Yeah, seems something like that. It'd be a shame if the audience got bored with it.

[sinistral]

It's pretty well equipped for that already. Someone before me must've had the same inclination for physical activity.

[He's grateful for it, at least. Of course the facility on Iskaulit is better but Bucky likes not needing to travel to that ship all the time, or having to share a shuttle since those numbers are limited. Also, in his figuring, he's assigned to the Starduck, which means that the ship is his main responsibility. It's something he can at least attempt to take seriously.]

Still counts as a regular schedule. And I suppose we should be happy that the ratings for it aren't high enough to keep us here longer, or more frequently.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha has a good guess who, too. It's not really relevant to this conversation, but she imagines Steve would have appreciated Barnes using it after him.]

Not entirely convinced these have anything to do with ratings. That's the line, but... [Natasha shrugs.] The last one was under suspicious circumstances. We'll say that.